RECENT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

Bonnie Kunzel, Youth Services Consultant, NJ State Library



Anderson, Kevin J.  Dogged Persistence.  SF  (Adult) 

The author of various Star Wars and X-Files novels as well as the co-author of the new Dune Prequel trilogy has produced his first short-story collection.

 

Anderson, M. T.  Feed.  SF  (Gr. 8+)  National Book Award Finalist 2002.

Titus and his friends all have ³feeds² or computer implants in their heads, which means they are connected 24/7 to a vast computer network and to each other.  In Titusıs world, to consume is to live.  A trip to the moon is just a lark, until Titus meets a girl there and must choose between true love and the feed.

 

Armstrong, Jennifer and Nancy Butcher.  The Kindling. Fire-Us Trilogy Book 1.  SF  (Gr. 7+)  Sequel:  Keepers of the Flame. Fire-Us Trilogy Book 2.   

The virus (fire-us) struck five years ago.  Now a group of children, the only survivors in their Florida town, are going to Washington DC to get the President to set things right.

 

Barker, Clive.  Abarat.  FAN  (Gr. 7+)

Abarat is a magical realm of twenty-five islands, each representing one hour of the day.  Thatıs where Candy Quackenbush of Chickentown, Minnesota, is suddenly transported.  And thatıs where she gets caught in a power struggle between two ruthless rivals. 

 

Barnes, John.  The Sky So Big and Black.  SF  (Adult)

Terpsichore ³Teri² Murray lives on Mars.  Sheıs an eco-prospector in training, looking for wealth in underground rivers and gas pockets.  But then a planetwide disaster and an attack by the collective intelligence that rules the Earth changes everything.

 

Bell, Hilari.  A Matter of Profit.  SF  (Gr. 6-10)  Also: Songs of Power

The inhabitants of the TıChen universe donıt seem to care that they have been conquered.  They just care about making a profit.  Now a young Vivitare warrior wants to know why (while he finds out who plans to assassinate the Emperor.)

 

Billingsley, Franny.  The Folk Keeper.  FAN  (Gr. 5-8) 

The folk live in the dark.  When they come out they can be dangerous.  Only folk keepers can control them, and only boys can be folk keepers.  Except for Corinna, who cuts her hair, dresses as a boy, and controls them.  But now her life is in danger ­ from the folk.

Black, Holly.  Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
.  FAN  (Gr. 7+) 

Kaye never imagined that saving the life of the impossibly gorgeous Roiben would bring her to the attention of the Unseelie Faerie Court -- as the intended sacrifice for the tithe.

Bradley, Marion Zimmer and Deborah J. Ross.  The Fall of Neskaya. Book One of The
Clingfire Trilogy.  SF  (Adult) 

Bradleyıs last Darkover novel before her death is the first of a trilogy.   Hopefully her co-author will complete these adventures set on a medieval world where mental abilities are more powerful than advanced weapons and spaceships.   

 

Bujold, Lois McMaster.  Diplomatic Immunity. (Miles Vorkosigan Series) SF  (Adult) Prequels:  Shards of HonorBarrayarThe Warriorıs ApprenticeThe Vor GameMirror DanceCetagandaKomarrA Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners

In his latest adventure Miles is on honeymoon, so of course he winds up in the middle of a potential war!

 

Burgess, Melvin.  Bloodtide.  SF  (Adult)

Romeo and Juliet, the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Volsons and the Conors.  What do they all have in common?  Vengeance, revenge, murder, misunderstanding and tragedy in this powerful retelling of the Icelandic Volsunga Saga, set against the backdrop of a near-future apocalyptic London, laid waste by gang warfare.

 

Cadnum, Michael.  Forbidden Forest: The Story of Little John and Robin Hood.  FAN  (Gr. 7+)  Companion Novel:  In a Dark Wood.

The author returns to Sherwood Forest, this time with the story of how Little John met Robin Hood and joined his infamous band of thieves.

 

Card, Orson Scott.  Shadow Puppets.  (Ender series)  SF  (Adult) Sequel to:  Ender's ShadowShadow of the Hegemon.  Companion Novel: Ender's Game

Bean is back, still fighting the serial killer Achilles.  He helped Ender in Enderıs Shadow, Enderıs brother the political leader known as the Hegemon in Shadow of the Hegemon.  Now itıs time to help himself (and save the world ­ again)!

 

Chabon, Michael.  Summerland.  FAN  (Gr. 5+)

Summerland is a link to alternate worlds inhabited by fantastical creatures under the rule of the trickster Coyote, who wants to destroy our world.  Enter Ethan Field (11), who finds himself playing baseball for the fate of the world.

 

Chambers, Stephen.  Hope's End. SF  (Adult)  Sequel: Hope's War

On the planet Hera, where the city-state of Hope is dominated by the Church, sixteen-year-old street thief and con man Vel is the target of pursuit by the secret police and involved in the mystery of the missing heir to the throne.

 

Cherryh, C. J.  Hammerfall.  SF  (Adult)  (Gene Wars Vol 1)

This is the first in a new series by an author who specializes in first-contact and the relationship between humans and aliens.  Set in a future where nanotechnology is a reality, a planetıs survival depends on one manıs visions. 

 

Clement-Davies, David.  The Sight.  FAN  (Gr. 6+)  Other: Fire-Bringer

In the tradition of Watership Down, we have the deer of Herla fighting an evil outsider in Fire-Bringer and the wolves or Varg facing a similar battle in The Sight.

 

Clements, Andrew.  Things Not Seen.  FAN  (Gr. 7-10)

What would happen if you woke up one morning and you were invisible?  Thatıs what happened to fifteen-year-old Bobby Phillips.  To make matters worse, his parents donıt want anyone to find out.  Which should be easy if youıre invisible?  Right? 

 

Colfer, Eoin.  Artemis Fowl.  FAN  (Gr. 6-8)  Sequel:  Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident.  
The dastardly deeds of a 12-year-old genius who is a criminal mastermind, a villainous villain, and a young boy who loves his ailing mother and needs a hoard of fairy gold to heal her.


Coville, Bruce.  Half-Human
.  FAN   (Gr. 6+)

An eclectic collection of short stories by renowned YA authors about young teens, usually on the cusp of puberty, who soon realize they are becoming...something else.

De Lint, Charles.  Waifs and Strays
.  FAN  (Adult)

Charles de Lint is a thirteen-time finalist for the World Fantasy Award.  Eight of his books were chosen for the reader-selected Modern Library Top 100 Books of the Twentieth Century.  Here he has produced a collection of stories about teenagers that will appeal to teen and adult readers alike.

 

Douglass, Sara.  The Wayfarer Redemption.  The Axis Trilogy.  Book 1. FAN  (Adult)  Sequels:  Enchanter. (Book 2)  Starman.  (Book 3) 

Australia's most popular fantasist creates a world where mankind reveres the plough and the axe and fears the forest.  It is a story of the human struggle to put aside an age-old enmity for two other races and join them in battle against a deadly invasion.

 

Farmer, Nancy.  The House of the Scorpion.  SF  (Gr. 6-10)  National Book Award Winner 2002.  Newbery Honor 2003.  Printz Honor 2003.

Matt (12) is a clone, but he doesnıt know it.  El Patron, patriarch of the House of the Scorpion, does.  Heıs giving Matt a normal life while he waits for clone #8, this young boy who is him, to get old enough so that El Patron can harvest his organs and live to be 150.

 

Fforde, Jasper.  The Eyre Affair.  SF  (Adult) 

Using a prose portal device, literary detective Thursday Next enters the Bronte novel Jane Eyre in an attempt to rescue its kidnapped heroine from a serial killer in this inventive comic fantasy.

 

Gaiman, Neil.  Coraline.  FAN  (Gr. 5-8)

Like Alice through the Looking Glass, young Coraline wanders down a dark corridor and meets the Other Mother and the Other Father, with their black button eyes.  They want her to stay with them, and they already have the black buttons to replace her eyes.

Goonan, Kathleen Ann.  Light Music
.  SF  (Adult)  Nanotech Cycle:  Queen City Jazz, Mississippi Blues, Crescent City Rhapsody, Light Music.

In this exuberant conclusion to Goonan's Nanontech Quartet, the microscopic machines of the 22nd century have gone beyond creating sentient cities and controlling all communications on Earth to evolving themselves.

 

Gray, Luli.  Falcon and the Charles Street Witch.  FAN  (Gr. 5-9) Prequel:  Falcon's Egg

On her way back to New York from Australia, Falcon (12) goes after her brother Toody when he falls out of the airplane, carried safely to the ground by dragonsbreath belonging to her long-lost dragon pal, Egg

Hamilton, Laurell K.  A Caress of Twilight. (Meredith Gentry series) FAN  (Adult)  Prequel: A Kiss of Shadows.

This sexy new series by the author of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series features Meredith Gentry or Princess Meredith, the only real-life Faerie princess ever born on American soil.  Disguised as Merry, a human with fey ancestry, she works for the Grey Detective Agency, which specializes in supernatural problems and magical solutions.  If she wants to be the new ruler of the Faerie Court, she needs to get pregnant right away.  Fortunately she has a cadre of handsome bodyguards close by.

