Four Days to Go!

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The Iron Dragon's Mother will be published on Tuesday! That's only four days away. I can hardly wait.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a dozen things at once. I've written introductions to books, I've got stories scheduled in Asimov's Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and at least one anthology, and there are a couple of essays out there as well. There are other remarkable projects in the works as well.

None of which I can talk about right now. Ironically enough, it's when I'm at my most productive that  I have the least news to impart. And, as a rule, vice versa.
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And from the Image Book . . .

A leaf. Also a picture, the only one, of Cat and Helen together. This is not a literal depiction, remember. It's more like a snapshot of their souls during a moment of particular stress. But there's truth to it.

Above: For those who came in late, my latest novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, will be published in only 4 days. To draw attention to this fact, I'm serializing the Image Book I made to help me imagine a strange world for the book.

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Yoshio Kobayashi (1961-2019)

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Yoshio Kobayashi is dead.

(Here, I must pause for a time to grieve. This is not a literary flourish; I really do mean this.)

I only met Yoshio the once, I think, in a food court at a Worldcon. He was with his wife Mika and their daughter, who was chowing down on some fast food at the time and, as young children won't, didn't respond to being introduced to me. So Mika, embarrassed, put a hand to the back of her head and pushed it down into a bow.

My son was about the same age as her daughter, so I identified perfectly. My heart went out to her.

As for Yoshio, he was everywhere in the 1980s and translating into Japanese close to the best of everybody in new-and-happening science fiction. The Locus obituary mentions Greg Bear, Bruce Sterling, Lucius Shepard, Lewis Shiner, and, well, me. We were none of us marquee names back then and he didn't treat us as such. He treated us as people who were doing the kind of cool work that he wanted to see published in Japan.

I, for one, was immensely flattered. His admiration was as good as any award. Others were, too, I think. I know that his name was slipped into at least a half-dozen stories and novels by various writers. 

Locus tells me that  "He translated for Japanese publishers includingShueisha and Hayakawa, and fo magazine Hayakawa SF. He taught translation for many years in Tokyo and Sooporo, inspiring generations to share his passion, and founded award-winning Japanese fanzine Palantir in 1981.

Most of all, he was a kindred spirit to the Eighties generation that was remaking science fiction, both those he translated and those he would have loved to. Whoever it is we are, he was one of Us.

Most of you never heard of him. Only a few of you ever met him. All of you are the poorer for his passing.

Godspeed, Yoshio. May the afterlife be good to you.


And in hte Image Book . . .

As my scrawl says, that's a Fox Spirit. Fox spirits come from Japanese mythology, so that seems a tidy bit of synchronicity. Synchronicity was considered very hip in the Eighties. So that's apt too.


And like it says below . . .

In only five days The Iron Dragon's Mother will be published! Five!! That's less than six!!!

Above: For those who came in late, my latest novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, will be published in only 5 days. To draw attention to this fact, I'm serializing the Image Book I made to help me imagine a strange world for the book.

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The New Prometheus

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The Mongolian Wizard has a son... and he's a very dangerous individual indeed.

I'm back in e-print again! Tor.com has posted "The New Prometheus," the ninth chapter in the Mongolian Wizard series. In this episode, Ritter faces an opponent unlike any he has ever encountered.

There are projected to be twenty-one Mongolian Wizard stories in all, and I'm currently at work on the next two. So we're closing in on the halfway mark

Of this particular story, I will only say that I am quite pleased with it. I hope you will be too.

You can read "The New Prometheus" here. Or you can simply go to Tor.com and poke around. They have many articles and stories that you're likely to enjoy.


And over in the Image Book . . .

This picture came from a surprisingly legitimate source, possibly the New York Times' periodic fashion magazine. The text to the side says Centauress and the scrawl beneath reads She put on the minotaur mask. Now she was half woman and half someone who didn't give a fuck what anybody thought. Which seems to me half the reason for donning a mask in the first place.

If you could see my house, you'd know I have a thing for masks (the animal skulls are Marianne's). And pretty much all fantasists have a thing for half-human human-animal creatures.They come crawling out of the unconscious bearing a load of mystery and undeciphered meaning.

Above: For those who came in late, my latest novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, will be published in only 6 days. To draw attention to this fact, I'm serializing the Image Book I made to help me imagine a strange world for the book.

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Only A Week To Go!

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It feels sometimes like I've been waiting for years for The Iron Dragon's Mother to be published. Because I literally have. If you throw in all that went into it's making, I've been waiting for a good quarter-century.

Now it's only a week away.


And up above . . .

Text: The Divider of the Ways


It isn't very often that someone is vouchsafed a vision of the Goddess, even in Faerie. This is one such, though in one of Her lesser avatars.

