Rick Klaw

About Rick Klaw

http://www.tachyonpublications.com

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February 27, 2024

Happy birthday to Lambda Literary Award finalist Izzy Wasserstein

Rick Klaw birthday, blog birthday, Izzy Wasserstein, These Fragile Graces This Fugitive Heart

A queer and trans woman, Izzy Wasserstein crafts acclaimed fiction and poetry. Her works have appeared in Clarkesworld, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Resist Fascism, Apex, Fireside Magazine, A Punk Rock Future, Heartland! Poetry of Love, Resistance, & Solidarity, Escape Pod, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Lightspeed, Fantasy, Fighting for the Future: Cyberpunk, Climbing Lightly Through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin, and Solarpunk Tales, We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2022. Much of Wasserstein’s fiction was collected in the Lambda Literary Award finalist All The Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From (2022). She also has two volumes of poetry: This Ecstasy They Call Damnation (2012) and When Creation Falls (2018). Next month, Tachyon publishes her eagerly anticipated first novella THESE FRAGILE GRACES, THIS FUGITIVE HEART.

Born and raised in Kansas, Wasserstein relocated to California where she teaches writing and literature. She shares a house with a variety of animal companions and the writer Nora E. Derrington.

All of us at Tachyon, wish the charming Izzy a happy birthday. Slow down and enjoy the day!

February 27, 2024

Win a copy of THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD: SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Patricia A. McKillip with new intro by Marjorie Liu and original illustrations by Stephanie Law

Rick Klaw blog giveaway, goodreads, patricia a mckillip, the forgotten beasts of eld: special 50th aniversary edition

With the help of the fine folks at GoodReads, we’re giving away THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD: SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, Patricia A. McKillip’s classic World Fantasy Award novel with a new introduction by Hugo Award Winner Marjorie Liu and original art by the acclaimed Stephanie Law.

This is my favorite book of all time. If I had to pick a desert island book, it would be this one.
Gail Carriger, New York Times bestselling author of the Parasol Protectorate

Cover art by Thomas Canty
Design by Elizabeth Story

Before Daenerys was Mother of Dragons, Sybel commanded beasts of all kinds. McKillip offers up a powerful character full of passion, determination, obsession, and love.
A. C. Wise, author of The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories

WORLD FANTASY AWARD WINNER
SPECIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY HARDCOVER EDITION

Fifty years ago, the soon-to-be celebrated young author Patricia A. McKillip (the Riddle-Master trilogy) penned the tale of an iron-willed young sorceress. Brought vividly to life by McKillip’s gorgeously lush prose, Sybel, living with her captivating menagerie, is powerful and resourceful, yet headstrong and flawed. Sybel and The Forgotten Beasts of Eld continue to enrapture new generations of readers, and they continue to inspire generations of new fantasy writers.

Sybel, the heiress of powerful wizards, needs the company of no-one outside her gates. In her exquisite stone mansion, she is attended by exotic, magical beasts: Riddle-master Cyrin the boar; the treasure-starved dragon Gyld; Gules the Lyon, tawny master of the Southern Deserts; Ter, the fiercely vengeful falcon; Moriah, feline Lady of the Night. Sybel only lacks the exquisite and mysterious Liralen, which continues to elude her most powerful enchantments.

But when a soldier bearing an infant arrives, Sybel discovers that the world of man and magic is full of both love and deceit, and the possibility of more power than she can possibly imagine.

This is what great literature looks like: bold, self-incisive, powerfully feminist without drawing attention to anything but the prose, the characters, and the story.
Usman T. Malik, author of The Pauper Prince and The Eucalyptus Jinn

February 23, 2024

Happy birthday to our fearless leader, the visionary Jacob Weisman

Rick Klaw birthday, blog birthday, hellhounds, invaders: 22 tales from the outer limits of literature, jacob weisman, mingus fingers, the new voices of fantasy, the new voices of science fiction, the sword & sorcery anthology, the unicorn anthology

Writer, editor, and publisher Jacob Weisman founded Tachyon Publications in 1995. Originally the goal was to bring back the old masters who were out of print, as evident by Clifford Simak and Mary Shelley collections and novels by Stanley Weinbaum and Robert Nathan. Tachyon published 2-3 titles a year and only sold to specialty bookstores. In 2003, Weisman decided to “start the company over from scratch.” He wisely hired Managing Editor Jill Roberts, secured distribution that brought Tachyon books to mainstream bookstores, and expanded the line to 8-10 books a year. The Tachyon titles have won Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, John W. Campbell, Neukom Institute Literary Arts, Mythopoeic, and Locus awards. Weisman, himself, garnered World Fantasy Award nominations in 1999, 2009, 2010 and winning the 2018 Best Anthology Award for THE NEW VOICES IN FANTASY (with Peter S. Beagle).

