And, while this site was unavailable, I was elsewhere. The Fearsome Journeys blog tour is in full swing and just recently I’ve:
been interviewed about Fearsome Journeys over at Gavreads;
provided some writing tips to Civilian Reader; and
talked about selecting the stories for Fearsome Journeys at Beauty in Ruins.
It’s been good fun and I have more posts to get out into the world over the coming week or two. More soon!
Fearsome Journeys is out in the world and I’d love to know what you think of it. As part of the publication of the book I’m doing a bit of blog tour and will be posting stuff here and there thanks to a number of extremely kind and generous bloggers.
First up, I’m over at Nerds of a Feather talking about fantasy, where I hopefully don’t make a complete ass of myself, and The G gives Fearsome Journeys itself a terrific review! I’ll more about the blog tour as it unfolds.
The first review of Fearsome Journeys is just in and it’s from Lois Tilton over at Locus: Online and it’s a pretty good one, and make special mention of K.J. Parker’s fabulous novelette “The Dragonslayer of Merebarton”. I love the story just as much as Lois does and am very excited that it’s also available as an audio podcast from Podcastle. Episode 262 of Podcastle is what looks like a terrific reading of the story by Daniel Foley. You can read a short excerpt of KJ’s “The Dragonslayer of Merebarton” there, and of course listen to the whole story. I think it makes for a great taster for the book as a whole!
Today is the birthday (well, publication day) for Fearsome Journeys, my thirty-sixth anthology and fifty-something or other editorial project. Each and every book is special, and this one has been a real joy for me. If you were to ask me to compare it to any of my other books, it’s probably most like Swords and Dark Magic, which I co-edited with my good friend Lou Anders a few years ago.
I celebrated the day by dropping in to Stefen’s Books here in Perth. By sheer chance (honest!) Stef had just put copies on the shelf, so I got to see it out in the world. Dave Cake and Adrian Bedford were there (I’ve known Dave for years, and met Adrian a few years ago in Canada, I think). Adrian graciously bought a copy and asked me to sign it, which I was delighted to do.
There’ll be more on the book here and elsewhere but for the moment I hope you can find it, and like it when you do! Also, if you do like it, tell me and the authors. I know they love to hear when their work is appreciated, and I think they all did a brilliant job.
For the last few months, in amongst other happy commitments, I have been working on an exciting new project which is just about finished. Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy is an anthology of adventure fantasy, with a slight emphasis on military fantasy and swords and sorcery. The working title for the book, Reap the Whirlwind, hinted at the energy I hoped to capture in the book, but Fearsome Journeys fits it best.
Here’s how Jonathan Oliver and the talented team at Solaris Books describe the anthology:
An amazing array of the most popular and exciting names in Fantasy are set to appear in the first in a brand new series of Fantasy anthologies featuring original fiction, from the master editor Jonathan Strahan. The authors appearing in the launch volume include Trudi Canavan, Elizabeth Bear, Daniel Abraham, Kate Elliott, Saladin Ahmed, Glen Cook, Scott Lynch, Ellen Klages, Ellen Kushner & Ysabeau Wilce, Jeffrey Ford, Robert Redick and KJ Parker.
I am delighted with the book, the stories, the cover, and the idea that this could potentially be the first in new semi-regular series of original fantasy anthologies. That, of course, will depend on how Fearsome Journeys does, but I’m very hopeful for it. And with publication in June, I’m working hard to get it finished and off to Jonathan & co.
Here’s the table of contents for the book (running order subject to change):
All in all, I think it’s a terrific book. The publisher has put together a very handy page that allows you to pre-order the paperback or ebook editions from your preferred retailer. Pre-ordering is a good thing.