Buy Any 2 New Books, Pick a Freebie!

Wed 13 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Buy Any 2 New Books, Pick a Freebie! | Posted by: Gavin

ETA: Thanks to all who took advantage of this. Must try a sale some time in 2018. But not anytime soon, too busy!

I put this in the newsletter yesterday and now we’re caught up with shipping from that, I’m posting it here.

Buy any 2 of our books and pick one of the books below FREE!
Include the title as a note or email us, we can deal with it! (Buy 4, pick 2 freebies, buy 12, pick, I don’t know, 7,8?)

Fine print:
Print titles only.
North America only: sorry. International mailing is abominable. (But: DRM-free ebooks are here.)
All US orders taking advantage of this will be upgraded to Priority Mail.
(Sorry: remainders not included.)
Offer ended 5 pm EST December 20, 2017.

Order Here!

  1. Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, A Life on Paper
  2. Alan DeNiro, Tyrannia
  3. Peter Dickinson, Emma Tupper’s Diary
  4. Peter Dickinson, The Poison Oracle
  5. Angélica Gorodischer, Prodigies
  6. Alasdair Gray, Old Men in Love (hc)
  7. Eileen Gunn, Questionable Practices
  8. Vincent McCaffrey, Hound (pb)
  9. Maureen F. McHugh, After the Apocalypse
  10. Lydia Millet, The Fires Beneath the Sea (pb)
  11. Lydia Millet, The Shimmers in the Night (hc)
  12. Benjamin Parzybok, Sherwood Nation
  13. Susan Stinson, Spider in a Tree
  14. Howard Waldrop, Horse of a Different Color
  15. Ysabeau S. Wilce, Prophecies Libels & Dreams

Holiday Shipping Deadlines.


Ambiguity Machines Giveaway

Tue 12 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Ambiguity Machines Giveaway | Posted by: Gavin

Now that Am*zonGoodreads has gotten a good amount of data on readers and giveaways, in January they’re going to start charging between $100 and $600 to run these so this will be among the last we do. But, hey, put your name in the hat to get an advance print galley of Ambiguity Machines now!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Ambiguity Machines by Vandana Singh

Ambiguity Machines

by Vandana Singh

Giveaway ends December 19, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway


Singh the Rising Star

Mon 11 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Singh the Rising Star | Posted by: Gavin

Who doesn’t like the letter “S”? Where would English plural words be without it*? What lovely sounds this post title makes — and can’t you just hear the implied semi-colon, a la “Singh: the Rising Star”? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe a comma? A semi-colon? Nothing at all?!

Anyway, the latest anyway in a line of 10,000, besides Publishers Weekly including it in their Top 10 SF, Fantasy & Horror Spring 2018 Announcements(!), Library Journal gave Vandana Singh’s forthcoming collection a very strong review in their December 1 issue**:

“In “Wake Rider,” a young woman faces death in different forms as she also contemplates the possibilities of her life. In “Oblivion: A Journey,” a long-held need for revenge keeps the protagonist striving for life beyond death until the realization sets in that mortality may be the only relief. The heroine of “Requiem” travels to Alaska a year after her aunt’s disappearance, seeking answers. All of the stories here feature characters who are trying to discover the nature of their existence and how their lives connect others. VERDICT Rising star Singh draws on her Indian roots and physics background to bring her first North American collection to readers. Admirers of literary sf will want to read this.”

* Answers on a postcard to the usual address, thank ee kindly!
** Also in that issue: their review of The Invisible Valley.


Who Among Us?

