The Fox Woman by Kij Johnson
reviewed by Trent Walters
The author's careful attention to language, period and character detail should garner the attention of crossover literary readers as well as fantasy fans -- much as Ray Bradbury and Robert Adams managed to do. This isn't simply the tale of a fox falling in love with a Japanese man, as some reviews may have suggested, nor only a man falling in love with a fox, but also the wife that was caught in between and the taboos that have forced them into this situation.

A Dance For Emilia by Peter S. Beagle
reviewed by Nick Gevers
This novella is a fine and deeply felt mix of wit and elegy. Like his previous novel, Tamsin (1999), this is a contemporary fantasy, told in a conversational modern voice less conspicuously flamboyant than the famously fabulous diction of The Last Unicorn and The Innkeeper's Song; but unlike Tamsin's artificial and awkward teenage narrator, Jacob is concisely and maturely reminiscent, and his tale has a truly adult fascination.

Deep Sleep by Charles Wilson
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
In bayou area of Louisiana, a murder has taken place and you just know more gore is on the way. Detective Mark French, a man trying to forget his past, is the investigator on the case. As he struggles with his own problems, he fights to uncover the truth behind the strange goings-on in the secluded, little town. Before he can even get started, French meets up with the latest addition, a quirky and alluring young doctor who has come back to her old haunt to sub for another doctor -- and, inevitably, becomes embroiled in the case.

Mid-January Books
compiled by Neil Walsh
Even though the post-Christmas publishing season is generally regarded as a slow-down period, we've seen some very intriguing new titles over the past couple of weeks, including brand new works from such authors as Stephen Baxter, Katharine Kerr, Ken Goddard, Christopher Rowley, Kage Baker and Harry Turtledove. Other recent arrivals include Patrick O'Leary's first collection, a new anthology from Brian M. Thomsen and Martin H. Greenberg, plus a whole lot more.

Partners by Susan Sizemore
reviewed by Steve Lazarowitz
Char McCairn, the protagonist, is a very special type of vampire. Char is an enforcer, empowered by the council to keep peace in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, she hasn't been an enforcer for very long and she's got several hang-ups, not the least of which is she's sort of insecure and not very tough. Her path takes her to Seattle, where a newly formed dark cult possesses powers that threaten both vampires and humans.

Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick offers his notes on what to watch in February on Star Trek: Voyager and on The X-Files (Mulder is back, Mulder is back). As a special treat, he's composed some verse in honour of the Dune mini-series.

Wheelers by Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen
reviewed by Hank Luttrell
Most the story takes place on Earth or on Jupiter or points between. And a vast, epic story it is. Equal emphasis is given to the character development of twin sisters and the son of one of the sisters on earth, and the fascinating details of the exceedingly alien civilization in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Earth is menaced by an impact by a comet, which seems to have been somehow hurled at Earth by an incredible manipulation of Jupiter's moons.

Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet No. 7
reviewed by Rich Horton
This is a very nice small press publication put out by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link, featuring stories in the general neighbourhood of "slipstream", some quite fine poetry, and "Various Nonfictions," of quite a diverse nature, ranging from music reviews to zine reviews to less easily classifiable (but still interesting) stuff.

A Conversation With James Morrow
Part 2 of an interview with Nick Gevers
On being an atheist:
"... by saying that -- as my readers might imagine by now -- I'm an atheist. I don't like that word, though, because the concept it identifies is keyed to a negative, a void, whereas atheists of my stripe experience their attitude as something quite positive, quite nourishing. As the British philosopher Galen Strawson recently observed, God loves the atheists best, because they're the ones who take him the most seriously."

Ilse Witch by Terry Brooks
reviewed by Lisa Brunetta
This new cycle in the Shanarra history begins with Wing Rider Hunter Predd and his Roc Obsidian discovering an elf castaway. His eyes have been gouged out and his tongue has been removed. He is carrying two items: the first, an Elfstone bracelet with the Elessedil family crest, which reveals him to be the Elf King Allardon's elder brother Kael, who set out 30 years ago on a search for a magical treasure of immeasurable worth. The second is a map leading to the treasure. So it begins...

The Foreigners by James Lovegrove
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
For a good murder mystery set in a technologically advanced future, the rules are the same as those for any mystery: the reader must have access to the clues. There are plenty in this near future story, set in a time shortly after the world culture nearly collapsed into chaos. Jack Parry of the Foreign Policy Police, believes that the Foreigners' arrival saved his world, and he admires them greatly. He is stunned to learn that one of them has been murdered.

Forthcoming Books
compiled by Neil Walsh
Here's a sampling of some of the F&SF books that are headed our way in the coming months...

Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
reviewed by Rich Horton
Enoch Wallace is a reclusive man living in the Southwest corner of Wisconsin. A U.S. agent has tracked down stories about Enoch that prove he is 124 years old, the last survivor of the Civil War, though in appearance he is perhaps 30. Enoch has a secret: he was chosen by aliens to operate a way station of their interstellar teleportation network. Earth is not yet ready for membership in the Galactic co-fraternity of races, so Enoch must keep his station secret.

Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
reviewed by Jayme Lynn Blaschke
The late author, to put it mildly, just wasn't like any of his contemporaries. While many of his stories are set in far-flung, planet-spanning futures, his world of tomorrow looks very much like the solar system was colonized by the Eisenhower administration. There are no flying rocket cars here, no recombinant genetics and certainly no jacked-in, jacked-up vision of cyber-reality. This is firmly Studebaker territory, and Ozzie and Harriet live on Io.

Paper Bodies by Margaret Cavendish
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
While a few other editions of Cavendish's works have appeared in the last 10 years, this edition has done a good job of selecting and introducing a number of texts by her and placing them in the context of the social mores and science of her time. While her literary contributions as an early feminist, scientist and science commentator were substantial and are well represented here, it is the inclusion of her 1666 science fiction novel The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World that makes this book relevant.

The Witches of Karres by James Schmitz
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
It's an old-fashioned science-fantasy space opera, written with a light, sure touch and the author's distinctive panache. This is fizzy, sparkly entertainment -- the plot goes tripping and skipping across the Galaxy. Our spaceship crew faces pirate attacks, sneering Sirians, sneaky spies, trumped-up legal charges, a corrupt, beautifully slinky shipyard owner with a taste for torture and a mighty Sheem Assassin robot.