Zilla Novikov's Blog, page 30
February 17, 2023
Podcast Promo
If you like great podcasts about justice in all its forms, Total Liberation Podcast is what you’re looking for. If you can only listen to one episode, we suggest Episode 92: Solarpunk, Indigenous & Afrofuturism, & Climate Fiction: Decolonizing Our Imaginations w. Tory Stephens (Imagine 2200).
In this episode, Mexie speaks with Tory Stephens, founder of Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. Imagine 2200 is a climate fiction initiative at Grist magazine which showcases stories from authors from around the globe that are all in the visionary fiction genre (Afrofuturism, Indigenous futurism, solarpunk, etc.), providing inspiration on how we might get to a sustainable, reciprocal, and just world. We dig into all things visionary fiction, including its political significance and how crucial it is to decolonize our imaginations and reclaim our radical creativity to craft solutions for this current historical moment.
Plus, they also give a short review of The Sad Bastard Cookbook, and we might be biased but we think their options on this cookbook are perfect. Listen here!
February 15, 2023
Wrong Genre Covers
February 14, 2023
Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha : P.K. Reeves joins us to talk about her supernatural new adult novels from the Lineage Series. P.K., can you introduce us to you, your books and your characters?
P.K.: I have two books out so far in the Lineage Series—this will be the foundation for the shared universe I’m writing my second series in. The books in the Lineage Series are Heir and Vampire Magic. We follow Audrey Sanders, a young woman who didn’t know she was a part of the supernatural world until she was turned into a vampire. Personally, I’m a Filipino American trying to reconnect with my Filipino heritage.
Sabitha : These stories sound imaginative and heartfelt. What inspired you to write and publish them?
P.K.: It really started as something to do while I was at work, and it just turned into a book lol. Really, there wasn’t any inspiration beyond that—until I realized that self publishing was an option. Then I realized I could share my stories with others.
Sabitha : We have a lot of writers in our community. What’s your writing process?
P.K.: I tend to get straight into writing, then after the first draft I read for anything I feel that is missing. It can take either one or two more drafts to get the story I like. Next is getting beta readers and sensitivity readers, and then using their feedback to adjust the story. Finally I run my book through the editing software and to see if I missed anything. Next is the copy/line edit—with at least two rounds of that. Finally comes the proofreading!
Sabitha : What book do you tell all your friends to read? Besides yours of course!
P.K.: Lirael by Garth Nix! I read this series back in middle school. I have the ebook, paperback, and audiobook versions lol!
Sabitha : You have good taste in books! Which character do you relate to the most in your novels and why?
P.K.: Hmm, off the bat I would say Audrey. We’re both biracial Filipino living very Americanized lives. Both our mother’s cultures were pretty much ignored in the households we grew up in.
Sabitha : It sounds like writing Audrey is deeply meaningful for you. When you picture your ideal reader, what are they like? Do you hope to show Filipino American identity to them?
P.K.: My ideal reader is probably someone like me when I was younger. The only Asian culture that was pushed by mainstream media was either Chinese or Japanese. I hope that my books show that Filipinos and culture from the Philippines is really amazing and diverse!
Sabitha : I’m so glad you shared your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
P.K.: You can find all of my socials, books, and my newsletter sign up on my website. You can connect with me on my Twitter and Instagram. You can find Heir and Vampire Magic for sale from all online bookstores.
February 10, 2023
Book Report Corner
by Rachel R.
I am truly honoured to be one of the first people who gets to read the Advance Copy of Assassin of Reality in English after waiting several years for there to be a translation. As such I’ll try to restrain my actual reaction, which was an elated squeal so high-pitched that only dogs could hear it.
A few years ago, I read Vita Nostra, and it absolutely blew my mind. It’s a shimmering gem of a novel—inventive, atmospheric, transcendent. It gave me nightmares. I had to make everyone I knew read it. It’s also a very complete book, and without spoiling the ending, I couldn’t imagine how Sasha’s story could continue from its brainmelting conclusion.
But, continue it does, in a novel that is every bit worth the wait. Fifteen years after the events of Vita Nostra, a different Sasha, one who made different choices, dies in a car accident. The night before, she catches a vision of our Sasha, whose third-year exam at the Institute of Special Technologies did not exactly go as planned. “Our” Sasha is forced by her sinister mentor Farit to return to the Institute, where she must correct her mistakes before she is allowed to graduate. The stakes, this time, are not just the lives of her loved ones, but the very nature of reality itself.
I fell in love with the Sasha of Vita Nostra, and her persistence and ambition in the face of her own terror and the perplexing, overwhelming absurdity of the Institute. Assassin of Reality gives us an older, wearier Sasha, one who pushes back against the Institute’s structures and fights for her life, her humanity, and her agency, even if that fight comes at a tremendous personal cost. I also loved the deeper glimpses we get into the lives of those around her, especially Lisa, who is just a fantastic character. It’s a complex, philosophical, challenging book, but it’s grounded in the raw fallibility of the people (and metaphysical constructs) at its heart. Sasha’s fragile and fraught relationships with her classmates, her burgeoning love for Yaroslav, a pilot with secrets of his own, even her growing friendship with Yaroslav’s aging father are rendered with sympathy but never romanticization. The Institute, too, is a character in its own right, claustrophobic and uncanny.
I couldn’t rave about this book without also mentioning how wonderful the translation is. I can’t imagine how challenging it must have been to translate a book in which language plays such a central role. Without giving away too much of the story, language is a major plot point, there’s wordplay, and Russian and English are not exactly similar languages. And yet it doesn’t feel like a book in translation—the prose absolutely sings off the page.
Assassin of Reality is a worthy successor to what’s probably my favourite fantasy novel of all time. Its sole flaw is that I know there is a third book and I still speak neither Russian or Ukrainian. I would give it more stars if I could, stars that only exist on planes of reality that we mortals have yet to explore.
If you need this book as much as I did, pre-order your copy in e-book and hardcover.
February 7, 2023
Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha : F.K. Marlowe joins us to tell us about her books and free flash fiction. F.K., what kind of stories do you tell?
F.K.: I write horror with a paranormal twist, and YA fantasy with fangs and sass.
Sabitha : What inspired your current work in progress?
F.K.: I’m amazed how many horror stories I’ve released into the wild. This is my attempt to corral them.
Pennies for Charon is a nice fat collection of my horror stories, some already published, some brand new. It’s packaged in a frame narrative about a vengeful sybil who’s been trapped in a bottle for three millennia and is rather miffed about it. To revive her powers, she sneaks into Charon’s shack while he’s punting dead souls across the river Styx, then steals and eats the “pennies” hoarded there. Each penny is a story collected from one of his passengers, and as the sybil digests them, she absorbs their emotions. Since they are horror stories, the emotions are predictably dark, and you can guess where that might lead, for an already twisted soul!
Sabitha : That sounds delightfully dark! What’s your writing process for horror?
F.K.: Mercurial chaos! Like a magpie, I’m attracted by anything shiny, including new ideas, so my writing folder is a jumble of scattered thoughts and plots in various stages of development. It sounds unproductive, but I don’t often suffer from writer’s block – if something’s not working, I just skip onto the next idea. I can’t sit down to write without a cuppa though.
Sabitha : Can’t get anything done without tea! If you could pick any author to read your book, who would you want to read it? Why them?
F.K.: Neil Gaiman! His imagination seems to spark endlessly. Wouldn’t he be fantastic company on a long plane flight?
Sabitha : When you picture your ideal reader, what are they like?
F.K.: I’m sitting in a cozy pub with them, spinning a tale over a pint, in front of a roaring fire. It’s raining outside, and we’ve a long evening ahead of us. As I tell them my story, I can see them chuckling along with some parts, clutching the arms of their chair at others. When I finish, they sit there quietly, considering, then ask me questions that make me think about my own story in a completely new way. Wouldn’t that be lovely?
Sabitha : It sounds just about perfect. What do you most want your readers to take away from reading your book?
F.K.: Firstly, simple enjoyment. Beyond that, I believe everyone recreates the stories they read in a whole new way based on their history and experiences. So, readers say, “Hey, X character represents idea Y, right?” and it’ll be an exciting, different slant that deepens my original idea in ways I’d never anticipated. So, creating something in their own imaginations. If they’re kind enough to tell me about it, well, that’s just the best buzz in the world.
Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
F.K.: My Amazon page is here. I post a free flashfiction horror with an audio version each month on my website. Tell me what ideas my stories gave you on Twitter under my alias ‘The BelleDame’!
January 31, 2023
Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha : Today we’ll talk to Dewi Hargreaves about his new release, Eyes on the Blue Star. Tell us about your experimental dystopian novel!
Dewi: My new book, Eyes on the Blue Star, came out a week before Christmas! It’s a short dystopian novel set in far-future America, long after the fall of the United States. Our modern world is little more than myth, and the US has been replaced by regional successor states, some democracies and some dictatorships, with the anarchic Ganglands lying between them. We follow the stories of an ex-mercenary, a teenager, and a freedom fighter as they make their way east to Bostonia in search of a better life.
Sabitha : That’s such fascinating world building. Can you tell us about your writing process for a novel?
Dewi: My process changes between stories depending on the project, but right now I’m having the most success with writing out a scene-by-scene outline before I begin and then following that – it keeps things on track and minimises the need for rewriting.
Sabitha : Do you have a “fan-cast” – do you have actors you’d cast as your main characters?
Dewi: Ooh, that’s a fun question. I don’t think much about how characters look when I’m writing – beyond the general details like build, hair colour, age etc—but I think Henry Cavill could play a brilliant Housen—the ex-mercenary character who wants to settle down and start a family. I could see Kirsten Dunst doing a good job as Ryley, too—the tough, witty rebel who is working underground to overthrow the Governor-General’s dictatorship. They spend a lot of the book together, and I would love to see those two actors traversing a post-apocalyptic world together.
Sabitha : What book do you tell all your friends to read? Besides yours of course!
Dewi: There are so many—too many, probably! At the moment it’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R R Martin, which is a collection of three heroic fantasy novellas—they’re brilliant examples of how to write neat, tidy short fantasy fiction, so I recommend it for that reason alone—though the Games of Thrones-ness is an added bonus.
Sabitha : How did you choose the title?
Dewi: It took some choosing! For most of the drafting process it was known as Bostonia, which is the name of one of the successor states. When it was finished I brainstormed a few names, including We, the People, but in the end I settled on the Eyes on the Blue Star because it is the catchphrase of the rebel group in the story who are trying to restore democracy, and I liked the sense of hope in bleak times that it evokes.
Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
Dewi: Night Beats readers can find purchase links for the book over at my website, and from there they can find the Amazon link for their country! And they can find me across the internet in various places. This link collects my website, social media, and book links all on one nice, neat page.
Sausage and Potatoes paired with A Man Called Ove
Fiction To Sink Your Teeth Into, a feature from author and professional chef Rohan O’Duill!
Ove tells us about his childhood and being brought up by his single father. In the evenings they ate sausages and potatoes. This is a simplified version of a Danish Sausage casserole. I feel that Oves father may have left out some of the flourishes such as cream that would normally be added in but feel free to add a drop yourself if you are in the mood. This is a very simple and cheap dish and I could see why Ove’s father would have this as a staple. I couldn’t find Danish sausage in my local supermarket so I used Kabonos sausage instead. But any tasty sausage should do.
Serves 2/3
Ingredients
250g of sausage diced1 onion diced4 cloves of garlic diced300ml of stock1 tin of chopped tomatoesPinch of paprika400g of potatoesSalt and pepperMethod
Fry the onion, garlic and sausage in a hot pan with a little oil.
Add the paprika and stock and stir around.
Transfer the mix into a casserole dish.
Add in the potatoes and pour the tin of chopped tomatoes over the top and put on the cover.
Place in an oven and bake for 60 minutes at 170C or 340F.
Pair with a nice glass of Danish beer and sit back and enjoy the book.
January 29, 2023
Weird, Touching, Agenre Queer Books … on Sale???!!!
Til Feb 1 (well midnight Jan 31), name your own price (suggested $20) and grab tRaum Books’ entire 2022 catalogue!
That’s seven books, ranging from novella to art book to long novel, from a group of various trans/queer indie authors from all over the world.
Darknesses by Lachelle Seville (neogothic homage) Recovering and broken, Oasis falls right into the arms of Bram Stoker’s original inspiration, currently inhabiting the form of Laura. || Most Famous Short Film of All Time by Tucker Lieberman (postmodern philosophical) Life takes a sharp turn for the Kafkaesque when Lev gets an anonyominous email at work. || Noema by Dael Akkerman (Mesolithic thoughtful) She’s a girl, she’s a bird, she’s a god; a re-imagining of our original cooperation and betrayal story. || It Helps with the Blues by Bryan Cebulski (subtle Midwestern) An introspective modern story about five Midwestern teens feeling their way through an unexpected tragedy. || Airy Nothing by Clarissa Pattern (Elizabethan daymare) A gentle, touched boy who longs to become a Shakespearean player gets his heart stolen by a pickpocket in seething London. || a/e by Ryszard Merey (novella, art uncomfortable) It’s an early 00s friendship mess. || The Pink and the Blue (art book PDF) by R Merey (neonvomit confessional) Created when the author had the worst extended insomnia of HIS LIFE and was possibly legally insane.
