Science Fiction | To The Last Word

Objects in Dreams, by Lisa Tuttle

Books, Fantasy, Horror, Reviews, Science Fiction, Short Stories No Responses »

Apr 242013

Lisa Tuttle has long been one of the masters of the deeply unsettling tale. Last year her short story Objects in Dreams may be Closer than they Appear opened Jonathan Oliver’s excellent anthology, House of Fear, a collection of haunted and otherwise strange homes. That was one of my favourite books of the year, and that Tuttle’s tale was chosen to open a volume containing new work by such writers as Chaz Brenchley, Eric Brown, Christopher Fowler, Garry Kilworth, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon and Christopher Priest says something of the quality of the tale. It is no surprise therefore to find Objects in Dreams… reappear so quickly as the title story and opener of her latest collection of short fiction, a mixture of Horror, Fantasy and SF stories, and a book I have chosen as my single favourite new genre title of 2012.

(At this point, in the interests of full disclosure, I should say that I was a judge of the Arthur C. Clarke Award at the same time as Lisa Tuttle, count her as a friend and am currently working with her on a publishing project. That said, I wouldn’t be writing about this book, which I bought with my own money, if I didn’t mean every word I say about it here. I don’t get anything out of singing its praises).

Objects in Dreams in a slim volume of 156 pages published by the British Newcon Press. It is beautifully produced in a signed limited edition hardback (125 copies, £19.99, available from Newcon Press though there will, based on other titles from Newcon Press, be an ebook available soon for considerably less. Tuttle’s collection is volume 4 in the Imaginings series of single author collections, which has previously featured Tanith Lee, Stephen Baxter and Tony Ballantyne, and will soon offer volumes from Nina Allen and Pat Cadigan.

There are nine stories, ranging from the 1989 BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) Best Short Story winner, ‘In Translation’, to the 2007 International Horror Guild winner, ‘Closet Dreams’, and right up to date with the previously unpublished ‘Paul’s Mother’.

The title story recounts a surprisingly difficult attempt to find a house in the English countryside, a house best left unexplored. In ‘Old Mr. Boudreaux’ a woman returns to her childhood Texas home and honours a promise made to her dying mother. A Cold Dish is a darkly humoured tale of motherhood and revenge in a near future America, while In Translation finds a man so entranced by newly arrived and enigmatic aliens that he can’t appreciate the love he has. Ragged Claws is a science fiction piece about the lure of a better life on an alien world, and a not entirely trustworthy account of the journey to Eden. The Man in the Ditch is a fine English ghost story with a hint of Don’t Look Now. Shelf Life is another outstanding chiller, featuring a haunting doll’s house. Simply telling my wife about this one gave her delicious chills. Paul’s Mother is another gem, spinning marrow-freezing tragedy out of a rather familiar idea. The closing Closet Dreams is an American nightmare, a surreal memoir of child abduction that offers no escape.

There isn’t a weak piece in Objects in Dreams and everyone will have their favourites. Tuttle is an expert at crafting quiet domestic horror, a nightmare escalating until it can not be ignored, inevitably reaching a terrifying conclusion. The stories are often walk the line between British ghost fiction, the more generally supernatural and surreal, and the hinterland of psychological uncertainty and disquiet. They are character stories, often though not always, about middle-age women, exploring deep anxieties through personal odysseys most of us would prefer not to take. Tuttle’s stories are not for gore-hounds, though very unpleasant things happen in most of them. Rather they are for those who like their dread subtle but lingering, the inexplicable, unshakable feeling of wrongness on a sunny day.

A Newcon Press sampler can be purchased in ebook form from Amazon.com for $0.99, or from Amazon.co.uk for £0.77.

The sampler showcases Newcon Press titles from 2012 and 2013, featuring stories from Nina Allan, Tony Ballantyne, Chris Beckett, Gary McMahon, Mercurio D. Rivera, Lisa Tuttle (‘Ragged Claws’), and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

This Shared Dream & In War Times

Authors, Blog, Reviews, Science Fiction No Responses »

Feb 122013

This review of two novels by Kathleen Ann Goonan, In War Times and that book’s sequel, This Shared Dream, originally appeared in slightly different form on the Los Angeles Review of Books.

In War Times

Kathleen Ann Goonan’s In War Times, originally published in 2007, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel and the ALA’s Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year. A complex exploration of the political implications of alternative history, In War Times begins in 1941, with Sam Dance being given documents that lead to the opening of a parallel world in which Dance’s brother, Keenan, survived the attack on Pearl Harbor to work for a better future — as does Sam in “our” reality. The SF element of the book is the “Device” Sam and his friend Wink develop, the ramifications of which are traced in the increasingly surreal second half of the novel. The Device, the workings of which are only hinted at but which have something to do with quantum mechanics, taps into the genetic basis of human perceptions of time, conferring an ability to alter past events — a process that works ever stranger, more powerful effects as the book progresses.

