August book arrivals

Here are some August 2012 book arrivals.

The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer is massive, over 1100 pages, two columns of text per page. The stories are arranged chronologically, representing fiction across the past 100 years or so. It's a remarkable anthology. Michael Moorcock contributes a "Foreweird" and China Mieville an "Afterweird."

Sharps is the latest novel from K. J. Parker. Parker is the author of The Fencer Trilogy, The Engineer Trilogy, The Folding Knife, and The Hammer.

The Fox Woman (2000) was the first novel by Kij Johnson. It won the Crawford Award for best first fantasy novel. After reading her Nebula Award-winning novella, "The Man Who Bridged the Mist" (2011), I decided it was time to catch up with Johnson's novels.

Fudoki (2003) is the second novel by Kij Johnson. It was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award and the James Tiptree Award. Johnson has a new collection of short fiction due out this month, At the Mouth of the River of Bees.

Bullettime is the newest novel from Nick Mamatas. Mamatas is the author of Sensation, Under My Roof, and Move Under Ground.

Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing by Neal Stephenson is an odd mix of non-fiction and fiction, essays, interviews, and journalism. It should provide plenty for readers (like me) waiting for Stephenson's next huge novel. Norman Spinrad has a review of Some Remarks, available at Los Angeles Review of Books.

More July book arrivals

More July 2012 book arrivals, including what promises to be a major new novel from M. John Harrison and significant new single-author collections of short fiction from Kathleen Ann Goonan and Jonathan Carroll.

"No point is more central than this, that empty space is not empty. It is the seat of the most violent physics," John A. Wheeler, is the lead epigraph in the new novel, Empty Space: A Haunting by M. John Harrison. I expect it will be one of the important science fiction novels of 2012. This is the third in a loosely related series. The earlier books were the landmark novel Light (2002), winner of the James Tiptree Jr Award, and Nova Swing (2006), winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Harrison is one of the major literary talents in the science fiction genre, mostly unknown in the United States.

The Song of Synth and Absinth, two novels by Sebastien Doubinsky, presented back-to-back, each with its own cover, like the old Ace Double paperbacks. This is a high-quality hardback from PS Publishing. There are introductions for each novel: one by Lucius Shepard, one by Paul Witcover.

Black Wings II: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror edited by S. T. Joshi contains stories by John Shirley, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Nick Mamatas, and Brian Evenson, just to name a few.

Eat Jellied Eels and Think Distant Thoughts, or The Conspirocrats by Kris Saknussemm. Saknussemm is the author of Zanesville and Enigmatic Pilot.

The Lonely Hunter by John Grant. Grant won a non-fiction Hugo Award and a World Fantasy Award  as co-editor with John Clute of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997).

The Wurms of Blearmouth: A Tale of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach by Steven Erikson is the latest in a series of stories featuring two characters from his enormous Malazan Book of the Fallen series.

Angels and You Dogs by Kathleen Ann Goonan is the first collection of the author's short fiction. Goonan has created a significant body of excellent work, both in novels and short fiction. Her first novel, Queen City Jazz (1994), began her Nanotech Quartet. Her sixth novel, In War Times (2007), won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. It was followed by a sequel, This Shared Dream, which your humble blog correspondent thinks is one of the best SF novels of 2011.

I've been an admirer of Jonathan Carroll's short fiction since reading "Friend's Best Man" in the January 1987 issue of F&SF. It's a pleasure to receive this generous-sized collection of 38 of his stories, The Woman Who Married a Cloud: Collected Stories by Jonathan Carroll. His novels are worth your attention, too.

The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis is the second in his Milkweed series. The first book was Bitter Seeds (2010).

The new fiftieth anniversary edition of The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard, the author's second novel. This edition includes an introduction by Martin Amis.

More April book arrivals

More books arrived in the mail. Most of these are new. I'll mention the two reprints first. (Click to enlarge.)

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs features a reproduction of the original first edition (1917) cover artwork by  Frank E. Schoonover. Schoonover's interior illustrations are also reproduced in this Library of America edition. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold, is a hardback reprint from NESFA Press of a novel originally published in 1991. It went on to win the Hugo Award for best novel, presented in 1992.

Two novels marketed as Young Adult: The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi is the second in his series begun with Ship Breaker, which won the Michael L. Printz Award. Black Heart by Holly Black concludes her Curse Workers trilogy. Prior volumes in the series were White Cat and Red Glove.

Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal is the sequel to her first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey. The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin is the first in her new Dreamblood series.

Radiant Days by Elizabeth Hand follows prior book Illyria. The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett is a supernatural take on vaudeville.

Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders by Samuel R. Delany is an 800 page novel written between 2004 and 2011, surely his most massive novel since Dhalgren. Lost Everything by Brian Francis Slattery is a post-apocalytic story and it features a striking sepia cover.

Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore, set in fin de siècle Paris, features a cast of historical figures that includes Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. The cover is shown here with and without the discreet wrap.