Brennan, Herbie :
Faerie Wars
(Tor 0-765-35674-0, $6.99, 368pp, mass market paperback, January 2007, cover art Royo)
Young adult fantasy novel, first in the series, about a young boy who meets an exiled faerie prince.
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This is the first mass market edition -- there was a trade paperback edition in 2004. This book has been followed by The Purple Emperor (2004) and Ruler of the Realm (2006).
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Amazon has reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist.
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The series website http://www.faeriewars.com/.
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Dann, Jack :
The Man Who Melted
(Pyr 978-1-59102-487-3, $15, 223pp, trade paperback, January 2007, jacket illustration Nick Stathopoulos, jacket design Jacqueline Cooke)
Science fiction novel about the survivors of "the Great Scream", a telepathic wave of insanity, and concerning a subliminal artist who's haunted by memories of his late wife. A famous sequence in this novel, first published as short story "Going Under", concerns passengers who pay to go down with a recreated Titanic as an ultimate decadent experience.
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This edition has a new introduction by Robert Silverberg.
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The book was a Nebula Award finalist in 1985.
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Pyr's website has this page about the book, with quotes from reviews and sample chapters.
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Dozois, Gardner, ed. :
The Best of the Best, Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels
(St. Martin's Griffin 0-312-36342-7, $19.95, 11+642pp, trade paperback, February 2007)
Anthology of 13 novellas, a follow-up volume to Dozois' The Best of the Best: Twenty Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction (2005), again drawing from the first 20 volumes of his annual "Year's Best Science Fiction" anthologies, this time focusing on longer stories (novellas).
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Contents range from Robert Silverberg's "Sailing to Byzantium" (1985) to Alastair Reynolds' "Turquoise Days" (2002), with stories in between by Walter Jon Williams, Joe Haldeman, James Patrick Kelly, Nancy Kress, Michael Swanwick, Frederik Pohl, Ursula K. Le Guin, Maureen F. McHugh, Greg Egan, Ian McDonald, and Ian R. MacLeod. Dozois provides a preface, and notes to each story.
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The publisher's site has this description.
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Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review, from its December 4th issue: "this outstanding follow-up to Dozois's Best of the Best Volume 1 (2005) pays homage to the science fiction novellas of the past two decades and by extension to the entire genre in all its varied glory."
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Ellison, Harlan :
Spider Kiss
(M Press/Edgeworks Abbey 1595820582, $12.95, 224pp, trade paperback, November 2006, cover painting Robert McGinnis)
Associational crime novel, first published by Fawcett in 1961 as Rockabilly, about a rock'n'roll star, based on the life of Jerry Lee Lewis.
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The book is said to be on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
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The publisher's site has this description: "One of the first -- and still one of the best -- dissections of the wildly destructive rock-and-roll lifestyle, Spider Kiss isn't about giant cockroaches that attack Detroit or space invaders that smell like chicken soup. Instead, it's the story of Luther Sellers, a poor kid from Louisville with a voice like an angel who's renamed Stag Preston by a ruthless promoter. Preston's meteoric rise on the music scene is matched only by the rise in his enormous appetites -- and not just for home cooking -- and soon the invisible monkey named Success is riding him straight to hell."
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Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.
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Jones, Diana Wynne :
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
(SFBC 978-0-7394-7914-8, $10.99, 234pp, hardcover, January 2007)
Humorous nonfiction reference guide to generic fantasy novels, those set in 'fantasyland', cast as an alphabetical encyclopedia of entries from 'Adept' to 'Zombies'. This is a revised and updated edition of the original, first published in 1996.
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The original version was a finalist for the Hugo and World Fantasy awards in 1997.
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The revised version was published by Firebird last October in paperback; this hardcover reprint is available from the Science Fiction Book Club, whose website has this description by Andrew Wheeler: "If you're reading this sentence, you fall infallibly into one of two categories: either you already own a copy of the Tough Guide, or you need one. No reader of fantasy can afford to be without this handy guidebook when traveling the lands of wonder and enchantment..."
