Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin Dying for You by Jenny Frame Harsh Reality by Elle E. Ire What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher BOYS, BEASTS & MEN by Sam J. Miller Bite Me! (You Know I Like It) by Fae Quin Cougar Woods by Tiana Warner All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes
They’re bright, they’re colorful, and they’re doing the meaningful work of ensnaring a potential reader’s eye. These are the boldest and most original book covers of the year, as selected by BookPage’s designer.
Sam J. Miller’s debut collection BOYS, BEASTS & MEN ranks among the best books of the year according to Lee Mandelo at Tor.com and without comment from the staff of Outwrite Magazine. In an interview with Reads Rainbow, Nathan Tavares includes the collection among his desert island books. Miller, himself, is interviewed on The Coode Streetpodcast.
In the realm of short fiction BOYS, BEASTS & MEN by Sam J. Miller was released over the summer season: a long-anticipated first collection! The stories inside “weave together two fictional lineages: the tradition of political queer sf, and the tradition of weird gay art,” to powerful and provocative ends.
The Coode Street Advent Calendar rolls into the fifth day, and this time Gary takes a little time to chat with the wonderful Sam J. Miller about his new novella, Kid Wolf and Kraken Boy, and his short story collection, BOYS, BEASTS & MEN. There’s also, no doubt, some holiday chat with books and such being recommended.
Tachyon [is] known for their eclectic published works and always choose quality over quantity.
SF Book Reviews
Celebrate the year’s end with our newest Tacky-Pack, curated by the Tacky Rhino himself. In these 2022 Tachyon books, now 22% off, you’ll discover everything from the impossible to the improbable: a decades long government conspiracy, a queernormative medical mystery; a lovesick robot at the edge of revolution; two not-so-good old boys dealing out Texan style justice; one not-quite-human girl having a not-quite breakdown; and much, much more.
As we get ready to ring in the new year (and engage in whatever holiday traditions you like best), celebrate with any or all of Tachyon’s 2022 titles, now at 22% off!
THE EMPEROR’S SOUL: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Brandon Sanderson When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life with an impossible task: to create a new soul for an emperor in fewer than one hundred days. This special edition of the Hugo-Award winning novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL features the deleted prologue “The Imperial Fool,” which alludes to Sanderson’s bestselling Mistborn series; prologue commentary; and an original introduction from the publisher.
NEOM by Lavie Tidhar Today, Neom is a utopian dream—a megacity of the future yet to be built in the Saudi desert. In this deeply imaginative novel from the award-winning universe of CENTRAL STATION, far-future Neom is already old. Sentient machines roam the desert searching for purpose, works of art can be more deadly than weapons, and the spark of a long-overdue revolution is in the wind.
THE BRUISING OF QILWA by Naseem Jamnia In this intricate debut fantasy introducing a queernormative Persian-inspired world, a nonbinary refugee practitioner of blood magic discovers a strange disease that causes political rifts in their new homeland. Persian-American author Naseem Jamnia has crafted a gripping narrative with a moving, nuanced exploration of immigration, gender, healing, and family.
THE UNBALANCINGby R. B. Lemberg In this first full-length novel from the acclaimed Birdverse, new love blossoms between an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet as they try together to save their island home. THE UNBALANCING is a gorgeous tale of the inevitable transformations of communities and their worlds rooted in the mystical cosmology, neurodiversity, and queerness that infuses Lemberg’s lyrical prose.
BORN FOR TROUBLE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAP AND LEONARD by Joe R. Lansdale In Edgar Award winner Joe R. Lansdale’s newest Hap and Leonard story collection, the boys are back, with more righteous ass-kickings, highly improbable adventures, and disastrous fishing trips. These never before collected tales showcase the popular not-so dynamic duo as a little bit older, but not a whole lot wiser—Hap and Leonard were truly born for trouble.
THE EXTRACTIONIST by Kimberly Unger In her breakout technothriller, virtual reality expert Kimberly Unger (NUCLEATION) has created the iconic, badass, nerdy heroine that you desperately need: Eliza McKay. McKay is disgraced underground hacker who is just trying to take back her career one dangerous job at a time. But when her latest contract throws her into the middle of a corporate power struggle, she finds herself fighting for her life.
BOYS, BEASTS & MENby Sam J. Miller Queer infatuation, inevitable heartbreak, and satisfying revenge seamlessly intertwine in Sam J. Miller (Blackfish City, The Art of Starving)’s long-awaited debut short story collection. Whether innocent, guilty, or not even human, the beings in Miller’s gorgeously-crafted worlds can destroy you—yet leave you longing for them even more.
CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE by Daniel Pinkwater The inimitable Daniel Pinkwater (The Big Orange Splot, The Hoboken Chicken Emergency) brings his zany wit and wisdom to a middle-grade adventure following a kid’s off-the-beaten-path journey, featuring an unfocused spiritual guide, a not-quite-dwarf, a graffiti “artist,” a ghost whale, and mystical shenanigans galore.
