Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Time, Unincorporated


Presenting: Time, Unincorporated 2: The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives: (Vol. 2: Writings on the Classic Series)

Which includes:  Me, pontificating on the dark side of the Doctor.

Here's the book synopsis from Mad Norwegian Press (why is he mad?):

In Time, Unincorporated, the best essays and commentary from a range of Doctor Who fanzines are collected and here made available to a wider audience. In spirit, this series picks up the torch from Virgin's Licence Denied collection (1997), concentrating some of the most delightful, insightful and strange writings on Doctor Who into a single source.

Volume 2 of this series contains nearly 75 essays that examine every era of the classic Doctor Who series that ran from 1963-1989, as well as the FOX TV movie (1996). The essays stem from a wide array of venerable fanzines such as Enlightenment, Shockeye's Kitchen, Burnt Toast, Faze, Dark Circus, The Whostorian and more. Collectively, the essays derived from these sources form one of the most diverse compilations of Doctor Who writing ever produced.

As a bonus, ten of the essays were written exclusively for this volume by the likes of Matt Jones (Doctor Who, Torchwood), Simon Guerrier (The Slitheen Excursion), Pyr Books editorial director Lou Anders, and Jim Sangster (TV Heaven).

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Swords & Dark Magic - Table of Contents

As promised, the Table of Contents for

edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders


coming June 22, 2010
from Harper Eos

"Introduction: Check Your Dark Lord at the Door" - Lou Anders & Jonathan Strahan
"Goats of Glory" - Steven Erikson
"Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company" - Glen Cook
"Bloodsport" - Gene Wolfe
"The Singing Spear" - James Enge
"A Wizard of Wiscezan" - C.J. Cherryh
"A Rich Full Week" - K. J. Parker
"A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet" - Garth Nix
"Red Pearls: An Elric Story" - Michael Moorcock
"The Deification of Dal Bamore" - Tim Lebbon
"Dark Times at the Midnight Market" - Robert Silverberg
"The Undefiled" - Greg Keyes
"Hew the Tint Master" - Michael Shea  
"In the Stacks" - Scott Lynch
"Two Lions, A Witch, and the War-Robe" - Tanith Lee
"The Sea Troll's Daughter" - Caitlin R Kiernan
"Thieves of Daring" - Bill Willingham
"The Fool Jobs" - Joe Abercrombie

Limited coming from Subterranean Press too.

Monday, October 19, 2009

The Man Behind the Magic


AgeofMisrule and forthcoming The Silver Skull (Swords of Albion)author Mark Chadbourn is the latest guest on Shaun Farrell's magnificent podcast, Adventures in SciFi Publishing. Mark and Shaun discuss spy-fantasy, Mark’s love of history and mythology, and how Mark balances a fulltime television career with novel writing demands.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Story, Story, Story

Fantastic interview with Leonard Nimoy over at SciFiChick.com. I'm particularly struck by this question and response:

How do you feel about the current state of science fiction on TV and film? 

Well, I’m concerned about the positioning of story in terms of importance. When I see a lot of explosions and a lot of chases, I’m not terribly impressed. I think there are three terribly important elements that must be given a priority position in science fiction as well as in any other kind of drama. The first is story, the second is story, and the third is story. Story, story, story, story, story. If the story is compelling and interesting, I think all the rest will find its place.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Swords & Dark Magic @ Amazon

Holy cow, look what's popped up for preorder at Amazon!
We'll be able to disclose the TOC very soon now too.

Under the Rose edited by Dave Hutchinson


Looks like I have a short story out. Or rather, a story Chris Roberson and I co-wrote is one of twenty-six tales in the new, Dave Hutchinson-edited anthology, Under the Rose,just out from Norilana Books. Billed as "new anthology of cutting-edge speculative fiction from some of today's brightest literary talents," the anthology includes stories by Pauline E Dungate, Tim Lieder, William John Watkins, Mel Sterling, Jean Graham, Ken Rand, Teri Smith, Liza Granville, Ralan Conley, Stuart Jaffe, CL Russo, James Targett, Ren Holton, Donna Scott, Justin Stanchfield, Yours Truly and Chris Roberson, Ian Whates, Gaie Sebold, Jean Tschohl Quinn, Angel Arango, Ekaterina Sedia, Edwina Harvey, Sarah Totton, William R Eakin, Uncle River, and John Grant.

Here's the TOC:

Introduction by Dave Hutchinson
"Plant Hunter" by Pauline E Dungate
"Office Job" by Tim Lieder 

"Five Hundred Vinnies" by William John Watkins 

"Perambulations" by Mel Sterling
"Chain Letter, Inc." by Jean Graham
"Side Effects" by Ken Rand 

"Dragon Bait" by Teri Smith
"Indian Summer" by Liza Granville 

"Galactic Exchange" by Ralan Conley 

"Mrs Donovan" by Stuart Jaffe 

"The Man Who Pulled Shiny Things Out of the Air" by CL Russo 

"Mother Russia's Egg" by James Targett 

"Miss" by Ren Holton 

"Fool's Gold" by Donna Scott
"A Distant Scent of Rain" by Justin Stanchfield
"Sojourner" by Lou Anders and Monkeybrain, Inc. 

"The Outsider" by Ian Whates 

"Eaten Cold" by Gaie Sebold
"California Fairy Story" by Jean Tschohl Quinn 

"The Day New York Reached Heaven" by Angel Arango 

"The Tale of a More Ancient, Ancient Mariner" by Liza Granville 

"Sagekites' Land" by Ekaterina Sedia 

"When Whales Cry" by Edwina Harvey
"Tricky Penny Pound" by Sarah Totton 

"Mary Nackley" by William R Eakin 

"Yeast Virus" by Uncle River 

"The Beach of the Drowned" by John Grant


Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Why Science Fiction Authors Can't Win

Read this article, by John Howell, entitled "Why Science Fiction Authors Can't Win."

Then come back and read this quote, by James Enge:
I believe that the greatest danger to genre fiction nowadays is not the denial of respect from some notional group of literary tastemakers but the very real likelihood that sf/f may become respectable. Those who thirst for the foamy gray poison of respectability should consider the fate of jazz, once a popular medium, now respectable, ossified and ignored.
Update 10/12/09: Since I dragged him into this by snagging his older quote, good sport James Enge decided to give his 2 cents on the Black Gate blog in a post called, "SF/F: Field or Dangerfield," however a more lively discussion is going on at his own personal blog post, where he mentions the article. Both are worth checking out. A discussion on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is also generating a lot of comments.




Friday, October 02, 2009

Whole Lotta Lou

SF Signal's latest MIND MELD is a brilliantly-informative round robin asking a Who's Who of anthologists, "Can you describe what goes on behind the scenes - from conception to publication -- when creating a short fiction anthology?" There is much wisdom to be had in part one and part two. I am in part three, using their question as an excuse to talk about whatever I felt like and not really answering it.

Meanwhile, I'm up twice at Tor.com talking about the fact that a band has named itself after Mark Chadbourn's Age of Misrule series, and reviewing George Mann's The Affinity Bridge (while sneaking in the first public shot of Ghosts of Manhattan).

The Phantom

All I got to say is, if you are embarrassed by it, don't make the movie in the first place.