Paradise Tales

Tue 12 Jul 2011 - Filed under: Books, Geoff Ryman| Posted by: Gavin

Trade paper/ebook · 9781931520645/9781931520447 · 320 pp · July 12, 2011

Sunburst Award Winner
Lambda Award Finalist

Geoff Ryman writes about the other and leaves us dissected in the process. His stories are set in recognizable places—London, Cambodia, tomorrow—and feature men and women caught in recognizable situations (or technologies) and not sure which way to turn. They, we, should obviously choose what’s right. But what if that’s difficult? What will we do? What we should, or . . . ?

Paradise Tales follows the success of Ryman’s most recent novel, The King’s Last Song, and builds on that with three Cambodian stories included here, “The Last Ten Years of the Hero Kai,” “Blocked,” and the exceedingly-popular “Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter.” Paradise Tales includes stories selected from the many periods of Ryman’s career including “Birth Days,” “Omnisexual,” “The Film-makers of Mars,” and a new story, “K is for Kosovo (or, Massimo’s Career).”

Small Beer Press has also reprinted two of Ryman’s novels, The Child Garden and Was, with new introductions or afterwords to continue to build the readership of one of the most fascinating writers exploring the edges of being, gender, science, and fiction.

Geoff Ryman Locus interview.

Reviews

“Paradise Tales includes one of the most powerful stories I’ve read in the last 10 years.”
—New York Times

“In the best of Ryman’s fiction, the world unfolds in ways that are at once astonishing and thoroughly thought out, both radically disorienting and emotionally powerful.”
—Gary K. Wolfe, Locus

“The stories gathered here from across Ryman’s career narrate paradise and its stories in ways that are far from conventionally utopian. Rather, Ryman’s paradises are not only largely intangible but often built on and out of loss. Reading his quasi-fairytales and other flights of passionate fantasy, we will always be reminded that these paradises, like all paradises, are places that can never be—except in fiction. For Ryman, however, this is an essential exception, as the power of story to heal and repair across time and across cultures becomes a recurrent theme in the collection…. By the end of Paradise Tales, however, the reader will understand that Ryman has already invented such a device: whether it is fantasy, science fiction, or some fiction in-between, the utopian, revelatory tool for Ryman is simply fiction itself.”
—Strange Horizons

“A prophet of the flesh, Geoff Ryman is fascinated by biology, our human capacity (shared with the rest of squishy creation) for bodily transcendence, degeneration and metamorphosis. Whether contemplating the genetics of homosexuality (“Birth Days”), the lives of transgenic sophonts (“Days of Wonder”), or the humiliating transformations attendant upon aging (“VAO”), he brings a kind of saintly compassion and insight to his characters. But not all the entries in Paradise Tales conform to this paradigm. There are cosmopolitan explorations, such as the Cambodian-centric “Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter” and “Blocked.” And there are densely speculative cyber-forecasts like “The Future of Science Fiction.” But all benefit from Ryman’s economical yet lapidary prose.”
—Asimov’s

“I recommend this collection to both Ryman’s existing fans and those new to his work. It is a beautiful and challenging treasure of a book.”
—Cascadia Subduction Zone

“Short-form speculative fiction doesn’t get much better than this.”
— J. J. S. Boyce, AESciFi—the CanadianScience Fiction Review

* “Often contemplative and subtly ironic, the 16 stories in this outstanding collection work imaginative riffs on a variety of fantasy and SF themes. “Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter,” a Cambodian ghost story, and “The Last Ten Years in the Life of Hero Kai,” a samurai-style narrative, have the delicacy of Asian folktales or lyrical fantasies. By contrast, “V.A.O.,” about a future society destabilized by prohibitively expensive health care, and “The Film-makers of Mars,” which suggests that Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter stories were drawn from life, are set in futures that credibly extrapolate current scientific and cultural trends. Ryman (The King’s Last Song) frequently explores human emotional needs in heartless environments, as in “Warmth,” which poignantly portrays a young boy’s bond with his robot surrogate mother. Readers of all stripes will appreciate these thoughtful tales. ”
—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Contents

The Film-makers of Mars
The Last Ten Years in the Life of Hero Kai
Birth Days
V.A.O.
The Future of Science Fiction
Omnisexual
Home
Warmth
Everywhere
No Bad Thing
Talk Is Cheap
Days of Wonder
You
K is for Kosovo (or, Massimo’s Career)
Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter
Blocked

Praise for Geoff Ryman’s most recent novel:

“[Ryman] has not so much created as revealed a world in which the promise of redemption takes seed even in horror.”
—The Boston Globe

“Inordinately readable . . . extraordinary in its detail, color and brutality.”
—The Independent (UK)

Geoff Ryman is the author of the novels The King’s Last Song, Air (a Clarke and Tiptree Award winner), 253, Lust, and The Unconquered Country (a World Fantasy Award winner). Canadian by birth, he has lived in Brasil, resides in the UK and is a frequent visitor to Cambodia.

