Back in April Jeremy G Byrne and I announced that we would be editing a new anthology, Eidolon. It would be, we hoped, the first in an annual series of science fiction & fantasy anthologies continuing the tradition of Eidolon magazine, and would be published to co-incide with the 2005 World Fantasy Convention in Madison, Wisconsin.

As history has shown, though, while we received a wonderful batch of submissions from around the world, and assembled a fantastic table of contents, production eventually delayed the publication of the book to early 2006. However, things are now gearing up, and it looks like the book should be out shortly.

As part of the advance publicity for Eidolon I, we have decided to publish one of the stories on Eidolon: SF Online. The story, Simon Brown’s “Leviathan” is one of my favorite stories of the year, and I think is one of his best yet. Be sure to check it out.

Up late wrapping and packing and putting away. Up early unwrapping, unpacking and learning to play. O calloo, callay, oh very happy frabjous day! Merry Christmas to all and to all a great day!

Up late wrapping and packing and putting away. Up early unwrapping, unpacking and learning to play. O calloo, callay, oh very happy frabjous day! Merry Christmas to all and to all a great day!

Since, thanks to the estimable auspices of Time, everyone now knows that they must get a copy of Magic for Beginners as soon as possible, it struck me that it might be worth adding a second recommendation for USians about to head out to the bookstores, looking for the perfect Christmas gift.

Assuming you have a love of rock ‘n’ roll, and like that pirate kind of image thing, the Night Shade edition of Gwyneth Jones’s Arthur C. Clarke award winner Bold as Love is hard to go past. The book is terrific. What’s it about? Well, the cover blurb says this:

Dissolution Summer: the soon-to-be-former UK was desperate. The world was in the grip of a fearsome economic depression. The anti-globalization movement threatened stability throughout Europe, supported by rioting youth, bitterly disaffected voters, and encroaching environmental doom.

The Home Secretary decided to recruit a Countercultural Think Tank: pop stars would make the government look too cool to be overthrown. His girlfriend, club-promoter and music biz socialite Allie Marlowe, filled his shopping cart for him with such indie notable as Ax Preston, the soft-spoken biracial guitar virtuoso; Aoxomoxoa (aka Sage Pender), techno-wizard king of the lads; and Fiorinda Slater, the baby punk-diva with a horrendous past.

It was just another publicity stunt for the rockers, until the shooting began. Now Slater and her friends must find a way to stay alive, and overthrow the dominant social order, while the UK disintegrates under their feet. Will rock & roll’s revolutionary promise finally deliver, or will ethnic violence drown hippie idealism in rivers of blood? Either way, the world will never be the same.

In these days when Bono spends as much time with Prime Ministers and Presidents as he does on stage, it’s not hard to see how a rock star might step over from one world into another. When I first read this back when it was published in the US I loved it. I still do. Go buy it for someone you love, and let them know that three more books have been published and Jones has just finished the final book in the set, Rainbow Bridge.

Since, thanks to the estimable auspices of Time, everyone now knows that they must get a copy of Magic for Beginners as soon as possible, it struck me that it might be worth adding a second recommendation for USians about to head out to the bookstores, looking for the perfect Christmas gift.

Assuming you have a love of rock ‘n’ roll, and like that pirate kind of image thing, the Night Shade edition of Gwyneth Jones’s Arthur C. Clarke award winner Bold as Love is hard to go past. The book is terrific. What’s it about? Well, the cover blurb says this:

Dissolution Summer: the soon-to-be-former UK was desperate. The world was in the grip of a fearsome economic depression. The anti-globalization movement threatened stability throughout Europe, supported by rioting youth, bitterly disaffected voters, and encroaching environmental doom.

The Home Secretary decided to recruit a Countercultural Think Tank: pop stars would make the government look too cool to be overthrown. His girlfriend, club-promoter and music biz socialite Allie Marlowe, filled his shopping cart for him with such indie notable as Ax Preston, the soft-spoken biracial guitar virtuoso; Aoxomoxoa (aka Sage Pender), techno-wizard king of the lads; and Fiorinda Slater, the baby punk-diva with a horrendous past.

It was just another publicity stunt for the rockers, until the shooting began. Now Slater and her friends must find a way to stay alive, and overthrow the dominant social order, while the UK disintegrates under their feet. Will rock & roll’s revolutionary promise finally deliver, or will ethnic violence drown hippie idealism in rivers of blood? Either way, the world will never be the same.

In these days when Bono spends as much time with Prime Ministers and Presidents as he does on stage, it’s not hard to see how a rock star might step over from one world into another. When I first read this back when it was published in the US I loved it. I still do. Go buy it for someone you love, and let them know that three more books have been published and Jones has just finished the final book in the set, Rainbow Bridge.