Monday, June 30, 2014

I'm In E-Print Again!

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Every two months, Mike Resnick takes a break from his regular novel-every-ten-days writing schedule (okay, it only seems that frequent -- but  the man is prolific!) to edit an issue of Galaxy's Edge magazine.

Let me repeat that:  Mike\ puts out a bimonthly science fiction in addition to his novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories.  Just thinking about how much energy that must involve exhausts me.

Nevertheless, in issue 9, the July issue, forthcoming on the Galaxy's Edge website (I'm guessing) tomorrow, I have made my own small contribution to this impressive accomplishment, in the form of a reprint of "The Very Pulse of the Machine."  This was the first story of mine ever to win a Hugo, so I have a particular fondness for it.

If you're reading this on June 30th, the same day I'm writing this post, you can go over to the magazine site and read the May issue for free.  Then, if you would be so kind, come  back tomorrow to read the new issue.  Both are recommended.

Click here for the site.

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Sunday, June 29, 2014

[Dream Diary]

June 29, 2014

I dreamed that the Hugo Awards ceremony had been split in two.  Most of the awards, including those for short fiction, were given on a Saturday night in a drab hotel space with an audience made up mostly of those who had been nominated for the awards.  An air of drab resentment hung over the event.

The Sunday awards, however, were a televised, glitzy event, covering a handful of awards deemed to be the most important.  Because I was scheduled to present one of these awards, I was standing near the dais when Neil Gaiman announced that the Hugo Award for Best Novel had been won by -- Gardner Dozois!  Who came up the aisle as all the audience, movie stars and all, gave him a standing ovation.

Neil observed publicly that this reaction was a "love fest" for Gardner.  Nobody present was petty enough to resent that he had not only won the award but was once again young and thin.

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Friday, June 27, 2014

Things Nobody Tells New Writers #1

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This is going to sound like a puff piece at first, but bear with me.

Rogues, the anthology with the self-explanatory theme, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, went on sale June 17th and has already hit the New York Times bestseller list.  The reviews are glowing.  Kirkus loves it, noting that it's "without a dud in the book."  Niall Alexander at Tor.com called it "awesome."  And so on.  Everybody loves this book.

I have a story in it.

I haven't seen it yet.

This is normal.

Here's something that new writers are never told, but you really should know:  Before a book is published, advance copies go out to reviewers, to help get the word out.  Then, when it ships, copies go out to all the bookstores.  Contributor's copies to the writers go out last.  If the gods of publishing are in a benevolent mood, the lag time is only a matter of days.  If not, it can take weeks.  The same thing goes for magazines:  They ship to subscribers first, then outlets, and writers dead last.

When this happens to you, it's important that you know that you haven't been singled out for cruel and unusual punishment.  This happens to all writers, including your heroes. The publisher is simply in the business of making money and putting all best efforts in that direction.  Ultimately, this will work to your benefit.  

So when your first story hits the stands, don't feel too proud to buy a copy to wave in the air while you brag to your friends.  You're going to need it, and more, after all.  Because no matter how many free copies you get (usually three for a magazine or anthology, ten for a novel but the numbers can on occasion be tweaked), you've got enough friends and relations expecting you to give them one that you're going to have to dig into your own pockets to cover them all.


And speaking of Tom Purdom . . .

In honor of Tom being named Philadelphia's newest Geek of the Week (see Wednesday's blogpost), Fantastic Books is releasing his collection Lovers & Fighters, Starships & Dragons, as an e-book.

Here's the press release I just received:

Author Tom Purdom has just been named Geekadelphia.com’s Geek of the Week, and in honor of this distinction, Fantastic Books is releasing the ebook version of his collection Lovers & Fighters, Starships & Dragons, which we published in trade paperback in February. The newly released ebook is (or will soon be) available in a wide variety of formats from all major ebook retailers, including BN.com, Amazon, Smashwords, Apple’s iBook store, and many more.

The 130,000-word volume—which Kirkus Reviews named a Best Bet for Speculative Fiction Books in February—is Purdom’s first collection, capping (though by no means completing) a writing career that’s been running more than half a century.

The stories in Lovers & Fighters, Starships & Dragons cover century-spanning life spans, biohacking, personality modification technology, and more. Purdom likes to quote Frederik Pohl’s prescription for a good science fiction story: “interesting people doing interesting things in an interesting future.” He began his writing career over 50 years ago, selling stories and novels to legendary editors like Pohl, John W. Campbell, H.L. Gold, and Donald Wollheim. And for the last twenty years, he’s been roving space and time with an acclaimed string of stories in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, which included his first Hugo Award nominee.

