Latest Subterranean Press News

The first review for Patrick Rothfuss’s The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle: The Thing Beneath the Bed is in, from Booklist. Here’s just one highlight: “The inclusion of three successive ending points, each darker in nature than its predecessor, allows the faint of heart the chance to stop, but really, the payoff for hanging on to the final ending is too good to miss.”

Here’s a first look at Timothy Truman’s dust jacket art for Joe R. Lansdale’s weird western compendium, Deadman’s Road, which gathers the novel and stories about his signature character, Jedediah Mercer.

We have been running a special on the Signed Limited Edition ($25 off the cover price) but forgot to mention it was expiring in our newsletter, so have decided to extend it to March 19.

Somewhat surprisingly, we’ve found ourselves with a few returned copies of Peter F. Hamilton’s gigantic (over 900 pages) space opera, The Reality Dysfunction.

Those interested in collecting his The Nights Dawn Trilogy, of which this is volume one, might want to pick up one of the remaining copies. We’re already hard at work on volume two, The Neutronium Alchemist, and it’s even longer than the first book.

Our friends at PS Publishing are slated to release another classic Ray Bradbury collection soon. We’ve secured a number of copies of both the 200 copy Limited Edition (signed by Ray Bradbury) and the 100 copy Traycased Edition (signed by Ray Bradbury and the author of the introduction, Neil Gaiman) of The Machineries of Joy.

Our allotment of signed copies of the last Bradbury title we offered, Long After Midnight, didn’t last long, so if you’re interested, please consider ordering soon. Also, please remember, as with all PS Publishing titles we offer for sale, US shipping is Free.

Thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm. We bought up the remaining copies of the Morrow Signed Limited Edition of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and sold out the 200 copies in only one week. Look for a shipping update on our copies in roughly one week.

While we have you, please give our upcoming edition of Smoke and Mirrors by Neil a look. It’s going to come out a bit later than originally planned, but as those who own our edition of The Graveyard Book know, it’ll be a top level production.

You can add the esteemed Larry Niven to writers who’ve graced us with huge Best of volumes. The Best of Larry Niven will weigh in at 27 stories, spread across more than 200,000 words.

With the publication of his first story, “The Coldest Place”, in 1964 Larry Niven launched one of the most important careers in the history of science fiction. Over the next decade his stunning hard science fiction won four short fiction Hugo Awards and both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for his all-time classic novel, Ringworld.

But it was the short stories that amazed and astounded first. Stories like “The Coldest Place”, “Becalmed in Hell”, “Neutron Star”, and “All the Myriad Ways”set the boundaries for ‘Known Space’, one of science fiction’s grandest future histories, while Niven also explored the classic tavern story in his ‘Draco’s Tavern’ sequence and even fantasy in his ‘Magic Goes Away’ stories.

Astoundingly, there has never been a single compendium the focused solely on Niven’s best short fiction until now. The Best of Larry Niven collects no less than twenty seven stories written over a period of thirty-five years, bringing together some of the best-loved stories in science fiction for the first time, along with some overlooked classics. Whether this is your first time in Known Space or you’re visiting old friends in Draco’s Tavern, The Best of Larry Niven is unforgettable.

As is usual for our Best of volumes, we’ll have a small signed leatherbound edition, and a larger unsigned trade hardcover, bound in cloth.

Much like its titular character, the juggernaut that is Robert McCammon’s Mister Slaughter just keeps on going. One large online retailer recently ran completely out of copies, as did several of our wholesalers. We went through the entire third printing resupplying them, so have ordered a fourth printing of McCammon’s historical thriller.

If that’s not enough good news, we received notice yesterday that the novel is up for an American Library Association Reading Award in the Thriller category. Why not pick up a copy and see what all the fuss is about?

A number of new blurbs for you, the first three from the San Francisco Book Review.

On Mirror Kingdoms (Peter S. Beagle):
“Mirror Kingdoms is the collection of a short fiction master and truly deserves to be considered a “Best Of” collection…a must read collection for fans of Beagle and for those who have not yet discovered his excellence.”

On The Taborin Scale (Lucius Shepard):
“The Taborin Scale is yet another example of why Lucius Shepard is one of the best short fiction writers working today.”

On The Great Bazaar and other stories (Peter V. Brett):
“…The Great Bazaar and Other Stories should delight all fans of epic fantasy. Brett’s prose is nimble and accessible and he leaves the reader wanting to know more.”

Finally, the last blurb is from the Sacramento Book Review.

On The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition (Ray Bradbury):
“Bound together in the pristine deluxe hardcover format, The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition is an unprecedented collector’s edition of Bradbury’s work.”

