We're happy to announce that we'll be carrying copies of volume two of Night Shade Books' Seabury Quinn set, which looks to stretch to more than ninety tales spread over five volumes. Quantities will be limited, so get your order in for The Devil's Rosary today.

About the Book:

Just a quick head's up that we're down to fewer than 50 signed numbered copies of Kevin Hearne's upcoming The Squirrel on the Train. You know what to do to avoid missing out...

Naomi Novik's upcoming collection, Golden Age and other stories, just picked up a starred review from Kirkus:

“So accomplished, absorbing, and wide-ranging is Novik's creation that the stories elicit enormous pleasure… a must-read for all fans of this outstanding series.”

Add that to the earlier review from Publishers Weekly:

“Novik collaborates with her fans in this welcome return to the alternate 19th-century world of her Temeraire series, in which English naval captain William Laurence befriends the newly hatched Chinese dragon he names Temeraire and the two of them enjoy adventures around the globe. Perhaps the best story in the collection is 'Golden Age,' which tells an alternate version of the first meeting between Temeraire (here called Celeste) and Laurence and the formation of their unusual bond.”

If that's not enough, we also have an excerpt from the title story over on the book's product page, where you'll note that the limited edition is already sold out. We can tell you that distributor orders have been very heavy for the trade hardcover, which may be out of print on publication.

One of the most literary and stylish collections of the year is in our warehouse, being packed up, and send on its merry way to customers. We're referring, of course, to William Browning Spencer's The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and Other Stories, about which, see more below.

About the Book:

Another decade has elapsed, and William Browning Spencer has produced another superlative collection of short stories that commingle horror and humor.

A number of these tales are cautionary ones. After reading “The Tenth Muse,” you might not wish to interview a reclusive writer who wrote one wildly popular novel and has been silent for decades, even if your father was his closest friend.

You might not wish to become a writer at all. “The Indelible Dark” portrays one lost in a dystopian novel he is writing, coming to the slow and unsettling discovery that he carries his own darkness into the mundane world.

These monsters aren’t metaphors. Alcoholism might be the monster in “Penguins of the Apocalypse,” but the disease has its own familiar, a creature born in folklore, nothing as warm as that oversized rabbit that Jimmy Stewart talked to in “Harvey.” And it’s got your son.

“Stone and the Librarian” isn’t a monster story. It is the story of an unhappy young man who is trying to find his place in a Robert E. Howard world of swords and sorcery but is constantly dragged back to the effete world of his pale and sickly classmates. They read a book by some famous guy, a book called The Catcher in the Rye, in which a kid named Holden keeps going on about how phony everything is. Stone’s book report begins, “If I met Holden Caulfield in an alley, I would kill him with a rock.”

In “The Unorthodox Dr. Draper,” a psychologist has abandoned the strict rigor of his professional life for something more improvisational with a client who tells him, “I know when they follow me. I am like a mouse that knows the shadow of the owl because the mouse must be quick or she is dead.”

If this is your first encounter with Mr. Spencer’s stories, it is a good introduction. If you have read other books by him, The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and other stories is essential.

Limited: 750 signed numbered hardcover copies

From Publishers Weekly:

“Spencer’s tales twist the mundane into something altogether eerie, and relatable characters and a firm grasp of the uncanny elevate this highly entertaining collection.”

From Kirkus:

“Spencer (The Ocean and All Its Devices, 2005, etc.), best known for his Lovecraft-ian tales, offers an intriguing collection of nine stories and one poem… Spencer is a heck of a storyteller and has an undeniable way with words. A very readable collection of oddities from a pro, sure to please old fans and new readers alike.”

Publishers Weekly has just given a (deservedly) generous review to our mammoth Jonathan Carroll volume, The Crow's Dinner.

To wit:

“This weighty compendium from novelist Carroll (Bathing the Lion) collects an eccentric and fascinating assortment of observations, musings, anecdotes, and snatches of story from his internet postings and website… His work suggests that the small moments are where we are most alive in the world and where we can learn to make momentary sense of it.”

The Best of Subterranean has picked up another starred review, this time from Publishers Weekly:

“This deep and vibrant genre-spanning collection of 30 stories…contains something for almost every reader, with a particular focus on the creepy and the bittersweet…Genre fans, and fans of short fiction, won’t want to miss this anthology.”

While we have you, here's the previous one, from Kirkus Reviews:

“Vampires and wizards and aliens, oh my! A splendid gathering, from the late lamented magazine, of modern science fiction and fantasy. Like the best of the 1950s pulps, Subterranean magazine did not cavil much about genre distinctions: if a sci-fi story strayed into horror or swords and sorcery, that was fine, so long as the story in question was good… Fans of every stripe of speculative fiction will want this on their shelves.”

Somehow, somewhy, we have copies of James S. A. Corey's Abaddon's Gate left, though it's been listed as sold out on the site since publication. Please help yourself to a copy. Purchase will allow you to place an early preorder for Cibola Burn, the next book in the series, so you might as well take care of that, too.

Hey all,

Early word, because we've received a few queries. We will indeed be publishing the signed, limited edition of Andy Weir's new novel, Artemis. The trade edition is due in November, with our limited due early next year. We'll post more details, and ordering info, as it becomes available. (To cut one question off at the pass—yes, those who bought The Martian will get first crack at the same letter/number of Artemis.)

Squirrels and trains and... well, you get the idea. Kevin Hearne is back with a new Iron Druid novella, The Squirrel on the Train. Without further ado, the details:

About the Book:

Oberon the Irish wolfhound is off to Portland to smell all the things with canine companions wolfhound Orlaith and Boston terrier Starbuck, and, of course, his human, ancient Druid Atticus O’Sullivan. The first complication is an unmistakable sign of sinister agendas afoot: a squirrel atop the train. But an even more ominous situation is in store when the trio plus Atticus stumble across a murder upon arrival at the station. They recognize Detective Gabriela Ibarra, who’s there to investigate. But they also recognize the body—or rather that the body is a doppelganger for Atticus himself. The police, hampered by human senses of smell and a decided lack of canine intuition, obviously can’t handle this alone. Not with Atticus likely in danger. Oberon knows it’s time to investigate once more-—for justice! For gravy! And possibly greasy tacos!

Alongside his faithful Druid, Oberon and the other loyal hounds navigate by nose through Portland to find a bear-shifter friend with intel, delicious clues at the victim’s home, and more squirrels. Always more squirrels!

But will our hungry band of heroes be able to identify the culprit before someone else is murdered? Will there be mystery meat in gravy as a reward or tragedy in store for the world’s (or at least the Pacific Northwest’s) greatest dog detective.

Like its predecessor The Purloined Poodle, the latest of Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries novella, The Squirrel on the Train, is not to be missed by fans of Kevin Hearne's New York Times best-selling Iron Druid series.

Limited: 400 signed numbered leatherbound copies: $45

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $25

We're hard at work shipping the new Ben Aaronovitch novella, The Furthest Station, and are happy to say that we have f-a-r more orders from distributors than we can fill. We've held the last 50 copies for our direct customers, so pick one up now before they become scarce on the ground!

Here are a pair of reviews to give you a nudge...

From Publishers Weekly:

 “Aaronovitch’s novella featuring PC Peter Grant of London’s Special Assessment Unit (aka the Folly), which has the brief of investigating “disruptive phantasmagoria,” is an excellent entry point to the Peter Grant series for newcomers who like their urban fantasies rendered with a light touch.”

From RT Book Reviews (Top Pick):

“Though it be but little, this newest adventures of PC Peter Grant (technically book 5.7 in the Peter Grant/Rivers of London series) is fiercely entertaining; the endlessly imaginative Aaronovitch is in top form. Perhaps because there is so much intrigue, ghostly action and unique characterization packed into such a comparatively small space, the deft blend of supernatural adventure and police procedural is particularly impressive here, as Grant is called upon to use all the tools at his disposal, both the magical and the mundane.”

We're happy to say that K. J. Parker's latest well-reviewed novella, Mightier than the Sword, is in stock and shipping. If you like your narrative voices distinct, and your plots twisty, there's plenty packed into this 136 page gem.

About the Book:

Ever since Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the vampire has evolved from the ferocious blood-sucking fiend as portrayed in the penny dreadfuls such as Varney the Vampyre into a strangely alluring, erotic figure promising eternal life. But, it’s eternal life with a horrifying price attached, the overwhelming need to feast on the blood of the living. Of the hundreds of novels of the vampire that have been written in the hundred-plus years since Dracula, a few rise and stand far above the pack as masterpieces of the horror genre. One of the most notable of the last fifty years is The Delicate Dependency by Michael Talbot. In Talbot’s world, the vampires are the curators of history, the guardians of secrets dating back well before the time of Christ. Most importantly, they possess the secret to life eternal.

In Talbot’s novel four people learn enough of the vampires’ world to draw close to the secret, to be positioned to accept the bargain that carries with it the terrible, unquenchable thirst. Dr. John Gladstone, a virologist who may hold the key to ending the vampires hidden rule forever. His daughters, one obsessed with immortality and one apparently beyond rational thought. Added to this tableau is the Lady Hespeth, whose motives remain obscure. Will the centuries-long reign of the vampires be ended? Or will one or more of the protagonists strike the hellish bargain that grants them eternity at the price of a delicate dependency?

Long overdue to be presented in a permanent hardcover format, Michael Talbot’s novel has long been sought after in any format, with even battered paperbacks commanding high prices. In his short career, Michael Talbot authored only a handful of novels, with three being considered classics of the horror genre, (Night Things, The Bog, and of course, The Delicate Dependency).

Centipede Press is committed to see that the legacy of this remarkable author is preserved. This edition of The Delicate Dependency features an introduction by International Horror Guild Award winner Brian Evenson and stunning dustjacket by Thomas Walker. It is signed by Evenson and Walker and is limited to only 200 copies.

Edition Information

• First ever hardcover publication of this important novel.
• Limited to 200 copies, each signed by Brian Evenson and Thomas Walker.
• New introduction by Brian Evenson.
• Full Dutch cloth with blind stamp on front board.
• Ribbon marker, head and tail bands.

We've made arrangements for Peter V. Brett to visit the SubPress warehouse and sign copies of his newest novel, the epic conclusion to The Demon Cycle. The Core is due in October. Pete will be happy to sign or inscribe your copy. Just mention what you'd like in the comments section when checking out.

In addition, we're creating a special mind ward that will be embossed in each copy. This embossing will be exclusive to copies that Peat signs for SubPress.

About the Book:

New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett brings one of the most imaginative fantasy sagas of the twenty-first century to an epic close.

For time out of mind, bloodthirsty demons have stalked the night, culling the human race to scattered remnants dependent on half-forgotten magics to protect them. Then two heroes arose—Men close as brothers, yet divided by bitter betrayal. Arlen Bales became known as the Warded Man, tattooed head-to-toe with powerful magic symbols that enable him to fight demons in hand-to-hand combat—and emerge victorious. Jardir, armed with magically warded weapons, called himself the Deliverer, a figure prophesied to unite humanity and lead them to triumph in the Sharak Ka: the final war against demon-kind.

But in their efforts to bring the war to the demons, Arlen and Jardir have set something in motion that may prove the end of everything they hold dear—a Swarm. Now the war is at hand and humanity cannot hope to win it unless Arlen and Jardir, with the help of Arlen’s wife Renna, can bend a captured demon prince to their will and force the devious creature to lead them to the Core, where the Mother of Demons breeds an inexhaustible army.

Trusting their closest confidantes, Leesha, Inevera, Ragen and Elissa, to rally the fractious people of the Free Cities and lead them against the Swarm, Arlen, Renna and Jardir set out on a desperate quest into the darkest depths of evil—from which none of them expects to return alive.

Trade Hardcover edition: $30

We have a double dose of good news for you. Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London novella, The Furthest Station, will be out of print on publication. We currently have more large online bookstore and distributor orders than we can fill, so your best bet to lock in a copy is to place a direct order.

The second bit of good news? RT Book Reviews made the novella a Top Pick, heaping praise on it:

“Though it be but little, this newest adventures of PC Peter Grant (technically book 5.7 in the Peter Grant/Rivers of London series) is fiercely entertaining; the endlessly imaginative Aaronovitch is in top form. Perhaps because there is so much intrigue, ghostly action and unique characterization packed into such a comparatively small space, the deft blend of supernatural adventure and police procedural is particularly impressive here, as Grant is called upon to use all the tools at his disposal, both the magical and the mundane.”

We're pleased to announce that Ilona Andrews' The Innkeeper Chronicles is in stock and shipping. Thanks to everyone for their patience! We think you'll be pleased with this huge (over 750 pages) gathering of their three popular novels. There are fewer than 150 copies left, so get your order in soon!

About the Book:

Meet Dina Demille, a nice Texas gal who runs a seemingly ordinary, quaint B&B.  But Dina’s inn is a magic, thinking entity; her fluffy Shih-tzu, Beast really is a beast; and her guests are the kind that no one on earth is supposed to know about:  guests like a dethroned galactic tyrant with a massive bounty on her head, the Lord Marshal of a powerful vampire clan, and a displaced—and superhot—alpha-strain werewolf.  

So don’t expect a normal stay…and don’t stand too close, or you may be collateral damage….

In Clean Sweep, Dina—with the unwanted assistance of newcomer (and alpha werewolf) Sean Evans and Arland, a cosmic vampire soldier—takes on an extraterrestrial killing machine that could destroy her Inn, her neighbors, and everything she holds dear.

Sweep in Peace, finds Dina hosting an anything-but peace summit between three warring intergalactic species; Space Vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the devious Merchants of Baha-char. 

One Fell Sweep sends Dina to the galaxy’s worst penal colony to rescue her sister; and back home to fend off a clan of assassins in pursuit, all while saving a guest’s civilization from annihilation…and searching for her missing parents.

Limited: 750 signed numbered copies: $75

We've made no secret that Lewis Shiner is one of our favorite writers, which makes us only too happy to announce Heroes and Villains, a gathering of three short novels and one fable. Adventure writing doesn't get any better than this.

About the Book:

Tales of adventure and suspense:

• Five stage magicians set out to topple Hitler in 1934
• A middle-aged lawyer finds himself battling a new, predatory species
• A hate-filled demagogue threatens the peaceful existence of the cats and dogs at the city dump
• A secret agent in 1963 Egypt must stop a madman bent on world domination

The four long pieces in this volume show Lewis Shiner writing "hard edged, often political genre fiction at its finest," as Publishers Weekly said about his Collected Stories. These are some of the most accessible stories Shiner has ever written, featuring, as he says in his introduction, "car chases, ticking clocks, and things blowing up in slow motion." At the same time, all four stories deal with the abuse of power in a way that has never been more timely.

