On how to quiet a baby

Tue 15 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on On how to quiet a baby | Posted by: Gavin

Mystery baby by Adam Tinworth“I will only mention that, after a good deal of experiment, I found one infallible method of stopping the baby’s howls. This was to put it in the pram and race it at top speed (I should say here that I had won the fifteen years and under three-quarter mile at the village sports) round and round the field. The baby liked this. Unfortunately Tweetie the dog didn’t care for it; he was nervous about my running, maybe he thought I was trying to kidnap the child, and insisted on racing beside me, taking a nip out of my calf every so often and barking in a high-pitched hysterical manner.”
—from “Harp Music” by Joan Aiken in The Monkey’s Wife and Other Stories

Photo by Adam Tinworth.

Sandstorm day and more

Wed 2 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on Sandstorm day and more | Posted by: Gavin

Sandstorm: A Forgotten Realms Novel (Forgotten Realms) Cover

Just sneaking this in before the end of . . .

Sandstorm Day!

Woot! And I am not even a player of said game but I sure am going to read that book.

Also: Carrie Frye is the new editor of The Awl! (Ok, so this is last week’s news, but the internets, they don’t always work around here.) Magnificent!

Holy crap: we’ve had bagels for breakfast with an Oscar winner! Congratulations to Shaun Tan et al! ((Locus says: “The film can be viewed in its entirety at www.indiemoviesonline.com.”)

Go join Karen Joy Fowler and the Tiptree Bookclub talking about Maureen F. McHugh’s excellent story “Useless Things” from Eclipse 3 (edited by Jonathan Strahan).

A new book award voted on by indie booksellers: could be fun. Also: any suggestions for a name for the award are welcome. Could be more fun!

Two nontraditional places to find our books (and we have a cool announcement about that very thing coming here soon, too): a fundraiser and an awareness raiser!

Con or Bust is expanding and they are having a huge fundraiser. We’re offering Small Beer Sixpacks (if you go up to $200, they come with your own engraved, wooden sixpack holder!), LCRW subscriptions (—Avec chocolat? —Mais oui!) and advanced reading copies of some sekrit yet-to-be-published books! Bid here please!

The Ranting Dragon is running a huge giveaway to encourage/challenge more readers (especially younger readers) to vote in the Locus poll. Seemed like a good idea to us (and to many other publishers!) so there are tons of books being given away including all of our included titles—including 5 copies of LCRW 26. Freebies! Tons of them!


Redemption nominated for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature

Wed 2 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Redemption nominated for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature | Posted by: Gavin

We are immensely honored to share the news that Karen Lord’s debut novel Redemption in Indigo has been longlisted for a major new award for books by Caribbean writers, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

The OCM Bocas Prize will be awarded for the first time in April 2011. The prize includes an award of US$10,000, sponsored by One Caribbean Media.

The Longlist:

Poetry
Elegguas, by Kamau Brathwaite (Barbados) — Wesleyan
A Light Song of Light, by Kei Miller (Jamaica) — Carcanet
White Egrets, by Derek Walcott (St. Lucia) — Faber

Fiction
The Loneliness of Angels, by Myriam Chancy (Haiti/USA) — Peepal Tree
Redemption in Indigo, by Karen Lord (Barbados) — Small Beer Press
The Amazing Absorbing Boy, by Rabindranath Maharaj (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada) — Knopf Canada
How to Escape a Leper Colony, by Tiphanie Yanique (US Virgin Islands) — Graywolf

Non-fiction
Beauty and Sadness, by Andre Alexis (Trinidad and Tobago/Canada) — House of Anansi
Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti/USA) — Princeton
The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief, by V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad and Tobago/UK) — Picador

The winners in the three genre categories will be announced on 28 March, and the Prize will be presented on 30 April, during the first annual Bocas Lit Fest in Port of Spain. More information on the longlisted books is here.


What I Hear, by Karen Joy Fowler

Tue 1 Mar 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on What I Hear, by Karen Joy Fowler | Posted by: Gavin

What I Hear, by Karen Joy Fowler

I made a decision at the start of this blog to leave the iPod behind when I walked, but it doesn’t mean there’s no music. I spend most of my life with a song in my head. Not a song, really, so much as a bit of a song, a few lines that repeat. With great effort I can finish the song or substitute another in, but the original snatch returns as soon as the effort ceases. This is not usually unpleasant. It depends on the song. Sometimes I enjoy trying to track back how that particular song ended up in my head at that particular time. Sometimes I can’t. In any case, I’m used to it.

This morning’s was Acadian Driftwood.

Try’n’ to raise a family. End up the enemy
Over what went down on the Plains of Abraham

What did go down on the Plains of Abraham? You might be surprised to hear that Canadian history wasn’t covered much in school here. Read more


What I See, part 11, by Karen Joy Fowler

Mon 28 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on What I See, part 11, by Karen Joy Fowler | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 11, by Karen Joy Fowler

The weather here has been erratic. MJ and I have taken our walks in rain and in wind so strong I was knocked off my feet. Snow was predicted here at sea level one morning, but never materialized. Other days have been like spring. I meant to report on all of them. But I’ve been distracted by travel, work, and family. And mesmerized by the events in the Middle-East and the midwest. I’ve been so discouraged by the drumbeat of men with money (fresh off the windfall of the Bush tax-cut extensions) soberly insisting on the need for a shared sacrifice in which they’ll have no share. Put the people who are actually sacrificing on my television please instead of these buffoons. Let me look at the incredibly bravery of the people in Libya and be awed. Let me look at the crowds in my beloved Madison, Wisconsin, and be hopeful.

