New stories by Joe R. Lansdale, Poppy Z. Brite, Patrick Rothfuss, and many more fine writers are highlighted in Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy. Here’s what Booklist has to say in their new issue: “In Subterranean Press’ latest collection of speculative fiction, the only common thread tying the tortured protagonists together is their origin in the darkest recesses of their creators’ imaginations. With dark fantasy as the sole prerequisite, editor Schafer has gathered 11 previously unpublished tales containing a wide spectrum of nightmarish ideas… Aside from a predilection for ghoulish visions, all the contributors share a gift for sharp-edged prose that keeps the reader pleasantly perturbed for hours.”

Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy is headed to the printer in the next week. Don’t forget, those who order a copy of the trade edition direct from SubPress will also receive a special chapbook by Joe Hill, Thumbprint.

Jon Foster has just sent us the first glimpse at the cover art for Ray Bradbury’s original screenplay to the classic film, Moby Dick. The art is still rough, but we think you’ll agree it’s going to be a powerful evocation of Captain Ahab’s madness and obsession. Along with the Foster cover, the book will feature a full color frontispiece by Rockwell Kent, as per Mr. Bradbury’s request.

John Crowley’s touching novelette, Conversation Hearts, also has a cover, a simple image that captures the heartfelt tale perfectly. We’ve just sent the signature pages to Mr. Crowley, so his small hardcover is right on schedule to ship later this summer.

The second and concluding volume of Brian Lumley’s Best Mythos Tales, Haggopian and Other Stories, is due in our offices later this week. This time around the focus is on Brian’s shorter works, again illustrated by Bob Eggleton. The collection weighs in at a healthy 400+ pages of creepy, tentacly otherness. Along with its companion volume, The Taint and Other Novellas, Haggopian makes up an essential gathering of post-Lovecraft Mythos fiction.

And here, without further ado, is the cover art for Starlady and Fast-Friend, the Ace Double of novelettes by George R. R. Martin we’ll be releasing later this year. Cover design to come soon!

Our proofer has just scanned and taken the first pass through all 262,000 words of Barry Hughart’s The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox. We’ve sent the omnibus, as well as the first draft of Bridge of Birds — the latter available only with the deluxe limited edition — off to our designer to work her magic. Artist Jon Foster has a copy of Bridge from which to create an illustration for the omnibus, so all’s on schedule for our Halloween release of this trio of beloved novels.

We’ve just listed a goodly number of items on Ebay again, including a copy of a Lettered copy of A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin, plus books by Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, Thomas Ligotti, and more. Check back often, as we plan to add even more items in the coming week.

Please note: These copies are now sold out!

We’ve uncovered three copies of the signed edition of Stephen King’s The Green Mile, which was limited to only 148 numbered sets, with the first volume signed by Mr. King. (These are legit copies, not PC copies.)

If you’re interested, each set is $930, including US shipping. Limit one set per family or household. Drop us an email and we can work out payment arrangements if you’d like to pick up a gorgeous edition of one of Mr. King’s finest works.

SubPress favorite John Scalzi has posted a shareware chapbook to his website, “How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story,” which was originally published as a chapbook to accompany the hardcover of issue four of Subterranean magazine. Best of all, half of what John takes in is going to Lupus research, a disease which many of you know my wife suffers from. So please, check out the Scalzi story, send him a few bucks via the methods he has set up, laugh your ass off at the tale, and help a very worthy cause in the process.

We’ve put together over half of our 2009 schedule thus far, with titles by Ray Bradbury, Alastair Reynolds, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Naomi Novik, John Scalzi, and many other fine writers. Just as with 2008, we’ll be publishing in the neighborhood of 60 books, a goodly mix of limited and trade editions. Just this week, we’ve reached agreement to add a few new books to that list, including one (and possibly two) by Kage Baker, a brand new collection by Greg Egan, and The Dark Volume, Gordon Dahlquist’s stunning followup to his literary debut fantasy, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. Be looking for us to start putting up part of next year’s schedule late this summer and early fall.

We’ve just sent the next batch of titles to the printer, including

– The Jack Vance Reader (Jack Vance);
– Kull: Exile of Atlantis (Robert E. Howard);
– Project Moonbase and Others (Robert A. Heinlein).

Which join a number of titles already there, including:

– What the Mouse Found (Charles de Lint);
– Haggopian and Other Stories (Brian Lumley);
– Interworld (Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves);
– Black & White (Lewis Shiner).

Next week, our two deluxe chapbooks will be at the printer as well:

– Skeletons (Ray Bradbury);
– Yellow Dog (Charles de Lint).

As you can see, it’s shaping up to be a busy summer around here, with a wide variety of reading material for everyone’s tastes.