Sara-Jayne Townsend recently featured on Edin Road Radio, reading a Hallowe’en story from her anthology Soul Screams as part of their “October Spooktacular” series. It was her third time on this blog radio show.
Edin Radio blog’s introduction to Ms. Townsend:
How can I say it without drooling too much on her shoes? The woman freaks me out with her attention to detail and the horrific plots in her stories.
To join in the fun and listen to Ms. Townsend’s tale, and the other “Spooktacular” stories, click here.
Babylon Steel, brothel owner and swordswoman, returns early in 2013 in the second book in Gaie Sebold’s series, Dangerous Gifts. Here’s a look at the gorgeous cover by Jake Murray. Ms. Sebold talks about it and shares her thoughts on the importance of covers in general here.
The publisher, Solaris, says:
Babylon Steel runs the best brothel in Scalentine, city of portals. She’s escaped her past and it’s all going pretty well. Apart, that is, from the racial conflict and economic misery boiling up in Scalentine.
Her lover, Chief Bitternut of the City Militia, is trying to keep the lid on, while hunting a killer whose real target is a lot closer than he knows. Just as things are getting really tense, Babylon is forced to take another job. Bodyguard to Enthemmerlee Entaire: symbol of hope or object of disgust for most of her country’s population, and a prime target for assassination, along with anyone who happens to be in the way. Such as her bodyguard.
Unintentionally dragging a very annoyed government employee along in her wake, Babylon struggles to turn Enthemmerlee’s squabbling household guard from liability into security, dodge the rigid Moral Statutes of Incandress, and keep both herself and her client alive. She soon realises that the situation is far worse than she thought, her past hasn’t quite let go of her yet, and she will be driven to a choice that will have far-reaching consequences…
The world is changing. The ice is melting. But as the icecaps retreat secrets are revealed, ancient ruins that have remained hidden for a hundred thousand years.
A civilisation that wasn’t human…
Fourteen year old Danni’s astronaut aunt is murdered, shot down by a sniper right in front of her eyes. As she dies she presses something into Danni’s hand and whispers: Tell no-one.
Suddenly Danni is the one in danger. The evil Morgan Pew and his organisation EMMA, The European Mars Mission Agency, will stop at nothing to get their hands on what Danni now wears around her neck. When Danni’s uncle goes missing, it has to be Morgan Pew who’s responsible.
What powers does the artefact possess? And why does Pew want it so badly? To find the answers, and her uncle, Danni must brave flooded cities, marauding bands of scavengers, and travel across a Europe changed by the rising seas.
Check out the atmospheric cover for Francis Knight‘s debut novel, Fade to Black, to be published by Orbit in February 2013.
Orbit said:
“We jumped at the chance to publish Fade to Black – because the world that Francis has created just blew us away. It’s both awe-inspiring and vertigo-inducing, and Rojan’s tale makes the story just un-damn-put-downable. Think of the murky atmosphere of Sin City, filled with the action and pace of Brent Weeks or Scott Lynch.”
You can read more about the book and its noirish world of Mahala here. And if you like what you see, it’s available for pre-order on amazon now.
The book features five stories on the subject of siblings with dark secrets, and “brings you five more chilling tales of horror that only goes to show that you can choose your friends, but not your family.”
Siblings will be officially launched at this year’s FantasyCon in Brighton this weekend, and the authors have a signing table there at 12 noon on Saturday 29 September. It’s also available now from amazon in kindle and paperback format.
Huge congratulations to David Gullen! Clarion Publishing have bought his (as yet untitled) novel set in the near future. The story is a “a fantastical future-tale of greed, government, excessive shopping, nuclear war and drug-induced happy fun-times” and is packed to bursting with exciting ideas.
The press release from Clarion is available here, and you can find out more about Mr. Gullen on the Clarion author page, and on his own website.
Congratulations to David Gullen! He has sold his story All Your Futures Belong To Us to Arc, the new science fiction magazine from New Scientist. More details on the issue to follow, but in the meantime you can peek behind the scenes here.
Tom Pollock‘s debut novel, The City’s Son launches this week. It is the first book of The Skyscraper Throne: a story about family, friends and monsters, and how you can’t always tell which is which. The novel is published by Jo Fletcher Books.
“Expelled from school, betrayed by her best friend and virtually ignored by her dad, who’s never recovered from the death of her mum, Beth Bradley retreats to the sanctuary of the streets, looking for a new home. What she finds is Filius Viae, the ragged and cocky crown prince of London, who opens her eyes to the place she’s never truly seen.
But the hidden London is on the brink of destruction. Reach, the King of the Cranes, is a malign god of demolition, and he wants Filius dead. In the absence of the Lady of the Streets, Filius’ goddess mother, Beth rouses Filius to raise an alleyway army, to reclaim London’s skyscraper throne for the mother he’s never known. Beth has almost forgotten her old life – until her best friend and her father come searching for her, and she must choose between the streets and the life she left behind.”
Here’s Tom talking about his ideas behind the book:
You can read the first extract from the book here. Further extracts will follow. Left wanting more? The City’s Son is available to order now.
Congratulations to Gary Couzens! His story A Smile in the Sky will appear in Wordland #3: What They Saw in the Sky from The Exaggerated Press.
Gary says “It’s quite a bit more surreal than I usually get – it was partly inspired by a Magritte exhibition I went to at the Hayward Gallery in the (early?) 90s.”
The first issue of Wordland is available free here.
