Ride the Tiger

Folly Book Giveaway--The Dog's, or Just Plain Old Bollocks?

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:07:44 GMT

I hate going to the post office, and I live in a shoe box. Thus, if I'm going to the PO anyway I damn well better make it worth my time, and since I can't buy any new books until I clear some room on my over-taxed shelves, it's time to give away some of my few remaining author copies. Contest time! Two copies of the UK edition and one copy of the US edition of The Folly of the World are on the block.

I obviously have a fondness for slang, cant, proverbs, and other such semi-ciphered language, with Folly perhaps taking the cake in this regard--it wasn't on a whim that I referenced Brueghel's Netherlandish Proverbs/The Blue Cloak so often in the text:

All you've got to do to win a free copy of the novel, then, is:

1) Leave a comment on this blog entry (either on my website or the LJ cross-post) naming a favorite proverb, idiom, or bit of slang/cant. It can be anything, really, from a brief but profound kōan to a bawdy euphemism.

2) That's it. I would also very, very much appreciate it if anyone who receives a copy of the novel agreed to review it once they were done (it takes all of a minute to set yourself up to review books on amazon, for example)--I'm only able to sell my work to publishers as long as people keep buying them, and maybe a brief review here or there will sway prospective readers (hopefully in the right direction!)...

At noon PST on Thursday I'll choose three winners through some peculiar system, solicit the addresses from these lucky ducks, and drop the books in the mail Friday morning. Everyone wins! Except for those who don't, but at the very least maybe we'll all pick up some new expressions to annoy our friends and family with.

Cheers!

[Cross-posted to my website]

Folly! Readings! Award Noms! Soundtracks! ME ME ME!!! Also, a Review for Somebody Else.

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:44:18 GMT

Cats alive, if this year hasn't gotten off to a grand start. I've been informed that Folly has been nominated by the Kitschies for the 2012 Red Tentacle Award! Sponsored by the tasty Kraken rum, "The Red Tentacle is awarded annually to the novel containing speculative or fantastic elements that best fulfills the criteria of intelligent, progressive and entertaining," so obviously I'm chuffed beyond words. Last year Enterprise was nominated for the same award, and being up for this twice in a row is as thrilling as it is unexpected--last year I didn't take home the tentacle, of course, but I did receive a Kraken shower curtain as a runner-up prize, so even if I don''t swing a victory this time around I'll have a stylish barrier to keep my tears from getting onto the bathmat! In all seriousness, given the credentials of all involved with the Kitschies, it really is a vindication just to be nominated, and I can't tell you how happy I am to be thus honored--congratulations, and best of luck to all my fellow nominees!

Other Folly stuff:

I made a soundtrack for the novel on Spotify while I was doing my final revisions, so if you're inclined: The Folly of the World Soundtrack.
I'll be doing a reading at the Tattered Cover Bookstore on Colfax at 07:30 PM on Wednesday, February 6th.
I'll be taking part in a group reading with Stephen Graham Jones, Molly Tanzer, Mike Hance, and J.L. Benet on Friday, March 8th at the Broadway Book Mall. More details as it comes together!

So yeah, everything's coming up roses. Also, my review for Nick Mamatas' Bullettime is now live at Strange Horizons. It's mostly plot synopsis, which is something they prioritize, so if you haven't read the book yet you'd be better served by just picking that up instead--it's good, and has some of the most painfully realistic visions of high school life I've read, so, you know, fun times.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Year in Review + Folly Titbits

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:17:12 GMT

(Tried to cross-post this yesterday, but LJ was being buggy. Alas! At least I have a lot of experience with being a day late and a dollar short...)

2012 rolled in like a hoop snake and crawled out like a tatzelwurm, if you follow me, a real cryptozoological clusterfuck. I'm glad to be shy of it, frankly, but that's not to say nothing of personal interest or import went down. With no further ado, then, this was 2012, or at least the bits I care to talk about:

I read quite a few good books, many of which I've talked about here. I took part in Strange Horizons' reviewer year in review round robin and briefly covered my favorite reads of 2012 (or at least the works that bubbled up to the top of my brain at the time).

My plans to attend Readercon and World Fantasy fell through, but I took part in paneling at several local cons, including Starfest and Mile Hi Con. The best part of these, as always, was meeting new people and seeing old friends. And talking shit in the bar, of course.

The Enterprise of Death was shortlisted for a Kitschie Red Tentacle Award, which was rather exciting. Better even than the mega ego-boost to find myself nominated alongside China Miéville, Lavie Tidhar, Jane Rogers, and the ultimately triumphant Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd was getting to know judges Anne Perry, Justin Shurin, and Lauren Beukes after the awards were concluded. All three are marvelous, brilliant, funny people, and I'm glad to have met them.

Two of the films I've been most looking forward to since, uh, ever came out! I talked about Prometheus here, because it was at least amusingly bad, but haven't been able to bring myself to talk about The Hobbit. I love Peter Jackson, have ever since I watched Bad Taste as a young creep, and love all three of his Lord of the Rings pictures. The Hobbit, though, was an unmitigated disaster of style over substance--gone were my beloved small scale conflicts and moral shades of grey, replaced with a LotR scale, gravitas, and black and white morality that I want no part of in my Hobbitses. So it goes.

The Man with the Iron Fists, on the other hand, was everything you could possibly want from a Rza-directed kung-fu movie. Dopey and problematic, but a lot of fun!

I was recently reminded of this gorgeous collection of (primarily erotic, NSFW) bookplates:

I've been primarily laboring on this and that longer project, but also had a couple of short stories come out last year, and sold a few more which will be dropping this year.

The first of the two pieces published last year was "HISTORYBOT Saves the Future," which appeared in Zombies vs Robots: This Means War! and is quite possibly the best short story I've ever written.

The second story published in 2012 was a collaboration with Molly Tanzer called "Tubby McMungus, Fat from Fungus," which appeared in Fungi and is quite possibly the weirdest short story I've ever (co-)written.

Some of the stories that I sold last year which should come out in 2013 are "Saturday's Children" (about NYC photographer Weegee teaming up with a local mambo to solve a rash of child abductions), "Porn Enough at Last" (gender-neutral erotica about a post-apocalyptic entrepreneur restoring the pornographic details to censored hentai), and "The Fox and the Quantum Physicist" (a modern fable).

Most important, though, is that my third novel snuck out at the tail end of the year. Since The Folly of the World has only been in the wild for a couple of weeks, I've got some links to interviews, guest blogs, etc. that have come out since my initial launch post:

Jeremy L.C. Jones interviewed me at Clarkesworld.

I did a "Writer's Read" column at The Campaign for the American Reader.

And also a "Page 69 Test" column for the same folks.

I missed it before, but HTMLGiant listed the book as one of their Holiday Shopping Guide Recommendations. (Thanks, Chris!)

I also realize I neglected to post to any reviews the first time around, so here are some choice ones:

Publisher's Weekly says, "Every page is saturated with wickedness and mischief." (Thanks PW!)

Romantic Times gives it 4 1/2 stars and says, "(it) will keep you guessing at every turn. The language here is lyrical, bawdy and constantly challenging." (Thanks, Elise!)

FantasyLiterature.com describes it as my best work to date, and says it is "filled with sexual tension, unwelcome surprises, and short lifespans, all of it weaved with masterful wordplay and dark humor." (Thanks Justin!)

And UK review site The Bookbag says, "this dark and memorable novel, complete with its dark and memorable characters, is among the more distinctive and classifiable reads around." (Thanks John!)

As always, if you enjoy the novel I'd be most obliged if you could help spread the word about it however you can, be it through reviews on goodreads, Amazon, blogs, etc, or just telling your friends about it. This was the toughest novel I've yet written and took about three years to come together, so yeah, it obviously means the world to me to at last see all the hard work result in the beautiful edition Orbit has produced. I hope all that energy, time, inevitable frustration, and sure, love, has resulted in a work that you find worthy of your eyeballs ... and of course, thanks for reading!

Now, here's looking forward to '13--Cheers!

[Cross-posted to my website]

The Folly of the World Book Day

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:44:37 GMT

Today marks the fruition of over three years of concentrated effort, my third novel, that shaggy sheep that started life under the title Hook and Cod and is now available at finer booksellers everywhere as The Folly of the World. I love it, and hope that you do, too. If you don't, well, there are plenty of Netherlandish proverbs that could be applied, but then there always are...

Here then are some salient facts and links for your perusal.

1. The marvelous Lauren Panepinto and Zelda Devon did the cover, which also underwent some changes along the way. Here's the final beast in all its beauty:

2. I'm greatly indebted to my editor Tim, my agent Sally, and my besties Raech and Molly for both helping me get this project where it needed to be and for putting up with my constant whinging about it. Hell, thanks to everyone who put up with over the last few years, period--this work took over my life, and I really, really appreciate the collective patience of everyone I know!

3. If you're the look before you leap sort, Orbit has posted the prologue and first chapter of the novel.

4. This really is my favorite thing I've ever written. It certainly took the most work of anything I've yet done, and was the most emotionally draining writing experience I've ever had. If you enjoy the book, please feel free to sing its praises from the rooftops, read it aloud at libraries and orphanages, and/or review it online somewhere.

5. Holland is so cool. Thanks, Holland!

6. Link Party:

The book was picked by Flavorwire as one of their 10 Must-reads for December and the LA Times Holiday Gift Guide.
Molly held a cocktail contest to promote the book, and just posted the results.
I've got a "Thoughtful Thursday" column up at Fantasy Literature, and they're giving away a copy of the book in the comments section.
I've got a guest blog at SFSignal called "Reality and the Folly of the World," which is about, uh, reality and the folly of the world/The Folly of the World.
I've got another guest blog, this one at Orbit which is basically a top ten list of movies that somehow relate to the novel.
Orbit also posted a short chapter that got cut from the final draft, as a sort-of deleted scene/teaser thing.

6. I'm sure I'm leaving something off, but will try to avoid cluttering the feed with constant noise about this, so will run another digest-style update on Folly further down the road: I've got some readings coming up in the new year down Denver-way, I did an interview for Clarkesworld that'll be out some time, and I might be doing another for the Magazine of Bizarro Fiction. As always, I'm available to take about myself ad nauseam, if anyone's interested. So yeah, more in the coming days, and thanks again, most of you!

[Cross-posted to my website]

The Folly of the World Giveaway! Cocktails! What?

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:04:04 GMT

I received my author copies of The Folly of the World, and that means it's time to hold a book giveaway contest. This book is seriously gorgeous--it's worth having for Lauren Panepinto and Zelda Devon's (textured!) cover alone. Also, it's good for laughs and lashings of the old ultraviolent, in my personal opinion. This here contest is being hosted on Molly Tanzer's newly revamped website, so get thee to armchair mixologist Molly's website and see how to win one of the four I'm giving away...we all get tipsy in any event, so everybody wins!

[Cross-posted to my website]

MileHiCon This Weekend--October 19-21

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:36:46 GMT

I've obviously been keeping a low profile of late, but I'll be stepping out to MileHiCon this weekend in Denver. Very much looking forward to seeing old friends, making new ones, all that jazz. Details on the con are here, but the broad strokes are that this year's Guests of Honor are Cherie Priest, C.J. Henderson, Stephen Hickman, and Stephen Brust, with Stephen Graham Jones serving as Toastmaster--should be a blast!

Here's where I'll officially be found, if I owe you money or something:

Friday, 08:00-09:00 PM: Serving as part of the "Meet, Munch, and Mingle" Autograph Alley session. I'll sign the remains of any foodstuffs that you let me get a bite of.

Saturday, 10:00-11:00 AM: I'll be doing a tag-team reading with Robert Ziegler, whom I've heard good things about. Haven't decided yet what I'll read--maybe I'll see if Ziegler would be willing to trade whatever he was planning on reading with me, so I can have him read something of mine and then snicker when he gets to the inevitable boners. Like Uncle Klaus, I am a simple man with simple pleasures.

Sunday, 01:00-02:00 PM: Moderating the obligatory "Comedic Elements in Horror" panel, which consists of the aforementioned Stephen Graham Jones, Molly Tanzer, Wayne Faust, and James K. Burk. Come and see us trot out old saws like the "clown at midnight" principle! As moderator, I can 100% guarantee that we'll be talking in part about our favorite film examples, so if you're a cinephile looking for obscure Halloween-season suggestions, this should be a fun time, especially when I call Molly out for not liking the Evil Dead movies in front of a room full of people who can--and likely would, if I had any intention of allowing audience commentary before the final ten minutes--quote Bruce Campbell verbatim, ad nauseam.

Other than that, the bar is always a good bet, and there are some good-looking panels and readings lined up, too, which I'll be sitting in on; the full schedule and guest list is at the site I mentioned above. If you're attending and reading this, it's a pretty safe bet that I'd like to meet you, shake your head, perform an interpretive dance for you, whatevs, so by all means come up to the rare Shorn Bullingtonbeast and introduce yourself. Huzzah!

[Cross-posted to my website]

Interview with Molly Tanzer, Author of A Pretty Mouth

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:36:57 GMT

Molly Tanzer and I go way back, being friends, neighbors, collaborators, rivals, etc., so I'm happy to announce that her brilliant, weirdass debut, A Pretty Mouth, just dropped from Lazy Fascist Press last week. For serious, if you have any interest in fiction that is positively iconoclastic, pick up this tome ASAP--it'll be utterly unlike anything else you read this year, guaranteed. As I wrote in my Amazon review, for fans of historical fiction, Victorian pornography, Mythos horror, Tom Jones, sword-and-sandal epics, Jeeves and Wooster, the poetry of John Wilmot, and/or boys' school romps, this is the book you've been waiting for!

When I read her initial draft of the project I was gobsmacked by the manifest quality of the specimen, and so seeing it evolve into an even sleeker, stranger, more complex beast has been most exciting...and lest you find my recommendation to be of dubious worth, everyone from Caitlín R. Kiernan to Laird Barron to Nick Mamatas to Stephen Graham Jones has been singing its praises.

Without (much) further ado, here's the Q&A I put to Molly regarding her Pretty Mouth (I warned her that would happen, by the by). For those who use Spotify, you can cue up the soundtrack she made for the book as you read the interview:

1) A Pretty Mouth, which is something like the illegitimate offspring of a novel and a short story collection, grew out of your original story "The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins." In expanding the genealogy and universe of the Calipash line, did you find yourself referring to “Infernal History” as the canon that all the other material had to conform to, or did you take a more free-form approach, where each epoch existed independently of the others?

Uh … both? Is that possible?

I knew in a general sense that each pair of twins would have their own set of personalities, environments, and concerns, because I really wanted to avoid being boring and repetitious when attempting a generational work. (Whether I am successful in avoiding such is up to my readers.) But certainly “Infernal History,” as the foundational piece, determined certain major elements used in the rest of the stories, those elements being evil twins, hammy stage villainy, the use of pastiche or leitmotif appropriate to whatever time period I was writing about, and, I dunno … aristocratic flakiness.

It’s funny, when I first started thinking about the project, I never meant for Lovecraftian/Mythos elements to appear in all the stories. Certainly in “Infernal History” and its direct sequel “The Hour of the Tortoise” that stuff was supposed to play a major part, but it was only after my editor at Lazy Fascist commented on something he saw as being Lovecraftian in “A Spotted Trouble at Dolor-on-the-Downs” (I hadn’t really thought about it that way) did I really, you know, go for that as an overarching thematic element.

2) The project obviously takes a cue from Blackadder, with each section picking up in a different time period with different members of the Calipash line. Did the temporal settings you chose, and their respective styles (be they overt pastiche or not), line up fairly organically, or did you work up a serious brainsweat over which time periods and styles would best balance out what you wanted to do with the overall project, as well as the individual pieces?

I really appreciate your faith that I thought any of this through!

With the first story, when the good people at Innsmouth Free Press put out a call for Historical Lovecraft, my first thought was basically “fuck yes, I can finally write a picaresque and stand a chance at an editor doing more than laughing herself into a fit of tears before sending me a form rejection.” (I selected the picaresque because I wanted to finally use my Master’s degree for something.) By the time Cameron Pierce queried me about potentially doing more with the Calipash twins idea I’d already fantasized about doing this sort of, yeah, Blackadderish collection of stories about different generations of evil twins.

I selected the various eras half out of laziness, half out of love. Since I’d already cashed in my 18th century chips, I needed to pick my runner-up favorites of centuries and styles, which immediately meant something Victorian and something Restoration. I’m less interested in Medieval lit than I could be; same goes for Elizabethan drama. I’ve always been a huge fan of meat-head sword and sandal idiocy, and I was on a big Wodehouse kick when I signed the contract, so that, as they say, was that.

As for the writing of said stories … well, some came together more smoothly than others, as they always do!

3) Was there any time period, setting, and/or literary style that you might have liked to cover, but didn't? If so, why not?

Oh sure. I’m a huge fan of Jane Austen, but I dismissed the possibility of an Austenian piece because her style is too distinct and crisp to bear imitation. People have tried, of course, but it’s usually dreadful. And despite my earlier trash-talking of English medieval lit, a Canterbury Calipash tale would have been really fun. I didn’t do that … because I just now thought about it. Damn.

4) The four shorter sections of the project, whether we consider them chapters or stories, each do their own thing with aplomb, but also frame the titular novella in sundry ways—when you were initially mapping out the project, did you plan on having “A Pretty Mouth” take center stage?

I think so? I wanted a capstone for the collection, and that idea seemed the most fruitful for a longer piece.

5) Readers familiar with John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, might be surprised by your portrayal of him in A Pretty Mouth. When you first conceived of the idea, did you picture him playing the part that he does, or was his role and character something that evolved as you researched and wrote the novella?

I always wanted to have a pre-debauched Wilmot in the book. It’s something I’ve never encountered in the wild, probably because it’s so fun to write about Wilmot when he’s being a crazy asshole. It makes sense; when presented with the option of writing about a meek little schoolboy who’s (literally) afraid of the dark … and a man who actually formed a “sexual society” with his friends called, I swear this is true, “The Ballers,” who are you going to pick? Yeah.

Anyways, to answer your question more thoroughly, Wilmot was originally going to be the protagonist of A Pretty Mouth but after reading a sobering biography about his early life (and realizing he’d have been, um, twelve years old to be historically accurate) I decided to make him a side-character, and create an older, more loathsome protagonist to punish.

6) Without going into detail, which character in the book do you feel the worst for?

Wilmot, actually, because the majority of bad stuff that happens to him is based on the real history of his life. Bleh.

7) Do you have one or more favorite Calipash? Describe your dream-date with him/her/them.

This is a tricky question, because any date with a Calipash would probably result in a serious loss of sanity. Or death. Or worse, whatever “worse” might mean.

But since you asked, well … my first impulse was to choose St John Clement from the title novella, because he seems like he could be a lot of fun if he was in a decent mood. Plus he’s an angsty bad boy, who (in my mind) looks like a blonder, girlier version of Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore. In a wig. Yum. What can I say, I have a type. Don’t judge me.

I think ultimately, however, I’d pick Basil and Rosemary, of the original Ivybridge fame. I love those crazy kids. It’s had to shake that crush on your first, amiright? So I figure here’s how our date would go: They’d pick me up in a coach driven by Rosemary’s sex-golem, and we’d go out to a public house for a bite and some beer. Then we’d hie back to the family manse, whereupon we’d get sloppy drunk on expensive hooch whilst discussing some of the more interesting conjugations of R’lyehian and ancient Greek verbs. After that they’d let me try on all their wigs and stays and tight pants and frock coats until it was time for me to go home. And then they’d actually let me go home … without murdering me or selling my soul to the Old Ones.

You gotta manage your expectations when dealing with the Lords Calipash, that’s the secret.

***
Many thanks to Molly for humoring me with this interview! Now get thee some Calipash, with the quickness!

[Cross-posted to my website]

Laird Barron's The Croning and Riley Michael Parker's A Plague of Wolves and Women

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:05:40 GMT

Horror is tough, maybe even tougher than it's closest cousin, comedy.That line between the unsettling and the silly is so damn fine, so subjective, and a groan instead of a giggle at an off joke can be easier on the ego than a snort instead of a shiver at an attempted scare. For me, at least--I like to jumble horror and comedy together, taking the trappings of the former but applying a lighter, more absurd tone and atmosphere of the latter, which of course makes all the difference. Horror, like comedy, is more than the basic skeleton of components, it's everything that comes after, which brings us to the hardest aspect of writing either--sustaining a mood over the course of many pages. No doubt this explains why most of my favorite horror texts and films (Ravenous, for example) take a subversive and shifting tone, rather than attempting to hit one note and have it not only carry but deepen over the course of its action. Which brings me to two novels I recently read, Laird Barron's The Croning and Riley Michael Parker's A Plague of Wolves and Women.

