Pick the Hugos!

I thought I'd throw out my predictions for tonight's Hugo Festivities which you can actually watch live at 8pm local Reno time here. [Note if that doesn't work, check the Hugo Award Site here for help]. I don't know enough about the editors, artists, semiprozines, to even hazard a less-than-informed guess so I'm limiting my picks to the major fiction categories. I'm also running out the door at the moment so I don't have the time to fully explain the rationale behind my picks. Feel free to make up some reasons for me.

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Best Novel

• Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)
• Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
• Feed by Mira Grant (Orbit)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

What Should Win: The Dervish House

What Will Win: Blackout/All Clear

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Best Novella

• “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window” by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2010) - Read Online
• The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (Subterranean) - Read Online
• “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon” by Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All New Tales, William Morrow) - Read Online
• “The Sultan of the Clouds” by Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s, September 2010) - Read Online (PDF)
• “Troika” by Alastair Reynolds (Godlike Machines, Science Fiction Book Club)

What Should Win: "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window"
What Will Win: "The Liefcycle of Software Objects"

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Best Novelette

• “Eight Miles” by Sean McMullen (Analog, September 2010) - Read Online
• “The Emperor of Mars” by Allen M. Steele (Asimov’s, June 2010) - Read Online
• “The Jaguar House, in Shadow” by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s, July 2010) - Read Online
• “Plus or Minus” by James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s, December 2010) - Read Online
• “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made” by Eric James Stone (Analog, September 2010) - Read Online

What Should Win: "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" 
What Will Win: "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made"

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Best Short Story

• “Amaryllis” by Carrie Vaughn (Lightspeed, June 2010) - Read Online
• “For Want of a Nail” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s, September 2010) - Read Online
• “Ponies” by Kij Johnson (Tor.com, November 17, 2010) - Read Online
• “The Things” by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, January 2010) - Read Online

What Should Win: "The Things"
What Will Win: "For Want of a Nail"

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John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

• Saladin Ahmed
• Lauren Beukes
• Larry Correia
• Lev Grossman
• Dan Wells

Who Should Win: Lauren Beukes
Who Will Win: Lauren Beukes

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Who you got? Tune in tonight at 11pm EST to find out.

Covering Covers: The Kingdom of Gods - N.K. Jemisin

Cover Artist: Lauren Panepinto & Friends

Tuesday brings us another knock out from Lauren Panepinto & the fine folks in the Orbit Art Department, closing out N.K. Jemisin's The Inheritance Trilogy with a bang.

If I ever wrote a trilogy, I would love to get a set of covers as good as these. Also, if I ever wrote a trilogy, I would love to have it be as good as these books. If you haven't checked these books out, do yourself a favor and catch up before the final book comes out in October.

The incredible conclusion to the Inheritance Trilogy, from one of fantasy's most acclaimed stars.

For two thousand years the Arameri family has ruled the world by enslaving the very gods that created mortalkind. Now the gods are free, and the Arameri's ruthless grip is slipping. Yet they are all that stands between peace and world-spanning, unending war.

Shahar, last scion of the family, must choose her loyalties. She yearns to trust Sieh, the godling she loves. Yet her duty as Arameri heir is to uphold the family's interests, even if that means using and destroying everyone she cares for.

As long-suppressed rage and terrible new magics consume the world, the Maelstrom -- which even gods fear -- is summoned forth. Shahar and Sieh: mortal and god, lovers and enemies. Can they stand together against the chaos that threatens?

Includes a never before seen story set in the world of the Inheritance Trilogy.

Woot.

YetiStomper Picks for August

I think I'm actually getting worse at this whole writing thing as I go along. Fortunately, these eight authors seems to know what they're doing.

Southern Gods - John Hornor Jacobs

Stand Alone - Remind me to never visit Arkansas. Any interest I may have had in visiting that fine state is now completely and utterly gone, thanks to genre newcomer John Hornor Jacobs. His debut horror novel, Southern Gods follows war veteran and hired hand Bull Ingram as he tracks down Ramblin' John Hastur, a blues player rumored to have made a deal with the devil himself. Jacobs mixes Lovecratian Horror, Americana, and sweet tea in a unique tale of obsession and redemption on par with the best horror has to offer. (July 26 from Night Shade Books)

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Stand Alone - If SDCC is known for one thing, it's the generation of hype. But geek love is often a fickle bitch, and she rarely leaves with the one who brought her. At this year's comic-con, one of the most talked about properties was Ready Player One, the debut novel from Fanboys director Ernest Cline. Cline offers hope to every geek by creating a world in which encyclopedic knowledge of twentieth century pop-culture isn't just acceptable - it's the key to unlocking untold power and riches within OASIS, the virtual utopia that has come to dominate life in 2044. This is a must read for any child of the 80s. (August 16 from Crown)

Low Town - Daniel Polansky

Low Town, Book 1 - Is historical urban fantasy a thing? It might be soon, if copycats latch on to Daniel Polansky's excellent noir fantasy debut. Magic and murder combine in a gritty adventure that should surprise fantasy fans, even those familiar with the darker tones the genre has adopted over the past few years. Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town. (August 16 from Doubleday)

The Urban Fantasy Anthology - Peter S. Beagle & Joe R. Lansdale, eds.

