Flip a coin

Wed 21 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Flip a coin | Posted by: Gavin

Why don’t we enter books in competitions such as the Foreword Book of the Year? The books that win are usually pretty worthy, but here’s a line from the press release. It’s the word “narrowed” that kills me:

Nearly 1,400 books were entered in 59 categories. These were narrowed to 698 finalists, from 419 publishers. The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers…


Jedediah Berry

Mon 19 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Jedediah Berry | Posted by: Gavin

A post delayed by travel &c. from earlier in the year.

We have an announcement concerning Jedediah Berry. We are proud and happy to announce that Mr. Berry, who has long labored deeply down there in the vineyards of Small Beer Press, has been hired on as our first Assistant Editor. The excitement around our 42-story HQ has been and is still palpable. We encourage artists to send us their impressions of the scene wherein Mr. Berry received his first paycheck.

Mr. Berry has labored in the employ of Conjunctions, jubilat, and the PEN Journal. He is the star of at least one YouTube sensation. A number of his stories can be perused online: “Selections from The Book of Beasts” on La Petite Zine; “Thumb War” on Pindeldyboz. He can be seen on the cover of Danielle Pafunda’s poetry collection, Pretty Young Thing. These are only a few of his accomplishments.

Mr. Berry now has a website, The Third Archive, the actuality of which provided the impetus for this post.


Generation Loss excerpt

Sun 18 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Generation Loss excerpt | Posted by: Gavin

Generation Loss Added a page for Generation Loss (reviews | Elizabeth Hand bio) and posted the first chapter:

There’s always a moment where everything changes. A great photographer — someone like Diane Arbus, or me during that fraction of a second when I was great — she sees that moment coming, and presses the shutter release an instant before the change hits. If you don’t see it coming, if you blink or you’re drunk or just looking the other way — well, everything changes anyway, it’s not like things would have been different.

But for the rest of your life you’re fucked, because you blew it. Maybe no one else knows it, but you do. In my case, it was no secret. Everyone knew I’d blown it. Some people can make do in a situation like that. Me, I’ve never been good at making do. My life, who could pretend there wasn’t a big fucking hole in it?

More.



Shelving excitement

Fri 16 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on Shelving excitement | Posted by: Gavin

Nope, not the excitement of shelving books, the excitement of the shelves coming down at us. We’re all looking at the starred Publishers Weekly review of Generation Loss (which seemed like enough excitement for the day!) when Creak! Boom! The shelf beside Gavin’s computer decides to take a nosedive. Photos from Flickr:

Ok, it’s a bit of a mess. It was tidier before a favorite glass was broken and spilled water all over a couple of books and the ’06 tax box. Luckily nothing was very damaged or wet. Besides the small shelf which is now kindling.

So we call the local place where it came from and they send out a couple of guys who take it in their stride, go bring a new piece to fix it, fix it, and then call us in to show that it should be able to take the weight from now on. Now it’s all as good as new and ready to be refilled. If we are brave enough! Meh. Leave it for the weekend.



Silly films

Thu 15 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Silly films | Posted by: Gavin

Could someone please write something hilarious about Ghost Rider? (Wait, having a giggle fit. Ok. Ready to go on.) What a preview! What a hairstyle! Of course we will be in line the way we were for Batman and
all those other Excellent comic+accessories vehicles. Once known as films.

Next: can someone else do The Number 23? This may kill us if we ever see the preview again. 23! It’s 3×7 (plus a little bit). It’s just one less than 24, which is 6x2x2, which is 4 More than will see this film. It’s Jim Carrey with a dark side (or a 23rd side?). It’s a scary February thing? Nope. That’s the 29th and doesn’t happen this year. Phew. 23. Look at it with half-closed (or drunken) eyes and it’s . . . 23! The age you turned after 22? The number of empty bottles in a case of beer? 23! (Some doofus broke one.) The number of times 23 will be used in this paragraph: 23! Add up the letters of your first and last names. Take that number away from 23. Add the result to the total number of letters in your first and last names. The Answer Is 23! Oh. My. God.


