February Publications

The beloved barbarian returns in a reprint of the late L. Sprague de Camp's Conan and the Spider God, a "Conan pastiche" (originally published in 1980) offering more dramatic adventures of Robert E. Howard's blue-eyed, broad-shouldered, sword-wielding hero. When Conan is accused of abducting a queen, he follows her kidnappers to the temple of Zath, the spider-god of Yezud, where an epic battle ensues. (Tor, $23.95 256p ISBN 0-765-30071-0)

Professor, priest and bestselling novelist Andrew M. Greeley's tale of love and conflict in a heathen world also gets a welcome reissue. In The Final Planet, Seamus O'Neill, an unwilling diplomat and spy for the space-traveling Holy Order of St. Brigid and St. Brendan, must secure an invitation from a planet's inhabitants for his battered ship to land—a task made more difficult by saber-toothed tigers, planetary strife and his own self-doubt. (Tor, $14.95 paper 320p ISBN 0-31287749-8)

SF grande dame Andre Norton presents three previously published novels (Storm over Warlock, Ordeal in Otherwhere and Forerunner Foray) in a single volume in Warlock. Free Traders, alien invaders, magical gems and "gentle fems" (a customary address) abound in these dark, fast-paced tales by one of the Science Fiction Writers of America's Grand Masters. (Baen, $25 544p ISBN 0-671-31849-7)

The second title in Wesleyan's new Early Classics of Science Fiction series is Sidney Kravitz's translation (14 years in the making) of Jules Verne's castaway epic, The Mysterious Island. Like the new Modern Library edition (noted in Forecasts, Dec. 24), it boasts black-and-white illustrations and is unexpurgated; unlike it, this volume contains a Verne chronology and brief biography, endnotes, appendixes and information about previous translations. (Wesleyan Univ., $40 cloth 456p ISBN 0-8195-6475-3; paper $17.95 -6559-8)

Satire comes to science fiction in Rachel Armstrong's (Sci/Fi Aesthetics) The Gray's Anatomy, a literate and often comic tale of the interactions—cultural, social and sexual—between humans and the alien Grays on the Gray home planet Rune 66. When humans and Grays go exhibitionist on the popular Gray's Anatomy Channel, some Grays start to worry that the sexual appetite of these strange, gendered humans poses a threat to their entire society. (Serpent's Tail [www.serpentstail.com], $15 paper 240p ISBN 1-85242-635-7)

The Sacred Blood, the dark and comic sequel to Mark Ramsden's black-humored The Dungeonmaster's Apprentice, continues to follow the adventures of s&m aficionados Matt Jackson and the Supreme Ogress Sasha as they attempt to overthrow the Black Order, a group of neo-Nazi Satanists led by the evil, "triple-chinned" Dungeonmaster. Trangression is the norm as Sasha and Matt's army of misfits and Morris dancers battle the forces of darkness amid a world full of sex, drugs (prescription and otherwise), disguise and black magic. (Serpent's Tail [www.serpentstail.com], $13 paper 215p ISBN 1-85242-681-0)

In Don Sakers's Dance for the Ivory Madonna, it's 2042, and the U.S. has split into three nations; special interest groups have their own House in Congress; artificial intelligence has kicked humans out of cyberspace; and the African continent, a hotbed of technological advancement, is united under a contract government called Umoja. Making his way through this brave new world is a young African-American operative of a secret organization whose task is to avenge his father's murder—and save humankind. (Speed-of-C Productions [www.scatteredworlds.com], $19.99 paper 516p ISBN 0-9716147-1-7)

"A tale is told of days long gone/ Of foul deeds unfolding 'fore horrified eyes," begins Robert F. Kauffman's fantasy in octet form, The Mask of Ollock. The titular Crown Prince, who has declared war on neighboring lands, is aided by a golden mask enchanted by his father, Olgo; Ollack seems invincible, but the wizard Kaja and his faithful servant, Limrod, vow to defy him to the end. Illus. by the author. (Arx [www.arxpub.com], $16.95 192p ISBN 1-889758-33-7)