For those new to Shiner's work, Heroes and Villains is an ideal starting point, offering the complex characters and moral issues of his acclaimed novels in condensed and action-packed form. For Shiner's many fans, who include George R. R. Martin, Jonathan Lethem, and Karen Joy Fowler, no further incentive is required.

Limited: 750 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

We’re lucky enough to have scored a handful of copies of the upcoming Gift edition of Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King. Like all of Cemetery Dance’s King editions, it’ll be a gorgeous production, we’re certain. Preorder your copy today. Our supplies are limited.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR COLLECTORS:
The manuscript for this epic novel was more than 800 pages, so this will be one of the largest books we've ever published with probably only IT by Stephen King topping it. This will be a HUGE book in more ways than one considering it is also the first novel ever co-written by Stephen King and Owen King! We recommend you do not wait to place your order because we suspect most of the copies will be reserved in record time.

About this Deluxe Special Edition:
Cemetery Dance Publications is very pleased to announce our Deluxe Special Limited Edition of Stephen King and Owen King's collaborative novel, Sleeping Beauties.

In this spectacular father/son collaboration, the authors tell the highest of high-stakes stories: what might happen if women disappeared from the world of men?

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place... The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?

Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, Sleeping Beauties is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.

The exclusive Cemetery Dance Special Limited Edition will be published in three states, all of them printed in two colors and bound in fine materials, and there will be no second printings.

Special Features Exclusive to this Collector's Edition:

• Deluxe oversized design (7 inches X 10 inches) featuring two color interior printing
• Printed on a heavy interior specialty acid-free paper stock that is much thicker than the paper in a normal trade edition
• Featuring two colors of hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Smyth sewn to create a more durable binding
• Deluxe bindings for all editions with colored head and tail bands
• Custom-made slipcase for the Gift Edition
• Epic wrap-around full color dust jacket artwork by Jana Heidersdorf
• A different full-color dust jacket for Signed Limited Edition
• Six to Eight full-color interior paintings by Jana Heidersdorf printed on a high-quality glossy stock and tipped into the book
• High-quality endpapers for all editions
• Full-color signature sheets in the signed editions
• Extremely collectible print run that is a tiny fraction of the print run of the trade hardcover edition from Scribner — and you will NOT find our edition in chain bookstores!

Slipcased Oversized Hardcover Gift Edition of only 1,750 illustrated copies printed in two colors with two-color hot foil stamping, a fine binding, and housed in a custom-made slipcase exclusive to this edition ($125)

We're getting ready to ship Ilona Andrews' The Inkeeper Chronicles, which is due in our warehouse any day. It, along with eight other titles, are currently at the printer. Some of them (Swan Song, Reaper's Gale) are already sold out, while others are moving so well that they may be out of print on publication.

The books include:

• The Furthest Station (Ben Aaronovitch);
• Reaper's Gale (Steven Erikson);
• Swan Song (Robert McCammon);
• Golden Age and other stories (Naomi Novik);
• Mightier than the Sword (K. J. Parker);
• The Best of Subterranean (edited by William Schafer);
• The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and other stories (William Browning Spencer);
• The Process (is a Process All Its Own) (Peter Straub);

We'll keep you posted as various titles make their way toward publication.

We're excited to announce The Book of Swords, which will be illustrated and bound as a sort of "companion" volume to our editon of the landmark anthology, Rogues.

Gardner Dozois has pulled together a great lineup of stories, as you'll see below. Our edition will be limited to only 300 numberd copies and 26 lettered copies, a much smaller print run than the aforementioned Rogues. We expect a quick sell out, so please don't hesitate to get your order in.

Some of the features of our edition include:

• A full color dust jacket
• Story heading illustrations for each tale
• Full-color plates for the Martin and Lynch stories
• Oversize trim size
• Smyth sewn for a lifetime of enjoyment
• Limited Edition housed in a custom foil stamped slipcase
• Lettered Edition specially bound and housed in a custom foil stamped traycase
• One time limited edition printing of only 326 copies

Limited: 300 numbered copies signed by the authors and editor: $250

Lettered: 26 deluxe bound copies, housed in a custom traycase, signed by the authors and editor: $750

Table of Contents:

• “The Best Man Wins” by K. J. Parker
• “His Father’s Sword” by Robin Hobb
• “The Hidden Girl” by Ken Liu
• “The Sword of Destiny” by Matthew Hughes
• “‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow” by Kate Elliott
• “The Triumph of Virtue” by Walter Jon Williams
• “The Mocking Tower” by Daniel Abraham
• “Hrunting” by C. J. Cherryh
• “A Long, Cold Trail” by Garth Nix
• “When I Was a Highwayman” by Ellen Kushner
• “The Smoke of Gold Is Glory” by Scott Lynch
• “The Colgrid Conundrum” by Rich Larson
• “The King’s Evil” by Elizabeth Bear
• “Waterfalling” by Lavie Tidhar         
• “The Sword Tyraste” by Cecelia Holland
• “The Sons of the Dragon” by George R. R. Martin

We've joined forces with Humble Bundle again, this time in a Super Nebula Author Showcase. You can pick up forty great books for only $20, including work by such stellar authors as John Scalzi and Connie Willlis (our contributons), as well as work by Harlan Ellison, Octavia E. Butler, Neil Gaiman, Greg Bear, and even a book of previously unpublished short stories by Frank Herbert. What are you doing sittin' here? Get reading!

The first review for The Best of Subterranean has landed, and it's a good—no, make that great—one.

From Kirkus (Starred Review):

“Vampires and wizards and aliens, oh my! A splendid gathering, from the late lamented magazine, of modern science fiction and fantasy. Like the best of the 1950s pulps, Subterranean magazine did not cavil much about genre distinctions: if a sci-fi story strayed into horror or swords and sorcery, that was fine, so long as the story in question was good… Fans of every stripe of speculative fiction will want this on their shelves.”

We've just sent this huge volume (over 770 pages) to the printer, so get your order in today.

We're happy to report that William Browning Spencer's most excellent new collection, The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and other stories, has just been handed off to our printer, right on schedule for its July release. As well, the collection has just drawn its first major review, from Kirkus:

“Spencer (The Ocean and All Its Devices, 2005, etc.), best known for his Lovecraft-ian tales, offers an intriguing collection of nine stories and one poem… Spencer is a heck of a storyteller and has an undeniable way with words. A very readable collection of oddities from a pro, sure to please old fans and new readers alike.”

About the Book:

Another decade has elapsed, and William Browning Spencer has produced another superlative collection of short stories that commingle horror and humor.

A number of these tales are cautionary ones. After reading “The Tenth Muse,” you might not wish to interview a reclusive writer who wrote one wildly popular novel and has been silent for decades, even if your father was his closest friend.

You might not wish to become a writer at all. “The Indelible Dark” portrays one lost in a dystopian novel he is writing, coming to the slow and unsettling discovery that he carries his own darkness into the mundane world.

These monsters aren’t metaphors. Alcoholism might be the monster in “Penguins of the Apocalypse,” but the disease has its own familiar, a creature born in folklore, nothing as warm as that oversized rabbit that Jimmy Stewart talked to in “Harvey.” And it’s got your son.

“Stone and the Librarian” isn’t a monster story. It is the story of an unhappy young man who is trying to find his place in a Robert E. Howard world of swords and sorcery but is constantly dragged back to the effete world of his pale and sickly classmates. They read a book by some famous guy, a book called The Catcher in the Rye, in which a kid named Holden keeps going on about how phony everything is. Stone’s book report begins, “If I met Holden Caulfield in an alley, I would kill him with a rock.”

In “The Unorthodox Dr. Draper,” a psychologist has abandoned the strict rigor of his professional life for something more improvisational with a client who tells him, “I know when they follow me. I am like a mouse that knows the shadow of the owl because the mouse must be quick or she is dead.”

If this is your first encounter with Mr. Spencer’s stories, it is a good introduction. If you have read other books by him, The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and other stories is essential.

Limited: 750 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

We're pleased to announce the signed, limited edition of one of the finest post-apocalyptic novels of our time. Emily St. John Mandel’s New York Times bestselling Station Eleven is at once a gripping page turner and a hopeful, elegiac masterpiece that explores the connections that bind humanity. Shortlisted for the National Book Award and winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, among many other honors and accolades, Station Eleven has joined the classic pantheon of imagined futures.

About the Book:

On stage during a snowstorm King Lear collapses, and the actor playing him, Hollywood star Arthur Leander, never gets up. Young Kirsten Raymonde, child actress, watches from the wings as Arthur dies. A former paparazzo-turned-EMT in the audience tries to save him, leaving to discover the early stages of a fast-spreading flu have descended on the city and the world. Arthur’s former wife reflects on their time together and the graphic novel that is her great work of art.

Fifteen years after Arthur’s death, the Traveling Symphony tours the Great Lakes region of a sparsely populated, greatly altered United States. Time is marked as before and after the flu, and life—like the remnants of civilization—is still ever-fragile. An actress with the company, Kirsten bears an inscription from Star Trek on her arm—“Because survival is insufficient”—that is echoed on a Symphony caravan. In the town of St. Deborah by the Water, the Traveling Symphony provokes a local tyrant, a crisis that follows them onto the road.

Limited: 750 signed numbered hardcover copies: $50

Lettered: 26 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase: $250

Deep in the bowels of the distributor return area, we ran across copies of two Kelley Armstrong graphic novels that we're now willing to let go at bargain prices:

Becoming:

Bounty Hunt;

It's important note that these are returns, and may suffer from a ding here or there, or a scuffed jacket, and are sold in "as is' condition. You can't beat the price, though!

We're closing in on the publication date of Illona Andrews' The Innkeeper Chronicles, and want to share some of the goregous full-color interior plates with you. Head over to the book's page and have a look. You won't be disappointed. This is going to be one huge (over 700 pages) omnibus that's chock-full of great reading and production values.

Brandon Sanderson's new novella, Snapshot, is out, and we have a dozen copies left. It's crisp and fun, with the master level of worldbuilding that we've come to expect from Brandon. Feel free to pick up a copy before they disappear.

We're thrilled to announce Penric's Mission, Lois McMaster Bujold's return to her World of the Five Gods, the setting of her acclaimed novels The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt. Continuing the tale begun in the Hugo finalists for Best Novella, Penric's Demon and Penric and the Shaman, Bujold's newest installment of Penric and Desdemona's tale is another must-read for her legion of fans.

Learned Penric sails on a journey to Cedonia not as a sorcerer in the white robes of the Bastard’s Order, but disguised as a young lawyer on business. His real mission is one of clandestine diplomacy on behalf of the Duke of Adria. His usual traveling companion, the slyly clever chaos demon Desdemona who inhabits his body, is the only one in on the secret… Or so it’s supposed to be. Instead, upon arrival in Cedonia, Penric finds himself gravely injured and imprisoned in the darkest of dungeons. Escape will not be easy, as Penric meets an intriguing young widow and has more than one brush with disaster in his immediate future.

Limited: 450 signed numbered leatherbound copies: $45

Trade: Fully cloth-bound hardcover edition: $25

The Crow’s Dinner, due out in August, is master novelist Jonathan Carroll’s debut essay collection, and that is very good news. Gathering together hundreds of entries that initially appeared on the website Medium, The Crow’s Dinner is at once a wide-ranging spiritual autobiography and an annotated guide to what Carroll calls “The Map of Me.”

Beginning with an appreciation of “The Invisibles,” those insignificant moments we overlook at our peril, The Crow’s Dinner encompasses an extraordinary range of incidents, ideas, and images that cumulatively illuminate the inner and outer weather of a major American artist. This generous volume contains fragments of autobiography, reflections on the nature of creativity, vivid recreations of chance encounters, and provocative meditations on the complexity—and unpredictability—of human relationships. It is a book filled with colorful vignettes, unexpected bursts of whimsy, and observations filtered through an utterly unique sensibility. Witty, compassionate, open at all times to the “momentary magic” of existence, it is a work of singular beauty that is unlike anything you have ever read.

Since the publication of his first novel, The Land of Laughs, in 1980, Jonathan Carroll has repeatedly offered us new and startling ways of looking at our familiar world. With The Crow’s Dinner, he speaks to us in direct, unmediated fashion about the things that matter most: love, lust, books, dogs, food, friendship—and the transforming power of the imagination. The result is an intimate, one-of-a kind tour of a lively, unfettered mind. Like the best of Carroll’s fiction, The Crow’s Dinner is a book that matters.

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

We've six copies of the gorgeous lettered edition of Clive Barker's Infernal Parade left. The traycase, with its shimmery aspect and deep foil stamping, is something to behold. Pick up your copy now!

We just announced the signed limited edition of N. K. Jemisin's Hugo award-winning The Fifth Season, and are already down to fewer than 50 copies left.

About the Book:

This is the way the world ends.

Extraordinary worlds, extraordinary endings, witnessed by extraordinary characters. This is N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season, the Hugo Award-winning, Nebula and World Fantasy Award-nominated tour de force of language, incident, and, most of all, of people. Three women in three times—youthful Damaya, skillful Syenite, and the older Essun—each face the challenges of the end times of their world. Their stories are inextricable, yet unique, limned in voices and tones specific and necessary to each character.

The world of The Fifth Season is the Broken Earth, a world clearly extrapolated from our own, but just as clearly and marvelously an invention of its author. The geographies and politics alike are contoured from the stuff of both life and imagination, combining into the rare fantastic setting that is as fascinating as the characters who inhabit it and the stories they find themselves in.

Death and betrayal haunt the women who live in these pages. Apocalypses both world-spanning and personal try them, and if there are escapes to be forged, they will not be those a reader expects.

This is the way world the ends… in Jemisin’s unforgettable novel, with tumult, and revelation, and hope.

Limited: 400 signed numbered hardcover copies, bound in cloth: $80

Lettered: 52 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase: Sold Out

Interested in a taste of Joe R. Lansdale's Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. Read on.

My name is Johnny Smack. I worked for Elvis Presley. I was what you might call one of his bodyguards, though he was quite capable of taking care of himself, for the most part.

I was also referred to, from time to time by the jealous and the less polite, as a hanger-on. Something to that, actually. I mean I took advantage now and then. I’m the first to say so. But let me tell you, it wasn’t all glamour and hot women and wild parties, a toot and a snoot. Well, in The King’s case he took what he called his “medicine.” I think on some level he believed that’s exactly what it was. But that’s beside the point. What a lot of folks don’t know is we fought monsters.

