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NEWS : Monitor Listing



New Books last week September
John Joseph Adams
Eric Brown
Datlow/Link/Grant
Nick Gevers
Warren Hammond
Charlie Huston
Robin McKinley
Richard Parks
Adam Roberts
Justina Robson
Lilith Saintcrow
Brent Weeks

New Books 3rd week September
Joe Abercrombie
Steven Erikson
Valerie Estelle Frankel
Peter F. Hamilton
Nick Harkaway
Herbert & Anderson
Lackey & Mallory
Justine Larbalestier
Niven & Lerner
Christopher Paolini
Gene Wolfe

Monitor Listings Archive

2008 Books Directories



KEY

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 : first week October 2008
posted 11 October 2008

* Carroll, Jonathan : The Ghost in Love
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Sarah Crichton 978-0-374-16186-6, $25, 308pp, hardcover, October 2008, jacket art Marc Yankus)

Fantasy novel about a man who doesn't die from a head injury, and what happens to the ghost sent to take his soul to heaven.
• The publisher's site has this description, with blurbs from Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and others, plus two book trailers.
• The author's site has this page with a description, excerpts from reviews, and a link to chapter one Word document.
• Amazon's look inside also has an excerpt. Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls the book "a series of madcap and sometimes moving adventures for characters in this spry novel about the un-afterlife" and concludes "Carroll (Glass Soup) tethers the series of loopy incidents that ensues and their shaggy-dog explanation to incisive and poignant observations about the wondrous possibilities of everyday life that are the hallmark of his flippant style of fantasy. Carroll fans will best appreciate this jeu d'esprit."

(Wed 8 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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+ Dann, Jack, ed. : Dreaming Again: Thirty-Five New Stories Celebrating the Wild Side of Australian Fiction
(Eos 978-0-061-36408-2, $16.95, 566pp, trade paperback, October 2008)

Anthology of 35 original stories by Australian authors; follow-up to Dreaming Down-Under, published in 1998 and edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb.
• Authors include Garth Nix, Terry Dowling, Sean McMullen, Sara Douglass, A. Bertram Chandler, Simon Brown, Stephen Dedman, Trudi Canavan, Margo Lanagan, Janeen Webb, and Isobelle Carmody.
• Dann provides a book introduction, and introductions to the stories; authors provide short afterwords to the stories.
• The publisher's site has this page for the book, with a "browse inside" feature including the first 100 pages or so of the book.
• Dann's website has quotes from some of the reviews.
• A reader review on Amazon lists the complete table of contents.
• Nick Gevers and Rich Horton both reviewed the book in Locus Magazine; Horton, in the June issue, especially recommended stories by Isobelle Carmody and Margo Lanagan; Gevers, in July, cited Terry Dowling's "The Fooly" for special recommendation.

(Fri 3 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Disch, Thomas M. : The Wall of America
(Tachyon Publications 978-1-892391-82-7, $14.95, 245pp, trade paperback, October 2008)

Collection of 19 stories, first published from 1981 to 2005. Titles include "The White Man", "Ringtime", "Voices of the Kill", "The Man Who Read a Book", and the title story.
• Tachyon's website has this description with a short excerpt from "The White Man".
• The Publishers Weekly review said "Decrying but not despairing, this collection of 19 later short pieces by author and poet Disch (1940-2008) lovingly tears into the realities and fantasies of American life. ... Though sometimes light and slight, these tales show Disch at his masterful, acerbic best."

(Wed 1 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Gaiman, Neil : The Graveyard Book
(HarperCollins 978-0-06-053092-1, $17.99, 312pp, hardcover, October 2008, jacket art Dave McKean)

Young adult gothic fantasy novel about a toddler who survives the murders of his family and is raised by the ghosts in a nearby city graveyard. Illustrations are by Dave McKean.
• HarperCollins' site has this description with its "browse inside" function including the first 60 pages of text.
• An unabridged CD audiobook is also available.
• Website MouseCircus.com, Gaiman's official site for younger readers, includes videos, screensavers, a Graveyard sudoku game, a Q&A with Gaiman, and more.
Publishers Weekly the book a starred review in its Sept 29th issue: "The author riffs on the Jungle Book, folklore, nursery rhymes and history; he tosses in werewolves and hints at vampires -- and he makes these figures seem like metaphors for transitions in childhood and youth..."
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the July issue of Locus Magazine: "What we find ourselves watching is a Neil Gaiman novel -- one of the best Neil Gaiman novels, and certainly the most characteristic -- in the process of discovering itself." As in American Gods, "Gaiman takes advantage of what he learned about digressive narrative and precise visuals during his graphic-novel days (some of the scenes are described in panel-ready detail), but here he makes it work as never before."

