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New Treasures: The Death House by Sarah Pinborough

New Treasures: The Death House by Sarah Pinborough

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The Death House-smallSarah Pinborough won a British Fantasy Award last year for her novella “Beauty,” and she was nominated for a Bram Stoker in 2013 for her novel A Necessary End, written with F. Paul Wilson. Her latest novel, The Death House, has gotten a lot of attention, including a cover blurb from Stephen King: “Moving and totally involving. I couldn’t put it down.” The publisher’s release that came with it described it as “a contemporary novel with a compelling dystopian setting… with strong YA crossover appeal.” I suppose I could just wait for the movie then.

Toby’s life was perfectly normal… until it was unravelled by something as simple as a blood test.

Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House; an out-of-time existence far from the modern world, where he, and the others who live there, are studied by Matron and her team of nurses. They’re looking for any sign of sickness. Any sign of their wards changing. Any sign that it’s time to take them to the sanatorium.

No one returns from the sanatorium.

Living in his memories of the past, Toby spends his days fighting his fear. But then a new arrival in the house shatters the fragile peace, and everything changes. Because everybody dies. It’s how you choose to live that counts.

We last covered Sarah here with her 2013 novel A Matter of Blood, the first book in The Forgotten Gods trilogy.

The Death House was published by Titan Books on September 1, 2015. It is 286 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback and $7.99 for the digital edition. The cover design is by Julie Lloyd.

Future Treasures: Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti

Future Treasures: Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti

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Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe-smallBack in 1990 I bought a remaindered copy of Songs of a Dead Dreamer at a Waldenbooks in Champaign, IL. I’d never heard of the author, Thomas Ligotti, but the book sounded kind of interesting. I added it to my to-be-read pile, where it was quickly buried, and years went by before I really thought of it again.

In those intervening years, I learned the name Thomas Ligotti. So did anyone who read Weird Tales, Grue, or other horror magazines in the late 80s and early 90s. He was a singularly unique talent, and his fame quietly grew during those decades. In fact, when I launched the first issue of Black Gate in the year 2000, I had more-or-less decided not to put the names of authors on the cover, to keep the artwork clean and give the magazine a unique look, but I talked to a few other editors to get their opinion first. One of them was Darrell Schweitzer, co-editor of Weird Tales.

“We never noticed a bit of difference in sales when we put authors names on the cover,” he confided. “Unless the name was Thomas Ligotti.”

Ligotti’s first two collections were Songs of a Dead Dreamer (1985) and Grimscribe: His Lives and Works (1991), both of which appeared first in small print-run hardcovers. Those editions — including the one I bought at Waldenbooks for three bucks — became highly prized collectors items. Both appeared in paperback, in June 1991 and October 1994, respectively. Those editions shortly went out of print, and also became became highly sought-after. In 2010 and 2011, after both volumes had been out of print for nearly two decades, Subterranean Press re-issued them with matching dust jackets. Those editions quickly sold out, and routinely command prices of $200-400 in the collectors market.

In short, if you wanted a print copy of Songs of a Dead Dreamer or Grimscribe any time in the last 20 years, you pretty much needed to be very wealthy, very lucky, or both. So you can understand why the impending release of Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe, an omnibus 464-page collection of both volumes in a handsome and affordable trade paperback from Penguin Classics, has generated excited buzz in horror circles.

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New Treasures: Fish Tails by Sheri S. Tepper

New Treasures: Fish Tails by Sheri S. Tepper

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Fish Tails Tepper-small Fish Tails Tepper-back-small

Sheri S. Tepper is one of the most beloved genre authors of the last few decades. Her fantasy series include the nine-volume The True Game, the Marianne trilogy, and The Awakeners trilogy.

Even among that impressive body of work, her 35th novel, Fish Tails, is uniquely ambitious, as it weaves together characters and storylines from eleven previous fantasy novels spanning nearly three decades of her writing career, starting from King’s Blood Four (1983) to her recent The Waters Rising (2010). 

Fish Tails see two of her most popular characters, Abasio and his royal wife Xulai (from A Plague of Angels and The Waters Rising) and their children traveling across the land of Tingawa, searching for those interested in adopting their sea-dwelling lifestyle. As they travel they meet visitors from the far-off world of Lom, characters Tepper’s fans will recognize from The True Game: Mavin Manyshaped, Jinian Star-eye, and Silkhands the Healer… all of whom have been gathered by a mysterious, time-traveling, rule-breaker. For the waters are rising and will soon engulf the entire planet, transforming it utterly.

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Future Treasures: Souldrifter by Garrett Calcaterra

Future Treasures: Souldrifter by Garrett Calcaterra

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Souldrifter-small Souldrifter-back-small

Garrett Calcaterra’s most recent posts for us were “Fantasy Clichés Done Right and “Can SF Save the World From Climate Change?” But in addition to all the investigative reporting he’s been doing for Black Gate, he’s also been managing a career as a fast-rising fantasy author. His novel Dreamwielder (2013), the opening book in The Dreamwielder Chronicles, is a terrific sword & sorcery adventure, widely praised by fans and critics alike. James P. Blaylock called it “fast-paced, colorful, and richly detailed… My kind of book,” and Tim Powers proclaimed it a “good solid fantasy adventure.”

Souldrifter, the long-anticipated second volume in the series, finally arrives next week. Emperor Guderian’s empire has fallen, and young Queen Makarria finds herself in grave danger. The Old World Republic is demanding that she form a new empire, one she would rule as their puppet. When she refuses, the Old World threatens war… and sends a dangerous spy into the heart of her court. Wendy Wagner, author of Skinwalkers, describes it as “packed with sorcerers, spies, and high-stakes intrigue… a real page-turner.”

Souldrifter will be published by Diversion Publishing on September 29, 2015. It is 298 pages, priced at $15.99 in trade paperback and $4.99 for the digital edition. Get more details at Garrett’s website here.

New Treasures: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

New Treasures: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

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Binti Nnedi Okorafor-small Binti Nnedi Okorafor-back-small

Nnedi Okorafor’s first novel for adults, Who Fears Death, won the 2011 World Fantasy Award, and was nominated for a Nebula. Her most recent releases include Lagoon and The Book of Phoenix.

I know what you’re thinking. Damn, I need to read some Nnedi Okorafor. But I’ve got my marathon training coming up, and I have to help the kids with their homework, and schedule my liposuction before my high school reunion. No way I can fit in a 400-page novel! Curse that John O’Neill and his relentless New Treasures temptations!

Calm down, calm down. I got you into this, I can get you out. I know you’re desperate to sound hip at your next Reading Club meeting, and I know you can’t fit another novel into that busy schedule of yours. But what about a novella? That’s like a novel, and between you and me, most people don’t know the difference. Pick up a copy of Binti, Nnedi Okorafor latest book — on sale tomorrow from Tor.com — and you can have it read by Friday. It’s only 96 pages! At the next Club meeting, when that snobby hipster casually mentions The Book of the Phoenix, just say, “Brilliant, of course. But have you read Binti? It’s her absolute latest, darling.” And then you can munch hor d’oeuvres while he makes lame excuses for a change.

Binti is the fourth in Tor.com‘s new line of premium novellas, following The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, Witches of Lychford, and Sunset Mantle. It is $9.99 in trade paperback, and just $2.99 for the digital edition — you’ll never be hip for such a bargain price again.

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Back to Ancient Opar

Back to Ancient Opar

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king-oparexiles-khoEdgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan has proven an unstoppable force. While misguided movies, TV series, and musicals do their best to rob the ape man of his savage nature and integrity in the name of mass marketing and political correctness, Burroughs’ original Jungle Lord perseveres. Conventional wisdom may suggest time has passed him by, but it’s the vitality of the original that keeps readers coming back for more. Happily, talents like Joe R. Lansdale, Philip Jose Farmer, and most recently Will Murray have been willing to give fans further adventures of the real Tarzan.

Turn back the clock four decades and you’ll find Philip Jose Farmer’s seminal fictional biography, Tarzan Alive (1972) had much to answer for in terms of launching the Wold Newton movement in popular fiction as well as boosting Burroughs’ cachet. While the book may be relatively obscure today, the ripples it created are still felt on the beaches of pulp fiction. For his part, Farmer launched a series of officially sanctioned books recounting the history of ancient Opar. Longtime readers of Burroughs’ work will know that Opar was the first of the author’s lost cities (an outpost of forgotten Atlantis) that survived undiscovered in Tarzan’s African jungle.

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New Treasures: The Sea of Trolls Trilogy by Nancy Farmer

New Treasures: The Sea of Trolls Trilogy by Nancy Farmer

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The Sea of Trolls-small The Land of the Silver Apples-small The Islands of the Blessed-small

I’ve been very excited by what I’ve seen from Saga Press in the last few months. They’ve published novels from some of the most exciting new names in fantasy, including Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings, and Genevieve Valentine’s Persona, among many others. And just this month they brought us John Joseph Adam’s timely new anthology Loosed upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction.

But mixed in with that sharp nose for exciting new work is a keen talent for finding and repackaging overlooked older fantasy. So I was just as excited to see Saga bring Nancy Farmer’s The Sea of Trolls trilogy, originally published in hardcover by Atheneum Books in 2004-2009, out in mass market paperback for the first time, with a gorgeous series of new covers by Richard Anderson. The release dates were:

The Sea of Trolls (496 pages) – June 30, 2015
The Land of the Silver Apples (496 pages) – July 28, 2015
The Islands of the Blessed (496 pages) – August 25, 2015

All three books are now on sale from Saga, priced at $8.99 in paperback and $7.99 for the digital edition. Check ’em out.

