mandiner.sci-fi Archives - Tachyon Publications

June 14, 2017

THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY provides a valuable snapshot of SF/F’s newest generation of writers

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized anthology, b&n sci-fi & fantasy blog, bence pintér, camille andre, elizabeth story, hungary, jacob weisman, mandiner.sci-fi, nicole hill, peter s beagle, Publishers Weekly, review, see the elephant, the new voices of fantasy, william grabowski

Peter S. Beagle (photo: Rina Weisman) and Jacob Weisman

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY offers a *starred* review of Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman’s forthcoming anthology THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY.

This excellent anthology showcases up-and-coming speculative fiction writers, many of whom have received award nominations and critical attention to support their status as future influencers of the genre.

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Fantasy legend Beagle and Tachyon publisher Weisman have provided a valuable snapshot of SF/F’s newest generation of writers.

William Grabowski at SEE THE ELEPHANT praises the book.

The key word in this anthology’s title is new, and if that doesn’t quicken your heart, a sampling of the impressively diverse voices will. Editors Beagle and Weisman, both top-tier in their own right, seem to have absorbed the generous reach and flexible sensibility of Ellen Datlow who—like them—knows that a writer’s name and/or present level of accomplishment have little to do with storytelling. No one needs to be reminded that common expectations of plot and originality crumble into ash when handled by masterful writers.

For B&N SCI-FI & FANTASY BLOG, Nicole Hill highlights the anthology in A New Fantasy Book for Every Week This Summer.

If there’s someone whose taste in fantasy novels you can trust, it’s probably the author of The Last Unicorn. Here, he has compiled 19 breathtaking fantasy stories that highlight the immense range of the genre and showcase the talent of rising-star authors, including:

Maria Dahvana Headley (author of the YA breakout Magonia)

Max Gladstone (author of the Craft Sequence)

Sofia Samatar (World Fantasy Award winner for A Stranger in Olondria)

Lily Yu (Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award winner for best short story)

Usman T. Malik (Bram Stoker Award winner for short fiction)

With those minds, and several others, at work, this anthology brims with wonder, horror, and all the eccentricities you would expect from this collection of imaginations. It’s a wonderful sampler platter of the best and brightest fantasy has to offer.

At the Hungarian MANDINER.SCI-FI, Bence Pintér recommends THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY.

The best-of-anthology of the year will be released in summer, for example, Gardner Dozois’s sci-fi anthology or Ellen Datlow’s horror-anthology, but we would now recommend this fantasy volume of fresh young fantasy authors.

(Translation from Hungarian courtesy of Google)

For more info about THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Camille André

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

November 9, 2016

Tachyon tidbits: Preview edition featuring Lauren Beukes, Bruce Sterling, and Ellen Datlow

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized alternative history, anthology, bruce sterling, cheryl eddy, clara bacou, collection, dieselpunk, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, horror, hungary, io9, john coulthart, lauren beukes, mandiner.sci-fi, nightmares, nightmares: a new decade of modern horror, nihil, pirate utopia, preview, science fiction, slipping, slipping: stories essays & other writing, tor.com

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

Lauren Beukes, Bruce Sterling, and Ellen Datlow (credit: THIS IS HORROR)

TOR.COM mentions Lauren Beukes’ SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING and Ellen Datlow’s NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR in Fiction Affliction: Genre-Benders for November.

NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR—Ellen Datlow, editor (November 1, Tachyon Publications)

Unlucky thieves invade a house where Home Alone seems like a playground romp. An antique bookseller and a mob enforcer join forces to retrieve the Atlas of Hell. Postapocalyptic survivors cannot decide which is worse: demon women haunting the skies or maddened extremists patrolling the earth. In this chilling twenty-first-century companion to the cult classic DARKNESS: TWO DECADES OF MODERN HORROR, Ellen Datlow again proves herself the most masterful editor of the genre. She has mined the breadth and depth of ten years of terror, collecting superlative works of established masters and scene-stealing newcomers alike.

SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING—Lauren Beukes (November 29, Tachyon)

A Punk Lolita fighter-pilot rescues Tokyo from a marauding art installation. Corporate recruits harvest poisonous plants on an inhospitable planet. An inquisitive adolescent ghost disrupts the life of a young architect. Product loyalty is addictive when the brand appears under one’s skin. Award-winning Cape Town author and journalist Lauren Beukes (ZOO
CITY, MOXYLAND, BROKEN MONSTERS) spares no targets in this edgy and satiric retrospective collection. In her fiction and nonfiction, ranging from Johannesburg across the galaxy, Beukes is a fierce, captivating presence throughout the literary landscape.

The Hungarian MANDINER.SCI-FI features SLIPPING: STORIES, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING and Bruce Sterling’s PIRATE UTOPIA in Pirates, Vampires, Aliens: Anglo-Saxon books for November.

Lauren Beukes: SLIPPING

Lauren Beukes was not required to show the domestic audience, as it has been published four novels at home (two fantastic work of the Ad Astra, two thrillers in the care of Gabo SFF). A South African woman is now a writer and essay collections novella- appears: Johannesburg depths of space.

Bruce Sterling: PIRATE UTOPIA

Although Balázs Ablonczy classic warning , according to a book should beware of those that advertise themselves with, who wrote the preface, we recommend a new novel by Bruce Sterling (which Warren Ellis wrote in the preface). To what are we talking about? The Adriatic Sea futurist, utopian pirates plundering capitalists and communists between the two world wars. But there is a chance for world domination?

Translated from Hungarian by Google.

Cheryl Eddy at IO9 includes Bruce Sterling’s PIRATE UTOPIA on 16 Must-Read Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for November.

PIRATE UTOPIA by Bruce Sterling

A gaggle of ne’er-do-wells plot global chaos in this new satire from the editor of the seminal
MIRRORSHADES:
THE CYBERPUNK ANTHOLOGY.

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

Cover art by Clara Bacou

Design by Elizabeth Story

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

Cover and image by John Coulthart

June 30, 2016

NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT is pretty damn good

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized beelzebub, book riot, heather fazio, johnan thorsson, mandiner.sci-fi, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat, review, richard dansky, the green man review, times union

Reviews and mentions are coming in for Michael Swanwick’s forthcoming collection NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT.

At THE GREEN MAN REVIEW, Richard Dansky praises Swanwick and his collection.

Which, I suppose, is the secret – Swanwick can move between genres so effortlessly and so competently that there’s no need for limitations. His mastery of prose is such that the tonal switches from one to the other, from story to story and even paragraph to paragraph, feel smooth and logical. At no point does the prose bring the reader up short, no matter how wild the premise or how seemingly vast the chasms in subject matter might be.

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But really, it’s the reappearance of old friends Darger and Surplus (whom you may remember from DANCING WITH BEARS) that energizes the collection most. When the unconventional con men find themselves with a new partner trying to run an epic con in a zombie-filled New Orleans. Light and breezy, yet never shying away from the dark undertones of its subject matter, the story is in many ways the perfect summary of the stories here, a mix of familiar and new, light-hearted and deathly serious, with multiple genres sitting comfortably next to each other.

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So maybe there is a theme here after all, the fluidity of writing and the futility of slapping labels and artificial divisions on it. If that’s the case, Swanwick has succeeded admirably. And if it isn’t, the stories are still pretty damn good.

Photo: Beth Gwinn

Heather Fazio of the TIMES UNION is pleased to discover the flawless and creative Michael Swanwick.

That said, this isn’t a book about cats or black cats – although we do meet a cat named Beelzebub. This collection is a group of short stories by author Michael Swanwick and I have to admit I was very surprised and happy with almost all of them. I’m a huge fan of David Sedaris who compiles his auto-biographical short stories and essays into books, and while I wouldn’t put Mr. Swanwick on the Sedaris level quite yet – I really enjoyed these somewhat odd, somewhat science fiction focused tales.

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To my surprise, Mr. Swanwick is considered a “master” of science fiction and fantasy. I only mention my surprise because I had not read anything of his before, however it’s easy to see why he was granted such a lofty title in the writing world. His writing is flawless and creative, his characters incredibly well-developed for short stories, and the descriptive nature of his text can make you feel as if you’re living in these other worlds right along with the characters. Mr. Swanick’s readers (and many critics) have gone so far as to call him the ‘god’ of the science fiction world.

Beelzebub celebrates all the kind words

In BOOK RIOT’s PEEK OVER OUR SHOULDERS: WHAT RIOTERS ARE READING ON JUNE 23, 2016, Johann Thorsson mentions NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT.

upcoming collection from literary magician Michael Swanwick. Half Neil Gaiman, half Kelly Link, wonderfully unique.

The Hungarian MANDINER.SCI-FI includes the collection in it’s listing of this summer’s best foreign books.

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story