Merry Christmas!

May the winter holidays be full of warm and joy and may Santa bring you all the presents you desire!

Merry Christmas!

Cover art - "The Runestaff" by Michael Moorcock

As we’ve seen at the beginning of this year the cover artwork for the new editions of Michael Moorcock’s first three novels in the “Hawkmoon” series, released by Tor Books, were at the top level. And it cannot be otherwise since the cover artist was the great Vance Kovacs. Earlier this month, Tor Books released the new edition of the last novel in the series, “The Runestaff”, and once again Vance Kovacs produced an excellent cover. Actually, looking over the entire series of covers Vance Kovacs made for the Michael Moorcock’s series I am tempted to buy the novels again just for the artwork, although I do own the entire series.

4th Black Quill Awards nominations

Dark Scribe Magazine has announced the nominations for the 4th Black Quill Awards. As Dark Scribe Magazine used us in the previous three years of the awards each of the 7 categories will have two winners, one voted by the editors and contributors of Dark Scribe Magazine, Editor’s Choice, and one voted by the readers, Reader’s Choice. Therefore we can cast our vote too, using the form made available by Dark Scribe Magazine on their website. The eligible works were published between November 1st, 2009 and October 31st, 2010. The voting ends on January 21st, 2011 and the winners of the Black Quill Awards will be announced on February 1st, 2011.

DARK GENRE NOVEL OF THE YEAR:

- “A Dark Matter” by Peter Straub (Doubleday/Orion)
- “Kraken” by China Miéville (Pan Macmillan/Del Rey)
- “Sparrow Rock” by Nate Kenyon (Leisure/Bad Moon Books)
- “The Caretaker of Lorne Field” by David Zeltserman (Overlook Hardcover)
- “The Passage” by Justin Cronin (Orion/Ballantine)
- “Under the Dome” by Stephen King (Hodder/Scribner)

BEST SMALL PRESS CHILL:

- “A Book of Tongues” by Gemma Files (ChiZine Publications)
- “Dreams in Black and White” by John R. Little (Morning Star)
- “Invisible Fences” by Norman Prentiss (Cemetery Dance)
- “The Castle of Los Angeles” by Lisa Morton (Gray Friar Press)
- “The Wolf at the Door” by Jameson Currier (Chelsea Street Editions)

BEST DARK GENRE FICTION COLLECTION:

- “Blood and Gristle” by Michael Louis Calvillo (Bad Moon Books)
- “In the Mean Time” by Paul Tremblay (ChiZine Publications)
- “Little Things” by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
- “Occultation” by Laird Barron (Night Shade Books)
- “Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse” by Otsuichi (VIZ Media LLC)

BEST DARK GENRE ANTHOLOGY:

- “Dark Faith” edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon (Apex Publications)
- “Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology” edited by Michelle McCrary and Joe McKinney (23 House)
- “Haunted Legends” edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas (Tor)
- “Horror Library IV” edited by RJ Cavender and Boyd E. Harris (Cutting Block Press)
- “When The Night Comes Down” edited by Bill Breedlove (Dark Arts Books)

BEST DARK GENRE BOOK OF NON-FICTION:

- “Horrors: Great Stories of Fear and Their Creators” by Rocky Wood (McFarland)
- “I Am Providence: The Life and Times of HP Lovecraft” by S.T. Joshi (Hippocampus Press)
- “Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever” by Joe Kane (Citadel)
- “The Conspiracy Against the Human Race” by Thomas Ligotti (Hippocampus Press)
- “Thrillers: 100 Must Reads” edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner (Oceanview Publishing)

BEST DARK SCRIBBLE:

- “Bully” by Jack Ketchum (Postscripts 22/23)
- “Goblin Boy” by Rick Hautula (Cemetery Dance #63)
- “Secretario” by Catherynne M. Valente (Weird Tales, Summer 2010)
- “The Things” by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, January 2010)
- “We” by Bentley Little (Cemetery Dance #64)

BEST DARK GENRE BOOK TRAILER: (you can view all the book trailers on the nominations’ page on the Dark Scribe Magazine website)

- “Neverland” by Douglas Clegg / Produced by Circle of Seven Productions
- “Radiant Shadows” by Melissa Marr / Produced by Circle of Seven Productions
- “Specters in Coal Dust” edited by Michael Knost / Produced by Michael Knost & Black Water Films
- “Under the Dome” by Stephen King / Produced by Scribner Marketing
- “Unhappy Endings” by Brian Keene / Produced by Delirium Books

Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees!

Michael Moorcock comes to BOOM! this May with Elric: The Balance Lost!