The first half of In War Times chronicles Sam’s travels through Europe, with our hero finding himself in so many significant places at historically notable moments that one wonders if he is related to Forrest Gump. A significant thread of continuity is provided by jazz music, which is paralleled with the development of modern physics and weapons of mass destruction, and functions as a life-affirming counterweight to them. (From Queen City Jazz onwards, music has been a central theme of Goonan’s work, and she writes about the subject better than anyone else in science fiction; her first quartet of novels continued with Mississippi Blues, Crescent City Rhapsody, and Light Music.) An afterword reveals that the non-science-fictional elements of Sam Dance’s life closely follow the adventures of the author’s father, Thomas E. Goonan, who provided engineering support for radar and other technology during the invasion of Europe in 1944, and extracts from whose notebooks appear throughout In War Times. These passages are hugely interesting, but the first-person text is so different from the novel’s main narrative that the inclusions sometimes jar. Still, the novel offers a compelling intellectual drama, a moving love story (when Sam meets his future wife, Bette), and a tense race-against-time thriller that works despite a technology that seems ludicrous, if visualized, and involves making fresh and interesting the tired cliché of revisiting the assassination of JFK to change the outcome.

This Shared Dream is set a generation later. Major characters from In War Times play minor roles, though they cast long shadows and continue to act behind the scenes. This much more domestic novel is set in and around the old Dance family home in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1991, in a parallel world more peaceful and a decade or two more technologically advanced than our own. The focus is Sam and Bette’s three children – Jill, Brian and Megan – as they approach middle-age and struggle with the problems of work, family, and the barely remembered, shockingly traumatic events of their youth.

This Shared Dream contains a lot of incident, and there is plenty of complex story, skilfully woven into the mesh of the previous volume, but it is not a narrative-driven work to anywhere near the same extent. The plot happens largely off-stage. Although there is – eventually – a mystery to be solved, and some mild suspense and danger involving a missing piece of technology, this is much more a novel about consequences, about coming to terms with the past and building the basis for a sustainable future on both personal and global levels. It is a reflective and thoughtful book, immersed in conversation and personal detail, and inevitably slowly paced with considerable scene-setting and back-story.

The crisis is precipitated by Jill, now 41, her marriage troubled, pressured by her PhD studies and the responsibilities of her independent bookshop, who revisits the old family home and breaks down. Jill tries to make the world better through her work, promoting the development of self-replicating nanotechnology schools. Brian has suppressed the past via alcohol, and Megan obsesses about recovering it through memory research. Brian’s daughter, Zoe, continuing the focus on music, is a phenomenally talented musician who, alongside Jill, is the most interesting character in the book.

Enigmatic incidents accumulate. Characters return, but covertly. Life goes on. There are plans to use the technology developed in the first novel for good and ill, but the Device is nebulously self-aware with an agenda of its own. While this is a well-thought-out and richly imagined book, it will definitely frustrate those seeking a strong narrative. Instead, events are often as mysterious and poorly understood by Goonan’s protagonists as they are in real life. It is a world away from mainstream SF in which the all-competent hero never ceases to drive the action and everything is neatly explained. Here, though an emotionally satisfying resolution awaits, there is a sense that the characters are players in a drama they see only through a glass darkly.

At heart This Shared Dream reads equally as the story of a family’s healing and as a compassionate manifesto for a more cooperative, collaborative future, an implicit critique of the competitive underpinnings of the American Dream. Both books are thoughtful, well written, lovingly characterized, sometimes startlingly powerful in their humanity. If Goonan’s profound aversion to conflict results in a second novel that is somewhat dramatically underpowered, it is the price one pays for exploring an upgraded global dream for all of us.

Personal Best

Amazing Stories, Blog, Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction 3 Responses »

Feb 062013

Every so often the SF news magazine Locus runs a top ten poll. The most recent poll closed at the end of November. It focused on the 20th and 21st centuries, with separate categories for SF and Fantasy novels and combined rankings for SF/Fantasy novellas, novelettes, and short stories. These were ‘write-in’ polls, so nothing was excluded. For the 20th century each poll offered 10 places, for the 21st century, five. To fill it all in conscientiously required a lot of reflection and recollection. Suffice to say by the time I got around to broaching the online form it was the last day of November and time was running out. But I did complete the poll with regards to novels, and as you don’t know me it seems a useful way of introducing myself to list my choices and to talk about them a little. You can see the results for the novel polls on the Locus web site here.

Because I read all sorts of other things besides SF, Fantasy and Horror – especially history, biography, science and politics as well as crime and literary fiction (whatever that may be), and because I work and am married and have a social life, there are huge gaps in my reading. Everyone has huge gaps in their reading. As such I wouldn’t presume to make definitive selections. Just as the Locus poll results are the combination of many different personal choices, these are my own, entirely personal picks, free of any agenda on my part. This is not an attempt to define ‘the best’ of anything. In some cases I do think these particular books are ‘the best’ (which may say as much or more about what I haven’t read as what I have), others simply resonate with me more than other titles, probably out of all proportion to their worth to different readers. So here goes, with all the usual additional caveats about how on another day, with the wind from the north and a mug of coffee rather than tea, half these selections would have been different.

The Affirmation

20th Century SF Novel

1: The Broken God – David Zindell
2: Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
3: The Affirmation – Christopher Priest
4: Last and First Men – Olaf Stapledon
5: The City and the Stars – Arthur C. Clarke
6: Blood Music – Greg Bear
7: A Dream of Wessex – Christopher Priest
8: Hyperion – Dan Simons
9: The Lords of the Starship – Mark E. Geston
10 Distress – Greg Egan

Choosing ten books is egregious. Putting them in order, egregious cubed.

