Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 147

Finch: “We’ll Go Wherever You Want to Go.” No Matter How Far.

Woken by a sudden shifting of shadows. A vague awareness of a figure. A sound like a thousand soft gun shots. Dreamed he’d gone down the hole behind the station’s curtain. Into the underground. Found the gray caps there. Sleeping on their sides. Heads down like resting silverfish. Heretic and the skery lying peaceful on a mattress made of curling ferns. Finch went to join them and immediately exploded into spores. Was everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Finch had a headache. Mouth felt thick. The

Derek Raymond’s Factory Novels

“I put down the book stunned. I was sitting outside and, suddenly, quite ordinary traffic along Camp Bowie Boulevard seemed fraught with meaning. Streetlamps came on, dim and trembling in early twilight. I realized that this novel on the bistro table…had carved its way into me the way relentless pain etches itself indelibly upon the body..Five or six times in a life you come across a book that sends electric shocks skittering and scorching through the whole of you and radically alters the way in

Neil Gaiman on the Limits of the Reader-Writer Contract

I love this post by Neil Gaiman about entitlement, especially as concerns readers upset that George R.R. Martin hasn’t finished his latest novel in the bestselling series. It ain’t a science, the rate of burn-out is high, and anyone who thinks that just churning out novels is a good idea–either for readers or writers–is full of crap.

Deadlines in this business are always approximations, and always getting broken to some extent, or revised because of circumstances beyond a writer’s control.

People

An Interview with Clarke Winner MacLeod

I was really thrilled to hear recently that Ian R. MacLeod had won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Not only is he a great writer, but he’s also pretty hilarious in person. Ann and I have had the pleasure of talking to him both at Utopiales in France and Parcon in the Czech Republic (not to mention, at the beer bath we also shared with a messianic-looking Hal Duncan, heh). Ann still chuckles over some of the things Ian said.

Anyway, I’ve just posted an interview with MacLeod over at Omnivoracious.

Amaz

Elizabeth VanderMeer on E-Science

My sister just had a birthday, and it seemed like a good time to catch up with her for the blog. She’s been jettin’ around doin’ stuff…

So you’ve been jetting all over the world? Why? What’ve you been up to?
I was initially hired by the University of Edinburgh National e-Science Centre to help with the development of strategy and policy recommendations on e-Science Education for presentation to EU and international bodies/organisations (the workshops and conferences are held all over). These stra

Booklife Excerpt: General Tips on PR

Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for 21st-Century Writers will be released on October 15th, and is available for pre-order. It’s a lazy Tuesday, and I’ve got nothin’, so here’s an excerpt from one of the general sections on PR. Please keep in mind: half the book is devoted to your Public Booklife and half to your Private Booklife. Any quotes out of context lose the cross-pollination between career and creativity. Which is to say, I don’t advocate being a PR hound in the book–I advocate bei

Odds ‘n’ Ends

(As you can see from this photo taken on the way to St. George Island, I’m among Ann’s odds and ends.)

This is a kind of odds-and-ends week as I begin work again on a new short novel called “Borne” and take care of some other random obligations. A few realizations from the weekend.

- I’m working too hard and have to slow down.
- The 60 in 60 has broken me; it’ll start up again soonish, but won’t be daily.
- Star Trek the reboot was good but not great, mainly ’cause of stupid villain stuff.
- Role Mo

Happy Mother’s Day!

This is Ann taking over Jeff’s blog for a moment. Well, it IS Mother’s Day after all, right? And I am sure he won’t mind. Just had to share this funny Mother’s Day moment with you.

As many of you know, Erin & Riley moved to Amsterdam last Sunday. Before they moved, Erin had a yard sale and was planning to throw out all of Riley’s magnificent finger-paintings. I saved all of them (including some of Erin’s as well) and decided to have one professionally framed.

I took this amazing piece of art

World Fantasy Con GoH

Thrilled to say Ann and I have been asked to be two of the guests of honor for World Fantasy Con this year. Garth Nix and Lisa Snelling are also GoHs, and Jay Lake will be toastmaster. It’s quite an honor.

Sfar and Trondheim’s Sublime Dungeon

I just did a long feature on Dungeon for Omnivoracious. Love this series.

Excerpt:
Each of these characters, and many supporting players, are fleshed out over the course of the series to an astounding degree. One masterstroke by Sfar and Trondheim in mapping out the narrative was to create different story “threads.” Thus, you get three main series–the dungeon’s Early Years, Zenith, and Twilight–with minor stories that still support the main narrative collected in the parallel series Monstres and P