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Kelly’s new story Valley of the Girls

Mon 11 Jul 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Kelly Link| Posted by: Gavin

is up in Gwenda Bond’s YA issue of Subterranean Online—which has had some knockout stories in it. Anyway, the link to the new Link is here.

Fiction: Valley of the Girls by Kelly Link

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Hell of a week

Mon 11 Jul 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Cons, Geoff Ryman, Karen Joy Fowler| Posted by: Gavin

First: a new interview with Karen Joy Fowler! That is one smart person. (Two, since Charles Tan did the interview.)

This week we have a new book out. What? You didn’t know? It’s true that Geoff Ryman’s Paradise Tales was delayed a couple of times, but, Bam! Here it is. What a book. More on that later. Later this week, that is. Later this month, two series books (from me, who loves standalone titles!), Hound 2, as we call A Slepyng Hound to Wake and the first book in Lydia Millet’s new series for kids, The Fires Beneath the Sea.

Geoff’s one of the Guests of Honor at Readercon so we’re going to give him a beer and get him to sign a ton of books. If you would like them personalized, we;ll see what we can do.

Readercon begins for us on Friday when we take some books &c* in to the dealer’s room where we get to catch up with some friends—and buy some books from them. Should be a busy time as, yes, we are bringing our daughter Ursula, so we’ll see how well this works.

Here’s my tiny Readercon Schedule:

2:00 PM NH    Three Messages and a Warning group reading. Chris N. Brown, Michael J. DeLuca, Gavin J. Grant. Gavin Grant (publisher), Chris N. Brown (editor) and Michael J. DeLuca (translator) read from the anthology Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic, forthcoming from Small Beer Press.

3:00 PM Vin.    Kaffeeklatsch. Gavin J. Grant, Kelly Link.

And I will post Kelly’s when I’m more sure of it.

* What can the &c be? We’ve heard tell of t-shirts. Maybe. Water bottles? No. Drinkables? Surely not?

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On a happier note (signed books galore)

Thu 7 Jul 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., events| Posted by: Gavin

we have copies of two new books in stock! Lydia Millet’s first book for kids, The Fires Beneath the Sea (our third Big Mouth House title), and Geoff Ryman’s long-delayed new collection, Paradise Tales. One for the kids, one for the adults!

Los Angeles News Flash! We just confirmed a reading for Lydia on July 26th at 7 PM at the most excellent indie Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena.

Boston, not a news flash: Geoff is one of the Guests of Honor at Readercon in Boston next week (and is reading at KGB in NYC after that) so we will have stacks of his books for your enjoyment. We’ll also have some signed copies in the office after the con.

Which reminds me of one of the things we should make more of a fuss about . . . we have signed copies of a bunch of our books! Order here and they’re yours (free shipping in the US & Canada as usual):

Alan DeNiro · Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead (5)

Carol Emshwiller · The Mount (5); Carmen Dog (2)

Greer Gilman · Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales (2)

Julia Holmes · Meeks (6)

John Kessel · The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories (5 hardcovers)

Kelly Link · Stranger Things Happen (5)

Kelly Link · Magic for Beginners (5)

Laurie J. Marks · Water Logic (7)

Vincent McCaffrey · Hound (5)

Maureen F. McHugh · Mothers & Other Monsters (8 pb, 4 hc)

Benjamin Parzybok · Couch (5)

Geoff Ryman · The King’s Last Song (2)

Sean Stewart · Mockingbird (1);  Perfect Circle (4)

Jennifer Stevenson · Trash Sex Magic (2)

Howard Waldrop · Howard Who? (7)

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InDesign bottleneck

Thu 7 Jul 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., caught in a software reinstallation loop, whining| Posted by: Gavin

Dum de dum, new issue of LCRW, dum de dum, redoing a galley, dum de dum, finishing a book, dum de dum, all on hold!

Bugger. The things I can do with technology—and not good things. The “paragraph styles” have disappeared in InDesign on my laptop. I hate re/installing InDesign, it takes foreeeever. So I tried contacting them since I can’t find anything about this problem online.

Good part: they responded in one day instead of the promised three (3 days? really? must be busy people) and they apologized for the trouble.

Bad part: despite paying $$ for InDesign 4—a good but annoying program which won’t even open files properly made in ID3—it turns out to get support I need to buy a support contract. (Ever looked for something on Adobe’s site? Ack!)

Hmm. Let’s check this week’s mail: submissions to LCRW, queries to the press, bills from printers and assorted vendors, random check for $175 to cover a year of support? Er, no. Darn. Morning becomes reinstallation and a prayer, I spose.

Oh well. Aimee Mann has come up on random shuffle and that seems about right.

