John Jarrold’s Corner, Dark Horse Comics and Angry Robot News!

Yep, some great news coming from all three! 🙂

But let’s start with John Jarrold’s Corner:

PRESS RELEASE – CHAZ BRENCHLEY SCIENCE FICTION NOVELLA TO PS PUBLISHING

John Jarrold has sold an SF novella by Chaz Brenchley, ROTTEN ROW, to Peter Crowther at PS Publishing. ROTTEN ROW is set in the same universe as his short story “Terminal”, which was shortlisted for the BSFA award and will be reprinted together with the novella.

Chaz Brenchley has been a professional writer since the age of 18, and has written over 20 thrillers, supernatural thrillers and fantasy novels under his own name and pseudonyms.

‘Although Chaz is known for his fantasy and dark fantasy, this is a wonderful SF story, it feels as if he’s been writing in the genre for decades,’ said John Jarrold.

Great, great news for Chaz! 🙂

And some news-bits from dark Horse Comics:

DARK HORSE SWINGS FOR THE BLEACHERS

DARK HORSE TEAMS WITH CHALLENGE GAMES TO DRAFT THE FIRST DARK HORSE BASEBALL BOSS TEAM

JULY 29, MILWAUKIE, OR–It’s no secret that Dark Horse loves comics, but perhaps lesser known is the fact that Dark Horse loves baseball, too!

In celebration of the summer season and America’s greatest pastime, Dark Horse Comics and Challenge Online Games have teamed up to create the greatest sports franchise ever. In a move that will have agents talking for weeks, Baseball Boss will now feature Dark Horse players, including Concrete, Hellboy, Abe Sapien (B.P.R.D.), X, Rumor and Kraken (The Umbrella Academy), the Mask, Conan, King Kull, Cal McDonald (Criminal Macabre), SpyBoy, Ghost, the Goon, Grendel Prime, the Occultist, Go Boy 7, and Heath Huston (Fear Agent).

The free-to-play online electronic trading card game combines the collectibility and trading aspects of collectible cards with the competitive excitement of multiplayer games. Harnessing Web 2.0 applications and asynchronous, short-form design, Baseball Boss and Dark Horse will set the bar for this emerging entertainment sector.

Plus, players can win a full set of virtual cards of the Dark Horse All-Stars team!

* First, players need to complete their free registration for the online game Baseball Boss and finish a quick account setup.

* Then, each time their team beats the Dark Horse All-Stars in a best-of-five game series, they can randomly win a card of the Dark Horse All-Stars for their collection.

* Players get three free packs of virtual baseball cards when they register for free for Baseball Boss.

To play their first game against the Dark Horse All-Stars, players should visit baseballboss.com/darkhorse.

Baseball Boss has been described by GameZone as “iTunes meets baseball cards.” The addition of Dark Horse superstars will allow players to create the ultimate dream team to go head to head with other players in a way never before imagined.

Dark Horse President Mike Richardson has this to say about the new program: “Being a longtime baseball fan, it’s great to see so many Dark Horse characters taking part in an online version of our national pastime and playing alongside some of my favorite real-life players.”

Jeff Petry, vice president of sports and licensed properties at Challenge Games, said, “Adding key characters from the Dark Horse universe creates a fun activity for our players. We hope that both sports fans and comic fans alike enjoy these highly collectible virtual cards. We’re looking forward to a great partnership with Dark Horse and to creating many more fun activities for all our players.”

And

OMG! DARK HORSE JOINS FELICIA DAY’S GUILD

SAN DIEGO, CA, JULY 24, 2009—Dark Horse Comics and Felicia Day, star of Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, are teaming up in a quest to bring one of the funniest online shows onto the pages of what will soon be the funniest comic based on a webisode, ever. Srsly.

Winner of the 2008 Greenlight Award at SXSW, as well as the 2008 YouTube Best Series and Yahoo! Best Series awards, The Guild is an online sitcom of web shorts written by, and starring, Felicia Day (Dr. Horrible, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, House). Since its formation, the show has racked up over twenty million viewers at watchtheguild.com.

