Lou Anders's Blog, page 56

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Got to admit, this looks good. I never saw the second Narnia film, though, and was only ok on the first.

Steamed at this Punk

Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines is one of the best young adult novels I've read. So I'm really disappointed in his recent blog post, "The Stink of Steampunk," where he bags on all the writers jumping on the steampunk bandwagon, while admitting that pretty much everything he's ever written utilizes the same tropes. He claims that his own work is exempt from his criticism on the grounds that it uses a non-Victorian setting and mixes in other elements amid the tropes. Oh, and is well done. Then he...

Swords & Dark Magic - Reviews Round Up

Reviews are starting to pour in for Swords & Dark Magic , the sword and sorcery anthology I co-edited with Jonathan Strahan. Here are a few of the good ones:

 "...a thoroughly entertaining read." Nine out of Ten - Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

"Sword and sorcery is back, with the same dark, violent and gritty verve that made it so appealing the first time around. Strahan and Anders have managed to find writers who can grab the bloody prizes, and evoke the ancient magic with mere words. The old to...

I am so reading this...

I'm talking, of course, abot Michael Moorcock's Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles . I've known about it for a while of course, but the description comes via SF Signal:

Miggea - a world on the very edge of reality. The cusp between this universe and the next. A point where space-time has worn thin, and is in danger of collapsing. And the venue for the grand finals of the competition to win the fabled Arrow of Law. The Doctor and Amy have joined the Terraphiles - a group obsessed...

Publishers Weekly on Masked

Publishers Weekly has reviewed my forthcoming superhero anthology, Masked:

Anders (Fast Forward) delivers an ambitious collection of superhero tales that provide top-notch plots and characterizations while honoring their four-color roots. In Daryl Gregory's superbly metafictional "Message from the Bubble Gum Factory," a former sidekick finally realizes the broader implications of superheroes. Stephen Baxter nicely applies hard science to the futuristic "Vacuum Lad." Gail Simone's "Thug" and...

The Office of Shadow: Politics, Treachery, Heroism, Sacrifice and Action

" The Office of Shadow is a great adventure with a finely woven narrative and a compelling plot. Sturges' writing is of high-quality and he brings a fascinating cast of characters to a tale full of politics, treachery, heroism, sacrifice and slick action. It also features a magic system which is utterly credible and brilliantly realised. One of the very best I have encountered. I really enjoyed this book. The Shadows are a terrific creation and I want more. Much more." James Barclay...

Charlaine Harris on Shadow's Son

Charlaine Harris, of Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood fame, has very kindly given a plug for Jon Sprunk's debut fantasy, Shadow's Son , on her blog.

"The cover looked sort of young adult-ish, but there's nothing on the cover to classify it, so I wasn't sure what I was getting into. As it turns out, Sprunk's book could be read by young adults but is also quite entertaining for older adults. Assassin Caim, in the city of Othir, finds that he himself is the subject of an insidious plot. The killer...

Kay Kenyon's The Entire and the Rose: A Landmark SF Series

From Greg L Johnson at SF Site:

"When Bright of the Sky , the first novel in The Entire and the Rose appeared, comparisons were quickly made between Kenyon's Bright, Larry Niven's Ringworld , and Philip José Farmer's Riverworld . With the publication of Prince of Storms , it's just as easy to make comparisons to C.J. Cherryh's many novels dealing with the relationships of power in society, and to Frank Herbert's examination in Dune of the dangers inherent in trying to control the future. That's pr...

Three Chesley Award Nominations for Pyr

ASFA, the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, have announced the 2010 Chesley Award nominees for works eligible from 2009, and I am very honored to report that Pyr has made the ballot three times.
For Best Cover Illustration: Paperback:
David Palumbo for  Stalking the Dragon  by Mike Resnick (Pyr, August 2009)John Picacio for  World's End  by Mark Chadbourn (Pyr, May 2009)
For Best Art Director:
Lou Anders (which is me). We are all very honored by these three nominations.
2010 is the 2...

Behind the Mask: The Evolution of a Super Cover

Designer Richard Yoo worked on the cover treatment for my forthcoming comic heroes-in-prose anthology, Masked . Over on his blog, he posts several interesting cover concepts that were explored before artist Trevor Hairsine was brought in, as well as type treatments after he was. (Note that Masked was originally titled With Great Power).

Masked will be released by Gallery Books this coming July, with an amazing list of contributors that includes Bill Willingham, Marjorie M Liu, Gail Simone, Mike...