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Dozois, Gardner, ed. :
Galactic Empires
(SFBC 978-1-58288-291-8, $14.99, 13+410pp, hardcover, March 2008, jacket art Vincent Di Fate)
Anthology of six original space opera novellas. Authors are Peter F. Hamilton, Neal Asher, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Stephen Baxter, and Ian McDonald.
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Dozois provides a preface and introductions to the stories.
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This is an original publication of the Science Fiction Book Club, available exclusively to members. The club's page for the book has brief descriptions of the stories.
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Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the January issue of Locus Magazine, calling McDonald's "The Tear" a "brilliant tour de force" that "demonstrates that sheer virtuosity of concept can outstrip the vertigo of scale implied by the term 'galactic empire.' "; Gevers also recommends the Hamilton and Reed stories.
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Kaku, Michio :
Physics of the Impossible
(Doubleday 978-0-385-52069-0, $26.95, 21+329pp, hardcover, March 2008)
Associational nonfiction, subtitled "A scientific exploration into the world of phasers, force fields, teleportation, and time travel".
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The book is divided into "Class I Impossibilities" (technologically impossible today), "Class II Impossibilities" (if possible, not for millennia), and "Class III Impossibilities" (violations of known laws of physics), and includes a preface, notes, bibliography, and index.
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Doubleday's site has this description and an excerpt from the first chapter, about force fields.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Science and science fiction buffs can easily follow Kaku's explanations as he shows that in the wonderful worlds of science, impossible things are happening every day."
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Kaye, Marvin, ed. :
A Book of Wizards
(SFBC 978-1-58288-292-5, $15.99, 10+402pp, hardcover, April 2008, jacket art Donato)
Anthology of six original novellas about wizards. Authors are Kim Newman, Margaret Weis with Robert Krammes, Holly Phillips, Tanith Lee, Peter S. Beagle, and Patricia A. McKillip.
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The book comes with a fold-out poster of the cover art by Donato Giancola.
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Kaye provides a book introduction and introductions to the stories.
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This is an original publication of the Science Fiction Book Club, and is available exclusively to members. The club's page for the book has brief descriptions of the stories.
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Le Guin, Ursula K. :
Lavinia
(Harcourt 978-0-15-101424-8, $24, 279pp, hardcover, April 2008)
Historical fantasy novel about the daughter of King Latinus and Queen Amata, who becomes the second wife of the title character of Vergil's The Aeneid.
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Harcourt's page for the book has a synopsis and links to an interview and a reading guide.
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Le Guin's site has this page about the book, with quotes from reviews, links to excerpts, and the book's map of Latium by Jeffery C. Mathison.
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Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its December 24th issue, which concludes "It's a novel that deserves to be ranked with Robert Graves's I, Claudius."
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Locus Magazine published reviews by Cecelia Holland, in its March issue, and Gary K. Wolfe, in the April. Holland concludes: "Lavinia is a magnificent book, an intellectual, moral and emotional achievement, and, like the Latin Queen in her guise as nightbird, I want to say, Go on. Go on."
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Park, Paul :
The Hidden World
(Tor 978-0-7653-1668-4, $25.95, 317pp, hardcover, April 2008, jacket art John Jude Palencar)
Fantasy novel, concluding volume in the Roumania tetralogy following A Princess of Roumania (2005), The Tourmaline (2006), and The White Tyger (2007), set in an alternate world where Roumania and Germany dominate Europe.
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The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it the "exciting and satisfying fourth and final volume... of Park's much praised alternate historical fantasy series", and "a fitting and triumphant conclusion to the series".
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Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the March '08 issue of Locus Magazine, discussing "the ways in which Park's Roumania series subverts a good deal of what we might expect from a more conventional fantasy" and calling this book a "surprising yet satisfactory conclusion to a most unusual epic".
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Reynolds, Alastair :
House of Suns
(UK: Gollancz 0-575-07717-4, £18.99, 473pp, hardcover, April 2008, jacket illustration Chris Moore)
Far future SF novel about the thousand clones of Abigail Gentian who roam the galaxy and periodically reunite, and two renegade clones who face an unknown force trying to end the entire line. It's a stand-alone novel, independent of the author's previous seven novels.
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The publisher's site has this description with links to reviews and an author Q&A.
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Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the April issue of Locus Magazine: "House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds's vigorous and diverting eighth novel, is somewhat mellower than its predecessors -- more optimistic, more expansive. There's less of the Gothic atmosphere, the sense of ultimate doom familiar from the Inhibitor novels, the menace radiating from haunted technological architectures."
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Rogers, Rob :
Devil's Cape
(Wizards of the Coast Discoveries 978-0786949014, $14.95, 409pp, trade paperback, April 2008, cover illustration Chris McGrath)
Fantasy novel, the author's first novel, about super heroes and vigilantes in a seedy corner of New Orleans.
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The publisher's site has this description with blurbs by Greg Rucka and others, and a link to a PDF excerpt.
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The author's blog has links to numerous reviews and interviews, and to this Publishers Weekly article about Wizards of the Coast's new fiction line.
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Trenholm, Hayden :
Defining Diana
(Canada: Bundoran Press 978-0-9782052-0-1, $19.95, 285pp, trade paperback, 2008, cover illustration Dan O'Driscoll)
SF novel set in 2043, when DNA manipulation is being taken to unrestricted levels, concerning police investigation of a locked room murder mystery.
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The publisher's site has this order page for the book, with a link to a PDF sample of the first four chapters.
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Not available from Amazon.
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Zindell, David :
Lord of Lies
(Tor 978-0-7653-1130-6, $27.95, 548pp, hardcover, April 2008, jacket art Gordon Crabb)
First US edition (UK: HarperCollins/Voyager, September 2003)
Fantasy novel, third volume in the "Ea" series following The Lightstone (US 2006) and The Silver Sword (US 2007), concerning a champion destined to lead a decadent colonial civilization back to greatness, via a grail called the Lightstone.
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Subsequent volumes have already been published in Britain -- Black Jade (2005) and The Diamond Warriors (2007).
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Tor's website has this description.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Zindell packs in frequent and substantial references to mythology and excerpts of prophetic poetry, sometimes mingling created theology with real-world mythical terms and sly pop culture references such as Valashu's lightning bolt-shaped forehead scar. This gives Ea an unusual depth and richness at the expense of slowing down and sometimes confusing the plot."
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