NEWS | Dangerous Women edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois gets a release date

News broke about George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois' next big anthology quite sometime ago, but a release date hadn't been set until just now. Dangerous Women will be released December of 2013, which should be just in time for Christmas. And what's better than original stories by Joe Abercrombie, Lev Grossman, and Brandon Sanderson to close out the the year? Well, only if we got a new Martin A Song of Ice and Fire story, which we do. It will cover the Targaryen civil war which has been mentioned a lot in the novels and Dunk & Egg stories, but little detail has been revealed. But don't confuse this with the Dunk & Egg stories as it takes place well before Egg was born. Here's part of Martin's announcement from a few months back that goes into more detail on some of the stories:

The Abercrombie is set against his RED COUNTRY backdrop, the Holland gives us Eleanor of Aquitaine, Jim Butcher returns us to Harry Dresden’s world, Lev Grossman contributes a tale of life at Brakebills, Steve Stirling revisits his Emberverse, Diana Gabaldon’s story features Jamie Fraser of OUTLANDER fame, the Spector is a Wild Cards story featuring Hoodoo Mama and the Amazing Bubbles, and mine own contribution… well, it’s some of that fake history I have been writing lo these many months, the true (mostly) story of the origins of the Dance of the Dragons. The stand-alone stories, not part of any series, feature some amazing work as well. For those who like to lose themselves in long stories, the Brandon Sanderson story, the Diana Gabaldon story, the Caroline Spector story, and my “Princess and Queen” are novellas. Huge mothers.

Here’s the table of contents…

• “Some Desperado” by Joe Abercrombie
• “My Heart Is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott
• “Nora’s Song” by Cecelia Holland
• “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass
• “Bombshells” by Jim Butcher
• “Raisa Stepanova” by Carrie Vaughn
• “Wrestling Jesus” by Joe R. Lansdale
• “Neighbors” by Megan Lindholm
• “I Know How To Pick ‘em” by Lawrence Block
• “Shadows For Silence In The Forests Of Hell” by Brandon Sanderson
• “A Queen In Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman
• “The Girl In The Mirror” by Lev Grossman
• “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress
• “City Lazarus” by Diana Rowland
• “Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon
• “Hell Hath No Fury” by Sherilynn Kenyon
• “Pronouncing Doom” by S.M. Stirling
• “Name The Beast” by Sam Sykes
• “Caretakers” by Pat Cadigan
• “Lies My Mother Told Me” by Caroline Spector
• “The Princess And The Queen” by George R.R. Martin

December can't get here soon enough.

You Might Also Like:
Joe Abercrombie Interviews George R.R. Martin
ART | A New Look to GRRM's A Song of Ice & Fire
GUEST POST | Ekaterina Sedia on Anthology Editing
REVIEW | The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
AUTHOR INTERVIEW | Lev Grossman author of The Magicians
REVIEW | Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes

FREE FICTION | Carlos Ruiz Zafon's origin story of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books

"Rose of Fire" is a short story by Carlos Ruiz Zafon translated by Lucia Graves set in the world of the much beloved The Shadow of the Wind. It tells the origins of Cemetery of Forgotten Books in the fifteenth century. I have just made your day as I know it made mine.

The story is being released for promotion of Zafon's The Prisoner of Heaven, which is just a few short weeks away. You can find the story for free at nearly every major e-book vendor including Nook, Amazon, Kobo, etc.

Go forth and enjoy!

You Might Also Like:
Cover Unveiled for The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
REVIEW | The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Cover Unveiled for Charles Yu's Sorry Please Thank You: Stories
REVIEW | Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

FREE FICTION | Martha Wells Three Worlds Shorts

Last night I finished The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells, which is the sequel to the wondrous world she created with The Cloud Roads. If you haven't read any of Wells novels yet it is high time you do and to whet your imagination I turn you towards three short stories, which all have to do with the 3 Worlds.

The first is a bit of a prequel focusing on Chime, one of the series main character's good friends who went through something of a change before The Cloud Roads opens. "Adaptation" is the story of how Chime went from being a Mentor in the Raksura community to its newest Warriors. Quite a thing when you develop wings nearly overnight. Definitely a must-read for those who have read the first book.  The second is also a prequel. "The Forest Boy" is about the starring character Moon from a time when he was very young and very alone.

The last centers on a crew of a flying ship, "The Almost Last Voyage of the Wind-ship Escarpment." This one doesn't feature any of the characters from the novels, but does explore a different culture found on the world, which literally seems like a world filled with hundreds of sentient races.

