Adventures in Reading

Hugo Nominees?

2012-01-19T10:16:00.000-06:00

So, while I very gradually work on last year's Best Of lists and scarcely post otherwise, maybe my last reader who hasn't run away in frustration can help me out.

Hugo nominations are open until March 11.

I've got a decent set for novel, but I'm not sure I've read a single short story - novella that wasn't a part of Shadow Unit. It's been an off year.

What should I be looking for?

What artists should I be considering? I'm starting to compile that list based on what I know and some of my covers and comparing artist websites, but who do I absolutely need to look and what did they do?

Thanks!

The Top Nine Author Discoveries of 2011

2012-01-14T12:04:00.000-06:00

2011 has come to an end and it’s time to reflect on all of the good stuff I’ve read in the last twelve months. This is going to come up again when I talk about the Best Books Published in 2011 (that I’ve read), but 2011 was something of an off year in regards to the number of books that I’ve read and also with the number of new books and authors I have encountered for the first time. There is a fairly obvious reason for this: seven months out of my year was spent in Texas (TEXAS!!) and due to the vagaries of training and a lack of access to the newest fiction, I had to take what I could get when I could get it.

Here then, are my top nine author discoveries of 2011. In the spirit of acknowledging that there is always something or someone I’ve missed, either by a slip of memory or just lack of opportunity, the traditional tenth spot on my list remains blank.

1. Jo Walton: I've been reading Jo Walton for so long on Tor.com and have been aware of her fiction for even longer, that I have to remind myself that I've never actually read one of her novels until picking up Among Others. It was a revelation. Among Others is such a beautiful novel and I hope everyone reads it.

2. Sandra McDonald: The Outback Stars. Wonderful. I wrote that “The SF, military, and romantic elements of The Outback Stars all come together to tell a singular story which I really didn't want to end. Fantastic novel and one which I wish I didn't wait so long to read.” McDonald blends different elements into a seamless whole, and what I appreciated most was the deeply personal story of Lt. Jodenny Scott. McDonald hooked me early on and I'll be catching up on the two other novels in this sequence sooner, rather than later.

3. Anne Ursu: I blame Kelly Barnhill for this. I went to one of Kelly's readings to support her and to hear Kelly read from her debut novel (which, being a bad person, I still haven't read) and came out entranced by the other reader, Anne Ursu. Ursu read from her latest novel Breadcrumbs, but I'm still waiting on my library to deliver it to me. Impatient, I picked up one of her more adult novels, Spilling Clarence. I devoured it. Ursu also occasionally uses one of my favorite techniques: repetition.

4. Alastair Reynolds: I feel confident that I've read some of his short fiction before, and possibly blogged about it, but 2011 was the year which I read Revelation Space. It is excellent. It demands that I pick up the next two volumes in the trilogy. Quality science fiction and space opera. It gets a little heavy on the description, but is well worth checking out if you're one of the twelve people who haven't already read this.

5. Sara Zarr: Here's something else to blame that darned Barnhill woman for. I am 95% positive I ran across something she posted that praised up Sara Zarr's novel How to Save a Life. Being a sucker for books about broken and hurting people, I fell into the grief stricken recovery of Zarr's storytelling.

6. Dan Wells: So, you've got a boy who knows that he is a sociopath and believes he is destined to become a serial killer. Then, in his small town, there is a serial killer. The boy believes he may be the only one who can catch the killer, but if he does, will that let loose the “monster” he knows is deep inside himself? Really damned well done.

7. John Barnes: So, John Barnes has apparently written all sorts of novels before Directive 51. I thought he might have been a debut novelist before I looked him up for this entry. He's not. Barnes has more than 20 previous novels. Naturally. Directive 51 is a post-apocalyptic novel that begins just before a series of linked attacks using nanotechnology destabilize the industrial infrastructure of the world. I like that sort of thing and the novel is fascinating. There are two more books following this one and I plan to read them both.

8. Vince Flynn: Flynn writes political action thrillers. It's not really in the style of Tom Clancy because Clancy is more known for the intense amount of detail and jargon that laces his novels, even his best. Flynn writes with a much more aggressive sense of pace and even though I would suggest that he isn't a technically great prose writer, following Mitch Rapp's assault on terrorists and the political intrigue that goes along with it is an exciting ride.

9. David Gemmell: I feel uneasy about placing Gemmell here. Or, on the list at all. Part of the reason is that if I had the chance to read more widely this year, I know Gemmell wouldn't make the list. The other is that I didn't love Legend the way I hoped to. I see where Legend could be an influential novel, but I felt that it was a little too pat and simple.

Previous discoveries can be found for 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.

lists

2011-12-30T06:25:00.000-06:00

There isn't much of a question that I've been a bad blogger lately, but I've been thinking about end of year lists that I enjoy doing every year. There really isn't much chance that I'm going to get them out today or tomorrow, but I do hope to get them in the first week or two of January. That seems reasonable.

So, just something to look forward to.

Pelland and Bear

2011-12-05T19:15:00.000-06:00

There is news. More or less.

Elizabeth Bear has news:

This is probably a good time to mention that Subterranean will be doing an e-collection of all the previously uncollected New Amsterdam stories, including “Almost True,” “The Tricks of London,” “Twilight,” and “Underground,” and either one or two new ones, depending on how many pages it takes me to dispatch my ideas.

I also may or may not have sold “Faster Gun,” the story frequently known as “John Henry Holiday Is Sick Of These Time Traveling Assholes,” to Tor.com, but I can’t actually tell you until they send me a contract. Ahem.

There may also be some good news on the horizon regarding a short story collection, but until paperwork is signed, that’s all I can tell you about that.

Starting from the top (which is actually the second paragraph from Bear's post) - Great news, and I may have to pick it up despite my disinterest in ebooks if there are new stories in it. I've the chapbooks for "The Tricks of London" and "Twilight", and will get "Underground" when I order up the limited edition of ad eternum (which I should really do soon). On the other hand, I'd love a print edition of this e-collection. Because I like print editions of awesome stuff.

Bear's last two Tor.com stories were "The Horrid Glory of Its Wings" (review) and "The Girl Who Sang Rose Madder" (review). Both were excellent, so should that mystical contract arrive, I very much look forward to reading "Faster Gun". But then, I tend to very much enjoy reading anything that Bear writes, be it novel or short fiction.

Which brings us to the third quoted paragraph. I've been hoping for a new collection for some time now, but it's kind of like talking about a new Promethean Age novel - I want what I probably can't have and it's completely out of Bear's hands. So, here's hoping that we catch the horizon for this one.

In Jennifer Pelland news: The first chapter of her debut novel Machine is up for reading over at Apex. I've been looking for this one since I first learned of the sale. I absolutely adore her short fiction and can't wait to read Machine.

As such, I am not going to read the first chapter. I want to wait until I can read the whole thing at once. You can also buy the book.

Night Shade Books: One Year Later

2011-12-01T00:01:00.013-06:00

So often we focus on the big story of the day, but then never think to find out what happens after the spotlight has shifted to another "Big Story of the Day". When I say "we", I place myself at the forefront of "we". This is fairly normal, I think.

The thing is, the follow up is also part of the story and if we were interested enough to engage with the original story, we should engage in checking back in to see if there is any resolution.

What brings this up is that Rose Fox posted an update to last year's Night Shade situation.

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, check out Post 1 and Post 2. As a result, the SFWA placed Night Shade Books on a one year probation to give them the chance to get their act together.

According to the SFWA, they did. Probation has been lifted and Night Shade remains a qualifying market for authors. See Rose Fox's post for the full SFWA letter regarding this.

Awesome.

I have long been a fan of the work Night Shade publishes and I'm glad that the issues were able to be resolved, though I'm still saddened that they ever had to occur in the first place.

Boneshaker: The Movie!

2011-11-30T19:22:00.000-06:00

Holy shit, y'all.

So, you know Boneshaker, that fantastic novel from Cherie Priest which featured an alternate America where the Civil War stretched into the 1880's and had a steampunk flair to it?

If your answer to that question is "no", then go read the book!

If your answer is "hell yeah!", then you may be as excited as I am (though not as excited as Cherie) that the film rights to Boneshaker has been sold.

A huge congratulations go out to Cherie Priest. I've been a fan of Priest's work for a while now and I am absolutely thrilled at her continued success in general and this sale in particular. Good on her.

Brain Pickings: My New Favorite Everything

2011-11-29T21:01:00.000-06:00

Holy crap, people. I don't know if I'm the last person on Earth to discover this, but thanks to the Magic of the Internet* I now know of Brain Pickings, a website of sheer awesomeness and the work of Maria Popova.

*(at this time the role of The Internet will be played by Tobias Buckell on Twitter)

About Brain Pickings:

Brain Pickings is a human-powered discovery engine for interestingness, culling and curating cross-disciplinary curiosity-quenchers, and separating the signal from the noise to bring you things you didn’t know you were interested in until you are.

...

Brain Pickings is your LEGO treasure chest, full of pieces across art, design, science, technology, philosophy, history, politics, psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, you-name-itology. Pieces that enrich your mental pool of resources and empower you to combine them into original concepts that are stronger, smarter, richer, deeper and more impactful — a modest, curiosity-driven exercise in vision- and mind-expansion. Please enjoy.

Or, as I described it elsewhere, Brain Pickings is a website which compiles all the coolest smart shit that I never would have known about, and then TELLS ME ABOUT IT!

For example, I want to know more about The Physics Book, color theory, and this. And everything.

So much of what I read here pushes me into another digression, to another post, and to another fascinating subject. It's all stuff that I didn't know I was interested in. Until I was.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Six: Table of Contents

2011-11-27T00:57:00.000-06:00

Jonathan Strahan has announced the Table of Contents for the sixth volume in his consistently excellent survey of the Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
The Case of Death and Honey, Neil Gaiman, (A Study in Sherlock)
The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees, E. Lily Yu, (Clarkesworld, 4/11)
Tidal Forces, Caitlín R Kiernan, (Eclipse Four)
Younger Women, Karen Joy Fowler, (Subterranean, Summer 2011)
White Lines on a Green Field , Catherynne M. Valente, (Subterranean, Fall 2011)
All That Touches The Air, An Owomoyela, (Lightspeed Magazine, 4/11)
What We Found, Geoff Ryman, (F&SF, 9-10/11)
The Server and the Dragon, Hannu Rajaniemi, (Engineering Infinity)
The Choice, Paul McAuley, (Asimov‘s, 1/11)
Malak, Peter Watts, (Engineering Infinity)
Old Habits, Nalo Hopkinson, (Eclipse Four)
A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong, K. J. Parker, (Subterranean, Winter 2011. )
Valley of the Girls, Kelly Link, (Subterranean, Spring 2011)
Brave Little Toaster, Cory Doctorow, (TRSF)
The Dala Horse, Michael Swanwick, (Tor.com, 7/11)
The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece, M Rickert, (F&SF, 9-10/11)
The Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu, (F&SF, March/April 2011)
Steam Girl, Dylan Horrocks, (Steampunk!)
After the Apocalypse, Maureen F. McHugh, (After the Apocalypse)
Underbridge, Peter S. Beagle, (Naked City)
Relic, Jeffrey Ford, (The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities)
The Invasion of Venus, Stephen Baxter, (Engineering Infinity)
Woman Leaves Room, Robert Reed, (Lightspeed Magazine, 3/11)
Restoration, Robert Shearman, (Everyone’s Just So So Special)
The Onset of a Paranormal Romance, Bruce Sterling, (Flurb, Fall-Winter 2011)
Catastrophic Disruption of the Head, Margo Lanagan, (The Wilful Eye: Tales from the Tower Vol. 1)
The Last Ride of the Glory Girls, Libba Bray, (Steampunk!)
The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book) , Nnedi Okorafor, (Clarkesworld, 3/11)
Digging, Ian McDonald, (Life on Mars)
The Man Who Bridged the Mist, Kij Johnson, (Asimov’s, 10-11/11)
Goodnight Moons, Ellen Klages, (Life on Mars)

In an interesting twist for me, I haven't read a single story collected here - even though a number of them are available online. That's what happens when a fellow is away for a number of months. As such, I am doubly looking forward to this volume.

Yellow Guys

2011-11-26T00:14:00.000-06:00

Yellow guys do not just happen. Yellow guys are not in my life. Yellow guys do not just emerge out of thin air. Yellow guys are in the movies. Yellow guys are not real. Yellow guys are for Chernobyl, not Clarence. Why don't I have a yellow suit? I do not have a yellow suit. I quite clearly need a yellow suit.

This is a paragraph from very early on in Anne Ursu's first novel, Spilling Clarence. I want to quote pages and pages of it, but I love this paragraph the most. I love the repetition (as I do). I love how that repetition builds a sort of quasi-calm terror.

Excuse me, I must continue reading.

Anne McCaffrey

2011-11-22T22:02:00.000-06:00

Gone away, gone ahead,
Echoes away, gone unansweréd.
Empty, open, dusty, dead.
Why have all the Weyrfolk fled?

Where have dragons gone together?
Leaving Weyrs to wind and weather?
Setting heardbeasts free of tether?
Gone, our safeguards, gone, but whither?
Have they flown to some new Weyr
Where cruel Thread some others fear?
Are they worlds away from here?
Why, oh, why, the empty Weyr?

-"The Question Song", Dragonflight

Anne McCaffrey passed away yesterday. My childhood is sad.

I started this paragraph four times, but I can't quite come up with the words to describe just how influential Anne McCaffrey was in my early reading of speculative fiction. The Dragonriders of Pern was a seminal series in my life. McCaffrey's blending of what initially seemed to be a fantasy series with a growing amount of science fiction was fascinating. But, just as much, I loved the three Crystal Singer novels and wished she would write more - even though the story there was complete. I just wanted more. So often, that's what McCaffrey left her readers: wanting more of a damn good story.

Anne McCaffrey was 85 when she died.

Others will write about Anne McCaffrey with greater eloquence than what I am able to do. There will be tributes and memorials and remembrances. There should be. McCaffrey was one of the legends of the genre. Her fiction was what introduced so many readers to science fiction and instilled a lifelong love of the genre.

From io9:

Anne McCaffrey wasn't just the inventor of Pern, the world where a whole society is based on dragon-riding. She was also an incredibly influential author who helped transform the way science fiction and fantasy authors wrote about women, and the way all of us thought about bodies and selfhood. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award, as well as a Grand Master of science fiction.

I don't know if it is really possible to overstate McCaffrey's importance in science fiction, to the readers, to the writers, to the genre as a whole. To me.

These last few hours I have been filled with a profound sadness at the world's loss of Anne McCaffrey. While there is no taking away the experience of reading McCaffrey for the first time and for the adventures I had with her stories, I mourn the loss of the one who introduced me to Pern and Ballybran, to Lessa, Menolly, and Killashandra Ree.

Goodnight, Anne McCaffrey. Thank you for the stories and for enriching my childhood.

Kitty's Big Trouble, by Carrie Vaughn

2011-11-15T20:40:00.001-06:00

I read Kitty's Big Trouble back in July. I've been reading Carrie Vaughn for the last five years and Vaughn has maintained my interest and excitement from the first book. Kitty's Big Trouble is the ninth novel in the series and continues Vaughn's expansion of the scope of Kitty's world.

Kitty's Big Trouble opens with Kitty's belief that William Tecumseh Sherman was really a werewolf and her investigation into that, but it extends into San Francisco to get deeper into the looming war with Roman and is minions. Vaughn explores the depth of what Kitty (and the reader) knows of the supernatural in this world.

After all these months, what I most want to convey about Kitty's Big Trouble is that there is no drop in quality in this ninth Kitty Norville novel. Vaughn continues to deliver a fast paced, entertaining story which builds what the reader knows of the world while not neglecting the ever developing characterization of all the recurring characters.

When I stop to think about it, Kitty's Big Trouble reads as an episode in a television series. The novel itself is a singular episode which tells a particular story and has a beginning, middle, and end. Carrie Vaughn puts the story first and doesn't fail to tell a good one. But, the novel also succeeds in the context of the larger Kitty Norville series. Kitty Norville is not a static character, but rather develops based on experience. The Kitty readers met back in Kitty and the Midnight Hour is not the same Kitty in these more recent novels, though the journey is clear. Bit by bit, Carrie Vaughn explores this world which seems so similar to our own, if not for the presence of the supernatural. Kitty, like the readers, have only scratched the surface of what all is out there. This is the heart of the sense of discovery in the Kitty Norville series. Through the “Adventure of the Week” stories, Vaughn works the larger thematic, character, and overall series arcs to deliver a multi-layered experience.

Or: It's just good, y'all.

Kitty Steals the show is due out in Spring 2012.

Previous Reviews
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Kitty Goes to Washington
Kitty Takes a Holiday
Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand
Kitty Raises Hell
Kitty's House of Horrors
Kitty Goes to War

Spaceman!

2011-11-14T05:00:00.014-06:00

So, I was looking for some new comics to put on my reading list and I happened across this post on MTV.com. It's not where I normally would have thought to check, but I'll be damned if there's not some good looking stuff on that page.

A number of books haven't been collected yet and some are just beginning (Xenoholics, anyone?), but what caught my eye was something called Spaceman.

Spaceman is written by Brian Azzarello and drawn by Eduardo Risso. That's all I really needed to know. You should know Azzarello from the hella ambitious 100 Bullets, or from a number of other comics, but really - 100 Bullets.

The AV Club has a very recent interview with Azzarello.

Reading: Kelly Barnhill and Anne Ursu

2011-11-13T20:20:00.000-06:00

I went to a reading today. It's not something I do very often, but each time I do I am reminded that I really should do this more often.

Kelly Barnhill and Anne Ursu were reading at The Loft. I've known Kelly for a few years now and I've enjoyed her short fiction for just as long, but Anne Ursu was new to me. Like, never heard of her before new. But, thanks to the magic of the internet (and Kelly raving about her on Facebook), I was intrigued about the other half of the reading.

Kelly read from her debut novel The Mostly True Story of Jack. I've heard Kelly read before, but never from her novel (it did just come out this year, after all). Friggin delightful. If the rest of the book is as good as what she read, I'm in for a treat. But then, I figured as much.

Speaking of being in for a treat...

Anne Ursu.

