Black Gate

When I do my Vintage Treasures posts, I usually end up lamenting the fact that the book I’m profiling is out of print. You think I’d be used to it by now. Many of the titles that were New Treasures at the beginning of the year are out of print already. Even the most popular fantasy writers in our field — Bradbury, Simak, Kuttner, Asimov, Poul Anderson, and countless others — have fewer titles in print every year. So imagine what it means for a fantasy writer to be consistently in print for the past 165 years. It means a kind of genius that transcends generations. In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe: Classic Tales of Horror, 1816-1914 is a new anthology that collects a century of horror from authors whose contributions have been lost in the shadow of one of the finest fantasy writers who ever lived: Edgar Allan Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe did not invent the tale of terror. There were American, English, and Continental writers who preceded Poe and influenced his work. Similarly, there were many who were in turn influenced by Poe’s genius and produced their own popular tales of supernatural literature. This collection features masterful tales of terror by authors who, by and large, are little-remembered for their writing in this genre. Even Bram Stoker, whose Dracula may be said to be the most popular horror novel of all time, is not known as a writer of short fiction.

Distinguished editor Leslie S. Klinger is a world-renowned authority on those twin icons of the Victorian age, Sherlock Holmes, and Dracula. His studies into the forefathers of those giants led him to a broader fascination with writers of supernatural literature of the nineteenth century. The stories in this collection have been selected by him for their impact. Each is preceded by a brief biography of the author and an overview of his or her literary career and is annotated to explain obscure references.

Read on, now, perhaps with a flickering candle or flashlight at hand…

In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe: Classic Tales of Horror, 1816-1914 contains stories by Ambrose Bierce, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Theodor Gautier, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lafcadio Hearn, M. R. James, Bram Stoker, and many others. It was edited by Leslie S. Klinger and published by Pegasus on October 15, 2015. It is 320 pages, priced at $24.95 in hardcover, and $20.98 for the digital edition. The cover is by Faceout Studio/Charles Brock.

Lisa Goldstein has had a stellar career. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Awards, and her first novel, The Red Magician (1982), won the National Book Award. Under her own name she has produced over a dozen books, including The Dream Years (1985), Strange Devices of the Sun and Moon (1993), and Summer King, Winter Fool (1994), and under the name Isabel Glass she’s written two high fantasy novels, Daughter of Exile (2004) and The Divided Crown (2005). Her latest novel, Weighing Shadows, is a time-traveling fantasy that arrives in early November.

Ann Decker fixes computers for a living, and in the evenings she passes the time sharpening her hacking skills. It’s not a very interesting life, but she gets by — until one day she’s contacted with a job offer for a company called Transformations Incorporated. None of her coworkers have ever heard of it before, and when Ann is finally told what the company does, she can hardly believe it: TI has invented technology to travel in time.

Soon Ann is visiting a matriarchy in ancient Crete, and then a woman mathematician at the Library of Alexandria. But Transformations Incorporated remains shrouded in mystery, and when Ann finally catches her breath, there are too many troubling questions still unanswered. Who are Transformations Incorporated, and what will they use this technology to gain? What ill effects might going back in time have on the present day? Is it really as harmless as TI says?

When a coworker turns up dead, Ann’s superiors warn her about a covert group called Core out to sabotage the company. Something just isn’t right, but before she has time to investigate, Ann is sent to a castle in the south of France, nearly a thousand years in the past. As the armies of the Crusade arrive to lay siege, and intrigue grows among the viscount’s family, Ann will discover the startling truth — not just about the company that sent her there, but also about her own past.

Weighing Shadows will be published by Night Shade Books on November 3, 2015. It is 318 pages, priced at $15.99 in both trade paperback and digital formats. The cover is by Cortney Skinner.

Joshua V. Scher is a successful playwright with multiple stage productions to his credit. His TV credits include the original pilot Jigsaw. His film I’m OK is in post-production, and his play The Footage was developed by Pressman Film.

His debut novel Here & There, to be released early next month by 47North, is an intriguing thriller that looks at the emerging science of teleportation… and a strange accident that tears a family apart.

It was supposed to be a simple proof of concept. The physics were sound. Over one hundred teleportation experiments had already been successfully performed…

Debate rages over whether the Reidier Test’s disastrous outcome resulted from human error, government conspiracy, or sabotage. No one has actual knowledge of the truth. But hidden from the public eye, there exists a government report commissioned from criminal psychologist Dr. Hilary Kahn, chronicling the events that took place.

Dr. Kahn disappeared without a trace.

Now her son Danny has unearthed and revealed the report, fueling controversy over the details of Reidier’s quest to reforge the fabric of reality and hold his family together. Exposed with little chance of finding his mother, Danny goes underground to investigate. But nothing can prepare him for what he discovers.

In this thrilling saga, a paradigm-shattering feat may alter humanity’s future as quantum entanglement and teleportation collide.

Here & There will be published by 47North on November 1, 2015. It is 661 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback, and $5.99 for the digital version.

Saga Press had hands-down the most impressive launch of 2015, kicking off their new line of fantasy and SF titles with four popular launch titles early this year, including Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings and Genevieve Valentine’s Persona. I caught up with editor Navah Wolfe at the Nebula Awards this year, and she assured me I hadn’t seen anything yet.

That wasn’t hyperpole… Saga has released over two dozen books in 2015, and their 2016 line up promises to be even more stellar, with titles from Kat Howard, A. Lee Martinez, Genevieve Valentine, and Black Gate author Frederic S. Durbin, with a novel that editorial director Joe Monti calls “a lyrical fantasy — his first in seventeen years! — which made me think of Peter Beagle and Patricia McKillip.”

At Black Gate, we like to go where the action is. So I’ve been pestering the good folks at Saga for a peek at their upcoming titles, and earlier this month they delivered in style, with a look at some of their 2016 releases, and exclusive comments from the authors on the cover art. We’ll be sharing it all with you over the next few weeks, and we start with Mike Brooks’ debut novel, the space opera Dark Run, which Stephen Baxter calls “Great fun … Golden Age chic!” and about which SFFWorld said “If you’re looking for a Firefly-like tale… you won’t be disappointed with this one. A quick read, but an immensely entertaining one.” It goes on sale June 7, 2016.

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Editor Paula Guran has had a good year, with an impressive list of top-notch anthologies in 2015, including: New Cthulhu 2, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2015, Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep, Blood Sisters, and my favorite book of the year (so far), The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2015. But she’s not done yet, and her next release looks like one of her most intriguing: Warrior Women, a collection of tales of courageous fighting women from Mary Gentle, George R. R. Martin, Aliette de Bodard, Nalo Hopkinson, Robert Reed, Nancy Kress, Tanith Lee, and many others. It will be released in trade paperback from Prime Books on December 17, 2015.

Here’s the Table of Contents.

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In the last few years Mary Robinette Kowal has built a name for herself as a master of historical fantasy with her Glamourist series, which began with the Nebula nominee Shades of Milk and Honey in 2010. But she’s also known for her acclaimed short fiction, and in fact in 2008 she won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer based solely on the strength of her superb short stories — no easy feat in a field where most of the acclaim (and the awards) go to emerging novelists. She’s been nominated for the Hugo Award three times (for “Evil Robot Monkey,” “For Want of a Nail,” and “The Lady Astronaut of Mars”), and won twice.

In addition to writing, Mary is also an accomplished pupeteer who has performed for Jim Henson Pictures, the Center for Puppetry Arts, and other fine institutions. She brings her two careers together with her second short story collection, Word Puppets, which goes on sale from Prime Books on November 5.

Celebrated as the author of five acclaimed historical fantasy novels in the Glamourist series, Mary Robinette Kowal is also well known as an award-winning author of short science fiction and fantasy. Her stories encompass a wide range of themes, a covey of indelible characters, and settings that span from Earth’s past to its near and far futures as well as even farther futures beyond. Alternative history, fairy tales, adventure, fables, science fiction (both hard and soft), fantasy (both epic and cozy) — nothing is beyond the reach of her unique talent. Word Puppets — the first comprehensive collection of Kowal’s extraordinary fiction — includes her two Hugo-winning stories, a Hugo nominee, an original story set in the world of “The Lady Astronaut of Mars,” and fourteen other show-stopping tales.

Word Puppets features an introduction by Patrick Rothfuss

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The first volume of Year’s Best Weird Fiction appeared last October, and was a complete success. Edited by Michael Kelly and guest editor Laird Barron, it gathered the very best weird fantasy of the year, from John R. Fultz, Jeffrey Ford, John Langan, Sofia Samatar, Simon Strantzas, Paul Tremblay, Jeff VanderMeer, and many others (see the complete TOC here.)

I’ve been highly anticipating the second volume, and I’m not the only one. The one is edited by Kelly and Kathe Koja, and the Table of Contents looks just as stellar. According to publisher Undertow Publications, it will be available November 1st. The cover art is by Tomasz Alen Kopera.

The cover price for the print edition is $18.99, but Undertow currently has a bundle special — get Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Volume 2 and their acclaimed annual anthology Shadows & Tall Trees 5 (regular price $14) for just $25 — including shipping, anywhere in the world. That’s a hard offer to refuse. Check out the details here.