I want to thank everyone who supported me financially and encouraged me emotionally for the lupus walk which took place this past Saturday, Sep. 27 at Metro Park Beach in Harrison Township. It was a perfect day for those of us with lupus — overcast and cool; we were right on Lake St. Clair the whole time — we being me, Bill and Tim (Bill’s business partner). The three of us had a good time (Tim mainly because the food was free). Unfortunately, I had to be in my wheelchair the whole time, so the guys took turns pushing me, but I had a great view the whole time. And even though I was sitting down for the 3 mile walk, I was exhausted afterward. But I’m so glad I went… there’s nothing like being with people who completely understand what you’re going through without having to say a word.

Anyway, we were very successful financially, exceeding our $2000 goal! I’m hoping to work towards $5000 next year, as research for lupus is slow even though it is the most common autoimmune disease, impacting over 2 million Americans every year. It’s been 40 years since a new lupus medication was FDA approved and that needs to change. Luckily, things are changing: as recently as 20 years ago, a diagnosis of lupus meant a death sentence within 5 years for over 50%. Now, doctors are a bit more aware of the prevalence of the disease, blood tests are more sophisticated, and we have better medications to treat individual symptoms that help extend the life expectancy and make us “lupies” more comfortable in the meantime.

Anyway, take a look at how we did, learn a little about lupus, and read my story for this year (yes, I believe you can still contribute for a few more days if you’re so inclined)

Again, everyone, thank you so much for your support!

– Gretchen Schafer

SubPress Director of Production Yanni Kuznia has just put together her first solo project for us, an anthology devoted to some of her favorite writers, penning tales in their signature worlds. A Fantasy Medley includes forays into Robin Hobb’s Farseer setting, Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars, Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld, and a tale set in frozen Moscow by C.E. Murphy.

All of you who’ve been waiting so patiently will be happy to know that we’ve just received the handmade traycases for the lettered edition of Alan Campbell’s dark fantasy novella, Lye Street. It’s going to be a week or two before these reach the top of the shipping queue, but we’ll be sure to post an update both on our news page and in our newsletter when they start shipping. Many thanks to everyone for their patience.

No, he won’t really grade your hate mail if you send him any. John Scalzi’s schedule has long since become too full for such tomfoolery. In Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, he will, however, tell you about the days when he would do such a thing. Hate Mail also includes an incisive introduction by Wil Wheaton, Scalzi’s widely-reprinted “Being Poor” essay, the internet sensation, Bacon Cat, as well as a metric ton of frivolity, insight, and more snark than a monkey expertly wielding a fountain pen. As a bonus, those who order direct from SubPress will also receive the long chapbook, Waiting for Athena.

Lettered:

$250

Signed HC:

$35

We’re down to fewer than 100 copies of the limited edition of Robert E. Howard’s Kull: Exile of Atlantis on hand, with an order from an online book dealer for 50 copies pending. This one looks to be going out of print in the next few weeks, so if you’re of a mind, now’s a good time to snag a copy.

Speaking of Howard, we’re hard at work on our next project: Crimson Shadows: The Best of Robert E. Howard, volume one. This title, too, is selling briskly, and might be sold out in advance of its projected February release.

Our shippers are just getting the last copies of Tim Powers’ Last Call, Expiration Date, and Earthquake Weather into the mail to customers and book dealers. They spent the weekend catching up on some distributor orders and are just starting in on John Scalzi’s Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded.

As soon as the Scalzi has shipped, we expect to send out the individual orders of Backup by Jim Butcher (due to be picked up today or tomorrow), and then the following lettered editions: Crooked Little Vein (Warren Ellis); Venus on the Half-Shell and Others (Philip Jose Farmer); Fevre Dream (George R. R. Martin); The Kragen (Jack Vance); and Hunter’s Run (Martin, Dozois, Abraham).

After those lettered editions have shipped, we’ll send out the wholesaler and large online orders for Backup. Mixed in there somewhere will also be The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives (James P. Blaylock) and Summer Morning, Summer Night (Ray Bradbury).

Getting back to Tim Powers for a second, he just dropped us an email upon receiving his copies of The Last Call Trilogy: “I just got the boxes of the Last Call trilogy, and — it’s a damn BEAUTIFUL set of books! Gorgeous, impressive, substantial! I’m very grateful you decided to do it!”

Chris Roberson kicks off the Fall 2008 issue of Subterranean Online with part one of a long novelette set in the world of his Celestial Empire, in which the future space race doesn’t go quite as anyone intended. “Mirror of Fiery Brightness” is action filled, the result of strange conjectures, and imbued with humanity, as are most of Chris’ entries in this future history. Please check out part one today, and the other installments over the coming weeks.

Also slated for this issue are short stories by Poppy Z. Brite, recent Campbell Award-winner Mary Robinette Kowal, a long novella length audio by Alastair Reynolds, as well as another entry in the ongoing adventures of our favorite scalawag, Lucifer Jones, courtesy of Mike Resnick. Headlining this issue is Cherie Priest’s first foray into The Clockwork Century. “Tanglefoot” will share the same setting as her upcoming novel, Boneshaker and novella, Clementine, a world of poisonous gas, dirigibles, zombies, plucky heroes, and steampunk technology.

In the future, watch the skies for original fiction by Lewis Shiner, hot new writer Ken Scholes, mystery writer Kris Nelscott, as well as an entire issue edited by Gardner Dozois.

Over at sffworld.com, Rob H. Bedford has weighed in on David Weber’s massive retrospective, Worlds of Weber: “Aside from the lack of framing essays for each story, this hefty tome is a very nice introduction to David Weber’s fiction. For Weber fans, I don’t think this can be called anything except a “must have.” A varied sampler of the many worlds in which Weber plies his trade all under an iconic cover by Bob Eggleton — this is another solid retrospective from Subterranean Press.” We’ll take a review like that any day of the week.

The new books are still lining up on the tarmac at the SubPress shipping facilities. We’re still shipping copies of Tim Powers’ Fisher King Trilogy (Last Call, Expiration Date, Earthquake Weather), and today we’re due to pick up the collected wit and wisdom of John Scalzi (a thicker volume than you might reasonably expect — hah!). Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded turned out quite nicely, from John’s self-portrait on the front, to the Internet sensation photo of Bacon Cat on the back.

Also, due in our office this week or early next are Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files novelette, Backup, which is already the best-selling title in SubPress history, with roughly 10,000 copies shipping on publication, and the mad Victorian delights of James P. Blaylock’s The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives taking flight to customers in the middle of all this action as well.

Lest we forget, the lettered edition of Golden Apples of the Sun (Ray Bradbury) is also on scene, awaiting its turn to ship, and we expect to be shipping five lettered editions starting as soon as the Butcher and Blaylock are out the door. We’ll keep everyone up-to-the-minute with shipping news via our newsletter, and frequent postings to our main news page.

In case you’ve been on the fence about Orson Scott Card’s new illustrated novella, Stonefather, consider this a nudge. We’ve just now finalized the last few details and sent the book to the printer, and already have orders for more than the 2000 copy print run — without having received orders from online booksellers yet!

As always, we will fill orders placed direct through us first, and Scott will have a limited number of copies available after publication through his website.