On the dark and lurid side

Wed 22 Sep 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on On the dark and lurid side | Posted by: Gavin

Thomson-Shore emailed us to say that Kathe Koja’s novel Under the Poppy should ship out in a couple of weeks which will get it into stores just about on publication date of October 19.B&N and Borders (who will have it stacked up—not kidding here!) will have it a week or two later. In the meantime, Library Journal really gets it:

“Despite all the trappings of puppets, sex shows, stabbings, and drawing-room treachery, this is a love story about how, sometimes despite themselves, Rupert, Istvan, and their friends have created a family. . . . she creates an atmospheric tale for those who like their historical fiction on the dark and lurid side. Those readers who enjoyed Emma Donoghue’s Slammerkin or Sarah Water’s Fingersmith will find similar themes.”
—Library Journal

Dark! Lurid! Sexy puppets! A love story. Yep. The call outs to Sarah Waters and Emma Donoghue seem right on the money.

Kathe has a couple of readings coming up—more maybe TBA. If you’re a booksellery person in the Great Lakes area you can meet her at the GLIBA Author Reception on Oct. 8th. Everyone else should dress up to the 9s and go to see her here:

Wed, Nov. 10, 7pm – 9pm
Common Language Bookstore 317 Braun Ct. Ann Arbor MI 48014
Launch event for Under the Poppy at the Blackbird Theatre sponsored by Common Language—the theatre is right across the courtyard. Dramatic reading with puppets and signing of Under the Poppy.

Thu, Nov. 11, 2010
Five15, 515 Washington Avenue, Royal Oak, MI
Kathe Koja reads from and signs her new novel Under the Poppy.

Wed, Nov. 17, 7pm – 9pm
KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Ave) New York, NY 10003
Kathe Koja reads from her new novel Under the Poppy as part of Ellen Datlow and Matt Kressel’s Fantastic Fiction @ KGB Series.

Kathe should also be taping an appearance with Jim Freund and the Hour of the Wolf in NYC and with luck will be on the radio in Detroit, too. It’s a heck of a book. Can’t wait to see it out there.


Award Season: British Fantasy Awards

Tue 21 Sep 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Award Season: British Fantasy Awards | Posted by: Gavin

Congratulations to the winners of the of the British Fantasy Awards. Continuing our rather basic count of these things here’s the breakdown:

13 men
2 women


Editing for clarity

Thu 16 Sep 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

David Moles and 100s of others point out that there are crazy people on the internets trying to tell everyone else that this country is only for people like them. Er. Wrong. David and a few others also mention that pointing this stuff out is important. I generally am not very good at speaking out when the batshitedness raises its head, but thought perhaps I should start. I was especially sad to see that the 521 comments (thus far) were deleted. Pronouncements: apparently ok! Conversations: Not so much!

So here is part of Ms. Moon’s post, edited for clarity:

I do not dispute that there are moderate, even liberal, [PEOPLE UNLIKE ME], that many [PEOPLE UNLIKE ME] have all the virtues of civilized persons and are admirable in all those ways.  I am totally, 100%, appalled at those who want to burn the [HOLY BOOK UNLIKE MY HOLY BOOK] (which, by the way, I have read in [MY LANGUAGE, NOT YOURS, OK] translation, with the same attention I’ve given to other holy books) or throw paint on [HOLY BUILDINGS THAT I DON’T WANT IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD] or beat up [PEOPLE UNLIKE ME].  But [PEOPLE UNLIKE ME] fail to recognize how much [SHIT I’VE HAD TO PUT UP WITH FROM PEOPLE UNLIKE ME] forbearance they’ve had.


New Geoff Ryman + new editions

Wed 15 Sep 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 10 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

We are very proud and happy to announce that in November we will publish Geoff Ryman’s new collection of stories, Paradise Tales. It is a huge, excellent book of short (and long!) stories collected from 20+ years of Geoff’s career. You can readShould be one of the best, most thought provoking collections of the year. The cover that you might have seen on Powell’s or Indiebound isn’t final: we’ll have that to unveil in the coming weeks.

We’ll also announce a blog giveaway for advance copies to those who might be inspired to write about the book (we’ll make sure to send a copy to the Rev. Jones in Gainesville!) and there should be a few stories appearing on the web to whet your appetite. Geoff’s stories are fantastic explorations of what it means to be human and we can’t wait to get them out there.

You can see the Table of Contents here. We’ve just added Paradise Tales to the preorder page—at some point soon we’re going to shift all our ebook links to Weightless which will mean we can use the shipping widget in Paypal. In the meantime, continued apologies to international readers: please remember to add shipping.

This is the second Geoff Ryman book we’re going to publish—but it won’t be the last! We just signed contracts to bring three of Geoff’s books back into print: The Child Garden, a biopunk future London novel with a love story between a woman and a piano playing polar bear(!), Was, which explores the book and the writing of The Wizard of Oz from many angles, and lastly Geoff’s previous novella collection, The Unconquered Country. Look for one of these every six months or so—which means The Child Garden will be out in May!


