year in review Archives - Tachyon Publications

January 4, 2017

A look back at 2016 continues

Alec Checkerfield Uncategorized Ann Monn, blood and lemonade, bruce sterling, central station, elizabeth story, Ellen Datlow, goro fujita, hap and leonard, hap and leonard: blood and lemonade, invaders, invaders: 22 tales from the outer limits of literature, jacob weisman, Joe R. Lansdale, john coulthart, julie dillon, kate elliott, lavie tidhar, michael swanwick, nightmares, nightmares: a new decade of modern horror, nihil, not so much said the car, pirate utopia, recap, sarah anne langton, the asylum of dr caligari, the stress of her regard, the very best of kate elliott, Tim Powers, year in review

On Monday we started the Tachyon playback of 2015. Now we continue in July much as we ended June with yet another outlet naming Lavie Tidhar’s dazzling, unsettling vision of the future CENTRAL STATION as one of the Best New Science Fiction Books of the Year (So Far).

We offered award-winning, superstar editor Ellen Datlow’s new anthology NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR for review via Netgalley.

Praise for the book lasted throughout the rest of the year.

[STARRED REVIEW] “Ten years of short horror fiction plucked from previous anthologies, plus some original works, come together in these 24 tales, in which “what goes bump in the night” ranges from ghosts to madmen to what lurks inside the human psyche. One actor’s last hope for reconstructive surgery resides within television itself. A horror writer creates a story come to life, only to get caught in the middle of it. Renowned authors such as Caitlin R. Kiernan, Robert Shearman, Garth Nix, and Kaaron Warren vividly capture the darkness, evil, and fear found in great horror fiction. VERDICT: Noted anthologist Datlow (The Best Horror of the Year) once again draws upon her curating skills to highlight the best the genre has to offer. The variety of stories shines a light on the depth and breadth of this sometimes marginalized literary form.”
—Library Journal

“[STARRED REVIEW] Building off her indispensable Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror (2010), which covered the years 1985–2005, Datlow has here collected the 24 stories that she has most enjoyed from 2005–15. Her task is aided greatly by the fact that the last decade has been a fertile one for the genre, with the emergence of incredible new voices and the decision by nongenre writers to give horror a try. Arranged in chronological order by year of publication, these tales represent the breadth of horror from psychologically chilling to all out terrorizing and feature just about every type of monster or ghost imaginable. As a result of this range, however, not every reader will like every story, but that is not this book’s goal. Rather, it should be taken as an exemplary and accurate representation of what readers can expect from horror today, in general, in one concise volume. Of particular note are the stories by rising stars Laird Barron and Stephen Graham Jones and Australian Kaaron Warren, and a refreshingly original entry into the crowded field of zombie stories by literary-fiction author Dan Chaon. This volume is not only the perfect discovery tool for readers looking for the very best of modern horror, it should also be used as a collection-development tool by library staff.”

—Booklist

“Nightmares is a dream come true anthology for those who love the darker and twisted side of speculative fiction and want to be entertained by beautifully written, dark and imaginative stories that give readers something to think about”
—Risingshadow

“Editor Ellen Datlow has compiled works that display her ability to cull quality horror fiction, as well as her enthusiasm and esteem for the genre. Published by Tachyon, Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror is a pleasant reminder that horror’s short fiction “golden age” is ongoing.”
—Diabolique

And many more…

Tachyon well represented at the legendary Readercon with co-Guest of Honor Tim Powers, Jacob Weisman, Suzy McKee Charnas, Ellen Datlow, Daryl Gregory, James Patrick Kelly, James Morrow, Gordon Van Gelder, and Rick Wilber all in attendance.

Ellen Datlow, James Morrow, Julie Dillon, and James Tiptree Jr. all receive World Fantasy Award nominations.

Beelzebub drags Michael Swanwick to Buzzard’s Bay

Tachyon invades Armadillocon with Jacob Weisman, Rick Klaw, Joe R. Lansdale, and John Picacio.