And Wells just tweeted out news about the third book of the Raksura:

Good news this morning: the third (still untitled) Raksura Book now has a contract and will probably come out in January or February of 2013!

You Might Also Like:
FREE FICTION | A Ticket to Genevieve Valentine's Circus Tresaulti
FREE FICTION | Greg van Eekhout's In The Late December
FREE FICTION | Ian Tregillis's What Doctor Gottlieb Saw
GETTING TO KNOW | Mary Robinette Kowal's Evil Robot Monkey & More

REVIEW | Brave New Worlds ed. by John Joseph Adams

John Joseph Adams has singled-handedly been responsible for making me read more short fiction in the last 3 years than nearly the 10 years before that.  Each collection starting with his first reprint anthology Wastelands up to his latest Brave New Worlds have done a great service to each of the themes visited providing a well rounded smorgasbord of ideas and entertainment.

Brave New Worlds is Adams' best entry into the reprint anthology fold thus far bringing to light many impossibly classic stories as well as some recent gems that will mostly stand the test of time as well. Each and every story grows from the kernel of an idea that society or politics has become gone awry in some way either in its laws or rituals. Adams provides his incisive commentary to introduce each piece as usual, which does tend to drift into some good social commentary as well given the topic at hand. Some stories are about people raging against the machine while others are about those who just fall in line simply because they are instilled with fear of what would happen otherwise.

While at first look Brave New Worlds simply looks like a collection put together for their name value--as it is a who's who of classic and modern authors--I quickly realized that each and every story was picked with care and some even defy normal convention as we are treated to a short graphic story by none other than Neil Gaiman that in no way feels shoehorned in and Ursula K. Leguin's piece  "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" from the 70s that feels absolutely timeless, but has no main characters as it sweeps through a town. While there are some I didn't connect with as well as others there isn't a clunker in the bunch. These 33 stories inspire a sense of caution and sometimes outright horror about things that could easily come to pass.

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is one of the best known examples of a dystopian story and immediately sets the right tone for the collection. It is a simple yet very effective use of bringing an ancient ritual into somewhat modern times. This was actually my first time reading the story, but I enjoyed it so much I immediately re-read it.

"Red Card" by S. L. Gilbow is placed in a world where from time-to-time someone gets a free pass at murdering someone.  The story comes off feeling very realistic with the tone of the protagonist having an eerie sense of doing the right thing. Would you shoot that guy who cut you off on the way to work if given the chance?

"Ten With a Flag" by Joseph Paul Haines gives us the ultimate choice tale. As technology advances we're able to learn more and more before birth about our children, but do we really want to know more? And should the government know before you do? Haines crafts a very fine story that twists very nicely in the end.

"The Funeral" by Kate Wilhelm is definitely, if not a precursor to The Hunger Games, a big influence in many ways. The class system was very similar and the story centers around young girls wanting to escape from their society. It was far too short given all the tidbits thrown in.

"O Happy Day!" by Geoff Ryman is probably the most screwed up story in the bunch condemning most men to death for being too violent while a few gay men are saved only to do the worst jobs possible in their society. Very dark stuff with a hint of hope.

"Billennium" by J. G. Ballard was an amazing take on population growth and getting exactly what you ask for only to ruin it yourself. I felt like I was reading a story right out of the Twilight Zone.

"Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn turns the overpopulation theme a bit on its side with this one. We always get stories about people breaking the laws having children, but rarely do we get to see what happens down the line, which is what Vaughn gives us here. I never thought I'd care this much about a story on a fishing boat, but the struggles of the crew left me rapt.

"Pop Squad" by Paolo Bacigalupi gives us another of his truly darkly inspired stories about a world where aging is frowned upon and children are straight out illegal.

"Dead Space for the Unexpected" by Geoff Ryman is his second in the collection only on the lighter side.  Think of Office Space, but with a main character who wants nothing more than to please and be praised for it. Than make him as big a dick as you can think times 2 and you're just about there.

"The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick is another classic that should be read by everyone even if you've seen the movie (which has held up on its own as well). A conspiracy of future events is after the main character as he attempts to proves his innocence against irrefutable proof in a country where you're arrested before you even commit a crime.

"Just Do It" by Heather Lindsley is made of pure awesome.  We all know advertising has gotten out of control and invades nearly every aspect of our life, but what if it was literally injected into you? This story made me hate McDonald's all over again.

"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. asks us When does making everyone equal become unfair?
Very funny in a twisted sort of way given all the handicaps the characters are under.

"Caught in the Organ Draft" by Robert Silverberg imagines a world where the elder elite have changed the laws to harvest organs from the young. Damn if this doesn't seem all too feasible now.

