Time Magazine
July 12, 2010 issue (on stands now)
Page Turners.
The summer’s hot writers on what’s on their nightstand, Kindle or beach chair
Time Staff Picks
Lev Grossman
“Fantasy is going through an explosion of creativity. Two new anthologies showcase the best of it: Stories: All-New Tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, and Swords & Dark Magic, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders.”
Well, another week down and a weekend in front of me (yay!). This week (especially the second half of it) was a little more difficult than it had to be, mostly because of minor health issues and lack of sleep. Last night, however, I slept well and feel a lot better overall, and that improves my mood no end.
As I write I’m sitting in my front room listening to Richard and Linda Thompson’s I Want to See the Bright Lights for the first time and am pondering what I need to do this coming weekend. Finishing up copyedits/proofs for Life on Mars and Godlike Machines is a big part of it. I also need to write the intro for Engineering Infinity, and get some general paperwork done. If I can do that I’ll be keeping up, which is good.
I’m also going to be recording the next podcast with Gary. It’s been put to me that we might be recording too often, so we need to ponder that. I think we’ll discuss John Clute’s recent Doctorow/Heinlein review and Robert Sawyer’s blog post about making a living as a writer. There’ll no doubt be other stuff. If you have anything you’d like us to cover pop it into comments and I’ll bring it up with Gary tomorrow.
What else? I’ll try to get my solo “Books I’m Looking Forward to” podcast up shortly. That one’s kind of fun to do, but I’m delaying because I want to add links etc. I’ve also been pondering the joys of unnecessary bonus tracks on cds, editing non-core books, and other things. Will post shortly, I think.
So far Wednesday looks like it’s not going to dawn easily. I have had this intermittent ear infection thing going on for some time, and it came back yesterday. I woke with my right ear feeling blocked and sore. Hearing dropped to about 50% of its usual level and tinnitus showed up soon after. Yay. That seems somewhat better this morning, but now I’ve got mild dizziness. Not enough to be falling down or feeling nauseated, but enough to be a little unsteady and to leave me feeling unsure about the day ahead. Yay. I need to get booked in to see the doctor again, but haven’t arranged that yet.
In almost equally happy news I also woke – at 3.45am! – to find that the girls had gone through all of the hot water last night, so a cool not-even-lukewarm shower was all that was on offer on what is quite a cold, wintry morning. To say that my mood this morning is neither sunny nor overly optimistic as a result of the dizziness and cold shower is a reasonable summation of things.
Still, all is not glum. I had a nice hot breakfast, realised it was Swords and Dark Magic on-sale date in the US, read a pretty solid Rich Horton review of Wings of Fire (this was esp welcome as Rich hasn’t seemed overimpressed with my anthos of late), and pondered a few book projects. Were it not for the dizziness and being up and awake nearly an hour and a half early this would be an ok morning.
Oh, and the awesome Katie may have found a reason to go to Columbus. Who would have thought that was possible? (I know, other than hanging with Ellen K, which is worth it in itself).
This morning Perth time it was announced that The New Space Opera 2, an anthology that I co-edited with the fabulous Gardner Dozois, had emulated the success of its predecessor and won the Locus Award for Best Anthology. There’s no doubt in my mind the kudos for this achievement lie with the contributors, the cover artist, the publisher and my co-editor. Still, I am delighted. My sincerest thanks to everyone involved and to all of the Locus voters. I am honored. I was asked to provide a short acceptance speech, which is reproduced below:
Thank you. I’m delighted and honoured to hear that The New Space Opera
2 has won the Locus Award. I’d like to thank all of the voters,
everyone at Locus, Diana Gill and the wonderful team at HarperCollins,
the contributors to the book and, most importantly my friend and
colleague Gardner Dozois, who really did all of the hard stuff on this
book.The New Space Opera 2 winning this award may be, I think, the most
important moment in the 20 years I’ve spent editing science fiction.
It is a pure quill science fiction book aimed straight at the very
heart of our field and, considering that we stand at point where the
centre has not held and science fiction is shattering irrevocably into
a thousand fascinating and individually worthwhile pieces, it is
heartening to know that such a book still has value and still has a
purpose.It’s my sincerest wish that Gardner and I get to do more of these
books, but whether we do or not, this book and its Locus Award winning
predecessor stand, for me, as a statement about how the past of our
field can still connect to its future.
And, ladies and gentlemen of the world, the most exciting page on teh interwebs is: the advance order page for Godlike Machines!! Is this the coolest thing ever? Yes it is!