Cover by Jean-Sebastien Rossbach
Design by Elizabeth Story

While Weisman oversees all of Tachyon books, he was directly responsible for several anthologies including THE TREASURY OF THE FANTASTIC (2001 with David Sandner), THE SWORD & SORCERY ANTHOLOGY (2012 with David Hartwell), INVADERS: 22 TALES FROM THE OUTER LIMITS OF LITERATURE (2016), the above mentioned THE NEW VOICES IN FANTASY (2017), THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY (2019 with Beagle), and THE NEW VOICES OF SCIENCE FICTION (2019 with Hannu Rajaniemi).

Cover art by Camille André
Design by Elizabeth Story

Cover design by Patrick Swenson and Elizabeth Story

Prior to Tachyon, Weisman edited and published 14 issues of the quarterly fantasy magazine The Thirteenth Moon and worked for the Seattle SuperSonics. His writings have appeared in The Nation, Realms of Fantasy, The Louisville Courier-Journal, The Seattle Weekly, The Cooper Point Journal, Field of Fantasies, and in the college textbook, Sport in Contemporary Society. He’s responsible (alongside David Sandner) for the acclaimed novelettes Mingus Fingers (2019) and Hellhounds (2022).

Everyone at Tachyon wishes the extraordinary Jacob a happy birthday. And not just because we’re told to.

February 19, 2024

Win a copy of Nebula Award-winning author Samantha Mills’ triumphant debut novel THE WINGS UPON HER BACK

Rick Klaw blog samantha mills, The StoryGraph, the wings upon her back

**With the help of the fine folks at The StoryGraph, we’re giving away THE WINGS UPON HER BACK by Nebula, Locus, and Sturgeon Award winner Samantha Mills.**

This cathartic adventure will stay with readers long after the final page.
Publishers Weekly [STARRED REVIEW]

A triumphant debut novel.
Booklist [STARRED REVIEW]

A loyal warrior in a crisis of faith must fight to regain her place and begin her life again while questioning the events of her past. This gripping science-fantasy novel from a Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, and Locus Award-winning debut author is a complex, action-packed exploration of the costs of zealous faith, ceaseless conflicts, and unquestioning obedience.

An intense, astute, and moving tale of redemption, by turns relentlessly grim and courageously hopeful.
Kate Elliott, author of Servant Mage

Zenya was a teenager when she ran away from home to join the mechanically-modified warrior sect. She was determined to earn mechanized wings and protect the people and city she loved. Under the strict tutelage of a mercurial, charismatic leader, Zenya became Winged Zemolai.

But after twenty-six years of service, Zemolai is disillusioned with her role as an enforcer in an increasingly fascist state. After one tragic act of mercy, she is cast out and loses everything she worked for. As Zemolai fights for her life, she begins to understand the true nature of her sect, her leader, and the gods themselves.

February 16, 2024

Join the celebration for THESE FRAGILE GRACES, THIS FUGITIVE HEART, the acclaimed debut novella from Izzy Wasserstein

Rick Klaw blog, Events alibi bookshop, gail carriger, icfa, international conference on the fantastic in arts, Izzy Wasserstein, Kansas Book Festival, los angeles public library, lp kindred, mysterious galaxy, Naseem Jamnia, SF in SF, texas a&m university, These Fragile Graces This Fugitive Heart

Izzy Wasserstein hits the road, literally and virtually, in celebration of her stylish and engrossing THESE FRAGILE GRACES, THIS FUGITIVE HEART.

Recommended for SF readers who love a good mystery, can’t resist a queer romance, and adore seeing a corporate conspiracy unraveled and undone.
Library Journal

Saturday, March 16 The 45th International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts Reading Orlando, FL 2PM

Tuesday, March 19 Mysterious Galaxy San Diego, CA 7PM

with LP Kindred

Thursday, March 21 Texas A&M University Cushing Memorial Library 12:30PM CT

Virtual event

Saturday, March 23 Alibi Bookshop Vallejo, CA 4:30PM

with Naseem Jamnia

Sunday, March 24 SF in SF San Francisco, CA 6PM

with Gail Carriger

Saturday, March 30 Los Angeles Public Library 1:30PM PT

Virtual event

Saturday, September 28 Kansas Book Festival at Washburn University Topeka, KS

February 13, 2024

Meet David D. Levine and David M. Sandner at February SF in SF

Rick Klaw blog, Events american bookbinders museum, cliff winnig, david d. levine, David Sandner, san francisco, SF in SF

SF in SF, in partnership with Tachyon Publications and the American Bookbinders Museum, welcomes Nebula Award winner David D. Levine, author of The Kuiper Belt Job, and acclaimed scholar David M. Sandner, author of The Afterlife of Frankenstein: A Century of Mad Science, Automata, and Monsters Inspired by Mary Shelley, 1818-1918.

Each author will read from a selection of their work, followed by Q&A with the audience, moderated by Cliff Winnig. Schmoozing with the authors and book signing follows the end of the discussion.

Sunday, February 25

Doors and cash bar open 6:00PM
Event begins at 6:30 PM
American Bookbinders Museum
355 Clementina
San Francisco, CA

February 12, 2024

The exceptional, award-winner Terry Bisson was born 82 years ago

Rick Klaw birthday, blog any day now, bears discover fire, birthday, greetings & other stories, grinnell 14, numbers don't lie, Terry Bisson, wyrldmaker

Activist, editor, and writer Terry Bisson was the award-winning author of over 40 novels, numerous short stories, comic book adventures, and screenplays. His best known novels included Wyrldmaker (1981), Talking Man (1986), Fire On the Mountain (1988), Voyage To the Red Planet (1990), Pirates of the Universe (1996), Saint Leibowitz And The Wild Horse Woman (1997 with Walter M. Miller, Jr.), The Pickup Artist (2001), and Any Day Now (2012). Alongside Stephanie Spinner, Bisson delivered the Gemini Jack children’s books, Be First in the Universe (2000) and Expiration Date: Never (2001). He produced several movie novelizations including Virtuosity (1995), Johnny Mnemonic (1996), The Fifth Element (1997), and Galaxy Quest (1990). Bisson penned a pair of Star Wars: Boba Fett novels, The Fight to Survive (2002) and Crossfire (2002). Under the house name Brad Quentin, he wrote four The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest novels: Jonny Quest: The Demon of the Deep (1996), Jonny Quest: Peril in the Peaks (1997), Jonny Quest: Attack of the Evil Cyber-God (1997), Trouble on Planet Q (1997), and The Lake of Terror (1998).

Outside of comic book stories for series such as Creepy, Eerie, and the short-lived Web Of Horror (which he also edited), Bisson published no short fiction until 1990. These works headlined by “Bears Discover Fire” (made into an acclaimed short film and winner of the SF Chronicle, Asimov’s Reader, Locus, Hugo, Sturgeon, and Nebula awards), “Press Ann,” “They’re Made Out of Meat” (made into three different short films in 2005 [Grand Prize at the Seattle Science Fiction Museum‘s 2006 Film Festival], 2010, and as “Meat” in 2021), “The Shadow Knows,” “Dead Man’s Curve,” “Necronauts,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” and “macs” (winner of the Locus, Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, and Nebula awards) cemented Bisson’s reputation as a master storyteller. For Locus, Bisson wrote the long-running micro-fiction series This Month in History. Many of these acclaimed stories were collected in Bears Discover Fire And Other Stories (1993), In The Upper Room and Other Likely Stories (2000), NUMBERS DON’T LIE (2001), GREETINGS AND OTHER STORIES (2005), Cuando los osos descubrieron el fuego (2007 Spain), The Left Left Behind plus… (2009), Billy’s Book (2009 also as Billy’s Picture Book [2020 with illustrations by Rudy Rucker] and Billy’s Book: True Crime for Kids [2020 with illustrations by Rudy Rucker]), Tva Baby And Other Stories (2011), and They’re Made Out of Meat and 5 other All-Talk Tales (2019).

