new Shadow Unit: Closet Monster

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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.  

The Last Run

Pretty Sweet!

The news isn't new anymore, but I just read that Greg Rucka has a third Queen & Country novel coming out this fall! 

I'm a huge fan of the Queen & Country graphic novels and I thought Rucka's previous two novels (A Gentleman's Game, and Private Wars), expanding the series into straight prose, also were excellent. 

So, given the ending to the series (or, what was the ending to the original storyline), I am very curious to see what Rucka has for us here.  And getting more Tara Chace and Q&C?  Always a good thing. 

No More Best American Fantasy

I'm a little bummed as a reader.  I found out via Larry Nolen's blog that the Best American Fantasy series is being discontinued after three volumes. (see my review of volume 2 here)

That led me to the official announcement from Jeff VanderMeer, one of the co-founders of the anthology series.

After three volumes, we’re discontinuing the Best American Fantasy series founded by me, Ann VanderMeer, and Sean Wallace, along with Matthew Cheney. The amicable move from Prime to Underland following the publication of BAF2 was meant to rejuvenate the series and to finally achieve stability for it. Unfortunately, this didn’t occur, for a variety of reasons. BAF did not having a wide margin for error. A cross-genre fantasy year’s best that focused not just on genre magazines but also on literary magazines, that required sympathy and generosity from both the mainstream and genre, as well as the right placement in the chains, was always going to be a difficult sell.

This is to say that I am disappointed, but I have to say that I am also to blame.  As interested as I am in the series, I did not purchase Volume 3.  So if sales weren't what they needed to be, where was my contribution?  It's a book that somehow slipped off my radar and now we've lost the series.

For a taste of what almost was, check out Larry's post one more time for a list of the 65 stories he, as series editor for Volume 4, recommended to the guest editor, Minister Faust.  The stories I am familiar with are, across the board, quite good.  I'm also chuffed to see Leah Bobet and Kelly Barnhill lined up right next to Peter Beagle.  That's pretty sweet. 

New Apex Issue

I’ve been slack on my ‘zine reading for the last year or so, but I noticed that the new issue of Apex Magazine is out.  I’ve enjoyed Apex for several years now.  They’ve been big supporters of Jennifer Pelland and had a Mary Robinette Kowal issue not too long ago and have also published Cherie Priest.  The newest issue is the first under the helm of the new fiction editor, Catherynne Valente. 

What does Valente have for us? 

 

Original fiction from Theodora Goss and Nick Mamatas, as well as the reprint of Jeff VanderMeer’s “Secret Life”

Not bad at all. 

Fort Freak Excerpt: Rat Race

Via Cherie Priest

Y’all,

Since I know you are readers of discriminating taste and, as such, are avid fans of BOTH Cherie Priest and the Wild Cards series; you will be very interested to check out an excerpt of “The Rat Race”, part of Cherie Priest’s contribution to the next Wild Cards novel: Fort Freak.  You know you want to.  It’s okay.  We won’t judge. 

Priest’s authorial excitement is also rather delightful. 

I was going to wait until this afternoon to blog this, but I lost my saving throw vs. self-restraint – so here goes! It is with great and terrible squee that I present part one of The Rat Race … an introductory sample of Wild Cards XXI: Fort Freak, live on George R. R. Martin’s website.

[:: Snoopydances like a Snoopy ::]

(Fort Freak is a production of the Wild Cards consortium, edited by Mr. Martin. It is slated for publication in the summer of 2011.)

The Mirrored Heavens, by David J. Williams

The Mirrored Heavens
David J. Williams
Spectra: 2009

With blurbs from Jack Campbell and Peter Watts calling out how exciting, frantic, and action packed The Mirrored Heavens is, expectations are raised for the sort of debut novel this is from David J. Williams. From one perspective, they are correct. The actual action of the narrative kicks in to high gear at the start and remains an “action packed” novel through the end, with interludes of explanation between the ass-kicking and the cyber-battles. It would probably make a great action movie if you cut down on the exposition. The problem is that The Mirrored Heavens does not read like a kick-ass fast paced novel. It just doesn’t.


