Craig Laurance Gidney's Blog, page 28
October 24, 2017
Gidney interviews Theodora Goss about fairytales and monsters @ the Washington Independent Review of Books
My interview with Theodora Goss, author of The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, is now up at the Washington Independent Review of Books.
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At first glance, Theodora Goss’ debut novel, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, is a mash-up genre novel in the vein of the TV show “Penny Dreadful” or the graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The cast Goss works with includes cameos from iconic characters from classic gothic fiction and the mystery plot concerns the gruesome murders of women in the backstreets of London.
However, The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter is multi-layered and much more subversive than the “elevator pitch” blurb might lead one to believe.
Read the rest here!
Filed under: Interviews Tagged: fairytales, feminisim, theodora goss, Victorian horror, washington independent review of books
October 19, 2017
“Looming Low” Anthology on Tor.com
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Tor.com featured the Dim Shores’ Weird Fiction anthology Looming Low as one of the recommended 5 Horror Reads for Fall. My story “Mirror Bias” (referred to as “Mirror App”) gets a brief shout-out.
Looming Low, which features a who’s who of newer Weird Fiction authors, is now available as an eBook.
Filed under: Reviews Tagged: dim shores, looming low, tor.com, weird fiction
October 16, 2017
BOOK RADAR: “Strange Is The Night” by S.P. Miskowski
Critically acclaimed weird/horror S.P. Miskowski has a new collection out from Journalstone, called Strange Is the Night. Miskowski has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award many times.
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BACK COVER COPY:
Over cocktails an executive describes to a friend the disturbing history of a strangely potent guardian angel. A young mom tries to perfect and prolong her daughter’s childhood with obsessive parenting. A critic’s petty denouncement of an ingénue’s performance leads to a theatrical night of reckoning. A cult member makes nice for a parole board hearing years after committing an infamous crime.
A multiple Shirley Jackson Award nominee, S.P. Miskowski serves up an uncompromising collection of thirteen modern tales of desire and self-destruction. Strange is the Night offers further proof that Miskowski is—as Black Static book reviewer Peter Tennant notes—“one of the most interesting and original writers to emerge in recent years.”
Filed under: bibliomancy, Book Birthdays Tagged: s.p. miskowski, weird fiction
October 13, 2017
Book Radar: Light Both Foreign and Domestic by Darin Bradley
My colleague Darin Bradley has a new collection of short fiction out this week– intriguingly entitled Light Both Foreign and Domestic (Underland Press). Bradley writes intellectually rigorous speculative fiction, informed by acute sociopolitical analysis and his background in literary theory. I interviewed him a few years ago.
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BACK COVER COPY:
Over the last decade, Darin Bradley has been dissecting the future—from the prophetic Book that heralded the arrival of Salvage Country in Noise, to the impending repossession of our education in Chimpanzee, to the harrowing world of voyeuristic terrorism in Totem. Now, with Light Both Foreign and Domestic, he presents a collection of stories that reveal the persistent light of the human spirit, no matter the harrowing darkness that presses down on us.
Filed under: Book Birthdays Tagged: book radar, darin bradley, underland press, washington independent review of books
October 12, 2017
Book Radar: The Fissure King by Rachel Pollack
Rachel Pollack has a new book out, called The Fissure King (Underland Press). In addition to writing award-winning speculative fiction that centers queer and transwomen (her novel Godmother Night won the World Fantasy Award), she is one of the foremost experts on the Tarot. Also, Pollack was one of my instructors at Clarion West over 20 years ago. I can’t wait to read this!
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From the back cover copy:
Inspired equally by the classic TV noir Western, Have Gun, Will Travel, and Vladimir Nabokov’s most daring novel, Pale Fire, multiple award-winning writer Rachel Pollack brings us the adventures of Jack Shade, occult “Traveler” and modern shaman for hire. Jack has a secret, and this hidden part of his past sends him on a journey through spells and gateways to other worlds, each one stranger than the last, filled with such figures as professional Dream Hunters, gangster magicians, an invisible spirit fox named Ray, an elegant Jinni named Archie, and the Queen of Eyes—holder of all oracular power in the world. From the high stakes poker table in the Hôtel de Rêve Noire, to the deadly Forest Of Souls, to a cave where he must trap a sixty-five thousand year old demon, Jack flows in and out of this world. Even when his own dream duplicate hires him to kill himself, Jack is mercury in motion—Jack the Nimble, Jack the Quick—until he runs out of tricks and must face his greatest fear.
