Anvil, Christopher, & Eric C. Flint, compiled and edited : Interstellar Patrol II: The Federation of Humanity
(Baen 1-4165-2099-6, $7.99, 882pp, mass market paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Baen, March 2005)

Omnibus/collection of five stories and one novel (Warlord's World, DAW 1975) in Anvil's Interstellar Patrol series -- following earlier stories published in Interstellar Patrol (2003) -- plus 17 other stories in the same Federation of Humanity setting. Edited and with an afterword by Eric Flint.
• The book describes the Interstellar Patrol as "looking for a few good con men, capable of ingenious improvisation and adept at playing dirty tricks on the bad guys."
• Baen's site has this description, including story publication credits, and links to several chapters.

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Birmingham, John : Designated Targets
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-45715-3, $7.99, 13+429pp, mass market paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Ballantine Del Rey, October 2005)

Time travel technothriller, second in the "Axis of Time" trilogy following Weapons of Choice (2004), about a 21st century United Nations battle group that is sent back to the middle of World War II.
• The final book in the trilogy, Final Impact, is due this month in trade paperback.
• Del Rey's site has this description, with an excerpt.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's review: "The author doesn't make the mistake of pitting his protagonists against morons, and he rightly shows how improvements in command and control trump bigger and better guns. Entertaining cameos by Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy will delight the geek in all of us."

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Brockmeier, Kevin : The Brief History of the Dead
(Vintage 1-4000-9595-6, $13.95, 252pp, trade paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Pantheon, February 2006)

Literary fantasy novel interweaving tales about a city inhabited by the recently dead, and a woman who's trapped in an Antarctica research station. It's expanded from a 2003 New Yorker short story that was a finalist for the Nebula Award in 2004.
• The publisher/author's site has a description, author Q&A, excerpt, reading guide, and an interactive 'enter the city' window.
• Locus Magazine reviewer Nick Gevers wrote last year: "What is really going on in Brockmeier's story can perhaps readily be guessed; but whether the reader is clued in or ignorant, the novel's climax is of extraordinary impact, fantasy and SF mingling in eloquent judgment on the simultaneous glory and emptiness of human life, its wonderful particularity and its casual evanescence"

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Carroll, Jonathan : Glass Soup
(Tor 0-765-31180-1, $13.95, 317pp, trade paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Tor, October 2005)

Surrealistic fantasy novel concerning a pair of lovers (Vincent and Isabelle, who starred in previous novel White Apples) and a metaphysical battle between God and Chaos for the fate of Isabelle's unborn child.
• The book has its own website, glasssoup.com, with a description, copies of reviews, a message board, and two PDF excerpts.
• Amazon has the review from Publishers Weekly, which concludes: "In-jokes abound, as do barbs thrown at George W. Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger, rap music, Austrian traffic problems and even chocolate pudding. This is a marvelous comic feast, but logic, consistency and plausibility are not on the menu."

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Elliott, Kate : Crown of Stars
(DAW 0-7564-0406-1, $7.99, 609pp, mass market paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: DAW, February 2006)

Fantasy novel, seventh and final volume in the author's "Crown of Stars" series, following King's Dragon (1997, a 1998 Nebula Award finalist), Prince of Dogs (1998), The Burning Stone (1999), Child of Flame (2000), The Gathering Storm (2003), and In the Ruins (2005).
• The author's site has this page about the series, including links to maps, while the news page has updates about this book and future works.
• Amazon has the PW review -- "This is a splendid piece of intelligent entertainment, even if it makes few concessions to new readers." -- and reader reviews.

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Hendee, Barb, & J. C. Hendee : Traitor to the Blood
(Roc 0-451-46090-1, $7.99, 396pp, mass market paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Roc, January 2006)

Fantasy novel, fourth in the "Noble Dead" series following Dhampire, Thief of Lives, and Sister of the Dead, about a half-vampire vampire-hunter and her half-elf partner. The fifth book in the series, Rebel Fay, just appeared in hardcover.
• Authors' site NobleDead.com has a description, a pronunciation guide, and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Fans of the series are sure to be pleased, while the novel stands well enough on its own to attract new readers."