Urban Fantasy Anthology, duh. - With what appears to be the least boldly titled anthology since Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio edited Stories, Beagle and Lansdale prove that looks can be deceiving. Split into three parts, the surprisingly eclectic anthology examines each of the literary definitions that have been linked to the term "Urban Fantasy" over the years. Neil Gaiman, Jeffrey Ford, and Beagle himself contribute to the group of "Mythic Fiction" stories while Lansdale joins Holly Black and Tim Powers in composing tales of "Noir Fantasy." "Paranormal Romance" rounds out the trio of interpretations with contributions from heavy hitters Carrie Vaughn, Kelly Armstrong, and Patricia Briggs as well as YetiStomper favorite, Norman Partridge. Whatever you assumed this book would be, you're probably wrong. (August 15 from Tachyon Publications)

Kitty's Greatest Hits - Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Norville, Short Fiction Collection - Jim Butcher's Side Jobs and Charlaine Harris's A Touch of Dead have proved that the notion that "short fiction anthologies don't sell" doesn't exactly apply to NYT Bestselling Urban Fantasy Series. Now it's Carrie Vaughn's turn as Tor collects 14 of her Kitty Norville shorts in a single hardcover volume. (August 16 from Tor)

The Magician King - Lev Grossman

The Magician Series, Book 2 - Lev Grossman continues his meta-tacular dissection of fantasy tropes with The Magician King, a book that does for the quest fantasy what its predecessor, The Magicians, did for the coming-of-age tale. Grossman's self-aware series is perfect for those who wonder how a real person might react if they discovered an entire world hidden in the armoire. (August 9 from Viking Adult)

Bluegrass Symphony - Lisa Hannett

Short Fiction Collection - You might call Lisa Hannett's first collection "hard to find." I'd call it "a future collector's item." Published by Ticonderoga one hemisphere over and another down, Bluegrass Symphony highlights one of Australia's up-and-comers with 12 strange stories that will delight and disturb. (August 1 from Ticonderoga Publications)

The Black Lung Captain - Chris Wooding

Tales of the Ketty Jay, Book 2 - In the second of Wooding's adventurous tales, we return to the airship Ketty Jay and it's inscrutable captain, Darian Frey. Many people have drawn comparisons between Wooding's motley crew and that of the tragically canceled Firefly. I'd be hard pressed to disagree. (July 26 from Spectra)

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YetiStomper Pick Of The Month: I've heard a lot of people harping on Lev Grossman. "He's a literary wolf in genre clothing." "The Magicians is a Harry Potter rip-off. And a bad one." "Isn't it funny how the book critic for Time magazine writes the same filth that they would never review." "He pushed my grandmother down the stairs. On her birthday." Okay, I might have made that last one up but for whatever reason, there's a vocal contingent of people out there hell bent on giving Grossman a bad name. Maybe they don't get his books. Maybe they're jealous. Maybe they see him as the enemy, the type of person who sits in a high castle and claims the Chabons, the Gaimans, and the Niffeneggers as his own. Grossman might work with the "establishment" day in and day out but he's more than willing to take off the tweed jacket to come play in the mud. But just because your idea of playing pretend involves more magic and less angsty introspection doesn't mean you enjoy a dirt sandwich. Grossman champions a combination of plot and purpose - the profound notion that books can say something worth saying and be worth reading, all at the same time. With The Magician King, my selection for YetiStomper Pick of the Month, Grossman continues his grim exploration of fantasy from within. After all, just because your life feels like a fairy tale doesn't mean you get to live happily ever after.

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YetiStomper Debut Of The Month: For a relatively calm month [Aside: when did 8 books become a "calm" amount?], there's still no shortage of debuts to choose between. Polansky [Low Town], Cline [Ready Player One], Jacobs [Southern Gods], and Hannett [Bluegrass Symphony] are all first timers and they've got plenty to be proud of. I'm really intrigued by Cline's premise - it sounds like a Cory Doctorow novel written by Scott Pilgrim or a Goonies reboot scripted by Charlie Stross - but at the same time, I've been burned by hype before. I'm definitely excited for the book but I can't in good faith give it top billing without having read a single word. Then there's the Wunderkind, Daniel Polansky, who at 26 has published one more book that I probably ever will. There's part of me that wants to eliminate Low Town on spite alone. Fortunately, I don't have to - as impressive a debut as Low Town is, it's outshined by the polished prose and seductive story contained in John Hornor Jacobs' premiere. The YetiStomper Debut of the Month, Southern Gods, is Chicken Fried Lovecraft - sheer terror breaded in mystery and malice and deep fried in the muggy backwoods of 1960s Arkansas. I dare you to take a bite and walk away without wanting more.

YetiStomper Cover Of The Month: Hmmmm.... Where did this go? Stay tuned to find out...eventually

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As always, if you are interested in more detail regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. And don't worry, thanks to new state legislation, I don't get a single penny, nickel, or dime from it. It's been hard restructuring my budget without that extra $10 a year but I think I'll survive. Be sure to let me know if there is anything I may have missed in the comments.

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here.

Covering Covers: The Fractal Prince - Hannu Rajaniemi

Cover Artist: Kekai Kotaki

"Jean le Flambeur, posthuman thief, is out of prison, but still not free. To pay his debts to Oortian warrior Mieli and her mysterious patron the pellegrini, he has to break into the mind of a living god. Planning the ultimate heist takes Jean and Mieli from the haunted city of Sirr on broken Earth to the many-layered virtual realms of the mighty Sobornost. But when the stakes of the pellegrini’s game are revealed, Jean has to decide how far he is willing to go to get the job done."

Kekai Kotaki is quickly becoming one of my favorite cover artists. Between The Quantum Thief, The Unremembered, and this gem his work is colorful without being cartoony, evoking a sense of action and adventure without resorting to spaceships or dragons. And anyone who has read the The Quantum Thief knows that's exactly how Rajaniemi operates. He's doesn't slow down, he doesn't explain, and he's not going to apologize.

Rajaniemi's style is difficult to explain. You read it and you like it, but you're not exactly sure what you read or why you like it. At least, not after the first time through. It's complex, peculiar, captivating, and just plain good.

Don't believe me? Have a sample from The Fractal Prince.

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Drathdor the zoku elder liked to talk, and it wasn't that hard to get

him to explain what a Box was (without letting on that I had stolen

one from their zoku twenty years ago, of course).