Fri 8 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Who Among Us? | Posted by: Gavin

Who among us hasn’t been tricked into entering a “ghost marriage”? Library Journal is first past the post with the first trade review of Austin Woerner’s translation of Su Wei’s novel The Invisible Valley:

“In 1960s China, life takes a dramatic turn for 21-year-old Le Beiping immediately after he is tricked into entering a “ghost marriage” with Han, the dead daughter of the foreman from his reeducation group. Sent off to work as a cattle herder in a remote area called Mudkettle Mountain, Lu meets Jade, a woman in a free, loving community of “driftfolk,” who has three children by three different men in the community. Lu is soon adopted into the group and enjoys the contentedly nudist lifestyle of several individuals there. Based on the author’s own experiences, the story may surprise readers expecting a ghost story, but what comes to light at the end is more shocking and gritty than anticipated. The vernacular of the driftfolk, well translated by Woerner, recalls Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn; obviously these characters are not in the mainstream.”

* Request a free copy from LibraryThing.


Chicago Love

Thu 7 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Chicago Love | Posted by: Gavin

Hometown prophet gets some love! Juan Martinez’s Best Worst American is one the Chicago Review of Books’s Best Fiction Books of 2017 — not coincidentally, it’s one of ours, too. Yay for another list of good books!

9781618731241_094d0Best Worst American
By Juan Martinez
Small Beer Press

“In his debut short story collection, Juan Martinez takes us across the country (and possible countries) in brisk tales that range from sci-fi and horror to realism and metafiction.” —Adam Morgan


Someday My Printz Will Come

Wed 6 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

In Other Lands coverThere’s a lovely post by Karyn Silverman on School Library Journal‘s Someday My Printz Will Come blog about two books, Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle and Sarah Rees Brennan’s In Other Lands. The post starts with this intro:

Let’s talk about heart books. Because today I want to call your attention to two books that are long shots at best, but which I loved them dearly as a reader. More than that, despite the flaws that I predict will ultimately sink them, these are strong books that deserve close attention.

Oh well, thinks I — as I, of course, think all our books should win all the awardz, all! Well, maybe not. How about just most of them?

And the review begins:

Oh my heart. This book made me happy. It’s laugh out loud funny and also fantasy, which is not exactly a common pairing, and in a dark, miserable year when it seems like the sky really IS falling, this was exactly the breath of fresh air I needed.

Yes!

If you have not read the book and don’t like spoiler: Don’t Read This Post! But if you have read the book, this is such an enjoyable read. It is real fun thinking of this book being a contender for awards and Karyn lays out the reasons why so well. Either way, winner or not, the book is fab and making more readers happier every day which is a pretty fantastic result.


NPR’s 2017 Great Reads: Tender & The River Bank

Tue 5 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on NPR’s 2017 Great Reads: Tender & The River Bank | Posted by: Gavin

I’m delighted to see 2 of our 2017 titles on NPR’s endlessly entertaining Book Concierge Guide To 2017’s Great Reads:

Tender: Stories
by Sofia Samatar
Most of the 20 sumptuous tales in Sofia Samatar’s collection Tender take place on Earth – although not always the Earth we might recognize. Sprawling in subject from the supernatural power of names to the loneliness of a half-robot woman, Tender redefines the emotional power and literary heft that speculative fiction can convey. Where Samatar’s acclaimed fantasy novels exist in a strange, dreamlike world, her short stories daringly explore the overlap of familiarity and otherness.
— recommended by Jason Heller, book critic

The River Bank: A Sequel to Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows
by Kij Johnson

A beautiful, pitch-perfect sequel to Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, with characters original to Kij Johnson and spot illustrations by Kathleen Jennings, The River Bank is that species of fan fiction that unfolds new material from a beloved property with hardly a hint of a seam. Meandering with a river’s pace through musings on art, home and the end of summer, The River Bank is a more than worthy successor.
— recommended by Amal El-Mohtar, book critic


Clarion 2018

Mon 4 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Clarion 2018 | Posted by: Gavin

I’m delighted that Kelly and I are the final 2-week instructors at the Clarion Writers’ Workshop next summer in San Diego. This year’s full line up is Christopher Barzak, Holly Black, Mat Johnson, and Kij Johnson. It will be awesome. Applications are now open!


Thread of the Year (ha)

Fri 1 Dec 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Thread of the Year (ha) | Posted by: Gavin


Read by Millions

Wed 29 Nov 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Read by Millions | Posted by: Gavin

The Invisible Valley coverMillions of Chinese readers have read this novel but over here in the USA, there are not that many who have. Even the translator, Austin Woerner, isn’t here at the moment. He’s over in Shanghai (hello!) teaching at the Duke University campus. However, the author lives here, so that’s one more person who’s read it (probably uncountable times). And, lucky us, we’ve read it.

What am I talking about? The Invisible Valley, Su Wei’s first published novel and first to be translated into English. It’s huge, babby, monstrous, hot, humid, fascinating, immersive, and we’re going to publish it in April 2018. Are you curious? Reviewers can get advance uncorrected copies on Edelweiss and we’ve just added an excerpt here.


Love the book on Publishers Weekly‏’s invite!

Tue 28 Nov 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Love the book on Publishers Weekly‏’s invite! | Posted by: Gavin

Which book? This one!


Holiday Deadlines 2017

Wed 15 Nov 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Holiday Deadlines 2017 | Posted by: Gavin

Here is Our Beloved Annual Holiday Shipping Deadline post. Our office will be closed over the holidays from December 22 – January 2, 2017. It is unlikely we will ship over that period. (Weightless is always open.)

Might as well order now, order often!

Here are the last order dates for Small Beer Press — which, in case you’re thinking about waiting until the last minute to order some chocolate Christmas trees are about the same as every other biz in the USA. Dates for international shipping are here.

All orders include free first class (LCRW) or media mail (books) shipping in the USA.

But: Media Mail parcels are the last to go on trucks. If the truck is full, Media Mail does not go out until the next truck. And if that one’s full, too, . . . you get the idea. So, if you’d like to guarantee pre-holiday arrival, please add Priority Mail:

Domestic Mail Class/Product Cut Off Date
First Class Mail Dec. 19
Priority Mail Dec. 20
Priority Mail Express Dec. 22
First Class International (generally) Dec. 7

Order a book today!

Just like to read a book, don’t care about a ding or two?


Double Jeffrey World Fantasy Awards

Wed 8 Nov 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Double Jeffrey World Fantasy Awards | Posted by: Gavin

A Natural History of Hell cover - click to view full sizetl;dr 2 Jeffs won awards, so did other people. We love books and good drinks.

We went to cloudy and muggy, phew, San Antonio*, Texas, last week for the World Fantasy Convention and on Sunday — while we were at the airport waiting for our flight and chatting over a very much enjoyed beer with Scott Andrews of Beneath Ceaseless Skies — the awards were handed out.

I am delighted to report that Jeffrey Ford won for his collection A Natural History of Hell and doubly delighted to say that Jeffrey Alan Love, whose art graces the cover of that book among others, received the award for Best Artist. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

Jeffrey Alan Love made a huge impact at the con by pulling out his paper, pens, ink and pads and making (and giving away!) pieces of art at the bar and at the (massive! overwhelming!) group signing event on Saturday night. I took one home with me and am still amazed by his process. Can’t wait to pick up Kevin Crossley-Holland’s Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor and Loki which Jeffrey illustrated.

I spent most of my time in the dealers room chatting with people, checking out all the books, the lovely books, that everyone had brought, buying books, and sometimes selling books. We sold most of the books we brought, a lovely thing! I wonder sometimes if book rooms like this will still exist in five or ten years. They’re just like indie bookstores: if people want them to exist, they shop there. If they don’t care, they don’t buy books there, and the book room (or bookstore) disappears. I’m for them going on and on. I do love poking around and finding books I knew and did not know I wanted.

Meghan McCarron had recommended to all that the Esquire bar should be checked out and wow, that was a great hot tip. I loved the cocktails upstairs but the downstairs Cocteles de Maíz were the cocktails of my heart: that the menu was designed and printed (on paper made of corn!) by a local press, Snake Hawk Press [really, click that link], helped but wow. Also yum. What creations.

