Books Received: Vance, Wicked Plants, Invisible Prague, and More

(Okay, so I know this is the one everyone will be excited about, and I am, too--after all, I have a story in it, but frankly the book that's got me way thrilled right now is the next one mentioned...)Yeah, what happened to being back next week? Well, a couple days of going to bed at 1am instead of 11pm, combined with exercise in the afternoons and melatonin before sleeping, has me feeling much more like a normal human being.So here're books received and graphica received, with wombat contest winner Monday afternoon. Enjoy! (I'll be curious to have your thoughts on some of these titles...)...This book, The Other City, from Dalkey Archive Press, has me jazzed. Here's the description: "In this strange and lovely hymn to Prague, Michal Ajvaz repopulates the city of Kafka with ghosts, eccentrics, talking animals, and impossible statues, all lurking on the peripheries of a town so familiar to tourists...the novel is a guidebook to this other Prague, overlapping the workaday world: a place where libraries can turn into jungles, secret passages yawn beneath our feet, and waves lap at our bedspreads."This nonfiction guide to strange plants that might hurt you is not only beautiful in its own right--the packaging, which comes with a DVD and a sampler chapbook, is awesome.Orbit sent me Mr. Shivers for possible blurbing. Not out until 2010. I'm reading it, and thus far it's really quite interesting. I like Orbit a lot. I think they're doing a great mix of stuff, and working in some really odd material (in the best sense) along with the more commercial stuff.Want a good way to rejuvenate your fiction? Delve into the fiction of other cultures. I'm really salivating at dipping into Mexican Fiction and The Black Mirror.I don't know why, but I find Amberville by Tim Davis intriguing. I think it's YA, with all kinds of weird stuff.Not sure about this one. Not so sure I'm not completely OD'd on superheroes.More YA coming at ya!I like the idea behind the Red Wolf Conspiracy--six hundred year old ship on a mission to end a war--but am not as sure about the execution of same. Will investigate further. And Kay Kenyon returns with another novel in her ongoing very cool series, which continues to get a lot less respect than it deserves.God Bless David Lubar's Weenies. And another novel from the author of Amberlight, which I found a good debut.You gots yer full-on heroic fantasy and yer latest from a stone-cold classic, the ever-great Ian McDonald.Godmother, meet The Adversary...A.J. Hartley is a supremely gifted writer of complex thrillers. Now he turns to fantasy comedy, with good results. Meanwhile, the juggernaut that is Caravan graces us with another installment.Tim Lebbon's The Island is about a family's idyllic adventures in Corfu, complete with lovable animal sidekicks. Valente's Palimpsest is a balls-to-the-wall action adventure written in a stripped-down Elmore Leonard style.Tom P's follow-up to a genuine classic, The Cold Spot, isn't quite as intense, but I liked it a lot just the same. No idea what the Enge is about. Anyone care to enlighten me?Melko and Kress, giving us some SF-fu.Robert Conroy continues to fill in years we didn't know we needed. Paul Tremblay's The Little Sleep looks to be a big hit, and very entertaining.Alan Campbell and the hard-working Chris Roberson discover that "chicks with swords" are extremely popular on covers this year, whether you want them to be or not. (Personally, woman with sword or man with sword on cover generally says "no, naw, never" to me, but I know both of these are probably worthy books.)Bruce Sterling's Caraytids looks extremely interesting, although bad on Cory Doctorow for proclaiming it the best novel of 2009. Hey, dude, it's not even spring yet. Cool your jets. (Oh yeah, and a Sub Press book by a new, unknown British writer.)And, finally, a host of other cool things from Subterranean Press.