Three weeks prior to the announced print date, actual physical hard back copies of HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION appeared in the Tachyon offices!
This beauty should be available from all finer booksellers soon.
For more info on HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Lius Lasahido
Design by Elizabeth Story
Born April 26, 1912, the popular and influential writer A. E. van Vogt began his long and illustrious career writing for “true confession” style pulps. Shortly after, he decided to pursue a career as a science fiction writer. Van Vogt’s first sci fi short “The Black Destroyer” appeared in the July 1939 issue of ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION. The story remained one of his most popular stories, often cited as a source for the film ALIEN.
In a career that spanned five decades, van Vogt produced numerous legendary and acclaimed novels including SLAN, THE WEAPON MAKERS, THE WORLD OF NULL-A, THE VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE, and THE WEAPON SHOPS OF ISHER. The first of his many short story collections, OUT OF THE UNIVERSE was published in 1948.
Tachyon was honored to publish FUTURES PAST, the last of his books to see print before the author’s death in 2000.
For more info about FUTURES PAST, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by Michael Dashow.
After a successful run on the Canadian network SPACE, the second season of BITTEN premiered on SYFY. Based on Kelley Armstrong’s popular THE OTHERWORLD series of novels and short stories, BITTEN relates the tale of Elena Michaels, a female werewolf who is torn between a normal life with her human boyfriend Philip her “family” obligations as a werewolf.
Several stories set in THE OTHERWORLD universe are included in Armstrong’s forthcoming collection LED ASTRAY. LED ASTRAY will be available at all finer outlets in September.
(Image from Season One of BITTEN)
For more info about LED ASTRAY: THE VERY BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover by Elizabeth Story.
Two new reviews of HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION.
The first from SO, I READ THIS BOOK TODAY:
There is an extraordinary degree of intelligence and creativity to these stories. I hadn’t read any of Rajaniemi’s works before, and not being a true ‘hard sci-fi’ junkie as are some of the other reviewers of this marvelous collection, I was both charmed and excited by these stories that push past contemporary sci-fi into new and wonderful ideas. Physics, humans become gods, language as poetry. The limits are pushed and blurred until the stories of what comes next reach into the realm of the exceedingly strange.
This isn’t a collection for those who require only ‘light reading’. These are beautifully crafted, sometimes cutting, sometimes consoling, but always mesmerizing tales of what comes after what comes next.
It’s really difficult to explain all of the great things that occur in Hannu Rajaniemi’s stories. Instead, I’m going to highlight a few specific stories I really enjoyed and then tell you what I wish had happened.
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In addition to the great stories, the collection features a number of recurring themes like individualism, parenting, and the relationship between man and computer. I only wish there had been a theme unifying the stories together.
Overall, 4/5
For more info on HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Lius Lasahido
Design by Elizabeth Story
At MORE RED INK, editor Marty Halpern talks about his latest Tachyon work, Nalo Hopkinson’s FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS.
When you read the full text of the foreword, you will realize that this collection is more than just a book of short stories: science fiction, fantasy, and a hint of Afro-Caribbean folklore throughout… These are stories of the human condition. Each story has a soul of its own.
FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS was my first opportunity to work on stories by Nalo Hopkinson. Her first novels, BROWN GIRL IN THE RING (1998) and MIDNIGHT ROBBER (2000), sit prominently on one of my book shelves. So when Tachyon Publications informed me that this project was next on the “to do” list for me, I was anxious to get to work on it.
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I found it difficult to select just one favorite story, as so many of these were special – but if I must, it would have to be “Message in a Bottle.” This story was originally published in 2005 in FUTUREWAYS, an anthology published by Arsenal Pulp Press in Vancouver. So unless you are a hardcore fan, this story will undoubtedly be new to you, as it was for me. And I found it even more difficult to write about this story without yielding any spoilers, so beware….
Read the rest of Halpern’s comments at MORE RED INK.
For more info about FALLING IN LOVE WITH HOMINIDS, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Chuma Hill.
Design by Elizabeth Story.
Though not a Tachyon book, FIELD OF FANTASIES has several associations. Editor Rick Wilber previously produced FUTURE MEDIA for Tachyon and contributors Karen Joy Fowler, John Kessel, and W. P. Kinsella have their own titles. Our fearless leader and founder Jacob Weisman, alongside his TREASURY OF THE FANTASTIC cohort David Sandner, has a story as well.
On Saturday, April 18th at 3:00 pm, Wilber, Weisman, and Kim Stanley Robinson will all be at Borderlands in San Francisco, celebrating the book and the new baseball season.
Visit the Borderlands site for more details.
Cover design by Rain Saukas.
On his excellent MORE RED INK, Marty Halpern discusses THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA.
