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New Treasures: Confluence by Paul McAuley

New Treasures: Confluence by Paul McAuley

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Confluence Paul McAuley-smallI’ve found a number of online sellers offering brand new copies of recent British SF and fantasy books very inexpensively (essentially, at remainder prices), and I’ve been taking advantage of them. My most recent purchases include Paul McAuley’s In the Mouth of the Whale (the third volume in his far-future series The Quiet War), and the massive omnibus volume Confluence, which contains his complete trilogy. And I do mean massive — just take a look at the thing (click the image at right for a more lifesize version). At 935 pages, it proudly stands all on its own on my end table (and darn near tips it over).

Paul McAuley was an early columnist for Black Gate (his fantasy review column On the Edge appeared in our early print issues). The omnibus volume contains three complete novels, all originally published in hardcover in the US by Avon EOS:

Child of the River (1997)
Ancients of Days (1998)
Shrine of Stars (1999)

Here’s the description:

Confluence — a long, narrow, artificial world, half fertile river valley, half crater-strewn desert. A world beyond the end of human history, served by countless machines, inhabited by 10,000 bloodlines who worship their absent creators, riven by a vast war against heretics.

This is the home of Yama, found as an infant in a white boat on the world’s Great River, raised by an obscure bureaucrat in an obscure town in the middle of a ruined necropolis, destined to become a clerk — until the discovery of his singular ancestry. For Yama appears to be the last remaining scion of the Builders, closest of all races to the revered architects of Confluence, able to awaken and control the secret machineries of the world.

Pursued by enemies who want to make use of his powers, Yama voyages down the length of the world to search for answers to the mysteries of his origin, and to discover if he is to be the saviour of his world, or its nemesis.

Confluence was published by Gollancz in August 2015. It is 935 pages, priced at £16.99 in trade paperback and $15.99 for the digital edition. I bought my copy from Media Universe for $12.14 plus $3.99 shipping (and In the Mouth of the Whale from the same vendor for $2.95). Copies of both are still available.

Future Treasures: The Big Sheep by Robert Kroese

Future Treasures: The Big Sheep by Robert Kroese

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The Big Sheep Robert Kroese-small The Big Sheep Robert Kroese-back-small

Robert Kroese is the author of Mercury Falls, Starship Grifters, and Disenchanted. His latest novel is a science fiction noir that reads like it takes place in the same L.A. as Blade Runner (except it’s a lot funnier). It follows two very different private investigators as they track an extremely valuable genetically engineered sheep through a dystopian future L.A. Worth checking out.

Los Angeles of 2039 is a baffling and bifurcated place. After the Collapse of 2028, a vast section of LA, the Disincorporated Zone, was disowned by the civil authorities, and became essentially a third world country within the borders of the city. Navigating the boundaries between DZ and LA proper is a tricky task, and there’s no one better suited than eccentric private investigator Erasmus Keane. When a valuable genetically altered sheep mysteriously goes missing from Esper Corporation’s labs, Keane is the one they call.

But while the erratic Keane and his more grounded partner, Blake Fowler, are on the trail of the lost sheep, they land an even bigger case. Beautiful television star Priya Mistry suspects that someone is trying to kill her — and she wants Keane to find out who. When Priya vanishes and then reappears with no memory of having hired them, Keane and Fowler realize something very strange is going on. As they unravel the threads of the mystery, it soon becomes clear that the two cases are connected — and both point to a sinister conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the city. Saving Priya and the sheep will take all of Keane’s wits and Fowler’s skills, but in the end, they may discover that some secrets are better left hidden.

The Big Sheep will be published by Thomas Dunne Books on June 28, 2016. It is 308 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by David Curtis. Click the images above for bigger versions.

Vintage Treasures: Lincoln’s Dreams by Connie Willis

Vintage Treasures: Lincoln’s Dreams by Connie Willis

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Lincoln's Dreams-small Lincoln's Dreams-back-small

There are precious few debut novels that receive the outpouring of acclaim that greeted Connie Willis’s Lincoln Dreams when it first appeared. There are even fewer that remain in print for as long as five years. The Bantam Spectra edition of Lincoln’s Dreams has now been in print for an astounding 24 years… that’s got to be some kind of record.

