Solitaire: a novel · Preorder

by Kelley Eskridge

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A New York Times Notable Book, Borders Original Voices selection, and Nebula, Endeavour, and Spectrum Award finalist.

“A stylistic and psychological tour de force.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Suspenseful and inspiring.”—School Library Journal

There are many books we’d love to see back in print and we’re very happy to have acquired Kelley Eskridge’s debut novel, Solitaire, and will publish it in January 2011.

Jackal Segura is a Hope: born to responsibility and privilege as a symbol of a fledgling world government. Soon she’ll become part of the global administration, sponsored by the huge corporation that houses, feeds, employs, and protects her and everyone she loves. Then, just as she discovers that everything she knows is a lie, she becomes a pariah, a murderer: a person with no community and no future. Grief-stricken and alone, she is put into an experimental program designed to inflict the experience of years of solitary confinement in a few short months: virtual confinement in a sealed cell within her own mind. Afterward, branded and despised, she returns to a world she no longer knows. Struggling to make her way, she has a chance to rediscover her life, her love, and her soul—in a strange place of shattered hopes and new beginnings called Solitaire.

Praise for Solitaire:

“Solitaire is a novel of our time: a story of dashed expectations and corporate manipulations. Eskridge explores what it means to really see ourselves, and what we are ultimately capable of. Jackal, a slight adolescent, matures into an adult capable of living well, no matter what her circumstances. She is a worthy role model for any reader.”
—BookPage

“Vivid and provocative.”
—The Baltimore Sun

“As with Eskridge’s short fiction, the vividness of the characters is what makes this book so memorable.”
—Locus

“Psychological insights that would warm the heart of Alice Hoffman.”
—The Seattle Times

Kelley Eskridge is a novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. Her stories have received the Astraea Award and been adapted for television. A movie based on Solitaire is in development. She lives in Seattle with her partner, novelist Nicola Griffith.


Stories of Your Life and Others · Preorder

by Ted Chiang

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This new edition of Ted Chiang’s masterful first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, includes his first eight published stories plus the author’s story notes and a cover that the author commissioned himself. Combining the precision and scientific curiosity of Kim Stanley Robinson with Lorrie Moore’s cool, clear love of language and narrative intricacy, this award-winning collection offers readers the dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar.

Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the amazing and much-lauded title story, a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection. A clever pastiche of news reports and interviews chronicles a college’s initiative to “turn off” the human ability to recognize beauty in “Liking What You See: A Documentary.” With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty and constant change, and also by beauty and wonder.

Praise for Story of Your Life and Others:

“Chiang writes seldom, but his almost unfathomably wonderful stories tick away with the precision of a Swiss watch—and explode in your awareness with shocking, devastating force.”
—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“The first must-read SF book of the year.”
—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“He puts the science back in science fiction—brilliantly.”
—Booklist (Starred Review)

Ted Chiang is one of the most celebrated science fiction authors writing today and is the author of numerous short stories, including most recently “Exhalation,” which won the Hugo, British Science Fiction, and Locus awards. He lives near Seattle, Washington.


What I Didn’t See and Other Stories · Preorder

by Karen Joy Fowler

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In her moving and elegant new collection, New York Times bestseller Karen Joy Fowler writes about John Wilkes Booth’s younger brother, a one-winged man, a California cult, and a pair of twins, and she digs into our past, present, and future in the quiet, witty, and incisive way only she can.

The sinister and the magical are always lurking just below the surface: for a mother who invents a fairy-tale world for her son in “Halfway People”; for Edwin Booth in “Booth’s Ghost,” haunted by his fame as “America’s Hamlet” and his brother’s terrible actions; for Norah, a rebellious teenager facing torture in the Shirley Jackson Award winning “The Pelican Bar” as she confronts Mama Strong, the sadistic boss of a rehabilitation facility; for the narrator recounting her descent in “What I Didn’t See.”

With clear and insightful prose, Fowler’s stories measure the human capacities for hope and despair, brutality and kindness. This collection, which includes two Nebula Award winners, is sure to delight readers, even as it pulls the rug out from underneath them.

