MentatJack

The Sofanauts has quickly become my favorite podcast. I loved hearing Paul Di Filippo and Peter Watts discuss the trials and tribulations of surviving as a writer. They got me thinking about how I might put myself on the trajectory to write for video games. Hearing Jeff VanderMeer, Jeremy Tolbert, Shelia Williams and Brian Bieniowski discuss the state of Asimovs left me excited about all the OTHER science fiction venues that have a bit more of a clue.

Today was a special treat. I listened to episode 32. Sean Wallace of Prime Books and Fantasy Magazine is starting up a science fiction webzine called Lightspeed. John Joseph Adams, Lightspeed’s fiction editor and Andrea Kail, Lightspeed’s non-fiction editor had many exciting things to share about the birth of a new market.

Lightspeed is going to feature 2 pieces of original fiction and 2 reprints each month, all science fiction of one sort or another. They’ll also publish science non-fiction articles that will hopefully complement the fiction. Each month’s content will be metered out weekly for free on their website, be available for purchase as an eBook at the start of the month and be collected into a print anthology at the end of each year. They will be open for submissions in January and the first issue will hit the tubes in June.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this one!

Lamentation is Ken Scholes‘ first novel. It’s the first chapter of the 5 book Psalms of Isack series expanded from the short story Of Metal Men and Scarlet Thread and Dancing with the Sunrise which appeared in the August 2006 issue of Realms of Fantasy. (be warned that that link doesn’t include the full text of the original story) I find myself comparing it to Dune and some Asimov with a tinge of Dying Earth in the mix. Someone who’d read more extensively in the traditional fantasy space might very well make other connections. I was drawn to this series because it promised a group of characters that believe they’re in a fantasy world, which over time gets revealed to be more and more of a science fictional setting.

My default method of analyzing fiction has become one of dissecting what I read into the various tags I’d use to describe it. (I blame my TagShadow project) The list that I jotted down for Lamentation included the following: Fantasy, Weapon of Mass Destruction, Non-Verbal Communication, Stealth, Robots, Steampunk, Religion, Science, Shifting Alliances, Drug Use, War, Carrier Pigeon, Cryptography, Third Person, Past Tense, Multiple Points of View, Glossolalia, Artificial Intelligence, Series. All of these were fascinating in one way or another, but I particularly liked how often multiple conversations were described simultaneously. It heightened the dramatic irony and amplified some of the core mysteries. This density of ideas coupled with an intrigue laden plot straddling the line between fantasy and science fiction is what brings Dune to mind.

The story deals with epic ideas and happenings but relates to us via highly nuanced and continuously developing characters and relationships. Thousands of years before the destruction which opens the book the world had descended into madness. I assume this cycle of knowledge and civilization waxing and waning in the world will be a driving force for the series. Considering that you know most of that in the first few pages of the book, you might expect a crazy dense tome and while there are plenty of engaging ideas, history, and description, the pace is brisk and the overall length quite comfortable. Chess and modern psychology are given their own terminology by Scholes, but are recognizable and used to great effect to describe complex personal interactions.

Similar to the future posited by much of Asimov’s writing where humanity is alone in the galaxy, we’re given a fantasy world with no elves or dwarves or original creatures. Similar to Asimov’s robots, the mechanical men in Lamentation play a crucial role, particularly Isack who lends his name to the series. This humanity centered world where most magical elements could be explained as forgotten science appeals to me. The central theme of the book is knowledge. The lengths some will go to to protect it is contrasted with the ease with which others dismiss it. In that way, it kept reminding me of Anathem which I never managed to finish. No such problem with Lamentation. I find myself hoping the tone will darken a bit, but I seriously doubt the Name Lands have reached rock bottom yet.

I have a signed copy of Canticle, the sequel to Lamentation, and I look forward to starting it. I suspect I’ll feel a bit more free to discuss the plot of Lamentation when I review Canticle and I’m glad there’s another story in this setting to hold me over till the third book is published.

So far this month I’ve experienced 2 new bookstores. I went to meet and experience authors. The results ranged from disappointing to spectacular, but overall worthwhile.