In announcing Purdom’s selection as Geek of the Week, Chris Urie writes that the book “is a stunning array of stories that surprised me at their breadth of concepts and topics. They could explore interpersonal and philosophical ideas of a community living on an interstellar asteroid or debate the reasons of war. All of these ideas come wrapped up in a cocoon of thoughtful sci-fi concepts and stellar writing. At their core, they’re idea driven stories that not only entertain but expand your thinking into new territories, which is what the best science fiction always does.”

In his introduction to the book, Michael Swanwick wrote “It is a cascade of brilliant ideas worthy of Greg Egan or Stephen Baxter at their best. On my first reading, I could all but hear the plates of my skull creaking as my brain swelled with the effort of following his characters’ thinking. Yet the writing is smooth and the narrative flows naturally from beginning to end. It is a genuine tour de force and a terrific introduction to the pleasures of Purdom’s fiction.”

Lovers & Fighters, Starships & Dragons by Tom Purdom (introduction by Michael Swanwick)
Print: $15.99, 356 pages, trade paperback, 978-1-61720-943-7.
Ebook: $7.99, 130,000 words.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Tom Purdom -- GEEK OF THE WEEK!!!

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Long-term residents of Philadelphia have a problem with the notion that our city can be in any way, shape, or form, cool.  There are cool people here, sure.  But they exist in hiding, essentially, within a vast urban matrix of dowdy.

Which makes it ironic that Philadelphia's community of hackers, makers, and suchlike technological savvy people have made the city world-famous as "Geekadelphia."  Ironic, but unexpectedly pleasant.  And here in Philadelphia, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon one of the tribe is to be named Geek of the Week.

This week, it's local legend Tom Purdom, the dean of Philadelphia science fiction.  Tom has been writing and selling science fiction since the 1950s and he's still going strong.  His collection Lovers &  Fighters, Starships & Dragons, is fresh out this year and highly recommended.

The honor takes the form of quite a nice article about Tom by Chris Urie, which you can read here.   It includes an interview with him which includes the following not at all geeky advice to young writers:

Resist the social pressure to consume and rack up debt. Be content to live on a lower middle class income. A writing career is an adventurous, unconventional, financially insecure enterprise. Learn to save and invest—but remember you are trying to maximize your financial independence, not amass wealth for its own sake. Your satisfaction with your life will be based on achievement and personal independence, not the size of your house or the labels on your possessions.

This is, I am here to tell you, the single most helpful thing you could hear if you're planning to devote your life to the pursuit of the word.


Above:  Photograph by Kyle Cassidy.  Damn, but that guy is good.

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Monday, June 23, 2014

A Flower For Daniel Keyes

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There are times when this blog feels like a morgue.  The only satisfaction I can offer you is that I hate it even more than you do.

Daniel Keyes died a week ago, and I put off writing anything about the man for the reason I've just stated.  I never met Keyes, though I was present when SFWA gave him its Writer Emeritus award.  As the award was presented, I saw one of the giants of science fiction clench his fists in fury and a look of absolute hatred cross his face.

No, I won't tell you who.  But I mention this fact to remind you that it is not an author who has died but a human being.  One who lived, loved, dreamed, aspired-- and made enemies.

The relevant thing to remember about him is that his fame as a science fiction writer and indeed as a writer at all is based on a single work:  Flowers for Algernon.

Go ahead.  Name another work of science fiction he wrote.  If you can, you are and should be justly proud of your mastery of science fiction trivia.

This fact, that one need only write a single work of genius to be a great writer, is what keeps so many of us going.  Yes, the odds are against it happening to any individual.  But it approaches certainty that there is a writer today known for competent entertainment who will someday between now and the grave make her or his mark upon eternity.

For which reason, you should treat all honest writers with respect.  One of them may someday become the next Daniel Keyes.  All of them are doing their damnedest.


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Saturday, June 21, 2014

The Annotated Me: The Feast of Saint Janis

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There is a band playing in Gorgas Park, a block away from our backyard as I write this, and the lead singer has clearly studied her Janis Joplin.  Which puts me in mind of my first published story, "The Feast of Saint Janis."  So I thought I would begin a series I have long considered running here of facts not personal enough to be considered autobiographical nor significant enough to be in any sense revelations.  Let's call them annotations.