Read more


Founder of Palm has trouble getting health insurance

Sun 20 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

This shows precisely why the US needs a new health insurance system. As I’ve said before, “In the USA I don’t know a single person, rich or poor, who doesn’t worry about their health insurance.” And here is a fantastic editorial in the NYTimes from Donna Dubinsky, a co-founder of Palm Computer and Handspring who struggled to find health insurance. And you know if some rich computer exec can’t get covered, what chance do the rest of us (those outside the Great Commonwealth of Massachusetts) have?

“THIS isn’t the story of a poor family with a mother who has a dreadful disease that bankrupts them, or with a child who has to go without vital medicines. Unlike many others, my family can afford medical care, with or without insurance.”

At the end she has a superb suggestion:

“If members of Congress feel so strongly about undoing this important legislation, perhaps we should stop providing them with health insurance. Let’s credit their pay for the amount that has been paid by the taxpayers, and let them try to buy health insurance in the individual market. My bet is that they all would be denied. Health insurance reform might suddenly not seem to them like such a bad idea.” In addition, to learn on other insurance services, visit homeowners insurance silverdale wa for more information.

Oh absolutely yes.

Let those senators and congresspeople go out and see how just wonderfully transparent and easy to use the market is. Once they get a taste of that medicine, they’ll be on the reform train in no time.


Boskone

Thu 17 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Boskone | Posted by: Gavin

Hey, we’re going to be at Boskone this weekend. Here’s Kelly’s and my schedules—all dependent of course on all people with colds/flus/con crud staying away, por favor, so that we can bring Ursula and have some fun running around with her. Not sure what we’re going to do at naptime. Maybe go off home. Michael will be there, too, although I’m not sure if he’s panelling after all. We’ll be sporting some nice new shirts and will be experimenting with a Weightless thing.

Kelly Link:

Saturday 11am Harbor 3: New Faces of Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

These exceptional writers may still be in the early stages of their career, but already we catch glimpses of greatness. Let’s name names — and talk about what makes them so special.

Laird Barron, Peter V. Brett, Paul Di Filippo (m), David Anthony Durham, Kelly Link

Sunday 1pm Harbor 1: A Child’s Garden of Dystopias — the Boom in Nasty Worlds for Children

Why do dystopias and YA literature seem to go together? Are YA dystopias more common now than previously? Are there differences between YA and adult dystopias — perhaps a different ratio of cynicism to hope? How does “if this goes on” fit in? Consider this article.

Bruce Coville, Theodora Goss, Jack M. Haringa (m), Kelly Link

Gavin:

Saturday 1pm Lewis: The Small Press: Bigger Than Ever?

Boutique publishers and small presses are publishing more of the best stuff in the field every year. True? Who? How? Why? And what about the future? What’s the role of the small press in a world dominated by e-books?

Neil Clarke, Gavin Grant, Valerie L. Grimm (m), Joe Hill

Sunday 11am Harbor 3: The e-Book Market

E-books appear to be the wave of the future. How does a professional who wishes to continue to make a living surf that wave?

Jeffrey A. Carver, Neil Clarke (m), John R. Douglas, Gavin Grant, Charles Stross, Eleanor Wood


A new year with Georges-Olivier

Tue 15 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

100 Years of Unease by Edward Gauvin (translator of Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud’s A Life on Paper: Stories)

The Hôtel de Massa is a handsome historical edifice in the 14th arrondissement, not far south of the Sorbonne, on the rue du Faubourg St. Jacques. It is the headquarters of the Société des Gens de Lettres, a sort of French Authors Guild, of which Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud was president from 2000 to 2002. He had told me to meet him there at a quarter to one, and he was late.

The receptionist rose from her desk and came to the lobby to tell me that his RER commuter train had been delayed. Later, striding briskly toward the restaurant, Châteaureynaud explained that someone had committed suicide by leaping onto the tracks. They were probably still cleaning the remains off now. If he hadn’t given up and changed trains, he might still be waiting. The thought of another year was apparently, for some, a terrible prospect. Read more


What I See, part 10, by Karen Joy Fowler

Mon 14 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 10, by Karen Joy Fowler

Recently our walks have been curtailed by Mojito’s surgery. Not abandoned, but shorter and slower. She’s sporting some Frankenstein’s monster stitchery and is only just recovering the bounce in her step. The vet described her as a relatively young dog, which surprised me as she’s ten, but according to the chart in his office, ten for a dog is comparable to fifty-six for a person, which does make her the youngest creature in the house, a mere sprig, and explains her youthful attitudes and behaviors.

Odd sightings today.

A singing tree: Just west of the dog beach, along the clifftop is a Monterey pine. There are many Monterey pines along the cliff and one tries not to have favorites, but this is a very appealing tree. Today it was making a tremendous racket as I approached and I had to get quite close to understand that a congress of blackbirds was hidden among the needles, each of them shouting as loudly as possible. There were so many that if they’d all flapped their wings at once, the tree would have taken flight.

A leaping cat: MJ and I were coming home along the north edge of the park when I saw a flash of white. It appeared briefly above the blackberry vines and then disappeared again. This repeated until I was close enough to see that it was a cat, bouncing straight up and down in the bramble as if it were on a pogo stick. Of course, MJ’s appearance put an end to all such joyous behaviors and I never did figure out what the what was there.

