Return to Starvation Lake

The Hanging Tree
Bryan Gruley
St. Martin's
tpb $15.00
electronic $9.73 Kindle $10.93 Nook

Last summer I picked up a mystery, Starvation Lake, by newcomer Bryan Gruley.  I was impressed.  A few weeks ago I finally got around to buying the sequel.

I concluded my review of Starvation Lake with speculation about the sequel, mentioning the fact that sequels sometime don't live up to the standards set by their predecessors.  That's not the case here. 

Congratulations to the Nebula Award Winners

The winners of the 2012 Nebula Awards were announced over the weekend in San Jose, California.

They are: 

NOVEL:  2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
NOVELLA: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
NOVELLETTE: “Close Encounters” by Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
SHORT STORY: “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
RAY BRADBURY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director),  Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight)
ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOK: Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
2012 DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Gene Wolfe
SOLSTICE AWARD: Carl Sagan and Ginjer Buchanan
KEVIN O’DONNELL JR. SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD: Michael H. Payne

A complete list of the nominees can be found on the SFWA website.  

Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate all the nominees and especially the winners.

New Acquisitions

Today a friend and I took my son hiking in Palo Duro Canyon while our wives stayed home doing whatever wives do when husbands are away.  (I don't want to know; that it involves spending money is enough.)  This will tie into a Dispatches From the Lone Star Front post later in the week after another road trip. 

When I go home, there was a package waiting for me.  It contained a copy of Ari Marmell's In Thunder Forged from Pyr Books.  Along with Wrath-Breaking Tree (James Enge) and Kindred and Wings (Philippa Ballantine) that came Thursday and Nebula Awards Showcase (Catherine Asaro, ed.), which arrived last week, that's four from Pyr in about ten days.  The Marmell and Nebula Awards will be reviewed first since the former will be out in a couple of weeks, and the latter is out already.  That's not to say some of the other review copies Pyr has sent me won't end up in the queue in the next couple of weeks.

I've also got several titles from Angry Robot in my ereader:  The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig (which I've already started and am loving), iD by Madelaine Ashbury, and A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp.

Finally, I'm looking forward to diving into No Return by Zachary Jernigan.  He was kind enough to send me a copy of his first novel.  This one got some good advance buzz, and I love the cover.  It's up Blue Blazes. 

Anyway, those are the novels from publishers and authors I've agreed to read and review.  I still plan to increase the amount of short fiction I review.  (Sooper Seekrit Project #2 requires me to do so.)  I'm also going to stick in some novels just because I want to read them.

Think all that will keep me busy?

It's All Over but the Crying

Well, not quite, but almost.  I turned in grades for graduating seniors (as well as for a few who thought they were) today plus most of my other grades.  There are a few loose ends to tie up, some student inquiries about why they barely passed when they all the papers they got back were A's (uh-huh, yeah, right), a blatant case of academic dishonesty to crack down on, and that sort of thing.  But for the most part, my semester is over.

I'm not going to get much time off.  As lab director, I work all year because we have summer classes.  I'm not teaching this summer, so I should have some time for fun before things get hectic in the fall when I've got another overload.  In the meantime, I'm going to get some rest, get caught up on reading, increase my blog output, and get back to writing my own fiction.  Hopefully, I'll have some of my own fiction up for sale within a few weeks.

A couple of ARCs from Pyr were waiting for me when I got home this evening that I'm looking forward to diving into, I want to read some of the Nightshade titles I've not gotten to in an effort to show support for them with all they've gone through lately, and I have some eARCs from Angry Robot to read.  Plus a couple of indie titles. 

Does it sound like I'm going to be busy?  I got tired just thinking about it.  I'm probably not going to dive into any of that until next week sometime.  I'm going to read for my own pleasure for the rest of the week, something along the lines of noir and/or space opera and let my mental batteries recharge.  (There's a blog post in there that ties in with something Tobias Buckell wrote the other day.)  I'll probably blog about whatever I choose to read, but for now I want to relax.

So that's how things stand with me.  What's up with you?

Blogging Conan: The Scarlet Citadel

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post on Conan.  All I can say, "Where did the time go?"

Anyway, there are times when you just need to get back to basics.  This weekend has been one of them.

The Frazetta art for "The Scarlet Citadel", shown at right and originally appearing on the cover of Conan the Usurper, has always been one of my favorites.  Perhaps it's because I don't like snakes.  If that were me chained up, I probably be a blubbering mass of jelly.  Anyway, even though it isn't exactly faithful to Howard's description, it's still a masterpiece. 

"The Scarlet Citadel" was the third Conan story published in Weird Tales, following "The Phoenix on the Sword" and "The Tower of the Elephant", although "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" and "The God in the Bowl" were probably written before Howard wrote "The Scarlet Citadel".  (Links are to my posts about those stories.)

Amazing Stories Returns to Publishing Fiction

For Immediate Release

Hillsborough, NH

May 10, 2013

Amazing Stories Publishes Excerpt From Douglas Smith's New Novel THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Returns to Publishing Fiction for the first time since 2005.

Amazing Stories, the world's first science fiction magazine, is pleased to announce that it has returned to publishing new fiction with the release of a substantial excerpt from Aurora Award-Winning author Douglas Smith's new novel THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD. 

Douglas Smith describes his new novel as being -

"Set in modern day Northern Canada, THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD is an urban fantasy incorporating First Nations mythology. With an introduction by World Fantasy Award winner, Charles de Lint, the book will appeal to fans of de Lint and Neil Gaiman. In it, a shapeshifter hero battles ancient spirits, a covert government agency, and his own dark past in a race to solve a series of murders that could mean the end of the world."

Smith's new novel is  a sequel to Douglas’ award-winning novelette, “Spirit Dance".

THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD will be published this summer and is available for pre-order. A special discount is being offered to readers of Amazing Stories (sign up for a free membership on site).

To read the excerpt and for more information about Douglas Smith and his award-winning fiction, please visit www.amazingstoriesmag.com/blog, or visit Douglas Smith's website www.smithwriter.com.

Amazing Stories was re-launched in December of 2012 as a social network for fans of science fiction, fantasy and horror and features multiple daily blog posts written by the Amazing Blog Team, comprised of over 100 authors, artists, bloggers, editors and fans.  Blog posts cover the entire universe of subjects of interest to fans - literature, film, television, comics, anime, science, audio works, art, collecting, pulps, fandom and more.

With the release of Douglas Smith's novel excerpt, Amazing Stories returns to the publication of fiction with an excerpt program.  Two excerpts of new works will be published every month; featured works will initially be drawn from among the Amazing Blog Team members but the program will eventually open up to outside submissions.

Amazing Stories excerpt program joins it's already-in-progress Space Art feature, a bi-weekly showcase of space art contributed by the members of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.  

Membership in the Amazing Stories website is FREE.  Every new membership directly contributes to the return of Amazing Stories as a fully-fledged professional market for science fiction, fantasy and horror.

http://www.amazingstoriesmag.com

The Experimenter Publishing Company
Amazing Stories
http://www.amazingstoriesmag.com

A Look at Beneath Ceaseless Skies #120

It's been a little while since I last reviewed an issue of BCS.  The current issue contains the usual two stories, one with steampunk themes, which is a little different than what you usually find here. 

First up, "The Clockwork Trollop" by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald.  A scientist in Victorian England try to reduce the number of women engaging in prostitution by creating an untiring and hygienic lady of the night.  (He envisions training the current prostitutes to maintain their replacements.)  Like much social engineering, this one has some serious unexpected consequences.

This was a relatively short story, and the general way things end up isn't exactly unexpected.  Still, Doyle and Macdonald do a good job of capturing the feel of the times.  This one had an aura of Arthur Conan Doyle  hanging over it.

The longer of the two stories was "The Drowned Man" by Laura E. Price.  This is a complex tale about two sisters who are returning from an island that isn't entirely in this world.  They've recovered an artifact for a museum and are hoping the museum will hire them in this capacity on a regular basis.  While in the middle of the ocean, they spot a man in the water.  At first they think he's drowned, but when the ship's crew pulls him onboard they discover he's still alive.

They should be asking themselves why he's still alive if he's in the middle of the ocean...

The thing I liked most about this one were the hints regarding the two sisters.  Ms. Price seems to have worked out the backstory quite thoroughly.  I'm not sure if "The Drowned Man" is a stand alone with a detailed background, the inaugural installment of a new series, or only the most recent episode of a series already begun.  I rather hope there are either other stories about these characters out there, more to come, of both.  The sisters aren't exactly lady-like nor are the the kind of women warmly welcomed in polite society.  The author hints they may have been raised by a witch, so that probably has something to do with it.

Anyway, an enjoyable issue, although the subject matter of "The Clockwork Trollop" might not be to everyone's taste.  The next issue should be out within a few days, so look for another review soon.