Locus Online


NEWS : Monitor Listing



March
Iain M. Banks
Kathleen Bryan
Emma Bull
John Crowley
Gordon Dahlquist
Dave Duncan
Steven Erikson
Raymond E. Feist
William Gibson
Peter F. Hamilton
Kay Kenyon
Jay Lake
Lee & Miller
Martin/Dozois/Abraham
David Marusek
Paul Park
Allen Steele
Travis S. Taylor
Michael Z. Williamson

November '08
Mario Acevedo
Orson Scott Card
Clarke & Baxter
David Drake
Flint & Weber
Stephen King
Brian Lumley
George R.R. Martin
Jack McDevitt
R.M. Meluch
Ringo & Cochrane
John Scalzi
Harry Turtledove

Monitor Listings Archive

2009 Books Directories



KEY

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.

LINKS

Links Portal

Bookseller Links

Your purchase of books through Amazon.com and Amazon UK links (click on titles or covers) helps support Locus Online

Publisher Links


 

New in Paperback : April 2009
posted 30 April 2009

Asaro, Catherine : The Ruby Dice
(Baen 978-1-416-59158-0, $7.99, 563pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Baen, January 2008)

SF novel in the author's long-running Skolian Saga, about rival Eubian and Skolian emperors.
• Baen's site' has this description of the book, with links to several chapters.
• The author's site also has a brief description, with links to Baen's site.
• The next book in the series, Diamond Star, is due in May.

(Tue 31 Mar 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Barnes, Steven : Great Sky Woman
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-45902-2, $7.99, 374pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Ballantine One World, July 2006)

Historical fantasy novel about the Ibandi tribe, living the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, who appeal for help from Father Sky at the top of the mountain for help against an invading tribe.
• The publisher's site has this description with a preview feature including an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the former concludes "it's daringly epic in scope and written with an undeniably rich appreciation for historical legend and human ties."

(Tue 31 Mar 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Baxter, Stephen : Emperor
(Ace 978-0-441-01703-4, $7.99, 368pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: UK: Orion/Gollancz, July 2006)

Historical SF novel, first in the "Time's Tapestry" sequence, followed by Conqueror, Navigator, and Weaver, about a prophecy that affects four centuries of Roman and British families.
• Gary K. Wolfe's review in Locus Magazine noted that "Like Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (with its similar hints of time travel), Emperor can be viewed as SF -- but a peculiar kind of homeopathic SF, in which a few molecules of the active ingredient are meant to transform the entire solution."

(Fri 24 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Beckett, Chris : The Holy Machine
(Cosmos Books 978-0843962048, $7.99, 288pp, mass market paperback, April 2009, cover art Wilhelm Steiner)
(First edition: Wildside Press, April 2004)

SF novel about a scientific utopia, founded in reaction to rising religious fundamentalism, that's suffering its own close-mindedness.
• It's the author's first novel. Beckett's site has this page about the book with reviews.
• Infinity Plus has this review by Nicholas Whyte and an excerpt.

(Tue 31 Mar 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Brown, Eric : Kéthani
(Solaris 978-1-84416-712-8, $7.99, 427pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Solaris US, May 2008)

SF novel about aliens who bring immortality to humans.
• Portions of the book were first published as short stories in Postscripts, Interzone, and elsewhere; Brown's bibliography indicates them with '(K)'.
• Solaris' website has this page about the book with a description and a PDF sample chapter.

(Tue 31 Mar 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Dick, Philip K. : In Milton Lumky Territory
(Tor 978-0-7653-1696-7, $14.95, 221pp, trade paperback, May 2009)
(First edition: Dragon Press, June 1985)

Associational non-SF novel, written by Dick in 1958 and first published in 1985 by small press Dragon Press. This is a reprint of Tor's first US trade edition in May 2008.
• It concerns a young man driving around the western US -- Boise to San Francisco to Reno, etc. -- in search of a good deal on wholesale typewriters.
• Tor's description quotes Kim Stanley Robinson's The Novels of Philip K. Dick to the effect that this book is "is probably the best of Dick's realist novels aside from Confessions of a Crap Artist".
• Wikipedia has this entry for the book, with a plot summary.

