John Crowley

Tue 1 May 2007 - Filed under: Authors| Posted by: Gavin

John Crowley was born in the appropriately liminal town of Presque Isle, Maine, in 1942, his father then an officer in the US Army Air Corps. He grew up in Vermont, northeastern Kentucky and (for the longest stretch) Indiana, where he went to high school and college. He moved to New York City after college to make movies, and did find work in documentary films, an occupation he still pursues. He published his first novel (The Deep) in 1975, and his 14th volume of fiction (Lord Byron’s Novel: The Evening Land) in 2005. Since 1993 he has taught creative writing at Yale University. In 1992 he received the Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He finds it more gratifying that almost all his work is still in print.

Photo credit: Zoe Crowley
Download for print.

Endless Things
John Crowley
“This long-awaited fantasy novel brings an end to the critically acclaimed Aegypt quartet that takes ‘the vast jigsaw that Crowley has assembled in the first three books – and places them in a picture that’s open, smiling, filled with possibility….gracefully written, beautifully characterized, moving, and thought-provoking…. [Graham Sleight]'”
— Locus Notable Books

“A beautiful palimpsest as complex, mysterious and unreliable as human memory.”
— Seattle Times

“Endless Things is the fourth and last installment in a vast, intricate series of novels collectively entitled “Aegypt.” The series (which is really one long novel) began in 1987 with the publication of Aegypt (soon to be reissued as The Solitudes) and was followed by Love & Sleep(1994) and Daemonomania (2000). It was clear from the start that Crowley was on to something special, and the appearance of this final volume confirms that impression. In its entirety, “Aegypt” stands as one of the most distinctive accomplishments of recent decades. It is a work of great erudition and deep humanity that is as beautifully composed as any novel in my experience.”
— Washington Post Book World

“With Endless Things and the completion of the Ægypt cycle, Crowley has constructed one of the finest, most welcoming tales contemporary fiction has to offer us.”
— Book Forum

“The miracle of Endless Things is that it takes these pieces — and the rest of the vast jigsaw that Crowley has assembled in the first three books — and places them in a picture that’s open, smiling, filled with possibility.”
— Locus

“Crowley’s prose, on a sentence-by-sentence level, has never been stronger or lovelier. His epigrams and observations on the core nature of existence continue to be wise and, well, piercing, at once novel and, with a moment’s reflection, undeniably primal. This is a book that conveys the uncanniness of the mundane, and the mundanity of the uncanny. Readers who have followed Pierce’s travails for two decades will find that the ending of his story resonates as brightly as the Aeolian harp that is the book’s final image.”
— Paul Di Filippo, Sci Fi Weekly

“Endless Things is the perfect ending to a true master work which offers a densely detailed exploration of the connections between story and history, the fictions which inspire our imagination and the desires which inspire our visions of the future. At its heart, however,Endless Things is a love story about books and readers, and such is a treasure trove for any reader who wishes to delve into the timeless mysteries of books and stories.”
— Green Man Review

“Solemnity is out of order in a review of a book that ends with a mountain-top pastorale accompanied by heavenly music from an Aeolian harp played by no human hand.”
— John Reilly

“Crowley’s eloquent and captivating conclusion to his Ægypt tetralogy finds scholar Pierce Moffet still searching for the mythical Ægypt, an alternate reality of magic and marvels that have been encoded in our own world’s myths, legends and superstitions. Pierce first intuited the realm’s existence from the work of cult novelist Fellowes Kraft. Using Kraft’s unfinished final novel as his Baedeker, Pierce travels to Europe, where he spies tantalizing traces of Ægypt’s mysteries in the Gnostic teachings of the Rosicrucians, the mysticism of John Dee, the progressive thoughts of heretical priest Giordano Bruno and the “chemical wedding” of two 17th-century monarchs in Prague. Like Pierce’s travels, the final destination for this modern fantasy epic is almost incidental to its telling. With astonishing dexterity, Crowley (Lord Byron’s Novel) parallels multiple story lines spread across centuries and unobtrusively deploys recurring symbols and motifs to convey a sense of organic wholeness. Even as Pierce’s quest ends on a fulfilling personal note, this marvelous tale comes full circle to reinforce its timeless themes of transformation, re-creation and immortality.”
— Publishers Weekly

Praise for the Ægypt sequence:

“A dizzying experience, achieved with unerring security of technique.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A master of language, plot, and characterization.”
—Harold Bloom

