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Future Treasures: Pathfinder Tales: Pirate’s Prophecy by Chris A. Jackson

Future Treasures: Pathfinder Tales: Pirate’s Prophecy by Chris A. Jackson

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Pirate's Honor-small Pirate's Promise-small Pirate's Prophecy-small

For the past three years Chris A. Jackson, author of The Warcaster Chronicles, has been writing an ambitious fantasy saga for the Pathfinder Tales line, featuring pirate captain Torius Vin and his snake-bodied naga navigator Celeste, who forsake pirating to chase slave galleys and set the prisoners free. According to his bio, Jackson is a marine biologist who, with his wife Anne, has lived on a 45-foot sailboat since 2009, cruising the Caribbean and writing full time. Sounds like an ideal lifestyle to write pirate sagas to me.

The series began in 2013 with Pirate’s Promise, and the third volume, Pirate’s Prophecy, will be released next week from Tor.

Pirate’s Honor (400 pages, $9.99, $6.99 in digital format, May 14, 2013)
Pirate’s Promise (400 pages, $14.99, $6.99 in digital format, January 6, 2015) — cover by Michael Ivan
Pirates Prophecy (357 pages, 14.99, $9.99 in digital format, February 2, 2016) — cover by Remko Troost

The first two were published by Paizo; Pirates Prophecy is the first in the series to be published by Tor Books.

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Future Treasures: The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire by Rod Duncan

Future Treasures: The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire by Rod Duncan

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The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter-small Unseemly Science-small The Custodian of Marvels-small

I’m cheating a little bit here because, technically, the first two books in this series are already out and thus don’t count as “Future Treasures.” But since I’m the kind of guy who waits until an entire trilogy is published before digging into the first volume, the upcoming pub date for the final book in Rod Duncan’s The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire means the series is available to me for the first time. Cancel my appointments for the rest of the week, because this looks like a good one.

The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire opens with the 2014 Phillip K. Dick Award finalist The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter, the tale of Elizabeth Barnabus, who lives a double life as both herself and as her brother, a private detective, in the divided land of England. Caught up in the supernatural mystery of a disappearing aristocrat and a hoard of arcane machines, Elizabeth soon finds herself up against the all-powerful Patent Office. The Washington Post called it “All steampunk and circus wonder as we follow the adventures of Elizabeth Barnabas. The double crosses along the way keep the plot tight and fun, and the conclusion sets us up nicely for book two.”

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Future Treasures: Winterwood by Jacey Bedford

Future Treasures: Winterwood by Jacey Bedford

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Winterwood Jacey Bedford-smallJacey Bedford is the author of the Psi-Tech novels (Empire of Dust, Crossways), both published by DAW. Her new Rowankind fantasy series kicks off with Winterwood, the tale of a crossdressing pirate captain and unregistered witch who’s haunted by the ghost of her husband, and who inherits a magical box from her mother… and is tasked with righting an ancient wrong.

It’s 1800. Mad King George is on the British throne, and Bonaparte is hammering at the door. Magic is strictly controlled by the Mysterium, but despite severe penalties, not all magic users have registered.

Ross Tremayne, widowed, cross-dressing privateer captain and unregistered witch, likes her life on the high seas, accompanied by a boatload of swashbuckling pirates and the possessive ghost of her late husband, Will. When she pays a bitter deathbed visit to her long-estranged mother she inherits a half brother she didn’t know about and a task she doesn’t want: open the magical winterwood box and right an ancient wrong — if she can.

Enter Corwen. He’s handsome, sexy, clever, and capable, and Ross doesn’t really like him; neither does Will’s ghost. Can he be trusted? Whose side is he on?

Unable to chart a course to her future until she’s unraveled the mysteries of the past, she has to evade a ruthless government agent who fights magic with darker magic, torture, and murder; and brave the hitherto hidden Fae. Only then can she hope to open the magical winterwood box and right her ancestor’s wrongdoing. Unfortunately, success may prove fatal to both Ross and her new brother, and desastrous for the country. By righting a wrong, is Ross going to unleash a terrible evil? Is her enemy the real hero and Ross the villain?

Winterwood will be published by DAW on February 2, 2016. It is 432 pages, priced at $7.99 for both the print and digital editions.

