The 2022 I Knew

Thu 15 Dec 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Comments Off on The 2022 I Knew | Posted by: Gavin

This is about my own year, not the press’s. 2022 was . . . constrained. I look at my steps recorded on my phone — and the watch I got this year to assuage worries about my heart rate — and from the ups and downs and the ever-so-slight rising line I think 2023 will be more of the same. It is hard to think of another year like this but I’ll be grateful if I improve. My resting heart rate is about 80. My standing heart rate is a joke, say 105.

I still spend most of my days lying down. I have learned resting and pacing, although truthfully I have learned it any number of times this year. I get up and I feel fine, I forget I am sick, I start to walk at my normal pace, I am reminded bodily that I am a new slower person. I have tried many supplements: I’m a skeptic but if a friend says a tincture or pill helped them, or I read some long covid study, I’ll try it. I had an MRI (clear!), a CT scan (yes, I have an odd bod but mostly ok and not the cause of this), and I even had an EMG test, needles stuck in me, woah, which was all clear. Now I hope to get a microclot blood test but that may take some months.

When, after an hour or so, I start to lose focus on my laptop, I play Asphalt 8+ on my phone or on the TV. I haven’t played videogames in years and this game is both boring and lightly exciting and sometimes literally circular. It passes time in which I can’t think about all the things I either have to do our would like to do. I have watched everything on TV and finished twitter. I did go start a Mastodon account for me and work — I think this will get you there.

I’d like to write both more and less here. I’ve gone away and come back to this a couple of times already today so maybe this is enough. I’ll be back in 3 months for another update.

In my teenage years I wasn’t at all sure adulthood would be worth the wait and while this year has been a somewhat similar very slow dragging out of time while waiting for things to improve I am grateful to my family for their patience and love and to friends near and far who have reached out and helped support us all during this.

There are so many, many crappy people and things and yet there are a lot of good people out there doing mitzvahs for others that are never publicized. I’m getting old and sometimes it’s all Vonnegut all the time in my head, just be kind, why don’t you.

 

 


Signed copies of White Cat, Black Dog

Mon 5 Dec 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Signed copies of White Cat, Black Dog | Posted by: Gavin

Preorder your signed or personalized copy of White Cat, Black Dog, Kelly Link’s forthcoming collection of seven contemporary fairy tales illustrated by Shaun Tan.

Every pre-order placed by publication day — March 28, 2023 — will ship with a signed, limited edition not-for-sale specially made chapbook of a story from the book. Chapbooks will be added randomly to the packages but if you order more than one copy you won’t receive 2 copies of the same chapbook.

Get more of Kelly’s books here.


Holiday shipping 2022

Thu 1 Dec 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Holiday shipping 2022 | Posted by: Gavin

Here’s my annual reminder that holiday mail dates are coming up fast. Our office will be closed as usual from December 21 – January 2, 2023. (Of course, Weightless is always open.)

Media mail shipping is free. However, as per our usual warnings, the USPS doesn’t even give a last mailing date for media mail packages as they’re the last ones put on a truck. If the truck’s full, the media mail packages are put aside for the next one. And so on. If it’s really busy, those packages may arrive after the holidays. If you don’t care, yay! If you want to guarantee pre-holiday arrival, please choose Priority Mail.

Here are the last order dates for Small Beer Press—which are not the same as everyone else, see note about the office being closed above.

USPS Retail Ground® Service Dec. 17
First-Class Mail® Service Dec. 17
Priority Mail® Service Dec. 19
Priority Mail Express® Service2 Dec. 21

Happy holidays! Hope you get to rest and read a good book or two.


HOLIDAY30

Fri 25 Nov 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on HOLIDAY30 | Posted by: Gavin

This is an automated post I wrote last Friday about a 30% off sale on all our available titles on Indiepubs, an ebookstore run by our distributor — so you can also add books from Secret Acres, PM Press, Haymarket, Spiegel and Grau, World Editions, and more.

