best of 2023

January 29, 2024

More Tachyon titles appear on best of the year lists including Tobias S. Buckell’s A STRANGER IN THE CITADEL, Marjorie Liu’s THE TANGLEROOT PALACE, Brandon Sanderson’s THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, Ellen Datlow’s NIGHTMARES, and Tim Powers’ THE BIBLE REPAIRMAN AND OTHER STORIES

Rick Klaw blog a stranger in the citadel, ambling along the aqueduct, best of 2023, bookish muggle, brandon sanderson, c. n. wheaton, cat rambo, Ellen Datlow, marjorie liu, nightmares: a new decade of modern horror, Peter Tennant, the bible repairman and other stories, the tangleroot palace, Tim Powers, Tobias S Buckell, trumpetville

As coverage of 2023 winds down, several Tachyon books managed to make their way onto best reads lists. Cat Rambo for Ambling Along the Aqueduct lists Tobias S. Buckell’s A STRANGER IN THE CITADEL among her favorite reads. At Beyond the Bookshelves, C. N. Wheaton expresses similar thoughts about Marjorie Liu’s THE TANGLEROOT PALACE. According to Bookish Muggle, Brandon Sanderson’s Hugo-awarding novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL was once again one of the top reads of the year. On Trumpetville, Peter Tennant’s best reads of 2023 includes, without comment, Ellen Datlow’s NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR and Tim Powers’ THE BIBLE REPAIRMAN AND OTHER STORIES.

cover image of A Stranger in the Citadel by Tobias Buckell — Cover by Elizabeth Story

Terrific world-building and a librarian questioning that world.
Ambling Along the Aqueduct

Cover art by Sana Takeda
Design by Elizabeth Story

I found this collection the most consistently strong throughout. “Sympathy for the Bones” was a particular standout.
Beyond the Bookshelves

Cover of The Emperor's Soul — Cover art by Alexander Nanitchkov
Design by Elizabeth Story

Sanderson is unbeatable in world building. I said this to him in person when I got this book signed from him at Worldcon. Soul stones and soul stamps are such cool magic tools. Magic system is top notch in this and very different from every other fantasy book I have read so far. It was interesting to learn in the Epilogue where the idea of stamps came from (in a Taiwan museum). The story was nice and different. I loved the main characters too.
Bookish Muggle

Cover by Nihil
Design by Elizabeth Story

January 24, 2024

Both THINGS GET UGLY: THE BEST CRIME STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALE and the author his ownself are some of the best of 2023

Rick Klaw blog behind blue eyes, best of 2023, craig zablo, Dayton Daily News, howard waldrop, joe r lansdale, Texas Standard, things get ugly, Vick Mickunas

THINGS GET UGLY: THE BEST CRIME STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALE continues to get acclaim with a best of the year nod (without comment) from Craig Zablo and a praising review at Behind Blue Eyes. At Dayton Daily News, Vick Mickunas cites Joe R. Lansdale among his favorite interviews of the year. Lansdale remembers the late Howard Waldrop with the Texas Standard.

Things Get Ugly, cover by John Coulthart — Design by John Coulthart

Joe R. Lansdale knows how to craft a story, with an instinctive grasp of character development. His language is such that he connects with readers and makes the task of reading an enjoyable escape.

While all of the stories in this book fall into the “crime” category, this is a very loose grouping. There is such a mixed bag of offerings here, from the noir to the really freaking weird. As with most collections, some stories hit with me better than others, but there really aren’t any duds here
Behind Blue Eyes

Joe R. Lansdale has written a slew of terrific books. I interviewed him years ago-things didn’t go well. He was on a film set talking on a cell phone – it kept cutting out. You could hear noisy people in the background. He sounded distracted. Well, he had a new story collection out, THINGS GET UGLY: THE BEST CRIME STORIES OF JOE R. LANSDALE, so we tried it again. This time around he was relaxed and completely charming, telling yarns about how he became a writer. He made a superb guest.
Vick Mickunas

Jeff via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Science fiction writer Howard Waldrop, who died this week, was popular with fans and other writers for his stories of the natural world, alternative history, and of Texas, his adopted home state.

Texas Standard: Howard Waldrop was known as a science fiction writer, but I’m wondering if you can tell us more about what that means in his specific case. What sort of stories interested him as a writer?

Joe Lansdale: I think he was more of a speculative fiction writer. I mean, he wasn’t doing hard science. What he liked to do was take two things that did not seem to fit together and turn them into a story, or take ideas that were somewhat outre and make them seem very natural.

