collection

January 11, 2017

The compelling, complex SLIPPING is clever and very relevant

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized clara bacou, collection, elizabeth story, fat robot, helen's bookshelf, jonathan hatfull, lauren beukes, review, scifi now, slipping, slipping: stories essays & other writing

HELEN’S BOOKSHELF enjoys Lauren Beukes’ SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After reading this collection of short stories Lauren Beukes is now firmly on my favourite authors list. Clever and very relevant, the stories are a mix of sci-fi, weirdness, and commentary on modern life.

None of the stories here are very long so it’s easy to dip in and out of. Though saying that, normally I find myself having to stop between stories in short story collections but with this book I couldn’t do that, I had to start the next straight away. I think that was partly because they are short and I knew I wouldn’t have to stop reading half way through one (I hate having to do that), and partly because these stories are just that good I didn’t want to stop reading.

FAT ROBOT praises the book.

I think I’ve read all of Beukes’ novels, that I know of. That alone says something about how I feel about her writing, doesn’t it? “Edgy” isn’t an adjective that often comes to my mind, but I suppose it applies, given that I tend to give her stories, like, 90ies MTV vignettes in my mind.

This is an excellent collection of stories, essays, and tidbits. A couple of these stories blew me away; I wanted them to be something like 800+ page novels rather than ending in just their few measly pages, but of course, that’s a feature, not a bug.

<snip>

Not all the stories in this collection are speculative in nature, some are near-future enough to be practically now, and some are entirely untouched, but the author’s voice remains the same; Sharp, clear, and with a hint of a dry laugh between the paragraphs.

Non-fiction is gathered at the end of the book. Of these, I especially liked On Beauty: A letter to my five-year old daughter, which is what the title says it is. Once you’ve made it this far through the book, you’ll have a good idea what kind of message is being conveyed.

Definitely one of the strongest story collections of my 2016, and a lot of fun for those of us who liked MOXYLAND and ZOO CITY just as much as THE SHINING GIRLS and BROKEN MONSTERS.

For SCIFINOW, Jonathan Hatfull includes the collection among his 28 Books You Should
Have Read In 2016.

If you, like us, love
Lauren Beukes’ novels MOXYLAND, ZOO CITY, THE SHINING GIRLS and
BROKEN MONSTERS, then you probably don’t need a particularly strong
nudge to go out and buy her collection of short stories and essays.
The format allows the author to dip in and out of genres (horror, SF,
relationship drama) and SLIPPING demonstrates that she can create a
compelling, complex world in just a few pages.

For more information about SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Clara Bacou

Design by Elizabeth Story

December 21, 2016

Tachyon tidbits featuring Bruce Sterling, Ellen Klages, and Deji Bryce Olukotun

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized ambling the along aqueduct, anthology, bruce sterling, caligo lane, chris brown, collection, deji bryce olukotun, dystopia, elizabeth story, ellen klages, goro fujita, haris durrani, invaders, invaders: 22 tales from the outer limits of literature, jacob weisman, john coulthart, maria dahvana headley, pirate utopia, science fiction, the new inquiry, tor.com, wicked wonders

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

Bruce Sterling (source: THE VERGE), Ellen Klages (Scott R. Kline), and Deji Bryce Olukotun (Katy Haas / PEN American Center)

In his guest post “Reading Dystopias in a Dystopian Year” for AMBLING ALONG THE AQUEDUCT, Chris Brown mentions Bruce Sterling’s PIRATE UTOPIA.

I read a lot of American dystopias this year, at the same time as I began to better understand the extent to which I already live in one. Having started off the year selling one, my forthcoming novel TROPIC OF KANSAS, I was curious to find the best examples I could, ones that were also great books.

Bruce Sterling’s PIRATE UTOPIA, to which I contributed an afterword, starts as a somewhat whimsical alternate history of the 15-month post-WWI Italian “liberation” of the Croatian port of Fiume and ends with a glimpse of the fascist American specters lurking in the dark mirrors of our pulp literature.

TOR.COM reprinted “Caligo Lane” by Ellen Klages, which will also be appearing in her forthcoming collection WICKED WONDERS.

Even with the Golden Gate newly bridged and the ugly hulks of battleships lining the bay, San Francisco is well-suited to magic. It is not a geometric city, but full of hidden alleys and twisted lanes. Formed by hills and surrounded by water, its weather transforms its geography, a fog that erases landmarks, cloaking and enclosing as the rest of the world disappears.

That may be an illusion; most magic is. Maps of the city are replete with misdirection. Streets drawn as straight lines may in fact be stairs or a crumbling brick path, or they may dead end for a block or two, then reappear under another name.

Caligo Lane is one such street, most often reached by an accident that cannot be repeated.

THE NEW INQUIRY shared a transcript of The Changing Faces of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, a November 3, 2016 panel with science fiction and fantasy authors Deji Bryce Olukotun (contributor to Jacob Weisman’s INVADERS: 22 TALES FROM THE OUTER LIMITS OF LITERATURE), Maria Dahvana Headley, and Haris Durrani.

