New and Notable Books
Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds., The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection
(St. Martin's Griffin Aug 2003)
This year’s-best anthology, the last to be co-edited by Windling, weighs in with a hefty 40 stories, eight poems, and commentary on the year in fiction by the editors, plus media and comics commentary by such notables as Edward Bryant, Charles Vess, and Joan D. Vinge.
Cory Doctorow, A Place So Foreign and Eight More: Stories
(Four Walls Eight Windows Sep 2003)
A collection of nine offbeat stories by the winner of the 2000 Campbell Award for Best New Writer. "Doctorow forages through the rubbish dumps of cultural history…and turns them into pure gold." [Faren Miller]
Sheila Finch, Reading the Bones
(Tachyon Publications Sep 2003)
The Nebula-winning novella of the title is joined in this collection with a new novella that completes the story, a complex mystery of human and alien languages and culture in Finch’s "Xenolinguist" series.
Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean, The Wolves in the Walls
(HarperCollins Aug 2003)
There are wolves in the walls, but no one will listen to young Lucy’s warnings - until the wolves come out. A delightfully weird and scary tale for kids of all ages, with magnificently macabre illustrations by McKean.
Angelica Gorodischer, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin, Kalpa Imperial
(Small Beer Press Jul 2003)
A great Argentine fabulist is translated eloquently by a great American SF writer, Ursula K. Le Guin. A major work of literary science fantasy from Argentina, a novel of a great empire that may never exist…. "Speculative fiction of a high order, a work to savor, reread, and reinterpret." [Nick Gevers]
Janis Ian & Mike Resnick, eds., Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian
(DAW Aug 2003)
When Janis Ian went to her first Worldcon in 2001, she little suspected how many of her favorite authors were fans of hers - and eager to contribute to this anthology of 30 stories influenced by her songs - including Terry Bisson, Joe Haldeman, Tanith Lee, and Nancy Kress.
Rosemary Kirstein, The Lost Steersman
(Ballantine Del Rey Sep 2003)
The third novel in the "Steerswoman" series, set on a lost colony world where science is considered magic, this volume ups the SF elements considerably as the steerswoman Rowan’s search for an evil wizard turns up fascinating new revelations about the inimical lifeforms of the untamed Outskirts.
Kelly Link, ed., Trampoline: An Anthology
(Small Beer Press Jul 2003)
Slipstream fans won’t want to miss this "major anthology just chock full of the stuff" [Rich Horton], with 20 stories by authors including Carol Emshwiller, Jeffrey Ford, Greer Gilman, and Karen Joy Fowler.
George R. R. Martin, GRRM: A RRetrospective
(Subterranean Press Sep 2003)
A real bug obliterator of a book, this monumental retrospective presents over 1,200 pages of stories - including winners of Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Stoker, and World Fantasy Awards - plus two screenplays and extensive commentary by Martin on his life and works.
Chad Oliver, Selected Stories of Chad Oliver, Volume 1: A Star Above It and Volume 2: Far from This Earth
(NESFA Press Sep 2003)
With 20 stories each, these two volumes bring together some of the best stories - many not previously collected - by an under-appreciated, multi-talented author, whose background in anthropology gave his SF a special depth, exploring cultures both human and alien.
Sergei Poyarkov, Flawless Imperfection
(Poyarkov/Bud Plant Sep 2003)
Ukrainian artist Poyarkov displays his comic sensibility in this beautifully produced, large-format art book, filled with strange landscapes and satiric images in surreal combinations, shown in concept sketches, colorful finished art, and, in some cases, sculpture and ceramics based on his work.
Robert J. Sawyer, Hybrids
(Tor Sep 2003)
A Neanderthal physicist and his Homo sapiens lover from another world want to create a hybrid child using banned technology in this thought-provoking novel, the third in "The Neanderthal Parallax" series after the Hugo-winning Humans.
Charles Stross, Singularity Sky
(Ace Aug 2003)
A fun, fascinating SF novel on the experimental end of the New Space Opera, this opens with a literal rain of telephones, the first salvo from a mysterious entertainment-seeking entity called the Festival, come to a planet where technology has been suppressed.
Michael Swanwick, Cigar-Box Faust and Other Miniatures
(Tachyon Publications Sep 2003)
Always brilliant, Swanwick shines in these quirky short pieces, with over 70 gathered in this collection, including “An Abecedary of the Imagination” with six new entries.
Liz Williams, Nine Layers of Sky
(Bantam Spectra Sep 2003)
Dark legends, failed dreams, and grim realism mix in this thriller of post-Soviet Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where a female former rocket scientist and a centuries old Russian hero are brought together by a strange artifact that accesses another world.
Walter Jon Williams, Dread Empire's Fall: The Praxis
(HarperTorch Sep 2003)
The end of alien rule of the galaxy sets off civil war in this far-future adventure, a New Space Opera with a special depth and wit, the first installment in a trilogy.
