Night Shade Books News
The Agony of Interviews
The Agony Column has a podcast interview with Night Shade editor-in-chief Jeremy Lassen. [MP3]
Curled Up With Good Reviews
Curled Up With a Good Book gives a rave, five-star review to Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams. Here’s a snippet: "If you like your science fiction epic in scope, with hard science mixed with philosophical, existential pondering about the ultimate meaning of the universe and life, and if you like to read novels that are not afraid to ask the Big Questions and attempt to answer them, Implied Spaces
Curled Up reviewers also curled up with Eclipse One edited by Jonathan Strahan [review] and Snake Agent by Liz Williams [review].
A Sale and a Review
Shocklines.com is offering 50% off all in-stock Night Shade Books titles. At checkout, enter the coupon code: SHADEFIFTY.
Over at SFF World, there’s a nice review of Liz Williams’s The Demon and the City. Here’s a snippet: "Part of the fun of these novels is the journey, because with most mysteries and mysteries masquerading in other genres, the outcome is known – the mystery is solved. As Williams did in the previous Chen novel, she explores the ambiguities of good and evil and the thin line that separates the motivations of those in Heaven from those in Hell. Subtle nuances are employed to further enrich and develop an already imaginative universe where you may be rooting for a Demon from Hell."
An interview and a review
There’s a new interview with me up at Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews, in which I discuss Wastelands, The Living Dead, and other projects.
And over at Graculus’s blog, there’s a nice review of Liz Williams’s Snake Agent.
Interview with Nathalie Mallet
Over at The First Book, Scott William Carter profiles Nathalie Mallet, author of The Princes of the Golden Cage.
F&SF on Baxter; SF Signal on Hughes
In the June issue of F&SF, Charles de Lint has a nice review of The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter, about which he says “Easily one of the better books I’ve read in a long time.”
And over at SF Signal, John Denardo reviews Majestrum by Matthew Hughes, and says “The most appealing part of Majestrum (and all of the Hapthorn stories I’ve eaten up thus far) is definitely the way Hughes writes them. Not only does he perfectly capture the flavor of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation but he also adds a pitch-perfect level of dry humor that will cause a few laughs and many more smiles,” giving the book a four-out-of-five stars rating.
Rave Review for Implied Spaces
Over at Intergalactic Medicine Show, Tobias S. Buckell calls Implied Spaces his “favorite book of the year so far,” then goes onto say: “This is a romp through a novel of wild ideas, pocket universes in which D&D like environments exist for the titillation of their inhabitants being just the first of a series of escalating wild ideas, and Williams handles each oncoming wave with a steady hand and a quick pace. This is a fast, fun, and wild read.”
Congratulations to Shirley Jackson Award nominees Andy Duncan and Laird Barron
Congratulations are due to Andy Duncan and Laird Barron, both nominees in this year’s Shirley Jackson Awards. Andy Duncan’s “Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse”, which appeared in Eclipse One, has been nominated in the category of Short Story (you can read “Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse” for free at this link). Laird Barron is up for three awards; “The Forest,” from (Ellen Datlow’s Inferno) has been nominated in the category of Novelette, “Procession of the Black Sloth” in the category of Novella, and The Imago Sequence and Other Stories in the category of Collection. Way to go, Andy and Laird!
New Reviews
Peter Heck’s review in Asimov’s of The Spiral Labyrinth, which I mentioned here a while ago, is now online: “Hughes somehow catches the trick of combining dry understatement with a colorful, almost baroque, vocabulary that characterizes much of Jack Vance’s best writing. If you enjoy the latter as much as I do, this series by Hughes may well be just your cup of tea.”
The blog Occult Special Investigator has a nice review of Snake Agent: “All the positive raves you’ve heard about this book are true.”
The Merc Rants blog loves Butcher Bird: “The world shown is fascinating and dark, a mix of mythic and just plain weird … really bizarre. And a hell of a lot of fun. The first page did its job, because by the time I looked up from the screen, I was twelve chapters into BUTCHER BIRD.” [download the book for free]
And last, but not least, this month’s Fantasy Book Spot spotlight shines on Shadow of the Scorpion and The Shadow Pavilion.
