the word of god: or holy write rewritten Archives

April 9, 2022

Happy birthday to our favorite curmudgeon James DeMaiolo

Rick Klaw birthday, blog birthday, invaders: 22 tales from the outer limits of literature, jim demaiolo, the new voices of fantasy, the scarlet letter, the word of god: or holy write rewritten

The retired Tachyon Marketing Director, James DeMaiolo brought his extensive experience in sales, marketing, and publicity to Tachyon. During his forty years in the book business as retail bookseller, book buyer, and an associate editor, DeMaiolo honed his expertise with stints at Barnes & Noble, Simon & Schuster, Henry Holt, Berkeley, Tor, and Applause Books.

Joining Tachyon in 2010, he was instrumental in the development and production of many projects, most notably the World Fantasy Award winner THE NEW VOICES OF FANTASY, INVADERS: 22 TALES FROM THE OUTER LIMITS OF LITERATURE, and Thomas M Disch’s final novel THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRITE REWRITTEN. Among his numerous duties during his tenure, DeMaiolo produced most of Tachyon’s ebooks.

Cover art by Goro Fujita
Design by Elizabeth Story

DeMaiolo is, also, a published playwright (The Scarlet Letter: the play [1997]) and edited a collection of essays on the Federal Theatre Project and a Living Newspaper scenario, The Thrill of Finding Money (2010).

All of us at Tachyon miss Jim’s steady guidance, vast wealth of knowledge, and most importantly his clever and often insightful wit. We also wish him a happy birthday. Hopefully retirement brings you joy by allowing to do things that you don’t hate too much.

May 30, 2019

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Satire Bundle, curated by Nick Mamatas, features Thomas M. Disch, Andrew Fox, Lavie Tidhar, and Terry Bisson

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized andrew fox, Ann Monn, elizabeth story, lavie tidhar, Nick Mamatas, science fiction and fantasy satire bundle, storybundle, Terry Bisson, the good humor man, the people's republic of everything, the word of god: or holy write rewritten, thomas m disch

STORYBUNDLE offers a science fiction and fantasy satire bundle of 12 extraordinary tales including Nick Mamatas’ brilliant, oddball THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF EVERYTHING, Thomas M. Disch’s extraordinarily funny bit of heresy THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN, Andrew Fox’s intensely interesting, wild ride THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, Terry Bisson’s fresh, imaginative Tva Baby, and Lavie Tidhar’s inspired and fantastical Jesus and the Eightfold Path.

Curator Nick Mantas, dubbed “The People’s Commissar of Awesome” by China Miéville, had this to say:

Satire runs through the field of science fiction/fantasy like veins of gold in the Earth. Both genres have their origin with Lucian’s A True Story, which parodied the various epics and myths known to educated readers in the second century AD, and which featured a trip to the moon, interplanetary warfare, and philosophical analysis of some rigor. Even the title is both satirical and an exercise in logic—the text of the story is all lies, Lucian admits, but the work is a true story because it exists in the category of story: it is true that it is a story.

And now let us skip ahead almost two thousand years, thanks! You all know about H.G. Wells and Joanna Russ and Kurt Vonnegut and all that stuff. The world we live in is obviously absurd, and has been so for quite some time. (It’s why we needed to skip ahead.) But one cannot just strip off one’s clothes and run through downtown screaming, “We used to pretend little pieces of paper had value just to be able to eat and live, but now we pretend that little bits of electricity are the valueless pieces of paper! We’re all mad! Resist! Revolt!” and expect to get very far, even if climate change means more days per year of appropriate streaking weather. But when we can do is trade electricity for electricity, and get you a dozen amazing books for fifteen or more amazing dollars.

For more info on The Science Fiction and Fantasy Satire Bundle, visit STORYBUNDLE.

For more info on THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF EVERYTHING, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Elizabeth Story

For more information about THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn

For more info on THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, visit the Tachyon page .

February 2, 2019

The legendary Thomas M. Disch was born 79 years ago

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized Ann Monn, billet-doux, birthday, the wall of america, the word of god: or holy write rewritten, thomas m disch

Thomas Disch at South Street Seaport June 3 2008 (photo: Houari Boumedienne/Wikimedia Commons)

The influential writer, poet, editor, and essayist Thomas M. Disch was born on February 2, 1940. With the 1965 publication of his first novel The Genocides, Disch began an impressive output of challenging, creative fiction. Other noteworthy novels included Camp Concentration, Black Alice (with John Sladek), 334, On Wings of Song, The Businessman: A Tale Of Terror, The M.D.: A Horror Story, and THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN.

In 1980, Disch ventured into the world of children’s books with The Brave Little Toaster: A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances, which was the basis for the acclaimed Disney film. His other works for children included The Tale Of Dan De Lion, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, Film Adaptation, and A Child’s Garden Of Grammar.

Disch’s numerous shorts stories were collected into several volumes including One Hundred and Two H-Bombs, Fun with Your New Head, White Fang Goes Dingo, Getting Into Death, Fundamental Disch, The Man Who Had No Idea, and THE WALL OF AMERICA.

As an award-winning essayist, Disch was regular contributor to The Nation, The Weekly Standard, Harper’s, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and Entertainment Weekly. He won a Hugo award for the non-fiction The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered The World.

Disch’s acclaimed poetry was collected in several volumes including The Right Way To Figure Plumbing, Abcdefg Hijklm Npoqrst Uvwxyz, Burn This, Dark Verses and Light, Haikus of an Ampart, and About the Size of It. His poem BILLET-DOUX was produced as limited edition broadside in celebration of Tachyon Publications’ twelfth anniversary.

Sadly, the iconic Thomas Disch died in 2008, just days after Tachyon published what proved to be his final novel, THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN.

For more information about THE WORD OF GOD: OR, HOLY WRIT REWRITTEN, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn

For more information about THE WALL OF AMERICA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn