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

Nancy Springer (photo: Bob O’Lary), Jacob Weisman, Lavie Tidhar (Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013), and Kate Elliott (April Quintanilla)

For VARIETY, Justin Kroll reports on the planned films based Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes Mysteries novel series.

Legendary Entertainment has closed a deal for “Stranger Things” actress Millie Bobby Brown to star in a film series based on Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes Mysteries novel series.

The book series began with the 2006 title “The Case of the Missing Marquess” and covered six novels, revolving around mysteries investigated by Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’ much younger sister, Enola.

On his eponymous site, Lavie Tidhar announces the publication of the German edition to his John W. Campbell Award winning CENTRAL STATION.

CENTRAL STATION is out in Germany today, published by Heine Random House, translated by Friedrich Mader. Here’s a handy link to Amazon.

This is my third book to be published in Germany (The Bookman and Osama came out previously). There’s another book coming soon, but I can’t mention it yet…

CENTRAL STATION is also out in the Czech Republic in February, in Spain in March, and I’ve just been sent the Romanian cover, so I’m guessing it’s out there soon (from Nemira). More editions are coming soon in China, Russia and Italy.

Anna O’Brien at LUNA STATION QUARTERLY celebrates National Science Fiction Day.

January 2 is National Science Fiction Day. Although not officially recognized by, well, anyone, various like-minded folks decided to dedicate Issac Asimov’s birthday as a day to celebrate all things science fiction. So, we ask: why the hell not? After all, the only other thing competing for January 2 is Run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes day, and, well…. meh.

So, in celebration, staff here at LSQ have decided to share our current sci-fi loves — recent books we’ve read and admired, movies we’ve seen, oldies but goodies that we just can’t get out of our heads and hearts, and authors we love. Here’s what National Science Fiction Day means to us. And of course we have to ask: what does it mean to you, dear readers?

Managing blog editor Anna O’Brien: “1. Let’s hear it for sci-fi anthologies! The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy annual anthology is TOPS and I’ve come across some others lately that have exposed me to such unique, interesting, creative stories that I would not have otherwise come across. So grateful for them! One of them is INVADERS: 22 TALES FROM THE OUTER LIMITS OF LITERATURE (ed. Jacob Weisman) that is pretty cool and the other is a neat, neat anthology called The Bestiary (ed Ann VanderMeer) where every author takes a letter of the alphabet and writes an entry on a fictional creature that begins with that letter. 

Art by Ivica Stevanovic

THE BOOK SMUGGLERS are DELIGHTED to host a new Crown of Stars short story by Kate Elliott, but first an intro from the author.

If I may be personal for a moment, 2017 was the twentieth anniversary of the publication of King’s Dragon, the first volume of my seven volume epic fantasy series Crown of Stars. This multi-volume novel was a huge undertaking, in part because of the complexity of the plot lines and the sheer number of characters, but also because I wrote it while my children were young and my spouse was in graduate school and later in a job that involved a lot of travel. Crown of Stars justly deserves the appellation of being the most “kitchen sink” of my series since pretty much anything fantasy-related can be found in it, from an arcane and difficult to learn magic system based in astronomy to the humble lives of common people who are caught up in world-shaking events. So many readers wrote me begging me to make sure that something horrible happened to the main villain, Hugh, that I knew I couldn’t disappoint them; there’s something weirdly satisfying in having the power to make a reader hate a character who, after all, does not actually exist.

I didn’t really write anything about Crown of Stars this year (here’s a link to an essay I wrote about it in 2013, even though the year marked a major anniversary, even though the series has to some extent defined my career. 2017 has proven a rough year for many, and for me too it’s been a slog through a morass of professional and personal (as well as political) mires that have left me exhausted.

But last spring something lovely happened that I want to share with you. A year or two ago I got involved with The Pixel Project, a campaign that works to end violence against women. Among other things I had offered up a couple of “drabbles” as fund raisers: a person could buy a drabble and ask me to write 100 words on a subject or story prompt of their choice.

I was charmed to be asked to write a drabble that would give a glimpse into the early lives of Prince Sanglant and his younger sister Princess Theophanu (they also have a sister Princess Sapientia, with whom they share a more complicated relationship). Sanglant is a major character and Theophanu an important secondary character in the Crown of Stars sequence. While they are both adults in the series, it is clear they share a genuine bond of affection in the midst of often deadly court politics. So the idea of writing a tiny drabble of a piece about some shared childhood adventure delighted me.

I’m not known for writing short stories or even short novels. Thus, the 100 word drabble turned into a 2500 short story. That’s a drabble for an epic fantasist, right?

The story stands alone and needs no preliminary explanation. If you’ve read Crown of Stars you’ll pick up on some foreshadowing; if you haven’t you can enjoy it purely for what it is.

I share it with you as part of Smugglivus, a gift for the season.

Everything In The World Wants Something: a Crown of Stars prequel story by Kate Elliott (April 2017)

Every autumn the itinerant court of King Henry sojourned for a month at the royal villa in Istawald, a particular favorite for its productive orchard and ample pastures for cattle, which meant the entire court could feast for days.

On the morning after the day the court arrived with its wagons and dust, Prince Sanglant sneaked out of the residential wing at daybreak. He had to do it that first morning because all the servants and courtiers were still busy getting everything settled; by the afternoon his time would be fixed and supervised and he’d have no chance to explore.

With a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese begged from the kitchen he crept out of the main compound and past the stables and herb garden to the gate that led into the orchard. He was twelve now, and he couldn’t remember how many years ago he had discovered the trail and where it led.

This morning he had barely squeezed under the outer gate and through a gap in a concealing hedgerow when he heard the patter of feet. He turned to see a girl hurrying after him, tugging a cloak over her shoulders against the chilly air.

“Sapientia said I mustn’t come,” said his little sister Theophanu. “She says we’ll get in trouble. She says I’m too small and it’s too far to walk. But you promised.”

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

Cover art by Goro Fujita

Design by Elizabeth Story