"Arties Aren’t Stupid" by Jeremiah Tolbert gives his characters their own version of a techie Patois which lend this tale a huge amount of originality, which is beautifully told. Art is integral to a groups essence and when society forbids them their creative powers start a shift that will change the world.

As immensely readable as Brave New Worlds is I had to put it down intermittently just because I couldn't stand the idea of finishing the collection. I give Brave New Worlds 10 out of 10 hats. This is one of the best collections of this or any year and showcases Adams's immensely keen editorial eye. If you are a fan of classic authors George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Kurt Vonnegut, and modern scribes Suzanne Collins, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Lauren Beukes you should add this to you collection and savor it. For a good size helping of these stories a free sampler is also available containing 10 of the stories.

You Might Also Like:
REVIEW | Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
REVIEW | The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
REVIEW | God's War by Kameron Hurley
REVIEW | Metatropolis edited by John Scalzi

INTERVIEW | Brent Weeks on the Durzo Novella and More

The Night Angel series established Brent Weeks as part of the new school of Epic Fantasy authors going for the darker path while also embracing his own twisty style of story telling.  In the past Weeks mentioned his intention to return to the world of Night Angel, but not until after he finished the Lightbringer series, which  started strongly with The Black Prism.  But he has a special treat in store for all the Night Angel fans out there.  As mentioned earlier Brent Weeks has just finished a Durzo Blint short story. I couldn't help but try to find out more and Brent was kind enough to answer my questions.

WARNING: If you haven't read the Night Angel series there is something mentioned below that can be considered a spoiler.

MH: This Durzo novella sort of came out of nowhere. What made you want to delve back into Durzo's history? Fan response or have you always had this story in mind?

WEEKS: First, I should throw a caveat in here. Technically, it's a novelette--it's 16,000 words (60-ish pages), and a novella is 17,000 to 40,000. But I called it a novella in my tweet because, heck, who's ever heard of a novelette? So readers should expect like a really long short story, rather than a short novel. I'm an epic fantasy writer, so I'm incapable of writing a short novel. However, blowing way past the limits of a short story--that, I can do.

My sneaky idea, which I have no idea if it will really work out, because the creative mind loves what it loves, is to do one Durzo short story between each of the Lightbringer novels. That way, I'm keeping something alive for the fans of Night Angel, I'm getting to experiment and do something different while engaged in a multi-year project, and I'm showing more of the world I'll eventually come back to after Lightbringer is finished. Durzo has been around for a long time, and I've always thought it would be fun to tell more stories about him.

The story came out of nowhere because it's got a really different flavor. I demand more of my readers in this one. Quite honestly, I didn't know if I could pull it off. So I didn't want to sell it before I wrote it and then be obligated to turn in something--because that something might not have been that great. And I worked on it for a couple weeks at the end of the summer, didn't think it was going anywhere, and then got caught up in touring, and then after touring sat down to work on the next Lightbringer book--but this stupid thing just started scratching to get out. Now that it has, I'm really quite proud of it.

MH: Does the novella have a working title? And what sort of release is planned? Your publisher Orbit announced a few months back a short fiction eBook program so that was brought to mind.

WEEKS: Well, since Orbit has only just received the story, I probably shouldn't tell you my brilliant title ideas (or crappy ones), in case those get rejected in favor of something else. Because then I'll get fans writing me, saying, "But I thought you had another short story, called X! This one was terrible. I want to read that one!"

What sort of release is planned? Ha ha ha. You think there's a plan? The Orbit short fiction program will probably be its first home, and I definitely have some other hopes--but nothing's been signed yet, so I better sit on that one.

MH: What can we expect from the novella? Does it take place right when Durzo gets his powers or earlier when he was becoming someone important in the land of Midcyru?

WEEKS: The bulk of the story is literally how Gaelan Starfire becomes Durzo Blint. So you'll see a younger Momma K, assassinations, ka'kari and more. I think it stands on its own, but it will be much more rewarding if you've read the Night Angel trilogy. I don't do a lot of hand-holding in this story. You can catch things, or just miss them. It moves really fast. I did have moments where I thought, "I could easily turn this into a full length novel." And if I didn't feel an obligation to fans to finish Lightbringer in some relatively reasonable time frame, I might have entertained those thoughts more, because this was really fun to write.

MH: What's next for you? Vacation to some fabled island where authors can relax or are you jumping into the next Lightbringer novel?

WEEKS: When I sent my agent this Durzo story for his comments, he gave me some great suggestions, and then at the end, he said, "Great story, brilliant, wonderful. Now get back to work."

