Tony Lyons of Skyhorse says, ‘‘We look forward to publishing 10-20 new books a year, to re-promoting the Underland backlist, and to finding new readers for these terrific books.’’
Skyhorse (a print publisher best known for nonfiction titles) and Start (a digital publisher) have recently committed to building a genre list; they are also in negotiations to acquire at least part of the Night Shade books inventory.
ECLIPSE ONLINE CLOSES
Night Shade Books has announced that online magazine Eclipse Online is closing, effective immediately. All stories in inventory have been returned to their authors, and no new stories will be considered for publication. Editor Jonathan Strahan said, ‘‘While I am disappointed to see Eclipse Online close, I will always be grateful to Jason Williams, Jeremy Lassen, Ross Lockhart, and the team at Night Shade Books for their enthusiastic and energetic support of Eclipse over the past seven years.’’
B&N CUTS S&S ORDERS
Barnes & Noble has cut back orders of new Simon & Schuster titles – to ‘‘almost nothing’’ for some books – during an ongoing dispute over financial terms. Refusing to sell books is a new negotiating tactic for B&N, though not unheard of in the industry; Amazon.com famously removed ‘‘buy now’’ buttons from Macmillan titles during a dispute over terms. The refusal to stock S&S books will certainly hurt authors, particularly midlist and lesser-known writers. Some authors also claim the chain is taking other steps to pressure S&S, including refusing to display titles prominently and declining to host appearances from S&S authors.
While details on the exact nature of the disagreement remain confidential, insiders say that Barnes & Noble is trying to use its status as the last major retail book chain to gain more favorable terms, including steeper discounts on book prices and charging higher prices for co-op advertising and advantageous in-store placement.
MORE E-BOOKS IN LIBRARIES
Simon & Schuster has finally agreed to try letting libraries lend their e-books, the last of the major trade publishers to experiment with the possibility. They will launch a pilot program for one year with three New York City libraries, offering their entire backlist and new titles as they’re published, staring in April and May. They are allowing unlimited checkouts for each e-book copy purchased by the library, though ‘‘each copy may only be checked out by one user at a time.’’ The three libraries – the New York, Queens, and Brooklyn public libraries – will also sell S&S e-books on their websites, receiving a share of sales. If the program works out, it ‘‘could be implemented with other library systems across the United States.’’ Now all the Big Six publishers offer e-book lending in at least some libraries.
Penguin has dropped their policy of making libraries wait six weeks after publication before offering e-books of new hardcover releases; libraries can now purchase and lend those titles as soon as they’re published.
PETITION FOR ASIMOV HISTORICAL MARKER
A petition is being circulated by the Philadelphia Weekly to place a historical marker in honor of late SF grandmaster Issac Asimov on the corner of 50th and Spruce, where he once lived. It will read ‘‘Isaac Asimov. The late grand master of science fiction who authored 500 books across every Dewey Decimal category and invented the very idea of ‘robotics’ as a field of study, thus shaping the course of 20th-and 21st-century geekdom. He is generally thought of as a New Yorker – but he spent three very important years in Philadelphia.’’
The petition was launched at an event on April 6, when a group of Asimov’s fans gathered across the street from the apartment building where the author once lived. Local SF professionals Gardner Dozois, Michael Swanwick, Tom Purdom, Gregory Frost, and Victoria McManus were in attendance. The petition can be found at
STEPHEN KING NEWS
Stephen & Tabitha King have pledged to give $3 million to help renovate the Bangor ME public library, if the library can raise the other necessary $6 million. The Kings previously gave $2.5 million to the library in the mid ’90s. Stephen King will kick off PEN Canada’s International Festival of Authors on October 24, 2013 at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, with an onstage discussion with his son, author Owen King, moderated by mystery writer Louise Penny. Stephen King will be promoting his new novel, Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining, while Owen King will promote his debut novel, Double Feature. Tickets to the event are $100 and go on sale to the public April 18. All proceeds go to PEN Canada. For more:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
SFWA has announced that Robert Silverberg will be Toastmaster at the 48th Nebula Awards Weekend, to be held May 17-19, 2013, at the San Jose Hilton in San Jose CA. There will be a mass autograph session on Friday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., hosted by Borderlands Books and open to the public. Registration for the weekend and tickets for the awards banquet on Saturday can be purchased at SFWA’s site.