A drunken surfer: Or maybe not. He was headed back from the beach, still wet, still in his wet-suit, surfboard under one arm and carrying an enormous, almost empty bottle of Jack Daniels in the other hand. Though it’s entirely possible that he hadn’t been drinking—drinking while surfing certainly seems inadvisable in the extreme. It’s entirely possible that he was merely picking up someone else’s litter.

There was a monthly community clean-up underway. When I first walked through the park this morning, it looked fine, but later I had no trouble filling a pail with trash. I found many cigarette butts, wrappers from straws, beer bottles, and napkins. Empty bean cans and bits of tin foil. Condoms, which I’d rather not find, but at least suggest responsible sex. There are many things I’ve done in my life that it shames me to remember, but littering is not among them. Put it on my tombstone. She Didn’t Litter.

Previous posts:

What I See
What I See, part 2
Interrupting our regular schedule . . .
What I See, part 3
What I See, part 4
What I See, part 5
What I See, part 6
What I See, part 7
What I See, part 8
What I See, part 9


1/2 story, Locus, TK

Mon 7 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on 1/2 story, Locus, TK | Posted by: Gavin

I have a story up at Strange Horizons this week! Or, at least, the first part. Part 2 will be up next Monday. Can’t wait to see what happens.

Last week’s story at Strange Horizons was a reprint of “The Third Wish” by Joan Aiken, nicely presented with an Introduction by one of the fiction editors, Jed Hartman.

We have four books on the Locus Recommended Reading List, Meeks, Redemption in Indigo, The Poison Eaters, and What I Didn’t See. Not too bad!

We published nine books last year (+ 2 issues of LCRW!), these four plus four that weren’t eligible for the list: a reprint (Ted Chiang’s collection), two novels that aren’t spec fic, (Kathe Koja’s Under the Poppy and Alasdair Gray’s Old Men in Love), the Daily Planner, and the first publication in English of Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud (A Life on Paper: Stories). It’s disappointing that A Life on Paper didn’t make the list but to make up for it there’s a nice review up at Devil’s Lake—a well-named lit journal from UW Madison.

Last week I was looking for any recs on mobile broadband devices and while Verizon gets the thumbs up, it’s pricey so I was leaning toward Virgin Mobile—but they’re putting on a data limit of 5GB/month (which I think I’d pass given we’re always uploading new things to Weightless). So now I’m wondering if anyone has used localnet? Looks old fashioned, but I only need better internet access for 3-6 months. Anyone know it?

And, Later this week Karen Joy Fowler and Edward Gauvin will be popping by.


Wind me up

Thu 3 Feb 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Wind me up | Posted by: Gavin

It’s been a while since I looked at where our electricity company gets its power. The last one I can find is October 2009. I’d stacked up this year’s reports so here is far too much info on the New England GreenStart program’s power source. Looks like we are up to 13.2% power from solar and wind. Which means it has tripled since 2008: not bad. Bummer for me though: they just sent me a note saying the unit cost price for the “green” electricity is tripling (! . . . I think because they can) by about $20 a month. Hmm.

Not sure they can keep increasing the solar and wind power quite as fast—so bring on the the Cape Cod Wind Farm, and as many more as they can build asap.

Our office in Easthampton is 40 miles south of Vermont’s leaky old nuclear power plant, Vermont Yankee (seen here being gently buzzed by Greenpeace’s thermal airship) and here in Boston we’re 40 miles south another nuclear plant in New Hampshire. Eek! Build me a windfarm and coat my building in solar panels now!

March 2018 Update: We have installed solar panels on our roof so this is all going to change!

Update: As far as I can see it’s pretty much always 75% “small hydro” (is that “greener” than “big hydro”? Is there less damage from dams?) and then a mix of mostly wind, then solar, and digester gas.

Update: Vermont Yankee is closing, yay!

Spring 2018

This is where GreenStart have started dropping non-Class 1 hydro power:

  • 33% old hydro
  • 24% wind
  • 5% solar
  • 2% new hydro
  • 36% standard mix:
    • natural gas 40%
    • imported power 19%
    • nuclear 11%
    • oil 9%
    • wind 7%
    • solar 3%
    • hydro 3%
    • municipal trash 3%
    • coal 3%
    • other renewable 2%

Winter 2017/18

This is where GreenStart have started dropping non-Class 1 hydro power:

  • 53% old hydro
  • 21% wind
  • 5% solar
  • 2% biomass
  • 1% new hydro
  • 17% standard mix:
    • natural gas 42%
    • imported power 19%
    • oil 10%
    • nuclear 7%
    • municipal trash 5%
    • wind 5%
    • coal 3%
    • solar 3%
    • hydro 3%
    • biomass 2%
    • other renewable 2%

Fall 2017

  • 71% old hydro
  • 6% new hydro
  • 3% biomass
  • 6% solar
  • 14% wind

Summer 2017

  • 74.9% hydro
  • 3.4% landfill gas
  • 5.4% biomass
  • 4.2% solar
  • 12% wind

Spring 2017

  • 75% hydro
  • 7% digester gas
  • 5% solar
  • 13% wind

Winter 2017 — hydro back to 75%

  • 75% hydro
  • 7% digester gas
  • 6% solar
  • 12% wind

Fall 2016 — first time hydro has dropped 1%

  • 74% hydro
  • 8% biomass
  • 4% solar
  • 14% wind

Summer 2016

  • 75% hydro
  • 8% biomass
  • 2% solar
  • 15% wind

Spring 2016

  • 75% hydro
  • 6% biomass
  • 3% solar
  • 16% wind

Winter 2016

  • 75% hydro
  • 5% biomass
  • 4% solar
  • 16% wind

Autumn 2015

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 4% gas digester
  • 5% solar
  • 16% wind