So I'm back to working on Lightbringer 2: tentatively titled The Blinding Knife.

MH: Thanks for your time!


Brent Weeks is the New York Times best-selling author of The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, and Beyond the Shadows. To learn more about Brent Weeks visit his blog or follow him on twitter.

You Might Also Like:
REVIEW | The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
FREE FICTION | The Black Prism by Brent Weeks sample chapters
Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy Movie Option
NEWS | Brent Weeks Turns in Durzo Novella

REVIEW | Metatropolis Edited by John Scalzi

Metatropolis is one of only a few anthologies I have ever read where it is hard to pick a favorite story as most were superb.  Five of the brightest voices working in Science Fiction today have come together to create a shared future focusing on cities, which was originally envisioned as a audio only piece for audible.com. Included are stories from Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, Karl Schroeder, and John Scalzi who also edited the whole project.

Scalzi has done something I don't think has been done before: created a shared world which all of the contributors helped develop and sometimes working in unison sharing their stories with one another as they were writing so things tied-in together as best as possible. Nearly every story is a winner and stands alone in its own right yet together they build a tapestry world where nations have toppled and communities are organized loosely as city-states with anarchy reigning most other places. Metatropolis is about as Green Punk as it can get with its zero-footprint enclaves and green fanatic cults. It is even more so Green Punk than Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, plus it is a bit more approachable and not so desolate.

Jay Lake starts off the anthology with In the Forest of the Night.  Lake's story is placed in Cascadiopolis, which is a anarchistic closed-collective in the wilds between Seattle and Vancouver. This was the bleakest story of the bunch. Even though this group of people has advanced technology they are still distrusting of outsiders. Two newcomers get into the city and cause havoc. Green leaves you guessing a lot up until the end.  The pacing was very slow and I wanted some more backstory for a few characters, but given the structure I understand why they weren't included.

Tobias Buckell's story Stochastic-City is next placed in a run down Detroit, which gives you a broader view of how the world of Metatropolis came about mixing in some of the events that culminated in the downfall of society. Buckell's story focuses on a future Detroit where a movement to remove cars from the city is taking hold of the populace who are not necessarily for it. Sort of a forced greening of a city. This story easily had my favorite main character who goes to great lengths to get what he thinks he deserves only to find a direction for his life.  This was my first taste of Buckell's writing and it has made me eager to finally crack his novel Crystal Rain, which I hope to get to in the near future.

Elizabeth Bear's contribution is The Red in the Sky is Our Blood, which follows Buckell's setting in Detroit, but takes a very different tact for a similar goal. One running theme in all the stories is people trying to live through each day without thinking about tomorrow and finding a purpose.  I enjoyed Bear's story, but found it difficult to connect with the protagonist Cadie, but that was as designed in many ways.

John Scalzi story is the Latin titled Utere Nihil Non Extra Quiritationem Suis , which if I shared the translation would ruin part of the joke to the funniest story in the anthology. Unlike the other stories Scazli focused on a main character who grew up in a closed cities and who doesn't understand what life was like before society changed and does not appreciate what the world outside safe cities has become. Benji ends up taking a very low level job under threat of expulsion from New St. Louis as everyone must contribute to the betterment of the city in some fashion. Benji is a character drawn to be disliked, but in the end he becomes endearing and finds his place in the world even if it smells funny.

Karl Schroeder finish the book strong with the most meta story in the bunch with To Hie From Far Cilenia. It involves steampunk and a cyber world experience similar to that of Snow Crash, but more enmeshed in reality. Yet it oddly reminds me of The City & The City with worlds beyond worlds and a detective like format of an agent in search of something and finding more than he ever thought existed. Really well done.

My biggest disappointment was it was over before I was ready to leave and that we only saw one story outside of North America.  I give Metatropolis 8 out of 10 hats.  This definitely ranks among the best anthologies of the year now.  Longer works could certainly be made from what they have and there are a lot more cities to visit and stories to tell in the world of Metatropolis.  Sub Press's did the limited edition hardcover release which I read with a trade hardcover recently released from Tor.

It was recently announced that there will be a second Metatropolis volume. This time Jay Lake is taking editing duties with all stories being placed in his Cascadia. It will be called Metatropolis: Cascadia and will contain stories by the returning Jay Lake, Tobias S. Buckell; Elizabeth Bear; Karl Schroeder; and newbies to the world Ken Scholes and Mary Robinette Kowal. Now that is quite a lineup. Also, the audio version will be narrated by various Star Trek cast members. I would have preferred to see another book from different cities around the world again instead of one locale, but the lineup more than makes up for it.


