short stories

March 19, 2015

The John Coulthart illustrations for LOVECRAFT’S MONSTERS are dark, intricate, and absolutely amazing!

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized anthology, art, Ellen Datlow, horror, john coulthart, lovecraft, lovecraft's monsters, mythos, nakid magazine, profile, short stories

NAKID MAGAZINE declares John Coulthart an artist to watch.

These Interior illustrations by John Coulthart in Lovecraft’s Monsters, (edited by Ellen Datlow, Tachyon Publications, 2014) are dark, intricate, and absolutely amazing! Coulthart, a British graphic artist, illustrator, author and designer who has produced book covers, illustrations, CD covers and posters.

Coulthart is a legend respectively in his craft – dark, mysterious, and moving images that tend to disturb as well as inspire. His work is something eerily reminiscent of a cult classic or late 60’s/70’s horror films art work. He also has been updating a daily blog entitled feuilleton cataloguing interests, obsessions and passing enthusiasms since February 2006. Nominated for a British Fantasy Award, for Best Artist, in 2005, Coulthart continues to push the limits of fantasy and horror in a way only he can. In 2012 he won the Artist of the Year award at the World Fantasy Awards. John Coulthart is everything we try to embody at Nakid – talented, pushing limits, and staying true to his own ambition and inspirations, and we absolutely love his work!

Read the rest of the profile, along with several interiors from LOVECRAFT’S MONSTERS at NAKID MAGAZINE.

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

Cover and illustration by John Coulthart.

March 16, 2015

Table of contents for LED ASTRAY: THE VERY BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG is revealed

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized elizabeth story, fantasy, horror, kelley armstrong, led astray, led astray: the very best of kelley armstrong, short stories, table of contents

Coming September, in both print and digital editions, LED ASTRAY, the very first story collection from the bestselling Kelley Armstrong, features her signature twists and turns on city-dwelling vampires, werewolves, and zombies.

We can finally reveal the table of contents which includes two brand new tales.

Rakshashi
Kat
A Haunted House of Her Own
Learning Curve
The Screams of Dragons
The Kitsune’s Nine Tales
Last Stand
Bamboozled
Branded
The List
Young Bloods
The Door (original to this collection)
Dead Flowers by a Roadside
Suffer the Children
The Collector
Gabriel’s Gargoyles
Harbinger
V Plates
Life Sentence
Plan B
The Hunt
Dead to Me
Devil May Care (original to this collection)

For more info about

LED ASTRAY: THE VERY BEST OF KELLEY ARMSTRONG

, visit the

Tachyon page

.Cover by Elizabeth Story.

March 16, 2015

HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION connects at a deeper level with real life

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, elizabeth story, hannu rajaniemi, hannu rajaniemi: collected fiction, lius lasahido, random's 23 cent, review, short stories

At RANDOM’S 23 CENTS, Alexander Popov delivers the first review of HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION.

“Damn you, Occam’s razor,” thinks one of Rajaniemi’s protagonists, when rationality forces her to parse the impossible into the most likely. Incidentally or not, that story is probably the most flamboyantly incredible of those in the collection (think Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon). This has to mean something when the very first paragraph of the book runs like this:
“As gods go, I wasn’t one of the holier-than-thou, dying-for-your-sins variety. I was a full-blown transhuman deity with a liquid metal body, an external brain, clouds of self-replicating utility fog to do my bidding and a recursively self-improving AI slaved to my volition. I could do anything I wanted. I wasn’t Jesus, I was a Superman: an evil Bizarro Superman.”

<snip>

It is remarkable how much range Rajaniemi shows here. Having read the Jean le Flambeur novels, I wasn’t surprised by the techno-miracles and post-singularity futures (fans of the trilogy will recognize a lot of familiar concepts; in that regard the collection very nicely modulates the vision outlined in the series). Even the micro- and “neurofiction” stories toward the end weren’t unexpected, what with him having a PhD in string theory, running a math think-tank, being a Singularity University alumnus, etc.