THIS MAY 2011 EXPERIENCE ELRIC: THE BALANCE LOST ALL ORIGINAL FREE COMIC BOOK DAY PREQUEL LEADING DIRECTLY INTO THE FIRST ISSUE THIS JULY

WRITTEN BY SUPERMAN & STAN LEE’S STARBORN NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER CHRIS ROBERSON

MICHAEL MOORCOCK'S MULTIVERSE COLLIDES WITH ELRIC, CORUM, AND HAWKMOON

For 40 years, Elric has thrilled comic book fandom beginning with Marvel Comics' CONAN THE BARBARIAN #15 in 1972. Neil Gaiman called Elric’s creator Michael Moorcock “my model for what a writer was” while Warren Ellis said he is one of the “eight core sites in my creative genome” — now, the godfather of the Multiverse concept brings one of the most critically acclaimed and most recognizable figures in the history of fantasy fiction back to sequential art with BOOM! Studios’ ELRIC: THE BALANCE LOST!

Written by SUPERMAN, iZOMBIE, and STAN LEE’S STARBORN New York Times bestselling scribe Chris Roberson, the adventure begins this May in an all-new, all-original FREE COMIC BOOK DAY edition that’s not simply a preview of the July series, but a prequel that will excite longtime Elric fans and serves an accessible entry point for the curious who have never experienced Moorcock’s saga.

Showcasing not just Elric, but Corum and Hawkmoon in a mammoth epic that uses Moorcock’s fascinating and intricate Multiverse as its tapestry, ELRIC: THE BALANCE LOST #1 follows the May prequel and premieres as a full-blown series this July with its first issue.

“Elric is in inspired hands. I'm enthusiastically looking forward to his appearance from BOOM! Studios,” said legendary Elric creator Michael Moorcock. “One of the best writers of his generation, Chris Roberson, will be writing a brilliantly conceived, entirely new Elric story in the grand manner! I can't wait!”

"Publishing Michael Moorcock's Elric feels like a dream come true," said Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon. "Even more so when Michael is as enthused as we are about the revival of one of his most classic creations. This year will be 50 years since the creation of Elric and BOOM! Studios aims to live up to the standard and tradition that Michael Moorcock has set."

ELRIC: THE BALANCE LOST features the return of Michael Moorcock’s legendary Multiverse, featuring some of the greatest fantasy characters of all time: Elric of Melniboné, Corum of the Scarlet Robe, and Dorian Hawkmoon in a brand-new story that will test the courage of the Eternal Champion! In this new series, the workings of Fate are being tampered with across the Multiverse, upsetting the Cosmic Balance. Elric of Melniboné must preserve the Balance and save the entire Multiverse from ruin. But no sooner has his journey begun than he is waylaid by dark forces and lost on the Moonbeam Roads. Elric finds himself stranded on a world where Chaos holds sway and where change is the only constant. Heroes are forced into action far and wide, but will they fight on the side of Law or Chaos?

ELRIC: THE BALANCE LOST FCBD EDITION ships this May for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, featuring an original prequel story by New York Times bestseller and SUPERMAN writer Chris Roberson and cover art by Erik Jones that leads directly into the first issue of the new ELRIC: THE BALANCE LOST this July.

About BOOM! Studios

BOOM! Studios (http://www.boom-studios.com/) 2009’s "Best Publisher” generates a wide-ranging catalog of multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated comic books and graphic novels featuring some of the industry’s top talent, including Philip K. Dick's DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, 20th Century Fox's 28 DAYS LATER and DIE HARD, The Henson Company's FARSCAPE, and the original Mark Waid series IRREDEEMABLE. This fall sees BOOM! teaming up with the legendary Stan Lee, creator of Marvel Comics’ characters Spider-Man, The Hulk, and The X-Men for a line of original superhero series, the legend’s first new original superheroes to go to print in nearly 20 years. BOOM!'s youth imprint, BOOM Kids!, is an undisputed industry leader, publishing Disney/Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES, CARS, and TOY STORY, as well as Disney's THE MUPPETS, DONALD DUCK, UNCLE SCROOGE and WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES. This year, BOOM! Studios celebrates its fifth anniversary.

The best thing, ever

From yesterday, 14:20, Dark Wolf welcomed a new member to his pack, the very young pup, Mihnea.

A return, of sorts

This is not a proper return, since the working projects I talked about are prolonged for the entire December and also these days we await the imminent arrival of the new member of the family. However, not all of the past week was spent in hectic activity, I did find time for other things too. I finished a couple of novels and the writing of their reviews is a work in progress, I have four interviews close to be finalized and I am preparing the posts for the end of the 2010 reading year. My time remains a bit limited, therefore the posting will be a bit scarce for the rest of December, but we will see each other a little this month and in full schedule from January.

A few days of silence

Things seem to be piling up sometimes and since the end of the year is close a few working projects are gathering here. Three such projects to be exact and all require a few trips outside the office, paperwork that needs to be finished and revised and they take a lot more time than usual. Therefore for a few days my free time will be heavily shorted and my online presence scarce. I will be back on posting sometimes next week though.