Gene Wolfe Reads a Solar Labryinth and the Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories
The Dubious Monk (Free subscription) | 10/31/2009
I’ve been reading, but not a lot, and for some reason haven’t been real keen on writing everything up as I finish it. Here’s what I can remember since the last review. Recently I finished Shadow & Claw the first two volumes of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun tetralogy. A classic and one [...]
SF Signal (Free subscription) | 10/21/2009
Recent events and discussions once again bring the topic of genre fiction's mainstream respectability to the forefront. So we thought it'd be timely to ask this week's panelists: Q: In your opinion, does literary science fiction and fantasy have mainstream respect? Why, if at all, does it need mainstream approval? What would such approval mean for genre fiction? Read on to see their level-setting...
SF Signal (Free subscription) | 10/20/2009
Lou Anders has posted the table of contents for Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery , the anthology he co-edited with Jonathan Strahan, which will be available June 22, 2010 from Harper Eos: Introduction: Check Your Dark Lord at the Door by Lou Anders & Jonathan Strahan "Goats of Glory" by Steven Erikson "Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company" by Glen Cook...
Catalogue of Organisms. (Free subscription) | 10/14/2009
"There is a cube of crystal here - though I can no longer tell you where -no larger than the ball of your thumb that contains more books than the library itself does. Though a harlot might dangle it from one ear for an ornament, there are not volumes enough in the world to counterweight the other." --Gene Wolfe, The Shadow of the Torturer . The ICZN is currently debating amendments to the...
Beer in Baltimore (Free subscription) | 10/08/2009
Found via Instapundit : Gene Wolfe, Jack O'Connell, and 09.09.09 Stone Vertical Epic Ale: The Perfect Pairing? If you're not the literary type, at least you have this description of Stone's Vertical Epic 09.09.09, which last I saw was on tap at Max's Taphouse: What's the beer like? Prior to our tasting, head brewer Mitch Steele described it thusly: "During the brewing process we added dark candi...
Bibliophile Stalker (Free subscription) | 10/08/2009
My BSC Review column is up: The Taboos of Editing . Not quite fantasy or science fiction, maybe horror. Not everything is in English. Pinoy Transgressive . And zen photo for the day from the immortal (how many times do we have to kill him? ) Jack Haringa : Interview Mur Laffery interviews Lou Anders and Pablo Defendini (podcast). Mur Lafferty interviews J.C. Hutchins . Mihai interviews Stephanie Pui-Mun...
Pat's Fantasy Hotlist (Free subscription) | 09/29/2009
Thanks to the kind folks at Voyager, I have five copies of Songs of the Dying Earth , a Jack Vance tribute anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, up for grabs. For more info about this title: Europe . Here's the blurb: Jack Vance was a seminal figure in the development of modern fantasy, so much so that it’s nearly impossible to imagine the genre as we know it today existing...
Notes from the Labyrinth (Free subscription) | 09/28/2009
This is Banned Books Week . Banning books seems to me so self-evidently wrong that I don't actually have anything to say on the subject. Except, hey. Support intellectual freedom. Read a banned book. Last Drink Bird Head , a collection of flash fiction, the proceeds of which go to ProLiteracy , is available for pre-order . I'm in Last Drink Bird Head , along with a really astonishing plethora of cool...
14theditch (Free subscription) | 09/25/2009
I've posted about this upcoming pub before -- an anthology of flash fiction, proceeds of which will go to benefit ProLiteracy http://www.proliteracy.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=191&srcid=-2 Derek and I both have work in this book. That's his Parrot Head drawing up there next to Eric Schaller's drawing that inspired the concept for the book. I'm posting now to let you know that you can pre-order...
SF Signal (Free subscription) | 09/25/2009
Jeff VanderMeer writes about a good cause: Folks who pre-order (with a $5 discount) Last Drink Bird Head , the flash-fiction anthology Jeff co-edited with his wife Ann, will see the proceeds go ProLiteracy , an organization that "champions the power of literacy to improve the lives of adults and their families, communities, and societies." Here's some more info about the book: What Is Last...
Click World News (Free subscription) | 09/24/2009
Jeff VanderMeer sez, What Is Last Drink Bird Head? That's the catalyst editors Ann and Jeff VanderMeer provided to over 80 writers in creating this unique anthology, with all proceeds going to ProLiteracy.org. All each writer got was an email with "Last Drink Bird Head" in the subject line and the directions "Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head? Under 500 words." Like any surrealist...
Boing Boing (Free subscription) | 09/24/2009
Jeff VanderMeer sez, What Is Last Drink Bird Head? That's the catalyst editors Ann and Jeff VanderMeer provided to over 80 writers in creating this unique anthology, with all proceeds going to ProLiteracy.org. All each writer got was an email with "Last Drink Bird Head" in the subject line and the directions "Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head? Under 500 words." Like any surrealist...
Web News Site (Free subscription) | 09/24/2009
Jeff VanderMeer sez, What Is Last Drink Bird Head? That's the catalyst editors Ann and Jeff VanderMeer provided to over 80 writers in creating this unique anthology, with all proceeds going to ProLiteracy.org. All each writer got was an email with "Last Drink Bird Head" in the subject line and the directions "Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head? Under 500 words." Like any surrealist...
Click World News (Free subscription) | 09/24/2009
Jeff VanderMeer sez, What Is Last Drink Bird Head? That's the catalyst editors Ann and Jeff VanderMeer provided to over 80 writers in creating this unique anthology, with all proceeds going to ProLiteracy.org. All each writer got was an email with "Last Drink Bird Head" in the subject line and the directions "Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head? Under 500 words." Like any surrealist...
The Guardian Books Blog (Free subscription) | 09/24/2009
The literary establishment don't seem willing or able to recognise that British sci-fi is going through a golden age When I heard that Kim Stanley Robinson thought my science fiction novel, Yellow Blue Tibia, should "probably" win this year's Man Booker prize , I nearly fell off my chair. It's a pretty rickety chair, but still. The fact that Robinson is one of the five greatest sci-fi writers...
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