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Speculative
Fiction Stars
Page Modified:
August 19, 2008
1999: Science Fiction,
Fantasy, Horror Starred Review Titles
A list of books which received at least one starred review
(indicating
a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist
- BL, Publisher's Weekly
- PW, Kirkus,
and Library
Journal - LJ.
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram
Book Magazine unless otherwise noted. Titles are arranged by approximate date
of publication, then alphabetically by author.
- Tamsin
Author: Beagle, Peter
Publisher: Roc $ 21.95 ISBN: 0451457633 Date: 1999
PW
Tamsin is a young woman who died over 300 years ago. Jennifer is a young American
transplanted to England. They are two lonely souls on opposite sides of life
and death - a boundary they are both about to cross . . .
Suggested Reading: Ghostly Stars
- Precursor
Author: Cherryh, C.J.
Publisher: Daw $ 23.95 ISBN: 086778360 Date: 1999
PW
From the three-time winner of the Hugo Award comes a sequel to the Foreigner
trilogy. Both human and Atevi return to space to rebuild and rearm the ancient
human space station and starship, and make a desperate bid to defend their
planet against alien attack.
- Dune: House Atreides
Author: Herbert, Brian & Kevin J. Anderson (Frank Herbert)
Publisher: Bantam $ 27.50 ISBN: 0553110616 Date: 1999
Kirkus
PW
LJ
Capturing all the complexity and grand themes of the original Dune,
this prequel weaves a new tapestry of terrible betrayal, grand passions, and
momentous destiny into a saga that expands the tale written by Frank Herbert
more than 30 years ago.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
- Confessions
of an Ugly Stepsister
Author: Maguire, Gregory
Publisher: Regan $ 24 ISBN: 0060393827 Date: 1999
Kirkus
From the author of the acclaimed novel Wicked comes a fresh perspective
on another timeless tale -"Cinderella" - sure to enchant readers young and
old alike. Line art.
- Flyboy Action Figure
Comes with Gasmask
Author: Munroe, Jim
Publisher: Spike (Avon) $ 12.50 (trade paper) ISBN: 0380810433 Date: 1999
Booklist
Ryan Slint can turn into a fly. Cassandra, a waitress at a greasy-spoon, can
make things disappear. They were made for each other . . . and to fight crime!
- Lady of Sherwood
Author: Roberson, Jennifer
Publisher: Kensington $ 24 ISBN: 1575664755 Date: 1999
PW
The author of Lady of the Forest continues the tale, as Robin Hood
and Marian are caught up in the intrigue of kings and face a betrayal that
will test their faith in each other - and the power of their love.
Suggested Reading: Legendary Characters
- The Garden
of the Stone
Author: Strauss, Victoria
Publisher: Avon $ 6.99 (mass market paper) ISBN: 0380797526 Date: 1999
PW
An evil warrior steals a powerful stone and uses it to institute a cruel tyranny.
Centuries later, even after a hero arrives and attempts to restore balance,
the evil Arm of the Stone is still strong. It now falls to a beautiful strong
assassin to take up the dangerous quest and restore the balance of the Mind
and Hand.
- Lord of
the Fire Lands: A Tale of the King's Blades
Author: Duncan, Dave
Publisher: Eos $ 23 ISBN: 0380974614 Date: 1999
PW
They entered the grim school of Ironhall as unwanted, rebellious boys. They
emerged five years later as nimble and deadly young men, tile finest swordsmen
in the known world. Never in living memory has a Blade candidate refused the
honor of serving his king. . . until now. Young Wasp is no rebel, but an orphan
who came to Ironhall when his entire family was obliterated by savage Baelish
pirates. Yet, at the sacred ceremony of binding, he follows the lead of his
friend Raider - and together they spurn the wishes of King Ambrose himself.
Suddenly Raider and Wasp are outlaws to King and country - fugitives hunted
by the very Blades whose ranks they were a breath away from entering. Amid
the turmoil their "treachery" has inspired, Wasp and Raider must undertake
a desperate journey into the heart of the dreaded Fire Lands. For the outcome
of their terrifying confrontation with dark truth and darker magic in this
realm of monsters, ghosts, and half-men will ultimately determine the fate
of two kingdoms. - Publisher Marketing.
- All Tomorrow's
Parties
Author: Gibson, William
Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399145796 Date: 1999
Kirkus
PW
The author of Neuromancer, the novel that predicted the Internet,
now takes readers into the millennium, resurrecting Colin Laney, his popular
character from Idoru, in a brilliant new novel about the moments
in history when futures are born.
- Others
Author: Herbert, James
Publisher: Tor $ 25.95 ISBN: 0312872933 Date: 1999
Kirkus
Britain's #1 bestselling author of thriller/horror fiction offers a controversial
and stunning new chiller. When he is hired to find a baby taken at birth,
P.I. Nicholas Dismas's investigation leads him to a strange home for the elderly,
where he discovers the dark secret of the Others - and resolves the enigma
of his own existence.
Suggested Reading: Scary Stars
- Millennium
Rising
Author: Jensen, Jane
Publisher: Del Rey $ 24 ISBN: 0345430344 Date: 1999
Kirkus
A really cool priest and a reporter track down the cause of impending Armageddon
and find that it's not really God - it's a conspiracy. Problem is, it's taking
on a life of its own, and by the time our heroes figure out who is behind
it and how, it may be too late.
Suggested Reading: If
You Liked the Da Vinci Code | Conspiracy Stars
- Something
Dangerous
Author: Redmond, Patrick
Publisher: Hyperion $ 23.95 ISBN: 0786865520 Date: 1999
PW
At Kirkston Abbey, Jonathan Palmer can't believe his good luck when Richard
Rokeby seeks out his friendship. But soon he comes to realize that there is
something not quite right about his new friend when an innocent game among
schoolboys turns into a nightmare.
Suggested Reading: Scary Stars
- The Martians
Author: Robinson, Kim Stanley
Publisher: Spectra $ 24.95 ISBN: 0553801171 Date: 1999
PW
With this stunning collection of original short pieces, science fiction icon
Kim Stanley Robinson returns to the incredible world that made him a multiple
award-winner and catapulted him into the top ranks of the field.
- The Stars Compel
Author: Roessner, Michaela
Publisher: Tor $ 25.95 ISBN: 0312857551 Date: 1999
PW
- Darwin's Radio
Author: Bear, Greg
Publisher: Ballantine $ 24 ISBN: 034542333x Date: 1999
PW
LJ
Molecular biologist Kaye Lang's theory - that ancient diseases encoded in
the DNA of humans can return to life - has become a chilling reality. The
shocking evidence: a "virus-hunter" has tracked down a flu-like disease that
kills expectant mothers and their offspring.
- A Civil Campaign
Author: Bujold, Lois McMaster
Publisher: Baen $ 24 ISBN: 0671578278 Date: 1999
PW
In this Miles Vorkosigan sci-fi adventure, Miles and his friends and relatives
employ one cunning plan too many as they seek to succeed in their romantic
strategies.
- Ender's Shadow
Author: Card, Orson Scott
Publisher: Tor $ 24.95 ISBN: 031286860x Date: 1999
PW
In this new parallel novel to Ender's Game, Card tells the story
of another child in the Battle School - a boy named Bean, whose past was a
fight just to survive and whose mind was leagues beyond anyone else's.
- The Merlin of St. Gilles' Well
Author: Chamberlin, Ann
Publisher: Tor $ 23.95 ISBN:0312865511 Date: 1999
PW
This stunning historical fantasy, based on actual events, casts Joan of Arc
and her times in a revealing new light, recounting how her outstanding destiny
was predicted by ancient prophecies attributed to Merlin.
Suggested Reading: Legendary Characters
- The Road to Mars
Author: Idle, Eric
Publisher: Pantheon Books $ 24 ISBN: 0-375-40340-X Date: 1999
LJ
Douglas Adams meets Kurt Vonnegut meets Isaac Asimov in this wildly inventive
and hilarious sci-fi thriller about life on the interplanetary comedy circuitin
the 22nd century.
Suggested Reading: If You LIke Douglas Adams
- Hearts in Atlantis
Author: King, Stephen
Publisher: Scribner $ 28 ISBN: 0684853515 Date: 1999
BL
Kirkus
LJ
In his strongest collection since Different Seasons, Stephen King
confirms the power of his storytelling with four brilliant, disturbing tales
of an America shadowed by Vietnam: "Low Men in Yellow Coats, " "Hearts in
Atlantis, " "Blind Willie, " and "Why We're in Vietnam."
Suggested Reading: All Stars
- 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense
Author: Sarrantonio, Al (ed)
Publisher: Avon $ 27.50 ISBN: 0380977400 Date: 1999
PW
A mammoth horror/suspense anthology featuring 29 authors, including Stephen
King, William Peter Blatty, Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, David Morrell, Joyce
Carol Oates, Ramsey Campbell, and Eric Van Lustbader.
Suggested Reading: Scary Stars
- The Rainy Season
Author: Blaylock, James P.
Publisher: Ace $ 21.95 ISBN: 0441006183 Date: 1999
PW
After the sudden death of his wife, Phil Ainsworth senses an eerie presence
in the house. His niece, left in his care, is a special child who can sense
powerful emotions from the past - and see the uncanny powers closing around
them.
Suggested Reading: Scary Stars
- Rhapsody
Author: Hayden, Elizabeth
Publisher: Tor $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312867522 Date: 1999
PW
In the tradition of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and Terry Goodkind's
Sword of Truth, Rhapsody marks the beginning of a new fantasy
series, set in a "richly realized place of myth and magic" (Mary Jo Putney).
- Chi: A Novel of Virtual Reality
Author: Besher, Alexander
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24 ISBN: 0684830884 Date: 1999
PW
- Year's Best Fantasy and Horror
(12th annual)
Author: Datlow, Ellen
& Terri Windling (ed)
Publisher: St Martins $ 17.95 (pbk) ISBN: 0312206860 Date: 1999
PW
This new helping of fantasy and horror stories includes works by Jorge Luis
Borges, Charles de Lint, Terry Dowling, Dennis Etchison, John Kessel, Delia
Sherman, Michael Marshall Smith, and Peter Straub - plus Edward Bryant's wrap-up
of the year in fantasy films.
- Dark Sister
Author: Joyce, Graham
Publisher: Tor $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312866321 Date: 1999
PW
BL
Alex and Maggie think they live in an ordinary townhouse, until they discover
a diary containing secret Wiccan herb-lore - and awaken a malevolent force
they can't control.
Suggested Reading: Contemporary Fantasy Stars
- Company of Glass:
Book One of Evrien
Author: Leith, Valery
Publisher: Bantam $ 13.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 0553379380 Date: 1999
Kirkus
In the world of Evrien, home to the shadowy remnants of an imperfectly understood
magic, a deadly force moves against the land. One man holds the key to his
world's salvation - the one man who has turned his back on it.
- Cassini Division
Author: MacLeod, Ken
Publisher: Tor $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312870442 Date: 1999
Kirkus
Ellen May Ngewthu, a soldier and leader of the Cassini Division, has a plan
to rid humanity once and for all of the powerful post-humans: god-like beings
descended from those men and women who transformed themselves with high technology
centuries ago.
- Nocturne for a Dangerous Man
Author: Matz, Marc
Publisher: Tor $ 25.95 ISBN:0312869355 Date: 1999
Kirkus
When Gavilan Robie is hired by a powerful multinational corporation to find
an employee who has been kidnapped by terrorists, he will need every trick
he's picked up during years of covert ops just to survive.
- Ancients of Days:
Second Book of the Confluence
Author: McAuley, Paul J.
Publisher: Eos $ 16 ISBN: 0380975165 Date: 1999
PW
The second volume of "a powerful epic that could be one of the most important
in recent SF" (Locus). On an artificial world created and seeded
with ten thousand bloodlines by the long-vanished Preservers, young Yama pursues
the hidden secrets of his past.
- Starfish
Author: Watts, Peter
Publisher: Tor $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312868553 Date: 1999
BL
Peter Watts is a new science fiction novelist of extraordinary talent. His
first stories appeared in Canadian SF magazines in the last few years and
now he delivers a powerful and original novel of the not-too-distant future
and the exploitation of the geothermal resources of the deep Juan de Fuca
Rift in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean by multinational corporations. Unfortunately
all the volunteers who are surgically altered for employment at the bottom
of the ocean in these experimental stations are psychotic. And one of the
central questions is how many of them can survive, or will be allowed to survive,
long enough to become sane, while worldwide disaster approaches from below.
- Year's Best Science Fiction
16th Annual Collection
Author: Dozois, Gardner (ed)
Publisher: St Martins $ 29.95/17.95 ISBN: 0312209630/0312204450 Date: 1999
PW
Science fiction at its very best, this award-winning anthology features works
by the top sci fi writers of the year.
- Centauru: The Best Australian
Science Fiction
Author: Hartwell, David (ed)
Publisher: Tor $ 29.95 ISBN: 0312865562 Date: 1999
PW
Science fiction is a world-wide literature, as World Fantasy Award-winning
editor David G. Hartwell has often shown. Now Hartwell and acclaimed Australian
anthologist Damien Broderick are bringing a higher profile to Australian SF
with Centaurus, a showcase of some of the most original voices in SF.
Included are stories from Peter Carey, Greg Egan, Terry Dowling, A. Bertram
Chandler, Phillippa C. Maddern, Rosaleen Love, Sean McMullen, Lucy Sussex,
and George Turner. For both avid followers of Australian SF and genre readers
who have not yet discovered our southern stars, Centaurus is an anthology
no SF fan will want to miss. - Tor marketing.
- Souls
in the Great Machine
Author: McMullen, Sean Date: 1999
Publisher: Tor $ 27.95 ISBN: 0312870558
Kirkus
BL
In McMullen's glittering, dynamic, exotic future a faint mirrorsun hangs in
the night sky, a mysterious siren lures people to their deaths, and an ancient,
forgotten device threatens the world with a new ice age. Only one man knows
how to stop it, but he has mysteriously disappeared - and time is running
out.
- Flashforward
Author: Sawyer, Robert J.
Publisher: Tor $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312867123 Date: 1999
PW
In pursuit of an elusive nuclear particle, an experiment goes incredibly awry,
and, for a few moments, the consciousness of the entire human race is thrown
ahead by about 20 years. As the implications truly hit home, the pressure
to repeat the experiment builds.
- The Conquerer's
Child (Holdfast Chronicles Bk IV)
Author: Charnas, Suzy McKee
Publisher: Tor $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312857195 Date: 1999
PW
The direct sequel to The Furies. Sorrel, adopted daughter of Alldera
the Conqueror, comes from the camps of the Riding Women to join her mother.
As she and her adopted son face grave danger, she slowly finds her own place
outside her mother's shadow.
- Violent Stars
Author: Gotleib, Phyllis
Publisher: Tor $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312869533 Date: 1999
Kirkus
"Phyllis Gotlieb is the four-star SF writer who creates real people dealing
with complex social and metaphysical problems in scientifically knowledgeable
situations -- and all this in fine writerly language", said Judith Merril
on the publication of Cotlieb's Flesh & Gold last year. Now the story
continues and many of the same characters reappear in this intriguing sequel
featuring both wonderful and terrible aliens, good and evil humans on many
planets, and a series of murders aimed at wiping out opposition to a certain
interstellar family corporation. - Publisher marketing.
