Holy crap, are there a lot of notable new releases coming out today. At least seven by our count. Also by our count: We expect to have reviews of at least four of them soon. Which four? Exactly half the fun is coming back to find out. (Seriously, exactly half. We counted that, too.)

• Because this world is short on STAR WARS books, Timothy Zahn offers STAR WARS: OUTBOUND FLIGHT. We have no idea what this one’s about, but we’re guessing maybe spaceships. Perhaps yours is as good as ours?

• Miles away from that universe is THE DEEP BLUE ALIBI, Paul Levine’s immediate sequel to SOLOMON VS. LORD, the dueling-lawyers mystery that seems like it just came out last week. And before you blink – okay, August – he’ll have the third installment out, called KILL ALL THE LAWYERS. Now there’s a concept we can get behind. We’ll have a review of ALIBI ready in, oh … five days ago.

• Speaking of third installments, Marc Cerasini has 24 DECLASSIFIED: TROJAN HORSE, the third (see!) original novel based on the kick-ass TV series. Despite the title, it is not about Jack Bauer on the hunt for equestrian condoms. We hope.

• A new dark fantasy series gets underway with Tim Lebbon’s DUSK. The sequel will be called DAWN, and no, we’re not just being snarky there. Lebbon hasn’t had a book out in forever – like four weeks ago – so it’s nice to have him back after the long hiatus.

• Another new dark fantasy series takes root in Christopher Golden’s THE MYTH HUNTERS. Subtitled “Book One of The Veil,” we tagged it as one of the 10 books we were most looking forward to in 2006. We hope it doesn’t disappoint.

• For straight horror, don’t count out GRIMM REAPINGS, R. Patrick Gates’ long-awaited sequel to his horror-fan favorite, 1990’s GRIMM MEMORIALS. Even after 15 years, the horror community has not forgotten.

• And finally, Robert Silverberg’s acclaimed 1972 novel THE BOOK OF SKULLS is brought back into print by Del Rey, in advance of what’s sure to be an unsuccessful transition to the big screen by director William Friedkin, who hasn’t made anything worth seeing since, what, 1985? (And by that we refer to TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., not C.A.T. SQUAD.)