The Golden Compass as written by Roald Dahl

Tue 26 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

Here ahead of next month’s publication are pictures of the first edition of John Schoffstall’s debut novel, Half-Witch. The world is close but not quite this one. A young girl — who talks to god . . . and gets answers — and a witch are forced by circumstances into companionship. This is how Lauren at Elliott Bay described it

“In a Europe where goblins coexist with the literal (but unhelpful) Holy Trinity, Lizbet is sucked into a magical quest with only the surly witch-girl Strix as a companion. Like all great children’s books, Half-Witch is not afraid to put the big stuff on the page: they match wits with the Pope of Storms and corpse-eating earth-witches, and also with human violence and cruelty. An edge-of-your-seat adventure about friendship, trust, and what it means to be changed by someone, Half-Witch is like The Golden Compass as written by Roald Dahl.”


Half-Witch Events!

Mon 18 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

Half-Witch cover - click to view full sizeI’m starting the week with some events to look forward to as we gear up to the publication of John Schoffstall’s debut novel Half-Witch. Someone asked me why we’re doing this book in hardcover and all I could do was mention that Kirkus gave it a starred review and it’s a Junior Library Guild selection. If you enjoyed The Golden Compass, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this (completely different, and yet . . . ) first novel.

And here’s where you can meet John & pick up the book:

July 12-15: Readercon, Quincy, MA — we have tables in the Dealers Room. Not going to Readercon? Preorder from our site and we can get the book signed for you.

July 21, 1 P.M. The Lahaska Bookshop, Peddler’s Village Store, 162 Carousel Ln & Rte 263 A, Lahaska, PA 18931 ·  First bookstore signing!

July 26, 7 p.m. Farley’s Bookshop, 44 S Main St, New Hope, PA 18938


Literary Arts Tribute

Fri 15 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Just in case you missed it and would like to watch or listen, here is the video from Literary Arts Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin that was held on Wednesday evening at the beautiful Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon. Kelly was one of the speakers and since I tagged along as husband I’d like to take a moment to thank Theodore Downs-Le Guin and the whole Le Guin family and everyone at Literary Arts whose grace in these circumstances was a model to aspire to.

It was a . . . lovely? evening. All through the hall people were catching up with one another and sometimes exchanging their favorite Le Guin stories — or stories about Le Guin. (Stories about Le Guin welcome in the comments!) She lived in Portland for fifty years or so and brought together so many disparate strands of the city it was a joy to see so many people there to remember her. I took one photo before they asked attendees not to take photos or films and I was happy to sit in the darkness and try and take in what I am still having trouble taking in: this world is missing a person I loved. Ursula K. Le Guin was generous and fierce and her emails and wordplay usually made me laugh — on not liking a blue variant of the Words Are My Matter cover, “Yes, textbooky, zackly. Anyhow blue is not my hue.” — as well as sit up straighter. I miss her more than I can say.

Ursula K. Le Guin – Broadcast from Henry V Live on Vimeo.


Incandescently Dark

Fri 15 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Alien Virus Love Disaster cover - click to view full sizeElizabeth McCracken, author of Thunderstruck & Other Stories emailed us on Tuesday with this note about Abbey Mei Otis’s upcoming debut Alien Virus Love Disaster:

“Abbey Mei Otis’s stories are incandescently dark, if you can imagine such a thing (but maybe only she can). Full of danger and strangeness, but written in carbonated and astounding prose that is all her own, these stories create worlds and will make you contemplate (and worry about) our own.”


The Invisible Valley Comes to You

Thu 14 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Good news for Bostonians, Texans, New Yorkers, and Seattle-ites: Austin Woerner will be visiting the USA this summer from China and will be doing events to celebrate the publication of his translation of Su Wei’s first novel to be translated into English, The Invisible Valley.

And, for the event at the Brookline Booksmith Austin will be joined by the author himself, Su Wei.

Here are the dates:

June 28, 7 p.m. Deep Vellum Books, Dallas, TX

June 30, 7 p.m. Malvern Books, Austin, TX (Facebook)

July 12, 7 p.m. Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA (with Su Wei)

July 25, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, NYC

July 28 at 7 p.m. Elliot Bay Books, Seattle, WA

John Crowley, author of Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr, said:

“Su Wei’s The Invisible Valley is a remarkable work, pungent, funny, and mind-widening. Austin Woerner’s translation is nearly invisible: it erases all barriers of strangeness and places the reader deep within a Chinese experience that comes to seem as familiar to us as our own daily round — if ours too had ghost brides and very big snakes.”

Amy Lantrip in World Literature Today: “The Invisible Valley takes the reader along a journey full of mystery, magic, and political intrigue. The characters are full of nuance and contradiction, each keeping their own secrets. As each secret is revealed, the reader comes closer to understanding the larger picture. Combined with the balance between the natural and supernatural, this makes the novel interesting for any reader.”

