The complications brought on by the pandemic have absorbed (too) much of my energy, but I’m thrilled to share with Candlemark readers the news that three amazing works are slated to appear in 2021. All are exemplars of the layered, echo-laden storytelling that’s my weakness and métier as both editor and author. Two are sweeping space operas; one is a towering epic fantasy. I will discuss each individually at their respective cover reveals, but I’m so excited about them that I’ll introduce them here in one fell swoop.

The first work: SFF legend Melissa Scott’s standalone epic fantasy Water Horse. Elric meets The Fisher King, with the vividly drawn inhabitants of this universe seamless fusions of Elf & Dwarf. How life might have been in Moria or Erebor, with water & wood to leaven stone, and original magic (oath-enforcing harps!). Melissa is also working on the second title in the Firstborn, Lastborn space opera deep-time saga that started with Finders. Projected launch: May 2021.

The second work: In the Deep by Kelly Jennings, a sequel to Fault Lines. We get to share more interplanetary derring-do with rebellious Velocity and her devoted extended family; and we finally get an in-depth view of the tantalizing, free-spirited Pirians who live their lives entirely on starships, counterbalancing the power-hungry tactics of the Combines. The two works are part of a nascent series we decided to call Escape Velocity. Projected launch: September 2021.

The third work: Sounding Dark by Jo Graham, a mythic space opera unfolding in a richly imagined universe reminiscent of Cherryh’s Union/Alliance. A middle-aged smuggler, a ghost ship, a pirate republic under dire threat, a lost goddess and her unlikely avatar. Jo’s first novel was the highly acclaimed Black Ships, an original retelling of the Aeneid—and the mythic layer in Sounding Dark also has Bronze Age harmonies. Projected launch: December 2021.

Keep frequencies open, lyres tuned, and join us in these journeys down starry lanes.