Subterranean Press Featured Title

First, a head’s up that Patricia Briggs’ novella, Alpha and Omega, done and awaiting pickup at our printer, will be shipping out of print. At this point, we’re turning away hundreds of orders from various large online resellers and wholesalers. We’ll be pulling the book from our site by the end of this week, so if you want to be guaranteed of receiving a copy, the only way to be certain is to place a direct order.

– We received another large batch of orders for Alastair Reynolds’ Thousandth Night and Minla’s Flowers, which made it out of print on publication. As with Alpha and Omega, a good number of non-direct orders are going to go unfilled for this one.

– Given the rate of preorders, Kelley Armstrong’s Angelic looks like a strong contender to join the out-of-print on publication club. If you’re interested in a copy, please place your order soon.

– K. J. Parker just turned in a typically twisty novelette, “A Room with a View”, for Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2. We also have tales promised by Joe Hill, Norman Partridge, and Kelley Armstrong, and have already accepted tales by Jay Lake and Shannon Page and Peter V. Brett — the latter a novella set in the world of his novels The Painted Man and The Desert Spear.

– In the coming weeks, we have new projects to offer for presale, including an 80+ page off-kilter tale by Patrick Rothfuss, as well as what will be one of the must have anthologies of 2010, which includes tales by Glen Cook, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Scott Lynch, Tad Williams, Steven Erickson, and many more!

If you want to gauge Caitlin R. Kiernan’s popularity at Subterranean Press, know this — of the 16 hardcovers and chapbooks we’ve published by her, all but the most recent, A is for Alien, are out of print. This leaves us quite happy to announce a full-length, 80,000 word collection of ultra-rare, top notch tales by Cait. The Ammonite Violin & Others contains twenty stories first published in Sirenia Digest, the journal that Caitlin sends out to subscribers each month. Violin marks the first time these stories are available to the general public, making it a gathering of virtually original tales by one of dark fantasy’s finest writers.

The Ammonite Violin & Others will be available in two editions, a cloth bound trade hardcover, plus a leatherbound signed limited edition, the latter include a brand new chapbook story available nowhere else. Cait already has the fully-designed book and is proofreading it, while Richard Kirk is slated to provide a dust jacket and illustrated endsheets.

As do many full-time professionals, SF writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch wears a number of hats, with that of mystery scribe being one of the most prominent. Her current series concerns an African-American PI named Smokey Dalton, whose adopted son witnessed an event that has the duo moving around the country, with one eye on the lookout while they try to lead normal lives. We’re pleased to present “Family Affair”, only the second Smokey Dalton short story. If it catches your interest, we recommend the novels unreservedly, especially A Dangerous Road.

A few important notes about the deluxe leatherbound edition of Crimson Shadows by Robert E. Howard. First, we inadvertantly shipped the red, leatherbound edition with a dust jacket. So please go ahead and remove them. Second, there was a bonus item intended to be included with the deluxe edition — a chapbook of rough sketches by artists Jim and Ruth Keegan. We forgot to include these with the books, so they’re shipping separately this week. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we don’t expect to have copies of Alastair Reynolds’ Thousandth Night and Minla’s Flowers much past the publication date, if at all. As things stand, we have orders for 1900 of the 2000 copy print run, with more individual, wholesale, and retail orders arriving all the time. If you want to be guaranteed a copy of the book, your best bet is to order one direct. If we receive more orders in the next week, once we begin shipping, we’ll have to allocate copies to our larger accounts.

Last week alone, we received orders for another thousand copies of Charles de Lint’s Eyes Like Leaves, which is headed to the printer this week. We’re not planning a print run as large as some other de Lint titles (such as Promises to Keep or Medicine Road) so this epic high fantasy novel isn’t likely to be in print long past its publication date.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Peter S. Beagle’s mammoth (over 200,000 words) Best of volume, Mirror Kingdoms, is easily on pace for its February release. We’ve just received the signature page art from Michael Wm Kaluta — one of the best such images we’ve ever seen — and will have the pages printed and off to Peter to sign in the next two weeks. Michael is also completing the cover for Mirror Kingdoms soon. Given how well Peter’s The Last Unicorn: the Lost Version sold, we expect demand for this landmark collection to be very strong. You might want to order early to make certain you’re in line for a copy.

Here’s just one of the cover options for Charles de Lint’s epic high fantasy, Eyes Like Leaves. We’ve sent several design choices to Charles, and as soon as he lets us know which one he prefers — a decision we expect in the next couple of days — Eyes will be uploaded to our printer, on schedule for a late year release.

If you’re still on the fence about Eyes, here’s a brief reminder of what various reviews have said.

From Publishers Weekly:
“World Fantasy Award–winner de Lint dusts off an enchanting epic fantasy written in 1980 but never published. The result is a delightful old-fashioned group quest, and though it occasionally lacks the older de Lint’s graceful skill with language, even his nascent poetic style evokes beautiful imagery.”

From Library Journal:
“This traditional fantasy…bears de Lint’s characteristically lyrical prose and hypnotic storytelling. Filled with Celtic lore and wonderfully drawn characters, this standalone epic should please the author’s many fans and lovers of medieval fantasy.”

From Booklist:
“This is classic high fantasy, written and revised by a master, unpublished when first completed some 30 years ago because de Lint decided to focus on contemporary fantasy stories and let it languish. It is a must for de Lint completists and, actually, for all high-fantasy and folkloristic fiction fans.”

and a new review, from Fantasy Literature:
“Eyes Like Leaves is well-paced, and the action scenes flash with energy. Charles de Lint shows signs of the bardic gift in his ability to make scenes come alive…”

John Scalzi’s much praised dark fantasy novella, The God Engines, has just been sent to the printer. As a reminder, it comes in two versions — a signed leatherbound edition limited to 400 copies, with a different dust jacket than the unsigned, cloth bound trade hardcover. You can’t go wrong with either.

The novella is also keeping up its string of positive reviews. This, from Fantasy Literature: “[The novella] leaves an indelible impression on the reader. It is a hauntingly powerful and provocative tale that will have John Scalzi fans, fantasy lovers, and newcomers alike talking about The God Engines.”

Over at Subterranean Online, we’re pleased to debut “Troublesolving” by Tim Pratt, which we think is one of the best stories we’ve published to date. Tim’s novelette is a twisty, turny, time travel tale, and an utter delight.

While you’re checking out the issue, also have a look at the new reviews by Bill Sheehan (of Graham Joyce’s How to Make Friends with Demons) and Gwenda Bond (of SubPress favorite Cherie Priest’s amazing new novel Boneshaker).

We’re heading into a very busy part of our schedule, from now until the end of the year. Our shippers have just finished sending out all individual, retail, and wholesale orders for R. A. MacAvoy’s welcome return to publishing with the novella, In Between.

Now, they’ve turned their attentions to Crimson Shadows, our huge (over 500 pages) gathering of some of Robert E. Howard’s best tales, which features full color art available nowhere else, and an illustrated slipcase. It will likely take until late in the week to get copies of the regular limited edition and deluxe leatherbound edition out to customers. We’ll post updated shipping news as soon as we have it.