Thu 15 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Google says this isn’t a new word, oh well, it was a fun moment anyway. What is the name of your action when you nibble the munchies left out for the gods? Snackreligious. Go back to your serious surfing.


Thu 15 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 2 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

Google says this isn’t a new word, oh well, it was a fun moment anyway. What is the name of your action when you nibble the munchies left out for the gods? Snackreligious. Go back to your serious surfing.


Wed 14 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Finn Harbor, a writer currently working at a university in South Korea, has been posting a series of Q+A’s with a bunch of agents, editors, and publishers — they’re interviews, rather than conversations but they make for interesting reading. Recently he interviewed Gavin and recently posted the results — excerpt below:

1. Literature is in trouble — that is, more trouble than usual. Why do you think this is? The increasing prevalence of TV? The distractions of increasingly narcotic subcultures such as video games? Sept. 11? Or is talk of the “death of literature” simple exaggeration?

Don’t agree with the premise so I’ll go with the exaggeration. We’re all going to have TV and the net wired into our brains as in innumerable science fiction novels (and M.T. Anderson’s excellent Feed) so why would anyone need to read? Putting that aside, until the cable company comes to (ahem) jack me in there are so many advocates for reading, for books, books in translation, magazines in print and online, that I am somewhat sanguine about at least the near future. Some of the publishers I respect will fail (maybe including us!), some of the authors I love will stop writing or selling books. But new publishers will appear, new authors, new ways for the authors I love, to get their work out.

2. And what is literature, anyway? Should the traditional novel be considered the prime example of it?

Literature is the printed version of the ever-popular narrative dream state induced by such primary sources as storytellers, poets, Hyde Park orators, (some) TV, film, and video game writers, the Interblognet, the couple fighting quietly behind you on the bus, and so forth.

4. Literary publishing has always been a marriage of art and commerce. But in recent years, the Cult of the Deal has become more influential, with agents demanding larger advances and marketing people paying especially close attention to sales figures. Is the “art” side of the business being pushed out?

The really big deals for new authors dropped off after the 1990s. Sales figures are harder and harder to get around — the ubiquitous peek at Bookscan is part of the consideration of any ms now.

Publishers can afford to take some chances, but it’s harder with the accountants looking over your shoulder. If a book costs ~$25,000 to do decently then it had better sell more than 1,000 copies. Finding a way to make it sell more:  that’s the challenge!

Art and commerce are intertwined and nowhere does it say that art is something anyone should be paid for. The writer should ask themselves what they want to do: amuse a reader? Puzzle them? Confuse? Inspire? Having answered that question they can then consider who will be willing to pay them what amount for the job of sending that work out into the world.


Wed 14 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Finn Harbor, a writer currently working at a university in South Korea, has been posting a series of Q+A’s with a bunch of agents, editors, and publishers — they’re interviews, rather than conversations but they make for interesting reading. Recently he interviewed Gavin and recently posted the results — excerpt below:

1. Literature is in trouble — that is, more trouble than usual. Why do you think this is? The increasing prevalence of TV? The distractions of increasingly narcotic subcultures such as video games? Sept. 11? Or is talk of the “death of literature” simple exaggeration?

Don’t agree with the premise so I’ll go with the exaggeration. We’re all going to have TV and the net wired into our brains as in innumerable science fiction novels (and M.T. Anderson’s excellent Feed) so why would anyone need to read? Putting that aside, until the cable company comes to (ahem) jack me in there are so many advocates for reading, for books, books in translation, magazines in print and online, that I am somewhat sanguine about at least the near future. Some of the publishers I respect will fail (maybe including us!), some of the authors I love will stop writing or selling books. But new publishers will appear, new authors, new ways for the authors I love, to get their work out.

