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February 1, 2011
Greetings:
Welcome to our newsletter! February sees the publication of some exciting new books. Also, the Hugo Awards are accepting nominations until March 26th; our eligible works are listed below. Let's get started!
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| The Scar-Crow Men
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Mark Chadbourn's The Scar-Crow Men, book two of The Swords of Albion, releases next week. The year is 1593. The London of Elizabeth I is in t he terrible grip of the Black Death. As thousands die from the plague and the queen hides behind the walls of her palace, English spies are being murdered across the city. The killer's next target: Will Swyfte. For Swyfte-adventurer, rake, scholar, and spy-this is the darkest time he has known. His mentor, the grand old spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, is dead. The new head of the secret service is more concerned about his own advancement than defending the nation, and a rival faction at the court has established its own network of spies. Plots are everywhere, and no one can be trusted. Meanwhile, England's greatest enemy, the haunted Unseelie Court, prepares to make its move. A dark, bloody scheme, years in the making, is about to be realized. The endgame begins on the night of the first performance of Dr. Faustus, the new play by Swyfte's close friend and fellow spy Christopher Marlowe. A devil is conjured in the middle of the crowded theater, taking the form of Will Swyfte's long-lost love, Jenny-and it has a horrifying message for him alone. That night Marlowe is murdered, and Swyfte embarks on a personal and brutal crusade for vengeance. Friendless, with enemies on every side and a devil at his back, the spy may find that even his vaunted skills are no match for the supernatural powers arrayed against him.
"Two-time British Fantasy Award winner Chadbourn (the Age of Misrule trilogy) offers a grim and decidedly current take on supernatural Elizabethan intrigues. Will Swyfte, 'England's greatest spy,' is charged with stopping the faerie and their Spanish tools from acquiring the Skull, the Key and the Shield, magic items whose combination could devastate all of Britain. Scenes range from squalid London slums to King Philip's monumental El Escorial palace and the mighty confrontation with the Armada in the English Channel. Readers familiar with cold war spy novels will wryly note Swyfte's visits to Dr. John Dee for the latest in spy technology, à la James Bond and Q. Graphic presentations of tortures from the rack to waterboarding recall contemporary issues in national security, carefully contextualized with Swyfte's dilemmas of personal versus professional codes." -Publishers Weekly
"...The historical detail sets a believable backdrop, and the main character, a spy, could pass for a fantastical James Bond. Chadbourn sets a fast pace, pitting his characters against supernatural threats with a bit of horror thrown in." -RT Book Reviews Mark talks about why he chose the Elizabethan age and the politics of the time at the Pyr blog. Check it out! |
 | Lucky Thirteen
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Jasper Kent returns to Russia in Thirteen Years Later, available next week. In 1812, the Russian army made a terrible bargain to keep French forces from invading Moscow.
1825. Europe - and Russia - have been at peace for ten years. Bonaparte is long dead and the threat of invasion is no more.  For Colonel Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov, life is peaceful. Not only have the French been defeated but so have the twelve monstrous creatures he once fought alongside, and then against, ten or more years ago. His duty is still to serve and to protect his tsar, Aleksandr the First, but now the enemy is human.
However the Tsar knows that he can never be at peace. Of course, he is aware of the uprising fermenting within the Russian army - among his supposedly loyal officers. No, what troubles him is something that threatens to bring damnation down upon him, his family, and his country. The Tsar has been reminded of a promise: a promise born of blood, a promise that was broken a hundred years before.
Now the one who was betrayed by the Romanovs has returned to exact revenge for what has been denied him. And for Aleksei, knowing this chills his very soul. For it seems the vile pestilence that once threatened all he believed in and all he held dear has returned, thirteen years later...
"In the end, as much as I loved Twelve, I enjoyed Thirteen Years Later just as much, if not more, and if Jasper Kent can continue this high level of excellence in the remaining sequels, then I strongly believe that the Danilov Quintet will end up being one of the best vampire series I have ever read." -Fantasy Book Critic
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| Pyr's Hugo-Eligible Books of 2010
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The Hugo Awards are now open to nominations. Below is a list of our eligible books for this year, along with the cover artists who contributed our many spectacular covers:
Pyr's 2010 Publications:
 Kay Kenyon's Prince of Storms (in hc and paperback). Cover art by Stephan Mariniere.
