Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
reviewed by John Enzinas
A reporter is brutally murdered by someone who had been found dead two weeks earlier. Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast joins forces with NYPD Detective Vincent D'Agosta to solve the crime seemingly committed by voodoo and bring those responsible to justice.

The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
In a marketplace filled to overflowing with serial killers, FBI agents, and mysterious murders, the authors have found a way to make their thrillers stand out. Start off with the unlikely heroine of Nora Kelly, not-too-successful archeologist and employee of the New York Museum. Add a grisly cache of skeletons -- the victims of a serial killer who lived almost 100 years ago. And polish the premise with a smooth, brilliant, uncanny Fed unlike any seen before, and you've got the making of one taut mystery.

Riptide by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
reviewed by Neil Walsh
Although it doesn't fall neatly into one of the SF&F sub-genres, it nevertheless can be placed with some confidence into the broad spectrum of speculative fiction. After all, who wouldn't be intrigued by one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries: the Oak Island treasure pit?

Reliquary by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
reviewed by Wayne MacLaurin
The premise is intriguing; a series of brutal murders lead to a terrifying encounter deep beneath the streets of New York City. Wayne is thankful to find himself stuck on a nice sunny freeway.

Secret Passages by Paul Preuss
reviewed by Kim Seidman
Kim has a hard look at a very hard science fiction mystery set in Greece -- one with only superfical trappings of SF.

Nyarlathotep Cycle: Stories about the God of a Thousand Forms edited by Robert M. Price
reviewed by Stephen M. Davis
Stephen was pleased with the choice of stories. The inclusion of some work by unknown authors was quite refreshing.

Hellbent by Cherie Priest
reviewed by David Soyka
Hellbent is the second volume of the Cheshire Red Reports series, "Cheshire Red" being the aka for protagonist Raylene Pendle, vampire thief-for-hire. In the previous Bloodshot, we're introduced to Raylene as a sardonic but basically good-hearted female criminal, even if undead and the blood-pumping organ presumably is out of warranty. She is hired to recover a set of magical bones that a schizophrenic witch intends to use to conjure forces of nature in an act of vengeance against her former NASA employer.

Bloodshot by Cherie Priest
reviewed by David Soyka
Raylene Pendle (aka Cheshire Red) is a vampire who pretty much keeps to herself, even avoiding her own kind, with a personal moral code that doesn't allow for killing humans to suck their blood unless, of course, there's a good reason. She's even such a softie that she harbors two homeless kids in a Seattle warehouse where she stores her stuff. Not just any kind of stuff, but stuff she has stolen. She is a professional thief for both pay and pleasure, and when you're undead, things start to collect after a few centuries.

Clementine by Cherie Priest
reviewed by Jason Erik Lundberg
Cherie Priest's entry into the world of steampunk has been spectacular and explosive, qualities that match the protagonists of her new short novel Clementine. The book proceeds from the events in its incredible predecessor Boneshaker, following a minor character in that novel, Captain Croggon Beauregard Hainey, an escaped slave on the hunt for those who have stolen his (previously stolen) airship, the Free Crow.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
reviewed by Katherine Petersen
Gold prospectors flocked to the Northwest in search of treasure in the late 1800s, and during this frenzy the Russians sought a way to reach a vein of gold hidden below a vast amount of Alaskan ice. To this end, they held a contest for a machine that could manage the task and commissioned Seattle scientist Leviticus Blue to build his Boneshaker. But things went awry as he carved out much of Seattle's downtown, accidentally releasing blight gas that turned individuals into the living dead.

Those Who Went Remain There Still by Cherie Priest
reviewed by Tammy Moore
Leitchfield is a hard, unforgiving place and those who live there are hard and unforgiving too: the Manders and the Coys. Both families are descended from sour-natured patriarch Heastor Wharton, whose brutality and venom have poisoned generations from womb to grave. Years ago John Coy escaped, heading east to New York and a community that valued his intellect instead of deriding it. When he was eighteen John's nephew, Meshack Coy, fled west to find family that wasn't dedicated to eating their own. Neither man ever planned to return to Leitchfield.

Nascence: 17 Stories That Failed and What They Taught Me by Tobias Buckell and Ersatz Wines by Christopher Priest
reviewed by Trent Walters
Both collections deal with the category of literature known as juvenilia: works written before the writer came into his full maturity. Both writers deal with the idea that the point of the book is just to make some money, but they also believe their mistakes may help beginning writers. Buckell is more contemporary and aware of the current speculative scene while Priest's concerns are more literary, yet both give useful insight into the process of maturing as a writer.

The Islanders by Christopher Priest
reviewed by Christopher DeFilippis
Twins, doubles and doppelgangers often take center stage in the novels of Christopher Priest, and his narrators are often not entirely reliable. Fans who enjoy these aspects of his work are sure to love his new novel as the author foregoes a single unreliable narrator for an entirely unreliable narrative. The book is presented as a gazetteer, or guidebook, of the Dream Archipelago, a world-spanning chain of islands with fantastical properties.