2. And what is literature, anyway? Should the traditional novel be considered the prime example of it?

Literature is the printed version of the ever-popular narrative dream state induced by such primary sources as storytellers, poets, Hyde Park orators, (some) TV, film, and video game writers, the Interblognet, the couple fighting quietly behind you on the bus, and so forth.

4. Literary publishing has always been a marriage of art and commerce. But in recent years, the Cult of the Deal has become more influential, with agents demanding larger advances and marketing people paying especially close attention to sales figures. Is the “art” side of the business being pushed out?

The really big deals for new authors dropped off after the 1990s. Sales figures are harder and harder to get around — the ubiquitous peek at Bookscan is part of the consideration of any ms now.

Publishers can afford to take some chances, but it’s harder with the accountants looking over your shoulder. If a book costs ~$25,000 to do decently then it had better sell more than 1,000 copies. Finding a way to make it sell more:  that’s the challenge!

Art and commerce are intertwined and nowhere does it say that art is something anyone should be paid for. The writer should ask themselves what they want to do: amuse a reader? Puzzle them? Confuse? Inspire? Having answered that question they can then consider who will be willing to pay them what amount for the job of sending that work out into the world.


A. & the LBC

Tue 13 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on A. & the LBC | Posted by: Gavin

Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the DeadForced to post yet again despite the comfy couch, big old book, and cup of crabby green tea (too lazy to go see what the proper name is) by Pinky‘s rather exciting news from the Lit Blog Coop announcing that Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead is one of three Read This! picks for Spring ’07:

The Cottagers by Marshall Klimasewiski (W.W. Norton)

Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! by Mark Binelli (Dalkey Archive Press)

Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead by A. DeNiro (Small Beer Press)

So at some point this spring all the lit bloggers who take part in the LBC will be talking about these books on their own blogs and at LBC central. There will also be podcasts, interviews, free donuts (ask at your local coffee shop, say the LBC sent you), and so on.

This is fantastic news — thanks to the bloggers who nominated Alan’s book and everyone else who has anything to do with this. Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead is a fantastic book on many levels and an incredibly strong debut collection. Alan’s writing moves carefully and easily across and through familiar genres creating a unique and unmistakably individual voice. We very much look forward to following the conversations about the book.

Recent Read This! selections (yanked right from the LBC homeship) have included:

———-

Update: But will any of the conversations be as deep (and wacky) as Chris Nakashima-Brown‘s?


UK!

Tue 13 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on UK! | Posted by: Gavin

Showing that they certainly know how to do things right over there in the UK, when we arrived back at Small Beer HQ (after 400 hours or so of travel from Sydney (why did we leave??)) there on the table was a bright* and beautiful bunch of flowers from Kelly’s UK publisher HarperPerennial to celebrate the UK publication of Magic for Beginners. Yay!
One of our fave writers, Jon Courtenay Grimwood reviewed it for SFX, and described it thusly: “A frighteningly original collection of stories from a frighteningly original voice.”

Will Kelly be hopping a Virgin 747 to London, Manchester, Birmingham? Only time will tell. Calling Richard Branson?

(It really depends on the inflight movies: managed to skip Man of the Year on 3 flights … however, Mistress of Spices (“Spices…”) may, er, be worth a laugh look.)

Updates on some of Kelly’s stories &c. (sorry if any of these are repeats, trying to catch up):

* Bright is important as it’s Dark here in Massachusetts.


    Year’s Best ToC (mostly)

    Tue 13 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Year’s Best ToC (mostly) | Posted by: Gavin

    This is the almost complete table-of-contenty goodness for the fantasy section of The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2007: Twentieth Annual Collection edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant. Ellen Datlow will post her horror selections on her Amazon blog (don’t call it that!) and various message boards. We’ve sent in our picks to the man behind the book, Jim Frenkel, who is doing the permissions and contracts and so on. He says there are a few people still to contact so we will post the complete version when all is hook, line, and sinkered.
    Now we’re reading for the annual Summation and for the 200 or so Honorable Mentions we list and we’ve also (obviously!) begun reading for this year’s book.

