Asaro, Catherine : The Final Key
(Tor 0-765-35209-5, $7.99, 334pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Tor, December 2005)

SF novel, second in the two-part "Triad" sequence following Schism (December 2004), and latest book in the author's long-running Skolian Empire saga.
• The description on the author's website says "An epic story of how the Ruby Dynasty reached maturity, Triad reveals how a war of galactic proportions first explodes between two great empires."
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and several readers, plus its 'search inside' feature including an excerpt.

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Baker, Kage : Mother Aegypt and Other Stories
(Night Shade Books 1-597800-57-0, $14.95, 255pp, trade paperback, November 2006)
(First edition: Night Shade Books, June 2004)

Collection of 13 stories, including the 65-page title story, original to this volume, and four stories first published in 2001 by Fictionwise.com.
• The author's website has this page about the book, and this excerpt from the title story.
• Rich Horton's Locus Magazine review of the title story called it "a fun novella about a rascally man who gets involved with a mysterious fortune-teller and her very odd adopted child."

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Berman, Judith : Bear Daughter
(Ace 0-441-01390-2, $7.99, 422pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Ace, September 2005)

Fantasy novel based on Native American lore, about a bear cub who becomes a 12-year-old girl.
• The author's homepage has this page about the book with quotes from reviews and a link to an excerpt.
• Berman was interviewed in the August '05 issue of Locus Magazine; excerpts online discuss the book, and the relationship of fantasy and folklore.
• Faren Miller's Locus Magazine review said: "Moving freely among many forms of mythology and folktale, many kinds of fiction (tragic, comic, romantic, as well as the fantastic quest), Bear Daughter finds harrowing pain, and beauty far greater than skin-deep, in a cruel, chaotic universe where there might yet be some underlying kind of order - enough to save foolish mortals from despair."

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Butcher, Jim : Academ's Fury
(Ace 0-441-01340-6, $7.99, 529pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Ace, July 2005)

Fantasy novel, second in the "Codex Alera" following Furies of Calderon (2004), set in a realm where adults have bonds with furies, magical spirits that provide defenses and talents. The third volume in the series, Cursor's Fury, is just out in hardcover.
• The author's website has this page about the book, with several preview chapters.
• Carolyn Cushman's Locus Magazine review said: "The fragmented plot takes a while to get rolling, but it builds to high adventure, with engaging characters and a satisfying conclusion..."

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Butler, Octavia E. : Fledgling
(Warner 0-446-69616-1, $13.99, 310pp, trade paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Seven Stories Press, October 2005)

Fantasy novel about a 53-year-old woman who discovers she is the sole survivor of an experiment in genetic modification among a race of vampires, or "Ina", who've co-existed with humans for millennia. This was the author's last novel before her death in February 2006.
• Warner's site has this description and an excerpt. Warner has issued several backlist titles by Butler simultaneously with this, in matching covers.
• Gary K. Wolfe's review in Locus Magazine said: "[F]ortunately it's not long before we learn that Butler knows what she's up to, which is to appropriate the vampire myth into her own patterns of storytelling and her own larger thematic concerns. ... It takes about as much energy and ingenuity to subdue a vampire novel as it does to subdue a vampire, but in the end the visceral power and intelligence of Butler's narrative skill overshadow the formula elements."

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Jordan, Robert : Knife of Dreams
(Tor 0-812-57756-6, $7.99, 860pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Tor, October 2005)

Fantasy novel, 11th volume in the popular "Wheel of Time" series and purportedly the penultimate volume.
• Tor's site has this page about the book, with links to pages for the earlier books, excerpts, etc.
• Amazon's page for the book has Jordan's answers to their "Significant Seven" questions, as well as the starred Publishers Weekly review.
• Locus Magazine's Carolyn Cushman said: "This time out, a few sub-plots resolve, at least in part, but plenty of significant issues remain to be resolved before the Final Battle. I'm hoping for the best, but Jordan has left himself a lot of territory to cover if he's to bring this epic to a successful, much less a great, conclusion."

