Before we get to the new books, I'd like to take a moment to tell you a bit about two novels I read recently. They're about as different from each other as you can get, but both are worthy of a brief spotlight:

• 1610: A Sundial in a Grave by Mary Gentle (Victor Gollancz, hc, 594 pages, published November 2003, UK / mm, 720 pages, November 2004, UK)
      In this novel the author uses a similar conceit as she did with Ash: an alternate history is presented as if the material were recently surfaced historical text that merely offers a somewhat skewed perspective on actual historical events. The characters are complex, engaging and deeply flawed, which of course makes them extremely interesting to follow. The story itself offers some curious head-spinning views regarding the nature of the future and how fixed or flexible it may be if you are able to gain knowledge of precisely what's coming. A thoroughly enjoyable and thoughtful read set against the backdrop of a fascinating period in history.
  SF Site Review

• Karloff's Circus: Accomplice, Book 4 by Steve Aylett (Victor Gollancz, trade, 128 pages, published February 2004, UK)
      I had been under the impression that the Accomplice series had ended with Dummyland, Book 3. Not so. This time, however, I think it really is over. If there's a fifth, I'll be very surprised. And, perhaps, disappointed, since I think Aylett has brought this series to as sane a conclusion as one could hope for in the hell-bordering maelstrom of rank stupidity and amusingly chaotic insanity that is the town of Accomplice. At times Aylett's satire is depressingly poignant. But more often his writing (particularly the dialogue) is laugh-out-loud funny, even when you aren't quite sure what he's talking about.

SF Site Review of Leviathan 3

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Voyager, HarperCollins (mm, 250 pages)
Publication date: 2 August 2004, UK
    Asimov's classic Robot stories from the 1940s & '50s, reprinted now to coincide with the release of the motion picture starring Will Smith.
SF Site Review of the film

Demonstorm: Legends of the Raven, Book 3 by James Barclay
Victor Gollancz (hc, 438 pages)
Publication date: 26 August 2004, UK

Prince of Christler-Coke by Neal Barrett, Jr.
Golden Gryphon (hc, 244 pages)
Publication date: September 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Egmont Books (trade, 365 pages)
Publication date: September 2004, UK & Canada

The Fear Planet and Other Unusual Destinations: The Reader's Block, Vol. 1 by Robert Bloch, edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz
Subterranean Press (hc, 300 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 3 November 2004, USA

Tanequil: High Druid of Shannara, Book 2 by Terry Brooks
Del Rey, Ballantine (hc, 357 pages)
Publication date: 7 September 2004, USA & Canada

New York Dreams: The Virex Trilogy, Book 3 by Eric Brown
Gollancz (mm, 325 pages)
Publication date: 12 August 2004, UK
SF Site Review of New York Blues, Book 2

Reservoir Chronicle: Tsubasa, Book 2 by Clamp, trans. Anthony Gerard
Del Rey, Ballantine (manga trade, 200 pages)
Publication date: 7 September 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Book 1

Noise by Hal Clement
Tor (trade, 256 pages)
Publication date: 14 August 2004, USA & Canada

The Treasured One: The Dreamers, Book 2 by David & Leigh Eddings
Voyager, HarperCollins (hc, 519 pages)
Publication date: 7 June 2004, UK

Midnight Tides: A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 5 by Steven Erikson
Bantam Press (trade, 698 pages)
Publication date: 2004, UK & Canada
SF Site Review

Kindling by Mick Farren
Tor (hc, 416 pages)
Publication date: 11 August 2004, USA & Canada

The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad b Minister Faust
Del Rey, Ballantine (trade, 533 pages)
Publication date: 10 August 2004, USA & Canada

Grendel by John Gardner
Fantasy Masterworks #41, Gollancz (trade, 125 pages)
Publication date: 2004, UK
    First published in 1971.

Hopeful Monsters stories by Hiromi Goto
Arsenal Pulp Press (trade, 176 pages)
Publication date: September 2004, USA & Canada

Time Trap by D.E. Gronquist
Infinity Publishing (trade, 157 pages)
Publication date: July 2004, USA

Elegy for a Lost Star: The Symphony of Ages, Book 5 by Elizabeth Haydon
Tor Fantasy (hc, 317 pages)
Publication date: 28 August 2004, USA & Canada

A Form of Godliness by Shane Johnson
WaterBrook Press (trade, 406 pages)
Publication date: 2004, USA & Canada

Trouble in the Forest: A Cold Summer Night by Trystam Kith
Five Star (hc, 309 pages)
Publication date: August 2004, USA

Crucible by Nancy Kress
Tor (hc, 384 pages)
Publication date: 6 August 2004, USA & Canada

Star Wars Trilogy: A New Hope; The Empire Strikes Back; Return of the Jedi by George Lucas, Donald F. Glut & James Kahn
Del Rey, Ballantine (trade, 716 pages)
Publication date: 7 September 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

Brian Lumley's Freaks by Brian Lumley
Subterranean Press (hc, 82 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 3 November 2004, USA

Foxmask by Juliet Marillier
Tor (hc, 464 pages)
Publication date: 29 August 2004, USA & Canada
    Sequel to Wolfskin.
SF Site Review of Wolfskin

Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore
Top Shelf (hc, 284 pages)
Publication date: October 2003, USA & Canada

Orcs: The Omnibus Edition by Stan Nicholls
Gollancz (trade, 711 pages)
Publication date: 12 August 2004, UK
    Previously published separately as Bodyguard of Lightning (1999), Legion of Thunder (1999), Warriors of the Tempest (2000) and The Taking (2000).

The Synthetic Race by Jack Randall
PublishAmerica (trade, 196 pages)
Publication date: July 2004, USA

Knees Up Mother Earth: Brentford Trilogy, Book 7 by Robert Rankin
Victor Gollancz (hc, 376 pages)
Publication date: 5 August 2004, UK

The Snow by Adam Roberts
Victor Gollancz (trade, 297 pages)
Publication date: 19 August 2004, UK

Edenborn by Nick Sagan
Bantam (hc, 311 pages)
Publication date: 7 September 2004, UK

Legends II edited by Robert Silverberg
Voyager, HarperCollins (mm, 774 pages)
Publication date: 2 August 2004, UK
    Short novels from Robin Hobb, George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Diana Gabaldon, Robert Silverberg, Tad Williams, Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E. Feist, Elizabeth Haydon, Neil Gaiman and Terry Brooks.
SF Site Review

In Lands That Never Were: Tales of Swords and Sorcery from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Gordon Van Gelder
Thunder's Mouth Press (trade, 416 pages)
Publication date: September 2004, USA

Behemoth: B-Max, Book 1 by Peter Watts
Tor (hc, 300 pages)
Publication date: 10 July 2004, USA & Canada

The Dragon's Son: Dragonvarld Trilogy, Book 2 by Margaret Weis
Tor (hc, 335 pages)
Publication date: 30 July 2004, USA & Canada

The Fort at River's Bend: The Camulod Chronicles, Book 5 by Jack Whyte
Forge (trade, 351 pages)
Publication date: 23 July 2004, USA
    First published in 1999.

Master of None by N. Lee Wood
Aspect, Warner Books (trade, 464 pages)
Publication date: September 2004, USA & Canada

Mobile Suit: Gundam Seed, Book 2 by Hajime Yatate & Yoshiyuki Tomino, art by Masatsugu Iwase, trans. Jason DeAngelis
Del Rey, Ballantine (manga trade, 202 pages)
Publication date: 7 September 2004, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Book 1

The Firebird's Vengeance by Sarah Zettel
Tor (hc, 415 pages)
Publication date: 28 August 2004, USA & Canada

Magazines

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.