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November 18, 2020

Tachyon tidbits featuring Elly Bangs, David Ebenbach, Jane Yolen, Peter S. Beagle, Richard Lupoff, and Brian Aldiss

Rick Klaw blog books bones & buffy, brian aldiss, david ebenbach, elly bangs, hidden in pages, how to mars, in calabria, interview, Jane Yolen, kickstarter, peter s. beagle, Richard Lupoff, tara campbell, the best of xero, the midnight circus, unity, washington independent review of books, wendy aldiss, zines to the future 0

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

BOOKS. BONES, & BUFFY reveal of four exciting upcoming 2021 sf books has both Elly Bangs’ UNITY and David Ebenbach’s HOW TO MARS.

This sounds crazy! I love the Mad Max comparison, and it’s got a road trip kind of vibe to it. Can’t wait!

This sounds like it has a bunch of elements I love in my fiction, and the quirky cover and title definitely get me excited to check this out!

WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF BOOKS 7 Most-Favorable Reviews in October 2020 includes Tara Campbell’s review of THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS by Jane Yolen.

Yolen is often dubbed “the Hans Christian Andersen of America,” but that should not be misunderstood. Her work is not Andersen Americanized: sanitized, watered-down, Disney-fied. It is true to the real tradition of Andersen: mesmerizing, haunting, and often not for the faint of heart. This collection teems with Yolen’s weird, folkloric verve. Her menagerie of stories is distilled from a cauldron of fairytales, legends, and history, featuring everything from selkies to shapeshifters; witches, weavers, and warriors; and angels murderous to ravenous. Her foreword and endnotes offer additional context for the work, creating a satisfying — if often unsettling — reading experience.

HIDDEN IN PAGES praises the audiobook of Peter S. Beagle’s IN CALABRIA.

Overall this made me want to go and read Beagle’s other books. It is beautifully written and magical in a gentle way. Beagle does an amazing job with description and with creating very human characters that are easy to care about.

ZINES TO THE FUTURE shared the groundbreaking zine creator Richard Lupoff’s last interview. Richard passed away just a few days before the ZINES TO THE FUTURE Exhibit opened.

As for the comics-oriented material in Xero, that was the product more of impulse than planning. I’d been out of the army for a while, and Pat had just got her college degree. We were starting to move through the science fiction world in New York, and a number of our friends were publishing fanzines. This looked like fun, and we decided to create one of our own. We didn’t have many connections to call upon for material, so we wound up creating most of the first issue ourselves.

I remember Pat writing two fine pieces. One was a book review of Brood of the Witch Queen, a fantasy novel by Sax Rohmer. The other was a survey of the career and works of Mervyn Peake, author of the Gormenghast novels. Our only outside contribution was a review of the film of Psycho, based on the novel by Robert Bloch. The reviewer was Harlan Ellison.

At which point I felt that I needed to write something, too. I had a certain nostalgic feeling about the comic books I’d enjoyed so much in my childhood — especially the adventures of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family. So I wrote a memoir of my days as a fan of Captain Marvel. Called the essay “The Big Red Cheese” after a term applied to Captain Marvel by his arch-foe, Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana.

Xero 1 had a circulation of less than one hundred copies, but we received enthusiastic letters of comment, and many readers offered to write memoirs of their own, about their favorite comics. Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Tarzan, the inhabitants of The Lost World . . . Eventually this series grew into two volumes, All in Color for a Dime and The Comic-Book Book. My friend Don Thomson co-edited these books with me, and we had planned on a third volume, to be called The Best Comics Ever, but Don’s untimely death prevented our completing the project.

Documentary photographer Wendy Aldiss is running a KICKSTARTER campaign for My Father’s Things, the photo essay that began the day after the influential Brian Aldiss died.

The pictures create a portrait of the person and prompts thoughts of our own possessions, what we keep and what we dispose of.

Possessions are a universal theme. Separated from their surroundings these objects lead us to contemplate the intrinsic value of design and the singular virtues of everyday things, and to consider the importance that we attach to our own material possessions, and what will become of them after our passing. For those who have already had to deal with the disposal of a relative’s things it will resonate with their own experience.

My Dad (he was my Dad as well as my father) was Brian Aldiss, one of the most important voices in science fiction, writer, poet and artist, and so some of the photos in the book reflect this; not least his awards, early science fiction magazines and many, many books. Plenty there for Science Fiction fans to enjoy. There is also all the everyday stuff of life; playing cards, soap, family snaps and tea bags.

September 11, 2020

Tachyon tidbits featuring Joe R. Lansdale, Nancy Kress, Elizabeth Story, Jaymee Goh, and Cory Doctorow

Rick Klaw blog attack surface, cory doctorow, craig zablo, curious fictions, elizabeth story, hap and leonard, jaymee goh, jeremy brett, Joe R. Lansdale, kickstarter, librarything, Nancy Kress, of mice and minestrone, recognize fascism, review, sea change, sfra review, tachyon publications channel, youtube 0

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

Craig Zablo, on his eponymous site, enjoys Joe R. Lansdale’s OF MICE AND MINESTRONE – HAP AND LEONARD: THE EARLY YEARS.

