Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 126

Miyazaki Squee!

A collection of essays, interviews, images, and more that gives readers insight into the great animator's life and work. (Thanks, Nick!)

BLDGBLOG on Body Baroque (with a side of Veniss Underground)

The remarkable Geoff Manaugh has posted a fascinating entry about a project that "explores religious ritual and the human body, alongside an interest in "transitory sculptures," processional routes, and a kind of body-futurist rediscovery of architectural ornament. Vortices of limbs ossify into cathedrals; overlapping anatomies become windows and valves." Along the way, he quotes from Veniss Underground's corpse cathedral scene. Check it out.

In related news, this event has been finalized for ...

Fall Finch/Booklife Endurance Tour Update (want to help?)

UPDATE: Looks like I'll be in Baltimore Nov. 30th and able to do a gig there that evening before going on to Washington DC. Email me at vanderworld at hotmail.com if you've got any useful intel.

We're into the last week of booking gigs for the fall Endurance Tour, in support of my novel Finch and my writing book Booklife, and at the moment it's looking like 30 to 35 events in 45 days, across 12 states on the West and East Coasts, with 4 days off for Thanksgiving in New Hampshire with friends. ...

Sofanauts #25: Parade Douglas Adams Around Like the Relics of a Saint?

The latest Sofanauts is up, although this time it sounds a little like the Sofanuts. We were a little silly. What does the title of this blog post mean? You'll have to check out the show.

Grokking the Subaqueous Consigliere John Clute

Given the near constant "WTF-is-this"-itis afflicting those who comment on John Clute's reviews—ever since that feature was added when SciFi Wire and SF Weekly merged—I thought I'd perform a public service by explaining Clute. Thus, a few sentences from his review of The Wind-Up Girl…

ORIGINAL: Like so many of the mad scientists and realpolitiking consiglieri who claimed sovereignty over the rest of us throughout the literature of the past century, he is a Faustian entrepreneur, a transformer ...

BOOOOKS! Featuring Ballard and Kiernan, BOOOOKS From Delany, Doubinsky, Biancotti, and More, Always MORE…

First off, just to catch up, two new features on Amazon: an interview with Caitlin R. Kiernan about her new novel The Red Tree and a short appreciation of The Collected Stories of J.G. Ballard, complete with a selection of first lines from the book.

In addition, I'm pleased to note that I just turned in the introduction to Kiernan's forthcoming 2010 collection The Ammonite Violin & Others, which reads in part:

Part of this authenticity—part of the reason I find them disturbing—comes from the...

ROOF CRUTCH (to go with Traveling Neighbor Morgue)

You might remember my post about the traveling morgue show that used to stop by our neighborhood…

Well, now, on the other side of our corner lot, there's this…

ROOF CRUTCHES! Been there for about a month now. Words like why? come to mind. I will investigate further…

Fiction Writers Review Wants to Know: Will You Be Buying Booklife?

"Jeff VanderMeer's Booklife is a frank, revealing, riveting manual by a writer for writers, not simply on how to be a better wordsmith, but on how to be a better human being. I'll be recommending it to all my writing students. I don't know how to praise a book more sincerely than that." —Minister Faust, the BRO-Log

Fiction Writers Review has posted an entry about my forthcoming Booklife in the context of Jessa Crispin's "non-review", posted on the Smart Set a little while back, and comments...

I WILL Read Your F@#*ing Script…If You Leave Cookies and Milk

In addition to the now-famous rant by the guy who won't read your effing script, Jason Sanford and John Scalzi have both weighed in on the subject, one satirically the other with practical advice.

I want to state without disclaimers: I WILL read your script, novel, poem, short story, or other scribblings, IF you will just leave it on your kitchen table. Put out some cookies (preferably oatmeal raisin, so I can feel like I'm eating healthy) and milk. Make sure the back door is unlocked. Go to s...

Finch Limited: Chapbook Cover

- Order the Rebel Samizdat Finch Limited Edition

- Order the Heretic Finch Limited Edition

-Read the first 58 pages…

I've posted before about the Finch limited editions, specifically about the Murder by Death soundtrack and about the differences between the two editions.

But now, as you can see above, there's a cover for the chapbook that accompanies the Heretic limited edition, created by John Coulthart, and it's just lovely. Coulthart continues to inspire and amaze me. (He's also just posted ...