Thankful For Many Things...

...including peace between old enemies...

A Subterranean Haul

I just received a wonderful box of special books from Subterranean Press. They're beautiful special editions, with illustrations and all sorts of fine touches.

The books included are Ray Bradbury's A Pleasure to Burn, Alan Campbell's Damnation for Beginners, A Fantasy Medley edited by Yanni Kuznia, Salvage and Demolition by Tim Powers, Lucius Shepard's The Dragon Griaule, The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine, by Peter Straub, and two titles by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Angel's Game and a glorious edition of The Shadow of the Wind.

Thank you, Subterranean. Consider these books treasured...

AfroSF

Just wanted to direct your attention to a forthcoming anthology that I hope is of interest to you. I had the pleasure of reading an early copy and offering a blurb. (See below) It's called AfroSF, and here's the info:

AfroSF is the first ever anthology of Science Fiction by African writers only that was open to submissions from African writers all across Africa and abroad.

Contributors are:

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‘Moom!’ Nnedi Okorafor

‘Home Affairs’ Sarah Lotz

‘Five Sets of Hands’ Cristy Zinn

‘New Mzansi’ Ashley Jacobs

‘Azania’ Nick Wood

‘Notes from Gethsemane’ Tade Thompson

‘Planet X’ Sally Partridge

‘The Gift of Touch’ Chinelo Onwualu

‘The Foreigner’ Uko Bendi Udo

‘Angel Song’ Dave-Brendon Burgh

‘The Rare Earth’ Biram Mboob

‘Terms & Conditions Apply’ Sally-Ann Murray

‘Heresy’ Mandisi Nkomo

‘Closing Time’ Liam Kruger

‘Masquerade Stories’ Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu

‘The Trial’ Joan De La Haye

‘Brandy City’ Mia Arderne

‘Ofe!’ Rafeeat Aliyu

‘Claws and Savages’ Martin Stokes

‘To Gaze at the Sun’ Clifton Gachagua

‘Proposition 23’ (Novelette) Efe Okogu

“This is a book of subtle refractions and phantasmic resonances. The accumulated reading effect is one of deep admiration at the exuberance of the twenty-first century human imagination.” — A. Igoni Barrett, author of Love is Power, Or Something Like That

“The stories in AfroSF feature all the things fans of science fiction expect: deep space travel, dystopian landscapes, alien species, totalitarian bureaucracy, military adventure, neuro-enhanced nightlife, artificial intelligence, futures both to be feared and longed for. At once familiar and disarmingly original, these stories are fascinating for the diversity of voices at play and for the unique perspective each author brings to the genre. This is SF for the Twenty-first Century.” — David Anthony Durham, Campbell Award winning author of The Acacia Trilogy.

“I’d like the repurpose the title of an old anthropological study to describe this fine new anthology: ‘African Genesis.’ The stories in this unprecedented, full-spectrum collection of tales by African writers must surely represent, by virtue of their wit, vigor, daring, and passion, the genesis of a bright new day for Afrocentric science fiction. The contributors here are utterly conversant with all SF subgenres, and employ a full suite of up-to-date concepts and tools to convey their continent-wide, multiplex, idiosyncratic sense of wonder. With the publication of this book, the global web of science fiction is strengthened and invigorated by the inclusion of some hitherto neglected voices.” — Paul Di Filippo, co-author Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010.

Here's that Goodreads Page for the book, if you want to sign up to follow it.

The Spider Dream Vanquished!

So, you may have read about earlier mentions of my son's battles with a very unpleasant spider dream. Alone in a house full of spiders. Trapped. They're attacking from all sides... That sort of thing.

Sage has been having really troubled nights. We all have. We tried suggesting that he get active in the dream. Swing up that Nerf Gun and start blasting. A flamethrower? Sure. Bring it on. Take care of business. Sage was a bit incensed about these suggestions. He just wasn't sure I was taking him seriously. I was, but...

For a couple of weeks, nothing worked. And then, a breakthrough.

Apparently, last night, for the first time, he realized he was in the dream while it was happening. He knew. He just had to figure out what to do. I'm both proud and troubled by what he came up with.

He used to be alone, right? Not this time. This time, he turns around and grabs... me. Dear ole dad. Unceremoniously, he shoves me toward the swarming spiders. Then he runs. He doesn't watch what happens. He just gets out of there. As he runs he breaks through the dreamwall and wakes up.

As glad as I am that he thinks he has the dream beat... I'm of mixed feelings on his method.

Any thoughts? Should I be troubled?

The Arched Doorway

New interview up at The Arched Doorway. It was good fun talking with Rebecca Lovatt at the World Fantasy Conference in Toronto. She managed to secure an impressive number of author interviews. I'm one of them!

Check it out the interview - and her very cool blog - HERE.

An Election

I haven't talked politics here in awhile, and I'm not really going to start now. But, having had an election last night, I think it's reasonable to share my opinion on the whole thing.

I'm pleased. Very pleased. I'm optimistic about the legacy President Obama will leave after his second term, and I'm hopeful that Congress will have no choice but to let a few things get done. I'm overjoyed that the election was so clearly won, and that there were no major diabolical plots muddying everything, and that the changing demographics of the American populace seems to be finally, and firmly, effecting the electoral process in this country. America, all things considered, did well last night. I believe that our economy, environment, world stature, healthcare and social fabric will all benefit from it.

I'm also pleased that Massachusetts has returned to form and is sending a Democrat to the Senate again.

Yesterday, I picked my son up from school and took him with me to the polling place. He got to watch the process and look through the ballot questions with me. It was great to share that with him, and for the outcome to have been so positive.

Of course, none of this stopped him from having his recurring scary spider dream again last night. That's proving harder to beat than Mr. Romney...

World Fantasy Awards

The World Fantasy Conference was great fun, as always. It's one of my favorite cons, and I just love it that walking into the lobby on the first day means greeting friend after friend. I met a ton of new people also, which is a treat. Means I'll have that many more friends to connect with next time!

Of course, I totally failed to take any photos, and I'm not going to exhaustively name drop. (Although, hanging out with the Australian contingent is highly recommended. Garth Nix is absurdly nice for someone that's sold millions of copies. Sean Williams, too.)

I will mention that, to my embarrassment, I had barroom conversation with Lavie Tidhar without 1) congratulating him on being nominated for the World Fantasy Award and 2) somehow managing to forget that I'd just bought his book and was very much looking forward to it. Not good con etiquette. I guess we had other things to talk about, though.

Oh, and then Lavie went on to win the big prize. Congrats, sir.

Okay, so a little name dropping. Not much, though.

Instead, I'll point you toward the WF Award winners. If you haven't checked them out already, take a look HERE.