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Cloud
& Ashes: Three Winter's Tales
by Greer Gilman
June 1, 2009
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9781931520553 · Trade cloth · 5.5 x 8.5 ·
$26
In the eighteen years
since her Crawford Award-winning debut novel Moonwise,
Greer Gilman's writing has only grown more complex and entrancing,
more beguiling and inventive.
Gilman's second novel,
Cloud & Ashes, is a slow whirlwind of language,
a button box of words, a mythic Joycean fable that will invite
immersion, study, revisitation, and delight. To step into
her world is to witness the bright flashes, witty turns, and
shadowy corners of the human imagination, limned with all
the detail and humor of a master stylist. In Gilman's intricate
prose, myth and fable live, breathe, and dance as they do
nowhere else.
Cloud & Ashes
collects three Winter's Tales ("Jack Daw's Pack,"
"A Crowd of Bone," and the longest, "Unleaving")
centering on folk traditions, harvest rites, the seasons,
gods, and trickster figures.
In "Unleaving," Margaret, granddaughter of a goddess,
escapes from the underworld into the human realm, Cloud. She
is pursued, and, in escaping, brings about an epochal change,
separating the kingdom of myth from the human world.
"Sublimely lyrical
Jacobeanesque dialect . . . readers who enjoy
symbolism and allusion will cherish Gilman's use of diverse
folkloric
elements to create an unforgettable realm and ideology."
—Publishers Weekly
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Couch:
A Novel
by Benjamin Parzybok
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from an Indie Bookstore
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9781931520546 · Trade paper · 5.5 x 8.5 ·
280 pp · $16
An exuberant and hilarious
debut in which an episode of furniture moving gone awry becomes
an impromptu quest of self-discovery, secret histories, and
unexpected revelations. Thom is a computer geek whose hacking
of a certain Washington-based software giant has won him a
little fame but few job prospects. Erik is a smalltime con
man, a fast-talker who is never quite quick enough on his
feet. Their roommate, Tree, is a confused clairvoyant whose
dreams and prophecies may not be completely off base. After
a freak accident fl oods their apartment, the three are evicted-but
they have to take their couch with them. The real problem?
The couch-huge and orange-won't let them put it down. Soon
the three roommates are on a cross-country trek along back
roads, byways, and rail lines, heading far out of Portland
and deep into one very weird corner of the American dream.
"Delightfully lighthearted
writing. . . . Occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, the enthusiastic
prose carries readers through sporadic dark moments . .
. Parzybok's quirky humor recalls . . . early Douglas Adams."
—Publishers Weekly
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 The
Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories
Joan Aiken
October 28, 2008
9781931520577 · Trade cloth · 5.5 x 8.5 ·
350 pp · $20
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This is the first complete
collection of Joan Aiken's beloved Armitage stories —
and it includes four new, unpublished stories. After Mrs.
Armitage makes a wish, the Armitage family has interesting
and unusual experiences every Monday (and the occasional Tuesday).
The Board of Incantation tries to take over their house to
use as a school for young wizards; the Furies come to stay;
and a cutout from a cereal box leads into a beautiful and
tragic palace garden. Charming and magical, the uncommon lives
of the Armitage family will thrill and delight readers young
and old. Includes Joan Aiken's Prelude from Armitage,
Armitage, Fly Away Home, as well as introductions from
Joan Aiken's daughter, Lizza Aiken, and best-selling author
Garth Nix. Illustrated
by Andi Watson.
The Serial Garden
is also the first title in our new imprint for readers
of all ages: Big Mouth House.
The Serial Garden
is my happiest discovery this year.
—Los
Angeles Times
"Buy it to read
to your kids, and you'll find yourself sneaking tastes on
the sly; a little Aiken is a fine thing to have in your
system at any age."
—Salon.com
"Joan Aiken's invention
seemed inexhaustible, her high spirits a blessing, her sheer
storytelling zest a phenomenon. She was a literary treasure,
and her books will continue to delight for many years to
come."
—Philip Pullman
Free
Download: a DRM-free PDF of a chapbook
of a new, unpublished Armitage family story, "Don't Go
Fishing on Witch's Day," along with the introduction
by Lizza Aiken. |
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The
King's Last Song
Geoff Ryman
9781931520560
· Trade paper· 5.5 x 8.5 · 450 pp ·
$16
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Fictionwise
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at an Indie Bookstore
| ebook
An immersive novel of
epic proportions that interweaves two Cambodian stories: Archeologist
Luc Andrade discovers an ancient manuscript inscribed on gold
leaves but is kidnapped — and the manuscript stolen
— by a faction still loyal to the ideals of the brutal
Pol Pot regime. Andrade's friends, an ex-Khmer Rouge agent
and a young motoboy, embark on a trek across Cambodia to rescue
him. Meanwhile, Andrade, bargaining for his life, translates
the lost manuscript for his captors. The result is a glimpse
into the tremendous and heart-wrenching story of King Jayavarman
VII: his childhood, rise to power, marriage, interest in Buddhism,
and the initiation of Cambodia's golden age. As Andrade and
Jayavarman's stories interweave, the question becomes whether
the tale of ancient wisdom can bring hope to a nation still
suffering from the violent legacy of the last century.
* "An unforgettably
vivid portrait of Cambodian culture past and present."
—Booklist (starred review)
"Sweeping and
beautiful. . . . The complex story tears the veil from a
hidden world."
—The Sunday Times
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 The
Ant King and Other Stories
Benjamin
Rosenbaum
Free
Download
"Lively,
bizarre, and funny as well as dark, sinister, and sensual."
—Boston
Phoenix
* "Give
him some prizes, like, perhaps, "best first collection"
for this book."
—Booklist (Starred review)
"'Featuring
outlandish and striking imagery throughout—a woman in
love with an elephant, an orange that ruled the world—this
collection is a surrealistic wonderland."
—Publishers Weekly
"Rosenbaum
proves he’s capable of sustained fantasy with "Biographical
Notes," a steampunkish alternate history of aerial piracy,
and "A Siege of Cranes," a fantasy about a battle
between a human insurgent and the White Witch that carries
decidedly modern undercurrents.... Perhaps none of the tales
is odder than "Orphans," in which girl-meets-elephant,
girl-loses-elephant."
—Kirkus Reviews |
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 The
Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories
John
Kessel
Book
Sense Pick
Dustjackets: 1
· 2
Interviews: 1
· 2
Podcasts
Free
Download
"In
his first collection in a decade, Kessel jumps from place
to place like a jolty time machine. In "Pride and Prometheus,"
Frankenstein and Jane Austen intersect in an uncanny Victorian
tale of unrequited love, while "A Lunar Quartet"
introduces a matriarchal, hypersexual moon colony in the
future. But as a group, these stories offer a sustained
exploration of the ways gender dynamics can both empower
and enslave us. Kessel's wit sparkles throughout, peaking
with the most uproariously weird phone-sex conversation
you'll ever read ("The Red Phone")." A-
—Entertainment
Weekly
"Anyone
who thinks genre writing can’t be literary deserves
to have Kessel’s hefty new collection of stories dropped
on his or her head."
--Time
Out Chicago
"Kessel
proves himself again a master not just of science fiction,
but also of the modern short story, crafting compelling
characters and following them through plots that never fail
to please — or to defy prediction."
-- Metro
Magazine
"One
of the best collections of the year."
-- Locus
"These
well-crafted stories, full of elegantly drawn characters,
deliver a powerful emotional punch."
-- Publishers Weekly
"Kessel
is a deft stylist and a master of all his tools, whose range
is nearly limitless."
-- -- SciFi.com
"A
pleasant callback to the days when science-fiction authors
read more than just science fiction."
--The
Stranger
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New:
LCRW: No. 23
Buy on Fictionwise.
Fiction: Nick Wolven, "The
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Kat Meads, "The Emily(s) Debate the Impact of Reclusive
on Life, Art, Family, Community and Pets"
Susan Wardle, "The Chance"
Alex Wilson, "A Wizard of MapQuest"
Jodi Lynn Villers, "In the Name of the Mother"
Daniel Lanza, "Holden Caulfield Doesn’t Love
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Kirstin Allio, "Marie and Roland"
William Alexander, "Ana’s Tag"
Mark Rich, "The Leap"
Angela Slatter, "The Girl With No Hands"
Nonfiction: Ted Chiang,
"The Problem of the Traveling Salesman"
Poetry: Kim Parko, "Sailor,"
"Shiny Hair," "Schoolgirl"
Christa Bergerson, "Heliotrope Hedgerow"
Comics: Abby Denson, "Jingle
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Cover: Kevin
Huizenga
Previously known as: 22
· 21 ·
20 · 19
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