Willis’ first novel, Water Witch, was co-written with Cynthia Felice, and published in 1982. Lincoln’s Dreams, which appeared in hardcover from Bantam Spectra in May 1987, was her true solo debut, and it established her immediately as a major novelist. Twilight Zone Magazine called it “A tight, solid fantasy with a stiletto-in-the-heart epiphany at the end… fascinating,” and Watership Down author Richard Adams called it “Moving and beautiful… a most original and fascinating novel.” Fantasy Review said it “clearly marks Connie Willis as one of our foremost young novelists.” And Harlan Ellison said:

Every once in a while a talent leaps up to announce itself as important. Connie Willis is such a talent: a magisterial intelligence at work… to miss Lincoln’s Dreams is to risk the loss of your immortal soul.

Lincoln’s Dreams was published by Bantam Spectra in July 1992. It is 229 pages (plus 2-page foreword by the author, and a 12-page preview of her 1992 novel Doomsday Book), priced at $4.99. The cover is by Jean-François Podevin. Click the images above for bigger versions.

Clarkesworld 117 Now Available

Clarkesworld 117 Now Available

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Clarkesworld 117-smallIn his editorial this issue, Neil Clarke has some powerful words to say about how all of us can help keep short fiction alive.

If we want short fiction to thrive, we have a responsibility to spread the word and promote the works we’ve enjoyed. There are many ways to do this, but it needs to be focused, respectful, and timely. More specifically, it needs to be done in locations that are relevant to the audience you are trying to attract. Your blog is nice, but adding Twitter or Amazon might have a bigger impact.

Reviewing isn’t for everyone, mind you. I really wanted to do my part and find a way to contribute to a positive conversation about short fiction. I tried writing reviews. The blank screen tormented me and it took a while to realize that I wasn’t following the path that best utilized my skills. Instead, I changed tactics and launched Forever Magazine as a way of bringing back some of the stories I’ve enjoyed. When I go full-time this year, I hope to be able to do a bit more with that project.

Read his complete editorial here.

Clarkesworld #117 has four new stories by Margaret Ronald, Sam J. Miller, E. Catherine Tobler, and Zhang Ran, and two reprints by Michael Flynn and Nancy Kress.

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Space Stations With Secret Passages, and Snow White in Space: Rich Horton on Sanctuary in the Sky by John Brunner/The Secret Martians by John Sharkey

Space Stations With Secret Passages, and Snow White in Space: Rich Horton on Sanctuary in the Sky by John Brunner/The Secret Martians by John Sharkey

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Sanctuary in the Sky John Brunner-small The Secret Martians Jack Sharkey-small

After a series of duds, our intrepid retro-reviewer Rich Horton turns to the always-reliable John Brunner.

I’ve read some weak Ace Doubles lately, so I tried to improve my fortunes by picking one with a John Brunner half. I can almost always count on Brunner for entertainment with a thoughtful edge. Brunner (1934-1995) of course was one of the field’s greats, a Hugo winner for Stand on Zanzibar (1968). He had a bifurcated career a bit like Robert Silverberg’s: beginning around the same time as Silverberg he was extremely prolific early in his career, publishing a lot of quickly executed and competent work; and then sometime in the early to mid ’60s seems to have consciously raised his level of ambition, beginning with novels like The Whole Man and The Squares of the City, and continuing to his famous quartet of long novels, beginning with Stand on Zanzibar, then The Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up, and The Shockwave Rider.

The book under consideration this time is the 1960 Ace Double Sanctuary in the Sky by John Brunner, paired with The Secret Martians by the far less well known John Sharkey.

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New Treasures: A Most Improper Boxed Set by Stephanie Burgis

New Treasures: A Most Improper Boxed Set by Stephanie Burgis

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A Most Improper Boxed Set-smallNot long after I got my Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, I joined a small start-up in Champaign, IL. I kept trying to explain to my friends and family what we did, without much luck. But after Microsoft licensed our first product and renamed it Internet Explorer 1.0, everyone understood what we did.

