andrew wheeler

November 23, 2016

The stimulating NIGHTMARES engrosses

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew wheeler, Ann Monn, anthology, darkness, darkness: two decades of modern horror, elaine aldred, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, horror, nightmares, nightmares: a new decade of modern horror, nihil, review, strange alliances, the antick musings of g.b.h. hornswoggler

Elaine Aldred at STRANGE ALLIANCES praises Ellen Datlow’s NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR.

Most short story anthologies feel like entrées, little more than a glimpse into an author’s work. Nightmares feels like an all-you-can-eat buffet where the palate is refreshed every time you go up for another helping. There is plenty here to keep a reader engrossed and stimulate interest in a particular author’s writing, and covers a wide range of styles.

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The stories range from the fantastical to the mundane which suddenly takes an unexpected turn. There is also plenty of a steady underlying sense of something not right until the awful truth finally dawns on the reader, or the anticipated shock moment arrives when they least expect it.

(credit: THIS IS HORROR)

For THE ANTICK MUSINGS OF G.B.H. HORSNSWOGGLER, GENT., Andrew Wheeler previews the anthology.

Ten years ago, Ellen Datlow had a big anthology called DARKNESS, collecting her picks for the best horror stories of the previous two decades. (Since, basically, she started working in that field and paying close attention to it.) But there was no reason that she had to wait two decades to do it again, and so Tachyon is bringing out Datlow’s NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR as a trade paperback.

Datlow is probably the best-known and highest-regarded horror editor out there, so if you have any interest at all in the form, you’ll want to take a glance at this.

For more info about NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Nihil

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more info about DARKNESS: TWO DECADES OF MODERN HORROR, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn

May 10, 2016

CENTRAL STATION is a world imbued with life beyond the service of a single narrative arc

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew wheeler, ars technica, central station, gary k wolfe, john denardon, kirkus, lavie tidhar, locus online, Marty Halpern, More Red Ink, rachel acks, review, sarah anne langton, science fiction, the antick musings of g.b.h. hornswoggler

Today (6/10) is the official publication day of Lavie Tidhar’s beautiful CENTRAL STATION and the positive feedback keeps coming.

(Photo: Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013.)

At ARS TECHNICA, Rachel Acks praises the novel’s unconventionally, among other things.

The scope of Lavie Tidhar’s new novel CENTRAL STATION may be galactic, but each of its many, many co-existing layers of reality are connected by one locale: the ever-present space port of Central Station, an unimaginably massive building that joins the human past on Earth to its rapidly evolving future. Trying to summarize CENTRAL STATION is like trying to summarize an entire season of a soap opera, except there are no heroes or villains, and, you know, the plot’s mysterious baby scandal is about who engineered him in the vat and to what purpose. Adding to the drama is the Conversation: an inescapable, interconnected network that touches (almost) all people throughout the space-time continuum.

CENTRAL STATION grew out of 13 linked short stories, some previously published and some new, which is what grants World Fantasy Award-winning author Tidhar such a broad canvas. His interwoven mix of human and non-human lives is full of characters crashing into the world and sending out ripples like stones thrown into a pond.

Mechanically, Tidhar’s skill with prose adds to the organic riot. The world of the Central Station is vital with sound, smell, and color (with its mixture of the ancient and the speculatively new, Tel Aviv is the perfect address for Central Station). In just a few words, Tidhar can give every character and place a history. It would be nice, however, if he didn’t leave so many of his well-crafted paragraphs hanging from ellipses or severed in their prime by em dashes.

Yet CENTRAL STATION’s weaknesses add up to strengths. The episodic nature of the chapters may feel unsatisfying and unfocused, and the way story-spanning plot strands can finish mid-book might leave a reader unbalanced. On the other hand, the escape from more traditional (and commercial) story structure allows the Central Station to be a place where the extraordinary and alien are commonplace, its world imbued with life beyond the service of a single narrative arc. Messiahs come and go and don’t require a massive build-up and a crashing finale.

Characters live without rising and falling action, because life has never been a three-act narrative. The true main characters of the story, around whom the world revolves inscrutably—Central Station itself and the Conversation—are too expansive, new, and inhuman for traditional narratives to contain.

Gay K. Wolfe for LOCUS ONLINE lauds Lavie Tidhar and CENTRAL STATION.

