lit/rant Archives - Tachyon Publications

November 17, 2016

CENTRAL STATION is one of the best science fiction books of 2016

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized b&n sci-fi & fantasy blog, best of 2016, central station, joel cunningham, kel munger, lavie tidhar, lit/rant, review, sarah anne langton, science fiction

At B&N SCI-FI & FANTASY BLOG, Joel Cunningham includes Lavie Tidhar’s CENTRAL STATION among the The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2016.

Tidhar’s second novel out in the U.S. this year, following the pitch-black Adolf Hitler satire A MAN LIES DREAMING, couldn’t be more different: this strange take on space opera is a classic “fix-up,” strung together from a double-handful of previously published short stories exploring the lives of the inhabitants of a slum situated below Central Station, the hub of humanity’s future and a gateway to contact with the Others, an alien force that is changing the future of humanity. On the ground, in a border town between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, genetically engineered children experience a different sort of reality, cyborg couriers deliver drugs, and robotic priests speak to the faithful. It’s a dazzling, unsettling vision of the future from one of the most consistently interesting—and challenging—voices in the genre.

Photo: Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013

Kel Munger at LIT/RANT also praises the book.

Science fiction serves so many purposes: It offers up potential futures for us to examine (including possible unintended consequences); it can grant us enough distance from the present to really look at ourselves and our biases; it can serve as a hidden way to critique a current system; it can keep us from going stir-crazy when we’re running a fever and all eleventy-hundred channels are running politics.

In the case of Lavie Tidhar, the Israeli-born, London-based s/f novelist, pretty much “all of the above” applies. His most recent American release is CENTRAL STATION, a series of linked short stories set at the base of a space/global travel/communication station built between Israeli-controlled Tel Aviv and Arab Jaffa in a sprawling metropolis that is both cutting edge future (space travel, solar-powered gliders, genetic engineering, a quantum-psychic Internet called “the Conversation”) and as dusty and poverty-stricken as any third world alley.

In short, he is writing about humans and the things we trail in our wake–mostly love and war. People disappear into space travel and, if they reappear at all, come trailing data vampires. A robotic mohel does circumcisions (no doubt with more precision and cleanliness than some humans).

Tidhar is always really, really, good. CENTRAL STATION is no exception.

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

Cover by Sarah Anne Langton

March 17, 2015

You need to buy THE VERY BEST OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION VOLUME TWO

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized brian aldiss, elizabeth hand, Gordon Van Gelder, Jack Finney, Kit Reed, lit/rant, paolo bacigalupi, review, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, stephen king, the very best of fantasy & science fiction volume 2, Thomas Canty

In a feature about new anthologies, LIT/RANT recommends THE VERY BEST OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION VOLUME TWO.

Finally, the second volume in a series of stories curated from one of the best of the magazines, THE VERY BEST OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION VOLUME TWO. If the previous two anthologies had heavy-hitters, this one has legends: Brian Aldiss, Paolo Bacigalupi (the remarkable “The People of Sand and Slag”), Jack Finney, Elizabeth Hand, Robert A. Heinlein, Stephen King, Kit Reed, Robert Silverberg … oh, hell, why bother listing them? The stories in this book are so good (and surprisingly, many of them are funny) that you need to buy it.

Read the rest of the feature at LIT/RANT.

For more info on THE VERY BEST OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION VOLUME TWO visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Thomas Canty.

September 3, 2014

LOVECRAFT’S MONSTERS is a must-have anthology

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized anthology, cthulhu, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Datlow, h. p. lovecraft, horror, john coulthart, Laird Barron, lit/rant, lovecraft's monsters, neil gaiman, review, short stories

Lit/Rant declares that Lovecraft’s Monsters is a must-have anthology for fans of things that go squick in the night.

Sci-fi (and scary) Friday

Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell (Tor Teen, $17.99).

Lovecraft’s Monsters, edited by Ellen Datlow (Tachyon Publications, $16.95).

Sunrise by Mike Mullen (Tanglewood Press, $17.99).

The Terminals: Spark by Michael F. Stewart (Non Sequitur Press, $4.99 ebook).

They Shall Begin Again by Giacomo Papi, translated by Clarissa Ghelli and Oonagh Stransky (Enaudi/Open Road Media, $9.99 ebook).

Unexpected Stories by Octavia E. Butler, with an introduction by Walter Mosley (Open Road Media, $3.99 ebook).

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a round-up of some science fiction and horror genre fiction to add to some relaxing downtime.

<snip>

Now, moving on to the monstrous, the queen of anthologies, Ellen Datlow, has brought together the usual outstanding group of writers with stories that either portray or invoke in tone the monstrous things that inhabited the work of H.P. Lovecraft. For some reason, Lovecraftian monsters have always been the most disturbing for this reader, and these tales don’t disappoint.

The only complaint is that kicking off with Neil Gaiman’s “Only the End of the World Again” and Laird Barron’s (he’s the king of Cthulu in the Northwest) “Bulldozer” is setting a pretty high bar. The other stories–including one by Elizabeth Bear–are mostly up to the task, but still.

The overall verdict? This is a must-have anthology for fans of things that go squick in the night.

Read the rest of Lit/Rant’s round-up on their tumblr page.

For more information on Lovecraft’s Monsters, visit the Tachyon site.

Cover and illustration by John Coulthart.

May 23, 2014

HOLLOW WORLD receives more praise & Michael J. Sullivan gets interviewed

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized hollow world, interview, kel munger, lit/rant, Michael J. Sullivan, review, science fiction, ten minute interviews

Kel Munger of Lit/Rant praises Michael J. Sullivan’s Hollow World and Tachyon Publications.

Full of plot twists and great character development, Michael J. Sullivan’s novel offers several unusual perspectives on gender, work, individuality, our propensity toward violence, and what makes us human.

<snip>

Hollow World is one more piece of evidence that Tachyon Publications is bringing some original and fascinating science fiction to readers.

For the rest of Munger’s review, visit Lit/Rant.

Over at Ten Minute Interviews Sullivan discusses Hollow World, writing, and self-publishing.

How did the story of Hollow World take shape?

It started out as a short story I was writing to help an editor who was trying to showcase some new authors. It was a donated work being used as an “anchor piece.” When I finished, I realized I had found the tip of a very large iceberg. The first people who read it (my wife and two writer friends), had the exact same reaction. To do the concept justice, it really needed to be a full-length novel. So I wrote a different short for that anthology and reworked and expanded that original work into what became Hollow World.

During the writing of Hollow World, were you at all fearful that the fans who knew you as a fantasy author wouldn’t embrace your transition into sci-fi?

I’m not sure I would classify it as “fearful.” I thought it was a very real possibility, and still do. For me, the books I write aren’t written to maximize readership. I just write a book that I want to read and hope that there my tastes are similar enough to others that it will find a decent following. Even if Hollow World never sold any copies, I still would still have been glad that I wrote it. This was an idea that once it was planted in my head wouldn’t let me go until I got it down on paper. It’s still very early to know if Hollow World will be a financial success, but I’ve already achieved what I set out for regarding this book.

For the rest of the interview, visit Ten Minute Interviews.

For information on Hollow World, visit the Tachyon page.