Can’t argue with this

Tue 6 Dec 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Can’t argue with this | Posted by: Gavin

After the Apocalypse is “The absolute most perfect thing for those post-apocalyptic fiction fans and zombie lovers on your list” says the Cleve Scene.


The things we do to books

Thu 1 Dec 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 3 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

And interns! Occasionally the returns we get from our distributor (books that have been shipped to stores, back to the distro, and back to our office) are in such bad condition that we can’t even give them away. (We mail returned copies in good condition out to various groups—including the OWS library!—and sell there here.) How do they get that way? Who knows?! (Not sure I want to know.)

We had this box of nearly destroyed books which was beginning to spill over and I decided that instead of just tearing off the covers and recycling the innards (which our lovely town will do) we’d tear up the short story collections and anthologies and include the individual stories with orders. I am hoping that those who receive them enjoy the single stories more than they’re horrified to receive them—tearing the books up has been all too much for at least one intern and the task had to handed over to someone with a stronger constitution!

So now we’re getting rid of another box of books, spreading the word about good stories, and some of us are getting a most unexpected touch of exercise . . . tearing up books!


Under the Poppy wins the Gaylactic Spectrum Award!

Mon 28 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Under the Poppy wins the Gaylactic Spectrum Award! | Posted by: Gavin

Under the Poppy cover - click to view full sizePossibly the best news we’ll get this week? We are delighted to see that Kathe Koja’s novel Under the Poppy is the recipient of the 2011 Best Novel Gaylactic Spectrum Award!

Note: the ebook is 50% off until Dec. 1.

Here’s the Gaylactic Spectrum Award 2011 handout with the shortlist and what the judges had to say about the book:

If Charles Dickens had written an alternate reality novel about war, love, sex, death and very strange puppets you would have this year’s Gaylactic Spectrum Award winner, Under the Poppy, an amazing novel by Kathe Koja. The novel offers a rich, evocative alternate reality that is close but not quite our world, an exploration of the demimonde of the theatre and the brothel, and the tale of two lovers, Rupert and Istvan, and their tortured relationship.

Decca and Rupert own The Poppy, a brothel with a reputation for the unique and sometimes bizarre. At the core of the story is a love triangle: Decca loves Rupert but Rupert is deeply in love with Decca’s brother Istvan, a puppeteer whose marionettes know more than a thing or two about decadence. The story is set against the backdrop of war and turmoil in one of the Victorian era’s most sophisticated cities. Rupert and Istvan try to escape from the seedy underworld into high society only to find themselves embroiled in another complicated relationship. Like actors in a play or marionettes, their fate seems to be determined by others who hold the power and strings.

Under the Poppy breaks a lot of rules: point-of-view shifts, convoluted mysterious plots full of violence and decadence, relationships that run the gamut from accepted to beyond forbidden, and witty graphic language. In Koja’s skillful hands, the novel engages the reader from the start, provides a way to taste and smell the world through brilliantly-crafted prose, and presents a heart-wrenching romance. A mature love story that doesn’t flinch from revealing the truth about life in the demi-monde, Under the Poppy is well worth the read


Victorian opulence

Mon 28 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

A Guest Post from Kathe Koja:

An evening of Victorian opulence with an air of genteel decay: it was Under the Poppy‘s natural terrain, and we staged the second of our on-the-road performances at District VII Detroit last Saturday evening. “Love Is a Puppet” finds Istvan closer to his destination if no closer to his goal, and in desirous company, with a young man who calls himself “Gabriel the Angel.” Our audience watched from the curtained, secluded “backroom,” they watched from the stairway above . . .

