New Titles – w/e 23rd June 2018
in hardcover:
Terry Brooks – The Skaar Invasion the 2nd book of The Fall of Shannara
Sarah Pinsborough – Cross Her Heart psychological thriller
Lois McMaster Bujold – Mira’s Last Dance fantasy novella published by Subterranean Press; a sequel to Penric’s Mission
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern – issue #52 titled In Their Faces a Landmark 17 new stories about ‘movement and displacement’
in large format:
Ruthanna Emrys – Winter Tide Lovecraft inspired novel featuring the few surviving residents of Innsmouth after their release from internment with the American Japanese during WW2!
in ‘B’ format:
Tanya Huff – The Priviledge of Peace her 3rd Peacekeeper novel
David Hutchinson – Shelter almost a hundred years after the disaster that shattered civilisation, society is looking beyond scavenging the past and towards the future… Volume 1 of shared world series The Aftermath. Volume 2, Haven, will be by Adam Roberts.
Michael Blumlein – Thoreau’s Microscope the 21st in PM Press‘ Outspoken Author series. Fiction, an essay and an interview with Terry Bisson.
in paperback:
Scott Westerfield – The Risen Empire re-issue of the 1st of the two Succession books; the Emperor & his sster have ruled for centuries but now augmented humans want a change…
James Rollins – The Demon Crown the latest Sigma Force adventure! Premium edition.
magazines:
Shoreline of Infinity – issue # 12 lead story by Helen Jackson plus more fiction, reviews, poetry, art, and even a ‘spot the difference’ game!
Locus – issue # 689 June cover date; includes their ‘Books through March‘ feature on upcoming releases
New Titles – w/e 16th June 2018
in hardcover:
Rob Grant & Andrew Marshall – The Quanderhorn Xperimentations secret, absurd history based on documents discovered during the refurbishment of Westminster!
Peter Newman – The Deathless people scratch a living from the verges of the Godroads, fearing the nearby forests where the Demons lurk. Above, the Deathless live their lives in floating castles…
Robert McCammon – The Listener crime novel set during the Great Depression, featuring a man who can sometimes hear things that haven’t been spoken out loud…
Eric Flint & Walt Boyers (editors) – Grantville Gazette VIII the latest volume of short stories set in Flint’s 1632/Ring of Fire universe…
H. P. Lovecraft & Gary Gianni (illustrator) – The Illustrated Call of Cthulhu very nice h/c edition, filled with b&w art. Includes short story The Sea Raiders by H. G. Wells, also with illustrative sketches. Published by Flesk, who do the annual Spectrum arts collection.
Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black – The Spiderwyck Chronicles: The Completely Fantastical Edition not new, but I now stock the illustrated single volume of the Spiderwyck Chronicles
in large format:
Amanda Downum – Still So Strange collection of 28 short stories with a Lovecraftian tinge…
in ‘B’ format:
Natasha Pulley – The Bedlam Stacks strange adventures in 19thC Peru, searching for botanical specimens! Loved the hardcover last year.
Christina Henry – The Mermaid rumours of the perfect sideshow exhibit reach P. T. Barnam…
Rebecca James – The Woman in the Mirror after the War, Alice becomes a governess at remote Winterbourne in Cornwall; 70 years later Rachel is informed of the death of a previously unknown relative and she is requested to travel down to Cornwall…
Hailey Edwards – Bone Driven part 2 of the Foundling series, sequel to Bayou Born
Stephen Donaldson – Seventh Decimate 1st part of The Great God’s War, a new epic fantasy series
Gavin Chait – Our Memory Like Dust set in a near future North Africa and a companion volume to Lament for the Fallen. Another h/c favorite of mine from last year!
Marina J. Lostetter – Noumenon deep into humanity’s 1st multi-ship voyage to another star all the ships are crewed by clones of the original crew!
Rob Boffard – Adrift Sigma Station, an exotic space hotel, is suddenly destroyed, stranding or killing everyone
Daniel Godfrey – The Synapse Sequence in the near future, Ais, bots and drones do everything but the controlling algorithms aren’t always fair…
art, etc:
J. A. W. Cooper – Familiars softcover; sketches of witches and their familiars. Some colour
J. A. W. Cooper – Flora & Fauna sketches of mainly animals, with some plants
J. A. W. Cooper – Viscera slightly more violent sketches of animals and humans
Mike Mignola & Gary Gianni – Hellboy: Into the Silent Sea – Studio Edition large h/c with all the b&w art highlighted, with the comic’s text and editorial comments alongside instead of obscuring the art. Looks great!
Moebius – Inside Moebius Part 2 h/c from Humanoids of Moebius’ musings and art
Frederic Brremaud & Giovanni Rigano – Daffodil Nosferatu’s vampire legions prepare to descend upon a quiet little town… Hardcover collecting issues 1 – 3 of the comic.
magazines:
Heavy Metal – issue # 290
Illustration – issue Sixty with pieces on N. C. Wyeth, Frederic Varady & Gilbert Bundy
New Titles – w/e 9th June 2018
in hard cover:
Christopher Moore – Noir it’s the summer of ’47 and strange things have been seen in the sky. Sammy & Cheese (her surname name is Stilton!) are approached by the Airforce for some sensitive snooping…
Simon R. Green – Night Fall apparently a cross-over between his Secret Histories and Nightside series, making it nos. 12 & 14 respectively!
Jacqueline Carey – Starless Khai has been raised from birth to protect the Princess Zariya
Travis S. Taylor – Bringers of Hell the 6th in his Tau Ceti Agenda series
Jim Butcher – Brief Cases a dozen short stories from The Dresden Files
J. R. R. Tolkien – The Hobbit Facsimile Gift Set a tray/box which has a lenticular (3-D) version of the classic cover on it & in the tray is a replica of the unrevised 1937 1st edition, a cd with JRRT reading extracts, a map (with hidden moon runes on it) and more!
in large format:
Dominic Dulley – Shattermoon volume 1 of The Long Game. Orry screws up one of har father’s cons by fleeing off-planet with an artifact that may have belonged to the aliens who used to inhabit the shattered moon, the remnants of which are still orbiting the planet…
Lilith Saintcrow – Afterwar as a 2nd Civil War winds down in the USA, the hunt is on for a war criminal who holds dangerous secrets which could re-ignite the conflict…
K. R. Richardson – Blood Orbit a rookie policeman is transferred to a distant planet to help investigate a mas murder…
Seanan McGuire – Sparrow Hill Road 1st in the new Ghost Roads series, about a hit & run victim trying to track down the man who killed her in order to retain his immortality…
Roger Taylor – The Keep you did your job and didn’t ask what was going on when you worked at the remote, mysterious Keep
Joe R. Lansdale & Kasey Lansdale – Terror is Our Business: Dana Roberts’ Casebook of Horrors collecting all 8 of the PI’s strange cases
Philip K. Dick – 5 Great Novels fat volume with argueably his five best novels: The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Martian Time-Slip, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Ubik & A Scanner Darkly
in ‘B’ format:
Daryl Gregory – Spoonbenders complex novel about a family of semi-retired showground magicians, whose powers may or may not be real. I really enjoyed the h/c last year…
Alex Marshall – A War in Crimson Embers the 3rd book in The Crimson Empire series, earlier titles were A Crown for Cold Silver & A Blade of Black Steel
Cameron Johnston – The Traitor God after 10 years away, Edrin returns home to avenge his friend’s brutal death and no sorcery, daemons or gods will stop him…
Jess Richards – City of Circles when her circus visits the magical city of Matryoshka, Danu stays behind to try to uncover the secrets in her past…
Vivian Shaw – Strange Practice Dr. Greta Helsing tends to the London undead and their various peculiar ailments but things are changing…
Bryan Camp – The City of Lost Fortunes in chaotic post-Katrina New Orleans Jude has retired but still has the gift of finding missing objects; drawn back into things, can he use his ability to find the murderer of the Fortune god…
Jack Campbell – Ascendant 2nd volume in his Genesis Fleet series, set in the universe of The Lost Fleet series…
Michael Tolkin – NK3 a weaponised microbe has destroyed the memories and identities of almost all humankind and the few uninfected left in the remnants of civilisation rule it all!