The Broken God by David Zindell is probably an odd choice, but it gripped me as very little fiction of any sort ever has. It is the follow-up to Zindell’s Neverness, which always struck me as the sort of book Dune should have been. The Broken God is better still. Unfortunately the rest of the sequence fails to live up to the extremely high standard David Zindell set for himself.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is here because I’ve read it three times and it remains eternally relevant. For dazzling cosmological scale Olaf Stapledon set the benchmark. His book is all the more remarkable for how long ago it was written. The City and the Stars combines Arthur C. Clarke’s visionary sense-of-wonder and sense-of-melancholy with more beauty and imagination than any of his other works. Blood Music remains the pinnacle of SFnal transcendence, the biotechnological 2001. The dark beauty of Lords of the Starship haunts me all through the years between readings. Hyperion is the most ingenious of modern space operas and Distress is the premiere mind-boggling intellect in SF, Greg Egan, at his best.

Yes, there are two books by Christopher Priest. What can I say? He is my favourite author in the genre. The Affirmation may be a great SF novel – medical immortality forms part of the story – or a great fantasy novel about the line between imagination and madness – or a great mainstream novel about fantasy and writing, or all three. A Dream of Wessex is the first great virtual reality novel (Simulacron 3 by Daniel F. Galouye seems to be the first true VR novel, though the theme predates that book) and paves the ground for everything from The Matrix to Inception.

21st Century SF Novel

1: Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
2: City at the End of Time – Greg Bear
3: The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
4: 11.22.63 – Stephen King
5: The Windup Girl – Paolo Bacigalupi

Cloud Atlas is not to be confused with the film of the same name, which at the time of writing hasn’t opened in the UK. The film looks to have made explicit that which is implicit in the book, and added laser weapons. The Time Traveller’s Wife is certainly not to be confused with the chocolate box movie of the same name. City at the End of Time is a stunning SF/Fantasy/Horror epic tribute to William Hope Hodgson and all sorts of genre history, until it falls apart at the very end. 11.22.63 is King delivering his finest stand-alone novel in years and The Windup Girl is so good for almost all its length that it can be forgiven for a rushed and unsatisfying finale.

20th Century Fantasy Novel

1: The Magus – John Fowles
2: Winter’s Tale – Mark Helprin
3: The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
4: The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant – Stephen R. Donaldson
5: The Glamour – Christopher Priest
6: The Shining – Stephen King
7: Lavondyss – Robert Holdstock
8: Watership Down – Richard Adams
9: The Crystal World – J.G. Ballard
10: The Land of Laughs – Jonathan Carroll

I don’t consider The Magus to be a fantasy novel at all, though I have read it five times and it’s my favourite work of fiction. But Locus included it on their exhaustive memory-jogging list of 20th century fantasy novels, and who am I to argue? On it went. A brilliant, brilliant, brilliant book. Read it now. Winter’s Tale is simply the most gorgeous romantic fantasy epic with the most wonderfully poetic use of language. The Lord of the Rings is here because, well, it has to be. Modern fantasy fiction wouldn’t exist without it, though given I don’t care for High Fantasy, that wouldn’t necessarily be bad thing. Certainly once you’ve got Tolkien and Donaldson and a handful of others that’s quite enough. OK, so there’s another Christopher Priest book. It’s a masterpiece and it’s my list. The Glamour stands-up to any number of re-readings. Lavondyss was the sequel to Mythago Wood, and proved to be even better, taking archetypical fantasy into new dimensions of inner-space. Ballard redefined genre in the 1960’s, and The Crystal World may be his finest work before the near mainstream beckoned. The Land of Laughs is a stunning exploration of the nature of fantasy, Watership Down is the definitive talking animal epic and The Shining a candidate for the best haunted house novel ever penned.

21st Century Fantasy Novel

Palimpest 1: Palimpsest – Catherynne M. Valente
2: The Long Price Quartet – Daniel Abraham
3: The Angel’s Game – Carlos Ruiz Zafón
4: Mr Peanut – Adam Ross
5: The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower – Stephen King

Palimpsest combines an astonishing facility for language with a unique imaginative vision. Strange, disturbing, bizarre and highly original. The Angel’s Game is far superior to predecessor The Shadow of the Wind. Mr Peanut is an astonishing debut, The Long Price Quartet a stunningly sustained character epic of war and hard choices and The Dark Tower the fabulous conclusion to the boldest, most imaginative, thrilling, uneven, frustrating, exhilarating multi-volume saga in modern fiction.

This is a very slightly revised version of an article which first appeared on Amazing Stories.

Amazing Stories returns online

Amazing Stories, Blog, News, Reading, Science Fiction No Responses »

Jan 222013

As previously mentioned, the world’s first Science Fiction magazine, Amazing Stories is coming back, and I will be writing for it. After three weeks in beta testing, today sees the official launch of the website, and here is a link to my first post, talking about some of my favourite books.

Meanwhile here is the official press release: Amazing Stories, the world’s first science fiction magazine, is now open to the public. Social Magazine Website Offers Nearly Sixty Writers and Social Networking For Fans!

Experimenter Publishing Company, Hillsboro, NH, January 21, 2013

AMAZING STORIES are just one click away!TM The Experimenter Publishing Company is pleased to announce the reintroduction of the world’s most recognizable science fiction magazine – AMAZING STORIES! Following the completion of a successful Beta Test begun on January 2nd, 2013, Amazing Stories is now open to the public. Fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror are invited to join and are encouraged to participate in helping to bring back a cherished icon of the field. For the past several weeks nearly sixty fans, authors, artists, editors and bloggers have been producing articles on your favorite subjects – the literature of SF/F/H, its presentations in media such as television, film, poetry, literature, games, comics and much more. All contents of Amazing Stories are free to the general public. Membership is also free – and entitles members to participate in the discussion, share information and engage in many other familiar social networking activities. Membership also represents a stake in helping Amazing Stories return to publication.

The more members the site acquires, the faster Amazing Stories can become a paying market for short fiction. Every genre fan now has a chance to help support the creation of a new market for the stories, artwork and articles they all love so much. To visit the site and obtain your free membership, go to AMAZING STORIES, and don’t forget to invite your friends too!

Frank Wu, multiple award winning artist and curator of the online Frank R. Paul gallery was commissioned to create this interpretation and homage to the famed science fiction artist Paul and the first cover for Amazing Stories, Volume 1, Number 1. This illustration will be featured as the cover when the first new issue goes to press.

Frank Wu’s cover for Volume 75, #1, (Whole Number 610) issue of Amazing Stories.

This reincarnation of Amazing Stories could not have happened without the generous support of Woodall Design LLC and the members of the Amazing Stories Blog Team: Cenobyte, Karen G. Anderson, Mike Brotherton, Ricky L. Brown, Michael A. Burstein, Catherine Coker, Johne Cook, Paul Cook, Gary Dalkin, Jane Frank, Adria K. Fraser, Jim Freund, Fran Friel, Adam Gaffen, Chris Garcia, Chris Gerwel, Tommy Hancock, Liz Henderson, Samantha Henry, M.D. Jackson, Monique Jacob, Geoffrey James, J. Jay Jones, Daniel M. Kimmel, Peggy Kolm, Justin Landon, Andrew Liptak, Bob Lock, Melissa Lowery, Barry Malzberg, C. E. Martin, Farrell J. McGovern, Steve Miller, Matt Mitrovich, Aidan Moher, Kevin Murray, Ken Neth, Astrid Nielsch, D. Nicklin-Dunbar, James Palmer, John Purcell, James Rogers, Felicity Savage, Diane Severson, Steve H. Silver, J. Simpson, Douglas Smith, Lesley Smith, Bill Spangler, Duane Spurlock, Michael J. Sullivan, G. W. Thomas, Erin Underwood, Stephan Van Velzen, Cynthia Ward, Michael Webb, Keith West, John M. Whalen, Karlo Yeager, Leah A. Zeldes

For more information about Amazing Stories, please contact the publisher at

Experimenter@AmazingStoriesMag.com

Amazing Stories No.1, April 1926

The New Amazing Stories

Blog, Blogs, Fantasy, Film, Genre, Horror, News, Press Releases, Science Fiction, Television No Responses »

Dec 212012

Amazing Stories, the world’s first science fiction magazine, opens for Beta Testing of Phase 1 on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013.

Fifty+ Writers Sign On to provide genre-related content!

Experimenter Publishing Company

Hillsboro, NH

December 20, 2012

AMAZING STORIES are just one click away!^TM

The Experimenter Publishing Company is pleased to announce the reintroduction of the world’s most recognizable science fiction magazine – AMAZING STORIES!

Set to relaunch with a Beta Test of its new Social Magazine Platform, Amazing Stories will feature content from 50+ bloggers, covering an enormous array of subjects of interest to genre fans.

“We’ve got authors and agents, bloggers and editors, pod casters and broadcasters; we’ve got gamers and game designers; artists and art collectors; pulpsters and indie authors; we’ve got Hugo winners, John W. Campbell Memorial Award winners, John W. Campbell Best New Writer winners, Nebula and Hugo Award winners and nominees and winners and nominees of many other awards; people who review films, people who make films; we’ve got fanboys and fangirls; we’ve got former editors of Amazing Stories, writers who’ve become synonymous with the field and writers who are just getting started; comic artists, book reviewers; traditionally published authors, self-pubbed authors and authors who’ve done it all. The response to my request for participation was phenomenal – it couldn’t be more perfect if I had set out with a list of must-haves!” said Steve Davidson, publisher.

Amazing Stories’ Social Magazine platform is designed to create an interactive environment that will be familiar to fans with blog content designed to encourage discussion and take things beyond the usual user-generated content model for social networks.

The Amazing Stories Blog Team will cover (for now – more coming!) fourteen popular topics – Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, (lit), Film, Television, Gaming, Comics and Graphic Works, the Visual Arts, the Pulps, Audio Works, Anime, the Business of Publishing, Science and Fandom itself.

At this year’s Worldcon (Chicon 7 the 70 th Worldcon, Chicago), Toastmaster John Scalzi talked about what it was to be a fan and concluded by saying

“We are diverse – and we are all in this together.”

We are diverse – and we are all in this together, a sentiment that captures the very heart and soul of what it means to be a fan. Amazing Stories aims to be a vehicle through which the diversity of fandom can come together.

