Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner
reviewed by Bonnie L. Norman
Matt Richter is good at doing favors for people. A former cop, he's good at finding things out and making people talk. He's also very, very dead. As the only self-willed zombie in the alternate dimension where the haven city of Nekropolis is built, he's something of an oddity even among the strange, weird, dangerous, and creepy citizens that make their home there.

Necropolis by Tim Waggoner
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Matthew Adrion was a cop on Earth until he and his partner followed a suspect through a magical portal and ended up at Necropolis, where Vampires, Lycanthropes, demons and every other creature famous for going bump in the night have decided to make their home. Created by the five Dark Lords, its light source, Umbriel (sort of a stationary moon that stays constant in the sky) needs to be renewed every year through a ceremony where they unite their considerable powers.

One Nation Under George by Z.M. Wagner
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
The book includes satirical inventions that are, at turns, amusing and subtly terrifying, but these are floating around holes big enough to swallow a politician's ego. The premise is that the author is writing his personal take on the history of the last few years in America, from the jaundiced perspective of 2008. This alternate future history includes a great many uncomfortably close parallels to real world events, and what may happen in the "Land of the Free," if liberty is crushed by anti-terror legislation.

The Divided by Katie Waitman
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
The author has crafted a gripping, thought-provoking, emotionally compelling novel. It's a considerable change of pace from her semi-comic Bildungsroman-like debut, The Merro Tree.

The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Visions of the future vary as widely as daydreams, but there is one thing we all seem to hope for our world: tolerance. On the surface, that doesn't appear to be too much to ask. But, with a multitude of races, the universe of this novel offers a convincing argument that no magic cure is on the way to save us from our worst selves.

Return to the Centre of the Earth by Rick Wakeman
a music review by A.L. Sirois
The album tells the story of three explorers seeking to retrace the steps of Verne's intrepid voyager, Professor Lidenbrock, from the 1864 novel. Lidenbrock got into trouble trying to follow after Arne Saknussemm, and these guys do too. Wakeman's chosen some outstanding talent to help him, foremost among them Patrick Stewart as narrator. It's also fun listening to Ozzy Osbourne wailing about being buried alive...

Howard Waldrop

A Lovecraft Retrospective edited by Jerad Walters
reviewed by Stephen M. Davis
The book weighs in, according to the U.S. Postal Service, at 14 pounds. And it seems at least 13 pounds of that is Lovecraft-inspired madness, running the spectrum from the black-and-white Weird Tales interior illustrations to a digitally manipulated collage created in 2007. This makes a nice 80-year period of art inspired by a man whose fiction influenced many writers and who has been loathed by at least as many writers of fiction and criticism for all of those years.

The Jedi Path by Daniel Wallace
reviewed by Charlene Brusso
It comes in a black cardboard box, and weighs just shy of 5 lbs. Open the box, unpack the thing inside, and you have the "vault," a slightly smaller box of gray and silver plastic with beveled corners, about the size of an old-fashioned family bible. The front is decorated with images from that very first film: Tatooine's twin suns, solar discs intersecting like a Venn diagram, and hands -- undoubtedly Luke's -- raising a light saber in a salute. Press the black semicircle at the bottom and you hear the hiss of a pressure equalizing as the top splits into two panels that spread apart, like an ancient tomb, Indiana-Jones style. A palette within rises, lifting the Book.

Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Droids by Daniel Wallace
reviewed by Jonathan Fesmire
After reading Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Droids, Jonathan almost wished these droids were real. Not all of them, just some. The assassin droids can remain fictional.

The Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest and The Mabinogion Tetraology by Evangeline Walton
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Wow! The people at Harper Collins/Voyager really put together a beaut' here, something reminiscent of the lovely illustrated editions of late Victorian and Edwardian times. A lovely, evocative and eminently readable, if bowlderized, translation of the 14^th century Red Book of Hergest and the late 16^th century "Peniardd M.S." with 50 gorgeous colour plates by Alan Lee make this edition of the Mabinogion a joy to behold, to read, and the quality of its production make it an edition worthy of a prominent place on anyone's bookshelves.