What surprised me more was Rajaniemi’s readiness and apparent relish in employing Finnish folk lore in the fantasy/horror-oriented pieces (some merpeople, a goddess of death and a heavy-drinking giant make appearances). Those evoke a strong sense of place, and of the people who call those places home and are in some sense trapped in them (associations with Mieli and the Oortians from the trilogy come naturally to mind); that is something that can enliven immensely any tale of the fantastic. His stories about outsiders in alien countries convey with equal force what it is like not to be at home, to miss that familiar trap. And there is that final cluster of tales that can only be called cosmic(I heard it on a podcast that Rajaniemi is a big Stapledon fan), half-fable, half-cosmogony, doffing proverbial hats to the likes of Calvino, yet blithely ironic and not shying away from some hot dragon sex.
Many of the stories erupt with similar bravado, right away; he knows how to write his first sentences. But his stories are not just flashy toys for the nerdier segments of society. In fact, they work best when they connect at a deeper level with real life.

Read the rest of Popov’s review at RANDOM’S 23 CENTS.

For more info on HANNU RAJANIEMI: COLLECTED FICTION, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Lius Lasahido

Design by Elizabeth Story

March 6, 2015

Here’s your chance to win THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, a collection of “small marvels”

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized baseball, book chase, booklist, canada, contest, elizabeth story, fantasy, first nations, giveaway, goodreads, magic realism, native american, new york times, Publishers Weekly, short stories, the essential w. p. kinsella, Thomas Canty, w. p. kinsella

In conjunction with the fine folks at Goodreads, we are giving away a copy of The Essential W. P. Kinsella, a career retrospective that celebrates the 80th birthday of the great scribe.

Visit Goodreads for all the details.

“Kinsella defines a world in which magic and reality combine to make us laugh and think about the perceptions we take for granted.”

—New York Times

In addition to his classic baseball tales, W. P. Kinsella is also a critically-acclaimed short fiction writer. His satiric wit has been celebrated with numerous honors, including the Order of British Columbia.

“[Starred review] The career of the incomparable Kinsella (Shoeless Joe) is beautifully represented by these 31 short stories, including, of course, “Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa,” the haunting tale of a baseball fan’s obsession with a long-dead star that was developed into a bestselling novel and then the film Field of Dreams. Other charming baseball fantasies include “The Night Manny Mota Tied the Record,” in which a fan agrees to sacrifice himself to bring back the recently dead Yankees star Thurman Munson, and “Searching for January,” which concerns an encounter with the deceased Roberto Clemente. Alongside these stories are several more realistic and mostly gentle satires, such as “The Fog,” that present the escapades of several indefatigable members of Canada’s First Nations. “The Grecian Urn” concerns a couple who can inhabit the interior worlds of great works of art. “K Mart” is the touching tale of three boys who use baseball to escape from their unhappy lives. Kinsella is a masterly writer of short fiction. Though his first-person narrators, mostly men much like himself, can become a bit repetitive when the collection is read straight through, each of these works, whether fantastic or realistic, is individually a small marvel of the storyteller’s art.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Here are his notorious First Nation narratives of indigenous Canadians, and a literary homage to J. D. Salinger. Alongside the “real” story of the 1951 Giants and the afterlife of Roberto Clemente, are the legends of a pirated radio station and a hockey game rigged by tribal magic.

“There are likely to be surprises for everyone in The Essential W.P. Kinsella. But those who know Kinsella’s work only from his baseball stories are going to get the biggest and best surprise of all.”
—Book Chase

Eclectic, dark, and comedic by turns, The Essential W. P. Kinsella is a living tribute to an extraordinary raconteur.

“This book’s publication should bring readers back to the once very popular Kinsella, now 79, and one hopes it attracts new readers as well.”
—Booklist

Introduction by Rick Wilber
Truth
How I Got My Nickname
The Night Manny Mota Tied the Record
First Names and Empty Pockets
Searching for January
Lieberman in Love
The Grecian Urn
The Fog
Beef
Distances
How Manny Embarquadero Overcame and Began His Climb to the Major Leagues
The Indian Nation Cultural Exchange Program
K Mart
The Firefighter
Dr. Don
Brother Frank’s Gospel Hour
The Alligator Report—with Questions for Discussion
King of the Street
Wavelengths
Do Not Abandon Me
Marco in Paradise
Out of the Picture
The Lightning Birds
Punchlines
The Last Surviving Member of the Japanese Victory Society
The Job
Risk Takers
The Lime Tree
Doves and Proverbs
Waiting on Lombard Street
Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa
Afterward – Where It Began: Shoeless Joe

For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

March 3, 2015

THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT is an unique gathering of truly memorable tales

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, fresh fiction for today's reader, her story arc, julie dillon, kate elliott, review, short stories, the very best of kate elliott

The reviews for keep rolling in for the “relevant and insightful” THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT.

