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January
Christopher Anvil
John Birmingham
Kevin Brockmeier
Jonathan Carroll
Kate Elliott
Barb & J.C. Hendee
Doris Lessing
Patricia A. McKillip
R.M. Meluch
Walter Mosley
John Scalzi
Allen Steele
Lisa Tuttle

December
Catherine Asaro
Kage Baker
Judith Berman
Jim Butcher
Octavia E. Butler
Robert Jordan
Stephen King
Holly Lisle
Larry Niven
Mel Odom
Pratchett & Gaiman
Michael A. Stackpole
Jeff VanderMeer

2006 Monitor Archive

2007 Directory
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This page lists books newly available in mass-market or trade paperback editions, previously available only in more expensive editions.

These lists are compiled independently of Locus Magazine's Books Received listings; publishers may send review copies to the Locus Online address on this page.

Date with publisher info is official publication month;
Date in parentheses at paragraph end is date seen or received.

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Books seen February 2007
posted 22 February 2007

Butcher, Jim : Proven Guilty
(Roc 0451461037, $7.99, 496pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: Roc, May 2006)

Fantasy novel, eighth in the "Dresden Chronicles" about crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden in Chicago, following Dead Beat (2005). This time Harry Dresden deals with phobophages who attack a horror film convention.
• The next book in the series, White Night, is due in hardcover from Roc in April.
• The author's website has this page about the book, with links to sample chapters.
Locus Magazine reviewer Carolyn Cushman wrote last year, "Movie monsters and insane fairy queens keep Harry hopping and dropping sarcastic quips, but he still finds time to pick up a new apprentice - a very interesting new development in an invariably entertaining series."

(Thu 8 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Cherryh, C. J. : Pretender
(DAW 0756404088, $7.99, 404pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: DAW, March 2006)

SF novel in Cherryh's long-running Foreigner series about humans and the alien atevi; it's the 2nd book in the 3rd Foreigner sequence, following last year's Destroyer. This volume concerns a deposed atevi ruler attempting to retake control of his government.
• The 3rd volume in this sequence, Deliverer, just came out in hardcover.
• Russell Letson reviewed it last year in Locus Magazine, concluding "Cherryh's treatment of these not-human folk makes it hard not to like them, and the books they inhabit so convincingly, very much."

(Tue 30 Jan 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Coe, David B. : Shapers of Darkness
(Tor 081259021X, $7.99, 477pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: Tor, December 2005)

Fantasy novel, fourth in the "Winds of the Forelands" series, following Rules of Ascension (2002), Seeds of Betrayal (2003), and Bonds of Vengeance (2005), about war between the magical Qirsi and the ruling Eandi.
• The fifth volume in the series, Weavers of War, is just out in hardcover.
• The author's site has this page about the book, with some lengthy excerpts and various pages about the Forelands, including maps, history, legends, etc.
• Tor's newly refurbished website has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist; the latter's Roland Green calls it "the fourth but obviously not final volume" of the series and notes its "its present level of imaginative world building, superior characterization, and sound prose".

(Wed 14 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Douglass, Sara : Crusader
(Tor 0-765-34280-4, $7.99, 524pp, mass market paperback, February 2007, cover art Royo)

Fantasy novel, Book Six of The Wayfarer Redemption. It was preceded by Pilgrim (published by Tor in 2005). The six books were first published in Australia as two trilogies, the "Axis" trilogy and the "Wayfarer Redemption" trilogy.
• The author's website has this detailed synopsis and an excerpt.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist; the latter concludes "Tons of action, myriad characters in all stages of development (the glossary of names at the end is quite helpful), and a classic plot concluded with a nice twist should please everyone who has enjoyed the previous five books."

(Thu 8 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Duncan, Dave : Children of Chaos
(Tor 0765353814, $7.99, 421pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: Tor, June 2006)

Fantasy novel, first of a duology, set on a dodecahedral world and concerning four children taken as hostages in a war who are reunited years later.
• Tor's website has this description and excerpt.
• The concluding volume in the set, Mother of Lies, is due in hardcover from Tor in May '07. (Tor's website has this description.) Duncan's website calls them the Dodec Books, and has links to reviews and an excerpt.
• Faren Miller reviewed the book last year in Locus Magazine, saying that Duncan "packs a remarkable amount of multi-culturalism, interesting characters, and unusual (sometimes brutal) magic into less than 400 pages."

(Wed 14 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Heinlein, Robert A. : Space Cadet
(Orb 0765314517, $12.95, 223pp, mass market paperback, November 2006)

Young adult SF novel, the second of Heinlein's popular and fondly remembered 'juveniles' (following Rocketship Galileo the year before in 1947). It's about a cadet in an interplanetary peacekeeping force as he and his friends proceed through basic training and their first mission.
• This is a trade paperback reprint of Tor's December 2005 hardcover edition. Tor's website has this description.
• Wikipedia has this detailed summary and publication history.
• The Heinlein Society website has this essays on Heinlein and the Tom Corbett Space Cadet Universe, as well as this concordance entry for the book.

(Tue 30 Jan 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Kaye, Marvin, ed. : The Fair Folk
(Ace 044101481X, $15, 435pp, trade paperback, February 2007, cover art Jean Pierre Targete)
(First edition: SFBC, January 2005)

Anthology of six original novellas about fairies, by authors Tanith Lee, Megan Lindholm, Kim Newman, Patricia A. McKillip, Craig Shaw Gardner, and Jane Yolen & Midori Snyder.
• This is the first trade edition of the book, which was originally published in 2005 by the Science Fiction Book Club, whose website has this description of the book.
• The book won the 2006 World Fantasy Award as best anthology, while Tanith Lee's story "UOUS" was a finalist for the same award.