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Soul Available

Wed 6 Jul 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

Eek! Maureen McHugh sent us an updated bio for After the Apocalypse:

Maureen F. McHugh was born in what was then a sleepy, blue collar town in Ohio called Loveland. She went to college in Ohio, and then graduate school at New York University. She lived a year in Shijiazhuang, China. Her first book, China Mountain Zhang, was published in 1991. Since then she has written three novels and a well received collection of short stories. She lives in Los Angeles, where she has attempted to sell her soul to Hollywood.

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Ten Years of Books! Five Years of Beer!

Tue 5 Jul 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Literary Beer| Posted by: Michael

It has been a long strange road since the July morning in 2006 I showed up on Small Beer’s doorstep, was bustled inside and found myself crammed into a cool nook between bowed bookshelves, struggling and failing to turn down endless refills of green tea and squares of dark chocolate, making precious little headway with my stack of LCRW submissions due to the caffeine, the basket-hilted pirate letter opener meant to be wielded against envelopes, and the army of windup plastic robots and rubber Cthulus advancing on me from the bookshelves.

I fear I was not the most productive intern those first few months. I shipped books, transcribed Waldrop stories for Howard Who?, did battle with the wireless router, and composed inept ad copy for Mothers & Other Monsters. Somehow I managed not to get fired. Lucky for me I had homebrew in my corner. I think it’s safe to say after that first batch of wee heavy I could do no wrong.

Many uncountable cups of tea, paper cuts, trays of moldy lead type, pints of Bluebird Bitter and BBC River Ale under the bridge, now here it is 2011. Small Beer Press has been putting out amazing, weird books for a decade, and I’ve been “volunteering” here for half of that. All those nice photos of books posed with beer bottles? I took those. I made this website, and this one. Three Messages and a Warning drops in December, featuring my workman’s translations of Karen Chacek’s “The Hour of the Fireflies” and Garbiela Damián Miravete’s “Future Nereid”.

And now I am asked to brew a beer for the SBP tenth anniversary! It shall be my magnum opus. Kevin Huizenga (Peapod Classics, LCRW 16 & 23) did the above awesome artwork. (Ed.: also available on some t-shirts)

A crowd-pleasing pale ale has been requested for the occasion. Here goes.

Read more

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Liminal People giveaway

Thu 30 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Ayize Jama-Everett, Free books| Posted by: Gavin

Git git git over to Goodreads and git yourself a copy of this science fiction thrill-ill-iller! We’re publishing it in December but we have 20 copies for going-to-be-happy readers to enjoy long before that cold cold month comes along.

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Independents Week: July 1–7

Wed 29 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., bookshops, keep it indie| Posted by: Gavin

Celebrate Independents Week with independent businesses across the country—and around the world as the movement grows. Shopping at local independent businesses pays wages to people in your area—who can then afford to buy books: maybe even yours!

Check out the American Independent Business Alliance for more information. In celebration of Independents Week, visit your local bookshop—remember most books are still bought at brick and mortar bookshops. Even chosing to buy one or two more books per year locally will make a difference to the viability of your local bookstore.

We all shape our towns by choosing which stores to shop at: we hope you will choose your local indie bookshop!

If you don’t have a great local indie, then here are a few suggestions from our ever-expanding list of favorites (use indiebound.org to find more near you):

Starting in Massachusetts (since that’s where we are) in Boston there’s the Brookline Booksmith, Harvard Bookstore, Porter Square Books, the Brookline Village Children’s Bookshop. Farther out there’s Back Pages in Waltham and Storybook Cove in Hanover. In Western Mass., we like Broadside Books (Northampton), Odyssey Books (South Hadley), Amherst Books (Amherst), as well as the utterly unique Bookmill in Montague (converted from an old mill, and gorgeous).

Down south of us in New York City there are fantastic general and specialty bookshops including St. Mark’s Bookshop, McNally Jackson, Shakespeare & Co., Hue-Man Books & Cafe, and (especially irresistible with its cupcake cafe!) Books of Wonder, as well as the Drama Book Shop, Asia Store, Idlewild, and Kitchen Arts and Letters—and don’t miss Word and Greenlight in Brooklyn. Upstate we recommend the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza and the Spotty Dog in Hudson—dear to our hearts as they also serve beer.
Since we’ve already run out of space on this page before we left the northeast (and what about RiverRun in Portsmouth, NH, or all those lovely shops in Vermont?) we obviously can’t list every bookshop we’ve enjoyed visiting here (even those above are heavily edited) so please add your favorite bookshops in the comments.

And if you’re in D.C. don’t miss Politics & Prose. Or Quail Ridge in Raleigh, N.C., Skylight in L.A., Powell’s (or Murder by the Book or Reading Frenzy) in the other Portland . . . you get the idea Keep it indie this week, and every week!

Originally published in A Working Writer’s Daily Planner 2011.

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New audio books

Wed 29 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

Just in: Karen Lord’s Redemption in Indigo.

