Three Poetry Chapbooks by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
reviewed by Trent Walters
His poetry is almost always conversational and playful in the best sense of the term, yet ranges at times from too opaque to too shallow. But at his most capable, he stands alongside David Lunde and other SF poetry giants in writing some of the most emotionally poweful and meaningful genre poetry.

Pink Noise by Leonid Korogodski
reviewed by Seamus Sweeney
Why do you read science fiction? Has it is been a lifelong affair, immersing yourself in altered worlds? Do you come for the science or for the fiction? For the adventure, for the characters, or for the ideas? If you asked Seamus in his more sober, respectable moments, he would say his attraction is to both new and innovative ideas, but also at encountering our own world slightly altered, or with some little quirk taken to its logical conclusion.

Nanotime by Bart Kosko
reviewed by Wayne MacLaurin
Here is a startling realistic glimpse at our future and the world's reliance on oil as a major source of energy. This world of prying government is only a small leap from our own where computer use has made privacy a major issue.

Epic by Conor Kostick
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
Human beings are living on New Earth, governed by The Committee. Erik and his parents, Harald and Freya, live in a small town called Osterfjord, working hard on a failing farm. But hard as farm life is, it's far better than being forced to reallocate, leave everyone they know -- and maybe be stuck in the coal mines. Erik's parents hint that things could even be worse than that, but they won't tell him why.

The Amphora Project by William Kotzwinkle
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
The book is set unimaginably far in the future, when mankind has spread across the stars and is contemplating immortality and Earth is not even a distant memory; yet city scenes are described in terms of plate-glass windows, lifts, muzak, store fronts and the like. Cars fly, but they are described and treated just like the cars on our roads. The author tricks his novel out with all sorts of futuristic paraphernalia, aliens and robots and spaceships, but then layers them over a world that, visually and socially, is indistinguishable from late twentieth century America. Of course, all of this could be ironic.

Scenting the Dark and Other Stories by Mary Robinette Kowal
reviewed by Rich Horton
This collection is notable, compared to other first books, for its brevity -- only 8 short stories, some 80 pages. This may be a wise choice -- start with something of a taster, a sample. It's not that the author has used up all the good stuff either as two of those appearing in Rich's year's best anthologies are included here. The book does represent her style and concerns very well. It's also representative temporally -- a couple of her earliest stories are included, and a couple from 2009, including one new to this book.

The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11½ Anniversary Edition by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
reviewed by Bonnie L. Norman
If you've been living under a rock for the last ten years or so, you might not have heard of the web comic Penny Arcade. Featuring two cameo characters called Tycho and Gabe, it covers not only the ins and outs of the latest news and releases from the video game industry, but geekdom in general. People such as John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton are staunch fans of the comic and well acquainted with the authors in real life; the foreword of this book is written lovingly by Scalzi himself.

Teek by Stephen Krane
reviewed by Todd Richmond
Allison Boyle appears to be a completely normal teenager, living alone with her mother. She has a boyfriend, a favourite stuffed animal, and is secretly writing a romance novel. Unfortunately, she also has her very own stalker. When she is finally attacked, she lashes out in self-defense with previously dormant telekinetic abilities. She escapes, but at a cost. Her newly revealed abilities bring her under the scrutiny of a mysterious black ops agency, determined to capture her...

Blind Vision by Marguerite Krause
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Set in a mediaeval ducal court, this is a well-written and detailed historical novel of intrigue and romance. Its forté is the development of its characters and, to a lesser extent, of the intrigue that surrounds them. It's a novel of people, not events; of burgeoning relationships not bloody battles; and of imperfect characters' emotional development, not of irredeemable evil despots or angelic do-gooders.

Nancy Kress

Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 edited by Nancy Kress
reviewed by Steven H Silver
In this anthology, the editor was given Severna Park's "The Cure of Everything," Kelly Link's "Louise's Ghost," and Jack Williamson's "The Ultimate Earth" by the members of the SFWA. What she brought to the collection was the decision to include runners-up Mike Resnick and James Patrick Kelly, as well as commissioning the commentary by a variety of authors, some established and some still making a name for themselves.

Fires of the Faithful and Turning the Storm by Naomi Kritzer
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Sixteen-year-old Eliana is a violin student at an isolated rural conservatory. Times are hard -- a recent war has laid waste to large parts of the Mestierese Empire, and there's famine in the south. But life at the conservatory is reasonably secure, and Eliana has hope, once her training is complete, that she'll land a prestigious appointment to one of the ensembles at the Imperial Court. Then a new roommate, Mira, arrives, and Eliana's life is changed forever.