“The further in you go, the bigger it gets.”
—James Hynes, Boston Review

“The writing here is intricate and thoughtful, allusive and ironic. . . . Ægypt bears many resemblances, incidental and substantive, to Thomas Pynchon’s wonderful 1966 novel The Crying of Lot 49.”
—USA Today

“An original moralist of the same giddy heights occupied by Thomas Mann and Robertson Davies.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

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Reviews of John Crowley’s Endless Things

Tue 1 May 2007 - Filed under: Authors| Posted by: Gavin

Endless Things
John Crowley

Reviews

“This long-awaited fantasy novel brings an end to the critically acclaimed Aegypt quartet that takes ‘the vast jigsaw that Crowley has assembled in the first three books – and places them in a picture that’s open, smiling, filled with possibility….gracefully written, beautifully characterized, moving, and thought-provoking.'”
— Locus Notable Books

“A beautiful palimpsest as complex, mysterious and unreliable as human memory.”
— Seattle Times

“Endless Things is the fourth and last installment in a vast, intricate series of novels collectively entitled “Aegypt.” The series (which is really one long novel) began in 1987 with the publication of Aegypt (soon to be reissued as The Solitudes) and was followed by Love & Sleep (1994) and Daemonomania (2000). It was clear from the start that Crowley was on to something special, and the appearance of this final volume confirms that impression. In its entirety, “Aegypt” stands as one of the most distinctive accomplishments of recent decades. It is a work of great erudition and deep humanity that is as beautifully composed as any novel in my experience.”
— Washington Post Book World

“With Endless Things and the completion of the Ægypt cycle, Crowley has constructed one of the finest, most welcoming tales contemporary fiction has to offer us.”
— Book Forum

“The miracle of Endless Things is that it takes these pieces — and the rest of the vast jigsaw that Crowley has assembled in the first three books — and places them in a picture that’s open, smiling, filled with possibility.”
— Locus

“Crowley’s prose, on a sentence-by-sentence level, has never been stronger or lovelier. His epigrams and observations on the core nature of existence continue to be wise and, well, piercing, at once novel and, with a moment’s reflection, undeniably primal. This is a book that conveys the uncanniness of the mundane, and the mundanity of the uncanny. Readers who have followed Pierce’s travails for two decades will find that the ending of his story resonates as brightly as the Aeolian harp that is the book’s final image.”
— Paul Di Filippo, Sci Fi Weekly

“Endless Things is the perfect ending to a true master work which offers a densely detailed exploration of the connections between story and history, the fictions which inspire our imagination and the desires which inspire our visions of the future. At its heart, however, Endless Things is a love story about books and readers, and such is a treasure trove for any reader who wishes to delve into the timeless mysteries of books and stories.”
— Green Man Review

“Solemnity is out of order in a review of a book that ends with a mountain-top pastorale accompanied by heavenly music from an Aeolian harp played by no human hand.”
— John Reilly

“Crowley’s eloquent and captivating conclusion to his Ægypt tetralogy finds scholar Pierce Moffet still searching for the mythical Ægypt, an alternate reality of magic and marvels that have been encoded in our own world’s myths, legends and superstitions. Pierce first intuited the realm’s existence from the work of cult novelist Fellowes Kraft. Using Kraft’s unfinished final novel as his Baedeker, Pierce travels to Europe, where he spies tantalizing traces of Ægypt’s mysteries in the Gnostic teachings of the Rosicrucians, the mysticism of John Dee, the progressive thoughts of heretical priest Giordano Bruno and the “chemical wedding” of two 17th-century monarchs in Prague. Like Pierce’s travels, the final destination for this modern fantasy epic is almost incidental to its telling. With astonishing dexterity, Crowley (Lord Byron’s Novel) parallels multiple story lines spread across centuries and unobtrusively deploys recurring symbols and motifs to convey a sense of organic wholeness. Even as Pierce’s quest ends on a fulfilling personal note, this marvelous tale comes full circle to reinforce its timeless themes of transformation, re-creation and immortality.”
— Publishers Weekly

Praise for the Ægypt sequence:

“A dizzying experience, achieved with unerring security of technique.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A master of language, plot, and characterization.”
—Harold Bloom

“The further in you go, the bigger it gets.”
—James Hynes, Boston Review

“The writing here is intricate and thoughtful, allusive and ironic. . . . Ægypt bears many resemblances, incidental and substantive, to Thomas Pynchon’s wonderful 1966 novel The Crying of Lot 49.”
—USA Today

“An original moralist of the same giddy heights occupied by Thomas Mann and Robertson Davies.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

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Endless Things

Tue 1 May 2007 - Filed under: Books| Posted by: Gavin

May 1, 2007 · trade cloth · 341 pages · $24 · 9781931520225 | ebook available

Endless Things is the fourth novel—and much-anticipated conclusion—of John Crowley’s astonishing and lauded Aegypt sequence: a dense, lyrical meditation on history, alchemy, and memory. Spanning three centuries, and weaving together the stories of Renaissance magician John Dee, philosopher Giordano Bruno, and present-day itinerant historian and writer Pierce Moffett, the Aegypt sequence is as richly significant as Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet or Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time. Crowley, a master prose stylist, explores transformations physical, magical, alchemical, and personal in this epic, distinctly American novel where the past, present, and future reflect each other.

Aegypt is: The Solitudes (previously titled Aegypt), Love & Sleep, Daemonomania, and Endless Things.

Best of the Year lists:

“It is a work of great erudition and deep humanity that is as beautifully composed as any novel in my experience.”
—Washington Post Book World

“An unpredictable, free-flowing, sui generis novel.”
—LA Times Favorite SciFi Books of 2007

Locus Award finalist

Reviews of Endless Things:

“With Endless Things and the completion of the Aegypt cycle, Crowley has constructed one of the finest, most welcoming tales contemporary fiction has to offer us.”
— Book Forum

“Crowley’s peculiar kind of fantasy: a conscious substitute for the magic in which you don’t quite believe any more.”
— London Review of Books

More

Review of the Aegypt sequence:

“With Little, Big, Crowley established himself as America’s greatest living writer of fantasy. Aegypt confirms that he is one of our finest living writers, period.”
— Michael Dirda in The American Scholar

“This year, while millions of Harry Potter fans celebrated and mourned the end of their favorite series, a much smaller but no less devoted group of readers marked another literary milestone: the publication of the last book in John Crowley’s Aegypt Cycle.”
— Matt Ruff

“A dizzying experience, achieved with unerring security of technique.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A master of language, plot, and characterization.”
—Harold Bloom

“The further in you go, the bigger it gets.”
—James Hynes

“The writing here is intricate and thoughtful, allusive and ironic. . . . Aegypt bears many resemblances, incidental and substantive, to Thomas Pynchon’s wonderful 1966 novel The Crying of Lot 49.”
—USA Today

“An original moralist of the same giddy heights occupied by Thomas Mann and Robertson Davies.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

On the web:

• John Crowley’s journal | Our bio.
• Locus interview, January 2101
• An interview for The Translator; another for Lord Byron’s Novel
• Subterranean Press’s nonfiction collection, In Other Words
• IMDB entry; ISFDB
• 25th Anniversary Edition of Little, Big

Credits

• Cover images © Rosamond Purcell from Bookworm by Rosamond Purcell, published by The Quantuck Lane Press.
  Download cover for print.

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Interfictions Giveaway

Mon 30 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Interstitial Arts| Posted by: Gavin

Today is Publication Day for the Interstitial Arts Foundation’s first anthology Interfictions.

It’s out there in stores (even if the final cover hasn’t fully percolated through the digital update filters yet), being reviewed a story at a time by contributor(!) Michael DeLuca, and has its own blog.

To celebrate we have are giving away 2 things:

• a space in between
• and, a couple of copies of the anthology

5 individual copies of the anthology will be sent to readers anywhere in the world (some may be sent slower than others) who will do at least one of the following things:

• Reply quite fast to this post
• Review the book online or in print
• Interview any of the contributors
• Point us (in the comments) towards art they find interstitial.

Best of luck!

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Flashback: here are a couple of pieces that the editors wrote before they put the antho together—

An Introduction to Interstitial Arts: Life on the Border
by Delia Sherman

Borders are interesting places. As debatable land, sometimes wasteland or wilderness, they can be dangerous places to visit or live in, but they are never boring. Even when a long period of peace and stability removes some of their dangerous glamour, they’re still (literally) edgy, different in essential ways from the countries they mediate.

Crossing Borders, by Night
Theodora Goss

When I was a child, I traveled with my grandmother across the border between Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In those days, all the borders behind the Iron Curtain were closed. As we approached the border, a guard came into our train compartment to check our travel papers and search our luggage. He also searched my grandmother’s purse, spilling its contents into her lap, feeling the lining.

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Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing

Mon 30 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Books| Posted by: Gavin

Interfictions is the first book from the Interstitial Arts Foundation. The cover features a photo of 3D art by Connie Toebe. The table of contents below is alphabetical. Check out the second volume.

A version of the Introduction is online and the Afterword, by the editors Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss — a great conversation on expectations, editing, definitions (and the lack or use of them) — is posted (in slightly edited form) here.

