Ellen Datlow's Blog, page 50

photos of fireworks in NJ, July 4th upstate NY, and more of Sophie

This batch was taken from my living room window, facing west

These were taken in new Kingston, NY, Phoenicia, and Bovina

and hereee's Sophie

Home again home again

I had a fabulous weekend in the country and for the second year in a row, helped host a BIG July 4th party at my friend's house and later experienced Peter Schjeldahl's fireworks display. Photos of the weekend will be posted.

When I got home I found a lovely surprise. Michael Swanwick had posted his story tuckerizing me for posterity: Shopping With Ellen Datlow

Plus Colleen Mondor wrote a wonderfully gracious review of The Beastly Bride in Book Slut.

Gone fishing

I'm leaving for New Kingston, NY (not very near to Kingston) in a few hours. Back Monday evening. Am not taking my new netbook as my friend doesn't have wireless so why bother. I may check online for mail but that's it.

Everyone have a great July 4th weekend.

My Readercon Schedule

I arrive Friday around midday.

Friday 2-3pm: The Year in Short fiction with Datlow, Hartwell, Lipkin, Walewski

3-4pm Kaffeeklatsch

Saturday 1-2pm Haunted Legends reading, with me introducing Caitlin R. Kiernan, Catherynne M. Valente, and Kit Reed, who will read from the their stories

Sunday 11-12pm The Shirley Jackson Awards--I'll be attending as a nominee

1-2pm Autographing

I plan to bring a bunch of my OP books to sell, including several of the OMNI Trade paperbacks.
If anyone attending has requ...

Two rave reviews from the Sacramento Book Review

The Beastly Bride
and The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Two

Winter's Bone

This is a terrific, often grim movie directed by Debra Granik, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell.

Some spoilers








It takes place in the Ozarks and is about a 17 year old forced to track down her
meth-making father who has jumped bail. If he doesn't show up for trial she and her non-functioning mother and two younger siblings will lose their farm and have nowhere to live. Ree's stubborn search for her dad takes her deep into dangerous territory, where her requests for help from her "blood" ar...

Notable Collections of 2009

Northwest Passages by Barbara Roden (Prime) is an impressive debut collection of ten stories (two appearing for the first time). Four of the reprints were given honorable mentions in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series, and one was reprinted in #19. With an introduction by critic Michael Dirda. One of the best collections of the year.

Madder Mysteries by Reggie Oliver (Ex Occidente Press) is a very attractive volume from a new press that has, in addition to eight stories (several publish...

2009 notable anthologies

Anthologies are the hardest for me to judge and I usually stay out of the anthology fray since that's my business these days. Even mentioning them often seems like a conflict of interest. So you may take my opinions of the best anthologies (other than my own, of course ;-) --with a grain of salt). Also, while there were some excellent mostly reprint anthologies, I'm only mentioning original anthologies here.


Phantom edited by Paul G. Tremblay and Sean Wallace (Prime Book) is a fine follow-up ...

Some favorite novels from 2009

Midnight Picnic by Nick Antosca (Word Riot Press) (actually, this might qualify as a novella)

The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes (William Morrow) (better than his first, The Somnabulist)

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Penguin Press) is an utterly charming first novel that brings to mind G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday and some of the works of Franz Kafka.

Last Days by Brian Evenson (Underland Press) combines the novella "The Brotherhood of Mutilation," published in 2003 as...

Worthy material to consider for the 2010 World Fantasy Award

First off, here are my picks --with word count and venue, for the best horror of 2009 (not including novellas, for which I had no room).

Lowland Sea Suzy McKee Charnas Poe 8200
The End of Everything Steve Eller Phantom 4600
Mrs Midnight Reggie Oliver The Fifth Black Book of Horror 9400
each thing I show you is a piece of my death Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer 8800 Clockwork Phoenix 2
The Nimble Men Glen Hirshberg The Rolling Darkness Review 4200
What Happens when you wak...