The Steampunk Librarian announces Contest Winners!

In which, bizarrely, a puppet named Sir Reginald Puddingpop the 3rd sasses Clay and Susan Griffith's  The Greyfriar.

Marjorie M. Liu talks with Clay & Susan Griffith

This morning, the utterly fabulous Marjorie M. Liu has posted an interview to her blog with Clay & Susan Griffith about their just-released novel, The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire Book One). They talk about themselves, the book, and what it's like to be married to your co-author. Marjorie is also hosting a contest giveaway for three signed copies.

Here's a taste:

Can you explain the origins of The Greyfriar, both his pulp antecedents, and the origin of name itself?  A little bird told me that there’s a relation to both the Scarlet Pimpernel and Edinburgh Castle.  Speaking of which, the same little bird also mentioned you have a personal connection to that place.  Care to share? 

We are both avid readers of the pulps, then and now. Let’s face it, there is always something mesmerizing and thrilling to have a hero as big as life and mysterious as hell jumping in to save the day. From the cloaked mask of The Shadow to the Scarlet Pimpernel’s derring-do, The Greyfriar owes his heroic pedigree to a lot of classic heroes. As for the personal connection, Edinburgh holds a special place in our hearts since we were married there fifteen years ago at Greyfriars Kirk. We love that old city and you couldn’t ask for better inspiration.

Spring Heeled Jack: a high-spirited mix of fact and fancy

No less a source that The Washington Post says of Mark Hodder's The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, that "if you're looking for a cold night's entertainment, this high-spirited mix of fact and fancy will do quite nicely, quite nicely indeed."

Meanwhile, The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack is just one of four Pyr books you can win in a contest hosted by Tor.com, and you can read an excerpt from the book on Tor right now.

Take a Bite Out of This!

Clay and Susan Griffith, author of the forthcoming The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire Book One), guest blog on Bite Club today with a piece about the original Dracula.

Meanwhile, sister site VampChix says that The Greyfriar is "is the best book I've read this year.  (I had probably in that last sentence, then took it out.  No doubts, it is the best.)... The story opens quickly, and jumps right into the action.  Some historical reads tend to fill pages with detail and history of cities and societies, but not this one.  The Griffiths seamlessly weave in the details, while not once pausing to slow down the pace.  It makes this book a page turner.  If you're looking for an interesting setting, with gorgeous detail, great dialogue and is all-around satisfying, pick this one up.  Romance fans will not be disappointed by the well-crafted relationship that grows into a devastatingly delicious pairing. "

And The Greyfriar is just one of four Pyr books you can win in a contest hosted by Tor.com! Sink your teeth into that!

Jump 225 Contest on Goodreads

Attention Goodreads members: You can win a copy of David Louis Edelman's INFOQUAKE, MULTIREAL, and GEOSYNCHRON. All three books in the acclaimed Jump 225 series are being offered in individual contests. Click the links for details and to enter for a chance to win each of the three books. Closed to entries in seven days. US members only. Good luck!

Brasyl up for First-Ever Warwick Prize

As reported in the Guardian: Ian McDonald's Brasylis one of twenty finalists for the brand-new, £50,000 biannual Warwick Prize, whose theme this time out is "complexity" and whose judging panel is chaired by China Miéville.

A shortlist of six titles will be announced for the Warwick prize on January 23 next year, with a winner announced in February at the University of Warwick.

Congratulations to Ian and best of luck!

Calico Reaction's Favorite Reads 2007

Street Teamer Calico Reaction has posted a list of her Favorite Reads: 2007. Delighted to see Justina Robson's Keeping It Realon the list. Also, Calico is holding a contest to give one lucky winner the book of their choice from her list.

Stargate Your Engines

Joseph Mallozzi, executive producer of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, is a big SF&F reader - and you know it's always interesting to me to discover people from the filmic side of the genre who are. He's such a heavy reader, in fact, that each month Joe picks two science fiction titles and two fantasy titles and asks his readership votes for one of each to read and discuss.

Recently, our own Sean Williams' The Crooked Letterlost out to The Princess Bride (which, to be fair, has the advantage of also being a famous film), but Joe has decided to read The Crooked Letter anyway. And he invited his readership to do so as well. Now, thanks to our publicity director, Jill Maxick, Pyr willl be helping Joe host a contest on his blog for those readers that join him. As Joe explains:

"Free copies of The Blood Debtto three lucky readers who finish The Crooked Letter and are ready to continue the series. Winners will be announced sometime in mid-January so start reading."

Cassandra Kresnov Trilogy Giveaway

From Fantasy Book Critic:

In anticipation of the upcoming US release of Joel Shepherd’s Killswitch, which is the concluding volume in the Cassandra Kresnov trilogy and is due out November 30, 2007, Pyr Books has agreed to give away THREE SETS of the entire trilogy including Crossover, Breakaway,and Killswitch!!! So please read the rules below and completely fill out the form to enter! North American Residents Only. Giveaway ends Friday, November 30, 2007 – 11:59AM PST.

Click here for rules and entry form.

The Blade Itself

Fantasy Book Critic is holding a contest. Twenty lucky winners will be awarded an advance reading copy of Joe Abercrombie’s fantasy debut The Blade Itself. The USA release date for The Blade Itself is September 30, 2007 and in support of the book, readers can look forward to a review and an interview with author Joe Abercrombie from Fantasy Book Critic in late August/early September. Giveaway ends Friday, July 27, 2007 – 11:59AM PST.

Meanwhile, here is the final full jacket of the book. This was composed by Jaqueline Cooke, following the original design by Laura Brett. Astute readers will notice font changes from the UK edition, though we share the letter "h." Also the final printed version will see gold foil used to limn the title and author's name, with the arrow design and the words "the first law: book one" in solid foil.


"If you're fond of bloodless, turgid fantasy with characters as thin as newspaper and as boring as plaster saints, Joe Abercrombie is really going to ruin your day. A long career for this guy would be a gift to our genre."- Scott Lynch, author of The Lies of Locke Lamora

Cataclysmic Contest

Fantasy Book Critic is hosting a Sean Williams Giveaway. Three lucky winners will be awarded the first three volumes of The Books of the Cataclysm by Sean Williams: The Crooked Letter,The Blood Debt,and The Hanging Mountains.Giveaway ends Tuesday, July 31, 2007 – 11:59AM PST.

"...the mind-blowing concept is enough to make me want more. " Fantasy Book Critic

"[E]xplores the nature of life, death, and reality. Big subjects, but with the precision of an archaeological expert, Williams is more than up to the task. There is a lot to admire in Williams' epic fantasy, the wide range of global religions and myths of which his afterlife is comprised, to the characterization of the protagonists. The story has the mythic resonance of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and American Gods, the dark fantasy/horror one might associate with something like Stephen King’s Dark Tower saga, the multiple universes/realities of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion mythos, and the strange, weird creatures one might associate with China Miéville’s Bas-lag novels. Williams imagined world is equal part those novels which preceded his, but fortunately, there is enough newness to both the approach and vision to make this the work of a singular vision...." [R]eading many of the other titles Lou Anders has published with Pyr, I shouldn’t have been surprised with both the quality of the writing and the breadth of Williams’ imagination. Like a lot of the other books published by Pyr, Williams captures what makes a tried and true genre like Epic Fantasy so popular and enjoyable of a genre and spins a tale with his unique voice. This is the type of book you finish and can’t wait to read the sequel."- SFFWorld.com

Keeping It Real Keeps Pyr Balanced

Patrick of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist offers his thoughts on Justina Robson's Keeping It Real, as well as news of a giveaway contest, on the Wotmania blog:

"This is a fun, entertaining and action-packed novel. There's a lot of humor, and the pace is at times fast and furious. I was using Keeping it Real as my "commute" book, and I was always disappointed when I realized that my stop was next. Indeed, I found myself turning those pages, always eager to see what would happen next."

Patrick also offers his thoughts on what KIR has to say about our line. He feels its inclusion in the list "demonstrates just how diversified Pyr's stable of writers and novels will ultimately be. Once again, it's evident that their desire to publish works that are different from what's being released by the powerhouses continues to fuel Pyr's passion for both science fiction and fantasy. And although they made a name for themselves with thought-provoking books by authors such as Ian McDonald, Sean Williams, David Louis Edelman and many others, by publishing novels such as Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself and Justina Robson's Keeping it Real they show that Pyr is not averse to release more humorous and entertaining books.

Crooked Contest @ Pat's Fantasy Hotlist

A contest to win one of two copies of Sean Williams's The Crooked Letter, first volume of his Books of the Cataclysm series, starts today on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. Here are the details. Good luck!

Pat says, "Pyr books are gradually making a very good name for themselves, with many of their releases pleasing fans and reviewers alike. As such, Pyr books are a welcome addition to the speculative fiction publishing world. Sean Williams' The Crooked Letter was brought to my attention by a number of positive reviews. To all ends and purposes, this novel appears to be something else, something special."

Well, we certainly agree. Sean's fantasy is quite extraordinary. As Hal Duncan (author of Vellum), has said, “Williams’s mix of grand metaphysical vision, weird landscapes and wild adventure makes for a great read, but it's the deeply human story at the heart of The Crooked Letter that really makes it something wonderful."

Meanwhile, Sean has uploaded some very fun photos from the World Science Fiction Convention, including shots of his visit to see Gary Numan playing at the House of Blues, the author of several Star Wars novels with a group of Stormtroopers, and this shot of Sean and Garth Nix in the Batmobile.