David J. Williams imagines a 22nd Century where the political lines and balances of power are redrawn after a century of various conflicts over energy and the environment have left the globe in another Cold War. With the destruction of a Joint US / Eurasia Space Elevator, several teams of Special-Op agents are dispatched to do…something. Williams is always clear that the various agents are fighting for their lives and fighting to complete a mission, but it is seldom clear as to exactly what that mission is. The characters themselves are ciphers. Bits of background on them are leaked out, but even those tidbits are not reliably factual. One of the primary characters is identified in the text as The Operative, which is as honest of an identity as the reader is likely to get. The Operative is named by other characters, but remains The Operative when referred to by the narrator.


Conspiracies abound at the highest levels and Williams generously peppers The Mirrored Heavens with explosions, physical conflict, and massive destruction and loss of life. It is everything a fellow should want out of a novel, except that something is lacking in the execution. The narrative fails to drive the reader along and the constant action comes across as flat, lifeless, and unengaging. Because the characters involved are so empty, the reader will likely struggle to engage with them or care about what happens. The impact of this is most strongly felt in the ending, which throws a strong twist on the novel and on the direction of the Autumn Rain trilogy. The ending is the sort that should, to commit cliché, “blow the mind of the reader”. It doesn’t. The ending does intrigue enough for the reader to potentially pick up The Burning Skies to see what happens next, but it isn’t a priority. It’s easy enough to forget.


What works is the revelations of the political interplay that forms the background of the conflict. There just is not enough of it to prop up the story. This is a story that is more conceptually interesting than it is one to recommend. The Mirrored Heavens is a novel that promises quite a bit, but fails to deliver on much of it.


Reading copy provided courtesy of David J. Williams and Bantam Spectra.


For a rather excellent and positive review, check this one out.  I don't agree, but it is well argued. 

new bear interview

There's an excellent interview with Elizabeth Bear over at Tor.com.  Totally worth checking out.  Go do so now. 

Haul

Let me tell you about the haul of books I have added to my collection today.

It had been a while since I last visited Uncle Hugo's, the wonderful independent SFF bookstore in Minneapolis, and it was time to check out what I've been missing.

First, I found a used copy of Jeff VanderMeer's Shriek: An Afterword.  I'm backing my way into VanderMeer's work after just loving his newest novel Finch (review)

Then, strolling around into the used mmpb section, I hit a solid load of Steven Brust novels.  Phoenix, Athyra, Orca, Dragon, and Dzur.  My library is a touch sketchy in the Brust department, and this now gives me the next set of Vlad Taltos novels, in publication order (minus Issola, which should be between Dragon and Dzur).

Then...then...folks, I'm excited about this next one.  I've been looking for a copy of Glen Cook's Red Iron Nights for over a year now.  It's out of print and will run me $20+ for a used copy elsewhere online.  Found it!  $3.  Hell yeah!  This lets me back into the Garret PI series.  I don't like skipping books in a series and this was the next one for me.

The only thing that could have made the trip better would be if I was able to score a copy of Death Draws Five.  It's the only Wild Cards novel I don't own and is over $100 at various online locations.


Bonus news: Shades of Milk and Honey (review), Mary Robinette Kowal's debut novel, has been spotted out in the wild.  You know you want to read this! 


And finally, I received a review copy of The Greyfriar from Pyr.  It's written by Clay and Susan Griffith. I don't know who they are either.

Here is how you know a publishing house is quality and owns a great reputation.  When you see that the a book is the first volume of the Vampire Empire and you don't immediately scoff.  This should cause me to scoff.  I am not immediately sold by notions of alternate histories or vampire empires.  But because Lou Anders have built such a strong reputation for picking outstanding novels, I am instead intrigued.

My 2010 Hugo Ballot

Just for the curious, here are the works I nominated for the Hugo. There's some overlap with what actually made the ballot, though perhaps not as much as I would prefer.

Below is my ballot, in rank order of how I voted. Brief category commentary follows. I've linked to what reviews I managed to write up.

Best Novel
1. Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest (review)
2. The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi
3. Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valente (review, sort of)
4. Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer
5. The City & The City, by China Mieville
6. Julian Comstock, by Robert Charles Wilson

I loves me some Cherie Priest. Big fan of Boneshaker and of Priest. I can flip-flop Bacigalupi and Valente's novels and be okay with that decision, too. Both are ambitious novels that didn't quite connect with my reader-brain to get excited by, but they are quality. Palimpsest, in particular, may be more rewarding on a second or third read, which makes me wonder if my vote should have gone the other way. I actually "enjoyed" Wake more than the Bacigalupi or Valente novels, but at the same time, it wasn't as "good" as either. That's more than a bit vague, but it'll do. I think it makes sense. I wish I had read the Mieville novel because I think I would have rated it higher, possibly as high as #2 (Boneshaker is tough to beat). I don't wish I had read Julian Comstock. I've read the original story and am fairly disinterested in an expansion.

Best Novella
1. The God Engines, by John Scalzi (review)
2. The Women of Nell Gwynne's, by Kage Baker (review)
3. "Palimpsest", by Charles Stross
4. "Act One", by Nancy Kress (review)
5. Shambling Towards Hiroshima, by James Morrow (review)
6. "Vishnu at the Cat Circus", by Ian McDonald

If I had to guess, I would say that Kage Baker will win this category. It's a combination of the story being quite good and Baker's passing earlier this year. I just don't think it is as good as what Scalzi did - and The God Engines was Scalzi stretching beyond his familiar writing style and still nailing the landing. Stross surprised me here. I'm not a big fan of his work, and how the prose connects to the storytelling is unremarkable, but Stross's "Palimpsest" (no relation to Valente's) has ideas that really draw the reader in. Alternate history and time travel has been done before, and the possible futures has, too, but it's just so damned interesting and smartly conceived.

Best Novelette
1. "It Takes Two", by Nicola Griffith
2. "Eros, Philia, Agape", by Rachel Swirsky
3. "One of Our Bastards is Missing", by Paul Cornell
4. "The Island", by Peter Watts
5. "Overtime", by Charles Stross
6. "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast", by Eugie Foster

Griffith and Swirsky are far and away ahead of the class here. Nicola Griffith is mostly known as a novelist, but I would very much like to see more short fiction from her. Swirsky is on the cusp of winning a crapload of awards and is one of the best emerging writers working today. The only thing preventing Swirsky from gaining wider recognition is that she has been working exclusively in short fiction - but a Swirsky story is worth seeking out.

Best Short Story
1. "Spar", by Kij Johnson (review)
2. "Bridesicle", by Will McIntosh (review)
3. "Non-Zero Probabilities", by N.K. Jemisin (review)
4. "The Bride of Frankenstein", by Mike Resnick
5. "The Moment", by Lawrence M. Schoen

"Spar" is not the sort of story that one gets excited about and exclaims how much one "loved" it. It's uncomfortable and there is a level of squick involved. But, it is one of the best short stories published in 2009 and it is very, very good. "Bridesicle" doesn't quite hit the mark like "Spar" does, but it is conceptually fascinating and well executed.

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
1. Moon
2. Up
3. District 9
4. Star Trek
5. Avatar

Part of me wanted to put Up as #1 based solely on the first ten minutes of the movie. Those ten minutes were good enough to win an Oscar, let alone the entertaining rest of the movie. Squirrel! I thought of this category in the sense of the actual story and storytelling, and not just the visual and visceral responses I had. Avatar was a marvelous experience, but if you actually think about the story - it's kind of weak. Moon is minimalist, but is an outstanding movie with a well-written and well thought out story.

Best Editor, Short Form
1. Jonathan Strahan
2. Ellen Datlow
3. Sheila Williams
4. Gordon Van Gelder
5. Stanley Schmidt

Call this Jonathan Strahan and company. Jonathan Strahan's name on a book is enough for me to take notice and often, buy a copy. Datlow consistently produces quality work. Williams, Van Gelder, and Schmidt? The editors of the Big Three? When you highlight one story or another, they are able to identify some of the best work of the year. But I can do that with a number of other editors who aren't on this ballot, too. When I look at their magazines as a whole, I'm disinterested. They don't publish enough fiction that I want to read. I've subscribed to Asimov's and let it lapse. I've done several trial issues of F&SF and it doesn't work for me. Stanley Schmidt is the one getting a slightly raw deal here, though. I'm not familiar enough with Analog to be able to speak about it, but I also did not want to throw a "No Award" in front of Schmidt.

