Nick Mamatas's Blog, page 37
April 17, 2014
In these dying days of LJ...
...we need all the friends we can get. Have you friended me? Have I not friended you? Comment, and I likely will.
Norwescon
I'll be at Norwescon for work-related reasons, specifically because Toh EnJoe's wonderful book Self-Reference ENGINE is a nominee for the Philip K. Dick Award. Two panels on Saturday:
Saturday noon-1pm - Cascade 5 - Japanese SF: Coming to America
Anime and manga have been a part of the American science fiction scene for a generation, but Japanese prose SF has only been making its presence known in the US for the past few years. The forthcoming feature film Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill, may be a game changer. Come hear what's up with science fiction in Japan, and what may be coming to these shores soon.
Masumi Washington (M), Toh EnJoe, Nick Mamatas
Saturday 5-6pm - Cascade 13 - Philip K. Dick Award: What It Is, What It Means
Administrators and nominees for this year's award discuss the PK Dick Award and the legacy of Philip K. Dick.
Gordon Van Gelder (M), Gordon Van Gelder (M), Anne Charnock, Cassandra Clarke, Toh EnJoe, Jack Skillingstead, Masumi Washington (it's on my schedule though I am not listed on the site. I imagine I'll be squeezed in between my colleagues.)
Saturday noon-1pm - Cascade 5 - Japanese SF: Coming to America
Anime and manga have been a part of the American science fiction scene for a generation, but Japanese prose SF has only been making its presence known in the US for the past few years. The forthcoming feature film Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill, may be a game changer. Come hear what's up with science fiction in Japan, and what may be coming to these shores soon.
Masumi Washington (M), Toh EnJoe, Nick Mamatas
Saturday 5-6pm - Cascade 13 - Philip K. Dick Award: What It Is, What It Means
Administrators and nominees for this year's award discuss the PK Dick Award and the legacy of Philip K. Dick.
Gordon Van Gelder (M), Gordon Van Gelder (M), Anne Charnock, Cassandra Clarke, Toh EnJoe, Jack Skillingstead, Masumi Washington (it's on my schedule though I am not listed on the site. I imagine I'll be squeezed in between my colleagues.)
April 15, 2014
Some stuff
What's up with Oliver? He's sitting up. See?
And doing other developmental stuff; checking with his mother when a stranger appears, picking things up with his thumb and forefinger, lots of babbling, and all the like. Hair hasn't fallen out, eyes (gray) haven't changed color yet, so many old wives seem to be spreading information of dubious quality.
Speaking of information of dubious quality that is not at all financial advice in any way, I've been noticing a lot of my writer contacts online sweating taxes. Most of them are Turbotaxheads, and they mostly seem to wait for everything—1099s, etc. to come in before starting their taxes. What I've been doing is setting stuff up in February and when anything new comes in, I turn on Turbotax and just enter it. Then on days when nothing comes in and I have a bit of time, I'll add up one pile of receipts (e.g., plane tickets, book purchases) in an evening and input that. When I don't receive 1099s, I know how much to input thanks to normal record-keeping. It just seems much less stressful to do taxes in bits and pieces. Anyway, I finished my taxes in late February.
Speaking of, I got a surprise royalty check yesterday, from an essay I wrote on the first Anita Blake book for the essay anthology Ardeur. I've participated in something like fourteen of those pop culture anthologies, and this is only the second to earn out. (The other was the one on House, which sold to a foreign territory to earn out.) And it was a decent little check too—enough for a dinner for two at a place with metal forks (but still paper napkins), I mean. Little surprise checks are always the best. They say, "Hey, remember that thing you did once? Remember that person you were? This is a message from that distant past: go buy some socks."
And doing other developmental stuff; checking with his mother when a stranger appears, picking things up with his thumb and forefinger, lots of babbling, and all the like. Hair hasn't fallen out, eyes (gray) haven't changed color yet, so many old wives seem to be spreading information of dubious quality.
Speaking of information of dubious quality that is not at all financial advice in any way, I've been noticing a lot of my writer contacts online sweating taxes. Most of them are Turbotaxheads, and they mostly seem to wait for everything—1099s, etc. to come in before starting their taxes. What I've been doing is setting stuff up in February and when anything new comes in, I turn on Turbotax and just enter it. Then on days when nothing comes in and I have a bit of time, I'll add up one pile of receipts (e.g., plane tickets, book purchases) in an evening and input that. When I don't receive 1099s, I know how much to input thanks to normal record-keeping. It just seems much less stressful to do taxes in bits and pieces. Anyway, I finished my taxes in late February.
Speaking of, I got a surprise royalty check yesterday, from an essay I wrote on the first Anita Blake book for the essay anthology Ardeur. I've participated in something like fourteen of those pop culture anthologies, and this is only the second to earn out. (The other was the one on House, which sold to a foreign territory to earn out.) And it was a decent little check too—enough for a dinner for two at a place with metal forks (but still paper napkins), I mean. Little surprise checks are always the best. They say, "Hey, remember that thing you did once? Remember that person you were? This is a message from that distant past: go buy some socks."
April 10, 2014
Thursday Quick Links
All hail the Donetsk People’s Republic, which has no authority outside an 11-story Ukrainian government building that an unruly Russian-speaking, club-bearing crowd has occupied since Sunday. It also has no electricity: The authorities cut that off as soon as the People’s Republic declared its existence.
SF Signal columnist John H. Stevens reads Love is the Law, and realizes that he is no longer a “fan” of Science Fiction (or SFF), but a literary wanderer roaming widely to find new moments of fantasy to savor and ponder. But I wasn’t just looking for “fantasy” the genre, either as an inversion of SF or an encompassing category, but for writing that challenged the idea of what was real and how we make things real.
Interesting profile of long-term indie wrestler/straight edge type Matt Cross. Incidentally, Cross's family is from a microstate: he Most Serene Republic of San Marino.
UPS rehires 250 workers who staged a walk-out after an activist was fired. No word on whether the activist was rehired too.
SF Signal columnist John H. Stevens reads Love is the Law, and realizes that he is no longer a “fan” of Science Fiction (or SFF), but a literary wanderer roaming widely to find new moments of fantasy to savor and ponder. But I wasn’t just looking for “fantasy” the genre, either as an inversion of SF or an encompassing category, but for writing that challenged the idea of what was real and how we make things real.
Interesting profile of long-term indie wrestler/straight edge type Matt Cross. Incidentally, Cross's family is from a microstate: he Most Serene Republic of San Marino.
UPS rehires 250 workers who staged a walk-out after an activist was fired. No word on whether the activist was rehired too.
April 8, 2014
The Ultimate Warrior
The Ultimate Warrior frequently is announced as dead, frequently enough to get a tongue-in-cheek Dead Wrestler of the Week retrospective last week, when he was alive, but now it appears that he truly has died, just days after returning to television to accept a spot in WWE's Hall of Fame.
So there will be a lot of revisionism going on, but do remember that not so many years ago WWE released a DVD called The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. (A new one was just released—a symbol of recent rapprochement.)
Honestly, I wonder if this won't turn out to be a case of suicide.
So there will be a lot of revisionism going on, but do remember that not so many years ago WWE released a DVD called The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. (A new one was just released—a symbol of recent rapprochement.)
Honestly, I wonder if this won't turn out to be a case of suicide.
April 3, 2014
LOVE IS THE LAW in the Los Angeles Review of Books
I was instantly fascinated when the Los Angeles Review of Books launched a few years ago. At first, its origin was obscure (UC Riverside, as it turns out) and I wondered if it wasn't just some random person with good design skills and some friends putting it together. It's a consistently interesting literary journal and covered a wide variety of book and book news. And, of course, I didn't exist for it. For a while, this was the closest I got: in a review of Gardner Dozois's best-of annual, a reviewer took time out to hint that he had read Rich Horton's best-of annual, and wrote:
Horton goes on to defend many of his selections as special butterflies which offer some remarkable feature or bug that happily exempts it from one of Kincaid’s many categories of exhaustion (steampunk, science fantasy, “traditional” sf, nostalgic sf, vampires).
The steampunk story alluded to was my own "Arbeitskraft." And that was it. Until today, when Love is the Law was reviewed in LARB by Jesse Bullington, who writes, in part:
Love is the Law is not the first time Mamatas has upended genre conventions with his instantly recognizable style, but it may be his most accomplished effort yet. Not because it’s less ambitious than his previous novels (it isn’t), or because it’s more straightforward (though it is). No, what makes Love is the Law such an exemplary achievement is that here at last Mamatas has struck a nigh-perfect balance amongst all the disparate elements he draws together. In the past, the jarring clash of this narrative flourish with that contemplative aside was all part of the rough-and-tumble charm, but here the pieces all slide smoothly into place…no mean feat, considering how ambiguous it is in places.
Check it out. Buy the book. We are thrilled. Enjoy this Gorilla Biscuits album:
Horton goes on to defend many of his selections as special butterflies which offer some remarkable feature or bug that happily exempts it from one of Kincaid’s many categories of exhaustion (steampunk, science fantasy, “traditional” sf, nostalgic sf, vampires).