Herbert, Brian and Kevin J. Anderson.  Dune: House Corinno.  SF (Adult)  Prequels:  Dune: House Atreides.  Dune: House Harkonnen. 

This trilogy sets the stage for the struggle in Dune that takes place on the desert planet of Arakis when Paul Atreides claims his birthright as the Muıad Dib, the Messiah foretold by the Bene Gesserit witches.

 

Hobb, Robin.  Fool's Errand.  (The Tawny Man, Book 1)  FAN  (Adult) Sequel to The Farseer Trilogy:  Assassin's Apprentice.  Royal Assassin. Assassin's Quest.  

The author returns to the world of her acclaimed Farseer Trilogy.  Fifteen years have passed for the assassin FitzChivalry Farseer, years of peace and contentment with his wolf bondmate and his foster son.  But the Tawny Man ends Fitzıs retirement, calling him back to court to help find the Queenıs missing son.

 

Hoyt, Sarah.  Ill Met by Moonlight.  FAN  (Adult)

Debut novel in which Will Shakespeareıs wife and baby are stolen by fairies.  To get them back, he has to help the Dark Lady in a plot to kill the fairy king.

 

Jeapes, Ben.  The Xenocide Mission.  SF  (Gr. 6-9)

The authorıs first young adult novel published in this country is an excellent example of action-adventure science fiction, featuring a spy mission on a planet of Xenocides that goes wrong when Commonwealth forces are attacked and an ultimate weapon of destruction falls into the wrong hands.

 

Jones, Diana Wynne.  Year of the Griffin.  FAN  (Gr. 7+)  Prequel:  Dark Lord of Derkholm
Eight years have passed since Wizard Derk saved his world from the devastating visits of Mr. Chesneyıs tour groups.  Now Derkıs griffin daughter Elda, old enough to go to college, enrolls in the Wizardıs University without her fatherıs permission and makes friends who decide to teach themselves the theory of magic, with hilarious results.

 

Jordan, Sherryl.  The Hunting of the Last Dragon.  FAN  (Gr. 6-10)

Jude, whose village is destroyed by a dragon attack, finds himself becoming friends and unlikely allies with Jing-Wei, a young girl with bound feet who is the "freak" in a sideshow.  After rescuing her, they set off to hunt the dragon -- a quest that could kill them both.

 

Lackey, Mercedes.  Gates of Sleep.  FAN  (Adult)  Other Fairytale Retellings:  The Black Swan.  Firebird.  The Fire Rose.  The Serpentıs Shadow.

Sleeping Beauty retelling, set in Edwardian England and featuring Elemental Masters or Magicians who have power over Earth, Air, Fire and Water, in a struggle to save a young girlıs life.

 

Lackey, Mercedes, Eric Flint & Dave Freer. The Shadow of the Lion. FAN (Adult) 

A massive alternative history, set in new-Age Venice, that involves a struggle against magic and monsters, witch hunts and slavers, church inquisitors, assassins, and a Demonlord.  It culminates in a final battle for the fate of the city that wakens the great Winged Lion of Venice and brings him down from his pedestal.

Lee, Sharon and Steve Miller.  I Dare.  Liaden Unverse #7.  SF  (Adult)

This long-awaited culmination of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's internationally acclaimed Liaden Universe novels pits unexpected friends and unexpected enemies against each other in a war that spans planets and races and threatens to bring interstellar violence to the very surface of fabled Liad. 

McCaffrey, Anne.  The Skies of Pern
.  FAN  (Adult)  Prequels: DragonflightDragonquest.  The White Dragon.  Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern.  Nerilkaıs Story.  Dragonsdawn.  The Renegades of Pern.  All the Weyrs of Pern.  The Chronicles of Pern:First Fall. The Dolphins of Pern. Dragonseye. The MasterHarper of Pern. 

What will the Dragonriders do now that they have destroyed the Red Planet and the deadly thread will no longer fall from the sky?  Thatıs the dilemma facing  Weyrleaders Lessa and Fılar.  Until their son Fılesson, rider of the bronze dragon Golanth, explores the skies with a telescope and sees a meteor approaching.  At the same time his new love, Tia, rider of the green dragon Zoranth, discovers that her dragon can shove things out of the way ­ with just her mind.

 

McKinley, Robin and Peter Dickinson.  Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits.  FAN  (Gr. 6+) 

Sea serpents, mer-people, and creatures of watery legend populate these six short stories of love, courage, and enchantment, including one story set in McKinleyıs famous kingdom of Damar. 

 

Norton, Andre and Sasha Miller.  To the King a Daughter.  FAN  (Adult) Sequel: Knight or Knave

This is the world of Oak, Yew, Ash and Rowan, once all powerful but now in decline.  Oak and Yew are married, but the King of Oak is a drunken lout and the Queen of Yew is a power-hungry practitioner of the dark arts.  She sends soldiers to kill the kingıs latest indiscretion, a Lady of the House of Ash who is now pregnant.  They catch and kill her in the Bale Bog, but the baby, a lovely daughter, survives.

 

Norton, Andre and Mercedes Lackey.  Elvenborn(Halfblood Chronicles, Bk 3).  FAN  (Adult)  Prequels:  The Elvenbane.  Elvenblood. 

In a world of evil Elves who hold humans as slaves, shape-shifting dragons spread the legend of the Elvenbane, a half-human, half-elf child who will grow up to lead a successful revolt.  The Elves respond by killing every concubine that gets pregnant.  But they miss one.  And when Shana grows up, imagine the dragonsı surprise when the legend of the Elvenbane comes true.

 

Pierce, Tamora.  Lady Knight.  (Protector of the Small #4).  FAN  (Gr. 6-9)  Prequels:  First Test.  Page.  Squire. 
A Knight is a Protector of the Small, which is what Keladry of Mindelan, first girl candidate officially accepted into knight training, finally becomes after three earlier books and eight long years of incredibly hard work.

Shusterman, Neil.  A Shattered Sky. Star Shards Trilogy Book 3
.  SF  (Adult) Prequels:  The Scorpion Shards.  Star Shards Trilogy Book 1.  Thief of Souls.  Star Shards Trilogy Book 2. 
Can Dillon, who has the power to bring order out of chaos and regenerate and restore that which is dead or broken, bring all the Holocaust dead back to life?

Silverberg, Robert.  The Longest Way Home.  SF  (Adult)

Joseph Master Keilloran (15), who has lived a life of privilege, respect, and civility, is to be a Master when he comes of age.  Then on a trip an uprising leaves him stranded 10,000 miles from his home.  Surrounded by enemies who would kill him in a minute, he has a lot to learn about life and himself as he struggles to make it safely home.

Skurzynski, Gloria.  The Clones
.  SF  (Gr. 7+)   Prequel:  Virtual War.

A gripping sequel to Virtual War that could be ripped straight from the headlines -- in eighty years.... Corgan (15), hero of the early 21st-century's Virtual War, is visited by Sharla, his partner in war and the girl he loves.  She brings a baby boy, a clone of their third partner, for Corgan to raise in secret. She has cloned four replicas of the deceased strategist, instead of the one allowed by the ruling council.

 

Weaver, Will.  Memory Boy.  SF  (Gr. 8)

Miles is the memory boy of the title, so named because he always won the memory game when his family played it.  Heıs also a teenage Mr. Gadget, using his wits and his inventions to rescue his family from the pollution and violence in Minneapolis after the entire Cascade Range goes up in volcanic eruptions. 

Weber, David and John Ringo.  March Upcountry
.  SF  (Adult)  Sequels: March to the Sea.  March to the Stars

Prince Roger, the youngest child of the Empress of Man, is stranded on a planet far from any hope of rescue.  He and his bodyguards, an elite unit of the Empressı Own Regiment, face flesh-eating plants, vampire bats, primitive tribesmen, mammoth-sized behemoths, and greed, treachery and avarice, all of which hone Roger and company into fine-tuned steel.  In the process, this boy becomes a man. But the journey has just begun in this first in a trilogy.

 

Zettel, Sarah.  The Sorcererıs Treason: A Novel of Isavalta.  FAN (Adult)

This first in a trilogy features Bridget, the daughter of a lighthouse keeper on Sand Island, Wisconsin at the turn of the 20th century.  Bridget keeps to herself and keeps the light and thatıs it.  Until a stranger washes ashore one stormy night and changes everything.  He is the sorcerer Kalami, come on a mission for the Dowager Empress of Isavalta.  Bridgetıs mother saved their world years ago.  Now itıs Bridgetıs turn.  But she doesnıt know how to use her powerful magic.  Nor is she prepared for Kalamiıs treachery!

 

Zicree, Marc Scott and Barbara Hambly.  Magic Time.  SF  (Adult) 

A top-secret government experiment goes awry worldwide, destroying all types of electric and mechanical power and altering the personalities and physical appearance of certain individuals.  Afterwards, a small group of unaffected survivors heads south and west to find the 'Source'.