The Bodhisattva

Unusual amount of good stuff going on that I have been collecting in my out of control bookmarks that I haven’t had a time to note (thus dated a bit) -

- Abigail Nussbaum reviews the shortlisted Hugo Nominees. Her conclusion represents what I think is the slam-dunk of all the categories. Lanagan’s Singing my Sister Down owns this category.

- David Marusek, author of Counting Heads, announces Subterranean Press will be publishing a collection of his early in 2007.

- Jeff Vandermeer interviews John Scalzi, whose novel Old Man’s War is shortlisted for the Hugo. He also gets the low down on Solaris Books, who among other releases is offering an effort by Jeffrey Thomas entitled Deadstock:

“…ultra-noir science fiction at its very best – raw, edgy and dark. Adding a modern twist to the cyberpunk genre, it follows Private Detective Jeremy Stake as he hunts living genetic experiments through a bleak dystopian future, all the while doing battle with his own personal demons and trying to stay one step ahead of his sinister employer.

This bold new novel will appeal to fans of Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon, William Gibson’s Neuromancer and George Alec Effinger’s When Gravity Fails.”

Thomas has written such Bodhisattva approved works like Punktown and Letter from Hades

- Hal Duncan blogged about Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories, a forthcoming anthology that includes efforts by Duncan, Moorcock, Link, Tambour Vandermeer, Shepard, Goss, Lake - among several notable others

- The Bram Stoker ballot was announced and Nick Mamatas tells you how he see’s it and the early results, so we don’t have to wait!

- J. Steven York on Writers and other Delusional People.

- Susanna Clarke interviewed by Juliet Mckenna.

- A pretty blah interview, but it’s George R.R. Martin at Afterburn SF.

- The Guardian: ‘men choose novels of alienation, while women go for passion’

- I always have something linked to the Mumpsimus. I don’t know why since everybody reads it anyway! But it is always in fashion to highlight La Gringa, one of the Bodhisattva’s favorite personalities, who gives some inside info on publicists! Publishers, give me 10 grand a year (Japs’s don’t get cheaper than that), a meal stipend, a Geo Metro and a gas card and I will troop everywhere to pimp your SF/F authors! We need knowledge and passion!

- Justine Labalestier talks about a writer’s job, and attracts some interesting responses from familiar people.

- Ticonderoga Online interviews Jeff Vandermeer (who is everywhere in 2006), as he also took part in a chat/interview with Mary Rosenblum.

- Potter takes the soul out of publishing?

- ….must to stop visiting Jeffrey Ford’s blog! Every time I go there it’s like money just disappears out of my wallet with some on-point recommendation. This time it’s Cover Story:
The Art of John Picacio sporting a introduction by Michael Moorcock.

- You know, I pay 40,000 a year for an education, and I never had cool courses like Science of Superheroes.

- Nobel Prize for Literature laureate and multiple Booker Prize winning author John Coetzee talks about what was wrong with my classes (besides not having a Science of Superheroes course).

- author Anna Tambour interviewed at SF Chronicle. I’m going to guess JP was the brains behind this operation. Tambour has been pimped by several reputable authors so I snatched up her Spotted Lily (get that thought out of your head).

- Mahesh Raj Mohan interviews Doug Lain, the author of the collection Last Week’s Apocalypse (which I have a review half written of) at Strange Horizons.

- Naomi Novik has an excerpt from her forthcoming Throne of Jade, the sequel to His Majesty’s Dragon (both of which are up for grabs in one of our two contests this month at Fantasybookspot.com)

- Susanna Clarke’s next project is a collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories:

“Magic, madam, is like wine and, if you are not used to it, it will make you drunk

Faerie is never as far away as you think. Sometimes you find you have crossed an invisible line and must cope, as best you can, with petulant princesses, vengeful owls, ladies who pass their time in embroidering terrible fates, or with endless paths in deep, dark woods and houses that never appear the same way twice.

The heroines and heroes bedevilled by such problems in these fairytales include a conceited Regency clergyman, an eighteenth-century Jewish doctor and Mary Queen of Scots, as well as two characters from Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: Strange himself and the Raven King. This beautifully designed edition of Susanna Clarke’s short stories is a must for all fans.”

-Back by Popular Demand:

Real words by real-unreal people around the web about Fantasy/SF - ‘These People Exists’ (identities protected):

“Fantasy is magic, melee weapons of all types axes, swords. Maces etc. and often mythical creatures. In a setting\society that is low technological

Science Fiction is space, time and dimension travel often with people using energy weapons like laser guns and light sabre’s in essence people using advanced technology to what would be done in fantasy with magic.

Horror is bogeymen, ghosts Psychos etc. In any setting mainly contemporary but with a nastier theme and a lot of gruesome scenes.”

and, another:

“Just read The Shadow of the Torturer…1st volume of The Book of the New Sun series. And I’m quite dissapointed. I saw same good recommendations for this cycle, but when I’ve read it It felt like déjà vu. I thought I’m reading Dune sequels again. Is also the rest of the BotNS such? Should I bother to read them? Because I don’t understand why some people like this book so much.”

Tags: books