Release Day: The Collected Kessel

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Release Day: The Collected Kessel

Posted on 2012-11-16 at 3:50 by montsamu

When Baen associate editor Laura Haywood-Cory sent me the following, my first response was an expletive. Not only has Baen re-released John Kessel’s novels in DRM-free ebook formats, which would be noteworthy enough, they’ve also just published a huge collection of Kessel’s short fiction, The Collected Kessel, comprising 42 of Kessel’s stories including Nebula winners “Another Orphan” (novella, 1982) and “Pride and Prometheus” (novelette, 2008), and brand new story notes. My favorite of these so far comes from his notes on “Pride and Prometheus”, which after giving the germination of the idea behind the Austen/Shelley mashup novelette, also says something quite interesting: “My career, in retrospect, has been to cross the sensibilities of literary fiction with those of pulp fiction, and this story is one way in which that impulse has expressed itself.” Well, here are 42 stories (and the novels, too) which are the career, so far, of one of our American writing treasures. Cheers, John, and one of these days I’ll get somebody to give me a little warning when something like this is coming…

Here’s the press release from Baen:

Multiple Nebula Award Winner John Kessel’s Novels and Stories Now Available in Ebook Format from Baen Books

Includes 42 Story Ebook Exclusive Collected Stories with New Introductions

RIVERDALE, NEW YORK—On November 15, Baen Books reissues in all-new ebook form the novels and collected stories of Nebula Award winning author John Kessel.

Kessel is one of the acclaimed science fiction writers of his generation, winner of the Nebula, James Tiptree, Sturgeon, and Shirley Jackson Awards and professor of creative writing at North Carolina State University. The ebooks include the apocalyptic satire and Nebula Award finalist novel Good News from Outer Space and the screwball comedy time travel novel Corrupting Dr. Nice. Plus, Baen will publish The Collected Kessel. Boasting all-new cover art by Ron Miller, this retrospective collection contains 42 stories, never before gathered into a single volume, spanning Kessel’s entire career, from the 1982 Nebula Award winning novella “Another Orphan” to the 2008 Nebula Award winning novelette “Pride and Prometheus.” In addition, Kessel has written brand new story notes to accompany each of these stories.

Nick Gevers of Locus magazine says, “John Kessel is one of American SF’s finest writers.” The New York Daily News called Good News from Outer Space, “simply the best science fiction novel of the year,” and about Corrupting Dr. Nice, New York Times bestseller Jonathan Lethem said, “Lucid, humane, and mercilessly funny, Corrupting Dr. Nice is a peach.”

Kessel’s science fiction and fantasy is noted for its wit, satirical cunning, and dark sense of humor.

”He’s an American original,” says Baen Books editor Tony Daniel. “He’s a consumate artist, movie buff, tragedarian, and quirky comic genius.  Above all, he unapologetically loves science fiction. We’re proud to make his ebooks available, and particularly pleased with the new comprehensive story collection containing many award winners.”

The Kessel ebooks will be available in multiple ebook formats, including for Kindle, at Baenebooks.com: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1779-john-kessel-bundle.aspx. They are available both individually and in a bundle for a significant discount.

It’s an even busier day for Wake Forest, NC-based Baen, as in addition to the Kessel ebooks they’ve also just released a suite of ebooks from Gardner Dozois. Here’s that press release:

Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductee Gardner Dozois Fiction and Select Anthologies Now Available in Ebook Format from Baen Books

Near Complete Fiction of Multiple Nebula Award Winner and 15-time Hugo Award Winner Offered in Discount Bundle

RIVERDALE, NEW YORK—On November 15, Baen Books issues in all-new ebook form the fiction of Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductee Gardner Dozois along with a group of first-rate Dozois-edited anthologies. This marks the first time that Dozois’s award-winning fiction—nearly all of it—will be in ebook form.

Each book contains all-new cover art by Ron Miller, as well.  The Dozois fiction titles include story collections Morning Child and Other Stories, and The Visible Man novels Strangers, and Nightmare Blue (with George Alec Effinger), fiction and nonfiction collection Strange Days, as well as Dozois-edited anthologies A Day in the Life and Another World.

Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has called Dozois’s fiction, “lyric, haunting, heartbreaking—science fiction at its best.” Cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson says “my generation of writers has produced relatively few authentic geniuses. Gardner Dozois is one of them.”

Dozois is the winner of two Nebula awards for fiction. He was also the long-time editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, a position for which he won fifteen Hugo awards. He remains editor of the annual Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies.

Gardner Dozois is known for his beautiful evocation of setting and emotional intensity within a truly alien and often austere vision of the future.

”Gardner is an Ur figure in the field of science fiction, comparable to John W. Campbell or Hugo Gernsback,” says Baen Books editor Tony Daniel. “He’s also a writer of exquisite, wonder-inducing, and heartbreaking stories of his own. We’re proud to make almost every bit of his fiction available in ebook form, as well as two top quality anthologies he edited.”

The new Dozois ebooks will be available in multiple formats, including for Kindle, at Baenebooks.com: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1768-gardner-dozois-bundle.aspx. They are available both individually and in a bundle for a significant discount.

Posted in local-author-release-day | Tagged baen, garder dozois, john kessel