Fiction: Fiction Reviews, Week of 7/24/2006

by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 7/24/2006

The Road
Cormac McCarthy. Knopf, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-307-26543-9

Violence, in McCarthy's postapocalyptic tour de force, has been visited worldwide in the form of a "long shear of light and then a series of low concussions" that leaves cities and forests burned, birds and fish dead and the earth shrouded in gray clouds of ash. In this landscape, an unnamed man and his young son journey down a road to get to the sea. (The man's wife, who gave birth to the boy after calamity struck, has killed herself.) They carry blankets and scavenged food in a shopping cart, and the man is armed with a revolver loaded with his last two bullets. Beyond the ever-present possibility of starvation lies the threat of roving bands of cannibalistic thugs. The man assures the boy that the two of them are "good guys," but from the way his father treats other stray survivors the boy sees that his father has turned into an amoral survivalist, tenuously attached to the morality of the past by his fierce love for his son. McCarthy establishes himself here as the closest thing in American literature to an Old Testament prophet, trolling the blackest registers of human emotion to create a haunting and grim novel about civilization's slow death after the power goes out. 250,000 announced first printing; BOMC main selection. (Oct.)

Lust and mischief erupt amid a group of languorous 17-year-old mostly English aristocrats at a boarding school in the French provinces circa 1958. Author "A.P." assumes the voice of one of the five youths, Viola, who writes in hindsight: a motherless only child, Viola is sent by her fashionable father to the lax, elderly "Tante Aimée," who runs the derelict chateau academy. Viola & Co. are squirming with boredom when the medical student Sabine arrives as an emergency substitute instructor. An intellectual only slightly older than they who hails from a genteelly impoverished family of the region, Sabine is as irreverent as James Dean, and as dangerously irresistible. Sabine lambastes Viola, who becomes her favorite, for living in a "soap bubble" of privilege, and exhorts her to embrace longing, fury, humiliation, suffering—in short, to live. Viola obliges by falling passionately in love with her instructor—and is shattered when her lovely, ferocious beloved accepts the advances of the most eligible young bachelor of the school's chateau set. When Viola grows bizarrely convinced that Sabine's illness is the result of vampirism, the novel turns pure, over-the-top, one-handed camp. Anonymous A.P marvelously re-creates the hormonal anguish of the fey teenagers. (Oct.)

An intriguing patchwork of poignant episodes, Atwood's latest set of stories (after The Tent) chronicles 60 years of a Canadian family, from postwar Toronto to a farm in the present. The opening piece of this novel-in-stories is set in the present and introduces Tig and Nell, married, elderly and facing an uncertain future in a world that has become foreign and hostile. From there, the book casts back to an 11-year-old Nell excitedly knitting garments for her as yet unborn sister, Lizzie, and continues to trace her adolescence and young adulthood; Nell rebels against the stern conventions of her mother's Toronto household, only to rush back home at 28 to help her family deal with Lizzie's schizophrenia. After carving out a "medium-sized niche" as a freelance book editor, Nell meets Oona, a writer, who is bored with her marriage to Tig. Oona has been searching for someone to fill "the position of second wife," and she introduces Nell to Tig. Later in life, Nell takes care of her once vital but now ravaged-by-age parents. Though the episodic approach has its disjointed moments, Atwood provides a memorable mosaic of domestic pain and the surface tension of a troubled family. (Sept. 19)

Just has long observed the fault lines in human nature and a person's moral code. In his 15th novel (after the 2005 Pulitzer finalist, An Unfinished Season), Just, using an unlikely hero, sets his journalist's eye on the ethically fraught war on terror. Thomas Railles is a 65-year-old American expatriate portrait painter of moderate fame who lives with his French wife, Florette, in a Pyrenees village. When Florette goes for a solitary walk in the mountains and is killed by Moroccan terrorists, Railles blames himself for her death: two of his childhood friends now work in intelligence, and he has pulled several "odd jobs" for them over the years, including one that may have inspired this belated "payback." When he eventually faces one of Florette's killers, Railles must decide whether to avenge her death or find a different peace of mind. "Forgetfulness is the old man's friend," he muses, but he is aware of the irony. The ethical questions of Just's tale add moral heft to an emotionally charged narrative. Author tour. (Sept. 6)

A deliriously mordant political satire, Walter's follow-up to 2005's critically acclaimed Citizen Vince begins moments after New York City cop Brian Remy shoots himself in the head. He isn't seriously wounded, and he can't remember doing it. It's less than a week after 9/11, and Brian serves as an official guide for celebrities who want a tour of "The Zero." With stitches still in his scalp, Brian is tapped for a job with the Documentation Department, a shadowy subagency of the Office of Liberty and Recovery, which is charged with scrutinizing every confetti scrap of paper blown across the city when the towers fell. As he learns the truth about his new employer's mission (think: recent NSA-related headlines) and becomes enmeshed in a sinister government plot, he finds an unseemly benefactor in "The Boss," the unnamed mayor who cashes in on his sudden national prominence. Meanwhile, Brian's cop and firemen colleagues shill for "First Responder" cereal, his rebellious teenage son acts as if Brian died in the attack and the president provides comic background sound bites ("draw your strength from the collective courage and resilientness"). Walter's Helleresque take on a traumatic time may be too much too soon for some, but he carries off his dark and hilarious narrative with a grandly grotesque imagination. 100,000 announced first printing; 12-city author tour. (Sept.)

In this brisk, deftly plotted thriller from bestseller Gerritsen (Vanish), Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and police detective Jane Rizzoli look into the murder of 28-year-old Lori-Ann Tucker, whose body is found Christmas morning in her apartment amid an unholy mess of severed limbs, black candles and satanic symbols rendered in blood. "Peccavi," reads one word scrawled across Tucker's wall—Latin for "I have sinned." Isles and Rizzoli must sort sinner from innocent among suspects who can be found on several continents and include a group of sophisticates—scholars, an anthropologist, a psychiatrist—who are either cult members or crusaders against evil straight from the pages of Revelation. Other murders follow, all gruesome, all involving apocalyptic messages. On occasion, the action shifts to Europe, to a young woman running from a man she's convinced is descended from a race of fallen angels. Gerritsen has a knack for stretching believability just short of the breaking point—and for amassing details that produce an atmosphere in which the most terrible possibilities can and, indeed, should occur. (Sept.)