Summer 2015

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 1% digester gas
  • 5% solar
  • 19% wind

Spring 2015:

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 2% digester gas
  • 7% solar
  • 16% wind

Autumn 2014:

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 3% digester gas
  • 6% solar
  • 16% wind

Summer 2014 was nearly the same as the previous 2 quarters:

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 3% digester gas
  • 5% solar
  • 17% wind

It is depressing to look at our supplier, National Grid’s “standard mix” of power. Lot of change to come here:

  • 36% “natural” gas
  • 28% nuclear
  • 15% imported
  • 6% oil
  • 5% coal
  • 5% municipal trash
  • 3% wind
  • 1% biomass
  • 1% hydro

Spring 2014 was exactly the same as:
Winter 2014 (back to “disgester gas”—how is your digestion?)

  • 75% “small hydro”
  • 4% digester gas
  • 6% solar
  • 15% wind

Autumn 2013 (same as spring except with a new title for hydro. But, really, is hydro low impact? Relatively. Maybe.)

  • 75% hydroelectric (now retitled small hydro. hmm)
  • 3% biogas
  • 6% solar
  • 16% wind

Summer 2013 (same as spring except with a new title for hydro. But, really, is hydro low impact? Relatively, maybe.)

  • 74.9% hydroelectric (now retitled low impact hydro. hmm)
  • 14.5% Digester Gas (cow power)
  • 4.1% solar
  • 6.4% wind

Spring 2013

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 14.5% Digester Gas (cow power) [that’s really what it says!]
  • 4.1% solar
  • 6.4% wind

Winter 2013

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 14.5% biomass (“wood, other plant matter, or landfill gas”)
  • 4.1% solar
  • 6.4% wind

Falll 2012

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 16.2% landfill gas
  • 3.3% solar
  • 5.6% wind

Spring 2011

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 9.9% biomass
  • 6.9% solar
  • 8.2% wind

Winter 2010

  • 74.9% hydroelectric
  • 11.8% biomass
  • 7.2% solar
  • 6.0% wind

Read more


Calendar, idiocy, limitations, 1 in 25, us & more

Thu 27 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Comments Off on Calendar, idiocy, limitations, 1 in 25, us & more | Posted by: Gavin

Do yourself a favor: order Swamplandia now.

coverHere’s a suggestion for next year’s calendar: Storytellers 2012: The Author Interview Calendar from Balladier Press. Locally made and full of interviews with good people including Lois Lowry, Gregory Maguire, Sara Paretsky, Robert Pinsky, and Shaun Tan.

I find it hard to believe that Nick Bilton is “the lead technology writer for the New York Times” because in this article he seems clueless about books and rights &c. Maybe it’s because I’m mired in them everyday. It’s funny: if he’d gone to a library, I’d be fine with this (ugh, teasing apart behaviours!) as they would have bought the books. At least pay your coffee rent if you’re going to sit there playing with the books for hours. (Via firebrand Pat Holt)

BTW Nick, yes, you are doing wrong. But as Nicola Griffith says readers are who we’re trying to reach and it frustrates me when I can’t make the customer happy. (Well, most of the time. I’ve worked retail: the customer is frequently right but sometimes completely wrong.) I’m completely frustrated because agents and writers won’t sell World English ebook rights even though no one else is going to buy those rights which means readers everywhere except in North America (hello Mexican readers, hello Brazil, hello Charles, & so on) will be left to either go without (go on, try it, you’ll love not reading that book . . . er, wait . . .) or pirating. Wonder which one they’ll choose?

LucilleAnyway, in happy news today, A Life on Paper by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud and translated from the French by Edward Gauvin, is on the 25-title long list for the Best Translated Book Award. In March they throw 15 of those books out and “Winners will be announced on April 29th in New York City, as part of the PEN World Voices Festival.” Just in time, we have a post coming up from Edward about a recent conversation he had with Châteaureynaud about his career. Edward’s in Belgium reading and translating—can’t wait to see what he comes up with—and here he writes about the best fry joint in Brussels and to going to a comics signing with Ludovic Debeurme, Top Shelf are going to publish his book Lucille in the US this spring, and he will be at the PEN World Voices Festival. Maybe everyone will be there! Maybe we should go. See you there?

And there’s a great closely read review of LCRW 26 at SFF Portal.

You have to go see what Australian zinester Vanessa Berry did to her house when her book club read Magic for Beginners.

Hey look, there’s a profile of the press in one of our local papers, the Valley Advocate—except I am not in the Valley this week. Someone save me a copy! (Also, it got picked up by io9, nice!) I like that the writer takes the story wider at the end:

It’s an oft-heard story in the Valley: an idea that coalesces from the background noise of urban hipster climes comes to rest here. Such moves are often generated by practical concerns like lower rent and quality of life, but the accretion of cultural capital like that of Small Beer or a hundred more arts-driven enterprises has made the Valley a place like few others.

He’s right. You can hardly toss a caber down Northampton’s Main Street (as with Easthampton, Amherst, Hadley, Holyoke, etc.) without it bouncing off two artists (they make them strong out there), being photographed a couple of times, having a dance piece choreographed about it, at at last squishing a couple of writers.