Starship Century, a symposium coordinated by the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination in collaboration with Gregory and James Benford, will be held May 21-22, 2013 at UC San Diego, Qualcomm Institute, Atkinson Hall Auditorium. The symposium will discuss the contents of upcoming anthology Starship Century: Toward the Grandest Horizon, edited by James & Gregory Benford. Scientists will ‘‘address the challenges and opportunities for our long-term future in space.’’ Authors Gregory Benford, David Brin, Joe Haldeman, Geoffrey Landis, Allen Steele, and Neal Stephenson will ‘‘discuss the implications that these trajectories of exploration might have upon our development as individuals and as a civilization.’’ For more:
The EMP Museum in Seattle is hosting exhibition ‘‘Fantasy: Worlds of Myth and Magic’’, beginning April 27, 2013. It will ‘‘examine the proliferation of the fantasy genre in literature, film, television, and video games,’’ with exhibits including suits of armor, costumes from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, hand-edited manuscript pages from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and various props from TV and movies. For more:
The SFWA Estates Project is working to expand its database of estates for deceased authors and locate the appropriate channels for contact. They ask agents, editors, and publishers to provide new or updated information about any estates they’ve dealt with. For a list of the estates SFWA needs information about, and a list of the estates for which they already have information, see:
Neal Stephenson and Arizona State University have launched Project Hieroglyph, an online space for ‘‘writers, scientists, artists, and engineers to collaborate on creative, ambitious visions of our near future.’’ Those interested in joining the project for ‘‘social collaboration’’ and creating optimistic visions of the future should visit
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WORLD CONVENTIONS NEWS
Loncon 3, the 72nd Worldcon, to be held August 14-18, 2014 in London, announced installment payment plans for Adult, Young Adult, and Family memberships, allowing them to spread payments over a longer period of time while locking in membership at a lower rate. For more:
LoneStarCon 3, the 71st World Science Fiction Convention, August 29 - September 2, 2013 in San Antonio TX, has published Press Release #10, confirming bids for the 2014 NASFiC and the 2015 Worldcon. The NASFiC bids are ‘‘Detroit in 2014’’, to be held July 17-20, 2014 in Detroit MI at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center,
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LEGAL NEWS
The European Union has approved the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House ‘‘without conditions,’’ joining approvals from the US Department of Justice, Australia, and New Zealand. The deal still requires approval from Canada, China, and other countries, all expected by the end of the year.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled in favor of Harlequin, dismissing a class action lawsuit brought by three authors regarding alleged improper payment of royalties for digital rights. The authors were offered 50% digital royalties, and argued they should be paid half the cover price for each sale; instead, Harlequin paid them only 3-4% of cover price, because that was half of the 6-8% fee Harlequin received from licensing e-book rights to other publishers. The authors argued that the ‘‘other publishers’’ were actually subsidiaries created and wholly owned by Harlequin for tax reasons, and shouldn’t be considered a separate entity. The court declined to address that argument, dismissing it because the authors failed to ‘‘state a claim’’ by providing a factual basis for their reading of the contract.
The US District Court has ruled that selling ‘‘used’’ music files is copyright infringement, with a ruling broad enough that it would likely apply to other ‘‘used’’ digital files, including e-books. Plaintiff Capitol Records received a summary judgment in its favor against ReDigi, a site that sold previously purchased music files from iTunes. The opinion reads, in part, ‘‘Courts have not previously addressed whether the unauthorized transfer of a digital music file over the Internet – where only one file exists before and after transfer – constitutes reproduction within the meaning of the Copyright Act. The Court holds that it does…the novel question presented in this action is whether a digital music file, lawfully made and purchased, may be resold by its owner…under the first sale doctrine. The Court determines that it cannot.’’ The judge decided that even if the original file is destroyed, what’s being sold is still an unlawfully created copy. Any time a user downloads a file it counts as ‘‘reproduction’’ and ‘‘distribution,’’ as those terms are defined in the Copyright Act – and those rights are reserved to the owner of the copyright. Assuming this holds up under appeal, it would undermine the legality of any used digital marketplace, even for e-books.
