not so much said the cat

May 25, 2016

Tachyon tidbits featuring Gordon Van Gelder, Michael Swanwick, and Ellen Datlow

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized a reader of fictions, anthology, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, Gordon Van Gelder, horror, michael swanwick, nightmares, nightmares: a new decade of modern horror, nihil, not so much said the cat, paolo bacigalupi, patrick mahon, review, science fiction, sf crowsnest, the very best of fantasy & science fiction, Thomas Canty, wisb, wisb award

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

Gordon Van Gelder, Ellen Datlow, and Michael Swanwick

Patrick Mahon at SF CROWSNEST recommends Gordon Van Gelder’s THE VERY BEST OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION: VOLUME 2.

‘The Very Best Of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Volume Two’ came out in 2014 and is part of a long series of anthologies of classic stories from the pages of ‘The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction’. Volume One, which I reviewed here in 2009, came out to mark the sixtieth year of the magazine’s publication. This one came out five years later to mark another milestone in MF&SF’s existence. It includes twenty-seven stories published across every decade from the 1950s to the present day and authored by such genre luminaries as Robert Heinlein, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Gene Wolfe, Damon Knight and Brian Aldiss, to name but a selection. Most are short stories although the longest, strictly speaking, qualify as novelettes.

I haven’t got the time or space to summarise every single story here. Instead I’ll focus on my personal favourites and highlight a couple of examples that I was less sure about.

My favourite story in the book is Paolo Bacigalupi’s 2004 SF story, ‘The People Of Sand And Slag’. Set on Earth, many decades in our future, when much of the environment has been destroyed by large-scale industrial mining, the story follows the exploits of Chen, Lisa and Jaak, three soldiers who have been heavily genetically engineered so that they can eat polluted mud and regrow destroyed limbs. They are guarding a mine from intruders when they come across something none of them have seen in their entire lives, a real live dog! What should they do with it? As he does in most of his work, Bacigalupi paints a radically different model of humanity’s future here. He then illustrates just how awful it is by inserting an ordinary dog into this Brave New World and letting us see how the humans react to it. The three lead characters are convincing, despite their radical physiology and the way they deal with the dog’s intrusion into what is otherwise a largely inorganic world is enthralling. I found this story and, particularly the ending, thought-provoking and highly effective.

On the other hand, the book contains a broad range of different types of SF and fantasy stories from across the last six decades, many of which will repay repeated readings into the future, I am sure. As Michael Dirda says in his introductory essay, the anthology demonstrates a ‘continuity of excellence’ in the stories that have been published by MF&SF over the years. If you like quality short fiction and you’re looking for an anthology that collects together stories both old and new, I’d warmly recommend that you check out ‘The Very Best Of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Volume Two’.

A READER OF FICTIONS comments on Elizabeth Story’s cover of Michael Swanwick’s forthcoming collection NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT.

Thoughts: Look at that adorable angry cat. I’m so happy.

Ellen Datlow wins the 2016 WISB Award for Best Editor (Any Length).

Ellen Datlow is, unsurprisingly, one of the best editors in the field. And her work this year was some of the best. She edited two of my favorite novellas, Usman T. Malik’s The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn and Kelly Robson’s Waters of Versailles, and a number of other exceptional stories for Tor.com. In fact, I have come to love so much of her editing work that I look forward to the next thing she puts out for Tor and eagerly await her wonderful anthologies (heck, even the Best of Horror ones, even though I’m not a big horror guy). We are truly fortunate to have Datlow’s vision in the sf/f field.

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

Cover by Thomas Canty

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info on NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Nihil

Design by Elizabeth Story

May 16, 2016

Civic duty with Michael Swanwick and Beelzebub

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized beelzebub, collection, elizabeth story, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat

Now home from his Russian sojourn, Michael Swanwick continues his reports with Beelzebub.

Beelzebub made sure to make two votes for every candidate. He is a true lower-case democrat.

