It was tough to choose, but I only had time to look at one of these before my deadline for this column. I picked the new Grimwood.

• End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Victor Gollancz, hc, 343 pages, August 2006, UK)
  
      I've grown to admire Grimwood's writing, and there's certainly a lot to like about this book. The key protagonist, Kit Nouveau, is drifting through his hollow shell of a life when chaos erupts around him. An ex-pat Englishman in Japan, Kit runs a biker bar and is sleeping with the wife of a local crimelord boss. So perhaps it isn't too surprising when someone blows up his bar, incidentally killing his Japanese wife. And this is on the same night that he's rescued from a hit man by a 15-year-old girl who's just stolen 15 million dollars. Turns out, though, that this girl may actually be visiting from a sentient castle at the end of the world, trying to retrieve some of her stolen memories. After that, things start to get interesting.
      Sounds cool, doesn't it? And it is. But I don't feel it's one of Grimwood's best. There are some plot elements that don't quite coalesce, and minor points of character that don't quite ring true. Nevertheless, second string from this first rate author still beats the best from a lesser writer. Definitely worth your time.

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

Children of the Serpent Gate: The Tears of Artamon, Book 3 by Sarah Ash
Bantam Books (mm, 748 pages)
Publication date: 7 September 2006, UK
SF Site Review of Book 2, Prisoner of the Iron Tower

Wolfcry: The Kiesha'ra, Book 4 by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Delacorte Press (hc, 192 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 12 September 2006, USA & Canada

Recursion by Tony Ballantyne
Bantam Spectra (mm, 406 pages)
Publication date: 5 September 2006, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

Carnival by Elizabeth Bear
Bantam Spectra (mm, 432 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 28 November 2006, USA & Canada

Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks
Del Rey, Ballantine (hc, 371 pages)
Publication date: 5 September 2006, USA & Canada

Threshold Shift by Eric Brown
Golden Gryphon (hc, 218 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA
    Collection of SF stories, including two winners of the British Science Fiction Award.

Here Comes a Candle by Fredric Brown
Millipede Press (hc & trade, 297 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA
    First published in 1950. This edition with an introduction by Bill Pronzini.

Dzur by Steven Brust
Sci Fi Essential, Tor (hc, 285 pages)
Publication date: 8 August 2006, USA & Canada
    At last: a new Vlad Taltos novel!

Getting Lost: Survival, Baggage and Starting Over in J.J. Abrams' Lost edited by Orson Scott Card
Smart Pop, BenBella Books (trade, 260 pages)
Publication date: August 2006, USA & Canada

Project U.L.F. by Stuart Clark
Silver Leaf Books (hc, 418 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): January 2007, USA

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Tor (mm, 1024 pages)
Publication date: 1 August 2006, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

The Steam Magnate by Dana Copithorne
Aio Publishing (trade, 318 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 30 September 2006, USA & Canada

Crusader: The Wayfarer Redemption, Book 6 by Sara Douglass
Tor (hc, 464 pages)
Publication date: 22 August 2006, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Book 3, Starman

The Battle for Azeroth: Adventure, Alliance and Addiction - Insights into the World of Warcraft edited by Bill Fawcett
Smart Pop, BenBella Books (trade, 287 pages)
Publication date: July 2006, USA & Canada

The Wrekening by Jayel Gibson
Synergy Books (trade, 427 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA

Hammerjack by Marc D. Giller
Bantam Spectra (mm, 450 pages)
Publication date: 5 September 2006, USA & Canada

Phantom: Sword of Truth, Book 10 by Terry Goodkind
Tor (hc, 589 pages)
Publication date: 18 July 2006, USA & Canada
SF Site Review of Book 9, Chainfire

End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Victor Gollancz (hc, 343 pages)
Publication date: 17 August 2006, UK

Stamping Butterflies by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Bantam Spectra (trade, 368 pages)
Publication date: 5 September 2006, USA & Canada
SF Site Review

The Space Opera Renaissance edited by David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer
Tor (hc, 941 pages)
Publication date: 11 July 2006, USA & Canada

To Save the World: The Arhka Chronicles, Book 1 by Heather Hayashi
Synergy Books (hc, 346 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA

Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein
Tor (hc, 244 pages)
Publication date: 8 August 2006, USA & Canada
    First published in 1956, and targeted to the YA market.

