Black Gate

Via Torque Control I just learned that Wheatland Press won’t publish the seventh volume of its Polyphony series unless it gets a certain number of pre-orders by March 19, 2010. Of course, that was yesterday, but perhaps there’s still time to come to the rescue. My order was processed (no need to worry, by the way, that you might lose your money; the publisher promises to refund all orders if the book is ultimately aborted).

In fact, I’ve never read any of this series. But a quick scan of the authors for this volume and previous ones tells me I perhaps should have.

Hey, the economy is picking up. What better way to celebrate than to contribute to a stimulus plan for a book publisher.

The latest issue of  webzine Flurb, is now online.  After an erratic start, this seems to be publishing on a regular schedule, with the next installment promised for September.  In addition to the current issue #9, you can access all the previous editions in what seems to be an exercise for co-founder/editors Rudy Rucker and Paul DiFillipo to ask their friends to submit stories.  Check out, for example, “Clod, Pebble” by Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz. It’s about book signings. And what to choose, when all your choices seem bad ones, particularly if you’re not seeing things in the right light.

Given the company it keeps, you can expect Flurb to be a little quirky. Speaking of which, Small Beer Press has announced an upcoming edition of Lady Churchhill’s Rosebud Wristlet, though there’s nothing up yet on the website.

You know how it is with zines. They’re nothing if the first page isn’t an apology for being late. And, you know, we haven’t gotten that apology written yet, which is really holding things up.

What’s in that issue (number 25) of LCRW? Fiction and poetry and Advice from: Veronica Schanoes, Richard Parks, Dear Aunt Gwenda, Jeanine Hall Gailey, and more as well as not one but two translations. We may have more news on the translation front later this spring, keep an eye out. (Ouch.) The translations are from Edward Gauvin of French author Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud’s “A City of Museums” (which will be included in A Life on Paper, the first book by G.-O. C. in English which we will publish in May— galleys are going out now!) and a self-translation by award-winning Chinese author Haihong Zhao (which was brought to our attention by Michael Swanwick, yay!).

Here are the 2009 Nebula Award nominees for short fiction of varying lengths. As with previous award nominees I’ve reported, I’m again left out in right field. Haven’t read any of the short stories. I have read The Gambler, which I highly recommend, and Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest: Red Mask, Gentleman, Beast, which I’d also recommend checking out. The titles alone make me want to seek out the Bowes and Bishop.

As for the novellas, the late Kage Baker may be a sentimental favorite, but the only one I’ve read is Shambling Towards Hiroshima. Not his strongest work, but you can’t go wrong with anything by Morrow.

SHORT STORY

“Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela,” Saladin Ahmed
“I Remember the Future,” Michael A. Burstein
“Non-Zero Probabilities,” N. K. Jemisin
“Spar,” Kij Johnson
“Going Deep”, James Patrick Kelly
“Bridesicle,” Will McIntosh

NOVELETTE

“The Gambler,” Paolo Bacigalupi
“Vinegar Peace, or the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage,” Michael Bishop
“I Needs Must Part, The Policeman Said,” Richard Bowes
“Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast,” Eugie Foster
“Divining Light,” Ted Kosmatka
“A Memory of Wind,” Rachel Swirsky

NOVELLA

“The Women of Nell Gwynne’s,” Kage Baker
“Arkfall,” Carolyn Ives Gilman
“Act One,” Nancy Kress
“Shambling Towards Hiroshima,” James Morrow
“Sublimation Angels,” Jason Sanford
“The God Engines,” John Scalzi

Some periodicals are closing, while others are resurrected. The latest revival is Dreams of Decadence, which will expand beyond its original editorial focus of vampire fiction (and don’t we have enough of that?) to include urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Publisher Warren Lapine last rescued from the dead Realms of Fantasy.

What’s next? Amazing Stories?

In the final issue of the Internet Review of Science Fiction (yes, another one bites the dust, though in this same issue Kristine Kathryn Rusch points out that this is hardly anything new and, doomsayers notwithstanding, is realy not representative of any ominous trends), Lois Tilton draws a distinction between those publishing in the old guard of the cheap digests and a mostly new generation whose work appears increasingly online. Of course, you’d think science fiction and fantasy writers, of all people, would be quick to embrace online publication. However, there has been the stigma that online stories aren’t really stories because, well, they aren’t in print. That’s a generational issue (to which I confess–I’m not particularly fond of reading on a screen, but the odds are I’ll live long enough to where that will become more the norm than the exception, thanks for that Steve Jobs and Amazon). Tilton suggests its an issue of attitude, and one which is ultimately not good for healthy growth of the field. In addition to her own thoughts on this (as well as her last short fiction column for IROSF, which will be moving to Locus Online), there is some extensive commentary of interest attached.

