Harper Voyager Books

THE STRAIN authors on vampires in New York Times Op-Ed

Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, co-authors of the bestselling novel THE STRAIN, weighed in on the cultural endurance of vampire mythology in today's New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/opinion/31deltoro.html?pagewanted=print

Congratulations to Jeffrey Ford!

Jeffrey Ford's THE SHADOW YEAR has won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel!

He's a writer not to be missed. More details here and preview a bit of the book here.

SANDMAN SLIM OUT NOW!

SANDMAN SLIM is on sale now.

 

Life sucks, and then you die. Or in James Starks’s case, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is

Los Angeles

.

Now Stark’s back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But first and foremost, getting the bastards who killed him in the first place. But when his first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you’d expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future...

Richard Kadrey has created a supernatural anti-hero for our times.

Here is just some of the praise he’s received:

“If Simon R. Green wrote an episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter, it would read much like SANDMAN SLIM – violent, vivid, non-stop action of the supernatural kind. I couldn’t put it down.” 

-- Charlaine Harris

"The best B movie I’ve read in at least twenty years. An addictively satisfying, deeply amusing, dirty-ass masterpiece, SANDMAN SLIM swerves hell-bent through our culture’s impacted gridlock of genres…it’s like watching Sergio Leone and Clive Barker co-direct from a script by Jim Thompson and S. Clay Wilson."

— William Gibson

"Nicotine and octane in equal parts might come close to the high-energy buzz from Richard Kadrey’s SANDMAN SLIM. Crisp world building, recognizable and fully-realized characters, and a refreshingly unique storytelling style make for an absorbing read. Sandman Slim is my kind of hero."

— Kim Harrison

"The most hard-boiled piece of supernatural fiction I've ever had the pleasure of reading. ... I loved this book and all its screwed-up people." 

-- Cory Doctorow

ComicCon 2009 Line-Up

We've got some great author events this weekend at ComicCon in San Diego. Check them out if you're in town

Ø      Kevin Anderson (1 appearance)

Thursday, July 23^rd, 2009

1:30-2:30 Avatars, Icons, and Antiheroes— The new hero is the anti-hero: twisted fairy tale icons, magicians turned hitmen, and avatars of both Good and Evil are cold-blooded killers and worse in the pages of these writers' imaginations. Moderator Diana Gill (executive editor of Eos Books) leads a discussion on this phenomenon with Kevin J. Anderson (Enemies & Allies), Brom (The Child Thief), Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim), Vicki Pettersson (City of Souls), S. J. Day (Eve of Chaos), and Holly Black (Ironside). Room 7AB

Ø      Vicki Pettersson (1 appearance)

Thursday, July 23^rd, 2009

1:30-2:30 Avatars, Icons, and Antiheroes— The new hero is the anti-hero: twisted fairy tale icons, magicians turned hitmen, and avatars of both Good and Evil are cold-blooded killers and worse in the pages of these writers' imaginations. Moderator Diana Gill (executive editor of Eos Books) leads a discussion on this phenomenon with Kevin J. Anderson (Enemies & Allies), Brom (The Child Thief), Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim), Vicki Pettersson (City of Souls), S. J. Day (Eve of Chaos), and Holly Black (Ironside). Room 7AB

Ø      Brom (2 appearances)

Thursday, July 23^rd, 2009

1:30-2:30 Avatars, Icons, and Antiheroes— The new hero is the anti-hero: twisted fairy tale icons, magicians turned hitmen, and avatars of both Good and Evil are cold-blooded killers and worse in the pages of these writers' imaginations. Moderator Diana Gill (executive editor of Eos Books) leads a discussion on this phenomenon with Kevin J. Anderson (Enemies & Allies), Brom (The Child Thief), Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim), Vicki Pettersson (City of Souls), S. J. Day (Eve of Chaos), and Holly Black (Ironside). Room 7AB

Friday, July 25^th, 2009

1:00-2:00 Spotlight on Brom— Marvel at this multimedia presentation by dark fantasy artist—and Comic-Con special guest—Brom (Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, WOW, The Plucker), chronicling his earliest artistic endeavors up to his latest projects, featuring many never-before-seen images and lots of behind-the-scenes material, followed by a Q&A with the audience. Room 3

 

Ø      Richard Kadrey (1 appearance)

Thursday, July 23^rd, 2009

1:30-2:30 Avatars, Icons, and Antiheroes— The new hero is the anti-hero: twisted fairy tale icons, magicians turned hitmen, and avatars of both Good and Evil are cold-blooded killers and worse in the pages of these writers' imaginations. Moderator Diana Gill (executive editor of Eos Books) leads a discussion on this phenomenon with Kevin J. Anderson (Enemies & Allies), Brom (The Child Thief), Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim), Vicki Pettersson (City of Souls), S. J. Day (Eve of Chaos), and Holly Black (Ironside). Room 7AB

Ø      James Rollins (1 appearance)

Friday, July 24^th, 2009

3:00-4:30 Scribe Awards/Media Tie-in Writers Panel— Attend the third annual presentation of the International Association of Media-Tie-in Writers (IAMTW) "Scribe" awards, honoring such notable franchises as CSI, Criminal Minds, The X-Files, Star Trek, Stargate, Star Wars, and Dr. Who. The presentation will be followed by a panel of nominees, including James Rollins (Indiana Jones), Matt Forbeck (Mutant Chronicles), Bob Greenberger (Hellboy), Keith R. A. DeCandido (Farscape), Stacia Deutsch (Dark Knight), Nathan Long (Warhammer), and Tod Goldberg (Burn Notice). Moderated by Lee Goldberg (Monk) and Max Allan Collins (G.I. Joe). Room 4

 

Ø      Joe Hill (1 appearance)

Saturday, July 25^th, 2009

12:30-1:30 IDW: Joe Hill— Bestselling novelist and Eisner-nominated comics writer Joe Hill (Locke & Key) will discuss his acclaimed comic book series, Locke & Key, with IDW publisher/editor-in-chief Chris Ryall, complete with details on the next installment, coming this fall! Room 10

 

Ø      Cindy Pon (1 appearance)

Thursday, July 23^rd, 2009

3:30-4:30 Evolution of Fantasy— Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Twilight—the great mega-selling series of recent years have all ended. What will the next one look like? Or is it already here? How is fantasy evolving? Panelists Jacqueline Carey (Naamah's Kiss), Lynn Flewelling (Shadows Return), Patrick Rothfuss (The Name Of The Wind), Thomas Sniegoski (The Fallen), Greg Van Eekhout (Norse Code), and Cindy Pon (Silver Phoenix : Beyond the Kingdom of Xia) answer questions posed by moderator Lev Grossman (The Magicians). Room 3

 

Ø     Ray Bradbury (2 appearances) & Sam Weller (1 appearance)

Saturday, July 25^th, 2009

3:30-4:30 Spotlight on Ray Bradbury— The legendary fantasy and science fiction writer is once again a Comic-Con special guest, as he was for the very first show in 1970. Ray Bradbury will discuss his new books, plays, and other projects with his long-time friend, writer and producer Arnold Kunert, and biographer Sam Weller. Room 6BCF

 

Ray Bradbury

Sunday, July 26^th, 2009

How-To Session: Scott Brick— Scott Brick has recorded nearly 500 audiobooks, has won over 40 Earphones Awards, and has twice received Audie Awards in the Best Science Fiction category. He's been proclaimed a Golden Voice by AudioFile Magazine and was Publishers Weekly's 2007 Narrator of the Year. Among the classics Scott has narrated are Bladerunner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, Dune by Frank Herbert, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, White Jazz by James Elroy and Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. He will cover the creative process of reading audiobooks and voice acting. Room 18

 

Ø     Eoin Colfer (1 appearance)

Friday, July 24^th, 2009

3:30-4:30 The Care and Feeding of a Series— Readers love series and the opportunity to revisit their favorite characters and worlds. Moderator James Frenkel (senior editor, Tor Books) leads a discussion of what it takes to meet the readers' exacting standards when writing a series, whether in one's original universe or someone else's. Panelists include Comic-Con special guest Brian Herbert (Paul of Dune), Eoin Colfer (And Another Thing: HHGTTG), Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie (Wicked: Resurrection), D. J. MacHale (Pendragon: The Solders Of Halla), Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles—A Giant Problem). Room 5AB

 

Ø     Clive Barker (1 appearance)