The Guild follows six players, AKA “Guildies” (Bladezz, Codex, Vork, Tinkerballa, Zaboo, and Clara), who decide to finally meet in real life after spending months playing together in an online world. Their individual social dysfunctions lead to several problems in the real world, but together, as in the online game, they become greater than the sum of their collected baggage and start to become . . . well . . . kinda normal . . . er.

The online show now stands as one of YouTube’s most-subscribed series. It started as an independent project funded by fan donations via PayPal before being sponsored by Microsoft and Sprint in season 2. Season 3 will debut on Xbox/MSN/Zune on August 25.

The new comic, titled The Guild, was first conceived at San Diego Comic-Con 2008 when senior Dark Horse editor Scott Allie noticed that Day’s sharp wit and diverse talent would transfer well into sequential art. The series will be all-new material that expands on the actual in-game environment never seen on the show.

Allie stated, “Felicia’s amazing, and her writing will translate smoothly into comics. This’ll make a great companion to our line of comics. It’ll fit great alongside our webcomics and our Whedon books. And I’m really looking forward to working with her to get into some areas the show simply can’t because of budgetary reasons.”

The artist of the initial three-issue miniseries is undetermined, but the story will be penned by Felicia Day. Day, a self-proclaimed gaming aficionado, stated, “I’m really excited to work in a new medium and expand the Guild universe. The comics will be a great way for fans to become more involved with the characters, and see the characters interact in environments that we can’t afford to show in the web series. I can’t imagine working with a better company than Dark Horse. It seems like a perfect match for the show. Indie cred to the max!”

And in case you missed this in San Diego –

DARK HORSE UNVEILS THE NEXT WAVE OF COMICS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, MANGA, AND MORE AT THE 2009 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL

JULY 21, SAN DIEGO, CA–Dark Horse is proud to again deliver a loaded catalog of new projects that exemplify the evolution of the comics medium. Here are just a few of the highlights from this year’s Comic-Con International:

365 Samurai and a Few Bowls of Rice—Swiss artist J. P. Kalonji’s graphic novel comes to America. A young swordfighter must kill 365 samurai on a quest to avenge his master—in a fun, humorous, cartoony style.

Age of Reptiles—Film designer Ricardo Delgado returns with the third installment of his epic (silent) dinosaur comics series. Carnivores hunt herbivores on a migration south.

Aliens vs. Predator: Three World War—The 2009 relaunch of the Aliens and Predator series comes together with a creative team of John Arcudi and Rick Leonardi.

Archie Archives—The classic Archie comic books get the deluxe treatment in a series of hardcovers as the newest editions to the Dark Horse Archives series.

Blacksad—Collecting all three of the international award-winning European volumes, the third of which has not been published in English before. This crime noir about a cat detective, PI John Blacksad, is a phenomenal anthropomorphic story with fully painted artwork. By Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido.

Casper Anniversary Special—A 64-page hardcover celebrating Casper’s sixtieth anniversary and featuring his first appearance in comics.

Conan: The Weight of the Crown—Darick Robertson writes and draws our first Conan one-shot since the Conan the Cimmerian relaunch. This comic is part of Dark Horse’s all-new One-Shot Wonders program.

Dark Horse GelaSkins—Decorative coverings for phones and laptops featuring some of Dark Horse’s most popular properties, including The Umbrella Academy, Yoshitaka Amano, Tim Burton, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, and many more. A select few will be available at the Dark Horse booth during the convention as supplies last. The whole program is set to launch in September 2009.

Devil—Devil is an original Japanese manga being created for Dark Horse by Torajiro Kishi and animation powerhouse Madhouse Studios, featuring genetically designed vampires in a sci-fi police drama set in Tokyo.

Electropolis—Electropolis: The Infernal Machine is the perfect companion to Mister X: Condemned. Visionary artist Dean Motter revisits his unique brand of “antique futurism” in a story full of familiar faces, including a memorable cameo by Mister X himself.

Final Fantasy Boxed Set—A luxurious edition that stays true to the original Japanese collection of the complete Final Fantasy artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.

Furry Water and Mesmo Delivery—Eisner winner Rafael Grampá comes to Dark Horse with two books: Mesmo Delivery, a reprint of his psychedelic small-press debut; and Furry Water, cowritten with Daniel Pellizzari, a six-issue postapocalyptic action comic.

