E.J. Swift's Blog, page 7

Recent summer reading

A few recommendations from recent readings:

Spin by Nina Allan

I read this novella in one sitting, perched outside in my garden on a sunny day, which was the perfect place for it. Beautiful, sensory writing which made me want to run off and coast around the Mediterranean, but with touches of darkness (the crushing of the sea snails for ink was a particularly disturbing scene). Something about this reminded me of the stories in Tokyo Cancelled. The SF elements are lightly done, but it’s that suggestion that even in the most technologically evolved world there is room for myths and strangeness – that things can still slip through the cracks – that I loved about this story. Last week I also picked up Allan’s new collection Stardust, which I’m very much looking forward to.

How The Dead Dream by Lydia Millet

Millet has been on my to-read list for a while. I can’t remember where I saw the recommendation, but I spied a copy of How The Dead Dream in Skoobs earlier this year and picked it up. It was a challenging book, in theme (we’re talking mass extinction and dementia, there was a point where I wasn’t sure I could bear to finish it, despite the black humour) and in prose (it’s dense) but I think it’s one that will stay with me. In summary – a child obsessed with money grows up to be an investment/property mogul, but in the wake of a shocking event becomes obsessed with animals on verge of extinction and starts breaking into zoos to sit with those that are ‘the last’. What makes it work is the surreal, sometimes funny, always exquisite language and Millet’s handling of T., the protagonist, whose final journey seems completely plausible, despite his unlikely beginnings. The final section was the knock out for me. A kind of Drowned World / Heart of Darkness descent.

Martian Sands by Lavie Tidhar

A totally mad and very enjoyable book. The closest comparison I can think of is Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 – Tidhar does the same thing of taking a overwhelmingly serious subject (in this case the Holocaust; in Slaughterhouse 5, the bombing of Dresden) and applying to it a surreal and farcical lens – using humour to highlight tragedy, which is of course what the best theatre does. Through the multi-stranded narrative, from sentient bullets to simulacrum leaders (the Golda was undoubtedly my favourite character), weaves the mysterious, never quite defined figure of Bill Glimmung. There are nods to all sorts of things, many of which I’m sure I missed, but I particularly enjoyed the Wizard of Oz moment in the Martian warrior section. See also: a couple of links to Tidhar’s story in The Lowest Heaven.

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh

Soft Apocalypse was a book I very much enjoyed last year, and I’d been looking forward to McIntosh’s new one for a while (just check out the gorgeous cover art for a start). This is very much an ideas book, fast paced – I raced through it in a weekend – and character based. For me, it’s the engagement with social media that is most fascinating – projecting into a future world where public profile is Everything, and being seen is more important that what is being done – it’s not the event, it’s the story you tell about the event. McIntosh presents a more extreme version of, say, the concluding chapter of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From The Goon Squad. The plot centres around the exploitation of women in such a world, and depressing as this was to read, it also rings uncomfortably true. In this sense, and in the public-private debate it explores, Love Minus Eighty is very much a contemporary novel.

Hawthorn and Child by Keith Ridgeway

This was one from last year that went on my to-read-for-2013 list after seeing many people rave about it. And it did not disappoint. Another fragmented, perplexing narrative, another book where you feel like you are looking at the world through a distorted lens, another writer whose prose I am in lost in envy reading. Phrases like (okay, I was always going to love this) ‘drops of neon’ to describe a cat’s eyes. The language has a rhythm, a flow to it. As when I read The Virgin Suicides, I know there are phrases and images that are going to stick with me (there is one obvious parallel with the Eugenides but it would be a giveaway to say what). See also: a blistering invective of Tony Blair, the war in Iraq and our mental health services. As for the final chapter… well. Just read this book.

Current reading: I usually only have one book on the go but somehow at the moment I’ve got four. How, I’m not entirely sure.

The Girl in the Photograph by Lygia Fagundes Telles

The City’s Son by Tom Pollock

The Falling Sky by Pippa Goldschmidt

And finally, about 3/4 through the stories in The Lowest Heaven. And if you’ve enjoyed the Lowest Heaven, here’s a great list of where to find other work by the contributors over on the Pornokitsch site.

This week’s fangirl moment: meeting Evie Wyld in the Review bookshop in Peckham.

