The SF Site: New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy

The titles are sorted alphabetically by authors' last name. Links have been added to lead to related articles, excerpts, and other Web pages which might prove of interest. The cover thumbnail is a link to a larger version. A More button leads to further titles for this letter.

Judith Tarr

The Shepherd Kings
Forge (hardcover, 512 pages, $27.95 US)
Publication date: June, 1999
Judith Tarr is the author of many popular high fantasy novels; here she turns her attention to the ancient kingdoms of Egypt and Minoan Crete, for an epic of men, gods, and romance. "The Kingdom of Lower Egypt has been occupied for a hundred years by the Shepherd Kings, the Hyksos, conquerors from the East. All of Lower Egypt is occupied by foreign lords, including the ancient household of the Sun Ascendant, where a young woman named Iry was once the lady and is now a slave. But there is a change in the wind -- the holding has passed to a new Hyksos lord by a woman of a Far Eastern tribe, a Priestess of Horse Goddess, and with him comes the living incarnation of the Goddess, the White Mare. The Mare has driven her people to Egypt in the wake of the foreign kings and, to the horror of the invaders, chooses an Egyptian slave to be her Servant and Chief Priestess. And now the Pharaoh Ahmose, who still rules the Upper Kingdom, will move to take back the Lower Kingdom by making a twofold alliance: with the seafaring empire of Crete and with Horse Goddess herself."

Avaryan Rising
Tor/Orb trade paper
Fine classic fantasy in economy-sized packaging, the complete Avaryan Rising trilogy in a single volume: The Hall of the Mountain King, The Lady of Han-Gilen, and A Fall of Princes, published from 1986-88. He appeared in a remote mountain kingdom, a young man with the power and blood of the Sun God running through his veins. His desire was to rule the world, and his skill was inspiring loyalty, and soon he welded the hardy mountain people into a force that would conquer the world. But conquering and ruling are two very different things.

King and Goddess
Tor hard cover
"The story of Hatshepsut, the mysterious Queen of Egypt, who usurped the throne and reigned for decades as the Pharaoh, Menkheperre". Wow, steam must rise out of her spell-checker.

The Eagle's Daughter
Tor paperback
"War and Romance in the Holy Roman Empire"--the story of the Byzantine princess Theophano and her marriage to Otto II. Yes, this is a historical, but we all love her fantasy so much, we have created a demand for her other stuff too.

Other Useful Stuff