Filed under: Book Birthdays Tagged: rachel pollack
October 11, 2017
“34” Tanith Lee ( writing as Esther Garber): Darkly erotic queer fantastika
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Immanion Press has reprinted 34 in an extremely handsome edition that even has illustrations and pictures. 34 was written Lee, who claimed to channel the work of the enigmatic Esther Garber. The novel is a darkly surreal lesbian quest, part Colette, part Angela Carter.
I wrote about 34 when it first came out in 2004.
If you are expecting a straightforward dive into lesbian erotica by Tanith Lee (or Esther Garber), you will be pleasantly disappointed. This brief, dense and somewhat experimental book explores the erotic imagination, the nature of memory and mediates on aging. Sexual obsession is the focal point through which many discursive images and ideas flow.
The plot finds 17-year old Esther fleeing London after her mother’s dramatic death. She absconds on a boat across the Channel, and ends up in drab hotel in rainy Paris slum. The amoral and jaundiced Esther is mistaken for a prostitute by the front desk clerk and her services are bought by a virago named Julie, who poses as a man. The sexual chemistry between them awakes passions in Esther, who leaves after the tryst. Thus begins Esther’s quest, almost mythic in scope, to find Julie.
If “34” is not a fantasy, it does not happen in the real world. Rather than a traditional `other world’, the action takes place in the clouded, magical world of memory and perception, as the first person narrator encounters patently incorrect or wrong things (such as a dog that is part wild boar) or too surreal (such as a Gothic mansion).
The main narrative is interrupted by glimpses into a distant childhood past in Egypt and visions of a future Esther, who is going through menopause in London, and may or may not have a sister (or alter-ego, Anna). Both the future and the past Esthers live in a reality closer to `normality.’ The child faces loss and dislocation; the old woman is trapped by her illnesses and indolence. Both are prone to extensive fantasizing.
All of these disparate threads are held together by hypnotic, feverish prose and a dark, sardonic wit. Mythology intersects reality-Demeter, Persephone and Isis all have cameos here. Female ciphers, villains and strange children cavort on the stage. Eroticism and desire infuse everything, obliterating logic and reason.
This novel isn’t for everyone, though. The vaporous, meandering storyline and the disturbing, politically incorrect sexuality on display here will stop many a reader. But those who like sophisticated erotica and experimental fiction will find this Angela Carter meets George Bataille work entrancing.
Filed under: bibliomancy, Book Birthdays, Book Reviews Tagged: queer fantastika, Tanith Lee
October 10, 2017
Gidney on the Glittership podcast
Circus Boy Without A Safety Net, my black queer coming out fairytale/fable has been podcasted by the wonderful folks at Glittership.
[image error]Lena Horne has a cameo in Circus Boy Without A Safety Net .
Filed under: Fiction, Podcast Tagged: glittership
September 30, 2017
Capclave Schedule (October 6-8).
Below is my Capclave (sponsored by the Washington Science Fiction Association) schedule, which occurs October 6-8, 2017.
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7pm Friday
Salon A
Toward A More Diverse Genre
How do authors portray persons of color, the disabled, and gender in their stories? Science fiction and fantasy have come a long way and have often been at the forefront of these issues and sometimes not. What more needs to be done? What’s the next step in portraying a more diverse universe?
K.M. Szpara, Craig L. Gidney, Vanessa Phin (m),Michelle Sonnier, Sarah Avery
3pm Saturday
Bethesda
Reading – Craig L. Gidney (3:30-4pm)
11am Sunday
Frederick
LGBTQ Speculative Fiction
Panelists will discuss where to find the best LGBT fiction being written today and what they think are the dos and don’ts of writing LGBT characters.
Craig L. Gidney, Sarah Pinsker, Vanessa Phin (m)
Filed under: Uncategorized
September 23, 2017
Update on Baltimore Book Festival
Due to a personal emergency, I could not attend today’s session of the Baltimore Book Festival.
I will be able to attend tomorrow! Looking forward to it.
Filed under: Uncategorized
September 21, 2017
Back cover copy of “Tanith By Choice”
I just saw the back cover copy of Tanith By Choice, a forthcoming anthology from Newcon Press that collects the favorite fiction selected by TL’s friends and colleagues.
I picked “The Crow,” from Disturbed By Her Song. Tanith by Choice should be available later this month.
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Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: disturbed by her song, newcon press, Tanith Lee
