August Publications

The versatile Barbara Hambly (Dragonshadow, Wet Grave and other titles in her Benjamin January historical mystery series) offers a provocative feminist fantasy, Sisters of the Raven, with a Native American—inspired background. In Yellow City, men have traditionally wielded the magic that's healed the sick and brought the rain, but in a season of drought and unrest, women suddenly acquire magical powers, for which some of the newly empowered have to pay the ultimate price. A blurb from Harry Turtledove, plus the author's high reputation in both the SF and mystery fields, should help spark sales. (Warner Aspect, $13.95 paper 368p ISBN 0-446-67704-3)

Carol Emshwiller (Carmen Dog, etc.) lends her elegant wit to Report to the Men's Club, a collection of 19 fantastic short fictions treating the war between the sexes. Such tales as "Grandma," "Foster Mother" and "Prejudice and Pride" are brim-full of wry insights into male-female relationships. Testimonials from Samuel R. Delaney, Maureen McHugh, Terry Bisson and Connie Willis, among other big names, should send this one into extra printings. Emshwiller is also the author of a new novel, The Mount (Forecasts, July 8). (Small Beer [www.lcrw.net], $16 paper 272p ISBN 1-931520-02-X)

In this reissue of Hugo and Nebula award—winner Joe Haldeman's 1955 novel, Worlds, humanity's best hope rests in the Worlds, the 41 satellites orbiting Earth that house half a million people. Meanwhile, a brewing revolution on Earth threatens nothing less than the planet's destruction. (Gollancz [Sterling, dist.], $14.95 paper 240p ISBN 0-575-07361-6)

Richard Matheson's The Twilight Zones Scripts: Volume 2, edited by horror expert Stanley Wiater, collects six of Matheson's teleplays from Rod Serling's classic TV series. This has been a banner year for the veteran author, whose recent work includes a novel, Hunted Past Reason, and a children's book, Abu and the 7 Marvels. (Edge [www.gauntletpress.com], $16.95 paper 408p ISBN 1-887368-52-3)