We’ve just received notice from our supplier that they expect delivery, quite possibly this week, on a number of traycases for our lettered editions. They’ll ship immediately to us, so if all goes well, we’ll be sending out the following lettered editions to customers in two to three weeks.

– Altered Carbon (Richard K. Morgan);
– Worlds of Weber (David Weber);
– Moby Dick: a Screenplay (Ray Bradbury);
– Ubik: the Screenplay (Philip K. Dick);
– The Jack Vance Reader (Jack Vance);
– Project Moonbase and Others (Robert A. Heinlein);
– Or Else the Lady Keeps the Key (Kage Baker);
– Interworld (Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves);
– Haggopian and Other Stories (Brian Lumley);
– On Stranger Tides (Tim Powers).

The last few weeks of 2009 seem to be the time for wrapping up some books, and for others to be turned in. For starters, we now have corrections for 90% of the stories for the Jack Vance tribute anthology, Songs of the Dying Earth. Only three authors need to be sent their pages for final proofreading, and then we’ll have everything in line for a mid-2009 publication.

Kage Baker turned in a new novella, a precursor to her Company series. The Women of Nell Gwynne’s is set in the world of the Gentleman’s Speculative Society, the steampunk era gathering of gentleman scientists and adventurers who will eventually form her most famous creation, The Company. Meanwhile, the last stories (including a 10k worder by Joe R. Lansdale) are flowing in for Son of Retro Pulp Tales, which looks to be even more fun than its predecessor.

Add to that stories we’ve recently bought for Subterranean Online by James P. Blaylock, Alex Irvine, and interviews by Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett, and others, and there’s a ton of good reading coming your way in 2009.

Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist was quite kind to SubPress in its year end ranking of things. The Six Directions of Space (Alastair Reynolds) made his top twenty reads, while he singled out the dust jacket art for Gardens of the Moon (Steven Erikson) as one of the best epic fantasy covers ever, and named us as honorable mention for Best Publisher of the Year, behind the good folks at Pyr.

If that’s not enough good news for one day, Speculative Fiction Junkie posted a review of Those Who Went Remain There Still (Cherie Priest) that fairly glowed off the page, calling it “a fantastic, well written horror story.”

Vincent Chong has just turned in the nifty cover to Stephen King Goes to the Movies. We have the book’s files from the paperback’s publisher, and are currently having our edition designed while Vinny works on the fake movie poster illustrations that will accompany each story. Once the design is done, in a matter of days, we’ll fast track the proofreading, and fully expect to be shipping sometime in February.

By Tuesday (12/30) afternoon, our shippers will have packed up and sent out all preordered copies (individual, wholesale, and bookstore) of Dan Simmons’s Muse of Fire, as well as Robert Bloch’s gathering of previously uncollected stories, Skeleton in the Closet. More shipping news shortly as we move on to the next title.

With all the books we’ve done in 2008, sometimes sales creep up on a title or two, and we don’t realize how many we’ve sold until it’s time to ship. Allen Steele’s The Last Science Fiction Writer is just such a beast. It’s one of the next few books in our shipping queue, and Tim just discovered we have orders for more copies than we can fill, so it will be out of print on publication.

We also don’t expect to have copies of The Six Directions of Space (Alastair Reynolds) and Kilimanjaro (Mike Resnick) for long once they begin shipping.

Finally, orders for Dan Simmons’s Muse of Fire continue to flow into our offices, so the trade edition will join the limited edition as out of print once shipping on this title is finished.

Most of the copies of Charles de Lint’s collection of early stories, Woods & Waters Wild have shipped. We still have a few bookstore and wholesale orders to get out the door, but those will have to wait until after the holidays, when our printer reopens and we can pick up the last of the copies. All individual orders are en route to customers.

Right now, our shippers are packing up the nearly sold out Robert Bloch collection, Skeleton in the Closet, to be followed closely by Dan Simmons’s masterful space opera novella, Muse of Fire. We’ll post another update as Muse ships, to let folks know what’s next in the queue.

Now, to the production updates:

– The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman) — We’ve received the specially manufactured marbled paper from the UK, and have approved all other elements of Neil’s tale for children and adults — the books themselves have actually been printed already. As soon as our printer reopens, their first task on SubPress titles will be binding TGB. As soon as we have finished copies in hand, we’ll have the slipcases manufactured. With luck, we’ll be shipping in early February.

– A Feast for Crows (George R. R. Martin) — Our printer didn’t quite make the pre-Christmas completion date for George R. R. Martin’s two volume fantasy. We expect finished copies right at the first of the year, at which point we’ll order the slipcases.

– Drood (Dan Simmons) — We’re inputting first pass corrections for the file to this one, will proof the formatted file against a finished pdf of the trade hardcover, and then have our edition designed. John Picacio has sent completed a rough sketch for the proposed cover. We should be getting Dan’s input on it soon.

– The Steel Remains (Richard Morgan) — All of the art for Morgan’s fantasy debut is in hand. We’re just waiting on the file from the publisher to design and proofread our edition.

– Crimson Shadows (Robert E. Howard) — Proofing progresses well on The Best of Robert E. Howard #1. At this point, we’re mostly waiting on the color art from Jim and Ruth Keegan before having ARCs printed, and finalizing our ship date.

I should add that this is by no means a complete production update. We’re working on many, many projects, both announced and not yet on our schedule. I just had a few moments and decided to share news on some of our most asked about books.

We’re finishing up the final proofing on Lucius Shepard’s double novella book, Vacancy & Ariel, which should head to the printer in the next two weeks. The striking covers are by J. K. Potter.

Speaking of double novella volumes, we’ve just signed a contract with Alastair Reynolds to collect two of his space operas, Minla’s Flowers and Thousandth Night. We’ll have ordering information up in the new year, but you can check out the latter novella, which we’re serializing as an audio over at Subterranean Online. As a final reminder, we’ll be shipping Al’s space opera limited edition, The Six Directions of Space, in the next few weeks. It’s receiving glowing reviews from the likes of Publishers Weekly and Booklist, among others.

Thanks everyone. We say it this time every year, it seems, and this year it’s more true than ever. Assuming our shippers don’t fall over due to exhaustion, we will have published no fewer than 65 hardcovers and trade paperbacks in the past twelve months, with a similar schedule slated for 2009. In the coming weeks we’ll be announcing a ton of new books, from trade hardcovers to very limited editions.

While I have your attention, we’re welcoming another member to the SubPress staff. Cherie Priest — the fine author of Dreadful Skin and Those Who Went Remain There Still — will be joining us as associate editor. She’ll be working closely with our Director of Production, Yanni Kuznia, to see that all of our offerings enter the world looking their best.

Thanks again for a record-setting 2008. We look forward to offering you a ton of cool books next year.

Bill Schafer

A few quick hits from the current issue of Booklist.

On Cherie Priest’s hillbilly monster mash, Those Who Went Remain There Still, complete with Daniel Boone: “Priest spices the narrative with frequent flashbacks to Boone’s own beastly encounters during his trail-cutting days. Ultimately, the gore and the feathers are a bit overdone, though all for the sake of good, gratuitous fun.”

On Alastair Reynolds’ The Six Directions of Space: “Reynolds’ impressive new space opera is a novella about the Mongol Empire 999 years after the death of its founder… Set in a solidly built universe, full of excellent espionage and adventure, Six Directions of Space is a surprisingly small package to contain such a lot of entertainment.”