- The
Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Author: King, Stephen
Publisher: Scribner List Price: $ 16.95 ISBN: 0684867621 Date: 1999
PW
When a young girl gets lost in the woods, she has only her Sony Walkman for
comfort. She is a huge fan of Tom Gordon, a relief pitcher for the Boston
Red Sox, so she listens to a game and he becomes a character in her mind.
The question is, is there something threatening in the woods?
- Really,
Really, Really Weird Stories
Author: Shirley, John
Publisher: Night Shade $ 16.95 (pbk ) ISBN: 1892389029 Date: 1999
PW
- Far Horizons: The Great
Worlds of Science Fiction
Author: Silverberg,
Robert (ed)
Publisher: Eos $ 27.50 ISBN: 0380976307 Date: 1999
PW
In this collection of new, original stories, science fiction's most beloved
writers (including Dan Simmons, Orson Scott Card, and Anne McCaffrey) once
again revisit the remarkable worlds they created and made famous.
- Leper's Companions
Author: Blackburn, Julia
Publisher: Pantheon List Price: $ 22 ISBN: 0679439846 Date: 1999
Kirkus
PW
From the widely praised author of Daisy Bates in the Desert, here
is an exquisite new novel about a woman's fantastical quest for rebirth in
the aftermath of a devastating loss.
- Mad Ship: the Liveship Traders
(bk 2)
Author: Hobb, Robin
Publisher: Spectra $ 24.95 ISBN: Date: 1999
PW
BL
In this stunning second volume of Robin Hobb's acclaimed Liveship Traders
trilogy, heroine Althea employs an insane crew to battle pirates and the slave
trade.
- The Calculus
of Angels (Age of Unreason, Book 2)
Author: Keyes, J.
Gregory
Publisher: Del Rey $ 14 (trade paper) ISBN: 0345406079 Date: 1999
PW
The uncanny adventures of Newton and Franklin continue as sorcery wreaks havoc
across eighteenth-century Europe - demolishing London with a hurtling comet,
uniting Peter the Great of Russia with Adrienne and beckoning a host of colonial
America's famous figures across the ocean on a most extraordinary expedition.
Suggested Reading: Alternative History Stars
- Waiting
Author: Robinson, Frank M.
Publisher: Forge List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312866526 Date:1999
PW
They are among us, and they've been here for a long time - waiting. One ordinary
man in San Francisco, Arthur Banks, begins to find them out, and immediately
his life and family are in danger. It's a paranoid's worst nightmare - but
that's just where it starts. He may well be fighting for the survival of the
entire human race.
- Cryptonomicon
Author: Stephenson, Neal
Publisher: Avon $ 29.50 ISBN: 0380973464 Date:1999
PW
LJ
The adult grandchildren of two men once involved in code-breaking espionage
in World War II find a sunken Nazi submarine that leads to a massive conspiracy,
which can either enhance freedom - or subjugate the world.
- Singer From
the Sea
Author: Tepper, Sheri S.
Publisher: Eos $ 24 ISBN: 0380974800 Date:1999
Kirkus
An heiress on the isolated planet of Haven must unmask a terrible truth -
or else the entire civilization is doomed to be swept away on a cosmic sea
of oblivion.
- Dragonshadow
Author: Hambly, Barbara
Publisher: Del Rey $ 24 ISBN: 0345421876 Date: 1999
Booklist
PW
Kirkus
The eagerly awaited sequel to the classic fantasy Dragonsbane, by
the bestselling author of Icefalcon's Quest. As sorceress Jenny Waynest,
and Morkeleb, the dragon, battle for their freedom, John Aversin once again
ventures to save the day.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
- A Clash of Kings
Author: Martin, George R.R.
Publisher: Bantam $ 25.95 ISBN: 0553108034 Date:1999
PW
Transporting readers into a forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry
and warfare, Martin weaves a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother
plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night.
