Goddesses by Linda Nagata
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
Global Shear (Asia) has won a ten-year contract to govern a poor district in south India, replacing the failed bureaucracy. Their charge: to lift 16 million people out of poverty. Their incentive: a percentage of the new wealth they'll help to create. Michael Fielding, the new project manager, finds a battered street waif on his doorstep and takes her in, which lands him in hot water with his boss, his housekeeper and the local fundies.

Vast by Linda Nagata
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
Set mostly aboard the spaceship Null Boundary, this novel is in essence one long chase scene. The ship and its crew and passengers are fleeing a courser of the Chenzeme. The Chenzeme have attacked and destroyed much of human space, both with ships and a biological weapon known as the cult virus.

Vast by Linda Nagata
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
With this novel, the author has fortified her reputation as one of hard science fiction's most ambitious authors. Dangers faced as the chase continues force the brilliant crew to devise evermore complex chemical, biological, and mechanical solutions to keep the ship and themselves intact and functioning.

Albert by Donna Jo Napoli
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Every day, Albert sticks a hand out the window to test the weather, and every day the weather is just not right for a stroll outside. So, Albert stays in. Every day. One day, though, something improbable and fantastic happens that will change his outlook forever. That day, the outside world will come into Albert's closed world, in the form of a nesting pair of cardinals. From that moment on, his life becomes the adventure everyone's should be.

Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen
reviewed by Jeri Wright
A young man in the throes of first love makes a foolish boast that he can clothe his beloved in a wedding dress of gold. He makes good the boast, but loses both the girl and the better part of himself.

Zel by Donna Jo Napoli
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
When was the last time you really felt the wonder and magic of a fairy tale? If your answer evokes wistful sighs and memories of growth charts, it's time to get back in the land of make-believe -- and no matter what your age, here is the book that can bring that sense of enchantment back.

Tower of Dreams by Jamil Nasir
reviewed by A.L. Sirois
In a grimly drawn but all-too-likely near-future, this novel explores the landscape of the Jungian collective unconscious. It's a rewarding, thought-provoking experience not to be taken lightly.

That's Not My Name by Yvonne Navarro
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Do you want a taut thriller that keeps your heart pounding and your eyes cemented to the page until the very last sentence? Do you want an in-depth character study that places you inside the minds of characters, exploring their fears, hopes, doubts? So few novels have a bit of both. Fewer still are the ones that combine them into a perfect balance.

Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor
reviewed by Andy Remic
Red Dwarf. The Dwarf. The Boys From the Dwarf. Smeg Head. Kryten. Smeeeeg Head. Rasta Billy Skank. Holograms. SF trope rip-offs. Hell, every-decent-SF-movie-ever-made rip-offs!! And yes, that sentence does qualify a double exclamation in the best tradition of some seedy teen mag. Red Dwarf, then. Where to begin?

The Duke in His Castle by Vera Nazarian
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Some authors,admittedly, have taken fantasy in interesting new directions, but Georges must admit to looking more and more to pre-Tolkienian times for his fantasy reading. He grew up in a time when authors like J.B. Cabell, Lord Dunsany, E.R.Eddison, H.R. Haggard, R.E. Howard, W. Morris, T. Mundy and C.A. Smith had been rediscovered in the fantasy boom of the late 60s-early 70s and were widely available. As much as he might wish that any serious fantasy reader of today begin with the 'classics,' he realises that the vast majority don't.

Dreams of the Compass Rose by Vera Nazarian
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
If you're looking for this book to be yet another instalment of the post-Tolkien fantasy paradigm, you'll be very disappointed. Similarly if you're looking for something of the China Miéville school of "New Weird" you won't find it here either. Think rather Burton's translation of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, then add the twists of irony and gorgeous prose of Lord Dunsany's early tales, or Clark Ashton Smith.

Pyxis: The Discovery by K.C. Neal
an audiobook review by Susan Dunman
The mysterious wooden box labeled "Pyxis" belonged to Corrine's recently deceased grandmother. Filled with glass vials containing various colored liquids, Corrine doesn't know what she's supposed to do with the box, but she does realize its intended for her use. If only there had been time for Grandma Doris to talk with Corrine before her unexpected demise.