DEJI BRYCE OLUKOTUN

When PEN approached
me to help organize the event, I was in the middle of reading
Ta-Nehisi Coates’s BLACK PANTHER comic books, which are super
popular: they sell out every week. I felt real enthusiasm that a
writer of color who was a National Book Award winner and MacArthur
Fellow was tackling comic books, but at the same time, I wasn’t
thrilled with some of his depictions of African themes and cultures.

Let me explain a
little more what I mean. I was excited that Ta-Nehisi Coates, who has
been a comic book fan his whole life, is tackling the genre, but I
had critiques about his technique–some of the dialogue, some of the
writing. I felt the dilemma that a lot of people feel if you are from
a marginalized group. A lot of voices, especially black voices aren’t
making it on the page with major publishers. Was I going to actually
destroy opportunities if I spoke out against his work and said,
“Well, I love this part of the story but I don’t like this part”?

We’re in an
interesting time. This year two women authors won the prestigious
Hugo Awards: N.K. Jemisin won for THE FIFTH SEASON, and Nnedi Okora
won for BINTI, which is a novella. The best novelette went to Folding
Beijing by Hao Jingfang, which was translated by Ken Liu and is set
in Beijing. Best new writer went to Andy Wier, who wrote THE MARTIAN.

Is everything great? In 2015 authors, especially white authors, protested against political correctness and over-correcting for diversity at the Hugo Awards. With the on-screen adaptation of “The Hunger Games,” people were pissed off that some of the characters were played by people of color. PEN just did a recent study that revealed that there were only 47 LGBTQ books published in 2014. Less than half of those were from a major publisher. What I’ve observed is that there is a lot of great writing happening but a lot of it is on Kickstarter and on Patreon. Is that progress?

I hope what we will do today is talk about the good things that are happening, but also the things that could be better. What keeps you up at night? When you think about the publishing industry, what worries you?

For more info on PIRATE UTOPIA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover and illustration by John Coulthart

For more info on WICKED WONDERS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info about INVADERS: 22 TALES FROM THE OUTER LIMITS OF LITERATURE, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Goro Fujita

Design by Elizabeth Story

December 21, 2016

Get WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD by the endlessly astonishing and impressive fantasist Patricia A. McKillip for only $1.99!

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, fantasy, kdd, kindle, kindle daily deal, patricia a mckillip, short stories, Thomas Canty, wonders of the invisible world

Patricia A. McKillip’s exquisitely written collection of short stories WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD is a Kindle Daily Deal for Wednesday, December 21.

For today only, the ebook is available for just $1.99!

“Endlessly astonishing and impressive fantasist McKillip (The Bards of Bone Plain) travels the shadowy twilight realm between worlds and returns with the raw stuff of dreams.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Pass through fairy tales into the magic of invisible worlds in these opulent stories by a beloved fantasy icon and author of the classic Riddlemaster trilogy. Patricia McKillip has inspired generations of dedicated readers with enchanting tales that are as romantic as they are unexpected. Her lush, mesmerizing narratives are as deliciously bittersweet as the finest chocolate and as intoxicating as the finest wine.

“Mesmerizing…. Any collection of McKillip’s short stories will be a valuable asset to any library and a joy to her many fans.”
—Library Journal, starred review

The bewitching wonders offered here include princesses dancing with dead suitors, a knight in love with an official of exotic lineage, and fortune’s fool stealing into the present instead of the future. You’ll discover a ravishing undine and her mortal bridegroom who is more infatuated with politics than pleasure, a time-traveling angel forbidden to intervene in Cotton Mather’s religious ravings, a wizard seduced in his youth by the Faerie Queen returning with a treasure that is rightfully hers, and an overachieving teenage mage tricked into discovering her true name very close to home.

“Anybody who loves fantasy—not just for what most fantasy does, but for what the genre is really capable of—should definitely pick this book up. It’s like a perfect encapsulation of fantasy writing at its most brave and beautiful.”
—io9.com

Wonders of the Invisible World
Out of the Woods
The Kelpie
Hunter’s Moon
Oak Hill
The Fortune-Teller
Jack O’Lantern
Knight of the Well
Naming Day
Byndley
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Undine
Xmas Cruise
A Gift to Be Simple
The Old Woman and the Storm
The Doorkeeper of Khaat
What Inspires Me: Guest of Honor Speech at WisCon (2004)

“A casket full of wonders. I think each one is my favorite, until I read the next. McKillip has the true Mythopoeic imagination. Here lies the border between our world and that of Faerie.”