One-Shot Wonders—A new program running from October to December, highlighting some of Dark Horse’s biggest characters and properties in standalone comics retailing at $3.50 each. The program includes “Sugarshock,” Conan, Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Star Wars (two titles), “Dr. Horrible,” and The Goon.

The Art of Blade of the Immortal—Hardcover edition of the original Japanese book with 32 new bonus pages not previously available. This book will be in the style of the Dark Horse The Art of . . . and Library Edition series.

and last but not least –

THE COMICS WORLD STANDS ON THE VERGE OF METALOCALYPSE IN 2009!

THE WORLD’S HEAVIEST ANIMATED BAND FROM ADULT SWIM ARRIVES IN AN ALL-NEW SERIES FROM DARK HORSE!

JULY 23, SAN DIEGO, CA–Following the release of the highly anticipated Dethklok vs. The Goon, Dark Horse Comics and Adult Swim announce a brand-new comics series based on the immensely popular animated show Metalocalypse. The band’s five members—Nathan Explosion, William “Murderface,” Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Toki Wartooth, and Pickles—will be featured in a full publishing program created by series co-creator Brendon Small and a collaborative team of Metalocalypse and Dark Horse artists and writers.

Co-created by Tommy Blacha and Brendon Small, the Metalocalypse television series follows the on- and off-stage adventures of the world’s most brutal band as they create a wave of mayhem, death, and destruction wherever they go. Since debuting on Adult Swim in 2006, the series has become one of the network’s highest-rated original series, and the second season was watched by more than five million 18 to 34-year-old viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. This animated band has also had a lot of very real success, as the band’s debut CD, Dethklok: The Dethalbum, is the fastest-selling death-metal album of all time since debuting at #21 on Billboard’s Top 100 list, and a real-live version of the animated band has completed nearly sold-out tours. The follow up album, Dethklok: The Dethalbum II, will be released on September 8th from Williams Street Records.

“This collaboration with Dark Horse Comics is a great opportunity for us to partner with a company that has a shared sensibility and fan base with one of Adult Swim’s most popular brands,” said Christina Miller, vice president of Cartoon Network Enterprises. “Combining the pool of artistic talent of both companies, we have created a great publishing program that will both deliver the quality, entertaining content that our fans look for and will expose the hilarious antics of Dethklok to a new group of potential fans.”

“I am a huge fan of Eric and of The Goon,” says Dark Horse President Mike Richardson. “Eric, it turns out, is a huge fan of Metalocalypse. Once Eric suggested this team up, we began discussing the project and it seemed like a natural fit. We couldn’t be more excited about introducing these characters to the comics world.”

And now over to the folks of Angry Robot!

Press Release
4th August 2009 • For Immediate Release
CHANCE MEETING RESULTS IN BOOK DEAL

For French writer Aliette de Bodard, it was just another of those
annoying airport delays that plague us all from time to time. But it
turned out to be just the break she needed.

Forced to spend an extra day in Canada at Calgary airport on her
way back from the World Fantasy Convention last November, she
fell in with a couple of cheery Brits. They got talking, and the pair
mentioned they were setting up a new publishing imprint, and a
new literary agency respectively. After no little persuasion, Aliette
revealed that she, too, was in the writing game, and following a
few well-received short stories had been working on her debut
novel. A few months later, like the plot of a Hollywood movie,
she’s proud to announce she has a deal with both of them – with
the novels represented by new literary agency Zeno, and to be
published by new HarperCollins-funded imprint Angry Robot.

SERVANT OF THE UNDERWORLD is a wild mix of fantasy and crime novel, set in Aztec times. In this alternate world, though, the gods are real and stalk the temples, demanding sacrifices from the people. Amidst the bloodletting, a serial killer appears to be getting away with murder – but how do you find a murderer in a world where the streets themselves are awash with blood?

