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Future Treasures: Steeplejack by A. J. Hartley

Future Treasures: Steeplejack by A. J. Hartley

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Steeplejack Hartley-smallIn his author bio, A. J. Hartley says he writes “fantasy adventures of the swords and sorcery variety (albeit from the slightly unusual perspective of a smart-mouthed young actor called Will Hawthorne).” That includes Act of Will (2009) and Will Power (2010), both available in paperback from Dystel & Goderich.

His latest is the first installment of a new young adult fantasy series set in an industrial city in a country reminiscent of Victorian South Africa. It arrives in hardcover from Tor next week.

Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga lives repairing the chimneys, towers, and spires of the city of Bar-Selehm. Dramatically different communities live and work alongside each other. The white Feldish command the nation’s higher echelons of society. The native Mahweni are divided between city life and the savannah. And then there’s Ang, part of the Lani community who immigrated over generations ago as servants and now mostly live in poverty on Bar-Selehm’s edges.

When Ang is supposed to meet her new apprentice Berrit, she instead finds him dead. That same night, the Beacon, an invaluable historical icon, is stolen. The Beacon’s theft commands the headlines, yet no one seems to care about Berrit’s murder―except for Josiah Willinghouse, an enigmatic young politician. When he offers her a job investigating his death, she plunges headlong into new and unexpected dangers.

Meanwhile, crowds gather in protests over the city’s mounting troubles. Rumors surrounding the Beacon’s theft grow. More suspicious deaths occur. With no one to help Ang except Josiah’s haughty younger sister, a savvy newspaper girl, and a kindhearted herder, Ang must rely on her intellect and strength to resolve the mysterious link between Berrit and the missing Beacon before the city descends into chaos.

Steeplejack will be published by Tor Books on June 14, 2016. It is 336 pages, priced at $17.99 in hardcover and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Mike Heath.

Build Your Very Own Fantasy Empire With Asmodee’s Hyperborea

Build Your Very Own Fantasy Empire With Asmodee’s Hyperborea

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Hyperborea board game-small

I have a certain fondness for epic fantasy games. You know the ones I’m talking about. The kind where you build vast armies, dress them up in matching clothes, and scooch them around, crushing civilizations.

I also have a fondness for saving money. And where these two interests intersect, I find a lot of personal joy. So recently I’ve been hunting up game bargains online, especially on Amazon, which has deep discounts on a number of fantasy boardgames. Why they do, I dunno. I don’t question it. I just give them my money, and get fabulous shinkwrapped treasures in return.

My most recent acquisition is Asmodee’s game of epic fantasy conquest, Hyperborea, which multiple online sellers are offering for about 60% off. It’s a 2–6 player board game that challenges players to build their mythical nation into the greatest empire in history. You do that by capturing land, defeating imposing monsters, exploiting strange technologies and magics, and building mighty armies. That you scooch around the map, crushing civilizations.

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New Treasures: Xenowealth by Tobias S. Buckell

New Treasures: Xenowealth by Tobias S. Buckell

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I wasn’t actually aware that so many of Tobias S. Buckell’s acclaimed novels took place in the same universe until I stumbled on a copy of his collection Xenowealth. That kind of put it all together for me. His Locus-Award nominated first novel Crystal Rain (2006), his Nebula nominee Ragamuffin (2007), Sly Mongoose (2008), and his self-published The Apocalypse Ocean (2012) are all part of a series called The Benevolent Satrapy Universe… also know as the Xenowealth novels.

The Xenowealth novels have been widely acclaimed as high concept space opera, and this collection gathers tales featuring the same setting and characters… including “Manumission,” the origin story of Pepper, the dread-locked baddass from Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, “Placa del Fuego,” an extended excerpt from the last novel, Apocalypse Ocean, two new stories written just for this collection, and many others.

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The Most Successful Anthology of 2015: Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

The Most Successful Anthology of 2015: Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

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Meeting Infinity-smallIt’s beginning to look as if Jonathan Strahan’s Meeting Infinity is the most successful SF anthology of 2015… at least if you use story reprints as your yardstick (which I kinda do).

Let’s examine the evidence. Rich Horton reprinted two stories from Meeting Infinity for his Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy:

“My Last Bringback” by John Barnes
“Drones” by Simon Ings

Neil Clarke reprinted a whopping four for his Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 1, more than any other source except Asimov’s SF. Of course, they were a different four.

“In Blue Lily’s Wake” by Aliette de Bodard
“Outsider” by An Owomeyla
“Cocoons” by Nancy Kress
“The Cold Inequalities” by Yoon Ha Lee

Meanwhile Gardner Dozois picked a completely different set of three tales, for the upcoming 33rd volume of his Year’s Best Science Fiction

“The Falls: A Luna Story,” by Ian McDonald
“Emergence,” by Gwyneth Jones
“Rates of Change,” by James S.A. Corey

That’s a darned impressive hit rate… over 50% of the Table of Contents selected for Best of the Year volumes. I’m sure there’s an historical precedent if you look hard enough, but I can’t remember one. And I tried.

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May/June Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Now on Sale

May/June Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Now on Sale

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The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction May June 2016-smallThe cover story in the May/June issue of F&SF is Ted Kosmatka’s cave man tale “The Stone War.” Kevin P Hallett reviews it at Tangent Online, saying:

This novelette length fantasy reveals a world where a stone man lives with total indifference to the people passing through. The one brutal truth is that he kills anyone who directly or indirectly attacks him. At first, the consequences seem unimportant and localized. Until a king determines to find a way to use the stone man as a weapon to forward his desire for conquest. However, that proves to be much more of a challenge than he imagined. An interesting new look at what deterrent means and trying to curb our impulse to grow at the expense of others… well-written and engaging.

In fact, Kevin seems to like a lot of the May/June issue. Here he is on Albert E. Cowdrey’s “Steamboat Gothic.”

A horror mystery about a Louisiana sheriff investigating the gruesome murder of a film crew. Sheriff Chew has his own agenda that blurs the lines around justice, using fake evidence to pin the crime of someone who deserved to be jailed – a Deep Southern view. However, the real criminal turns out to be someone even the sheriff didn’t imagine. Cowdrey’s style quickly pulls the reader into the story, getting them invested in the characters and storyline. An enjoyable story to be sure.

The cover is by Max Bertolini. Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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The Omnibus Volumes of C.J. Cherryh, Part IV: The Complete Morgaine

The Omnibus Volumes of C.J. Cherryh, Part IV: The Complete Morgaine

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The Complete Morgaine CJ Cherryh-smallLast year, in my series on The Omnibus Volumes of C.J. Cherryh, I mentioned The Morgaine Saga, a collection of the first three novels in her classic sword-and-sorcery series. That’s a fine book, but there are two problems with it. One, it doesn’t include the final novel, Exile’s Gate, and two, it’s been out of print for over a frickin’ decade.

Ah well… I guess when you’re a vintage paperback collector, you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The Morgaine Saga was a terrific book, and collectors were glad to get it (when we could find it). Gate of Ivrel, Cherryh’s first novel, and the first book in the series, was a breakout book for her. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer the year after it appeared, and it helped launch her entire career (for the intimate details of her start in the business, watch CJ’s talk at 2016 the Nebula Awards last month.)

In honor of CJ’s Grand Master at the Nebula’s, DAW gave out samples of her work to all the attendees. And I was surprised and delighted to find a copy of The Complete Morgaine among the giveaways. Published in trade paperback last year, it contains all four books for the first time in a single volume:

Gate of Ivrel (1976)
Well of Shiuan (1978)
Fires of Azeroth (1979)
Exile’s Gate (1988)

I guess it’s true what they say… good things come to he who waits. The Complete Morgaine was published in September 2015 by DAW Books. It is 816 pages, priced at $20, with a cover by Michael Whelan. It also contains an introduction by Andre Norton. We previously surveyed The Omnibus Volumes of C.J. Cherryh (and there’s more than you think): Part I, Part II, and Part III.

Vintage Treasures: The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard

Vintage Treasures: The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard

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The People of the Mist H Rider Haggard-back-small The People of the Mist H Rider Haggard-small

I’ve never read any H. Rider Haggard… which is a pretty serious oversight for a guy in my position. He wrote a handful of acknowledged classics, including She and some 14 novels featuring Allan Quatermain, the most famous of which is King Solomon’s Mines. But if I were stuck on a desert island (a fate that’s starting to look more and more appealing as the years go by) and could grab only one Haggard novel before the ship went down, I think my first choice would be his 1894 classic The People of the Mist. It was reprinted in paperback for the first time in English in 1973 as part of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy library, with a thoughtful 6-page introduction by Lin Carter. The wonderful wraparound Dean Ellis cover (above) has always fired my imagination, as has the description on the inside cover.

The internationally famous author of She and King Solomon’s Mines writes a glittering adventure set in ancient Africa — a marvelous tale of peoples hidden in a valley cut off from the rest of the world, their primitive and savage culture harking back before the mists of time.

Haggard possesses the gift not only of making his tales seem totally authentic, but of stretching out suspense to its outside limits — and surely no adventure has had as breathtaking a climax as the hurtling ride over a trembling icepath that occurs in People of the Mist!

The People of the Mist was published in December 1973 as part of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy line. It was edited by Lin Carter, with a wraparound cover by Dean Ellis. It is 365 pages, priced at $1.50. Remarkably, it is still in print today in over a dozen different editions, including eight different digital editions, starting at 99 cents.

Sample Three New Pathfinder Tales Soundclips from Macmillan Audio!

Sample Three New Pathfinder Tales Soundclips from Macmillan Audio!

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Pathfinder Tales Hellknight audio-small Pathfinder Tales Bloodbound audio-small Pathfinder Tales Beyond the Pool of Stars audio-small

Two weeks ago we shared three Pathfinder Tales soundclip samples from Macmillan Audio with you, from the audiobook versions of Pirate’s Prophecy by Chris A. Jackson, Dave Gross’ Lord of Runes, and Liar’s Island by Tim Pratt. They were extremely well received, so we’re back by popular demand with three more — including a sample from Beyond the Pool of Stars, by our very own Howard Andrew Jones!

Hellknight by Liane Merciel
Bloodbound by F. Wesley Schneider
Beyond the Pool of Stars by Howard Andrew Jones

[Links will take you to our previous coverage of each book.]

Each clip is about ten minutes long. So sit back, close your eyes, and let professional readers Ilyana Kadushin and Steve West whisk you away to a world of magic and adventure!

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Future Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, edited by Rich Horton

Future Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, edited by Rich Horton

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The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016-smallWe are well and truly into the Year’s Best season now, that delightful part of the year when the annual best-of-the-year anthologies start flying thick and fast. This year this season kicked off with Jonathan Strahan’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Ten, and next week Neil Clarke’s The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 1 follows close on its heels. And that’s just the beginning — over the next two months we’ll see Year’s Best books from Gardner Dozois, Paula Guran (two!), Ellen Datlow, Karen Joy Fowler and John Joseph Adams, and many others. If you’re a short story lover like me, it’s a veritable embarrassment of riches.

If you can only afford to buy one, for my money Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016 is the one to get. Rich’s taste is exemplary, and he ranges far and wide to hunt down the very best short fiction of the year. The eighth volume goes on sale next week, and includes C. S. E. Cooney’s novella The Two Paupers and Naomi Kritzer’s Hugo and Nebula nominee “Cat Pictures, Please,” plus several other Nebula nominees — including Tamsyn Muir’s novelette “The Deepwater Bride,” Brooke Bolander’s “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead,” and “Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker — and 25 more stories.

I do find that, year after year, Rich’s taste tends to align best with mine. But with several newcomers on the scene, I’m curious to see if Rich remains at the top of the heap. Giving him particular competition last year were the Strahan and Paula Guran volumes, especially The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas (and this year’s looks especially good).

Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016 will be published by Prime Books on June 7, 2016. It is 576 pages, priced at $19.95 in trade paperback and $6.99 for the digital edition. See the complete table of contents here.

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May 2016 Nightmare Magazine Now on Sale

May 2016 Nightmare Magazine Now on Sale

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Nightmare Magazine May 2016-smallThe contents of the May issue of online magazine Nightmare are now fully available at the magazine’s wesbite. This issue contains original short stories from Adam-Troy Castro and Lisa Goldstein, and reprints from Joe Hill and Sarah Langan.

Original Stories

“The Old Horror Writer” by Adam-Troy Castro
He’s harder to find than most. I have the basis for comparison because I’ve gotten to all of them sooner or later, from the big names to the obscurities. There are some who give up so thoroughly, and disappear so completely, that it’s as if they never existed at all. This guy’s far from the worst. He’s an old man now, twenty years removed from his last novel and ten from his last short story; he’s no longer a member of HWA or SFWA, and the agency that used to handle his interests now has him in their estate file.

“Sawing” by Lisa Goldstein
Clarissa watched from the wings as the Great Bertoldi sawed a woman in half. Down went the saw through the coffin-like box, then up, then down again. A cigarette burned at the side of his mouth, on the edge of his smile. The saw broke through the box. He put it down and slid metal plates between the two halves, then rolled the sections apart. The woman’s head poked out from the end of one of the sections, feet from the other.

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