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Lessing, Doris : The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog
(HarperPerennial 0-06-053013-8, $13.95, 282pp, trade paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: UK: Fourth Estate, June 2005)

Literary SF novel, sequel to Mara and Dann (1999), set in a far-future ice age.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Lessing's site has this description.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which notes "Lessing's long literary career includes much science fiction (the Canopus in Argos series), but this dystopia, underscored by its reluctant hero's existential dilemma -- why go on just to go on? -- resembles a classical myth, albeit one with no gods to intervene."

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McKillip, Patricia A. : Solstice Wood
(Ace 0-441-01465-8, $14, 278pp, trade paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Ace, February 2006)

Fantasy novel about a woman who returns to her family home for her grandfather's funeral, and finds herself drawn to the surrounding woods and the creatures who live there.
• Fan site www.patriciamckillip.com has this description.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt. It also has the starred Publishers Weekly which concludes "McKillip dazzles with this lovely tale of fairy and human worlds meeting and melding."

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Meluch, R. M. : Wolf Star: Tour of the Merrimack #2
(DAW 0-7564-0383-9, $7.99, 374pp, mass market paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: DAW, January 2006)

Military SF novel, second in a series following The Myriad (2005), about 25th century American and Roman interstellar empires battling an alien threat called the Hive.
• The author's website provides this excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review: "This is grand old-fashioned space opera, so toss your disbelief out the nearest airlock and dive in."

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Mosley, Walter : The Wave
(Warner 0-446-61818-7, $7.5, 226pp, mass market paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Warner Aspect, January 2006)

SF novel about an ancient mysterious alien 'wave' that is reanimating dead people.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Locus Magazine reviewer Gary K. Wolfe compared it Mosley's earlier 1998 SF novel: "While The Wave is more controlled and generally better than Blue Light, which couldn't quite decide whether it wanted to be horror, SF, or New Age spiritualism, it's still a bit fuzzy around the edges."

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Scalzi, John : Old Man's War
(Tor 0-765-34827-6, $6.99, 316pp, mass market paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Tor, January 2005)

SF novel about a future military service in which 75-year-olds are given new bodies and one-way-tickets to interstellar combat.
• There was an earlier trade paperback edition; this is the first publication in mass-market paperback. It was a Hugo Award finalist, in the year that Scalzi won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
• The author has a preview page for the book, with Q&As, a Chapter Nine excerpt, and an essay on writing. Scalzi also writes online journal Whatever.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review: "Though a lot of SF writers are more or less efficiently continuing the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein, Scalzi's astonishingly proficient first novel reads like an original work by the late grand master."

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Steele, Allen : Coyote Frontier
(Ace 0-441-01357-0, $7.99, 382pp, mass market paperback, December 2006)
(First edition: Ace, December 2005)

SF novel about human settlers on an alien planet, third in a trilogy following Coyote (2002) and Coyote Rising (2004). In this volume, 20 years after the settlers first arrived from Earth, the survival of both planets may depend on mutual cooperation.
• Steele, in his January 2007 Locus Magazine interview, excerpted here, says "I think the Coyote series is my strongest work to date. It's the closest thing to a masterpiece that I have yet done..."
• The author's official site has a bio, a bibliography, and Steele's 2001 House Testimony about "The Coming of the Space Age".
• Amazon has the PW review: "Shifting deftly among several characters, Hugo-winner Steele respects the various viewpoints keeping the debate fluid, but he also makes plausible that opposing individuals could grudgingly learn to respect each other enough to modify their rigid plans. As in the first two books in this popular SF series, Coyote and Coyote Rising, another major actor is the mysterious planet itself, which invites people to find new ways to think."

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Tuttle, Lisa : The Silver Bough
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-58735-8, $12, 335pp, trade paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Bantam Spectra, May 2006)

Fantasy novel about three American women in a coastal Scottish town cut off from the rest of the world by a landslide.
• Bantam's site has this description and excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred review from Publishers Weekly, which concludes "Full of delightful characters, engagingly fey imagery and well-researched Celtic lore, this superior fantasy provides a juicy denouement fit for a queen."

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