Gene Wolfe book club

John Klima at Tor.com, along with Christopher Rowe, Mark Teppo, and William Shunn, have launched the Gene Wolfe Book Club. The club is dedicated to the twelve novels of Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle, which begins with four-volume The Book of the New Sun. I finished reading these first four books last year and, as I mentioned here, they now rank among my favorite works of literature from any genre. I'll definitely will be taking part in this book club as time allows.

To dump, or not to dump

Ah, the information dump. That wordy bit of fictional exposition, during which all the background information the reader needs to enjoy a story is expressed in one great big pile of, well, dump.

The fictional info dump is nothing new. After all, at least half of Tolstoy's War and Peace is an extended info dump of bowel-extending dimensions. But while all fictional narratives rely to a degree on info dumps to quickly explain needed information, science fiction has taken the info dump to heretofore unseen proportions of dumpiness.

In many ways, the embrace of info dumps by science fiction is totally understandable. Traditional fiction deals with worlds with which readers are already familiar. But when an author creates a brand new world that no one has ever before imagined, said author has to explain the world so the reader will understand it. In addition, science fiction is grounded in the ideas and jargon of science, meaning SF authors have to explain concepts which, while clear to them, may not be easily understood by the general reading public.

Now comes my info dump confession: Forgive me Father, for I have info dumped.

Yes, as a science fiction writer I have engaged in info dumps. The first time I got called on it was by Edmund Schubert, editor of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. Edmund wanted to publish my story "Rumspringa," about Amish settlers on a far away planet, but first he asked me to clean up an info dump in one of the scenes. I looked at the scene and realized that Edmund was right. This was a classic case of info dump original sin. I rewrote the scene as a mix of action and explanation, and the scene emerged much stronger and far better than it was.

So in general, the writing teachers are correct when they say it is better to pass on information by mixing it into the narrative and action than to remove the reader from their imagined world to inject a sudden shot of understanding.

But that rule isn't absolute. Look at how we live our real-life lives. Just as there are many times when we understand the world in little drops and dribbles, so too are there times when we understand something new in a great burst of insight. Remember: epiphanies are merely a nicer word for real-life info dumps.

So my advice to writers is to spread the info dumping around. Push it about, like the manure you throw into the rose garden so your flowers will grow strong and healthy. But also realize that there are times when a great big dump is called for. In such cases, don't be afraid of the info dump. But like all big dumps, make sure they are spaced few and far between!

(originally printed in Grasping the Wind)

Ghosts of Thailand, the commercial

For such powerful supernatural creatures, ghosts are very culturally specific. What scares people in one country might end up being laughed at in another. As proof of this, I present this wonderfully funny commercial featuring a whole bunch of Thai ghosts. I came across the ad while writing a ghost story set in Thailand.

I spent two years in Thailand as a Peace Corps Volunteer and can state that while the ghosts seem funny in the commercial--which is the intention, to show that ghosts are not scary when seen in the light--few Thai people would laugh if they ran into these ghosts on a dark country road.

The commercial also contains a Thai-specific joke about a "jackfruit ghost," which is a pun on the Thai slang word for a cheap street prostitute (many of whom evidently used to hang around jackfruit trees in old Bangkok). The translation printed on the screen at this point--which reads "transvestite"--is wrong and was created by someone with a poor grasp of the language. Instead, when the kid asks if that is a jackfruit ghost, his father merely says "human" in Thai.