Coming soon: Julia Holmes’s Meeks, Holly Black’s The Poison Eaters and Other Stories.

Coming down the pike: Laurie J. Marks’s Elemental Logic series plus three more books. All of which means soon you will be able to take a Virgin Galactic ride into space and listen to Small Beer books all the way!

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2011 Catalog & more

Mon 27 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Joan Aiken| Posted by: Gavin

We have a new catalog! It’s up on Scribd already and at some point there may even be a print edition. Don’t know if it will be color glorious color thoughout, so you have to look there to see all the lovely lovely bookcovers we have this year. The cover is Kathleen Jennings’s picture from the cover of The Child Garden. The back cover art is a secret. Well, until you look at it. More secrets inside. Mostly on page 28. Completists can see or download all our catalogs here.

Nice: Patrick Ness won the U.K.’s Carnegie medal for Monsters of Men (the third Chaos Walking book).

What’s coming up? Joan Aiken stories! “Spur of the Moment” in Eleven Eleven. “Hair” in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. “Reading in Bed” on Tor.com.

Karen Joy Fowler’s collection is on the (quite!) long Frank O’Connor Award longlist.

If we had been faster on the draw, this story by Christine Sneed would have been in the next LCRW—which approacheth completion! Honest, guv. Christine didn’t simultaneously submit it, rather she sent us a nice postcard withdrawing her story after we’d had it for too long. Shame on me! I am trying to read faster, but the eyes, they can’t do it. In the meantime, I recommend this story of “Fortune“:

His plan was small but ambitious. He began by designing business cards on his computer, using purple ink on white paper and Clip-art pictures of Merlin’s hat, a crystal ball, and a spray of stars that arced upward from his name.

We were luckier with other stories! We’re already buying for next spring. Of note, since I was adding some new titles to Weightless Books: 12.6% (or 1/8, near as just about) of subscribers to LCRW now subscribe to the ebook edition. Hmm! But we like print, so until it’s the other way around, I think we’ll keep with the paper edition.

Back to the new issue: we have a cover from Kathleen Jennings, who we love.

Go get it: Small Beer Press 2011 Catalog

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Inaugural Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Award

Mon 20 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Awards, Edward Gauvin, Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud| Posted by: Gavin

We’re immensely honored to pass on the news that the inaugural Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Award for long-form work has gone to A Life on Paper: Stories by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, translated by Edward Gauvin. The awards were presented at the 2011 Eurocon in Stockholm (winners and honorable mentions below).

The full announcement on the awards—and the wonderful and generous jury comments—is here, along with statements from the winners. We’re honored and humbled and would like to thank the the jury and the award administrators—what a job, trying to corral all those books from publishers all over the world to a similarly scattered jury!

A Life on Paper is a great book and our publishing it is all down to the translator, Edward Gauvin: thanks Edward!

Long Form Winner

A Life on Paper: Stories, Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, translated by Edward Gauvin (Small Beer Press). Original publication in French (1976­-2005).

Long Form Honorable Mention

The Golden Age, Michal Ajvaz, translated by Andrew Oakland (Dalkey Archive Press). Original publication in Czech as Zlatý V?k (2001).

Short Form Winner

“Elegy for a Young Elk”, Hannu Rajaniemi, translated by Hannu Rajaniemi (Subterranean Online, Spring 2010). Original publication in Finnish (Portti, 2007).

Short Form Honorable Mention

“Wagtail”, Marketta Niemelä, translated by Liisa Rantalaiho (Usva International 2010, ed. Anne Leinonen). Original publication in Finnish as “Västäräkki” (Usva (The Mist), 2008).

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Not all media is mediocre

Fri 17 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., audio books, Karen Lord, Pop, YouTube| Posted by: Gavin

We recently watched the last episode of the British TV series Downtown Abbey which was a hit earlier this year. It was a fun soap, but the last episode was such a big soft pudding that my strong recc. (for those with the stomach to watch Edwardian-era upper class goings-on) drops to: Meh, maybe, but go walk the dog instead of watching the last episode. Blech. Wikipedia says there’s another season being made. Wonder if it too will be full of people holding themselves stiffly away from one another, doing the right thing, and jolly well getting what they deserved. Especially as this season ended with the Great War being declared. Hmm.

On the other end of the spectrum I was searching on YouTube for sign language videos (I am learning a tiny bit of sign language, but sooo slowly!) and found this Pearl Jam concert video of “Given to Fly” filmed in St. Louis in 2000, where, apparently to Eddie Vedder’s surprise, there was a sign language interpreter signing the songs. I am a casual fan of theirs (never seen them live) and can’t really say if this is a good rendition of the song (musically or ASL-ly) but every time I watch it I’m moved to tears. Silly me. Even Vedder’s silly dancing with her at the end isn’t enough to break it. Whoever set that up, I love the idea. Anyone who ever wants to sign any reading or panel of ours: you’re on. Video pasted in below.