I mean it.

Real ones. I got to tell you, civilians have no idea what’s out there, and when you get right down to it, it’s probably best not to know. If you knew a lot of those sounds you hear in the dark, those midnight tapings at your window glass, those scuttles underneath your bed aren’t always wild animals, tree limbs, rats or the house settling, you might not be able to function.

I used to jokingly refer to those monsters as Boo Buddies (something that caught on with Elvis) though I got to tell you, the term wasn’t any kind of joke. It’s the way we all dealt with it, making wisecracks. Cops do it. Firemen do it, and so do Monster Exterminators. No one ever actually called us that, Monster Exterminators, but I wish they had. It has a ring to it.

This part I’m telling you about happened before Elvis disappeared and that other guy came in and pretended to be him. No one was supposed to know, but I knew. You can’t work with a man long and close as I did and not know when he’s been replaced by an imposter. Where The King went when the imposter came in, I can’t say. He didn’t tell me that, and I won’t shit you, that hurt me a little, after all we had been to one another. But the fake Elvis, the one that died on the shitter, well, I left before that happened, packed up my troubles in the old tote bag, so to speak. I knew he was the wrong guy and the right guy was gone. I didn’t have any desire to stick.

But that’s not the story I’m telling you. This one is different.

Here we have Michael Fusco Straub's evocative cover to Peter Straub's exhilirating serial killer novella, The Process (is a Process All its Own). We can't emphasize enough how chilling this horrific tale is, or how rich in characterization and writing.

Check it out for yourself. We've just posted a short excerpt to the book's product page.

We're pleased to announce River's Edge by James P. Blaylock, which, at over 40,000 words, is the longest Langdon St. Ives novella yet!

About the Book:

The body of a girl washes up on a mud bank along the edge of the River Medway amid a litter of poisoned fish and sea birds, casting an accusing shadow upon the deadly secrets of the Majestic Paper Mill and its wealthy owners. Simple answers to the mystery begin to suggest insidious secrets, and very quickly Langdon St. Ives and his wife Alice are drawn into a web of conspiracies involving murder, a suspicious suicide, and ritual sacrifice at a lonely and ancient cluster of standing stones.  Abruptly St. Ives’s life is complicated beyond the edge of human reason, and he finds himself battling to save Alice’s life and the ruination of his friends, each step forward leading him further into the entanglement, a dark labyrinth from which there is no apparent exit.

Limited:1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

We're thrilled to announce a new novella by Robert Silverberg: The Emperor and the Maula. Read on for what makes this particular project unique.
About the Book:

Robert Silverberg’s The Emperor and the Maula was written in 1992 for an aborted publishing project and has been printed only once, in a radically abbreviated version. This deluxe new edition restores more than 15,000 words of missing text, allowing us to see, for the first time, the author’s original intent. The result is both a genuine publishing event and an unexpected gift for Silverberg’s legion of readers.

The Emperor and the Maula is Silverberg’s Scheherazade tale, the story of a woman telling a story in order to extend—and ultimately preserve—her life. The Scheherazade of this striking story is Layla Walis, denizen of a far-future Earth which has been invaded and conquered by a star-faring race known as the Ansaarans. Layla is a “maula,” a barbarian forbidden, under pain of death, to set foot on the sacred home worlds of the imperial conquerors. Knowing the risks, Layla travels to Haraar, home of the galactic emperor himself. Once there, she delays her execution by telling the emperor a story—and telling it well.

That story, the tale within a tale that dominates this book, is, in fact, Layla’s own story. It is also the story of the beleaguered planet Earth, of people struggling, often futilely, to oppose their alien masters and restore their lost independence. Colorful, seamlessly written, and always powerfully imagined, The Emperor and the Maula shows us Grandmaster Silverberg at his representative best. This is science fiction as it should be written, but all too seldom is. No one does it better than Robert Silverberg. No one ever has.

Limited: 250 signed numbered copies, bound in leather: $45

Trade: Fully clothbound hardcover edition: $25

Two brand new titles, one a gigantic omnibus, one a novella, have just been sent to the printer:

• The Innkeeper Chronicles (Ilona Andrews);
• Mightier than the Sword (K. J. Parker);

The Parker novella has just picked up a few great reviews via NetGalley, which we're only too happy to share with you:

“A story with monks copying books and fighting pirates? How can one not love it!”

“I love the comedic asides the narrator and others use to give the piece the usual K. J. Parker whimsical feel. Another dashing good story!”

Deep in the bowels of the SubPress warehouse, we ran across returned copies of China Mieville's This Census-Taker.

These copies aren't perfect. They have a ding here, a scuffed dust jacket there. That sort of thing. But if you want a copy dead cheap, they're only $15 each. Quantities are limited.

Before Bubba Ho-Tep, there was Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. Subterranean Press is thrilled to announce Joe R. Lansdale's novel-length prequel to the classic story, “Bubba Ho-Tep.”

About the Book:

Part of a secret government organization designed to protect civilians, Elvis Presley and a handful of hardcore warriors set out to save the world from an invasion of hive-minded, shape-shifting vampire-like creatures from a dark dimension who have taken up residence in a New Orleans junkyard.  

Besides Elvis, among these righteous warriors is a hammer-wielding descendent of John Henry of railroad fame, a Blind Man who sees more than those with sight, Jack, a strategic wizard, and Elvis’s right hand man and journal writer, Johnny, all thrown in with Raven (real name Jenny) a female recruit who is also a budding pop star, and like Elvis, high on the charisma chart.    

Their leader is none other than Colonel Parker, Elvis’s cutthroat manager, and a warrior himself, directly in contact with President Nixon, or possibly one of his doubles.

It’s an unnerving peek into a secret world, and a possible delusion. It’s what happened before Elvis, aka Sebastian Haff, found himself in an East Texas rest home, mounted on a walker, fighting an Egyptian mummy and worrying about a growth on his pecker.

Strange monsters, wild fights, sex with a beautiful ghost, a drug-induced trip into another dimension, and all manner of mayhem ensue, along with a Mississippi riverboat ride on a giant paddle wheel, and of course, there will be 3D glasses, fried peanut butter and ’nanna sandwiches, and a few hard working zombies.

Bring the kids, but plug their ears and blindfold them. This is one wild and nasty ride to the dark side, but with laughter.

Limited: 1500 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

Lettered: 26 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase: $250

Open ordering for Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson has begun. There's a limit of one copy per household. We don't expect copies to last long, so preorder yours now!

We have a few treats for you today, a new book from Centipede Press (The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney) and low stock on a couple of other publishers' books. Here they are in one handy list:

• The Body Book (Clive Barker);
• The Circus of Dr. Lao (Charles G. Finney);
• The Broken Empire (Mark Lawrence);

Quantities are quite limited on all titles, so please get your order in soon.

Jumping back to the Finney, it's another stunner from Centipede Press, who seem intent on showing us all how limited editions should be produced.

About the Book:

One of the greatest fantasy novels ever written, The Circus of Dr Lao is here presented in an oversize 6½ × 10 inches format, this edition features plenty of extras: an illuminating introduction by Stefan Dziemianowicz, providing insights into the novels, bonus stories and essays, and aspects of Charles G. Finney’s life; 11 bonus stories (see below for an image of the contents page), new artwork by David Ho appearing as a series of cards; new color works by Matthew Jaffe, reprints of the entire Lao-related artwork by Boris Artzybasheff; reprints of the very-hard-to-find illustrations by Gordon Noel Fish, printed only one time, in 1948; a gallery of old paperback and hardcover covers of old editions of the book; printed endpapers, ribbon marker, and color sections printed on Mohawk Superfine paper. The entire book is bound in full Dutch cloth, blind stamped on the front, and wrapped in a stunning dustjacket by David Ho.      

This volume features most of the best of Finney’s fantastic fiction. For those who know The Circus of Dr Lao only through its screen adaptation in 1964 as The Seven Faces of Dr Lao (scripted, it is worth pointing out, by Charles Beaumont, to whom Ray Bradbury was a mentor) the novel will come as a revelation. It is the ur-text for all carnival, sideshow, and freakshow fantasies written in its wake. The circus rolls magically into the sleepy desert town of Abalone — by truck? by rail? no one can be sure — and many of the townspeople are disappointed to discover that it consists of only three cars. But those cars are crammed with a fabulous retinue of performers and a menagerie of creatures so vast that it seems only magic can explain their existence.

Some of the townspeople respond with disappointment: they were expecting the kind of circus they knew from their childhoods and their indifference to Dr Lao’s carnival only shows their inability to reacquaint themselves with the childish sense of wonder they once knew. Some are befuddled: they can’t determine whether one of the cages holds a bear or a Russian (one of the story’s running jokes) and when they can’t reconcile themselves to the sea serpent, the gorgon, and other mythical creatures that Dr Lao boards in place of the usual circus animals they dismiss them as fakes, or freaks. Some are profoundly affected by their encounter with the circus, notably reserved schoolteacher Agnes Birdsong, whose dalliance with the circus’s satyr taps into the erotic subcurrent that courses through several of the attractions and awakens her own repressed sexuality.

“I don’t do tricks” the sideshow seer Apollonius tells an audience member. “I do magic. I create; I transpose; I color; I transubstantiate; I break up; I recombine” — much like Finney himself. And indeed, the Dr Lao’s circus is not one that beguiles with illusions. Rather, it’s a funhouse mirror held up to its audience to show that its sideshow attractions are no more freakish than the people who gape at them, and perhaps even that everyone has the capacity for the marvelous. It is up to the audience — and the reader — to decide what they come away with from the entertainment. As Ray Bradbury wrote:

“The Circus of Dr Lao’s cargo of mythological beasts approaches, as did Hawthorne, Melville, and countless others, the enigma of good and evil, the real and the romantic, shakes the reader severely, threatens some of his most cherished conceptions, and departs having offered no cure-all solutions. The reader, like the inhabitants of the small desert town, is left with a strewn jigsaw which he must fit together in his own time, according to his own temper, believing or disbelieving the entire menageries, depending on his real or romantic needs.”

Edition information:

• Limited to 250 copies, each signed by Stefan Dziemianowicz, David Ho, and Matthew Jaffe.
• New introduction by Stefan Dziemianowicz.
• Full color images are printed on Mohawk Superfine.
• Over a dozen original illustrations.
• Ribbon marker, head and tail bands.
• Gallery of old Circus of Dr Lao covers.

We're more than pleased at the reception that John Scalzi's The Dispatcher has received thus far. The audio was a best-seller at Audible, while the forthcoming print edition is racking up reviews like this one, from Kirkus Reviews: “A what-if tale reminiscent of Asimov at his twistiest.” We'll take it.

In case you were wondering, here are a few more details about the book:

One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone—999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life.

Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher—a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. But when a fellow Dispatcher and former friend is apparently kidnapped, Tony learns that there are some things that are worse than death, and that some people are ready to do almost anything to avenge what they see as a wrong.

It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late…before not even a Dispatcher can save him.

Limited: 400 signed numbered hardcover copies, bound in leather: $45
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $28

The Dispatcher is at the printer now, and will ship in May.

As we ready the final files of Ben Aaronovitch's The Furthest Station for the printer, we've also posted an excerpt to the book's product page. Enjoy!

We've just finished shipping the first wave of copies of Mira Grant's Final Girls, her thrilling new 30,000 word novella. Get your order in now, and we'll ship it ASAP.

About the Book:

What if you could fix the worst parts of yourself by confronting your worst fears?

Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they’ve been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But…can real change come so easily?

Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father’s life. She’s determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb’s budding company. Dr. Webb’s willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther’s not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other’s only hope of survival.

With her new novella Final Girls, bestselling, award-winning author Mira Grant has conjured a heartstopping, gut-wrenching story filled with as many twists as it is versions of reality. Grant offers a chilling exploration of how surviving horrors might define us all.

Limited: 1250 signed numbered copies: $40

From Publishers Weekly:

“Grant (Rise) delivers her trademark combo of unflinching horror and heartily genuine characters in this contemporary science fiction novella… Zombie fans will find the tale satisfyingly inside their niche; it’s fast-paced and deftly wrapped up.”

Caitlin R. Kiernan's new short story collection, Dear Sweet Filthy World, starts shipping this week. (Copies are due in our warehouse today, in fact.)

The latest review, from Locus Online, just might nudge you to pick up a copy.

“Although Kiernan has produced three fine novels, I think it’s safe to say that most of her fans think of her as one our finest and most productive writers of short stories. And so this new collection, her fourteenth, will certainly be received with much delight and acclaim. Containing nearly thirty tales, this handsome volume incidentally proves once again that Subterranean Press continues to be one of the most generous, savvy, elegant and creative publishers around.”

There's a new Mike Resnick in town, and now's your chance to pick up a copy for only $28, a full 30% off the regular price. Better yet, this brand new signed limited edition is in stock and shipping.

About the Book:

Lucifer Jones is back—and on the run again. Having been barred from the United States, Africa (Adventures), Asia (Exploits), Europe (Encounters), and South America (Hazards), he is island-hopping his way across the Pacific to Australia, the one remaining continent that will tolerate his presence.

Seems like it should be an idyllic trip, but then, nothing is ever quite idyllic where Lucifer is concerned. He meets a rather large, rather unhappy couple when he encounters King and Mrs. Kong; he comes across a hermit with an opera singer’s name who has four gorgeous servants—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; he falls in with an arduous collector—of heads; he gets passage aboard a ship whose crazed captain is in maniacal pursuit of the Puce Whale; and he eventually tops General MacArthur’s list of least favorite people.

During the course of his voyages he and the reader encounter old friends such as Capturin’ Clyde Calhoun (who brings ’em back alive; not intact, but alive), Erich von Horst (a con man’s con man), and Inspector Willie Wong (who has so many sons he has run out of names for them and uses numbers instead), as well as some new and equally memorable characters.

Join five-time Hugo winner Mike Resnick as he brings you more episodes from the life of his favorite creation, the Right Reverend Honorable Dr. Lucifer Jones (“Weddings done cheap, with a group rate for funerals.”).

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $28, for a limited time only

Peter Straub is at the height of his considerable powers in his astonishing new novella, The Process (is a Process All its Own). Read on to see what the master's about in this new tale.

About the Book:

In The Process (is a Process All its Own), Peter Straub brings back Tillman Hayward, a latter day Jack the Ripper familiar to readers of The Skylark and A Special Place. Tilly, known for good reasons as The Ladykiller, stands at the dark heart of this astonishing novella.

