Conjunctions: 39 -- The New Wave Fabulists edited by Bradford Morrow
reviewed by William Thompson
Boasting some of the most well-known names associated with contemporary fantastic fiction and accompanied by essays from noted critics John Clute and Gary K. Wolfe, one approaches this anthology with a degree of anticipation. Expectation is perhaps also whetted by the format of its publication: this respected literary journal. Rarely does fantastic fiction receive such a forum, let alone acknowledgement in an academic press. The reader might therefore justifiably expect to read, as the publication release promises, a gathering of "bold, distinctive fiction."

The Hacker And The Ants, Version 2.0 by Rudy Rucker
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
There are robots, and then there are robots. Some people hear the word and think of those annoying mechanical sidekicks from science fiction (I'm looking at you, Twiki...) and decide that real robots are still in our not-so-distant future. Robots, though, are in our midst every day and we seldom notice because they don't fit our space opera definition. Aside from our assembly-line machines and not-remotely-lifelike techno-pets, our world is filled with robots in human bodies.

The Duke of Uranium by John Barnes
reviewed by Rob Kane
He didn't get admitted to the Academy, now he'll have to join the army and his girlfriend has been kidnapped. Oh, and the Galactic Council just might decide that humans are not worth the bother and order extermination. Yet, all in all, eighteen-year-old Jak is having the time of his life.

Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick offers his thoughts on TV -- the relationship of the current Twilight Zone to that done by Rod Serling more than a generation ago, the future of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and what we can expect from Enterprise for the rest of the season.

Probability Space by Nancy Kress
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
Sun, Moon, and Space. The titles of the three novels in Nancy Kress's Probability series invoke the basics of physical reality. They are fitting titles for hard science fiction stories based on speculations concerning quantum physics and the probabilities that lie in the equations. That alone would make them worthwhile for most hardcore SF readers...

i-o: input output by Simon Logan
reviewed by Gabe Chouinard
The author's fiction stands poised, triangulated, frozen in a half-step between the interstices of science fiction, horror and fantasy. The eight stories here are all half-steps, frozen moments, pieces of industrial waste cast up on the shores of literature. And they're good.

SF Site News
compiled by Steven H Silver
Every day, items of interest to you arrive in our email. Our bi-monthly format doesn't lend itself to daily updates. However, this is a small inconvenience to our Contributing Editor Steven H Silver. He's begun a new column which will fill you in on recent news in science fiction. We'll be updating the page as he sends in new items.

Alpha Transit by Edward McSweegan
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
In the mid-22nd century, humankind is taking its first steps into interstellar space. Two living worlds have been discovered in the Alpha Centauri system -- one even has sentients, the Bronze-age Troodons. A small human colony has been established on the other, dubbed Norumbega. The third starship to Centauri is damaged by a meteorite as it is decelerating towards Norumbega...

Up in a Heaval by Piers Anthony
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
It starts out as a run-of-the-mill bet between the Demon Jupiter and Demoness Fornax -- if he won, he'd get her planet, and, perhaps, her to play with; if she won, she'd get Xanth, and she'd would get to vivisect its creatures for research. They create Umlaut to fulfill the bet. Not a true human, if he figures out who he is before he completes his task, Fornax wins.

A Conversation With Barry Hoffman
An interview with Lisa DuMond
On the changing preferences of kids:
"What I've found over the years is that, due to TV, movies and video games, today's children want far more action and violence in what they view and read than kids when I started teaching. I remember, in my early years of teaching, my students loving stories by Ray Bradbury. Kids the same age today would yawn because there's not enough action. Part of the problem rests with the media, but they're not the main culprits, in my opinion. There's plenty of blame to go around."

New Arrivals
compiled by Neil Walsh
Our latest batch of new arrivals includes new novels from William Gibson, Alan Dean Foster, Robert Jordan, Timothy Zahn, Roger Levy, Robert J. Sawyer, and more.

Star Song and Other Stories by Timothy Zahn
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
In his introduction to this collection, Timothy Zahn explains that he has always liked short stories, and especially short story collections. "Unless there was a novel by a [new and unknown] author X that looked particularly intriguing," Zahn says, "I always preferred to start with a short story collection. Why? Because a collection gave me a better idea of the author's range than a novel ever could."

Geeks With Books
a column by Rick Klaw
Rick Klaw gives us a look at how things work from behind the counter of a book store. He addresses the timeless question, "Does size matter?" For those whom it does, they are missing out on some of the finest alternate history SF titles ever written.

Daredevil
a movie review by Rick Norwood
Marvel is three for three with this new movie. It's deeply imbued with the spirit of superhero comics, where plot consistency and the laws of physics do not count for much, as long as the characters are cool and the action fast, and where nobody in a costume ever stays dead except Bucky.

The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
In a world two millennia beyond an Apocalypse precipitated by the followers of the No-God, Mog, the high prelate of the Inrithi church calls a Holy War against the Fanim -- a people who follow a heretical variant of Inrithism, and whose mages practice a deadly magic the sorcerer Schoolmen of the Inrithi kingdoms don't understand. For centuries the Fanim have held Shimeh, the Holy City of Inri Sejenus, Latter Prophet of Inrithism; it is time now to take it back.

The Faded Sun Trilogy by C.J. Cherryh
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
This trilogy was originally published as 3 separate volumes, almost 30 years ago. When encountering these books for the first time, back in the early 80s, Alma remembers being struck most forcibly by one single aspect of the narrative -- its ALIENNESS. It read as though it had been written by a non-human mind and hand, and then translated or transliterated into our language and idiom. It treated the humans as just another alien species in a Universe teeming with them.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy by Douglas Adams
reviewed by David Maddox
This trilogy needs no introduction. It has become one of the most recognizable series in the SF genre, transcending SF barriers and delighting fans of all ages for decades. If you haven't read it, go read it now because you're missing out. Although the increasingly inaccurate trilogy has been in print for many years, these three new editions by Victor Gollancz truly do the books justice.