There are a great many things happening this month and next month (and for the rest of this year) with my writer comrades and, in general, upcoming books I can't wait to read. I'll try not to bog this down with too many links, but I make no promises.
Short Stories:
First, there is an excellent short story from my good buddy and Clarion kiwi, Tamsyn Muir, appearing in
Fantasy Magazine this month. During the final week of Clarion, her story, "The House That Made The Sixteen Loops in Time," was less critiqued than remarked upon its absolute beauty.
You'll be able to find another Kali Wallace's story in the March/April issue of
Fantasy & Science Fiction. Kali wrote "Botanical Exercies for Curious Girls" at Clarion and, to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if she sold all six of the stories she wrote. Yeah, she's that good. In June, Kali also has a piece appearing in the Jeff & Ann Vandermeer-edited anthology,
Dr. Lambshead's Cabinet of Curiosities, which you can read more about
here.
John Chu's story, "Thirty Seconds from Now," is out in the
Boston Review for either its May/June or July/August issue (might as well buy both). At Clarion, John was one of those writers who labored over every word. I remember sitting in the common room listening to him typing. Occasionally, he'd look up and join in whatever conversation was going on. Then he'd disappear into his room for several hours to work it all out. Junot Diaz, guest editor for Boston Review and a Pulitzer-prize winning author, selected this story.
This month
Weird Tales Issue 357 will have Karin Tidbeck's "Augusta Prima." Another story, "Jagannath," will be featured in an upcoming issue of the magazine. The first story is a Clarion submission story and the latter was Karin's last story critiqued at Clarion. Both are short, tense stories with a command of language veteran storytellers would kill for. Karin will also be working as a translator of foreign language stories for
Leviathan 5, yet another anthology in the seemingly endless anthologies edited by the ever-busy Vandermeers (more on this in a moment).
Tom Underberg, who also labored over his words during Clarion, tending to each story as if it was one of his children, will also have a piece in the
Dr. Lambshead's Cabinet of Curiosities in June. His piece, concerning an African quilt, is gorgeous and strange.
Leah Thomas, Clarion cool kid, sold her first story a few days ago to
Daily Science Fiction. It might be a bit before we see this on the website, but fear not, I will keep you updated. In the meantime, you should check out her online graphic novel,
Lawn Order. Zombies v. Teenagers = Win.
Adam Israel will have a story featured in the upcoming ebook anthology, "Extinct." Adam is an all around gentleman and the first of the Clarionites to dye his hair purple.
Novels:
The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington. March 24th, 2011. I'm about halfway through Jesse's first novel,
The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, and am thoroughly impressed. Expect a review later this week or early next on it. His second novel follows an apprentice of a necromancer during the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, please.
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine. April 25th, 2011. It's a circus story at the end of the world, sort of. I don't know much more than that but I don't think I really need to know more. That, in itself, is TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME!
The Dagger & the Coin: The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham. April 7th, 2011. I fell in love with Abraham's
Long Price Quartet (if you haven't read them, I highly recommend you do) and cannot wait for this next big epic fantasy series.
The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck). June 15th, 2011. Big space opera trilogy by, yep, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under a pen name. There's a great interview of the two of them talking about writing the book
here.
Daniel Abraham, busy man that he is, also has a story on
Podcastle (written under yet another pen name, MLN Hanover) and it is quite horrific - err, in the good way. He says it's the best story he's ever written. I'm not sure I agree with that but, regardless, it is quite excellent.
Anthologies:
Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories edited by John Joseph Adams. Out now. Go. Buy it. Genevieve Valentine, Paolo Bacigalupi, Ursula K. Le Guin, Cory Doctorow, freakin' Ray Bradbury.
In case you missed it,
Dr. Lambshead's Cabinet of Curiosities edited by Jeff & Ann Vandermeer. June 2011. Two Clarionites, alongside powerhouses like Ted Chiang, Amal El-Mohtar, China Mieville, Charles Yu, Jay Lake, Tad Williams. Head. Explodes. From. Too. Much. Awesome.
Leviathan 5: The Next Wave edited by Jeff & Ann Vandermeer. 2012. Though this anthology isn't coming out for awhile, I thought I'd mention it because it's going to be fantastic. Jeff explains it best
here. It's going to have some wonderfully weird writers from all around the world (apologies for the alliteration, but not really). Writers who don't often see their work translated into English will get that chance with this anthology. The Vandermeers are paying for the translations out-of-pocket and asking readers to donate via paypal. Go to the link above, if you haven't already, and check it out.
Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow. July 2011. Urban fantasy short stories from Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner, Lavie Tidhar, Naomi Novik, and more. I've never really gotten into urban fantasy, but with writers like these, you can't really go wrong.