Peter S. Beagle attends ComicCon and joins Neil deGrasse Tyson on his SPACE ODYSSEY.

Photo: Paul Todisco

In August, we offered Hugo Award winner, pioneering Bruce Sterling’s quasi-alt Futurist history PIRATE UTOPIA for review via Netgalley.

Positive reviews for the text and John Coulthart’s extraordinary illustrations emerged quickly.

An io9 16 Must-Read Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for November

[STARRED REVIEW] “Cyberpunk progenitor Sterling’s alternate history novella is bizarre, chock-full of famous people in improbable situations, and wildly entertaining, even when the world-building seems to go a little off the rails. Lorenzo Secondari, a veteran of the recently ended Great War and forever changed by it, is the head engineer of the titular utopia, the Italian free state of Fiume. He and his compatriots build flying boats and fight communism while dealing with American secret agents, including Harry Houdini and Howard Lovecraft (who’s now working as Houdini’s publicity agent after going into advertising). Hitler died saving another man’s life in a bar fight, Wilson was poisoned, and Mussolini’s been disabled by a pair of bullets aimed “where a man least likes to be shot,” so the Europe in which Secondari is attempting to create his radio-controlled airborne torpedoes and other gizmos is already massively different from ours. An introduction by Warren Ellis and an interview with Sterling sandwich the novel, both bearing an air of false gravitas, but the actual story is wacky and fun what-if-ing at its finest.”
—Publishers Weekly

[STARRED REVIEW] “Noted sci-fi maven and futurologist Sterling (Love Is Strange, 2012, etc.) takes a side turn in the slipstream in this offbeat, sometimes-puzzling work of dieselpunk-y alternative history. Resident in Turin, hometown of Calvino, for a dozen years, Sterling has long been experimenting with what the Italians call fantascienza, a mashup of history and speculation that’s not quite science fiction but is kin to it. Take, for example, the fact that Harry Houdini once worked for the Secret Service, add to it the fact that H.P. Lovecraft once worked for Houdini, and ecco: why not posit Lovecraft as a particularly American kind of spook, “not that old-fashioned, cloak-and-dagger, European style of spy,” who trundles out to Fiume to see what’s what in the birthplace of Italian futurism-turned-fascism? Lovecraft is just one of the historical figures who flits across Sterling’s pages, which bear suitably futuristic artwork, quite wonderful, by British illustrator John Coulthart. Among the others are Woodrow Wilson and Adolf Hitler, to say nothing of Gabriele D’Annunzio and Benito Mussolini. “Seen from upstream, most previous times seem mad,” notes graphic novelist Warren Ellis in a brief introduction, but the Futurist project seems particularly nutty from this distance; personified by Lorenzo Secondari, a veteran of World War I who leads the outlaw coalition called the Strike of the Hand Committee in the “pirate utopia” of the soi disant Republic of Carnaro, its first task is to build some torpedoes and then turn them into “radio-controlled, airborne Futurist torpedoes,” not the easiest thing considering the technological limitations of the time. A leader of the “Desperates,” who “came from anywhere where life was hard, but honor was still bright,” Secondari and The Prophet—D’Annunzio, that is—recognize no such limitations and discard anything that doesn’t push toward the future. So why not a flying pontoon boat with which to sail off to Chicago, and why not a partnership with Houdini to combat world communism? A kind of Ragtime for our time: provocative, exotic, and very entertaining.”
—Kirkus, starred review

“A fantastic, comical, alternate historical dieselpunk affair … filled with astonishing characters, fine dialogue, and an abundance of ideas and is packaged with John Coulthart’s cool Futurist-Constructivist-inspired graphics, an introduction by graphic novelist Warren Ellis, and an interview with the author.”
—Booklist

“VERDICT: The fused edge between alternative history and historical fact elevates this shorter work by cyberpunk pioneer Sterling (Love Is Strange).”
—Library Journal

“Fritz Lang directing Buckaroo Banzai.”
—Locus

And many more…

Also in August, we offered award-wining Lauren Beukes’ debut collection SLIPPING: FICTION, ESSAYS, & OTHER WRITING for review via Netgalley.

Abundant praise flooded in.

“An art installation so tactile as to feel alive, a ghost that lurks alongside a promising architecture student, a girl gutted from the inside to make a premiere athlete: all stitched together into a punk tapestry of stories and other short pieces. Cape Town author Beukes (Zoo City, 2016, etc.) makes good use of her South African homeland, though she often turns Johannesburg and Cape Town into futuristic wastelands, as in “The Green,” a sci-fi militaristic nightmare of a short story, or “Riding with the Dream Patrol,” an unsettling look at where our cyberfuture could be headed (hint: bad places). There are also more straightforwardly bizarre entries, bordering on pure science fiction but never losing Beukes’ dark comedic edge, particularly “Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs,” wherein a fighter pilot (a woman, of course) must save Tokyo. Also, there are talking cats to spice things up (where there are hairballs, there must be cats). Some of the most effective pieces are the shortest, such as “Dial Tone,” where Beukes evokes the lonely desperation of her nameless narrator in less than four pages, as the character places crank calls and is often simply soothed by the dial tone. Or “Confirm/Ignore,” in which the narrator berates readers, and society at large, for their obsession with pop culture: “One day I get Bette Davis and Bettie Page confused. This is not my fault. It’s yours.” Her brief autobiographical pieces—on her first forays into journalism and a letter to her young daughter on the meaning of beauty—wrap up the slim volume nicely. Utterly bizarre and equally addictive, these pieces demonstrate that Beukes has only tapped the surface of her prodigious and wide-ranging talent with her novels.”
—Kirkus

“Whether they’re set in modern-day Johannesburg or on a planet circling a distant star, these powerful, beautifully written stories are always about today and the darkness of the human soul.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A fantastic, comical, alternate historical dieselpunk affair … filled with astonishing characters, fine dialogue, and an abundance of ideas and is packaged with John Coulthart’s cool Futurist-Constructivist-inspired graphics, an introduction by graphic novelist Warren Ellis, and an interview with the author.”
—Booklist

“South African writer Beukes (Zoo City; Broken Monsters) showcases her evolution as an author with these 26 pieces—mostly short stories with a few nonfiction entries at the end. Stories such as “Branded” recall Beukes’s debut, Moxyland, with its combination of cyberpunk elements and South African patois. That distinct regional flavor gets sanded out of some of the later tales, which hop among genres deftly. One of the more bizarre, “Unathi Battles the Black Hairballs,” features a cameo by magical realism author Haruki Murakami. Some selections are more likely to appeal to readers unfamiliar with Beukes. For example, “The Green” is a fantastically creepy sf story of grunt soldiers on a planet with invasive local flora. Another good starting point is the title story “Slipping,” which tells of a runner who has undergone extensive physical modifications. VERDICT Even the early stories, many set in Beukes’s native Johannesburg, have a rough energy and imagination that shows why she remains an author to watch.
—Library Journal

And many more…

Tachyon well represented at MidAmeriCon II, the 74th WorldCon with Guest of Honor Michael Swanwick, Jacob Weisman, Ellen Datlow, Kate Elliott, Sheila Finch, Lisa Goldstein, Daryl Gregory, James Patrick Kelly, and John Kessel.

Michael Swanwick, Jacob Weisman, and Martha Millard in the Dealer’s Room at MidAmeriCon II

We offered two ways to win a signed copy of Michael Swanwick’s brilliant NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT and one way to win Beelzebub.

We announced that select Tachyon titles are available via Edelweiss.

Editor extraordinaire Ellen Datlow wins Hugo Award.

Ellen Datlow and her new Hugo Award (photo: MIDAMERICON II)

The winner of Beelzebub and a signed copy of Michael Swanwick’s NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT is…

And the winner of a signed copy of Michael Swanwick’s NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT is…

Editor Rick Klaw at The Geek Curmudgeon revealed info and the cover for Joe R. Lansdale’s forthcoming HAP AND LEONARD: BLOOD AND LEMONADE.

First look at the cover for James Morrow’s forthcoming THE ASYLUM OF DR. CALIGARI

We wished the award winning editor Gordon Van Gelder a happy 50th birthday.

NYRSF 20th Anniversary, South Street Seaport September 9, 2009 (Photo: Houari Boumedienne)

We offer a first look at the legendary Peter S. Beagle’s new novel IN CALABRIA.

We shared the cover of Nebula Award winner Ellen Klages’ new collection WICKED WONDERS.

We bid a tearful goodbye to the iconic W. P. Kinsella.

Photo: Ed Steer

Guest of Honor Tim Powers and James Morrow attended Capclave 2016.

Tim Powers (photo: Roberta F./Wikimedia) and James Morrow

Tachyon creators participate in the Litquake/Crawl San Francisco 2016.

Charlie Jane Anders (photo: Tristan Crane), Jacob Weisman, and Daryl Gregory

World Fantasy Award winner Nalo Hopkinson received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Anglia Ruskin University.

Nalo Hopkinson and Farah Mendlesohn

Tachyon well represented at the annual World Fantasy Convention with Ellen Datlow, Daryl Gregory, Eileen Gunn, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Ellen Klages, Patricia A. McKillip, and Gordon Van Gelder.

In celebration of the recently released NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR, Tachyon and editor Ellen Datlow presented glimpses into terror from five of the volume’s horrifying tales.

In early November, the first of the best of year mentions appeared with the KIRKUS best fiction book of 2016 inclusion of NOT SO MUCH, SAID THE CAT.

We offered the beloved Peter S. Beagle’s IN CALABRIA via Netgalley and Edelweiss. Shortly after, the glowing reviews began to appear.

A Top 10 Publishers Weekly Spring 2017 Featured Title

[STARRED REVIEW] “Acclaimed fantasist Beagle (Summerlong) sets this charming, lyrical tale of unicorns and love on a poor little hillside farm in the toe of boot-shaped Italy, where 47-year-old Claudio Bianchi scratches out a meager existence for himself, old dog Garibaldi, goat Cherubino, three cows, a pig, and three cats. Claudio writes poetry, too, and one day a golden-white unicorn appears to him as a gentle reminder of the freedom animals and humans have lost. The unicorn becomes the one miracle of Claudio’s life—and the ultimate tourist attraction. He protects her as best he can from hordes of reporters, television crews and helicopters, animal rights activists, yearning yokels, and even the Calabrian ’Ndràngheta mob. After Claudio helps the unicorn deliver her colt, his heart, frozen by an earlier tragedy, warms to Giovanna, the intrepid 20-ish sister of the postman. Neatly playing the strictures of Claudio’s simple rural life against the shimmering wildness of the unicorn, Beagle’s kindly fable shows how a man who seems to have nothing can really have everything—with just a touch of magic.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A novella about love in a world of hardship, loss, magic, and recovery. Beagle’s unicorns have never been more bewitching, impossible, and genuine. I cherished every page.”
—Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked and After Alice

“For me, Peter S. Beagle is one of the essential voices in American literature, so essential that I approach each new book he writes not only with excitement but also with trepidation. Can he possibly do it again? Today I read In Calabria from cover to cover. He does it again.”
—Kevin Brockmeier, bestselling author of The Brief History of the Dead

“Peter S. Beagle is a master of the magical, but also of the little details of day to day existence that root his characters in the soil, sweat and everyday breezes of their worlds, and make the magical all the more magical when it touches them. It’s deep and powerful magic that stirs things to life in the gentle fable of In Calabria, but what it stirs—greed, peril, beauty, grief, love, publicity, sorrow, poetry and more—are very much matters of the human heart. Beagle once again explores the magic within us and the magic around us, and does it in unmatched style.”
—Kurt Busiek, author of Astro City and The Avengers