Guess what showed up at the office? (Not me, sorry!) The absolutely new and shiny Recorded Books audiobook edition of Karen Lord’s Redemption in Indigo. Heartily recommended!

You can hear Karen herself here: Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe have a nice thing going with their weekly podcast. A couple of weeks ago they talked with Karen Lord and even though Skype dropped the call a few times it was still lovely to hear them talking about Redemption in Indigo and much more.

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Patricia Anthony?

Tue 7 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

Does anyone have current contact info for Patricia Anthony?

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Catching up a little

Mon 6 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

with orders and shipping having not managed to get into the last week due to it being sunny outside and spending all my time in a beer garden a small cough which managed to throw a wrench in many plans! Sorry about that.

What do we have in the office?

Geoff Ryman’s The Child Garden!

Which comes with a new introduction by Wendy Pearson and a lovely new cover by Kathleen Jennings. The Child Garden was supposed to come out after Paradise Tales but logistics has held that book up so much that now it comes out in July. So, in the meantime: damn, what a book! If you haven’t read it you can start reading it right now here. It’s a weird, great, heartbreaking book. Can’t wait for the 3D movie. I mean, come on, why not? Polar bears playing piano. Who doesn’t want to see that?

What else do we have in the office? A surprise copy of The Night Circus by Erica Morgenstern—sent by the author after she saw my oh-so-sad post last week! Wow, don’t know if anyone’s done that before: thanks Erica!

Also in the office: a contract from an author! But, I’m not going to say anything about it until I confirm that they get my signed copy back in the mail.

One piece of good news from the last week is that we’ve sold about half the run of the limited edition of Hal Duncan’s A-Z of the Fantastic City. Maybe we should always do limitedssss? Also: thank you everyone who wrote or posted about it. You really are lovely people, aren’t you? We kind of needed a wee boost like that and it was wunnerful, you have our thanks.

Looks like next Sunday’s Franciscan Hospital for Children’s 5K walk/run has already raised $90,000! We can’t take part this year but encourage anyone who can. Or, just send them some money! What else were you going to today? Pick up yet another Apple toy?

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The Child Garden

Mon 6 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Books, Geoff Ryman| Posted by: Gavin

June 7, 2011 · trade paper/ebook · 9781931520287 · New Introduction by Wendy Pearson.
2nd printing: May 2021

John W. Campbell & Arthur C. Clarke Award Winner

Following The King’s Last Song, The Child Garden is the second Geoff Ryman title in our list—and it’s by far the furthest out there. Are you ready for polar bear families in London—who have their own black sheep: after all, what can a polar bear mining family do with a daughter who wants to write operas? And what is London to do with a woman who, resistant to the viruses, might be able to provided the cure for the cure for cancer?

In a future, tropical London, humans photosynthesize, organics have replaced electronics, viruses educate people, and very few live past forty. Milena is resistant to the viruses and unable to be Read. She has Bad Grammar. She’s alone until she meets Rolfa, a huge, hirsute Genetically Engineered Polar Woman, and Milena realizes she might, just might, be able to find a place for herself after all.

If you’ve been missing reading about polar bears since finishing Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books, this is the novel for you. The Child Garden is one of the original biopunk novels: it’s over the top baroque . . . it’s a masterpiece.

Praise for The Child Garden:

“An exuberant celebration of excess set in a resource-poor but defiantly energetic 21st century.”—The New York Times

“I fell in love with this book when Jeff VanderMeer gave it to me for my birthday when we were both at Clarion in 1992. I’ve thought about it more or less constantly ever since.”
—Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing

“Undoubtedly a classic and one of the best novels ever written within the genre.”
—SF Site

“A richly absorbing tale—with a marvelous premise expertly carried out.”—Kirkus Reviews

“One of the most imaginative accounts of futuristic bioengineering since Greg Bear’s Blood Music.”—Locus

“A heady novel bursting with speculation.”—Library Journal

“Excellent . . . Dark and witty and full of love, closely observed, and sprinkled with astonishing ideas. Science fiction of a very high order.”—Greg Bear

Praise for Geoff Ryman’s books:

“Ryman—best known as a fantasy writer but one who proved his power as an author of nuanced, rich historical fiction in the unsung novel Was—has not so much created as revealed a world in which the promise of redemption takes seed even in horror.”
—Boston Globe

“The novel conveys not merely a story, but the light and darkness, despair and hope, tradition and Westernization that is Cambodia itself…. While peaceful William, war-consumed Map, and Cambodia-loving Luc could easily be flat, typecast characters, Ryman steers clear of such simplifications. Their interwoven histories are at times noble and at times horrifying, laced with profound emotions and punctuated with atrocities…. The King’s Last Song leaves one questioning preconceptions of good and evil, and conflicted between hope for and discouragement with the human race.”
—Rain Taxi

