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JULY 2007
Dear Readers,
 The dog days of summer are upon us, so called because Sirius—the Dog Star, the brightest star in the sky—is nearing conjunction with the Sun. Sirius is visible in the southern night sky during the winter, but in summer its celestial path coincides with the rising and setting Sun. And because of Sirius' intense radiation, the ancients believed that this not-so-distant star actually provided heat to the Earth. So when combined with the Sun's rays, Sirius was thought to raise summer's mercury like being under a circus tent. Maybe the ancients didn't think in those exact terms, but research tells me the origin of this particular phrase is more or less as I've written.
The origins of other cultural vagaries, such as the fear of the number thirteen, are less clear. I won't enumerate, but there are several reasons one should be wary of that particular conjunction of digits. But however strong your particular case of triskaidekaphobia, I sincerely hope it will not affect your decision to read Richard Morgan's new novel, Thirteen, the story of Marsalis, a genetically engineered super-soldier whose primeval urges are unfettered by morality or societal convention. Of course, a lack of such restraint might be deemed inappropriate by polite society, but Marsalis is a hit man and bounty hunter— a convict and killer—so it suits him quite well. Really, not since Altered Carbon has Morgan delivered such a powerful novel. It shouldn't be missed, but if you aren't sold, check out our in-depth interview with Morgan to get a better feel for the inspiration and thoughts behind the novel.
I hope the DRIN is informative this month, and, as always, I ask you to enjoy yourself.
Best wishes,
Fleetwood
frobbins@randomhouse.com
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DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
WARNER BROS. BUYS RIGHTS TO SHANNARA SERIES
As reported in the Hollywood Reporter and, of course, directly to the ears of certain members of our staff, Warner Bros. has the purchased the rights to Terry Brooks's Shannara series and will be developing it for the big screen. Obviously, there are several books in the series, but sources indicate that The Elfstones of Shannara will be the likely starting point.
BLADE RUNNER AMONG THE 100 BEST
As you may or may not know, Del Rey is planning a new edition of Blade Runner (a.k.a. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the film this year. Blade Runner, which has long been considered one of the best science fiction films ever made, was recently named by the American Film Institute to the 100 Years... 100 Movies list, which honors the best American films of all time.
TOP 10 SF NOVELISTS OF THE '00s - SO FAR
I thought we would draw your attention to this interesting blog post by Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape. In it he details 10 of his favorite SF authors and why he thinks they make the cut. Peter F. Hamilton and Richard K. Morgan are Del Rey authors among those discussed, as well as forthcoming author David Marusek (see below), but that isn't the only reason we draw your attention to it. At the very least, we're hoping to provide the groundwork for a few conversations.
ACQUISITIONS
Del Rey's Liz Scheier has bought world rights to two untitled historical fantasies from author Patricia Nagle. They are the beginning of an imaginative new series in which a vampire queen fights to preserve her race, an evolutionary offshoot of the Elven.
Liz also bought three books in an epic fantasy series from a brilliant new author, Peter Brett, in which humankind fights to overcome the demons who rule their world after nightfall.
Chris Schluep has purchased the paperback rights to David Marusek's short story collection Getting to Know You, published in hardcover by Subterranean Press.
NEW TO THE STAFF
Del Rey welcomes Kaitlin Heller as an assistant to our editorial staff. Kaitlin comes to us with a background in folklore and mythology studies, and a genuine desire to work on books with dragons in them.
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with
Richard Morgan
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 A conversation with Richard Morgan about his new novel, Thirteen
Del Rey: In the acknowledgments to Thirteen, your fifth novel, you write about how tough it was to finish. What were some of the difficulties, and how did you surmount them? The novel is certainly one of your most complex and ambitious, so I can imagine that it must have presented many challenges . . .
Richard Morgan: Yeah—more than anything else I've written so far, Thirteen was a synthesis; it had no clear single starting point. The themes and backdrop were cobbled together out of a half-dozen areas of interest I've had for the last few years—cutting-edge genetic science, pan-American politics, the rise of modern Islam, the myth of the hero, gender issues, nanotech, Mars and the potential for colonization. Somehow, I had to take all those elements and nail them together in a way that would fit a fast-paced, dynamic narrative. So . . . took a while, y'know.
DR: Like your novel Market Forces, Thirteen is set in the near future rather than the far future of the Takeshi Kovacs books. What goes into the decision of how close to the present day to set your novels? Are there considerations external to the story itself?
RM: Generally, I tend to go forward the absolute minimum required to set up the situation I'm interested in. The reason the Kovacs books are set so far ahead is that in the absence of faster-than-light space travel, it would have taken centuries to settle other planets, and Kovacs comes from one such planet that already has a couple of centuries of colonial history behind it. In contrast, with Market Forces I barely needed to go forward in time at all—in fact there are days when I think, reading the papers, that I was too conservative opting for fifty years ahead; half the things I imagined in that book seem to be happening right now.
So anyway, with Thirteen, a century ahead seemed about right—enough time for the genetic engineering technology to emerge, get used and abused, and then be superseded, leading to a general mess—which of course is the ideal base for any noir fiction.
Read more. . .
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