my bookish ways

April 22, 2016

Tachyon tidbits featuring Nalo Hopkinson, Anne R. Dick, Michael Swanwick, and Lavie Tidhar

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized Ann Monn, anne r dick, best of 2015, biography, carl slaughter, central station, chuma hill, collection, danika ellis, elizabeth story, falling in love with hominids, interview, james wallace harris, josh beatman, lavie tidhar, michael swanwick, my bookish ways, nalo hopkinson, philip k dick, review, sarah anne langton, science fiction, SF Signal, the dog said bow-wow, the search for philip k dick

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

Nalo Hopkinson, Anne R. Dick (Craig Lee for The New York Times), Michael Swanwick (Beth Gwynn), and Lavi Tidhar (Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013)

Danika Ellis’s much belated top 10 books of 2015 includes Nalo Hopkinson’s FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS.

For SF SIGNAL, James Wallace Harris delivers an overview of the various Philip K. Dick biographies.

PKD
had five wives, two of which wrote biographies. I loved THE SEARCH FOR PHILIP K. DICK by
Anne R. Dick (married to PKD 1959-1965) because she influenced THE
MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE.
And Tessa B. Dick, (married to PKD 1973-1977) has wonderful insight
into Phil’s later mystical writings. I wished Kleo Apostolides
(married 1950-1959) and Nancy Hackett (married 1966-1972) had also
written biographies, so we’d have complete spousal coverage of
Dick’s writing years.

Also at SF SIGNAL, Carl Slaughter interviews Michael Swanwick about his Darger and Surplus series. The duo’s first adventure was included in the collection THE DOG SAID BOW-WOW.

CARL SLAUGHTER: What are Darger and Surplus, i.e., what species?

MICHAEL SWANWICK: Aubrey Darger is human, a Londoner, and the product of the slums of Mayfair. Sir Blackthorpe Ravenscairn de Plus Precieux, known to his friends as Surplus, is a citizen of the Demesne of Western Vermont, a proud American mongrel, and the creation of the gene-mills of Winooski. Though he walks upright and has full human intelligence, he could not be mistaken for anything but a dog. I believe he has quite a bit of American foxhound in his genome, but in this I could be mistaken.

CS: Which one comes up with the moneymaking schemes? Which one makes the decisions? Which one gets into the most trouble? Which one cracks the jokes?

MS: They are both talented confidence artists, so their schemes could come from either, but Surplus defers to Darger as having the deeper depth of lore and the greater cunning. He, however, is more fast-thinking in a crisis. The two are so commonly of one mind that a suggestion from one is almost invariably accepted by the other. As for trouble… Surplus has a particular weakness for women which frequently gets him in hot water. Darger only rarely becomes romantically involved but when he does he is incapable of taking it lightly. It’s hard to say which tendency causes them more grief.

It’s the strangest thing, but I’ve never heard either make a joke. I must think on that.

CS: Do the stories appear in short or long fiction or both?

MS: Both. The characters invented themselves in a story called “The Dog Said Bow-Wow,” at the end of which they accidentally set fire to London and decided to go to Moscow to run a scam on the Duke of Muscovy. It was the first time I’d ever written characters who would enjoy being run through one of my stories again, so I let them take the lead. I write down their adventures as I discover them.

MY BOOKISH WAYS included Lavie Tidhar’s CENTRAL STATION among its May 2016 Must Reads in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

For more info on FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Chuma Hill

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more info on THE SEARCH FOR PHILIP K. DICK, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Josh Beatman

For more info on THE DOG SAID BOW-WOW, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn

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

Cover by Sarah Anne Langton

October 21, 2015

LED ASTRAY: THE BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG does not disappoint

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized between dreams and reality, collection, elizabeth story, horror, kathryn hollinrake, kelley armstrong, led astray, led astray: the best of kelley armstrong, my bookish ways, paperback wonderland, paranormal romance, review, short story, vampires, werewolves

A trio of reviews for LED ASTRAY: THE BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG.

photo: Kathryn Hollinrake

From MY BOOKISH WAYS:

There’s quite a lot to love in Kelley Armstrong’s newest collection, LED ASTRAY. In fact, if you haven’t read any of her work, this is a perfect way to discover it, and it’s a treat for fans. I personally haven’t read her Cainsville series (I know!) or Age of Legends, yet I loved getting a taste of those worlds in stories like “Gabriel’s Gargoyles” about a boy with a drug addicted mother that finds refuge with his aunt in Cainsville.

