Locus 10/08 by Charles Brown

OCTOBER 2008

C O M P L E T E

W O R L D C O N

T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E S C I E N C E F I C T I O N & FA N TA S Y F I E L D

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ISSUE 573

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C O V E R A G E ! !

VOL. 61 NO. 4

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$6.95

Ursula K.

LeGuin T A HE GE OF SATURN

FREDERIK POHL ON SIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE INTERVIEW WITH

TOBIAS S. BUCKELL

“A TRULY EPIC FANTASY.... SUPERBLY WRITTEN.” —Fantasy Magazine

DAVID ANTHONY DURHAM © Gudrun Johnston

John W. Campbell Award Finalist

A brilliant new voice in fantasy.... An epic story.... Prepare to be transported by Acacia

“Thrilling.... Wickedly fascinating.” —Entertainment Weekly

“A first glimpse of a fascinating world.” —USA Today

“Gripping.... Durham

demonstrates that he is a master of the fantasy epic.” —The Washington Post Book World

Available wherever books are sold www.DavidAnthonyDurham.com

NOW IN PAPERBACK

Anchor

October 2008 • Issue 573 • Vol. 61 • No. 4 41st Year of Publication • 29-Time Hugo Winner Cover and Interviews Design by Arnie Fenner

Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Home of Denvention 3

INTERVIEWS

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Age of Saturn / 4 Tobias S. Buckell: A Box Full of Words / 68 PEOPLE

PUBLISHING / 6

Notes on milestones, awards, books sold, etc., with news this issue about Ray Bradbury, Mike Resnick, Charles Stross, Ian McDonald, George R.R. Martin, Robert J. Sawyer, and many others

denvention 3: The 66TH WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION / 8 Report by Amelia Beamer and Liza Groen Trombi • Report on the WSFS Business Meeting by Cheryl Morgan & Kevin Standlee

Main

s t o r i e s / 11

Hopkinson, Proulx Win 2008 Sunburst Awards • 2008 British Fantasy Awards • Harper’s Angry Robot • Colfer Goes Hitchhiking

thE

datA

f i l e / 12

Analog and Asimov’s Enlarge and Shrink • Big Mouth for Small Beer • Harlequin Gets Younger • Rushdie Settles Suit • Rowling Wins Lawsuit • Meyer Manuscript Leaked • Wizards Layoffs • Morality Clause • Publishing News Folds • Watchmen in Dispute • AuthorScam • B&N Makes Adjustments • YA Fantasy Tops Costa Poll • eBay Changes Continue • Worldcons News • Book News • Announcements • Financial News • International Rights • Other Rights • Publications Received • Catalogues Received

frederik

Pohl

SIR arthur

c l a r k e / 42

Sir Arthur and I by Frederik Pohl • Arthur C. Clarke’s Final Instructions

listings Magazines Received: August / 46 Bestsellers / 60

Books Received: August / 47

EDITORIAL

British Books Received: July / 58

M A T T E R S / 65

September Song • Convention Redux • Black-eye Charlie • Visitors • This Issue • Next Issue • Renewals

O b i t u a r i e S / 67 David Foster Wallace • Brian M. Thomsen • Gregory McDonald • James Crumley • Joan Winston

locus

l e t t e r s / 67 Stephen Jones

Charles N. Brown Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Kirsten Gong-Wong Managing Editor MARK R. KELLY Electronic Editor-in-Chief LIZA Groen trombi Executive Editor Carolyn F. Cushman Tim Pratt Senior Editors AMELIA BEAMER Editor FRANCESCA MYMAN Editorial Assistant Jonathan Strahan Reviews Editor Terry Bisson Cory doctorow nicK gevers KaRen Haber Rich Horton Russell Letson FAREN MILLER Graham sleight Paul Witcover Gary K. Wolfe Contributing Editors William G. Contento Computer Projects Beth Gwinn Photographer Locus, The Magazine of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Field (ISSN 0047-4959), is published monthly, at $6.95 per copy, by Locus Publications, 34 Ridgewood Lane, Oakland CA 94611. Please send all mail to: Locus Publications, PO Box 13305, Oakland CA 94661. Telephone (510) 339-9196; (510) 339-9198. FAX (510) 339-8144. E-mail: <locus@locusmag.com>. Individual subscriptions in the US: $34.00 for six issues, $60.00 for 12 issues, $108.00 for 24 issues via periodical mail. First class individual subscriptions in the US: $40.00 for six issues, $68.00 for 12 issues, $124.00 for 24 issues. In Canada: $43.00 for 6 issues, $73.00 for 12 issues, $134.00 for 24 issues via international first class mail. Individual international subscriptions are $50.00 for six issues, $95.00 for 12 issues, $160.00 for 24 issues via airmail. Lifetime subscriptions are ten times the one-year rate. Institutional subscriptions are $4.00 extra per year. Make checks payable to Locus Publications. All subscriptions payable directly in US funds only. Overseas checks must be drawn on a US bank and include computer encoding numbers at bottom. When converting from periodical mail to first class delivery, please convert all remaining issues on your present subscription ($1.00 per issue). The later date on the mailing label is that of the last issue on your present subscription. If you change your address, please notify us immediately. Periodical mail is not forwarded; it is either returned or destroyed. We subtract one issue from your subscription for each returned copy. We keep expired addresses on file for one year, so tell us if your subscription is a renewal or completely new. British Subscription Agent: Fantast Three, 32 Burch Close, Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE30 4UJ, UK. Japanese Subscription Agent: Yoshio Kobayashi, 3-34-14-301, Kitasenzoku, Ohta-ku, Tokyo, 145, Japan; Australian Subscription Agent: Justin Ackroyd, Slow Glass Books, PO Box 1280, Carlton, Victoria, 3053, Australia. Bookseller discounts available. Display advertising rates on request. We take no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. Printed in the United States. Periodical postage paid at Oakland, California, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Locus Publications, PO Box 13305, Oakland CA 94661. © 2008 by Locus Publications. Letters, information, and credit card subscriptions can be sent via e-mail to <locus@locusmag.com> or by fax to (510) 339-8144. Subscriptions by phone are available at (510) 339-9198; 9:30AM to 5:00PM PST, Monday – Friday. Official Locus Website: <www.locusmag.com>; Locus Index to Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror 19841999:<www.Locusmag.com/index/>; The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards is at <www.Locusmag. com/SFAwards/>. This magazine is printed on recycled paper using soy-based inks.

ge o The Age

6 / LOCUS October 2007

“I think both science fiction and fantasy are now becoming part of the mainstream. I wanted them to be respected as part of the mainstream — I didn’t want genre snobbishness to prevail. But there is a difference between how you write science fiction and how you write a realistic novel and how you write a Western, even if they always have miscegenated (as we used to say). I think it’s improving the mainstream, but I’m not sure it’s improving science fiction.”

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was born October 21, 1929 in Berkeley CA. Her father was renowned anthropologist Dr. Alfred L. Kroeber (1876-1960), and her mother was writer Theodora Kroeber, author of Ishi in Two Worlds (1961). She graduated with honors from Radcliffe College, Boston (1951) and earned a Masters Degree in French and Italian renaissance literature from Columbia University (1952). A Fulbright Fellow in 1953, she met fellow Fulbright scholar Charles A. Le Guin during the voyage to France on the Queen Mary; they married later that year in Paris. They both studied and taught French for several years before settling in Portland OR. She has also taught writing workshops in the US, UK, and Australia since the early ’70s. She and her husband have lived in the same house for more than 45 years, and have two daughters, one son, and several grandchildren. Le Guin was one of the earliest SF authors to gain literary recognition outside the genre and to be embraced by the academic community. Though she submitted a piece to Astounding at age 11 (it was rejected), when she began writing in the ’50s her focus was on realistic fiction. She was unable to find a publisher for her prose, and sold mostly poetry. She began concentrating on SF after selling time-travel story “April in Paris” to Fantastic in 1962, after which she wrote mostly short stories that leaned toward fantasy, all of which she sold to Cele Goldsmith for Amazing and Fantastic. First novel Rocannon’s World was published in 1966, and was the beginning of her Hainish series of novels and stories set in the same future universe, spanning some 2,500 years. The series continued with Planet of Exile (1966); City of Illusions (1967); The Left Hand of Darkness (1974), which won both Hugo and Nebula awards; and The Dispossessed (1974), which also won the Hugo and the Nebula; novellas “Vaster than Empires and More Slow”

(1971) and Hugo-winning “The Word for World Is Forest” (1972, as a book 1976); and a number of short stories, including Nebula winner “The Day Before the Revolution” (1974). The series, which combined feminist themes, mythology, and Taoism, helped alter the face of SF literature. Le Guin also introduced the “ansible,” an instantaneous communicator, subsequently used by other SF authors. She returned to the Hainish universe with story suite Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995) and The Telling (2000). Le Guin wrote several non-Hainish works during the early period (1962-74) as well, including: The Lathe of Heaven (1971), which has been adapted twice for film, in 1980 and 2002; Hugo-winning story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1973); and novelette “Nine Lives” (1969). She also wrote the Earthsea trilogy: A Wizard of Earthsea (1968); Newbery Honor Book The Tombs of Atuan (1972); and National Book Award winner The Farthest Shore (1972). Nearly 20 years later she finished the series with Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (1990), which won a Nebula. A decade later she added collection Tales of Earthsea (2001) and novel The Other Wind (2001). The first two books were adapted for a TV miniseries in 2004, the result of which so appalled Le Guin that she published essay “A Whitewashed Earthsea — How the Sci Fi Channel Wrecked My Books”. She was also disappointed in the animated adaptation Tales From Earthsea (2005). After the early Hainish works, Le Guin wrote fewer stories and focused on novels, including the Orsinia books: collection Orsinian Tales (1976) and Malafrena (1979), set in a fictional central European country; The Beginning Place (1980); multi-media Always Coming Home (1985) with music and poetry of Kesh, located in a future, postcatastrophe California; and story suite Searoad

of Saturn Continued on page 62

LOCUS October 2008 / 5

People & Publishing Milestones TERESA NIELSEN HAYDEN, 52, suffered a minor heart attack in early September and is recovering well. DAVID G . BARNETT of Necro Publications/Bedlam P ress is recover ing well after having hip replacement surgery July 1, a nd has reo p e n e d < w w w. n e c r o p u bl i c a t io n s . com> for ordering. SEAN McMULLEN received a PhD for his Janis Ian (2007) d isser t at ion on t he popularity statistics of medieval fantasy literature. Writer MATTHEW JOHNSON & MEGAN Teresa Nielsen Hayden (2008) GILLIS are the parents of LEO GILLIS JOHNSON, born August 2, 2008. ALAN DEAN FOSTER set the raw powerlifting Arizona State bench press record for men in the 198-pound class for 60-64 year olds on August 2, 2008, lifting 250 pounds. ‘‘I call it Revenge of the Nerds.’’ Writer and musician JANIS IAN will be Toastmistress for the 2009 C.S. Friedman (2008) Phyllis Gotlieb (2008) Nebula Awards Weekend, April 24-26, 2009 in Los Angeles. ‘‘I in Los Angeles CA. ROBERT BEN N ETT sold will tell you that to be asked to host world rights to Mr. Shivers, ‘‘a dark the Nebulas is right up there with fantasy set in the Great Depression being nominated for a Grammy, in American West,’’ and a second my book.’’ MIKE RESNICK’s Starship: book, to DongWon Song at Orbit in YVONNE NAVARRO is now Flagship, fifth in the military SF a pre-empt via Cameron McClure represented by Brendan Deneen of series, went to Lou Anders at Pyr at the Donald Maass Agency. Objective Entertainment. A.W. HILL’s Nowhere-Land, via Eleanor Wood of the Spectrum BARBARA ANNINO is now Literary Agency. about ‘‘assassins using an alternate represented by the Sternig & Byrne C.S. FRIEDMAN sold a fantasy reality game to recruit young Literary Agency. to Betsy Wollheim at DAW via footsoldiers,’’ went to Charlie IA N WHATES i s n o w Russell Galen. Wi nton at Cou nter poi nt via represented by John Jarrold. MELANIE RAWN sold a third K imberly Cameron at Reece CHRISTOPHER ROWE is book in her Spellbinder series to Halsey. now represented by Shana Cohen Beth Meacham at Tor via Russell MAGGIE STIEFVATER sold of the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Galen. YA fantasy Shiver and another Agency. N N EDI O K ORA F OR - book to Abby Ranger and David MBACHU sold Adventures of Levithan at Scholastic in a multiplethe Palm Tree Bandit to Sharyn round auction for world rights via November at Viking/Firebird via Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown. PH YLLIS GOTLIEB, 82, Donald Maass. ALEX A N DRA HARVEYreceived a Lifetime Achievement K ELLY McCULLOUGH’s FITZHENRY sold Victorian Awa r d f r o m SF C a n a d a i n Spellcrash, fifth in the Webmage occult fantasy Haunted Violet recognition of her outstanding series, went to Anne Sowards at and a second book to Emily Easton and groundbreaking body of work Ace via Jack Byrne. at Walker at auction via Marlene in science fiction. W.D. GAGLIANI sold Wolf’s Stringer of the Barbara Bova M.J. ENGH has been named Gambit, sequel to Wolf’s Trap, Literary Agency. 2009 Author Emerita by SFWA, to Don D’Auria at Leisure via Jack JAMES KNAPP’s first novel to be presented April 24-26, 2009 Byrne. Revivors and two sequels went to

Books Sold

Awards

6 / LOCUS October 2008

Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu (2007)

Jessica Wade at Ace via Jack Byrne. First novelist RACHEL HAWKINS sold a YA trilogy about ‘‘a boarding school for witches, shapeshifters, and faeries’’ beginning with Demonglass to Jennifer Besser at Hyperion, at auction, via Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency. JO WALTON’s col lect ion Lifelode sold to Mark Olson at NESFA Press via Jack Byrne. It will be published for her Guest of Honor appearance at Boskone in 2009. KAGE BAKER sold children’s novel The Hotel Under the Sand to Jacob Weisman at Tachyon via Linn Prentis. MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL sold a chapbook collection to William K. Schafer at Subterranean Press via Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency. LOREN RHODES will edit Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues, collecting essays from Morbid Curiosity magazine, for Scribner.

Books Resold CHARLES STROSS sold and

Media

Karin Lowachee (2005)

delivered story collection Devi Pillai (2007) David S. Goyer, Robert J. Sawyer, Brannon Braga (2008) Wireless, which includes Soulless, first in a series set in an original novella; sold 419, to Orbit. RACHEL CAINE handed in Victorian London with vampires, a sequel to Halting State; and sold Laundry novel The Fuller Cape Storm to Anne Sowards to Orbit US. Editors JOHN DAVEY, JEFF Memorandum, all to Dar ren for Roc. S.L. VIEHL delivered Crystal VA N DER M EER , a nd A N N Nash at Orbit via Caitlin Blasdell of the Liza Dawson Agency. Ace is Healer to Anne Sowards for VANDERMEER delivered The Roc. Best of Michael Moorcock to publishing in the US. A. LEE MARTINEZ turned in Tachyon. WILLIA M M ARTI N sold Citizen Washington and Monster to Devi Pillai at Orbit. ANN AGUIRRE delivered Annapolis to Bob Gleason for Tor via Robert Gottlieb of Trident Doubleblind to Anne Sowards at Ace. DEVI P ILLAI h a s b e e n Media Group. JEFF SOMERS handed in promoted to senior editor at Orbit. Avery Cates novel The Eternal SARAH HODGSON has been Prison to Orbit US. promoted to deputy publishing N.K. JEMISIN delivered The director at HarperCollins Voyager, IAN McDONALD delivered Cyberabad Days to Lou Anders Hundred Thousand Kingdoms t a k i n g o v e r f r o m WAY N E BROOKES, who was promoted at Pyr and to Jo Fletcher at to Orbit US. KAREN CHANCE’s Curse to publishing director. Gollancz. JETSE DE VRIES is resigning K ARI N LOWAC HEE ’s the Dawn was turned in to Anne from his position as co-editor of Gaslight Dogs, ‘‘a Victorian era Sowards for Onyx. GAIL CARRIGER turned in Interzone. steampunk novel,’’ was delivered

Publishing

Books Delivered

Grand Master: Ray Bradbury

Samantha Henderson, Deborah P Kolodji, Ray Bradbury, Drew Morse

Ray Bradbury received his Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Poetry Association during his 88th birthday party, August 23, 2008 at the Mystery & Imagination bookstore in Glendale CA, presented by President Deborah P Kolodji, Treasurer Samantha Henderson, and Awards Chair Drew Morse.

HBO exercised its option and bought TV rights to GEORGE R.R. MARTIN’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. Martin says, ‘‘This is a very encouraging sign, and one that suggests a continued high level of enthusiasm and commitment for A Game of Thrones at HBO.’’ RO B ERT J . SAW Y ER ’s Flashforward is being adapted as a TV series for ABC in a ‘‘handsome deal’’ via Vince Gerardis of Created By. The pilot, now in pre-production, was written by DAVID S. GOYER & BRANNON BRAGA. Sawyer will serve as a consultant on the series and will write a first-season episode. Sawyer also sold anthology Distant Early Warnings: Canada’s Best SF, and resold novel Starplex, both to Richard Dionne at Red Deer Press. AARON ALLSTON will write Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast, first in a new nine-book series for Del Rey. CHRISTIE GOLDEN and TROY DENNING will write some of the later volumes. RI C HARD A . K N AA K & S Y LVIO TA B ET s o l d Beastmaster: Myth, based on the Beastmaster films, to Marco Palmieri at Pocket via Donald Maass. 

Lupoffs Celebrate Gold

Pat & Richard A. Lupoff celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at a surprise party at China Village in Albany CA, August 23, 2008, organized by their children Ken, Tom, and Kathy. SF luminaries in attendance included Robert Silverberg & Karen Haber, Carol Carr & Robert Lichtman, Michael Kurland, Richard Wolinsky, and Rina & Jacob Weisman. LOCUS October 2008 / 7

Denvention 3, held August 6-10, 2008 at the Colorado Convention publications, attendees received a large water bottle emblazoned with ‘‘Fan Center, was the 66th World Science Fiction Convention, and the third Hydration Device’’ and the convention logo, as well as encouragement to Worldcon to be held in Denver. With an attending membership of 3,751, not stay hydrated, important due to the altitude. According to Progress Report counting kids-in-tow, it was a small Worldcon, with the highest number of Four ‘‘most people won’t experience the effects of altitude sickness,’’ but at cancellations in the last 30 years according to con chair Kent Bloom. It was a mile above sea level, Denver’s air is less dense and the sun is stronger than an extremely large function space; one had to walk through several other what most flatlanders are accustomed to. conventions – including the 2008 Joint Statistical Meetings and a John Deere conference – to get to the Denvention area. High gas prices, lowdensity local population, and the slowing economy were all discussed as potential reasons for the small turnout. The con was housed throughout eight different hotels, with the Sheraton as the party hotel and with some programming, and the Hyatt Regency the convention center hotel. Members came in from 29 different countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Israel, and Bermuda. Guests of Honor were Lois McMaster Bujold (writer), Rick Sternbach (artist), Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Tom Whitmore (fan), and Kathy Mar (music), with Wil McCarthy as Liza Groen Trombi M.M. Buckner toastmaster and Robert A. Heinlein as the Ghost of Honor. Except for an unfortunately long wait for attendees to pick up their badges on Wednesday morning – the lack of a separate line for program participants required professionals to wait first for their badges, and then in a second line for their program packets – the convention seemed well-organized. Along with badges and convention Louise Marley, Ellen Klages

Larry Niven, G. David Nordley

Kate Elliott, Sheila Gilbert, Betsy Wollheim

Jessica Wade, Ginjer Buchanan

Jeremy Lassen, Bill Willingham

Benjamin Rosenbaum, John Kessel

Walter Jon Williams, George R.R. Martin, Lawrence Person

Locus table: Amelia Beamer, Jonathan Strahan, Gary K. Wolfe, Teddy Buchanan, Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong

Mario Acevedo, Kat Richardson

Daryl Gregory, Jack Skillingstead, Patrick Swenson, Sheila Williams

convention staff even arranged a group On the edge of the Great Plains, just block of tickets for a Colorado Rockies east of the Rocky Mountains, Denver is game against the Washington Nationals. surrounded by vast tracts and picturesque Other nearby tourist attractions included views of largely empty land. The parks, golf courses, the Denver Mint, convention center, in downtown Denver the Denver Art Museum, and the Denver and about half an hour from the airport, Museum of Nature and Science. Some was perfectly serviceable for hosting a 20 or so con-goers were able to attend a large group: excellent restaurants within day trip to NORAD (see photo story at walking distance, a devoted pedestrian end of report), and other con attendees thoroughfare on 16th Street Mall, a free also took time away from programming light rail shuttle, and a range of shopping and parties in order to watch the Opening from upscale boutiques and chain brand Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics on name stores to cheap and quick sandwich August 8th. joints, not to mention the downtown branch of independent Tattered Cover GoHs: Tom Whitmore (fan), Lois McMaster Bujold (author), Rick Sternbach (artist), The main con hotel was the skyscraper Hyatt Regency (and not the closely Book Store (which hosted events with Kathy Mar (music), Wil McCarthy (TM) Joe Haldeman, Kat Richardson, Charles Stross, and Ben Bova, plus a book named Grand Hyatt located several blocks away). Many professionals held launch for Denver-based Flying Pen Press). Con attendees who hailed from their meetings in the Regency’s bars and restaurants: there were both the more crowded urban centers were pleasantly surprised to find open tables Peaks Lounge in the lobby area, furnished with long tables and high stools, and short wait times at many Denver restaurants. There were enough pubs to as well as the Strata Bar on the 27th floor, with huge glass windows revealing  organize a pub-crawl on Sunday afternoon after the dealers’ room closed. The

Stephen Baxter, Robert Zubrin

Fred Lerner, Michael Swanwick

James Frenkel, Sarah K. Castle

Matsumi Washington, Nick Mamatas

Brenda Carre, Betsy Dornbusch, Carol Berg James Patrick Kelly, Paul Melko

Frank Wu, Brianna Spacekat

Ellen Datlow, Jetse de Vries

David Brin with the Hal Clement Award Alex Eisenstein, Mark Rich, Jacob & Rina Weisman

Solaris Crew: Christian Dunn, Mark Newton, George Mann

David D. Levine, Jed Hartman

Ruth Leibig, Ian E. Stockdale

Kim Greyson, L.E. Modesitt, Tom Doherty, Rebecca K. Rowe

Gardner Dozois, Sean Williams

Astrid Bear, David Marusek

Pat Cadigan, Nancy Kress, James Morrow, Ian McDonald, Robert Reed, David B. Coe

Steven Barnes, Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Sheila Williams, Stanley Schmidt

 Denvention 3 gorgeous views of the city. (And in other revealing views in the Hyatt Regency, a stripper joined con-goers at the Peaks Lounge one evening, flashing and flirting with convention attendees as well as the bartender, though failing to get anyone to flash her back.) The Hyatt Regency also offered club floor accommodations to attendees (at a slightly higher con rate), but with a free and decent continental breakfast, afternoon appetizers and finger foods, and a dinnertime honor bar. The Fireside Terrace in the Grand Hyatt, with comfortable armchairs and couches and a piano bar, was popular also, though criticized for stopping serving at 10:30 p.m. For a late-night venue change, some members walked the block and a half to Leela’s European Café, a 24hour diner with all-night breakfast plus full bar, wi-fi, overstuffed couches, and tables with chess sets. Despite being overwhelmed by the sudden influx of late-night partiers (and utterly unable to make a proper Sea Breeze), the staff kept up with food orders, served great coffee, and even turned down the music and allowed con-goers to rearrange the furniture.

Mark Rich, Grant Carrington

Benjamin Rosenbaum, Liz Argall

Rick Sternbach, Michael Carroll

PROGRAMMING As always at Worldcon, there were way too many simultaneous tracks of programming for anyone to attend a significant percentage of events: 242 signings, 78 kaffeeklatches, 92 readings, two GoH interviews, one GoH concert, two GoH slideshows, 90 separate films plus the whole first season of Heroes, and 468 panels and presentations. At a given moment, attendees could learn about the history of fandom; find out whether librarians still influence young readers; discuss the ethics of book reviewing; talk about participating in NaNoWriMo; see a slideshow on Heinlein’s influences on space suit design; learn origami; speculate on what a world would be like if dinosaurs had taken over; attend readings by the likes of John Kessel, Louise Marley, and Harry Turtledove; or 16 other program items. Standouts panels included David Brin’s with artists Frank Wu and Teddy Harvia, where they sketched to his improv stories. From Brin’s blog: ‘‘It got rather rollicking and manic, with Frank & I standing on the tables doing surfer moves, then leading the audience in chants and songs, then getting really silly.’’ Another  p. 34

Terry Boren, Arlan Andrews

Charles Stross, Tom Doherty

Rome Quezada, Jacob Weisman

Michael Swanwick, Farah Mendlesohn Enid Crowe, Lou Anders, Ian McDonald

L.E. Modesitt, David G. Hartwell L.E. Modesitt, David G. Hartwell

Jonathan Strahan, Francesca Myman, Sean Williams

Jim Fiscus, Brenda Cooper

Robert Reed

Jonathan Miles, Edward Muller

Jill & Derek Zumsteg, Nancy Kress, Michael Brotherton

The Analog/Asimov’s Table with Brian Bieniowski, Trevor Quachri, and John Picacio

Willie Siros, Stephen Leigh, George R.R. Martin

Peter Heck, John Douglas

Scott Edelman, Teddy Buchanan

David B. Coe, James A. Bailey

Gary K. Wolfe (left) and the Big, Blue Bear peer into the Convention Center

Hopkinson, Proulx Win 2008 Sunburst Awards

2008 British Fantasy Awards

The New Moon’s Arms by Nalo Hopkinson (Warner) has won the eighth annual Sunburst Award, while Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet by Joanne Proulx (Viking) is the first Sunburst winner in the newly formed Young Adult category. This is Hopkinson’s second win. Each author will receive a cash prize of C$1,000 and a solid bronze ‘‘sunburst’’ medallion. The awards are given annually to novel or book-length col- Joanne Proulx (2008) Nalo Hopkinson (2007) lections of fantastic fiction by Canadian authors published during the previous calendar year, chosen by jury. Other nominated works in the adult category were Double-blind, Michell Butler-Hallet (Killick Press); Darkness of the God, Amber Hayward (Edge); Wonderfull, William Neil Scott (NeWest Press); and Axis, Robert Charles Wilson (Tor). YA finalists were Choices, Deborah Lynn Jacobs (Roaring Brook); Retribution, Carrie Mac (Puffin Canada); Darkwing, Kenneth Oppel (HarperCollins Canada); and The Night Wanderer, Drew Hayden Taylor (Annick Press). This year’s jurors were Timothy Anderson, Kelley Armstrong, Barbara Haworth-Attard, Dena Taylor, and Robert Wiersema. Jurors for the next award, to be presented autumn 2009, are Barbara Berson, John Dupuis, Ed Greenwood, Sandra Katsuri, and Simon Rose. Publishers with eligible books should mail six copies to The Sunburst Award, 106 Cocksfield Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3H 3T2. Packages should be marked ‘‘Promotional Materials’’ to expedite passage through customs. Submission deadline is January 31, 2009. For more information, write to the above address or see <www.sunburstaward.org>.

The 2008 British Fantasy Awards were announced at Fantasycon 2008 in Nottingham, September 20, 2008. Winners include Best Novel: (The August Derleth Fantasy Award): The Grin of the Dark, Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing). Best Ramsey Campbell (2007) Novella: ‘‘The Scalding Rooms’’, Conrad Williams (PS Publishing). Best Short Fiction: ‘‘My Stone Desire’’, Joel Lane (Black Static #1). Best Collection: Old Devil Moon, Christopher Fowler (Serpents Tail). Best Anthology: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18, Stephen Jones (Robinson). Best Small Press: Peter Crowther for PS Publishing. Best Artist: Vincent Chong. Best Non-Fiction: Peter Tennant for Whispers of Wickedness website reviews (Whispers of Wickedness). Karl Edward Wagner Award for Special Achievement: Ray Harryhausen. The Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award: Scott Lynch.

Harper’s Angry Robot

HarperCollins UK will launch a new, mostly YA, SF imprint called Angry Robot, headed by Marc Gascoigne, former publisher of the Solaris and Black Library imprints at Games Workshop. The imprint will initially publish two books per month, with plans to increase to three titles per month Marc Gascoigne (2007) within the first two years. Most titles will be paperback originals, but ‘‘there are plans for limited edition hardbacks and deluxe versions,’’ and they also intend to offer digital and print editions directly through their website. The new imprint will not affect existing SF imprint Voyager, but takes aim at a slightly different audience. Brand manager Chris Michaels says, ‘‘We really see Voyager as the gold standard for science fiction. They take big name authors like Robin Hobb or Terry Goodkind. At Angry Robot we will be building the next wave of authors, people like Cory Doctorow or Fiona McIntosh who are on their first books with us at Voyager.’’ He says they’ll target ‘‘early adopters’’ of SF from ages 14 to 16, and the ‘‘massively aggressive consumers’’ aged between 27 and 40. Gascoigne says he is ‘‘overjoyed to be joining HarperCollins to set up Angry Robot. I’ve proved with Black Library that, with the right approach, genre fiction can work and work big for hard-to-reach audiences like teenage boys.’’ The imprint will launch in July 2009, though no titles have yet been announced. 

Colfer Goes Hitchhiking

Eoin Colfer (2008)

Eoin Colfer has been hired to write a sixth book in Douglas Adams’s classic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, continuing the adventures of hapless spacefaring Earthling Arthur Dent. Colfer, best known for the Artemis Fowl series of young-adult novels, will write And Another Thing... for Penguin UK. Adams, who died in 2001 at age 49, wrote five books in the ‘‘increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy,’’ with the last, Mostly Harmless, appearing in 1992. Adams once said he intended to write a sixth book in the series, noting ‘‘Five seems to be a wrong kind of number, six is a better kind of number.’’ His widow, Jane Belson, supports the decision: ‘‘I am delighted that Eoin Colfer has agreed to continue the Hitchhiker series. I love his books and could not think of a better person to transport Arthur, Zaphod, and Marvin to pastures new. The project has my full support.’’ Colfer was initially hesitant to take on the challenge of continuing

such a well-known and beloved series. ‘‘My first reaction was semi-outrage that anyone should be allowed to tamper with this incredible series. But on reflection I realized that this is a wonderful opportunity to work with characters I have loved since childhood and give them something of my own voice while holding on to the spirit of Douglas Adams. I feel more pressure to perform now than I ever have with my own books.’’ And Another Thing... is scheduled for October 2009 publication.  Douglas Adams (c. 2000)

LOCUS October 2008 / 11

The Data File Analog and Asimov’s Enlarge and Shrink • Effective with the December

2009 issues, Analog and Asimov are changing from their old digest size of 5 1/4’’ x 8 5/16’’ to a new ‘‘L trim’’ size of 5 7/8’’ x 8 5/8’’, which is the size of the other Penny Press puzzle and astrology magazines. Though the dimensions of the new L-trim size are larger, the page count is shrinking from 144 to 112 for a regular issue, though ‘‘since the new pages are larger than the old pages, the actual volume lost is about 8 pages or 4,000 words.’’ In the October/ November issue, Asimov’s editor Sheila J.K. Rowling (2006) Stephenie Meyer (2007) Williams said, ‘‘The reason for the change is nothing to be alarmed by. Paper and produc- Evans claimed to have served on the protection tion costs have presented Asimov’s and our sister detail that guarded Rushdie during the years of publication, Analog, with a choice: increase the fatwa. Rushdie said Evan’s book, On Her subscription rates and single-issue costs to re- Majesty’s Service: My Incredible Life in the tain the old format, or adopt a slightly different World’s Most Dangerous Close Protection size and retain our current prices. Naturally, Squad, painted him as ‘‘mean and arrogant.’’ we felt it was of best benefit to all to choose the Portions of the book were serialized in a British latter... the award-winning content inside our paper, including claims that Rushdie’s guards magazine will always remain of the same high nicknamed him ‘‘Scruffy’’ and that they ‘‘got standards.’’ Others are less sanguine about the so fed up with his attitude that they locked him format change, worrying it could be the death in a cupboard under the stairs and all went to knell for these magazines, as readers might find the local pub for a pint or two.’’ The judge returned a Declaration of Falsity against the book it harder to locate them on newsstands. acknowledging eleven falsehoods. The book was scheduled for August 4 publicaBig Mouth for Small Beer • Small Beer Press has announced a new children’s book tion, but was delayed after Rushdie threatened imprint, Big Mouth House, launching late legal action. Rushdie’s lawyer said Evans overOctober 2008 with The Serial Garden: The stated his status, calling him ‘‘a police driver Complete Armitage Family Stories by the making out he was an armed special protection late Joan Aiken. The collection will include officer.’’ Evans, nicknamed ‘‘Dodgy Ron,’’ left four unpublished stories, illustrations by Andi a 28-year career with the police after being Watson, and introductions by Garth Nix and convicted on nine counts of dishonesty. Evans’s publisher and ghostwriter apologized Aiken’s daughter Lizza Aiken, with an initial print run of 10,000 copies. Founders Gavin for the falsehoods in court, acknowledging that Grant and Kelly Link hope to publish reissues ‘‘much of the story... was false,’’ and promised to and original fiction, with two new titles already make corrections. A revised edition of the book, announced: The Poison Eaters and Other removing the falsehoods, has been scheduled, Stories by Holly Black and The Freedom and 4,000 copies of the original edition have Maze by Delia Sherman. For more: <www. been destroyed. While the defendants must pay Rushdie’s court costs, the author declined bigmouthhouse.net>. to pursue any punitive damages, and hopes he Harlequin Gets Younger • Harlequin is start- will inspire others to demand retractions without ing a new young-adult urban fantasy imprint, as demanding payment. ‘‘It seems to me to be unyet unnamed, to launch October 2009. Senior convincing that a huge, large amount of money editor Natashya Wilson will run the program, will improve your reputation. It just means that which targets 12-18 year olds, and is seeking your lawyers are better than the other person’s ‘‘unique, memorable books that capture the lawyers. But to have the court stating that certain teen experience and will speak to young adults things are untrue seems to me to be emphatic... with authenticity and power. Contemporary, I have never sought to pursue expressions of paranormal, fantasy, historical, futuristic... opinion. However, facts are facts and lies are anything goes, so long as the book delivers a lies. And it seems to me that the law exists to reading experience that will resonate with the allow people to clarify that.’’ reader and be remembered long after the covers are closed. We expect that many of our projects Rowling Wins Lawsuit • J.K. Rowling won will include a memorable romantic element, her suit against RDR Books to stop publication although that isn’t necessarily a requirement.’’ of The Harry Potter Lexicon, a book version The first title from the imprint will be Gena of Steven Vander Ark’s fan website. Rowling and Showalter’s Intertwined. Warner Bros. sued for copyright infringement, arguing that much of the text was lifted verbatim Rushdie Settles Suit • Salman Rushdie from Rowling’s works without attribution, and prevailed in a libel suit against Ron Evans, a with little original commentary. After the Sepformer policeman who wrote a book that in- tember 8, 2008 decision Rowling said, ‘‘I took cluded derogatory descriptions of the author. no pleasure at all in bringing legal action and am 12 / LOCUS October 2008

delighted that this issue has been resolved favourably. I went to court to uphold the right of authors everywhere to protect their own original work... Many books have been published which offer original insights into the world of Harry Potter. The Lexicon is just not one of them.’’ Judge Robert Patterson’s statement said, ‘‘While the Lexicon, in its current state, is not a fair use of the Harry Potter works, reference works that share the Lexicon’s purpose of aiding readers of literature generally should be encouraged rather than stifled.’’ Vander Ark says he bears ‘‘no ill will whatsoever to Ms. Rowling,’’ and is writing a new book, In Search of Harry Potter, about the real-life inspirations for locations in Rowling’s series.

Meyer Manuscript Leaked • Stephenie Mey-

er has ceased work on Midnight Sun, which was to be the fifth in her bestselling Twilight Saga vampire series, after an unfinished draft was released on the Internet. In a statement on her website, she explained: ‘‘I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published. I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being... Writing isn’t like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything... I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely.’’ Midnight Sun was to retell the events of first novel Twilight from another character’s point of view. Meyer has since put the draft online: ‘‘I’d rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun. It was only an incomplete draft; the writing is messy and flawed and full of mistakes. But how do I comment on this violation without driving more people to look for the illegal posting? It has taken me a while to decide how and if I could respond. But to end the confusion, I’ve decided to make the draft available.’’ It can be read at <www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun. html>. The Twilight Saga has sold over 50 million copies worldwide.

Wizards Layoffs • Wizards of the Coast has

announced additional restructuring, which will include an unspecified number of job eliminations, reportedly ‘‘less than 5%’’ of the company’s staff. Wizards did not release specific information about which departments are affected, but scattered reports online indicate that brand managers, book editors, licensing personnel, and the online community manager were among those let go. This re-alignment follows the recent elimination of non-shared-world fiction imprint Discoveries and fits with the company’s plans to ‘‘refocus publishing efforts on the company’s two core brands – Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons.’’  p. 63

 locus looks at books

p. 19

Gardnerspace: Short Fiction Column by Gardner Dozois / 15

F&SF 6/08; F&SF 7/08; F&SF 8/08; Asimov’s 8/08; The Starry Rift, Jonathan Strahan, ed.; Sideways in Crime, Lou Anders, ed.; The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Two, George Mann, ed.; Analog 4/08.

Short Fiction Reviews by Rich Horton / 16

Asimov’s 10-11/08; F&SF 10-11/08; Postscripts Summer ’08; Strange Horizons 7-8/08; Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #36; Gaslight Grimoire, J.R. Campbell & Charles Prepotec, eds.

Reviews by Gary K. Wolfe / 19

The Quiet War, Paul McAuley; The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway; How to Make Friends With Demons, Graham Joyce (In the UK as Memoirs of a Master Forger, William Heaney).

Reviews by Faren Miller / 21

Half a Crown, Jo Walton; The Bird Shaman, Judy Moffett; Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory; The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie; Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapkowski, Eanusia Stok, trans.

Paul McAuley (2005)

Reviews by Russell Letson / 23

p. 21

Line War, Neal Asher; The Steel Remains, Richard Morgan; Juggler of Worlds, Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner.

Short Reviews by Carolyn Cushman / 25

Harmony, C.F. Bentley; The Painted Man (In the US as The Warded Man), Peter V. Brett; The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins; Riders of the Storm, Julie E. Czerneda; Rapunzel’s Revenge, Shannon Hale, Dean Hale & Nathan Hale; Gentleman Takes a Chance, Sarah A. Hoyt; Duainfey, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller; The Soldier King, Violette Malan; Melting Stones, Tamora Pierce; Cast in Fury, Michelle Sagara.

Reviews by Divers Hands: Rich Horton / 27

Fast Ships, Black Sails, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds.

Yesterday’s Tomorrows: Graham Sleight / 29

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin; The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K. Le Guin; The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin; Always Coming Home, Ursula K. Le Guin.

Jo Walton (2008)

Terry Bisson: This Month in History / 17, 19, 21, 23

p. 22

Quoted Without Comment / 48

correction In the July issue, the photo of Harlan Ellison and Jen Adams on page 8 was taken by Alex Crowe. Last issue in our Hugo Report we stated that the Hugos need to finish before 10:00 pm ‘‘because Dolly Ursula K. Le Guin....................... (LT)1 Tobias S. Buckell......................... (LT)1 Colorado Convention Center..... (BG)3 Ursula K. Le Guin....................... (LT)4 Teresa Nielsen Hayden............. (BG)6 Janis Ian..................................... (JL)6 Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu.........(GKW)6 C.S. Friedman............................ (KP)6 Phylis Gotlieb................................ (F)6 Karin Lowachee......................... (BG)7 Devi Pillai.................................... (LT)7 David S. Goyer, Robert J. Sawyer, Brannon Braga....................... (CC)7 Samantha Henderson, Deborah P Kolodji, Ray Bradbury, Drew Morse.............................. (F)7 Pat & Richard A. Lupoff............. (JW)7 Louise Marley, Ellen Klages...... (AB)8 Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Liza Groen Trombi.................. (AB)8 M.M. Buckner............................. (AB)8 Jessica Wade, Ginjer Buchanan.................... (BG)8 Jeremy Lassen, Bill Willingham.. (LT)8 Larry Niven, G. David Nordley... (BG)8 Kate Elliot, Sheila Gilbert, Betsy Wollheim...................... (BG)8 Benjamin Rosenbaum, John Kessel........................... (AB)8 Locus Table................................ (BG)8 Walter Jon Williams, George R.R. Martin, Lawrence Person....................... (BG)8 Marlo Acevedo, Kat Richardson. (LT)8 Daryl Gregory, Jack Skillingstead, Patrick Swenson, Sheila Williams........................ (LT)8 GoHs: Tom Whitmore, Lois McMaster Bujold, Rick Sternbach, Kathy Mar, Wil McCarthy......................... (BG)9 Stephen Baxter, Robert Zubrin.. (BG)9 James Frenkel, Sarah K. Castle...................... (BG)9 Brenda Carre, Betsy Dornbusch, Carol Berg.............................. (BG)9 James Patrick Kelly, Paul Melko............................. (BG)9 Ellen Datlow, Jetse de Vries.......(LH)9 Fred Lerner, Michael Swanwick.................. (BG)9 Matsumi Washington, Nick Mamatas........................ (AB)9 Frank Wu, Brianna Spacekat..... (BG)9 David Brin.................................. (BG)9 Alex Eisenstein, Mark Rich, Jacob & Rina Weisman........................ (BG)9 Christian Dunn, Mark Newton, George Mann......................... (AB)9 David D. Levine, Jed Hartman... (BG)9 Ruth Leibig, Ian E. Stockdale.... (BG)9 Kim Greyson, L.E. Modesitt,

Parton took the stage after the Hugo ceremony.’’ Actually, the Hugos needed to finish by 10:00 pm so Dolly Parton’s crew could set up for her performance the next day.

Photo listing Tom Doherty, Rebecca K. Rowe.................. (BG)9 Gardner Dozois, Sean Williams..(LH)9 Astrid Bear, David Marusek....... (AB)9 Steven Barnes, Kristine Kathryn Rusch.......... (BG)9 Sheila Williams, Stanley Schmidt..................... (BG)9 Pat Cadigan, Nancy Kress, James Morrow, Ian McDonald, Robert Reed, David B. Coe....(LH)9 Mark Rich, Grant Carrington... (BG)10 Rick Sternbach, Michael Carroll..................... (BG)10 Terry Boren, Arlan Andrews.... (AB)10 Charles Stross, Tom Doherty... (BG)10 Rome Quezada, Jacob Weisman.................... (AB)10 Benjamin Rosenbaum, Liz Argall.............................. (AB)10 Robert Reed............................. (LT)10 Michael Swanwick, Farah Mendlesohn............... (BG)10 Enid Crowe, Lou Anders, Ian McDonald....................... (AB)10 L.E. Modesitt, David G. Hartwell................. (BG)10 Jonathan Strahan, Francesca Myman, Sean Williams....................... (LT)10 Jonathan Miles, Edward Muller...................... (AB)10 Jim Fiscus, Brenda Cooper..... (AB)10 Jill & Derek Zumsteg, Nancy Kress, Michael Brotherton.............. (BG)10 Willie Siros, Stephen Leigh, George R.R. Martin.............. (AB)10 Peter Heck, John Douglas........ (LT)10 Gary K. Wolfe, Big Blue Bear.... (LT)10 Brian Bieniowski, Trevor Quachri, John Picacio........................ (AB)10 Scott Edelman, Teddy Buchanan.................. (AB)10 David B. Coe, James A. Bailey.(BG)10 Nalo Hopkinson........................ (LT)11 Joanne Proulx............................. (F)11 Ramsey Campbell........................ ()11 Marc Gascoigne....................... (LT)11 Eoin Colfer.................................. (F)11 Douglas Adams........................ (JF)11 Stephenie Meyer........................ (F)12 J.K. Rowling................................ (F)12 Paul McAuley........................... (BG)13 Jo Walton.................................. (LT)13 Daryl Gregory.......................... (BG)13 Neal Asher............................... (SA)13 Ursula K. Le Guin....................... (F)29 Irene Vartanoff, Karen Haber... (AB)34 Liz Gorinsky, Amelia Beamer.. (AB)34 Jeremy Lassen, Jim Minz........ (AB)34

David G. Hartwell, Gary K. Wolfe....................... (AB)34 Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Resnick........................ (AB)34 Dani Kollin, Gail Carriger, Eytan Kollin...........................(TB)34 Charles Stross, Ginjer Buchanan...................(LH)34 Howard Hendrix, Steve Saffel.. (BG)34 Irene Gallo, Alan F. Beck......... (BG)34 Robert Silverberg, Michelle Hillburn, Bill Fawcett........................... (BG)34 Stanley Schmidt, Edward Lerner, Stephen Baxter, Astrid & Greg Bear, John Barnes................ (LT)35 Gay Haldeman, Anne Bujold, Joe Haldeman, Paul Bujold, Lois McMaster Bujold.......... (BG)35 Christopher Carey, Pierce Watters...................... (LT)35 Mary Rosenblum, Janet Freeman-Daily............. (LT)35 Rani Graff, Allison Baker & Chris Roberson.................... (BG)35 Mike Walsh, Chris Logan Edwards........... (LT)35 Yanni Kuznia, John Scalzi........ (AB)35 Jack Skillingstead & Nancy Kress, Sheila Williams...................... (LT)35 Pat Cadigan, Charles N. Brown.................. (LT)35 Joe Haldeman, Robert Silverberg.................. (LT)35 Brian Hades, Justyn Perry........ (LT)35 Eddie Schneider, Heather Duncan, Jim Minz, Joshua Bilmes..... (BG)35 James Morrow, David G. Hartwell, Laurie Kaczanowska, Jack Womack....................... (BG)35 Jude Feldman, John & Traci Picacio, Alan Beatts........................... (LT)35 Jetse de Vries, David Louis Edelman, Deanna Hoak, Blake Charlton, Paolo Bacigalupi................... (LT)35 Traci Castleberry, Oz Whiston, Amelia Beamer, Farah Mendlesohn, Gary K. Wolfe, Curtis Potterveld & Karen Burnham.................... (AB)35 Annalee Newitz, David Williams, Ginjer Clark, Charlie Jane Anders............ (BG)35 Diana Gill, Jack Womack.......... (LT)35 Ellen Datlow, Leslie Howle...... (AB)35 Jay Lake, Erin Cashier, Derek Zumsteg.................... (AB)35 Rome Quezada, Mark R. Kelly, Jonathan Strahan................. (LT)35 Vivian Perry, Edward Bryant..... (LT)35 Clarion West Alumni.................(LH)35

Strolling with the Stars............. (SS)39 Bob Eggleton, Toni Weisskoff, Marianne Plumridge............. (BG)39 Gardner Dozois & Susan Casper...................... (AB)39 Elizabeth Anne Hull, Carolyn Clink & Robert J. Sawyer.................. (BG)39 Gayle Wiesner & G. David Nordley.................. (AB)39 Cheryl Brigham & David Brin....(LH)39 Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith...............(LH)39 Kaja & Phil Foglio.....................(LH)39 Mary Turzillo & Geoff Landis.... (BG)39 Diana & Jeff Carson................ (AB)39 Pat Diggs, AAron Buchanan & Kirsten Gong-Wong, Teddy Buchanan.................. (AB)39 Connie & Courtney Willis..........(LH)39 SF Writers at NORAD................. (F)40 Frederik Pohl.............................. (F)42 Arthur C. Clarke....................... (HE)43 Beth Gwinn, Liza Groen Trombi, Amelia Beamer, Charles N. Brown, Jonathan Strahan, Kirsten Gong-Wong............. (AB)65 Neal Stephenson, Locus Staff... (LT)65 David Foster Wallace............... (SR)67 Brian M. Thomsen................... (BG)67 Gregory Mcdonald...................... (F)67 Tobias S. Buckell....................... (LT)68 Tobias S. Buckell....................... (LT)70 Photo Listing: (LT) Liza Groen Trombi, (AB) Amelia Beamer, (BG) Beth Gwinn, (JL) John Leonardini, (GKW) Gary K. Wolfe, (KP) Kellie Phillips, (CC) Carolyn Clink, (JW) Jacob Weisman, (JF) Jill Furmanovsky, (SA) Samantha Asher, (LH) Leslie Howle, (TB) T. Borregaard, (SS) Stu Segal, (HE) Hector Ekanayeke, (SR) Steve Rhodes, (F) Furnished.

Ad index Ace/Roc..................................... 32,33 Anchor.............................................. 2 Anticipation..................................... 34 Baen..................................... 26,41,49 EDGE Book.................................... 27 Bloody Rare Books......................... 38 Heritage Auction............................. 28 HarperCollins............................. 36,37 Locus......................................... 46,55 Night Shade.................................... 18 Penguin.......................................... 72 Tachyon.......................................... 53 Tor............................... 14,30,45,51,66 University of Nebraska................... 57 Wizards of the Coast ..................... 71

Daryl Gregory (2008) p. 23

Neal Asher (2002) In October, Locus Online (www. locusmag.com) editor Mark R. Kelly reviews Howard Shore’s opera The Fly, which was staged in Los Angeles in September; Gary Westfahl will review the film Blindness. Plus: • Breaking news • ‘‘Blinks’’ to online reviews, articles, and SF/F/H e-publications • Descriptions of notable new books and magazines,with links to online excerpts and reviews • Up-to-date author events and convention listings

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Gardnerspace: A Short Fiction Column By Gardner Dozois

F&SF 6/08, 7/08, 8/08 Asimov’s 8/08 The Starry Rift, Jonathan Strahan, ed. (Viking) April 2008. Sideways in Crime, Lou Anders, ed. (Solaris) June 2008. The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume Two, George Mann, ed. (Solaris) February 2008. Analog 4/08 Like everyone else in this small, incestuous field, I have conflicts of interest, and it’s only fair to admit to them upfront. I’ve done books, and am in the midst of doing others, in collaboration with Jack Dann, George R.R. Martin, and Jonathan Strahan, and have collaborated in the past with Mike Resnick and Sheila Williams. I’ve had close decades-long friendships with Joe Haldeman, Pat Cadigan, Michael Swanwick, Eileen Gunn, and Ellen Datlow. And in the course of a forty-year career, I’ve worked with almost every writer and editor in the business at one time or another. So feel free to take anything I say with a grain of salt, and, if you’d like, ascribe base motives to it. (I won’t review my own original anthologies; that’s stretching the reader’s willingness to give me the benefit of the doubt in my judgments too far.) I have no intention of reviewing every issue of every magazine or e-zine – that’s what burns all short-fiction reviewers out sooner or later. I won’t be looking at things in chronological order; I’ll be skipping around and dealing with things as I come to them. Some issues of some publications won’t get reviewed at all. I intend only to mention stories I find exceptional, usually in a positive sense, more rarely in a negative one, and won’t bother to mention the rest of the stories in the issue that are unexceptional or average. I’ll review primarily science fiction stories, some fantasy stories, fewer slipstream stories (unless they’re really standouts), because that’s the way my own interests shake out. We’ll see how long I last. Since I’m playing catch-up here, let me start by saying that the stories I’ve been most

impressed with this year include, but are not necessarily limited to, James Alan Gardner’s ‘‘The Ray Gun: A Love Story’’ (Asimov’s); Mary Rosenblum’s ‘‘The Egg Man’’ (Asimov’s); Michael Swanwick’s ‘‘From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled’’ (Asimov’s); James L. Cambias’s ‘‘Balancing Accounts’’ (F&SF); Robert Reed’s ‘‘Five Thrillers’’ (F&SF); Steven Utley’s ‘‘The 400-Million-Year Itch’’ (F&SF); Elizabeth Bear’s ‘‘Shoggoths in Bloom’’ (Asimov’s); Rachel Pollack’s ‘‘Immortal Snake’’ (F&SF); Greg Bear’s ‘‘Crystal Nights’’ (Interzone); Geoffrey A. Landis’s ‘‘The Man in the Mirror’’ (Analog); S.P. Somtow’s ‘‘An Alien Heresy’’ (Asimov’s); Robert Reed’s ‘‘The House Left Empty’’ (Asimov’s); Merrie Haskell’s ‘‘An Almanac For the Alien Invaders’’ (Asimov’s); and Gord Sellar’s ‘‘Lester Young and the Jupiter’s Moons’ Blues’’ (Asimov’s). (I haven’t gotten to the electronic magazines yet, but they will come.) The best story in the June F&SF was ‘‘The Art of Alchemy’’, by Ted Kosmatka – a cyberpunk/noir piece, not breaking any really new ground, but very well-done – although Rand B. Lee’s quirky fantasy ‘‘Litany’’ was also good. In the July F&SF, my favorite was ‘‘Poison Victory’’, by Albert E. Cowdrey, a somber and powerful alternate history story, one of several good ones this year. In the same issue, I also liked James L. Cambias’s ‘‘The Dinosaur Train’’, although all you had to do was switch the word ‘‘dinosaur’’ for ‘‘elephant’’ and you’d have had a mainstream story, and Michael Blumlein’s novella ‘‘The Roberts’’, although I thought that it was considerably too long for its weight. Stuff I liked best in the August Asimov’s was Ted Kosmatka’s ‘‘Divining Light’’, which got a little too complicated really to hold together, Neal Barrett’s ‘‘Radio Station St. Jack’’, although he’s covered the same Gonzo Apocalypse ground before to better effect, Jack Skillingstead’s ‘‘What You Are About to See’’, and Carol Emshwiller’s surreal ‘‘Wilmer or Wesley’’ – although none of them knocked me completely over. The best story in the August F&SF, by a good margin, was Charles Coleman Finlay’s ‘‘The Political Prisoner.’’ Comes a bit close to being a disguised mainstream gulag story, perhaps, but I thought there were enough speculative details to justify it as SF. And an enthralling, even



emotionally grueling, read. Don’t let the fact that it’s being published as a YA anthology put you off – The Starry Rift, edited by Jonathan Strahan, is one of the best SF anthologies of the year, everything in it fully of adult quality, and almost all of it center-core SF as well. Best stories here are probably Kelly Link’s novella ‘‘The Surfer’’, which is, unusually for Link, real SF rather than slipstream/ fantasy (not hard SF, Link will probably never write that, but genuine real undeniable SF nevertheless) and another of Ian McDonald’s gorgeously colored Future India stories, ‘‘The Dust Assassin’’, but almost nothing here is really bad, and there are other good stories by Paul McAuley, Gwyneth Jones, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Walter Jon Williams, and others, including an atypical near-future story by Greg Egan, more openly political than his stuff usually is. The fact that several stories are told in the first person by teenage narrators, usually young girls, may make several of the stories seem a bit familiar if read one after the other (and is also the only real indication that this is a YA anthology), so space them out over time. Another excellent anthology, one of several we’ve had this year, is Sideways in Crime, edited by Lou Anders. Most alternate history stories are SF (particularly those that add a time-travel element), but we’ve already seen a fair amount of alternate history fantasy in the last few years (it’s an alternate world, but in it griffins or giants are real, or magic works), and now we’ve got alternate history mystery, producing a book that’s a lot of fun; most of the stories would fall under the alternate history mystery SF heading, I guess (including one with crosstime travel), rather than the alternate history mystery fantasy heading, since although there’s a couple of fairly wild alternate possibilities here, there’s none with griffins or where magic works. The best stories in the book are Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s ‘‘G-Men’’ and Paul Park’s ‘‘The Blood of Peter Francisco’’, although there’s also firstrate stuff by Kage Baker, Mary Rosenblum, S.M. Stirling, Pat Cadigan, Theodore Judson, Chris Roberson, and others. (Be warned that John Meaney’s ‘‘Via Vortex’’, although also good, features one of the most horrific modes of travel I’ve ever run across.) The most likely  p. 56 LOCUS October 2008 / 15

Locus Looks at Short Fiction: Rich Horton 

Asimov’s 10-11/08 F&SF 10-11/08 Postscripts Summer ’08 Strange Horizons 7-8/08 Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #36 Gaslight Grimoire, J.R. Campbell & Charles Prepotec, eds. (Edge) October 2008. Elizabeth Bear made an almost offhand observation recently: The last time I read a Pat Cadigan story was in 2005, and it was a reprint. I can’t actually remember the last time I read a short story by Kristine Katherine Rusch, Robert Silverberg, or Gregory Benford… Anyway, I had an epiphany while reading the ToC of the 2007 Year’s Best Science Fiction. Which basically amounted to– ‘oh.’ We don’t read them. And they don’t read us. Well, really. I wonder when the last time was that Bob Silverberg read a story by Benjamin Rosenbaum, David Moles, or Yoon Ha Lee? See, I’m thinking I’m on to something here. There’s a generation gap in SFF; we’re having different conversations, the Greatest Generation, the Baby Boomers, and Generation X.

I have to say, my first reaction was surprise. She really isn’t reading the likes of Rusch, Cadigan, or Robert Reed (another Baby Boomer)? I mean, they are all still quite actively publishing short fiction. Bear goes on to emphasize that she speaks as a writer of short SF, not as a consumer, and that, in essence, she means that the famous notion of conversation between SF writers, of playing with each others’ ideas, is restricted to writers of roughly similar age. I was also surprised to note that I have found a lot of SF to be old-fashioned – not so much on the surface, but the strategies, plots, and often even ideas seem to hark back to the ’70s or even ’50s. With, to be sure, plenty of flavor of more recent times in the way of, well, furniture, and certain societal attitudes – gender roles, for instance (a characteristic that Bear notes particularly as something that is handled differently between generations). In the end it still seems to me that, if only by osmosis, writers of all generations are reacting to the ideas of other generations. 16 / LOCUS October 2008

Finally, I wondered if it was really true that older writers aren’t reading younger writers. As it turns out, Robert Silverberg – a Greatest Generation writer, in Bear’s terms, I suppose – saw her post. His first rueful reaction: [She] is indeed right that I am not keeping up with most of the new writers, and I guess they are not reading me (or Benford, or Rusch) and so I have become Lester del Rey to them, if not Ed Earl Repp, and their work is as unfamiliar to me as Jerry Cornelius stories were to Lester. Even rebellious Pat Cadigan is now old hat. Well, their turn will come to be dinosaurs, too....

Silverberg went on, as he put it, to do some homework. He read stories by Bear, Rosenbaum, and Moles, in each case liking what he read. (He said he’d have been happy to buy Rosenbaum’s ‘‘The House Beyond Your Sky’’ for New Dimensions, he had high praise for Bear’s prose, and reserved special plaudits for David Moles’s ‘‘Finisterra’’: It’s a beauty. It is classic science fiction in the grand tradition. John Campbell would surely have bought it, with a few mutatis mutandis caveats about the sanitary napkins and the chinga-su-madre comments. If this is the way Moles customarily writes, then he is in the straight line of evolution from the Golden Age Grand Masters down through the best New Wavers to today’s top writers, and though I still don’t plan to read a lot of SF in the eons ahead, I will keep an eye out for his work and cheer vociferously thirty years from now when he joins the Grand Master roster.

Silverberg went on to say: What does puzzle me here is what Elizabeth Bear thinks that writers of my vintage– or more specifically writers of the next generation down (Benford, Cadigan, etc.), since hardly anybody of my vintage is still active as a writer – are likely to learn from a close study of Rosenbaum’s work. Fine as it is, it strikes me, and I hope I don’t flatter myself unduly here, as showing no special advances in narrative technique or even in political sensibility over such stories as my own ‘‘Flies’’ from Dangerous Visions, which I wrote when I was about thirty, long before Elizabeth Bear and perhaps Rosenbaum were born. The same present-tense narration, the same fragmented construction, the same cool,

distanced style. Only by the presence of such modern words as ‘‘bandwidth’’ and ‘‘memes’’ can it be identified as a work written long after the time of our little literary revolution of forty years ago. I would not be surprised to discover that Rosenbaum had learned something about his craft by studying me (or Delany, or Zelazny, or Ellison, or Disch), but I can’t perceive any real generation gap here that could be closed by having obsolescent elder writers like me study him. I see only a smooth continuity between our work of the late 1960s and his story of 2006.

Silverberg added that active writers of any generation should still find much to learn from the other generations: Certainly I felt that way during my own Young Turk days forty years ago. And if Moles hasn’t been reading the best work of his predecessors for years, and studying it with care, I’ll eat my hat... If I were a more active writer these days than I am I would certainly be studying the likes of Rosenbaum and Moles if only to keep up with the state of the art, just as Puccini went out of his way to listen to Schoenberg and Stravinsky, and that the younger writers should certainly be studying the likes of me if only to keep from reinventing the wheel.

Elizabeth Bear notes that nothing she said was meant to imply that Silverberg or other writers of different generations needed lessons in craft from newer writers: ‘‘Indeed, he’s a master of the craft, and I have read his work with great pleasure.... What I was observing was that there are different conversations going on in different rooms of the party.’’ Bear, of course, won a Hugo this year for her fine story ‘‘Tideline’’. It was quickly noted that she is now only the second writer born after 1970 to win a Hugo – and that the average age of Hugo and Nebula Award winners has been creeping up quite steadily over time. This suggests another generational divide – perhaps between readers (a graying group, it seems) and the younger writers. At any rate, presented with three huge issues of major magazines – double issues, either explicitly labeled as such or effectively such – I thought to consider each keeping the ages of each writers in mind. It seems to me, having done so, that it’s not immediately obvious to

a reader that any generation gap is operating. Some young writers are doing fairly oldfashioned work, and some older writers seem as up-to-date as anyone going, though as nearly a dinosaur myself (b. 1959) perhaps I must recuse myself from such pronouncements. But I do think Bear has a point: writers sometimes perceive themselves as part of a generational community and that drives the ideas they explore; even though an outside observer still sees the continuity with their predecessors. The major novellas in the fall Asimov’s Double Issue are from Robert Reed (b. 1956) and Nancy Kress (b. 1948): both members of the Baby Boomer class. Both stories are enjoyable. Kress’s ‘‘The Erdmann Nexus’’ seems to me a bit old-fashioned; almost explicitly channeling Theodore Sturgeon. Henry Erdmann is an aging physicist living in a nursing home, who is scared by brief strokelike incidents. No brain damage is involved, and eventually there are apparent links to the memories of other residents of the home. Soon he learns that many of his fellow residents are having similar episodes. The resolution, signaled from the beginning, is not surprising: elderly people are evolving into a higher consciousness. Kress takes this familiar idea in a slightly unexpected direction at the end – and there is a subplot involving a young attendant and her abusive husband that I found involving – but there’s no denying that not much really new is going on here. However, Reed’s ‘‘Truth’’ is quite different. It’s explicitly a post-9/11 story – whether that officially makes it ‘‘new’’ I’m not sure. That aside, its attitude and working out seemed quite fresh to me. (There is still a dialogue with older SF – Reed’s work always seems aware of the history of the field. This story, for example, had me thinking at times of James Blish’s VOR.) An investigator goes to a secret US installation to take over the interrogation of a man held prisoner since just after 9/11, when he was found trying to smuggle nuclear material into the company. He has certain remarkable characteristics and knowledge that have convinced some that his story is true – he is part of an invasion team from the future, trying to remake, or punish, history. Brandon Sanderson was born in 1975, so he’s a Gen-Xer, yet ‘‘Defending Elysium’’ – a fairly entertaining story – seems as old-fashioned as any on hand. The backstory concerns Earth’s relationships with an alien interstellar community, focusing on how humanity’s tendency towards violence and technology are holding it back from fully joining a pacifistic community that uses mind power for things like FTL communication. The main story is about an investigator who is investigating the disappearance and reappearance – strangely mentally affected – of a scientist, and who also gets involved in the apparent murder of an alien ambassador. The resolution is an almost Campbellian twist on what we thought we knew. And look at Sara Genge’s ‘‘Prayers for an Egg’’, a fine and affecting story of alien social and breeding patterns, focusing on a female slave who is chosen to nurture her mistress’s first egg. The intertwining of what seems an unjust society with a curious – and perhaps not

fully understood, or even willfully misunderstood – biology is very nicely done, original in its way. But in style and attitude not dissimilar, to my ear, to much SF of the ’70s. I would say that the authors Genge is most obviously in dialogue with are Le Guin and Tiptree. The F&SF October-November issue presents another case study in the graying of SF. To the best of my knowledge, the youngest two writers in the issue, Laurel Winter and M. Rickert, are my age exactly. This raises an interesting issue of generational perception – to which SF generation does, say, M. Rickert belong? She has been publishing for less than a decade. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that Elizabeth Bear (12 years her junior) considers her part of her generation. And her stories certainly seem to me very much of this timeframe, in concerns, in sensibility, and in style. In the same way I suspect Samuel R. Delany (b. 1942) considered James Tiptree, Jr., part of ‘‘his generation’’ of SF writers, Tiptree having published ‘‘his’’ first story several years after Delany’s first novel. Alice Bradley (b. 1915) of course had a story in the New Yorker in 1946, not long after Delany’s birth. So I can say little about Gen-X in that context. Robert Reed, however, is in top form with ‘‘The Visionaries’’, a slightly creepy story about a writer who, early in his career, is approached by an older writer with an offer to buy one of his unsuccessful stories, and all future ones in the same series. Eventually the writer realizes that these stories, which come to him in an unusual fashion, are visions of an actual future life – and he begins to wonder what use the buyers of the stories might make of them. I also liked Terry Bisson’s ‘‘Private Eye’’, in which a man who is a host for people who log on to look through his eyes meets a woman with a similar secret of her own. Bisson quite sweetly charts the public and private progress of their relationship. And Steven Utley in ‘‘Sleepless Years’’ looks at a man raised from the dead, and the horrifying effects of the unwanted ‘‘treatment’’ he has received. (Utley and Bisson, for the record, are each in their 60s.) Postscripts for Summer is a special science fiction issue (though a couple of fantasies sneak in), and it’s another of their extra-large hardcover issues, in effect not just a double issue but a triple issue. The featured author is Paul McAuley (b. 1955), who contributes several quite strong stories, my favorite being the shortest, ‘‘The Thought War’’, a scary depiction of Earth in the aftermath of an invasion based on the effect of the observer on reality. Keith Brooke (b. 1966) offers ‘‘The Man Who Built Heaven’’, about a consensual virtual reality space called the Accord, whose designer finds a desire to force a different, or at least alternate, consensus after his lover dies. An achingly moving story. Not quite 40-year-old Alex Irvine’s ‘‘Shad’s Mess’’ very nicely portrays an ordinary working guy facing corporate pressure in an interesting science fictional setting – he’s an operator of a teleportation booth, and he’s who the shit falls on when things go wrong. Amusing and honest and oddly sweet. ‘‘The

Men Who Live in Trees’’ by Kelly Barnhill (at a guess, she’s very close to Elizabeth Bear’s age) is a strong story set at the edges of a fantastical empire about a people who won’t be conquered – a people with no language, no arts, and who are all apparently male. Their story, of course, is more complex than that, as the narrator, daughter of a controversial ethnologist of her home empire, eventually learns. And among a host of first-rate work in Postscripts one stands out: ‘‘The Golden Octopus’’ by Beth Bernobich (yet another writer exactly my age!). This intriguingly parallels her arresting earlier piece ‘‘A Flight of Numbers Fantastique Strange’’. It follows the young Queen of Éirann (an alternate Ireland), as she juggles statecraft, her desire to support a researcher’s efforts to develop a form of time travel, her potential but unrealizable interest in her chief bodyguard and her politically more acceptable romance with the researcher, and finally a scary series of strange murders. The wrenching ending turns on the expectable but often unthought results of successful time travel. If there is a nexus for the generation Elizabeth Bear describes in her ‘‘generation gap’’ post it might be the first-rate webzine Strange Horizons. Certainly they have featured work from everyone she mentioned: herself, David Moles, Benjamin Rosenbaum, and Yoon Ha Lee (though in the latter’s case so far only reviews and poetry). And I have a sense that their freewheeling mixture of SF, fantasy, and slipstream, and also perhaps even their ‘‘new media’’ publication model, fits closely with the idea of the sort of conversation many Gen-X and later writers feel they are having. Strange Horizons has recently featured some intriguing and rather disturbing stories – including two very fine pieces from writers in their mid20s, the youngest I’m considering this month (including Rachel Swirsky, who appears to be about the same age). Meghan McCarron’s ‘‘The Magician’s House’’ is about a teenaged girl learning earth magic from a local magician. The setting is pure contemporary suburbia, the magic elements accepted as quite normal. And, as one might have expected from a contemporary suburbia tale, the relationship between the girl and the married and much older magician takes a sexual turn. The story refuses to moralize, simply shows, which makes it the more powerful. Alaya Dawn Johnson’s ‘‘Down the Well’’ features a young scientist working for a government agency confronting a much older scientist, a woman who has led the exploration of an alternate, perhaps artificial (but what is artificial?) world in which the reality of evolution has been demonstrated. This is unpopular, and hence the project is being closed… leading to hard decisions for the young man and the  p. 56 THIS MONTH IN HISTORY October 6, 2044. Teen torture OKed. Enhanced punishment techniques, previously forbidden in juvenile cases, are approved by the Department of Prisons as ‘‘cruel but no longer unusual.’’

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Locus Looks at Books: Gary K. Wolfe 

The Quiet War, Paul McAuley (Gollancz 978057507-9328, £18.99, 320pp, hc; -9335, £12.99, tp) October 2008. The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway (Heinemann 978-0-434-01842-0, £17.99, 544pp, hc) June 2008. (Knopf 978-0-307-26886-0, $24.95, 502pp, hc) September 2008. Memoirs of a Master Forger, William Heaney (Gollancz 978-057508-2977, £9.99, 338pp, hc) October 2008. As How to Make Friends with Demons, Graham Joyce (Night Shade 9781597801423, $24.95, 256 pages, hc) November 2008. Sometimes it’s worth restating the obvious, or what one hopes would be obvious, so here goes: science fiction can make itself new in basically two ways. It can startle us with grand ideas or ingenious scenarios we haven’t seen before, shifting the whole conversation onto new ground (what in the last few years we might term the Greg Egan effect, though a couple of decades ago it was the William Gibson effect), or it can simply get better in terms of the traditional disciplines of fiction writing – character, complexity, subtlety, or the grace of its prose (which a couple of decades ago was the Gene Wolfe effect, and still is). Sometimes it can do both, and all the writers mentioned above have managed this trick, but usually when you hear someone recommending a new SF novel to friends, the recommendation tends to emphasize one or the other: conceptual mindblowing at the one end, or subtle brilliance at the other. Paul McAuley’s The Quiet War, which is likely to end up as one of the best SF novels in this year of very good SF novels, seems to me to belong in the latter camp. We’ve seen wars between Earth and its solar system colonies plenty of times (it’s provided backgrounds for classics such as The Stars My Destination as well as for more recent novels such as Tony Daniel’s Metaplanetary), we’ve seen clone warriors (even George Lucas has heard of them), we’ve seen hostility between the gene-modders and the technologists (think of Sterling’s Schismatrix), we’ve seen Earth trying to recover from environmental collapse (fill in your own examples), we’ve seen bioengineering projects to enhance survival in radically hostile environments (going all the way back to Simak’s City

or Blish’s The Seedling Stars). In some conceptual ways, then, there’s nothing much new in The Quiet War – though like any good hard SF writer McAuley updates the science – but it reads like one of the newest novels of the year, even though McAuley has already published a number of ‘‘Quiet War’’ stories set in more or less the same future. McAuley, who like Greg Bear earlier this year has returned to the SF hotel after spending some afternoons in the thrillerland theme park, introduces us to a 23rd century in which a recovering Earth is dominated by a few repressive power blocs – Greater Brazil, the European Union, the Pacific Community – who hold the colonists of the outer planets in contempt (‘‘dangerous fanatics who are creating monsters out of their children’’) while coveting their science and technology, particularly that of their ‘‘gene wizards.’’ While these Earth powers, especially Greater Brazil, initially hope to achieve their goals through subterfuge, economic manipulation, and espionage – the ‘‘quiet war’’ of the title – the result is inevitably a shooting war, and much of the first half of the novel details how failures of diplomacy, power struggles on Earth, and the hair-trigger responses of some of the colonists lead down that narrowing path. McAuley unfolds this using four main viewpoint characters: Sri Hong-Owen, a genetic engineer whose personal goal is to meet and rival the work of the legendary gene wizard Avernus; a clone warrior named Dave #8 (who later on an espionage assignment becomes known as Ken Shintaro); high-tech pilot Cash Baker who volunteers to become wired into the controls of his spacecraft (the weakest and most familiar of the four main viewpoint characters); and Macy Minnot, an eco-engineer working to quicken a biome on Callisto, and who eventually seeks asylum among the rebels of the Outer System after being framed for a murder. Those responsible for framing her, the military goon Speller Twain and the weaselly diplomat Loc Ifrahim, become the main avatars of a corrupt and corruptible system, and when Twain himself is killed, Ifrahim emerges as one of McAuley’s most convincingly slimy villains to date (and McAuley does cherish his villains). The other secondary characters, from the divided, power-hungry Peixoto family in Brazil to the reclusive and eccentric scientist Simonov on Europa, are drawn with compelling

clarity, making this one of the most humanly fascinating novels McAuley has written since Fairyland. In fact, clarity may be the single most salient strength of The Quiet War. McAuley’s settings, which range from Brasilia to Antarctica to Ganymede and Callisto, are described in precision and detail that at once an object lesson in evoking the classic sense of wonder and a poetic translation of the most recent NASA probes; in the best sense, this is pure hard SF. Even McAuley’s inevitable infodumps and sidebar technical explanations take on some of the excitement of good science writing; something as mundane as the creation of mud becomes an adventure for Macy, who sees it as transforming ‘‘material left over from the creation of the Solar System’’ into ‘‘a self-organising bioreactor that structured itself into microdomains within upper aerobic layers and lower anoxic layers and could consume just about every kind of organic material and reprocess inorganic nutrients and return it all to the cycle of life.’’ That may sound like an environmental bioengineer’s version of the Disney chestnut ‘‘Circle of Life’’, but it reminds us that in the midst of the intrigues and spectacles of interplanetary war, there are real scientists doing real science in this book, and although the war itself (surprisingly restrained and brief, despite a couple of gorgeous set-piece attack scenes) offers some of the classic thrills of space opera, it’s that science which finally moves everything forward. There may be a bit of quixotic wish-fulfillment in McAuley’s depiction of a world in which the most precious and valued citizens are practicing biologists, but it’s easily his finest novel in years, and a welcome return to the kind of intellectually solid and humanly engaging SF he does best. Not quite halfway into Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World, the sort of book  THIS MONTH IN HISTORY October 29, 2064. Meet the beetles. Responding to a plea from Mayor Trump herself, the NYC Department of Health approves Crunch Crazy, the nation’s first fast-food fried insect restaurant, just in time for a Halloween opening. The tiny tasties prove especially popular with Times Square tourists.

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 Gary K. Wolfe that’s likely to spawn nugget-mining websites and panel discussions and this year’s most likely candidate for the Michael Chabon oneof-us-or-not? debates (he published a couple of stories in Interzone a decade ago as Nick Cornwell, but most of the hype has focused on his being the son of John Le Carré), you begin to suspect that, amid all the coruscations and divagations, flashbacks and sidebars, set pieces and spectacles, there must be a novel in here somewhere. There is, as it turns out, and there are also ninjas, mimes, pirates, rebels, corporate sleazeballs, mad scientists, monsters from the Id, giant machines, cows, big trucks, apocalypses, and echoes of everyone from Pynchon and Vonnegut to Dick, the Wachowski brothers, and Dumas père. But it takes a while to get there. Harkaway is an immensely gifted writer with an immensely fertile imagination, and he knows it: every paragraph is a new toy, and there are stretches when we feel we’re just watching him play, moving around his action figures, giving them backstories, sometimes screwing the pooch and almost – but never quite – jumping the shark. Toward the end, a military tough guy named Ronnie Cheung, one of Harkaway’s best characters and one of two or three lifelong mentors to the unnamed narrator, reappears in his mind and asks ‘‘Are we in any danger of finding out the Why behind all this, Bumhole? Because those of us in the gallery are developing a profound desire to break some heads.’’ I would have been with him on this a couple hundred pages earlier, but by the time this comment is uttered, Harkaway has brought off one of the most stunning narrative reversals I’ve seen in recent fiction, completely changing the nature of everything that has gone before (and explaining why the narrator is unnamed), and his tale has developed the kinetic energy worthy of a first-class thriller. Harkaway’s future is not quite our own, and is a little goofy on its own terms – Cuba has joined the United Kingdom, for example – but his central SF device is a bizarre superweapon called a Go-Away bomb, which not only obliterates portions of the landscape but, instead of radiation or fallout, drains the physical environment of the information which gives it structure. The resulting ‘‘Stuff’’, hungry to replace that information, takes it from wherever it can get it – which is mostly the hopes, dreams, and fears of nearby people. As a result, the Stuff reorganizes itself into bizarre shapes and creatures drawn from people’s subconscious minds – ‘‘reification’’ is a key concept in the book – transforming the landscape into a surrealistic nightmare. Invented by a creepy scientist as an alternative to nuclear weapons, the Go-Away bomb is initially deployed in a fictional Middle Eastern country called Addeh Katir, but quickly becomes ‘‘absolutely the best beloved new toy of just about every advanced nation on Earth.’’ Apocalypse is the inevitable result of the ‘‘Gone-Away War’’, with nearly the whole world transformed into projections of the unconscious, and as the novel opens in the Nameless Bar, a motley crew of troubleshooters calling themselves the Haulage & HazMat 20 / LOCUS October 2008

