Didn't We Just Do This?

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And the answer is: Yes, we did. Last week. But Open Road Media is putting The Iron Dragon's Daughter on e-sale again. $1.99 on this Wednesday, April 1, only. I don't have to tell you what holiday that is. But apparently they really mean it.

I expect most people who read this blog and wanted an e-copy of that book got one during last week's sale. But I publicize the event for two reasons:

1) Writers should always be as cooperative to their publishers as they can stand being.

2) Maybe the reason for this promotion is that they're putting a lot of books on sale at once.

If you're an ebook reader, you might want to look into the second possibility. Or maybe subscribe to one of the newsletters below.

Here's the e-letter they sent me, with all the boilerplate:
                         
Dear Michael Swanwick,

We are pleased to let you know that the following ebook(s) will be featured in price promotions soon.

ISBN13	Title	Author	Promo Type	Country	Start Date	End Date	Promo Price
9781504025669	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Swanwick, Michael	ORM - Portalist NL	US	2020-04-01	2020-04-01	$1.99
9781504025669	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Swanwick, Michael	ORM - Portalist NL	CA	2020-04-01	2020-04-01	$1.99

Open Road will promote the feature via social media. We hope you can share the deal with your network as well. You can subscribe to the newsletters at the links below so that you will get the direct link to the deal on the day that it appears.

Newsletter	Link
Early Bird Books	Subscribe Now
The Lineup	Subscribe Now
The Portalist	Subscribe Now
Murder & Mayhem	Subscribe Now
A Love So True	Subscribe Now
The Archive	Subscribe Now
The Reader	Subscribe Now

Please let us know if you have any questions. We are thrilled to be part of this promotion; hope you are too!

Best,
The Open Road Editorial Team

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The Iron Dragon's Daughter #-Book Sale TODAY ONLY!

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Just a reminder that people in Canada and the US can buy an e-book of The Iron Dragon's Mother, the first book of my stand-alone fantasy trilogy for only $1.99 today. Tomorrow will be too late:

Here's the boilerplate:

ISBN13	Title	Author	Promo Type	Country	Start Date	End Date	Promo Price
9781504025669	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Swanwick, Michael	ORM - Early Bird Books NL	US	2020-03-23	2020-03-23	$1.99
9781504025669	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Swanwick, Michael	ORM - Early Bird Books NL	CA	2020-03-23	2020-03-23	$1.99

Open Road will promote the feature via social media. We hope you can share the deal with your network as well. You can subscribe to the newsletters at the links below so that you will get the direct link to the deal on the day that it appears.

Newsletter	Link
Early Bird Books	Subscribe Now
The Lineup	Subscribe Now
The Portalist	Subscribe Now
Murder & Mayhem	Subscribe Now
A Love So True	Subscribe Now
The Archive	Subscribe Now
The Reader	Subscribe Now

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The Iron Dragon's Daughter E-Book Only $1.99--MONDAY ONLY!

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More than a quarter-century ago, I was driving to Pittsburgh, with my wife, Marianne Porter, and we were talking about fantasy and about steam locomotives. I made a joke about the Baldwin Steam Dragon Works and Marianne laughed. Then, another mile or so down the road, I said, "Write that down, please."

Thus was born the Iron Dragons Trilogy, a trio of stand-alone books, the third of which, The Iron Dragon's Mother, was published just last year.

Far more recently, just an hour or so ago, I got an email from my associates at Open Road Media, telling me that The Iron Dragon's Mother, first of the three, will be on sale for $1.99 this coming Monday, March 23.

That's one day only BUT this time the sale includes Canada. Which I am very grateful for because the Canadian science fiction community has always been very warm and kind to  me.

Anyway, here's the boilerplate below, cut-and-pasted from the corporate email:


We are pleased to let you know that the following ebook(s) will be featured in price promotions soon.

