The Wonderful Women of Writing

There's frequent grumbling in the science fiction and fantasy genres that there aren't enough female authors. In honor of Pyr’s month-long 10th anniversary celebration, let’s take a look at a few women writers we've published over the years.

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Brenda Cooper is an award winning author of science fiction, and this week she brings us a brand new space opera Edge of Dark.  This duology explores the conflict between an advanced society that has filled a solar system with flesh and blood life and the near-AI’s that it banished long ago.  She's also author of the Ruby's Song series, The Creative Fire and The Diamond Deep.

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Janet Edward's YA series has won multiple awards around the world, and all the books aren't even out yet in the US! Earth Girl and Earth Star follow Jara as she goes from an unknown, Earth-bound outcast to a planetary hero in the spotlight. The third and final book, Earth Flight, comes out this September.

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Kristine Kathryn Rusch heads deep into the ruins of space with Diving Into the Wreck, City of Ruins, and Boneyards. Historian Boss discovers an impossible spaceship from Earth, and what she finds could lead to an intergalactic war.

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Kay Kenyon's writes on a grander-than-grand scale, and she proved this in her Entire and the Rose series.  Bright of the Sky first came out in our second year, and the Philip K. Dick and John W. Campbell award nominated author completed her space opera with A World Too Near, City Without End, and Prince of Storms.

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K. V. Johansen revisits the world of her novel Blackdog in her newest epic fantasy series with The Leopard and The Lady.  A war rages between gods and the people of Marakand, can their only hope free his soul to rescue them all?

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Philippa Ballantine's Shifted World novels throw ancient spirits and dragons into a landscape that constantly changes.  A quest story like no other, Hunter and Fox and Kindred and Wings take you into the depths of the world and the history of a ruined people. 

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And to celebrate these women (and our ten year anniversary) let's kick off our first giveaway of the month!  We're choosing one person to win any book mentioned in this post.  Comment below or send an e-mail to publicity@prometheusbooks.com with the subject "Week one giveaway," making sure to include which book you'd like to win if we choose you. The winner will be announced on Wednesday!

The perfect gift

Happy Holidays!

The bird is off the table, which means the holiday season is officially in full swing. Just because some stores have been playing Jingle Bells since Halloween doesn't mean we're all on the crazy train to Christmas...

But now it is time to start thinking about those you love, those you pretend to like, and those you are stuck with no matter what (uh...your family). If you know someone who likes sword fights, intergalactic battles, and heroes with more than a few flaws, then we've got you covered this holiday season! Check out the most recent issue of the Pyr-a-Zine to find the perfect gifts for the fantasy and science fiction-lovers on your holiday lists.

2012 Sunburst Awards

Cover art by Raymond Swanland

The nominees for the 2012 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic have been announced. We are very excited to see that K.V. Johansen's Blackdog is a nominee in the adult category.


The Sunburst jury says this about the book: "Blackdog is everything high fantasy should be: a tale of wars among gods, demons and wizards that also works as an oddly compelling social-cultural coming-of-age novel. The Blackdog has, through a multitude of incarnations, protected the living goddess, Attalissa, who manifests in the world as a human. This time, over many years, she is driven away from her power-giving lake and grows up among the caravanserai of her new Blackdog, the caravan guard Holla-Sayan, and learns to be a more moral human/god. The characterizations of the young girl and her anguished, shape-shifting protector, as well as other gods, friends, and a demonic enemy, are profound & moving. This is a strongly imagined fantasy world, its peoples rendered with both wit and insight."


The Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is a juried award to recognize stellar writing in two categories: adult and young adult. The awards are presented annually to Canadian writers with a speculative fiction novel or book-length collection of speculative fiction published any time during the previous calendar year. Named after the first novel by Phyllis Gotlieb (1926–2009), one of the first published authors of contemporary Canadian science fiction, the awards consist of a cash award of Cdn$1,000 and a medallion which incorporates a specially designed "Sunburst" logo. The winners receive their awards in the fall of every year.

This Be Nice Praise

"High fantasy for lovers of mythology and of powerful beings in human form, this ... debut should appeal to fans of Robert Jordan's 'Wheel of Time' series."
    -Library Journal on K.V. Johansen's Blackdog

Two Very Nice Reviews

The Library Journal has reviewed two forthcoming Pyr tites.

Of K.V. Johansen's Blackdog they say:

"When caravan guard Holla-Sayan comes to the aid of a little girl and her dying dog, he unwittingly becomes the protector of the goddess Attalissa and the vessel for the spirit of her Blackdog guardian. In a world where gods and devils walk the land, a wizard-warrior who was once one of the seven devils and the young goddess find themselves embroiled in a web of necromancy, rebellions, and the inevitable shedding of blood. The author of the YA fantasy “Warlocks of Talverdin” series creates a larger-than-life story of gods and demons at play in the world of humans. Despite their divinity, or lack thereof, Johansen’s characters project believability, and her world is full of rich and vivid detail. VERDICT High fantasy for lovers of mythology and of powerful beings in human form, this adult fantasy debut should appeal to fans of Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series."

Of Clay & Susan Griffith's The Rift Walker (Vampire Empire Book Two) they write:

"An arranged marriage to the boorish, militaristic Senator Clark of the American Republic proves more than Princess Adele of the Equatorian Empire can stand. As Clark’s plan for victory over the British vampire clan that rules most of the Northern Hemisphere evolves into a genocidal campaign, Adele flees her husband and returns to her true love, the enigmatic Greyfriar. With its steampunk setting, enhanced by the mysteries of geomancy and ley lines, this title advances the Griffiths’ chronicle of an alternate Earth forever changed by the ­emergence of a clan of vampires bent on conquest. VERDICT Pulp adventure, steam­punk, and gothic romance meet in this luscious tale of intrigue and derring-do, the sequel to The Greyfriar."