Fearsome Journeys
The New Solaris Book of Fantasy
Edited by Jonathan Strahan
The quest begins 28th May (US & Can) and 6th June (UK)
$7.99/$9.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-78108-118-1
£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-78108-119-8
Available in paperback and ebook
An exciting new series of the best fantasy writing!
From dragons to quests, from battles to magic – epic fantasy has never been more popular and now it has an exciting new series showcasing its best from Locus Award-nominated anthologist, Jonathan Strahan!
Following the runaway success of its celebrated Solaris Rising, End of the Line and Magic anthologies, Solaris is now opening the doors on worlds of epic fantastical adventure with Fearsome Journeys!
An amazing array of the most popular and exciting names in epic fantasy are set to appear in the first in a brand new series of anthologies, including original fiction from authors such as Trudi Canavan, Daniel Abraham, Saladin Ahmed, Elizabeth Bear, Glen Cook, and Scott Lynch.
A fresh new voice in epic fantasy, which continues to be one of the world’s most popular genres, Fearsome Journeys brings together this fantastic range of high-profile authors to create a new series that will delight traditionalists while also providing new readers with a great entry point to this most timeless of genres.
About the Editor
Jonathan Strahan is an editor and anthologist. He co-edited The Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology series in 1997 and 1998. He is also the reviews editor of Locus. He lives in Perth, Western Australia with his wife and their two daughters.
www.jonathanstrahan.com.au
www.twitter.com/JonathanStrahan
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Interview with Daniel Quinn
Daniel Quinn’s Dreamer: Back by Popular Demand
Daniel Quinn’s fans have long been devoted champions of his work, recommending “Ishmael,” “My Ishmael,” and
“The Story of B” to anyone that would listen and pushing copies of his books into the hands of the unconverted.
"Ishmael" won the $500,000 Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award, an award created by CNN founder Ted Turner, and
given only once, to Quinn's book for offering positive solutions to global problems. Among the judges for the
award were revered writers Nadine Gordimer, Wallace Stegner, Peter Matthiessen and William Styron. But with the
publication of his first novel, “Dreamer,” Quinn produced a most unlikely work: an offbeat novel of psychological
horror.
An underground classic even while out of print, Dreamer retained notoriety. In 1995, the
New York Review of Science Fiction included the book in its "Horror at the End of the
Century" reading list. Recently, fans persuaded Quinn to bring his first novel back into
print. The author was delighted to comply. It turns out, that Quinn himself is a prolific
dreamer — and an avid dreaming advisor.
Baryon: Your biggest novel, Ishmael, is a serious, influential book that's been a big seller for
twenty years, translated into dozens of languages, and the books that followed were in the
same mold. How does Dreamer fit into that history?
"I spent twelve years working on the book that ultimately became Ishmael. It was spent
producing one version after another, looking for the one that would do what I wanted. It
was a grueling experience, and when I finished the sixth version and realized that I was
still not there, I decided I needed a vacation. Writing Dreamer was that vacation. It was an
important one -- one that taught me a lot. Without it, I'm not sure I would have been ready
for that telepathic gorilla named Ishmael when I finally got to him in version eight."
Baryon: But I gather that Dreamer dropped right out of the Quinn portfolio.
Realistically speaking, Dreamer was never really IN my portfolio, having gone out of print
long before Ishmael appeared. Actually I was just as pleased that it had, since "Daniel
Quinn, author of Dreamer and Ishmael" would have made a queer sort of identity. When it
came to reissuing Dreamer, I was frankly not sure how my readers would take to it, but the
reactions I've had indicate that they're completely ready to accept it as part of my
portfolio. One them wrote: "Dreamer is better than any Stephen King or Dean Koontz I've
ever read. It almost made me cry a dozen times or more, not just because of the story, but
because I realize the amazing career you probably could have had as a genre novelist . . .
were it not for that 800-pound gorilla in the room that consumed most of your writing
career."
Baryon: Would you call Dreamer a horror novel?
