Countdown to Masks and Shadows

Only one week left until the highly anticipated release of Stephanie Burgis's adult debut Masks and Shadows! Travel back to a time of grand music, dark magic, and deadly secrets...

The year is 1779, and Carlo Morelli, the most renowned castrato singer in Europe, has been invited as an honored guest to Eszterháza Palace. With Carlo in Prince Nikolaus Esterházy's carriage, ride a Prussian spy and one of the most notorious alchemists in the Habsburg Empire. Already at Eszterháza is Charlotte von Steinbeck, the very proper sister of Prince Nikolaus's mistress. Charlotte has retreated to the countryside to mourn her husband's death. Now, she must overcome the ingrained rules of her society in order to uncover the dangerous secrets lurking within the palace's golden walls. Music, magic, and blackmail mingle in a plot to assassinate the Habsburg Emperor and Empress--a plot that can only be stopped if Carlo and Charlotte can see through the masks worn by everyone they meet.


Can't wait to get your hand on a copy?  Thanks to technology, you can travel back in time via Pinterest!  It, uh, can't send you to the future when Masks and Shadows it out yet though.  Sorry.

Follow Pyr® books's board All things Masks and Shadows on Pinterest.

Steampunk, steampunk, everywhere!

Alternate history? Check. Steampunk?  Double check. Time traveling? Wait, wait, dimension travelling? Yep, we've got that covered too.

Mark Hodder brings you all the above and more in his sprawling six-book Burton & Swinburne series.  They're actually two separate trilogies, and the last three books can be read separately from the first three, but Hodder's details seamlessly connect all his books in a way we can't even begin to describe. And this month, the saga concludes with The Rise of the Automated Aristocrats.

If you've picked up any of the first books, either The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack or The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, or even if you started with The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi, you'll need to see how this one ends.



They say don't judge a book by it's cover, but seriously how can you not?

Planesrunner nominated for Sidewise Award

This year's nominees for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History have just been announced. We are very excited to find Ian McDonald's Planesrunner, one of our first young adult offerings, nominated in the category of Alternate History, Long Form.   The winners will be announced at Chicon 7, this year's Worldcon, in Chicago, Illinois during the weekend of August 30.  This year's panel of judges was made up of Stephen Baxter, Evelyn Leeper, Jim Rittenhouse, Stu Shiffman, Kurt Sidaway, and Steven H Silver.

Congratulations to Ian McDonald and all of the nominees.

Short Form

* Michael F. Flynn, The Iron Shirts (Tor.com)

* Lisa Goldstein, Paradise Is a Walled Garden (Asimov’s, 8/11)

* Jason Stoddard, Orion Rising (Panverse 3, edited by Dario Ciriello, Panverse Publishing)

* Harry Turtledove, Lee at the Alamo (Tor.com)

Long Form

* Robert Conroy, Castro's Bomb (Kindle)

* Robert Conroy, Himmler's War (Baen Books)

* Jeff Greenfield, Then Everything Changed (Putnam)

* Ian R MacLeod, Wake Up and Dream (PS Publishing)

* Ian McDonald, Planesrunner (Pyr)

* Ekaterina Sedia, Heart of Iron (Prime)

* Lavie Tidhar, Camera Obscura (Angry Robot)

The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were conceived in late 1995 to honor the best allohistorical genre publications of the year. The first awards were announced in summer 1996 and honored works from 1995. The award takes its name from Murray Leinster's 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time," in which a strange storm causes portions of Earth to swap places with their analogs from other timelines.

           

For more information, contact Steven H Silver at shsilver@sfsite.com or go to http://www.uchronia.net/sidewise.

Beyond the Usual Suspects

What does it mean when your sister, who "doesn't read", asks you to bring home a copy of The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) for her ASAP? What does it mean when several Prometheus Books co-workers -- even ones who have never read a Pyr book (or much of anything in the various subgenres of SFF) -- have not only taken home The Greyfriar but finished it quickly and are already waiting with bated breath for an advance manuscript of Vampire Empire, Book 2? What does it mean when several reviewers email you to say "I know you don't usually send me this kind of book," (read: fantasy, steampunk, alternate history, paranormal romance, urban fantasy) "but I read some excerpts and can I please request a review copy of The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1)?" Whatever it means, it's exciting!