Rogue Star by Andy Hoare
Warhammer 40,000, Black Library (mm, 255 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA & Canada

Back from the Dead by Nick Kyme
Necromunda, Black Library (mm, 253 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA & Canada

Valley of the Soul by Tamara Siler Jones
Bantam Spectra (mm, 464 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 31 October 2006, USA & Canada

Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye by Kaza Kingley
Firelight Press (hc, 352 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 15 October 2006, USA & Canada
    Juvenile fiction.

Voices by Ursula K. Le Guin
Harcourt (hc, 341 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA & Canada

Icarus by Roger Levy
Victor Gollancz (hc & trade, 423 pages)
Publication date: 17 August 2006, UK

The Brian Lumley Companion edited by Brian Lumley & Stanley Wiater
Tor (trade, 399 pages)

Publication date: July 2006, USA & Canada
    Previously published in hc, 2002.

The Dark Mirror: The Bridei Chronicles, Book 1 by Juliet Marillier
Tor (trade, 512 pages)
Publication date: 12 June 2006, USA & Canada

The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin, illustrated by Yvonne Gilbert
Starscape, Tom Doherty Associates (hc, 112 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): October 2006, USA & Canada
    First children's book from acclaimed fantasy novelist. For readers 10 and up.

The Hammer of Darkness by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Tor (trade, 288 pages)
Publication date: June 2006, USA & Canada
    First published in 1985.

Twenty Epics edited by David Moles & Susan Marie Groppi
All-Star Stories (trade, 373 pages)
Publication date: July 2006, USA
    All-new stories from Christopher Rowe, Tim Pratt, Alan DeNiro, Christopher Barzak, David Schwartz, Sandra McDonald, Zoe Selengut, Ian McHugh, Yoon Ha Lee, Benjamin Rosenbaum, and others.

The Turning by Paul J. Newell
Appian Publishing (trade, 252 pages)
Publication date: 30 June 2006, UK

Throne of Jade: Temeraire, Book 2 by Naomi Novik
Voyager, HarperCollins (hc, 377 pages)
Publication date: 7 August 2006, UK
SF Site Review

The Toyminator by Robert Rankin
Victor Gollancz (hc, 314 pages)
Publication date: 2 August 2006, UK

The Transforming Draught: Jekyll and Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson and the Victorian Alcohol Debate by Thomas L. Reed, Jr.
McFarland & Company (hc, 258 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): November 2006, USA

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Tor (hc, 541 pages)
Publication date: 25 July 2006, USA & Canada

Drosophila by Nick Sapien
AuthorHouse (trade, 224 pages)
Publication date: 2005, USA

Inheritance: The Von Carstein Trilogy, Book 1 by Steven Savile
Warhammer, Black Library (mm, 416 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA & Canada

Lessek's Key: The Eldarn Sequence, Book 2 by Robert Scott & Jay Gordon
Victor Gollancz (hc & trade, 509 pages)
Publication date: 17 August 2006, UK

Havoc Swims Jaded by David Schow
Subterranean Press (hc, 296 pages)
Publication date (forthcoming): 31 October 2006, USA

Mindswap by Robert Sheckley
Orb, Tom Doherty Associates (trade, 216 pages)
Publication date: June 2006, USA & Canada
    First published in 1966.

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines by Karen Traviss
Del Rey, Ballantine (mm, 380 pages)
Publication date: 5 September 2006, USA & Canada

Star Begotten: A Biological Fantasia by H.G. Wells, edited by John Huntington
Wesleyan University Press (hc, 156 pages)
Publication date: 12 September 2006, USA
    First published in 1937.

Caballistics, Inc.: Hell on Earth by Mike Wild
Black Flame (mm, 253 pages)
Publication date: September 2006, USA & Canada

TrollBridge by Jane Yolen & Adam Stemple
Starscape, Tom Doherty Associates (hc, 240 pages)
Publication date: 25 July 2006, USA & Canada

Magazines

Electric Velocipede, No. 10, Spring 2006, USA
Contributors to this issue include: Tim Akers, Richard Bowes & Mark Rich, Jeffrey Ford, Alistair Rennie, Andre Oosterman, Robert Freeman Wexler.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2006, USA
Contributors to this issue include: Charles Coleman Finlay, Peter S. Beagle, Paolo Bacigalupi, Geoff Ryman, Albert E. Cowdrey, Carol Emshwiller, Carrie Richerson.

Scorpion, No. 1, September 2006, USA
Featuring a short novel by Warren Stockholm.