(Fri 3 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Klages, Ellen : White Sands, Red Menace
(Viking 978-0-670-06235-5, $16.99, 337pp, hardcover, October 2008)

Young adult novel, sequel to The Green Glass Sea, about teenagers living in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in the years following World War II, as scientists reconstruct and test German V-2 rockets.
• Viking's website has this description with a link to an audio excerpt.
• Amazon's "look inside" function includes the first few pages of text.
Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review in its August 11th issue: "Klages has a gift for opening moral dilemmas to middle-graders -- she includes (and sources) just enough information to engage her readers without detracting from her characters' emotional lives. Once again she offers up first-rate historical fiction."
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed it in the July issue of Locus Magazine: "It's a more adventurous and socially engaged novel than The Green Glass Sea, in that it takes us into a less-trodden area of postwar history, one in which many aspects of life taken for granted by contemporary young adults were just beginning to be invented..."

(Fri 3 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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+ Marillier, Juliet : Cybele's Secret
(Knopf 978-0-375-83365-6, $16.99, 432pp, hardcover, September 2008, jacket art Kinuko Y. Craft)

Young adult fantasy novel, companion to Wildwood Dancing (2007). In this book Paula accompanies her father to Istanbul to purchase an artifact from the ancient goddess Cybele.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• The book was first published in Australia and the UK in 2007, and won a Sir Julius Vogel Award and was a finalist in the Aurealis Awards. The author's website has this page for the book, with links to reviews.

(Sat 27 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Melton, Henry : Lighter Than Air
(Wire Rim Books 978-0-9802253-1-0, $14.95, 291pp, trade paperback, September 2008, cover art David, and Wes Hartman Hutchison)

Young adult SF novel about a high school student who uses a supply of lighter-than-air foam to build a flying saucer.
• It's part of the author's Small Towns, Big Ideas series that include previous books Emperor Dad, Roswell or Bust, and Extreme Makeover.

(Wed 1 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Norton, Andre, & Sasha Miller : The Knight of the Red Beard
(Tor 978-0-7653-0748-4, $25.95, 364pp, hardcover, October 2008, jacket art Royo)

Fantasy novel, fifth and finale volume of the "Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan" series following To the King a Daughter (2000), Knight or Knave (2001), A Crown Disowned (2001), and Dragon Blade (2005). This book focuses on the children of the NordenQueen and NordenKing.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has its "look inside" function with an excerpt, and the Publishers Weekly review.

(Wed 1 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Phillips, Gary, & Christopher Chambers : The Darker Mask: Heroes From the Shadows
(Tor 978-0-7653-1850-3, $14.95, 368pp, trade paperback, August 2008, cover art Tomer Hanuka)

Anthology of 18 original stories about superheros.
• Authors include Walter Mosley, Steven Barnes & Tananarive Due, L.A. Banks, Peter Spiegelman, and Alexandra Sokoloff.
• Tor's website has this description.
• Amazon's "look inside" function includes the complete table of contents. Amazon has the Publishers Weekly: "Deceptively simple and entertaining while never skimping on serious topics, this tight anthology will satisfy any superhero enthusiast."

(Wed 1 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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+ Pratchett, Terry : Nation
(HarperCollins 978-0-06-143301-6, $16.99, 367pp, hardcover, October 2008, jacket art Bill Mayer)

Young adult novel about a tsunami that wipes out the inhabitants of an island in the South Pelagic Ocean, and two survivors -- Mau, sole survivor of his people, and Ermintrude Fanshaw, heir to the throne in a faraway England struck by plague -- who start rebuilding the island nation.
• The publisher's page for the book includes an extensive excerpt in its "browse inside" feature, a link to a Terry Pratchett video on YouTube, a discussion guide, and a contest.
• Amazon also has an excert, and numerous reader reviews.
Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review in its August 11th issue, calling it a "superb mix of alternate history and fantasy" and concluding "Neatly balancing the somber and the wildly humorous in a riveting tale of discovery, Pratchett shows himself at the height of his powers."

(Fri 3 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Spradlin, Michael P. : The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail
(Putnam 978-0-399-24763-7, $17.99, 248pp, hardcover, September 2008, jacket art Torry Sahara)

Young adult novel about an orphan who joins the Knights Templar and finds himself returning the Holy Grail to Britain.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Website The Youngest Templar includes a blog, a map, lists of characters and terms, and excerpts from reviews.

(Fri 3 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Walton, Jo : Half a Crown
(Tor 978-0-7653-1621-9, $25.95, 316pp, hardcover, October 2008)

SF alternate history novel, third in the "Still Life with Fascists" or "Small Change" trilogy following Farthing (2006) and Ha'Penny (2007), set in the years after Britain and Nazi Germany have negotiated peace. This book, set in 1960, concerns a peace conference between Germany, Britain, and Japan on how to partition the rest of the world, and the coming out into society of Elvira Royston, ward of Watch Commander Peter Carmichael.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Walton's understated prose and deft characterizations elevate this above similar works such as Fatherlandand SS-GB..."
• The book is Faren Miller's lead review in the current, October issue of Locus Magazine.

(Fri 3 Oct 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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