In good linked-story tradition, minor characters in one story become major characters in another, and the overall tapestry that emerges attains a persuasive unity, even if it’s not quite a novel. The stories include some of Tidhar’s most beautiful prose, and his future Tel Aviv is among the most evocative settings in recent SF, not least because Tidhar, rather wisely, refrains from expanding the point of view to, for example, the Martian colonies (readers interested in checking those out might want to read Tidhar’s Martian Sands). Somehow, Central Station combines a cultural sensibility too long invisible in SF with a sensibility which is nothing but classic SF, and the result is a rather elegant suite of tales.

John DeNardo at KIRKUS, Andrew Wheeler of THE ANTICK MUSINGS
OF G.B.H. HORNSWOGGLER, GENT., and Marty Halpern on his MORE RED INK all recommend the then-forthcoming book.

KIRKUS:

WHY YOU MIGHT LIKE IT: As he stated in this interview, this collection is rooted in real-world history, serves as a love letter, and offers us a hopeful future.

THE ANTICK MUSINGS OF G.B.H. HORNSWOGGLER, GENT.:

I’m leading off with Lavie Tidhar’s CENTRAL STATION because I keep thinking I need to start reading his books. He’s won the World Fantasy Award, the British SF award, and he’s got one of the great names in modern literature. This one is his fourth novel, either a fix-up of some of his “Central Station” stories or a brand-new story set in the same world – I don’t know yet myself, since (as I noted) I haven’t actually read any Tidhar yet. But this is about some people at the base of what seems to be a beanstalk in near future Tel Aviv, and is available right now as a trade paperback from Tachyon.

MORE RED INK:

I included a couple excerpts from the book itself in that November 30 blog post; and you can access the publisher’s website – Tachyon Publications – to read the starred Publishers Weekly review and the starred Library Journal review.

What I want to include here this time around is some thoughts on the book from the author himself, from Lavie Tidhar’s own blog post on July 2, 2015, announcing the sale of Central Station to Tachyon Publications:

….In a way, [Central Station] both represents everything I have to say about the shape of science fiction – and a large part of it is a sort of dialogue with older (mostly, admittedly, quite obscure) SF – and a way of talking about the present. It is set in the old central bus station area in south Tel Aviv, currently home to a quarter of a million poor economic migrants from Asia, and African refugees, and I wanted to explore that area through the lens of science fiction (one of the weird things I found recently is that the fictional sort of “federal” political vision of Israel/Palestine I have in the book is now being touted as a real solution by a group of political activists). My other ambition was to write a book which was mostly about character interaction: about extended families, about relationships, in which the “shiny” science fiction future serves as a sort of background rather than taking centre stage. My other inspiration was that I always wanted to write a novel in short stories. Science fiction has a long tradition of doing this – from The Martian Chronicles to Lord of Light – but my inspiration was also partly V. S. Naipaul’s Miguel Street.

For more info about CENTRAL STATION, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover and poster by Sarah Anne Langton

April 19, 2016

HAP AND LEONARD is a great way to meet Joe R. Lansdale

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew vachss, andrew wheeler, crime, elizabeth story, hap and leonard, joe lansdale, Joe R. Lansdale, just a guy who likes to read, review, swamp noir, texas, texas noir, the antick musings of g.b.h. hornswoggler

Photograph by LeAnn Mueller

JUST A GUY WHO LIKES TO READ enjoys Joe R. Lansdale’s HAP AND LEONARD.

This collection of short stories is a great way to get introduced to Hap and Leonard, two colorful characters that jump off the page and hit you like a ax handle the chops (read the book, you’ll appreciate the statement). They’re the private detectives who aren’t quite private detectives; rather a pair of daring and courageous hard men with a moral compass who moonlight for a PI firm when they’re not undertaking menial day jobs.

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Not being overly familiar with the series of books, having only read VANILLA RIDE, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Lucky I was treated to a novella and short stories that each read like a longer form of fiction. Author Joe R. Lansdale managed to pack a hell of a punch in each story. Well executed plotting, character depth, and a pleasant mix of humor and serious violence to balance things out.

I can’t name a favorite which is a rare thing in a collection such as this but each story was equally enjoyable. My advice to fans of the Hap and Leonard books – this is one you’ve got to have in your collection, and for those readers who aren’t familiar with the series, I strongly recommend checking this out as a great starting point.

