Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 115

Steampunk Reloaded: Volume 2 Open to Reprint Submissions December 15

STEAMPUNK RELOADED, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer and to be published in fall 2010 by Tachyon Publications, announces an open reading period.

The sequel to the World Fantasy Award finalist anthology Steampunk will read submissions between December 15, 2009, and February 15, 2010. Any English-language story previously published in the past decade on a website or print publication is eligible for consideration. Our definition of Steampunk is fairly broad, so if in doubt, send it. Keep in...

Five months later, I'm still thinking of Clarion West

Some family issues have kept me offline, so I'm guestblogging a little later than I originally intended to. In the past couple of days, I've been thinking of something smart and witty to say, but it looks like smart and witty are intent on evading me, so I suppose I'll just have to keep to how things are.

Arrived in the mail today: a letter telling me that Clarion West is now open for applications. Details for application can be found here

Looking at that website reminds me of last year and...

All the news that's fit to laugh at

Guest blogger Jason Sanford often rants on his website at www.jasonsanford.com. His fiction has been published in Interzone, Year's Best SF 14, Analog, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Pindeldyboz, and other places, and has won the 2008 Interzone Readers' Poll and a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship.

Yesterday my interview with SF writer Larry Eisenberg was published at SF Signal. One thing I like about Larry's fiction is even when he's writing about serious subjects, he's not afraid to make ...

Bizarro Fiction: Stout Hearts and Strong Stomachs

Eden Robins writes what she had previously decided should be termed "quirkpunk" but which she would now like to change to "quirkrock," just to spice things up. She is also co-editor of Brain Harvest and lives in Chicago, dreading the winters.

Here's the question that nobody is asking: Exactly how much do you love doughnuts, and what are you willing to do to prove it? Enter Cameron Pierce, writer of bizarro fiction and man of steely intestines. This past weekend, Cameron descended on...

VanderMeer/Finch News

Stepping in one last time this week to relay some news of interest. First off, it appears Ann and I will be on a segment for NPR's Weekend Edition one of the next couple of Sundays. (Also look for the WaPo review of Finch this coming Saturday, and an interview with the Onion AV Club forthcoming.)

Second, Diana Gill at HarperCollins has bought The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities from us–more on that soon.

Third, because of Finch I am one of two Indiebound IndieNext authors whose...

Giving It Away

Will Hindmarch is a freelance writer, graphic designer, and game designer. He also blogs at Gameplaywright and The Gist. Look for him at Jeff VanderMeer's reading in Atlanta at 8pm on December 11th at Manuel's Tavern.

A few weeks ago, I gave away five poems drawn from a Cessna flight manual. Today, I'm giving away 105 haiku I wrote as part of my Haiku Year project. The short version: I set out to write a haiku a day for one year. I made it a little over three months. Starting on Thanksgiving, ...

so much for November, then

Guest blogger Felix Gilman is the author of the novels Thunderer and Gears of the City, and A History of the Half-Made World, coming next year from Tor.

Well OK so I have been a very bad guest blogger.  I'd like to pretend I've been busy doing something creative or traveling somewhere exotic or doing good works among the poor or campaigning for healthcare reform but the fact of the matter is that I bought Dragon Age and it swallowed my November whole. It seemed like a good idea at the time...

The Virtues of Vampires

Via Whatever, I found this piece by Matt Yglesias asking why — if vampires are thousands of years old — they don't act old:

Across various fictions, why don't vampires exhibit more cranky old man characteristics? I'm only 28 and already I feel myself periodically overtaken by a desire to tell the young people all about How It Was Back in the Day. I'll bore people with tedious stories about the old Monroe Street Giant in Columbia Heights before the fancy new stores opened, or about how there...

Getting it 'out there'.

Hi all. Jeff very kindly invited me to drop by as a guest blogger while he was away on his signing tour – hope it's going great Jeff! My name is Liam Sharp and I'm primarily known as a comic book artist from the UK. My first novel, God Killers, launched in Easter this year and is on it's second edition.
I was at a fantastic little comic convention in Leeds at the weekend called Thought Bubble, and a question came up about getting writing 'out there' on the one panel I was involved with. What c...

Where in the world is Carmen Sa -

I've been a bad guest-blogger, but I have an excuse: I spent the last two weeks travelling, first to and from Bangkok on the night train, then by what we in the business call a "jet", to Singapore. I got home and it was Friday, and I was very happy it was Friday, and had plans to go out for drinks until I realised it was actually Thursday. And when you can't tell the days of the week apart, alcohol might not be the best answer.

But it was fun. I picked up about 30 books to read, and got to...