Dance on to the PKD Shortlist

Wed 20 Jan 2021 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Dance on Saturday cover - click to view full sizeWe’re delighted to see that Elwin Cotman’s Dance on Saturday is one of the finalists for the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award. Here’s the press release:

The judges of the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, along with the Philip K. Dick Trust, are pleased to announce the six nominated works that comprise the final ballot for the award:

FAILED STATE by Christopher Brown (Harper Voyager)
THE BOOK OF KOLI by M. R. Carey (Orbit)
DANCE ON SATURDAY by Elwin Cotman (Small Beer Press)
BONE SILENCE by Alastair Reynolds (Orbit)
ROAD OUT OF WINTER by Alison Stine (Mira)
THE DOORS OF EDEN by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit)

First prize and any special citations will be announced on Friday, April 2, 2021 at Norwescon 44 which will be held virtually this year. The link to the ceremony will be posted at https://www.norwescon.org when it is available.

The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States during the previous calendar year. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the Philip K. Dick Trust and the award ceremony is sponsored by the Northwest Science Fiction Society.

Last year’s winner was SOONER OR LATER EVERYTHING FALLS INTO THE SEA: STORIES by Sarah Pinsker (Small Beer Press) with a special citation to THE LITTLE ANIMALS by Sarah Tolmie (Aqueduct Press).

The 2021 judges are F. Brett Cox, Brendan A. DuBois, Cynthia Felice, Tim Pratt, and Jessica Reisman (Chair).


Big Dark Hole in July

Thu 14 Jan 2021 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Big Dark Hole cover - click to view full sizeSome might argue we’re at the bottom of a big dark hole now (but, really, isn’t it generally the human condition?) but just wait until July when Jeffrey Ford’s new collection Big Dark Hole drops.

The book had been scheduled for March but July, with the possibility of a slightly brighter world — and Jeff being one of the Guest of Honor at Readercon — beckoned, and the switch has been made.

Preorder here or on Bookshop (why is the cover not showing there? How uninterestingly mysterious) or at your fave indie bookstore and to keep you going Jeff has posted a new story on his own website.


Sign up for this Sofia Samatar online event

Mon 11 Jan 2021 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Sofia Samatar is part of the upcoming Living Writers Series at UC Santa Cruz — also in the series: K. Ming Chan, Lauren Groff, Valeria Luiselli, Tess Taylor and Danusha Laméris, & Tommy Orange.

Samatar will be reading from Tender on Thursday, January 14, via Zoom. The event runs from 8:20 – 9:55 Eastern time and event registration (free) is here.


Re-construction

Tue 5 Jan 2021 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Reconstruction cover - click to view full sizeToday, despite wanting to be in home, in bed, reading a book, recovering from 2020, instead, here we go: we’re publishing our first book of 2021, a book that has been a long time coming, Alaya Dawn Johnson’s collection, Reconstruction: Stories. Is it worth getting out of bed for? Yes. Order it from your fave local bookstore (or Book Moon) on Bookshop.org and when the book arrives in the mail you will be very happy you got out of bed that day.

Alaya’s stories range far and wide moving smoothly from contemporary times to far future explorations to historical fiction and throughout they showcase her deep-seated guiding intelligence leaving the reader in no doubt that no matter where, where, or who the story is about, it is worth going down that path and turning page after page until the end.

Alaya wrote 2 stories for the book, the title story, “Reconstruction,” a tremendous story with a depth and weight not to be missed — read an excerpt on Tor.com — and “The Mirages.” Because the book was moved from November 2020 to today (for pandemic reasons) the latter story was first published in Asimov’s magazine in Nov/Dec 2020 issue.

Five of the ten stories collected here can be read online, the first on Alaya’s website, the rest as below. Dig in!

“A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i” [read]
“Their Changing Bodies” — read on Subterranean Press
“The Score” — read at Nightmare Magazine
“A Song to Greet the Sun” — read at Fantasy Magazine
“Down the Well” — read on Strange Horizons


Reconstruction

Tue 5 Jan 2021 - Filed under: Books| Posted by: Gavin

trade paper · 300 pages · $17 · 9781618731777 | ebook · 9781618731784

Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist
Ignyte Award finalist

An immersive, rich collection from an author whose work reaches across time and continents to explore unexpected and untold stories.

In Reconstruction, award-winning writer and musician Johnson delineates the lives of those trodden underfoot by the powerful, and how they rise up. Meet the humans who serve a coterie of vampires in Hawai’i, explore the taxonomy of anger with Black Union soldiers and the woman who travels with them during the American Civil War. Consider what you would give up for a better life in a place that you have never been. Johnson maps the people in these and other, stranger landscapes.