Tainaron: Mail from Another City by Leena Krohn
reviewed by Matthew Cheney
The author has, with a slim volume of thirty letters written from an imaginary city of insects, given us a lens of words through which to consider reality, a microscope to reveal yearning and wonder, a telescope to look for what it means to be human, a window and a mirror and an eye other than our own.

Pure by Karen Krossing
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Lenni is a teenager living in Dawn, a planned settlement in the "New Canadian North" populated only by healthy people who are genetically unaltered. The corporation "Purity" runs the town and constantly polices people's genomes to make sure they aren't making illegal DNA alterations. They are preserving the purity of the race.

The Witch of Hebron by James Howard Kunstler
an audiobook review by Steven Brandt
In the sequel to World Made By Hand, the author further develops his dark image of an America plagued by terrorism and terrorized by plague. Now, with no more oil or electricity, citizens struggle to survive. The Witch of Hebron focuses on Jordan Copeland, the eleven-year-old son of the resident doctor in small-town Union Grove. Believing he must leave Union Grove, Jordan decides he has learned enough from his father to start up his own doctoring business in another town. As you might suspect, that plan doesn't work too well...

World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler
an audiobook review by Steven Brandt
It was scary how fast it happened. Terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, leveling the city. The nation's water ports clamped down, inspecting every piece of incoming cargo. Ships sat for days, or even weeks at a time, waiting to be inspected, until finally some of them began to turn away, their cargoes undelivered. America's economy was crippled, and the chances of recovery were slim. When the second bomb went off in Washington DC, even that slim chance was gone.

Illuminati - 2012 by Nishan A. Kumaraperu
reviewed by John Enzinas
Ethan Swan, a trust fund pretty boy who also happens to be a genius with a photographic memory and black belts in multiple martial arts, goes to a lecture by his surrogate father, who gives a lecture about the Illuminati and then is ritually murdered in front of Ethan. After this, everyone starts trying to kill him.

How To Defeat Your Own Clone by Kyle Kurpinski and Terry D. Johnson
reviewed by Charlene Brusso
Chances are, when it comes to the future of biotechnology and cloning, bad science fiction and under-informed news articles have you preparing for one of two possible futures: a dystopian Earth brought to post-apocalyptic ruin thanks to "ultraintelligent überclones" run amok; or a disease-free paradise where "Every child rides to school on a genetically engineered unicorn."

Deryni Tales edited by Katherine Kurtz
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
These 9 stories by several different authors originally came from the Deryni Archives, a magazine dedicated to this landmark fantasy series. The series is set in Medieval times, concerning itself with magic and politics as the Deryni peoples fight to fit into a non-magical society. Before each story, the editor gives an explanation of where that story fits into the timeline of the Deryni world.

King Kelson's Bride by Katherine Kurtz
reviewed by Steven H Silver
This novel is a triumphant return to the magical Medieval realm of Gwynedd in the first Deryni novel since The Bastard Prince (1994). It begins with the coming of age of King Liam of Torenth. Although Torenth and Gwynedd are mortal enemies, Liam has been living as a squire at Kelson's court. When the boy attains his majority, it is time for Kelson to undertake an embassy to return Liam to his own land. On the eve of their journey, Kelson's one-time fiancée, Rothana, suggests an appropriate wife for the young king...

On Crusade: More Tales of the Templar Knights edited by Katherine Kurtz
reviewed by Todd Richmond
Secret organizations, conspiracies, vast sums of hidden wealth, government corruption, whispering of the occult. No, it's not the introduction to a new X-Files book, it's a book of stories about the Templar Knights.

Death of An Adept by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
reviewed by Todd Richmond
Kurtz and Harris offer us their vision of magic in the modern day: psychic abilities, scrying, astral projection, and post-cognition. Add some elements of mythology, the occult, and modern detective work, then throw in a few secret societies, each with a different agenda, and some ancient ruins and castles... and the result is a worthy brew.

Gideon's Wall by Greg Kurzawa
reviewed by Donna McMahon
The story takes place during the medieval era of some unnamed world very similar to Earth. The frame story is the account of an archaeological dig conducted by an archaist from the Loraen Isles who seeks the answer to a terrible mystery. A decade ago, the thriving empire of Shallai fell into ruins almost overnight. Now the continent is an arid wasteland, and sailors who venture into its abandoned ports say they can find no survivors to tell the tale.