—P. C. Hodgell, author of the Kencyrath series

“This brilliant new collection puts on display the audacity, the warmth, the intelligence, and depth of [McKillip’s] huge and magnificent talent.”
—Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story and A Dark Matter

“The lively and enchanting stories in Wonders of the Invisible World certainly deserve all the accolades I can summon.”
—Paul Goat Allen, Barnes and Noble.com

“I loved all the stories in this collection, and if I still have to tell you to try this out, well, you haven’t been reading my review…. Patricia Mckillip is a master at what she does. Strongly recommended.”
—Locus

“Wonders of the Invisible World is a wonderful collection of stories full of wit and insight wrapped in beautiful, effortless prose. McKillip’s ability to convey so much in so few words is impressive, as is her ability with storytelling, characterization, and thematic elements.”
—Fantasy Cafe

“This is one to dip into, savour, and place on that special shelf for books to be cherished.”
—Starburst

“…she’s still one of the best fantasy writers out there.”
—Green Man Review

“Exquisitely written with destinations beyond your imaginings!”
—My Shelf Confessions

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

Cover by Thomas Canty

December 14, 2016

SLIPPING delivers Lauren Beukes’ acerbic, sharp, and intuitive writing

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized clara bacou, cockburn's eclectics, collection, dj cockburn, elizabeth story, essays, fairy bookmother, instagram, lauren beukes, review, short stories, slipping, slipping: stories essays & other writing, the book lounge, twitter

FAIRY BOOKMOTHER praises Lauren Beukes’ SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING.

Beukes’s writing is acerbic, sharp, and intuitive, and I was drawn in immediately to many of her stories. SLIPPING is a collection of stories written over about ten years for various other publications, and I would have really liked to have some background information before or after the stories to know when and why each of these stories were written.

My favorite stories were “Princess,” “Exhibitionist,” “Ghost Girl,” and “Dial Tone.” Each of these stories made me whisper what after I finished reading them. Beukes’s writing is at the same time subtle and straightforward. She does not shy away from difficult or terrifying imagery, and she makes you think about why she uses that imagery to explore some weird aspect of human life. Many of her stories cross the genre line between fiction and science fiction, and while a lot of it seems weird at times, it’s also so eerily recognizable. Beukes’s writing asks us why we consider “commonplace” and “everyday” as commonplace and ordinary, because isn’t life weird?

Over on INSTAGRAM, the Fairy Bookmother shares an excerpt from the Beuekes short story “Confirm/Ignore.”

On TWITTER, THE BOOK LOUNGE recommends the collection.

#giftideas The thrilling new collection SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING. by perennial favourite author @laurenbeukes.

DJ Cockburn on his COCKBURN’S ECLECTICS excerpts Lauren Beukes’ 2011 essay from THE WORLD SF BLOG.

The protagonists of both Zoo City and Slipping, Beukes’s protagonists were very different characters, but what they had in common was being young black South African women, which led her to describe the process of writing the ‘other’ for the World SF blog.

As ever with my greater minds posts, this is a set of thoughts inspired by what Beukes wrote, and I’m not trying to repeat or reply to it. Please have a look at her much more concise writing on the subject. I’m calling her a greater mind for a reason.

<snip>

Beukes starts with the obvious point that any fictional character is ‘other’, in that they are not us:

Unless you’re writing autobiography, any character you write is going to be The Other.

But that’s not really what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about the authentic portrayal of someone with very different life experiences than our own. Even if we create a completely fictional culture, our characters’ experiences are likely to reflect experiences of real people in the real world. If we don’t portray them authentically, someone who knows better than us is going to lose their suspension of disbelief when they read it. That alone is a good reason for getting it right, but it can also lead to being slated by reviews or on social media for being insensitive.

<snip>

Cultural conversations

We can gather a lot vicarious experience of different personalities without going out of our way to find them, and we can use that experience to write different characters. Unless we go out of our way, our vicarious experience will be limited to people who share the same cultures (sub or super) as we do. That won’t stop us writing characters from other cultures, but the limits of our experience will make it very unlikely that we’ll get them right. We’re going to have to take that step out of our way.

As Beukes says:

The only way to climb into that experience is to research it, through books or blogs or documentaries or journalism or, most importantly and obviously, talking to people.

As an introvert and worse, an Englishman, the idea of spending ‘a week just walking round Hillbrow and talking to people’ is terrifying. That’s not because I lived in Cape Town long enough to absorb the capetonian conviction that Johannesburg is one step removed from a war zone, but because I didn’t live there long enough to dislodge my own cultural indoctrination that taught me you don’t just walk up to someone and start babbling at them.So it’s with some reluctance that I admit Beukes’s point. Conversation is the best way to access experiences other than our own. The written word can only go so far, even when people write about themselves. Very few writers can resist a bit of self-curation, subconsciously or otherwise. The same problem arises if we simply ask someone to tell me about their culture or subculture. When talking about the mores of their own culture, people often lead with the absolute ‘rule’ that is most often broken. They’re not being intentionally dishonest, it’s just that it’s at the front of their mind because there are constant arguments about it. Other mores that may seem more strange to an outsider and are more rigidly followed don’t get mentioned because people don’t give them much thought.The only way to develop an understanding of such things is to get to know someone from that culture.

