Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 100

New Book for Capclave: The Three Quests of the Wizard Sarnod

(Just one of John Coulthart's many visionary creations.)

Ann and I, along with Connie Willis, are guests of honor this year at Capclave in October, and if you register now you can also order my forthcoming book from their press, The Three Quests of the Wizard Sarnod, as well as Willis's Fire Watch. Both are 500-copy limited editions. Proceeds help to benefit the organization that funds Capclave.

What is The Three Quests of the Wizard Sarnod? It's an alternate version of my long story "The...

Pandorum–Hidden Gem

I'm not going to defend mutation science as applied to Pandorum, but I have to say: if you haven't seen this film, you should. It's twisty in the best way, horrific in a way that actually turns out to make sense, and although it uses tropes and ideas you've seen in lots of other deep space horror flicks, it is original in its way. I would call this film brilliant for its renovations. It's not original, but as a renovation of tropes that have become cliche, it does an excellent job, and is...

Squidpunk…It Might Just Be Go-Time?…

(NOTE–This is a FAKE cover from an April Fool's joke. Contributor list NOT actual. NOTHING is actual. Funsies. Funsies, people.)

I'm not at liberty yet to say who's doing Squidpunk, but it's looking more and more possible as a trade paperback. (Is it through Ministry of Whimsy? Maaaybe.)

Since this project does seem to be lurching forward once we've cleared some other deadlines, what're your favorite horror or fantasy stories in some way featuring squid, octopi, cuttlefish, or cephalopods in g...

Awash in the Weird

There's a tumor made of pages exploding out of my ribcage. There's a tickertape parade ravishing my skull. When I speak, all kinds of odd words come out of my mouth, handwritten in black ink on a long, narrow strip of vellum. Where's the beak doctor when you need him/her?

Don't expect too much around these here parts for awhile–just fits and starts. We're awash in weird reading for the Compendium of Weird Fiction and a typical day revolves around work on the Steampunk Bible interwoven with...

BSC Review Book Tournament

Yep, it's that time of year again–the silly season–and BSC is taking advantage with the . Does it make any sense? No. That's what makes it fun?

Tomorrow, among others, they've got my Finch going up against Ajvaz's The Other City–a book only me and three other people seemed to know about last year. Go vote early and often–for the book you think, if personified as a human being, would beat the living crap out of the other book-as-person.

Me, I think of Finch the Book as being a...

The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals–It's Here!

So, we got our copies of the Kosher Guide the other day. It looks beautiful. Tachyon did a great job with it. It should be available at online sources and in bookstores by April 1st, at the latest.

It's a fun, deeply silly little book that's not meant as anything at all serious, but it does pack a lot into 96 pages. Not only Evil Monkey's discussions with Ann, but an intro by Joseph Nigg, who did the OED's definitive book on fantastical beasts, an ending section where Ann and Ace of Cakes'...

Nisi Shawl at Booklifenow on "Writing and Racial Identity vs the Spinrave"

For those of you who've missed it, Nisi Shawl has been guest blogging along with Cynthia Ward on Booklifenow. Today, I've posted Nisi's last entry—very thoughtful and useful to writers, or anyone, really.

I have lots more to blog about this week, but am finishing off, for Steampunk Reloaded, "A Secret History of Steampunk," a 16,000-word monstrosity that includes contributions from several writers and artists. More on that, new anthologies, a new book project, and a book release later on...

Congrats, 2010 Clarion San Diego Students!

A big congratulations to the 2010 Clarion San Diego class, just announced on the site. They're all super-awesome, and Ann and I are really excited about meeting them and working with them in weeks 5 and 6 of the workshop. Yay!

Gregory Bossert

Stacie Brown

John Chu

William Farrar

Erin Gonzales

Jessica Hilt

Jennifer Hsyu

Adam Israel

Dustin Monk

Tamsyn Muir

Laura Praytor

LaTisha Redding

Dallas Taylor

Leah Thomas

Karin Tidbeck

Tom Underberg

Kali Wallace

Kai Ashante Wilson

Narrative Power From Aqueduct

It's never been much of a secret how much I love Aqueduct Press–founder L. Timmel Duchamp is doing amazing work, and often at the expense of her own writing. Running a publishing company is a 24-7 job, and in this economy it's doubly tough. So the fact that Aqueduct keeps putting out a steady stream of amazing books is something to be thankful for–especially since so much of what they do is not done by anyone else in the field.

The latest book is Narrative Power, pictured above, a collection o...

International SF/Fantasy, Translation Award Info, Shine!

(Why Shine? Well, it just came in the door and Jetse de Vries made a concerted effort to encourage submissions from around the world. It's a good-looking antho.)

I'd just like to point people to the Locus Online compilation of international SF/Fantasy recommendations I've coordinated, which was completed and slotted well before the Spinrad controversy this week. These are largely not books yet translated into English–in fact, 90% of them aren't–and so in addition to being a tantalizing look a...