Bisson’s non-fiction articles and reviews appeared in The Nation, Monthly Review, Glamour, Sf Age, Automotive News, New York Newsday, Writer’s Digest, Common Ground, Covert Action Information Bulletin, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Whole Earth Catalog, and others. Among his numerous book length nonfiction were Nat Turner: Slave Revolt Leader (1988), Car Talk With Click And Clack, The Tappet Brothers (1991 with Tom and Ray Magliozzi), A Green River Girlhood (1992 with his aunt Elizabeth Ballantine Johnson), and On A Move: The Story Of Mumia Abu-Jamal (2001).

On a rainy November day in 1961, members of the Grinnell 14 pause for a moment before starting their long drive to Washington, D.C. Left to right: Bayard Catron, Terry Bisson, Michael Horwatt, Mike Montross, Bennett Bean, Philip Brown, Peter (Cohon) Coyote, James Smith, Celia Chorosh Segar, Jack Chapman, Mary Mitchell, Sarah (Mary Lou) Beaman-Jones, Ruth Gruenewald Skoglund, and Larry Smucker (Source: Grinnell College)

While a student at Grinnell College (Iowa) in 1961, Bisson was involved with student protesters who supported President Kennedy’s proposed test-ban treaty and “peace race.” While protesting in Washington, Bisson along with 13 other classmates, dubbed the Grinnell 14 by the press, met with Kennedy’s National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy. They were the first such group to meet with anyone from the Kennedy White House. This event is seen as the impetus for the student peace movement.

Among all these other accomplishments, Bisson was the editor of the Outspoken Authors Series for PM Press which features such SF icons as Nalo Hopkinson, Nisi Shawl, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. LeGuin, Rudy Rucker, Cory Doctorow, and Kim Stanley Robinson. In conjunction with Tachyon Publications, he was the long time host of the monthly SF in SF reading series in San Francisco.

February 11, 2024

Happy birthday to the iconic grandmaster Jane Yolen

Rick Klaw birthday, blog arch of bone, birthday, how to fracture a fairy tale, Jane Yolen, Kiki Kicks, Nana and Me, Smout and the Lighthouse, the emerald circus, The Giants' Farm, The Horseback Librarians, the last tsar's dragons, the midnight circus, the scarlet circus, What to do with a Stick

Hailed as both the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the twentieth century, Jane Yolen, with her first publication, the non-fiction book about women pirates Pirates In Petticoats (1963), embarked on amazing career of over four hundred books (and counting). Her impressive and acclaimed output includes children’s fiction, poetry, short stories, graphic novels, nonfiction, fantasy, and science fiction.

Among her many honors are the Christopher Medal (The Seeing Stick [1977], How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? [2000]), Nebula (“Sister Emily’s Lightship” [1998], Lost Girls [1999]), World Fantasy (Favorite Folktales From Around The World [1987], THE EMERALD CIRCUS [2018]), Mythopoeic (Cards Of Grief [1985], Briar Rose [1993], The Young Merlin Trilogy [1998, Passager, Hobby, and Merlin]), Golden Kite (The Girl Who Cried Flowers & Other Tales [1974]), and National Jewish Book Award (The Devil’s Arithmetic [1989]). Yolen received the World Fantasy Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rhysling Science Fiction Poetry Grand Master Award, the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, Edward E. Smith Memorial Award (Skylark), Jeremiah Ludington Memorial Award, Regina Medal Catholic Children’s Books Life Award, Anne V. Zarrow Award, and Sydney Taylor Book Award Body-of-Work Winner. She has honorary doctorates from Smith College, University of Massachusetts (Amherst), Bay Path College, Sister of Our Lady of the Elms College, Westfield State College, and Keene State College.

Cover art by Anabelle Gerardy Design by Elizabeth Story

Many of Yolen’s shorter works have been collected in numerous works including The Girl Who Cried Flowers and Other Tales (1974), The Hundredth Dove and Other Tales (1977), Dream Weaver (1979), The Whitethorn Wood and Other Magicks (1984), Storyteller (1992), Twelve Impossible Things Before Breakfast (1997), Sister Emily’s Lightship and Other Stories (2000), Once Upon A Time (She Said) (2005), The Last Selchie Child (2012), THE EMERALD CIRCUS (2017), HOW TO FRACTURE A FAIRY TALE (2018), THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS (2020), and THE SCARLET CIRCUS (2023). Several volumes of her poetry exist including The Three Bears Rhyme Book (1987), The Originals: Animals that Time Forgot (1998), Least Things: Poems about Small Natures (2003), Before the Vote After (2017), On Gull Beach (2018),and Fly with Me: A Celebration of Birds Through Pictures, Poems, and Stories (2018, with Heidi E.Y. Stemple, Adam Stemple, and Jason Stemple). Her many other acclaimed works include Pit Dragon Chronicles (Dragon’s Blood [1982], Heart’s Blood [1984], A Sending of Dragons [1987], Dragon’s Heart [2009]), Owl Moon (1987), The Great Books of Alta (Sister Light, Sister Dark [1988], White Jenna [1989], The One-Armed Queen [1998]), The Stuart Quartet (all with Robert J. Harris Queen’s Own Fool [2000], Girl in a Cage [2001], Prince Across the Water [2004], The Rogues [2007]), Ekaterinoslav: A Family’s Passage to America (2012), Finding Baba Yaga (2018), Mapping the Bones (2018), THE LAST TSAR’S DRAGONS (2019 with Adam Stemple), Kaddish: Before the Holocaust and After (2021), and ARCH OF BONE (2021).

Her editorial endeavors include the anthologies Zoo 2000 (1973), Favorite Folktales from Around the World (1986), Werewolves: A Collection of Original Stories (1988 with Martin H. Greenberg), Things That Go Bump in the Night (1989 with Greenberg), 2041: Twelve Short Stories About the Future by Top Science Fiction Writers (1991), Vampires (1991 with Greenberg), Xanadu (Vol 1 1993, Vol 2 1994, Vol 3 1995), The Haunted House: A Collection of Original Stories (1995 with Greenberg), Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around The World (1998 with Kathleen Ragan), Gray Heroes: Elder Tales from Around the World (1999), and Mightier Than the Sword: World Folktales for Strong Boys (2003).

The prolific Yolen continues to produce acclaimed, award winning work at a prodigious pace. In 2023 alone, she published 13 books: Thunder Underground, How Do Dinosaurs Learn To Be Kind? (with Mark Teague), How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? (with Mark Teague), The Giants’ Farm, THE SCARLET CIRCUS, Schlemiel Comes to America, What to do with a Stick, Kiki Kicks (with Ariel Stemple), Nana and Me, Smout and the Lighthouse (with John Patrick Pazdziora), The Giants Go Camping, Body Music, and The Horseback Librarians.

Because she apparently never sleeps, Yolen is also a teacher of writing and a book reviewer. She splits her time between Western Massachusetts and St. Andrew, Scotland.

All of us at Tachyon, wish the incredible Jane a happy birthday. May your mythic journeys never end.

February 8, 2024

Booksellers, librarians, bloggers, and reviewers get YOKE OF STARS, the new Birdverse book by Nebula Award finalist R. B. Lemberg

Rick Klaw blog

Review copies of Nebula, Ignyte, Locus, and World Fantasy award finalist R. B. Lemberg’s YOKE OF STARS, the new novella set in the popular Birdverse universe, are now available via EDELWEISS and NETGALLEY.

In all their fiction from the fascinating Birdverse world, Lemberg centers marginalized identities: queer, trans, neurodiverse, elderly, and more.
Buzzfeed

YOKE OF STARS

by
R. B. Lemberg

ISBN: 978-1-61696-418-4 (print); 978-1-61696-419-1 (digital)

Published: July 16, 2024

Available Format(s): Trade paperback and digital formats

Lush lyricism of the mythology, culture and history . . . an enchanting world of star lore, magic and gender identity.
Tlotlo Tsamaase, The Silence of the Wilting Skin

In this newest novella from the queer, mystical Birdverse, an apprentice assassin and an inquisitive linguist share their tales in order to make a fateful decision. Lush and lyrical, R. B. Lemberg’s cross-cultural tale of the beauty of language is a paean to the transformative power of storytelling.

In the School of Assassins, Stone Orphan waits for a first assignment. After their first kill, they will graduate and attain the coveted cloth of bone. But instead of a commission, Stone Orphan gets an inquisitive linguist, Ulín. Ulín has heard the Orphan Star’s song of despair, mirroring her own, and drawing her to the School of Assassins. But Ulín is far more interested in learning Stone Orphan’s language than deciding whom she wishes to kill.

Unable to contain their curiosity, Stone Orphan offers to exchange stories with Ulín to help her decide the fate of three men. By turns, Stone Orphan and Ulín narrate tales of love, suffering, exile, and self-determination, and two hurt souls find hope in each other through the radical act of listening.