Jeff VanderMeer's Blog, page 73
December 21, 2010
Madras Press Offerings from Kalfus, Barthelme, Kaufman, and Marcus
Madras Press is currently one of my absolute favorites: beautiful and unusual little books that collect new and established talent, with proceeds from each book going to the author's favorite charity. This time around, for the second series, the books are:
The Moors by Ben Marcus
A Manual for Sons by Donald Barthelme
The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman
Three Stories by Ken Kalfus
You can't find these titles on Amazon, but you can get more information on how to order here. You should do that. You should go there right now and order. Because these books are wonderful, and make great gifts. For a good cause.
On a slightly more selfish note, if you've appreciated what you've read on this blog this year—much of which has promoted other writers' work—consider showing your appreciation the same way you would with any good busker. Full-time writers gotta eat.
Madras Press Offerings from Kalfus, Barthelme, Kaufman, and Marcus originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 21, 2010.
Third Bear Carnival E-Bear at Wired's GeekDad
Brad Moon at Wired.com's GeekDad has kindly offered a home for the Third Bear Carnival e-bear (er, 42-page e-book, suitable for printing) that features ruminations (and cartoons!) about various stories in my Third Bear collection from the following wonderful people:
—W. Irving Bishop
—Paul Jessup
—Hal Duncan
—Eric Schaller (cartoons)
—Larry Nolen
—Matthew Cheney
—David A. Beronä
—Paul Charles Smith (with art by his fiancee)
—Deborah Biancotti
—Rachel Swirsky
—Brian Francis Slattery
—Micaela Morrissette
—Ann VanderMeerCarnival Contest Winner
—Alys Sterling (fourth bear contest winner)
Matthew Cheney organized the Third Bear Carnival in the first place, which was what one can only call super nice of him and a great surprise. Thanks to Tachyon, and in particular Elizabeth Story, for creating the PDF and design. Major thanks to Matt Staggs the Amazing and Jill Roberts the Awesome, as well.
The Third Bear has received some really lovely reviews this year, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly and another starred review from Library Journal, in addition to blurbage from Junot Diaz, Mike Mignola, and many others. If you're still looking for a holiday gift or chancing upon this while deciding how to spend a gift certificate, consider The Third Bear. Or, just signal boost this post. Thanks.
Third Bear Carnival E-Bear at Wired's GeekDad originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 21, 2010.
December 18, 2010
Need a Book? Help out Paul Jessup
Paul Jessup, a very interesting writer who's fairly fearlessly experimental, is having a book sale. It's been a hard winter for some, and Paul's not selling books because he wants to sell books. Signal boost if you think it's worthy, and I think he's got a City of Saints he might be parting with. If so and you buiy it , I'll throw in a freebie extra connected to the book that only about a dozen collectors have.
Need a Book? Help out Paul Jessup originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 18, 2010.
December 15, 2010
Book Lovers: Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2011
Posting will be sporadic here through January 1st.
Echoing something a friend said to me recently, it's been a tough, tough couple of years for the publishing industry and associated book culture, for writers, agents, and everyone else. A lot of good people have had a difficult time and had to work twice as hard to get results. It's been tough on a lot of people, frankly, across a lot of different types of careers.
I know that writers having the opportunity to write is a gift and privilege not a right, and that writers in the grand scheme of things are fairly unimportant…but this is the little corner of the world I inhabit, and I'd just like to say: peace and love to every one of you who is in some way connected to the written word–writing it, selling it, promoting it, publishing it, editing it, etc. And reading it.
People out there appreciate you, even if you don't always get day-to-day affirmation of that. Thanks to every single one of you, because I know each one of you loves books, because lord knows there are easier fields to make a career in.
Have a great holiday and I hope, rested and de-stressed, we all come out re-energized in 2011.
..and if you want to post here about some uplifting experience you had with books, people in the industry, writers, or book culture generally, feel free to share…
Book Lovers: Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2011 originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 15, 2010.