My first published story was "The Feast of Saint Janis, about a Janis Joplin impersonator in a future, diminished America.  At that time, it was very difficult to publish a sf story about rock and roll, so it made me popular among fans who loved --and lived -- the stuff.  One day I was sitting, talking with a batch of the folks and Avedon Carol started talking about Joplin, whom she had known.

But Avedon didn't call the singer Janis.  She called her JJ.  "JJ did this... JJ said that..."

Listening, I thought:  If only I knew this when I was writing the story.

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Friday, June 20, 2014

Mind Candy for a Friday

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Every day brings new wonders.  Here's a time lapse film made by the Hubble of the light echo from a star experiencing some not-understood phenomenon which, despite appearances, is not a nova.

You can read NASA's explanation here.

Enjoy!

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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The Least Needed Book Promo Ever Made

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Periodically I get missives, some imperial and others imploring, from editors of anthologies in which I have a story, telling me to get out the drums and flog the living bejabbers out of the book.  This morning, it was Gardner Dozois, informing me that Rogues, which he co-edited with George R. R. Martin, hits the stands today and desperately needs my help.

Yeah, right.  Here, to give you a little context, is the table of contents:

Joe Abercrombie “Tough Times All Over”
Gillian Flynn “What Do You Do?”
Matthew Hughes “The Inn of the Seven Blessings”
Joe R. Lansdale “Bent Twig”
Michael Swanwick “Tawny Petticoats”
David Ball “Provenance”
Carrie Vaughn “The Roaring Twenties”
Scott Lynch “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane”
Bradley Denton “Bad Brass”
Cherie Priest “Heavy Metal”
Daniel Abraham “The Meaning of Love”
Paul Cornell “A Better Way to Die”
Steven Saylor “Ill Seen in Tyre”
Garth Nix “A Cargo of Ivories”
Walter Jon Williams “Diamonds From Tequila”
Phyllis Eisenstein “The Caravan to Nowhere”
Lisa Tuttle “The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives”
Neil Gaiman “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back”
Connie Willis “Now Showing”
Patrick Rothfuss “The Lightning Tree”
George R. R. Martin “The Rogue Prince, or, the King’s Brother”

And this is the point where I'm expected to rave about how Rogues is that extremely rare beast, an anthology containing science fiction, mystery, historical fiction, epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, crime stories, and mainstream, all chosen simply because they're extremely good stories.  And that my own "Tawny Petticoats," skips ahead to a point in the peregrinations of arch-conmen Darger and Surplus wherein they discover the dubious pleasures of Postutopian New Orleans.  Then maybe ladle a few bucketloads of adjectives over the whole magisterial enterprise.

But did you notice the last item on the list?  That, my friends, is not only a new story by George, but one set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire.  This puppy is going to sell itself.  It doesn't need any help from me.

But because these guys are friends, and because I want all my editors to know that I am a cooperative fellow, I have just gone through the motions.


And speaking of George . . .

“The Rogue Prince, or, the King’s Brother” was not originally on the table of contents.  The book was sold without any requirement that George contribute a story.  He wrote the story as a gift to his fans.

Also because he's a writer, and this is the sort of thing real writers can't help but do.


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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Another Strange Mind Gone

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Cartoonist Charles Barsotti died today.  Today he's best remembered for his New Yorker cartoons, particularly those of puppies.  But back in the day, he had a daily newspaper strip, Sally Bananas, which was whimsical and gentle and a delight to read.

Also occasionally weird.  Barsotti had streak of strange to him a mile wide.  I vividly remember a one-page cartoon he did for National Lampoon.  The image of it is not available on the web, but I can quote the words verbatim:

          Alice came to our house,
          We thought she'd come to stay.
          "I've to to stay at your house."
          But then she went away.

          Alice went down to Laredo,
          She went to Laredo by car.
          But you can't get from here to Laredo --
          From here to Laredo's too far.

And then a final panel, showing Alice looking despondent in a bar with a mug of beer and the punchline:  TOUGH SHIT, ALICE!

You can read what the New Yorker has to say about him here.