And what exactly does this have to do with his forthcoming collection, NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT? All is to be revealed soon…

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

May 12, 2016

“Michael Swanwick is a god” and other observations

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized blurbs, elizabeth story, fran wilde, greg bear, jack mcdevitt, James Morrow, Jane Yolen, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat, quotes

Several authors have chimed in with their affection for Michael Swanwick’s forthcoming collection NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT.

“Is
there any SF writer, living or dead or cryonically suspended, who
rivals Michael Swanwick for sheer virtuosity? I think not. From
the hard-sf poignancy of ‘The Woman Who Shook the World Tree’ to
the Borgesian high jinks of ‘The Man in Gray,’ from the beguiling
folk fantasy of ‘The Dala Horse’ to the post-cyberpunk intensity
of ‘Libertarian Russia,’ from the Bulgakov-inflected
phantasmagoria of ‘Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown’ to the
psychological realism (and biological surrealism) of ‘Passage of
Earth’—I could go on—NOT SO MUCH reveals an author who is a Jack-of-all-genres and their master as well.“
—James
Morrow author of GALÁPAGOS
REGAINED

“OK—it’s official. Michael Swanwick is a god. He makes worlds that
work, every tick and tock of them. He makes people who cry, sweat,
puke, fall in love, die in conceivable ways. He’s smart and crafty,
passionate and wily. Both trickster and life-giver. He creates and
uncreates. And yes, he brings Light. If I don’t exactly worship him,
I read every story of his I can get my hands on. So thanks, Tachyon
for bringing me more stories—some old favorites, some I hadn’t read
before. Because gods need their readers, and God knows, I need
more Swanwick.”
—Jane Yolen, author of BRIAR
ROSE

“Michael
Swanwick is one of our most reliably entertaining and provocative
writers.”

—Greg Bear, author of DARWIN’S
RADIO

“I
would effuse about the excellence of the stories within this
collection—Michael Swanwick’s eleventh such—for they are by turns
shocking, delightful, puckish, innovative, and electric… .
However, I am too busy plotting how to steal the devil’s stone
(given to him by a Siberian shaman) that Michael keeps by his
typewriter in order to unlock his writing power, all without
disturbing his cat.”
—Fran
Wilde, Nebula-nominated author of UPDRAFT and CLOUDBOUND

“This
is standard Swanwick, where the reader’s feet never quite touch the
ground. Brilliant.”
—Jack
McDevitt, author of THE ENGINES OF GOD

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

May 4, 2016

NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT is awesome

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized brad k horner, collection, elizabeth story, leah bayer, lipstick & libraries, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat, review

On his eponymous site, Brad K. Horner praises Michael Swanwick and his forthcoming collection, NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This man is a superlative author.

I’m deathly worried about spoiling anything about this short story collection because all I want to do is gush and gush about the transposition of ideas here, the character building there, the truly awesome amount of storytelling SKILLS that he seems to effortlessly embody. He lays out words with such clarity and beauty and beastly knowledge about the SF (and fantasy!) fields, that I’m frankly floored. He’s consistently original, widely exploratory, and best of all, he is consummately entertaining.

I could gush on and on, but what I really, really want to do is discuss his stories. There’s really a ton that I want to say, but spoiling anything at this point would do everyone a disservice, and that’s precisely the opposite of what I want. I want to tell EVERYONE that Michael Swanwick has got to be one of the very best SF authors alive.

Well I can tell you right now, I’m never turning my back on short stories again if this guy is still writing them. I didn’t meet a single story I didn’t absolutely love.

They were all a perfect marriage of classic stories and bleeding edge tech, from godlike continental AIs to the abolishment of time, clever discourse on libertarianism and zero-sum economics in a mirroring tale of humanity and alien bugs, fairy tales and one of the best futuristic con-games I’ve ever had the pleasure of consuming. 🙂 There was even a literary love-story of an American Pushkin that surprised and delighted the hell out of me even as it baffled me, too. 🙂

Some of my absolute favorites, even though I loved them all, were:

The Dala Horse – Great world building, great fairy tale.
Passage of Earth – NICE and twisty invasion story.
The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree – I’m NOT spoiling this one, but trust me. It’s COOL. 🙂
Tawny Pettycoats – I’m a sucker for con games.

Leah Bayer at LIPSTICK & LIBRARIES accidentally fell in love with the collection.

Let’s be real: I read this book because the word cat is in the name. It’s a chronic weakness of mine. Book is about cats? I’m gonna read it. Cat on the cover? Gonna read it. Cat in the title? You know the drill. But while this was a ridiculous impulse read (I barely skimmed the description before picking it up) I fell head-over-heels in love with this collection of stories.

It’s hard to describe the overall feel of this book, because so many different genres and moods are tackled. There’s surreal, futuristic fairy tales. Hard science fiction. More traditional fantasy. Horror. A lot of the inspiration is pulled from folklore or fairy tales, but none of these feel familiar. “The Dala Horse,” for example, has some classic Red Riding Hood traits (along with, I swear, Dora the Explorer–our girl has a talking backpack and map!) but it’s so utterly bizarre and indescribable. “Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown,” my favorite from the collection, is about a girl’s deal with the devil while in hell, but it’s like no hell I’ve seen in literature and the deal is so interesting and novel.

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

April 18, 2016

Tachyon tidbits featuring Daryl Gregory, Patricia A. McKillip, Michael Swanwick, and Cory Doctorow

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized Ann Monn, collection, content, content: selected essays on technology creativity copyright and the future of technology and the future of the future, cory doctorow, daryl gregory, dreams of distant shores, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, horror, litteriium, michael swanwick, morbier & metal, not so much said the cat, patricia a mckillip, pooled ink, review, science fiction, spoonbenders, the hollywood reporter, Thomas Canty, we are all completely fine

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

Daryl Gregory, Patricia A. McKillip (by Patti Perret from FACES OF FANTASY), Michael Swanwick (by Beth Gwynn), and Cory Doctorow (by Ed Schipul, Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia)

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER announced SPOONBENDERS, the new novel by Daryl Gregory, the extraordinary author of the World Fantasy Award winner WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE.

SPOONBENDERS, a hot manuscript about an eccentric family of magicians (think Royal Tenenbaums with psychics) by Daryl Gregory, has been acquired by Knopf for publishing and Paramount TV for television, in what sources say was a competitive auction on both fronts that involved multiple bidders. Terms of the deal were not announced, but the publishing-side advance is said to be at least in the high-six-figure range.

SPOONBENDERS is the story of the Amazing Telemachus Family, who became famous for their magic and mind-reading act before the magic disappeared one night on live TV. Years later, Matty, the grandson of patriarch Teddy Telemachus, rediscovers a little of the magic and then must stay one step ahead of the CIA, the Mafia and the magic debunker out to show they are frauds. The manuscript is said to evoke the work of Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem.

Morbier & Metal lavishes effusive praise upon Patricia A. McKillip’s forthcoming collection DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES.

I have never in all my reading days, as far as I know read anything by McKillip. How I have overlooked such a powerful storyteller I have no idea. This collection of stories is simply stunning; so good that I wound up rereading several of the stories so I could keep the entrancing spell each of them casts alive. Each is tuned to its own beauty and pulls you directly in, the reader invokes the spell but have no doubt McKillip is the one who breathes life into them.

There are seven enriched tales included. From the very first one, Weird, you know this is a master storyteller. How else to explain the gravitational pull created by two lovers locked within a bathroom while only your imagination knows what hunts them from outside. Or the sublime tale of Edith and Henry on an idyllic search for a cool breeze who find an afternoon of wonder. But by far the shining jewel in this collection is Something Rich and Strange. This story reaches back into the love we have had with legends and folktales, reaches back into our primal connection to the sea and pulls us down as surely as any mermaid ever compelled sailor to gladly dive to his doom. You could lose yourself in this story again and again and find something new and entrancing each time. This is not just a pearl, this is the story of the pearl full of the torment needed to create the ultimate beauty.

Angel JC at POOLED INK delivers the first review of Michael Swanwick’s forthcoming collection, NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT.

A whirlwind of stories that take you across the world, through different pockets of time, and into a sample of the lives being lived, NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT is an excellent compilation. Swanwick’s latest book is a delight to read, both entertaining and insightful.

This book is in fact a collection of science fiction stories. Each tale is related and connected on some thin plane and yet they remain completely independent of one another. They feature a vast array of characters and the settings jump all over the world. Many are written with a unique blend capturing the charming thrum of an old folk tale and melding it with perhaps a little magic plus a future filled with bots, smart objects, and other science fiction tropes and themes.

Each story explores its own ideas and is filled with endless thoughts beneath the surface. In particular I picked up ‘free will’ as a subtle reoccurring theme.

Swanwick’s latest literary contribution, NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT, is a thought-provoking, simply complex, and adventurous smattering of science fiction short stories. Allow each story to take you someplace utterly unexpected and yet a place that inexplicably feels a tad familiar.

The LITERARIUM reviews Cory Doctrow’s CONTENT: SELECTED ESSAYS ON TECHNOLOGY, CREATIVITY, COPYRIGHT, AND THE FUTURE OF THE FUTURE.

I first want to say that I do not normally publish reviews on any sort of politically-based non-fiction–I’ve only done it once as far as I remember, and that was for Malala Yousafzai’s I Am Malala–but I felt Cory Doctorow’s essay collection, Content, merited a write-up for a few reasons. Reason one is the relevancy of the subjects covered in this collection. In the midst of a public scandal and fallout between Apple and the FBI regarding the San Bernadino terrorist’s “locked” iPhone and Apple’s refusal to create a damaging and Orwellian “backdoor” to get into it, Doctorow’s arguments for privacy, copyright, and freedom need to be need to be screamed louder by the world’s citizens.

In articles such as “Microsoft Research DRM Talk,” “The DRM Sausage Factory,” or “World of Democracycraft,” Doctorow reflects on the concept of what he calls the “information economy” or the buying, selling, and ownership of knowledge, media, and information access. There are a couple of important arguments he makes, one is that DRM is one form of control used by big business to control access to information, hindering our freedom, creativity, and rights of ownership and access in the process. The other argument is that power structures are built on the possession of information. Those that have access to information, those with the ability to control it–in whatever way–are those with the true power.

Ultimately, though, Doctorow’s essays in this collection, are still important for the ongoing discussion of freedom, personal rights, and access to information and the openness of the internet. Even though he lacks the specific factual and statistical research in most of his essays needed to drive his message fully home, I recommend everyone read these essays and to keep an open mind, because they are the start to addressing how we travel a very long road ahead toward a digital world, and I appreciated his work very much

For more information on WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info about DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Thomas Canty

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

For more info on CONTENT: SELECTED ESSAYS ON TECHNOLOGY, CREATIVITY, COPYRIGHT, AND THE FUTURE OF THE FUTURE, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover design by Ann Monn

April 14, 2016

Dancing in the Red Square with Michael Swanwick and Beelzebub

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized beelzebub, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat, red square, russia, st basil

We asked Michael Swanwick to send us reports during his recent visit to Russia.

After talk of Beelzebub boozing it up at Roscon and a flashback to the beginning, we now catch up with Beelzebub at an iconic Moscow structure.

Beelzebub dancing in Red Square, in front of St. Basil’s.

And what exactly does this have to do with his forthcoming collection, NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT? All is to be revealed soon…

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

April 5, 2016

Reviewers, bloggers, and librarians get 5 time Hugo Award-winner Michael Swanwick’s NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, elizabeth story, michael swanwick, netgalley, not so much said the cat, short stories

Review copies of the World Fantasy Award winner Michael Swanwick’s NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT are now available via NetGalley.

These copies are only for reviewers and librarians. For more details, visit NetGalley.

And while you are there, check out the other Tachyon titles for review.

