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.
* * *
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
Cruiser Dreams
Cruiser Dreams, Book II in the three-book Kerrion Empire saga Cruiser Dreams . . . She is heir to an empire beyond all imagining, where interstellar cruisers have become increasingly sentient and man's role among the stars is transformed. In this epic of political treachery, interstellar security, human passion, and artificial intelligence, Morris writes the saga of the fiery girl Shebat, stolen away from a decaying and primitive Earth to be the adoptive heir to the Kerrion Empire. Molded to serve the designs of the Kerrion state, Shebat instead becomes the harbinger of change sweeping the civilized stars. Against the chaotic background of simultaneous social and technological revolutions, Shebat finds that the man she loves is her implacable enemy, that the man she reluctantly married is perhaps her single ally, and that her space-faring cruiser may be her only true friend.
More info →
Heroika I: Dragon Eaters
The art of dragon killing:
Dragons have been eating humans for centuries. Now heroes throughout history stalk their legendary foe. Learn how to hunt, kill, and eat the wild dragon. Never before has revenge tasted so good. A literary feast for the bloody-minded.
In Janet Morris' anthology on the art of dragon killing, seventeen writers bring you so close to dragons you can smell their fetid breath. Tales for the bold among you.
HEROIKA 1 -- DRAGON EATERS, an anthology of heroic fiction edited by Janet Morris, features original stories by Janet Morris and Chris Morris, S. E. Lindberg, Walter Rhein, Cas Peace, Jack William Finley, A.L. Butcher, Travis Ludvigson, Tom Barczak, J. P. Wilder, Joe Bonadonna, Milton Davis, M Harold Page, William Hiles, Beth W.Patterson, Bruce Durham, and Mark Finn.
More info →
Doctors in Hell
Damned souls wail as plagues wreak havoc, doctors up their fees, snake-oil salesmen make a killing, and Satan turns his hit-man loose. Be there when Erra, the Babylonian plague god, and his seven personified weapons, spread terror throughout the underverse!
Rookie authors write prescriptions for perdition, while veteran hellions diagnose the damned: Deborah Koren, Andrew P. Weston, Janet Morris, Joe Bonadonna, Matthew Kirshenblatt, Chris Morris, Michael H. Hanson, Rob Hinkle, Jack William Finley, Bill Snider, Richard Groller, Paul Freeman, Nancy Asire.
Victor Frankenstein and Quasimodo develop a vaccine — with diabolical results. Satan looses Daemon Grim, the Devil’s personal hit man, and damned souls cower. Bat Masterson finds himself caught between plague victims and Wyatt Earp. Judas learns you can’t teach an old dog new sins. Calamity Jane and her Sinchester carbine defend hell’s last uninfected outpost. Nietzsche and Lilith, Adam’s first wife, face the Beast and come to fiendish accord. Doc Holliday tries one last gambit, and unleashes all hell’s fury. And there’s worse to come, even an excerpt from bestselling author Andrew P. Weston’s forthcoming Heroes in Hell novel! If you think life is tough, try the afterlife, where the doctor is always wrong, sinners never win, misery runs amok, and all hell’s damned get their just deserts — eternally.
The Wager – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
The Cure – Chris Morris
Grim – Andrew P. Weston
The Right Man for the Job – Deborah Koren
Memory – Nancy Asire
What Price Oblivion? – R.E. Hinkle
In the Shadowlands – Richard Groller
Let Us Kill the Spirit of Gravity – Matthew Kirshenblatt
Pavlovian Slip – Bill Snider
Hell on a Technicality – Joe Bonadonna
Convalescence – Michael H. Hanson
Hell Noon – Paul Freeman
The Judas Book – Jack William Finley
Writer’s Block – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
A Moment of Clarity – Andrew P. Weston
Poets in Hell
The best, the worst, and ugliest bards in perdition vie for Satan’s favor as poets slam one another, Satan’s Fallen Angels smirk up their sleeves, and the illiterati have their day. Find out why the damned deserve their fates as Hell’s hacks sink to new poetical depths! The first Bible writer drafts a deal with the Devil. Attila the Hun learns his punishment’s just begun. Mary Shelley and Victor Frankenstein make a monstrous mistake. Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp get their unjust deserts. Hell’s Undertaker goes on holiday. The Damned Poets Society slams away. A nameless soul shows Dorothy Parker that fame is a bitch.
In the underworlds, injustice always reigns: Join us and our damnedest poets for the crookedest poetry festival in perdition where language comes to die and no rhyme goes unpunished.
Words – Chris Morris
Seven Against Hell – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Reunion – Nancy Asire
Hell-hounds – Bruce Durham
The Kid with No Name – Jack William Finley
All Hell to Pay – Deborah Koren
Poetic Injustice – Larry Atchley, Jr.