“An unforgettably vivid portrait of Cambodian culture past and present.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“Ryman’s knack for depicting characters; his ability to tell multiple, interrelated stories; and his knowledge of Cambodian history create a rich narrative that looks at Cambodia’s “killing fields” both recent and ancient and Buddhist belief with its desire for transcendence. Recommended for all literary fiction collections.”
—Library Journal

“Inordinately readable . . . extraordinary in its detail, color and brutality.”
—The Independent

“Sweeping and beautiful. . . . The complex story tears the veil from a hidden world.”
—The Sunday Times

About the Author

Geoff Ryman is the author of the novels The King’s Last Song, Air (a Clarke and Tiptree Award winner), and The Unconquered Country (a World Fantasy Award winner), and the collection Paradise Tales. Canadian by birth, he has lived in Cambodia and Brazil and now teaches creative writing at the University of Manchester in England.

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Go see Ted in Portland on Monday & Tuesday

Sat 4 Jun 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Joan Aiken, Ted Chiang| Posted by: Gavin

@ Beaverton Powell’s, Portland, OR
Mon, June 6, 7pm – 8pm

Where	Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, OR 97005 map

Where	5736 N.E. 33rd Ave. Portland, OR 97211 map

(Keep up with all our authors here.)

Locus reviews The Monkey’s Wedding and recommends you read it.

Added 2 new books to Scribd—and half a dozen other ebook sites(!)—so now you can directly preview these two books. The Child Garden is shipping out soon (pre-orders will go out this coming week) and The Fires Beneath the Sea has been delayed until July (sorry!):

The Fires Beneath the Sea by Lydia Millet

and

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Carol @ Strange Horizons

Tue 31 May 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Carol Emshwiller| Posted by: Gavin

This week at Strange Horizons (copied wholesale because it is fantastic):

ARTICLE: Perfectly Herself: A discussion of the work of Carol Emshwiller, by Ursula K. Le Guin, Helen Merrick, Pat Murphy, and Gary K. Wolfe

After a career of many phases, she’s found a comfortable way to synthesize all of them, making her all over again the proverbial writer to watch. I don’t know if there’s another 90 year old author anywhere about whom that could be said.

COLUMN: The Emshwillerians, by Karen Joy Fowler

Recently I’ve begun to notice elements, techniques, and viewpoints from Carol’s writing in more places than my own stories. For decades, Carol has primarily been published as a science fiction writer. My impression is that, while always admired and often beloved, her work was seen as essentially idiosyncratic. Whatever it was she was doing, she was doing it alone, and off in her own brilliant little corner of the field. She is the sort of writer to whom the word “quirky” is applied. “A writer’s writer.” “A cult favorite.”

FICTION: Introduction to After All, by Gavin J. Grant

Introduction to this week’s reprinted story.

FICTION: After All, by Carol Emshwiller

I was thinking to write a story about somebody who needs to change (the best sort of character to write about), and all of a sudden I knew it was me who had to change. Always had been, and I didn’t realize it until that very minute. So I have to be the one to go on a journey, either of discovery or in order to avoid myself.

POETRY: Waking the Red Guardian, by WC Roberts

tendrils of fiber optics from torn sheet metal / dripping visions of worlds to come

REVIEW: This Week’s Reviews, posted three times a week

Monday: The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller, Volume 1, reviewed by L. Timmel Duchamp
Wednesday: Carmen Dog by Carol Emshwiller, reviewed by Paul Kincaid
Friday: Ledoyt and Leaping Man Hill by Carol Emshwiller, reviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller

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We go to NYC

Mon 30 May 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Cons, events, Publishing, readings, Small Beer Press, To Read Pile, Ursula| Posted by: Gavin

But we don’t take any pictures. Not true. More like: we haven’t yet uploaded any. Soon(ish).

We’re back from BookExpo (BEA) where we missed more than ever. At a convention that big you always know there’s something you’re missing. This time, even with lower attendance and fewer exhibitors than in the past, I missed more due to our own little chaos field: our 2-year-old daughter, Ursula. To a 2-y.o. kid, BEA is: lights, balloons, not a great place to nap, full of strangers—some are nice (some will give you books!), some scary. And unlike her parents, she did not want to be tethered to one spot, meet people, and talk about books. She wanted to go go go. So go we went. Which was great for catching up with other exhibitors and occasionally picking up a book: thanks to Frazer & Sally of Park Road Books in Charlotte we got a couple of indestructible books from Workman which, true to their name, have yet to be destroyed. Amazing how many books fall apart if they’re read every day.

The one outside event I went to was an sf reading/q&a I MC-ed which was organized by Gina Gagliano of First Second Books and the New York Public Library. It was a fun night with readings by Lev Grossman, John “William Shatner” Scalzi,  Cat Valente, and Scott Westerfled. Brian Slattery and three other musicians accompanied the readings and there was a q&a afterward. I made a few mistakes: I thought it was the year 2911 and this was 1000th anniversary of the Stephen Schwarzman building and that I was introducing historians, not futurians. But it all seemed to work out ok. I don’t know how the afterparty went as I had to slope off and put the kid to sleep. New Yorkers who like the sci-fi: NYPL has you covered this summer.