51 by Patick O’Leary In his long-awaited newest novel, Patrick O’Leary (The Gift) deftly navigates the invisible currents of secrets and forgiveness, while upending one of the best-kept secrets in American history: the strange events at Area 51. Gripping, profound, and utterly unique, 51 is sure to please fans of fans of smart paranormal nostalgia, such as the X-Files, Old Man’s War, and Stranger Things.
Celebrate the beginning of the holiday season with our newest Tacky-Pack, curated by the Tacky Rhino himself. In these four recent Tachyon books, you’ll discover passion at the end of the world as an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet fall in love; a powerful debut novella set in a queernormative, and neurodiverse, Persian-inspired world; mesmerizing stories of queer infatuation, inevitable heartbreak, and satisfying revenge; and a even a disgraced underground hacker as she fights the powers-that-be.
Give thanks for something real with this special gathering of Tachyon’s recent science fiction and fantasy!
THE BRUISING OF QILWA by Naseem Jamnia In this intricate debut fantasy introducing a queernormative Persian-inspired world, a nonbinary refugee practitioner of blood magic discovers a strange disease that causes political rifts in their new homeland. Persian-American author Naseem Jamnia has crafted a gripping narrative with a moving, nuanced exploration of immigration, gender, healing, and family.
THE UNBALANCINGby R. B. Lemberg n this first full-length novel from the acclaimed Birdverse, new love blossoms between an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet as they try together to save their island home. THE UNBALANCING is a gorgeous tale of the inevitable transformations of communities and their worlds rooted in the mystical cosmology, neurodiversity, and queerness that infuses Lemberg’s lyrical prose.
THE EXTRACTIONIST by Kimberly Unger In her breakout technothriller, virtual reality expert Kimberly Unger (NUCLEATION) has created the iconic, badass, nerdy heroine that you desperately need: Eliza McKay. McKay is disgraced underground hacker who is just trying to take back her career one dangerous job at a time. But when her latest contract throws her into the middle of a corporate power struggle, she finds herself fighting for her life.
BOYS, BEASTS & MENby Sam J. Miller Queer infatuation, inevitable heartbreak, and satisfying revenge seamlessly intertwine in Sam J. Miller (Blackfish City, The Art of Starving)’s long-awaited debut short story collection. Whether innocent, guilty, or not even human, the beings in Miller’s gorgeously-crafted worlds can destroy you—yet leave you longing for them even more.
Fictioneer, poet, editrix, and critic Jaymee Goh ran away from academia to fall into publishing as an editor at Tachyon. As the spearhead behind the Debut Authors series, she edited R. B. Lemberg’s Nebula and World Fantasy Award finalist THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES (2020), Kimberly Unger’s NUCLEATION (2020), Elly Bangs’ UNITY (2021), and Naseem Jaminia’s THE BRUISING OF QILWA (2022). Among the other acclaimed Tachyon titles that Goh oversaw were R. B. Lemberg’s first Birdverse novel THE UNBALANCING (2022), Kimberly Unger’s technothriller THE EXTRACTIONIST (2022), Sam J. Miller’s debut collection BOYS, BEASTS & MEN (2022), New York Times bestselling author Marjorie Liu’s collection THE TANGLEROOT PALACE (2021), and David Ebenbach’s first science fiction novel HOW TO MARS (2021).
Beyond her duties with Tachyon, Goh has edited the anthologies The Omnibus of Doctor Bill Shakes and the Magnificent Ionic Pentatetrameter: A Steampunk’s Shakespeare Anthology (2012 with Matt Delman), The Sea is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia (2015 with Joyce Chng), and The WisCon Chronicles Vol. 11: Trials by Whiteness (2017).
Her numerous acclaimed works of short fiction and critical essays have appeared in Lightspeed, Interfictions, Strange Horizons, STEAMPUNK III: STEAMPUNK REVOLUTION, Tor.com, New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, New Suns 2: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, Recognize Fascism, Project Future Malaysia, Curious Fictions, Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers, and many others. Her short story “The Last Cheng Beng Gift” (Lightspeed September 2017) appeared in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 and was read by Levar Burton on Levar Burton Reads. Her contribution to New Suns “The Freedom of the Shifting Sea” was reprinted in TheBest American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020.
Cover by Elizabeth StoryCover art by Sana Takeda Design by Elizabeth StoryCover by Elizabeth StoryCover by Dan Jones (Tinketbots) Design by Elizabeth Story
In 2017, Goh finished her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Riverside with the dissertation, Shades of Sepia: Examining Eurocentrism and Whiteness in Relation to Multiculturalism in Steampunk Iconograpy, Fandom, and Culture Industry.
Happy birthday to the amazing Jaymee. May you enjoy all the fancy chocolates you can devour.
This collection is full of heart, and I can’t recommend it enough. Miller ends the collection with story notes that give additional insight into the original publication and origin of each story, as well as some easter eggs to hunt for in the shared universes of some of the stories. BOYS, BEASTS & MEN is a great introduction to Sam J. Miller’s catalog of short stories as well as a timely body of work that looks at the sense of isolation and yearning for connection many of us are feeling in these turbulent times.