One of them being like “The Ugly Chickens,” where an anthropologist discovers that dodos are still alive. And I won’t ruin the story for anybody, but it’s just little things like that he would jump off of. Or where you have an alternate history where [former president Dwight] Eisenhower worked in a swing band. And things like that.

So he was a very interesting writer. And I adapted one of his stories, actually, to a film, called “Night of the Cooters,” which took “The War of the Worlds” from H.G. Wells and put it out in West Texas.
Texas Standard

January 23, 2024

One of the best books of 2023, with THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH Josh Rountree blends genres like he’s freestyling a casserole

Rick Klaw blog best of 2023, josh rountree, max booth iii, san antonio current, speculation, the legend of charlie fish, the speculative shelf

**Josh Rountree’s debut novel THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH garners year end acclaim from Max Booth III at San Antonio Current, The Speculative Shelf, and Speculiction.**

Speaking of Lansdale, here’s what he had to say about Josh Rountree’s THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH: “Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.” We find it hard to disagree with that kind of endorsement. Rountree blends genres like he’s freestyling a casserole. Recommended for fans of the Coen Brothers.
San Antonio Current

Rountree effectively crafts deep characterizations for each of his cast members and makes you care for their plight, especially during the breathless final act as a colossal hurricane bears down on their Galveston locale…I was thoroughly taken with this story, Rountree’s writing, and the unique island setting.
The Speculative Shelf

Combining tall tale and Texas history, The Legend of Charlie Fish tells of the hurricane—the Great Storm—that hit Galveston at the start of the 20th century. Rountree captures a solid authorial voice and nicely edits the story in such a fashion to avoid A to B to C storytelling.
Speculiction

January 15, 2024

Complete with his usual brilliance, Lavie Tidhar’s bewilderingly rich tapestry THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE WORLD is a 2023 mostest SF

Rick Klaw blog ambling along the aqueduct, auraist, best of 2023, book and film globe, cat rambo, dan friedman, david agranoff, Juan Sanmiguel, lavie tidhar, loontown, neom, nir yaniv, postcards from a dying world, rainbow war blog, the circumference of the world

The World Fantasy, Campbell, Xingyun, and Neukom Award winning-author Lavie Tidhar’s new science fiction novel THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE WORLD is, according to Dan Friedman for Book and Film Globe, one of the Mostest SF of 2023 (aka best). At Ambling Along the Aqueduct, Cat Rambo agrees. While not declaring it a best of 2023, Juan Sanmiguel on Rainbow War Blog enjoys the experience. David Agranoff on his Postcards From a Dying World praises NEOM, Tidhar’s return to the universe of the John W. Campbell Award Winner CENTRAL STATION. In a lengthy interview with Tidhar, Auraist (Part 1 Part 2) delivers an in-depth discussion of various aspects of his prose style. Loontown, the award-winning animated short written by Tidhar and directed by Nir Yaniv, is now available for free viewing.

Cover of The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar — Cover by Elizabeth Story

Most Meta

THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE WORLD by Lavie Tidhar

Lavie Tidhar is one of today’s most prolific SF writers, deeply embedded in the scene as writer, editor and anthologist, and who also has an encyclopedic knowledge of SF history. CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE WORLD puts all of these together in a novel that comprises a bewilderingly rich tapestry of SF allusion. The search that propels the novel is, self-reflexively, a search for a science fiction novel. Not only the plot, but the entire universe is tied up in a roman a clef history of SF.
Book and Film Globe

His usual brilliance, so much lovely stuff in this!
Ambling Along the Aqueduct

This is an interesting romp in the world of literary SF. We get the story of the people who were effected by the book, the book itself and the life of the writer. It looks into the power and motivations for creating art.
Rainbow War Blog

January 15, 2024

Some eleven years after publication, Brandon Sanderson’s THE EMPEROR’S SOUL continues to appear on annual best-of lists

Rick Klaw blog Alex Golub, best of 2023, brandon sanderson, Charles Papdopoulos, Daniel Stalter, screen rant, the emperor's soul

Originally published in October 2012, Brandon Sanderson’s Hugo Award winner THE EMPEROR’S SOUL achieved the annual recognition from Alex Golub and Daniel Stalter. Over at Screen Rant, Charles Papdopoulos includes the novella among 7 Books From Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere That Deserve Movies After Mistborn.

I also read THE EMPEROR’S SOUL by Brandon Sanderson, who I vaguely knew was famous. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book.
Alex Golub

My sister recommended this one to me. I’ve been meaning to read Sanderson for ages and I’m glad I finally did. This is a masterclass in worldbuilding, giving me just enough to keep me engrossed but never over-explaining the mysteries. I also love having a scheming narrator to root for. If you’re looking for a quick read with some cool magic and strong characters, there are very few books that can meet all of those criteria. This book is one of them.
Daniel Stalter

Brandon Sanderson’s first novel was Elantris, and while it doesn’t hold up as his best writing style-wise, it’s still a riveting story. The novel takes place on the planet Sel and features the author’s signature worldbuilding, character development, and intriguing magic system. He explored the planet further in the novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, and Sanderson plans to continue the story of Elantris years later with an upcoming sequel. One of the biggest challenges the Mistborn movie faces is having to condense material due to time constraints, meaning both might be better suited for a TV series.
Screen Rant

December 8, 2023

Tachyon tidbits featuring Mia Tsai, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Sam J. Miller, Nalo Hopkinson, Elly Bangs, Izzy Wasserstein, and Terry Bisson

Rick Klaw blog All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From, before we go blog, best of 2023, bitter medicine, boys beasts & men, Charlie Jane Anders, clarion, clarion workshop, elly bangs, falling in love with hominids, flight & anchor, greetings & other stories, Izzy Wasserstein, james davis nicoll, Margret Grebowicz, mia tsai, nalo hopkinson, Nicole Kornher-Stace, numbers don't lie, powell's books, sam j miller, Terry Bisson, the new yorker, tor.com, tumblr, unity

The latest reviews and mentions of Tachyon titles and authors from around the web

Mia Tsai author photo — Mia Tsai
Photo by Rebekah Chavez Wynne

**Via their Tumblr, Powell’s shared a romantasy display featuring Mia Tsai’s BITTER MEDICINE.**

BITTER MEDICINE by Mia Tsai
“The magic system had me mesmerized in how it blends cultures. Inspired by Chinese drama, the romance & action were addictive”

**James Davis Nicoll for Tor.com includes Nicole Kornher-Stace’s FLIGHT & ANCHOR in Five Must-Read SF Books Published in 2023.**

This novella is a prequel to Kornher-Stace’s 2021’s Firebreak. In the spirit of “the dog doesn’t die,” since older versions of 06 and 22 appear in Firebreak and other works, it is unlikely either will die in this prequel. It seems odd that I would encounter two 2023 SF novels about workers being brutally exploited by ruthless corporations. What possible reason could there be for SF authors to focus on this subject in particular at this specific moment in time? This must be just one of those odd coincidences one sees from time to time in SF…

Flight & Anchor by Nicole Kornher-Stace — Cover by Elizabeth Story

Clarion Workshop announced that Sam J. Miller and Nalo Hopkinson will be teaching in 2024.

Cover art by Chuma Hill
Design by Elizabeth Story

Cover of BOYS, BEASTS, & MEN, a collection by Sam J. Miller. — Cover art by Chuma Hill
Design by Elizabeth Story

For Before We Go Bl o g in a round table interview, conducted by Dani Finn and with Ela Bambust, May Peterson, Vyria Durav, Abigail Trusity, and Devi Lacroix, Charlie Jane Anders answered the query “I don’t see as much transfeminine representation in books as I would like, but I hope we are approaching a turning point. Please drop any recommendations you might have, whether SFF or not–and do go on at as much length as you like!” by citing Elly Bangs‘ debut novel UNITY and Izzy Wasserstein’s debut collection All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From.

Umm… I just read Atoms Never Touch by micha cárdenas, which I highly recommend. Also recently: OK Psyche by Anya Johanna DeNiro, All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From by Izzy Wasserstein, UNITY by Elly Bangs, and Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, off the top of my head. I also urge everyone to hunt down books by April Daniels, Roz Kaveney, and Rachel Pollack. Oh, and here’s a list I did a while back in my newsletter.

The New Yorker‘s Margret Grebowicz shares a profile of Terry Bisson.

Sometime in 1989, Terry Bisson was driving his daughter to college in upstate New York when an idea for a short story came to him. Glancing toward the highway median, he had a vision: animals sitting together, in their own world, talking to one other. The vision became a title: “Bears Discover Fire.”

Tachyon Publications

Holiday sale: 24% off all titles! Add code TACHYON24 to your shopping cart

best of 2023

tachyonpub