Whose the big bad wolf?

Thu 16 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Something for the to-read pile from Shelf Awareness:

Shelf Starter: An American Trilogy

An American Trilogy: Death, Slavery and Dominion on the Banks of the Cape Fear River by Steven M. Wise (Da Capo Press, $26, 9780306814754/0306814757, March 23, 2009)

Opening lines of books we want to read, excerpted from the prologue:

In the fall of 2008, I learned that an undercover agent working for People for the Unethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had been investigating reports of cruelty at a large hog-breeding farm. I asked PETA lawyer Dan Paden to send me some video showing what their agent had seen.

I thought that nothing we humans do to pigs could upend me. Then Paden sent me a four-minute highlights clip of what the latest farm investigator had seen. Soon after I flicked it on, I began crying so uncontrollably that it took me an hour and a half to finish it.

Read on


new picture book

Wed 15 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Posted by: Gavin

Mabel, One and Only CoverOne of our favorite writers has her first book out: and this one comes with pictures. Mabel, One and Only is by Margaret Muirhead who long time readers will recognize as a contributor of some great and hilarious poetry as well as an early nonfiction piece. Some of these pieces can be found (or rediscovered) in The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

When we saw Mabel, One and Only was coming out (and it should be in your local store now), we tracked down Margaret and got her to sit still long enough to answer a few questions. Of course, we very much recommend her book:

We just loved reading your new picture book, Mabel, One and Only. Can you tell us about it?

Mabel is the story of a girl who is the only kid on her block. Usually she can convince her grown-up neighbors into playing a game or two, but one afternoon, she finds they’re all busy. So Mabel and her canine sidekick, Jack, set about to find their own fun.

Mabel is a great, lively kid. Do you have more stories for her planned?

Read more


Lone Star Stories on paper

Fri 10 Apr 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

The Lone Star Stories Reader CoverEric Marin emailed us to say that the The Lone Star Stories Reader is now available as a free PDF download here. It is a great collection (although I recuse myself from talking about my story, “Janet Meet Bob”) with stories by Martha Wells, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, M. Thomas, Sarah Monette, Catherynne M. Valente, Tim Pratt, & more. I think it’s worth popping for the paper edition myself, but to try it out, why not download it.

Eric says:

I am asking that anyone who downloads and enjoys the anthology spread the word about the book and Lone Star Stories in general. I will be curious to see what effect the download has on visitors to the LSS Press and Lone Star Stories sites.


Locus, Hugos

Tue 3 Feb 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Posted by: Gavin

Looks like the 2008 Locus Recommended Reading List is out and it includes some of our books. If you’re so inclined, you can vote for these in the Locus Poll (soon) and the Hugos (now). (Don’t forget Couch!)

Also on the list were The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2008 as well as Kelly‘s collection Pretty Monsters, and the title stories, “Pretty Monsters” and “The Surfer.”

There are a ton of great books on the list, some of which are pasted below. Since we stopped reading for The Year’s Best in late November, and we usually read most of the material for the book from November to January, this list is certainly not exclusive. The Amazon links below are cut (libraries and indie bookshops are it) and the cut’n’paste was done on the fly, so it’s a sample of stuff we liked, but very messy!

Read more


Molly Gloss in Cambridge

Thu 15 Jan 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

If all goes well we’ll be at Molly Gloss’s reading at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA, at 7 PM tonight. (But it’s snowing and there are always complications, so who knows!)

Molly is a fabulous writer, one of Kelly’s favorites. Her latest book, The Hearts of Horses, just came out in paperback. Her previous novel, Wild Life, is a great northwestern read (don’t read the flap copy, just read the book) and won the Tiptree Award and was one of the first books to be chosen for those This City Reads This Book programs. Molly is a great reader and lovely person, so it will be delightful to catch up and to hear her read.


Cats, Cosmocopia, reviews

Thu 8 Jan 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , , , | Posted by: Gavin

Sightings of big cats are growing – among them this one in Oxfordshire Picture: Clive PostlethwaiteEveryone know they’re out there and now there’s photographic proof: “‘Big cats’ caught on camera prowling forest.”

A couple of days ago we opened a box from Seattle to discover the latest wonder from Payseur & Schmidt: at last, someone has sent us a jigsaw puzzle. Oh yeah, and a book, too. You can read more about the genesis of the project on Jacob McMurray’s blog or go find out more about Paul DiFilippo’s novel, Cosmocopia or see the puzzle in it’s finished state.

The King’s Last Song gets the once-over from Rain Taxi:

Ryman weaves together ancient legend with a gritty view of modern Cambodian life, and the pattern that emerges is surprising. The novel conveys not merely a story, but the light and darkness, despair and hope, tradition and Westernization that is Cambodia itself.

and on S. Skrishna’s Books:

Richly layered, comparing past and present day Cambodia and is full of details and tidbits about Cambodian life that any reader will enjoy. It’s definitely piqued my interest in the country and I will be trying to find more books about it in the future.

White gibes with something Geoff told us: that the book was selling well at airports in Cambodia. How did he find out? He was told by readers. So maybe it will spur further reading about Cambodia and maybe get some more people over there.

Couch gets reviewed on SF Site:

The story gets stranger and stranger as the adventurers find themselves riding the rails on an electric cart, drifting on the couch in the Pacific Ocean, stowaways on a freighter bound for the Ecuador, and carrying the couch through the jungles of South America on a cart with a fog propeller. In between there is action, philosophy, violence, sex, drinking, fishing, terrorists, shadowy cabals, fishing and gluten intolerance.

The New Podler Review on The Ant King:

A surrealist masterpiece of fantasy that’s hilarious and macabre, reflecting our strange reality in its mind-bending world, The Ant King is filled with soul-shuddering wisdom. This brilliant collection is about integrity, love, belonging, the loss of place of the male in the social order, Jewish Diaspora, God, good and evil, and being alone in a universe that is ambivalent, unavailable, incomprehensible and filled with suffering. Rosenbaum begins in fantastic places, then adds on more layers of fantasy besides and before long you seem to lose your footing, carried along on a fun house ride through the absurd landscape of the human experience


Mark Rich, the writer, not the pardon

Wed 26 Nov 2008 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Edge of Our LivesOne of our favorite short story writers, Mark Rich (not the financier, instead the guy who writes about toys for a living), has a couple of new short story collections out—what’s that joke about buses never coming, then three arrive at once? Maybe there’s another collection ’round the corner?

We just got a copy of the first of these, a thick little brick of a pretty book from Redjack Books. Here’s what they said about it:

Edge of Our Lives by Mark Rich. This collection of new and previously published short stories spans the width of Mark’s considerable range of voices and themes. From the deeply poetic to the wryly humorous to the just plain bizarre, the stories take the reader to the edges (and depths) of the human (and inhuman) experience. ($10.00 US. 272pp, 4.75 x 6.5″ ISBN 978-1-892619-11-2).

The second is from Fairwood Press, Across the Sky, and it comes out in January but you can order it now:

In nineteen ventures into the future, Mark Rich moves from a moving moment during human-alien contact, in “Across the Sky” … to madcap conflict between Human and Vegetable, in the antic “Foggery” … to a vision of life in Venusian orbit, in “The Apples of Venus”—which SF giant Robert Silverberg called “science fiction in the classic mode, a contemporary version of the sort of work that makes old-timers speak with warm nostalgia of John W. Campbell’s famous magazine Astounding Science Fiction of fifty years ago.”
($15 US, 272pp)

More Mark: check out the title story, “Foreigners,” from a chapbook of Mark’s stories we published a couple of years ago: Read more


King & Russo

Fri 7 Nov 2008 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Last night we went to see “The Odyssey Bookshop and The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts present A Conversation with Stephen King and Richard Russo moderated by Joe Donahue, host of ‘The Roundtable‘ on WAMC” at the Chapin Auditorium at Mount Holyoke College. The event raised more than $18,000 for the Food Bank and the Odyssey—one of our great local(ish) bookshop—gave them a huge check which made everyone laugh. We also supported local coffee roaster Pierce Roasters (mm, cookies) as they were donating all monies to the Food Bank. Odyssey are celebrating their 45th anniversary, not bad! Next week Rosamond Purcell is coming and the week after it’s Amitav Ghosh. Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies is the next title in their First Edition Club, which has more than 250 members. Wow.

