November Publications

Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick, with an introduction by Jonathan Lethem, should help persuade mainstream readers that the late SF author was no "mere" genre writer. Fans of the Spielberg film Minority Report will find Dick's original, "The Minority Report," along with 20 other masterful tales. (Pantheon, $25.95 496p ISBN 0-375-42151-3)

Bestseller Anne McCaffrey (The Skies of Pern) collects four tales of Pern in A Gift of Dragons, including a new adventure written especially for this volume, "Ever the Twain." Tom Kidd's illustrations of cuddly dragons and their human companions add extra value. (Del Rey, $15.95 192p ISBN 0-345-45635-1)

Chemistry and romance blend beautifully in SF veteran Charles L. Harness's (The Paradox Men) nostalgic and ghostly short novel, Cybele, with Bluebonnets, whose adolescent hero has a crush on his young high school chemistry teacher. No surprise, as Cybele Wilson exudes a sexual attractant. George Zebrowski in his intro testifies to the author's emotional hold. (NESFA [www.nesfapress.com], $21 160p ISBN 1-887668-41-8)

The same publisher offers Martians and Madness, by Fredric Brown, with an introduction by Phil Klass. The companion to Brown's short fiction collection From These Ashes (2001), this sizable tome gathers all five of the late author's SF novels (What Mad Universe, etc.). ($29 640p ISBN 1-887668-17-5)