An Interview with Night Shade Books Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Lassen

July 21st 2008 at 7:56 pm

Bibliophile Stalker has an in-depth interview with Night Shade Books editor-in-chief Jeremy Lassen, in which he describes his influences, how he got involved in publishing, and how Night Shade Books came to be, among other things.

Fantasy Book Spot reviews The Shadow Pavilion

July 21st 2008 at 6:48 pm

Fantasy Book Spot reviews Liz Williams’s The Shadow Pavilion: “With all due speed Williams draws us into the intrigue, imbuing our imaginations with vivid images full of color and scent that make her stories come alive. With this descriptive skill she lures us in. Then, like the sticky strands of a spider’s web, we get trapped and held by a story that is so full of life we cannot even decide what to call it. Is it futuristic police procedural? Is it an allegorical fairy tale? Near future occult? Perhaps an alternative historical fantasy? Whatever you would like to call it, I’ll just call it something I want more of.”

Everyone Loves Implied Spaces

July 21st 2008 at 6:48 pm

Book Love reviews Walter Jon Williams’s Implied Spaces: “The depth and detail of this book simply cannot be explained in a simple review. Expanding through both social and hard science fiction, as well as touching on mystery and fantasy, Implied Spaces is an impressive tale that’s surprisingly human at its core.”

Blogger Jvstin also really liked it: “The book is philosophical, comic, action packed, thoughtful and stunningly well written. I’ve been a fan of Williams work for a long while, and he hits all cylinders here. This novel is precisely for people who can read good fat fantasy, and yet strongly appreciate the High-tech SF of, say, Charlie Stross. Highly Recommended.”

And in other Implied Spaces news, the book store McNally Robinson has posted an interview with Walter.

The Imago Sequence Wins Award for Best Collection

July 21st 2008 at 3:28 pm

Laird Barron’s The Imago Sequence has won the 2008 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Collection. The announcement came at Readercon 19 this weekend, where Laird was in attendance to accept the award in person. Congrats, Laird!

Interviews and Reviews

July 16th 2008 at 8:48 pm

Concept Sci-Fi has an interview with Walter Jon Williams, author of Implied Spaces.

Matt Staggs talks about apocalyptic fiction and says some nice things about Wastelands: “This is pretty much the fiction anthology I’ve always looked for and never could find. It’s perfect, lots of great stuff, and I can’t praise Adams and Night Shade Books enough for bringing it to book shelves.”

Strange Horizons reviews The Princes of the Golden Cage: “Mallet has picked a fascinating setting and shows a knack for inserting cultural details without overbalancing the action. Having recently read Alev Lytle Croutier’s Harem: The World Behind the Veil, I recognized much of the information—the royal obsession with tulips, the penchant for assassination via interesting poisons, and the accurate descriptions of harem life, for starters—but Mallet is also true to the literary traditions of the ancient East. Readers of the Arabian Nights will smile at the way she incorporates the old tales into Amir’s investigative research. … Mallet is refreshingly candid about the racier aspects of the culture, as enthusiastically citing the sexual practices and bloodier rites of passage as describing the velvet divans and silver belts.”

International Horror Guild Award finalists

July 13th 2008 at 10:04 am

Congratulations to Laird Barron, whose novella “Procession of the Black Sloth” and short story collection The Imago Sequence have both been named finalists for the International Horror Guild Awards.

Congrats too, to Lucius Shepard, whose novel Softspoken is a finalist as well.

Review Round-up

July 13th 2008 at 9:20 am

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reviews Walter Jon Williams’s Implied Spaces: “The action is frenetic. Williams also delights in using words like “dottle” (a plug of burned tobacco in a pipe) and “squinch” (an arch in the inside corner of a square room or tower). But these signature moves make his story fun.”

Adventures in Reading reviews 9Tail Fox: “9Tail Fox is flat out exciting to read.”

Torque Control and SF Signal both have looooong reviews of Jonathan Strahan’s The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 2. And so does

Got Zombies?

July 8th 2008 at 2:10 pm

Check it out. Your first glimpse of David Palumbo’s cover for The Living Dead, coming this fall from Night Shade Books.
And for an extra-special taste of what’s to come, check out Pseudopod’s presentation of David Barr Kirtley’s The Skull-Faced Boy, just one of the 34 chilling tales included in The Living Dead.

SFRevu Interviews Paolo Bacigalupi

July 7th 2008 at 6:56 am

SFRevu, who reviewed Paolo Bacigalupi’s Pump Six last week, has now posted an interview with him.

Washington Post on Implied Spaces, plus other reviews & tidbits

July 6th 2008 at 8:26 am

In The Washington Post, the ever-erudite John Clute reviews Implied Spaces, calling it a tale of “exuberance and high color.”

Meanwhile, blogger Alexx Kay says that Implied Spaces reminded him of “mature period Heinlein” and tags the book as “highly recommended.” Here’s a snippet: “There are plenty of surprises, many pulled off by clever writing tricks. The pacing was superb, with periods of intense action alternating with calm and/or suspense. There are romances, albeit rather elaborately star-crossed. There’s just a touch of philosophy, as well, though that touch turns out to be surprisingly relevant to the plot. I found the ending quite satisfying, though it was bittersweet enough that some might not agree. Hollywood would probably change it, but I like it as is.”

A couple of bloggers have weighed in on Snake Agent. The Deep Thoughts blog calls it “a fascinating trip through another mythology, with an intriguing mystery driving the story. … A wonderful novel.” While The Deckled Edge gives is a 7 out of 10 rating and says: “Snake Agent will appeal to all fans of urban fantasy, especially those who like books with a more exotic flavor. Recommended.”

Green Man Review calls Eclipse One a “collection of high quality” and adds that “there’s something here for nearly everyone.”

Bibliophile Stalker interviews Pump Six author Paolo Bacigalupi.

Mark Teppo, author of Lightbreaker, a debut urban fantasy we’ll be publishing in September, was interviewed by the Writers and Their Soundtracks podcast, and provides the soundtrack for Lightbreaker. You can listen to the podcast [mp3], or read the transcript.

Over at Adventures in Reading, Joe Sherry says that Jonathan Strahan’s The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 2 is among the “best of the best” year’s best anthologies on the market. “Jonathan Strahan has put together a more than solid anthology here and it is a damn fine one. Readers of just about any stripe will be able to find something they want to read and should very well be delighted by stories and writers they had not otherwise experienced. This is an anthology to pick up and add to the collection.”