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Monday, June 16, 2014

Lucius Shepard and the Irish Car Bomb Story

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Ellen Datlow and Rob Killheffer arranged for what they called A Celebration of the Work of Lucius Shepard but which, let's be honest, was actually a wake for the Big Guy, at KGB Bar in New York City last night.  Usually, when Marianne and I drive the hundred miles from Philadelphia for a science fiction event in the Apple, we're the people who came the furthest.  This time, though, folks came from all over.  Jeff Ford drove all the way from Ohio and Bruce and Carlene Chrumka came down from Canada, and there may well have been others from far places.  This is how high a regard we all had for the man and now have for his memory.

If I start to list the people like Sheila Williams and Paul Witcover and Gordon Van Gelder who came to the front of the church to testify, we'll be here all night.  As it seemed at times we would be yesterday.  There were a lot of people who wanted to say how much Lucius meant to them.  Most moving, I thought, were the words spoken by his son, Gullivar.

I did not speak, because I only got around to telling Sheila I was coming a few days ago, by which time the event was booked solid. But had I spoken, this is what I'd have said:

I'm not sure when I realized that Lucius was not a great science fiction writer but, rather, a great American writer.  Sometime before he wrote "Only Partly There," surely.  Possibly it was when "Beast of the Heartland" came out.  But I suspect it was when he introduced a protagonist as "an American fool of no consequence."  Lucius was exactly the opposite of that, a man of great consequence indeed.  Alas, he was not a natural novelist and whom the gods would impoverish, they first give a particular genius for short fiction.  It's a miracle and a testimony to his hard work that he didn't starve to death decades ago.

Now he's gone.  Lucius did his part -- he left behind a tremendous amount of fiction.  We'll be sorting it all out for decades to come.  But literary reputations, in this country at least, are only half built upon the work itself.  For a writer to make it into the canon, there must be gossipy stories of him or her behaving badly.

Here's my contribution.  Jeff wants me to tell Lucius's formula for winning a Hugo, but that story's too scurrilous for tonight.  I could have told his formula for selling to Ellen Datlow, but I think I'm going to keep that one for myself, in case I need it someday.  Two people have told the Irish Car Bomb story tonight and a third has referred to it.  But I prefer my own version, not least because it involves me.  So that what I'll tell.

Years ago, at a science fiction convention, I went into the bar and discovered Lucius Shepard and Jeff Ford there.  So naturally I invited myself to their table.  Hours went by, in which I matched them -- big men both -- beer for beer, while we talked about everything under the sun.  Good talk, with the horns and hooves still attached, as Ray Lafferty used to put it.

Then Lucius suddenly said, "Well.  Time for the Irish car bombs!"

"Yeah!" Jeff said enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together.  "Irish car bombs!"

Now, an Irish car bomb, for the uninitiated is an appalling drink.  You start with a pint of Guinness.  Then you float a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream on top of it.  Finally, you take a shot glass full of Jameson's Irish Whiskey and drop it in.  Disgusting.

I whipped up my wrist and looked at it.  I wasn't wearing a watch, but if you do the gesture right, and the people you're with have been drinking, you can almost always get away with this.  "Oh my goodness!" I cried.  "Look at the time -- it's ten o'clock.  i should have been in bed hours ago!"  And I fled.

My mother didn't raise any fools.

The next morning I ran into Lucius, standing in front of the now-closed bar.  I have no idea if he'd been to bed at all that night.  But he was looking a little wobbly.  After I'd greeted him, he leaned in toward me, like a schooner keeling to the side under a heavy wind, and confided, "I had nine Irish car bombs."  Then, like that same schooner righting itself, he resumed an upright position.

He waited a beat -- Lucius's timing was always impeccable -- and then he leaned toward me again, to say, "I believe eleven is possible."


And the moral of this story is . . .

Lucius lived hard, drank hard, wrote hard.  By some lights he was a victim of the Myth of the Great Writer, the idea that true genius is such a tremendous burden as to render self-medication and, indeed, self-destruction a necessary component of one's greatness.  By others, he was the victim of an abusive father who was ambitious to become a great writer by proxy.  I don't think any of us really understood his dark side, though we could all see it was there.

But despite that, Lucius left behind not only a tremendous body of work, but also a great many friends who miss him terribly.  One would be enough to justify a lot.  Only a very few of us manage both.





Above, top:  Jeff Ford.  Above, bottom:  Gulliver Shepard.

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Sunday, June 15, 2014

Two Jims

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On June 15, 1914, after years of rejection by editor after editor, James Joyce's first book, The Dead, a collection of stories that would change the way literature was written, was finally published.  What better way of celebrating its first centenary could there be than by bringing back memories of the late Jim Turner?

