Wizard’s Tower

New From Prime: Superheroes & Weird Detectives

~ Cheryl

Weird DetectivesWe have two new books from Prime in the bookstore today. The first is Weird Detectives: Recent Investigations, the latest in Paul Guran’s series of themed anthologies. It includes stories by Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs. The nature of the content is hopefully obvious.

The other book is another themed anthology: Superheroes, edited by Rich Horton. Again there is an impressive contributor list, headed by Kelly Link, Ian McDonald, James Patrick Kelly, Peter S. Beagle and Daryl Gregory. Again the content should be obvious. Both of them sound like fine volumes. Full tables of contents are given in the bookstore.

New From Twelfth Planet – Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer

~ Cheryl

I’m out all day. I’ll be interviewing the wonderful Amelia Beamer on Ujima Radio, and then I have a post-mortem meeting for the LGBT History exhibition. I should have the podcasts for the show available later this week. In the meantime, why not check out the latest book in the Twelve Planets series of short collections by Australian women writers. This one is Asymmetry, from Thoraiya Dyer. Nancy Kress, no less, says it is marvelous. Great science fiction by women: it exists.

Marriage Equality: It Matters

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

I keep an eye on the authors I’ve contracted with at Wizard’s Tower Press. You never know when one of them might do something newsworthy. Juliet, of course, is buried in convention work as she’s chairing this year’s Eastercon. Lyda has no such restrictions, and is free to get into all sorts of trouble. Of course she hides it well. The big news is tucked away at the bottom of a post about car problems. But I spotted it anyway. There are wedding bells on the horizon.

Minnesota is still in the process of passing its marriage equality legislation. I’m no expert on the process, but the news sites I’ve looked at are all suggesting that, with key votes passed yesterday, it is now only a matter of time, because the votes are there and the Governor has already signaled that he will support the bill.

Lyda and Shawn have been a couple for as long as I have known them, which is well over a decade. Indeed, I was slightly surprised to discover today that their son, Mason, is almost 10 years old. Time flies. And kids are important. After all, one of the reasons that the wedding is on the cards is that years ago Mason asked his mothers to promise to get married if they were able to do so. So that they could be a proper family.

Which is why I’m getting all teary over this. It might just be a piece of legislation, but it means the world to the families affected by it. I am so happy for Lyda, Shawn and Mason.

By the way, the UK’s marriage equality legislation has moved through the committee stage more or less unscathed. And by “unscathed” what I mean is that all but one of the amendments put forward to address the concerns of trans people were voted down. The only one that got through was one that corrected an injustice that would have been faced by the cis spouses of people who transitioned. I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not.

New From ChiZine: Bullettime

~ Cheryl

Today’s new addition to the bookstore is from Nick Mamatas. Bullettime sounds like a fascinating book, and how can you resist something that includes, “a death cult dedicated to Eris”? And it is Nick, which really needs no further elaboration.

Welcome, Terra Motus Books

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

We have a new publisher in the Book Store. Terrae Motus Books is a new imprint and right now has just one title: Primary Fault, the first volume of a fantasy series by Sharon Kae Reamer. Those of you who have bought Colinthology will know that Sharon has a story in that book, so I’m delighted to welcome her back to the store.

The blub for Primary Fault says that it is, “a delightful mixture of science meets magic set amidst a backdrop of Celto-Germanic Otherworld.” There are some nice reviews for it, including one from the San Francisco Book Review. Why not give it a try?

New From ChiZine

~ Cheryl

Our friends in Canada have sent us two new books to sell. The first is Rasputin’s Bastards by David Nickle, which sounds distinctly creepy. I can do no better than quote the start of the blurb:

They were the beautiful dreamers. From a hidden city deep in the Ural mountains, they walked the world as the coldest of Cold Warriors, under the command of the Kremlin and under the power of their own expansive minds. They slipped into the minds of Russia’s enemies with diabolical ease, and drove their human puppets to murder, and worse. They moved as Gods. And as Gods, they might have remade the world. But like the mad holy man Rasputin, who destroyed Russia through his own powerful influence… in the end, the psychic spies for the Motherland were only in it for themselves.

