Several catalogs in the mail today - here's some thoughts on each of them:

From Small Beer Press and the very talented Gavin Grant and Kelly Link there are several titles that caught my eye. John Kessel's collection The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories arrived here about a month ago - and promptly went right out the door to a reviewer who was eager to see it for Guys Lit Wire. More on that when it is reviewed later this summer.

I also have Benjamin Rosenbaum's The Ant King and Other Stories - which includes this gem: "A writer of alternate histories defends his patron's zeppelin against assassins and pirates..." Yep, he had me there (and all fans of Jay Lake should be reading this book for that story alone also).

Two books I haven't heard were due out that I'm quite intrigued by though are Geoff Ryman's The King's Last Song and a new collection from Joan Aiken: The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories. Ryman's book has been out in the UK and I've been dying to read it. He's such an unusual author and this one sounds amazing:

A great king brings peace to a warring nation. Centuries later, his writings will bring hope to those facing the tragic legacy of modern Cambodia's bloody history. When archaeologists discover a book written on gold leaves at Angkor Wat, everyone wants a piece of the action. But the King, the Army and the UN are all outflanked when the precious artefact is kidnapped, along with Professor Luc Andrade, who was accompanying it to the capital for restoration. Luckily for Luc his love and respect for Cambodia have won him many friends, including ex-Khmer Rouge cadre Map and the young moto-boy William. Both equally determined to rescue the man they consider their mentor and recover the golden book, they form an unlikely bond. But, William is unaware of just how closely Map's bloody past affects him. The book contains the words and wisdom of King Jayavarman VII, the Buddhist ruler who united a war-torn Cambodia in the twelfth century and together with his enlightened wife created a kingdom that was a haven of peace and learning.

His extraordinary story is skilfully interwoven with the tales of Luc, Map and William to create an unforgettable and dazzling evocation of the spirit of Cambodia and her peoples in all their beauty and tragedy.

Aiken's collection is "a rich and hilarious treat (with unicorns, ghosts, and troublesome cousins) from the author of the bestselling novel The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. It is the first title from Small Beer's new children's imprint.

Unbridled Books, as usual, has one of the most elegant and beautiful catalogs that come my way. (And I know we need to do away with catalogs for environmental purposes but this one sure is pretty is all I'm saying.) Two of their titles jumped out at me:

In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefield: "The natural world, an artist's vision, the intensity of long-lasting love, the flight of a bird's song, and the sighting of an extinct - or perhaps illusory - small creature all work to shape the plot of the novel. Even the prose seems filled with birdsong - at once raucous and transporting."

It's the story of a mother and daughter, a mother and her friends, a wife and husband. There are secrets and as the father is an ornithologist and the mother a bird artist there is also much about nature and the allure of birds.

The Annotated Nose by Marc Estrin, artwork by Delia Robinson. "Marc Estrin discovers that another writer's novel - The Nose - not only has spawned a bizarre cult among the nation's youth but also is based on the extraordinary life of a real person - an outcast named Alexei Pigov...On the left handed page of The Annotated Nose we read The Nose itself, and take in the beautifully unsettling illustrations of Delia Robinson. On the right-hand page we follow Alexei's complaints - always surprising and often far reaching.

I've never heard of anything like this and the illustrations are stunning. It sounds like a most unusual literary experiment - must be checked out.

And then there are the catalogs from Harper Collins' Children's Division.

Oh Harper Collins, how you do frustrate me.

As usual, these catalogs came along with a letter addressed to reviewers that included brief mentions of all the books they want to highlight. And as usual it ended with this note: "We will automatically be sending you books appropriate for your publication." No requesting from Harper Collins - which makes me wonder yet again why they bother to send these catalogs out to reviewers in the first place. This is particularly strange because just a couple of weeks ago HC announced they were thinking about doing away with paper catalogs in order to save money. Well here's an idea - how about instead of sending DOZENS OF BOOKS THAT REVIEWERS DO NOT WANT, the Harper Collins Publicity Department should think about accepting review copy requests. If they want to limit those requests, fine - but at least they would only be sending out books that stand a shot at getting reviewed and save all the shipping costs (not to mention the waste in books) for titles that reviewers immediately shove into a donate pile. I've written about this issue with HC before and if anything, it has gotten even worse.

In 2007 I received sixteen books total from HC that I did not request and also did not review - there were eleven books I wanted to review that never arrived. This year I have already received eighteen books I did not request - and will not review. In addition to that, I have received, SIX titles on the Prince Caspian movie, FOUR on the Transformers tv series, FOUR on the Iron Man movie and FOUR on Kung Fu Panda. There is no one on the planet who is going to review movie tie-ins - there is just no reason for it. But they sent them to me anyway, instead of all those great novels I was hoping to give some much needed attention to. (And for those of you keeping track, that means 36 books this year I do not want have showed up at my door.)

As it happens I am reviewing a HC title in June - Jenny Davidson's Explosionist, a book I loved. I also have Bennett Madison's The Blonde of the Joke on tap - but he made a point of having that one sent my way. I lucked into a few other titles in the past year or so that I did want - M is for Magic, Girl at Sea and Mazes Around the World. Those have been reviewed (or in the case of Mazes will be this summer). But I am really sick and tired of the way that Harper Collins does business. I do not want to have to wade through piles of titles I have no interest in reading in the hope of receiving one or two that I'm looking forward to. It is just too wasteful and also, quite frankly, insulting. I'm getting books dumped on me that anyone who has ever spent two minutes reading my column would know have no place in it. So basically - I'm just getting books dumped on me and I'm supposed to feel grateful.

Well I don't, and if I could get someone at this publisher to actually respond to my emails then maybe I could finally get off of their mailing list.

There are several titles in their fall catalog that do look great and I'd love to review them. But I doubt that any of them will be sent my way. If you get a chance though, keep your eyes peeled for Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford, Nation by Terry Pratchett (of course this one looks awesome!), Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (I've read the story that spawned this one from an earlier collection and it's fab), Ida B. Wells by Walter Dean Myers (a quote from Ida: "I'd rather go down in history as one lone Negro who dared to tell the government that it had done a dastardly thing than to save my skin by taking back what I have said."), Boycott Blues by Brian & Andrea Davis Pinkney and The Little Yellow Leaf by the divine Carin Berger.

They sound wonderful; I am certain I will never receive any of them. Harper Collins authors take note - let your publisher know that changing the way their Publicity Dept does business would help a lot if they want their books to get more attention in the lit blogosphere. I'm just saying - the current method does nothing but make life hard for everyone and I'd just as soon spend my valuable time on somebody who actually knows what my column is about and acts like I have a brain.

End of rant - now go check out all the great books!