Imagine a box, he said. Now put a cat in it. Along with a death

machine: a bottle of poison, cyanide, say, connected to a mechanism

with a hammer and a single atom of a radioactive element. In the

next hour, the atom either decays or not, either triggering or not

triggering the hammer. So, in the next hour, the cat is either alive

or dead.

Quantum mechanics claims that there is no definite cat in the box,

only a ghost, a superposition of a live cat and a dead cat. That is,

until we open it and look. A measurement will collapse the system into

one state or the other. So goes Schrödinger's thought experiment.

It is completely wrong, of course. A cat is a macroscopic system,

and there is no mysterious intervention by a magical observer

needed to make it live or die: just its interaction with the rest
of the Universe, a phenomenon called decoherence, provides the

collapse into one macrostate. But in the microscopic world --- for

qubits, quantum-mechanical equivalents of ones and zeroes --- the

Schrödinger's cat is real.

The Box contains trillions of ghost cats. The live cat states

encode information. A mind, even, a living, thinking mind. The Box

qubits have been rotated into a limbo state between nothingness and

existence. The mind inside would not notice anything--- a set of

quantum gates can let it continue thinking, feeling, dreaming. If it

stays inside, all is well. But if it tries to get out, any interaction

with the environment will bring the Universe down on it like a ton of

 bricks and collapse it into nothingness. Bad kitty, dead kitty.

"So what do you put in a Box like that?'' I asked Drathdor.

"Something very, very dangerous,'' he said.

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Elegantly perplexing, no?

The Fractal Prince, the 2nd entry in The Quantum Thief trilogy, will be published on September 4, 2012 by Tor.

The Least Definitive "Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels" List Ever!

NPR released their list of Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels today. Or at least, sort of.

While they definitely released a list, I don't know if it represents what it claims to.

The list itself is referenced as "Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Titles" but it has some peculiar eligibility criteria. For "works that tell a more or less continuous story", the series title is used rather than an individual book. However, "in cases where connections among series members are looser" they "tended to list some of the more prominent titles in the run." All entries considered, you've probably got a list of 200 or more individual books, many of which are included under a "lifetime of work" type policy than any individual achievement. Explain to me why Ender's Game comes in as a novel and Dune comes in as a series? I've read the core of both  and there is not a pair of Dune novels that can rival the triumph that is Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. You could make the argument that the Enderverse Sage is comprised of more self-contained novels, but I'd argue they share a similar composition, at least when comparing Dune to Ender's Game.

And that's not even the strangest aspect of the list. That honor goes to the arbitrary standards by which the judges eliminated "Young Adult" novels from the list, even ones read and loved by millions of adults. I wouldn't recommend ignoring undeniable classics popular with all ages - Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, His Dark Materials, Redwall - but if you insist upon such a ridiculous rule, at least enforce it consistently. Watership Down, Stardust, The Princess Bride, all make the list despite being widely regarded as Young Adult fiction. 

You know it's literature when the talking bunnies get divorced because her affair with a squirrel leads the former carrot detective into a vicious cycle of strawberry juice, mushrooms, and easter eggs.

The YA ban seems to be the only thing keeping Coraline and The Graveyard Book off the Gaiman heavy list. Every other one of his works made the list including the Sandman graphic novels, which while seminal, seem like a strange inclusion given such stringent guidelines. Though it's not the only graphic novel - Alan Moore's classic Watchmen also made the list. 

There's also sizable contingent of extremely modern novels, including some series which haven't even hit the 3 book mark. At a quick glance, I see at least 6 series whose stories have yet to conclude.

• The Kingkiller Chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss
• The Inheritance Trilogy - N.K. Jemisin
• The Newsflesh Trilogy - Mira Grant
• The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
• The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
• The Magicians - Lev Grossman

They're good books all but I don't know if I'd go so far to include them without seeing a little bit more of the story. I certainly wouldn't go so far as to nominate an entire unfinished series.

A cover so epic, I didn't even need to read it. 5 stars! - Robert Stanek & Harriet Klausner

And then there's an arbitrary line between Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance and regular Fantasy, that I won't even begin to delve into. Suffice it to say, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files should be on any best of list before any of his Codex Alera books.

And the inclusion of Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth? As a series?! For shame, NPR. For shame.

So check out NPR's list of the "Top 187 or so Science Fiction and Fantasy [but not Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, or Horror because vampires are scary] Novels For Self-Respecting Adults Who Won't Venture Into The Children's Section For Anything More Than A Stand Alone Novel But Who Also Aren't Too Self-Respecting to Be Seen Reading Comic Books And A Inexplicable Nod To Terry Goodkind" [#fixeditforyou] and let me them know what you think.

Covering Covers: Shadows in Flight - Orson Scott Card

Cover Artist: John Harris

You can say what you want about the quality of OSC's most recent Enderverse work but there's no denying that John Harris's covers are still as good as it gets for Science Fiction. Whether it's Orson Scott Card, Ben Bova, John Scalzi, Jack McDevitt, or some random no-name - seeing Harris's iconic style on a cover will guarantee a second look from this reader. I've actually looked at purchasing some original Harris art. It may or may not be prohibitively expensive at the moment but I'm always accepting gifts and/or bribes. Hint, hint.

Now, I won't suggest that Shadows in Flight is a must read book. That honor is reserved for the brilliant first two Enderverse titles, Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, both of which won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. But don't let that fool you, they're not just great SF novels, they're great novels. Period

But this many books into any series, it's up for each individual to decide if they want to keep reading. I personally enjoy both the Ender saga and its sister "Shadows" series but I'm also cognizant that the books aren't as good as they once were. We haven't reached Defcon Dune yet but it would be impossible to maintain the level of quality established in Card's first two books.  

Here's what Bean is up to in the latest "Shadow" novel.

At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean flees to the stars with three of his children—the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both, hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth’s scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten—a fading ansible signal speaking of events lost to Earth’s history. But the Delphikis are about to make a discovery that will let them save themselves, and perhaps all of humanity in days to come.

