Lorina Stephens's Blog, page 21
January 8, 2018
Tesseracts 22 Alchemy and Artifacts
Because it’s important to examine new possibilities, explore new experiences, I’ve agreed to co-edit the next Tesseracts anthology from Edge Publishing, with fellow author and colleague, Susan MacGregor.
I’m looking forward to this journey, especially in light of the fact the anthology examines the magic behind history, what it is has sparked the imagination of countless generations to either quest for the reality of a legend (Vasco da Gama and the Fountain of Youth), or formed the foundation of a culture (the pharaohs’ pyramids).
Complete details regarding Alchemy and Artifacts can be found both on my website, and at Edge Publishing.
We’ve also created an open, interactive Facebook page for both writers and readers, which you can find here.
Submissions open January 15, and close May 15.
Life truly is a remarkable journey. I welcome sharing this part of it with you.
January 7, 2018
Excerpt from Caliban
To tempt you a bit, I’m giving you a preview of my new novella, Caliban.
There can be an inherent bias in anthropological study. Perspective is everything.
Report from the Commissioner on Dreamweavers.
The problem with what Jabod McCullough asked was it didn’t make any sense. Why choose a permanent assignment Active on a quarantined planet? Tine asked that question.
“Because I think you’re incorruptible,” Jabod answered, his holo standing in one of the rocks Tine had been moving before the ping from his superior.
What was that supposed to mean? So Tine asked Jabod that.
“Let me answer by asking you a question: what are your aspirations?”
Aspirations? What was that? So Tine asked a third question.
“What would you like to see happen tomorrow, to you, to your brood, to your people?”
This was really going nowhere. Incorruptible. Aspirations. Tomorrow. Tine understood what those terms meant, but they had no relevance. Not for him. Not for any Caliban.
Instead of answering, he bent and put his shoulder to the rock he’d been moving to rebuild a floodwater diversion, and shoved, digging his hooves into what purchase he could find on the hard-packed earth. The rock gave, rolled, wobbled into the depression he’d made for it. Satisfied, he hunkered down to his haunches, looking out over the sere landscape—rock, dirt, desiccated shrubs of ochre, madder, sienna—and tried very hard to embrace those concepts Jabod put forward. Finally: “I would like enough food for my brood, to keep them safe from predators, to watch them learn enough they can survive.”
“And nothing else?”
He thought about that, about the things he’d been exposed to because of his privilege as an Active for the Interplanetary Criminal Investigations Bureau. All that information. All those holos of cultures and species, customs and regulations, an overwhelming glut of strange and stimulating experiences out there, so different from this world he called home here on Setebos. Most of all, there were those artists known as dreamweavers, people able to manipulate reality and create living stories. That concept challenged everything he knew.
He looked up to Jabod’s holo. “I would like to know more about dreamweavers.”
“Why?”
“Because they manipulate the senses and can make you believe what they create is real.”
“And that would benefit you how?”
“Were we to learn that skill, we would be better hunters, and better able to ensure the life of the brood.”
“So, your purpose is to protect the brood?”
“There is another purpose?”
Jabod took a few steps and his holo ended up standing again in the rock Tine had just shoved into place. He wondered if Jabod was doing this on purpose, or if Tine’s environment wasn’t registering in Jabod’s sensory display. It seemed ridiculous to be talking to a moving image of a human some light years away, and that thought brought him to the concept of time displacement, and once again to wrestle with what was real and what wasn’t.
He rubbed the oil exuding from his warts into his belly, feeling his leathery hide beneath his fingers, aware of the aridity of the air, the glare of the sun. In the distance, he could hear his brood: laughter, the rumble of a warning growl, the skitter of beetles across red clay. He struck out and snatched one of the copper creatures and crunched down. Such a satisfying sound, even if this one wasn’t particularly juicy.
“But I don’t understand why you think you need me for this assignment,” Tine said, shoving a wriggling antennae past his lips.
“Because you are the unexpected. Who would suspect you were working on an assignment for the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigations?”
Tine thought about that. There was plausibility to Jabod’s reasoning, but there also wasn’t. Any decent hunter knew it was better to sustain the illusion of normality to be successful, so why send in Tine? Further, how was Tine to make any kind of judgement about the success of this hunt—assignment, he supposed, was the correct term—if he didn’t know anything about his prey or his prey’s environment? For that matter, he didn’t even know what this assignment was really about. He said that. Jabod demurred. Tine growled.
“I can’t say anything more. I’m sorry, Tine. Not until we have you aboard an IPCIB ship where we know things are secure.”
Oil now exuded freely from Tine’s warts, rising with his own unease. He gave up massaging it into his hide. Jabod’s statement was rife with subterfuge. How could Setebos not be secure? No one could land on this planet without risking spore invasion, perhaps die because of it. So how was an IPCIB liner more secure than here? He extended his claws and studied the gold fluidic circuitry on them that allowed him connection to the outside world. “You’re sure spore withdrawal has been made safe?”
Tine watched Jabod’s body language carefully now, for signs any hunter of skill would note. There were subtle signals. A wariness. Was it anxiety over whether Tine would accept the assignment, and risk his life in spore withdrawal? Was it something else?
The problem was, there wasn’t enough information, and the only way Tine could obtain that information was to accept the assignment. He felt sure he was being manipulated. Maybe Jabod was also a skilled hunter. Even so, there was the lure of the dreamweavers, to meet one, perhaps many, perhaps even the Master dreamweaver herself, Ela. Wouldn’t that be worth it? Wouldn’t the knowledge he could gain from her benefit him and his brood?
