Asprin, Robert, & Jody Lynn Nye : Class Dis-Mythed
(Ace 9780441015313, $7.99, 296pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)

Humorous fantasy novel, 16th in the long-running "Myth Adventures" series that began with Another Fine Myth in 1978.
• The book was first published by Meisha Merlin in 2005.
• Asprin's Wikipedia entry has a description of the series and list of titles.

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Baker, Kage : The Machine's Child
(Tor 9780765354617, $7.99, 356pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: Tor, September 2006)

SF novel in the "Company" series, sequel to The Life of the World to Come (2004). The final volume in the series, The Sons of Heaven, recently appeared in hardcover.
• The author's website has this page about the book with a description and excerpt.
• Nick Gevers review last year in Locus Magazine called it "exciting and moving ... An enjoyable time-traveling rendition of the Ship of Fools template, pirate captain, amnesiac, and split personality dividing cabin space between them."

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Clegg, Douglas : The Lady of Serpents
(Ace 9780441015290, $7.99, 291pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: Ace, September 2006)

Dark fantasy novel, second volume of "The Vampyricon" following The Priest of Blood (2005), concerning a medieval soldier-turned-vampire. The third volume in the series, The Queen of Wolves, just appeared in hardcover.
• Series website The Vampyricon has this page for the book, with a video clip and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Clegg's rich descriptions, ingenious variations on vampire lore and intriguing speculations on a secret history underlying our own make this an exuberantly imagined dark fantasy."

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Erikson, Steven : Midnight Tides
(Tor 9780765348821, $7.99, 960pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: UK: Transworld/Bantam UK, March 2004)

Fantasy novel, fifth book of the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series following Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, and House of Chains concerning the Malazan empire and its numerous enemies. The sixth book, The Bonehunters, just appeared in hardcover and in trade paperback.
• The series' website, www.malazanempire.com, has background on the author and the books.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's review: "Those with a taste for massive high fantasy epics will welcome Erikson's fifth entry in his Malazan Book of the Fallen saga (after 2006's House of Chains), though it largely deals with the calm between storms. ... The large cast may daunt new readers, but maps and a glossary help fill the gaps. The ending suggests there'll be a lot more action in the sixth book (out of a projected 10)."

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Howison, Del, & Jeff Gelb, eds. : Dark Delicacies
(Ace 9780441015306, $7.99, 14+348pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: Carroll & Graf, October 2005)

Anthology of 19 original horror stories, whose co-editor Howison is founder of the southern California horror bookshop Dark Delicacies. A second volume, Dark Delicacies II, is due this month from Carroll & Graf.
• Story authors include Ray Bradbury, Whitley Strieber, Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Gahan Wilson, and Clive Barker.
• The bookstore's page for the book has the complete table of contents and excerpts from reviews.

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McDonald, Ian : River of Gods
(Pyr 9781591025955, $15, 599pp, trade paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: UK: Simon & Schuster UK, June 2004)

SF novel set in India on its 100th anniversary -- August 15, 2047.
• This is a trade paperback reprint of Pyr's 2006 hardcover; the first edition was published in the UK in 2004. The novel was a finalist for the Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awards, and won the British SF Association award.
• Pyr's website has this description with quotes from reviews and a chapter excerpt.
• Nick Gevers' review in Locus Magazine called it "a big, thoroughly ambitious SF novel of the Third World" that is "hugely adventurous and entertaining, sumptuously inventive and full of heart."

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Niven, Larry, ed. : Man-Kzin Wars XI
(Baen 9781416521488, $7.99, 489pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: Baen, October 2005)

Anthology of six original stories in the ongoing series about the feline Kzin warriors battling the ape-like humans -- part of the 'Known Space' universe established by Niven's stories and novels in the late 1960s.
• Three of the stories are by Hal Colebatch, two are by Matthew Harrington, and one is by Larry Niven.
• Baen's site has this description with links to several excerpts.

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Norton, Andre, & Jean Rabe : A Taste of Magic
(Tor 9780765354334, $6.99, 303pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: Tor, November 2006)

Fantasy novel about a woman with a magical sense of the world around her who is one of two survivors of a raid by Lord Purvis.
• An introduction by Rabe explains that this book was the last novel Norton worked on; Rabe completed the book based on Norton's plot and outline.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.

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Partridge, Norman : Dark Harvest
(Tor 978-0-7653-1911-1, $12.95, 169pp, trade paperback, September 2007, cover art Jon Foster)
(First edition: Cemetery Dance, November 2006)

Short fantasy novel set in a Midwestern town in 1963, about three boys on Halloween Night participating in a local tradition to hunt down a legendary creature called 'October Boy'.
• The book is currently a finalist for this year's World Fantasy Awards in the novella category.
• Tor's website has this page for the book; the author's website has background on how he came to write his "scarecrow story".
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review of the original hardcover edition; "Partridge has always had a knack for sifting deeper significance from period pop culture, but here he brilliantly distills a convincing male identity myth from teen rebel drive-in flicks, garish comic book horrors, hard-boiled crime pulps and other bits of lowbrow Americana. Whether read as potent dark fantasy or a modern coming-of-age parable, this is contemporary American writing at its finest."

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Reed, Kit : The Baby Merchant
(Tor 9780765315571, $15.95, 334pp, trade paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: Tor, June 2006)

Near-future SF thriller about a man who supplies babies to low-fertility couples, and a pregnant young artist on the run from the father of her child.
• Tor's website has this description with an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Booklist review, which concludes "Reed writes a fast-paced thriller with a consummate sense of style, even when gruesomely describing pregnancy and limning the mental state of a woman who wants to be pregnant and can't be."

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Stirling, S. M. : A Meeting at Corvallis
(Roc 9780451461667, $7.99, 622pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: Roc, September 2006)

Alternate history SF novel, third in the trilogy following Dies the Fire (2004) and The Protector's War (2005), in which an event called 'The Change' causes electronics and explosives to become inoperative, leading to the disintegration of American society. In this book a back-to-nature community comes into conflict with a neofeudal empire led by an ex-history professor.
• The next book in the series, The Sunrise Lands, just appeared in hardcover.
• Stirling's website has this description with links to several excerpts.
• Amazon has the Booklist review by Roland Green, who calls it "a major work by an authentic master of alternate history".

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Walton, Jo : Farthing
(Tor 9780765352804, $6.99, 319pp, mass market paperback, September 2007)
(First edition: Tor, August 2006)

SF alternate history novel, set in alternate 1949 in which Nazi Germany has won control of the European continent, concerning a gathering at a country estate called Farthing, where a murder takes place.
• The book was a finalist for this year's Nebula Award and John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and it ranked 5th in this year's Locus Poll for best Best SF Novel of 2006.
• Tor's website has this page about the book, with an excerpt.
• A sequel, Ha'Penny, is due this month from Tor in hardcover.
• Lisa Goldstein reviewed the book last year in Locus Magazine, saying "It's a clear-eyed, passionate meditation on universal themes: injustice, civil liberties, the fear of the outsider. No wonder it reads as if it was written just this morning."

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