* Bates, Paul L. : Imprint
(Five Star 1-59414-312-9, $25.95, 323pp, hardcover, July 2005, jacket illustration Alan M. Clark)

SF novel set in a dystopian future of collective amnesia, about a city worker pursuing advancement while searching for a lost girlfriend no one else remembers.
• The author has published stories in small press magazines for several years; this is his first novel.
• The publisher has this order page for the book, with excerpts from reviews. The Amazon page also has numerous excerpts from reviews, including Booklist's: "Bates vividly realizes a surrealistic, haunting world; unforgettable characters; and a mature narrative style that, in a first novel, spotlights him as a promising new voice in sf."
• The author was interviewed by Bookslut in December.

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* Cornish, D. M. : Monster Blood Tattoo, Book One: Foundling
(Putnam 0-399-24638-x, $18.99, 434pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket art D. M. Cornish)

Young adult fantasy novel, set in the world of Half-Continent, about an orphan boy named Rossamünd.
• The novel's 312 pages are followed by over 100 pages of glossary (called the "Explicarium") and appendices, including a calendar, ship diagrams, and maps.
• The series has its own website, Monster Blood Tattoo, with character bios, samples from the glossary, background on the author, and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Booklist review: "In the first book in the Monster Blood Tattoo series, first-time author Cornish gives the Dickensian orphan story an original spin as Rossamund faces a world at war with creatures such as the Grinnlings with their wicked, grinning mouths. The world building of the Half-Continent is expertly envisioned and peopled with intriguing characters..."

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* Garcia y Robertson, R. : Firebird
(Tor 0-765-31356-1, $24.95, 380pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket art Kinuko Y. Craft)

Fantasy novel set in the medieval land of Markovy, about a witch-girl and a knight trying to remove the curse from their land.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its April 3rd issue: "Bawdy and bloody, magical and mythic, this joyous novel is sure to please heroic fantasy fans."

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* Goodall, Mark : Sweet & Savage: The World Through the Shockumentary Film Lens
(Headpress 1-900486-49-0, $19.95, 160pp, trade paperback, July 2006)

Nonfiction study of the "mondo" documentary films on various sensational and controversial topics, beginning with Mondo Cane in 1962. The genre tie is to J.G. Ballard, who provides a 3-page interview about that first film, as well as a cover blurb: "The Mondo Cane films were an important key to what was going on in the media landscape of the 1960s especially post the JFK assassination."
• Despite the Amazon listing of August 2005, the book is copyright 2006 and there's no indication of an earlier edition.
• The publisher's site has this page about the book.

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* Greenberg, Martin H., & John Helfers, eds. : Slipstreams
(DAW 0-7564-0357-X, $7.99, 307pp, mass market paperback, May 2006)

Anthology of 20 original 'slipstream' stories, with an introduction by Helfers. Authors include Alan Dean Foster, Robert J. Sawyer, Fiona Patten, L. E. Modesitt Jr., Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Dave Smeds, and Russell Davis.

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+ Houellebecq, Michel, translated by Gavin Bowd : The Possibility of an Island
(Knopf 0-307-26349-5, $24.95, 337pp, hardcover, May 2006)

Literary SF novel by the controversial French author. It's about a contemporary shock jock comedian and his involvement with a cult of health fanatics who achieve immortality through cloning.
• First published in France in 2005, with the English translation first published in the UK in November 2005. The author has this English-language page on his website.
• The publisher's site has this description -- "[Daniel's clones'] commentary on Daniel's fate, and on the race as a whole, illuminates the basic tenets of our existence—laughter, tears, love, remorse—and their nostalgia for such emotions, all of which have long since disappeared." -- and an excerpt.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly -- "Houellebecq has never written better, yet this novel seems stuck in the groove—clunky mini-essays, gonzo porn digressions—first etched by his earlier novels." -- and Booklist.
• Washington Post just published a review by Merle Rubin: "It's a skillful amalgam of prophecy, satire and science fiction, covering some of the same ground as Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake but with much more finesse and conviction."

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* Luzzatto, Kfir : The Odyssey Gene
(Echelon Press 1-59080-476-2, $12.99, 280pp, trade paperback, July 2006, cover art Michal Luzzatto)

SF novel in which genetic testing leads to discrimination.
• The author has previously published horror stories and a novel, Crossing the Meadow, voted "best horror novel" in a 2003 Preditors and Editors Readers Poll.
• The author's site links to a special site for the book, with a trailer, a song, and a Chapter 1 excerpt.