Table of Contents

Heinz Insu Fenkl, Introduction
Karen Jordan Allen, “Alternate Anxieties”
Christopher Barzak, “What We Know About the Lost Families of —— House”
K. Tempest Bradford, “Black Feather”
Matthew Cheney, “A Map of the Everywhere”
Michael DeLuca, “The Utter Proximity of God”
Adrián Ferrero, “When It Rains, You’d Better Get Out of Ulga” (translated from the Spanish by Edo Mor)
Colin Greenland, “Timothy”
Csilla Kleinheincz, “A Drop of Raspberry” (translated from the Hungarian by Noémi Szelényi)
Holly Phillips, “Queen of the Butterfly Kingdom”
Rachel Pollack, “Burning Beard: The Dreams and Visions of Joseph Ben Jacob, Lord Viceroy of Egypt”
Joy Remy, “Pallas at Noon”
Anna Tambour, “The Shoe in SHOES’ Window”
Veronica Schanoes, “Rats”
Léa Silhol, “Emblemata” (translated from the French by Sarah Smith)
Jon Singer, “Willow Pattern”
Vandana Singh, “Hunger”
Mikal Trimm, “Climbing Redemption Mountain”
Catherynne Valente, “A Dirge for Prester John”
Leslie What, “Post hoc”
Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, “Afterword: The Space Between”

Read more about our authors here.

Reviews

“Odd, Deep, Delightful”– Michael Bishop, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“We want words to do more now and for our time not to have been spent with just one idea.”– Adrienne Martini, Baltimore City Paper

More

On the web:

• Library Thing
• Theodora Goss

Credits

• Cover images © Connie Toebe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Interfictions : an anthology of interstitial writing / edited by Delia Sherman & Theodora Goss.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-931520-24-9 (trade paper : alk. paper)
1. Fiction–Collections. I. Sherman, Delia. II. Goss, Theodora.
PN6120.2.I47 2007
808.83’1–dc22
2007002129

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O.King’s “The Cure”

Sat 28 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Zines| Posted by: Gavin

The new issue of One Story came in the mail which reminded us of how much we had enjoyed the previous one:

Issue #85, December 20, 2006 “The Cure” by Owen King

Don’t go read the interview if you haven’t read the story. But, go read the story if you haven’t read the interview.

Who will like this? Barb, I think.

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A. DeNiro in the house

Sat 28 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., A. DeNiro| Posted by: Gavin

Literally. If you have any questions for A. (for an interview we’re going to do), email us! A’s on a panel this afternoon and then reading tonight at the UMass Amherst Juniper Literary Festival:

2:15-3:15 PM Roundtable Discussion: Weird War: Politics & the Politics of Whimsy (at Emily Dickinson Homestead): investigating the relationship between world events and various literary responses to them, from the overt championing of a particular cause to the less explicit approaches of lyric, personal history, and invented parallel worlds; with Chris Bachelder, A. DeNiro, Paul Fattaruso, Sabrina Orah Mark, Eugene Ostashevsky, & Matthew Zapruder

7:30 PM Poetry & Fiction Reading with Eric Baus, Lucy Corin, A. DeNiro, Julia Johnson, Sabrina Orah Mark, Eugene Ostashevsky, Imad Rahman, Michael Robins & Shauna Seliy at University of Massachusetts’ Memorial Hall

We went to the opening reading last night where Rachel Sherman read a hilarious story (that A. says was published in n+1) that occasionally required her to read in the voice of “The Reaper”—not the reaper you’re thinking of. 6 good readers (none of whom went too far over time!), beer + cookies = fun night.

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Sat 28 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., To Read Pile, website bumph| Posted by: Gavin

Holly Black has brought us screaming into 2002 by creating a live journal feed for this thing. We tried to name it lcrw but it declared autonomy, packed up all its old cassettes and vinyl, moved out, and hung its own shingle under the name

smallbeer_rss

At some point (soonish?) that may be added to the feed syndicate (because we are all always hungry and we believe in the syndicate and that they are good. Good). Livejournal seems to require posts to have titles in a way that other blog syndicates don’t. A tithe we pay to the syndicate in good grace.

Thanks Holly!

Holly is about to take a landyacht (or maybe she will valiantly brave the Friendly Skies and take the Aeriobehometh) for the west coast where she (and Cassandra Clare) will visit (and share vast quantities of Arabian Wine with) purveyors of bookth.

