VZSciFi SF Merchandise Releases: September 2000

NEW HORROR FROM ORBIT

Orbit are publishing the New York Times bestselling series ANITA BLAKE: VAMPIRE HUNTER by LAURELL K. HAMILTON in the UK. The first two books will be released this September.

Guilty Pleasures
"This fast-paced, tough-edged supernatural thriller is mesmerizing reading indeed" - Locus

Vampires call Anita Blake the Executioner. Anita is a necromancer and vampire hunter in a time when the Supreme Court has granted the undead equal rights. But when a serial killer starts murdering vampires, Anita is persuaded to help them find the killer.
All her natural instincts tell her to be incredibly wary of those now officially her allies. The city's most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talentsÉ

The Laughing Corpse
"I was enthralled Ð a departure from the usual type of vampire tale which will have a wide appeal to any reader hunting for both chills and fun" - Andre Norton

After a few centuries, the only death 'big enough' is a human sacrifice. Anita Blake should know, she works as an animator for Animators Inc. It might just be a job, but all the money in the world couldnÕt have persuaded her to take on the particular job Harold Gaynor was offering.
Somebody else does take it on though - a rogue animator Ð and starts not only raising the dead, but raising Hell. And it's up to Anita to stop it.
Laurell K Hamilton lives near St Louis in the U.S. with her husband, her daughter, two attack pugs, three birds, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Both titles are published 7 September 2000 in the UK, priced £5.99. Click on the links above to order from Amazon.co.uk

September 2000 Merchandise Releases
Further Information always welcome!
Audio CD -- DVD -- Graphic Novels -- Magazines -- Making of Books -- Novels -- Video to Rent -- Video to Buy

US Comic Book Releases: The completed release list is posted weekly, usually Tuesday evenings, at http://www.comiclist.com and other places. You can receive this list each Tuesday via e-mail by following the instructions at the web site, or you can email NCRL-subscribe@egroups.com
Additional Doctor Who Release Information : Go

For More SF Merchandise News, visit our VZSciFi community partner, Scififanatic.com

SEPTEMBER AUDIO CD
Doctor Who: The Fires of Vulcan
Big Finish Audio CD featuring 7th Doctor, Mel
Two thousand years ago, a volcanic eruption wiped the Roman city of Pompeii from the face of the Earth. It also buried the Doctor's TARDIS...
• Professor Bernice Summerfield: Dragon's Wrath
Publisher: Big Finish
In part capitalising on the success of their Doctor Who range, Big Finish have moved into publishing new adventures starring the Doctor's companion originally created for Virgin by Paul Cornell. Their plans include both novels and audios. Further information via the Bernice Summerfield Official Website

SEPTEMBER DVD
• UK:Farscape Vol. 5
Contender
• UK: Thunderbirds - Episodes 1 To 4
Carlton Episodes: Trapped In The Sky*; Pit Of Peril*; The Perils Of Penelope; Terror In New York City*
• UK: Thunderbirds - Episodes 5 To 8
Carlton Episodes: Edge Of Impact; Day of Disaster; Thirty Minutes After Noon; Desperate Intruder
• UK: Thunderbirds - Episodes 9 To 12
Carlton Episodes: End Of The Road; The Uninvited; Sun Probe; Operation Crash-Dive*
• UK: Thunderbirds - Episodes 13 to 16
Carlton Episodes: Vault Of Death; The Mighty Atom; City Of Fire; The Impostors
* These episodes have never previously been released complete and uncut on home video.
The Fanderson web site reports that Thunderbirds is set to return to UK terrestrial television on BBC2 this September with all 32 episodes digitally remastered with Dolby Surround sound from the original 35mm negatives and processed through computers to eliminate sparkle and dirt flecks. The remastering process has been undertaken at great expense by Carlton International, the new owners of the series, to ensure a previously unmatched degree of picture and sound quality that will take full advantage of new digital broadcasting technology. The digitally remastered episodes will also be released by Carlton on home video in both VHS videotape and DVD formats. Fanderson is the official fan club for all Gerry Anderson series
All of the series in the ITC catalogue, including Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO and Space:1999, have been licensed for video and DVD release in the United States to the New York-based New Video, part of the A&E network. Region 1 DVDs of some of these series are currently being prepared for release on the A&E label.

SEPTEMBER MAGAZINES
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer #13 (Titan Magazines, UK & Eire only)
• Dreamwatch#74
• Star Trek Monthly #70 (Titan Magazines, Australia, New Zealand, UK & Eire only)
• Star Trek Monthly #71 (Titan Magazines, Australia, New Zealand, UK & Eire only)
• Star Wars Comic #32 (Titan Magazines, UK & Eire only)
• Star Wars Magazine #29 (Titan Magazines, UK & Eire only)
• Xena #12

SEPTEMBER MAKING OF BOOKS
• World: Farscape: The Illustrated Companion
by Paul Simpson and David Hughes. Publisher:Titan Go to : Review by Karen S Hayes
• UK: The Matrix: The Shooting Script and Complete Storyboards
by Larry & Andy Wachowski. Titan Books. UK & Ireland only
A definite collector's item from this smash hit film. (Previously scheduled for a May 2000 release).
• World: The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations
by Tony Reeves Titan Books
Exactly what it says on the tin: a complete guide to all the major film locations in the world from Star Wars to Saturday Night Fever, Manhattan to Men in Black, Belle de Jour to Ben Hur. See the world in widescreen!

SEPTEMBER NOVELS

Amazon UK: Current Best Sellers as of 11 September
• Look to Windward by Iain M Banks
• Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind
• Song of Fire and Ice 3: A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin

Amazon.com: Three chart-topping science fiction and fantasy titles
• Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind
Sixth in the hugely popular Sword of Truth series.
• The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin
New Hainish novel by award-winning science fiction luminary.
• A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton
New modern færie series--dark and erotic.

Hardcover
• UK: Shenanigans
by Noel Hannan Publisher Pendragon Press.

Hardback
• UK: The Foreigners
by James Lovegrove. Publisher: VGSF £16.99
It was a bizarre and beautiful invasion. Suddenly the Foreigners were everywhere, walking the streets of 21st-century Earth, bringing with them technology to banish our worries and heralding a new utopia. Then one of the Foreigners is murdered, and the fear that they might leave becomes real.
"The idea for The Foreigners came to me while I was on a round-the-world trip in 1990, blowing my advance for The Hope," explains James Lovegrove. "I was in Thailand and I observed the tourism industry at work there, particularly the sex-tourism industry (at a safe remove, I assure you), and I realised something that is probably obvious to most people, namely that to most of the rest of the world, Westerners are phenomenally wealthy -- even Westerners who are authors -- and are like walking cashpoints, there to be milked and bilked.
" This notion swarmed and circulated my brain for a few years, and then I wrote a short story called The Gift in which I began the concept of an alien race, the foreigners, using earth as a venue for a kind of sex tourism, and us kow-towing to them in gratitude. A few years after that this novel began to take shape and the concept evolved considerably."
• US: Rats, Bats and Vats
by Eric Flint & Dave Freer. Baen Books. (HB)
• US: Rebel Sutra
by Shariann Lewitt. Publisher: Tor (HB)
The colony world of Maya is run by the Changed: a carefully inbred aristocracy clustered in their hillside city, high above Babelion and its wretched swarms of poor colonists. For generations now the Changed have been altering their own genes and their children's. They're smarter, faster, longer-lived, better with computersand acutely aware of their own superiority. What they don't admit is that they have become a separate species...
• US: Scion of Cyador
by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. Publisher: Tor (HB)
The story begun in Magi'i of Cyador continues (some would say, unfortunately). Exploring the rich depths of the history of Recluce, Magi'i introduced Lorn, a talented boy born into a family of Magi'i. A fastidious student mage who lacked blind devotion, Lorn was made into a lancer officer and shipped off to the frontier. Having survived an extended stint fighting both barbarian raiders and the giant beasts of the Accursed Forest, Lorn has proven himself to be a fine officer... perhaps too fine an officer.
• US: Sentry Peak
by Harry Turtledove. Baen Books. (HB)
An alternative Civil War fantasy novel
• US: To the King a Daughter
by Andre Norton & Sasha Miller. Publisher: Tor (HB)
This novel begins the cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan: the four powers of the world who have been warring for centuries. The Clan of Ash is slowly dying, their totem tree in the sacred square withering away to nothing. There is a prophecy that a daughter of Ash will rise again, but none have survived the mass killings, thereby rendering the prophecy unfillable.
But deep in the swamps, in the care of the witch-healer all need and all fear, there is a young girl-woman who can not be the witch's daughter; a girl who, in fact, by virtue of her beauty and elegance and simmering power, can only be a Daughter of Ash, the one who will rise to fulfill the prophecy -- and the destiny of her birthright.
• US: A Wizard in the Way
by Christopher Stasheff. Publisher: Tor (HB)
On the planet Oldeira, Gar and Alea's task is two-pronged: to persuade browbeaten serfs that they deserve better than meagre food, meagre pay and poor treatment and to assimilate them into a force that has a chance of overcoming their cruel Wizard Lords... More warlock mayhem from a series that has gone on an awfully long time!

Trade Paperbacks
• Uk: Beyond the Blue Moon
by Simon R. Green. Publisher: VGSF £9.99
From the author of the Deathstalker saga. Captains Hawk and Fisher are the only honest cops in the down and dirty magical city of Haven. In a place where anythig can be bought, stolen or fought for, they've stood up for decency and right; together, they have taken on everything from vampires and werewloves to conniving politicians. But now it's their last case as members of Haven's City Guard, and all hell is breaking loose - because they're not leaving town without doing a little cleaning up first. The bad guys are going down, whatever it takes. But their mission leads them to a crime that threatens all reality...
US: Tales of the Dying Earth
by Jack Vance. St. Martin's Press
Amazon SF Editor's Choice: "When it comes to classic, literary science fiction, Jack Vance is unbeatable. Tor Books has reissued Vance's most famous epic as Tales of the Dying Earth, comprising all four novels in the series."