It’s time to settle in for another lunch during the Washington, D.C. pop culture festival Awesome Con. Last episode, you eavesdropped on my meal with Patrick O’Leary, and this time around you get to take a seat at the table with Sam J. Miller.
You first heard me chat and chew with Sam 5-1/2 years ago in Episode 24, and when I noted he’d be at the con to promote his debut short story collection Boys, Beasts & Men, I knew it was time for us to catch up.
This is a short clip of writing advice from our interview with genre-bending, award-winning author Sam J. Miller, where he compares different story formats (like novels, short stories and novellas), and shares what attracts him to each.
The characters in Sam J. Miller’s debut short story collection BOYS, BEASTS & MEN, often LGBTQIA but not always, are yearning for connection: sometimes direct connection to another human being (occasionally, but not always, romantic), sometimes to a community, sometimes to an ideal. How they surmount the barriers to making those connections is at the heart of stories that cross the spectrum of speculative fiction, from hard science fiction to fantasy to stories that blur the lines between genres. Throughout the collection, Miller’s incredible ability to combine heightened emotional stakes with current social issues is on keen display.
I really love Miller’s writing, even when I don’t necessarily like the story. It always seems effortless in its descriptions and word choices. It’s funny, I saw Miller very recently at Powell’s Books, his tour for this collection of short fiction. He read an excerpt from one of the stories and said that he saw a sentence there that he would write better if he were writing it today. What’s funny about that is that I thought all the sentences flowed so beautifully, from his early works in the collection to the later. This book is filled with wonderful prose, important themes, and bizarre, genre-bending plots. From a story told from the point of view of an old couch to a world where King Kong was real, it’s simply joyful and profound.
We’re so excited to bring in-person author talks back to The Chatham Bookstore, and we’re starting off with a real bang. On Saturday, July 30,at 6 pm we’ll be celebrating the release of Sam J. Miller’s new short story collection, BOYS, BEASTS & MEN. Miller will be joined in conversation by Thomas Grattan, the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Recent East.
Sam J. Miller is a Nebula Award-wining science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer. The author of a number of books, Miller’s writing is gripping, unsettling, compulsively readable and, in his words, “gay as heck.” Miller has deep ties to our community, having grown up in Hudson as the last in a long line of local butchers.
We’re so lucky to have both of these writers join us for what is sure to be a fascinating talk. Copies of BOYS, BEASTS & MEN will be available for purchase and signing, and light refreshments will be served.
BOYS, BEASTS & MENis a collection of 14 stories that perfectly captures the desperate intensity of love and is an excellent introduction to a talented writer with wildly varied interests.
Ultimately, the collected stories of BOYS, BEASTS & MEN overflow with a relentless queer presence. I resonate with the book’s artistic sincerity, as well as its openness to desire, to horny risk and ferocious joy, to the “everything all at once” mess of gay life.
I simply loved this collection. While dark at times, it’s never completely bleak, presenting moments of hope and, as I have said, resistance and weaving a seductive web around the reader.
All in all, this is a well-laid-out collection of character-centric science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories often, but not always, centered on social struggles or issues, primarily those relating to the LGBTQ+ community. It’s one of the best collections I’ve read in the last few years, and it’s the start of my Sam J. Miller reading, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Reimagining John Carpenter’s 1982 masterpiece The Thing from the point of view of the bloodthirsty shapeshifting alien, Watts made it into a harrowing send-up of the colonialist mentality: the Thing is incapable of seeing what makes its victims unique or different or special, and perceives only “thinking cancers” that must be brutally subjugated. It preserves everything that’s scary and horrific about the movie, while adding a deeper layer that digs into questions the film had neither the space nor the chutzpah to tackle.
This story rocked my world. And it gave me permission to go there myself, with my own (super gay) The Thing fanfic, “Things With Beards” (which, NBD, was a nominee for the Nebula and the Shirley Jackson Awards).
Paul Di Filippo for Locus reviews Sheila Finch’s new Aqueduct Press collection Forkpoints.
The stated theme of Finch’s book—”choices that change lives forever”—is almost a formula for any and all fiction, and need not be given too much heft. No point in trying to cram these varied, distinctive, and memorable tales into a thematic cubbyhole. Just revel in their brio and craft, and hope that Finch continues writing for many years ahead.
What is a “monster”? What is monstrosity? The definition depends upon who is doing the defining.
The etymology of the word “monster” is complicated.
“Monēre” is the root of “monstrum” and means to warn and instruct. Saint Augustine proposed the following interpretation, considering monsters part of the natural design of the world, deliberately created by God for His own reasons: spreading “abroad a multitude of those marvels which are called monsters, portents, prodigies, phenomena . . . They say that they are called ‘monsters,’ because they demonstrate or signify something; ‘portents’ because they portend something; and so forth . . . ought to demonstrate, portend, predict that God will bring to pass what He has foretold regarding the bodies of men, no difficulty preventing Him, no law of nature prescribing to Him His limit.”