MAGAZINE NEWS
Apex Magazine is raising pay rates for nonfiction from $25 to $50 per article, for artwork from $50 to $50 per piece, and will now pay a penny per word for reprints up to 5,000 words (reprints were previously paid a flat rate of $25). New rates are effective beginning with issue #50. For more:
PUBLISHING NEWS
Telos Publishing has launched a new digital and PoD imprint, Telos Moonrise, ‘‘which will expand to cover a wider variety of fiction than we are currently able to undertake in the more traditional publishing lines.’’ Sam Stone will be consultant and editor for the imprint. Telos Moonrise will have several ‘‘ranges’’: steampunk in ‘‘Steampunk Visions’’, crime in ‘‘Criminal Pursuits’’, urban and dark fantasy/horror in ‘‘Dark Endeavours’’, and erotica in ‘‘Sinful Pleasures’’. Their first title is a ‘‘Dark Endeavours’’ collection, Absinthe and Arsenic by Raven Dane. For more:
Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta’s WordFire Press has made a deal to sell their e-books via the Baen eBook Library. WordFire’s more than 50 titles, including works by Frank Herbert, Neil Peart, Anderson, and others, will be available as DRM-free e-books at
BOOKSTORE NEWS
SF specialty store The Other Change of Hobbit is relocating to El Cerrito CA after 36 years in Berkeley CA. The store was founded in 1977 and had a location in downtown Berkeley until relocating a couple of miles south in 2010. The new location didn’t attract as much foot traffic, and owner Dave Nee fell behind on rent and was evicted. The new space is located at 1600 Kearny St. in El Cerrito. Nee says, ‘‘I regret having left Berkeley. It’s my hometown, but I don’t feel the climate there is right anymore for a bookstore, I’m sad to say.’’
AWARDS NEWS
‘‘You First Meet the Devil at a Church Fete’’ by Shannon Fay of Halifax, Canada won the James White Award, presented at Eastercon 64 in Bradford, England, March 29 – April 1, 2013. The award includes £300 and publication in Interzone. Runner-up Philip Suggars of Brighton, England won £100 for story ‘‘Automatic Diamanté’’.
The Baltimore Science Fiction Society has announced the finalists for the 2013 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award: Glitch, Heather Anastasiu (St. Martin’s Griffin); Shadow Ops: Control Point, Myke Cole (Ace); Stormdancer, Jay Kristoff (Thomas Dunne); Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr); Scourge of the Betrayer, Jeff Salyards (Night Shade). The award, which honors the best first SF/fantasy/horror novel of the year, will be presented at Balticon 47, May 24-27, 2013. Selection is by vote of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society membership.
The Libertarian Futurist Society has released the finalists for the 2013 Prometheus Best Novel award and Hall of Fame award. Best Novel Award: Arctic Rising, Tobias Buckell (Tor); The Unincorporated Future, Dani & Eytan Kollin (Tor); Pirate Cinema, Cory Doctorow (Tor); Darkship Renegades, Sarah Hoyt (Baen); Kill Decision, Daniel Suarez (Penguin). Hall of Fame Award: ‘‘Sam Hall’’, Poul Anderson (1953); Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold (1988); ‘‘‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman’’, Harlan Ellison (1965); Courtship Rite, Donald M. Kingsbury (1982); ‘‘As Easy as A.B.C.’’, Rudyard Kipling (1912); Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson (1999). The Hall of Fame award honors novels, novellas, stories, graphic novels, anthologies, films, TV shows/series, plays, poems, music recordings, and other works of fiction first published or broadcast more than five years ago. All members of the Libertarian Futurist Society are eligible to vote. The award will be presented in a ceremony during the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention, August 29 - September 2, 2013, in San Antonio TX.
The Terry P
ratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now First Novel Prize shortlist has been announced: The Unspoken Death of the Amazing Flying Boy by Jean Burdett; Bloodline by Sophie Constable; The Hive by Alexander Maskill; The Way Through the Woods by Robin Pearson; A Kill in the Morning by Graeme Shimmin; The Shadows of Annwn by Catherine Whittle. The award, launched in 2010 by Terry Pratchett and Transworld, is for an unpublished first novel ‘‘set on Earth, although it may be an Earth that might have been, or might yet be, one that has gone down a different leg of the famous trousers of time.’’ The winning writer will be offered a £20,000 prize as an advance against royalties on a publishing contract. Judges are Terry Pratchett; Rob Wilkins; Alex Veasey from Forbidden Planet; Simon Taylor, editorial director at Transworld; and Lynsey Dalladay, Pratchett’s publicist. The winner will be announced May 31, 2013. Contest details are available at
Finalists have been announced for the 2012 Aurealis Awards, honoring SF, fantasy, and horror by Australians. SF Novel: Suited, Jo Anderton (Angry Robot); The Last City, Nina D’Aleo (Momentum); And All The Stars, Andrea K. Host (self-published); The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, Ambelin Kwaymullina (Walker); A Confusion of Princes, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin); The Rook, Daniel O’Malley (Harper Collins). SF Story: ‘‘Visitors’’, James Bradley (Review of Australian Fiction); ‘‘Significant Dust’’, Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape); ‘‘Beyond Winter’s Shadow’’, Greg Mellor (Wild Chrome); ‘‘The Trouble with Memes’’, Greg Mellor (Wild Chrome); ‘‘The Lighthouse Keepers’ Club’’, Kaaron Warren (Exotic Gothic 4). Fantasy Novel: Bitter Greens, Kate Forsyth (Random House Australia); Stormdancer, Jay Kristoff (Tor UK); Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin); Flame of Sevenwaters, Juliet Marillier (Pan Macmillan Australia); Winter Be My Shield, Jo Spurrier (Harper Voyager). Fantasy Story: ‘‘Sanaa’s Army’’, Joanne Anderton (Bloodstones); ‘‘The Stone Witch’’, Isobelle Carmody (Under My Hat); ‘‘First They Came’’, Deborah Kalin (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #55); ‘‘Bajazzel’’, Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape); ‘‘The Isles of the Sun’’, Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape). Horror Novel: Bloody Waters, Jason Franks (Possible Press); Perfections, Kirstyn McDermott (Xoum); Blood and Dust, Jason Nahrung (Xoum); Salvage, Jason Nahrung (Twelfth Planet). Horror Story: ‘‘Sanaa’s Army’’, Joanne Anderton (Bloodstones); ‘‘Elyora’’, Jodi Cleghorn (Review of Australian Fiction); ‘‘To Wish Upon a Clockwork Heart’’, Felicity Dowker (Bread and Circuses); ‘‘Escena de un Asesinato’’, Robert Hood (Exotic Gothic 4); ‘‘Sky’’, Kaaron Warren (Through Splintered Walls). YA Novel: Dead, Actually, Kaz Delaney (Allen & Unwin); And All The Stars, Andrea K. Host (self-published); The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, Amberlin Kwaymullina (Walker); Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin); Into That Forest, Louis Nowra (Allen & Unwin). YA Story: ‘‘Stilled Lifes x 11’’, Justin D’Ath (Trust Me Too); ‘‘The Wisdom of Ants’’, Thoraiya Dyer (Clarkesworld 12/12); ‘‘Rats’’, Jack Heath (Trust Me Too); ‘‘The Statues of Melbourne’’, Jack Nicholls (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #56); ‘‘The Worry Man’’, Adrienne Tam (self-published). Collection: The Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote, K.J. Bishop (self-published); Metro Winds, Isobelle Carmody (Allen & Unwin); Midnight and Moonshine, Lisa L. Hanett & Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga); Living With the Dead, Martin Livings (Dark Prints); Through Splintered Walls, Kaaron Warren (Twelfth Planet). Anthology: The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011, Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene, eds. (Ticonderoga); Bloodstones, Amanda Pillar, ed. (Ticonderoga); The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 6, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade); Under My Hat, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Random House); Edge of Infinity, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Solaris). Children’s Fiction (told primarily through words): Brotherband: The Hunters, John Flanagan (Random House Australia); Princess Betony and the Unicorn, Pamela Freeman (Walker); The Silver Door, Emily Rodda (Scholastic); Irina the Wolf Queen, Leah Swann (Xoum). Children’s Fiction (told primarily through pictures): Little Elephants, Graeme Base (author and illustrator) (Viking Penguin); The Boy Who Grew Into a Tree, Gary Crew (author) & Ross Watkins (illustrator) (Penguin Group Australia); In the Beech Forest, Gary Crew (author) & Den Scheer (illustrator) (Ford Street); Inside the World of Tom Roberts, Mark Wilson (author and illustrator) (Lothian Children’s Books). Illustrated Book/Graphic Novel: Blue, Pat Grant (author and illustrator) (Top Shelf Comix); It Shines and Shakes and Laughs, Tim Molloy (author and illustrator) (Milk Shadow); Changing Ways #2, Justin Randall (author and illustrator) (Gestalt). Winners will be announced on May 18, 2013 at the annual Aurealis Awards ceremony at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney, Australia. For more:
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