What I See, part 9, by Karen Joy Fowler

Thu 27 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on What I See, part 9, by Karen Joy Fowler | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 9, by Karen Joy Fowler

According to today’s paper, sea otter deaths are increasing. The probable cause is various diseases carried in the water run-off. Kitty litter is particularly suspect. So that feeling I had that all was well in the bay has been short-lived.

This week Mojito is scheduled for some major surgery. She has to have a large, (benign!) fatty growth removed from her chest. What this surgery will cost us would, in the 1800s, have bought a comfortable house in San Diego or four sea otter pelts. I just wish we were spending it on something she’d enjoy.

So I’m thankful that today’s walk was so perfect. The big surprise was to find the dog beach completely free of seaweed. The beach has been adopted by both a hydroponics firm and a spezialtiefbau construction company, but I can’t imagine they would, or could, have managed such a clean-up. It must have been the tide and I noticed that while usually the curl of the waves are black with seaweed, today they were an empty, glassy green. We have apparently arrived at the dog beach’s no-seaweed season.  I never noticed before that there was one.

We had that clean sand all to ourselves, which is the way MJ likes it. And she found a tennis ball. I don’t take tennis balls to the beach because they result in certain obsessive behaviors that spoil the rest of the walk. But finding a ball on the beach works for everyone. MJ chased it in the waves. She dug holes and buried it. She played a game of solitary catch, tossing it up and catching it again. She was one happy dog.

Afterward, she carried it carefully up the stairs and for another block or so before it got to be too much of a responsibility and she abandoned it in the ice plant.

Previous posts:

What I See
What I See, part 2
Interrupting our regular schedule . . .
What I See, part 3
What I See, part 4
What I See, part 5
What I See, part 6
What I See, part 7
What I See, part 8


a question for kid’s booksellers/librarians

Wed 26 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

The Fires Beneath the Sea cover - click to view full sizeWe’ve been sending out galleys of our May title, Lydia Millet’s The Fires Beneath the Sea, to children’s booksellers and librarians and have 15 more available.

Booksellers/librarians please email us at info at smallbeerpress.com with your work (i.e. bookshop or library) address and we’ll drop you one in the mail (as soon as the next nor’easter is done!).

And! Consortium has some more galleys for librarians here.

ETA: That’s it, we’re out! We received tons of requests: thank you to everyone who forwarded it on.


Library of a global nomad by Karen Lord

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

Library of a global nomad by Karen Lord

I inherited a love of travel from my father and a love of books from my mother, and it has been a challenge trying to balance the two. Books accumulate, and when they accumulate while I am away from home, I have a problem. They are heavy, shipping is costly, and you can only fit so many books into a suitcase before it becomes a health and safety issue for both you and the luggage handlers.

I tried to save the best, of course. Each time I went home I’d leave a few behind, even if that meant I wouldn’t see them for a year. I bought second hand books, reasoning that it would be less painful to give those up, but that ploy failed when I became emotionally attached to the familiar old covers of earlier editions. Some of the best could not be saved; textbooks trump fiction when choosing which doorstopper to transport. And some, best or not, I still gave away when I got home . . . say book three to a friend who had books one, two and four of a series (those were the days before the broad choice of online bookstores).

I dreamed of ebooks. I discovered Project Gutenberg, read texts on my Tungsten and imagined the day when I would be able to hold entire libraries of leisure reading, textbooks and research papers on a light, sturdy, paperback-sized screen. Of course I prefer ‘the real thing’. I have my page-flipping search technique down to a fine art and shun the common bookmark (real or virtual). Furthermore, I am a vigorous reader. I do not sit posed and polite with the book held gently open to preserve the spine from breaking. I roll on the floor with books. I eat with a book in one hand. I take books to places with water, sand and grit, places inimical to the delicate structures of electronic devices. But I will never be rich enough to afford to travel with a proper collection of deadtree books.

Things are improving—e-readers, formats and availability of titles—but my dream has adjusted slightly. I want both. I want a publisher to give me, the reader, a reasonable print and e-book package, the real and the virtual together. Imagine the possibilities! I could buy a e-book to read while in London and have the print version sent home for my library in Barbados. I could arrange for the book to be shipped to a friend, or to an after-school reading club. In fact, why don’t publishers adopt some literary charitable concern or outreach programme and encourage me to buy a package with the option to donate the print or audiobook portion towards the indoctrination of a new generation of literati?

I don’t know how this post went from book nostalgia to world domination, but there it is. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to research e-readers and bookcase design and create a plan of action and a timeline for making my dream come true.

Previous posts:

Crossroads
Fictional Geography
Endings
Ghost in the Machine


Happy Burns Night

Tue 25 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Happy Burns Night | Posted by: Gavin

Just before the end of the day: the kid’s asleep and it’s time for a dram to celebrate Burns Night! We had our (veggie) haggis, neeps, and tatties for dinner—accompanied by Michael’s excellent beer.

Before dinner I gave a quick rendition of “Address to a Haggis” which made Ursula laugh. She didn’t try the haggis this year, maybe next time.

Away!


Amazon’s latest snack: an ALA email newsletter

Tue 25 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Amazon’s latest snack: an ALA email newsletter | Posted by: Gavin

The other day when Booklist Online Exclusives monthly newsletter came in it announced that Amazon is now sponsoring them. Erk. There’s no escape!

The newsletter now has a ton of links to Amazon, a bestseller list, and a new section (“Sponsored Content”) that gives a “profile of an author published by either AmazonEncore or AmazonCrossing.” Does this mean the newsletter has just lost its editorial independence?