<snip>

There really isn’t a dud in the bunch, and this collection shows just how versatile Armstrong is as a writer. She does supernatural just as expertly as she does thrillers and suspense. This is a must for her fans, and new readers alike.

PAPERBACK WONDERLAND:

As someone who has read _ and loved _the entirety of the “Women of The Otherworld” series as well as the Darkest Powers trilogy, and lets not forget The Darkness Rising series, I am a big fan of this author.

And there’s a reason to that: Kelley Armstrong’s writing does not disappoint.

This book is another good example of that. If you want an anthology filled with stories that will leave you shock-surprised, this is just the thing for you!

<Reviews of every story>

In the end as you can read, for me, this ended up being a really successful combination of short stories. Thumbs up.

BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY also reviews every story but with no preamble or concluding statements.

Rakshashi

That’s quite an interesting story about a vampire, a character with myths that I did not know about and I admit that I was curious to find out what a Rakshashi was. A small story that managed to surprise me. I would have liked to have a series filling this little novella. 4/5

Kat
We discover the story of two young women, Kat and Daisy, a girl with special gifts and a vampire who are fugitives and are caught up here for the first time. I have never read the Darkest Powers series of the author but I have heard a lot about it and I have a novel that I should read. 3.5 / 5

Read the rest of the reviews at BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY.

For more information on LED ASTRAY: THE BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Elizabeth Story

September 18, 2015

THE MONSTROUS will chill and darken your day in a terrifyingly sweet way

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized anthology, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, horror, interview, john coulthart, Kristin Centorcelli, lovecraft, lovecraft's monsters, my bookish ways, mythos, reiko murakami, risingshadow, short stories, spooky bloggery, teleread, the monstrous

With a month to go before superstar editor Ellen Datlow’s forthcoming anthology THE MONSTROUS rises from the depths, the positive press keeps rolling in.

Ellen Datlow with one of her favorite monsters

For RISINGSHADOW, Seregil of Rhiminee lauds the book and includes individual reviews of each story.

I’m glad I had an opportunity to read and review THE MONSTROUS, because it’s an excellent horror anthology. It will be of interest to readers who enjoy reading dark fantasy and horror stories. The stories range fascinatingly from dark fantasy flavoured horror fiction to explicit horror fiction, and from psychologically challenging horror fiction to disquieting and deeply disturbing horror fiction.

One of the best things about THE MONSTROUS is that it contains versatile stories. It gives a good overview of what contemporary horror fiction has to offer for readers, because it has something for everybody. No matter what your taste in horror fiction is, you’ll find much to enjoy in this anthology. (In my opinion, Ellen Datlow has done her best to select interesting and as versatile stories about monsters as possible to this anthology. It was fascinating to read about the different kind of monsters.)

By the way, if you’re wondering whether THE MONSTROUS is worth reading or not, I can say that it’s definitely worth reading. If you’re fascinated by monsters, this anthology is essential reading material for you, because you’ll have an opportunity to read about many different kind of monsters, some of which are the kind of beings that you’d never want to meet in real life.

The cover image, “Her Will (The Other Side)”, by Reiko Murakami looks beautifully unsettling. It’s a perfect cover image to this anthology.

THE MONSTROUS will chill and darken your day in a terrifyingly sweet way. When you begin to read it, you’ll most likely have problems putting it down, because all of the stories are intriguing and they may cause a few moments of unease and distress to readers.

Highly recommended!

Read the rest of Seregil of Rhiminee’s review at RISINGSHADOW.

TELEREAD praises the anthology and the editor.

In these dog-days of generic Lovecraftian smorgasbords, a collection entitled The Monstrous could easily evoke jaded expectations of yet more creaking tentacles and stale Yog-Sothothery. Even a name like Ellen Datlow, doyenne of horror/weird anthologists, might not conjure up greater hopes, though she did already cover this base with her LOVECRAFT’S MONSTERS . So I’m happy to be able to report that this anthology manages to cast its net far wider than the waters off R’lyeh or Innsmouth, and snare a far more diverse catch of monstrosities, many from no particular mythos at all – or from very private and very unsettling personal mythologies.

