Clockwork Angels author Keven J. Anderson announced this past summer at RushCon plans for an anthology of Rush-based stories that he'll be co-editing with John McFetridge for ECW Press (publisher of Clockwork Angels and Neil Peart's books). They have a team of award-winning and bestselling authors lined up to contribute short stories based on Rush songs, with Anderson himself contributing a novella titled 2113. Anderson announced earlier today via his blog that he had finished the 2113 novella and revealed some more details about the project:
For my entire writing career, my stories have been inspired by the music of Rush. And I'm not the only one. After the publication of my "Drumbeats" and CLOCKWORK ANGELS with Neil Peart, many other writers have approached me to talk about Rush.
It certainly made sense that we could find plenty of well-known writers interested in writing original stories inspired by Rush songs-enough to fill an entire anthology. Canadian author John McFetridge first approached ECW Press (publisher of CLOCKWORK ANGELS) with the idea, and they liked it; shortly afterward, they brought me on board to co-edit with John. We approached Neil Peart to make certain he supported the idea, since the stories would be based on his lyrics. While Neil isn't directly involved in the project, he granted his approval, turning us loose to see what stories we could track down.
And I'm doing an original novella, 2113.
The many other authors who signed on include numerous award-winners, New York Times bestsellers, well-known writers of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thrillers. We will have original pieces by me, David Farland, Mercedes Lackey, Greg van Eekhout, Dayton Ward, David Mack, Steven Savile, Brian Hodge, Michael Z. Williamson, Brad R. Torgersen, David Niall Wilson, Ron Collins, Mark Leslie, Larry Dixon, John McFetridge, and Tim Lasiuta. AND we will include a reprint of Richard Foster's story "A Nice Morning Drive"-the original inspiration for "Red Barchetta"-and Fritz Leiber's "Roll the Bones."
Just today I finished the last scene in 2113, which I'll be polishing while waiting for all those other cool stories to roll in.
No firm release date yet from ECW, probably in about a year. Meanwhile, I can't wait to read it myself!
Anderson and Neil Peart are also working on a companion novel to Clockwork Angels titled Clockwork Lives (as in the plural of life). The book will feature minor characters from Clockwork Angels and expand on their stories. Anderson has completed the first draft of the novel and it's expected to release sometime this year.