Read: an interview by Paul Semel

Reviews

“This collection is such a punch. From the opening story right on through it is putting you on notice. You’re gonna go some places here and you’re not gonna be able to look away. . . . The stories are not easy and I think they’re not supposed to be. . . . They are so good. She is such good short story writer — she’s also an excellent novelist — but you really feel the power of her short fiction in this collection. And there’s a really interesting author note at the end.”
— Book Riot

“Vivid, imaginative, and often brutal prose.” — Jake Casella Brookins, Chicago Review of Books

“Johnson is one of the few writers in the genre who handles high emotion without preciousness, and she brings an almost unbearable pathos to many of these stories.” — Simon Ings, The Times of London

“Beginning with the stunning, Nebula-award-winning vampire story ‘A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,’ (I’m currently rereading this story and am again astounded by its depth and perfection) the collection carries a theme of characters navigating their humanity in inhumane conditions.”
— Lyndsie Manusos, Book Riot, 10 Speculative Short Story Collections to Enjoy in 2021

“Reconstruction collects ten stories from writer, musician, and scholar Alaya Dawn Johnson—two for the first time! Like much of Johnson’s work, these stories focus on oppressed people finding (often supernatural) ways to survive in systems that want to crush them.
“The collection roves all over the map, both in geography in genre—the title story, for instance, tells the story of a formerly enslaved woman using protective magic for a Black regiment of the Union Army, while ‘The Mirages’ chronicles a postapocalyptic Mexico City. Johnson’s range can be seen in her two very different takes on vampires: ‘Their Changing Bodies’ is a breezy story about summer camp, while the Nebula award-winning opening story, ‘A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,’ (you can read it here!) drops us in an alternate take on our own world, but one in which vampires have conquered the Earth and imprison humans as food sources.”
— Leah Schnelbach, BookMarks, The Most Anticipated Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of 2021

“Of particular interest, though, are the two original stories, ‘The Mirages’ and ‘Reconstruction’, each of which seems restrained compared to the coruscating imagery of some of the other tales, but which feature some of the most memorable char­acters of all.” — Gary K. Wolfe, Locus

“Well worth reading.” — Buzzfeed: 21 Fantasy Books To Get Excited About This Winter

“Johnson pulls from folklore, myth, and scientific discovery to create rich stories of complicated relationships and love amidst strange, uncanny circumstances. While the worlds are themselves fascinating, the true success of Johnson’s stories lies in the careful crafting of their vibrant emotional cores.” — Booklist

“Johnson breaks down genre boundaries, combining elements of  fantasy, mystery, science fiction, and horror, in settings ranging from the historical and familiar to the wildly imaginative. Unified by Johnson’s sensuous prose, these stories will delight existing fans and serve as an excellent introduction for those new to Johnson’s work.”
— Publishers Weekly

“The first story in this collection, the Nebula award-winning ‘A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i,’ opens in a prison where vampire conquerors imprison humans to feast upon. Key is a human caretaker doing what she  can to survive in a world where hope and integrity are seemingly impossible. This theme of resilience in inhumane conditions continues throughout the collection. In the title story ‘Reconstruction’ — one of two stories original to the collection — Sally uses her grandmother’s spells to help protect a Black Civil War regiment while meditating on anger. These ten immersive stories embrace multiple speculative genres and take place in worlds both real and unreal. Much like Lovecraft Country, the stories combine horror and fantastical elements with anti-racist themes.”
— Margaret Kingsbury, Buzzfeed

“Alaya Dawn Johnson’s debut collection spans work from the breadth of her career, from 2005 to this year, and there’s some impressive gems within.” — Adr Joy, Nerds of a Feather

Table of Contents

A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i [read]
They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass
Their Changing Bodies
The Score
A Song to Greet the Sun [read]
Far and Deep
Down the Well
Third Day Lights
The Mirages
Reconstruction [read an excerpt on Tor.com]

Praise for Alaya Dawn Johnson’s books:

“Juju assassins, alternate history, a gritty New York crime story…in a word: Awesome.”
― N.K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season

“Great, fresh audacity.”
― Entertainment Weekly

“Like leaping into cold water on a hot day, this original dystopian novel takes the breath away, refreshes, challenges, and leaves the reader shivering but yearning for another plunge.”
― Booklist, starred review

“Compelling.”
― Publishers Weekly, starred review

“An art project, a rebellion and a sacrifice make up this nuanced, original cyberpunk adventure. . . . Luminous.”
― Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Beautiful prose.”
— BookPage

“Magnificent beguilement,” — Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

“This book will steal your heart!”
― Marika McCoola, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA

Cover

Cover art “Marie-Thérèse and Dieunie” copyright © 2020 by Tessa Mars (tessamars.com). All rights reserved.

Alaya Dawn Johnson (@alayadj) is the author of seven novels for adults and young adults. Her most recent novel for adults is Trouble the Saints. Her young adult novel The Summer Prince was longlisted for the National Book Award and Love Is the Drug won the Norton Award. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Mexico City where she received a master’s degree with honors in Mesoamerican Studies at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, for her thesis on pre-Columbian fermented food and its role in the religious-agricultural calendar.


Susan Stinson in San Miguel de Allende

Sun 3 Jan 2021 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Here’s a chance to join an interesting event:

January 7, 2021 | Prose Café