Does sponsoring one measly newsletter (or it could be more for all I know) mean Amazon has any influence over the ALA? Probably not. The ALA is huge. But this recent article on college applications in the Times (“applicants to a parent’s alma mater had, on average, seven times the odds of admission of nonlegacy applicants”) which says money can have a direct influence outcome does give pause for thought.

Recently Amazon have been throwing money at as many literary nonprofits and organizations as they can and everyone is clamoring for it because fundraising, which is always difficult, is even harder right now.

Mostly, these sponsorships are cheap PR for Amazon. Slate wrote about this at some point and pointed out Amazon don’t say how much they give nor how often. Did they give a grant to 826 Seattle once, or is it annual? The application is right there on that page but they can’t “respond individually to each request.” Transparency and Amazon never go hand in hand.

Part of me is irked that they screw publishers harder than anyone else on one side then get props in the literary field for supporting some great organizations. Including, ironically, some nonprofit publishers. Nice to know that the extra % they demand every year is going back to support their books.

But this is just me worrying about opening another email and seeing it too has been taken over by Amazon. I know they can’t take over everything but it sure feels they’re trying to sometimes.


Beer? Books? Tea!

Tue 25 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on Beer? Books? Tea! | Posted by: Gavin

Go bid on a Small Beer Sixpack at Con or Bust! (Also included: an LCRW subscription, any other non-SBP books we find around the office.) If you bid more than $200 we’ll swap out the local brew sixpack holder for a lovely, handmade, wooden Small Beer Press beer holder which you can proudly tote your beer (or other beverage of choice) around in for years to come.

Who? What? “Con or Bust helps people of color attend WisCon and other SFF conventions that are committed to increasing racial diversity and understanding in science fiction and fantasy fandom and the field generally.”

What’s this Sixpack? Listeners to “Forum with Michael Krasny” on KQED in San Francisco can hear more about it tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at approximately 10:52 because they have some Sixpacks to give out to supporters. San Francisco: get your radio and your books on!

Also, later in spring, WPR in Minnesota will have some, too.

Meanwhile, I just made a pot of Fahari Ya Kenya tea—it’s lovely stuff: a real rocket to the moon. Half the time (actually: more than half) I end up making bog standard tea using Irish or British teabags so it was nice to make a real pot. The tea was brought from Kenya by a local writer, David Rowinski (who will have a story in an upcoming issue of LCRW), who picked it up while visiting his wife, singer Sali Oyugi. He also brought some books and we’ve been listening to one of his wife’s previous CDs, “The Return: Journey to the Source.” This song isn’t on the CD but here’s one of her’s on the mighty Tube:


What I See, part 8, by Karen Joy Fowler

Tue 25 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on What I See, part 8, by Karen Joy Fowler | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 8, by Karen Joy Fowler

I was up and on my walk early this morning, which is the way I like it, though I don’t set the alarm because what’s the point of being a writer if you get up with an alarm? The sun was rising; the sky was pink and the water was silver. And there was a wild tangle of contrails in the sky as if some jet had been buzzing about like a bee. I walked with my back to the sun and my face toward the full moon, which was still falling into the mountains. Incredibly beautiful, even the contrails.

I’ve been seeing the bay as an imperiled system, as it clearly is. But it’s also a system recovered and today I’m happily focused on that. Last night I went to the Capitola Book Café and heard Stephen R. Palumbi talk about his co-authored book, The Death and Life of Monterey Bay. As a result, I now know that the bay was nearly destroyed by pollution and over-fishing, but is currently in its best shape in some 200 years. I can’t tell you how much knowing this improves my walk.

I haven’t been mentioning the sea otters much, though I do usually see some. It turns out my silence concerning them is a local tradition. In the 1800’s the otters were hunted, people thought, to extinction. For many years, the few that survived were protected by residents around Monterey Bay by an informal agreement of secrecy.

Around 1937, the otter population began to rebound. As a direct result, the kelp forests returned. The canneries were idle. The bay began to recover from the period when they weren’t. I learned last night that this happened largely through activism. I learned that I have a great many people to thank for the beautiful bay I walk along and, it’s not important, but pleases me, that so many of them were writers. I’d already known some of their names: Ed Ricketts, John Steinbeck, Joseph Campbell. But I hadn’t heard of Julia Platt, arguably among the earliest and most effective of the activists, and she died without seeing the impact she’d eventually have, which saddens me.

I’ve been losing faith in activism—the money and power and greed of the opposition has just seemed so overwhelming—and our elected officials so unreliable. But today as I sit listening to the sea lions and the sea gulls, I’m thinking that really, we only have to be as good, we only have to try as hard and for as long, as the people who came before us. And not mind dying before anything is fixed.

A desalination plant has been proposed and is being tested in Santa Cruz. Meetings have been held regarding its potential impact on marine life. I guess I’m ready to go to some meetings.

PS – my daughter tells me that the bits of brain I saw on the beach earlier this week were probably parts of a sponge from the Monterey Bay canyon.

Previous posts:

What I See
What I See, part 2
Interrupting our regular schedule . . .
What I See, part 3
What I See, part 4
What I See, part 5
What I See, part 6
What I See, part 7


Sekrit news

Mon 24 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Sekrit news | Posted by: Gavin

I am dancing about in an annoyingly childish way singing about the sekrits I am sekritly keeping. Mostly from myself (Irrational self to rational self: “I know your bank balance, I know your bank balance, ha ha ha! ha ha!“) but also from you! Aren’t I mean!

