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Fiction

alphabetical by author

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Edwin A. Abbot
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Flatland (illus, introduction by Banesh Hoffman): Flatland is one of the very few novels about math and philosophy that can appeal to almost any layperson. Published in 1880, this short fantasy takes us to a completely flat world of two physical dimensions where all the inhabitants are geometric shapes, and who think the planar world of length and width that they know is all there is. But one inhabitant discovers the existence of a third physical dimension, enabling him to finally grasp the concept of a fourth dimension. Watching our Flatland narrator, we begin to get an idea of the limitations of our own assumptions about reality, and we start to learn how to think about the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England. - BO

Douglas Adams

The Ultimate Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: All of Douglas Adams' classic Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy stories in one books. A classic must-read when it comes to witty science fiction.- SP

Joan Aiken
Read her { interview | poem | story } in Strange Horizons.

A Necklace of Raindrops and Other Stories: A re-print of Aiken's classic stories from 1968. Geared towards grades 4-6, the stories in Necklace are infused with magical themes, like flying carpets and talking animals. Aiken's folklorish story-telling style and the new black & white illustrations of Kevin Hawkes make this the best edition yet. - BO
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, 1)
Black Hearts in Battersea (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, 2)
Nightbirds on Nantucket (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, 3)
The Cuckoo Tree (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, 4)
The Stolen Lake (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, 5): A fantastical piece of "alternate history". Taking place in late 18th/early 19th century Britain and America where young Bonnie's parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage, and Bonnie and her cousing Sylvia's cruel governess, Miss Slighcarp. The once happy home is now disassembled and the girls are sent off to a prison-like boarding school. With the help of some new friends, they escape, but to what end? Will they ever be able to save Willoughby Chase from the clutches of the greedy Miss Slighcarp? The first book definitely has a fairy-tale feeling to it, making it most traditionally a children's story, but the series can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Brian Aldiss
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Helliconia Spring (Helliconia Series, 1)
Helliconia Summer (Helliconia Series, 2)
Helliconia Winter (Helliconia Series, 3): The planet Helliconia orbits binary suns, so they have a Great Year that lasts for 3 Earth millenia. Cultures are born in the spring, flourish and prosper in summer, and wither and die at the onset of the generations-long winter. As Helliconia emerges from its latest centuries-long winter, the tribes of the equatorial continents are able once more to dispute ownership of the planet with the ferocious phagors. - BO

Lloyd Alexander

The Book of Three (Chronicles of Prydain, 1)
The Black Cauldron (Chronicles of Prydain, 2)
The Castle of Llyr (Chronicles of Prydain, 3)
Taran Wanderer (Chronicles of Prydain, 4)
The High King (Chronicles of Prydain, 5): These wonderful stories tell the tale of Taran, a foundling boy, raised by a wizard, who has the job of assistant pig-keeper and dreams of honor and glory. Set against the backdrop of Prydain, a land in which the forces of good struggle against the wickedness of both men and evil creatures, this series lets the reader grow up along with Taran as he learns who he is, learns to love, and finally learns something of how complex the ideas of honor and glory really are. - MM
Westmark: Westmark is the story of Theo, a printer's apprentice who sees his master unjustly killed and has to flee for his life. The country is dysfunctional, with the king in a permanent state of grieving for his dead daughter, and the control of the country is in the hands of a murdering minister. Theo allies himself with various groups who are working against oppression, each in their own way. A rousing adventure that holds up to reading after reading. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Charles Anders
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The Lazy Crossdresser

Poul Anderson

The Time Patrol: An anthology of all the short stories about the Time Patrol, the future organization that insures the continuity of human history. - SP

Piers Anthony
Read a { related article (12/17/01) | related article (5/27/02) } in Strange Horizons.

For Love of Evil
And Eternity: These last two novels in Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series focus on Satan and God, who like the other Incarnations of timeless principles (Death, Time, War, etc.) are human in origin. Their offices are eternal, but the particular occupants of the position are not. Therefore, on the cusp of World War III, the current Christian God is booted out for incompetent narcissism and replaced with a woman. - BO
Cluster: Cluster provides the reader an excellent opportunity to explore challenges to traditional views of sexuality and experience alternatives. Flint, a human from one of Earth's outermost colonies, is more gifted than others, in that his "aura" is stronger which enables him to transfer onto alien hosts and experience a new world of opportunities. - BO

Catherine Asaro
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Primary Inversion
Catch The Lightning
The Last Hawk
The Radiant Seas
The Veiled Web
Ascendant Sun
The Phoenix Code
The Quantum Rose: Catherine Asaro's first novel sets the stage for her ongoing Skolian Empire saga. An ingenious combination of hard science fiction, epic space opera, and star-crossed romance, Primary Inversion is the story of Sauscony Valdoria, telepath, fighter pilot, and heir to the Skolian throne. Skolia is locked in a seemingly endless conflict with the empire of the Traders, flawed empaths who pick up only on emotions generated by pain, and whose brains convert the sensations into their own pleasure. A chance encounter on neutral territory with the son of the Trader Emperor leads Soz to a shocking revelation, and a love affair which, if discovered, could lead to an all-out war between the two empires. Asaro's professional knowledge of theoretical physics allows her to create surprisingly plausible explanations for such improbably SF staples as faster-than-light travel and psi abilities, and her main characters are exceptionally well-developed, likable, and believable people. - AH

Isaac Asimov

Foundation (The Foundation Series, 1)
Foundation and Empire (The Foundation Series, 2)
Second Foundation (The Foundation Series, 3)
Foundation's Edge (The Foundation Series, 4): The Foundation Series is one of the first, and still one of the best, in the 'Galactic Empire' genre. This first book is a collection of magazine serials and has a somewhat disjointed feel; however, this is a small price to pay for your introduction into this epic tale of an intergalatic society following one man's unique vision.; In the second book of The Foundation Series, the great social Plan is threatened by a single mutant man. Wonderful characters and a more cohesive plot-line make this a much more enjoyable read than the first. - HS
The Caves of Steel (The Robot Series, 1): The first of Asimov's robot novels introduces Plainclothesman Elijah Baley & R. Daneel Olivaw as they try to solve a murder mystery amongst the teeming hoards of an overpopulated Earth.
The Naked Sun (The Robot Series, 2): In the second of the robot novels, Baley & Olivaw travel to the planet Solaria to solve another murder with interstellar implications. - DH
I, Robot (The Robot Series, 3)

Steve Aylett

Shamanspace: Opposing groups of occult assassins compete to exterminate God. In a multidimensional war, young gun Alix travels through sidespace to confront evil-though he risks destroying the universe. When he becomes the victim of a complex conspiracy between his closest allies and the enemy, his resolve is tested. This alchemical conspiracy adventure tackles fundamental questions about the nature of good and evil and the relationship between humans and god.; Read a review in Strange Horizons

Kage Baker

Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers: A collection of short stories about The Company. - SP; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
The Graveyard Game: Dr. Zeus, a time-travel corporation, created cyborgs to selectively preserve artifacts from the past for the edification of the 24th century, when the Company exists. But as the centuries go by for the agents, they hear strange rumors of a "silence" in the year 2355. Ominously, cyborgs who try to investigate disappear forever, hidden away or shut down by Dr. Zeus.
In the Garden of Iden (A Novel of the Company, 1): In 16th-century Spain, everybody expects the Spanish Inquisition, as they have a well-known tendency to cart people off to their dungeons on trumped-up charges. What 5-year-old Mendoza, on the brink of being tortured as a Jew, is totally unprepared for is to be rescued by the Company--the ultimate bureaucracy of the 24th century--and made immortal. In return, all she has to do is travel through time on a series of assignments for the Company and collect endangered botanical specimens.
Sky Coyote (A Novel of the Company, 2)
Mendoza in Hollywood (A Novel of the Company)

Iain M. Banks

Look to Windward: Set in Banks's far-future interstellar civilization known as the Culture, this highly literate novel from this celebrated British SF author (Inversions) centers on an act of revenge.; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

John Barnes

The Duke of Uranium: Good-looking, athletic Jak Jinnaka, 18, has survived compulsory education with the help of his pretty girlfriend, Sesh, and a generous allowance from Uncle Sib. After Sesh is kidnapped, Uncle Sib explains a few things. Sesh is really the princess of the powerful distant planet Greenworld. Sib is a senior agent of a political cabal, or zybot, planning to rescue and then, possibly, exploit her. Promising Jak will meet no harm, Sib invites him to be an emissary to Sesh's captors. On the long trip to the Duchy of Uranium, Jak befriends a few members of a trading starship's crew, survives his shuttle being shot out of the sky, befriends the duchy's imprisoned heir, and discovers additional details of Sib's career that make joining Sib's particular political group something he should consider very, very carefully.; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Steven Barnes
Read his { interview } in Strange Horizons.

