Book Spotting in the Wild

Spotted at the Hudson Booksellers in the Denver airport: 16 separate Pyr titles. Multiple copies of most. Abercrombie, Hodder, Kent, Lachlan, McDonald (4 titles including Planesrunner in the YA section), Resnick, Rusch, Sykes. Always nice to see.

The Restoration Game Nominated for the Prometheus Award

We are very proud to learn that Ken MacLeod's The Restoration Game has been nominated for a Prometheus Award. No connection between the award and our parent company, Prometheus Books, but it is a cool name! Congratulations to Ken. Here is the Prometheus Award official release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, March 31, 2012

2012 PROMETHEUS AWARD FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced finalists for this year's Prometheus Awards, which will be presented during the 70th World Science Fiction Convention over Labor Day weekend in Chicago.
The Prometheus finalists for Best Novel recognize pro-freedom novels published last year:

• The Children of the Sky (TOR Books) - A sequel to Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and in the same universe as Prometheus-winning A Deepness in the Sky, this novel focuses on advanced humans, stranded and struggling to survive on a low-tech planet populated by Tines, dog-like creatures who are only intelligent when organized in packs. The most libertarian of the three human factions and their local allies must cope with the world's authoritarian factions to advance peaceful trade over war and coercion.
• The Freedom Maze (Small Beer Press) - Delia Sherman's young-adult fantasy novel focuses on an adolescent girl in 1960 who is magically sent back to 1860 when her family owned slaves on a Louisiana plantation. With her summer tan, she's mistaken for a slave herself, learning the hard way about her ancestors' attitudes and about courage, respect, individual rights and personal responsibility.
• In the Shadow of Ares (Amazon Kindle edition) - This young-adult first novel by Thomas L. James and Carl C. Carlsson focuses on a Mars-born female teenager in a near-future, small civilization on Mars, where hardworking citizens are constantly and unjustly constrained by a growing, centralized authority whose excessive power has led to corruption and conflict.
• Ready Player One (Random House) - Ernest Cline's genre-busting blend of science fiction, romance, suspense, and adventure describes a virtual world that has managed to evolve an order without a state and where entrepreneurial gamers must solve virtual puzzles and battle real-life enemies to save their virtual world from domination and corruption. The novel also stresses the importance of allowing open access to the Internet for everyone.
• The Restoration Game (Pyr Books) - Set in a world whose true nature is a deeper mystery, this philosophical and political thriller by Ken MacLeod (winner of Prometheus awards for Learning the World, The Star Fraction, and The Stone Canal) explores the dark legacy of communism and the primacy of information in shaping what is "reality" amid Eastern European intrigue, online gaming, romance and mystery.
• Snuff (Harper Collins) - A Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett (winner of a Prometheus Award for Night Watch, also set in Discworld), Snuff blends comedy, drama, satire, suspense and mystery as a police chief investigates the murder of a goblin and finds himself battling discrimination. The mystery broadens into a powerful drama to extend the world's recognition of rights to include these long-oppressed and disdained people with a sophisticated culture of their own.

Thirteen novels were nominated this past year and read and voted on by 10 judges, selected from LFS members. The other nominees: Cowboy Angels, by Paul McAuley (Pyr Books); The Hot Gate: Troy Rising III, by John Ringo (Baen Books); REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow); Revolution World, by Katy Stauber (Night Shade Books); Sweeter Than Wine, by L. Neil Smith (Arc Manor/Phoenix Pick); Temporary Duty, by Ric Locke (Amazon; Kindle edition, Ric's Rulez blog); and The Unincorporated Woman,, by Dani and Eytan Kollin (TOR Books).
For more than three decades, the Prometheus Awards have recognized outstanding works of science fiction and fantasy that stress the importance of liberty as the foundation for civilization, peace, prosperity, progress and justice.

