Apologies for Being So Quiet

I know this blog's been quiet of late. Reason? I've been away for 24 days in China - in Changsha, SuZhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Back now, jet lagged and ill. But will blog the trip, with photos, once my brain & body returns.

In the meantime, here are some news items worth pointing out / catching up on:

The Blade Itself author Joe Abercrombie has partaken of a mammoth Q&A on Stargate: Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozi's Blog.

Over on Omnivoracious, Jeff Vandermeer called Kay Kenyon's Entire and the Rose series (of which Bright of the Skyand A World Too Nearhave so far been published) a "modern classic." Whereas Greg L. Johnson of SFSite, calls the series "one of the most imaginative creations in recent science fiction history."

Joe Crowe of RevolutionSF has reviewed Chris Roberson's Paragaea: A Planetary Romance."Parageaa is a step ahead of most modern fantasies. It's not a blatant setup for a 17-part trilogy. Roberson isn't so in love with Paragaea that he spends pages of real estate describing the flora or the history. It's a backdrop for his characters to move through, and that's plenty. Best of all, it's fun. It plays in the backyard of Philip Jose Farmer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Michael Moorcock."

There's probably more, but I can't think straight right now.

Brasyl: Best of the Best

Visions of Paradise aggregated the "Best of the Year" mentions from some twenty sources, including SF Site, Fantasy Magazine, Bookgasm, SFF World, Fantasy Book Critic, Strange Horizons, Locus Online, Locus Magazine, as well as award nominations for the BSFA, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards. They then listed the books which received the most mentions, to produce a "best of the best" list. The result - Ian McDonald's Brasylis the clear leader with 16 out of 20 mentions! Here is the full list, which also includes Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself with seven mentions and Kay Kenyon's Bright of the Skywith five.

Update 2/24/08: Locus Online has updated their 2007 SF/F/F Books on Year's Best Lists, with the result that Brasyl comes in 2nd after Harry Potter (no shame there) with 8 mentions, and Kay Kenyon 's Bright of the Sky now appears on four.

SFFWorld's Favorite Books of 2007

SFFWorld’s readers have voted for their favorite books of 2007, and I'm thrilled that Before They Are Hangedtops the list (this refers to the UK edition, as the US edition was just released). What's more, Joe Abercrombie appears twice, with The Blade Itselftying with the wonderful Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora at # 5. Here's the full list:

1. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie (105 points)
2. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (96 points)
3. Reaper’s Gale by Steven Erikson (63 points)
4. Renegade’s Magic by Robin Hobb (54 points)
5. The Lies of Locke Lamora* by S. Lynch & The Blade Itself* by J. Abercrombie (41 points)
6. The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien (32 points)
7. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch (31 points)
8. The Thousandfold Thought* by R. Scott Bakker (28 points)
9. The Orphan’s Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente

Also delighted to see that The Devil's Right Hand author Lilith Saintcrow praises The Blade Itself on her blog, Writer on the Dark Side: "This is fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, but without the complete lack of verite most fantasy is infected with... There’s wizards, mythology, kings, princes, a self-absorbed nobleman, ancient legends, fencing–all written so well I was grinding my teeth with envy whenever I HAD to put the book down. This is a fantastic start to a trilogy, and I can’t wait to get the next two books so I can see what happens next. There are some tropes, true, but they’re handled so deftly and characterised so beautifully they take on the status of old friends instead of worn-out archetypes. In short, I can’t say enough good things about this book, and I highly recommend it."

Thank you, Lilith. Wait till you get to book two!

2007: The Best of the Year (Locus Online)

Jeff Vandermeer has posted his 2007: The Best of the Year list over on LocusOnline. I'm thrilled to see a these Pyr mentions.

From the Best Novels list:

"On the science fiction side, Ian McDonald reaffirmed his excellence with Brasyl,which contains three separate narrative strands describing the Brazil of past, present, and future. The novel is a tour de force of storytelling momentum, with a level of invention that represents a master at the top of his form. McDonald is an amazing stylist, yes, but here it’s all about motion. He does a wonderful job of including his trademark detailed and inventive description while making sure nothing in this complex, often beautiful novel is static."

and

"Kay Kenyon's Bright of the Sky,after a slow first seventy pages, knocked my socks off with its brilliant evocation of a quest through a parallel universe that has a strange river running through it. Unique in conception, like Larry Niven's Ringworld, this is the beginning to what should be an amazing SF-Fantasy series."

From the Best Anthologies list:

" Another first volume of a new original series, the Lou Anders-edited Fast Forward 1 featured thought-provoking speculative takes on making sense of our (post)modern world by, among others, Ken MacLeod, Gene Wolfe, and Nancy Kress. Consistently interesting, this SF anthology fills a gap, as most of the current spate of anthologies seems skewed toward the fantasy side of things."

And from Notable Reprints:

"...The Blade Itselfby Joe Abercrombie, a rough-and-tumble, bold new voice in the heroic fantasy ranks."

All good to read!

Book Spotting: The Blade Itself & River of Gods

So, here's how the busy editor spends his weekends. There are two Barnes and Nobles within driving distance of me, and I check them frequently to see Pyr books on the shelf there (and see how they move). So I was very gratified to see two faced out copies on the new books shelf of the new trade paperback edition of Ian McDonald's River of Gods, as well as four copies of Joe Abercrombie's debut fantasy The Blade Itself. (Sometimes I can tell when my brother has been there before me, as he frequently faces out Pyr books when he spots them, but this time he verified that the B&N faced the RoGs out on their own initiative.)

However, at the 2nd B&N, the two copies of The Blade Itself they had weren't faced out. Now, the busy editor who loves his authors would have just turned the books faced out quickly if he could, but the shelf in question was packed so tightly that you couldn't slide a credit card between any two books. I looked, and there wasn't any space to be had anywhere on the whole bookcase. In fact, the only space at all was on the next bookcase to the left. So, with one eye on the lookout for store staff and the other on my two year old (who was busy with his own creative reshelving behind me in the westerns section), I restocked an entire bookcase and a half. Most books I've ever moved before and the fastest I've ever done it. Whew! Now, go forth and do likewise.

Things Everyone Should Know

Ian McDonald's Hugo and Clarke nominated River of Gods is now out in trade paperback. It'll be in stores in early September, and is already listed as in stock at Amazon.com.

John Picacio makes his first podcast appearance here, interviewed by Chris Merle at Conestoga 11, where he was Artist Guest of Honor. It's a solid, detailed 38 minute interview, and well worth checking out.

Cheryl Morgan and Kevin Standlee have launched Science Fiction Awards Watch, and I'm flabbergasted at how fast this website has become indispensable to me. I had it open in a browser the whole time I was writing all the individual story introductions for Sideways in Crime this week. I'm going to use this site a LOT.

Joe Abercrombie's extraordinary fantasy debut The Blade Itself is also out. I just got my copies day before yesterday. Like River of Gods, its also on Amazon already. I also noticed that Blood, Blade & Thruster magazine posted this tremendous review. They introduce The Blade Itself in this manner: "Desperately in need of some genre fiction with character driven plot, plenty of violence, and strong anti-hero protagonists, but tired of waiting for George R. R. Martin to finish his epic Game of Thrones series?"

Book Expo America

Pyr will be at Book Expo America next weekend, from May 31st to June 3rd, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. We'll be in parent company Prometheus Books' booth, # 4532, and, FYI, its possible we'll only be listed in the program as "Prometheus Books." I'll only be there Friday and Saturday myself, but attendees will want to stop by and pick up the exclusive Part One galley we've made for Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself. Oh, and while we're on the subject, check out the subtly different US cover.

Other Prometheus freebies include t-shirts, books and buttons, and in addition to The Blade Itself, they'll be featuring their titles Nothing: Something to Believe in by Nica Lalli, Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend by Barbara Oakley, and something tantalizingly titled The Humble Little Condom: A History by Aine Collier.