Anyway: King and Russo were great fun. There were 900 people and the mics were acting up so there was some technical (and other) monkeying around (as well as some spooky feedback), but for the most part it was two pros talking about writing and the writing life.  They talked about novels vs. short stories (King’s new book is a collection, Just After Sunset) and about grounding work in the everyday details. Richard Russo (Bridge of Sighs just came out in pb) talked about something he’d been told, “You can’t jump from air to air,” which seemed to catch something right about writing. Joe Donahue (we will get one of our authors on that show!), the moderator, was very good, too. At the end he asked them a question he isn’t allowed to ask on public radio, “What’s your favorite curse word?” King talked about colloquialisms (“I wouldn’t give a tin shit for that”). Gales of laughter.

It was most excellent to see so many people at the reading. Both King and Russo signed books. The bookstore had numbered the tickets so that readers came up in blocks of 50. There are famously fast signers out there but Stephen King is up there with them, it took maybe an hour to reach our tickets, which were numbered in the 400s.


Booksluttery

Tue 14 Oct 2008 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

I am sluttering his way around the web for a week under the guise of Bookslut. Just posted a quick interview with MT Anderson. More TK as the week goes on. If you have the interesting news, do send.


Bookshow followup 2

Mon 22 Sep 2008 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

Pretty Monsters: Stories CoverLast week we dropped by the NEIBA indie booksellers association trade show in Boston where Kelly signed real and actual (and so pretty!) hardcover copies of Pretty Monsters—mostly for happy booksellers and librarians. If you’re crazy, you can get one straight off of Bookfinder right now from the peeps who took the freebies, got them signed, and want to overcharge you.

However, we’ll be getting this in stock here for Kelly to sign and selling it the way we regularly sell books: regular price and free shipping.

Jedediah Berry was also there signing a huge stack of early galleys of The Manual of Detection which comes out in February from the Penguin Press. More on that as the date approaches.

One of the more exciting books to see on the floor was the first US edition of Iain Banks’s The Crow Road, which is an Indie Bound pick (which maybe means you can read it at your local coffee shop and get a high five from the barista). The Crow Road is a great big novel—we’d have published it if we’d realized it hadn’t come out here, oops! It was made into a TV series a couple of years ago but, what do you know, the book, it is better. The rec here comes from a bookshop that we used to frequent (along with Curious and Archives) whenever we were in East Lansing, MI, for Clarion, and who at one point carried LCRW, so lots of love for Schuler Books:

“This delightful and complicated novel begins, ‘It was the day my grandmother exploded,’ and just gets better from there. Weaving between two generations of family secrets, with an innocence and charm that’s rare in modern fiction, I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a book this much!”
–Carol Schneck, Schuler Books & Music, Okemos, Mich.


Wessells’s political art

Sat 5 Jul 2008 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

http://www.avramdavidson.org/edition-fullsize.jpgEarlier this week Henry Wessells and wife took the space elevator up to our Independence Day Viewing Platform (best place to watch thousands of firework displays all at once) and showed us a thing of two about publishing books.

Wessells’s Temporary Culture puts out some of the most carefully and well-made books that we’ve seen in recent years—including (pictured) a hand bound edition of John Crowley’s Endless Things, which is one of the most beautiful (and surprising) books we own.

Henry’s next project is a book of etchings by Judith Clute to go with a poem by Joe Haldeman, “Forever Peace. To Stop War” (first published as “ Endangered Species ” in Vanishing Acts, edited by Ellen Datlow).

If you’re going to Readercon you can see the mock-up Henry knocked us over with. It’s just slightly out of our price range but you can acquire one if you get elected to state office in the US or the UK, so quick, go run for office:

Forever Peace. To Stop WarAfter publication of Forever Peace , a photocopy edition will be distributed to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and of the House of Commons in London.

Forever Peace. To Stop War
Poem by Joe Haldeman
Nine Etchings by Judith Clute

11 x 14 inches, [4] pp. + 9 original etchings (each signed by the artist).
30 copies on fine paper, letterpress printed by David Wolfe, with aquatint etchings printed by the artist from the original plates (two with added color), numbered & signed by the artist in pencil, hand bound in patterned paper over boards.

Twenty five copies, numbered 1 to 25, signed by the artist and author ; and five copies lettered A – E. The lettered copies are reserved for the artist and author.

An advance copy will be available for preview at Readercon (July 2008).

Please note the above images are reduced in size from the original etchings.