The other book is Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing, edited Sandra Kasturi & Halli Villegas. It is, as the title suggests, made up of writers by Canadians, and there are a lot of really great writers in it. The Table of Contents includes Steven Erikson, Gemma Files, Geoff Ryman, Lisa L. Hannett, Peter Watts, Helen Marshall, Cory Doctorow, Madeline Ashby and many others. It is a huge anthology, and a great way to check out what Canada has to offer.

New From Aqueduct

~ Cheryl

Fresh from their triumph in the Tiptree, our good friends at Aqueduct Press have sent us four new books. They are:

Necessary Ill looks particularly interesting to me. The idea of deliberately spreading plague to reduce the human population sounds disturbingly Tepper-esque, but the book moves beyond that. There’s an enthusiastic blurb from Suzy McKee Charnas who notes, “…the reader finds an in-depth exploration of what a human society minus sex hormones might be like”. Personally I’m rather partial to my estrogen, but I do have an essay on the future of gender to write, and consequently this book has flown to the top of my To Read list.

Lammy Nominees Announced

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

While I was out yesterday the short lists for the Lambda Literary Awards were announced. I’m pleased to see several friends on the lists.

Roz Kaveney gets a nod in the Trans Fiction category for her poetry collection, Dialectic of the Flesh from A Midsummer Night’s Press.

Malinda Lo’s Adapatation is a finalist in the Children/YA category. And of course it is always pleasing to see lots of books up for that award.

Most of the interest, however, centers on the SF/F/H category. Here’s the list:

Huge congratulations to Brit, whose book I reviewed here. I don’t have The Survivors yet, but the other three Lethe titles are available in the book store either via the links above or these nifty widgets.

New From Twelfth Planet

~ Cheryl

We have a new Australian title in the bookstore today. Technically its an anthology, but in keeping with Twelfth Planet’s preference for shorter books it contains only two stories. They are “The Company Articles of Edward Teach” by Thoraiya Dyer and “The Angaelien Apocalypse” by Matthew Chrulew. Dyer is someone whom my Aussie pals have been enthusing about for some time, and there’s a quote from Charles de Lint enthusing about her on the cover. If you want to check her out before buying, try “The Wisdom of Ants” from the December Clarkesworld.

March Magazines

~ Cheryl

It is that time of the month again. What have we got for you in March? Well, if you follow me on Twitter you might have seen me mention how excited I was about the table of contents for the new Clarkesworld. Now I can tell you why.

The winner of last year’s Readers’ Poll was “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard. This month she’s back. The story is called “The Weight of a Blessing”, and I have just seen Aliette tweet that it is a very angry story. The audio version is available here.

If a new story from Aliette wasn’t enough, there’s a story from Genevieve Valentine, the intriguingly titled “86, 87, 88, 89”. There is also the more straightforward but equally intriguing “The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution” by A.C. Wise. Those two will be podcast later in the month.

Jeremy has an interview with M.C. Planck, and the non-fiction article is “Videodrome at Thirty” by Keith Phipps. That’s a look back at David Cronenberg’s classic movie. The Another Word column for this month has been taken over by Princess Alethea Kontis, who is talking about “Original Sin”. Ooh, err, whatever can she be on about?

Neil’s editorial contains the exciting but slightly old news that, as of the April issue, Gardner Dozois will be taking up the post of Reprints Editor, meaning that a fourth story will be added to each issue. It also includes the excellent news of the magazines four Nebula nominees.

This month’s cover is “The Emperor’s Arrival” by David Demaret.

As usual, the issue is available in the bookstore as well as online. Those of you who by issues help keen the magazine free for those who can’t afford to do so.

We also have the March issue of Lightspeed. The top features there (at least as far as I am concerned) are a story and interview from the fabulous Argentinian author, Angélica Gorodischer.

Got Tansy (With Pirates)?

~ Cheryl

We have a new book in the store. Splashdance Silver is the novel that won Tansy Rayner Roberts the inaugural George Turner Prize in 1998. Out of print in paper, it is now available again as an ebook from Fablecroft. I’m guessing that the sequel, Liquid Gold, will follow soon. Tansy has apparently re-edited the book, so you’ll want it even if you have the paper version.

As to the subject matter, the blurb says it is about, “pirates and politics, treasure and traitors, epic adventures, magical mysteries, nearly-true-love and things which glint in the night.” What more can you ask for? Arrr!