ISBN13	Title	Author	Promo Type	Country	Start Date	End Date	Promo Price
9781504025669	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Swanwick, Michael	ORM - Early Bird Books NL	US	2020-03-23	2020-03-23	$1.99
9781504025669	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Swanwick, Michael	ORM - Early Bird Books NL	CA	2020-03-23	2020-03-23	$1.99

Open Road will promote the feature via social media. We hope you can share the deal with your network as well. You can subscribe to the newsletters at the links below so that you will get the direct link to the deal on the day that it appears.

Newsletter	Link
Early Bird Books	Subscribe Now
The Lineup	Subscribe Now
The Portalist	Subscribe Now
Murder & Mayhem	Subscribe Now
A Love So True	Subscribe Now
The Archive	Subscribe Now
The Reader	Subscribe Now

So if you (1) read e-books, (2) don't own a copy of The Iron Dragon's Daughter, and (3) would like to... well, here's your opportunity to do it on the cheap.

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Short Fiction Review: "So Much Cooking"

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"So Much Cooking" by Naomi Kritzer
Clarkesworld Magazine, issue 110, November 2015
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_11_15/

This story is made up of a number of things I don't particularly like: It's one literary form (fiction) disguised as another (a blog). It's about domesticity. Only one character is presented in any depth. And it hides its true subject in the background for much of its length. But in just the same way that a particularly talented cook--I am thinking here, obviously, of Marianne--can combine foods you're not crazy about into a dish that you'll love, Kritzer has written a genuinely moving meditation on the way that humanity and quiet courage can, in a crisis, rise into genuine heroism.

So Much Cooking is a cooking blog written by Natalie--there are no last names in this story--who shares her recipes in the midst of a particularly virulent bird flue epidemic. Her husband, Dominic, works from home and they have no children. But her sister-in-law, Katrina, is a nurse and afraid of bringing home the virus to her daughters, so suddenly they have two, Monika and Jo, ages thirteen and eleven. Then Natalie learns that Monika's friend Andrea is taking care of her three-year-old brother alone and... Well, it doesn't stop there.

While the size of Natalie's family grows and grows, the food dwindles and dwindles. The desperation of the outside world manifests itself in the form of closed grocery stores, pharmacies that have run out of drugs, recipes that take more and more ingenuity to be rendered palatable in the absence of things like milk, eggs, and flour, and a dwindling sense of options as one by one the foodstuffs run out.

I won't ruin the ending for you. But given how many grim things happen by the end, I feel that I have an obligation to tell you that it ends well. With hope.

And that the hopeful ending has been earned.


And I should mention . . .

I read this story because two people whose taste I respect were enthusing to each other about how good it was. Then, being impressed by "So Much Cooking," I determined to review it. It was only when I formatted the blog, that I realized the story was over four years old.

The relevance of the story to our present situation is obvious, of course. And relevance is another thing I'm not crazy about. For an instant, I thought of not reviewing it. But then I decided there was no reason to punish the story for its date of publication and every reason to celebrate it as an excellent piece of writing. So here it is.

Just remember that Kritzer was writing about an epidemic much more virulent than the one we're currently going through.

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Karen E. Quinones-Miller!

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On Saturday, Marianne and I broke our self-isolation to see Karen E. Quinones Miller at the Haverford Free Library of Philadelphia, where she talked about  Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, which she co-wrote with the gangster's widow, Mayme Johnson.

Bumpy Johnson was a complex man. He did all the terrible things that gangsters do (except peddle heroin, which he disapproved of) but he also did a lot to support the community in Harlem. He had a library so good that members of the intelligentsia borrowed books from him.

Karen knew him when she was a girl as a kindly man who encouraged her to get the best education she could and to make something of herself. It was only when he died that she discovered he was also one of the most dangerous and feared men in New York City. As an adult, Karen stayed in touch with his widow and they two became fast friends.