Gideon's Wall by Greg Kurzawa
reviewed by Neil Walsh
Shallai was a mighty empire that covered a vast expanse of territory, until one day it mysteriously disappeared. Some ruins could still be found, thrusting up out of the sands, where once stood fertile lands and vibrant cities. But none of the people survived whatever catastrophe destroyed the empire. No one survived to explain how such a thing could happen.

A Thief Among Statues by Donn Kushner
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Brian Newgate is a refugee of WWI, sent with scores of orphaned children from Britain to Canada. Judging by the families he is placed with, life alone on the streets is looking pretty good. When Brian finally goes on the run, he hides in the warmth of a church where he finds himself talking to two wooden statues hidden away behind boards. The statues tell him a tale of wonder and loss, and command him to complete a seemingly impossible assignment.

Life on Mars by Donn Kushner
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
It isn't often that you can describe a book in one word, but through every page of this one, a single thought kept surfacing: charming. The whole package will have adults -- young and old -- under its spell.

The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
Out of nowhere, sixteen-year-old Katherine Talbert is made an offer, by her uncle, the Mad Duke Tremontaine, to cancel all debts and even to help the family out of poverty, if Katherine consents to live with him in the city (and eventually in the underworld area called Riverside, which serves as synecdoche for the city) for six months and train with the sword. Of course she's going to take the offer -- despite the fact that young ladies do not have anything to do with swords.

The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman
reviewed by William Thompson
Basil St. Cloud, Doctor of History and candidate for the Horn Chair, is the University's most vocal advocate for the study of the ancient kings, believing their legacy has in part become clouded by the passage of time and the absence of reliable texts following The Fall of the Kings. In searching through old archives, St. Cloud has come to suspect that not all the kings were tyrants, nor the wizards that supported them simply charlatans whose reputation for sorcery was used as mere smoke screen to prop up support for the king. He has begun to conclude that there may be more to their story than long-held tenants of current scholarship, or the probable biases and extrapolation of historians who wrote long after events had occurred.

The Horns of Elfland edited by Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman and Donald G. Keller
reviewed by Jeff Berkwits
Jeff found most of the stories worthwhile. But those that attempt to relate a character's reaction to music rather than the compositions themselves tend to be more successful, as the reader can readily insert personally powerful harmonies into the yarns.

Terror in the House by Henry Kuttner
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
Although he died when he was only 42, Henry Kuttner, in the late 30s and 40s published, under a score of pen-names, hundreds of tales in the most famous pulp magazines (Weird Tales, Thrilling Mystery, Strange Stories, Spicy Mystery, Marvel Science Stories, etc). And the present collection, subtitled The Early Kuttner, includes forty stories and, mind you, is only the first volume.

Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
After Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, died in June 1936, a number of the works he had submitted before his death continued to be published in the pulps, particularly in Weird Tales. However, by 1938 this supply had largely run out, yet the demand for such fare hadn't -- so a number of authors attempted to fill the void, amongst them Henry Kuttner.

The Last Mimzy Stories by Henry Kuttner
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
In contradiction to the slightly misleading title, "Mimsy Were The Borogroves," is the only story here that has any connection to The Last Mimzy movie. Happily this is no handicap, as the book collects seventeen mostly unconnected works, all of which are rich in entertainment value. Ray Bradbury, who writes the introduction, describes Henry Kuttner as "a man who shaped science-fiction and fantasy in its most important years." Kuttner, who died in 1958, was a writer's writer, whose prolific imagination anticipated the future that is our present. This

Fury by Henry Kuttner
reviewed by A.L. Sirois
Originally published in Astounding in 1947 under the pseudonym Lawrence O'Donnell, the book is set on Venus several centuries after an atomic Armageddon has destroyed Earth. Mankind lives in a series of domed undersea Keeps, because the land-life is so virulent that earlier attempts to settle there have all failed. The race is slowly stagnating inside those domes, despite the more or less benevolent wardship of the Immortals, a group of long-lived mutants.

A Fantasy Medley 2 edited by Yanni Kuznia
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
In the original A Fantasy Medley, editor Yanni Kuznia brought together four of the most interesting authors to write four short stories. When the volume was released, it became a sell-out, and it wasn't long before another was envisioned and later written. Again, four eminent writers have joined to bring us four of the most unusual fantasy fiction since fantasy as a genre had started. Writers such as Tanya Huff, Amanda Downum, Jasper Kent and Seanan McGuire share their imagination with their readers.