SF Stocking Stuffers

By: Chris Wyatt
Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2002

If you're into SF, but your friends and family still aren't, there's a high probability they'll buy you another Christmas bookstore gift certificate. The sad truth is that the squares in your life don't know good SF from bad. They realize this and that's why they'd rather leave the decision up to you...So you might as well "pre-shop". Pre-shopping involves estimating your likely gift certificate haul and picking what you're going to get with them. Here's a breakdown of a few December releases to start your pre-shopping off right...

Harry Turtledove doesn't sleep. He doesn't eat. He doesn't breathe. All he does, all day and all night, is write alternative history. As evidenced by his new release ADVANCE AND RETREAT, which is his second alternative history book in as many months, bringing his tally to three for the year.

ADVANCE, being put out in hardcover by Baen, ponders what the civil war would have been like if there were wizards and kings and stuff. Technically it actually belongs to a sub-sub-genre of alternative history called "historic fantasy". Those who have long been curious about Turtledove's work might find this one to be a good access point. Those already addicted to Turtledove will be ready for the fix. Those who failed high school history should probably look somewhere else.


Speaking of old man Baen, he's put together a really interesting release called HOUR OF THE GREMLINS. I know, I know, it's a terrible title, but it'll still be good. The omnibus is a collection of three comedy SF titles HOUR OF THE HORDE and WOLFLING by Gordon R Dickson, and GREMLINS GO HOME by Gordon R Dickson and Ben Bova. The books have nothing to do with each other in terms of plot, but they have a similar tone and sense of humor. This release comes highly recommended.

What might be a less wise move for Baen, however, is the release of KILLER by David Drake and Karl Edward Wagner. Drake is a hackneyed author of mostly military SF whose generic writing matches the generic title of the book. The book centers on an ancient Roman soldier sent to hunt down a Predator-like alien. Its might be good to steer away from the book this Christmas season.

The most interesting releases from TOR this month include a new "Time Traders" novel by Andre Norton and Sherwood Smith, called ATLANTIS ENDGAME. The book is a fast-paced adventure wherein our heroes are dismayed to learn that the explosion that brought an end to the ancient island of Atlantis was part of an alien plot. These books are generally a great deal of fun, and are worth some attention.

Also from TOR is a book that Brian Stableford's fans have been waiting for with some anticipation. THE OMEGA EXPIDITION is the sixth and final volume in Stableford's sprawling future history series that started with INHERIT THE EARTH. The current volume follows the life of Adam Zimmerman, the developer of a technology called "emortality". Zimmerman lives his life and dies only to reawaken in the 35th century, where true immortals need his assistance.

OMEGA has the ambitious goal of being both completely satisfying to the readers of the first six, and yet also completely compelling to newcomers. Will Stableford be able to pull it off? Pick up the book and find out.

The good news: this month ACE is issuing a new novel by Joe FOREVER WAR Haldeman. The bad news: the buzz on the novel is mixed. The book, entitled GUARDIAN, is apparently about an American Indian woman in the late 1800's who weaves the events of her life into a mystic tapestry. On her journeys she visits Dodge City and is pursued by an agent from the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency. I haven't read the book yet, and I admit that I can't quite see where the genre elements come in...but Haldeman is so consistently good that he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Speaking of things that aren't exactly genre, cyberpunk Bruce Sterling is releasing a new non-fiction book from Random House called TOMORROW NOW: ENVISIONING THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS and it looks like its worth checking out.

If small press offerings pique your fancy, then you might want to look out for MARTIAN QUEST: THE EARLY BRACKETT by Leigh Brackett. The volume comes from Haffner press and collects 19 stories from the undisputed "Queen of Space Opera".

But all of this is just invariably leading us to the...

WORDSCAPE PICK OF THE MONTH

Rudy Rucker has called Paul Di Filippo "wildly inventive, warmly human, culturally relevant, and deeply funny." This, if anything, is an understatement. Di Filippo's short story collections like RIBOFUNK and LOST PAGES display a bizarre and highly active imagination that would leave Philip K Dick in awe.

Di Filippo's new collection, LITTLE DOORS, promises to be his best yet. It includes "Billy", a short story about a child born without a brain who grows up to be president, "The Return to Cockaigne", an eye-popping parody of high fantasy tales, and the unrepentantly surrealist "The Death of Salvador Dali".

A new Di Filippo collection is a cause for celebration, and LITTLE DOORS should not be missed!

Wordscape is our monthly Books column.

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