TOC for Year's Best Science Fiction, 26th annual edition

Over on the Asimov's forum, Gardner Dozois has posted the table of contents for his new 26th annual Year's Best Science Fiction. The contents are:

  • TURING’S APPLES, Stephen Baxter (Eclipse 2, ed. Jonathan Strahan)
  • FROM BABEL’S FALL’N GLORY WE FLED, Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s, February 2008)
  • THE GAMBLER, Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2, ed. Lou Anders)
  • BOOJUM, Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette (Fast Ships, Black Sails, ed. Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer)
  • THE SIX DIRECTIONS OF SPACE, Alastair Reynolds (Galactic Empires, ed. Gardner Dozois)
  • N-WORDS, Ted Kosmatka (Seeds of Change, ed. John Joseph Adams)
  • AN ELIGIBLE BOY, Ian McDonald (Fast Forward 2, ed. Lou Anders)
  • SHINING ARMOUR, Dominic Green (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 2, ed. George Mann)
  • THE HERO, Karl Schroeder (Eclipse 2, ed. Jonathan Strahan)
  • EVIL ROBOT MONKEY, Mary Robinette Kowal (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 2, ed. George Mann)
  • FIVE THRILLERS, Robert Reed (F & SF, April 2008)
  • THE SKY THAT WRAPS THE WORLD ROUND, PAST THE BLUE AND INTO THE BLACK, Jay Lake (Clarkesworld, March 2008)
  • INCOMERS, Paul McAuley (The Starry Rift, ed. Jonathan Strahan)
  • CRYSTAL NIGHTS, Greg Egan (Interzone, April 2008)
  • THE EGG MAN, Mary Rosenblum (Asimov’s, February 2008)
  • HIS MASTER’S VOICE, Hannu Rajaniemi (Interzone, October 2008)
  • THE POLITICAL PRISONER, Charles Coleman Finlay (F & SF, August 2008)
  • BALANCING ACCOUNTS, James L. Cambias (F & SF, February 2008)
  • SPECIAL ECONOMICS, Maureen McHugh (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, ed. Ellen Datlow)
  • DAYS OF WONDER, Geoff Ryman (F & SF, October/November 2008)
  • CITY OF THE DEAD, Paul McAuley (Postscripts # 15)
  • THE VOYAGE OUT, Gwyneth Jones (Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, ed. Lynne Jamneck)
  • THE ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHY OF LORD GRIMM, Daryl Gregory (Eclipse 2, ed. Jonathan Strahan)
  • G-MEN, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Sideways in Crime, ed. Lou Anders)
  • THE ERDMANN NEXUS, Nancy Kress (Asimov’s, October/November 2008)
  • OLD FRIENDS, Garth Nix (Dreaming Again, ed. Jack Dann)
  • THE RAY-GUN: A LOVE STORY, James Alan Gardner (Asimov’s, February 2008)
  • LESTER YOUNG AND THE JUPITER’S MOONS’ BLUES, Gord Sellar (Asimov’s, July 2008)
  • BUTTERFLY, FALLING AT DAWN, Aliete de Bodard (Interzone, November 2008)
  • THE TEAR, Ian McDonald (Galactic Empires, ed. Gardner Dozois)

I should note that there are a lot of great stories here, among them quite a few which numbered among my recent recommendations for the Nebula Award.

Nebula Awards Report update

The SFWA has released the November 2008 Nebula Awards Report, covering all stories recommended for the award through the end of that month. This was my first time recommending stories for the award, and I'm glad to see some of the stories and novels I recommended have now qualified for the upcoming preliminary ballot--specifically "The Political Prisoner" by Charles Coleman Finlay, (F&SF, Aug. 2008, here's my earlier review of the story) and "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story" by James Alan Gardner (Asimov's, Feb. 2008). I'm also a fan of David Moles' "Finisterra" (F&SF,Dec07, see my earlier review here), which previously qualified for the ballot.

I should note that this isn't the final list of stories to qualify; active members of the SFWA can continue to make recommendations. And just as an FYI, stories need ten recommendations to qualify for the ballot.