Writing these shows and their scripts—episodes not found in the novel itself, but not hard to imagine: how many nights must Istvan have spent alone, on the long road back to Rupert?—and extending the story that way, is a new way of seeing that story, as well as a great pleasure for me as a writer. And then engaging in the ongoing act of collaboration, planning the show with my co-producer, Julanne Jacobs, watching the actors give gesture and breadth—and breath!—to the words, embody them, literally—watching the audience react, laugh, flinch and gasp—oh BOY, that is fun. The intersection of the fictional and the real becomes so vivid and acute, you can practically smell the lamp oil and brandy, the reek of the mud outside . . . And aided, on this night, by the raw brick of the warehouse, the scent of the river, the very old streets just past the doors; Detroit is a city that dates to the 1700s, after all. And with our audience dressed in Victorian finery, too, it was as if the story was doubled, and the event doubly theatrical. And amazing.

So the road continues; the journey continues, on the page as on the stage. THE MERCURY WALTZ, sequel to UNDER THE POPPY, will be published in 2013, wherein Istvan and Rupert operate their own theatre, the Mercury, a nucleus of subtle insurrections and the passions and rivalries that play-acting always seems to arouse, aided by two very different acolytes, Haden St.-Mary and Frédéric Blum, and a remarkably ferocious young lady named Tilde. And our next Poppy performance will take place early in 2012, in a venue that might seem surprising . . . The puppets lead, the story goes on, and we make our own fun in the dark.


Ebook sale: 50% off!

Fri 25 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Ebook sale: 50% off! | Posted by: Gavin

We’re having an ebook sale! Here’s the why of it and here’s the what:

Small = 50% off all Small Beer Press and Big Mouth House titles!

WELCOME = 25% off ANYTHING!

Engines = 50% off Livia Llewellyn’s Engines of Desire: Tales of Love & Other Horrors

Enter the coupon exactly as above once you’ve filled your cart and you will receive your lovely discount!

The Freedom Maze After the Apocalypse A Slepyng Hound to Wake Paradise Tales

The Monkey’s Wedding and Other StoriesRedemption in IndigoMeeksWhat I Didn’t See and Other StoriesStories of Your Life and OthersThe Fires Beneath the SeaUnder the Poppy


Happy Thanksgiving!

Thu 24 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Astronaut melts humans


Plaid Friday

Wed 23 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Plaid Friday | Posted by: Gavin

What with holiday shipping deadlines approaching and all the fuss about Friday, I wanted to put in a word for a fun thing the folks at the Odyssey Books in South Hadley told us about when we did our Steampunk! event there a couple of weeks ago. Apparently this Friday is being relabeled from Black Friday to Plaid Friday!

What?

“Plaid Friday celebrates the diversity and creativity of independent businesses. Plaid Friday is the fun and enjoyable alternative to the big box store “Black Friday”, and is designed to promote both local and independently owned businesses during the holidays.”

And what are Odyssey Books doing?

“This year Pioneer Valley Local First members are volunteering a portion of their sales to CISA’s Emergency Farm Fund that offers loans to local farmers affected by Hurricane Irene.”

I always recommend going to an indie store—if possible—for your books. We have links to Powell’s on our site and our book pages have links to the Broadside Bookstore here in Northampton. Last year they came to us with the idea of having a Small Beer Press section in their store where we could keep all our titles, including all the backlist, in front of readers: how awesome is that?

Why do we bother fighting the tide of huge big box stores and online behemoths? Because they’re intent on being everything to everyone and shutting down all other voices.

“Really?”

I think so, yes. They’d like us to buy one of their machines and then read, listen, and watch everything we want on it. And of course buy everything (from books to washing machines) using it. Just jack me into the mainframe now, thanks.

Every time each of us buys anything we have a choice. Sometimes that’s too much to think about. Sometimes it’s worth thinking about once and making a decision. We print all our books in the US—or occasionally Canada—on 30% post-consumer recycled paper using one of a few smaller printing firms, often C-M Books or Thomson-Shore. It was an easy decision to print domestically as we can’t be sure of the treatment the workers receive nor the environmental standards the companies are kept to abroad. Also, if we want to keep decent jobs available here, it seems worth printing books here.