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Kuttner, Henry :
The Last Mimzy
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-49755-0, $13.95, 12+338pp, trade paperback, March 2007)
(First edition: Nelson Doubleday/SFBC, February 1975)
Collection of 17 stories, first published as The Best of Henry Kuttner by Ballantine and the Science Fiction Book Club (aka Nelson Doubleday) in 1975. This edition retains the original's introduction by Ray Bradbury: "Henry Kuttner: A Neglected Master".
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This is a movie tie-in edition to the forthcoming film The Last Mimzy, opening March 23rd.
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Stories include the source for the new film, "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", as well as classic stories "The Proud Robot", "The Twonky", "What You Need", and "Absalom".
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Del Rey's site has this description: "In 'Mimsy Were the Borogoves' -- the inspiration for New Line Cinema's major motion picture The Last Mimzy -- a boy finds a discarded box containing a treasure trove of curious objects. When he and his sister begin to play with these trinkets -- including a crystal cube that magnifies the unimaginable and a strange doll with removable organs that don't quite correspond to those of the human body -- their parents grow concerned. And they should be. For the items are changing the way the children think and perceive the world around them -- for better or worse."
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Amazon has the same description.
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Laumer, Keith, edited by Eric Flint :
The Long Twilight and Other Stories
(Baen 1416521097, $14, 358pp, mass market paperback, February 2007, cover art David Mattingly)
Omnibus of two novels -- The Long Twilight (1969) and Night of Delusions (1972) -- and four stories first published from 1969 to 1978.
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Baen's site has this description with links to several chapters of the first novel.
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Lethem, Jonathan :
The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye
(Harcourt/Harvest 0156032481, $14, 294pp, trade paperback, March 2007)
(First edition: Harcourt Brace, October 1996)
Collection of seven stories, two of them first published in this book in its original 1996 edition. This was the author's first collection of short fiction.
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Contents include Nebula-nominated novelettes "The Happy Man" and "Five Fucks". The book won the World Fantasy Award in 1997 as Best Collection.
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Other stories are "Vanilla Dunk", "Light and the Sufferer", "Forever, Said the Duck", "The Hardened Criminals", and "Sleepy People".
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Harcourt's website has this description.
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Amazon has Publishers Weekly's review of the original edition: "Each of the seven unsparing stories in this collection hangs a tale of considerable emotional and intellectual power on a futuristic hook."
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Martin, George R. R. :
The Armageddon Rag
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-38307-8, $15, 340pp, trade paperback, February 2007)
(First edition: Poseidon Press, November 1983)
Fantasy/horror novel about '60s rock'n'roll, concerning a former underground journalist called upon to investigate the murder of the manager of a legendary '60s rock band.
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The publisher's website has this description and an excerpt.
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The novel was a World Fantasy Award finalist and won the coveted Balrog Award in 1984.
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Amazon has several reader reviews.
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Norton, Andre :
Red Hart Magic
(Starscape 0-765-35302-4, $5.99, 208pp, trade paperback, February 2007, cover art Tristan Elwell)
Young adult fantasy novel, sixth and last of the "Magic Book" series following Steel Magic, Octagon Magic, Fur Magic (1968), Dragon Magic (1972), and Lavender-Green Magic (1974).
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The books are about ordinary kids with magical powers. In this one two stepkids discover a model of 17th century Red Hart Inn.
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Amazon has the book description, and reader reviews.
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Rosenblum, Mary :
Water Rites
(Fairwood Press 0-9789078-1-7, $17.99, 305pp, trade paperback, February 2007)
Omnibus of 1994 novel The Drylands and three associated short stories, "Water Bringer", "Celilo", and "The Bee Man", concerning a future in which global warming has made water the most valuable resource.
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The publisher's site -- click on catalog, then novels, then on the title -- has this description and order page.
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The Drylands won the Compton Crook Award in 1994 as best first novel of the year.
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