I had never heard of Anne Ursu before. I've heard of her now.

Ursu was funny, charming, and self deprecating all at the same time. That's before she started reading from her latest novel, Breadcrumbs. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen", the portions of Breadcrumbs Ursu read stoked my interest in checking out the rest of the book (and Ursu's other novels, for that matter). Unlike Kelly's book, I don't already own a copy of Breadcrumbs. That would be silly. I hadn't heard of Ursu before. But, it shall be read.

Neither Kelly Barnhill nor Anne Ursu had to use their AK. Today was a good day.

New Brin!

2011-11-09T19:49:00.000-06:00

A big thank you to Adam Whitehead for pointing out that David Brin has a new novel due out in 2012. I haven't read Brin in years, nor has he published a novel in almost a decade. It's high time both change.

Whitehead reports the cover blurb is as follows:

Bestselling, award-winning futurist David Brin returns to globe-spanning, high concept SF.

As he did in his New York Times bestselling novel Earth, David Brin takes on the rapidly accelerating rate of change in technology in a very human way.

Telepresence. The neural link world wide web, where a flash crowd can gather in an instant if something interesting is happening. We see it today--one man in Pakistan live-tweets the assault on Osama bin Laden, and the whole world turns to watch. A revolution in Egypt is coordinated online.

Into the maelstrom of world-wide shared experience drops a game-changer. An alien artifact is plucked from Earth's orbit; an artifact that wants to communicate. News leaks out fast, and the world reacts as it always does: with fear and hope and selfishness and love and violence.

Existence is packed with tension, with characters we care about in danger that seems unstoppable. It is a novel brimming with ideas about the future, and how humanity will--must--adapt to it. This is a big book from David Brin, and everyone is going to be talking about it.

Want. To. Read.
Now.

Oh, and it seems Brin has a short story in Lightspeed titled "Bubbles". I'll go read that, too.

Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2011

2011-11-07T19:21:00.000-06:00

Via Rose Fox at Genreville

Publisher's Weekly has named its Best Books of 2011. Below is a selection, but head on over to PW to see all the lists. Looks like an interesting list of stuff I should like to read.

SF/F/H
Zoo City, by Lauren Buekes
Triptych, by J. M. Frey
Unpossible, by Daryl Gregory
Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan, Vol. 1, by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Erekos by A.M. Tuomala

Top Ten Overall
The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Devil All the Time, by Donald Ray Pollock
State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
After the Apocalypse, by Maureen F. McHugh
Bossypants, by Tina Fey
Catherine the Great, by Robert K. Massie
There but for the, by Ali Smith
Hemingway's Boat, by Paul Hendrickson
One Day I Will Write About This Place, by Binyavanga Wainaina
Arguably: Essays, by Christopher Hitchens

I haven't read any of these. I'm a huge fan of Ann Patchett's work and I've been following Eugenides since The Virgin Suicides. I have no clue how I didn't know he had a new novel out. Also, Daryl Gregory tends to be fantastic. I haven't read his new novel OR this new collection. Sigh. So much to read.

The Outback Stars, by Sandra McDonald

2011-11-05T21:25:00.001-05:00

Lieutentant Jodenny Scott is a Hero. She has the medals to prove it – and the scars.

She's cooling her heels on Kookaburra, recovering from the fiery loss of her last ship, the Yangtze, and she's bored – so bored, in fact, that she takes a berth on the next ship out. That's a mistake. The Aral Sea isn't anyone's idea of a get-well tour.

Jodenny's handed a division full of misfits, incompetents, and criminals. She thinks she can handle it. She's wrong. Aral Sea isn't a happy ship. And it's about to get a lot unhappier.

What I think about when I think about The Outback Stars is the interpersonal drama of The Aral Sea, Jodenny's struggle to bring a sense of military discipline and decorum back to her new unit and how she is undermined by others who should be leaders. McDonald goes much deeper than that, in the end, but the day to day struggle of Lt Scott was the core of what worked best for me. McDonald herself is a former Navy officer and that working knowledge of the day to day life of a junior officer comes through in her writing. She isn't writing dry military minutiae, either. There is real conflict that is core to the story being told in the novel. It works.

There really isn't a weak aspect of the novel. The SF, military, and romantic elements of The Outback Stars all come together to tell a singular story which I really didn't want to end. Fantastic novel and one which I wish I didn't wait so long to read. The Outback Stars was one of those novels that was on my list of books I'll get to “sometime soon”. Sometime soon became several years. Now I only need not to wait so long to read the sequel. Very good stuff here.

Legend, by David Gemmell

2011-11-03T17:53:00.001-05:00

I want to catch up on some of the books I've read during the last four months. I won't be able to write in depth about most of these books because it's been too long. This may be more of a series where I talk about what I think about when I think about these books. If that makes sense.

First up is a book that I read in mid-September: Legend, by David Gemmell

People have tried to get me to pick up Legend for years now. Every few months there would be a comment here insisting that I give the book a shot because I am sure to love it. We'll see. I might not have picked it up but I was in a situation where the only real access I had to books was a rare trip to a Half Priced Books and hope they have something decent. The result of one of those trips included Legend. Without much else to read and with the novel priced at $3, why not?

Originally published in 1984, Legend is a specific type of epic fantasy: which is to say, the ultra-heroic type where the hero is a hero and always does what is right and is capable of great feats. When I wrote about James Barclay's Chronicles of the Raven trilogy, I mentioned that I considered the Raven novels to be something of a bridge between quest fantasies of the 80's / 90's and the modern quest fantasies. Though I didn't realize it at the time, Legend is the beginning of that conversation of how that epic fantasy storytelling would shift.

Had Gemmell written about “Druss the Legend” earlier in the character's life, we would have been given a story of heroic feats of a young man at the height of his powers. There would have been a sense of obviousness in the story. Where Gemmell begins to twist things is that Druss here is an old man. Druss is something of a Clint Eastwood type character. You know he can kick the ass of men half his age, but you also know that people are going to want to test him even as they whisper about his legend. That's Druss and that's a major facet of Legend.

Having a somewhat “elderly” warrior means that there will always be a question on whether Druss's body will hold up to he demands of it and therein lies the tension. There's also a siege defending against vastly superior forces and the way Gemmell closes the novel is...interesting, but at its heart, Legend is heroic epic fantasy where things are a little too simple, too pat, and in many cases, too obvious. On the other hand, Legend does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.

There is a place for this type of fantasy. Certainly there is a market for it, and the David Gemmell Legend Award celebrates epic fantasy and Gemmell's legacy. I'm just not sure this is what I want to read on a regular basis.

Elizabeth Bear story and interview

2011-11-02T21:19:00.000-05:00

There's a double shot of Elizabeth Bear goodness over at Apex Magazine. I'm off my game because this news is a whole day old! I don't know what's wrong with me.

First, they've got an interview with Bear. It's about stuff.

Second is a brand spanking new short story titled "The Leavings of the Wolf." I must read this when I'm not fixing to fall asleep.

While you're there, Apex also has a new story from Catherynne Valente.

You're welcome.

Weird Fiction Review

2011-11-02T06:21:00.000-05:00

From the press release, an interesting blog / magazine emerges:

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR WEIRD?

Weirdfictionreview.com: Your Non-Denominational Source for The Weird

Weirdfictionreview.com launched today, a website devoted to The Weird and created by Luis Rodrigues. The project is the brainchild of editing-writing team Ann & Jeff VanderMeer. Hugo Award-winner Ann VanderMeer until recently edited Weird Tales Magazine and has co-edited several anthologies with her husband. Jeff’s last novel, Finch, was a finalist for the Nebula Award and World Fantasy Award. Together they edited the just-released The Weird: A Compendium of Strange & Dark Stories (Atlantic/Corvus), a 750,000-word, 100-year retrospective of weird fiction.

The site kicks off today with the following features:

---Exclusive interview with Neil Gaiman about weird fiction:

---First episode of exclusive “Reading The Weird” webcomic by Leah Thomas:

---Translation of Thomas Owen’s short story “Kavar the Rat” by Edward Gauvin:

---The full Table of Contents for The Weird compendium, with notes:

---Weird Gallery, Featuring the art of New Orleans artist Myrtle Von Damitz III:

Come back later this week and next for: “Weirdly Epic: A Century of First Lines,” exclusive interviews with Kelly Link and Thomas Ligotti, a feature on artist/writer Alfred Kubin, Kafkaesque entertainments, China Mieville’s “AFTERWEIRD: The Efficacy of a Worm-eaten Dictionary,” and a feature on classic Weird Tales women writers. An ongoing “101 Weird Writers” feature will also begin next week.

Weirdfictionreview.com will initially focus on features related to The Weird compendium, but its primary mission over time will be to serve as an ongoing exploration into all facets of the weird, in all of its many forms — a kind of “non-denominational” approach that appreciates Lovecraft but also writers like Franz Kafka, Angela Carter, and Shirley Jackson – along with the next generation of weird writers and international weird. Writer Angela Slatter serves as the managing editor.

The Greatest Peanuts Comic Strips

2011-10-31T20:45:00.000-05:00

As I read through the Fantagraphics collections of the Peanuts comic strips, I am often struck by just how perfectly written some of the strips are. Schulz can break your heart with just one panel, and with another show the quiet humanity and pricelessness of family or friendship. I've looked for just those strips to share, but have had little luck.

Specifically, I wanted the October 11, 1980 strip which closes a story arc where Snoopy has been trying to figure out what exact kind bird Woodstock is and, in the end, suggests that maybe Woodstock is a duck. When Woodstock is distraught at Snoopy's bad joke, the final panel is this perfect touching moment of reconciliation and friendship. I could never find the strip online.

Today, I ran into another.

I found this one. It speaks volumes. Still couldn't find the Snoopy / Woodstock strip.

I also ran across a series of blog posts from one Trapper Jenn, MD listing out what she feels the 50 greatest Peanuts strips are. She has good taste, though she doesn't count that Snoopy / Woodstock strip as one of them.

Regardless, I want to share her list. And her commentary.

The Honor Bag
50-41
40-31
30-21
20-11
10-1

Enjoy!

2011 World Fantasy Award Winners

2011-10-30T17:31:00.002-05:00

Via Twitter and Tor.com

Best Novel: Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor

Best Novella: “The Maiden Flight of McAuley's Bellerophon”, by Elizabeth Hand

Best Short Fiction: “Fossil-Figures”, by Joyce Carol Oates

Best Anthology: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, by Kate Bernheimer

Best Collection: What I Didn't See, by Karen Joy Fowler

Best Artist: Kinuko Y. Craft

Special Award, Professional: Marc Gascoigne, for Angry Robot

Special Award, Non-Professional: Alisa Krasnostein, for Twelfth Planet Press

Congratulations to all the winners AND all the nominees.

Now it's time to start catching up on all of the goodness I missed this year.

Underland Stuff

2011-10-28T22:46:00.001-05:00

It occurs to me that I haven't heard much about Underland Press in a while, but they had two books published this year.

In Extremis, by John Shirley

In Extremis features more than twenty of Shirley’s most intense stories originally published in anthologies and periodicals like Asimov's Science Fiction, Cemetery Dance, and New Noir. In addition, this volume contains two never-before-published pieces that are sure to roil the genre’s most hardened readers.

The Other, by Matthew Hughes

Meet Luff Imbry, an insidiously clever confidence man . . . He likes good wine, good food, and good stolen goods, and he always maintains the upper hand. When a business rival gets the drop on him, he finds himself abandoned on Fulda—a far-off, isolated world with a history of its own. Unable to blend in and furious for revenge, Imbry has to rely on his infamous criminal wit to survive Fulda’s crusade to extinguish The Other.

Now, I have this inexplicable manner of deciding which books I want to read and simple descriptions tend to not play into it, but one thing that helps is history. Underland Press is the publisher of The Pilo Family Circus, Last Days, and Finch. Good stuff (and, in the case of Finch, great stuff).They've published a Joe Lansdale collection which I really have to read one of these days. All of this is to say that I think I need to track down these two Underland books.

Griaule

2011-10-24T18:47:00.000-05:00

That Dragon Griaule collection from Lucius Shepard that I've been dreaming about for years?

You can order it now.

Machine Cover

2011-10-22T08:00:00.018-05:00

The news is a good month old by this point, but I only just now have consistent internet access and wanted to share.

One of my more anticipated novels for the last couple of years is Jennifer Pelland's Machine. I absolutely love her short fiction and can't wait to see what she will do at novel length (despite that I have, in fact, been waiting to find out). Machine is forthcoming in late December from Apex Books.

Machine has a cover! Looks damn good.

Cover Artist: Katja Faith
Cover Design: Mekenzie Larsen

Dreamhaven Books to Close

2011-10-21T08:00:00.030-05:00

Disappointing news on the home front. According to Locus, Dreamhaven Books is closing its doors at the end of January. Here is a copy of the e-mail sent out with the catalog.

I only shopped Dreamhaven perhaps once a year. I like the store, it was just never part of my regular rotation. That's probably part of the problem and why the store is closing. I always took for granted that the Twin Cities had two outstanding genre bookshops. I saw Paolo Bacigalupi read from Pump Six there and bought the book on the spot. It's a good store. I don't really want to say "was", but that's about to happen in just a few months.

I wish Greg Ketter the best and hope that whatever his plans are for the future, that they are a smash hit.

Stumptown

2011-10-20T22:50:00.000-05:00

Stumptown
Greg Rucka (writer)
Matthew Southworth (art)

Stumptown features Dex Parios, a private investigator with shit luck at gambling. Down nearly eighteen grand to a casino, she is offered a case by the head of casino operations: find the missing granddaughter of Sue-Lynne Suppa, and the debt is erased.

Greg Rucka has worked on some of the biggest franchises from Marvel and DC Comics, but should be best known for his work on Queen & Country and Whiteout. Queen & Country is some of the best espionage fiction you're likely to run across, and given the difference in medium, I'd hold it up against prose fiction. It's damn good.

The thing about comic books is that where a writer can be so good on one series, his next work can fall flat and not meet the expectations his own excellence has set. Granted, this is true about anything, but I am a bit more hesitant with comics than with prose novels. Whiteout was good. Queen & Country was great. Could Stumptown even compare?

Happily, yes.

Charlotte Suppa has been missing for four days, and like any good detective story, Stumptown isn't quite so simple as “find the girl who ran away.” There's more to it, but not so much in a way that would begin to strain credulity. After telling personal stories on the world's stage with Queen & Country, Rucka tells a smaller story with Stumptown. Though the focus is on Dex's investigation, readers get a sense of Dex's life and personal story in an organic manner that serves both the macro story of the investigation as well as the micro story of introducing this new world. Rucka is very good at that balancing act. He does well with Dex's characterization and gives enough hints for the supporting cast to come alive as well.

Matthew Southworth's illustrations should also be commended. There is a certain washed out quality that serves the tone of the story while perfectly conveying who the characters are and what sort of world they inhabit. The art does its job, but it is more than simply serviceable. Matthew Southworth helps tell Rucka's story and with a different artist, we'd have an entirely different book – and probably not as good as the one we have now.

The four issues collected in Volume One cover “The Case of the Girl Who Took her Shampoo (But Left her Mini).” That title is the only bit of cheese to be found in the book. The only collected edition available is the hardcover that'll run you in the neighborhood of $30, but it's well worth checking out. One can only hope that Rucka has more Stumptown books in the works and that Southworth will be back doing the illustrations. This interview suggests that there is.

Bookshelf

2011-09-17T11:10:00.000-05:00

Even though I haven't been able to read nearly as many books these past months I've been in training, I've managed to accumulate a decent starting collection of books. Now, eight of these were books that I brought from home after the Fourth of July holiday, but the rest...well, the rest are all new to my collection.

To save some money, I haven't picked up the highest profile releases that I really want to own, but I'm rather happy with what I've picked up. Some good stuff here.

Oh, and if you wondered what happens when you take a book with you to some field exercises where you're going to be made up like a casualty and you don't take care where you leave said book...

Forthcoming 2011: Q4

2011-08-31T20:11:00.000-05:00

2011 World Fantasy Award Nominees

2011-07-30T11:22:00.001-05:00

Via Locus

It's that time of year again and the nominees for the World Fantasy Awards have been announced. It's a good list. If you're not sure what to read, the World Fantasy Awards are a great place to start.

Best Novel
Zoo City, Lauren Beukes (Jacana South Africa; Angry Robot)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
The Silent Land, Graham Joyce (Gollancz; Doubleday)
Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada; Roc; Harper Voyager UK)
Redemption In Indigo, Karen Lord (Small Beer)
Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)

Best Novella
Bone and Jewel Creatures, Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean)
The Broken Man, Michael Byers (PS)
“The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon”, Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All-New Tales)
The Thief of Broken Toys, Tim Lebbon (ChiZine Publications)
“The Mystery Knight”, George R.R. Martin (Warriors)
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window”, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer 2010)

Best Short Fiction
“Beautiful Men” , Christopher Fowler (Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels and Heavenly Hosts)
“Booth’s Ghost”, Karen Joy Fowler (What I Didn’t See and Other Stories)
“Ponies”, Kij Johnson (Tor.com 11/17/10)
“Fossil-Figures”, Joyce Carol Oates (Stories: All-New Tales)
“Tu Sufrimiento Shall Protect Us”, Mercurio D. Rivera (Black Static 8-9/10)

Best Anthology
The Way of the Wizard, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Prime)
My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, Kate Bernheimer, ed. (Penguin)
Haunted Legends, Ellen Datlow & Nick Mamatas, eds. (Tor)
Stories: All-New Tales, Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio, eds. (Morrow; Headline Review)
Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, S.T. Joshi, ed. (PS)
Swords & Dark Magic, Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders, eds. (Eos)

Best Collection
What I Didn’t See and Other Stories, Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer)
The Ammonite Violin & Others, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean)
Holiday, M. Rickert (Golden Gryphon)
Sourdough and Other Stories, Angela Slatter (Tartarus)
The Third Bear, Jeff VanderMeer (Tachyon)

Best Artist
Vincent Chong
Kinuko Y. Craft
Richard A. Kirk
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

Special Award, Professional
John Joseph Adams, for editing and anthologies
Lou Anders, for editing at Pyr
Marc Gascoigne, for Angry Robot
Stéphane Marsan & Alain Névant, for Bragelonne
Brett Alexander Savory & Sandra Kasturi, for ChiZine Publications

Special Award, Non-Professional
Stephen Jones, Michael Marshall Smith, & Amanda Foubister, for Brighton Shock!: The Souvenir Book Of The World Horror Convention 2010
Alisa Krasnostein, for Twelfth Planet Press
Matthew Kressel, for Sybil’s Garage and Senses Five Press
Charles Tan, for Bibliophile Stalker
Lavie Tidhar, for The World SF Blog

Chew, by John Layman

2011-06-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

Chew is one of the best fucking comic books that I have read. Seriously.

It works like this: Written by John Layman and featuring the art of Rob Guillory, Chew is funny as hell, albeit in manner that surrounds itself with nastiness. Chew is violent, but has a heart. Chew is something of an investigative story, but saying that fails to do justice to what Chew really is, which is completely awesome.

See, Tony Chu is a cibopath. This means that he gets a psychic impression from whatever he eats: the history of the food is laid bare. Who prepared it, how it was prepared, how the animal or plant was slaughtered or treated with chemicals...all the way back. Anything he eats will give him that flash of history. Anything.

This is a world where poultry is illegal and when we meet him, Tony is working as a vice-cop investigating a black market chicken operation. Yes, there is a certain amount of absurdity played straight in Chew. Recruited from the Philadelphia PD into the special investigations division of the Food & Drug Administration (which has a crazy amount of authority here), Tony's world opens up and as such, so does ours.

I'm not sure Chew can be well described or well defined. Chew is its own thing. Chew is mind-blowingly awesome.

Right now there are only 19 issues published (three collections worth, plus change), so get in on it now. I believe there is a story arc planned to go 60 issues. You want to read this. You need to read this.

Go read Chew. Seriously. Go.

I can't recommend this highly enough.

adjustments

2011-06-05T19:44:00.000-05:00

Now that I have time to look at what is on the horizon from a better vantage point, if I were to adjust my last post on the Q3 forthcoming books, the one I wrote back in February before I left for BMT, I would do something like this:

July
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer (no change)

Kitty's Big Trouble, by Carrie Vaughn (no change)

A Dance With Dragons, by George R. R. Martin: Because holy crap it's really coming.

August
The Tempering of Men, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (no change)

The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn (no change)

September
Winter's Dream, by Glen Cook: Honestly, I'm skeptical of this listing. Locus shows it as a collection from SubPress, but I haven't heard word one about it. But, if it is real, I want. Badly.

Hellbent, by Cherie Priest: Umm...it's by Cherie Priest.

Goliath, by Scott Westerfeld: The concluding volume of the trilogy beginning with Leviathan.

Good stuff. The monster is obviously GRRM's book, but Melanie Rawn's Diviner is kind of a big deal. It's her first foray back into more traditional fantasy AND, it's the prequel to the outstanding novel The Golden Key. Like everyone who read The Golden Key, I've been waiting a long time for this one.

Forthcoming 2011: Q3

2011-06-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

Bordertown lives

2011-05-24T21:20:00.000-05:00

Emma Bull would like you to know that Bordertown lives and is back with a shiny new anthology. I've mentioned Bordertown a few times recently, but this little nugget at the end of her post was worth sharing:

And of course, you can go to Bordertown yourself. Because Welcome to Bordertown, the new anthology, is officially available at all your favorite places for book-buying. You'll find it shelved as Fiction...like so many other travel guides to strange and magical places.

Exactly.

2011 Nebula Award Winners

2011-05-21T22:37:00.000-05:00

Via Tor.com and Genreville

The Nebula Awards. They had nominees. They have winners.

Novel: Blackout / All Clear, by Connie Willis
Novella: "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen's Window", by Rachel Swirsky
Novelette: "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Has Made", by Eric James Stone
Short Story: "Ponies", by Kij Johnson, and "How Interesting: A Tiny Man", by Harlan Ellison (TIE)

Honestly, because of stuff, I didn't get the chance to read many of them, but congratulations to all the winners, but especially Rachel Swirsky for the excellent “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window”.

More Bordertown

2011-05-18T09:13:00.000-05:00

Tor.com has an article on a "Noob's Trip to Bordertown". Color me excited for some Bordertown, folks.

random things

2011-05-17T18:59:00.000-05:00

So, I've been away for a while and I will be busy learning EMT and Nursing for the rest of the year, but I've started to catch up on stuff that I missed while at BMT.

Much of this is probably old news, but it's stuff that interested me enough that I wanted to make note of it.

Jeff VanderMeer interviews Johanna Sinisalo. You may remember Sinisalo from her Nebula Award nominated story "Baby Doll".

Two posts on Bordertown. There's a new collection forthcoming. I need to figure out if I want to try to read the back catalog first, or dive into this one.

There will be a sequel to next month's new Wild Cards novel (Fort Freak). The new one is tenatively titled Lowball. I heart Wild Cards.

Speaking of Fort Freak, it has a cover.

Some guy named George finished a book. Whatever.

That same guy named George talked to another guy named Joe. Shrug.

If you like Daniel Keys Moran (and you should), you'll be happy to know that his backlist and the brand freaking new AI War are available as e-books.

David McCullough has a new book coming out.

The new Stover novel is due for publication February 2012. It's undergone a name change.

Oh, very central to my interests - the Hugo nominations are out! I'll post more on this later, but let me give a belated woo to Mary Robinette Kowal, Carrie Vaughn, Nora Jemisin, Rachel Swirsky, and Aliette de Bodard. Awesomeness gets recognized, y'all. I will mention that several of these matched my ballot. Just saying, I've got good taste.

Genevieve Valentine's debut novel Mechanique is out. I'm freaking excited to read this as soon as I possibly can. Not sure when that'll be whilst in school and on an Army post, but it will happen. Otherwise, there's a nice review over at the AV Book Club.

I'm sure I'm completely overlooking something, but that's the awesome I could remember. Go read Mechanique now. Go.

Alive

2011-05-07T14:58:00.000-05:00

This is a short note just to let folks know that yes, I am still alive. I graduated BMT on April 29 (interesting experience that I may tell you about later). This past week I've had a bunch of briefings on a number of things. My classes start next week and I expect I'll be quite busy at that point.

One person I spoke with in my career field said he had three tests the first week. We'll see how that goes.

Otherwise, I haven't read anything other than my BMT Study Guide (Mar 1 - Apr 29 and an issue of Playstation Magazine (two days ago). I did knock out Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne on my flight down to San Antonio. Decent novel, but nothing I needed to share with the world.

That's it.

If you need something else to read, go take another look at Alison McGhee's entry from March 14 (thanks Alison!)

Final 2011 Hugo Nomination Ballot

2011-03-16T00:01:00.012-05:00

(This post was written back in February)

Below are my nominations for the 2011 Hugo Awards. Because I've been fairly distracted as of late, I did not spend quite as much time reading all the short fiction I should have and didn't put enough thought into some of the other categories with few (or no) nominations. That said, I do feel strongly about each of the nominations I did make.

Remember, if you wish to nominate, you must have at least purchased a supporting membership to Renovation by January 31. Nominations are due by March 26. If you don't have a supporting membership, it may be worth it to still purchase one. You'll be able to vote on the final ballot, nominate in 2012, and if there is a Hugo Voter's Packet again this year, you'll be able to get electronic copies of most of the final nominees - including the novels. Totally worth it, if you have the money to spare.

Regardless, here is my ballot.

Novel
Ark, by Stephen Baxter
Chill, by Elizabeth Bear
Horns, by Joe Hill
Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest
Bitter Seeds, by Ian Tregillis

Novella
Clementine, by Cherie Priest
Bone and Jewel Creatures, by Elizabeth Bear
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen's Window”, by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Online)

Novelette
“The Bride Replete”, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Apex)
“Basilisk Hunt”, by Emma Bull and Holly Black (Shadow Unit)
“The Jaguar House, in Shadow”, by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov's)

Short Story
“Ghosts of New York”, by Jennifer Pelland (Dark Faith)
“The Taxidermist's Other Wife”, by Kelly Barnhill (Clarkesworld)
"After the Dragon", by Sarah Monette (Fantasy)
“The Monster's Million Faces”, by Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com)
“Amaryllis”, by Carrie Vaughn (Lightspeed)

Best Related Work
No Nomination

Best Graphic Story
No Nomination

Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form
No Nomination

Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form
No Nomination

Best Editor: Short Form
Jonathan Strahan
John Joseph Adams
John Klima
George R. R. Martin
Ann VanderMeer

Best Editor: Long Form
Lou Anders

Best Professional Artist
Sparth
Benjamin Carre
Jon Sullivan
Jon Foster
Rima Staines

Best Semiprozine
Electric Velocipede
Clarkesworld
Shadow Unit
Fantasy Magazine
Lightspeed

Best Fanzine

A Dribble of Ink

The Speculative Scotsman

The Wertzone

Torque Control

Best Fan Writer
Adam Whitehead
Niall Harrison
Niall Alexander
Aidan Moher

Best Fan Artist
No Nomination

John W. Campbell Award
No Nomination

Gingerly

2011-03-14T20:30:00.002-05:00

Greetings, readers of Joe.

I'm one of Joe's guest bloggers, gingerly setting foot on his wonderful blog. I titled this post "Gingerly" not because it has anything to do with this post, but because it's one of my favorite words.

Although I suppose it does have something to do with this post, because hey, this isn't my blog. My blog is way over on WordPress, where I've been switching out themes all night long, not happy with any of them, and now my eyes are bleary.

(Six lines into Blogger, I'm starting to think that Blogger is the way to go. So easy! So simple! So good for idiots like me!)

The word gingerly applies to me here because I'm afraid to mess up Joe's great blog. He's an incredible reader and a great reviewer. He's honest and forthright and enthusiastic. He's off training to be a medic. While I'm sitting on my couch swapping out WordPress themes.

And there you have it.

A couple of recommendations for you:

1. BOOK. The best book I've read in the last three months was Room, a novel by Emma Donaghue. Took me a few chapters to settle in, but then once I did, I couldn't put it down. She's got an uncanny way of getting into the head of a little boy who's never seen the outside of the 12x12' room where he was born and raised.

2. BLOG. Try out Your Man for Fun in Rapidan: http://yourmanforfuninrapidan.blogspot.com/. (My apologies; I can't figure out how to hyperlink here on Blogger.)

3. SERENDIPITY. Do what I do and begin your day with a poem or three. Check out Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, or Writer's Almanac. OR, and this is the most fun of all, just google a few random words, e.g., tug, rain, grin, and poem, and see what comes sailing toward you from the universe.

Thanks for letting me stop by. And I'm with those of you who are hoping that we get a glimpse of Joe's Personal Life when you return.

Forthcoming 2011: Q2

2011-03-03T00:01:00.006-06:00

(this post was written back in February)

Welcome to the latest installment of "Stuff I'm Looking Forward To This Year". As always, I take my information from the Locus Forthcoming list, plus a little bit of extra research when I'm aware of things that should be on the Locus list and are not

April
Dark Jenny, by Alex Bledsoe: This is the third Eddie LaCrosse novel and is something of a retelling of the Arthurian Legend as seen by LaCrosse. I've already read this one and it's quite good, but that's what we expect from Bledsoe.

Gravity Dreams, by Stephen Baxter: The only thing I know is that this is a novella forthcoming from PS Publishing. The last PS novella I read from Baxter was the outstanding Starfall, which is the reason I'm reading Baxter in the first place.

The Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor: I should really read more Okorafor.

Deathless, by Catherynne M. Valente: Valente describes this as "A retelling of the Marya Morevna and Koschei the Deathless fairy tales, set in Stalinist Russia". Also, in an instance where cover art really does help sell me a book...have you seen this cover?

May
City of Ruins, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: The follow up to Diving Into the Wreck, which was an excellent and thrilling novel.

Eclipse Four, by Jonathan Strahan: Oh, come on. New Eclipse. Must. Read.

Mechanique, by Genevieve Valentine: I've been following Genevieve's short fiction for a while now. This is her debut novel. I'm hearing some buzz on this by sources I trust.

June
Never at Home, by L. Timmel Duchamp: It's a new short fiction collection. I've read the first four of her Marq'ssan novels and Duchamp is worth reading whenever the chance comes up.

The Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch: I don't know, I'll believe it's really coming out when it does. But, it's on the Locus list and so it is on mine for the second consecutive quarter.

Fort Freak, by George R. R. Martin: New Wild Cards. Martin and his consortium brings the story back to Jokertown, which is a nice treat. An even nicer treat: the stable of writers for this volume include Cherie Priest and David Anthony Durham.

Grail

2011-02-28T15:24:00.000-06:00

Over at Tor.com, Liz Bourke has a review of Elizabeth Bear's Grail. Since I haven't been able to wrap my head around what I want to say about the book, Bourke's review will have to do.

I will say that I highly recommend the Jacob's ladder trilogy. Start with Dust.

Personal Post is Personal

2011-02-25T23:28:00.001-06:00

Years ago, after floundering without a focus for this blog, I set a couple of ground rules for what this blog would be about and what sort of content I would allow myself to post. This was never written out, but it was what occurred in my head to give the blog a particular shape and flavor.

First: This would be about books and stories and storytellers. Genre didn’t matter, though I have particular interests that I choose to write about more often than others. I just wanted to focus on the cool stuff folks were writing, fiction (and nonfiction) that got me excited.

Second: No contests.

Third: No blatant promotion unless it was something I was already excited about or could self-justify why I should promote a particular book or event. Press releases were few and far between and were only posted when I really wanted to amplify the signal. If you wanted to take the position that any blogging is promotion, I can’t argue the point, but I would say that most blogging is done for personal reasons and I talk up the folks who excite me as a reader. You’ve likely noticed particular writers who get mentioned far more often here than others, sometimes years before there is a hint of a novel on the horizon. There’s a reason for that and it isn’t because any of them asked me to.

Fourth: Nothing personal. This is a book blog. It’s not about my life. It’s about the stuff I like to read. I’ve done personal journaling over the years in other places and that’s fine, but this wasn’t the place for that. Also, I just don't like talking about myself.

So why this?

Seven months ago, back in July, I enlisted in the Air Force Reserve. Since then I’ve been either waiting to find out what jobs were available, waiting to receive a ship date to leave for Basic Training, or waiting to actually leave for BMT. The key word here is “waiting”. Unless I do something really stupid and get hit by a car, in three days the waiting will be over and I’ll leave for BMT and then Tech School where I’ll train to be a Med Tech.

What this means for you is that for two months I will have next to no contact with the outside world and for the five months after that I’ll be studying my butt off trying to wrap myself around the medical stuff, getting my EMT-B certification, and generally being busy. Any reading time I have will be study time. I’m rather excited about the opportunity. Turning 32 while in BMT, I’ll be one of the older recruits there (Active Duty has a 27yr age limit, Reserve is 35) and will have to work just a little bit harder to keep up with the youthful energy I’ve grown out of. That’s fine. Grandpa here can keep up with the kids.

This would normally be about the time I would announce that the blog is going on hiatus and all four of my readers will be lamenting the demise of the blog. That’s what normally happens, right? Blogger says he is taking a break and then never comes back. Well, I’m going Reserve, not Active Duty, so once my training is done I’ll be back home doing the traditional Reserve duty and will have pretty much the same amount of personal time as I do now to haphazardly blog.

But! I have a treat!

While I am going on hiatus, this blog is not. A number of awesome people have graciously agreed to contribute some of their time and guest blog for me while I’m away. There’s no set schedule for this, but considering how infrequently I’ve been posting, I can’t say that I have room to judge. Plus, busy people are busy and I appreciate the assistance.

Here then are you erstwhile bloggers:

Kelly Barnhill: Kelly is the author of the forthcoming YA novel The Mostly True Story of Jack and a bunch of really cool stories, most recently “The Taxidermist's Other Wife”. Oh, and she's super duper awesome.

Jennifer Pelland: Jennifer is the author of some kick ass short fiction, twice nominated for a Nebula Award (“Captive Girl” and “Ghosts of New York”). Her short story collection Unwelcome Bodies was published in 2008 and her debut novel, Machine, is due out in 2011. I am terribly excited to read it.

John Picacio: Artist Extraordinaire. John has been nominated for a number of Hugo Awards and has won a World Fantasy Award. You may have seen some of his work.

Codename V: You don't know her, but she is awesomesauce.

Alison McGhee: Alison writes wonderful books. I cannot recommend Rainlight or All Rivers Flow to the Sea highly enough. She'll break your heart with the turn of a word. Alison is a # 1 New York Times best selling author and her novel Shadow Baby was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Yes, this blog is now exponentially cooler than it was yesterday.

2010 Nebula Award Nominees

2011-02-22T22:34:00.004-06:00

Via Jennifer Pelland

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2010 Nebula Awards.

(some of the story links may only be available for the next couple of months, this is just something that happens with the awards. get them while they are hot)

Short Story
“Arvies”, by Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed, Aug 2010)
“How Interesting: A Tiny Man”, by Harlan Ellison (Realms of Fantasy, Feb 2010)
“Ponies”, by Kij Johnson (Tor.com, Jan 17, 2010)
“I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno”, by Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed, June 2010)
“The Green Book”, by Amal El-Mohtar (Apex Magazine, Nov 2010)
“Ghosts of New York”, by Jennifer Pelland (Dark Faith)
“Conditional Love”, by Felicity Shoulders (Asimov’s, Jan 2010)

Novelette
“Map of Seventeen”, by Christopher Barzak (The Beastly Bride)
“The Jaguar House, in Shadow”, by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s, July 2010)
“The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara”, by Christopher Kastensmidt (Realms of Fantasy, Apr 2010)
“Plus or Minus”, by James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s, Dec 2010)
“Pishaach”, by Shweta Narayan (The Beastly Bride)
“The Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made”, by Eric James Stone (Analog, Sept 2010)
“Stone Wall Truth”, by Caroline M. Yoachim (Asimov’s, Feb 2010)

Novella
The Alchemist, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Audible, Subterranean)
“Iron Shoes”, by J. Kathleen Cheney (Alembical 2)
The Lifecycle of Software Objects, by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
“The Sultan of the Clouds” by Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s, Sept 2010)
“Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance”, by Paul Park (F&SF, Jan / Feb 2010)
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window”, by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2010)

Novel
The Native Star, by M. K. Hobson (Spectra)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor) (review)
Echo, by Jack McDevitt (Ace)
Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
Blackout / All Clear, by Connie Willis (Spectra)

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Performance
Despicable Me, Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud (directors), Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul (screenplay), Sergio Pablos (story) (Illumination Entertainment)
Doctor Who: ‘‘Vincent and the Doctor’’, Richard Curtis (writer), Jonny Campbell (director)
How to Train Your Dragon, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders (directors), William Davies, Dean DeBlois, & Chris Sanders (screenplay) (DreamWorks Animation)
Inception, Christopher Nolan (director), Christopher Nolan (screenplay) (Warner)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Edgar Wright (director), Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay) (Universal)
Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich (director), Michael Arndt (screenplay), John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, & Lee Unkrich (story) (Pixar/Disney)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction
Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown)
White Cat, by Holly Black (McElderry)
Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, by Barry Deutsch (Amulet)
The Boy from Ilysies, by Pearl North (Tor Teen)
I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett (Gollancz, Harper)
A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse)

Congratulations to all the nominees!

I would like to take this moment to offer up extra congrats to Jennifer Pelland, Rachel Swirsky, Aliette de Bodard, and Mary Robinette Kowal. I’ve been following Jennifer, Rachel, and Mary’s work for years and it’s awesome to see these nominations. This marks Pelland’s second Nebula nomination (previously, “Captive Girl”), Rachel’s second (“A Memory of Wind”), and Mary’s first (her story “Evil Robot Monkey” was nominated for a Hugo, and she is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer). I’ve only recently come to discover Aliette, but her novel Servant of the Underworld was quite excellent. I’m glad to see each of them pick up nominations this year.

a collection of new books

2011-02-20T19:39:00.001-06:00

I've been on a book buying spree lately and have brought in a host of new books to the welcoming embrace of my bookshelves. Yes, I really do buy books, too. This post was just long overdue. I should really have updated sooner. I think I've forgotten some stuff that I purchased a couple months ago.

New
The Alchemist, by Paolo Bacigalupi
The White City, by Elizabeth Bear
The Executioness, by Tobias Buckell
The Strange Case of the Dead Bird on the Night Stand, by Emma Bull and Kyle Cassidy
Dread Island, by Joe R. Lansdale
A Companion to Wolves, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
Bloodshot, by Cherie Priest
Holiday, by M. Rickert
Ventriloquism, by Catherynne M. Valente (also, here)
Secret Life, by Jeff VanderMeer
Precious Dragon, by Liz Williams

Used
A Shadow in Summer, by Daniel Abraham
The Gypsy, by Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm
Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grill, by Steven Brust
Solitaire, by Kelley Eskridge
The Blue Place, by Nicola Griffith
The Golden Key, by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott
Natural History, by Justina Robson
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
Children of God, by Mary Doria Russell

Alias, by Brian Michael Bendis

2011-02-13T22:03:00.000-06:00

I still have this bias against the traditional sort of superhero comics. I read X-Men as a kid, but I'm just having a difficult time mustering interest as an adult in those titles. Even iconic stuff like Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which really is very good, is a tough sell. The more the focus is on the superhero stuff, the less engaged I am.

Somewhere there must have been a list of awesome graphic novels that included a book titled Alias, though I can't imagine where*. I assumed it was a book focusing on a private investigator named Jessica Jones, and hey, that's enough. I'm inclined to like that sort of thing.

But when you don't really know anything about the book or about the writer, you'll often be surprised.

See, Alias was published under the MAX imprint of Marvel comics, which means that 1) Alias is set in the larger Marvel Universe of superheroes, and 2) writer Brian Michael Bendis is free to say “fuck” as often as he likes. Both of which are ultimately besides the point.

So yes, Alias does feature a private investigator named Jessica Jones who happened to once be a superhero named Jewel who was once in the Avengers. The 28 issues of the run feature characters like Captain America, Ms Marvel, Ant Man, J. Jonah Jameson, Daredevil, and a full cast cameo of the Avengers, but the story here is all Jessica Jones.

While there are four story arcs running across the 28 collected issues, the first three of which are investigations Jones takes on, but the real story is Jessica herself. Bendis's handling of Jessica's backstory is masterful and he dishes it out bit by bit, always serving the story while building a character. Jones is more than a frustrated investigator troubled by personal demons, though she is that. She is more than a superhero who walked away, though that is the core of her early identity in the series.

Why Alias works for me is that the focus is tight on character. This doesn't have to be a book with superheroes, but it happens to be. The writing of Brian Michael Bendis carries the day.

This is good stuff.

Bendis has done a good deal of work in the greater Marvel Universe, but I'm impressed enough that I'm willing to check out some of his other work. First up, naturally, will be The Pulse, which moves Jessica Jones from the MAX imprint to Marvel. Bendis has kicked ass with Jones, so why not read more of it?

*two hours later, I figured it out.

on libraries

2011-02-09T20:34:00.000-06:00

Libraries really are wonderful. They’re better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.

-Jo Walton, Among Others, pg 59

Also,

Interlibrary loans are a wonder of the world and a glory of civilization.

Eclipse Four Table of Contents!

2011-02-04T06:52:00.000-06:00

Jonathan Strahan has posted the table of contents for the forthcoming (and hotly anticipated around these parts) Eclipse Four.

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
“Slow as a Bullet”, Andy Duncan
“Tidal Forces”, Caitlin R. Kiernan
“The Beancounter’s Cat”, Damien Broderick
“Story Kit”, Kij Johnson
“The Man in Grey”, Michael Swanwick
“Old Habits”, Nalo Hopkinson
“The Vicar of Mars”, Gwyneth Jones
“Fields of Gold”, Rachel Swirsky
“Thought Experiment”, Eileen Gunn
“The Double of My Double Is Not My Double”, Jeffrey Ford
“Nine Muses”, Emma Bull
“Dying Young”, Peter M Ball
“The Panda Coin”, Jo Walton
“Tourists”, James Patrick Kelly

Exciting book is exciting. As has been since the first book, Eclipse is a must read series.

some short story recs

2011-01-31T21:36:00.000-06:00

Rachel Swirsky offers up her recommendations (and her nominations) for the coming awards season. Short Stories. I hope she has similar posts lined up for novelettes and novellas.

I've been chipping away at my reading for my Hugo nominations and will have a post on that in the next few weeks when I finalize what I've been able to get to. Swirsky's list helps.

One thing I will say, though - Jennifer Pelland's "Ghosts of New York" will be on my ballot. Fantastic story. I'm not coming across five stories to top it. Y'all should read it.

The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear

2011-01-25T20:25:00.000-06:00

The Sea Thy Mistress
Elizabeth Bear
Tor: 2011

The Sea Thy Mistress is filled with pain. The novel is a sequel to *both* All the Windwracked Stars (review) and By the Mountain Bound (review). Elizabeth Bear’s The Edda of Burdens is an unconventional trilogy, one where the second novel is set some two thousand years before the first. The third, fifty years after the first novel. Yet, The Sea Thy Mistress is a true sequel to each novel, continuing and finishing the story arcs began in each. The pain of the characters here is old, decades and millennia, but still sharp and cutting.

While The Sea Thy Mistress can stand on its own as a novel, on the off chance that someone picked it up without knowing about the two previous volumes, the characters and the motivations and the pain gain so much more context when considered as part of a larger narrative whole. Likewise, the novel loses so much emotional resonance if read without All the Windwracked Stars and By the Mountain Bound. In the context of the first two novels, the names Muire and Heythe have power and meaning. There are stories and heartaches and tragedies all tied together in those two simple names, which is an overlong way to say that readers do themselves and this novel a disservice to enter cold into the story of The Sea Thy Mistress. The discussion that follows assumes prior knowledge of the series.

The story here is, more or less, twofold. It has to do with what the reader knows and some of the characters do not. The first is of Cathoair (All the Windwracked Stars), now one of the waelcryge and raising his and Muire's son, Muire, who is now the serpentine Bearer of Burdens and restoring the world and far is beyond “simple” concepts like mortal and immortal. Cathoair's story is of overcoming his pain, pain and memory beyond even the loss of Muire. This is the story of a man grown finding a way to process trauma. It is no simple thing. It is far more difficult than facing an enemy. The specter of Muire looms over the entire novel, but especially over Cathoair and Cathmar (their son).

The other half is the reader's assumed knowledge of what Heythe's arrival in this time means.

Which means thinking on Heythe. Goddess, lover, monster, betrayer. The most subtle thing the wolf has met in a long and terrible life, and he has known a great many gods and monsters. Heythe the seeress, Heythe the world-killer.

Heythe, the returned. (pg 28)

As much as a presence that Muire has on The Sea Thy Mistress, so does Heythe. Heythe is more on the page in this novel than Muire, but is a shadowy figure, concealing her identity and her purpose. Readers of By the Mountain Bound will know deep inside just how scary and dangerous Heythe is, but the new reader won't. She's a shadow figure, with only Mingan the Wolf carefully working against her in his fear and shame. But then Mingan himself is a much richer character if one knows his history and failures.

But then, that's really what the heart of The Sea Thy Mistress is. It is overcoming shame, failure, and frailty. It is the so difficult personal acceptance of self and identity with eyes open. This is played out with a conflict looming. It's just that the looming and necessary conflict with Heythe is plot, it isn't the story. The story is on the inside.

The Sea Thy Mistress is an achievement for Elizabeth Bear. Readers of her work know just how good she is at creating rich characters with strong personal stories beyond the actions of moving from place to place and overcoming Obstacle A. Her Promethean Age novels are excellent examples of this. But here, Bear has outdone herself. She works with the core of the threat of Heythe finishing what she started (and thought she had finished), with characters who aren't truly prepared for someone of Heythe's magnitude, but the story she tells...it is raw with pain and scarring and shame and healing. Bear was already very good at telling stories dealing heavily with the internal and emotional lives of her characters, stories that wound and break the heart. With The Sea Thy Mistress, she just got better. This is one of Bear's best, and that is very good indeed.

Reading copy provided courtesy of Tor Books.

Previous Reviews

Blood and Iron
Whiskey and Water
Ink and Steel
Hell and Earth
Hammered
Scardown
New Amsterdam
Seven for a Secret
A Companion to Wolves
Dust
All the Windwracked Stars
By the Mountain Bound

19 Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2011

2011-01-03T21:15:00.000-06:00

This is the fourth time I've attempted to put together a list of the books I am most looking forward to in the coming year.

If you take a look at the previous three lists you'll note that there are two particular novels which are frequent inhabitants of these lists. Hopefully 2011 is the year both are completed and published. I feel hopeful.

1. A Memory of Light, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (??): I expect that it is more likely we’ll see this final Wheel of Time novel in early 2012, but on the off chance that it is published this year…well, this is any year's #1.

2. A Dance With Dragons, by George R. R. Martin (??): I will hold out hope every year that GRRM finishes the book and we get to read it. I am due a series re-read to prepare, but I’m waiting until the announcement is made. I have faith like a child.

3. The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear (February): To be fair, I’ve already read this one and it is an outstanding conclusion to Bear’s Edda of Burdens trilogy. You really need to have read All the Windwracked Stars and By the Mountain Bound to get the full emotional impact for the character arcs, but it is well worth the journey.

4. Machine, by Jennifer Pelland (August): I love, love, love, love Jennifer Pelland’s short fiction. I’ve been raving about it since I read “Captive Girl” on the Nebula ballot a few years back, have searched it out wherever I could find, and picked up her collection Unwelcome Bodies. Debut novel. EXCITED.

5. The Coldest War, by Ian Tregillis (October): The second volume of the Milkweed Triptych, following 2010’s excellent Bitter Seeds. Must. Read.

6. The Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch (June?): As much as I want to read this next adventure of Locke Lamora, I want Scott Lynch to be healthy and whole. If that means that we have to wait longer for future volumes, so be it. I won’t be mad, though, if Lynch has finished the book and we see publication in 2011.

7. Grail, by Elizabeth Bear (March): The conclusion to the Jacob’s Ladder trilogy. Dust and Chill were excellent and I yearn to see how Bear wraps this up.

8. Eclipse Four, by Jonathan Strahan (May): Might I state for the record just how highly I think of Strahan’s work on the Eclipse series?

9. Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, by Genevieve Valentine (May): I have no idea what this is about, though I’ll hazard a guess that a circus of some sort will figure into it. What I know is that I’ve been following Genevieve Valentine’s short fiction for several years now and have been hoping for a novel. Here it is. Also, Kelly Barnhill has already read it and loved it, and we seem to have some overlapping taste in what we find delightful.

10. The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn (August): Out of all of the books listed here, and even out of all the books NOT listed here, I never expected to learn that Melanie Rawn had written The Diviner, let alone finished it. The Diviner is the prequel to the outstanding generational fantasy novel The Golden Key co-written by Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott. With everything that has gone on with Rawn and her recent focus on the Spellbinder novels, I just assumed this was one of those ideas that just wasn’t going to come to fruition. I am SO glad that it did.

11. The Tempering of Men, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (August): The follow up to A Companion of Wolves. That novel was all sorts of awesome. As if I needed a reason to anticipate a novel written, in part, by Elizabeth Bear.

12. Dark Jenny, by Alex Bledsoe (April): It’s a new Eddie LaCrosse novel. Have sword, will travel; it’s a mystery of sorts set in a fantasy world. Think Glen Cook’s Garrett PI novels, only Eddie can be more of a bruiser. Still got plenty of quick wit. I already have a copy of this.

13. His Father’s Fists, by Matthew Stover: It’s a new Caine novel from Matthew Stover. You know, the guy who wrote Heroes Die, The Blade of Tyshalle, and Caine Black Knife? Yeah, him.

14. City of Ruins, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (May): This is Rusch’s follow up to the outstanding Diving Into the Wreck. Another story about the explorer / scavenger Boss. Yes, please.

15. Fort Freak, by GRRM (June): New Wild Cards.

16. Deathless, by Catherynne M. Valente (April): I confess, the cover art is doing a lot of selling here. Deathless is tied to Russian folklore and the product description says “All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.” We should also expect more of Valente’s stunningly beautiful and descriptive prose. That’s just my assumption.

17. Raising Stony Mayhall, by Daryl Gregory (July): Author of Pandemonium and The Devil’s Alphabet. Gregory isn’t working with a series, but each volume is a gem. You want to watch this guy.

18. Never at Home, by L Timmel Duchamp (June): Listed on the Locus list as a collection. Duchamp's Marq'ssan Cycle is excellent, and I'm always on the eye out for more from Duchamp.

19. The Mostly True Story of Jack, by Kelly Barnhill (August): Honestly, I don’t really care what this is about. I’m going to read it. Kelly Barnhill is a friend and she’s absolutely delightful, and I’ve enjoyed what stories of hers I’ve had the chance to read. I’m thrilled that her first novel is coming out this year.

I could probably make another list or three of all the books I'm looking forward to. Here, I've mostly stuck with the SFF genre. Step outside of the genre, and the list will grow exponentially.

So. What do YOU want to read this year?

The Nine Best Reads of 2010

2011-01-02T22:54:00.000-06:00

As I've mentioned elsewhere: Some people do a top ten list, others do a top eleven, yet others may only do five. My list is 9 books long. Why? Partly to be a little bit different and partly because I want the tenth spot on my list to be reserved for that really great book which I simply did not get the chance to read during 2009. That really great book may also be something I have only heard whispers about and I may not discover for several more years. Whatever that tenth great book is, I’m holding a spot for it on my list.

Unlike my list of the top books published in 2010, this list is for the top books I read in 2010, no matter when the book was published. This post would have been up earlier, but last week I was in the process of reading a book which I knew would make the list, which it ultimately did at #4.

1. Finch, by Jeff VanderMeer: Finch is not simply a noir detective novel, but to attempt to talk more about the core plot and betrayals and rebellion and fear and mysteries of Ambergris would be folly and miss the mark. Finch is not simply anything. It is a mystery that begs for unraveling, though unlike the hypothetical onion, readers are not likely to see all the layers they peel away and they may not recognize the core. That’s okay. There are plenty of different ways to read Finch and all of them are wholly satisfying. There is Finch for the Vander-neophyte, which is semi-straight forward in the detective tale. The ending is less important than the journey.

2. Flood / Ark, by Stephen Baxter: In a very real sense, Flood and Ark are hopeful novels. The promise implicit in Baxter’s story is that humanity will ever strive to survive as a species, and even in the most impossible conditions that have eliminated so much life, a remnant will adapt and survive and find a new way to persevere. Ultimately, it is a beautiful sentiment if one can get past the billions who have perished.

3. Dust / Chill, by Elizabeth Bear: The first two volumes of a trilogy set aboard a derelict generation ship where there are angels and aspects of God and it is all tied together as science fiction. It works. The two novels together are much stronger than the two excellent novels are on their own. There is a richness of characterization that builds across the novels, and as always, Bear's fiction is not to be missed.

4. Slow River, by Nicola Griffith: Lore was a scion of a wealthy family, but is found at the beginning of the novel naked, hurt, and alone. She was kidnapped, escaped, and rescued by a woman named Spanner. The novel traces multiple paths: Lore's childhood, her attempts to live a clean and honest life, and the time from her rescue to when she wants to go clean. Slow River is not an easy novel and it's not always a pleasant one, but Nicola Griffith is one hell of a writer. This is the story of a woman trying to create her own identity, and it is the story of recovery and pain. It's a hell of a novel.

5. Regenesis, by C. J. Cherryh: Regenesis is a novel of conversation about power, about genetics, about family, and about ambition (among other things). The most thrilling passages were long conversations between two characters (often Ari and Yanni) that could come across as massive info dumps but still manage to convey tense political drama and danger. Because Cherryh frequently presents the third person limited perspective of Ari, the reader knows that a wrong answer could lead Ari down a path where she needs to eliminate (in some manner) the other person. Tense.