December 14, 2010
Steampunk Chopped Up, Dissected, Resurrected…
In which I talk about Steampunk fiction for the last time, including the podcast below. When the Steampunk Bible comes out, I will be talking about other aspects, but I'm done talking about the fiction.
Podcast:
Steampunk Reloaded extras spread out across the web…huge thanks to Larry Nolen and Fabio Fernandes for translating the Brazilian/Portuguese Steampunk and to Ayleen the Peacemaker for hosting it. Thanks to Tachyon and Jacques Barcia for the story link.
–Vaporpunk translations on Beyond Victoriana
–Jacques Barcia's "A Life Made Possible Behind the Barricades" (PG-13)
Steampunk Chopped Up, Dissected, Resurrected… originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 14, 2010.
December 13, 2010
Beyond Victoriana and Tachyon Hosting Brazilian/Portuguese Steampunk
More in the morning, but for now just wanted to point you to Beyond Victoriana's hosting of Vaporpunk fiction excerpts and Tachyon's hosting of Jacques Barcia's Steampunk story. Both features are extra content made possible by Steampunk Reloaded. Thanks to all involved.
Beyond Victoriana and Tachyon Hosting Brazilian/Portuguese Steampunk originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 14, 2010.
Book Like for the Holidays? Spread the Booklife Cheer
Dear Reader:
It's now been a year since my writing strategy book Booklife came out, and it's received lots of praise, leading to an interview on National NPR, among other opportunities like speaking at MIT and the Library of Congress. I've even had artists and musicians tell me they picked it up and found that the advice in it worked for them as well.
I know there are more of you out there, so if you've enjoyed Booklife and/or the Booklifenow website, it would be wonderful if you'd be willing to blog about it this week, recommending the book as a holiday gift. (Or tweet or facebook if that's more your style. Or even re-post something you wrote when the book came out.)
I don't usually ask people for favors like this, but my wife Ann and I are gearing up to do at least one, possibly two, really cool projects where we won't be taking a fee upfront. To do those kinds of projects, the coffers need to be full—and Booklife has sold well enough to date that buying Booklife (US edition) will put money in my pocket right around the time I'll need the extra boost to absorb the impact of these non-comped projects; if the royalty check is big enough, it may even help fund these projects. (One of which is a fiction antho focused on new writers, with a truly international open reading period.) You could say that this request is in keeping about Booklife's advice to take the long view.
If you do decide to blog, here are a few possible links to include:
Booklife at Indiebound (ebook)
Direct from the publisher, Tachyon
As importantly, I'm interested to know how Booklife was of use to you (or, even, where you wished it would've been of more help), and will write a follow-up post here and on Booklifenow that links your post. If you tweet or facebook post, consider echoing into the comments thread here.
Finally, thanks for considering Booklife as a holiday gift for the creatives in your life!
Book Like for the Holidays? Spread the Booklife Cheer originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 13, 2010.
December 10, 2010
Food for Thought on a Friday: Linkage
(WSFA is rapidly selling out of the book pictured above. You can still order it here.)
First off, on Omni I've been posting gift book suggestions, the top 10 lists for the year of Karen Lord, Felix Gilman, and Dexter Palmer, and an interview with local Tallahassee author Julianna Baggott about her huge YA book deal. Go read it all here.
Mary Anne Mohanraj has posted about the future of the Speculative Literature Foundation, including some thoughts on boosting publicity and content creation. She's looking for suggestions, feedback, etc.
If you missed it, John Coulthart wrote a great post about the uproar over the short film A Fire in My Belly, which includes a brief clip of ants crawling over a crucifix: "Two ironies are immediately apparent following the withdrawal of the film from the exhibition: the first is that the action has spread news of Wojnarowicz's work all over the world this week, in which case the Catholic League can congratulate themselves on increasing the viewing of the "blasphemous" film a thousandfold. The second is that the work of both Wojnarowicz and Galás in the 1980s dealt in a forthright manner with the loathing shown towards people with Aids and the refusal of governments and media to deal honestly and openly with the disease."