Amber Royer – Free Chocolate in the far future chocolate is Earth’s only worthwhile export! Looks fun!
Rob Boffard – Outer Earth omnibus containing the Tracer, Zero-G & Impact trilogy, about a failing orbital habitat which harbours the last few thousand humans
Warhammer 40,000 – The Last Hunt featuring the White Scars, a Space Marine Chapter. Written by Robbie MacNiven
Lea Taylor – Midlothian Folk Tales two dozen stories set in and around Edinburgh…
in paperback:
Taylor Anderson – Devil’s Due the 12th Destroyermen adventure, about a WW2 destroyer crew in an alternate universe
art, etc:
Dougal Dixon – After Man new h/c edition of his 1981 classic showing how (and the why) various yet-to-evolve new species might look
Mark P. Witton – Recreating an Age of Reptiles 90+ full colour up-to-date paintings of dinosaurs, early mammels, etc. with notes on aspects of their creation and rendering.
Kevin J. Anderson & Neil Peart – Clockwork Lives steampunk flavoured full colour h/c graphic novel conceived by Neil Peart of Canadian rock group Rush
magazines:
Graphite – issue # 7 new issue of the concept drawing magazine
New Titles – w/e 2nd June 2018
in hardcover:
Catherynne M. Valente – Space Opera humans have reached the stars and discovered that influence and position can be gained by competing in the once-a-Cycle Metagalactic Grand Prix…
Greg Egan – Phoresis one of a pair of twin planets is dying, and it’s people hope that migration to it’s unknown companion may save them…
in large format:
Sarah Gailey – American Hippo alternate history omnibus containing the novellas River of Teeth & Taste of Marrow with 2 more short stories, all about the hippo ranching business in the swamps of the American South!
Yahtzee Croshaw – Jam the Apocalypse will be a lot… stickier… than anyone prepared for!
Duncan Lunan (editor) – Starfield re-issue of the 1989 anthology of 17 Scottish science fiction stories, published this time around by the Shoreline of Infinity team.
David Rowe – The Proverbs of Middle-Earth strange as news from Bree!
Mur Lafferty – I Should Be Writing subtitled ‘A Writer’s Workshop‘ and written by the award winning podcaster and author
in ‘B’ format:
Peter Watts – The Freeze-Frame Revolution when only a tiny proportion of deep-sleep passengers are awake at any one time, how can they plan anything? Especially without the controlling AI knowing!
Ian McDonald – Time Was two people, presumed dead during WW2, are adrift in time and try to find each other by leaving clues in books, plays, etc…
in paperback:
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. – Assassin’s Price the 11th volume of the Imager Portfolio
Hailey Edwards – Bone Driven the sequel to Bayou Born and part 2 of her Foundling series…
Deborah Harkness – A Discovery of Witches Diana discovers a rare manuscript about alchemy in the Bodlian Library stacks and wants nothing to do with it. But it’s too late, and strange beings are stirring! Volume 1 of her All Souls trilogy
Star Trek: Prometheus – The Root of All Rage the 2nd novel set on the USS Prometheus in the same era as ST: The Original Series. Written by Bernd Perplies & Christian Humberg
art, etc:
The Art of Jim Starlin: A Life in Words and Pictures large, heavily illustrated hardcover
Simon Grenan, Roger Sabin & Julian Waite – Marie Duval hardcover collecting the work of this Victorian cartoonist & illustrator
Frank Quietly – Drawings & Sketches small h/c with b&w and colour sketches and drawings
M. Alice LeGrow – Bizenghast: Falling Into Fear hardcover, with 2 dozen little removable colour posters in plastic sleeves and a dozen pages of stickers
David Munoz, Tirso & Javi Montes – Whispers in the Walls horror story set in a children’s hospital in Czeckoslovakia in 1949. From Humanoids
Giovanni Gualdoni, Gabriele Clima, Matteo Piana & Davide Turotti – The Ring of the Seven Worlds softcover. Steampunk fantasy from Humanoids
Daniel Lieske – The Wormwood Saga brightly coloured little fantasy adventure. Softcover
Bernard Seret & Julien Sole – Sharks small h/c all about sharks! One of several titles in IDW’s new The Little Book of Knowledge series
Evan Dorkin – Milk and Cheese b&w collection of the comic, which ran from 1989 – 2000. Softcover
Tentacle Kitty: Coloring Book with b&w drawings by 8 artists, from Dark Horse
Gardner Dozois – 1947 – 2018
The man who was probably the top short fiction editor in the field for over 30 years died last week. The 35th edition of his annual doorstop of an anthology of The Year’s Best Science Fiction is due out this summer although his editing career (as opposed to his writing career) started long ago in a small way back in 1972 and kicked into gear in 1976 and hardly paused until now. Apart from producing dozens of anthologies, often with the assistance of Jack Dann or George R. R. Martin, among others, he also edited Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine for 20 years and won innumerable awards for his work.
(cover art by Doug Herring)
But he was also an acomplished author in his own right and won, or was nominated for, Hugos & Nebulas 16 times over 30 years. I probably first read his short work in The Visible Man, his first short story collection, back in 1977 (I still have my copy!) and later in Geodesic Dreams. He also wrote a couple of novels, Nightmare Blue, with George Alec Effinger in 1975, which I bought when it came out for the Effinger connection but never really liked, and Strangers three years later, which I struggled with as well. But his short fiction was great! He collaborated with several authors, including his wife Susan Casper, and Slow Dancing Through Time, in 1990, collected the best of these stories in one place.
When I heard of his death, I wanted to read something of his but many of my books are currently boxed up. But I did find my little copy of Peacemaker, his Hugo nominated and Nebula winning story from 1983, re-issued on it’s own by Pulphouse in 1991.
I hadn’t remembered much about it, but it’s still a strong story; the climate change details are fortunately wrong (his changes are much speeded up), but the portrayal of a future rural America is still chilling to read today.
So, farewell Gardner, a giant in our field.
New Titles – w/e 26th May 2018
in hardcover:
Andrzej Sapkowski – Season of Storms the latest volume of The Witcher series, which began with The Last Wish. The previous volume, The Lady of the Lake is recently out in paperback
Andrew Caldecott – Wyntertide the sequel to the splendidly strange Rotherweird
V. E. Schwab – Vicious hardcover edition of her 2014 title…
in ‘B’ format:
Neal Stephenson & Nichole Galland – The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. time travel goings on in the Department of Diachronic Operations!
Adrian Tchaikovsky – Dogs of War Rex is a heavily armed, and armoured, genetically modified fighting machine. But at heart all he wants to be is a Good Dog…
Mercedes Lackey – The Hills Have Spies part 1 of her new Family Spies series, set in Valdemar
Juliet E. McKenna – The Green Man’s Heir Daniel is a drifter, picking up casual work as he goes, but now the police are interested in his background, but he’d rather not have his childhood investigated…
Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – Illuminae, Gemina & Obsidio all 3 volumes of their Iluminae Files, about Hanna & Nik and their efforts to help win an interstellar war…
Warhammer 40,000 – The Carrion Throne 1st novel of The Vaults of Terra, by Chris Wright
art, etc:
PIE International – Beautiful Scenes From a Fantasy World companion volume to the recent Everyday Scenes From a Parallel World. Background images from various anime and manga
Jean-Francois Chabas & David Sala – The Enchanted Chest large h/c with a full page colour illustration opposite every page of the text of the fairy tale
magazines:
Locus – issue # 688 May cover date, with pieces on Nick Harkaway & Ada Palmer, among others. Also details of this year’s PKD Award
New Titles – w/e 19th May 2018
in hardcover:
Mark Lawrence – Grey Sister sequel to recent paperback Red Sister and volume 2 of his Book of the Ancestor series
Joanne M. Harris – The Testament of Loki sequel to Runemarks and Runelight
in large format:
Thomas Welsh – Anna Undreaming a student discovers she is an ‘undreamer’ and must confront a community of ‘Dreamers’ with evil intentions… Author is from Glasgow, so not quite local!
TTA Press/Andy Cox (editor) – Crimewave 13 a dozen new stories in an attractive looking anthology
Robert C. Poyton – Remnants collection subtitled Tales of Fenland Horror & Hauntings the author’s 3 major influences are apparently M. R. James, H. P. Lovecraft and the fens of East Anglia!
Robert Cowley (editor) – What If? book of essays by military historians about key moments and battles throughoiut history and how things might have changed…
in ‘B’ format:
E. M. Brown – Buying Time interesting looking time travel novel by a slightly re-branded Eric Brown!
Angela Slatter – Corpse Light sequel to Vigil; Verity Fassbinder vol 2, about the Weyrd Council‘s Brisbane agent…
G. S. Denning – My Grave Ritual the 3rd Warlock Holmes case
Brian McClellan – Wrath of Empire epic fantasy sequel to Sins of Empire
Scott Oden – A Gathering of Ravens in the year 999 Grimnir, the last of the Skraelings, makes his way from Scandinavia to the Viking town of Dubhlinn seeking vengence…
Mark Adler – Son of the Night it’s the eve of the battle of Crecy in Banners of Blood vol 2, the sequel to Son of the Morning
Cynthia Masson – The Flaw in the Stone the sequel, and part 2, of The Alchemist’s Council
Warhammer40,000 – Ghost Warrior by Gav Thorpe. Part 1 of Rise of the Ynnari
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar – Overlords of the Iron Dragon C. L. Werner‘s latest adventure…
Isaac Asimov – The Complete Robot re-issue of the omnibus containg I, Robot, The Rest of th Robots, and other robot stories. New cover; one of a batch of Asimov re-issues
Michael Andre-Ddiussi – Jack Vance: Seven Articles on his Work and Travels slim book looking at various aspects of JV’s writing and life. The main pieces are an attempt to map out a loose ‘future history’ (as the author did in his Handbook of Vance Space) and a look at The Blue World. The New Prime, Sjambek, and other works also feature in the other essays…
in paperback:
Larry Correia – Monster Hunter: Siege the 6th in the main Monster Hunter series, excluding the MH Memoirs & the MH Files anthology
art, etc:
3dtotal Publishing – Creating Stylized Characters latest in their series of books on art technique
Rosemary Mosco – Birding Is My Favorite Video Game little colour collection of fun nature centred cartoons taken from the Bird and Moon webcomic about birdwatching, etc.
gift:
F. A. Steel – English Fairy Tales nice little hardcover with versions of various fairy tales re-crafted by Steel and first published in 1918. Illustration both in b&w and colour by Arthur rackham.
Antoine De Saunt Exupery The Little Prince similar to the little h/c copy I usually stock, but with the illustrations in full colour instead of b&w!
magazines:
Interzone – # 275 cover date May/June
Black Static – # 63 featuring a novella by Steven J. Dines (who also has a novelette in the new Interzone as well!)
Wednesday!
Transreal Fiction will be closed all day tomorrow, the 16th of May) for pressing personal reasons…
Hope to open on Thursday as normal.
