Legacy Award Nominees

I had the pleasure of serving as one of the judges for this year's Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards. This is an award for black writers from around the world, so long as their book was published in the US.

There were some very good books in the mix - as there are every year. Some featured contemporary issues, some looked at history, many had truly international perspectives and settings.

The winners haven't been announced yet, but the nominees have.

You can check them out HERE.

And Finally...

...a piece of Wild Cards news that does include me!

I'm very pleased to be able to say that the next installment in the long-running collaborative sf series has just been delivered to, and accepted by, Tor. It's called Lowball, and it's likely to hit store shelves in 2014.

GRRM makes his announcement HERE.

My contribution is again a story about Marcus Carter (aka Infamous Black Tongue). I debuted the character in the last volume, Fort Freak. He's back again, and in for a world of hurt. Poor lad. It's a multi-part story that weaves in from start to finish of the book.

The full lineup this time is:

“The Big Bleed,” by Michael Cassutt, starring STUNTMAN,
“Those About to Die,” by David Anthony Durham, starring INFAMOUS BLACK TONGUE,
“Galahad in Blue” by Melinda Snodgrass, starring FRANCIS XAVIER BLACK of the NYPD,
“Ties That Bind” by Mary Anne Mohanraj, starring MICHAEL STEVENS of the NYPD,
“Cry Wolf” by David D. Levine, introducing THE CARTOONIST,
“Road Kill” by Walter Jon Williams, starring GORDON THE GHOUL,
“Once More, for Old Time’s Sake” by Carrie Vaughn, starring EARTH WITCH, CURVBALL, DRUMMER BOY, and JOHN FORTUNE,
“No Parking… “ by Ian Tregillis, starring RUSTBELT.

Another Cover

From Brazlian publisher Leya this time:

This is for the first book in the series. Artwork by Marc Simonetti.

What Wild Cards Look Like In Russia

George RR Martin recently had a Russian reader alert him to new covers for the first three Wild Card's books. They are as follows...

And Germany...

Wild Cards returns to Germany with the publication of a recent triad of collaborative books - INSIDE STRAIGHT, BUSTED FLUSH, SUICIDE KINGS.

These were the three books just before I joined the gang. So... if all goes well my characters will soon be speaking German as well!

The publisher is Blanvalet, the very cool publisher that was kind enough get behind the Acacia Trilogy as well!

Mutants Invade Spain...

...and I couldn't be more pleased.

George RR has just confirmed that the Spanish publisher Scyla will be publishing editions of the first seven volumes of the Wild Cards series. One deal. Seven books.

I've been involved in this world for a few years now, but I've never seen things as popping and rocking as they are right now.

I have to eat dinner, but afterwards I'll mention a few more cool things...

I've Been Quiet

That's not because I've been doing nothing, though. Been doing lots of stuff, really, though circumstances are such that I can't talk about much of it. Some things have been delayed because of my ownself. Some have been screwed with in general. Some are things that involve other folks, and I have to wait for them. So... I may be waiting a while yet for those things. It will all, eventually, be good. I really have no doubt about that.

But! One of the projects that's been held up for the last year has finally come together. It's a Wild Cards/George RR Martin thing.

But... I've been remiss in updating on various new Wild Cards developments. So, before mentioning the WC news that includes me directly, I'll update on things about my mutant family. See next post...

(I'd like spread these things out a bit, as the pieces came in separately over last couple of weeks.)

Iain Banks

Very bad news from author Iain Banks concerning his recently diagnosed terminal cancer.

His statement is HERE.

The Guardian article is HERE.

I'm really saddened by this. Because he's a good man. Because he's a brilliant author. Because his books will forever be entwined with my first exposure to Scotland in the late 90's. I never met him, but he's part of many, many memories I have. Always will be.

George R. R. Martin poleca książki

This amuses me. The reach of GRRM.

A few days ago he was kind enough to post a list of books and authors he recommends for people waiting impatiently for his next book. Happily, I'm one of them!

That's nice enough, but I had to chuckle when the list made the Huffington Post!

And, even further afield, it's on this Polish website! Fortunately, Acacia (and Pride of Carthage) is published in Polish, as Akacja, so I'm in this cover shot with some rather prominent authors:

So if I end up big in Poland it's surely all George's fault.

Mandria Cartaginei

Anyone have connections in Romania?

I ask because I've just seen the Romanian version of Pride of Carthage for the first time. It's called Mandria Cartaginei: Romanul Lui Hannibal and it looks like this:

I like it, but I'm worried about getting my hands on a copy. Never got one from the publisher and, sometimes, I never do. Hey, I'd even buy one if I could figure out how to.