* Dirda, Michael : Classics for Pleasure
(Harcourt 978-0-15-101251-0, $25, 341pp, hardcover, November 2007)

Nonfiction book about reading classic literature, by the Washington Post book critic and friend of the SF/fantasy community (he attended this year's World Fantasy Convention), noted here for its inclusion of chapters about (among others) Italo Calvino, Edward Gorey, Arthurian romances, classic fairy tales, Mary Shelley, H.P. Lovecraft, Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, Philip K. Dick, and Beowulf.
• The publisher's site has this description with the complete table of contents, and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, which calls it a "casually brilliant collection of great book recommendations".

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* Gilman, Carolyn Ives : Aliens of the Heart
(Aqueduct Press 978-1-933500-17-1, $9, 114pp, trade paperback, October 2007)

Collection of four stories, one original to this book, "The Conservator". The other stories are "Lost Road", "Frost Painting", and "Okanoggan Falls", first published in 1992, 1997, and 2006 respectively.
• Not available from Amazon; order from the publisher, whose site has this description.

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* Jacob, Charlee : Dark Moods
(Wilder Publications 0-9773040-7-8, $19.99, 247pp, trade paperback, January 2007)

Vampire novel.
• The author's site has this description: "DARK MOODS begins 10,000 years ago in the Middle East, in a lost city of shapeshifters that have forgotten their true forms."
• Wilder Publications is an imprint of the now defunct DNA Publications, with some older stock (e.g. Roger Zelazny's Manna from Heaven) published in assocation with Wildside Press, restickered and sent out for review.

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* Jacob, Charlee : The Indigo People: A Vampire Collection
(Wilder Publications 0-9773040-6-x, $19.99, 201pp, trade paperback, January 2007)

Collection of 45 stories and poems about vampires, first published in various small print 'zines from 1991 to 2001.

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* Lightman, Alan : Ghost
(Pantheon 0-375-42169-6, $23, hardcover, October 2007)

Metaphysical fantasy novel about a former banker whose witness of a supernatural event upsets his worldview. The author is a physicist whose previous novels include Einstein's Dreams.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist; the latter concludes "Satirical and compassionate, Lightman's brilliantly orchestrated and gripping tale dramatizes our marshaling of fear, fantasy, and faith as we confront the unknown and the inevitable. At base, all we can truly trust, Lightman suggests, is wonder and kindness."

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* Lindley, Rae : Cimmerian City
(Lavender Isis Press 978-0-9793674-7-2, $10.95, 188pp, trade paperback, October 2007)

SF novel, first in the "Cimmerian Series", set in a 21st-century when corporations rule the world, about a war between humans and Dracins, creatures who are the result of side effect of 20th century pharmaceuticals.
• The author's site has this page for the book, with quotes from reviews, Cimmerian City Wallpaper, and an excerpt.

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* Mann, George, ed. : The Solaris Book of New Fantasy
(BL Publishing/Solaris US 978-1-84416-523-0, £7.99, 503pp, mass market paperback, December 2007, cover art Jon Sullivan)

Anthology of 16 original fantasy stories. Authors include Christopher Barzak, Hal Duncan, Jay Lake, T.A. Pratt, Mike Resnick, Lucius Shepard, and Jeff VanderMeer.
• The publisher's site has this page with the complete table of contents and quotes from reviews.
• Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the October issue of Locus Magazine, especially recommending Lucius Shepard's "Chinandega" and Scott Thomas' "Lt. Privet's Love Song" -- "a beautiful, rollicking old-fashioned tale of love and honor at sea."

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* Martin, George R. R. : Dreamsongs, Volume I
(Bantam Spectra 978-0-553-80545-1, $27, 13+683pp, hardcover, November 2007, jacket illustration Dominic Harman)

Collection of 22 stories, first volume of a career retrospective, this volume focusing on stories first published from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. The second volume is due next month.
• Contents include numerous award nominees and winners: "With Morning Comes Mistfall", "A Song for Lya", "The Stone City", "The Way of Cross and Dragon", "The Ice Dragon", "Sandkings", "Nightflyers", "The Monkey Treatment", and "The Pear-Shaped Man".
• The book has an introduction by Gardner Dozois, and lengthy autobiographical commentaries opening each of the book's five divisions.
• Bantam's site has this description with an excerpt from Martin's introduction to the first division, "The Four-Color Fanboy".
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "...extensive -- and candid -- author commentary make this much more than just a compilation of stories. Fans, genre historians and aspiring writers alike will find this shelf-bending retrospective as impressive as it is intriguing."

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* Porter, Kathy : Gray/Guardians
(BookSurge 1-4196-3668-5, $17.99, 355pp, trade paperback, January 2007)

SF thriller, first of four volumes, in which an Earth wracked by environmental disaster is offered salvation by two rival alien races, the Grays and and the Guardians.
• Series website Gray/Guardians includes a description and excerpt, reviews, author bio, etc.