Datlow has more backed-up expertise and accumulated assets than almost any other horror/dark/weird editor in the business. It certainly shows in this collection. It’s one of the most monstrous compilations around, and you may find yourself dreaming of its various manifestations for weeks or months afterwards (just not tentacled ones).

Read the rest of the review at TELEREAD.

Kristin Centorcelli at MY BOOKISH WAYS included THE MONSTROUS in her October 2015 Must Reads in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

While not directly related to THE MONSTROUS, Ellen Datlow is interviewed at SPOOKY BLOGGERY.

For more information on LOVECRAFT’S MONSTERS, Tachyon visit the site .

Cover by John Coulthart

For more on THE MONSTROUS, visit the Tachyon page.

Illustrations by John Coulthart

Cover by Reiko Murakami

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

July 29, 2015

The awe-inspiring FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS is a must read

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized afro-caribbean, chuma hill, collection, elizabeth story, falling in love with hominids, fantasy, my bookish ways, nalo hopkinson, review, science fiction, the skeptical reader

(photo: Aurora Public Library)

MY BOOKISH WAYS included Nalo Hopkinson’s FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS on their list of August 2015 Must Reads in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, while THE SKEPTICAL READER gives the awe-inspiring collection 3 our of 5 stars.

I’ve been wanting to try Nalo Hopkinson was a really long time now and somehow have never been able to locate her works in bookshops. So obviously when I saw this one up for review on NetGalley, I pounced on it immediately. It took a while to get through as I’ve mentioned but I was quite impressed by some of the stories in this collection.

Like any short story/anthology collection, this one was quite varied in its themes, narrations, and the reactions it wangled from me. There were some stories in here which were awe-inspiring but then there were some I could barely get through, despite each of them just being short stories. It’s a very strange blend — I had so much appreciation for some, but then so much dislike for some others.

What I actually thought was the most impressive part of this collection is the little introduction Hopkinson provides in the beginning of each story. Because short stories are such microscopic, abstract narratives, having insight into the thought process of the writer penning them brought about a whole new dimension to the product. Not always, but often her introductions would set the stories perfectly into the “big picture” she was trying to emulate via her storytelling. Absolutely adored the creativity.

Other wonderful elements Hopkinson plays around with are allusions, literary references, and at times, what seemed to me, an attempt to retell a popular story or myth. This was both entertaining and frustrating. Frustrating because there was a story introduced with a connection to The Tempest and another which is inspired by Goblin Market and while I loved that she drew inspirations from these, as someone who’s read Goblin Market but not The Tempest, I was unsure how much I really like this technique. Obviously I’m missing out on some another layer of symbolism by not having read The Tempest, especially since I understood her story relating to Goblin Market more because I was already familiar with the poem.

Read the entire review at THE SKEPTICAL READER.

Discover the rest of the August must reads at MY BOOKISH WAYS.

For more information on FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Chuma Hill

Design by Elizabeth Story

November 10, 2014

WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE is creepy, but also oddly charming

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized daryl gregory, elizabeth story, horror, Kristin Centorcelli, my bookish ways, review, we are all completely fine

At My Bookish Ways, Kristin Centorcelli reviews Daryl Gregory’s We Are All Completely Fine.

Each story is fascinating, and certainly terrifying, but it’s all building toward Greta, whose story has never really ended, and when she finally reveals it, it’s a punch in the gut in its insidiousness, and also its potential for wide scale disaster. It’s disaster that the group will eventually attempt to avert, and watching them come together to do it is a joy to behold. I fell in love with each of these damaged people, and as fragile as they are, they’re equally heroic, and the strength they’ve found in order to keep living after such trauma is haunting, and oddly inspiring.

<snip>

Gregory has always been good at the little things, the subtle things, even as not so subtle stuff starts happening. This is a creepy book, but it’s also oddly charming, but then, I love stories about broken people that find comfort in each other. There are also a few surprises at the end that are creepy and sweet at the same time. How does he do that?? I suppose much the same way he manages to make a book that comes in under 300 pages so nuanced and complex. This is a scary, funny, bittersweet, fantastic book, and Gregory’s imagination is twisted and wonderful. Good thing we’ve got Harrison Squared coming up in 2015. I’ll be the first in line.

Read the rest of Centorcelli’s review at My Bookish Ways.

For information on We Are All Completely Fine, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

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