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Sat 28 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., To Read Pile, website bumph| Posted by: Gavin

Holly Black has brought us screaming into 2002 by creating a live journal feed for this thing. We tried to name it lcrw but it declared autonomy, packed up all its old cassettes and vinyl, moved out, and hung its own shingle under the name

smallbeer_rss

At some point (soonish?) that may be added to the feed syndicate (because we are all always hungry and we believe in the syndicate and that they are good. Good). Livejournal seems to require posts to have titles in a way that other blog syndicates don’t. A tithe we pay to the syndicate in good grace.

Thanks Holly!

Holly is about to take a landyacht (or maybe she will valiantly brave the Friendly Skies and take the Aeriobehometh) for the west coast where she (and Cassandra Clare) will visit (and share vast quantities of Arabian Wine with) purveyors of bookth.

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Thu 26 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., John Crowley| Posted by: Gavin

John Crowley’s novel, Endless Things, is out soon. We’ve received some office copies and mailed them out (signed, because John was nice enough to come by and sign some) to everyone (tons and tons!) who pre-ordered it. We’ve heard from people who have bought it from stores but we’d be grateful to anyone who sends a pic of one out there in der wild.

John had some news from his recent trip to Kyiv (as we learn we are now to spell the city previously known as Kiev):

I suppose I should first announce that I am the recipient of the first ever Bulgakov Award of PORTAL, the Ukrainian science fiction and fantasy convention/conference. Bulgakov (raise your hand if you didn’t know this) is Ukrainian, born and died in Kyiv, where a museum about him now occupies the house that was his childhood home and the place he died.  Though he wrote in Russian, and though his masterpiece The Master and Maragarita is set in a lovingly detailed Moscow, the Ukrainians consider him their own.  So do I, now.

John hasn’t posted all his pics yet, but he did post these:

The Bulgakov Award, in addition to being an honor, also consisted of an object — a huge sculpture of a black cat (Behemoth, as readers of Bulgakov will remember), weighing at least ten pounds.  Great jokesters, these Ukrainians, as they have had to be, and funny certainly but bad to let their Visiting Author believe (even briefly) that he would have to wrestle this monstrous beast onto three different flights home.  Picture of self with Behemoth laughing hysterically (self; cat remains as always calm) will soon be posted.

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Thu 26 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., John Crowley| Posted by: Gavin

John Crowley’s novel, Endless Things, is out soon. We’ve received some office copies and mailed them out (signed, because John was nice enough to come by and sign some) to everyone (tons and tons!) who pre-ordered it. We’ve heard from people who have bought it from stores but we’d be grateful to anyone who sends a pic of one out there in der wild.

John had some news from his recent trip to Kyiv (as we learn we are now to spell the city previously known as Kiev):

I suppose I should first announce that I am the recipient of the first ever Bulgakov Award of PORTAL, the Ukrainian science fiction and fantasy convention/conference. Bulgakov (raise your hand if you didn’t know this) is Ukrainian, born and died in Kyiv, where a museum about him now occupies the house that was his childhood home and the place he died.  Though he wrote in Russian, and though his masterpiece The Master and Maragarita is set in a lovingly detailed Moscow, the Ukrainians consider him their own.  So do I, now.

John hasn’t posted all his pics yet, but he did post these:

The Bulgakov Award, in addition to being an honor, also consisted of an object — a huge sculpture of a black cat (Behemoth, as readers of Bulgakov will remember), weighing at least ten pounds.  Great jokesters, these Ukrainians, as they have had to be, and funny certainly but bad to let their Visiting Author believe (even briefly) that he would have to wrestle this monstrous beast onto three different flights home.  Picture of self with Behemoth laughing hysterically (self; cat remains as always calm) will soon be posted.

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Thu 26 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Audio out, Kelly Link| Posted by: Gavin

Lit-Cast, an audio journal of literature, has posted Kelly’s part of a panel from an AWP panel on Fairy Tales, moderated by Kate Bernheimer. Listen here.

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Thu 26 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Audio out, Kelly Link| Posted by: Gavin

Lit-Cast, an audio journal of literature, has posted Kelly’s part of a panel from an AWP panel on Fairy Tales, moderated by Kate Bernheimer. Listen here.

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Wed 25 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Elizabeth Hand| Posted by: Gavin

A week or two ago we asked our punk queen Liz Hand how’s the weather in Maine? She sent pix. Looks peaceful. Maybe some snow on the ground:

Then she spooked us with her I.C.U. hand (I see you—see novel for full spookiness of this pic) and the lobster about to give her the head-bitey:

So, uh, maybe we’ll delay that trip to Maine.

Yes, Liz lives up there and we could visit and those among us who are tempted could take revenge upon the head-biting lobsters. Sure, Clute is there, too, and we could talk about The Darkening Garden — eek, more horror!

Not going! Not even to Liz’s reading at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick on what’s supposed to be a nice (“nice”, ha!) Saturday afternoon in May (der 5th). So we’ll bring her down here to Northampton instead. A grand plan!

The group mind is made up. We do not have to go to Maine!

Hmm. At least until summer, when another trip to Stone Coast is on the calendar. Eek!

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Wed 25 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Elizabeth Hand| Posted by: Gavin

A week or two ago we asked our punk queen Liz Hand how’s the weather in Maine? She sent pix. Looks peaceful. Maybe some snow on the ground:

Then she spooked us with her I.C.U. hand (I see you—see novel for full spookiness of this pic) and the lobster about to give her the head-bitey:

So, uh, maybe we’ll delay that trip to Maine.

Yes, Liz lives up there and we could visit and those among us who are tempted could take revenge upon the head-biting lobsters. Sure, Clute is there, too, and we could talk about The Darkening Garden — eek, more horror!

Not going! Not even to Liz’s reading at Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick on what’s supposed to be a nice (“nice”, ha!) Saturday afternoon in May (der 5th). So we’ll bring her down here to Northampton instead. A grand plan!

The group mind is made up. We do not have to go to Maine!

Hmm. At least until summer, when another trip to Stone Coast is on the calendar. Eek!

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Wed 25 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Elizabeth Hand| Posted by: Gavin

Liz Hand on music for Generation Loss at

 Generation Loss has a lot of autobiographical elements in it. Cass Neary, the novel’s screwed-up, tattooed speedfreak protagonist, is essentially me if my brakes had been cut in 1977. As the Shangri-Las put it in “Great Big Kiss,” “She’s good bad, but she ain’t evil.”

more more more

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Wed 25 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Elizabeth Hand| Posted by: Gavin

Liz Hand on music for Generation Loss at

 Generation Loss has a lot of autobiographical elements in it. Cass Neary, the novel’s screwed-up, tattooed speedfreak protagonist, is essentially me if my brakes had been cut in 1977. As the Shangri-Las put it in “Great Big Kiss,” “She’s good bad, but she ain’t evil.”

more more more

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Tue 24 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Zines| Posted by: Gavin

Sybil wants you.

Spring is here, the weather is warm, but don’t forget! It’s your last chance to get Sybil’s Garage at the discounted rate. This discount expires on May 1st. Follow this link now and get 20% off Sybil’s Garage No. 4

Look: it’s pretty (colorrrrr), comes with a free chapbook, and has an interview with Jeff “NO BS” Ford, as well as a whole bunch of prose and poems by peeps you like. You. Pretty! Buy!

Right, that’s done and their sales will be through the roof. Next?

Wait, it this mic still on? Crap.

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Tue 24 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Zines| Posted by: Gavin

Sybil wants you.

Spring is here, the weather is warm, but don’t forget! It’s your last chance to get Sybil’s Garage at the discounted rate. This discount expires on May 1st. Follow this link now and get 20% off Sybil’s Garage No. 4

Look: it’s pretty (colorrrrr), comes with a free chapbook, and has an interview with Jeff “NO BS” Ford, as well as a whole bunch of prose and poems by peeps you like. You. Pretty! Buy!

Right, that’s done and their sales will be through the roof. Next?

Wait, it this mic still on? Crap.

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Mon 23 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Year's Best Fantasy & Horror| Posted by: Gavin

A couple of years ago we were lucky enough to be substituted on for Terri Windling as center-forwards in St. Martin’s Press’s Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror annual extravaganza. We don’t pretend to have Terri’s skill and agility — or her way with words and ability to find great work in the most unexpected quarters — and we always point out it took two of us to do what she was doing. And we struggle. (Mightily!)

We’ve finished the new volume, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2007: 20th Annual Collection (the copyedited ms is due this week and once that last poem is tied up we’ll post the full table of contents) and to celebrate we’ll be posting the introductory summations from previous volumes.

Here, since Ellen has already posted hers, are the summarys from the first volume we worked on, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeen:

• Summation 2003: Fantasy — Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant
• Summation 2003: Horror — Ellen Datlow

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Mon 23 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Year's Best Fantasy & Horror| Posted by: Gavin

A couple of years ago we were lucky enough to be substituted on for Terri Windling as center-forwards in St. Martin’s Press’s Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror annual extravaganza. We don’t pretend to have Terri’s skill and agility — or her way with words and ability to find great work in the most unexpected quarters — and we always point out it took two of us to do what she was doing. And we struggle. (Mightily!)

