Ride the Tiger

Gemmell Award Nom nom noms

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:32:08 GMT

Amanda Downum pointed this out to me: The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is up for some David Gemmell Awards, as is her debut The Drowning City. As far as I can tell voting is open to the public, though you might have to sign up on the website. The categories my boys are nominated for are the Legend Award (best novel), the Morningstar Award (best debut), and the Ravenheart Award (best cover art). I'm not saying you should go and vote for me on principle, but I am saying you should go and vote for me or Amanda on principle. It's not shameless because I implicated a friend.

Seriously, though, I'm very flattered to even be longlisted, and there's some good stuff up there (Ooooh, Joe Abercrombie! Ahhhh, Elizabeth Bear!). Since apparently the winner is chosen by dint of votes I thought I'd let people know asap so they could start flooding the polls in support of baby-kickers and mother-lickers. Thanks for the patience!

[Cross-posted to my website]

Merry Cthulhumas--Piece Up At Tor.com

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:08:50 GMT

Just popping in to reiterate yesterday's holiday cheer and let everyone know that Notes From an Emergency Meeting of the Institute for the Study of Cephalopod Progress, a round-robin sort of piece I did with Matt Staggs, Felix Gilman, and Matt Dyer is now live at Tor.com. Huzzah!

Holiday Post

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:51:00 GMT

I've been keeping a low profile lately, mostly because the undying infection is still riding my sinuses like a nighthag and I've been unable to think anything other than dark thoughts of pain and torment. Acceptable if this blog belonged to a down-on-his-luck Juggalo, but less becoming here, I think. I don't anticipate being around too much over the next few days so happy holidays to everyone, and let me leave you with these fine Alvistide offerings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-04wkIk84B8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-7I6Fw5LUY

Some wag's also posted one of my favorite songs from Rabbit Habits: "Poor Jackie"

This:

Molly's Paper Fruit Flash Fiction Contest ends on Saturday, so there's still time to earn yourself some loot instead of relying on hand outs, you bum.

And, finally, I give you this, with my blessing:

I love you all.

[Cross-posted to my website]

What I'm Doing, What You're Doing, What We're Not Doing

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:01:08 GMT

Moi: The Sad Tale of The Brothers Grossbart was chosen as one of Barnes & Noble's SF&F online Book Club's picks for December and this is my week to shine/dodge uncomfortable questions. Big thanks to Paul Goat Allen for selecting the book and any and all readers, and if you're interested in joining the spoiler heavy discussion or just peeping in you can check it out here.

I'm also working on doing late game research for The Enterprise of Death involving the Fon of Dahomey and sundry saints and working on some short fiction. Ooooh, and I got a great review in the Guardian! The Guardian! It was in their print edition for December 5th--Eric Brown used the term "pertinent satire." Juicy!

This month I read The Crying of Lot 49, which was a good bit sillier than I had expected. My first Pynchon, which proves you're never too old. I also read Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived In The Castle, which is phenomenal. Maybe it's just me but it filled in this gap in my brain between Arthur Machen's "The White People" and Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory, sort of a literary missing link. Also read some killer short fiction by Brian Evenson and Stephen Graham Jones, the latter of whom bought me a bowl of chili when we met last week. If there's a quicker way to my heart than free chili and smart conversation about horror I haven't found it yet. I also started Jones' novel Ledfeather but realized after a single sitting that I needed to get it to my father as soon as possible and so it got sent out in the Christmas box before I could finish it.

Finally, I'm straining so hard on sending jtglover positive thoughts that my nose started bleeding. Knock'em dead, tiger.

By way of avoiding having to write anything interesting myself, let me direct you to Molly's page where she reminisces on her experiences as a former Ayn Rand fan and high school Objectivist. She's in the clear now, but man...dark days.

What's everyone else up to? Any good movies or books to recommend, or bad shit, man (in a Dennis Hopper voice) to avoid? Speak!

[Cross-posted to my website]

Tom Waits. Kool Keith. What Else Is There?

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:03:20 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiJ2E0xGOv8

Or, things that make me extremely happy on a Friday morning. I saw Kool Keith almost a decade ago and it remains the best hip hop show I've ever seen. I saw Tom Waits a year and a half ago and it remains one of the best shows I've ever seen, period. At no point did I ever dare to hope they would work together, and the N.A.S.A. project seems really cool overall. Life...life is pretty good right now.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Flash Fiction Contest at Paper Fruit

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:47:29 GMT

Molly Tanzer, writer, assistant editor at Fantasy Magazine, and so much more, is having a flash fiction contest at her blog Paper Fruit to celebrate the one year anniversary of said blog. 500 words or less on the theme of "paper fruit," and whatever the hell that means is up to you. First and second place win prizes (one of which will look especially familiar to followers of this blog) and publication on Paper Fruit, as well as the people's ovation and fame forever. Go forth, my bastard children, and be both papery and fruity!

What's this submitting to crap markets to get ahead in the good slushpiles malarky I've been hearin?

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:50:46 GMT

My amigo Molly, assistant editor and slush shoveler at Fantasy Magazine, ways in on the Scalzi/Black Matirx/Everyone-on-the-web hooha over at her blog Paper Fruit. She also catalogs some of the common faux pas she's encountered, and while we've all seen the "please don't do this" reminders at various markets' submission guidelines I found hers to be a great perspective, as well as the fact that she covers some of the less obvious but easily avoidable missteps that crop up a lot. Check out her "View From Atop the Slushpile."

Trailer Trash; or, Nicolas Cage, You Are Grounded

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:00:24 GMT

I have a serious weakness for movies set in Medieval Europe--I know, I know, most of them are terrible. I know this because I have an unwholesome compulsion to watch them.

I have a serious weakness for historically-set horror movies--I know, I know, most of them are terrible. I know this because I have an unwholesome compulsion to watch them.

So that I will be watching this against all better instincts should hardly be surprising:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj3JLTM_FOk

WOW. If this trailer does what every trailer does these days and give away the entire movie then it looks like 2010 will be the year that Nicolas Cage returns to the frontlines in the War Against ~~Women~~ Witches. Seems like a lady started the Black Plague but don't worry bro-dudes, Nicolas is here to help. I agree with Molly that this movie will be a bust if he doesn't don some sort of animal skin and deck the malefactress while screaming "witches!" He has a history of such things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QqgIzlmdBc

I wish I was strong enough to resist the siren song of Nicolas Cage devouring the scenery like it was made of marzipan and he was an almond addict, I truly do. And I think I might have, if only they hadn't also cast Christopher Lee. And Ron Perlman! Not just any Ron Perlman, either, but a motherfucking cloak-wearing Ron Perlman, and not only that, but a motherfucking cloak-wearing Ron Perlman saying "something's out there" just before a witch summons motherfucking wolvesto eat Nicolas Cage. And there's bird doctors. Oh sweet, sweet pain, thy name is Nicolas, and I await your embrace.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Art Break: Sandi Calistro

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:34:28 GMT

I unexpectedly found myself in Denver for an afternoon this weekend, and went into a piercing studio/tattoo parlor to look for Christmas presents. Said shop was Sol, which I'd briefly browsed when Molly and I were in town for the Hawk and a Hacksaw show that I spaced on writing up here (will rectify that at some point--great show, as Molly notes in the link) but not at such length. The shop itself has one of the best selections of high-end body jewelry and plugs that I've ever seen, and all the artist's portfolios were great, but what I want to address here is the work of an artist (tattoo, and, er, the regular kind) whose art is prominently displayed in the shop, though she now does her tattooing at her own shop: Sandi Calistro. Someone I was talking to compared her to Mark Ryden, but I personally like her stuff way more. I'll let a few examples, taken from her myspace gallery, speak for themselves, and then you can follow the link back to check out the rest of the stuff she has up:

[Cross-posted to my website]

Last Omnivoracious Essay For Me, Last Ecstatic Day For S.J.

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:11:53 GMT

I finished up my week of guest blogging at Amazon with an article called "Navigating the Intent of a Fickle Author" that is, I assure you, better than that lame-ass title might imply. In it I address the problem of looking for authorial intent when the author is, er, fickle, disclose embarrassing secrets of my childhood, and basically come off like myself.

Also, S. J. Chambers has her last stand at Jeff V's blog, wherein she interviews fellow Poe scholar Rob Velella. Check it.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Guten Tag Deutschland!

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:44:04 GMT

German rights to The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart have been sold to the publisher Luebbe! Juhu! Luebbe puts out some great stuff and I'm honored that they've taken a chance on my boys. Looks like spätzle and spaten Franziskaner dunkel as soon as I can lay hands on it to celebrate. Einen schönen Tag allerseits!