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King, Stephen : Cell
(Pocket Star 1-416-52451-7, $9.99, 449pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Scribner, February 2006)

Horror thriller about a pulse signal that turns cell phone users into murderous zombies.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt. (Dedicated website http://www.cellthebook.com, created for the hardcover, has expired.)
• Amazon has enthusiastic reviews from Publishers Weekly and its own Daphne Durham.

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Lisle, Holly : Talyn
(Tor 0-765-34873-x, $7.99, 576pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Tor, August 2005)

Fantasy novel, subtitled "A Novel of Korre", about a career soldier in a war between neighboring countries who discovers that peace negotiators have ulterior motives.
• The author's website has chapter excerpts, a page of extras including background on this book and sequel Hawkspar, and a diary about writing the second book.

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Niven, Larry : The Draco Tavern
(Tor 0-765-34771-7, $6.99, 14+316pp, mass market paperback, December 2006, cover art Stephan Martiniere)
(First edition: Tor, January 2006)

SF collection of 27 stories set in a bar catering to humans and to visiting aliens, the Chirpsithra.
• The book has a new introduction by Niven -- "I wanted a format in which to deal with the simplest, most universal questions. God. Intelligent predators and prey. Sex, gender, and reproduction. War. Human destiny. Species survival. Immortality..." -- and five stories original to this book.
• The Publishers Weekly review reproduced on the Amazon page concludes "These stories are best taken a few at a time, to savor their inventiveness without noticing the undeveloped characters or that, even for bar stories, there's sometimes too much chatter and not enough action."

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Odom, Mel : Lord of the Libraries
(Tor 0-765-34650-8, $7.99, 371pp, mass market paperback, December 2006, cover art Greg & Tim Hildebrant)
(First edition: Tor, July 2005)

Fantasy novel about elves, goblins, and library magic; sequel to The Rover and The Destruction of the Books. This one concerns an apprentice tasked, in the absence of the abducted grandmagister of the Vault of All Known Knowledge, with reassembling the four pieces of The Book of Time.
• Amazon has reviews from PW and Booklist, as well as its 'search inside' feature including an excerpt.

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Pratchett, Terry, & Neil Gaiman : Good Omens
(HarperTorch 0-06-085398-0, $7.99, 412pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: UK: Gollancz, May 1990)

Humorous horror novel about the coming Armageddon, as prophesied by a witch named Agnes Nutter.
• This is a paperback reprint of the March 2006 Morrow hardcover, and like it comes in two versions: with a white cover (with Gaiman's name first) and 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.
• 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.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.

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Stackpole, Michael A. : Cartomancy: Book Two of the Age of Discovery
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-58664-5, $6.99, 558pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Bantam Spectra, March 2006)

Fantasy novel, second in the "Age of Discovery" series following A Secret Atlas,, about royal cartographers used by the principality of Nalenyr to build an empire. In this book Grandmaster cartographer Qiro Anturasi creates a new continent in a scheme to defeat the Prince who imprisoned him.
• Bantam's site has this description, with an excerpt.
• The author's website has a glossary and pronunciation guide for the series.

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VanderMeer, Jeff : Secret Life: The Select Fire Remix
(Prime Books 0-8095-5652-9, $14.95, 269+pp, trade paperback, December 2006, cover art Scott Eagle)
(First edition: Golden Gryphon Press, June 2004)

'Remixed' edition of VanderMeer's 2004 collection, dropping 5 of the stories, rearranging and editing others, adding graphics, expanding the story notes, and adding a meta-story on what are traditionally would be blank pages within the book.
• There's no publisher's page for this edition, nor does Amazon detail any differences between this edition and the earlier hardcover. The author posted a customer review on the Amazon page briefly explaining the new edition, and in October posted this entry on his blog about it.
• The Agony Column reviews this edition (scroll down) including a scan of the press release.
• Locus Magazine reviewer Nick Gevers said of the original edition: "To read Secret Life is to understand radical new possibilities of fantastic narrative."

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