So without any more delay, those novels and stories which have made the preliminary ballot are:

Novels

  •  Abraham, Daniel: A Betrayal in Winter (Tor, Jul07)
  •  Barzak, Chris: One for Sorrow (Bantam, Sep07)
  •  Bull, Emma: Territory (Tor, Jul07)
  •  Doctorow, Cory: Little Brother (Tor, Apr08)
  •  Goonan, Kathleen Ann: In War Times (Tor, May07)
  •  Le Guin, Ursula K.: Powers (Harcourt, Sep07)
  •  McDevitt, Jack: Cauldron (Ace, Nov07)
  •  McDonald, Ian: Brasyl (Pyr, May07)
  •  Pratchett, Terry: Making Money (Harper, Sep07)
  •  Rothfuss, Patrick: The Name of the Wind (DAW, Apr07)

Novellas

  • Asaro, Catherine: The Spacetime Pool (Analog, Mar08)
  • Benford, Gregory: Dark Heaven (Alien Crimes, Resnick, Mike, Ed., SFBC, Jan07?)
  • Eskridge, Kelley: Dangerous Space (Dangerous Space, Aquaduct Press, Jun07)
  • Finlay, Charles Coleman: The Political Prisoner (F&SF, Aug08)

 Novelettes

  • Bowes, Richard: If Angels Fight (F&SF, Feb08)
  • Flynn, Michael F. : Quaestiones Super Caelo et Mundo (Analog, Aug07 <Jul/Aug07 issue>)
  • Gardner, James Alan: The Ray-Gun: A Love Story (Asimov's, Feb08)
  • Goldstein, Lisa: Dark Rooms (Asimov's, Nov07 <Oct/Nov 07 issue>)
  • Kessel, John: Pride and Prometheus (F&SF, Jan08)
  • Kosmatka, Ted: The Prophet of Flores (Asimov's, Sep07)
  • Moles, David: Finisterra (F&SF, Dec07)
  • Sinisalo, Johanna: Baby Doll (The SFWA European Hall of Fame, James Morrow & Kathryn Morrow, Ed., Tor, Jun07 <trans. from the Finnish by David Hackston>)
  • Wentworth, K.D.: Kaleidoscope (F&SF, May07)

 Short stories

  • Allen, Mike: The Button Bin (Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, WS & LWE, Ed., Oct07 <Reprinted in Transcriptase.)
  • Cassutt, Michael: Skull Valley (Asimov's, Nov07 <Oct/Nov 07 issue>)
  • Finch, Sheila: Stranger Than Imagination Can (The Guild of Xenolinguists, Golden Gryphon Press, Sep07)
  • Ford, Jeffrey: The Dreaming Wind (Coyote Road, Trickster Tales, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Ed., Viking Juvenile, Jul07)
  • Henderson, Samantha: Bottles (Realms of Fantasy, Apr07)
  • Hobson, M. K.: The Hotel Astarte (Realms of Fantasy, Jun07)
  • Jones, Gwyneth: The Tomb Wife (F&SF, Aug07)
  • Kelly, James Patrick: Don't Stop (Asimov's, Jun07)
  • Plante, Brian: The Astronaut (Analog, May07)
  • Rickert, Mary: Holiday (Subterranean, Sep07 <#7, Datlow issue>)
  • Scholes, Ken: Summer in Paris, Light From the Sky (Clarkesworld Magazine, Nov07)
  • Van Pelt, James: How Music Begins (Asimov's, Sep07)

A few SF/F publication notes

Interzone has announced the contents of issue 220. It looks like a great line-up of authors, and I'm pleased to see a story by Eugie Foster in the issue. I should also note the amazing cover by Adam Tredowski. Wow! There's already talk on the Interzone forum about publishing the cover as a poster.

In other news, Rich Horton has announced the contents of Unplugged, an anthology of the best web-published fiction of the year. According to this post on his website, the selected stories are:

  • Beth Bernobich, "Air and Angels" (Subterranean, Spring)
  • Mercurio D. Rivera, "Snatch Me Another" (Abyss and Apex, First Quarter)
  • Nancy Kress, "First Rites" (Baen's Universe, October)
  • Tina Connolly, "The Bitrunners" (Helix, Summer)
  • Rebecce Epstein, "When We Were Stardust" (Fantasy, February)
  • Jason Stoddard, "Willpower" (Futurismic, December)
  • Peter S. Beagle, "The Tale of Junko and Sayiri" (IGMS, July)
  • David Dumitru, "Little Moon, Too, Goes Round" (Aeon Thirteen)
  • Hal Duncan, "The Behold of the Eye" (Lone Star, August)
  • Will McIntosh, "Linkworlds" (Strange Horizons, March 17-24)
  • Merrie Haskell, "The Girl-Prince" (Coyote Wild, August)
  • Brendan DuBois, "Not Enough Stars in the Night" (Cosmos)
  • Catherynne M. Valente, "A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica" (Clarkesworld, May)
  • Cory Doctorow, "The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away" (Tor.com)

I look forward to the anthology. Peter S. Beagle''s "The Tale of Junko and Sayiri" from IGMS is one of my favorite 2008 stories.

More selections for the best SF/F anthologies

Over on the Asimov's forum and his own blog, editor Rich Horton has announced his preliminary picks for his two best of the year books. They are as follows.

Selections for Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2009:

  • Elizabeth Bear, "Shoggoths in Bloom" (Asimov's, March)
  • Daryl Gregory, "Glass" (MIT Technology Review, November/December)
  • Ted Kosmatka, "The Art of Alchemy" (F&SF, June)
  • Margo Lanagan, "The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross" (Dreaming Again)
  • Robert Reed, "Character Flu" (F&SF, June)
  • Rivka Galchen, "The Region of Unlikeness" (The New Yorker, March 17)
  • James Alan Gardner, "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story" (Asimov's, February)
  • Will McIntosh, "The Fantasy Jumper" (Black Static, February)
  • James L. Cambias, "Balancing Accounts" (F&SF, February)
  • Charlie Anders, "Suicide Drive" (Helix #7, January)
  • Peter Watts, "The Eyes of God" (The Solaris Book of New SF, Volume 2)
  • Beth Bernobich, "The Golden Octopus" (Postscripts, Summer))
  • Jeff VanderMeer, "Fixing Hanover" (Extraordinary Engines)
  • Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, "Boojum" (Fast Ships, Black Sails)
  • Paul Cornell, "Catherine Drewe" (Fast Forward 2)
  • Mary Robinette Kowal, "Evil Robot Monkey (The Solaris Book of New SF, Volume 2)
  • Ian McDonald, "The Tear" (Galactic Empires)

Selections for Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2009:

  • Kij Johnson, "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" (Asimov's, July)
  • Naomi Novik, "Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake" (Fast Ships, Black Sails)
  • Eugene Mirabelli, "Falling Angel" (F&SF, December)
  • Meghan McCarron, "The Magician's House" (Strange Horizons, July 14-21)
  • Karen Heuler, "The Difficulties of Evolution" (Weird Tales, July/August)
  • Jay Lake, "A Water Matter" (Tor.com)
  • Liz Williams, "Spiderhorse" (Realms of Fantasy, August)
  • Alex Jeffers, "Firooz and His Brother" (F&SF, May)
  • Ann Leckie, "The God of Au" (Helix #8, Spring)
  • James Maxey, "Silent as Dust" (Intergalactic Medicine Show #7, January)
  • Erik Amundsen, "Blue Vervain Murder Ballad #2: Jack of Diamonds" (Not One of Us, October)
  • Delia Sherman, "Gift from a Spring" (Realms of Fantasy, April)
  • Christopher Golden, "The Hiss of Escaping Air" (PS Publishing)
  • Peter S. Beagle, "King Pelles the Sure" (Strange Roads)
  • Alice Sola Kim, "We Love Deena" (Strange Horizons, February 11)
  • Jeffrey Ford, "Daltharee" (The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy)
  • Patrick Rothfuss, "The Road to Levinshir" (Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy)
  • Holly Phillips, "The Small Door" (Fantasy, May)
  • Richard Bowes, "If Angels Fight" (F&SF, February)

Battlestar Galactica: Caprica jumps the shark before the show even airs

Earlier this year I explained why Battlestar Galactica is one of the best shows on TV. Now comes word that a prequel to the series, titled Caprica, is slated for production. It's easy to predict that this show will be an amazing failure.