Above: For those who came in late, my latest novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, will be published in 7 days. To draw attention to this fact, I'm serializing the Image Book I made to help me imagine a strange world for the book.

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Another Ten Best Dragon Book List

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Pictured above is one of Anne McCaffrey's dragons. Her dragons and mine have very little in common. Though the artist of the original cover of The Iron Dragon's Mother was very obviously told to make it look as much like one of her dragons as possible--and, so far as I can tell, nothing more about the novel at all. Which is why the cover shows a human figure that could be either male or female lying face-down in a forest glade, possibly sleeping and possibly wounded, in a kind-medievelish outfit but maybe contemporary with a gracile green dragon crouching either protectively or menacingly over the figure. (All credit to the artist for making the most of a vague assignment.)

But today I have something in common with Ms. McCaffrey. We're both on a list of the Ten Best Dragon Novels on The Portalist, which is the website for Open Road Media.  Since The Iron Dragon's Daughter ebook is published by Open Road, I'm guessing the rest are as well.

No matter. It's a Ten Best list and those are always fun to argue with. I personally think that R. A. McAvoy's Tea With the Black Dragon is an excellent choice. It's quirky, fun to read, and above all original. On the other hand, on the other hand, one book I would definitely kick off the list is...

Oh, come on. You didn't seriously think I was going to tell you that? I have to live in this field.

You see and argue with the list here.


And meanwhile, back at the Image Book . . .

Text: The Dowager (two candids) and Segundis

Those are not very flattering pictures of the Dowager, though they do capture a fraction of her glamour and her spite. She is a lot nastier and more dangerous than she ever lets show.

I have no idea what I meant by Segundis.

Above: For those who came in late, my latest novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, will be published in 8 days. To draw attention to this fact, I'm serializing the Image Book I made to help me imagine a strange world for the book.

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It's Father's Day!

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Today is Father's Day which, for me, is Son's Day. Many years ago, the midwife handed a small and perfect baby to Marianne. Then, after Marianne had cuddled and marveled for a time, Heather (that was the midwife's name), picked him up again and, turning to me, said, "Do you want to hold him?"

I was young and stunned--how often do you get to be present for a miracle?--and didn't want to be in the way, so I said, "Oh, no, that's okay."

"Take your son, Michael!" Heather said, and thrust the infant into my arms.

I looked down at Sean and he looked up at me. He was born curious and looked oupon all he saw with calm interest. And, looking into his eyes, I thought, "Someday, my son, you will grow up and turn me into an old man and then I'll die. But that's all right. It's a small price to pay for having you in the world."

This was not a writerly notion. It was what I actually thought and what I honestly felt. It's what I still think and feel.

So, Happy Son's Day, Sean! I loved you the instant I set eyes on you, and I've loved you ever since.

And from the Image Book . . .

The caption reads: Helen V. (Publicity Photo)

Okay, that's actually Lauren Bacall, and it's doubtful that Helen V. ever looked that good. But it captures some of the intensity and seriousness and (but I may be reading this into the photo) hidden sense of humor that Helen V. has.

Presumably, she told the photographer to make her look good. I hope he got a bonus for that particular session.

Top above: Las year's Google Doodle for Father's Day. Credit where it's due, Google makes the world a better place by commissioning such things.

Middle above: For those who came in late, my latest novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, will be published in 9 days. To draw attention to this fact, I'm serializing the Image Book I made to help me imagine a strange world for the book.

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Saturday's Blog Post

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Again, this is a day late.

Shown above is Chateau Sans Merci, a major locale in The Iron Dragon's Mother. As I keep saying, these are impressions rather than representations. Here's how the chateau where Caitlin was raised is described in the novel:

Château Sans Merci was situated in the fold of the valley where graceful hills shaped like a giantess’ thighs met in a bosky thicket. Against this verdant backdrop, the dome and orange roof tiles of the château gleamed in the sun. The formal gardens surrounding the manor house, Caitlin knew from experience, swarmed with dragonflies, humblebees, fairies, and wasps. Not far below, the Amberwine emptied into a small artificial lake with a marble shrine to Astarte at the upper end and a decorative mill at the bottom. There was a dock on one side of the lake and a red lacquered moon bridge on the other giving access to a modest wooded island that the family used for picnics and the occasional midnight tryst   

And here's how the novel's protagonist reacts to seeing exactly that from the limousine that has been sent to fetch her home:

It was the pleasantest aspect imaginable. Caitlin had to blink away tears – not of pleasure – at the sight of it.   

It's not an easy business being the heroine of a fantasy novel.

Above: For those who came in late, my latest novel, The Iron Dragon's Mother, will be published in 10 days. To draw attention to this fact, I'm serializing the Image Book I made to help me imagine a strange world for the book.

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