Here’s a peek at the next issue of Subterranean, which we’ll begin posting in early October. Headlining will be a 20,000 word novella by Jay Lake set in the world of his novels Mainspring and Escapement, as well as short stories and novelettes by Caitlin R. Kiernan, David Prill, Kris Nelscott, and a rare new short story by Lewis Shiner to celebrate the release of his Collected Stories. There will be a number of other stories, reviews, and an audio included along the way, but we hope the above’s enough to catch your interest.

Chris Roberson, himself a more than fine short story writer and novelist, just reviewed Kage Baker’s upcoming novel, Not Less Than Gods, over at SF Signal. Here’s the short version: “The spycraft is dead-on, the settings and era are completely immersive and convincing, the jokes are funny and the action is taut…Fans of the Company novels will delight in learning more about Bell-Fairfax and his mysterious spymasters, and readers unfamiliar with Baker’s work will find this an excellent place to begin.”

We’re pleased to announce a new collection, Hard Luck Diggings, by SF Grandmaster Jack Vance. This collection gathers stories from the early years of his career. We already have the fully-designed book, and have sent it out for proofreading, so we should have little trouble meeting its March 2010 publication date.

Those interested in the signed edition of the book should note that only the 26 copy lettered edition bears Mr. Vance’s signature.

A legend has to start somewhere…

As so many writers have said, it’s in the shorter and mid-length work that the storytelling craft is best learned. Hard-Luck Diggings brings together fourteen such pieces from the first twelve years of Grand Master Jack Vance’s genre-defining career, from back when he first worked to pay the mortgage, buy the groceries, travel the world, eventually building his own private “dream castle” and starting a family.

Like any writer serious about staying in the game, we see him targeting the markets of the day, doing what was needed to meet the tastes of editors and their readerships while at the same time perfecting his own special way of doing things so that his name, his distinctive voice, stood a chance (in modern marketing parlance) of becoming a viable “brand.”

Hard-Luck Diggings brings that fascinating process to life in fine style. As well as serving up vintage entertainment from one of the field’s genuine masters, it provides an illuminating armchair tour of how the Jack Vance enterprise came to be, full of zest and life, the thrill of the upward climb and of so much more to be done. This is a book to be savoured with a twinkle in the eye, a knowing smile, but most of all, with a love of adventure and high romance firmly in place.

We also have available signed editions of a couple of Mr. Vance’s earlier Subpress titles, including the limited and lettered editions of The Jack Vance Reader, and the lettered edition of Wild Thyme, Green Magic.

The special price ($175) for our limited edition of Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors lasts until the end of the day Friday, October 2, 2009. It’s your chance to pick up the limited edition of Gaiman’s fine collection for $75 off the numbered edition, or $300 off the lettered edition. Like our edition of The Graveyard Book, this will be a production not to be missed.

We’ve already put in our initial order for Tim Powers’ new novella, A Time to Cast Away Stones, from Charnel House. We’ll keep accepting orders (once again, until the end of the day on October 2, 2009) and then place our final order for this nifty hardcover. As there are only 250 numbered copies, we expect Time will be fairly scarce on the ground soon. While we’re on the subject of Powers, we’re down to our last few copies of his extraordinary bibliography, Secret Histories, which contains a ton of unpublished material as well as bibliographic material.

We’ve heard from a number of customers who were caught short when we first offered the enormous, impressive, Artists Inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, so we’ve decided to offer it again for a limited time. We’re only accepting orders until the end of the day on October 3, and then we’ll delete it from our site.

Once again, our price on Lovecraft is more than 50% off the suggested retail price.

We’ve also had customers ask if we’ll be carrying Artists Inspired by Stephen King — again, at a healthy discount. We have tentative plans to offer this book after it has been released and is ready to ship in November.

Maurizio Manzieri has turned in a wonderful cover for Elizabeth Bear’s 30,000 word novella, Bone and Jewel Creatures. Head over to the product page for a larger version of the cover, and to check out a full description of the book. eBear’s most ardent fans will be happy to know that the limited edition comes with a chapbook of additional uncollected stories.

The first major review of Charles de Lint’s upcoming novel, Eyes Like Leaves, has just landed, and we couldn’t be more pleased. According to Publishers Weekly, “World Fantasy Award–winner de Lint dusts off an enchanting epic fantasy written in 1980 but never published. The result is a delightful old-fashioned group quest, and though it occasionally lacks the older de Lint’s graceful skill with language, even his nascent poetic style evokes beautiful imagery.”

We’re getting in a limited supply of Tim Powers’ new novella, A Time to Cast Away Stones, an exquisite hardcover just released by Charnel House. For Powers’ aficionados, it’s a welcome return to the world of his novel, The Stress of Her Regard.

If you’re interested in a copy, please don’t delay, as we’re only accepting orders for a few days, and will then pull the book from our site. We also won’t be ordering any excess inventory.

We’ve just deluged our printer with another six titles, including:

– Alpha and Omega (Patricia Briggs);
– Nick and the Glimmung (Philip K. Dick);
– Unchained and Unhinged (Joe R. Lansdale);
– In Between (R. A. MacAvoy);
– Judge Sn Goes Golfing (John Scalzi);
– The Terror (Dan Simmons);

Once we give our designer the final corrections to our 784 page Ray Bradbury omnibus, Where Everything Ends, this massive gathering of three novels will be sent to the printer, and just might make our hoped for Halloween release date. Each of the nostalgic novels contained in Everything (Death is a Lonely Business, A Graveyard for Lunatics, Let’s All Kill Constance), feature the young Bradbury as sleuth, along with hardboiled policeman Elmo Crumley. Together they form a rare picture into different periods of Hollywood and Bradbury’s life, complete with the crackling prose that has become the author’s hallmark.