+ Abercrombie, Joe : Before They Are Hanged
(Pyr 978-1-59102-641-9, $15, 543pp, trade paperback, March 2008) First US edition (UK: Gollancz, March 2007)

Fantasy novel, second in the "First Law" trilogy following The Blade Itself (2007), concerning savage battles between Union soldiers and invading Northmen.
• Pyr's website has a description with quotes from reviews.
• Abercrombie's website has a description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its January 21st issue, which calls it a "grim and vivid sequel" that "transcends its middle volume status, keeping the reader engaged with complicated plotting and intriguing character development. ... Abercrombie leavens the bloody action with moments of dark humor, developing a story suffused with a rich understanding of human darkness and light."

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* Bacigalupi, Paolo : Pump Six and Other Stories
(Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-133-1, $24.95, 239pp, hardcover, February 2008, jacket art and design Claudia Noble)

Collection of 10 stories, the author's debut collection. The title story is original to the book; others include Sturgeon Award finalist "The Fluted Girl", Hugo and Nebula finalist "The People of Sand and Slag", Hugo finalist and Sturgeon winner "The Calorie Man", and Hugo finalist "Yellow Card Man".
• The publisher's site has this order page with the jacket description and blurbs from Robert J. Sawyer, Kelly Link, and Elizabeth Hand.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review: "Deeply thought provoking, Bacigalupi's collected visions of the future are equal parts cautionary tale, social and political commentary and poignantly poetic, revelatory prose."
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the February issue of Locus Magazine, noting that "Bacigalupi is mostly the spiritual heir of C.M. Kornbluth, one of the few classic-age SF writers with a similarly grim and mordant view of human nature. The Kornbluthian tone is most distinctive in the one new story in the collection, 'Pump Six', in which a sewage engineer in a stinky, deteriorating New York plagued by energy and food shortages and nearly overrun with homeless near-subhuman 'trogs' discovers that his dimwitted assistant has permitted sewage to back up overnight due to the failure of the Pump Six of the title. ... If you can imagine 'The Marching Morons' without the comic-satirical edge, you begin to get a sense of the darkness of this tale."

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* Carl, Lillian Stewart : Blackness Tower
(Juno Books 978-0-8095-7202-1, $6.99, 367pp, mass market paperback, April 2008, cover art Timothy Lantz)

Supernatural historical mystery novel about an archaeologist who finds clues to an ancient tragedy, and her own past, from a tower in northern Scotland.
• Juno's site has this description, with a blurb from Mary Jo Putney and an author profile, plus an excerpt.
• The author's site has this page for the book.

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* Ford, Jeffrey : The Shadow Year
(Morrow 978-0-06-123152-0, $25.95, 289pp, hardcover, March 2008)

Fantasy novel, an expansion of Ford's World Fantasy Award winning novella "Botch Town", about two brothers growing up in a small town in the '60s, where signs of a mysterious prowler in the neighborhood may be tied to figures on the model of the town they have in their basement.
• The publisher's site has this description with its 'Browse Inside' feature.
• Ford's blog, 14theditch, links this new Washington Post review, whose author says "Botch Town is one of the most enthralling places I've visited in a long time."
• Nick Gevers reviewed the book in Locus Magazine's February issue, Gary K. Wolfe in the March. Wolfe wrote "For those of us who loved 'Botch Town', there are mysteries left as mysteries, and the most importance of these involve time, place, and character. By the end of The Shadow Year, we feel like we'd know our way around the geography of Ford's Long Island town as well as our own childhood towns, and we remember what it was like to see the world largely as a rumor."

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* Graham, Jo : Black Ships
(Orbit US 978-0-316-06800-0, $14.99, 411pp, trade paperback, March 2008, cover illustration Debra Lill)

Historical fantasy novel, based on Virgil's The Aeneid, about an oracle whose vision of black ships fleeing a city leads her on a journey with survivors of Wilusa (Troy) to found a new city. It's the author's first novel.
• The publisher's site has this excerpt.
• The author's blog has numerous posts about the book, including answers to questions from readers.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its January 7th issue, which calls the book "exquisite and bleak" and concludes "Historians will admire Graham's deft blending of Virgil's epic story and historical fact, most notably the creation of Egyptian princess Basetamon to take the place of magnificently anachronistic Dido. Graham's spare style focuses on action, but fraught meaning and smoldering emotional resonance overlay her deceptively simple words."
• Both Faren Miller and Cecelia Holland reviewed the book in the March issue of Locus Magazine. Miller concludes "What lifts Black Ships above standard tales of magically touched people in something like olden times is its vivid sense of place and era, true even when it raises echoes contemporary issues... There's food for thought here, as well as emotional depth and a refreshingly different approach to a legend we only thought we knew."

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* Harvey, Colin : The Silk Palace
(Swimming Kangaroo Books 978-1-934041-42-0, $17.99, 390pp, trade paperback, October 2007, cover illustration Berin Uriegas)

Fantasy novel about a young woman in a city made of spiderwebs perched on a high mountaintop, where the gods take personal interest in human affairs, and changing one's name is heresy.
• The publisher's site has description including a Library Journal review that says the author "brings to life a compelling world of flying machines, wizardry, and divine magic in a novel that belongs in most fantasy collections."

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* Kaveney, Roz : Superheroes!
(I.B. Tauris 978-1-84511-569-2, $18.95, 278pp, trade paperback, March 2008)

Nonfiction study, subtitled "Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films", about superheroes from 1930's comics to present day big budget films. Includes an index.
• The publisher's site has this description with blurbs by Marina Warner and Geoff Ryman.
• Amazon also has the description and blurbs.
• A Google search turns up this interview with Kaveney about the book on Whedon.info.

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* Ligotti, Thomas : Teatro Grottesco
(Mythos Books 0-9789911-7-6, $35, 312pp, hardcover, December 2007, jacket illustration Harry Morris)

Collection of horror 13 stories in three groups, including the cycle including the title story (a British Fantasy Award finalist), about a community of artists threatened by demonic perils.
• Other stories in the book include Bram Stoker winner "The Red Tower" and Stoker finalist "The Bungalow House".
• The publisher's site has this description and order page.

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* McCaffrey, Anne, & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough : Deluge
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-47006-5, $24, 225pp, hardcover, March 2008, jacket illustration Larry Rostant)

SF novel, third in the "Twins of Petaybee" trilogy following Changelings (2005) and Maelstrom (2007), about telepathic selkie twins who help rescue endangered species.
• Del Rey's site has a description and excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "This concluding volume of the twins' trilogy will primarily appeal to young, animal-loving SF fans."

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* Modesitt, L. E., Jr. : Viewpoints Critical: Selected Stories
(Tor 978-0-7653-1857-2, $25.95, 350pp, hardcover, March 2008, jacket art John Picacio)

Collection of 19 stories, three of them original to this book. It's the author's first collection in over 30 years of publishing.
• Tor's website has this description, including descriptions of the three original stories, "Black Ordermage", "Beyond the Obvious Wind", and "Always Outside the Lines".
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review from its January 28th issue, which says the book "displays Modesitt's breadth of experience and knowledge to great effect. ... Readers will find this an excellent showcase of a very fine writer's highest quality work."

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* Morrow, James : The Philosopher's Apprentice
(Morrow 978-0-06-135144-0, $25.95, 411pp, hardcover, March 2008)

SF novel about a philosophy grad student who takes a job on a remote Florida Key tutoring the daughter of an eccentric molecular geneticist, and the social controversy that ensues when the daughter, and two others, are revealed to have been artificially created.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• The author's site has an illustrated summary of the book and a self-interview.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Strong characters, shots of humor and an unpredictable narrative make this a winner."
• Locus Magazine has run reviews by Gary K. Wolfe, Nick Gevers, and Faren Miller; the last's is posted online in its entirety: "Morrow keeps escalating the weirdness and the mind games that surround his hapless hero until the plot achieves a degree of insane improbability that's the hallmark of Swiftian satire. Call it fantasy, SF, or some mixture of the two, it's perfectly suited to expose humankind's pretense of rationality for the delusion it really is."

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* Pagliassotti, Dru : Clockwork Heart
(Juno Books 978-0-8095-7256-4, $6.99, 390pp, mass market paperback, April 2008, cover art Timothy Lantz)

Steampunk romanatic fantasy about a courier who flies on metal wings over the city Ondinium, who becomes involved in a terrorist conspiracy between two upperclass family brothers.
• Juno's site has this description and an excerpt.
• The author has website The Mark of Ashen Wings and runs webzine The Harrow.

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* Palmer, Michael : The First Patient
(St. Martin's 978-0-312-34353-8, $25.95, 371pp, hardcover, February 2008)

Medical thriller by the author of The Fifth Vial (2007), about an old academy friend, now country doctor, is recruited by President Andrew Stoddard to be his personal physician, and who begins to suspect the President is insane.
• The author's site has a chapter one excerpt and a blurb from President Bill Clinton.
• Amazon has several blog posts by the author, and the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it an "over-the-top yet endlessly entertaining thriller" and concludes "The roller-coaster ride of a plot builds to an undeniably shocking conclusion."

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* Salvatore, R. A. : The Ancient
(Tor 978-0-7653-1789-6, $25.95, 384pp, hardcover, March 2008, jacket art Todd Lockwood)

Sword & sorcery fantasy novel, second of four books in "Saga of the First King" set in the world of Corona, following The Highwayman (2004).
• Tor's website has this description with links to podcasts of Salavatore.
• Series website Saga of the First King has a description and a PDF excerpt, plus an author profile and various extras.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which notes the book's borrowing of "themes and character types from his earlier novels. ... The result is a Frankenstein's monster-like construct of brisk prose and lively combat scenes..."

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* Simon, Marge B. : Christina's World
(Sam's Dot 978-0-9797903-5-5, $8.95, 82pp, chapbook, February 2008, cover art Marge Simon)

Collection of 26 stories in a cycle inspired by the famous Andrew Wyeth painting.
• Available from the publisher's site, which has a description and a blurb from Mary Turzillo.

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* Stirling, S. M. : In the Courts of the Crimson Kings
(Tor 978-0-7653-1489-5, $24.95, 304pp, hardcover, March 2008, jacket art Gregory Manchess)

Alternate history novel in which Venus and Mars -- having been terraformed by aliens -- are exactly as depicted in early SF; second in the series, following The Sky People (2006). This book is set on Mars.
• Tor's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Stirling's site also has a description, and sample chapters.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it a "charming second pastiche of 1930s planetary romances".

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* Tan, Cecilia, ed. : Best Fantastic Erotica
(Circlet Press 978-1885865458, $19.95, 312pp, trade paperback, November 2007, cover art Sandy Nys)

Anthology of 18 original stories, the results of an international competition for new erotic science fiction and fantasy stories.
• The winner is the opening story, Arinn Dembo's "Monsoon"; other writers include Thomas S. Roche, Jason Rubis, Connie Wilkins, and robert Knippenberg.
• The publisher's site has this description.

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