Herbert, Frank, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson : The Road to Dune
(Tor 0-765-35370-9, $7.99, 21+426pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: Tor, September 2005)

Anthology of fiction and essays from the Dune series, including unpublished scenes and chapters from Frank Herbert's first two novels in the series, Dune and Dune Messiah; correspondence between Frank Herbert, John W. Campbell, and agents; and Frank Herbert's proposal and notes for the first book.
• There's also an "alternate Dune novel" called "Spice Planet", by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, based on Frank Herbert's early outline for what became Dune, and four short stories set in the Dune universe by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson.
• The Official Dune Website has this description with table of contents and links to additional Frank Herbert material.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.

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Hobb, Robin : Shaman's Crossing
(Eos 0-06-075828-7, $7.99, 591pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: UK: HarperCollins/Voyager, July 2005)

Fantasy novel, first in the "Soldier Son" trilogy, about a young nobleman whose promising future is threatened by various obstacles. The second book in the trilogy, Forest Mage, is just out in hardcover from Eos.
• The publisher's site has this description, and a text excerpt.
• Carolyn Cushman wrote last year in Locus Magazine that the book "is very much a military academy novel, but set in a world both familiar and strange, with more than a suggestion of the Old West."

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King, Stephen : The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
(Pocket 1-416-52452-5, $9.99, 1050pp, mass market paperback, September 2006, cover by Michael Whelan)
(First edition: Donald M. Grant/Scribner, September 2004)

Fantasy novel, 7th and final volume of the "The Dark Tower" series. This is an oversized "premium" mass market paperback edition; a trade paperback edition appeared last November.
• Official site The Dark Tower has synopses of the books, an excerpt from this volume, plus backgrounds of the artists, a glossary, list of characters, etc.

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Lansdale, Joe R. : Mad Dog Summer and Other Stories
(Golden Gryphon Press 1-930846-42-8, $14.95, 8+261pp, trade paperback, September 2006, cover painting J.K. Potter) ERROR -- 1st edition not found

Collection of 8 stories, one of them, novella "Way Down There", original to this book. Other stories include two novellas that won Bram Stoker Awards, "The Big Blow" and "Mad Dog Summer".
• The original 2004 hardcover edition of the book, published by Subterranean Press, was a World Fantasy Award finalist.
• Golden Gryphon's site has this description, with quotes from reviews and the table of contents.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Echoes of writers from Mark Twain to Robert Bloch ring through these stories, but Lansdale is an American original with a storytelling style distinctively his own."

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Link, Kelly : Magic for Beginners
(Harcourt/Harvest 0-15-603187-6, $14, 297pp, trade paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: Small Beer Press, July 2005)

Collection of nine stories, including the multiple award-winning title novella. Other stories include Hugo and Locus Award winning "The Faery Handbag", World Fantasy Award nominee "The Hortlak", and "Some Zombie Contingency Plans", which placed 2nd in this year's Locus Poll for best short story.
• Both the book and the title novella won Locus Awards in 2006.
• The publisher's site has this description and the complete text of The Feary Handbag.

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Moorcock, Michael : The White Wolf's Son
(Warner 0-446-61745-8, $6.99, 413pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: Warner Aspect, June 2005)

Fantasy novel subtitled "The Albino in the Middle March", the latest and last of the author's career-spanning Elric series, in which various incarnations of Moorcock's Eternal Champion come together to save young Oonagh von Bek from kidnappers who seek to recreate the Multiverse according to their own rules.
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review, which calls it "a triumph of mature talent and imagination."

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Pratchett, Terry : Thud!
(Harpertorch 0-06-081531-0, $7.99, 382pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: HarperCollins, October 2005)

Fantasy novel, the 30th volume in the popular, long-running Discworld series. This one concerns the murder of a dwarf as the anniversary of a long-ago battle between trolls and dwarfs approaches.
• The next volume in the series, Wintersmith, is due from HarperCollins in hardcover on September 26th.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.
• Faren Miller's review last year in Locus Magazine said "Nonsense verse and self-righteous vampires, angry mobs and long-standing hatreds, intimations of magic and stubborn rationality join to make Thud! funny, poignant, complicated, and character driven..."

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Robinson, Spider : Very Bad Deaths
(Baen 1-416-52083-X, $7.99, 316pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: Baen, December 2004)

SF thriller about a telepath and a hunt for a sadistic serial killer.
• Robinson's website has this synopsis, as well as Damien Broderick's Locus review from the November '04 issue, which calls the book "a poster candidate for transrealism".
• Baen's site has this description, with links to several chapter excerpts.

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Weber, David, & John Ringo : We Few
(Baen 1-416-52084-8, $7.99, 540pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: Baen, April 2005)

Military SF novel, fourth and final installment in the series that began with March Upcountry in 2001, about Prince Roger and his Royal Marines marooned on the planet Marduk.
• Baen's site has this description and links to two excerpts.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "thoroughly satisfactory".

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Williams, Liz : Snake Agent
(Night Shade Books 1-59780-043-0, $14.95, 267pp, trade paperback, August 2006, cover art Jon Foster)
(First edition: Night Shade Books, September 2005)

Sf/occult thriller about a Singapore detective in charge of supernatural and mystical investigations.
• The second book in the "Detective Chen" series, The Demon and the City, was published by Night Shade Books in August.
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• Faren Miller's review last year in Locus Magazine concluded "This exotic amalgam of police procedural, SF, comic fantasy and horror is a delight from start to finish."

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Williams, Tad : Shadowmarch
(DAW 0-7564-0359-6, $8.99, 777pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: DAW, November 2004)

Fantasy novel, first of a trilogy, about conflict between humans and a race of fairy folk called the Qar.
• This is the first mass market edition; a trade paperback edition was published in November 2005.
• Website www.shadowmarch.com has background about the world, a message board, and several excerpts.

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Wolfe, Gene : The Wizard
(Tor 0-765-35050-5, $7.99, 587pp, mass market paperback, September 2006)
(First edition: Tor, November 2004)

Fantasy novel, second volume of The Wizard Knight following The Knight, about a teenaged boy who enters a realm containing seven levels of reality, where he has many adventures and becomes a knight, and then a wizard.
• This is the first mass market edition; a trade paperback edition was published in October 2005.
• The combined work The Wizard Knight ranked #2 on the 2005 Locus Poll for best fantasy novel, and was finalist for both the Mythopoeic and World Fantasy awards.

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