6. The Dazzle of Day, by Molly Gloss: This isn't a novel so much about the destination as it is about the life of the people who will be the ancestors and first wave of the colonists of a new world. It's about the people and very much not about the journey or the science or the discovery. It's about the people and the more emotional challenges they face as the journey nears its end, not so much the physical challenges. The Dazzle of Day is a beautiful novel about the quiet lives of thoughtful people.

7. Eclipse Three, by Jonathan Strahan: Despite the subtitle of the Eclipse series, the stories of Eclipse Three are generally not heavy on genre elements. Most of the stories are set in a version of the real world, just with elements of magic or impossible technology. The genre elements are seamless parts of these stories about character, about people. The tech and the magic are never the point. The stories here are beautiful, heartbreaking, thrilling, moving, and hopeful - each in their own way.

8. The Unforgiving Minute, by Craig Mullaney: Mullaney is a West Point graduate, a Rhodes Scholar, and an infantry officer. This soldier's memoir is subtitled "A Soldier's Education", and it is exactly that. It is the story of a man learning how to lead, about combat, about life. Inherently, this memoir is about Mullaney, but it also about the men that he led and the overall sacrifices of war. This is an outstanding memoir.

9. Horns, by Joe Hill: Sometimes a novel is just so twistedly dark and funny that you can't help but love it. That's Horns, a novel featuring a protagonist who has, overnight, grown horns that nobody can see but which can lead to people to tell him exactly what they are really thinking - to absurd and heartbreaking result. After Heart-Shaped Box and now Horns, the world needs more novels from Joe Hill.

Previous Best Reads
2006
2007
2008
2009

Hugo Award Nomination Period Open

2011-01-02T00:01:00.012-06:00

Oh, sure, because I need another excuse to compile lists and think about really awesome books and stories...

The 2011 Hugo Award Nomination Period is now open.

Nomination ballots will be accepted from January 1, 2011, to Saturday, March 26, 2011, 23:59 PDT for the prestigious Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Members of Renovation who join by January 31, 2011, and all members of Aussiecon 4, the prior year’s Worldcon, are invited to submit nominating ballots.

If you were a member of last year's Worldcon (I was!), you are eligible to submit a nominating ballot. Only members of this year's Worldcon will be eligible to vote for the awards, but right now it is nominating time!

It was a stupid amount of fun coming up with my ballot last year. I look forward to more of the same.

Top Nine Books Published in 2010

2011-01-01T20:40:00.000-06:00

Some people do a top ten list, others do a top eleven, yet others may only do five. My list is 9 books long. Why? Partly to be a little bit different and partly because I want the tenth spot on my list to be reserved for that really great book which I simply did not get the chance to read during 2010. That really great book may also be something I have only heard whispers about and I may not discover for several more years. Whatever that tenth great book is, I’m holding a spot for it on my list.

This Top Nine List is more or less in order. Ask me tomorrow and some titles may shift around a little bit. Whichever order the list is in, these are the nine novels published in 2010 which I feel were the strongest titles of the year, popularity be damned.

1. Ark, by Stephen Baxter: The companion novel to a disaster story where most of the action happened off the page, yet both Flood and Ark were outstanding stories of humanity striving for species survival. Even though we knew what happens to the Earth, Baxter managed to keep the tension high. My only regret is that there isn’t a second companion novel focusing on the other project going on.

2. Chill, by Elizabeth Bear: Chill is a novel that made an already good book better. What I mean is that as highly as I thought of Dust, Chill surpassed it and strengthened my opinion of the first novel. Because of certain events in the first novel, the protagonists in Chill have changed. This adds richness to the novel (and series) because characters which were previously presented somewhat one dimensionally in the first book because of the viewpoint perspective now have depth are much more fully fleshed out – which is one what expects from one of Bear’s novels. The rich characterization and sense of adventure aboard a failing generation ship prop Chill up as one of the year’s best. The Jacob’s Ladder trilogy is quickly becoming a series of novels I love almost as much as Bear’s Promethean Age books.

3. Horns, by Joe Hill: Sometimes a novel is just so twistedly dark and funny that you can't help but love it. That's Horns, a novel featuring a protagonist who has, overnight, grown horns that nobody can see but which can lead to people to tell him exactly what they are really thinking - to absurd and heartbreaking result. After Heart-Shaped Box and now Horns, the world needs more novels from Joe Hill.

4. Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest: Priest's third novel in her Clockwork Century milieu is perhaps the best of the three, and I already thought highly of Boneshaker and Clementine. The tighter focus on Mercy Lynch and her conflicted trek across the country, from the Virginia hospital where she worked as a nurse to Seattle where her father lay dying, is what sells the novel. She is traveling across a nation still in the grips of a Civil War in its third decade and to say the trip is fraught with peril would be to commit a gross understatement. In Dreadnought, the sense of uncomfortable wonder is in full effect and Priest has an excellent grasp of storytelling. More, please.

5. Shadow Tag, by Louise Erdrich: A beautiful, bleak novel focusing on a marriage fallen apart. Broken people breaking further. This is possibly Erdrich's best work since 2001's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse.

6. Bitter Seeds, by Ian Tregillis: It's an alternate World War II story, but it's not like what Harry Turtledove does. There are supernatural and genetic changes, but Tregillis keeps the story tight on three viewpoint characters. The arc of the story develops through the personal stories being told, and less through the lens of how "everything is different" - it isn't that different. Yet. Regardless, this is an outstanding debut novel.

7. Servant of the Underworld, by Aliette de Bodard: Historical fantasy set in Aztec times, and something of a mystery novel, though I’m not sure it works specifically as a mystery. Besides the fact that de Bodard’s debut novel is just really good, the refreshing thing about it is that the setting of Servant of the Underworld is just so different than most of what I come across. Maybe there is this whole subculture of fantasy set in the middle of the Aztec empire, but I don’t really think so. I think de Bodard is giving readers something quite different that is entirely its own thing. That’s something to celebrate. Oh, and it’s a really good book.

8. Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal: The elevator pitch is “Jane Austen with magic”. This would normally cause me recoil in horror (because of the Jane Austen, not the magic), but Kowal is able tell a story that is thematically and stylistically related to that of Austen while engaging a modern reader. The aspect of magic Kowal employs is woven delicately into the fabric of “cultured” society, and again, feels authentic to the sort of story Miss Austen might have told, if she only she thought to include magic. The fantasy reader wonders, however, if this is the only aspect of magic in play in the world and what further applications might be in a less civilized setting. Regardless, Shades of Milk and Honey is a delightful novel.

9. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins: This concluding volume to The Hunger Games Trilogy closes things out in brutal fashion. While the story is told fairly tightly from the perspective of Katniss Everdeen, which allows the reader to only see what Katniss sees, Collins doesn’t pull very many punches. She’s not afraid to have a broken heroine, which is exactly what Katniss is. So often Katniss will do something awful and horrible, because it is either what she needs to do to survive, or it is what she feels she needs to do to protect her family. There are consequences and scarring on the inside. Mockingjay isn’t a pretty novel, but it is an honest one.

Previous Best Ofs

2007
2008
2009

The Missing: 2010

2010-12-22T06:45:00.000-06:00

I posted a similar list last year, and I think it is worth posting some of the books I didn't read in 2010. Now, the actual list is absurdly long, but this is a decent representation of books I would have liked to have read and, for various reasons, never did.

For the sake of keeping this list manageable, I limited it to genre books. If I browsed through listings of LitFic and Nonfiction, well, the list would be absurd.

Iorich, by Steven Brust
Galileo's Dream, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Black Hills, by Dan Simmons
The Sorcerer's House, by Gene Wolfe
Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay
Kraken, by China Mieville
Leviathan Wept, by Daniel Abraham
Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor
The Third Bear, by Jeff VanderMeer
Gaslight Dogs, by Karin Lowachee
The Loving Dead, by Amelia Beamer
Swords and Dark Magic, by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders
The Waters Rising, by Sheri S Tepper
Passion Play, by Beth Bernobich
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemisin
The Habitation of the Blessed, by Catherynne M. Valente

I would imagine that had I sampled through these books, my two Best Of lists which I'll post in the coming days would look a lot different.

The Top Nine Author Discoveries of 2010

2010-12-20T22:08:00.000-06:00

The year is coming to an end and it’s time to reflect on all of the good stuff I’ve read in the last twelve months. This is going to come up again when I talk about the Best Books Published in 2010 (that I’ve read), but 2010 has been something of an off year in regards to the number of books that I’ve read and also with the number of new books and authors I have encountered for the first time. There are reasons for that, none of which I’m going to get into right now, but the pool of newness isn’t as deep this year. Happily, the quality is just as strong.

Here then, are my top nine author discoveries of 2010. In the spirit of acknowledging that there is always something or someone I’ve missed, either by a slip of memory or just lack of opportunity, the traditional tenth spot on my list remains blank.

1. Jeff VanderMeer: I’ve read VanderMeer before, the occasional short story (including his excellent novella The Situation last year), but Finch was a revelation that just blew me away. I felt like I wanted to be John Cusack in Say Anything, standing in the world’s driveway holding Finch above my head. I never did work out how the copy of Finch would play “In Your Eyes”, especially since it’s more a Murder By Death book, but there you go. Since Finch, I’ve picked up copies of some of VanderMeer’s other work. I think that counts as "discovery".

2. Molly Gloss: One theme of this year’s list is that most of the authors will be here on the strength of just one novel. For Molly Gloss, that novel is The Dazzle of Day, a fantastic novel focusing on the quiet lives aboard a generation ship traveling to a new world. While I haven’t yet picked up another one of her books, I will. The Dazzle of Day was simply beautiful.

3. Kristine Kathryn Rusch: One novel can be enough to make you want to read everything else the writer has done. With Rusch, that novel is Diving Into the Wreck. There’s a sequel coming, but I’ve also picked up the first book in her Retrieval Artist series. Rusch has been around for a while, has won a host of awards, been involved in both ends of publishing, and is all around a recognizable name. Turns out she’s a heck of a writer, too. I only wish I read her sooner.

4. James Barclay: The only writer on the list where I’ve read more than one book. In Barclay’s case, I’ve read four. Barclay writes the sort of secondary world quest fantasy so chock full of action and ass kicking that I would have absolutely LOVED as a teenager / twenty something, and which I still quite rather enjoy today. In my review (of sorts) of The Chronicles of the Raven I wrote about how Barclay was something of a bridge between the more standard fantasies of the 80’s / early 90’s and the nastier / in your face stuff like Joe Abercrombie is writing today. This is good stuff.

5. Aliette de Bodard: Do you know anyone else writing historical fantasy set in Aztec times with the High Priest of the Dead investigating crimes that may involve the very real gods? Neither do I. Also, Servant of the Underworld was an excellent novel. Want. More.

6. Ian Tregillis: I knew the name from the Wild Cards series, but the first volume of the Milkweed Triptych, an alternate WWII tale with very broken super soldiers and secret histories, is one heck of a debut novel. Bitter Seeds isn’t nearly as lurid as all that, but it is a well told story with genetic manipulation and a breeding program by the Nazis. This is a writer you want to watch (I suppose, by virtue of being on this list, I think these are all writers you want to watch)

7. George Mann: Mann is probably best known for his highly praised debut novel The Affinity Bridge, but my experience is with Ghosts of Manhattan, which harks back to the radio pulp heroes (think, The Shadow). It's a lot of fun and sold me on George Mann as a storyteller I wanted more from.

8. Wen Spencer: A Brother's Price is a Regency Romance with the gender roles flipped and there is a serious gender imbalance in the world. Spencer's novel is good enough that I might be willing to read a standard Regency novel, and I wish she wrote more stories (Regency or not) set in this world. There is so much more to explore here. I'm overdue to read more of Spencer's work.

9. Bernard Beckett: Beckett is the author of Genesis, a slim post apocalyptic dystopian novel where we are given so much social and personal history in info-dumping explanations (the protagonist is facing his entrance examinations to the “Academy”. Genesis should stagger under the weight of exposition, but instead it shines. Genesis is smart fiction. It's enough to recommend seeking out more of Beckett's work.

Previous discoveries can be found for 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Servant of the Underworld, by Aliette de Bodard

2010-12-19T22:03:00.000-06:00

Servant of the Underworld
Aliette de Bodard
Angry Robot Books: 2010

Historical Fantasy. Mystery. Aztecs. That's the snapshot of Aliette de Bodard's debut novel Servant of the Underworld. This isn't the sort of fantasy readers come across too often. After Servant of the Underworld it's time to wonder why. This is delightful.

During the height of the Aztec Empire in the capitol city of Tenochtitlan a Priestess disappears from her calmecac (think, school). The room from which she disappeared, unseen, is drenched in an obscene amount of blood. Tasked to investigate is Acatl, the High Priest of the Dead. Acatl has tried to avoid the politics of Empire, but the investigation will touch the politics of the Empire, gods, and of family. Servant of the Underworld is a murder mystery / family drama / historical fantasy / coming of age story and it is all awesome.

Aliette de Bodard does a fantastic job spinning this story. Acatl is absolutely uncomfortable getting involved in anything larger than the private duties of his religion, but his integrity and competence demands that he sees this investigation through, no matter the impact it may have on his family, on his brother who is implicated in the crime. There is a tenseness that pervades the novel, a sense that the time to find out the truth is running short. Politics requires an expedited investigation.

Servant of the Underworld is a fantastic novel which delves into a world so seldom explored in fiction. de Bodard mentions in the Afterword that one of her motivations was to show the Aztecs as more than the more common representation of bloodthirsty barbarian villains. Her accomplishment here is that while the side of the Aztecs we see in Servant of the Underworld is mostly that of the clergy, there is a pervading sense of a vibrant culture behind the scenes. Finishing Servant of the Underworld, which is a complete story on its own, will only compel readers to impatiently wait for the next volume, Harbinger of the Storm. I want more.

the rare side of Wild Cards

2010-12-19T09:34:00.000-06:00

George R. R. Martin has a Wild Cards related post and he gives a bit of an overview of where things stand for readers looking to get a hold of the earlier volumes of the series. As George mentions, the first book was published in 1987, and there have been four different publishers involved. This is a longer excerpt than I normally quote, but it really covers the trouble readers may have with some of the later books. George's post has prettier pictures than mine, and more paragraphs of joy.

Which is where things get complicated. With that long a history, some of the volumes are naturally much harder to find than others. The original twelve-volume run from Bantam can usually be found via ABE.books or ebay at reasonable prices, but the three volume "Card Shark" series that followed, published by Baen Books, is considerably more challenging, especially the third and concluding volume of the triad, BLACK TRUMP. If you do find it, it will likely cost you a lot more than it originally sold for.

That being said, even BLACK TRUMP is easy to find compared to the two hardcover originals published by iBooks when they brought the series back after a seven-year hiatus -- DEUCES DOWN, a typical Wild Cards book with stories by various hands, and DEATH DRAWS FIVE, John Jos. Miller's solo WC novel. DD5 was published only one week before iBooks went bankrupt and closed up shop. As result, to the best of our knowledge, only 600 or so copies ever got into the bookstores. (Was that the total print run, or are there more sitting somewhere in a warehouse? No one seems to know, and there's no one left at iBooks to ask). In the years since, and especially after Tor and INSIDE STRAIGHT kicked off the second coming, demand for the book has steadily risen, along with its price. It has become the Holy Grail of Wild Cards collectors.

He's not kidding with Death Draws Five. If you can find a copy under $80 right now, you've found a good deal. It's the only book in the series I don't own.

I got lucky with the paperbacks and, no lie, found almost the complete set in one glorious trip to Uncle Hugo's - including all three volumes of the Card Sharks trilogy. Didn't realize those were on the rare side. I later received Deuces Down as a gift. Which leaves Death Draws Five. Every time I check in at Uncle Hugo's, I am prepared to lose bladder control should I see a copy on the shelf. I am prepared to snatch that copy, clutch it close, and call it "my precious". That copy just hasn't shown up yet.

I knew that there was an e-book of Death Draws Five available, but I've only read through the first seven books (plus 18-20), so just reading it isn't a priority at the moment. My library also has one precious copy, if it came to that. I just want a full collection in print editions.

Hugo Awards

2010-12-17T00:01:00.014-06:00

Just a heads up, start thinking about the 2011 Hugo Awards.

If you were a member of the 2010 Worldcon (AussieCon 4), you will be eligible to nominate for the 2011 Hugo Awards. If you want to vote, you'll need to be a member of Renovation. The nomination period is from January to March (I saw the actual date range, just can't find it right now).

steampunk - all day, all night

2010-12-16T06:42:00.000-06:00

If you have been under a rock for, well, ever, and you don't know much about steampunk at all or where to go with it, you might wish to check out this post from Jeff VanderMeer at Omnivoracious.

Lots of good stuff there.

The Man with the Knives, by Ellen Kushner

2010-12-13T22:13:00.000-06:00

Hey, you know that Different Sort of List I posted, the one where Jeff VanderMeer offered up a number of off the beaten path gift ideas?

Well, in that post Jeff mentioned that Catherynne Valente's Under in the Mere and Ellen Kushner's The Man With the Knives weren't available on Amazon. If you follow the link, you'll find that Valente's novel is available via the publisher, Rabid Transit Press.

The Man with the Knives is a limited edition chapbook published by Temporary Culture and there are few copies remaining for sale (via a link that didn't work when I tried it).

The good news: "The Man with the Knives" has been published on Tor.com and everyone who missed out on the chapbook (most people) can read it.

The story ties into Kushner's 1987 novel Swordspoint and likely answers a lingering question or two and provides some closure. I couldn't say. I haven't read Swordspoint. But after reading "The Man with the Knives", I want to.

"The Man with the Knives" stands on its own as a story and is a bittersweet tale of a somewhat broken man letting go of the past, and of a man and a woman finding a small place of quiet and home in the world. Very good story.

one last catch up post

2010-12-13T06:52:00.000-06:00

Back in August I posted a catch-up with how I was doing on my anticipated reading list for 2010. Since I'm working on the 2011 list, it's time to check in on this one last time.

~~1. Towers of Midnight, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson~~
2. A Dance With Dragons, by George R. R. Martin (2011?)
3. The Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch (2011)
~~4. Shadow Unit: Season One, by Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear (editors)~~
~~5. Prince of Storms, by Kay Kenyon~~
6. Swords and Dark Magic, by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan (editors)
7. Fort Freak, by George R. R. Martin (editor) (2011)
~~8. Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest~~
~~9. The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson~~
10. The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear (Q1 2011)
~~11. Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal~~
~~12. Horns, by Joe Hill~~
13. Eclipse Four, by Jonathan Strahan (editor) (2011)
14. Gardens of the Sun, by Paul McAuley
15. The Best of Joe R. Lansdale
16. Lesser Demons, by Norman Partridge
17. The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume 4, by Jonathan Strahan (editor)
18. Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor
19. Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld

With a number of titled slated for next year, I'm only slack on seven titles. I own the McAuley and the Strahan anthology. Interestingly, I have an ARC of Elizabeth Bear's novel and expect to finish that by the end of the year.

Most of them will get read, if not in the next two weeks.

A Different Sort of List

2010-12-11T23:00:00.000-06:00

Jeff VanderMeer has a post up on the Omnivoracious blog titled "Gift Book Suggestions for the Imaginative, the Curious, the Weird". It's a selection of some twenty books from a variety of mostly small presses and I've heard of a grand total of three of them. Chances are they will be mostly new to you, too.

I'm posting the list here, but go check out the above link to see VanderMeer's thoughts on them. Lists are just lists. They don't tell you why.

Under in the Mere, by Catherynne M. Valente
The Man With the Knives, by Ellen Kushner
Half World, by Hiromi Goto (Viking)
The Wild Kingdom, by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
Eden, by Pablo Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Weird Fiction Review, edited by S.T. Joshi (Centipede Press)
The Library of Forgotten Books, by Rjurik Davidson (PS Publishing)
Elmer, by Gerry Alanguilan (Slave Labor Graphics)
Light Boxes, by Shane Jones (Penguin)
Horse, Flower, Bird, by Kate Bernheimer (Coffee House Press)
Poetry, Fiction, and Essays, by Eric Basso (various)
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, by Barbara Comyns (Dorothy)
Event Factory, by Renee Gladman
Scorch Atlas, by Blake Butler (Featherproof Books)
I Wonder, by Marian Bantjes (The Monacelli Press)
The Honey Month, by Amal El-Mohtar (Papaveria Press)
Black Static magazine, edited by Andy Cox
The Revisionist, by Miranda Mellis (Calamari Press)

The Results Are In: The Final Top 10

2010-12-10T21:42:00.000-06:00

The results of Torque Control's poll to determine the top ten science fiction novels of the last decade written by women are in and final. Niall has been posting the list, one by one, all week. With the announcement of the number one novel, we now have the full list.

1. The Carhullan Army/Daughters of the North, by Sarah Hall
2. Maul, by Tricia Sullivan
3. Natural History, by Justina Robson
4. The Time-Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
5= Spirit, by Gwyneth Jones
5= The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon
7. Life, by Gwyneth Jones
8. Lavinia, by Ursula K Le Guin
9. Farthing, by Jo Walton
10= Bold as Love, by Gwyneth Jones
10= City of Pearl, by Karen Traviss

My first thought is: Cool, two of my picks were popular enough to make the final list. Both City of Pearl and The Time Traveler's Wife are excellent novels. I'm glad I took the time to send in my picks because without them, City of Pearl would have dropped off the list. It's nice to see that a number of other people though highly enough of it to include it on their lists as well.

My second thought: Clearly I need to read some Gwyneth Jones. And Tricia Sullivan's Maul. I own a copy. Maybe I should open it.

Niall has also been compiling various stats based on the voting.

Various Top Tens by Category
The Full List of Works Nominated.
Top Ten Writers (based on total nominations, not necessarily placement on the list)

There have been a number of other posts keeping in the theme of the week, discussing other female authored SF works. Just browse around and you'll find plenty of stuff to read. Otherwise, the womensf tag grabs everything on wordpress using that tag. You'll get all of Torque Control's recent stuff, but it stretches back farther than just this week. Not a huge fan of the interface there, but it's another resource.

So there you have it.

The Many Lives of Inez Wick

2010-12-09T21:58:00.004-06:00

This isn’t something that I do very often. I’m leery of self published work, with some very specific exceptions. If you’re wondering if you are one of those very specific exceptions and want to send me an e-mail asking if I’ll promote and read your self-published novel or story? Don’t. You’re not, and I won’t. I’ve got opinions about this stuff and exceptions are hard to come by.

So why then am I posting about Aaron Wilson’s self published collection of linked stories? I haven’t read them and given my backlog and what’s coming up for me, I’m not sure when I’d even get to it. This is just signal boosting.

Not sure if anyone remembers this, but Aaron used to run the Soulless Machine Review blog. He focused quite a bit on short fiction and delved a bit into novel length stuff, too. He’s been out of that game for a number of years now, but I did enjoy his blog back in the day. Also, for me, he’s a local writer. He’s Minneapolis based. I’ve interacted with the guy a bit in the past about our blogs and the local scene. He still has a blog under the Soulless Machine umbrella, but it’s not the same thing.

I also recently read one of his stories (included in this collection) and enjoyed it.

This is preamble to the point that Aaron Wilson has his debut collection making its way out there in the world and I want to get some word out on his behalf. Sometimes you just have to throw some support to a local author and a former fellow book blogger. And hey, his story “Dog Fight” was rather good and it’s part of this collection.

"The Many Lives of Inez Wick" is a collection of short stories that focus on the sometimes eco-heroine, Inez Wick, as she treads the underbelly of domestic terrorism, occasionally blowing up resource exploiters and pouters

Oh, and the cover art? It’s from Bob Lipski, creator of the awesomely awesome Uptown Girl comics.

Cat Valente's Ventriloquism

2010-12-09T06:46:00.001-06:00

Back in September I posted a list of some of the books I was looking forward to in the fourth quarter, 2010. Included on the list was Ventriloquism, a short story collection from Catherynne M. Valente published by PS Publishing (a UK based publisher).

I mentioned at that time that I was concerned about difficulties finding a copy in the US.

Well...from time to time, Subterranean Press partners with PS Publishing to distribute PS volumes here in the States.

See where this is going?

SubPress will be selling Ventriloquism to American audiences. I've purchased several PS volumes this way. It's a great deal for folks in the US.

Senses Five Press Holiday Sale

2010-12-08T22:13:00.001-06:00

Via Kelly Barnhill (on Facebook, but I can't really link that)

Senses Five Press, the publisher of the Sybil's Garage Magazine and the Paper Cities anthology, is having a half price sale for the Holiday season. On everything (which would be 7 magazines and one book).

Sybil's Garage is a very well regarded magazine. I own a copy of issue 6, but haven't read it. Not sure exactly how long the sale is running, but I'm inclined to do some shopping. They've got e-copies of the early magazines on the cheap. You know, the ones that built the reputation.

To whet the appetite (and something I just discovered), issues three and four are currently available for free download. I do have to drop a disclaimer, though. There's something wonky about he checkout process to download the files. Even though they are PDFs, the shopping cart keeps trying to add a nominal shipping charge to the order. I did send a note via the "Contact Us" link - which is likely to editor Matthew Kressel, and I'd expect that stuff to get figured out.

Regardless - if you've been looking to try out the newer issues of Sybil's Garage, this is the time to do it. Half price for what is essentially a short anthology series (my copy of issue 6 is 100 pages with 16 stories and 13 poems). Not a bad deal at all.

Edit: The situation with inadvertent shipping charges has been resolved.

Justina Robson's Heliotrope

2010-12-07T23:06:00.000-06:00

Via Torque Control, Justina Robson has a short story collection due out next year titled Heliotrope. Here is the press release.

Awesome news. I haven't read much Robson outside her excellent Quantum Gravity series (start here) and a couple of her stories, but everything has been quite good.

Hopefully this collection can find its way over to the US and not taunt me from the UK. It'll be one to look for.

The Top Ten SF Novels of the Last Decade, Written by Women (and which i have read)

2010-12-06T20:50:00.000-06:00

Over at Torque Control, Niall Harrison is having a weeklong discussion of SF written by women. The genesis of this stems from several different conversations, and you can follow the links from his post. I come into this sort of on the backend. What I missed over the last week was Niall's post several days ago asking for people to e-mail him their nominations for the Top 10 SF novels written by women over the last ten years (2001 - 2010). I quick looked over my collection, at my Years's Best posts from the last four years, and at a host of other links Niall had included and pulled together my list.

I had just missed the deadline, but since this isn't hard science, Niall let it slide and took my nominations anyway.

I noted to Niall that I'm not as well read in SF as I am in fantasy, which is true, but there is a further point is that I'm also less well read in SF from the last decade. Several novels I would have included without question or hesitation were published in the 90's. Nicola Griffith's Ammonite was published in 1992. The Sparrow, from Mary Doria Russell in 1996. Emma Bull's Bone Dance in 1991. Molly Gloss's The Dazzle of Day in 1998. Those were just the first four that came to mind.

So what, then?

There is no doubt that not only have I likely overlooked something awesome I read six years ago that would qualify for inclusion, I simply have to assume that there are dozens upon dozens (upon dozens) of novels which, if only had I read them, I would shout from the rooftops about how wonderful they are. To those authors, I apologize. I simply haven't read you.

Which brings me to the list of novels I did e-mail Niall as my nominations. I have some reservations about it, more regarding the novels I've overlooked and the novels I haven't read yet than regarding the actual inclusion of what I have here. Give me another decade and this list looks very different and I feel more assured of my choices. Another reservation is just where to draw my genre line between SF and Fantasy. Regardless, here are my nominees - based on what I have read and what I remember having read.

The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger (2003)
City of Pearl, by Karen Traviss (2004)
Alanya to Alanya, by L. Timmel Duchamp (2005)
Dust, by Elizabeth Bear (2007)
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins (2008)
Refining Fire, by Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear (2008) (no review, per se)
Regenesis, by C. J. Cherryh (2009)
Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest (2009)
City Without End, by Kay Kenyon (2009)
Diving Into the Wreck, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2009)

I have linked my reviews, where possible.

What would you have included? Sound off.

The Iron Khan is here!

2010-12-04T00:01:00.001-06:00

Well, electronically, that is.

Editor Marty Halpern points out that the fifth volume of Liz Williams' Detective Inspector Chen series, The Iron Khan, has been published as an ebook by Morrigan Books.

Halpern mentions that a print edition is still planned and will be announced, but this is a great first step and it is wonderful to see that Detective Inspector Chen is still alive and kicking after the mess of this summer.

I've had a Night Shade ARC of The Iron Khan for the last year, but held off on reading it - not knowing when, exactly, the manuscript would be published and if there were any substantial changes to it. I still don't know this, but the real news is that the rest of the world will get the chance to read more Chen.

"Ghosts of New York" available for free reading

2010-12-03T13:02:00.000-06:00

Via Jennifer Pelland.

I tracked down a copy of the Dark Faith anthology for just a couple of stories from some of my favorite writers, Jennifer Pelland's "Ghosts of New York" right at the top of that list. I wrote about the story back in June. As expected, it was excellent.

But, the story was only available in a small press anthology and I couldn't share this awesomeness with everyone else.

Until now.

Apex has published "Ghosts of New York" on their website for some quality free reading. This would be an excellent time to go read the story. You don't even have to leave the comfort of your house.

The Taxidermist's Other Wife, by Kelly Barnhill

2010-12-02T06:59:00.000-06:00

Since it is the beginning of another month, we have another set of stories from Clarkesworld Magazine. I assume you've been reading Clarkesworld for a while now, but just in case you haven't...

The one I wanted to point out, if you haven't noted the title of this post, is "The Taxidermists's Other Wife", by Kelly Barnhill. This is a twisted little tale, especially as the realization begins to set in.

Now, I have to admit, Kelly Barnhill is a friend and a delightful person. BUT, she is also a wonderful writer and while I've been anticipating her debut novel (The Mostly True Story of Jack, due out August 2011), I'm thrilled to run across her stories anywhere they may be. You may recognize Barnhill from the VanderMeer's pirate anthology Fast Ships, Black Sails (though, clearly not from my review). She's also been published in Weird Tales, Fantasy Magazine, Postscripts, and Sybil's Garage. Not too shabby.

Now go read.

TOC: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5

2010-12-01T20:12:00.000-06:00

Jonathan Strahan has posted the table of contents for the fifth volume of his annual Year's Best anthology of SFF.

Strahan has a great eye for picking out the best stories, so each volume is a must read.

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
“Elegy for a Young Elk,” Hannu Rajaniemi
“The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains,” Neil Gaiman
“Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots,” Sandra McDonald
“The Spy Who Never Grew Up,” Sarah Rees Brennan
“The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue,” Holly Black
“Under the Moons of Venus,” Damien Broderick
“The Fool Jobs,” Joe Abercrombie
“Alone,” Robert Reed
“Names for Water,” Kij Johnson
“Fair Ladies,” Theodora Goss
“Plus or Minus,” James P. Kelly
“The Man With the Knives,” Ellen Kushner
“The Jammie Dodgers and the Adventure of the Leicester Square Screening,” Cory Doctorow
“The Maiden Flight of McAuley’s Bellerophon,” Elizabeth Hand
“The Miracle Aquilina,” Margo Lanagan
“The Taste of Night,” Pat Cadigan
“The Exterminator’s Want-Ad,” Bruce Sterling
“Map of Seventeen,” Christopher Barzak
“The Naturalist,” Maureen McHugh
“Sins of the Father,” Sara Genge
“The Sultan of the Clouds,” Geoffrey A. Landis
“Iteration,” John Kessel
“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn,” Diana Peterfreund
“The Night Train,” Lavie Tidhar
“Still Life (A Sexagesimal Fairy Tale),” Ian Tregillis
“Amor Vincit Omnia,” K.J. Parker
“The Things,” Peter Watts
“The Zeppelin Conductors’ Society Annual Gentlemen’s Ball,” Genevieve Valentine
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window,” Rachel Swirsky

"The Things", from Peter Watts, is excellent. I expect the others to be equally good. A story from Rachel Swirsky is always a good sign.

Forthcoming 2011: Q1

2010-11-30T00:01:00.057-06:00

Welcome to the latest installment of "Stuff I'm Looking Forward To This Year". As always, I take my information from the Locus Forthcoming list, plus a little bit of extra research when I'm aware of things that should be on the Locus list and are not.

January
The White City, by Elizabeth Bear: The third novella / book, following New Amsterdam and Seven for a Secret. The more I read in this series, the more I want.

February
The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear. I have an ARC in my hands right now. This is the third book of Bear's excellent Edda of Burdens trilogy. The first two are All the Windwracked Stars and By the Mountain Bound. FANTASTIC stuff.

Harbinger of the Storm, by Aliette de Bodard: This is the sequel to Servant of the Underworld, which I have not read. That first book is on my library hold list, so I suppose I don't know for sure that this should be one of my anticipated books, but this historical fantasy / mystery set in the world of the Aztecs is something new and fresh that you don't see every day. It should be worth keeping an eye on.

Down to the Bone, by Justina Robson: This is a UK only release for now, but Down to the Bone is the fifth volume in Robson's excellent Quantum Gravity series. The first four were released in the US by Pyr. I assume we'll see it in the States sometimes in 2011 or 2012. Hopefully Pyr is picking it up. They've put out great looking editions of the first four.

Bloodshot, by Cherie Priest: New Cherie Priest. It's not a Clockwork Century novel (alas), but Priest describes it as: "fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue." Or, as I call it: New Cherie Priest. Nuff Said.

March
Grail, by Elizabeth Bear: Hey look, three months, three books by eBear! This is the third volume of the Jacob's Ladder trilogy. I favorably reviewed the first book, Dust, and I should really get around to reviewing the second, Chill (it's even better than the first!).

The Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch: Is it possible? Might it really?

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Five, by Jonathan Strahan: My favorite Year's Best anthology series. I'm collecting these like candy.

Lots of good stuff coming in 2011.

The Chronicles of the Raven

2010-11-29T19:14:00.000-06:00

I never wrote about the three books of James Barclay's The Chronicles of the Raven back when I first read them earlier this year.

That's a shame, because Dawnthief, Noonshade, and Nightchild really are excellent fantasy novels.

This is the sort of stuff I would have loved beyond all recognition when I first discovered fantasy as a teenager. It works as something of a bridge of the more simpler and safer quest fantasies of the 1980's (the stuff readers of my generation grew up on) and the nastier, more violent stuff written by Joe Abercrombie and Matthew Stover. Yes, there is enough room and time in the fantasy genre to drive several buses through that gap, and surely other writers have played and are playing in that gap, but Barclay's work here demonstrates how a traditional quest fantasy can be told, feel modern, and yet stand firmly in the tradition of those novels which came before.

Barclay writes,

Dawnthief came from a personal frustration with the pace, style and character matter of other fantasy novels I’d read and has its roots in role playing. I wanted my principal characters to already be the best at what they did and not the classic ‘stable boy becomes hero/king’ types. Having The Raven as mercenaries introduces a moral greyness which means readers can’t assume they’ll always do the ‘right’ thing.

The aim is to entertain readers and for me, the ideal reaction on reading Dawnthief would be ‘bloody good read that, think I’ll buy Noonshade‘ (as opposed to ‘crumbs what a fascinating insight into the human psyche, think I’ll go for a lie down’).

He succeeded. Dawnthief, and the subsequent novels, are a bloody good read.

"The Raven" is a mercenary company loyal only to each other and the job, but circumstances has them fighting to save their world. It's not quite as cliche as it sounds, but this is part of where the bridge lies. The Chronicles of the Raven has its roots in the traditions of quest fantasies, but that moral ambiguity is important. These are men (and an elf) fighting for the right thing, but not necessarily all for the right reasons. The action is quite a bit more stark and in-your-face than in those earlier fantasies. Ass is kicked and there are questions regarding the true safety of the heroes that don't exist in the fantasies of the 1980's and the early 1990's.

The reason I continue to bring up a decade some twenty years in the past is that, admittedly, The Chronicles of the Raven is an answer to the books of that decade. The conversation Barclay is having is not so much with his contemporaries or even those writers who began publishing in the 1990's, and the tone of that conversation is evident in the three novels. It is important to note that Dawnthief was originally published in the UK in 1999. It is less a novel of the last ten years as it is the ten years prior to that.

The obvious contemporary comparison here is Joe Abercrombie and readers won't taste the dirt on their teeth with Barclay as they will with Abercrombie. That's neither a bad thing nor a good thing. It's just a thing and why I consider The Chronicles of the Raven to be something of a "bridge" between two styles of quest-fantasy storytelling. Readers who cut their teeth on David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Tad Williams, and Raymond Feist, and who are still looking for a good fantasy in that tradition with just a bit of an edge to it will love James Barclay. Readers digging on the newer fantasy writers on the scene will find Barclay a touch lighter than some of the new stuff, but should still find themselves pulled away by a well told story.

The bottom line here is that The Chronicles of the Raven is, as James Barclay hoped, a "bloody good read". Having finished these books early in 2010, I have recently received copies of the first two books of the next series Legends of the Raven. Seeing those new books on my shelf has me itching to delve back into the world of Balaia. It's good stuff, y'all.

Strange Horizons, change is in the air

2010-11-02T07:03:00.000-05:00

A day after winning a World Fantasy Award for her work on Strange Horizons, Susan Marie Groppi announced that she was stepping down as Editor in Chief of Strange Horizons.

Taking her place is Niall Harrison, the previous Reviews Editor at Strange Horizons. Abigail Nussbaum will take Niall's position as head of the Reviews department. Good choices, both of them. Niall and Abigail are smart folk.

Strange Horizons remains one of the premier places to find great short fiction, often from writers who are just beginning to make a name for themselves in the genre (as well as from more established writers). Their book reviews are just as good.

I expect Niall and Abigail will maintain the high standards of Strange Horizons and continue to deliver excellent fiction and nonfiction. Congrats to them, and best of luck to Susan Groppi.

Now it's time to go check out some of that excellent fiction over there.

City of Ruins!

2010-11-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

Sweet! Just found out that there is going to be a follow up to Diving Into the Wreck (one of the best books of last year that I haven't written about) called City of Ruins. There's a cover and everything.

I don't need to know anything else about it, except that it exists. Diving Into the Wreck was so good that I immediately tracked down a copy of the first Retrieval Artist novel Rusch wrote. Haven't read it yet, but clearly I must.

2010 World Fantasy Award Winners

2010-10-31T18:54:00.000-05:00

The winners of the 2010 World Fantasy Awards have been announced.

Best Novel: The City & The City, by China Mieville
Best Novella: "Sea Hearts", by Margo Lanagan
Best Short Story: "The Pelican Bar", by Karen Joy Fowler
Best Anthology: American Fantastic Tales, by Peter Straub (editor)
Best Collection (tie): The Very Best of Gene Wolfe / There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby, by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
Best Artist: Charles Vess
Special Award, Professional: Jonathan Strahan
Special Award, Non Professional: Susan Marie Groppi

Congratulations to all the winners, with special congrats to Jonathan Strahan and Susan Marie Groppi. Strahan is a fantastic anthologist and Groppi is the editor of Strange Horizons, one of my favorite places to find short fiction.

Dust, by Elizabeth Bear

2010-10-22T23:09:00.001-05:00

Dust
Elizabeth Bear
Spectra: 2007

On her website, Elizabeth Bear had this to say about Dust (and the trilogy as a whole):

This is a trilogy of novels set aboard a derelict generation ship in orbit around a dying sun. It's much more space opera and sweeping than the Jenny books, Carnival, or Undertow, which is to say that it has more of a quest or adventure sensibility and somewhat less intrigue and politicking. I described it to my editor in the pitch as "Amber:Gormenghast::Upstairs:Downstairs, in SPAAAAAAAAAACE!"

And she bought it, so you know, I kind of hope the same pitch works on you.

The first novel, Dust, is about two young women, Rien and Perceval, who meet under unkind circumstances and form a fragile alliance in an attempt to prevent a potentially devastating war. However, unbeknownst to them, they have attracted the attention of the flickering hulk of the dead ship's A.I...

Bioengineering, ancient betrayals, and spunky teenaged heroines. Also, an Elric parody. How can you say no?

Now, I’ll admit that the pitch itself wasn’t a strong sell for me, but I trust Bear and her set-up for the novel itself is intriguing. Moreso than the pitch.

The bioengineering here is important because Perceval is described as an angel who has had her wings cut off after she surrendered, and there are references to other angels, God, aspects of godhood, and the Elect. Among other things. Yet, as Bear states, this is set “aboard a derelict generation ship in orbit around a dying sun”. The contrast between what might elsewhere be religious in nature and concepts which are very much science fiction works very well here, though readers will likely spend some time trying to figure out exactly how these concepts fit together.

One of the things I have most appreciated about Bear’s fiction is her use of broken characters. Most of her characters, human or otherwise, are damaged in some manner. This makes them…like people. They aren’t flawed, per se, but more fully realized in how life and experience affects and alters an individual, not always in ways that are comfortable or pleasant. Except that these are the characters that lend themselves to beautiful writing and haunting stories. These are the characters which come across as more “real”.

Characterization tends to be one of the strongest aspects of Elizabeth Bear’s fiction (see her Stratford Man duology), but perhaps because the perspective is so much more tightly focused on Rien and Perceval, they are the only two characters who stand out as clearly defined characters. The other characters are much less…vibrant, or alive. Compared to Bear’s previous novels, this is a bit of a surprise, but it does permit the focus to be solely on Perceval and Rien. The actions of the other characters are important, and have ramifications for the next novel, Chill, and beyond, but they aren’t quite as important and immediate as the personal drama and adventure of the two protagonists. Though necessary to the story being told, the other characters just do not add the narrative weight and richness Bear’s readers have come to expect. On the other hand, Dust also contains a nano-tech improved power-tool named Gavin with a certain amount of sentience which has transformed itself into a basilisk. The awesomeness of Gavin can not be overstated.

Whether it is the adventure aspect of the novel or the strong characterization of Rien and Perceval which allowed an emotional bond to build, Dust has become one of my favorite novels from Elizabeth Bear. Dust is right up there with, though a step behind, her Promethean Age novels. This is high praise. The raw inventiveness in the worldbuilding is stunning, even as there is a sense of bewilderment at how all these disparate elements fit together. Dust is a novel which should not be overlooked.

Previous Reviews

Blood and Iron
Whiskey and Water
Ink and Steel
Hell and Earth
Hammered
Scardown
New Amsterdam
Seven for a Secret
A Companion to Wolves
All the Windwracked Stars
By the Mountain Bound

More Liz Williams!

2010-10-12T06:39:00.000-05:00

Not too long after she announced a new home for the Detective Inspector Chen series, Liz Williams has a new announcement.

I have signed a 3 book deal with Prime Books. It's called Worldsoul and it's about a stolen library, an unstable monorail, several renegade sphinxes and much else besides. It's more fantasy than SF. The first novel will be coming out either next year or early 2012,

Great news and looking forward to these! A stolen library AND an unstable monorail? Hell yeah!

The Lifecycle of Software Objects, by Ted Chiang

2010-10-09T08:17:00.000-05:00

For those who are interested, and this should be everyone, Subterranean Online has just published Ted Chiang's novella "The Lifecycle of Software Objects".

Chiang is not prolific and every time he publishes his stories tend to be one of the best published in a given year. So, you'll want to go read this.

Honestly, though, this is one of the few times I've been disappointed in one of Chiang's stories. There's supposed to be heart in the story, but Chiang left me feeling a bit cold towards the characters and that situation - which is never a good thing for me as a reader. This is why I haven't talked about the story all year. I had no idea what to really say. Elizabeth Bear loved it, though. You can probably find scads of other positive reviews all over the place.

Bear writes,

This is a descriptive work of science fiction, rather than a strongly plot-driven one. It’s meditative and thoughtful, and it does not offer tidy closure or resolution: just a series of ever-more-complicated questions.

I think this may be one of my issues, that more descriptive works challenge my reader-brain in ways that I just not tend to enjoy so much.

So why point out a story I didn't overly like?

Dude, it's a new Ted Chiang. Even when I don't like it, it's impressive and worth noting. You don't want to miss new Ted Chiang that is offered online for free. Besides, what the hell do I know?

new Shadow Unit: Closet Monster

2010-10-03T23:10:00.000-05:00

"Closet Monster", written by Leah Bobet is up at Shadow Unit. Season 3, Episode 5.

I assume you're caught up, so go read.

EV Shirts

2010-09-22T20:33:00.000-05:00

Not sure if you knew this or not (I didn't), but that awesome 'zine Electric Velocipede does more than offer great fiction, it also offers shirts and mugs, which I think is pretty cool.

Great way to show some support while getting some stuff not everyone on the block has, and, actually, I rather like a couple of those shirts. Might need to order me one.

Oh, and go read Electric Velocipede.

Melanie Rawn, The Diviner

2010-09-21T07:11:00.000-05:00

And, in news I've rather happy about, Melanie Rawn has announced a publication date for The Diviner: June 2011. Actually, she announced it a month ago, and there's another post on her message board saying August 2011, but that Rawn is actually talking publication dates is an EXCELLENT sign.

Don't know what in the world I'm talking about? Have you heard of The Golden Key, written by Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, and Kate Elliott, and published back in the 90's? I would point you to my blog post covering the book, but it's been fifteen years since I read it. Maybe longer. Here's a review from Catherine Asaro from back in 1997.

The Golden Key was fantastic, people. After it was published there was talk about sequels and prequels that would be individually written by the three co-authors. The first one, the one that sets the stage and gives the other authors what they need to do their work was Melanie Rawn's The Diviner. Without it, Roberson and Elliott can't continue.

We're getting The Diviner next year!!!!!!

It's time for a re-read of The Golden Key, I think.

Oh, and there's artwork.

Woo!

some Eclipse Four info

2010-09-21T00:01:00.000-05:00

Jonathan Strahan posted a little bit of info about the forthcoming (Spring 2011) publication of Eclipse Four.

I don't want to overquote, so here's a tease and then go read the rest over at Strahan's post.

The third volume was different again. Responding to the criticism the series had received, I cast my net wider and ultimately I think produced a better book. It’s less centre-of-genre in many ways, but has a consistent feel to it and an overall high quality of stories that helped make it the most successful volume, critically and commercially, so far.
Given that it’s also the one I’m happiest with overall, my intention is to very much continue the series as a follow-on from Eclipse Three. The volume I’m working on now, Eclipse Four, is intended to be a direct follow-on from that book. It will feature some of the same writers, and hopefully will feel similar to Three.

Oh, and Strahan also reveals that Eclipse Four will include a story from the wonderful Emma Bull.

Can't wait!!!

Clash of the Geeks: A Chapbook for Charity

2010-09-20T06:36:00.000-05:00

Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi and Subterranean Press are proud to announce the publication of Clash of the Geeks, a special and fantastical electronic chapbook featuring stories by Wheaton, Scalzi, New York Times bestseller Patrick Rothfuss, Norton Award winner and Hugo Best Novel nominee Catherynne M. Valente, Hugo and Nebula Award nominee Rachel Swirsky and others, for the benefit of the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America. The chapbook is free to download, but voluntary payment is strongly encouraged, via Paypal or by tax-deductible donation forms, both linked to later in this entry. All proceeds from this chapbook will go to the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America. Please enjoy the stories, link your friends to this page — and give!

I heard about this via Subterranean Press, and it's a cool thing these folks are doing.

From the perspective of the reader, a lineup that includes Scalzi, Rothfuss, Valente, and Swirsky is fantastic. You WANT this chapbook. That all the proceeds go to charity only makes this cooler. You'll get some quality fiction and help out some folks.

For more details, go to the official page here. Then, download the chapbook and donate some dollars.

Shadow Unit

2010-09-19T16:48:00.000-05:00

Might I take a moment to ask you a question?

Are you reading Shadow Unit?

Might I ask you another?

If you're not, why the hell not?

Shadow Unit is a science fictional story about a group of unrealistically sexy FBI agents struggling to protect humanity from the worst monsters imaginable. Except some of our heroes may be on the road to becoming monsters themselves....

Shadow Unit is one of my favorite fictional things, ever. The above description works well, but my elevator pitch is "X-Files meets Criminal Minds, except the monsters are human".

It's a web series comprised of short stories, novellas, and short novels. Shadow Unit is released like a television show. There are seasons and episodes. We're currently in the middle of Season Three, but if you wanted a place to start, might I recommend the very first episode, "Breathe", written by Emma Bull?

The writers of Shadow Unit are Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly, Sarah Monette, Leah Bobet, Amanda Downum, Chelsea Polk, and Holly Black.

The best thing for readers: IT'S ALL FREE. Really. Professional quality fiction from award winning writers, free. Shadow Unit is run on the donation model, so if you like what you see and you have a couple of extra shekels, maybe throw some in the hat.

So. Shadow Unit.

Read it.

Forthcoming 2010: Q4

2010-09-15T07:03:00.000-05:00

This is a couple of months late, but, welcome to the latest installment of "Stuff I'm Looking Forward To This Year". As always, I take my information from the Locus Forthcoming list, plus a little bit of extra research when I'm aware of things that should be on the Locus list and are not.

October
Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest: Book of the month, right here. Dreadnought is Priest’s follow up to the quite excellent Boneshaker (review) (and also to Clementine) and I honestly don’t care what it is about – it’s a new novel from Cherie Priest. That it is a new Clockwork Century novel only sweetens the deal.

Ventriloquism, by Catherynne M. Valente: This is a collection from PS Publishing and I think the Locus list isn’t accurate and that it may be published in December. Cat Valente is good, and even though this may be a touch difficult to get on my side of the pond, it’s worth looking into. PS does good work.

Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld: The sequel to Leviathan (review), the 2009 offering from Scott Westerfeld. It’s new Westerfeld, what more do you need?

November
The Way of the Wizard, by John Joseph Adams: I’ll admit to being slack on reading JJA’s last couple of anthologies (the vampire one and the Sherlock Holmes one), but I tend to like his editorial eye for the anthologies of his I have read. I expect good things.

Gilded Latten Bones, by Glen Cook: The new Garrett PI novel. I’m waaaaay behind on this series, only having recently read Red Iron Nights, but this is just encouragement to keep going.

Towers of Midnight, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson: Book of the Month. New Wheel of Time. Sanderson was very much on his game with The Gathering Storm (review) and I expect the penultimate book of the series to exceed my high expectations.

Full Dark, No Stars, by Stephen King: A novella anthology from King. I prefer him in the short form as his recent novels haven’t been all that (haven’t read Under the Dome, though)

Flaming Zeppelins: The Adventures of Ned the Seal, by Joe R. Lansdale: While I wait for a third Ned the Seal novella, here is a collection of the two previous novellas. Review and Review. Love this stuff.

Holiday, by M. Rickert: Story collection. Been waiting on this one for a couple of years.

The Habitation of the Blessed, by Catherynne M. Valente: The first in a new series from Valente.

December
Deadman’s Road, by Joe R. Lansdale: After a very stacked November, there’s not much in December I’m itching for. But this collection of stories (including the short novel Dead in the West - review) featuring the zombie killing preacher is just too good to pass up.

new swirsky

2010-09-10T06:27:00.000-05:00

I haven't read this yet, but there's a new story from Rachel Swirsky up on Tor.com: "The Monster's Million Faces". Since Swirsky brings the excellence on a regular basis, I thought you might like to know.

Phoenix

2010-09-08T00:01:00.012-05:00

I don't really have a post in me talking about Steven Brust's Phoenix, which is another excellent entry in his Vlad Taltos series.

But, because I want to acknowledge its excellence - I point you to Jo Walton and her post over at Tor.com from last year.

Actual Reviews

Jhereg
Yendi
Teckla
Taltos

Ark, by Stephen Baxter

2010-09-07T00:01:00.028-05:00

Ark
Stephen Baxter
Roc: 2010

Damn, I’ve been meaning to write about this book for a while now. Ark is Stephen Baxter’s quasi-sequel to his excellent novel Flood (review). I say “quasi-sequel” because much of Ark runs concurrent to the events of Flood, just in different locations. There is some overlap with characters and major events, but not from the same perspectives.

The premise of Flood, if not guessed from the title, is that for whatever reason the ocean waters begin to rise and rise and rise above their current levels. Now, this may spoil some of the events of Flood, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, please put this blog post down and run, don’t walk, to the nearest copy of Flood and start reading immediately. It’s a wonderful book, so I won’t blame you. Just come back when you’re done. Okay. Now that you’re back, don’t care if you’re going to be spoiled, or are comfortable with a brief refresher, let’s move on. Flood is a novel of a global catastrophe on a scale that boggles the mind if people not named Stephen Baxter think about it for too long. The central cast of characters of Flood are focused on survival for themselves and for a remnant of humanity – on something called Ark Three, which can be described in the grossest of terms as a “giant raft” – a way to survive on the surface of the ocean when there is no land left. Can it be built? Will it work? The novel answers both.

As can be guessed by its name, Ark Three is one of a number of projects to save as many people as possible (a “select” many people, but people all the same). What about Ark One and Two?

Ark, the novel, is the story of the building, training, and mission of Ark One – a mission of sending a colony to the stars, so that even if life is extinguished on Earth, humanity will survive somewhere.

Ark features and references many of the same characters of Flood, but shifts the focus differently. Characters who stay behind on Earth, like Lily Brooke and Thandie Jones are not major players here. They are referenced by the children, like Grace, but the novel focuses more on the next generation – the would-be crew of Ark One.

Also, Ark prominently features the actual space mission and that lends a very different tenor to the novel.

So, while Ark could arguably be described as the sequel to Flood, it is more thematically a sister novel. Ark deals with much of the same stuff, the same issues, fears, and hopes, but it does so differently. Stephen Baxter understands that the initial discovery and wonder of how high the sea will rise and what it means for humanity just isn’t there this time around. Readers know what happens to the world and to the characters. Baxter plays with that sense of inevitability and doom that hangs over Earth and shows what else was happening, what other events were occurring that demonstrate humanity’s capacity for survival. The story of Ark is in the quiet moments during global destruction.

In a very real sense, Flood and Ark are hopeful novels. The promise implicit in Baxter’s story is that humanity will ever strive to survive as a species, and even in the most impossible conditions that have eliminated so much life, a remnant will adapt and survive and find a new way to persevere. Ultimately, it is a beautiful sentiment if one can get past the billions who have perished.

