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Here's a list of what's coming out in the US this month in
Science Fiction and Fantasy. If we missed something or you have a title coming
out in the future, email us at news@sfrevu.com
   Ace
is releasing in hardcover this month a new hard SF novel from author Robert A.
Metzger, Picoverse set in a near future where scientists have discovered
a way to replicate universes one million-millionth the size of our own by
ripping apart the fabric of space-time. Out in Trade Paperback will be the
newest urban fantasy from Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Past the Size of
Dreaming a sequel to A Red Heart of Memories continuing the
story of modern day witches and magic.
Additionally there will be a number of
new and reissued works released in mass market paperback editions in March
including Castaways of the Flying Dutchman the first in a new YA series
by Brian Jacques author of the Redwall series; a new fantasy by Patricia
Briggs, Dragon Bones; the concluding novel of John G. Henry's SF Military series, Stark's Crusade;
the third book in the Monarchies of God fantasy series by Paul Kearney, The
Iron Wars a tale of war, religion and magic; and for fans of The Rock,
The Scorpion King a novelization by Max Allan Collins of the upcoming
movie of the same name which casts one of the villains from The Return of the
Mummy movie, the assassin Mathayus as the hero, "an ancient enemy of evil who refuses to surrender...or die".
 The
featured Avon/Eos
hardcover release for March 2002 is Michael Swanwick's Bones of the
Earth a new time-travel adventure story based on the Hugo award
winning short story "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur". SFRevu's
Ernest Lilley highly recommends this novel in his
review,
saying of the author "Swanwick is that
rare individual that can meld humanity and technology together in
stories that are intriguing, surprising, wonderful and terrible...all at
once."
Also out from the publisher will be a mass market paperback edition of last
year's The Mask and the Sorceress by Dennis Jones.
   At
Baen Books the author of month appears to be Eric Flint, writing or
editing in two hardcover releases and in another set of paperback editions! In
hardcover will be Forward the Mage by Eric Flint and Richard Roach and The
Shadow of the Lion an 800 page mix of politics, intrigue, love and magic by Flint
along with Mercedes Lackey and Dave Freer, while in paperback will be a reprint
of The Philosophical Stranger (May'01) which garnered several complements
and comparison's to early Terry Pratchett. Publisher's Weekly considered
it an " oddly satisfying humorous fantasy usually achieves the zany and frequently the bizarre"
skewering role-playing games, Dante, the Greek playwrights and Norse
sagas. Finally Flint edits Keith Laumer's Odyssey which includes an
introduction by David Weber. One last paperback from Baen will be a reprint of
an early James P.Hogan novel. Code of the Lifemaker.
  March's
releases from Daw will include in paperback The Better Part of Valor
the sequel to Quarters series author Tanya Huff's first Military SF
novel, Valor's Choice. See what else Ernest has to say in his review about
this second outing featuring tech marine Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr "a
totally cool, kick butt, Ripley-Harrington sort of gal". Also in
paperback is an anthology of original stories inspired by classic sea
adventures, Oceans of Space from the creators of the Oceans of Magic
collection, editors Brian Thomsen and Martin H. Greenberg. Daw will also publish
a paperback edition of last March's original release of the fourth of
Mercedes Lackey's reimagined fairy tales, The Serpent's Shadow based on
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" set in an
alternative Victorian London.
  Del
Rey has several hardcover releases scheduled for March including Demons
a near future apocalyptic tale from TV and film screenwriter (The Crow)
John Shirley and the newest of nearly two dozen novels set in Alan Dean
Foster's Humanx Commonwealth universe, Diuturnity's Dawn: Book Three of
the Founding of the Commonwealth. A paperback edition of Foster's
8th Pip and Flinx novel Reunion (June '01) returns to the
adventures of Flint of the Commonwealth and his poisonous minidrag after a 5 year
hiatus having Flinx travel from earth to AAnn space trying to unlock the secrets
of his past.. It appears that David
Gemmell's new Rigante Saga novel Stormrider originally scheduled
for this month has been pushed out to April however fans of the series can catch
the third book, Ravenheart (Jul'01) in paperback release this
month.
  In anticipation of upcoming
release of the feature film Spiderman
and the 40th anniversary
of Spiderman's first appearance in Marvel Comics' Amazing Fantasy
#15 Del Rey will publish two tie-ins, in Trade Paperback Behind the Mask of
Spider-Man by Mark Cotta Vaz a behind the scenes look at Spidey's journey from
the comic book page to the big screen and in mass market paperback, Spider-Man by Peter David.
 Other paperback editions out from this publisher will be Anita Blake
Vampire Hunter author Laurell K. Hamilton's A Kiss of Shadows (Oct'
00) the first in a new series featuring a faerie princess hiding in LA working
for a detective agency. Publisher's Weekly opinions that "As wild as the novel’s premise is, memorable characters and wicked wit make it all delicious, ribald fun".
