* Esslemont, Ian C. : Blood and Bone (UK: Transworld/Bantam UK 978-0593064467, £20, 592pp, hardcover, November 2012) • Nominal Publication Date: Thu 22 Nov 2012 • Malazan-Esslemont #5
Fantasy novel set in the Malazan Empire, the world co-created by Esslemont and Steven Erikson, author of the 10-volume Malazan Book of the Fallen series. \ This is the fifth book by Esslemont, following Orb Sceptre Throne (Jan. 2012). • The publisher’s
Editors Sheila Williams and Trevor Quachri have announced that the pay rate for short fiction at Asimov’s and Analog has been raised from 6-8 cents per word to 7-9 cents per word, effective for all stories purchased from November 29, 2012 onward. ...Read More
Read moreThis Roundtable is a spin-off from the earlier discussions on Reviewing and Spoilers last week.
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Russell Letson
I note that in the television world, reviewing ...Read More
Read moreReading some of the strange stuff that people send me. As often is the case these days, the best stories come from Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
A variety of imaginative futures,
Black Static • British fantasy and horror magazine, debuting 2007 (formerly The Third Alternative), edited by Andy Cox • Format: Print • Frequency: Bimonthly • http://ttapress.com/blackstatic/
Nov-Dec 2012— Issue 31, £4.99, 96pp, cover art by Richard Wagner • This issue has stories by Jackson Kuhl, Seán Padraic Birnie, Steven Pirie, Steven J. Dines, V.H. Leslie, and James Cooper. • Columns and reviews are by Stephen Volk, Christopher Fowler, Tony
This conversation is a spin-off from the earlier discussion of Reviewing.
As always, this discussion is broken up into multiple pages for ease of reading. If you’d like to read it all on a single page, select ‘View All’ from the drop down menu above. If you don’t see the drop down menu, please click here.
John Clute
Proposal. Try to think of a single review which lacks spoilers that ...Read More
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* Andrews, Ilona : Steel’s Edge (Ace 978-1937007829, $7.99, 400pp, mass market paperback, December 2012) • Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Nov 2012 • The Edge #4
Urban fantasy novel, fourth in a series following On the Edge (2009), Bayou Moon (2010), and Fate’s Edge (2011) about a family that lives on the “Edge” of two worlds, the mundane and the magical. • The authors’ site (the byline is that
Also just barely making the NY Times is Drew Karpyshyn’s latest Star Wars novel, The Old Republic: Annihilation (LucasBooks), in position #29.
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT 12.02 WP 11.18 LAT 11.25 USAT 11.18 PW 11.26 Amz ...Read More Read more
HarperCollins has announced a new digital imprint, HarperTeen Impulse (not to be confused with Avon Impulse, another all-digital HarperCollins imprint launched last year).
HarperTeen Impulse will publish YA short fiction, beginning on December 4, 2012 with SF novella Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld and novella Breathless by Sophie Jordan. The imprint will publish as many as four e-books each month, with prices ranging from $0.99 to $2.99. Susan Katz, ...Read More
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by Gary Westfahl
Readers of contemporary science fiction might understandably grow impatient with commentators who keep talking about older science fiction writers, since they have largely been supplanted by new favorites in today’s marketplace. Still, there is at least one classic writer that every science fiction reader must come to terms with; for when you visit a bookstore today, the science fiction section may have only a few books by
A couple of years ago Hannu Rajaniemi made one of the most spectacular first-novel debuts in recent memory with The Quantum Thief, which employed a powerfully seductive – if not entirely new – narrative strategy of linking a wildly inventive and disorienting post-singularity future with a comparatively straightforward adventure plot, partly derived from the decidedly more linear mysteries of Maurice Leblanc. It was a clever strategy: for all the
Brooks, Terry : The Annotated Sword of Shannara: 35th Anniversary Edition (Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-53513-9, $35, 544pp, hardcover, November 2012) • Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Nov 2012 ERROR — 1st edition not found
Hardcover, annotated, edition of the popular fantasy novel that launched a long-running series, with illustrations by the Brothers Hildebrandt. • The publisher’s site has this description with an excerpt. • Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides page
The “power chord” of the slower-than-light, multigenerational starship is a potent one still, despite decades of literary exploration. (The trope seems to date back to 1928, and the non-fiction work of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.) Something about the combination of heroic sacrifices, the vast void of space, clannishness in a tin can, historical nescience, cultural degeneration, the possibility of instant cosmic doom or going astray, technocratic hubris, unknown alien worlds at the
» LA Review of Books / Salon: Jonathan Lethem discovers Anthony Burgess didn’t read science fiction
» B&N: Paul Di Filippo reviews Iain M. Banks’ The Hydrogen Sonata
» Husk: Sarah McCarry profiles Elizabeth Hand
» NY Times: Inside the List profiles Lois McMaster Bujold on the occasion of her first placement on a NYT bestseller list
» On Fiction Writing’s Rack interviews Ellen Datlow ...Read More
Read moreThe storm surge recedes and the digests wash onshore, although the fiction is a bit washed-out. Also the regular monthly ezines.