(Wed 22 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Drake, David : When the Tide Rises
(Baen 978-1-416-59156-6, $7.99, 486pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Baen, March 2008)

Military SF novel, sixth in the "RCN" series following With the Lightnings, Lt. Leary, Commanding, The Far Side of the Stars, The Way to Glory, and Some Golden Harbor. In this book Leary is assigned to the frontier planet looking to Cinnabar for aid.
• Baen's Webscriptions site has this description with links to several chapters.
• The next book in the series, In the Stormy Red Sky, is due in May.

(Fri 24 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Elliott, Kate : Shadow Gate
(Tor 978-0-7653-4931-6, $7.99, 757pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Tor, April 2008)

Fantasy novel, second book in "Crossroads" series following Spirit Gate (2006), about the nine Guardians who watch over a land called the Hundred.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.

(Mon 13 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Ford, Jeffrey : The Empire of Ice Cream
(Golden Gryphon Press 1-930846-58-4, $14.95, 11+319pp, trade paperback, April 2009, cover painting John Picacio)
(First edition: Golden Gryphon Press, April 2006)

Collection of 14 stories, with an introduction by Jonathan Carroll. Titles include the Nebula Award-winning title story, Fountain Award-winning "The Annals of Eelin-Ok", and original novella "Botch Town", winner of a World Fantasy Award and basis for Ford's 2008 novel The Shadow Year.
• The publisher's site has this description with links to reviews and the complete table of contents.
• Nick Gevers' review in Locus Magazine said "Jeffrey Ford may well be the finest short fiction writer at work in SF and fantasy today" and said that "Botch Town" is "a fresh indicator of Ford's uncanny literary versatility, and certainly one of the best novellas of the year."

(Tue 17 Mar 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Ford, Jeffrey : The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories
(Golden Gryphon Press 1-930846-57-6, $14.95, 13+247pp, trade paperback, April 2009, cover painting John Picacio)
(First edition: Golden Gryphon Press, June 2002)

Collection of 16 stories, the author's first collection, with stories first published from 1994 to 2002, and an introduction by Michael Swanwick.
• Contents include World Fantasy Award winner "Creation", Imaginaire winner "Exo-Skeleton Town", and "At Reparata".
• The book itself won the World Fantasy Award as Best Collection.
• The publisher's site has this description with links to reviews -- including Nick Gevers' Locus Online review.

(Tue 17 Mar 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Hobb, Robin : Renegade's Magic
(Eos 978-0-06-075830-1, $7.99, 691pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: UK: HarperVoyager, July 2007)

Fantasy novel, conclusion of the "Soldier Son" trilogy following Shaman's Crossing and Forest Mage.
• The publisher's site has this description with its "Browse Inside" function.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes that Hobb "provides a stunning resolution to this epic fantasy about the importance of environmental and social balance."

(Fri 3 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Hunt, Stephen : The Court of the Air
(Tor 978-0-7653-6022-9, $7.99, 583pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: UK: HarperVoyager, April 2007)

Fantasy novel about two teenage orphans in an alternate London fleeing assassins and conspiracies with the aid of a mysterious organization called the Court of the Air.
• Tor's site has this description with quotes from the UK reviews of the first edition.
• The author is one of the publishers of SF Crowsnest.

(Mon 13 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Kaku, Michio : Physics of the Impossible
(Anchor Books 978-0-307-27882-1, $15.95, 21+329pp, trade paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Doubleday, March 2008)

Associational nonfiction, subtitled "A scientific exploration into the world of phasers, force fields, teleportation, and time travel".
• The book is divided into "Class I Impossibilities" (technologically impossible today), "Class II Impossibilities" (if possible, not for millennia), and "Class III Impossibilities" (violations of known laws of physics), and includes a preface, notes, bibliography, and index.
• Doubleday's site has this description with a preview function including an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Science and science fiction buffs can easily follow Kaku's explanations as he shows that in the wonderful worlds of science, impossible things are happening every day."

(Wed 1 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Kenner, Julie : The Good Ghoul's Guide to Getting Even
(Ace 978-0-441-01704-1, $6.99, 195pp, mass market paperback, April 2009, cover art Chad Michael Ward)

YA novel about a junior high school girl out to take revenge on the vampires jocks who made her undead.
• The first edition was a 2007 Berkley trade paperback.
• The author's site has this page about the book -- "Believe it or not, this series came about from the title -- The Good Ghoul's Guide to Getting Even popped into my head on a plane ride from Atlanta to Texas..." -- and an excerpt.