I'll start with The Croning, as I'd been anticipating it for some time. It's no secret that Laird Barron is one of the greatest living writers of short horror fiction, and so I was slavering as soon as I caught wind of the project. Obviously skill in the short form by no means assures skill in the long, but a few wee missteps notwithstanding, I felt that Barron's first novel was a grand success. It's a continuation and expansion on the primarily Pacific NW-set mythos Barron established in short stories like the excellent "Mysterium Tremendum" and "The Men from Porlock"--it's by no means necessary to read Barron's short fiction prior to embarking on the novel, but those familiar with the relevant pieces will be rewarded with a knowing shudder or chuckle from time to time.

One of the aspects which caught me off-guard was the slyly humorous tone which opens up the novel. I'm the sort of horror fan who often enjoys the historical back-story that is inevitably flashed back to even more than the contemporary action, but the meat of the novel is good enough to hold its own against its arch, fairy tale-esque opening. The tonal shift between this opening chapter and the remainder of the story proved to be indicative of the see-sawing atmosphere of the novel, where the horror of the unknown and the amusement of the absurd mostly balance one another, with frequent, stomach-dropping dips in uncertain directions. Barron understands the importance of occasionally breaking up the tension with wry humor, and while the vast majority of the time I thought he did a brilliant job of juggling the two, there were a couple of moments where something chilling was undercut by an aside that seemed to unnecessarily lighten the load. Over all, though, it's a very fine, fun, and wonderfully sinister trip to the knobbly knee of Uncle Leech, and one not to be missed by fans of modern horror with a classic, Lovecraftian bent.

Riley Michael Parker's debut novel A Plague of Wolves and Women is a bit harder to nail down than Barron's, but like The Croning, it off-sets the graphic, disturbing elements with an impressively deft gallows humor. The chronicle of a doomed rural township by one of its children, A Plague is utterly unlike anything else I've come across in recent memory--the almost lackadaisical account of bizarre and terrible horrors calls to mind Shirley Jackson, and this work seems like a shoe-in for the award in her honor, if only it lands on the judges' radar. Very few works, be they film or literature, actually give me nightmares, but I had an especially vivid, awful nightvision after partaking in this marvelously upsetting novel. There were a few flourishes that I found to be overly absurdest, and, as with Barron's work, I could have done with a more developed female character or two, but on the whole I found it to be one of the most successful experiments in literary horror that I've come across. Fair warning, though--it's as pitch black and visceral a fairy tale as one could hope to find.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Review: Alex Jeffers' You Will Meet a Stranger Far From Home

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 20:58:04 GMT

Polymath Alex Jeffers has done some very attractive book designs over the years (such as Livia Llewellyn's Engines of Desire), so it's not surprising that You Will Meet a Stranger Far From Home, his debut collection from Lethe Press, sports a lovely layout and cover. As with Llewellyn's aforementioned book, the contents here are more than worthy of the tidy edition that houses them, and fans of rich, decadent prose will find much to appreciate here. Jeffers' tales run the gamut from the familiar to the alien, from real world settings to far-flung fantasy lands, but even with the most reality-bound entries the word mundane never applies--in these fictions, the Aegean Sea holds just as much magic as the unnamed worlds Jeffers conjures up.

As with the best collections, the stories in this volume feed off of and bleed into one another, offering a wide range of experiences rather than hitting the same notes over and over again. The book's two hottest stories (look, I fumbled around with words like erotic and sensual, but while they are certainly erotic, sensual, lush, etc., hot really is the operative word here) bookend the rest, with the opener "Wheat, Barley, Lettuce, Fennel, Blood for Sorrow, Salt for Joy" giving a friendly pinch of magical realism to the story of a young man crushing on a Turkish deckhand, while the concluding story, "Tattooed Love Boys," amps up both the fantastical content and the sexuality--the two stories mirror one another nicely without at all feeling repetitious, despite similar motifs. Throughout the work, stories pair with one another in a charming fashion that only occasionally is the result of a direct relation, such as the Arabian Night-styled "Firooz and his Brother" and the even more adventurous follow-up, "Haider and His Dog," but for the most part arises from a thematic or stylistic connection.

As is the case with virtually any collection or anthology, there were a few stories here that didn't 100% work for me, but even these pieces displayed Jeffers' talent and intelligence--I thought one or two stories were the teensiest bit heavier-handed than I thought they needed to be, and "Liam and the Wild Fairy" never stood a chance, as I have a severe allergy to most anything involving the fair folk. Most of the stories were a direct bullseye for me, however, and Jeffers is adept at hitting that sweet spot of covering distant lands, times, and peoples without ever coming across as exoticizing his subjects. Bittersweet rather than cloying, intriguingly open-ended rather than overly-explained, the stories in You Will Meet a Stranger Far From Home offer a refreshing draught even as they make the reader thirst for more.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Fables, Heroes, and Kickstarters

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:47:33 GMT

Kickstarter is pretty great. I've only backed one or two projects to date due to a wallet moth infestation, but I like the format, as well as the seeming security of the platform--a year or three back I plonked down some cash to pre-order a small press anthology that was in the red (Wheatland Press's Polyphony 7), as they needed x pre-orders or else they wouldn't make it to print, and I never received a book, a refund, or even a response to my "uh, wheres my dollars?" emails, so yeah, Kickstarter seems to be an improvement just as a secure pre-order system, to say nothing of all the other perks. It's been neat to see projects flourish via this specific brand of crowd-funding, be they novels, films, anthologies, board games, whatevs, and it'll be interesting to see the long-term impact of the approach. One thing that would be classy as hell would be if one of these potential fiction anthologies or magazines, assuming they planned on holding open submissions, had a bold-faced "if you fund us, we cannot consider your fiction for inclusion" policy, but I'm not going to wait underwater on that one.

Right, so the reason I got on the subject is that the publisher Stone Skin Press has launched a Kickstarter, because of course they have--like I said, it's a great way of setting up pre-orders, getting pre-release attention, etc. Stone Skin has four fiction anthologies in the wings, which you can read more about at the Kickstarter, and I've got stories in two of'em, both of which I've mentioned around here before: my hardboiled Weegee-and-conjurewoman story "Saturday's Children" will appear in The New Hero II, and my fable "The Fox and the Quantum Physicist" will appear in The Lion and the Aardvark: Aesop’s Modern Fables. I'm especially chuffed about the latter, as it was the source for one of the book's interior illustrations by the brilliant Rachel Kahn--they've posted said illustration at the bottom of the Kickstarter page, as well as the one for Julia Ellingboe's story, and I'm honored to have had my scribblings inspire such a delightful work of art. The Kickstarter has already reached its funding goal, by the by, but there are still a few weeks left to contribute, and the rewards seem pretty nifty (including prints of the illustrations), hence my mentioning it here. Stone Skin seems off to a promising start, just to go on the caliber of the writers they've lined up (full ToCs at the bottom of the Kickstarter page--I'm in crazy good company), the artists they've solicited, and and my own experiences working with them, so here's hoping all prosper from their crowd-funded approach...

[cross-posted to my website]

The Unanswered Questions of Prometheus

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 20:17:10 GMT

Regardless of whether or not you've watched Prometheus yet, you've doubtless heard the claim that the film raises more questions than it answers. Indeed, this seems to be the rallying cry for many of its defenders, with the odd whiff of smugness as they add that if only the detractors had been smart enough to pick up on this or that bit of (intentional, we swear!) ambiguity then everybody would acknowledge the manifest genius before them and not, you know, think the movie was a half-baked mess, albeit a very pretty one.

Rather than posting yet another review of the movie, I thought it might be more interesting to list some of the deeper questions Prometheus raised, at least for this longtime Alien franchise fan and the friends he talked to after the screening (many thanks to Raech, Molly, John, Kay, Justin, Thara, Marc, and everyone else for the input!). Spoilers ahead, dummy:

Is the problem that Prometheus actually leaves too much unanswered, or is it that the heavy-handed answers it smacks the audience with are so obvious that only by seeking for less overt questions and potential tangents can one pretend the film is profound instead of ponderous?
Assuming some or even all the proposed implications of the film are indeed what the filmmakers intended and not straw-grasping by fans, does that make the tired-ass ancient astronaut plot any more compelling?
If the above does make Prometheus more compelling, what does that say about De Palma's 2000 film Mission to Mars, from which many of Prometheus' elements, including the ending, are liberally "borrowed"?
Does this make anyone else giggle?

