Ellen Datlow's Blog, page 23
June 9, 2011
Sturgeon award nominees
Congratulations to all the Theodore Sturgeon Award Finalists
Eleanor Arnason "Mammoths of the Great Plains" (chapbook)
Damien Broderick "Under the Moons of Venus" Subterranean (Spring)
Elizabeth Hand "The Maiden Flight of McAuley's Bellerophon" Stories: All-New Tales
Geoffrey A. Landis "The Sultan of the Clouds" Asimov's, September
Yoon Ha Lee "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain" Lightspeed, September
Paul Park "Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance" F&SF, January / February
Robert Reed "Dead Man's Run" F&SF, November / December
Alastair Reynolds "Troika" Godlike Machines
Steve Rasnic Tem "A Letter from the Emperor" Asimov's, January
Lavie Tidhar "The Night Train" Strange Horizons, 14 June
Peter Watts "The Things" Clarkesworld, January
Eleanor Arnason "Mammoths of the Great Plains" (chapbook)
Damien Broderick "Under the Moons of Venus" Subterranean (Spring)
Elizabeth Hand "The Maiden Flight of McAuley's Bellerophon" Stories: All-New Tales
Geoffrey A. Landis "The Sultan of the Clouds" Asimov's, September
Yoon Ha Lee "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain" Lightspeed, September
Paul Park "Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance" F&SF, January / February
Robert Reed "Dead Man's Run" F&SF, November / December
Alastair Reynolds "Troika" Godlike Machines
Steve Rasnic Tem "A Letter from the Emperor" Asimov's, January
Lavie Tidhar "The Night Train" Strange Horizons, 14 June
Peter Watts "The Things" Clarkesworld, January
The Children of the Russian Rich
This is a gorgeous and fascinating series of photographs taken by Anna Skladmann The Children of the Russian Rich .
via Jon Courtney Grimwood
via Jon Courtney Grimwood
June 8, 2011
ecard for Naked City
Here's an ecard created by my publisher to send to your friends, family, fans of the authors in the book, et al.
Rave for Best Horror #3
With a wee error that I hope the writer corrects...who can spot the error? ( I don't know how long it will remain--and you'll have to at least be aware of the TOC to catch the mistake).
The Monsters We Deserve
The Monsters We Deserve
Review of Naked City
From Library Journal (trimmed)
Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy. Griffin: St. Martin's. Jul. 2011. c.560p. ed. by Ellen Datlow. ISBN 9780312604318. $25.99; pap. ISBN 9780312385248. $15.99. FANTASY
The 20 stories in this anthology, contributed by Holly Black, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Delia Sherman, Christopher Fowler, John Crowley, Naomi Novik, and others, reflect the diversity and depth of urban fantasy popularized by authors such as Charles de Lint and Tanya Huff. VERDICT These original tales by an impressive array of authors provide a powerful introduction to the genre for the curious and a welcome indulgence for urban fantasy fans.
Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy. Griffin: St. Martin's. Jul. 2011. c.560p. ed. by Ellen Datlow. ISBN 9780312604318. $25.99; pap. ISBN 9780312385248. $15.99. FANTASY
The 20 stories in this anthology, contributed by Holly Black, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Delia Sherman, Christopher Fowler, John Crowley, Naomi Novik, and others, reflect the diversity and depth of urban fantasy popularized by authors such as Charles de Lint and Tanya Huff. VERDICT These original tales by an impressive array of authors provide a powerful introduction to the genre for the curious and a welcome indulgence for urban fantasy fans.
June 7, 2011
Reminder about Teeth reading at Jefferson Market Library
I hope I'm not being too much of a pain about this but one more reminder:
Saturday June 11th a reading/signing of Terri Windling and my young adult anthology, Teeth, will be taking place at the Jefferson Market Library in Greenwich Village, NYC. 3-5pm.
***Update on book availability: they won't be sold at the library but Books of Wonder at 18 W 18th street has copies and they're only a few blocks from the library.***
425 Avenue of the Americas (at 10th St.)
Participating are myself, plus contributors:
Steve Berman
Jeffrey Ford
Delia Sherman
Holly Black
Ellen Kushner
Genevieve Valentine
The reading will be taking place in the Children's Room (parts of the library are being repaired)
Saturday June 11th a reading/signing of Terri Windling and my young adult anthology, Teeth, will be taking place at the Jefferson Market Library in Greenwich Village, NYC. 3-5pm.
***Update on book availability: they won't be sold at the library but Books of Wonder at 18 W 18th street has copies and they're only a few blocks from the library.***
425 Avenue of the Americas (at 10th St.)
Participating are myself, plus contributors:
Steve Berman
Jeffrey Ford
Delia Sherman
Holly Black
Ellen Kushner
Genevieve Valentine
The reading will be taking place in the Children's Room (parts of the library are being repaired)
June 6, 2011
June 5, 2011
My weekend
Movies and a street fair.
I watched three movies: Quintet a movie by Robert Altman that I've wanted to see for a long time. In an sf future of ice and snow, Essex (Paul Newman) and his young, very naive wife (Brigitte Fossey) travel through the abandoned landscape to a ruined city where people survive (sometimes) and play a murderous game called Quintet. So many questions--where do they get food? What do the residents DO with their time, other than play Quintet? But there are some well-wrought and memorable images--black dogs roam in packs throughout the area eating the frozen dead bodies (and there a many of both). An ice age "Seventh" Victim (or Tenth, depending on whether you're referring to Sheckley's story or the movie). Cast is also made up of Fernando Ray, Vittoria Gassman,and Bibi Andersson. Entertaining enough to keep me watching but not all that good.
Luckily I left the best for last (I knew it was good as I'd seen it before): Enchanted in which the lovely Giselle is thrown out of her wonderful cartoon world by the evil stepmother played by Susan Sarandon (happily chewing scenery)and lands in Times Square, NYC. Amy Adams is utterly charming, Patrick Demsey utterly handsome, James Marsden (as Prince Edward), utterly clueless, and Idina Menzel, utterly cold. Pigeons and rats cleaning house to song, a chipmunk that loses his voice in our world, New York. I loved it the second time around.
Yesterday, for the first time I participated in the Jane Street Block Association street sale. I've been wanting to do so for years and finally got it together enough to set the date aside, pay for a table in time, and go through drawers and bags and cabinets to find assorted things or which to divest myself. It was satisfying. I made about $60 net and now have space in the cabinet under the sink (where I kept flower pots from plants that had died--they all sold.) The things that didn't sell I threw out, put aside for the Salvation Army, or gave away to the person who lent me the makeshift table and chairs for me and Rick Bowes to sit on. Rick sold some of his doll house furniture and plastic figures. If the day is right I'll do it again next year.
Finally, a brouhaha has resulted from the incredibly ignorant opinion piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend. Darkness too Visible
A couple of points
1. Darkness in literature for young adults is nothing new (The Bell Jar anyone? Or The Old and New Testament taught to many young people at an early age? Or the unbowdlerized fairy tales...
2. The piece seems entirely unaware of the variety of YA literature. It is not all dark. This is where the ignorance really kicks in.
My parents let me read whatever I chose to from a very young age. Ok-some of you may think that warped me forever :-) I don't recall reading many books about "sensitive" subjects but if I had, for example, read a ya book about "cutting" or taking drugs they sure wouldn't have made me engage in either of those activities.
Anyway, many people have already responded in far more articulate ways that I ever could here, here , here and here
The twitter feed #YAsaves is where teens and adults testify as to how YA literature has been a positive force in their lives. And as Libbra Bray points out, librarians are our super-heroes so support them.
I watched three movies: Quintet a movie by Robert Altman that I've wanted to see for a long time. In an sf future of ice and snow, Essex (Paul Newman) and his young, very naive wife (Brigitte Fossey) travel through the abandoned landscape to a ruined city where people survive (sometimes) and play a murderous game called Quintet. So many questions--where do they get food? What do the residents DO with their time, other than play Quintet? But there are some well-wrought and memorable images--black dogs roam in packs throughout the area eating the frozen dead bodies (and there a many of both). An ice age "Seventh" Victim (or Tenth, depending on whether you're referring to Sheckley's story or the movie). Cast is also made up of Fernando Ray, Vittoria Gassman,and Bibi Andersson. Entertaining enough to keep me watching but not all that good.
Luckily I left the best for last (I knew it was good as I'd seen it before): Enchanted in which the lovely Giselle is thrown out of her wonderful cartoon world by the evil stepmother played by Susan Sarandon (happily chewing scenery)and lands in Times Square, NYC. Amy Adams is utterly charming, Patrick Demsey utterly handsome, James Marsden (as Prince Edward), utterly clueless, and Idina Menzel, utterly cold. Pigeons and rats cleaning house to song, a chipmunk that loses his voice in our world, New York. I loved it the second time around.
Yesterday, for the first time I participated in the Jane Street Block Association street sale. I've been wanting to do so for years and finally got it together enough to set the date aside, pay for a table in time, and go through drawers and bags and cabinets to find assorted things or which to divest myself. It was satisfying. I made about $60 net and now have space in the cabinet under the sink (where I kept flower pots from plants that had died--they all sold.) The things that didn't sell I threw out, put aside for the Salvation Army, or gave away to the person who lent me the makeshift table and chairs for me and Rick Bowes to sit on. Rick sold some of his doll house furniture and plastic figures. If the day is right I'll do it again next year.
Finally, a brouhaha has resulted from the incredibly ignorant opinion piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend. Darkness too Visible
A couple of points
1. Darkness in literature for young adults is nothing new (The Bell Jar anyone? Or The Old and New Testament taught to many young people at an early age? Or the unbowdlerized fairy tales...
2. The piece seems entirely unaware of the variety of YA literature. It is not all dark. This is where the ignorance really kicks in.
My parents let me read whatever I chose to from a very young age. Ok-some of you may think that warped me forever :-) I don't recall reading many books about "sensitive" subjects but if I had, for example, read a ya book about "cutting" or taking drugs they sure wouldn't have made me engage in either of those activities.
Anyway, many people have already responded in far more articulate ways that I ever could here, here , here and here
The twitter feed #YAsaves is where teens and adults testify as to how YA literature has been a positive force in their lives. And as Libbra Bray points out, librarians are our super-heroes so support them.
June 3, 2011
Been busy
Apologies for not being around more but Terri and I have been finishing up After (and I can't stay long as I've one more major thing to do). We'll post TOC very soon.
In the meantime, I've just been alerted that Tennessee poet Elizabeth McClellan gave a marvelous shout out to Troll's Eye View in an interview conducted with her by Nashvillescene.com.
Scroll down, and you'll find it.
Meantime, watched Pitch Black last weekend--enjoyable sf/horror. And went to see Meek's Cutoff in the movies. Great cast, good acting, really boring movie. All too realistic historical drama about three families in a wagon train enroute to Oregon who are lost--and the leader they don't trust (Meek). My two viewing companions and I loathed it (sorry Lucius).
In the meantime, I've just been alerted that Tennessee poet Elizabeth McClellan gave a marvelous shout out to Troll's Eye View in an interview conducted with her by Nashvillescene.com.
Scroll down, and you'll find it.
Meantime, watched Pitch Black last weekend--enjoyable sf/horror. And went to see Meek's Cutoff in the movies. Great cast, good acting, really boring movie. All too realistic historical drama about three families in a wagon train enroute to Oregon who are lost--and the leader they don't trust (Meek). My two viewing companions and I loathed it (sorry Lucius).
June 1, 2011
Naked City gets starred review in Booklist
From the review:
This anthology of short fiction affords a superb sampling of urban fantasy, that popular sf/fantasy subgenre defined in the book's introduction (which, in all of three pages, is a welcome and helpful, to say nothing of articulate, definition of this subgenre) as a combination of the "often-dark edge of city living with enticing worlds of magic"—with an urban landscape being absolutely crucial to the story. To put it another way (as also expressed in the introduction, that is), "where the story takes place should matter, in some way, to the story."
This anthology of short fiction affords a superb sampling of urban fantasy, that popular sf/fantasy subgenre defined in the book's introduction (which, in all of three pages, is a welcome and helpful, to say nothing of articulate, definition of this subgenre) as a combination of the "often-dark edge of city living with enticing worlds of magic"—with an urban landscape being absolutely crucial to the story. To put it another way (as also expressed in the introduction, that is), "where the story takes place should matter, in some way, to the story."
