In Memoriam
It is with great sadness that we tell you of the passing of Janet Morris, Perseid’s co-founder and guiding literary light.
In a time where fiction too often leverages themes of nihilism, Janet was a consistent voice reminding us fiction could be so much more. Storytelling can still provide us with hope to combat the drab meaninglessness so much current publishing relies on. When we stand on Janet’s shoulders, we see the trail she blazed and find the courage to follow where she has emboldened us to go.
Perseid will honor Janet Morris and remain true to the vision she has left us. In days to come, we will be sharing insights and new works from her storied career that celebrate her contributions to literature and new and deserving writers in need of publication.
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Best selling author Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and published more than 30 novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. She contributed short fiction to the shared universe fantasy series Thieves World, in which she created the Sacred Band of Stepsons, a mythical unit of ancient fighters modeled on the Sacred Band of Thebes. She created, orchestrated, and edited the Bangsian fantasy series Heroes in Hell, writing stories for the series as well as co-writing the related novel, The Little Helliad, with Chris Morris. She wrote the bestselling Silistra Quartet in the 1970s, including High Couch of Silistra, The Golden Sword, Wind from the Abyss, and The Carnelian Throne. This quartet had more than four million copies in Bantam print alone, and was translated into German, French, Italian, Russian and other languages. In the 1980s, Baen Books released a second edition of this landmark series. The third edition is the Author’s Cut edition, newly revised by the author for Perseid Press. Most of her fiction work has been in the fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written historical and other novels. Morris has written, contributed to, or edited several book-length works of non-fiction, as well as papers and articles on nonlethal weapons, developmental military technology and other defense and national security topics.
Janet said: ‘People often ask what book to read first. I recommend “I, the Sun” if you like ancient history; “The Sacred Band,” a novel, if you like heroic fantasy; “Lawyers in Hell” if you like historical fantasy set in hell; “Outpassage” if you like hard science fiction; “High Couch of Silistra” if you like far-future dystopian or philosophical novels. I am most enthusiastic about the definitive Perseid Press Author’s Cut editions, which I revised and expanded.’
You can see articles about her characters and writing on the blog The Sacred Bander
You can see an outpouring of appreciation for Janet in the memorial tribute at Black Gate:
Black Gate Tribute
The 40-Minute War
“After Washington, D.C. is vaporized by a nuclear surface blast, Marc Beck, wonder boy of the American foreign service, prevails on Ashmead, covert action chief, to help him fly two batches of anticancer serum from Israel to the Houston White House. From the moment they establish their gritty relationship, life is filled with treachery and terror for Beck (who) must deal with one cliffhanger after another during the desperate days that follow. This novel shocks us with a sudden, satisfying ending." - Publishers Weekly
“Adventure, suspense, high-tech – this book has it all, from the best new storytellers we have. You have to read this one.” – Dr. Jerry Pournelle, author of The Mote in God’s Eye and Mercenary
“Headlong and vivid – real characters drawn starkly against the catastrophe they race to undo.” – David Drake, author of Hammer’s Slammers
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Mystics in Hell
Mystic Madness!
Join the doomed on their vision quests in eleven stories by the damnedest writers in Perdition: Janet Morris; A.L. Butcher; Joe Bonadonna; Andrew P. Weston; Gustavo Bondoni; Seth Lindberg; Tom Barczak; Michael H. Hanson; Louis Antonelli; Christopher Crosby Morris.
Mystics in Hell is the latest volume in the notorious Heroes in Hell series of anthologies and novels created by Janet Morris.
A Frame of Mind - Janet Morris and Chris Morris
The Come Right Inn - Andrew P. Weston
Abode of Woe - A. L. Butcher
Fool's Gold - S. E. Lindberg
The True Believer - Lou Antonelli
By Any Means Necessary - Gustavo Bondoni
Excalibur - Tom Barczak
On the Run - Michael H. Hanson
The Sorcerous Apprentice - Andrew P. Weston
The Colossus of Hell - Joe Bonadonna
Strange Arts - Janet Morris and Chris Morris
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Threshold
Set a millennium from now on Threshold Terminal—virtually a Grand Hotel in space— a young test pilot, Joe South, is thrust five hundred years into his future and finds himself in the thick of interstellar smuggling, intrigue, and the rough underworld of an alien environment. It is a time of danger and ever-shifting powers . . . and the destinies of a lost test pilot, an underworld scavenger, and two young lovers become irrevocably intertwined . . .
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Trust Territory
Welcome to the twenty-fifth century.
Joe South, test pilot who’d been lost for five centuries in the unexplored territory known as spongespace, had at last begun to carve a place for himself in this human society that was so different from his own. But he knew, as perhaps no one else did, that the mysterious, seemingly unbreachable Ball — towed insystem by a crazy old scavenger and now floating far too close to Threshold — represented dangers beyond imagining. South had given up trying to tell this to the humans of the United Nationals of Earth, but now things were about to change. Now people would listen and believe. South only hoped it wasn’t already too late.