ISBN : 0-976-46604-X / ISBN 13 : 978-0-976-4660-4-8

By subscription only : $1000 (includes shipment).

Inquiries and orders to:
Henry Wessells
P.O. Box 43072, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043-0072 USA
Electronym : wessells@aol.com


Lovely books to be read

Thu 24 Jan 2008 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

So we are working away away on this that and the next thing (can only dominate one galaxy at a time due to slower than lightspeed travel. This is an ongoing annoyance. Someone get us the FTL drive, ok?) and in the meantime Good Books Have Appeared! So, hence with the pix (except for the fabulous Matter by Iain M. Banks which has teleported itself somewhere else right now):

P1050863.JPGFirst up is Jeff Ford’s novel The Shadow Year. This is the novel where Jeff’s short story writing skills fully infuse (or liquor up and have fun with) his novel skills. Based on his long story “Botch Town”, it’s an exploration of the unsolved mysteries of childhood. Ford expertly captures the lack-of-knowing that kids spend so much of their time in. Kelly said it better in her blurb:

“Put Jeffrey Ford’s latest novel, a Long Island bildungsroman replete with marvels and monsters, on the shelf with Harper Lee, Lynda Barry, Ray Bradbury, Tobias Wolff. THE SHADOW YEAR is the kind of magic trick writers dream of being able to pull off — Ford evokes the mysteries, the inhabitants, the landscape of childhood briskly, unsentimentally, and with such power that you come away feeling as if someone has opened up a door to another world.”—Kelly Link, author of Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners

P1050868.JPGNext up is a book that promises a ton of fun, Jennifer Stevenson‘s The Brass Bed This is the first book in a three book series which will slipping seductively into bookshops in April, May (The Velvet Chair), and June (The Bearskin Rug). The covers of these—as you can see from this one as it is carefully held up to the light by our intern Meg (thanks Meg!)—are great pieces of retro-sexy design, click through on the titles to see the next two. Lots of people will be reading these come spring.

P1050867.JPGThe third book that just came in is Karen Joy Fowler’s—how can we say this, em, much anticipated?, yes, that would about cover it—novel Wit’s End. Look at that little eye looking in at you. What’s it about? Not telling. Anyway, you don’t care. You’re going to run out and buy it no matter what it is because it’s a new novel by Karen. Whisper along with us: yay.

[Walks away from computer. Wonders whether should add a stage direction such as “Exit Stage Left, Dancing” or “Laptop screen darkens slowly” but refrains.]


10 x 5

Wed 31 Oct 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

5 spooky books for Halloweeen from Kelly; 5 not-so spooky from Gavin.


The Future

Thu 25 Oct 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Apparently the only way Forbes magazine can think about the future is to ask 5 guys to write science fiction. So is this future of short SF highly paid magazine slots? Excellent. (Cory’s story is fun, haven’t read the rest yet.)

Five authors tackle the same scenario: “It’s the year 2027, and the world is undergoing a global financial crisis. The scene is an American workplace.”

Abstract
By Michael Bagnulo

Springtide
By Max Barry

Other People’s Money
By Cory Doctorow

The Position
By Warren Ellis

Factory
By Lowell Yaeger


Thu 20 Sep 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Best of LCRW reading at KGB: packed, great readers, martinis served (thanks to a reading of Mr. Butner’s “How to Make a Martini” and a free LCRW with every martini!). Ok.

Rest day.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao CoverNow go ye and order a copy The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and get with the new century.

Who is it for? Everyone.

Only read postmodern fictions? It’s pour vous.

Straight up sci-fi hardcase? It’s all you.

John Clute? It’s you, too.

Want a dark comedy? How about a modern immigrant tale? Like graphic novels?  It’s for you!

Understand? This one’s so rich it’s for everyone.


Thu 20 Sep 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Best of LCRW reading at KGB: packed, great readers, martinis served (thanks to a reading of Mr. Butner’s “How to Make a Martini” and a free LCRW with every martini!). Ok.

Rest day.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao CoverNow go ye and order a copy The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and get with the new century.

Who is it for? Everyone.

Only read postmodern fictions? It’s pour vous.

Straight up sci-fi hardcase? It’s all you.

John Clute? It’s you, too.

Want a dark comedy? How about a modern immigrant tale? Like graphic novels?  It’s for you!

Understand? This one’s so rich it’s for everyone.