Turner was editor of Arkham House and, later, founder and editor of Golden Gryphon Press. He was also the only man on earth I would deliberately keep on the phone as many hours as I possibly could. I really enjoyed his conversation and the way he thought.

One day, Jim called and began, in his customary fashion by saying, all in a rush (he was always conscious of times winged chariot in the years that I knew him), "Listen, Swanwick, I don't have time for any of your nonsense.  I just need an answer to one question and that's all."

"Hi, Jim," I said.  "I just finished writing a zombie story."

"Yeah, yeah, that's nice.  The reason I called --"

"It has a really good title, Jim."

"Good for it.  What I want to know is --"

"Don't you want to know what the title is, Jim?"

"Oh, all right!  What is it?"

"I called it 'The Dead.'"

There was a stunned silence.  Then, "You cannot give the title of the single most famous story in the English language to a zombie story!"

"Well, it was really good zombie story, Jim."

Ah, me.  I miss that guy.  Jim was a guy who held literature in the highest esteem and gave his life to its furtherance.  As did the other Jim, the guy who wrote the collection that's a hundred years old today.  Tonight I'll raise a glass to the both of them.


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Friday, June 13, 2014

Boycott Shrimp

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We all like to think that, were we alive two hundred years ago, we would be vigorously anti-slavery.  But slavery, alas, is not confined to the past.

The Guardian has published a shocking article about the Thai shrimp fishing industry, where large numbers of men are bought and sold like animals, tortured, and sometimes killed . . . all so that our supermarkets can have a ready supply of cheap shrimp.

Unlike too many of the world's atrocities, this is one we can do something about.  Here's the relevant sentence from the article:  "An anonymous Thai government spokesman claims that the problem could be easily dealt with, but there is no political will to do so."

Let's create the political will.  Boycott shrimp.  Tell everyone you know.  Put a link to the Guardian article on your blog.  Share it on Facebook.  Tweet it.  When the supermarkets can't give the stuff away, and tons of shrimp lie rotting in the holds of the slave fleets, and the Thai shrimp industry is on the verge of collapse, something will be done.

But apparently not before then.

You can read the Guardian article here.  Parts of it will make you feel ashamed to be human.


Me, I love shrimp.  But I will not eat it again, no matter what the source, while this goes on.

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Wednesday, June 11, 2014

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

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The August 2014 issue of Asimov's arrived in the mail today.  So I opened it and began reading the openings of the stories one after the other to see which I would read first. (This is a very common practice among readers, though in most cases they're looking to see which they should read at all.) Three stories in, I came to:

It was a dark and stormy night.  But it shouldn't have been.

"We have a winner!" I cried.

That was how Nancy Kress opens "Writer's Block."  Nancy is one of the craftiest of writers, in the sense of knowing her craft inside and out and this is typical of her savvy.  You might think that it's just a "narrative hook" meant to draw the reader into the story out of simple curiosity.  But more than that, the witty use and refutation of Bulwer-Lytton's single best known sentence is an inherent promise to the reader that there will be more good stuff in the story that follows.

In her first two sentences, Nancy gives the reader a reason to stay with the story.

And, yes, not-yet-published-but-working-hard-on-it writers, this post is directed at YOU.


Above:  Nancy Kress and Yours Truly in China.  Have I ever mentioned that I was in China?  And Nancy Kress was there too!  How cool is that?

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Monday, June 9, 2014

A Third of a Decade Later, I Finally Learn...

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Nobody ever tells me anything.  The last time I was in Russia, I learned that a poet had dropped a reference to The Iron Dragon's Daughter in one of his poems.  It was a thrill to discover, but many years had gone by since the poem was written.  I remember thinking then, "Nobody thought I'd want to know?"

I just now got a note from Carl Slaughter to let me know that on Friday Daily Science Fiction republished a story by Jay Lake titled "'Hello,' Said the Gun."

First of all, a few words of background.  Umpety-ump years ago, I wrote a story called "'Hello,' Said the Stick."  It placed on the Hugo ballot for best short story -- and lost.  Which is okay because there is no shame to losing to a story by Geoff Ryman.  And anyway, "Slow Life" won for best novelette that year.

So, inspired by who knows what impulse, Jay wrote a story playing off of the opening of mine.  This is fair practice.  He gave it a near-identical title to acknowledge the origins.  Which is very polite.  And the story was published.  On February 22, 2010.

A third of a decade later, I have just become aware of its existence.  Nobody tells me anything!

The story itself is a lovely little thing, which after the first few paragraphs goes off in a direction completely different from where my own story went.  Like so much relating to Jay and his life, I wish it had been longer.

You can read the story here.


And let me add . . .

Thank you for telling me about the story's existence, Carl.  I was really happy to learn of it.


Above:  The illustration for Jay's story is by Tim Stewart.  Nice piece of work, innit?



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Friday, June 6, 2014

The Tote Bag of DOOM!

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My friend Fran Wilde took it into her head to poll a number of writers about the best book swag they ever received, and I chanced to be one of those she asked.

Well... I couldn't say that any book swag I ever received rose very high above the level of disposable. But if you were to ask if any item was particularly memorable, I would have to reply, "Well, there was one tote bag that gave me a moment of sheer terror."  So that was the story I told.

For obvious reasons there is no photo of the tote.

You can find the article here.  Or you can just go to the Apex Publications webite and poke around here.


Above:  Not a tote bag, obviously.  In fact, a photo of Fran Wilde.

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The Man With The Cancer Tattoo

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There's this New Age thing about living each day as if you knew it would be your last.

If I knew I would die tomorrow, I would get stupid drunk.  Then I'd fall into my car, looking for trouble.  I might vomit on a cop.  I might lose all my money to a whore.  I'd certainly curse a lot.  I absolutely wouldn't want to be judged by what I did in the shadow of my life sentence.

Jay Lake was made of better stuff.

When Jay learned he had terminal cancer, he resolved to fit a lifetime's accomplishment into what little time he had.  He wrote like a motherfucker.  He blogged about his fight with cancer.  He created a lapel pin to give to all the nominees for the Campbell Award.  (And you will pry mine from my cold, dead fingers aeons after Charlton Heston says, "Take my guns.  Please!")  He gave money to struggling new writers.  He supported new writers who didn't need money but did need to know that somebody  cared.  He did many, many positive things that you'll have to run a web search to discover and more that you'll never know about.

He had a tattoo on the back of his head reading IF YOU CAN READ THIS, I HAVE CANCER AGAIN.  I have a photo somewhere of him and Marianne flaunting their bare pates. And grinning, grinning, grinning.  Because they knew a harsh truth the rest of us do not and were able to laugh in the shadow of death.  Marianne got better.  Jay did not.

I met him.  I liked him.  I hated the fact that he was dying of cancer almost as much as he did.

And now he's dead.

I will not curse the universe for this.  After the first death there is no more. Also, it's not what HE would have done.

But if you want to mark the man's passing, go out today and do that good thing you've been meaning to get around to someday.

Jay would approve.


Photo Credit: Joseph E. Lake, Jr. / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

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Monday, June 2, 2014

Reading Mania With Gregory Frost!

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Tomorrow, I'll be jaunting up to New York City to hear Gregory Frost, the author of Shadowbridge, do a reading.  Greg is very good at this sort of thing, so I expect to have a terrific time.

You may consider this a recommendation not only for Greg's (and Tom Doyle's) event but for going to readings as a general thing.  They're cheap,  they're fun, and the people who show up for them are intelligent and interesting folks -- like you, now that you come to think on it.

I've posted the info for the NYRSF Readings Series event below.  And for good measure, the Clarion West Readings in Seattle as well.  If I lived there, I'd attend every single one.  I gave a reading as part of that series once which was the single best I ever did.  You're sorry you missed it.



Tom Doyle
Gregory Frost
Tuesday, June 3rd -- doors open 6:30 p.m.
$7 suggested donation
SGDA / Gallery La La
Tom Doyle’s first novel in a three-book contemporary fantasy series from Tor, American Craftsmen, was published in May 2014. His short fiction collection from Paper Golem Press, The Wizard of Macatawa and Other Stories, includes winners of the Small Press Award and Writers of the Future Award. The text and audio of many of his stories are available at www.tomdoylewriter.com.

Gregory Frost is the author of eight novels and more than fifty short stories of the fantastic­-everything from dark thrillers to high fantasy to science fiction. His latest published novel is the YA-crossover Shadowbridge duology Shadowbridge & Lord Tophet (Del Rey/Random House), voted one of the best fantasy novels of the 2009 by the American Library Association.

In the short fiction category: “No Others Are Genuine” (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2013) was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award this year; his novella, "Vulpes," rounds out the braided sf-horror anthology of novellas, V-Wars, edited by Jonathan Maberry (IDW); his short story "The Dingus" opens Supernatural Noir, edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books); his collaborative novella with Jonathan Maberry, “T.Rhymer,” is in Dark Duets (HarperCollins, January 2014); and a novelette “Farewell, My Rocketeer” will feature in the forthcoming “Rocketeer” anthology from IDW in tribute to graphic artist Dave Stevens.

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The New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series
provides performances from some of the best writers in science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, etc.  The series usually takes place the first Tuesday of every month, but maintains flexibility in time and space, so be sure to stay in touch through our mailing list, the Web, and our Facebook group.

Jim Freund is Producer and Executive Curator of The New York Review of Science Fiction Readings. He has been involved in producing radio programs of and about literary sf/f since 1967. His long-running live radio program, “Hour of the Wolf,” broadcasts and streams every Wednesday night/Thursday morning from 1:30-3:00 AM. Programs are available by stream for 2 weeks after broadcast. (Check http://hourwolf.com/, follow @JimFreund, or join the Hour of the Wolf group on Facebook for details.) In addition, Jim is Podcast Editor for Nightmare Magazine and serves that same function for Lightspeed Magazine as well as being the Host of the podcast.

After the event, please join us as we treat our readers for dinner and drinks at The SoHo Room.

Six Summer Evenings of
Science Fiction
and Fantasy


Presented by Clarion West Writers Workshop

No charge • No tickets required
Tuesday evenings at 7:00 p.m.

June 24 to July 29
Mark Ferrari's Fairy
Please join Clarion West’s Six-Week Workshop instructors this summer as they read selections from recently published books, unpublished stories, or novels-in-progress. The featured readers will also answer questions about writing, teaching, editing, and other topics. Readings are held at the University Book Store or at the Downtown Seattle Public Library.

June 24 • University Book Store • 4326 University Way NE in Seattle
Paul Park’s multilayered, surreal fiction uses familiar archetypes in unfamiliar ways to convey the depth and variety of human experience. He is the author of ten novels, including Soldiers of Paradise, Celestis, and his acclaimed Tourmaline Quartet, as well as a collection of short stories. His creative daring has gained him numerous award nominations and the praise of major writers and critics. Paul Park is Clarion West’s 2014 Leslie Howle Fellow.

July 1 • University Book Store • 4326 University Way NE in Seattle
Kij Johnson is a winner of the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Sturgeon awards and the author of several novels and a recent short story collection, At the Mouth of the River of Bees. She teaches fiction at the University of Kansas, where each summer she also directs an intensive novel-writing seminar.

July 8 • University Book Store • 4326 University Way NE in Seattle
Ian McDonald uses richly detailed settings in Asia, Africa, and South America to illuminate the contradictions implicit in colonialism and rapid technological development while telling epic tales of human struggle and redemption. His cyberpunk-tinged stories of artificial intelligence, nanotech recipes, and virtual life and death win prestigious awards and international acclaim.

July 15 • University Book Store • 4326 University Way NE in Seattle
Hiromi Goto’s vivid scenes expand into dreamscapes; her poetic economy of language lifts readers into the lives of exiles who navigate adopted cultures by writing their own rules. Japanese-Canadian Goto received the 2001 James Tiptree, Jr. Award for Kappa Child. Darkest Light, companion to her 2009 Parallax Award-winning YA novel Half World, was published in January 2012.

July 22 • University Book Store • 4326 University Way NE in Seattle
Charlie Jane Anders’ work has appeared in Tor.com, Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, the McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Tin House, ZYZZYVA, Watchword, Monkey Bicycle, Eleven Eleven, Mother Jones Magazine and a few of the annual “Year’s Best” anthologies. She’s the managing editor of io9.com, and the organizer and host of Writers With Drinks, a long-running spoken word variety show. Her Hugo award-winning novelette “Six Months, Three Days” is being produced as a television show for NBC.

July 29 • Downtown Seattle Public Library
 • 1000 Fourth Avenue
John Crowley is the author of ten novels and three collections of short fiction. His novel Engine Summer was nominated for The American Book Award and appears in David Pringle’s 100 Best Science Fiction Novels, while Little, Big won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1980. Crowley has received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature, and won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the World Fantasy Convention in 2006. John Crowley is Clarion West’s 2014 Susan C. Petrey Fellow.



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