Of the Guests of Honor, I met David Mitchell and he was lovely, yay! Here’s Kelly’s picture of him chatting with Ted Chiang. I caught up briefly with Tananarive Due (one of my Clarion instructors!); I saw Gregory Manchess signing lots of books and enjoyed his art in the art show; I picked up a book by toastmaster Martha Wells; and I was sorry to miss Gordon Van Gelder being roasted, see my note above about the Esquire bar and not having a reservation there that night, darn it. Next time.

The final Guest of Honor Karen Joy Fowler did a couple of readings (thanks, schedulers!) so I got to the second one. She read chapters two and three of her next novel and all I can say is I hope it comes out sooner rather than later. She is a hell of a writer. Karen signed copies of her collection What I Didn’t See for us but then we sold them all, sorry. In fact, Kij Johnson and Kathleen Johnson signed copies of The River Bank and we sold out. Howard Waldrop then signed copies of Howard Who? and Horse of a Different Color and we sold out but we still have a few signed available from a previous visit, phew once more.

Then we came home, somewhat exhausted and ground into the floor by the act of talking to people for many days in a row — yup, that’s too much. Luckily now I get some quiet time to try and catch up on shipping and reading and erk, better go do that. (Smooth outro? Achieved!)

* — on the day we left, the day of the awards, the town was busy, people were going on about their lives, except for the 26 people murdered in a church 30 miles away. The gun laws and the amount of guns in this country are insane. Why are people allowed to have machine guns?


Luminous and Compassionate

Wed 18 Oct 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Luminous and Compassionate | Posted by: Gavin

Ambiguity Machines cover - click to view full sizeYoon Ha Lee, author of Ninefox Gambit, just finished reading Vandana Singh’s forthcoming collection Ambiguity Machines and says of it:

“Ranging in scale from the smallest life to far-ranging interplanetary adventures, and drawing upon both science and mythology, Vandana Singh’s stories are luminous and compassionate.”

You can read the title story on Tor.com. I just went over the proofread copy of the book with Vandana and it is such a fun book — if your idea of fun is Vandana’s unique thread of science fiction, which, of course it is! Or will be. Just wait and see, what a book. The book ends with a huge new story, “Requiem” set in Alaska with whales and drilling and global warming and a missing scientist.

Between “Requiem”, Christopher Rowe’s “The Border State” and Sofia Samatar’s “Fallow,” we have had a run of amazing original novellas.


New Books? New Books!

Tue 17 Oct 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on New Books? New Books! | Posted by: Gavin

It is boom time here at Small Beer! Books are rolling off the printing presses, more are being sent for quick reprints (whoopee!), I’m working on a couple of contracts, lining up some books for next autumn, and here here here are a few fun, mindblowing, immersive, weird and fantastic (so: just the usual then?) books that we will publish next spring and summer.

In reverse order they are:

Alien Virus Love Disaster, a debut collection of door-stomping-down stories from Abbey Mei Otis

Half-Witch, a debut YA novel of by John Schoffstall

and The Invisible Valley, a debut novel by Su Wei translated by Austin Woerner

Don’t like vertical images? Like ebooks? Check them out on Weightless!


New Books

Mon 16 Oct 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on New Books | Posted by: Gavin

This week we are going to add some books to this website — if I can get off twitter long enough to do anything besides watching the world crash and burn. Oh, wait, I got off twitter the other day for the anti-nazi rosearmy boycott and haven’t gotten back on. Hmm. Maybe I’ll skip it and add the new books. Watch out world, here come, er,

some more short story collections and a translation!


