John Joseph Adams & Douglas Cohen, eds., Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond
(Amazon/47North Feb 2013)

This homage to L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz includes 15 original tales that reinvent the world and characters of the classic novel in radical ways, with stories by Orson Scott Card, Theodora Goss, Ken Liu, Rachel Swirsky, Jane Yolen, and more. Includes an introduction by Gregory Maguire.

 




James P. Blaylock, The Aylesford Skull
(Titan Jan 2013)

One of the founding fathers of steampunk brings back his beloved character Langdon St. Ives and his old nemesis Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, who has a dark plot that involves a stolen skull – and kidnapping someone St. Ives holds dear. ‘‘Blaylock has a keen eye for zaniness… but amid delightful absurdities, The Aylesford Skull won’t neglect keen minds, and equally urgent feelings.’’ [Faren Miller]

 




Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds., Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells
(Tor Mar 2013)

The 18 stories of ‘‘gaslamp fantasy’’ are sure to delight aficionados of neo-Victorian fiction, with work from Elizabeth Bear, Jeffrey Ford, Kathe Koja, Tanith Lee, Maureen McHugh, Delia Sherman, Catherynne M. Valente, and others.

 



Thoraiya Dyer, Asymmetry
(Twelfth Planet Mar 2013)

This debut collection by the award-winning Australian SF writer gathers four SF and fantasy stories, all original. Includes an introduction by Nancy Kress.

 




Peter Higgins, Wolfhound Century
(Orbit Mar 2013)

This impressive debut begins a new series that combines elements of detective stories, political thrillers, alternate histories, and fantasies. Vissarion Lom is an investigator for a totalitarian state reminiscent of Stalinist Russia, tasked by the secret police to hunt down a terrorist through a world made strange by the presence of angels, giants, and an endless forest, among other monsters and magic. ‘‘An excellent debut and an excellent opening.’’ [Faren Miller]

 




Nalo Hopkinson, Sister Mine
(Grand Central Mar 2013)

When conjoined twins Makeda and Abby are separated, only Abby retains the magic inherited from their family of godlets, and Makeda strikes out on her own. ‘‘The tale really begins and ends with the two sisters, trying to negotiate between love and freedom, and trying to survive one hell of a family.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince
(Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Mar 2013)

The acclaimed author presents her YA debut, set in a future Brazil where a talented young artist meets her city’s Summer King, raised from the lowest strata of society but fated to die as a sacrifice after reigning just a year. Together, they work to transform their corrupt city through art – before his time runs out.

 




Kit Reed, The Story Until Now
(Wesleyan University Press Mar 2013)

This retrospective volume, aptly subtitled ‘‘A Great Big Book of Stories’’, collects 35 of the acclaimed author’s most compelling stories from the past 50 years, ranging from her 1958 genre debut ‘‘The Wait’’ to 2013’s ‘‘The Legend of Troop 13’’, arranged not chronologically but by ‘‘preoccupations… a politer word for what drives me than obsessions.’’ Includes an introduction by Gary K. Wolfe.

 




Adam Roberts, Adam Robots
(Orion/Gollancz Jan 2013)

One of our most ambitious (and puckish) authors collects 24 stories, two original, many of which take beloved SF tropes in unexpected directions. Roberts reinvigorates subjects ranging from time travel and immortality to robots and genetic engineering – and even a fresh take on the classic Adam and Eve tale.

 




Karen Russell, Vampires in the Lemon Grove
(Knopf Feb 2013)

The author’s debut novel Swamplandia! was a Pulitzer Prize finalist last year, and now she brings us her second story collection (after 2006’s St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised By Wolves), this time gathering eight pieces of literary fiction touched with magic and the surreal. Two of these – the title story and ‘‘The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach’’ – were previously reprinted in volumes of the Best American Short Stories series.

 




Deb Taber, Necessary Ill
(Aqueduct Press Mar 2013)

This debut novel from the short story writer (and editor for Apex Books) is an ambitious post-apocalyptic tale about a woman thrust into an isolated community of genderless people (‘‘neuters’’ or ‘‘neuts’’) who rely on logic and science, and who strive to re-establish ‘‘balance’’ by releasing plagues designed to keep the human population in check.

 




Jack Vance, Magic Highways: The Early Jack Vance, Volume Three
(Subterranean Press Mar 2013)

For the latest volume in the ambitious series collecting the SF Grand Master’s early stories, editors Terry Dowling & Jonathan Strahan have chosen 16 pieces from the ’40s and ’50s, including several about Vance’s series character, Magnus Ridolph. ‘‘They’re all pretty entertaining, straightforward pulp adventure, and here and there is a hint of the ingenuity, imagination, and verbal playfulness that characterized Vance’s later work shines through.’’ [Gardner Dozois]

 




John Varley, Good-bye, Robinson Crusoe and Other Stories
(Subterranean Apr 2013)

This collects 11 vintage stories not otherwise currently available in book form, some seeing print for the first time in 25 years, arranged as a ‘‘Grand Tour’’ of the solar system (with a couple of exceptions). Includes classics like ‘‘Blue Champagne’’, ‘‘Retrograde Summer’’, and ‘‘The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)’’, plus an introduction by the author and story notes. ‘‘The freshness and vividness of these stories after nearly four decades suggests that Varley’s work belongs in the permanent canon.’’ [Russell Letson]

 




Ian Whates, ed., Solaris Rising 2
(Solaris Apr 2013)

The second ‘‘New Solaris Book of Science Fiction’’ continues the esteemed SF anthology series with 19 original stories by Paul Cornell, Nick Harkaway, Nancy Kress, Robert Reed, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Vandana Singh, Allen Steele, and others.