Angry Robot publishing director Marc Gascoigne, who was there that day along with Zeno’s John Berlyne, said: “It was a bit cheeky of us to cajole her into pitching there and then, but I’m very glad she did. We’re always looking for interesting new books to publish, but that day it was like the ancient gods themselves had all conspired to bring us to that spot! These are wonderful books, full of wild fantasy and cunning detection, and I’m so proud and pleased we’ll be publishing them.”
The deal with Angry Robot, made with publishing director Marc Gascoigne, is for three novels in this setting, to be published by the HarperCollins imprint from Spring 2010 onwards.

Angry Robot – http://angryrobotbooks.com
Zeno Literary Agency – http://zenoagency.com
Aliette de Bodard – http://aliettedebodard.com/

and two more signings!! 🙂

Press Release
29th July 2009 • For Immediate Release
ANGRY ROBOT NOW OBSESSED WITH THE LETTER G
Publisher possibly “out of his mind”

Last month Angry Robot supremo Marc Gascoigne announced the signing of not one, not two, but three new authors to our list who … well, OK, who all had names beginning with M. Yes, it was all just a spooky coincidence but a bit of fun, so yeah, we ran with it.

Today, he now claims, he’s signed two authors whose names begin with G. Surely Mr G is just messing with our minds now. What is this, some kind of cryptic Da Vinci Code homage? Has he buried some extraordinary Golden Robot at a secret location and wants us all to run around the countryside with spades? Or is it just one of those coincidences that actually happen all the time and are quite mathematically plausible, only we never really understand them because higher levels of probability analysis are frankly beyond us? Even top scientists are baffled, it says here.

So to sum up: all we can say for certain is that Angry Robot has signed up two more top talents for novels to appear in 2010 and beyond. And here they are:

In one, it’s GUY ADAMS. In a varied career, Guy trained and
worked as an actor for twelve years before becoming a fulltime
writer. He mugged someone on Emmerdale, performed a
dance routine as Hitler and spent eighteen months touring his
own comedy material around clubs and theatres. He is the
author of the best-selling Rules of Modern Policing: 1973
Edition, a spoof police manual “written by” DCI Gene Hunt of
Life On Mars. He’s has also written a two-volume series
companion to that; a Torchwood novel, The House That Jack
Built; and The Case Notes of Sherlock Holmes, a fictional
facsimile of a scrapbook kept by Doctor John Watson. He’s
also the current chairman of the British Fantasy Society. Enter his world at http://lizardsplay.blogspot.com

Now he’s moving into original fiction, with a pair of novels starting with The World House. Frankly, we were sold by the summary: “In a room is a box. In that box is a door. Beyond that door is a house. And in that house is a whole world.” The story comes to life when characters from different parts of the real world, and from different times, find themselves trapped within the World House – and not all will escape its secrets. We’ll bring you this extraordinary modern fantasy in February 2010, with its sequel, RESTORATION, towards the end of the year.

Aaaand in two, it’s GAV THORPE, popular author of bloodsoaked fantasy sagas under the Warhammer banner, now moving into original fiction with a truly epic historically tinged fantasy trilogy, THE CROWN OF THE BLOOD. Tipping a helmet to the decline of the Roman empire and the conquests of Alexander the Great, this sweeping tale looks at what happens when a great general realizes that he’s conquered all there is to conquer, and sets his sights on returning home – only to discover that the empire he has helped found is rotten to its very core. Massed battles, political mayhem and some truly startling priests, it’s a genuinely original retooling of what makes fantasy great. Volume one, itself called THE CROWN OF THE BLOOD, will be published by Angry Robot at the start of Summer 2010.

Gav Thorpe works from Nottingham, England and has written more than a dozen novels and even more short stories. Growing up in tedious town just north of London, he originally intended to be an illustrator but after acknowledging an inability to draw or paint he turned his hand to writing. Gav spent 14 years as a developer for Games Workshop on the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 before going freelance in 2008. It is claimed (albeit solely by our Gav, frankly) that he is merely a puppet of a mechanical hamster called Dennis that intends to take over the world via the global communications network. When not writing, Gav enjoys playing games, cooking, pro-wrestling and smiling wryly. His website is
http://mechanicalhamster.wordpress.com

That’s it for now – check back tomorrow for David’s review of Kit Whitfield’s latest! 🙂