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New Babel Books had a chance to catch up with the Sean Taylor and Bobby Nash, editors of the upcoming NBB pulp science fiction anthology, The Danger People. From the sounds of it, this book is going to be good. Dangerously good.

You fellas have an anthology coming out from New Babel Books soon. What can you tell us about that?

Bobby Nash: The new anthology book is called The Danger People.  The Danger People is an adventure series set in a timeless world where almost anything can happen.

Sean Taylor: We’ll have several of our favorite writers each taking a shot at telling their best old-school science fiction adventure tale. And of course, Bobby and I will each be contributing for it as well.

What was your inspiration for the setting here?

ST: The name come from Bobby and me talking on the phone and playing with everything from Danger Corp. to Danger Inc. to Danger (your name here), but then a stray comment from Bobby brought up “The Danger People,” and I knew we had our winner.

BN: When Sean and I started kicking around ideas for the world of The Danger People one of the things we kept coming back to was the old DC Comics series, The Challengers of the Unknown. We were drawn to those stories that were sort of ‘out there’ but that also embraced the spirit of adventure.

ST: For me the idea really stemmed from seeing the opening scene of the old show The Time Tunnel over and over again in my head. That set the whole tone for me, and from that point, the best way of describing the book came out to be a weird fusion of old sci-fi movies, Quatermass, Challengers of the Unknown, and even a little classic Fantastic Four without all the superheroics and aliens from other worlds. The book is about adventure from the first page all the way to the last and will be very much an old pulp-style book.

How will you handle the co-editing chores?

BN: Good question. We’re still early in the process, but I would assume that we’ll each read over the stories and then talk them out over dinner or over the phone. One of the advantages of living near one another, I suppose.

ST: Dinner, and Bobby’s buying. It’s only fair. It was his idea. But yeah, he’s right. We’ll pass the stories back and forth and keep everything as consistent as we can without editing the writers’ voices and style out of the stories either. We’re choosing the right storytellers for this for a reason, not to redo their work.

What’s the number one thing people can expect when they open this book?

BN: I think anyone who reads The Danger People can expect to have a good time. We’ve assembled some terrific authors and I can’t wait to read their stories.

ST: I’ll second that. Fun and adventure. Okay, that’s two things, but together they’re the number one thing. It’s my own special brand of math, I suppose. My hope is that I’ll be able to get that sense of otherworldly adventure when I read it, sort of like I did growing up reading Legion of Super-Heroes and other comics. But without needing the pictures to convey it. There’s just something about tapping into the power of well-written prose that takes it even further for me.

How can an interested writer find out more about being included in this anthology?

BN: Any writers interested can contact either Frank, Sean, or myself and then we’ll go from there. Our contact information is below.

Bobby Nash – bobby [at] bobbynash.com
Sean Taylor – staylor104 [at] aol.com
Frank Fradella – frank[at] newbabelbooks.com

Check this space for further information about The Danger People, including a release date.

Until then!

Frank Fradella
Publisher
New Babel Books

If there was a royal court for cosplay artists, Yaya Han would be their Queen.

Once a mere facet of the science fiction/fantasy/video game world, costuming (or “costume play,” ergo “cosplay”) took on a life of its own and as with anything, celebrities emerged. Yaya Han is one such celebrity.

Flown around the world to appear at conventions and seminars, Yaya designs, constructs and models all her own creations. With themes ranging from steampunk to superheroes, video game characters to vampiric vixens, she comes to the table with a passion for the end product and a justifiable pride in her work.

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be delivering a Yaya Han Cosplay book sometime later this year. Chock full of photos, step-by-step notes and tales from the seamstress herself, this is a book you won’t want to miss.

We’ll send out more details soon, and check back for an upcoming interview with Ms. Han soon!

Until then!

Frank Fradella
Publisher
New Babel Books

Trawl the artist alley at any sci-fi/fantasy/popular media convention and you’ll find no shortage of talented unknowns with their heads down behind a six-foot table and a smattering of samples on the white tablecloth before them. You’ll find row upon row of artists doing variations on the Joker, more Batmans and Wolverines than you can shake a stick at, and the rare stand-out who dares to do something different.

Lisa Grabenstetter is one of the latter.

As part of New Babel Books’ mission to seek out talented people and connect them with a wider audience, we’re proud to announce that we’ll be delivering a book containing the art of this gifted young woman. I’m a particular fan of watercolor work, and she delivers in spades! In this book you’ll find dragons, robots, myths, legends and all manner of flights of fancy. Absolutely not to be missed!

Check this space in a few days for an exclusive interview with Lisa and get another sneak peek into her world!

Frank Fradella
Publisher
New Babel Books

I’ve been trying to hold this back until the final image is done, but I’ve simply got to share. Our cover artist Reynan Sanchez has been sending over progress pics for the past two weeks and every time I open the attachment, I nearly have to buy a new keyboard because my jaw drops and almost shatters the thing. He keeps telling me these are “progress” shots. The image below, slated to appear on our superhero anthology The Power Within, features the Minuteman and is, according to Reynan, only 60% done.

In the iHero Universe, the Minuteman is the first superhero, created by the U.S. government during World War II to combat the Nazi threat. Given the powers of strength, invulnerability and flight, he’s capable of being anywhere on earth in under 60 seconds. Hence the name.

With all due respect to every other artist who’s ever tried their hand at this character, Reynan is the first one to really capture the man’s quiet power. He’s not posing, he’s not flexing, he doesn’t need to lift a battleship over his head for you to get it. He’s just hovering above the stylized curve of the earth with his past catching up to him.

The Power Within releases next month at MegaCon with nearly every story I’ve ever written for the iHero Universe. All your favorites are in there — The Swan, Permafrost, Revenany, Alloy, the U.N. Peacekeepers — including those rare 24-hour Tales we used to publish on the site that gave folks just a day to read them. It will also include the 2004 P&E Short Story of the Year, The Ritual of Vesta.

We’d kicked around the idea of putting out three separate volumes for these stories — there’s just that many of them! — but decided that a massive omnibus was the way to go. We think you’ll agree!

With the new I, Hero magazine making waves, there’s never been a better time to dive into the archives and get familiar with what has been called “an evolutionary step up for the superhero genre.”

Stay tuned for more from the exciting partnership between iHero and New Babel. We’ll be publishing full-length superhero novels before the year is out!

Frank Fradella
Publisher
New Babel Books

Meet Sara Harvey at a convention and you quickly realize that she’s much more than a person. She’s a personality. It was that sense that you were meeting someone larger than life that immediately captured me when we met and stayed with me for years after. When the time came for NBB to open its doors to new authors, she was among the first to get the nod.

Here are Five Questions for one of our new authors, part of an ongoing series you can find periodically on this blog. Here’s what Sara had to say:

1. What can you tell us about your upcoming releases for New Babel Books?

I am so excited for both of my titles coming up from New Babel Books! The first is the long-awaited reprint of my debut novel, A Year and a Day. For those not familiar, this is an urban fantasy about the Angel of Joy and the Angel of Vengeance living as roommates in the Village. It has been called my “love letter to New York City.” Previously published as a mass market romance novel (don’t ask!), I am so pleased that it will be making its way into the speculative fiction genre, officially.  This book is a fan favorite that has been out of print for almost four years, so I am ecstatic at its return!

The second title of mine due out from NBB is Seven Times a Woman. Originally scheduled to come out in 2007, it was a casualty of the publisher’s collapse and never saw the light of day. Early marketing of this title showed a lot of interest and I am excited to finally be able to say YES, YOU CAN BUY THIS BOOK NOW! Seven Times a Woman has it all: kitsune, dragons, gods, sex, battle, intrigue, love, hate, revenge, obsession, and really awesome costumes (it takes place in a mythic version of Japan). I cannot adequately express how overjoyed I am that this book is out there in the world at long last!

Some themes they share are revenge, redemption, facing one’s own darkness, and seeking true love. Although one book is about how the power of redemption and the other book isn’t.

3. You do a lot of convention appearances every year. What’s next for you?

2011 will be my lightest schedule since I started doing conventions five years ago due to my newest release, my debut baby! My next scheduled appearance is at my hometown con, Hypericon, in Nashville in June. Yes, Beatrice will be along for the ride. Look for me to be avec baby at most (if not all) of my appearances this year. They are also going to be closer to home than usual, so if you can get to Tennessee, that’s going to be your best bet on seeing me in 2011.  I am planning on being at LibertyCon just east of Chattanooga in July and I am hoping to make it back out to ChattaCon in January after missing it three years in a row (flu, swine flu, then baby)! I am also planning a trip out to Archon in St. Louis is October. After that, we’ll see what 2012 brings! So if you are in Tennessee, you’ll likely see me.