Speaking of complex people, Karen E. Quinones Miller is ex-Navy, a former reporter for the Philadephia Inquirer, a historian, and a best-selling novelist. When her first novel, Satin Doll, was turned down by numerous agents and publishing houses, she published it herself--and sold 28,000 copies in eight months. One bidding war later, it was published by Simon & Schuster.

Karen is one of Marianne's and my favorite people. She is brimming with life. Karen wrote a semi-autobiographical novel titled Angry-Ass Black Woman and, yes, it's possible to imagine her aflame with righteous wrath. But she is one of the most positive people I know. It's a joy to see her.

Karen doesn't make many public appearances since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. But when she does, she's a pleasure to be with. So there's my tip for you: If you ever get a chance to meet her, do. You'll thank me afterward.

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My Invisible Collection

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Everybody collects something--even if it's just dust. Me, I've started a collection of invisible things. That's it there up above.

I doubt you can easily read the labels in the photo so, in no particular order, here's what they say:

Contents: Nothing

Gluten free, low sodium, organic, non-GMO. Zero calories. No cholesterol. Contains no nuts or nut byproducts. No animals were harmed in the creation of this product. Lasts forever.

Contents: Air

This rich mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, and trace gases is a curated blend of molecules certified to have been once breathed by Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Saul of Tarsus, and other world celebrities. Also dinosaurs.

Contents: Tennessine Atom (1)

By weight, the most expensive material in the universe. Properties: Unknown. Do not chill, heat, shake, stir, or in any way molest. This atom is more valuable than you could ever hope to be. How sad to be you.

Contents: Ectoplasm

This triple-hexed jar contains one vengeful ghost. Opening it is extremely dangerous. Skeptics and debunkers are urged to take the jar home before doing so.

Contents: Tennessine Atom (1)

By weight, the most expensive material in the universe. Properties: Unknown. Do not chill, heat, shake, stir, or in any way molest. This atom is more important than you could ever hope to be. How sad to be you.

Contents: Gaseous Anti-Matter

0.003 g compressed anti-hydrogen. Exercise extreme caution in handling. A massive energy conversion capable of leveling a city block will occur if exposed to regular matter. There is a small possibility of setting fire to the atmosphere. Use of this product is illegal in 187 nations. Fun for the whole family.

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The Iron Dragon's Mother Schematicized

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Look what I found, buried deep in the papers on my desk!

This is a very early plot diagram for The Iron Dragon's Mother. It's interesting to contemplate how I thought it might all play out. Helen's line (in purple) notes that she learns the world she finds herself in, while Caitlin, indicated by the red line, learns "to act." (In the actual fact, Caitlin always knew how to act; what she learned was how to lie.) To these are appended the observations that Caitlin learns life while Helen learns to die.

Also interesting is that Fingolfinrhod, as yet unnamed, was being considered as a recurrent character and as a possible love interest for Helen. One could see Helen falling for him hard--she always had a weakness for disastrous boyfriends.

But there at the end of the timeline is a short exchange between Caitlin and Helen. The subject is Caitlin's mother (one of several), the Dowager. Caitlin speaks first:

"What do I do with her?"

"You're asking me? I never could handle my own."

So I knew right from the beginning that the novel would end with the question of what to do with the Dowager.Which means I had a better grasp on the shape of the thing than I often suspected I did, when the writing got difficult.

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The 60th Anniversary New York International Antiquarian Book Fair

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Yesterday, Marianne and I made a quick jaunt to the Big Apple (do people still call NYC that?) for the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. One of those half-for-business, half-for-fun things one does.

I won't pretend that we managed to see it all. A quick pass around the perimeter, with pauses to chat with people we know, was pretty much it. Nor did I take notes, so there won't be a full-scale article about it. Still, the Park Avenue Armory (this was a big event) was chock-a-block with nifty stuff any book lover would want.

