Sunday, August 02, 2009

Look, Up in the Sky! Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No, It's my Next Anthology!

Whew. Just right this second handed in With Great Power, an anthology of Superhero Prose Tales for Pocket books. And what an anthology! Coming in over 120,000 words, and featuring 15 stories by some truly amazing authors, 9 of them regular writers of actual comic books and graphic novels for DC and Marvel. No pastiche or parody this, but actual comics writers and SF&F authors who are themselves comic book fans writing sophisticated, modern narratives of superhero adventure, by and for today's sophisticated comic book reading public.

I don't have a release date yet, though there is some talk of having it out in time for next year's San Diego Comic Con. Regardless, look for this in 2010. Meanwhile, whet your appetites with this amazing TOC:

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

Not too shabby, no?

(And, it bears pointing out, my editor at Pocket, the amazing Jennifer Heddle, is herself the co-creator of the indie comic Cynical Girl. )

19 comments:

Justin Steiner said...

Quite a few Clockwork Storybookers in there, which isn't a bad thing at all.

Looking forward to it!

Unknown said...

This looks awesome Lou! Can't wait to read it.

Lou Anders said...

Thanks guys, and no not a bad thing at all. Especially considering these Clockwork goes all now write for DC.

ces said...

The heat has fried my brain. I can't figure this post out at all.

But I loved Stalking the dragon! The cell phone was hilarious!

The New Space Opera 2 is next. Irene had 2 pictures of you Lou sitting next to Martiniere. More covers from him being cooked-up?

Lou Anders said...

Post - I have an anthology coming out in 2010 of "superhero stories". Just delivered the manuscript to Pocket. Book is full of people who actually write comics for Marvel comics, DC, etc...

Stalking - very glad to hear this!

Irene -oh, where?

Arctic Goddess said...

Hi Lou:

Have you ever done an anthology of strictly time travel, sci-fi?

I'm a big fan.

Would love to read great time travel shorts.

Patricia

Jayf said...

Lou-
This anthology sounds terrific, I am looking forward to it very much. Bravo!

The Mad Hatter said...

Great line-up. I definitely looking forward to this one. I hope you get a cool cover.

Shirt'n'Tie said...

Hey Lou (AKA "The Pulse"!)

Shirt'n'Tie here in Ireland. Am really looking forward to this anthology (particularly with Mr Mallozzi's contribution) I followed his crytptic hints on the blog as the story was being crafted and can't wait to read "Downfall"

Best to you

Shirt'n'Tie

ces said...

See Irene's photos at Flicker.com.

Lou Anders said...

Couldn't find it. Lot of me on Flickr though I didn't know about.

ces said...

They're in the Day 4 set of her SDCC blog:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25346867@N03/sets/72157621752188457/


I just got my Locus august 2009 mag & read that you bought Ares Express! congrats! Hurray! Even though I already have a copy & have read it - wonderful book! - I'll be sure to buy the Pyr edition! Any idea of when it'll be available?

P.S. The heat has gone, & my brain has taken up residence again. :-)

Lou Anders said...

We'll have it out in 2010, Spring/Summer, with another Martiniere cover!

ces said...

GREAT!!!

The cover on the paperback edition I bought - well, it reminds me of a rant I read somewhere last week (don't know url - I just sort of stumbled on it) by an author about the cover art of her book not matching the book at all - in this case, the girl in the story was black & the cover art was of a white girl. Anyway, the girl on the Ares cover is clearly not an eight-year-old book, as the girl in the book was.

(I even read all the comments. It turned into a very interesting discussion about the role of marketing in book publishing. I wish I knew where I stumbled upon it - you would find it very interesting also.)

Lou Anders said...

It was here:
http://justinelarbalestier.com/

Lou Anders said...

Oh, Patricia - never did a strictly time-travel one. Been done too often I think. Thank you though.

Paul Weimer said...

That's an exciting lineup you got there.

ces said...

Lou, thanks!

Unknown said...

It's a fantastic list. You should be very proud…