The steampunk story alluded to was my own "Arbeitskraft." And that was it. Until today, when Love is the Law was reviewed in LARB by Jesse Bullington, who writes, in part:
Love is the Law is not the first time Mamatas has upended genre conventions with his instantly recognizable style, but it may be his most accomplished effort yet. Not because it’s less ambitious than his previous novels (it isn’t), or because it’s more straightforward (though it is). No, what makes Love is the Law such an exemplary achievement is that here at last Mamatas has struck a nigh-perfect balance amongst all the disparate elements he draws together. In the past, the jarring clash of this narrative flourish with that contemplative aside was all part of the rough-and-tumble charm, but here the pieces all slide smoothly into place…no mean feat, considering how ambiguous it is in places.
Check it out. Buy the book. We are thrilled. Enjoy this Gorilla Biscuits album:
The Last Weekend, a Min-FAQ
We've been getting some questions about my latest novel, The Last Weekend, so here we go.
Where's the Kindle version? Where's the paperback?
The Last Weekend is currently only available as either a hardcover or a signed-limited hardcover, from PS Publishing in the United Kingdom. So, there isn't a Kindle (or other ebook version) or a paperbook yet. My new literary agent, Alec Shane of Writers House, is actively collecting rejection slips shopping the book to US publishers.
I have a clarifying question: If it was on Kindle, or on paperback, I'd buy it right now! Don't you KNOW THAT?
Is that really a question?
Isn't it?
Well, okay.
Let's say I did want the hardcover book now. Is there a way for me to get it without paying shipping from the United Kingdom?
Yes! You can order copies from Borderlands Books in San Francisco! I'm sure other specialty shops also carry PS Publishing Books, but I know for a fact that Borderlands has copies and is interested in getting more copies if they sell out. So sell them out!
866 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA
94110
Toll free phone: (888) 893-4008
webmailATboderlands-booksDOTcom
How did this even happen anyway?
It was hard to sell a novel with zombies in it to a US publisher in 2010-2011, because novels with zombies in them were very popular.
That doesn't make much sense, does it?
Meh.
But *now* you think you can sell a zombie novel to the US?
Yes, because they're less popular now! Also, this is a zombie novel that people who like zombie novels won't like, but people don't like zombie novels will.
That makes even LESS sense!
That's not a question.
That makes even LESS sense, doesn't it?!
Yes, but it makes so little sense, it just might work!
So I should probably get the hardcover somehow, if I want to read this book anytime soon, eh?
That would make sense.
Where's the Kindle version? Where's the paperback?
The Last Weekend is currently only available as either a hardcover or a signed-limited hardcover, from PS Publishing in the United Kingdom. So, there isn't a Kindle (or other ebook version) or a paperbook yet. My new literary agent, Alec Shane of Writers House, is actively collecting rejection slips shopping the book to US publishers.
I have a clarifying question: If it was on Kindle, or on paperback, I'd buy it right now! Don't you KNOW THAT?
Is that really a question?
Isn't it?
Well, okay.
Let's say I did want the hardcover book now. Is there a way for me to get it without paying shipping from the United Kingdom?
Yes! You can order copies from Borderlands Books in San Francisco! I'm sure other specialty shops also carry PS Publishing Books, but I know for a fact that Borderlands has copies and is interested in getting more copies if they sell out. So sell them out!
866 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA
94110
Toll free phone: (888) 893-4008
webmailATboderlands-booksDOTcom
How did this even happen anyway?
It was hard to sell a novel with zombies in it to a US publisher in 2010-2011, because novels with zombies in them were very popular.
That doesn't make much sense, does it?
Meh.
But *now* you think you can sell a zombie novel to the US?
Yes, because they're less popular now! Also, this is a zombie novel that people who like zombie novels won't like, but people don't like zombie novels will.
That makes even LESS sense!
That's not a question.
That makes even LESS sense, doesn't it?!
Yes, but it makes so little sense, it just might work!
So I should probably get the hardcover somehow, if I want to read this book anytime soon, eh?
That would make sense.
April 2, 2014
Wednesday Quick Notes
Lazyweb is getting worse. In the old days, say on LJ, a lazyweb request for information about something generally didn't bother me. LJers would explain what they needed to know, why, and why their previous attempts at finding what they were looking for failed (e.g., conflicting results on web searches, a need for hyperlocal information, the fog of pre-web pop culture history, matters of opinion or complex interpretation). Good, that's fine.
My major complaint about Twitter and Facebook—which admittedly I use far more than here these days—are dopey public requests for information. FB encourages brief remarks and Twitter demands them, so of course there's going to be little context, but honestly I also think those venues are just making people stupider. When talking about some controversy over the Atlantic Monthly paying for online comment, I had a person on FB offer to dig up traffic info for the Atlantic—all he wanted from us was the URL. Of the Atlantic Monthly. Which we were talking about. Then there was the person who asked what "pearl clutching" meant, or the one who wanted it confirmed that some Samuel Delany novel was out of print, if a magazine takes reprints, what was meant by "published in 2013", etc etc. All things that two seconds on the Web or an off-thread private query could handle. But instead, people just loved showing off their confusion and ignorance.