This Saturday in our hometown, Northampton, was “Bag Day”—a surprisingly fun event where the town distributes a paper shopping bag in the local newspaper (shout out to the Daily Hampshire Gazette*!) and then just about every store in town gives you 20% off one item (or many items . . .). The streets were heaving, there were even more street musicians than usual, people were out doing public art, there was street food, it’s great fun as well as getting people in to shop at the local stores and keep the downtown vibrant.

Sure, we all shop at bigger stores and shops in other towns but I buy books at Broadside so that in five years time they will still be there. It’s selfish as much as altruistic. (Broadside also have a frequent buyer card which gives you a 10% discount on everything.)

I hope you’ll consider doing the same. Thanks for your time.

* Any local reader want a free subscription? I have one available!


Small Beer Podcast 4: Benjamin Parzybok’s Couch

Thu 17 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Comments Off on Small Beer Podcast 4: Benjamin Parzybok’s Couch | Posted by: Julie

Couch cover - click to view full sizeFiction. We love it. And this week’s Small Beer podcast is over thirty minutes of nothing but imagined words.

Benjamin Parzybok’s Couch is damned funny. Well, his novel Couch is anyway.

To celebrate the release of the audiobook version of Couch, we’re running an excerpt in this week’s podcast. Don’t worry. Though we hope you’ll love it as we do and want to hear more, this section of the novel was actually published as a stand-alone story in the journal Eleven Eleven. In fact, while I was editing this podcast, my family gathered around my computer to listen in. Yes, sometimes it can be strange days at the Day-Davidson household.

Ben and his wife, the artist Laura Moulton, are both quite fascinating people. You can check out Ben’s various art projects at ideacog.net. Laura is behind the amazing streetbooks.org — a bicycle-powered mobile library in Portland, Oregon, serving people who live outside.

Episode 4: An excerpt from Benjamin Parzybok’s novel Couch.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download


The audiobook is available for purchase at iambik.com.

Subscribe to the Small Beer podcast in iTunes or using the service of your choice:

rss feed


11/11/11

Fri 11 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on 11/11/11 | Posted by: Gavin


Small Beer Podcast 3: Michael J. DeLuca, Head Brewer and CTO

Thu 10 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , , , , | 3 Comments | Posted by: Julie

I’m thrilled to be back from wilds of Western Connecticut where I was billeted after the recent Nor’easter. Small Beer headquarters feels like a book-filled Shangri-La. I can’t believe I’ve returned.

In Episode Three of our Small Beer podcast, Michael J. DeLuca and I talk about yarrow-infused beer, medieval brewing, his fiction and why Small Beer’s ebook portal, Weightless Books, is a bibliophile’s dream. Not content to leave it at that, in part two of the podcast Michael reads “The Hour of the Fireflies” by Karen Chacek. It’s part of our upcoming Three Messages and a Warning anthology and I don’t know how you couldn’t love it. It comes out in December.

Episode 3: Michael J. DeLuca, Head Brewer and CTO along with Julie Day and Three Messages and a Warning.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Oh, and if you’d like, go listen to Michael’s story, “The Eater,” on Pseudopod.

Subscribe to the Small Beer podcast in iTunes or using the service of your choice:

rss feed


Monday afternoon listening

Mon 7 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Monday afternoon listening | Posted by: Gavin

Couch CoverLook, a new audiobook! We love Ben Parzybok’s novel Couch and are very happy that it’s now available in audio. You can listen to a sample here:

Listen to first chapter

and we will have a sample coming up at some point soon in our podcast, too.

We’re working with Iambik on a bunch of audio books so look for more of these announcements in upcoming months.


Maureen McHugh in PW’s Top 10!

Fri 4 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

After the Apocalypse coverMaureen F. McHugh’s second collection After the Apocalypse is one of PW‘s Top Ten books of the year! The book has two starred reviews and her first collection was a Story Prize finalist. McHugh shares the Top 10 with Jeffrey Eugenides, Ann Patchett, Tina Fey, Chistopher Hitchens, et al.

There will now be a small dance of joy!

You can get a taste of the book here: “The Naturalist.”