New Treasures: Awaiting Strange Gods by Darrell Schweitzer

New Treasures: Awaiting Strange Gods by Darrell Schweitzer

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Awaiting Strange Gods-smallI was proud to publish two very fine stories by Darrell Schweitzer in the print version of Black Gate: the frontier horror story “A Dark Miracle” (BG 3) and the Thomas the Rhymer tale “Into the Gathering Dark” (BG 15). So I’m very pleased indeed to see a brand new collection from Mr. Schweitzer, Awaiting Strange Gods: Weird and Lovecraftian Fictions, which collects 22 tales in a very handsome package. In addition to a new introduction by S.T. Joshi, the book also contains three interior illustrations by cover artist Tim Kirk.

I’m especially delighted by Awaiting Strange Gods because it also marks the continued resurgence of Fedogan & Bremer, the Minneapolis-based weird fiction publisher that produced over two dozen fabulous volumes in the 80s and 90s, including Colossus by Donald Wandrei, Stephen Jones’ Shadows Over Innsmouth and Dark Detectives, and Exorcisms and Ecstasies by Karl Edward Wagner. It’s marvelous to see them active again.

Darrell Schweitzer, for 19 years co-editor of Weird Tales, is a familiar name in Dark Fantasy and fringe SF stories. But his forays into Weird/Lovecraftian got underway long after he had established his literary voice. These are very personal stories, notable for character development as opposed to HPL’s cutouts against a cosmic background. 22 tales ranging from straight Mythos to Historical, and from Pennsylvania to Asia Minor. We think these tales are a treat, and you will too!

John R. Fultz produced a marvelously detailed survey of Schweitzer’s weird fantasy, coupled with an interview, in “The Sorcery of Storytelling: The Imaginary Worlds of Darrell Schweitzer,” published at Black Gate ‘way back in 2006. Read it here.

Awaiting Strange Gods: Weird and Lovecraftian Fictions was published by Fedogan & Bremer on September 15, 2015. It is 292 pages, priced at $39.95 in hardcover, and $125 for the deluxe limited edition, with a signature page and fitted slipcase. The cover art is by Tim Kirk. There is no digital edition.

New Treasures: Dragon Coast by Greg van Eekhout

New Treasures: Dragon Coast by Greg van Eekhout

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Dragon Coast-smallIn California Bones, Greg van Eekhout introduced us to Daniel Blackland, a con artist attempting the biggest con of his career… who ends up crossing the terrifyingly powerful Hierarch, the tyrant ruling the Kingdom of Southern California. With the mysterious and powerful Sam, the Hierarch’s golem, Daniel ended up on the run. In the second novel, Pacific Fire, set a decade later, the pair return to L.A. to confront a brand new horror: the terrifying weapon of mass destruction called a Pacific Firedrake. In the concluding volume in the trilogy, the stakes are even higher, as Daniel Blackland must pull off his most improbable theft yet, by returning to the Kingdom of Northern California and stealing the bones of the great dragon at the center of the Earth.

Daniel’s adopted son Sam, made from the magical essence of the tyrannical Hierarch of Southern California whom Daniel overthrew and killed, is lost — consumed by the great Pacific firedrake secretly assembled by Daniel’s half-brother, Paul.

But Sam is still alive and aware, in magical form, trapped inside the dragon as it rampages around Los Angeles, periodically torching a neighborhood or two.

Daniel has a plan to rescue Sam. It will involve the rarest of substances, axis mundi, pieces of the bones of the great dragon at the center of the Earth. Daniel will have to go to the kingdom of Northern California, boldly posing as his half-brother, come to claim his place in the competition to be appointed Lord High Osteomancer of the Northern Kingdom. Only when the Northern Hierarch, in her throne room at Golden Gate Park, raises her scepter to confirm Daniel in his position will he have an opportunity to steal the axis mundi — under the gaze of the Hierarch herself.

And that’s just the first obstacle.

We covered the first two novels in the trilogy here. Dragon Coast will be published by Tor Books September 15, 2015. It is 320 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Cliff Nielsen.

New Treasures: The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road by Abbie Bernstein

New Treasures: The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road by Abbie Bernstein

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The Art of Mad Max Fury Road cover

Mad Max: Fury Road was a highlight of the summer for me. It was easily one of the best movies of the year, and the long-awaited return to one of the great cinematic settings of my youth, the post-apocalyptic hell of The Road Warrior. It turned both of my teenage sons into Mad Max fans. No small feat, since in general they don’t show much patience with films from the 80s.

Titan Books released a gorgeous art book to accompany the release of the film, The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road, and it’s jam-packed with behind-the-scenes photos, concept art, production stills, interviews with the cast and crew, and an insightful foreword by director George Miller. I received a copy last month, and finally had a chance to sit down with it this week. The timing is actually pretty good, as the Blu-ray was released on September 1, and we re-watched the film at home last Friday.

Below are a dozen photos and art samples from the book.

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