Forthcoming Books

I’m up on Rick Kleffel’s Agony Column podcast talking about what Rick calls “The New Fantasy,” and covering works by Joe Abercrombie, Tom Lloyd, Joel Shepherd, James Enge, Justina Robson, Mark Chadbourn, Matthew Sturges, Chris Roberson and others. We even discuss Doctor Who‘s latest casting announcement and the effect Obama may have on genre fiction. Here’s the direct link, and the show is available via iTunes as well (it’s episode 555).

Rick writes:

“What’s darker, grittier and sells better than expected in days such as these which are already dark and gritty enough without the help of excellent fantasy writers? Well, it’s what I’m going to call for want of a better term, The New Fantasy, and since Lou Anders of Pyr Books is publishing a boatload of it in the upcoming months, I thought I’d give him a call. Lou Anders is a lucky guy. His job is to read a bunch of great fiction and then publish it, and as it happens — or at least as he observes and I concur — fiction does well during recessions. So what’s going to happen to the fiction market during a full-blown, we’re-wearin’-barrels Depression? Looks like it’s boom times for genre fiction. Lou and I explored The New Fantasy and talked about Pyr’s and other publishers current and upcoming titles.”