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New Books November #3
Kristen Britain
S.C. Butler
Orson Scott Card
Kathleen Duey
Jane Frank
Terry Goodkind
Peter Hoeg
Brian Jacques
R.M. Meluch
Michael Moorcock
C.E. Murphy
K.J. Parker
Justina Robson
Ekaterina Sedia
Sharon Shinn
Michael Swanwick
Patricia Waddell
Michael Z. Williamson

New Books November #2
Michael Dirda
Carolyn Ives Gilman
Charlee Jacob
Charlee Jacob
Alan Lightman
Rae Lindley
George Mann
George R.R. Martin
Kathy Porter
Andy Remic
Vandana Singh
Bruce Sterling
Jonathan Strahan
Connie Willis
Gene Wolfe

2007 Archive

2007 Books Directories

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This page lists selected newly published SFFH books seen by Locus Online (independently from the listings compiled by Locus Magazine).

Review copies received will be listed (though reprints and reissues are on other pages), but not galleys or advance reading copies. Selections, some based only on bookstore sightings, are at the discretion of Locus Online.

* = first edition
+ = first US edition
Date with publisher info is official publication month;
Date in parentheses at paragraph end is date seen or received.

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New SF/F/H books seen : first half December 2007
posted 16 December 2007

+ Anderson, Kevin J. : Metal Swarm
(Orbit 978-0-316-02174-6, $25.99, 12+461pp, hardcover, December 2007) First US edition (UK: Simon & Schuster, July 2007)

SF novel, sixth in the "Saga of Seven Suns" series following Hidden Empire, A Forest of Stars, Horizon Storms, Scattered Suns, and Of Fire and Night, concerning interstellar war among humans, renegade robots, and various alien races.
• Note that previous volumes were published in the US by Warner Aspect; they've now been reissued as mass market paperbacks by Orbit (e.g. Hidden Empire).
• Anderson's website has this description. One more volume is forthcoming, The Ashes of Worlds.
• The Publishers Weekly review said that "Bestseller Anderson's super-size mosaic of intergalactic, Darwinian conflict has been compared to some of the genre's grandest epics with good reason..."

(Fri 7 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Brake, Professor Mark L., & Reverend Neil Hook : Different Engines
(Macmillan 978-0-230-01980-5, $24.95, 265pp, hardcover, December 2007)

Nonfiction, subtitled "How Science Drives Fiction and Fiction Drives Science", by a professor and an associate lecturer at the University of Glamorgan. It's a rough history of science fiction with chapters covering various ages from that of discovery through the atomic age, the computer age, and the age of biology. Includes an index.
• Some sections of the book were originally published in journals such as Physics Education and Astrobiology.
• The publisher's website has this page for the book.
• The book is copyright 2008, though the press release indicates publication in December '07 and the website indicates 5 November '07.
• Amazon's "search inside" feature includes the table of contents and an excerpt.

(Mon 26 Nov 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Card, C : Trina Wants to be a Duck
(Trafford Publishing 142513666-4, $15, 99pp, chapbook, November 2007)

SF novella about Trina, a galactic entity who opposes her Chrontos colleagues by wanting to become a duck, during training on Earth to transform into various beings and objects.
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Amazon also has the book description.

(Tue 27 Nov 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Fenner, Cathy, & Arnie Fenner, eds. : Spectrum 14: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art
(Underwood Books 978-1-59929-007-2, $29.95, 248pp, trade paperback, October 2007, cover painting Andrew Jones)

Fourteenth annual yearbook of fantastic art, with reproductions of works by over 300 artists.
• The book includes a tribute to this year's Grand Master Award, Syd Mead, a "year in review" essay by Arnie Fenner, and a tribute to the late Stanley Meltzoff. This year's jury is Mark Chiarello, Dan Dos Santos, Marc Gabbana, Dawn Murin, Ragnar, and Adam Rex.
• The bulk of the book consists of artworks in various categories -- advertising, book, comics, concept art, dimensional, editorial, institutional, and unpublished -- with Gold and Silver Awards in each.
• There's also an index of artists, with addresses and websites.
• The Spectrum Fantastic Art Official Website has entry information for next year's contest.
• There's also a hardcover edition of the book.

(Sat 24 Nov 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Gallagher, Debbie : The Spider's Bride
(Prime Books 978-0809572113, $12.95, 285pp, trade paperback, October 2007)

Fantasy novel about a woman who accepts the gift of a severed finger and becomes bride to the Prince of Spiders.
• UK SF Book News has this press release about the book, which notes that the author has previously worked in TV and role-playing games.

(Fri 7 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Gee, Henry, ed. : Futures from Nature
(Tor 978-0-7653-1805-3, $24.95, 320pp, hardcover, November 2007)

Anthology of 100 short-short SF stories first published in Nature magazine intermittently from 1999 to 2006.
• The editor provides a book introduction, and brief introductions to the stories, which are arranged alphabetically by author. Authors include Brian Aldiss, Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Arthur C. Clarke, Cory Doctorow, Greg Egan, Joe Haldeman, David Langford, David Marusek, Frederik Pohl, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Silverberg, Bruce Sterling, and Charles Stross. Unfortunately there are no acknowledgements of when individual stories were first published.
• Tor's website has this page for the book.
• Amazon's "search inside" feature includes an excerpt. The Publishers Weekly concludes: "All in all, this is a perfect volume to awaken startling new thoughts on old SF themes, giant leaps into the future in delectably palatable tiny packages."
• Rich Horton reviewed the book in the November issue of Locus Magazine: "This is, taken as a whole, a satisfying selection of cute ideas, occasionally quite profound, as often quite shallow, and of course more often than not essentially jokes (albeit good ones). That's what we should expect for short-shorts -- given the limitations of that form, this book does just what we hope for."

