Here’s the final batch of new books from ChiZine. I don’t know much about any of these, though they do all appear to fit with ChiZine’s usual preference for the darker end of fantasy and horror.

Every House is Haunted by Ian Rogers is a debut collection of horror novels with a rave recommendation from no less than Laird Barron.

Hair Side, Flesh Side by Helen Marshall is also a debut horror collection. I remember Alisa Krasnostein enthusing about this one on Galactic Suburbia. Alisa, of course, if known for publishing the likes of Kaaron Warren and Margo Lanagan (and a Kirstyn McDermott book just launched, I believe), so her opinions on such books should be highly respected.

Stories from the Plague Years by Michael Marano also appears to be a horror collection. I see from the blurb that one of the stories, “Displacement”, was a Shirley Jackson award nominee.

The odd book out is The Book of Thomas, Volume One: Heaven by Robert Boyczuk. It is a novel, and despite the creepy cover it appears to be more grim satire than horror. Boyczuk has a Big Idea post at John Scalzi’s blog explaining his concept for the books.

Adding to our new material from our friends in Canada, I’m delighted to be stocking these two novels.

Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye by Paul Tremblay is a satirical science fiction story. I can’t explain any better than the blurb:

Farm is the mega-conglomerate food supplier for City, populated with rabidly bureaucratic superiors, and sexually deviant tour guides dressed in chicken and duck suits. City is sprawling, technocratic, and rests hundreds of feet above the coastline on the creaking shoulders of a giant wooden pier. When the narrator’s single mother, whom he left behind in City, falls out of contact, he fears the worst: his mother is homeless and subsequently to be deported under City to the Pier. On his desperate search to find his mother, he encounters ecoterrorists wearing plush animal suits, City’s all-powerful Mayor who is infatuated with magic refrigerators and outlaw campaigns, and an over-sexed priest who may or may not have ESP, but who is most certainly his deadbeat dad.

Jeff Ford and Lucius Shepard love it. What more do I need to add?

The Indigo Pheasant is an entirely different animal. It is the sequel to The Choir Boats, completing Daniel A. Rabuzzi’s Longing For Yount series. Delia Sherman describes the books as, “Dickens by way of C.S. Lewis and Jane Austen, set in a London where literature, history, science, and magic are all real.” I’ve been wanting to read these books for some time. My apologies to Daniel for not having made time to do so yet.

Continuing my updates from the bookstore, I have two anthologies from the Australian small press, Fablecroft.

Canterbury 2100 is a science fiction re-imagining of the Canterbury Tales. Edited by Dirk Flinthart, it includes stories by Angela Slatter, Stephen Dedman, Kaaron Warren, Thoraiya Dyer, Trent Jamieson and Lisa L. Hannett. You might wonder how travelers in the 22nd Century would have time to tell tales, but this is England we are talking about. In the future we will apparently have nuclear-powered steam trains, but they will still be subject to horrendous delays.

One Small Step is edited by Fablecroft’s supremo, Tehani Wessley. The theme of the anthology is discoveries, and contributors include Joanne Anderton, Deborah Biancotti, Rowena Cory Daniells, Thoraiya Dyer, Lisa L. Hannett, Angela Slatter and Tansy Rayner Roberts.

And finally, a writer that I am absolutely overjoyed to have in the store. Rob Shearman is one of the finest writers of creepy short fiction ever. Here we have a selection of some of his best, plus 10 entirely new stories. The book is a nominee for the Shirley Jackson Awards. And yes, Rob did write “Dalek” for Doctor Who, and the book does have rave plugs from Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat.

Possibly the scariest thing about it is the number of reviews that say how funny it is. I’m sure they are right, but that just makes it much worse when you turn the page and, oops, something dreadful happens. Remember Why You Fear Me, says Rob. Oh dear me yes, I do.

Any Melissa Scott fans out there? I hope so. Lethe Press has a new book out by her, co-written with Amy Griswold. This is not science fiction, it is a fantasy gaslight mystery. And given where the book is published, I think you can be confident in some queer content as well. This is from the blurb:

Ned and Julian explore London’s criminal underworld and sodomitical demimonde, uncover secrets and scandals, confront the unexpected murderer and the mysteries of their own relationship.

So if sodomitical demimondes are your thing, check out Death by Silver.

Having been away for a week, and collapsed for several days afterwards, I have a lot of catching up to do in the bookstore. I’ll be announcing new books all week, but I figured I’d start with some highlights.

First up we have a debut short fiction collection from Australian publisher, Fablecroft. If you have enjoyed Joanne Anderton’s novels from Angry Robot, why not check out her short fiction as well? The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories includes both science fiction and horror, and has an introduction from Kaaron Warren.

I’ve just uploaded a couple of new books to the Wizard’s Tower store.

The first is the Spring 2013 issue of Bull Spec magazine. I see it includes Paul Kincaid interviewing Kim Stanley Robinson, which should be interesting.

The other is a new book from Twelfth Planet. This one is actually a mystery, but if you are a regular listener to Galactic Suburbia then you should have a good idea of who Livia Day might be, and why Alisa is publishing her book. Besides, how can you not like a book called A Trifle Dead?

While I’m here, I should remind you about the two fabulous books I put in the store during the week. That’s Aliette de Bodard’s Hugo and Nebula nominated novella, On A Red Station, Drifting, and the first issue of Jonathan Wright’s wonderful magazine, Adventure Rocketship!”

I am delighted to announce that Wizard’s Tower has been asked to publish the ebook edition of Adventure Rocketship! #1. This resulted in a significant amount of squee in these here parts. After all, I can now claim to have published a book containing work by Lavie Tidhar, N.K. Jemisin, Minister Faust, Liz Williams, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Tim Maughan and many other fabulous people.

The book is currently available from the Wizard’s Tower store, and will also be available through the usual outlets over the next few days.

You want this, people, you really do. It has Liz Williams’ story about David Bowie; it has Minister Faust writing about George Clinton and N.K. Jemisin writing about Janelle Monáe; it has interviews with China Miéville and Michael Moorcock. In addition to Liz’s story there is fiction by Lavie Tidhar, Nir Yaniv, Martin Millar and Tim Maughan. And there’s lots more. What are you waiting for?

Those of you who are entitled to the Hugo Voter Packet should by now have got a copy of Aliette de Bodard’s fine novella, On A Red Station, Drifting. However, if you can’t get it that way, you might just want to buy a copy. Fortunately you can find it in a certain ebook store, for just £2.

I wouldn’t normally release a book on a Saturday, but time is getting short. This one should have been out on either Thursday or Friday, but circumstances have conspired against me and as I’m leaving for Finland on Monday I need to get it out now.

Fallen Host is, of course, the second in Lyda Morehouse’s AngeLINK series. Satan is running a used bookstore in New York. The Vatican’s crack tech crime investigator is a woman. And the Four Horsemen are, well, that might be a spoiler. Not that such things should really matter in a book that has been out for more than a decade, but publishers are supposed to tease prospective readers so here I am doing it.

Needless to say, I love this book (and all of the others in the series). I’m not in the least bit surprised to learn that Lyda would go around exclaiming “I love Satan!” while writing it. He is a splendid character. Hopefully some of you who are new to Lyda’s work will come to love it too.

As for me, I have two more novels to convert. So once I have this one in all of the major bookstores I’ll need to get on with the next one. There will be a new Juliet McKenna coming soon as well.