When You Gaze Into an Abyss – Matthew Kirshenblatt
Pride and Penance – Tom Barczak
Grand Slam – pdmac
Undertaker’s Holiday – Joe Bonadonna and Shebat Legion
Red Tail’s Corner – Yelle Hughes
Faust III – Richard Groller
Tapestry of Sorrows and Sighs – Bill Snider
Haiku d’État – Beth W. Patterson
A Mother’s Heart – Bill Barnhill
We the Furious – Joe Bonadonna
Damned Poets Society – Michael H. Hanson
All We Need of Hell – Michael A. Armstrong
More info →
Dreamers in Hell
Seven million years on the New Hell Sinday Times bestseller list… The damned are revolting The underworld explodes with excitement as Satan himself rebels against forces from on high. Or does he? Dreams are dashed and strongholds topple as the greatest shared universe of all times convulses with mystery and mayhem. Shakespeare and Marlowe begin a new play to please the Devil…. Satan and Samael plot to expose the unrepentant damned… Before Napoleons eyes, Caesars villa explodes in chaos… Goethe finds out that hell is all around him… Isadora Duncan forgets that dreams can be hell… Hells librarian throws a bash and the damned party down… and down… and down… All over the netherworlds, worse comes to worst as Hells Most Unwanted try assaulting heavens gates and raise more hell than they bargained for….
Fools in Hell – Chris Morris
Alms For Oblivion – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
The Unholy Hole – Nancy Asire
Essence Helliance – Yelle Hughes
Barefoot, On Brimstone – Sara M. Harvey
Ophie and the Undertaker – Shebat Legion
Just Dessert – John Manning
Hell, I Must Be Going – Michael A. Ventrella
Head Games – Bill Snider
Blood and Ash – Tom Barczak
Hellexandria the Great – Sarah Hulcy
The Knife-Edged Bridge – David L. Burkhead
The Wager – Deborah Koren
More Light! – Bettina S. Meister
In the Shadow of Paradise – Jason Cordova
Zero Sum Game – Richard Groller
And the Truth Shall Set You Free – Jack William Finley
The ITTT – Michael H. Hanson
Siegfried’s Blade – Petra E. Jorns
Stairway to Heaven – Edward McKeown
Knocking on Heaven’s Gates – Larry Atchley, Jr.
Hell Bent – Janet Morris
Rogues in Hell
Hot on the heels of Lawyers in Hell, the New Hell Sinday Times bestseller, comes ROGUES IN HELL… The war heats up, Satan antes up, and rogues go adventuring as Hell’s landlord faces off with Heaven’s auditors. Veteran Hellions sin again and new writers fall from grace: Shirley Meier, Bradley H. Sinor, and Michael Z. Williamson.
Babe in Hell – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Which Way I Fly is Hell – Janet Morris
Downtown Run – Nancy Asire
Madly Meeting Logically – Michael A. Armstrong
Library Redux – Sarah Hulcy
A Hatful of Dynamite – Deborah Koren
Colony – Bruce Durham
Searcher – Edward McKeown
The Miraculous Roadside Attraction – Jack William Finley
BDA – Richard Groller
Hell Road Truckers – Michael H. Hanson
If Necessary – Bradley H. Sinor
Pursued by the Tauwu – Shirley Meier
Ragnarok & Roll – Larry Atchley, Jr.
Scent of a Weapon – Bill Snider
Showdown at Brimstone Arsenal – John Manning
The Place of Fear – David L. Burkhead
Chasing the Key – H. David Blalock
A Hard Day at The Office – Michael Z. Williamson
An Unholy Grail – Julie Cochraine
Battle of Tartaros – Chris Morris
More info →
Lawyers in Hell
Heaven lays down the law and Hell gets more hellish as the greatest shared universe of all time makes its malevolent return. Souls you hate to love and souls you love to hate reunite for Lawyers in Hell, in twenty-two infernal tales from the underworlds, where Injustice must be served.
Story list:
Interview with the Devil – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Tribe of Hell – Janet Morris
The Rapture Elevator – Michael Armstrong
Out of Court Settlement – C.J. Cherryh
Revolutionary Justice – Leo Champion
Tale of a Tail – Nancy Asire
And Injustice For All – Jason Cordova
Measure of a Man – Deborah Koren
The Adjudication of Hetty Green – Allan F. Gillbreath
Plains of Hell – Bruce Durham
The Register – Michael H. Hanson
Island out of Time – Richard Groller
Appellate Angel – Edward McKeown
With Enemies Like These – David L. Burkhead
The Dark Arts – Kimberly Richardson
Heads You Loose – Michael Z. Williamson
Check and Mate – Bradley H. Sinor
Disclaimer – John Manning
Orientation Day – Sarah Hulcy
Remember, Remember, Hell in November – Larry Atchley, Jr.