(Fri 7 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Greenberg, Martin H., & Rebecca Lickiss : The Future We Wish We Had
(DAW 978-0756404413, $7.99, 320pp, mass market paperback, December 2007)

Anthology of 16 original stories set in futures with flying cars, Mars bases, and other visions of tomorrow that have yet to come to pass.
• Authors include Esther M. Friesner, Brenda Cooper, Kevin J. Anderson, P.R. Frost, Mike Resnick & James Patrick Kelly, Dean Wesley Smith, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

(Fri 14 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Howard, Madeline : A Dark Sacrifice
(Eos 978-0-06-057592-2, $14.95, 418pp, trade paperback, December 2007)

Fantasy novel, second in the "Rune of Unmaking" trilogy set in a land ruled by an empress and twelve deadly sorcerers.
• HarperCollins' site has this description with its "browse inside" feature.
Publishers Weekly called this book "gripping" and concluded "Swift pacing, well-crafted characters and vivid battle scenes lift this well above the average Tolkien-inspired fantasy."

(Wed 21 Nov 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Nolan, William F. : Nightshadows
(Fairwood Press/Darkwood Press 978-0-9789078-4-6, $17.99, 303pp, trade paperback, December 2007)

Collection of 23 stories, subtitled "The Best New Horror Fiction by a Living Legend in Dark Fantasy", with 19 of the stories written since 2000, when the author's retrospective collection Dark Universe was published. One story is apparently original to this book.
• The publisher's website has this order page, with a reprint of the Publishers Weekly review: "Whether writing from the perspective of a love-struck werewolf or a serial killer desperately trying to suppress his violent urges, Nolan shows a command of the short story form that's a tribute to his 50 years of perfecting his craft."

(Wed 21 Nov 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Parker, K. J. : The Escapement
(Orbit US 9780316003407, $12.99, 409pp, trade paperback, December 2007)

SF novel, third in the "Engineers" trilogy (after Devices and Desires and Evil for Evil, already published in the UK), about an engineer sentenced to death who uses his ingenuity to plan revenge against his enemies.
• The parent publisher's site has a brief description.
• Faren Miller reviews the book in the December issue of Locus Magazine, saying that now that she's read all three volumes of the trilogy, her reservations about the first book are "gone. The whole thing is brilliant -- disturbingly so, since these fantasies (without a whit of magic) explore the human condition and reveal it all, brain, heart, guts and bowels, with a startling precision."

(Fri 7 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Ringo, John, & Julie Cochrane : Sister Time
(Baen 1416542329, $26, 439pp, hardcover, December 2007, cover art Clyde Caldwell)

Military SF novel in the "Posleen War" series that began with Ringo's solo A Hymn Before Battle (2000); the previous volume was Yellow Eyes, written with Tom Kratman, published earlier this year. This book is a sequel to Cally's War by the same co-authors, and concerns Cally's reunion with her long-lost sister.
• Baen's site has the description, with links to several chapters.
• Amazon has several reader reviews.

(Fri 30 Nov 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Shepherd, Joel : Killswitch
(Pyr 978-1-59102-598-6, $15, 451pp, trade paperback, November 2007, cover illustration Stephan Martiniere)

SF novel, the third about Cassandra Kresnov, following Crossover and Breakaway, and first published by HarperCollins Australia in 2004. This book concerns a war between Earth and Callay, in which the android Cassandra is threatened by a killswitch installed in her brainstem.
• Pyr's website has this description with excerpts from the reviews and sample chapters.
• The author's site has covers and links to all three books in the series.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Robert Ludlum meets Elizabeth Moon in this classic military SF adventure, buoyed by Shepherd's knack for balancing crisp action with characters you can really root for."

(Fri 7 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Sinclair, Linnea : The Down Home Zombie Blues
(Bantam 978-0-553-58964-1, $6.99, 516pp, mass market paperback, December 2007, cover illustration Stephen Youll)

SF romance about a Florida detective and a Guardian Force space commander who team up to stop a biomechanical plague from infesting Earth.
• Bantam's site has this description and an excerpt.
• The author's site has this page with excerpts from reviews and a book video.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes "Though it may prove too light for sci-fi enthusiasts, fans of romance and fantasy hunting for edgier fare can stop singing the blues."
• Cynthia Ward's Sci Fi Weekly review gave it a B+.

(Fri 7 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Turtledove, Harry : Opening Atlantis
(Roc 978-0-451-46174-2, $24.95, 440pp, hardcover, December 2007, jacket art Steve Stone)

Alternate history novel, first of a trilogy, concerning 15th century Englishmen settling the newly discovered continent located between Europe and the east coast of Terranova (North America).
• The publisher's site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review notes that the book features "Turtledove's trademark multithread narrative and realistic depiction of warfare and its aftermath".
• Steven H Silver hs posted this review.

(Fri 7 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Turzillo, Mary : Your Cat & Other Space Aliens
(vanZeno Press 978-0-9789244-0-9, $19.95, 104pp, trade paperback, August 2007)

Collection of 70 poems, about half previously published (in Asimov's, Star*Line, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and elsewhere), and half original to this book.
• The publisher's site has this order page for the book, with an excerpt.
• Amazon has reviews and reader reviews from Joe Haldeman, Darrell Schweitzer, Geoffrey A. Landis, and others.

(Thu 13 Dec 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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