New and Notable Books
Brian W. Aldiss, Supertoys Last All Summer Long (St. Martin's Griffin 6/01) This collection includes the story that inspired the Kubrick/Spielberg movie A.I., plus two more stories in the cycle, an essay about working with Kubrick, and eleven unrelated recent stories of the future. In all, 18 stories – ten previously unpublished – by a critically acclaimed master of SF.
Steven Brust, Issola (Tor 7/01) The ever-ironic assassin Vlad Taltos rejoins some old friends for an epic battle against beings more powerful than the gods. One of the best of the recent installments in this series, with some exciting new developments.
Pat Cadigan, Dervish is Digital (Tor 7/01) Detective Doré Konstantine, introduced in Tea from an Empty Cup, returns to chase a dangerous stalker through deceptive Artificial Reality in this noirish, sometimes surreal, near-future SF mystery.
C.J. Cherryh, Hammerfall (Eos 7/01) Far-future SF novel of nanotech and genetic engineering, with an Arabian Nights feel thanks to the setting on a low-tech desert planet. The first in a sweeping new series, ''The Gene Wars''.
George Foy, The Last Harbor (Bantam Spectra 7/01) Cyberpunk mixes with weary cynicism in this SF tale of a man who becomes addicted to virtual reality and drops out of the corporate life to chase a mystery woman. A novel set in the same near future as The Shift, Contraband, and The Memory of Fire.
Neil Gaiman, American Gods (Morrow 7/01) An ex-con adrift gets a job with a mysterious stranger and finds himself in the midst of old gods and their schemes in contemporary America.
Beth Gwinn & Stanley Wiater, Dark Dreamers: Facing the Masters of Fear (CD Publications 5/01) Photos by Locus's own Beth Gwinn fill this solid book with over 100 portraits of horror's creative forces – writers, artists, and filmmakers – with comments by each and text by Wiater.
David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds., Year's Best Fantasy (Eos 7/01) Genre fantasy finally gets some respect in this first in a planned series of annual fantasy anthologies, companion to Hartwell's successful Year's Best SF, with an emphasis more on genre fantasy than literary and cross-genre.
J. Gregory Keyes, The Shadows of God (Del Rey 7/01) The intriguingly different alternate-history fantasy series ''The Age of Unreason'', set in a world where alchemy works, wraps up triumphantly with a grand battle that brings together Benjamin Franklin, Tsar Peter, and others, in the New World to fight against the darkly angelic Malakim.
Nancy Kress, Probability Sun (Tor 7/01) In this sequel to Probability Moon, Terrans return to World seeking an alien artifact that may help in their war against the relentless Fallers. A powerful exploration of both physics and the nature of sentience.
Kelly Link, Stranger Things Happen (Small Beer Press 7/01) Nightmares, dreams, and the collective unconscious get a workout in this hard-hitting, often humorous, collection of 11 stories, two original.
Maxine McArthur, Time Future (Warner Aspect 6/01) The winner of the George Turner Prize in Australia, this powerful first novel appears for the first time in the US, a far-future SF intrigue set on a blockaded space station inhabited by various alien races.
Paul McAuley, The Secret of Life (Tor 6/01) An exciting near-future adventure of biological hard SF, ''an important novel that may well reflect the agenda of much SF for the near-term future.'' [Gary K. Wolfe]
Patrick Nielsen Hayden, ed., Starlight 3 (Tor 7/01) The much-praised, innovative original anthology series returns, exploring the limits of SF with 16 new stories by authors including Stephen Baxter, Terry Bisson, Ted Chiang, and Geoffrey A. Landis.
E. Hoffmann Price, Book of the Dead: Friends of Yesteryear: Fictioneers & Others (Arkham House 7/01) Price's memoir takes the form of a series of biographical sketches that provide a unique picture of the pulp era, the Fictioneers, and others, including H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith.
Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space (Ace 6/01) Humanity in the far future questions why no other intelligent species exist – but finding the answer could have deadly consequences. A refreshing space opera and an impressive first novel.
Robert Silverberg, The King of Dreams (Eos 6/01) Silverberg's bestselling, epic ''Majipoor Cycle'' concludes with this third book of the ''Prestimion Trilogy''.
Shaun Tan, The Red Tree (Lothian 7/01) Tan's eloquent, semi-surreal art is the attraction in this children's picture-book story of a girl's depressing – but stunningly depicted – day.
Ray Vukcevich, Meet Me in the Moon Room (Small Beer Press 7/01) With a touch of the surreal, and drawing from authors including Dickens, Kafka, and Asimov, Vukcevich explores literary tropes and juggles ideas in this virtuoso collection of 33 stories, six original. ''Vukcevich is a master of radical recombinations...'' [Faren Miller].
Manly Wade Wellman, The Devil is Not Mocked and Other Warnings (Night Shade Books 5/01) The second volume of ''The Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman'' brings together 28 stories by a multi-talented writer noted for his weird tales and fantasy.
Liz Williams, The Ghost Sister (Bantam Spectra 7/01) SF first novel by an author known for her short fiction. An anthropologist on a primitive planet becomes involved with a young man and his disabled sister.
Jack Williamson, Terraforming Earth (Tor 7/01) A post-holocaust tale with a hard SF edge, told by one of SF's Grand Masters. In the aftermath of a meteor collision, refugees on the moon turn to cloning, nanotech, and terraforming in their efforts to survive and eventually bring the planet back to life.