Future Treasures: Superhero Universe: Tesseracts Nineteen edited by Claude Lalumiere and Mark Shainblum

Future Treasures: Superhero Universe: Tesseracts Nineteen edited by Claude Lalumiere and Mark Shainblum

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Superhero Universe Tesseracts Nineteen-smallMark Shainblum has been a friend of mine ever since I wrote him a fan letter after reading New Triumph #1 in 1984, featuring the Canadian superhero Northguard he created with Gabriel Morrissette. And Claude Lalumiere was Black Gate‘s first comics editor, with a lengthy column in every one of our early issues. Together, the two have teamed up to edit the nineteenth volume of Tesseracts, the prestigious and long running Canadian anthology series. The theme this volume is superheroes, in all their fascinating combinations.

Superheroes! Supervillains! Superpowered antiheroes! Mad scientists!

Adventurers into the unknown. Detectives of the dark night. Costumed crimefighters. Steampunk armored avengers. Brave and bold supergroups. Crusading aliens in a strange land. Secret histories. Pulp action.

Tesseracts Nineteen features all of these permutations of the superhero genre and many others besides! Featuring stories by: Patrick T. Goddard, D.K. Latta, Alex C. Renwick, Mary Pletsch & Dylan Blacquiere, Geoff Hart, Marcelle Dube, Kevin Cockle, John Bell, Evelyn Deshane, A.C. Wise, Jennifer Rahn, Bevan Thoma, Bernard E. Mireault, Sacha A. Howells, Kim Goldberg, Luke Murphy, Corey Redekop, Brent Nichols, Jason Sharp, Arun Jiwa, Chadwick Ginther, Leigh Wallace, David Perlmutter, P.E. Bolivar, Michael Matheson.

The Tesseracts anthology series is Canada’s longest running anthology. It was first edited by the late Judith Merril in 1985, and has published more than 529 original Canadian speculative fiction (Science fiction, fantasy and horror) stories and poems by 315 Canadian authors, editors, translators and special guests. Some of Canada’s best known writers have been published within the pages of these volumes ― including Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, Robert J. Sawyer, and Spider Robinson (to name a few).

Superhero Universe: Tesseracts Nineteen will be published by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing on April 15, 2016. It is 200 pages, priced at $15.95 in trade paperback. But the digital version will be available next week, and is priced at only $5.99. The cover is by Jason Loo.

The Tor.com Novellas are Now Available in Bargain Bundles

The Tor.com Novellas are Now Available in Bargain Bundles

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Torcom September Novellas

I’ve been thrilled to see so many exciting new novellas come out of Tor.com‘s new publishing program, by so many top names in fantasy and SF. Each novella is priced at $2.99 (or $12.99 for the print versions.) Now Tor.com has announced that you can buy discounted bundles of all their novellas published in 2015.

Tor.com Bundle #1 contains all four novellas originally published in September 2015, and is priced at $8.99.

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell
Sunset Mantle by Alter S. Reiss
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

It was published on January 12th, and is currently available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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Future Treasures: Swords of Steel II edited by D.M. Ritzlin

Future Treasures: Swords of Steel II edited by D.M. Ritzlin

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Swords of Steel II-smallDave Ritzlin’s Swords of Steel anthology, published last February by DMR Books, was a popular topic here at Black Gate and elsewhere. In his review, Fletcher Vredenburghw wrote:

When John O’Neill posted a few weeks ago about Swords of Steel, edited by D.M. Ritzlin, I knew I had to read it. The hook was simple: swords & sorcery stories written by members of metal bands. Tons of heavy bands — Uriah Heep, Iron Maiden, Manowar, Metallica, Megadeth, to name several — have drawn on the themes of heroism, monster-fighting, and sorcery for lyrics and look… Ritzlin set out to recreate a 1970s-style anthology akin to Lin Carter’s Flashing Swords! or Andrew Offutt’s Swords Against Darkness, and has succeeded.

I’m very pleased to report that a second volume is in the works, to be released next month. I asked Dave for a quote, and here’s what he told me:

The Swordsmen of Steel return! Attacking once more now with twice as much strength, the most epic practitioners of the heavy metal arts fill another volume with tales of terror and heroic adventure. Swords of Steel II features stories by such artists as E.C. Hellwell (MANILLA ROAD), Byron Roberts (BAL-SAGOTH), Mike Scalzi (SLOUGH FEG) and Howie Bentley (CAULDRON BORN). A total of eight stories (each accompanied by an illustration) are contained herein, as well as two poems and an essay by David C. Smith (author of the Red Sonja and Oron novels). Don’t read this book unless you have nerves of STEEL!

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Future Treasures: The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

Future Treasures: The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

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Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club-small The Dark Days Club-small

Alison Goodman is the author of the New York Times bestseller EON, winner of the 2008 Aurealis Award and a Tiptree nominee, and its sequel EONA, both set in a mythical China. Her other novels include the SF thriller Singing the Dogstar Blues and Killing the Rabbit. Her latest novel is The Dark Days Club (published as Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club in her native Australia), a Regency adventure starring a stylish and intrepid demon-hunter. It is the opening volume in the new Lady Helen fantasy series.

Helen must make a choice: Save her reputation, or save the world.

London, 1812. Eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall is on the eve of her debut presentation at the royal court of George III. Her life should revolve around gowns, dancing, and securing a suitable marriage. Instead, when one of her family’s maids disappears, she is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few able to stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons that has infiltrated all levels of society. Carlston is not a man she should be anywhere near, especially with the taint of scandal that surrounds him. Yet he offers her help and the possibility of finally discovering the truth about the mysterious deaths of her parents.

Soon the two of them are investigating a terrifying conspiracy that threatens to plunge the newly Enlightened world back into darkness. But can Helen trust a man whose own life is built on lies? And does she have the strength to face the dangers of this hidden world and her family’s legacy?

The Dark Days Club will be published by Viking Books on January 26, 2016. It is 496 pages, priced at $18.99 in hardcover, and $10.99 for the digital edition.

John DeNardo’s January Must-Read Speculative Fiction

John DeNardo’s January Must-Read Speculative Fiction

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The Assimilated Cubans Guide to Quantum Santeria-smallWe try to keep tabs on the best in upcoming fantasy here at Black Gate. But nobody does it as well as John DeNardo, editor of SF Signal. Over at Kirkus Reviews he offers a tantalizing survey of the best new speculative fiction for the month.

Have you made any reading-related New Year’s resolutions? If speculative fiction is on your reading radar, allow me to offer some suggestions. Here’s an abundant selection of tasty speculative titles being released this month. Titles here include a two-second time [machine], cosmic horrors, multiple worlds, a prison memoir, 1920s Hollywood, and airship heists.

John’s highlights for the month include All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, Broken Hero by Jonathan Wood, Ancestral Machines by Michael Cobley, Jani and the Great Pursuit by Eric Brown, and several that we’ve covered here at Black Gate — including Daughter of Blood by Helen Lowe, Medusa’s Web by Tim Powers, Skinner Luce by Patricia Ward, The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson, and the acclaimed first collection from Carlos Hernandez, The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria.

Read the complete article here.

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Future Treasures: Patchwerk by David Tallerman

Future Treasures: Patchwerk by David Tallerman

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Patchwerk-small Patchwerk-back-small

Now that it’s a new year, Tor.com has relaunched their ambitious novella publishing program with their 2016 titles, starting with Emily Foster’s The Drowning Eyes, released early this week. They’ll be publishing roughly a title a week for the next few months, an extremely impressive schedule — especially considering the authors they’ve got on deck.

Next week is Patchwerk from David Tallerman, author of the Tales of Easie Damasco trilogy (Giant Thief, Crown Thief, Prince Thief), and many short stories published at Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Bull Spec, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Patchwerk follows the adventures of Dran Florrian, a scientist carrying a device capable of destroying worlds… and his desperate flight from those who want to use it for their own purposes.

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Future Treasures: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

Future Treasures: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

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Mistborn novels Brandon Sanderson-small

The first three novels in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy — The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages — were published between 2006-08 by Tor Books. In 2011, Sanderson returned to the world of Mistborn with The Alloy of Law. Set after the trilogy, in a period corresponding to late 19th-century America, the spinoff books became New York Times bestsellers. Now, hot on the heels of last year’s Shadows of Self, (which we covered here), he continues the tale with The Bands of Mourning.

The Bands of Mourning are the mythical metalminds owned by the Lord Ruler, said to grant anyone who wears them the powers that the Lord Ruler had at his command. Hardly anyone thinks they really exist. A kandra researcher has returned to Elendel with images that seem to depict the Bands, as well as writings in a language that no one can read. Waxillium Ladrian is recruited to travel south to the city of New Seran to investigate. Along the way he discovers hints that point to the true goals of his uncle Edwarn and the shadowy organization known as The Set.

The Bands of Mourning will be published by Tor Books on January 26, 2016. It is 448 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover, or $14.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Chris McGrath.