Broken Angels by Richard Morgan, The Separation by Christopher Priest and The Tain by China Miéville
reviewed by David Soyka
While Tony Blair lines up behind the Bush administration in positing war with Iraq as a clear-cut case of good versus evil, some of his countrymen provide persuasive commentary that such a dichotomy is never the case. War is only black and white in movies from the 40s; in reality, it runs blood red, and its tributaries are not always so easily or clearly defined. Which isn't necessarily to say that war is never unjustified or unavoidable; only that the "make-believe" needs to be sifted from the actuality in hopes of making reliance on it less likely. Ironically, it is the purveyors of "make-believe" who articulate doubt upon this simplistic precept invoked by both sides in any conflict. Although British writers Christopher Priest, Richard Morgan, and China Miéville may all be shelved together in the SF and Fantasy aisle, each works in decidedly different sub-genres to provide compelling commentary on the considerable shades of gray between the seeming dark and light.

The Extremes by Christopher Priest
reviewed by Rich Horton
The author seems fascinated with reality, and how our consciousness creates our reality. As such, he could hardly be expected to resist the temptation presented by a subject such as extremely realistic VR simulations.

The Prestige by Christopher Priest
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Lisa discovered that it isn't that every character in this novel is obsessed, only the ones we get to know by name. One hundred years separate them, but, it is the secrets of yesterday that join them.

Dating Secrets of the Dead by David Prill
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Ah, the simple pleasures of small town life. That first, awkward date with the girl of your dreams. The excitement when the carnival comes to town. Those endless days of waiting for the traveling spook show to roll back through again. It's practically a Norman Rockwell painting... until this author gets ahold of it. Then, homespun and naïve go crashing through the window as a whole new world sets up camp.

The House on Hound Hill by Maggie Prince
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Sixteen-year-old Emily is miserable. Her parents are divorcing, and she's moved to an ancient house in London. She hates her new school, misses her friends, and is dismayed by the fact that her mother seems to be attracted to the man next door. But there are worse things than personal unhappiness, as she discovers when she senses something terrible in her brother's room.

The Ant-Men of Tibet and Other Stories edited by David Pringle
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
This is not really a best-of anthology, more of a sampling of recent work by writers who have come to be associated with Interzone. As such, it showcases a variety of material, both SF and fantasy, and the quality varies as much as the content. Highlights include Peter T. Garrat's "The Collectivization of Transylvania" putting the Dracula legend to good use during the fall of communism in Romania and Keith Brooke's "The People of the Sea" telling a tale of mermaids, fathers, and shifting time-lines.

Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction edited by Jeff Prucher
reviewed by Steven H Silver
Although some authors, such as Lester del Rey, wanted the academics to "get out of my Ghetto," many other authors, and fans, have yearned for social respectability they have felt was long denied. They wanted a chance for science fiction to prove that it had put that "Buck Rogers" stuff behind it and graduated to a serious literature, not only of ideas, but of characterization, plot, and even relevance. While this book can't bestow any of those things on the genre, it does demonstrate that academics are taking it seriously.

Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction edited by Jeff Prucher
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
Science fiction is a language. Not just a vocabulary, all those funny words that can make newcomers to the genre run away screaming, but a grammar, a syntax, a set of perspectives and attitudes entailed by the words and structure of the fiction that is simply untranslatable to some readers. A dictionary, as lexicographers from Dr. Johnson down have discovered, doesn't just codify the language, it can help to understand its structure and history. A dictionary of science fiction, therefore, seems like a worthwhile and indeed timely enterprise.

Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman
reviewed by Trent Walters
Philip Pullman tackles the Grimm brothers' fairy tales. Alan Garner did something similar in his Complete Fairy Tales. Like Garner, Pullman distances himself from rewriting them as modern stories -- developing full characters, setting, etc. -- but instead rewrites them only to improve plot points, occasionally embellishing or detouring slightly from the originals. "If Pullman doesn't make major changes," a reader may ask, "why would I want pay for this new book? Couldn't I get a classic ebook, free off the internet?" Good question.

The Shadow In The North by Philip Pullman
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
This book was originally published in a slightly different version back in 1986. Almost 20 years later, its author is widely celebrated as being among the greatest writers of children's fiction working today, and is best known for His Dark Materials trilogy. This early work shows that he achieved an early mastery of his craft.

Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
In fine and spooky style, this book brings together all the ingredients of the best fairy tales: stalwart heroes, plucky heroines, fugitive orphans, lost heirs, supernatural threats, and, of course, a happy ending.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
reviewed by Lela Olszewski
In addition to unique worlds, fascinating characters, and emotionally powerful writing, the book has a variety of other exemplary qualities. Lela enjoyed the touches of humor that help relieve the tension generated by the character's almost constant flight from danger.

Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in the Third Great Age of Discovery by Stephen J. Pyne
reviewed by Charlene Brusso
This is the story of NASA's Voyager probes, two spacecraft launched in 1977, and their extraordinary Grand Tour to the outer planets and beyond -- only better, because the author also deftly weaves in the story of the Western world's love affair with great voyages of discovery.