Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 109

Indie Press in the Pre-Internet Age: Dan Read's Tribute to Two Fallen Stalwarts, Janet Fox and Marcelo "Buddy" Martinez

I had been meaning to talk a little bit about Janet Fox, who died this year and who used to run a market report that also served as a kind of indie press crossroads/clearinghouse back before the Internet took hold. Fox was a great person, a good writer, and did a lot for the community back then. I wrote more than one article for her, and she was always very supportive of new writers. Also passing on this year was Marcelo Martinez, who I knew less well but who was linked to Fox in that they...

Paying It Forward, Paying it Back, Using Your Leverage

As the year comes to an end, I've been thinking about leverage, which I talk about in Booklife. But in Booklife, while I have a separate section on paying it forward and contributing to community, I'm not sure I fully tie the idea of leverage to the idea of paying it forward.

Your writerly "leverage," as I define it, is a kind of political capital. You can amass it based on your visibility through your online presence and your books, published short stories, etc. It consists of intangibles...

The Church Re-Releases Shriek: An Afterword CD

Slicing Up Your Eyeballs reports that The Church has re-released the Shriek: An Afterword CD based on my novel. The re-release "has been remastered to correct significant audio problems with the initial release, and errors with the tracklisting and packaging also have been corrected." For more info on ordering, etc., visit SUYE.

Here's the track listing on the re-release. I don't have the original in front of me, but I do think it may be different by one song.

1. "We Dwell In Fragile...

Top Three Vander Predictions for 2010: Mieville, Atwood, Austen

(My gawd–this is so weird. Before I renounced cephalopods earlier this year, my next novel was going to be titled The Squid and the Squid.)

Since most of my predictions for 2009 came true–I predicted in 2008, for example, that I would end my 2009 Booklife/Finch tour reading from a storage closet in an Atlanta bar and that the blogosphere would come apart at the seams during a harmless discussion of magazine pay rates–I've decided to again put forth some knowledgeable mutterings about the...

The Golden City by Twelve-Hawks: Snooze Fest

The Washington Post Book World ran my review of John Twelve-Hawks' The Golden City, the last in his trilogy. Although I'll give him props for some of the settings, the characters were cardboard and the action clumsy at best.

The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: Coming Soon!

Somehow, it seems entirely appropriate to post about The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals on Christmas Day…and necessary since Foreward posted about the book earlier this week. A lot of reverb from that and great word-of-mouth, so I just want to make sure that readers have all the info about the book now, even though it's not out until February 2010 (just in time for Purim).

The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals isn't a rehash of the original post from back in 2007. The selection from the...

Happy Holidays–and Thanks

(Matt, Ann, and Eric. Yes, Cheney and Schaller are nuts.)

Today I'd like to thank everyone who read with me at events and/or put me up (put up with me?) during my recent five-week book tour. Special thanks to my wife Ann, Matt Staggs, Luis Rodrigues, Jeremy Tolbert, S.J. Chambers, John Coulthart, my publishers, the bookstores & other venues, people like Rob Davies who put up posters, and my readers, without whom the tour wouldn't have been possible.

Sincere thanks and affection to:

My fellow...

Air Fish Anthology: 1993 Genre "Core Sample"

In doing research for a project, I came across my contributor copy of Air Fish: An Anthology of Speculative Works edited by Joy Oestreicher and Richard Singer. It was published about 17 years ago in 1993. For its year, I thought it was one of the stronger anthologies. Here's the complete table of contents. I reproduce it here because I find an occasional "core sample" from the history of genre instructive at times, especially as we slouch toward 2010.

The particulars about Air Fish: It was a c...

Finch and Black Hawk Down: Translating Technique from Movies to Fiction

(What does a scene in the movie Black Hawk Down have to do with fiction? Read on below…)

In a general way, TV and movies have often had a terrible influence on fiction, in that some writers substitute received experience and received ideas from mass media for their own personal vision–some even think the structure of most TV shows is perfectly suitable, untranslated, for novels and stories. A lot of this material, reading like scripts or in other ways underwhelming, appears on editor...

Reports from the Road: Richmond/Fountain Bookstore

(Me, looking a little worn and fat–nothing a few weeks in the gym and a haircut won't cure.)

I've just posted a piece on Amazon's book blog about my experiences in Richmond, especially with regard to the Poe Museum and the marvelous Fountain Bookstore, as well as book recommendations and links to articles about Poe by S.J. Chambers.

The video above was taken by Kelly Justice and the great people at Fountain, and includes my take on the tour thus far–including something about maps on...