For there in space lies a derelict Formic colony ship. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders— the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly and the mysterious disease that killed the ship’s colony.

Orson Scott Card's return to the Enderverse will hit shelves on January 17th, 2012. Will you be reading it?

Quick Pics: Storms A Brewin'

Photograph Courtesy of Me. Minor* Editing Courtesy of Me. Watch Out.

*It came straight out of the camera like this, I swear...

Chicago decided it wanted to explode this morning [Much to the delight, I'm sure, of anyone trying to fly out of O'Hare]. We went from happy smiles sunshine to "did we remember to renew our building insurance?" in the span of about 5 minutes, which is all the time it took for heavy cloud cover to roll in over St. Michael's Church, pictured above.

Given the foreboding nature of the image, I'd like to think it would make a decent cover for an urban fantasy with apocalyptic/religious undertones. Maybe something that explores a secret society of exorcists and demon hunters within the Catholic Church; 12 men and women who can trace their bloodlines back to the apostles themselves. A plague of darkness has descended upon Chicago, inspiring an unnatural rise in violence and lust. It's up to these holy warriors [Is Saynts too cheesy? I think it is] to bring back the light.

I call it In the Shadows of Faith.

Now I just need someone to write it...  DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT.

Longstoryshort - Cool pic, no?

A Mission to Mars: Are You In?

To Infinity And Beyond!

Who knew that infinity stopped at 135? Two weeks ago this Friday, NASA launched the last mission of the undeniably iconic Space Shuttle program. While I'm sure plenty of older folks associate NASA with Apollo, the program that put man on the moon but for us children of the 80s and 90s, the Space Shuttle was our ticket to the stars.

But now it's gone, and with it, the promise of government-sponsored manned spaceflight, at least for the near future. Sure NASA still has interesting programs - the Juno Project, the Cassini-Huygens Mission, the Mars Science Laboratory, even the ARES Rocket - but all of those efforts are about bringing there to us, not taking us to there. As of a fortnight ago, tomorrow's scientists and science fiction authors were relegated to thinking about sitting at home while robotic instruments boldly go where no man has gone before (and probably won't for the foreseeable future).

Between the end of the shuttle program and the budget cuts threatening to hamstring NASA for years, there's no real way to know when humanity will once again set its sights on the final frontier. But while no one's really sure when we'll get there, everyone seems to agree on a destination: Mars.

Sure, we could go to the moon, AGAIN. But what are we really proving  by reaccomplishing what we were succeeded at over 40 years ago (and with much less sophiscated equipment). Or we could try for Venus, if you like 872°F balls of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. It's slight but there is a difference between sending a man to his death and sending a man on a very dangerous mission. Astronauts are crazy, not stupid.

Mars it is, then. But who will be first in line when NASA finally decides to get going?

To answer that question, I went to seven of the genre's best scientific speculators - writers who either specialize in science fiction (both near and far) or who spend their careers inching toward further technological innovation. The type of men and women who spend most of their waking hours thinking about where humanity goes next. And I asked them:

1a. If you were offered a chance to be the first person on Mars with supplies to set up a one-person self sustaining Marsbase (with the caveat that it was a one way trip and no guarantee that the mission would be successful), would you take it?


1b. If not, what would need to happen to get you on that spaceship? [It can be anything (a billion dollars for your family, a guarantee of safe arrival, a lifetime's worth of supplies, a colony of a thousand fellow travelers, a comet headed toward Earth) except the chance to return to Earth again.]


1c. Assuming we get you one planet down the line, what would be your version of "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"?

Find out who answered, and exactly what they said, after the jump.

YetiStomper Picks for July

Stop. Please. Or at least slow down, for the love of all things ~(;,,;)~ . I can't keep up, much less catch up on everything else.

Here are the 18 books I've tracked for July, the largest single month of recommendations in Stomping on Yeti history. The funny thing? Out of the three biggest books of the month (A Dance With Dragons / Ghost Story / Rule 34), none were originally scheduled to be published this month.

Flashback - Dan Simmons

Stand Alone - If you would have asked me a month ago, the newest novel from Hugo and World Fantasy Award winning author Dan Simmons would have been on the top of my most wanted list (well after A Dance With Dragons, who am I kidding). Flashback warns of a world where a drug that enables you to experience the most euphoric moments of your life has all but crippled the United States. Can flashback-addict Nick Bottom "change the course of an entire nation turning away from the future to live in the past?" There's no denying it's an intriguing premise - but is that enough to ignore the slate of early reviews accusing Simmons of overt racism and OSC-class politiking? I'll file this one under "Approach With Caution." (July 1 from Reagan Arthur)

A Dance With Dragons - George R. R. Martin

A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5 - Either you knew this was coming or you didn't. But let's pretend you were in a coma for the last 8 years. The Chinese Democracy of fantasy novels, A Dance With Dragons tells the the rest of the story only partially depicted in A Feast for Crows, much to the chagrin of GRRMbling fans. It's bee nearly a decade but we'll finally find out what Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and Tyrion Lannister have been up to since we last left them in A Storm of Swords. (July 12 from Bantam)

The Clockwork Rocket - Greg Egan

Orthogonal, Book 1 - Greg Egan's latest combines the themes of Theordore Sturgeon's classic "Microcosmic God" with Einstein's exploration of relativistic time dilation in a hard SF novel sure to challenge readers (in a good way). Yalda's world is in danger of being obliterated by an extraterrestrial threat, yet the technology that might save them might not be invented for generations. But if a science vessel is launched at a high enough speed, they'd be able to complete decades of research while only a few years pass "at home." Confused yet? Now imagine that all of this takes place in a universe where the laws of physics as we know them don't apply. (July 4 from Night Shade Books)

