April Publications

Five Star rolls out two offbeat cross-genre novels: Don D'Ammassa's Scarab, set on the caste-ridden planet of Tashista, where a serial killer's hitherto random murders start to fit an unusual pattern ($25.95 268p ISBN 1-59414-144-4); and Tim Waggoner's Necropolis, in which a zombie PI must contend with genetically altered werewolves and cyber-vampires in a race to find the mysterious artifact known as the Dawn Stone. ($25.95 236p -140-1). The Urban Bizarre, an anthology edited by Stoker nominee Nick Matamas (Northern Gothic), collects 14 all-original stories of the city by new writers on the underground fringe. As Matamas aptly observes in his introduction, "The stories here are speculative, dangerous, slippery and sexualized, but they're also painfully, thrillingly authentic." (Prime [www.primebooks.net], $27.95 180p ISBN 1-930997-39-6; $15 paper -40-X)