Andrew Wheeler from his THE ANTICK MUSINGS
OF G.B.H. HORNSWOGGLER, GENT. mentions the book, even though it’s not SFF nor a graphic novel.

HAP AND LEONARD collects all of the short stories to date about the eponymous duo – also the heroes of about a dozen novels – by Joe R. Lansdale. It’s coming out at the same time as a TV series about the duo, for which I’ve been seeing a bunch of ads in the subway. So it collects six old stories (including one co-written with Andrew Vachss), one brand-new story, an “interview” conducted by Lansdale with Hap and Leonard, and an afterword by Lansdale about the series. How could you want more than that?

For more info on HAP AND LEONARD, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Elizabeth Story

January 8, 2016

Even more Tachyon among the very best

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew wheeler, anthology, best of 2015, christina scholz, chuma hill, collection, damien angelica walters, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, falling in love with hominids, hannu rajaniemi, hannu rajaniemi: collected fiction, horror, ian sales, it does have to be right, james everington, john coulthart, lius lasahido, los angeles public library, novella, reiko murakami, review, science fiction, short stories, slow bullets, strange horizons, the conversationalist, the monstrous, this is horror, Thomas Canty

Several Tachyon titles were included on many a pundit’s list for the best publications of 2015.

Christina Scholz at STRANGE HORIZONS loved Nalo Hopkinson’s FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS.

As long as we’re talking short stories, Nalo Hopkinson’s FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS has also earned a special place in my heart. If you’re looking for a distinctive and powerful woman’s voice in weird fiction, you should definitely read this book. Hopkinson writes from a transcultural, postcolonial, feminist, LGBT perspective, and her work is empowering and fun to read. I especially enjoyed her use of patterns from oral storytelling and her interweaving of Carribbean myth with contemporary Weird (and other things, including Shakespeare).

The LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY included FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS on their best of the year list.

This collection of short stories by celebrated fantasy author Nalo Hopkinson is incredibly original and beguiling. The stories throw you straight into new and fantastic worlds that you will wish to stay in longer. Whether it be the quirky and adorable world of “Miss Emily Breakfast,” or the chilling coming of age “The Easthound,” this is a collection you will not be able to put down.

THE CONVERSATIONALIST included the collection among it’s favorite books.

This was such a strong and interesting collection to read! Once again I was reminded that given the right context, I do really enjoy short fiction. I savoured this book, I really enjoyed it and I tried to let all the words seep into my bones. Before this collection I was unfamilar with Hopkinson’s work – but she’d been on my ‘to-read’ list for absolutely ages! I’m so glad I got a chance to read this collection because I really got a sense of her writing, the kind of stories she wanted to tell. I’m so glad I had an opportunity to read this, it’s easily one of the best things I read this year.

Without comment, Damien Angelica Walters listed Ellen Datlow’s THE MONSTROUS with the best anthologies and collections of 2015.

Also without comment (though he wrote effusively about the book in his THIS IS HORROR review), James Everington included four tales from the anthology in his annual Favourite Short Stories selections.

Andrew Wheeler on his THE ANTICK MUSINGS OF G.B.H. HORNSWOGGLER, GENT. mentioned Alastair Reynolds’ SLOW BULLETS among his favorite books of 2015.

But the pride of place for the month has to go to a short book that made me want to read science fiction again, after a long period of being sour on fiction in general and techno-babble in particular. Alastair Reynolds’s SLOW BULLETS uses SFnal ideas to tell a story that mainstream fiction never could – and that’s a story of characters, about memory and redemption and second chances and traditions and justice and revenge.

At IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE RIGHT…, Ian Sales laments the poor quality of 2015 science fiction books covers with the exception of HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION.

I’ve had a quick look at my bookshelves, and online, for cover art from genre books published in 2015… and failed to find any which particularly stood out. Except, perhaps, the cover art to Hannu Rajaniemi’s COLLECTED FICTION, which is by Luis Lasahido. But I shall continue to look, in the hope I find enough candidates for my ballot before the end of the year.