Though it is a very different sort of novel from the excellent Flood, Ark is a very welcome and able companion novel. Ark does not have the same sort of awestruck wonder at the looming and encroaching disaster, but it is moving and wonderful all the same.

2010 Hugo Award Nomination List

2010-09-06T09:48:00.000-05:00

This is the same PDF that has the voting breakdown, but scroll down and you'll get a list of works nominated in each category. This isn't as complete or detailed a list as we got last year when the nominations were disclosed all the way down to 5 votes, but this is always interesting to me.

What we get to see here is just how few votes it really takes to push a work that missed the ballot onto the final ballot. Which goes to say, if you feel that nominating and voting for the Hugo Awards is worth a $50 supporting membership, and you are passionate about the works...there is an excellent opportunity to influence which works are recognized.

I am not listing out everything on the PDF in each category (that's what the file is for), but for the major fiction categories I will.

The works in bold were on my ballot.

Novel
142 The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (20.3%)
105 The City & The City, China Mieville (15%)
100 WWW: Wake, Robert J. Sawyer (14.3%)
77 Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (11%)
62 Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, Robert Charles Wilson (8.9%)
62 Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente (8.9%)

Just Missed
53 Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (7.6%)
49 This Is Not a Game, Walter Jon Williams (7%)
49 Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett (7%)
45 Galileo's Dream, Kim Stanley Robinson (6.4%)
42 Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (6%)
40 Makers, Cory Doctorow (5.7%)
40 The Sunless Countries, Karl Schroeder (5.7%)
37 Lifelode, Jo Walton (5.3%)
35 The Price of Spring, Daniel Abraham (5%)
32 Empress of Mars, Kage Baker (4.6%)
32 House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds (4.6%)
29 Green, Jay Lake (4.1%)
27 Steal Across the Sky, Nancy Kress (3.9%)
24 Rosemary and Rue, Seanan McGuire (3.4%)
24 Transition, Iain M. Banks (3.4%)
23 The Quiet War, Paul McAuley (3.3%)
22 The Magicians, Lev Grossman (3.1%)
22 Yellow Blue Tibia, Adam Roberts (3.1%)
21 Liar, Justine Larbalestier (3%)
21 Regenesis, C.J. Cherryh (3%)

This is everything listed for the novel, actually. 10 votes puts Leviathan on the ballot. I'm also glad Finch got solid love.

Novella
79 The God Engines, John Scalzi (21.1%)
66 Act One, Nancy Kress (17.6%)
56 Palimpsest, Charles Stross (14.9%)
51 Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (13.6%)
51 The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker (13.6%)
51 Vishnu at the Cat Circus, Ian McDonald (13.6%)

Just Missed
46 Wives, Paul Haines (12.3%)
27 The Spires of Denon, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (7.2%)
24 Sea-Hearts, Margo Lanagan (6.4%)
20 Broken Windchimes, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (5.3%)
20 Shaka II, Mike Resnick (5.3%)
19 Horn, Peter M Ball (5.1%)
18 Hot Rock, Greg Egan (4.8%)
16 Earth II, Stephen Baxter (4.3%)
16 Paradiso Lost, Albert E. Cowdrey (4.3%)
16 Sublimation Angels, Jason Sanford (4.3%)
15 Where the Winds Are All Asleep, Michael F. Flynn (4%)
14 Crimes and Glory, Paul McAuley (3.7%)
14 The Far End of History, John C Wright (3.7%)
11 Halloween Town, Lucius Shepard (2.9%)
11 Sugar, Leah Bobet (2.9%)

Five more votes, and "Wives" gets a tie and is on the ballot. Six votes, and there's no question. The reason why I posted the full nomination list for this category, though, is "Sugar", by Leah Bobet. One, it was on my ballot. Two, Shadow Unit!

Novelette
52 Overtime, Charles Stross (12.9%)
51 The Island, Peter Watts (12.7%)
38 Eros, Philia, Agape, Rachel Swirsky (9.5%)
38 It Takes Two, Nicola Griffith (9.5%)
38 One of Our Bastards is Missing, Paul Cornell (9.5%)
38 Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast, Eugie Foster (9.5%)

Just Missed
30 First Flight, Mary Robinette Kowal (7.5%)
30 Soulmates, Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn (7.5%)
26 Utriusque Cosmi, Robert Charles Wilson (6.5%)
26 Zeppelin City, Eileen Gunn and Michael Swanwick (6.5%)
23 A Memory of Wind, Rachel Swirsky (5.7%)
19 This Peaceable Land; or, the Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Robert Charles Wilson (4.7%)
16 But It Does Move, Harry Turtledove (4%)
16 Economancer, Carolyn Ives Gilman (4%)
16 Lion Walk, Mary Rosenblum (4%)
15 Controlled Experiment, Tom Purdom (3.7%)
15 This Wind Blowing, and This Tide, Damien Broderick (3.7%)
14 Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance, John Kessel (3.5%)
14 Truth and Bone, Pat Cadigan (3.5%)
13 Galapagos, Caitlin R. Kiernan (3.2%)
12 A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, DPhil, MSc; or, A Lullaby, Helen Keeble (3%)
12 Inevitable, Sean Williams (3%)
12 Siren Beat, Tansy Rayner Roberts (3%)
12 The Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon, Ken Scholes (3%)

Lots of ties going on here. And, ahh! Less than 10 votes and Mary Robinette Kowal would be on the ballot!

Short Story
59 Spar, Kij Johnson (13.7%)
37 The Bride of Frankenstein, Mike Resnick (8.6%)
31 Non-Zero Probabilities, N.K. Jemisin (7.2%)
25 The Moment, Lawrence M. Schoen (5.8%)
23 Bridesicle, Will McIntosh (5.3%)

Just Missed
20 Going Deep, James Patrick Kelly (4.6%)
17 Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction, Jo Walton (3.9%)
16 Before my Last Breath, Robert Reed (3.7%)
16 The Pelican Bar, Karen joy Fowler (3.7%)
16 Useless Things, Maureen F. McHugh (3.7%)
15 The Receivers, Alastair Reynolds (3.5%)
14 Blocked, Geoff Ryman (3.2%)
14 Donovan Sent Us, Gene Wolfe (3.2%)
12 Benchwarmer, Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn (2.8%)
11 A Story, With Beans, Steven Gould (2.5%)
11 As Women Fight, Sara Genge (2.5%)
11 Elan Vital, K. Tempest Bradford (2.5%)
11 The Consciousness Problem, Mary Robinette Kowal (2.5%)
11 The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew, Catherynne M. Valente (2.5%)
10 Butterfly Bomb, Dominic Green (2.3%)
10 Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela, Saladin Ahmed (2.3%)
10 To Go Boldly, Cory Doctorow (2.3%)

Four votes, and James Patrick Kelly is on the ballot. That's why nominating is important.

It gets even tighter in Best Graphic Story. One vote separated "on the ballot" from "not on the ballot". One. Same with Best Editor, Long Form, and Fan Writer.

Good to see Niall Harrison and Abigail Nussbaum get solid votes for Fan Writer, and SF Signal and Torque Control get Fanzine votes. I don't know if it'll happen in the next five years, but I think we're probably not too far away from when blogs, websites, and podcasts (StarShipSofa for the WIN) will dominate the Fanzine category and the older model of what a "fanzine" used to be will start to slip away. Maybe because I have never been part of the fanzine crowd, but I don't see quite the same value and relevance of the traditional fanzine today.

2010 Hugo Award Voting Breakdown

2010-09-06T09:22:00.000-05:00

The voting breakdown for the 2010 Hugo Awards is available here. Actually, the nominating breakdown is also on that same PDF, but I want to do a separate post for that.

For those keeping score at home, here are last year's results.

Novel (875 Ballots): I am completely fascinated by just how even the votes were between The City & The City and The Windup Girl. I think you're more likely to see a work with fewer first place votes win the award than you are to see a dead heat rundown like this. Alas, Boneshaker did not win. I was really pulling for the awesome Cherie Priest (she was first on my ballot, but only 78 others).

I wrote this last year, but I think it bears repeating:
I've seen Kevin Standlee explain this before, but it takes a while for the math to sink in. I believe the winner has to have the majority of all votes cast and if that doesn't happen in the first round, the work with the lowest votes is dropped, the votes are redistributed, and it repeats until there is a winner. Something like that. This allows the winners to be more of a consensus pick, the work that most of the ballots felt was the strongest rather than necessarily being the work the most people gave first place votes to in the first round.

Novella (792 Ballots): You know what I said about the "fewer first place votes" earlier? Yeah. The God Engines had the most first place votes, but not a majority. As the rundown occurred, it just didn't have enough overall love to carry it through. Shame.

Novelette (775 Ballots): I honestly didn't feel "The Island" the same way that the voters did, but from everything I've heard, Peter Watts is a class act and he's had a rough year. So how can you hate on that? You can't, that's how. Griffith and Swirsky were the class of the field, though.

Short Story (812 Ballots):

Campbell (544 Ballots)

What I find intensely interesting is that even though I remember hearing that there were more nominations this year, the actual voting isn't all that different from last year. More people voting in some categories, less in others. I think an expanding nominating pool is wonderful, but we should also find a way to expand the voting pool.

2010 Hugo Award Winners

2010-09-05T09:24:00.000-05:00

Via N. K. Jemisin at John Scalzi's Whatever
and via The Hugo Awards website

Since Worldcon is in Australia this year, the Hugo Awards were given out at something like 5:00 AM this morning, American time. Time Zone dependent. I certainly didn't stay up for that, but eagerly searched out the winners this morning - as if it were Christmas.

Best Novel: TIE: The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK); The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)
Best Novella: “Palimpsest”, Charles Stross (Wireless; Ace, Orbit)
Best Novelette: “The Island”, Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2; Eos)
Best Short Story: “Bridesicle”, Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 1/09)
Best Related Book: This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is “I”), Jack Vance (Subterranean)
Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm Written by Kaja and Phil Foglio; Art by Phil Foglio; Colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Moon Screenplay by Nathan Parker; Story by Duncan Jones; Directed by Duncan Jones (Liberty Films)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who: “The Waters of Mars” Written by Russell T Davies & Phil Ford; Directed by Graeme Harper (BBC Wales)
Best Editor Short Form: Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Best Editor Long Form: Ellen Datlow
Best Professional Artist: Shaun Tan
Best Semiprozine: Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace, & Cheryl Morgan
Best Fan Writer: Frederik Pohl
Best Fanzine: StarShipSofa edited by Tony C. Smith
Best Fan Artist: Brad W. Foster

And the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines): Seanan McGuire

Congratulations to all the winners!

And, for those keeping score at home - this is how I voted. I called three of them as my top choice.

The Return of Detective Inspector Chen

2010-09-04T21:08:00.000-05:00

Via Fantasy Book Critic

Some good news has come out of the mess with Night Shade Books: Liz Williams has found a new home for the Detective Inspector Chen series.

Iron Khan and Morningstar will be published by Morrigan Books.

Excellent news! I've rather enjoyed this series and while I have an ARC of Iron Khan from Night Shade, I wondered if the novel would ever be published. I also wonder if there will be any changes between the Night Shade edition and the Morrigan edition.

Iron Khan is due out this December. You'll want to look for it.

Vander-interview

2010-08-26T21:14:00.000-05:00

Aidan Moher interviews Jeff VanderMeer over at A Dribble of Ink. Interesting and entertaining interview. It gets a bit wonky at times, but decent reading. What works is that it comes across as a conversation.

Nnedi Okorafor interview

2010-08-25T06:37:00.000-05:00

Matthew Cheney has an excellent interview with Nnedi Okorafor over at Omnivoracious. Much of it focuses on her new novel Who Fears Death.

2010 World Fantasy Award Nominees

2010-08-24T19:41:00.000-05:00

Via Pyromania and Locus Online

Nominees for the 2010 World Fantasy Awards.

As always with the World Fantasy Awards, there is some quality stuff nominated and this is generally my favorite nominee list of the three I pay the most attention to. It's a great chance to discover stuff I never would have heard of.

Congratulations to all the nominees, but I would like to also highlight Jeff VanderMeer, Genevieve Valentine, Jonathan Strahan, John Klima, Susan Groppi, and the Clarkesworld folks. Outstanding!

And double congratulations to Genevieve. That’s friggin cool!

Novel
Blood of Ambrose, James Enge (Pyr)
The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan UK/ Del Rey)
Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland) (review)
In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield (Jonathan Cape UK/Del Rey)

Novella
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker (Subterranean)
“The Lion’s Den”, Steven Duffy (Nemonymous Nine: Cern Zoo)
The Night Cache, Andy Duncan (PS)
“Sea-Hearts”, Margo Lanagan (X6 )
“Everland”, Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories)

Short Story
“I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 12/09)
“The Pelican Bar”, Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three)
“A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, DPhil, MSc, or, A Lullaby”, Helen Keeble (Strange Horizons 6/09)
“Singing on a Star”, Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)
“The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale”, Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21: Edison’s Frankenstein )
“In Waiting”, R.B. Russell (Putting the Pieces in Place)
“Light on the Water”, Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy 10/09)

Anthology
Poe, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Solaris)
Songs of The Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds. (Subterranean/Voyager)
Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations, Danel Olson, ed. (Ash-Tree)
Eclipse Three, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Night Shade) (review)
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny: From Poe to the Pulps/From the 1940s to Now, Peter Straub, ed. (Library of America)
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, Gordon Van Gelder, ed. (Tachyon) (review)

Collection
We Never Talk About My Brother, Peter S. Beagle (Tachyon) (review)
Fugue State, Brian Evenson (Coffee House)
There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Penguin)
Northwest Passages, Barbara Roden (Prime)
Everland and Other Stories, Paul Witcover (PS)
The Very Best of Gene Wolfe/The Best of Gene Wolfe, Gene Wolfe (PS /Tor)

Artist
John Jude Palencar
John Picacio
Charles Vess
Jason Zerrillo
Sam Weber

Special Award – Professional
Peter & Nicky Crowther for PS Publishing
Ellen Datlow for editing anthologies
Hayao Miyazaki for Ponyo
Barbara & Christopher Roden for Ash-Tree Press
Jonathan Strahan for editing anthologies
Jacob & Rina Weisman for Tachyon Publications

Special Award – Non-Professional
John Berlyne for Powers: Secret Histories
Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, & Sean Wallace for Clarkesworld
Susan Marie Groppi for Strange Horizons
John Klima for Electric Velocipede
Bob Colby, B. Diane Martin, David Shaw, and Eric M. Van for Readercon
Ray Russell & Rosalie Parker for Tartarus Press

catching up with my anticipated reading list

2010-08-23T00:01:00.037-05:00

Back in December I posted a list of the 19 books I was most looking forward to in 2010. It's time to take a look to see how I've done in actually reading them. I can be sketchy like that, and not read stuff I want to.

1. Towers of Midnight, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (fall 2010)
2. A Dance With Dragons, by George R. R. Martin (2011?)
3. The Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch (2011)
~~4. Shadow Unit: Season One, by Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear (editors)~~
~~5. Prince of Storms, by Kay Kenyon~~
6. Swords and Dark Magic, by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan (editors)
7. Fort Freak, by George R. R. Martin (editor) (2011)
8. Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest (fall 2010)
~~9. The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson~~
10. The Sea Thy Mistress, by Elizabeth Bear (fall / winter 2010)
~~11. Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal~~
~~12. Horns, by Joe Hill~~
13. Eclipse Four, by Jonathan Strahan (editor) (2011)
14. Gardens of the Sun, by Paul McAuley
15. The Best of Joe R. Lansdale
16. Lesser Demons, by Norman Partridge
17. The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume 4, by Jonathan Strahan (editor)
18. Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor
19. Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld (fall 2010)

The GRRM and the Lynch were my "oh, wouldn't that be nice" spots on the list. The Lynch is almost definitely coming out next year. We'll see about GRRM. Fort Freak is set for next year, as is Eclipse Four.

A handful are still slated for later this year, which means I'm only being slack of six presumably excellent books. For me, that's not bad. I own Strahan's Best Of and the McAuley.

Very Short and Non-Specific Thoughts on Kay Kenyon and Ken Scholes

2010-08-22T14:35:00.001-05:00

Prince of Storms: I find myself not knowing how to talk about Kay Kenyon’s Entire and the Rose series, and, as such, it’s been a couple of months since I finished the book. With each volume, the series becomes increasingly complex in terms of who the characters are and what, exactly, is going on in the world(s). Check out my reviews of the first three books to get a sense of what’s going on. If you’re not into it after the first two books, there’s not much reason to read the fourth. The third book, City Without End, was probably the high point of the series, but Prince of Storms provides solid resolution to the story arcs and offers unexpected delights and surprises. (reading copy provided courtesy of Pyr)

Antiphon: I really wanted to like this. I think Scholes has great potential with Psalms of Isaak series and he had a decent enough start with Lamentation (a book that doesn’t quite live up to the hype. The setting is fantastic, several millennium past a higher tech society fallen after at least one apocalypse. There’s magic, but there is also uncovered tech. If you read the book, the ending offers a strikingly discordant contrast with one particular event and everything else happening around it. Though, if you really think about the world Scholes has created, that contrast is ALL over the place and is likely to become even more stark in the final two books. My problem (and I think this really is my problem) is that as great as the underlying ideas behind the series and the setting are, the execution of the storytelling grates on me and frequently comes across as clunky. There is a marked improvement in Scholes’ craft from the first to the third book, but something in here just isn’t working for me. The thing is that I just can’t figure out what. (reading copy provided courtesy of Tor) (reviews of Lamentation and Canticle)

Regarding Antiphon, you probably want to read "A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon" first. It provides a bit of background to stuff that is referenced several times in the novel and, if I understand the novel correctly, will become increasingly important in the next two books.

CSM's "5 Great Books About Obscure Presidents"

2010-08-20T21:41:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across this article listing out "5 great books about obscure presidents." I don't read as much nonfiction as I really want to, but I have a soft spot for presidential biographies and early American history.

Which means: NEW READING LIST!

Because I don't have enough of those.

I have, however, read #2 on the list, Fraud of the Century. It's one hell of a story, but it felt like Morris took too long to get to the actual fraud of the century. So it goes.