(Fri 3 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

McCaffrey, Anne, & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough : Deluge
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-47007-2, $7.99, 273pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Ballantine Del Rey, March 2008)

SF novel, third in the "Twins of Petaybee" trilogy following Changelings (2005) and Maelstrom (2007), about telepathic selkie twins who help rescue endangered species.
• Del Rey's site has a description and excerpt.

(Fri 3 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

McDonald, Ian : Brasyl
(Pyr 978-1-59102-735-5, $15.98, 357pp, trade paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Prometheus/Pyr, May 2007)

SF novel set in past, present, and future Brazil, with three separate stories that eventually merge as strands of a single quantum multiverse.
• Pyr's website has this description -- "Think Bladerunner in the tropics... " -- with excerpts from reviews and sample chapters.
• The book won the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel, and was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell awards.
• Gary K. Wolfe's Locus Magazine review, posted here online, compared the book to McDonald's previous novel, noting that "Brasyl is no more like River of Gods than Brazil is like India" and concluded "A few years ago, in an academic book titled Brazilian Science Fiction, M. Elizabeth Ginway employed a term invented by the Brazilian critic Roberto de Sousa Causo to describe an emerging tradition of high-tech postcolonial SF then emerging in Brazil. "Tupinipunk," an amalgam of cyberpunk and the name of an indigenous tribe, was characterized by "iconoclasm, sensuality, mysticism, politicization, humanism, and a Third World perspective". With his very enjoyable Brasyl, McDonald may have given us the first tupinipunk novel to appear from outside the borders of Brazil itself."

(Fri 3 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Mitchell, Karen Anne : The Usahar
(Tuppshar Press 978-0-9823216-0-7, $9.95, 137pp, trade paperback, February 2009)

SF novel about a human woman abducted from Earth to become a slave on the world of Vandhaqa, where she awakens moral awareness in the automaton designed to harvest her soul.
• The book was first published by iUniverse in 2004.
• The author's site has this page about the book with links to excerpts and a review by Sonya Taaffe.

(Mon 20 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Modesitt, L. E., Jr. : Mage-Guard of Hamor
(Tor 978-0-7653-5882-0, $7.99, 716pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Tor, July 2008)

Fantasy novel, 15th book in the Saga of Recluce and the second half of the story that began in the previous book Natural Ordermage (2007), about Rahl, an apprentice with a bad attitude who's exiled from Recluce to learn how to control his magic.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.

(Mon 13 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Modesitt, L. E., Jr. : Viewpoints Critical: Selected Stories
(Tor 978-0-765-31858-9, $15.95, 350pp, trade paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Tor, March 2008)

Collection of 19 stories, three of them original to this book. It's the author's first collection in over 30 years of publishing.
• Tor's website has this description, including descriptions of the three original stories, "Black Ordermage", "Beyond the Obvious Wind", and "Always Outside the Lines".
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, which says the book "displays Modesitt's breadth of experience and knowledge to great effect. ... Readers will find this an excellent showcase of a very fine writer's highest quality work."

(Fri 24 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Sniegoski, Thomas E. : A Kiss Before the Apocalypse
(Roc 978-0-451-46259-6, $6.99, 369pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Roc, May 2008)

Urban fantasy novel, the author's first adult novel, about an angel who comes to Earth in human form as a private investigator named Remy Chandler.
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Amazon's "Look Inside" feature includes an excerpt.

(Fri 24 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|

Turtledove, Harry : The Valley-Westside War
(Tor 978-0-7653-5380-1, $6.99, 285pp, mass market paperback, April 2009)
(First edition: Tor, July 2008)

Alternate history novel, sixth in the "Crosstime Traffic" series following Gunpowder Empire (2003), Curious Notions (2004), In High Places (2005), The Disunited States of America (2006), and The Gladiator (2007).
• This book, set 130 years after nuclear war between the US and Soviet Union, is set in a divided Los Angeles where war breaks out between the Westside area near UCLA and the San Fernando Valley, focusing on Liz, the daughter of trader Jeff Mendoza from the home time line.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.

(Mon 13 Apr 2009) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

|


© 2009 by Locus Publications. All rights reserved.