No power, no feast, no podcast!

Wed 2 Nov 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Wow, did we get snowed under. The early snowstorm here in New England means that Julie is off doing sekrit real (saving the) world work for peeps without power which means we won’t have a podcast this week. Besides, we’re not even sure if the power will be on at the office tomorrow!

That also means all orders are a bit delayed—including pre-orders of The Freedom Maze, which should have shipped out Monday. My apologies!

It’s been pretty incredible here over the last few days and we know a lot of people without power. But everyone really is hanging together.

If all goes well, Kelly and I and Cassandra Clare will be reading and signing from Steampunk! tomorrow night at the Odyssey Bookstore in South Hadley:

Thursday, Nov. 3, 7 PM
The Odyssey Bookshop
9 College St.
S. Hadley, MA 01075

The Odyssey, one of our excellent local indie bookstores, never charges for kids’ events, so the reading & Q&A will be open to anyone who would like to attend. However, they do require that attendees purchase Steampunk! from them in order to get into the signing line. The good news is that you can bring as many other books from home as you like to have signed but you do need to purchase the new book from the bookstore.

Also! While supplies last they will be giving a free YA ARC to attendees in Steampunk attire.


We’re Preparing Our Electronic Feast

Fri 28 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , , | Comments Off on We’re Preparing Our Electronic Feast | Posted by: Julie

Next week Mike, Gavin and I will be hosting the very first Small Beer Press, multi-state, chili-beer tasting, and it’s all going to be captured on audio for episode 4 of the Small Beer podcast.

The fabulous Tru Beer here in Easthampton donated a few bottles of  Left Hand Brewing’s Fade to Black Pepper Porter.  It’s brewed with Serrano, Chipolte and Ancho chili peppers. I, personally, am more than a little afraid.  Let’s be honest here; I’m terrified.

To go with the beer, I’m also picking up some Day of the Dead bread from Bread Euphoria. Love your local businesses is our motto here at Small Beer Press. And, really, how could we not when they create bread people with folded arms and little raisin eyes?

All this and some fine Mexican fiction. Episode 4 is going to be fantastic. With luck, we’ll have pictures to post along with the podcast.


Small Beer Podcast 2: In Which Julie Reads a Story by J. M. McDermott

Thu 27 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on Small Beer Podcast 2: In Which Julie Reads a Story by J. M. McDermott | Posted by: Julie

Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet No. 26Who doesn’t love Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet? I shipped issue number twenty-six on my very first day here at Small Beer. In honor of that moment, and of all the damn good fiction inside, this week’s podcast is a story taken from that issue, “Death’s Shed” by J.M. McDermott.

Episode 2: Death’s Shed by J.M. McDermott as read by Julie Day of Small Beer Press.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tune back in next week as Mike DeLuca and Julie Day discuss Weightless Books, Mexican speculative fiction and Mike’s home-brewing techniques. The week after that: beer!

Subscribe to the Small Beer podcast in iTunes or using the service of your choice:

rss feed


Maureen F. McHugh & David Moles in conversation

Wed 26 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

After the Apocalypse cover - click to view full sizeThis week we’re very proud to publish Maureen F. McHugh’s second collection of short stories, After the Apocalypse.

To celebrate, we asked another of our favorite writers, David Moles, to interview Maureen. The two of them sat down recently in LA and then sent us the results of their chat:

David Moles: So, we’re sitting here in sunny Culver City—

Maureen McHugh: Sunny Culver City. In my little apartment, which I love.

Where should we start? I think we should talk about the book.

Probably.

At some point.

Let me see, I’ve got a copy—hold on.

Oh, that’s gorgeous.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

That’s really nice.

It’s a thin book, it’s thinner than Mothers and Other Monsters. I think it’s got about the same number of stories, but a couple of the stories were much longer in Mothers and Other Monsters.

So how did this come about?

Read more


If it’s Tuesday we must have that promised interview . . .

