But first, here are a couple of recommendations from my own recent reading:

• Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson (Bantam, hc, 698 pages, published March 2004, UK)
      The fifth in Erikson's epic Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen takes us rather far from the lands he has already shown us -- far enough, in fact, that the Malazan Empire has almost no influence here. Instead, we are shown a land in a turbulent time, when a new ruler of the Tiste Edur unites the clans to bring war to the troublesome Letherii humans who have grown arrogant in the strength of their empire, headed by the mercantile city of Letheras, where money is the root of all power. As we have come to expect from Erikson, there are characters we love to spend time with (notably in this novel Tehol Beddict and his manservant Bugg, whose banter is hilarious), concepts and ideas that are jaw-droppingly cool, and so much going on that we're hard-pressed to figure it all out. I'm still a little confused as to precisely where this novel fits relative to the other four books thus far. Nevertheless, I'm content to wait and fill in the blanks at a later date: I still maintain this is the best fantasy series going.
  SF Site Review

• Iron Council by China Miéville (Del Rey, Ballantine, hc, 565 pages, published July 2004, USA & Canada)
      This book disappointed me a little, probably only because Miéville has set himself such high standards with his last couple of novels. Perdido Street Station was so much better than his first book, King Rat (which is worth reading), and his third novel, The Scar, was better still. I wanted his fourth book to be even more impressive, but instead of attaining that next level, his writing seems to have hit a plateau. On the positive side, Miéville's plateau is high above the quality of many of his contemporaries. This author is able to suspend disbelief as he writes convincingly about a group of renegade railroad workers who steal the train and the track, setting off across the continent taking up the track behind them and laying more ahead as they go. For the duration of the novel, he makes this somehow plausible. And that's only a part of what's going on -- true to his previous two novels in the world of New Crobuzon, there are many layers of complexity in plot and in the characters themselves. An excellent book, but sadly not better than The Scar (which was absolutely brilliant).

SF Site Review of Volume 1

Prisoner of the Iron Tower: The Tears of Artamon, Book 2 by Sarah Ash
Bantam Spectra (hc, 467 pages)
Publication date: 10 August 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Book 1, Lord of Snow and Shadows

Sarbola by John Beowulf
Trafford Publishing (trade, 181 pages)
Publication date: 2004, USA & Canada

The Adventures of Damion Koehkh, MD: Space Doctor (Original Scripts and Photos from the Series) edited with an introduction by Pushman Clark
RedJack (oversized trade, 140 pages)
Publication date: July 2004, USA

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Bloomsbury (hc, 800 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2004, USA

A Goat Has Two Horns by Barbara Davies
Scrybe Press (chapbook, 30 pages)
Publication date: April 2004, USA

The Nameless Day: The Crucible Series, Book 1 by Sara Douglass
Tor (hc, 448 pages)
Publication date: 23 July 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

Ascendancy of Blood by Eugie Foster
Scrybe Press (chapbook, 28 pages)
Publication date: April 2004, USA

The Magister's Mask by Deborah Fredericks
Dragon Moon Press (trade, 352 pages)
Publication date: August 2004, USA & Canada

Radiant by James Alan Gardner
Eos, HarperCollins (hc, 374 pages)
Publication date: 3 August 2004, USA & Canada

Stable Strategies and Others by Eileen Gunn
Tachyon Publications (trade, 224 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2004, USA

Ancient Designs by Richard Hage
iUniverse (trade, 223 pages)
Publication date: March 2004, USA

Slipstream by Doug Hewitt
Scrybe Press (chapbook, 32 pages)
Publication date: March 2004, USA

Tzimisce: Dark Ages, Book 13 by Myranda Kalis
World of Darkness, White Wolf (mm, 288 pages)
Publication date: August 2004, USA

The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes
Del Rey, Ballantine (hc, 519 pages)
Publication date: 24 August 2004, USA & Canada

The Dry Salvages by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Subterranean Press (hc, 128 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): October 2004, USA

The Best of Xero edited by Pat & Dick Lupoff
Tachyon Publications (hc, 272 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2004, USA & Canada

A Door to Where or When by Rune Macey
Infinity Publishing (trade, 186 pages)
Publication date: February 2004, USA

The King of Ice Cream by Robert Wayne McCoy
Five Star (hc, 409 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2004, USA

World-Walker by Melisa Michaels
Five Star (hc, 342 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 16 October 2004, USA

Iron Council by China Miéville
Del Rey, Ballantine (hc, 565 pages)
Publication date: 3 August 2004, USA & Canada

Scepters: The Corean Chronicles, Book 3 by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Tor (hc, 624 pages)
Publication date: 24 July 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Book 1, Legacies

Gloriana; or, the Unfulfill'd Queen by Michael Moorcock
Warner Aspect (trade, 496 pages)
Publication date: August 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

Camdigan by C. Dennis Moore
Scrybe Press (chapbook, 56 pages)
Publication date: May 2004, USA

Steel Sky by Andrew C. Murphy
Brain Works Books (trade, 275 pages)
Publication date: 2003, USA

Dryland's End by Felice Picano
The Haworth Press (trade, 527 pages)
Publication date: 1 September 2004, USA

Midnight in New Promise by Lon Prater
Scrybe Press (chapbook, 44 pages)
Publication date: April 2004, USA

Thirteen Ways to Water and Other Stories by Bruce Holland Rogers
Wheatland Press (trade, 218 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): October 2004, USA

The Illusion of Steel by Lenora Rose
Eggplant Literary Productions (CD in PDF, HTML & Mobipocket formats, 26,000 words) Publication date: July 2004, USA

Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwald
The University of Wisconsin Press (trade, 200 pages)
Publication date: 15 July 2004, USA

Idlewild by Nick Sagan
Bantam Books (mm, 384 pages)
Publication date: 2 August 2004, UK
SF Site Review

Thumbprints stories by Pamela Sargent
Golden Gryphon Press (hc, 281 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): October 2004, USA

Asgard's Secret: The Asgard Trilogy, Book 1 by Brian Stableford
Five Star (hc, 271 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 16 October 2004, USA
    An earlier version of this book was published in 1982 under the title of Journey to the Center.

Beyond the Deepwoods: The Edge Chronicles, Book 1 by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
David Fickling Books, Random House Children's Books (hc, 278 pages)
Publication date: 22 June 2004, USA
    First published in 1998 in the UK. Targeted to readers aged 10-12.

Stormchaser: The Edge Chronicles, Book 2 by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
David Fickling Books, Random House Children's Books (hc, 385 pages)
Publication date: 22 June 2004, USA

Natalie's Grove by Mikal Trimm
Scrybe Press (chapbook, 32 pages)
Publication date: January 2004, USA

Settling Accounts: Return Engagement by Harry Turtledove
Del Rey, Ballantine (hc, 625 pages)
Publication date: 10 August 2004, USA & Canada

Murdered By Human Wolves by Steven E. Wedel
Scrybe Press (chapbook, 76 pages)
Publication date: March 2004, USA

The Dragon's Son: Dragonvarld Trilogy, Book 2 by Margaret Weis
Tor (hc, 335 pages)
Publication date: July 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Book 1, Mistress of Dragons

Jerome and the Seraph by Robina Williams
Twilight Times Books (trade, 176 pages)
Publication date: 15 July 2004, USA & Canada

Synergy SF: New Science Fiction edited by George Zebrowski
Five Star (hc, 336 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2004, USA

Magazines

Argosy, No. 2, May/June 2004, USA & Canada
Impressively displayed 2-volume magazine in a slipcase. Contributors to this issue include: O'Neil De Noux, Carol Emshwiller, Kevin J. Anderson, Jeff VanderMeer, Mike Resnick, Mike Baron, Martin Meyers, and, in the second volume, a novella by Charles Stross & Cory Doctorow.

Cthulhu Sex, Vol. 2, No. 18, 2004, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Lynne DenHartog, C.J. Henderson, Damien Valerian Cross, Ann Cory, Kevin L. Donihe, Sean Bosker, James Cain, Mike E. Purfield, Scott S. Lawski.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 2004, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Albert E. Cowdrey, Robert Reed, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Carol Emshwiller, Matthew Hughes.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 2004, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Bradley Denton, Mark W. Tiedemann, Robert Reed, Matthew Hughes, Alex Irvine, J. Annie MacLeod, Richard Mueller.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2004, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Lisa Goldstein, Daniel Abraham, John Morressy, Gene Wolfe, Richard Chwedyk, Michael Kandel, Steven Utley, Dale Bailey, Michael Bishop, M. Rickert, Robert Reed.

Full Unit Hookup, No. 5, Spring 2004, USA
Contributors to this issue include: Aynjel Kaye, Daniel Braum, Bruce Holland Rogers, Greg Beatty, Jay Lake, John Grey, G.O. Clark, Tobias Seamon, Sonya Taaffe, Roger Dutcher, Marci Rae Johnson.

Talebones, No. 28, Summer 2004, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Paul Melko, Devon Monk, Steven Mohan, Jr., Sandra McDonald, David J. Schwartz, Jeffrey Turner, T.J. Berg, David D. Levine, Charlee Jacob, Anne Sheldon, Bruce Boston, Darrell Schweitzer, Kendall, Evans.