Astra Publishing acquire DAW Books

One of SFF's longest-standing independent publishers has been snapped up. DAW Books have been acquired by Astra Publishing.

DAW Books was founded by former Ace Books editor Donald Wollheim and his wife  Elsie in 1971 to publish science fiction and fantasy. They kicked off with an Andre Norton short story collection and never looked back, enjoying commercial success as well as critical acclaim (their first Hugo Award winner was C.J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station). The publisher were also noted for a united cover design, which gave every book a distinctive yellow spine. After Donald's retirement in 1985 (he passed away in 1990), his daughter Betsy took over the company.

The publisher achieved enormous commercial success with Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy in the 1990s, marking the beginning of a career that eventually saw over 20 million books sold. Their biggest success came in 2007 with the release of Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind. Along with its (much-delayed) sequel, The Wise Man's Fear (2011), the two books sold more than 20 million copies between them.

DAW Books' fortunes seem to have wavered in recent years. The company entered a distribution deal with Penguin which was not a buy-out, but gave Penguin significant editorial control. During this period DAW was forced to drop Michelle West and had to abandon using acclaimed cover artist Michael Whelan for Tad Williams' new books. In July 2020, Wollheim unusually criticised one of her own authors, Patrick Rothfuss, for failing to produce the promised third and concluding volume in his Kingkiller Chronicle series, noting that publishers rely on their mega-selling authors to regularly produce books to allow the publishers to take a chance on other talent (in the two years since then, there has still been no sign of the book).

Astra Publishing was founded in 2020 from a merger of several smaller publishers. Its remit is to find new and exciting fiction for both adults, young adults and children, based on more than thirty years of experience in the business. DAW becomes its newest and oldest imprint, and also only its second imprint dedicated to adult fiction.

Fantasy author Michelle West dropped by publisher, switches to Patreon and self-publishing

Fantasy author Michelle West - a pen-name for Michelle Sagara - has been dropped by DAW following discussions between the publisher and distributor Penguin Random House.

Although DAW remains independently-owned, the company has a deal with Penguin Random House which provides it with office space, distribution and printing facilities, meaning that PRH has some say in the company's operations. PRH now seems to be saying that it will not expend resources on authors who are only marginally profitable.

Sagara's fantasy novels published as Michelle West seem to fall into this category. Under the West pseudonym, Sagara has published sixteen books in the Essalieyan universe, a series-of-series projected to contain at least four series in total. The published series are The Sacred Hunt (two books, 1995-96), The Sun Sword (six books, 1997-2004) and The House War (eight books, 2008-19). The sequence was set to conclude with End of Days, a four-book series.

Sagara had written 200,000 words for the first book in this series, Hunter's Redoubt, but editorial changes meant having to rewrite around half the material. During discussions with DAW, it appeared they could no longer publish the books as previously discussed and they would only be able to proceed if the novels were reduced in size. Sagara did not want to do this, finding the process of splitting the books into smaller volumes to be impractical.

Sagara's publishing career has been moderately successful, with early reasonable success giving way to lower sales in the 2000s and 2010s. Sagara notes herself that her books might be too long and have too many volumes (the middle two sequences alone span fourteen novels), which some readers may have found off-putting. The chronology of the novels is also potentially confusing, with the original Sacred Hunt duology actually taking place in the middle of the timeline, and those books not being as well-received as later volumes. In addition, her international profile is low (she has not had a UK or Commonwealth publisher) and based on her Goodreads profile, it appears that she has not succeeded in picking up many new fans in recent years, instead relying on her older, more established fanbase from the mid-1990s.

Sagara has now set up a Patreon and plans to bring the series to a conclusion through self-publishing. It sounds like her other long-running series, Elantra, will continue via Mira Books.

THE WITCHWOOD CROWN by Tad Williams delayed

DAW Books have confirmed that The Witchwood Crown, the first novel in the Last King of Osten Ard trilogy by Tad Williams, has been delayed. Fortunately, only by a few weeks.

The Witchwood Crown will now be published on 27 June 2017 rather than April. Apparently this is because DAW took longer than expected to complete preparatory work on the manuscript and marketing wanted more time to build up excitement for the novel.

The short "linking novel", The Heart of What Was Lost, which takes place shortly after the events of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, will still be published next week, on 4 January.

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

Dr. Adoulla Makhslood is a ghul-hunter, a slayer of monsters who battles against the evil wizards who summon them. He is also in his sixties and feeling his age. Raseed bas Raseed is his protege, a holy Dervish warrior with legendary sword skills but awkward social graces. A new commission leads them to a chance meeting with Zamia, a desert tribeswoman with the ability to transform into a lion. As Raseed struggles with his vow of chastity, the band of adventurers learn of a great threat to the city of Dhamsawaat and have to join forces with a dubious thief prince to defeat it.

Throne of the Crescent Moon is the debut novel by Saladin Ahmed and the first novel in the Crescent Moon Kingdoms series. It's a rollicking, swashbuckling, grin-inducing romp of  a book which takes inspiration from The Arabian Nights and never lets up in its ability to entertain.

The book draws on Arabian mythology and history, so the book immediately has a different feeling to most faux-European fantasy novels. Indeed, whilst reading the novel I was reminded of the immensely fun Al-Qadim roleplaying world (for 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons) from the mid-1990s, which featured bands of heroic adventurers and noble thieves tackling trickster djinn and corrupt viziers with nary an orc or elf in sight.

Throne of the Crescent Moon is definitely a romp with more than a passing nod to the likes of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, but it's also a wonderfully well-characterised novel. The characters are archetypes but also have tremendous depth to them. Making the central hero a fat man in his sixties who gets winded way too easily and is physically incapable of engaging in combat is a brave move, making Adoulla the brains of the operation but also an irascible and stubborn fool on occasion. Raseed is lightning-fast with his sword and almost unbeatable in battle, but is riven by self-doubts and struggles with his faith. His humourless martinet routine is the butt of many jokes, but his religious conflict is an important part of his character which gives him depth when he finally realises the world is a messier place than his strict morals allow. However, arguably the most interesting characters are Dawoud and Litaz, former adventuring buddies of Team Adoulla who have now retired from monster-fighting to run their own business. They are reluctantly drawn back into Adoulla's adventures, allowing for a detailed examination of the lives of a middle-aged couple against a fantasy backdrop.

Throne of the Crescent Moon does this - mixing the conventional and unconventional, magical and mundane - throughout its length and it's this blending of knockabout fun with fleshed-out, realistic characters which gives the book much greater depth and longevity than just being an action novel (although Ahmed's action sequences are first-rate). Ahmed also achieves a tremendous depth of worldbuilding, making Dhamsawaat (which is basically Baghdad by way of Lankhamar) a fully-realised location so vivid you can smell the spices and hear the merchants hawking their wears.

If there are criticisms, it is the book's length: at 260 pages (in tradeback) the book rushes some aspects, especially towards the ending, and the Falcon Prince feels a bit too remote and off-stage a character for the sudden prominence he gains in the grand finale. However, plot synopses for the sequel suggests he plays a larger role in that volume, which will be welcome.

Throne of the Crescent Moon (****½) is a breath of fresh air, a fiendishly addictive novel which is over way too soon and will leave readers begging for more. The novel is available now in the UK and USA. The sequel, The Thousand and One, is due for release later this year or in 2017.