What does it say about the film that its defenders respond to pointed criticisms of particular elements by asking a question of their own: "why would you care about that?"
How long until fans start claiming that all the un-mined but interesting directions the film could have gone in but didn't--e.g, the human race being a biological weapon created by aliens--are actually crucial components of the movie that the filmmakers never actually explored because to do so would be waaaaaay too obvious for such a subtle film?
When did Scott forget that you can pack more emotional wallop into a scene by understating your subject matter rather than beating your audience over the head with it? Rutger Hauer's last words to Harrison Ford in Blade Runner are so haunting and effective because we haven't been buffeted with endless reminders of Hauer's humanity and appreciation of beauty for the previous two hours...
Was I having a nightmare, or is Ridley Scott really going back to the Blade Runner well next?
Why does a film that makes such a to-do about science, especially science in relation to faith, not bother vetting any of the scientific elements in the film? Obviously not all so-called SF movies need to have plausible scientific explanations to be enjoyable, but when the major subtext of a film is that science cannot supply all the answers it might be seen as good form to actually supply the teensiest bit of plausible science...
Or, for that matter, plausible characters, which raises another question: shouldn't characters act according to some sort of personality or internal motivation, rather than as bland propellers of the plot?
As a sub-question to the above, say that you a punk rock geologist whose sole stated role in the investigation of the site is to map out the alien complex, a task which you initially perform with aplomb. How would you then become hopelessly lost when you single-mindedly set out to leave said complex?
Or, for that matter, say that you are a nerdy biologist who's way too squicked out to investigate the two thousand year old corpse of the first alien lifeform you've ever seen. Why, then, when a living, genital-lookin' xenocobra creature rears up in front of you in an obviously hostile fashion would you reach out for the goddamn thing, sans tongs or even a Y-shaped stick?
Why do all three of the remaining non-major characters have to be present for the suicide mission to succeed, instead of having all but one escape on the lifeboat?
Have my eyes gone insane, or are people actually alleging that the gender dynamics in this movie don't suck alien goopus? Compare Prometheus' ladies-are-either-baby-crazy-or-have-daddy-issues-or-both binary to Ripley's non-gendered-in-the-frickin-script role in the first Alien and all of a sudden James Cameron's saddling Ripley with maternal motivations in Aliens no longer seems quite as problematic...
And in re: the above, why does exposure to the black slime of dooooom turn all the dudes it infects into raging baddies with inhuman strength, but when an (infertile, no less!) woman gets it on with a contaminated gentleman, it somehow causes her to become pregnant? This raises another question, namely:
Do the filmmakers know how babies are made?
And as for the whole ancient-astronauts-created-life-on-earth, as Kameron Hurley's post asks, have the filmmakers effectively erased women from the creation of life?
If you are an alien race of obvious superior intelligence, why leave a map to your bio-weapons laboratory with the primitive civilizations you've engineered? Assuming the not-at-all-sizable leaps in reasoning the protagonists make are correct and that is indeed the function of the complex, of course.
Say that you're an obviously intelligent alien and you awake from a two-millennia-long snooze in a cryo-chamber to discover that several of your creations are waiting at your bedside, clearly interested in communicating with you. Why would you immediately try to murder them all?
Is there any point in going on and on about the film's gaping plot holes, one-dimensional characters, and other manifest faults?
When was the last time I watched such a gorgeous film in the theatre,and who doesn't like to consume a big budget turkey from time to time?
Is there anything wrong with enjoying a giant lump of gorgonzola, even if the waves of stink rising from it blind your less cheese-eager friends?

Now, there was quite a bit I enjoyed about the film--the cinematography, sets, costumes, effects, creature design, and, not to be redundant, Michael Fassbender--but, ultimately, the questions raised by Prometheus weren't the sort of questions I find particularly stimulating or engaging. I don't think any less of people who loved it, of course, and I adore enough bombs to know that one person's meat another person's merde is, but, unfortunately, this fell into the latter camp for me. Even still, merde never looks so good as that which Ridley Scott produces!

[Cross-posed to my website]

Zombies, Zoos, and the Bizarro

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:01:51 GMT

I originally titled this post Fables, Heroes, Robots, Zombies, Zoos, Lovecraft, Demons Souls, Borderlands, Bizarro, & Beau Brummel, but that's clearly way too much for one blog post, so I'll come back to most of the above in a later entry. Or maybe I'll say fuck it and never mention any of it again--a distinct possibility!

Most of what I've been up to of late has been Top Secret Clown Business, but here's what I can tell you: I'm a pretty boring dude. I've been working a lot, which is obviously good, and also a lot of fun, but a heavy workload tends to result in my staying away from the old Mi-go Brain Box (or MacBook Pro, whatevs) whenever I can get away with it. Lots of hiking this mild, lush Colorado spring, but also some reading, movie watching, and video gaming, because when your eyes need a rest from staring at a screen the last thing you want is to give into the demands of those gelatinous fuckers--if you can't be the lord of your own face, then...wait, I had something for this...no, damn it, it's gone. Anyway, here's some of what I've recently read:

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. Phenomenal SF, set in an alternate-universe Johannesburg. One of the best books I've read in ages, with a surprising (to me, which admittedly isn't saying much) hard-boiled element that meshed perfectly with the speculative elements. And everything else, for that matter--the novel is by turns poignant and darkly humorous, and consistently clever, with my favorite narrator I've encountered in ages. Not to bang the rustiest drum with the biggest, most obvious mallet, but while escapism gets bandied around a lot when discussing SF, anyone who's read more than the smallest, blandest sampling will confirm that just like any other form of fiction, genre offers engagement with the real world and its problems, rather than a simple break from it. Not that escaping from one's problems or the perpetually depressing state of the world is the worst thing in the world, but Zoo City is a definitive example of how an intelligent novel can offer both escape and engagement in one brilliantly written package. To top it all off, there's a killer ZC soundtrack free for the listening over at Spotify. This novel gets five billions stars. Out of a possible four.
Zombie Bake-Off by Stephen Graham Jones. Absurdly cool and entertaining. One of the things I most admire about SGJ is that his work manages to be both dependably excellent and wildly unpredictable. This goes for his overall body of work, with one project being totally unlike anything else he's done, but also for the individual works themselves. Take, for example, this monster ballad of semi-pro wrestlers and amateur bake-off participants locked in an arena with an ever-growing horde of zombies. With a premise that gold you know everything is going to be all right even if it follows a by-the-numbers zombie trajectory, but this being a SGJ novel, the action manages to simultaneously hit the sweet spots that a zombie/wrestler/soccer mom showdown promises while also throwing a baker's dozen of insane and insanely touching twists into the squared circle. An aside: when I was growing up, every few Sundays my dad would drive me to the gas station, which was the only shop in town other than the feed store. There we would buy a dozen donuts--the pre-packaged, mass-produced one; nothing fresh at the Warrior's Mark Uni-Mart--and return home to watch pro-wrestling on one of the half-dozen channels we picked up. This book unexpectedly dredged up a lot of great memories, plus, yanno, zombies.
Love in the Time of Dinosaurs by Kirsten Alene. SGJ's above novel was published by Lazy Facist, an imprint of Bizarro publisher Eraserhead, and after enjoying the hell out of Zombie Bake-Off I decided to go down the rabbit hole of the Bizarro movement with a cross-section of interesting-titled works. The first of these, Love in the Time of Dinosaurs, is a thin volume, but an impressively deep text, given both the length and seemingly doomed-to-sillines premise. The twin factors that elevate this tale of nigh-indestructible monks battling super-weaponized, intelligent dinosaurs is Alene's writing, which is top-notch, meticulous, and vibrant, and the seriousness with which she approaches her absurd, surreal premise. There were admittedly a few weird-for-weirdness'-sake moments, perhaps the most common criticism leveled at Bizarro works, but far less than one might expect--what's so satisfying about Alene's debut is that the weird is in the service of the greater story, with most of the insanity doing double or triple-duty, rather than simply being in there as an obscure reference or to garner a cheap laugh. It's Dinosaurs for Hire meets The Name of the Rose by way of Yor: the Hunter from the Future, maybe. I loved it.
The Kobold Wizard's Dildo of Enlightenment +2 (an adventure for 3-6 players, levels 2-5) by Carlton Mellick III. I'm generally opposed to "there are two types of people in this world" hyperbolic binaries, but sometimes you just have to say fuck it and give in to the glory of gross generalizations. Which is to say, I suspect that there are two types of people in this world: ones who will read the title of CMIII D&D-inspired novel and think to themselves "this is a book I was waiting my whole life for and didn't even know it," and people who will think something else entirely. What the latter camp will think in particular probably varies a great deal, but I suspect "what the shit is this?" probably crops up a lot. I am here to confirm for both hypothetical groups that your gut-reaction is correct--if the title makes you sagely nod to yourself, then you will probably find it a fun, creepily-resonant, meta-textual flashback to the days of high adventure, or at least filthy adolescence, whereas if that titles gives you any pause at all, you will in all likelihood hate the living shit out of it. Flipping through the first-edition-module styled book and seeing CMIII occasionally pornographic illustrations will help you figure out which camp you belong in, if you're unsure--the polearm chart was a personal favorite. Good times.

So that's what I've actually finished, with Laird Barron's The Croning, Jason Hellar's Taft 2012, and Cameron Pierce's Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom on my bedstand, by my couch, and next to the bathtub, respectively. All, so far, are impressive in their own unique ways. Anyone out there reading anything interesting? Or not?

[Cross-posted to my website]

Monster Mash: Weird Fiction Review's Beast Party, J.M. McDermott's newest, a Kornwolf, & a Hairy Man

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:37:13 GMT

Monsters! Everyone loves'em, or at least everyone I care to know. Weird Fiction Review has been holding a 12 Days of Monsters event, which I've taken part of in a couple of ways, but before I get to that I want to mention that this week I also had a review of J.M. McDermott's new novel When We Were Executioners over at Strange Horizons. The follow-up to Never Knew Another, this one is likewise brilliant and beautiful, and since it has an especially balling spin on lycanthropy it fits in perfectly with the other novel I reviewed this week: Tristan Egolf's Kornwolf, maybe the weirdest werewolf novel ever, which I wrote up for Weird Fiction Review.

In addition to those two reviews, I play the part of a furry grape in Weird Fiction Review's " Cornucopia of Author Responses" to the question of "what is your favorite monster?" My own response ended up going longer than I wanted for such a large multi-participant feature, so I trimmed it down to capsule size before submitting--you can find my bite-size entry here, along with everybody else's. It's a super cool question with obviously as many different answers as there are authors and monsters, but I'm digging making my way through and either nodding approvingly or making excited entries to the internal bestiary.

What about you--what's your favorite monster?

As for my love of the hairy man, here's my full ode to that nasty:

For me, it’s hand’s down the hairy man, the sinister, shape-changing villain of the African-American folktale “Wiley and the Hairy Man.” Specifically, the version of the hairy man found in Jack Stokes’ retelling of the story in a children’s book of the same name, with illustrations by Robert Byrd. My favorite tome as a young child, the power of that book and its titular monster have exerted a profound influence on my own work.

Stokes’s version preserves the dialect (“What’s that I see, a comin’ through the trees, a comin’ through the trees?”) as well as the darkness of the original folklore, with the hairy man having “gotten” the father of our protagonist Wiley prior to the events of the narrative, thus elevating the level of Wiley’s danger from the vaguely perilous to the directly fatal. Byrd’s artwork is somewhat reminiscent to that of Ian Miller, which adds a layer of visceral repulsion via illustrations of the hairy man transforming into imperfect replicas of mules, rabbits, and, if memory serves, an especially hoary opossum.

For those unfamiliar with the folklore, the hairy man is a creature of the dank swamps and murky forests of the rural south, a sort-of New World Amazimu. As with any monster worth his weirdness, he preys on whomever he can catch, but not as a slavering, bestial predator. What makes the hairy man so goddamn creepy is that he’s a very human monster, attempting to talk Wiley into accepting his doom rather than silently stalking the boy. This element boosts the hairy man from a simple predator that hunts children because such behavior is in its nature to the sort of monster that knows better but obviously chooses to, and takes great pleasure in the pursuit.