Among Others by Jo Walton
reviewed by David Soyka
It's an insider's book not just because of the myriad references to such iconic figures as Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein and, big daddy of them all, but perhaps not nearly as hip as it once was since the Peter Jackson cinematic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. More importantly, it's the evocation of how you felt as a teenager in first discovering authors whose extraterrestrial or otherwise fantastical settings somehow seem to be speaking directly to your awkward, too-smart-for-your-own-good, virginal kid self.

Among Others by Jo Walton
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
Jo Walton's latest novel is already being touted as one of the books of the year. Paul is not about to dissent from that opinion, except that what most critics have picked out for praise is one of the things that bothers him about the book, and what excites him about it hardly seems to have been noticed by other reviewers.

Among Others by Jo Walton
reviewed by Rich Horton
Morwenna is a Welsh girl, with an identical twin named Morganna (also called Mor), and with an involved family history, living in the valleys in South Wales. But some months before, there was a terrible accident and Mor's sister dies, while Mor is sufficiently injured that she still uses a cane and walks with pain. Mor blames her mother for what happened, though somewhat indirectly -- it seems her mother, a somewhat dreadful and rackety woman is also a magic user, and had plans to became a Dark Queen.

Farthing by Jo Walton
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
Jo Walton's novels are all quite different from one another. If any observation can be made about her work, it is that she has a gift for taking a familiar storyline and crossing it with an unexpected trope to present something not just new, but that informs and thus transcends the elements she draws upon.

Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
The ritual of eating a dead dragon, Bon Agornin, is what launches the story. Bon's powerful and demanding son-in-law, the Illustrious Daverak, takes more than his share for his own family, despite the wishes of Bon and the claims of Bon's other children, the Blessed Penn, Avan, the brother who works in the city, and the two younger maiden sisters, Selendra and Haner. Avan decides the next day to institute a lawsuit against Daverak.

The Prize in the Game by Jo Walton
reviewed by Steven H Silver
The author claims her 3rd novel, set in the same world as her previous books, can be read without recourse to those books, despite growing out of a brief passage in her debut, The King's Peace. While it is certainly true that a person can read this book without previous acquaintance with her world, to do so will leave the reader with the opinion that its culture is not as fully detailed as might be indicated by the earlier volumes.

The Amazing Transforming Superhero edited by Terrence R. Wandtke
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
The book presents a series of essays analysing the changes to various comic book and movie super people, in response to the real world. Included are such intriguing diversities as the ultra patriotic, somewhat jingoistic presentation of the original Captain America, Wonder Woman as both a male fantasy and feminist icon, the importance of the Thing's Jewish roots, how Batman became the Man of Tomorrow, and the transcreation of Spiderman from Western to Eastern culture.

Seven Ghosts and One Other by C.E. Ward
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
In the era of internet, smartphones and digital technology, it may seem silly and unfashionable to seek pleasurable shivers by reading ghost stories set either in a long gone past or, at most, in the age of gaslight lamps and hansom cabs. Yet, classical ghost stories, as the ones penned by a master of the genre such as M.R. James, continue to fascinate readers from all over the world.

The Genesis Protocol by Dayton Ward
reviewed by Kilian Melloy
Science is a method, and technology a means, and their combined application produces advanced tools for the betterment of humanity. But advances in civilized living come at a cost -- pollution, global warming, disturbed ecological systems. The hope is that science, a self-correcting discipline, will find a way to correct the abuses and imbalances we have imposed on our environment, and with the emergence of high-level biotechnology there's a glimmer of hope that we may soon have the means to fix our self-inflicted problems.

Man Over Mind by Dean S. Warren
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
In the 33rd century, rule by a man/computer hybrid has become a nightmare. Billions seethe, waiting for the slightest chance to overthrow the Minds that control them and have made life unbearable for centuries. Until now, no one has come along who has presented any hope for destroying these human brains who join with the computers to become all-powerful and monstrous in their appetites.

The Court of the Midnight King by Freda Warrington
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
For August, a modern day history major, the obsession began with a movie, Sir Lawrence Olivier's version of Shakespeare's Richard III. She is spellbound by him, even as her fellow students argue whether he was truly the evil, malformed creature history has named him, or if, in fact, he was the best king England ever had. That night, she begins to see the story, in a place like ours, but not quite.

Crashed by Robin Wasserman
reviewed by Dan Shade
In the future there has been war and terrible poverty. There are, however, an elite few who have the credits to live well. They have nothing but the finest. America's cities are the refuge of the diseased. No credits, no cure. All of the cities are in various states of decay. Then there are the CorpCities, owned and operated by corporations. You work for the Corp, live in Corp housing, and eat Corp food.

Fantastic Futures 13 edited by Robert E. Waters & James R. Stratton
reviewed by Dave Truesdale
Fantastic Futures 13 is an all-original anthology following in the footsteps of its predecessors, Mermaids 13 and Apocalypse 13. As the title indicates, there are 13 stories exploring the theme of what we might expect for the future of our planet, and 13 very different visions are what we get.

Mockymen by Ian Watson
reviewed by Michael M Jones
What do body-possessing aliens, mind-destroying drugs, Nazi occultism and reincarnation all have in common? They're the disparate threads of this visionary novel, a truly bizarre tale of life, death, betrayal, and jigsaw puzzles. It starts out innocently enough, when an aged Norwegian hires a young British couple to make some very specialized jigsaw puzzles, involving nude pictures of themselves with a certain statuary garden in Oslo.

The Great Escape by Ian Watson
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
The safe, sure way for a writer to gain an audience is to find something that works, and then keep working it, expanding your readership without losing your original fans. It's a tried and true method that has been used by many an SF writer (not to mention more than a few songwriters), and one that it is quite evident this author never heard of. This collection displays the talents of a writer who is equally at home in, and brings an individual slant to, science fiction and fantasy, comedy and drama, philosophy and farce.

Lawrence Watt-Evans

Peter Watts

Judas Payne: A Weird Western by Michael Hemmingson / Webb's Weird Wild West: Tales of Western Horror by Don Webb
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
This is very much a book of two halves, being two books in one connected only by basic theme. When one title is read, flip it over and start a whole new story from the other side. Halves come into play with the lead character of Judas Payne who is the product of rape by the Devil, and is half-white half-native American, who is in love with his half-sister, Evangeline. Flip the book over, and there's Webb's Weird Western Tales of Horror by Don Webb. This is a small collection of twelve unconnected tales, all with weird twists.

Apocalypse Troll by David Weber
reviewed by Peter D. Tillman
25th century humans have been at war with the alien Kanga for centuries. The Kanga are on the ropes; in desperation they send a battle group into Terra's past, to cut off the foe at the roots. The Terran Navy is soon in hot pursuit.

Murdered by Human Wolves by Steven E. Wedel
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Katherine Cross, a good girl from a good home, cannot imagine why her best friend Elise Stone would give herself out of wedlock to one of the local bad boys. No one likes Luther McGrath, he and his family are looked down upon by the local people because of rumors attached to him of missing girls, murder, and deviltry. She discovers that the McGraths are actually werewolves.

Perfect Shadow by Brent Weeks
reviewed by Trent Walters
Prominent and alluring courtesan Gwinvere Kirena has had her Chateau Shayon stolen from her, so she hires Gaelan as an assassin. But that's just the beginning. He will have to kill all five wetboys, the supreme assassins of the land, and their leader. If she hires him and he succeeds, can he trust that she will not turn on him?

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
reviewed by Dominic Cilli
The trilogy is a multi-layered sprawling tale that will keep even the most fickle of readers thoroughly engaged throughout. The primary storyline tells the story of Azoth/Kylar. He is a young orphaned street-criminal that has grown up in the seedy part of town known as the Warrens. In order to survive, Azoth becomes embroiled in the criminal underworld known as the Sa'kage. In order to escape the Warrens, he apprentices with legendary assassin Durzo Blint.

The Lion Hunter and The Empty Kingdom by Elizabeth E. Wein
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
The Lion Hunter picks up just after the events in The Sunbird, in which Telemakos, grandson of Arthur, is introduced, and becomes a victim of international intrigue. Readers unfamiliar with this novel will find expert back story painted in at the start of The Lion Hunter as Telemakos challenges himself to overcome the fears he suffered after being held prisoner, blindfolded and bound, as a result of deadly international politics.

Horror of the 20th Century by Robert Weinberg
reviewed by Lisa Brunetta
Collectors take note: this illustrated history of 20th century horror is really a treat with its heavy, full-colour pages, a fabric-like cover with an embossed linen texture (red, of course) and a great cover illustration of Dracula with a hapless victim. The book traces the roots of modern horror to well before the 20th century, and continues through to the present day. And there's no shortage of reading material suggestions to keep you going well into the 21st century.

Mistress of Dragons by Margaret Weis
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Dragons are the superior race, the secret masters of the world. For centuries they've watched the development of humankind, an upstart species whose odd blend of intelligence and weakness intrigues the dragons. By dragon law, humans are not to be harmed, nor are dragons to interfere or interact with them. There's just one exception: the Watcher, a dragon who consents to take human form and go among the humans, keeping watch and reporting back to the Dragon Parliament.

Journey into the Void by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
In this final chapter of the Sovereign Stone trilogy, the journey towards the Portal of the Gods continues as the races of man, elf, ork and dwarf bring their shards, torn apart by King Tamaros so long ago, to be reunited. Will they reach it before Dagnarus, Lord of the Void, can catch up with them? It proves to be no easy task as friends are lost and Dagnarus and his army get more powerful with every step.

Guardians of the Lost by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
Gustav, the human Dominion Lord, has finally found the human race's piece of the Sovereign Stone. As he makes the journey to return to his lands, he is attacked by a corpse, and is mortally wounded. Before he dies, he is found by a group of three people who will become the centre of this book: Bashan of the pecwae race, who are a group of small, nimble creatures who would rather speak to animals than anything else, Jessan, an unproven youth of the Native American-flavored Trevenici warrior tribe, and Wolfram, a Dwarf. They take Gustav to the pecwae village, but even their best healers can not mend his wounds...

The Soulforge by Margaret Weis
reviewed by Wayne MacLaurin
Rastlin is perhaps the single most identifiable character in TSR's immensely popular Dragonlance series. This is an engaging look at a character who is much more complex than most, and a worthy addition to the growing volumes that make up TSR's Dragonlance universe.

Sewerelf by Dan Weiss
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
Asher Archer's daughter wants desperately not to grow up. True, the technology to keep her young is there; she can remain 5 years old indefinitely, but it's going to require a mighty effort on Archer's part to obtain the extra time. First, he's going to have to get them back from a rival company after an extremely hostile takeover that has taken him far away. Fortunately -- or maybe, unfortunately -- a mysterious face from his past has returned to lend a hand.

Mood Shifts by Dan Weiss
reviewed by Lisa DuMond
In the Mood Shifts makeover salon, you can change your whole personality. In this brilliantly shallow vision of the future, no one really knows what's going on, and hardly anyone cares. Fred Duff cares... or at least he thinks he does. This novel is a riveting ride through a house of mirrors. Confusion, lunacy, and subtle threats spring up on every side.

Dawn of a Dark Age by Jane Welch
reviewed by William Thompson
Ostensibly the start of a new trilogy, this book is actually a continuation of the saga begun in the Runespell Trilogy and followed by The Book of Ond.  After a 15-year absence, Spar returns to Belbidia to reclaim his rule of Torra Alta.  With him, he brings in tow a fractious and rebellious son, Rollo, still grieving from the recent death of his mother and resentful at being forced to leave his native land of Artor.  Spar is seeking closure for his own loss, as well as a fresh start for both himself and his son.  But much has changed in his absence: fell and magical creatures of an earlier time now roam Belbidia, wishing to restore their own ascendancy over the earth and mankind.

Patrick Welch

Beyond the Gates by Catherine Wells
reviewed by Steven H Silver
They have cut themselves off from the Unbelievers who reside in the rest of the galaxy except where they need some essential goods or services. But they find that they must bring an Unbeliever palaeo-zoologist to the planet to help determine the origin of an animal found in the desert.

Mother Grimm by Catherine Wells
reviewed by Jim Seidman
Here is a perfect example of what happens when an author attempts to write outside of her area of expertise. Catherine Wells has created an interesting premise for this story, but is seriously flawed in its execution.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and The Utopian Vision of H.G. Wells by Justin E.A. Busch
reviewed by Paul Kincaid
In 1888, the Science Schools Journal, the magazine of the Normal School of Science, published an incomplete serial by the journal's founder and former editor, H.G. Wells. The serial was called 'The Chronic Argonauts' and over the next several years Wells would return to the idea obsessively. The editor of The National Observer founded a new magazine, The New Review, and commissioned Wells to turn his science articles into a serial story, and the serial in turn became Wells's first novel, The Time Machine.