Have all our published books at your fingertips! Purchase this to get everything we put out in 2022 (and our one book from the end of 2021), in instantly downloadable digital form. What a mix of short and long, novella and art book; a range of storytelling styles from indie authors Lachelle Seville, Tucker Lieberman, Dael Akkerman, Bryan Cebulski, Clarissa Pattern, and Ryszard Merey. We want our books to be available to all, so for a limited time, there is the option to pay what you want for the entire bundle (suggested reduced price is 20 USD).
January 27, 2023
Book Report Corner
by I. Merey
I’ve never reviewed a cookbook before, but there is a first time for everything!
Let’s start with the cover: This design took me back to the cookbooks my parents used to have–the composition, the color–the ramen… with ketchup on it? Siracha? Is that blood??? Ok, this isn’t my parents’ cookbook. Childhood and nostalgia is over and cooking is actually a bitch (and if you live alone/are broke/are sick/unlucky at feeding yourself or some intersection of multiple of those, it’s just that much worse). Luckily, the authors get that entirely.
So this is a collection of not so much recipes (which promise to make a delicious presentation in fantasy, but in reality, often provide more stress with complicated ingredients and preparations and PRESSURE to not fuck up)–it’s more a collection of tips; concrete looser guidelines that result in meals, without strict measurements. Which results, hopefully, in another day where one of us could feed our sorry asses and feel a little less like a fuckup. It’s also funny! And this book is free 
So I recommend you give it a download; the recipes are great to peruse and to collect ideas for those mental rainy days [image error] (weeks?? :////)
Get your free e-book PDF here.
January 25, 2023
Behind the Screens: Tuesday Author Interview
Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.
Sabitha: We’ve got the incredible Sascha Stronach with us today. Sascha, please introduce us to your queer science fiction novel The Dawnhounds (Against the Quiet #1).
Sascha: Gideon the Ninth meets Black Sun in this queer, Māori-inspired debut fantasy about a police officer who is murdered, brought back to life with a mysterious new power, and tasked with protecting her city from an insidious evil threatening to destroy it.
The port city of Hainak is alive: its buildings, its fashion, even its weapons. But, after a devastating war and a sweeping biotech revolution, all its inhabitants want is peace, no one more so than Yat Jyn-Hok a reformed-thief-turned-cop who patrols the streets at night.
Yat has recently been demoted on the force due to “lifestyle choices” after being caught at a gay club. She’s barely holding it together, haunted by memories of a lover who vanished and voices that float in and out of her head like radio signals. When she stumbles across a dead body on her patrol, two fellow officers gruesomely murder her and dump her into the harbor. Unfortunately for them, she wakes up.
Sabitha : Everything about this sounds amazing. I’m curious about the creation process. Was there any music that inspired you while you were writing?
Sascha: I had a playlist I had going in a loop for most of the writing process, and the one song I keep coming back to Stick and Poke’s Teeth on a String. It’s this dark surreal fairy tale told in only three minutes—what is Hainak but a dark wood with a couple of street signs?
Sabitha : From music to movies! Do you have a “fan-cast” – do you have actors you’d cast as your main characters?
Sascha: I do but for time I’ll just go for the big one: Shohreh Aghdashloo as Sibbi. In early drafts the character was a lot physically larger, alchemically roided-up, but I saw Shohreh in—god I think it was Grimm of all things—and went “Oh, yeah, that’s her.”
Sabitha : What book do you tell all your friends to read? Besides yours of course!
Sascha: VanderMeer, Mieville, right now I’m really enjoying Kerstin Hall’s Second Spear. If The Dawnhounds didn’t give it away, I kinda like fungi.
Sabitha : Everyone should love fungi. If you could pick any author to read your book, who would you want to read it? Why them?
Sascha: Jeff VanderMeer. I feel like I’m too old and hirsute to say “Senpai notice me” but The Dawnhounds never would’ve happened without his influence.
Sabitha : When you picture your ideal reader, what are they like?
Sascha: Rangy old punk, fine with a little darkness in their fantasy, mycology enthusiast, willing to punch a cop to protect a queer.
Sabitha : I suspect we have some of those in our community! What do you most want your readers to take away from reading your book?
Sascha: The police exist solely to protect capital and will act in ways deeply harmful to society in order to remain that way. Also mushrooms are cool and you should be fucking more gay people.
Sabitha: Indeed! Thanks for sharing your story. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?
Sascha: You can get it now at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. You can find me on Twitter.
