On Translation Station

Translation Station by Don D'Ammassa

Now available for pre-order!

Actually, consider this available for order any day now as all we're doing right now is awaiting delivery from the printer. This is a great collection of stories. Aliens. Hyperspatial planes. Spaceships. The works. There is some mighty fine space opera and adventure happening here. Check out this table of contents:

"A Good Offense"
"Wormdance"
"Diplomatic Relations"
"Funeral Party"
"Getting with the Program"
"Translation Station"
"The Man Who Walked to Procyon"
"No Distance Too Great"
"Jack the Martian"
"Adding It Up"
"Actual Mode"
"Scrimshaw"
"Remotely Possible"
"Duck and Cover"
"Chronic Pain"
"Curing Agent"
"The Natural World"

At $13.95 that's a pretty good bargain. And don't forget...up until July 14th, orders for this book from our website enjoy FREE domestic shipping and greatly reduced international shipping. To order Translation Station by Don D'Ammassa, visit http://www.merryblacksmith.com/bookpages/translation.html.

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Developing News: We're getting closer to finishing Bud Webster's The Joy of Booking. Expect to see it sometime in June

Developing News: We're currently hammering out details on a couple of novels and, possibly, a collection of comics from one of the legends from the indie comic scene. Stay tuned for details.

Developing News: Child-Eyes by Sarah DeSimone with illustrations by Rose Sipperley is also nearing completion. Expect to see that sometime in June as well.

Developing News: Your humble publisher thinks he's an artist. Find out why at http://jdteehan.deviantart.com/. As he gets the hang of the DeviantArt website, certain prints will become available for order as well as some Merry Blacksmith swag.

Cheers!

News on upcoming news...

I really need to get better at updating the blog stuff. It seems unfair that all this great news of upcoming books has been laying fallow...waiting for the spring planting, as it were, when it could have been done weeks ago.

Well spring is now upon us, like it or not. Don't get me wrong. I'm so glad that winter is over, but now the yard is exploding forth with grass and brush that I now have to keep trimmed back lest they devour the house. And May has been a very rainy month thus far, so you can just imagine what I'm dealing with.

Bookwise, though, things are looking great. Over the next few days, I'm going to be releasing news on various Merry Blacksmith releases and other bits of news.

What's coming up?

How about news on Don D'Ammassa's incredible collection of science fiction? I asked for some space opera, and boy did I get some. I love these stories. Check out Translation Station details coming soon.

Also on deck is a new poetry collection from the Merry Blacksmith Press. Stay tuned for news on Child Eyes by Sarah DeSimone featuring artwork by Rose Sipperley. Truly great stuff and a fine addition to our poetry line.

In a month or two, look for the release of of an expanded and updated edition of The Joy of Booking by Bud Webster, author of the popular Anthopology 101 series. Bud's a long-time bibliophile and bookseller. This book will have all the ins and outs of the book dealing trade, useful in and of itself, but also useful for other types of dealers. Be on the lookout.

And I've been letting my art freak flag fly a bit lately, too. I may be sharing some info on that as well, and showcasing a few galleries and merch.

So like I said...lot's of stuff will be discussed and announced here over the next few days.

Don't miss out.

What news?

As the Merry Blacksmith Press nears its first anniversary, I'm honestly amazed at how great a year it's been. We've put out some very fine books, and they've all received great reviews. At this point in time, there are still a couple of days left to get Hugo nominations in. We think that Bud Webster's ANTHOPOLOGY 101 would make a fine addition to the Best-Related nominations list, and that Tim Pratt's very successful fourth Marla Mason novel, BROKEN MIRRORS, would likewise look great sitting there on the BEST NOVEL nominations list.

Just putting that little bug in your ear.

Earl Kemp will be appearing at the Los Angeles Paperback Show next week and he'll have copies of WHO KILLED SCIENCE FICTION on hand to autograph and sell. If drop by, don't forget to grab a flyer showcasing some of our other titles.

Back to awards for a sec...Merry Blacksmith author Connie Corcoran Wilson brings in two from eLit Awards with a Silver for IT CAME FROM THE '70s and a Gold for HELLFIRE & DAMNATION. Way to go! Connie will be appearing at the Wizard World Con in Austin, and at the New York Book Expo.

As far as new release go, don't forget that for the entire month of March, Bradley H. Sinor's incredible collection of fantasy stories, WHERE THE SHADOWS BEGAN & OTHER STORIES comes with FREE domestic shipping and greatly reduced international shipping.

As for upcoming titles, look for Ben Ohmart's ALBANY: An Autobio in Poemtry coming very soon.

And we have much more coming up over the next few months. Stay tuned for details including a special release planned for Renovation and one or two for next year's Chicon.

Yeah...it's a fun ride. It doesn't end here. We'll have more news on our other great titles coming up.

Cheers!

Some (but not all of the) New Titles for Spring

For the entire month of March, orders for Where the Shadows Began & Other Stories by Bradley H. Sinor will enjoy FREE domestic shipping and drastically reduced international shipping. If you haven't ordered yourself a copy yet, you don't know what you're missing. Consider tales that:

• A theatre where the play’s the thing and nightmares perform.
• Fog that, if you walk into, you will come out to find the world changed—and that you must face the greatest killer of an age.
• How the burden of legend, honor and the pain of love lost stretches down through the ages.
• The sands of a beach where choices made cannot be unmade.
• A tale as old as time—from an unexpected point of view.
• Who cleans up after the titans clash?

