* Abraham, Daniel : A Betrayal in Winter
(Tor 978-0-765-31341-6, $24.95, 317pp, hardcover, August 2007, jacket art Stephan Martiniere)

SF novel, second in the "Long Price Quartet" following A Shadow in Summer (just out in paperback). In this volume Otah Machi, long exiled from his family, returns as his father, the ruler, faces death.
• Tor's website has this page about the book, with a description and excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Mystery, love triangles and struggles with magical creatures called andat make for a slow-starting but well-rounded story."
• Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the July issue of Locus Magazine, Faren Miller in the August. Gevers wrote "Abraham is a serious and precise writer, whose ongoing Long Price Quartet is a model of fantasy as thoughtful, resonant literary expression."

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* Brooks, Terry : The Elves of Cintra
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-48411-6, $26.95, 379pp, hardcover, September 2007, jacket illustration Steve Stone)

Fantasy novel, second in the "Genesis of Shannara" series following last year's Armageddon's Children, set on a plague-ridden future Earth besieged by demons attempting to exterminate humanity.
• Del Rey's site has this description with and author Q&A and an excerpt.
• The author's site has a summary with links to chapter excerpts.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its June 25th issue: "Celebrating his 30th year as a professional writer, Brooks provides another fascinating group of characters tackling harrowing and inspiring life and death issues."

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* Butler, Pete, ed. : Triangulation: End of Time
(Parsec Ink 978-0-6151-5280-6, $12, 155pp, trade paperback, July 2007, cover art Henry Tjernlund)

Anthology of 20 original stories, produced by Pittsburgh-based PARSEC Ink, on the theme of "end of time".
• Authors include Tim Pratt, Ian Creasey, Jetse de Vries, Matthew Johnson, Trent Walters, Sue Burke, and Geoffrey Thorne.
• Unlike previous volumes, this anthology was open to submissions from non-members of Parsec. The organization's website has descriptions and ordering information for the previous volumes.
• Amazon has the back cover description of the book.

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* Conyers, David, & John Sunseri : The Spiraling Worm
(Chaosium 978-1568822129, $15.95, 313pp, trade paperback, July 2007, cover art David Lee Ingersoll)

Collection of seven interconnected stories, subtitled "Man vs. the Cthulhu Mythos". Four stories are by Conyers alone, two by Sunseri alone, and one is a collaboration. Three of the Conyers stories have been previously published; the other stories are original to this book.
• C.J. Henderson provides the introduction. The authors provide an Afterword explaining the genesis of the stories.
• The publisher's site has this description.

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* Czerneda, Julie E. : Reap the Wild Wind
(DAW 978-0-7564-0456-7, $24.95, 454pp, hardcover, September 2007, jacket painting Luis Royo)

SF novel, first in the "Stratification" sequence and a prequel to the "Trade Pact Universe" trilogy, set in the era when the Clan was one of three alien races on the planet Cersi.
• The author's website has a description and excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Czerneda's world-building flair and fascinating characters set this intricate story well above most SF series prequels."
• Carolyn Cushman reviews the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine: "...the convoluted culture of Cersi's three species is a fascinating mystery on its own, its origins and workings only hinted at in this first volume in what promises to be a striking series."

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* Draper, Jessica : Hunting Gideon
(Zarahemla Books 978-0-978971-4-0, $14.95, 175pp, trade paperback, August 2007)

Mormon cyberpunk novel about FBI agents in pursuit of a cyber-terrorist called Gideon.
• The publisher's site has this page with the back cover description and ordering information. "Hunting Gideon is a near-future cyberpunk novel with an optimistic Mormon twist. Incorporating elements from the hard-boiled detective novel, film noir, and postmodernist prose, much of the novel's action takes place online in cyberspace, blurring the border between actual and virtual reality."
• Amazon also has the book description.

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* Golemon, David Lynn : Legend: An Event Group Adventure
(St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne Books 0-312-35263-8, $24.95, 339pp, hardcover, August 2007, jacket illustration Larry Rostant)

SF thriller, second in the "Event Group" series following Event (2006), about a secret US government agency. This volume concerns the disappearance of the US president's daughter that's somehow tied to Pizarro's 1534 search for El Dorado and Custer's last stand in 1876.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Don D'Ammassa reviews the book on his site (scroll down): "It's an adventure story, with moderately well developed tension, considerably more interesting than its predecessor. ... I don't think this one is likely to make it to the bestseller lists but the improvement from the first novel is considerably and shows a trend in the right direction."
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which, in contrast, concludes "A shortage of well-developed characters and plausible scientific speculation, however, makes this a less satisfying adventure than its predecessor."

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* Hiter, Shirley : Creator Born
(Infinity Publishing.com 0-7414-3177-7, $18.95, 351pp, trade paperback, June 2006)

Fantasy novel about Belina Paillin, who is chosen by the Creator to save her world from destruction.
• The publisher is Infinity Publishing.com.
• The author is http://www.myspace.com/storygirl70.
• Amazon has the complete back cover description.

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* Jarpe, Matthew : Radio Freefall
(Tor 978-0-7653-1784-2, $24.95, 318pp, hardcover, August 2007, jacket painting John Harris)

SF novel, the author's first novel, about a battle between a computer billionnarie trying to control Earth and those who oppose him, including a rock musician named Aqualung who flees to the space station Freefall.
• Tor's site has this description -- "In the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress but with a healthy dose of cyberpunk ..." -- and an excerpt.
• The author's site has this description with excerpts of the first three chapters.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which begins "Rock and roll and old-school hard SF go together like peanut butter and jelly in Jarpe's debut novel" and concludes "Fans of Nirvana, Buddy Holly and Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress will gladly soak up the Spandex and Doc Martens atmosphere."
• Locus Magazine's New and Notable Books for September echoes the same description: "Rock stars, assorted oddballs, and liberated AIs join forces to thwart a lunatic billionaire's plans for world domination in this rollicking first novel, a cyberpunk homage to Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress."

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* Kadrey, Richard : Butcher Bird
(Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-086-0, $14.95, 257pp, trade paperback, July 2007, cover art Dan Dos Santos)

Supernatural fantasy novel about a San Francisco tattoo artist whose attack by a demon reveals to him spheres of demonic existence unknown to other mortals.
• The Night Shade Books site has this description and ordering information.
• Kadrey's Wikipedia entry includes links to online texts of his first novel Metrophage and short story "Horse Latitudes".
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says "Buffy and Angel fans are likely to enjoy Kadrey's offbeat supernatural romp, which blends demonic evil and quirky humor. ... Kadrey (Kamikaze L'Amour) juxtaposes gore and brash insouciance in the face of apocalyptic evil, a blend that may not suit everyone's taste."
• Faren Miller reviews the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine, calling it "a potent contemporary fantasy".

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* Kratman, Tom : A Desert Called Peace
(Baen 1-4165-2145-3, $23, 709pp, hardcover, September 2007, cover by Kurt Miller)

Military SF novel set on an Earthlike planet 500 years from now, in which Federated States of Columbia Cpt. Patrick Hennessey battles "Salafi Ikhwan" religious fanatics who have killed his family. Two sequels are scheduled.
• Baen's site has this description and links to excerpts.
• The author's website, which describes him as "a political refugee and defector from the People's Republic of Massachusetts", features quotes about the author and his works.

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* Lessing, Doris : The Cleft
(HarperCollins 978-0-06-083486-9, $25.95, 260pp, hardcover, August 2007)

Alternate history novel about the origin of the human race, in which an ancient cult of women called the Clefts live an Edenic existence until the birth of a strange child, a boy.
• HarperCollins' site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Humor, which may or may not be intentional, is introduced into a generally lethargic text when women and men discover they can't live with or without each other, and the battle of the sexes commences. The novel has elements of a feminist tract, but the story it tells doesn't present a significant challenge to that of Adam and Eve."
• Amazon also reproduces Elizabeth Bear's Washington Post review, in which she says the book "is not merely a flawed novel or a failed novel. It is an actively bad novel. ... Critic John Clute has said, tongue-in-cheek, that novels have a 'real year,' which is to say that no matter when a book purports to be set, there are always clues to when it's really set. And this novel is so firmly crystallized in post-WWII social roles of the Valium-housewife-and-unavailable-working-stiff variety that it feels more native to 1954 than to 2007."

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* Mallet, Nathalie : The Princes of the Golden Cage
(Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-090-7, $7.99, 298pp, mass market paperback, August 2007, cover art Paul Youll)

Fantasy novel, the author's first novel, about a prince who lives isolated in a palace with hundreds of his brothers until one of them becomes sultan.
• This is a mass market paperback original from Night Shade Books, whose website has this description with ordering information.
• Amazon has posts by the author, with excerpts from reviews.
• The author's website has this page about the book, with a link to a PDF excerpt.
• Faren Miller's review of the book in the July issue of Locus Magazine is quoted on the cover; "In all, this is a fine debut, a vibrant blend of mystery, adventure, and the fantastic."

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* Melton, Henry : Emperor David
(Wire Rim Books 978-1-6151-5357-5, $19.95, 286pp, trade paperback, July 2007, cover art Wes Hartman)

SF novel about the inventor of teleportion, who plays James Bond supervillain to force the world's nations to protect themselves, and the inventor's son who acquires the technology.
• The author's site has this description with links to the author's site and publisher Lulu.com's site.
• The book has a 2003 copyright.
• Amazon also has the description, and reader reviews.

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* Meyer, Stephenie : Eclipse
(Little, Brown 978-0-316-16020-9, $18.99, 629pp, hardcover, September 2007)

Young adult vampire novel, third in the series following Twilight and New Moon.
• The author's website has this description and a PDF chapter 1 excerpt.
• Wikipedia's page for the book includes a detailed summary.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "The legions of readers who are hooked on the romantic struggles of Bella and the vampire Edward will ecstatically devour this third installment of the story begun in Twilight, but it's unlikely to win over any newcomers..."

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* Ringo, John, & Travis Taylor : Vorpal Blade
(Baen 978-1-4165-2129-7, $25, 400pp, hardcover, September 2007, cover illustration Kurt Miller)

SF novel, sequel to Into the Looking Glass (2005), about humanity's first starship (using alien technology discovered via the dimensional gateway of the first book) scouting alien worlds, with the focus on Space Marines who keep the ship going.
• Baen's site has this description -- "a return to the "good old days" of SF when the science problems were fun, the women were smart, tough and beautiful, and the beasts were ugly" -- and links to excerpts.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "The awkward use of alien vocabulary to censor the predictably foul-mouthed marines only slightly hinders the shoot-'em-up action as the scientists and crew of the Blade blast through whatever adversity comes their way."

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* Rusch, Kristine Kathryn : Recovery Man
(Roc 978-0-451-46167-4, $6.99, 374pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)

Mystery/SF novel, sixth in the 'Retrieval Artist' series following The Disappeared (2002), Extremes (2003), Consequences (2004), Buried Deep (2005), and Paloma (2006). This one concerns a bounty hunter, a girl who discovers she's a clone, and series character Miles Flint uncovers a secret about his daughter.
• Roc's site has this brief description.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Rusch continues her provocative interplanetary detective series with healthy doses of planet-hopping intrigue, heady legal dilemmas and well-drawn characters..."
• Faren Miller reviews the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine: "Recovery Man is both cleverly constructed and strongly emotive, the tale of several viewpoint characters who find their senses of self, their past, and long-held 'truths,' shattered by unwelcome revelations, in plot threads that will ultimately converge."

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* Westfahl, Gary : Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction
(McFarland 978-0-7864-3079-6, $35, 273pp, trade paperback, July 2007)

Critical study of Hugo Gernsback's career as editor and writer, with particular attention to his seminal novel Ralph 124C 41+: A Romance of the Year 2660. The nine chapters cover Brian Stableford and John Clute on Gernsback's legacy, Gernsback's search for a symbol for science fiction, melodrama and utopia in SF, and cyberpunk in the context of SF.
• The book includes notes, a bibliography, and an index.
• The publisher's website has this order page with a description, and the table of contents.
• Locus Magazine includes it in its September list of New and Notable Books: "This in-depth critical study examines the career and philosophy of author and editor Hugo Gernsback, father of 'scientifiction,' exploring his efforts to define and shape SF and tracing the influence of his numerous magazines and his novel Ralph 124C 41+ on the field."

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