* Baker, Kage : The Best of Kage Baker
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-442-3, $40, 496pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Apr 2012

Collection of 20 stories.
• Subterranean’s site has this description and order page, with the table of contents.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Readers new to Baker may be bewildered by her densely built universes, but will also be rewarded by her visits to ‘those places where the jagged edges of the world showed.'”
• Adrienne Martini’s review in February issue of Locus Magazine is posted here; “The Best of Kage Baker makes me mad – not in a ‘reading this was a waste of time’ way but in a ‘she had so many stories left’ way. My anger is purely selfish.”

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* Carey, Peter : The Chemistry of Tears
(Knopf 978-0-307-59271-2, $26, 240pp, hardcover, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 May 2012

Literary novel with SF elements about a museum conservator’s attempt to restore a 19th century automaton discovered by her late lover.
• The author is two-time winner of the Booker Prize, for Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang.
• The publisher’s site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has a preview in its “Look Inside” function, and excerpts from numerous reviews.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Catherine and Henry, linked both by the automaton and by grief, ponder questions of life and death, questions that, as posed by Carey, are more fascinating than any solution.”

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* Clare, Cassandra : City of Lost Souls
(Simon & Schuster/McElderry 978-1442416864, $19.99, 544pp, hardcover, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 May 2012
• The Mortal Instruments #4

Young adult fantasy novel, fourth in the “Mortal Instruments” trilogy following City of Bones (2007), City of Ashes (2008), and City of Glass (2009).
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.

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* Cook, Glen : Winter’s Dreams
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-360-0, $45, 288pp, hardcover, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Apr 2012

Collection of 14 stories.
• Subterranean’s site has this description and order page, including the table of contents.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Best known for his Black Company series of fantasy novels, Cook focuses on alternate realities, distant futures, self-sacrifice, and camaraderie born of loneliness in these 12 intimate stories.”

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* DiTerlizzi, Tony : A Hero for WondLa
(Simon & Schuster 9781416983125, $17.99, 464pp, hardcover, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 May 2012
• Search for WondLa #2

Young adult SF novel, second in a series following The Search for WondLa (2010), about a 12-year-old girl raised by a robot who seeks other human beings. The book is illustrated by the author.
• Series site wondla.com has this description plus games, extras, and a virtual experience.
• Wired‘s GeekDad posted this review: “A marvelous sequel to one of my favorite books; complex characters make for more thought-provoking storyline.”

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+ Fenn, Jaine : Guardians of Paradise
(Orion 978-0-57508-327-1, $14.95, 348pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 May 2012
• Hidden Empire #3

First US edition (UK: Gollancz, September 2010)

SF novel, third in a series that began with Principles of Angels (2008) and Consorts of Heaven (2009), about humanity’s battle against the Sidhe, an alien race once thought dead.
• A fourth novel, Bringer of Light, appeared in the UK in 2011.
• Orion’s site has this description. This is a UK edition distributed in the US.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “The plot takes a while to get started, but the world-building keeps things interesting. As the Sidhe’s origins come to light, so do the related disquieting secrets behind the mechanism for interstellar travel.”

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* King, Stephen Graham : Chasing Cold
(Hadley Rille 978-0-9839531-7-3, $16, 272pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Fri 13 Apr 2012

SF novel, the author’s first novel, about a ‘mailman’ on a remote world in a far future when human civilization has been splintered by alien conquest.
• The author’s site has several posts about the book’s launch.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “…the novel evokes golden-age SF with dated language such as ‘gravs at full power’ and ‘ship’s chron’ but never supplies the optimistic energy of the pulps. …. Older SF readers might enjoy the nostalgic vibe, but most will find it out of step with the modern genre.”

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* Kontis, Alethea : Enchanted
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Harcourt 978-0-547-64570-4, $16.99, 320pp, hardcover, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 May 2012

Young adult fantasy novel about the youngest of seven sisters, Sunday, who writes stories that come true.
• The author’s site has this page of links to tidbits and trivia about the fairy world of the book.
• Kirkus gives this a starred review: “Absolutely delectable; if it has more fripperies and furbelows than are strictly speaking necessary, it makes up for that in the wizardly grace of its storytelling.”