Wed 26 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on If it’s Tuesday we must have that promised interview . . . | Posted by: Gavin

Except it’s Wednesday, and the promised interview never ran. What happened?

Er, I completely forgot we had a trip to Boston planned for Tuesday. So off we went early in the AM and back we came late in the PM. And, oops, forgot to post the interview. So, it will be up RSN. Which I have learned from Sarah Smith means Real Soon Now.


Buy local

Wed 26 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Buy local | Posted by: Gavin

No, really. We’re hearing and reading about a number of bookshops that need people to think about where they put their buying monies if they’re going to be around for more than the next year or so.

If you want to be able to stop in and browse in your local bookshop—or go out and do some bookstore tourism—then put your money into a local bookstore. The gaping maws of the big boxes will still be there online or outside of town no matter what you do. All I’m asking is that if you order books online or in person, think local.

We sell our books through every channel: some of them I’m happier about dealing with than others. (If we took our books our of some channels there are some readers who would never hear about them at all. Darn it.) We link to Powell’s (a big indie) and the Broadside Bookshop—a local indie who approached us with the idea of showcasing our books so now you can get every single title we have in print, including all our backlist, there. You can even get your ebooks there. Yeah!


Monday: chilly fingers

Mon 24 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Hmm. The heat is out at our office. Our shabby chic building—the Paragon Arts in Easthampton—has 2 furnaces. One for the 1st and 2nd floor. That one is working. The one for the 3rd floor, where, we, so sensibly are, is not. Boo hoo!

At least the electricity—and therefore the kettle—is working.

Anyway, tomorrow, when the furnace guy comes back and fixes things we’ll be celebrating publication of Maureen McHugh’s new book After the Apocalypse by posting an interview Maureen did with one of our fave writers, David Moles.

Did you see the New York Times this weekend? No? Well the best bit was this. A review by Dana Jennings of three short story collections:

PARADISE TALES
By Geoff Ryman
313 pages. Small Beer Press. $16.

TWO WORLDS AND IN BETWEEN
The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan (Volume 1)
576 pages. Subterranean Press. $38.

THE BIBLE REPAIRMAN AND OTHER STORIES
By Tim Powers
170 pages. Tachyon Publications. $14.95.

Almost lovely enough to warm these little fingers!


Small Beer Podcast 1: Delia Sherman and The Freedom Maze

Thu 20 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | 2 Comments | Posted by: Julie

Delia Sherman is a woman very close to our hearts here at Small Beer Press. To launch our latest podcasting venture, we decided to chat with Delia about her latest book, The Freedom Maze, her Southern roots and the stubborn nature of dreams.

Episode 1: Delia Sherman Discusses Her Latest Book, The Freedom Maze with Julie Day of Small Beer Press.

Oh, and if  the excerpt Delia reads catches your fancy, and we think it will, you can preorder The Freedom Maze right here on the Small Beer site.

This is the first in a two or three month podcasting series.  Tune back in as we discuss everything from yarrow-flavored beer to Mexican speculative fiction.

Subscribe to the Small Beer podcast in iTunes or using the service of your choice:

rss feed


We go to Boston!

Fri 14 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on We go to Boston! | Posted by: Gavin

Tomorrow—god willing and the creek don’t rise—Kelly and I will be at the Boston Book Fair. We have a booth (#12) and will have copies of our new yet-to-be released collection: Maureen F. McHugh’s After the Apocalypse. The  fair runs 10-6 and at 11 a.m., we’ll be off for this:

Steampunk!
11:00am Boston Public Library Rabb Auditorium 700 Boylston Street

Is it a literary genre, an aesthetic style, or a way of life? It may be all of the above! Join Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, co-editors of the new Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, as well as Spiderwick Chronicles co-author Holly Black and steampunk creator Allison DeBlasio (aka Mrs. Grymm) for a discussion of all things steampunk, from goggles to gyrocopters. Wear a costume and you may win a prize or get to see the session while seated on stage. Moderated by Maya Escobar, Teen Librarian at the Cambridge Public Library.

