At the printer

• Bounty Hunt by Kelley Armstrong, Illustrated by Xaviere Daumarie
• The Top of the Volcano by Harlan Ellison
• Messenger’s Legacy by Peter V. Brett
• Nobody’s Home by Tim Powers
• Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
• Legion: Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson
• House of Chains by Steven Erikson
• The Silver Dream by Neil Gaiman, Michael Reaves, and Mallory Reaves
• Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

Neal Stephenson’s Classic THE DIAMOND AGE in Stock and Shipping

November 5th

Throughout the years, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age has been one of the titles that customers have most wanted us to give the limited edition treatment. We're pleased to announce that it's in stock and shipping. The gorgeous cover and full-color endsheets are by Patrick Arrasmith.

About the Book:

First published in 1995, The Diamond Age was Neal Stephenson’s follow-up to Snow Crash, his unforgettable account of a world transformed by Virtual Reality and its attendant technologies. Winner of both the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel, The Diamond Age once again examines the relationship between technological development and social change. Like its predecessor, it is universally recognized as a classic of contemporary science fiction.

Set largely in Shanghai several decades after the events of Snow Crash, this brilliantly complex narrative tells a number of interconnected stories. Among the chief protagonists are Nell, a young girl who receives a most unusual education by way of an interactive, neo-Victorian guide called “Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer,” and John Percival Hackworth, the engineer who designed the primer and who has plans of his own for its use. On one level, The Diamond Age tells the story of an individual education. On another, it offers a thoroughly imagined portrait of a world deeply divided along political, ethnic and cultural lines. It is a world dominated and literally reshaped by advancements in nanotechnology, a branch of science that extends the range of human possibility in bizarre and unexpected ways.

One of Stephenson’s overriding concerns, seen in book after book and from a variety of perspectives, has been the impact of technology and scientific thought on the evolution of human society. Dense, witty, frequently astonishing and always absorbing, The Diamond Age occupies a central position in Stephenson’s impressive canon. As convincing and astonishing today as it was nearly twenty years ago, it is the rare sort of novel in which an unbridled imagination and formidable intellect come powerfully—and seamlessly—together.

Limited: 500 signed numbered copies, printed on 80# Finch, housed in a custom slipcase: $125

Dan Simmons’ ENDYMION Now Open for Sale to the General Public

November 4th

Dan Simmons' Endymion is now open for the general public to order.

If you've been wanting to get in on one of the best science fiction series ever published, now's the time. Those who are quick and head over to the product page will find that even a few copies of the Lettered Edition are available for order. (There's a limit of one Lettered copy per customer.)

About the Book:

Set hundreds of years after the events recounted in The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion inaugurates a grand new narrative arc, one that explores the themes of The Hyperion Cantos in even greater depth and carries the story forward into a surprising—and thoroughly developed—future.

Endymion takes its title from John Keats’s poem about the love of a mortal man for an immortal goddess. By the time the novel begins, the Hegemony of Man has come to a spectacular end, the still dominant TechnoCore has disappeared from public view, and the once moribund Catholic Church has become the principle political power in the now scattered web of inhabited worlds. Against this backdrop, Simmons introduces two vitally important characters: Raul Endymion, convicted murderer and native of the planet Hyperion, and a twelve-year-old girl named Aenea, who is about to step through the Time Tombs and embark on a messianic destiny. Raul’s role is to protect her from the forces massed against her and to shepherd her toward her ultimate moment of apotheosis.

Endymion, together with its sequel, The Rise of Endymion, is a colorful, hugely ambitious narrative that also offers a revisionist view of earlier events—events we only thought we understood. Familiar characters—Father Lenar Hoyt, the poet Martin Silenus, the enigmatic and terrifying Shrike—appear in new and unexpected roles. Together with a host of vivid supporting characters and a vast array of brilliantly realized settings, they help set the stage for a memorable and visionary conclusion, while casting a new and sometimes startling light on all that has gone before.

Our edition of Endymion will be an oversize volume, printed on 80# Finch, with a dust jacket and full-color endsheets by John Picacio.

Limited: 474 signed numbered copies: $150
Lettered: 52 signed leatherbound copies, housed in a custom traycase: $325

Clive Barker’s TORTURED SOULS Ebook Available Now!

November 3rd

The hardcover edition of Clive Barker's elusive novella, Tortured Souls, is at the printer, and pre-selling very well. We decided to make the ebook available a little early for those of you who prefer that version. Head over to the product page for links to order.

About the Book:

Cover and interior illustrations by Bob Eggleton.