Theo Khthonios – Scott Oden
Erra and the Seven – Chris Morris
Pirates in Hell
The depths of hell chill the boldest sinner as damned souls learn why the deeper in hell you go, the colder it gets.
Twelve tales of piracy in the Heroes in Hell universe, created by Janet Morris and spun by Janet Morris, Chris Morris, Nancy Asire, Paul Freeman, Larry Atchley Jr, Rob Hinkle, Michael H. Hanson, Joe Bonadonna, Andrew P. Weston, S.E. Lindberg, and Jack William Finley.
Bitter Business – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Pieces of Hate – Andrew P. Weston
Evil Angel – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Who’s a Pirate Now? – Nancy Asire
Curse of the Pharaohs – S.E. Lindberg
Lir’s Children – Paul Freeman
Unholiest Grail – Larry Atchley, Jr.
The Bitter Taste of Hell’s Injustice – Jack William Finley
Serial Recall and Beautiful Tortures – Michael H. Hanson
Drink and the Devil – Rob Hinkle
The Pirates of Penance – Joe Bonadonna
Muse of Fire – Janet Morris and Chris Morris
Hell Hounds (excerpt) – Andrew P. Weston
More info →
Heroika II: Skirmishers
Summon the Skirmishers to their eternal purpose, to face a foe who must be opposed at all cost. Gird yourself and join the brotherhood of 'do or die.' Created by Janet Morris and edited by Alexandra Butcher, HEROIKA: SKIRMISHERS is an anthology of desperate struggles in far flung time-scapes, the age old smell of battle and death. SKIRMISHERS --Tales for the bold among you!
More info →
Tempus
Here are the iconic adventures of Tempus, the Riddler, and his Sacred Band seen through the eyes of Nikodemos, his right-side companion, as Niko seeks his spirit's balance on Bandara's misty isles. Five pivotal Sacred Band stories from the earliest adventures of the Stepsons in a world of thieves. Ride with Tempus and his Band once again, for the first time. PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Parts of this work have been published in substantially similar form in several volumes of the Shared Universe Series, Thieves World®.
More info →
Beyond Sanctuary
Here is the new, revised and expanded Author’s Cut edition of BEYOND SANCTUARY, the first ever full-length novel to take you BEYOND the notorious Thieves World™ fantasy universe, where gods still stalk the land, warring with demons and human sorcerers and trampling unfortunate humanity underfoot.
If you like stories of bold brave knights employed in meritorious duty, or tales of ladies delicate and fair, be warned. Beyond Sanctuary, set at the foot of notorious Wizardwall, may be too much for your sensibilities. There wizards, bards, and maidens mingle with murderers and thieves, and the fight breaking out at the next table may be the one that ends your life.
The hero of BEYOND SANCTUARY is Tempus, leader of mercenaries and warrior-servant of Vashanka, god of storm and war. With Niko, Cime, and the Froth Daughter Jihan, Tempus faces the archmage Datan and his unholy followers – in a battle for the Rankan Empire’s survival and that of his very soul. BEYOND SANCTUARY is the first novel in Janet Morris’ BEYOND series, followed by BEYOND THE VEIL and BEYOND WIZARDWALL.
More info →
Beyond the Veil
When a Rankan messenger is killed in Tyse, Randal, the Stepsons’ pet wizard, must read the dead man’s mind. What Randal learns brings Niko back from the Misty Isles of Bandara and forces Tempus and his Stepsons into an alliance unholy even by Tysian standards – with Cime the mage killer; Aškelon, lord of dreams; and the Rankan Third Commando, a fighting unit so cruel it gives even the Stepsons pause. Together with Tempus’ long-lost daughter, and his elemental lover, Jihan, they must venture beyond accursed Wizardwall itself to battle the Mygdonian Alliance and Roxane’s Nisibisi witchcraft.
The intrepid Band (whose central core is Tempus’ beloved Stepsons) must figure out who among the Tysian locals, Rankan soldiers, and Mygdonian defectors they can trust – before it’s too late. But in a world where a witch can turn a warrior into a flea, where gemstone frogs can rain from the sky, where no one is ever what he seems, where loyalties are ensured by curses, wizardry, and the favor of warring gods… only the immortal Tempus can guarantee an army’s success. And not even Tempus can tell the good guys from the bad in Tyse, where everyone plays both ends against the middle – or if the price of victory against Mygdonia will be his Stepsons’ souls in their battle BEYOND THE VEIL, sequel to BEYOND SANCTUARY.
Here is the second independent full-length novel in Janet Morris’ BEYOND series, far from notorious Thieves’ World™. Set in Tyse, a town so mean and magic-ridden as to make Sanctuary™ seem like a singles bar, BEYOND THE VEIL features Tempus – Thieves’ World most popular and misunderstood character – and introduces Kama, his warrior daughter, as well as Ranke’s deservedly infamous shock troops, the Third Commando.