Before we get to those, however, allow me to tell you about a couple of books I've read recently:

• Olympos by Dan Simmons (Eos, HarperCollins, hc, 691 pages, published June 2005, USA & Canada)
      After waiting anxiously for 2 years for this sequel to Ilium, the story is at long last completed, with the whole package rather neatly tied up at the end of Olympos. This two-volume saga is a vast, sprawling and largely entertaining project, particularly if you're at all familiar with the works of Homer, Shakespeare and/or Proust, as well as being a fan of epic, world-spanning sf. There are nods to other authors as well, either implicit or explicit, so the more widely you've read before, the more you'll appreciate the scattered references. But then you may also be utterly appaled at the embarrassing abuse of Elizabethan English (thankfully used sparingly, since the greatest mangler of language is the character of Ariel, who speaks exclusively in dreadfully ignorant Renaissance-Festival attempts at 16th century English, but who is also largely absent from the novel). I fear this glaring misunderstanding and misuse of language tainted my enjoyment of the rest of the novel. I kept looking for a reason why Ariel seemed to have absolutely no grasp of the basics of grammar. But in the end it seemed only to be a lack of competent editing. Apart from that, and the almost too-tidy ending, it's a solid bit of storytelling.

• Leningrad Nights by Graham Joyce & How the Other Half Lives by James Lovegrove (Millennium Binary, mm, 130 pages, published 2000, UK)
      Gollancz's Millennium Binary books, like the old Ace Doubles, contain two shorter works back to back & flipped about. This one has two top-rank stories that are cleverly complementary. Both tales have dark, grim elements, and had the potential to be depressing or overwhelmingly bleak. But instead, both are told in a sort of fairy-tale style that distances the reader precisely to make the story work in an altogether different way. Joyce's Leningrad Nights is the account of a resourceful lad who survives the Siege of Leningrad and how he manages it. Even more than surviving, he manages to keep hope alive too -- in himself and in others. But at what cost? In Lovegrove's How the Other Half Lives the cost of such a delicate balancing act is made readily apparent. William Ian North (note the initials) has made himself the wealthiest, most successful man in the world -- by maintaining his exact antithesis in a perpetual state of tortured despair in his basement. But surely the scales cannot be kept in that kind of unnatural balance?

Greetings & Other Stories by Terry Bisson
Tachyon (hc, 384 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2005, USA

Prophecy of the Seventh Dragon by Tyler Blackwood
Five Star (hc, 341 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 2 September 2005, USA

From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes
Golden Gryphon (hc, 268 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2005, USA & Canada

Thor's Wedding Day by Bruce Coville
Harcourt (trade, 128 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2005, USA & Canada
    For readers 8 to 12.

Pretty Evil by Lexi Davis
Pocket Books (trade, 400 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): October 2005, USA & Canada

Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow
Tor (hc, 320 pages)
Publication date: 1 July 2005, USA & Canada

Wizards at War: Young Wizards Series, Book 8 by Diane Duane
Harcourt (trade, 560 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): October 2005, USA & Canada
    For readers 12 and up.
SF Site Review of Book 7, Wizard's Holiday

Rose of the World: Fool's Gold, Book 3 by Jude Fisher
Simon & Schuster (trade, 676 pages)
Publication date: 1 August 2005, UK
SF Site Review

Touch by Gayleen Froese
NeWest Press (trade, 304 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2005, Canada & USA

Valley of Lights by Stephen Gallagher
Telos (trade & hc, 312 pages)
Publication date: July 2005, UK & USA & Canada

The Onts: Secrets of the Dripping Fang, Book 1 by Dan Greenburg
Harcourt (trade, 144 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2005, USA & Canada
    For readers 8 to 12.