Also note this response from Diamanda Galás, whose music accompanied the censored film, to the Smithsonian removing it. Some in the comments cross a line as far as I'm concerned by calling her response, essentially, insane. It's an impassioned and intelligent response as far as I'm concerned. (I also noted an article recently about an uptick in attempts at book censorship–from both the left and the right. Censorship from the left sucks, too, frankly, when it occurs. And I'm not particularly sympathetic to charges of blasphemy in general.)
Matt Cheney has a link to a good piece about a certain sameness in the last few Best American Short Stories volumes, along with his own commentary. Equivalents in genre fiction include fantasy fixated on the upper classes or endlessly depicting homogenous societies or nations.
Finally, Tariq Moodod is interviewed about five books on multiculturalism. It's fascinating stuff and makes me want to pick up Moodod's books. A couple of quotes, context lacking so you have to go read it: "Actually, when you think about it, many of the specific controversies in relation to multiculturalism involve women and arguments about gender…Some feminists have been critical of multiculturalism because they say that it leads to selling short women's rights." … "I argue that the way that we come to see why Britishness is important is actually not so very different to how we see multiculturalism as important, because we see how these identities, whether they be minority Pakistani identity in Britain or whether it is being British – and many minorities want to be British; it is not something that is imposed on them – we see that these identities are important to people. So we have to find a way in politics of including rather than of trying to exclude them."
Food for Thought on a Friday: Linkage originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 10, 2010.
December 9, 2010
Curious? Imaginative? Weird? Books for You…to Gift!
I've just posted a feature on Omnivoracious entitled "Gift Books for the Imaginative, the Curious, the Weird." It features around 20 books, some of which you might not have heard of already. Feel free to signal boost the article, as lots of indie presses are featured and many of the writers aren't household names yet. Alas, Catherynne M. Valente's Under in the Mere and Ellen Kushner's The Man With the Knives are not available on Amazon—perhaps out of print? Anyway, both are well worth the effort to seek out and buy.
Below the cut, the entire list–but go check out the feature, since it includes more information on all of them, and more images.
Half World by Hiromi Goto (Viking)
The Wild Kingdom by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
Eden by Pablo Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Weird Fiction Review, edited by S.T. Joshi (Centipede Press)
The Library of Forgotten Books by Rjurik Davidson (PS Publishing)
Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan (Slave Labor Graphics)
Light Boxes by Shane Jones (Penguin)
Horse, Flower, Bird by Kate Bernheimer (Coffee House Press)
Poetry, Fiction, and Essays by Eric Basso (various)
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns (Dorothy)
Event Factory by Renee Gladman
Scorch Atlas by Blake Butler (Featherproof Books)
I Wonder by Marian Bantjes (The Monacelli Press)
The Honey Month by Amal El-Mohtar (Papaveria Press)
Black Static magazine, edited by Andy Cox
The Revisionist by Miranda Mellis (Calamari Press)
Curious? Imaginative? Weird? Books for You…to Gift! originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 9, 2010.
Potential Questions for Book Club Discussion of Finch
UK manifestation
US manifestation
(1) When did the infection start?
(2) Is it localized or has it spread?
(3) Do you retain control of all motor functions?
(4) Is there a voice in your head? What is it telling you to do?
(5) When did the doors start appearing? Before or after the voice?
(6) Would you call your apartment or other living space empty or crowded?
(7) If crowded, what is making it so cluttered?
(8) If empty, who emptied it, and why?
(9) When the green light appeared, did you assume you'd suffered a failure of vision?
(10) Were you able to identify whether the screaming was internal or external without someone else telling you?
(11) Was it just a green light or was someone there?
(12) How did you communicate?
(13) Did you go any place special? If so, what did you see?
(14) Do you have nightmares unlike the nightmares you had before?
(15) Did you find the characters in the book compelling or too static?
(16) Was the setting fully developed? What real-world places did it remind you of?
(17) Did the novel have a satisfying story arc?
(18) Do you feel at peace now…or is something nagging at you?
Potential Questions for Book Club Discussion of Finch originally appeared on Ecstatic Days on December 9, 2010.