Mon 13 Aug 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

World Fantasy Awards Nominations

Nominations for this year’s World Fantasy Awards, for works published in 2006, have been released. Winners will be announced at this year’s World Fantasy Convention, to be held 1-4 November 2007 in Saratoga Springs, New York.

NOVEL
# Lisey’s Story, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton)
# The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner (Bantam Spectra; Small Beer Press)
# The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch (Gollancz; Bantam Spectra)
# The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden, Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)
# Soldier of Sidon, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

NOVELLA
# “Botch Town”, Jeffrey Ford (The Empire of Ice Cream, Golden Gryphon)
# “The Man Who Got Off the Ghost Train”, Kim Newman (The Man from the Diogenes Club, MonkeyBrain)
# Dark Harvest, Norman Partridge (Cemetery Dance)
# “Map of Dreams”, M. Rickert (Map of Dreams, Golden Gryphon)
# “The Lineaments of Gratified Desire”, Ysabeau S. Wilce (F&SF Jul 2006)

SHORT FICTION
# “The Way He Does It”, Jeffrey Ford (Electric Velocipede #10, Spr 2006)
# “Journey Into the Kingdom”, M. Rickert (F&SF May 2006)
# “A Siege of Cranes”, Benjamin Rosenbaum (Twenty Epics, All-Star Stories)
# “Another Word for Map is Faith”, Christopher Rowe (F&SF Aug 2006)
# “Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy)”, Geoff Ryman (F&SF Oct/Nov 2006)

ANTHOLOGY
# Cross Plains Universe: Texans Celebrate Robert E. Howard, Scott A. Cupp & Joe R. Lansdale, eds. (MonkeyBrain and the Fandom Association of Central Texas)
# Salon Fantastique, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds. (Thunder’s Mouth)
# Retro Pulp Tales, Joe R. Lansdale, ed. (Subterranean)
# Twenty Epics, David Moles & Susan Marie Groppi, eds. (All-Star Stories)
# Firebirds Rising, Sharyn November, ed. (Firebird)

COLLECTION
# The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
# The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon)
# American Morons, Glen Hirshberg (Earthling)
# Red Spikes, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin Australia; Knopf)
# Map of Dreams, M. Rickert (Golden Gryphon)

ARTIST
# Jon Foster
# Edward Miller
# John Picacio
# Shaun Tan
# Jill Thompson

SPECIAL AWARD, PROFESSIONAL
# Ellen Asher (For work at SFBC)
# Mark Finn (for Blood & Thunder: The Life of Robert E. Howard, MonkeyBrain)
# Deanna Hoak for copyediting
# Greg Ketter for Dreamhaven
# Leonard S. Marcus, ed. (for The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy, Candlewick)

SPECIAL AWARD, NON-PROFESSIONAL
# Leslie Howle (for her work at Clarion West)
# Leo Grin (for The Cimmerian)
# Susan Marie Groppi (for Strange Horizons)
# John Klima (for Electric Velocipede)
# Gary K. Wolfe (for reviews and criticism in Locus and elsewhere)

Judges for this year’s awards are Gavin Grant, Ed Greenwood, Jeremy Lassen, Jeff Mariotte, and Carsten Polzin. Final ballot nominations are determined through a combination of convention member votes (two items in each category) and judges’ selections. Winners will be determined by the judges.


Mon 13 Aug 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

World Fantasy Awards Nominations

Nominations for this year’s World Fantasy Awards, for works published in 2006, have been released. Winners will be announced at this year’s World Fantasy Convention, to be held 1-4 November 2007 in Saratoga Springs, New York.

NOVEL
# Lisey’s Story, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton)
# The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner (Bantam Spectra; Small Beer Press)
# The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch (Gollancz; Bantam Spectra)
# The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden, Catherynne M. Valente (Bantam Spectra)
# Soldier of Sidon, Gene Wolfe (Tor)

NOVELLA
# “Botch Town”, Jeffrey Ford (The Empire of Ice Cream, Golden Gryphon)
# “The Man Who Got Off the Ghost Train”, Kim Newman (The Man from the Diogenes Club, MonkeyBrain)
# Dark Harvest, Norman Partridge (Cemetery Dance)
# “Map of Dreams”, M. Rickert (Map of Dreams, Golden Gryphon)
# “The Lineaments of Gratified Desire”, Ysabeau S. Wilce (F&SF Jul 2006)

