I promised that I would tell you who murdered Amelia Price today, but it’s been a long day for me, and I’m very tired. I hope you won’t mind if I tell you tomorrow. I want to write about reading protocols in that post as well, and right now I can’t think all that clearly – not clearly enough to write about something so complex. (In case you can’t tell, I’ve been working on revising a dissertation chapter. There are days when I’m not sure how I’m going to make it through this summer.)

Instead, I’m going to repost an announcement that came out today from Simon & Schuster. This was the press release:

SIMON AND SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS TO PUBLISH NEW ANTHOLOGY BASED ON THE CLASSIC JOHN CARTER OF MARS SERIES BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

New York, NY, May 19, 2011

Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing announced today it will publish a new original anthology called The New Adventures of John Carter of Mars, edited by John Joseph Adams and based on the characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Publication will be in the spring of 2012 and will coincide with the 100th anniversary of A Princess of Mars, the first book to feature John Carter. The anthology envisions all-new adventures set in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ fantastical version of Mars (known in the series as “Barsoom.”) This anthology not only imagines new or the lost adventures of John Carter, but also explores the other characters and niches not fully explored by Burroughs. David Gale is the acquiring editor, and Joe Monti of Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency brokered the deal. Simon & Schuster holds World English rights.

Celebrated fantasy writer Tamora Pierce will write the foreword to the anthology, and John Joseph Adams will write the introduction and header notes. The collection will include stories by Joe R. Lansdale; Jonathan Maberry; David Barr Kirtley; Peter S. Beagle; Tobias S. Buckell; Robin Wasserman; Theodora Goss; Genevieve Valentine; L. E. Modesitt, Jr.; Garth Nix; Chris Claremont; S. M. Stirling; Catherynne M. Valente; and Austin Grossman. There will also be a “Barsoomian Gazetteer,” a who’s who and what’s what on Barsoom, written by science fiction author and noted Barsoom expert Richard A. Lupoff. In addition, each story will feature an original illustration by noted artists such as Charles Vess, John Picacio, Michael Kaluta, and Misako Rocks.

At the same time, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers will publish John Carter of Mars, a bind-up of the first three John Carter books: A Princess of Mars, The Warlord of Mars, and The Gods of Mars, with all-new illustrations by Mark Zug, Scott Fischer, and Scott Gustafson.

“I still vividly recall the summer as a teenager that I read all eleven of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars novels in one enthusiastic gulp,” said Jon Anderson, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Books for Young Readers. “The opportunity to revisit that experience with new stories from this stellar roster of authors was too much to resist!”

Doesn’t that sound like fun? I saw the announcement on IO9, and then I saw a blog post about it on Cinerati. In that blog post, Christian Lindke wondered what sorts of stories this specific lineup of writers would come up with, since they (we) are such a diverse bunch, and specifically said, “I have no idea what Theodora Goss’ version of planetary romance is.”

Well, I’m not going to tell you anything about my story yet, other than the title: “Woola’s Song.” But it’s an interesting question, isn’t it? I think that I am, actually, becoming known for a certain type of story, for a certain sort of literary fantasy. And so you would wonder what I could come up with in a John Carter universe. I will say that John Joseph Adams asked me to participate in this anthology after reading my story “Child-Empress of Mars” in Interfictions, and this story is absolutely nothing like that one. Nevertheless, it’s very much the sort of story I would write. I can’t wait for people to read it and tell me what they think.

I’ll tell you more about it when the book comes out, but you know, I’m interested myself: what did Peter Beagle, Genevieve Valentine, and Catherynne Valente come up with? They are not at all the sorts of people I would associate with planetary romance either. I can’t wait to see . . .