New Titles – w/e 12th May 2018
in hardcover:
Neal Asher – The Soldier Orlandine’s duty is to guard an ancient weapons store but maybe she could just destroy it instead?. Until a super-soldier from the horde is awakened by unknown enemies… Part 1 of the Rise of the Jain, his latest series featuring humans and the alien Prador Empire
Robyn Bennis – By Fire Above the 2nd Signal Airship adventure; the war against the Vin gets personal for Airship Captain Josette Dupre
in large format:
Nancy Springer – The Oddling Prince the king of Caledon may be dying, and his kingdom’s fate lies with 2 very different brothers…
Lara Elena Donnelly – Armistice sequel to her recent Amberlough
Cat Sparks – Lotus Blue an ancient satellite crashes to ground near to some post-apocalyptic nomadic traders…
Bruce Sterling – Schismatrix Plus restocked after several years of absence! His original 1985 cyberpunk novel, plus 5 stories set in the same Shaper/Mechanist world
F. Marion Crawford – The Upper Berth, for the Blood is the Life, and other Horrors subtitled The Best Weird Fiction and Ghost Stories of FMC; 8 stories originally published between 1885 and 1911
in ‘B’ format:
Robyn Bennis – The Guns Above fantasy steampunk action featuring a new airship captain…
Justina Robson – The Switch orphans Nico and Twostar don’t fit into Harmony’s perfect society…
Jaroslav Kalfar – Spaceman of Bohemia the Czcch Republic’s first space mission is to investigate a strange cloud around Venus… An Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist slection
Laini Taylor – Strange the Dreamer Lazlo Strange had always wanted to find the mythic city of Weep, and finally has an opportunity to do so!
Jennie Melamid – Gather the Daughters every summer on a remote island all the children are allowed to do anything they want, until one of them discovers something that could completely change their small world…
Kate Murray-Brown – The Upstairs Room Eleanor & Richard have finally bought their dream house, but soon their feelings about it change…
New Titles – w/e 5th May 2018
in hardcover:
Sylvain Neuvel – Only Human the 3rd of the Themis Files series, which began with Sleeping Giants
Kevin J. Anderson & Sarah A. Hoyt – Uncharted 1st of the new Arcane America series. The whole of America has a very different history and Lewis & Clark’s overland expedition meets all sorts of unexpected difficulties! The premise sounds like a cross between Jeffrey Barlough‘s Western Lights series and Manifest Destiny (the comic)
Kim Wilkins – Daughters of the Storm a dying King’s daughters set out to find the witch who might cure him, and save his Kingdom…
Leife Shallcross – The Beast’s Heart a re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast, from the Beast’s point of view
Connie Willis – I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land sheltering from the rain, Jim goes into a quaint little bookshop… (not Transreal!) Signed & Numbered novella from Subterranean Press
in large format:
Emily Devenport – Medusa Uploaded Oichi is surreptitiously rescued from being ‘spaced’ from a generation starship and vows to discover the truth behind the voyage
in ‘B’ format:
Peter V. Brett – The Core the 5th novel in his Demon Cycle, which began with The Painted Man
Roger Levy – The Rig interesting looking, complex sf novel, difficult to summarize without reading it!
Benjamin Percy – The Dark Net an evil power is infiltrating peoples’ minds via a computer virus…
Louisa Morgan – A Secret History of Witches the old, magical ways are dying but when WW2 looms, a family in Brittany rises to the challenge…
Syd Moore – Strange Fascination the 3rd Essex Witch Museum Mystery
J. R. R. Tolkien – Beren and Luthien the definitive version of this tale from Middle Earth‘s First Age. Colour plates by Alan Lee.
Star Wars – From a Certain Point of View anthology of 40 stories from 40 authors celebrating 40 years since the original film!
Samuel R. Delany – The Athiest in the Attic plus… the latest in PM Press‘s Outspoken Authors series. The title novella, an essay, an interview with Delany by Terry Bisson and a biblography
in paperback:
Timothy Zahn – Pawn Nicole is kidnapped and finds herself forced to work on a huge alien spacecraft…
Faith Hunter – Dark Queen the latest Jane Yellowrock adventure
Nicholas Sansbury Smith – Hell Divers II – Ghosts set on a gigantic airship floating above a poisonous, ruined Earth…
art, etc:
Charles R. Knight – Life Through the Ages a commemorative edition of his 1946 book, with examples of his b&w drawings of all sorts of prehistoric animals, not just the dinosaurs for which he was most famous. The original text is somewhat outdated, as are some of the assumptions made in drawing the earlier animals especially. But still a very nice softcover book!
Lee Lanier – Aesthetic 3D Lighting: History, Theory and Application how it was done, and how to do it, including virtually.