A series of upbeat, sentimental fables, the 10 stories of Russell's debut are set in an enchanted version of North America and narrated by articulate, emotionally precocious children from dysfunctional households. Each merges the satirical spirit of George Saunders with the sophisticated whimsy of recent animated Hollywood film. In "Ava Wrestles the Alligator," a motherless girl, "staying in Grandpa Sawtooth's old house until our father, Chief Bigtree, gets back from the Mainland," struggles to understand her big sister's blooming sexuality, which seems to grow scaly and incarnate. Timothy Sparrow and Waldo Swallow Heartland, the two brothers of "Haunting Olivia," search for their sister's ghost near Gannon's Boat Graveyard using a pair of magic swimming goggles. In the title story, the human daughters of werewolves are socialized into polite society. Russell has powers of description and mimicry reminiscent of Jonathan Safron Foer ("My father, the Minotaur, is more obdurate than any man," begins "Children's Reminiscences of the Westward Migration"), and her macabre fantasies structurally evoke great Southern writers like Flannery O'Connor. If, at 24, Russell hasn't quite found a theme beyond growing up is hard to do (especially if you're a wolf girl), her assorted siblings are rendered with winning flair as they gambol, perilously and charmingly, toward adulthood. (Sept.)

Shortly after 14-year-old Sarah Clark meets Daniel Carr, her 38-year-old English teacher, in Australian Maguire's debut, boundaries are eliminated and academics take a back seat to a different kind of education. Their increasingly sadistic trysts end when Daniel takes a job in Brisbane, leaving emotionally hobbled and sexually insatiable Sarah to search for Daniel's replacement. And search she does, bedding, by her estimate, hundreds of men before trying her hand at a relationship with childhood friend Jamie. But when Daniel reappears years later, Sarah is as helpless as a child and encourages him to indulge in all of his violent fantasies. Sections of the book pulse with sexual energy, though Maguire turns ethereally cerebral during moments of animal carnality ("In the expression of physicality, in the tearing of flesh and the intermingling of fluids, there is honesty"). Though some readers may have trouble reading passages involving sexual violence, Maguire keeps the prose crackling and the dialogue lively ("[Y]ou look like the six week old corpse of a crack addict who died from syphilis") from the first page to the last. (Sept.)

Bestselling British author Harris (Pompeii; Enigma) returns to ancient Rome for this entertaining and enlightening novel of Marcus Cicero's rise to power. Narrated by a household slave named Tiro, who actually served as Cicero's "confidential secretary" for 36 years, this fictional biography follows the statesman and orator from his early career as an outsider—a "new man" from the provinces—to his election to the consulship, Rome's highest office, in 64 B.C. Loathed by the aristocrats, Cicero lived by his wits in a tireless quest for imperium—the ultimate power of life and death—and achieves "his life's ambition" after uncovering a plot by Marcus Crassus and Julius Caesar to rig the elections and seize control of the government. Harris's description of Rome's labyrinthine, and sometimes deadly, political scene is fascinating and instructive. The action is relentless, and readers will be disappointed when Harris leaves Cicero at the moment of his greatest triumph. Given Cicero's stormy consulship, his continuing opposition to Julius Caesar and his own assassination, readers can only hope a sequel is in the works. Until then, this serves as a superb first act. 350,000 announced first priting; 10-city author tour. (Sept.)

Set in 1949, Kerr's excellent fourth novel to feature Bernhard Gunther (after 1991's German Requiem) finds the erstwhile PI managing a failing hotel about a mile from the site of the Dachau concentration camp. After the death of his wife, Kirsten, in a mental hospital, he calls it quits and opens a private detective agency. A series of missing-Nazi cases sets Bernie on a course that becomes increasingly complicated until he's beaten to a near pulp, had his little finger chopped off and is sent to a mysterious private estate to recover. There he's drawn into a nightmare involving the American occupation and the CIA, and soon his life hangs in the balance. Kerr's stylish noir writing makes every page a joy to read ("The little mouth tightened into a smile that was all lips and no teeth, like a newly stitched scar"). Perfectly plotted, the book builds to a satisfying conclusion. (Sept.)

From 1970s Belfast during the Protestant and Catholic "Troubles" to the calmer but still tense present, MacLaverty (Grace Notes, shortlisted for the Booker) exploits the subtle nuances of Irish life in these 11 stories. Violence is never far off for his characters, and though they may try to distance themselves from conflict (spatially as well as emotionally), it inevitably finds them. In "On the Roundabout," the short stream-of-consciousness piece that begins the collection, a family outing "like something outa Norman Rockwell" turns into a blood-soaked frenzy of unprovoked violence. In "A Trusted Neighbor," MacLaverty expertly mines the tension between ordinary folk caught in a conflict that only seems far away from their suburban enclave. Terror and comedy coexist in "The Trojan Sofa" when an 11-year-old burglar, caught by his intended victim and held at gunpoint, asks if he can use the bathroom. "The Clinic," a less lively story, features a curmudgeon who turns to Chekhov as his health fails. At his best, MacLaverty recalls Graham Greene, and his control over arc and character packs a wallop. (Sept.)

Set against a backdrop of Oval Office corruption, bestseller Meltzer's overblown thriller opens with a frantic assassination attempt on President Leland Manning, who manages to elude the gunfire. Manning's deputy chief of staff, Ron Boyle, is killed, and his top aide, the cocky, ambitious Wes Holloway, is left facially disfigured. Eight years later, his motivation and confidence drained by his handicap, Holloway still toils away for the out-of-office Manning, fetching refreshments and handling the daily social calendar. On a goodwill junket to Malaysia, however, Holloway spots Boyle, surgically altered, but unmistakably the same man who was supposed to be dead and gone. From this turning point, Meltzer (The Zero Game) follows Holloway step by excruciatingly slow step as he tries to find out what really happened eight years earlier. Authentic details about Washington politics and historical mysteries enliven the predictable path. While readers looking for efficient plotting may be disappointed, Meltzer's many fans will enjoy this substantial meal of a book. 15-city author tour. (Sept.)

