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January 7, 2021

Best and favorite books of 2020 include KITTY’S MIX-TAPE, THE IMMORTAL CONQUISTADOR, MEET ME IN THE FUTURE, THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN, and THE SWORD & SORCERY ANTHOLOGY

Rick Klaw blog best of 2020, brandon sanderson, Carrie Vaughn, David G. Hartwell, jacob weisman, kameron hurley, kitty's mix tape, leticia toraci, meet me in the future, my writer's journey, polish, poltergeist, r/TrueLit, reddit, the emperor's soul, the immortal conquistador, the sword & sorcery anthology, the very best of caitlin r kiernan, words i write crazy 0

As the new year begins, lists, recounting the best selections from the previous year, emerge.

Cover by Carl Sutton
Design by Elizabeth Story

Leticia Toraci on MY WRITER’S JOURNEY shared their favorite reads of the year.

My Favorite Books Of 2020 Part One: Science fiction starts with Kameron Hurley’s MEET ME IN THE FUTURE.

This was a page-turner, interesting story collection. The stories were very original and I could not put it down. I surely will want to read more books by this author in the near future.

My Favorite Books Of 2020 Part Two: Fantasy And Other Genres mentions Brandon Sanderson’s THE EMPEROR’S SOUL and The Way of Kings.

Sanderson’s books are Epic in every sense, with fascinating story worlds and awesome, multi-layered characters. I plan to read all his books, I repeat, all of them! I hope to read faster than the velocity in which he writes masterpieces, but I probably won’t manage that.

Cover by Hannes Hummel
Design by Elizabeth Story

On REDDIT r/TrueLit, gentell_wherewithal includes THE VERY BEST OF CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN among What were your top reads of 2020?

I liked her novels but having this anthology made it clear that while she is happy to present her ‘best’ as working within a pretty narrow range of subject matter and themes – sad lesbians with broken relationships looking out at the sea, symbolic or literal mermaids, Lovecraftian body horror – she has nonetheless shown an ability to do all that in surprisingly different ways over a long career.

The Polish site POLTERGEIST shared that THE SWORD & SORCERY ANTHOLOGY, edited by David G Hartwell and Jacob Weisman, was one of their favorite discoveries of the year.

Another anthology, this time fantastic. A dozen or so short stories, most of which range from fairly decent to excellent . Howard, Martin, Moorcook (Drakestar – thanks for the note on Chaos – I knew I’d seen that name somewhere) and some others. I didn’t like only two stories, the rest – Cossack.
Translation from Polish, courtesy of Google

February 8, 2018

Tachyon tidbits featuring Ellen Datlow, Brandon Sanderson, Carmen Maria Machado, and Lavie Tidhar

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized alexander nanitchkov, best of 2017, brandon sanderson, camille andre, carmen maria machado, central station, dragons zombies and aliens, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, hipinion, lavie tidhar, lubimyczytać.pl, nightmares: a new decade of modern horror, nihil, noticias de zallar, nuno ferreira, polish, portuguese, review, sarah anne langton, the emperor's soul, the husband stitch, the new voices of fantasy

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

Ellen Datlow, Brandon Sanderson (credit: Ceridwen via Wikimedia Commons), Carmen Maria Machado, and Lavie Tidhar (Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013)

DRAGONS, ZOMBIES AND ALIENS praises Ellen Datlow’s NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR.

Anthologies are, by their nature, hit-or-miss, but I can honestly say that most of the stories in here were very good. There was suspense, creeps, and a couple of them even managed to be funny. It made me laugh one minute and squirm in my seat the next, which was undoubtedly very confusing to anyone who happened to be in the room with me at the time.

My favorite top five stories from NIGHTMARES are:

“The Atlas of Hell” by Nathan Ballingrud
“Ambitious Boys Like You” by Richard Kadrey
“Our Turn Too Will One Day Come” by Brian Hodge
“Sob in the Silence” by Gene Wolfe
“Strappado” by Laird Barron

I recommend this book to everyone, even those who, like me, honestly aren’t that interested in horror literature. It’s well worth the read.

On the Portuguese site NOTICIAS DE ZALLAR, Nuno Ferreira enjoys Brandon Sanderson’s Hugo Award winner THE EMPEROR’S SOUL.

Much remained to be seen of the relations that could come between them, even because they are characters that, developed, surely marked more than they already did. Which, for me, was enough.