Emergency Civil Freebooting Company of Exmoor County learns of its next assignment. (Harkaway is enamored of these alt-rock team names; the best and most Pynchonian is the Matahuxee Mime Combine). Among the colorful band of troubleshooters are the narrator and his lifelong friend Gonzo William Lubitsch (yes, the lead character is even named Gonzo, and I suppose Harkaway gets points for just going ahead and doing that), along with pointedly colorful figures like the tattooed, bar-fighting Sally J. Culpepper (the putative leader), Jim Hepsobah, and Annie the Ox, with her collection of puppet heads. After the war, it seems, construction began on a massive world-girding pipe called the Jorgmund Pipe (after the shadowy corporation building it), which along its entire length sprays a substance called FOX (‘‘inFOrmationally eXtra saturated matter’’) to counteract the reality-bending effects of the Go-Away bombs, thus creating a swath of stable reality known as the Livable Zone. But now a section of the pipe is on fire, and Gonzo’s HazMat team is summoned into action. Before they actually get to the business of putting out the fire, however, we are dropped into about 300 pages of backstory, detailing the narrator’s first childhood meeting with Gonzo, their schooling at Jarndice University, their martial arts training under the ancient Master Wu (another of the most appealing characters, who also gets to star in an action sequence worthy of a Jet Li movie), their involvement in the development of the Gone-Away bomb and its deployment in the war in Addeh Katir, and their eventual work on a massive, slow-moving, city-sized vehicle called Piper 90, which manufactures and lays down the Jorgmund Pipe. This long section – most of the first half of the novel – veers from efforts at Dickensian (or perhaps Miévillian, but remember that university name) social texture to kung fu action choreography to some viscerally realized and gruesome combat sequences (the war itself provides one of the novel’s most convincing, and unnerving, sustained sequences). Once we work our way back to the present, the pace accelerates noticeably, with yet more action set pieces (the efforts to combat the fire, which is defended by more of the novel’s ubiquitous ninja warriors) and that one startling revelation, which is deeply moving in a thoroughly unexpected way, and lends the whole narrative a dimension of real pathos. This last part of the novel only flags a bit when it seems to occur to Harkaway, rather late in the game, that he’s forgotten to put in the requisite condemnations of capitalist greed and secret masterdom, and tries to make up for it with an extended sequence involving corporate espionage and not terribly surprising hidden identities, prior to the final battle. But that battle, when it comes (even though by now we’ve seen enough fights described to fill an all-night cable marathon), ends the novel with a satisfying and brutal efficiency. The Gone-Away World earns its occasional earlier self-indulgences by revealing to us a cast of characters who are nearly all more complex and less cartoonish than we’d at first suspected, by revealing a coherent shape that was in fact there all along (and that makes you almost want to start the

book all over knowing what you know now), and by offering us a world that is not merely a distorted revisitation of familiar SF tropes, but that extends them in a way comparable to what the best current SF might do with similar material. It may begin largely as a performance piece straining to dazzle the audience, a kind of speculative postmodern Cirque du Soleil, but in the end, there’s a novel in there after all, and it does dazzle. Graham Joyce writes the oddest, most unpredictable novels, so maybe it’s appropriate that the confusing publication history of his latest should be equally odd. Originally announced (and listed on Amazon) as Ascent of Demons from Gollancz, it now shows up in Night Shade’s American edition as How to Make Friends with Demons (which is also the title of a book written by a character in it), while the British edition has been retitled Memoirs of a Master Forger by ‘‘William Heaney’’ (the book’s narrator), with no mention of Joyce at all (though the jacket copy coyly notes that ‘‘William Heaney is a fraud’’). That might be seen as merely a publishing stunt, except that the narrator Heaney isn’t really the master forger of the title at all, and it isn’t remotely shaped like a memoir (except for one crucial interpolated story, which I’ll get to in a minute). Instead, in a nutshell, it’s the new Graham Joyce novel, with all the subtle charms and clean prose of a Graham Joyce novel, and it’s unfortunate for many reasons that Gollancz seems to be disguising the identity of arguably one of the most talented novelists in England (though apparently it’s something of an open secret). And while it’s not quite the semi-hoax that the title implies, it is a deeply ironic and clever novel, told from the wobbly point of view of a youth organization advocate and oenophile whose family is falling apart (his wife has left him for a celebrity TV chef, his teenage son detests him, and his beloved daughter has moved back in with her Nosferatu-like boyfriend Mo), who ghostwrites doggerel for a fraudulent poet with a rising reputation, and who sells rare first editions of novels like Pride and Prejudice that are in fact brilliant fakes produced by a dopeaddled failed artist called Stinx. And Heaney believes he’s one of the few people in the world who can actually see the demons – all 1,567 of them – who haunt nearly everyone at different times. These demons aren’t necessarily what you expect: alcoholism and snobbery are not demons at all, but book collecting, excessive footnoting, and obsessive compulsive disorders are. The one character who remains free of demons is the saintly but earthy Antonia, the director of a homeless shelter partly supported by Heaney, who donates all the profits from his rare-book scams to it. The reason he does this is partly to atone for a bizarre incident from his college days, which for years has caused him to believe he was indirectly responsible for the deaths of several young women, and which also helped launch his career as a trickster. This in turn leads us into one of the novel’s two subsidiary narratives: a series of flashbacks in which  p. 56

Locus Looks at Books: Faren Miller  Half a Crown, Jo Walton (Tor 978-0-76531621-9, $25.95, 316pp, hc) October 2008. The Bird Shaman, Judy Moffett (Bascom Hill 978-0-9802455-4-7, $21.95, 516pp, tp) June 2008. Cover by Alexis Allred. [Order from Bascom Hill Publishing Group, 212 3rd Avenue North, Suite 570, Minneapolis MN 55401; <www.bascomhillpublishing.com>] Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (Del Rey 9780-345-50116-5, $13.00, 290pp, tp) September 2008. The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie (Jonathan Cape 978-0-224-06163-6, £18.99, 368pp, hc) April 2008. (Random House 978-0375-50433-4, $26.00, 358pp, hc) June 2008. Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapkowski; trans. Danusia Stok (Gollancz 978-0-575-08318-9, £12.99, 300pp, tp) September 2008. The Small Change trilogy that Jo Walton also refers to as ‘‘Still Life with Fascists’’ deals with an alternate-world dystopia where Hitler continued his iron rule on the Continent after World War II while England was more casually Fascist, with the most active opposition centered in Ireland. Farthing used this disturbing scenario as the background for what was essentially an English country house mystery, featuring a detective who shows up again in the more noirish sequel Ha’penny (reviewed in #563) damaged by those past events as well as his own life of compromise and secrets – for Inspector Carmichael is a deeply closeted gay man, his partner posing as his valet. In final volume Half a Crown, the ’40s setting of the previous books gives way to a 1960 profoundly different from the year experienced by our own Boomers on the brink of their teens, one where an aging fuehrer still reigns, British ‘‘undesirables’’ are carted off to prison camps or worse, and popular culture shows no signs of a coming burst of raffish creativity. Even the skirts are getting longer. Here as in the previous book, the narrative alternates between first-person and third: a young woman in her own words and the current version of Carmichael, one who is both more powerful and more compromised, though not as much as he sometimes fears. Now elevated to the rank of Watch Commander, Carmichael is still brooding over moral issues: ‘‘Every day I see men and women betraying their friends because they are afraid. It’s easy for me to despise them, but I do my job for the same reason.’’ His own betrayal of innocents more than a decade ago (in the previous book) still haunts him, and he takes no comfort from either aspect of his double life as a circumspect gay and opponent of his government. In the broader view of third-person narrative, we also come to see opponents who know or guess too many of his secrets and are eager to exploit – or destroy – him. In immediate contrast, there’s Elvira, simultaneously a blithe teenager on the brink of her

debut and someone ‘‘not quite...’’ as her guardian Mrs. Maynard puts it. After overhearing that quietly damning phrase, Elvira has no problem filling in the missing words as ‘‘not quite a lady,’’ or ‘‘not quite up to snuff.’’ Then she elaborates: At eighteen I still had two distinct voices: the voice that went with my clothes and my hair, the voice that was indistinguishable in its essentials from [quasi sister] Betsy Maynard’s, and then the much less acceptable voice of my childhood, the London Cockney voice. My past was never to be forgotten, not quite, however hard I tried.

With fewer years of rough upbringing, she lacks the street smarts of an Eliza Doolittle, and moments of discomfort can swiftly give way to a naive rich girl’s acceptance of things as they are. When she and Betsy are taken to a parade where decorated floats alternate with ropedtogether Jews being pelted with wet sponges (it had been garbage, when she was younger), Elvira is ‘‘entirely caught up in the jolly fun of it’’ – at least until a riot breaks out and she winds up in jail. That frightening, bewildering experience doesn’t turn her into an instant freedom fighter, but the peculiar forces of circumstance continue to bash away at her previous comfortable, unquestioning life until they drive her to bring the two plot threads together by seeking out her ‘‘uncle’’ Carmichael. Things grow increasingly dangerous for both of them, in a complex stew of politics and social life where Betsy’s putative fiancé (who casts a more lustful eye on Elvira) is a ruthless and ambitious lord at the head of

the British Power movement, a new group that alarms Carmichael almost as much as the forces on the Continent. Plans for a peace conference aiming to bring major world leaders to London stir up the stew a great deal more, facing Carmichael with a ‘‘logistical nightmare’’ in his role as Watch Commander while a great many interested parties, both right-wing and left, plot coups or assassinations. Yet he remains strongly aware that life goes on almost as usual for most of the public. During a chance meeting with a fiercely political Irishman, he sums up their attitude: They just go straight ahead, not looking up or down. They worry about Frank’s new girlfriend and Emily’s bad school report and if they’re putting on weight and whether their wife’s being unfaithful, while all the safety nets are cut away around them. Then something frightens them, and they look up and realize they’re tightrope-walking over an abyss.

That can lead to some very bad decisions, as this book’s epigraphs indicate. From Benjamin Franklin (1759), ‘‘Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary  THIS MONTH IN HISTORY October 22, 2108. Roomba recall. 155,000 of the popular free range biovac ‘‘househelpers’’ are pulled from hardware and pet store shelves after a rogue Roomba is blamed for the gruesome deaths of two seniors who fell asleep on a shag rug.

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 Faren Miller safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.’’ And Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ringing declaration (1932), ‘‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’’ Walton herself notes in the opening Acknowledgments, ‘‘I’ve always been a very hopeful and optimistic person. That’s why I wrote these books.’’ Considering their dark vision and the trials she puts her chief characters through, that comment might seem ironic. But viewed as a rejection of the fear that leads to mindless hysterias – historical, alternate-historical, and all too real today – it makes perfect sense. A series of little changes, small jolts or awakenings, can have many different results for humanity, not all of them disastrous. Judith Moffett began the trilogy now called Holy Ground back in 1991 with The Ragged World (reviewed in #360), a science-fantasy mosaic novel set in a future world where various human lives encounter the extraordinary when powerful aliens and their gnome-like intermediaries the Hefn intervene to save us from ourselves, in a near-future Earth threatened with ecological collapse. Sequel Time, Like an Ever-Rolling Stream (reviewed in #379) had the traditionally difficult ‘‘middle-book’’ task of chronicling failure without driving the reader away. In some respects, Moffett’s approach resembled Walton’s in Ha’penny: a ‘‘still life’’ focus on domestic experience while grand events swirl in the background, until they finally draw relative innocents into the action. But the focus on country-girl teenager Pam gave the book an American pastoral quality so close to mainstream, its sense of the sacred land could not quite compensate for a general lack of SFnal tension – even in a future where humans can bear no children and deeply resent their helplessness in the face of alien power. Middle-Book Syndrome nearly capsized the entire ambitious project, for Moffett lost her bigname publisher and it has taken 16 years, and resort to a very small press, to bring the trilogy to conclusion with The Bird Shaman. For fans and interested readers of the previous books, is it worth the wait? Indeed it is! Though mainstream elements remain, particularly in a plot thread looking back at several generations of Pam’s dysfunctional family, the second book’s relatively narrow focus has opened up to much bigger questions of religion, ecology, morality, and the effect of unfathomably vast alien technologies upon individual humans. The overall failure of the ‘‘Gaian Directive’’ over the past decades has baffled the locals who became the aliens’ eager Apprentices, but now some of them have finally come to see the flaws in the ‘‘carrot-or-stick thing’’ – not only the Baby Ban but the threat of mindwipe or death for the worst offenders makes many humans equate the Hefn with devils, or Nazis (with the Apprentices, whatever their race, standing in for ‘‘blue-eyed Aryans’’ smugly safe from harm). In a private journal entry, Pam takes an even gloomier view of human nature: 22 / LOCUS October 2008

We remain a captive people, not a convinced one. We still think Earth is all about what people want. Released from the Directive, fertility restored, fear of mindwipe canceled, we’d go straight back to our old wasteful, arrogant ways. ... [Y]ou can’t save people from their truest selves. Which is exactly what we’ve been trying to do: save them, convert them. Lead them to renounce their sinful ways and be redeemed, born again as Gaia’s stewards.

Put in those terms, evangelical Gaians do sound a bit like Nazi advocates of ‘‘racial purity,’’ or Americans trying to shove ‘‘democracy’’ down the throat of the throat of the Middle East, as well as militant ecologists. Broad tactics of any kind may be useless, but events and individuals have a way of sneaking their way into the most intractable dilemmas, finding cracks in the monolith and setting off change. In The Bird Shaman, a kidnapping and a dream (or ‘‘dream’’?) start things moving and lead to sensational results. Unlike most works of SF or science-fantasy on this scale, it continues to portray these people in very human terms, with major characters who don’t become avatars, demigods, or even heroes with a capital H. A book this long and complex, with ‘‘mainstream’’ flashbacks and reflective interludes on everything from anthropology and religion to the Wordsworthian Sublime, does require some patience. But yield to its spell, and you won’t be subjected to some endless ecological lecture or tedious immersion in mundane lives. Moffett provokes you to think and feel: sharing Pam’s fury at a little act of alien ‘‘magic,’’ her awe at an ancient Southwestern cliff painting, her fears for a (pre-Ban) daughter, as well as sitting in on a discussion of possible futures she has with a friend while he’s busy making tomato sauce. All this leads to two distinct visions of the fate of the world – though they may not be as separate as all that, from the Hefn’s perspective. Like ours, their science and technology can provide no real explanations to justify the core element of their philosophy, yet it continues to resonate past this book’s end: ‘‘Time is one.’’ Daryl Gregory’s first novel Pandemonium boldly gives new life to an idea that might seem more suited to comics, film and TV shows than to thoughtful SF or fantasy: ordinary people transformed when possessed by ‘‘demons’’ that may be avatars from the collective unconscious. This strange plague, which began in the 1950s, isn’t limited to a handful of incipient superheroes and villains but can strike anyone, anywhere, and then (if they’re lucky) move on to another victim. As a child, first-person narrator Del Pierce was possessed by the Hellion, ‘‘a Dennis the Menace, a Spanky, a Katzenjammer Kid’’ that only afflicts boys between the ages of four and nine, turning them into incorrigible pranksters, ‘‘scampering brats with Woody Woodpecker laughs.’’ After long sessions with a shrink, that demon was apparently exorcised and Del went on to live a normal life – as normal as any life can be in this alternate America where some unholy mixtures of medieval demons, Jungian psychological concepts, and comic book characters are running rampant. (‘‘Best

guess, there were perhaps a hundred distinct strains – a science-weasel way of saying one hundred demons.’’) A few of them turn adult victims into killing machines in the service of Truth or ‘‘good wars’’ (The Captain), or entirely chaotic impulses, while others are more eccentric and seem unique to the 20th century where they arose. Deranged individuals may invent their own pseudo-demons, though it’s not always easy to distinguish them from the real thing. There’s some doubt about Valis, the voluble and rather donnish personality that took over a formerly druggy and stroke-damaged writer named Philip back in ’82, restoring both speech and health. (Between this book, Disch’s The Word of God, and several movies, Philip K. Dick seems to have become a full-blown avatar by now.) What usually doesn’t occur is a re-possession by one’s original demon, still less a reawakening that leaves it ‘‘quarantined’’ to one corner of the mind and trying futilely to escape, yet that’s what happens to Del after a car crash that leaves him with other odd mental symptoms. Once he has physically recovered, he begins a desperate investigation of the symptoms and possible origins of his new state, along with the whole phenomenon that has been variously ascribed to ‘‘aliens and archetypes and asuras, psychosis and psionics, hellfire and hallucinations.’’ As academics and obsessives futilely debate, avatar fandoms develop and religions come up with their own varied responses to the whole thing. ‘‘Most Anabaptist strains of Protestantism incorporated possession into their theology, and quite a few used the disorder on both ends of the equation: demons could take you, true, but so could Jesus.’’ It has already had a larger effect on history. One example, mentioned in passing as Del pores through old government records: ‘‘If Nixon’s Secret Service guys hadn’t taken their boss out in ’74, he’d probably still be president and the internment camps would still be open.’’ Whatever the changes, Gregory’s alternate world is as thoroughly American as Jo Walton’s is British. And despite all those archetypes, it’s as full of individuals – emotional, inconsistent, inexplicable even to themselves – as Moffett’s books, with their bedrock sense of ‘‘real life.’’ Pandemonium pays sometimes impish homage to a variety of sources (as the final notes and Acknowledgments point out), but also manages to be moving and quite memorable in its own right. Part historical novel of high cultures where Mughal East meets Renaissance West, part biography and fable of ‘‘three friends,’’ Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence interweaves magic and politics, avatars and ghosts, artists and skeptics, with a fine disregard for direct narrative. Taking his chapter titles from the first words of each section, he immediately sets the tone – here are the first three: ‘‘In the day’s last light the glowing lake’’; ‘‘Aboard the Scottish milord’s pirate ship’’; and ‘‘At dawn the haunting sandstone palaces’’. A traveler makes his way from Italy to the  p. 56

Locus Looks at Books: Russell Letson 

Line War, Neal Asher (Tor UK 978-1-40505501-7, £17.99, 503pp, hc) 2008. Cover by Steve Rawlings. The Steel Remains, Richard Morgan (Gollancz 978-0-575-07792-8, £12.99, 352pp, hc) August 2008. (Del Rey 978-0-345-49303-3, $26.00, 432pp, hc) January 2009. Juggler of Worlds, Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner (Tor 978-0-7653-1826-8, $24.95, 347pp, hc) August 2008. This month’s books share a certain physical and narrative heft, the better to support large casts of characters whose actions spread across multiple, converging plotlines, all the while revealing backstories, uncovering concealed (if only from the reader) relationships, and establishing and resolving various setting-related puzzles. Two are large-scale starship-and-aliens adventures, while the third packages many similar features in a box labeled ‘‘fantasy’’ but whose contents suggest a science-fictional sensibility at work. Neal Asher has been elaborating both the foreground and deep background of a complicated story line about Earth Central Security special agent Ian Cormac and various of his colleagues and opponents across five fat novels of space operatics, mad science, alien invasion/ infection, and general mayhem. (This loose future history includes three other novels and a bunch of short works set in the same busy, violent Polity universe.) I’m not sure whether Line War is a genuine finale for the Cormac sequence (the forthcoming and melodramatically titled Shadow of the Scorpion seems to be a Cormac-the-early-years volume), but it certainly ties up a number of threads, settles various conflicts, and answers questions that have been teasing readers as far back as Gridlinked (2001; reviewed in August 2003): Where do Cormac’s more spectacular abilities and powers come from? Is he even human? What is the agenda of the planetoid-size entity called Dragon? What is the source and purpose of the seductive and destructive alien Jain technology that seems to subvert whomever employs it? How much of all this is understood by the artificial intelligences that govern the Polity? The book is a direct sequel to Polity Agent (reviewed in January 2007), which climaxed

with a not-quite-decisive battle against forces led by a Miltonically rebellious AI warship calling itself Erebus. Now Erebus is back, attacking Polity worlds in a rather unfocused way – the kind of sub-critical disturbances classified as a ‘‘line war’’ by the Polity AIs, as distinct from the all-out conflict against the vicious, crablike Prador that called for full (and transformative) mobilization of forces and resources. But a series of apparently unrelated incidents point to something bigger, and Cormac and various colleagues are sent in different directions to investigate and counter whatever plot Erebus is hatching. Among the reconfigured cast are Cormac, with his trusty, nearly sentient weapon Shuriken and stroppy war-drone sidekick Arach, aboard the misanthropic, former-rebel AI warship King of Hearts; the unstoppable, enigmatic, Dragon-rebuilt killer android Mr. Crane, now with its own sidekick, the bird-embodied AI called Vulture; alien-biotech expert Mika, traveling with and in a refitted and reconfigured Dragon; the moon-sized AI research vessel/ theater-commander Jerusalem, with the Golem soldier Azroc serving as a focus group/sounding board; scientist and fugitive criminal Orlandine, with her newly converted posse of grouchy old Prador-War-era battle drones, including the Mutt-and-Jeff team of Cutter and Bludgeon; and arch-enemy Erebus, many of whose sidekicks have been involuntarily integrated into its extended being, but whose personal data space is infested by copies of the personality of one of its human victims, the late Fiddler Randall. The stage is greatly expanded in this volume, with much of the action set beyond the borders of the Polity, out in the wild and lawless places where malcontent AI starships and old wardrones and fugitive scientists go to escape the safe-and-sane rule of Earth Central and its AI viceroys. This is where Orlandine has fled to set up a place to further work on her control of Jain tech, and it is the wilderness from which Erebus mounts its campaign against the Polity, a plan that looks chaotic but is actually a supersubtle chess-game that the Polity AIs may or may not be smart enough to see coming. One branch of the story follows the trail of Erebus’s attacks, featuring ingenious and everescalating modes of destruction, as Cormac and company look into those oddly assorted raids, hoping to find clues to Erebus’s plan. Mika gets a

stranger and ickier job, as Dragon takes her on a search for the source of the Jain technology that has allowed Erebus to become such a powerful threat. The revelations that follow from her voyage reach far back in galactic history and supply some of the book’s most unsettling passages – quite an accomplishment in a novel dominated by huge set-piece battles-to-the-death in space and on planetary surfaces. Meanwhile, a guilthaunted Orlandine (prompted and aided by the viral ghost of Fiddler Randall) decides to take a hand in opposing Erebus and mounts her own campaign with an unlikely combination of mothballed Prador-war-era Polity technology juiced up with Jain adaptations. Over the course of the series, Jain technology has become more important than the villains it empowers and eventually absorbs. It is consistently described in organic images and metaphors – Erebus’s fleet consists of ‘‘wormships’’; infested moons look like ‘‘apples destroyed by maggots’’; and everywhere there are images of bacilli, infection, yeast, and other squirmy entities and processes. We have come to understand that this ancient, vastly powerful, and quasi-living stuff was designed as a seduce-and-destroy weapon aimed at any technology-wielding species; that someone or something was spreading it around the Polity via ‘‘Legates’’; and that it might be possible to tame it, as the brilliant and cautious Orlandine has managed to do. Erebus has also apparently tamed Jain tech and uses it to control and eventually absorb its one-time allies and to transform itself into a fleet of shapeshifting death machines. Another of the series’ constants has been the proposition that only AIs are smart and disinterested enough to govern a complex, technologically sophisticated civilization such as the Polity. Now not only the competence but the moral trustworthiness of AI rule is in doubt, as signaled not only by the Polity’s apparent difficulties coping with Erebus’s campaign but by some commentary embedded in the Vancean chapter epigraphs. AIs are free to reconfigure their moral architectures and general person THIS MONTH IN HISTORY October 1, 2123. Mecca replaces Greenwich. Muslims around the world rejoice and mapmakers mourn as the new Prime Meridian is made official.