We’ve finished the new volume, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2007: 20th Annual Collection (the copyedited ms is due this week and once that last poem is tied up we’ll post the full table of contents) and to celebrate we’ll be posting the introductory summations from previous volumes.

Here, since Ellen has already posted hers, are the summarys from the first volume we worked on, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeen:

• Summation 2003: Fantasy — Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant
• Summation 2003: Horror — Ellen Datlow

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Mon 23 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Books| Posted by: Gavin

International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day?

Arr, we lives this way, we does.

Generation Loss
Elizabeth Hand

There’s always a moment where everything changes. A great photographer — someone like Diane Arbus, or me during that fraction of a second when I was great — she sees that moment coming, and presses the shutter release an instant before the change hits.

Storyteller
Kate Wilhelm

1. Can Writing Be Taught?
2. Trivia Vs. Writing Real Stories now available at the Online Writing Workshop.
3. My Silent Partner at SF Site.

Family Reunion: an 8-page mini-comic by Sean Stewart and Steve Lieberbased on Perfect Circle.

Travel Light
Naomi Mitchison

It is said that when the new Queen saw the old Queen’s baby daughter, she told the King that the brat must be got rid of at once. And the King, who by now had almost forgotten the old Queen and had scarcely looked at the baby, agreed and thought no more about it. And that would have been the end of that baby girl, but that her nurse, Matulli, came to hear of it. Now this nurse was from Finmark, and, like many another from thereabouts, was apt to take on the shape of an animal from time to time. So she turned herself into a black bear then and there and picked up the baby in her mouth, blanket and all, and growled her way out of the Bower at the back of the King’s hall, and padded out through the light spring snow that had melted already near the hall, and through the birch woods and the pine woods into the deep dark woods where the rest of the bears were waking up from their winter sleep.

The Faery Handbag
Kelly Link
“I used to go to thrift stores with my friends. We’d take the train into Boston, and go to The Garment District, which is this huge vintage clothing warehouse. Everything is arranged by color, and somehow that makes all of the clothes beautiful.”

Carmen Dog
Carol Emshwiller
“The beast changes to a woman or the woman changes to a beast,” the doctor says. “In her case it is certainly the latter since she has been, on the whole, quite passable as a human being up to the present moment. There may be hundreds of these creatures already among us. No way to tell for sure how many.”

Sally Harpe
Christopher Rowe
They tell this one in those tobacco towns along the Green River.

The End of a Dynasty
Angelica Gorodischer
Translated by Ursula K. Le Guin
The storyteller said: He was a sorrowful prince, young Livna’lams, seven years old and full of sorrow.

From Trampoline:

• Richard Butner
• Greer Gilman
• Maureen McHugh
• Christopher Rowe
• Rosalind Palermo Stevenson

Foreigners
Mark Rich
Release came not as I expected — burdened with fines, restrictions, armed guard, and list of warnings longer than my conscience.

Other Agents
Richard Butner
“1985 sure is dark,” Nick said, and another 100 watt bulb popped gently in his hands. “It’s a good thing we have these protective gauntlets.” Nick waggled his hands and scattered shards of glass on the bedspread.

Whisper
Ray Vukcevich:And then she fired her parting shot. “And not only that,” she said, as if “that” hadn’t been quite enough, “you snore horribly!”Perpetual Motion
Dora Knez
Malfi arrived in the middle toilet stall of the men’s room. The Saurians had chosen it as the best way of concealing him initially, though it was not ideal.

Because we want to. Because giving stuff away doesn’t take anything away from us. Because often we have been too poor to buy books so we read from the library, or used copies. We still do. Because we can. Why the hell not? (Rants not accepted as reasons.)

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Mon 23 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Books| Posted by: Gavin

International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day?

Arr, we lives this way, we does.

Generation Loss
Elizabeth Hand

There’s always a moment where everything changes. A great photographer — someone like Diane Arbus, or me during that fraction of a second when I was great — she sees that moment coming, and presses the shutter release an instant before the change hits.

Storyteller
Kate Wilhelm

1. Can Writing Be Taught?
2. Trivia Vs. Writing Real Stories now available at the Online Writing Workshop.
3. My Silent Partner at SF Site.

Family Reunion: an 8-page mini-comic by Sean Stewart and Steve Lieberbased on Perfect Circle.

