July Publications
In Edmond Andreski's Mind Control, psychic Julian Pergovan observes good and evil at work in the long, slow mid-21st-century apocalypse. The Machine, a thought-control device inflicted on the masses by the ruling class, has unleashed untold violence, and humankind's destiny hangs in the balance as certain individuals resist the Machine's power. (Electric Selection [45-38 215th Place, Bayside, N.Y. 11361], $22.95 204p ISBN 0-9710535-0-2)
Brian Knight (After Dark) has assembled 16 horror stories from an online horror group in Rare: An Anthology of Rare Horror. Contributors include J. Newman (the apocalypse is brought on when a blues fanatic plays a record recorded by the devil), the editor (a man with a yen for exotic meats inadvertently takes his obsession further than he intended) and Monica J. O'Rourke (a couple of torturers get trapped in their own torture chamber). (Disc-Us [www.disc-us.com], $16.50 paper 224p ISBN 1-58444-266-2)
A mysterious, evil force—embodied by a stranger named Cerf—has taken hold of Coffeyville, Kans., ground zero for a spreading chaos that begins with a plane crash and blossoms out of control as murder and mayhem sweep the town and then the world. A little boy, a rabbi, a priest and a telepath are all that stand between the world and utter devastation in Christopher Leppek (The Surrogate Assassin) and Emanuel Isler's Chaosicon. (Write Way, $24.95 360p ISBN 1-885173-78-4)
The Josh Kirby Discworld Portfolio showcases 28 large-format color illustrations from the covers of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, as well as some of Kirby's illustrations for children's books. Elaborate, colorful scenes of dragons, wizards, maidens, grim reapers, witches, etc. surrounded by dozens of minions, enemies and victims will dazzle fantasy art aficionados. (Paper Tiger [www.papertiger.co.uk], $19.95 paper 64p ISBN 1-85585-895-9)
When the tall, bearded, wild-eyed man showed up for the photo shoot, Gregory Hildebrandt Jr. knew that his "father and uncle were in league with the greatest wizard of all time." In Greg and Tim Hildebrandt: The Tolkien Years, the author recalls his childhood days in the studio of the creators of the wildly popular 1970s Lord of the Rings calendars and features 122 color and 75 b&w illustrations. (Watson-Guptill, $24.95 paper 128p ISBN 0-8230-5124-2)
June Publications
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth, a new edition of multiple Nebula and Hugo award winner Roger Zelazny's (Chronicles of Amber series) acclaimed short fiction, features the title story, "A Rose for Ecclesiastes," "Divine Madness" and 14 others, including some not in the original collection. In "Devil Car," a man and his highly armed, artificially intelligent car track the black Cadillac that killed his brother; in "The Great Slow Kings," two quarrelsome subterranean rulers try to keep up with evolving humankind, which annihilates itself with atomic weapons before the kings issue even one proclamation. (ibooks [Simon & Schuster, dist.], $14.95 paper 512p ISBN 0-7434-1329-6)
In yet another life-changing turn of events, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, discovers he has a long-lost sister, which might prove a joyous revelation if not for the fact that she's a powerful villainess, named Pity, who's in league with the Gentleman and Spidey's other nemeses. In Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six, Adam-Troy Castro (Spider-Man: The Gathering of the Sinister Six) upholds the Marvel Comics tradition of aw-shucks hyperbole, monstrous villains (Doctor Octopus, the Vulture) bent on ruling the world and the ultimate clash between good and evil. B&w illus. (BP [Simon & Schuster, dist.], $24.95 448p ISBN 0-7434-3466-8)
