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Future Treasures: Cthulhu Fhtagn!, edited by Ross E. Lockhart

Future Treasures: Cthulhu Fhtagn!, edited by Ross E. Lockhart

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Cthulhu Fhtagn-smallRoss E. Lockhart has edited some of my favorite Cthulhu anthologies, including the terrific The Book of Cthulhu and The Book of Cthulhu II. When he left Night Shade Books he founded Word Horde, which has produced some excellent books over the past year — including The Children of Old Leech, the genre-bending anthology Giallo Fantastique, and Molly Tanzer’s novel Vermilion.

His newest project is Cthulhu Fhtagn!, featuring 19 original weird tales inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, available in trade paperback and digital format next week.

In his house at R’lyeh, Cthulhu waits dreaming… What are the dreams that monsters dream? When will the stars grow right? Where are the sunken temples in which the dreamers dwell? How will it all change when they come home?

Within these pages lie the answers, and more, in all-new stories by many of the brightest lights in dark fiction. Gathered together by Ross E. Lockhart, the editor who brought you The Book of Cthulhu, The Children of Old Leech, and Giallo Fantastique, Cthulhu Fhtagn! features nineteen weird tales inspired by H. P. Lovecraft.

Cthulhu Fhtagn! will be published by Word Horde on August 15, 2015. It is 330 pages, priced at $19.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Adolfo Navarro.

See all of our coverage of the best upcoming fantasy releases here.

New Treasures: His Father’s Eyes by David B. Coe

New Treasures: His Father’s Eyes by David B. Coe

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His Father's Eyes-smallDavid B. Coe’s adventure fantasy tale “Night of Two Moons” appeared in Black Gate 4. His three-book LonTobyn Chronicle (1997-2000) and five-volume Winds of the Forelands series (2002-07) were both published by Tor. He currently has two series on the go — under the name D.B. Jackson he writes the Thieftaker Chronicles, a historical urban fantasy, and under his own name he writes The Case Files of Justis Fearsson, a contemporary urban fantasy featuring a hardboiled, magic-using private detective.

His Father’s Eyes, the second book in The Case Files of Justis Fearsson, in which Fearsson faces off against dark sorcerers in Phoenix, Arizona, was released earlier this month by Baen Books.

Justis Fearsson is a weremyste. He wields potent magic, but every month, on the full moon, he loses his mind. He’s also a private detective, who can’t afford to take time off from his latest investigation while his sanity goes AWOL.

A legion of dark sorcerers has descended on Phoenix, wreaking havoc in the blistering desert heat. With the next moon phasing approaching, Jay has to figure out what connects a billionaire financier and a vicious drug kingpin to an attempted terrorist attack, a spate of ritual killings, and the murder of a powerful runemyste. And he has to do it fast. Because these same dark sorcerers have nearly killed the woman he loves and have used their spells to torment Jay’s father. Now they have Jay in their crosshairs, and with his death they intend to extend their power over the entire magicking world. But Jay has other plans, and no intention of turning his city, or those he loves, over to the enemy.

David’s most recent blog post for Black Gate, in which he discusses the ongoing Hugo Award controversy, was Enough, Part II.

The Case Files of Justis Fearsson began with Spell Blind (2014). His Father’s Eyes was published by Baen on August 4, 2015. It is 320 pages, priced at $25 in hardcover and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Alan Pollack. Read more — including a lengthy excerpt — at the Baen website.

New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas: 2015 edited by Paula Guran

New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas: 2015 edited by Paula Guran

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Dream Houses Genevieve Valentine-small Yesterday's Kin Nancy Kress-small The Churn James S A Corey-small

What do Dream Houses by Genevieve Valentine, Yesterday’s Kin by Nancy Kress, and The Churn by James S.A. Corey all have in common?

They were all published individually, at prices ranging from $14.95 to $25 for the print editions (excepting The Churn, which isn’t even available in a print edition.) And they’re all included in Paula Guran’s delightful new anthology, The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas: 2015 Edition, available now from Prime for just $19.95 in trade paperback.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas includes nine of the best short novels of the year, from Patrick Rothfuss, K. J. Parker, Mary Rickert, Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, and others. Collected from anthologies, magazines, online sources, limited edition trade releases, and more obscure sources, the book is a terrific way to get introduced to some of the most exciting writing of the year in a single economical volume.

It’s no exaggeration to say that this is the single most anticipated book of the year for me, and I ordered a copy as soon as it was available.

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New Treasures: Edge of Sundown: Tales of Horror in the Wild West, edited by Kevin Ross and Brian M Sammons

New Treasures: Edge of Sundown: Tales of Horror in the Wild West, edited by Kevin Ross and Brian M Sammons

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Edge of Sundown Chaosium-smallI’m a big fan of weird westerns. But you already knew that, just based on my recent articles on R. S. Belcher’s The Shotgun Arcana, Molly Tanzer’s Vermilion, Guy Adams’s Heaven’s Gate trilogy, and the anthologies Ceaseless West, Razored Saddles, and Dead Man’s Hand.