Howard Waldrop, Upright & Writing

Fri 6 Oct 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Howard Waldrop, Upright & Writing | Posted by: Gavin

Today in a nice surprise the Austin Chronicle features one of Austin’s own great writers, Howard Waldrop. It made me laugh from the quote that goes with the photo onwards: “Just sit down in the chair and start writing and then after 10 or 12 years you’ll figure this stuff out.”

Howard is one of 20+ authors (including Christopher Rowe) who will be in Santa Fe at the Jean Cocteau Cinema this weekend for the huge George R. R. Martin Wild Cards celebration. It sounds like so much fun! One day I will get back to Santa Fe and visit the cinema and see all the groovy stuff they have there.

There are more than a couple of great lines in Elizabeth Banicki‘s Austin Chronicle Waldrop profile including this paragraph:

I’d been scouring libraries across town for collections of his writings. His brilliant short stories “Mary Margaret Road-Grader” and “The Ugly Chickens” had me high on how he bends reality while staying completely grounded in human nature. In those stories, unremarkable people adventure through fantastical scenarios where their physical and psychological worlds are woven together, often indistinguishable. The residual effects stayed with me for days. Great writing does that thing where you’re reading along and then – POP! – you get socked with a sentence or paragraph so clean, words so perfectly chosen to relate to human experience, that you can only drop the book into your lap and recover. Waldrop’s writing does that.

But I am slightly worried about a couple of later parts:

Waldrop doesn’t believe he’s a mystic, but he does believe he can kill any publication just by letting them publish his work.

and then at the end:

Waldrop has various works in progress, one of which will be published in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

Eek!

I think LCRW will be ok. In the meantime, Howard’s most recent collection Horse of a Different Color is 50% off this week to celebrate!


“An Absolutely Delightful Book”

Wed 27 Sep 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on “An Absolutely Delightful Book” | Posted by: Gavin

The River Bank cover - click to view full sizeMichael Dirda is delighted by Kij Johnson’s The River Bank — as you can see in his new review just posted in the Washington Post:

“If you’re going to write a sequel to one of the most beloved children’s books of all time, you’ll need to be pitch perfect, hit all the right notes and, at its end, leave your reader shouting “Bravo!” Or in this case, “Brava!” and “Encore!” Kij Johnson has brought out an absolutely delightful book, as charming and funny and rereadable as Kenneth Grahame’s “Wind in the Willows” itself.”

Yay! There are a couple of Kathleen Jennings’s illustrations included in the review (they “add just the right extra magic”) and a comparison to Georgette Heyer. Not bad for a Wednesday morning!


Made a thing and it is a zine

Fri 22 Sep 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Made a thing and it is a zine | Posted by: Gavin

Picture by Marija Smits

Picture by Marija Smits

Since people are posting about getting LCRW on twitter* — wait, what if they’re posting about it on other platforms (in other silos) and I can’t see, wah, so sad to be a human not an AI scanning all social media in these times — then it must be real and not just a dream that it was printed recently at Paradise Copies and sent out to those lovely readers.

Some people get the chocolate, some people get the epub (where chocolate must be self-supplied). Some people are probably not getting it on the Am*zone, etc., as the epub failed some kind of test there. Feh. Anyone who think ebooks should be free should try producing an epub file that passes all the different epub validator tests — and then come back in 2-3 years when it has to be remade to pass the newer tests.

Anyway: LCRW. It is the 36th iteration, the first of the year. Maybe 2017 will not completely suck? No, it will. The title is in pink, can you tell? The cover of the print copy does not look like the ebook version for fun. I haven’t used a color cover for too long and this one makes my eyes hurt so well. It is good to make things and send them out in the supposedly analog world — hat tip to the world-as-simulation or Berenst*in Bears theorists.

Also: it’s gone out to some lovely bookstores: Borderlands, DreamHaven, Magers & Quinn, & more. How do I love thee, independent bookshops and booksellers? A lot. A whole lot. Even the ones that don’t want to carry a supposedly twice-yearly occasional outburst. Yesterday I went into Broadside Books here in Northampton and instead of dropping off the zine I picked up a bunch of books for kid presents. But they had such nice books!

