Here are a couple of things I've been reading lately:

• Light by M. John Harrison (Victor Gollancz, trade, 320 pages, October 2002, UK)
     I spotted this book at the top of Jeff VanderMeer's list of best books of 2002. Since VanderMeer's own City of Saints and Madmen was at the top of my personal list for 2001, I thought I should see what sort of thing he reads. Never having read M. John Harrison before, I can now only wonder why the hell not!? Harrison is cited as having been a significant influence on many better-known authors, and I can certainly see why. What I don't understand is why Harrison's name isn't a household word outside of the UK.
     This tale has three major strands, spun out seemingly effortlessly and almost at random. But as the narrative progresses, you begin to realize how the spiraling strands are growing tighter together until finally it all comes together in a brilliant flash. Definitely the best science fiction I've read this year, and certainly, as VanderMeer says, one of the best books in any genre.  M. John Harrison has too long been Britain's best-kept secret.
  SF Site Review by Jeff VanderMeer

Double issue, 1&2

Issue 6

• Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra, inked by José Marzán, Jr. (Vertigo, comic book serial, currently at issue 6, February 2003, USA & Canada)
     This is my latest find in new comics, and so far it looks pretty hot. The story is that some as yet unknown plague has killed off all the males on the planet. That is, everyone and everything with a Y chromosome is now dead. And it happened pretty much instantaneously. However, for reasons unknown to him, Yorick Brown has survived, along with his "pet" monkey, which also happens to be male. Yorick is on a personal quest to find his girlfriend, who was vacationing in Australia at the time of the world's unmanning. But other agendas are keeping him from his objective.
     So far, I've been impressed with both writing and artwork. Like many comic book series, it starts off very strong and then suffers a bit from end-of-the-Honeymoon syndrome. Nevertheless, it's a well-written, intriguing story with still plenty of mystery to it. I find it particularly interesting to watch the development of Yorick's sister, Hero. And overall the characterization, both as written and as drawn, is impressive. Where it counts, faces are particularly expressive.

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

SF Site Review

The Darkness That Comes Before: The Prince of Nothing, Book 1 by R. Scott Bakker
Penguin Canada (trade, 608 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 12 April 2003, Canada

Isaac Asimov's Robots and Aliens 3 two novels by Bruce Bethke and Jerry Oltion
ibooks (trade, 427 pages)
Publication date: 29 December 2002, USA & Canada & UK
   Includes the novels Maverick by Bruce Bethke, and Humanity by Jerry Oltion, being volumes 5 and 6 in the multi-author series based on Asimov's concept of the Three Laws of Robotics.

Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs
Ace (mm, 277 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

The Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust
Tor (hc, 400 pages)
Publication date: December 2002, USA & Canada

The Bastard King: The Scepter of Mercy, Book 1 by Dan Chernenko
Roc (trade, 448 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 4 March 2003, USA & Canada

The Bakka Anthology edited by Kristen Pederson Chew
The Bakka Collection (trade, 202 pages)
Publication date: December 2002, Canada
   2002 marked the 30th anniversary of Toronto's Bakka, making it the oldest speculative fiction bookstore in North America. This is a collection of original SF by current and former staff of Bakka, including Robert J. Sawyer, Tanya Huff, Fiona Patton, Michelle Sagara West, Tara Tallin, Cory Doctorow, Nalo Hopkinson, Chris Szego and Ed Greenwood.

Hades' Daughter: The Troy Game, Book 1 by Sara Douglass
Tor (hc, 560 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

Cold Streets by P.N. Elrod
Ace (hc, 380 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada
Leaps of Faith: An Anthology of Christian Science Fiction edited by Karina L. Fabian & Robert A. Fabian
FrancisIsidore Electronic Press (CD-Rom, HTML or e-mail download)
Publication date: January 2003, USA

Holder of Lightning: The Cloudmages, Book 1 by S.L. Farrell
DAW (hc, 494 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

The Dead and the Damned by Jonathan Green
The Black Library (mm, 281 pages)
Publication date: December 2002, USA & Canada