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 Russell Letson alities, and the exigencies of the Prador war showed how far that could go. At that time there were many AIs who started out bad and got considerably worse. Certainly there were Golem who would have laughed in derision at Asimov’s laws, before happily disemboweling any who proposed them.

So maybe the likes of Erebus or the Prador are not the only threat to the stability of the Polity and the safety of ordinary humankind. As spectacularly busy and creature- and cataclysm-filled as it is, this is probably not the book to begin an acquaintance with Neal Asher, but for those of us who have been feeding quarters into the machine in hopes of a big payoff, it certainly proves to have been worth the investment. So pull the lever, watch the cylinders spin, and enjoy the jackpot. Everybody else, go hunt up the first five books and start saving your change. Richard Morgan’s new book is the odd-genreout item in this set. His last novel was the dark, violent, hard-nosed Thirteen (UK title Black Man, reviewed in November 2007), an unambiguously science-fictional tear-it-up featuring a brooding, disaffected outsider hero with a taste for bloody solutions to his problems. The same description could apply to The Steel Remains, but with the genre transmuted to a soured variant of heroic fantasy and the protagonist multiplied by three. The book opens with a well-designed grabber paragraph: When a man you know to be of sound mind tells you his recently deceased mother has just tried to climb into his bedroom window and eat him, you only have two basic options. You can smell his breath, take his pulse and check his pupils to see if he’s ingested anything nasty, or you can believe him. Ringil... put down his pint with an elaborate sigh and went to get his broadsword. ‘‘Not this again,’’ he was heard to mutter.

This promises a combination of humor and hardboiled, violent fantasy, and while the book delivers quite spectacularly on the latter, the humor pretty much evaporates before Ringil has dispatched the ‘‘corpsemite’’ in question and wiped its corrosive ichor off his trusty blade Ravensfriend. The novel spins three narrative threads that develop and converge oh so slowly while backstory questions tantalize and puzzle. The setting is a tough, unlovely world of pre-industrial realpolitik, religious and moral bigotry, ethnic cleansings, and forced resettlements – sort of Robert E. Howard’s Conan milieu gone 21stcentury sour. Memories of past wars cast long shadows: a half-generation earlier, a temporarily united humankind fought off an invasion by the Scaled Ones, anthropophagous lizard-folk from across the seas. Humans won only with the aid of another set of migrants (perhaps from another cosmos), the black-skinned, technologically adept Keriath, who in turn had fought a much earlier and even more dire war against the creatures called dwenda. In the aftermath 24 / LOCUS October 2008

of the lizard war, alliances and arrangements have kept the contending societies and states from each other’s throats, but there’s plenty of ugly left over: an empire dominated by an uncomfortable balance of power between civil and religious power-structures; a trading nation that has legalized slavery and bought into a repressive, faith-based puritanism; a nomad culture that is having problems keeping the herd-boys down on the steppe after they’ve seen the fleshpots of Yhelteth. At the center of each story thread is a disgruntled, disaffected war veteran. Ringil Eskiath is the black-sheep younger son of an aristocratic family, the hero of the battle that finally defeated the Scaled Ones, but forever an outsider thanks to his homosexuality (a capital offense in an oppressive culture). He is bad-tempered, illmannered, and self-indulgent, his discontent and anger fueled by a considerable intelligence and a deep moral outrage at the hypocrisy, venality, and cruelty of his society. His self-imposed exile in the boonies (where he has been a resident tavern celebrity and occasional corpsemite exterminator) ends when his mother convinces him to find and retrieve a cousin who has been sold into slavery (all legal and aboveboard) for her dead husband’s debts, a search that brings him into conflict with the otherworldly powers behind the powers that corrupt his native city of Trelayne. Egar the Majak steppe nomad, sometimes called Dragonbane, fought alongside Ringil, but now he is a middle-aged clan master who cannot forget the time he spent in the (to his people) overcivilized parts of the world, and who occupies himself with serial fornication. He cannot conceal his weariness with the narrowness of his people’s world (despite his respect for the best of the old traditions, now decaying under the influence of the same civilization that has spoiled him), and when he offends the scheming poseur who has inherited the tribe’s shaman position, the crisis (helped along by an encounter with an eldritch being) pushes him out of his melancholy stasis and toward a meeting with his old comrades in arms. Archeth is a two-hundred-year-old halfhuman, half-Keriath technological-military advisor to the mad, bad, and dangerous-to-serve emperor Jhirel. Her disaffection is fueled by not only her status as an alien half-breed (instantly recognizable by her black skin) and disgusted war veteran, but also by the fact that she was left behind when her father’s people finally abandoned this world for some other, less corrupting place. Nor does it help that she, like Ringil, is gay. Her investigation of an impossible attack on a minor port town is an early first indication that something strange and deadly is inserting itself into the slowly recovering postwar Empire, and her trajectory aims her at a reunion with Egar and Ringil. The story’s main line follows Ringil’s quest, which takes him from the comfort of his parents’ manor to the mean streets of the slave-dealers’ quarter to the strange half-world of mighthave-beens and never-weres that the dwenda occupy, back to some of the least attractive places the normal world has to offer. The nature of the dwenda is a surprise (it’s set up, but

still rather unexpected when fully unfolded), and the backstory that accompanies that keeps our understanding of the nature of the various forces and their relationship to each other and to humankind in flux. What remains constant is Ringil’s determination to complete his task, even through bouts of uncertainty, melancholy, sexual distraction, and the nagging suspicion that in such a corrupt world it’s all pretty pointless. Like the protagonist of Thirteen, he’s not a likeable guy, but he possesses a stubborn integrity. Besides, like Conan, he’s the guy you want on your side in a fight. My review copy was not so marked, but this appears to be the beginning of a sequence – elsewhere the novel has been identified as Book One of A Land Fit for Heroes. (Not to be confused with Phillip Mann’s excellent alternate-Roman-Britain tetralogy of a dozen years back; this is a more direct reference to a remark by Lloyd George which the aftermath of WWI rendered bitterly ironic). This may explain why the book seemed rather slow to take off – despite passages of vivid and often propulsive writing, I found the pace rather deliberate, the character setups somewhat over elaborate, and the withholding of crucial background a tad patience-challenging. Four hundred pages is too long for a curtain-raiser. When it does move, though, it’s fast and violent, with a degree of specificity in its depiction of both fighting and sex that would get it an R rating (for the former) or an X (for the latter) if it were a film, and the language of soldiers, thieves, slavemasters, and even eldritch creatures would be right at home in The Sopranos or Deadwood. On the Acknowledgments page, Morgan include nods to Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, Poul Anderson, and the influence of each is clear – though Anderson’s The Broken Sword and Dancer from Atlantis (the particular titles Morgan cites) lack the streak of sadomasochism that is central to this book’s atmosphere. And that is what might deter me from following Ringil and his companions on further adventures. Even a strongly written, strongly felt, emotionally complex, and ingeniously devised world can have too much of that ingredient. Juggler of Worlds is Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner’s more-or-less sequel to last year’s Fleet of Worlds (reviewed in October 2007) – less because the situation of the human ‘‘Colonists’’ freed from their servitude to the Puppeteers is only a small part of its story line, and more because it brackets the events of Fleet and ties them together with a large swath of Known Space stories dealing with the familiar figures of pilot and (often reluctant) explorer Beowulf Shaeffer, paranoid ARM agent Sigmund Ausfaller, and mad Puppeteer covert operative and scout Nessus. Niven has done almost as many fix-ups and fill-ins as straight sequels to his major Known Space stories – it is, I suspect, central to his sensibility to keep working at and elaborating his fictional worlds. Thus we have had not only such omnibus and sub-sequence collections as Tales of Known Space (1975) and Flatlander  p. 57

Short Reviews by Carolyn Cushman  C.F. Bentley, Harmony (DAW 978-0-75640485-7, $24.95, 389pp, hc) August 2008. Cover by Larry Rostant. The world of Harmony and its colony planets are self-isolated from the rest of human space, a theocracy with a rigid caste system. Harmony is also the only source of Badger Metal, a substance that provides the only effective shielding against the invading alien Marils. The Confederated Star System sends agent Jake Hannigan to get hold of the secret to Badger Metal, but instead he becomes part of the entourage to the newest High Priestess Sissy, a young woman raised as one of the worker class, but possessed of the ability to talk to the planet itself – a legendary ability that gives her the power to challenge the High Priest – and even the rigid social structure of the society itself, if she can only learn to trust herself. This is only the first book in a series, but it presents a series of fascinating mysteries about Harmony and even the so-far-unseen Maril that promise interesting times to come. Peter V. Brett, The Painted Man (HarperVoyager 978-0-00-727613-4, £14.99, 542pp, hc) September 2008. As The Warded Man (Del Rey 978-0-345-50380-0, $25.00, 432pp, hc) March 2009. A boy starts to wonder why his people never fight back against the demons that attack them every night in this fantasy novel, the first in a new series set in a post-apocalyptic world. Legends say humans once relied on science, and were thus unprepared when hordes of demons, the corelings from underground, surfaced and nearly destroyed civilization. Ever since, people have cowered every night behind walls warded with runes, as demons seek to kill any humans or animals, fleeing only the sunlight that burns them. But after young Arlen’s mother is attacked by demons, he decides he has to do something, and runs away to learn the wards and become a Messenger. In his determination he learns things his people have forgotten about fighting demons. He eventually gains allies in Rojer, a young Jongleur-in-training whose parents were killed by demons, and the Herb Gatherer Leesha, who knows secrets women in her profession have kept from men for centuries. Together, they decide it’s time to stop hiding and fight – not realizing they may trigger a religious war in the process. This has the potential to be really grim, what with all the deaths and demons and cowering in the dark, but avoids that by focusing instead on able young people, and hope, to make a gripping adventure – a very promising start to a new series, and an excellent first novel. Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Scholastic Press 978-0-439-02348-1, $17.99, 487pp, hc) October 2008. Young people are forced to battle to the death on TV in this rousing young-adult SF post-apocalyptic thriller. In this future, the Panem government of North America uses the Hunger Games as a tool to remind citizens of the Capitol’s power, with an annual lottery

calling up a boy and girl from each of the 12 districts to participate in a televised contest in which there can be only one survivor. Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her little sister’s place, expecting to die, but as the contest begins starts to realize she may have the skills to survive – if she can learn to stop caring too much about others, in particular the male tribute from her district. The gladitorial death-game reality-show scenario isn’t terribly original, but there’s a fascinating detailed culture surrounding it, and Katniss is a thoroughly likeable character, a true survivor who hates the game she’s forced to play – and the government that’s forcing her. This is only the first book in a series, and where the focus has been all on survival, rebellion should take center stage in the next volume… once Katniss manages to figure out how she really feels about the boys in her life. Julie E. Czerneda, Riders of the Storm (DAW 978-0-7564-0518-2, $24.95, 456pp, hc) September 2008. Cover by Luis Royo. The second volume in the Stratification series finds the exiled Yena clan members trying to get through a high mountain pass before winter, but failing. The Yena come from a jungle region, and know nothing of mountains or snow, but some of them start having visions and dreams, some terrifying, some educational, of people living here before, leading them to ruins with enough remaining supplies to keep the Yena alive, and maybe more – if they can avoid whatever killed the original inhabitants. Meanwhile, the other alien races on the planet, including Aryl’s mysterious offworlder, are showing unusual interest in the Yena exiles. This planet, with its odd mix of races in precarious balance, is a fascinating place; unfortunately this middle novel offers only tantalizing clues as to what’s really going on, but Aryl and her pal Enris have enough exciting adventures to keep things intriguing. Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, & Nathan Hale, Rapunzel’s Revenge (Bloomsbury USA 978-159990-288-3, $14.99, 144pp, tp) August 2008. Cover by Nathan Hale. Rapunzel gets a makeover in this amusing graphic novel, transformed from fairy tale to a Wild West tall tale. The witch, Gothel, has magic that controls growing things, but she’s also a wealthy mine owner, ever-expanding her domain and destroying the lands and lives of those that don’t pay tribute. She raises Rapunzel as her own child until the girl gets old enough to start asking questions and encounters her real mother – and gets imprisoned in a towering tree. This Rapunzel isn’t the sort to sit around and wait to get rescued, however. Once she realizes her hair is growing unnaturally fast she uses her braids in all sorts of ways, as rope, lasso, or whip. Eventually, she escapes, meets up with a rascal named Jack, and sets off to rescue her mother and put an end to Gothel’s evil – a picaresque journey through a magically warped Old West where jackalopes are real and European myths take New World forms. Shannon Hale has already demonstrated a knack for fairy tale retellings

with her YA novels, and with her husband Dean’s help her talents translates nicely to graphic form, pleasantly illustrated in color Nathan Hale (no relation), with charmingly simple, clean-lined art that reminds me of both Charles Vess and Linda Medley (Castle Waiting). Sarah A. Hoyt, Gentleman Takes a Chance (Baen 978-1-4165-5593-3, $23.00, 324pp, hc) October 2008. Cover by Tom Kidd. Shapeshifters Kyrie Smith (panther) and Tom Ormson (dragon) are back, trying to keep their Colorado diner running despite snowstorms, dragon mobsters, and the Ancient Ones, a league of were-beasts determined that someone has to pay for the slaughter of shapeshifters that took place in Draw One in the Dark. At the same time, the Great Sky Dragon has declared Tom under the protection of his dragon triad, and won’t let Tom (even though he’s not an Asian dragon) refuse. And then there are the murders at the aquarium, where police officer Rafiel Trall (lion) keeps catching the scent of strange shifters. This assumes readers will remember previous events better than I did, but it’s still a fun, if somewhat chaotic, contemporary fantasy with some nice touches of romance, mystery, and humor. Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Duainfey (Baen 9781-4165-5552-0, $24.00, 318pp, hc) September 2008. Cover by Tom Kidd. Lee & Miller move into new territory with this fantasy novel, the first in a series which mixes elements of Jane Austen, faeries, and S&M. Rebecca Beauwelley was crippled and ‘‘ruined’’ by an ill-advised carriage ride with a drunken young man; now her father seeks to be rid of her by marrying her off to an older man in need of money. Rather than marry this cruel man, Rebecca runs off with the visiting Fey Lord Altimer – only to find too late that he has some exceedingly cruel plans, dragging her back to the Fey lands where he abuses her emotionally, magically, and sexually. It’s not as much of an erotic wallow in S&M as Laurell K. Hamilton’s faeries indulge in, but has some disturbing moments. It doesn’t help that Rebecca acts helpless, apparently intelligent but nowhere near questioning enough, and completely unaware that she has considerable abilities of her own. Only at the very end do we get clues that things are about to change drastically, and Rebecca may yet take control of her own life (and maybe get some revenge), leaving me actually looking forward to the next volume in the series. Violette Malan, The Soldier King (DAW 9780-7564-0516-8, $15.00, 372pp, tp) September 2008. Cover by Steve Stone. Mercenary Brothers Dhulyn and Parno return in their second fantasy adventure. Dhulyn still hopes to find someone to teach her to control her abilities as a Seer, but the two got sidetracked by a ruler needing mercenaries to fight off an invasion. During the fighting, the duo accidentally capture the enemy Prince Edmir, the heir to the throne of Tegriani, and try to return  p. 57 LOCUS October 2008 / 25

Locus Looks at Books: Divers Hands RICH HORTON Fast Ships, Black Sails, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds. (Night Shade, 978-1-59780-094-5, $14.95, tp, 253pp) October 2008. Cover by Scott Altmann. [Order from Night Shade Books, 1423 33rd Ave., San Francisco CA 94122; <www. nightshadebooks.com>.] Ann and Jeff VanderMeer have been very busy editors this year – this is the third book I’ve seen from them, after The New Weird and Steampunk. (And it occurs to me that all these books have a certain redolence of the 19th century – or earlier – about them.) Of these books, Fast Ships, Black Sails is the only one to be original, and is very successful – a nearly completely enjoyable set of stories. There is something about the pirate theme that encourages both playfulness and adventure in writers. One coup the VanderMeers managed was to land a novelette from Naomi Novik. (To my knowledge she has only published two other short stories, both quite short, at her website.) ‘‘Araminta; or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake’’ is one of the best pieces in this book. It’s not a Temeraire story – it is a gender-bending tale of a rather tomboyish girl of a noble family sent by sea to marry the young man her parents have chosen. When pirates attack her ship, she resorts to a special magical protection she has been given... the results are entertaining and in the end Araminta gets the chance to make her own choices for her future, choices that not too surprisingly involve



adventure and piracy. The other highlight, for me, is Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette’s ‘‘Boojum’’, which is SF – speculative pirate collections seem usually to manage to sneak in a couple of SF stories. And I admit I am a sucker for them. Here, a boojum is a living spaceship, bred in the atmosphere of a gas giant, and Black Alice Bradley is a crewmember forced to make a dangerous choice when aliens attack. The ending reaches for good old SFnal wonder, and makes it. Both those stories have female protagonists, and that is one way contemporary writers make pirate stories new – playing against gender expectations. (Though in ‘‘Boojum’’, set in a grungy future, there is no sense of real gender expectations to play against.) This book has some other strong tales of women as pirates. Kelly Barnhill’s ‘‘Elegy for Gabrielle, Patron Saint of Healers, Whores and Righteous Thieves’’ is an agonizedly romantic story, told by an old priest, about his love for a healing woman and their daughter who became ‘‘witch, pirate, revolutionary.’’ Carrie Vaughn’s ‘‘The Nymph’s Child’’ is similarly romantic, opening with Grace Lark in prison, as her lover and Captain reveals her true sex to the Marshal who had assumed with everyone else that the notorious First Mate

Gregory Lark was a man. The pregnant Grace is spared to bear her child, while the rest of the crew is hanged, and now, years later, her daughter might be thinking of becoming a sailor, and Grace doesn’t know how to react. Speaking of playfulness, several writers are in comic mode here. Rhys Hughes tells an amusing Welsh tall tale in ‘‘Castor on Troubled Waters’’, about a man’s unusual payment of a gambling debt. In ‘‘Avast, Abaft’’, Howard Waldrop mashes up H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance to delightful effect. Justin Howe’s ‘‘Skillet and Saber’’ makes a hero (of sorts) of a ship’s cook in a rather ghoulish tale. And Rachel Swirsky again shows off her amazing range with ‘‘The Adventures of Captain Blackheart Wentworth, a Nautical Tale’’, which combines animal tales with pirate stories very nicely. There’s lots more to like here, including another Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz story from Garth Nix, and a neat airship whaling story by Jayne Lynn Blaschke, and further enjoyable and diverse stories from the likes of Dave Freer and Eric Flint, Kage Baker, and Katherine Sparrow. From bow to stern, crow’s nest to keel, this is a fun and widely diverse collection. –Rich Horton

LOCUS October 2008 / 27

THE JANE AND HOWARD FRANK COLLECTION OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY ORIGINAL ART AUCTION OCTOBER 15

MICHAEL WHELAN Cuckooâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Egg by C. J. Cherryh, paperback cover, 1985 Acrylic on board 28 x 18 in. Estimate: $8,000 - $10,000

NORMAN SAUNDERS Marvel Science Stories pulp cover, April/May 1939 Oil on canvas 28 x 18.5 in. Estimate: $25,000- $30,000

JOHN BERKEY Chronicles of the Lensman by E. E. Smith, book cover, 1995 Casein and acrylic on board 22 x 16.5 in. Estimate: $8,000 - $10,000

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RARE BOOKS AND PULP MAGAZINES AUCTION OCTOBER 16

Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, The Shadow, Doc Savage, and many more!