It was thrilling to be a manager in a fast-growing internet start-up in the early days of the dot-com boom, let me tell you. But one of the things I came to realize early on was that being an early tech pioneer was no help at all when it came to predicting where the next big thing was coming from. When Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, for example, I confidently predicted it would never approach the success of Borders, since there was no way to browse for books, like you could in a real bookstore. Today, Borders is bankrupt, Amazon.com is one of the most successful companies in human history, and I spend hours every week browsing and shopping for books online, discovering more new titles than I ever could in a brick-and-mortar store.

That’s how I stumbled across A Most Improper Boxed Set, a delightful trilogy of Regency fantasy novels by Stephanie Burgis (Masks and Shadows), and decided to take a chance on it. Would I have made the same impulse purchase in a bookstore? Who can say? I’m just glad I did it.

For lovers of Harry Potter and Jane Austen, this boxed set of the Kat, Incorrigible Regency-era fantasy trilogy is a delightful blend of adventure, humor, mischief, romance, and quite a bit of improper magic.

Katherine Ann Stephenson has just discovered that she’s inherited her mother’s magical talents, and despite Stepmama’s stern objections, she’s determined to learn how to use them.

But nineteenth-century England is not the easiest place to practice scandalous magic. Kat’s reckless heroism will be tested to the utmost as she learns to control her new powers — all while battling dangerous highwaymen, dodging devious scoundrels, attempting to win her sisters their true loves, avoiding malicious gossip and disgraceful accusations, managing her sister Angeline’s heedless witchcraft and her brother Charles’s carelessness… and saving her family’s lives, the magical Order of the Guardians, and ultimately, England itself. And all this while trying to maintain the dignity of a proper lady!

This paperback boxed set — which includes Kat, Incorrigible; Renegade Magic; and Stolen Magic — contains enough mischief and magic to make Stepmama faint… and to satisfy the most voracious of readers.

A Most Improper Boxed Set was published by Atheneum Books on October 7, 2014. It contains three novels in trade paperback, with a combined page count of 1072 pages, and is priced at $21.99. The marvelously whimsical cover art is by Annette Marnat. See Emily Mah’s interview with Stephanie Burgis here.

Total Pulp Victory: A Report on Windy City Pulp & Paper 2016, Part I

Total Pulp Victory: A Report on Windy City Pulp & Paper 2016, Part I

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Pulp vendors at Windy City Pulp 2016-small

Pulp and book vendors at Windy City Pulp 2016

My favorite Chicagoland convention, by a pretty wide margin, is Windy City Pulp and Paper. It’s organized by Doug Ellis and a team of volunteers, and this year it took place from April 22-24 in Lombard, Illinois, its home for the last decade or so.

It’s a little strange that Windy City has bubbled to the top of my list. I entertain myself in numerous ways at conventions, but I especially enjoy a robust reading program, lively programming and panels, and late-night conversations at parties. Windy City has none of that. Sure, they have their Sunday New Pulp reading series, and the Friday night auction, and those are fun. But at heart, Windy City is mostly just a giant Dealer’s Room.

But what a Dealer’s Room! Dozens and dozens of dealers from all over the country packed into the ballroom of the Westin Hotel, selling pulps, vintage paperbacks, DVDs, artwork, comics, rare books, new books, small press publications, posters, and so much more. It’s the kind of Dealer’s Room you can get lost in for days, and for a lifetime pulp and book collector like me, it’s paradise.

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Future Treasures: Duskfall by Christopher Husberg

Future Treasures: Duskfall by Christopher Husberg

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Duskfall Christopher Husberg-smallI tend to like my fantasy dark and gritty. Arthurian fantasy, romantic fantasy, light-hearted comedy… I enjoy those as well, but in smaller doses. And when I’m shopping for a new series, my eye tends to gravitate towards those that promise high stakes, rich settings, complex characters, and diabolical villains.

Christopher Husberg’s debut fantasy novel Duskfall looks like it could fit the bill nicely. It’s the opening volume in The Chaos Queen Quintet (which I assume means there will be four more?) The next volume, Dark Immolation, will be released in June 2017. Duskfall is due in trade paperback from Titan this week.

There Are Daemons That Even Daemons Fear….

