Amazon will publish fantasy and sci-fi, Penny Marshall memoir
Amazon has added another genre to the titles it will be publishing – science fiction and fantasy.
Amazon announced the launch of 47North, a new imprint dedicated to fantasy, sci-fi and horror, yesterday, and said 47North will publish new titles in addition to bringing back out-of-print titles such as author Arwen Elys Dayton’s 2001 novel “Resurrection.” 47North is the seventh imprint announced by Amazon Publishing.
47North had 15 titles at the time its launch, according to Publisher’s Weekly. The first book released under the new imprint will be “Face of Evil” by William Rabkin and Lee Goldberg, which will be published on Oct. 24 as an e-book only. Rabkin and Goldberg have written – and in some cases, also produced – TV series such as “Diagnosis Murder” and “Baywatch.”
“Face of Evil” will be the first book in the Dead Man series, which will have four new parts published in October and a new installment each month afterwards. A print version of the first three books will be released in January.
New releases published by 47North will also include “The Mongoliad: Book One,” the first book in a trilogy by Hugo and Nebula Award-winning authors Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear, among other writers, to be released in April.
“Amazon customers have a huge appetite for science fiction, fantasy and horror books, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce readers to new and established voices in these genres," said Victoria Griffith, publisher at Amazon Publishing West Coast Group, about the creation of 47North. "We are especially happy to have a diverse list at launch, and look forward to publishing across a wide range of subgenres.”
New releases published by 47North will include author Aric Davis’s new book centering on a tattoo artist being stalked by a supernatural killer, “A Good and Useful Hurt,” in February and the first book in Stephen Leather’s Nightingale series, following a private investigator who inherits a haunted mansion, which will be released in March.
The first book in Evan Currie’s Odyssey series, retitled “Into the Black: Odyssey One,” will be released as a new edition in March as well as Dayton’s “Resurrection,” which will be released in January.
Amazon got another coup when the company announced it would release director and actress Penny Marshall’s memoir “My Mother Was Nuts” next fall. After starring in “Laverne and Shirley” and playing secretary Myrna on “The Odd Couple,” Marshall directed “A League of Their Own” and “Big.” The book will discuss her acquaintance with John Belushi, her marriage to Rob Reiner, and her battle with cancer, according to the Associated Press.
Some bookstores have expressed reservations about selling books published by Amazon as the books giant has expanded its media reach, fearing that they would be giving money to a competitor, but there have not been any companies that have officially announced plans not to sell Amazon releases.
Molly Driscoll is a Monitor contributor.
