Music: Money for Nothing, and Your Chicks For Free
… about the two big anthologies that I’m editing with Gardner Dozois for Tor Books. Well, they’re both coming together very nicely, thanks.

For WARRIORS, our huge crossgenre anthology about war, warriors, and the warrior ethos, we’ve got stories in from Robert Silverberg, Joe Haldeman, Cecilia Holland, David Morrell, Lawrence Block, and Robin Hobb. Robin’s novelette is the latest to turn up, a terrific tale called “The Triumph,” about two Romans captured by the Carthaginians during the First Punic War. But Carthage is the least of their problems… Joe Haldeman gave us a story set in the ‘Soldierboy’ universe of his Hugo-winning novel FOREVER PEACE. Vikings, serial killers, the French Foreign Legion, this book is going to have it all.

Meanwhile, the Jack Vance tribute anthology SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH is also moving right along, with fine stories already on hand from Kage Baker, Tanith Lee, Robert Silverberg, Glen Cook, Terry Dowling, and Liz Williams, and manuscripts from Lucius Shepard, Walter Jon Williams, and Jeff Vandermeer expected any day now. The latest arrival is from Kage Baker, who did a Cugel the Clever story that was a delight from start to finish. Don’t know Cugel? Shame on you. In her afterword Kage describes him as a cross between Wile E. Coyote and Harry Flashman, and that’s about right. I’d rank him as one of the great characters of modern fantasy, right up there with Conan the Barbarian, Elric of Melnibone, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Jirel of Joiry, and those guys with the hairy feet from Tolkien. A visit from Cugel is like a visit from an old friend… albeit the sort of old friend where you’d do well to count the silverware after he leaves.

Besides the stories, I’ve also been seeing some of the rough sketches for the interior illustratons that Tom Kidd will be doing for Subterranean Press’s signed limited edition of SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, and those look spectacular as well. Eventually, when we have the final art, I’ll post a few samples here to give you all a taste.

Lots more cool stuff is coming on both books. Diana Gabaldon, Howard Waldrop (twice), Neil Gaiman (twice), Tad Williams, Dan Simmons, Peter S. Beagle, Lucius Shepard, and many more. And I get to read all the stories first. Editing is fun.

So that’s where we stand on that, and thanks for asking.

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