RECENT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

Diana Tixier Herald

Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia. Hawksong. YA/ Fantasy/ Shapeshifting. Two races of shapeshifters, birds and snakes , have been so long at war their populations have been decimated. The young rulers of each kingdom are weary of losing everyone they love and decide to end the war by marrying. A wonderful combination of fantasy and romance written by a teen author.

Banker, Ashok K.. Prince of Ayodhya. Fantasy / Myth and Legend. A fantasy retelling of the ancient Indian tale The Ramyana.

Browne, N. M.. Warriors of Alavna. YA/ Fantasy/ Parallel Worlds/ Time Travel. Ursula and Dan, fifteen year old British high school students are summoned into a parallel past by a sorceress of the Celt-like Combrogi who is seeking warriors to help in their fight against the Roman Ravens who have been destroying the land and its people.

Collins, Suzanne. Gregor the Overlander. YA/ Fantasy/ Bestiary/ Parallel Worlds. Gregor falls into an underground world when he tries to rescue his little sister who has disappeared through a vent grate in their laundry room and finds a world of bat riders, vicious rats, and talking roaches.

Dalkey, Kara. Water Trilogy - Ascension. YA/ Fantasy/ Alternate Worlds. Nia of the Atlantis Bluefin Clan is sure she will become an avatar, a king of her people who achieves a psychic link with the squid-like alien Farworlders. But her cousin is selected to represent their family in the trials. Meanwhile she falls in love with Cephan who is from a lower caste clan and discovers a pair of kings locked in a prison in the lowest levels of Atlantis. During the trials she senses that someone is tampering with the contests. Followed by Reunion and Transformation.

Datlow, Ellen and Windling, Terri, ed.. The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm. Fantasy/ Short Stories.

Downer, Ann . Hatching Magic . Childrenπs Fantasy/ Dragons. A twelfth century wizard travels through time to look for Wycca, a missing wyvern and ends up in 21^st century Boston where 12 year old Theodora has been looking for a wyvern card to become part of a very special game.

Funke, Cornelia. The Thief Lord. YA/ Fantasy. Two orphaned brothers flee the aunt who wants to separate them to go to the Venice their mother always told them about. They team up with other homeless waifs who are under the protection of another kid, the Thief Lord, who is commissioned to steal a wing that will restore the magic to a carousel that affects one's age.

Gray, Luli. Falcon and the Charles Street Witch. Childrenπs/ Fantasy/ Bestiary/ Dragons. Falcon and her brother Toody are swept out of an airplane but strangely enough Falcon is not dashed to the ground, instead she floats upon currents of air until she finds herself in the remarkable garden of Blinda Cholmondely--pronounced Chumley, on Charles Street in New York. Toody is alive and well in Australia with a dragon called Egg. Lovely use of language and delightful humor. The dragons speak in verse and in fractured quotes from Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot, and Euripides.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Among The Betrayed. Among the Barons. YA/ Science Fiction/ Utopia-Dystopia. A world where being a third child is a capitol offense.

Halam, Ann. Dr. Franklinπs Island. YA/ Science Fiction/ . Semi, Miranda, and Arnie are stranded on an almost deserted island after surviving a horrifying plane crash. Unfortunately, mad-scientist, Dr. Franklin, was already there and needs specimens for his experiments in genetic engineering.

Hambly, Barbara. Sisters of the Raven. Fantasy/ Magic. In a world teetering on the brink of disaster, seventeen-year-old Raeshaldis, the only female ever admitted to the college of the Sun Mages, may be the only one who can save the Yellow City.

Hanley, Victoria. The Healer's Keep. YA/ Fantasy/ Epic. Three talented teens using their special powers fight the powerful Shadow Lord while battling for survival in their everyday lives. A stand alone companion novel to The Seer and the Sword.