- Rainbow Mars
Author: Niven, Larry
Publisher: Tor $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312867778 Date:1999
Kirkus
Five-time Hugo Award winner Larry Niven weaves time and fantasy to create
an utterly unique novel of a time traveler who must retreive life forms extinct
in his current existence.
- The Dragons of
Springplace: Stories
Author: Reed, Robert
Publisher: Golden Gryphon $ 23.95 ISBN: 096559016x Date:1999
PW
No American writer during the 1990s has published a more distinguished bibliography
of first-rate science fiction than Robert Reed. In the title piece, a renegade
misfit conquers the dragons and renews the threat of nuclear chaos aboard
Springplace, a man-made repository for old reactor cores, dirty plutonium,
and dismantled bombs. Another story is a sprawling intergalactic epic that
takes place aboard a starship. Salvaged and commandeered by humans, the massive
generation starship becomes the setting for a titanic struggle between two
alien entities who engage in a monumental battle for survival. - Golden Gryphon
marketing.
- Incubus
Author: Arensberg, Anne
Publisher: Knopf $24 ISBN: 0394556968 Date:1999
PW
The acclaimed author of Sister Wolf and Group Sex presents
her most mesmerizing novel yet - the story of a town under demonic possession.
Suggested Reading: Scary Stars
- Minions of
the Moon
Author: Bowes, Richard
Publisher: Tor $ 23.95 ISBN: 031286566x Date:1999
Booklist
- Stardust
Author: Gaiman, Neil
Publisher: Avon $ 22 ISBN: 0380977281 Date:1999
BL
PW
Kirkus
From the extraordinary imagination of Neil Gaiman - bestselling author of
Neverwhere - comes a haunting fable of love, duty and magical lands.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
- The Mammoth
Book of Best New Horror
Author: Jones, Stephen
Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 10.95 ISBN: 078670585x
Suggested Reading: Scary Stars
PW
- Colonization: Second
Contact
Author: Turtledove,
Harry
Publisher: Del Rey $ 25.95 ISBN: 034543190 Date:1999
PW
The "master of Alternate History" (Publishers Weekly) offers the
first novel in a new series that continues the action of the acclaimed Worldwar
saga. The 1960's are a time when humanity must face its greatest challenge:
alien colonization of planet Earth.
Suggested Reading: Alternative History Stars
- A Deepness
in the Sky
Author: Vinge, Vernor
Publisher: Tor $ 27.95 ISBN: 0312856860 Date:1999
Kirkus
- The Warlock
of Strathearn
Author: Whyte, Christopher
Publisher: Gollancz $ 10.95 (trade paper) ISBN: 0575401222 Date: 1999
PW
- Second Angel
Author: Kerr, Philip
Publisher: Henry Holt $ 25 ISBN:0805059628 Date: 1999
Kirkus
Set in 2069, on the centennial of the Apollo XII Moon mission, this dystopian
high-velocity thriller reveals an Earth where plagues have destroyed the major
food supplies, climatic changes have brought constant winter to the once-industialized
West, and a new and virulent virus has infected the population.
Suggested Reading: Dystopian Stars
- Distraction
Author: Sterling, Bruce
Publisher: Spectra $ 23.95 ISBN: 0553104845 Date: 1999
PW
Kirkus
An electrifying cautionary tale from Bruce Sterling - called "one of the best
thinkers in science fiction today" (Newsweek) - propels readers to
2043, when high technology is humanity's ultimate threat.
Suggested Reading: Dystopian Stars
- The Intuitionist
Author: Whitehead, Colson
Publisher: Anchor $ 19.95 ISBN: Date:1999
BL
Kirkus
In a time of calamity in a major metropolitan city's Department of Elevator
Inspectors, and Lila Mae Watson, the department's first black female inspector,
is at the center of it. Beautifully written and wildly imaginative, The
Intutionist stars one of the most lovable heroines of all time.
Suggested Reading: African American Stars
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