Read a story: “Standing Room Only” · “Always”

Praise for Karen Joy Fowler:

“No contemporary writer creates characters more appealing, or examines them with greater acuity and forgiveness.”
—Michael Chabon

“Fowler’s witty writing is a joy to read.”—USA Today

Karen Joy Fowler is the author of five novels, including Wit’s End, PEN/Faulkner finalist Sister Noon, and New York Times bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club. Her collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award. Fowler and her husband, who have two grown children, live in Santa Cruz, California.


Under the Poppy · Preorder

by Kathe Koja

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October 22, 2010 · 9781931520706 · trade cloth/ebook

Decca, runs a Victorian brothel, Under the Poppy, and is in love with co-owner Rupert, who, in turn, is in love with Decca’s brother, Istvan. When Istvan appears, louche puppet troupe in tow, their desires play out against a backdrop of approaching war and the townsmen seek refuge watching the girls of the Poppy cavort onstage with Istvan’s naughty puppets….

“This book made me drunk. Koja’s language is at its poetic best and the epic drama had me digging my nails into my palms.”
—Cory Doctorow (Little Brother)

“The brothel of Kathe Koja’s Under the Poppy requires no time and space coordinates. It is a fictional universe unto itself—rich and bawdy and violent and sad, with a beating human heart underneath. I love Koja’s daring and flair.”
— Louis Bayard (The Black Tower)

[Watch the trailer.]

Kathe Koja’s books include The Cipher, Skin, and Extremities; YA novels include Buddha Boy, Talk, Kissing the Bee, and Headlong. Her work has been honored by the ALA, the ASPCA, the Parents’ Choice Award, and the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. Her books have been published in seven languages, and optioned for film. She’s a Detroit native and lives in the area with her husband, artist Rick Lieder, and their cats. Under the Poppy is currently being adapted for the stage and will debut in February 2011.

High praise for Kathe Koja’s previous books:

Kissing the Bee

“Incorporates facts and folklore about bees in this spare and haunting novel….Her understated, tightly focused language evokes vivid scenes and heady emotions…each line of dialogue, each interaction illuminating struggles that readers face as well.”
—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

“Readers will find it hard to pry themselves away from this brilliantly written story . . . A must read for young romantics.”
—International Reading Association

“Poetic, realistic, and filled with memorable characters, this spare novel captures first love’s exquisite, earth-shattering joy and the struggle and thrill that come with claiming one’s own life.”
—Booklist, starred review

“[The] interplay of Dana and her own feelings drive the story, and her burgeoning relationship with Emil has an understated passion that will satisfy diehard romantic readers.”
—VOYA

Going Under

“Koja has once again created a rich psychological drama whose characters will not be easily forgotten….The crystal-clear narrative voices of Hilly and Ivan create a constant dual perspective that, along with Hilly’s stories and decoy journals, raise fascinating questions about the complex layers of truth and identity that can exist within a single person or story.”
—The Horn Book


A Working Writer’s Daily Planner 2011 · Preorder

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September 2010 · 9781931520676 · Spiral bound · 6 x 9 · 160 pp · Multiple-copy discount

The perfect supplement to any writer’s life, this new edition of A Working Writer’s Daily Planner is even better than before, packed with more of the information writers need to organize their work schedules, track upcoming deadlines, and learn about grant opportunities, contests, and workshop programs. For 2011 we turned to those who know best what writers want—writers themselves—and asked them what resources they’d find most useful. The result is a unique and indispensable tool that makes it easy for writers to keep track of the practical, business end of writing, leaving more time for them to actually spend writing.

If you’re a writer, you’ll immediately see the advantage of gathering so much information into one spiral-bound compendium: application deadlines are built right into the calendar, along with spotlights on writing markets and helpful online resources. You’ll also find information on How to Find a Writing Group – Or Start Your Own, writing conferences, advice on formatting manuscripts, suggested readings, and the dos and don’ts of submitting your work to journals, magazines, and literary agents. If there’s a writer in your life, this calendar will make the perfect gift.

And because every professional writer needs distractions, we’ll sneak in peculiar tales of the writing life, plenty of inspiring art and photos, writing prompts, and, as always, a few surprises too.

Instant Discounts (includes Media Mail shipping in the USA):

2 copies: $24


3 copies: $33


4 copies: $40


5 copies: $45

Reader reaction to last year’s Planner:

“Oh, how I wish I’d had this from the beginning of the year.”
—C.R., May 2010