In addition to the reasons I previously raised before for BG's success, one factor that can't be minimized is the setting. By having the remnants of humanity hunted and pursued across the galaxy, and forced to live in close quarters, the human drama and the characters' struggles gain added power. Caprica will lack all of this, and will easily be a mere soap opera set on a far away world. I eagerly look forward to the conclusion of BG. But I won't waste a moment watching Caprica.

A few more Nebula Award recommendations

I've made a few more Nebula Award recommendations on top of my previous ones. The new short story recommendations are:

  • "A Handful of Pearls" by Beth Bernobich. While this story was originally published last year in Interzone--see my review here--Apex Digest has now reprinted the story online, so it is eligible for the Nebula.
  • "First Editions" by James Stoddard, from F&SF, April 2008.
  • "Shoggoths in Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear, Asimov's, March 2008.

My new novel recommendations are:

  • Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko
  • Space Vulture by Gary K. Wolf and John J. Myers
  • The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (for the Andre Norton Young Adult Book Award)

I think that will do it for my 2008 recommendations.

My Nebula Award recommendations

Yesterday I mentioned that I'd joined the SFWA and was looking forward to making my recommendations for the Nebula Awards. Well today all the e-paperwork cleared (so to speak) and I was able to make my recommendations. Obviously I recommended all of the stories which I've been plugging for the major awards for the last two weeks. However, I decided to expand upon that list and also formally recommend these tales:

  • "Days of Wonder" by Geoff Ryman, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Oct./Nov. 2008.
  • "Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake" by Naomi Novik, Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer.
  • "An Alien Heresy" by S.P. Somtow, Asimov's April/May 2008. see my review
  • Marsbound by Joe Haldeman, Ace, Aug. 2008 (originally published as a serial in Analog). see my review
  • "The Overseer" by Albert E. Cowdrey, Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 2008. see my review
  • "Crystal Nights" by Greg Egan, Interzone 215, April 2008.

This is my first time recommending stories for the Nebulas, so we'll see how the process goes. I also may nominate a few more stories once I've had more time to reflect on the past year in fiction.

Update: After I posted this, I realized that I'd made a mistake nominating "Crystal Nights" by Greg Egan and "Far Horizon" by Jason Stoddard, since these stories were not published in the United States (a requirement for the Nebulas). As I mentioned, this is my first go at this, so please forgive this newbie mistake. Still, these are two very good stories and I suggest people look them up. In addition, "Crystal Nights" by Greg Egan is due to be reprinted in a Night Shade Books anthology early next year, so it will be eligible for the Nebula at that time.

The missing Nebula Award recommendations

I recently became an active member of the SFWA. One of the benefits of membership is that I get to recommend stories for the Nebula Awards. To qualify for the 2008 preliminary Nebula ballot, a story or novel must gain 10 recommendations by active SFWA members. Unfortunately, before I can recommend a story I have to have my e-mail address verified, but rest assured I have a list of short stories that I plan to recommend once the verification process is done.

That said, when I looked over the list of recommended stories, and those that had qualified for the ballot, I was amazed at how few recommendations the year's best stories had. For example, the best story of 2008 (IMHO) is "Pump Six" by Paolo Bacigalupi, from Pump Six and Other Stories and reprinted in F&SF. Yet it only has three recommendations. That means it needs seven more recommendations to even qualify for the preliminary Nebula ballot.