Friday, July 24^th, 2009

6:30-7:30 FEAR Clinic (A FEARnet Original Production)— Don't miss this panel discussion with actor Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), director Robert Hall (Laid to Rest), and guest moderator Clive Barker. In this series, Dr. Andover (Englund) seeks to cure his patients' deepest fears with a device that allows them to confront their fear head-on. His extreme method is so effective, it has a 100 percent success rate, at least for all those who live through it. Join the panelists and featured cast and crew live on stage for a sneak peek and Q&A about the highly anticipated series. Room 5AB

 

Ø      Neil Gaiman (5 appearances)

Friday, July 24^th, 2009

10:00-11:00 Spotlight on Charles Vess— Comic-Con special guest Charles Vess presents "Part Seen: Part Imagined," a visual presentation spanning his 35-year career as a freelance artist in the comics and book publishing industries. Featuring cover work ranging from National Lampoon to Spider-Man and Sandman comics, plus Peter Pan stage sets, illustrated books with Charles de Lint and George R.R. Martin, Stardust the movie and Neil Gaiman, and all the way up to his latest project, a 16' Midsummer bronze sculpture fountain. Room 2

 

10:30-11:30 Coraline— Visionary director and screenwriter Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and Newbery Medal-winning author Neil Gaiman discuss the making of the LAIKA/Focus Features 2009 breakout animated hit film Coraline. In celebration of Universal Studio's Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD release of the critically acclaimed stop-motion film, Selick and Gaiman will be joined by lead animator and LAIKA CEO/president Travis Knight, producer Bill Mechanic (CEO of Pandemonium and producer of Dark Water and The New World), character fabrication supervisor Georgina Hayns (Corpse Bride), and voice talent Keith David (Crash). Panelists will offer an in-depth, behind-the-scenes glimpse at how this astonishing and suspenseful adventure—the first stop-motion animated feature originally produced in stereoscopic 3D—was painstakingly brought to life. The panel will be moderated by IGN movies/DVD editor-in-chief Eric Moro. Room 6A

1:00-2:00 CBLDF Master Sessions: "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?" Life Drawing with Camilla D'Errico, David Mack, & Terry Moore— Bring your sketchbook and witness how illustrative masters Camilla D'Errico, David Mack, and Terry Moore draw from life as internationally renowned performer Amanda Palmer poses at this CBLDF Master Session! Amanda is the creative force behind Who Killed Amanda Palmer?, a book of photographs accompanied with stories by Neil Gaiman, and the critically acclaimed album of the same name. Palmer will establish the mood for the event, while the artists translate her dramatic poses into their own distinctive styles. The original art from this session will be auctioned off on Saturday night at the CBLDF's auction! Room 30CDE

 

Saturday, July 25^th, 2009

7:15-9:15 CBLDF Benefit Auction— This is the big one! Support Free Speech and walk away with incredible original art at this year's CBLDF Auction! Highlights include original art by Mike Mignola, Dave Gibbons, Jill Thompson, Charles Vess, Mike Deodato, Eric Powell, Neil Gaiman, and many, many more. Stop by CBLDF's booth #1920 for a complete auction list. All proceeds from this auction will benefit the First Amendment legal work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! Room 2

 

Sunday, July 26^th, 2009

11:00-12:00 How-To Session: Charles Vess— Comic-Con special guest Charles Vess is best known for his extensive work with Neil Gaiman on Sandman and Stardust. He is the winner of several Eisners and other awards. Early in his career, Charles worked on superhero comics, such as Spider-Man and Swamp Thing, and has successfully transitioned his career into book publishing. He has published his own works through Green Man Press. He has collaborated with writer Charles de Lint on many books, including Seven Wild Sisters, A Circle of Cats, and Medicine Road. Charles' presentation will cover the creative process and how it translates to print and film. Room 18

Strange Horizons loves SPIRAL HUNT

It's always so gratifying to read a review that identifies all the things you loved about a book the first time you read it (which, if you're an editor, mind, is before you even get your tweaky little hands into the manuscript, asking for clarification here or expansion there or whatever else).  So thanks to Strange Horizons, for doing just that for Margaret Ronald's SPIRAL HUNT.

The review begins: "Fans of kick-ass heroines and well written characters rejoice! Hollywood types may be trying to resurrect Buffy the Vampire Slayer sans Willow, Xander, or Joss Whedon, but they have yet to infiltrate the printed page and dumb down a book like Margaret Ronald's Spiral Hunt, a slyly inventive, chock-full-of-fun urban fantasy that, like Buffy, blends myth, humor and pop-culture into a fascinating bit of geek entertainment."

Full review is here.  You can read the first 80 pages of SPIRAL HUNT here.  And stay tuned!  Margaret's next Evie Scelan novel, WILD HUNT, hits bookstores next January, and we'll be giving away bound galleys sometime in the next few months.

Eos at Comiccon

Eos is going to Comiccon (woohoo!).  Join Eos authors RIchard Kadrey (SANDMAN SLIM), Vicki Pettersson (CITY OF SOULS), Brom (THE CHILD THIEF), Eldon Thompson (THE DIVINE TALISMAN), aalong with CC GoH Kevin J. Anderson (ENEMIES & ALLIES), Eos Executive Editor Diana Gill and more in San Diego next week.

We're not sparkly vampires or Dr. Who, but do check out our panel!

Thursday, July 23

1:30-2:30 Avatars, Icons, and Anti-Heroes Room 7AB

Does it take a monster to fight a monster?  Gone is the squeaky-clean hero of yore--d

Kevin J. Anderson ( Enemies & Allies, SDCCI GOH); Brom (The Child Thief); Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim); Vicki Pettersson (City Of Souls); S.J. Day (Eve Of Chaos) and Holly Black (White Cat) debate the new face of fantasy.

Signing to follow:  AA1 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

Further, we'll have a contest to win one of three original sketches from Brom's upcoming THE CHILD THIEF--just text for your chance to win.  Stop by the Harpercollins booth #1321 for more info!

Charles N. Brown

We are very sad to hear that Charles Brown, editor of Locus magazine, has passed away.  The head of Locus for many, many years, he was a staunch supporter, advocate, and critic of science fiction and the field is definitely less for his passing.

We're raising a glass of single-malt to his memory.

New review for Lois McMaster Bujold's THE SHARING KNIFE: Horizon

Just found: a new review for Lois McMaster Bujold's concluding volume to her Sharing Knife series, from The Anniston Star.

They say, among other nice things: “As always, Bujold delivers us a world that is completely realized and populated with people, not characters . . . . The depth of both world and characters, even incidental ones, makes Horizon an engrossing, satisfying read and a fitting conclusion to the series.”

(Naturally, we agree.)

Click through for more, including maybe a reference to Lois as a "science fiction/fantasy god".

And, of course, just a reminder that you can preview the first 20% of any of the books in the Sharing Knife series -- Beguilement, Legacy, Passage, or Horizon-- using our Browse Inside feature.

SANDMAN SLIM is an August Indie Next pick!

Some very nice news this Friday--Richard Kadrey's upcoming SANDMAN SLIM is an August Indie Next pick: 

"How a book this dark can be this much fun to read is just one of many amazing things about Sandman Slim. ... Omens meets Raymond Chandler!" --Carol Schneck, Schuler Books & Music, Okemos, MI

Other praise for SANDMAN SLIM:

“If Simon R. Green wrote an episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter, it would read much like SANDMAN SLIM – violent, vivid, non-stop action of the supernatural kind. I couldn’t put it down.”  -- Charlaine Harris

"The best B movie I’ve read in at least twenty years. An addictively satisfying, deeply amusing, dirty-ass masterpiece, SANDMAN SLIM swerves hell-bent through our culture’s impacted gridlock of genres…it’s like watching Sergio Leone and Clive Barker co-direct from a script by Jim Thompson and S. Clay Wilson." — William Gibson

"Nicotine and octane in equal parts might come close to the high-energy buzz from Richard Kadrey’s SANDMAN SLIM. Crisp world building, recognizable and fully-realized characters, and a refreshingly unique storytelling style make for an absorbing read. Sandman Slim is my kind of hero." — Kim Harrison

"The most hard-boiled piece of supernatural fiction I've ever had the pleasure of reading. ... I loved this book and all its screwed-up people."  -- Cory Doctorow

Sarah Langan on air tonight!

Sarah Langan, author of the extremely spooky novels THE KEEPER and THE MISSING, will be live on ParaWomen Radio tonight from 7-8pm, EST

You can listen or ask questions at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/League_of_Extraordinary_Paranormal_Women

Her next novel, AUDREY'S DOOR, will be out in October.