Hearn, Lian. Across the Nightingale Floor. Fantasy/ Alternate World. Sixteen year old Takeo is captured by Lord Otori as he flees from his village of the Hidden after it is annihilated by Lord Iida. He learns the skills of artists, scholar, and warrior when Lord Otori adopts him and names him his heir. It is followed by Grass for his Pillow

Hoffman, Alice. Green Angel. YA/ Science Fiction/ Post Apocalypse. Green was resentful when her parents and sister went off to the city to sell their produce but when the city went up in flames she was so devastated she cut off her beautiful hair, sewed thorns to her clothing, covered herself with black tattoos and changed her name to Ash. This story is her journey back to recovery and has a veiled reference to terrorism and the backlash ethnic hate engendered.

Hoffman, Mary. Stravaganza: City of Stars. YA/ Fantasy/ Parallel Worlds/ Alternate History. Fifteen-year-old Londoner Georgia has no friends and an abusive stepbrother who torments her relentlessly. One night she falls asleep in her 21st century bedroom with a figurine of a winged horse clutched in her hand and wakes up in Remora, an alternate 15th century Sienna where she is mistaken for a boy. Political intrigue, romance, family relationships, and a thrilling horse race, as well as a real winged horse contribute to this fully realized tale. Sand alone sequel to Stravaganza: City of Masks.

Jeapes, Ben. The Xenocide Mission. YA/ Science Fiction/ Aliens. When a secret base the Commonwealth has been using to observe the murderous race called the Xenocides is attacked, Lieutenant Joel Gilmore and a Rustie stay behind to make sure that vital information is destroyed and they discover that all is not as it appears.

Lee, Jeffrey. True Blue. YA/ Fantasy. YA/ Fantasy/ A Bestiary. When new girl Molly is teamed up with outsider Chrys to work together on a science experiment she discovers there is something very unusual about him.

Lubar, David. Wizards of the Game. YA/ Fantasy/ Parallel Worlds. Eighth-grader Mercer loves playing Wizards of the Warrior World and comes up with the idea of staging a gaming convention for the school fundraiser to benefit the local soup kitchen/ shelter. When fellow student Ed writes an editorial calling the game satanic and demonic and it is printed in the local paper as well as the school paper a church group starts demonstrating against gaming at Oscar Wilde Middle School. In the midst of all this Mercer meets a quartet of wizards at the shelter who call him a magus and try to enlist his assistance in returning to their home world. They had been stranded in ours thanks to a crooked (and devoured) tour guide

Marillier, Juliet. Child of the Prophecy. Fantasy/ Epic. Third in the Seven Waters Trilogy following Daughter of the Forest and Son of Shadows.

McNaughton, Janet. An Earthly Knight. YA/ Fantasy/ Faerie. Authentic twelfth century Scottish borderland details make this tale based on Tam Lin and another folk song seem very real.

Moore, Christopher. Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings. Science Fiction/ Satire Outrageously hilarious tale of whale researcher Nate Quinn who discovers a bizarre secret of a humpback whale he is stalking as he tries to puzzle out the meaning of whale song. A dreadlocked rasta white boy from New Jersey, an accomplished underwater photographer with a saucy school teacher girlfriend, and a mysteriously pale research intern whose credentials don't check out round out the likeable cast along with the whaley boys who must be read to be believed. Laugh out loud fun for those who find a combination of Carl Hiaasen-like hilarity and absurd science fiction enticing.

Murphy, Rita. Harmony. YA/ Fantasy/ Mythic Reality. Fifteen years ago, during a meteor shower, Felix who was trying to hear the music of the Spheres witnessed a meteorite streak to the Earth and through the roof of Nettie Mae's chicken coop. At that point a baby girl was found in the coop and named Harmony by Felix and Nettie Mae, a healer who raised her in their remote Appalachian cabin. Harmony discovers she has some unexplainable talents including telekinesis and the unfortunate disability of causing electrical appliance to blow up in her presence. Keeping her new found abilities secret is impossible when her best friend Shawnie discovers it and promptly tells her cute cousin Caleb.