Ghost Story - Jim Butcher

Dresden Files, Book 13 - I won't spoil it for those who are still catching up but rarely does a book live up to its title than Butcher's 12th entry in the Dresden Files, Changes. Fans of the series have been dying to know what happened to I CAN'T BELIEVED YOU LOOKED! WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO BE SPOILED? and after being pushed from it's original March pub date, it's finally time to find out. The Dresden Files is the single best Paranormal Detective / Urban Fantasy series on shelves right now and it's not even close. (July 26 from Roc)

Heart of Iron - Ekaterina Sedia

Stand Alone - Ugh. Not another tale of historical intrigue set in 19th century Russia riffing on a potential war between the great powers of Britain, Russia, and China. That subgenre is so played out. Why can't Ekaterina Sedia just do something interesting for a change..? Falser words were never spoken. With Heart of Iron, Sedia cements her place as a font of original speculation in a genre that innovates far less than it would admit. (July 26 from Prime)

Dead Iron - Devon Monk

The Age of Steam, Book 1 - On the subject of  paranormal detectives, Urban Fantasy stalwart Devon Monk shifts her attentions from sulty spellcasters to steampunk werewolves with Dead Iron, the first entry in a new series which combines elements from the two hottest publishing trends into a foggy, fast paced free-for-all. (July 5 from Roc)

Star Wars: Choices of One - Timothy Zahn

Star Wars, Rebellion Era - It's been 20 years since Timothy Zahn reintroduced the Star Wars universe to readers everywhere with his spectacular Thrawn trilogy. Two decades later, Zahn returns to the galaxy far far away with another adventure set during the dark days of the Rebellion when Vader still lurked among the stars, the Battle of Yavin was a recent memory, and Luke still thought he had a chance with Leia. All the familiar faces return, including Zahn's own creations - Mara Jade and the Hand of Judgement. (July 19 from Del Rey / Lucas Books)

Hell Ship - Philip Palmer

Stand Alone - Is there anything more fun than self-aware pulp fiction? Philip Palmer and Orbit deliver more genre goodness with Hell Ship, a SF novel in the same vein as their previous collaborations Red Claw and Version 43. The titular vessel is a intergalactic slave ship, devastating worlds and taking the remnants captive. For obvious reasons, forces inside and out plot the Hell Ship's destruction - but will they succeed?  (July 1 from Orbit)

Heaven's Shadow - David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt

Heaven's Trilogy, Book 1 - "The science fiction epic of our time has arrived." While I wouldn't go quite that far, there's no denying that The Dark Knight scribe Goyer and his co-conspirator Cassutt are swinging for the fences. Heaven's Shadow, the first in a trilogy of first contact, has already been optioned for film. Here's the text trailer "Three years ago, an object one hundred miles across was spotted on a trajectory for Earth's sun. Now, its journey is almost over. As it approaches, two competing manned vehicles race through almost half a million kilometers of space to reach it first. But when they both arrive on the entity, they learn that it has been sent toward Earth for a reason. An intelligent race is desperately attempting to communicate with our primitive species. And the message is: Help us." Grab your popcorn! (July 5 from Ace)

Rule 34 - Charles Stross

Halting State, Book 2 - In quite possibly the least googleable book in recent history, Charles Stross returns to the world of 2007's Halting State for another police procedural. That is, if your hour long crime drama is set ten years in the future, chronicles internet crimes so bleeding edge their not quite illegal yet, and is uniquely presented in second person perspective. And the best part? The book kept getting delayed after the stuff Stross dreamt up, actually came true. Multiple times. (July 5 from Ace)

The Goblin Corps - Ari Marmell

Stand Alone - Ever tire of all that Elfing Hero Propaganda? You know what I'm talking about - child of prophecy journeys accross vast distances, overcomes impossible odds, blah blah blah. Ari Marmell finally tells the other side of the story in The Goblin Corps, an "alternative" fantasy which sets out to sarcastically prove that just because life is nasty, brutish, and short in the dark lands of Kirol Syrreth doesn't mean it isn't also a lot of fun. "Welcome to the Goblin Corps. May the best man lose." (July 26 from Pyr)

Heartless - Gail Carriger

The Parasol Protectorate, Book 4 - Steampunk alternate history meets urban fantasy once more in Heartless, the penultimate book in The Parasol Protectorate. Carriger's latest outing follows Lady Alexia Maccon once more as she attempts to save the queen from a maniacal ghost among other paranormal problems. (June 28 from Orbit)

7th Sigma - Steven Gould

Stand Alone - Gould, the author of the popular Jumper books, switches microscopic gears from teleporation to self-replicating nanotechnology in his latest book, 7th Sigma. The territory is a dangerous land, plagued by self-replicating, solar-powered, metal-masticating machines. Yet life prevails, rebuilt on a platform of plastic, ceramic and wood. Kimble Monroe is one of the hardy few that chose to remain in the American Southwest among the swarms of synthetic bugs. He's also one in a billion. Intrigued? I am. (July 5 from Tor)

Vortex - Robert Charles Wilson

Spin Books, Book 3 - After the delightful diversion that was Julian Comstock, Robert Charles Wilson returns to the universe of 2006's Hugo-award winning Spin which continues to spin further and further out of control. In Spin, a mysterious group of powers known as "the Hypotheticals" quarantined Earth and catapulted it into the far future of the universe. Two books later and it's time to find out why as their motives are ultimately revealed. Like fellow Canadian SF author Robert J. Sawyer, Wilson specializes in approachable character based science fiction and his talents are on display once again. (July 5 from Tor)

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-eighth Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois, ed.