    Nathalie Anderson, “Tell“, (poem) The Journal of Mythic Arts, Summer/Autumn
    Jeanne Marie Beaumont, “Is Rain My Bearskin?”, (poem) Fairy Tale Review, Green Issue
    Josh Bell, “Yep, I Said Camel, (poem) Ninth Letter, Vol. 3, No.1
    Paul Di Filippo, “Femavillle 29”, Salon Fantastique
    Jeffrey Ford, “The Night Whiskey”, Salon Fantastique
    Jeannine Hall Gailey, “Persephone and the Prince Meet Over Drinks” and “Becoming The Villainess” (Poems)     Becoming the Villainess
    Minsoo Kang, “A Fearful Symmetry”,     Of Tales and Enigmas
    Ellen Klages, “In the House of the Seven Librarians”, Firebirds Rising
    Tim Pratt, “Cup and Table”, Twenty Epics
    M. Rickert, “Journey into the Kingdom”, F&SF, May
    Benjamin Rosenbaum, “A Siege of Cranes”, Twenty Epics
    Christopher Rowe, “Another Word for Map Is Faith”, F&SF, August
    Geoff Ryman, “Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter”, F&SF, Oct/Nov
    Ira Sher, “Lionflower Hedge”, ParaSpheres
    Delia Sherman, “La Fee Verte”, Salon Fantastique
    Ysabeau S. Wilce, “The Lineaments of Gratified Desire”, F&SF, July
    Caleb Wilson, “Directions”, Diagram 6.4


    some reading

    Mon 5 Feb 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Comments Off on some reading | Posted by: Gavin

    Interview at Hobart with Ray Vukcevich.

    Jacob McMurray, who designed the cover for Elizabeth Hand’s Generation Loss, has a fantastic new blog where he is posting huge amounts of his poster and book work.

    Early bloggerly rave for Generation Loss.

    Henry Wessells, bookmaker, publisher, and seller extraordinoire, has started a blog.

    Not sure what to make of this. Except: my, that’s a big one. How can Burns night be celebrated without whiskey? (That unforgettable line from that forgettable film: “Argh! The haggis! The Haggis!”)

    Lone Star Stories has a new story by Gavin, Jenn Reese, and Nina Kiriki Hoffman.

    Chris Nakashima-Brown goes nuts on Futurismic.

    —

    We are still in the Southron Hemisphroid and interweb access is like unto our teenage years: spotty and unpopular, so: apologies for slow replies and shipping and all that. Back to normal amounts of poor emailng and so forth in mid-month.


    Between shelves

    Sat 27 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 6 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

    Interfictions, the first book from the Interstitial Arts Foundation, has just gone off to the printer. A few review copies have gone out but most will go out closer to the pub date — let’s call the pub date Monday, April 30th. By then the book will be in the stores, sliding between shelves, cracking open heads, and warming the hearts of readers everywhere in Bookland.

    Want to review it? Drop us a line.

    The cover (featuring a photo of 3D art by Connie Toebe) is below as well as the full table of contents — although that’s still alphabetical, the true order will be revealed Later.

    You can read a version of the introduction online but for the rest you’ll have to wait a bit. The Afterword, by hard-working editors Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, is a great conversation on expectations, editing, definitions (and the lack or use of them), and should be kickstart further conversations of interest. Maybe that can be posted in the form of blog posts by the editors or maybe it will end up on the IAF forums.

    A page for the book will appear soon(ish), it can be preordered here (or at your fave book shop), and it will be pretty.
    http://lcrw.net/images/covers/IAF-200-72.gif