• US: The Best from F&SF: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition
eds. Ed Ferman and Gordon Van Gelder. Publisher: Tor (TPB)
• US: On Blue's Waters
by Gene Wolfe. Publisher: Tor (TPB)
The start of a major new work by Gene Wolfe, the first of three volumes that comprise The Book of the Short Sun, which takes place in the years after Wolfe's four-volume Book of the Long Sun. Horn, the narrator of the earlier work, now tells his own story. Though life is hard on the newly settled planet of Blue, Horn and his family have made a decent life for themselves. But Horn is the only one who can locate the great leader Silk, and convince him to return to Blue and lead them all to prosperity. So Horn sets sail in a small boat, on a long and difficult quest across the planet Blue in search of the now legendary Patera Silk. The story continues in In Green's Jungles and Return to the Whorl.
• US: Tales of the Dying Earth
by Jack Vance. Publisher: St. Martins Press (TPB)

Paperbacks
• Professor Bernice Summerfield: The Dead Men Diaries.
by Paul Cornell. Publisher: Big Finish
In part capitalising on the success of their Doctor Who range, Big Finish have moved into publishing new adventures starring the Doctor's companion originally created for Virgin by Paul Cornell. Their plans include both novels and audios. Further information via the Bernice Summerfield Official Website.
• UK:SF Collector's Editions: Mindplayers
by Pat Cadigan (PB)
• UK: SF Collector's Editions: Wolfbane
by Frederik Pohl & Cyril M. Kornbluth. £9.99 (PB)
• UK:SF Collector's Editions: A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!
by Harry Harrison. £9.99 (PB)
• UK:SF Collector's Editions: The Embedding
by Ian Watson. £9.99 (PB)
• UK: The Keep of Fire
by Mark Anthony. Earthlight £6.99 (PB)
• UK: Guilty Pleasures
by Laurell K. Hamilton. Orbit £5.99 (PB)
• UK: The Laughing Corpse
by Laurell K. Hamilton. Orbit £5.99 (PB)

US: Brotherhood of the Wolf
by David Farland. Publisher: Tor (PB)
Farland's is a wondrous new world which met with much critical priase on the release of the first novel, The Runelords, in 1998. In it, lords and ladies achieve greatness through the use of forcibles, which allow them to take attributes from their subjects--attributes such as strength, wit, grace, and stamina. But such magic lends itself to abuse. In The Runelords, Raj Ahtan, ruler of Indhopal used enough forcibles to transform himself into the ultimate warrior: The Sum of All Men. Ahtan sought to bring all of humanity under his rule -- destroying anything and anyone that stood in his path, including many friends and allies of young Prince Gaborn Val Orden... including Gaborn's father.
But Gaborn fulfilled a 2000-year-old prophecy, becoming the Earth King, a mythic figure who can unleash the forces of the Earth itself. And now the struggle continues in Brotherhood of the Wolf. Gaborn has managed to drive off Raj Ahtan, but Ahtan is far from defeated...
• US: Greenhouse Summer
by Norman Spinrad. Publisher: Tor (PB)
Humanity's abuse of the environment has melted the polar ice caps, expanded deserts beyond all 20th-century conceptions, and transformed Siberia into a powerful and agriculturally fertile nation --and the changes aren't over, as Monique Calhoun learns when she is sent to Paris for the United Nations' conference on global warming. The scientists present terrifying evidence that Condition Venus may already have begun. Condition Venus is a climactic change that can quickly turn the Earth as hot and deadly as Venus. The end is truly near. And transnational factions working covertly for their own agendas may only hasten the end of the world and the death of every living creature.
• US: Operation Luna
by Poul Anderson. Publisher: Tor (PB)
• US: The Stars Compel
by Michaela Roessner. Publisher: Tor (PB)
Set in Renaissance Florence and Rome, this fantasy retelling of the life of Catherine de' Medici is as beautiful and as richly magical as the works of the great artists who people its pages.
Tommaso Arista is the son of two of the most prestigious families of chefs in Florence. His father is the head chef and carver to the household of Cosimo Ruggerio, noble astrologer to the Pope and a powerful political figure in Florence and Rome. His mother is one of the Befanini--hereditary cooks of the de' Medici family, bound to the Dukes of Florence by centuries of both service and blood, family in all but name. The Befanini serve the Little Kitchen Goddess as well as the de' Medici, and Piera is a powerful seer...

Sources: Big Finish, Doctor Who Magazine, Little Brown, Orbit, Simon & Schuster, Victor Gollancz Millennium

Please note that all merchandise release dates are always fluid and I would recommend checking with the producers official web site for confirmation before screaming at your poor local dealer if they haven't got something you really, really want in stock...

Back to Main Merchandise Page| Gaming News