Rachel S. Cordasco in SF in Translation: “In The Invisible Valley, Su Wei asks us to broaden our definition of reality, as Lu does, in order to better understand the peoples and landscapes around us.”

There are so many books! Which one is this? Read an excerpt.


Read Abbey Mei Otis’s Rich People in the New Tin House

Tue 12 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Straight from the Tin House’s mouth:

Dive into Tin House #76 this summer and prepare for exploration of waters unknown. Start with one last short story by the late Ursula K. Le Guin, “Pity and Shame,” whose prose is, as ever, filled with her poignant intellect and humor. Plumb the mysteriously strange lives of “Rich People” with emerging writer Abbey Mei Otis, or find uneasy accommodation with Catherine Lacey’s “The Grand Claremont Hotel.” And Meghan O’Gieblyn’s essay “On Subtlety” will make you think twice about the stories you’ve been told and things better left half-said. All this and more in an issue as expansive as it is wild, mercurial, and tempting.

You can read the new Ursula K. Le Guin story here and pick up the new issue here:

Fiction from Ursula K. Le Guin, Abbey Mei Otis, J. Jezewska Stevens, Catherine Lacey and Leigh Newman, and New Voices by Ashley Whitaker and Carrie Grinstead

Poetry from Lia Purpura, Yusef Komunyakaa, Shane McCrae, Adam Clay, James Hoch, Philip Metres, Maggie Smith, Mildred Barya, Nomi Stone, Ira Sadoff, Teddy Macker, Sally Ball, Gerardo Pacheco Matus, and Rosebud Ben-Oni

Nonfiction from Ashleigh Young and Meghan O’Gieblyn

Books Lost & Found from Tabitha Blankenbiller, Jon Michaud, Joshua James Amberson, Cheston Knapp, and Ruby Brunton

And a Blithe Spirit from Elissa Schappell


Air Logic Publication Date

Mon 11 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal.| Posted by: Gavin

I am delighted to announce that Laurie J. Marks‘s fourth and final volume in her Elemental Logic series, Air Logic, will be published on July 9, 2019.

Laurie has handed in her final draft and we have already received it back from our gimlet-eyed (sorry Paul) proofreadr (sic), Paul Witcover.

From the other side of the world Kathleen Jennings sent us initial cover sketches and soon she will be working on the next stages. By the end of summer, there will be a cover and a final manuscript and so we have at last added the book to the forthcoming books page.

Every month we receive emails asking when Air Logic will be published. There will be many, many people delighted to read this book. Should you want to read or reread the series in preparation for this novel that we have waited such a long time for, the series order is:

Fire Logic — originally published by Tor in 2002. Available in ebook right now and in a new paperback edition in spring 2019.

Earth Logic — published in 2004 again by Tor. Available in ebook now and new paperback edition in spring 2019.

Water Logic — published by Small Beer Press in 2007. Available in trade paperback and ebook editions. The ebook will be updated with Kathleen Jennings’s new cover.

 


Lydia Millet: By the Book

Mon 11 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

It was lovely to read Lydia Millet’s intimate (but austere!) and conversational By the Book in this week’s New York Times Book Review and also lovely to see her through Jillian Tamaki’s eyes — see illustration on right.

I’m looking forward to her new collection, Fight No More, which comes out this month. To celebrate we have her middle grade Dissenters Series on sale again this week — click on the prices below (US only due to mailing costs):

Book 1: The Fires Beneath the Sea
Hardcover: $16.95 $9.95
Paperback: $12  $5.99

Book 2: The Shimmers in the Night
Hardcover: $16.95
Click here to save 40%: $9.95

Book 1 & 2: The Fires Beneath the Sea & The Shimmers in the Night
Hardcover, click here to save 50%: $16.95

Book 1, 2, & 3: The Fires Beneath the Sea, The Shimmers in the Night, & The Bodies of the Ancients
Hardcover, click here to save 50%: $24.95


Poppy Z. Brite / Billy Martin Fundraiser

Sun 10 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

If you’ve enjoyed Poppy Z. Brite’s books (including Second Line [excerpt], but there are so many good ones) and can help out here it would be much appreciated:


Amazing, Electric Stories

Fri 1 Jun 2018 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Alien Virus Love Disaster cover - click to view full sizeDan Chaon, author of Ill Will just sent us this after reading Abbey Mei Otis’s upcoming debut Alien Virus Love Disaster:

“These are amazing, electric stories—you can feel the live wire sizzling in them from the first sentence, and you know you’re about to take a wild, unforgettable trip. Abbey Mei Otis is my favorite kind of writer: her worlds are uniquely strange yet eerily relatable, and she knows how to make you laugh and weep at the same time.”