But here’s something new — an original anthology of western horror from Kevin Ross (Dead But Dreaming) and Brian M. Sammons (Tales of Cthulhu Invictus, World War Cthulhu, The Dark Rites of Cthulhu), and published by Chaosium (Call of Cthulhu). Here’s a snippet from the guidelines.

We’re looking for stories set in the American west (west of the Mississippi River) in the latter half of the 19th century, basically from about the Civil War era until the dawn of the 20th century… This is an incredibly rich historical period, full of possibilities for good stories, from real-life heroes and villains to Indians and their legends, cryptozoology, and yes, even opportunities to use elements of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Most importantly, what we’re looking for are good, SCARY stories set in the old west. We’re not looking for tongue-in-cheek works, but ones that take the genre seriously. (Compare, for example, the old Gene Autry serial The Phantom Empire and the more recent western creature-feature The Burrowers.) There can be elements of pulp, fantasy, or adventure, but in the long run the story must have a very strong horror element to it. Other examples of the type of thing we’re looking for would include the serious western (and western horror) fiction of Robert E. Howard, films such as High Plains Drifter, Django the Bastard (AKA The Stranger’s Gundown), and the novel and film The White Buffalo…

With Edge of Sundown our target is very specific, like a bullet straight through the heart: good, serious, scary western horror tales.

Edge of Sundown was published by Chaosium on July 1, 2015. It is 306 pages, priced at $16.95 in trade paperback. There is no digital edition.

New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

New Treasures: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

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The Year's Best Science Fiction Thirty-Second Annual Collection-smallIt’s always a mini-celebration in the O’Neill household when Dozois’ annual Year’s Best collection arrives.

This year’s volume comes packed with the best short fiction of the year by Nancy Kress, James Patrick Kelly, Adam Roberts, Ken Liu, Robert Reed, Gareth L. Powell, Karl Schroeder, Rachel Swirsky, Alastair Reynolds, Ellen Klages, Michael Swanwick, Lauren Beukes, Peter Watts, Lavie Tidhar, Paolo Bachigalupi, Aliette de Bodard, and many others — over 600 pages of fiction, plus Gardner’s detailed summary of the very best of the year in books, magazines, movies, anthologies, collections, websites, and much more.

Gardner is usually a pretty fair predictor of the Hugo Awards, and I when the Hugo ballot arrived every year I could usually just open up his volume and read most of the nominees. Not this year. As most folks know, this year the Hugo ballot was hijacked by the Rabid Puppies campaign (and, to a much lesser extent, the much smaller Sad Puppy campaign).

None of the stories on the Hugo ballot this year was selected by Gardner for his Year’s Best (or for any other Best of the Year anthology that I’m aware of).

But fret not. Here’s your chance to see what magnificent tales could have been on the Hugo ballot this year — all assembled for you in one handsome package.

The complete table of contents for The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection follows.

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Future Treasures: The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson

Future Treasures: The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson

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The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps-smallTor has brought us some strong debuts over the past 18 months. Seth Dickinson’s The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Marc Turner’s When the Heavens Fall, and Rjurik Davidson’s Unwrapped Sky have all made waves, and I expect to see great things from them in the future. It’s great to see a publisher with such a keen eye for new talent.

Tor’s latest find, Kai Ashante Wilson, releases his first fantasy novel next month: The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, and it looks like one of their strongest discoveries yet. It’s a sword & sorcery tale of gods and mortals, magic and steel, and life and death that Ken Liu calls “Lyrical and polyphonous, gorgeous and brutal.”

Since leaving his homeland, the earthbound demigod Demane has been labeled a sorcerer. With his ancestors’ artifacts in hand, the Sorcerer follows the Captain, a beautiful man with song for a voice and hair that drinks the sunlight.

The two of them are the descendants of the gods who abandoned the Earth for Heaven, and they will need all the gifts those divine ancestors left to them to keep their caravan brothers alive.

The one safe road between the northern oasis and southern kingdom is stalked by a necromantic terror. Demane may have to master his wild powers and trade humanity for godhood if he is to keep his brothers and his beloved captain alive.

Wilson has published several popular stories which you can read free at Tor.com, including “The Devil in America” and “Super Bass.” Read an excerpt from The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps here.

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New Treasures: Quaternity by Kenneth Mark Hoover

New Treasures: Quaternity by Kenneth Mark Hoover

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Quaternity-smallU.S. Marshal John T. Marwood is a soldier in an eternal war, and he’s been traveling a long, long time. Some of the epic battles he’s seen include Thermopylae. Masada. and Agincourt. And when he came to New Mexico Territory, circa 1874, and a small town called Haxan, it became one of the most epic showdowns of his long career.