For more information about SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Clara Bacou

Design by Elizabeth Story

December 9, 2016

SLIPPING showcases the strength of Lauren Beuekes’ voice and passion for her subjects

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized clara bacou, collection, elizabeth story, essays, horror, jonathan hatfull, kelly garbato, lauren beukes, pop tarts and other stories, review, science fiction, scifinow, short stories, slipping, slipping: stories essays & other writing, the overly attached reader, vegan daemon, vol. 1 brooklyn

Reviews for Lauren Beukes’ must-read collection SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING keep rolling in.

At SCIFINOW, Jonathan Hatfull praises the book.

With her novels BROKEN MONSTERS
MOXYLAND, ZOO CITY, THE SHINING GIRLS, Lauren Beukes has established herself as one of the genre’s most exciting voices. The stories assembled here not only show off her eclectic range of influences and interests, but the strength of her voice, her passion for her subjects, and that fantastic blend of anger, analysis, sensitivity and wit.

Several of the stories show an uncertain near future in which technology and humanity exist in an uneasy co-dependency. The titular ‘Slipping’ is the story of Pearl, a teenage athlete competing in an Olympic event in which the runners’ cybernetic enhancements are discussed more than their own skills. With her distrust of authority and personal belief system, Pearl’s struggle is her own.

Tech concerns come through with a more classic dystopian feel in sci-fi tales like ‘The Green,’ in which a bunch of grunts harvest terrifying flora and fauna for an uncaring corporation and may be worth more dead than alive, depending on what killed them. ‘Riding With The Dream Patrol’ is set in 2017 and finds journalist Lauren Beukes reporting on the government’s use of social media to monitor us, and doesn’t feel very sci-fi at all.

<snip>

There are stories that have no genre element at all, simply focusing on attempts at human connection, or on people facing unwanted attention. While she can certainly deliver delirious, pop-culture-strewn explosions of science fiction (we’re referring to ‘Unathi Battles The Black Hairballs,’ in which the titular character fights a gigantic hair monster in Tokyo before going on a very trippy journey involving performance art, talking cats and the infamous Suicide Forest), she is just as capable of giving us a vivid and strong character like Thozama, who tries to fend off a ‘helpful’ vigilante while carrying her produce to her shop in the excellent ‘Smileys’.

Couples come together and separate, stalkers are confronted with the grim facts of their behaviour, lonely people debate doing a Tom Ripley to their friends, and students learn to be more selfless by befriending teenage ghost girls. The best short story collections should feel like a treasure trove, a carefully curated present from the author to the reader. If you’re a fan of Beukes’ work, this is a gift.

Kelly Garbato at VEGAN DAEMON enjoys the collection.

I love Lauren Beukes, and I generally dig short stories – especially those belonging to the SF/dystopia genre. So I was pretty psyched to get my hands on an early copy of SLIPPING, Beukes’s very first collection of short fiction and non-fiction essays. (There’s also 2014’s POP TARTS AND OTHER
STORIES, which I’m not counting since it’s comprised of just three short stories – all of which appear here.)

The fiction generally has a science fiction/dystopian bent, with a few fantasy and contemporary pieces mixed in. There’s even a fairy tale of sorts: a modern-day retelling of “The Princess of the Pea” that’s both a critique of celebrity culture and an ode to female masturbation that (spoiler alert!) is all kinds of awesome. While all are unique and imaginative, a few themes are common across many of the stories: transhumanism, e.g. through technological advancements in prosthetics, nanotech, neuroanatomy, etc.; an erosion of privacy/the rise in the surveillance state; and a rise in corporate control, most notably over our bodies and selves.

My favorites are the more overtly feminist stories, of which there are quite a few. By linking pregnancy with Franz Kafka’s THE METAMORPHOSIS, “My Insect Skin” posits that pregnant women are on the cusp of becoming something “other” – from whore to Madonna, maybe – a point driven home by the street harassment the not-yet-showing narrator encounters while out for a jog early one morning. In “Parking,” a Nice Guy ™ parking cop falls in “love” with a woman from afar … and then tries to blackmail her into a date. “Litmash” is a fun – and entirely too short – twitter exercise (part of a fic-festival), in which followers proposed genre mashups for Beukes to storify in 150 characters or less. (I don’t know which I like better: #Sex&TheDystopianCity or #MyLittlePonyNoir.)

<snip>

The non-fiction isn’t as plentiful, but it’s every bit as powerful. “All the Pretty Corpses” laments the banality of violence against women – and also reveals the all-too-personal inspiration behind The Shining Girls, which involves the death of a family friend whose murderer was never brought to justice. Similarly, “Inner City” follows Beukes as she prepares for Zoo City. Her research takes her to Hillbrow, a dilapidated and forgotten neighborhood in Johannesburg, and a refugee camp that’s been condensed into a church. The book ends with “On Beauty: A Letter to My Fiver-Year-Old Daughter,” which is fierce and lovely and defiant, but also bleeds despair for the future of her wonderful, brave, and kind daughter. For all of the five-year-olds who are already well on the way to learning that they’ll be judged on outer beauty, no matter what’s in their hearts and minds.