Best British Fantasy 2013

THE BEST BRITISH FANTASY 2013 is now out! The collection includes my story The Complex, first printed in Interzone last year.

Salt Publishing describes the collection: “From the post-apocalyptic American West to the rural terror in New Zealand, this major anthology has evil spirits, bin-Laden style assassinations, steampunk, sexual dysfunction, a twisted version of Peter Pan, the folklore of standing stones, mermaids, alien tour guides, zombies, gruesome beasts, voice-controlled police states, environmental disasters and off world penal colonies.”

You can get a copy via Salt Publishing here.

In other news: Zeno Agency posted a cover reveal for CATAVEIRO, Book 2 of The Osiris Project, which I’m just delighted with. CATAVEIRO is scheduled for publication in the UK in February 2014.

The Lowest Heaven launch

The Lowest Heaven anthology was released on 13 June and I was thrilled to be part of the launch at the National Maritime Museum. I’ve walked around the University of Greenwich campus before but had never seen the museum, and we couldn’t have had a lovelier setting (despite the slightly alarming figureheads…)

Jared Shurin introduced the anthology and I was one of the three authors reading. First up was SF maestro Alastair Reynolds reading from A Map of Mercury (no pressure, of course, none at all). I read the opening of Saga’s Children, and Matt Jones concluded with a deliciously dark and amusing extract from The Comet’s Tale.

        

Alastair Reynolds, myself and Matt Jones reading (photos by Veronica Swift)

The readings were followed by the mass signing, and general excitement as we got to see the beautiful hardback edition for the first time. Our editors Jared and Anne had been particularly sneaky and not only had none of the authors seen anyone else’s contributions, we hadn’t seen the photographs chosen to illustrate our stories either. So this was a lovely moment. (It must also be admitted that there may have been an element of authorial competitiveness in who could adorn their signature with the best spaceship/comet/random star formation. I was not winning this award.) I also seized the opportunity to ask Alastair Reynolds to sign my copy of House of Suns, a book I adore.

     

     

Reading, group photo, the book itself looking gorgeous, and the epic table of signing (photos by James Matthews-Paul)

Thank you to everyone who came along and bought a book and said lovely things; I hope you enjoy the anthology – I know I’m looking forward to reading the rest of it!

And as if one launch wasn’t enough, there will be a *second* launch for the paperback and e-book at Forbidden Planet on Wednesday 3 July. I’ll be there with David Bryher, Lavie Tidhar, Esther Saxey, and of course les éditeurs merveilleux Jared Shurin and Anne C Perry. Facebook for the event is here. Do come!

Publication update – Night Shade sale goes through

At last an update on the US front – it was confirmed earlier this week that Skyhorse Publishing and Start Publishing have acquired the Night Shade Books imprint. The full press release can be found here on i09.

As one of the authors who signed, this means The Osiris Project will now be a part of the new Night Shade/Skyhorse/Start. It’s been a long few months waiting for news, and I’m immensely relieved that we’re now onto the next stage. I have to echo others in saying a huge thank you to Mary Robinette Kowal. She has been an absolute hero, advocating for us on behalf of SFWA and offering her time, energy and expertise to ensure that everyone has had the information necessary to make the best decision in their circumstances. Thanks to Kameron Hurley who set up the discussion forum, to my fellow NSB authors who have been so generous in sharing advice, and to John Berlyne my agent who, as ever, is a voice of sanity (if ever a situation proves why you need an agent, this one does. And incidentally, Zeno Agency has a rare open window for submissions, so if you are at the submitting-to-agents stage, do take a look).

Please continue to support Night Shade authors, both within and outside of the new imprint. I’ve discovered some truly wonderful writers through Night Shade, and I very much hope that the new imprint will continue to discover the kind of innovative and dynamic fiction that has made them such an interesting publisher to date.

In other news: the May/June edition of Interzone reviewed Osiris, calling it ‘an absolute gem’ which obviously made my month, and next Thursday I will be at the National Maritime Museum to launch The Lowest Heaven anthology with a bunch of quite simply awesome authors. Tickets are free but you have to book (see the website: http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/events/universe-late) - come and say hello!

Pre-order The Lowest Heaven

This week Pandemonium Fiction revealed the stunning artwork for The Lowest Heaven anthology. It looks absolutely gorgeous and I’m thrilled to have a story in the collection. Here’s the cover (copyright Joey Hi-Fi):

You can read an interview with artist Joey Hi-Fi over on the Royal Observatory’s website and a limited edition hardback featuring photography from the Observatory’s archive is now available to pre-order exclusively from the Observatory shop (don’t go to Amazon). Paperback and e-book editions will be released June 2013.

The full table of contents can be found on the Pandemonium Fiction website. My story is titled SAGA’S CHILDREN and is inspired by Ceres.

Spring reading

A few book recommendations from recent reading:

Communion Town by Sam Thompson. I picked up the lovely hardback edition last year and read the first couple of chapters, or stories, depending on how you view it – the book is described as ‘a city in ten parts’.  I’d been reading so many fragmented narratives at the time, I ended up putting it aside and finally got round to reading it properly this year. The writing is gorgeous, with gems of prose shining through even when the voice is deliberately stylised, as in the noir detective chapter. The stories aren’t really linked in the way that, say, David Mitchell does in Ghostwritten, but each one is mesmerising and strangely beautiful and I found myself increasingly hooked the more I read on. Certain chapters will definitely linger with me – the guitarist’s tale, in particular. If you need convincing further, Christopher Priest has a detailed piece on the book over on his website.

Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta. I saw a review by Nic Clarke which put me on to this and it could very well be the best thing I read this year. Dasgupta uses the framing device of passengers stranded in an airport overnight after their flight is delayed, to tell a kind of contemporary Arabian Nights. It has all the things I love – stories within stories, stunning use of language, incredible invention – but what I really loved about this book was the juxtaposition of a modern, globalised society with folklore and fairytales. So you get call centres in India and daughters locked up in towers; a woman who turns into a department store in New York through the mysterious workings of Oreo cookies. I can’t recommend this novel enough.

All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld. I hadn’t read Evie Wyld’s first novel so had no idea what to expect. This is a really clever, haunting novel, and a brilliant exercise in suspense. I don’t want to talk about plot because I think it’s one of those that works best if you come to it without knowing too much. Again, beautifully, quite starkly (though very visually) written with an intriguing narrator whose past unfolds in ways you don’t necessarily expect.

Currently reading: Light by M. John Harrison. After several chapters of having no idea what was going on, I’m now half way through and really enjoying this one, especially Seria Mau Genlicher, who must be my new favourite character name.

Ordered and waiting for delivery of: Spin by Nina Allan and Martian Sands by Lavie Tidhar. Recently acquired: The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan and Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway. Looking forward to all of these.

A quick note re Night Shade Books, my US publisher, and the proposed sale to Skyhorse/Start. If you haven’t heard about the Night Shade business, Tobias Buckell has a super-summary of what’s been going on over at his blog. A couple of people have asked me if this has any impact on the UK publication of The Osiris Project trilogy. The answer to this is no: I’m continuing to work on Books 2 and 3 and Cataveiro is currently scheduled for UK publication in September 2013. More updates on the US front when I know more.

Progress on CATAVEIRO

A progress report, and a few updates:

Last week I sent the manuscript of CATAVEIRO, Book Two of The Osiris Project, to my editors at Night Shade Books and Del Rey UK. I’m beyond happy to have reached the stage where I can look forward to receiving editorial feedback, and coming at the MS with a fresh eye in a couple of weeks or so. All being well, CATAVEIRO is scheduled for August 2013 from Night Shade, and September 2013 from Del Rey UK.

I started some very early work on CATAVEIRO a few years ago, but in between completing my initial draft of OSIRIS and signing with Night Shade, I ended up writing a novel completely unrelated to the trilogy (now consigned to a drawer until post-Osiris Project), so one of the biggest challenges in writing the second book has been feeling my way back into a very different headspace, whilst at the same time promoting OSIRIS – another huge learning curve. It’s a balance I hope I’ll get better at over the next year, as I begin work on Book 3. Meanwhile, I owe endless thanks to my brilliant sister Kim who has read and advised on the versions I wouldn’t dare show anyone else. I keep telling her she should be an editor…

With the UK release, OSIRIS has seen some new reviews – I’ve tried to ban myself from reading them whilst completing the new manuscript, but the odd tweet, FB and email I’ve received over the last few weeks about OSIRIS has been a massive boost and an incentive to put in those final, difficult hours on the sequel – so thank you!