Forgery is yet another magic system to join Brandon Sanderson’s super-original creations. The author got the idea by observing a technique of carving Chinese stamps in a museum in Taiwan , and it turned out. This novella has one more story full of potential and would like to see, in a brief future, a correlation between the story of THE EMPEROR’S SOUL and that of Elantris, since they occur in the same world.

Rating: 8/10

(Translation from the Portuguese, courtesy of Google)

On HIPINION, there is an entire thread devoted to Carmen Maria Machado’s short story “The Husband Stitch,” which appears in Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman’s THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY.

by Catullus » Sat Jan 27, 2018 4:50 pm

I’m going to put a general warning that there are some uncomfortable scenes and moments in this, and that it has sexual imagery etc.

https://granta.com/the-husband-stitch/

I’ve never read it before and I am still not over it. I love it and yet it made me feel wildly uncomfortable and yet its familiar at the same time.

Somehow it captures something about being a woman that I don’t know that I’ve seen before. It’s very cis-focused, and white, though there’s something to it that serves as a critique of that.

I somehow like that I know the ending of the story and yet it still comes as a cruel surprise in a way.

I’d love to hear people’s takes.

by big zorb » Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:01 pm

oh whoa i remember this. it’s a really fantastic story. the control in the writing i remember thinking was really remarkable–there are a million places where it would be easy to lose control of the narrative/tone/voice/themes but she doesn’t. she holds it all together. excellent stuff.

by Catullus » Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:05 pm

I think it’s just that the writing immediately feels slightly dangerous and yet familiar. I can tell what you mean by controlled. It’s like no part of it is unnecessary and all of it advances to fold together nicely, which is kind of a rarity in writing.

The pay off is both heartbreaking and also you get this sense of righteous anger that makes you want to share it, so naturally that makes it something I love because ya’ll know I love being angry for righteous reasons heh

At the Polish site LUBIMYCZYTAĆ.PL, Lavie Tidhar’s John W. Campbell Award winner CENTRAL STATION is nominated for the best science fiction book of the year.

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

Cover by Nihil

Design by Elizabeth Story

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

Cover art by Alexander Nanitchkov

Design by Elizabeth Story

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

Cover art by Camille André

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

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

Cover by Sarah Anne Langton

January 23, 2018

Peter Watts’ forthcoming novel THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION is interesting-sounding

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized civilian reader, dzika banda, elizabeth story, interview, john denardo, kirkus, Peter Watts, polish, sunflowers, the freeze frame revolution

CIVILIAN READER includes Peter Watts’ THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION among their listing of New Books (December 2017-January 2018).

Thought this was an interesting-sounding sci-fi novel. THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION is due to be published by Tachyon in May 2018, in North America and the UK.

John DeNardo on KIRKUS mentions the novel among Looking Ahead: A Preview of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Books 2018 Has to Offer.

Meanwhile, THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION by Peter Watts depicts a most unusual rebellion of the future, slowly taking place one day out of every million.

Photo by Johan Angelmark (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons

On the Polish site DZIKA BANDA, Adrian Turzański interviews Peter Watts.

What are you currently working on? Somewhere it has been said that over Sunflowers. Apparently you already have three stories finished.

I am currently working on answers to this interview. In the meantime, I intertwine this with a small SF script written for people from X-Prize (I just got recruited to their “Science Fiction Advisory Board”, I have no idea what it is).

Interesting that you mentioned Sunflowers. I just sent the fourth story from this series to my editor in Tachyon, it’s called THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION and it’s about the rebellion, mentioned from time to time in several other stories. It seems to me that soon it will also be published in Russian.

Then I have plans for Intelligent Design. Technothriller of the near future, talking about “smart money” and genetically modified giant squid.

Translation from Polish courtesy of Google

For more info on THE FREEZE-FRAME REVOLUTION, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Elizabeth Story

September 13, 2017

Lavie Tidhar’s breathtaking CENTRAL STATION is lyrical and imaginative

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized argo, central station, centrální stanice, czech, czytanka na dobranoc, karolina sulinska escudo, lavie tidhar, polish, rascunhos, sarah anne langton

Photo: Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013

At the Polish site CZYTANKA NA DOBRANOC, Karolina Sulinska Escudo enjoys Lavie Tidhar’s John W. Campbell Award winning CENTRAL STATION.

