Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 119
November 4, 2009
A Pre-Summation of Philippine Speculative Fiction 2009
Charles Tan blogs at Bibliophile Stalker, The World SF News Blog, and SF Signal.
Hi! My name is Charles Tan and despite my Chinese name, I'm from the Philippines. I'm mostly known in the field for promoting Philippine speculative fiction. In line with that expectation, here's my tentative (tentative because the year isn't over yet and I'm open to revisions) summation of the Philippine genre, patterned after the summaries in the now-defunct Year's Best Fantasy and Horror edited by Ellen...
November 2, 2009
Jeff VanderMeer's Novel Finch Now Available: Finch Insurgency Campaign, Scalzi's Big Idea, and More
Huzzah! Tomorrow is the official release date for Finch, my latest novel, a mix of fantasy, noir, thriller, spy story, political intrigue, and a dash of science fiction. The book's been enthusiastically blurbed by the likes of Ken Bruen, Meg Gardiner, Tad Williams, Richard K. Morgan, Joe Abercrombie, Joe Lansdale, and many more.
Several cool things are now available to you…
The Guest Bloggers Gather!
Starting Wednesday, November 4th, a mob of guest bloggers will take over Ecstatic Days, and I'll just be posting a few little things on an irregular basis, until my return from the book tour on December 13th.
I think you'll enjoy the viewpoints represented by this unruly group. Not familiar with all the names? You will be by the middle of December. (And many thanks to them for being willing to drop by here.)
Rima Abunasser
Gio Clairval
Eugie Foster
Felix Gilman
Caren Gussoff
Will Hindmarch
Shane...
November 1, 2009
Last Drink Bird Head Award Winners!
(Tempest and Jetse, looking toward the future)
A little late since every minute of the World Fantasy Con has been filled with some commitment, here are the winners of the Last Drink Bird Head Awards and a few photos from the party. More photos later. The finalist list was posted earlier on my blog.
Gentle Advocacy
In recognition of individuals willing to enter into blunt discourse about controversial issues…
- K. Tempest Bradford
Tireless Energy
In recognition of individuals who selflessly give o...
October 27, 2009
Heading off for World Fantasy and Last Drink, Leaving You With: Cult Detectives, Booklife(now), Will Hindmarch Poster Power, Speed Weed Comes Clean…
(Not exactly the imposing bird head I wanted, but it'll have to do. In addition to giving out the first annual Last Drink Bird Head Awards at the party at WFC Thursday night, we'll be giving away a limited edition of Finch *and* five copies of the Shared Worlds student chapbook designed by John Coulthart–something you can't get anywhere else–plus probably a couple of other goodies. We'll accomplish this by throwing this bird into the crowd; you catch it, you win…simple.)
We're heading off to ...
Murder by Death on Creating the Finch Soundtrack
[image error]
I've interviewed Murder by Death for Omnivoracious, asking them about their reading habits, touring, and their work on the Finch soundtrack–which you can sample in the sidebar of this blog. My favorite part of the interview might be this bit:
Adam: …The fun part was trying to think how a mushroom sounds. Since we didn't use lyrics, we had to communicate all the ideas through music and the feel of song. We decided a vintage Fender Rhodes had the best overall tone for "mushroom".
(I'll be...
Halo Antho Contributor List
Below the cut you'll find the full list of contributors, including myself and Tessa Kum, who collaborated on the 35k novella "The Mona Lisa" for the anthology. In one mistake that makes me kind of sick to my stomach, the title page for the story in the actual book has our names reversed with me coming first. Small thing? I don't think so, since the reversal of alphabetical order implies that I am the primary author on the story. Which isn't true. It started as Tessa's 15k draft, which had...
October 26, 2009
Shared Worlds Teen Writing Camp: Registration Now Open
Please spread the link to this blog post with information about a program that's near and dear to our hearts, and that we think can contribute to a healthy and diverse future for the field of SF/F. Soon we will also have information about the minority scholarship we're setting up. – Ann & Jeff
Registration is now open for the 2010 teen science fiction/fantasy writing camp Shared Worlds. Shared Worlds is a unique two-week inter-disciplinary experience on beautiful Wofford campus in...
October 25, 2009
Seeking Steampunks for Fun and…Archiving
(Victoriana Invention poster by John Coulthart)
I'm sure I've mentioned this project before–it's going to be a gorgeous, wonderful book. (If you've seen the recent Boilerplate, you know what Abrams Image can do.) Many thanks to the multi-talented S.J. Chambers for coming onboard as Archivist. It's a major, mammoth project.
THE STEAMPUNK BIBLE WANTS YOU!
Noted Archivist Seeks Steampunks to Index
World Fantasy Award winner Jeff VanderMeer's The Steampunk Bible, published by Abrams Image, will...
The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals, Almost Complete
Just turning in corrections on the first book Ann and I have written together: The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals.
Ninety-six pages of awesome in beautiful 5 x 7 hardcover form:
—Preface by Joseph Nigg, How to Raise and Keep a Dragon
—Introduction by Ann
—Thirty plus descriptions of fantastical creatures with running commentary between Ann and Evil Monkey
—A hilarious and sometimes raucous discussion of fantastical animal recipes between Ann and Food Network star Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes)
