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Distinctive Visions of Earth After Climate Change: Drowned Worlds, edited by Jonathan Strahan

Distinctive Visions of Earth After Climate Change: Drowned Worlds, edited by Jonathan Strahan

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Reading reviews frequently helps heighten my anticipation for a book. That’s certainly the case with Jonathan Strahan’s acclaimed new anthology Drowned Worlds, a collection of SF tales which looks at the future of Earth after the full effects of climate change.

The book includes all-new fiction from Ken Liu, Kim Stanley Robinson, Christopher Rowe, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Charlie Jane Anders, Jeffrey Ford, Rachel Swirsky, Lavie Tidhar, Catherynne M. Valente, and many others. It’s been getting some terrific reviews, from places like Tor.com, Locus Online, and other fine institutions. Here’s a few samples, starting with author James Lovegrove in the Financial Times.

Taking its cue — as well as its title — from JG Ballard’s 1962 debut novel The Drowned World, the book offers 15 memorable, distinctive visions of Earth after climate change has exerted its grip. Sea levels have risen, and deserts have spread. People live aboard rafts, amid ruins, on other planets. The Anthropocene era has done its apocalyptic worst. There is nevertheless, a thin silvery thread of hope — humankind, through its adaptability and ingenuity, endures.

And here a snippet from Gary K. Wolfe’s lengthy review at Locus Online.

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Read an Original Short Story in the World of The Lazarus Gate and The Iscariot Sanction at the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi Blog

Read an Original Short Story in the World of The Lazarus Gate and The Iscariot Sanction at the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi Blog

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Mark Latham’s new novel in The Apollonian Case Files, The Iscariot Sanction, was published by Titan Books on September 20. It’s the follow-up to The Lazarus Gate and, in honor of the occasion, the popular Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog at BarnesandNoble.com has posted a brand new story set in the same world, “The House of the Dead.”

Mark Latham’s two novels of The Apollonian Case Files, The Lazarus Gate and The Iscariot Sanction, take place in an alternate Victorian Age in which Her Majesty’s Empire is under attack by supernatural threats, and only a mystery “gentlemen’s club” stands in the way of total oblivion. They’re great fun, mixing elements of Sherlock Holmes and H.P. Lovecraft, James Bond and H.G. Wells, with a setting we love spending time in — which is why, in honor of the release of the latest in the series, we’re pleased to present an original short story set in the same universe. Enjoy!

Read the complete story here.

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Future Treasures: The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe

Future Treasures: The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe

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Every once in a while a really stellar anthology comes along that generates a lot of pre-publication whispers, gradually growing to a steady buzz of excitement. This year that anthology is The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales.

The Starlit Wood was assembled by Dominik Parisien, editor of the highly acclaimed Clockwork Canada, and Navah Wolfe, editor at one of the most exiting new imprints in the industry, Saga Press. Several of my friends have privately tipped me off that this is the best fantasy anthology of the year, and the public accolades have just started to pour in. Terri Windling calls it “Excellent… I loved it,” Jeff VanderMeer says it’s “Classy, smart, and entertaining… and featuring the best and most exciting fantasy writers working in the field today.” And Publishers Weekly raved, saying it’s “A rich sample of what awaits us in the world of fairy tales.”

For anyone looking to revisit the wondrous (and frequently dark!) world of fairy tales — or who just wants to a taste of what the best writers in fantasy are doing today — The Starlit Wood is your best opportunity this year. It contains stories by Aliette de Bodard, Amal El-Mohtar, Jeffrey Ford, Max Gladstone, Margo Lanagan, Seanan McGuire, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, Sofia Samatar, Catherynne M. Valente, Genevieve Valentine, and many others, and will be released in hardcover this month by Saga Press.

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In 500 words or Less … The Wurms of Blearmouth by Steven Erikson

In 500 words or Less … The Wurms of Blearmouth by Steven Erikson

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the-wurms-of-blearmouth-smallWhen someone asks my favorite fantasy series, Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen is usually one that I mention. It’s one of those sprawling epics with great characters and a complex, vibrant world that sucked me in and inspired me to write fantasy of my own.

After the series ended, I grabbed the next Erikson book I could find — The First Collected Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach — and was delighted. I read the next in that series, Crack’d Pot Trail … and put it down after a couple chapters.

Erikson’s most recent work is a series of prequels (which I avoid) and his other recent books haven’t interested me, so when I found another Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novella, The Wurms of Blearmouth, I almost didn’t pick it up.

Overall, though, this latest tale was satisfying. The theme in the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach stories seems to be that everyone is a terrible person, but the residents of Spendrugle take things to a new level of depravity. I balked a little at first with the female characters specifically, who are stupid or vile or both — but then I realized that you can describe every character from Wurms that way, and so I got over it (mostly). In this case, Erikson is very “equal opportunity” when it comes to negative characteristics, so don’t be turned off by what’s depicted in the opening chapters (you probably will be anyway).