Baratz-Logsted (The Thin Pink Line; A Little Change of Face) breaks from her chick lit moorings for this entertaining novel set in Victorian England. On New Year's Eve, 1898, Emma Smith, the spoiled wife of novelist John Smith, resolves "to be a better person." John, who is researching a prison novel, suggests that Emma begin a correspondence with a prisoner to fulfill her resolution. The prisoner chosen for the project is Chance Wood, an enigmatic fellow serving a life sentence for murdering his wife. Emma, naïve and vaguely unhappy, is intrigued and excited by the exchange of letters and soon develops a strong attraction to "her prisoner." She also begins to realize that she's tired of being a "possession," a revelation the author strains to make credible. When Chance is released from prison, he and Emma begin a torrid love affair and plot to kill John. Though the plan is executed without a hitch, Emma soon finds circumstances—and Chance—aren't as she expected. Fans of the 19th-century novel of manners will recognize Baratz-Logsted's characters and themes (though the sex is now graphic). If the plot is implausible and the characters unlovable, Baratz-Logsted still keeps readers guessing up to the end. (Sept.)

Poverty and pipe dreams mark the lives of Sid Lore and Janet Hollar, the outsider couple—he, from Tennessee, she, unable to speak in tongues (the mark of a true believer in her Pentecostal church)—at the heart of Skipper's promising debut. A teenager when he moves to West Virginia's Union County, Sid spends the next decade trying to fit in, but a back injury prevents him from finding work that's anything above menial. The balance of power shifts when Janet becomes the breadwinner, emasculating an insecure Sid (her well-meaning anniversary gift to him of a cooking apron doesn't help). After years of struggling, they leave and spend 14 years in an unnamed city, where things are reliably bleak. His marriage on the rocks, Sid returns to Union County (Janet follows later, separately), where SUV-driving yuppies have scooped up cheap land and built luxury homes. Things, of course, end badly. Skipper's earthy prose helps paint a vivid picture of rough-hewn Appalachia, though the dialect can wear thin. This rocky romance will appeal to those who take it dark. (Sept.)

Collins, whose The Keepers of Truth was shortlisted for the Booker, presents a sardonic view of academia in this literary crime novel. E. Robert Pendleton's heralded first novel secures him a teaching position at exclusive Bannockburn College in the Midwest, but his career is on the skids because he hasn't published recently. When an old friend, acclaimed writer Allen Horowitz, arrives at Bannockburn for a lecture, the despondent Bob attempts suicide but fails. While helping Bob recuperate, graduate student Adi Wiltshire discovers cartons of a self-published novel, Scream, in his basement; recognizing its brilliance, she and Allen arrange its reissue without the incapacitated Bob's knowledge. The successful new edition of Scream attracts the attention of cold case detective Jon Ryder, who notices close parallels between its story and a local unsolved murder. Collins keeps the tension high as the ambitious Adi, arrogant Allen and dogged Jon work together and at cross purposes to discover the truth. The philosophical and literary digressions may annoy some readers, but all should appreciate the fully-realized characters, lyrical place descriptions and dark, circuitous plot. (Sept.)

Stade's love of language and literary convention are apparent from the first sentence of his new novel (after Sex and Violence) when, in the manner of a Victorian narrator, he welcomes the reader with, "We might as well begin with Charles Craig Lockhart's walk to work." Charles (roundly known as Chuck), an English professor at Columbia University—as is Stade—tosses off allusions, lit crit and bits of verse as casually as a contemporary action hero mouths an expletive. The book's most entertaining strain is the frisson between this elegant language and the characters' crass thoughts and behaviors. Such authorial devotion is not, however, extended to the plot, which, if not hackneyed, is at least familiar. Middle-aged Charlie tumbles into an affair with 30-year-old student poetess Claire McCoy, she of the curly red hair and extreme self-confidence. It soon becomes apparent to the pair that the only things standing in the way of their eternal happiness are their spouses, whom the lovers resolve to murder. Stocked with missed chances, recriminations and snafus, Stade's flights of literary fancy are exhilarating, but his characters are pawns. (Sept.)

Zigman (Animal Husbandry) visits the popular chick lit landscape of Manhattan public relations, but with a less glamorous twist. The publicist is 36-year-old Julia Einstein, a Connecticut housewife who has been relishing her life as a stay-at-home mom to toddler son Leo. When her husband, Peter, loses his job, Julia is thrust back into the world she left behind. After calling on a savvy and successful friend for advice, Julia ends up at John Glom Public Relations, a "firm that handles desperate has-beens," where she must work with actress Mary Ford, billed as a "client, paying for the right to suck the life out of us." That Julia finds an antidote for Mary's dwindling fame is predictable, but the process generates its share of chuckles. Ford is ceaselessly cruel, but her vulnerability flickers tellingly beneath her veneer of icy disgust. Julia's portrait of motherhood is overly sentimental, and her references to Leo as "The Scoob" are doggedly cute. Julia's swift handling of potential PR disasters make for an amusing read, and the ending is just as happy as can be. (Sept. 25)

Hurwitz's compelling action hero, Deputy U.S. Marshal Tim Rackley (aka "the Troubleshooter"), takes on a formidable adversary in the fourth installment of this literate series (The Kill Clause, etc.). Walker Jameson, a veteran who survived hazardous duty during the first Iraq war, has managed against all odds to escape from California's Terminal Island Penitentiary. Jameson soon begins to leave a trail of bodies in his wake, and in order to forestall further slaughter, Rackley and his team must figure out why the prisoner broke out with only a short time left on his five-year sentence for stockpiling explosives. The clues point to a connection to the suicide of Jameson's sister, Theresa, who was seeking a new miracle drug manufactured by a powerful pharmaceutical company that offered the only ray of hope for her sick child. Hurwitz, who moves easily between the gritty scenes of violence and the more subtle abuses of power in corporate boardrooms, should gain new fans with this exciting thriller. (Sept.)

The heroine of this charming novel, the first in a series, is Leslie VandeKeere, who unhappily follows her husband hundreds of miles to Montana. There, they will be helping out on his family farm for a year, after which the VandeKeeres plan to return to their glitzier urban life in Seattle. Shortly after their arrival in Montana, however, Leslie begins to notice certain changes in her husband: he starts going to church with his family and seems quite happy to be pulled back into the fold of his mother and sisters. Leslie doesn't fancy this transformation, and she doesn't like his designs to stay in Montana forever. The plot has few surprises and is in fact an old chestnut of faith fiction: cosmopolitan sophisticates find faith, family ties and purpose in a small town. But Aarsen's strong character development makes up for that, as readers will find themselves feeling sympathetic for, and seeing things from the viewpoint of, nearly every character. There are a few slips—Leslie wants nothing to do with the Christian subculture, yet she casually invokes Gary Chapman's "five love languages," a tidbit of evangelical-speak that a secular urbanite like Leslie wouldn't know. Nonetheless, this promising new series in Christian fiction is sure to find many fans. (Sept. 18)

