Harry Turtledove, Author, Various, Author, Mary Gentle, Joint Author Roc $21.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-451-45886-5
What if, in any single moment, history had taken a different turn? In the engaging Worlds That Weren't, bestselling author Harry Turtledove imagines a different fate for Socrates (which he spells Sokrates); S.M. Stirling envisions life ""in the...
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Garrison Keillor, Author, Various, Author, Garrison Keillor, Editor Viking Books $25.95 (504p) ISBN 978-0-670-03126-9
Poetry is a regular feature on Garrison Keillor's NPR radio show A Prairie Home Companion, but for the last five years, it has formed the core of The Writer's Almanac, a daily, five-minute, 7 a.m. show on which Keillor reads a poem. Good Poems...
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Gerald Early, Author, Various, Author, Gerald Early, Editor Viking Books $23.5 (384p) ISBN 978-0-7139-9101-7
Commenting on W.E.B. Du Bois's famous observation that African Americans experience a ``double-consciousness'' when they approach questions of assimilation, race and identity, 20 black intellectuals here offer thoughtful, provocative and divergent...
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George Plimpton, Author, Various, Author, George Plimpton, Editor Viking Books $22.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-670-80888-5
Thirteen contemporary writers, ranging from Malcolm Cowley (born 1898) to Raymond Carver (born 1938), comment informally on their work and craft, distinguish between their lives and works, between emotions and incidents, and discuss their self-critic
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Lawrence Block, Author, Various, Author, Adams Round Table, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $21.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-425-16146-3
The Adams Round Table, founded in 1982 by Mary Higgins Clark and Thomas Chastain, is a group of writers who meet once a month at a restaurant to share their writing experiences. In its fourth anthology (Missing in Manhattan), there are a few...
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Various, Author, Marilyn Wallace, Editor Berkley Trade Pub $4.99 (0p) ISBN 978-0-425-11966-2
This worthy successor to Wallace's superb first collection contains 21 previously unpublished stories from American women mystery writers, each possessing a shrewd eye for human idiosyncrasy. Susan Dunlap sends a deceased woman to ``The Celestial...
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Various, Author, George Plimpton, Editor, Joyce Carol Oates, Illustrator Penguin Books $9.95 (464p) ISBN 978-0-14-010761-6
In its eighth edition, this fecund forum continues to illuminate the creative mind. Prolific author Oates points out that the present volume signals a departure in that it includes essayist (as well as poet and children's book author) E. B. White,...
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Various, Author, Colm Toibin, Editor Viking Books $40 (1200p) ISBN 978-0-670-89108-5
It's hard to keep up with Irish literature, and it's difficult to take stock of; the backlist, as it were, shifts constantly, being a cultural tradition subject to the winds of politics and whatever a nation's self-image is at the moment. The...
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Various, Author, Nancy Pickard, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $13 (320p) ISBN 978-0-425-16890-5
The former president of Sisters in Crime serves up 16 original stories that involve mothers and apple pies, plus 10 recipes featuring apples. One of the best entries is Margaret Maron's haunting ""Growth Marks,"" in which a woman and her married son
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Various, Author, Jack Zipes, Editor Viking Books $30 (816p) ISBN 978-0-670-83053-4
Besides editing this massive volume and translating many of its selections, Zipes, professor of German at the University of Minnesota, has provided a thorough introduction. As one would expect, the tales are of good and evil (and evil is more...
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Various, Author, Jack Zipes, Editor Penguin Books $25 (848p) ISBN 978-0-14-012783-6
This massive volume includes 67 tales, more than half of which were written in the 20th century by such authors as Twain, Rilke and Philip K. Dick; despite some low spots, readers will be kept interested. Illustrations. (Dec.)
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Various, Author, David Bergman, Editor Plume Books $21 (384p) ISBN 978-0-452-27734-2
Rarely has a subtitle been so apt, or a series so consistently strong. Against the recent deluge of sloppy, would-be postmodern subcultural stories, Men on Men has regularly yielded a trove of well-wrought gay-themed short fiction. Gay critic, poet...
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Various, Author, David Bergman, Editor, Karl Woelz, Editor Plume Books $23 (338p) ISBN 978-0-452-28082-3
Last year's Men on Men anthology, the seventh in the series, was a model of the form. Editor David Bergman chose some truly good and different--rather than truly safe or affirming--short fiction. This year, with first-time co-editor and fellow...
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Various, Author, Susan Rich, Author, Various, Illustrator . Harper $12.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-06-183379-3
Featuring a who's who of authors and artists (Margaret Atwood, Avi, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Lethem, Lauren Myracle, James Patterson, Brian Selznick and many more), this collection of more than 70 chilling snippets is ideal for campfires and car...
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Various, Author, Robert Cowley, Editor, Stephen E. Ambrose, Essay by Putnam Adult $32.5 (608p) ISBN 978-0-399-14711-1
An absorbing, nonsynthetic series of close-up views of the war's multiple fronts and facets, these 44 essays are drawn from the pages of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, a must-read for practitioners and fans of the flourishing...
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Various, Author, Robert Cowley, Editor, James Bradley, Essay by . Putnam $28.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-399-14795-1
Like its predecessor (also edited by Cowley), this is an engrossing collection of essays on counterfactual history. Each contributor examines a pivotal event, then considers the ramifications had the event come out differently. In some cases the...