Interfictions 2—where are the paranormal cowboy romances?

Wed 15 Sep 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Interfictions 2—where are the paranormal cowboy romances? | Posted by: Gavin

Two reviewers look at Interfictions 2 and wonder whether interstitial is a reading protocol, a limitation, or . . . what? Is every story interstitial as Paul Di Filippo suggests in Asimov’s?

Imagine that you reprinted the entire contents selected by editors Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak, but without any identifying matter as to its origins, and then wrapped it inside covers labeled Eclipse 3, or The Solaris Book of New Fantasy, or the January/February issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, or even The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories for 2010. Then you gave this camouflaged book to any literate yet unsuspecting reader. Would the nominated reader, after carefully perusing X number of stories, look up and say, “Wait one darn minute! These hybrid stories are too odd for their genre label! I’m really reading interstitial fiction! Not pure fantasy or pure SF or pure mimetic fiction, as advertised!

Paul goes on to ask:

One final thought experiment. The interstices explored in this volume are exclusively those between literary fiction and SF/Fantasy. Where are the stories that lie in the uncanny valleys between, say, the espionage and nurse genres, the western and the paranormal romance?

and over at The Short Review Steven Wingate likes the book . . .

Many of the stories have a devil-may-care brio to them—the verve of knowing that their experiments might not hold completely together—and that gives the book a freshness and insouciance that many “best of”-type anthologies don’t have.

and asks the same question:

There are many interstices in the world of fiction; claiming just one as “interstitial fiction” may help gain territory for one group of writers on the cusp between the mainstream and the speculative, but what does it do for those writers who labor at one of many, many other fault lines?

Since the IAF emerged from the sf&f field, it may be natural for it to have some bent toward that genre but the stories in Interfictions 2 came from an open submission period so the answer to the above question is either in the editors’ preferences or in the population that submitted work. One of the simplest yet hardest part of editing is that you can only publish what you’re sent. Gordon Van Gelder has a great take on this. He advises writers not to edit his magazine: in other words, don’t think you know what he wants, send your story along and let him decide.

And now the book is out, it’s up to the readers to decide!


Last Week; This.

Mon 6 Sep 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Last week: found a postcard on the street for a band called A Sunny Day in Glasgow. Well that can be some rare thing so had to check them out. They have a fun—weather inappropriate—video filmed in New Orleans.

This week: prep for Sunday which is the Brooklyn Book Festival—come on by and say hi!

We could take a week in reviews like last week any time. Just in case you were worried and thought you should call your friends at Good Morning America and maybe Terri Gross or Jon Stewart and say, “Hey, you know, I think Small Beer needs a bit of down time. Why don’t you cover the Boring Blockbuster of the Week this week instead?” because, really, we don’t need you to do that. We love it! Bring it on!

Julia Holmes’s Meeks got a total dream review in the New York Times Book Review and then was an Editor’s Choice this week. Swoony! Also, Julia was interviewed on Portland’s Reading Local and picked 5 Recent Reads for Impose Magazine.

Then this week A Life on Paper and Redemption in Indigo were in Jeff VanderMeer’s Science Fiction Chronicle (hope this becomes a regular feature)—see more below.

With that review and us bringing some stock back to the office for the Book Festival both of our debut novels, Meeks and Redemption in Indigo, have shipped out their first printing—Whoop de do! (Ok, so go on: order the Alasdair Gray!)

A Life on Paper got a handful of great reviews this week—we’re hoping to publish more of Edward Gauvin’s excellent translations of Châteaureynaud. All these people agree:

“The celebrated Châteaureynaud, who over the course of a distinguished career has created short tales that are not exactly contes cruels but which linger on the edge of darkness and absurdity.”
—New York Times

“Châteaureynaud is a master craftsman, encapsulating weighty themes with pith and heart. In his hands, the short story is a Gothic cathedral whittled from a wine cork.”
—The Believer

“Châteaureynaud celebrates the quiet, hidden beauties of the world and the objects or knowledge we hold tight like talismans to protect us from its losses and horrors.”
—The Quarterly Conversation

You can get a great taste of Karen Lord’s Redemption in Indigo from her set of readings taped on launch night. From the pictures and so on it looks like a fun night and the readers were great. I had them on in the background and enjoyed their take on the book.

“A clever, exuberant mix of Caribbean and Senegalese influences that balances riotously funny set pieces (many involving talking insects) with serious drama initiated by meddlesome supernatural beings.”
—New York Times

That’s it for now. Back at some point with more on the Brooklyn Book Fest, a Steampunk! update, some reprint news from Kelly, and so on und so weiter.


Award Season: Hugos

Mon 6 Sep 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Award Season: Hugos | Posted by: Gavin

Congratulations to all the nominees and the winners!

However, once more the mens are the big winners. As with the World Fantasy Awards they need help with finding women artists to even be nominated.