The hairy man seems to enjoy sadistically prolonging the chase, which makes it even more intense—when Wiley scales a tree to avoid his pursuer, the hairy man sets to chopping the tree down with Wiley’s own ax, rather than simply changing into an animal capable of climbing up in pursuit. That Wiley’s father fell victim to the hairy man strips the young reader of the usual parental safety net, and even when Wiley dodges the hairy man long enough to escape the dark wood and reach those twin sanctuaries of mother and house, the hairy man is unwilling to abandon his quarry. After laying siege to the house and disposing of their watchdogs, he breaks inside to get both Wiley and his widowed mother.

Such behavior was such a clear violation of the universal childhood boogieman rules constituting legal menacing that I, naturally, loved the hairy man like I had loved no monster before him. The dude was bad, even before you factored in his predilection toward turning into obscenely hairy animals that maintained his facial features—a manticore or a werecreature is bad enough, but combine them and you’re talking serious nightmare fuel. Wiley is able to finally thwart the hairy man, thanks to his wits, some conjure tricks, and his mother’s help, but as with all the best monsters, that’s hardly the point, is it?

[Cross-posted to my website]

Reading This Saturday with Jason Heller, Stephen Graham Jones, and Mario Acevedo

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:26:26 GMT

Right quick: this Saturday at 07:00 pm I'll be taking part in a reading and panel discussion at the Broadway Book Mall in Denver. It looks like it's part of the Denver Area Science Fiction Association's monthly meeting, and there's no cover. I'll be joining Jason Heller, he of the critically-acclaimed debut Taft 2012 and sundry other badassery, and Stephen Graham Jones, he of boundless awesome weirdness, with his most recent novel being Zombie Bake-Off. Our blathering will be moderated by that ineffable effer Mario Acevedo, and there will apparently be door prizes of some variety. Many thanks to Ron and Nina for putting us up, and Mike Hance for putting the event together!

[cross-posted to my website]

Things I Love #201201: BERSERK!

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:44:48 GMT

Among the upcoming movies I'm most anticipating (including Joon-ho Bong's English language debut Snow Piercer, the adaptation of Irvine Welsh's Filth, and, dahoy, The Hobbit), none has me quite as anxious as the new trilogy of animated films based on Kentaro Miura's manga Berserk. I suspect fans of both my work and his will see the obvious impact Berserk has had on my writing, and if you enjoy my stuff but haven't checked out Miura's opus than it's high time you did. These new movies may be the perfect gateway to a world of horrific fantasy unlike any other, but in the unlikely event they stink the biscuit you're spoiled for choice where quality Berserkness is concerned. The series is hardly obscure, having been ongoing in comic format since the late eighties, as well as spawning two video games and an anime series in the mid-nineties, but with this new incarnation dropping next week in Japanese theatres I thought this would be the perfect time to discuss my enduring affection for this brilliant, brutal, and deeply flawed epic.

(There's a full length trailer, as well as sundry clips and extended sneak peaks floating around, but I've always been a teaser guy myself)

I came to Berserk maybe a decade ago, and in the way most people in the states do, I suspect: via the original anime series. I was a little skeptical of the first episode, but it quickly grabbed me and became one of my favorite anime of all time. I marathoned through all 25 episodes, in a state of euphoria--Berserk was and is unlike just about anything else out there, and comparisons are much more easily drawn between it and sundry gritty western fantasies rather than other manga or anime; way more Glen Cook, Joe Abercrombie, or Robert E. Howard than Hakkenden, Ninja Scroll, or Escaflowne. Even with a limited budget it looks great, and boasts an awesomely weird soundtrack, including some great Susumu Hirasawa tracks and this indie rock opening :

At the time Berserk seemed like the best kept secret in fantasy--pitch black, ultra-violent, batshit insane, and unlike so much anime, progressing toward some kind of end rather than spinning its wheels indefinitely. When I hit the last several episodes of the series, I was destroyed--and not in a good way. The conclusion to the series is as brutal and devastating as anything I've ever watched, and in my experience in talking about it with other people, something that retroactively poisons the show for many viewers.

The root of the problem is this--the anime series concludes at the end of the first major plot arc from the comic series ("The Golden Age"), and that's it. No resolution, no catharsis, no nuthin--just a vicious cliffhanger and a fade to black, with the assumption being that the story is complete, albeit in a bitter, unsatisfactory fashion. Being totally taken with the series, as soon as I recovered from the shock of the anime's conclusion I started digging around online for info and quickly determined the root of the problem. In those bleak times Dark Horse had yet to license and translate the manga, so I was left scouring for fan-translated scans of the original comic, and after finding an extensive database, went so far as consulting with a local printer about having the scans printed and bound. The cost was prohibitive, but shortly thereafter I caught wind of Dark Horse's impending release of the fist volume of the manga, and I've been on board ever since.

And by on board, I mean slowly but increasingly dissatisfied. I would say for the first twenty or so graphic novels I was pretty uncritical: enchanted by Miura's world, thrilled to be reliving the events of the anime series but with the increased detail that the manga medium allows for, admiring Miura's steadily improving art and story-telling technique, and just straight up digging the shit out of it. I tracked down a Dreamcast in order to play the video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage, which proved every bit as awesome as I could have hoped--fun, challenging, and with a soundtrack by Susumu Hirasawa, who also scored the anime. At the point where the manga moved past the story arc of the anime, I couldn't have been happier. Finally, we were moving forward, and at first everything was beautiful and ugly and perfect and heartbreaking in all the right ways. After the "Golden Age" I vowed not to trust Miura with my emotions again, given what he'd done with them the first time around, but despite my caution he carefully drew me back in, making me care about the characters but also genuinely worry for their safety in a way that I rarely do in fiction...

After a while, however, I noticed two rather disturbing developments:

The first is perhaps inevitable when you have a comic series, or, really, any series, that continues with a linear, consistent story for over twenty years, especially when you have a single creator at the helm. Basically, the manga has become somewhat repetitious and almost stagnant, as if Miura, approaching the end of his life's work, isn't sure how to conclude everything and so he just keeps putting it off. Like I said, this is a common complaint for any long-running series, but what drew me to the series in the first place was that it seemed to have a destination it was barreling toward, and while it hasn't devolved to an episodic format, it certainly feels in danger of stalling out. Tangentially related, Miura's also caught flak in the same way George R.R. Martin has in the states for being too slow to release each new volume, with certain fans flipping their shit when he cops in interviews to playing video games or otherwise living a life that doesn't involve working on Berserk 24/7.

Much more frustrating than a slowing of the general pace is that Miura has been giving the female characters an increasingly short shrift in more recent volumes. Not one but two women who started off as strong, complex, compelling characters have been undermined by Miura's plot to the point of obnoxiousness--what started off as awful but interesting circumstances for them have, as with the overall plot, failed to resolve in any satisfactory manner, instead leaving them various degrees of helpless limbo. One hopes that, as with the greater storyline, these setbacks will eventually be overcome to grand result, making the resolution all the more satisfying, but at this point the continued protraction of their helplessness is frustrating to the point of despair...

Nevertheless, I have hope for Miura's manga, and hope for these new films. Many longtime Berserk fans are disappointed, as the new trilogy will allegedly cover the same "Golden Age" story arc as the original anime rather than picking up the plot where the anime left off. As I mentioned on a recent Twitch article, while I understand this frustration, there was realistically no way that could have happened in terms of securing a budget. The anime has a cult following, to be sure, but convincing investors/a good studio to pony up an insane amount of cash for a new project that relies entirely on audiences being intimately familiar with a 15 year old anime series or its manga source material was never going to happen. The only issue was how heavily they were going to condense the "Golden Age" in order to get new audiences on board, as well as existing Berserk fans--personally, I'd rather see them take three movies to do it, which will still involve a lot of cutting, rather than have them try to pack everything into a ten minute prologue sequence or even a single movie.

Of course, with nobody having seen the trilogy yet it's possible that the third or even the second film will take the story further than the original anime, but even failing that, if these do well than perhaps another series of films will get the greenlight to tackle the next storyline. And even if not, Studio 4C does great work, and assuming they're at least as faithful to the source material as the original anime new and old Berserk fans alike should find a lot to love. At a glance, the trailer implies certain key elements from the manga that were missing from the old anime are present, so here's hoping for greatness, and a new golden age for one of the most compelling fantasies of our time.

[Cross-posted to my website]

The Enterprise of Death Shortlisted for Kitschie Award, and Resulting Book Giveaway!

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:15:03 GMT

Things have been pretty quiet around here, as I spent the final quarter of 2011 up to my gills in novel revisions and the first few weeks of the new year gallivanting around the country on top secret clown business. There's quite a bit to get caught up on, but rather than attempting a massive digest of everything of note that's happened since I instituted radio silence last autumn I'll just stick to making one or two (relatively!) bite-sized posts for the next few weeks. Without a doubt, the first thing I want to mention and briefly blather about is the news that The Enterprise of Death has been shortlisted for a Red Tentacle, the Kitschie Award for Best Novel of 2011.

The Kitschies, for those not in the know, are a juried award given out by the website Pornokitsch in conjunction with Kraken Rum (best Dark n' Stormy fuel on the planet) to "the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works of genre literature." I'm on the Red Tentacle ballot with China Miéville, Jane Rogers, Lavie Tidhar, Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd. Even more awesome than that, Orbit's killer designer Lauren Panepinto is up for the Inky Tentacle Award (Best Cover Art) for her work on Simon Morden Equations of Life--it's rare that you'll hear me champion anything over an Umberto Eco novel, but the design on The Prague Cemetery, while undeniably cool, doesn't hold a candle to Lauren's badass covers for Morden's trilogy. To celebrate Lauren and I being up for Kitschies, Orbit is holding a giveaway for copies of both Enterprise and Equations of Life--all you have to do is visit the site and plug in your info to be entered to win.

It's been over a week since I found out Enterprise was shortlisted and I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it. It may be cliche to say that it's an honor just to be nominated, but cliches are formed for a reason, and goddamn, this is about as honored as I've ever felt. Maybe it's boring, stereotypical author neuroses or maybe it was having the book be even more divisive with critics than The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, but whatever the reason I had begun to question whether I'd pulled off what I'd attempted with Enterprise. Now, mileage obviously varies and the individual reader will be their own judge of the book's quality, but I never could have predicted how reassuring and edifying it feels to have had the book be recognized by the Kitschie jury (check out juror Anne Perry's wonderful review here).