The real point to these stories, after all, is to follow famed necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach and their manservant, Emancipor, from screwed-up situation to screwed-up situation; they’re the real draw for me, and Erikson consistently entertains me with the way that they go about doing evil work without seeming to care about the consequences.

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New Treasures: Not So Much Said the Cat, by Michael Swanwick

New Treasures: Not So Much Said the Cat, by Michael Swanwick

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Michael Swanwick’s previous collection with Tachyon Publications was The Dog Said Bow-Wow (2007). In Not So Much Said the Cat he takes a feline turn, collecting 17 stories published between 2008 and 2014, including Hugo nominee “From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled…”. Here’s a snippet from the starred review from Kirkus.

There’s a man who, having suffered a crushing loss, finds solace after accidental contact with a time traveler; a group of time travelers hunkered down at the end of the Cretaceous period — where, oddly, nobody’s interested in the dinosaurs; and a scientist who finds a partner worthy of her genius. We also get a fascinating glimpse (which feels like a novel fragment) of a far future populated by humans and centipedelike aliens, narrated by the intelligent space suit of a woman who’s dead as the story begins; and another future where human lives resemble those in fairy tales while advanced, hidden AIs battle for supremacy. Elsewhere, in a literary-games vein, the characters in a fairy tale discuss whether they prefer to remain in books, and immortal, or enter history; there’s a famous Gene Wolfe story stripped down, turned inside out, and rebuilt to perfection; and, in a marvelous conceit, the writer Alexander Pushkin appears as he may have been — in an alternative universe. To round out the collection, we meet a dutiful young woman who, entering hell to challenge the devil to return her father, discovers that things are not as she assumed; Darger and Surplus, those good-hearted rogues with a propensity to shoot themselves in the foot, make an appearance, as does “The House of Dreams,” an entry from Swanwick’s splendid Mongolian Wizard e-book series. Tales that, through their extraordinary clarity of thought and expression, showcase precisely why this multiaward-winning author is held in such high regard.

Swanwick’s other collections from Tacyhon include Tales of Old Earth (2000) and Gravity’s Angels (2001). Our previous coverage of Michael Swanwick includes articles on The Iron Dragon’s Daughter, Chasing the Phoenix, and his short story “The Night of the Salamander.”

Not So Much Said the Cat was published by Tachyon Publications on July 18, 2016. It is 290 pages, priced at $15.95 in trade paperback and $7.99 for the digital version.

The New Pulp Era: Ghostwriting, Ebooks, and the Economics of Now

The New Pulp Era: Ghostwriting, Ebooks, and the Economics of Now

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I'm going to say absolutely nothing about that sword.
I’m going to say absolutely nothing about that sword.

A lot of writers and readers are saying we have entered a new pulp era, a repeat of those days when hardworking writers pumped out exciting fiction in large quantities while facing very tight deadlines. The old pulp era died long ago, and was replaced with modern traditional publishing. Under that model, writers usually only came out with a book a year, and if they did more than that it was generally under a pseudonym. Traditional houses seem to have been under the impression that “less is more” when it came to a writer’s output.

Readers disagree. They want more from their favorite authors, and they want it now. Those writers who have come to the top of the new indie publishing revolution tend to be those who write a lot, generally in series, and keep up a consistent quality. Some traditionally published writers such as Guy Haley are moving that direction too. In our interview with him, he talked about how he has to write five novels a year if he wants to make a living at his writing.

Even superstars such as James Patterson are getting in on the game. A post at Non-Fiction Novelist talks about how Patterson’s new project “Book Shots” fits perfectly into the pulp mentality. These thrillers and romances are touted as having lots of action and no padding, just like a good pulp story should. They’re all under 150 pages and cost less than $5. Plus there’s a whole lot of them.

I’m seeing a similar trend in online start-up publishers. My own body of indie published work, while doing OK, is not bringing me enough to live on, so I make up the deficiency by ghostwriting. This is a relatively new venture for me as I shift steadily away from nonfiction writing, but the trend I’m seeing is remarkable.

Ghostwriting always involves a strict written agreement not to take credit for a work, so what follows will by necessity be of a general nature.

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Future Treasures: The Collected Short Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin from Saga Press

Future Treasures: The Collected Short Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin from Saga Press

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I write about a lot of upcoming books in my Future Treasures columns. But I can honestly say I haven’t been this excited for a pair of books in years.

Saga Press is publishing a massive two-volume collection of short stories and novellas from the legendary Ursula K. Le Guin, one of the finest writers we have. Le Guin has published 21 novels — including The Left Hand of Darkness (1970) and The Dispossessed (1974), both of which won Hugo and Nebula awards, and the Wizard of Earthsea series — but my love for Le Guin began with her brilliant short fiction. Stories like “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow,” the World Fantasy and Nebula Award winner “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight,” and the Nebula Award-winning “Solitude.”

The two books, sold separately or in a deluxe box set, are must-have volumes for any serious science fiction collector.

The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin collects virtually all of her award-winning longer fiction, starting with 1971’s “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow,” the tale of a scientific expedition doomed to end in madness and death unless two of its members can unravel the secrets of a very alien planet, through 2002’s “Paradises Lost,” in which the fifth generation on a giant colony ship find their way of life — and their mission — threatened when a strange new religion sweeps through the ship.

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Does Netflix Know Me Better Than I Know Myself?

Does Netflix Know Me Better Than I Know Myself?

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krysten-ritter-jessica-jonesIt’s late. The rest of my family has gone off to bed. I, however, have some busy work to accomplish. Folding laundry, perhaps. Packing up some gifts to send to my nephews. So what form of media do I power up to help me pass the time? Netflix, of course. As of now, it’s movie night. And why not? Netflix knows precisely what I want to see. Right?

Based on my previous viewing habits, Netflix has provided a sumptuous spread, a whole raft of tempting suggestions. There’s even a section entitled “My List,” which confuses me no end, because several of the titles (Atari: Game Over and The Act Of Killing among them) are ones I’ve never heard of, much less added to a playlist.

In theory, Netflix knows me well. But do they? The first lineup of choices is headed “Because I watched Jessica Jones,” and because I delved into all things Marvel and fantastical, I am now expected to sample Daredevil, which I don’t plan to do because I generally don’t care for super heroes (Jessica Jones was well done, but overlong, and I never finished).

Sense 8 pops up next, a slick show with terrific performers, but its Matrix-makers have only one solution to all problems, and that’s force. Season one will do for me. Flash, no. Arrow, no. More superheroes! Blacklist? I saw the pilot, and I adore James Spader, but sometimes craft can swallow heart. I wasn’t tempted to watch episode two.

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The Fierce Love of Thieves: Thieves of Islar by James Shade

The Fierce Love of Thieves: Thieves of Islar by James Shade

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Some of us think of our siblings as friends for life. Those of us who have siblings also know that much of the time, your bonds can transcend friendship, and sometimes not in a good way. Both forms of love between siblings are lovingly rendered in James Shade’s debut novel, Thieves of Islar.

Young Jaeron, Chazd and Avrilla deAlto lose their father, Henri, in a tragic house fire. To avenge him, the siblings form a guild with their closest friends and relatives in order to squash his murderer under their feet. But that’s not the only mystery Jaeron intends to solve, unbeknownst to his siblings. And their father’s murderer has a diabolical plan in mind.

Shade has a brilliant way of painting exquisite portraits of his characters. His description of the deAlto’s Uncle Ardo and his regrets remains firmly lodged in my memory. Shade gives every character who appears in his tale a purpose, and he renders their purposes with tremendous care. There’s a reason why you’ll come away remembering the names of the core characters.

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New Treasures: The Family Plot by Cherie Priest

New Treasures: The Family Plot by Cherie Priest

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the-family-plot-cherie-priest-smallCherie Priest’s Boneshaker, the opening novel in her 6-volume steampunk pulp Clockwork Century series, was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award, and won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Her other novels include Fathom, Maplecroft, and the Eden Moore trilogy. Her latest is a contemporary haunted house tale, released in hardcover by Tor last month.

Music City Salvage is a family operation, owned and operated by Chuck Dutton: master stripper of doomed historic properties, and expert seller of all things old and crusty. But business is lean and times are tight, so he’s thrilled when the aged and esteemed Augusta Withrow appears in his office, bearing an offer he really ought to refuse. She has a massive family estate to unload — lock, stock, and barrel. For a check and a handshake, it’s all his.

It’s a big check. It’s a firm handshake. And it’s enough of a gold mine that he assigns his daughter Dahlia to personally oversee the project.

Dahlia preps a couple of trucks, takes a small crew, and they caravan down to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the ancient Withrow house is waiting — and so is a barn, a carriage house, and a small, overgrown cemetery that Augusta Withrow left out of the paperwork. Augusta Withrow left out a lot of things. The property is in unusually great shape for a condemned building. It’s empty, but it isn’t abandoned. Something in the Withrow mansion is angry and lost. This is its last chance to raise hell before the house is gone forever, and there’s still plenty of room in the strange little family plot…

Cherie Priest’s The Family Plot is a haunted house story for the ages — atmospheric, scary, and strange, with a modern gothic sensibility that’s every bit as fresh as it is frightening.

The Family Plot was published by Tor Books on September 20, 2016. It is 365 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by FORT.

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