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Yesterday’s Tomorrows The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin (Walker, 288pp, hc) 1969. Cover by Jack Gaughan. (Ace 978-0-441-00731-8, $13.95, 320pp, pb) 2008. (Orbit 978-1-857-23074-1, £6.99, 256pp, pb) 1981. The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K. Le Guin (Scribner, 186pp, hc) 1971. Cover by Carl Berkowitz. (Scribner 978-1-416-55696-1, $15.00, 192pp, pb) 2008. (Gollancz 978-1-857-98951-5, £6.99, 192pp, pb) 2001. The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harper & Row, 342pp, hc) 1974. Cover by Fred Winkowski. (HarperPerennial 978-0-06051275-0, $13.95, 400pp, tp) 2003. (Gollancz 978-0-575-07903-8, £7.99, 352pp, pb) 1999. Always Coming Home, Ursula K. Le Guin (Harper & Row 0-06-015456-X, 525pp, pb) 1985. (University of California Press 978-0-52022735-4, $21.95, 525pp, pb) 2001. On a recent trip to the US, I found myself looking at a display of Ursula K. Le Guin titles, and found myself thinking how weird the covers were. The Ace edition of The Left Hand of Darkness features a blue-white snowy landscape, the horizon low in the image, a similarly coloured sky above it. The Scribner edition of The Lathe of Heaven has a flat yellow plain, a low horizon, and a perfect blue sky pocked with the occasional cloud. The HarperPerennial edition of The Dispossessed has a slightly wrinkled sandy plain, a low horizon, and a pale blue-grey sky. These three covers – from three different publishers – all seem to be sending the same message: these are books of the abstract, that make you raise your eyes to some metaphysical heaven. Which is, I suppose, a part of Le Guin, but it’s very far from the whole. She always starts with the concrete. Take this, for example, from the first chapter of The Left Hand of Darkness (1969): The king and the mason kneel, high between the river and the sun, on their bit of planking. Taking the trowel, the king begins to mortar the long joints of the keystone. He does not dab at it and give the trowel back to the mason, but sets to work methodically. The cement he uses is a pinkish colour different from the rest of the mortarwork and after five or ten minutes of watching the king-bee work I ask the person on my left, ‘‘Are your keystones always set in a red cement?’’ For the same color is plain around the keystone of each arch of the Old Bridge, that soars beautifully over the river upstream from the arch. Wiping sweat from his dark forehead, the man – man I must say, having said he and his – the man answers, ‘‘Very-long-ago a keystone was always set in a mortar of ground bones mixed with blood. Human bones, human blood. Without the bloodbond the arch would fall, you see. We use the blood of animals, these days.’’

The narrator is a man named Genly Ai, a human emissary from the ‘‘Ekumen’’ of known

by Graham Sleight

Ursula K. Le Guin (1960s)

worlds to this planet called Winter. The ‘‘man’’ who replies to him about the blood is one of Winter’s natives, the Gethenians, called Estraven. The reason for my quotation-marks, and Genly Ai’s hesitation about saying man, stem from the novel’s central premise. Gethenians normally present as androgynous, but for a couple of days each month are in ‘‘kemmer’’ – that is, they become either male or female. That begs a question, though: why does Genly Ai refer to a neuter creature as ‘‘he’’ as a default? Joanna Russ, among others, has criticised the novel on these grounds. I tend to think now that this is a marker of Genly Ai coming from a society where ‘‘he’’ is the default – from, in other words, a patriarchal society. The ‘‘he,’’ in other words, is revealing about his world rather than Estraven’s – which, at this point, he comprehends only dimly. The book traces a slow process of discovery – of Winter and its inhabitants. In that respect, in that it’s about finding out, it’s a perfectly science-fictional work. (The later Ace edition carries a provocative introduction by Le Guin, in which she administers a few well-judged kicks to the idea of sf as narrowly extrapolative or predictive.) We find out, for instance, via Chapter 7 how and why the Gethenian biology was created. This chapter is an ethnologist’s report on the planet – what would, in other circumstances, be considered an ‘‘infodump.’’ But Le Guin is so thoughtful a writer, the implications of her thought-experiments so thoroughly and deeply felt, that you find yourself wanting to hear this information, even if it is couched in as dry a form as this. The same could be said of her approach to symbols, to making the story mean as much as it can. The extract I quoted earlier, about the keystone being set in mortar made from blood, carries a freight of meaning about this Gethenian society. That they’ve made the transition from using human to animal blood suggests that they’re a step away – but only a step – from primitive savagery. It’s a caution, to us and to Genly Ai. In another writer’s hands, the obviousness of this symbolism, the sense that we’re being told what meaning to take

from the text, would be preachy and clunking. But Le Guin gets away with it, I think for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the primitive nature of the society is indeed borne out, as we find out in Chapter 3, when Genly has a memorable interview with the mad King of Karhide. Secondly, a ceremonial of the kind described is a place where this kind of symbolism – the blood mortar – might plausibly happen. The main thread in The Left Hand of Darkness follows Estraven’s disgrace and exile from Karhide, and Genly Ai’s odyssey across the planet. Their lives eventually become entangled, as well as continuing to be embattled by external forces. A final setpiece, as the two of them cross a great ice-sheet as they try to return to Karhide, serves as a vivid externalisation of their personal situation. It would be easy to praise The Left Hand of Darkness in ways that made its virtues seem static: the society and world it depicts are astonishingly vivid, and still raise potent questions about how we experience gender, among other things, here and now. But the abiding impression it leaves, more than in any other Le Guin work, is of the tug of the story and the extremity of the pressure driving it. It’s not the sort of pressure that drives many SF novels: worlds are not in peril, universes not about to be un-knit. In many respects, it’s a ‘‘small’’ story. But, even if the reader hasn’t been exiled from anywhere, the threats this invokes are easy to empathise with: the loss of home, the threat of  LOCUS October 2008 / 29

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 Graham Sleight the state being against you, working out what love means for you. It is – if you’ll pardon the phrase – the most human of great sf novels. The Lathe of Heaven, which followed in 1971, is a very different book. For a start, it’s not set in the Ekumen universe. It also, at least on first reading, has a great deal in common with the work of Philip K. Dick. Like Dick’s The Man in the High Castle (1962), the novel takes epigraphs and some of its structure from oriental philosophy, in this case the work of Chang Tse. Their emphasis on the illusory nature of the world cues us to expect what the novel brings. The protagonist, George Orr, lives in a near-future SF world and has problems sleeping. He is seeing a psychiatrist, William Haber, and his dreams rapidly become the focus of their attention. But they rapidly progress from thinking of them in the terms we’re used to – as ‘‘anxiety-dreams’’ or whatever. It becomes increasingly clear that through the Haber-mediated technique of ‘‘effective dreaming,’’ Orr’s dreams can reshape the world. So Orr and Haber have at their disposal a power, and part of the burden of The Lathe of Heaven is what happens when a power is exploited. Moving beyond merely benign ‘‘thought-experiments,’’ the sort of premises that might fuel an sf novel, their wishes become increasingly self-centred and damaging. So the novel is partly a critique of Haber in particular and the values he represents. But it also becomes a strange and alienating experience in its own right, especially towards the end: By the power of will, which is indeed great when exercised in the right way at the right time, George Orr found beneath his feet the hard marble of the steps up to the HURAD Tower. He walked forward, while his eyes informed him that he walked on mist, on mud, on decayed corpses, on innumerable tiny toads. It was very cold, yet there was a smell of hot metal and burning hair or flesh. He crossed the lobby; gold letters from the aphorism around the dome leapt about him momentarily, MANKIND M N A A A. The A’s tried to trip his feet. He stepped onto a moving walkway though it was not visible to him; he stepped onto the helical escalator and rode it up into nothing, supporting it continuously by the firmness of his will. He did not even shut his eyes.

In a passage like that, the resemblances to Dick are clear, especially to the drug-filled visions of The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965). But Le Guin’s work differs in a number of ways. Firstly, by concentrating on a relatively small group of characters, rather than Dick’s typical multiple viewpoints, the book has a focus – in particular, a moral focus – that’s quite distinctive. Secondly, the setting of the novel within the frame of a scientific investigation raises questions in ways that Dick’s books didn’t. Even a work like Time Out of Joint (1959), whose ostensible subject is an experiment of a kind, focuses more on the experimenter’s inner life than, as here, the process of the experiment. Le Guin is clearly far more interested in the ethics of the scientific process than Dick was.

It’s not surprising if The Lathe of Heaven hasn’t achieved the recognition or the place in collective memory of Le Guin’s other works. It’s not set in the familiar arena of the Ekumen, and it’s a more disturbing and unstable book than many of her others. It’s also, despite what I said above about its moral critique, not a work from which ‘‘lessons’’ or ‘‘themes’’ are easily extractible; it’s far more irreducibly strange. But it’s all the better for that. Le Guin returned to the Ekumen with The Dispossessed (1974), which like The Left Hand of Darkness won both Hugo and Nebula Awards. One of its governing images is a double-planet system – to be more exact, a planet and its large moon. The planet is called Urras, the moon Anarres. Urras has a capitalist society whose values and mores are very familiar. Some time ago, there was an anarchist revolution on Urras, and those of the revolutionaries who wished were allowed to colonise Anarres and create the society they wished. This is the ‘‘Ambiguous Utopia’’ of the subtitle that the book carries in some editions. The origins of this world are explored in ‘‘The Day Before the Revolution’’, a story from 1974 collected in Le Guin’s fine short fiction retrospective The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (1975). The main plot of the book follows Shevek, a brilliant physicist, on both worlds. He is attempting to develop a ‘‘Principle of Simultaneity’’ which will, eventually, enable the creation of instantaneous communication via an ‘‘Ansible’’ and, ultimately the galaxyspanning Ekumen of books such as Left Hand, which lies later in the internal chronology. Originally from Anarres, he keeps running into the saying ‘‘True journey is return,’’ and this is a helpful way of understanding his path which is structured around alternating chapters set on the two worlds. Inevitably, the center of the book – certainly the feature to which many discussions return – is the depiction of utopia. Perhaps the crucial feature of Anarres is that it is poor in resources. (The moon, being smaller, has a thinner atmosphere and less evolved indigenous creatures.) So it is a society for which scarcity is a fact of life. The ‘‘complex organicism’’ that results is thoroughly explored, both through showing and telling. The resulting society, in which communal living is at the heart of human meaning, is enormously convincing and detailed. Any number of issues, like the practicality of the original revolutionaries’ desire for a completely decentralised world, are thought through in fascinating detail. The depiction of this world is all the more pointed because of the contrast with Urras, and the use of Shevek’s viewpoint to explore both. Added to that is the clarity and simplicity of the language Le Guin uses - one of her great strengths – as in this speech that Shevek gives to a crowd on Urras: I am here because you see in me the promise, the promise that we made two hundred years ago in this city – the promise kept. We have kept it, on Anarres. We have nothing but our freedom. We have nothing to give you but your own freedom. We have no law but the single principle of

mutual aid between individuals. We have no government but the single principle of free association. We have no states, no nations, no presidents, no premiers, no chiefs, no generals, no bosses, no bankers, no landlords, no wages, no charities, no police, no soldiers, no wars. Nor do we have much of anything else. We are sharers, not owners. We are not prosperous. None of us is rich. None of us is powerful. If it is Anarres you want, if it is the future you seek, then I tell you that you must come to it with empty hands.

That image, of empty hands, recurs throughout the book: another instance of Le Guin’s authorial control showing in the disposition of symbols. And Shevek’s speech is really addressed not to Urras but to us, just as Anarres is an implicit challenge to readers: could you imagine being able to live in a world like this? There is far more to say about The Dispossessed than I have space to here – about, for instance, how language shapes culture, about the role of violence in society (and SF). It’s no exaggeration to say that dissertations have been written on the subject. But I wouldn’t want to make Le Guin seem like an author who is dry or dull. You may find that she refuses some of the pleasures of the genre – explosions, space battles, cosmic perspectives, and the like – but the central premise of her work is that we have to be more adult than science fiction often allows. We have to work out how best to live with our fellow humans and the environments that gave birth to us, and working out how to do that is an adult task. This is also evident in a much later book, Always Coming Home (1985), which in a sense marks an endpoint of the utopian line of thought started in The Dispossessed. I say ‘‘book’’ rather than ‘‘novel’’ because, although a portion of it is taken up with the story of a woman named Stone Telling, far more is taken up with a description of the society she inhabits. This is the culture of the Keth, who ‘‘might be going to have lived a long, long time from now in Northern California.’’ It’s conveyed through the Keth’s poems, accounts of their marriage laws, clothing, literature, dances, number systems, and so on. (Some versions of the book – though not the one I own – came with a tape cassette of Keth songs.) This approach also represents a continuity with The Left Hand of Darkness, where the story of Genly Ai and Estraven is frequently broken up with stories from Gethenian culture. The central insight, that cultures understand themselves by the stories they tell themselves, is very convincingly put over. But Always Coming Home goes so much further than either of the two earlier books down this road, as well as giving so many other tools to understand the culture, that one finds it easier to question its assumptions. Like Anarres, the Keth society is one not founded on the kinds of abundance we’re used to. The world has many fewer inhabitants, and although they have access to various items of technology, the main impression conveyed is of closeness to nature, to animals in particular, and to one’s geographical home. Travel is both costly and discouraged – in the chapter on medicine, for  p. 58 LOCUS October 2008 / 31

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Nightmare Before Christmas. There was near-constant filking in multiple rooms at the Sheraton and the convention center, scheduled from morning until dawn, comprised of concerts, workshops, and open circles. Gaming was also available, ranging from mah-johngg to various roleplaying games, scheduled mostly from early afternoon through after midnight in the Sheraton. The film track was held at both the Sheraton and the convention center from 9 a.m. until after midnight. Irene Vartanoff, Karen Haber Liz Gorinsky, Amelia Beamer Jeremy Lassen, Jim Minz Selections included classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Wrinkle in Time as well as the film nominees for the Hugo Awards, Denvention 3 Japanese movies, and the first season of Heroes. There was also a screening ď&#x20AC;š p. 10 room at the Sheraton devoted to anime, also running from morning until around humor-laden panel was â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Writers Reading their Juveniliaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; which included midnight. Programming for kids included workshops, films, and live storytelling, as well Connie Willis talking about her early â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;true confessionsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; stories like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Wanted: A Boyfriend for Grandmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I Called for Help on my CB and Got a Rapist as scavenger hunts with prizes. Childcare for kids six months to 12 years was Insteadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; (no, really, it was funny). Paul Cornell, Jeff Fennel, and Graham Sleight available at the Crown Plaza from 9:30 a.m. until 6 p.m., and until midnight on examined why the genre is so self-conscious as to have panels called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Does Friday and Saturday so that parents could attend evening events. More than 100 convention attendees showed up at the Robert A. Heinlein Science Fiction Matter?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Another panel, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;SF Magazine Publication and Market Shareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; with Scott Edelman, Sheila Williams, Stanley Schmidt, and Bradford Memorial Blood Drive sponsored by the Heinlein Society on Friday. After Lyau as moderator, discussed topics including the relationship of circulation to being screened for recent travel and tattoos by staff from Bonfils Blood Center, profitability in monthly short fiction magazines (with a larger circulation not 88 convention attendees registered to give blood, producing 60 usable units of necessarily being more profitable if subscriptions were sold at cut rates), and blood, ten more than the goal. Blood Drive Chair Mike Sheffield reported on the reader loyalty to magazine brands. There was also a special focus on Ghost of success, saying: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Until the last half hour of the drive, no bed was empty longer than it took to switch donors. Had they been able to run the drive for two days or Honor Robert Heinlein, with 12 panels devoted to the man and his work. As always happens, some logistical problems came to light as the con had enough staff available for more beds they could have done even better. SF progressed: Lois McMaster Bujoldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reading was scheduled for a room that was fans really are a generous group of people.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Also on the schedule for the health minded (and early rising) were beginner yoga way too small, and attendees were sitting on the floor and spilling into the hallway, bucking fire code; two of the three panels on religion, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Depicting Christianity sessions on Thursday in SFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Science Fiction and Religion: how readers and writers mix the t h r o u g h S a t u r d a y twoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;, were scheduled at the same time, etc. Despite the immense space at the mornings and one-mile convention center, some of the programming was held at the Sheraton (some six early morning walks with various editors, blocks away), an unhappy distance for some attendees. The masquerade, a traditional highlight of evening programming, took place writers, and artists on time on Friday night. There were 31 entries (three in the Young Fan category; on Thursday through 13 Novice entries; seven Journeymen, and eight Master entries), for a total of Su nd ay mo r n i ngs , 65 people on stage. The costumes ranged from dinosaurs to futuristic warriors, called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Strolling with and the winner of Best in Show was the novice-class â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A Nightmare in Denverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; the Starsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122;. According ď&#x20AC;ş p. 39 by Leann Runyanwood & Mark Runyan, as characters from Tim Burtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The

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Robert J. Sawyer, Mike Resnick

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Charles Stross, Ginjer Buchanan

Howard Hendrix, Steve Saffel Irene Gallo, Alan F. Beck

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Gay Haldeman, Anne Bujold, Joe Haldeman, Paul Bujold, Lois McMaster Bujold Planet Stories crew: Christopher Carey, Pierce Watters