Quick count has the winners as:

  • 20 men
  • 5 women

Scribd crazy

Mon 6 Sep 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | 3 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Ok, so, went a bit Scribd crazy the other night. Had to do something while watching the bairn sleep.

First I put up an excerpt from A Working Writer’s Daily Planner 2011. Last year I put up March, this year I decided to make it simple and put up January. Last year’s sample was very popular, hope this one is too. Then I added the ebook to Weightless—only $4.99!

Then I put up excerpts for two of our upcoming books:

Karen Joy Fowler, What I Didn’t See and Other Stories
—which is shipping, baby, shipping! And we’re still adding (mostly California) events to Karen’s schedule.

Kathe Koja, Under The Poppy
—and this one is at the printer and ships out in October. Events—KGB Bar, Ann Arbor, Detroit, WFC—being added here, too.

And! I added a handful of LCRWs to their ebook store—we sell much more at Weightless or RudeGorilla.com or Fictionwise than we have at Scribd, but still, it’s a good and easy place for people—there are tons of international readers who use it—to check things out. Besides, adding stuff was easy!

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet No. 21 ebook

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet No. 20 ebook

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet No. 19 ebook

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet No. 18 ebook

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet No. 16 ebook


Award Season: World Fantasy Awards

Mon 30 Aug 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Award Season: World Fantasy Awards | Posted by: Gavin

A little late (but better that than never): huge congratulations to all the World Fantasy Award nominees, those we know and those we don’t. Having been a juror, I know how much a nomination is worth! And, there’s a ton of stuff I haven’t read on here so it makes a good reading list.

I’ve occasionally done gender breakdowns of nominees (i.e. Locus 2009) and winners looking at it from a very simplistic and reductive gender angle: how many men are nominated and how many women? This point of view is the same one that makes looking at the ToC of The New Yorker so depressing every week. Also, even though Kelly is on the jury and is somewhere within hailing distance she has nothing to do with these posts. I like keeping track. When the winners approach a gender balance, I don’t post about that, because that’s not (or shouldn’t be) news.

And, yes, I agree that it is totally possible that in any single year all the best books may have been written by men. 2009 was apparently a year like that, according to the National Book Award winners. However, I don’t believe that year after year all the books by women are apparently not quite good enough. So, enough chuntering. One note: next year, nominators might consider finding some women artists. Here’s this year’s breakdown (from Locus, thanks Mark) and a link to last year’s. (Apologies is anyone has been mischaracterized by gender or nationality in my somewhat quick count.)

  • 37 men
  • 19 women
  • 38 USA
  • 10 UK
  • 3 Australia
  • 3 Canada
  • 1 Japan
  • 1 Russia

Novel

  • Blood of Ambrose, James Enge (Pyr)
  • The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
  • The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan UK/ Del Rey)
  • Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland)
  • In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield (Jonathan Cape UK/Del Rey)

Novella

  • The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
  • “I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 12/09)
  • “The Lion’s Den”, Steve Duffy (Nemonymous Nine: Cern Zoo)
  • The Night Cache, Andy Duncan (PS)
  • “Sea-Hearts”, Margo Lanagan (X6 )
  • “Everland”, Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories)

Short Story

  • “The Pelican Bar”, Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three)
  • “A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, DPhil, MSc, or, A Lullaby”, Helen Keeble (Strange Horizons 6/09)
  • “Singing on a Star”, Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)
  • “The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale”, Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein )
  • “In Hiding”, R.B. Russell (Putting the Pieces in Place)
  • “Light on the Water”, Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy 10/09)

Anthology

  • Poe,  Ellen Datlow, ed. (Solaris)
  • Songs of The Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Subterranean/Voyager)
  • Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations, Danel Olson, ed. (Ash-Tree)
  • Eclipse Three, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade)
  • American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny: From Poe to the Pulps/From the 1940s to Now, Peter Straub, ed. (Library of America)
  • The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, Gordon Van Gelder, ed. (Tachyon)

Collection

  • We Never Talk About My Brother, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon)
  • Fugue State, Brian Evenson (Coffee House)
  • There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Penguin)
  • Northwest Passages, Barbara Roden (Prime)
  • Everland and Other Stories, Paul Witcover (PS)
  • The Very Best of Gene Wolfe/The Best of Gene Wolfe, Gene Wolfe (PS /Tor)

Artist

  • John Jude Palencar
  • John Picacio
  • Charles Vess
  • Jason Zerrillo
  • Sam Weber

Special Award – Professional

  • Peter & Nicky Crowther for PS Publishing
  • Ellen Datlow for editing anthologies
  • Hayao Miyazaki for Ponyo
  • Barbara & Christopher Roden for Ash-Tree Press
  • Jonathan Strahan for editing anthologies
  • Jacob & Rina Weisman for Tachyon Publications

Special Award – Non-Professional

  • John Berlyne for Powers: Secret Histories
  • Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, & Sean Wallace for Clarkesworld
  • Susan Marie Groppi for Strange Horizons
  • John Klima for Electric Velocipede
  • Bob Colby, B. Diane Martin, David Shaw, and Eric M. Van for Readercon
  • Ray Russell & Rosalie Parker for Tartarus Press

The Life Achievement Awards will be released in the coming weeks in a separate announcement.


