* Duchamp, L. Timmel, & Maureen McHugh : Plugged In
(Aqueduct Press 978-1-933500-22-5, $12, 91pp, trade paperback, June 2008)

Collection of two feminist SF stories, "The Kingdom of the Blind" by Maureen McHugh, and "The Man Who Was Plugged In" by L. Timmel Duchamp. The McHugh is original; Duchamp's story was published in a 2006 anthology from MIT Press.
• The publisher's site has this description, with a link to Annalee Newitz' review at io9.com.

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* Goss, Theodora, ed. : Voices from Fairyland: The Fantastical Poems of Mary Coleridge, Charlotte Mew, and Sylvia Townsend Warner
(Aqueduct Press 978-1-933500-21-8, $12, 146pp, trade paperback, May 2008)

Anthology of feminist poetry by Coleridge, Mew, and Warner along with commentary and poems by editor Goss, and a bibliography.
• This is Volume 20 in the publisher's Conversation Pieces series. The publisher's site has this description with an excerpt from Goss' introduction.

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+ Hardinge, Frances : Well Witched
(HarperCollins 978-0-06-088038-5, $16.99, 390pp, hardcover, June 2008) First US edition (us: Macmillan, May 2007)

Young adult fantasy novel about three kids who steal coins from a wishing well, and the witch of the well who retaliates.
• The novel was first published last year in the UK under the title Verdigris Deep, and was included on Locus Magazine's 2007 Recommended Reading List.
• HarperCollins' site has this description with its Browse Inside function.
• Carolyn Cushman reviewed it last year in Locus, saying "It's gripping, weird, and ultimately poignant, a wonderfully strange tale that could change the way you look at stray trolleys (shopping carts) forever." And Faren Miller's review concluded that the author "deserves many more prizes, and a readership beyond the lucky ones who have already discovered her."
• Farah Mendlesohn reviewed it last year for Strange Horizons: "As the book rolls on to its crescendo, water and emotions flood the page. The ending is deeply satisfying: it is incomplete, problematic, and flows off the edge of the page."

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+ Hunt, Stephen : The Court of the Air
(Tor 978-0-7653-2042-1, $25.95, 582pp, hardcover, June 2008) First US edition (UK: HarperVoyager, April 2007)

Fantasy novel about two teenage orphans in an alternate London fleeing assassins and conspiracies with the aid of a mysterious organization called the Court of the Air.
• Tor's site has this description with quotes from the UK reviews of the first edition.
• The book is the current Sci Fi Essential Book, with a description posted and an excerpt.
• The author is one of the publishers of SF Crowsnest.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review.

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* Jones, Diana Wynne : The House of Many Ways
(HarperCollins/Greenwillow 978-0-06-147795-9, $17.99, 404pp, hardcover, June 2008, jacket art John Rocco)

Young adult fantasy novel set in the world of Howl's Moving Castle, about girl who becomes responsible for her great-uncle strange house, which bends space and time.
• The publisher's site has this description with its Browse Inside feature.
• Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review in its May 19th issue: "Longtime fans and new readers alike will revel in Jones's self-assured return to the realm she charted in Howl's Moving Castle ... A tale to luxuriate in."

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* Mebus, Scott : Gods of Manhattan
(Dutton 978-0-525-47955-0, $17.99, 340pp, hardcover, April 2008, cover by Brandon Dorman)

Young adult fantasy novel about a 13-year-old boy who perceives a spirit city that co-exists with Manhattan.
• The book includes an elaborate fold-out color map and character list.
• The publisher's site has this brief description.
• Book site http://www.godsofmanhattan.com/ includes a map, a synopsis, a short excerpt, and quotes from reviews.
• SF Reviews.net has this review by Thomas M. Wagner: "a marvelous and vividly realized adventure, as full of mystery, secrets, peril, wonder, surprise and pageantry as the city to which it pays homage. Plus, it has warrior cockroaches who ride rats."