(Sat 3 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Lerner, Edward M. : Moonstruck
(Baen 1416521119, $7.99, 406pp, mass market paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Baen, February 2005)

SF novel about the arrival of aliens, in lunar orbit, whose mission is ostensibly to evaluate Earth for membership in the Galactic Commonwealth.
• Baen's site has this description with links to numerous chapters. The author's site has this page with the same description plus blurbs from David Brin, Robert J. Sawyer, et al.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.

(Tue 30 Jan 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Moon, Elizabeth : Engaging the Enemy
(Ballantine Del Rey 0345447573, $7.99, 398pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: UK: Time Warner UK/Orbit, March 2006)

Military SF novel, third in the "Vatta's War" series following Trading in Danger (2003) and Marque and Reprisal (2004). In this one Kylara Vatta deals with interstellar pirates while trying to rebuild family ties.
• The latest book in the series, Command Decision, is due in hardcover from Del Rey in March.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Moon's website has these descriptions of the books in the series so far.

(Thu 8 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Paxson, Diana L. : The Golden Hills of Westria
(Tor 0-765-34784-9, $7.99, 432pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: Tor, February 2006)

Fantasy novel, 8th in the "Chronicles of Westria" and the first in the series since The Jewel of Fire (1992), set in a post-apocalyptic southwestern US. This volume follows a new generation coming of age.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.
• Series site Westria.org has descriptions of the books, background on the world, a photo gallery of locations, a family tree, and extras including excerpts of the book.
• Amazon has PW and Booklist reviews; the latter's Roland Green concludes "Straightforward in narrative style but occasionally uncertain at pacing, Paxson remains a hardy perennial on the fantasy scene, whose every book librarians do well to add to fantasy collections."

(Fri 9 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Pohl, Frederik : Platinum Pohl
(Orb 0765301458, $16.95, 463pp, trade paperback, January 2007)
(First edition: Tor, December 2005)

Career-spanning collection of 30 stories, including Hugo Award winners "Fermi and Frost" and "The Meeting" (the latter co-written by C.M. Kornbluth), as well as classics "Day Million", "The Merchants of Venus" (precursor to Gateway), and "The Gold at the Starbow's End". Introduction by James Frenkel, and afterword, "Fifty Years and Counting", by the author.
• Tor's website has this description.
• The original hardcover edition was one of SciFi.com and Tor Books' Sci Fi Essentials, with this description and excerpt (from "The Merchants of Venus").
• Damien Broderick reviewed the book last year in Locus Magazine, discussing both the stories that are included in the book and a couple significant ones that aren't.

(Tue 30 Jan 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Reed, Robert : The Well of Stars
(Tor 0765347644, $7.99, 438pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: UK: Orbit, December 2004)

First US edition of SF novel, sequel to Marrow (2000) and also related to 2004 novella Mere, set on a ship so enormous it contains an entire planet.
• This is a reprint of Tor's April '05 hardcover edition; the novel was earlier published in the UK (listed here).
• Tor's newly enhanced website has this description.
• Both Nick Gevers and Russell Letson reviewed the book in Locus Magazine. Letson wrote: "What is as amazing as the story's Big Stuff is the fact that Reed pulls it off. Part of it has to do with making huge structures and events into characters of a sort: the Ship's internal geography, its caverns and rivers and seas; the fluid, reconfigurable Blue World that is one expression of the polypond's persona; the polypond ocean that covers the Ship and generates an endless variety of weapons. ..."

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

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Turtledove, Harry : In High Places
(Tor 0-765-34627-3, $6.99, 70pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: Tor, January 2006)

Alternate history novel, third in the "Crosstime Traffic" series following Gunpowder Empire (2003) and Curious Notions (2004). In this book a teen-aged girl is kidnapped and enslaved in a Muslim-dominated alternate Europe.
• The fourth volume was The Disunited States of America, published in hardcover last September. The next volume is The Gladiator, due in hardcover from Tor in June 2007.
• Tor's website has this description for this book, and a page for the series.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt. The Amazon page has the PW and Booklist reviews; the latter's Roland Green says "this is the best Crosstime Traffic yarn to date .. featuring, besides two engaging protagonists, extensive exploration of the ethical issues of slavery."

(Fri 9 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Vance, Jack : Lurulu
(Tor 0-312-87279-8, $13.95, 204pp, trade paperback, February 2007, cover art John Harris)
(First edition: Tor, December 2004)

SF novel, follow-up to the author's prior novel Ports of Call (1998), and considerably shorter than any of the author's novels of the past two decades, about a wandering space freighter whose cargo handler Myron Tany searches for his "lurulu", "which may best be translated as the achievement of your heart's desire" according to the Publishers Weekly review reproduced on the Amazon page.
• Tor's website has this description with quotes from reviews.
• Both Russell Letson and Faren Miller reviewed the book in Locus Magazine. Miller concluded: "Lurulu the novel partakes of both the skeptic and the romantic, mingling comic ``balderdash'' of the characters' own making with some of those nobler qualities the cook tries to describe, along with a pinch of heartbreak. The resulting concoction may not seem quite as fresh-made as the latest in 21st-century space opera, but its heart is rich -- and descriptive icing … la Vance will always be divine."

(Sat 10 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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Wright, Susan : To Serve and Submit
(Roc 045146138X, $6.99, 325pp, mass market paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: Roc, April 2006)

Fantasy novel about a young woman from the fens who becomes a pleasure slave and falls in love with her master.
• The second book in the series, A Pound of Flesh, just appeared in trade paperback.
• The publisher's site has this description; "Between domination and subservience exists a realm of sensual fantasy unlike any ever dreamed."

(Thu 8 Feb 2007) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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