Likewise "The Political Prisoner" by Charles Coleman Finlay (F&SF, Aug. 2008) only has six recommendations, "Arkfall" by Carolyn Ives Gilman (F&SF, Sept. 2008) only has two, "Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed (F&SF, April 2008) only has five, and "Tenbrook of Mars" by Dean McLaughlin (Analog, July/Aug. 2008) has a single nod. Most surprising, "The Tale of Junko and Sayuri" by Peter Beagle (IGMS, July 2008) hasn't received a single recommendation. There is some good news, though. "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story" by James Alan Gardner (Asimov's, Feb. 2008) has nine recommendations, so one more will push it onto the preliminary ballot. Maybe I'll be the one to give the story that push.

I understand that maybe the Beagle story maybe hasn't been around long enough to gain any recommendations, but is the status of the other stories normal at this point in the process? I should note that all of these stories were highly praised by readers and critics, so its not that no one liked them. Back in August Gardner Dozois complained about the lack of participation by SFWA members in the Nebula Awards nominating process. While I'm too new a member to debate the validity of this view, after looking over the Nebula Award Report I see why he decided to voice his concern.

Cory Doctorow wants to create the future, not predict it

In an interview with the English newspaper The Guardian, Cory Doctorow explains why he's not interested in predicting the future using science fiction, but instead wants to influence the future. Here's his killer quote:

"I'm a presentist. All science fiction writers, whether they admit it or not, are writing metaphorically about the present. To extrapolate the future is really to comment on the now."

All in all, a fascinating interview. Check it out.

Best wishes to Tobias Buckell

I got busy the last few days and didn't read much online, so I was missed hearing that one of my favorite authors, Tobias Buckell, is in the hospital. The good news is that his wife, Emily, just posted on Facebook that the issue seems to now be a minor one and he'll go home in the morning.

Still, send him plenty of prayers, good vibes, positive karma, or whatever your take on life is. He's also been blogging his health situation, so check his blog for updates.

Kicked out of church for writing a vampire novel

According to the November issue of Locus, author J. F. Lewis was "excommunicated from his church in response to his debut vampire novel Staked." Over on the Asimov's forum, Lewis writes that excommunicated isn't the correct term, because the non-denominational church instead "withdrew fellowship from rather than 'excommunicated' me." Lewis adds that the elders of his church believe that "by writing the book, I committed the sins contained within it. They also felt that I'd aimed the novel at young children (which boggles the mind) and that it teaches and encourages the use of vulgar language.Though I disagree wholeheartedly with their decision, I can't really say they took the action they took in order to be mean... they appear to have been acting out of genuine concern."

As a fellow SF/F writer from Alabama who grew up in a similar sounding church, I want to publicly say Lewis has my full support on this. Just because one writes a story about something doesn't mean that story is a true reflection of who the author is inside.

Rehashing the Cormac McCarthy / A Canticle for Leibowitz war

A year and a half ago I published an essay in the New York Review of Science Fiction which took literary critics to task for not mentioning the influence of Walter M. Miller Jr's classic A Canticle for Leibowitz on Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel The Road. (You can read a reprinted version of the essay here).

I was severely taken to task for this essay by some critics. But history has a nice way of vindicating simple truths. The proof is over on the Guardian book blog where a short essay states that "Walter M Miller Jr's A Canticle for Leibowitz is a direct ancestor of Cormac McCarthy's The Road" and "Rare and brave were the mainstream critics who recognised its SF antecedents without coughing and spluttering about how it somehow transcended the genre."

It's always nice to get the last word in an argument, especially when someone else echoes what you'd been saying all along.

Review of Fast Ships, Black Sails

My featured review of the new anthology Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, is now up at Monsters and Critics. There are a number of great stories in this collection, including "Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, "A Cold Day in Hell" by Paul Batteiger, "Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarskoe" by Garth Nix, and my favorite story, "Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake" by Naomi Novik.

This collection is an all-star treat which both plays with the pirates we all know and love, and takes those self-same pirates into new and exciting waters. Check it out.