SHORT FICTION
# “The Way He Does It”, Jeffrey Ford (Electric Velocipede #10, Spr 2006)
# “Journey Into the Kingdom”, M. Rickert (F&SF May 2006)
# “A Siege of Cranes”, Benjamin Rosenbaum (Twenty Epics, All-Star Stories)
# “Another Word for Map is Faith”, Christopher Rowe (F&SF Aug 2006)
# “Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy)”, Geoff Ryman (F&SF Oct/Nov 2006)

ANTHOLOGY
# Cross Plains Universe: Texans Celebrate Robert E. Howard, Scott A. Cupp & Joe R. Lansdale, eds. (MonkeyBrain and the Fandom Association of Central Texas)
# Salon Fantastique, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, eds. (Thunder’s Mouth)
# Retro Pulp Tales, Joe R. Lansdale, ed. (Subterranean)
# Twenty Epics, David Moles & Susan Marie Groppi, eds. (All-Star Stories)
# Firebirds Rising, Sharyn November, ed. (Firebird)

COLLECTION
# The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
# The Empire of Ice Cream, Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon)
# American Morons, Glen Hirshberg (Earthling)
# Red Spikes, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin Australia; Knopf)
# Map of Dreams, M. Rickert (Golden Gryphon)

ARTIST
# Jon Foster
# Edward Miller
# John Picacio
# Shaun Tan
# Jill Thompson

SPECIAL AWARD, PROFESSIONAL
# Ellen Asher (For work at SFBC)
# Mark Finn (for Blood & Thunder: The Life of Robert E. Howard, MonkeyBrain)
# Deanna Hoak for copyediting
# Greg Ketter for Dreamhaven
# Leonard S. Marcus, ed. (for The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy, Candlewick)

SPECIAL AWARD, NON-PROFESSIONAL
# Leslie Howle (for her work at Clarion West)
# Leo Grin (for The Cimmerian)
# Susan Marie Groppi (for Strange Horizons)
# John Klima (for Electric Velocipede)
# Gary K. Wolfe (for reviews and criticism in Locus and elsewhere)

Judges for this year’s awards are Gavin Grant, Ed Greenwood, Jeremy Lassen, Jeff Mariotte, and Carsten Polzin. Final ballot nominations are determined through a combination of convention member votes (two items in each category) and judges’ selections. Winners will be determined by the judges.


R2

Sat 14 Jul 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Forgot two Fantastic things at Readercon: two readings from the first volume of Jonathan Strahan’s new anthology series, Eclipse, which Night Shade Books will publish in October. The Table of Contents has tons of fabby (fabby, fabby, fabby!) writers but the two readings I saw were these:

1) “The Lost Boy: A Reporter at Large” by Maureen F. McHugh
Maureen is a great reader. Assured and calm and fully aware of the little bombs she’s dropping into her listeners’ minds. She said this was her take on a New Yorker piece without having to do the research. Makes you wish someone would ask her to write some pieces for them. (But she’s just started a novel, so maybe not right now.) She’s working toward that second story collection.

2) “The Drowned Life” by Jeffrey Ford
This was insanely good. Jeff read as if his life was on the line. The story seems like it shouldn’t work—but it certainly does. Jeff mixes a tiny of politics in and added a new layer to his writing. One I hope he continues to explore.

Just on the strength of these two stories, this anthology should be a cracker—look for it in late October; or just pre-order it now and let it arrive long after you’ve forgotten you ordered it.

Just finished another October book, Making Money by Terry Pratchett. Lots of fun with Lord Vetinari and Moist Von Lipwig, speculation on theories of money, and trying to deal with industrialization without killing thousands of people off working in factories. But: funny! (And: now with chapters.)


The day’s mail

Thu 28 Jun 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , , | Posted by: Gavin

The last issue of Punk Planet (order) came in — which is always a great read and is incredibly frustrating that it had to stop. There’s a great review of Liz Hand’s Generation Loss (any other music mags want a copy? email us)

“A literary page-turner of impressive thematic heft and cohesion, illuminating surprising insights on the relationship between art and imitation, death and photgraphy, and art and madness.”

Part of the frustration with losing the zine is the ads. There aren’t that many places where you see ads from tiny bands and zines, so this was one way to keep up (interested or not) with what other people are doing out there.

