Episode 272: Awards, anthologies and all the usual stuff


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Following last week’s announcement of DragonCon’s new Dragon Awards, we once again return to the topic of awards proliferation; begin our discussion of Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s massive new Big Book of Science Fiction (we hope to talk to them about the book closer to its release); look at how anthologies might have changed over the past fifty years; touch on the recent trend toward revisiting and revisioning Lovecraft that can be seen in the work of Matt Ruff, Victor LaValle, and Kij Johnson; and debate whether academic criticism of SF is widely enough read to have an impact on science fiction as a whole.

As always, we hope you enjoy the podcast. More next week!

Working for Tor.com

As I’ve mentioned here before, I started editing fiction for Tor.com last year. It’s been a real pleasure, and I’m looking forward to acquiring many more stories in the coming years.

At the moment three of my stories are out there in the world:

Coming up are some terrific new stories by Kij Johnson, Walter Jon Williams, Lavie Tidhar and others.

Episode 271: Lavie Tidhar and pushing at boundaries


central-station.jpgThis week we are delighted to be joined by Lavie Tidhar, whose Jerwood Fiction Underwood Prize Award winning novel A Man Lies Dreaming has just appeared in the U.S., and whose fix-up science fiction novel Central Station is set to appear in May, with the reissue of the Bookman novels and nonfiction book Art and War scheduled as well this year.

We discussed his sometimes controversial approach to alternate history, the question of borrowing tropes from pulp fiction in portraying serious events such as the Holocaust and terrorism, the importance of American SF writers like Cordwainer Smith, his own experiences growing up in a kibbutz and what he read there, and the never-ending question of genre literature vs “literary” fiction.

As always, our thanks to Lavie for making the time to join us on the podcast. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Dimension 6 – Issue 7

Dimension 6 The latest issue of Keith Stevenson’s Dimension 6 is out tomorrow (April 1). The first issue for 2016 features three new stories:

  • ‘In the Slip’ by Emillie Colyer
  • ‘Guitarrista’s Lament’ by Jeff Suwak
  • ‘Preservation of Faith’ by Dustin Adams

If you’re reading science fiction and fantasy  and are interested in what’s happening in Australia, it’s well worth checking out.

ToC – Drowned Worlds

drownedworldsI have just put the last touches to Drowned Worlds: Tales from the Anthropocene and Beyond which is due from Solaris in July.  With a spectacular cover from Les Edwards, and a bunch of great stories, I think it’s all come together really well. I’m hoping you’ll like it too.

Here’s the table of contents:

  • Elves of Antarctica, Paul McAuley
  • Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit – Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts, Ken Liu
  • Venice Drowned, Kim Stanley Robinson
  • Brownsville Station, Christopher Rowe
  • Who Do You Love?, Kathleen Ann Goonan
  • Because Change Was the Ocean and We Lived by Her Mercy, Charlie Jane Anders
  • The Common Tongue, the Present Tense, the Known, Nina Allan
  • What is, Jeffrey Ford
  • Destroyed by the Waters, Rachel Swirsky
  • The New Venusians, Sean Williams
  • Inselberg, Nalo Hopkinson
  • Only Ten More Shopping Days Left Till Ragnarök, James Morrow
  • Last Gods, Sam J. Miller
  • Drowned, Lavie Tidhar
  • The Future is Blue, Catherynne M. Valente

I think it’s sharp, pointed, timely and sometimes satirical. I think it’s about who we are when faced with disaster, and not about disaster. I think it makes for good reading.  Here’s what the publisher says about it:

Last call for the Gone World…

We live in a time of change. The Anthropocene Age – the time when human-induced climate change radically reshapes the world – is upon us. Sea water is flooding the streets of Florida, island nations are rapidly disappearing beneath the waves, the polar icecaps are a fraction of what they once were, and distant, exotic places like Australia are slowly baking in the sun.

Drowned Worlds asks fifteen of the top science fiction and fantasy writers working today to look to the future, to ask how will we survive? Do we face a period of dramatic transition and then a new technology-influenced golden age, or a long, slow decline? Swim the drowned streets of Boston, see Venice disappear beneath the waves, meet a woman who’s turned herself into a reef, traverse the floating garbage cities of the Pacific, search for the elf stones of Antarctica, or spend time in the new, dark Dust Bowl of the American mid-west. See the future for what it is: challenging, exciting, filled with adventure, and more than a little disturbing.

Whether here on Earth or elsewhere in our universe, Drowned Worlds give us a glimpse of a new future, one filled with romance and adventure, all while the oceans rise…

I think this is a good book. I hope you’ll consider reading it.

…unavoidable stuff from jonathan strahan…