Tortured Souls is one of the most vividly imagined, tightly compressed novellas ever written by the incomparable Clive Barker. At once violent and erotic, brutal and strangely beautiful, it takes us into the heart of the legendary “first city” known as Primordium, the site of political upheaval, passionate encounters, and astonishing acts of transformation.

Lurking at the edges of this extravagant tale is the ancient entity known as “Agonistes,” who accepts the pleas of selected “Supplicants,” transforming them, through a combination of art, magic, and pain, into avatars of violence and revenge.

The story begins when a freelance assassin named Zarles Krieger commits a routine murder-for-hire. This act will lead him to two life-altering encounters, one with the daughter of his victim, the other with Agonistes himself. This conjunction of the human and the inhuman stands at the center of this instantly absorbing creation.

With great authority and equally great economy, Tortured Souls expands to become a portrait of Primordium itself, with its hierarchies, its hidden mysteries, its shifting power structure, and—most significantly—its indelible cast of characters. A perfectly controlled example of what Barker calls “the fantastique,” Tortured Souls is something truly special, a story whose imaginative reach and sheer narrative power are evident on every page.

THEY THIRST Ebook for just $2.99—Limited Time Only

November 3rd

Until November 6, the ebook of They Thirst, Robert McCammon's over 600 page vampire epic can be had for only $2.99. Don't miss out on the post-Halloween chills.

About the Book:

First published in 1981, They Thirst was Robert McCammon’s fourth novel, and it remains one of the major milestones of an ambitious, constantly evolving career. Like its predecessors—Baal, Bethany’s Sin, and The Night Boat—They Thirst made its initial appearance as a paperback original. In the years since, it has acquired an intensely devoted following, and is now widely regarded as one of the significant vampire novels of the 20th century.

The story begins in the tiny Hungarian hamlet of Krajeck, where nine-year-old Andre Palatazin awaits the return of his father from an unspecified—but clearly dangerous—mission. The man who finally returns is no longer Andre’s father—is no longer, in fact, a man. Pursued by this undead entity, Andre and his mother barely escape with their lives. Decades later, Andre—now Andy—Palatazin is a homicide detective in the Los Angeles Police Department, and spends his days dealing with the quotidian terrors of a large metropolis. His life takes a darker turn when the demonic forces he first encountered in Krajeck arrive in L.A., led by an ancient vampire known as The Master. The Master’s plan: to overrun the city and use it as a stepping-stone toward wider, ultimately global, domination.

They Thirst marks the earliest appearance of McCammon’s penchant for epic, wide-angled narratives. With the unobtrusive ease of a natural storyteller, the author propels a wide assortment of vividly created characters through an apocalyptic scenario that combines gritty urban realism with a powerful portrait of supernatural forces at large in the modern world. The result is a genuine classic of the genre, a novel that is as fresh and absorbing today as it was more than thirty years ago.

From Publishers Weekly:

Apocalyptic catastrophe collides with deeply intimate fears in this hardcover incarnation of McCammon’s 1981 paperback horror novel… Pathos and tragedy reverberate beneath bawdy sexual tension and violence in a seamless fictional cocktail for genre devotees. As readable today as when first published, this savage yet elegant shock show succeeds as crowd-pleasing storytelling as well as a time capsule of the 1980s horror aesthetic.

More Copies of Caitlin R. Kiernan’s THE DROWNING GIRL Available

November 3rd

We've just heard from Centipede Press that our copies of Caitlin R. Kiernan's The Drowning Girl will be en route to us late this week. Centipede was also kind enough to allocate another batch of copies for us, so here's a great chance to pick up what promises to be a gorgeous oversize limited edition before it sells out, which looks likely.

About the Book:

Universally acclaimed as one of the finest horror novels of the last twenty years, The Drowning Girl is a haunting and beautiful story by one of the finest writers in the genre. Nominated for the Nebula, Shirley Jackson, Locus, British Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards for Best Novel, it won the James Tiptree Jr. Award and the Stoker. Hailed by Peter Straub as a stunning work of literature, The Drowning Girl is here presented in its first-ever hardcover edition, limited to 300 copies and signed by all contributors.

Caitlín R. Kiernan’s The Drowning Girl is getting the Centipede Press treatment, which means it will be a top of the line edition, with a low limitation, and a pleasure to feature on your shelves.

Please note that we’re offering copies at present for $225, which is $25 off the retail price. This offer will not last long.

This edition features Kiernan’s definitive text, full-color artwork, a new introduction by Elizabeth Hand, and gorgeous typesetting and design, all printed on thick Japanese paper, Smyth-sewn, and enclosed in a cloth slipcase. With a top-edge stain, ribbon marker, and printed endsheets. The book size is 6½ × 10 inches.

Each book is signed by Caitlín R. Kiernan, Elizabeth Hand, Matthew Jaffe, and Michael Zulli. This is a major work of dark fantasy and this signed edition will not last long.

The Drowning Girl will have the following features:

• Limited to 300 copies, each signed by Caitlín R. Kiernan, Elizabeth Hand, Matthew Jaffe, and Michael Zulli.
• Introduction by Elizabeth Hand.
• The author’s definitive text.
• Original artwork by Matthew Jaffe.
• Original artwork by Michael Zulli.
• Luxurious, 6½ × 10 inch format.
• Ribbon marker, head and tail bands, top-edge stain, cloth slipcase.

Shipping Updates—Jim Butcher and Clive Barker

October 31st

We're in the middle of shipping Jim Butcher's seventh entry in The Dresden Files. If you haven't picked up a copy of Dead Beat yet, what are you waiting for?

Earlier this week, we shipped Clive Barker's The Midnight Meat Train, and find outselves with a few copies left over. (Sold Out)

Even earlier, we shipped the huge, impressive anthology A Mountain Walked, edited by S. T. Joshi, and, once again, a few copies remain. (Sold Out)

Finally, we still have ample stock of Tim Powers' Appointment on Sunset, one of the best short stories we've read this year.

Announcing ROLLING IN THE DEEP by Mira Grant

October 29th

With her Newsflesh series of novels and novellas, and newest novel, Parasite, Mira Grant is one of our favorite new writers of the darkest sort of fantasy. We're pleased to announce that we have a long original novella by her on our schedule next year. Read on for more about Rolling in the Deep.

About the Book:

When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.

They didn't expect actual mermaids.  They certainly didn't expect those mermaids to have teeth.

This is the story of the Atargatis, lost at sea with all hands.  Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.  Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the bathypelagic zone in the Mariana Trench…and the depths are very good at keeping secrets.

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $40

Robert McCammon’s Vampire Classic in Stock and Shipping—Very Low Stock

October 28th

We are knee deep in fangs and blood. Robert McCammon's vampire epic, They Thirst, has stationed itself in our warehouse. Copies are flying out the door as quickly as we can make it happen. If you'd like one, now's the time to order. Though we have far more distributor and large online retailer orders than we can fill, we've set the last twenty-five copies aside for direct orders.

About the Book:

First published in 1981, TheyThirst  was Robert McCammon’s fourth novel, and it remains one of the major milestones of an ambitious, constantly evolving career. Like its predecessors—Baal, Bethany’s Sin, and The Night Boat—They Thirst made its initial appearance as a paperback original. In the years since, it has acquired an intensely devoted following, and is now widely regarded as one of the significant vampire novels of the 20th century.

The story begins in the tiny Hungarian hamlet of Krajeck, where nine-year-old Andre Palatazin awaits the return of his father from an unspecified—but clearly dangerous—mission. The man who finally returns is no longer Andre’s father—is no longer, in fact, a man. Pursued by this undead entity, Andre and his mother barely escape with their lives. Decades later, Andre—now Andy—Palatazin is a homicide detective in the Los Angeles Police Department, and spends his days dealing with the quotidian terrors of a large metropolis. His life takes a darker turn when the demonic forces he first encountered in Krajeck arrive in L.A., led by an ancient vampire known as The Master. The Master’s plan: to overrun the city and use it as a stepping-stone toward wider, ultimately global, domination.

They Thirst marks the earliest appearance of McCammon’s penchant for epic, wide-angled narratives. With the unobtrusive ease of a natural storyteller, the author propels a wide assortment of vividly created characters through an apocalyptic scenario that combines gritty urban realism with a powerful portrait of supernatural forces at large in the modern world. The result is a genuine classic of the genre, a novel that is as fresh and absorbing today as it was more than thirty years ago.

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies: $80

From Publishers Weekly:

Apocalyptic catastrophe collides with deeply intimate fears in this hardcover incarnation of McCammon’s 1981 paperback horror novel… Pathos and tragedy reverberate beneath bawdy sexual tension and violence in a seamless fictional cocktail for genre devotees. As readable today as when first published, this savage yet elegant shock show succeeds as crowd-pleasing storytelling as well as a time capsule of the 1980s horror aesthetic.