From: lhb6v@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Laura Hayes Burchard)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Upcoming Books till June
Date: 12 Sep 92 02:06:16 GMT
Organization: University of Virginia

In article <b#gnyjl.dani@netcom.com> dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) writes:
>Adams, Douglas, Mostly Harmless, Random House HC, Nov

Ech.  Probably be worth reading, but not buying.

>Bradley and Lackey, Rediscovery:  A Darkover Novel, DAW, Apr
>	This is the kickoff to Lackey's assumption of the Darkover
>	universe from Bradley.

Why not, she's writing everything else.  From recent evidence,  the 
Darkover universe could certainly use taking over, though I'm not sure
Lackey's the one to do it. I finally got around to reading _The Heirs of
Hammerfell_ a couple of weeks ago, and could think of absolutely no 
reason why on earth Bradley had put a Regency novel in Darkover 
covers, except maybe she had a lot of bills to pay and needed the 
extra selling power.  The other Darkover novels were of varying levels 
of quality, but they were all distinctly Darkover.

Much as I like Lackey's stuff, I can't imagine her writing anything as
subtle and nicely balanced as the mid-period Darkover novels.  And I
really don't think I'm looking forward to Regis Hastur and the crew all
starting to talk in italic emphasis.

Maybe she'll learn to key her characters down a couple of steps down from overwrought.

>Brooks, Terry, The Elf Queen of Shannara, BB/DR, Mar
>	The Talisman of Shannara, BB/DR HC, Mar

I've always been mildly mystified as to who buys this stuff.  I know 
quite a few people who will admit, under pressure, to still be buying
Piers Anthony, but not one who claims to read Brooks.

>>Brust, Steven, Agyar,  Tor  HC, Mar
>	Athyra, Ace, Apr
>	I don't know anything about "Agyar".  "Athyra" would, of course,
>	be the next 'Jhereg' novel.

Aygar - Magyar?  Another Hungarian fairy tale, perhaps?

>Bujold, The Spirit Ring, Baen HC, Nov

Anybody know the subject?  Doesn't sound like a Vorksigan title.

>Duane, Diane, The Door Into Sunset, Tor HC, Mar
>	I can't wait that long!

Want.  Want *now*.  Want _Door into Starlight_ before the end of
the millenium, too.  Except that it's probably going to be really
depressing, as I suspect a good portion of our cast isn't going
to make it to the end.

Anybody know if there is a book service or store that will order
books from/in the UK and ship them here?

>Holt, Tom, Ye Gods, St Martin's HC, Apr
>Holt, Tom, Flying Dutch, Ace, Jun

Flying Dutch was pleasant, but Holt seems to be slipping towards
schtick (the BBC film crew, etc.)  Hopefully _Ye Gods_ will reverse the trend.

>Jones, Diana Wynne, A Sudden Wild Magic, Morrow AvoNova HC, Oct

Yay!  Jones is so hard to find outside of libraries.  Not that I personally
object to searching for her books in the children's section while being
eyed suspiciously by knee-high tots, but it's nice to be able to *own* 
them.

>Kay, Guy Gavriel, A Song for Arbonne, Random House/Crown HC, Jan
>	Kay's new book takes place in a Europe in which Christianity
>	never took hold, and the classical past was lost.

Yum.

>Kurtz, Katherine, King Javan's Year, BB/Dr HC, Dec
>	Do I want to read this and get depressed?
 
"Missa Kurtz, they dead."

Going by the family trees, the body count won't be as high as 917 or
948, but I daresay it will be enough.  I wish she'd work on the Childe
Morgan books.  They may have high body counts, but at least 
the trend is optimistic, as opposed to watching every single likeable 
character get tortured, mutilated, and killed while futilely attempting to prevent the dark ages that you already know are foredoomed to occur 
from arriving.  All in technicolor gruesome detail.

Hell, I'd even prefer her going back to killing off Kelson's girlfriends.

>McCaffrey and SM Stirling, The Ship who Fought, Baen, Apr
>	She is showing good judgment in her coauthors, though.

You know, this actually might be interesting.  Stirling's Draka novels
were too determinedly depressing for me to really like them - I can 
take that Drake/Rosenberg/etc. hardnosed carnography in only small 
quantities.  McCaffrey's basically a romantic and mostly an optimist,
so it will either be a mishmash of clashing styles or a pretty good 
book :)

>May, Julian, Diamond Mask, Random House/Knopf HC, May

What about a _Jack the Bodiless_ pb?

>Pierce, Tamora, Wild Magic: The Immortals, MacMillan Atheneum, ya HC, Oct
>	Set in the world of the "Song of the Lioness" books, but not
>	one of them.  Since I so enjoyed those, I'll be sure to seek
>	this one out, though the children's library may be my best bet.

Just put your chin up, stride right in, and ignore all odd looks :)

>Pratchett, Terry, Witches Abroad, Penguin/Roc, Feb

So, how far will we be behind the UK when this one comes out?
 _Eric_ and what else?

>Roberson, Tapestry of Lions, DAW, Dec
>	Amazing!  The Cheysuli Chronicles are coming to their appointed end.

And that damn prophecy *finally* gets fulfilled.



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