Also attending the book fair: Karen Russell, Kate Beaton (read Kelly’s interview with her here), Francis Moore Lappe, Chris “Charlie Parker Played Be-Bop” Raschka, and, lo, the many more.

Also attending: Drawn & Quarterly, NYRB, Melville House, Godine, NESFA, Zephyr, Barefoot—or, 75 publishers and other groups of interest!

And: you can see Kelly’s panel from last year’s Book Fest (with Maria Tatar, Kate Bernheimer, and Kathryn Davis) here.


Temporary podcast starting soon

Thu 13 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Ooh! Julie Day, who came to us through the excellent offices of Jim Kelly and the Stonecoast MFA program, will be doing a podcast here for the next few weeks. Topics will be widespread!

Julie has lined up interviews with Elizabeth Hand, Michael J. DeLuca, Delia Sherman, and maybe a few others and there will be readings by them and a few others, too.

If you have questions, post them here. The podcast will be subscribable from here and (after the first one is up) on iTunes.


Delia’s doing readings

Thu 13 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Delia’s doing readings | Posted by: Gavin

ETA: ARC giveaway!

Tonight(!) she’s on a panel as part of that fascinating Big Read series of events in New York City. Then, when The Freedom Maze comes out she has two readings arranged (and more TK we hope in Massachusetts):

Sunday, Nov. 13, 1 p.m — Multi-author reading
Books of Wonder, 18 W. 18th St., New York, NY
Delia Sherman, Tamora Pierce, John Connolly, and Rae Carson, read at the storied Books of Wonder.

Thursday, Nov. 17, 7 p.m. Young Adult Author Event
Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19119
Readings and Discussion with Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Wisdom’s Kiss) and Delia Sherman (The Freedom Maze).

Set in the same world as her fantasy Princess Ben, Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Wisdom’s Kiss offers a tale of adventure, plotting, angst, and romance, presented through documentary evidence — the journals of Princess Wisdom and her betrothed’s mother, Duchess Wilhelmina; the letters of the Queen Mother and the swordsman’s apprentice (but not to each other); memoirs of the swordsman and the orphaned seer Trudy; encyclopedia entries; even scenes from a play!

Delia Sherman’s The Freedom Maze takes a more serious tone. Slated to spend the summer on her family’s sugar plantation in Louisiana, 13-year-old Sophie wishes for a storybook adventure and is sent back in time by 100 years. In Sophie’s own 1960, there is no question of who is black and who is white. It has never occurred to her that in 1860, tanned and barefoot, she might be taken for a slave . . .


Thanks Steve

Thu 6 Oct 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Thanks Steve | Posted by: Gavin

Without him, this world would be less shiny, harder work. I’m writing this on an Apple computer—everything we’ve done at Small Beer (except some author tax forms from Staples which only worked on a pc!) has been done on a variety of Apple computers. I’ve only ever bought Apple computers because they were made with people like me in mind. I’m not the most technologically gifted person and I don’t have stacks of high powered computers available. I have tools that will do the job—and sometimes distract from the job, too. For a while the press was run off my and Kelly’s laptops. That we could do that is down to one guy.

Steve Jobs and his drive to bring the future into the present (I still like CDs!) sometimes drove me crazy but over the years the compatibility problems decreased and suddenly Apple users were everywhere. I liked that he was building a small house instead of a mansion—although maybe that was more to do with being seriously ill, than being a fan of small houses. I don’t have many of his recent machines (no iPhone, no iPad) but I love my 10-year-old iPod.

I never met him, I just miss him. He pushed and pushed and everything he did suggested that the world could be a better place. Awesome.


Library Journal says you might like this book

Fri 30 Sep 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Library Journal says you might like this book | Posted by: Gavin

There was actual whooping in the office today when this came in!

Library Journal
October 1, 2011
Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic
Edited by Eduardo Jiménez Mayo and Chris N. Brown, Small Beer Press,  9781931520317

“Encompassing a definition of fantasy that includes the extraterrestrial, the supernatural, the macabre, and the spectral, these stories are set in unusual locales and deal with bizarre characters. All are very short (some just two pages), and most offer a surprise twist at the end, though occasionally the only reaction these endings may elicit from the reader is “Huh?” The universal scope of the themes transcends the Mexican provenance; for example, one detects an apocalyptic influence in Liliana V. Blum’s “Pink Lemonade,” and Argentine Julio Cortázar’s “Bestiary” influences Bernardo Fernández’s “Lions.” Most of the volume’s 34 authors, half of whom are women, are relatively unknown to American readers, and for many of them, publication in this anthology represents their first exposure to an English-reading audience. The translations, several of which were done by the editors, convey the individuality, if not idiosyncrasies, of these tales. VERDICT This collection will appeal mostly to fans of fantasy and sf and, to a lesser degree, those interested in contemporary Mexican literature.”


If this is Saturday, it must be Baltimore

Thu 22 Sep 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on If this is Saturday, it must be Baltimore | Posted by: Gavin

We go to Baltimore. Please come by and say hello!

In fact: here are some newish events for Kelly and Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories edited by Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant . . . out now (well, Oct. 11, really): 14 stories! 4 starred reviews!

Saturday, Sept. 24, 6:30 PM: Baltimore Book Festival: Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant lead a discussion about the Steampunk genre with Michael Kirby and Eden Unger-Bowditch. Come find out what Steampunk is all about! (Eek! Their description, not ours.)

October 5, 7 PM: Center for Fiction, NYC: “Why Fantasy Matters” with Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners) Felix Gilman (The Half Made World), Naomi Novik (the Temeraire series), and Lev Grossman (The Magicians) moderated by Laura Miller, a contributor to the online magazine Salon.

October 15, 11 AM: Boston Book Festival: Steampunk! with Gavin J. Grant, Holly Black and steampunk creator Allison DeBlasio (aka Mrs. Grymm). Moderated by Maya Escobar, Teen Librarian at the Cambridge Public Library.

November 3, 7 PM: Steampunk! event with Gavin J. Grant and Cassandra Clare, Odyssey Books, South Hadley, MA


Friendly

Tue 20 Sep 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Comments Off on Friendly | Posted by: Gavin

Been meaning to post something in response to this guest post by Rachel Manja Brown and Sherwood Smith at Rose Fox’s Publishers Weekly Genreville blog “Say Yes to Gay YA.” To get to the essence of it: yes, we are open to all kinds of books with all kinds of characters.

To answer a few follow on questions:

  • Yes, we are open to submissions from anyone. (Hence we are always behind on reading, sorry.)
  • No, we don’t take electronic submissions—with only Kelly and I reading if we took electronic submissions all we would do is read, we wouldn’t ever have time for anything else.
  • Yes, I and/or Kelly read everything that comes in.
  • Yes, we publish first time authors, old hands, well known and unknowns. We love books, we love the books we publish. If we love your book, we’ll publish it. We are constrained by time and budget to 10-12 books per year. (Buy our books and help us publish more!)
  • Yes, we pay advances. The highest we’ve paid is in the low five figures, so, no, you are not going to get a huge offer from us.
  • Yes, we pay industry standard royalties (although our ebook royalty is twice industry standard: 50% of net receipts).
  • Yes, our books are for sale everywhere through the good people at our distributor, Consortium.
  • Yes, all our books are available in print and ebook editions: although no doubt soon we will start adding some ebook only titles.

But all that is by the by: mostly I just wanted to make it very open and obvious that we are open to submissions from everyone.

Posted this morning after watching this video (link from Metafilter):


Freedom Maze final cover

Mon 19 Sep 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

It wraps round, see, so you need to see the whole big bright and shiny thing—now with added Gregory Maguire for joy.

Did we mention the first review it received was a starred review in Kirkus Reviews? Happy? Yes, indeedy!

Clickity click click!

https://smallbeerpress.com/images/Sherman-Freedom_Maze.gif


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