We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate William F. Nolan on being named 2006 Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Nolan will be honored at the 2006 Nebula Awards Weekend in Tempe, Arizona, May 4-7. And speaking of William F. Nolan, his short fiction collection, Wild Galaxy (ISBN 1-930846-31-2), has been selected to the Kansas City Star's "100 Noteworthy Books of 2005" list. Congratulations, Bill!

In issue #2 of the new Subterranean Magazine, Dorman T. Shindler reviews two recent Golden Gryphon Press collections. About Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories, he writes: "The Frost collection, illustrated by Jason Van Hollander (who did the extraordinary, wraparound cover) offers up 14 terrific tales, like 'Madonna of the Maquiladora' . . . Frost is one of those delightfully unpredictable fantasists whose stories are all over the map." And from the second review: "The stories and introductions in Live! From Planet Earth are a blast from the past and a celebration of one of SF's finest writers, the late, great George Alec Effinger . . . Gardner Dozois introduces Effinger's 'O. Niemand' stories — collected here in one group for the first time — stories which the author wrote under a pseudonym when he wanted to mimic the styles of literary greats like Hemingway, Twain and Steinbeck. As with everything else he did, Effinger does so with style."

Wild Galaxy, Attack of the Jazz Giants, and Live! From Planet Earth, along with our other 2005 titles, can be viewed in detail — and ordered — through our online Catalog.

Golden Gryphon Press would like to thank all of you for your continued support of our efforts — as well as the work of our authors and artists — throughout this past year. And we hope you'll be there with us in 2006 because we have, as always, some great titles scheduled. Here's wishing you and yours a healthy, safe, and joyous 2006!

Forthcoming Books

The title story to George's collection, "Black Pockets," is a previously unreleased novella written exclusively for this volume. When I asked George for a few words about the title story to post here, he replied: "Got foes? Black Pocket them with applied metaphysics provided by a dear enemy." This collection showcases the darker side of George Zebrowski's writing.

And here's what Dale Bailey had to say about new novel Sleeping Policemen: "From its terrifying opening on an isolated stretch of mountain highway to its nightmarish conclusion, the book plumbs the darkest recesses of the human heart. And its breakneck suspense never lets up. A hard-boiled noir thriller in the tradition of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain, Sleeping Policemen is both an unforgettable reading experience and a haunting exploration of the dark side of the American Dream."

Sounds like both of these books should be read in a brightly lit room! Black Pockets and Other Dark Thoughts will be published in May 2006 and Sleeping Policemen the following month.

Reviews and Interviews

Two of our other recent titles have been reviewed in online publications: In Green Man Review, Cat Eldridge reviews From the Files of the Time Rangers (ISBN 1-930846-35-5) by Richard Bowes: "I really like a well-written time travel adventure. Unfortunately, they are, in my opinion, quite rare." Cat goes on to compare the Bowes novel with the likes of Kage Baker's "Company" novels, Connie Willis's award-winning Doomsday Book, along with works by Fritz Leiber and Robert Heinlein, among others. Cat concludes his review with the statement: "Bowes' From the Files of the Time Rangers is on my personal list of the best novels of 2005."

Rambles Magazine reviews Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (ISBN 1-930846-34-7): "Frost is an ambitious writer . . . And given the broad range of styles and subjects, from space opera to quiet horror to fables in the tradition of 'Coyote the trickster' stories, my guess is that anyone who picks up this collection will discover something marvelous between its covers."

You can read the complete reviews and more by visiting our online Catalog.

And last, but certainly not least, we have links to online interviews with two of our recently published authors. We think you’ll enjoy reading these insightful discussions.

On EDGE Boston, Kilian Melloy interviews Jack Dann about his new collection, The Fiction Factory (ISBN 1-930846-36-3) — and his thoughts and experiences writing collaborative fiction. On Science Fiction Weekly, Nick Gevers interviews Jeffrey Ford about his new novel as well as his forthcoming second Golden Gryphon Press collection, The Empire of Ice Cream.

And, of course, don’t forget our Holiday Special Sale ongoing through the end of the year. We have 21 of our archival-quality hardcovers on sale, so this is your chance to fill in some of those gaps to complete your Golden Gryphon Press collection — and buy some grand holiday gifts, too.

     Book   #2 ― The Moon Maid and Other Fantastic Adventures by R. Garcia y Robertson
     Book   #4 ― The Dragons of Springplace by Robert Reed
     Book   #5 ― The Robot's Twilight Companion by Tony Daniel
     Book   #6 ― Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories by Neal Barrett Jr.  (Autographed Copies available)
     Book   #7 ― Terminal Visions by Richard Paul Russo
     Book   #9 ― Blue Kansas Sky by Michael Bishop
     Book #10 ― Beluthahatchie and Other Stories by Andy Duncan
     Book #11 ― Claremont Tales by Richard A. Lupoff
     Book #12 ― Stories for an Enchanted Afternoon by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
     Book #14 ― The Wild Boy by Warren Rochelle
     Book #15 ― Strange Trades by Paul Di Filippo
     Book #17 ― Claremont Tales II by Richard A. Lupoff
     Book #18 ― Swift Thoughts by George Zebrowski  (Autographed Copies available)
     Book #19 ― The Great Escape by Ian Watson
     Book #22 ― Strange But Not a Stranger by James Patrick Kelly
     Book #23 ― Louisiana Breakdown by Lucius Shepard
     Book #24 ― Custer's Last Jump and Other Collaborations by Howard Waldrop and Friends
     Book #26 ― Brighten to Incandescence: 17 Stories by Michael Bishop
     Book #27 ― Nothing Human by Nancy Kress
     Book #29 ― Mockymen by Ian Watson
     Book #30 ― The Resurrection Man's Legacy and Other Stories by Dale Bailey

This Holiday Special Sale ends on December 31, 2005, but place your order today to ensure your books arrive in time for the holidays.

We have just posted our first Golden Gryphon Press New Releases Bulletin, thanks to the generous time and talents of Jason Van Hollander, another of our World Fantasy Award-winning artists. The bulletin focuses on our two newest releases, The Fiction Factory by Jack Dann and Friends, and Robert Reed's The Cuckoo's Boys. Plus, in anticipation of the release of The Empire of Ice Cream in early 2006, the Bulletin also includes a few special words from author Jeffrey Ford. Our thanks to Jeff for his contribution, and to Jason for pulling together this project for us.

Autographed Books

Golden Gryphon Press would like to congratulate Lucius Shepard, whose collection, Two Trains Running (ISBN 1-930846-23-1), has been nominated for the 2005 Endeavor Award. This award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book created by a Pacific Northwest writer; Lucius resides in Vancouver, Washington. The winner of the award will be announced at Orycon 27 in Portland, Oregon, November 4-6, 2005. Good luck, Lucius! Click on Endeavor Award for more information.

We also recently learned that Dale Bailey's short story "Death and Suffrage" has not only been optioned for a cable TV movie, but also production on the movie has begun! The movie, entitled Homecoming, will be broadcast this Halloween as part of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series. Dale teaches English at Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina, and you can read more about the author and the making of this movie in a feature article published in The Charlotte Observer. "Death and Suffrage," winner of the 2003 International Horror Guild Award, can be found in Dale's first collection, The Resurrection Man's Legacy and Other Stories (ISBN 1-930846-22-3).

This next bit of congratulations is rather different from our usual awards notices and such: Author Alastair Reynolds has married partner Josette Sanchez, and the couple are currently honeymooning in Malaysia! We had the opportunity to meet Al and Josette at the 2002 San Jose WorldCon, where we premiered Al's Turquoise Days, our first limited edition chapbook. Al and Josette reside in The Netherlands, so it was indeed a special treat to have met them in California. Congratulations, Al and Josette! All our best wishes!

Now Shipping!

The Fiction Factory is a collection of the best of Jack Dann's collaborative short fiction with world-renowned authors Susan Casper, Gardner Dozois, Gregory Frost, Jack C. Haldeman II, Barry N. Malzberg, Michael Swanwick, Janeen Webb, and George Zebrowski. The surviving coauthors contribute afterwords to the collection, about which Publishers Weekly writes: "Headnotes by the coauthors and by Dann himself provide an engaging, informal, often laugh-out-loud look at the impetus for each story." And in his review in the September issue of Locus, Nick Gevers calls The Fiction Factory "a strong collection, and additionally provides invaluable technical insights into the storytelling process. Put so much talent together, and good results can only flow . . ." He also states that "the writers represented in The Fiction Factory are amongst the best in short SF, fantasy, and horror . . . most of the stories featured are excellent; they are triumphs of collective expertise, strikingly conceived and finely honed."

In addition to the trade hardcover of The Fiction Factory, we also have a slipcased limited edition signed by all eleven contributors, including cover artist J. K. Potter. (Note: Since Jack C. Haldeman II passed away on January 1, 2002, his wife, author Barbara Delaplace, has signed this limited edition in his place.) The trade edition is $24.95 and the slipcased, signed and numbered limited edition is priced at only $75.00.

The Cuckoo's Boys is Robert Reed's second Golden Gryphon Press collection, following 1999's highly acclaimed The Dragons of Springplace. This new collection features eleven of Bob's best short stories from the past dozen or so years, plus 12,650-word novelette, "Abducted Souls," published here for the first time, and a lengthy afterword detailing the genesis of each story. Artist Edward Miller (pseudonym of British Fantasy Award-winning artist Les Edwards) provides the wraparound cover art. The Publishers Weekly review of The Cuckoo's Boys states: "The dozen stories in Reed's second Golden Gryphon collection . . . showcase this prolific author's ability to put a fresh spin on traditional SF themes . . . Reed at his best ranks high in the SF firmament."

Autographed Books Available!

More Reviews

A fairly new website, FantasyBookSpot.com, recently reviewed Jeff VanderMeer's Secret Life (ISBN 1-930846-27-4): "Sometimes grotesque, beautiful, funny or heartbreaking and always surreal and dreamlike, [the stories] all leave a lasting impression on the reader's mind. VanderMeer's work roams to distant literary horizons throughout all of the stories, but never fails to intrigue . . . Seekers of that which steps beyond the borders of reality, look no further. My final impression of Secret Life is a well-deserved 10."

For more information on all of the titles mentioned above, please visit our online Catalog.

Random Notes

And last, but certainly not least, if you enjoy meeting up with our authors and artists at conventions and signings and other events, please don't forget to view the online Calendar regularly. We'll update the calendar, sometimes as often as two or three times in one week, whenever we have new events to share — and occasionally an event may take place within a few days from when we post it. We don't typically wait for a major web site update to refresh the calendar.

<> Special Offer <>

So if you purchased your copy of The Atrocity Archives direct from Golden Gryphon, one of these bookplates can be yours for just the cost of postage. And, if you purchase a First Edition copy of The Atrocity Archives now, we'll include one of these bookplates FREE! with your order. For details, including a picture of the bookplate, please check out the Special Offer page.

<> Forthcoming Books <>

First up is The Empire of Ice Cream (ISBN 1-930846-39-8), Jeffrey Ford's second short fiction collection from Golden Gryphon Press. Empire contains fourteen stories including a new, previously unpublished novella entitled "Botch Town" — nearly 40,000 words of pure unadulterated Jeffrey Ford! The collection has an introduction by world-renowned fantasist Jonathan Carroll, and full wraparound cover art by Chesley Award-winning artist John Picacio. If you're a fan of Jeff's work, then you know his first collection, The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories, won the 2003 World Fantasy Award for best single author collection. What you may not know is that Jeff won two World Fantasy Awards that year, the other for best short story for "Creation" (which is also included in The Fantasy Writer's Assistant). And given the strength and quality of The Empire of Ice Cream, we strongly believe that Jeff will receive another World Fantasy Award nomination for this collection as well.

The second new title in our Forthcoming Books is a trade paperback edition of an early Lucius Shepard vampire novel, The Golden (ISBN 1-930846-38-X). In his review on Locus online, Claude Lalumière wrote: "The Golden is a lushly decadent novel, filled with sudden violence, disturbing sensuality, complex relationships, and altered states of perception. The prose is gorgeously sumptuous, and the tale is a multiflavoured feast of rich emotions." And Nick Gevers, writing for Parsec online, said of the book: "The Golden is, however implausibly, an original vampire novel." The Golden features wraparound cover art from the very distinct talent (and mind) of J. K. Potter.

Stay tuned for more details on our forthcoming books in future updates.

<> Reviews & Interviews <>

Rick Bowes is also given the interview-and-review treatment on a fairly new website called FantasyBookSpot.com. When asked a question about the "mosaic novel," Rick responded: "In its original usage, a mosaic is a work of art created out of bits of glass, of tiles, of colored stones. And that's kind of how I see 'Time Rangers' with chunks of fantasy and pieces of science fiction, myth and politics, ancient gods and cable TV, embedded side by side . . ." The interviewer, "Jay," also wrote the book review in which he states: "Bowes does fill the pages with constant relevance, however, there are no wasted sentences, much less pages, the work is seamless . . . From the Files of the Time Rangers is a delightful read, where the world’s myths are brought to life in the most realistic of settings, creating an effect like viewing a never before seen exhibit at a familiar museum."

