Monday, August 31, 2009

 

Bruce Ross's General Ursus

Bruce Ross, whose custom figures I've raved about before, now turns his attention to one of the greatest movies ever made: Planet of the Apes



Check the link above for more views, and watch Ross's blog for more ape-y goodness.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

 

Scott Lynch's Queen of the Iron Sands

I haven't read a word of it yet and I'm already hooked.



Scott Lynch is serializing a new planetary romance, Queen of the Iron Sands, on his website. For free. He's subsidizing the effort with reader donations. So what are you waiting for? Go read it, and if you like it, give the man some money already.

Friday, August 28, 2009

 

Todd Klein on End of the Century

Todd Klein isn't just the greatest letterer working in the comics industry today (to say nothing of being an incredibly nice guy), he's also a voracious reader, as visitors to his blog can attest. Last night he posted his thoughts on my End of the Century, and though he had some reservations in the end, he said some nice things about the book along the way.
Roberson is, above all, a very ambitious writer, and he writes the kind of stories I like, even if his reach exceeded his grasp a bit on this one, at least in my view.

If you like metafiction, give this one a try. There’s a lot to like in it. Recommended.

Thanks, Todd! (And for the rest of you, if you have any interest in typography or design and you haven't seen Todd's incredibly insightful analyses on the evolution of various comic book logos, you should do yourself a favor and check it out.)

 

Looking Down from the 5th Dimension

A post on Neatorama this morning highlights the work of Dutch sculptor Peter Jansen, whose "Human Motion" sculptures in polyamide and bronze appear to track a human figure through several splitseconds worth of motion.



It's fitting that one of the examples featured on Jensen's site is titled "Nude Descending a Staircase."



After all, it was Marcel Duchamp who first did the trick (albeit with oil on canvas) with his "Nude Descending a Staircase, no. 2" back in 1912. According to the site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the piece is on permanent exhibit, "The Nude's destiny as a symbol also stemmed from its remarkable aggregation of avant-garde concerns: the birth of cinema; the Cubists' fracturing of form; the Futurists' depiction of movement; the chromophotography of Etienne-Jules Marey, Eadweard Muybridge, and Thomas Eakins; and the redefinitions of time and space by scientists and philosophers."



I think I was first introduced to Duchamp in a postmodernism seminar at the University of Texas taught by Jeff Meikle (who along with Rolando Hinojosa-Smith taught me everything I remember from college), who as I recall stressed the way that technological developments in film and motion picture cameras had lead Duchamp to reconceptualize how a body moving in space might be represented in two dimensions. But I couldn't help thinking that it also represented the way that a body moving through 4-Dimensional space would look if viewed from the 5th Dimension.

Then there's the various videos of "Buddha with 1000 Hands" as performed by the China Disabled Peoples Performance Art Troupe which have cropped up online the last few years. Here's one of the best ones I've found.



I'm never quite sure whether the "Buddha with 1000 Hands" is what a body moving through 4D space would look like if viewed from the 5th dimension, or whether it is the other way around, and that it more closely resembles what a 5D body would look like if it descended into 4D space.

Either way, I'm fascinated by this kind of thing. If you are, too, and haven't read Rudy Rucker's The Fourth Dimension: A Guided Tour of the Higher Universes, you should definitely hunt down a copy. Rucker's book looks to be out of print, but it is the text on the subject as far as I'm concerned, though Clifford Pickover's Surfing Through Hyperspace and Michio Kaku's Hyperspace are both worth seeking out, too.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

 

Book of Secrets update

A post this morning on the Angry Robot blog announces that the UK edition of Book of Secrets has gone back for a second printing. Which reminds me that I haven't mentioned anything here yet about the new release date for the US (and the rest of the world, for that matter). Though Book of Secrets was originally due to come out here this fall, some changes to the distribution arrangement have meant the release has been rescheduled for spring 2010. But the book will be better represented in stores than it would previously have been, it seems to me, so this is actually quite good news. For those of you who were waiting for the US release, though, I'm afraid you'll be waiting a few months more.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

 

Jazz Age Justice League

Do you remember Alex Mitchell's Paranatural Persons League, or the Phantasmal Four, remixing familiar superheroes as turn-of-the-century occult heroes? Well, he's still at it.

