We’ve just received word from the good folks at PS Publishing that we’ll be able to secure a number of copies of Ian Cameron Esslemont’s new Malazan novel: Orb, Sceptre, Throne. PS is only publishing 300 signed numbered sets, so please get your order in soon. Here’s a short description to whet your epic fantasy appetite:

Drujhistan, city of dreams, city of blue flames, is peaceful at last; its citizens free to return to politicking, bickering, trading and, above all, enjoying the good things in life. Yet there are those who will not allow the past to remain buried. A scholar digging in the plains stumbles across an ancient sealed vault. The merchant Humble Measure schemes to drive out the remaining Malazan invaders. And the surviving agents of a long-lost power are stirring, for they sense change and so, opportunity. While, as ever at the centre of everything, a thief in a red waistcoat and of rotund proportions walks the streets, juggling in one hand custard pastries, and in the other the fate of the city itself. Far to the south, fragments of the titanic Moon’s Spawn have crashed into the Rivan Sea creating a series of isles … and a fortune hunter’s dream. A Malazan veteran calling himself ‘Red’ ventures out to try his luck—and perhaps say goodbye to old friends. But there he finds far more than he’d bargained for as the rush to claim the Spawn’s treasures descends into a mad scramble of chaos and bloodshed. For powers from across the world have gathered here, searching for the legendary Throne of Night. The impact of these events are far reaching, it seems. On an unremarkable island off the coast of Genabackis, a people who had turned their backs upon all such strivings now lift their masked faces towards the mainland and recall the ancient prophesy of a return.

And what about the ex-Claw of the Malazan Empire who now walks the uttermost edge of creation? His mission—the success or failure of which the Queen of Dreams saw long ago—is destined to shape far more than anyone could have ever imagined.

We’d be delighted if you chose to spend all of your hard-earned cash on SubPress offerings, but there are a lot of author driven publications — online serials, subscription digests, and the like — on offer these days. We’re going to try to steer you, now and then, to those we think are well worth your support.

First up is James Patrick Kelly’s Strangeways. I’ve been reading Jim for 27 years, and if there’s a bad Kelly short story out there, I have yet to encounter it. My favorites include “The Prisoner of Chillon”, “Undone”, and the remarkable novella, “Mr. Boy.” Here’s Jim to share a bit about his new emagazine:

As a science fiction writer, I think of the future as being my beat. I’m pretty sure that the future of publishing is moving from molecules to pixels. So with James Patrick Kelly’s Strangeways I want to bring my best work which, alas, is sitting either in dark file drawers or on dusty bookshelves, back under the light of readers’ eyes. In each edition of this series, of which there are three as I type this, I intend to feature two award-winning, award-nominated or best-of-their-year stories, along with musings on the many genres of the fantastic and the technologies of change. Two stories and two essays — all for a buck. On Kindle and Nook.

Ebook editions of a couple of John Scalzi’s short, Old Man’s War-related stories are now available. Questions for a Soldier (Kindle|Nook) is just that, a transcript from a Q&A, set between his novels OMW and The Lost Brigades.

The Sagan Diary (Kindle|Nook) is a bit longer — a novelette, rather than short story — and chronicles a few of Jane Sagan’s thoughts and motivations. Neither are essential to your enjoyment of Scalzi’s Old Man’s War universe. Think of them as pleasant side jaunts.

Our warehouse is readying copies of Charles Stross’ Hugo Award-winning time travel novella, Palimpsest, for shipping. This 130+ page gem, with a cover and interior illustrations by J. K. Potter, is already out of print. We filled as many orders for our large online and wholesale accounts as we could, but we suspect copies will become scarce on the ground before long.

Speaking of scarcity, we’re down to our last ten copies of the NESFA Press hardcover of Charlie’s early novel, Scratch Monkey. True: The copies that remain all show some dust jacket problems. Also true: We’re not likely to be able to get additional stock.