Overall, SLIPPING is a fairly solid collection; the worst I have to say about the odd three-star story is that it’s merely forgettable (yet still readable enough). But the other pieces, the ones I lost myself in/to? Those will stay with me for a long time to come.

VOL. 1 BROOKLYN recommends the title.

Lauren Beukes’s fiction starts with big ideas and runs them through an assortment of permutations–whether it’s the surreal changes to humanity in her novel ZOO CITY or the convergence of art and horror in contemporary Detroit in BROKEN MONSTERS. Slipping collects an abundance of her shorter work, demonstrating her penchant for incisive writing is visible in more minute doses as well.

THE OVERLY ATTACHED READER reviews SLIPPING.

A collection of twenty-six short stories & essays written by Lauren Beukes, author of THE SHINING GIRLS, BROKEN MONSTERS and ZOO CITY. Why haven’t I read any of Lauren Beukes’s work before? This book was my favorite kind of strange!

<snip>

The overall atmosphere is dark and disturbing. Many of the stories are spine-chilling in a “sensing a sinister presence while walking alone in the dark” way. Most of the characters seem to have a deep longing for something better and are doing the best they can to survive in the harsh and unforgiving world they were born into. There’s a mix of realistic stories and science fiction, but even the ones set in a strange environment have a recognizable tinge. Throughout the entire book, I felt like I was in the middle ground between fantasy and reality. Beukes takes the current state of affairs to an extreme using familiar attitudes and rationalizations. Strip away all the strange details and it’s all uncomfortably real!

<snip>

As is the case with many collections of short fiction, not all the stories resonated with me. Sometimes the weird little details are so distant from my own frame of reference that I have a hard time visualizing what was going on and/or feeling like I had a full grasp of the message being given. The absolute weirdest–and most fun–story was Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs (available at link), a short story that readers of Haruki Murakami will appreciate. It’s hard not to be intrigued by a badass flight sergeant wearing “knee-high white patent combat boots made from the penis leather of a whale she had slaughtered herself”!

This author is definitely on my must-read list now. I love her empathy, imagination, and how she explores important issues in a creative way.

For more information about SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Clara Bacou

Design by Elizabeth Story

December 7, 2016

The poetic SLIPPING explores the boundaries of the weird, the fantastical, the outrageous

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized blue book balloon, christian endres, clara bacou, collection, die zukunft, elizabeth story, essays, german, heather simmons, horror, lauren beukes, new york journal of books, pop.edit.lit, review, robert schaefer, science fiction, short stories, slipping, slipping: stories essays & other writing, starshipsofa, the green, the shining girls, zoo city

Reviews for Lauren Beukes’ brilliant collection SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING keep coming.

For the NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS, Robert Schaefer praises the book.

It has been said that short stories are unprofitable but of value for authors who are exploring a range of techniques and styles. That is the case for this collection, though what is consistent throughout is Beukes’ word play and vivid imagery. This author certainly has an ear, a sense of how words sound and her prose can be quite poetic; as such, SLIPPING can be read just for the beauty of the English language.

SLIPPING has been organized into two sections. The first contains Beukes’ works of fiction and the second is very short, only 30 pages of nonfiction: essays and interviews. The essays are of value in that they explain to the reader just who Lauren Beukes is. One is a memoir of the author as professional journalist. Another is an interview of a South African high court judge, and in the interview the reader might be reminded of the fierceness of journalist of Oriana Fallaci. For readers who are already familiar with Beukes’ work, there is an essay that lays out Beukes’ intent in the construction of THE SHINING GIRLS and ZOO CITY.

Based on Beukes’ brilliant collection of short stories, one looks forward to her next novel, even if its genre does happen to be (ugh) science fiction.

BLUE BOOK BALLOON enjoys the collection.

I mostly knew of Beukes as the author of smart, twisted SF or fantasy – though it was clear from THE SHINING GIRLS that she was also a committed journalist – and I certainly hadn’t read any of her short fiction. So this collection was enlightening in a number of ways.

<snip>

Similarly, this book explores the boundaries of the weird, the fantastical, the outrageous, from an obsessed stalker who’s invaded her girlfriend’s home (‘Dear Mariana’) to an occupying army carrying out torture on captive aliens (‘Unaccounted’) to a fraud perpetrated by 419 scammers (‘Easy Touch’). In some of these you can see ideas developing that resulted in full length novels – part of the background of ‘Zoo City’ was those same scammers, and ‘Branded’ reads like backstory to ‘Moxyland’. Others are standalone (or haven’t resulted in full length books yet…) or experimental: a collection of microstories written as tweets (‘Litmash’), the story of someone calling random numbers and trying to impose a structure on the results (‘Dial Tone’), a tale (‘Algebra’) told in 26 sections, one for each letter of the alphabet.

