Reality denies the morality of glibness. Turned on the ipod this morning, and put it on shuffle. As I opened the Times-Picayune news page to see if there was any relief to the unremitting news about New Orleans, it began to play the Eels track ‘Hey Man, Now We’re Really Living”. I had to turn it off. Thousands may be dead, says one headline. Looting on Tchoupitoulas Avenue says another. So, I turn off the music, cast my mind back to hot, clear sunny days in 1993 sitting at the Cafe du Monde, sipping cafe au laite, and try to see how things can get better. Donate if you can. Do anything. And believe. Things are bad, and they will get worse it seems, but this is the Big Easy. It’s one of those strange, magical places in the world, and things will get better.

Earlier this year I received a galley of Bradley Denton’s latest novel, Laughin’ Boy. It’s a dark, dark, bitingly funny novel that at least one of my reviewers found too bleak to finish. To me it a was breath of fresh air, a delight from start to finish, and a joy to see in print after so many years without a new Denton novel. Looking back at the year so far, if Geoff Ryman’s Air was my favorite novel of 2004, then Laughin’ Boy is my favorite of 2005 so far. It’s a flat-out essential read.

With that in mind, I’d like to point your attention to Dorman Shindler’s subtly titled interview with Denton, Bradley Denton opens his big fat mouth about media excess, political correctness and the craft of writing over at scifi.com, which addresses everything you might want to know, except when we can see the next book. If that piques your interest, you might also want to read John Clute’s review of the novel (also at scifi.com), where he describes it as ‘one of the funniest novels of the past decade’.

There is one thing you should know, though, if you’d like to read the adventures of Porno Girl, the Racist Ranger, and Laughin’ Boy. The estimable Subterranean Press, who are to be applauded for publishing the novel, only produced 750 copies. According to their website, the book was already out of print before publication. Check with the publisher first to see if you can get a copy, then get on to your favorite reseller. You need this one. Oh, and any publisher outside the US: if you’re reading this note, you should seriously consider picking up the o/s rights for this novel. It’s the antidote for Bush’s America that I believe the rest of the world is ready to take.

Cheryl is celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of Emerald City with the publication of issue 120. There are the usual cool reviews, and a discussion of turning semi-pro. I wish her well with it, and will be curious to see what changes follow at emcit over the next year or two.

I love Tuesdays. I work from home. The house is freshly cleaned from the day before, and the family all off, happily busy. I get peace, quiet. and time. And a lot to do. Today was a day of reading, drafting contracts, passionate meetings (Jeremy & Shaun came to visit), and is only now finally drawing to a close. Eidolon (sorry, Eidolon I) is pretty much headed off to bed. Details of contents are just about final, cover discussed and out of my hands and so on. All that remains, for me, is story notes and copyediting. We touched on Eidolon II, which may well happen and will likely have a longer submission period and longer reading period. If it goes ahead, I’d imagine stories would be wanted in May/June (hint, hint) for a November publication. Next, the YA book. Contracts for stories head out on Thursday (after a final proofing to ensure no egregious errors), and then time to build the ms. At the same time, a hill of stories beckons. Bed first, though. See you all in the morning.

Life is endlessly weird. I struggle to get the books I want, and yet receive more books than I can possibly read. I am constantly chasing stories so I can consider them for year’s bests and such, and just because I like to read short stories, and yet feel like they’re slipping past me all the time.

This was brought home to me this morning. I got online this morning and downloaded the night’s email. In amongst it was an email from Gordon with the December F&SF attached. I was delighted to see that there was a new Geoff Ryman novelette in the issue, a story called “The Last Ten Years in the Life of Hero Kai”. From what I can tell, it’s the cover story for the issue and is quite unusual. The story head note references something called ‘monkpunk’, and it’s tempting to be glib and say this is it. But it would be glib. The story is a very subtle and quite powerful tale of a warrior monk who leads a revolt to save the country he loves, becomes what he detests and, possibly, is responsible for a change in the way the world works. It doesn’t matter whether this story is SF or fantasy (my bet is SF, though I’d be curious to hear what Gordon thinks), but it was either going to be masterful or awful. Following so closely on the heels of his completely wonderful novel Air, it should come as no surprise, that it is far closer to masterful than not. A highlight in a year of stories.

Following on from that comment, has anyone else noticed what a terrific year F&SF is having in 2005? Maybe three or four years ago I would have rated the magazines with Asimov’s first, then SciFiction, then F&SF. Last year I would have tipped SciFiction as the best, and this year it’s clearly F&SF. Extraordinary. Subscribe!

Not long after the email from Gordon, an email from Jeff VanderMeer tumbled into the email inbox. In his email he mentioned a new story, which he’d sent me a couple weeks ago and which is due to appear in Argosy. To be honest, I’d forgotten he’d sent it. Filed it away where I’d have read it before year’s end and book deadlines, but still forgotten it. I pulled up the file and was delighted. It’s a funny, engaging, and ultimately moving story. I’m not sure when the relevant issue of Argosy is due out, but it’s worth picking up. Along with VanderMeer’s upcoming “The Farmer’s Cat” in Polyphony 5, it bodes very well for his next collection.

edited 1 September 2005