Tilly is a classic serial killer, and we watch him go about his “work” in the American Midwest of the 1950s. His story is one of madness and bloodlust artfully concealed beneath a thin, civilized veneer. In keeping with his nickname, he leaves a trail of mutilated female corpses behind him wherever he goes.

Straub tells Tilly’s story in a clear, unflinching voice that is at once enthralling and disturbing. At the same time, Straub sets that story against the larger story of a world filled with enigmatic occurrences and impossible encounters. It is a world in which the dead reappear, in which language carries its own peculiar properties, and “a hateful and discordant music” surrounds everything. It is a world which only Peter Straub could have evoked with such clarity and power.

Moving from the American Heartland to the stately homes of England, and from the arid worldview of Tilly to the fevered sensibility of Henry James, this nexus of connected stories is one of the strangest, most unsettling creations of a long, distinguished career. The Process (is a Process All its Own) is the clear product of a modern master. Expect it to haunt you for a very long time to come.

Limited: 750 signed numbered hardcover copies

Happy news: We're in the middle of shipping Kelley Armstrong's long new novella, Lost Souls. It's the perfect chance to revisit her Cainsville series, or a great introduction to it.

About the Book:

The disappearing hitchhiker is one of the hoariest urban legends, and no one knows that better than Gabriel Walsh, a lawyer who grew up on folklore and myth. When author of books on the supernatural Patrick brings Gabriel a case of a hitchhiking woman in white who vanished on a country road after accepting a ride from a businessman, Gabriel knows the Cainsville elder is just trying to wheedle into his good graces. But Gabriel is a man in need of a mystery, one that will get him back into someone else’s good graces. His investigator, Olivia Taylor-Jones, has blown town supposedly on a simple vacation. But when she left there was a rift between them and…he misses her.

Gabriel is well aware the only thing Olivia loves more than a good mystery is a weird one, and this hitchhiker case more than fits the bill. As Gabriel digs into the story, he’s forced to face ghosts of his own and admit that the woman in white isn’t the only one who has lost her way.

With Lost Souls, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong weaves an unmissable novella-length tale connected to her fan-favorite Cainsville series.

Limited: 500 signed numbered copies, bound in leather, with full-color interior illustrations: $48

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $28

From Publishers Weekly:

“The tale’s strongest element is its use of recurring characters, whose familiarity is sure to be a clincher for fans of the series.”

From SFRevu:

“There's a heck of a lot of story in these 192 pages. For fans of the series, this will be a must read. For those who haven't read any of the Cainsville novels, Lost Souls is a small taste and may cause you to seek out the series.”

John Scalzi was kind enough to stop by the SubPress offices last week to sign copies of his epice new sf adventure novel, The Collapsing Empire. We're finished shipping out fall of the preorders, and have a few copies remaining. Have at 'em...

About the Book:

Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible—until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, other stars.

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war—and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Flow is eternal—but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off every human world from faster than light travel forever, three individuals—a scientist, a starship captain and the Empress of the Interdependency—are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

Trade hardcover (signed): $26.99

From Publishers Weekly:

“Scalzi (the Old Man’s War series) delivers a strong opener for his fast-paced new space opera series… Expect several future works set in this sprawling universe.”

From Kirkus Reviews:

“Scalzi continues to be almost insufferably good at his brand of fun but think-y sci-fi adventure.”

The clock is ticking...

This is the last week to preorder Dean Koontz' new novella, Black River: I'll Be Watching Over You, at $50 off the regular price.

About the Book:

Dreams are coming true in Black River.
For here, the hands of fate don't
toss dice. They are too busy
planning your future.

The first in a series of planned suspenseful, intelligent, and mysterious novellas and novelettes that chronicle a small town on the brink of a major renaissance. A renaissance that only one person seems to know anything about.

Limited: 250 signed numbered hardcover copies: $150

Journey back to Castle Rock again in this chilling new novella by Stephen King, bestselling author of The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, and Richard Chizmar, award-winning author of A Long December. This book is a Cemetery Dance Publications exclusive with no other trade editions currently planned anywhere in the world!

The little town of Castle Rock, Maine has witnessed some strange events and unusual visitors over the years, but there is one story that has never been told...until now.

There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974 twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zig-zag up the cliffside.

At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground. From a bit farther away comes the chink of an aluminum bat hitting a baseball as the Senior League kids practice for the Labor Day charity game.

One day, a stranger calls to Gwendy: "Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me."

On a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat like for a suit, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat...

Trade: First printing hardcover edition, signed by Richard Chizmar: $25

We're pleased to be able to offer copies of Patrick McGrath's huge new Centipede Press collection, Writing Madness. As you'll see, there's a healthy mix of essential fiction and non-fiction therein. Add to that Centipede's impeccable production values, and you have a must buy.

About the Book:

Writing Madness is a new, massive collection of short fiction, novellas, and essays by Patrick McGrath. It features the complete contents of McGrath’s brilliant 1987 debut collection, Blood and Water and Other Tales, the three novellas of Ghost Town, six previously uncollected short stories, seven essays, and over 20 of McGrath’s insightful and engaging introductions and book reviews from over the years.

For thirty years Patrick McGrath’s novels have received high critical acclaim worldwide, and won prizes internationally. Writing Madness is the first large-scale collection of McGrath’s short fiction and nonfiction, including the stories in Blood and Water and Other Tales, and Ghost Town: Tales of Manhattan Then and Now. Also included in this unique volume are a number of McGrath’s essays, introductions and book reviews, and several uncollected stories. An account of his childhood in the shadow of the walls of Britain’s largest top-security mental hospital, “A Boy’s Broadmoor,” is reprinted here, as is his astonishing account of a bizarre true-life tragedy, “Death of a Silent Twin.” Gorgeously illustrated by Harry Brockway, Writing Madness has both an introductory essay by Joyce Carol Oates, and an endnote by Danel Olson. The writer who first coined the term The New Gothic, and has been called by one critic “possibly the best gothic novelist ever,” is here published in a beautiful volume from Centipede Press, sure to become a treasured item on every collector’s bookshelf.

Limited to just 300 copies for sale, this edition is signed by McGrath, Oates, Brockway, and Olson. This edition promises to sell out very quickly.

Edition Information

• Limited to 300 copies, each signed by Patrick McGrath, Joyce Carol Oates, Harry Brockway, and Danel Olson.
• Bound in full black Cialux cloth.
• Sumptuous page design.
• Two color printing throughout.
• Ribbon marker.
• Printed endsheets.
• Top edge stain.
• Head and tail bands.

From its launch in 2005 to its final issue in 2014, Subterranean magazine published stories by the leading lights of science fiction and fantasy literature. From Hugo and Nebula winners to Pulitzer and Booker Prize finalists to New York Times bestsellers, this anthology collects 30 pieces in The Best of Subterranean, representing diverse, breathtaking short fiction from today’s modern masters.

In “Last Breath” Joe Hill spins the tale of a man who collects the breaths of the dying for his haunting museum. Catherynne M. Valente’s “White Lines on a Green Field” chronicles what might happen if Coyote became a small town high school quarterback. Karen Joy Fowler’s “Younger Women” finds a woman confronting her daughter’s new boyfriend, who happens to be a vampire. Visit the Twilight Zone via George R.R. Martin in the script “The Toys of Caliban.” In Ted Chiang’s “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” the narratives of a journalist and a young man are told in contrast, both impacted by technology and literacy. And in Kelley Armstrong’s “The Screams of Dragons” a boy is declared a changeling and things only get stranger from there. Other pieces visit far-flung space and intimate sick rooms, the futuristic pyramids of the rich and a jungle where a man-eating tiger stalks a village.

The Best of Subterranean, edited by William Schafer, is a must-have anthology that brings together more than 750 pages of stories as varied and distinguished as their authors, and which are utterly unforgettable.

Lettered: 26 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase: $350
Limited: 350 signed numbered copies, housed in a custom slipcase: $125
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $45

Lawrence Block's latest, greatest novella, Keller's Fedora, looks to be shipping out of print in just a few short weeks. In addtion to Block's strong following, the book has picked up a couple of great reviews so far:

From Publishers Weekly:

This novella is sure to delight the author’s many fans.

From Booklist:

Keller novels are always spare, droll, and filled with Keller’s ruminations on all sorts of things. Keller’s Fedora is even more spare than usual but still plenty droll.

Dont' miss out!

We're in the final day of our Humble Bundle promotion, in which you can snag over $100 worth of ebooks for only $15.

Here's a list of what's included in the Bundle:

• Kelley Armstong – Lost Souls
• Clive Barker – Tortured Souls
• Jim Butcher – Working for Bigfoot
• Jacqueline Carey – One Hundred Ablutions
• Richard Chizmar – A Long December
• Harlan Ellison – Can and Can’tankerous
• Mira Grant – Final Girls
• Kevin Hearne – The Purloined Poodle
• Joe R. Lansdale – Fender Lizards    
• Robert McCammon – The Border
• Tim Powers – Down and Out in Purgatory
• Cherie Priest – Jacaranda
• Alastair Reynolds – Deep Navigation          
• John Scalzi – Miniatures
• Lewis Shiner – Glimpses
• Catherynne M. Valente – The Bread We Eat in Dreams
• Connie Willis – The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories

As we mentioned, time is of the essence, so head over to Humble Bundle, pick up some books and support a worthy charity before it's too late.

We're pleased to announce the first-ever Rivers of London novella by Ben Aaronovitch. The Furthest Station clocks in north of 30,000 words, with a dust jacket in the series' traditional style. Read on for the full details.

About the Book:

There have been ghosts on the London Underground, sad, harmless spectres whose presence does little more than give a frisson to travelling and boost tourism. But now there’s a rash of sightings on the Metropolitan Line and these ghosts are frightening, aggressive and seem to be looking for something.

Enter PC Peter Grant junior member of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Assessment unit a.k.a. The Folly a.k.a. the only police officers whose official duties include ghost hunting. Together with Jaget Kumar, his counterpart at the British Transport Police, he must brave the terrifying the crush of London’s rush hour to find the source of the ghosts.

Joined by Peter’s wannabe wizard cousin, a preschool river god and Toby the ghost hunting dog their investigation takes a darker tone as they realise that a real person’s life might just be on the line.

And time is running out to save them.

With this new novella, bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch has crafted yet another wickedly funny and surprisingly affecting chapter in his beloved Rivers of London series.

Limited: 1500 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

Lettered: 26 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase: $250

We're pleased to be getting a handful of copies of Dean Koontz's new novella, Black River: I'll Be Watching You. This is a Charnel House production, limited to only 250 numberd copies. You can expect the production values to be high, and Dean's story to be exemplary.

Dreams are coming true in Black River.
For here, the hands of fate don't
toss dice. They are too busy
planning your future.

The first in a series of planned suspenseful, intelligent, and mysterious novellas and novelettes that chronicle a small town on the brink of a major renaissance. A renaissance that only one person seems to know anything about.

Limited: 250 signed numbered hardcover copies: $150

World Fantasy Award winner K. J. Parker's newest novella Mightier than the Sword presents itself as a translated oddity of a document called Concerning the Monasteries. But in true Parker style, this novella is instead a sprightly, riveting tale that reveals secret upon secret, building to an ending at once perfect and perfectly unpredictable.

An Imperial legate is called into see his aubt, who just happens to e the empress running the civilized world while her husband's in his sick bed. After some chastisement, she dispatches her nephew to take care of the dreaded Land and Sea Raiders, pirates who've been attacking the realm's monasteries.

So begins a possibly doomed tour of banished relatives and uppity royals put in charge of monasteries like Cort Doce and Cort Maleston, to name a few. While attempting to discover the truth of what the priates might be after, the legate visits great libraries and halls in each varied locale and conducts a romance of which he knows--but doesn't care--his aunt will not approve. With enough wit and derring-do (and luck), the narrator might just make it through his mission alive…or will he?

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

We're pleased to announce the thirtieth anniversary signed limited edition of one of the most celebrated epic apocalypse novels of them all: Robert McCammon's sf/horror extravaganza, Swan Song. At only 552 copies total, in an edition that will not be reprinted, we expect the print run to sell quickly.

About the Book:

First published as a paperback original in 1987, Robert McCammon’s Stoker Award-winning Swan Song remains one of the signature horror novels of its era. Set squarely in the tradition of such post-apocalyptic classics as The Stand, Alas, Babylon and, more recently, The Road, Swan Song invites us to witness the fiery end of civilization – and its bloody, brutal aftermath.

The story begins with a devastating nuclear exchange, the culmination of humanity’s ancient “love affair with fire.” As the world devolves into a toxic wasteland marked by acid rain, dwindling food supplies, and an endless nuclear winter, a large cast of characters struggle to rebuild their lives in a barren, utterly hostile landscape. Among the more memorable of these are Sister Creep, a former bag lady, Josh Hutchins, a wrestler once known as “Black Frankenstein,” Roland Croniger, a young boy who learns to become a savage killer, and the terrifying, possibly demonic “Man with the Scarlet Eye.” Most centrally, Swan Song tells the story of Sue Wanda Prescott, AKA Swan, whose nascent ability to restore the health of the ravaged earth may, in time, lead to the salvation of the human species.

Thirty years after its initial appearance, Swan Song continues to entertain and enthrall. An epic feat of storytelling, it gazes without flinching into the horrors of the nuclear abyss. At the same time, it offers a compelling vision of rebirth and renewal, of hope maintained under impossible circumstances. Readers new to this novel are in for an extraordinary experience. Returning readers will find themselves caught up once again in a moving, beautifully constructed tale. Swan Song is one of those all too rare books that will take over your life for an extended period. Like the best of McCammon’s fiction, it offers the sort of sustained thrills and complex pleasures that only a master novelist can provide. 

Edition Details:

• Oversize 7*10 inch trim size
• Limited to 500 numbered and 52 lettered copies in a one time printing
• An epic wraparound dust jacket
• Eight full-color illustrations, a mix of full-page and gatefold images by David Ho
  
• The Lettered edition will feature an exclusive gatefold illustration
• The Limited edition will be slipcased, while the lettered edition will be housed in a custom traycase

Order your copy before supplies run out.

We're pleased once again to be partnering with Humble Bundle to offer a ton of great ebooks at an unbeatable price. You can pick up ebooks by Mira Grant (a book you can't even buy in stores yet), Connie Willis, Robert McCammon, and many more.

