I’ve been asked if I would post a list of the table of contents of The Starry Rift, mentioned in the post about Jeff Ford’s The Empire of Ice Cream. As soon as some details are ironed out, I’ll definitely post a list of contributors, but I thought I might save the full ToC until publication. There’s something about running your eye over a table of contents filled with stories with names you’ve never heard before that I’ve always loved, and I’d like to preserve that this time, if I can.

I loved the covers that Edward Miller (aka Les Edwards) did for the British editions of China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station and The Scar. When it came time for the third Bas-Lag novel, though, his UK publisher opted to pick up the US covers instead. Turns out that his Czech publisher liked the Miller covers too, and ended up commissioning the cover you see on the right for their edition of Iron Council. You can see a larger version of the cover on Miller’s website.

Just a quick note. All comments on this blog are moderated, so it may take a while for your comment to show up. I apologise for this, but I’ve been getting a lot of comment spam, so it’s a compromise.

I am the worst web surfer in the world. Almost every interesting thing that I’ve found online, I’ve been pointed to by someone else. This is true of the latest site I’ve been browsing, Articulate. It’s the ABC’s artsblog, and it features all kind of cool information on books, music, movies etc.  The only reason I found it was that I was contacted by Gary Kemble, who writes for the blog, who will be covering Conjure next month. I know it’s going to be a great convention, andI hope you all will be there. But, if you can’t, check out Gary and the Articulate gang.

The family dispersed to all points of the globe on Saturday: Jessica to Unigym with Marianne, Sophie to ballet with her grandma, and I went cd shopping with my brother. Later in the day, I was shopping in the local mall out in the distant suburban paradise that is Morley, when I happened across Jeff VanderMeer’s Shriek: An Afterword. I was sufficiently delighted to find a local edition (well, it’s the Pan UK edition distributed locally) that I bought it forthwith, and I think you should too. If you’re living in Australia, it’s almost certainly in your local bookshop and is worth seeking out. So, what are you waiting for? Go.