The Year's Best Science Fiction, Book 28 - After 27 entries, Dozois's yearly collection of science fiction shorts is an undeniable genre staple. Whether you're looking to wrap your brain around some new ideas or just discover a few new authors to satisfy novel needs, you won't find a better place to start than Dozois's latest weighty tome. (July 5 from St. Martin's Griffin)

Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day - Ben Loory

Short Story Collection - Ben Loory's a new name on my radar but a interesting one. His relatively short collection is just over two hundred pages in length but boasts forty of the most peculiar (and often hilarious) stories I've ever read. Loory's short shorts feel like modern day fairy tales, albeit ones told by a Mother Goose with a penchant for hallucinogenics and whose eggs are more than a little scrambled. His style bundles complex themes in purposefully simplistic prose packages, providing plenty of dialogue tags bur far fewer conclusions. Frustration has never been this much fun. (July 26 from Penguin)

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities - Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds.

Thackery T. Lambshead Anthologies, Book 2 - If we're talking about things that belong in a curious cabinet, look no further than the VanderMeers' latest anthology. Fans of their editorial projects may recognize Thackery T. Lambshead as the fictional doctor responsible for compiling a collection of bizarre but entertaining diseases. Apparently he also had an affinity for collecting oddities as was apparently discovered in his imaginary home after his fictional death. In truth, a number of noted genre authors and artists have come together to stock his strange shelves, combining visual and written elements to create an anthology unlike any I've ever seen. Ted Chiang, China Mieville,  Mike Mignola and Alan Moore are only a few of the names that helped compile this abstract anthology of "exhibits, oddities, images, and stories" (July 12 from Harper Voyager)

Paradise Tales - Geoff Ryman

Short Story Collection - Small Beer Press's niche collections have always been a great place to find "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" in the speculative fiction space. Which isn't to say Ryman isn't ready for the big leagues. Quite the opposite in fact - Ryman already has 7 novels under his belt, including the BSFA and Arthur C. Clarke winning modern masterpiece Air: Or, Have Not Have. Which is probably why Ryman's first collection of SF tales - mundane and not - earned a Starred Review from Publisher's Weekly. (July 12 from Small Beer Press)

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YetiStomper Pick Of The Month: It's a good time to be George R. R. Martin (or if not him, one his fans). The almost flawless adaptation of Game of Thrones is HBO's newest smash hit. The graphic novel is due out in September from Dynamite Entertainment, to be penned by Yeti-favorite Daniel Abraham and illustrated by Tommy Patterson. And of course, Kong itself - the release of the book 5 years in the making. This month's YetiStomper Picks features more books than any other month in this blog's short history but out of all those books, only Jim Butcher's Ghost Story had even a shot of upsetting A Dance With Dragons for YetiStomper Pick of the Month. Now, I'm not fully caught up with A Song of Ice and Fire just yet but what I've read thus far has more than lived up to the hype. The only question is can A Dance With Dragons possibly live up to the colossal expectations placed upon it by the prolonged wait? The early word? - Yes!

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YetiStomper Debut Of The Month: There is a man. The man wrote a story. It was made up of smaller stories. The stories say everything and nothing. There is another man. He read the first man's story of stories. He was impressed. "I will pick this book," he says. Which is how Stories for Nighttime (and Some for the Day) came be July's YetiStomper Debut of the Month. Loory uses refreshingly simple prose while exploring  frustratingly elusive themes, resulting in a book that goes down smooth but leaves a pleasant aftertaste for you to mull over in your mind. I'm still not sure if Loory's debut is crazy good or just plain crazy but I'll admit I enjoyed it immensely. Undoubtedly the best collection I've read since Livia Llewellyn's Engines of Desire.

YetiStomper Cover Of The Month: Hmmmm.... Where did this go? Stay tuned to find out...eventually

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Anyway, as always, if you are interested in more details regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. And don't worry, thanks to new state legislation, I don't get a single penny, nickel, or dime from it. It's been hard restructuring my budget without that extra $10 a year but I think I'll survive. Be sure to let me know if there is anything I may have missed in the comments.

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here.

eBook eConomics: Free-Ninety-Nine

Not good, skiffy fans.

Well, not really. More like good for us, bad for our collective fiscal solvency. Apparently, publishers have finally figured out that if you give people like me (and probably you) the option to click a button and receive an eBook for the price of a Katy Perry song or two, the results tend to be somewhat predictable. Unlike two consecutive blog posts invoking She Who Kisses Girls and Likes It. Who saw that coming?

Let's take a look at three different publishers who have been pummeling my purse money satchel recently (and the slightly different striking methods they use to do so). Also, it's worth noting that I'm a Kindler, not a Nookie, so apologies in advance if the mentioned deals don't translate to your preferred device. Blame divergent formats and DRM. I always blame DRM ever since they canceled Firefly. Don't tell them I told you.

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Orbit

First in my eBook eXplorations (tIred oF tHis yEt?), is Orbit, a publisher whose 2011 slate is so good it violates that statutes of four nations, seven states, a single Canadian province, and a handful of ancient city-states (apparently along with the laws of physics). And the best part? They seem to be willing to spread the love around by offering a different deal every month through their "Orbital Drop" Program, mostly in the form of discounted and bundled backlist books. It's one newsletter you won't regret signing up for.

But Orbit isn't just focusing on their back catalog. In addition to this month's deal [3 of Gail Carriger's eclectic Parasol Protectorate novels for 9.99], Orbit is willing to part with two of this year's biggest books for less than a penny a page. Ten bucks will get you over 1 kilopage of Daniel Abraham goodness with the double eBook edition of The Dragon's Path and Leviathan Wakes. Even better, people who bought the eBook edition back in March received Leviathan Wakes three months before the rest of us. An advance edition premium for eBooks could be interesting, although I don't see it working in the long run.

All things considered, Orbit's strategy seems to be centered around limited time offers on bundles with the intention on introducing you to a few new series with the hopes you'll stick around for later volumes. I don't know what the audience overlap is between The Dragon's Path (fantasy) and Leviathan Wakes (SF space opera) but you can be sure FREE will help blur the lines a little more. And while Orbit does have some below double dollar deals [Kevin J. Anderson's The Edge of the World for $1.99 (Kindle Only)], they don't seem too eager to get into a price war with their bundle deals still pricing out between  $3.33 and $5.00 a book.