Three L.A. girlfriends keep it together with their Sunday morning knitting circle in LaZebnik's sophomore warm-fuzzy (after Same as It Never Was). Charming, irresponsible Kathleen Winters is dependent on her identical twin sisters (semi-famous actresses reminiscent of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) for a paycheck and a home. After drunkenly spilling family secrets to a reporter, she sets off in a turquoise Mini Cooper to find an apartment and job of her own. Meanwhile, scientific researcher Lucy Cameron questions her career and love life as her lab and her self-righteous boyfriend become the targets of animal rights activists. Sari Hill faces the deepest conflict of all when the same "good-looking asshole" who tortured her brother in high school shows up with his autistic son at the autism clinic where she works. Each young woman re-examines her beliefs as the knitting projects—a hot pink bikini, a midnight blue baby blanket, a sweater—pass by. The tangled paths to three satisfying resolutions are marked by hot sex, an adorable gray kitten and, above all else, girl talk. LaZebnik juggles periods of personal crisis while maintaining her characters' complex individuality. Social knitters, especially, will relate to the bond that strengthens over the click-clack of the girls' needles. (Sept. 14)

How crazy was Juana La Loca, the Spanish queen who allegedly would not stop kissing her husband, Philippe the Handsome, even after he died? A Madrid professor enlists the help of a student and a silk dress to find out in the latest from Nicaraguan poet-memoirist-novelist Belli (The Country Under My Skin). While touring the Escorial, 17-year-old Lucia, a Latin American–born orphan attending a Madrid Catholic boarding school, meets Manuel, a 40-something professor who draws Lucia into his obsession with 16th-century Juana. Soon, Manuel dresses Lucia like Juana, and, as he seduces (and eventually impregnates) her, she channels Juana's spirit, allowing Belli to create—in sensuous detail—a turbulent, emotion-driven version of events that is at odds with historians' accounts of Juana's schizophrenia. Juana, as Belli depicts her, was a passionate woman who fell victim to power-hungry relatives, and whose eccentric behavior may have been symptoms of bipolar disorder. (As Belli explains in an author's note, "any woman with a strong sense of self, confronted by the abuse and the arbitrary injustices she had to withstand, forced to accept her powerlessness in the face of an authoritarian system, would become depressed.") Belli's insights into Spanish culture prove provocative, aided by Dillman's faultless translation. (Sept.)

Former Special Ops member Golemon puts his military experience to good use in this promising debut sure to satisfy fans of The X-Files. Maj. Jack Collins, whose career was jeopardized after he testified truthfully before Congress about a debacle in Afghanistan, is given a new lease on life after he's drafted into the Event Group, a covert organization that hides behind the facade of the National Archives. The group's shadowy leaders reveal to Collins that they have secretly served every U.S. president since Lincoln, tracking down artifacts like Noah's Ark in the interest of national security. Collins receives a baptism of fire when the downing of a military aircraft appears to be the work of the same kind of UFOs responsible for the legendary Roswell incident in 1947. While the climactic scenes may be a bit too reminiscent of the parody horror film Tremors for some, the plotting and hair's-breadth escapes evoke some of the early work of Preston and Child, and the author's premise offers a rich lode of materials for the inevitable sequels. (Sept.)

Brothers Ed and Earl Paxton are different mid-1990s products of the redneck California town El Sobrante: Earl, 36, is a meth-smoking greaser who stayed in town. Ed has tried to distance himself from his roots by going to state college, moving to Berkeley and marrying a black woman. His trip back to "ol' El Sob," prompted by nostalgic stirrings after his father dies, catapults him back to his past. The brothers leave on a fishing trip, and Ed is dismayed to discover that Earl's obnoxious friend, Donny Vowdy, a loquacious and flatulent man overflowing with stories of his sexual exploits, is along for the ride. While on the water, Earl is forced into the role of referee between Ed and Donny as the men, plied with beer, pot and psychedelic mushrooms, dredge up ancient arguments, but it is Earl's drug-fueled rampage that lands the brothers in trouble. Though Claypool, mostly known as the bass player in the band Primus, substitutes childhood flashbacks for character development and constructs a thin plot, his characters' escalating savagery culminates in a satisfyingly unsettling conclusion. (Sept.)

Four gloomy tales of male vanity and self-deception by Viennese author Schnitzler (1862–1931) form the third volume (after Night Games and Desire and Delusion) of his work brought out by Ivan R. Dee and Schaefer (who provides a sketchy preface). "The Murderer," the first and shortest tale, concerns a comfortable Viennese lawyer who lives by himself and who truly desires a wife and companion, but can't bear the thought of being emotionally restricted. He abandons her to run off with a tart whose passion drives him, in turn, to despair and worse, before returning to Vienna a year later for a shocking encounter with his past love. Similarly, in "Doctor Graesler," the eligible provincial doctor meets a suitable mate, Sabine, who has studied nursing and hopes to be his colleague, yet his agonized hesitation prompts him first to destroy another woman's life before returning to face Sabine and ask for her love. "Lieutenant Gustl" is a messy stream-of-consciousness narrative by a hare-brained young officer saved at the last moment from having to fight a duel; "Casanova's Homecoming" finds the aging lothario attempting desperately to engineer his final, bittersweet conquest. The prose feels heavy and dated, but Schnitzler remains a psychologically fascinating writer. (Sept.)

At 12, Monica Winters is forced to exchange her privileged life in El Salvador as the daughter of the beautiful and headstrong heiress (and amateur marine biologist) Alma Borrero Winters for a humdrum existence in Connecticut with her cuckolded father after unfaithful Alma and her lover are attacked by soldiers at a gathering place for Communist rebels. His body is recovered, but Alma is lost to the sea. Fifteen years later, disinherited by her mother's family, Monica, now a successful massage therapist, is hired by Will Lucero to give Yvette, his comatose wife, a massage. A series of improbable events lands the cast at a clinic in El Salvador where researchers claim to be able to revive comatose patients using the venom of the very cone snail, thought to be extinct, that Monica's mother spent her life searching for. As Will and Monica try to deny their attraction to one another, Monica begins piecing together the truth about her mother's family (and there are many, many things to discover). Though the scenes in El Salvador are vividly rendered, Barron clumsily handles the convoluted plot's ungainly twists, but her debut is intriguing in spite of its excesses. (Sept.)

The fictional Republic of Aburiria chronicled in this sprawling, dazzling satirical fable is an exaggeration of sordid African despotism. At the top, a grandiose Ruler with "the power to declare any month in the year the seventh month" and his sycophantic cabinet plan to climb to heaven with a modern-day Tower of Babel funded by the Global Bank; beneath them, a cabal of venal officials and opportunistic businessmen jockey for a piece of the pie; at the bottom are the unemployed masses who wait in endless lines behind every help-wanted sign. Kamiti, an archetypal New Man with two university degrees and no job prospects, sets up shop as a wizard; with the help of Nyawira, member of both an underground dissident movement and a feminist dance troupe, he dispenses therapeutic sorcery to a citizenry that finds witchcraft less absurd than everyday life. Kenyan novelist Thiong'o (Petals of Blood) mounts a nuanced but caustic political and social satire of the corruption of African society, with a touch of magical realism—or, perhaps, realistic magic, as the wizard's tricks hinge on holding a not-so-enchanted mirror to his clients' hidden self-delusions. The result is a sometimes lurid, sometimes lyrical reflection on Africa's dysfunctions—and possibilities. (Aug.)

A melange of creatively imagined characters populates Speed's first novel (the first installment of a proposed trilogy), an entertaining historical saga that takes place in 17th-century India. At the center of the story is Maya, a Hindi slave who is being transported across dangerous terrain by a caravan of Portuguese settlers that includes the aging adventurer Da Gama and Lucinda, a spoiled but sensitive young woman. The most intriguing traveler is Slipper, a Muslim eunuch whose relationship to Maya serves as one of the driving mysteries of the novel. The fast-paced story benefits from intriguing characters and situations twisted just enough to keep them on the safe side of unbelievable. Though the story is sometimes beset by overexplanation and cartoonishly violent episodes, it's driven by a contagious enthusiasm for the people and places encountered throughout the journey. Speed, a longtime scholar of Indian history, takes more care with plot and cultural color than dialogue and style, but the result is an enjoyable adventure that still has respect for its characters. (Aug. 31)

In Maitland's gripping new police procedural to feature DCI David Brock and Det. Sgt. Kathy Kolla (after 2004's The Verge Practice), something evil afflicts a group of artists and assorted hangers-on who live in London's Northcote Square. When six-year-old Tracey Rudd, the daughter of the circle's most famous artist, Gabriel Rudd, goes missing, it appears she's the third girl to fall victim to a kidnapper. Soon two of the three girls are found, one dead and the other nearly so. As various members of this community are killed in horrible ways, Brock and Kolla dig through an intricate web of circumstances, which some readers may find too complex. Maitland, an architect who crafts his prose in accord with the dictum that God is in the details, brings the particular world he depicts unforgettably alive. No one who reads this haunting, unnerving work will ever again think about contemporary artists the same way. (Oct.)

First published in Sweden in 1994, Mankell's terrific fourth Kurt Wallender mystery opens with the kind of startling image typical of this internationally bestselling series (Firewall, etc.): a lawyer, driving home through the fog, stops after he sees "a human-sized effigy" propped on a chair in the middle of a deserted highway. Gustaf Torstensson gets out of the car to investigate, is hit from behind and was "dead before his body hit the damp asphalt." The police accept the assailant's claim that it was an accident, but when Torstensson's son, Sten, is shot dead just two weeks later, the brooding Wallender, who's on sick leave and vowing to retire from the Ystad police force, decides to pursue the killer and resume his career. The chief suspect—a powerful, globe-trotting Swedish businessman who's the smiling man of the title—leads Wallender on an exquisitely plotted search for motive and evidence. Dark and moody, this is crime fiction of the highest order. (Sept.)

In this strangely fascinating riff off classic noir, baseball slugger Jake Thomas gets a hero's welcome on a quick trip home to Canarsie. With millions in endorsements on the line, he's anxious to announce a wedding date with his high school sweetheart, Christina, hoping to counteract a statutory rape claim that's about to go public. But his fiancée has been seeing former pitcher Ryan Rossetti, who blew out his arm and now works a dead-end job as a house painter. Insanely jealous of the "J.T. fever" sweeping the hood, the self-involved Ryan is determined to keep Christina for himself. Starr (Twisted City) is a master at portraying Brooklyn as a dark corner of hell (and even gives genre fans a taste of one of the sexual obsessions of past noir master David Goodis), but J.T and Ryan prove almost too unpleasant to take. When the ex-con Saiquan comes into play, riding along for some payback on a gang shooting, the plot jumps into overdrive and heads mercilessly for Starr's always bleak finish line. Author tour. (Sept.)

Fans of gritty noir who haven't read Total Chaos, the first title in Izzo's Marseilles trilogy, will still be gripped by this sequel. Ex-cop Fabio Montale, whose compassion puts him at odds with his colleagues and superiors, gets an appeal from his attractive cousin to trace her missing son. Tragically, Montale soon finds the boy was killed by gunmen targeting someone else. The apparently related death of a friend, a social worker dedicated to working in Marseilles's poorest neighborhoods, further spurs Montale to risk his life to track down those responsible. Like the best American practitioners in the genre, Izzo refrains from any sugarcoating of the city he depicts or the broken and imperfect men and women who people it. (Sept.)

Meet Carly Wagner, five-term Texas congresswoman and likable heroine of a new mystery series by romance novelist Power (Never Say Never). When Carly finds a congressman murdered—and his penis hacked off to boot—in her office, no one really suspects that Carly killed her colleague, but until the culprit is caught, she's under a cloud. Enter Mr. Jones, a bodyguard-cum-PI who makes Superman seem inept and homely. Someone with a vested interest in clearing Carly hired him to look after her, but even Jones doesn't know who's paying his salary. Carly, wary of accepting Jones's help, eventually agrees to work with him to find the killer. Carly's ostensibly witty repartee rarely rises above the level of the title's tasteless double entendre, but the identity of the enigmatic Mr. Jones's employer is every bit as intriguing as the identity of the murderer. Numerous potential suitors guarantee that amorous sparks will fly in future installments of this promising political series. (Sept.)