Also Colonization:Aftershocks (Jan '01) by Harry Turtledove
the concluding volume of his Colonization trilogy set in the same
universe as his Worldwar series. SFRevu 3.05 May'99
found the first volume in the trilogy Colonization: Second Contact to be
an interesting blend of Alternate History and SF that should appeal to
readers of both. Readers of this last book report many loose
ends were left leading to speculation that the series may need to be expanded to
include a fourth book.
 HarperCollins is releasing a collection of eight short
works by Ursula K. Le Guin, The Birthday of the World. Six of the
pieces are set in the Ekumen universe of the author's classic The Left
Hand of Darkness (1969) . The only story
not previously published is a new novella "Paradises Lost" which
follows the experiences of Earth people on a generational spaceship that takes
centuries to get to its destination.. In Le Guin's own
words "Many of the stories are about love, lust, sex, marriage, gender, and other such
troublesome but interesting problems human beings have to cope with, no matter what planet they live on or what sex they'll be next Tuesday."
  Pocket
Books will release several works set in the myriad universes of Star Trek.
Paperbacks include Starfleet Year One by Michael
Jan Friedman chronicling the maiden voyage of a new class of starship, the
Daedalus, flagship of the new Federation fleet and A Hard Rain a reprint
of Dean Wesley Smith's Next Gen 1980 book featuring Captain Picard in his holodeck
persona of Dixon Hill a 1940's San Francisco detective needing to crack a case
to save the Enterprise from destruction. Pocket will also be releasing in eBook
format Starfleet Corps of Engineers #13: No Surrender by
Jeff Mariotte which sends the the da Vinci and Commander Gomez's team of S.C.E.s
to straighten out a mess at a deep-space prison facility.
   Missing
from last month's mention of Roc releases was the US debut, in
Trade edition, of popular British author (Deathstalker series) Simon
Green's Drinking Midnight Wine. Our reviewer, declared it "A highly satisfying comic fantasy."
in his review of the UK edition (SFRevu Dec'01). In March Roc has
scheduled several mass market paperback releases including the sixth title in
the Mechwarrior series:
Imminent Crisis by Randall Bills, and two
novels that sound intriguing, The Dragon Delasangre Alan F. Troop's debut
fantasy postulates Dragons shape changing into human form and explores the balance between the worlds of humans and Dragons
that the central character must maintain and, The Spirit of Thunder the sequel to Kurt R. Giambastiani's Alternate
History debut The Year the Cloud Fell, set in an alternate 19th
century American West with President George Custer's only son George, Jr. siding
with the Cheyenne people against his father's army.
From 
master storyteller Steven King's fertile mind comes his first short piece
collection in nine years, Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales published
this month by Scribner. The volume contains several award winners including
an O. Henry Prize winner, four stories published by
The New Yorker, "The Little Sisters of Eluria," a novella that first appeared in the fantasy collection
Legends, set in King's Dark Tower universe and, for the first time
in print "Riding the Bullet," King's original e-book, which attracted over half a million online readers.
An introductory essay on the lost art of short fiction is included along with brief
background notes for each story .
  Tor's
March line up includes several new works from old favorites. We
were pleased, as expected, with the concluding volume in Australian author
Juliet Marillier's beautifully written Sevenwaters Trilogy, Child of
the Prophecy (review). Other
hardcover releases include new challenges for the Puzzle Network in Dark as
Day by Charles Sheffield a sequel to his Nebula Award winning Cold as Ice
(1992). Publisher's We ekly says of  this
newest novel "Fans of
tangled
plots, detailed settings and taut adventure will have a great time";
Leaping to the Stars by David Gerrold the 3rd and final installment in
the award winning Dingillian series (Jumping Off the Planet, Bouncing
Off the Moon), described as a blend of space adventure and serious political
philosophy featuring the exploits of young Charles Dingillian and his brothers
as they seek to emigrate to a colony deep in space by stowing away on a
starship; and Rules of Ascension by David B. Cole the initial volume in
the 4 book Winds of the Forelands fantasy series. Forensic
investigation gets another workout this month in Paul Levinson's The Consciousness
Plague, the latest Phil D'Amato case following 1999's The Silk Code.
This latest work is about the havoc created by the loss of memory through the
use of a new antibiotic which inadvertently kills a bacteria-like organism that
may be responsible for human consciousness. The author gave a lively
reading to an appreciative audience of SF fans at a recent SFABC
meeting in NJ run by local area SF maven Phil D'Parto.
 March's schedule also includes in hardcover A Dragon's
Ascension book three in A Tale of the Band of Four series by Ed
Greenwood creator of Forgotten Realms, the Dungeons & Dragons
based fantasy series and, a mass market paperback edition of Book 2, The
Vacant Throne (Apr '01). Another new
hardcover / paperback
reprint pairing out this month from Tor will be   British author Brian
Stableford's fifth Emortality novel Dark Ararat a story driven by
two mysteries which Publisher's Weeky calls a heavily speculative tale
that puts the "science" in science fiction, and its
predecessor in this future history series The Cassandra Complex (Mar'01)
which features a forensic scientist (apparently in the future
this makes the list of the top ten hot
occupations) unraveling a puzzle in a mid 21st century story of bioengineering
terrorism.
   Trade
Paperback's of note will include a return to print of Child
of Fortune a highly thought of entertaining coming of age tale by Norman Spinrad originally
published in 1985 as the culmination of the Second Starfaring Age
epic; Return to the Whorl (Feb '01), the
concluding volume in the marvelous Gene Wolfe's Book of the Short Sun
series that Booklist describes as a "striking mix of philosophy,
humor and horror that is uniquely Wolfe's stock-in-trade."; a re-issue in Trade of the 1996 paperback Celtic fantasy, Lion of Ireland by
Morgan Llywelyn and, for fans of the series Farscape: The Illustrated Companion
by Simpson, Paul and David Hughes.
Additional
mass market paperback editions out this month that SFRevu reviewed in hardcover
will be Falling Stars (2001) - SFRevu Feb'01 the final book in Michael
Flynn's Star Series and Kushiel's Dart Jacqueline Carey's brilliant
historical fantasy debut the sequel for which, Kushiel's Chosen will be
published by Tor next month.
  Finally,
from Tor's YA SF & F line of trade paperback editions Starscape
will be Jane Yolen's Briar Rose (Sep'92) a powerful retelling of the story of
"Sleeping Beauty" as a Holocaust
memoir, an American Library Association "100 Best Books for
Teens". The second release
this month will be a tale of monsters, invasion, and daring-do, The
Cockatrice Boys a VOYA "Outstanding Book of the Year" from British
author Joan Aiken.
Viz
Communications will bring out in Trade Paperback for fans of the
Japanese anime series which has spawned numerous episodes, CDs, DVDs, action
figures and other spinoffs, Gundam Wing: Episode Zero by
Katsuyuki Sumisawa, illustrated by Akira Kanbe.
  Warner Aspect
will be bringing out in hardcover the US 1st edition of British author Peter
F. Hamilton's 25th century alien contact novel Fallen Dragon which
Publisher's Weekly said was "a sort of Starship Troopers as if written by Charles Dickens, ranks as one of Hamilton's best".
The publisher will also be releasing for the first time in the US, The
Confederation Handbook a paperback edition subtitled The Essential Companion Guide to the Night's Dawn
Trilogy: The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and
The Naked God.
This volume is described as a Galactic Almanac exploring the 600 year history,
geology, politics, technology, weaponry and lifeforms of the 21,500 Confederation
planets. Whew. Is that all? Also in Trade Paperback will be Vincalis
the Agitator a prequel to Holly Lisle's Secret Texts fantasy trilogy.
  Wizards of the Coast
will again feature a release by the popular
co-creators of the Dragonlance saga Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman
this month with the paperback edition of the NY Times bestselling hardcover Dragons
of a Lost Star (Apr '01), The War of Souls, Vol II a sequel to the
popular Dragons of a Fallen Sun. This paperback version contains a preview chapter from the upcoming conclusion to the trilogy,
Dragons of a Vanished Moon. Also out from this publisher
in paperback will be a new collection of short stories exploring the Magic:
The Gathering universe in the appropriately titled, The Secrets of Magic
Anthology edited by Jess LeBow; The Steel Throne by Edward Bolme a
prelude to the upcoming Legend of the Five Rings
series The Four Winds Saga introducing new characters and settings based on events in the
Legend of the Five Rings: The Spirit Wars card set and, The
Wizardwar by Elaine Cunningham, the concluding volume in the Forgotten
Realms Counselors & Kings trilogy.
Fans of gaming of another sort will soon have something to
look forward to. Several publishers have recently announced the
establishment of publishing partnerships with major video game manufacturers.
Ballantine Book's Del Rey imprint has acquired exclusive, worldwide
rights to publish paperback, hardcover, audio and electronic books based on Xbox
(TM) games titles developed by Microsoft Game Studios (see Del Rey Internet
Newsletter for more information or to subscribe: http://www.delreybooks.com).
And Publisher's Weekly reports that Vertical,
the new Japanese translation house that hopes to be able to translate some of
the success of imports like anime and Pokemon to publishing is exploring
a partnership with Sega's video game division.
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