This conclusion of "The Tawny Man" trilogy also serves as a sort of conclusion to Hobb's other series, the "Farseer Trilogy" as well as the Live Ship" trilogy. The world she built in the "Live Ships" is the setting for both "Farseer" and "Tawny Man". "Farseer" deals with the youth and struggles of royal bastard Fitz Chivalry, taken in by his family's entourage as Royal Assassin. "Tawny Man" follows his career as an adult and explores his relationship with the King's Fool, a prophetic and other-ly being.

While the "Live Ships" at times strayed pretty far into the "Boddice Ripper" romance genre, the latter two trilogies have not done so as badly. They do make heavy use of that genre's technique of artificial conflict. Fitz has many secrets that he will not share, many conflicts caused by a sense of honor that makes no sense to the reader. We are tempted to pick him up, shake him, and say "talk to them!" about any number of deep misunderstandings.

Tor Books (October 1, 2004)

Frederic Pohl's latest installment in the Heechee Saga once again follows a handful of intrepid explorers who sacrifice everything to try their luck at the Gateway ships, hoping to win incredible riches. Once again, it's clearly a novelization of several short stories, credited at the beginning.

Something's gone out of Pohl's bleak vision of desperate dystopia though. That's not an entirely bad thing, it was wearying to maintain it through the early Gateway stories, the horrible chance that you'd come back with nothing, or that you'd run out your savings on air and water just waiting for an open ship. After all, the Heechee have finally been discovered, first through a food factory orbiting near the gas giants, then eventually direct contact with the Heechee civilization that has withdrawn to within the black hole that lies at the core of our galaxy.

Meisha Merlin Publishing, Inc has been chosen by the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust and the Butler Library Foundation to publish The Virginia Edition: The Definitive Collection of Robert A. Heinlein.

The project will consist of forty-six titles spanning the entire writing career of Robert A. Heinlein. The Virginia Edition will contain all of Heinlein's novels and short stories; all of his non-fiction titles; several volumes of his letters and personal correspondence; and the vast majority of his interviews, social commentaries, speeches and articles.

Andre Norton was one of my first favorite S.F. authors. I think the first story of hers that I read as "The Zero Stone", published in 1968, which was just about the time I was really getting into Science Fiction. Somehow, I never caught on to the fact that "Andre" was supposed to be a man's name (to make it easier for her to publish in the man's genere of Science Fiction), I was aware from the beginning of her feminine voice.

Her Witch World series were had begun a bit earlier than that, and were not likely to be found in Elementary School libraries, so I didn't come upon them until later, and I never really got caught up in them. Ms. Norton was a prolific writer, and finding the books of a series that had not been explicitly published as a trilogy was difficult even then, especially trying to find them in order, so I never really got caught up in the saga.

"Jumper" was a good read, as someone else has pointed out it had the "this could be me" feel of a Robert Hanlein juvinile novel, readable by adults, relevant to the world we live in.

From Publishers Weekly:
In this delightful SF thriller, the long-anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed Jumper (1992), Gould puts a fresh spin on the classic plot device of human teleportation. Once a teen struggling to escape an abusive father, Davy Rice is now a covert operative for the National Security Agency and happily married to Oklahoma psychologist Millie Harrison-Rice.