But before he was a Marshall, Marwood followed a darker path. In this prequel novel, Kenneth Mark Hoover explores some of Marwood’s mysterious past, telling the tale of his search for the fabled golden city of Cibola… and a battle against something very dark inside himself.

I bought the first John Marwood weird western novel, Haxan, at the World Fantasy Convention last year, and I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Quaternity at this year’s Nebulas here in Chicago. This look like one of the better dark fantasy series currently on the market. If you’re a fan of weird westerns, check it out.

Hell is Truth Seen Too Late! Before he became a U.S. federal marshal in Haxan, John Marwood rode with a band of killers up and down the Texas/Mexico border. Led by Abram Botis, an apostate from the Old Country, this gang of thirteen killers search for the fabled golden city of Cibola, even riding unto the barren, blood-soaked plains of Comancheria. And in this violent crucible of blood, dust, and wind, Marwood discovers a nightmarish truth about himself, and conquers the silent, wintry thing coiled inside him.

Quaternity was published by ChiZine Publications on May 21, 2015. It is 299 pages, priced at $16.99 in trade paperback, and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Erik Mohr.

New Treasures: The Recoletta Novels by Carrie Patel

New Treasures: The Recoletta Novels by Carrie Patel

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The Buried Life-small Cities and Thrones-small

I’m a sucker for a great fantasy setting. Plot, character, sparkling prose… these all appeal to me as much as the next guy. But give me a fresh, innovative setting, and you’ve got my attention from page one.

One of the most intriguing and innovative settings I’ve come across recently is the fantastical, gaslit underground city of Recoletta, where mankind huddles after a mysterious apocalypse, and whose true origins are shrouded in mystery. It is the setting for two novels (so far) from debut author Carrie Patel: The Buried Life and Cities and Thrones, both published this year by Angry Robot. Here’s a brief bit of enticing description from the starred review at Publishers Weekly:

With Regency-era sensibilities and Agatha Christie’s flair for the subtle conundrum, Patel’s debut novel introduces readers to a subterranean city of the future, centuries after what is dubbed ‘The Catastrophe’, and beautifully manages the delicate balance between entertainment and social commentary. The subtly fantastical story is resplendent with surprisingly deep villains, political corruption, and a gripping whodunit feel.

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New Treasures: No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill

New Treasures: No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill

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No One Gets Out Alive-smallBritish horror writer Adam Nevill has been winning over fans here in the US, with books like Last Days and The House of Small Shadows (which Goth Chick reviewed for us here). His latest novel, No One Gets Out Alive, looks like it will continue that trend nicely. It was recently released in hardcover by St. Martin’s Press, and has just been nominated for a 2015 British Fantasy Award.

When Stephanie moves to the notoriously cheap Perry Bar neighborhood of Birmingham, she’s just happy to find an affordable room for rent that’s large enough not to deserve her previous room’s nickname, “the cell.” The eccentric — albeit slightly overly-friendly — landlord seems nice and welcoming enough, the ceilings are high, and all of the other tenants are also girls. Things aren’t great, but they’re stable. Or at least that’s what she tells herself when she impulsively hands over enough money to cover the first month’s rent and decides to give it a go.

But soon after she becomes uneasy about her rash decision. She hears things in the night. Feels them. Things… or people… who aren’t there in the light. Who couldn’t be there, because after-all, her door is locked every night, and the key is still in place in the morning. Concern soon turns to terror when the voices she hears and presence she feels each night become hostile. It’s clear that something very bad has happened in this house. And something even worse is happening now. Stephanie has to find a way out, before whatever’s going on in the house finds her first.

No One Gets Out Alive was published by St. Martin’s Press on April 28. It is 640 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $14.99 for the digital edition.

See all of our recent New Treasures here.

The Future of Fantasy: The Best New Releases in July

The Future of Fantasy: The Best New Releases in July

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Bone-Swans-CSE-Cooney-small Last First Snow-small The-Great-Bazaar-and-Brayans-Gold-small

We’re more than three quarters of the way through July, and I’ve barely scratched the surface on the 30 new books we covered in The Best New Releases in June. If I want to get caught up, I’ll have to cut back on late-night superhero movie marathons with my kids (and probably sleeping, and eating.)

July’s crop of new fantasy releases includes some terrific work from C.S.E. Cooney. Peter V. Brett, Max Gladstone, Wesley Chu, Lou Anders, Melinda Snodgrass, Victor Milan, Chris Willrich, Elizabeth Bear, Nnedi Okorafor, D.B. Jackson, and many others. There are 33 in the list this month, so let’s get started.

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