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+ Masson, Sophie : Snow, Fire, Sword
(Eos 0-06-079091-1, $15.99, 359pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket art Harvey Chan)

Young adult fantasy novel, set in a contemporary Indonesian village threatened by ancient spirits.
• First published by Random House Australia in June 2004. The author's website has this page about the book, which mentions that it's "the first in a series of novels to be set in the world of El 'Jisal, a parallel world based on the Muslim world. Each book is set in a different country."
• HarperCollins' site has this description and an excerpt.

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* Patterson, James : Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever
(Little, Brown 0-316-15559-4, $16.99, 409pp, hardcover, May 2006)

Young adult SF novel, follow-up to The Angel Experiment (just out in paperback), about genetically altered kids with wings. In this book the renegade kids are captured by the FBI and sent to school.
• Series site Maximumride.com has a blog, an audio excerpt, and a chapter excerpt.
• Amazon has a message from the author, and numerous reader reviews.

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* Persley, Nikki : Serpent of Eternity
(WingSpan Press 1-59594-047-2, $16.95, 250pp, trade paperback, April 2006, cover illustration Rickie Du Burke)

Urban fantasy novel, first of a trilogy, about a New York City woman who's believed by a secret religious society to be a reborn African earth goddess.
• The author's site has a page about the book and an excerpt, as well as news, background on the author, an interview, etc.

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* Roberson, Chris : Paragaea: A Planetary Romance
(Prometheus/Pyr 1-59102-440-4, $25, 399pp, hardcover, May 2006, cover illustration Jon Foster)

SF novel in the mode of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett, about a Soviet astronaut and a 19th century Royal Navy officer who find themselves stranded in another dimension.
• The publisher's site has this description, which notes that the book "is in fact a 'hard' science fiction adventure, grounded in the latest thinking in the fields of theoretical physics, artificial intelligence, genetics, and more. There is a rigorously rational explanation behind all of the unearthly elements, with most of the 'magic' the protagonist encounters being the products of a forgotten, transhuman, post-singularity culture that has long since disappeared." The page also has quotes from reviews. A trade paperback edition is also available.
• The author has set up this site for the book, which includes a map, an excerpt of the first three chapters, character biographies, and the complete text of earlier POD prequel novel Set the Seas on Fire.
• Amazon has posts by the author, and the Publishers Weekly review: "Roberson's style, in the best pulp manner, favors enthusiastic exposition and travelogue with dashes of swashbuckling. His colorful characters and setting transport readers to a simpler era when every story offered new worlds to explore."

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* Savile, Steve, & Alethea Kontis, eds. : Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology
(Tor 0-765-31562-9, $24.95, 380pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket art Michael Whelan)

Anthology of 23 original stories, written and published to benefit victims of the December 2004 tsunami that hit Southeast Asia. Authors include Brian Aldiss, David Gerrold, Larry Niven, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, Jacqueline Carey, Janny Wurts, Sean Williams & Shane Dix, and many others. Arthur C. Clarke provides an introduction.
• SFFWorld has posted this review by Rob H. Bedford. Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist.
• Rich Horton reviewed the book in the April issue of Locus Magazine, mentioning Adam Roberts' "And Tomorrow and" in particular.

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* Stross, Charles : The Clan Corporate
(Tor 0-765-30930-0, $24.95, 320pp, hardcover, May 2006, jacket art Paul Youll)

Fantasy novel, third in The Merchant Princes following The Family Trade (2004) and The Hidden Family (2005), about a Boston biotech journalist transported to an alternate world.
• According to Stross' FAQ page, three more volumes are planned, with the next, The Merchants War, due in June 2007.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews, the former concluding "the book gallops along to a cliffhanger ending that will leave readers eagerly awaiting future installments."
• Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the May issue of Locus Magazine.

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* Wiater, Stanley, Christopher Golden & Hank Wagner : The Complete Stephen King Universe: A Guide to the Worlds of Stephen King
(St. Martin's Griffin 0-312-32490-1, $21.95, 32+512pp, trade paperback, June 2006)

Nonfiction, revised and updated from the original 2001 edition, examining all of King's works to date [at least through 2004], with descriptions, character sketches, trivia, notes on adaptations, etc., for each novel and story. Includes a chronology, recommended reading, recommended websites, and an index.
• The text includes the complete Dark Tower series, while The Colorado Kid and Cell make it onto the chronology though not into the text.
• The listing on the Cemetery Dance Publications website has a longer description.

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