If neither of the above are to your taste, might we suggest the limited edition of his early collection, Toast…

We ran into a few difficulties with the Signed Limited Edition of China Mieville’s landmark fantasy, Perdido Street Station. We found a rather glaring error that hadn’t been proofread out of existence, and decided to have a section of the book printed a second time, rather than move ahead with the error. This has pushed Perdido back a bit, with a tentative ship date at the end of October. Thanks to everyone for their patience as we strive to produce a volume worthy of China’s wonderful and grotesque tale.

In more immediate Mieville news, his latest novel, Embassytown, is in our warehouse and will ship soon. We’re down to the last 25 or so copies, which means we will not have copies to fill orders for large online retailers or wholesale accounts.

We’ve recently kicked Tim Powers’ latest collection, The Bible Repairman and Other Stories, to the printer. It’ll simmer there for a good month or so, before copies are decanted to our warehouse. The stories are, as you would expect from Tim, stellar. Our edition is the only hardcover under contract, making it a must for Powers collectors.

Robert McCammon has just returned the completed signature pages for The Hunter from the Woods to our offices. Our Director of Production, Yanni, will ready the files for the original Michael Gallatin collection later this week. With luck, we should have finished copies of the book in roughly eight weeks. Preorders have been so strong that we may not be able to fill orders for large online retailers or wholesalers.

We’re already cranium deep into next year’s McCammon projects, which will include his original Matthew Corbett novel, The Providence Rider, as well as a signed limited edition of his classic novel, Bethany’s Sin. A surprise or two might also be in store…

Our first project with one of Horror’s most beloved writers, Bentley Little, has been sent off to be designed. Indignities of the Flesh gathers ten classic—and never before collected—tales, as well as one written exclusively for our collection. We’ll announce ordering details, and a publication date, once we’ve lined up an artist.

Joe R. Lansdale has turned in the original, 12000+ word tale that accompanies his classic novel, Act of Love. We’ve sent the tale out to Glenn Chadbourne to illustrate, which puts Act on schedule to be published early next year.

Hi all.

As many longtime customers may remember, my wife, Gretchen, suffers from lupus, a very debilitating autoimmune disease with which she struggles every day. This weekend, the Michigan Lupus Alliance has its annual walk, and, as usual, we’ll be out there, me pushing Gretchen’s chair, and trying very hard not to dump her out of it. (This actually happened — twice! — a couple of years ago.)

I’d appreciate if you can spare a moment to visit Gretchen’s page to become more familiar with lupus. If you’re able to help the cause, all the better, but we’re equally pleased to help spread awareness as raise funds.

Our special thanks this year go out to Kelley Armstrong, who graciously allowed all of the profits from the lettered edition of her graphic novel, Becoming, to be donated to the Alliance.

Many thanks, as always,

Bill

We’re still bagging and shipping copies of Barry Hughart’s glorious omnibus, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox. Our apologies that this title is taking a bit longer than expected, but it’s been a plague factory at the warehouse.

Speaking of the warehouse, we also have copies of Embassytown (China Mieville) and Palimpsest (Charles Stross) in house and ready to ship. There’s also the matter of the lettered edition of The Angel’s Game (Carlos Ruiz Zafon), and The Five (Robert McCammon), as well as Charnel House’s impressive edition of The Glass Teat/The Other Glass Teat (Harlan Ellison).

We’ll get to everything as quickly as we’re able. And thanks to everyone for their patience.

We discovered that we have 15 or so copies of the signed, limited edition of Robert McCammon’s The Five available for sale. It’s the novel called, “his best novel ever” by Stephen King, drew a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and raves from other writers and venues.

The limited contains the full text of the novel, naturally, as well as full-color endsheets and a number of full-color plates by Vincent Chong. It’s also bound in leather, and slipcased.

In other McCammon news, Baal is nestled comfortably enough at the printer, and just drew its first major review, from Publishers Weekly: “Prolific paranormal author McCammon (The Five) returns to his roots with this shiny new edition of his richly written 1978 debut… McCammon entices with fluid prose and vivid descriptions that have withstood the test of time.”