* Brenchley, Chaz : River of the World
(Ace 978-0-441-01478-1, $24.95, 380pp, hardcover, April 2007, jacket illustration Tim O'Brien)

Fantasy novel, second of the two-volume duology "Selling Water by the River" following Bridge of Dreams (2006), set in an alternate Ottoman Istanbul.
• The publisher's site has this description, and the series has its own website, Selling Water by the River, with an introduction by the author and an extract.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it a "magical sequel" and concludes "Though Brenchley provides minimal backstory for new readers, those with patience will find a lively adventure in which the paths to survival and morality frequently diverge."

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* Compton, Stoney : Russian Amerika
(Baen 978-1-4165-2116-7, $24, 439pp, hardcover, April 2007, cover by Kurt Miller)

Alternate history military SF novel set in a 1989 in which Russia still controls Alaska. The author is an Alaskan native.
• Baen's site has this description with links to 24 of the book's 92 chapters.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review -- "Compton creates a plausible backstory for his time line (the Communists never took over Russia), which comes out naturally in bits and pieces. His depiction of warfare under extreme arctic conditions is horrifyingly realistic and vivid." -- and several 5-star reader reviews.

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+ Feist, Raymond E. : Into a Dark Realm
(Eos 978-0-06-079280-0, $25.95, 319pp, hardcover, April 2007, jacket illustration Steve Stone) First US edition (UK: HarperCollins Voyager, September 2006)

Fantasy novel, Book Two of the Darkwar Saga, following Flight of the Nighthawks (2006), set in the world of Midkemia, setting of Feist's earlier Riftwar series.
• The HarperCollins Eos site has this description -- "The Conclave of Shadows has smashed the Nighthawks' dread plot to destroy the Empire of Great Kesh through civil war, putting an end to the murderous brotherhood's reign of terror..." -- and an excerpt.
• The author's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "uninventive" and concludes "The author's depictions of battles, torture and the Social Darwinism of the ruthless Dasati society may not be suited to fantasy readers of all ages, but Feist's fans will look forward to the saga's final episode."

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* Golden, Christopher : The Borderkind
(Bantam Spectra 978-0-553-38327-0, $12, 375pp, trade paperback, April 2007)

Dark fantasy novel, second in "The Veil" series following The Myth Hunters (2006), in which humanity's myths and legends struggle for survival against those who hunt them.
• Bantam's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "This fast-paced dark fantasy adventure should appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman, Charles De Lint and Robert Holdstock."

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+ Hemingway, Amanda : The Poisoned Crown
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-46082-0, $12.95, 374pp, trade paperback, April 2007)

Young adult fantasy novel, third in the "Sangreal" trilogy following The Greenstone Grail (2004) and The Sword of Straw (2006), about a teenage boy who can dream himself into other worlds. In this book Nathan tries to stop the evil Queen Nefufar by stealing the poisoned crown she keeps locked beneath the ocean.
• This book was first published in the UK by HarperCollins Voyager in 2006.
• Del Rey's site has this description and excerpt.
• The author also writes under the pseudonym Jan Siegel. Locus interviewed her in March 2002 -- excerpted here.
• Amazon has the Booklist review: "the climactic battle ranks with the best for power and terror."

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* Lebbon, Tim : Dawn
(Bantam Spectra 978-0-553-38365-2, $12, 400pp, trade paperback, April 2007, cover illustration Cliff Nielsen)

Fantasy novel, second of a duology following Dusk (2006), set in a world in which magic has been banished and where a young boy shows signs of magic's return.
• Bantam's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Website Dusk and Dawn: Tales of Noreela has news, excerpts, a Noreela glossary, a gallery, message board, and more.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "a genre-bending amalgam of horror and fantasy" but concludes that "Lebbon overplays his hand in this sequel..."

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* Lee, Julianne : Knight's Blood
(Ace 0-441-01485-2, $7.99, 292pp, mass market paperback, March 2007, cover art Judy York)

SF time travel novel, sequel to Knight Tenebrae (2006), about a Navy pilot and his wife who have returned from 14th century Scotland only to have their son kidnapped by an elfin king from the past.
• The author's site has a description and sample chapters.
• Amazon has several posts by the author.

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* Lubar, David : True Talents
(Starscape 0-765-30977-7, $17.95, 315pp, hardcover, March 2007)

YA fantasy novel, sequel to Hidden Talents (1999), about a group of friends who discover they have superpowers. In this book one of the kids is kidnapped by a shadowy organization researching psychic talents, and his friends try to rescue him.
• Tor/Starscape's website has this description, an excerpt, and quotes from reviews.
• Amazon has the Booklist review: "Brief chapters alternating among the six characters' stories are interspersed with memos, e-mails, illustrations, and notes that enhance the plot and also break up the text in a way that will draw reluctant readers. Lubar's trademark blend of humor and suspense, complete with explosions, supernatural powers, and just enough gore, will be a hit."