CENTRAL STATION is one of the most breathtaking, surprising and imaginary stories I’ve read. The style of the author reminds me of the prose of Hannu Rajaniemi, although it is more lyrical and imaginative. Tidhar in his latest novel merged the previously published stories. It’s back to the golden age of SF with a distinct retro note that makes the imaginary world incredibly colorful and rich. It combines the past with the future and makes the reader feel the longing for other works of this genre. Ba, even behind those unread.

Polish edition

CENTRAL STATION is really a great book, but you can not approach it with the assumption that we hit a work of art, because it is a truly special novel, which will also receive a wide circle of critics. It seems to me that the idea for the book was the idea of creating another, new and futuristic world, and the story itself was marginalized. This novel was made up of fragments of finished stories, which the author decided to loosely connect with each other. Each of the stories told is interesting, but there is no main motive to push the narrative forward. You can see the structure here, but we’re going to lose all the pleasure of reading so deeply. Because it’s not the heroes, not the events are important only the reality in which they play out. These stories are narrated in isolation from the events described, from a distance, which in practice limits and often even excludes the involvement of heroes. Often unfinished, taken out of context, are only part of a larger puzzle-picture of the future world. However, I will add that narration also plays an important role in this book, is an additional factor in the world of knowledge.

Tidhar has absorbed and digested so many science fiction genres to finally give us something new and innovative, something I have not met so far, a book in which you hear echoes of reading from the past. Spectacular, often poetic, prose made me unable to break away from her. I was so absorbed in the details of the world that I exposed, that practically to the last page I did not notice the lack of a plot. For me it was sensational and without it. Must read.

(Translation from Polish courtesy of Google)

The Portuguese site RASCUNHOS praises the novel.

Futurist, presenting the next step of human evolution in which one is born already with connections that allow the transmission of data, nevertheless achieves a somewhat reticent vision, with positive points but without great euphoria, in a scenario decadent in which humans continue to have their existential doubts, their intersections and communication failures. A story both futuristic and human;

(Translation from Portuguese courtesy of Google)

The Czech edition of CENTRAL STATION (CENTRÁLNÍ STANICE) is coming out in December from Argo.

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

Cover by Sarah Anne Langton

June 14, 2017

Tachyon tidbits featuring Michael Swanwick, Joe R. Lansdale, and Lavie Tidhar

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized blood and lemonade, central station, elizabeth story, gregory frost, hap and leonard: blood and lemonade, Joe R. Lansdale, lavie tidhar, liars club oddcast, michael swanwick, molly odintz, mystery people, not so much said the cat, paradoks, polish, stacja centralna

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

Michael Swanwick (photo: Beth Gwynn), Joe R. Lansdale (Karen Lansdale), and Lavie Tidhar (Kevin Nixon. © Future Publishing 2013)

Gregory Frost on his eponymous site shares the news that Michael Swanwick, author of NOT SO MUCH SAID THE CAT, joins the LIARS CLUB ODDCAST.

My good friend the amazingly inventive Michael Swanwick joins us on the LIARS CLUB ODDCAST this week to discuss the craft of writing science fiction and fantasy, his fascination with his con artists Darger and Surplus (and with writing short fiction) and even a bit of musing on the works of George R. R. Martin. Don’t miss a great interview with this multiple-award-winning author!

For MYSTERYPEOPLE, Molly Odintz discusses Joe R. Lansdale in A (Partial) Atlas of Texas Crime Fiction.

These are the two main threads of Texas crime fiction still today – tales of the city and the hypocrisy beneath its polite surface, and stories of small town secrets, where no matter how much prejudice is visible on the surface, there’s always more hidden beneath. Joe R. Lansdale continues Thompson’s mantle (with added horror and humor) in his Hap & Leonard series, as well as his stand-alone novels THE THICKET and SUNSET & SAWDUST, preserving the beauty of East Texas speech and nature while not shying away from the crass, casual brutality of East Texas lives, all while pointing out the absurdities of his setting and his characters.

PARADOKS previews STACJA CENTRALNA, the Polish edition of Lavie Tidhar’s Clarke, Campbell, and Locus award-nominated CENTRAL STATION.

In July, a science fiction novel “Central Station” by Lavie Tidhar will be published by Zysk i S-ka. This is a wonderful, multidimensional and deep story that combines all the best features of the genre. One of the best science-ficton novels by 2016, among others. “The Guardian”, “io9”.

(Translation from Polish courtesy of Google)

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

Cover design by Elizabeth Story

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

Cover by Elizabeth Story

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