Another 2005 release, Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (ISBN 1-930846-34-7), was recently reviwed on SF Site online, in which the reviewer calls short story "Collecting Dust" "powerful stuff, nicely understated with a sharp eye for detail"; "How Meersh the Bedeviler Lost His Toes" "another winner"; and "Lizaveta," set in wartime Russia, "wonderfully atmospheric and creepy, one of the volume's highlights." The fourteen stories in Attack of the Jazz Giants are bookended in the front with a Foreword by New York Times bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler and at the end with an Afterword by Nebula Award-winning author John Kessel. Each story is highlighted with a black & white illustration by World Fantasy Award-winning artist Jason Van Hollander.

Pamela Sargent's Thumbprints, a short fiction collection published last fall, has been reviewed in Ticonderoga Online, a 'zine from Australia. The reviewer, Russell Farr, writes: "[Thumbprints] is one of those rare, diverse collections that showcases a writer able to produce stories of an impressive quality across a range of themes. Sargent is a writer of great strength, and testament to her talent is the way the early stories in this collection are able to sit comfortably with her newer material, demonstrating thirty years of exceptional writing. The highlight of the collection has to be 'Venus Flowers at Night,' a self-contained prequel story related to Sargent's 'Venus' trilogy." And speaking of "Venus Flowers at Night," which clocks in at 14,350 words, the story was a finalist for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best SF story of the year.

Additional details and ordering information on these and our other titles can be found in our online Catalog.

You can also download a copy of the 2005 Golden Gryphon Press Catalog in PDF format. It's a relatively small file since there are few graphics, and therefore a quick download.

Now, should you read "The Concrete Jungle," you'll meet Bob Howard — a wisecracking, occasionally insubordinate, computer-hacker desk jockey, who has been, shall we say, inducted into the Laundry, a British supersecret intelligence organization, and now he's just itching for some field ops! Bob was first introduced in Charlie Stross's first novel, The Atrocity Archive — that's right, first novel! Singularity Sky was not the author's first novel as some of you may have thought. You'll find both of these Bob Howard tales — "The Atrocity Archive" and "The Concrete Jungle" — in the book The Atrocity Archives (plural) (ISBN 1-930846-25-8) from Golden Gryphon Press. The demand for Atrocity was so great, that a few months after publication we released a second printing of th A first edition of the book is easily distinguishable: the bottom of the copyright page states "First Edition," and the last printed page in the book contains the colophon. By now, all retail and online stores will have second printings, but fir ditions are still available direct from Golden Gryphon Press. Please check out The Atrocity Archives page for more information and to order your copy.

And yet more congratulations are in order as both Ian R. MacLeod and John Picacio have been nominated for the World Fantasy Award — Ian for best single-author collection for Breathmoss and Other Exhalations (ISBN 1-930846-26-6) and John Picacio as best artist of the year. Breathmoss contains award-winning stories "The Chop Girl" and "The Summer Isles"; and the title story was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Awards. And John Picacio's cover art can be seen on our recent titles George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth and Richard Bowes's From the Files of the Time Rangers — and on forthcoming titles The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford and Sleeping Policemen by Dale Bailey and Jack Slay Jr. We'll be adding these latter two titles to our Forthcoming Books page beginning with the next update, and when you see the wraparound cover art for these books, you will know why John is finally getting the recognition he so richly deserves.

** Reviews **

The first review of our most recent title, From the Files of the Time Rangers (ISBN 1-930846-35-5) by Richard Bowes, has finally appeared. (Note: this book was released about six weeks ahead of schedule.) The review from Publishers Weekly states in part: "Reminiscent of the Company stories of Kage Baker (who provides a glowing foreword), the individual tales that make up Bowes's 'mosaic' novel add up to a relatively coherent alternate history of Greek gods, men, heroes and cyborgs. . . . While the gods themselves are mostly seen from afar, by novel's end oracles, Furies and fate have all come together in a grand Telling for humanity's future. . . . the diligent reader will uncover a worthwhile, fantastic world."

And we also have seen one new review for each of our previous two titles:

In Rick Kleffel's Agony Column, Terry Weyna reviews Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (ISBN: 1-930846-34-7): "Perhaps the most amazing things about Attack of the Jazz Giants is how very compelling it is. Most single-author collections almost demand to be read in the same manner that one eats a pound of fudge — slowly, a bit at a time, over a number of days. Even the very best authors have recurring themes that become uncomfortably noticeable in a collection, and little turns of phrase or samenesses of description start to have a prominence that one would not otherwise notice. But that's not the case with Frost's work. Every story differs radically from every other story. There are no similarities save the excellence of the writing."

Those readers already familiar with the life and work of George Alec Effinger know that he called the city of New Orleans his home, and in fact, a lot of what he wrote, particularly the "Budayeen" stories, had their genesis in that city. So it was with great joy when we read Susan Larson's review of Live! From Planet Earth (ISBN 1-930846-32-0) in the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "Readers who are encountering these stories for the first time will be swept away by Effinger's sensibility. Longtime fans will relish the introductions and memory pieces by such well-known writers as Neal Barrett Jr., Michael Bishop, Jack Dann, Bradley Denton, Gardner Dozois, Neil Gaiman, Richard Gilliam, Lawrence Person, Mike Resnick, Howard Waldrop, Pamela Sargent, George Zebrowkski, and of course, Barbara Hambly, Effinger's literary executrix. This book is truly a labor of love. There is an elegaic quality to many of the introductions to these stories — the expected sense of loss of what Effinger might have written had he lived longer, a sense of appreciation for what remains of his work, and real sense that these friends feel deprived of the pleasure of his company, even when he was bumming cab fare. Effinger once said that his favorite word was 'terrific,' and that he had his characters use it as often as possible. It seems appropriate to use it in speaking of this book. Terrific work, Mr. Effinger, just terrific."

**Book Catalog**

The 2005 Golden Gryphon Press Catalog is now available as a PDF file download. Though twenty pages in length, the catalog is a relatively small file because there are few graphics, just a detailed description of our many available hardcovers, trade paperbacks, and chapbooks — along with, of course, the requisite order blank!