You Might Also Like:
REVIEW | The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
REVIEW | The Quiet War by Paul McAuley
10 "Facts" About John Scalzi
REVIEW | The God Engines by John Scalzi
REVIEW | Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

FREE FICTION | Peter Orullian's Sacrifice of the First Sheason

Tor.com has been on quite a roll late with its short fiction program. This week brings us a (longish) short story by Peter Orullian. Some of you may remember me gushing on about the cover by Kekai Kotaki for his debut The Unremembered. "Sacrifice of the First Sheason" also features art by Kotaki and is the first of three stories that Tor.com will publish placed in the world of The Unremembered with Orullian doing another nine on his on site all of which are supposed to stand on their own, but lead into some of the mysteries revealed in the series. Many of the stories will take place before the events of The Unremembered as "Sacrifice of the First Sheason" does. Here is the first part:

Deep in the Divide Mountains, wind and thunder shook conifers that towered a hundred strides tall. Rain fell hard, battering the village of Estem Salo and leaving it awash in the sound of rushing waters. Lightning struck every few moments, flashing the world beyond Palamon Dal Solaas’ window in stark, momentary relief before darkness reclaimed the heights around his home. Beside him, Solera slept soundly, nestled into the crook of his arm. But he could not sleep, finding the tempest in the heavens too disquieting. So, when Palamon first heard the pounding at his door over the tumult of the storm, he had a sense of foreboding about the late night caller. Who would brave these storms at this hour?

The heavy beating at his door came again, faster this time, more insistent. Quickly but carefully he freed his arm from beneath his slumbering companion and hurried to the door. He could imagine only a member of the council coming to him at this hour. He’d seen them in private chambers often lately; perhaps this visit was related to these new secrets. His visitor would likely be Dossolum, the Voice of the Council, who’d been struggling to maintain balance as the Founders labored to complete their formation of this world.

The rest of the story can be read here or heard here. The story shows promise for the world and I'll definitely check out the others to see how everything progresses.

You Might Also Like:
A Fantasy Debut to Watch for in 2011
FREE FICTION | A Shweta Narayan steampunk tale
FREE FICTION | John Scalzi's Judge Sn Goes Golfing
FREE FICTION | Prologue to Spellwright by Blake Charlton

REVIEW | Is Anybody Out There? ed. by Nick Givers & Marty Halpern

Theme anthologies can go one of two ways. Either they work really well or they end up feeling like the writers had to stretch themselves too much to create a story that worked for the theme. Is Anybody Out There? focused on the Fermi Paradoxes is decidedly in the camp of the former with a couple virtuosos in the short game truly standing out and a few others not working for me as they seemed a bit disorienting.

Paul McAuley starts things off well with an introduction for those not in the know about the Fermi Paradox with a grand overview and a bit of history and known theories. The paradox boils down to "Where are they?" The Universe is so big and that old if there is intelligent life out there why haven't they found us or we found them yet? Quite an intriguing idea for writers to sink their teeth into. This is ground that has been trod on before, but certainly never with such a diverse covering of new, established, and often fringe theories.

Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn, “Report From the Field” A very quirky tale done in field report style from an alien determining if Earth is ready for inclusion in Galactic Community.

This story had me chortling left and right like few other writer can do and the only funny story in the bunch. In many ways humor is more difficult to relay in written form than something dramatic or action oriented. Resnick and Robyn excel at the funny asides as well as the satirical while this particular alien sees us at an skewed angle from viewing our television, movies, and documentaries trying to make sense of what they selected. There are perfect examples of humanity's absurd and violent side, which make me question our place in the cosmos and the fact that if there is life out there we'd probably just screw up first contact.

Jay Lake's “Permanent Fatal Errors” takes us on a space voyage with a crew of altered human immortals who are guinea pigs for longer interstellar missions. Only who among the crew actually wants to achieve the objectives of this mission?

Told from the point of view of the lowest member of the crew who sees himself as a baby next to the rest of the very old and intelligent crew as he tries to make his way through their murky machinations. An astrological anomaly confounds the crew and a conspiracy is afoot, but just who is doing what? Lake certainly shows his suspenseful flair as there is something out there. And it wants to be found. The story definitely felt unfinished though, but some nice turns more than kept my attention.

David Langford's “Graffiti in the Library of Babel” is a most unusual first contact story.  Someone or something has been marking up an important world database with odd notations. What do they want?

