Praise continues to come in for The Best of Lucius Shepard, the mammoth (over 250k words) gathering of one of our finest writers finest stories. This, from The Denver Post: “But for those who relish artful writing — he’s been compared to Robert Stone and Saul Bellow, even Joseph Conrad — as well as entertaining stories, Shepard has appeal to all lovers of good fiction. And Subterranean Press, which has become the gold standard when it comes to comprehensive collections of genre short fiction, has put together a fine anthology, assembling 18 of the author’s best stories published between 1983 and 2007.”

Speaking of The Best of, we’ve just approved the slipcase prototype for the limited edition, so look for it and the companion volume, Skull City and Other Lost Stories, to begin shipping in 4-5 weeks. We also have another Shepard book under contract, Vacancy & Ariel, which will gather two uncollected novellas, bound back to back, Ace Double style. Look for us to announce that one soon.

Fancy a trip down the great Mississippi, with Captain Abner Marsh and vampire in tow? Once again, while moving stock to our new shipping facilities, Tim uncovered a box of a title long thought sold out. We only have a dozen or so copies of our limited edition of George R. R. Martin’s vampire epic, Fevre Dream, but the ticket’s worth the price alone for the perfect color and black-and-white illustrations from the brush and pens of Justin Sweet.

For those of you who’ve been waiting for the novella to be complete, we’ve just posted the last chapter of Mike Resnick’s followup to his award-winning series of “Kirinyaga” stories. In our opinion, Kilimanjaro — which we’ll also be publishing in a hardcover later this year — more than holds it own against those earlier stories, and builds on them as well. If there’s any justice, this one will end up on awards ballots next year. It’s that good.

We’re pleased to announce the limited edition of Dan Simmons’ epic (over 280,000 words) novel of Charles Dickens’ final years. If all goes according to plan, our edition of Drood will be released simultaneously with the trade edition in early 2009. John Picacio is already reading the manuscript in preparation for creating the dust jacket.

Now, about the novel:

On June 9th, 1865, Charles Dickens, “the most popular novelist in England, perhaps the world,” boards a train bound from Folkstone to London, accompanied by his youthful mistress, the actress Ellen Ternan. Shortly afterward, the train derails near the village of Staplehurst, toppling into an abyss. Dickens emerges from the carnage physically, if not mentally, unscathed. And he has a story to tell.

He tells it, with typical Dickensian brio, to his friend and occasional collaborator, Wilkie Collins, the narrator of this magisterial novel. The story concerns an otherworldly figure who calls himself “Drood,” and who moves through the wreckage like a pale, unholy apparition. The mysteries surrounding Drood form the heart of an epic narrative encompassing ancient religious practices, subterranean cities, hallucinatory visions, madness, murder, and the limitless power of the creative imagination. The result is a fever dream of a book that vividly recreates the sights, sounds, and smells of 19th century London, while illuminating the final years of a great writer’s life. Absorbing, moving, and constantly surprising, Drood shows us Dan Simmons at his inimitable — and mesmerizing — best.

Collectors Note: Our limiteds of Previous Simmons’ novels, Ilium and Olympos both had significantly higher print runs than Drood, meaning this limited edition may well sell out in advance of publication.

Somehow, without quite meaning to, we have nine books at the printer right now.

– The Empress of Mars (Kage Baker);
– The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives (James P. Blaylock);
– Skeleton in the Closet and Other Stories (Robert Bloch);
– Summer Morning, Summer Night (Ray Bradbury);
– Backup (Jim Butcher);
– Storm Front (Jim Butcher);
– Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded (John Scalzi);
– The Sagan Diary (John Scalzi, reprint);
– The Best of Michael Swanwick (Michael Swanwick);

And three more are headed there in the following week:

– The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox (Barry Hughart)
– A Coven of Vampires (Brian Lumley)
– Dreadful Skin (Cherie Priest);

All of these titles should be landing in our offices between now and the end of October. And, of course, we have another 4-5 titles we’re readying to send to the printer between now and Halloween. Rembember. we offer FREE US SHIPPING on all preorders, so now’s not a bad time to get your order in for the upcoming batch of titles.

Just a little advance warning to everyone. In the past week, we’ve received an unprecedented number of wholesale and online bookstore orders for Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files novelette, Backup, so many that we may not be able to fill all of those orders when the book is shipping. (Everyone who has already ordered direct or does so before the book is published will be covered.)

Caitlin R. Kiernan has just turned in the chapbook for the limited edition version of her upcoming sf short story collection, A is for Alien. B is for Beginnings, the chapbook, has come in 6,000 words longer than anticipated at nearly 19,000 words, with a series of her early, out-of-print sf stories, plus some dream entries from her online blog that led to the writing of more recent stories. The chapbook cover is by Richard Kirk, while Vince Locke will be providing interior illustrations for the hardcover collection.

We’re making steady progress on Songs of the Dying Earth, the Jack Vance tribute anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. All of the stories but three are in hand and have been copyedited, and the signature pages for the limited edition are making the rounds. (Over 350 of the 500 copies of the limited are already presold.)

We’re also pleased to announce that Dean Koontz has agreed to pen an appreciation for our volume, and has already signed his pages for the limited edition.

Just a reminder that we’re in the homestretch for Mike Resnick’s companion novella to his multi-award winning “Kirinyaga” series of stories. We think Kilimanjaro stands proudly with those earlier stories.

Locus magazine recently covered an earlier issue of Subterranean Online and said the “very fine story” Air and Angels by Beth Bernobich “has an almost steampunk setup, with a young Victorian man meeting a fascinating pair of sisters, and being drawn briefly into their lives. The ladies are scientifically talented, and fascinated by astronomy–and it turns out they have a striking plan–which rather explicitly echoes a famous feminist SF story, given an intriguing alternate perspective by the Victorian setting.”

We’ve already set the contents for the next issue of Subterranean, which, in addition to a splendid cover by Vincent Chong, will contain Cherie Priest’s first foray into her newest creation, The Clockwork Century.

As many of you know, in addition to Dan’s novel, The Terror, we’re doing a limited edition of his upcoming mammoth (over 280,000 words) tale about Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, Drood. If you’re of a mind to order The Terror, we suggest doing so now, as we’re going to offer Drood at a very special price to those who’ve already locked in their copy of Dan’s novel of Arctic exploration. John Picacio will be handing the cover for both of our Simmons limiteds.