Kay Kenyon's City Without End (reprint). Cover art by Stephan  Martiniere.
Paul McAuley's Gardens of the Sun. Cover art by Sparth.
David Louis Edelman's Geosynchron. Cover art by Stephan Martiniere.
Joel Shepherd's Petrodor. Cover art by David Palumbo.
Adrian Tchaikovsky's Empire in Black and Gold . Cover art by Jon Sullivan.
Adrian Tchaikovsky's Dragonfly Falling . Cover art by Jon Sullivan.
Adrian Tchaikovsky's Blood of the Mantis . Cover art by Jon Sullivan.
George Mann's Ghosts of Manhattan .  Cover art by Benjamin Carre.
Ian McDonald's Ares Express (reprint). Cover art by Stephan Martiniere.
 Mark Chadbourn's The Devil in Green . Cover art by John Picacio.
Mark Chadbourn's The Queen of Sinister . Cover art by John Picacio.
Mark Chadbourn's The Hounds of Avalon . Cover art by John Picacio.
Matthew Sturges' The Office of Shadow. Cover art by Chris McGrath.
Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Son . Cover art by Michael Komarck.
Ian McDonald's The Dervish House . Cover art by Stephan Martiniere.
Tom Lloyd's The Ragged Man . Cover art by Todd Lockwood.
Jasper Kent's Twelve . Cover art by Paul Young.
Sam Sykes' Tome of the Undergates . Cover art by Paul Young.
Mark Hodders' The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack. Cover art by Jon Sullivan.
Adrian Tchaikovsky's Salute the Dark . Cover art by Jon Sullivan.
Joel Shepherd's Tracato . Cover art by David Palumbo.
Pierre Pevel's The Cardinal's Blades . Cover art by Jon Sullivan.
James Enge's The Wolf Age. Cover art by Dominic Harman.
Clay and Susan Griffith's The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire Book 1). Cover art by Chris McGrath.
James Barclay's Elfsorrow. Cover art by Raymond Swanland.
James Barclay's Shadowheart . Cover art by Raymond Swanland.
James Barclay's Demonstorm . Cover art by Raymond Swanland.
Tim Akers' The Horns of Ruin . Cover art by Benjamin Carre.
Mike Resnick's The Buntline Special. Cover art by J. Seamus Gallagher. 
Pyr released one novelette in 2010, James Enge's " Travellers' Rest," which was made available as a free ebook in both ePub and Kindle formats. Cover art by Chuck Lukacs. 8,471 words. Pyr Editorial Director Lou Anders is eligible for Best Editor in both long form and short form this year, with two anthologies published outside of Pyr. Some of the names on the stories might seem familiar- they were written by Pyr authors: Masked (Gallery Books). - "Cleansed and Set in Gold" by Matthew Sturges (9,825 words)
- "Secret Identity" by Paul Cornell (4,795 words)
- "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" by Chris Roberson (11,404 words)
- "By My Works You Shall Know Me" by Mark Chadbourn (6,636 words)
- "Tonight we fly" by Ian McDonald (4,998 words)
- "The Singing Spear" - James Enge (3,455 words)
- "Red Pearls: An Elric Story" - Michael Moorcock (17,206 words)
- "The Fool Jobs" - Joe Abercrombie (8,372 words)
For the full Tables of Content, visit Lou's blog.
It's been a big year for Pyr; 2010 was our fifth year and saw publication of our 100th book. We are still hitting many Best of 2010 lists. If you are voting for the Hugos, we hope you will consider our eligible works. |
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That's it for this issue. Don't forget our coupon below! As always, please check out our entire catalog and drop by our blog.
Happy Reading,
Rene Sears
Editorial Assistant, Pyr®
an imprint of Prometheus Books
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(co-edited with Jonathan Strahan, Eos). (Deluxe edition, Subterranean Press.)