• The Dragon's Path & Leviathan Wakes - Daniel Abraham / James S. A. Corey -2 for $9.99
• The Parasol Protectorate: Books 1-3 - Gail Carriger - 3 for $9.99
• The Edge of the World - Kevin J. Anderson - $1.99

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Night Shade Books

Night Shade Books is also in on the fun, albeit in a slightly different way. A large portion of Night Shade's output is anthology based - either with themed anthologies from John Joseph Adams, "Best of" anthologies from Jonathan Strahan and Ellen Datlow, or their eclectic Eclipse series, also from Strahan. They've got a problem though; anthologies don't have the same backlist appeal their novelular (it's a word, trust me) counterparts command. While I don't have the numbers to back it up, I think it's safe to assume most anthologies don't demand multiple printings. Particularly "Best of" books which are going to cannibalize their own sales year after year.  

Enter the eBook.

Unlikely their corporeal counterparts, their is little to no cost in producing an eBook "print run" of an infinite number of copies. Each book might not sell a lot of copies during its twilight years but what it does sell is sure to be almost pure profit. When you combine the two (infinite supply and high profit margins) you've got a fantastic formula for lowering prices to generate demand. Which is exactly what NSB is doing.

The latest volume of Eclipse might cost you $7.99 but the first volume is a down right affordable $2.99. And like the cosmic crack dealer they are, you better believe they are hoping to hook you on that first taste. I'm not sure what the driver is for dropping the price point (end of the print run? 3 years old?) but we can all be glad it's there.

In addition to their anthology business, Night Shade also makes a point of using eBook promotions to expose some of their newer authors to the hungry masses [at least for some eBook readers]. Recently, Brad P. Beaulieu's The Winds of Khalakovo and Will McIntosh's Soft Apocalypse were given away for free for Nook users as part of Barnes and Nobles' Free Friday Program. While one can argue that those downloads mean fewer sales, there's no denying that 77,229 extra copies of The Winds of Khalakovo in the wild will generate a lot of interest in a format that can't be easily lent to other readers. Not to mention the boost it should give to the second volume. 

Here is a sample of a few of Night Shade Books' more attractive deals. Sadly the free Nook giveaways have since ended.

• The Living Dead 2 - John Joseph Adams, ed. - $2.99
• Eclipse One: New Science Fiction And Fantasy (v. 1) - Jonathan Strahan, ed. - $2.99
• The Living Dead - John Joseph Adams, ed. - $2.99
• The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year Volume 1 - Jonathan Strahan, ed. - $2.99
• The Best Horror of the Year Volume 1 - Ellen Datlow, ed - $2.99

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Pyr

As Tim O'Reilly so aptly put it "the problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity", a motto which Pyr Books really took to heart. Like NSB, they know all about the power of selling something for free-ninety-nine. In fact they make a point of it, hoping to make up the difference when you return to finish one of their many multi-volume series (at full price). It's a great strategy and one more publishers should pursue, particularly those that typically traffic in long epics. Extended series have enough barriers to entry as it is, they don't need you counting your pennies before you jump into a ten book tale. Speaking of jumping in, you can try Kay Kenyon's Bright of the Sky or Joel Shepherd's Sasha right now for no risk.

If I published eBooks, once a series went to three books, I would give the first volume away for free (or close enough to not matter). No exceptions. And then watch my backlist sales climb as the new readership returns to the characters they've become invested in. Assume you've got 5 books in a series for $5 a pop - would you rather sell 0 books for $0 or 5 for $20?

Here's some of the goodness Pyr's got going for it at the moment.

Bright of the Sky: The Entire and the Rose, Book 1 - Kay Kenyon - FREE
Sasha: A Trial of Blood and Steel, Book 1 - Joel Shepherd - FREE
Empire in Black and Gold: Shadows of the Apt, Book 1 - Adrian Tchaikovsky - $1.99

[Side Note:  Empire in Black and Gold costs $9.59 on the Nook! And Bright of the Sky isn't available. Are you kidding me?]

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Now at this point, I'm sure you're thinking that I've finally lost it - that I'm nothing more than a glorified publicity machine for "Big Book." Don't worry, I haven't sold out, I'm just completely selfish. Every book that I can help sell is another step toward convincing publishers that $1.99 is a price point that works. Which is good for me all of us. And by "all of us," I mean readers.

Authors, publishers, and distributors? Not so much.

So get to it, my expendable minions much appreciated readers. Are there any other publishers up to sales shenanigans? And what's this I hear about 99p eBooks across the pond?

Cause Baby I'm A Firework! [Not YetiPicks for July Post Just Yet]

Little known fact. I'm also Katy Perry

Didn't get through all 16 books for this month's YetiPicks Post just yet. Probably something to do with the fact that there were 16 books to select, sample, and spotlight. And that's with stricter selection criteria than usual. Blegh.

Let's face it, there are just too many good writers writing today. Something must be done. Any objection to sinking England?

Well, no, of course not EVERYONE. I've contacted Gollancz to build a boat. Two authors of every subgenre, you know the drill. And not necessarily one male, one female, mind you. We want authors writing, not fraternizing. Besides for every Joe Hill we get, there seem to be two Brian Herberts. Does the world really need Dune: My Dad's Shopping List?

I feel another cover spoof coming...

Anyway.

Instead have a nice, automatically produced widget of the most recent books I've received. There are some books I'm really excited to read, particularly The Alloy of Law, The Mall, The Clockwork Rocket, and Robopocalypse. See what the problem is....

Anyway, have a great [American holiday] weekend. Don't blow anything up. Nothing too important, anyway.