OF MICE AND MINESTRONE – HAP AND LEONARD: THE EARLY YEARS provides a look at events that shaped Hap and Leonard into the men they would become. You don’t have to be a H&L fan to enjoy the book, but if you are you’ll enjoy it all the more. My favorite story gave the book it’s title. Lansdale sets up a classic situation and then throws in twists along the way (doesn’t he always) that will leave you smiling at his storytelling ability and sad at the situations the characters are in. There’s not a weak story in the book and even though I’m not much of a cook, I think I’ll give a recipe or two a shot.

In SFRA REVIEW (vol. 50, no. 2-3), Jeremy Brett praises Nancy Kress’ SEA CHANGE.

SEA CHANGE is a welcome addition to the growing subgenre of climate change fiction that bursts with hope. If nothing else, if we ignored Kress’s clever worldbuilding and her engaging characterizations, that belief in hope makes it worthy.

On the Tachyon Publications Channel, Lead Designer Elizabeth Story explains how to design a book cover.

CURIOUS FICTIONS offers Jaymee Goh’s “A Better Man.”

Dick is not much of a prize.

Unfortunately, Dick, or Richard Anselm III, is today’s prize. I’m given to understand that the full saying used to be “dick is in abundance and of low value,” but with the ongoing red plague, that hasn’t been the case, since it kills off mostly people with a Y chromosome. Not quite an apocalypse, but many communities, mine included, are still reeling at the sudden imbalance. Who knew the lack of cis dudes would be such a problem? And of course, those of us in the rural communities were hit the worst, and college-attending daughters, including yours truly, were summoned home. Because a little thing like the plague killing off most of the cis boys doesn’t signal the end of the patriarchy, there is now an uptick in those husband-finding competitions, and general misogynist douchebaggery.

Due to this heinous string of events, here I am on a televised contest trying to win the heart of this dude. My family had sent me because I’m witty and pretty, which is another way of saying, you’re useless on the homestead, so go use your smart mouth and bag us fresh genetic material. The producer said that I had “interviewed well” which I think means, “what a bitch, put her in for the drama.”

Speaking of Goh, LIBRARYTHING is giving away ebook copies of Crystal M. Huff’s anthology RECOGNIZE FASCISM. The book includes the Goh story “Scholar Miaka’s Brief Summary of Memories Imbued in Memory Object Exhibit 132.NW.1.”

Cory Doctorow has established a Kickstarter for an audio book of his Attack Surface, the third Little Brother book.

Preview the audiobook here: Chapter 1: Two hours and 44 minutes for free!

Making an audiobook is expensive, but it’s not difficult. Publishing is such an outsource-oriented business that you can hire exactly the same people to do exactly the same job in exactly the same studio that the audiobook would be made in if you’d sold your rights to a real publisher.

What’s more, you can do better than a real publisher would — it’s your show, so you can cast the voice actors, sit in on the production, and make something really incredible. Which is what I did.

To narrate, I hired Amber Benson – author (Echo Park Coven and more), actor (Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more) and all round excellent human being, who previously performed on the audiobook for my 2017 novel Walkaway.

To direct, I hired Cassandra de Cuir from Skyboat Media, who have produced many of my audiobooks with readers ranging from Tim Curry to Anne Hathaway.

And for mastering, I hired John Taylor Williams, the engineer who masters my weekly podcast – a polymath musician, sound engineer, brewer, carpenter and all-round brilliant fellow.

August 7, 2020

Tachyon tidbits featuring Ellen Datlow, John Picacio, Kage Baker, Jaymee Goh, Carrie Vaughn, and Lauren Beukes

Rick Klaw blog afterland, booktube, Carrie Vaughn, Ellen Datlow, her smoke rose up forever, Hugo Award, in the company of thieves, infinite text, jaymee goh, John Picacio, kage baker, kickstarter, lauren beukes, new york times, nightmares, Recognize Fascism Anthology, review, stephen king, visrual science fiction book club, Worcester Public Library 0

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

Congratulations to editor Ellen Datlow and artist John Picacio on winning 2020 Hugo Awards.

Cover by Nihil
Design by Elizabeth Story

Worcester (MA) Public Library Virtual Science Fiction Book Club selected Kage Baker’s IN THE COMPANY OF THIEVES as their July title.

Andreea aka INFINITE TEXT was excited by the review blurb in Carrie Vaughn’s THE IMMORTAL CONQUISTADOR. She also previews forthcoming Tachyon books DRIFTWOOD by Marie Brennan, NUCLEATION by Kimberly Unger, THE MIDNIGHT CIRCUS by Jane Yolen, and THE FOUR PROFOUND WEAVES by R.B. Lemberg.

In support of the Kickstarter for Recognize Fascism Anthology, contributor (and Tachyon editor) Jaymee Goh reads from her selection.

For The New York Times, Stephen King praises Lauren Beukes’s “splendid” new thriller Afterland.

The flap copy on my advance edition declares that “Afterland” is a “high-concept feminist thriller that Lauren Beukes fans have been waiting for.” It is a thriller, I grant you that, and feminist in the sense that most of the men have been erased by a flu virus that develops into prostate cancer, but Beukes is too wise and story-oriented to wham away at ideas that have been thoroughly explored, sometimes at tedious length, on cable news and social media. She lets her tale do the talking, and the results are quite splendid.

February 19, 2018

Tachyon tidbits featuring Nalo Hopkinson, Nick Mamatas, Lavie Tidhar, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, and Micheal Swanwick

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized amal el-mohtar, ann vandermeer, annihilation, bill campbell, brooke bolander, Charlie Jane Anders, christopher brown, interview, jeff vandermeer, jeffrey ford, john jennings, kickstarter, lavie tidhar, max gladstone, michael swanwick, nalo hopkinson, Nick Mamatas, rosarium publishing, sergei lukyanenko, sunspot jungle, the day watch, the last watch, The New York Review of Science Fiction, the night watch, the twilight watch

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

Nalo Hopkinson (photo: David Findlay, Nick Mamatas, Lavie Tidhar (Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013), Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (Colin Hackley/Tampa Bay Times), and Micheal Swanwick (Beth Gwynn)

Rosarium Publishing is kickstarting the hardcover edition of Sunspot Jungle. The two volume anthology includes contributions from Nalo Hopkinson, Nick Mamatas, Lavie Tidhar, Charlie Jane Anders, Brooke Bolander, Amal El-Mohtar, Jeffrey Ford, Max Gladstone, Christopher Brown, and many others.

Art by John Jennings

On June 17, 2018, Rosarium Publishing will be turning five years old. So, we’ve decided to throw a little party. Since we like to say we “introduce the world to itself,” we just knew it had to be a global party!

Like any good party, we’ve invited some friends, acquaintances, associates, people we’ve heard good things about, and some complete strangers.

The end result is Sunspot Jungle!

A two-volume, spec fic anthology filled with stories from over 100 writers from around the world!!!

This campaign is for special hardcover editions of the anthology only available to you Kickstarter supporters.

(The paperback for Vol. 1 will be out in December while the one for Vol. 2 will be released in spring of 2019.)

Ann and Jeff VanderMeer attended the Los Angeles premiere of Annihilation, the film based on the first novel in Jeff’s Southern Reach trilogy.

Jeff VanderMeer, Alex Garland, Tuva Novotny, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Natalie Portman pose together as Paramount Pictures presents the premiere of ‘Annihilation’ at The Regency Village Theater in Westwood, CA on Tuesday, February 13, 2018. .(Photo: Alex J. Berliner / ABImages).

Author Jeff VanderMeer attends the Los Angeles Premiere of ‘Annihilaton’ at Regency Village Theatre on February 13, 2018 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

Ann VanderMeer (L) and author Jeff VanderMeer attend the Los Angeles Premiere of ‘Annihilaton’ at Regency Village Theatre on February 13, 2018 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

At THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION, Michael Swanwick interviews Russian science fiction author Sergei Lukyanenko.

Sergei Lukyanenko is one of the most popular science fiction writers in Russia. He is best known in America and throughout the world as the creator of the Night Watch/Day Watch universe, in which human beings with supernatural powers maintain an uneasy peace in the modern world. These books became famous globally after two very successful movies, Night Watch and DayWatch, were based on them. They are, however, only a small part of the total output of this prolific author.

I interviewed Sergei in the hotel bar during a whiskey-tasting party at Roscon, the Russian national science fiction convention. Translation was provided by Alexei Bezougliy.

ms: I think all that Americans know about you is that you wrote the Night Watch books. So let’s correct that. First of all, how did you get started?

lukyanenko: I started writing when I was eighteen years old, because I couldn’t manage to find the sort of book I wanted to read. So I said to myself, Why not simply write the kind of book I want to read? Then I did.

ms: How long did it take you before you were finally published?

lukyanenko: Maybe six months, maybe a couple of years. I wrote several stories, and then I showed them to my friends. One of them, without telling me, took the manuscript of one of my stories to one of the mainstream magazines. It was published. That was the beginning of my literary career.

September 29, 2017

Tachyon tidbits featuring Peter S. Beagle

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized elizabeth story, geekify, german, in calabria, kickstarter, peter s beagle, phantásienreisen, sally quinn, tarot deck, the last unicorn, the new york times book reviews

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

Photo: Rina Weisman

GEEKIFY has launched a Kickstarter for THE LAST UNICORN –
Tarot & Oracle Deck.