[Cross-posted to my website]

New Omnivoracious Essay, And Good News Both Personal And Charitable

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:02:46 GMT

The good news is that alankria 's friend Jun got the funds she needed to solve her personal crisis. Bonus--I'm getting a copy of Samantha Henderson's novel Heaven's Bones for helping out! Very excited about steampunky horror goodness.

Also, my new Omnivoracious article is now up, but I choked when I hit the title line and so it is called "Film and Fiction as Partner's in an Author's Literary Development."Which is what it's about, but ouch. Check it out and tell me what films, original or adaptations, good or bad, impacted you as a writer or just as a reader.

[Cross-posted to my website]

Fantasy Magazine Looking For Interviewers

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:48:52 GMT

My ace boom boom Molly is assistant editor over at Fantasy Magazine and she's looking for a couple of "flexible, self-motivated people who read quickly and write quickly" to interview their authors. Molly gives good interview herself (moi, Garth Nix) so she'll be looking for people who can come up with better questions than "where do you get your ideas." Details for the position are to be had here.

New Omnivoracious Essay--"Any Genre, Potentially: The Stories of Now"

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:17:36 GMT

I've got a not-at-all tardy response to Kim Stanley Robinson's New Scientist Article up on Amazon's Omnivoracious blog titled, oh-so-clever of me, "Any Genre, Potentially: The Stories of Now." Check it, then tell me I'm sagacious/foolish/Captain Obvious.

Philanthropy Never Paid So Good

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:36:07 GMT

My friend Alex/alankria has a friend named Jun in dire need of financial assistance, details of which are here. I'm in that magical time of an author's life when the last check has been thoroughly spent and the next has not yet arrived, and so cannot pony up as I would like to. I've also used most of my author copies of The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart for kindling in the scenic but deadly Autumn snowstorms we've been having in Colorado but do have a few which have thus far been spared the flame, and these three I'll give away to people who help out Jun.

Brass tacks: donate $15 or more using the paypal button in the link, forward me the paypal receipt, and I'll spring for shipping to send it to you if you live in the US, international Samaritans will, regrettably, have to pay actual shipping costs as I have moths in my wallet. I'll also inscribe the book in whatever fashion you like, and since that's what you would pay for the book new it seems like I'm giving you a really good deal for when I'm famous and autographed first editions go for a billyun smackaroons on Super Ebay or whatever we're using in the future. So help out your fellow humans and I'll send my horrible boys to your house to rub your nose in how bad other people are...but not you, because you gave.

Forward paypal receipts to jesse(dot)bullington(at) gmail(dot)com. It's first come, first serve, but you can, if you're that sort of person, email me before donating to see if I have any copies left and reserve one. Plenty of other loots are to be had, though, so check out alankria 's blog for more goodies.

EDIT: One already swooped up, so 2 remain, and double-checking the details it looks like donations need to be had by tomorrow, so if you're gonna...

FINAL EDIT: And she's done! Thanks to everyone who helped out!

"The Sweet Filth of History"--Omnivoracious Guest Blog II

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:33:41 GMT

Over at Amazon's Omnivoracious Blog I've got my second entry up, an essay on historical accuracy, realism, and the inclusion of nasty bits in my work. Check it: "The Sweet Filth of History."

Oh, and yesterday I rapped my deadline on the nose with a rolled up copy of my new novel The Enterprise of Death. Details as I hear them, but for now it's blinking blindness as my eyes adjust to my long absent friend daylight. Time to start getting caught up...

Guest Blogging at Amazon's Omnivoracious and Some Grossbart Digest Stuff

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:31:26 GMT

Super Big Excitement: I'm guest blogging at Amazon's Omnivoracious Blog all week! This is up there with the Powell's spot in my opinion, and I had a lot of fun putting these essays together. Today's is called "History, Fantasy, and the Blurry Lines of Literature," check it if you're so inclined.

Over at Suite 101 Lynne Jamneck did a round robin sort of Short Burst Interview, wherein I was asked the same three questions as Nick Mamatas and others, though at present I couldn't track down where saids others were hiding.

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart was selected as one of Barnes & Noble's Fantasy and Science Fiction Book Club's three novels for December, and I'll be visiting their boards from December 14th through the 18th if you want to pop in and see what they think.

Also had some good press in the form of warm reviews by Mike Yon at SFFWorld , John Lloyd at The Bookbag, and Ben at Speculative Fiction Junkie,as well as the much-appreciated nod of Most Original Debut of 2009 from the Mad Hatter. Thank you all very much for taking the time to read, and the time to post your thoughts! Oh, and if anyone out there's reviewed the book and I somehow missed it let me know and I'll link to it around here, and I'm always fishing for customer reviews on Amazon if you've read the thing and find yourself with a free minute or two.

Definitely Christmas

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:46:15 GMT

Not only does asakiyume have a story titled "May Spirit" up at Three Crows Press but orrin Grey's story "The Power of the Dead" is now live at A Thousand Faces. I won't be able to read Orrin's until this evening but have every confidence it's a worthy tale, and really enjoyed Francesca's when i stumbled over it this morning. Congrats to you both, and thanks for the reads!

Is it Christmas?

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:27:11 GMT

It must be frickin Christmas, cuz I just opened up my inbox and saw that jtglover has a new story called "Waiting, Just Underneath" up at Dark Recesses. Great stuff, check it out.

Race for the Taste

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:09:17 GMT

About to hit the road to visit relatives in FoCo for a Thanksgiving leftovers party, but the end is in sight--by Wednesday of next week my brain should start regenerating. For now: the sweet, sweet kiss of stress-and-sinus-infection-induced madness, supplemented by a stuffing and cranberry sauce sammich if there's any justice in this mecky world. I'll be guest blogging over at Amazon's Omnivoracious Blog all next week, and should be around here a bit as well.

Oh, and relevant to nothing, Molly and I were talking this morning about how awesome it would be if Satoshi Kon adapted Ovid's Metamorphoses into an anime. Her idea--his ability to tell linear stories in a non-linear fashion yet still maintain cohesion and comprehensibility, combined with his visual aesthetic, would make for a gorgeous telling of the gods and goddesses of old. She also bought me the soundtrack to his Paprika, because she is a pretty damn wonderful friend. Who is Satoshi Kon? Go watch these...or better yet, just rent them blind and thank me later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NclRSeV4pBA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpGrD5wUzKE

Super Big Baby Congratulations!

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:44:01 GMT

I have apparently reached the age where all my friends reproduce, three couples I know having had a baby in the last two months, and two of them were this week! So congratulations to Becky and Richard, Shawn and Erica, and Chad and Lara, and huzzah for Max, Jude, and Caspian! Six awesome people creating three new people should equal nine awesome people. Best of luck!

"It Makes The Shining Look Like The Bible"

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:36:13 GMT

And with that succinct review of The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart from my beloved wife's beloved granny I will leave off on posting reviews of the novel for a little while lest this devolve into the sort of blog that annoys everyone--the journal that exists solely to convince everyone of how smart the author is and why everyone should buy their books. Of course I'll be posting about the book and other projects, but I'll try to keep such things to digest installments and leave the bulk of the blog to random pontifications and movie trailers. I leave you with Party 7:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9IEatSCeuI

[Cross-posted to my website]

Novel Excerpt and Reviews in Forbidden Planet and Realms of Fantasy

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:22:13 GMT

The current issue of Realms of Fantasy (Dec. 2009) has a review of the Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart that rocked my socks right off my feet and onto my hands, whereupon I performed sock puppet theatre in honor of said review's author. By which I mean it's a great and very flattering review, and reviewer Matt Staggs picks up on some things that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere, such as my Southern Gothic influences. He goes so far as to draw comparisons to Flannery O'Connor, which puts me over the frickin moon, and some Faulkner guy. Staggs concludes with, "...A blackly humorous fantasy full of monsters, demons and witches, there's more than enough here to engage the reader looking for that, but beneath the surface The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is a novel of surprising complexity." Thanks Matt!

And over at the Forbidden Planet International Blog Log there's a review by Joe which I'll let you read for yourselves but says, in part, "...It's not for the easily offended but for those who do pick it up its one of the most original fantasy novels I’ve read in years (if you loved SF writer Richard Morgan’s hardboiled, noir take on fantasy the other year then this is for you) and, much as I love the genre, it’s fair to say it has more than its share of interchangeable generic series, so its immensely refreshing when someone comes along and kicks the genre up its leather britches-covered behind like this. The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart will be making my list of best books of the year; highly recommended." Thanks Joe!

Also, Orbit has put the first chapter of the novel online for free reading, so check it out if you're on the fence--the first chapter is, in my opinion, one of the harshest in the entire novel, so if you read it and think "I couldn't take anything stronger than that" no worries, it gets easier to stomach...or maybe you just build up a tolerance!

[Cross-posted to my website]

Trailer For New Vonnegut Adaptation

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:28:40 GMT

Adaptations of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s work has been spotty at best. From the atrocious Slapstick of Another Kind (starring Jerry Lewis!) to the earnest misfire Breakfast of Champions it seems that his style is really not suited for film, although I do have a nostalgic fondness for Slaughterhouse Five and remember the Mother Night movie being pretty decent. I believe they adapted some of the stories from Welcome to the Monkey House into a miniseries but never caught that, so I can't really weigh in there. And then there's "Harrison Bergeron", first adapted into a film starring Sean "Please, Mr. Frodo" Astin and now adapted again as 2081. The trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi6TTNKdgSk

A Kronos Quartet soundtrack is always a good thing, and the cast seems good, but still--even as a short film they don't have a lot of material to work with, especially since the 2 1/2 minute trailer tells almost the entire short story. Of course, a lack of material has never stopped people from adapting short stories before, and it looks pretty, but still--a decent short story, sure, but hardly a great one, in my opinion, and one with a rather problematic message beneath the archetypal individual-makes-a-stand-against-oppressive-society plot. But still--it looks pretty, and it sounds pretty, so I'll probably give it a watch.

Seen anything good recently? Other than a zombie fighting a shark?

[Cross-posted to my website]

Finch Review

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:14:31 GMT

Full disclosure: obviously I owe Jeff a great deal for his help and friendship, but that, just as obviously to people who know my taste in books and film, has nothing to do with why I'm posting a positive review of his newest novel, Finch. The reason I'm posting a review is that this is a absolutely fucking brilliant piece of work and everyone should at least give it a go and see if it butters their biscuit. What Jeff and I do are wildly different but reading something like this I'm again struck by how outstandingly lucky I am to have met him--he is, in my opinion, one of the best contemporary writers we've got, regardless of purported genre or anything else. The review, then...

I went into Finch having previously read City of Saints and Madmen, the first of Jeff VanderMeer's three canonical texts set in the city of Ambergris, but not Shriek: An Afterward, the novel published between Finch and City. This means I no doubt picked up on more than a reader who first floated up the River Moth on Finch but less than one who had read both City and Shriek prior to Finch. While in retrospect I wish I had checked out Shriek before reading this at no point did I feel hampered by my lack of familiarity with the earlier novel, though I might have picked up on more clues and references, and I would hazard that if I had not read City of Saints and Madmen the result would not be very far removed--less nuances picked up on, but still a great stand-alone novel.

What that atrocious, confusing introductory paragraph was driving at is that VanderMeer has succeeded at that trickiest of maneuvers--writing a novel that will be compelling and coherent to both newcomers and aficionados. Stylistically Finch is far different from City, but given the experimental, varying styles of that initial Ambergris volume this is hardly surprising. What is surprising is how skillfully VanderMeer captures the feel of hardboiled fiction without ever coming off as forced or, worse yet, offering a pastiche instead of something in his own voice. Instead VanderMeer has incorporated the hardboiled style into his own and, unlike the rough combination found in the novel's sinister Partials, the result is a seamless blending that is the best of both worlds.

If all VanderMeer had done was insert a noir story into Amergris the result would have been fun and worth a read, but there are a great many more elements at work. The author's love of spy stories is evident and incorporated perfectly, as are his affections for the grotesque, the beautiful, and, more often than not, the beautifully grotesque. Certain elements of the novel have been described as Lovecraftian, which is too often a shortcut for "contains tentacles," but in this case I found the description to be dead-on--without giving anything away, the scale and nature of the novel's fantastical elements do justice to Lovecraft's literary creations, and in many ways--heresy of heresies--surpass them.

Despite noir being associated with an admittedly-stylish past, Finch is very much a novel of the present. Ambergris is now a city occupied by a foreign power, the protagonist a semi-willing collaborator who must juggle self-preservation with doing what he believes to be right as his hometown is torn apart by rebel suicide bombers and a dangerous, and utterly alien occupying force. It is up to the reader whether to associate this with the Nazi occupation of France or more recent developments.

The bottom line is that VanderMeer has written a phenomenal novel, one which should draw in readers who do not normally go in for the fantastical just as it will please readers who usually shy away from crime and spy novels. Underneath the fungus and spores beats a very human heart, and that is really what the novel explores through its various elements: being human. A deeply haunting novel, and a surprisingly profound one. The best novel I've read this year, and one of the most impressive and original works I've ever encountered that could be remotely labeled as fantasy.

[Cross-posted to my website]