The Privilege of the Sword CoverOk, so. Next exciting thing: the mass market paperback of Ellen Kushner’s The Privilege of the Sword. This is the original mannerpunk Young Trollopian interstitial novel. Katherine’s uncle invites her to live with him in the city. While she envisions dancing the night away the reality is quite different. Ellen’s take on the unexpected ways the adolescent years can take you is quite wonderful. Also, Ellen reports the trade paperback has just gone back to press, which is lovely news. Our hardcover edition is puttering along nicely. Doubt we’ll ever reprint it, but it sure is fun to make books like that.

Lastly, not actually in the mail pile, just finished Nancy Farmer’s brilliant follow up to The Sea of Trolls, The Land of the Silver Apples. More on this book later. Just to say, if you liked the first this one is—without denigrating the first—even better. Farmer enriches the world, folds back unexpected corners of history, and joins threads of stories in the most beautiful and unexpected ways.


Wed 2 May 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Can’t remember where the link came from (big place, bboing? Bookslut?, but A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is a great comic. Anything New Orleans from Katrina (and the ongoing huge government failure) is car-crash addictive reading. This comic has many angles and is worth following. Nice web set up, too, for easy reading.

Gasoline prices are back up near $3. Wonder if truck sales will plummet again? Where’s the damn hybrid van? Haven’t explored it yet but World Without Oil looks interesting.

(Yes, someone sent something that continues to crash the email, therefore: blogging. Dum de dum.)

Jeff VanderMeer explains that Liz Hand is actually a saint. This may have come as a surprise to Liz, but not to the citizens (subjects? artifices?) of Smagardine.

Smagardine history has some parallels to that of Hav and readers of one country’s news might be interested in Jan Morris’s update (from last year) of her notes from that country simply titled Hav. Morris’s novel (which has a beautiful image on the cover) is quite simply wonderful. It has a slow-building complexity that draws the reader in and insists on the truths underlying the fictions. There are characters we recognize from our own travels (and our own towns), relationships touched on (like nerves), and always there is a growing tension that the writer can never quite get a hold of.

Alt TextThe second part of the novel (the new section), “Hav of the Myrmidons,” is a fantastic addition that changes everything we were told. Where Hav before was part of the past, the Great Game, Le Carre and Greene novels, Patrick Leigh Fermor’s autobiography, Hav has now moved into the present. It is clean, simple, unknowable. What is obvious is the money and the beliefs behind it of the unnamed—but known—financiers. Morris tracks down some of her acquaintances and sources from her previous visit and some of them are happier than others. Post-revolution (here: the Intervention), we would be the same.

And: The Buffalo News bookclub, perhaps getting ready for the upcoming movie, is reading The Jane Austen Book Club:

As always, the books selected by The News can be found at branches of the public library. Talking Leaves, Barnes & Noble and the Book Corner in Niagara Falls offer special displays and discounts. Free bookmarks that match each month’s selection are offered in stores and at library branches.
Also, we want to hear your thoughts — on Fowler’s book, yes, but also on Jane Austen, and on ideas for future Book Club choices. Send an e-mail to bookclub@buffnews.com, or write to Buffalo News Book Club, P.O. Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14203.

Found this (posted during the Interfictions giveaway) quite striking—thanks Yileen.


Wed 2 May 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Can’t remember where the link came from (big place, bboing? Bookslut?, but A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is a great comic. Anything New Orleans from Katrina (and the ongoing huge government failure) is car-crash addictive reading. This comic has many angles and is worth following. Nice web set up, too, for easy reading.

Gasoline prices are back up near $3. Wonder if truck sales will plummet again? Where’s the damn hybrid van? Haven’t explored it yet but World Without Oil looks interesting.

(Yes, someone sent something that continues to crash the email, therefore: blogging. Dum de dum.)

Jeff VanderMeer explains that Liz Hand is actually a saint. This may have come as a surprise to Liz, but not to the citizens (subjects? artifices?) of Smagardine.

Smagardine history has some parallels to that of Hav and readers of one country’s news might be interested in Jan Morris’s update (from last year) of her notes from that country simply titled Hav. Morris’s novel (which has a beautiful image on the cover) is quite simply wonderful. It has a slow-building complexity that draws the reader in and insists on the truths underlying the fictions. There are characters we recognize from our own travels (and our own towns), relationships touched on (like nerves), and always there is a growing tension that the writer can never quite get a hold of.