Nearly 35 years ago, the timeless book THE LAST UNICORN by Peter S. Beagle was turned into an animated movie. With music by America, voices by Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury, Alan Arkin, and Tammy Grimes, and the immense talent of the animators and creatives who would later form Studio Ghibli, THE LAST UNICORN was an incredible film that gripped the minds and hearts of all who grew up with it. Though the movie was released decades ago, the music and iconic scenes and lines still echo through our minds. Sadly, there were only a small handful of things ever made for THE LAST UNICORN many of them incredibly rare and hard to come by nowadays.

That’s where we come in! At GEEKIFY, our mission is to capture the feelings and essence of those experiences that shape us and that we hold dear, and to create pieces of the fictional worlds we fall in love with. We recently acquired the licensing rights to create merchandise for THE LAST UNICORN as a personal passion of ours, and one which we want to share with the world. We’ve spent months drawing up plans, creating new artwork, building and designing samples and prototypes, and dreaming up the things we wanted to create.

One of the ideas we’ve been turning around the longest has been a Tarot deck based on THE LAST UNICORN – the themes, the journey, the visuals, and the story all lend itself flawlessly to the nature and structure of a Tarot deck. Each character of the story is multi-faceted, facing their own challenges and having their own motivations, weaving a beautiful tapestry perfectly suited to the reflective and foretelling nature of the Tarot decks.

THE LAST UNICORN Tarot Deck will be a full 78 card deck
(no pip decks here!), laced with the lore and mythology of THE LAST UNICORN story as it pertains to the cycle and interpretations of the Tarot.

There’s been a lot of contention from fans and owners alike about the past and future of THE LAST UNICORN. Licensing and rights ownership are sometimes a murky thing, and creators don’t always get the credit they are due. While our licensing agreement is with ITV (the rights holder for merchandise based on the movie) and is unaffiliated with Avicenna Development Corporation and independent of the recent legal contention, Peter has created something timeless for all of us, and we want to go above and beyond to show our appreciation.

To that end, to honor the author and creator we all love, we are voluntarily allocating a percentage of all of the proceeds directly for Peter’s benefit, independently of our licensing agreement.

In an interview with THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, Sally Quinn (FINDING MAGIC: A
SPIRITUAL MEMOIR) mentions THE LAST UNICORN.

What books are currently on your nightstand?

I usually read books about what I’m working on — in this case a novel. “Learning to Love,” by Thomas Merton; “Ireland’s Holy Wars,” by Marcus Tanner; “Vows,” by Peter Manseau; “The Confessions of Saint Augustine”; “The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats,” edited by Richard J. Finneran; “The Life of W. B. Yeats,” by Terence Brown; and “The Last Unicorn,” by Peter Beagle.

The German site PHANTÁSIENREISEN recounts some of their recent purchases on their recent UK trip.

The current unicorn
trend I can not win anything, even though I have a soft spot for
these magical beings since childhood. But when Peter S. Beagle,
creator of THE LAST UNICORN, presents us a new story, I can not
resist. Cover and flap lyrics of IN CALABRIA promise a classic tale,
modern fairy tale in front of the picturesque backdrop of Italy. Here
I have accessed without hesitation. In this confidence, I had not
looked at the book on the sot at all and only discovered at home the
praise of Gregory Maguire, author of the genius WICKED", another
point which suggested that me magical readings are imminent.

Translation from German, courtesy of Google

For more info about IN CALABRIA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

May 18, 2017

Tachyon tidbits featuring Peter S. Beagle, James Tiptree Jr., and Ellen Datlow

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized christina scholz, Ellen Datlow, fantastic fiction at kgb, james tiptree jr, kickstarter, matthew kressel, peter s beagle, review, strange horizons

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

Peter S. Beagle (photo: Rina Weisman), James Tiptree, Jr., and Ellen Datlow

For STRANGE HORIZONS, Christina Scholz enjoys Peter S. Beagle’s IN CALABRIA.

IN CALABRIA is a modern fairy tale. There are a handful of characters. There are clear-cut lines between good and evil. It is sentimental, but only in the sense that it is about emotions and acting on them. In the end, it’s an upside-down pastoral fantasy, in which for the longest time the constructed ‘reality’ serves to shelter the hero from the sublime, instead of vice versa, Sure, you can decide to read the white unicorn as an elusive dream, as a magical, pure, once-in-a-lifetime thing that you hope for, as ‘that one true love’. But the sheer dizzying mass of indescribable sublime that is the black unicorn stallion really doesn’t fit nicely into metaphorical boxes. Fairy tales are also always about the unconscious. The most effective monsters are the ones generated by our hidden fears—often not just hidden from the outside world, but from ourselves as well. Finally, it is a story about a man who is haunted, and who cannot forgive himself and move on, assign the past to the past and thus exorcise the ghosts. But life goes on, and while you’re busy coping with it, this is what happens: suddenly you find yourself opening your eyes in another time, in another self. Realising that in the meantime somebody has appeared who loves you, unconditionally, as you are. And together you’re stronger than anything.

And it does contain some really good writing.

VENTUREADLAXRE praises James Tiptree, Jr.’s HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER with a five star review.

Because it’s Tiptree we see a lot of anger, a lot of morose inevitability, ideas that investigate gender roles, enslavement, sexuality, and many ideas which don’t just cross the line into the disturbing – it surrounds you completely. Tiptree is abundantly clever with her words, going as far as the narrator telling the reader you can skip this part – when it’s the opposite of true.

I can’t recommend this book enough, and we are so lucky to have had Tiptree in our genre. And to hell with those who outed her, and rejected her work when her alias was uncovered.

(Slight warning that the collection may make you angry (as it has me) for her genius, and what she went through.)

Fantastic Fiction at KGB, a monthly reading series hosted by Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel, needs you help and has started a Kickstarter.

Fantastic Fiction at KGB is a monthly reading series hosted by Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel. We are looking to fund several more years of our popular Manhattan-based reading series and will be holding a Kickstarter fundraiser from May 17th through June 14th, 2017. We need to raise a minimum of $4500, which will keep us funded for three more years.

Fantastic Fiction at KGB is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror reading series held on the third Wednesday of every month. We aim to promote speculative fiction authors and their forthcoming works. Authors read for about twenty to twenty-five minutes each, and we also sell the authors’ books at the event (currently through Word Bookstore.) The series serves as a salon for writers, editors, agents, and fans to co-mingle in a relaxed environment. Many lasting friendships and professional connections have been made through the Fantastic Fiction reading series. It has been running since the late ‘90s. More on our history below.

Fantastic Fiction at KGB, January 10, 2010 (photo: Drew Rhys White)

Each month we give the authors a small stipend, we tip the bartenders (the bar provides free drinks to the guests), and we take the authors out for dinner after the readings. It costs us around $120 per month, so we need $1500 to maintain the series each year. We are looking to raise $4500, which would allow us to keep the series running for another three years. Each additional $1500 will let us run for an additional year. Fantastic Fiction has been a bright light in the speculative fiction community for nearly two decades, and with the community’s help we can continue for many more years to come. Any donation, no matter how small, is greatly appreciated.

For more info about IN CALABRIA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info about HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by John Picacio

April 7, 2017

Enjoyable CENTRAL STATION is about the human condition

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized 2084, central station, devaneios/musings/träumereien: close encounters of the 5th kind, jonathan danz, kickstarter, lavie tidhar, manchester sci-fi book club, manuel augusto antão, nir yaniv, short story, starshipsofa, unsung stories

Photo: Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013

For DEVANEIOS/MUSINGS/TRÄUMEREIEN:
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE 5TH KIND, Manuel Augusto Antão gives Lavie Tidhar’s CENTRAL STATION 4 stars.

This is a navel gazing novel; a friend of mine would say it’s a novel about the human condition. Back in the day, this was the stuff that interested me less. But they say SF at its best is allegorical and because contemporary versions are all about we live in navel gazing times, this one was much up my alley.

<snip>

This is my first Tidhar, but I suspect that all of his novels may have existentialist themes to them. I’m not exactly sure what the true premise of this book is, except that it’s no longer difficult to imagine some of the fiction in SF and that the struggles of book’s characters now seem oddly familiar to me. Every single story in this book’s tapestry has a subtle human angle: The greatest dangers for Jews and Arabs in this novel are not each other, but “strigoi” humans with vampire-like power; at the Central Station, ethnicity, religion, race, technology, and virtual reality rub elbows; descriptions of fantastical aspects of the future seem like references to completely commonplace occurrences…sublime writing. SF with believable characters with complex emotional lives driving the plot. Wow, if only someone had thought of this before of course; there is a lot SF that has unrealistic characters driven by the needs of the plot, but that describes all fiction. The all-over-the-place plot will not be to anyone’s tastes, even to the SF hardcore fan. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that Tidhar refers to so many classics in SF, yet he chose a structure for his work that not many of those writers would have considered. It’s a work in constant dialogue with the genre but not afraid to go off the beaten path. As such it is not a book for everyone, but if one likes a book that is a bit weird even by SF standards, “Central Station” might be your thing. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Manchester SciFi Book Club chose CENTRAL STATION as their April 18th selection.

Manchester SciFi Book Club meet on the third Tuesday of every month to discuss a science fiction book previously chosen by the group. Discussions are informal and you don’t even need to have read any SciFi before to come along.

Upcoming books

21st Feb – THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET by Becky Chambers (432 pages)
21st Mar – READY PLAYER ONE BY ERNEST CLINE (384 pages)
18th Apr – CENTRAL STATION by Lavie Tidhar (288 pages)
16th May – A CALCULATED LIFE by Ann Charnock (208 pages)

For Week 3 of Translations Special, STARSHIPSOFA offers the audio version of Nir Yaniv’s Hebrew “Benjamin Schneider’s Little Greys,” as translated by Lavie Tidhar and read by Jonathan Danz.

UNSUNG STORIES is kickstarting their forthcoming anthology 2084.

In 1948 George Orwell saw a world in flux. After the tumult of two World Wars he saw lessons being forgotten, the slow creep of authoritarianism and the potential for our future to be a dark and oppressive place.

Now, in 2017, we’re seeing the UK crashing out of the EU, with no idea of what comes next. President Trump is at loggerheads with the US government, his own party even, and trying to push through ever more controversial laws. Nigel Farage, inflated by a bizarre success, now wants to split California into two states. And all the while, the ice caps are melting and our climate is changing irrevocably.

There’s a reason they’re making the series of The Handmaid’s Tale today. We live in a world where Presidential staff think a lie is an ‘alternative fact’. Truth is becoming fluid, malleable, an annoyance more than an obligation for those in power.

Today we know how prophetic Orwell was, with the very language of his imagined future entering our present. With the seismic shocks, politically and culturally, still resonating after 2016, the time is right to look ahead again.

2084 features 13 stories from leading science fiction writers who were all asked the same question – what will our world look like 67 years from now? The anthology features new and exclusive stories from:

Jeff Noon

Christopher Priest

James Smythe

Lavie Tidhar

Aliya Whiteley

David Hutchinson

Cassandra Khaw

Desirina Boskovich

Anne Charnock

Ian Hocking

Oliver Langmead

Courttia Newland

Irenosen Okojie

In 1948 Orwell looked at the world around him and wrote 1984, now a classic dystopian novel. Here 13 writers asked themselves the same question as Orwell did – where are we going, what is our future?

13 predictions of the world, 70 years in the future. By 2084 the world we know will be history. These stories envision what our world will look like seven decades later.

See the flooded metropolises of the future, trek the wastelands of all that is left. Imagine the legacy of President Trump, and visit the borders of a future Europe. Say goodbye to your body as humanity joins the computers, or say goodbye to your freedom as the state takes control. All of these things may come to pass.

Warnings or prophesies? Paradise or destruction? Will we be proud of what we have achieved, in 2084?

Our future unfolds before us.

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

Cover and image by Sarah Anne Langton

February 22, 2017

Tachyon tidbits featuring Lauren Beukes, Lavie Tidhar, Brandon Sanderson, and Richard Klaw

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized alexander nanitchkov, brandon sanderson, central station, chicken fried cthulhu, christy luis, christy luis reviews, clara bacou, derek conrad, elizabeth story, kickstarter, lauren beukes, lavie tidhar, lovercraft, Mark Finn, mythos, novella, out of that world, reading is not the challenge, review, Richard Klaw, sarah anne langton, slipping, slipping: stories essays & other writing, the apes of wrath, the emperor's soul, the old dispensation

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

Lauren Beukes, Lavie Tidhar (photo: Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013), Brandon Sanderson (Ceridwen via Wikimedia Commons), and Richard Klaw (Brandy Whitten)

READING IS NOT THE
CHALLENGE discovers Lauren Beukes with SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING.

Twenty-one short stories and six essays from a South African writer. Many of the stories are futuristic and/or scifi. In the introductory blurbs Beukes is compared to Stephen King. I don’t know about that because I’ve read very little King. I do know that I liked most of these stories even though several were the sort of thing I don’t usually read (giant menacing hair balls, super powers, weapons gadgetry). In both the fiction and essays, Beukes deals with social issues–particularly those dealing with the status of women. This is one of those books that makes me want to read everything else she has written.

Derek Conrad of OUT OF THAT WORLD reviews Lavie Tidhar’s “The Old Dispensation.”

I haven’t read any of Lavie Tidhar’s novels, but I did give one of them, CENTRAL STATION (Tachyon Publications 2016), to a friend for his birthday last October. After reading “The Old Dispensation,” however, I’m tempted to ask if I can borrow the novel for a weekend. This story on Tor is so strange, so engrossing that I was hooked immediately even though I knew basically nothing about what was happening. Reading “Dispensation” was like learning a new language, and it really is for anyone unfamiliar with Exilarchs, Treif, and Ma’ariv. I appreciated Tidhar for telling the story how it needed to be told, however, and not worrying if things were confusing at first. Eventually I adapted to the narration and was able to tease out the meaning of the unfamiliar words. This was no different than the typical science fiction story that pelts its audience with techno-gobbledegook, except this time the foreign words were grounded in reality, and exploring their meaning through the text was challenging and informative at the same time.

I found the whole thing enthralling, even when I was stumbling into undiscovered territory. But that’s what I like about science fiction—discovery. Expect to find this one in a Best of anthology at some point, but read it now on Tor first.

CHRISTY
LUIS REVIEWS praises Brandon Sanderson’s THE EMPEROR’S SOUL.

I love the human psychology and the theme of cultural misunderstanding in THE EMPEROR’S SOUL. And, of course, I love the Asian-inspired stamp magic. It ties in with the “form” type magic present in Stormlight Archives, I think, too—or it sounds like it does, anyway. In fact, I love the format and pacing and characters and everything about this story!

Although the novella is set in the same universe as Elantris, the reading order doesn’t matter. In fact, this might be a great introduction to Sanderson’s work, if you’re not ready to jump into The Way of Kings. There’s no fat to trim.

*****5/5 STARS

Richard Klaw, editor of THE APES OF WRATH, is co-editing (with Mark Finn) CHICKEN FRIED CTHULHU. The project is currently being kickstarted.

“I also placed another yarn with Strange Tales – ‘The Valley of the Lost’ – a horror tale in an early Texan setting. I’m trying to invest my native regions with spectral atmosphere, etched against a realistic setting.” Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, April, 1932

It’s time to shine a light into the dark corners of the Southwest; places like Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexio, where the land is impossibly old, and civilization is new and precarious. The ground in these parts is soaked with blood, with oil, with sweat. There are no tears. They shoot you for wasting water around here.

CHICKEN FRIED CTHULHU pays tribute to the authors who first carved out a place for themselves in the vast, open countryside, and paved the way for new authors to leave their indelible mark on Mythos fiction. But like the outlaws and outsiders who settled in the southwest, they prefer to do it their way: bloody, bawdy, and belligerent. Lovecraftian fiction done the only way we know how to do it: chicken fried!

CHICKEN FRIED CTHULHU is a collection of new and reprint stories set in and around the southwest by southwestern writers. Included in this sensational line-up: Zelia Bishop, Christopher Brown, Stephen Graham Jones, Walter DeBill, Jr., Bradley Denton, Robert E. Howard, Joe Lansdale, Caroline Spector and Don Webb for starters. More authors will be announced during and after the Kickstarter is concluded. Thirteen authors (and more, with your help) with a unique, one-of-a-kind take on the Cthulhu Mythos that is unmistakably Weird. And we’re going to debut the book at this year’s World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio, Texas!

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

Cover art by Clara Bacou

Design by Elizabeth Story

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

Cover by Sarah Anne Langton

For more info on THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Alexander Nanitchkov.

Design by Elizabeth Story

October 5, 2016

Tachyon tidbits featuring Lauren Beukes, Michael Moorcock, and Michael J. Sullivan

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized Ann Monn, black gate, clara bacou, derek ruiz, drunk in a graveyard, john o'neill, kickstarter, lauren beukes, max raynor, michael batolo, Michael J. Sullivan, michael moorcock, review, robin goodfellow, slipping, slipping: stories essays & other writing, the best of michael moorcock, the death of dulgath

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

Lauren Beukes (image: LaurenBeukes.com), Michael Moorcock, and Michael J. Sullivan

At DRUNK IN A GRAVEYARD, Robin Goodfellow, in one of the more unusal reviews, praises Lauren Beukes’ debut collection SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING.

Now, let’s get nerdy, because.. I love short stories. Love them. For someone who is as busy as I am, the time management center of my brain allows me to more readily digest short fiction and non-fiction because I don’t have to sink hours into getting the story moving, and any author worth a Raymond Carver, knows the value of crafting a perfect short.

Short stories are harder than novels, I think. You have to say what you’re going to say in a smaller scale, and in order for short stories to punch you in the cunt, you really have to be succinct. Succinct is not a talent that a lot of writers have. Let me tell you right here, Lauren Beukes has this particular talent in spades.

The stories range from punk dystopic science fiction, to vaguely threatening, to seriously threatening, to murder, and to a deep resonating poignancy and longing that connects each.

One essay stands out for me in stark brutal truth and that is the piece, “All the Pretty Corpses”, and it stands in part as some explanation for the ideas behind “The Shining Girls”, why the violence in the book is so brutal and Beukes’s own thoughts on why she wrote “The Shining Girls”.. This is very cool and an intimate look at subjects that aren’t often discussed. Beukes discloses a personal story upon the murder of her friend.. an actual murder, discussed in plain language, real brutality and tangible tragedy. This story punched me in the face and knocked the wind out of me at the same time as it wove a knot into my throat.

My best friend was murdered in 2006. The experience lingers on my psyche like perfume and cigarette smoke to my going out clothes. The truth and reality behind what is said in this piece is so very relatable and heart breaking. I KNEW there was a reason that “The Shining Girls” had drawn me so deeply to it, and this really explains that connection.

This piece of information was so honest, so stark and it made me feel connected to this author and the work she is doing.

John O’Neill of BLACK GATE delivers this long overdue retrospective of THE BEST OF MICHAEL MOORCOCK.

Tachyon Publications released THE BEST OF MICHAEL MOORCOCK, edited by John Davey and Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, back in 2009, and I finally bought a copy last month. I don’t know what took me so long.

Moorcock has an enormous back catalog of fantasy; so vast I’ll never be able to read even a fraction of it. But this book finally gives me the opportunity I’ve wanted for years: to sample the full range of Moorcock’s storytelling craft in one compact volume, with some of his most famous stories — including his famous 1968 Nebula Award winning novella “Behold the Man,” the Elric tale “A Portrait in Ivory,” and the Jerry Cornelius story “The Visible Men.”

The book received rave notices when it first appeared. Bookgasm says it “Serves as a superb introduction to the boundless imagination of this unique and fascinating author,” and The Guardian calls it “A long-overdue retrospective.” And Booklist says it’s “A wild, fascinating batch of stories fairly balancing the fantastic and the nearly ordinary, and showcasing Moorcock’s talent very well.”

Michael J. Sullivan is Kickstarting the graphic novel of his best selling novel THE DEATH OF DULGATH.

Best-selling author Michael J. Sullivan teams up with Dabel Brothers Publishing, artists Max Raynor and Michael Bartolo, comic adaptation writer Derek Ruiz and letterer and production designer Dave Lanphear to bring Riyria to the graphic novel format for the first time. Sullivan’s fantasy novel, THE DEATH OF DULGATH was Kickstarter’s most successful fantasy novel project, and now it will be adapted into a two volume graphic novel series. The story will be lovingly interpreted in the visual form and supported by bonus material that is sure to excite any fan of fantasy who longs for that inside look into the making of the graphic novel.

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

Cover art by Clara Bacou

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more info about THE BEST OF MICHAEL MOORCOCK, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn

June 3, 2016

Not quite a miracle but excitement still abounds when there are new Hap and Leonard tales

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, crime, drew ford, elizabeth story, graphic novel, hap and leonard, hap and leonard ride again, Joe R. Lansdale, kickstarter, miracles ain't what they use to be, red range, sam glanzman, short stories, swamp noir, texas noir, western

Tachyon recently collected the extant shorter Hap and Leonard stories in HAP AND LEONARD and HAP AND LEONARD RIDE AGAIN, but now come three new stories in the PM Press book MIRACLES AIN’T WHAT THEY USE TO BE.

Arguably (and who doesn’t like to argue?) the world’s bestselling cult author, Joe R. Lansdale is celebrated across several continents for his dark humor, his grimly gleeful horror, and his outlaw politics. Welcome to Texas. With hits like Bubba Ho-Tep and The Drive-In the Lansdale secret was always endangered, and the spectacular new Hap and Leonard Sundance TV series is busily blowing whatever cover Joe had left.

Backwoods noir some call it; others call it redneck surrealism. Joe’s signature style is on display here in all its grit, grime, and glory, beginning with two (maybe three) previously unpublished Hap and Leonard tales revealing the roots of their unlikely partnership.

Plus…
A hatful and a half of Joe’s notorious Texas Observer pieces that helped catapult him from obscurity into controversy; and “Miracles Ain’t What They Used to Be,” Lansdale’s passionately personal take on the eternal tussles between God and Man, Texas and America, racism and reason—and religion and common sense.

And Featuring: Our Outspoken Interview, in which piney woods dialect, Bible thumpery, martial arts, crime classics and Hollywood protocols are finally awarded the attention they deserve. Or don’t.

Drew Ford has initiated a Kickstarter to publish the long out of print and difficult to find Lansdale graphic novel RED RANGE.

To best understand what RED RANGE is all about, one should read this review, published within the pages of LOCUS magazine in 1999:

“Joe R. Lansdale’s certainly a modern legend himself, having been around for some time now. But comics artist Sam Glanzman’s got an even more legendary historical grounding, having been professionally drawing for six decades or so. These two worthies have collaborated on Lansdale’s graphic novel, RED RANGE. The first page of RED RANGE itself begins full tilt with graphic ultraviolence as Lansdale and Glanzman plunge us into a 19th century Klan lynching of a black Texas family. Abruptly in the midst of the atrocity, the Kluxers are interrupted by a mysterious rider who’s a deadly shot with both his pistols and long-range Sharps buffalo rifle. It’s the feared and hated (by the KKK, at least) Red Mask, a tough, lethal, black man who wisely keeps his identity concealed. Writer Lansdale’s unerring ear for exotic period and regional dialog remains constant. His penchant for grim humor appears throughout. His hardcore, hard-nosed sense of social conscience remains intact.”

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

For more info about HAP AND LEONARD RIDE AGAIN, visit the Tachyon page.

Covers by Elizabeth Story

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