& now the first review for Under the Poppy

Mon 30 Aug 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Publishers Weekly is again first off the blocks with their take on Kathe Koja’s huge sexy historical novel, Under the Poppy:

“The latest from Koja (Skin) is a page turner with riveting language and
close attention to sensory detail. Set in late 19th-century Brussels, the
story follows the adventures of puppeteer Istvan and brothel owner Rupert
who bond as friends and lovers. The first half of the novel is set at
Rupert’s brothel, Under the Poppy, a haven for bawdy puppet shows and loose
women. With war in the air, the brothel is forced to house soldiers led by a
corrupt general. A mysterious assault on Rupert leads to more violence and
an exodus of prostitutes from the establishment. Istvan and Rupert, with one
of the former working girls, who morphs into a theater owner and puppeteer,
leave as well and arrive in a new town, where they cavort with a family of
aristocrats that includes Isobel, who falls for Rupert (as does her young
brother, Benjamin, the family heir). Koja’s style is unconventional,
resulting in a melodrama with deep insights into character and a murky plot
balanced with prose as theatrical as the world it portrays.(Oct.)”


West Coast Holmes

Fri 20 Aug 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

If you’re in Portland (Monday, 8/23) or Seattle (Wed. 8/25) next week don’t miss the Meeks roadshow. Then, on Thursday the 26th Julia will be reading with our own Jedediah Berry at the Porter Square Bookshop in Cambridge (that place next to Cambridge, not that place in England). Fingers crossed I’ll see you at the Boston(ish) one!

Next month Julia will be reading with Karen Lord who is visiting from Barbados and will be at McNally Jackson and Greenlight Books as well as the Brookyln Book Festival—where she’s reading with N.K. Jemisin. October and November are busy with readings, too: check it out.


Friday wondering: to comment or not comment?

Fri 20 Aug 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | 19 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

One of the perpetual questions around here is whether to provide feedback to writers when they send us something that’s not for us. Some writers love it, some hate it. And everyone knows that our response time has slowed horribly over the last year (sorry) so why spend extra time? Occasionally I’m asking to see another story, sometimes I’m trying to be helpful or useful. I received this email the other day in reply to a note I added about a story I turned down. It’s not the first such letter nor no doubt will it be the last (how many rejections-of-our-rejections have we received?) but perhaps I should short circuit them and not include notes at all?

This isn’t about this letter in particular (be nice, impolite comments deleted). I’m just curious what people like: comments/no comments; feedback/no feedback.

Thanks for taking the time to make a handwritten note on the rejection letter for my story, “TITLE.”  You wrote, “This was fun but a little reminiscent of ‘The Cold Equation’ or James Patrick Kelly’s ‘Think Like a Dinosaur.’”

I’ve never heard of these works. Were they recently published in your magazine? Or were you simply trying to say “TITLE” is derivative and unoriginal?

If it was the latter: I realize there are other stories on the topics of teleportation and genetic engineering, and even more stories involving children. I’m not surprised my story reminded you of others you have read, but I’m not sure why that is a problem. The mere existence of similar works is not a solid rationale for rejecting a story. Literature should be judged on its own merits rather than what others have achieved or—even worse—the arbitrary, preconceived notions of what constitutes “good” writing. Based on your note, it appears that you may want to think more carefully about the basis for rejecting the works you receive.

The collective unconscious runs deep, especially for writers. I recently saw an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that was so strikingly similar to “TITLE,” it gave me chills. The episode was called “The Masterpiece Society” if you want to look it up. I don’t feel threatened by the similarities because I know “TITLE” is different. I wrote “TITLE” when I was 20 years old and saw the Next Gen episode about a month ago (I’m 24 now). In different time periods from different perspectives, the Star Trek writers and I explored the exact same topics. How’s that for science fiction!

Just a thought.

Best good wishes,

AUTHOR


Fantastic first review for What I Didn’t See

Tue 3 Aug 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Fantastic first review for What I Didn’t See | Posted by: Gavin

Publishers Weekly loves Karen Joy Fowler’s new collection:

“The bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club goes genre-busting in this engrossing and thought-provoking set of short stories that mix history, sci-fi, and fantasy elements with a strong literary voice. Whether examining the machinations of a Northern California cult, in “Always,” or a vague but obviously horrific violent act in the eerie title story, the PEN/Faulkner finalist displays a gift for thrusting familiar characters into bizarre, off-kilter scenarios. Fowler never strays from the anchor of human emotion that makes her characters so believable, even when chronicling the history of epidemics, ancient archeological digs, single family submersibles, or fallen angels. She even displays a keen understanding of the historical world around Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, in two wonderfully realized historical pieces. Her writing is sharp, playful, and filled with insights into the human condition. The genre shifts might surprise fans of her mainstream hit, but within these pages they’ll find familiar dramas and crises that entertain, illuminate, and question the reality that surrounds us.”
—Publishers Weekly


Holly Black in Texas, MS, AZ

Tue 3 Aug 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Ganked whole cloth from Ms. Black’s lj:

[info]melissa_writing, Kelley Armstrong and Alyson Noel kindly asked me along for a couple of stops on their multi-author, multi-city Smart Chicks Kick It tour. Where I’m going to be is listed below, but look here for the full schedule of everyone and everywhere.

