UK March 2002 Releases by John Berlyne
Check out more titles at: Amazon UK

Oh you lucky people! This month sees the publication of Neal Asher's brand new novel, The Skinner, one of the best UK SF writers to emerge in recent years. Published as a smart trade paperback by Macmillan, The Skinner is priced at £9.99 and is worth every penny. Be sure to check out my featured review in this issue. Note also that Neal's novel Gridlinked (reviewed and raved about here previously) is released in mass market paperback priced at £6.99. For those of you who prefer stories with a contemporary feel, take a look at J.M.Morris's Fiddleback, a mystery with a touch of the supernatural published this month in hardcover by Macmillan and priced at £10.00.

Macmillan's literary imprint, Picador, has two books coming out this month worthy of our attention. The Deadly Space Between by Patricia Duncker comes highly recommended (HC priced at £14.99) as does the acclaimed debut novel by Will Eaves, The Oversight, which receives its mass market release, priced at £6.99. Not strictly genre these two but perhaps worth a look all the same.

March sees the release of Kim Stanley Robinson's major new work, The Years of Rice and Salt. Spanning seven centuries of history retold, this huge novel will no doubt feature on all manner of awards short lists. Published in hardcover by HarperCollins, The Years of Rice and Salt is priced at £16.99. UK fans have had the pleasure of Stan being over here promoting the book and the turn out was huge at last Monday's (March 11th) science fiction evening at Border's, Oxford Street, a regular event hosted by Pat Cadigan. Along with Robinson, another big name author, Peter Straub was present and both read from their work and answered questions. Also published by HarperCollins and here on a promotional tour, Straub's short story collection, Magic Terror is out in mass market paperback this month, priced at £6.99.

HarperCollins Voyager this month release a beautiful large format trade paperback edition of The Mabinogion, "...universally recognized as the finest arc of Celtic mythology in existence." This volume is illustrated in full colour by Alan Lee, known best perhaps for his conceptual artwork on The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. A really beautiful book, The Mabinogion is priced at £14.99. Also from HarperCollins comes the large format trade paperback edition of Robin Hobb's latest, Fool's Errand. Previously released in a small hard cover run, this widely acclaimed novel is the first in a new trilogy and is priced at £11.99. Another book by this author, The Windsingers, this one written under her real name of Megan Lindholm is published in mass market paperback priced at £5.99, as is Stephen Lawhead's Arthurian fantasy The Mystic Rose which is priced at £6.99.

Whether you chose to believe the rumors of his retirement or not, Stephen King looks set to be around for at least a little bit longer - and good thing too! Everything's Eventual is the first volume of short stories King has published in nine long years and doubtless (and deservedly) it will be an instant bestseller. Released on both sides of the Atlantic on 19th March, the UK edition is a hard cover published by Hodder & Stoughton and is priced at £17.99.

Hodder Headline bring out the mass market edition of Neil Gaiman's superb modern day fantasy American Gods (reviewed here previously.) This is not one to miss, so if you didn't catch it in hard cover, you've no excuse now the cheaper edition has been released! Priced at a mere £6.99 you'd be mad to pass this one up!

New English Library publish The Mothman Prophesies by John A. Keel. Released as a tie in with the movie of the same name which also hits these shores this month, I, for one, was wholly surprised to find out that this is actually a factual account of the events covered in the movie rather than a work of fiction. The film scared the hell out of me and so I confess to being too freaked out to read the book. If you have the courage, you can buy a copy at £6.99.

My second review this month is of Wizard's Funeral by Kim Hunter, published in trade paperback by Orbit at £9.99 - be sure to check it out. Also from Orbit comes a second Tom Holt omnibus entitled The Second Tom Holt Omnibus - a must for fans of this humorous fantasy author, the volume contains "My Hero" and "Who's Afraid of Beowulf" and is a trade paperback priced at a very reasonable £7.99. The One Kingdom by Sean Russell, Book One in The Swan's War series gets its mass market release priced at £6.99. Consistently scoring highly in the Amazon reader's comments, I have heard nothing but good things about this novel. Lastly from orbit this march comes Remnant Population, a science fiction work by Elizabeth Moon. This is a mass market edition priced at £6.99.

PS Publishing bring out two new novellas this month. Firstly there is Steven Erkison's Blood Follows has an introduction by Stephen R. Donaldson and is released in both hardcover (300 copies signed by both SE and SRD, priced at £25.00) and trade paperback (500 copies signed by SE, priced at £8.00.) The second is Marc Chadbourns wonderfully titled The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke. Featuring an introduction by Neil Gaiman, this will be released in the same formats and numbers as the Erikson.

Gollancz continue their wonderful Fantasy Masterworks series with The Emperor of Dreams by Clark Ashton Smith (£7.99) and Jack Vance's Lyonesse (£6.99) which become numbers 26 and 27 in the series. Both editions are trade paperbacks. The SF Masterworks series adds Arthur C. Clarke's A Fall of Moondust to its ranks as the 49th title. Again a trade paperback, this edition is priced at £6.99.

Binary 3 is the third title released as an old style back-to-back double. A Gollancz reprint of specially commissioned two novellas previously published by Peter Crowther's aforementioned superb small press PS Publishing outfit, Binary 3 features "Tendeleo's Story" by Ian Mcdonald (which won the 2001 Theodore Sturgeon Award) and "Watching Trees Grow" by Peter F. Hamilton, the best selling author of The Night's Dawn Trilogy. The volume is edited by Peter Crowther and is a snip at only £4.99.

Gollancz publishes two John Marco novels this month. The Saints of the Sword is the mass market release of the third novel in Marco's Tyrants and Kings series. It is priced at £7.99. The Eyes of God is the opening novel of a brand new Marco series and looks to be one to watch. It is released in hard cover at £17.99. Finally, Gollancz are releasing a new edition of one of my favorite Graham Joyce novels. The Tooth Fairy, a decidedly disconcerting growing pains novel is released at £6.99.

Happy reading!

John Berlyne

UK Associate Editor www.sfrevu.com 
john.berlyne@sfrevu.com

© 2002 Ernest Lilley / SFRevu