Matthew Hughes's Blog: barbarians of the beyond - Posts Tagged "novella"
Paul Di Filippo reviews The Yellow Cabochon
Noted SF critic Paul Di Filippo reviews my PS Publishing novella, The Yellow Cabochon in the current Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. He says, "Hughes's facility with ornate, roccoco language has never been more polished, and his plotting is sharp and twisty. His evocation of a faded age of wonders piles high the frissons of a factitious but effective nostalgia that is all the more piquant for being manufactured from mere allusions, rather than actual touchstones of our consensual past."
You can read the first few thousand words of the novella, featuring my corpulent master criminal of the far future, Luff Imbry, here.
Third Luff Imbry novella in September
Some years back, I made a deal with the excellent UK small press PS Publishing for a series of three novellas featuring my corpulent, far-future master thief and forger, Luff Imbry.
The first two, Quartet & Triptych and The Yellow Cabochon, appeared in 2010 and 2012 respectively. The third, Of Whimsies and Noubles, was turned in in the fall of 2011 and should have appeared sometime in 2013.
But it didn't. It now turns out that a computer crash eliminated the manuscript, the contract, and all emails relating to the third novella. However, order has now been restored, I have sent another copy of the ms to PS, and the little book will be published in two collectible editions in September of this year.
The original deal also called for all three novellas to be published in an omnibus edition. That, too, will happen, sometime after Of Whimsies and Noubles has sold through.
The first two, Quartet & Triptych and The Yellow Cabochon, appeared in 2010 and 2012 respectively. The third, Of Whimsies and Noubles, was turned in in the fall of 2011 and should have appeared sometime in 2013.
But it didn't. It now turns out that a computer crash eliminated the manuscript, the contract, and all emails relating to the third novella. However, order has now been restored, I have sent another copy of the ms to PS, and the little book will be published in two collectible editions in September of this year.
The original deal also called for all three novellas to be published in an omnibus edition. That, too, will happen, sometime after Of Whimsies and Noubles has sold through.
Compleat Guth Bandar coming soon
I've gone through all the Guth Bandar stories that appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction between 2004 and 2007, assembling them into a collection: The Compleat Guth Bandar. I've turned the text over to my excellent ebook designer, Bradley Schenck; I've arranged an ISBN; and I've asked the inestimable artist Ben Baldwin for a cover. If all goes well, by March, we should have an ebook. Like the others, it will sell for $2.99.
Guth Bandar was a key character in Black Brillion (Tor, 2004), but I didn't have enough room in that book to tell the full story of his career as a noönaut (an explorer of the collective unconscious). So I wrote a series of stories that told how he came to be an unwilling helper to the somewhat tragic hero of Black Brillion, Baro Harkless.
The stories were later stitched together to make the novel The Commons, but The Compleat Guth Bandar comprises the magazine stories in in their original form. The collection includes "The Helper and His Hero," which was shortlisted for a Nebula Award in the novella category.
One of the stories, "A Little Learning," is available for a free read in my excerpts.
Guth Bandar was a key character in Black Brillion (Tor, 2004), but I didn't have enough room in that book to tell the full story of his career as a noönaut (an explorer of the collective unconscious). So I wrote a series of stories that told how he came to be an unwilling helper to the somewhat tragic hero of Black Brillion, Baro Harkless.
The stories were later stitched together to make the novel The Commons, but The Compleat Guth Bandar comprises the magazine stories in in their original form. The collection includes "The Helper and His Hero," which was shortlisted for a Nebula Award in the novella category.
One of the stories, "A Little Learning," is available for a free read in my excerpts.
Third Luff Imbry novella
I've just gone through the copy edit for "Of Whimsies and Noubles," the third Luff Imbry novella in a limited edition series from PS Publishing, the highly regarded UK small press run by Pete and Nicky Crowther. With any luck, there will be copies available in time for a launch at WorldCon (LonCon) in mid-August.
A reminder: tomorrow Amazon.com and Amazon.ca will put all three of the To Hell and Back ebooks on sale for $0.99 each as a Kindle daily deal.
A reminder: tomorrow Amazon.com and Amazon.ca will put all three of the To Hell and Back ebooks on sale for $0.99 each as a Kindle daily deal.
Meaning of Luff shortlisted for Endeavour
The Meaning of Luff and Other Stories
, my self-published collection (seven short stories and two novellas) has been shortlisted for the Endeavour Award. As always, the winner will be announced at Orycon in November.
The collection chronicles the operations and misadventures of Luff Imbry, corpulent art forger and master thief of Old Earth in the aeon before The Dying Earth. The stories were originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Postscripts. The novellas were published in limited editions by PS Publishing.
The Endeavour is awarded annually for "a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book written by a Pacific Northwest (US and Canada) author or authors and published in the previous year."
Four other works are on the shortlist: "King of Swords" by Dave Duncan (47North); "Nexus" by Ramez Naam (Angry Robot); "Protector" by C.J. Cherryh (DAW Books); and "Requiem" by Ken Scholes (Tor Books).
The Meaning of Luff can be purchased as an ebook ($3.99) or a POD paperback ($12.99) from the Archonate Bookstore.
The collection chronicles the operations and misadventures of Luff Imbry, corpulent art forger and master thief of Old Earth in the aeon before The Dying Earth. The stories were originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Postscripts. The novellas were published in limited editions by PS Publishing.
The Endeavour is awarded annually for "a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book written by a Pacific Northwest (US and Canada) author or authors and published in the previous year."
Four other works are on the shortlist: "King of Swords" by Dave Duncan (47North); "Nexus" by Ramez Naam (Angry Robot); "Protector" by C.J. Cherryh (DAW Books); and "Requiem" by Ken Scholes (Tor Books).
The Meaning of Luff can be purchased as an ebook ($3.99) or a POD paperback ($12.99) from the Archonate Bookstore.
Third Luff Imbry novella available for pre-order
Back in 2008, I made a deal with the excellent UK small press, PS Publishing, to write three novellas featuring Old Earth's corpulent master thief and forger, Luff Imbry. The first two, Quartet and Triptych and The Yellow Cabochon, were published in limited editions. In 2011, I wrote the third, entitled Of Whimsies and Noubles, and turned it in. But time went by and it never appeared.
I put the long delay down to the kind of scheduling and production problems that are not uncommon in small presses, where too few people are trying to do too many things while trying to ensure the exemplary quality for which PS is known. It turned out, though, that the publisher had suffered a computer crash of epic proportions in which all trace of the third novella had disappeared. And had then been completely forgotten.
At some point, PS saw a post of mine, responding to someone's query about the long-delayed novella. They got in touch and asked where it was. I answered that I had turned it in, years ago. Palms smacked foreheads, and the production wheels began belatedly to turn.
So now it's been copyedited, the cover has been created by Ben Baldwin, who did the covers for the previous two novellas as well as for several of my self-published ebooks, and the text is at the printers. I just have to sign the cover sheets so they can be bound into the finished product, which I expect to do at WorldCon next week. And then Of Whimsies and Noubles will see daylight at last.
There are two editions, one limited to 100 signed copies. You can pre-order here.
I put the long delay down to the kind of scheduling and production problems that are not uncommon in small presses, where too few people are trying to do too many things while trying to ensure the exemplary quality for which PS is known. It turned out, though, that the publisher had suffered a computer crash of epic proportions in which all trace of the third novella had disappeared. And had then been completely forgotten.
At some point, PS saw a post of mine, responding to someone's query about the long-delayed novella. They got in touch and asked where it was. I answered that I had turned it in, years ago. Palms smacked foreheads, and the production wheels began belatedly to turn.
So now it's been copyedited, the cover has been created by Ben Baldwin, who did the covers for the previous two novellas as well as for several of my self-published ebooks, and the text is at the printers. I just have to sign the cover sheets so they can be bound into the finished product, which I expect to do at WorldCon next week. And then Of Whimsies and Noubles will see daylight at last.
There are two editions, one limited to 100 signed copies. You can pre-order here.
Luff Imbry in the NYRSF
Critic and sf aficionado Mike Barrett's excellent piece on my Luff Imbry stories in the current New York Review of Science Fiction is now available for a free read.
Meanwhile, I'm 20,000 words into the Imbry novella that will go into the omnibus edition of the three others previously published by PS Publishing. Should finish it and turn it in this month.
Meanwhile, I'm 20,000 words into the Imbry novella that will go into the omnibus edition of the three others previously published by PS Publishing. Should finish it and turn it in this month.
Rare Whimsies and Noubles to aid Nepal
In an effort to aid the Nepalese after the devastating earthquake, something called Authors for Nepal has asked folks like me to donate books to be auctioned on Ebay. I've offered a signed copy of Of Whimsies and Noubles, the limited edition (100 copies) Luff Imbry novella from PS Publishing, which came out last year.
This is a highly collectible title, being not only a signed hardcover, but what's called a publisher's copy: one of only a handful of extras produced beyond the 100-copy limit. Technically, that makes it very rare indeed.
I've only just now been told that the book is up for auction, which closes on Friday. When I checked the Ebay listing, I saw that there were no bids and the asking price was 10 pounds.
If anyone's interested, here's where to go.
This is a highly collectible title, being not only a signed hardcover, but what's called a publisher's copy: one of only a handful of extras produced beyond the 100-copy limit. Technically, that makes it very rare indeed.
I've only just now been told that the book is up for auction, which closes on Friday. When I checked the Ebay listing, I saw that there were no bids and the asking price was 10 pounds.
If anyone's interested, here's where to go.
Fourth Imbry novella in October/November
The fourth Luff Imbry novella, "Epiphanies," is now scheduled to be published by PS Publishing in October or November. If there are any changes to the schedule, I'll let people know.
Originally, "Epiphanies" was to be included in an omnibus of the previous three Imbry novellas -- "Quartet and Triptych," "The Yellow Cabochon," and "Of Whimsies and Noubles" -- but now it will come out as an independent title in limited editions. That means there will be a hardcover without dust jacket of a few hundred copies, and a jacketed, signed hardcover of one hundred copies. Being PS products, the books will be of excellent quality.
The omnibus, which will include all four novellas, will now be pushed back to sometime in 2016. It will be a paperback.
Originally, "Epiphanies" was to be included in an omnibus of the previous three Imbry novellas -- "Quartet and Triptych," "The Yellow Cabochon," and "Of Whimsies and Noubles" -- but now it will come out as an independent title in limited editions. That means there will be a hardcover without dust jacket of a few hundred copies, and a jacketed, signed hardcover of one hundred copies. Being PS products, the books will be of excellent quality.
The omnibus, which will include all four novellas, will now be pushed back to sometime in 2016. It will be a paperback.
Two new titles scheduled from PS Publishing
The fourth and final Luff Imbry novella, "Epiphanies," is scheduled for publication by PS Publishing in April, 2016. As with the others, there will be two limited editions, one of them signed and numbered. There will also be an ebook.
Sometime down the road, all four novellas will be put out as a paperback omnibus.
A Wizard's Henchman, a novel previously serialized in Lightspeed Magazine, is scheduled for July, 2016. It, too, will be published in two limiteds, with an ebook version.
For those who tuned in just lately, it was called The Kaslo Chronicles when it ran in Lightspeed, and started out as a Vancean space opera about Erm Kaslo, a hardboiled confidential operative (a private eye) pursuing his career in a far-future civilization spanning the Ten Thousand Worlds of our galactic arm.
But as the story proceeds, it morphs into a science-fantasy as the basic operating principle of the universe shifts from rationalism to magic. Kaslo's hard-won skills are rendered inoperative and he finds that he has no talents at all for "sympathetic association." He goes to work for a former client who was a rich ninny before the change but is now becoming a powerful proto-thaumaturge.
The plot ties in with elements of the Filidor and Hapthorn series.
Sometime down the road, all four novellas will be put out as a paperback omnibus.
A Wizard's Henchman, a novel previously serialized in Lightspeed Magazine, is scheduled for July, 2016. It, too, will be published in two limiteds, with an ebook version.
For those who tuned in just lately, it was called The Kaslo Chronicles when it ran in Lightspeed, and started out as a Vancean space opera about Erm Kaslo, a hardboiled confidential operative (a private eye) pursuing his career in a far-future civilization spanning the Ten Thousand Worlds of our galactic arm.
But as the story proceeds, it morphs into a science-fantasy as the basic operating principle of the universe shifts from rationalism to magic. Kaslo's hard-won skills are rendered inoperative and he finds that he has no talents at all for "sympathetic association." He goes to work for a former client who was a rich ninny before the change but is now becoming a powerful proto-thaumaturge.
The plot ties in with elements of the Filidor and Hapthorn series.
