New Titles – w/e 2nd May 2009
in hardback:
Brian Ruckley – Fall of Thanes the final part of The Godless World trilogy. Signed copies will be available soon, and pre-ordered ones sent out once they’re signed…
Gene Wolfe – The Best of Gene Wolfe large retrospective covering his whole career…
Tony Ballantine – Twisted Metal robots battle on the planet of Penrose…
Charlaine Harris – Dead and Gone US edition of the 9th Sookie Stackhouse adventure
in ‘B’ format:
Scarlett Thomas – PopCo reissue from 5 years ago, although the design makes it look just like a sequel to The End of Mr Y!
Victor Appleton – Into the Abyss, The Robot Olympics & The Space Hotel the first 3 of a new Tom Swift series for children. The plots may be similar but the writing is definitely not aimed at the same age as previous ‘Victor Appleton III‘ adventures…
Anne Forbes – Dragonfire YA fantasy novel set in Edinburgh during the festival…
Anne Forbes – The Wings of Ruksh sequel to Dragonfire; the action moves from Edinburgh to the Highlands…
Annemarie Allan – Hox another YA adventure, set mainly in the Highlands…
Alex Nye - Chill YA adventure set near Stirling…
[these four books, together with First Aid for Fairies by Lari Don, are all part of the Contemporary Kelpies series of new Scottish fantasy books for younger readers... ]
in paperback:
Paul Chafe – Genesis the first in a series about a generation spaceship. This one concentrates on the building of it (actually, a lot of it’s about the space elevator needed before work can start!) I enjoyed the hardback…
Michael Swanwick – The Dragons of Babel the sequel to the award-winning The Iron Dragon’s Daughter…
C. C. Finlay – The Patriot Witch part 1 of an alternate history series called Traitor to the Crown, set during the American War of Independence
Emily Gee – The Laurentine Spy another book set against the background used in Thief With No Shadow
Gregory Keyes – The Born Queen the 4th in the series of The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone
David Lynn Golemon – Ancients the 3rd Event Group adventure, following on from Event & Legend
Kelley Armstrong – The Awakening sequel to The Summoning…
William C. Dietz – The Gathering Storm the first novel set against the Resistance: Fall of Man game background…
art, etc:
Frank Cho – Apes and Babes book one hardback retrospective…
Bob Larkin – The Savage Art of Bob Larkin softcover highlighting his best work
Linda Ravenscroft – Enchanted faerie & fantasy art in a sort of Beardsley/gothic style…
Daniel Kiessler – The Art of Daniel Kiessler softcover b&w images of women
magazines:
Black Static #10 cover date May 2009
Neo - #58
audio:
Doctor Who – The Magic Mousetrap Big Finish #120
New Titles – w/e 25th April 2009
in hardback:
Charles Stross – The Revolution Business the 5th in his Merchant Princes series… (signed copies, by the way)
Harry Turtledove – Give Me Back My Legions a historical novel set against the background of the disasterous (for Rome) Battle of the Teutoburg Forest…
Neal Asher - Shadow of the Scorpion the 6th Agent Cormac novel…
Alastair Reynolds – Zuma Blues short story collection
in large format:
Simon R. Green – The Spy Who Haunted Me the 3rd of the Secret Histories…
L. E. Modesitt, jr. – Ghosts of Columbia omnibus edition containing the first two novels in his alternate history series featuring Dr. Johan Eschbach of New Bruges… Of Tangible Ghosts & The Ghost of the Revelator
in ‘B’ format:
Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith – Pride and Prejeduce and Zombies just what it says! With b&w illustrations
Steven Erikson – Toll the Hounds the 8th volume of the Mazalan Book of the Fallen
Robert Holdstock – Merlin’s Wood subtitled The Vision of Magic, it also includes 4 short stories. First puplished in 1994
H. G. Wells & Eric Brown – The Time Machine a simplified, illustrated, annotated retelling of the classic story
in paperback:
Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson – Paul of Dune is the start of a new trilogy which carries on from the end of Frank Herbert’s Dune, but is set before the events of his sequel, Dune Messiah
John Everson – Sacrifice an insane woman releases some demons…
Graham Masterton – Death Mask a killer who appears from thin air…
art, etc:
Dinogami by Fernando Gilgado Gomez. How to create Origami Dinosaurs!
