Books, Books, Books

I wanted to post this Friday, but I never managed to find the time. So I'm playing catch-up.

I have a few books of which I wanted to make mention. One the upcoming anthology Dark Wisdom: The Best of Dark Fiction. But the others are two titles that are great reads.

If you haven't had a chance to read John Shirley's novel Black Glass (the lost cyberpunk novel), give it a shot. It is available in bookstores, with a recent re-stock arriving at Barnes and Noble either very shortly or within the next week. Like all of John's works, it's clever, contemporary, and sharp. John never pulls any punches.

Also heading to bookstores, including Barnes and Noble as well, is Tim Curran's classic novel Hive. It's not too late to enjoy a chilling summer read. This novel has been in print for a while. Still, if you haven't read it, add it to your reading list. Tim captures the mood and feel of a cold, unforgiving antarctic research station that uncovers eternal horrors. And he'll be following this novel up with a sequel. So even if you've read Hive, it might be time to re-read it

As for Dark Wisdom: The Best of Dark Fiction, it isn't in bookstores yet. But I've had a few emails asking about what authors are in the anthology. The anthology is named after the internationally distributed, full color magazine Dark Wisdom. You might say it's the next stage of the magazine's evolution. For those who read Dark Wisdom, (originally named "Book of Dark Wisdom Magazine"), you'll know it went from digest size to full size, from B&W to color, and soon it will be reborn online.

As a "real" book, the anthology includes some of the classic tales printed in the magazine, some that were in the queue for future publication, and some collected tales of dark fiction. This makes it an amalgamation of things. But mainly, a "best of dark fiction" anthology. A complete table of contents will be revealed when the book ships to stores. Until then, I can reveal the author names. The following list is in order of appearancee in the anthology. For those familiar with the anthologies I edit, I tend to place tales in thematic progression, or in an order that highlights a story's theme. And it's always delightful to read the emails from readers who have divined the method to my madness. Of course, my hope is to make the anthology read like a larger work, not simply a collection of stories (something I did as the editor of the magazine as well).
Onward! Here is the present ordered list of authors:

Tom Piccirilli
Tim Curran
C.J. Henderson
John Pelan & Paul Melniczek
Wendy Leeds
Sherry Decker
John Shirley
Neddal Ayad
Rachel Gray
Alan Dean Foster
Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Peter Straub
Patricia Lee Macomber & David Niall Wilson
Christopher T. Leland
Richard A. Lupoff
Christopher Welch
Gene O'Neill
Bruce Boston & Lee Ballentine
Deanna Hoak
Christian Klaver
Lee Clarke Zumpe
Gerard Houarner
Sam W. Anderson
Richard Wright
James Argendeli