For more information on FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Chuma Hill

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more information on THE MONSTROUS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Reiko Murakami

Illustrations by John Coulthart

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more information about SLOW BULLETS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more information on HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Lius Lasahido

Design by Elizabeth Story

October 7, 2015

THE MONSTROUS is thrilling and readable

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew wheeler, anthology, bernie gourley, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, horror, john coulthart, john denardo, kirkus reviews, matthew scott baker, paper blog, reiko murakami, review, sfnal, shattered ravings, short stories, the antick musings of g.b.h. hornswoggler gent., the monstrous

With the impending release of superstar editor Ellen Datlow’s new anthology, excitement mounts for THE MONSTROUS.

Matthew Scott Baker at SHATTERED RAVINGS excitedly reviews the anthology.

Editor Ellen Datlow must be a psychic. There’s no other explanation. I mean, how else can she know exactly what horror fiction fans want? I read and reviewed one of her previous books last year (LOVECRAFT’S MONSTERS, click here to read the review), and I loved it. So when I was approached to review this one, I said ‘Yes!’ before I even knew the premise. Datlow is extremely gifted when it comes to story selection, and THE MONSTROUS is yet another fine example of her talent.

<snip>

I also have to comment on the cover art. The imagery on the front of the book strikes a primal root within my brain that resonates with dread. I can’t put my finger on why, but the creature on the front of the book chills me to the bone. Perhaps its the hybridity of its characteristics, or maybe even the fact that it’s partially human…I’m not sure. But regardless, I find it horrifying.

If I were forced to pick a favorite story from within these pages, I simply could not do it. I like every single one of them. They all have merit in some form or fashion, and each does the subject matter justice beyond measure.

THE MONSTROUS is a huge win for me, and I highly recommend it. The twenty tales in this tome will leave you sleepless for many nights to come, and yet begging for more. The book hits store shelves at the end of the month, just in time for Halloween, so make a note.

Read the rest of Baker’s review at SHATTERED RAVINGS.

Over at PAPER BLOG, Bernie Gourley not only reviews the book but also comments on each story.

This is a story anthology offering tales of monsters—just not your everyday monsters. In her Introduction, Editor Ellen Datlow said her solicitation for stories asked for “unusual monster stories.” She wanted neither “human monsters” (i.e. no pedophiles or serial killers) nor was she interested in your classic Transylvanian Count Dracula. With this book’s 20 stories, the authors succeed in meeting Datlow’s request—in several cases spectacularly. Some of the stories are chilling, others are creepy, and two are even humorous, but all feature monsters that are out of the ordinary, or—at least—the monsters are in extraordinary situations.

<snip>

This anthology is thrilling and readable, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to read about unusual monsters.

Read the rest of Gourley’s review at PAPER BLOG.

Over at KIRKUS REVIEWS, John DeNardo includes THE MONSTROUS among Your Speculative Fiction Reading List for October.

And perhaps the most humorous observation about THE MONSTROUS comes courtesy of Andrew Wheeler on his THE ANTICK MUSINGS OF G. B.H. HORNSWOGGLER, GENT.

There’s a new entry in that old SFnal game, The Man Who Melted Jack Dann. Sometimes, a book’s title and author form a single thought – a sentence is best, but a thought is fine – and are arranged on the spine so they can be read that way. And we now have THE MONSTROUS Ellen Datlow. Now, Datlow is definitely NOT monstrous, since she’s a wonderful person and one of our best editors. And she edited this book, as you can see if you look at the small type. But she’s now in the Melted Jack Dann Club.

For more on THE MONSTROUS, visit the Tachyon page.

Illustrations by John Coulthart

Cover by Reiko Murakami

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

July 2, 2015

Tachyon sightings and mentions

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew wheeler, brayan's gold, collection chuma hill, demon cycle, falling in love with hominids, fantasy, feminist, horror, jamie lee moyer, kate elliott, kelley armstrong, led astray, led astray: the very best of kelley armstrong, mind meld, nalo hopkinson, novella, paranormal romance, patricia a mckillip, peter v brett, science fiction, SF Signal, short stories, t. frohock, the antick musings of g.b.h. hornswoggler, the great bazaar, the great bazaar & brayan's gold, the very best of kate elliott, Thomas Canty, victoria hooper, wonders of the invisible world

Tachyon titles and authors attracted some recent attention around the web.

Over at THE ANTICK MUSINGS OF G. B. H. HORNSWOGGLER, GENT., proprietor Andrew Wheeler acknowledged two forthcoming releases.

FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS is the third short-story collection from Nalo Hopkinson, collecting eighteen stories from the last dozen years. It’s a trade paperback from Tachyon, coming on August 15th.

Also from Tachyon – but publishing sooner, on July 14th – is Peter V. Brett’s THE GREAT BAZAAR & BRAYAN’S GOLD, collecting two sidebar novelettes to Brett’s Demon Cycle novels that were each originally published as pricey limited-edition hardcovers in the UK.

(Tachyon seems to be concentrating on writers that I’ve met and feel guilty about not reading more of – probably not on purpose!)

For their recent MIND MELD, SF SIGNAL asked panelists “What Authors Are on Your Must-Buy List?” While only one Tachyon book was specifically mentioned, several of the authors were.

Mentioned by T. Frohock:

I shouldn’t have to justify Patricia McKillip to anyone, but if you love dark fairy tales told in beautiful prose, McKillip is your author.

Jaime Lee Moyer:

Kate Elliott, who proves that not only do women write epic fantasy, they write rich, well crafted and well thought out epic fantasy with amazing characters. I have her The Very Best of Kate Elliott collection sitting on my shelf making big eyes at me right this minute. Her books are an instant buy.

Victoria Hooper:

I’m now working my way through Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series, something I’ve wanted to do since reading Bitten and being immediately hooked by the voice of the main character. I have to admit, I hadn’t expected a werewolf story to seem so different and compelling. Her writing is exciting and a bit playful, while at the same time there is often a streak of quite macabre horror running through. They’re fun reads, and I’m happy I have plenty more to enjoy.

Catherine Lundoff:

Writer and editor Nalo Hopkinson is one exception to my series-reading pattern. I read Nalo’s first published novel, Brown Girl in the Ring, and got hooked on her work after that. I really enjoy her world building as well as the way that her books and stories make me think about the world we currently live in. I find her a compelling and memorable storyteller, one whose work I remember years after I read it. She’s also one of the few authors on this list whose novels and short stories I seek out; we aren’t all good at both lengths, but she is a definite exception.

Read the rest of the selections at SF SIGNAL.

For more information on FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Chuma Hill

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more information on THE GREAT BAZAAR & BRAYAN’S GOLD, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more information on WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Thomas Canty

For more information on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more information on LED ASTRAY: THE VERY BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Elizabeth Story

July 10, 2014

THE MADONNA AND THE STARSHIP is funnier than you’d expect and full of a great-hearted love for all mankind

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew wheeler, Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler Gent., elizabeth story, humor, James Morrow, parody, review, satire, science fiction, the madonna and the starship

Andrew Wheeler on his The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent. reviews James Morrow’s The Madonna and the Starship.

Madonna is another retrospective novella in the SF world of the past, like Morrow’s Shambling Towards Hiroshima (and like a thousand other stories of the past two decades), but it’s not about SF the way so many of those stories are. It’s also not marinated in self-loathing and alternate-world angst the way Hiroshima was, much to its benefit. And the solution Kurt and Connie eventually find is much more Hegelian than usual for Morrow – more measured, more even-handed. For a long time, Morrow seemed to identify most with Job: raging at a God he conjured up in story after story, castigating the Supreme Being for His own flaws and those of mankind. Madonna transfers that anger to the alien lobsters, who are the antagonists, to move beyond that dichotomy. So this book shows us a Morrow still obsessed with the same questions, but not as angry about them – still deeply concerned with the place of spirituality and the religious impulse, but not as accusatory or partisan. It’s a fine short novel, funnier than you’d expect and full of a great-hearted love for all mankind.

Read the rest of Wheeler’s insightful comments at The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

For more on The Madonna and the Starship, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover and design by Elizabeth Story.

June 17, 2014

There’s no one who does blasphemous SF better than Morrow

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew wheeler, blasphemous SF, G. B. H. Hornswaggler Gent., humor, James Morrow, parody, science fiction, the madonna and the starship

In his weekly mail review, Andrew Wheeler, aka G. B. H. Hornswaggler, Gent., discusses James Morrow and his latest book The Madonna and the Starship.

There’s no one who does blasphemous SF better than Morrow – see Towing Jehovah and Only Begotten Daughter– and he’s also good at apocalypses (as in This Is the Way the World Ends). So Madonna and the Starship looks to be right in his sweet spot; I’m looking forward to it.

For more on The Madonna and the Starship, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover and design by Elizabeth Story.

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