The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
NESFA Press
PO Box 809, Framingham, MA 01701
www.nesfapress.com
Two outstanding new titles are recommended picks for discriminating,
seasoned
fans of science. Fans of Lois McMaster Bujold already know how hard it has
been
to obtain her Falling Free (1886778531, $23.00), so should appreciate this
newly copyedited, revised edition. Falling Free was written to honor her
father, a professor, and is her earliest novel in her 'Vorkosigan'
universe, so
fans will consider this a 'must', completing a collection of classic
Bujold
writings. William Tenn's Dancing Naked (1886778469, $29.00) gathers
notable
works by an author best known for his fiction, but also fluent in
nonfiction.
His essays on science fiction and writing appeared in a variety of
publications, but are gathered together here for the first time under one
cover.
Harry Potter And Philosophy
David Baggett & Shawn Klein
Open Court Press
332 South Michigan Avenue, #1100, Chicago, IL 60604
www.opencourtbooks.com
0812694554 $17.95 www.amazon.com
Harry Potter's put the spell on millions of readers, and many have debated
the
'deeper meaning' of the stories. In Harry Potter And Philosophy, seventeen
philosophical experts unlock some of Hogwart's secrets, revealing
connections
between the particular characters and how they link to modern philosophy.
There's more than a healthy dose of humor, such in an analysis of how
Aristotle
would've run a school for wizard. Harry Potter And Philosophy is "must"
reading
for dedicated fans of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels and films
presenting
Harry Potter's detailed and complicated world.
Edenborn
Nick Sagan
Putnam
375 Hudson Street, NY NY 10014-3657
www.penguin.com
0399151869 $19.95 1-800-847-5515
Fans of Sagan's debut novel Idlewild will find Edenborn a suitable
follow-up:
it's set in the future when a disease known as The Black Ep has wiped out
most
of humanity, leaving the remaining survivors divided into to camps: one
which
believes in technological innovation, the other an anti-technology
back-to-the-land survivalist colony. Add multiple narrators to reinforce
the
ideas and you have a powerful setting all the more enhanced by the idea
that
much of Edenborn takes place inside a virtual world which the characters
can
manipulate.
Orphanage
Robert Buettner
Warner Aspect
1271 Avenue of Americas, NY NY 10020
www.twbookmark.com
0446614297 $6.99 1-800-759-0190
In Robert Buettner's original and highly recommended science fiction novel
Orphange, humankind's first alien contact comes in the form of
city-destroying
missiles from Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Under attack from afar, humanity
needs
an effective counterstrike to survive- and it's up to a teenage and a
group of
orphan soldiers nobody will miss to man a scavenged spacecraft that's
mankind's
only hope for survival.
Baen Books
1230 Avenue of Americas, NY NY 10020
1-800-223-2336 www.baen.com
Three exciting new science fiction dramas are recommended picks for fans
of
political science fiction and fantasy. Esther Friesner's Turn The Other
Chick
(07434-88571, $20.00) blends tongue-in-cheek humor with the story of
Amazonian
women ready for battle. From conflicts between he/she enemies and gender
identification to 'combat shopping' at reluctant armories which only with
to
outfit men, Turn The Other Chick is packed with fun. Joel Rosenberg's
Guardians
Of The Flame: To Home And Ehvenor (074348-858X, $24.00) tackles a new
menace
from another world. Years have passed, and Jason, son of one of the
students
affected by a too-real magic/wizard game, has taken up his mysteriously
vanished father's role, fighting for freedom against slavery. His
investigation
into a rift leading to a world of evil beings makes for an absorbing plot
even
for newcomers to Rosenberg's Guardians Of The Flame setting. David Weber's
The
Shadow Of Sagnami (0743488-520, $26.00) introduces the 'Saganami Island'
series, presenting a group of graduates from a naval academy sent from the
classroom to war. Battles, space pirates, genetic slavers and more keep
the new
grads hopping in this fiercely battle-studded novel of adventure.