Because Twitter and FB encourage short, almost real-time conversation, people often slip into conversational mode when they are in fact performing public talk in front of hundreds or thousands of people—but public talk with the ability to do near-instant private research or consulting. It is equivalent of shuffling from a bathroom and into the front of the house of a restaurant, toilet paper roll in hand and pants around ankles, and bellowing "HOW DO I WORK THIS?" Stay in the stall for a minute, son. You'll figure it out.
In other news, here is a review of Move Under Ground. It's a nice review, but I am posting it because its existence means that I've accomplished my mission. Following Cyril Connolly's The Enemies of Promise, I wanted to write a book that would last ten years—that is, one that would still be talked about ten years later. Move Under Ground was released in April 2004. BAM! Mission accomplished!
Interested locals, of which there should be none, might like to know that I'll be at Krakencon in Oakland on Sunday for dayjob related activities. Krakencon is an anime/manga-themed con that knows little enough about books and publishing that they give this guy three solo panels, but I should have some books to give away, so there's that! Cosplay as the guy who can't use toilet paper and I'll give you two books!
My major complaint about Twitter and Facebook—which admittedly I use far more than here these days—are dopey public requests for information. FB encourages brief remarks and Twitter demands them, so of course there's going to be little context, but honestly I also think those venues are just making people stupider. When talking about some controversy over the Atlantic Monthly paying for online comment, I had a person on FB offer to dig up traffic info for the Atlantic—all he wanted from us was the URL. Of the Atlantic Monthly. Which we were talking about. Then there was the person who asked what "pearl clutching" meant, or the one who wanted it confirmed that some Samuel Delany novel was out of print, if a magazine takes reprints, what was meant by "published in 2013", etc etc. All things that two seconds on the Web or an off-thread private query could handle. But instead, people just loved showing off their confusion and ignorance.
Because Twitter and FB encourage short, almost real-time conversation, people often slip into conversational mode when they are in fact performing public talk in front of hundreds or thousands of people—but public talk with the ability to do near-instant private research or consulting. It is equivalent of shuffling from a bathroom and into the front of the house of a restaurant, toilet paper roll in hand and pants around ankles, and bellowing "HOW DO I WORK THIS?" Stay in the stall for a minute, son. You'll figure it out.
In other news, here is a review of Move Under Ground. It's a nice review, but I am posting it because its existence means that I've accomplished my mission. Following Cyril Connolly's The Enemies of Promise, I wanted to write a book that would last ten years—that is, one that would still be talked about ten years later. Move Under Ground was released in April 2004. BAM! Mission accomplished!
Interested locals, of which there should be none, might like to know that I'll be at Krakencon in Oakland on Sunday for dayjob related activities. Krakencon is an anime/manga-themed con that knows little enough about books and publishing that they give this guy three solo panels, but I should have some books to give away, so there's that! Cosplay as the guy who can't use toilet paper and I'll give you two books!
April 1, 2014
Καλό μήνα!
The good thing about LJ being dead is that it's not filled with pranks, but instead just the occasional collected Twitter feed of people engaging in anticipatory complaining about pranks... Even Locus Magazine doesn't seem to have its online April Fools issue. Surprise!
Not much going on here except that today is the release day for The Battle Royale Slam Book, an essay collection about the book/film/manga/moral panic, featuring work by all sorts of interesting people and also by Adam Roberts.
And we're already rocketing up the charts on amazon! #66 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > History & Criticism Sixty-sixth place! Sure, it's out of sixty-seven books, but we're climbing, cliiimbing...
Not much going on here except that today is the release day for The Battle Royale Slam Book, an essay collection about the book/film/manga/moral panic, featuring work by all sorts of interesting people and also by Adam Roberts.
And we're already rocketing up the charts on amazon! #66 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > History & Criticism Sixty-sixth place! Sure, it's out of sixty-seven books, but we're climbing, cliiimbing...
March 28, 2014
Friday Quick Notes
I'm a graphic novelist. See?
That's
Also, The Last Weekend pre-orders have shipped to the US. Folks in Connecticut and Louisiana have reported receiving theirs anyway. It's a zombie novel. If you don't like zombie novels you should buy it because the people who like zombie novels don't like it.
Hugo Award nominations close on Monday. Please vote Sharknado for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Together, we can make a difference!
That's
Also, The Last Weekend pre-orders have shipped to the US. Folks in Connecticut and Louisiana have reported receiving theirs anyway. It's a zombie novel. If you don't like zombie novels you should buy it because the people who like zombie novels don't like it.
Hugo Award nominations close on Monday. Please vote Sharknado for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Together, we can make a difference!
Nick Mamatas's Blog
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