Of course being nominated doesn't prove that I'm a good writer. Of course it doesn't make me a better writer than I was before. All it means is that a jury of four people really liked it. Yet hearing that four people who critically examined the novel really liked it, and appreciated it enough to count it as one of the best novels of the year, feels like having an elephant-sized syringe of pure euphoria and confidence injected directly into my heart. I never expected anything like this to happen, nor could I predict how grand a sensation it is. And so thank you, my friends and readers, my agent and editors, my peers and haters, whose support, encouragement, and criticism has been so useful and inspiring to my work--without it I never could have written Enterprise, an experience which was and continues to be its own reward.

Too sentimental? You're talking to the guy who can't watch The Fellowship of the Ring without blubbering through the Shire, Moria, and the Falls of Rauros--I'm a big old softie of the first water. I better dip out before I start thinking too hard about how rough Denethor's boys have it or I'll be dribbling into my keyboard. Again. Thanks again, one and all, for taking the time to read my scratchings, and best of luck to everyone on the Kitschie ballots--cheers!

[Cross-posted to my website]

Future Lovecraft and Gothic Micro-Interview

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:04:05 GMT

Innsmouth Free Press' newest anthology, Future Lovecraft, just dropped this week, and I'm in that mother alongside Molly Tanzer, Orrin Grey, Nick Mamatas, Helen Marshall, Paul Jessup, Martha Hubbard, Ann K. Schwader, and a host of other cool cats and kittens. My story is called "The Door from Earth"--one guess which Clark Ashton Smith story it's a quasi-sequel/homage to. Many thanks to editors Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula Stiles, and to all my bad fellows sharing the ToC. Tangentially related, here's a mini interview I did to promote the last IFP anthology I was in, their Gothic-themed Candle in the Attic Window.

...And resuming radio silence. Hope everyone in the universe is exceptionally well, and I plan on making a more substantial/less self-promotional post soon. Cheers!

[Cross-posted to my website]

MileHiCon 43 This Weekend

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:23:40 GMT

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I'll be down in Denver attending MileHiCon 43 at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center. MHCs always fall the weekend before World Fantasy so I've missed the last two, but this year I'll be there with bells on. Also, spurs, chaps, a tiny little cowboy hat, and a smile. Nuthin' else. If you see me, say hello!

If you find a more formal setting a safer proposition for interacting with me, here's where I'll be:

Friday the 21st: Reading at 04:00 PM, and a shift at the Autograph Table at 05:00PM. I'm paired up with one L. Givens for the reading and signing whatsits, so drop in and we'll find out together just who this Givens is, and what the L stands for.

Saturday the 22nd:: Panel at 03:00 PM on Rural/Urban/Suburban Fantasy. I'm on this with Mario Acevedo and Jeremy Tolbert, as well as a R. Lyons and a T.L. Morganfield, so come on down and I'll chew on a dog.

Then Molly Tanzer (whose excellent new story "How John Wilmot Contracted Syphilis" has just gone live at Lacuna) has a panel at 3 on Friday and a reading at 3 on Sunday that I'll be hitting up, and Jason Heller (whose debut novel Taft 2012 just scored a starred review at Publisher's Weekly) is part of the late night reading at 10PM on Friday, as well as a panel or two. Other than that, playing it fast and loose--will try to catch at least one of Stephen Graham Jones's panels, and hopefully meet a lot of new people as well as running into old chums...anyone out there planning on attending? When in doubt, look for me in the bar, spurs a'jingle-jangling...

[Cross-posted to my website]

Short Story "Stars Fell on Alabama" Up on ChiZine

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:38:04 GMT

My story "Stars Fell on Alabama," in which I overdose on dialect, is now live at Chizine! Many thanks to the good people there for taking it, and to vegan_vulcan, chop_sockey, penguinkeggard, and anybody else who might have workshopped it for me way back when. Cue up the Reverend, the Shack Shakers, or Mojo Nixon, and come on down...

[Cross-posted to my website]

The Blather Before the Quiet

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:17:55 GMT

I'm busy. The good kind, like you want, but still--busy. So busy, in fact, that I anticipate keeping an even lower profile than usual between now and the end of the year, so if you need me then the best thing to do would be to shoot me an email, as I'm going to be avoiding LJ, G+, FB, etc as much as possible. One thing about living on the internet I never could stomach--all the damn time-vampires.

Before I dive, though, some random items of dubious worth.

The Good:

I'll be at Mile-Hi Con in Denver at the end of October. Not sure what all I'll be doing there, but a reading and a panel or two seem like safe bets, and if you're there as well be sure to introduce yourself. If you don't see me around, check the bar.

'll be heading south this winter to attend several weddings, visit family and friends, and sneak in an anniversary trip to New Orleans with my wife. We've never really celebrated our anniversary in grand fashion, forgetting it all together on one occasion, so this ought to be a fun time--I haven't been to the Big N.O. since before Katrina, and have no idea of what to do while I'm there beyond the obvious. Suggestions welcome!

I'm working on revising my third novel, which I've been calling Hook and Cod but am now scheming up an alternate title for--the political elements which led to my picking said title are being scaled back a bit, so seeing if I can find something tidier. These revisions are the main reason I'll be maintaining radio silence--I've got a lot that I want to do with the book, and know how to get there, but it'll take my full attention and a lot of hours. It's shaping up to be far less fantastical than the first two novels, and less over-the-top in general--more of a historical Gothic than anything else. I freaking love Gothics, so this is something of a dream project. Or maybe a nightmaaaaare. Hilarious.

And speaking of Gothics, Innsmouth Free Press has released their second anthology, Candle in the Attic Window, which is, gasp, a collection of contemporary Gothic fiction and poetry. I've got a piece in there, as does Orrin Grey, Martha Hubbard, Don D’Ammassa, Mary E. Choo, James S. Dorr, Leanna Renee Hieber, Paul Jessup, Ann K. Schwader, E. Catherine Tobler, Colleen Anderson, and tons of others.

I've got some other short stories coming down the pike, but I'll probably just pop on here whenever they become available--some online, some in print. The one that I'm perhaps the most excited about is a novella set in the Zombies Versus Robots universe--IDW has long done great comic book work, and this new ZVR literary project confirms that their awesome Classics Mutilated anthology wasn't a fluke foray into prose but the start of something fierce and sustained. If you take a look at the above press release for the ZVR thing you'll see that I've crept in alongside a bunch of my betters, including Stephen Graham Jones, Ekaterina Sedia, Nick Mamatas, Nicholas Kaufmann, Amelia Beamer, Rio Youers, Norman Prentiss, Steve Rasnic Tam, Rhodi Hawk, and ZVR creator Chris Ryall himself. Many thanks to editor extraordinaire Jeff Connor for giving me a shot at this, and of course Ryall and badass artiste par excellence Ashley Wood for letting us in on their sandbox. And many, many thanks to my buddy Bri for letting me use her derby name for a roller-team in my story--the Pwn Jetts are gonna knock the shit out of some shamblers. Also: time travel?

Reviews for The Enterprise of Death keep cropping up, which is always a good feeling. For whatever reasons, the reception to this one has been quieter than that of the Brothers Grossbart, and I very much appreciate everybody who's taken the time to help get the word out about my weird little book--really warms my cold, withered heart, regardless of whether the review is glowing or guarded. Anyway, yeah, some of the recent reviews, and my apologies if I missed any:

The Telegraph: "...Lurid, gruesome and larded with the blackest humour, this is grimly fascinating."

Rising Shadow: "...wickedly disturbing and utterly compelling..."

Impact Online: "...well-plotted and entertaining. This definitely is not a book for kids, but quite a bit of naughty and dark fun for the rest of us."

From the Sorcerer's Skull: "If you like your fantasy of the dark, darkly humorous, and dirty variety exemplified by Warhammer fantasy, then I’ve got a couple of book recommendations for you. Jesse Bullington’s two (standalone) historical fantasy novels are just the sort of grubby, violent, and irreverent stories you’ve been looking for."

Elitist Book Reviews: "..when writing these responses, I always do my best to show you the playing field, lay out my set of rules, and then stay consistent from one review to the next. And then someone like Jesse Bullington comes along and shows me that, yes, sometimes, you can even break the big rules and still come out on the other side smelling like roses...In the end, the story seemed to be about friendship, though it was littered with betrayal and hatred, with the grotesque and the creepy, with the weird and absolutely the unsettling. This is one of those novels that I think deserves a warning for the weak of constitution. This guy has put together a whole load of stuff that’ll make some of you squirm for a month. Others may never forget some of the twisted stuff Bullington throws around on the pages like a millionaire might his twenties."

Thanks, one and all, for giving the book a read, to say nothing of reviewing the damn thing. And hey, good news for all the Enterprise readers who are less fond of head-hopping than myself--the third book has a much tighter POV focus, so rejoice!

So that's the Good. The Bad, then:

Fuck the Bad. Fuck all the depressing political choices nations and individuals have been making, fuck all the personal tragedies that have been harrying people I care about, and fuck people who are jerks for no reason. Fuck'em all right in the nose.

Also, won't be swinging World Fantasy this year, which is what it is--have been on the waiting list since early February, and a membership never materialized. Thought about bar-conning it, but in the end that didn't seem worth it--I like going to panels and readings, and if I'm coughing up the dough for travel I wanna be able to do more than buy overpriced drinks, even if it's in the company of people I like. Hope everyone who makes it has fun, and looking forward to '12!

So that's the Bad. Then there's the Ugly (or the Weird, depending on your preferences):

Prednisone is crazy, yo. I've been on this mega-steroid stuff for a while now in an effort to dodge a gross-out bizarro surgery, and lo, it's evidently effected my skull-pudding something strong. The weird thing about it is that I only notice my erratic/freaky behavior when I really concentrate on it, otherwise I'm totally oblivious to it. Case in point--I wanted to get some Dogfish Head Punkin Ale (that's not the weird part). It was later in the day so I opted to drive, wanting to be home sooner rather than later. I then drove to three different stores beyond the one right down the street, all of whom had the stupid beer, because I thought I'd seen it for marginally less cost at one of them but couldn't remember which store. Half an hour later, as I was cruising home with my fifty-cent-cheaper four-pack, it occurred to me that I was behaving like a batshit-insane asshole, and had been for several weeks. It's terrifying, albeit mundanely-so, to realize you haven't been yourself, and then you start going back over various items in the mental roll and cringing at this or that bit of quiet craziness that seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. So yeah, apologies if I've bit your face or hooted at/with your chickens--not trying to excuse my behavior, but at least explain it. I don't like talking about my medical whatsits on the old blog, but for reals--prednisone is a total dick.

Right, so that's me out--will try to make the odd post here and there, but otherwise, yeah, deep down in the word places until further notice. Hope everyone has a wonderful Fall--my favorite time of year, and I'm going to try and sneak some hiking in while the aspens are gold and the snow's yet a promise. Take care, everyone.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Going South--John Hornor Jacobs's debut novel SOUTHERN GODS

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:27:35 GMT

Not a lot of people get the South right. We either get a romantic, bucolic view of the South as a place of genteel tradition, good manners, and natural beauty, or we get a vision skewed sharply in the other direction, focusing on the poverty, the ignorance, the desperation, and the sheer goddamn spookiness of the backwoods and deep swamps. The truth, of course, is that the region is both of these things at once--even writers who have spent some serious time there sometimes fall into the trap of over-representing one side of the coin over the other, instead of trying to pull of the admittedly trickier but far more accurate flip of the silver dollar that shows both sides to the reader at once, a gleaming, bright vision of a place unlike any other. Nowhere does John Hornor Jacobs's talent shine so sharply as in his descriptions of the South--the pages almost curl under your fingers from the humidity, and the imagery is as simultaneously brilliant and shadowy as sunset on the bayou. This powerful ability makes his omission of certain other elements of the time and place a bit disappointing, but more on that later.

Southern Gods is one hell of a debut. Jacobs takes us outside of the dusty universities, strange cities, and benighted hollows of New England, where Lovercraftian weirdness is more commonly found, and into a wholly different region: Arkansas in the early fifties. Incorporating jewels from Chambers's King in Yellow stories (and those of his literary descendants), Jacobs places them into a pulp noir setting with fine result. A mysterious bluesman by the name of Ramblin' John Hastur is making waves with his sinister tunes being broadcast from a pirate radio station, and it's up to a WWII vet to track him down. If that synopsis doesn't grab you, the impressive writing will, for Jacobs knows how to turn a phrase with elegant simplicity--the very first line is "The black thing walked from the forest and took the shape of a man." Goddamn.

The first half of the novel fulfills the promise of that premise, and then some--our hero, Bull Ingram, is a man on a mission, and as he explores the backroads and bayous of East Arkansas we breathlessly ride shotgun as the tension mounts and the weirdness multiplies. Early on one begins to suspect that things will not turn out well, but Jacobs's uncompromising commitment to telling a truly unsettling tale may impress even jaded horror readers as the second half of the novel barrels along to its gruesome terminus. Personally, I found the concluding segments a touch less engaging than what came before it, but that's one of the perils of the genre--what we don't know tends to transfix us more than what we do.

I was also hoping Jacobs would do more with race, considering the time, place, and cast. Alice, a black woman, is far more interesting than Sarah, her white friend and employer, but early on it becomes apparent that Alice has supporting duties while Sarah becomes one of the main protagonists, alongside Bull Ingram. Due to sloppy reading on my part, I initially thought Bull was a black man, which would have been another interesting decision, especially in light of the relationship Bull develops with Sarah. When I realized I'd misread something and that Bull was a white dude the book lost a bit of tension for me--a solitary black man poking around the rural South at that time was in a much more precarious position than a white one.

Now, I'm not suggesting anything unsavory--Jacobs wrote the book that he did, and it's a damn fine one, so any bellyaching on my part about what he could have done differently is just that. He does touch on race relations at several points, and the supporting cast is a mix of black and white characters, so it's not as though the subject is wholly absent, it just seems underdeveloped considering his choice of setting and the heady questions of human weakness, ignorance, and brutality that the novel tackles.

It's also a darkly fun, fast, and furious read--quibbles aside, Southern Gods is a book that only Jacobs could have written, and is the impressive start of a promising career. And dig that sweet Nightshade layout:

[Cross-posted to my website]

Things I Love #201103: STEAMPUNK! BIBLES AND PILGRIMAGES!

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 18:48:20 GMT

Steampunk is one of those things that I think is pretty cool despite it's being both popular and problematic. I really don't have any excuse for liking something that a ton of other people also like, but in terms of the problematic elements, it boils down to being a case by case thing. As in, just because a lot of enthusiasts have focused on the fetishization of upper class Victoriana and glossed over the icky industrialization-was-kinda-not-so-cool-if-you-were-a-laborer-and-also-whut-Imperialism element doesn't mean we have to throw out the clockwork baby with the hydraulic bath water--I don't think there's any genre that is inherently unsalvagable, even if some of the most prominent examples are less than nuanced. At a panel I attended at the '09 World Fantasy Convention, Nisi Shawl addressed where steampunk could go in terms of becoming the sort of movement that earned its -punk spurs instead of wearing the hip moniker of subversion while actively perpetuating a superficial nothing's-cooler-than-upper-class-European-dress-and-gadgetry ideal--and in a Tor piece last year she gave an update as to both the evolution of her own ideas on steampunk and the progressive work she'd seen in the field.

As the above muddled paragraph demonstrates, I'm just lousy at talking about steampunk. Thankfully, there are experts--the best coffee table book I've picked up this year is The Steampunk Bible, a gorgeous tome by S.J. Chambers and Jeff VanderMeer. More than just being a pretty artifact, the Bible is richly informative and incredibly broad in scope, taking a tone that is both intellectual and enthusiastic as it explores the various microcosms inside the catchall phrase. In that respect, it embodies the potential that steampunk holds--to address and discuss real, important issues, to offer solutions, and to do it all in the most handsome, intricately-designed fashion possible. While it would be worth picking up a copy for the artwork alone, the real content is Selena and Jeff's witty writing, as well as the sundry essays and other odds and ends.

Of special interest to Londoners, Parisians, and assorted nearbys, over the next two weeks S.J. will be hosting Steampunk Bible events in the UK and France. First up is the London event this Tuesday, September 6th, and then a week from Friday, on the 16th, she'll be doing another in Paris--all the details are here. If ever there was a time to culture oneself, this is it--I'm intensely jealous of those who live in Europe as a general rule, but never more so than now!

Furthermore, Jeff V and the inimitable Ann VanderMeer are currently at DragonCon in ATL, and I have it on good authority that they're lugging around a piece by maker extraordinaire Jake von Slatt--capture the device, and capture the multiverse! That, or get an autograph, maybe pose for a picture. Details here!

That then is my two farthings on the matter--I happen to have the inside scoop on at least one smart, critically-engaged steampunk project coming down the pneumatic pipes, and so I don't doubt we're in for a pleasantly steamy future.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Things I Love #201102: Gemma Files's A BOOK OF TONGUES

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:24:30 GMT

I do this thing a lot where I delay reading a text for fear of it influencing a project I'm working on. Said influence could be an actual similarity of content, but more often than not it's for fear of something more nebulous; theme, maybe, or a dynamic between characters. How do I know if such things are present if I don't read said texts, and since I'm such a pain in the ass about avoiding spoilers? A smell, maybe, or a tingling in the sole of my right foot? No, something even less tangible than that--whatever the source of the wariness, avoid them I do. Of course, I always find that the texts wind up being way different than what I imagined, and not the sort of thing that would have influenced me one way or the other, but the few exceptions are enough to keep me in my weird ways. Blood Meridian, for example, I delayed until the Brothers Grossbart was signed and delivered, and I'm glad I did--not because it would have rubbed off on me and influenced my text, but because I like as not would have despaired and abandoned the project, for McCarthy succeeds in such high fashion at what I was attempting that all one can do is shake their head and say, "well shit, that's how it's done."

Which brings us to Gemma Files's novel A Book of Tongues. Beyond the fact that I put off reading this one for a while until I'd finished a certain project that's currently percolating, comparisons to Blood Meridian abound. Both are powered by an intensely beautiful lyricism that's put to use in loving descriptions of the most horrific violence imaginable, a heady, mesmerizing kaleidoscope filled with kernels of lust, hatred, brutality, and taste-the-leather-and-dirt-tinged-sweat-dripping-down-from-under-your-hat-brim historical detail. Unlike Blood Meridian, however, there's love in A Book of Tongues beyond the love of the author for their creation; McCarthy's masterpiece is many things, but a love story it's not, unless you figure it for a romance between mankind and cruelty. A Book of Tongues certainly captures that essence of Blood Meridian, but there's a literal love story beneath it all, though not of the rock candy variety--think unlouched absinthe, a bittersweet, delicious burning tinged with a licorice twist that's positively wicked riding down on the palate.

A Book of Tongues is also bulging at the seams with the fantastical, which certainly didn't sour the experience for me--a sumptuously detailed, meticulously researched, gorgeously written, cleverly plotted weird western populated by interesting, real characters engaging in badass gunplay, raunchy sex, and nine kinds of gruesome supernatural shenanigans is about all I could ask for out of a novel, frankly. Rook, Morrow, and especially Chess are all wonderfully nuanced characters whose internal workings and interactions blend seamlessly with the bigger picture, so you have that rare thoroughbred that is equal parts great writing, great story, and great character study.

Not only that, but it breaks several of my major personal turn-offs in fiction (HOLY SHIT IT"S A SPOILER GET IN THE CAR: deities interacting with mortals and apocalyptic plots--I tend to like small scale conflict and non-divinely-impacted characters to the Big Picture stuff, regardless of the divinity), but actually pulls them off in a manner that's not only witty and internally consistent, but positively goddamn sinister. When you have an author take something you generally dislike on principle and makes it sing for you then you know you've got a winner, and that's what Files has here--a pedigreed beast full of piss, vinegar, and plenty of other fluids. The best part is we've got two more novels to look forward to; I was a fool to put off reading this book as long as I did, reasons be damned, so don't make the same mistake I did. Go west, I tell ye, go west, and thank me for the directions only after you've thanked the author twice.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Things I Love #201101: Ekaterina Sedia's HEART OF IRON

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:16:05 GMT

This year hasn't just gotten away from me, it's knee-capped me, turned out my pockets, and backed over my hands before speeding off in a cloud of blown deadlines and broken promises. Yet I'm back on my feet, and like any Terms of Enrampagement afficionado worth his 30.6, I'm in pursuit like Lee Marvin at his most ornery. First order of business is trying to get this blog back in something resembling working order, and since I've been feeling increasingly miserable over the state of national and global affairs down these last few months, I think a good way to get the mojo back is to focus on the positive. And also the shamelessly self-centered. Hence, the occasional blog entry about things I love, starting with Ekaterina Sedia's new novel, Heart of Iron. I should mention that some of the things I'll be posting about are not necessarily great, or even good, as I unreservedly love a good many truly awful things, but that's not the case here--since this is the first run of a New Thing, let's start with something that I love which also happens to be pretty goddamn great:

I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy of this, and then July exploded in my face and I dropped the ball on posting a proper review when it launched. Better late than never, granted, but still--this book deserves attention, and a lot of it. Sedia's one of those authors who mines something new with every project rather than working the same material ad nauseam, and this one should have the broadest appeal yet while still tackling the weighty issues Sedia's never shied away from. Her fiction always deftly balances escapism with engagement, and the juggling act she pulls off here is tremendous. Although not marketed as such, it should appeal every bit as much to young-adult readers as the grown folks, and serve as a grand introduction to Sedia's work for audiences of all ages and predilections.

I won't get into into the plot, as I prefer to go into book's as clueless as possible, but the AV Club's review of the novel hit the nail on the head in pointing out that the main draw of the book isn't the plot but our narrator Sasha Trubetskaya. She's such a great, perfectly-realized protagonist that even without any plot whatsoever Heart of Iron would be an engaging read, but I enjoyed Sasha's literal journey every bit as much as her internal one. The supporting cast, in particular Sasha's aunt Eugenia, are deftly rendered and enjoyable, and Sedia's tweaking of history is both clever and ingenious--rather than assuming that actual persons would be the same individual in any mildly altered version of our history, Sedia twists familiar figures into intriguing new shapes. It's a great subversion of our expectations, and enjoyably raises more questions than it answers regarding other discrepancies between our historical record and Sasha's world.

Heart of Iron takes its time in carefully detailing its characters, world, and action, and yet still whizzes by at such a tremendous clip that the the reader can scarce believe it's over when the story rolls into its final destination. It's a great piece of storytelling that is every bit as beautiful and elaborate as the costumes and locales that Sedia describes in loving (but never excessive) detail, and one that is a testament to the author's prodigious prowess. This smart and relevant literary progeny of the wuxia adventure and the penny dreadful is a grand tale for fans of history, steampunk, and anything and everything in between.

And that's the news from Trubetskoye--expect more reviews in the coming days of John Hornor Jacobs's Southern Gods, Gemma Files's A Book of Tongues, John Langan's Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters, and plenty more. As always, I'm eager to hear what others are reading, so that my towering to-read stack may stretch ever higher into the firmament. Cheers!

[Cross-posted to my website]

Bookish Post--Recommended Reading, Good Causes, Interviews, Reviews, and a Badass Italian Cover

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:19:16 GMT

I can't believe the year is already half over--time has been playing some serious funny business with me. Really, the only way I can believe it is by looking at the stack of books I've finished since January--couldn't have gotten through them unless I'd had six months, so, damn, must indeed be mid-June. Which means I'm imminently skipping town, and, if all goes according to plan, I'll be completely off the grid for nearly two weeks, so no internet, no phone, no nuthin. Given that I've made all of one post in the last six weeks and that was a random blather about a Danish director I can't imagine my absence will be felt too fiercely, but if you holler at me in that span and don't receive a response rest assured there's a slightly better reason than usual for it.

Before I ducked out of town I did want to do a general recap of what I've been up to, though most of the irons are still in their respective fires and aren't quite ready to come out--have written a few short stories that I've got high hopes for, and a few sales that I can't quite announce just yet. But more about me later--for now I wanted to mention some of the better books I've read in the last few months, though a thorough going over of them will wait until after I'm back in town. Here's what I've been lookin at, though:

The Steampunk Bible by S.J. Chambers and Jeff VanderMeer--I've been friends with Selena since Small Times, and Jeff is, well, Jeff, so seeing the product of their collaboration was especially thrilling for me. Even if you've never taken an interest in steampunk before this thing is just gorgeous, a lush, smart tome that'll appeal to the novice and the hierophant alike. Pretty, pretty, to quote Barbarella.

Sensation by Nick Mamatas--Already posted a wee review at Amazon and Goodreads, but yeah, long story short I dug it deeper than a gloryhole, if you're up on your mining terminology. And I think you are.

Heart of Iron by Ekaterina Sedia--I'm holding off on posting a full review until the book launches in July, but it's a great, fun read, and I'm very flattered to report that Prime is using a blurb of mine smack on the cover. Can't stress enough how much I enjoyed this one!

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs--Again, waiting on a full review until we're closer to publication, but this is one fierce motherlicker of a debut. Lean, mean, smart, and disturbing in all the best ways. Historical fiction done right, southern fiction done right, Lovecraftian fiction done right--hell, just call it writing done right and leave it at that.

I've also tried to read a bit more broadly in terms of small/indy/self published texts this year, and am planning a future post on some of my favorites, including titles by Allyson Shaw, Louis K. Lowy, and Berrien C. Henderson. I know I'm forgetting a few other books in my haste, but for now this'll do...Looking forward to checking out Genevieve Valentine's Mechanique and Chesya Burke's Let's Play White whenever I'm back and settled, and (at last!) I've got Gemma Files' A Book of Tongues at the top of my to-read stack. We yanks are alos lucky enough to now have Mark Charan Newton's paperback of Nights of Villjamur ready and able, which I've been waiting absolutely ages for since hardcovers are usually beyond my means, and Robert Jackson Bennett's The Company Man (of Mr. Shivers notoriety) is likewise burning a hole in my to-read stack. Better-late-than-never-wise, I started Mervin Peake's Gormenghast a ways back, and am still trucking along--love the shit out of it, so far. Hmmm, with all that to look forward to I suppose I should be relieved it's only halfway through the year...

While we're discussing what I'm looking forward to reading, a belated congrats is in order for Orrin Grey, who recently announced the sale of his debut short story collection to Evileye Books. It's called Never Bet the Devil & Other Warnings, and should be all kinds of awesome. Nicely done, sir; couldn't happen to a nicer skeleton!

And holy progenitor of fuck, have you seen the Table of Contents for Night Shade's new Book of Cthulhu?! That thing is rude. Ross Lockhart has assembled the single best line-up of authors in an anthology that I've seen all year. Huge congrats to Silvia, Laird, John, Other John (see SG above), and everyone else--I don't have the list in front of me so I'm surely overlooking people I love, goddamnit--but especially Molly von Tanzenstein, whose "Infernal History of the Ivy Bridge Twins" is being reprinted in the tome. I was lucky enough to read the story back in its raw form, when the words made your orifices weep flaming blood (in a good way), but trust me, this version is even better--one of my favorite stories in recent memory, and a synthetic feather in an already church-worthy hat. She's been kicking major ass as managing editor at Fantasy and Lightspeed, but it's also nice to see her receiving the recognition she deserves on the other side of the game.

Before getting into the ME ME ME section, I wanted to mention a few other cool things. Thing the First is the Tales for Canterbury anthology, which is a charity short story collection to benefit the victims of the recent earthquake(s) in New Zealand. Many thanks to Lynn Jamneck for cluing me in to the project, and of course Cassie Hart and Anna Caro for putting it together. It has a reprint of "The Bear and the Sea," one of my personal favorites of my short fiction, as well as pieces by Lynn, Jeff VanderWhatsit, Neil Gaiman, and lots and lots of other people. Here be the link to the book--again, it's for a very good cause.

Thing the Second is the Shirley Jackson Award fundraiser, which is currently underway. The SJA, as I'm calling it because I'm really creative, hasn't been around long but has quickly become one of my very favorite awards--the winners really do seem to be selected based on merit, as opposed to some of the more popularity-contest-style awards. Give, you fools, give!

Then in terms of my own writing, here's a bit of what I've been up to since last I sullied these digital waves:

Guest blogged over at Martha Hubbard's website regarding my Icelandic Saga-inspired story in Historical Lovecraft. Thanks, Martha!
SF Signal just ran a New Author Spotlight featuring moi.
Was interviewed by Jeff VanderMeer regarding the Weird in general and The Enterprise of Death in particular for Amazon's Omnivoracious blog. This was part of a quick series on the Weird, with Michael Cisco and Brendan Connell previously being asked the same sorts of things. Thanks, Jeff!
Was also interviewed by Pip Hunn for Hyper-critical.net, in what was a long, very fun exchange about such divers subjects as Game of Thrones (which I haven't read, nor watched the series of), the juggling of high and low brow humor, and plenty of other matters both profound and personal. Thanks, Pip!
Chalked up some very much appreciated reviews for Enterprise, from such varied places as the above-mentioned Hyper-critical.net, Yatterings, Innsmouth Free Press (which I might have already linked to), Gonzobarian, The Fringe, The Spiral, and most likely a few others which I'm neglecting to mention. Many thanks to everyone for the intelligent critiques, apologies to anyone I missed, and more as I stumble over them!
I've also been fortunate enough to have some of my peers (read: betters) recently take a crack at the book, including Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Cassie Alexander, Philip Palmer and Ellen Datlow--thanks so much, all, and again, apologies if in my ever-increasing haste to be out the door I've left anyone off!
In addition to the above-mentioned people and sites, I really can't convey how much I appreciate any and everyone who's just read the damn thing, to say nothing of firing me a message or FB request, or even going so far as to review it on Amazon, Goodreads, etc.--often the unhappy voices are the loudest ones, and I can't thank my supporters enough for encouraging me to keep at it. So long as I'm working--and thinking about how to work better--improvement seems inevitable, so thanks!
Finally, the Italian edition of The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is pretty much the coolest thing ever, and deserves showing off:

Love the images, love the layout, love the new title--tis a thing of more beauty than my grimy words deserve. Many, many thanks to Castelvecchi for producing such a lovely artifact, especially art director Dario F. Morgante, fearless leader Cristiano Armati, and, big time, my translator Ilaria Senatore--wonderful work!

And with that I'm running out the door to make ready for the Great Grid Escape, 2011 edition. If you need me between now and early July...too bad. Somehow, I think you'll do all right on your own--cheers!

[cross-posted to my website]