Alt TextThe second part of the novel (the new section), “Hav of the Myrmidons,” is a fantastic addition that changes everything we were told. Where Hav before was part of the past, the Great Game, Le Carre and Greene novels, Patrick Leigh Fermor’s autobiography, Hav has now moved into the present. It is clean, simple, unknowable. What is obvious is the money and the beliefs behind it of the unnamed—but known—financiers. Morris tracks down some of her acquaintances and sources from her previous visit and some of them are happier than others. Post-revolution (here: the Intervention), we would be the same.

And: The Buffalo News bookclub, perhaps getting ready for the upcoming movie, is reading The Jane Austen Book Club:

As always, the books selected by The News can be found at branches of the public library. Talking Leaves, Barnes & Noble and the Book Corner in Niagara Falls offer special displays and discounts. Free bookmarks that match each month’s selection are offered in stores and at library branches.
Also, we want to hear your thoughts — on Fowler’s book, yes, but also on Jane Austen, and on ideas for future Book Club choices. Send an e-mail to bookclub@buffnews.com, or write to Buffalo News Book Club, P.O. Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14203.

Found this (posted during the Interfictions giveaway) quite striking—thanks Yileen.


Sat 28 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale CoverHolly Black has brought us screaming into 2002 by creating a live journal feed for this thing. We tried to name it lcrw but it declared autonomy, packed up all its old cassettes and vinyl, moved out, and hung its own shingle under the name

smallbeer_rss

At some point (soonish?) that may be added to the feed syndicate (because we are all always hungry and we believe in the syndicate and that they are good. Good). Livejournal seems to require posts to have titles in a way that other blog syndicates don’t. A tithe we pay to the syndicate in good grace.

Thanks Holly!

Holly is about to take a landyacht (or maybe she will valiantly brave the Friendly Skies and take the Aeriobehometh) for the west coast where she (and Cassandra Clare) will visit (and share vast quantities of Arabian Wine with) purveyors of bookth.


Sat 28 Apr 2007 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale CoverHolly Black has brought us screaming into 2002 by creating a live journal feed for this thing. We tried to name it lcrw but it declared autonomy, packed up all its old cassettes and vinyl, moved out, and hung its own shingle under the name

smallbeer_rss

At some point (soonish?) that may be added to the feed syndicate (because we are all always hungry and we believe in the syndicate and that they are good. Good). Livejournal seems to require posts to have titles in a way that other blog syndicates don’t. A tithe we pay to the syndicate in good grace.

Thanks Holly!

Holly is about to take a landyacht (or maybe she will valiantly brave the Friendly Skies and take the Aeriobehometh) for the west coast where she (and Cassandra Clare) will visit (and share vast quantities of Arabian Wine with) purveyors of bookth.


Alchemy 3 (Rest of the World 0)

Tue 1 Aug 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | Posted by: Gavin

Added the third and final issue of the rather wonderful Alchemy magazine to the other shopping page.

Alchemy 3Alchemy, from Edgewood Press, is a well designed and edited perfect bound magazine that paid top dollar for stories, cover art, and printing. The contributors to the third issue are: Frances Hardinge, Tara Kolden, Hannah Wolf Bowen, Theodora Goss, Sonya Taafe, Sarah Monette, Beth Adele Long (2 stories!), and Timothy Williams. The stories come from across the whole range of fantasy with the high quality of the writing being the only common factor. Sarah Monette’s comfortable stretch, “The Seance at Chisholm End”, to one of Sonya Taafe’s most accessible pieces, “Like the Stars and the Sand.” Beth Adele Long provides a little experimentation with voice, Hannah Bowen gets bloody-handed, and Frances Hardinge takes readers on a really fantastic ride. Timothy Williams provides the spookiest story with a Kentucky exploration of “The Hollows”, although Theodora Goss’s “Letter from Budapest” is almost right up there with a story of an inescapable artist. Damn shame this magazine never saw better distribution. You can pick it up for $7 an issue (including shipping) or there are mini-deals for more copies.

– 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., , | 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.


A bright spot

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


critical mass

Thu 20 Jul 2006 - Filed under: Not a Journal., | 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.


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