This time out, though, it's DC heroes, remixed as Jazz Age characters.

Here's the Jazz Age Justice League (click the link for details on the revisioned characters):



And here are their nemeses, the Jazz Age Secret Society:



Check out Mitchell's deviantart page for more awesomeness.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

 

Georgia's first day of school

Georgia's been in preschool for the last few years, but today she started "big kid school" as a kindergartner, a banner day.



Now I've got to get used to shifting my workday from 9:00AM-4:00PM to 7:30AM-2:30PM (the elementary school here starts the day early).

Saturday, August 22, 2009

 

The Imaginary Adventures of Lois Lane

I don't know about you folks, but if there really was a comic like Neill Cameron's The Imaginary Adventures of Lois Lane, I would buy every issue the second it hit the stands.



Check ouit Neill's blog for more awesomeness. If you haven't seen his A-Z of Awesomeness, for example, that's a great place to start.

Friday, August 21, 2009

 

The Dragon Urogwm

In the wake of the monsters Pamobe and Befghis comes the latest Georgia creation, sketched on the back of an Office Depot circular while we waited for our meal at Rice Sushi & Thai. (I had the larb with beef over rice, and it was tasty.)

Behold, the dragon Urogwm.



As always, Georgia is just writing a random string of letters after finishing the picture and then asking us what it says (though as her reading skills are improving I'm wondering if she's not stacking the deck). The latest, Urogwm, has a nicely Welsh flavor to it that I find appealing.

We've hatched plans to begin work on a much larger project, mapping out the terrain of a whole planet of monsters for these creatures to call home. (She insists that there can be dinosaurs there, too, as well as monsters, and who am I to object?)

(I've also made a new label tag for these, until our other long range plans can be put into motion, so hit the "Georgia_monster" link below to see all of the creations to date.)

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Astra!

Remember the Astro City story about the little girl (whose fantastic family seemed vaguely familiar) who ran away from her superscience life to see what things were like for the normal kids?

Well, now we get to check in with her a decade or so later, and see what happens when she graduates from school.



Count me in.

The announcement that Kurt Busiek's Astro City was going monthly was the most exciting news to come out of SDCC last month, as far as I was concerned. It's a banner day whenever a new issue comes out, and now we'll get that kind of goodness one a month.

If you haven't read Astro City, pick up any of the trades and start reading. All of the stories and arcs are self contained, and any makes a great entry point for the world. If you're not a regular reader, you're missing out on some of the best comics of recent decades.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

 

The Venture Bros. Season 4 trailer

Behold!


Wednesday, August 19, 2009

 

Star Trek, The Animated Movie

(via) This isn't terribly new (originally posted to YouTube last December), but it made me chuckle. It's pretty much exactly what you think it is.


 

Fatal Farm's Movie Award Leftovers

(via) The folks at Fatal Farm present the following "movie award leftovers," with this explanation:

Months back MTV asked us to make some shorts similar to our TV intros for the 2009 Movie Awards. We did a handful. They aired the Star Trek bit and a skit we made with The Lonely Island but passed on the rest.



Nice!

 

SF Reviews.Net on End of the Century

I spent all day Friday with Thomas M. Wagner in our critique group at the ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop (he and I were the two pros inflicted on five very talented new writers who came with stories in hand), and bumped into him now and again over the weekend, and the whole time I'd had no idea he just reviewed End of the Century on his review site, SFREVIEWS.NET.
More fantasy writers should have the guts to take the risks Chris Roberson takes in End of the Century. But then, more of them would need talent they don't have. Could you imagine most of today's buzz-bin "urban fantasy" superstars pulling something like this off? Not in this lifetime. Travel to the End of the Century for a glimpse of what a fearless imagination at work really looks like.
Thanks, sir! (I quite like the thought that I have an "Escheresque head," too...)