Best Editor, Long Form
1. Lou Anders
2. Juliet Ulman
3. Liz Gorinsky
4. Ginjer Buchanan
5. Patrick Nielsen Hayden

This was one of the more difficult categories to vote for. Ulman edited some excellent novels in 2009, but Lou Anders IS Pyr and for its size, Pyr is publishing some of the best work year in and year out. 2009 was no exception. Gorinsky's best two or three books for Tor last edged out Ginjer Buchanan's books from Ace. While I would have considered Neilsen Hayden for Editor, Short Form (Tor.com is excellent), if the list I found is at all accurate, most of what he edited in 2009 was paperback reprints of previous Tor hardcovers. It's stuff that he already acquired and published and would have been a stronger list on first publication. PNH is a fine editor (again, love what he's doing with Tor.com's fiction), but this wasn't a Hugo year.

Best Professional Artist
1. Daniel Dos Santos
2. Stephan Martiniere
3. John Picacio
4. Shaun Tan
5. Bob Eggleton

Thanks be to the Hugo Voters Packet for highlighting the 2009 work of each artist. I admire Picacio's work and am always happy to see a new Picacio cover (his work on the Chadbourn editions from Pyr is outstanding), and I think that he is very much due to pick up a Hugo very soon, but I thought (in my uneducated fan perspective) that the 2009 work from Dos Santos and Martiniere was just a touch stronger. The Warbreaker cover from Dos Santos, especially, was a year's highlight.

Best Semiprozine
1. Weird Tales
2. Clarkesworld
3. Interzone
4. Locus
5. Ansible

I like the fiction 'zines. What can I say? Weird Tales and Clarkesworld consistently publishes some of the finest fiction you're likely to find, and if there was a "Best Prozine" category (Editor Short Form, I know), I would honestly put Ann VanderMeer and Neil Clarke above any of the Big Three editors. I probably should have put "No Award" above Ansible.

Best Fan Writer
1. Frederik Pohl
2. James Nicoll
3. No Award

This is the first of the categories for which I wonder if I did the right thing. I'm familiar with the work of Pohl and Nicoll, and I think they are deserving of the slots, but I never familiarized myself with the other three nominees. Are they really worse than a No Award? Probably not, but I didn't feel comfortable ranking them, either.

Best Fanzine
1. File 770
2. StarShipSofa
3. No Award

Here you can repeat much of what I said for Fan Writer, except that the whole concept of a "Fanzine" I think is a touch outdated. I don't know if File 770 still publishes a print edition, but I follow it like a blog. StarShipSofa runs a podcast, and I think that's a perfect example of what the modern fanzine is.

Best Fan Artist
1. Brad W. Foster
2. Dave Howell
3. No Award

Unlike Fan Writer and Fanzine, my vote perfectly reflects how I feel about the nominees. Foster's work is head and shoulders above the other nominees and Howell's design of the Hugo Award base is outstanding. The other three? Honestly, they shouldn't be on the same ballot.


Best Related Work
Best Graphic Story
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
John W. Campbell Award

The Hugo for Short Form aside, these are the categories I semi-regret not voting for (as far as true regret goes for something like this). I'm a big fan of the John W. Campbell Award. I think it's a great way to recognize some of the Up-And-Coming or Newly Arrived talents. Except for maybe a couple of stories, I haven't read these writers. It's a shame, but I can't vote for what I don't know.

Likewise, I think the Best Graphic Story is a wonderful category that I made sure to familiarize myself with enough to nominate - but I've only read Fables: The Dark Ages and it wasn't good enough to actually vote for it blindly. Despite having the Hugo Voters Packet, which includes all of the nominees, I just never got around to reading them. Alas.

Blood in the Fruit, by L. Timmel Duchamp

Blood in the Fruit
L. Timmel Duchamp
Aqueduct Press: 2008

Blood in the Fruit is a novel which deserves a more meticulous review than I am able to give at this time, but I also do not want the book to go unremarked on. So here we are.

Blood in the Fruit is the fourth volume on the Marq’ssan Cycle written by L. Timmel Duchamp. The first three are Alanya to Alanya, Renegade, and Tsunami. The Marq’ssan Cycle, as a whole, is a series of social and moral ideas played out in bold and clear strokes with characters actively conscious of motivation, identity, and theory. The ideas here are what is important.

As I mentioned in my review of Tsunami

This is a highly political novel filled with depth of thought. Duchamp uses dialogue and the inner narration of the characters to explain political and power philosophy. Duchamp may be a bit blunt and obvious in the handling of this political discourse, but by this point it is part and parcel of the story Duchamp is telling. She is telling a political and feminist story, and if that was going to be a problem it would have been a problem in Alanya to Alanya.

With a lesser writer this would be a flaw. With Duchamp it is simple intent and purpose, though nothing is truly “simple” with L.Timmel Duchamp’s writing.

Set some ten years after the events of Alanya to Alanya, Blood in the Fruit focuses on Hazel Bell (assistant to Elizabeth Weatherall, a major player in this series), Celia Espin and Alexandra Sedgewick (daughter to Robert Sedgewick, the primary antagonist of Alanya to Alanya, though that term does not quite convey his role in the series).

With Elizabeth Weatherall’s defection in the previous book, the ruling Executive of the United States is in shambles and fighting to come to grips with its growing ineffectiveness in doing anything to stop the “alien agenda” or protect its grasp of power, and to combat this, the formerly retired (and broken) Robert Sedgewick is stepping back into a position of clear authority. Through the eyes of his sixteen year old daughter, Alexandra, the extent of his character is laid clear. Sedgewick is grooming Alexandra, much to her dismay, to assume a greater degree of authority and power in the Executive.

While the other characters experience their own personal traumas (none moreso than Celia), Alexandra’s story is a painful bit of “coming-of-age”, shaped as it is by Robert Sedgewick.

Alexandra’s story is on the verge of being the simplest and the easiest part of the narrative, but though Duchamp tells her story in a straightforward manner, Alexandra’s “coming-of-age” is deeply problematic from a moral perspective, as grotesque in its way as anything in the previous novels – the torture of Kay Zeldin included (though, perhaps not to that extent).

By no means should one attempt to read Blood in the Fruit without having read the previous three volumes. This is almost a standalone volume, in the sense that the events of the novel can be understood without prior history with the Marq’ssan Cycle, but it is a richer story with deeper meaning if the reader has taken the full journey thus far.

Duchamp builds socio-political change in this series and does so in very stark terms. While not to every reader’s taste, Blood in the Fruit is an excellent and powerful novel. Very well done.


Reading copy provided courtesy of Aqueduct Press.

Previous Reviews:
Alanya to Alanya
Renegade
Tsunami

Sybil's Garage Number 7

Where can you find a television that sees five minutes into the future? Where can you find dragons trapped in a jar and an illness which turns people into glass? Where might you find families who sell their brainpower to corporations for penny wages, or dead relatives that sit down for family meals?

Why, in the pages of Sybil’s Garage No. 7, of course.

In this seventh issue of the highly acclaimed series, you will find twenty-seven original works of fiction and poetry from today’s top talent, with suggested musical accompaniment, our trademark design aesthetic, and much more. But be sure to leave a trail of breadcrumbs on your way into Sybil’s Garage, or you may not find your way out.

The newest issue of Sybil's Garage is now on sale and features fiction from Amy Sisson, Hal Duncan, and Kelly Barnhill.  You will want this. 

Lucius Shepard news from SubPress

To prove that if I come up with an awesome idea, someone else with the means of doing something about the idea will also come up with it: If I was ever put in the position of editing an anthology or collection, I wanted to edit a collection of Lucius Shepard’s Dragon Griaule stories. Shepard is an absolute master and it was a shame that there wasn’t a place to get all of the Dragon Griaule stories in one place.


So, it should come as no surprise that the good people at Subterranean Press will publish just that very collection that I’ve been thinking about for more than a year.


Even though I’m not getting paid for it, good on them and good for us to get all the Dragon Griaule stories in one collection. MUST BUY.

Not five minutes ago I set pen to paper on three different contracts for projects with Lucius Shepard. They include:

– A collection gathering all of his Dragon Griaule stories and novellas, including “The Skull,” a novella original to the volume.
– A collection which will feature four uncollected novellas, including one, “Repairman” written especially for the book.
– A Dragon Griaule novel, titled Beautiful Blood, on which Lucius is already working.

We’ll announce more details and post ordering info as appropriate.

starting

I've just started work to put together my Hugo ballot for this year. It's due by the end of the month if I want to actually vote (which I do).

I've been very distracted for the last several months and that's made me a bad blogger. I don't normally talk about anything that smacks of my personal life here, but I'll make an exception in about a month to explain - because the explanation ties into some other things for the future. It's not at all bad, and actually quite good for me, it's just one of several things occupying my mind and focus that has messed with my blogging.

I've also been a distracted reader lately with my monthly counts dropping significantly. It's hurt my Hugo reading, but luckily I've already covered most of the nominated stories. The novels are a problem. I've only read three of them, and I have another on the way from the library (the Sawyer, if you must know). Not sure if I'll be able to jam out the Mieville or the Robert Charles Wilson. On the other hand, I've read the original RCW story the novel is expanded from and, well, it didn't quite ring for me. So we'll see. Some of the other categories might get somewhat short shrift. Which is a shame, because I wanted to be a great and informed voter this year...and my focus has shifted a bit. Shrug. Not much I can do about that now.

(this parenthetical is here just so that each paragraph doesn't begin with the word "I've". Ugh)

Choir Boats E-book

Okay, y'all. I've been sitting on a review copy of Daniel Rabuzzi's debut fantasy novel The Choir Boats for way, way too long. So - maybe you can help assuage my reviewer's guilt and go check out the book.

For folks who like free stuff, The Choir Boats is being offered as WOWIO's July Book of the Month and is available for free download through the end of July.

I can't tell you a thing about it, but this page right here has a bunch of reviews and stuff.

The Blog You Wish Your Blog Could Be

If you think you really want to be reading something awesome but you just don't know what it is, I've got your answer. You want to be reading Rachel Swirsky's guest posts on Jeff VanderMeer's blog about what she is learning at the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop.

I'm going to cheat just as much as Swirsky did and quote the Launch Pad website:

Launch Pad is a free, NASA-funded workshop for established writers held in beautiful high-altitude Laramie, Wyoming. Launch Pad aims to provide a “crash course” for the attendees in modern astronomy science through guest lectures, and observation through the University of Wyoming’s professional telescopes.

There are twelve students at this year's Launch Pad, and if I'm paying sufficient attention to Rachel's posts the students include: Carrie Vaughn, Kelly Barnhill, Marjorie Liu, and, in Rachel's words

The other class members have an impressive array of backgrounds. We’ve got people who write non-fiction articles, non-fiction books for kids, fantasy novels, erotica novels, Buffy the Vampire novels, hard-science fiction short stories and novels, non-fiction about science fiction, who write movies and tv and video games (including the man who wrote the dialogue for Spore… oooh, shiny), comic books, graphic novels, who fact check for magazines, who edit anthologies and novels and articles, who publish anthologies and novels and articles, and teach writing or teach science, who try to launch commercial projects to the moon… lots of variety, although the preponderance of us have written science fiction or fantasy at some point.

What Rachel is writing about is the science of what she's learning. It's kind of the cliff notes version of actually going to Launch Pad (not as awesome as reading the book, but you get a general sense of what just happened).

If you don't read Jeff's blog on a regular basis (and you should), you'll want to check out the Launch Pad tag on the posts, and that'll keep you up to date. Take this recent post from Swirsky on stuff in our solar system. Interesting as hell. This is why you want to be following her posts over this next week. It's smart stuff taught by really smart people and reported by a smart person. Smart all around.

Check it out. It's probably the coolest thing I'm going read this week.

Forthcoming 2010: Q3

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.

July
Kraken, by China Mieville: I have been slack in my Mieville reading, but a new Mieville novel is always a notable book.

Swords and Dark Magic, by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders (editors): A swords and sorcery anthology from two master anthologists and filled (presumably) with absolute goodness. This can't miss. It can't.

The Fuller Memorandum, by Charles Stross: This is the third "Laundry" novel, following The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue. I very much enjoy following the adventures of Bob Howard and am curious which writer of espionage novels Stross will pastiche this time (after Len Deighton and Ian Fleming). I have a review copy.


August
Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins: Both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire were excellent and I can't wait to see how Collins closes out the trilogy.

Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal: An absolutely delightful book from a wonderful author. See my review.

The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson: I'm reading this right now. 200 pages in and it is big and sprawling and fixing to be Sanderson's opus. It's good stuff and very big, broad fantasy.


September
The Living Dead 2, by John Joseph Adams (editor): Who doesn't want more zombies? JJA puts out excellent anthologies and I expect more of the same from this one. The first Living Dead was a reprint anthology, but this time around he blends reprints with original fiction from the likes of Cherie Priest, Robert Kirkman, and Max Brooks.

Bearers of the Black Staff, by Terry Brooks: While Terry Brooks hasn't written a truly "good" Shanarra novel in years, almost decades (Armageddon's Children is really a Word / Void novel), I still read them to see how Brooks pieces things together and in the hopes that he still has one more really good one left in him. The author who wrote Elfstones is still in there, I know he is.

Servant of the Underworld, by Aliette de Bodard: I think this is still making to the US in September. It's de Bodard's debut novel, a historical mystery set in Aztec times. It's a good chance to see what de Bodard is all about and what she can do at novel-length.

Antiphon, by Ken Scholes: Am about to start reading this third novel in the Psalms of Isaak. Scholes is a writer with a load of potential and is one of the hot new voices in secondary world fantasy. While I'm not a fan of the change in cover art (why, Tor, why?), Antiphon is a much anticipated novel. See my reviews of Lamentation and Canticle.

Aqueduct Press

50 books, 6 years, 1 reader at a time. That’s how indie presses do it, generally. You’re that one reader now, so if you like Aqueduct, if you like me are impressed by this achievement, please re-blog the link to the feature and a link to Aqueduct’s main page for those who want to order that way instead, and support this unique publisher with some book sales love.

That's Jeff VanderMeer talking about L. Timmel Duchamp and Aqueduct Press. He's got an interview with Duchamp up at the Omnivoracious blog and it's a good one.

I haven't read as much published by Aqueduct as I would like to, but what I have read has been very, very good. I am just finishing the fourth (of five) Marq'ssan novel from Duchamp and while the narrative can be challenging to read because it often comes across as social and political theory writ large, the story itself is quite compelling. You will want to start with Alanya to Alanya (my review). I've also read the Plugged In chapbook from Duchamp and Maureen McHugh (my review). It's only two stories, but again, quite good.

I blogged about this before, but I still really want to check out Rachel Swirsky's debut collection Through the Drowsy Dark. Swirsky is fantastic.

Larry has posted some of his thoughts, too.

So, basically, I just want to show some support for Aqueduct Press. I really like what they're doing, what they stand for, and the work that they publish. If you're not familiar with Aqueduct, go check them out.

Night Shade Speaks

Via Genreville, Night Shade Books has issued a statement regarding the allegations of non-payment from Liz Williams, Brendan Halpin, and Elizabeth Moon.

The second paragraph of the official statement:

This has led to some major miscommunication, and sometimes flat-out lack of communication, with our authors, sometimes, even amongst ourselves. We screwed up: Details were missed, one of us assumed another was handling a situation, or a reluctance to deliver bad news turned into an unprofessional excuse to procrastinate. The issues that have come up today, at their core, are really ones of communication. All this could have been avoided through simple phone calls and emails, through us letting people know what was happening.

That's a start. Night Shade has admitted that they have made mistakes, and that's good. It doesn't entirely address all of the issues raised by Williams and Halpin, such as inaccurate royalty statements with factually incorrect information regarding the advance, but that probably shouldn't be part of Night Shade's public discourse anyway.

All that Night Shade should really say is "we were wrong, we messed up, and we will make it right."

Which, essentially, is what they said.

We have already addressed the issues currently at hand involving Elizabeth Moon, Brendan Halpin, and Liz Williams. We have also contacted SFWA, and will be working hand-in-hand with them to find out if any other authors have issues with us, but haven’t come forward yet, and get those problems resolved.

What remains to be seen is whether Night Shade truly will make this right for the authors in question or whether this is something endemic at Night Shade Books. Since both Williams and Halpin have mentioned that they know of other Night Shade authors who are in very similar circumstances, this appears to be a far larger issue for Night Shade than what the thus far public conversation has been about. It's a big problem for Night Shade to resolve. They have publicly acknowledged fault, and that's an important first step.

We'll see if they are also willing to take the next one.

Umm, Night Shade?

Nothing stays a secret for long on the internet.

Not that this was supposed to be one.

Over lunch today I ran across this post at Fantasy Book Critic noting that the future of the Detective Inspector Chen series from Liz Williams was very much in question due to issues she was having with her publisher. I didn't read the post carefully at the time, just skimmed it and thought, "that sucks, I like that series".

Until I got home from work and saw that there was perhaps a bit more to the story than I thought. Enter Rose Fox, at Genreville, shining some light with three short paragraphs. Both Liz Williams and Brendan Halpin (aka Seamus Cooper, author of Mall of Cthulhu) have had serious contractual, communication, and financial issues with their publisher, Night Shade Books.

Liz Williams' statement.

Brendan Halpin's statement.

Now, if you check the dates of those entries, these aren't brand new statements. I think this may have been stoked by a different post from Williams regarding a short story sale she's running to help pay the bills while the financial issues with Night Shade are very much unresolved.

It is worth checking out the various posts to get the direct perspectives from Williams and Halpin. I might otherwise run quotes here but i don't want any context to be lost by poorly selecting exactly which passage to run. It is important to be clear with this and all the information I have is covered by the above posts.

***

I have to say that I'm extremely surprised by this. As I am not a writer, my relationship with Night Shade Books has been a) as a reviewer, and, b) as a consumer.

As a reviewer Night Shade was one of the first publishers willing to send me copies of their books to consider for review and, from this respect, Night Shade has been very easy to work with.

As a consumer I hold Night Shade in the highest regard. The books they publish are top of the line in terms of quality and production value. Shit, they've published Paolo Bacigalupi's first two books, Jonathan Strahan's Eclipse series, Alex Bledsoe's debut novel, a host of John Joseph Adams anthologies, republished Imaro, and...well...from a consumer's perspective, they rock.

***

Until today I would have assumed that Night Shade Books was an example of how a small press can get it right. I would have assumed that, yes, there were the minor hiccups, errors, and issues that crop up as a part of business, but also that those hiccups, errors, and issues were addressed appropriately. Because that is what good people should do.

So, as Rose Fox stated.

This is causing a lot of shock among people who have long seen Night Shade as an exemplary small genre press.

Exactly. This was very much unexpected and, without knowing a lick more than i do from the above linked posts, I am very much disappointed that these two writers are being treated in the manner they claim. I am even more disappointed that a publisher I held in high esteem is at the center of this and is the one harming Liz Williams and Brendan Halpin.

***

With the initial statements a couple of months old, this may be the extent of public statements from those involved and no other writers will come forward with similar stories. If so, I can only wish Williams, Halpin, and anyone else who may be affected or harmed a speedy resolution that is fair and equitable.

If not, well, this is something worth keeping an eye on.

Shadowline, by Glen Cook

Shadowline
Glen Cook
1982

Sometimes a first impression does not serve the reader. The first ten chapters span a scant 32 pages and some two hundred years. More, those ten chapters bounce between different eras with different characters and it is initially difficult to get a handle on the focus of the novel. The initial impression given is that this early novel from Glen Cook, originally published in 1982, just is not as tightly controlled as readers might expect from Cook’s later work. That perhaps Cook is trying to do too much and go too big and this will be a noble failure.

That’s the impression that readers who love the Black Company and the Garrett PI novels but couldn’t appreciate the Dread Empire novels might come away with. That impression would be so very wrong.

Shadowline tells a multi-faceted story which, though initially confusing, ultimately coalesces into a very coherent tale of family and revenge (set a good thousand years in the future and in spaaaaaace). Initially offputting, the jumping around in time and character allows Glen Cook to present the origins of a conflict that should span generations, yet due to life-extending technology, still features the same major players. Cook dances around in time, and gives a number of clues to how things fit together, but the reader doesn’t know how until later.

Who is the crazy old coot called Frog? Why is this minor chapter important? What about the framing chapters of Masato Storm? Much of the focus of the novel is on Gnaeus Storm and the framing chapters are twenty years later. And the bits with the Sangaree, an alien race which keeps humans like cattle? The opening chapters are so disconnected from each other, but patience is rewarded.

Here Glen Cook’s craft and storytelling is in fine form. The characters and disparate story arcs are compelling even when the connections seem tenuous. Shadowline only improves with each passing page and though this is only the first entry of a trilogy, Shadowline feels complete and whole in its own right. This is an impressive novel, complete with generational politics, intrigue, and war spanning the stars. Oh, it’s good.

With Night Shade Books re-releasing the Starfishers trilogy, this is the perfect chance to delve into a fantastic first volume of space opera.


Reading copy provided courtesy of Night Shade Books.