From Fresh Fiction for Today’s Reader:

With more than ten short stories, and four essays giving an insight into the author’s logic, this compendium contains many different themes on fantasy and alternative worlds. From a young girl wanting to escape an arranged marriage by following a witch through a stone portal, to two princesses willing to do the unthinkable to protect their heritage and their Goddess, there really is something for everyone.

<snip>

Elliott’s many readers, as well as fantasy fans in search of powerful stories featuring well-drawn female characters, will revel in this unique gathering of truly memorable tales.

Her Story Arc:

If you’ve never read Elliott before this collection is a great place to start. There are stories here touching on almost all of her fictional worlds, which will help you figure out where to read next (believe me, you’ll want to). I loved returning to the Jaran universe, a science fiction setting with many layers including the presence of theatre artists traveling the galaxies to perform for both humans and alien species. This collection’s “My Voice Is In My Sword” involves a production of Macbeth being performed for empathic aliens as the theatre troupe deals with the ego of its leading player. While a particular treat for anyone like myself who loves theatre, I think anyone who appreciates well-written character dynamics will enjoy the piece.

<snip>

The final 4 pieces are essays previously published online, in which Elliot gracefully questions some of the all-too-common trends in speculative fiction. Placed alongside her own stories of powerful, diverse women, they take the collection beyond one which makes you both laugh and cry to a work that is also relevant and insightful.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

March 2, 2015

The introduction to THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT deserves a wider readership

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized Charles de Lint, collection, elizabeth story, essay, fantasy, introduction, julie dillon, kate elliott, review, short stories, the magazine of fantasy & science fiction, the magazine of fantasy and science fiction, the very best of kate elliott

In the March/April 2015 issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, Charles de Lint admits to only reading the introduction to THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT.

Normally I wouldn’t review a book I haven’t yet read but I was so taken with the introduction that I wanted to bring it to your attention before another two months have gone by. Consider this a review of the introduction, which, in all honesty, deserves a wide readership.

<snip>

Basically, it boils down to her loving fantasy and sf but getting frustrated at not finding herself in the stories. Things have changed to some degree—especially in the fantasy/sf field—but there was certainly a time when you couldn’t find a female protagonist. They were always on the sidelines. The mother, daughter, girlfriend, wife. Occasionally, the femme fatale with whom the hero had to match wits (a contest that he inevitably won).

<snip>

What you really need to do is read Elliott’s introductory essay, which is full of deeper insights that take in not only the world of the written word, but also the one in which we all live. I loved the way she explained her journey through family history, the landscapes in which those journeys took place, and how she finally came to understand the only way that her stories could be authentic.

Now I need to go read some of those stories. Luckily, I have a whole book of them on hand.

Read the rest of de Lint’s review at THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 26, 2015

Kate Elliott discusses storytelling, her new collection, and of course cake

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized ama, cake, collection, crossroads, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, interview, julie dillon, kate elliott, reddit, short stories, spiritwalker, the very best of kate elliott

Recently, Kate Elliott answered fan questions in a Reddit AMA.

[–]TFrohockAMA Author

Hi, Kate! I’ve really enjoyed your Spiritwalker trilogy.

Can you tell us some of the favorite themes you like to write about in your stories and maybe just a little about why those themes resonate with you?

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

Thank you, Teresa.

Spiritwalker is a good example of four of my favorite themes, ones that crop up in many of my series.

1) Active, physical protagonist. Can be a fighter but doesn’t have to be, just someone who is comfortable in their body and strong and likes to move. This resonates with me because, um, it describes me. I hasten to add my characters are not “versions” of me, but I do enjoy writing that physical type.

2) Revolution. I’m just so interested in how societies work and how they fall apart and how they change, sometimes in violent ways and sometimes in quiet, subtle ways. I’m not sure why this theme resonates for me but I suspect that the whole American Revolution thing is a big deal in the USA so perhaps it’s partly an echo of that.

