Every now and then you hear about a labour of love, something that has taken year’s to come to fruition, something you’ve heard people talk about but never had a chance to see yourself.  Well, that’s the case with Robert Hood’s new novel Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead. My dear pal Jack Dann read and raved about it years ago, describing it as “one of the strangest and most interesting visions to come out of the modern horror/fantasy genres”, and even published a section of it as  stand-alone story in his classic Dreaming Again anthology.

Well, after too many years, it has just been published quietly by The Borgo Press in the United States. If you love dark fantasy, consider downloading a sample and checking it out.

I usually don’t link to reviews or commentary on my books here, but there have been three really nice reviews of Edge of Infinity that I want to mention. Carl V. Anderson has just reviewed the book on his blog, Stainless Steel Droppings, calling it one of the best science fiction anthologies he has ever read, Lois Tilton at Locus Online called is “a superior anthology” in her review, and late last year long-time friend of Coode Street Paul Weimer gave it a very strong review at SF Signal. I’m delighted they all enjoyed the book as much as they did.

You can read Elizabeth Bear’s terrific short story “The Deeps of the Sky” from Edge of Infinity over at io9.com. It’s available from, as they say, all good bookstores (including Stefen’s Books, if you want a signed copy!).

I’m also delighted to be working on a third “Infinity” book, Reach for Infinity, for my great friends at Solaris Books. Where Engineering Infinity was a pure hard SF book looking out in the universe around us, and Edge of Infinity covered the time when we have spread out through the Solar System, Reach for Infinity will be about mankind’s first steps out into the Solar System around us. I think it should be something special. It’s due out in mid-2014 and will post more information on it here as we get closer to the time of publication.

Every now and then someone asks me where they can get copies of my books and until now I’ve only ever been able to direct them to the wilds of the internet. I do have spare copies of many of my titles – most of them in fact – but I’ve not been in a position to sell them myself, for a number of reasons.

Well, that is no longer the case. On Sunday I took copies of just over two dozen of my books to Stefen’s Books in Perth. Stefen’s is run by one of my best friends, and one of Australia’s best booksellers, Stefen Brazulaitis. For the next few months at least, he will be offering those books for sale. Please check out his website or drop him an email with your wishlist. I’ll be happy to sign any books if you just let him know.

Oh, and if you’re not fortunate enough to be near the bookshop, drop him an email with a query about mail order.