Michael Andre-Driussi, Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle, Second Edition (Sirius Fiction Aug 2008)

This second edition of the dictionary devoted to Gene Wolfe's Urth Cycle adds 300+ entries to the obsessively researched and World Fantasy Award-nominated original, plus updated maps, additional commentary, and a complete synopsis of the narrative.

Stephen Baxter, Weaver (Ace Jul 2008)

Fourth and final volume in the history-spanning Time's Tapestry series following Emperor, Conqueror, and Navigator, this time set during an alternate WWII where Churchill falls from power and Nazis invade England. Previously published in the UK by Gollancz (1/08). "The Time's Tapestry series evokes the same wondrous questions as the best alternate history tales, and does so on as broad an historical canvas as we've ever seen.'' [Gary K. Wolfe]

Elizabeth Bear, Ink and Steel (Roc Jul 2008)

Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are caught up in magical and political machinations in Elizabethan England and the Faerie realm in this colorful historical fantasy novel, part one of the Stratford Man duology set in the world of Bear's Promethean Age series: "a rich stew of heresy, faith, myth, literature, fairy tales, magic, and adventure, as well as the stuff of history.'' [Faren Miller]

Greg Bear, City at the End of Time (Ballantine Del Rey Aug 2008)

Bear returns to large-scale, far-future science fiction with this tale of Kalpa, the last city in the universe, and the three 21st-century humans who dream about it. Previously published in the UK by Gollancz (7/08). "Readers who've been waiting for more than a decade for Bear to return to the visionary epics of the Eon or Forge of God series had better hold on to their hats.'' [Gary K. Wolfe]

Galen Beckett, The Magicians and Mrs. Quent (Bantam Spectra Aug 2008)

A first novel, and first in a series, mingling Jane Austen-style comedy of manners with the Victorian gothic of Charlotte Brontė — and just a hint of Lovecraftian cosmic menace. The daughter of a mentally ill magician tries to keep her family together and find love while dealing with the disapproval of polite society and her demanding mother.

Jenny Davidson, The Explosionist (HarperTeen Jul 2008)

Davidson's debut is an intriguing young-adult fantasy set in 1930s Edinburgh in a world where Spiritualism is a legitimate science and Napoleon won at Waterloo. Boarding school student Sophie must investigate a murder and a bombing, and avoid the dangers of a dire prophecy.

David Louis Edelman, MultiReal (Pyr Jul 2008)

This middle book in the Jump 225 trilogy returns to the world of Infoquake, where heroic entrepreneurs fight against repressive government regulation to push new technologies to the limit. Economic science fiction at its best, "it's a brilliant imagining of a near-future that not only extrapolates convincingly from current technology and culture but fills in the gaps with world-building so detailed as to verge on the tedious.'' [Paul Witcover]

Greg Egan, Incandescence (Night Shade Books Jul 2008)

The latest novel from a master of hard SF takes place in the galaxy-spanning civilization of the Amalgam from stories "Riding the Crocodile'' and "Glory''. A tale of puzzles, technological marvels, and higher math that proves Egan's "hand has not lost its cunning nor his mind its passion.'' [Russell Letson] Previously published in the UK by Gollancz (5/08).

Gregory Frost, Lord Tophet (Ballantine Del Rey Aug 2008)

The concluding volume of an ambitious fantasy dulogy set in a strange world of city-sized bridges, each with its own culture, follows a cast of complex characters to their uncertain fates while exploring the very notion of Story itself.

Rich Horton, ed., Fantasy: The Best of the Year: 2008 Edition (Prime Books Jun 2008)

Locus reviewer Rich Horton presents his choice of the best fantasy published in 2007 with 19 stories by authors including Andy Duncan, Karen Joy Fowler, Daryl Gregory, Kelly Link, and Garth Nix.

James Patrick Kelly, The Wreck of the Godspeed and Other Stories (Golden Gryphon Press Aug 2008)

The latest collection of stories from noted SF writer Kelly gathers 13 stories from the last five years, including the Nebula-nominated title story and Hugo finalists "Bernardo's House'' and "The Best Christmas Ever''. Cover artist Bob Eggleton provides a foreword on the advantages of trying to "Think Like Jim Kelly''.

William Schafer, ed., Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy (Subterranean Press Jul 2008)

The fantasy may tend towards the dark, but there are some real stars among the writers in this original anthology of 11 stories by authors including Poppy Z. Brite, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Powers, Patrick Rothfuss, William Browning Spencer, and Kage Baker.

Ekaterina Sedia, The Alchemy of Stone (Prime Books Jul 2008)

Literary fantasist Sedia enters steampunk territory with this tale of a sentient clockwork woman caught in a power struggle with alchemists, mechanics, and the gargoyles who once ruled the ducal city of Ayona.

Charles Stross, Saturn's Children (Ace Jul 2008)

Stross's latest space opera is a fast-paced, funny homage to late period Heinlein, complete with a red-headed heroine with a nipple that goes "spung!'' Freya Nakamichi-47 is a femmebot designed for sex, trying to make her way in a universe where humans went extinct two centuries ago. "There is heart as well as smarts behind the jokes.'' [Russell Letson]

Walter Jon Williams, Implied Spaces (Night Shade Books Jul 2008)

What seemingly begins as classic high fantasy — complete with a roguish sword-wielding hero, a talking cat, and an army of trolls — soon morphs into a wildly inventive, genre-bashing, post-Singularity tale of pocket universes and high adventure. Williams's "angle of approach harks back to classic ludenic SF writers like Zelazny and Farmer, whose pocket universes borrowed as much from fantasy as SF.'' [Gary K. Wolfe]

Gene Wolfe, Memorare (Wyrm Publishing Jun 2008)

A signed, limited edition of Wolfe's Nebula and Hugo-nominated novella about a spacefaring documentary filmmaker working on a movie about deadly, booby-trapped floating tombs in asteroids orbiting Jupiter.