Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/

JUNE

        A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY by Vernor Vinge

        A prequel to _A Fire Upon the Deep_, this sets two dissimilar
human cultures (one rather unlikable) against each other in a system
that may be one of the very few examples of transcendent technology
in this part of the galaxy.

        I liked it at the time but have never reread it.

        STAR WARS(r): EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE(tm) by Terry Brooks

        Novelization of a crap movie by a hack writer.

        RAINBOW MARS by Larry Niven (Alternate)

        I -think- this was a fix-up of the Svetz time travel stories
with a new story. Although I am fond of Svetz as the Niven character I
first met, I have never read this particular collection.

        AGAINST THE TIDE OF YEARS by S.M. Stirling (Alternate)

        Sequel to _Island in the Sea of Time. Never read it.

        OUTWARD BOUND by James P. Hogan (Alternate)

        If memory serves one of the Tor Jupiter series and therefore
a young adult novel. I never read it.

        THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FANTASY edited by John Clute and John Grant
         (Alternate)

        A large and rather useful encyclopedia.

        THE SHADOW OF ALBION by Andre Norton and Rosemary Edghill (Alternate)

        Own it, have not yet read it.

        ENCHANTMENT by Orson Scott Card (Alternate)

        Never saw it.

        THE ICEWIND DALE TRILOGY (3-in-1 of THE CRYSTAL SHARD, STREAMS OF
         SILVER and THE HALFLING'S GEM) by R.A. Salvatore (Altiverse catalog)

        Is this the first appearance of the the Altiverse?

        Fantasy set in AD&D 2E's Forgotten Realms, I think.  I must
have sold a kajillion of these over the years but I never read them.

        STAR WARS(r): THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN (Altiverse catalog)

        Artbook, which I never saw.

        BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: THE WATCHER'S GUIDE by Christopher Golden &
         Nancy Holder (Altiverse catalog)

        I never saw this.

COLLECTOR'S ISSUE # 1

        RINCEWIND THE WIZZARD (4-in-1 of THE COLOUR OF MAGIC, THE LIGHT
         FANTASTIC, SOURCERY and ERIC) by Terry Pratchett

        Note how the SFBC is not afraid to spell it 'colour' when the
source material is British. Kudos.

        An omnibus of Rincewind stories. Rincewind is a cowardly wizard
whose magical skills are at best worst, who despite his best efforts
keeps having adventures. I think the later Diskworld books are better
and I don't particularly like Rincwind, on account of the implausibility
of one guy having an apparently endless series of brushes with death,
but all Pratchett is worth at least one read.

        EON & ETERNITY (2-in-1) by Greg Bear

        In Eon, a starship from an alternate future arrives in orbit
around a post-WWIII Earth. This is a book with flashy and yet stupid
ideas.

        Eternity is a sequel. I don't recall which sequel.

        THE CHRONICLES OF THE LENSMEN, VOL. 2 (3-in-1 of GRAY LENSMAN,
         SECOND STAGE LENSMAN and CHILDREN OF THE LENS) by E.E. "Doc"
         Smith (Alternate)

        Space opera, concerning the struggle between Civilization (AKA the
good guys, although "good" varies from civilization to civilization) and
the enemies of Civilization. Rather dated but important to the field.

        THE EINSTEIN INTERSECTION by Samuel R. Delany (Alternate)

        If I read it, I then forgot it.

        Over the River and Through the Woods: The Best Short Fiction of
          Clifford D. Simak Clifford D. Simak (Tachyon Publications
          0-9648320-2-X, Oct '96 [Nov '96], $25.00, 218pp, hc, cover by
          Michael Dashow)

          + ix o Introduction o Poul Anderson o in
          + 1 o A Death in the House o ss Galaxy Oct '59
          + 24 o The Big Front Yard o na Astounding Oct '58
          + 87 o Good Night, Mr. James o ss Galaxy Mar '51
          + 110 o Dusty Zebra o nv Galaxy Sep '54
          + 141 o Neighbor o nv Astounding Jun '54
          + 169 o Over the River and Through the Woods o ss Amazing May
            '65
          + 180 o Construction Shack o ss Worlds of If Jan/Feb '73
          + 197 o The Grotto of the Dancing Deer o ss Analog Apr '80

        The most recent anthology of Simak stories I know of.
Definitely worth hunting down if only for _The Big Front Yard_.