J. G. Ballard
So J. G. Ballard has died.
Not unexpected, but still very sad.
The first novel I remember reading of his was The Drought, or maybe The Wind From Nowhere. Strange post-disaster chronicles, concentrating as much on people’s obsessions and how they felt, than about responding to their changed circumstances in appropriate (for mainstream sf) ways…
I was also reading other ‘new wave’ authors who were following in his footsteps, looking into crystaline pools in metal salt marches like M. John Harrison or brooding on the futility of trying re-ignite humanities dreams like Mark S. Geston. Michael Moorcock and his doomed heroes… the strange introspective novels of Barry Malzberg…
Ballard was there before them all, creating strange new landscapes – dare I mention empty swimming pools! – and broken characters who acted out their hopes an dreams. Hello America, Concrete Island, Myths of the Near Future…
Some great novels and short stories, also some lesser work in his later years which seemed unable to break new territory, although it remained very readable, as he set stories against the harsh light of the French Riviera or the repetitive landscapes of modern suburbia.
From the early 80s on, he wrote quite widely about his early wartime life (his article in Foundation 24 was, I think, the first major autobiographical piece, later expanded into Empire of the Sun) and his life in the 50s & 60s in The Kindness of Women (with the accompanying press stories of inaccuracies and divergences from the facts).
Despite this, he revisited many of the same events again in his autobiography Miracles of Life: Shanghai to Shepperton, his most recent and, I believe, final book, written after his terminal illness had been diagnosed…
He’ll be missed.
[this replaces a very similar post made earlier in the day because I changed the photo and I had to re-post this to make it visible... ]
Brian Ruckley – Fall of Thanes
Just to say info, etc. about obtaining his new hardback has been sent to people who have expressed an interest… If I should have contacted you and I’ve missed you for some reason, let me know and I’ll attend to it asap!
[edited Monday 20th April]
New Titles – w/e 18th April 2009
in hardback:
Jim Butcher – Turn Coat the UK edition of the 11th of the Dresden Files
Star Wars – Outcast first in the new Fate of the Jedi series featuring Luke and his son Ben… written by Aaron Allston
Doctor Who – The Slitheen Excursion by Simon Guerreur & Prisoner of the Daleks by Simon Baxendale; the next 2 compact hardcovers…
in large format:
Ben Bova – The Sam Gunn Omnibus 700 pages pulling together all the Sam Gunn stories
Matt Coward – So Far, So Near short stories…
Star Trek – Mere Anarchy an omnibus edition collecting together the 6 e-books called Things Fall Apart, The Centre Cannot Hold, Shadows of the Indignant, The Darkness Drops Again, The Blood-Dimmed Tide & Its Hour Come Round. Each novella features the Enterprise visiting the same planet over a period of decades as it recovers from a major disaster…
Star Trek – Treason the latest New Frontier adventure from Peter David…
Barry N. Malzberg – Breakfast in the Ruins collected essays and articles spanning the entire sf&f field
in ‘B’ format:
Tim Lebbon – The Fire Wolves a Hellboy novel…
Lari Don – First Aid for Fairies cute fantasy about a girl whose mother is a vet…
Jasper Fforde – First Among Sequels how did I miss this softcover edition months ago! The latest case for Thursday Next; his next book, Shades of Grey, is out in August…
Gardner Dozois (editor) – Best Short SF Novels great antholgy that first appeared a couple of years ago. 13 stories averaging 60 pages each…including some great stuff from the mid-80s onwards
in paperback:
Forgotten Realms – Downshadow the 3rd in the series Ed Greenwood presents Waterdeep. This volume is by Erik Scott DeBee
Eberron – Dragon Forge the 2nd of the Draconic Prophecies, by James Wyatt
art, etc:
Ashley Wood – The Art of Metal Gear Solid nice looking stuff!
Jim Woodring - Oneiric Diary undated hardback spiral notebook, featuring his art
Studio Ghibli neat little book about their films, with colour insert, by Colin Odell & Michelle Le Blanc
Cthulhu Tales – The Darkness Beyond the latest graphic collection from Boom! Studios…
other:
Zombie Outbreak Survival Kit back in stock after a couple of years… warning signs, toe-tags, emergency police tape, etc.
Happy Birthday!
Just to say that Transreal Fiction is 12 today!
Thanks to everybody that makes it work, not least my customers!
And now, cake!
New Titles – w/e 11th April 2009
in hardback:
Robert J. Sawyer – WWW.Wake 1st in a new trilogy; a blind person receives a new implant which unexpectedly acts as an internet feed… sounds very CP! 
David Lynn Golemon – Ancients the 3rd in the ancient artifact series that began with Event and Legend
in large format:
Robert Asprin – Dragons Luck the sequel to Dragons Wild
Robert Asprin & Jody Lynn Nye – Myth-Fortunes the 19th Myth adventure!
Thomas E. Sniegoski – Dancing on the Head of a Pin the 2nd Remy Chandler novel…
Jeffrey Ford – The Empire of Ice Cream and The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant two short story collections
Andre Norton – The Game of Stars and Comets omnibus edition of 4 short novels: The Sioux Spaceman, Eye of the Monster, The X Factor & Voorloper
Ellen Datlow (editor) – Inferno new horror collection, with many big name contributors
Ellen Datlow (editor) – Nebula Awards Showcase: 2009 top fiction together with essay, etc.
in ‘B’ format:
Ursula K. LeGuin – Lavinia historical fantasy set at the founding of Rome…
Alex Bell – The Ninth Circle a man called Gabriel wakes up in Budapest without his memory, although he does seem to own a huge number of religious history books…
Conrad Williams – One Britain on the aftermath of some catastrophic breakdown…
in paperback:
Juliet E. McKenna – Irons in the Fire part 1 of her new fantasy series, Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution
Kate Elliott – Shadow Gate the 2nd in her Crossroads series…
David Drake – When the Tide Rises the 6th in his RCN series, featuring Lt. Leary…
Catherine Asaro – The Ruby Dice the latest SkolianEmpire novel
Harry Turtledove – The Valley-Westside War the 6th Crosstime Traffic adventure…
Neal Asher - Line War the 5th sf novel featuring Agent Cormac
Newt Gingrich & William R. Forstchen – Pearl Harbor the 1st in their new historical series…
Charlaine Harris – From Dead to Worse the 8th Sookie Stackhouse adventure
Andre Norton & Jean Rabe – Dragon Mage the sequel to Dragon Magic, plotted and discussed at length before Norton passed away…
Eric Garcia – The Repossession Mambo sf featuring an transplant organ repo man!
L. A. Banks – Undead on Arrival the 3rd Crimson Moon novel
Thomas E. Sniegoski – A Kiss Before the Apocalypse Remy Chandler is an angel living on Earth, who has renounced both Heavan & Hell, but then the Angel of Death goes missing!
Ann Aguirre – Blue Diablo the 1st Corine Solomon adventure
John Zakour & Lawrence Ganem – Ballistic Babes the 2nd omnibus of their series, containing The Radioactive Redhead & The Frost-Haired Vixen…
Matthew Costello – Maelstrom the 2nd book in the Doom 3 series, based on the game
Mark L. Van Name & T. K. F. Weisskopf (editors) – Transhuman original anthology
Nick Gevers & Jay Lake (editors) – Other Earths original ‘alternate worlds’ anthology
merchandise:
new cuddly toys!
New species include 3 types of Ray and European Otters. Malayan Tapirs back in stock also!