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* Kress, Nancy : Fountain of Age: Stories
(Small Beer Press 978-1-931520-45-4, $16, 303pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 May 2012

Collection of nine stories, including Hugo Award winning novella “The Erdmann Nexus” and the Nebula Award winning tilte novella “Fountain of Age”.
• Small Beer Press’ site has this description with quotes from reviews and the table of contents.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Kress’s depiction of science is much like her characters’ experiences with love: by turns glorious and terrible, and always a little disturbing, even in triumph.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the May issue of Locus Magazine: “What makes her fiction distinctive, apart from the elegance of her craft and the clarity of her prose, is the manner in which she recombines [conventional SF] elements into complex structures that reveal their hidden dimensions, and invariably concern their impact on fully realized characters. She’s as good as anyone at imaginary gardens with real toads, only we’re the toads.”

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* Mamatas, Nick, & Masumi Washington, eds. : The Future Is Japanese
(Haikasoru 978-1-4215-4223-2, $14.99, 350pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 May 2012

Anthology of 13 stories, both original English language stories and translated Japanese stories.
• Authors include Pat Cadigan, Ken Liu, Bruce Sterling, Rachel Swirsky, and Project Itoh.
• Haikasoru’s site has this description with an excerpt from a story by TOBI Hirotaka.
• Karen Burnham reviews the book in the May issue of Locus Magazine: “Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington set out to show us that: ‘Japanese science fiction is just like Western science fiction, in that it is hard and soft, dark and whimsical, rigorous and fantastical.’ In this they clearly succeed.”

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* Mandelo, Brit, ed. : Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction
(Lethe Press 978-1-59021-005-5, $20, 276pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sat 5 May 2012

Anthology of 17 stories about non-binary sexual identities.
• Contributors include Kelley Eskridge, Nalo Hopkinson, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, and Catherynne M. Valente.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly gives this a starred review, noting stories by Nalo Hopkinson, Sandra McDonald, and Terra Lemay: “These and other stellar stories from Catherynne M. Valente, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, and Tansy Rayner Roberts will inspire writers, delight and satisfy readers who are already familiar with fluid gender identities, and leave newly enlightened readers determined to make the world more welcoming.”

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* Matthews, Hugh : Song of the Serpent
(Paizo 978-1-60125-388-0, $9.99, 317pp, mass market paperback, May 2012, cover art Adrian Smith, cover design Vallas, Andrew)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 May 2012

Fantasy novel tie to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, about the rogue Krunzle the Quick.
• Paizo’s site has this description with a link to a sample chapter.
• Note that the cover on Amazon and Barnes & Noble does not match this, the cover on the printed review copy received.
• These page do not usually list media or gaming ties, but this one is listed since the author, fully disclosed in the book, is Matthew Hughes.

(Mon 7 May 2012)
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* Miéville, China : Railsea
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-52452-2, $18, 424pp, hardcover, May 2012, jacket illustration Mike Bryan, jacket design Stevenson, David)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 May 2012

Young adult SF/fantasy novel set on trains that travel on a sea of endless tracks, with parallels and allusions to Moby-Dick, Treasure Island, and many other souces.
• The publisher’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “…this massively imaginative and frequently playful novel features eccentric characters, amazing monsters, and, at its heart, an intense sense of wonder.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the May 2012 issue of Locus Magazine: “The tale is told in an arch and sometimes quite funny voice, full of ampersands and invented words (the different ‘clatternames’ for the sounds trains make on the tracks are amusingly onomatopoeic), and the overall tone, despite some occasional real horror, is essentially playful – it’s Miéville having some good fun, and taking us along for an exhilarating ride.”

(Mon 14 May 2012)
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+ Nix, Garth : A Confusion of Princes
(HarperCollins 978-0-06-009694-6, $17.99, 352pp, hardcover, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 May 2012

Young adult space opera SF novel about Khemri, a Prince of the Empire in a galaxy full of millions of Princes all competing to become Emperor.
• The author’s homepage has a description along with cover images of the Australian, US, and British edition; the Australian was first, in mid-April.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Writing in the mode of Robert A. Heinlein or Andre Norton (to whom the book is dedicated), Nix has crafted an adventure filled with hostile aliens, deadly spaceship battles, cybernetic wonders, humor (often involving Khemri’s naïveté), and a touch of romance.”

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* Salaam, Kiini Ibura : Ancient, Ancient
(Aqueduct 978-1-933500-96-6, $18, 272pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 May 2012

Collection of 13 stories, 3 of them original to this book.
• Aqueduct’s site has this description with blurbs from Jack Womack, Nalo Hopkinson, and others.
• The Publishers Weekly review says the collection “introduces readers to alternate worlds built around magic, sensuality, sexuality, and the search for emotional comfort, however tenuous.”

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