December Publications
Those who missed Dan Simmons's Worlds Enough and Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction in the limited Subterranean hardcover edition will welcome this reprint from the Hugo-winning author of Hyperion. "Simmons shifts effortlessly between dark fantasy, space opera, hard SF and mainstream fiction," PW said earlier this year (Forecasts, Apr. 29). (Eos, $14.95 paper 272p ISBN 0-06-050604-0)
Michael Norman and the late Beth Scott offer a collection of North American ghost stories in Haunted Heritage, the first new Haunted America title in seven years. Besides the usual regional categories, there are separate sections on college-campus specters ("Haunts of Ivy") and ghost lights ("The Luminaries"). (Forge, $24.95 384p ISBN 0-765-30173-3)
The spirit of Robert E. Howard (1906—1936) lives in Conan the Swordsman, a reissue of the 1981 story collection by the late SFWA Grand Master L. Sprague de Camp, in collaboration with Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg. An introduction, commentary at the start of each tale and a glossary of Hyborian names put the exploits of the blue-eyed barbarian in context. (Tor, $23.95 256p ISBN 0-765-30069-9)
Thieves' World: Turning Points, edited by Lynn Abbey, gathers 10 all-original tales set in the magic-ruled city of Sanctuary. Contributors to this shared-world anthology include Raymond E. Feist, Diana L. Paxson and the editor. (Tor, $25.95 320p ISBN 0-312-87517-7)
The Brian Lumley Companion, edited by Brian Lumley and Stanley Wiator, is an indispensable guide to the Necroscope novels and other works by this successful British horror author. Contributors include such Lumley admirers and authorities as Stephen Jones, Robert M. Price and W. Paul Ganley. (Tor, $25.95 400p ISBN 0-312-85670-9)
The Hard SF Renaissance, a hefty story anthology edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, showcases such talents as Paul McAuley, Greg Egan, Ted Chiang and Vernor Vinge, who have returned to SF's roots in emphasizing science and technology. The editors supply an astute introduction surveying recent trends in the genre. (Tor, $29.95 960p ISBN 0-312-87635-1)
As part of its Early Classics of Science Fiction series, Wesleyan presents The Last Man, first published in 1805 by Jean-Baptiste Francois Xavier Cousin de Grainville (1746—1805), in a new translation by I.F. and M. Clarke. This apocalyptic tale provided the prototype for later 19th-century writers like H.G. Wells who speculated on the end of humankind in their fiction. (Wesleyan Univ., $45 200p ISBN 0-8195-6549-0; $17.95 paper -6608-X)
