The Bodhisattva

*opens newly tinted windows*

Yes, tint people, because we are pimpin’ this week. Anyway here is a summary of what has happened this week at the  ‘bookspot and all our fiefdoms given to

-Heliotrope:

We named out final contributor to our forthcoming fall issue and it’s the legendary Alan Moore. Big time thanks to Chris Staros who has shop up the Christmas card list if I had such a thing. It is the thought that counts after all. I’m not sure if anybody has written more fiction I love if using the Sam Beckett clause - in my lifetime. At any rate, today will no forever be dubbed Staros day, and in a very Pratchett-like fashion it will last a week.

So the final line up looks like this:

K.J. Bishop
Hal Duncan
Neil Gaiman
Rhys Hughes
Paul S. Kemp
Alan Moore
Chris Roberson
Bryan Talbot
Catherynne M. Valente
Jeff VanderMeer

And Paul…damn your anonymous poster blocker but - everybody we roll with is equally mobster and I’m sure Neil sat back and said,“Holy shit it’s Maverick and Goose!“.

We are looking for art for the cover and a side project - so if you have talent, let us know.

-Interviews:

I interviewed Steven Erikson the author of the kick ass Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence. I think it’s pretty good stuff (the interview) - and I’d tell you if it wasn’t. A great companion piece to my interview with Ian Esslemont.

-Exclusives:

This week I was able to snag a complete story from a forthcoming collection by Simon Strantzas. The story is called Something New and will be a part of Beneath the Surface (not What Lies Beneath - what I have been calling it all week). Read it here.

More exclusive probably today - and I’m going to stop announcing that as these are now regular fixtures at the ‘bookspot. It’s what we do - brand new just becomes what it is.

-Reviews:

-Craig Gidney reviews China Mieville’s YA attempt, Un Lun Dun.

“New Weird meets the young adult novel. Mayhem ensues.”

-Trinu (not Trin) reviews Court of Air by Stephen Hunt

“In his debut Stephen Hunt offers an eclectic mix of late Victorian society, steam-driven technology, sentient robots, faerie magic and an race of ancient insect-gods worshiped through bloody rituals of human sacrifice reminiscent of the Aztecs. “The Court of the Air” can be likened to a fertile, but overgrown garden in need of a good pruning.”

She also reviews Jennifer Rardin’s Once Bitten, Twice Shy.

- Amber takes on Tanya Huff’s Blood Bank.

- Damon finally reviews Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio

“Angela Clay is sexy, smart, and funny. So what if she is a mad scientist, that just makes her an even better catch.”

Any comic companies with trades/hardcovers who want reviews get at me. You will not find a finer fighter pilot anywhere in the world.

- Resident Trekkie, Jeremy reviews Star Trek:Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers by James Swallow.

DS9 is my favorite incarnation of Trek and they just started showing them here and  I remember when the show debuted and when they were pubbin’ it in comics with an ashcan (heads know what I’m talking about)- and I just think it’s by far the best written Trek show there is.  When the intro came on and the station shifts into view it was taking me back!

- Val dips into Historical fiction with Segu by Maryse Conde.

-Book Club:

We are done looking at  the prologue to chapter 7 in China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station and now moving on to Chapter 8-20.

-Advertising opportunities:

The Damon part of the update! Now that Heliotrope’s line-up is set with all kinds of goodness I want to point out various advertising opportunities for both that issue and at FBS. Over the last few months It’s come to our attention via different advertising/publishing sources that we under sale ourselves and we are in the process of coming to an agreement that we think will put us where we are supposed to be, and post-our site redesign next month I wouldn’t be surprised if  our regular rates go up a bit to reflect our true viewership, so I wanted to give people a heads up if they were on the fence. It’s exciting times for us as we have been getting DVD Blue-ray/DVD movies to review and we are heading in a lot of directions while not straying from the path we have been on.

Any former Heliotrope contributors obviously and still get free space in any issue if they request and will get a discount package deal at FBS if space is available.

-Spinetingler:

If I gave you a pitch it would not be genuine as I really have no clue about the annexation of Spinetingler by us in terms of creative direction. This is Sandra, and I guess Brian’s deal and I know Damon and Shadow-agent Matt has put some work into putting it together online and I guess I wouldn’t be going too far in saying that it will be a tool in Brian and Saundra’s Mysterbookspot.com will use, but I haven’t been privy to any discussion about Spinetingler beyond that. As long as our taxes are met (we get paid in rice) I won’t have to mobilize the Kwanto and Toranaga them.

* _{This post is dedicated to Top Gun}