Amazing Stories’ relaunch will take place in two phases. Those interested in participating in the Beta Test of Phase 1 should contact the publisher at steve.davidson33@comcast.net. Participants will receive full access to the site with Member status and will receive on-site benefits as the project moves forward.

Phase 2 will introduce additional interactivity and user-customization to the site. Following the completion and testing of Phase 2, the magazine, featuring both new and reprint fiction, essays, photo galleries, reviews and more will begin publication. Readers who are interested in what the magazine will look like can read two Relaunch Prelaunch issues on line, or download them from the Amazing Stories store. (Additional Amazing Stories themed product is also available here.)

Experimenter Publishing is pleased to introduce the Amazing Stories Blog Team:

Cenobyte, Mike Brotherton, Ricky L. Brown, Michael A. Burstein,

Catherine Coker, Johne Cook, Paul Cook, Gary Dalkin, Jane Frank,

Jim Freund, Adam Gaffen, Chris Garcia, Chris Gerwel, Tommy Hancock,

Liz Henderson, Samantha Henry, M. D. Jackson, Monique Jacob,

Geoffrey James, J. J. Jones, Peggy Kolm, Justin Landon, Andrew Liptak,

Melissa Lowery, Barry Malzberg, C. E. Martin, Farrell J. McGovern,

Steve Miller, Matt Mitrovich, Aidan Moher, Kevin Murray, Ken Neth,

Astrid Nielsch, D. Nicklin-Dunbar, John Purcell, James Rogers,

Diane Severson, Doug Smith, Lesley Smith, Bill Spangler, Duane Spurlock,

Michael J. Sullivan, G. W. Thomas, Erin Underwood, Stephan Van Velzen,

Cynthia Ward, Michael Webb, Keith West, John M. Whalen, Ann Wilkes,

Karlo Yeager, Leah Zeldez

BACKGROUND:

Originally published in 1926 by the father of science fiction, Hugo Gernsback, Amazing Stories helped to launch both the science fiction genre and its most enduring feature, science fiction fandom. The magazine is well known for its Frank R. Paul covers and for publishing the first stories by many iconic authors such as Isaac Asimov, Jack Williamson and Ursula Le Guin. Published continuously from 1926 until 1995, followed by two brief resurrections from 1998 till 2000 and again from 2004 thru 2005. In 2008 Hasbro, the then current owner, allowed the trademarks to lapse and publisher Steve Davidson applied for and eventually received them in 2011.

Additional history and background on Amazing Stories can be found at the Science Fiction Encyclopedia and Wikipedia. A complete gallery of all 609 previous issues with publication history is also available.

The Experimenter Publishing Company was created in 2012 for the purpose of returning Amazing Stories magazine to regular publication. The company shares the name of the original magazine’s publisher as homage. The trademarks for Amazing Stories were acquired by Steve Davidson in 2011, the previous owners having allowed the marks to lapse in 2008, at which time application was made for a new incarnation of the same title.

CONTACT:

For more information regarding Amazing Stories, the Blog Team and the Beta Test of the new site, please contact Steve Davidson via email at steve.davidson33@comcast.net.

To contact one of the Blog Team:

Cenobyte http://www.cenobyte.ca

Mike Brotherton http://www.mikebrotherton.com

Ricky L Brown http://doctorfantastiques.com/author/rickbrown

Michael A Burstein – http://www.mabfan.com , http://www.bursteinbooks.com

Cait Coker http://www.aggiescifi.wordpress.com

Johne Cook https://twitter.com/theskypirate

Paul Cook http://www.paulcook-sci-fi.com

Gary Dalkin http://www.tothelastword.com

Jane Frank http://www.wow-art.com

Jim Freund http://www.hourwolf.com

Adam Gaffen http://www.thekildaran.blogspot.com

Chris Garcia http://efanzines.com/DrinkTank

Chris Gerwel http://elflands2ndcousin.com

Tommy Hancock http://www.allpulp.blogspot.com , http://www.prosepulp.com

Liz Henderson http://www.true-blood.net , http://www.onceuponafansite.com , http://www.nicegirlstv.com

Samantha Henry http://www.scifidramaqueen.com

M. D. Jackson http://www.michaeldeanjackson.blogspot.com

Monique Jacob http://www.moniquejacob.com

Geoffrey James http://www.geoffreyjames.com , http://www.sorcerer.net

J. Jay Jones

Peggy Kolm http://blog.sciencefictionbiology.com

Justin Landon http://www.staffersbookreview.com

Andrew Liptak http://www.andrewliptak.wordpress.com

Meilissa Lowery http://www.true-blood.net , http://www.sidcity.net , http://www.chucktv.net

Barry Malzberg

C. E. Martin http://www.troglodad.blogspot.com , http://www.mythicaltheseries.blogspot.com

Farrell J. McGovern http://www.can-con.org

Steve Miller http://stevemillerreviews.blogspot.com , http://nuelow.blogspot.com/

Matt Mitrovich http://alternatehistoryweeklyupdate.blogspot.com

Aidan Moher http://aidanmoher.com/blog

Kevin Murray www.kevinmurray.ca , http://www.falloutfiles.com

Ken Neth http://nethspace.blogspot.com

Astrid Nielsch http://webdesign.asni.net/ , http://www.asni.net , http://www.asni.net/newsletter.php , http://music.asni.net/ , http://conceptart.asni.net/

D. Nicklin-Dunbar http://mouldysquid.wordpress.com/book-reviews

John Purcell http://efanzines.com/Prior/index.htm

James Rogers http://scienceismagic.com/

Diane Severson www.divadianes.blogspot.com , http://www.starshipsofa.com/category/podcast/fact-articles/poetry-planet/ , http://www.sfpoetry.com

Doug Mmith http://www.smithwriter.com

Lesley Smith

Bill Spangler

Duane Spurlock http://pulprack.blogspot.com , http://spurandlock.blogspot.com , http://duanespurlock.blogspot.com

Michael J. Sullivan http://www.riyria.com

G. W. Thomas http://www.gwthomas.org

Erin Underwood http://www.underwords.com

Stephan Van Velzen http://www.rantingdragon.com

Cynthia Ward – http://www.cynthiaward.com , http://www.writingtheother.com

Michael Webb http://www.martianexpatriate.com/

Keith West http://www.adventuresfantastic.blogspot.com , http://futurespastandpresent.blogspot.com

John M Whalen http://johnmwhalen.wordpress.com

Ann Wilkes http://sciencefictionmusings.blogspot.com

Karlo Yeager

Leah Zeldes http://www.zeldes.com , http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com , http://www.diningchicago.com/blog

-Ends-

A complete copy of this press release will appear on the Amazing Stories Blog on the date of release and can be found here

Things Fall Apart

Authors, Blog, Fantasy, Film, Genre, Horror, Literature, Los Angeles Review of Books, Mainstream, Science Fiction, Short Stories 1 Response »

Oct 092012

Yesterday I read three articles worth considering for anyone serious about writing fiction. The first was The Widening Gyre: 2012 Best of the Year Anthologies by Paul Kincaid, written for the LA Review of Books. This piece looked at Gardner Dozois’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction : Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection, Richard Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy : 2012 Edition and the Nebula Awards Showcase 2012. The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2012, edited by Richard Horton

Kincaid begins his lengthy and extremely well-argued article thus:

‘The overwhelming sense one gets, working through so many stories that are presented as the very best that science fiction and fantasy have to offer, is exhaustion. Not so much physical exhaustion (though it is more tiring than reading a bunch of short stories really has any right to be); it is more as though the genres of the fantastic themselves have reached a state of exhaustion.

In the main, there is no sense that the writers have any real conviction about what they are doing. Rather, the genre has become a set of tropes to be repeated and repeated until all meaning has been drained from them.’

Kincaid considers the crisis of identity and confidence within SF, a genre now so uncertain of itself that it willingly expands to encompass without seeming contradiction the now much more commercially popular Fantasy genre. He compares a 40 year old story “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” by James Tiptree, Jr. – included in the Nebula anthology as a tribute to the late author – and finds it to have a ‘life and vitality way beyond anything else in these three anthologies.’ Kincaid concludes that there is now a ‘sense that the future is something to be approached wearily because we have already imagined it and rubbed away anything that was bright and new.’ Has science fiction become old, introspective and complacent? And if so, what can we do about it? And does Kincaid’s argument extend to other genres, to mainstream literary fiction? I would suggest that it does. That much fiction has become a tired, ironic game, devoid of conviction.

Immediately after the Kincaid I read an article on Twitch Film by Jim Tudor called After The Boys of Summer Have Gone: A Look Back at the Summer Movie Season and found essentially the same view as Kincaid’s being expressed, this time regarding the year’s big summer movies. Tudor employs an inspired device of heading sections of his article with lyrics from the 1984 Don Henley hit ‘The Boys of Summer’. This evokes a nostalgic sense of better days now irrevocably lost, while simultaneously pointing back to an era when genre films – Blade Runner, The Thing, Videodrome, The Fly, The Terminator – were more frequently crafted with the idea that what was on screen meant something beyond box office dollars. The current bland, forgettable, hollow remake of Total Recall, loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s ‘We Can Remember It For You Wholesale’, stands for the whole malaise.

Total Recall 2012 remake poster

Tudor concludes, ‘Indeed, the summer movie season has come to represent something … A certain something, a flair, that’s time may’ve passed. Or at least we like to think it’s passed. Innocence … Wonder … Unapologetic fun … These are things that Hollywood seems to have all but forgotten, and we may not even realize that we need.’

Finally, written in response to Kincaid’s piece, and relevant to Tudor’s, is a superb blog entry by UK critic Jonathan McCalmont on his Ruthless Culture site titled Cowardice, Laziness and Irony: How Science Fiction Lost the Future. McCalmont goes deeper, citing the domination of neo-liberal capitalism and post-modern modes of thought as explanations for SF losing its direction, purpose and engagement with what may actually be our future in favour of retreats into sanitised fantasies devoid of moral or political relevance to the real world. It is the longest and best of the three articles and is an important piece for anyone who is serious about their writing, regardless of genre.

In the end, if you don’t believe in anything, how can you write a story or novel that means something?

My first review for the LA Review of Books

Authors, Blog, Fantasy, Literature, Los Angeles Review of Books, Science Fiction No Responses »

Sep 222012

I’m delighted to say my first review for the Los Angeles Review of Books is now online. The review covers Kathleen Ann Goonan’s two most recent novels, In War Times, and the new sequel, This Shared Dream.

Harper Voyager open submissions in October

Blog, Fantasy, Publishing, Science Fiction No Responses »

Sep 132012

Here is a press release from Harper Voyager, who are having a very rare open submissions period from 1-14 October.

Keen to become a Harper Voyager author? Here’s your chance to join the imprint that publishes some of the biggest names in fantastic fiction—George R. R. Martin, Kim Harrison, Raymond E. Feist, Robin Hobb, Richard Kadrey, Sara Douglass, Peter V. Brett and Kylie Chan—to name but a few.

For the first time in over a decade, Harper Voyager are opening the doors to unsolicited submissions in order to seek new authors with fresh voices, strong storytelling abilities, original ideas and compelling storylines. So, if you believe your manuscript has these qualities, then we want to read it!

We’re seeking all kinds of adult and young adult speculative fiction for digital publication, but particularly epic fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, dystopia and supernatural. For more idea of the type of books we love to read and publish, check out our authors and their titles at www.harpervoyagerbooks.com

Submissions for digital originals will be open for a limited two-week period from 1^st to the 14^th of October, 2012.

So, follow these easy guidelines and move one step closer to making your dreams come true …

How To Submit A Manuscript
To submit, go to www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com and follow the instructions to fill out the form and upload your manuscript.

Due to time constraints, we will not be able to respond to every query. If you do not receive a response after three months, unfortunately that means your story is not right for us this time.

Submissions FAQ

How long does my book need to be?
We are looking for full-length manuscripts only. A full-length manuscript needs to be more than 70,000 words, and ideally we are looking for manuscripts between 80,000–120,000 words.

Can I submit a manuscript that I am still working on?
No. Please only submit full-length manuscripts that are completed and polished.

What font/margin/size should I use?
Your formatting choices are up to you. As long as your manuscript is double-spaced and readable, it’s acceptable. We prefer Word or RTF, and legible, sans-serif fonts.

Can I submit more than one manuscript?
Yes, you can enter more than one manuscript but you will need to fill out the form at www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com for each submission separately. If your work is a trilogy or series, please only submit the first manuscript.

Can I submit someone else’s material?
No. The manuscript must be your own original work.

Will you accept a manuscript even if the subgenre isn’t listed?
Yes, on the submission form, choose “other” and write in your subgenre.

I’m an agent. Should I use this to submit my client’s manuscript?
No, this submission form is for authors only. Agents should pitch and submit projects in the usual fashion.

Can I submit if my manuscript is under consideration with another publisher?
No. Manuscripts that are being considered by other publishers are not eligible for submission.

Do you accept manuscripts that have been previously published, including self-published?
Yes, we will consider work that has been previously published if the author has retained full volume rights or had full volume rights revert to them. Please provide the publication details.

I have submitted my book to Harper Voyager in the past and it has been declined. Can I resubmit?
If a manuscript has previously been submitted and declined for Harper Voyager, please do not resubmit unless it has been extensively rewritten. You are welcome to submit other works, however.

Which editor should I address my submission to?
There is no need to specify an editor. Your submission will be read by the global Voyager team in Australia, UK and US.

Will I be notified when my manuscript is submitted?
Yes, you will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your submission. Please check your junk email filter for this automated email. If you do not receive an automatic response, please email us at voyagersubmissions@harpercollins.com with the title and date of your submission.

How long will you take to respond?
Due to the volume of submissions, we will only be able to contact you if your project is the right fit. If you have not received a response in three months time, unfortunately your project wasn’t right for our current list.

Will there be any feedback?
Unfortunately due to the volume of submissions we will not be able to provide individual feedback or comments on submissions.

Can I submit my manuscript after the deadline?
We will be accepting submissions between 1^st to the 14^th of October, 2012. Unfortunately at the moment we cannot accept any late or early submissions outside of these times.

Will you publish my book into print?
We are looking primarily for e-only titles. There is the possibility that submissions will be published in print as well.

Frequently Asked Questions about Harper Voyager Digital

Why is Harper Voyager embarking upon a digital publishing program? Why now?
We believe the timing is perfect for Harper Voyager to publish digitally. We’ve already been publishing digital originals from our existing Harper Voyager authors, and are thrilled to expand this wider to welcome new authors and voices to Harper Voyager. The growth of eReaders and e-books have created an exciting new opportunity that allows us to begin increasing the number and diversity of our speculative fiction list. And speculative fiction readers are the most savvy early adopters so we’re keen to provide our readers with the best ebooks possible.

How is the Harper Voyager digital list different from Harper Voyager Books?
Harper Voyager has a long history of publishing fantastic speculative fiction, including authors like Robin Hobb, Ray Feist, George R.R. Martin, Kim Harrison, Kylie Chan, Richard Kadrey, Fiona McIntosh, Peter Brett and Sara Douglass: our editorial staff and sales/marketing/publicity force are highly respected, and Harper Voyager authors benefit from those existing talents, platforms, and relationships.

The Voyager digital list is growing from our existing publishing program. We’re always looking for ways to grow our authors in a marketplace rife with new opportunity. We see the digital list as a fantastic opportunity to find exciting new writers and reach more readers than ever before.

Our enthusiastic editorial team acquires content for both our print and digital lists and are passionate genre fans. The Harper Voyager digital lists offer similar benefits to authors as the print list: each Harper Voyager e-book will receive a distinctive cover treatment. Authors will receive the benefit of editorial structural and copyediting advice from experienced editors. During the publication cycle, the books will receive support from Harper Voyager’s marketing and publicity professionals; and the e-books will benefit from our proven, strong relationships with all e-book channels and online retailers.

How many titles per month will you release?
Currently, we are looking to acquire enough content to release a new Harper Voyager digital title each month.

Where will Harper Voyager’s digital titles be sold? Will Harper Voyager e-books be distributed globally?
Every Harper Voyager digital contract will include World English language distribution, so we can deliver these e-books everywhere around the world where English-language novels are sold.

Our Harper Voyager e-books will be available at every e-retailer, and readers will be able to download them onto every portable reading device and platform sold today … and tomorrow, too.

What is the submission process? Where can I find the Submission Guidelines?
All non-agented manuscripts should be submitted at www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com. Please note the detailed instructions on submission guidelines before sending your documents electronically.

You can find our submission guidelines at www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com as well.

What types of submissions is Harper Voyager interested in?
Voyager is looking for authors with a fresh voice, strong storytelling abilities, original ideas and a compelling storyline. If you believe your manuscript has these qualities, then we want to see it!

We’re actively seeking speculative fiction genres, especially epic fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy, horror, dystopia, supernatural and YA.

Can existing Harper Voyager authors also submit to Harper Voyager digital?
Of course!

If a debut author is published under the Harper Voyager digital imprint; is there a chance to be published in print as well?
Yes, there is the possibility that submissions will be published in print as well.

Will my work be copyrighted?
Each title receives individual copyright, retained by the author, as is the norm for all Harper Voyager titles.

Is Harper Voyager publishing fiction only?
Yes, we are only looking for speculative fiction manuscripts.

Will manuscripts be edited and copyedited before publishing?
Yes. Just as with our print titles, each Harper Voyager digital project will be assigned to an individual Voyager editor, and will go through a comprehensive content and copyediting process.

Will Harper Voyager titles benefit from Voyager Publicity and Marketing?
Yes. We will support our digital Harper Voyager titles with comprehensive publicity/marketing campaigns, marketing each title, using the digital landscape to strongly support this fantastic line of digital-first publications.

Is Digital Harper Voyager a Custom/Vanity Publisher?
No. In acquiring for Harper Voyager digital, we carefully curate submissions and edit accepted manuscripts in the same fashion as all of our Harper Voyager titles. The digital list will benefit from Voyager’s editorial, marketing, publicity and sales platforms. And getting all these services at no cost to the author is the benefit of publishing with Harper Voyager.

Our digital original submission period is only open from 1 October through 14 October, 2012, so visit www.harpervoyagersubmissions.com and move one step closer to your Voyager dreams.

Time’s Arrow to the Cryptozoic!

Authors, Blog, Humour, Science Fiction, Unfortunate No Responses »

Jul 212012

Here is some evidence from a reputable website that, as suggested in Brian Aldiss’ An Age (published as Cryptozoic! in the US), and much later (or earlier), Martin Amis’ Time’s Arrow, time does flow backwards and we are perceiving the wrong way around. Either that or every piece of writing, from book to webpage, needs an editorial once-over.

Click on the image to see full size and read the ‘newer edition’ text at the bottom. ‘See a problem with this suggestion?’

Iain Banks and Kim Stanley Robinson British Library Event

Authors, Events, Press Releases, Science Fiction No Responses »

May 212012

According to a press release from Forbidden Planet, Iain Banks and Kim Stanley Robinson will be in Conversation at the British Library, on Saturday 9th June from 3PM:

Forbidden Planet and Orbit Books, in association with the British Library, are delighted to present a unique opportunity to hear two giants of the genre in conversation about 2012, the end of the world, and the future of science fiction. This event will take place in the Auditorium at the British Library, doors open 3PM, with a subsequent signing 5-6PM.

Iain Banks was born in Fife and educated at Stirling University where he read English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He gained widespread and controversial public notice in 1984 with his first novel, The Wasp Factory and went on to create one of SF’s best-loved fictional settings—the “Culture” in novels such as Consider Phlebas and Player of Games. He’s almost unique in achieving success in two genres: mainstream, literary fiction, and science fiction.

With a list of academic laurels and industry awards to his name, Kim Stanley Robinson is a writer of true “hard” science fiction—a spiritual descendant of Jules Verne and closely aligned with Isaac Asimov; he’s known to use proven scientific fact and technology in his highly acclaimed work. He became familiar to SF readers with his Orange County series of books in the mid 1980s—but is perhaps best-known for the Mars trilogy, Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars, the last of which was published in 1996.

Forbidden Planet is the largest store of its kind in the world. Some of the biggest names in SF, Fantasy and Cult Entertainment have come to our London Megastore for events, including Jonathan Ross, Kevin Smith, Sam Raimi, Guillermo del Toro, John Landis, Terry Gilliam, Christopher Lee, Simon Pegg, William Gibson, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and Stephen King.

Tickets are £7.50 or £5 for concessions. Click for more details.

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