Charisma: An experiment to transplant positive personality characteristics into thousands of inner-city children goes horribly wrong. - JH
Iron Shadows
Lion's Blood: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America

Peter S. Beagle

The Last Unicorn (illus. by Mel Grant): Beagle's masterpiece is the story of the last unicorn in the world, who sets out in search of her missing kindred. This is not a fluffy unicorns-and-hearts-and-flowers story; it's rich and wise and moving and sad and very funny (though it's not comedic fantasy a la Pratchett). Its characters are occasionally somewhat aware that they're in a story; none of the conventions of High Fantasy are taken entirely seriously, but none are completely ridiculed. New-minted folksongs, a bumbling magician, a middle-aged Maid Marian wannabe, anachronisms, a heroic prince, an evil king, and magic both real and illusory blend in a heady melange; it's spellbinding from start to finish. By the way, the book is very different from the animated movie based on it. - JH

James BeauSeigneur
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The Christ Clone Trilogy: Newspaper editor Decker wangles his way onto a scientific expedition that examines the Shroud of Turin, believed by many to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. When body cells stuck to the shroud are found to be "alive," they are cloned, and the resulting baby, Christopher, changes the course of history. - BO

Elaine Bergstrom
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Shattered Glass: One of a new breed of vampires who do not need to hunt blood unless they want to, Stephen Austra makes his living restoring the stained glass in cathedrals, but his existence and his relationship with his lover are threatened by a series of vicious murders. - BO

Steve Berman

Trysts : A Triskaidecollection of Queer and Weird Stories: Cut and paste a voodoo doll made of magazine clippings; watch as a Ouija board spells out your deepest secret; mourn the loss of your boyfriend while awaiting his ghost; listen to the ancient whisperings of a threadbare flapper dress; gamble for more than money on a Southern riverboat; renounce your citizenship to walk through a restricted area, rife with magic. Experience passion and loss, all within the pages of this triskaidecollection; thirteen stories where the supernatural is as likely to doom as to save those that are drawn to its power. - SB; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Kate Bernheimer

The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold: The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold is a lavishly poetic novel that recounts through folklore and fairy stories the visionary obsessions of a passionate young woman. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Beth Bernobich
Read her { story (Part 1) } in Strange Horizons.

Beyond the Last Star (ed. by Sherwood Smith): The Premise of Beyond the Last Star is just that--our universe is gone, something else has replaced it. The "what" is left to the imagination of the editor and the twenty-five authors. Most of the stories involve non-human protagonists in some finely crafted stories, and some of them even contain fairly outstanding writing, to boot. Includes story by Beth Bernobich. - BO

Michael Blumlein
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The Brains of Rats: In these twelve stories we enter the darkest corridors of America's hospitals. Meet a scientist who discovers how to predetermine and alter the sex of a pregnant woman's fetus, and proceeds to contemplate his own gender...and a surgeon whose primary practice is removing organs and limbs from unwilling patients to redistribute them to unfortunate victims in impoverished countries. Filled with dark surprises, these splendid tales invite us to glimpse the world of high-tech medicine from a disturbing new angle.

Bruce Boston

After Magic: Fantasy novella, set in Victorian England, about a medium and a magician. - BO
Dark Tales & Light: Ten dark and darkly humorous stories, sf and fantasy, all previously uncollected, reprinted from the pages of Science Fiction Age, Realms of Fantasy, Talebones, and other leading genre publications. Includes honorable mentions from Year's Best Science Fiction and Year's Best Fantasy and Horror - BO
Quanta: Award-Winning Poems: Boston's Quanta is a collection of his award-winning poetry. Again, with emphasis: this entire collection is composed of award-winning poems. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
Stained Glass Rain: This self-styled ``novel of the sixties'' traces the fortunes of a quartet of bohemians as they take fledgling steps into the new psychedelic counterculture. David Jacobi, in his early 20s, fancies himself the new Kerouac but lacks the requisite imagination. Even in his alternate incarnation as an apolitical LSD dealer he is merely a dilettante. His friend Michael Shawtry is an ascetic poet who rejects his family's wealth to follow a mixed-up philosophy created by his own isolation. The third member is Christine Leslie, 10 years older than the others, also a poet from a wealthy family. Jacobi has been intrigued by her since discovering they both used the same metaphor, "stained glass rain," in their poetry, and soon after meeting, the two become lovers. Rounding out the group is Mulligan, who travels from Berkeley to spend a few weeks in New York with his pal Jacobi and to play Cassady to his Kerouac. - BO

Ben Bova
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Jupiter: In the time of Jupiter, the world has changed. Earth society is dominated by a selection of religious theocracies spread across the globe. The most prevalent group is the New Morality, a Christian fundamentalist movement, that shares power with similar Muslim and Buddhist movements. Citizens are conscripted to surrender a few years of their lives in Service to the New Morality, and scientists are viewed with deep suspicion -- especially those whose sciences may challenge or contradict Scripture. Evolution becomes a dirty word.; Enter our reluctant hero, Grant Archer, who is conscripted to serve on Gold Station orbiting Jupiter to spy on the station. Religion and science conflict, for Archer is a Believer and a scientist, studying the nature of black holes. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
Venus: Ben Bova picked his villains well for this fast-paced, popcorn-and-Milk- Duds matinee: Topping the playbill is our sister planet, Venus itself, which Bova matter-of-factly describes as "the most hellish place in the solar system." Sci-fi authors (Bova included) have all but colonized Mars by now, but few have boldly gone to the aluminum-melting, sulfuric-acid-soaked surface of the Morning Star. Venus proves a mighty, unthinking antagonist indeed--frustrating the efforts of sickly but likable rich kid Van Humphries to land there and recover the remains of his older brother Alex, who died two years earlier on another ill-fated mission. - BO

Ray Bradbury
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Fahrenheit 451: In Bradbury's classic, the future is a scary place. Rather than putting out fires, the primary task of firemen is to start them -- in order to burn books. In this place, trivial information is good, but knowledge and facts are detrimental to such a "happY" society, so books become contraband. When fireman Guy Montag becomes aware of the nature of his dysfunctional life, with his wife engrossed in her "TV family" and his lack of satisfaction with life, he finds his much needed escape in the world of books and must fight with those he once served. - BO
The Halloween Tree: In this story, a group of eight boys are whisked away by a spirit on Halloween night not only to discover where their favorite holiday came from, but also to explore the concept of death by trying to save the life of a favorite member of their group. - HS

Marion Zimmer Bradley
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The Mists of Avalon
The Forest House
Lady of Avalon
Priestess of Avalon (with Diana L. Paxson): This famous retelling of the Arthurian legend takes the point of view of the women in the tale, and proceeds to turn many parts of the story upside down. Forget what you thought you knew about Morgan le Fay; you'll see her in a whole new light in this novel. Set against the backdrop of the Roman withdrawal from the British Isles and the conquest of Christianity over the Celts' pagan religion, Bradley returns the legend to its tragic roots while simultaneously providing a new perspective on the religious conflicts, politics, and power struggles that underlie the familiar story. Follow-up books include The Forest House, Lady of Avalon, and Priestess of Avalon. - CP
Thendara House: The cross-currents of two cultures, one male-dominated, one egalitarian, combined with the human problems of two who switched allegiances, brings into focus all the deepest questions of love and marriage, justice and injustice. Thendara House is a novel of speculation which has become a classic masterwork on the role of women on any world, past, present, or future.