The Thirteenth Scroll by Rebecca Neason
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
To keep evil forces from taking over the kingdom, a young woman must abandon the quiet life she knows as a healer in the heart of the forest. Lysandra's special Sight may lead them to the answer; her own sight was taken away years ago in a violent attack. Armed only with her Sight, an ancient prophetic scroll's vague instructions, and two peculiar companions, she must travel across the dark landscape to save her people.

Highlander: Shadow of Obsession by Rebecca Neason
reviewed by Todd Richmond
Fans of the TV series will enjoy this novel, which fills in a few holes and offers a wealth of detail on the history of MacLeod's old friend, Darius. With only a handful of Highlander books out now, Todd hopes any others to come will be up to the standards set by this novel.

The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy for Teens edited by Jane Yolen and Patrick Nielsen Hayden
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Ninety percent of everything, according to Theodore Sturgeon, is garbage. The golden age of science fiction, according to Peter Graham, is at thirteen. In a long overdue attempt to help those thirteen-year-olds separate the creamy ten percent, the editors have compiled this first volume. With the editors' tastes, this should prove to be the first of a long series of anthologies.

Nemonymous, #2
reviewed by Steven H Silver
The idea of this anthology series is to present authors' works without the baggage that the authors' names might carry with it. Readers of all sorts, particularly science fiction readers whose genre is such a small society, bring expectations upon seeing an author's name. If the accompanying story does not match those expectations, it may have a negative effect on the reader's enjoyment of the tale. This approach allows the reader to enjoy the story (or not) based on the story's own merits, with the author's name only revealed several months later in the subsequent issue.

nemonymous #1
reviewed by David Soyka
The gimmick here is that the 16 authors in this quirky -- in both content and format (bound as it is in the shape of car owner's manual) -- publication are anonymous, at least until the next volume arrives in which their identities are revealed. (Not having seen the current second volume, they remain anonymous to me as I write this.) Even the editor is anonymous, although it has been reported in other venues that it is the British fiction writer D.F. Lewis.

Nocturne by Jus Neuce
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Nocturne is a tidally locked, synchronously rotating planet in close tow to its companion sun. It was colonized in two waves -- an initial expedition of scientists and a subsequent one of pioneers -- who settled on Nocturne's terminator, the narrow rim between perpetual sunlight and freezing darkness. Largely forgotten by Earth, Nocturne has created a highly centralized society whose structure resembles the bureaucracy of a vast corporation and a pronounced status differential. But that's about to change, with the suddenness of a natural disaster.

Neo-Opsis Science Fiction Magazine, Issue 22
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
It's already into its 22nd issue and is still going strong with the usual writers Edoardo Albert, Ron Sanders, Dave Duncan, Nancy Kay Clark, and Robert J. Boumis. The cover art is provided by L.A. based author, poet and illustrator Ron Sanders whose scene is a memorable one that wouldn't look out of place on a future War of the Worlds novel's cover.

Banquet for the Damned by Adam L.G. Nevill
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
Struggling musician Dante Shaw has his hopes pinned on a planned concept album based around a book on the occult written by reclusive academic Eliot Coltwell. With his friend and bandmate Tom in tow, Dante travels up to Scotland,accepting an invitation to work as Coldwell's research assistant at the University of St. Andrews. Coldwell proves reluctant to discuss his work with Dante, but is keen for the young man to meet his wild and beautiful associate, Beth -- leading Dante to suspect he has been lured to the town under false pretences.

The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville
reviewed by Margo MacDonald
Margo found this book to be undeniably a grand adventure, wrapped in amazing characters and even more amazing tales. It is a whirlwind of history and mysticism combined with fabulous storytelling which manages to entertain, inform and activate the imagination.

A Blazing World by Jess Nevins
reviewed by Steven H Silver
A couple of years ago, Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill published a six issue comic series entitled The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It followed a nineteenth century group of heroes including Mina Murray from Dracula, H. Rider Haggard's Sir Allan Quatermain, Jules Verne's Captain Nemo, H.G. Wells's Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. After Moore and O'Neill created a second series, the author produced this volume for the reader who wants to be in on all the jokes.