An intelligence has downloaded our history and science and are trying to communicate with us through it. This reminded me a lot of a Robert J. Sawyer story in the making with some very nice dialogue. I couldn't connect with any character though, but the situation grabbed me from the first page as the character tries to write back somehow.

In Kristine Kathryn Rusch's “The Dark Man” a shadow shaped like a man shows up every decade or so on the steps of a very old Cathedral in Italy.

Rusch's background as a mystery writer shines through this tale told in a very different tact than the rest as an investigative reporter takes on paranormal events to find out the truth behind them, but she has finally found a case she can't explain away as a hoax. Rusch takes the idea of a classic conspiracy and twists it into Sci-Fi spectacularly. This was my second favorite story of the bunch.

Pat Cadigan, “The Taste of Night” delves into the mental contact aspects of alien communication with people supposedly suffering mental illness and one of my favorite disorders synesthesia. If you don't know what synesthesia is than go read the wiki as I'd love to see more stories working it in.

Synesthesia causes the senses to get crossed and people associate colors with certain numbers, words, or even days of the week. What if people who had this ability were able to be contacted by aliens? Would we believe them or just call them mad? A really well done story all around. Wonderful psychology angle questions the sanity of people and how we could be missing something right in front of us.

Ian Watson's “A Waterfall of Lights” again takes the tact of alien contact through our minds, but gives it a good twist.

If there are aliens they could have died out millions of years ago, but what if they left a legacy behind that was still out there? What would they look like? A surprisingly good story from a writer new to me despite having been around for decades. The story is very similar to the work Robert Charles Wilson has been doing with his Spin books, which is probably why I like it so much.  The ending was left hanging quite a bit, but watch out for those eyes.

James Morrow, “The Vampires of Paradox” put us in present times with a religious order that is keeping a terrible event at bay by contemplating logic paradoxes along the lines of "if a tree falls in the woods with no one around does it make a sound?" The paradoxes mentioned are further reaching though and even more mind-bending.

No one does philosophical conundrums as well as Morrow and his stripes are still more than up to the task but ends up feeling a bit of heavy handed at times.  Still it fits the given setting and style. Morrow is still a master of short fiction and this was by far the strongest story of the lot and was rightly chosen to end the anthology. The inclusion of this story along makes the book worth picking up. This could also be seen as the best paradox lecture you've ever attended. I could definitely see it being referenced in some logic classes.

Is Anybody Out There? is great cross section of Fermi Paradox ideas packed with wonder. Wonders of science. Of confounding mysteries. Of what could be's. Of what should be that is well worth dipping into. A few stories left me indifferent or just plain lost, but the Morrow, Rusch, and Watson's stories more than make this volume worth grabbing. Visit Marty Halpern's blog More Red Ink for serializations of a few short stories from Is Anybody Out There? including Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Sheila Finch, and Jay Lake.

You Might Also Like:
REVIEW | The Quiet War by Paul McAuley
REVIEW | The Clockwork Jungle Book
REVIEW | Diving Into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

FREE FICTION | Ian Tregillis's What Doctor Gottlieb Saw

One of the very best debuts this year is Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. What you haven't bought it yet because you were waffling despite my high praise and that of many, many, others? Well now you can get a taste of this world in a short story set there with "What Doctor Gottlieb Saw." The story focuses on oracle Gretel and her Psychoanalyst, which gives you a little bit deeper of an understanding of the working of Gretel's mind and about a death mentioned in Bitter Seeds that happened before the events of the book. Now we get to fill-in that gab, which is always a nice bonus for those who have read the book. However, the story more than stands on its own and introduces you to the world and some of the main characters well.

"What Doctor Gottlieb Saw" is available from Tor.com on site or in a variety of download formats and definitely delivers the same level of reading pleasure that Bitter Seeds did so well. Tor.com has consistently been publishing some wonderful short fiction so if you haven't visited recently drop on by.


You Might Also Like:
INTERVIEW | Ian Tregillis author of Bitter Seeds
REVIEW | Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis
REVIEW | The Patriot Witch by C.C. Finlay
FREE FICTION | Ari Marmell's The Orge's Pride
GUEST POST | Exclusive Deleted Scene from Blake Charlton's Spellwright

REVIEW | Swords & Dark Magic ed. by Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders (Eos)

With Swords & Dark Magic editors Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan have amassed an all-original collection of Sword and Sorcery from both new and long established masters of the genre. Overall the volume doesn't disappoint. There are a few ruts which didn't take off for me, but for those that did work well made this a memorable volume. What surprised me most was the pacing of many of the stories. What I'd call the old school authors seem to go for more of a slow build-up while the newer entrants for the most part vie to grab you from the first page with action. Now on to some of the highlights.