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Various, Author, Martin Harry Greenberg, Editor, Walter Miller, Editor Dutton Books $16.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-917657-55-9
Miller, whose novel A Canticle for Leibowitz is a landmark of post-holocaust SF, opens this anthology of SF stories on nuclear war with a provocative and challenging introduction: he suggests that the bomb would be safer with Qaddafi than Reagan....
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Various, Author, Martin Harry Greenberg, Editor, Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh, Editor Signet Book $5.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-451-17708-7
Although there are some worthwhile surprises among the 19 original mystery stories in this collection, it is not much of a tribute to the big man in red. Billie Sue Mosiman's account of a puzzling death on a shrimp boat and how it is revenged isn't...
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Various, Author, Martin Harry Greenberg, Editor, Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $21.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-425-15473-1
Veteran anthologists Greenberg (Great Modern Police Stories) and Waugh (New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) have joined with Doyle/Holmes scholar Lellenberg (Quest for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) to gather 14 new Holmes cases by contemporary writers...
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Various, Author, Michele B. Slung, Editor Roc $20 (400p) ISBN 978-0-451-45185-9
As she did in her previous anthology, I Shudder at Your Touch , Slung assembles stories that come together at the nexus of sex and horror. She has selected works from a diverse group of authors who use different means to portray the nightmarish side
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Various, Author, Joyce Carol Oates, Editor Plume Books $19 (560p) ISBN 978-0-452-27489-1
In compiling 40 short stories that represent the 200-year history of ""gothic"" fiction in America, from Washington Irving's classic ""The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"" to Stephen King's ""The Reach,"" Oates employs a eclectic and elastic definition of...
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Various, Author, P. N. Elrod, Editor, Editor . Ace $14.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-441-00858-2
Dracula lives!—but more in name than spirit in 16 new period riffs on his legend. Going back to Bram Stoker's original novel, Elrod (Time of the Vampires) asked contributors to this anthology, "What ELSE was Dracula doing in London...
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Various, Author, Clayborne Carson, Editor Library of America $40 (986p) ISBN 978-1-931082-29-7
In time for the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington, the Library of America is publishing a landmark collection of civil rights reporting in America, Reporting Civil Rights. The two-volume work is at once a testament to our country's...
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Various, Author, Sharon M. Harris, Editor Penguin Books $16 (368p) ISBN 978-0-14-243710-0
Yes, Virginia, there were women writers in the early years of the American republic, and Harris, a scholar and founder of the Society for the Study of American Women Writers, gathers extracts from the published works of 10 of these women, covering...
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Various, Author, John Preston, Editor, Psy D. Preston, Editor Dutton Books $22.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-525-93858-3
Preston, who died of AIDS-related illness in 1994, and Lowenthal, a freelance writer who contributed to Preston's Flesh and the Word series, have fashioned an absorbing, fresh and unpredictable collection of essays that explore the alternative ``fami
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Various, Author, John Preston, Editor, Michael Lowenthal, Editor Plume Books $14.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-452-27252-1
Until recently erotica came discreetly wrapped in brown paper. Preston, the late editor of this series, had always championed the interchangibility of pornography and erotica, and held that packaging was the only difference between the two. In this...
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Various, Author, Michael Lowenthal, Editor Plume Books $15 (320p) ISBN 978-0-452-27760-1
In a significant departure from other volumes in this popular series of gay erotic writing, all of the stories in this fourth volume are true, first-person sexual memoirs. Editor Lowenthal, tired of reading fiction he found ""formulaic, stale,...
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Various, Author, T. J. Stiles, Editor, Richard Maxwell Brown, Introduction by Perigee Books $16 (0p) ISBN 978-0-399-51988-8
As Stiles says in his preface, ""Personal history is almost always history at its most gripping."" This may be true but-despite the inclusion of names like Francis Parkman, Theodore Roosevelt, Chief Joseph, George Custer and Buffalo Bill Cody-this...
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Various, Author, Marcy Sheiner, Editor, Marcy Scheiner, Editor Plume Books $16 (224p) ISBN 978-0-452-27812-7
Launched 10 years ago by sexpert Susie Bright, the Herotica series has acquired a sustained following. In this gathering of 23 new erotic stories penned by women, Sheiner, (who also edited Herotica 4) proves yet again that good erotica combines...
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Various, Author, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Editor Ace Books $13 (352p) ISBN 978-0-441-00649-6
Having cooked up a way of reconstituting the dead from their DNA to merge them with living humans, Scarborough (The Healer's War) gathered 14 fellow fantasy and SF writers to imagine the consequences. The perennially popular Kristine Kathryn Rusch...
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Various, Author, Carolyn Wheat, Editor, Linda A. Fairstein, Introduction by Berkley Publishing Group $21.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-425-17231-5
""Womanhood is modeled for gentler and better things... than the profession of law,"" wrote Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Edward Ryan in 1875 so begins a collection of 13 short fictional narratives disproving him. New York Times bestselling...
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Various, Author, Anne Perry, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $23.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-425-18650-3
Much Ado About Murder, an all-original Shakespeare-themed anthology edited by Anne Perry, gathers tales by 17 top mystery writers, most of them stars in the historical category, from both sides of the Atlantic. Contributors include Carole Nelson
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Various, Author, Betsy Wollheim, Editor, Sheila Gilbert, Editor Daw Books $24.95 (480p) ISBN 978-0-7564-0064-4
DAW owners/editors Elizabeth R. Wollheim and Sheila E. Gilbert gather together their bullpen's heavy hitters in two celebratory volumes, the DAW 30th Anniversary Science Fiction Anthology (DAW, $24.95 464p ISBN 0-7564-0064-3) and the DAW 30th ...
