The Merry Blacksmith Press

Cover art by Lindsey Look

We’re less than a month away from Readercon (July 12-15) in Burlington, MA. We’ll be in the infamous “Bookshop” (aka Dealers Room) with 30 other vendors–all with high quality books, magazines, collectibles, and more. Would it be too boastful to say our books are the best? How about among the best? In any case, make sure to visit our table and decide for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

Among our many titles will be two of our most recent releases: Grim Tides by TA Pratt and My Name is Lesion by Matt Howarth. You can also find previous Merry Blacksmith titles by both authors there. Likewise, look fine short story collections by Don D’Ammassa and Daniel Pearlman (both Rhode Islanders and relatively local authors to Readercon).

Those are only a couple of featured items. Also look for books by Bud Webster, Earl Kemp, Connie Wilson, Lou Antonelli, Michael Jasper, Ron Collins, and others.

We look forward to seeing you there!

We’ve been pretty busy in the art department as well. Last weekend we joined up with Vibrant Glare Studios at the Garden City Art Festival and hawked some of our latest works. We sold some paintings and was, overall, a very nice weekend. Coming up soon (hopefully, waiting on confirmation) will be the 30th Narragansett Art Festival, also with Vibrant Glare Studios, and for which we’re working on a new set of paintings to unveil.

Currently, I have three pieces hanging at Angelnook Gallery, my second appearance there, and one of which took third place in the overall jury selection. Next Thursday, from 6-9pm, I’ll have four pieces appearing at the Imperial Gallery at Jerry’s Artarama in Providence (part of Gallery Night Providence) and will have at least one–of not more–pieces in their following show as well.

There may be another appearance at the East Greenwich Art Festival, and will definitely be an appearance at the Pawtucket Art Festival at Slater Park in mid-September.

So stay tuned for more upcoming art appearances as the news develops. (Heck, look for news of a gallery project for next spring.)

In other appearance news (but not art-related) we’ll also have a table in the dealers room at Readercon in mid-July, and of course at Chicon VII over Labor Day weekend where we will be unveiling some Very Special titles.

Connie Corcoran Wilson is at it again with a collection of tales crafted to chill. Following the popular previous volume, Hellfire & Damnation, you can expect even more haunting thrills. Stay tuned for more info.

(Main cover art by Vincent Chong)

Because we’re not stingy, and because we like to bait the hook and get y’all interested in what all we have to offer, it behooves us to let you know when and where you can read samples from out authors. As many of you may know, Bud is going to be at the Nebula Awards weekend coming up to accept a Service to SFWA award. He’ll also be attending the signing event and will have copies of both Anthopology 1o1 and The Joy of Booking available.

Curious about The Joy of Booking? You can read the introduction at the website for Black Gate magazine. Highly recommended. And you can order the book–cheap–from our website or from Amazon.

Cheers!

Fresh off of last year’s successful first collection by cartoonist Tim Lockley, On Facebook… Everybody Knows You’re a Dog, comes the next collection of madness, wit, wordplay and fun… Somewhere There’s a Cartoonist Making Fun Of Us. What we have here is just the rough cover, but it’s pretty close to what the final should look like. We’ll have a page set up for it shortly and the book should be ready mid-to-late summer.

Cheers!

We mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we’ve been planning a collection of comics by the notorious Matt Howarth, and we’re well on our way to delivering. Comics have been scanned and cleaned. They’re in the layout stage and we imagine that this will be going to press in a couple of short weeks. The title?

My Name is Lesion: a Collection of Unhealthy Tales

What tales? In addition to the lead story “My Name Is Lesion” we’ll be including “Old Enemies,” “Klemdiggers,” “Crazy For the Girl” and others.

Sounds like a bit of a tease, huh?

More details coming, including its own webpage, as we get closer to press time.

Cheers!

Just a head’s up to y’all that four of our titles have been listed in the most recent issue of Locus and at Locus OnLine. The titles in question are: Red Sky Radio and The Eden Retrieval by Matt Howarth, A Giant In the House & Other Excesses by Daniel Pearlman, and The Joy of Booking by Bud Webster.

And while we’re mentioning Bud Webster*, he’ll be at the upcoming Nebula Awards Weekend May 17-20 in Arlington, VA. He’ll be signing copies of his books and will be receiving the 2012 Service to SFWA Award at this year’s banquet. Way to go!

*Did anyone else here know his real first name is Clarence?

We’ve recently received word that Daniel Pearlman’s A Giant in the House & Other Excesses was reviewed at Tangent Online, one of the web’s older review sites and the site to go to for short fiction reviews.

“Daniel Pearlman has a clean, easy style and creates characters with personality and depth. And his plotting constantly serves up the logical surprises that only a top writer can get away with. This is a rewarding adventure in reading by a master storyteller.”

You can read the full review here.

And better yet… you can order your own copy here.

Cover art by Lindsey Look

After much anticipation, GRIM TIDES by TA Pratt is now available for order. This is the sixth book in the Marla Mason series and the second with the Merry Blacksmith Press.

Marla Mason, ousted chief sorcerer for the city of Felport, is languishing in exile on the island of Maui with her best friend, the psychic (and rather hedonistic) Rondeau. Driven from the city she loves, Marla is adrift, nearly friendless, and stripped of almost all her power and resources.
It’s the perfect time for old enemies to try and kill her.

And it takes off from there… revenge squads, shapeshifters, psycopathic witches, and more. What’s Marla to do now? Find out.

Don’t forget to check out Broken Mirrors by TA Pratt if you’ve not yet had a chance, or visit MarlaMason.net for even more great stories.

Among the many and various goodies scheduled for our spring/summer releases, we have a as-yet-untitled collection of SF/Horror from the talented and twisted mind of Matt Howarth, author of The Eden Retrieval and Red Sky Radio. For those who aren’t aware of Matt’s comic book work, it goes back decades to the pages of Heavy Metal magazine (when it was good), Bugtown, Those Annoying Post Bros., Savage Henry, Keif Llama, and much more. We’re very pleased to be releasing a collection of his finest work. We’re touching up brand new scans and will be working on the cover and picking a title soon.

Expect it out sooner than you think!