Oh well, next time. In the meantime, if you too have already read M. T. Anderson’s Landscape with Invisible Hand and aren’t ready for the heartbreak of The Penderwicks in Spring, then sure, pick up LCRW. Will it hold back the unending crush of news of immensely stupid people doing immensely stupid things? For a little while, just a little while.

* Not all lcrw tweets will be LCRW tweets.


Annalee Newitz Recommends The Mount

Wed 20 Sep 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Annalee Newitz Recommends The Mount | Posted by: Gavin

The Mount cover - click to view full sizeToday on Bookriot’s Recommended podcast, Annalee Newitz (whose novel Autonomous drops this week!) recommends Carol Emshwiller’s Philip K. Dick Award winning novel The Mount.

We love this novel here at Small Beer. Every now and then I go back to it and realize again how weird and great it is. Our edition is in shortish supply at the moment so it’s back to the printer it’ll have to go — in the meantime, you can pick up the Penguin mass market edition or the ebook. (Will there ever be a movie edition? No recent news, but never say never!)


The Story Spilling Over

Thu 14 Sep 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on The Story Spilling Over | Posted by: Gavin

The River Bank cover - click to view full sizeOccasionally I read a review of a book we’ve published and it makes me want to pick up the book and read it all over again. I just had that experience reading Amal El-Mohtar’s review of The River Bank on the NPR website. Amal begins her review writing about fan fiction and reading that made me wonder if fan fiction was labelled something else, would it be more acceptable to those who don’t like it? Much of the time fan fiction can pass me by but then Kij sent us a book that Amal accurately labels fan fiction and I love it. I love a book in conversation with another but sometimes, ach, you know how it is. There’s no one rule that describes even one reader’s preferences. I know a good book when I see it! Right? Sure.

Enough of me, here’s a part of Amal’s review. I urge you to read the whole thing:

I was never less than delighted with this book. From beginning to end, it thoroughly charmed and engaged me, speaking the native literary language of my childhood. Like a river, it is in places languid and broad, in others narrow and rushing, the story spilling over sharp rocks of incident before pooling in afternoon sunshine, smelling of lilies and mud. I loved the sweetness of its pace, which spoke of a deep, abiding love not so much for the source material’s specific contents as their tone: a wistful, enchanted melancholy that walks hand in hand with summer’s end.

There are passages here that I treasure, that take up the timbre of Kenneth Grahame’s voice to speak of new things that feel timeless: the joys and pains of being an author at work; the changeability of a summer’s day from possibility to exhaustion; the quiet loneliness of a home half-dwelt in, a home asleep until woken by occupation, activity, presence. Sentences like “an animal lives in the long now of the world.” So much of this book dwells deeply in that long now.

In addition to its many native felicities, the text is embellished by Kathleen Jennings’ beautiful incidental illustrations, grace notes sounded in E. H. Shepard’s mode with a line reminiscent of Beatrix Potter and a sensibility all Jennings’ own.


Return to the River Bank

Tue 12 Sep 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Return to the River Bank | Posted by: Gavin

The River Bank cover - click to view full sizeToday, five years or so after we published Kij Johnson’s collection At the Mouth of the River of Bees we are delighted to be publishing her new novel The River Bank.

The River Bank is a sequel to Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows and, given Kij’s recent stories such as “Ponies” and “Spar”) you would not be the only one surprised that Kij had chosen this as one of her next projects. For us, the first illustrator who came to mind was Kathleen Jennings. Her detailed lines and light sense of whimsy combined with her deep knowledge of illustration made her the perfect choice and we were quite enchanted when she started sending pencil sketches for chapter and incidental illustrations.

So today the book comes out in a lovely paper-over-boards hardcover — we’ve never done that before, what fun! — and ebook editions. People seem to love it as much as we do and as much as we’d hoped, especially once they have it in their hands. It’s very different from Kij’s other work but as ever her love of the natural world and for animals shines through.

