Lou Anders Visits MFB and talks books

Lou and I have been chatting on and off for a while now, especially after I irrevocably fell in love with Matthew Sturges's novel: Midwinter. I convinced Lou to do an interview with us, which sort of became more of a guest blog, to be honest.

But, I'll rather let Lou tell you in his own words (with a few prompts from me:

How did Pyr come about?

The parent company, Prometheus Books, who incidentally have just celebrated their 40th birthday, wanted to get into fiction. As nonfiction publishers of a great deal of science, nature and philosophy texts, and long time friends of the late Isaac Asimov, Sir Arthur C Clarke, and Carl Sagan, they thought that science fiction would be a good match. They approached me in March of 2004 (I had been making a name for myself as a freelance anthology editor), and I came on board as the Editorial Director of Pyr (the name is the Greek word for "fire" and thus, a wonderful fit with the parent company's name and purpose).

We began by publishing about sixteen novels a year, mostly hardcover, mostly SF. Over the last four and a half years, we've transitioned into publishing mostly fantasy, mostly in trade paperback, and in the past year moved into both mass market paperbacks and ebooks. And the reception from the SF&F community has been tremendous. We hear continually from readers that they come to us when they want "more engrossing reads" and that while there isn't one subgenre or tone we specialize in, we nonetheless have a "brand-identity" of publishing higher quality books. We've heard this from readers, distributors, independent bookstores, and chain store buyers.

We are also frequently called out for the quality of our book covers (three were on the Chesley ballot this past summer, as was I as Art Director). We are also thrilled to have been on the Hugo ballot six times now in less than five years - once for novel, once for novelette, once for novella, and three times in the new Best Editor-Long Form category. So, basically, by the time we turn five this coming March, it will have already been a hell of a ride.

What exciting things are Pyr up to at the moment?

Currently, we are up to about 28 books a year, with the freedom to go beyond this when/if we can, and making a name for ourselves as a great place to read the "new, gritty fantasy" among other genres.

We're having a lot of success with authors like Joe Abercrombie, Tom Lloyd, and James Barclay in this area, as well as with urban fantasy authors like Justina Robson and Mark Chadbourn. Lately, I've been acquiring titles that I am thinking of as "post-steampunk," or rather, steampunk that has migrated out of Victorian settings into fantasy, urban fantasy, and other alternate historical settings. We'll have books in this category out in 2010 from Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mike Resick, Tim Akers, George Mann and the writing team of Clay and Susan Griffith.

What you are looking forward to in the future and can you tell us some gossip about your new and upcoming books?

Well, we've just come out with Paul McAuley's The Quiet War, a tremendous war/anti-war novel set a few hundred years from now and dealing with the conflicts between a Brazilian-led earth and the colonists around the moons of Saturn, as well as James Barclay's original Raven trilogy, making its US debut. We also have James Enge's This Crooked Way, the second of his (stand-alone but linked) novels about Morlock Ambrosius, son of Merlin, master of all magical makers, master swordsman, and bitterly dry drunk. This one is very, very much akin to the early S&S of authors like Fritz Leiber, or even Michael Moorcock, so think "episodic novel," (or that dreaded word fix-up), rather than a big doorstopper epic. But if you are a fan of Howard, Lieber, Moorcock, Moore, etc... this is the book for you.

On it's heels, we have Joel Shepherd's Sasha, the first in his A Trial of Blood & Steel quartet, a gritty, realistic fantasy that is steeped in politics and features a believably-invincible female protagonist. I say believably-invincible because she has studied a sort of swordsman's martial art (think Zen warrior monks) and brought it back to a culture still fighting with broadswords, so she's able to use momentum in a way no one around her can. But she's not Buffy. Her power is very grounded in what someone could *and could not* realistically accomplish, and as such I think she's a very important offering to a genre full of magically-empowered heroines.

We also have Mark Chadbourn's new Swords of Albion book, The Silver Skull, which is the first of his Elizabethean Spy novels featuring Will Swyfte, the Queen's front line of attack in the Cold War England finds itself in with Faerie. If you think Susanna Clarke meets Ian Fleming meets Patrick O'Brian, you aren't far wrong.

Let us know what you do and how you manage to do what you do i.e. blog, twitter, Pyr job, etc. without collapsing into a bundle of nerves.

I wish I knew. I'm pretty much running on all cylinders now, burning the candle at both ends, etc... Prometheus is a roughly 40 person company, and probably about 30 of them input in varying degrees in the production and distribution of every Pyr title, but I still do a hell of a lot of overseeing (as well as being the only one reading, acquiring, and art directing). These days, my job seems to divide into public speaking/online interviews (such as this and thank you very much) and pushing emails back and forth between departments. Actual reading ends up occupying a tiny corner of the day!

Which reminds me, I should be off...

**

Thanks stacks and bundles to Lou for taking time to chat to us. I'd like to point out the following link - http://www.pyrsf.com/SampleChapters.html - which is their Pyr Sample Chapters Blog and to be honest (and mercenary) aspiring writers can do worse than pop by there to check out how it's done.

Find out more about the SuperHuman Lou Anders and Pyr SF here www.pyrsf.com
and here www.louanders.com .

Midwinter, Matthew Sturges

Synopsis

Winter comes to the land only once in a hundred years. But the snow covers ancient secrets: secrets that could topple a kingdom. Mauritaine was a war hero. Then he was accused of treason and sentenced to life without parole at Crere Sulace, a dark and ancient prison in the mountains, far from the City Emerald. But now the Seelie Queen – Regina Titania herself – has offered him one last chance to redeem himself, an opportunity to regain his freedom and his honor.

This is how I sold Midwinter to my friends on Monday evening when we had a get-together for all things reviewer and book-like: Faeries and a mix of the Dirty Dozen and Oceans Eleven.

Ana and Katie gawped at me, Kaz smiled smugly and Mark just shook his head and rolled his eyes. That is my elevator spiel. And I got every single one of them interested in the book. I felt a bit smug BUT then I explained to them, roughly, what the book is about and why they should make sure they read it. They were still interested, so I was convinced that between my sell and Matthew Sturges' writing, we'd managed to sell his book to a few more people.

Midwinter is not like anything you might very well come to expect when you mention fairies or the Fae. It forces you to toss your preconceptions about pointy eared elves and maids in gossamer gowns straight out the window. Here we are faced with a well-drawn world with trappings of medieval society (so far, so the same) and we have the two opposing courts – the Seelie and the Unseelie (so far, so the same) – and yes, there is animosity (sfsts) between the two courts. It is in essence a martial society ruled over by a matriach which is quite new - or new to me, at least. The two queens – Titania and Mab - whose presence, although they do not appear very often or for extended periods of time in the novel, is felt throughout. Mab’s city is a massive floating city powered by Chambers of Elements and Motion. The threat of Unseelie invasion is tangible throughout and lends a quality of urgency to the novel. There is no vain posturing by these queens when they make their appearance – and it is a refreshing change. The old tropes of having the fae be over the top and thee and thou has no place in Midwinter.

The main character, Mauritaine is equally well plotted. Here we have a hero fallen on bad times, locked away for a perceived treason against the Seelie and Queen Titania herself. He longs for nothing more to regain his freedom, to destroy his enemies, and to pick up the remnants of his old life, and to reprise his role as Captain of the Guard. But, locked away within Crere Sulace, a remote prison in the far reaches of the mountains, and with no chance of parole, this is not likely to happen. Yet, one day, a group of guards arrive at the mountain with orders from the Queen’s Chamberlain to release Muritaine and a group of prisoners of his choice, to fulfil a task set out by the Queen – by not fulfilling the task, the Seelie world would collapse and the Fae would die. If they succeed they would be granted their freedom and all past deeds would be forgiven. It is in essence, a suicide mission, but to be honest, it is a better choice than dying as a prisoner somewhere awful.

Mauritaine sets about choosing his companions. His actions are swift and he has the Gift of Leadership so his commands are quickly met by his erstwhile captors. He chooses a young nobleman, Lord Silverdun, Raieve a female warrior of great skill and Brian Satterly, a human scientist who had strayed into Faerie to rescue a Changeling child.

We follow the group through various travails as they by turns fight for their survival, run for their lives and become heroes of a semi-rebellion.

I enjoyed Midwinter and think that Matthew Sturges has only started to dazzle us with his too easy writing style and clever character creations and twisty plotlines. It wasn’t until quite late into the book that I cottoned onto what exactly it is that their task was as it is not actually ever revealed in so many words! Fortunately, this trick, instead of hampering or annoying, heightens the mystery and sense of urgency.

Mauritaine’s character has this inner core of self-belief and strength which makes him an excellent main character. He does not become tiring and his actions are believable throughout. There are several air-punching moments in the novel and quite a few humourous encounters. Brian Satterly’s character, as the human, is beautifully underplayed and he struggles to cope in the world of the Fae – it is both what he expected and not. Sturges has managed to convey the difference between the Fae and Brian wonderfully by use of dialogue and “racial” preconceptions.

There is a mix of cultures here with tiny elements of science fiction and not too little magic but it is woven seamlessly into a strong debut novel by a writer already adept at writing graphic novels. The plot is evolved enough to satisfy with an antagonist that veers from almost likeable to despicable and secondary characters who could in turn be set up in their own novels within Sturges’ world. (hint! hint!)

Find Matthew Sturges’ site here and Pyr, his US publisher’s site here.