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Arthur, Keri :
Destiny Kills
(Dell Spectra 978-0-553-58960-3, $6.99, 321pp, mass market paperback, October 2008, cover art Larry Rostant)
Paranormal romance novel, first in a new series called Myth and Magic. It concerns Destiny McCree, who wakes up on an Oregon beach next to a dead man.
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The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
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The author's website has has this page about the book, with an excerpt and quotes from reviews.
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Bear, Elizabeth :
All the Windwracked Stars
(Tor 978-0-7653-1882-4, $24.95, 368pp, hardcover, November 2008, jacket art Jean-Sebastien Rossbach)
Fantasy novel based on Norse mythology, set in a city on a dying planet 2500 years after one Valkyrie survives Ragnorak.
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Tor's website has this description.
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Bear's website offers the first three chapters.
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Amazon has its "search inside" feature, with an excerpt, and the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its Sept 8th issue, which says that Bear "perfectly captures the essence of faded hopes and exhausted melancholy in this postapocalyptic melodrama..." The review concludes "Readers will be captivated by Bear's incredibly complex, broken characters; multilayered themes of redemption; and haunting, world-breaking decisions. While stilted prose slows the beginning of the tale, its finale is both rewarding and compelling."
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Carver, Jeffrey A. :
Sunborn
(Tor 978-0-312-86453-8, $27.95, 430pp, hardcover, November 2008, jacket art Stephan Martiniere)
Science fiction novel, belated fourth book in the Chaos Chronicles following Neptune Crossing (1994), Strange Attractors (1995), and The Infinite Sea (1996). It concerns human John Bandicut and a group of aliens and AIs investigating the source of gravity waves that are triggering stars to go nova.
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Tor's site has this description, which indicates that two more volumes are forthcoming.
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The author's site has this description with background on why the book took so long to get written, and links to excerpts.
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Amazon's "search inside" function includes an excerpt. Amazon also has the Publishers Weekly, which calls the book "space opera at its most agreeably and classically science fictional", and concludes "This installment is a cut above the earlier books and will be entirely accessible to any reader who appreciates high-powered stellar and n-dimensional physics blended with old-school space-faring."
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Csicsery-Ronay, Istvan Jr. :
The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction
(Wesleyan University Press 978-0-8195-6889-2, $35, 11+323pp, hardcover, November 2008)
Nonfiction study of how modern popular culture is increasingly "science fictional", focusing on seven cognitive areas...
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The book has 266 pages of text, 28 pages of notes, 21 pages of bibliography, and a 17 page index.
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The publisher's site has this description, which spells out the seven beauties of the title: "fictive neology, fictive novums, future history, imaginary science, the science-fictional sublime, the science-fictional grotesque, and the Technologiade, or the epic of technsocience's development into a global regime", and has blurbs by N. Katherine Hayles and Gwyneth Jones.
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The book apparently grew out of an essay published in Science Fiction Studies back in 1996.
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Amazon's "look inside" function includes the table of contents, the first few pages of text, and the index.
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Douglas, Carol Nelson :
Brimstone Kiss
(Juno 978-0-8095-7304-2, $7.99, 348pp, mass market paperback, October 2008, cover art Timothy Lantz)
Paranormal romance novel, second in the "Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator" series following Dancing with Werewolves (2007), set in an alternate history in which vampires, witches, werewolves, etc., have been revealed as real.
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The publisher's site has this description, with links to an excerpt, a PDF bookmark, and a recipe for a Brimstone Kiss Cocktail.
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Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its October 20th issue: "Douglas's dishy style compliments the twisty plot, and she helpfully includes references for the numerous nods to the silver screen, Egyptology and cocktails."
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Drake, David :
The Gods Return
(Tor 978-0-7653-1261-7, $25.95, 398pp, hardcover, November 2008, jacket art Donato Giancola)
Fantasy novel, third volume in "The Crown of the Isles" trilogy, following Fortress of Glass (2006) and The Mirror of Worlds (2007), that closes the long-running "Lord of the Isles" series.
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It concerns the Kingdom of the Isles, united under the rule of Prince Garric, threatened by the return of the Gods of Palomir.
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Tor's website has this description; Baen's Webscription site has this page for the book, with the author's acknowledgements and an author's note, and links to several chapters.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, and its "look inside" function includes an excerpt.
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Hill, Joe, & Gabriel Rodriguez :
Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft
(IDW 978-160010237-0, $24.99, 152pp, hardcover, September 2008)
Graphic novel, written by Hill with artwork by Rodriguez, about a New England mansion occupied by the family Locke, which discovers doorways to other dimensions and a creature trapped within.
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The publisher's site has this description, with several image previews, and offer to subscribe to numbers 1-6 of the series.
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Hill's site has this thread about the book.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "...To say more would give away many of the surprises the creative team provides, but this first of hopefully several volumes delivers on all counts, boasting a solid story bolstered by exceptional work from Chilean artist Rodriguez (Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show) that resembles a fusion of Rick Geary and Cully Hamner with just a dash of Frank Quitely."
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Kent, Steven L. :
The Clone Elite
(Ace 978-0-441-01608-2, $7.99, 369pp, mass market paperback, November 2008, cover art Christian McGrath)
Military SF novel, fourth in the series following The Clone Republic, Rogue Clone (both 2006), and The Clone Alliance (2007), set in a 26th century galaxy ruled by an Earth-based military of clones.
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This book concerns an alien force threatening Earth.
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Ace's website has this brief description.
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The author's website, Sad Sam's Palace, has an excerpt.
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McDevitt, Jack :
The Devil's Eye
(Ace 978-0-441-01635-8, $24.95, 359pp, hardcover, November 2008, jacket illustration John Harris)
SF novel concerning interstellar antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his assistant Chase Kolpath, fourth in the series following A Talent for War (1989), Polaris (2004), and Nebula Award winner Seeker (2005).
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This book concerns a mysterious message from a popular horror writer -- "They're all dead" -- who subsequently undergoes a memory wipe, and a remote planet threatened by a catastrophe suppressed by local bureaucrats.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book is filled "with historical details and thrilling stunts as well as sharp political allegory."
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Russell Letson reviews the book in the November issue of Locus Magazine: "McDevitt is working familiar SF territory -- playing with effects of scale -- but without the outsized heroic figures and shiny city-of-the-future movie sets of the pulps. There is heroic action (Chase in particular does some pretty snazzy stunt work and comes in for some well-deserved lionizing by the end), but it doesn't feel that way from inside the hero. The big show, McDevitt seems to be saying, is Out There, and we should remember that we're just playing the lounge."
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McPherson, Jim :
Feeling Theocidal
(Phantacea Mythos 978-0-9781342-0-4, $23, 280pp, trade paperback, August 2008, cover art Verne Andru)
Fantasy novel about a god, Thrygragos Varuna Mithras, who battles with his two Great God brothers over henotheism.
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It's the first prose novel in the author's Phantacea mythos.
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The book's website has links to other publications and to excerpts.
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Ness, Patrick :
The Knife of Never Letting Go
(Candlewick Press 978-0-7636-3931-0, $18.99, 479pp, hardcover, September 2008)
Young adult SF novel set in a town where everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts, about a boy who discovers an area of complete silence.
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It's first book of the Chaos Walking trilogy.
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The publisher's site has a description and excerpt.
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The book appeared earlier this year in the UK, where it won the Guardian children's fiction prize. Frank Cottrell Boyce's Guardian review said "It's hard to review The Knife of Never Letting Go without spoiling the story. It's so cunningly written that I was 100 pages in before I even realised what genre it was. I will say this, though: it lives up to the thrill of that first sentence."
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Martin Lewis just reviewed the book for Strange Horizons: "This is the best effing science fiction novel I've read all year."
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Raiser, Kimberly :
The Family Bones
(Delvling Press 978-0-615-24625-3, $15.95, 178pp, trade paperback, October 2008)
Fantasy novel about a family that inherits a mysterious house in Astral, Pennsylvania.
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The book's website http://www.familybones.net/ has a link to a chapter 1 excerpt, plus a bio, a list of appearances and signings, etc.
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Amazon has several reader reviews.
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Schoen, Lawrence M., & Arthur Dorrance, eds. :
Alembical
(Paper Golem 978-0-9795349-2-8, $13, 170pp, trade paperback, November 2008)
Anthology of four original stories, subtitled "a distillation of four novellas", by Jay Lake, Bruce Taylor, James Van Pelt, and Ray Vukcevich.
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The book debuted at the World Fantasy Con earlier this month in Calgary.
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The publisher's site has this page for the book, with the table of contents, blurbs from James Patrick Kelly, Nancy Kress, Jerry Oltion, and others, and ordering information. Hardcover and collector's hardcover editions are also available.
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Publishers Weekly's Genreville blog had this interview with Schoen about the book.
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Shepherd, Mike :
Kris Longknife: Intrepid
(Ace 978-0-441-01651-8, $7.99, 344pp, mass market paperback, November 2008, cover illustration Scott Grimando)
Military SF adventure novel, sixth the series following Mutineer, Deserter (both 2004), Defiant (2005), Resolute (2006), and Audacious (2007), about a Prime Minister's daughter who joins the space navy.
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In this book, Kris Longknife discovers a plan to assassinate a member of an aristocratic family, and implicate her as the assassin.
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Mike Shepherd is a pseudonym for Mike Moscoe.
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The brief publisher's description is also on the Amazon page.
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Updike, John :
The Widows of Eastwick
(Knopf 978-0-307-26960-7, $24.95, 308pp, hardcover, October 2008)
Literary fantasy novel, sequel to The Witches of Eastwick (1984), in which the three women, now widows, return to their Rhode Island home town.
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The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
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Amazon's "look inside" feature also has an excerpt. The Publishers Weekly review calls the book "tepid" but acknowledges that "Updike's observations about culture and social disharmony flash with their customary brilliance."
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NPR has a half hour interview with Updike.
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New York Times' Michiko Kakutani wrote that the book "while deeply flawed, is a less tendentious, more emotionally credible work than its predecessor. Mr. Updike is less interested here in scoring didactic points against feminism than he is in exploring the wages of time and age shared by men and women alike..."
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Weeks, Brent :
Shadow's Edge
(Orbit 978-0-316-03365-7, $7.99, 636pp, mass market paperback, November 2008, cover illustration Calvin Chu)
Fantasy novel, second in the "Night Angel" trilogy following The Way of Shadows (2008), about assassin Durzo Blint and his apprentice Azoth.
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The third book, Beyond the Shadows, will be published in December.
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The author's site has descriptions of all three books, plus an OpenBook feature to browse inside the book.
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White, Steve :
Saint Antony's Fire
(Baen 978-1-416-55598-8, $24, 304pp, hardcover, November 2008, cover painting Stephen Hickman)
Alternate history SF novel in which Ponce de Leon discovers alien technology in the New World, which 85 years later helps the Spanish Armada defeat the British.
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Baen's site has this description with links to several chapters.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "White (Blood of the Heroes) leaves the ending open, suggesting more daring and implausible adventures to come."
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