Amazon women on the Moon. Brains suspended in jars. The heat death of the universe.

It’s all here, as a free pdf download, in Subterranean #4, guest edited by Campbell Award Winner John Scalzi (The Android’s Dream, Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades).

Here, in John’s own words, is what you have in store for you:
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The first Jack Vance Treasury review, from Publishers Weekly:
“Encompassing multiple permutations of the planetary romance genre, this best-of collection gathers 18 seminal if sometimes redundant stories and novellas, dating from the 1950s to the 1970s, from SF Grand Master… Vance’s stylistic bravado and lush, baroque prose create compelling worlds that blur the line between fantasy and far-flung future-world SF. Vance has won Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy and Edgar awards.”

We’ll make formal announcements in the not too distant future, but thought we’d share the good news now. We’ve just made an offer to Poppy Z. Brite for her next short story collection, which she’s graciously accepted. Look for full details and ordering information after the turn of the year.

In Brian Lumley news, we’ll be printing a two volume “Best of” set that collects his Mythos stories, those familiar and obscure. The third book is a reprint (with a slightly revised table of contents) of his ultra-hard-to-find short story collection, A Coven of Vampires. We say “revised” because a few of the tales that originally appeared in this volume will make take their rightful places in the Mythos volumes, so Brian will be re-jiggering the contents a bit, adding some blood sucking obscurities to round the book out.

If the free online version of issue #4 only served to whet your appetite for Subterranean fiction, there’s also the novella we serialized recently. “The Wreck of the Mary Byrd” makes up roughly the first third of Cherie Priest’s episodic novel Dreadful Skin.

In 1870 the steamboat Mary Byrd vanished on the Tennessee River, somewhere between Chattanooga and Knoxville. She was never recovered, and her passengers and crew have long been presumed dead. No trace of the wreck has ever been found.

This is the strange and tragic story of the boat’s last night—as told by those who rode aboard her. Listen to their tales: the captain, a gambler, a former slave, and an Irish nun with a revolver under her skirt.

And listen as the villain shares his part in the tragedy.

This is his confession too.

From the jungles of India to an American riverboat, his journey was stranger than anyone could have guessed. More monster than man, he was trapped in a storm, on a boat, with a moon above that was almost full—and a deadly hunger that could not be contained.

So here lie the ghosts of the Mary Byrd. This is their last testament. Read it, and may you kindly judge the souls you find within.

Vincent Chong has just turned in the cover art for Joe Hill’s masterful first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, and if it’s not a living breathing glimpse into hell, we don’t know what is. The novel itself is about an aging rock star, a collector of the occult, who purchases a ghost off an online auction site. We can’t point them out to you, but the cover contains a number of direct referents to the novel — those are better discovered in the reading. We just had to share Vincent Chong’s work as soon as possible. Honestly, we didn’t think the cover could equal the novel, but Vinny proved us wrong. A limited number of copies of the $50 edition, printed in two colors throughout, are still available for preorder. We think Heart-Shaped Box is one of the most important horror debuts of the past decade. Read it, you’ll agree.

Our promotion to have your name placed in the special section, “Those Who Walked the Green Mile” has ended. We’re sending The Green Mile to the printer next week, so look for a very end of the year, early next year release. Each gift set will consist of six hardcover volumes, profusely illustrated with 60 brand new sketches by original Green Mile artist Mark Geyer, housed in a specially crafted slipcase.

The Lords of the Razor have returned. In this case, he’s made a triumphant reappearance in our offices, via returns from one of our wholesalers. We have a double handful of copies that have been re-jacketed and are in perfect condition, so if you missed one of the nicest looking books we’ve ever put out the first time it was in stock, now’s your chance.

Havoc Swims Jaded, David J. Schow’s collection of thirteen lucky stories, is in stock and shipping. The limited edition is long sold out, but we still have plenty of stock on the $25 trade edition, which includes everything but the bonus chapbook. As a reminder, Publishers Weekly said of Havoc “this is a solid and imaginatively varied outing from one of horror’s most dependable writers,” while Booklist gave it a starred review, and even more effusive praise: “This is flat-out exhilarating reading, the kind that Robert Bloch, whom Schow admires, never wrote enough of. On the basis of these stories, if the pulps were still around, Schow would be their king.”

You can check out “Size Nothing,” one of the book’s tales, by heading over to the Havoc page.

Trade:

$25

The Voice of New Orleans had far too many kind, perceptive things to say about Poppy Z. Brite’s long new novella, D*U*C*K, than we can reproduce here, so rather than recount all of them (”Right now, these books are all about Poppy Z. Brite and the wonderful world she has created around a restaurant named Liquor.”) we’ll just point you to the review, with an added thanks to Colleen Mondor for reading D*U*C*K and Poppy’s new major novel, Soul Kitchen, in the spirit in which they were written.

Add to that, Booklist just weighed in with praise:
“The real core of the book, though, is surprisingly philosophical, as Brite reflects perceptively on how we become who we are. The last few pages invoke a magical harmony between reality, imagination, and humaneness. Hardly a crime novel, but a must for followers of this quirky but fascinating series.”

And now, a few kind words from the folks at Publishers Weekly. Look for The Last Unicorn: the Lost Version in December. The gorgeous cover art is by Michael Wm Kaluta.

“This fragment is Beagle’s first, unsuccessful attempt at writing what became his classic fantasy, The Last Unicorn (1968), though even his failures are marvels of wry humor and brilliant prose styling. Beagle’s introduction illuminates his thought processes behind the composition of The Last Unicorn, while his afterword explains “the occasional haunting connection” between this version and the finished one. As in the completed text, an immortal unicorn leaves her lilac wood in search of other unicorns. Collectors and those interested in the gestation of Beagle’s masterpiece will best appreciate this imperfect gem.”