What it is: Sedia is a Russian-born author of strange, lyrical fantasies who teaches science in Philly’s South Jersey suburbs when she’s not writing fairy tales about feminist wind-up robots and beach houses that drift off to sea. Her latest book collects 21 short fictions featuring ghost stories about beer, adopted children plagued by monsters, the absurdity of Nigerian-style email spam and a tale whose title, “Zombie Lenin,” pretty much says it all.

Who it’s for: Short story lovers, urban fantasy readers, Russian Americans.

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“This satisfying reprint anthology of winter-holiday-themed SF and fantasy avoids syrupy sweetness, instead evoking an older, bittersweet tradition of the cycle of death and rebirth.”

Read the whole interview here!

Over on our Twitter page, we’re holding an ebook giveaway for Rock On, edited by Paula Guran. All you have to do is, sometime between today and October 23rd, tweet at us your favorite concert you’ve ever attended. One name at random will be selected to receive the ebook, so if you love rock n’roll fiction (or know someone who does) this is a great opportunity!

“[Holly Philips,] The celebrated lyrical fantasist returns with a second short fiction collection, featuring 11 stories (with one original, “Castle Rock”), plus story notes by the author and a laudatory introduction by Peter S. Beagle.”

“This anthology of “Fantasy Under the Big Top” includes 20 of the best stories about bizarre circuses, strange carnivals, and sinister fairs, with work by Christopher Barzak, Kij Johnson, Ken Scholes, Peter Straub, Howard Waldrop, Genevieve Valentine, Jeff VanderMeer, and more.”

Read the whole list here!

“Liz Williams’ Worldsoul hits the ground fast and comes up running. The first in a planned trilogy, the book is a natural progression from Williams’ Detective-Inspector Chen novels. In those, what started as a mashup between classical Chinese mythology and urban noir rapidly expanded its cosmology, gleefully mashing up Chinese, Indian and other elements into a single creative stew.

Here, Williams starts with the mashup already in place. The city, Worldsoul, is the center of creation (more or less) in a cosmology where stories have power and a reality all their own, and being a Librarian is one of the trickiest jobs there is. The city’s derived from Earth but not of it, and its Quarters reflect various aspects of Earth cultural tradition. The North Quarter, for example, harkens back to Scandinavian culture and myth, while the Eastern is overseen by the mysterious Suleiman and draws its flavor from Middle Eastern roots.”

Read the rest here!