Anthology news – the table of contents for The Lowest Heaven anthology from Pandemonium was announced on the Pornokitsch blog on Friday, and includes my story Saga’s Children. So excited about this, and just looking at that list of contributors makes me feel immensely humbled to be a part of it. The Lowest Heaven will be published in June 2013.

Briefly, some reading recommendations from the start of the year:

Kalpa Imperial by Angélica Gorodischer – what a gorgeous piece of storytelling. I have huge envy. Gargantuan. Bring on Trafalgar. And please someone translate more of her work!

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeanette Winterson – well, she is one of my heroes, and this memoir doesn’t disappoint.

Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil – a sinuous dream of a novel. Stories within stories within stories.

Budapest by Chico Buarque – a Brazilian ghostwriter becomes obsessed with the Hungarian language. Clever, surreal and poetical.

A couple of short stories – I loved Immersion by Aliette de Bodard and Strigoi by Lavie Tidhar, both of which I believe are available online.

Currently reading: dipping in and out of Aloft by William Langewiesche, and now well into the rather dazzling Communion Town by Sam Thompson. At some point I must write a post on some of the books that have inspired CATAVEIRO – there have been some wonderful discoveries. But that’s all for today.

OSIRIS launch – Forbidden Planet

It’s been a week of great excitement with the UK release of OSIRIS on Thursday 7 February. Fittingly, I arrived home on Thursday night to discover that with perfect timing, Del Rey had sent a box full of OSIRIS books, which I greeted, as appropriate, with manic dancing, and just about managed to save from Velma’s muddy paws and claws.

Friday was the big day: a joint launch at Forbidden Planet with Liesel Schwarz, author of A CONSPIRACY OF ALCHEMISTS. I was thrilled to be sharing the day with Liesel, who looked beyond awesome in full steampunk garb, including corset and a hat of which I professed great envy (Camden, apparently, is the place to go). The lovely people at Forbidden Planet had a stack of books for us to sign after which we were whisked out in Madonna-style headsets. We each read our prologues and had a few questions from the audience, then it was off to the Phoenix Artist’s Club, a very cool bar which I must frequent more often, for celebratory drinks and general huzzahs.

Many many thank yous are owed to the team at Del Rey UK who organized such a fabulous event and have worked so hard on the book, and to the friends, family and Twitter pals who showed up to support me – you are wonderful! I had the usual dilemma of wanting to talk to everyone and never quite managing to have a full conversation with anyone, but suffice to say it was a wonderful night, and I went home feeling deeply proud and privileged to be part of the new Del Rey UK imprint.

A few photos from the event:

      

Today it has been very much back to reality and hard work as I continue editing CATAVEIRO. But the weekend has been capped off by a 4* review of OSIRIS in SFX magazine, which concludes with: ‘it’s the characters, and what their lives show us of the fascinating, stratified world of Osiris, that are the heart of this promising debut novel.’ Happy days!

A Conspiracy of Authors

Halfway through January and it’s just a few weeks to go until the UK release of OSIRIS. Last week I received a copy of the final version of the book – the marvellous folk at Del Rey UK have done me proud, it’s a beautiful production, embossed title and all.

To celebrate the release, I’ll be reading/signing at Forbidden Planet on Friday 8 February with the brilliant Liesel Schwarz, whose steampunk novel A CONSPIRACY OF ALCHEMISTS is released on the same date. Do come along and say hello – we’d love to see you there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Conspiracy of Authors



Friday 08 February 2013 18:00 - 19:00

London Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR

Forbidden Planet are delighted to bring you a double signing with two of this year’s most exciting new talents! Liesel Schwarz and E. J. Swift will be at the London Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8JR, on Friday 8th February 2013.

Liesel’s ‘Conspiracy of Alchemists’ brings us a Golden Age where spark reactors power the airways, and creatures of Light and Shadow walk openly – and a deadly game of Alchemists and Warlocks has begun. When an unusual cargo drags airship-pilot Elle Chance into the affairs of the mysterious Mr Marsh, she must confront her destiny and do everything in her power to stop the Alchemists from unleashing a magical apocalypse.