Oppel, Kenneth. Airborn. YA/ Fantasy/ Alternate Worlds. In a world where Edwardian mores are the norm, teenaged cabin boy Matt Cruse has great plans for himself but as the support of his widowed mother and his sisters he can't even think of going to the academy to become an officer. Instead he serves on the airship Aurora, the same ship his late father served on. While working in the first class lounge he befriends passenger Kate de Vries who is a strong-minded independent young woman with a scientific bent. When they are shipwrecked on a lush island after being boarded by pirates, Kate manipulates Matt into going into the woods with her where she is looking for any signs of a strange winged creature her grandfather had recorded in his journal. Exciting adventure, a captivating alternate world where the mango scented element hydrium has created a technology for travel far different than that in our world. A plucky heroine and solidly earnest and bright hero make this a fantasy not to miss.

Robb, J. D. Imitation in Death. Genreblend - Romance/ Science Fiction/ The seventeenth in Robb's futuristic detective series featuring police Lieutenant Eve Dallas sends her on a mission to stop a killer who is imitating famous serial killers of the past. Eve is brought into the case when a Jack the Ripper style murder is accompanied by a note addressed to her on a distinctive and very expensive stationary.

Robins, Madeleine E.. Point of Honour. Fantasy/ Alternate History. Sarah Tolerance is a member of the Fallen, that odd sorority of women in an alternate Regency era that are of gentle birth but no longer acceptable to society. Sarah has, as a teenager, run off with her brother's fencing master. Now in her late 20s following the death of her lover, Sarah has returned to London and rather than taking up prostitution, the usual occupation of a young woman who has been cast off by family, she sets herself up as an "investigative agent." Hired to find a missing Italian fan, she meets many other women of all ages who are in the ranks of the fallen. Her skill with a short sword is an asset as someone repeatedly tries to kill her and does kill an elderly woman she has questioned as well as a friend of hers who wore her great coat when running an errand for her. When she finds out who is actually behind her search she unwillingly falls in love but finds that her count is not all that he should be. Edgy, intriguing, and fascinating.

Shinn, Sharon. Jenna Starborn. Science Fiction/ Romance. Jenna Starborn was created in the gen tanks on the planet Baldus, commissioned by a wealthy citizen who too late discovered she couldn't love an artificial child. Abused by her guardian's son she found respite when sent away to a school where she learned the skills to make her a nuclear technician. When she is hired to maintain the generators that power the force fields that make survival possible at Thorrastone Manor on the planet Fieldstar she finds herself falling in love with Everett Favenbeck, the owner and a level one citizen. This retelling of Jane Eyre set in a galactic civilization filled with nineteenth-century manners is a captivating delight.

Shinn, Sharon. The Safe-Keeper's Secret. YA/ Fantasy/ Alternate Worlds Reed and Fiona, one a Safe-Keeper's bastard, the other the hidden bastard of the king are raised by the gentle Damiana, the one who keeps secrets in a small village. Growing up the children are close to each other and to the close knit circle of friends, neighbors, and their aunt. Fiona plans to become a Safe-Keeper but Reed, brilliant and bright, knows not what he wants to do with his life. In this culture are also Truth-Tellers and one sole Dream-Maker whose presence makes people's wish come true but whose one life if fraught with tragedy. Shinn's lovely storytelling makes this original world come to life with a tiny glimmer of magic around the edges. Her characters and their problems are real. Another wonderful fantasy from a critically acclaimed author.

Snyder, Midori. Hannah's Garden. YA/ Fantasy/ Faerie. Cassie Brittman's life finally seems to be settling down after spending most of her 17 years moving from town to town and mothering her beautiful mother, Anne. Cassie has a major violin recital and prom both planned for the same weekend when a phone call comes in that her grandfather, Poppie, a famous but reclusive artist is in the hospital. When Cassis, Anne, and Anne's latest boyfriend Gunnar arrive at the family farm they discover that it is vastly deteriorated. Animals living everywhere, furniture destroyed, garbage strewn, and strange fungus is growing on the walls. Cassie and Anne can both tell that the neighbor who has been looking after Poppie is really a filthy evil creature. Cassie finds her great-grandmother Hannah's journal and begins to understand some of the mystery surrounding her family while at the same time she feels she is being stalked by an attractive but also horrifying biker and protected by a badger that lives in the badly damaged spiral garden created by Hannah. A mysterious gray haired fiddler and a winter hare that frequently appeared in Poppie's mystical paintings keep making appearances. In a matter of hours Cassie is drawn into a faerie conflict involving the destructive Red Clan and the nature loving Green Clan.