Just two examples: A miniature book of a biography of Robert Godard, bound between two boards of meteoric iron--acid-washed, of course, to bring out the Widmanstätten patterns. And a quite beautiful artist book, one of four, made from a first edition of Finnegans Wake, with each page torn into strips and woven into a new page, then bound together. It was an audacious thing to do and I have to admire the artist (sorry, I don't have her name; as I said, I took no notes) for the nerve she displayed there.

I was of course daydreaming about items I'd love to own, had I only the shelf- or wall-space for them. Marianne, meanwhile, was making mental notes for future Dragonstairs Press projects.

Oh, and the book above? One dealer had a set of cheap shelves ("Everything $400 or Less!") and there on it was one of Gardner Dozois's best of the year volumes. Signed by Gardner and Gene Wolfe, and only $175. I had no idea such a thing existed. Gardner didn't talk much about his own accomplishments.

Also, and I realize the irony of this, special limited editions and spectacular leather bindings meant nothing whatsoever to the man. He was all about the words rather than the objects. When I interviewed him over the space of several years for Being Gardner Dozois, I discovered that he hadn't even kept copies of all of his own stories.

I'm sure Gardner would have thought the artist-book of James Joyce's most daunting work was a waste of a good reading copy.

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Short Fiction Mini-Review: "Mingus Fingers"

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Once upon a time, science fiction writers liked to write about jazz musicians. Like SF writers, jazz musicians were outsiders. Unlike SF writers, they were acknowledged to be the quintessence of cool. The protagonist was usually obscure but always one of the Greats.

That was long ago, and the sub-genre died pretty much away.

But here comes its resurrection, "Mingus Fingers" by David Sandner and Jacob Weisman and the first of two things that makes it particularly interesting is that while the protagonist is good enough to sit in with Charles Mingus, he's nowhere near on the same level. But his underage nephew and ward, Kenny, might well be.

The second particularly interesting thing about this story is that the almost-but-not-quite great musician is also an almost-but-not-quite great boxer. And in order to support the young man abruptly dumped into his care, he goes back for one last fight.

Take my word for it, it's tough to donkey up the knowledge to convincingly portray a jazz musician or a boxer. Doing both in one story? It's a recipe for disaster.

Yet Mingus Fingers is not a disaster. Rather, it's a graceful and touching portrayal of a man with the odds loaded against him who gives his all for a child who has a shot at something more than he ever had.

This is a slim $8.00 single-story paperback from Fairwood Press. It's nicely made, too.

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Short Fiction Mini-Review: "GO. NOW. FIX." by Timons Esaias

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This is one nifty little story!

"GO. NOW. FIX." by Timons Esaias appears in the January/February 2020 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction. The protagonist is a PandaPillow, which is just what it sounds like--a consumer product meant to comfort a child or traveler. It has senses, motility, and the ability to reason, but you wouldn't call it an AI. It's just a very capable expert system.

At the start of the story, there is an explosion and he PandaPillow tumbles out of overhead torage in an airliner filled with blood and unconscious human beings. Following protocols, it connects to Customer Service and sets out to rescue everyone. Then...

Well, then you have the pleasure of reading the story. Being the sort of story it is, you know the PandaPillow will come through. But that doesn't take away the suspense. Or the satisfaction of watching it happen. Or the pleasure in a carefully crafted ending to the story.

This story's just for fun. And fun it is. I recommend it.


And I should explain . . .

One of my New Year's resolutions--well, actually, the only one. I am so old that previous New Year's resolutions have rendered me practically perfect in every way--was to start reviewing short fiction again. Short fiction doesn't get many reviews and when it does, it's usually a sentence or three in the course of a review covering an anthology or magazine.

Alas, I have a lot on my plate these days. So I haven't the time to write thoughtful, seriously structured reviews the way I once did, back in the old New York Review of Science Fiction days. So, recognizing that I was being too ambitious, I lowered my sights. Now I am resolved to every now and then write a line or three in praise of a story that catches my eye.

So I have begun. Fingers crossed, I should be continuing to review stories I like in the coming weeks, months, or years.

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