    Heinz Insu Fenkl, Introduction
    Karen Jordan Allen, “Alternate Anxieties”
    Christopher Barzak, “What We Know About the Lost Families of – House”
    K. Tempest Bradford, “Black Feather”
    Matthew Cheney, “A Map of the Everywhere”
    Michael DeLuca, “The Utter Proximity of God”
    Adrián Ferrero, “When It Rains, You’d Better Get Out of Ulga” (translated from Spanish)
    Colin Greenland, “Timothy”
    Csilla Kleinheincz, “A Drop of Raspberry” (translated from Hungarian)
    Holly Phillips, “Queen of the Butterfly Kingdom”
    Rachel Pollack, “Burning Beard – The Dreams and Visions of Joseph Ben Jacob, Lord Viceroy of Egypt”
    Joy Marchand, “Pallas at Noon”
    Anna Tambour, “The Shoe in SHOES’ Window”
    Veronica Schanoes, “Rats”
    Léa Silhol, “Emblemata” (translated from French)
    Jon Singer, “Willow Pattern”
    Vandana Singh, “Hunger”
    Mikal Trimm, “Climbing Redemption Mountain”
    Catherynne Valente, “A Dirge for Prester John”
    Leslie What, “Post hoc”
    Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, “Afterword: The Space Between”


    Sun 21 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    Magic for BeginnersWe are far away. Cat Sparks posted some pics to prove it. Gavin may look peely wally but rumors of his death proved to be a little premature. How much we’re not telling.

    Kelly is now teaching at the Clarion South workshop just outside of Brisbane. She’ll be reading at a local bookshop on Thursday night. But if you live in Brisbane (and you care about these things) you probably already know that. Otherwise, besides (the awesome) Galaxy in Sydney, you can get signed copies of Magic for Beginners at Pulp Fiction in Brizzy (as we are told to say).

    And, look, the first appearance of the UK edition of Magic for Beginners. It is such a beautiful edition with shiny bits and bumpy bits and art on the inside of the covers. Wow. Comes out prop’ly Feb. 5th. Maybe we can go to the UK and see it there, too.


    Sun 21 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 1 Comment | Posted by: Gavin

    Magic for BeginnersWe are far away. Cat Sparks posted some pics to prove it. Gavin may look peely wally but rumors of his death proved to be a little premature. How much we’re not telling.

    Kelly is now teaching at the Clarion South workshop just outside of Brisbane. She’ll be reading at a local bookshop on Thursday night. But if you live in Brisbane (and you care about these things) you probably already know that. Otherwise, besides (the awesome) Galaxy in Sydney, you can get signed copies of Magic for Beginners at Pulp Fiction in Brizzy (as we are told to say).

    And, look, the first appearance of the UK edition of Magic for Beginners. It is such a beautiful edition with shiny bits and bumpy bits and art on the inside of the covers. Wow. Comes out prop’ly Feb. 5th. Maybe we can go to the UK and see it there, too.


    Thu 11 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    Great SF Site review of Travel Light by Paul Kincaid:

    Travel LightAlthough simply and clearly told, this story is far from simple or pleasant, it is crowded with cruelty, betrayal, duplicity, slaughter, and the more exalted or heroic a character is the more vile their behaviour.

    Harriet Klausner liked it too(!):

    Fans of Potter will enjoy this excellent reprint of a 1950s young adult fantasy starring a wonderful heroine and a terrific support cast who makes shapeshifters and dragons seem real. The story line is more a coming of age series of vignettes in the life of Halla with her fifteen adventures fun to follow especially soaring with dragons. Fans will appreciate this fine tale of a heroic child and the “heroes” who adopt her.

    Most unexpected link for Travel Light: feral children.


    Thu 11 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    Great SF Site review of Travel Light by Paul Kincaid:

    Travel LightAlthough simply and clearly told, this story is far from simple or pleasant, it is crowded with cruelty, betrayal, duplicity, slaughter, and the more exalted or heroic a character is the more vile their behaviour.

    Harriet Klausner liked it too(!):

    Fans of Potter will enjoy this excellent reprint of a 1950s young adult fantasy starring a wonderful heroine and a terrific support cast who makes shapeshifters and dragons seem real. The story line is more a coming of age series of vignettes in the life of Halla with her fifteen adventures fun to follow especially soaring with dragons. Fans will appreciate this fine tale of a heroic child and the “heroes” who adopt her.

    Most unexpected link for Travel Light: feral children.


    Wed 10 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    This woman is . . . sending out Generation Loss galleys. We made a video of it. But we had to send it to the CDC it was so infectioussss.
    The image “http://lcrw.net/images/owl-mask.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.


    Wed 10 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    This woman is . . . sending out Generation Loss galleys. We made a video of it. But we had to send it to the CDC it was so infectioussss.
    The image “http://lcrw.net/images/owl-mask.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.


    Planning to Fail

    Wed 10 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Planning to Fail | Posted by: Gavin

    “Fresh brian, fresh brian!” What’s your zombie plan? Check out the “Planning to Fail” PSA from the machinima series Red vs. Blue. (Watch in Lo-res Quicktime.) Thanks Tom!


    Wed 10 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    Good news for Ellen Kushner, her novel The Privilege of the Sword is on the preliminary Nebula ballot—along with lots of other good books by Rick Bowes, Paul Park, Jeff Ford, David Marusek, etc., etc. Barzak, Delia Sherman, Dora Goss, and many other interesting things on there. What fun.

    Ellen will also be at the New York ComicCon at the Bantam Spectra booth and will be signing and giving away 100 copies of TPOTS (sometime between Feb. 23-25).
    Lasty, Ellen reports that Privilege has been sold to a Dutch publisher. More swashbuckling around the world!
    On rights sales that (sadly) really don’t have anything to with us except that it’s cool, Sean Stewart’s Perfect Circle has sold to the following: La Factoria de Ideas, Spain; Fabryka Publishing, Poland; and Karisto Oy, Finland.


    Wed 10 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    Good news for Ellen Kushner, her novel The Privilege of the Sword is on the preliminary Nebula ballot—along with lots of other good books by Rick Bowes, Paul Park, Jeff Ford, David Marusek, etc., etc. Barzak, Delia Sherman, Dora Goss, and many other interesting things on there. What fun.

    Ellen will also be at the New York ComicCon at the Bantam Spectra booth and will be signing and giving away 100 copies of TPOTS (sometime between Feb. 23-25).
    Lasty, Ellen reports that Privilege has been sold to a Dutch publisher. More swashbuckling around the world!
    On rights sales that (sadly) really don’t have anything to with us except that it’s cool, Sean Stewart’s Perfect Circle has sold to the following: La Factoria de Ideas, Spain; Fabryka Publishing, Poland; and Karisto Oy, Finland.


    Tue 9 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    January means it’s time for another Tiptree Award anthology (once more cleanly designed by John Berry). This year’s is the third in this series and has a ToC that just shines, baby, shines. Ted Chiang, Timmi DuChamp, Ursula K. Le Guin, Margo Lanagan, Nalo Hopkinson, Aimee Bender, Tiptree.
    Also out on the tubes: an     interview with Cindy of Doris zine fame. Yes, you should order it.

    And after you read that interview check out the glory that is ZineWiki. Or should that be the Time Sink That Is ZineWiki? For it is indeed an amazing place. Phew. Get to work, you heathens! Edit, Edit, Edit!

    Another interview: Tim Sandlin in the Jan. issue of Bookslut—which has a lot of good reading. Sandlin is the author of Skipped Parts, a hilarious read, and has a new novel coming out next week or so, Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty—which, if you like labels, is maybe near-future social science fiction. Or, a fun read in which a bunch of old baby boomers (although sadly not Jimi) rebel against their unfair captivity. Give it to any boomer and watch them whine about how it wasn’t like that in the Sixties and anyway, how would you know, were you at Berkeley in ’68? I didn’t think so.
    (Exit, laughing.)

    And: Sean & Co. are busy again. Win a trip to space. Immerse, immerse!


    Tue 9 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    January means it’s time for another Tiptree Award anthology (once more cleanly designed by John Berry). This year’s is the third in this series and has a ToC that just shines, baby, shines. Ted Chiang, Timmi DuChamp, Ursula K. Le Guin, Margo Lanagan, Nalo Hopkinson, Aimee Bender, Tiptree.
    Also out on the tubes: an     interview with Cindy of Doris zine fame. Yes, you should order it.

    And after you read that interview check out the glory that is ZineWiki. Or should that be the Time Sink That Is ZineWiki? For it is indeed an amazing place. Phew. Get to work, you heathens! Edit, Edit, Edit!

    Another interview: Tim Sandlin in the Jan. issue of Bookslut—which has a lot of good reading. Sandlin is the author of Skipped Parts, a hilarious read, and has a new novel coming out next week or so, Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty—which, if you like labels, is maybe near-future social science fiction. Or, a fun read in which a bunch of old baby boomers (although sadly not Jimi) rebel against their unfair captivity. Give it to any boomer and watch them whine about how it wasn’t like that in the Sixties and anyway, how would you know, were you at Berkeley in ’68? I didn’t think so.
    (Exit, laughing.)

    And: Sean & Co. are busy again. Win a trip to space. Immerse, immerse!


    Crap days in publishing

    Mon 8 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Comments Off on Crap days in publishing | Posted by: Gavin

    Ours are just overloaded, in other places it’s truly crap.

    After seven years, Clamor Magazine is folding. Clamor were good people providing viewpoints and voices that aren’t often heard. Darn.

    The Independent Press Association has (not unexpectedly) gone toes up. Punk Planet and their ilk are the sufferers here. Magazine distribution is, well, pick your favorite metaphor for pain and suffering, add a pinch of humilation, and that feeling you get when there’s a long, long queue at the post office and the only person working is medically dead, and it’s something like that. The IPA hoped to help but failed. Magazine distribution choices are disappearing faster than hope for clean elections.

    Then the elephant in the room: AMS and their Chapter 11 bankruptcy. AMS have been under SEC investigation since at least 2002. They have been delisted from the stock market for not complying with quarterly reporting rules and a few ex-top execs who messed with ad revenue figures are trying out alternative modes of living. ie prison. AMS are huge: they supply CostCo with those pallets of books that lie around the front of the warehouses (whoopee, that’s some fun shoppin’). AMS are also, as of a couple of years ago, the parent company of Publishers Group West, exclusive distributors for Soft Skull, McSweeney’s Books, Tin House, and ~150 others. Fingers crossed that if PGW are sold off quick the publishers see their money and not just pennies on the dollar.


    Mon 8 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

    Latest logo comes from Terry Lau of Beehive Design. Terry did the wonderful logo for Jim Munroe’s No Media Kings. The first of these came in a couple of stripes, with Small Beer Press at the bottom or at the side. The second is cut from a spine mockup. What do you think?
    http://lcrw.net/images/logo/Lau1.gifhttp://lcrw.net/images/logo/Lau2.gif

    Kelly is in Maine reading tonight at the Stone Coast MFA program. Sunday we leave for Australia where Kelly will teach Clarion, we’ll be at the Aurealis Awards, visiting Pulp Fiction, Galaxy, Infinitas, and as many other bookshops as we can. (Just the usual, then.) Maybe see some sights, maybe hole up and hide from the heat.


    Mon 8 Jan 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | 5 Comments | Posted by: Gavin

    Latest logo comes from Terry Lau of Beehive Design. Terry did the wonderful logo for Jim Munroe’s No Media Kings. The first of these came in a couple of stripes, with Small Beer Press at the bottom or at the side. The second is cut from a spine mockup. What do you think?
    http://lcrw.net/images/logo/Lau1.gifhttp://lcrw.net/images/logo/Lau2.gif

    Kelly is in Maine reading tonight at the Stone Coast MFA program. Sunday we leave for Australia where Kelly will teach Clarion, we’ll be at the Aurealis Awards, visiting Pulp Fiction, Galaxy, Infinitas, and as many other bookshops as we can. (Just the usual, then.) Maybe see some sights, maybe hole up and hide from the heat.


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