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The Stalk
The interstitial interpreter had shown Mickey Croft, Secretary General of the United Nationals of Earth, a universe beyond Mickey’s comprehension. That historic meeting had created an Earth ambassadorial mission into the alien space-time dimensions known as “Unity.” And to of Earth’s valuable children had also vanished into Unity, star-crossed lovers fleeing the wrath of their powerful parents. Now the children had returned, bringing a message to Croft. The Unity would welcome expanded contact with the UNE. Bit to accomplish this, Threshold — the space station that was the center of human government, commerce, and entertainment — must be moved out of Earth’s orbit to an orbit around Pluto. The Unity had made its offer, stated its terms. Now the UNE must respond. But how could Mickey Croft make an unbiased decision for all humankind, when his own direct contact with the Interpreter had left him uncertain whether he himself was still completely human?
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Liars in Hell
Hell is a real place. Anyone who has broken a commandment winds up there. That's pretty much everybody.
Satan is the boss. You're okay until you're not. But never fear, all your friends are here. As well as everyone you've ever heard of.
For what they have been up to lately, be sure to check in. Thrill to new stories by Hell's damnedest: Janet Morris, Andrew P. Weston, Michael H. Hanson, S. E. Lindberg, Joe Bonadonna, Chris Morris, and Richard Groller.
The Seven Degrees of Lying - Janet Morris & Chris Morris
The Liar, the Witch, and the Ward Robes - Andrew P. Weston
Bait and Switch - S.E. Lindberg
Fibbers in Hell - Michael H. Hanson
The Münchhausen Trilemma - Richard Groller
Hell’s Bells - Joe Bonadonna
School of Night - Janet Morris & Chris Morris
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M.E.D.U.S.A.
In West Berlin, Amy Brecker, an American intelligence officer, takes a chance on a walk-in informant who says that the Soviets are going to simulate an "accident" that will cripple America's space-based defense program.
From a Soviet silo on the Sea of Japan, a single missile rises. A hotline communique from Moscow insists that a mistake has been made; the Soviets are doing everything in their power to abort the "test" flight.
Deep inside Cheyenne Mountain at the Aerospace Defense Command Center, all eyes watch its trajectory: a collision course with America's manned space lab.
If the U.S. chooses to intercept and destroy the Russian missile, the attempt must not end in failure . . . the future of America's entire space-based defense hangs in the balance. Only one U.S. anti-satellite weapon can foil the opening gambit of what might be a Soviet First Strike -- and only Amy Brecker and her "hot stick" pilot have enough of the Right Stuff to use it.
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Monsters in Hell
In the Heroes in Hell series, Monsters in Hell continues existing plot lines and relates new stories with characters from all epochs of human history as they struggle against torment and even more common problems derived from their unique personalities and backgrounds. But wait, things are changing, even for the Devil and his subordinates, in ways that will cause exciting change, if not outright liberation . . .
The Green-eyed Monster - Janet Morris & Chris Morris
The Pied Piper of Harmelin - A.L. Butcher
Dogs of War - S.E. Lindberg
The Tarnished Horde - Joe Bonadonna & S.E. Lindberg
From Hell to Eternity - Joe Bonadonna
Fire in the Blood - Chris Morris & Janet Morris
The Little Helliad
In this first-ever full-length Heroes in Hell novel by Janet and Chris Morris, Homer, the famous poet of ancient Greece who wrote The Iliad, receives a travel pass to tour Hell on special assignment from Satan.
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Lovers in Hell
Shakespeare said “To be wise and love exceeds man’s might,” and in Lovers in Hell, the damned in hell exceed all bounds as they search for their true loves, punish the perfidious, and avoid getting caught up in Satan’s snares. In ten stories of misery and madness, hell’s most loveless seek to slake the thirst that can never be quenched, and find true love amid the lies of ages.
Story list:
Never Doubt I Love – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Love Interrupted – Nancy Asire
Lovers Sans Phalli – S. E. Lindberg
Fume of Sighs – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Calamity – Michael E. Dellert
Love Triangle – Michael H. Hanson
A Hand of Four Queens – A. L. Butcher
Devil’s Trull – Andrew P. Weston
Withering Blights – Joe Bonadonna
Wrath of Love – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Excerpt from Hell Gate – Andrew P. Weston
Dream Dancer
The universe called. She answered. Everything you've seen or read till now took you only to the brink . . .
Neither pure fantasy, nor straight science fiction, nor earthbound dynastic saga, Dream Dancer is a stunning amalgam of all three. It is a family saga with the epic appeal of Dune and the action and excitement of Star Wars. It is a saga of love, power and treachery that will appeal to men and women equally; full of action, compulsively readable and quite unlike anything being published in the realms of fantasy today.
The heroine, Shebat, is a remarkable girl from Earth. She is brought to the vast empire of the Kerrion family by a renegade son; named as its future ruler on a whim of his autocratic father; abducted to the slums where the Kerrions' slaves drug themselves with powerful mystical sorcery; and finally rescued to take part in a great rebellion. She falls in love with one brother but marries another and becomes more Kerrion than some born to the name. A magical seductress of men, passionate in her lust for power, Shebat moves among those who control the destinies of millions, for whom treachery and betrayal are as easy as murder. Set in the timeless future on a primitive, savage Earth and on the sophisticated habitats of deep space, Dream Dancer is the first volume of a three-part saga.
"Not since Dune have we witnessed a power struggle of such awesome intensity. Dream, Dancer may well be the I, Claudius of fantasy novels. A literary feast!" -- Eric Van Lustbader, author of The Ninja.
"Dream Dancer is a fascinating and lyrical story, told with great invention" -- Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story.
"The pacing is brisk; fascinating concepts abound." -- Booklist
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