At the start of bestseller Coel's appealing 12th mystery (after 2005's Eye of the Wolf), the people of Wyoming's Wind River Reservation are devastated when an ancient petroglyph, the Drowning Man, vanishes from a wall of sacred Red Cliff Canyon. An Indian messenger tells Fr. John O'Malley, the pastor of St. Francis Mission, to inform the Shoshones and Arapahos they must pay a $250,000 ransom for the rock art, which was chiseled off the wall. Father John obliges, but also alerts the FBI. Meanwhile, attorney Vicky Holden decides to represent Travis Birdsong, who's serving time for killing his alleged partner in a glyph theft seven years earlier. Enraged locals, who believe Travis didn't get a fair trial, want Vicky's firm to concentrate on keeping a logging company from desecrating Red Cliff Canyon. Father John's conflicted feelings for Vicky, who's not sure she wants to stay with her partner, Adam Lone Eagle, and the arrival of a retired pedophile priest at the mission help keep the emotional temperature high. (Sept.)

When Ruby Murphy—Brooklyn resident, cat whisperer and mad-dash urban bicyclist—notices a human leg in her psychiatrist's fish tank in her third diverting sleuthing adventure (after 2004's Gargantuan), the limb proves to belong to Tobias Ray, the estranged spouse of Dr. Jody Ray, Ruby's coolly professional therapist. Once over the shock, Jody begs Ruby to help hunt for Tobias, an apparent kidnapping victim. But just when Ruby finds the one-legged Tobias, Jody disappears. Meanwhile, Ruby is inexplicably fired from her job at the Coney Island Museum; her live-in boyfriend suddenly needs "space"; and her only loyal friend is Jack Valentine, her beloved horse. Though the plot meanders and takes a tortoise-and-hare nap occasionally, Estep's wry observations, razor-sharp wit and deliciously vivid characters will keep readers turning the pages. (Sept.)

In Gold Dagger–winner Dibdin's fine 10th Aurelio Zen mystery (after 2004's Mesuda), the neurotic ace detective investigates the murder of Bologna millionaire entrepreneur Lorenzo Curti, who was found in his Audi impaled on a Parmesan cheese knife. Curti was not only the owner of Bologna's immensely popular football club but also part of a shady dairy conglomerate suspected of tax evasion. Meanwhile, bumbling PI Tony Speranza checks on the activities of Vincenzo Amadori, a high-flying socialite and soccer fan, whose prominent parents fret about his off-hours activities. In a comical subplot, Amadori's roommate, Rodolfo, a semiotics student, feuds with Edgardo Ugo ("Professor Ego" to his students), who's embroiled in a public cook-off contest with "Lo Chef," the star of a TV food show. This lively escapade casts modern Italy's many social and political problems in an amusing but realistic light. (Sept.)

Rusch's overly intricate second serial-killer whodunit falls short of the high standard set by his debut, For Edgar (2005). Illinois State Special Agent Elizabeth Hewitt gets on the trail of a murderer who appears to simultaneously target beautiful women, who are dispatched with a lethal injection, and older men, who are strangled with nylon stockings. That Hewitt's previous lover turned out to be the human monster she had been tracking in an earlier case makes her the object of scorn and ridicule among her colleagues. Hewitt soon finds a link between the victims' times of death and the airing of Chopin nocturnes on a Chicago classical radio station, which happens to be run by a high school flame of hers, Jimmy Bonson. Bonson comes under suspicion, as does Hewitt's current bedmate, Brady Richter. That Hewitt solves the crimes by chance rather than deduction will lessen the appeal for fair-play fans. (Sept.)

Set in 1788, O'Brien's well-written fifth historical (after 2005's Lethal Beauty) takes Anne Cartier, a teacher of the deaf and an experienced amateur sleuth, and her husband, Paul de Saint-Martin, Provost of the Royal Highway Patrol for the area surrounding Paris, to Nice, where they're spending the winter with a well-to-do English couple. The escape of a convicted murderer, Jean Lebrun, from Toulon naval prison leads to an official reopening of his case. Paul, who suspects Lebrun is innocent, reinvestigates the two-decades-old murder, while Anne soon finds herself dealing with a new killing that may be related. O'Brien doesn't play on the political undercurrents of prerevolutionary France as much as he did in earlier books, but series fans will find the usual meticulous attention to period detail. (Sept.)

SF/Fantasy/Horror

At the start of Anthony's routine 30th Xanth novel, Stymy Stork refuses to deliver Surprise Golem's baby, because Surprise is too young, per the dictates of the Adult Conspiracy. After the stork flies off with his bundle, Surprise, the two bratty children she's babysitting and the pet peeve (the obnoxious bird of 2005's Pet Peeve) resolve to bring the baby back. Their meandering quest takes them through various alternate Xanths, including Lion Mountain, complete with Mountain Lion, and the Punderground. Hardcore Xanth fans will enjoy the pun-filled journey, but other readers may raise their eyebrows at how often the Adult Conspiracy fails to protect teenage girls from sexual activity. In the end, Surprise and her baby reach home—but is this the home and husband they left? At least the book closes with a tantalizing question to set up the sequel. (Oct.)

Set in the land of Zamonia, this exuberant, highly original fantasy from German writer and cartoonist Moers (The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear) features an unlikely hero, Rumo, a little horned puppy (or Wolperting) who lives on a farm with a family of seven dwarfs. Rumo's rise to greatness begins when he's kidnapped by a Demonocle, "a vicious type of one-eyed giant," who takes him to Roaming Rock, a floating island. There Rumo befriends Volzotan Smyke, a Shark Grub, who can live on land or in water but "thought it wiser to convey the impression he was a sea creature pure and simple." Innumerable picaresque adventures follow, one of the funniest involving gambling and the hazards of winning. Illustrated with the author's appealing line drawings and full of sly humor, this rambunctious novel will appeal to fans tired of the usual epic fantasy, though they should be prepared for some violence in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm. (Sept.)

In the latest Star Wars novel, Karpyshyn (Temple Hill) charts the evolution of an antihero almost as chilling as Darth Vader. "A thousand years before the Republic's collapse and Emperor Palpatine's rise to power," Des, the young "Force"-gifted son of an abusive miner, wins big in a high stakes game with some Republic soldiers, but kills a sore loser. To avoid imprisonment, Des joins the Sith's Brotherhood of Darkness that's battling the Jedi's Army of Light. Des becomes Lord Bane after his abilities earn him a place at the Sith Academy on the planet Korriban. Determined to excel, Bane secretly trains with the devious Githany, former Jedi turned Sith, but after she betrays him, he decides to fly solo and delve deeper into the Sith past. The intensity lets up on occasion, but on the whole the author delivers a solid space adventure sure to satisfy the Star Wars faithful. (Sept.)