Add as many books as you can want to the cart and then put the discount code (HOLIDAY30) in. The code applies to all our available books. Some publishers may not participate, so be careful of that, but if you’ve been thinking about stocking up or doing the most excellent thing of gifting SBP titles, now’s your chance to save some $$$!

HOLIDAY30


Devoured and Adored

Wed 16 Nov 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Devoured and Adored | Posted by: Gavin

Ayize Jama-Everett’s forthcoming final Liminal novel Heroes of an Unknown World is scheduled to receive a great review in the December 1&15 2022 double issue of Booklist and while I can’t quote the whole thing here, I’m happy to drop just these lines:

“A prescient examination of issues pressing hard upon our actual reality, Heroes of an Unknown World is a necessary addition to the genre and will be devoured and adored by the most hardcore of readers.” — Sal A. Joyce, Booklist

We’ve also begun setting up events, first will be at a favorite west coast spot, City Lights Books on Feb. 16th, with more to come.

2023 is going to be Ayize’s year! His next graphic novel, The Last Count of Monte Cristo, illustrated by Tristan Roach, is coming out from Abrams/Megascope in April — can’t wait to read that — and he’s also working on A Table of Our Own: A Conference and Documentary for Black professionals working in the Sacred plant medicine space.


Plus ça change

Wed 16 Nov 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Plus ça change | Posted by: Gavin

Meh.


2 Steps Forward

Tue 18 Oct 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Comments Off on 2 Steps Forward | Posted by: Gavin

[Previously] A few months ago I was texting my hilarious, sardonic,  pragmatic doctor brother telling him I’d dropped off the slow improvement line I’d been on and he said something like, “Oh, that’s a shame . . . it’s the old two steps forward, one weekend in bed.” It was a throwaway line he didn’t remember a couple of months later — “uh oh, worrying when people listen to me” — and while at first it was a bit much to take in I’ve found it to be increasingly helpful this year especially times such as last week when I had my legs cut out from under me once again for no reason I could see and am in good running, as it were, for a gold medal in the Western Mass Couch Lying Event for a couple of days running.

Before that my daily steps report had been slowly rising and one day I spent 2 hours at Book Moon, not really doing anything but enjoying being there. Still a bit exhausting but also a little exhilarating. I was in as we had two people out, one with Covid (they tested positive for 18 days . . . ) and one sick. They’re both back now, phew, and Book Moon is getting busier, phew. All orders appreciated!

So now I’m slowly building my steps back up. Often times I think I am doing things slowly enough I am wrong and have to slow down again. It is incredibly frustrating. The difference between where I am and being able to pull 1,500 pounds of books on a pallet jack is unmeasurable. At the moment carrying a box of books upstairs is impossible, ack. Thankfully Small Beer tiptoes along as the booksellers at Book Moon are mailing out the Advance Reading Copies of Ayize Jama-Everett’s Heroes of an Unknown World this week and Kelly and I have a new cover for the Advance Reading Copy of Sarah Pinsker’s Lost Places.

Over the weekend I read Naomi Novik’s fabulous pageturner The Golden Enclaves. I could not read it all at once, too tiring (woah, annoying), but it was great fun and much more than that. Highly recommended.

Do me a favor, wear a mask to protect yourself and everyone around you,

Cheers!
Gavin


Big, Ambitious, Wildly Inventive and Full of Heart

Thu 13 Oct 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Big, Ambitious, Wildly Inventive and Full of Heart | Posted by: Gavin

Heroes of an Unknown World cover We’re in the process of sending 100+ galleys of Ayize Jama-Everett’s forthcoming final Liminal novel Heroes of an Unknown World to indie bookshops — it’s also available through the Advance Access program, downloadable on Edelweiss, and there’s a 10-copy giveaway over on LibraryThing. You can get a start on the series  right here.

