Machine Cover

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

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

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

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

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
The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe: New series. I've pretty well enjoyed everything I've read from Bledsoe

After the Apocalypse, by Maureen F. McHugh: Her collection Mothers and Other Monsters was fantastic. This is a new collection. Can't miss.

Ganymede, by Cherie Priest: Aww, come on. It's a new Clockwork Century novel from Cherie Priest. I love this stuff.


November
Stone Spring, by Stephen Baxter: What Baxter I have read has been consistently excellent.  I expect more of the same.

Master of the House of Darts, by Aliette de Bodard: If you're not reading de Bodard's Aztec set murder mysteries laced with blood magic, you're seriously missing out. This is fantastic stuff and is her third novel.


The Allow of Law, by Brandon Sanderson: Set in the Mistborn universe, only a couple centuries later.


December
11.22.63, by Stephen King: I dunno, it's new King. Very hit or miss, but what the hell. He mixes time travel and the Kennedy assassination with this one.


That's it for the year!

2011 World Fantasy Award Nominees

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

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

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

(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.

Because this post was written so far in advance, I expect that there will be significant changes to what is coming out this quarter, especially around August / September.


July
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer: This. No, really, this.


Kitty's Big Trouble, by Carrie Vaughn: I really, really like the Kitty Norville novels.


August
The Tempering of Men, by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear: The follow up to the all sorts of awesome A Companion to Wolves.

The Diviner, by Melanie Rawn: You may put this book firmly in the column of “novels I never expected to see published”. If I remember correctly, this is the prequel to The Golden Key (1996) and without Rawn's entry, Kate Elliott and Jennifer Roberson have been unable to write their planned novels. I am super excited about this. Also, you should really go check out The Golden Key if you haven't yet.


September
Honestly – nothing. But this is based on what was listed as forthcoming for September waaay back in February. I'm sure by this point other awesomeness will hit the publication schedule.

Bordertown lives

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

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

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

random things

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

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

(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

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

(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

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

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

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.