– Also deleted Urban Pantheist 3, sorry about that Michael. Now only the 4th issue left.

Pop! The sound of a mind exploding.

Mon 31 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Alan DeNiro, To Read Pile | Comments Off on Pop! The sound of a mind exploding. | Posted by: Gavin

– Review of Alan DeNiro’s collection at Strange Horizons. Pop! The sound of a mind exploding. [Note: Here’s the wince inducingly-named Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.]

– Also, an interesting story, “The Women of Our Occupation” by Kameron Hurley. (Thanks to Gwenda for pushing the story.) Which, with the wonders of the web, looks like this once it goes through Regender.com.

– It’s the last day of July. Celebrate! Or, dig a hole and hide underground from the heatttt.

Brudders of der Head

Fri 28 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Uncategorized | Comments Off on Brudders of der Head | Posted by: Gavin

Check our email announcement list for some more news. Especially about “Brothers of the Head” which is a dark, elegant film about a proto punk band formed around a pair conjoined twins. Opens in NYC and LA Friday.

Delocate yourself for coffee, books, films

Fri 28 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Uncategorized | Comments Off on Delocate yourself for coffee, books, films | Posted by: Gavin

Add things to Delocator, make it even more useful. You can find indie cafes, bookshops, and cinemas — this is what I’ve been looking for for ages. Brilliant idea. There are probably hundreds of such sites but this one didn’t have tons of distracting ads and so on, it just does what it says it does. But, it needs more content, so: add your fave coffee shop today.

A bright spot

Fri 28 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., To Read Pile | Comments Off on A bright spot | Posted by: Gavin

Try Robert Sydney’s The Bright Spot is a paperback noir/sf original from last year with a great cover design that just grabs you and says read me! Nick Bainbridge (not his real name) is an actor on the second go around after everything he was in in his first shot bombed. He’s picked up work at a crappy educational film maker (ok, it’s virtual something or other, but think low-rent film production studio) who remake lit classics in more populist forms (you have to read it to find out what they do to Frankenstein). Nick and his costar Lu are offered under-the-table parts in a weird sting operation on a powerful old man, James Dumfries — the inventor of “ware”, software that runs on people so that they can do anything. The software helped the USA win the last (unnamed) war but is now used for everything from roadworkers to chefs. The sting goes off but something goes wrong and Nick and Lu’s contact disappears and they don’t get paid. The government starts keeping tabs on them and Nick can’t let go the feeling that there’s more to their own story than meets the eye. All the right parts are here: beautiful blondes (who don’t automatically end up dead!, conspiracies and backroom deals, and through it all smart biting comments on the world today. The Bright Spot is perfect for a bus or train ride or just sitting in a cafe or a bar.

Aug 20, Nantucket

Fri 28 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Kelly Link | Comments Off on Aug 20, Nantucket | Posted by: Gavin

Added a new reading (and wine and cheese reception) for Kelly out on Nantucket island, yay! Sunday August 20, 7 PM. Brant Point Books, 17 N. Beach Street, P. O. Box 1123, Nantucket, MA 02554 508-228-5856

Poetic fruit and some readings

Mon 24 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Kelly Link, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Poetic fruit and some readings | Posted by: Gavin

Meanwhile, we are out the back with Seamus Heaney Blackberry Picking. We are not, however, entertaining takeover bids from the Ocean Spray cranberry collective, no matter what you may have read in today’s Wall Street Journal.– More readings: Kelly is teaching the final two weeks of the Clarion East workshop with Holly Black and is reading with Holly on the 26th at 7 PM -at the Capital Area District Library, 401 S. Capital Ave, Lansing, MI 48933 517-367-6363 and by herself at the lovely Archives Book Shop, 517-519 W. Grand River, East Lansing, MI 48823.

– Should you be on the west coast tonight, you have the chance to go see Shelley Jackson read from her new novel Half Life:

July 24, 8 PM – Dog Eared Books, 900 Valencia St (@ 20th), San Francisco (415)282-190
July 25, 7 PM — Cody’s Books 1730 4th Street, Berkeley 510-559-9500
July 26, 7:30 PM — Powells City of Books 1005 West Burnside, Portland 503-228-4651
July 29, 7:30 PM — Elliot Bay Books 101 South Main St, Seattle 206-624-6600
More here.

critical mass

Thu 20 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., To Read Pile | Comments Off on critical mass | Posted by: Gavin

Stop everything, read this hilarious review of the new M. Night Shyster “film” from the Philly Weekly. (Maybe it will be as bad as Signs!)– Critical Mass is one of the best new lit blogs around and John Freeman put together a good post on “The Middle East — a poetical primer.” Among those he mentions is Naomi Shihab Nye who read at Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, NC, while Kelly was teaching there. Ms. Nye is an incredibly thoughtful writer and a great reader: funny, insightful, a little dramatic but never anywhere near over the top.

Sarah Langan

Thu 20 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., KGB Fantastic Fiction | Comments Off on Sarah Langan | Posted by: Gavin

Smartest reader at KGB? Sarah Langan! Paul Witcover knows we’re huge fans (review his books, beg him to proofread our books), so he’s pretty secure there. Sarah brought home made cookies (UK readers: biscuits) to the reading at KGB. We are so easily bought! Paul and Sarah both gave great spooky readings. Pre-order The Keeper now! Dracula: Asylum is a semi-sequel to Todd Browning’s Dracula movie and the section Paul read was deeply intense, some fantastic grim writing about a battlefield in World War One. Thought-provoking stuff to hear in a country that just keeps opening up new battlefronts.

Alan at Magers & Quinn

Mon 17 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Alan DeNiro | Comments Off on Alan at Magers & Quinn | Posted by: Gavin

Tomorrow night Alan DeNiro whoops it up at a local(ish) bookshop: 7 PM — Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55408. (612) 822-4611 and the good news is there’s a reception afterward where Alan will probably not be leading the karaoke charge. Probably….

Fri 14 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., To Read Pile | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Alex Robinson, whose Tricked ain’t a bad book, writes a great piece on the music behind the book. (Which is one of those books with pictures.) One of the very enjoyable aspects of the book is that all the music and the bands are imaginary — which, for a book about a musician, is amazing fun. All this band history and hagiography gets tossed around, with tons of injokes and references, but instead of being some music scene you know/don’t know, care/don’t care about, it’s all part of the furniture and decoration of the novel. One quote:

Reading Albert Goldman’s THE LIVES OF JOHN LENNON was actually a big influence on the conception of the book. Though it seems pretty much forgotten today, Goldman’s book was very controversial when it came out in the late 1980s. Basically, Goldman said that the Lennon-Ono version of their life (Lennon and Ono madly in love and off drugs, Ono runs business while Lennon “retires” to raise son, bake bread and be a house husband, etc) was a big fat lie. In Goldman’s version, Lennon was a reclusive, violent drug addict who was about to leave the cold, cunning Ono until she had him hypnotized (!) into staying.

Fri 14 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., To Read Pile | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Alex Robinson, whose Tricked ain’t a bad book, writes a great piece on the music behind the book. (Which is one of those books with pictures.) One of the very enjoyable aspects of the book is that all the music and the bands are imaginary — which, for a book about a musician, is amazing fun. All this band history and hagiography gets tossed around, with tons of injokes and references, but instead of being some music scene you know/don’t know, care/don’t care about, it’s all part of the furniture and decoration of the novel. One quote:

Reading Albert Goldman’s THE LIVES OF JOHN LENNON was actually a big influence on the conception of the book. Though it seems pretty much forgotten today, Goldman’s book was very controversial when it came out in the late 1980s. Basically, Goldman said that the Lennon-Ono version of their life (Lennon and Ono madly in love and off drugs, Ono runs business while Lennon “retires” to raise son, bake bread and be a house husband, etc) was a big fat lie. In Goldman’s version, Lennon was a reclusive, violent drug addict who was about to leave the cold, cunning Ono until she had him hypnotized (!) into staying.

A. in NE

Tue 11 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., A. DeNiro | Comments Off on A. in NE | Posted by: Gavin

Tons of people at the reading in Boston last night — yay! Now A. + Kristin are off back to Minneapolis and he gets a break until the next reading. The Boston Phoenix blog points toward Alan and Theodora Goss’s reading tonight.

Last night’s reading at the Amherst Bookshop was great fun. To celebrate the new issue of LCRW we had a couple of people read pieces from the new issue.

Caitlin Beck and Lauren Smith read (or, really, performed) David Schwartz’s story “Play” — a playful story in two voices which was hilarious. Michael DeLuca read Fred Coppersmith’s short piece “At Uncle Ogden’s House.” Then the three of them read Dear Aunt Gwenda‘s latest column — with Caitlin reading Aunt Gwenda’s incisive and informative responses while wearing an orange boa! Jeanette Westwood (whose story “Crimson-lady at the Auction, Buying” is in the issue) dropped by to say hello but couldn’t stick around for the reading. Next time!

Nice people from One Less and Zygote Games and lots of readers turned up for the wine and the reading. The evening was recorded so at some point we may be able to add it to the audio pages. We’ll send you an email when and if . . .

TOChicago

Mon 10 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., A. DeNiro | Comments Off on TOChicago | Posted by: Gavin

Time Out Chicago likes Skinny Dipping:

“DeNiro’s greatest gifts are those of a poet, and his prose is filled with stunning images and incantatory rhythms. Debuts often come along with press releases touting them as “assured,” and sure enough, DeNiro’s was no different. But with talent as deep as his, it’s no wonder Deniro is confident in touring us around his strange worlds.” —Jonathan Messinger

Tonight: a reading!

Book Sense!

Thu 6 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., A. DeNiro, To Read Pile | Comments Off on Book Sense! | Posted by: Gavin

Big News: A.’s book is a Book Sense Pick for August with a great quote from Caleb Wilson of Davis-Kidd who obviously got the book. (Thanks go all those bookshops who nominated it!) So now the bookshops should have it and hopefully be selling the heck out of it!

SKINNY DIPPING IN THE LAKE OF THE DEAD: Stories by A. DeNiro
“This is a great debut collection of loopy, off-the-wall, and still-somehow-packing-emotional-weight stories; DeNiro can weld words into some mighty strange configurations.”
— Caleb Wilson, Davis-Kidd Booksellers, Nashville, TN

If you are in Massachusetts, come meet A. Deniro, hear him read, pick up a reader’s guide (and drinking guide), join the LCRW launch party, and see him and Theodora Goss all in the next few days:

7-9: Readercon 17, Burlington, MA (where Small Beer will have a table and many interns will attend!)

10 (Monday): Amherst Books, 8 Main Street, Amherst, MA 01002 413.256.1547 — 800.503.5865
— with LCRW 18 launch party

11 (Tuesday) — Porter Square Books, Porter Square Shopping Center, 25 White Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 · (617) 491-2220
— with Theodora Goss (In the Forest of Forgetting)

Also on the Book Sense list in case you didn’t believe us earlier. This is a damned good book:

JAMES TIPTREE, JR.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (St. Martin’s)
“Alice Sheldon trekked across Africa with her parents in the 1920s, became an accomplished painter, joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary, worked for the CIA, received a Ph.D. in psychology, and married twice. She also had a career as an influential writer of science fiction as James Tiptree. Her complex gender identity and sexual orientation is utterly fascinating, as is her remarkable life, which is made all the more vivid in this rich biography.”
— Kris Kleindienst, Left Bank Books, Saint Louis, MO

SBP1 – Erik the Shipping Tzar

Thu 6 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Uncategorized, YouTube | Comments Off on SBP1 – Erik the Shipping Tzar | Posted by: Gavin

Erik the Shipping Tzar (self-declared) tells the whole truth on YouTube. (More lo-res videos to come.)

Fireworks +

Tue 4 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Sean Stewart, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Fireworks + | Posted by: Gavin

Get out there and celebrate the freedoms you have!

– Sean Stewart came and went and signed lots of books in the meantime. And … left us an ARC of Cathy’s Book — yay!

20 rainstorms

Mon 3 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., A. DeNiro, To Read Pile | Comments Off on 20 rainstorms | Posted by: Gavin

In 20 Epics there is some rain. We sold all the copies we had at Readercon. It was an epic job of salespersonship by interns, friends, us, others. Finding the epically designed books was a long sordid tale of hidden icons, misdirection, and dead letter offices which was only concluded when Mary “I live in Iceland” Robinette “Shimmer” Kowal tracked them down far into the Labyrinth past the Steaming Kitchens of Despair. The books sold grandly, richly, with bread and cheese and some ale. They found spots by the fire in inns, they were purchased by plucky, heartfelt, surprisingly good looking kids who in a certain light looked like writers. The books were prizes, ill-gotten gains, kept in saddlebags, used as hats, ripped in two and kept by distance-separated lovers. There are at least twenty epics in the book but you only have to buy one. Lulu. Powells.

– Damn rainmakers. Damn rain gods. Damn all the Rain Cowboys. Living in the rain forest. No rainbows. Would love a rain check on the rain, thanks. Refuse to get out the rain wear. This is more of a squall than a storm. Being rained out. Sad not to be rain proof.

– A. DeNiro interviewed by John “Whatever” Scalzi. Read a couple of the stories in a funsize PDF edition.

Publication day!

Sat 1 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., A. DeNiro | Comments Off on Publication day! | Posted by: Gavin

A. DeNiro’s Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead officially hits the bookshops today. Street Team Alpha will be facing out the book in stores near You. Street Team Beta are being held in reserve in case they get last minute tix for the Brazil France game later today. Street Team C will be skinny dipping in lakes all over the country. Go do the same!

Thu 29 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., LCRW, To Read Pile | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Sarah Monette, who has had a few stories in LCRW, has a second novel out right now, The Virtu. This one stands by itself in the way her debut didn’t (the books are in a series, although they don’t tell you that). The Virtu races along and Monette gives her characters some great dialogue. It’s a book mostly about boys but there is a great governess (who isn’t, of course) who is so much fun that she is missed when she disappears off screen. A great book to get stuck into late on a summer’s eve.

Thu 29 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., LCRW, To Read Pile | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Sarah Monette, who has had a few stories in LCRW, has a second novel out right now, The Virtu. This one stands by itself in the way her debut didn’t (the books are in a series, although they don’t tell you that). The Virtu races along and Monette gives her characters some great dialogue. It’s a book mostly about boys but there is a great governess (who isn’t, of course) who is so much fun that she is missed when she disappears off screen. A great book to get stuck into late on a summer’s eve.

Flying visit

Thu 29 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Sean Stewart | Comments Off on Flying visit | Posted by: Gavin

Last minute notice: Sean Stewart will be here on July 1st (yay!) and besides quizzing him about secret projects he can’t tell us about anyway, we’ve asked him to sign copies of Mockingbird and Perfect Circle. So if you would like Sean to sign either or both to you or someone else, order now. Special offer below (shipping frrree within the US + Canada):

LCRW 18

Sat 24 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., LCRW | Comments Off on LCRW 18 | Posted by: Gavin

A couple of people wondered where the car fuel economy figures quoted in LCRW 18 came from. Some came from research done by Erik, one of der interns. Otherwise, the best resource was the Vehicle Certification Agency site. None of the cars seem to get over 70 mpg, but check the 61-70 range and you’ll see a ton of cars by Toyota, Nissan, Smart (which start selling here in ’07 — send us a demo and we’ll blog it!), Citroen, Renault, etc. etc. Lovely, comfy cars of the future.

Also from LCRW 18:

June 2006, Northampton, MA. LCRW and Small Beer announces The Eponymous Award, given to all writers on publication in LCRW of their writing. So, Bob Smith has been awarded the Bob Smith Award for Fiction Writing. Jane Smith has been awarded the Nonfiction Award. D.K. Smith has been awarded the Poetry Award. You get the idea.

Thu 22 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Howard Waldrop, To Read Pile | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Books. That thing above is the real and actual Howard Who? cover. More stuff was added to the page. A crap condition hardcover of this can be got for almost the same price as our upcoming pb, but you wouldn’t get Kevin Huizenga’s Ugly Chicken drawing! On Bookfinder, ABE, etc., it runs about $40 for a nice non-library copy, and Elliott Bay, B. Brown, and more have it up around $125 for a fine/fine signed HC. Howard will be at World Fantasy Con in Austin, TX, in November, and you can get him to sign your copy there.

This book should shoot out once word gets around. It’s 20 years old but this is alt. hist. fic. so the stories aren’t dated, if anything they’re just more heartbreaking, more harsh. Was “Horror, We Got” really published? Damn. Should send it out to blowhards and talking heads and step back and watch them get all head-explodey.

– In picture books, you gots to read MOME. The Spring/Summer ish is “Designed by acclaimed designer and cartoonist Jordan Crane” and “spotlight[s] a regular cast of a dozen of today’s most exciting cartoonist.” ‘Tis true. Wacky, deep, odd, not your average kitchen sink-is-clogged-what-should-I-do lit comics antho.

Thu 22 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Howard Waldrop, To Read Pile | Comments Off on | Posted by: Gavin

Books. That thing above is the real and actual Howard Who? cover. More stuff was added to the page. A crap condition hardcover of this can be got for almost the same price as our upcoming pb, but you wouldn’t get Kevin Huizenga’s Ugly Chicken drawing! On Bookfinder, ABE, etc., it runs about $40 for a nice non-library copy, and Elliott Bay, B. Brown, and more have it up around $125 for a fine/fine signed HC. Howard will be at World Fantasy Con in Austin, TX, in November, and you can get him to sign your copy there.

This book should shoot out once word gets around. It’s 20 years old but this is alt. hist. fic. so the stories aren’t dated, if anything they’re just more heartbreaking, more harsh. Was “Horror, We Got” really published? Damn. Should send it out to blowhards and talking heads and step back and watch them get all head-explodey.

– In picture books, you gots to read MOME. The Spring/Summer ish is “Designed by acclaimed designer and cartoonist Jordan Crane” and “spotlight[s] a regular cast of a dozen of today’s most exciting cartoonist.” ‘Tis true. Wacky, deep, odd, not your average kitchen sink-is-clogged-what-should-I-do lit comics antho.

Locus Awards

Sun 18 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Books, Kate Wilhelm, Kelly Link, Year's Best Fantasy & Horror | Comments Off on Locus Awards | Posted by: Gavin

Locus Awards Winners announced Saturday night at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle. Congratulations to all the winners which included the following:

Best Novella: “Magic for Beginners“, Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners, F&SF 9/05)

Best Anthology: The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant, eds. (St. Martin’s)

Best Collection: Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link (Small Beer Press)

Best Non-Fiction: Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, Kate Wilhelm (Small Beer Press)

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