So that brings me to one of my recently received books: THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, from Tachyon Publications. Though when I initially worked on this book, and then wrote a blog post about it back on August 26, 2014, the working title was “The Very Best of W. P. Kinsella.”
Whether it be "The Very Best” or “The Essential” – “to-may-to, to-mah-to” – it doesn’t matter…this is really the one and only book you need to read, especially if you are new to the writing of W. P. Kinsella.
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There are quite a few baseball stories included in this collection. But the way in which Kinsella tells such a story, the reader doesn’t need an understanding of baseball; the game of baseball merely serves as a metaphor on life – and what a life it can be: W. P. Kinsella-style, and that “style” typically includes a touch of the supernatural as well.
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In an interview with Charity Nebbe on Talk of Iowa, for Iowa’s Public Radio, Kinsella said of this new collection: “I just want people to enjoy the work. I’d like them to say, ‘wow that story really moved me, or that really made me laugh, or it left me with a little tear in my eye.’ That’s all that I’ve ever wanted from my writing. I want people to enjoy it.”
Read the rest of the essay at MORE RED INK.
For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Thomas Canty.
Cover design by Elizabeth Story.
A pair of reviews praising HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION.
From
MUSINGS/TRÄUMEREIEN/DEVANEIOS:
When reading Rajaniemi we’re in another “country”. His fictiopn is everything but traditional, e.g., genre-clichéd. What we’ve got here are complexly stories where even minor details are significant (in a Rajaniemi story one can expect lots of details). Don’t expect infodumps à lá Neal Stephenson, i.e., Rajaniemi rarely breaks stride to explain his science or world (or words come to that). That is actually one of his great strengths. Rajaniemi might introduce a concept such as “quantum lovegety” (a quantum Tinder App with much more explicit undertones) but allow the rationale to disentangle through the actions and dialogue of the characters. Rajaniemi may use a term like “quantum lovegety” over and over again but not explain it clearly until much later in the story (and sometimes never).
It is a pretty good way to build a story that adds another strata of mystery to something already mysterious, and thus preventing infodumping so common to SF. Some people will hate as a matter of course. Why? Probably because they get confused (as I am sometimes). SF and Rajaniemi’s fiction in particular impart a sense of glamour, otherness, and estrangement. Don’t expect a Rajaniemi story to include a glossary of terms.
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Due to the fact that it’s a potpourri collection of fiction, some unevenness in the quality of some of the stories is to be expected. Nevertheless the best stories are up there with the best. This collection did not push all of my buttons, but rather pushed all the right ones.
When reading Rajaniemi you’re on your own. Have a nice voyage.
It’s great that Tachyon Publications has decided to publish this collection of Hannu Rajaniemi’s short fiction, because all the stories featured in this collection are interesting and will please fans of science fiction stories. If you want originality, creativity, imagination and style from your stories, you can’t go wrong by reading these stories. Whether it’s escapism or extraordinary happenings you’re looking for, you’ll find it all here within the covers of this collection. These stories beautifully demonstrate the full range of the author’s imagination and writing abilities.
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These stories are marked by intelligent storytelling and sparkling imagination. Hannu Rajaniemi is capable of creating stories that push the boundaries of science fiction, but stay true to their roots that lie in classic hard science fiction. He’s capable of writing different kind of stories, and he has even managed to add a few fantasy elements to his stories.
<snip>
I enjoyed reading this collection. It’s one of the best and most captivating science fiction collections I’ve read during the recent years. I can honestly say that there aren’t many science fiction collections that can rival this one in terms of imagination, style and creativity.
If you found yourself fascinated by Hannu Rajaniemi’s Jean le Flambeur trilogy, please do yourself a favour and read this collection, because you’ll love it. If you’ve never read anything by Hannu Rajaniemi, I urge you to take a look at this collection as soon as possible, because it contains excellent short stories to readers who want to read good science fiction.
An excellent short story collection!
For more info on HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Lius Lasahido
Design by Elizabeth Story
In an interview with The Bookmonger John J. Miller, the legendary W. P. Kinsella discusses THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, the origins of the classic novel SHOELESS JOE, his love of short stories, and other intriguing topics.
For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Thomas Canty.
Cover design by Elizabeth Story.
In his annual review of notable baseball books for the PEORIA JOURNAL STAR, Dennis Anderson praises THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA.
Baseball is the root of Kinsella’s stories, but so are science fiction and fantasy. He creates a world of rural dusty streets, diners with coffee so strong the pages smell of it and vivid characters who haunt your mind between stories.
Kinsella remains one of the game’s best storytellers.
Read about the rest of Anderson’s selections at the PEORIA JOURNAL STAR.
For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover art by Thomas Canty.
Cover design by Elizabeth Story.
