Out Now and Coming Soon
I try not to pay too much attention to the listings of what books are coming out soon. I like to know what's there, of course, but sometimes, I'll see something coming down the line from a favourite author - David Weber, say, or Barbara Hambly, and then I'm waiting on tenterhooks. And because book publishing schedules are set months in advance, I end up waiting through those months for this particular book. Waiting for War of Honor to come out was difficult.
That said, I do sometimes give in and start making book-buying plans for the months to come. Here's what I'm currently looking forward to.
Terry Pratchett, unsurprisingly, has a new Discworld novel coming out. Terry Pratchett always has a new Discworld novel coming out. This one is called Going Postal, and is about the postal industry in the same way that The Truth was about the papers. Pratchett has by now settled into a style, and his books are always entertaining - perhaps not sidesplittingly funny, in the way Wyrd Sisters was, but still well worth getting my hands on. It's out in October, according to Amazon, and oddly, doesn't seem to have cover art yet.
Speaking of Weber, he's evidently intent on leaving us hanging a bit longer after the ending of War of Honor - he's gone off to start a new series in the same setting. The Shadow of Saganami is also coming out in October, and is about a "new generation" of Manticoran officers. I haven't yet bought Crown of Slaves - indeed, I haven't even seen it in a shop, and while it's co-written, I suppose it'll tide me over for a while longer when I find it.
And while we're on the subject of writers who take too long between sequels, George R. R. Martin's A Feast For Crows comes out in August! ... 2005. I was a latecomer to the Song of Ice and Fire series, but I'm a complete convert. Which is odd, when I stop and thinking about it, because Martin's grim'n'gritty mud and swords setting has very few of the things I really like in fantasy. But it's so well-written, and so complete in itself that it's imposible to put down once you start reading. Until you get to the end, of course, and have to wait another year for the next book.
Actually out this year already is Dime Store Magic: Women of the Otherworld, dodgy cover and all. I haven't seen it on this side of the Atlantic, but I've heard it mentioned a few times lately, and it looks like good solid Urban Fantasy, in the way that Laurell K. Hamilton would probably really like to be (except, of course, that she's making plenty writing the way she is...). It'll probably be in a different cover over here, though - almost all books are, and some are even retitled. Apart from Baen, whose covers are usually fairly carefully accurate, I find that a lot of American-published covers have very little to do with the book, as in this case.
And finally, because I can't talk about upcoming books and not take a look at gaming books, Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead is coming out later this year from Wizards of the Coast, and I want it already. Undead are one of my favourite fantasy concepts, and a whole book about them is pretty much perfect. Given the high standards that Wizards have been working to, I except this to be the business.
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Posted by Drew Shiel at July 17, 2004 2:17 PM | TrackBack
Heh. LiveJournal makes us forget to sign things.
Tanya
Posted by: Tanya at October 7, 2004 5:53 PM
I think August 2005 might be a little optimistic:
Posted by: at October 7, 2004 5:49 PM"I have been getting even more email asking if the latest publication date announced by one bookstore or another is correct. It isn't. I don't even care what date it is. I am still writing the book. Until it is done and delivered, all these announced pubdates are arrived at by throwing darts at a calendar. "
From http://www.georgerrmartin.com/nextbook.html