SF/Fantasy/Horror Notes
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 6/26/2006
JULY PUBLICATIONS
Fans of 1970s TV vampire Barnabas Collins will welcome Lara Parker's Dark Shadows: The Salem Branch, which takes Barnabas back in time to the Salem witchcraft trials. Parker played the character Angelique on Dark Shadows. (Tor, $12.95 paper 288p ISBN 0-765-30457-0)
The Space Opera Renaissance, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, testifies to the enduring popularity of a branch of SF that was initially considered hackwork. This massive anthology includes outstanding stories from such contemporary genre notables as Lois McMaster Bujold, Iain M. Banks, David Weber, Catherine Asaro, Tony Daniel and Charles Stross. (Tor, $34.95 944p ISBN 0-765-30617-4)
Arranged in four thematic sections with discussion questions, Feminist Philosophy and Science Fiction: Utopias and Dystopias, edited by Judith A. Little, offers an intriguing range of feminist SF. Selections include tales by Margaret Atwood, Carol Emshwiller, Octavia E. Butler, Joanna Russ and James Tiptree Jr. (Prometheus, $24 paper 370p ISBN 1-59102-414-5)
William Butcher's Jules Verne: The Definitive Biography claims to correct a total misunderstanding of Verne in America, arguing that most English editions of his fiction are "doubly fakes, betrayals of censored works." Profuse documentation, a hortatory style and a plethora of quotations make this exhaustive critical biography sluggish reading. (Thunder's Mouth, $28 400p ISBN 1-56025-854-3)