Jabod took a few steps, his holo now sitting on the rock he’d been standing inside. The significance of that wasn’t lost on Tine.
Finally, Tine said, “I accept.”
He realized it came out in a bark, and that in itself was significant.
Jabod smiled and disappeared.
Tine snatched another beetle and crunched down. Every hunter knew you had to take risks. Surviving was hazardous. He wondered if he’d be successful in this hunt.
He stood and again set about shoving rocks back into a flood diversion. The rains would start any day now.
December 31, 2017
Short story sale
After a bit of a dry spell, I’m tickled silly to announce I’ve sold a short story to R. Graeme Cameron’s excellent online magazine of SF&F, Polar Borealis.
A Bear at the Fridge, the story in question, is a short, strange tale which will hopefully entertain and delight. No deep, angst-filled passages in this story. Just, well, weird.
Graeme tells me A Bear at the Fridge will appear in Issue 6. So, visit Polar Borealis, and have a good read.
I’ll have more news as we get closer to publication.
Happy New Year!
December 24, 2017
December 21, 2017
Review: The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The conclusion of N.K. Jemisin’s stunning and original trilogy, The Broken Earth perfectly completes in The Stone Sky. I have said it before, and I will say it again, Jemisin has written a remarkable, unique and fascinating world, people by fascinating characters and species, wrapped in flawless and beautiful writing. There is no lag in tension, no meandering exposition. This is storytelling at its best.
The trilogy will remain in my digital library, and will soon be added in print book to my shelves, an honour I do not accord lightly. This isn’t just good speculative fiction; this is classical fiction.
December 17, 2017
Review: The Obelisk Gate, by N.K. Jemisin
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The second novel in N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth series, The Obelisk Gate expands upon the broken society, world, and characters of her unique and stunningly realized creation. The concepts she deals with by way of unique species and abilities, and the hardships they endure because of those extraordinary characteristics, expand in this second novel, with expertly crafted details which flow seamlessly through a tense plot and brilliant writing.
I am certain Jemisin’s trilogy, and Jemisin herself, will be read and catalogued beside greats like Le Guin, Atwood and Clarke.
December 10, 2017
Review: The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is simply one of the most stunning and original works of speculative fiction I have read in a number of years, and a novel very much worthy of all the accolades it’s received. N.K. Jemisin has created a unique world, peopled with compelling and complex characters, who, although extraordinary, very much pull at the common threads of humanity. It is a novel rife with detail, yet carries a tension which rockets you along.
If you read no other work of speculative fiction this or next year, The Fifth Season should be on that list. Highly recommended.
December 5, 2017
Caliban now available for pre-order
Finally, after six years, I have new novella out! Very pleased to present my readers with Caliban.
I started writing this story back around 1981-2. Did it all in one mad go, scribbling away. And then let the story simmer until three years ago, some 25 years after that first draft. When I unearthed the story, I realize why I’d written it, the journey Tine, the main character, had to take, both physical and psychological, and thought it was one worth revisiting and revising. And so I set to the task of making the story a cohesive one. To be honest, I much prefer the revision stage of writing, because first drafts have always been an experience I’d liken to having your veins ripped out very slowly. It’s agonizing. I fidget and fuss, find any excuse not to continue the scene, the train of thought.
But revision–that’s when the magic happens, when I can see the holes in plot and character development, and get to build around the framework I’ve created.
My journey with Tine was an interesting one. How do you write about a character so alien, so utterly foreign to your knowledge and sensibilities, and write with authority about that character, become that character? It’s a strange and sometimes disturbing thing to do.
After that, I had my friend and colleague, Robert Runté give the story a gander. His main comment back to me was that I had to decide whose story this was. So, I went back and revised. When that revision was finished, Robert’s schedule was such that he wouldn’t be able to look at the manuscript for some time, so I called upon another friend and colleague, Susan MacGregor, to give her view. Her comments were considered, and another revision came about.
After that I had Aerin Caley do the line edit.
Much to my delight, Candas Jane Dorsey (Black Wine, and Paradigm of Earth) read the novella for review, and came back with: …an allegory of a person out of place who brings their anchor with them in the form of deep strength and clarity of character. And then old friend and writer, Michael R. Fletcher (Beyond Redemption), was kind enough to read and review, and came back with: Rich with characters and character, Caliban marries gorgeous prose and emotional punch. Needless to say, both those comments made me pleased as punch.
So, because I don’t just do this for the love of the art, and would actually like to earn a few coins for my labour, I’m going to go all commercial on you and say, BUY MY BOOK! Caliban is now available for pre-order from my site, Five Rivers, and your favourite online bookseller, in both trade paperback and eBook. Will be looking at audio later in 2018.
I think you will find Caliban an interesting and provoking read. And of course I welcome your comments and reviews.
December 3, 2017
Review:The Borgias: The Hidden History, by G.J. Meyer
The Borgias: The Hidden History by G.J. Meyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A slog of a book to get through, but certainly a comprehensive history of this infamous family known as the Borgias. Another book you read because you should, and certainly one you should read to dispel all the sensationalism which has gilded this family via steamy film and stage productions.
November 27, 2017
Review: A History of Milan Under the Sforza
A History of Milan Under the Sforza by Cecilia Mary Ady
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If you’re looking for a comprehensive, albeit dry, history of the Sforza, this is the book to study. Every minute detail of their lives, their rise to power, the cultural and political surround has been painstakingly researched, if not particularly engagingly written. Certainly a book one reads because one should.