Recommended Reading

~ Cheryl

The Locus Recommended Reading List was published at the beginning of this month. Many of the books listed on it are available from the Wizard’s Tower bookstore. I thought it would be a good idea to remind you all of some of them.

Top of the list has to be Jagannath, the wonderful debut collection from Karin Tidbeck. I say that because the book has also won this year’s Crawford Award. We’ve sold lots copies of Jagannath, but there might still be a few people who don’t have it. It is a lovely book.

As for the rest of the list, here are the ones we have.

The final book, Through Splintered Walls, is on the list because of the novella, “Sky”, which is on the Recommended Reading list and takes up much of the book.

New From Book View Cafe

~ Cheryl

We have three new releases from Book View Cafe today.

First up is a YA fantasy from the fabulous Judith Tarr, His Majesty’s Elephant. It sounds like an Arabian Nights type thing from the blurb.

Secondly we have a science fiction mystery, Pure Cold Light. The blurb is a bit mysterious too, but the book is by Greg Frost so I’m sure it will be great.

And finally I’m delighted to be able to offer for sale, Space Magic, the debut collection from my friend David D. Levine. The book contains “Tk’Tk’Tk”, which is a Hugo winner, and “The Tale of the Golden Eagle”, which was a Hugo and nebula nominee, plus a couple of other award winning tales. Recommended.

New From Osier

~ Cheryl

We have a new Morgan Gallagher novel in the bookstore. Bedlam Maternity is a horror novel about a ghost that appears to be killing new mothers. It sounds way too disturbing for me, which probably means that some of you will lap it up.

New From Wizard’s Tower – The Swordsman’s Oath

~ Cheryl

It is new book time again. The second volume of the Tales of Einarinn, Juliet E. McKenna’s debut fantasy series, is now available in our store. My thanks again to Juliet for allowing me to publish these books, and to the good folks at Antimatter ePress who did the conversion. Juliet has talked about the genesis of the book over at her blog. I always find find her thoughts about the process of creating novels to be well worth reading. And as I can’t add much to what she said, I’m going to put my publisher hat on instead and encourage you to buy The Swordsman’s Oath.

Now I need to get on and put it in other stores as well.

February Magazines

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

This post should have gone up on Friday night or Saturday morning, but I was busy hobnobbing with mayors and the like so it has been a bit delayed. Here’s what we have from the February magazines.

Clarkesworld has three science fiction stories. The first, “Gravity” is from Erzebet Yellowboy whose work I know so I’m sure that will be good. As usual, it is available in audio, read by Kate Baker.

The second story, “The Wanderers” by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, sounds very interesting. Here’s how it begins:

We came to your planet because we knew that you, the peoples of Kill Bill and Saw and Vietnam and Columbine Massacre would understand us.

Oh dear.

Story three is “Vacant Spaces” by Greg Kurzawa. As usual, the second and third stories will be podcast later in the month.

There is a non-fiction article about SF and social media. Jeremy’s interview subject for the month is the fabulous Karen Lord, and probably by coincidence Daniel Abraham’s Another Word column reflects some of the themes of The Best of All Possible Worlds.

In his editorial the newly cyborged Neil Clarke gives the results of the 2012 readers’ poll. The top three stories are:

  1. “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard
  2. “Fade to White” by Catherynne M. Valente
  3. “Mantis Wives” by Kij Johnson

It would not surprise me to see all three on the Hugo ballot this year.

And finally this month’s cover is “Concrete 9” by Chinese artist, Yang Xueguo.

Issue 77 of Clarkesworld is, of course, available from the bookstore.

Over at Lightspeed, we have a new story by Genevieve Valentine, which is always something to look forward to. There’s an interview with Maureen McHugh, and a reprint story from John Crowley. The ebook exclusive content includes a novella by Tad Williams and an except from Karen Lord’s The Best of All Possible Worlds, which definitely makes it worth buying.

Clarkesworld Year 3

~ Cheryl

All of the fiction from the third year of Clarkesworld Magazine. For just £4.99. Includes stories by Jay Lake, Nnedi Okorafor, Robert Reed, Sarah Monette, Mike Resnick, Lavie Tidhar, N.K. Jemisin and Catherynne M. Valente. What a great way to support your favorite online fiction magazine. Buy it here.