Marty Halpern's Blog, page 41

Gardner Dozois Investigates Alien Contacts

Writer, editor, anthologist, reviewer -- Gardner Dozois is all of these, and more. If you read science fiction, and short stories in particular, and you are not familiar with Gardner's many (many!) anthologies -- specifically The Year's Best Science Fiction series, now in its twenty-eighth year -- then I would be compelled to ask you: What planet are you from?




So I was thrilled to learn that Gardner Dozois reviewed my anthology, Alien Contact (along with other short fiction titles), in the November issue of Locus magazine.




The review clocks in at a brief 139 words (according to MS Word), but brief is good, as long as the review says what it needs to say, and mentions so many great authors and stories in the process.

There's no confusion about genre classification in Alien Contact, edited by Marty Halpern—it's just what it says that it is, stories about contacts with aliens, all of them science fiction, and all of them considerably more varied, subtle, and intelligent than the flood of shoot-'em-up Alien Invasion movies we got over the last year or so. This is another really solid reprint anthology, and another excellent value for your money. The best stories here are probably Bruce Sterling's "Swarm," Michael Swanwick's "A Midwinter's Tale," Bruce McAllister's "Kin," Molly Gloss's "Lambing Season," Pat Cadigan's "Angel," Paul McAuley's "The Thought War," and Nancy Kress's "Laws of Survival," but there are also good stories by Neil Gaiman, George Alec Effinger, Cory Doctorow, Stephen Baxter, Mike Resnick, Harry Turtledove, and thirteen others.... there's really nothing bad here.



— Gardner Dozois, Locus, November 2011

SFSignal's Close Encounters Continues: Nov. 2

SFSignal.com's close encounters with the contributing authors to Alien Contact continues with Paul McAuley and the "Alien Contact" interview.

SFSignal's Close Encounters Continues: Nov. 1

SFSignal.com's close encounters with the contributing authors to Alien Contact continues with Ernest Hogan's guest blog post entitled "Once Upon a Time in SoCal: The Making of 'Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song.'"

SFSignal's Close Encounters Continues: Oct. 31

Per my previous blog post, which provides the complete three-week schedule, and links to the first four entries:




SFSignal.com's close encounters with the contributing authors to Alien Contact continues with Nancy Kress and the "Alien Contact" interview.

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SFSignal's Close Encounters Continues

Per my previous blog post, which provides the complete three-week schedule, and links to the first four entries:




SFSignal.com's close encounters with the contributing authors to Alien Contact continues with Nancy Kress and the "Alien Contact" interview.

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The Alien Contact Anthology Table of Contents

For the past 26 weeks I have been blogging about each of the 26 stories included in my anthology Alien Contact , from Night Shade Books. That last story was finally unveiled on Saturday, October 29 -- and the anthology is on schedule for publication tomorrow, November 1.

So here is the anthology's complete table of contents, with links to each blog post that pertains to that story. In some instances, the entire text of the story was provided; in other instances, a link was provided to elsewhere online for the text and/or a podcast of the story.

Alien Contact anthology contents:

Marty Halpern -- "Introduction: Beginnings..."

Paul McAuley -- "The Thought War"

Neil Gaiman -- "How to Talk to Girls at Parties"

Karen Joy Fowler -- "Face Value"

Harry Turtledove -- "The Road Not Taken"

George Alec Effinger -- "The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything"

Stephen King -- "I Am the Doorway"

Pat Murphy -- "Recycling Strategies for the Inner City"

Mike Resnick -- "The 43 Antarean Dynasties"

Orson Scott Card -- "The Gold Bug"

Bruce McAllister -- "Kin"

Ernest Hogan -- "Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song"

Pat Cadigan -- "Angel"

Ursula K. Le Guin -- "The First Contact with the Gorgonids"

Adam-Troy Castro -- "Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl's"

Michael Swanwick -- "A Midwinter's Tale"

Mark W. Tiedemann -- "Texture of Other Ways"

Cory Doctorow -- "To Go Boldly"

Elizabeth Moon -- "If Nudity Offends You"

Nancy Kress -- "Laws of Survival"

Jack Skillingstead -- "What You Are About to See"

Robert Silverberg -- "Amanda and the Alien"

Jeffrey Ford -- "Exo-Skeleton Town"

Molly Gloss -- "Lambing Season"

Bruce Sterling -- "Swarm"

Charles Stross -- "MAXO Signals"

Stephen Baxter -- "Last Contact"

Close Encounters with the Contributing Authors of Alien Contact!

This was the headline as it appeared on SFSignal.com on Tuesday, October 25, 2011, a few minutes past midnight. Actually, the words "Starting Today" prefaced that headline, but that was Tuesday, and today is Sunday -- nearly a week later....

In support of the release this week of Alien Contact from Night Shade Books, SFSignal is hosting a series of guest blog posts and interviews with a number of the authors who contributed to the anthology.

World Fantasy Award nominee Charles Tan conducts all the interviews, in which the authors answer questions like: "What's the appeal of alien contact stories for you?" and "What was the first alien contact story you read that made a lasting impression?" as well as a question or two specific to their story. The authors also discuss their current projects.

The guest blog posts revolve around each author's story in the Alien Contact anthology. Readers will gain some insight into the genesis of each of these stories.

The blog posts and interviews will be posted at approximately 2:00 PM (Central time) each weekday, from Tuesday, October 25, through Thursday, November 10. Here's the schedule; links have been provided for the first four entries, which have already been posted:

* Tue, 10/25: Nancy Kress, Guest Blog post: "Building a Story from Fortuitously Nearby Construction Materials"

* Wed, 10/26: Mike Resnick: The "Alien Contact" Interview

* Thu, 10/27: Mark W. Tiedemann, Guest Blog post: "It's Not About the Buttons"

* Fri, 10/28: Adam-Troy Castro: The "Alien Contact" Interview



* Mon, 10/31: Nancy Kress: The "Alien Contact" Interview

* Tue, 11/1: Ernest Hogan, Guest Blog post: "Once Upon a Time in SoCal: The Making of 'Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song'"

* Wed, 11/2: Paul McAuley: The "Alien Contact" Interview

* Thu, 11/3: Jack Skillingstead, Guest Blog post: "Thermalling"

* Fri, 11/4: Mark W. Tiedemann: The "Alien Contact" Interview



* Mon, 11/7: Ernest Hogan: The "Alien Contact" Interview

* Tue, 11/8: Barbara Hambly, Guest Blog post: "George Alec Effinger and the Aliens Who Knew Everything"

* Wed, 11/9: Jack Skillingstead: The "Alien Contact" Interview

* Thu, 11/10: Bruce McAllister: The "Alien Contact" Interview

Remember, you can check in with SFSignal.com at approximately 2:00 PM every weekday -- that's 3:00 PM on the east coast and 12-noon on the west coast -- or, you could just check back here at More Red Ink each weekday for the next two weeks and I'll provide each forthcoming link in a new, albeit very brief, blog post.

Alien Contact Anthology -- Story #26 (the last story)

Story #26. This post ends my journey, so to speak, which began 26 weeks ago -- one-half year ago! -- to blog about each of the stories included in my anthology Alien Contact , forthcoming from Night Shade Books. The anthology is actually available this weekend at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego, and should begin shipping, on schedule, November 1. I got behind only one week -- the week of August 28, due to a family emergency -- but made up for it the following week by blogging about two stories. I'm actually amazed that I've been able to maintain the weekly schedule, on top of everything else these past two months (more on this in my month-end recap). So let me get on with it already....






"Last Contact"

by Stephen Baxter







This story was originally published in 2007 in what has now become the first volume of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction , edited by George Mann and published by Solaris Books UK. The story is approximately 4,400 words in length.




I first read this story in December 2007: it was included in Jonathan Strahan's anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Two , which I was proof reading and copyediting at the time for the publisher, Night Shade Books.




There are only two characters in this story (though other family members are spoken of) -- a mother and daughter -- that is, unless you want to count our galaxy as the third character. The daughter, Caitlin, is an astrophysicist, who discovered the Big Rip: "...the dark energy is pulling the universe apart, taking more and more of it so far away that its light can't reach us anymore. It started at the level of the largest structures in the universe, superclusters of galaxies. But in the end it will fold down to the smallest scales. Every bound structure will be pulled apart. Even atoms, even subatomic particles." The mother, Maureen, is a "search-for-ET-at-home enthusiast." The action, and dialog, all take place in Maureen's garden, when Caitlin comes to visit -- on three specific days: March 15, June 5, and October 14.




This is a minimalist story, yet powerful enough to stay with me such that, eight months later, shortly after proposing the Alien Contact anthology to Night Shade editor-in-chief Jeremy Lassen, I knew I wanted to include this story in the book -- and to make it the last story as well, the one that closes out the anthology. Here's an excerpt from March 15:

Caitlin walked into the garden through the little gate from the drive. Maureen was working on the lawn.




Just at that moment Maureen's mobile phone pinged. She took off her gardening gloves, dug the phone out of the deep pocket of her old quilted coat and looked at the screen. "Another contact," she called to her daughter.




Caitlin looked cold in her thin jacket; she wrapped her arms around her body. "Another super-civilisation discovered, off in space. We live in strange times, Mum."




"That's the fifteenth this year. And I did my bit to help discover it. Good for me," Maureen said, smiling. "Hello, love." She leaned forward for a kiss on the cheek.




She knew why Caitlin was here, of course. Caitlin had always hinted she would come and deliver the news about the Big Rip in person, one way or the other. Maureen guessed what that news was from her daughter's hollow, stressed eyes. But Caitlin was looking around the garden, and Maureen decided to let her tell it all in her own time.




[...]