The catalog is courtesy of the inestimable talents of award-winning artist Jason Van Hollander who we thank for his most generous time. You can view Jason's wraparound cover art on our recent title Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories by Gregory Frost. By the way, Jason also provides an interior black and white illustration for each of the fourteen stories contained within this collection.

In the next update, we'll be posting details, including full cover art, for two of our spring 2006 titles: Jeffery Ford's collection, The Empire of Ice Cream, as well as the Golden Gryphon Press trade paperback edition of The Golden, a novel by Lucius Shepard. So, until next update . . .

Well . . . We shipped our most recent title, From the Files of the Time Rangers (ISBN 1-930846-35-5) by Richard Bowes, so far ahead of schedule that we're still waiting for the reviews to catch up! But in the meantime, we have a new review for each of our previous two titles.

Kilian Melloy in a review for EDGE Boston had this to say about Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (ISBN: 1-930846-34-7): "Gregory Frost is a writer of uncommon power, passion, and persuasion, a voice that speaks truth to power and apathy alike. With unerring metaphors, he zeroes in on the imbalances and outrages that most of us cannot articulate. Where the many might feel the vague, incomplete outline of a cultural moral failing, a very few — Frost among them — can pick them out from the landscape and see them for what they are. It’s a rare gift, his kind of vision . . ."

In the Rocky Mountain News, Mark Graham reviews George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth (ISBN 1-930846-32-0): "But the highlight of the book is a section of seven stories and the poem the author wrote under the pen name O. Niemand (German for nobody). In each of these works, Effinger adopts the style of a classic mainstream author to show what that author might have done if he'd written science fiction. If readers didn't know it was Effinger behind the pen, they'd swear they'd found undiscovered manuscripts by Mark Twain, O. Henry, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, James Thurber, Flannery O'Connor, Ring Lardner and poet Don Marquis. As Gardner Dozois says in his introduction to these literary pastiches: 'Enjoy this jewel-case full of small marvels. . . . In their own small way, they are unlike anything ever done in science fiction before, and you will never see their like again.' This statement could equally apply to all of Effinger's works."

Further information on these and other Golden Gryphon Press titles can be obtained from our online Catalog. And please feel free to order our books at this time as well.

Question: How many small presses worldwide can claim to have shipped every title — in the case of Golden Gryphon Press, that's 41 hardcovers, 4 chapbooks, and 4 trade paperbacks (so far!) — ahead of schedule? Answer: None. So not only do we publish archival quality books from the top authors in the field, but we ship you those books on schedule, too.

We have a couple reviews to share with you of our recently published titles:

William F. Nolan's collection, Wild Galaxy (ISBN 1-930846-31-2) was recently reviewed in the Rocky Mountain News. Reviewer Mark Graham writes: "In Wild Galaxy, Golden Gryphon Press has published what Nolan calls his best and most representative tales . . . the longer narratives make Wild Galaxy worthwhile. In 'Lone Star Traveler,' a 45-page novella . . . Nolan mixes science-fiction with the traditional western to great effect — 'Max Brand in Heinlein country,' as the author calls it."

For Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (ISBN: 1-930846-34-7) by Gregory Frost, Rick Kleffel had this to say in his Agony Column commentary on July 12: "Frost is one of those great science fiction writers who roam the entire literary landscape, offering up works of horror, fantasy and in this collection, 'The Road to Recovery,' an interplanetary 'road picture' with offhand salutes to Hope & Crosby and even Flash Gordon. Readers looking for the kind of variety that you find in the works of Ray Bradbury will find themselves in familiar hands here. The introduction is by cross-genre and best-selling favorite Karen Joy Fowler. Frost himself offers succinct comments after each story. John Kessel (great name) provides an incendiary political afterword he calls 'The Damned Human Race'. . ." How can you go wrong when both Karen Joy Fowler and John Kessel recommend a writer's work!

Please visit the Golden Gryphon Press online Catalog for further information.

The annual Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award recognizes the best science fiction short story of the previous year. And Golden Gryphon Press would like to congratulate both Robert Reed and Pamela Sargent whose short stories were nominated for this prestigious award. Robert Reed's signed & numbered limited edition chapbook story Mere was nominated as was Pamela Sargent's "Venus Flowers at Night," which is included in her recent collection Thumbprints. Mere, a 13,300-word novelette, takes place in Reed's "Marrow" universe and tells of the origin of the character Mere and how she came to be on the Great Ship. Mere then plays a pivotal role in the author's recently published novel, The Well of Stars. "Venus Flowers at Night" centers on a character from Sargent's "Venus" trilogy, who appears in the novels only as a legendary figure. In this story, one of the world's reigning Islamic officials visits America on a diplomatic mission and pursues a Venus terraforming project that may jeopardize his life.

Another of our authors, Ian Watson, is also a finalist for the Sturgeon Award, but for a story not published by Golden Gryphon Press. The Sturgeon Award will be presented at the Campbell Conference held July 7-10 in Lawrence, Kansas. Congratulations and best of luck to Robert Reed, Pamela Sargent, and Ian Watson.

Copies of Robert Reed's limited edition chapbook Mere and Pamela Sargent's short fiction collection Thumbprints are, of course, available for purchase direct from Golden Gryphon Press. We also have a few copies remaining of a slipcased, signed, numbered, and thumbprinted edition of Thumbprints for those connoisseurs of the bound word.

Our most recent hardcover title, Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (ISBN: 1-930846-34-7), has been reviewed in January Magazine and Kirkus Reviews. Andi Shechter in JanMag writes: "I began with this book reading "The Girlfriends of Dorian Gray" . . . I loved it. It's the madly creative story of a man who can eat and never grow fat. . . . there's a lot to like in Jazz Giants as well as a wide range of story themes." Andi concludes her review with: "A final note; when I review a work I try not to comment on the more extraneous things about a book . . . But the cover of Attack of the Jazz Giants is gorgeous. If I were Gregory Frost, I would want the original of this cover art hanging in my house." We're always grateful when reviewers recognize the cover art as well as the contents of our books. This particular cover art was done by World Fantasy Award-winning artist Jason Van Hollander, who also contributes an interior illustration for each of the collection's stories. As to the other review, Kirkus Reviews succinctly summed up Jazz Giants in its final sentence: "From jazz greats to Jesus: overall, a rare fantasy collection that has far more highs than lows."

