Card, Orson Scott :
Treason
(Orb 0-765-30904-1, $14.95, 275pp, trade paperback, February 2006, cover art John Harris)
(First edition: St. Martin's, November 1988)
SF novel, a revised and expanded version of the author's early novel A Planet Called Treason (1979), set on a world where human settlers have developed various magical powers.
Card's website has a description and a chapter one excerpt.
Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review of the earlier edition: "As in his later, better known work, Card provides a colorful dramatization of ethical issues and questions of identity against a backdrop of bizarrely fascinating races from the tree-dwelling Nkumai to the time-manipulating Ku Kuei."
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Clarke, Arthur C. :
Clarke's Universe
(ibooks 1-59687-306-X, $12.95, 343pp, trade paperback, January 2006)
Omnibus of "The Lion of Comarre", a novelette first published in 1949 about a far-future perfect city; A Fall of Moondust, a 1961 novel about a tourist bus trapped beneath the Lunar surface; and "Jupiter V", a novelette first published in 1953 set on Jupiter's moon Amalthea.
The copyright page indicates December 2005, though Amazon lists it as January 2006 and the book wasn't seen in stores until March 2006.
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Pratchett, Terry, & Neil Gaiman :
Good Omens
(Morrow 0-06-085396-4, $29.95, 10+384pp, hardcover, March 2006, jacket illustration Douglas Smith, jacket design Richard L. Aquan)
(First edition: UK: Gollancz, May 1990)
Humorous horror novel about the coming Armageddon, as prophesied by a witch named Agnes Nutter.
This new edition is available with a white dust jacket (with Gaiman's name first) or a black one (with Pratchett's name first).
The authors were interviewed in the February issue of Locus Magazine about this new edition and the prospects for a sequel; excerpts are posted here.
Amazon has a review, which says it's "one of those rare books which is enormous fun to read the first time, and the second time, and the third time", and its 'search inside' feature including an excerpt.
The book has a whole Wikipedia entry of its very own, with a summary, lots of quotes, a list of translations, and news of possible film adaptations.
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Shepard, Lucius :
The Golden
(Golden Gryphon Press 1-930846-38-x, $14.95, 203pp, trade paperback, April 2006, cover art J.K. Potter, cover design Lynne Condellone)
(First edition: Mark V. Ziesing, 1993)
Vampire horror novel set in the 1860s, about a gathering of a clan of vampires, whose goal is to breed a perfect mortal called 'the Golden'.
The publisher has this page about the book, with a description and quotes from reviews.
The novel won the 1994 Locus Award for best horror novel.
Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, and reader reviews.
Claude Lalumière covered the book in his 2002 Locus Online essay on vampire fiction, saying "The Golden is a lushly decadent novel, filled with sudden violence, disturbing sensuality, complex relationships, and altered states of perception. The prose is gorgeously sumptuous, and the tale is a multiflavoured feast of rich emotions."
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Stewart, George R. :
Earth Abides
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-48713-3, $13.95, 14+345pp, trade paperback, April 2006)
(First edition: Random House, 1949)
Classic SF novel set in a world where most of humanity has been wiped out by a plague, about a California man trying to rebuild society.
This edition has an introduction by Connie Willis.
The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
The book won the first International Fantasy Award in 1951.
David Pringle's Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction says "Wonderfully described and ecologically aware, this is one of the best of all disaster stories: a classic."
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Thomsen, Brian, ed. :
Novel Ideas - Fantasy
(DAW 0-7564-0309-X, $7.5, 312pp, mass market paperback, March 2006)
Anthology of 8 previously published stories whose writers later developed them into novels. The stories are Gordon R. Dickson's "The Dragon and the George" (expanded to a novel of the same title), Suzy McKee Charnas' "Unicorn Tapestry" (expanded into The Vampire Tapestry), Orson Scott Card's "HatrackRiver" (basis for Seventh Son), Katherine Kurtz' "The Gargoyle's Shadow" (expanded into St. Patrick's Gargoyle), Lynn Abbey's "Jerlayne" (which became the novel of the same name), Robert Silverberg's "Gilgamesh in the Outback" (expanded as To the Land of the Living), James Ward's "Midshipwizard" (expanded as Midshipwizard Halcyon Blithe), and Orson Scott Card's "Lost Boys" (expanded as the novel of the same name).
Thomsen provides an introduction to the book, and several authors (Card, Kurtz, Abbey, Silverberg, Ward) provide introductions and/or afterwords to their stories.
Charnas' story won a Nebula Award; Silverberg's won a Hugo Award.
A companion volume for science fiction is due in April.
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VanderMeer, Jeff :
City of Saints and Madmen: The Book of Ambergris
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-38357-4, $14, 704pp, trade paperback, April 2006)
(First edition: Wildside Press/Cosmos Books, August 2001)
Latest edition of VanderMeer's collection of stories set in his signature city of Ambergris; this edition includes the illustrated story, "The Exchange", which was not available in previous US editions.
Locus Online posted this excerpt from the book, and ran this now concluded quiz to give away copies of the book provided by the publisher.
Sections of the book are separately paginated; the total of 704 listed here is given by the author.
The author has this webpage about the book, with links to wallpapers and screensavers, an online quiz ("See How Long You'd Last in Ambergris"), and excerpt, etc.
Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review of an earlier edition: "This beautifully written, virtually hallucinatory work isn't for every taste, but connoisseurs of the finest in postmodern fantasy will find it enormously rewarding."
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Vinge, Vernor :
Tatja Grimm's World
(Tor 0-765-30885-1, $14.95, 285pp, trade paperback, February 2006, cover art Paul Lehr)
(First edition: Baen, July 1987)
Collection of three early stories by Vinge about a young barbarian woman on an ocean world who takes over a fantasy publishing house-- "The Barbarian Princess", "The Imposter Queen" (aka "Grimm's Story"), and "The Feral Child". The last two were first published as Vinge's first novel, Grimm's World, in 1969, then gathered with the first story in this edition, first published in 1987.
Amazon has the book description, as well as quotes from reviews (mostly of Vinge's other books), and reader reviews, some disappointed by the book in light of Vinge's later, more familiar works.
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