Notable new SF, Fantasy, and Horror books seen : Posted 25 August 2004

Fantasy novel, second volume of the second trio in the author's "Symphony of the Ages" series; the immediate predecessor to this book was Requiem for the Sun (2002).
• The author's website, www.elizabethhaydon.com, has a description of the series, background about music, herbology, weaponry, etc.
• Tor Books' website has this page about Haydon, with links to excerpts from all five books published so far.
• Publishers Weekly's starred review from its July 12th issue is reproduced on the Amazon page; "Unlike most middle books of fantasy trilogies, Haydon's [volume] inspires and thrills all on its own."
(Thu 19 Aug 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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SF novel, third book following The Butlerian Jihad and The Machine Crusade in the "Legends of Dune" trilogy by these writers set 10,000 years before Frank Herbert's Dune series.
• The Official Dune Website has this page about the book, along with news about future Dune novels, a free short story available for download, etc.
• Amazon reproduces the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "All the Dune themes -- religion and politics, fanaticism, ecology, opportunism, totalitarianism, the power of myth -- exhaustively prepare the way for Frank Herbert's sweeping classic of corruptibility and survival."
(Thu 19 Aug 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Military SF novel, follow-up to The Dark Wing (2001) and The Dark Path (2003).
• The Publishers Weekly review, reproduced on the Amazon page, says "Hunt's fast-paced space adventure ... rises above the humdrum repetitions typical of this SF subgenre."
(Thu 19 Aug 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Fantasy novel, second in "The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone" following last year's The Briar King.
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• Amazon.com has a review by Jeremy Pugh, who says "Keyes is among authors like George R.R. Martin whose work is reinvigorating the often tired genre of high fantasy with rich, dark, and mature storytelling."
• Tim Pratt reviewed the book in the July issue of Locus Magazine.
(Thu 19 Aug 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Anthology of 20 original stories. Authors include Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due.
• The Publishers Weekly review, reproduced on the Amazon page, says " 'Danger Word,' an apocalyptic SF tale by husband-and-wife Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, doesn't deal with race per se, but forms a lively end to a volume whose universal human themes will resonate with many readers."
(Tue 24 Aug 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Literary SF novel beginning with a voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850 and following six story threads into a future "of corporate cloning and the fall of civilisation"; the third novel by a young UK author selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. The book was published earlier this year in Britain [Locus Online description].
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• John Clute reviewed it in SF Weekly.
• Amazon has the PW review, which concludes "[R]eaders who enjoy the "novel as puzzle" will find much to savor in this original and occasionally very entertaining work."
(Tue 24 Aug 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Fantasy novel about a watchman who guards the modern world from ancient evils. It's the first part of a two-volume sequence, the second of which, Mists of Everness, will be published next March.
• Wright's SF Site interview with Nick Gevers concludes with a description of the book.
• Damien Broderick reviewed this volume in the August issue of Locus Magazine.
(Tue 24 Aug 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Beyond the Indian hamlet, upon a forlorn strand, I happened on a trail of recent footprints. Through rotting kelp, sea cocoa-nuts & bamboo, the tracks led me to their maker, a White man, his trowzers & Pea-jacket rolled up, sporting a kempt beard & an outsized Beaver, shoveling & sifting the cindery sand with a teaspoon so intently that he noticed me only after I had hailed him from ten yards away. Thus it was, I made the acquaintance of Dr. Henry Goose, surgeon to the London nobility. His nationality was no surprise. If there be any eyrie so desolate, or isle so remote, that one may there resort unchallenged by an Englishman, ’tis not down on any map I ever saw.

Neil MeqVren rode with his queen down a dark street in the city of the dead. The tattoo of their horse’s hooves was drowned by hail shattering on lead cobbles. The wind was a dragon heaving its misty coils and lashing its wet tail. Ghosts began to stir, and beneath Neil’s burnished breastplate, beneath his chilled skin and cage of bone, worry clenched.