This ebook bundle includes a mixture of novels, story collections, and novellas, featuring some of Subterranean’s most popular offerings, such as Jim Butcher’s Working for Bigfoot, Kevin Hearne’s The Purloined Poodle, and Catherynne M. Valente’s The Bread We Eat in Dreams. It also includes recently released or brand-new titles, including John Scalzi’s Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi, and Kelley Armstrong’s Lost Souls.

Part of the proceeds are going to support Pat Rothfuss' charity, Worldbuilders, so you're doing good while getting books at unebeatable prices.

Don't delay. Visit the Fantastic Fiction Bundle presented by Subterranean Press today and place your order.

We're more than pleased that Lois McMaster Bujold's very long novella Penric and the Shaman is in stock and shipping. Copies should be going out this week and early next. As with the last Penric volume, we expect a quick sell out, so please order early.

About the Book:

Young Lord Penric now wears the white robes of the Bastard’s Order, complete with shoulder braids marking him as a divine and sorcerer, while he pursues scholarly studies in the court of the Princess-Archdivine. His demon of disorder, Desdemona, is, of course, present, accounted for, and offering clever commentary, particularly when she grows bored. And so when a Locator of the Father’s Order shows up on the Archdivine’s threshold in need of a sorcerer for a journey and she volunteers Penric, at least Des is thrilled with the prospect of an adventure. As they travel into the mountains to locate Inglis, a shaman accused of murdering his best friend, the sitation grows into a test for all of Penric’s developing talents.

Multiple-award-winner and bestselling author Lois McMaster Bujold returns to her World of the Five Gods, the setting of her acclaimed novels The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt. Set four years after the events detailed in the Hugo and Locus Award finalist for Best Novella, “Penric’s Demon,” Bujold’s newest installment of Penric and Desdemona’s tale is a breaktaking must-read novella for her legion of fans.

Limited: 450 signed numbered hardcover copies: $45
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $25

At long last, the follow-up to Christopher Golden and James A. Moore's controversial, Stoker-nominated novella Bloodstained Oz! A decade after the events of the first book, Bloodstained Wonderland finds Gayle Franklin and her fellow survivor, Elisa, trying to survive the London Blitz.

But it’s not merely the war or the Luftwaffe they need to worry about. As a child, Gayle saw her parents and neighbors murdered by vampiric creatures who’d spilled out a tornado straight from Oz. In the years since, the vampires have been busy knocking down the walls between dimensions and claiming them one at a time. Now they’ve found Gayle and Elisa again…not just creatures from Oz, but a whole cast of nightmarish characters from Wonderland. Some want to help them…but most want their blood. Their blood, and one other thing…the strange green pendant that Gayle took with her when she fled Kansas. A stone full of magic. A power called The Emerald Heart of Oz. If Gayle can learn the truth of what she possesses, she and Elisa might survive this Blitz…but first they have to make their way through a Bloodstained Wonderland.

Limited: 500 signed numbered hardcover copies: $35

Naomi Novik ended her acclaimed, beloved nine-volume Temeraire series last year with a stunning finale, League of Dragons. Fans missing their favorite series can now rejoice: Novik returns with Golden Age and Other Stories, an original Temeraire collection as unique as the world she has created, with each tale inspired by an accompanying piece of fan art. In addition to the wonderful stories, the book contains over thirty brand-new illustrations.

The Temeraire novels provide a window into an alternate nineteenth century populated with Novik’s own richly human and unforgettably draconic characters as they adventure alongside well-known historical figures. That tradition continues here. Readers will delight at appearances by fan-favorite characters from the series and historical figures like the famed explorer Matteo Ricci. In “Planting Season,” Novik shows us an early glimpse of American dragon John Wampanoag at Boston harbor. “Golden Age” finds a dragon who believes he remembers being called Celeste hatch from a shipwreck-tossed crate onto an island where he meets others of his kind. But other famous fictional characters are to be discovered here as well. Readers will certainly recognize a certain Miss Bennet (here Captain Bennet) and her suitor, Mr. Darcy, in “Dragons and Decorum.”

Filled with the inventive world-building, rich detail, sparkling wit, and deep emotion that readers have come to expect from Novik’s work, Golden Age and Other Stories is a treasure at home on any Temeraire-lover’s bookshelf.

Limited: 400 signed numbered copies, bound in leather: $45

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover copies: $25

Our warehouse is a busy one this week. Right now, we're finishing sending out copies of China Mieville's sold out novella, The Last Days of New Paris, and then we'll be moving on to:

• Infernal Parade (Clive Barker);
• Caliban's War (James S. A. Corey, lettered edition);
• The Bonehunters (Steven Erikson, lettered edition);

There's no guarantee everything on this list will go out this week—in fact, some of it is certain to spill into next week—but at least you know the game plan.

We have another publisher's cover debut for you, and a new announcement to boot! Night Shade books has undertaken publishing all 93 of Seabury Quinn's Jules de Grandin Stories, starting with The Horror on the Links, and we'll be carrying copies.

About the Book:

Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the twentieth century, are recognizable even to casual readers of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn.

Quinn’s short stories were featured in well over half of Weird Tales’s original publication run. His most famous character, the supernatural French detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. In de Grandin, there are familiar shades of both Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, and alongside his assistant, Dr. Samuel Trowbridge, de Grandin’s knack for solving mysteries—and his outbursts of peculiar French-isms (Grand Dieu!)—captivated readers for nearly three decades.

Collected for the first time in trade editions, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin presents all ninety-three of Seabury Quinn’s stories starring the supernatural detective Jules de Grandin. Presented in chronological order over five fully cloth-bound hardcover volumes, with artwork from acclaimed artist Donato Giancola, Night Shade Books is proud to present the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero.

The Horror on the Links includes all of the stories from “The Horror on the Links” (1925) to “The Chapel of Mystic Horror” (1928), as well as an introduction by George Vanderburgh and Robert Weinberg.

Seabury Quinn was born in 1889 in Washington, DC. A World War I veteran, Quinn was both a lawyer and a journalist for most of his life, as well as a prolific pulp magazine fiction author. Having published more than five hundred short stories in a variety of magazines, his most well-known character, the occult detective Jules de Grandin, was featured in Weird Tales between 1925 and 1951. Quinn penned ninety-two short stories and one full-length novel featuring “the occult Hercule Poirot,” which were enormously popular with readers. Quinn died in 1969.

Trade Hardcover: $34.99

We're happy to share Publishers Weekly review of Kelley Armstrong's new novella, Lost Souls:

“Urban fantasy meets urban legend in this succinct sidebar to Armstrong’s Cainsville series…Armstrong milks the plot for as much suspense as possible before bringing events to a romantically satisfying conclusion. The tale’s strongest element is its use of recurring characters, whose familiarity is sure to be a clincher for fans of the series.”

You can preorder the print version today, or actually order the ebook, which has already been released.

And, as a reminder, if you've ordered the print version, when it ships, you'll receive a free copy of the ebook!

As you may know, we'll be carrying signed first editions of John Scalzi's epic new space opera, The Collapsing Empire. What you may not be aware of is that it's currently garnering great notice, with the first two trade reviews being so strong they verge on the embarrassing.

From Publishers Weekly:

“Scalzi (the Old Man’s War series) delivers a strong opener for his fast-paced new space opera series… Expect several future works set in this sprawling universe.”

From Kirkus Reviews:

“Scalzi continues to be almost insufferably good at his brand of fun but think-y sci-fi adventure.”

We're down to our last 60 or so copies available, so please get your order in soon!

We've just sent Caitlin R. Kiernan's new collection, Dear Sweet Filthy World, to the printer, which keeps it right on schedule for a late March release. Don't forget, the limited edition is accompanied by an exclusive bonus volume, The Aubergine Alphabet.

On the fence? Here are pull quotes from two reviews that'll help you make up your mind:

From Publishers Weekly:

The 28 stories (most previously available only in her e-zine, Sirenia Digest) in Kiernan’s newest collection of dark fiction (after Beneath an Oil-Dark Sea) explore the human and inhuman conditions in all their filthy glory, and bravely wallow in the effluvia of mythology, murder, and depravity…her many fans will be overjoyed to have these works collected.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Horror blends with love, obsession, transformed bodies, and terrifying mysteries in this collection of stories. Kiernan's surreal and often unsettling fiction derives much of its power from the way it causes characters and readers alike to question reality via a shroud of narrative ambiguity… At their best, these stories are sinister and beguiling in equal measure, tracing the border between fear and obsession and asking powerful questions about desire along the way.

Limited: 600 signed numberd copies, with bonus hardcover: $60

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $40

Multiple-award-winner and bestselling author (and let’s just say it: legend) Connie Willis has created a fresh, technology-based romantic comedy in her latest novel Crosstalk, serving up a take on telepathy unlike any other. Our signed, limited edition of the novel—which received starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal—is now shipping, and our own Gwenda Bond had a chat with Connie about it

Gwenda Bond: So, let’s start with an easy one. Not that there are easy ones, when it comes to novels. Where did the idea for Crosstalk emerge from?

Connie Willis: (laughs) Novels come from lots of places. Everybody always asks where did you get the idea, as if it were one idea. Usually the original idea—whatever that was—is sort of lost in the mist of time, and then has all these other ideas attached to it. Or someone described it as a pearl gradually accruing gunk to it and I think that’s pretty accurate.

One of the places, of course, was looking around—I do a lot of my writing over at Starbucks and shamelessly eavesdrop on conversations. It has struck me over the last two years that all these communication devices that we’ve come up with, all these new ways of supposedly making communication better… Let me say first, I’m thrilled with them. My daughter lived a year in England before the cellphone and it was hell. So I’m not in any way dismissing the wonderful aspects of our communications revelation.

But. But what I see over at Starbucks is that it hasn’t really helped in terms of: we don’t get along better, we don’t understand each other better, our hearts are still broken, our romances still break up and, frequently, what used to be “he didn’t call me” is now “he didn’t text me” or “I’m trying to decipher the text that he sent me,” or all these codes, “Oh my god he didn’t change his relationship status on facebook.” For all of our attempts to communicate better, we’re not communicating any better obviously. Watching our current brand new administration, there’s a whole industry devoted to “what the hell do his tweets mean?” They decipher them as if they were some sort of elaborate code. Symptomatic of the whole communications problem. So that was the first thing.

The second thing, probably the trigger, was I was on a panel at a science fiction convention and we were talking about telepathy, because that’s been a theme throughout science fiction. People love to write telepathy stories. And I was the only person on the panel who thought it was just a completely terrible idea.

GB: Agreed!

CW: Everyone else is like, “No it’d be great.” So I was determined to show everybody just exactly how terrible it would be. Because I certainly don’t want people to know what I’m thinking at any given moment. People have this sort of fantasy about it, that we think as coherently as we speak. We don’t, obviously. I think if you could hear thoughts, they would just be random and incoherent.

GB: I doubt it would be that different if you had telepathy with your pet. We’re all always thinking about food.

CW: Right. And with people, you’re not just thinking “I’m really in love with Tom,” you’re also thinking “I need to go to the bathroom or the grocery store and oh look, there’s a bird, and it’s clouding over and my feet are cold and my hand hurts.” You’re thinking all of those things simultaneously. For one person it would just be chaos. Let alone if you were hearing other people.

And that’s the other fantasy we have. We would listen to the people we wanted, but I see no reason why that would be the case. You would in fact have to listen to everybody and some people are terminally boring and some people are awful and I just don’t think you want that. I don’t think people even think about the true nightmarish situations. It’s bad enough you can have an internet stalker who can find out your address and come park his car across the street from your house and watch you. But to have that person in your head with you having no way to get them out of there would rise to the level of nightmare.

GB: You took this concept in a funny romantic comedy direction, but it could easily be horror.

CW: Exactly. One day I was sitting in Starbucks next to these two women who were terminally boring. I should say one was terminally boring and the other one was listening to her and making those appropriate “mmhmm mmhmm” noises; I would’ve loved to hear what she was thinking, actually. But the woman was going on and on about what she was going to buy over at the grocery store for dinner and it just went on and on and I would rather listen to my dog. And I think most of us—although I’m laughing—I’m sure I’m guilty of all those terrible boring thoughts also. And the endless fretting and stewing about things that we do, just going over the same territory all the time to no good end. It’s bad enough that we have to listen to our own heads doing that. It would be awful if we had to listen to other people.

GB: Switching gears… Romantic comedy is a favorite of mine, and this is dead-on a novel version of a classic screwball. I have a theory that one of the venues romantic comedy works best in now is SF where you can set up rules for the relationship to collide with. That’s one of the things that makes Crosstalk have that classic feel to me even though you’re using technology.

CW: There used to be many more societal barriers. Fantasy and SF are excellent places for romantic comedy, because then the barriers can be invented to keep the characters apart. In Crosstalk, the barrier is partly that they have this forced intimacy that they didn’t want and aren’t ready for—and especially that Briddey doesn’t want—and at the same time, they’re not connecting. In the real world, they never would have spoken.

GB: And now we have this fantastic story. Thanks so much for talking with me.

Some novels are so good that reviews keep appearing well after publication. Robert McCammon's Freedom of the Mask (print, ebook) is just such a beast, with the latest praise being picked up from the Manly but Bookish blog, and it is a rave.

Here's the pull quote:

Like the rest of the books in the series, Freedom of the Mask has a captivating plot and a host of fascinating characters. It's proof that the series as a whole is progressing at full speed and that McCammon is on top of his game. I finished it anxious and impatient fort the next book to come out.

We're pleased to present, from NYT #1 bestselling author Ilona Andrews. The Innkeeper Chronicles is an omnibus of the first three novels in the Innkeeper series. Our edition will be huge (over 760 pages), with an original full-color wraparound dust jacket, as well as full-color and black-and-white interior illustrations by Doris Mantair.

About the Book:

Meet Dina Demille, a nice Texas gal who runs a seemingly ordinary, quaint B&B.  But Dina’s inn is a magic, thinking entity; her fluffy Shih-tzu, Beast really is a beast; and her guests are the kind that no one on earth is supposed to know about:  guests like a dethroned galactic tyrant with a massive bounty on her head, the Lord Marshal of a powerful vampire clan, and a displaced—and superhot—alpha-strain werewolf.  

So don’t expect a normal stay…and don’t stand too close, or you may be collateral damage….

In Clean Sweep, Dina—with the unwanted assistance of newcomer (and alpha werewolf) Sean Evans and Arland, a cosmic vampire soldier—takes on an extraterrestrial killing machine that could destroy her Inn, her neighbors, and everything she holds dear.

Sweep in Peace, finds Dina hosting an anything-but peace summit between three warring intergalactic species; Space Vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the devious Merchants of Baha-char. 