<snip>

That idea – the twistedness behind the way things are – is a common motif, many of the stories touching on themes of, especially, race (how could they not) but generally obliquely. There’s the determined woman who makes her living selling ‘smileys’ (cooked sheeps’ heads) who has a spot of bother with a veteran of the Struggle. There are references (again in both the fiction and non-fiction) to the different districts, often close beside each other, the vastly different yet intertwined lives. Safe and dangerous places. But it’s more I think about atmosphere and influence than straight reporting – a chilling account of a surveillance state run in the name of law and order, or that torture prison for ‘aliens’ (they’re ‘not human’ so can they be dehumanised?) So many themes, so many ideas – reading this book is like turning a Kaleidoscope round and round.

Some of the influences may be hinted at in the origins of the stories – written for a wide range of publications (an erotic collection here, the Big Issue there, by way of annuals and themed anthologies). But – unless I’m missing something – Beukes hasn’t let her vision be unduly trammelled by the such commissions. There’s a unity of vision and tone that builds through the volume, despite (or because of?) the wide ranging nature of the material.

An engaging collection, whether or not you’re read the novels, and I hope hinting at still more strangeness to come soon from this most compelling writer.

Christian Endres at the German language site DIE ZUKUNFT lauds the book.

In the fiction and non-fiction texts in SLIPPING, the successful Ms. Beukes takes us to their South African homeland as well as into the universe and shows in their often strikingly short stories their great writing and narrative. In addition, for example, the first journalistic text of her career and a letter to her daughter.

(Translated from German by Google)

POP.EDIT.LIT includes SLIPPING among #5BOOKS: BOOK RECS THAT DON’T HAVE THE XMAS SPIRIT.

Ahhh, searching out South African urban fantasy writers brought me to ZOO CITY and Lauren Beukes, and now this collection of stories which go from Johannesburg to outer space, and involve a ghost messing with an architect`s life and a fighter pilot rescues Tokyo from a marauding art installation… yes, and art installation. How does an art installation go marauding? I don’t know, but I would like to find out.

STARSHIPSOFA No 461 features an audio version, narrated by Heather Simmons, of Beurkes’ “The Green.”

Originally published in ARMORED, edited by John Joseph Adams.

The story will also appear in Lauren’s upcoming short fiction and essay collection, SLIPPING, published in late November.

For more information about SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Clara Bacou

Design by Elizabeth Story

December 5, 2016

Tachyon is proud to announce a new collection from Science Fiction and Fantasy Grand Master Jane Yolen

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, damon knight grand master, fantasy, forthcoming, Jane Yolen, jason stemple, news, short story

Photo: Jason Stemple

The legendary Jane Yolen, recently named a Damon Knight Grand Master by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, joins the ranks of Tachyon Publications with her new collection of tales about authors and their creations.

The author or editor of more than 280 books, Yolen’s works have garnered her much acclaim including multiple Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, and Nebula Awards. Alongside her SFWA Grand Master, Yolen has also been awarded a World Fantasy Life Achievement and a Rhysling Grand Master.

Tachyon is honored to be publishing the as of yet unnamed book. The new Jane Yolen collection comes your way November 2017.

November 29, 2016

The weird and wonderful SLIPPING impresses

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized battered tattered yellowed & creased, blue gilliand, book riot, bookshots, cemetery dance, clara bacou, collection, elizabeth story, essays, gabino iglesias, horror, lauren beukes, review, science fiction, short stories, slipping, slipping: stories essays & other writing

A trio of reviews for Lauren Beukes’ fantastic collection SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING.

BATTERED, TATTERED, YELLOWED, & CREASED enjoys the breathtaking collection.

SLIPPING is a goldmine of stories that veer sharply towards the dark and unsettling. Beukes doesn’t shy away from complex themes, and they begin to form common, underlying threads across her work: humanity’s tenuous relationship with technology, dehumanization and exploitation by corporations, privacy in the age of governmental surveillance, the bombarding influence of social media and reality TV, the love-hate world of toxic relationships and domestic violence, poverty, race relations, gender inequality. These themes crop up just as often in Beukes’ journalism as her fiction, and you can see her focusing on these same issues in her latest novels. She’ll probably keep writing about them as long as humanity at large keeps grappling with them.

<snip>

It seems like a strange choice to include nonfiction in a fiction collection—my original fear was that they were there to increase the page count, since even with them the collection doesn’t break 300 pages—but they’re just as strange and informative and varied as the fiction. Several touch on Beukes’ background as a journalist, short snippets describing the grittier side of Johannesburg. “All the Pretty Corpses” offers insight into the origins of The Shining Girls, examining why gender issues and domestic violence have played such a key role in her fiction. Another is a letter written to her five-year-old daughter about real beauty versus the expectations of “beauty” saddled on women by marketing and society. They may lack the supernatural and fantastic elements found in Beukes’ fiction, but they’re every bit as powerful, if not more so due to the added weight of reality. Reading them gives a better understanding of where Beukes is coming from.