The New Masters of Fantasy 2004
reviewed by Steven H Silver
This CD-ROM is published by Epilogue.net, an on-line artists' community with a focus on the fantastic in art. This collection of art was selected by Don Maitz, Jeff Easley and Larry Elmore. It is the second annual collection and it includes more than twice as many artists that appeared the first collection.

The Scrolls of the Ancients by Robert Newcomb
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
The Vigors and the Vagaries are the two halves of the magic of Eutracia -- light and dark, good and evil, and the two scrolls of Vigors and Vagaries contain the sum of all their knowledge. Without the scrolls, neither side would be able to survive. Krassus, a powerful wizard who knows he will soon die, hopes to buy himself a better place in his chosen afterlife by destroying the Vigors (the good side) and to accomplish this he must find a long lost child.

The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
The book opens with the wizard Wigg on a ship. He and the crew have sailed for fifteen days, as far as anyone has managed to cross into the Whispering Seas. They put four women in a small, beat-up skiff and set them free. Four sorceresses who, despite the cruelties and depravations they have forced upon the people in their quest for power and darkest magics, the Directorate of wizards can not kill, for it is against their vows to murder.

The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb
reviewed by William Thompson
As it may come as no surprise to anyone, despite the publisher's claims on the cover, this is hardly "The Epic Fantasy of the Year." Instead, this book is a fairly typical fledgling effort by a new author, at times well told but marred by poor decisions. In addition, the author appears to have borrowed rather liberally if loosely from a variety of other sources, undermining moments of originality, and thereby identifying the work more as a clone than differentiating itself from the pack of what has come before.

The Turning by Paul J. Newell
reviewed by David Hebblethwaite
Lleyton Quinn is a forecaster of consumer demand by trade whose help is sought covertly by Detective Sergeant Melissa Keller in investigating a series of cases in which people (more than one of whom is known to Quinn) have run away for no obvious reason. It transpires that the runaways have been "turned" -- they have somehow come to stop caring about anything at all -- as Lleyton discovers first-hand when it happens to Keller.

Andy Warhol's Dracula by Kim Newman and The Vaccinator by Michael Mashall Smith by
reviewed by Lisa Brunetta
Two short novels in one book. The first is about Johnny Pop, the Dracula family's latest incarnation, who shows up in America, promptly drains a budding disco king and sets out to conquer the world of Andy Warhol and Studio 54. The second concerns Eddie, who fixes things for a living. Right now, he negotiates abduction vaccines for unfortunate about-to-be-beamed-up humans with a trio of tall, spidery golden aliens who are often too wasted to talk.

Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton
an audiobbok review by Ivy Reisner
An ice age is coming to the archipelago empire of Jamul. Peasants are gathering, seeking sanctuary, but they are being kept out. Adherents to a forbidden religion are gathering power and seeking to take control of the empire. It is against, and driven by, this backdrop that this jigsaw puzzle of a story opens. Looking at the scattered bits and discovering how they fit together is what makes this a most intriguing story.

Banana Sunday by Root Nibot and Colleen Coover
reviewed by Hank Luttrell
Well known for a delightful adults-only comic book series, Small Favors, these creators now offer an equally entertaining all-ages project. Kirby Steinberg is a high school student, but also the guardian of three lower primates. Transferring into a new high school, her wards accompany her. In several student assemblies about the animals, she explains they are the result of secret primate research done by her father. But Nickel, a high school newspaper reporter, suspects that Kirby isn't being candid about the nature of the primates, and tries to uncover the truth.

Orcs: First Blood by Stan Nicholls
reviewed by Todd Richmond
What do you get when you combine a squad of orcs, five strange tokens of unknown power, and a vindictive, paranoid, blood ritual-using sorceress? A strange tale of magic, fantastic creatures, and mythical elder races that warps your expectations.

The Harvest by Scott Nicholson
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Tamara Leon once ignored the Gloomies, which is what she calls the eerie premonitions that haunt her once in awhile. The price she paid was the loss of her father. Now, much older and married, the Gloomies are extracting their own price on her life. She doesn't want to ignore them. In fact, she can't since they are a near constant whisper in her head, but her husband's refusal to believe in them is ruining their marriage.

Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide by Leon Nielsen
reviewed by Trent Walters
Arkham House is one of the finest publishers of collected short fiction in the field. Its beginnings were humble as friends of H.P. Lovecraft founded the house in order to publish Lovecraft in book form as a memorial. Later, they began publishing others of that weird fiction clan: the first collections of Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, Fritz Leiber, Lord Dunsany, August Dereleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Frank Belknap Long, William Hope Hodgson, Seabury Quinn, and Donald Wandrei.

ELV by Nick Nielsen
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
This novel does for time travel what Tom Holt does for classic literary characters with titles like Who's Afraid of Beowulf? and Faust Amongst Equals. With many misadventures, such as robots rebuilding cities at 15% scale and a self-replicating AI with the first artificial sense of humour, Nielsen has a winner on his hands.

Ringworld by Larry Niven
reviewed by Trent Walters
Louis Wu on his 200th birthday is bored, having done all he wants to do in Known Space. A Puppeteer, a two-headed tripod with clawed hooves, ensnares Wu's curiosity on a job that will take him out of the known world. The Puppeteer recruits a Kzin, a five-hundred pound feline alien named Speaker-to-Animals, by insulting it. Teela Brown, another human but bred genetically lucky, also signs on after learning that her love, Wu, is going and that humanity's hope for survival hinges on a new starship that the Puppeteers will give Wu and Brown upon completing their mission to a place the Puppeteer is cryptic about.

Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven
reviewed by Todd Richmond
This book is a combination of a novel followed by 5 additional short stories. Do yourself a big favour and skip to the end, read the stories first and then come back to the start. The stories supply some much needed background information.

Destiny's Road by Larry Niven
reviewed by Marc Goldstein
The book is filled with the sense of an old master hungry to prove himself to a new generation. Marc finds this enthusiasm infectious.

Stars and Gods by Larry Niven
reviewed by D. Douglas Fratz
THis book purports to collect all of the auhtor's work that has appeared since his last collection of short fiction, Scatterbrain, which appeared in 2003, and it does indeed do that. It also includes a number of short but usually quite interesting non-fiction works. What is perplexing is that fully a quarter of this massive volume consists of excepts from nine various novels.

Juggler of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner
an audiobook review by Gil T. Wilson
Sigmund Ausfaller is an Agent for the U.N. More specifically, he is a highly valued Agent of the Amalgamated Regional Militia (A.R.M.). What makes him so valuable is that he is a Paranoid. Sigmund is perfect for rooting out conspiracies because he sees conspiracies in everything. The U.N. has several paranoids that are used to uncover conspiracies, but they achieve paranoia through the use of drugs. Sigmund is naturally paranoid, and that's what makes him unique and actually better at the job.

Escape from Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
an audiobook review by Ivy Reisner
In 1976, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle released Inferno, a reworking of the epic poem by Dante Alighieri. Now, they have returned to that world and to the hero, Alan Carpenter, teamed with Sylvia Plath, who has been condemned to the wood of the suicides in the middle ring of the seventh circle, to get out of Hell. Hell is going through a shakeup of its own because of Vatican II. The rules have changed. The condemned are all scheduled to be tried anew.

Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
an audiobook review by Ivy Reisner
After his sudden death, science fiction writer Allen Carpentier finds himself along the shores of Hell with a strange guide who wishes only to be known as Benito. Not surprisingly, it is a Hell visited once before by Dante Alighieri. This work takes some artistic license with Dante's original Inferno.

The Moon Maze Game by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
reviewed by Dave Truesdale
Set in 2085, 34 years following the amusement park's debut, the corporation funding Dream Park have now moved the action to the Moon, as the finishing touches are being put on the new park located at Heinlein base. The basic setup of the game is the same as in the previous novels: the elite live-action players from around the world flock to this first-ever game set on the Moon, and the stakes for everyone are enormous.

Best of all Possible Wars edited by Larry Niven
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
Is The Man-Kzin Wars the best shared world series on the market? Peter thinks so, and this latest volume -- a best-of collection featuring work from Larry Niven, Greg Bear, S.M. Stirling, and Jerry Pournelle -- will show you why.