September 13th, 2010 7 PM @ BOOKPEOPLE, Austin, TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Rachel Caine, & Cassandra Clare

September 14th, 2010 7 PM @ B&N THE WOODLANDS, Houston, TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Kami Garcia & Rachel Vincent

September 15th, 2010 7PM. Off-site location TBD. Hosted by BLUE WILLOW, Houston, TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Margaret Stohl & Cassandra Clare

September 16th, 2010 6 PM Off-site location TBD. Hosted by LEMURIA BOOKS, Jackson, MS
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Jessica Verday & Sarah Rees Brennan

September 17th, 2010 7PM @ Scottsdale Civic Library Auditorium, hosted by POISONED PEN Phoenix, AZ
Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Kimberly Derting, and Becca Fitzpatrick


Your photos?

Wed 21 Jul 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | 20 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

We’re in the final stages of our new Working Writers Daily Planner and I thought I’d throw out a last minute call for for photos or art. We pay $10 + 1 copy for print + electronic rights. Please post links in the comments but only to art/photos you have rights to, thanks!

Also just added the multiple copy discounts for this one. These were very popular last year as whole workshops and bookclubs and all kind of book-related groups planned out their year together.


Meeks today, more tomorrow

Tue 20 Jul 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on Meeks today, more tomorrow | Posted by: Gavin

Today is publication day for Julia Holmes’s excellent debut novel Meeks! If you’re in NYC or environs, there’s an awesome launch party happening at WORD tonight. Do not say we did not warn you! Julia’s reading all over the place (Portland, OR! Boston, MA! More!) and you should attend in your bachelor suit.

Other updates: Kathe Koja and Holly Black are reading in South Carolina this week.

You can now preorder our fall books direct from us! We ship preorders out asap. Those books include Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others (just got an amazing blurb for that!), Kathe Koja’s Under the Poppy, A Working Writer’s Daily Planner, and the book that we are just about to send to the printer: Karen Joy Fowler’s stunner of a collection, What I Didn’t See and Other Stories. Ouch, that’s a good one.

We have one more title, a November book, which we haven’t announced yet even though it is getting really damn close but the contract, it could not be agreed upon. But, news should come on that soon, so: yay. And: phew.

Then we have new books which are coming next year all of which will be world-bestriding green-energy fueled juggernauts. Or, at least, great books. Because why do anything else?

Bachelor Suits at 7:30!


Weightless is Featherproof!

Tue 20 Jul 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Weightless is Featherproof! | Posted by: Gavin

Over on our Weightless ebook store (the best place for indie press ebooks!) we just added half a dozen titles from one of our fave Chicago publishers, Featherproof Books, plus two o/p titles from sf writer Judith Moffett—who was in the right place at the right time when we needed to try adding a few more titles from other people.Weightless is taking off nicely and we should have more addition announcements and so on over there most Tuesdays.


Your Very Own Bachelor

Wed 14 Jul 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Your Very Own Bachelor | Posted by: jedediah

Some exciting updates from the Brothers of Mercy. The launch party for Meeks by Julia Holmes is next Tuesday, July 20th, at WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn. To celebrate (and to keep us mindful of our fates, Brothers and Sisters!), a raffle will be held, and with a raffle comes prizes, and oh, what prizes!

Signed copies of Meeks, for starters. And a one-of-a-kind hand-sewn “The Bachelor” action figure. And a piece of original artwork by Robyn O’Neil, “The Hill.” We are especially covetous of this last item, as Robyn O’Neil’s work is strange and haunting stuff, and this piece was created just to mark the publication of Meeks. Robyn’s art has appeared in galleries around the world, and you may have seen it in some other nifty places.

So we are wondering: Which lucky souls will walk away with the loot? Because we can’t keep it for ourselves, sadly…

More details about the event (with link to RSVP) over at the WORD Bookstore site.


Want baby stuff @ Readercon?

Tue 6 Jul 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

We have some stuff we’d like to pass on next week at Readercon to anyone in the community who wants it. Post in the comments or send me an email at info at lcrw dot net.

  • some baby clothes for age 6-18 months, mostly girl’s, some random boy’s stuff in there, too.
  • a lovely Graco Baby Swing (with cute owls) given to us by the great Ford family.

Think that’s it. All the clothes are clean, everything’s in good shape. Drop me a line if you’re interested.