<snip>

I wasn’t sure what to expect with SLIPPING, though I did have high hopes going in since I already thought Beukes’ novels were fantastic. Her short fiction and nonfiction turned out to be equally impressive; while these early stories may have rough edges, they have the same themes, voice, and power that made her award-winning novels so successful. Lauren Beukes is a major talent in the genre, a shining figure of the weird and speculative: her writing is beautiful, her imagination is breathtaking, and the way she weaves boundless creativity with deft social commentary is something to behold. If you enjoy avant-gardescience fiction, weird and unsettling tales, dark explorations of important issues through the lens of speculative fiction, you will probably enjoy this volume. Whether you like SF-as-social-commentary or fiction that’s just plain weird, this collection is for you.

Blu Gilliand at CEMETERY DANCE praises the book.

Lauren Beukes’s work as a journalist in South Africa, where she covered topics ranging from slums to shark diving, gave her a sharp eye for detail and a sharp ear for dialogue. These tools are employed to great effect in in SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING.

<snip>

Beukes’s journalism background gives her the unique ability to convey staggering amounts of information in a few concise lines, making it possible for her to establish new realities with recognizable rules quickly and without overwhelming the narrative. No story better exhibits this talent than “Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs,” in which Beukes establishes a world that’s equal parts Manga, surrealist painting and kaiju movie, all within a story that moves compulsively, ever onward.

Lauren Beukes’s distinct voice and viewpoint have positioned her as one of the freshest, most exciting talents in writing today. SLIPPING will only further her reputation. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy when Tachyon Publications releases it; this month.

For BOOK RIOT, Gabino Iglesias gives SLIPPING the Bookshots treatment.

I expected this to be weird and wonderful, and that’s exactly what it is. Beukes constantly deconstructs humanity and then reassembles it in strange ways in her narratives. The end result are short stories that entertain while exploring what it means to be human, to love, to fear, and even to consume in a rapidly approaching future in which corporeal reality can be toyed with and where companies can literally get under your skin and change your life. One story that deserves particular attention is “The Princess,” which reimagines Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea” through a Kardashian prism. That probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, and that’s just one of many reasons why you should read this. Also, Beukes’ preoccupation with body modification and dystopian worlds is in full effect here. The worlds she creates for each story are rich and immersive, not to mention weird and often dangerous. These worlds are filled with violence, competition, reality television, war, new ways of making money in a bizarre economy, and even ghosts. Beukes is a major talent, and these stories and nonfiction pieces demand to be devoured in a way that makes this hefty book go by as quickly as a 100-page, action-packed novella.

SLIPPING is a staggering mix of horror, crime, humor, dystopian views, and science fiction from an author who has become a household name thanks to narratives that push against genre boundaries. Simply put, Beukes always sounds like Beukes, and this collection is no different, which is a wonderful thing.

For more information about SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Clara Bacou

Design by Elizabeth Story

November 29, 2016

Get Michael Swanwick’s acclaimed NOT SO MUCH SAID THE CAT for only $1.99!

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, elizabeth story, fantasy, kdd, kindle daily deal, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat, science fiction, short stories

Michael Swanwick’s impressive NOT SO MUCH SAID THE CAT is a Kindle Daily Deal for Tuesday, December 1.

For today only, the ebook is available for just $1.99!

“Half Neil Gaiman, half Kelly Link, wonderfully unique.”
—Book Riot

A Kirkus Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of 2016
An io9 15 Must-Read Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Arriving This August
A Washington Post Best New Science Fiction Pick (August 2016)

In this much-anticipated new collection, Michael Swanwick (THE DOG SAID BOW-WOW) takes a feline turn—prowling the pages with grace,precision, and utter impertinence. The master of short science fiction takes us on whirlwind journeys across planets, time, and space, where magic and science co-exist in endless possibilities. Swanwick’s spectacular offerings are intimate in their telling, galactic in their scope, and delightfully-sesquipedalian in their verbiage.

“Swanwick excels at satisfying conclusions that cause readers to take pause and consider the actions of the characters. Thoughtful, witty, and, at times, disturbing, this collection will appeal to those who enjoy short fiction, no matter the genre.”
—Booklist

In NOT SO MUCH SAID THE CAT you’ll find time travelers from the Mesozoic partying ’til the end of time, and a calculus problem that rocks the ages. A supernatural horse-guardian journeys with a confused but semi-repentant troll. A savvy teenage girl wagers against the Devil, and is promptly set upon by the most unsuitable of suitors.

“Michael Swanwick shows his extraordinary range in NOT SO MUCH SAID THE CAT (Tachyon) … Swanwick’s stories are wistful and weird, at times tragic yet still hopeful as the mythic and scientific intertwine.”
—Washington Post

And of course, you’ll meet Beelzebub the cat, whose subtle influence may not be entirely benign.