Not So Much, Said the Cat

by Michael Swanwick

The master of literary science fiction returns with this dazzling new collection. Michael Swanwick takes us on a whirlwind journey across the globe and across time and space, where magic and science exist in possibilities that are not of this world. Travel from Norway to Russia, and America to ancient Gehenna. Discover a calculus problem that rocks the ages and robots who both nurture and kill. Meet a magical horse who protects the innocent, a semi-repentant troll, a savvy teenager who takes on the Devil, and time travelers from the Mesozoic who party till the end of time. These are tales intimate in their telling, galactic in their scope, and deliciously sesquipedalian in their verbiage.

Prasie for Michael Swanwick

“Swanwick’s wildly imaginative and beautifully written short stories have been, for several years, one of the primary joys of the field.”
—Washington Post Book World

“One of contemporary sf’s greatest short-story writers.”
—Interzone

“One of the most powerful and consistently inventive short story writers of his generation.”
—Gardner Dozois, editor of the Year’s Best Science Fiction series

“An amazingly assured writer, seemingly incapable of writing a sentence that isn’t interesting in itself, in addition to the way it moves the sentence forward.”
—New York Review of Science Fiction

“Michael Swanwick is darkly magnificent.”
—Jack McDevitt, author of The Engines of God

“Swanwick’s prose takes no prisoners.”
—Time Out Chicago

Introduction by Michael Swanwick

Steadfast Castle

The Man in Grey

The Dala Horse

The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree

Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown

3 A.M. in the Mesozoic Bar

Passage of Earth

From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled …

For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again

Libertarian Russia

The Scarecrow’s Boy

The She-Wolf’s Hidden Grin

Goblin Lake

Pushkin the American

An Empty House with Many Doors

Tawny Petticoats

The House of Dreams

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

March 29, 2016

A beginning, of sorts, for Michael Swanwick and Beelzebub

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized beelzebub, collection, elizabeth story, michael swanwick, mikhail bulgakov, not so much said the cat, roscon, russia, the master and margarita

We asked Michael Swanwick to send us reports during his recent visit to Russia.

After talk of Beelzebub boozing it up at Roscon, we now flashback to the beginning of our saga.

Beelzebub, preparing for his trip to Russia. He was named in homage to Mikhail Bulgakov, who put a similarly attired cat in THE MASTER AND
MARGARITA.

And what exactly does this have to do with Michael Swanwick’s forthcoming collection, NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT? All is to be revealed soon…

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

March 28, 2016

Bumming around Russia with Beelzebub and Michael Swanwick

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized beelzebub, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat, roscon, russia, science fiction

We asked Michael Swanwick to send us reports during his recent visit to Russia.

What we got was an unexpected tour with Beelzebub sharing some of the highlights and lowlights.

Beelzebub at a whiskey tasting party at Roscon, Russia’s national science fiction convention. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that he’s clutching a bottle of Writers’ Tears.

And what exactly does this have to do with his forthcoming collection, NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT? All is to be revealed soon…

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

March 8, 2016

Forthcoming Michael Swanwick collection renamed as NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, elizabeth story, michael swanwick, not so much said the cat, science fiction, short stories

The previously announced Michael Swanwick collection has received a new title and cover.

NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT

Join the caravan through Swanwick’s worlds and into the playground of his mind. Travel from Norway to Russia and America to Gehenna. Discover a calculus problem that rocks the ages and robots who both nurture and kill. Meet a magical horse who protects the innocent, a semi-repentant troll, a savvy teenager who takes on the Devil, and time travelers from the Mesozoic who party till the end of time.

Photo by Beth Gwinn

The Man in Grey

The Dala Horse

The Scarecrow’s Boy

Passage of Earth

3 A.M. in the Mesozoic Bar

Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown

The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree

Goblin Lake

From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled …

For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again

Libertarian Russia

Tawny Petticoats

Steadfast Castle

Pushkin the American

An Empty House with Many Doors

The She-Wolf’s Hidden Grin

The House of Dreams

NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT slinks your way this August.

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

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Tachyon Publications

not so much said the cat

tachyonpub

not so much said the cat

Review copies of the World Fantasy Award winner Michael Swanwick’s NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT are now available via NetGalley.

Prasie for Michael Swanwick

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS