Skyhorse finishes Night Shade deal; Daedalus is go for launch!

Thank God that’s over. Now we can get on with the business of getting The Daedalus Incident properly launched!

Today, Skyhorse Publishing and Start Media LLC announced the completion of its purchase of Night Shade Books’ assets. In English, that means Night Shade has a new owner, and I have a new publisher for Daedalus. 

Furthermore, it’s pretty safe to say that my new publishing overlords are pretty happy with me and my little novel; they invited me last week to offer up comment for their press release announcing the sale. You can read the entire release here on io9.com.  You may also recognize the art used to illustrate the piece. (Big hat-tip to io9 for doing a nice job on the coverage of all this, by the way.)

So, yes, not only is Daedalus going to be published, but it’s going to be the first new title from Skyhorse’s new Night Shade imprint. I met with Tony Lyons at Book Expo America  last week, and he expressed a lot of enthusiasm for the book, which was gratifying. Not every day you get to be first out of the gate like this!

I’ll also add that the quote I offered up for the release is very much how I feel, and not just a piece of gamesmanship. I’ve met Skyhorse’s people, done my research, and I genuinely believe that Tony and Skyhorse have it together. They’ll be good publishers, and they’re very interested in renewing Night Shade’s ties to SF/F authors and fans.

Now, let’s talk about the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), briefly. I’m going to do a larger post later in the week, but for right now, I simply want to thank Mary Robinette Kowal and the SFWA leadership for doing exactly what this group is designed to do — to serve as an advocate for its authors/members. SFWA’s taken some flak lately, some of it deserved. But when it came to the Skyhorse/NSB deal, SFWA did everything right. I couldn’t be more grateful to Mary and the rest of the organization. There are flaws in this organization, yes, but they are largely the actions of a few, and I am truly proud to be a member among so many talented writers and fine human beings.

Finally — and this too will get a blog post of its own later on — the folks over at Tor.com made today even more interesting by posting a pretty gosh darn good review of The Daedalus Incident. To wit:

The Daedalus Incident is a true genre-bender. It mixes alchemy, quantum physics, and historical figures in ways you haven’t seen before. I’m not saying which historical figures, by the way, because discovering that is part of the fun, but let’s just say that some of them open the door for some potentially fascinating sequels. The Daedalus Incident isn’t perfect, but it’s adventurous, original, and a blast to read.

I’ll totally take that. I thought Stefan’s review was balanced, thoughtful and in excellent taste. The fact that he liked the book helps, of course.

I’m going to have more to say about pretty much all of this in the days and weeks to come. No, I don’t have a solid release date yet, but I expect that to be nailed down soon. I do have a solid publisher, however, and that’s a huge step in the right direction.