        Simak was a fellow who could show mortal brushing up
against things much older and vaster than them without it ending
in a moment of sublime horror, mainly because his characters
tended to be sensible and amiable folks, even the gods.

        THE CHRONICLES OF MASTER LI AND NUMBER TEN OX by Barry Hughart
         (Alternate)

        I have only read the first of these (Had the omnibus, sold or
gave all my copies away for Xmas presents) but I liked that quite a lot.
Master Li is a wise old man with a small flaw in his nature and Number
Ten Ox is his large side-kick (and on occasion, motivator). In the first
book, the mystery of what has put all of Number Ten Ox's village's children
into comas leads the pair on an investigation that crosses both CHina and
its mythology.

        Recommended.

        CORUM: THE PRINCE WITH THE SILVER HAND by Michael Moorcock (Alternate)

        Own it, never read it.

        LORD DARCY (3-in-1 of MURDER AND MAGIC, TOO MANY MAGICIANS and
         LORD DARCY INVESTIGATES) by Randall Garrett (Alternate)

        The Lord Darcy mysteries are sent in a universe where Good King
Richard did not die while slaughtering his way across Europe, where the
separation between the English and French kingdoms never occured and
where the laws of magic were developed rather than those of physics.
There are lots of references to mainstream mysteries and to people in
SF and Fandom.

        Also recommended.      

SUMMER

        THE BURNING STONE by Kate Elliott

        Never read it.

        THE BLACK SWAN by Mercedes Lackey

        Nor this.

        FOUNDATION'S TRIUMPH by David Brin

        Well, I -tried- to read this.

        STAR TREK: DARK VICTORY by William Shatner (Alternate)

        Never read it.

        MY FAVORITE SF STORY edited by Martin H. Greenberg (Alternate)

        Hmmm. Can't find the contents.

        ACORNA'S PEOPLE by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
         (Alternate)

        I missed this.

        WIT'CH STORM by James Clemens (Alternate)

        Nothin'g sa'ys q'uality fantas'y l'ike misuse'd apos'tro'phes.

        Chicks 'n Chained Males ed. Esther M. Friesner & Martin H. Greenberg
          (Baen 0-671-57814-6, May '99 [Apr '99], $5.99, 313pp, pb, cover
          by Larry Elmore);

          + 1 o Introduction o Esther M. Friesner o in
          + 4 o Myth Manners' Guide to Greek Missology #1 o Harry
            Turtledove o ss *
          + 19 o Chain, Link, Fence o Steven Piziks o ss *
          + 24 o Fool's Gold o Elizabeth Moon o nv *
          + 47 o In for a Pound o Lawrence Watt-Evans o ss *
          + 61 o Death Becomes Him o Marina Frants o ss *
          + 79 o Straight Arrow o Susan Shwartz o nv *
          + 106 o Bad Heir Day o Rosemary Edghill o ss *
          + 117 o Why Do You Think They Call it Middle Earth? o Susan
            Casper o ss *
          + 135 o Leg Irons, the Bitch, and the Wardrobe o Laura Frankos
            o nv *
          + 157 o Shiftless o Josepha Sherman o ss *
          + 169 o May/December at the Mall o Brian D. Akers o ss *
          + 178 o Yo, Baby! o Jan Stirling o ss *
          + 196 o Don't Break the Chain! o Jody Lynn Nye o ss *
          + 214 o Cross CHILDREN Walk o Esther M. Friesner o nv *
          + 239 o ...But Comedy Is Hard o Kate Daniel o ss *
          + 253 o Baubles, Bangles and Beads o Kevin Andrew Murphy o nv *
          + 276 o Hallah Iron-Thighs and the Five Unseemly Sorrows o K.
            D. Wentworth o ss *
          + 294 o Miss Underwood and the Mermaid o Sarah Zettel o ss *

        Comic short stories about women warriors. I never read this.

        ALIENS VS. PREDATORS by Randy Stradley & various artists (Altiverse
         catalog)

        I have no idea. A graphic novel anthology?

        ELMINSTER: THE MAKING OF A MAGE by Ed Greenwood (Altiverse catalog)

        An AD&D novel. Also CanCon, as Greenwood is a Canadian librarian.

--
"Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture
and contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure,
and demoralizing.  On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the
future of the world depends." -Oscar Wilde, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism"