Valdemar Font in Age of Misrule

The Scriptorium is a great site for interesting fonts, but I didn't expect it would be a great site for a book review! But they spotted our use of their most excellent, most unusual font, Valdemar, on the cover of Mark Chadbourn's World's End (Age of Misrule Book One).And, thankfully, they approve of the use we put their font to:

The overall result is excellent, and it’s just the kind of book Valdemar was designed for. I also quite like the cover art by John Picacio, which is surprisingly conceptually reminiscent of the cover Howard David Johnson did for my Ysgarth RPG.

As to the book itself, I'm happy they think it lives up to its cover:

World’s End is quite an engaging read. It’s well written and fast-moving, thematically reminiscent of some of the work of Robert Holdstock or Neil Gaiman, but much more commerically written for broad audience appeal.

Thanks guys! That's a great quote! Keep up the good work that makes our work good! As you says, "A good read with a great font as part of a really appealing cover design. What more could you ask for?"

James Enge Interview up at Fantasy Book Critic

James Enge, author of Blood of Ambrose,is interviewed by Mihir Wanchoo at Fantasy Book Critic. The whole interview is well worth checking out, but here's one of my favorite bits:

I believe that the greatest danger to genre fiction nowadays is not the denial of respect from some notional group of literary tastemakers but the very real likelihood that sf/f may become respectable. Those who thirst for the foamy gray poison of respectability should consider the fate of jazz, once a popular medium, now respectable, ossified and ignored.

Painfully True, Painfully Funny

Via SF Signal:

Watch My Favorite Movie (Star Trek vs. Star Wars) on CollegeHumor

V Trailer

I have to admit I'm not that excited about a remake of V. But the trailer looks interesting:

China Miéville in the Wall Street Journal

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.

Fast Forward 2: Awards and Best of's Round Up

The anthology itself is a Philip K. Dick Award nominee.

Hugo Award nominees:

Best Novella - “True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
Best Novelette – “The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi

Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award nominees:

"True Names" by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
"The Gambler" by Paolo Bacigalupi

2009 Locus Award Finalists:

Best Novella: "True Names" by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
Best Short Story: "The Kindness of Strangers" by Nancy Kress

The Year's Best Science Fiction, volume 26, edited by Gardner Dozois:

"The Gambler" by Paolo Bacigalupi
"An Eligible Boy" by Ian McDonald

Year's Best SF 14, edited by David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer:

"Mitigation" by Tobias Buckell & Karl Schroeder

The Best SF and Fantasy of the Year Vol. 3, edited by Jonathan Strahan:

"The Gambler" by Paolo Bacigalupi

Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2009, edited by Rich Horton:

"Catherine Drewe" by Paul Cornell

Not too shabby, no?

Dreams with Sharp Teeth

Via SFSignal, with the news that the Harlan Ellison documentary Dreams with Sharp Teeth will air this month on The Sundance Channel.

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Desolation Road

Desolation Road © Ian McDonald

Cover Illustration © Stephan Martiniere
Design by Jacqueline Cooke

It all began 30 years ago on Mars, with a greenperson. But by the time it all finished, the town of Desolation Road had experienced every conceivable abnormality from Adam Black's Wonderful Travelling Chataqua and Educational Stravaganza (complete with its very own captive angel) to the Astounding Tatterdemalion Air Bazaar. It's inhabitants ranged from Dr. Alimantando, the town's founder and resident genius, to the Babooshka, a barren grandmother who just wants her own child grown in a fruit jar; from Rajendra Das, mechanical hobo who has a mystical way with machines to the Gallacelli brothers, identical triplets who fell in love with and married the same woman.

Blood of Ambrose is Joe Mallozzi's Book of the Month for July

Stargate writer/producer, avid reader, and all around great guy Joe Mallozzi has announced his June and July selections for his Book Club reads. For those who don't know, Joe picks one or more titles a month, invites his many fans to read them along with him, and then invites the authors in for a lengthy Q&A. I had the honor to be the first such guest, but he's gone on to have scores of authors on, including our own Justina Robson, David Louis Edelman, and Joe Abercrombie, as well as our friend & frequent cover artist John Picacio. Now, he's chosen James Enge's Blood of Ambrosefor his July selection, and before that, our friend Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Stealer of Souls,(the new Del Rey edition with the fabulous interior artwork by John Picacio). Both great choices and I'm excited to see the interviews with both authors. Meanwhile, Enge himself is over the moon to be in the same post with Moorcock. Who wouldn't be?

City Without End: One Hell of a Novel

“City without Endis to be admired and appreciated. It is to be enjoyed. City Without End is one hell of a novel. It is better than the A World Too Near,which in turn was better than Bright of the Sky.That would be saying something if the series did not start out strong. Since Bright of the Sky was a strong opening volume, it marks City Without End as something special. Truly, this is a series that demands to be read. Only, be sure to start at the beginning. You don’t want to miss a word.” -Fantasy Magazine, May 7, 2009

You see that there, "demands to be read" ? Now remember when SFRevu said, "This may well be the most ambitious epic science fiction series of the current decade." That's it folks. No more excuses.

New Pyr slogan: Got Kenyon?

Star Trek @ SNL

The Iron Sky

From the producers of Star Wreck comes The Iron Sky, and it is all kinds of awesome:

The Mercury Men

This looks great. Sky Captain meets Demon With a Glass Hand:

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Killswitch mmpb

Killswitch © Joel Shepherd

Cover Illustration © Stephan Martiniere
Design by Jacqueline Cooke

Two years after the unhatching of Callayan President Neiland’s plot to make the capital city of Tanusha the center of the Federation, Callay is under siege. So begins the third installment of this gripping trilogy from an exciting new sci-fi author.

A powerful faction of conservative Fleet captains has surrounded Callay, at Earth’s behest, and is threatening a blockade – or worse. A fearful Earth does not wish to lose direct control of its precious war machine, and there are fears of civil war.

All that Callay has to oppose the warships of the Fleet is the Callayan Defense Force (CDF) – a newly formed group of raw recruits led by a politically hamstrung general. However, the CDF is largely trained and organized by Major Vanessa Rice and her best friend, Callay’s combat-android, Commander Cassandra Kresnov. But when Cassandra’s lover, Special Agent Ari Ruben, discovers a plot to kill her using a killswitch, which her old masters in the League built into her brainstem, Sandy is forced to go underground to stay alive.

Stephan Martiniere Love @ SF Signal

Geosynchron doing more than okay in the latest Book Cover Smackdown.