Kenneth Brady
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One Evening a Year (ed. by Daniel Conan Young): Twenty-two tantalizing holiday tales from those Wordos in Eugene, Oregon.

Gary A Braunbeck
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This Flesh Unknown: What happens when we dream of our spouse as he or she once was? Does a door in the universe open, letting these secret fantasies become all too real? Paul and Vanessa Howe are about to find out what happens when their erotic passions and fantasies go too far and take on a unique life of their own.

David Brin

Sundiver (The 1st Uplift Trilogy, 1)
Startide Rising (The 1st Uplift Trilogy, 2)
The Uplift War (The 1st Uplift Trilogy, 3)
Brightness Reef (The 2nd Uplift Trilogy, 1)
Infinity's Shore (The 2nd Uplift Trilogy, 2)
Heaven's Reach (The 2nd Uplift Trilogy, 3): Brin's space opera turns on the concept of Uplift: the giving of rational intelligence and language to non-sapient species through genetic engineering. In the richly imagined Uplift universe, humans have uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins. Together, the three races have sought the stars, only to find them populated by an immense, ancient, and deadly galactic civilization governed by a system of racial patronage based on uplift. The series really takes off in the second book, the award-winning Startide Rising, the second book in this loosely connected series. Streaker, the first spaceship piloted by a dolphin crew, has discovered a secret that could shake galactic civilization to its foundations. Pursued by hostile galactics, the crew of Streaker struggles to evade capture and return to Earth with their prize. Startide's complex characters, intricate plot, detailed world building and profound exploration of the nature of intelligence and language make it one of the great works of modern SF. The rest of the series extends, but does not quite match, Startide's brilliance. - CC

Dale Brown

Dale Brown's Dreamland: Razor's Edge

Stephen Brust

Jhereg (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 1)
Taltos (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 2)
Dragon (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 3)
Yendi (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 4)
Teckla (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 5)
Phoenix (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 6)
Athyra (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 7)
Orca (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 8)
Issola (The Vlad Taltos Novels, 9): Steven Brust's long running fantasy series is rich and internally consistent. If you enjoyed the Myth Series by Robert Aspirin, then you'll enjoy its darker counterpart, The Vlad Taltos Novels. Meet Vlad Taltos, criminal. He's an easterner in a Dragaerans Empire, and busy carving himself a place in the world. These stories abound with wit, without being silly, and grip you with their excitement. Be careful, or you'll find yourself devouring these books without pause. - PS; Read the review of Issola in Strange Horizons.
The Phoenix Guards (Khaavren Romances, 1)
Five Hundred Years After (Khaavren Romances, 2)
The Paths of the Dead (The Viscount of Adrilankha, 1; Khaavren Romances, 3): Set in the same world as Brust's Taltos novels, these three books are vastly different in style from Brust's other series, but they are at least as entertaining. Written in homage to the style of Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. these swash-buckling novels are set in the court of the Dragearan empire long before Vlad's time. Indeed, Brust's conceit is that these are historical romances written by a contemporary of Vlad, the historian Paarfi of Roundwood, whose dry authorial interventions add much enjoyment to the books. They tell the story of Khaavren of Castlerock and his three friends-Aerich, Pel, and Tazendra, who join the Palace Guard of the Phoenix Emperor, hoping to win renown and make their fortune. This premise may sound familiar to those who know The Three Musketeers. and it should. But Phoenix Guards is no mere rip-off of Dumas; it's an imaginative and loving reworking, or, if you will, translation, of Dumas' spirit into another world. Dazzling swordfights, drunken brawls, devious stratagems, all interlaced with tirelessly witty repartee: these novels have all that the fan of the swash-buckler would desire, and they will please any who take pleasure in the turning of an elegant phrase. - CC
To Reign in Hell: This volume is quite different from Brust's other writings, but just as engaging. Here, he synthesizes legends associated with the various names of God and the Devil in the Judaeo-Christian monotheistic tradition, and builds them into a fast-paced story of friendship and betrayal in the time before the world was made. Along the way, he provides some very perceptive comments on power, responsibility, and other ethical questions. - RMH

Lois McMaster Bujold

A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners

Octavia E. Butler
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Bloodchild: A collection of stories and novellas that cover a diverse arena of subjects. From what she calls her "pregnant male title story" to a sympathetic tale of incest to a bleak futuristic world of violence and nonverbal communication, Butler's imagination is strong--and so is her awareness of how to work real issues subtly into the text of her fiction. - BO
Clay's Ark: Asa Elias Doyle and her companions encounter an alien life form so destructive that they exile themselves to the desert to avoid contaminating others, but their compulsion to infect others is overwhelming and, in a desperate plea for help, kidnap a doctor and his two daughters. - BO
Kindred: How could anybody be a slave? The question is answered in Octavia Butler's gripping tale of the story of a twentieth century woman who is brought back in time by her slave-owning ancestor to save his life, even though she knows that by doing so her free-born black grandmother will become his slave. - BO
Mind of My Mind: A young ghetto telepath launches a psychic struggle against the four-thousand-year-old immortal who has been her father, lover, master, and creator to free her fellow telepaths. - BO
Parable of the Sower: In this first of two books set in California in the early 21st century, corruption and social upheaval make life a dangerous challenge and walled communities a must. One girl, Lauren Oleanna, finds her own truths in the midst of this madness and begins an adventurous journey. A real pageturner. - HS
Parable of the Talents: The second of the Parable series further follows Lauren's fight for her dream of the perfect community, "Earthseed". Brilliant occasional commentary by Lauren's daughter gives this book an outside perspective on the society Butler envisions. - HS
Patternmaster: A telepathic race is ruled by the strong mind of the Patternmaster, but his ruthless son craves the ultimate power of the position. Can he take the final step and murder the final obstacle in his way: his younger brother? - BO
Wild Seed: Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex--or design. He fears no one--until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu has also died many times. She can absorb bullets and make medicine with a kiss, give birth to tribes, nurture and heal, and savage anyone who threatens those she loves. She fears no one--until she meets Doro. From African jungles to the colonies of America, Doro and Anyanwu weave together a pattern of destiny that not even immortals can imagine. - BO
Dawn (The Xenogenesis Series, 1)
Adulthood Rites (The Xenogenesis Series, 2)
Imago (The Xenogenesis Series, 3): In a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation while the aliens begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet. When Lilith Iyapo is "awakened," she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the utterly terrifying aliens, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the aliens cannot help humanity without altering it forever. Bonded to the aliens in ways no human has ever known, Lilith tries to fight them even as her own species comes to fear and loathe her. A stunning story of invasion and alien contact by one of science fiction's finest writers. - BO

Brian Caldwell
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We All Fall Down: When you no longer need question the nature of the universe, does it follow you no longer need question the nature of your soul? The Christian Bible is true, the prophets were right, and Armageddon is now. Using this dramatic backdrop, Brian Caldwell explores the nature of hatred and forgiveness, divinity and damnation. Building to a shattering, inevitable climax, We All Fall Down employs biting realism in the story of one man's confrontation with the end of the world, God, and, most harrowingly, himself. - BO

Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game (The Ender Quartet, 1)
Speaker for the Dead (The Ender Quartet, 2)
Xenocide (The Ender Quartet, 3)
Children of the Mind (The Ender Quartet, 4): At the beginning of Ender's Game, we are introduced to Alexander "Ender" Wiggin, a boy of five or so who is chosen by the planetary authorities to be taken from his home and brought to Battle School, where he will learn zero-gravity fighting tactics and military leadership in service to humanity's attempt to survive in the face of attacks by an alien race known as the buggers.; Although he begins with a typical science fiction premise, Card infuses each book with confounding moral and ethical dilemmas, such as what happens when a war is fought by "remote control," the rights of non-sentient alien species, and the fine line between mental illness and spiritual gifts. There are no tidy answers in these books, either.; Ender's Game is by far the fastest-moving and most plot-driven of the four; some readers will find Xenocide and Children of the Mind somewhat bogged down in theoretical discussions. But Ender's Game stands alone, and Speaker For The Dead has a chilling, suspenseful momentum all its own. Card is at his best when writing about children, and extraordinary children figure prominently in all four books. If you like science fiction that makes you think hard about things, these books are a must read. - CP
The Memory of Earth (The Homecoming Saga, 1)
The Call of Earth (The Homecoming Saga, 2)
The Ships of Earth (The Homecoming Saga, 3)
Earthfall (The Homecoming Saga, 4)
Earthborn (The Homecoming Saga, 5): These five books tell the multi-generational saga of a small group of people who are chosen to leave their deliberately technologically limited world and travel through space back to Earth, which had been abandoned centuries ago after (presumably) a nuclear holocaust, in order to fix the computer that is charged with limiting their world's technology to ensure that no such holocaust happens again.; These books are deeply concerned with religion, faith, and family, and they display Card's trademark sensitivity in dealing with relationships within families. In addition, readers familiar with The Book Of Mormon will recognize the plot and characters as a retelling of key parts of that story. These books are in no way Mormon propaganda, though, and I certainly enjoyed them on their own merits, knowing nothing of the connection when I read them. - CP

Lewis Carroll
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass: The Mad Hatter, the Ugly Duchess, the Mock Turtle, the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat-characters each more eccentric than the last, and that could only have come from Lewis Carroll, the master of sublime nonsense. In these two brilliant burlesques he created two of the most famous and fantastic novels of all time that not only stirred our imagination but revolutionized literature. - BO

Johnathan Carroll

The Marriage of Sticks: Jonathan Carroll is a writer other writers envy. He's been described as a "cult favorite" whose works go out of print too quickly in the USA, despite his popularity in Europe and the admiration of reviewers. It may be because Carroll uses fantastic elements, but doesn't write genre fantasy; his books are often haunting, even frightening, but they're not horror novels. He puzzles you, surprises you, and always makes you think about how what he's saying might apply to your life. In The Marriage of Sticks, Miranda Romanac is a thirty-something dealer in rarities who loves her work and lifestyle, but feels unfulfilled.; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Jeanne Cavelos
Read her { interview } in Strange Horizons.

Casting Shadows (The Passing of the Techno-Mages, 1)
Summoning Light (The Passing of the Techno-Mages, 2)
Invoking Darkness (The Passing of the Techno-Mages, 3): The spectacular space epic of Babylon 5 continues, as the techno-mages face the growing threat of the Shadows. - BO

Michael Chabon

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Suzy McKee Charnas
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The Vampire Tapestry: Dr. Edward Lewis Weyland is an anthropologist, a professor and student of man. His interest in this field is, however, more than academic, for he is a vampire, not a spirit creature but a perfectly evolved predator: strong, swift, cunning, and aloof. However, when Weyland stalks a woman who proves a more adept hunter than himself, he winds up critically wounded and humbled, and obliged to make a journey toward the greatest threat he's faced yet: empathy for the very creatures he must feed on to survive. - BO

C.J. Cherryh
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Cuckoos Egg: The "alien" human. Haras, Thorn, a young man growing up in a world of people not his own, striving to become one of them, but remaining an outcast, feared and hated by those he seeks to know. Learning of his differences, his true origin, and his destiny, with his mentor, murderer, and only friend, Dunn, all while wrestling with the pain and emotion that comes with teenage years. - BO
Cyteen
The Faded Sun: They were the mri -- tall, secretive, bound by honor and the rigid dictates of their society. For aeons this golden-skinned, golden-eyed race had provided the universe mercenary soldiers of almost unimaginable ability. But now the mri have faced an enemy unlike any other -- an enemy whose only way of war is widespread destruction. These "humans" are mass fighters, creatures of the herb, and the mri have been slaughtered like animals. Now, in the aftermath of war, the mri face extinction. It will be up to three individuals to save whatever remains of this devastated race: a warrior -- one of the last survivors of his kind; a priestess of this honorable people; and a lone human--a man sworn to aid the enemy of his own kind. Can they retrace the galaxy-wide path of this nomadic race back through millennia to reclaim the ancient world which first gave them life? - BO
Forty Thousand in Gehenna: Genetic manipulation, murder, intrigue and politics are just part of the story of a young scientist in these substantial books. - BO
Rider at the Gate: Rider at the Gate is the first in a two-book series chronicling the existence of human colonists stranded on a planet whose only native life forms are linked by telepathy, sending sensory images to one another enhanced by powerful emotions. One of these species, the "nighthorse," befriends the humans, and together they form a bond of mutual protection--the nighthorses guard their riders against the planet's mind-clouding predators, while the humans provide them with food and shelter. Once matched, the two experience a companionship more profound than either has ever known before. - BO
The Paladin: Swordmaster Shoka bids farewell to court intrigue after the death of the old Emperor. Taizu, who is determined to become a swordwoman, seeks out Shoka and begs his help to exact revenge upon the evil tyrant Lord Ghita. Soon, Shoka and Taizu become the stuff of legends.
Serpent's Reach: Within the Constellation of the Serpent, out of bounds to all spacefarers, humans live among the insect-like aliens--and one of them, a woman named Paen, is bent on a revenge that will tear apart the truce between human and alien. - BO

George Tomkyns Chesney

The Battle of Dorking, and When William Came (with Saki): This volume contains two imaginary tales of a German invasion of England. The first, The Battle of Dorking, was written in 1871 by Sir George Tomkyns Chesny, and sparked great controversy when it was initially serialized anonymously in Blackwood's Magazine. It inflamed the English anxieties over the emergence of Germany as a great military power, and raised doubts about the preparedness of Britain for a possible war. In the story, German invaders conquer England because they are better trained, better equipped, and have a vast conscript army. In turn, the story is both a thinly-veiled call to action by Chesny, as well as a well-crafted work of fiction.; The second story in the volume, When William Came by Saki, is a bitter tale which imagines England under the rule of a German royalty now ensconced in Buckingham Palace.

Richard Chizmar

The Best of Cemetary Dance, Volume 1 (ed.)
The Best of Cemetary Dance, Volume 2 (ed.): A collection of horror stories from a man who was made a fan of horror by a reading of Stephen King's The Monkey in high school. The stories are collected from a quarterly magazine that was described as "dark suspense" and "dark-fiction" called Cemetary Dance. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

John Christopher

The White Mountains (The Tripods Trilogy, 1)
The City of Gold and Lead (The Tripods Trilogy, 2)
The Pool of Fire (The Tripods Trilogy, 3): This adventure series follows Will Parker, a boy living in a world enslaved by the Tripods, giant aliens. It is a rousing tale of humanity's fight for freedom, and all the better for being occasionally rather grim. Will is a very average boy as well, which is a nice change from all the remarkably bright/talented children who often inhabit sf/f novels. But I do have a major complaint with the series -- the girls are practically nonexistent. The one girl that Will meets has very little in the way of personality; she ends up encased in glass, a perfect little sleeping beauty for him to rescue. And in the white mountains, where the rebels plot to overthrow the aliens, there is not a single female -- or even the mention of one. This is very strictly a boys' tale, in a boys' world. Despite that, the series is worth reading. - MM

Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey: Another classic tale of mankind, space, and the ways that exploration changes our world and ourselves. - SP
Childhood's End: A classic tale of the last days of mankind, in Clarke's typically lucid style. - DH

Hal Clement

Heavy Planet: Read a review in Strange Horizons.

David Clement-Davies

Fire Bringer: Fire Bringer takes us to the world of red deer, set in the early days of Scotland, when Edinburgh was just being established. It's an epic tale, complete with heroes, scoundrels, friendship and love, and generally a pleasant and fast-moving read. - MM; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

John Clute

Appleseed

David Coe
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Children of Amarid (LonTobyn Chronicles, 1)
The Outlanders (LonTobyn Chronicles, 2)
Eagle-Sage (LonTobyn Chronicles, 3): A thousand years ago, Amarid and Theron founded a magical order whose new members become mages by acquiring bird familiars (necessary for the magic to work), staffs, and ceryll crystals, which focus and project the magic. Now, someone impersonating a mage is spreading death and destruction across Tobyn-Ser, so confidence in the real Children of Amarid collapses. - BO

Storm Constantine

Sea Dragon Heir (The Chronicles of Magravandias, 1)
The Crown of Silence (The Chronicles of Magravandias, 2)
The Way of Light (The Chronicles of Magravandias, 3): The ancient land of Caradore has been conquered by the Magravandian empire and its royal house of Palindrake bound by a potent oath to the invader. The Sea Dragon, Caradore's source of mystic power, has been driven from the world by the triumphant Fire Drake--or so everyone believes, until twins are born to the Palindrakes. Valraven and Pharinet, brother and sister, discover the Sea Dragon has only been hidden--and is dangerous not only to the conquerors but also to Caradore and the world. - BO; Read the review of The Crown of Silence.

Glen Cook

The Garrett Files: Imagine a major metropolis like New York or San Francisco, where diversity means different species, not different races. A modern fantasy detective, Garret, strives to survive in a world where Troll workmen brush shoulders with fairy school children and dwarven bankers, a city where magic is commonplace. The atmosphere is jaunty, as we take a humorous look over the shoulder of a hardboiled detective who has more to worry about than guns. - PS

Susan Cooper

The Dark is Rising: This highly acclaimed children's fantasy series draws on Celtic and Welsh legends and a few Arthurian elements into a rollicking adventure tale -- though not a simple one. In Cooper's world, the enemy is not always obvious, and being good is not always easy. Furthermore, the writing, though aimed at a young audience, does not talk down to them. Well-suited for children beginning to discover the complexities of the world (perhaps ages 10+) and for anyone who loves a well-told tale about quests, friendships, and good triumphing over evil. - RMH
Seaward: Susan Cooper is best known for her Newbury-award-winning series, The Dark is Rising, and rightly so. But many overlook this gem of a book, and I'd really encourage you to seek it out. Seaward is the story of Calliope and Westerly, two children who leave their world (separately) and meet as they both quest for different things. Both Cally and West have lost their parents, and they both have secrets of their own that will both help and hinder them as they travel through a strange land towards a distant sea. This is a lovely book, and reminds me in some ways of LeGuin's Very Far Away from Anywhere Else. - MM

Michael Crichton

Sphere: Sphere is Crichton at his best. He tells an engrossing tale, full of mystery, while managing to maintain a plausible illusion of scientific accuracy. Even those of us normally disappointed by the smallest inconsistencies will enjoy this work, which is extremely well crafted, and flows nicely to its incredible conclusion. - PS

John Crowley

Little, Big: This novel about various members of the Drinkwater family, who have certain unusual connections to the fairy world, sprawls across the period from the late 19th century through the early 21st. It's quirky and magical, Victorian and modern, rich and strange. It has the dreamy qualities of a fairy tale, but with a depth of imagination and characterization that no fairy tale can approach. And I've always been a sucker for books involving houses with odd angles and unusual numbers of sides. If you liked the story in the movie FairyTale, you'll probably like this book; there's no direct connection between the two, but they both draw on the true story of a British girl who claimed to have photographed fairies. - JH

Ellen Datlow

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 14th Edition (ed. with Terry Windling): A compendium of the best fantasy and horror stories of 2000.; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 15th Edition (ed. with Terry Windling): A compendium of the best fantasy and horror stories of 2001.

Pamela Dean
Read her { interview } in Strange Horizons.

Tam Lin (The Fairy Tale Series): This retelling of the Scottish legend of Tam Lin, a man captured by the Queen of Fairies and doomed to be sacrificed at the end of seven years, sets the story on the campus of a small liberal arts college in the early 1970s. It is a must read for anyone who went to college at such a school and loved it deeply. Dean captures the essence of the small, private, rural liberal arts college in a story with just a touch of the world of faerie. Our heroine Janet and her friends trade barbs and quotations from literature, eat horrible food in dining halls, and deal with obnoxious roommates and chemistry homework, and all the while the Faerie Queen and her minions live among them, occasionally breaking their cover in moments of true wonder and terror. - CP
The Secret Country
The Hidden Land
The Whim of the Dragon: What would happen if your fantasy world of daydreams and nightmares came true, and you suddenly found yourself surrounded by creatures of your imagination? Just one problem: even though the world is magical, there are some rules so you are still your normal self, and not the powerful magic-user or weapons expertyou had imagined even though everyone in this world expects you to know how. - BO

Samuel Delany
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Babel-17: The key concept driving this novel is Babel-17, which at the novel's outset appears to be an indecipherable code being used by the Invaders, enemies of humanity. In order to break this code, the military recruits Rydra Wong, a young poet and polyglot with unusual mental abilities. - DH
Dhalgren: A mysterious disaster has stricken the midwestern American city of Bellona, and its aftereffects are disturbing: a city block burns down and is intact a week later; clouds cover the sky for weeks, then part to reveal two moons; a week passes for one person when only a day passes for another. The catastrophe is confined to Bellona, and most of the inhabitants have fled. But others are drawn to the devastated city, among them the Kid, a white/American Indian man who can't remember his own name. The Kid is emblematic of those who live in the new Bellona, who are the young, the poor, the mad, the violent, the outcast--the marginalized. - BO

Charles de Lint

Moonheart: Set in contemporary Ottawa, this early de Lint novel is one of the landmarks of North American urban fantasy. It weaves together European and Native American myth through the lives of the residents of Tamson House, a sprawling Victorian structure with decidedly supernatural aspects. The residents of Tamson House discover its powers and their own as they are drawn into conflict with an ancient spiritual evil that turns out to be linked in surprising ways to the modern corporate world. Although the characters and the plotting are occasionally a bit thin, the vividness of imagination and style make this novel well worth reading. - CC

Bradley Denton

The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians (illus. by Doug Potter, intro by Howard Waldrop)
A Conflagration Artist (illus. by Doug Potter, intro by Steven Gould): Each volume is a selection of the best of Denton's short fiction-some fantasy, some science fiction, all excellent-plus two original stories written just for these books. - BO

Philip K. Dick
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: If you've seen Blade Runner, try to not to think about it too much; this novel has far more depth of both character and plot than the movie, not to mention actual electric sheep. Set in a post-apocalyptic, environmentally ravaged society, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is one of Dick's most powerful & consistent works. - DH
The Man in the High Castle: In Dick's alternative history, Germany and Japan have won the Second World War and divided America between them. On the West Coast, Americans are strait-jacketed by rigid Japanese protocols, while in the East, the insanity of the Third Reich holds sway. Meanwhile, in the mid-west a maverick author called Abendsen has written a book which dares to imagine Germany loosing the war. Dick's novel provides a well thought out alternative world, and finishes with a strange take on the nature of Abendsen's, and perhaps everyone's, fiction. - MS
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said: By the second chapter of this novel there's a major shift in reality. Hmm, must be a Philip K. Dick novel. What would it be like if you woke up and no one remembered who you were...? - DH

Gordon R. Dickson

In Iron Years: Contains the novella, "Things Which Are Caesar's". - SP

Paul di Filippo
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Fractal Paisleys: The 10 stories in Fractal Paisleys blend alternate history, hard SF, modern fantasy, noir-detective fiction, satire, and pop culture to varying degrees, creating what the author calls "trailer park science fiction," in which regular folks (middle-, working-, and nonworking-class) encounter great and terrible powers and technologies of human, alien, futuristic, and fantastic origin. - BO
Lost Pages: Di Filippo lets his imagination run wild, creating worlds in which Franz Kafka stalks the streets of nighttime Manhattan as a costumed avenger known as the Jackdaw, or in which Anne Frank, having been sent to live with relatives in America, becomes part of MGM's galaxy of stars. - BO
A Mouthful of Tongues: It's 2015 and armed National Guard patrols stalk the urban jungles of a North America dominated by a security-obsessed, corporate-governmental complex in this apparently sincere effort to prove that the phrase "erotic SF" is not an oxymoron. - BO
Ribofunk: Thirteen tales, 1989-95, including two previously unpublished, from the author of The Steampunk Trilogy. The stories share an impressive, carefully constructed common setting of some 70 years hence. Gene ``splices'' or human/animal hybrids are routinely produced to act as servants or to do difficult, unpleasant, or entertaining jobs. Body modifications to any specification are available. ``Tropes,'' or designer drugs, provide any desired effect from social pleasure to enhanced learning capabilities. North America is run by Canada.
Strange Trades: This splendid collection of 11 SF and fantasy stories, most of novelette length and loosely predicated on the theme of work, showcases some excellent writing from the underrated Di Filippo. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
The Steampunk Trilogy: Queen Victoria as a trollop-in-training whose newt-human clone serves as stand-in during Victoria's trysts? Walt Whitman as lusty seducer of an only partly reticent Emily Dickinson who loses the "Keys to the Inner Chambers of her Heart" to him? This fine and funny madness is "steampunk," a branch of cyberpunk fiction that locates itself in historical venues rather than in the future. - BO
Mirrorshades (by Bruce Sterling): With their hard-edged, street-wise prose, they created frighteningly probable futures of high-tech societies and low-life hustlers. Fans and critics call their world cyberpunk. Here is the definitive "cyberpunk" short fiction collection. Includes story by Paul di Filippo.

Thomas M. Disch
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334: The stories in 334 revolve loosely around a government housing project at 334 East 11th Street in New York City in the 2020s. The project's inhabitants are universally poor, often jobless, sometimes squalid. Some are happy, others angry, depressed, or just numb. The stories study their hopes and disappointments, and all are deeply introspective. BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
Camp Concentration: The unlikely hero of this piece is Louis Sacchetti, an overweight poet who's serving a five-year prison term for being a "conchie," or conscientious objector, to the ongoing war being fought by the United States. Three months into his sentence, Sacchetti is mysteriously taken from prison and brought to Camp Archimedes, an underground compound run by General Humphrey Haast. This is the so-called "camp concentration" of the book's title, a strange oubliette where inmates are given a drug that will raise their intelligence to astounding levels, though it will also kill them in a matter of months. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Cory Doctorow

Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom: Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World. Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the care of a network of volunteer "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches. Now, though, it seems the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself. Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war: war for the soul of the Magic Kingdom, a war of ever-shifting reputations, technical wizardry, and entirely unpredictable outcomes.; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Stephen Donaldson

Mirror of Her Dreams
A Man Rides Through: Quiet social worker Terisa Morgan is startled in her apartment one night when a young man suddenly appears in one of her mirrors and through it into her living room. He asks her to return through the mirror with him to save the Kingdom of Mordant from destruction. In Mordant, mirrors do not show reflections of what is before them. Rather, they show images of other places or even other worlds. Those with the talent can step into the images or bring objects out of them into Mordant's world. This is the magic that has brought the young Imager Geraden to Terisa's apartment. Intrigued, Terisa steps through the mirror to find herself a pawn in the struggle to rule a kingdom faced with invasion and plagued by magical attacks from a hidden enemy. Unable to discern friends from foes, Terisa becomes entangled in a web of intrigue from which she can only escape by overcoming her sense of her own insignificance and discovering her own strength of mind. A certain amount of existential angst accompanies Terisa's struggle, but it is handled much more lightly and effectively than in Donaldson's rightly renowned Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. In Mordant, Donaldson has created a kingdom whose inhabitants have the love of life, beauty, and honor that one expects in high fantasy, but they lack the ponderous solemnity that often afflicts high fantasy heroes. In these magnificent books, the reader can recognize fairy-tale archetypes in the characters, but they are always fully and exuberantly human. - CC

L. Warren Douglas

The Sacred Pool: Raised as a boy for her own protection and to preserve her father's lands, the child known as Pierrette or Piers becomes the focus of a grand quest for knowledge. Pierrette's uniqueness results in a journey of discovery and self-awareness at a time when Christianity wars with older religions for prominence in Roman-occupied Europe. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Gardner Dozois

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection (ed.): This annual anthology remains the best one-stop shop for short fiction, and it's a must for fans of literary SF. The notion of intelligence links several stories. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Diane Duane

So You Want to Be a Wizard? (The Wizardry Series, 1)
Deep Wizardry (The Wizardry Series, 2)
High Wizardry (The Wizardry Series, 3)
A Wizard Abroad (The Wizardry Series, 4): I simply love these books. In the first book, we're introduced to Nita and Kit, two kids who are being bullied and beaten up, and find help in a library book. (I read this as a kid, and I faithfully checked my library shelves for copies of the magic book described here. No luck yet. Still checking.) The second book takes things further, as Nita is asked to make some very difficult choices. And the third book, featuring Nita's kid sister, Dairine, takes things about as far as you can take them. The fourth book brings us back to home, and to a battle in Ireland where pretty close to all hell breaks loose. Duane is a truly marvelous storyteller; these are the sort of books that you read over and over until the pages fall out. - MM

Tananarive Due
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The Between
The Living Blood
My Soul to Keep

Denise Dumars
Read her { poem } in Strange Horizons.

Pangaea: Nine short stories of strangeness. - BO

Andy Duncan
Read his { interview } in Strange Horizons.

Beluthahatchie and Other Stories: Duncan's collection of stories include such topics as an ethics-obsessed secret brotherhood of hangmen and a peripatetic electric-chair operator in "The Executioner's Guild", a certain notorious Paris theater brought to life with strange romance and artistic envy in "Grand Guignol", and "The Premature Burials" finds a gothic erotic charge in being buried alive. - BO

Greg Egan

Schild's Ladder: Humanity has transcended both death and Earth, and discovered its home world is nearly unique as a cradle of life. As it spreads throughout the galaxy, humanity enjoys an almost utopian existence--until a scientist accidentally creates an impenetrable, steadily expanding vacuum that devours star systems and threatens the entire universe with destruction.; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Harlan Ellison
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I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream: Ellison's classic short story collection - a must read in short fiction.

Carol Emshwiller
Read her { interview | related article } in Strange Horizons.

Carmen Dog: In a world where women turn into animals and back again, there can't help but be laughter. Pooch, a dog-girl, dreams of nothing more than playing the title role in the opera Carmen. In her journeys, she comes across many interesting characters, including a snake-woman and a vicious socialite who is gradually turning into a wolverine (how apt), and all while the world around them is being turned upside down. Emshwiller's playful writing was funny; perhaps mostly in the way that it poked fun at gender roles and modern-day society. - BO
Ledoyt: Deviating from her usual style of fantasy fiction, Emshwiller heads due west with a gripping story of a family's life in California at the beginning of the century, rife with love and torment. A rich and old-fashioned family story. - BO
Leaping Man Hill: Another strong, satisfying western from former fantasy-writer Emshwiller, and a sequel to Ledoyt: a headstrong young heroine succeeds in finding her niche in the ranch country of post-WWI California. - BO
Joy in Our Cause
Verging on the Pertinent
The Start of the End of it All: Three volumes of short stories by Carol Emshwiller all in her classic style of inventive fabulisms and feminist satires, many with a science-fictional spin to them. - BO

Sylvia Louise Engdahl

This Star Shall Abide
Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains
The Doors of the Universe: It's difficult to discuss these books without giving away spoilers; they have more than a few surprising twists and turns. They start with a young man, Noren, who lives in a village and believes that a terrible injustice is being done -- that the people of his world were being deceived and exploted by the mysterious Scholars, who limit the use of machinery and the knowledge given to the people. He risks his life in a search for the truth behind the secrets of the Scholars, and what he finds in his quest is startling. What I loved about these books (and Engdahl's others) is that she pulls no punches -- her characters must struggle with genuinely difficult questions, though they are often quite young, and at times have to make exceedingly painful choices. - MM