Readercon

Tue 6 Jul 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Along with 700 other readers, I (Gavin) will be at Readercon this weekend—there’s a small chance Kelly and Ursula will visit. Small. But I will have pictures. I’ll be there with Michael J. DeLuca and maybe a few others (but not Jedediah Berry, who is overseas spreading the good word about The Manual of Detection) shilling for shillings in the dealer’s room and I am on two panels on Friday (one all male, hmm). There’s also a chance I won’t be there later on Saturday, oops, silly me, but I’ll be back Sunday all the way until the bitter 2 PM end.

We will have new new new books and (glorious word) if you come looking for us, as if by magic you will also find the fine folks from ChiZine Publications.

Friday 3:00 PM, Salon G: Panel

The Best of the Small Press.  Michael Dirda, Gavin J. Grant, Sean Wallace, Robert
Freeman Wexler, Rick Wilber (L).

These days, many of the best novels and novellas, collections and anthologies are published by small presses in print runs that may only number in the hundreds. Most of these cannot be found on the shelves of chain bookstores, or even most independent and specialty shops. We’ll highlight the best works recently published by small presses — including many that Readercon attendees may not have heard about.

Friday 8:00 PM, Salon G: Panel

The New and Improved Future of Magazines.  K. Tempest Bradford, Neil Clarke, Liz Gorinsky (L), Gavin J. Grant, Matthew Kressel.

After last year’s “The Future of Magazines” panels, participant K. Tempest Bradford wrote: “The magazines and anthologies that I love tend to have editors who have taken the time to examine themselves or their culture, to expend their knowledge of other people and ways of being, to open their minds. These magazines and anthologies contain far more stories I want to read by authors of many varied backgrounds. As I said, it’s not fully about print vs. online, it’s about better magazines and books.” This time, creators and proponents of both print and online magazines collaborate on determining ways that any genre magazine can create a brighter and better-read future for itself, using Bradford’s comment as a launching point.


Yesterday, we shipped!

Thu 1 Jul 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on Yesterday, we shipped! | Posted by: Gavin

We have good news: we have copies of Redemption in Indigo and Meeks! Which means that soon enough your local bookstore (and maybe some other retail outlets) will have them, too. Pre-orders (for which: thanks!—and more TK soon about that for Kathe Koja’s book…!) and more review copies have been shipped from the office. Consortium ship out books to stores, soooon. Of course, you can see both authors in New York (and other places!) over the next couple of months. Keep an eye out here (ouch) or see the handy dandy events thingy.

And, also, Ladies and Gents! All this week! Karen Lord has been blogging at one of the biggest bookshops in the universe: Powell’s Books in Portland, OR. Listening to stories. Making a book trailer. Cake! And today: Authenticity.

Ok, another tab to be opened: Edward Gauvin is at Kepler’s Books’s Well-Read Donkey this week writing about talking to himself and then getting to talk to everyone else about G.-O.C. now that A Life on Paper has been published and ways of reading Châteaureynaud.

Lastly, Kathe Koja on writing what you have to at Ramblings of a Tattooed Head.

Next: tea time and wondering if the tea lady will have any of those nice gingery biscuits left by the time she reaches this part of the office.


Indie Bookstore Week

Thu 1 Jul 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

Independents Week: July 1–7

Celebrate Independents Week with independent businesses across the country—and around the world as the movement grows. If you shop at local independent businesses your purchases help pay the wages of people in your area—who can then afford to buy books: maybe even your book! Check out the American Independent Business Alliance (www.amiba.net) or for more info on this celebration that is becoming more popular each year.

In celebration of Independents Week we’re listing a few favorite bookshops (many more can be found on Indiebound.org and on our website) from our homestate, Massachusetts. It will only take us 49 more years to cover the whole USA!

Boston has a few good bookshops scattered throughout the metropolitan area which makes for a fun day on the T to try to see them all. Start in Coolidge Corner with the Brookline Booksmith (brooklinebooksmith.com) which features a busy reading series, a used book basement, and a staff of engaged and passionate readers. Brookline is also lucky enough to have a full-service kid’s store, the Children’s Book Shop (thechildrensbookshop.net). Also worth a visit is Calamus, a GLBT bookstore (calamusbooks.com)
Over the Charles River in Cambridge at the Harvard Book Store (harvard.com) they also have a used book basement but their new additions don’t just include their well-stocked ground floor, they also have an On Demand book printer where thousands of out of print books are available—and you can print your book there, too! Harvard Square also boasts a lovely kid’s book store, Curious George & Friends (curiousg.com), Schoenhof’s Foreign Books (schoenhofs.com), as well as the one and only Grolier Poetry Bookshop (grolierpoetrybookshop.org). Up Mass. Ave. is another fave, a newish general bookshop the Porter Square Bookshop (portersquarebooks.com) and further out are Newtonville Books (Newtonville, newtonvillebooks.com), Jamaicaway Books and Gifts (Jamaica Plain, jamaicawaybooks.com), Back Pages (Waltham, backpagesbooks.com), and Cornerstone Books (Salem, cornerstonebooks-salem.com).
Out in central Massachusetts there are a cluster of great bookshops not coincidentally near Easthampton—the popularity of books and reading is a big reason why we’re here. Cherry Picked Books (101 Main St, Easthampton, MA) is a good old-fashioned used booksshop and is handy should you need a stack of holiday paperbacks. . . . Broadside Books (Northampton, broadsidebooks.com) like every indie bookshop can get any book within a day or two. Over the Connecticut River, in Amherst, Amherst Books (amherstbooks.com), Food For Thought Books (foodforthoughtbooks.com), and the Eric Carle Museum Bookshop (picturebookart.org/shop) cover all ages, political philosophies and budgets. The Odyssey  Book Shop (S. Hadley, odysseybooks.com) has an impressive first First Editions Club for readers and collectors. The Montague Bookmill (Montague, montaguebookmill.com) is a favorite of everyone we know.
Out in the Berkshires, the Bookloft (Great Barrington, thebookloft.com) also has an On Demand machine which is so popular they have started a print on demand service, Troy Book Makers which nicely turns the publishing wheel back to the period when publishers were booksellers, now booksellers are publishers!


What Are You Wearing?

Thu 24 Jun 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on What Are You Wearing? | Posted by: jedediah

What happens when you don’t have the right suit? You don’t get the job. Or find that special someone. Or score a good seat at the execution.

In the world of Meeks, a debut novel by Julia Holmes, young men must find wives (and the right suits) or be doomed to a life of factory work or worse. It’s a dark satire, and it’s a truly funny, truly frightening novel. We are pleased as kids with extra Independence Day cake to be publishing it.

Here’s what you need to know for now:

  • There are bachelor suits and there are mourning suits. What you want is one of those nice bachelor suits.
  • You can read an excerpt from Meeks over at Conjunctions. And another at The Collagist. And one on the website of Ben Marcus, who once said: “Julia Holmes is that rare artist who, with invention and mythology, reveals nothing less than the most secret inner workings of the real world we overlook every day.” Truth.
  • If someone asks whether you’ve heard the story of Captain Meeks, you say: “I have heard it, but it feels good to remember.”
  • On July 20th, to celebrate the publication of Meeks, there will be a party at WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn. There will be drinks and there will be Independence Day cake. There may even be auctions. Details here.
  • Julia will also read in New York, NY; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; Boston, MA, and elsewhere. Check our handy calendar so you’re sure not to miss her.
  • Cover art by Robyn O’Neil, perhaps our foremost portraitist of Doomed Young Men.
  • Can’t afford the cookies? Have a mint.

More soon!


Redemption in Video!

Wed 23 Jun 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Redemption in Video! | Posted by: Gavin


Did you know we are publishing Karen Joy Fowler’s next book?

Tue 22 Jun 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 3 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

It is true! How happy are we? Massively! If happiness were weighed in stars we’d be a black hole!

Looking at those announcement posts we did a while back, it looks like we never made it all the way to September of this year (mmm, autumn!) which is the when when the what all over will be What I Didn’t See and Other Stories. And that what is a stunning collection: heartbreaking and deeply realistic even with their occasional fantastic touches. Did you ever read her story “King Rat” in Trampoline? Egads, it was a killer. Now it has been gathered with eleven others (including one, no, wait, two! Nebula Award winners) and, tra la la, a story that makes its first appearance here.

And how shall this book appear? As a zap-it’s-yours ebook from the usual places and also as a lovely hardcover paper book made from lovely recycled paper. The cover is a collage which is being handmade especially for the book by Brooklyn artist Erica Harris—whom some of you may remember as the artist whose fabulous art graced one of our early books, Carol Emshwiller’s collection, Report to the Men’s Club and Other Stories.

We’ll have a preorder page set up soon and or you can order it from Powell’s. Or, wait a bit and see if Karen is reading near you! Karen is one of our favorite readers—or panelist: go see her whenever you can—and we expect to be setting up quite a few West Coast readings and maybe maybe more elsewhere.

Ta da!


Up! Date!

Mon 21 Jun 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 3 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Everything has slowed down at Small Beer hq due to the summer heat and maybe maybe perhaps that little thing that World Cup. Yay for the future arriving and being able to watch most of the matches on ESPN3—or free at many many bars, mmm. Sadly the White Horse Tavern in Allston was out of Dogfish IPA two days in a row but Troeg’s Hopback Amber was a good substitute.

Congratulations to Gerbrand Bakker (and translator David Colmer and Archipelago Books!) whose novel The Twin just won the 2010 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Between that and Tinkers receiving the Pulitzer price it makes for a great year for independent presses!

We have a fun update on Kathe Koja’s book coming later this week. Let’s just say you should order then, not now. Oooh!

What else we’re up to:

Watching the World Cup. No, really, there are 3 games a day at the moment. How is anyone supposed to do anything else but sit in bars, drink, and watch the games? Deadlines? Whoosh!

Also, Kelly‘s about done with her blogging, although she does promise a couple more posts here and at Gwenda’s at a time TBA. Nice to see Gwenda (and some others) poking her head up above the bunkers again. We too watch the True Blood but are a season behind. Ah, DVDs.

Just saw a great review of A Life on Paper on The Agony Column. There’s one way to make sure the rest of G.-O. C’s work gets translated into English:

Châteaureynaud has a backlist for American readers that this book makes enticingly tangible, almost real. His own work is such that it might be subject of one of his stories. This might be all there is, the rest pure fabrication. The unreal, awaiting translation.

Alasdair Gray is interviewed by Jeff VanderMeer on Gray Week at Omnivoracious:

Gray’s new novel, Old Men in Love, is a mash-up of several different voices, creating a narrative through collage. The main text is presented as the posthumous papers of a retired Glaswegian schoolmaster named John Tunnock, seemingly edited by Gray. Tunnock’s a rogue whose exploits often backfire on him, and the novel contains everything from historical fictions set in Renaissance Italy to accounts of how his young mistresses take advantage of him.

Also, Will Self’s Appreciation of Alasdair Gray’s Old Men in Love

And Thursday Extra: Alasdair Gray, Author of Old Men in Love, Recommends Agnes Owens

How awesome was that week? Well, apart from the commenter—who says he’s a big fan of the author—who gave the book 1 star because he can’t read it in the format he wants. Oh well.

Old Men in Love was also reviewed by a long-time reader of Gray’s books, Gerry Donaghy, on Powell’s Review-a-Day:

Clear in this book, as in past volumes, is Gray’s devotion to the idea of the book as an object. Throughout his career he has designed his own books (usually to either save his publisher some cash or collect a second paycheck), and Old Men in Love is no exception. Poorly suited to a Kindle reading experience, it’s filled with various typefaces, ornamental drawings, and Blake-inspired illustrations. Even the boards of the book itself are tooled in silver-looking flake. If eBooks are the future, it looks like Gray is going to go out swinging.

A bit of LCRW news:

Does seem like there was more going on. But somehow the day has passed passed and gone and now it’s either time to see Luis Alberto Urrea at the Harvard Bookstore, or not! And, tomorrow: Colson Whitehead. And, in a few weeks, David Mitchell. Ooh, those lit’ry mens.


Are you a Geoff Ryman superfan?

Mon 21 Jun 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 9 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

We’d love to hear from you!


Alasdair Gray: out now!

Thu 10 Jun 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Alasdair Gray: out now! | Posted by: Gavin

At last! We have copies, the author (post office willing) will soon have his copies, lovely people who pre-ordered theirs have their copies, NPR got their copies (and one of our local stations, WBUR, has reprinted that review), NYTimes, and so on, all have their copies, everyone can get copies of Alasdair Gray’s latest novel Old Men in Love: John Tunnock’s Posthumous Papers. Reviewers? Want a copy? Drop us a line!

Fun coming up: Alasdair will be interviewed online. More on that if and when it happens. And, for the nonce, here’s an interview from October on the center of all things internet, The Rumpus.

Also, you can read an excerpt on Scribd. (No, there will not be an ebook although we’ll talk more to Alasdair about that later.)

This book was awesome to publish: not just because I’ve been reading Alasdair’s books for years but it was great to deal with Alasdair—and his lovely secretary, Helen—when things went pear-shaped with the Bloomsbury files. Weeks disappeared. Weeks! But it has (almost!) all come out ok in the end.

One of the parts that was easiest about publishing this book was the flap copy because the UK edition already had copy written by Will Self so we’ll post it here just for all yous:

———–

Alasdair Gray’s new novel, Old Men in Love, exhibits all of those faintly preposterous foibles that make him a writer more loved than prized. The bulk of the text constitutes the posthumous papers of a recondite – yet venal – retired Glaswegian schoolmaster, named John Tunnock (as in the celebrated tea cake), that have, seemingly, been edited and collated by Gray himself.

This literary subterfuge serves to fool no one who needs fooling, yet will satisfy all who believe that the truth can be found more exactly in chance occurrences, serendipity, and the eggy scrapings from the breakfast plates of the neglected, than any crude, linear naturalism.

Tunnock is a beguiling figure, at once feisty and fusty. His historical fictions chivvy us into Periclean Athens, Renaissance Italy and then bury our noses in the ordure of sanctity given off by charismatic Victorian religious sectaries. Excursions into geological time are placed in counterpoint to diaristic jottings describing Tunnock’s own erotic misadventures and the millennial trivia of the Anthony Linton Blair Government’s final five years.

Only Gray can be fecklessly sexy as well as insidiously sagacious. Only Gray can beguile quite so limpidly. If I were a Hollywood screenwriter (which, to the best of my knowledge, I am not), I would pitch the film adaptation of Old Men in Love thus: ‘Imagine Lanark meets Something Leather, with a kind of Poor Things feel to it…’ By this I mean to convey to this novel’s readers that Alasdair Gray remains, first and foremost, entirely sui generis. He’s the very best Alasdair Gray that we have, and we should cherish his works accordingly.

———–

Get your copy here!


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