Caitlin said, "I'm going to be on the radio later. BBC Radio 4. There's to be a government statement on the Rip, and I'll be in the follow-up discussion. It starts at nine, and I should be on about nine thirty."




"I'll listen to it. Do you want me to tape it for you?"




"No. Bill will get it. Besides, you can listen to all these things on the websites these days."




Maureen said carefully, "I take it the news is what you expected, then."




"Pretty much. The Hawaii observatories confirmed it. I've seen the new Hubble images, deep sky fields. Empty, save for the foreground objects. All the galaxies beyond the local group have gone. Eerie, really, seeing your predictions come true like that....




[...]




Maureen's phone pinged again. "Another signal. Quite different in nature from the last, according to this."




"I wonder if we'll get any of those signals decoded in time."




Maureen waggled her phone. "It won't be for want of trying, me and a billion other search-for-ET-at-home enthusiasts. Would you like some tea, love?"

Maureen actually reveals the key to the story's title in the next to last sentence -- but you'll have to read the story to find out what that is. Amidst all of the potential destruction of the Big Rip is this heartwarming relationship between Maureen and Caitlin, between mother and daughter. It can be no other way.



"Last Contact" was a finalist for the 2008 Hugo Award as well as the Locus Award.

eBook Editions of Alien Contact Anthology

I'm pleased to announce that eBook editions of my forthcoming Alien Contact anthology are now available for preorder. Well, sort of...




The Kindle edition (MOBI format) can now be ordered on Amazon.com, and is currently priced at $7.99. Not too shabby for approximately 170,000 words of some of the best "alien contact" stories of the past 30-plus years.




The EPUB format -- for the Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo eReader -- has been submitted to the respective eReader stores, but is not yet available. If the EPUB edition is your eBook of choice, please keep checking back at your favorite eReader store.




I wish to thank the publisher, Night Shade Books, for making these eBook editions available simultaneously with the print edition.




The cover shown here is for the Kindle edition. If you carefully compare this particular cover with the print edition cover (shown everywhere else on this blog), you will notice one significant difference between the two covers. If you discover the difference please comment below, at which time I would be happy to confirm said difference, and explain why.




One final comment: If you are a book blogger/book reviewer and you would like to review this anthology, I can provide either the EPUB or MOBI eBook editions, or a PDF of the print edition. The caveat: Please contact me via email only at FirstContactStory[at]gmail.com -- and state your request, including a link to your book blog/review site. And feel free to highlight any previous reviews you are particularly proud of. I'd like to give them a read.

Alien Contact Anthology Review - 1

There was a time, not all that long ago, when "professional" book reviewers and "professional" publications were the only source for book reviews. I relied on genre 'zines like Locus, Asimov's SF, and Fantasy & Science Fiction for my monthly book reviews fix. And also non-genre sources such as Publishers Weekly. As years passed and the internet grew, we could read book reviews online, on sites like Locus Online and Tangent Online, to name just two.




But with the rise of blogs and blogging, and other social media sites like Goodreads and Library Thing, the sources for quality book reviews have grown exponentially. A new class of blogger -- the book blogger -- has taken his/her place alongside the "professional" book reviewer. Reviews from the likes of PW and Kirkus may still hold more cachet than a book blog review -- but the average reader neither subscribes to nor reads these publications, primarily because they can't afford them! [Besides, I'd rather spend my money on the books themselves, rather than on publications that write about those very same books.] And if readers spend much of their time online, then online is where they will find book reviews as well.




The first review (so far) that I have found for my forthcoming anthology Alien Contact (Night Shade Books, November 1) is courtesy of Ria on the Bibliotropic blog. The book was originally reviewed by Ria on Goodreads1 -- which is where I first read the review -- and then posted to her book blog.




Here are a couple excerpts from Ria's review:

I'm not normally much for short story collections, but something about this book just spoke to me, so I couldn't resist taking the chance to read it, especially after seeing such a stellar (if you'll excuse the pun) list of contributing authors. Neil Gaiman, Ursula K Le Guin, Stephen King, and yet more. There's all kinds of talent evident in this collection, and I'll say right off the bat that this is a book that no sci-fi fan should really be without.



[...]



The fun thing that I find about alien encounter stories is that they end up saying more about humanity than about any alien culture we can dream of. Whether it's displaying our own human arrogance about the universe and all within it, or displaying our sheer curiosity about what lies beyond us, all stories I've found that involve humans and some unknown sentient life form end up showcasing humanity in ways that a human-only cast of characters just couldn't....

If these snippets intrigue you, please take this opportunity to read the full review.





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Footnote:




1. Goodreads requires a user account and password, so I was quite pleased to learn from Ria that her review was also posted publicly on Bibliotropic. If you do have a Goodreads account, and you haven't yet ordered a copy of Alien Contact, please feel free to sign up for the giveaway that I am sponsoring, along with with publisher Night Shade Books. (See the Goodreads widget at the top of the right column of this blog.)