Deathstalker Legacy by Simon R. Green
Victor Gollancz (hc & trade, 409 pages)
Publication date: 5 December 2002, UK

Deathstalker Legacy by Simon R. Green
Roc (hc, 473 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

The Hard SF Renaissance edited by David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer
Tor (hc, 960 pages)
Publication date: 25 November 2002, USA & Canada

Dhampir by Barb & J.C. Hendee
Roc (mm, 376 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

Smallville: Hauntings by Nancy Holder
Warner Aspect (mm, 281 pages)
Publication date: 2 January 2003, USA & Canada

The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce
Victor Gollancz (hc, 263 pages)
Publication date: 5 December 2002, UK

Ships From the West: The Monarchies of God, Book 5 by Paul Kearney
Ace (mm, 308 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Book 1 in the Ace edition

Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 edited by Nancy Kress
Roc (trade, 304 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 1 April 2003, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Nebula Awards Showcase 2002

The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ace (trade, 273 pages)
Publication date: 7 January 2003, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

The Eyes of God by John Marco
DAW (mm, 779 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

Jovian by Donald Moffitt
ibooks (hc, 421 pages)
Publication date: 29 December 2002, USA & Canada & UK

Between Darkness and Light by Lisanne Norman
DAW (mm, 752 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

The Machiavelli Interface by Steve Perry
Ace (mm, 197 pages)
Publication date: July 1986, reprinted 2002, USA & Canada

Windowpane by Steve Perry
Five Star (hc, 413 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): February 2003, USA

The Hacker and the Ants, version 2.0 by Rudy Rucker
Four Walls Eight Windows (trade, 306 pages)
Publication date: 20 January 2003, USA
   First published in 1994 and revised by the author for this edition.

Scarborough Faire and Other Stores by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Five Star (hc, 292 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): February 2003, USA

Spec Ops Squad: Sucker Punch by Rick Shelley
Ace (mm, 268 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

Wondrous Beginnings edited by Steven H. Silver & Martin H. Greenberg
DAW (mm, 316 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada
   Career-launching tales from Murray Leinster, L. Sprague De Camp, Anne McCaffrey, Hal Clement, Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Wolfe, Barry N. Malzberg, George R.R. Martin, Howard Waldrop, Orson Scott Card, Jack McDevitt, Jerry Oltion, Lois McMaster Bujold, Stephen Baxter, Catherine Asaro, Michael A. Burstein, Julie E. Czerneda.

The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling
Roc (mm, 482 page)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

A Telling of Stars by Caitlin Sweet
Penguin Canada (trade, 336 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): February 2003, Canada

The Assassins of Tamurin by S.D. Tower
Eos, HarperCollins (hc, 454 pages)
Publication date: 5 January 2003, USA

Chaos Child: The Inquisition War Trilogy, Book 3 by Ian Watson
The Black Library (mm, 281 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

Orphans of Earth by Sean Williams & Shane Dix
Ace (mm, 374 pages)
Publication date: January 2003, USA & Canada

Magic Time: AngelFire by Scott Zicree & Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
Eos, HarperCollins (hc, 367 pages)
Publication date: 17 December 2002, USA & Canada

Magazines

Analog, February 2003, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Rajnar Vajra, Stephen L. Burns, Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff, Brian Plante, Wolf Read.

Asimov's, February 2003, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Eliot Fintushel, Stephen Baxter, Jim Grimsley, Simon Ings, Michael Bateman, Karen Traviss, and poetry from Joe Haldeman and Steven Utley.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 2003, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: R. Garcia y Robertson, Laird Barron, Jack O'Connell, Ursula K. Le Guin, Charles Coleman Finlay, Sheila Finch, Arthur Porges, James Sallis.

Talebones, Fall 2002, USA & Canada
Contributors to this issue include: Alan DeNiro, Beverly Suarez-Beard, Jerry Oltion, Jay Lake, Sean Klein, Julie McGalliard, Mike Allen, Bruce Boston, Darrell Schweitzer.