“Goats of Glory” by Steven Erikson - A very slow moving story for the most part. I was getting bored until the magic part finally got introduced and at that point I was hooked. Demon hordes are a bunch of pushovers when a group of warriors comes out of the mountains. A very satisfying ending with good action in the last third.

“Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company” by Glen Cook - The Company is on a bit of a lull as they have been stationed in one city without anyone to battle for months. When all of a sudden they are again tossed into the machinations of their betters. Definitely one of the better Black Company shorts I've read as it shows they are more than just the brawn and have got brains to back it up. Croaker keeps his usual tone and aplomb as the company figures out away to solve the heart of the matter without getting their own throats cut.

“Bloodsport” by Gene Wolfe -  In some ways this reminds me a lot of a GRRM Dunk & Egg story without Egg. A new Knight is made to play the games of their sovereign, but when the games are over and all else is lost they strive to better the world around them and give themselves a purpose. The world is left vague as Wolfe wants you to connect and care for the characters more, which he succeeds at adequately. Quite good, but felt unfinished.

“The Singing Spear” by James Enge - This was one of my favorites in the collection. It was over before I wanted it to end. Just the right amount of action and humor and wonderfully paced. You don't mess with a mad Wizard's bartender and live to tell the tale. I'll definitely have to get to the copy of Blood of Ambrose I bought a while back soon. Enge has created quite a memorable character I'd like to explore a bit more.

“A Rich Full Week” by K. J. Parker - A zombie Sword & Sorcery tale with a Priestly Philosopher cum Wizard. As with most Parker stories she goes for a different angle than most would as the Philosopher doubts himself yet is still able to project the persona he needs to to survive and get the job done and get the walking deadman. Very good inner dialogue.

“A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet” by Garth Nix - The first Nix I've read and what an inventive world he has here which we just get a peek at. Sir Hereward a injured knight is recuperating as his puppet manservant is off exploring the area they are staying in. The knight wants to get a present for his puppet man Mister Fitz, which leads to a nice battle with a treacherous demon. I definitely want to check out some more Nix now. Nix also has a free story with the same characters available online, which precedes this one.

“Red Pearls: An Elric Story”  by Michael Moorcock - Big literary confession time. I can't remember ever reading an Elric story before in novel or short form. That will be changing since "Red Pearls" introduced me to an amazingly weird world and leading character. I'm not sure where it falls in the pantheon of Elric stories and I have a feeling it fills in a gap that fans have wanted, but nonetheless it was easy to follow and certainly gave you a good flavor for what Moorcock is known for.

“In the Stacks” by Scott Lynch - Hands down the best story in the volume. Lynch's imagination is in top form as Wizards in training must venture into the bowels of an ancient magical library to return books to their proper stations. In some ways this is what we'd get if Jasper Fforde decided to go for more of a traditional Fantasy tale. Splendid and just plain fun. The prose and characters are as always well done and this shows the gentler side of Lynch.

“The Sea Troll’s Daughter” by Caitlin R Kiernan - For some reason this is one of the stories that is most staying in my mind and I'm having a hard time pinning down why that is. It is a story that shows heroes are not always the best people as the heroine in this case has a drinking and attitude problem. In a juxtaposition the Sea Troll's daughter comes off more humane than that of the heroine although it has a bit of a non-ending.

“The Fool Jobs” by Joe Abercrombie - As always Abercrombie does an amazing job at introducing an unusual cast of characters and putting them in a very awkward situation as they search for a magical something, but what that magical something is is not at all clear. This takes place in the North of the First Law world with Craw who some of you may remember unless you blinked. Great twist of an ending like only Abercrombie can do, but I do think his work is more suited to long form. Or it could just be "The Fool Job"s feel too much like a prelude of what is to come in The Heroes. Which in essence it is.

If you are a fan of old school Sword & Sorcery this is a collection not to be missed. It is filled with everything S & S lovers want: action, magic, grey characters, and evil baddies. A few key stories brings this up a few notches in the anthology pantheon with the Nix, Enge, and Lynch being the biggest standouts. As for the goal of being a definitive look at Sword & Sorcery it missed the mark, but not by much. A few of these deserve inclusion in one of the Years Best Anthologies at the least. I give Swords & Dark Magic 8 out of 10 hats. Overall, I'll have to throw some curses at Anders and Strahan for putting such a good anthology together and exposing me to so many authors I've been meaning to try, some for more than a decade, and by extension making me buy a few books by these authors. I'm definitely going to try a Nix and have to decide on what Elric book to start with. Any suggestions?


You Might Also Like:
INTERVIEW | Lou Anders Editor of Pyr
REVIEW | Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
REVIEW | Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk
REVIEW | Purple and Black by K.J. Parker
REVIEW | Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes
REVIEW | Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

REVIEW | The Clockwork Jungle Book (Shimmer 11)

I meant to do a review of Shimmer 11: The Clockwork Jungle Book a few weeks back, but I misplaced my copy during all of the hullabaloo of moving and remodeling. Now that everything is unpacked things should be getting back to normal.

The Clockwork Jungle Book as the name implies is based on the theme of Steampunk animals. This simple theme was carried above and beyond my expectations. Most of the authors were new to me, but some well known names do appear in the volume such as Jay Lake, Chris Roberson, along with the first fiction I've read from Lou Anders the impresario of Pyr. Overall, The Clockwork Jungle Book is a sumptuous feast of all things Steampunk with many stories that I hope are only beginning glimpses inside these wonderful and sometimes weird alternative worlds. Now on to some of the highlights.

Shedding Skin; Or How the World Came to Be by Jay Lake - To start we have Jay Lake's take on a mechanical animal filled Eden. This story sets the tone for the volume well, but they only get better from here, which says quite a bit as Lake is one of the better short stories writers out there.

The Jackdaw’s Wife by Blake Hutchins - This was one of my favorite tales. Hutchins's managed to do a lot with a little, creating an incredible monster from scratch within a few pages. Some of the development happens a bit too quickly though.

The Student and the Rats by Jess Nevins - A nice tale about a man tinkering with creatures to see how they work and make them better. It is almost a Steampunk retelling of the myth of Prometheus only with rats.

Otto’s Elephant, by Vince Pendergast - Stories within a story about what mechanical elephants of the past could do if they existed throughout history. Beautiful telling as if a bard were right there next to you. It felt like this was only the beginning to a much larger book of tales that I hope Pendergast revisits.

The Monkey and the Butterfly by Susannah Mandel - Hands down the cutest story in the bunch. A monkey who falls in love with a cat in a Victorian setting where most animals are highly intelligent, but still give into their animal instincts at times. Great character building in such a scant space.

The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar by Shweta Narayan - Possibly the biggest standout in the collection. This tale could have easily fit in Arabian Nights as it evokes a desert setting as well as a moral beautifully done. It is also another story within a story.

Message in a Bottle by James Maxey - This is a story Jules Verne could almost have written. Maxey’s great adventure tale on the moon goes in unexpected directions.

The Clockwork Cat’s Escape by Gwynne Garfinkle - The shortest tale in the bunch, but most definitely one of the most heartfelt about knowing when to let go of something you love.

The Wolf and the Schoolmaster by James L. Cambias - Cambias needs a contract right now to write a book based off this story as this is clearly only the impetuous to a much longer story with a rich world history at his finger tips. This story is also startling similar in terms of tone and setting to what Scott Westerfeld did with Leviathan, so if you're a fan of that book you'll absolutely love Cambias. That said Cambias does put his own unique spin on this tale in some very good ways.

And How His Audit Stands by Lou Anders - Anders surprised me with one of the most well thoughtout and adventurous stories in the bunch yet the animal theme is a bit lost. He somehow gives a new life to trains with great Western style flair. I recently learned that Mike Resnick upcoming Steampunk themed series Weird West was initially Lou's idea. I now understand where Lou gestated the thought.

The Story In Which Dog Dies by Sara Genge - The anthology starts at the beginning of creation so it was only fitting to include a story about the end of the world with this tale of how the last dog on earth keeps moving.

The Fishbowl by Amal El-Mohtar - A perfect use of the theme in which the world's oceans are now populated by clockwork fish because of the proliferation of steam tech.

His Majesty’s Menagerie by Chris Roberson - A clockwork animal arms race followed by a clockwork animal war. Wonderfully done.

The Emperor’s Gift by Rajan Khanna - With an Asian flare the workings of a clockwork builder come to life.

There was not a clunker in this bunch. I give The Clockwork Jungle Book 9 out of 10 Hats. This is a volume that had it been a little longer could have easily found a home with a large publisher for the mass market. If you are a Steampunk fan go out and order this book or if you've always wondered what keeps me reading this genre it would be a great volume to induct yourselves into the fold. You'll thank me later. Now Shimmer has got me wondering whether every issue is as high quality as this so much that I'll have to check out another.


You Might Also Like:
So Much Steampunk, So Little Time
REVIEW | Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers
REVIEW | The Affinity Bridge by George Mann