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* McIntosh, Fiona : Odalisque: Book One of the Percheron Saga
(Eos 0-06-089905-0, $14.95, 463pp, trade paperback, March 2007, cover illustration Greg Bridges)

Fantasy novel, first in a new series, set in a world inspired by the Constantinople of the Ottoman Empire, about a slave named Lazar who fights his way to commander of the royal guard.
• The HarperCollins site has this description and a 'browse inside' link showing the first few pages of maps and text.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "A magnificent setting distinguishes this first of a new fantasy trilogy ..." and concluding "strong characters and an enticing plot bode well for future installments."
• Sci Fi weekly posted a review by Cynthia Ward, who balances strengths and weaknesses and concludes "No one can accuse Fiona McIntosh of that cruelest of fiction-writing sins: being too nice to her characters."

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* Ringo, John, & Tom Kratman : Yellow Eyes
(Baen 978-1-4165-2103-7, $26, 608pp, hardcover, April 2007, cover art Stephen Hickman)

Military SF novel in the "Posleen War" series that began with Ringo's solo A Hymn Before Battle (2000) and was preceded by both authors' Watch on the Rhine (2005), about reptilian aliens invading the Earth. In this book Latin America falls except for Panama, where a US military force resists.
• Baen's site has the description -- noting that both coauthors "served in Panama during their stint in the Army" -- with links to the prologue and first nine chapters.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which notes "Interestingly, the hideous, hungry Posleen, who are helplessly following their racial instincts, come across as more sympathetic than the cowardly traitors -- i.e., diplomats and politicians -- who obstruct the human warriors; the aliens get to die with more dignity." and concludes "Readers who can forget the authors' right-wing politics and approach it all like a professional wrestling show will have fun."

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* Rothfuss, Patrick : The Name of the Wind
(DAW 978-0-7564-0407-9, $24.95, 662pp, hardcover, April 2007, jacket painting Donato Giancola)

Fantasy novel, first of a series and the author's debut novel, about a wizard in hiding who tells his life story.
• The author was previously a quarterly winner in the 2002 Writers of the Future contest.
• DAW's site has this description, which advises "Not to be missed: The powerful debut novel from fantasy's next superstar" and which concludes "A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard."
• Reviews are bearing out the publisher's hype: Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review, from its January 29th issue, which begins "The originality of Rothfuss's outstanding debut fantasy, the first of a trilogy, lies less in its unnamed imaginary world than in its precise execution" and concludes "this is the type of assured, rich first novel most writers can only dream of producing. The fantasy world has a new star."
• Faren Miller's review in the March Locus is posted online; it concludes "Writers like George R.R. Martin and Gene Wolfe are old hands at revitalizing old tropes, giving fantasy the depth and humanity of the great literary novels, but Rothfuss sets out to retell what should be the most familiar tale of all, in the most familiar mode (the triple-decker). Remarkably, he does make it fresh again in this opening book, complete with an interesting take on magic that adds both emotional impact and intellectual excitement. So bring on volume two!"

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* Sage, Angie : Septimus Heap, Book Three: Physik
(HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books 0-06-057737-1, $17.99, 544pp, hardcover, March 2007, jacket art Mark Zug)

Young adult fantasy novel, third in the Septimus Heap trilogy following Magyk and Flyte, about a boy who becomes an apprentice wizard. The book has illustrations by Mark Zug.
• Amazon has the book's description -- "When Silas Heap unSeals a forgotten room in the Palace, he releases the ghost of a Queen who lived five hundred years earlier. Queen Etheldredda is as awful in death as she was in life..."
• The series' website, septimusheap.com, has information about the author, games, excerpts, etc.

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* Smith, Bryan : The Freakshow
(Leisure 0843958278, $6.99, 324pp, mass market paperback, March 2007)

Horror novel about the Flaherty Brothers Traveling Carnivale and Freakshow and its visit to Pleasant Hills, Tennessee.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.

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* Steele, Allen : Spindrift
(Ace 978-0-441-01471-2, $24.95, 354pp, hardcover, April 2007, jacket illustration John Harris)

SF novel, set in the universe of the author's Coyote trilogy, about astronauts, presumed lost nearly 60 years ago, who return from investigating an alien artifact and report having made contact with an extraterrestrial race.
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its February 5th issue: "This latest installment describes what the ill-fated expedition discovers, what goes wrong and how a few people save themselves by recognizing their ignorance and isolation, then resolving to work past those limitations. Though readers of the trilogy already know the basic story -- and the novel's opening also gives away most of the outcome -- Steele delivers a gripping saga of humanity on the verge of exploring the larger universe."
• Steele's interview in the January '07 issue of Locus Magazine, excerpted here, discusses the book: "You see the setup at the end of Coyote Frontier, with the First Contact situation. In Spindrift we go into a different part of space and see what's going on there. The events occur between those of Rising and Frontier, so it's sort of like 'Meanwhile, elsewhere in the galaxy....' The next novel after that will lift off from the events of Spindrift and go into yet another part of the galaxy."

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* Traviss, Karen : Ally
(Eos 0-06-088232-8, $7.99, 388pp, mass market paperback, April 2007)

SF novel, book five of the "Wess'har Wars" series following City of Pearl, Crossing the Line (both 2004), The World Before (2005), and Matriarch (2006), about an environmental enforcement officer on a planet occupied by several alien races.
• The publisher's site has this description and a text excerpt.
• The author's website indicates one more book in the series, Judge, due March 2008.

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