The evil genius Charon is dead, but Alpha, the gorgeous, superintelligent android he built, remains an unpredictable threat in Asaro's entertaining mix of hard SF and romance, the sequel to Sunrise Alley (2004). As director of the Office of Computer Operations of the National Information Agency, Lt. Gen. Thomas Wharington is determined to learn Alpha's secrets, but he has about as much success against her expert ability to "read" human body language as he does in finding a baby-sitter for his precocious granddaughter, Jamie. As Wharington wonders about the burgeoning sexual bond between him and the android, Alpha takes him captive and transports him to Charon's island hideaway, where he learns a terrible secret: Charon has survived and, with Alpha's help, plots to take over the world. Asaro has all the right pieces for a taut thriller, though the action suffers at times from a surfeit of plot threads, including the still-unresolved subject of Sunrise Alley itself, a shadowy group of free-roving "Evolving Intelligences" with vast power over the Internet "mesh." (Sept.)

First published to acclaim in the U.K. in 1998, Meaney's debut novel brings a bright lights/big city sensibility to the normally streetwise milieu of advanced neuro-tech. Like an SF Jay McInerney, Meaney (Paradox) portrays the vast social chasm on planet Fulgar from the viewpoint of Tetsuo Sunadomari, a gate-crasher to the perpetual party of its tech toy–ridden upper class. Picking the wrong data pocket sends Tetsuo into exile in the hypozone, the planet's unterraformed area and home of the Shadow People underclass. Yoshiko, his mother, investigates her son's disappearance with the help of Fulgari glitterati like Vin and Lori Maximilian. Mixing her biology background and martial arts training with Fulgari tech, Yoshiko becomes bait to trap the cyber serial killer responsible for Tetsuo's fugitive status. Meaney offers haiku poetry and Eastern philosophy as Yoshiko's counter to the materially wealthy but spiritually poor Fulgari elite. Unfortunately, the number of plot coincidences suggests he was seeking an old Greek/Roman device instead, the deus ex machina. (Sept.)

Tarra Khash, Lumley's barbarian hero, meets and defeats no end of wizards, good and evil, discovering the hard way that some villains aren't so bad after all, in the mellow third and final collection of primal land adventures (after The House of Cthulhu and Tarra Khash: Hrossak!). In a typical sequence, the vampire bite of Orbiquita, an ugly, leathery and long-lived lamia, has dire consequences; Tarra loses interest in women just as Orbiquita's passion for him is further inflamed. For Tarra's sake, Orbiquita surrenders her near-immortality as a lamia to become a beautiful if short-lived woman. While Lumley takes too long to wind up the action, he closes with an appropriately happy climax. (Sept.)

Given the existence of two long-running "best of the year" SF anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois and David Hartwell, one might wonder at the need for yet another such volume. Still, veteran Strahan (Fantasy: The Very Best of 2005) shows excellent taste in his 14 selections, starting with Michael Swanwick's charming "Triceratops Summer," in which a glitch at a research facility temporarily transports dinosaurs to the modern world. Other high points include James Morrow's "The Second Coming of Charles Darwin," in which evangelicals send an AI disguised as a tortoise back in time to destroy all evidence of evolution on the Galápagos Islands; Bruce Sterling's "The Blemmye's Stratagem," which concerns an alien living on Earth at the time of the Crusades; Susan Palwick's "The Fate of Mice," in which an intelligent lab mouse must decide where his loyalties lie; and last but not least, Ian McDonald's powerful "The Little Goddess," in which a girl in a far-future Nepal becomes the latest incarnation of a deity. (Sept.)

This clever, colorful thriller from former attorney Levine (The Deep-Blue Alibi, etc.) focuses as much on the age-old conflict between Mars and Venus as on delivering legal wisecracks and page-turning suspense. Miami defense attorney Steve Solomon and his partner in law and love, Victoria Lord, rarely see eye to eye. He bends the rules, and she plays by the book; he wants to buy a house, but she dreams of high-rise living. Housing is the least of their problems, however, when Steve's former client, convicted killer Dr. William Kreeger, discovers that Steve lost his case on purpose. The threats start with a 300-pound fish dangling from Steve's door and quickly escalate. But how does one outwit a lethal psychologist with a genius IQ? Levine ratchets up the tension with each development but never neglects the heart of the story—his characters. The wily, rough-around-the-edges Steve, the Manolo-loving Victoria or Steve's anagram-obsessed and utterly endearing nephew are each drawn with a fine hand, making them feel more like friends than figments of Levine's imagination. As a result, readers will leave this series entry with the hope that many more will be forthcoming. (Sept.)

Kean (Dance of Desire) delivers rich local color and sparkling romantic tension in this fast-paced medieval revenge plot. Geoffrey de Lanceau was eight years old when he was orphaned, his father was branded a traitor and cut down by Lord Arthur Brackendale. Eighteen years later, Geoffrey puts his plan for retribution into action. His first step: abducting Lord Arthur's only child, Lady Elizabeth Brackendale. Geoffrey quickly realizes his high-born captive is no shy maiden but rather a fierce opponent determined to stop his plot. As their animosity turns to understanding, Elizabeth tries to convince Geoffrey that her father acted under orders of the king—an explanation Geoffrey refuses to hear. As the novel hurtles toward its nail-biting climax, the passion between Geoffrey and Elizabeth becomes love, the true villains are revealed and the innocent exonerated. Finely drawn secondary characters—a love-struck young squire, a practical herbalist, a lecherous suitor and a loyal battlefield friend—breathe additional life into the vibrant tale. (Sept.)

The second installment in Jeffries's School of Heiresses trilogy finds Louisa North, illegitimate daughter of King George IV, once again entangled with Simon Tremaine, the duke of Foxmoor. Following his grandfather's advice never to let a woman get in the way of his future, Simon wooed but then abandoned Louisa seven years earlier to make his fortune in India. When he returns to England, Simon's political aspirations are his highest priority—and Louisa makes an intriguing means to an end. In exchange for courting and marrying Louisa—whom George IV is eager to be rid of—the king agrees to make Simon prime minister. As the couple share witty barbs and sensuous trysts, they clash over issues domestic and political—in particular, her charitable work for the women prisoners of Newgate. Romance and intrigue deepen as Simon comes to grips with his feelings for Louisa and the emotional damage he carries, first instilled by the harsh lessons of his loveless grandfather. Bringing together a bold heroine and a scarred hero while incorporating political scandal into a tightly woven romance, Jeffries once again proves her mettle as a first rate Regency author. (Sept.)