Strauss, Victoria. The Burning Land. Fantasy/ Quest / Alternate World / Religion. A complex fantasy that explores the issues of religion, politics, apostasy, and heresy while not ignoring character development. The adherents of the sleeping god Arata who has many aspects have finally reclaimed Galea and overthrown the Caryaxists who desecrated and destroyed temple and monasteries forcing the Aratists into exile or prison over a period of 80 years.

Swanwick, Michael. Bones of the Earth. Science Fiction/ Time Travel. Paleontologist Richard Leyster is exactly where he wants to be in life when a stranger comes through his door at the Smithsonian and deposits a cooler containing a stegosaurus head on his desk and sweeping him up into a paleontological paradise of time travel and paradoxes upon paradoxes. Paleontologists and a few geologists go back and forth in time so often that they sometimes end up being in the same place at the same time several years apart. Leyster ends up as part of an expedition that is stranded in time by a bomb planted by a violent creationist lending a touch of Survivor to the tale. Fascinating and entertaining.

Tower, S. D.. The Assassins of Tamurin. Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery. When Lale is about eleven years old she makes a terrible mistake and loses the three needles that are owned by the village that took her in as a foundling but never nurtured her. Shunned by all she sets out on her own and is eventually found and adopted by "Mother Midnight" the Despotana of a distant Despotate. As Mother's daughter she is educated and given a last name. When she and her best friend finish school they are sent of to a religious community that is really a shield for a school for spies. Their loyalty cemented by wraiths from the Quiet World who will torture them to death if they betray the Despotana, they are sent out in the world. Lale is sent on to learn the skills of an actress in the high theater where she learns that she looks almost exactly like the Sun Lord's late wife. Plots and political machinations take her to Bethiya where she establishes a relationship with Term Tathai, the Sun Lord. This intricate tale of politics, espionage, and assassination will win fans for Tower. Good world building.

Townley, Roderick. Into the Labyrinth. YA/ Fantasy/ Alternate Worlds. Princess Sylvie and the other characters in the book A Great Good Thing face new challenges when their book is reprinted then uploaded to the internet and they must perform their roles almost constantly while facing perils inflicted on them through the digital links. This imaginative and innovative fantasy features a strong resilient heroine and has reading itself and books as focal points. It stands on its own even though it is a sequel.

Van Pelt, James. Strangers and Beggars. science fiction. A giant spider that encapsulates a student and a teacher in its web, a kid who has always felt he was an alien and really is, and an endless trip in awful traffic that death can't even end are just a few of the stories in this collection. A teacher who is recorded and then banned from teaching who keeps getting arrested in parks for trying to teach kids. Outstanding short stories running the gamut of horror, science fiction and fantasy. Many of the stories are unusually memorable.

Vande Velde, Vivian . Heir Apparent. YA/ Science Fiction/ Virtual Reality. Receiving a gift certificate to an arcade, Giannine is trapped in a fantasy role playing game when a band of zealots opposed to fantasy games for youth storms the arcade and causes damage. The only way she can escape is by winning the game. A little bit Groundhog Day, a little bit futuristic, and a lot medieval fantasy this will be a hit with younger teen readers.

Westerfeld, Scott. Midnighters: The Secret Hour. YA/ Fantasy/ Dark Fantasy.

Zettel, Sarah. A Sorcerer's Treason A Novel of Isavalta. Fantasy/ Epic. Knock-your-socks-off page-turning epic fantasy featuring a strong female protagonist and a captivating world. Lighthouse keeper Briget Lederle is swept into a parallel universe when she rescues a very odd man from the icy waters of late 19th century Lake Superior and thrust into a magic filled world rife with political intrigue.