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

 

Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love full solicitation copy

The solicitations for DC Comics products shipping in November were released yesterday, and lookee here what was nestled snugly in the listings for Vertigo titles...


CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #1
Written by Chris Roberson
Art by Shawn McManus
Cover by Chrissie Zullo
When supernatural artifacts from the Homelands begin surfacing in the modern world, it falls to Cinderella, Fabletown's best kept (and best dressed) secret agent to stop the illegal trafficking. But can Cindy foil the dark plot before Fabletown and its hidden, exiled inhabitants are exposed once and for all? And how does her long lost Fairy Godmother factor into the equation?
Whether she's soaring through clouds, deep-sea diving, or cracking jaws, Cindy travels from Manhattan to Dubai and hooks up with a handsome, familiar accomplice who may be harboring secret motives of his own. Meanwhile, trouble brews back home in Fabletown when Cindy's overworked, underappreciated assistant decides to seize control of The Glass Slipper, Cindy's exclusive shoe boutique.
Writer Chris Roberson (occasional contributor to HOUSE OF MYSTERY and JACK OF FABLES), artist Shawn McManus (SANDMAN, THESSALY: WITCH FOR HIRE) and evocative new cover painter Chrissie Zullo deliver Cindy's first major solo adventure replete with sex, spies and magical shoes in the 6-issue CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE.
On Sale November 4 • 1 of 6 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS
Hey, sounds like that might be worth checking out, right?

Monday, August 17, 2009

 

Red Rook Review on Book of Secrets

Red Rook Review, who previously praised Set the Seas on Fire, has posted a new review, this time of Book of Secrets. The verdict?
Roberson is just a damn fine writer. He writes a good sentence; the novel is structured like a Swiss watch and paced like a Tennessee walker.
Hit the link to read the full review, but beware. Spoilers lurk within...

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New Review of Two Hawks From Earth

On the fence about whether to pick up the reissued Two Hawks from Earth, Philip José Farmer's classic alternate history adventure? Well, go read what Blog, Jvstin Style has to say on the subject and perhaps that'll decide matters for you.

 

ArmadilloCon Est Mort, Vive ArmadilloCon!

Had a great time at ArmadilloCon this last weekend, and now I'm back at my desk, trying to remember how this whole "work" thing is supposed to go. You mean I'm supposed to write things?

My thanks to Kimm Antell, Renee Babcock, Jonathan Miles, and the rest of the con committee for putting on such a terrific show. Thanks to Scott Cupp for dandy toast-mastering and guest-interviewing. And I suppose I'll throw a bone to that bastard Scott Lynch with a nod of thanks from one first-time GoH to another. Yep, as I think I may have mentioned before, this was my first proper GoH gig (that's Guest of Honor for everyone who doesn't speak in connish abbreviations), and I couldn't have asked for a better first time. You were so kind, ArmadilloCon, so gentle, you held me in your arms 'till the morning light...

Erm, anyway. Looking forward to next year already. Should be fun!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

 

Befghis!

Following close on the heels of Georgia's last monster creation, Pamobe, last night at dinner Georgia drew yet another monster on the back of the menu, and then wrote a string of random letters at the top as its "name."

Behold, Befghis!



What's fascinating is that, while she's only just now learning to read and write, whenver Georgia generates one of these "letter salads" of random characters, they nearly always follow the standard morphology of words in the English language (that is, there's never a long string of consonants or just a jumble of vowels, or a mispronouncable juxtupostion of q's and x's or something). It's interesting to consider how much kids pick up about those kinds of rules just from seeing words over and over again, even if they don't yet know how to decode the meaning every time.

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ArmadilloCon Bound

Hey, did I mention that I'll be at ArmadilloCon 31 in Austin this weekend? Well, did I mention that I'm the "Editor Guest"?

Well, I will, and I am. So there.

As one of the GoH at the con, I am on a lot more programming than is typical for me, but I promise all and sundry that when I'm not on one of the following listed items, I will be easily locatable in the hotel bar.

Fr1900PC Opening Ceremonies
Fri 7:00 PM-8:00 PM Phoenix Central
S. Cupp, K. Antell, J. Vinge, C. Roberson, S. Lynch, K. Meschke

Sa1100DR Autographing
Sat 11:00 AM-Noon Dealers' Room
C. Richerson, J. Reisman, A. Jackson, B. Mahoney, A. Martinez, C. Roberson

Sa1200PC Editor Guest Interview
Sat Noon-1:00 PM Phoenix Central
C. Roberson, S. Cupp*

Sa1500PC Fannish Feud
Sat 3:00 PM-4:00 PM Phoenix Central
R. Eudaly*, K. Antell, R. Babcock, K. Meschke, S. Leicht, T. Miller, A. Martinez, C. Roberson, S. Lynch, S. Bobo, C. J. Mills, L. Person

Sa1900PC Aliens!
Sat 7:00 PM-8:00 PM Phoenix Central
A. Aguirre, T. Anderson, J. Hogan, J. Vinge, C. Roberson*
Making them other than just weird humans.

Sa2100DZ Space Opera
Sat 9:00 PM-10:00 PM deZavala
C. Osborne, C. Roberson, R. Dimond, C. Richerson, E. Moon*, J. Vinge
What ideas should you really avoid in your space opera?

Su1000DW Editing Wholesale
Sun 10:00 AM-11:00 AM deWitt
K. Lansdale, C. Roberson, J. Frenkel*, S. Utley, J. L. Blaschke
How does editing an anthology differ from editing a novel or single story?

Su1100DZ Panel of Calamitous Intent
Sun 11:00 AM-Noon deZavala
P. Benjamin, R. Klaw*, B. Foster, P. Miles, C. Roberson
The Venture Brothers!

Su1300DZ Stump the Panel
Sun 1:00 PM-2:00 PM deZavala
S. Wilson*, G. Faust, T. Mallory, C. J. Mills, C. Roberson
Bring items and see if the panel can find a SF/F use for them. Extra points if you
can stump the panel.

 

The Boat That Rocked trailer

I've been a fan of writer/director Richard Curtis since I saw The Tall Guy in college, and I've enjoyed all of the movies he's written and/or directed. So the news that a new Richard Curtis film (written and directed, no less) is on its way is cause for celebration.



The Boat That Rocked has been out in much of the rest of the world for a while, but hits theaters in the US in November.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

 

Gorilla of the Gasbags

From the blog of Sean Phillips, an image that should be familiar to pulp afficianados. (As "the one that got away...")



Seriously, if you're not reading Brubaker and Phillips's Incognito, with brilliant essays on the pulps by Jess Nevins in the back material, what the heck is wrong with you?

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

 

How I Spent My Evening

It looks like it'll be a while before I'll be able to do any more work on the redesign of chrisroberson.net, but in the meantime I thought I'd share the last of the three logos I worked up yesterday. This was one was done pretty quickly, while Georgia was in the bath, and I may tweak it a bit before using it, but I'm reasonably pleased with the way it turned out.


As you may have gathered from yesterday's posts, the redesigned site with have a somewhat different sensibility than the pared down version I've been running the last few years.

(The new site name, by the way, is stolen from this interview that Lou Anders did with me for Tor.com a while back. It seemed fitting.)

Monday, August 10, 2009

 

The Ballad of G.I. Joe

Thanks to Topless Robot for pointing out this Funny Or Die clip.



The post on Topless Robot also shares this abbreviated cast list. Behold:

• Alexis Bledel as Lady Jaye
• Billy Crudup as Zartan
• Zach Galifiankais as Snow Job
• Tony Hale as Dr. Mindbender
• Vinnie Jones as Destro
• Joey Kern as Tomax and Xamot
• Chuck Liddell as Gung Ho
• Julianne Moore as Scarlett
• Henry Rollins as Duke
• Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck
• Olivia Wilde as The Baroness

Wow.

 

Tim Ollive’s 1884

Thanks to Rick Klaw (the Klaw!) for pointing out this little bit of awesome. Here's the description from the post on SlashFilm, which sets up this bit of test-footage from Tim Ollive's steampunk comedy, 1884:

Ollive is a renowned model maker and long time collaborator of Terry Gilliam’s. Way back on Life of Brian, Ollive was not only the fabricator but also one of the operators of the alien puppets seen in the space craft. I’m told he also built the neon sign that provides Gilliam’s Brazil with an opening title. Suffice to say, he has some serious skills in design, manufacture and puppeteering - all of which are shown to awesome effect in the test footage below.

Olliv’es co-screenwriter on 1884 is Dennis DeGroot, a production designer with an incredible resume that takes in most of the outstanding UK comedy of the last decade or so and, way back in the mists of time, his own experience on the FX teams of Life of Brian and Time Bandits.



I'm sold.

 

How I Spent My Afternoon, Part II

And in much the same vein, here's the logo for the Celestial Empire stories, as it'll be seen on the to-be-redesigned chrisroberson.net


This one only took about half the time, since I was able to use the Bonaventure-Carmody logo as a template.

 

How I Spent My Afternoon

I finished reading the critique pieces for the ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop a few hours ago, and after a trip to the grocery store for necessities still had a couple of hours to kill before going to get Georgia. So I put into plan the first stages of my long-planned redesign of the chrisroberson.net site.

The fruit of the last hour's labor?


Expect more in this vein, when I can find a spare moment here and there.

 

Steampunk Monkey Nation

(via) Steampunk Monkey Nation



Steampunk...

Monkey...

Nation.



What else do you need to know?

Sunday, August 09, 2009

 

My Favourite Books on Book of Secrets

Liz at the blog My Favourite Books has reviewed Book of Secrets, and has kind words for it.
Part noir part pulp fiction part unlike anything I've read before, Book of Secrets has enough twists and turns to make the Edelweis Road in Austria look like a Roman road. I am hesitant to try and describe the storyline even more for fear of putting in spoilers. What I am quite happy to expose though is that the author has created an immensely enjoyable and readable story which will entertain you to the very last page. Especially fun if you think you've figured it all out .... only to have it all turn out that uhm, hey, you were wrong!

I'd like to add that if you've been a long time reader of this blog, you would know I am passionate about many things, but mainly that I love thrillers and action adventure novels and quest novels and I dislike people messing around with the genre for the heck of it, or if they start doing parodies of them or if they think they can quickly write one to cash in on the coolest thing going that's not about vampires. I was therefore very hesitant about Book of Secrets and thought that it was going to be a bit samey and I had my expectations bundled up and shoved in my face. Very firmly. The book is - wow. I will however say that you have to keep an open mind and read it for its sheer readability because it is more-ish.

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Saturday, August 08, 2009

 

Georgia's newest creation, Pamobe the monster

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Georgia has been obsessed with the Jay Stephens-penned art instruction books I got her, Robots!, Heroes!, and Monsters!

This afternoon she was drawing a monster based on one of the images in Monsters!, and when she was done decided to name it by writing a random assortment of letters above the figure. (She can sound out words with time and effort, but when she wrote the letters had no idea what they said.) Then, in a nice bit of self-referentiality, she drew a picture of herself at the monster's side, with crayon in hand (and dressed as Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls, of course, which is her Halloween plan).

And that's how Pamobe the moster came into the world...



The yellow border is, if it wasn't immediately obvious, a golden frame around the picture, naturally.