Garth Ennis
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Preacher Series: The main character, Jesse, the "preacher" of the title, finds that he shares his body with a being named Genesis, the child of a liaison between an angel and a demon. Upon the birth of Genesis, God leaves his post in Heaven and hides on Earth. Jesse and Genesis decide to hunt down God and make him answer for the evils of Creation. (The devil has been destroyed earlier by the Saint of Killers, a gunslinger who has become the Angel of Death). Along the way, they beat up angels and human apocalyptic conspirators. Jesse himself is no saint, but he embodies the cowboy virtues. - BO

Kelley Eskridge

Solitaire: Ren Segura, Jackal to her friends, is the Hope of Ko Island, the world's only corporate nation state. Born at the right time, she is part of an elite group that will inherit powerful positions representing their nations in EarthGov. She has been groomed for the moment of her ascension her entire life--it is her birthright and her destiny. But a deadly secret makes her an inconvenient liability to her corporate masters and, in Solitaire, destinies are not always in the cards. Caught between corporate loyalty and self-doubt, Jackal finds herself cast away to an experimental, virtual solitary confinement program that will change her forever. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Walter Farley
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The Black Stallion: First published in 1941, Walter Farley's best-selling novel for young readers is the triumphant tale of a boy and a wild horse. From Alec Ramsay and the Black's first meeting on an ill-fated ship to their adventures on a desert island and their eventual rescue, this beloved story will hold the rapt attention of readers new and old. - BO

Nancy Farmer

The Eye, The Ear, and the Arm: Set in 2194, it's the story of the three children of the General who rules Zimbabwe. They've been neglected by their busy parents and overprotected by their stern father, who never lets them leave their heavily guarded compound, where robots serve their every need. The children, led by the oldest, Tendai, badly need an adventure -- and they want to get their Scout Explorer badge. So by slightly devious means, they manage to set out into the nearby city -- and are promptly kidnapped, just as their father feared. The story from that point on is a delightful mix of chase and adventure, as the children manage to rescue themselves, only to promptly fall into a worse trap, over and over again. Their parents are right behind, aided by three detectives, known as The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, who are thoroughly charming in their own right. - MM; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Matthew Farrell

Thunder Rift: In the late 21st century, an event happened known as "Thunder." On the night of the birth of main character Taria Spears, a massive electromagnetic pulse explodes into the space near Jupiter, creating a giant wormhole. This EMP disrupts sensitive electronics on Earth, sending it into a massive global depression. Thirty years later, the adult Taria is an anthropologist, having just barely survived the horrors of growing up. Now the Earth is renewed, and the true nature of the "Thunder Rift" is discovered, as a gateway. A gateway to serve as a bridge for humans to travel elsewhere in the galaxy...or a gateway left carelessly open to pave the way for an invading alien fleet. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Charles G. Finney

The Circus of Dr. Lao: Read the review in Strange Horizons.
Magician Out of Manchuria (with Richard Salvucci): Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Lynn Flewelling
Read her { interview } in Strange Horizons.

Luck in the Shadows (The Nightrunner Series, 1)
Stalking Darkness (The Nightrunner Series, 2)
Traitor's Moon (The Nightrunner Series, 3): THe Nightrunner Series stars Seregil and Alec, two of the most memorable rogues in current-day heroic fantasy. These swashbuckling misfits lead complicated lives, flitting between a decadent existence as gentlemen of leisure, on the one hand, and skilled professional thieves on the other. But even that is only a cover for their true calling, as spies in service to the wizard Nysander and the Skalan monarchy, undermining plots against Queen and country.

Michael Flynn

The Wreck of the River of Stars: Late in the 21st century, The River of Stars, an aging tramp freighter whose magnetic sails once plied the entire solar system, is reduced to trading in the Middle System past Jupiter.; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Jeffrey Ford

The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories: In World Fantasy Award-winner Ford's enchanting first story collection, proof abounds that a fresh perspective or inventive approach can give the most familiar themes fresh life and startling clarity. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

John M. Ford
Read his { interview } in Strange Horizons.

Casting Fortune: Short story collection containing stories by John M. Ford. - BO
Dragon Waiting: Masque of History: The novel is set in an alternate history Europe, where either Constantine never converted to Christianity or Julian established the equality of all faiths, and the Byzantine Empire never declined, but in fact by the middle of the XVth century controls most of Eastern Europe and is trying to get as much of the West as possible. And magic works, and vampires exist also. I don't usually like alternate history, the real historical characters usually look unlikely next to the alternate bits, but this novel handled it perfectly, and the real historical characters of the XVth century (Richard III of England, his mother, and brothers, the Earl Rivers, Louis XI of France, the Medici, the Duke of Urbino) are a joy to read about if you have met them before. - BO
Growing Up Weightless: It's not that Matt Ronay, the protagonist of this novel, is weightless; it's just that he lives on the Moon, and he has the ability to flow gracefully through the low gravity. There's a figurative weightless to the story as well, that of Ronay's life and decisions he faces growing up as an adolescent in lunar society. Ronay, a brilliant youth, takes a trip to distant city, acts in theater and dreams of flight to far-off worlds. His father, a leader in lunar politics, doesn't always understand, though he may have had some of the same yearnings as his son. This imaginative novel won the 1994 Philip K. Dick Award. - BO
The Last Hot Time: The Last Hot Time is character-centered. It tells the story of Danny Holman, who comes from the Iowa farm-country to the city, where magic and science mingle. The reader isn't sure what drives Danny, and he's not sure either. He finds himself brought into the entourage of a Mr. Patrise, who owns a club, and who has mysterious sources of wealth and power. How much of his business is illegal, how much of his business is magical, no one knows for sure. Trained as a paramedic, Danny enters Patrise's service as a doctor, and receives his alias (few in Patrise's service go by their given names) -- Doc Hallownight. One might say that the book is about the transformation of Danny Holman into Doc Hallow. One might also say that the book is a love-story for the city of Chicago. But neither would be quite accurate. Since the reader knows no more than Danny does, and he begins the story not knowing his city, his employer, or himself, it's only retrospectively that the reader will begin to understand the plot of The Last Hot Time. - CC; Read a review of this book in Strange Horizons.
From the End of the Twentieth Century (with Neil Gaiman, ed. by Paul J. Giguere): Short story collection containing stories by John M. Ford. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
Gurps Time Travel: Adventures Across Time and Dimension (with Steve Jackson, Dan Frazier): Role-play guide - BO

Gregory Frost
Read an { interview } in Strange Horizons.

Fitcher's Brides: A retold Bluebeard tale, 1843 is the "last year of the world," according to Elias Fitcher, a charismatic preacher in the Finger Lakes district of New York State. He's established a utopian community on an estate outside the town of Jekyll's Glen, where the faithful wait, work, and pray for the world to end.
Lyrec
The Pure Cold Light
Tain (The Tain Bo Cuailnge series, 1)
Remscela(The Tain Bo Cuailnge series, 2)

Kim Fryer
Read her { story } in Strange Horizons.

Sword & Sorceress XVII (ed. by Marion Zimmer Bradley): Contains story "Price of the Sword" by Kim Fryer

Neil Gaiman

American Gods: All whimsy aside, American Gods should by rights attract attention across a vast spectrum of readers: during the past dozen or so years, Gaiman has enjoyed a career of stunning diversity, and this book feels almost self-consciously summational, a novelistic milestone set with pardonable pride and no little fanfare along the literary freeway of one of our most promising young fantasists. - BH; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
Coraline: Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers and the mustachioed old man under the roof Coraline contents herself for weeks with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.
The Day I Swapped My Dad for 2 Goldfish (illus. by Dave McKean): What would be good enough to trade for two goldfish? What about your dad? (Seems like someone's getting a raw deal) Too bad Mom isn't too happy about that. Now the children go on a long (comically hilarious) journey from house to house trying to find their wayward father or face their mother's wrath. - BO
Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett): One of the funniest books ever written in any genre, Good Omens is Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's tongue-in-cheek take on Armageddon. Satan's servants have misplaced the Antichrist, but that won't stop the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse (War, Famine, Pollution and Death -- Pestilence retired in 1924 muttering about penicillin) from raising Hell. Fortunately for mankind, the main representatives of Heaven and Hell on earth, the angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley, have decided they like things the way they are, and made a secret pact to preserve the status quo. Unfortunately, neither of them is exactly what you'd call competent. - AH
Neverwhere: Neverwhere's protagonist, Richard Mayhew, learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. He ceases to exist in the ordinary world of London Above, and joins a quest through the dark and dangerous London Below, a shadow city of lost and forgotten people, places, and times. His companions are Door, who is trying to find out who hired the assassins who murdered her family and why; the Marquis of Carabas, a trickster who trades services for very big favors; and Hunter, a mysterious lady who guards bodies and hunts only the biggest game. London Below is a wonderfully realized shadow world, and the story plunges through it like an express passing local stations, with plenty of action and a satisfying conclusion. - BO
Preludes and Nocturnes (Sandman, 1) (with Michael Dringenberg, ed. by Sam Keith)
The Doll's House (Sandman, 2) (illus. by Malcolm, III Jones, ed. by K. C. Carlson)
Dream Country (Sandman, 3) (with Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Malcolm Jones III, illus. by Colleen Doran)
Season of Mists (Sandman, 4) (with Kelley Jones, Vince Locke)
A Game of You (Sandman, 5) (with Dave McKean, ed. by Bob Kahan, intro by Samuel R. Delany)
Fables and Reflections (Sandman, 6) (illus. by Dave McKean)
Brief Lives (Sandman, 7) (with Jill Thompson)
Worlds' End (Sandman, 8) (illus. by Dave McKean)
The Kindly Ones (Sandman, 9)
The Wake (Sandman, 10) (with Charles Vess, Dave McKean, illus. by Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth): Many people describe the Sandman books as Gaiman's greatest work. Over the course of the series, Gaiman brings together a wealth of his interests, from Jewish mysticism to Shakespeare. The sheer scope makes it one of the most ambitious group of books ever written. Indeed, like the best of fantasy, the author creates an entire new world for us to explore and enjoy. - BO
Smoke and Mirrors : Short Fictions and Illusions: An anthology of classic Neil Gaiman stories: quirky, sometimes very funny, often dark and disturbing, many hard to find elsewhere. - BO
Stardust: Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. - BO
The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch: A Romance (ed. by Karen Berger, illus. by Dave McKean): In his grandfather's seaside arcade, a young boy encounters a mysterious Punch & Judy man with a dark past and a woman who makes her living playing a mermaid. As their stories unfold, the boy must confront family secrets, strange puppets and a nightmarish world of violence and betrayal. - BO

Shaenon K. Garrity

Narbonic: The first print collection of Shaenon K. Garrity's daily webcomic about mad scientists and gerbils and things. A handsome edition of a rather crudely-drawn strip.

Roberta Gellis

Thrice Bound: A must-have for any mythology fan. Gellis' books take traditional gods & goddesses and make them mortal, with special powers and abilities that make them seem like gods. Thrice Bound tells the story of Hekate and her escape from her father's cruelty. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

The Year the Cloud Fell: Here's a frozen moment from a different world. Cheyenne warriors, mounted on bipedal dinosaurs, race at speeds no horse can match to prevent the women and children of their camp from being massacred in a surprise attack by U.S. Army forces. They had left the camp undefended to journey to a parley with representatives of President George Armstrong Custer to discuss the return of his son, whom they hold hostage. Will they arrive in time? What will happen to relations between the Cheyenne and the United States as a result of this sneak attack? What will happen to relations between George Custer, Jr., and his captors, whom the younger Custer has gradually learned to respect? This is a turning point in the plot of Kurt R.A. Giambastiani's The Year the Cloud Fell: An Alternate History. - CC; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

William Gibson

Neuromancer: Case was the hottest computer cowboy cruising the information superhighway--jacking his consciousness into cyberspace, soaring through tactile lattices of data and logic, rustling encoded secrets for anyone with the money to buy his skills. Then he double-crossed the wrong people, who caught up with him in a big way--and burned the talent out of his brain, micron by micron. Banished from cyberspace, trapped in the meat of his physical body, Case courted death in the high-tech underworld. Until a shadowy conspiracy offered him a second chance--and a cure--for a price.
Pattern Recognition: Read the review in Strange Horizons.
Virtual Light: Gibson follows up the cyberpunk of the 80s with something new and inventive for the 90s - an SF adventure novel set in a wonderfully thought-out, near-future world. People living on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, bikes made of paper, and rent-a-cops driving tanks. Great eyeball kicks and memorable characters. - MJ
Idoru: Rez, the lead guitarist of a world famous pop group, announces his plan to marry a software agent -- a virtual reality idol-singer, or in Japanese, idoru. In doing so he panics his management and sets in motion a chain of events involving the Russian Mafia, a 'net-runner', Rez's Seattle-based fan club and a group of cyber-anarchists hiding out in a virtual walled city.; Set in a post-earthquake Tokyo that is at once both futuristic and familiar, Idoru moves between two parallel stories with the page-turning immediacy of a thriller. On the way, the book maps out a brand name-fixated world, where every transaction throws data onto a computer somewhere, to be retrieved by someone. - MS

Molly Gloss

Wild Life: Read the review in Strange Horizons.

William S. Goldman

The Princess Bride: A superb tale of True Love and high adventure -- and cough drops. Goldman claims throughout the book that this is an abridgement of a much longer and more boring work written by Florinese political satirist S. Morgenstern; that claim is patently untrue, but Goldman's side comments make the novel both deeper and funnier than the otherwise excellent film adaptation (for which Goldman wrote the script). This book contains some of the most tense moments in swashbuckler history, as well as some of the saddest and some of the funniest. Pirates, giants, poison, fire swamps, a six-fingered man, and the Zoo of Death -- what more could anyone want? For best results, read this to yourself first, and then read it aloud to others. - JH

Hiromi Goto

The Kappa Child: The tale of four Japanese Canadian sisters struggling to escape the bonds of a family and landscape as inhospitable as the sweltering prairie heat. - BO; Read the review in Strange Horizons.

Richard Grant

Rumors of Spring: An extended ecological fable set in the far future, when the world's last forest begins unaccountably to grow beyond its borders. At which point the First Biotic Crusade, or some approximation thereof, sets off from the Hoar's Bed Inn to investigate. A novel full of wonderfully absurd and likeable characters, with names I haven't seen the like of since Mervyn Peake: Trover Goodfellow, Vesica, Lady Widdershins, Groby, Commissioner Narthex, Lord Tattersall, Thrull... All this plus sungliders, heatguns, Quercus Robinia, pookas, and perhaps a forest god. Funny, charming, and magical. - JH

Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Read his { interview } in Strange Horizons.

Neo Addix: Alex Gibson is an evidence chaser on the run in London. One of his eyes is a Zeiss eyecam containing enough data to blow open a messy murder trial. Unfortunately for him, two other people want this evidence. The only person who can help Alex is Johnnie T, the leader of the neoAddix.
Pashazade: Ashraf Bey is not who he seems--a rich Ottoman aristocrat to whom the Iskandryia of a rather different 21st century is more or less his oyster--nor is he simply what he thinks he is--a minor street criminal shipped off to North Africa when he fell foul of his employers. Accused yet again of murders he did not commit, he finds out on the run that he is better than he thinks he is--smarter and more capable and also someone whom people trust and love.
Effendi: The sequel to Pashazade, Ashraf Bey is a fugitive from the US justice system (definitely); son of the Emir of Tunis (possibly); and chief of detectives in the El Iskandryian police force (apparently). Small wonder that he's a little confused... Raf's ex-fiance Zara still doesn't want to see him, so she says. His nine-year-old niece is busy doing things with computers that are strictly illegal. And when the city suddenly starts to fall apart and Zara's father is accused of mass-murder, Raf begins to learn the true cost of loyalty. - SP

Eileen Gunn
Read a { related article } in Strange Horizons.