In ‘Osiris’, E. J. Swift brings us Adelaide Rechnov, wealthy socialite and granddaughter of the Architect, who spends her spends time in pointless luxury, rebelling against her family. In the impoverished Western Quarter lives Vikram Bai, poor descendant of storm refugees and effectively quarantined from the wealthy elite. His people live with cold and starvation, but the coming brutal winter promises civil unrest, and a return to the riots of previous years. As tensions rise in the city, can Adelaide and Vikram bridge the divide at the heart of Osiris before conspiracies bring them to the edge of disaster?

Twelve for 2012 and upcoming for 2013

With all the ‘best of 2012’ posts around I couldn’t resist a little list-making of my own. Last year, with official writing deadlines for the first time, I was more aware than ever how little time I have to read, especially as I’m a slow reader. The one positive outcome of this is choosing my next book more carefully, and happily everything I’ve read this year has been either good, very good or deeply excellent. So, my twelve recommendations from 2012′s reading (listed in the order I read them) are:

1. The Devil That Danced On The Water – Aminatta Forna (2010)

Beautiful and heartbreaking memoir of Forna’s search to discover the fate of her father, an influential Sierra Leonian minister who disappeared when she was ten.

2. Soft Apocalypse – Will McIntosh (2011)

A near future portrayal of American society slowly breaking down as resources run out, while the protagonist just wants to find a girlfriend. This was a great read.

3. Of Blood and Honey – Stina Leicht (2011)

Inventive urban fantasy set amidst the Troubles of Northern Ireland, another read that zipped along with totally convincing characters.

4. Mr Fox – Helen Oyeyemi (2011)

Mr Fox, haunted by his muse, the inveigling Mary Fox, is torn between Mary and his wife. I’m green with envy over Oyeyemi’s turn of phrase.

5. 1Q84 Books 1 and 2 – Haruki Murakami (2012)

Classic and epic Murakami with a wonderful heroine. I still need to read Book 3. But The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle remains the masterpiece.

6. Osama – Lavie Tidhar (2011)

Private detective Joe is hired by a mysterious woman to find the obscure author of pulp fiction novels featuring one Osama bin Laden: Vigilante. A real inspiration and beautifully written.

7. If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller – Italo Calvino (1979)

I’d been meaning to read this for ages and it did not disappoint. Gloriously clever.

8. The Islanders – Christopher Priest (2011)

There was a line which describes the work of the sociologist character Caurer, and it exactly sums up how this gorgeous book works. I want to quote it but won’t because it’s a joy to discover.

9. The Dervish House – Ian McDonald (2010)

Another writer I’d been meaning to read for ages. I read the beautiful opening description of the storks flying over Istanbul and was hooked from there.

10. Last Evenings On Earth – Roberto Bolaño (2006)

Darkly satirical collection of stories by Chilean writer Bolaño, the first of his work I’ve read. The final piece in this collection is just mind-blowing.

11. The Passage – Justin Cronin (2010)

I don’t normally read horror, being a total wimp, but got hooked on this after the first two chapters. After that it was like stuffing your face with a box of chocolates.

12. Nine Nights – Bernard Cavalho (2007)

Part memoir, part imagined history, the author becomes obsessed with an American ethnologist who committed suicide in the Amazon jungle in 1939. Dreamy and mysterious.

And thirteen for 2013 – things I hope to get round to reading this year:

Spin – Nina Allan (2013)

The Shining Girls – Lauren Beukes (2013)

2666 – Roberto Bolaño (2004)

Budapest – Chico Buarque (2005)

The Hired Man – Aminatta Forna (2013)

Kalpa Imperial – Angelica Gorodischer (2003)

At the Mouth of the River of Bees – Kij Johnson (2012)

Redemption In Indigo – Karen Lord (2010)

Love Minus Eighty – Will McIntosh (2013)

The Adjacent – Christopher Priest (2013)

Hawthorn and Child – Keith Ridgeway (2012)

Communion Town – Sam Thompson (2012)

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal  - Jeanette Winterson (2011)

And if I get through all of those I’ll be happy!

Happy New Year all and here’s to the books to be discovered in 2013.