One Fell Sweep sends Dina to the galaxy’s worst penal colony to rescue her sister; and back home to fend off a clan of assassins in pursuit, all while saving a guest’s civilization from annihilation…and searching for her missing parents.

Limited: 750 signed numbered copies: $75

Lettered: 52 signed leatherbound copies, housed In a custom traycase: $250

Another decade has elapsed, and William Browning Spencer has produced another superlative collection of short stories that commingle horror and humor. Preorder The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and other stories today! It's deep in production, and on schedule for a July release.

About the Book:

A number of these tales are cautionary ones. After reading “The Tenth Muse,” you might not wish to interview a reclusive writer who wrote one wildly popular novel and has been silent for decades, even if your father was his closest friend.

You might not wish to become a writer at all. “The Indelible Dark” portrays one lost in a dystopian novel he is writing, coming to the slow and unsettling discovery that he carries his own darkness into the mundane world.

These monsters aren’t metaphors. Alcoholism might be the monster in “Penguins of the Apocalypse,” but the disease has its own familiar, a creature born in folklore, nothing as warm as that oversized rabbit that Jimmy Stewart talked to in “Harvey.” And it’s got your son.

“Stone and the Librarian” isn’t a monster story. It is the story of an unhappy young man who is trying to find his place in a Robert E. Howard world of swords and sorcery but is constantly dragged back to the effete world of his pale and sickly classmates. They read a book by some famous guy, a book called The Catcher in the Rye, in which a kid named Holden keeps going on about how phony everything is. Stone’s book report begins, “If I met Holden Caulfield in an alley, I would kill him with a rock.”

In “The Unorthodox Dr. Draper,” a psychologist has abandoned the strict rigor of his professional life for something more improvisational with a client who tells him, “I know when they follow me. I am like a mouse that knows the shadow of the owl because the mouse must be quick or she is dead.”

If this is your first encounter with Mr. Spencer’s stories, it is a good introduction. If you have read other books by him, The Unorthodox Dr. Draper and other stories is essential.

Limited: 750 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

Jim Butcher's Small Favor is in stock, and we're sending out copies as quickly as we can. Order yours today!

About the Book:

Subterranean Press is proud to announce the tenth of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files novels, in a deluxe collectable hardcover, meant to give a lifetime of enjoyment.

Our edition of Small Favor will be printed on 80# Finch Opaque, our preferred paper for higher-end limited editions, with a number of full-page interior illustrations, as well as a full-color dust jacket. Vincent Chong will once again be handling the illustrations.

Limited: 500 numbered hardcovers, signed by author: $85

Lettered: 26 copies, bound in leather and cloth, signed by author, housed in a custom traycase: $325

We finally managed to finishing shipping all of the preorderd copies of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, and find ourselves with ten left over. They're first come first served, with a limit of one per customer.

Joe R. Lansdale's latest, greatest Hap and Leonard novella is in stock and shipping. Pick up your copy of Coco Butternut today. With the reviews it's received, we expect the trade edition won't survive the initial shipping wave.

About the Book:

Coco Butternut marks the always-welcome return of Joe R. Lansdale’s dysfunctional duo: Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. As usual, wherever Hap and Leonard go, trouble seems to already be there, awaiting their arrival. And in the case of this twisty, hilarious, and heartfelt new novella, Lansdale sends his heroes to Oak Rest mortuary and cemetery to grapple with the living and the dead—both canine and human.

When the mummified corpse of a beloved prize-winning dachshund named Coco Butternut is stolen from her final resting place, Hap and Leonard are hired by the owner to get her body back. The job is straightforward: they must simply exchange a bag full of cash for the missing pooch’s mummy. But they can feel something’s not on the up-and-up, and how right they are.

With assistance from Hap’s significant other, Brett, and his daughter, Chance, Hap and Leonard are soon embroiled in a gripping mystery tied to the dark secrets lurking beneath the hallowed ground of Oak Rest cemetery. In his inimitable style, and at the top of his game, here Lansdale gives us a highly enjoyable new entry in the ongoing adventures of Hap and Leonard. Fans of Hap and Leonard’s, whether of their fictional outings or the Sundance TV show (or more likely, both), won’t want to miss this treat.

Limited: 400 signed numbered copies, bound in leather: $45
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover copies: $25

From Publishers Weekly:

"Lansdale (Honky Tonk Samurai) is without peer when it comes to this kind of tale, and the result is an infectious, darkly funny slice of weirdness."

From Kirkus Reviews:

"[T}he slide from fizzy East Texas comedy to deeper waters is so deftly managed that you'll be chuckling all the way to the graveyard."

After the initial shipping wave, we have 25 sets of Robin Hobb's The Farseer Trilogy available for sale. There's a limit of one per customer, but please be quick if you want a set. We don't expect these to last long.

Centipede Press has just announced Singularity, a mammoth (over 800 pages) collection gathering all of Melanie Tem's short horror fiction. We're lucky enough to get a handful of copies, which we expect to go quickly, given the quality (and quantity) of the stories.

About the Book:

Singularity gathers award-winning writer Melanie Tem’s most important short fiction, highlighting her diversity and mastery of her art. The sixty stories collected here range from “Sitting with the Driver,” a western with a dark woman at its center, to “Little Shit,” a contemporary tale of a woman who uses her deceptive appearance and psychic power to trap those who prey on the helpless.

Melanie Tem wrote eleven novels on her own, plus two in collaboration with Nancy Holder and two more with her husband, Steve Rasnic Tem. She also wrote dozens of short stories, plus plays and poetry. Her first book, Prodigal, won the Bram Stoker Award for best first novel. Written in collaboration with Steve Rasnic Tem, the story “The Man on the Ceiling” also received the World Fantasy Award, while the novel length version of The Man on the Ceiling was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award. Melanie Tem’s work has also received the International Horror Guild and British Fantasy Awards.

Limited to 300 copies for sale, and signed by Jessica Fortner and Caitlín Kiernan, over 800 pages, this is all of Melanie Tem’s horror fiction, and will be recognized as a landmark publication.

Limited: 300 signed (by Kiernan and Fortner) limited edition copies in dust jacket: $65

Edition Information

• Limited to 300 copies, each signed by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Jessica Fortner.
• Bound in full black cloth, blind stamping on front board.
• Gorgeous dustjacket on Mohawk Superfine.
• Top-edge stain.
• Rare and hard to find stories.
• Head and tail bands.

We've just posted the dust jacket for the signed, limited edition of Kelley Armstrong's long new novella, Lost Souls. If that's not enough for you, head over to the product page and have a look at a few of the interior illustrations, as well.

About the Book:

The disappearing hitchhiker is one of the hoariest urban legends, and no one knows that better than Gabriel Walsh, a lawyer who grew up on folklore and myth. When author of books on the supernatural Patrick brings Gabriel a case of a hitchhiking woman in white who vanished on a country road after accepting a ride from a businessman, Gabriel knows the Cainsville elder is just trying to wheedle into his good graces. But Gabriel is a man in need of a mystery, one that will get him back into someone else’s good graces. His investigator, Olivia Taylor-Jones, has blown town supposedly on a simple vacation. But when she left there was a rift between them and…he misses her.

Gabriel is well aware the only thing Olivia loves more than a good mystery is a weird one, and this hitchhiker case more than fits the bill. As Gabriel digs into the story, he’s forced to face ghosts of his own and admit that the woman in white isn’t the only one who has lost her way.

With Lost Souls, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong weaves an unmissable novella-length tale connected to her fan-favorite Cainsville series.

Limited: 500 signed numbered copies, bound in leather, with full-color interior illustrations: $48

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $28

We're only too happy to share Publishers Weekly's just-published review of Clive Barker's Infernal Parade with you:

[T]his novella elaborates one of horror maven Barker’s favorite themes: the close proximity of the human and the monstrous. Executed murderer Tom Requiem is resurrected by agents of the Underland to lead the titular parade, which will “send some fears into the hearts of men.” Over the next five chapters, Requiem expands his entourage to include the person he murdered, a homicidal golem, a gaggle of circus freaks, a mythical monster known as the Sabbaticus, and a young woman tortured to death in an iron maiden... Barker draws the reader in by giving his horrors a human dimension and describing them with his usual cinematic vividness.

About the Book:

From the beginning of his distinguished career, Clive Barker has been the great visionary artist of contemporary dark fantasy, a form that Barker himself has termed “the Fantastique.” Through his many novels, stories, paintings and films, he had presented us with unforgettable images of the monstrous and the sacred, the beautiful and the grotesque. His body of work constitutes a great and varied contribution to modern popular culture.

This astonishing novella, Infernal Parade, perfectly encapsulates Barker’s unique abilities. Like the earlier Tortured Souls, an account of bizarre–and agonizing–transformations, Infernal Parade is tightly focused, intensely imagined, and utterly unlike anything else you will ever read. It begins with the tale of a convicted criminal, Tom Requiem, who returns from the brink of death to restore both fear and a touch of awe to a complacent world. Tom becomes the leader of the eponymous “parade,” which ranges from the familiar precincts of North Dakota to the mythical city of Karantica. Golems, vengeful humans both living and dead, and assorted impossible creatures parade across these pages. The result is a series of highly compressed, interrelated narratives that are memorable, disturbing, and impossible to set aside.

Infernal Parade is quintessential Barker: witty, elegantly composed, filled with dark and often savage wonders. It proves once again that, in Barker’s hands, the Fantastique is not only alive and well, but flourishing. This is vital, visionary fiction by a modern master of the form.

Lettered: 52 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase: $275
Limited: 500 signed numbered hardcover copies: $60
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover copies: $30

PS Publishing has just announced the signed (by Dave McKean) lmited edition of Stephen King's Night Shift, and we still have fifty copies available for preorder. We've seen samples of Dave's art fo this volume, and it promises to be the most impressive of the PS releases yet. Pick up a copy and re-experience one of the finest collections of horror fiction ever published. If this is your first time through, we envy you.

About the Book:

Originally published in 1978, Night Shift brings together nineteen of Stephen King's most unsettling short pieces—bizarre tales of dark doings and unthinkable acts from the twilight regions where horror and madness take on eerie, unearthly forms…where noises in the walls and shadows by the bed are always signs of something dreadful on the prowl.

The settings are familiar and unsuspected—a high school, a factory, a truck stop, a laundry, a field of Nebraska corn. But in Stephen King's world any place can serve as devil's ground…if the time of night is propitious, and the forces of darkness are strong, and the victims are caught just slightly off their guard…

Limited: 1000 numbered copies, signed by Dave McKean, housed in a custom slipcase: $90

As you can tell, we've launched a new site. One of the challenges is that everyone has to re-register for the site. The upside is that by doing so you'll have access to a whole host of new features, as well as future enhancements we have planned.

Some of the features include:

• Easy access to past orders made on the new website, with the ability to reorder;
• Your order will show what stage of the shipping process it is in: processing for items that haven't shipped yet, which will then be updated once your books have shipped;
• You can see any comments you left on your order;
• You can see what payment method you used;
• You can now create a wishlist, add comments to your wishlist, and email your wishlist;
• In-stock wishlist items can be added to your cart;
• You can view if you are subscribed to our newsletter;
• You can maintain multiple addresses.

We've just started receiving copies of Joe Hill's epic, end of the world novel, The Fireman. As soon as all the copies are in from PS Publishing, we'll check their condition, and get them in the shipping queue. Thanks to everyone who's picked up a copy so far. For those who haven't we still have a few left to preorder.

For those of you lucky enough to own The Bonehunters, the exclusive preorder period for Steven Erikson's Reaper's Gale has just begun. It runs through the end of March, so don't forget to place your order. Tommy Arnold is helming the illustrations this time out, and they are gorgeous. We'll reveal more as we get closer to publication.

The open preorder period for James S. A. Corey's sf epic Abaddon's Gate has opened. We only have about 40 copies available at this point, so don't delay.

About the Book:

“A politically complex and pulse-pounding page-turner…. Corey perfectly balances character development with action… series fans will find this installment the best yet.”―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

From the authors’ website:

For generations, the solar system — Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt — was humanity’s great frontier. Until now. The alien artifact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has appeared in Uranus’s orbit, where it has built a massive gate that leads to a starless dark.

Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artifact. But behind the scenes, a complex plot is unfolding, with the destruction of Holden at its core. As the emissaries of the human race try to find whether the gate is an opportunity or a threat, the greatest danger is the one they brought with them.

We're pleased to ann

ounce the third novel of The Expanse. As with Caliban’s War, it will be published as an oversized limited edition, with a wraparound dust jacket by Daniel Dociu.

Limited: 574 signed numbered copies, bound in cloth: $80

We've just finished shipping all preorders for Lawrence Block's new novella, Resume Speed. It will be going out of print with the next round or wholesale orders, so don't delay if you want to pick up a copy.

About the Book: 

A new town, a fresh start. A chance to escape old demons. 
Or meet new ones.

He got on the Trailways bus in Galbraith, North Dakota, booked all the way through to Spokane. But the Help Wanted sign at the diner in Cross Creek was calling his name. Soon, he had a job working the grill and a place to stay, and a new name to go with them. But what he didn’t have was peace of mind. Or a clear conscience. Or any memory at all of what he’d done the night before fleeing Galbraith.

What he’d done to get the scratches on his wrists and the backs of his hands…

In this brand new novella, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block delivers an unforgettable portrait of a troubled man trying to lay the ghosts of his past and make a new life for himself. But there are things you can’t run away from, and one of them is who you really are.

Subtle and painful and beautifully crafted, Resume Speed is Lawrence Block at the pinnacle of his storytelling powers.

Kirkus Reviews just weighed in on Caitlin R. Kiernan's Dear Sweet Filthy World —the first notice we've seen — and it's good news all around:

Horror blends with love, obsession, transformed bodies, and terrifying mysteries in this collection of stories. Kiernan's surreal and often unsettling fiction derives much of its power from the way it causes characters and readers alike to question reality via a shroud of narrative ambiguity… At their best, these stories are sinister and beguiling in equal measure, tracing the border between fear and obsession and asking powerful questions about desire along the way.

As a reminder, the signed limited hardcover comes with a second hardcover volume, The Aubergine Alphabet, available nowhere else.

We're lucky enough that we'll be receiving a double handful of copies of Suzy McKeen Charnas' classic The Vampire Tapestry, whcih has been given the Centipede Press treatment.

About the Book:

The Vampire Tapestry is a 1980 fantasy novel by American author Suzy McKee Charnas. The story follows a vampire by the name of Dr Edward Lewis Weyland as he preys upon humanity while simultaneously trying to uncover who and what he truly is. Weyland is unlike many traditional vampires, such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in that his condition stems from biologic rather than supernatural means. This fact, coupled with Weyland’s social behaviors, has led some critics to consider The Vampire Tapestry as a work of feminist science fiction. Whatever it is, it is also one of the most compelling and fascinating vampire novels ever written and is a cornerstone work in the vampire genre.

With a new introduction by Nancy Baker, new color artwork by Benjamin Nowak and Jeffrey Alan Love, and bonus materials from Charnas herself, this is a handsome, oversize edition. The book does not come with a slipcase.

Oversized at 7 × 10 inches, with ribbon marker, top-edge stain, handsome signature page, and attractive dustjacket, this is one of the genre’s most important novels and an inventive and masterful contribution to is a phenomenal collection by one of horror’s most distinctive voices. Signed by Charnas, Baker, and the two artists, the edition is just 150 copies, priced $175 per copy.

Edition Information:

• Limited to 150 copies, each signed by Suzy McKee Charnas, Nancy Baker, Benjamin Nowak, and Jeffrey Alan Love.
• Bound in full black cloth, blind stamping on front board.
• Dustjacket art by Benjamin Nowak.
• Sumptuous page design.
• Patterned endpapers.
• Top-edge stain.
• Bonus short story and essay.
• Ribbon marker.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and the Shaman is headed to the printer, which puts it right on schedule for its February release date. The previous volume, Penric's Demon, sold out immediately, and this one is showing signs of doing the same, as it received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

About the Book:

Young Lord Penric now wears the white robes of the Bastard’s Order, complete with shoulder braids marking him as a divine and sorcerer, while he pursues scholarly studies in the court of the Princess-Archdivine. His demon of disorder, Desdemona, is, of course, present, accounted for, and offering clever commentary, particularly when she grows bored. And so when a Locator of the Father’s Order shows up on the Archdivine’s threshold in need of a sorcerer for a journey and she volunteers Penric, at least Des is thrilled with the prospect of an adventure. As they travel into the mountains to locate Inglis, a shaman accused of murdering his best friend, the sitation grows into a test for all of Penric’s developing talents.

Multiple-award-winner and bestselling author Lois McMaster Bujold returns to her World of the Five Gods, the setting of her acclaimed novels The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, and The Hallowed Hunt. Set four years after the events detailed in the Hugo and Locus Award finalist for Best Novella, “Penric’s Demon,” Bujold’s newest installment of Penric and Desdemona’s tale is a breaktaking must-read novella for her legion of fans.

Limited: 450 signed numbered hardcover copies: $45
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $25

From Publishers Weekly (Starred Review):

Bujold follows Penric’s Demon with another brief tale set in her World of the Five Gods, this time combining supernatural sleuthing with finely drawn characters and a panoply of emotions… This is a wonderful expansion of her World of the Five Gods.

 

With Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi about to start shipping, we thought we’d bring you a suitably brief interview with Scalzi and artist Natalie Metzger, who did the dust jacket and many interior illustrations for the volume, conducted by our own Gwenda Bond.

We doubt you need an introduction for Scalzi, but here’s one anyway. John Scalzi is a New York Times bestseller in fiction, and his work has won the Hugo, the Locus, the Seiun and Kurd Lasswitz. He was a recipient of the 2016 Governors Award for the Arts in Ohio, and his works have been translated into 20+ languages.

Natalie Metzger is an illustrator with over a decade of experience working in a variety of mediums. She is the cartoonist behind several webcomics including Cthulhu Slippers and Over-Encumbered. Her illustration work focuses on creepy cute comic style drawings with a preference for pen, ink and tentacles. Each piece in Miniatures features a header illustration.

Without further ado, the interview…

Gwenda Bond: John, my first question is for you. What challenge or freedom is there in writing short rather than long?

John Scalzi: The best thing is that it doesn’t take much time at all. I can write a short piece in two hours. Part of that is my training from my early career when I was writing columns and short pieces to deadline. So it became a part of my muscle memory to write short. It’s a return to what I was doing when I started out. And most of the pieces are funny. Writing short, you don’t overstay your welcome. Which is easy to do with humor.

GB: Similar question for you, Natalie . . . how did you approach doing the art for the book? Was this different than your other projects in any way? Did you work together on choosing illustrations for various pieces?

Natalie Metzger: We happened to both be at Westercon and so we were able to have a back and forth in person and work out most of the details. There was no email tag saying, ‘What do you think of this idea?’ or ‘What about this idea?’ We were able to spend half an hour talking most of it out. But with these very short things, you’re limited to one or two options for images. There is some difficulty in finding the right image.

JS: This was more challenging for Natalie than me in that way. When I was asked who I was thinking for the artist, Natalie was at the top of my list. She had done some other pieces that I loved, including one of me riding a churrocorn (a churro unicorn). Her work is whimsical but clean. It was fun seeing everyone fight over versions of her illustrations during the process. I just got the finished book and Subterranean Press always does really good production, but I was looking at the cover and it’s absolutely perfect. It’s one of my covers that makes me happiest.

NM: Thanks!

GB: Do either of you have a favorite piece in the book, both of your own and of the other person’s?

JS: My favorite piece also has my favorite illustration. “The AI Are Absolutely Positively Without a Doubt Not Here to End Humanity, Honest” is the most recent piece in the book, so it’s fresher to me. And there’s this very nervous-looking eagle, which is such a contrast to how eagles are usually presented.

NM: There are so many pieces I love in the book. The one about yogurt, the one about life on Earth. I can’t pick. My favorite illustration is the mechacat.

GB: Okay, now it’s going to get tough. Lightning round. Tacos or pie?

NM: Pie.

JS: Pie. If you’d made it burritos, that would have been tough.

GB: I felt like that would be too dark and might trigger an existential crisis. Next question: Cats or dogs?

JS: Cats.

NM: Cats.

GB: For the record you both love dogs; we don’t want to bring down the Internet on you. And, finally, yes or no?

NM: YES.

JS: No.

GB: Perfect. Thank you both for taking the time to do this.

We've finished shipping out the signed limited edition of Robert McCammon's long vampire novella, Last Train from Perdition, and have about twenty copies left. Feel free to snag yours today.

About the Book:

In I Travel by Night, master of horror Robert McCammon introduced the tortured and instantly unforgettable vampire adventurer Trevor Lawson—All Matters Handled—as he searched for his maker, LaRouge, in hope of becoming human once more. It wove a tale about the terrors of the Dark Society, featuring the gothic sensibilities of old New Orleans, and the unforgiving violence of the untamed frontier of 1886. Now McCammon returns to Lawson’s gripping journey and sends him West, in the chilling sequel novella Last Train from Perdition.

Ever on the hunt for LaRouge, Lawson still travels by night, but no longer alone. Crack-shot, whip-smart Ann has become his companion, on her own search for her vampire-taken father and sister. Lawson has been summoned from New Orleans and the Hotel Sanctuaire to Omaha by a wealthy man who needs his son retrieved from a band of outlaws. Lawson and Ann agree to take the case and travel to the town of Perdition where they find their prey—but things get complicated fast when a saloon shootout leaves an innocent girl badly injured.

On a night train from Perdition to Helena to find medical help, it soon becomes clear that Lawson and Ann’s enemies may also be looking to prey upon them. As they struggle against those forces of darkness with a trainload of their most unlikely allies yet, Lawson also wages battle with the darkness LaRouge left within him. This latest installment in Trevor Lawson’s battle for redemption finds bestselling McCammon at his thrilling best.

Limited: 474 signed numbered copies, housed in a custom slipcase: $75
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $35

From Booklist:

“This is perfect for Deadwood fans and those who enjoy the American Vampire graphic-novel series by Scott Snyder. Clear a couple of hours, you'll want to devour this in one sitting.”

From SciFi Bulletin:

“The book sets up some intriguing possibilities for the future of the series—and I, for one, can’t wait to see how Lawson deals with what he learns here, and how Annie copes with what she has to do… Verdict: Another excellent period horror piece. 9/10”

We're sitting on far more distributor and large retailer orders than we can fill for Joe R. Lansdale's Dead on the Bones. Consider this an early warning that you might want to order now to guarantee yourself a copy. All signs point to this one being scarce on the ground after publication.

About the Book:

“I was living in a pulp writer fury, a storm of imagination.” So Joe R. Lansdale, award-winning author of more than twenty novels and two hundred short works, describes the birth of his desire to be a writer after encountering pulp storytelling as a kid in TV, comics, and books. Now Dead on the Bones: Pulp on Fire collects eight stories where Lansdale pays tribute to the rip-roaring tales of his youth.

Dedicated to Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, “Under the Warrior Star” finds hero Braxton Booker on another, battle-wracked planet, while  “Tarzan and the Land That Time Forgot” was expressly permitted by the Burroughs estate. In “Dead on the Bones,” a Conjure Man facilitates a boxing match between the living and the dead, with a twist. “The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning” crosses Poe with horrors that could have walked straight out of Lovecraft. Meanwhile, in “Naked Angel” a cop discovers a dead woman encased in ice on the noir streets of Los Angeles, not realizing he shares a personal connection with her. Other stories here bring readers face to face with vampires and far stranger creatures, all in Lansdale’s signature, Texas Mojo style.

Lansdale is rightly recognized as one of the most distinctive voices in modern fiction, pulp or otherwise. From Venus to vampires, Dead on the Bones is a fine, thoroughly enjoyable demonstration of why.

John Scalzi's collection of ultra-short fiction, Miniatures, is coming in to stock, and will ship very soon. We're down to our last 100 or so copies. You might want to pick one up before they're gone.

The latest review is in, too, this time from Library Journal:

Short sf is a boon to a genre that is too often weighed down with massive tomes. Scalzi readers will find these refreshingly concise tales delightful.

After the initial shipping wave, we have a handful of copies of Steven Erikson's The Bonehunters left. It's an impressive volume, with truly epic illustrations by Noah Bradley. Pick up a copy now. Supplies are dwindling.

Centipede Press has produced another gorgeous set, this time the three volumes that comprise Samuel R. Delany's The Fall of the Towers, all housed in a custom slipcase. We're getting a limited number of copies, so get your order in soon!

About the Set:

First published as three separate volumes in 1963, 1964, and 1965, The Fall of the Towers is here republished as three distinct volumes, each with an individual dustjacket and new frontispiece artwork. This edition of the trilogy includes all of Delany’s afterwords and forewords, an illuminating new introduction by Michael Swanwick, and new artwork by David Ho.

The volumes, entitled Out of the Dead City, The Towers of Toron, and City of a Thousand Suns, are oversize at 6½ × 10 inches, the same size as other titles in our science fiction series. The set comes with a clothbound slipcase.

Samuel R. Delany (b. 1942) is an American author, professor and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on sexuality and society. His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein Intersection (both Nebula award winners), Nova, and Dhalgren. After winning four Nebula awards and two Hugo awards over the course of his career, Delany was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2002. From January 2001 until his retirement in May 2015, he was a professor of English and Creative Writing at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Edition Information

• Introduction by Michael Swanwick.
• New artwork by David Ho.
• Limited to 300 signed and numbered copies.
• Signed by Samuel R. Delany, Michael Swanwick, and David Ho.
• Three volumes in a handsome cloth slipcase.
• Fully cloth bound, gorgeous dustjackets, printed endpapers, ribbon markers, head and tail bands.

Limited: 300 signed numbered sets, in slipcase: $150

Get yer new Brandon Sanderson here!

There's a new publisher in town, Vault Books, and among their first projects is Snapshot, a brand new novella by Brandon Sanderson. Read on for the full details.

About the Book:

New York Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson is often cited as being one of the most influential fantasy authors in the business. From Mistborn to The Wheel of Time to The Stormlight Archive, his ability to channel his unique imagination and creativity into his fiction has won over fans across the world. In addition to these massive works of wonder, Sanderson has also carved out a place among the best authors of novella-length fiction with the Legion series and the Hugo Award-winning The Emperor’s Soul.
​
In his newest novella, Snapshot, Sanderson’s skill and imagination are on full display.

Snapshot is a Science Fiction detective story following Anthony Davis, a cop assigned to Snapshot Duty. In this vivid world that author Brandon Sanderson has built, society can create a snapshot of a specific day in time. The experiences people have, the paths they follow—all of them are real again for a one day in the snapshot. All for the purposes of investigation by the court.

Davis’s job as a cop on Snapshot Duty is straight forward. Sometimes he is tasked with finding where a criminal dumped a weapon. Sometimes he is tasked with documenting domestic disputes. Simple. Mundane. One day, in between two snapshot assignments, Davis decides to investigate the memory of a call that was mysteriously never logged at the precinct, and he makes a horrifying discovery.

As in many stories, Snapshot follows a wonderfully flawed character as he attempts to solve a horrific crime. Sanderson proves that no matter the genre, he is one of the most skilled storytellers in the business.

Edition Details

• All editions of Snapshot will feature the following:
• Full-color dust-jacket
• Full-color, interior illustrations
• An introduction by Brandon Sanderson
• An in-depth interview with author, Brandon Sanderson
• Printed on 60# acid-free paper
• Smyth sewn for durability
• Foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Bound in leather
• Personally signed by Brandon Sanderson​

Numbered & Limited Edition:

• Limited to 2500 copies
• Hand-numbered
• Price: $50

You can now preorder the ebooks for John Scalzi's collection of very short stories, Miniatures, and Kelley Armstrong's long new novella, Lost Souls. Click on the appropriate links to be directed where to preorder.

(Remember, if you've bought the hardcover of either book through us, you'll receive a free copy of the title's ebook.)

New books are lining up on the tarmac here at the SubPress warehouse, with Steven Erikson's The Bonehunters being the current title in the queue. Others will follow as quickly as possible, likely in the following order:

• The Bonehunters (Steven Erikson, currently shipping);
• Last Train from Perdition (Robert McCammon, limited edition);
• Dead on the Bones (Joe R. Lansdale).

The first review for Lois McMaster Bujold's 40k word novella, Penric and the Shaman, has just landed. It's a delight, courtesy of the fine folks at Publishers Weekly:

Bujold follows Penric’s Demon with another brief tale…this time combining supernatural sleuthing with finely drawn characters and a panoply of emotions… This is a wonderful expansion of her World of the Five Gods.

 

Here's the dust jacket image (by Julie Dillon) for Mira Grant's long new novella, Final Girls. As with Grant's other work, Final Girls is a creepy sf/horror hybrid, full of twists.

Added bonus: We've added an excerpt to the book's product page. Check it out.

We’re lucky enough that we’re going to receive copies of the signed, limited edition of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, which looks to be one gorgeous production, as you’ll see below.

About the Book:

Like our edition of Elantris, the Dragonsteel edition of Mistborn is bound in premium bonded-leather, and the pages are smyth-sewn, not glued like most regular books. Mistborn is printed in black and red inks on quality, acid-free paper, includes a bound-in satin-ribbon bookmark, full-color endpapers by Steve Argyle, gilded pages, and two-color foiling on the cover. A 24-page art gallery starts off the edition and features never-before seen artwork and a new 2-page map of the Final Empire. We’ve made this the most-beautiful edition of Mistborn yet, taking the best from the designs of the Era 1 and Era 2 books and melding that with what we began with the leather edition of Elantris. The Dragonsteel Leather edition of Mistborn is 672 pages.

First Printing. Brand new leather-bound hardcover: $100

If you missed out on Elantris last year, we will have copies of the second printing available. Like Mistborn, it's one elegant looking book.

We've locked in a handful of copies of Frankenstein Unbound, just one of Brian Aldiss' many masterpieces. Centipede Press is publishing it, so you just know the production will be top notch.

About the Book:

Joe Bodenland, a 21st century American, passes through a timeslip and finds himself with Byron and Shelley in the famous villa on the shore of Lake Geneva. More fantastically, he finds himself face to face with a real Frankenstein, a doppelgänger inhabiting a complex world where fact and fiction may as easily have congress as Bodenland himself manages to make love to Mary Shelley. This title was made into a film, starring John Hurt, Raul Julia, Bridget Fonda, Jason Patric and Michael Hutchence.

This new edition of Frankenstein Unbound features striking dustjacket art. It has a new introduction by fellow British New Wave pioneer Michael Moorcock. The book is oversize at 6½ × 10 inches, the same size as other titles in our science fiction series.
     
Brian W. Aldiss is an English writer and anthologies editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. Aldiss was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2000 and inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. He has received two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and one John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His influential works include the short story “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long,” the basis for the Stanley Kubrick-developed Steven Spielberg film A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

Edition Information:

• Introduction by Michael Moorcock.
• New artwork by Thomas Walker.
• Limited to 300 signed and numbered copies.
• Signed by Brian W. Aldiss, Michael Moorcock, and Thomas Walker.
• Fully cloth bound, gorgeous dustjacket, ribbon marker, head and tail bands.

Kelley Armstrong returns with a long new Cainsville novella in Lost Souls. As an added bonus, everyone who orders the print edition through SubPress will receive a free copy of the ebook when the hardcover is published!

About the Book:

The disappearing hitchhiker is one of the hoariest urban legends, and no one knows that better than Gabriel Walsh, a lawyer who grew up on folklore and myth. When author of books on the supernatural Patrick brings Gabriel a case of a hitchhiking woman in white who vanished on a country road after accepting a ride from a businessman, Gabriel knows the Cainsville elder is just trying to wheedle into his good graces. But Gabriel is a man in need of a mystery, one that will get him back into someone else’s good graces. His investigator, Olivia Taylor-Jones, has blown town supposedly on a simple vacation. But when she left there was a rift between them and…he misses her.

Gabriel is well aware the only thing Olivia loves more than a good mystery is a weird one, and this hitchhiker case more than fits the bill. As Gabriel digs into the story, he’s forced to face ghosts of his own and admit that the woman in white isn’t the only one who has lost her way.

With Lost Souls, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong weaves an unmissable novella-length tale connected to her fan-favorite Cainsville series.

Limited: 500 signed numbered copies, bound in leather, with full-color interior illustrations: $48
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $28

We have just added an excellent John Scalzi novella to our schedule. His The Dispatcher will be out in May, but you should order now if you're interested in the limited edition. There will be plenty of trade hardcovers, but only 400 copies of the limited.

About the Book:

One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone—999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life.

Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher—a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. But when a fellow Dispatcher and former friend is apparently kidnapped, Tony learns that there are some things that are worse than death, and that some people are ready to do almost anything to avenge what they see as a wrong.

It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late…before not even a Dispatcher can save him.

Limited: 400 signed numbered hardcover copies, bound in leather: $45
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition: $28

In keeping with this week's run of excerpts, we've just posted bits from the Dave McKean-inspired anthology, The Weight of Words. Check out story beginnings by the likes of Joe Hill, Alastair Reynolds, Caitlin R. Kiernan and more over at the book's product page.

About the Book:

The consummate artistry of Dave McKean has permeated popular culture for more than thirty years. His images, at once bizarre, beautiful, and instantly recognizable, have graced an impressive array of books, CDs, graphic novels, and films. In The Weight of Words, ten of our finest contemporary storytellers, among them the artist himself, have created a series of varied, compelling narratives, each inspired by one of McKean’s extraordinary paintings. The result is a unique collaborative effort in which words and pictures enhance and illuminate each other on page after page.

The volume opens with Alastair Reynolds’s “Belladonna Nights,” set in the world of his novel, House of Suns, the ultimately poignant portrait of a thousand nights-long “reunion” held in the far reaches of space. Elsewhere in this generous book, we find a series of lovingly crafted tales featuring, among other elements, doppelgangers, lost souls and lucid dreamers. Highlights include Joe R. Lansdale’s “Robo Rapid,” a near future cautionary tale about Man vs. Machine; M. John Harrison’s “Yummie,” in which a middle-aged man experiences the hallucinatory aftermath of a heart attack; Joe Hill’s “All I Care About Is You,” the account of a pure, if temporary, friendship; Catherynne M. Valente’s extraordinary “No One Dies in Nowhere,” a tale of death and detection in the afterlife; Maria Dahvana Headley’s “The Orange Tree,” the story of an 11th century golem that is also a profound study of loneliness; and “Monkey and the Lady,” an ironic creation myth by the artist’s longtime friend and creative associate, Neil Gaiman. Together with “Train of Death,” an abbreviated account of the literal death of literature, this is one of two new stories by the always remarkable Gaiman.

The Weight of Words is the rare anthology that really does offer something for everyone. Its complementary merger of words and images adds up to something special, something more than the sum of its impressive parts. It is both a major accomplishment in itself and a long overdue tribute to an important—and necessary—artist.

The Weight of Words contains more than two dozen illustrations by Dave McKean, and is printed in two colors throughout.

Trade: Fully cloth-bound hardcover edition: $40

There are tales sea monsters tell their children to get them to behave. "Eat your krill, or you’ll go the way of poor old Cetus, slain by some ne’er-do-well like Perseus."

So begins "Fairy Tale of the Maritime", just one of the nearly thirty striking fictions in Caitlin R. Kiernan's new collection, Dear Sweet Filthy World. We've added excerpts from a few other stories to the book's product page, including that of the ultra-rare, ultra-good "Sanderlings" Head over, have a read, and preorder your copy today.

Don't forget, the signed limited edition comes with an additional hardcover, The Aubergine Alphabet!

Subterranean Press is proud to present Final Girls, a new, 30,000 word novella by Mira Grant, best-selling author of the Newsflesh series. Her previous novella for SubPress, Rolling in the Deep, sold out immediately, and now goes for $100+ on the secondary market, when you can find a copy.

About the Book:

What if you could fix the worst parts of yourself by confronting your worst fears? 

Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they’ve been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But…can real change come so easily?

Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father’s life. She’s determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb’s budding company. Dr. Webb’s willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther’s not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other’s only hope of survival.

With her new novella Final Girls, bestselling, award-winning author Mira Grant has conjured a heartstopping, gut-wrenching story filled with as many twists as it is versions of reality. Grant offers a chilling exploration of how surviving horrors might define us all.

Limited: 1250 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

We're in the middle of shipping Richard Chizmar's mammoth new collection, A Long December. Please note that it will be sold out by the time we're done sending out copies.

About the Book:

In 1996, Richard Chizmar’s debut short story collection, Midnight Promises, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Publishers Weeklycalled it “a sterling collection” while singling out “The Silence of Sorrow” as “an understated masterpiece.”

Two years later, Subterranean Press published a mini-collection from Chizmar entitled Monsters and Other Stories. In his introduction, acclaimed genre critic Edward Bryant said, “When all is said and done, this book should leave you in utter silence, giving you time and opportunity to contemplate what you just read. Tough storytelling from a tough writer; but a writer who is not calloused. Chizmar possesses a finely honed gift of empathy. With utter grace and loving kindness he’ll put you right inside the life (and soul) of the monster.”

Now, nearly two decades later, Chizmar assembles thirty-five stories, including a previously-unpublished novella, and presents us with A Long December. This massive new collection features more than 150,000 words of Chizmar’s very best short fiction and includes 8,000 words of autobiographical Story Notes.

Eerie, suspenseful, poignant, the stories in A Long December range from horror to suspense, crime to dark fantasy, mainstream to mystery.

As New York Times bestselling author Scott Smith (A Simple Plan, The Ruins) notes: “It’s an idyllic little world Richard Chizmar has created. Boys fish in the shallows of a winding creek. A father tosses a baseball with his young son in the fading light of a summer day. There’s the smell of fresh-cut grass. And then, well…just beneath the surface? There are those missing pets whose collars turn up in a shoebox. Or the disturbing photos the dead can leave behind. Or the terrible thing you might find yourself doing when a long lost brother suddenly returns, demanding money. Chizmar does a tremendous job of peeling back his world’s shiny layers, revealing the rot that lies underneath. His stories feel like so many teeth: short and sharp and ready to draw blood.”

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

From Publishers Weekly:

They say you can’t go home again, and many of the 35 quietly creepy stories in this career-spanning collection make it clear why one might not want to… Chizmar pays tribute to horror master Richard Matheson of Twilight Zone fame both explicitly (with ‘The Artist’) and implicitly with last-act twists and a firm emphasis on family as the source of both laughter and tears.

From Kirkus (Starred Review):

With the whiff of classic pulp fiction about them, these chilling tales pack a giddy wallop and make staying up late to read just one more mandatory.

From Booklist (Starred Review):

This is a must-read for fans of intense tales where psychological suspense and horror overlap, as with the novels of Peter Straub, Scott Smith, or Adam Nevill.

We have another great review of Joe R. Lansdale's wild and weird novella, Coco Butternut, to share with you. In this one, the duo face a mystery involving a mummified pooch and violence, suffused with Lansdale's trademark wit. Now, on to the reviews, new and recent:

From Publishers Weekly:

Lansdale (Honky Tonk Samurai) is without peer when it comes to this kind of tale, and the result is an infectious, darkly funny slice of weirdness.

From Kirkus:

…the slide from fizzy East Texas comedy to deeper waters is so deftly managed that you'll be chuckling all the way to the graveyard.

Read more and order your copy while supplies last.

Here's a bit about a Harlan Ellison Kickstarter we're supporting. After reading our bit, please head over to the Kickstarter proper to see how you can get your hands on FOUR never-before-published Ellison tomes. We considered this one an easy level to choose, and think many of you will, as well.

About the Kickstarter:

Harlan Ellison has never made a secret of his dislike for computers, but as a practical citizen of the 21st century, he has interacted with his friends and readers via HarlanEllison.com for nearly two decades and established an online, print-on-demand imprint (Edgeworks Abbey) to release sixteen all-new compilations of his work at HarlanEllisonBooks.com. Now it’s time to preserve the Ellison legacy for the digital age with the creation of the Edgeworks Abbey Archive.

Read more and support the Kickstarter.

We've been lucky enough to lock in a handful of copies of a new, long (30,000 words) Alastair Reynolds novella for our customers. Given the print run of only 175 signed hardcover copies, we expect that version of The Iron Tactician to sell out quickly.

About the Book:

A brand new stand-alone deep space adventure from Alastair Reynolds, featuring the author’s long-running character Merlin, who has previously appeared in “Merlin’s Gun” (1999), “Hideaway” (2000) and “Minla’s Flowers” (2007).

When Merlin encounters the derelict hulk of an old swallowship drifting in the middle of nowhere, he can't resist investigating. He soon finds himself involved in a situation that proves far more complex than he ever anticipated.

Limited: 175 signed hardcover copies: $35

Just an early notice that we're down to the last fifty copies of the trade harcover of Robert McCammon's Last Train from Perdition, which we don't expect to have in stock much longer.

A second printing is not in the offing, so now's your best chance to pick up a copy. Need some incentive? Here are a few of the reviews this novel-on-the-installment-plan has received:

From Booklist:

This is perfect for Deadwood fans and those who enjoy the American Vampire graphic-novel series by Scott Snyder. Clear a couple of hours, you'll want to devour this in one sitting.

From SciFi Bulletin:

The book sets up some intriguing possibilities for the future of the series—and I, for one, can’t wait to see how Lawson deals with what he learns here, and how Annie copes with what she has to do… Verdict: Another excellent period horror piece. 9/10

Order your copy today.

Be happy in a big way. John Scalzi's aptly named Miniatures, which collects 144 pages of his short fiction, has just been sent to the printer for a December release.

About the Book:

The ex-planet Pluto has a few choice words about being thrown out of the solar system. A listing of alternate histories tells you all the various ways Hitler has died. A lawyer sues an interplanetary union for dangerous working conditions. And four artificial intelligences explain, in increasingly worrying detail, how they plan not to destroy humanity.

Welcome to Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi.

These four stories, along with fourteen other pieces, have one thing in common: They’re short, sharp, and to the point—science fiction in miniature, with none of the stories longer than 2,300 words. But in that short space exist entire universes, absurd situations, and the sort of futuristic humor that propelled Scalzi to a Hugo with his novel Redshirts. Not to mention yogurt taking over the world (as it would).

Spanning the years from 1991 to 2016, this collection is a quarter century of Scalzi at his briefest and best, and features four never-before-printed stories, exclusive to this collection: “Morning Announcements at the Lucas Interspecies School for Troubled Youth,” “Your Smart Appliances Talk About You Behind Your Back,” “Important Holidays on Gronghu” and “The AI Are Absolutely Positively Without a Doubt Not Here to End Humanity, Honest.” 

Limited: 1500 signed numbered hardcover copies
Lettered: 52 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase

From Kirkus:

“[O]ften verging on the silly, but on the whole, quite amusing.”

From Publishers Weekly:

“...lighthearted and amusing…”

We have two new ebooks for you this week:

• A Long December (Richard Chizmar);
• Last Train from Perdition (Robert McCammon);

Both are guaranteed to amaze and delight.