New Fantasy

You’re Going to Love Eva Forge

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One of the best books I’ve read in a while that I didn’t edit/publish at Pyr was Tim Akers’ absolutely brilliant, Heart of Veridon, a steampunk noir forthcoming from Solaris in August. The book is fantasticly imaginative, the dialogue pitch perfect, the story screaming to be an Alex Proyas film. In fact, it impressed me so much that I chased Tim down for his next one.

Thus, I am very happy to inform you all that we concluded a deal last Friday to publish his novel, The Horns of Ruin, which mixes those same elements of steampunk and crime noir that he does so well with both high fantasy and urban fantasy. I was hooked from the first line of the pitch:

Eva Forge is the last paladin of a dead god.

Cue the Keanu Reeves “whoa.” And if that doesn’t get you, Tim elaborates, “You know, paladins with jetpacks. Clockwork monasteries besieged by revenants.”

Excited? I sure am. Tim’s writing it at the moment, so we’re looking at late 2010 for a pub date at the earliest, but you can pick up Heart of Veridon in August, and then you can get as excited as I am.

Now, why not head over to Tim’s blog and congratulate him?

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Meet Jon Sprunk – New Fantasy Author

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A little while back, I alluded on Twitter (@Pyr_Books) to being about to make someone’s day with an offer. Well, that someone was debut novelist Jon Sprunk, and that offer was for his wonderful fantasy trilogy, of Shadow’s Son, Shadow‘s Lure, and Shadow’s Master. Sprunk is a Pennsylvania-based author with several small-press short story publications to his credits. He impressed me with the strength of his world-building, how he conjured credibility from a a few impressive details, and with his characterizations and imagination.

The first book, Shadow’s Son, is the story of an assassin thrust into the middle of a political and religious upheaval that threatens to topple the last bastion of civilization. It’s got everything that Pyr fantasy is coming to represent – great action, grit & grime, morally ambiguous characters, strong females who are more than foils, complex politics, actual magic, and lots and lots of swordplay. The first book will be out around Summer 2010, which is a while to wait, but I think you guys are going to like it.

Meanwhile, you can visit Jon’s website and his Facebook page.

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China Miéville in the Wall Street Journal

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From the Wall Street Journal:

When skeptics ask him, “How did you get into sci-fi and fantasy?” he has a response. “My answer is: How did you get out of it?” says Mr. Miéville. “Because if you look at a roomful of kids, huge numbers of them will love aliens and monsters and witches…and at a certain point, some of them will start to leave that behind and go on to what they think of — wrongly — as more serious stuff.”

Amen.

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Podcast: Lou Anders and Rick Kleffel Discuss the New Fantasy

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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.”

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