** The 2012 Prometheus finalists for Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) were announced earlier. This category honors novels, novellas, stories, graphic novels, anthologies, films, TV shows/series, plays, poems, music recordings and other works of fiction first published or broadcast more than five years ago:

Falling Free, a novel by Lois McMaster Bujold (1988);

"'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", a story by Harlan Ellison (1965)

"The Machine Stops", a story by E. M. Forster (1909)

"As Easy as A.B.C.", a story by Rudyard Kipling (1912) The Worldcon's Prometheus Awards ceremony most likely will take place, as in previous years, on the Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend (to be confirmed this summer at a Chicago Worldcon hotel and meeting room to be announced).
For more information, contact LFS Publicity Chair Chris Hibbert (hibbert@mydruthers.com).
To submit 2012 novels for consideration and possible nomination by LFS members, contact Michael Grossberg, Best Novel finalist judging committee chair (mikegrossb@aol.com or 614-236-5040).
To propose works published more than five years ago for the Hall of Fame, contact William H. Stoddard, Hall of Fame finalist judging committee chair (whswhs@mindspring.com).
For more information, visit www.lfs.org

Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Master is getting some very high praise:

"Sprunk sets old-fashioned sword and sorcery in a noir fantasy that should appeal to fans of Michael Moorcock's Elric novels and the 'Thieves' World' stories by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey." - Library Journal

"As good as we're likely to get until the next Fritz Lieber shows up" - Critical Mass

Quantic Dream Channels Cassandra Kresnov

This terrific little film from Quantic Dream, 'Kara', is close enough to a certain opening scene from Crossover that I had to post it.   You'll know which scene when you watch it.

Functional Nerds

In episode 93 of the Functional Nerds podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Lou Anders back to the show to chat with E.C. Meyers about Young Adult Fiction.

Fair Coin "End Credits"

Thief's Covenant Scores with Teens and Adults

Ari Marmell's Thief's Covenantis garnering much love from both teen and adult readers and reviewers. Which is just what we wanted with this wonderful fantasy novel. Here is a small sampling of the praise it's receiving:

"This may be one of the best fantasy young adult novels to hit the shelves this year." The New Paltz Oracle

"Thief’s Covenant is a fun, brisk story. I got sucked in every time I picked up the book, and the pages zipped by. This is a thoroughly entertaining novel, and one that should appeal to younger and older readers alike. Marmell doesn’t condescend to the reader, and instead gives us a great fantasy novel. I’m very glad I won’t have to wait too long before the second book in the series, False Covenant, is available. Very highly recommended." Civilian Reader

"Widdershins is a wonderful protagonist, she’s fun, exciting, and filled with enough sarcasm to make any of her retorts quick witted and wonderful to read. But like Marmell’s other books it’s not just Windershins’s charming personality that makes her fun to read, it’s her hilarious, snarky, and sensitive sidekick Olgun that make this book such a fun read. Oh also Olgun is a god, so that certainly makes things interesting. ...I loved the book because of the fast paced action, fantastic interactions between Windershins and Olgun, and fun style of writing. Overall a great book that I’d easily recommend." Whatchamacallit Reviews


"I am so glad that my sister brought Thief's Covenant to my attention because I absolutely loved it. ...Widdershins was definitely a little crazy, but crazy in an interesting what will she do next kind of way. One of the things I liked best about her and her crazy/stubborn streak would have to be that it got her into all sorts of trouble, which meant that there was rarely any dull scenes. I know mean of me to say that I liked that her personality got her into trouble, but I did enjoy." The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

"This is pretty much an adult fantasy novel plot with a teenaged protagonist so don't be put off by the label regardless of your age. Marmell writes a lively story." Critical Mass

"A Trial of Blood and Steel" Prequel Short Story

So what do you do when, in the process of editing your novel, you're forced to cut out a preface chapter you really liked?   You post it on your blog as a free prequel short story, of course.   I'd post the whole thing here on the Pyr blog, but it runs to six thousand words...

This is a prequel tale from 'A Trial of Blood and Steel', on the invasion of Saalshen by King Leyvaan, and the rise of the great serrin leader Maldereld.   It's not exactly a pleasant little story, but then it wasn't exactly a pleasant little war.

http://joel-shepherd.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/trial-of-blood-and-steel-prequel-short.html

Crossing the Streams

Care for the chance to win a free book? How about potentially winning fifteen free books, from a wide variety of fantasy authors (including several Pyr authors)?

Presenting the Crossing the Streams multi-author book contest.

Good luck. :-)

Happy New Things

Well, I haven't posted in a long time. I was away thinking.  Also I played some games.  If you'd like to read more pop over to my actual blog Quantum Gravity.  Meanwhile PYR books keep us all sane and I'm here to wish all of the PYR readers a late but sincere Happy New Year.  Don't stop readin'!