Out in October: the new Kinsey Millhone novel, Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton, and Vectors by Michael P. Kube-McDowell.
I first came across Kube-McDowell when I picked up a remaindered copy of his novel Alternities at a bookshop in St. Andrews. It was a parallel worlds adventure, exciting and fast paced. So I started looking out for more of his stuff. I found The Quiet Pools (1990 Hugo nominee), his Trigon Disunity trilogy (Emprise, Enigma and Empery), and finally I grabbed Exile as soon as it was out over here in 1992. I couldn’t tell you now what the story was about, but I distinctly remember finishing it back then and thinking, “Wow, that was beautiful.”
Since then, he has produced collaborations (with Arthur C. Clarke) and shared world novels (in the Star Wars universe, and Isaac Asimov’s Robot City series), but he hasn’t had a book of his own published in ten years. I remember reading a post he made on Compuserve several years ago about how difficult it is for a midlist science fiction author to stay on a publisher’s radar. The shared world books are easy moneyspinners, and putting Arthur C. Clarke’s name on the cover almost guarantees bestseller status. But how many books will the name “Michael P. Kube-McDowell” shift on its own?
I’m glad that he’s found a publisher (Bantam Spectra) now who will take a chance on him, because he’s a damn fine writer.
Link: K-Mac’s web site.