In this brisk, tight novel about the crime scene unit of the Philadelphia Police Department, debut author Dublin borrows from television's CSI, bringing a similarly quirky, career-driven cast to the printed page. Through a beautiful, book-smart rookie, technician Madison Cross, Dublin introduces us to the forensics team, where Madison's uncompromising uncle, David Cross, is in charge. Her first assignment, with partner Melissa Rourke, is to investigate the deaths of two overdosed coeds at the University of Pennsylvania. On day one, Madison manages to annoy homicide detectives, set off a media frenzy and draw the ire of the police commissioner, the mayor and the president of the university. Though David wants the case closed quickly and cleanly, pressure from the media and the officials above him puts Madison and the team to work disproving the possibility of homicide. Madison, of course, thinks the evidence points toward foul play, and soon she discovers there's more to the girls' story than a bottle of pills, leading her into Philly's criminal underbelly. Dublin's novel isn't groundbreaking, but his detailed approach and lively characters make an immersive read; anyone waiting for a CSI: Philadelphia spinoff should be pleased with this well-written, well-meaning derivative. (Sept.)

Comics

From 1953 to 1960, the late Finnish artist Jansson drew a comic strip about her creation Moomin for the London Evening News. Though the strip was an enormous success around the world, this is the first North American edition of an expressive and endearing classic. Moomin's stories begin simply (he needs to rid his home of freeloaders, or goes on a family vacation) and snowball into a series of amusing, whimsical misadventures, which can involve elements of the fantastic, like magic, monsters and ghosts. Although Moomin, his parents and his girlfriend, Snorkmaiden, are trolls, they look like friendly hippopotamuses. Moomin is reminiscent of a big, chubby baby; there is something of Charlie Brown in him: Moomin is like a child beset by life's troubles and usually (but not always) too passive to get angry and fight back. Adults should appreciate Jansson's satire—although she always provides happy endings, dark undercurrents are at play: one episode opens with Moomin attempting suicide; reunited with his missing parents, he's abandoned by them again. Jansson's deceptively childlike style masterfully conveys her characters' personalities. Moomin's mouth rarely appears, but his eyes, his brows and his gestures are expressive and endearing. (Oct.)

In 2004, cartoonist Marchetto, a hyperstylish "terminal bachelorette," was busy capturing "fabulista" humor, in the New Yorker and Glamour. She was engaged to a fabulous guy, perennially cool restaurateur Silvano Marchetto, whose personal style perfectly matched her Manhattan-centric life. If this were fiction, this is exactly when she'd stumble; unfortunately for her, life imitated art, and sure enough, she found a lump in her breast shortly before her wedding. Just as bad, she didn't have health insurance: her policy had lapsed shortly before the fateful mammogram. Cancer Vixen tells the story of what happens next, and how her inner circle— stylists, gossip columnists, shoe designers and assorted others you'd only find in New York City, rallies round to help her beat the disease and get married on time and in high style. Marchetto wears her best high heels to chemotherapy and remarks on the similarities between her hospital gown and Diane von Furstenberg designs. The fashion details are great fun, drawn in a spare loose style, but it's the heart of her story, the support and love she gets from her family and friends, that make Cancer Vixen a universal story that's hard to put down. (Oct.)

Sheinkin's tales of Rabbi Harvey, wisest rebbe in the Wild West, are not quite the fish-out-of-water yarns you might expect. That's mainly because, despite the setting (the fictitious town of Elk Spring, Colo., circa 1870), nearly everyone he encounters is also a Jew; one verifiable gentile appears in the whole book. Transplanting Talmudic wisdom and Jewish folktales into the Old West without a sense of cultural contrast lessens some of the obvious humor. Luckily, Harvey himself is such a genial character—and these stories are so timeless—that the book's central conceit is rendered a moot point. While morality can be a tough pill to swallow, Harvey's adventures are so much fun you hardly realize you're learning anything until it's too late. Harvey is always on his toes, and in the tradition of great Jewish humor, self-deprecating one-liners and deadpan delivery abound—as do jokes about food. The stories are told in a standard comic-strip format, and the cartoonish art is endearing without being the least bit adventurous (experiments in wood-grain illustration notwithstanding). Kids of all ages will love Harvey's sugary wisdom and wit. (Aug.)

While working at an antique shop, a young man named Eiri discovers the portrait of Cossette, a beautiful young woman shrouded in sorrow. He quickly becomes obsessed with the painting, while ignorant of its tragic past: everyone who has owned Cossette's portrait has died. Shortly thereafter, Cossette's spirit appears to Eiri, begging him to save her. The two embark on a harrowing quest of redemption, as they search out Cossette's cursed possessions, objects she once owned that are now bringing pain to the living. The real tragedy however, is the flatness of the story. In its attempt to be poetic, Le Portrait de Petite Cossette becomes tiresome. The characters are essentially one-dimensional and the love story borders on self-destructive: Cossette brings nothing but pain to those around her, and Eiri is quickly drowning in her sorrow. What the book lacks in plot line it makes up for in art, though. Katsura 's style is exquisite in every sense of the word. The line work is intricate, as delicate as a china doll, and the characters are almost painfully beautiful. Sadly, the depth of emotion does not carry over to the story. Le Portrait de Petite Cossette is beautiful to look at. but difficult to read. (Aug.)

Editor Brandon, co-writer of the NYC Mechcomics series, invites well-known names to play in that world, a New York populated by robots. The stories are mostly about crime, violence and urban life. Contributors include Eduardo Risso, Phil Hester, Alex Maleev, Michael Avon Oeming and Eric Canete. The book is classed as sci-fi/noir, but the genre trappings are often overshadowed by the obvious fun contributors are having drawing robots. There are plenty of concepts, but most stories take familiar conventions, like the petty thieves holed up with cops outside, and simply populate them with metal people. One of the best of these is the story of a squealer by Frank Beaton and Ben Templesmith. Less typical standouts include a quiet story about urban interaction by Neal Shaffer and Ryan Brown, Jim Rugg's tale about a pigeon-keeper and one by Miles Gunter and Lakota Sioux appreciating the strangers a city-dweller sees. Kelly Sue DeConnick and Andy MacDonald take the rare female perspective. Even where concepts are thin, the art, in a terrific variety of accomplished styles, is impressive. (July)