Pulled from the frozen waters of the Gulf of Nahl, stuck with arrows and near to death, Knot has no memory of who he was. But his dreams are dark, and he can kill a man with terrifying ease.

Winter, a tiellan woman whose people have long been oppressed by humans, is married to and abandoned by Knot on the same day, when robed assassins attack their wedding. Her nascent magical abilities will lead her to a deadly addiction — and phenomenal power.

And Cinzia, priestess and true believer, has returned to her home city to find that her own sister is leading a heretical rebellion. A rebellion that only the inquisition can crush… Their fates will intertwine, in a land where magic and demons are believed dead, but dark forces still vie for power.

Duskfall will be published by Titan Books on June 21, 2016. It is 560 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback and $7.99 for the digital edition.

See all our coverage of the best upcoming fantasy here.

Zombie Plagues, Demon Hunters, and the Cyborg Tour de France: Catching Up With Tor.com

Zombie Plagues, Demon Hunters, and the Cyborg Tour de France: Catching Up With Tor.com

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The-Emperors-Railroad-small The Jewel and her Lapidary-small A Whisper of Southern Lights-small
Runtime Divya-small Infomocracy Malka Older-small Return of Souls-small

I think Tor.com‘s new line of premium novellas is a terrific idea. I really enjoy keeping on top of the latest in fantasy and SF (or, at least, the illusion that I’m keeping on top of the latest in fantasy and SF), but I just don’t have enough time to read all the novels I need to do that.

But the Tor.com novellas have allowed me to sample many of the top writers in the field, as well as new and emerging talents, in a marvelously satisfying way. I’m talking about folks like Michael R. Underwood, K. J. Parker, Mary Robinette Kowal, Tim Lebbon, Seanan McGuire, Kai Ashante Wilson, Paul Cornell, Alter S. Reiss, Nnedi Okorafor, Angela Slatter, Daniel Polansky, and many others. The novellas are quick, inexpensive reads… and so far, the quality has been top-notch. It doesn’t hurt that they also look terrific, and are highly collectible, either.

This is where some of the most exciting work in the industry is being done, and the critical buzz reflects that. The fledgling line has already been showered with accolades, award nominations, and even a Nebula Award… and it’s not even a year old!

Tor.com shows no signs of slowing down, releasing 2-3 new titles per month through the spring and summer. The six books above were published over the last nine weeks, and they’re some of the most interesting of the lot. They include their first full-length novel, Malka Older ‘s Infomocracy, sequels to previous popular Tor.com novellas (Tim Lebbon’s A Whisper of Southern Lights and Andy Remic’s Return of Souls), two debuts (S. B. Divya’s Runtime, and Infomocracy), a standalone novella from a 2016 Nebula nominee (Fran Wilde’s The Jewel and Her Lapidary), and the start of an exciting new science fantasy series from a popular Warhammer 40K author (Guy Haley’s The Emperor’s Railroad.)

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Vintage Treasures: Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R.A. Lafferty

Vintage Treasures: Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R.A. Lafferty

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Nine Hundred Grandmothers-small Nine Hundred Grandmothers-back-small Nine Hundred Grandmothers Ace 1982-small

R.A. Lafferty is one of the finest short story writers our genre has seen, and “Nine Hundred Grandmothers,” a compact masterpiece originally published in the February 1966 issue of IF magazine, is one of the best short stories ever written. The tale of an asteroid miner who can’t stop himself from asking the deep questions, and what happens when he comes across a strange and ancient race of aliens who remember how life began, it’s funny, thought provoking, and totally, totally unique. A description you could apply to much of Lafferty’s output, now that I think about it.

Nine Hundred Grandmothers, Lafferty’s first collection, was published as an original paperback in Terry Carr’s legendary Ace Science Fiction Special line in 1970, and it contained much of his finest work, including “Slow Tuesday Night,” “Snuffles,” and “Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne.” The front cover (above left) was by Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon; the back cover is above center. It was reprinted in paperback by Ace in January 1982 with a new cover by Charles Mikolaycak (above right). While the Ace Special edition was first, the 1982 paperback is actually the more rare of the two, and highly sought by collectors.

Here’s the blurb from the inside front cover of the 1970 edition, with brief but tantalizing descriptions of some of the stories within.

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