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April 15, 2011
Greetings:
The latter half of April brings the conclusion to Joel Shepherd's A Trial of Blood & Steel, as well as a slew of interviews and guest blogs by Pyr authors. Let's get started!
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| A Land Falls- a Leader Rises
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Joel Shepherd's Haven, book four in A Trial of Blood & Steel,  concludes the saga begun in Sasha.
The great powers of the Saalshen Bacosh are falling. The feudal army of the Regent Balthaar Arosh marches victorious across Rhodaan and Enora, determined to restore the old human ways that were abolished by the serrin of Saalshen two centuries before. The army of Lenayin marches in their wake, in shame. The greater battle was won, yet Lenayin's part in it was defeat, their king slain, their warriors sent running from the field.
Sashandra Lenayin marches with her people, yet she sees the carnage the Regent's armies are inflicting upon her former allies, and like most Lenays, she feels dishonored. Sasha leads three quarters of the army of Lenayin to defect and fight for Saalshen, leaving her brothers Koenyg and Myklas with the Verenthane hardliners to fight for the Regent.
All forces now converge on the city of Jahnd, an Enoran word meaning "Haven." A city of humanity's refugees in Saalshen, its serrin hosts have allowed it to build into a major power over the centuries, humankind's only outpost in Saalshen. But the Saalshen Bacosh's third province, the mountainous land of Ilduur, refuses to come to the aid of its neighbors and without it victory is impossible. Sasha must lead a delegation to the Ilduuri capital, to combat the xenophobic Ilduuri regime's retreat into isolation, and convince the Ilduuri army to defy their own leaders and rise up in rebellion to fight a foreign war that most Ilduuris do not want.
To save Saalshen and all that she loves about Lenayin, Sasha must become a true Lenay warlord, feared and hated by her enemies, uncompromising and all conquering. But will her own people now inflict upon her one of her worst nightmares, by insisting that she, and not her brother Damon, should assume the Lenay throne and lead her people in the greatest battle that the land of Rhodia has ever seen?
"Mr. Shepherd limns his world in great detail, creating characters you care about and giving the reader a solid ending well worth the trip." -UC Review, Weekly Press
"The characters are well done and it's nice to see a novel about war that deals with the effects on the population rather than just the machinations of the people in power."
-Don D'Ammassa's Critical Mass on Tracato (Book 3)
"...those who savor the intricacies of rival religions, vividly choreographed fights, and lots of bloody battle will enjoy it.... this heroic fantasy should please fans of, say, George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice novels." -Booklist
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| Pyr Links Roundup
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Congratulation to Jasper Kent! His Thirteen Years Later  made  the Booklist Editor's Top 10 Best SFF Books for 2010 (which will appear in Booklist's May 15, 2011 issue).
Civilian Reader interviews Jon Sprunk (Shadow's Son) about his forthcoming Shadow's Lure, writing and publishing, what draws him to the fantasy genre, and what he's reading.
 It's Pyr Week over at STEAMED! Mark Hodder (The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man), Andrew Mayer (The Falling Machine- forthcoming), George Mann (Ghosts of Manhattan), Mike Resnick (The Buntline Special), and Tim Akers (The Horns of Ruin) will all be contributing guest posts throughout the week.
A reminder to those in the Pacific Northwest: Kay Kenyon (The Rose and the Entire) joins Brent Weeks and Jay Lake April 19th in the first of  a series of readings at the McMenamins Kennedy School. The reading will begin at 7:00pm and end by 8:30pm.
And finally, Editorial Director Lou Anders talks to the Clarion writers' workshop about what Pyr is-- and what it isn't-- in an overview of our editorial direction.
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| And Don't Forget...
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...our earlier April releases!
 Pierre Pevel returns to the Paris of 1633 in The Alchemist in the Shadows. Cardinal Richelieu is on his guard. France is under threat, and a secret society is conspiring against him from the heart of the greatest courts in Europe. To counter the threat, Richelieu has put his most trusted men into play: the Cardinal's Blades, led by Captain la Fargue. When la Fargue hears from "La Donna," a beautiful spy claiming to have valuable information, he has to listen. She says the enemy is an exceptionally dangerous adversary: the Alchemist in the shadows.
Adrian Tchaikovsky begins a new story arc for The Shadows of the Apt with The Scarab Path. The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities that refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something more sinister than mere armies and war machines. Only her consort, the former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth, but even he doesn't know why assassins are dogging him. Cheerwell Maker is haunted by ghosts of the past and blind to what once came easily. Out past the desert of the Nem the ancient city of Khanaphes awaits them both, with a terrible secret entombed beneath its stones...
Pierre Pevel, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Joel Shepherd stop by the Pyr blog to talk about writing series and the idea behind them. Check it out!
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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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