Mike Resnick on the Dragon Page

I'm a little behind in my podcast listening, so I'm a week behind in alerting you that Mike Resnick was a guest on episode  #408A of the Dragon Page Cover to Cover, available at the link or on iTunes. He talks about the Starship series, his forthcoming Weird Western, The Buntline Special, and his forthcoming Golden Gryphon novel Blasphemy, among other things.

Mike is always worth listening too.

Priceless - Bill Maher: Bradley Byrne attack ad parody

ImagiCon 2010

Last weekend I was a guest of Imagicon 2, held May 21-23rd at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, AL. Timothy Zahn and Larry Elmore were the guests of honor, and they had guests that ranged from John Ringo and JF Lewis to Buck Rogers' Erin Gray and Gil Gerard.

The con was small but enthusiastic. The paper reported 1,300 attendees but I would have put it at a fourth that from what I actually saw. Still, they split the anime track off to another location, and the McWane Science Center is a four floor complex that the convention was threaded throughout, so it was very hard to get a clear fix on who was where when. The location also probably brought in some traffic that came for the center itself, and all the exhibits - robots, tornadoes in a tube, etc...  - made for an interesting backdrop to the events. Plus, the IMAX theater there ran Star Trek just for the weekend.

As with all conventions, it is the people that make or break it, and this weekend was great to hang with friends JF Lewis, author of  Staked and Revamped, and Shane and Rachel Ivey of Arc Dream Publishing. It was also wonderful to hang with the Inner Worlds Book Club. I'd like to see Birmingham with an annual convention, so I hope this event will return and grow year after year.

Got Sprunk?

“The action scenes are solid and the story is fast-paced with no moments threatening to slow things down… So the core of Shadow's Son feels solid, with characters who come into their stride, uncover past misdeeds and surprise themselves with what they're able to accomplish.” The Speculative Fiction Examiner, Examiner.com, May 5, 2010

“When Sprunk gets going, he writes with an energy that has to be experienced to be believed. [He] knows that if your main character is up against a wall and facing ten swordsman then the resulting fight for your life can’t be written at anything other than a break neck pace. Not only does Sprunk more than deliver on this score but he remains in control of his writing the whole time. Shadow's Son will have me coming back for a sequel… Sprunk’s eye for spectacle means that if Shadow’s Son was ever made into a film I’d definitely be there to watch it… a thoroughly entertaining read that had me wondering if perhaps all assassin stories aren’t the same after all…” Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, May 20, 2010

“Wonderful fight sequences is what you expect out of a Swords & Sorcery novel and Sprunk more than delivers…Shadow's Son had me up late at night as nearly every chapter ended in climax after climax of tight action sequences to see how Caim will get out of the next scrape. I give Shadow's Son 7.5 out of 10 hats. Even though this is the first in a trilogy Sprunk does an admirable job at having a clear culmination to most of what he started while leaving plenty left open for the next volumes as things escalate. Sprunk shows loads of promise as he hones his craft.” The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf and Book Review, May 23, 2010

Empire in Black and Gold: A Stunning Debut

"Empire in Black and Gold is a stunning debut, original in setting, peopled with interesting characters, and plot that moves quickly and excitingly. I highly recommend this novel to epic fantasy readers looking for something new and unusual, sword and sorcery readers who love a good fight scene, fans of character driven fantasy, and anyone look for a fresh and innovative take on an age-old narrative." Grasping for the Wind

Rebooting Spider-Man

Via SF Signal:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Functional Nerds

I am a guest today on Episode 10 of The Functional Nerds podcast, hosted by Patrick Hester & John Anealio. They say:

"Lou joins us this week to discuss a little bit of the history of the Pyr imprint from Prometheus books, the branding of Pyr that stands out on the bookshelves thanks to artwork from great artists like John Picacio, upcoming projects from Pyr, two new anthologies from Lou titled ‘Swords & Dark magic’ due in June and ‘Masked’ due in July, then we branch off into Stargate Universe, John Scalzi, Joseph Mallozzi, FlashForward and Batman comics."

You can download the episode on iTunes or listen at the direct link above.

Public Service Announcement

Apologies, but due to a rash of anonymous spam (in what looks like Japanese), I'm turning off anonymous comments. Just spending too much time deleting spam. Hope everyone legitimately here will understand. Thanks.

ImagiCon 2010, ABC 33/40, and Me

I will be participating in Birmingham's ImagiCon convention this weekend, held at the McWane Science Center, as well as Old Car Heaven, May 21-23. In support of the con, I and Staked and Revamped author J. F. Lewis, spoke with Tracy Haynes of Talk of Alabama on ABC 33/40. Here is the video:



Meanwhile, I will be appearing on two panels at the convention:

Saturday, May 22

11:30a.m. "Lou Anders and Pyr Books" Come meet Lou Anders and find out what is coming from Pyr Books, one of the fastest rising stars of the fantasy and sci-fi world!

Sunday, May 23

1:00p.m. "Fantasy Today" M.B. Weston, Lou Anders, Van Plexico, J.F. Lewis Wondering why all the Vampires are sparkling? Wondering what happened to the grittiness of Conan? Wonder what happened to the outrageous worlds of Zalazny? Come and talk with some people who would know!

Here is the link to the full Literary Track, which includes such notables as John Ringo, Timothy Zahn, and Travis S Taylor.

Hard to Argue With This

" Empire in Black and Gold is a stunning debut, original in setting, peopled with interesting characters, and plot that moves quickly and excitingly. I highly recommend this novel to epic fantasy readers looking for something new and unusual, sword and sorcery readers who love a good fight scene, fans of character driven fantasy, and anyone look for a fresh and innovative take on an age-old narrative." Grasping for the Wind

With Great Power is now... Masked

For reasons you can probably work out yourself, Gallery Books has decided to retitle my forthcoming Superhero Anthology. The new title is Masked, and here is the revised cover. Again, the art is by Trevor Hairsine, artist on such titles as Judge Dredd, Captain America, Wisdom, Ultimate Galactus, Black Panther and many other comic books. I think the new title -- and title design -- works quite well.

Once again, here's the awe-inspiring Table of Contents:

Introduction: The Golden Age by Lou Anders
"Cleansed and Set in Gold" by Matthew Sturges
"Where their Worm Dieth Not" by James Maxey
"Secret Identity" by Paul Cornell
"The Non-Event" by Mike Carey
"Avatar" by Mike Baron
"Message from the Bubblegum Factory" by Daryl Gregory
"Thug" by Gail Simone
"Vacuum Lad" by Stephen Baxter
"A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" by Chris Roberson
"Head Cases" by Peter David & Kathleen David
"Downfall" by Joseph Mallozzi
"By My Works You Shall Know Me" by Mark Chadbourn
"Call Her Savage" by Marjorie M. Liu
"Tonight we fly" by Ian McDonald
"A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too)" by Bill Willingham

Cover - Swords & Dark Magic: Limited Edition

Now it can be shown, the cover for the Subterranean Press Limited Edition version of Swords & Dark Magic, to be published in July, with a cover by Dominic Harman.

Swords & Dark Magic
edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders
(preorder--to be published in July 2010)
Dust jacket by Dominic Harman
Limited: $75
ISBN: 978-1-59606-311-2
Length: 424 pages

Swords & Dark Magic is the most important new fantasy anthology to be published this decade. Featuring new stories from the bestselling and brightest writers working in the genre, including: New York Times bestselling authors Scott Lynch and Garth Nix; genre greats Michael Moorcock (with an all-new Elric novella), Michael Shea (with a fully authorized new Cugel the Clever adventure), Robert Silverberg (with an all-new Majipoor tale), Glen Cook (with an all-new Black Company story), Gene Wolfe, and C. J. Cherryh; and hot new writers who've been re-inventing swords and sorcery like Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Tim Lebbon, and many more.

Limited: 500 signed numbered copies, bound in full cloth

Table of Contents

• Check Your Dark Lord at the Door" — Lou Anders & Jonathan Strahan
• Goats of Glory — Steven Erikson
• Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company — Glen Cook
• Bloodsport — Gene Wolfe
• The Singing Spear — James Enge
• A Wizard of Wiscezan — C.J. Cherryh
• A Rich Full Week — K. J. Parker
• A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet — Garth Nix
• Red Pearls: An Elric Story — Michael Moorcock
• The Deification of Dal Bamore — Tim Lebbon
• Dark Times at the Midnight Market — Robert Silverberg
• The Undefiled — Greg Keyes
• Dapple Hew the Tint Master — Michael Shea
• In the Stacks — Scott Lynch
• Two Lions, A Witch, and the War-Robe — Tanith Lee
• The Sea Troll's Daughter — Caitlin R Kiernan
• Thieves of Daring — Bill Willingham
• The Fool Jobs — Joe Abercrombie

Update 5/3/10: Subterranean Press reports that "Swords is selling very well. At this point, we have fewer than 200 copies left for sale, which means we may not have copies for large online retailers and our wholesale accounts, and the it may even be sold out by the time it's released this summer." Get yours here.