*
Bova, Ben, ed. :
Nebula Awards Showcase 2008
(Roc 978-0-451-46188-9, $16, 375pp, trade paperback, April 2008, cover art Allan Davey)
Anthology of winners and runners-up for the Nebula Awards presented in 2007 for works first published in 2005 and 2006.
•
Contents include winning stories "Burn" by James Patrick Kelly, "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle, and "Echo" by Elizabeth Hand, plus an excerpt from winning novel Seeker by Jack McDevitt.
•
There's room for only one other nominated story, Eugene Mirabelli's "The Woman in Schrödinger's Wave Equations". The complete list of finalists is not included in the book.
•
Include are Rhysling Award winners, for best poetry, by Mike Allen and by Kendall Evans & David C. Kopaska-Merkel, and the Rhysling 'Dwarf Stars' Award for short-short poem, by Ruth Berman, plus an essay about the Rhyslings by Joe Haldeman.
•
Other features are essays by Bud Webster, about the SFWA 'Hall of Fame' anthologies; Orson Scott Card, about SF in the 21st century; Mike Resnick, about the future of publishing; John Kessel, about Grand Master Award winner James Gunn; Diana Wynne Jones, about the best script winner; and Justine Larbalestier, about her Andre Norton Award winner Magic or Madness. There's also a short story by Grand Master Award winner Gunn, "The Listeners".
•
The publisher's site has this page for the book, with a brief description and links to various e-book editions.
|
*
Butcher, Jim :
Small Favor
(Roc 978-0-451-46189-6, $23.95, 423pp, hardcover, April 2008, jacket art Chris McGrath)
Fantasy novel, tenth in the "Dresden Chronicles" about crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden in Chicago, following White Night (2007).
•
The author's website has this page about the book, with links to sample chapters.
•
Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Butcher smoothly manages a sizable cast of allies and adversaries, doles out needed backstory with crisp efficiency and sustains just the right balance of hair's-breadth tension and comic relief."
•
Carolyn Cushman reviewed the book in the March issue of Locus Magazine: "It's an edge-of-your-seat thriller enlivened as always by Harry's trademark banter."
|
+
Feist, Raymond E. :
Wrath of a Mad God
(Eos 978-0060792985, $25.95, 414pp, hardcover, April 2008, jacket illustration Steve Stone)
Fantasy novel, Book Three of the Darkwar Saga, following Flight of the Nighthawks and Into a Dark Realm, set in the world of Midkemia, setting of Feist's earlier Riftwar series.
•
The HarperCollins Eos site has this description with its 'Browse Inside' feature.
•
Feist's official site [note new URL] crydee.com has a brief description of the book, and an exclusive interview.
•
Amazon has reader reviews.
|
*
Fowler, Karen Joy :
Wit's End
(Putnam/Marian Wood 978-0-399-15475-1, $24.95, 324pp, hardcover, April 2008)
Associational novel by the author of The Jane Austen Book Club, about a mystery writer in Santa Cruz, California, who seems to be driven to writer's block by the obsessive interest in her work, via blogs, chatrooms, and Wikipedia, by fans.
•
The publisher's site has this description. Fowler's site has book tour information.
•
Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "As Fowler analyzes our modern-day relationship to novels and writers' relationship to their readers, the line between fiction and reality blurs -- real people become characters in another's blog as fictional characters become real to the fans that fetishize them."
|
+
Hamilton, Peter F. :
The Dreaming Void
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-49653-9, $27, 630pp, hardcover, April 2008, jacket illustration John Harris)
First US edition (UK: Macmillan/Tor UK, August 2007)
Far future SF novel, set in 3589, in which humanity seeks transcendence via a black hole Void at the center of the galaxy.
•
Del Rey's website has this page with the dust jacket description, an author Q&A, and an excerpt.
•
The author's website includes this timeline of events covering the 1500 years between previous novel Judas Unchained and this novel.
•
Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book is "In the tradition of grand-scale SF sagas that explore the potential of human evolution."
•
Graham Sleight reviewed the book in the January issue of Locus Magazine: "Clearly The Dreaming Void is only part of a larger work, but it's safe already to say that one of the things Hamilton wants to do is examine religious structures, like the cult that grows up around Inigo, and the urge for transcendence they embody. That's not to say that this is an abstract book: it's full of violence, sex, and spaceships."
|
*
Hogan, James P. :
Moon Flower
(Baen 978-1-416-55534-6, $23, 308pp, hardcover, April 2008, cover by Alan Pollack)
SF novel about explorers from a mega-conglomerate 21st century Earth to the planet Cyrene, where they discover vast alien artifacts.
•
Baen's website has this description and links to several chapters.
•
Hogan's website has this page for the book, with links to pages of background, summary, and sample chapters.
•
Amazon has reader reviews.
|
*
Kessel, John :
The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories
(Small Beer Press 978-1-931520-50-8, $16, 315pp, trade paperback, April 2008, cover art Nathan Huang)
Collection of 14 stories. One story, "Powerless", is original to this book. Others include the Sturgeon Award shortlisted title story, World Fantasy Award finalist "Every Angel Is Terrifying", and the four "Lunar Quartet" stories, including Tiptree Award winner "Stories for Men".
•
Small Beer Press has this page about the book, with the complete table of contents and links to several text or audio versions of stories.
•
Kessel's homepage has links to his book tour schedule, free downloads, and reviews, include Nick Gevers' review from the March issue of Locus Magazine: "Occasionally dashing into whimsy, but in general employing a finely calculated combination of realism and satire, Kessel constructs stories of subversive eloquence, their full freight of meaning exploding in the mind a while after reading has ended."
•
Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "These well-crafted stories, full of elegantly drawn characters, deliver a powerful emotional punch."
|
*
Melko, Paul :
Ten Sigmas and Other Unlikelihoods
(Fairwood Press 978-0-9789078-6-0, $16.99, 254pp, trade paperback, March 2008)
Collection of 12 stories, the first collection by the author whose first novel, Singularity's Ring, was just published in February. These stories are reprinted from Asimov's, Futureshocks, Live Without a Net, Talebones, and other sources.
•
The publisher's website has this order page for the book, with cover blurbs by Charles Stross, Robert J. Sawyer, and others.
•
The publisher's page also reproduces the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book "highlights Melko's adaptability as he shifts from multiple universes to caped crusaders and from captured aliens to pet cats." The review concludes, "As Melko grows further into his talent, he'll be one to watch."
|
*
Rand, Ken :
Where Angels Fear: The Collected Fiction of Ken Rand, Vol. 1
(Fairwood Press 978-0-9789078-5-3, $18.99, 376pp, trade paperback, March 2008)
Collection of 34 stories, 13 of them original to this book, with a foreword by the author and an introduction by Dean Wesley Smith.
•
The publisher's site has this order page for the book, with cover blurbs by James Van Pelt, Louise Marley, and others, plus the Publishers Weekly review: "While Rand's work is steady rather than spectacular, he consistently displays creative imagination as well as a gift for understatement. Even where the twist endings are less than surprising, the deftly drawn characters and evocative descriptions will keep readers entirely satisfied."
|
*
Steele, Allen :
Galaxy Blues
(Ace 978-0-441-01564-1, $24.95, 322pp, hardcover, April 2008, jacket illustration John Harris)
SF novel in Steele's "Coyote" universe and a loose sequel to last year's Spindrift. It concerns a refugee from Earth's Union Astronautica who tries to defect to Coyote and gets a job as a shuttle pilot on an interstellar trade expedition to the alien hjadd.
•
The Ace website has this brief description with links to various e-book editions.
•
The Publishers Weekly review said "This grand interstellar adventure exemplifies Hugo-winner Steele's skill with near-future tech and struggle with human interactions."
|
*
Thurman, Rob :
Madhouse
(Roc 978-0-451-46196-4, $6.99, 337pp, mass market paperback, March 2008)
Urban fantasy novel, third in the 'Cal Leandros' series following Nightlife (2006) and Moonshine (2007), set in a New York City inhabited by various preternatural beings.
•
The author's website has an excerpt.
•
Amazon has reader reviews.
|
*
Traviss, Karen :
Judge
(Eos 978-0-06-088240-2, $7.99, 391pp, mass market paperback, April 2008)
SF novel, book six of the "Wess'har Wars" series following City of Pearl, Crossing the Line (both 2004), The World Before (2005), Matriarch (2006), and Ally (2007).
•
The publisher's site has this description with its 'Browse Inside' feature.
•
The author's website links to Amazon, which has a book description.
|
+
Winterson, Jeanette :
The Stone Gods
(Harcourt 978-0-15-101491-0, $24, 207pp, hardcover, April 2008)
First US edition (UK: Hamish Hamilton, October 2007)
Post-apocalyptic SF novel presenting three different end-of-the-world scenarios.
•
The publisher's site has this description.
•
The author's website includes an extract and an interview from New Scientist.
•
Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Though passionate condemnations of global warming and war appear frequently, the book also contains a triptych love story... Winterson's lapses into polemic can be tedious, but her prose -- as stunning, lyrical and evocative as ever -- and intelligence easily carry the book."
•
Paul Di Filippo has this review for Barnes & Noble: "The Stone Gods is never concerned with giving us realistic futurist scenarios of the doom that awaits us, and that's its privilege. But its lightweight and sour parodic punch, its hectoring Cassandra rants, fail to compensate for its lack of vigorous speculations."
•
Other online reviews includes those from New York Times and LA Times.
|