We've posted links to two recent interviews, one with Kage Baker and the other with Jack Dann: The Kage Baker interview was conducted by Cat Eldridge for The Green Man Review. Kage discusses her latest "Company" novel, but she also talks about some of her short fiction that was published by Golden Gryphon Press, specifically the Alec Checkerfield stories (in Black Projects, White Knights) and The Angel in the Darkness limited edition chapbook. The Jack Dann interview, conducted by Nick Gevers for SciFi Weekly, focuses on Jack's recent James Dean alternate history novel. However, Jack also discusses his early days of writing, and the authors he collaborated with, which forms the basis of his forthcoming collaborative short fiction collection, The Fiction Factory. These two interviews are quite enlightening. Enjoy!

And we've also posted a couple new reviews, one each for our two most recent releases: Cheryl Morgan, in her Hugo Award-winning e-zine Emerald City, writes of Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories: "Another very odd piece is 'The Road to Recovery,' an amusing little SF tale done in the style of a Hope & Crosby Road movie . . . The story is the one unpublished work in the collection, and well worth seeking out. Then again, there are stories like 'The Bus' and 'Collecting Dust,' both wonderful pieces of social commentary on modern America that don’t appear to have been nominated for any awards but darn well should have been. . . . All in all, then, a highly entertaining collection . . ." In the online Rambles Magazine, Gregg Thurlbeck says of George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth: "The editors at Golden Gryphon Press felt obliged to balance this collection with some of the author's most impressive, and self-revealing, stories. And, thanks to the stories' introductions, written by Effinger's friends and colleagues, we get a better understanding of how to search for the writer in the looking glass of his work."

So, while we're busily preparing for our forthcoming fall releases, please do take this opportunity to purchase copies of these and our other recent titles — if you haven't already done so. Golden Gryphon Press showcases the best writers of contemporary sf and fantasy fiction — and you owe it to yourself to read the best!

Jeffrey Ford's short story "The Annals of Eelin-Ok" received the Fountain Award from the Speculative Literature Foundation for the best short story of the year. Click on this Speculative Literature Foundation link for more information on both the SLF and the Fountain Award. SLF and Jeffrey Ford have also been most gracious in providing the complete text of "The Annals of Eelin-Ok" for your reading pleasure. So enjoy! It is indeed one of the best stories of the past year, and will appear in Jeff's second and forthcoming Golden Gryphon Press collection, The Empire of Ice Cream. I don't know how long the story will remain online, so please set aside some time and read the story soonest. In addition, M. Rickert's story "Cold Fires" received an honorable mention from the Foundation — and you'll find "Cold Fires" in Mary's first short fiction collection, Map of Dreams, scheduled for publication in fall 2006. We realize that's more than a year away, but remember, a Golden Gryphon Press book is like a great wine, never released before its time.

And we have yet more awards news: The finalists for the annual Locus Awards have been announced and Charles Stross is on that list with three — that's right, three! — nominations: one each in the sf and fantasy novel category, and the third for novella "The Concrete Jungle." We've posted links to both the html and pdf versions of the complete text of "The Concrete Jungle," and hope that if you are voting for the Hugo Awards, you will consider voting for this story for best novella of the year. "The Concrete Jungle" is included in Charlie's The Atrocity Archives, now in its second printing — but those highly collectable first editions are still available direct from Golden Gryphon Press. And Jeffrey Ford's "The Annals of Eelin-Ok" is also a Locus Awards finalist for best short story! Lastly, two of Golden Gryphon's favorite artists, Bob Eggleton and Frank Kelly Freas, are finalists for the Locus Awards as well. In case you haven't been keeping track, the very first book published by Golden Gryphon Press in 1997 — James Patrick Kelly's Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories — bears an Eggleton cover. In fact, Bob has done a total of nine covers for us (so far!), more than any other artist. And Freas's artwork adorns two of our books. We also want to acknowledge the other Golden Gryphon Press authors who are finalists for the Locus Awards (though not for fiction/books published by us): Kage Baker, James Patrick Kelly, Lucius Shepard, Jeff VanderMeer, and Howard Waldrop. Congratulations to all!

Do we not publish the best authors (and great books)?

And speaking of the best authors and great books, our latest release — Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (ISBN: 1-930846-34-7) — has just received a *starred* review in Publishers Weekly: "Frost demonstrates his mastery of the short story form in what will surely rank as one of the best fantasy collections of the year. These 14 well-crafted tales, each illustrated by Jason Van Hollander, take a sympathetic, often witty but always unsparing look at humanity. . . . Karen Joy Fowler's foreword and John Kessel's afterword round out this excellent collection." As I stated in the last update, when the various 2005 year's best lists are compiled, I suspect Attack of the Jazz Giants will be on many of those lists.

[Note: This is the seventh starred PW review given to a Golden Gryphon Press book — but who's really counting, anyway. . . .]

George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth (ISBN 1-930846-32-0) has been recently reviewed online in January Magazine. In her review, Andi Shechter writes: "Whimsy, imagination, an edge of goofiness and an understanding of people populate these stories. If you know Effinger's long fiction, as I did, I suspect the storytelling talent here will come as no surprise. If this guy's a new name to you, read. And keep reading. Either way, this is a worthy addition to your library, just so you have available any one of these examples of an author at his best." This new Effinger collection has both personal and insightful contributions from the likes of Neal Barrett Jr., Michael Bishop, Jack Dann, Bradley Denton, Gardner Dozois, Barbara Hambly, Mike Resnick, Pamela Sargent, Howard Waldrop, and George Zebrowski, among others — and clocks in at a hefty 365 pages!

On our Forthcoming Books page we've added some new links for our September release From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes. Back in 2002, our very own Jeffrey Ford interviewed Rick for the infinity plus website. In that interview, Rick talks about the various stories that make up this forthcoming book, and even though it's an older interview, we think you'll find a lot of what the author has to say quite enlightening. Traveling back even further in time to September 2000, the SCIFICTION website posted Rick's novella entitled "From the Files of the Time Rangers." This was a few years before the novel itself became a reality. After some reworking to fit within the structure of the overall book, this novella essentially became chapters eleven through thirteen (of a total sixteen chapters) in the forthcoming novel, From the Files of the Time Rangers. So here's an advance peak at characters Robert Logue and Louis "Jax" Jackson, and the tale of the Switchyard Massacre.

In closing, please note that our online Calendar of Events is updated often, sometimes two or three times a week as we learn of new happenings, even though there may not be a corresponding "official" website update. So please do check the Calendar page regularly, particularly if you enjoy meeting our authors and artists, attending readings and book signings, conventions, and other such events.

Now Shipping!

For those that ordered Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories in advance, you will be receiving a limited edition 20-page promotional brochure that was designed by both Gregory Frost and Jason Van Hollander. If the vast Golden Gryphon Press warehouse still has a copy or two of this brochure remaining, you just might receive one if you submit a new order for the Frost collection — so don't delay (but no guarantees, of course, because this brochure was only available in a very limited supply graciously provided by the author and artist).

Golden Gryphon Press Interview

News

If you subscribed to the goldengryphon.com website update list, but you are reading this announcement online because you never received the update email, please resubscribe to the list. The subscribe option can be found on our Home page. Over the past few months, a number of subscribers have had to be dropped from the list due to continuous bouncing of their emails. To prevent this from occurring in the future, be sure to add your next goldengryphon.com update email to your list of favorites, or saves, or however your email application best handles ensuring nonspam emails get through to your Inbox.

Reviews

Another recent GGP title, George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth, has recently been reviewed on SciFi Weekly, Edge Boston, and in the Green Man Review. F. Brett Cox, in his SciFi Weekly review writes: "the stories in Live! From Planet Earth demonstrate a flawless sense of structure, theme and the resources of language that never forgets the baseline requirement of telling a good story. In a book of many strong stories, Effinger's gifts may be on display most strongly in 'Two Sadnesses' . . ." This particular story, "Two Sadnesses," was selected by Howard Waldrop for the collection, and he graciously provides a lengthy introduction. In the Green Man Review, Cat Eldridge states: "Live! From Planet Earth gives us a better look at [Effinger] as a human being, as the stories here show him as a storyteller quite like no other storyteller you'll encounter." And lastly, EDGE Boston entertainment editor Kilian Melloy writes: "Effinger would appear to have had a way of seeing things from a vantage all his own, and that unusual point of view may explain his inclination as a natural satirist. Effinger knew how to poke fun at human frailties even as he expressed compassion by writing from a deep-seated understanding."

To read these reviews in full, and for futher information on all of Golden Gryphon Press's titles, please visit our online catalog.

And yet another Special Offer!

And now to our "yet another new special offer": After the weekend of June 10-12, we hope to have autographed copies available of the awesome Geoffrey A. Landis collection entitled Impact Parameter and Other Quantum Realities, with stunning wraparound cover art by current Hugo Award nominee (and multi Hugo Award winner) Bob Eggleton. Read the *starred* Publishers Weekly review of Impact Parameter. You can reserve your autographed copy now, and when you are notified that your autographed copy is ready to ship, then you can make your payment: $24.95 (postpaid for U.S. orders only). For details, please check out the Special Offer page.

Reviews

Another of our recent titles, William F. Nolan's Wild Galaxy, was also reviewed in Booklist: "[Nolan] has written sf for more than 50 years, and this collection, introduced by a cogent autobiographical essay, attempts to representatively sample his sf stories from 1954 to 2001." Wild Galaxy has also been reviewed in the Kansas City Star, which writes: "This is no grand tour of the cosmos but rather a series of short hops from star to star. It works marvelously. If one port of call doesn't suit your fancy, the next one probably will."

Two of our 2004 titles were recently reviewed in the SFRA Review, the critical journal of the Science Fiction Research Association. The first review is of Neal Barrett Jr.'s novel: Prince of Christler-Coke: "similar in some ways to Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court — both are written by humorists-satirists who toy with SF tropes as part of their storytelling. Swift's Gulliver's Travels also fits this mold. . . . The sublime and the ridiculous magically co-exist within Prince of Christler-Coke in a weird symbiosis that prompts the reader to consider how we all might avoid the dark side that may lie in our futures and on the other side of Neal Barrett, Jr.'s wit."

And the second SFRA review: "The brilliant little fictions that inhabit the covers of Jeff VanderMeer's collection Secret Life press desperately at their own borders, eager to creep into other narrative spaces like the fleshy and insidious flowering vine around which the book's title story is constructed. . . . As an entirety, Secret Life intimates a hidden force in not only the individual narratives of the collection, but also in VanderMeer's skill as a fiction writer. What we're left with here feels like the sturdy bits of a remarkable mythology being built piece by piece from momentous, if often innocuous, moments."

Our most recent limited edition chapbook, Mere by Robert Reed, gets the review treatment in the Rocky Mountain News: "Mere's story covers thousands of generations as the primitive civilization on the planet moves itself into the space age, and the girl finally resumes her journey. Eventually, she will become a central character in Reed's next Great Ship novel. Thus, this lyrical and tightly constructed novella is a central cog in the author's most important series. If you haven't discovered Robert Reed, Mere can serve as an appetizer for a banquet of great speculative fiction."

Of course, you can always read the complete reviews on each respective book's catalog page.

Forthcoming

Now Shipping!

Effinger's Live! From Planet Earth features twenty-two stories handpicked and introduced by some of the top names in SF — authors and editors who knew George both personally and professionally, including Michael Bishop, Jack Dann, Gardner Dozois, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Hambly, Mike Resnick, and Howard Waldrop, to name only a few! Fifteen of these stories, including the eight "O. Niemand" stories, have not been previously collected. Author Damian Broderick, in his April Locus review of Live! From Planet Earth, refers to Effinger as "a technical whiz, perhaps the Kornbluth of late 20th-century SF." He goes on to state that "Effinger was not a popular bestselling rival to, say, Piers Anthony or 2005 SFWA Grand Master Anne McCaffrey. I suspect his legacy will endure longer." Whew! Pretty heady stuff! With wraparound cover art by Hugo Award-nominated artist John Picacio.

Also shipping is the trade paperback edition of Lansdale's Bumper Crop. Now that the hardcover edition has gone into a second printing, collectors can preserve their pristine first editions of Bumper Crop, and purchase the trade paperback edition to read and carry about. These trade paperbacks also make great gifts for family and friends — one can never have too much Joe R. Lansdale! With wraparound cover art, once again, by John Picacio. (Now you can understand why Picacio has been nominated for the Hugo Award, along with such luminaries as Jim Burns, Bob Eggleton, Frank Kelly Freas, and Donato Giancola.)

Hugo Awards

The vote-tallying process for the Hugos can be quite confusing, but Charlie Stross provides a fairly straightforward explanation on his website and, specifically, how you can vote for both of his novellas, if you choose to do so, without splitting your votes, per se. If you would like to read this explanation, click on the link to the Charles Stross website and look for the section titled: Freebies online: Hugo voting minutiae.

Last month we shipped Wild Galaxy (ISBN 1-930846-31-2), the new collection by William F. Nolan, which just happens to mark his 50^th anniversary as a science fiction writer! Wild Galaxy contains Nolan's earliest published story, "The Joy of Living" from the August 1954 edition of If: Worlds of SF. The review in online Rambles magazine states: " 'The Joy of Living' is a superbly told story with an emotional depth that is all the more impressive given the tale's brevity."

So, in closing, we have three new titles shipping so far in 2005: Wild Galaxy by William F. Nolan, George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth, and the trade paperback edition of Joe R. Lansdale's Bumper Crop; also we still have a few copies remaining of Mere by Robert Reed, our fourth signed and numbered limited edition chapbook. Speaking of Reed, his new "Marrow" novel, The Well of Stars, has just been released by Tor Books. One of the main characters in this new novel is Mere, and if you want to read the Mere origin story — who she is and how she came to be on the Great Ship — then you'll need to read this chapbook!

And don't forget our special offer for advanced orders of Gregory Frost's Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories, due to ship shortly: Purchase a copy of this new Frost collection direct from Golden Gryphon Press and receive FREE! a limited edition 20-page promotional booklet designed by the author and cover artist Jason Van Hollander. Click on the link for details of this Special Offer including a couple graphics of the interior design and illustrations.

"The Concrete Jungle" follows the continuing adventures of Bob Howard — a wisecracking, occasionally insubordinate, computer-hacker desk jockey — who finds himself conscripted into the services of The Laundry, a British ultra-secret intelligence organization. Bob was first introduced in "The Atrocity Archive," Stross's first novel, which was serialized in British magazine Spectrum SF between 2001 and 2002. That novel-length story featured secret intelligence agencies, esoteric theorems, Lovecraftian horrors, Mid East terrorist connections, a damsel in distress, and a final battle on the surface of a dying planet. "The Concrete Jungle," on the other hand, shows just what can happen when office politics go markedly awry — and a basilisk weapon has been installed in the public digitally networked closed-circuit TV cameras.

Both "The Atrocity Archive" and "The Concrete Jungle" are collected in The Atrocity Archives (ISBN 1-930846-25-8) from Golden Gryphon Press. Archives is now in its second printing, but readers and collectors can still obtain first editions direct from Golden Gryphon Press.

In addition to "The Concrete Jungle," Charlie Stross has a second Hugo novella nomination, as well as a nomination in the Novel category! We would also like to acknowledge the other Golden Gryphon Press authors who have been nominated for the Hugo Award (though not for work that we published): James Patrick Kelly in the Short Story category; and Richard A. Lupoff (along with wife Pat Lupoff) in the Related Book category. And last, but certainly not least, three of the five nominees in the Professional Artist category have Golden Gryphon Press on their list of credits: Bob Eggleton, Frank Kelly Freas, and John Picacio. Both Eggleton and Freas have won numerous Hugos, while this is the first nomination for John Picacio. Congratulations authors and artists on your Hugo Award nominations!

We've also been tracking the recognition our authors receive in the Year's Best lists and anthologies. In Locus Magazine's 2004 Year in Review (the February 2005 issue), a "Best of the Best" list was compiled. Among the stories that made this list were Jeffrey Ford's "A Night in the Tropics" and M. Rickert's "Cold Fires." We're currently at work on Ford's second collection, The Empire of Ice Cream (which will include "A Night in the Tropics"), and Mary Rickert's first collection, Map of Dreams (which will include "Cold Fires"), for publication in 2006.

Next update we'll be shipping two new titles: George Alec Effinger Live! From Planet Earth (ISBN 1-930846-32-0) and the trade paperback reprint of Joe R. Lansdale's Bumper Crop (ISBN 1-930846-33-9).

Year's Bests

Recently, the contents for the Year's Best anthologies were also revealed by their respective editors. As I mentioned last update, "The Concrete Jungle," the new novella by Charlie Stross, which can be found in The Atrocity Archives, was selected by editor Jonathan Strahan to appear in his Best Short Novels: 2005 anthology. David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer selected "Venus Flowers at Night" by Pamela Sargent (from Thumbprints) to appear in their Year's Best SF 10 anthology; and "Many Voices" by M. Ricket (forthcoming in collection Map of Dreams in 2006) to appear in their anthology Year's Best Fantasy 5. Editors Ellen Datlow, Gavin Grant, and Kelly Link selected a different story by M. Rickert, "Cold Fires" (also in Map of Dreams), for their Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology, along with Jeffrey Ford's "A Night in the Tropics" (forthcoming in collection The Empire of Ice Cream in 2006).

We're always pleased when our authors gain the professional recognition that they so richly deserve. Congratulations to Jeffrey Ford, Joe Lansdale, Mary Rickert, Pamela Sargent, Lucius Shepard, and Charles Stross. Except for the Ford and Rickert collections, which aren't published as yet, these titles can be purchased direct from Golden Gryphon Press or from your friendly neighborhood (or virtual) bookseller. Of course, first editions of The Atrocity Archives and Bumper Crop can only be obtained direct from Golden Gryphon Press. And while you're waiting for the Ford collection, Empire of Ice Cream, to be published early next year, why not check out his first collection, The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories, if you haven't already done so. The Fantasy Writer's Assistant won the World Fantasy Award for Best Single Author Collection; in addition, the book also contains the story "Creation," which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story that same year. You can't get any better than that.

Special Offer Continues

New for Fall 2005

Two novelettes incorporated into the Time Rangers "mosaic" novel — "The Ferryman's Wife" and "The Mask of the Rex" — were both finalists for the prestigious Nebula Award, in 2002 and 2003 respectively. (What is a "mosaic" novel you ask? Well, you'll just have to read the book's afterword to learn what Rick Bowes has to say about the mosaic novel.) In The Fiction Factory, Jack Dann's "Friends" include some of the top names in short fiction: Susan Casper, Gardner Dozois, Gregory Frost, Jack C. Haldeman II, Barry N. Malzberg, Michael Swanwick, Janeen Webb, and George Zebrowski. And The Cuckoo's Boys, Robert Reed's second Golden Gryphon Press collection, features eleven handpicked stories, some of the author's best work over the past decade, plus a new, previously unpublished novelette, "Abducted Souls."

Whew! That there is some great fiction! And let's not forget that these new titles feature cover art from three of the top illustrators currently working in the field: John Picacio, J. K. Potter, and Edward Miller (aka Les Edwards). Please visit our Forthcoming Books page and check out these new titles. We hope you're as excited about these books as we are!

Our first title for 2005 is now shipping — a new collection by William F. Nolan, best known as the author of the novel Logan's Run, which premiered on the silver screen in 1976, with a remake of the movie currently in production. Wild Galaxy contains nineteen handpicked stories representing the best from Nolan's fifty-year career. So strap on those shoulder harnesses and prepare for some grand ole science fiction! With stunning wraparound cover art by the inestimable Bob Eggleton.

<> Special Offer <>

Ahh, time once again for another of our special offers: In order to self-promote his forthcoming collection, Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories, Gregory Frost teamed up with the book's cover artist, Jason Van Hollander, to produce a limited edition booklet entitled "A Backwards Glance." The booklet contains an exclusive interview with the author conducted by John Kessel, along with a number of Van Hollander's interior illos from the collection. The booklet concludes with a detailed bibliography of Frost's work.

Gregory and Jason were gracious enough to provide Golden Gryphon Press with a few of these booklets, which we are giving away FREE, until our supply is exhausted, with every advance order of Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories. If you plan to purchase this book, you best do so now and score one of these nicely done limited edition booklets. If you weren't planning on purchasing the Frost collection, well, hopefully this booklet will be an added incentive for you to do so. With the quality of both Frost's writing and Van Hollander's art, how can you go wrong? We have a Special Offer page set up with additional details including a couple graphics of the booklet itself.

<>Year's Best<>

Author/editor/critic Claude Lalumière has once again posted his list of the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2004 on Locus Online. Golden Gryphon Press has two titles featured on Claude's list: Robert Reed's Mere was selected as the best chapbook of the year; and The Atrocity Archives (ISBN 1-930846-25-8) by Charles Stross was among the best collections of the year.

It's interesting that The Atrocity Archives is considered a collection, though it contains Charlie's first novel, "The Atrocity Archive" (and you thought Singularity Sky was his first novel!), along with a new novella, "The Concrete Jungle." Regardless of what you call this book — nearly 106,000 words of pure Strossian fiction! — we're quite proud of it and evidentally so are our readers and Charlie's fans. Atrocity has gone into a second printing, but first editions are still available direct from Golden Gryphon Press.

And speaking of "The Concrete Jungle," we've just been informed that the story has been selected to appear in Jonathan Strahan's forthcoming anthology Best Short Novels: 2005, which he is editing exclusively for the Science Fiction Book Club. This is the second consecutive year for this antho, so it now looks to be an annual title for Jonathan and the SFBC. By the way, if the name "Jonathan Strahan" sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you've read his reviews in Locus magazine; Jonathan is the Reviews Editor.

The Editors' Choice at SF Site for the Best SF and Fantasy Books of 2004 has been posted and the list also includes two Golden Gryphon Press titles. At the #7 spot is Lucius Shepard's Two Trains Running (ISBN 1-930846-23-1), and at the #5 spot is Jeff VanderMeer's Secret Life (ISBN 1-930846-27-4). We've just posted a link to an in-depth review by Neal MacDonald of the title story, "Secret Life," which we think you'll find intriguing.

You can learn more about Mere, The Atrocity Archives, Two Trains Running, and Secret Life by checking out our online Catalog — and please feel free to order a copy, or two, of these fine titles if you haven't already done so. Congratulations to Robert Reed, Lucius Shepard, Charles Stross, and Jeff VanderMeer for the recognition they've received on these "Year's Best" lists!

Website Revolution SF has posted its 2004 edition of "What Is Best in Life." Books editor Peggy Hailey included three Golden Gryphon Press titles on her "Best" list: The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross, Prince of Christler-Coke by Neal Barrett Jr., and Secret Life by Jeff VanderMeer. Contributing editor Rick Klaw also included The Atrocity Archives on his "Best" list.

Cheryl Morgan, whose webzine Emerald City won a Hugo Award last year, has posted her "Best of 2004" in the current issue. In the "Collections and Anthologies" category, Cheryl includes The Atrocity Archives and Secret Life. Her list of short fiction includes Jeffrey Ford's "The Annals of Eelin-Ok." This story, which originally appeared in The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, will be included in Jeff's forthcoming second Golden Gryphon Press collection, The Empire of Ice Cream.

We also have the inside word that Golden Gryphon Press stories will be represented in the forthcoming "Year's Best" Anthologies. Once the contents of these various anthologies have been officially announced, we'll share the specifics with our readers.

* Reviews and Interviews *

Our most recent hardcover release, Pamela Sargent's Thumbprints (ISBN 1-930846-29-0), has been reviewed in both Booklist and the Rocky Mountain News. "A much-honored and versatile writer . . . [these] stories manifest not only Sargent's command of language and characterization but also influences as varied as The Twilight Zone; Albany, New York (her hometown); and 9/11," writes author Roland Green for Booklist. The Rocky Mountain News notes that Thumbprints marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Ms. Sargent's first novel, The Sudden Star! This review of Thumbprints goes on to state that "this classy overview of her work rightly celebrates one of science fiction's finer (yet lesser known) talents." Also, the aforementioned issue of Emerald City contains a review of Thumbprints as well. Cheryl Morgan writes: "My favorite story from the collection, 'Utmost Bones,' is also about dreaming. . . . [it] echoes the themes from 'Originals' and 'Venus Flowers at Night' that humankind has become too lazy, or perhaps too fond of 'safety' to dream about the future. And ultimately that will be the end of us. Sargent, I think, intends this as a much-needed wake-up call. I’m with her."

Neal Barret Jr.'s Prince of Christler-Coke (ISBN 1-930846-28-2) is reviewed in webzine SFRevu by Colleen Cahill, who writes that this novel "is irreverent, satirical and deep, all showing of the talents of Barrett as a superb writer with a unique vision."

And one we missed: The Kansas City Star's May 2004 issue contained a mini review of The Atrocity Archives (ISBN 1-930846-25-8) by Charles Stross: "If this keeps up, 'Strossian' is going to become a sci-fi adjective, albeit with Zappaesque connotations. Like the late satirical composer, Charles Stross writes with intelligence and enjoys lifting the rock to show you what's crawling underneath."

Lastly, infinity plus has posted an Ian R. MacLeod interview with noted editor and agent John Jerrold, in support of Ian's short fiction collection Breathmoss and Other Exhalations (ISBN 1-930846-26-6).

We'll soon be posting details, including cover art and contents, for our three fall/winter releases — which we're very excited about, to be sure. Until then . . .

We have four titles scheduled for publication this coming spring/summer, and you can now preorder these online via PayPal. Of course, we'll always except check, money order, or credit card purchases sent to Golden Gryphon Press, 3002 Perkins Road, Urbana, IL 61802. These forthcoming titles are: