First the not so great news. We received an advance copy of Naomi Novik’s Throne of Jade, which had been printed but not yet bound. Sadly, the print job was not up to our printer’s usual standards — in a very few places in some copies of the book, the secondary color (green) had smudged on the page — so we ordered the whole print job redone. The upgraded paper we use for the Temeraire series has been ordered. We’ll post a new shipping date as soon as we’re supplied with one.

Now, the good news. Copies of Robert E. Howard’s Kull: Exile of Atlantis, are done and ready to ship to our offices. We’ve had advance copies of both the Limited and Deluxe Limited editions sent to our slipcase manufacturer, so hope to be shipping books in 4-5 weeks. We’ll keep everyone posted on this news page in and in our newsletter.

The static. I’m afraid Tom Canty still hasn’t turned in the color art for A Feast for Crows. Everything on this project remains ready to go to the printer as soon as Tom comes through. As he’s missed so many promised deadlines, and then dealt with the crash of his hard drive which held the images, we’re not able to promise anything approaching a realistic date. We’ve attempted to stay in touch with Tom about this, but it’s an understatement to say that we’re dissatisfied with how this project has progressed, and offer everyone our sincere apologies we’ve missed our targeted publication date so badly.

So we can end this entry with a bit better news, George’s Starlady and Fast-Friend is well on its way to a timely release in the next month, and Marc Fishman is already at work on the next volume in A Song of Ice and Fire, A Dance with Dragons. George has, in fact, already set pen to the signature sheets, which are currently en route to Mark.

Lewis Shiner just received the sort of review that comes along once every lifetime or so. Sarah Weinman of the LA Times writes, “Black and White, as the title suggests, is painted on a broad canvas of stark contrasts and big themes, but the book doesn’t suffer under the weight of its ambition… As Black & White draws to a close, and the fence-swinging array of viewpoints and time periods merge into a murky shade of contemporary gray, Michael is left wondering what’s the use of revolutionary fervor when it effects little overall change. ‘The only answer…,’ he is told, ‘is that you have to take sides and you have to show the world that you mean it. You do whatever you can, not because of what you hope to accomplish, but because to do anything else is ultimately…not acceptable.’ The same answer applies equally well to Shiner. The novel’s mere existence is proof that Shiner means it — and that readers ignore him at their peril.”

Oddly (and delightfully) enough, we’ve chosen to kick off the special Mike Resnick issue of Subterranean Online with a brand new story by Jay Lake, as well as an insightful interview with same. His new novel, Escapement, has just hit the stands. “Chain of Fools” shares that novel’s setting, though it doesn’t depend on the novel to be enjoyed fully.

Next week, look for us to start serializing Mike Resnick’s classic novella, “Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge.”

We’re proud to announce the signed limited edition of one of Dan Simmons’s best books, The Terror, a punishing narrative centered on the Franklin Expedition of the Nineteenth Century. We’re already hard at work on the book, having it designed, and soon to be proofed. We’ve also sent Dan a few suggestions as to illustrator and are just awaiting his input.

Here are the full details:

In the spring of 1845, Sir John Franklin leads a company of two ships and 130 men on a hazardous voyage to the remote, uncharted Arctic. His goal: to locate and map the legendary Northwest Passage. Two years later, the expedition, which began in a spirit of optimism and high purpose, faces disaster. Franklin is dead. The two ships — the Erebus and the Terror — are hopelessly trapped by gigantic, shifting ice floes. Supplies are dwindling, and the crews struggle daily against lethal, unimaginably frigid conditions. And something — some Thing — is stalking the survivors, spreading death, suffering, and chaos in its remorseless wake.

The Terror is both a rigorously researched historical novel and a compelling homage to one of the seminal SF/Horror films of the 1950s. It is popular fiction of the highest order, the kind of intense, wholly absorbing epic only Dan Simmons could have written.

Limited: 500 signed numbered copies: $80
Lettered: 26 signed copies, handbound, housed in a custom traycase: $500

Collectors Note: Our last few Dan Simmons limiteds, Ilium and Olympos, had significantly higher limitations than The Terror, and both of those were sold out on or shortly after publication. If you’re wondering how the lettered edition will look, have a glance at the lettered The Green Mile by Stephen King. We plan to use the same handbinder and presentation style for The Terror.

While we’re speaking of Dan, we should mention he went well above the call of duty with his contribution to the Jack Vance tribute anthology, Songs of the Dying Earth. Dan penned a 26,000 word novella, “The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderōz”, which is utterly dazzling, making the anthology worth the price of admission for that tale alone.

It has come to our attention that a certain party — the same one who was selling fraudulent copies of our Voluntary Committal — is selling what they claim are signed/numbered copies of the Locke & Key comic series by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. Please be advised that there are NO signed numbered versions of the individual comics.

Correction: It appears there was a small limited edition of issue #1 of the comic, but not of subsequent editions. In fact, the limited of the first one is so rare Joe didn’t even remember it when we discussed it yesterday.

We’ve finished shipping all individual, retailer, and wholesaler orders of Project Moonbase and Others (Robert A. Heinlein) and The Jack Vance Reader (Jack Vance). We’ve also sent out to have the cases for the assorted limited and lettered editions done, which is likely to take a few months. We’ll keep everyone posted via our newsletter.

To commemorate the third volume of Robert Silverberg’s Collected Stories, Something Wild is Loose, the Sacramento Bee has just published an appreciative article on Bob’s life in SF. We’re down to our last 200 copies of Something Wild, in case you were wondering, so now’s not a bad time to pick up a copy.

More Progress on the Jack Vance tribute anthology, Songs of the Dying Earth. You can add SubPress favorite Mike Resnick and Jeff VanderMeer to the list of those who’ve turned in their stories. Also, we have a bit of a surprise. Jack Vance himself has penned a short preface to the volume, which will make it all the more dear to his many fans. Finally, we’ve posted one of Tom Kidd’s finished illustrations to the Songs page, and one of his pencil roughs, to show you the elegant, appropriate manner in which he’s approaching the stories.

We’ve just posted a couple of new titles for preorder, the first a typically wonderful space opera novella by Alastair Reynolds, The Six Directions of Space. As Al posits, What if Genghis Khan got his wish, and brought the entire planet under the control of the Mongols? Where would he have gone next? You’ll have to read the novella to find the answer to the question, but trust us, it’s well worth the trip.

Second is another entry in our series of mammoth collections, this one by Jack McDevitt. Cryptic contains 38 stories spread over nearly 600 pages — that’s a tad over 200,000 words for those keeping count. You’ll find sf of almost every stripe in this generous helping of traditional sf, including his now classic novella, “Time Travellers Never Die.”

Over at the dedicated website for Neil Gaiman’s new novel, The Graveyard Book, we’re running a small competition — the first of many — to win Advance Reading Copies of the UK edition of his newest children’s classic. Head over, put your macabre writing skills to work, and who knows, you might be one of the lucky winners.

For those of you on the fence about this one, we’ve just passed the halfway mark in sales, and fully expect The Graveyard Book to sell out by the time it’s published, or soon after. Dave McKean has just turned in our edition of the book, which we’ll be proofreading over the next few weeks. Look for further competitions, including one for ARCs of both the US trade hardcover and our limited edition.