3) Family. I identify strongly with the idea that we are who we are in relationship to the people around us. I do not resonate so much with the “loner cut off from all relationship” type of character or the “orphan protagonist” in part because I find so fascinating the ways in which people can both feel close to and find annoying family members (whether blood or found family) and I think I examine that dichotomy a lot in Spiritwalker. We all constantly walk that balance.

4) A love story. I just enjoy writing these.

<snip>

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

I do talk a lot about gender in fantasy and about having women characters in books because I grew up reading and loving sff and wishing I saw more female characters in the stories.

Once I started writing I decided to write what I wanted which was: more female characters in books both as main characters and as secondary characters. That’s the main thing. I just wanted what was, to me, a more interesting and varied cast.

Spiritwalker is told in first person and has a single point of view character who is female, but I am pretty sure (although I haven’t counted it up) that all my multiple third person point of view series (which is all the others) have a 50/50 split between male/female points of view. So I guess my question would be: If it is a 50/50 split, does that mean I am highlighting women if, in much epic fantasy, it’s more like a 75/25 or 80/20 split? I don’t say that in a snarky way. I’m thinking of academic studies that have suggested that in some circumstances if women make up 30% of a room or talk 30% of the time it is perceived as 50% or more (even though it isn’t). In which case 50% might seem overwhelming to some readers. 😉

<snip>

[–]Bergmaniac

Hi Kate! I bought your short stories collection last week. So far I have only read the Spiritwalker trilogy of your series (though I certainly plan to read more). So my question is – do the short stories in the collection which are set in the worlds of your other series contain major spoilers for them? In other words – is it better if I read these short stories now or after I have read the respective series of novels?

Also, speaking of short stories, which SFF authors do you consider to be the best at writing them?

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. The Crossroads universe story definitely does spoil the Crossroads Trilogy, so read Crossroads first if you care about spoilers. Of the two Jaran universe stories, My Voice Is In My Sword is safe to read (no crossover at all), and Sunseeker is tricky; it include characters who are important in the Jaran novels but the focus is on a minor character. If you hate ANY spoilers, then no. If only MAJOR spoilers, then I’m torn but possibly yes. Of the two Crown of Stars stories, Riding the Shore contains an embedded spoiler in a passing reference but otherwise is unconnected because it takes place hundreds of years later. The other Crown of Stars story (A Simple Act of Kindness) is actually now alternate history because I completely changed a crucial aspect of the plot after I wrote the story, so you can safely read it (I think) because it tells a story that actually never happens in the series.

<snip>

[–]Ennas_

Hi Kate! Just popping in to let you know that I liked your Spiritwalker trilogy a lot! Your other books are still lost somewhere on Mt TBR. And I would like to have that chocolate cake recipe you mentioned. You can never have too many of those!

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

My Favorite Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 400F

Melt over low heat, stirring well: 2 sticks butter, 6 heaping Tablespoons cocoa, 1 c water

Mix: 1 ½ c sugar, 2 c flour, ½ teas baking powder, ½ teas salt, 1 teas soda, ½ c buttermilk, 2 eggs, 1 teas vanilla.

Beat thoroughly.

Combine cooked melted cocoa with flour mixture. Pour into greased, floured pan (9×14) or 2 9” round pans. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

[–]Ennas_

(I cant post a pic, but…I made the cake and it tastes great!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/sannehoo/cake.jpeg

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

That is so fantastic!!!!

Yes, I love this cake. Not too sweet and really strongly chocolate.

[–]Ennas_

I thought if you surprise me with a real recipe, I can surprise you (and myself) with a real cake. 😀 It’s huge, though! I had to make some cupcakes because my cake tin was too small. But my boardgamefriends didn’t mind!

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

This is a perfect cake for board game/RPG parties.

[–]twinsuns

I love that you actually gave a recipe! Noms.

[–]KateElliottAMA Author[S]

I’m very serious about cake.

[–]Ennas_

Thanks! Cake is serious business! 😉

Read the rest of Kate Elliott’s AMA at Reddit.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 25, 2015

Writing a narrative that entertains is Kate Elliot’s chief goal

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized collection, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, interview, julie dillon, kate elliott, Paul Weimer, short stories, the very best of kate elliott

Over at SF Signal, Paul Weimer interviews Kate Elliott about THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT

Paul Weimer: Readers at SF Signal are familiar with you and your novels. So why a collection of shorter works, for which you aren’t so well known?

KE: Jacob Weisman at Tachyon Publications approached me to ask if I had ever considered publishing a collection of my short fiction. I was brought in as part of the Tachyon “THE VERY BEST” series, which also includes volumes from Charles de Lint, Tad Williams, and Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine.

As it happens the stories in the collection are indeed “the very best” of my short fiction because they constitute ALL of the short fiction I have ever written with the exception of two stories too tied to the Spiritwalker Trilogy to work without prior familiarity with that series (one available for free on my web page and one — with fabulous Julie Dillon illustrations — available for purchase) and two (never published) short stories I wrote as a teenager. Over the course of my life I have written twice as many novels as short pieces.

<snip>

PW: I didn’t expect the non fiction essays to be included along with the stories. How did you come to choose these to be included? How do you see the dialogue play out between the essays and the themes of your own stories?

KE: I don’t write in a vacuum. While my chief goal when writing is to create a narrative that entertains the reader and keeps them reading (if I can’t keep my readers reading then it really doesn’t matter what other theoretically fabulous things I do, does it?), I do churn a lot of themes and questions through my stories as a way to examine, take apart, and consider from multiple sides issues and thoughts I have about the world, life, people, history, culture, and so on. Writing science fiction and fantasy is my way of trying to understand how humanity works and how I feel about that.

Writing a more substantive essay takes a lot of time so I don’t do it often, and generally I write such essays about subjects that I’ve wrestled with for a long time, often through my fiction. I asked for these essays to be included in the collection, and wrote an introductory essay as well, because the concerns reflected in the non-fiction resonate throughout my fiction.

Read the rest of Weimer’s conversation with Kate Elliott at SF Signal.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 24, 2015

The secrets behind Julie Dillon’s beautiful cover to THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized a dribble of ink, behind the scenes, collection, cover, elizabeth story, essays, fantasy, julie dillon, kate elliott, short stories, the very best of kate elliott

For A Dribble of Ink, Kate Elliott reveals how Julie Dillon’s gorgeous image became the cover to THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT.

When I decided to commission an artist to illustrate a short story in the Spiritwalker universe, I was thrilled that Julie Dillon agreed to work with me…

Besides the black and white drawings for The Secret Journal of Beatrice Hassi Barahal, I also asked Julie for two color illustrations. I picked the subjects based on passages from Cold Steel that I thought would be visually evocative.

I particularly wanted an illustration for a scene in which the heroines, Cat and Bee, emerge from a cave onto a beach whose strand, instead of sand, is “red coals and smoking ash.” Here in the spirit world the sea isn’t water; it’s smoke. In the scene a dragon rises out of the sea of smoke to confront them.

<snip>

Therefore, when Tachyon Publications approached me about the possibility of publishing a collection of my short fiction (now available as The Very Best of Kate Elliott), I asked if they would be interested in using this illustration for the cover. They politely agreed to look at it, making no promises that it would be suitable, right up until the moment they saw it. At that point they were, understandably, quite enthusiastic.

Not every illustration or photo can be used on a book cover because the dimensions and balance have to work together. Furthermore, using the wrong typeface, color, and design can ruin an otherwise interesting image. Designer Elizabeth Story did an incredible job turning the illustration into a gorgeous cover. She flipped the image (my daughter, also a designer, explained why the image works better flipped on a book that opens on the left; it has to do with the way the eye gets drawn to the right and thereby to the side of the book you open). The clean, classic typeface doesn’t clutter, nor does it draw attention to itself and away from the image. The gold color of the letters echoes the fire in the dragon.

<snip>

You can buy prints of the color illustration at Julie’s INPRNT store.

Read about the rest of the process including the black & white sketches that lead to the finished image at A Dribble of Ink.

For more on THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Julie Dillon.

Design by Elizabeth Story.

February 24, 2015

Catch the first glimpse of Reiko Murakami’s cover for Ellen Datlow’s new anthology THE MONSTROUS

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized adam-troy castro, angela slatter, anthology, Caitlín R. Kiernan, cover, dale bailey, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, horror, john lanagan, Kim Newman, livia llewellyn, peter straub, preview, reiko murakami, short stories, the monstrous

Though not due out until October, we just had to share the beautiful and creepy Reiko Murakami cover to Ellen Datlow’s new anthology THE MONSTROUS.

For more on THE MONSTROUS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Reiko Murakami.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS