As for my personal reading lately, here are two titles I highly recommend:

• The Scar by China Miéville (Del Rey, July 2002, USA & Canada; also available in the UK from Macmillan)
  Although set in the same world as his masterful Perdido Street Station, this novel is rather different. For one thing, it moves with the ponderous weight of the massive floating pirate city of Armada itself. Certainly there are moments when, like a sudden squall at sea, the action moves along at full speed -- but generally, the pace is rather slower. Stick it out; it's very much worth it. The theme of scars and scarring is likewise weighty, perhaps, one might even say, heavy-handed; but the interesting thing is that, while we are constantly reminded that scar tissue is a good thing, as it signifies healing, when we finally encounter The Scar of the title, it is not a scar at all, but a massive, gaping wound that will not heal...  All in all, this is a top-notch book -- full of inventive ideas, complex and fascinating characters, and an underlying sense of mystery and dread that never diminishes. Definitely one of this year's best.



• Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday, hc, 256 pages, October 2002, USA & Canada)
  A real estate agent sells and resells the same houses over and over. Regularly. Because they're haunted houses, and no one can bear to live in them for long. A reporter, investigating crib deaths for his newspaper editor, discovers a pattern, but no one would believe him, because it involves a lullaby that kills. Painlessly. Quietly. With no apparent cause of death. So the reporter and the real estate agent meet, and we end up with two mass murderers (one inadvertent, one a contract killer), an eco-terrorist and a dippy neo-pagan in red & black dreds all in a car together driving across America in search of a book that could end the world or save it. Could you even ask for more fun than this? Palahniuk is a dark and twisted genius.

(Books are listed alphabetically by author. Only books received are noted.)

M.Y.T.H. Inc. In Action / Sweet Myth-tery of Life by Robert Asprin
Ace (mm, 364 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada
   Originally published separately in 1990 and 1994 respectively.

Toxicology by Steve Aytlett
Gollancz (trade, 133 pages)
Publication date: 12 September 2002, UK & Canada
   First published 2001 in USA by Four Walls Eight Windows

Tree Girl by T.A. Barron
Ace (trade, 137 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Macmillan (trade, 701 pages)
Publication date: 20 September 2002, UK
   First published 2001 in USA by Tor
SF Site Review

Always Forever: The Age of Misrule, Book 3 by Mark Chadbourn
Gollancz (mm, 560 pages)
Publication date: 12 September 2002, UK
SF Site Review of World's End: Age of Misrule, Book 1

Dancers in the Dark stories by Jack Chalker
Five Star (hc, 285 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): December 2002, USA

The Magical Worlds of The Lord of the Rings by David Colbert
Berkley Books (trade, 200 pages)
Publication date: 1 October 2002, USA & Canada

DeathDay by William C. Dietz
Ace (mm, 360 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada

A Wizard Alone: Young Wizards, Book 6 by Diane Duane
Harcourt (hc, 318 pages)
Publication date: September 2002, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Books 1 to 5

Death and the Librarian and Other Stories by Esther Friesner
Five Star (hc, 293 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): December 2002, USA

Nightmare: A Novel of the Silent Empire by Steven Harper
Roc (mm, 360 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada

Destiny: Rhapsody, Book 3 by Elizabeth Haydon
Gollancz (mm, 558 pages)
Publication date: 12 September 2002, UK

The Summer Country by James A. Hetley
Ace (trade, 361 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada

Crawling Between Heaven and Earth by Sarah A. Hoyt
Dark Regions Press (trade, 169 pages)
Publication date: September 2002, USA

Ill Met By Moonlight by Sarah A. Hoyt
Ace (mm, 298 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

All Night Awake by Sarah A. Hoyt
Ace (hc, 311 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada

The Vampire Sextette edited by Marvin Kaye
Ace (mm, 388 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada
   6 novellas from Nancy Collins, Tanith Lee, Kim Newman, S.P. Somtow, Brian Stableford, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

Take a Thief by Mercedes Lackey
DAW (mm, 438 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada

Exile's Honor by Mercedes Lackey
DAW (hc, 433 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada

Ebb Tides and Other Tales by Mary Soon Lee
Dark Regions Press (trade, 205 pages)
Publication date: September 2002, USA

Vengeance Fantastic edited by Denise Little
DAW (mm, 336 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada

Legends of the Pendragon edited by James Lowder
Green Knight Publishing (trade, 320 pages)
Publication date: June 2002, USA & Canada & UK

Star of Erengrad by Neil McIntosh
The Black Library (mm, 288 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): December 2002, USA

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
Gollancz (mm, 534 pages)
Publication date: 19 September 2002, UK & Canada
SF Site Review

The Thoughtmaster's Conduit by Kerry Orchard
New Concepts Publishing (mm, 280 pages)
Publication date: July 2002, USA

Liquid Earth: Neoreality, Book 1 by Clifford Pickover
Lighthouse Press (trade, 260 pages)
Publication date: August 2002, USA

The Lobotomy Club: Neoreality, Book 2 by Clifford Pickover
Lighthouse Press (trade, 252 pages)
Publication date: August 2002, USA

The Masks of Time by Robert Silverberg
Gollancz SF Collectors' Edition (trade, 252 pages)
Publication date: 5 September 2002, UK & USA & Canada
   First published in 1968

Laws of the Blood: Deceptions by Susan Sizemore
Ace (mm, 264 pages)
Publication date: October 2002, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Laws of the Blood: The Hunt

Embracing the Starlight by Dave Smeds
Dark Regions Press, Tachyon Publications (trade, 340 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): February 2003, USA

Tangled Webs and Other Imaginary Weaving by Laura J. Underwood
Dark Regions Press (trade, 227 pages)
Publication date: September 2002, USA

Fourteen Fantasies From a Shop Called Imagination by Ken Wisman
Dark Regions Press (trade, 146 pages)
Publication date: September 2002, USA

Dealing With Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book 1 by Patricia C. Wrede
Magic Carpet Books, Harcourt (mm, 230 pages)
Publication date: September 2002, USA & Canada
   For ages 10 and up. First published in 1990.

Searching for Dragons: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Book 2 by Patricia C. Wrede
Magic Carpet Books, Harcourt (mm, 255 pages)
Publication date: September 2002, USA & Canada

Manta's Gift by Timothy Zahn
Tor (hc, 430 pages)
Publication date: September 2002, USA & Canada

Star Song and Other Stories by Timothy Zahn
Five Star (hc, 266 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): December 2002, USA

In the Distance, and Ahead in Time stories by George Zebrowski
Five Star (hc, 293 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): December 2002, USA