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* Mendlesohn, Farah : Rhetorics of Fantasy
(Wesleyan University Press 978-0-8195-6868-7, $27.95, 15+306pp, trade paperback, April 2008)

Nonfiction study of the taxonomy of fantasy literature, proposing four categories of fantasy -- portal quest, immersive, intrusion, and liminal.
• There's also a chapter on "The Irregulars", plus notes, a bibliography, and index.
• The publisher's site has this description with the table of contents.
• John Clute wrote a thorough review from Strange Horizons: "May I say how much I like this book before I make it clear that I cannot say how much I like this book? Rhetorics of Fantasy, most of which is superbly thought through, is perhaps the first full-length study of the vast fuzzy genre of fantasy to have been written as though the genre exists...."
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the June issue of Locus Magazine, who summarizes that "this is neither an historical survey nor a tour of key authors. Rather -- as Mendlesohn claims -- it's an exercise in observation based on a purely readerly approach to a huge number of texts. This alone, though, isn't what makes it easily the most important study of fantasy to appear in recent years, or what should make it of interest to readers and writers in addition to scholars and academics. It's the first major academic study to take full advantage of John Clute's conceptual approach to the field (outlined mostly in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, but continually under negotiation since), and one of the first to engage practicing writers in the discussion..."

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+ Morden, Simon : The Lost Art
(Random House/Fickling 978-0-385-75147-6, $19.99, 522pp, hardcover, June 2008) First US edition (UK: Fickling, July 2007)

Far future young-adult SF novel in which the Church guards ancient forbidden knowledge, and a visitor from offworld who arrives with advanced technology in pursuit of his enemies
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• The author's site has a bibliography and background on the author.
• Carolyn Cushman reviewed the book in the May issue of Locus Magazine: "The idea of a post-holocaust world where advanced knowledge is forbidden is hardly new, but Morden fills his world with striking details, more than sufficient to interest readers both young and old."

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* Pettersson, Vicki : The Touch of Twilight
(Avon 978-0-06-089893-9, $6.99, 406pp, mass market paperback, June 2008)

Supernatural fantasy novel, third in the "Sign of the Zodiac" series about a Las Vegas heiress who fights supernatural evil, following The Scent of Shadows and The Taste of Night.
• The publisher's site has this description and a 'Browse Inside' link including an excerpt.

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* Schwartz, David J. : Superpowers
(Three Rivers Press 978-0-307-39440-8, $14.95, 377pp, trade paperback, June 2008)

Fantasy novel, the author's first novel, about five college juniors in Madison, Wisconsin, who wake up one morning in 2001 with superpowers.
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Gwenda Bond has this interview with the author. The author's blog is Mumble Herder.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review and enthusiastic blurbs from Kelly Link and Karen Joy Fowler.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the May issue of Locus Magazine: "parts of it read like a pitch for a full-season sitcom, parts pay homage to the classic crimebusting tactics of the superhero comics, parts carry overtones of frat-house sex comedies, parts deal with serious issues of family and responsibility, and the whole thing spirals inevitably toward 9/11, with its implied interrogation of the notion of any sort of meaningful action in a world so chaotically indeterminate." He concludes "Superpowers takes its risks with integrity, and suggests that Schwartz is a writer of some promise."

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* Watt-Evans, Lawrence : The Summer Palace
(Tor 978-0-7653-1028-6, $25.95, 316pp, hardcover, June 2008, jacket art Raymond Swanland)

Fantasy novel, third volume of the "Annals of the Chosen" trilogy following The Wizard Lord (2006) and The Ninth Talisman (2007), about a young man who is one of eight Chosen Heroes who have the responsibility of defeating the current rogue Wizard Lord.
• Tor's website has this description.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book "successfully mixes intrigue and adventure with ruminations on the nature of power and heroes."

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* White, Wrath James, & Maurice Broaddus : Orgy of Souls
(Apex Publications 978-0-9816390-4-8, $13.95, 143pp, trade paperback, June 2008, cover art D.E. Christman)

Horror short novel about a man who needs twenty souls to save the life of his brother, a disillusioned HIV-positive priest.
• The publisher's site has this order page with a description and blurbs from Stephen Mark Rainey and James A. Moore.
• There's also a limited edition hardcover available, for $35.

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