The Man Who Could Work Miracles by H.G. Wells
reviewed by Mario Guslandi
H.G. Wells, the well-known author of famous SF novellas such as The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man and The Time Machine, was also a prolific writer of supernatural fiction, now assembled for the first time in this stylish hardcover volume. Mind you, in Wells's body of work the term "supernatural" doesn't always mean dark, horrific or ghostly.

The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
reviewed by David Maddox
Set in England at the beginning of the 20th century, average industrialist Bedford finds himself entwined in the machinations of Cavor, an eccentric genius who has developed Cavorite, a substance that negates the pull of gravity. The two men construct a vessel called the Sphere which hurls them to the moon. But the adventurers have very different agendas. Cavor hopes to discover a utopian society he imagines living on the planet, while Bedford is purely interested in the monetary gain the trip represents.

The Time Machine and War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
reviewed by Neil Walsh
The author was certainly no Dickens or Thackeray and, as a science fiction writer, he was no Frank Herbert or even John Wyndham. However, his work is important to the history of the genre and it is worth reading a sampling to understand the roots of contemporary science fiction. Imperfect as these two stories are, they are probably the two best -- both for their historical importance and for exemplifying the author's style and scope.

American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-1964 by John Wells
reviewed by D. Douglas Fratz
For most of us born in the 50s, the early 60s was our golden age of discovery, the birth of our sense of wonder. For many, that meant comic books and science fiction. For those of us now sixty-something, it was a magical and memorable time. This first volume in a planned series to the entire history of the American comic book, from the 1940s onward, represents a very promising start to the series. Wells presents a comprehensive year by year overview of all of the comics published in the 10/12/15/25-cent format. He provides minimal critique but does provide information on their relative popularity.

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Nicholas Valiarde leads a double life. During the day he is the leisured and embittered young heir of Doctor Edouard Viller, a renowned metaphysician who was executed ten years ago on false charges of necromancy. At night he is Donatien, master criminal and man of disguises. Donatien has become the city's foremost thief, but his career is only a cover for Valiarde's real purpose -- to destroy the evil Count Montesq, the man who destroyed his father.

The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells
reviewed by Wayne MacLaurin
Mix some Sherlock Holmes with a heavy dose of Steven Brust's Jhereg and you'll have some idea of what to expect from The Death of the Necromancer. Wayne's already cast his vote on this book for most exciting new fantasy novel of the summer!

Dinocalypse Now by Chuck Wendig
reviewed by Trent Walters
The author's website usually has 25 tips for writers on various subjects, told in a no-nonsense tough-guy voice. Plus, how could one pass up Dinocalypse Now, a 40s-era, pulp-flavored lark with universe hops, Atlantean technology, sentient chimps, mind-manipulating dinosaurs, and a mad scientist? What's not to like?

L.Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume XXVI edited by K.D. Wentworth
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
Every year budding fantasy and SF writers send in their short stories to be read and possibly published in the next Writers of the Future volume. Judges, four in all, run their eyes over the new talent, and offer their own opinion on how good they are and if they are good enough; the judges in this case are; Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Eric Flint, Dean Wesley Smith and Mike Resnick. These judges were also winners in previous contests.

Le Morte d'Arthur: An Epic Limerick, Vol I by Jacob Wenzel
reviewed by Georges T. Dodds
Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur is the English language cornerstone of Arthurian lore. However trying to read the hundreds of pages can sometimes get so involved in deciphering the language that one loses the essentials of the plot and message. Here, however, we have Mallory retold in modern, slightly colloquial English, in limerick form.

Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber
reviewed by Katharine Mills
If you are the kind of person who won't even go into the bathroom if there's a spider in the tub -- well, you should be forewarned. This is a buggy book. But it's a fine read. And who knows, after your intimate glimpse into their world, you might find yourself actually able to go up to that spider, and gently remove it to a better world outside.