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Various, Author, Stella Duffy, Editor, Lauren Henderson, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $13 (320p) ISBN 978-0-425-18643-5
Bad girls aplenty act tough in Tart Noir, an all-original anthology edited by Stella Duffy and Lauren Henderson. Gathered from both sides of the Atlantic, this volume includes 20 tales by such female mystery mavens as Val McDermid, Laura Lippman,
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Various, Author, Yvonne Jocks, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $13 (336p) ISBN 978-0-425-18609-1
Aimed at a more popular audience but with an equally impressive contributors' list is Witches' Brew, edited by Yvonne Jocks. The volume boasts bewitching tales from the likes of Erica Jong, Louise Erdrich and Kathryn Ptacek, along with pieces...
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Susan Koppelman, Author, Various, Author, Susan Koppelman, Editor Plume Books $17 (256p) ISBN 978-0-452-01119-9
What is a lesbian story? The question is not academic; criticism of the traditional literary canon includes the charge that contemporary readers ascribe their own views to texts from other times and cultures. Koppelman, who has edited two other...
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Joan Nestle, Author, Various, Author, Naomi Holoch, Editor Plume Books $14 (352p) ISBN 978-0-452-27661-1
Veteran editors Holoch and Nestle's third compilation of fiction by established and emerging writers boldly challenges any notion of lesbian writing as a homogeneous genre. Unlike its predecessor in the series, Women on Women 3 spans only three...
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Joan Nestle, Author, Various, Author, Joan Nestle, Editor Plume Books $13.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-452-26388-8
Nestle ( A Restricted Country ) and Holoch ( Offseason ) assemble 28 short stories and novel excerpts, some appearing in print for the first time here. Although uneven in scope and quality, these pieces feature a surprising range of lesbian women,...
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Mary Higgins Clark, Author, Various, Author, Susan Isaacs, Joint Author . Berkley Prime Crime $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-425-18335-9
Despite the presence of such well-known mystery and suspense names as Lawrence Block, Mary Higgins Clark and Susan Isaacs, this uneven anthology of a dozen stories gathered loosely under the rubric of "family" is largely disappointing. Block&
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Edward Gorman, Author, Various, Author, Martin Harry Greenberg, Editor Roc $9.95 (386p) ISBN 978-0-451-45048-7
This anthology of contemporary horror and suspense stories describes a variety of ``stalkers,'' human and otherwise, that intrude in the lives of others. Featuring the work of Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon and John Coyne, this was called ``a...
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Alice K. Turner, Author, Various, Author, Alice K. Turner, Editor Dutton Books $24.95 (624p) ISBN 978-0-525-93735-7
That Playboy has always showcased first-rate mainstream fiction is evident from this superlative anthology of stories by Bernard Malamud, Norman Mailer, Jack Kerouac, Andre Dubus, Jorge Luis Borges, Thomas McGuane, John Cheever, James Baldwin, Isaac
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Cynthia Manson, Author, Various, Author Berkley Trade Pub $5.99 (0p) ISBN 978-0-425-15054-2
These 15 short stories by women writers about women detectives have previously appeared in either Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine or Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Such established authors as Antonia Frasier and Amanda Cross offer further...
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Neil Phillip, Author, Various, Author, Neil Philip, Editor Viking Children's Books $19.99 (144p) ISBN 978-0-670-86805-6
Tales both familiar (""The Nutcracker"" by E.T.A. Hoffman, ""Schnitzle, Schnotzle, and Schnootzle"" by Ruth Sawyer) and less so (""The Last Dream of the Old Oak Tree"" by Hans Christian Andersen) are at home on these elegantly edged pages. Philip's (
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Kensington Publishing, Author, Various, Author, Morgan Llywelyn, With Kensington Publishing Corporation $22 (340p) ISBN 978-1-57566-140-7
There's nothing like a good fairy story, old or new. This collection of four novellas, a follow-up to Kensington's previous volume, delivers tales set both in the present and in the ancient past, from four authors well-versed in the realms of Celtic
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Michele Slung, Author, Various, Author, Michele Slung, Editor Roc $19.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-451-45079-1
The high-voltage combination of sex and horror delivers its promised thrills in several of these stories, although some masters of the genre are seen at less than their best. Standouts include the lively and funny ``Death and the Single Girl,'' in...
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Patricia Craig, Author, Various, Author, Patricia Craig, Editor Penguin Books $13 (544p) ISBN 978-0-14-012292-3
A real treat for the short fiction connoisseur, this hefty volume boasts 42 stories by top British authors from Kingsley Amis to P. G. Wodehouse. (Sept.)
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Tony Millionaire, Author, Roger Langridge, Author, Various, Author . DC Comics $29.95 (200p) ISBN 978-1-4012-0656-7
This sequel to 2001's Bizarro Comics
anthology again invites underground and alternative cartoonists—and a few other unlikely types—to get nutty with the DC Universe's characters. This time, curiously, almost all the stories are
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Richard Davidson, Author, Alison Fraser, Author, Various, Author HighBridge Audio $24.95 (0p) ISBN 978-1-56511-635-1
From the Ashes: A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America by various authors, multi-voice reading. Religious and spiritual leaders including Rev. Billy Graham and Desmond Tutu contributed essays, statements, poems and letters to this...
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Ann Charters, Author, Various, Author, Ann Charters, Editor Viking Books $25 (640p) ISBN 978-0-670-83885-1
Cutting through bohemian posturing and excess, Charters here reprints much of the most vital, readable and relevant material produced by the Beat generation, primarily in the 1950s and '60s, with some selections from the '70s and '80s. The novels of
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Scott Gross and various. DC, $12.99 paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-4012-3358-7
Everywhere they go, Mystery Inc. continues to solve mysteries with ghosts and costume-wearing villains. Whether it’s on vacation at Lake Okanagan in “The Curse of the Ogopogo,” at the Grand Canyon in “The Aliens of Area 49,” or visiting relatives in
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Johnny Zito, Tony Trov, Christian Wieser, and Paul Maybury. Image (Diamond, dist.), $15.99 trade paper (120p) ISBN 978-1-60706-550-0
Originally published as a digital comic, this science fiction tale mixes hope and paranoia into something dire. On a mission to transform the red planet into a livable habitat, the crew of Mars Base Bowie prepares to drop an atom bomb into the core...
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Edited by Mitali Perkins. Candlewick, $15.99 (144p) ISBN 978-0-7636-5866-3
Ten writers and artists, including Varian Johnson, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Francisco X. Stork, offer brief works of fiction and nonfiction “about the between-cultures life.” As Perkins notes, “Humor has the power to break down barriers and draw us...
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Greg Hildebrandt, Author, Pamela Shanteau, Author, Various, Author Watson-Guptill Publications $24.95 (144p) ISBN 978-0-8230-5105-2
Hobbit fans, especially those who missed last year's first edition, will also welcome Greg and Tim Hildebrandt-The Tolkien Years: Expanded Edition, by Gregory Hildebrandt Jr. The author, son of Greg and nephew of Tim, has added 12 new pages of ...
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David Leavitt, Author, Various, Author, Mark Mitchell, Editor Viking Books $27.5 (688p) ISBN 978-0-670-85468-4
In this provocative, wonderfully varied anthology, a formidable array of talents--gay and straight, men and women--investigate the experience of love between men, the individualistic complexity of gay male identity and gay men's relationships with...
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H. P. Lovecraft, Author, Various, Author, D. Thin, Editor New York Review of Books $13.95 (368p) ISBN 978-1-59017-026-7
The Colour Out of Space: Tales of Cosmic Horror, selected by D. Thin, collects a dozen otherworldly stories by authors ranging from Edgar Allan Poe (""MS. Found in a Bottle"") to H.P. Lovecraft (the title tale). This choice anthology should help...
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Jay Conrad Levinson, Author, Seth Godin, Author, Various, Author William Morrow & Company $23 (0p) ISBN 978-0-380-97410-8
There is a lot to like in this latest offering by the authors of The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook. Levinson and Godin quote Jerry Seinfeld (""What is a date really, but a job interview that lasts all night?"") and point out that the criteria for...
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Jimmy Carter, Author, Various, Author, Bettina Stiekel, Editor Atheneum Books $17.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-689-86310-3
Who better to answer life's most intriguing questions than the thinkers who have made the most important contributions to world peace, medicine, literature, economics and more? In The Nobel Book of Answers: The Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev,...
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Susie Bright, Author, Various, Author, Susie Bright, Editor Plume Books $16 (224p) ISBN 978-0-452-27180-7
In the savvy introduction to her third collection of erotic fiction by women, Susie Bright discredits the too commonly held view that feminists can't be sexual or revel in their sensual selves. Bright's 24 lusty selections not only advance her...
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Colin Escott, Author, Various, Author, Kira Florita, Author Da Capo Press $35 (208p) ISBN 978-0-306-81052-7
When Hank Williams died in the backseat of a car at age 29, he left behind grieving fans, friends and family, as well as eight guns, eight pairs of boots, 11 hats and a saddle. Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway by Colin Escott and...
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Of America Library, Author, Various, Author, Samuel Hynes, Compiled by Library of America $35 (912p) ISBN 978-1-883011-04-8
This superb collection of some 200 entries by nearly 90 writers, drawn from newspapers, magazine articles, broadcast transcripts and book excerpts, recalls WWII campaigns and battles in all theaters but pays attention to the home front as well. It...
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Various, Author Berkley Trade Pub $131.82 (0p) ISBN 978-0-425-22185-3
Those with weak stomachs will want to skip Little's latest shocker (afterThe Burning ), which dishes out blood, bowels, mutilation and rape with an unsettling knack for the truly repulsive. Parallel stories revolve around several bloody episodes in...
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Random/Golden. Random/Golden, $19.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-375-87044-6
From Baby’s House (1950) to The Up and Down Book (1964), this collection unites the picture books Blair illustrated for Golden Books. In the introduction, animator/historian John Canemaker praises Blair’s “playful imagination, adroit technical skill,
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Various, Author, Marilyn Wallace, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $21.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-425-16060-2
A treasure chest for discerning mystery fans, Wallace's newest anthology (Sisters in Crime 5) contains only top-quality gems. As she assures in the introduction, ""the writer of each story that's included in this collection has been short-listed for
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Various, Author, Mickey Spillane, Editor, Max Allan Collins, Editor New American Library $16 (400p) ISBN 978-0-451-20596-4
Shamus-winner Max Allan Collins and crime-novel king Mickey Spillane team up to co-edit A Century of Noir: Thirty-two Classic Crime Stories, a collection that includes tales by the aforementioned as well as by luminaries such as Chester Himes, ...
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Various, Author, Artists Guild Comicbook Artists Guild, Author . Comicbook Artists Guild $9.99 (112p) ISBN 978-0-615-28266-4
The Comicbook Artists Guild is a networking group that publishes a yearly anthology to promote the work of its members. This one has 10 tales in all, based on existing characters, whether legendary—Sherlock Holmes, John Henry, the ghost of...
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Various, Author, Jeffery Deaver, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $29.95 (608p) ISBN 978-0-425-18192-8
Rex Stout, Ellery Queen, Mickey Spillane, Lisa Scottoline and Stephen King are just a few of the talents included in A Century of Great Suspense Stories, edited by Jeffery Deaver (The Bone Collector). These 36 stories, originally published in the
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Caedmon celebrates its 50th anniversary with an impressive sampler of classic short stories, many originally released on LP records. Most are unabridged; a few were "lightly abridged" to fit the original LP format. The 14 well-known stories...
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Dave Gibbons, Warren Ellis, Jamie Delano et al. DC/Vertigo, $14.99 (259p) ISBN 978-1-4012-4748-5
John Constantine is about to get his own TV series, and this compendium of iconic Hellblazer stories will serve as a good intro, paying proper blazing tribute to the demented mage’s dark humor and seditious sassy-ness. In one story, a documentary...
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Various, Author, Katherine Tegen, Editor, Various, Illustrator Katherine Tegen Books $35 (448p) ISBN 978-0-06-008094-5
Well-loved books and stories come together in a batch of fall compendiums. The HarperCollins Treasury of Picture Book Classics: A Child's First Collection offers 12 enduring tales (their covers make a stamp-sized border on the cover) in one ...
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Edited by Chris Duffy. Roaring Brook/First Second, $19.99 (128p) ISBN 978-1-62672-107-4
Duffy adds to his stellar series of traditional tales reimagined by renowned graphic storytellers. As with Nursery Rhyme Comics and Fairy Tale Comics, the artwork is uniformly excellent and the writing is sharp. In these 28 mostly familiar fables (la
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Edited by Chris Duffy, illus. by various artists. First Second, $19.99 (128p) ISBN 978-1-59643-823-1
Duffy has assembled a dazzling lineup of comics versions of more than a dozen fairy tales in this hilarious follow-up to Nursery Rhyme Comics. Favorites like "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and "Rapunzel" (whose heroines gain welcome agency) join...
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Kingfisher. Kingfisher, $5.99 (14p) ISBN 978-0-7534-6689-6
Children get an intimate look at young members of seven aquatic species in the latest addition to this photo-driven board book series. Photographs of baby dolphins, otters, sea horses fill one half of each spread, appearing opposite lively and...
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Various authors, read by Wayne Shepherd. Oasis Audio, unabridged, one CD, 8.5 hrs., $12.99 ISBN 978-1-59859-994-7
This uninspired audio compilation of Christian quotes and passages—the source materials include everything from the Bible to the works of notable religious thinkers such as Billy Graham and Thomas Merton—offers up an entry for each day of the year....
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Edited by Klara Glowczewska. Penguin, $16 trade paper (434p) ISBN 978-0-14-312147-3
Timed to coincide with Condé Naste Traveler magazine’s 25th anniversary, this stellar collection of 35 essays compiled from the magazine’s archives will delight nomads of all dispositions. This satisfying compendium, written by “novelists, poets,...
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Mike Haines and Julia Fro%C3%ABlich. Kingfisher, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-7534-6624-7
Pop-ups are just one of the interactive aspects to this clever introduction to 18 opposite words from the creators of Wild Alphabet. By pulling and sliding tabs, readers can help an "ancient" pyramid rise out of the desert to become a modern high-ris
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Various, Author, Nancy E. Mercado, Editor, Nancy Mercado, Editor . Dial $16.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-8037-2873-8
Students will likely see themselves in these 10 appetizing stories about the ups and many downs of school life. The fifth-grade heroine of Angela Johnson's title story is an endearing klutz of epic proportions (she has broken the gym teacher'
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Various, Author, Martin Harry Greenberg, Editor, John Helfers, Editor and John Helfers $6.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7564-0004-0
"The word mutant carries different connotations depending upon the point of view of the person who hears it," Helfers (Star Colonies) notes in his introduction. Unfortunately, the title of this well-balanced anthology of 16 short stories may
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Various, Author, Thomas Colchie, Editor . Plume $16 (432p) ISBN 978-0-452-28358-9
Ionesco. Dahl. Kafka. King. Curious influences, perhaps, for a group of contemporary Latin American writers. Or are they? This collection of 21 short stories written over the last 20 years proves that Latin American writers are not restricted to...
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Various, Author, Kevin Hawkes, Illustrator . HarperCollins $16.95 (48p) ISBN 978-0-688-12039-9
The reflected glow of firelight flickers through the illustrations in this collection of traditional carols and tales (including a passage from The Wind in the Willows
and Clement C. Moore's classic poem), lending a cheery warmth. Wielding his...
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Various, Author, Ann Charters, Editor Penguin Books $17 (688p) ISBN 978-0-14-015102-2
Cutting through bohemian posturing and excess, Charters reprints the most vital material produced by writers of the Beat generation, offering a broad perspective on the movement by including work by lesser-known figures alongside that of leading...
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Various, Author, Phillis Levin, Editor Penguin Books $23 (528p) ISBN 978-0-14-058929-0
From Chaucer and (100-plus years later) Wyatt and Surrey to John Ashbery, June Jordan and Louise Glock, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet: 500 Years of a Classic Tradition in English shows just how compelling 14 lines with varying (or no) rhyme...
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Various, Author, Various, Illustrator . Dark Horse $49.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-59582-219-2
Starting in 1962, for the king's ransom of two bits, your average red-blooded American kid could pick up a copy of Boris Karloff Thriller
and be instantly transported to a world of haunted houses, doomed desert islands and criminal enterprises
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Edited by Sean Michael Wilson and Mitsuhiru Asakawa, Top Shelf, $29.95 paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-60309-042-1
In the introduction, manga and comics expert Paul Gravett calls the stories in AX "manga taken off its leash." And he's largely right. Within the pages of this greatly anticipated manga anthology are some of the most imaginative, lush, grotesque,...
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Edited by Mark Chiarello. DC, $49.95 (608p) ISBN 978-1-4012-3889-6
In the Eisner-winning Solo anthology series, 12 big-name contemporary comics artists got 48 pages each of free rein to tell the comics they wanted to. What results is this gorgeous, hefty book of short stories that star both DC’s biggest superhero...
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Various, Author, Various, Illustrator, Mary Brigid Barrett, With , intro. by David McCullough. Candlewick $29.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2067-7
Eight years in the making, this anthology of White House history convenes an all-star roster of 108 children's authors and illustrators, as well as a few scholars and former White House employees and residents—and it is a blue-ribbon...
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Various, Author, National Geographic Society, Editor, Leah Bendavid Val, Editor . National Geographic Books $30 (504p) ISBN 978-0-7922-7363-9
The prickly political implications of portrait photography are perhaps at their most evident in this hefty (seven pounds) and gorgeously glossy compilation of work by National Geographic
photographers. As the frank essays by such photographers as...
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Various, Author, Dana Stabenow, Editor . Signet $6.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-451-20742-5
This eclectic collection of mysteries, penned by an equally diverse array of authors, takes readers on a richly atmospheric journey through Alaska. Donna Andrews ("An Unkindness of Ravens") launches the anthology with the haunting story of a
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Various, Author, Daniel Halpern, Editor Viking Books $40 (608p) ISBN 978-0-670-88761-3
A decade after Halpern's Art of the Tale anthology comes a hefty companion volume, this one collecting 78 international, contemporary authors, those born between 1938 and 1970. The new book elegantly shrugs off the dictates of political and cultural
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Various, Author, Bruce Morrow, Editor, Charles Rowell, Editor Harper Perennial $12 (0p) ISBN 978-0-380-78305-2
Upon close inspection, the often-cited ""flowering of gay literature"" has been mainly an expression of the white middle class. In the Life and Brother to Brother were antecedents of writings focusing on men of color, but Shades is the first...
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Various, Author, Lindsay Patterson, Editor, Ruby Dee, Foreword by Perigee Books $12 (224p) ISBN 978-0-399-51982-6
While Patterson notes that these poems were ""chosen for their content and wisdom, rather than the popularity or esteem of the poet,"" the contributors include such familiar figures as Rita Dove, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, Derek Walcott and...
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Various, Author, Egbert Koster, Editor, Elaine Koster, Editor Signet Book $22.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-451-19390-2
To commemorate its 50th year in business, Signet is issuing its first hardcover book, for which it commissioned 18 new stories from some of the most popular authors published by the house, including Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates and Ed McBain....
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Various, Author, Marcy Sheiner, Editor, Marcy Scheiner, Editor Plume Books $18 (272p) ISBN 978-0-452-27181-4
In this fourth installment of the highly acclaimed erotica series for and by women, Sheiner, a contributor to the previous editions, takes the helm from Susie Bright. Here, 29 steamy stories illustrate a myriad of sexual experiences including...
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Various, Author, J. H. Blair, Editor Berkley Publishing Group $12.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-425-17225-4
What Blair deems the best erotic scenes in the last 50 years of American literature have been collected in this ambitious anthology, with some of the 46 sexy pieces excerpted from such classic novels as Saul Bellow's 1954 groundbreaking The...
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Various, Author, Edric S. Mesmer, Editor Scholastic Paperbacks $3.99 (80p) ISBN 978-0-439-29674-8
Ezra Pound's surreally simple ""In a Station of the Metro,"" Poe's ""The Raven,"" Lucille Clifton's ""Blessing the Boats"" and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's ""Sonnet 43"" (""How do I love thee? Let me count the ways"") are among the verses...
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Various, Author, DC Comics, Manufactured by et al. DC Comics $17.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-56389-974-4
In the world of Superman comics, the most recent presidential election was decided quickly and cleanly, and the man in the Oval Office is Superman's arch-enemy, Lex Luthor. This work collects the 2000 and 2001 episodes of various Superman-related
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Various, Author, DC Comics, Manufactured by . DC Comics $14.95 (208p) ISBN 978-1-4012-0213-2
Just in time for the release of the Catwoman
movie comes this sharp gathering of nine Catwoman comics from the past 64 years. They provide not only an unintentionally hilarious synopsis of seven decades of fashion history but also some very...
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Various, Author, Actus, Author, Actus Independent Comics, Illustrator . Top Shelf $21.95 (192p) ISBN 978-965-90221-4-4
The blurb on the back cover of this Israeli comics collective's latest book states that each of the graphic novellas within has a "happy ending, for a change." But this disclaimer turns out to be rather tongue-in-cheek, as the most these
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Various, Author, Claudia Bishop, Editor, Nick DiChario, Editor . Berkley Prime Crime $21.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-425-17470-8
Editors Bishop and DiChario serve a delicious menu of murder and mayhem in this inspired anthology of 16 short mysteries, each with its own recipe. Written by a mix of mostly major mystery authors, both masters of the culinary cozy and those...
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Peter Gordon Buchanan-Smith, Author, Various, Author Princeton Architectural Press $25 (222p) ISBN 978-1-56898-297-7
Disturbing closeups of lipsticks; a collection of heartbreakingly earnest lost-pet fliers; painstakingly documented differences in the scribbles produced by Eraser Mate or Dynagrip pens all help make up Speck: A Curious Collection of Uncommon...
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Library of America, Author, Various, Author, Robert Hass, Compiled by Library of America $35 (1000p) ISBN 978-1-883011-78-9
These two volumes make up the first half of the largest anthology of 20th-century American poetry ever attempted. Over 200 poets are represented, all born before 1914, and presented in birth-date order. The scale here is unprecedented, and the...
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Library of America, Author, Various, Author, Robert Hass, Compiled by Library of America $35 (1000p) ISBN 978-1-883011-77-2
These two volumes make up the first half of the largest anthology of 20th-century American poetry ever attempted. Over 200 poets are represented, all born before 1914, and presented in birth-date order. The scale here is unprecedented, and the...
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Candlewick, Author, Various, Author Candlewick Press (MA) $12.99 (80p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2062-2
Ten brief paperback books for fledgling readers come in the reclosable boxed set of Brand New Readers: Red Set and Brand New Readers: Blue Set, including Edna Dances, about a tutu-clad elephant who spins and leaps; and The Big Fish, in which the
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Marion Morra, Author, Various, Author, Eve Potts, With Harper Perennial $9.95 (297p) ISBN 978-0-380-75503-5
The coauthors of Choices: Realistic Alternatives in Cancer Treatment assert that 60% of all serious cancers can be cured, and accordingly direct this superbly organized, kindly book to the millions of cancer patients whom they hope will be ``triumphe
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Robert Pondiscio, Author, Various, Author, Marian L. Salzman, Joint Author HarperCollins $5.99 (128p) ISBN 978-0-380-78231-4
Offering a ramp onto the information highway, Kids On-Line: 150 Ways for Kids to Surf the Net for Fun and Information by Marian Salzman and Robert Pondiscio steps up to the challenge of introducing newcomers to cyberspace, with helpful advice and...
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Robert Pondiscio, Author, Various, Author, Marian L. Salzman, Joint Author HarperCollins $5.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-380-78661-9
Surf's Up Clear and crisp, You Can Surf the Net! by Marc Gascoigne is for the kid who may already be acquainted with the Internet but is shy online or doesn't know where to go. Gascoigne supplies addresses for cool newsgroups and Web sites, as well...
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Franklin Schneier, Author, Various, Author, Lawrence Welkowitz, With Harper Paperbacks $14.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-380-78399-1
Shyness only begins to cover the range of social anxieties and social phobias covered by Schneier, assistant director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Welkowitz, a research psychologist also at the...
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Kevin D. Randle, Author, Various, Author, Donald R. Schmitt, With Avon Books $6.99 (327p) ISBN 978-0-380-76196-8
The alien spacecraft that allegedly landed in Roswell, N.M., on July 3, 1947, was not the product of rancher Mac Brazel's imagination, say the authors of this report of the event, pieced together from accounts by 200 witnesses. The book contends...
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Candlewick Press, Author, Various, Author Candlewick Press (MA) $19.95 (96p) ISBN 978-1-56402-002-4
Rather than reflecting this volume's content, its title refers to the publisher's logo, a candlestick-carrying bear. No apparent theme connects the entries in the book, which collects the work of an impressive array of authors and illustrators, most
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Books Candlewick, Author, Various, Author Candlewick Press (MA) $19.99 (96p) ISBN 978-0-7636-0012-9
Younger readers will find the full texts of 19 picture books in The Candlewick Book of Animal Tales, the latest in a series of anthologies from Candlewick. The books inevitably suffer somewhat from being crammed onto a few pages: while all the text...
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Various, Author, Clive Barker, Editor et al. Checker $26.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-9753808-0-2
Who'd have suspected that Clive Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart
would spawn the feature film Hellraiser
(helmed by the author himself), a gaggle of uneven sequels and a following that craved even more tales of twisted individuals and...
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Edited by Sonny Liew and Joyce Sim. Image, $29.99 trade paper (280p) ISBN 978-1-63215-061-5
The third volume of the anthology series brings together Southeast Asian comics creators to showcase a variety of styles. The theme here is the one story you would wish to share were the world to be ending. The results are fairly diverse—sci-fi...
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Various, Author, Various, Illustrator . AdHouse Books $19.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-9721794-8-5
Many underground cartoonists define their work at least in part by its relationship to the superhero comics mainstream: they're against it. But superhero comics are also the teat at which many of those cartoonists suckled, and this meaty...
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Candlewick, Author, Various, Author, Books Candlewick, Manufactured by Candlewick Press (MA) $12.99 (80p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2061-5
Ten brief paperback books for fledgling readers come in the reclosable boxed set of Brand New Readers: Red Set and Brand New Readers: Blue Set, including Edna Dances, about a tutu-clad elephant who spins and leaps; and The Big Fish, in which the
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Jez Alborough, Author, Various, Author, David Parkins, Illustrator Candlewick Press (MA) $19.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-7636-0947-4
A companion to the Reading Together series, Math Together offers young children and their parents an integrated approach to mathematical concepts. Each of the two boxed sets--the Yellow Set is for children ages three and up, the Green Set for...
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Fiona Kai Avery, Author, Various, Author, Billy Tan, Illustrator , illus. by Billy Tan. Top Cow $9.95 (80p) ISBN 978-1-58240-259-8
Move over, Joan of Arc—here comes Shiori-sama. Avery (No Honor) puts a Japanese spin on the Witchblade series, opening up a new world of samurai. Lady Shiori hears the call of the Witchblade—a legendary living blade that, throughout...
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Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. DC Comics, $24.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-40124-185-8
For someone known for using intertwining continuity on books such as Green Lantern, Superman and the Justice League, writer Johns feels right in his element creating a new Batman and Gotham City from scratch. This graphic novel finds a lot of...
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Shahar Kober. Scholastic/Cartwheel, $4.99 (12p) ISBN 978-0-545-53364-5
This cheery dreidel-shaped board book with an eye-catching blue foil cover assigns two lines of the well-known Hanukkah song to a series of anthropomorphized animal families, each of whom has an idiosyncratic menorah: a mouse family has made one of...
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David Almond, John Boyne, Tracy Chevalier et al., illus. by Jim Kay. Candlewick, $19.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-7636-7554-7
Eleven authors mark the centenary of WWI with original short stories that are simultaneously poignant, thought-provoking, and relevant. David Almond, Michael Morpurgo, Ursula Dubosarsky, Marcus Sedgwick, and others anchor their fictional narratives...
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Edited by Michelle Koufopoulos. Riverhead, $16 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-399-57677-5
With an introduction by Elizabeth Gilbert, this collection of 47 short essays on how her bestselling book changed the writers’ lives will be of interest to the author’s fans as well as to others wondering what the Eat Pray Love hubbub was (and still
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Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, et al. DC, $9.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-4012-7008-7
Since her debut as the Joker’s psychotic girlfriend in the 1990s cartoon Batman: The Animated Series, Harley Quinn’s popularity has exploded and she’s gained a rep as a “good” baddie. This collection, appearing to tie in with her appearance in...
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Various. DC, $24.99 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-4012-6208-2
The Gotham universe has now spiraled far enough from its dark star Batman that an entire series can be built around not just one of his sidekicks but a sidekick’s followers. At the start of this jumbled series, Gotham, beset with a swarm of youthful
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The Caine Prize for African Writing. Interlink, $16.95 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-56656-016-0
The creators of Africa’s best-known literary prize collect another stunning assortment of stories from around the continent. The stories include domestic dramas, heart-wrenching family narratives, and the absurd realms of the mathematicians behind...
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Various authors. . Scholastic/Fickling, $14.99 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-1-338-20679-1
The glossy pages of this volume offer four longer episodes of Troy and the Trailblazers, a space adventure-comedy, punctuated by shorter episodes of a half-dozen animal comics played strictly for laughs. In a predictable initial sequence (“I’m...
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18 Afghan Women. Grand Central, $25 (242p) ISBN 978-1-5387-2682-2
This revelatory anthology of stories grew out of the Write Afghanistan project, which connected editors and translators to Afghan writers, many of whom use pseudonyms to protect their safety. Though a handful of entries are inspired by news events (a
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Compiled by Lauren Blitzer et al. Gallery, $27 (336p) ISBN 978-1-982160-92-0
Inspired by Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony at Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, this heartfelt collection gathers more than 100 women’s responses to the question, “What was the moment in your life when you realized...
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Edited by Budjette Tan and Charis Loke. Difference Engine, $19.50 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-981-14-5160-7
In this resonant collection, creators from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand explore the theme of sound. Standout entries include “Folk” by Paolo Chikiamco and Borg Sinaban, a fable about an underground karaoke studio for
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Alex de Campi et al. Image, $16.99 trade paper (200p) ISBN 978-1-5343-0753-7
This generous anthology collects the offbeat contemporary romance series’ first four issues, written primarily by de Campi and drawn by a variety of buzzy artists. The genre offerings are pleasantly eclectic, including fantasy, science fiction, and...
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Edited by Leyla Moushabeck. Interlink, $35 (224p) ISBN 978-1-56656-038-2
In her introduction, Moushabeck (Soup for Syria) references “these troubling times of anti-immigrant rhetoric” and counters that rhetoric by extolling the culinary gifts 42 million American immigrants have given the country, which are the...
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Adam Warren and Carla Speed McNeil. Dark Horse, $19.99 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-5067-0661-0
Warren’s ongoing Empowered series, about a bouncy superheroine who gets her powers from a tissue-thin costume and winds up in bondage at least once per issue, is at once parody and celebration of cheesecake superhero comic books. This side story is...
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Quentin Blake et al. Walker Books US, $19.99 (80p) ISBN 978-1-5362-0536-7
Structured primarily as a resource for educators, this assortment of storytelling and illustration prompts and practices from celebrated British Children’s Laureates is classroom-ready. In dedicated chapters, contributors detail some facet of their...
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R.J. Palacio et al. Random House, $7.99 paper (40p) ISBN 978-0-593-37521-1
The words pandemic and Covid-19 never appear in this moving collection, in which 18 well-known children’s book illustrators share visions of better times. But each spread, inspired by the handmade rainbows that children have placed in windows during
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Kenn Nesbit et al, illus. by Martin Ontiveros. Reycraft, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4788-7041-8
A vibe-setting anecdote about a Halloween night that terrifies costumed candy-seekers opens this immersive assortment of poems, “some as old as a rotting corpse in a grave, others as new as a baby goblin.” The grouping intersperses works by...
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