ONCE upon a time…. Here is a post from Sara about the locavore lobster dinner we went to on Friday night.
Harlan Ellison at E-Reads
Harlan Ellison. Looks like there are a lot of reprint/POD editions of Ellison’s work available at e-reads. This is the first time I checked out their site, so I don’t know much about them. I will have to check to see if there are any books that I do not already have somewhere. I think I need Gentleman Junkie.
I am curious to see the quality of these POD books. Could be a viable way of keeping good books in print.
Weird Tales #353 Out Now
My story “Bruise for Bruise” is in the latest issue of Weird Tales, which you can now order online.
A brief snippet to whet your appetite:
Joss Coffington came to Promise to find the girl with God on her back.
He had heard many rumors about the strange town before, and had passed along a few he had made up when he was on his sixth or seventh beer, but it wasn’t until he heard that particular rumor, that of the bruised girl, that he finally took to walking. He wasn’t alone on those dusty back roads, either, and most of them that crowded Joss on the road were going to see the girl, too, going to the town of Promise, where monsters were born.
This issue: Samurai versus dinosaurs; modern horror legends Thomas Ligotti and Richard Corben break down Poe and Lovecraft; a tribute to J.G. Ballard; World Fantasy Award-winning author Jeffrey Ford; and much more! Order it here!
FICTION
“Weiroot” | by Jeffrey Ford
“The Garbacologist” | by Jeff Johnson
“Headstone in My Pocket” | by Paul G. Tremblay
“Bruise for Bruise” | by Robert Davies
“Court Scranto” | by Caleb Wilson
“Selected Views of Mt. Fuji, With Dinosaurs” | by Hunter Eden
FEATURES
“Thomas Ligotti: The Weird Tales Interview”
Geoffrey Goodwin asks horror’s offbeat genius: must life be so decayingly crummy? -
“Richard Corben: Drawing Upon the Masters” | The comic-book legend tells Bill Baker about adapting Poe and Lovecraft for Marvel’s Haunt of Horror.
Weirdism | J.G. Ballard: the most mindblowing drug
The Bazaar | steampunk art sorceress Bethalynne Bajema
The Library | Tanith Lee, Catherynne Valente, and Jedediah Berry
Lost In Lovecraft | a literary journey with Kenneth Hite
Cover illustration by Saara Salmi
Hugo Awards Announced
The Hugos were awarded last night. I was happy to see Weird Tales and Electric Velocipede win. I have no complaints about any of the winners, but I was hoping Kij Johnson’s “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss” won the short story category, because it is a great story and, well, monkeys! Congratulations to all the winners.
- Best Novel: The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury UK)
- Best Novella: “The Erdmann Nexus”, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2008)
- Best Novelette: “Shoggoths in Bloom”, Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Mar 2008)
- Best Short Story: “Exhalation”, Ted Chiang (Eclipse Two)
- Best Related Book: Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, John Scalzi (Subterranean Press)
- Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, Written by Kaja & Phil Foglio, art by Phil Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)
- Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: WALL-E Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter, story; Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, screenplay; Andrew Stanton, director (Pixar/Walt Disney)
- Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon, & Zack Whedon, & Jed Whedon, & Maurissa Tancharoen, writers; Joss Whedon, director (Mutant Enemy)
- Best Editor Short Form: Ellen Datlow
- Best Editor Long Form: David G. Hartwell
- Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
- Best Semiprozine: Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer & Stephen H. Segal
- Best Fan Writer: Cheryl Morgan
- Best Fanzine: Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima
- Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu
- The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines): David Anthony Durham
Trip to Marrakech
The plane tickets are purchased and the riad and hotel are booked. Now we have five months to work on the itinerary. This is by far the most time we have had a trip planned in advance.
We will be in Marrakech for Christmas and in Madrid for New Year’s Eve.
Tagines and Tapas
Sara and I are planning our next trip, and if all goes according to plan we will be in Marrakech at the end of December and in Madrid for New Year’s Eve. There is a ton of research to do because we have not been to either place. Marrakech will be the longer, more intense part of the trip, with a few days in Madrid to unwind at the end (did someone say tapas bar?). Any suggestions are more than welcome!
After Readercon
Readercon was rather good this year, but we missed Thursday night and Sunday. There were a lot of great panels, and some
I was able to have Gene Wolfe sign my three Book of the Short Sun volumes. Now, I just need to get the Book of the Long Sun volumes signed and I will be content. I got my Easton Press copies of Book of the New Sun signed at Balticon a few years ago. (Not funny story: I carried all of my Gene Wolfe books to Baltimore in a suitcase (20 or so), only to learn that there was a 3-book limit at the signing. My joy was not full.)
Samuel R. Delany signed my copies of Nova, Fall of the Towers, and Babel-17/Empire Star. I now have my entire Delany collection of books signed, except for an old SFBC copy of Driftglass.
I didn’t buy many books because we took the bus and I was already carrying 10 books with us, but I did pick up Catherynne M. Valente’s In the Night Garden and I got it signed shortly thereafter. Sara got Elizabeth Hand’s Generation Loss and got it signed.
I met some new folks, including Chris Furst, who wrote the phenomenal “The Last Great Clown Hunt” in Weird Tales.
There is a new restaurant at the hotel called Summer Winter, which was really nice. The food was excellent and the beer and wine selection was not too bad. Unfortunately, they seem to have neutered their existing “Irish” pub so it wouldn’t compete, severely slashing the offerings on the menu. But Smithwick’s on tap is never a bad thing.
Overall, another enjoyable weekend.
UPDATE:
I just learned the sad news that Charles N. Brown, the publisher of Locus, died soon after Readercon. I didn’t know him, but have been an avid reader of Locus since my teens, which, before the Internet, was the only place I knew of to get info on what books my favorite writers were working on.
To Do List
I’ve been very busy with work lately, so I haven’t been updating the blog much and have fallen behind on several projects. I have a few stories coming out in the coming weeks, eagerly waiting for the mailman with my contributor copies.
On the agenda for the remainder of the year:
- Finish Hiram Grange novella. I am really unforgivably late with this. I was blocked and written into a corner until I realized a very simple fix, which I think lets everything fall into place. I should be done in a week or two (5000 words or so left after some vicious cutting of little darlings).
- Get through the first 2 modules of Arabic in Rosetta Stone by December.
- Finish horror novel (LBB) for DP’s contest by the end of September.
- Finish “First Will of Barnabas Crake” story, with more monkeys, real and imagined.
- Finish “Crucifixion” story and send to Interzone. (4 years and counting on this 9000 word opus. Egads!)
- Join the gym to regain my eternal mastery over flesh and steel and mind
- Finish John Crowley’s Aegypt Cycle, Moorcock’s Pyat books plus Del Rey reprints of the Elric stories, and a few more of Steve Erikson’s Malazan books (I am up to Book 5 now). Other reading will be more freeform. I am a flibbertigibbet when it comes to books, so I never know what I am reading next.
- Plan out trip to Marrakech at end of December.
io9 – Alastair Reynolds Gets £1 Million To Write Some More Space Operas – Books
io9 – Alastair Reynolds Gets £1 Million To Write Some More Space Operas – Books.
Very good news. Aside from Iain M. Banks, Reynolds is my favorite writer of space opera. Revelation Space is a classic, and he just keeps getting better. I have House of Suns on my “to read” pile.
Now we have 10 more books to look forward to!