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In which we announce a Hal Duncan chapbook!

Thu 19 May 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., chapbook, Hal Duncan| Posted by: Gavin

This morning in our email newsletter we let go of a secret which we have been keeping (but not very well) for about four years: we are going to publish a beautiful little chapbook from Hal Duncan! And the orders have been pouring in! For which we thank you from the bottoms of our rusty old hearts!

Here’s the announcement: This year we are bringing back our long-delayed chapbook series. We have one title here, another in the planning stages, and another in the idea stage. Seems like enough to be worth talking about. We’re not taking chapbook subscriptions anymore, as the new chapbooks may vary in price more than the the previous titles. But subscribers will be emailed to see if they have moved and paperback chapbooks will be sent out to those lovely faithful readers.

The first chapbook is Hal Duncan‘s An A-Z of the Fantastic City, illustrated by Eric Schaller, and will come in 2 states: a beautiful signed and numbered limited hardcover and a regular trade paperback. We’ve been working on this for a couple of years and we’re very grateful to Hal and Eric for sticking with is through the thick and thin of those last couple of years. Publication is approaching later this year with the final date TBA as we go over the final details of the cover.

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June Deadlines

Thu 19 May 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Working Writer's Daily Planner| Posted by: Gavin

Some things to keep you busy before June comes from A Working Writer’s Daily Calendar 2011. Almost done on the 2012 edition—so this is your last chance to send us suggestions.

June 1: Fourteenth Annual Poetry Contest
Prize: $1,500 + publication in Boston Review in the Nov./Dec. 2011 issue.
Eligibility: Any author writing in English is eligible, unless he or she is a current student, former student, or close personal friend of the judge.
Manuscripts: Up to 5 unpublished poems, max. 10 pages. Mailed manuscripts must be submitted in duplicate, with a cover note listing the author’s name, address, email and phone number. No cover note is necessary for online submission. Names should not be on the poems themselves.
Fee: $20 ($30 for international submissions) payable to Boston Review.
Submit online or by mail to:
Poetry Contest, Boston Review
35 Medford St., Suite 302,
Somerville, MA 02143

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3 Karens

Tue 17 May 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Franciscan, Karen Joy Fowler, Karen Lord, Kelly Link, Tim Wakefield| Posted by: Gavin

What a morning we’re having. But along with the other stuff, here’s the great news:

1. Karen Lord’s debut novel Redemption in Indigo is a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award. That’s a really strong list of books—both the adult and children’s—lit lists making it a real honor to be nominated.
2. Karen Joy Fowler’s What I Didn’t See and Other Stories gets a lovely review on Strange Horizons and both the book and the original story, “Booth’s Ghost” are finalists for the Locus Award. That book is piling up the awards!
3. The third Karen moment today is that fabby Karen Russell who recommends Kelly’s Stranger Things Happen on NPR. Wow! There’s a link to

ETA: Want to go see Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield . . . sign a book? That’s what he’ll be doing at [some future day at] one of our beloved indie bookshops, the Brookline Booksmith. [Event postponed because the guy has to go pitch!] The guy is a great player (or so I’m told, still not really up on the whole baseball thing, give me time) but he’s also a great guy: at Franciscan Hospital for Children there’s a lovely all-weather playing field behind the main building called the Wakefield because guess who funded it? That makes him awesome.

And: we got emailed asking whether we’d publish a book by an author we love. Wow. Fingers crossed.

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Steampunk weekend, book, various readings, &c.

Mon 9 May 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Hal Duncan, Kathe Koja, steampunk, stuff to read| Posted by: Gavin

Dropped by the International Steampunk City yesterday and really enjoyed wandering around seeing hundreds of people dressed to kill (or at least to adventure). There were blacksmiths smithing (and explaining the meaning of “eldritch” to someone as we walked by), drummers drumming and belly dancers dancing, bootmakers, jewellers, a mummers parade, people riding penny farthings—and a ton of other things, most of which we missed as we were only there Sunday afternoon. We caught up with Riv from purpleshiny who we met at Boskone—she made a lovely thing (involving a watch and a piece of metal hammered on the ground to pick up the texture of Waltham!) while we watched. Makers making: excellent.

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Daisy, the crispest colleen in Killyclancy

Wed 4 May 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Free reads, Joan Aiken| Posted by: Gavin

Just posted a story for your amusement, “Girl in a Whirl” by Nicholas Dee Joan Aiken. It is, of course, from our new, posthumous collection by Joan. The stories in the book range from wildly funny to quite dark. (This story’s one of the former type—fresh and funny fifty years later).

If you want a more nuanced consideration of the book, John Clute reviewed it on Strange Horizons. Here’s a pull quote:

“Almost all the stories assembled in The Monkey’s Wedding—except for the devastating title story itself, from 1996, and “The Fluttering Thing” from 2002, which is set on a journey towards Final Solution; it is even more terrifying than The Scream, also 2002—flow with a porcelain lucidity and gaiety that manifests the high energy of Aiken’s early prime.”
—John Clute, Strange Horizons

But the real fun is in the rest of his review (which is at the end of his column) where he skips the story summations (although his aside on the title story is absolutely accurate) and says of these uncollected stories, “It is a joy to recover them now.” It’s a joy to see someone able to express his enjoyment of these stories so well. (Much better than me! I just keep saying They’re great! They’re funny! They’re great!)

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Girl in a Whirl

Wed 4 May 2011 - Filed under: Free Stuff to Read, Short Stories| Posted by: Gavin

Her name was Daisy and she was a smasher, the crispest colleen in Killyclancy. Only, as misfortune would have it, old Mr Mulloon said she was unlucky, he having met her once in the street and gone home to find his finest fowl drowning in a puddle; brandy had revived it, true, but anyway those looks weren’t natural, Mr Mulloon said. Whoever heard of hair like spun milk atop of a pair of eyes black as sloes? Depend on it, the girl was an albinoess, cunningly covering up a pair of cherry-pink pupils with smoked contact lenses. And everyone knew albinos had the Evil Eye. Read more

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What I See (15), by Karen Joy Fowler

Sun 1 May 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Karen Joy Fowler, What I See| Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 15 by Karen Joy Fowler

May 1, 2011

Happy International Workers Day! We pause here for a moment to remember that May Day is also the international distress signal. There’s probably a story there.

Yesterday MJ and I saw a bobcat up at Natural Bridges, hanging about the visitor’s center. Two years ago, while biking, I saw a cat in this same area, but he was much smaller. Possibly this then is the same cat, but all grown up. He was comparable in size to Mojito, looked at us briefly, and then took the ruined butterfly-viewing walkway to destinations unknown. MJ never noticed as MJ rarely takes in the big picture. Too busy nosing about for crusts of bread or discarded French fries to scan the horizon for predators. I’m curious as to how she would have reacted, but it is probably for the best. MJ doesn’t know and doesn’t need to know that the world contains cats of this size. I think it might shake her to the core.

A few weeks ago a friend described Mojito to me as a really smart dog. In fact, among those of us who know her best, MJ’s intelligence is a subject much discussed. She rarely does anything she’s asked to do, but it’s never clear whether she doesn’t understand what you want or whether your desires just carry very little weight with her. This latter possibility is the one I hold. It’s annoying to me, because I never ask her to do something without a good reason.

I’m reminded of an incident many years back concerning my daughter and this same issue. I’d promised the children that we’d stop at Dairy Queen for a special treat. I parked and my daughter got out while I was working the belts on her little brother’s car seat. As I was doing this, a truck pulled up next to us and man emerged. He was carrying a rifle. I told my daughter to get back in the car. I did this firmly, but quietly—I didn’t want to draw the attention of the man with the gun.

Instant outrage. You SAID we’d get ice cream, my daughter told me and followed the man inside. I believe he held the door open for her.

And although nothing untoward happened, the man with the rifle merely bought himself whatever they were calling blizzards back then and went back out to his truck, it’s still a memory I call on when I wish to feel misused and ignored. I don’t order people about just to hear myself talk. Mojito is not a dog asked to do tricks or even to come unless she’s genuinely needed.  It would be nice if she factored this in.

It would be nice if people stopped carrying guns about.

We are in a period of extremely bright sunshine and extremely strong winds. Much hilarity this morning, trying to keep my hat on my head.

Previous posts

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Karen’s latest story is “Younger Women” available on Subterranean Online. She is also moderating the Tiptree Book Club .

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May Deadlines

Thu 28 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Working Writer's Daily Planner| Posted by: Gavin

Winter was so busy that I haven’t kept up with this but here are a few May deadlines from A Working Writer’s Daily Calendar 2011—which is now 50% off. And now we’re working on the 2012 edition. I’ll try and post more as the year goes on and at some point we’ll post some of the articles, too.

May 7: International Poetry Competition
Prize: $1,000 + publication for 20 entrants.
Manuscript: Poems must be your original creative work, not published in a national print publication. (Online or strictly local publication is permitted, as long as you hold the copyright.)
Eligibility: Previous winners, associates, friends, or students of the judge are ineligible.
Fee: By mail: $5/first poem, $3 /each additional. Online: See website.
Atlanta Review
P.O. Box 8248
Atlanta, GA 31106 Read more

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Make a bookstore pop up

Thu 28 Apr 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., bookshops, kickstarter| Posted by: Gavin

Go on!

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