New Hardcovers: Oct 15-22, 2012

by Gregory Benford, Larry Niven
"In this first collaboration by science fiction masters Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape), the limits of wonder are redrawn once again as a human expedition to another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure half-englobing a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths…and it's on a direct path heading for the same system as the human ship. A landing party is sent to investigate the Bowl, but when the explorers are separated—one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape—the mystery of the Bowl's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that will transform their understanding of their place in the universe." Tor Books, 416 pages, Oct 16.

by Neal Adams
"It's finally happened: Batman must kill or be killed. The threat is real and can't be stopped by man or hero. To combat it, Batman must bring time itself to a standstill so that he can embark on an odyssey of self-discovery to a place unknown to mankind, where he can find himself. Legendary Batman creator Neal Adams takes the Dark Knight on a strange and bizarre journey through time and the mind to unlock clues to a mystery" DC Comics, 368 pages, Oct 16.

by hideo Furukawa
"Belka, Why Don't You Bark? begins in 1943, when Japanese troops retreat from the Aleutian island of Kiska, leaving four military dogs behind. One of them dies in isolation, and the others are taken under the protection of U.S. troops. Meanwhile, in the USSR, a KGB military dog handler kidnaps the daughter of a Japanese yakuza. Named after the Russian astronaut dog Strelka, the girl develops a psychic connection with canines. A multi-generational epic as seen through the eyes of man's best friend, the dogs who are used as mere tools for the benefit of humankind gradually discover their true selves, and learn something about us." VIZ Media LLC, 368 pages, Oct 16.

by Doug Moench, Archie Goodwin, Budd Lewis, Jan Strnad, Philip Simon, Richard Corben, Bernie Wrightson, John Severin, Howard Chaykin, Vicente Alcazar
"With stories by comic-book titans Bernie Wrightson, Richard Corben, Howard Chaykin, John Severin, and Archie Goodwin, this is one terrifying tome that you DO NOT want to miss out on! This volume also features an enlightening foreword by modern horror comics writer Joshua Hale Fialkov (I Vampire, Echoes) and reprints all Dear Uncle Creepy and Creepy's Catacombs text pieces and all color stories that appeared in this stellar 1970s run! Collecting the original Creepy issues #64 to #68, Dark Horse's deluxe reprint series continues to bring classic horror tales to new generations of readers in handsome, head-walloping hardcovers." Dark Horse, 272 pages, Oct 16.

by Izu, Alex Nikolavitch, Zhang Xiaoyu
"An epic tale where history blends with fantasy to explosive and cinematic results. Follow the Knights Templar's elite faction as they are sent on a secretive and perilous mission, a crusade to determine the true causes of the "Plague of Damietta." An all-new take on the time of the Crusades brought to you by top European writing talent and promising new Chinese artistic voice, Zhang Xiaoyu." Humanoids, Inc., 280 pages, Oct 16.

by Eric D. Smith
"Globalization, Utopia, and Postcolonial Science Fiction: New Maps of Hope explores the aesthetic and historical conditions that inform the recent convergence of the seemingly incommensurable domains of the postcolonial Third World and the genre of SF, particularly as expressed in the recent phenomenon of visionary SF narratives originating from postcolonial national cultures. Offering a materialist theorization of this surge of Third-World science fiction supported by careful and penetrating close readings, the book considers its formal emergence as representing a definitive shift in postcolonial literary and cultural production that finds its material provenance in the political, economic, and spatial dilemmas of globalization and its ideological vitality in the enduring project of utopian thought for the post-contemporary present." Palgrave Macmillan, 256 pages, Oct 16.

by Christopher L. Bennett
"2107 AD: A generation ago, Earth and the cislunar colonies banned genetic and cybernetic modifications. But out in the Asteroid Belt, anything goes. Dozens of flourishing space habitats are spawning exotic new societies and strange new varieties of humans. It's a volatile situation that threatens the peace and stability of the entire solar system. Emerald Blair is a Troubleshooter. Inspired by the classic superhero comics of the twentieth century, she's joined with other mods to try to police the unruly Asteroid Belt. But her loyalties are tested when she finds herself torn between rival factions of superhumans with very different agendas. Emerald wants to put her special abilities to good use, but what do you do when you can't tell the heroes from the villains?" Tor Books, 352 pages, Oct 16.

by Sarah Fine
Guards of the Shadowlands. "A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos's best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance – hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn't just anyone – she's determined to save her best friend's soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife. As Lela struggles to find Nadia, she's captured by the Guards, enormous, not-quite-human creatures that patrol the dark city's endless streets. Their all-too human leader, Malachi, is unlike them in every way except one: his deadly efficiency. When he meets Lela, Malachi forms his own plan: get her out of the city, even if it means she must leave Nadia behind. Malachi knows something Lela doesn't – the dark city isn't the worst place Lela could end up, and he will stop at nothing to keep her from that fate." Amazon Children's Publishing, 417 pages, Oct 16.

by Martha Moody
"It's 2047 in Dayton, Ohio. In response to food and water shortages, the U.S. government has developed an enormous, and powerfully successful, agricultural area—the "Heartland Grid"—just north of the city. In the meantime, in the wake of declining American power a multinational force has established itself in Cleveland. Behind these quickly shifting alliances lies a troubling yet tantalizing question: what will the American future look like?" Swallow Press, 400 pages, Oct 16.

by Mark Z. Danielewski
"In this story set in East Texas, a local seamstress named Chintana finds herself responsible for five orphans who are not only captivated by a storyteller's tale of vengeance but by the long black box he sets before them. As midnight approaches, the box is opened, a fateful dare is made, and the children as well as Chintana come face to face with the consequences of a malice retold and now foretold." Pantheon, 288 pages, Oct 16.