Brad's fantasy takes you into uncharted territories of wonder and possibility. It's a highly recommended read.

Speaking of great reads, coming soon is a fine collection of poetry from Ben Ohmart. In Albany: an Autobio in Poemtry, Ben takes a different approach to biography by presenting a series of poems which not only encapsulate his own experiences growing up, but which also envelope the reader in a shared experience. It's not often one finds poetry that talks about playing Frogger or Space Invaders as a child, or enjoying comic books or Star Wars action action figures (from the first trilogy). If you're a Merry Blacksmith reader, then you're probably a little bit of a geek and proud of it. Ben's one of us and it shows. Look for this book around the beginning of April.

Cheers!

Boskone and Corflu and fanac and fantasy

Heading off to Boskone this morning for a daytrip. In addition to dropping off some goodies at the freebie table, I'll be visiting some dealers with copies of Merry Blacksmith Press books and some flyers promoting our titles. It's been too long since I've visited a con, even for a day, so I'm very glad I was able to shoehorn this daytrip in.

I'm already making plans for more cons this year.

In other news, I'm happy to report that Earl Kemp's Who Killed Science Fiction? has been getting some great responses. The book debuted at this year's fanzine fan convention, Corflu, in Sunnyvale, California. Apparently most of the copies were sold within half an hour after opening the box on Friday night, and the rest were gone by morning, and orders taking advantage of the February free or reduced shipping have been nicely brisk. I donated a copy of WKSF and Anthopology 101 to the fan auction. The video feed cut before I could find out how much they went for, alas. Still, if they brought in their cover price, I'm more than satisfied. Every little bit helps to promote healthy fanac.

And speaking of fanac, stay tuned for new on a special fan anthology project coming soon.

And speaking of staying tuned...by the end of the month, Bradley H. Sinor's excellent fantasy short story collection, Where the Shadows Began, will become available. As usual, there will be special deals available when it's released into the wild.

Cheers!

Anthopology 101 on the LOCUS 2010 Recommended Reading List

I gotta say, I had a very pleasant bit of news this morning when Bud Webster e-mailed me to tell me that his book, ANTHOPOLOGY 101: Reflections, Inspections and Dissections of SF Anthologies, appears in the Non-fiction category of the 2010 LOCUS Recommended Reading List. That's pretty cool for Bud whose work on the Anthopology 101 column over the years has gotten him quite the reputation as a scholar, but also for our little press here.

So congratulations to Bud! And thanks for offering me your book to publish.

And in case you were not aware, you can read the Preface at our website.

And while I'm pointing out Merry Blacksmith titles on awards list...don't forget that Connie Wilson's Hellfire & Damnation is on the preliminary ballot for the Stoker Award. Granted, the ballot still lists the original publisher, Sam's Dot, but that's only fair because the Merry Blacksmith edition didn't come out until January of this year. That Connie selected The Merry Blacksmith Press when the Sam's Dot agreement ran out is very nice, and congrats to her for making the ballot.

You can read "Confessions of an Apotemnophile" for free.

So, yeah...it's a great first year.

Cheers!

--John

On Barsoom and Dublin

It's been about a year since The Merry Blacksmith Press got underway. Before getting down to the nitty-gritty of publishing new books, I wanted to do some tests with the printer, experiment with PayPal and generally do some dry runs. Before I started releasing new books, I did what so many other small publishers do and took a stab at some public domain titles. Obviously, I was happy with the results from the printer which is why I started hawking them on the website, and those four titles I started with are still listed in the catalog, and still available for order.

First up was A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Why? Partly because I started hearing noise again about a film version (anyone know whatever became of that?) but mostly because I was addicted to the Barsoom series when I was a kid. These were fun, action-packed stories with many of the sort of thing that are still popular today. Adventure, Romance. Massive battles. Airships. You know...the works.

After approving the first Merry Blacksmith publication, I went ahead and put together the next two in the series: The Gods of Mars, and its direct sequel, The Warlord of Mars. Every now and then I consider putting together an omnibus edition, but I see a lot of those around, and sometimes folks just need one of the three titles to replace an old, worn-out one. Even if I do decide to go with an omnibus edition, they will always be available as single volumes.

The Christmas before I started Merry Blacksmith Press, my wife had given me an old copy of James Joyce's Dubliners. Of all of Joyce's works, I had always found this the most accessible and enjoyable. This is one of those collections that I feel should be taught in every school or, at the very least, read by everyone at least once in their lives.

And given that "The Merry Blacksmith" is the name of a well-known Irish reel, and Joyce was a celebrated Irish writer, the fit seemed right.

Hence, the Merry Blacksmith Press edition.

Will I put out other public domain titles in the future? Probably. There are some science fiction adventure titles I've had my eye one--real pulp-era sort of yarns. I sometimes consider editions of books from early English literature, which was my major in college. I'm also open to suggestions.

My next post will be about more new releases, but today, I celebrate some classics.

Cheers!