Here’s a double issue with double novellas, both involving the mysteries of time. Many of the shorter pieces focus on the
* Aaron, Rachel : Spirit’s End (Orbit 978-0-316-19836-3, $14.99, 560pp, trade paperback, November 2012) • Nominal Publication Date: Tue 20 Nov 2012 • Eli Monpress #5
Fantasy novel, fifth book in a series following The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion, and The Spirit Eater (all 2010), and The Spirit War (June 2012), about wizard thief Eli Monpress. • The author’s site has this description with a link to
Russian author Boris Strugatsky, 79, died November 19, 2012 in St. Petersburg, Russia from heart problems and pneumonia. Strugatsky and his older brother Arkady (died 1991) were famous for their collaborations. They are easily the best known Russian SF writers worldwide, and were considered major writers in their homeland, though their sometimes satirical work often brought them into conflict with the government of what was then the Soviet Union. The ...Read More
Read moreAnd ranking even high, though on children’s lists, is Laini Taylor’s Days of Blood & Starlight (Little, Brown), debuts in 4th place on the NYT list and in 8th place on the PW list.
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT 11.25 WP 11.04 ...Read More Read more
David Levithan is best known as the author (and co-author) of several sharp contemporary novels. His work has openly and refreshingly tackled politics – most notably in Wide Awake – but is also often about exploring the human heart and its politics. He wrestles with the ways we connect to the people around us and to the world around us. There is always smart dialogue, humor, and a quirky precision
» Washington Post’s 50 notable works of fiction (of 2012) include titles by G. Willow Wilson, Hari Kunzru, Tim Powers, Eowyn Ivey, Michael Chabon, and Junot Diaz
» Europa SF, the European Science Fiction Portal, has launched
» John Picacio has a Kickstarter campaign for a 2013 Calendar, through November 28th
» Odyssey Online Writing Classes has announced three courses beginning in January, with application deadlines in December
» Free ...Read More
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Asaro, Catherine : Carnelians (Baen 978-1-4516-3849-3, $7.99, 560pp, mass market paperback, November 2012) • Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2012 • Skolian Empire #14 (First edition: Baen, October 2011)
SF novel, 14th in the author’s long-running Skolian Saga, following Diamond Star (2009). • Baen’s site’ has this description, with links to several chapters.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound • (Directory Entry)
Baxter, Stephen : Stone Spring
Anna Tambour is the author of one short story collection—quirkily titled Monterra’s Deliciosa & Other Tales &–and of one novel, Spotted Lily. Although her stories often end up on annual recommended-reading lists, she might very well have slipped under your literary radar, since she does not publish overmuch, nor in lots of big-name venues. But with the appearance of her new novel, Crandolin, she will surely register
In a recent interview with the New Statesman, Sir Terry Pratchett discussed his plans to hand the Discworld series over to his daughter, video game writer Rhianna Pratchett, once he’s no longer able to write. Pratchett also acknowledged suffering an atrial fibrillation in the back of a New York taxi earlier this month, which he survived thanks to CPR performed by his assistant Rob Wilkins. The attack made Pratchett consider ...Read More
Read more» LA Review of Books: Lee Konstantinou on Anthony Burgess; re-posted at Salon as Why do Literaray Novelists Love Dystopias aka “When sci-fi went mainstream”
» Washington Post: Michael Dirda reviews Kurt Vonnegut’s letters
» NPR: Leigh Bardugo recalls Reading ‘Dune,’ My Junior-High Survival Guide
» Ellen Datlow’s photos from World Fantasy Con
» Scott Edelman also has WFC photos plus videos of readings by F. Brett Cox, Elizabeth Hand, ...Read More
Read moreThe winners of the National Book Award were announced at a ceremony last night, with middle grade/ YA fantasy Goblin Secrets by William Alexander (McElderry) winning in the Young People’s Literature category.
The Round House (Harper) by occasional SF writer Louise Erdrich won in the Fiction category, although the book is not SF.
The awards were presented November 14, 2012 at the National Book Awards Ceremony, Cipriani Wall Street in ...Read More
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For the past few years, there have been a number of salutary efforts to bring international SF to the attention of the wider community (by which I mean monolingual English-language readers) – a new translation award, recent Japanese and Latin American anthologies, sterling reviews for Angelica Gorodischer, Johanna Sinisalo, and Hannu Rajaniemi, etc. Now Cheeky Frawg books, the latest imprint by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, is introducing us to the
ISFiC Press publisher and editor Steven H Silver has announced his resignation. Silver co-founded the press in 2004, and has published a dozen books, including Aurora Award winner Relativity by Robert J. Sawyer and Hugo finalist Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches edited by Joe Siclari & Mike Resnick. Silver has overseen most aspects of the press, from production to fulfillment, and will continue to work with ISFiC to develop a ...Read More
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+ Abercrombie, Joe : Red Country (Orbit 978-0-316-18721-3, $25.99, 640pp, hardcover, November 2012) • Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Nov 2012 First US edition (UK: Orion/Gollancz, October 2012)
Sword and sorcery fantasy novel set the world of his “First Law” trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and The Last Argument of Kings) and The Heroes (2011), about a young woman in pursuit of a
Karen Burnham
Reviews and reviewing. Why do we do it? Who is it for?
As always, this discussion is broken up into multiple pages for ease of reading. If you’d like to read it all on a single page, select ‘View All’ from the drop down menu above. If you don’t see the drop down menu, please click here.
Paul Di Filippo
I personally review for two reasons: 1) to ...Read More
Read moreAnd Orson Scott Card’s Ruin (Simon Pulse), second book in his “Pathfinder” trilogy, debuts at #6 on the NYT children’s chapter book list, and #10 on the children’s list at ...Read More
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Timothy Aaron Pratt was born December 12, 1976 in Goldsboro NC. He traveled with his mother as a child, living in Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, and West Virginia before settling back in Goldsboro. Pratt went to Appalachian State University in Boone NC, graduating with a BA in English in 1999, and attended the Clarion Writers Workshop that summer. He worked as an advertising copywriter briefly before moving to Santa Cruz CA
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