"My agent at the time, Scott Meredith, said that Dreamer "hangs onto the horror genre by
its fingertips." It's horror that leans toward the psychological, a book that shakes you up,
that leaves you gaping. It did that even to me, when I read it again after 25 years. There are
no demons, no monsters, no scenes of terror and carnage that'll keep you awake at night.
But it'll baffle you. When you're sure you've figured it all out, everything turns upside
down again and you don't know where you are. That's the fun of it."
Baryon: Can you point to a book that readers may know and say, "Dreamer's like this"?
That's a tough one. I guess I might point at Peter Straub's Ghost Story. If you're a fan of
horror stories, you're sure to know that one. It's a great book, and I'd like to think that
Dreamer belongs in that league.
Baryon: What can you tell me about the story of Dreamer that won't ruin the book for folks who
haven't read it?
It's the story of Greg Donner, a charming but rather naïve and trusting soul, a freelance
writer in Chicago. In a succession of dreams, he happens to come upon and follow a
beautiful young woman who seems to be in some sort of trouble. Then Greg meets that
very woman in waking life and quickly falls in love. But even in waking life Ginny Winters
seems deeply troubled and she warns him not to fall in love with her but won't explain
why. She knows why, but he couldn't possibly understand or believe her until one night he
falls asleep . . . and wakes up the next morning in a locked room in a sanatorium a
thousand miles away, where he's told that his whole life in Chicago was a delusion. This is
only the beginning of the nightmare he lives through in the weeks ahead, never sure what's
dream and what's reality.
Baryon: Many first novels tend to be autobiographical. Is that at all the case with Dreamer?
I'd have to say that Dreamer's probably the only horror novel ever written that is truly very
autobiographical. At the outset of the story Greg is involved with Karen, an attractive
woman he likes, but she's a great organizer and primarily wants to organize him into a
marriage that he doesn't really want. Then he meets Ginny and knows instantly that she's
the love of his life. Karen is disappeared from his life. This exactly parallels my own life.
The moment I met Rennie, my wife, I knew she was the love of my life, and the woman I
was with at the time was history. Almost the first thing Ginny says to Greg is, 'Don't fall in
love with me,' and this was almost the first thing Rennie said to me, word for word. In
effect, finding out why Ginny said this is what Dreamer is all about, and finding out why
Rennie said it was what the next two years were all about for the two of us. It wasn't a
horror story, of course, but it was a period of emotional turmoil.
Baryon: Are you at all tempted to go back to the horror genre now?
A few years ago I started a novel called Render that might well turn out to be a horror
novel if I ever figured out what to do with it, how to finish it. I made the mistake of
showing it to a fan who's made a career out of collecting everything I've ever published --
things even I don't have copies of. Every six months or so he comes back at me with the
question: "When are you going to finish Render?"
Baryon: People are always interested in authors' writing habits, writing life. What's yours like?
When I have a book to write, I write like crazy, ten, twelve hours a day. When I don't have
a book to write, I just go crazy. Some writers dash off a first draft and then go back to edit,
rewrite, and polish. I can't do that. I've got to be completely satisfied with every sentence I
write before I start the next one. And some writers start in the middle of a story or even the
end of a story and then go back to create the other parts. I have to have the whole thing
laid out in my head before I write the first sentence, and the first sentence I write is the first
sentence of the book. There is definitely no one way that works for every writer.
Baryon: What are you working on now?
"That's a reasonable question, though not one that gives me any joy to answer. Writers of
my kind -- writers who write because they have something to say -- go on writing till
they've said it all, then they stop. Bang. How they deal with having nothing more to write I
don't know. Some are probably okay with it, others commit suicide. I tend toward the
latter type. Writers of thrillers, romances, family sagas, or mystery novels are luckier, in
their way. They can go on till they drop dead at the keyboard. I've spent a lot of time in the
last thirty years working with aspiring writers, helping them see what they're doing that
works and doesn't work. One of these just recently published his first novel, after several
years of struggle. So I've got a book I tinker with called Finding Your Direction as a Writer.
The first two pages of it have a permanent resting place on my desktop.
Baryon: How can we visit your website?
That's easy. Search Google on my name and the top link will be to my web site. Or the
site's name is easy to remember – ishmael.org.
Daniel Quinn’s fans have long been devoted champions of his work, recommending “Ishmael,” “My Ishmael,” and
“The Story of B” to anyone that would listen and pushing copies of his books into the hands of the unconverted.
"Ishmael" won the $500,000 Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award, an award created by CNN founder Ted Turner, and
given only once, to Quinn's book for offering positive solutions to global problems. Among the judges for the
award were revered writers Nadine Gordimer, Wallace Stegner, Peter Matthiessen and William Styron. But with the
publication of his first novel, “Dreamer,” Quinn produced a most unlikely work: an offbeat novel of psychological
horror.
An underground classic even while out of print, Dreamer retained notoriety. In 1995, the
New York Review of Science Fiction included the book in its "Horror at the End of the
Century" reading list. Recently, fans persuaded Quinn to bring his first novel back into
print. The author was delighted to comply. It turns out, that Quinn himself is a prolific
dreamer — and an avid dreaming advisor.
Baryon: Your biggest novel, Ishmael, is a serious, influential book that's been a big seller for
twenty years, translated into dozens of languages, and the books that followed were in the
same mold. How does Dreamer fit into that history?
"I spent twelve years working on the book that ultimately became Ishmael. It was spent
producing one version after another, looking for the one that would do what I wanted. It
was a grueling experience, and when I finished the sixth version and realized that I was
still not there, I decided I needed a vacation. Writing Dreamer was that vacation. It was an
important one -- one that taught me a lot. Without it, I'm not sure I would have been ready
for that telepathic gorilla named Ishmael when I finally got to him in version eight."
Baryon: But I gather that Dreamer dropped right out of the Quinn portfolio.
Realistically speaking, Dreamer was never really IN my portfolio, having gone out of print
long before Ishmael appeared. Actually I was just as pleased that it had, since "Daniel
Quinn, author of Dreamer and Ishmael" would have made a queer sort of identity. When it
came to reissuing Dreamer, I was frankly not sure how my readers would take to it, but the
reactions I've had indicate that they're completely ready to accept it as part of my
portfolio. One them wrote: "Dreamer is better than any Stephen King or Dean Koontz I've
ever read. It almost made me cry a dozen times or more, not just because of the story, but
because I realize the amazing career you probably could have had as a genre novelist . . .
were it not for that 800-pound gorilla in the room that consumed most of your writing
career."
Baryon: Would you call Dreamer a horror novel?
"My agent at the time, Scott Meredith, said that Dreamer "hangs onto the horror genre by
its fingertips." It's horror that leans toward the psychological, a book that shakes you up,
that leaves you gaping. It did that even to me, when I read it again after 25 years. There are
no demons, no monsters, no scenes of terror and carnage that'll keep you awake at night.
But it'll baffle you. When you're sure you've figured it all out, everything turns upside
down again and you don't know where you are. That's the fun of it."
Baryon: Can you point to a book that readers may know and say, "Dreamer's like this"?
That's a tough one. I guess I might point at Peter Straub's Ghost Story. If you're a fan of
horror stories, you're sure to know that one. It's a great book, and I'd like to think that
Dreamer belongs in that league.
Baryon: What can you tell me about the story of Dreamer that won't ruin the book for folks who
haven't read it?
It's the story of Greg Donner, a charming but rather naïve and trusting soul, a freelance
writer in Chicago. In a succession of dreams, he happens to come upon and follow a
beautiful young woman who seems to be in some sort of trouble. Then Greg meets that
very woman in waking life and quickly falls in love. But even in waking life Ginny Winters
seems deeply troubled and she warns him not to fall in love with her but won't explain
why. She knows why, but he couldn't possibly understand or believe her until one night he
falls asleep . . . and wakes up the next morning in a locked room in a sanatorium a
thousand miles away, where he's told that his whole life in Chicago was a delusion. This is
only the beginning of the nightmare he lives through in the weeks ahead, never sure what's
dream and what's reality.
Baryon: Many first novels tend to be autobiographical. Is that at all the case with Dreamer?
I'd have to say that Dreamer's probably the only horror novel ever written that is truly very
autobiographical. At the outset of the story Greg is involved with Karen, an attractive
woman he likes, but she's a great organizer and primarily wants to organize him into a
marriage that he doesn't really want. Then he meets Ginny and knows instantly that she's
the love of his life. Karen is disappeared from his life. This exactly parallels my own life.
The moment I met Rennie, my wife, I knew she was the love of my life, and the woman I
was with at the time was history. Almost the first thing Ginny says to Greg is, 'Don't fall in
love with me,' and this was almost the first thing Rennie said to me, word for word. In
effect, finding out why Ginny said this is what Dreamer is all about, and finding out why
Rennie said it was what the next two years were all about for the two of us. It wasn't a
horror story, of course, but it was a period of emotional turmoil.
Baryon: Are you at all tempted to go back to the horror genre now?
A few years ago I started a novel called Render that might well turn out to be a horror
novel if I ever figured out what to do with it, how to finish it. I made the mistake of
showing it to a fan who's made a career out of collecting everything I've ever published --
things even I don't have copies of. Every six months or so he comes back at me with the
question: "When are you going to finish Render?"
Baryon: People are always interested in authors' writing habits, writing life. What's yours like?
When I have a book to write, I write like crazy, ten, twelve hours a day. When I don't have
a book to write, I just go crazy. Some writers dash off a first draft and then go back to edit,
rewrite, and polish. I can't do that. I've got to be completely satisfied with every sentence I
write before I start the next one. And some writers start in the middle of a story or even the
end of a story and then go back to create the other parts. I have to have the whole thing
laid out in my head before I write the first sentence, and the first sentence I write is the first
sentence of the book. There is definitely no one way that works for every writer.
Baryon: What are you working on now?
"That's a reasonable question, though not one that gives me any joy to answer. Writers of
my kind -- writers who write because they have something to say -- go on writing till
they've said it all, then they stop. Bang. How they deal with having nothing more to write I
don't know. Some are probably okay with it, others commit suicide. I tend toward the
latter type. Writers of thrillers, romances, family sagas, or mystery novels are luckier, in
their way. They can go on till they drop dead at the keyboard. I've spent a lot of time in the
last thirty years working with aspiring writers, helping them see what they're doing that
works and doesn't work. One of these just recently published his first novel, after several
years of struggle. So I've got a book I tinker with called Finding Your Direction as a Writer.
The first two pages of it have a permanent resting place on my desktop.
Baryon: How can we visit your website?
That's easy. Search Google on my name and the top link will be to my web site. Or the
site's name is easy to remember – ishmael.org.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Dreamer by Daniel Quinn
DREAMER, Daniel Quinn, CreateSpace, $12.95, 312 pages, ISBN: 9781481850063, Kindle ASIN: B00B1J75JI, $9.95, reviewed by Barry Hunter.
I think “Nightmare” might have been a better title. DREAMER does fit it perfectly though since nightmares are still technically dreams. I’m sure a lot of the readers have had dreams so strong they thought they might have been real. That’s the quandary this book brings about.
Greg Donner, a freelance writer, is in love with Ginny Winters, literally the girl of his dreams, in Chicago. Richard Iles is in a sanatorium in Kentucky due to an undisclosed problem that appears to be government related. Richard is estranged from his wife, Ginny Winters. The problem that the reader has to decide is which one is real and which one is the dreamer. The story alternates between the two personalities and as time passes, parts of each other’s awakening thoughts begin to intermingle.
This complex psychological horror is finally back in print and is open to a new group of readers who can make their own decisions as to which character is real and which one is the DREAMER. I’m sure that even psychologists would like this complex novel.
I think “Nightmare” might have been a better title. DREAMER does fit it perfectly though since nightmares are still technically dreams. I’m sure a lot of the readers have had dreams so strong they thought they might have been real. That’s the quandary this book brings about.
Greg Donner, a freelance writer, is in love with Ginny Winters, literally the girl of his dreams, in Chicago. Richard Iles is in a sanatorium in Kentucky due to an undisclosed problem that appears to be government related. Richard is estranged from his wife, Ginny Winters. The problem that the reader has to decide is which one is real and which one is the dreamer. The story alternates between the two personalities and as time passes, parts of each other’s awakening thoughts begin to intermingle.
This complex psychological horror is finally back in print and is open to a new group of readers who can make their own decisions as to which character is real and which one is the DREAMER. I’m sure that even psychologists would like this complex novel.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Life on the Preservation by Jack Skillingstead
Life on the Preservation
By Jack Skillingstead
Discover what’s on the inside on 28th May (US & Can) and 6th June (UK)
£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-78108-116-7
$7.99/$9.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-78108-117-4
Available in paperback and ebook
Life on the inside isn’t as sweet as it seems
“One of the best sci-fi novels I’ve ever read” – Ted Kosmatka, author of The Games and Prophet of Bones
“A brilliant, deeply felt book full of strangeness and beauty. A post-apocalyptic adventure, that’s also a love letter to Seattle” – Daryl Gregory, author of Pandemonium and The Devil’s Alphabet
Inside the Seattle Preservation Dome it’s always the Fifth of October, with the city caught in an endless time loop.
“Reformed” graffiti artist Ian Palmer is the only one who knows the truth, and he is desperate to wake up the rest of the city before the alien Curator of the human museum erases his identity forever.
Small town teenager Kylie is one of the few survivors to escape the apocalypse outside. Now she must make her way across the blasted lands to destroy the Preservation. But once inside, she meets Ian, and together they discover that Preservation reality is even stranger than it already appears.
A writer of extraordinary ability; the promise of Skillingstead’s previous short fiction is here transformed into an exceptional novel about post-apocalyptic survival and alien occupation.
With a cover by award-winning artist Vincent Chong, Life on the Preservation is a story of vibrant humanity overcoming extraordinary odds.
About the Author
Jack Skillingstead grew up in a working class neighbourhood south of Seattle. He dropped out of college to work in a cannery in Alaska, later travelling to Maine and then returning to the Pacific northwest. Skillingstead won a writing competition sponsored by Stephen King in 2000, and was a finalist for the Sturgeon Award in 2004. He has published more than thirty short stories in publications including Asimov’s, F&SF and Realms of Fantasy. His work has also appeared in various Year’s Best volumes and Solaris Rising.
By Jack Skillingstead
Discover what’s on the inside on 28th May (US & Can) and 6th June (UK)
£7.99 (UK) ISBN 978-1-78108-116-7
$7.99/$9.99 (US & CAN) ISBN 978-1-78108-117-4
Available in paperback and ebook
Life on the inside isn’t as sweet as it seems
“One of the best sci-fi novels I’ve ever read” – Ted Kosmatka, author of The Games and Prophet of Bones
“A brilliant, deeply felt book full of strangeness and beauty. A post-apocalyptic adventure, that’s also a love letter to Seattle” – Daryl Gregory, author of Pandemonium and The Devil’s Alphabet
Inside the Seattle Preservation Dome it’s always the Fifth of October, with the city caught in an endless time loop.
“Reformed” graffiti artist Ian Palmer is the only one who knows the truth, and he is desperate to wake up the rest of the city before the alien Curator of the human museum erases his identity forever.
Small town teenager Kylie is one of the few survivors to escape the apocalypse outside. Now she must make her way across the blasted lands to destroy the Preservation. But once inside, she meets Ian, and together they discover that Preservation reality is even stranger than it already appears.
A writer of extraordinary ability; the promise of Skillingstead’s previous short fiction is here transformed into an exceptional novel about post-apocalyptic survival and alien occupation.
With a cover by award-winning artist Vincent Chong, Life on the Preservation is a story of vibrant humanity overcoming extraordinary odds.
About the Author
Jack Skillingstead grew up in a working class neighbourhood south of Seattle. He dropped out of college to work in a cannery in Alaska, later travelling to Maine and then returning to the Pacific northwest. Skillingstead won a writing competition sponsored by Stephen King in 2000, and was a finalist for the Sturgeon Award in 2004. He has published more than thirty short stories in publications including Asimov’s, F&SF and Realms of Fantasy. His work has also appeared in various Year’s Best volumes and Solaris Rising.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Earthling Newsletter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earthling Publications Newsletter
April 10, 2013
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updates and a special offer.......
The traycases for the WEAVEWORLD signed/numbered edition have arrived! It took a few extra weeks to produce, but the extra time and care paid off because they look great. I'll begin pairing up cases with books, numbering them, and shipping them out this coming week. Only a few copies left (note the gift edition is already sold out, and all the lettereds are already claimed). I've seen other Earthling-Barker editions go for many multiples of the retail price, so don't delay.
IT SUSTAINS also just arrived, and are ready to ship out. Don't miss Mark Morris's latest novel, which has received rave reviews in BLACK STATIC, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, and elsewhere.
Michael Marshall Smith's EVERYTHING YOU NEED is selling well. Get your copy before they're gone....
Finally, I came across a few deluxe PC copies of BEST OF BEST NEW HORROR, signed by ALL contributors (including King, Hill, Ellison, Gaiman, Straub, Barker, and many more). Mint condition book and slipcase. $200 plus postage for anyone who is interested, first come first served.
And next month: I'll announce this year's Halloween Series novel, a modern ghost story that you won't want to miss.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks and all the best,
Paul Miller, Publisher
Earthling Publications
Website: www.earthlingpub.com
Email: earthlingpub@yahoo.com
P.O. Box 413
Northborough, MA 01532
USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
New Books from Abddon
The new series for Abaddon from the master of in-your-face horror, Chuck Wendig, launches today with TWO titles!
Gods and Monsters is a brand new series of dark, hectic urban fantasy in which the gods are real – and here. This is a world of cults, terrible retribution, and men rising up to defy deities on a daily basis.
Gods and Monsters launches today with two titles: Gods and Monsters: Unclean Spirits by Wendig and Pat Kelleher's exclusive novella-length ebook Gods and Monsters: Drag Hunt are both hitting the electronic shelves at Kindle, iTunes, Nook and elsewhere today.
Wendig is a massive talent with a huge online following and Gods and Monsters is a brand new world he has created for Abaddon Books, while Kelleher has achieved cult status with his historical SF series for Abaddon, No Man’s World.
Wendig signing at BEA
To support the launch of Gods and Monsters, Wendig will also be with Rebellion Publishing at Stand #2748 at Book Expo America 2013 in New York next month, signing and giving away exclusive Unclean Spirits posters from 3pm to 4pm on Saturday 1st June - the public opening day of the Expo.
Links to various online outlets are below and here are links to the covers for Unclean Spirits http://tinyurl.com/wendigspirits and Drag Hunt http://tinyurl.com/kelleherhunt
Gods and Monsters is a brand new series of dark, hectic urban fantasy in which the gods are real – and here. This is a world of cults, terrible retribution, and men rising up to defy deities on a daily basis.
Gods and Monsters launches today with two titles: Gods and Monsters: Unclean Spirits by Wendig and Pat Kelleher's exclusive novella-length ebook Gods and Monsters: Drag Hunt are both hitting the electronic shelves at Kindle, iTunes, Nook and elsewhere today.
Wendig is a massive talent with a huge online following and Gods and Monsters is a brand new world he has created for Abaddon Books, while Kelleher has achieved cult status with his historical SF series for Abaddon, No Man’s World.
Wendig signing at BEA
To support the launch of Gods and Monsters, Wendig will also be with Rebellion Publishing at Stand #2748 at Book Expo America 2013 in New York next month, signing and giving away exclusive Unclean Spirits posters from 3pm to 4pm on Saturday 1st June - the public opening day of the Expo.
Links to various online outlets are below and here are links to the covers for Unclean Spirits http://tinyurl.com/wendigspirits and Drag Hunt http://tinyurl.com/kelleherhunt
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Ray Harryhausen, 1920-2013
RIP Harry. You will be missed. It was my honor to have know you in person as well as all of the wonderful times you have given me as well. It was only a couple of weeks ago the Sony Movie Channel showed you films all day as well as the interview/overview of your career. Be sure to give Willis O'Brien my best.
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