Orbit has announced that they will be launching a Young Adult fantasy and science fiction list in 2002.  Editorial Director, Tim Holman said, "We're all looking forward very much to this new venture. Although it's not always recognized as such, a great deal of children's literature is genre fiction - from C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll to Brian Jaques and J.K Rowling. There is also a strong tradition of fantasy and SF authors - with their ability to create other worlds and to twist reality - writing successfully for children. We plan to publish approximately twelve YA titles each year, with a combination of stand-alone novels and series. A number of authors are already lined up, with announcements to follow shortly."

This month Orbit is offering a whole deck of Cards. To coincide with the British release of Shadow of the Hegemon (HC. ISBN 1-84149-037-7, £16.99) they are also reprinting  three further Orson Scott Card novels in paperback, Prentice Alvin, Red Prophetand Seventh Son and as if that wasn't enough look out for Alvin Journeyman to be released next month. There is new fantasy also from Orbit this month in the form of Kim Hunter's debut novel, Knight's Dawn (reviewed this issue). This is a large format paperback original priced at £9.99. For fans of comic fantasy there is a new Andrew Harman title, Talonspotting. This too is a paperback original and is priced at £6.99. Harman is now very much "established  as one of the funniest comic writers to have emerged in recent years." - this is according to the press release. I look forward to seeing if it is true. The final February offering from orbit is The Dinosaur Planet Omnibus by the brilliant award winning author Anne McCaffrey. This paperback edition is the first single volume printing of Dinosaur Planet and Survivors and is priced at £7.99.

On the subject of McCaffrey, this month is special for her many fans as it sees the release of a brand new Pern novel, The Skies of Pern. Published by Bantam Press and priced at £16.99, this release precedes the US edition which isn't due out until April. Reportedly American McCaffrey fans were shelling out around $40.00 on eBay for copies in their haste to read it. I can only humbly suggest a visit to Amazon.co.uk where copies are available for a 20% discount on the cover price! The Dragons of Pern is currently being filmed for TV. For more info on this or any other McCaffrey related stuff do check her official web site at http://www.annemccaffrey.org/

Philip K. Dick award winner Geoff Ryman has a new novel out this month. Lust, "a witty, disturbing and intensely erotic fable for the modern age." is published by the HarperCollins/Flamingo and is priced at £7.99. If it is half as good as 253 then we're in for a treat! Apparently the making and marketing of Lust has been filmed by the BBC as part of a documentary series entitled Bestseller. It will be screened in the spring.

HarperCollins/Voyager offer a the latest work in Robert Silverberg's Majipoor Cycle. The King of Dreams is issued as a large format trade paperback priced at £11.99. A hard cover edition was also announced. There is fantasy from Voyager too this month. For fans of the more romantic variety there is the new novel by Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows. This is a large format paperback original priced at £10.99 and carries the ISBN 0-00-224737-2.  Reprinted also as a mass market paperback at £6.99 is Marillier's  hugely enjoyable debut novel, Daughter of the Forest.

From Hodder & Stoughton there is SF and horror from two well established names in their respective fields. A new series called The Asteroid Wars from Ben Bova kicks off with The Precipice. This is a hard cover priced at £16.99. NEL (H&S's paperback imprint) are publishing the mass market edition of Bova's Jupiter at £6.99. The final installment in Brian Lumley's new Necroscope trilogy entitled Necroscope- Avengers is also published in hardcover priced at £16.99. Released simultaneously in paperback from NEL is the previous volume, Necroscope Defilers. Like the Bova this too is priced at £6.99.

Orion/Millennium continue their various ongoing series of classic releases this month. No 14 in the Fantasy Masterworks series is Beauty by Sherri S. Tepper. This magnificent reworking of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale is released in paperback priced at £6.99. No 38 in the SF Masterworks is The The First Men in the Moon by H.G.Wells receiving this reissue exactly one hundred years after it was first published. This too is a paperback priced at  £6.99. Millenium also releases  the hard science fiction novel Vast by Linda Nagata. This is a paperback edition priced at £6.99.

Orion/Gollancz continue their yellow jacket releases of wonderful Gollancz SF Collector's Editions with John Sladek's 1983 black comedy Tik-Tok. Priced £9.99. Also released is a large format trade paperback of Terry Goodkind's Faith of the Fallen, the sixth title in the Sword of Truth series. This is a hefty tome even in this format and comes priced at £11.99. "Hefty" is an understatement for Mary Gentle's Ash- A Secret History. This new paperback edition priced at £9.99 weighs in at over 1100 pages and you'll have to be careful not to drop it on your foot! Don't let this prevent you from checking it out though. I have heard nothing but good things about this novel and it features strongly in the recent LOCUS round up of recommended reading for 2000.

More next month!