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2008 Sidewise Award, the acceptance speech that wasn't

Last night I learned that, against all expectations, I apparently won the 2008 Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Long-form for my novel The Dragon's Nine Sons. Twenty-four hours later and I'm still flabbergasted. I didn't sent my designated acceptor, Lou Anders, with any kind of prepared statement, because I honestly didn't think I had a chance in hell of winning. If I had, it would probably have gone a little something like this.

I want to thank the Sidewise judges for simply reading my book, which is flattering enough in and of itself. That they considered it among the five best alternate-history novels of the year was all-but-unbelievable to me. That they've selected it from among that august list to be singled out for the award is simply bewildering.

Boundless thanks, Sidewise judges. And thanks to George Mann (author of the extremely worthy Sidewise-nominated The Affinity Bridge, which I was proud to be listed alongside) who commissioned the novel for Solaris and shepherded to publication. And thanks to Lou Anders, who was deputized to be my stand-in at the Sidewise Awards panel, and who went unarmed with any kind of statement on my behalf.

Okay, now I'm off to have another celebratory drink.

Friday, August 07, 2009

 

New "Where the Wild Things Are" trailer

Okay, now...?

Now I'm starting to think this thing might be really good.


 

Total Sci-Fi on Book of Secrets

Total Sci-Fi Online has posted Alice Wybrew's review of Book of Secrets (who previously reviewed End of the Century for the site).

Originally self-published in 2001 under the title Voices of Thunder, Chris Roberson’s fantasy has been rechristened ‘Book of Secrets’ for 2009 – three words which promise a lot. For those who missed it the first time around (as most did), it is, like Roberson’s other work, a conspiracy-ridden head-scratcher that only the boldest mind will succeed in unravelling before the final pages.

As intrepid reporter Finch struggles to work on his ever-deteriorating story, his lonesome existence becomes complicated by cat burglars, comic books and Men With Black Hands. Book of Secrets then takes something of a Da Vinci Code-esque turn, offering a fantastic view of the evolution of man and the creation of Earth - all wrapped up in a multi-dimensional robbery!

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Another New Interview

Christian Berntsen Has Not Read My Book. And I can prove it.

Berntsen, one of the minds behind Blam! Ventures and it's forthcoming Planet of the Apes title, has interviewed me as part of his "I Have Not Read Your Angry Robot Book" interview series. We talk a bit about Book of Secrets (which he has not read) and some of my other stories and books (which he has), as well as cartoons, parenting, self-publishing, and such. Check it out, won't you?

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Thursday, August 06, 2009

 

Speaking at the San Antonio Writers Guild

Tonight I'll be speaking at the San Antonio Writers Guild about craft and process, if anyone in the area is interested in dropping by to chat.

Here are the details:
August 6, 2009 at 7:30pm
Bethany Congregational Church,
500 Pilgrim Drive in San Antonio
Speaker: Chris Roberson
Topic: "Everyone Else Is Crazy: Finding the Process that Fits"

 

New Interview

I thought I mentioned this the other day but apparently neglected to do so. There's a new interview with me up over at Stomping on Yeti (nice blog name, no?), about process in general, the forthcoming Angry Robot publication of Book of Secrets, and (unexpectedly) unicorns.

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Wednesday, August 05, 2009

 

Rooster Teeth's "Gratuities Are Appreciated"

And while we're at it, here's Rooster Teeth's "Gratuities Are Appreciated."


 

Rooster Teeth's "Mixed Messages"

More hilarity from the guys at Rooster Teeth.


 

Need Cute?

Is your day lacking in cuteness? Then Bubbles the kitten is here to help.



Bubbles came home with us from the SPCA (not the Space Canine Patrol Agency, sadly, but the Society for the Prevention of Cool Acronyms) on Saturday, and is settling in nicely. Blue, who is at least a year older than her, is still more than a little terrified of the new resident, but he's getting there.

 

Adam West, the *original* Batman

This news from Topless Robot is so awesome I'm just going to quote it verbatim. The headline is "Adam West puts the cowl back on," and the piece continues thusly:
That would be in an upcoming Batman: Brave and the Bold episode, in which he plays Bruce Wayne's father Thomas. How does West playing Poppa Wayne constitute him becoming Batman again, you ask? Is Bricken going for a wholly misleading article title trifecta? No I am not. From Comic Book Resources:
The episode will feature the story in which Thomas went to a costume party dressed as a bat and defeated mobsters.
If that's not awesome enough for you, it's worth noting that Martha Wayne, his wife, will be voiced by Julie Newmar. FUCK AND YES.
Awesome awesome awesome.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

 

2009 World Fantasy Award nominations

Many of you may recall that I've spent most of the last year on the jury of the 2009 World Fantasy Awards. Last week the list of nominees was finalized, and this morning the World Fantasy Award administrators have released the list to the public. And here it is:

2009 World Fantasy Award Nominations (covering the 2008 award year)

BEST NOVEL
The House of the Stag, Kage Baker (Tor)
The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins; Bloomsbury)
Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (Del Rey)
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin; Knopf)

BEST NOVELLA
"Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel", Peter S. Beagle (Strange Roads)
"If Angels Fight", Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
"The Overseer", Albert Cowdrey (F&SF 3/08)
"Odd and the Frost Giants", Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury; HarperCollins)
"Good Boy", Nisi Shawl (Filter House)

BEST SHORT STORY
"Caverns of Mystery", Kage Baker (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy)
"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss", Kij Johnson (Asimov's 7/08)
"Pride and Prometheus", John Kessel (F&SF 1/08)
"Our Man in the Sudan", Sarah Pinborough (The Second Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories)
"A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 5/08)

BEST ANTHOLOGY
The Living Dead, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Night Shade Books)
The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Ellen Datlow, ed. (Del Rey)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, & Gavin J. Grant, eds. (St. Martin's)
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, Ekaterina Sedia, ed. (Senses Five Press)
Steampunk, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Tachyon Publications)

BEST COLLECTION
Strange Roads, Peter S. Beagle (DreamHaven Books)
The Drowned Life, Jeffrey Ford (HarperPerennial)
Pretty Monsters, Kelly Link (Viking)
Filter House, Nisi Shawl (Aqueduct Press)
Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan
(Allen & Unwin; Scholastic '09)

BEST ARTIST
Kinuko Y. Craft
Janet Chui
Stephan Martinière
John Picacio
Shaun Tan

SPECIAL AWARD, PROFESSIONAL
Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant (for Small Beer Press and Big Mouth House)
Farah Mendlesohn (for The Rhetorics of Fantasy)
Stephen H. Segal & Ann VanderMeer (for Weird Tales)
Jerad Walters (for A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft)
Jacob Weisman (for Tachyon Publications)

SPECIAL AWARD, NON-PROFESSIONAL
Edith L. Crowe (for her work with The Mythopoeic Society)
John Klima (for Electric Velocipede)
Elise Matthesen (for setting out to inspire and for serving as inspiration for works of poetry, fantasy, and SF over the last decade through her jewelry-making and her "artist's challenges.")
Sean Wallace, Neil Clarke, & Nick Mamatas (for Clarkesworld)
Michael Walsh (for Howard Waldrop collections from Old Earth Books)

One of the main things I learned in my year on the jury was that the fantasy genre is alive and well. There's terrific work being done, and this list represents just the tip of the iceberg. Congratulations to all of the nominees!

 

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Editor and bonvivant John Joseph Adams has launched a new in support of his anthology, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.



Here's the table of contents (with links to stories available to read for free online):
  1. "The Doctor's Case" by Stephen King
  2. "The Horror of the Many Faces" by Tim Lebbon
  3. "The Case of the Bloodless Sock" by Anne Perry
  4. "The Adventure of the Other Detective" by Bradley H. Sinor
  5. "A Scandal in Montreal" by Edward Hoch
  6. "The Adventure of the Field Theorems" by Vonda N. McIntyre
  7. "The Adventure of the Death-Fetch" by Darrell Schweitzer
  8. "The Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland" by Mary Robinette Kowal
  9. "The Adventure of the Mummy's Curse" by H. Paul Jeffers
  10. "The Things That Shall Come Upon Them" by Barbara Roden
  11. "Murder to Music" by Anthony Burgess
  12. "The Adventure of the Inertial Adjustor" by Stephen Baxter
  13. "Mrs Hudson's Case " by Laurie R. King
  14. "The Singular Habits of Wasps" by Geoffrey Landis
  15. "The Affair of the Forty-Sixth Birthday" by Amy Myers
  16. "The Specter of Tullyfane Abbey" by Peter Tremayne
  17. "The Vale of the White Horse" by Sharyn McCrumb
  18. "The Adventure of the Dorset Street Lodger" by Michael Moorcock
  19. "The Adventure of the Lost World" by Dominic Green
  20. "The Adventure of the Antiquarian's Niece" by Barbara Hambly
  21. "Dynamics of a Hanging" by Tony Pi
  22. "Merridew of Abominable Memory" by Chris Roberson
  23. "Commonplaces" by Naomi Novik
  24. "The Adventure of the Pirates of Devil's Cape" by Rob Rogers
  25. "The Adventure of the Green Skull" by Mark Valentine
  26. "The Human Mystery " by Tanith Lee
  27. "A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman
  28. "You See But You Do Not Observe" by Robert J. Sawyer
You can also check out JJA's Introduction and Acknowledgements. So what are you waiting for?

 

Weird Al Yancovic and JibJab's "CNR"

Behold! Weird Al Yankovic's White Stripes-inspired tribute to the man himself, Charles Nelson Reilly, animated by the good folks at JibJab.



Monday, August 03, 2009

 

Lou Anders' With Great Power

I have read three stories already from Lou Anders's forthcoming prose superhero anthology With Great Power (in addition to my own, of course), and I cannot wait to read the rest of the book.

Check out the TOC and maybe you can see why...
Introduction: The Golden Age by Lou Anders
"Cleansed and Set in Gold" by Matthew Sturges
"Where their Worm Dieth Not" by James Maxey
"Secret Identity" by Paul Cornell
"The Non-Event" by Mike Carey
"Avatar" by Mike Baron
"Message from the Bubblegum Factory" by Daryl Gregory
"Thug" by Gail Simone
"Vacuum Lad" by Stephen Baxter
"A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" by Chris Roberson
"Head Cases" by Peter David & Kathleen David
"Downfall" by Joseph Mallozzi
"By My Works You Shall Know Me" by Mark Chadbourn
"Call Her Savage" by Marjorie M. Liu
"Tonight we fly" by Ian McDonald
"A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too)" by Bill Willingham

 

Falcata Times on Book of Secrets (and me)

The Falcata Times has posted a new interview with me, about process in general and Book of Secrets in particular, as well as a review of the novel.
What is on offer in Chris Roberson’s book is a tale that investigates not only the emotional aspect of the principle protagonist but also manages to create a deep routed family history pulling the character more into line with the real world. Its cleverly done and with various different writing styles that whilst many would argue about the clashing aspect of them, does give a bone fide reference to which the character can relate. In my opinion, its incredibly well done and is a book that has to be applauded for its bravery in this new style of creation. Definitely a book that can spawn a series and one that I hope will continue to expand with each future release. Great stuff.

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Saturday, August 01, 2009

 

Giant Transforming Robots

Here's a couple of giant transforming robots for your weekend viewing pleasure.

First, one of Scott Campbell's contributions to tonight's Rivet gallery show, "Super Hungry":




And a post on Neatorama points out an ebay auction for, get this, Thomas the Transforming Train:



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