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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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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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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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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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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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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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

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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