Critic Farah Mendlesohn has been writing about children’s literature, and children’s literature specifically, over at her blog The Inter-Galactic Playground, for some time now.  It’s always a fascinating site to check out, and is building up towards what should be a very interesting book of Farah’s.  She’s just posted a critique of my book The Starry Rift which really delighted me.  It’s not a review – it contains spoilers and so on – but it is very interesting indeed.  Reading it made me eager to get my teeth into another book I want to do, which I’ve been messing with for a while.  Of course, given how overloaded I am today, that might have to wait for 2011.

Well, a reasonably productive day.  Story contracts out to everyone who is owed one, covering two separate projects.  Preliminary manuscript for Godlike Machines sent off to the Book Club (more to be added, but they wanted to see what I have now). Steps taken to gather tax information, so that hopefully I can get my return done this weekend.  I also got an invoice together and sent for one project, and ready to go for another.  Yesterday I got myself in something of a knot over the various things on the to do list. Today has been a reasonably successful attempt to unknot myself, plot the path forward, and get things done.  I’m reasonably hopeful that, even allowing for what seems like a rather intimidating timeline, I should be able to get everything odne, and to the required standard.

It’s helped that summer is now definitely gone, and autumn’s fading with it. It’s been a cool, rainy day and there are a lot more days like that to come between now and August.  That means comfort and relaxation, which means I’m best placed to achieve a lot.  If everything’s done by the end of July, the trip to the US in early August should be an actual break.  Then home, and I should have about two months off.  I’ll potter around the house, exercise, and do a lot of year’s best reading.  That should mean I’ll be well placed to deliver that book before heading off to Canada for World Fantasy.  Busy, busy.

Since the new resolution here is to focus on good, or at least interesting news, some good news from the Asimovs forums. Apparently Jack Skillingstead has just sold a short story collection to Golden Gryphon.  I love the books that Golden Gryphon produce, and I was delighted to hear they would be doing Skillingstead’s book. I’ve read a number of his stories that I’ve really loved, and we’ve corresponded of late, and he seems like a terrific person. There’s no scheduling info, but I’d guess this would be a 2009 book. Can’t wait to see it!

I’m mostly posting information about The Starry Rift over at TheStarryRift.com, but I thought I’d mention that Charles Tan, Bibliophile Stalker, just have the book a very nice review. He also said some great things about Ellen Datlow’s The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy which I wholeheartedly endorse.

The Evil Guest, forthcoming from Tor in September, is simply the most enjoyable Gene Wolfe novel I’ve ever read. I’ve read Wolfe novels that might have been more thought provoking or more intellectually rewarding, but this ’30s-style noir novel is a delight.

The story? Cassie Casey is an actress working in Chicago about a hundred years from now. The show she’s working in is a day or so away from its closing night, and she has no clear plans about what she’s going to do next when she’s approached by Dr Gideon Chase, a mysterious private investigator with a strange reputation, who offers to make her a star if she’ll help him wrong-foot Bill Reis, a billionaire with a distinctly shady history. Casey, more than a little attracted agrees, and sets off on an ever spiralling adventure that involves interstellar travel, a volcano love god, her own stardom, and an incredible evil that dwells deep in our oceans.

The publicity material describes The Evil Guest as “Lovecraft meets Blade Runner”, and it’s actually not too far off. The dialog could have been taken from any ’30s noir film – smart, snappy and delivered with wit and sass – and the characters are clever, savvy and very much aware of what’s happening to them. We also glimpse both Lovecraft’s R’yleh and worshippers of the squid god.

Is it good? Wolfe has been both prolific of late, and on something of a roll. I didn’t particularly care for his most recent novel, Pirate Freedom (though many did), but I loved this book. I literally couldn’t put it down, and constantly wanted to get back to it. If you like Wolfe’s work at all, you’ll love this book. If you’ve never tried him, for whatever reason, you definitely can start here. A real highlight of the reading year.

And where to from here? Assuming taxes give me time, having polished of Richard Morgan’s extremely entertaining The Steel Remains, I’ve just started Daryl Gregory’s Pandemonium, which opens really well.  it’s good to be reading novels again, though once the taxes are done, it’s back to short fiction!