[STARRED REVIEW] “Another collection of speculative fiction from Swanwick (Chasing the Phoenix, 2015, etc.), one of a handful of writers whose short pieces are as impressive as their novels. Versatility, craftsmanship, a dollop of weird, and a delightfully askew sense of humor are key to the 17 pieces here, all of which appeared between 2008 and 2014, together with an introduction that illuminates the contents without revealing too much. Certain themes, of course, are authorial favorites, such as time travel, aliens, and artificial intelligence. There’s a man who, having suffered a crushing loss, finds solace after accidental contact with a time traveler; a group of time travelers hunkered down at the end of the Cretaceous period—where, oddly, nobody’s interested in the dinosaurs; and a scientist who finds a partner worthy of her genius. We also get a fascinating glimpse (which feels like a novel fragment) of a far future populated by humans and centipedelike aliens, narrated by the intelligent space suit of a woman who’s dead as the story begins; and another future where human lives resemble those in fairy tales while advanced, hidden AIs battle for supremacy. Elsewhere, in a literary-games vein, the characters in a fairy tale discuss whether they prefer to remain in books, and immortal, or enter history; there’s a famous Gene Wolfe story stripped down, turned inside out, and rebuilt to perfection; and, in a marvelous conceit, the writer Alexander Pushkin appears as he may have been—in an alternative universe. To round out the collection, we meet a dutiful young woman who, entering hell to challenge the devil to return her father, discovers that things are not as she assumed; Darger and Surplus, those good-hearted rogues with a propensity to shoot themselves in the foot, make an appearance, as does “The House of Dreams,” an entry from Swanwick’s splendid Mongolian Wizard e-book series. Tales that, through their extraordinary clarity of thought and expression, showcase precisely why this multiaward-winning author is held in such high regard.”
—Kirkus

Introduction by Michael Swanwick
Steadfast Castle
The Man in Grey
The Dala Horse
The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree
Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown
3 A.M. in the Mesozoic Bar
Passage of Earth
From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled …
For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again
Libertarian Russia
The Scarecrow’s Boy
The She-Wolf’s Hidden Grin
Goblin Lake
Pushkin the American
An Empty House with Many Doors
Tawny Petticoats
The House of Dreams

“An entertaining read from beginning to end, with plenty of tales to amuse, making for a great collection of short stories. Besides, who wouldn’t want to spend some time with a sly seductive circus performer, some con artists and a robotic scarecrow with a conscience, and all without leaving the comfort of your sofa!”
—Starburst

For more information on NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

November 21, 2016

Tachyon tidbits featuring Ellen Datlow, Nalo Hopkinson, and Michael Swanwick

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized anthology, cedar door books, chuma hill, collection, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, falling in love with hominids, hair past a freckle, heather tucker, horror, michael swanwick, nalo hopkinson, nightmares, nightmares: a new decade of modern horror, nihil, not so much said the cat, review, science fiction, short stories, the clay girl, through raspberry colored glasses

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

Ellen Datlow (credit: THIS IS HORROR), Nalo Hopkinson (David Findlay), and Michael Swanwick (Beth Gwinn)

THROUGH RASPBERRY COLORED GLASSES praises Ellen Datlow’s NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR.

My favorites were: How We Escaped Our Certain Fate by Don Chaon, and the last 3 stories in the anthology. It was almost as though the best were saved for last, but the stories were arranged chronologically in order of year of publication. Datlow says of the stories included: “Consider them a guide to some of the best short story writers currently working in the field of horror fiction. And in this volume specifically, a good representation of the excellent horror that was published between 2005 and 2015.”

Overall, enough of the stories were satisfying for me to give the anthology a 4 out of 5 stars rating.

In her November 16 blog post for CELLAR DOOR BOOKS, Jill recommends FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS.

I keep waking up at 4:00 am, anxious about what is to come. My country, the one that has been led by a brilliant, thoughtful, progressive man for the last eight years, has determined it will set out in a new direction for the next four. I feel like someone very important to me has died and grief has been my shadow. But I believe in words, their power to teach, to heal, to remind, so I have two ideas for all of you who have come to the store, seeking some explanation. Solace? Perhaps simply company in your sadness.

First, I’d like to
offer two books of healing: Nalo Hopkinson’s FALLING IN LOVE WITH
HOMINIDS and Heather Tucker’s THE CLAY GIRL.
Neither of these books offers, as one of my publishing reps put it, “cute cats.” Instead both books offer complex characters in difficult, painful situations who figure out how to retain their humanity despite the odds. We are returning to the house of the Dicks and we need some tools. I think these two books give hope in the face of great trial.

Karen Cole at HAIR PAST A FRECKLE is enthralled by Michael Swanwick’s NOT SO MUCH SAID THE CAT.

This really is a smorgasbord of a short story collection taking the reader from the Mesozoic era, to Russia, Hell, far off planets, an alternative Europe and dystopian worlds controlled by non humans. It’s the perfect taster to Michael Swanwick’s writing, it enthralled me and kept me awake at night thinking and left me wanting to read more.

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

Cover by Nihil

Design by Elizabeth Story

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 NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

< 1 2 3 4 5 >»

collection

TABLE OF CONTENTS