Earlier today Eclipse Online launched with the first in what I hope to be a continuing series of wonderful new stories. The debut story is “The Contrary Gardner” by Christopher Rowe, and features lovely artwork by the fabulous Kathleen Jennings. I hope you all love it as much as I do – there’s plenty more to come!
Category Archives: Science fiction
Under My Hat in the Commonwealth!
There’s a lot to celebrate this month. First is the welcome news that the fabulous Hot Key Books edition of Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron is now out in the UK and Australia! Sarah Odedina and the Hot Key team, who are busy launching a brand new book imprint, have been wonderful to deal with (they even sent me champagne and chololates to celebrate!), and they’re doing a brilliant job with the book.
If you’re in Australia or the UK please consider heading out to a bookshop near you – chain or independent – and check out the beautiful book and the great stories in it. Of course, if you’re in the US you can get the first edition of the book from Random House and Jim Thomas, who have been similarly fabulous.
I have to say it’s been a joy and a privilege working with everyone associated with the book, and I only hope I’m lucky enough to get to work with them again.
Last Short Story Podcast Episode 2 now live!
Pre-season Episode 2: After, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling eds
Posted by lastshortstory on September 22, 2012 0 comments
Welcome to the second episode of Last Short Story. This month Ian Mond and I are joined by Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth co-founder Tansy Rayner Roberts to discuss Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling’s After:Â Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia.
As part of the pre-season for the podcast, we continue to refine the format. This time we accept that we’re not going to get through nineteen stories, however fine they may be, in an hour podcast, so we restrict ourselves to discussing these six stories, all of which rank amongst the year’s better stories, and several of which are clearly amongst the best:
- “The Segment,” Genevieve Valentine
- “Valedictorian,” N.K. Jemisin
- “Blood Drive,” Jeffrey Ford
- “The Easthound,” Nalo Hopkinson
- “Fake Plastic Trees,” Caitlin R. Kiernan
- “The Marker,” Cecil Castellucci
These aren’t the only good stories in the book, by any means, but in the collective opinion of the podcast panel they easily justify the time spent reading the book.
Next month: The Future is Japanese, Nick Mamatas & Masumi Washington eds.
Last Short Story podcast
So, I have a new podast….<g>Â Â I want to say I didn’t mean to have a new podcast, it wasn’t my idea and so on, but it was. As long time readers and listeners will know, I’m part of the Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth reading group.
About a month ago I was talking podcasts with Ian Mond, who is also part of LSSOE, and we discussed how the one problem with the group is that we never really get to discussing what we’re reading with one another in a meaningful way. I said we should do a podcast once a month and that it should be of one work only (a collection, a magazine, something), that way we all would have read it.
I liked the idea so much I almost just launched it as my own podcast, but I began to think it would make sense to actually do it with Last Short Story, so I proposed it to the group. And everyone liked it. Yay. I was ready to go. Less yay. Everyone in the group was busy and they thought NEXT year was a great time to start.
I agreed, but I’m always impatient when I have an idea I like so I went back to Ian and started talking about it some more. After a little discussion we decided to record a pre-season for the podcast. A set of monthly podcasts that would come out every four weeks, that would let us test and develop the format, and that would set the ground for the full podcast when it happens in 2013. This sounded like fun and scratched my itch to do something now.
And so, last weekend Ian and I sat down and recorded Pre-Season Episode 1 of Last Short Story, where we discuss the August issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. I’m including the podcast in this post as a sample. I won’t be repeating this as I don’t want to double up subs with The Coode St Podcast. If you like it you can subscribe here! Next month we plan to discuss Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling’s new anthology, After.
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
One of the most interesting and rewarding books I’ve read in 2012, G. Willow Wilson’s debut novel Alif the Unseen is ostensibly a contemporary young adult fantasy novel about a dissident computer hacker set in an unspecified Arabic country at a time of rising civil unrest. The book has a lot to recommend it – engaging characters, a fast-paced narrative and so on – but what makes it most interesting is the way it interrogates the boundaries between science fiction and fantasy, between what secular and religious worldviews, and about the role of women in traditional societies. That a book focussed on dissent and revolution is so respectful of traditional religious perspectives is a significant strength of the book. Highly recommended.
Note: Check out this review of the book by James Bradley ( http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/b…)