Covering Covers: Percepliquis - Michael J. Sullivan

Cover Artist: Michael J. Sullivan

The Riyria Revelations is one of the most popular self-published/small-published fantasy series of recent years. As much as we're led to believe that a book should not be judged by it's cover, the undeniable success of Sullivan's work has been, at least in part, a result of the simple yet professional looking covers with which he has encased his stories. The cover of the latest (and last book), Percepliquis debuted today on Sullivan's blog. I've posted it above and for reference the first five books are shown below.



I really admire these covers. They aren't flashy but they aren't cheesy either, which is more than you can say about most self-produced cover. Sullivan appears to be cognizant of his own limitations, playing to his strengths rather than being overly ambitious. I like the clean imagery and the consistent style, even the repeated color scheme which I hadn't noticed before writing this piece. Pecepliquis isn't my favorite cover of the series - that honor goes to Avempartha or Nyphron Rising - but I'm happy the design and level of quality remained more or less consistent. Given that each book in the series sold a lot more copies than it's predecessor, Sullivan could have easily outsourced the cover art if he desired.

As for the book itself, Percepliquis is a strange story, one that really appeals to the book collector in me. As I discussed with him earlier this summer, Sullivan's series has been promoted to the majors with Orbit planning to republish the six books as a trilogy later this year. Even cooler, Orbit was gracious enough to allow Sullivan to publish Percepliquis under the Ridan Publishing imprint with the release of the Orbit omnibus, much to the delight of series completists everywhere.

I saw a great journey. Ten upon the road, she who wears the light will lead the way. The road goes deep into the earth, and into despair. The voices of the dead guide your steps. You walk back in time. The three-thousand-year battle begins again. Cold grips the world, death comes to all, and a choice is before you.

Percepliquis is the final installment of the epic fantasy, The Riyria Revelations. In this saga that began with The Crown Conspiracy, two thieves caught in the right place at the wrong time were launched on a series of ever escalating adventures that have all lead to this moment. Three thousand years have passed and the time for Novron’s heir to act has arrived.

The Ridan edition of Percepliquis should be available in the neighborhood of January 2012. You can send an e-mail to riyria6@gmail.com to make sure you are notified when it is.

On Notice!

This series of mini-rants is brought to you by Mind Asplode, the only product made out of 99.9% uncut surprise.

[Author's Note: Please read these "notices" in the light-hearted tone with which they were written. Mostly.]

ON NOTICE - People That Think Book Trailers Are A Good Idea

Watch this and tell me you're excited to read The Host. [Ignore the fact it was written by the same woman who unleashed Twilight on the world.]

I mean really? I hope they didn't spend triple digits on that. And make no mistake, this is par for the course. Personally, I would love to see a publishing house put together a real book trailer - one where random bits of dialogue and prose are spliced together. Here's one for James S. A. Corey's excellent new space opera:

Foaming-at-the-Mouth Denunciations.

 "Anyone Drop A Rock?" 

Smudge.

Martian Navy.

Holden.

Irregular Orbital Graves.

"You Slept At All?"

Yawning.

LEVIATHAN WAKES

Good no?

ON NOTICE - Mira Grant - Zombie novels don't work. Even someone with half a brain [left] knows that. zombies aren't scary on the page. You can't see them in all their grotesque glory. There's no dialogue. They can't (or at least shouldn't) outsmart the protagonists. And every proofreader fears the day when the have to spell "BRAAAAAAIIINNNNSSSSSS!!!!" right.  Zombie novel don't work. Why then is Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy so good? 

The one and only.

ON NOTICE - Seanan McGuire -  You can spell it anyway you want - faerie is still fairy. I'm not buying it. You can take your Tinkerbell, your Oberon, and your pumpkin transmogrifying grandma and live happily ever after. Uh no, those aren't the October Daye books on my shelf. You are mistaken. Why would I want to read grim and gritty urban fantasy that blurs the line between mystery and fantasy? Damn you McGuire! Quit making 97% of Urban Fantasy feel bad about itself.

Wait a second... Zoom in and Enhance...

ON NOTICE - Authors who manage to be awesome while writing as multiple psuedonyms - See above. That and the fact that McGuire is starting up another series, this one about "a family of crypto-zoologists who protect endangered mythological species, the organization of monster hunters sworn to destroy them, and the forbidden romances on both sides." [Check out io9 for the full story]. They say everyone has a story to tell. Chances are McGuire took yours.

ON NOTICE - Days When Neil Gaiman Doesn't Link My Blog - Lonely blog is lonely.

I'll give you 30 guesses.

ON NOTICE - The New York [Behind the] Times - C'mon. Everyone knows Lauren Beukes is awesome. I'm glad you figured out that Zoo City was worth reading. Everyone else has known that ever since Moxyland put Angry Robot on the map. But if you insist on identifying up-and-coming writers, I've got another name you might want to check out: George R. R. Martin. He's poised to explode.

I've heard good things about this one too....

And the updates...

REMAINING ON NOTICE - Naomi Novik - Someone needs to tell her that while dragons aren't real, unanswered questions are. Interview, Novik. Interview.

REMAINING ON NOTICE - One of the Not So Fine Editors At Tor - You're up for parole when I finally see The Coldest War. Not a second sooner.

OFF NOTICE - Patrick Rothfuss - You know I can't stay mad at you.

OFF NOTICE- : & ; - Still don't know the difference but my therapist has helped me accept that I never will.

OFF NOTICE - A Certain Unnamed Publisher Who Lies - Now known as "A Certain Unnamed Publisher Who Lied, But Eventually Came Through"

REMAINING ON NOTICE - China Mieville - Placed on Double Secret On Notice for getting such awesome UK covers. Speaking of which, I now have a special Mieville bookshelf.

REMAINING ON NOTICE - Myself - What's it called if permanent and immutable have a child? And then that child is frozen in carbonite. That's what chance I have of moving off this list.

OFF NOTICE - The Art Department at Bantam - If I re-purchase all of the books, the covers will match again. #itssosimple #waitasecond #thatwastheideawasntit