4. Do you have a favorite con experience?

I have many, but I have to say that my dear beloved husband’s choice of popping the question in 2007 has to be my favorite. At the end of the Flirting Panel at Pi-Con in Springfield, MA, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was the best con ever. ^_^

5. What would you say makes you different from other authors?

I’m the only author I know who is a costume historian and a working costume designer! I try to bring my love of all things textiles and history into my books. I think that gives my work a particular aesthetic one is not likely to find elsewhere.  I also have a background in theatre and trained as an actor for over ten years which helps with character development, approaching it from almost a method actor’s viewpoint.

I also can’t hit the broad side of a genre barn!

So a Sara Harvey story is going to be full of details, unusual perspectives, and a lot of surprises!

* * *

Look for Sara’s books to be out in Fall 2011 and check back soon to see our other new notables get the 5Q treatment!

Until then,
Frank Fradella
Publisher
New Babel Books

In 1999, a pretty amazing thing happened. An online magazine was founded that would publish literate prose stories in a superhero setting. Not a comic book. That was a common misconception. This was a magazine without pictures. A literary magazine that focused on a specific genre of science fiction fantasy — superheroes.

In 2000, just a year after they began publishing, the creative team over at Cyber Age Adventures (the original name of the magazine) earned top honors in the Writer’s Digest Zine Publishing Awards, walking away with their Grand Prize.

For the next five years, they continued to publish their unique brand of fiction, even spawning a few imitators. None of them, though, managed to tackle the breadth of their domain. Under the new mantle of iHero Entertainment, the company managed to publish just one print magazine before shutting their doors.

Until now, that is.

New Babel Books is proud to partner with iHero Entertainment to bring forth a whole new world of superhero novels and anthologies. Currently, we’re publishing their six-issue limited series, “I, Hero.” This 44-page illustrated prose magazine picks up where the original left off, but with one major difference: It’s five years later.

The iHero Universe is unique in its real-time approach to superheroes. Gone are the days of a plucky high school kid discovering his powers… and then staying in high school for the next 50 years. These characters evolve, they change. They respond to the world around us as the events unfold. It’s an unprecedented immersion in the superhero genre.

Check out iHero Entertainment for more details on their exciting new magazine. We’ve got more news to dish on our partnership, but you’ll have to come back to read it!

Until then!

Frank Fradella
Publisher
New Babel Books

Contracts went out this week to eight authors, representing the first 15 books that we’ll be publishing through the all-new New Babel Books. Though we’ve been in business since 2005, this is the first year where we’ve not been a POD publisher, having brought all of our printing in-house.

The negotiations have been minor and we’re starting to see signed deals happening (which we’ll talk about individually in future posts). We’re really expanding the roster this year, publishing the gamut from science fiction, fantasy, horror, speculative fiction, romance and superhero, as well as non-fiction titles in the cosplay, cooking and language arenas. Needless to say, we’ve got our hands full!

Through it all, we’re staying true to our roots, seeking out unique voices in each genre. Our science fiction novel won’t be your standard fare, nor will our historical/romance/horror. Other publisher tend to balk at daring works like these simply because they’re harder to market. We’re kind of glad that other houses are so short-sighted! We’re excited to bring these books to a generation of readers who have grown tired of the cookie-cutter worlds of traditional science fiction and fantasy. Aren’t these books supposed to be the ones that break new ground?

So, too, will you find something a little out of the ordinary when we release The Ellis Island Cookbook: An Italian Journey. Our publisher sat down with the matriarch of his clan and culled through thousands of family recipes to deliver something unique to their Sicilian heritage as viewed through the lens of Depression-era immigrants. If you’re a foodie, this is one you won’t want to miss!

We’ll go into further details on each book as they’re ready to be announced. We’ll also be setting up a mailing list for those who want to be alerted to all the babbling around here.

Stay tuned, folks. It’s going to be a hell of a year!

Frank Fradella
Publisher
New Babel Books