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* Remic, Andy : War Machine
(Solaris 978-1-84416-522-3, £10.99, 392pp, trade paperback, November 2007, cover art Dave Seeley)

"Rock-hard" military SF novel, set in the aftermath of the Helix War, in which an ex-soldier named Keenan gathers his old military unit to pursue clues to the murderer of his family.
• Solaris' site has description and a PDF sample chapter.
• The author's website has an excerpt, while http://www.andyremic.talktalk.net/index_REM.htm has a long description and numerous links.
• SF Signal has this review, giving it four (out of five) stars: "Carry a small support to bolster your suspension of disbelief and enjoy the fun, fast-paced, butt-kicking action."

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* Singh, Vandana : Of Love and Other Monsters
(Aqueduct Press 978-1-933500-16-4, $9, 76pp, trade paperback, October 2007)

Novella about a 17-year-old boy who discovers his ability to manipulate minds.
• Not available from Amazon; order from the publisher, whose site has this description.
• The author has published numerous YA books; her website is http://users.rcn.com/singhvan/.

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* Sterling, Bruce : Ascendancies: The Best of Bruce Sterling
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-113-2, $38, 547pp, hardcover, August 2007, jacket art Peter Miller)

Collection of 24 stories, first published from 1982 to 2007; a career retrospective, with an introduction by Karen Joy Fowler, a foreword by the author, and edited by Jonathan Strahan.
• Contents include numerous award nominees and winners, from early Shaper/Mechanist stories "Spider Rose", "Swarm", and "Sunken Gardens", '80s SF and fantasy "Green Days in Brunei", "Our Neural Chernobyl", and "Dori Bangs", to later stories "Bicycle Repairman", "Maneki Neko", and "Taklamakan".
• Subterranean's site has this order page with the complete table of contents.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its June 18th issue: "Readers who like a hard-eyed view of the future combined with a wry wink at the past, with a few inventive postmodern narrative kicks mixed in, will be greatly rewarded."
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine.

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* Strahan, Jonathan, ed. : Eclipse One: New Fantasy and Science Fiction
(Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-117-1, $14.95, 263pp, trade paperback, November 2007, cover art Michael Whelan)

Anthology of 15 original stories; the first volume in an annual series.
• Authors include Andy Duncan, Garth Nix, Bruce Sterling, Lucius Shepard, Margo Lanagan, Jeffrey Ford, and Peter S. Beagle.
• The publisher's site has this order page with the complete table of contents.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its October 1st issue: "Each of the 16 selections in Strahan's superb anthology (the launch of an annual series) does a disturbing take on a premise that genre fans may find familiar from more mundane examples of science fiction, fantasy or horror..."
• Reviewers Rich Horton, Nick Gevers, and Gary K. Wolfe all cover the book in the November '07 issue of Locus Magazine. Gevers especially recommends Beagle's "The Last and Only, or Mr Moscowitz Becomes French", Gwyneth Jones' "In the Forest of the Queen", Shepard's "Larisa Miusov", and Sterling's "The Lustration", while Horton calls out Sterling for recommendation.

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* Willis, Connie : The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-110-1, $40, 700pp, hardcover, September 2007, jacket illustration John Jude Palencar)

Collection of 23 stories, subtitled "A Connie Willis Compendium", with contents ranging from early stories "Daisy, In the Sun", "Fire Watch", and "A Letter from the Clearys" to later works "The Last of the Winnebagos", "At the Rialto", "Even the Queen", "The Soul Selects Her Own Society", and "The Winds of Marble Arch", many of them award nominees and winners; six of the stories are previously uncollected.
• The publisher's site has this order page for the book, with the complete table of contents. The $125 limited edition includes two additional stories and a bibliography.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its July 16th issue, which says the stories "display a powerful range of sensibility, from poignant tenderness ('Inn') and heartbreak ('Samaritan') to close-to-the-bone satire ('Even the Queen') and blackest savagery ('All My Darling Daughters')."
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine.

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* Wolfe, Gene : Pirate Freedom
(Tor 978-0-7653-1878-7, $24.95, 320pp, hardcover, November 2007, jacket art David Grove)

Fantasy novel about Father Christopher, a Catholic priest in the modern world, who timeslips to become an 18th century pirate on the Spanish Main.
• Tor's site has this description.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist; the former judges that "Captain Chris is a laconic and rather unemotional narrator, which may put off some readers, but Wolfe's elegant prose still makes this relatively minor effort worth reading." The latter's Roland Green says "At the end of a superlatively well-done sea story, the modern-day priest is looking for a way back to his original self, to his family, and to the treasure that, however ill-gotten, he regards as his..."
• Locus Magazine's November issue has reviews by Faren Miller and Nick Gevers; the latter notes that the book is "the first Gene Wolfe novel since 1990 to stand fully on its own" (rather than being part of some series) and calls it "intensely fascinating and agreeably compact".

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