Treachery and Betrayal at Jolly Days: Secrets of the Dripping Fang, Book 2 by Dan Greenburg
Harcourt (trade, 144 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): January 2006, USA

Siege of Night and Fire by John Helfers
Five Star (hc, 339 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): October 2005, USA

Dragon Pawns: Jules and the Runt Dragon by William Hill
Otter Creek Press (hc & trade, 360 pages)
Publication date: May 2005, USA

Shaman's Crossing: The Soldier Son Trilogy, Book 1 by Robin Hobb
Voyager, HarperCollins (hc, 535 pages)
Publication date: 4 July 2005, UK

The Trial of Tompa Lee by Ed Hoornaert
Five Star (hc, 366 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 3 October 2005, USA

Chimera: Tales of Transformation short stories by Kirsten Imani Kasai
Pagan Holiday Arts (audio fiction, 2-CD set)
Publication date: 2004, USA

Flesh Hell by Kirsten Imani Kasai
Pagan Holiday Arts (audio fiction, 7-CD set, 8 hours+)
Publication date: 2005, USA

Iron Council by China Miéville
Del Rey, Ballantine Books (trade, 565 pages)
Publication date: 2 August 2005, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

Another War by Simon Morden
Telos (trade, 131 pages)
Publication date: July 2005, UK & USA & Canada

Building Harlequin's Moon by Larry Niven & Brenda Cooper
Tor (hc, 400 pages)
Publication date: 21 June 2005, USA & Canada

Cyberchild by Alix Paultre
Zep Tepi Publishing (trade, 383 pages)
Publication date: June 2005, USA

Roadsby Seabury Quinn
Red Jacket Press (hc, 116 pages)
Publication date: 2005, USA
    Originally published by Arkham House in 1948. The present edition includes illustrations by Virgil Finlay.

Dragon America by Mike Resnick
Impact, Phobos Books (trade, 288 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 23 September 2005, USA

Foreigner: Quintaglio Ascension, Book 3 by Robert J. Sawyer
Tor (trade, 304 pages)
Publication date: August 2005, USA & Canada

Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder
Tor (hc, 286 pages)
Publication date: July 2005, USA & Canada

Olympos by Dan Simmons
Victor Gollancz (trade, 691 pages)
Publication date: 30 June 2005, UK
    Sequel to Ilium (2003).
SF Site Review of Ilium

The Affinity Trap by Martin Sketchley
Pyr, Prometheus Books (trade, 320 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): September 2005, USA
SF Site Review

All Eve's Hallows by Dean Wesley Smith
Impact, Phobos Books (trade, 288 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 16 September 2005, USA

Settling Accounts: Drive to the East by Harry Turtledove
Del Rey, Ballantine Books (hc, 595 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 16 August 2005, USA & Canada

The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks
Doubleday Canada (hc, 256 pages)
Publication date: 2 July 2005, Canada

Alias Assumed: Sex, Lies and SD-6 edited by Kevin Weisman
BenBella Books (trade, 234 pages)
Publication date: August 2005, USA & Canada

Resurrection of Liberty Michael L. Wentz
Novalibre Publishing (hc, 352 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): October 2005, USA & Canada

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
Tor (hc, 364 pages)
Publication date: April 2005, USA & Canada

Cybersona by Fred Yager
Hannacroix Creek Books (hc, 218 pages)
Publication date: June 2005, USA

Hidden Camera by Zoran Zivkovic, trans. by Alice Copple-Tosic
Dalkey Archive Press (trade, 217 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 17 November 2005, USA

Magazines

Black Gate, Summer 2005, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Iain Rowan, James Enge, Sherry Decker, Paul Finch, Justin Stanchfield, Aaron Bradford Starr, Jay Lake, Charles Coleman Finlay.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, September2005, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Kelly Link, David Gerrold, Richard Mueller, Carter Scholz, Arthur Porges, Albert E. Cowdrey, Bruce Sterling.

Interzone, August 2005, UK
Contributors to this issue include: Neal Asher, Steven Mohan Jr., Jay Caselberg, Jeremiah Tolbert, Nina Allan, plus an interview with Charles Stross.

NFG, issue 6, volume 2, Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Neil Smith, Mike Coombes, PJ Woodside, Jan Pace, John Leary, Terri Brown-Davidson, plus an interview with Joe Haldeman.

Talebones, Summer 2005, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Anne Harris, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, James Van Pelt, Ray Vukcevich, David J. Schwartz, Brian Scott Hiebert, Jason D. Wittman, Michael Poore, plus an interview with Ben Bova.

The 3rd Alternative, Summer 2005, UK
Contributors to this issue include: Paul Meloy, Elizabeth Bear, Douglas Lain, Matthew Francis, Darren Speegle, Jason Erik Lundberg.