Travel Light
Naomi Mitchison

It is said that when the new Queen saw the old Queen’s baby daughter, she told the King that the brat must be got rid of at once. And the King, who by now had almost forgotten the old Queen and had scarcely looked at the baby, agreed and thought no more about it. And that would have been the end of that baby girl, but that her nurse, Matulli, came to hear of it. Now this nurse was from Finmark, and, like many another from thereabouts, was apt to take on the shape of an animal from time to time. So she turned herself into a black bear then and there and picked up the baby in her mouth, blanket and all, and growled her way out of the Bower at the back of the King’s hall, and padded out through the light spring snow that had melted already near the hall, and through the birch woods and the pine woods into the deep dark woods where the rest of the bears were waking up from their winter sleep.

The Faery Handbag
Kelly Link
“I used to go to thrift stores with my friends. We’d take the train into Boston, and go to The Garment District, which is this huge vintage clothing warehouse. Everything is arranged by color, and somehow that makes all of the clothes beautiful.”

Carmen Dog
Carol Emshwiller
“The beast changes to a woman or the woman changes to a beast,” the doctor says. “In her case it is certainly the latter since she has been, on the whole, quite passable as a human being up to the present moment. There may be hundreds of these creatures already among us. No way to tell for sure how many.”

Sally Harpe
Christopher Rowe
They tell this one in those tobacco towns along the Green River.

The End of a Dynasty
Angelica Gorodischer
Translated by Ursula K. Le Guin
The storyteller said: He was a sorrowful prince, young Livna’lams, seven years old and full of sorrow.

From Trampoline:

• Richard Butner
• Greer Gilman
• Maureen McHugh
• Christopher Rowe
• Rosalind Palermo Stevenson

Foreigners
Mark Rich
Release came not as I expected — burdened with fines, restrictions, armed guard, and list of warnings longer than my conscience.

Other Agents
Richard Butner
“1985 sure is dark,” Nick said, and another 100 watt bulb popped gently in his hands. “It’s a good thing we have these protective gauntlets.” Nick waggled his hands and scattered shards of glass on the bedspread.

Whisper
Ray Vukcevich:And then she fired her parting shot. “And not only that,” she said, as if “that” hadn’t been quite enough, “you snore horribly!”Perpetual Motion
Dora Knez
Malfi arrived in the middle toilet stall of the men’s room. The Saurians had chosen it as the best way of concealing him initially, though it was not ideal.

Because we want to. Because giving stuff away doesn’t take anything away from us. Because often we have been too poor to buy books so we read from the library, or used copies. We still do. Because we can. Why the hell not? (Rants not accepted as reasons.)

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Fri 20 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Uncategorized| Posted by: Gavin

Julie Phillips pointed us toward this page of Alice Sheldon’s paintings.

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Fri 20 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Uncategorized| Posted by: Gavin

Julie Phillips pointed us toward this page of Alice Sheldon’s paintings.

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Liz Hand on air

Thu 19 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Audio out, Elizabeth Hand| Posted by: Gavin

Inaugerating our podcastery thingie (which can be subscribed to here) is Liz Hand who recorded an awesome reading of the first couple of chapters of Generation Loss. Check out that voice!http://www.elizabethhand.com/2007/gen_loss.mp3

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Thu 19 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., YouTube| Posted by: Gavin

John Scalzi (whose cup runneth over with SFWA madness) posted Marillion’s “Kayleigh” for a friend’s birthday. Which is a beautiful song and explains the popularity of the name Kayleigh in the 20-22 year old female demographic. Scalzi takes issue with Fish’s hair—with good reason. It is indefensible. But from what I remember, Edinburgh in the 1980s had no hairstylists: they’d all moved to Glasgow following the success of Simple Minds.

So here’s a response, another Marillion video, “Garden Party”. The video has a strange and lovely narrative: Fish and the boys are Just William-esque schoolboy agents of chaos running around the edges of a garden party and tiptoeing into Lord of the Flies or The Wicker Man territory:

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Thu 19 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., YouTube| Posted by: Gavin

John Scalzi (whose cup runneth over with SFWA madness) posted Marillion’s “Kayleigh” for a friend’s birthday. Which is a beautiful song and explains the popularity of the name Kayleigh in the 20-22 year old female demographic. Scalzi takes issue with Fish’s hair—with good reason. It is indefensible. But from what I remember, Edinburgh in the 1980s had no hairstylists: they’d all moved to Glasgow following the success of Simple Minds.

So here’s a response, another Marillion video, “Garden Party”. The video has a strange and lovely narrative: Fish and the boys are Just William-esque schoolboy agents of chaos running around the edges of a garden party and tiptoeing into Lord of the Flies or The Wicker Man territory:

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