June Publications

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon, Diana L. Paxson's latest prequel (after 2001's The Priestess of Avalon) to the late author's The Mists of Avalon, merges myths of Avalon and Atlantis in an adult faerie tale notable for its understated supernaturalism. An elegant stylist, Paxson captures the awe, tragedy and resounding mystery of ancient Britain and mist-enshrouded Atlantis while reminding readers of the pain and turmoil of real people locked in painful struggles for self, the future and the integrity of the past. Agent, Russ Galen at Scovil, Chichak, Galen Agency. Regional author tour.(Viking, $25.95 363p ISBN 0-670-03314-6)

French screenwriter and novelist Emmanuel Carrère (The Adversary) relies heavily on analysis of the novels of SF giant Philip K. Dick (1928—1982) in his painful and unconventional biography, I Am Alive and You Are Dead: A Journey into the Mind of Philip K. Dick, translated by Timothy Bent. Carrère portrays Dick as a Cold War Don Quixote, flailing at the totalitarianism he suspected was taking over 1950s-1960s America. Aimed at hardcore Dick fans, it's a powerful treatment of a difficult subject. Agent, François Samuelson Intertalent.(Metropolitan, $26 352p ISBN 0-8050-5464-2)

In Anne Kelleher's romantic fantasy Silver's Edge, a magical silver caul has protected men from marauding goblins and seductive faeries. When Nessa's blacksmith father disappears one day in the woods, where a dead goblin later turns up, the young lass must rise to the challenge of a supernatural war that threatens to destroy her people—and the entire human world. (Luna [www.Luna-Books.com], $13.95 paper 496p ISBN 0-373-80207-2)

May Publications

Novelties & Souvenirs: Collected Short Fiction gathers 15 shorter works by one of America's most original writers of the fantastic, John Crowley (Little, Big). Included is a novella, "An Earthly Mother Sits and Sings," hitherto available only in chapbook form. (Perennial, $13.95 paper 384p ISBN 0-380-73106-1)

William Hjortsberg's Odd Corners: The Slip-Stream World of William Hjortsberg reprints two early works, Gray Matters (1971) and Symbiography (1972), that show how the author of Fallen Angel (the basis for the film Angel Heart) anticipated later trends in virtual and punk fiction. Two uncollected stories round out the volume. (Shoemaker & Hoard [PGW, dist.], $15 paper 288p ISBN 1-59376-021-3)