Torque Control (aka Niall Harrison) has posted a working draft ballot for the Hugo Awards. Here’s the short fiction nominations (and, once again I seem to be out of the know — I’ve read only the two of these, the Eugie Foster and the Bruce Sterling):

Best Novella (A science fiction or fantasy story between 17,500 and 40,000 words that appeared for the first time in 2009.)

”Vishnu at the Cat Circus” by Ian McDonald (in Cyberabad Days, Pyr/Gollancz)
Starfall by Stephen Baxter (PS Publishing)
“Earth II” by Stephen Baxter (Asimov’s, July 2009)
The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough (PS Publishing)
“Sublimation Angels” by Jason Sanford (Interzone)

Best Novelette (A science fiction or fantasy story between 7,500 and 17,500 words that appeared for the first time in 2009.)

”Sinner, Baker, Fabulist Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” by Eugie Foster (Interzone 220)
”A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, DPhil, MSc; or, A Lullaby” by Helen Keeble (Strange Horizons, 1 and 8 June)
”Eros, Philia, Agape” by Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com, March)
”The Island” by Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2, ed. Dozois/Strahan)
“Problems of Light and Dark” by Deborah Biancotti (A Book of Endings)
“It Takes Two” by Nicola Griffith (Eclipse Three, ed. Jonathan Strahan)
“Seventh Fall” by Alex Irvine (Subterranean)
“Black Swan” by Bruce Sterling (Interzone 221)

Best Short Story (A science fiction or fantasy story of less than 7,500 words that appeared for the first time in 2009.)

“Microcosmos” by Nina Allan (Interzone 222)
“Turning the Apples” by Tina Connolly (Strange Horizons, 30 March)
“All the Anne Franks” by Erik Hoel (Strange Horizons, 23 November)
“Useless Things” by Maureen F McHugh (Eclipse Three);
“Unexpected Outcomes” by Tim Pratt (Interzone 222)

I just stumbled upon this spin on a subscription plan to support Clarkesworld Magazine, which has been providing its content online for the past three years. For a $10 or more donation, you can become a citizen; although the privileges of citizenship are still being defined, the folks at Clarkesworld suggest it might include discounts on their print publications, as well as the satisfaction of supporting an endeavor that publishes authors such as, in the current January issue, Peter Watts and Megan Arkenberg. Clarkesworld hopes to naturalize 400 citizens out of the 10,000 or so it counts as regular readers to reach its financial goals.

On another note, Torque Control has published the 2009 BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) Awards shortlist. The nominees for short fiction are:

“Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” by Eugie Foster (Interzone 220)
The Push by Dave Hutchinson (Newcon Press)
“Johnnie and Emmie-Lou Get Married” by Kim Lakin-Smith (Interzone 222)
“Vishnu at the Cat Circus” by Ian McDonald (in Cyberabad Days, Gollancz)
“The Beloved Time of Their Lives” [pdf link] by Ian Watson and Roberto Quaglia (in The Beloved of My Beloved, Newcon Press)
“The Assistant” by Ian Whates (in The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction 3, ed. George Mann)

This past week I saw both Avatar and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Now, ordinarily, you might be struck by the special effects of the latter (I particularly like the scene where Tom Waits as the devil unfurls his umbrella and casually steps off a cliff, at which point little white clouds appear to support each of his steps so he doesn’t plummet to the ground), except now it (and maybe everything else) pales in comparison to Avatar, which is as visually stunning as all the hype suggests, assuming  all you expect from going to a movie is a cool light show. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But, for my money, the better movie, even with its flaws is The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.  Why?

Because it has a story. Moreover, it celebrates the whole idea of story.

Yeah, sure, Avatar has a story. A simplistic one that’s 1) predictable, 2) done better before (Apocolypse Now, not to mention that movie’s source material, Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”),  and 3) largely besides the point since it exists solely to prop up the computer-generated world-building that is virtually (that’s the key word here) indistinguishable from real people. The Imaginarium, with all its fantastic images (e.g., a horse drawn coach which is bigger on the inside than the outside dimensions, as well as a cartoonish fantasy land — i.e., the Imaginarium — entered via a cheap stage mirror), is not trying to persuade you (or trick you) of a convincing depiction of reality, but rather it is trying to convince you just how shaky “real” reality is. The special effects are in the service of the story — which is all about the importance of stories, a theme you might expect from director Terry Gilliam — not the other way around, as you expect from director James Cameron.

While The Imaginarium also tells a familiar story of the deal with the devil, the power and humor of the storytelling (in other words, the humanity of it) makes us want to hear (see) it all over again. It seeks to show us that life is a sometimes dangerous funhouse comprising smoke and mirrors that maybe sometimes we can manage to peer beyond into the depths of our selves; not rely on smoke and mirrors to fool us into an experience primarily concerned with making us forget ourselves for a few hours before we have to leave the movie theater and return to humdrum everyday existence.