Catch up time

Mon 18 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Thoughtful and excellent review of Skinny Dipping:

“An impressive and darkly humorous debut collection—well worth every baby sacrificed in the making.” — Diagram

Calendar: Kelly is on the west coast this week and Ellen Kushner reads at KGB in NYC on Wednesday.

Exciting travel news: Kelly will be going to Italy in December to take part in the Turin Rome World Book Capital Program. She’ll be reading or doing events in Turin, Milan, and Rome. This is in between two other events, the small/indie press Book Fair in New York City on Dec 1/2 (that’s 1st & 2nd, not 0.5) and something else, but there’s enough time, a week or so, to go see some Old Stuff. Constantine’s finger, here we come!

This is due to the fantastic job Donzelli has done with Stranger Things Happen. We received some PDF pages of an Italian mag article on Kelly and the book—the piece had some great art in it so at some point we hope to get them on here. In the meantime, a little Italian blog love.

From our newsletter thing: Aunt Gwenda’s been handing out pithy advice for a while now. Aren’t you in need? Send us your question to info@lcrw.net (include your address and with luck we’ll send you the ish of LCRW your question appears in). That could be LCRW 19, which will be the 10th anniversary issue. Perhaps the last if we think too deeply about that. But Zine World just said this about #17, so maybe we will keep going: “This treasury of fiction is a feast of mystery, novelty, and desire.” Send Aunty G. a Q!

Clarion move FAQ.

We’d love to hear from any teachers or professors or whomever using Small Beer books in classrooms or any kind of teaching use. We want to send some catalogs out to other people who could be doing the same thing so maybe you can help us use the right language?


Local girl makes good

Sat 9 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Thunderstorms. Lightning. The captain put the Small Beer HQ into dive mode and made it under the Connecticut River before we were hit. Phew.

Our local paper, The Daily Hampshire Gazette (which just became a morning paper after being an afternoon paper for about 450 years) did a feature on a certain (now-)local writer. Fantastic. Someone stopped Kelly at the grocery store and said, “I just read about you in the paper!” The editor also gave Kelly a chance to recommend some recent books, so, inveterate bookseller that she still wishes she were, she quickly rattled off half-a-dozen favorites:

  • Half Life by Shelley Jackson
    Recommended to anyone who loved Geek Love’‘ or ever suffered from a bad case of sibling rivalry.Feed by M. T. Anderson
    A young adult novel set in the near future which ought to appeal to adult readers of George Saunders.”Archer’s Goon” by Diana Wynne Jones
    Another young adult novel by a writer I wish everyone would read. Funnier than J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, but just as magical. And shorter!

    20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
    A fantastic collection of short stories put out by a small British press. Hard to find, but well worth tracking down. (I usually start with www.bookfinder.com.)

    Liquor by Poppy Brite
    The first book in an addictive mystery series about two chefs who start their own restaurant. Recommended to fans of Anthony Bourdain and Jeffrey Steingarten.

    James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
    A page-turner of a biography about a writer whose life was much, much stranger than most works of fiction could ever be.

    I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
    A coming-of-age novel about a young writer growing up in a falling-down castle. Recommended to anyone who has ever wanted to write.

There’s also a sidebar on Small Beer Press just in case you don’t know why we are here. We don’t. We get lost wondering about what’s on the other side of infinity and what happens when you go left through a red turn light, and how they make those see-through internet tubes they use for the wireless signal.

In other news, Hem have a new CD out. Get pianodelic.


Reasons to be mostly cheerful!

Tue 5 Sep 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

It’s publication day for the paperback edition of Kelly Link’s second collection, Magic for Beginners. We should have pix to post from out there in Bookland, but as yet they cling to the phone and won’t let go. Babies! We will snap their little bonds and free their souls onto the internet. Soon, yet.

This is (maybe?) Kelly’s first book not published by Small Beer Press—it’s from Harcourt!—and although she is not here and cannot be directly quoted the minions have decided that She is Pleased with not only the book, but also the awesome tour (which should be updated soon to include Prairie Lights and some other places), the cover remix, and, in fact and let it be said with whole hearts, Everything.

Another pub date (the happiest of dates, those pub dates?): Changeling by Delia Sherman! This is Delia’s first young adult book and it clangs along at a great pace around New York City (mais oui, you see, it was where she grew up!). Great fun, great.
Soon to come: pictures of Ellen Kushner’s beautiful hardcover (get them here), anthologies, news about next year (which, mavens that you are, you mostly know already), updates on all the things we have yet to do (workwise, sweetie, workwise), and a rain of live frogs lifted from our pond and delivered to you, dear reader.

—

A reason not to be cheerful about convention going.

Alan’s coming from another dimension again.


Off to Diversicon

Tue 8 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Doesn’t Diversicon have a nice musical tone to it? Di-versy-chorus-versy-con. Say hi if you’re there (that would be in Minneapolis). Kelly will be reading at DreamHaven early Thursday evening, then off to the convention the next day with Goblinmercantileexchange and 32degrees. Or Kristin and Alan.


World Fantasy Noms

Sun 6 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Nominations for the World Fantasy Award are out. Congrats to all the nominees, including Kelly Link whose collection, Magic for Beginners and her novella of the same name are up.

It’s a refreshing list with tons of good stuff on it. Wonder if H. Murakami will make it to the convention?

Speaking of Murakami (poor segues, the first sign of blogarrhea?), just read the Cloverfield Press edition of his story “Tony Takitani” (trans by Jay Rubin). Ordered it at AWP in March and even though it came a little while ago it somehow never managed to crawl near the top of the unending reading pile until now. First the book: it’s a beautifully made and designed objets d’fetish (no page numbers!).  The story, originally published in The New Yorker, is one of Murakami’s restrained wonders. It’s a soft, lonely story of art, marriage, and a Fitgeraldian quantity of dresses all in a lovely little edition.

Another beautiful thing that came to hand while tidying is The Monkeynauts, a nonfiction zine (as typed by bombo the monkey) about some of the monkeys who went (were sent) to space. It’s a series of incredible, thought-provoking stories — one monkey who, upon being rescued from his landing capsule, ran around ecstatically shaking everyone’s hands…! And again with the beautifully made thing. Got this one in a small stack from the catastrophe shop, a great resource for minicomics. (Because Quimby’s Atomic, Million Year Picnic, etc. aren’t enough??)


Aug 20, Nantucket

Fri 28 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 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., , | 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.

Half Life– 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.


Locus Awards

Sun 18 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | 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)

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


Mothers & Other Monsters a Plain Dealer Summer Reading Pick, etc.

Sat 17 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , | Posted by: Gavin

Maureen F. McHugh’s Mothers & Other Monsters is a Cleveland Plain Dealer Recommended Summer Reading pick: “Unpredictable and poetic work.”

– Updated A.‘s readings — they’re going to get around! Bring it on, we think they say.

– Don’t remember if foreign rights were updated recently (we are horribly behind on contracts — fortunately these ones are done by more competent people than us!). As was mentioned in this story, Magic for Beginners, has sold to the United Kingdom — which is incredibly exciting. It has also sold to Hayakawa, Japan, Donzelli Editore, Italy, Gayatari Publishing, Russia, Harcourt/Harvest, USA pb, Argo, Czech Republic, and Grup Editorial Tritonic, Romania, and Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH, Germany. This stuff gets updated here.

More rights news to come, yay for readers all over this world.


Famke

Wed 7 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Congratulations to Uzodinma Iweala whose Beasts of No Nation won the 6th Annual Young Lions Award (and was a Time book of the year and won the L.A. Times Book Award) . The three nights were a total blast and thanks and congrats go out to the Young Lions organization for putting it all together.

On the awards night Famke Janssen (…!) read an excerpt from Kelly’s story “The Hortlak” — which, with the line about the city still burning in her eyes, made a lot of sense. Great reading. Terrance Howard and Ethan Hawke (a cofounder of the award) did lively readings of excerpts from the other 4 finalists (list below). Wow. The next night was the Young Lions Fundraising gala. A drinkie was had beforehand which was smart as reinforcement was necessary to survive the night. Tres fancy. The set were all out in Roaring 20s splendour (or, 20s Splenda: just as sweet, a fraction of the calories, and not quite natural) and lovely it was to see. After a relaxed dinner (veggie options, yay!) all the finalists danced until the place got closed down — excellent stuff, although odd how as the night went on the music got older. Hmm. Perhaps playing to the crowd? Dance, dance, revolution, but without the revolution thing. A surreal week that other awards could emulate!


Young Lions

Thu 1 Jun 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Magic for Beginners is a finalist for the Young Lions Award. This year’s finalists are:

Uzodinma Iweala, Beasts of No Nation
Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Sightseeing
Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners
Ander Monson, Other Electricites
Eric Puchner, Music Through the Floor

There are 3(!) nights of events:

  • Tues, June 6: Pre-party for readers, judges, founders of YL, finalists and guests.
  • Wed, June 7, 7-9 PM: Sixth Annual Young Lions Fiction Award Ceremony at the Humanities & Social Sciences Library in the Celeste Bartos Forum, Fifth Ave. & 42nd St. (please use the entrance at 42nd St.) In this cabaret-like setting, we will be presenting the Sixth Annual Young Lions Fiction Award, honoring the works of today’s Young Fiction Writers. Selections from the finalists’ books will be read by Ethan Hawke and other distinguished guests.
  • Thurs, June 8, 7-9 PM : Young Lions Fiction Award Benefit Dinner
    — 9:00p – 1:00a Dance. @ the Humanities & Social Sciences Library, Fifth Ave. & 42nd St. (please use the entrance at Fifth Ave.)

Kelly, April

Sun 30 Apr 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Darn and mea culpa:

Note on the Fifth Printing of Stranger Things Happen: We are sorry to say some copies of this printing have page 118 reprinted where page 188 should be. There are a couple of remedies. You can download the pdf of page 188 here or you can email us.
We are a tiny press and we apologize for our mistake. We hope the replacement page (or the book) will satisfy readers. However, if you’d rather, we will replace your book. Please email us if this is the case.
How to identify if your copy is a 5th printing: On the copyright page it states “First Edition 5 6 7 8 9 0”
Thank you.

Last minute reading: Kelly Link, Wed., Apr. 26, 7.30 pm — Club 356, 366 College Ave, Clemson, SC 29631 (864) 654-2356

Good man in a tight spot, Niall Harrison, says “Magic for Beginners” is a winner at the British Science Fiction Awards!

Also Magic for Beginners the collection and Kelly’s story “Some Zombie Contingency Plans” are up for the Bram Stoker Award.

  • Magic for Beginners has sold to a bunch of places including Donzelli Editore in Italy, Gayatari Publishing in Russia, and Argo in the Czech Republic. (Sales only go on the bibliography when the check comes in so there have actually been more sales but they haven’t been listed quite yet.)
  • Stranger Things Happen: Donzelli Editore, Italy; Delta Vision, Hungary; Gayatari Publishing, Russia ; and Argo, Czech Republic.
    And, a cancellation! Due to the instability of the Argentinian economy, [Company Name Redacted!] will not be able to publish Stranger Things Happen. Darn. Well, it was a gamble and maybe it will work out in the future.

Donzelli in Italy is going to publish STH in May and it looks like there might be an interview in a paper and so on. Now that’s fun!

Also, Kelly’s calendar got a few small updates (exact dates for Clarion South and so on).

Among the beautiful pages and good fiction and so on, go buy a copy of Sybil’s Garage #3 and read a new interview with Kelly Link carried out by Lauren McLaughlin.

A new interview with Kelly Link at Redivider.


Locus Awards

Tue 4 Apr 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Amazing results (and a great reading list) from the Locus Poll: Storyteller by Kate Wilhelm is a Locus Awards Finalist for Best Non-Fiction and Kelly Link is a finalist for Best Novella (“Magic for Beginners“), Best Short Story (“Some Zombie Contingency Plans”), and Best Collection (Magic for Beginners) — thank you to everyone who voted.

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror Eighteen is also a finalist for Best Anthology, yay! The latest edition is going into galleys and will be out in July. Updated the pages for the 17th and 18th editions and added the Table of Contents for the 19th edition (only in alpha order as yet).

The Locus Awards will be given out at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle (which — along with the Experience Music Project — is a fun day out).

It’s a ballot that leans heavily toward male writers. Maybe someone (hello, Broad Universe) will go check out the historical gender breakdown of the finalists and winners and then we can continue the conversation which starts with “What’s up with that?”


Kelly in March

Fri 31 Mar 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Hugo Award nominee: Best Novella: “Magic for Beginners“, Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners, Small Beer Press; F&SF Sep 2005)

Magic for Beginners was voted #3 in SF Site’s Editor’s Choice of 2005 and #5 in the Reader’s Choice. Yay for readers and voters. Voters!

“The Faery Handbag” in Hebrew!


Kelly in February

Tue 28 Feb 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

28 – The Nebula finalists list came out: congratulations to those on it — Kelly Link from our list, lots of other good writers, mais oui.

12 – Kelly Link Q&A (Charlotte Observer).

Q. Do you have a writing ritual?

My husband and I work at home, so it’s difficult for me to write there. So what I do when I’m in Northampton is I walk or bike into town and I meet a writer at a coffee house. We’ll meet for anywhere from two hours to five hours. We’ll just sit in the cafe and work together on our laptops. It’s very comfortable working with someone else. If we’re stuck on something, we’ll ask each other questions. We’ll ask ‘How does this sound?’ We’ll bounce ideas off each other and we’ll problem-solve for each other. The walk is a part of the process. By the time I get there, I’m anxious to work on a story.

10 – A picture of Kelly Link reading summer ’05 at Malaprop’s in Asheville. (Thanks, Carrie.)


Kelly update

Tue 31 Jan 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Check out the great illustration and read an excerpt of a new Kelly Link story, “Origin Story,” on the site of a new mag, A Public Space.

Jason Lundberg does the Creative Commons thing and podcasts (ie reads) Kelly Link’s “The Specialist’s Hat.”

There are two 2005 Best of the Year lists on Locus that include Magic for Beginners: Claude Lalumiere and Matt Cheney. Some good books (and other things) on those lists.


Faery film

Sun 15 Jan 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Well, that’s a first: FILM RIGHTS: Kelly Link’s Hugo Award-Winning short story “The Faery Handbag,” included in her collection Magic for Beginners, optioned to David Kirschner of David Kirschner Productions, by Sarah Self at The Gersh Agency, on behalf of Renee Zuckerbrot.


PreliminNebs

Fri 6 Jan 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Congratulations to Jennifer Stevenson! Her debut novel Trash Sex Magic made the preliminary Nebula Ballot. We have a signed copies if you like that sort of thing or you can get an ebook edition. All this commerce. Or, the lack of it.

Congrats also to Kelly Link whose “novelette” (long story!) “The Faery Handbag” and “novella” (longer story) “Magic for Beginners” also made the ballot. Congrats and good luck to all the peeps on the ballot (inc. Small Beer authors Carol Emshwiller, Ben Rosenbaum, and Ray Vukcevich). The jury will add some booksto the young adult category but it’s groovy to see Holly Black’s dark and tasty YA novel Valiant sitting in the Norton Award catbird seat.


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