If you’re in the Kansas City environs, Kij is launching the book at the Raven Book Store tonight (so you can order a signed copy if you’d like) and she has a few more readings planned:

Sept. 12, 7 p.m. Raven Book Store, 6 East Seventh St., Lawrence, KS
10/14, 1 p.m., Uncle Hugo’s Bookstore, Minneapolis, MN
11/2-5, World Fantasy Convention, San Antonio, TX
11/20, 7 p.m., Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, OR
11/21, 7 p.m., Elliot Bay Book Co., 1521 Tenth Ave., Seattle, WA


Tomorrow the green grass

Mon 11 Sep 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Tomorrow the green grass | Posted by: Gavin

Tomorrow there will be some amount of fuss over the new iPhone (does it come with a toaster?! Find our tomorrow!) meanwhile there will a much more relaxed portion of the populace who will be reading Kij Johnson’s new book The River Bank.


Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson Chat on EW

Thu 7 Sep 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson Chat on EW | Posted by: Gavin


I’m delighted to say that Entertainment Weekly just posted a chat between these two friends and New York Times bestselling authors today. They chat about In Other Lands “and Johnson’s forthcoming Truly Devious series, out in January 2018, which centers on a haunted boarding school. Oh — and since Brennan is editing a murder mystery and Johnson is writing a murder mystery, they talk about that grisly but endlessly fascinating subject, too.”

Check out their conversation here:

Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson chat about writing and murder


The River Bank Goodreads Giveaway

Tue 5 Sep 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on The River Bank Goodreads Giveaway | Posted by: Gavin

Quick: there are only 2 days left to win one of 8 advance copies of Kij Johnson’s forthcoming sequel to The Wind in the Willows, The River Bank.


Seanan McGuire says:

Wed 30 Aug 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Seanan McGuire says: | Posted by: Gavin

A couple of weeks ago I read this thread on twitter and it has cheered me up ever since:


LCRW 36 Table of Contents

Mon 28 Aug 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on LCRW 36 Table of Contents | Posted by: Gavin

Coming out next month, the latest compendium of wonder:

Fiction

Gabriela Santiago, “Children of Air”
Lily Davenport, “The Crane Alphabet”
T. L. Rodebaugh, “The Secret History of the Original Line”
Mollie Chandler, “Evidence of a Storm”
Todd Summar, Watching You Without Me”
Laurel Lathrop, “Cunning”
Christi Nogle, “The Best of Our Past, the Worst of Our Future”
Zhao Haihong, “Windhorse”

Nonfiction

Nicole Kimberling, “How to Cook (Dis)Comfort Food”

Poetry

D M Gordon, Two Poems

Cover

kAt Philbin


Kij Johnson on Tour

Mon 21 Aug 2017 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Kij Johnson on Tour | Posted by: Gavin

The River Bank coverNext month we’ll publish Kij Johnson’s new novel, The River Bank. It is quite the treat, a much-needed break from the contemporary world, with chapter and spot illustrations throughout by Kathleen Jennings. Should you be in one of these places, why not go see her read for yourself!

Sept. 12, 7 p.m. Raven Book Store, 6 East Seventh St., Lawrence, KS
10/14, 1 p.m., Uncle Hugo’s Bookstore, Minneapolis, MN
11/20, 7 p.m., Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, OR
11/21, Elliot Bay Bookshop, 1521 Tenth Ave., Seattle, WA

And more dates may yet be added so keep an eye on this page.

Meanwhile School Library Journal gave it a lovely review culminating thusly:

“Johnson’s attention to world-building and characterization create an engaging read with modern appeal while maintaining the aesthetic of the original. It also works as a stand-alone for new readers, though references to events covered in the first book are sprinkled throughout. Black-and-white line spot art and full-page spreads add to the nostalgic feel.”


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