Ace Books
375 Hudson Street, New York NY 10014
www.penguin.com www.amazon.com
Ace is a leading publisher of high-quality science fiction: you can pretty
much
bet that if it appears under the Ace imprint, it'll be worth reading, and
two
new releases are no exception to the rule. Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's
Cleopatra 7.2 (04410-1206X, $23.95) continues the saga of a genetic
process
known as 'blending', where the cellular memories of Cleopatra have been
transferred into two scientist hosts. But one scientist's blending was
unauthorized, and Leda faces threats from a newfound anti-blending
movement and
the side effects of her genetic implant. A surprising series of events
brings
the two hosts into conflicts in this absorbing, original premise. Marion
Zimmer
Bradley's Avalon setting returns to life under the hand of friend and
coauthor
Diana L. Paxson in Ancestors Of Avalon (0670033146, $25.95): the latest
installment continues Bradley's setting, telling of the ancestors of
Avalon,
from their life on Atlantis to their escape to Britain and their newfound
mystical home on the isle. High drama and strong characterization mark
Paxson's
admirable Ancestors Of Avalon, a smooth seamless transition between
Bradley's
original setting and this latest enactment. Allen Steele's Coyote Rising
(0441012-051, $23.95) provides an exciting novel of interstellar
revolution as
it explores the passengers and crew of a hijacked starship, fleeing a
colony on
Coyote after the arrival of a new, repressive Earth government on their
planet,
and the colonists they have left behind. A revolution is in the making,
against
a hard-handed new ruler who faces crushing opposition and a violent past.
Interstellar politics comes alive in Coyote Rising. Eric Garcia's
Anonymous
Rex/Casual Rex (0441012-752, $15.00) provides a single-volume edition of
the
first two novels in Garcia's mystery/science fiction romp. This inclusion
of
two for one makes it easy to enjoy Garcia's setting and humor, based upon
an
idea that if the dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct, the world would be a much
stranger place.
Silverlance
Peter Thomas Crowell
Peter T Crowell Publications
2443 Fillmore Street #329 San Francisco, CA 94115
0974029092 $19.95 http://www.petertcrowell.com
Silverlance is the rather impressive debut title for Peter Crowell's "The
Tales
of True Adventure" action/fantasy series. Crowell has created a detailed
world
where centaurs, satyrs, giants, griffins, and other such mythological
beings
live alongside humans. Byron Thorn is a young man who doesn't really
consider
himself a hero, but because there is a new star in the heavens invoking
the
legend of "Silverlance", he finds himself embarking upon quest resulting
in a
series of unexpected adventures, complete with somehwhat unusual allies
and
committed enemies. Silverlance is a fantasy adventure novel that is a cut
above
the norm due to author's deft usage of myth aptly blended with the kind of
storytelling that immediately engages the readers attention from the very
first
page, and then holds it tightly through unexpected twists and turns right
down
to the final page. Enthusiastically recommended for readers with a
penchant for
high fantasy, Silverlance will leave them looking eagerly toward the next
"tale
of true adventure" from the mind and imagination of Peter Thomas Crowell.
Julia And The Dream Maker
P. J. Fischer
Traitor Dachshund Books
PO Box 847, Wall Street Station, New York, NY 10268
0974428701 $13.95 www.juliaandthedreammaker.com
Set in the near future and opening with a courtroom drama, Julia And The
Dream
Maker is the story of graduate students who find themselves caught up in
lives
of ambition combined with rapid advances in technology compelling them
into "a
seminal moment with evolution". Steven his friends are preparing for
academic
careers in the field of biology. These gifted students feel that there is
nothing they cannot do or accomplish. But a science project they become
involved with sets of an unexpected chain reaction dramatically altering
the
very pattern of human evolution, and do so, create a doorway to Julia's
world
and an uncertain future for them all. P. J. Fischer has a true
storyteller's
talent for creating very real characters and catching them up in a series
of
plausible events and fascinating dilemmas. Highly recommended and
entertaining
reading for science fiction fans, Julia And The Dream Maker will leave the
reader looking eagerly forward to the next book in Fischer's deftly
crafted
series, Julia And The Song Of The Soul.
Bohemian Cats
Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov
Magic Realist Press
118 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic
0954500741 $25.00 info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.magic-realism.com
The collaborative work of Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov, Bohemian Cats is a
wondrous storybook, with text simple enough to be accessible to children
yet so
fantastic that it is sure to appeal to all ages. Every page of this
stunningly
delightful fairy tale features charming, full-color, photographic
illustrations
of rambunctuous felines who ruled a distant land called Bohemia. No live
cats
were harmed or even inconvenienced in the making of Bohemian Cats, which
applies digital technology to photographs of cats and environments to
create
the lustrous, puss-n-boots style images of felines in royal garb. An
absolute
"must-have" for true ailurophiles, and a dazzling treasure to simply page
through.
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