TIME TRAVEL, NANOMACHINES, alternate history combine in a novel of intriguing ideas (if lackluster characters).

FAST-PACED MILITARY science fiction with a vividly drawn future setting. Fights, explosions, adrenaline galore!

STEAMPUNK, ALIEN LIZARDS, and a queenly Dahomeyan secret agent assassin add up to complex alt-Victorian fun.

INTRICATE COMPLEXITY IS both a bug and a feature in Neal Stephenson’s latest techno-thriller magnum opus.

CHANNELING HUNTER S. THOMPSON for a Lovecraftian retelling of Nixon’s second victory? An idea so crazy it works!

STEAMPUNK AND THE TALL TALES of the 19th century American frontier combine in a clever Twain-like picaresque.

NEAR-FUTURE DISASTER novel places its slacker protagonist in a world where civilization ends with a whimper.

QUANTUM PHYSICS THRILLER is an over-the-top pageturner; THE DA VINCI CODE meets A BEAUTIFUL MIND, maybe?

GRIM, CHILLING BLEND of alternate history, science fiction, and fantasy takes on early 20th-century eugenics. B PLUS

SPACE OPERA, THRILLER, nanotech fantasia combine in tale of folks on an asteroid battling both thugs, rogue AIs. SOLID B