Last Wednesday (11/4/09) I stopped by Dark Delicacies and it turns out I should have paid more attention to my own blog as Ken Scholes signed there on the third. I talked with Del (the owner, I presume) and it sounds like signings at Dark Delicacies tend to forgo any reading or Q&A in favor of getting straight to the signings. I came away with their last signed copy of Canticle and quite enjoyed browsing the book store, but I’m not sure I can drum up much excitement for that format of book signing. I’m currently enjoying Lamentation and am glad I have Canticle to chase it.

Jeff VanderMeer at Book Soup (11/11/09) was the polar opposite experience. He gave a lively reading from Finch (my review) which he introduced with a personal anecdote about professional cockroaches and maritime adventures in Romania. A listener commented on the lilt of his prose and Jeff described how he tried to build each paragraph with a few complete sentences surrounded by fragments. Flash backs are written in the present tense with more emphasis on complete sentences.

The topic of the soundtracks for the Ambergris books was raised and Jeff shared that the Murder By Death Soundtrack for Finch was so perfect, often dissecting specific scenes, that it managed to supplant in his mind the soundtrack he used to write the book ( I built that from the track list in the Advanced Reader Copy and listened while I read).

When asked what he’d read and particularly liked recently he responded with LIver by Will Self and Tatoo Machine by Jeff Johnson.

I thought it was quite cool that Jeff used a copy of Book Life (already on a second print run) as a guest book, having everyone who he signed something for sign it. I made a habit of doing that in high school and still have a few of my Doctor Who books that got the treatment. I mentioned this blog when he signed my new copy of Finch and he said he read it regularly. Squee!

If you’d like to win my ARC of Finch, be one of the first 50 users to post on the TagShadow forums. Genre musings, organizational schemes for books, tips on where you get the SFF you enjoy, and such things are strongly desired. Tag your posts liberally and creatively. I’ll do this particular giveaway (and probably others as well) once we reach 50 active users.

A double murder. Suspects pursued. Mysteries, the least of which is the murder. Finch is a unique book on many levels. In the acknowledgment, VanderMeer thanks his editor for “an analysis of and methodology for sentence fragments.” As a mystery it’s more important than ever to avoid spoilers in a review, but Finch makes this easy as there’s plenty of interest without even touching the plot. Finch is the third book set in the fictional city of Abergris, following City of Saints and Madmen and Shriek: An Afterword, and it’s the first novel of VanderMeer’s that I’ve read.

Finch is unquestionably noir and unquestionably speculative fiction (I’ve been fixated on this combination recently). One of the book’s many mysteries for me as a reader was what speculative fiction pile to stack it on. It has none of the elves and dragons and such that would immediately identify it as fantasy. It has no shiny space ships and scientists to identify it squarely as science fiction. I was asked on twitter if Finch was any good, and my response was:

Dark, intense, beautiful, with distinct prose. Mysteries within mysteries. Borges on shrooms. Tempted to read again tonight.

I was introduced to Jorge Luis Borges by math and science professors in college and I love how a Borges story captures a mathematical, logical, or scientific concept with beautifully surreal prose. Finch has that quality in spades. Science fiction staples are explored in a surreal yet gritty setting. There are plenty of other elements in the book that scream Borges at me, most notably books within books. The latter part of the statement, “Borges on shrooms.” is a blatant double entendre.

The description of Abergris in Finch is darkly beautiful. But that description is a calming hallucination (shrooms 1). The reality that comes into focus is horrific. A once grand, but now war-ravaged city is rotting from the inside. That “rot” is a fungus (shrooms 2). Fungus as magic or technology wielded by intelligent fungus creatures. I’ve mentioned before that I have a fondness for mushrooms. One of my first jobs in high school was on a shitake mushroom farm in Virgina. You grow shitake mushrooms by drilling a bunch of holes into a log and hammering in wooden plugs that have been inundated with the shitake mycelium. In about 18 months, that log is full to bursting with mycelium and the mushrooms start popping out. This gave me a very real reference point to think about how a fungus based life form could come to power. Mushrooms are like icebergs, what you see is only a fraction of what exists below the surface. What we see are the gray caps: inhuman, malevolent, and hard to kill.

In addition to the mysterious gray caps, all the noir trappings exist. With flair. Even the most minor character isn’t a cardboard cutout. Thugs have creative hobbies. Seemingly innocent dames are well developed characters. The crime lords and such are played by spies and rebels with intricate and shifting alliances based on a detailed history. The mystery reader will have plenty to please them, as will both the fantasy and science fiction fan. The mystery is a fractal object in this novel. It exists in every character, every plot point, the structure of the prose and even the cover itself. I’ll be returning to Ambergris to experience the earlier installments, and I think Finch may very well join Dune and a handful of others on my short list of books I can’t read too many times.

I have about an hour commute every weekday morning and evening. My shiny white scion xB has a manual transmission. I appreciate the feeling of control the clutch and stick shift give me. Sometimes on the freeway, with the speed of traffic oscillating between 20mph and 40mph, I’ll end up in the wrong gear. As I correct my mistake, I try and think back through the increases and decreases in speed that nudged me out of a familiar pattern and during that reflection I feel lost.

Getting lost is an experience that can either lead to exploration or fear. I choose exploration pretty much every time when I’m physically lost. I enjoy being physically lost. Today’s zing reminds me that all the other times I feel lost (programming problems, writer’s block, general thoughts about my place in the cosmos) I can choose exploration over fear.

I highly recommend this ISBW interview with Felix Gilman for more elaboration on the power of getting lost. In fact, I recommend that entire episode. The Jay Lake interview in that podcast has some impressive coverage on the topic of collaboration. The final interview becomes a discussion of fandom and the chance meeting of Mur and Pat may be important to the future of the human race.

Check out the cover art for the new Halo short story collection and associated press release. I’ve read zero HALO fiction, but I love Buckell, Nylund, and VanderMeer’s other writing, so I’m very much looking forward to this.

Press Release

HALO: EVOLUTIONS will feature a wide variety of tales set across the span of the Halo universe. High-resolution images of the jacket art are now available by request. A full list of contributors, including brand-new original stories by New York Times bestselling Halo novelists Eric Nylund and Tobias Buckell, as well as Halo newcomer and #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss, follows below:

TOBIAS S. BUCKELL, the New York Times bestselling author of HALO: The Cole Protocol and Sly Mongoose. [Buckell's contribution is a novella titled, "Dirt." (source)]

B.K. EVENSON, the Edgar and Horror Guild International nominated author of Last Days and The Open Curtain.

JONATHAN GOFF, writer and artist with 343 Industries.

KEVIN GRACE, writer and Managing Editor of 343 Industries.

ROBT McLEES, Bungie game developer and writer on Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 and Halo 3, as well as the upcoming Halo: Reach.

ERIC NYLUND, the New York Times bestselling author of Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, and most recently a new non-Halo series that begins with Mortal Coils.

FRANK O’CONNOR, the Franchise Director for Halo at 343 Industries.

ERIC RAAB, writer, and Tor editor of the Halo novels since 2004.

KAREN TRAVISS, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of her own Wess’har series as well as Star Wars and Gears of War novels.

JEFF VANDERMEER & TESSA KUM: Vandermeer is the World Fantasy award-winning writer of City of Saints and Madman as well as Shriek: An Afterword and Finch. Kum is the author of 7wishes and editor for Weird Tales and the Best American Fantasy series. [The writing process for their novella, "The Mona Lisa."]

FRED VAN LENTE, the New York Times bestselling author of Incredible Hercules (with Greg Pak) and Marvel Zombies 3, as well as Cowboys and Aliens and the upcoming Marvel comic series Halo: Blood Line.

The collection also features original art by Gabriel “Robogabo” Garza and Nicolas “Sparth” Bouvier of 343 Industries.

“We sought out writers who came to the table with an obvious passion for Halo and amazing story ideas.” says Eric Raab, Tor editor. “We got stuff for every kind of Halo fan from straight up action with the Master Chief to glimpse into the Elite mindset post Halo 3, and some really cool explorations of some other familiar faces like Cortana, the Gravemind, and Admiral Preston Cole, and some awesome new stuff that wander into unexplored territory of the Halo mythos.”

“The chance to explore corners of the Halo universe, whether obscure or popular, is something we are always excited to do, but the chance to shine light on these dark corners with the talents of these wonderful luminaries is a pleasure indeed,” says Frank O’Connor, Franchise Development Director, 343 Industries. “The combination of fresh eyes and old hands guarantees a brilliant continuation of a Halo tradition.”

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I couldn’t resist the urge to add as many links as possible to this post. I’ll pass along the complete Table of Contents as I discover it. I’m excited that the Buckell and VanderMeer entries are novellas. I like that length of story.

If anything could make Borderlands Books which I’ve mentioned before better, it would be coffee. I got this announcement in my email, and I wish I was close enough to experience all of this, but at least I can share:

Wednesday, October 28th from 6:30 – 8:00 pm, Borderlands will be hosting our most ambitious signing to date — a huge group signing with 24 authors, and it will take place in the soon-to-be Borderlands Cafe at 870 Valencia (right next door). Yes, this is your chance to get a sneak preview of the space on which we’ve been working so hard before it’s open to the public, and meet some of your favorite authors! The lineup includes:
Gail Carriger – new author of the hugely popular novel SOULLESS, Borderlands’ bestselling paperback in October;
David Drake – renowned master of military science fiction;
Steven Erikson and Ian Cameron Esslemont – co-creators of the fabulously successful Malazan Empire books in a rare appearance (in fact, we believe this is Mr. Esslemont’s first signing in the US);
Graham Joyce – distinguished winner of the World Fantasy and British Fantasy Awards;
Patricia McKillip – beloved fantasy author and winner of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement;
L.E. Modesitt, Jr. – Incredibly prolific and respected fantasy and science fiction writer;
Garth Nix – Popular young adult fantasy author of THE ABHORESEN TRILOGY and many others;
S.M. Stirling – one of the world’s premier authors of alternate histories, notably the Emberverse series (DIES THE FIRE and its sequels);
Michael Swanwick – Multiple-award winning author of THE IRON DRAGON’S DAUGHTER;
Bill Willingham – creator of the graphic novel FABLES;

and many more writers, artists and editors including James Anderson, Carol Berg, David B. Coe, Kate Elliott, David Lunde, John Picacio, Barbara and Christopher Roden, Mark Sebanc, Mark Van Name and Zoran Zivkovic!

Monday, November 2nd from 6:30 – 8:00 pm we continue the trend with 21 more authors including Paolo Bacigalupi, Laird Barron, Marie Brennan, Lynn Ceasar, Ellen Datlow, Nancy Etchemendy, Cody Goodfellow, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Cecelia Holland, Elaine Isaak, Mary Robinette Kowal, Ellen Kushner, Nick Mamatas, Diana Paxson, Tony Richards, Michael Shea, Delia Sherman, John Skipp, Anna Tambour, and Brent Weeks!

Tuesday, November 3rd at 7:00 pm will be a bit quieter, featuring an INTERFICTIONS 2 reading with Amelia Beamer, Delia Sherman, Anna Tambour and Ray Vukcevich.

Saturday, November 7th at 3:00 pm, meet Katharine Kerr as she presents the THE SILVER MAGE, the final novel in The Silver Wyrm series!

We’re all very excited about these events, especially our Wednesday and Monday signings. Wednesday will be especially interesting since TRAUMA, the emergency services TV show set in San Francisco, will be filming right next door in the Mission Playground that afternoon. As a result, parking will be even more entertaining than usual (they’ve made the entire West side of our block no-parking for the day) and foot traffic will be heavy. If you’re coming, you might want to plan on arriving early since it’s going to be a busy evening, inside and out.

Best,
Alan and the Borderlands Staff

I love a good book signing like most people like a good concert. November looks to be a good month for me to meet some authors. In preparation I’ve been doing some reading. I discovered both Scholes and Sanderson on Adventures in SciFi Publishing and I’ve been following VanderMeer for a while.

Jeff VanderMeer

I’ve been reading Finch. I’ll be seeing him at Book Soup, November 11th and be sure to check out the full schedule of his endurance tour.

Ken Scholes

I just picked up a copy of Lamentation. I’m goingt to try and see him November 3rd at Dark Delicacies. Tour schedule. AISFP interview

Brandon Sanderson

I picked up a copy of Mistborn. I’m sure there will be many people asking about his Wheel of Time book, but I wanted to get a taste of the author in his own setting first. I only ever made it a few chapters into the Wheel of Time series. I also found that Warbreaker, which is probably the book of his I’ve seen the most, is available for free on his website. I’ll be seeing him at Vroman’s on November 17th. Full Tour schedule. AISFP interview that first put Sanderson on my radar.

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Please feel free to let me know of any other SFF writers passing through Los Angeles in the upcoming months.

I’ve been watching for this feature since I saw it announced. Today I got a chance to play with twitter lists, and I set up a number of them. My favorite is my sff twitter list.

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[edit] It looks like only people that can create lists right now can view and follow them… Until the feature that caused me such excitement is available to everyone else, I’ll just post the entire list of twitter accounts here. I’ve tried to include SFF bookstores, publishers, writers, editors, bloggers and other news outlets. I’m sure this list is missing plenty of people, even ones I’m following, as the list AJAX functionality is still a bit buggy. Please supplement this list in the comments.

• @adribbleofink
• @anticipationsf
• @ApexBookCompany
• @apexjason
• @AurealisXpress
• @authorjohnbrown
• @bantamspectra
• @BenBova
• @BestSF
• @BittenbyBooks
• @bloggeratf
• @BrandonSandrson
• @brendacooper
• @cdelint
• @Chadbourn
• @clarkesworld
• @cmpriest
• @Cpunkstudios
• @davidjwilliams
• @doctorow
• @dragonmoonpress
• @esedia
• @EternalCow
• @etherius
• @feliciaday
• @Gollancz
• @gregvaneekhout
• @gudmagazine
• @heatherlyshaw
• @io9
• @jay_lake
• @jeffvandermeer
• @jennreese
• @johnottinger
• @JohnPicacio
• @KarlSchroeder
• @KirstenIKasai
• @KristineRusch
• @MarlaMason
• @MaryRobinette
• @mightymur
• @MihaiDarkWolf
• @MikeStackpole
• @MystGalaxyBooks
• @NorwichGrrl
• @orbitbooks
• @Outshine
• @paolobacigalupi
• @Pyr_Books
• @RobertJSawyer
• @scalzi
• @SciFiAudiobooks
• @SciFiScanner
• @scottsigler
• @ScottWesterfeld
• @SFEley
• @sfwa
• @shaunfarrell
• @sinboy
• @SolarisBooks
• @strangerthings
• @Syfy
• @TheHugoAwards
• @TheKJA
• @timpratt
• @tobiasbuckell
• @torbooks
• @tordotcom
• @williemeikle
• @wilw

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and a few more that I added over the weekend:

• @AlasdairStuart
• @StarShipSofa
• @starlog
• @damiengwalter
• @pablod
• @PaulGrahamRaven
• @bruces

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And some more, added here 11/1/09

• @_TheVoyager_
• @Brightweavings
• @BritFantasySoc
• @BSCreview
• @CemeteryDance
• @ConReporter
• @DarkFaerieTales
• @EosBooks
• @fantasymagazine
• @GreatDismal
• @jchutchins
• @johalloran
• @justinemusk
• @neilhimself
• @nextread
• @PaulLev
• @sci_fi_o_rama
• @SCIFI_channel
• @SciFi_Online
• @ScifiWatch
• @scifiwire
• @SFAwardsWatch
• @sfsignal
• @Shineanthology
• @subpress
• @TheSciFiChick
• @TTApress
• @UKTor
• @worldcon
• @WorldCon2011
• @worldsf