While all that’s going on I got a fabulous email from superstar Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling and many other good things (books, comics, TV!) which just jumpstarted my tiny slow heart. Here’s the latest word on the book — comes out in February:

“The Liminal Books deserve a place on the bookshelf alongside ambitious fantasy series like Marlon James’s Dark Star Trilogy and N. K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy. Big, ambitious, wildly inventive and full of heart. Heroes of an Unknown World displays the voice and verve that are staples of Ayize Jama-Everett’s work. Dive in, you will love what you discover.”
—Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling


Truly Original

Fri 7 Oct 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Truly Original | Posted by: Gavin

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet No. 45 cover - click to view full sizeI enjoy reading Locus, finding books for Book Moon or for me, and generally keeping half an eye on what’s going on. This month Paula Guran reviewed the latest issue of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, #45, and said:

“If you are looking for unique literature, you can’t beat LCRW.”

 


First thing for the holidays

Fri 7 Oct 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on First thing for the holidays | Posted by: Gavin

The Adventurists cover Woah it is too early for me to get my head around it but Publishers Weekly have published their Holiday Gift Guide and sharp eyes will note Richard Butner’s collection is included:

“This powerhouse fabulist collection melds ghosts, virtual futures, and the intricacies of friendship into 16 breathtaking, intimate stories that will delight readers of Ray Bradbury, John Crowley, and Sally Rooney alike. In these stories, Butner examines a broad range of interests—the aging process, acts of remembering, overreliance on technology—all in elegant prose, unique imagery, and with keen and generous human insight.”


Cracked Egg

Wed 28 Sep 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Yesterday Kelly drove me over to Book Moon — someone was out sick so we covered while Laura was out for lunch. Saying I covered anything is a complete exaggeration. I sat at the front, poked a little at our new point-of-sale software (great, complicated, beyond me at the moment), recycled some junk mail, admired the place, and really just sat and waited. Kelly brought in a new card rack (too heavy for me, meh), signed books, wrote a shelf talker, did a lot of work. A year ago I’d be getting into everything. I was so wrung out by sitting up and paying attention that when we came home I lay on the hammock (outside, easiest surface to reach — ground was closer but getting up and down seemed a challenge), lay on a couch, got up for dinner, lay on the couch.

The good news is that this morning I had the same amount of energy as yesterday morning. A few months ago a day like yesterday (leaving the house for at most a couple of hours) would knock me down for two-to-three days. I have no idea when I’ll be well — I am so glad I don’t have to go to the store (or the office, I miss the office) today. I can go in for 1/2 an hour, one day a week. I know people go to work 5 days in a row but from here that’s like watching Serena Williams play tennis, amazing. I never was that and will never reach it, but at least my watch says my step count is ever so slowly going up.

I got home and started reading (and stared at trees and read the news on my phone and drank coconut water — prescribed by doc, yay!) Daniel Mendelsohn’s The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million. I’m maybe sixty pages in but it is near unputdownable. I put some on order but we’re going to have to order more because if there’s anyone like me who missed, I want them to read it!

 


One of the Best

Tue 27 Sep 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on One of the Best | Posted by: Gavin

Heroes of an Unknown World cover After yesterday’s quote from Elwin on Ayize Jama-Everett’s Heroes of an Unknown World, I’m fired up to say we received another excellent advance quote this time from John Jennings, bestselling graphic novel illustrator (Kindred, After the Rain, Parable of the Sower), professor, author,curator, Harvard Fellow, and all-around champion of Black culture.

Heroes is the fourth and final of Ayize’s Liminal novels. He self-published the first one, The Liminal People, in 2009 and Nalo Hopkinson suggested he send it out way. We published our edition in 2012 and then two more in quick succession in 2015. Now that the series is complete with Heroes — where a found family of Black superheroes has one last chance to save the world — it’s time to make some noise and celebrate the series, the stories, and the writer.

All 4 novels are downloadable by reviewers and booksellers on Edelweiss — and don’t ask me why but Am*zon has the first book on super sale at $1.99.

So here’s hoping we can get some momentum going with a little bit of Tuesday joy as we build up toward the pub date in February:

“Ayize Jama-Everett is a towering talent and one of the best genre-writers working today. His final installment of his masterfully told Liminal Series; HEROES OF AN UNKNOWN WORLD is a taut, textured feast for the minds of any ravenous reader who’s looking for something fresh and exciting to experience.”


Get Out!

Mon 26 Sep 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Get Out! | Posted by: Gavin

Heroes of an Unknown World cover We just received the kind of fantastic advance comment that publishers dream about when we send out books. Everyone is too busy, everyone is overloaded, yet sometimes writers find the time to read and respond to the unending stack of advance reading copies and floods of email. Thanks to all of them! That support is invaluable — and unpaid!

So here’s a bit of Monday joy from Elwin Cotman (Dance on Saturday, Hard Times Blues) on Ayize Jama-Everett’s Heroes of an Unknown World:

“A rollicking, irreverent action sci-fi filled with anime-esque feats, a deep appreciation for culture, and sparkling humanity. Jama-Everett’s final book in the Liminal series is the kind of grandiose battle against despair I’ll gladly sign up for. Put on your favorite record, crack this one open, and tell the darkness: ‘Fuck off!'”

And then we have the version that will go out onto other websites . . .

“A rollicking, irreverent action sci-fi filled with anime-esque feats, a deep appreciation for culture, and sparkling humanity. Jama-Everett’s final book in the Liminal series is the kind of grandiose battle against despair I’ll gladly sign up for. Put on your favorite record, crack this one open, and tell the darkness: ‘get out!'”


Podcastery Times 2

Thu 22 Sep 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Podcastery Times 2 | Posted by: Gavin

Podcast week part 2: this week Robert Freeman Wexler was interviewed by Rick Kleffel on Narrative Species.

Rick has been interviewing people for many years  — here’s a podcast from 2007 with me, Kelly, and Karen: News Report; Gavin Grant, Karen Joy Fowler, Kelly Link — but his enthusiasm for books still comes through along with a deep knowledge of writers, books and more. I have his recent chat with Kim Stanley Robinson lined up next.

Listen up here.

 

"Shannon, a detective working for the Llewelyn Agency out of Chicago, is recruited to find missing money intended to purchase land in Texas for refugee Romanian Jews. It seems like a straightforward job for a straightforward man. Shannon is a methodical thinker who has family in Galveston. But while his thoughts are those of a careful, entirely rational man, his dreams are not. As he becomes involved in what he calls The Silverberg Business, the weird begins edging in, first in dreams, but does not confine itself to his hours of unconsciousness. Readers will experience a similar expansion. Robert Freeman Wexler’s novel The Silverberg Business is mind-boggling in content, and in its unique ability to entertainingly take reader places they’d never expect to go."


Could Have Had a Baby or 2 By Now

Wed 21 Sep 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Could Have Had a Baby or 2 By Now | Posted by: Gavin

tl;dr still out sick. This is my 3-month follow up my June post which was a 3-month follow up my March post:

I’m writing from my couch where I’ve been laid up since mid-December [2021] with something — most likely post-viral fatigue . . .

and I am more frustrated with the thought of writing this (or another one in 3 months time, ugh) than anything since I don’t know — maybe since I was stuck trying to write poetry to order in high school and was only able to commit doggerel whereas of course otherwise I could write pages and pages of poetry/songs/ballads/epics.

Anyway, this post brought to you by the letters C, O, U, C again, and H, as well as H and P — Harvard Pilgrim, our family health insurance provider which we pay for, being self-employed and all that. My cheery Boston-based pulmonologist, whom I’ve spoken to twice by zoom, wants me to get a CT scan. Since I’ve had an ultrasound and a chest x-ray I was happy to try and collect the full set. Just got a call from the local hospital saying my insurance has denied the request to cover it. Here on the couch I am not filled with rage, who has the energy for that? Instead I am on the edge of tears. A side effect of either my age or condition: I’m getting much better at crying. Now the cheery pumonologist has called to do battle on my behalf. I wish him luck. [Later: nope, not covered. Appointment cancelled, dr. will try again. Will wilting but meh.]

He told me that whether or not I ever had Covid, he’s including me in the post-Covid cohort as my symptoms (basically fatigue or what I feel to be uselessness) fit. He does some testing for the groups associated with a fatigue study I just read about in New Scientist which is cheering. Resting, pacing, coconut water, more salt in my diet, and recumbent exercise are all on order. Apparently there may be some physiological changes in blood flow that can be picked up during an exercise test with a pulmonary catheter placed. If I could, I’d up and run away at the thought of that but that’s out the question so maybe I will get that done at some point. So it goes.

I am in two minds (at least, always) about how much to write. I may be improving as my phone says my step count is inching up but is that just me learning how to live with this? I am still immensely physically limited.

I can do some of the Small Beer and Book Moon work that I need to do and I can help our kid (from the couch) with her homework. I can make breakfast but actual standing around cooking for any length of time is too much — I sit down if I am chopping anything, etc. I’ve been to Book Moon twice for about 20 minutes each and hope to visit once a week but even the trip there (ooh, out the house!) is exhausting. Apparently my bandwidth, for lack of a better term, is still very limited. I haven’t been to the office but Kelly collects mail every couple of weeks. Kelly does way too many things! I can’t mail things out or move books — I can send emails and so on although even there at some point every day I realize I am done and need a break as I’m not comprehending what I’m reading or unable to type more than a word without a typo. I have taken up Asphalt 8+ to pass time. I don’t think I was a hugely active person before this but I did enjoy kicking to do things off lists, going places, seeing people. Maybe in the future.

Small Beer: I am just about to send an extended edition with bonus material of Ayize Jama-Everett’s 4th and final Liminal novel, Heroes of an Unknown World, to the galley printer. 100+ indie bookstores will be getting copies along with reviewers. All four novels should be available on Edelweiss. We’re really trying to get the completion of this series celebrated in February when it comes out. The Liminal books are pageturners, full of action and also the complicated dynamics of friends and family.

————

I have gone away from this and come back to it a couple of times and there’s a disappointing lack of narrative to it, sorry, but I am at the many typos stage again so that’s it for now. Next Monday I get another vaccine booster, woo.

In my ancient mariner way, supine on the couch, I recommend wearing a mask.


Podcastery Times 1

Wed 21 Sep 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Podcastery Times 1 | Posted by: Gavin

It’s podcast week — not at Small Beer, phew — or at least podcast day as Richard Butner was just interviewed by Gil Roth on his Virtual Memories show. A couple of weeks ago Gil posted his 500th show, it’s kind of amazing to pick through the archive to see who I could listen to.

This interview took place over some kind of electronic medium — Butner’s the engineer so he would know about that part; it was almost in person in August when Butner was in NYC and NJ for readings but the scheduling did not work out. I am glad they did in the end have a chat as I enjoyed the resulting conversation. Listen to it here.

 

"1) I posted Episode #505 of The Virtual Memories Show, featuring a conversation with Richard Butner joins the show to celebrate his marvelous first book, The Adventurists and Other Stories (Small Beer Press). We get into the F&SF story that started him on the writing path, his love of the fantastic in fiction, his background in engineering & how he has to throw it out the window when it comes to writing, and the theme of return that runs through his stories and the unfinished business it implies. We also talk about his history with Sycamore Hill Writers Workshop & how he ended up running it, how critiquing others’ stories can teach you more than having your own work critiqued, and his love of the short story as a form. Plus we discuss writing & performing theater"


The Business of Publication

Tue 23 Aug 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on The Business of Publication | Posted by: Gavin

Today we’re celebrating the launch of Robert Freeman Wexler’s new novel, The Silverberg Business!

He and Jeffrey Ford will be at Two Dollar Radio HQ tonight and then he heads out on the road to Cincinnati, Austin, Houston, and Chicago. It’s a hell of a time to tour, fingers crossed everyone masks up.

Thank you to those who pre-ordered the book! They were mailed out last week by the fine people at Book Moon and the Consortium warehouse.

Robert’s been writing more about the genesis of this weird gem on his site.


Indie Bookstore Silverberg Spectacular

Mon 22 Aug 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Indie Bookstore Silverberg Spectacular | Posted by: Gavin

Write here, write now, Write Columbus.

I wish I were going to be at Two Dollar Radio HQ tomorrow night for Robert Freeman Wexler and Jeffrey Ford’s event (Aug. 23, 8 p.m.) where Robert will launch his new novel, The Silverberg Business, and Jeff will read from Big Dark Hole. An aside here, having been to many readings by Jeff over the years he is just as likely to pull out a sheaf of papers and read from something he has finished that day.

Tomorrow is the first night of Robert’s Indie Bookstore Silverberg Spectacular. If you get to go, do post photos and tag us on twitter — or even BKMN on instagram.


DRM-free Ghosts

Thu 18 Aug 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on DRM-free Ghosts | Posted by: Gavin

I saw a poll on twitter yesterday asking when the Halloween season starts* and the answer is obviously right now with this Ghosts & Apparitions Storybundle where they have 4 books for $5 or all 10 books for $25 (you can pay more [or less] — and then the authors get more! [or less]) including Mary Rickert’s World Fantasy and Shirley Jackson award finalist collection You Have Never Been Here. Readers can also choose to donate a portion of their proceeds to Girls Write Now and Mighty Writers.

Get (or gift) your bundle here.

* Some say October 31.
Some say October 1.
Some say mid-September.
Some say it never goes away.


Heads up NY & NJ

Tue 16 Aug 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on Heads up NY & NJ | Posted by: Gavin

The Adventurists cover -This week Richard Butner is traveling up from his home in Raleigh, NC, for a couple of New York City area readings:

Wednesday, Aug 17, 7 p.m. KGB Fantastic Fiction, KGB Bar, NY
Richard reads with our good friend Veronica Schanoes whose collection Burning Girls is now out in paperback

Thursday, Aug 18, 7 p.m. Little City Books, Hoboken, NJ

The most recent reviews for Richard’s debut collection The Adventurists are from Lyndsie Manusos on Book Riot:

“Richard Butner’s work explores the weird, uncanny corners of everyday life — from a theater kid who becomes the queen, to a tree who talks to just one person, to Death’s Fool, who you really shouldn’t ignore.”

and from rather legendary printer, papermaker, publisher, & poet John Dancy-Jones on his Raleigh Rambles site:

“Richard Butner’s new collection of SF stories is a wonderful look at his long-established but back-burner career as a writer of speculative fiction. Richard is beloved by many in Raleighwood for his quirky and often endearing local theatre roles, his championing of local music and its venues, and (among the cognoscenti) his loyalty to Modernist architecture. This review is overtly from the perspective of a Raleigh native who enjoys the many local references in these stories and the bits and pieces of RB rendered in the protagonists.”

Richard, as the reference to the theatre roles above attests to, is a good reader and I hope you’ll attend these events if you can!


Reconstruction is a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee!

Mon 8 Aug 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Reconstruction is a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee! | Posted by: Gavin

Reconstruction coverWe are delighted to see Alaya Dawn Johnson’s collection Reconstruction: Stories is a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee! Alaya probably does not need any introduction to readers here. She is a fabulous writer whose work we have long admired — as does Janelle Monáe who asked Alaya to be one of the co-writers in her fiction debut, The Memory Librarian.

Reconstruction has ten stories and to give you some idea of the range, here are a couple of stories, A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i and A Song to Greet the Sun, you can read online and an excerpt from the outstanding title story on Tor.com.


Hallucinatory, Dreamlike, Gritty and Naturalistic

Wed 3 Aug 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Hallucinatory, Dreamlike, Gritty and Naturalistic | Posted by: Gavin

In the new issue of Locus Gary K. Wolfe reviews Robert Freeman Wexler’s The Silverberg Business who calls it “deeply weird” and goes on to say:

“It’s one of the mostly deeply weird novels I’ve read in some time, at times hallucinatory and dreamlike, at other times gritty and naturalistic. We’ve heard a lot in the past several years about genre-blending or ‘‘cross-genre’’ fiction, but Wexler starts out by combining two genres that seldom come up in these discussions: the western and the hard-boiled private eye mystery.”


Fixed!

Fri 29 Jul 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Fixed! | Posted by: Gavin

Aaaaand after Paypal broke our old buy buttons Michael has fixed them: please, go try them here and see!

 


Paypal?

Thu 28 Jul 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on Paypal? | Posted by: Gavin

Received an email today that said Paypal wasn’t working on this site, oops. It was working on Tuesday and my Paypal account is still working out fine. This is not the time for me to switch payment processors so I’ll look into it. Especially as we have a new book and a new issue of the zine both dropping sooooon.

This link does seem to say it all — what are the basic parameters the Paypal buttons are suddenly lacking? Wish me luck! (Or, send cash or order Small Beer books here.)

Another question from the floor: will there be a Small Beer sale this summer? Between me being mostly out of action and us changing websites at Book Moon next month the answer is no. Autumn sale? Who knows! I lie here on this couch and think who can think that far ahead?

ETA Friday: Friday update: the subscription page works. Double hmm.

ETA: Wondering if this is because Paypal wants me to add the Pay Later option which is hard coded into their new buttons — and I don’t want to add that. Hmm.

Paypal buttons

Gah, all my old saved buttons are inaccessible/gone. Whee. This link below leads to the apology, oops, no access page . . .

paypal buttonsSorry


Top 10 21st-Century Fantasy Novels

Tue 26 Jul 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Top 10 21st-Century Fantasy Novels | Posted by: Gavin

A Stranger in Olondria cover - Brian Attebury’s new book Fantasy: How It Works comes out from Oxford University Press in October and in the run up to the publication date he wrote up a Top 10 21st-century Fantasy Novels for the Guardian. I’ve read seven books on the list — I should just complete it! — and was very happy to see Sofia Samatar’s A Stranger in Olondria on the list:

5. A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar (2013)
In this gorgeously written tour of a complex secondary world, Samatar explores ghosts, culture clashes and the effect of written language on a purely oral culture, while also providing engaging characters and a rousing adventure story. The imagined world of the fiction reflects Samatar’s own immersion in multiple cultures as the daughter of a Somali immigrant and a scholar of Arabic literatures with teaching experience in Sudan and Egypt.


Backlist To The Future: Short Story-Style

Fri 22 Jul 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Backlist To The Future: Short Story-Style | Posted by: Gavin

Should you be a short story kick this weekend, Book Riot’s SFF Yeah’s podcast has you covered:

Jenn discusses two favorite speculative short story collections.

Tender by Sofia Samatar

Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker

We are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker

Follow the podcast via RSS here, Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here.
The show can also be found on Stitcher.

Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea cover - click to view full size Tender cover - click to view full size

 


The Silverberg Business OHTX Tour

Thu 21 Jul 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal. | Comments Off on The Silverberg Business OHTX Tour | Posted by: Gavin

We just got a review of this book that called it something like weird and great and, really, aren’t they all, the books? Otherwise, what is the point? Well, I like many nonweird books, but of the ones I want to publish, a touch, a smidgeon, a skullwhat? is always welcome.

Robert is going to some of our fave indie bookstores and I hope if you’re near you can go, bring friends, be surprised! Also, Jon Langford, cover artist and legendary musician, is, amazingly!, opening for him at the Book Cellar which is way beyond my bingo card hopes for this life, yay!


Congratulations World Fantasy Award finalists!

Wed 20 Jul 2022 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Congratulations World Fantasy Award finalists! | Posted by: Gavin

Congratulations to all of the World Fantasy Award finalists and especially to:

Isabel Yap for her collection Never Have I Ever
and her novella “A Canticle for Lost Girls”

Jeffrey Ford for his collection Big Dark Hole

Sarah Pinsker for her story “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” — originally published in Uncanny and collected in her 2023 collection Lost Places

The news came in just too late to put in the forthcoming late issue of LCRW which might even be mailed out this month, that part is out of my hands.

Anyway, congratulations to all the finalists, what fun!


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