We’re pleased to announce the limited edition of Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s magnificent novel, The Angel’s Game, which will be published as a companion to his now classic The Shadow of the Wind. Please note: For the first two weeks, we’re offering The Angel’s Game at $95, a full $30 off the regular $125 price. In addition, given the expense in producing the book, we may have to raise the regular $125 price as we near publication.

Here’s the description for the forthcoming title:

In 2004, Carlos Ruiz Zafon made a spectacular English language debut with The Shadow of the Wind, a brilliantly constructed novel set in Barcelona in the aftermath of World War II. Its central symbol and most indelible image was an intricate Borgesian labyrinth called The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Zafon’s latest, The Angel’s Game, is also set in Barcelona and also revisits the mysterious Cemetery. It is, however, neither a sequel nor a prequel, but an independent narrative that elaborates a coherent, increasingly complex fictional universe.

Zafon’s narrator/hero is David Martin, an orphan brought up in true Dickensian squalor. After years of struggle, he achieves success writing a popular series of “penny dreadfuls” called City of the Damned. In time, his work comes to the attention of Andreas Corelli, a Parisian publisher with a truly Faustian proposition. Corelli offers David 100,00 francs if he will use his narrative gifts to create a viable new religion.

The extraordinary tale that follows is many things at once: mystery, love story, supernatural thriller, historical drama, gothic romance, and meditation on the primal importance of stories, of narrative itself. As the author reminds us throughout this novel, books have souls, and reflect the souls of both their readers and their writers. The Angel’s Game beautifully illustrates this proposition, and offers further proof that Carlos Ruiz Zafon is one of the most compelling—and unpredictable—storytellers of the modern era.

The Angel’s Game, like its predecessor, has become an international phenomenon, a best-seller in dozens of countries. Subterranean Press is proud to announce this deluxe limited edition, which will feature a fine paper (80# Finch), deluxe cloth, a sewn binding, and be printed in two colors throughout, with copious illustrations—including full color plates and duotone chapter heads—by Vincent Chong.

We’re still shipping Patrick Rothfuss’s The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle as quickly as we can, but have received word from our printer that three more titles are now ready to be picked up. They include:

– Amberjack (Terry Dowling);
– The Ammonite Violin & Others (Caitlin R. Kiernan);
– Black Hills (Dan Simmons);

We’ll be rendering the Simmons and Kiernan books in print no later than the end of the day, July 2, 2010, so now’s your last chance to place your order and receive free US shipping, so get your order in soon to take advantage.

Given how well we did with Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch, we’ve decided to offer the limited edition of another of his novels, Shriek: An Afterword.

Shriek was an early effort by Wyrm Publishing, but you can’t tell. The production turned out so beautifully, from the attention to page design, typography, and illustrated endsheets, it looks like they’ve been in business for a decade or more.

As an incentive to add Shriek to your library, we’re offering copies for $35 — below the published price — with Free US Shipping. We’ll only be accepting orders for a short time, until July 9, 2010, so don’t hesitate.

So sayeth San Francisco Book Review about Terry Dowling’s new collection, Amberjack: “Dowling crafts vividly realized worlds without burying the story in world-building details, and while this can be confusing at the outset of a story, those details blossom and come to enrich the narrative.”

Insert pleased publisher noises here.

We’re caught up with virtually all new book shipping beyond Patrick Rothfuss’s The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle — copies are being sent to customers now — and Terry Dowling’s wonderful collection, Amberjack, which is at our printer awaiting pickup. We’ll announce the next round of books on the shipping tarmac shortly.

One book that shipped that we forgot to mention is Jack Vance’s Hard-Luck Diggings, a healthy over 100,000 word gathering of the best of his early stories, edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan. We were lucky enough that Publishers Weekly liked the book enough to give it a Starred Review, at taste of which is here: “Even these early tales make it clear why Vance is still one of the most revered, read, and taught of science fiction authors, highlighting his blending of genres, forward-thinking and prophetic science, and careful craft.”

Given our past history of reviews and Jack’s collections, we expect healthy wholesale and large online retail orders, which should put the book out of print before long.

Just a little advance warning that we’re down to fewer than 25 copies of the Signed Limited edition of Joe R. Lansdale’s Deadman’s Road, which gathers together his classic weird western novel, Dead in the West, along with four more long tales (one original) about the Reverend Jedediah Mercer.

The book has been fully proofed in house, and will be sent to Joe to go through as soon as we have the twenty full-page black-and-white illustrations Glen Chadbourne has just completed. Like God of the Razor, this will be an essential, definitive volume for Lansdale’s many fans.

Deadman’s Road is right on schedule for release this fall. Next year, we plan on giving the same essential treatment to Joe’s early serial killer novel, Act of Love, as well as publishing a brand new Hap and Leonard novella.

Library Journal just covered China Mieville’s exuberant new novel, Kraken, and it not only passed muster, but received a coveted starred review. Their verdict: “…Mieville’s sprawling saga calls to mind the works of H. P. Lovecraft and H. G. Wells, with a distinctive 21st-century spin and should draw a large crossover audience as well as genre fans. Highly recommended.”

While we’re posting reviews of Kraken, here’s an important part of what Publishers Weekly had to say: “British fantasist Miéville mashes up cop drama, cults, popular culture, magic, and gods in a Lovecraftian New Weird caper sure to delight fans of Perdido Street Station and The City & the City.”

And finally, this, from Booklist: “Miéville’s fantasy is a rich literary work, full of wordplay and imagery that will appeal to literary-fiction fans as much as to fantasy readers.”

On the production end, we’re about to start proofing Kraken, while Vincent Chong’s rough sketches for the dust jacket art are due any day.

While we’re showing off art, here’s the first interior illustration, just turned in by Maurizio Manzieri, for Naomi Novik’s Empire of Ivory. We really like the new direction Maurizio’s art has given the series, and suspect his other color interiors will be just as fantastic as this one.

Here’s a first look at the front of J. K. Potter’s stunning wraparound artwork for Connie Willis’s All Clear, the second volume of her WWII time travel novel. In it, Willis expands on, and then wraps up (in over 250,000 words) the extravagant tale she began in Blackout. Order now to lock in your copy of what’s sure to be one of the best novels of 2010.

Things have become a little chaotic, as we ship from two different locations, but I think I’ve got it sorted as to what’s shipped recently:

– Leviathan Wept and Other Stories (Daniel Abraham) — Individual and small bookstore orders are packed, and will be sent out as soon as they’re processed for postage;

– Necroscope: The Plague-Bearer (Brian Lumley) — all orders shipped;

– Lesser Demons (Norman Partridge) — all orders shipped;

– The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle (Patrick Rothfuss) — just starting to package these for shipment.

Additional titles will be done in the next week or so, and take their spots on the shipping tarmac. One, Amberjack (Terry Dowling), is finished and awaiting pickup.