The Reverend Jedidiah Mercer returns with the re-release of Joe R. Lansdale’s highly influential pulp novel, Dead in the West, and four stories, one never before collected, one brand new. Contained in Deadman’s Road are the Reverend’s adventures with zombies, ghouls, werewolves, Lovecraftian monsters and kobolds. Western action blends with grisly horror and ribald humor for a super collection of shoot-outs and fang-outs, claws and crawling horrors, and lessons about an angry, unforgiving god and methods for killing nasties of all kinds. Check out the book’s page for details on the four novelettes that follow the novel.

Deadman’s Road will feature a full-color dust jacket by Timothy Truman, and at least 20 full-page black-and-white illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne.

Special Offer: The Signed Limited Edition is $25 off until the end of the day Friday, March 12, 2010.

The great guys over at Penny Arcade dropped their coin in the slot on Patrick Rothfuss in general — we agree he’s awesome — and his upcoming definitely not a kids’ book, The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffe: the Thing Beneath the Bed. To wit: “It turns out that Patrick is a huge PA fan. In fact he posts in our forums which I guess makes him a bigger PA fan than me. He sent us a free copy of his latest book which sadly is not part two of the Kingkiller Chronicle. This book is actually called The Princess and Mr. Whiffle and it has nothing to do with killing kings or the chronicles such a deed might spawn. This is actually a creepy/funny story in the style of a children’s book. It turns out that Patrick Rothfuss is a good writer no matter what he’s doing. It’s a quick little read but funny and I recommend you pick it up along with his fantasy epic The Name of The Wind.”

We’ve really seen direct sales pick up since the kindly gents at PA mentioned Patrick. The Princess is going to be a special project, right on schedule for release this summer. Trust us.

The first review for Patrick Rothfuss’s The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle: The Thing Beneath the Bed is in, from Booklist. Here’s just one highlight: “The inclusion of three successive ending points, each darker in nature than its predecessor, allows the faint of heart the chance to stop, but really, the payoff for hanging on to the final ending is too good to miss.”

The Club Dumas is a modern classic. Our edition of Arturo Perez-Reverte’s seminal novel of book sleuthing is printed in two colors throughout, with nearly twenty original chapter head illustrations, a number of full-color plates, and a “hidden” image on the back of the dust jacket. Vincent Chong has truly turned in art worthy of the book.

Lettered HC:

$500

Limited HC:

$125

We’re proud to offer Wil Wheaton’s book of memoirs, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, in an expanded edition, as a nifty hardcover. We expect reader will be touched by Wil’s heartfelt, thoughtful essays about growing up, being an adult, and everything in between.

Lettered HC:

$300

Signed HC:

$35

We’ll let the Booklist review speak for Charles de Lint’s latest offering, the recently revised but never published epic fantasy, Eyes Like Leaves: “This is classic high fantasy, written and revised by a master, unpublished when first completed some 30 years ago because de Lint decided to focus on contemporary fantasy stories and let it languish. It is a must for de Lint completists and, actually, for all high-fantasy and folkloristic fiction fans.”

Deluxe HC:

$75

Trade HC:

$35

Twist of phrase and plot twists. You’ll find both present in quantity in Gordon Dahlquist’s 19th century-inspired novel, The Dark Volume. It’s time to catch up with the Doctor, Celeste, and the murderous (but oh so entertaining) Cardinal Chang, as they dig further into the cabal behind the mystery of the Glass Books.

Lettered HC:

$250

Limited HC:

$75

Not every wonderful bit made it into Peter V. Brett’s acclaimed first novel, The Painted Man. The Great Bazaar and other stories contains a standalone novelette that was originally part of the novel, plus a number of deleted scenes — that stand alone as short stories. With release of the mammoth sequel to his debut novel imminent, Brett is only going to become more popular, turning this elegant little collection into a treasure for his growing legion of fans.

Trade HC:

$20

Our latest Ray Bradbury offering, the nearly 800 page omnibus Where Everything Ends, which gathers together his three mystery novels along with the sixty years unpublished tale that was the seed for them, is a personal favorite here at the SubPress offices. As Publishers Weekly noted, “Genre devotees will find contain elements comparable to Cornell Woolrich and Joel Townsley Rogers, are reprinted in this omnibus volume, along with a taut, previously unpublished short story. In the first novel, 1985’s Death Is a Lonely Business, which is the strongest, a shadowy killer culls out the lost souls of Venice, Calif., while leaving few traces of foul play.”

Trade HC:

$50

Fans of Kage Baker’s Company novels won’t want to pass up Not Less Than Gods, which focuses on the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society, the precursor to Baker’s most famous creation. As SF Signal notes, “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.”

Limited HC:

$60