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New & Notable Books



December 2008

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November New & Notable
Mike Allen
Lou Anders
Poul Anderson
Kristin Cashore
Jack Dann
Michael Flynn
Neil Gaiman
Nick Gevers
Margo Lanagan
Patricia A. McKillip
Robin McKinley
Richard Parks
Terry Pratchett
Justina Robson
Neal Stephenson
Jo Walton
Gene Wolfe

October New & Notable
John Joseph Adams
Stephen Baxter
Elizabeth Bear
Tobias S. Buckell
Daina Chaviano
Daryl Gregory
Joe Haldeman
Marvin Kaye
Benjamin Rosenbaum
John Scalzi
Karl Schroeder
Lucius Shepard
Ysabeau S. Wilce
Jack Williamson


Locus Issues Archive

2008 Books Directories



LINKS
 

New & Notable Books: December 2008
posted 12 December 2008

Joan Aiken, The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories (Small Beer Press/Big Mouth House Oct 2008)

All of the Armitage stories, including four original, are gathered in this collection of 24 stories about Harriet and Mark Armitage, to whom magically "interesting" things happen every week, thanks to a wish made by their mother before they were born. Includes introductions by Garth Nix and Lizza Aiken.



Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Gothic Art Now (Collins Design Nov 2008)

This lavishly illustrated art book surveys the current Gothic art scene with gorgeously dark works by 85 painters, sculptors, and photographers, and a foreword by Brom.



James P. Blaylock, The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives (Subterranean Press Nov 2008)

Blaylock's pioneering steampunk series, featuring the indefatigable Victorian scientist Langdon St. Ives, is gathered here complete with novels Homunculus (1986) and Lord Kelvin's Machine (1992), plus five stories.



Jonathan Carroll, The Ghost in Love (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Sarah Crichton Oct 2008)

Noted author Carroll's latest novel is an offbeat, unexpected, and occasionally goofy metaphysical fantasy (with talking dogs) about a man who doesn't die at his appointed time, leaving the female ghost sent to escort him to the afterlife stuck on Earth, where she falls in love with the man's estranged ex-girlfriend.



Roger Dean, Dragon's Dream (Collins Design Nov 2008)

Dean's dramatic work from the past two decades is showcased in this colorful art book, a companion to his previous books, Views and Magnetic Storm. Pieces range from album covers and gaming art to architectural designs.



Thomas M. Disch, The Wall of America (Tachyon Publications Oct 2008)

This collection of 19 stories spans a quarter century of Disch'a career, featuring his trademark bitter, satirical style. "Disch generally hits more often than he misses, lending the book as a whole a satisfyingly acerbic tone, closer probably to Twain than Vonnegut, but mostly characteristic Disch." [Gary K. Wolfe]



Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds., Spectrum 15: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art (Underwood Books Oct 2008)

The latest opulent art book in the annual series presents more than 450 beautifully reproduced works by over 300 artists.



Jeffrey Ford, The Drowned Life (HarperPerennial Nov 2008)

Ford's recent work is gathered in this collection of 16 stories, two original. "There are times when Ford's gift for visionary prose nearly gets the best of his plotting, and times when sentiment nearly gets the best of his prose, but when he's as on target as he is in the best of the stories here, there's no one like him at all." [Gary K. Wolfe]



Stephen Jones, ed., The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Nineteen (Running Press Oct 2008)

The all-horror year's best anthology presents 26 stories by authors including Ramsey Campbell, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Glen Hirsberg, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Pratt, and Michael Marshall Smith.



Fiona Kelleghan, ed., The Savage Humanists (Fitzhenry & Whiteside/Robert J. Sawyer Books Nov 2008)

This anthology presents nine stories by "savage humanists" -- with a lengthy introduction by Kelleghan defining the term. Includes stories by Gregory Frost, Connie Willis, John Kessel, Tim Sullivan, James Patrick Kelly, Jonathan Lethem, Robert J. Sawyer, James Morrow, and Kim Stanley Robinson.



Stephen King, Just After Sunset (Scribner Nov 2008)

King's first collection since 2002, this gathers 13 stories of horror and suspense, most from the past five years, plus one original, "N.", and previously uncollected 1977 story "The Cat from Hell". King provides an introduction and story notes.



Kelly Link, Pretty Monsters (Viking Oct 2008)

This treat for young adults (and the young at heart) collects nine stories, including "The Surfer", which Link calls "the first real science fiction story I've ever written." "Link's stories are unsettling, confusing, funny, and rewarding -- just like life, particularly for a young reader. " [Amelia Beamer]



H. P. Lovecraft, H.P. Lovecraft: The Fiction (Barnes & Noble Oct 2008)

This mammoth tome collects 68 stories, with an appendix including juvenilia and a discarded draft, and essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature". This is the first single-volume collection to include all Lovecraft's fiction, though it excludes his ghostwriting and "revisions." Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi corrected and edited the stories, and supplies an introduction.



K. J. Parker, The Company (Orbit Oct 2008)

This standalone SF novel by the author of the highly acclaimed Engineer trilogy sends five military veterans to colonize a remote island. "The satisfying meat of The Company is the questions it asks about what happens to soldiers when there are no wars available for them to fight." [Adrienne Martini]



T. A. Pratt, Dead Reign (Bantam Spectra Nov 2008)

The third volume in the urban fantasy series pits sorcerer Marla Mason against the personification of Death. "Marla -- foul-mouthed but essentially good-natured -- and her engaging companions rarely evoke enough misery to spoil all the fun." [Faren Miller]



Ken Rand, The Gods Perspire: The Collected Short Fiction, Volume Two (Fairwood Press Nov 2008)

The second of two volumes of Rand's collected short fiction includes 38 stories, nine original. While volume one, Where Angels Fear, focused on darker stories, this collects his lighter work. Dean Wesley Smith provides an introduction.



Marie Rutkoski, The Cabinet of Wonders (Farrar, Straus, Giroux Aug 2008)

This debut young adult fantasy, first in the Kronos Chronicles, follows the determined daughter of a magical metalworker who goes on a quest to retrieve her father's stolen eyes from an evil prince. "There's lots of historical and folkloric detail and color bringing this divertingly different world to life, and the story wraps up nicely, even though this is only the first in a series -- and a very impressive first novel." [Carolyn Cushman]



Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer, eds., Fast Ships, Black Sails (Night Shade Books Oct 2008)

Original anthology of 18 SF and fantasy pirate stories, including a novelette by Garth Nix and stories by Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette, Kage Baker, Howard Waldrop, Michael Moorcock, Naomi Novik, and more, with an introduction by the editors. "From bow to stern, crow's nest to keel, this is a fun and widely diverse collection." [Rich Horton]



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