I am actually dancing around because it is cooooold in Boston: 11 degrees F (which = Damn Cold in celsius) right now and the automatic heat in our apartment thinks it is summer so it is on low. Ha ha. So how can I have any faith in artificial intelligence when I can’t trust the stupid heater to work when it is cold?

Later this week when it is warmer Karen Lord (“I dreamed of ebooks. . . .”) and Karen Joy Fowler  (“I’ve been losing faith in activism . . .” !) will be back blogging and in the meantime Karen F’s collection has been making some pixels happy:

Karen talked with Rick Kleffel about Ursula K. Le Guin on the Agony Column podcast. (The tables get turned on Rick and he gets interviewed here.)

What I Didn’t See and Other Stories was included on a couple of great lists: the Story Prize‘s Long List of Notable Books and Gwenda Bond‘s Top Ten for 2010 (“every story shines like a rare gem”) on Locus—so that’s two great reading lists, yay!

and it was reviewed on newish site, Chamber Four:

For some authors, a short story collections is like a science lab. The stories in this collection, published over a span of nearly two decades, show Fowler experimenting with many different styles and forms distinct from her novels. But no matter the genre or subject, the author retains what makes her full-length books so successful: an attention to detail,an ear for language, and compassion for her characters. For those who have found Fowler through her novels, these stories offer a chance to encounter an imaginative storyteller as she moves from subject to subject.

And Con or Bust is running its auction where you can become a god! There will be some Small Beer goodies appearing there, too. Excellent prezzies are are available now!


I’m Reading a Book!

Fri 21 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on I’m Reading a Book! | Posted by: Gavin

(Via)


On Writing On by Vincent McCaffrey

Fri 21 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

On Writing On by Vincent McCaffrey

Everyone I have ever spoken to or read about who writes has a different reason for doing it. Love is far less complicated.

Some have similar reasons but never exactly the same.

The most often heard and most unlikely reason is money. That situation has more in common with the ’49’s who went to California to strike it rich panning gold and ended up with other lives along the way. Very few, even of the best, get rich.

Another frequently used excuse (they are all excuses after all) is to understand oneself. In a lifetime of reading I have found only a handful of writers who understood themselves and those are the ones who had such knowledge to begin with.

Fame can be dismissed with riches as patently stupid and demonstrably foolish. I can name ten great authors (not good ones–great ones), off the cuff, who are essentially unknown.

Read more


t’other day we

Thu 20 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on t’other day we | Posted by: Gavin

signed contracts with Delia Sherman for her latest novel, The Freedom Maze. Yay! Delia’s been working on this novel for years and we can’t wait to get it out to readers. Well, because of how this biz works, “can’t wait”= November! (Which, daftly, seems just around the corner in publishing terms. Bet this book is on our Best Books for the Holidays 2011 list. Ha!) The Freedom Maze is a Big Mouth House hardcover:

13-year-old Sophie isn’t happy about spending summer at her grandmother’s old house in the Bayou. But the house has a maze Sophie can’t resist exploring once she finds it has a secretive and playful inhabitant. When she makes an impulsive wish, she finds herself suddenly one hundred years in the past, in 1860. And, she is taken for a slave.

And from there, things get interesting.

We’re working on a cover (with a maze, natch), and we’ll have galleys by May if not before and we’ll try and keep y’all up to date with the happenings!


100 Years of Unease

Thu 20 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 5 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

100 Years of Unease by Edward Gauvin (translator of Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud’s A Life on Paper: Stories)

This year, the centenary of Thomas Owen’s birth, was marked in Belgium by a series of readings, lectures, and events under the general heading “100 Years of Disquiet”—a tribute to the author regularly cited, along with Jean Ray and Franz Hellens, as a pillar of Belgian fantastical fiction. Owen (1910-2002) is such a monument in Belgium it’s hard to believe that in the English-speaking world he is an exceedingly well-kept secret, known only on the basis of a single book to a handful of dedicated horror fans.

The story goes like this: there once was a lawyer named Gérald Bertot, who worked all his life in the management of the same flour-milling factory. He held a doctorate in criminology, and a side career in art criticism under the pseudonym Stéphane Rey. Spared service in World War II, he turned to writing mysteries for money, with the encouragement of Stanislas-André Steeman, a celebrated craftsman of Belgian noir. In Tonight at Eight (1941), he introduced the police commissioner Thomas Owen—a character whose name he liked so much he later took it as his own when he embarked on what he has called his true calling, his career as a fantasist. Read more


Steampunk! ToC

Wed 19 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Today Kelly and I are handing over the final copyedited manuscript of the anthology we’ve been working on for the last year or so: Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories to our editor, Deborah Noyes at Candlewick. Yay!

It’s been a huge amount of fun getting the stories (and two comics!) from the writers who hail from the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. There was the usual amount of last minute hijinks trying to corral 14 authors (including Kelly!) to go over the copyedits in superquick time, luckily for me none of them were on internet sabbatical.

But that it all done. The introduction is written, the bios are in, the stories are copyedited (and the copyediting arguments are over!) and so out the door it goes. Now we get to put together a website (although getting back to the 19th century and doing a website is harder than I expected it to be) and at some point soon we’ll get to post the cover. Candlewick showed us a couple of exciting cover roughs—more on that when it’s finalized.

And now: the table of contents!

Cassandra Clare, “Some Fortunate Future Day”
Libba Bray, “The Last Ride of the Glory Girls”
Cory Doctorow, “Clockwork Fagin”
Shawn Cheng, “Seven Days Beset by Demons” (comic)
Ysabeau Wilce, “Hand in Glove”
Delia Sherman, “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor”
Elizabeth Knox, “Gethsemene”
Kelly Link, “The Summer People”
Garth Nix, “Peace in Our Time”
Christopher Rowe, “Nowhere Fast”
Kathleen Jennings, “Finishing School” (comic)
Dylan Horrocks, “Steam Girl”
Holly Black, “Everything Amiable and Obliging”


Ghost in the Machine by Karen Lord

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

Ghost in the Machine by Karen Lord

I suffered (and I do not use the word lightly) two serious computer crashes in the weeks before Christmas. The first one was vexing, but ultimately I was complacent about my files due to my habit of backing up data at various levels and to various degrees in about five different places. The second crash, which killed my main and largest backup drive, destroyed my complacency at last.

On my first visit to the repair shop, I met a fellow customer who turned out to be a thinker. He saw me on a borrowed computer restoring my iPod, which had also suffered during the First Crash. I explained to him that although the process would restore an iPod, it would not restore my iPod, my Caritas, with my particular blend of apps, music, vids, books and settings. However, I was not worried because somewhere in the heart of my backup was the real Caritas in potentia, waiting to be called back into being.

That reads more seriously than how I said it. At the time I was giddy with the gallows-humour of the seriously-inconvenienced, and I spoke with mock-pedantry using words like aether, virtuality and potentiality.  Read more


Jean Ray by Edward Gauvin

Tue 18 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 3 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Jean Ray by Edward Gauvin (translator of Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud’s A Life on Paper: Stories)

No survey of Belgian fiction can fail to mention Jean Ray, born Raymundus Joannes Maria de Kremer—but where to begin? Any biographical account of the “Belgian Poe” seems to adopt the narrative strategy of one of his most famous stories, “La ruelle ténébreuse” (variously translated as “The Shadowy Street,” “The Street of Shadows,” and “The Tenebrous Alley,” though I prefer “The Shadowy Alley,” for Ray’s voice always lends the sinister a slightly mocking air): what knowledge there is comes to us piecemeal and unverifiable, often in conflicting accounts from scattered sources, such that the only final feeling is one of uncertainty. If his friend and self-professed disciple Thomas Owen is to be believed, Jean Ray was part Indiana Jones, part Father Damien, and part Robert Langdon—adventurer, exorcist, and esoteric scholar, at least in Owen’s short story “The Bernkastel Graveyard.” In fact it pleased this man of many pseudonyms (John Flanders, Kaptain Bill, John Sailor. J.R. Ray) to appear in his friends’ fiction: in Alice Sauton’s Iblis or the Encounter with the Evil Angel, in adventure writer Henri Vernes’ Spectres of Atlantis and Smugglers of the Caribbean, featuring Vernes’ popular hero Bob Morane, where Ray has a cameo as the sailor Tiger Jack. Ray had a particular fondness for nautical skullduggery, and actively encouraged the proliferation of rumors surrounding his person and past. Read more


What I See, part 7, by Karen Joy Fowler

Mon 17 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on What I See, part 7, by Karen Joy Fowler | Posted by: Gavin

What I See, part 7, by Karen Joy Fowler

Yesterday I resumed my cliff walk after a holiday pause. Christmas came to town much like the circus, complete with parties, guests, dreadful influenzas, and deadlines. It was either the circus or else the four horseman of the apocalypse. Those are hard to tell apart.

Mostly I enjoyed it, because my family is good, witty company and there was drinking and even, god help us, charades. But it was an indoor sort of fun, dampened by the fact that just about everyone but me got sick at some point. I gained some pounds, lost some fitness, and when I got back to my walk, I felt those things. The ocean, I’m happy to report, is still there.

My walk was a bit later in the day than usual, which yesterday meant sunshine and bluer water. But across the way, where Monterey should have been, I saw only fog, piled like snowdrift along the horizon. The dog beach was small, but there was beach so MJ and I went on down. The steps have become a mermaid stair, the railings along the bottom flight all garlanded in seaweed from time spent underwater.

And remember the four-foot wall I mentioned a few posts back? More like six feet yesterday. It occurs to me that I have yet to find the bottom of that wall, which when fully exposed may turn out to be something you could see from space.

It was a beautiful morning on which to resume my usual life. By the time the walk was over the fog had crossed the water and wrapped us up, but while we were on the dogbeach, the sun still shone. A dozen sandpipers dashed about on the wet sand like little wind-up toys. I find the leg action of sandpipers very pleasing. I can’t be the only one. Glassy blue water. The silhouettes of the sandpipers. MJ rolling in the rotted seaweed. And something washed up on the sand that my marine biologist daughter could no doubt easily identify but I could not. It appeared to be part of someone’s brain.

I touched it with the toe of my shoe and it seemed too solid to be sea-life and too soft to be shell. MJ came to see what I was looking at, took one sniff, and then backed quickly away. Twenty paces on I found a second piece of it, which MJ also gave wide berth to. MJ is good at not seeing what she doesn’t wish to see and yesterday she did not wish to see brain bits in the sand.

Previous posts:

What I See
What I See, part 2
Interrupting our regular schedule . . .
What I See, part 3
What I See, part 4
What I See, part 5
What I See, part 6


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