Stanley Schmidt, Edward Lerner, Stephen Baxter, Astrid & Greg Bear, John Barnes

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Denvention 3  p. 34

to Ellen Datlow, the walks were a hit: ‘‘Our leader Stu Segal led us down the streets around the convention center, pointing out what sights he knew. The weather was gorgeous. Not too warm and not raining buckets as it sometimes did late afternoons... I would have liked to go on for another half an hour or more...’’ Segal plans a repeat performance in Montreal. CON PUBLICATIONS There were four progress reports sent out before the convention, with between eight and 34 pages of general and travel information, tentative program scheduling, services, committee members, WSFS business, and the Hugo and Campbell ballot. The souvenir book handed out at registration was handsomely put together, with the cover boasting a Sternbach depiction of Denver as a future bubble-city on Mars. The 164 pages included write-ups on each of the Guests of Honor, some with examples of their work; commentary on different aspects of conventions; Strolling with the Stars Hugo nominee list and history; the constitution and rules for governance of the World Science Fiction Society, with an article by Cheryl Morgan on WSFS; the con membership list, map, and committee list; an In Memoriam page; and advertising. The convention also had 11 issues of the twice-daily single-sheet newsletter, Necessity: The Mother of Denvention, with program changes, announcements, cartoons, and information about programming, and two special issues, one with masquerade winners and one covering the Hugo ceremony. Mainstream media even paid attention to the convention, with a severalminute slot on NBC affiliate News9, interviewing people in the dealers’ room and convention hall, mostly about science fiction art, clothing, and the propeller beanie. DEALERS’ ROOM The dealers’ room, art show, and fan lounge were all housed in an immense hall upstairs from the main convention floor. Con staff directing set up and tear down were organized and friendly – kudos to Sally Kobe, et al. – and it was possible for dealers to drive their wares directly onto the floor during set up. Since the room didn’t sell out, some dealers even got extra table-space for free. While membership numbers were down in general, and the room never quite got as crowded as one expects at a domestic Worldcon, most dealers reported making a profit, if not better. Rina Weisman of Tachyon noted, ‘‘The convention was smaller than usual, but more intimate. Sales were down for almost everybody in the dealer’s room, but we did very well, maybe even better than in Los Angeles or Boston.’’ At least one potential vendor had issues with Denver’s tax code and decided to exhibit and give away freebies rather than sell product. Despite a large strip of red carpet laid out as a walking path from the doors to the exhibits, dealers, and art show, the bare cement floors and fluorescent lighting, while standard exhibit hall fare, exacerbated con exhaustion. Many attendees took advantage of the couches in the lounge areas, and some even sat

on the floor while waiting in line for autographs. There was a free chair massage set up near the art show (as well as in the Sheraton) for dealers, staff, guests, and volunteers. The hall’s amenities included a coffee shop (which was increasingly trafficked as the convention wore on) and a smoothie bar. AWARDS The usual suspects for awards presented at Worldcon – the Prometheus Awards; Golden Duck Awards, which encourage science fiction for children; and the Sidewise Awards, for excellence in alternate history – occurred on schedule and were announced in the September issue of Locus. Unfortunately, the Chesley Awards were not given out at Worldcon. The ASFA (Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists) board nomination ballot went online too late for a sufficient voting period, so the board decided to have a ‘‘nominations ceremony’’ instead. John Picacio as MC read aloud the lists of nominees for each category; they will announce the winners online once ballots are counted. The ASFA website’s Chesley page is several years out of date, listing the 2005 Worldcon as the current year. Some ASFA members are disappointed. ART SHOW The art show had 170 artists exhibiting 2,400 pieces, 821 of which sold, with the average artist selling about $490 worth of work. The total sales were $72,237 from the art show, low for a domestic Worldcon, plus $7,190 from the print shop. The top seven buyers represented 25% of sales, while the lower 50% of buyers represented only 9% of money spent. There were exhibits from the likes of Bob Eggleton, Todd Lockwood, John Picacio, Rick Sternbach, John Berkey, Chris Moore, John Harris, William O’Connor, and others. Picacio reported, ‘‘My favorite stuff this year was Vincent Villafranca’s bronzes. His name may be new to some, but his stuff is genius, and as far as 3-D work, he’ll be one of the stars 

Bob Eggleton, Toni Weisskoff, Marianne Plumridge Cheryl Brigham & David Brin Gardner Dozois & Susan Casper

Elizabeth Anne Hull, Carolyn Clink Gayle Wiesner & G. David Nordley & Robert J. Sawyer

Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith

Connie & Courtney Willis

Kaja & Phil Foglio

Mary Turzillo & Geoff Landis

Diana & Jeff Carlson

Pat Diggs, AAron Buchanan & Kirsten Gong-Wong, Teddy Buchanan (front)

On Thursday, August 7th, during Denvention 3, a platoon of writers and editors attended a VIP walk-through of NORAD at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, south of Denver in nearby Colorado Springs. The private tour was arranged by Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Brian ‘‘Bear’’ Lihani. Attendees included Blake Charlton, John Joseph Adams, Diana & Jeff Carlson, Kevin J. Anderson, Walter Jon Williams, Kathy Hedges, David Marusek, Sharry & Robert Charles Wilson, Annalee Newitz, Erin Cashier, Robert J. Sawyer, David J. Williams, Paolo Bacigalupi, Sean Williams, Lou Anders, Ed & Darcy Robert, ‘‘Bear’’ & Christina Lihani, Jeremy F. Lewis, and Carolyn Clink.

 Denvention 3 of our field for years to come.’’ The show area was decent if somewhat disorganized, and there was a reception for artists on Thursday night. EXHIBITS Numerous groups put together exhibits of photos and memorabilia, including a historic display of Hugo Awards; the FANAC Fan History photo archive; a celebration of Clarion West’s 25th anniversary; a NASA exhibit; photos from the first two Denventions, in 1941 and 1981; exhibits on the history of Worldcon and of 40 years of Mile High Con; a display by artist and craftsman union IATSE Local 790 Illustrators & Matte Artists; as well as a special exhibit of Artist GoH Rick Sternbach’s work. Also in the exhibit area were the Pro Gallery and Fan Gallery of photographs; models of Star Trek ships; exhibits of costumes; and a Gnome Bowling station, which was mostly (but not entirely) frequented by children. The Voodoo message boards, a time-tested method for fans to leave messages for one another, were located at the bottom of the escalator on the first floor, next to the Party boards, where various groups issued invitations. Nearby was the fanzine lounge, with a display of recent and classic ’zines, as well as program ops and registration. Down another long flight of stairs, underneath the big Korbel logo on the wall, were the tables for various fan groups and site bids, as well as freebie tables with flyers and other giveaways. PARTIES The Eos party, always a chic event, took place at historically eclectic Lodo’s Bar & Grill – previously a Buddhist temple and a brothel – with the fabulously dressed Diana Gill and Jack Womack welcoming authors, publishers, and other invitees to enjoy drinks and hors d’oeuvres. The usual slew of parties were held in suites in the Sheraton (many resembling saunas once populated); kind volunteers at the Hugo Nominees Party (colloquially referred to as the Hugo Losers Party) handed out water bottles to attendees while they stood in conversation. The Tor party, another steam room, was enjoyable but for the mysterious smell of the suite, speculated to have originated in the heat death of a Colorado cheese round. Uncharacteristically, the Australian party on Tuesday night failed to serve beer, since the hotel wouldn’t allow outside alcohol to be served, but they made up for it with a substantial spread of food. The Pyr party, in its strangely tall and narrow suite, was top-notch with Brazilian decorations and keepsake Pyr glasses. Lou Anders defied hotel rules and provided caipirinhas – the official drink

40 / LOCUS October 2008

of Brazil, a sugarcane alcohol cocktail that kept everyone in good spirits. Jetse de Vries of Interzone kept the bar running smoothly by hand-washing glasses and limes and procuring ice by any means necessary, including from other parties. Among the many other parties in the Sheraton were the Baen party, the Seattle Worldcon Bid party (steampunk theme), multiple Reno Worldcon bid parties (one with a marine theme, including a mermaid cake), the Scandinavian party (serving aquavit) and bid parties for Chicago and Texas. The SFWA suite was the location for parties from the likes of DAW, Dell magazines (with the traditional magazine cakes), Clarion West, Strange Horizons, and Ace/Roc (see Ginjer Buchanan’s AC/DC-inspired Ace/Roc t-shirt in the photo spread). Anticipation, hosting next year’s Worldcon, held a brunch on Sunday morning to discuss various aspects of the upcoming convention. Programming Chair Farah Mendlesohn commented that Anticipation staff was happy to introduce Canadian and American publishers, ‘‘some of whom had communicated on e-mail for many years without meeting.’’ Anticipation

also hosted a mellow dead dog party on Sunday evening. NEXT YEAR Anticipation (a commonly used French term for science fiction) is scheduled for August 6-10, 2009, in Montreal, Quebec, at the Palais des congrés de Montréal convention center. The guests are Neil Gaiman (writer), Élisabeth Vonarburg (writer), Ralph Bakshi (artist), Taral Wayne (fan), Tom Doherty (publisher), and David G. Hartwell (editor), with Julie E. Czerneda as Master of Ceremonies. Anticipation has decided to use its privilege to add a category to include a special Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. Attending memberships are $215 through December 2008. Registration details and convention information, in both French and English, are available at <www.anticipationsf.ca>. –Amelia Beamer & Liza Groen Trombi 

Report on the WSFS Business Meeting This year’s WSFS Business Meeting made quite a few decisions that affect the Hugo Awards. Perhaps the most significant is the addition of a new category for Graphic Story. Although the change still requires ratification next year, the Montreal committee has opted to use its power to create a one-off special Hugo to trial this category. There will therefore be a Graphic Story Hugo awarded next year. If all goes well with nominations for that then the constitutional change should be ratified and come into effect in Melbourne and for the following two years. There is a further sanity check in 2012 when the Business Meeting has to confirm that the category is working well, or it will be dropped. As one Hugo is added, another may be going away. Denver voted to remove the Semiprozine category – the one for which Locus has been eligible for many years. The motion as it currently stands would use most of the language describing a semiprozine to bar such magazines from the fanzine category, although of course the editors of semiprozines would be eligible in the Best Editor: Short Form category. The other significant change is the first passage of a motion to clarify the eligibility of online and electronically distributed works. For the most part these have always been eligible – for example Cheryl Morgan’s Emerald City won Best Fanzine in 2004 despite being primarily an online publication, and Teresa Nielsen Hayden was nominated for her fan

writing in electronic forums long before that. The new changes mostly clarify the existing situation by removing language that people might argue requires paper publication. The only significant change is that Best Related Book will become Best Related Work, which opens the field up, not only to web sites, but also to computer games, RPGs and so on, although not to things such as movies for which Hugo categories already exist. Other business included ratifying the two minor constitutional amendments passed on from Yokohama, continuing the Rest of the World eligibility extension, continuing various committees, and officially acknowledging Peter Weston’s role in standardizing the design of the Hugo rocket. In the financial reporting we learned that last year’s Worldcon in Yokohama suffered an operating loss of around ¥3.6m ($33k). Melbourne, Australia won the right to hold the 2010 Worldcon, being effectively unopposed. Because this results in Worldcon going outside of North America there will be a site selection vote for a 2010 NASFiC at the Montreal Worldcon. The only currently declared bid is for Raleigh NC. Next year’s Worldcon site selection vote for 2011 will be between Seattle and Reno. Chicago announced a bid for 2012, and Zagreb, Croatia announced a bid for 2013. –Cheryl Morgan & Kevin Standlee

Sir Arthur and I

I first met Arthur C. Clarke in the 1950s, on the occasion of his first cross-Atlantic visit to New York City. By then Arthur had established himself as a first-rate science fiction writer and he did what SF writers do in a strange city: he looked for other SF writers to talk to. He found them in the rather amorphously shaped group that called itself the Hydra Club, where I was one of the nine heads that had been its founders. We became friends. We stayed that way for all of the half century that remained of Arthur’s life. We met when chance arranged it – at a film festival in Rio de Janeiro, at an occasional scientific meeting, at assorted ‘‘cons’’ – SF-speak for science fiction gatherings – in many places at many times. In the early days Arthur spent a lot of time visiting New York, usually staying at the Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street, and when possible I would join him for dinner or a drink – that was all expense-account money and happily paid for by my publisher because I was an editor in those days and eager to publish as much Clarke as I could get my hands on. But by the turn of the millennium our friendship had reduced itself to a desultory correspondence and the odd phone conversation. I had given up editing to concentrate on my own writing. What Arthur had given up was ever leaving his island home in Sri Lanka, where I had never been. (Although I visited a number of Frederik Pohl (2005) other countries, Sri Lanka wasn’t one of them.) one of my daughters, and the behind-the-scenes Arthur wasn’t a religious man in any usual sense levitator was my son, so I was going to find out – in the instructions he left for his own funeral he his secrets anyway. was emphatic that there be no religious aspects to But back to Sir Arthur.... the services. He thought – as is described in The Then, in one of his letters in the early part of Last Theorem – that the most valuable function 2006, Arthur rather offhandedly mentioned that, of a church was to provide a Sunday school to send a couple of years earlier, in a fit of exuberance, he your children to, on the principal that exposing had signed publishing contracts for several books them to religion in childhood, like inoculating that, he was now convinced, he would never be them against polio, would prevent serious religi- able to write himself. Most of them he had arosity later on. ranged to work on with another writer, but there He wasn’t much of a believer in psionics or any was one, called The Last Theorem, for which he of the other New Age fads of the 20th century needed a collaborator. either; he was a hard-headed skeptic who didn’t That sounded like a hint, and I took it. I wrote who didn’t believe in anything that didn’t provide back, ‘‘If you really need a collaborator for that good evidence of its reality. But bear in mind his unfinished novel Barkis is probably willin’. I like famous declaration that any sufficiently advanced collaborating and sadly seem to be running out technology is indistinguishable from magic. of collaborators.’’ The obvious corollary to that is that some kinds I am sorry to say that this was no more than the of magic could perhaps represent a previously truth. Of my several score published books nearly unknown technology. You can see traces of that a third had been written with collaborators, usuthought in some of the best Clarkes, like Child- ally a long-term friend – Isaac Asimov, Lester del hood’s End or ‘‘The Nine Billion Names of God’’. Rey, Cyril Kornbluth, and Jack Williamson among And he did confess to me once, over a meal at the them – and each of them has since passed away. old Chelsea Hotel, that he was kind of wondering It occurred to me that urging him to join a group if it was possible that Uri Geller, the notorious with such a high mortality rate might not be the psychic spoon-bender of the 1960s, might really best inducement to offer a proposed partner, and have some new kind of power. indeed as weeks passed and I heard no response I’m proud to say that I was the one who rescued from Arthur I began to wonder if I had frightened Arthur C. Clarke from that particular flimflam. him out of the notion. But then a letter arrived, Then and there, in the restaurant that evening, not from Arthur himself but from his New York I did the Geller spoonbending trick before his agent, which said that Arthur had passed my offer very eyes. on to him, and added: I hadn’t been smart enough to figure it out for Since receiving that from Arthur, I’ve been myself, but I was lucky in my choice of neighbors. discussing it with his editor, Chris Schluep, One of them was my good friend, the former stage and he has been discussing it with his magician The Amazing Randi, who had taught colleagues and bosses at Ballantine/Del me how to do it. Rey. I’m happy to say that they have called Unfortunately I can’t teach it to any of you, me today to say that they would love to because I am bound by the stage magician’s creed proceed... We sold the material to Ballannot to blow any other magician’s secret tricks. Ah, tine on the basis of some bits and pieces but you say, how can that be, Fred, since you aren’t supplied by Arthur, and a brief outline. I a stage magician yourself? Simple, I say. Randi assume you would like to see these before gave me honorary magician status. He couldn’t you commit to this project. really avoid that, since one of his best effects was There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to levitating a beautiful girl. The girl was usually

by Frederik Pohl

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do the book, but I looked forward to Arthur’s notes. When they arrived they amounted to around a hundred pages of notes and drafts, some sketchy, some quite completely fleshed out. The novel was to be called The Last Theorem, as a reference to a celebrated scribble by the 18th-century French mathematician, Pierre Fermat. Fermat had been thinking about a well-known mathematical problem. The Pythagorean Theorem holds that, if you square the sides of a right triangle and add them together, their sum equals the square of the triangle’s hypotenuse. (Or a-squared plus b-squared equals c-squared.) Using whole numbers, the smallest triangle that this works for has sides of three and four units and a hypotenuse of five. Three squared (or 9) plus four squared (or 16) equals 25, which is the square of the five units that the hypotenuse measures. That of course is not really much of a problem so far. Everybody who cares at all knows that. Everybody always has, at least since the times of the ancient Greeks. The question that was troubling Fermat had to do with equations with larger exponents. Could there ever be a triangle such that a-cubed plus b-cubed equaled c-cubed? There could not, Fermat declared, and added that he himself had recently discovered an elegant proof of that statement – ‘‘which,’’ he wrote, ‘‘this margin is too small to contain.’’ And for all the years since then other mathematicians have been trying to discover that proof which Fermat claimed to have. None have succeeded, and the smart money now places its bets on the assumption that Fermat was simply mistaken and never did have that proof. As I read all this in Arthur’s sketchy notes a small sense of foreboding began to knock at my mind. I had gone through my own period of infatuation with the arcane art of number theory and so all this was both familiar and interesting to me. But what about your average book-buyer? It is axiomatic in the publishing biz that American book buyers hate, fear, and despise math in any form. Were they going to buy a book whose very title was an obscure kind of mathematical statement? Well, I told myself, sure they were. The book isn’t really about the theorem. It is about a boy who is determined to rediscover that lost proof and about what happens to him, to his world, and even to his galaxy after he does. Besides, there was a lot of great stuff there including a wonderful war-winning weapon that triumphed in battles without ever killing anyone; a moving scene between Ranjit Subramanian, the story’s central figure, and his father, the head priest at a Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka; a couple of exciting races in space; the death of a major character; thumbnail sketches – no, not that big, make that pinky-nail sketches – of the major characters. There was much more to draw from, including, I was sure, that great resource that would fill in all the missing bits and pieces: Arthur himself. So I got off a quick note to Arthur to say that I accepted the quite generous terms of his offer and began doing some research, sublimely confident that this would be a relatively easy book to write. As it happened, I had a novel of my own half written at the time but it was no problem to set it aside to do Arthur’s; I had long since informed Jim Frenkel, my Tor editor, that he would definitely get the book but that I wasn’t going to sign a contract with him until I had it nearly finished since I didn’t want any contractual deadlines nagging at me.

And I began to write The Last Theorem. Every writer has his own idiosyncratic way of getting the words in his head onto paper. Mine is a little unusual in two ways. First, I write a little bit every day. By ‘‘every day,’’ I mean all the days there are, including Christmas, my birthday, and the days when I have a root canal. Second, I do that no matter where I am. I’ve done some of my best writing in hotel rooms, in air terminals, on aircraft at 30,000 feet on the way to, say, Nairobi or Beijing, and in a fair number of places odder still. Including, in the old days of WWII, the pro station at Chanute field where I was learning to be an Air Force weatherman, because it was the only place on the base that kept its lights on after Taps. But of all the places where I might be earning my daily bread my personal favorite is a good-sized cruise ship taking me to some part of the world I’ve never seen before. This time our scheduled cruise wasn’t on any of the great salt-water seas. We were doing a river cruise on the Danube, starting in Bucharest, Romania, then overland to the river, downstream to the Black Sea and back upstream via Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia to Budapest, Hungary. It happened I had been to most of those places in the 1960s, when I did a certain amount of lecturing abroad for the US State Department, but that didn’t matter. My wife got off the boat to visit local points of interest. I didn’t. I stayed on board with my lined yellow pads and my ballpoint pens, setting words down at a great rate. For all the time between leaving Chicago and our actual boarding of the riverboat I hadn’t tried to keep in touch with Arthur. But our boat was well provided with e-mail, and one of the first things I e-mailed to ask him concerned some interesting alien characters in his notes. These were called the Grand Galactics. They pretty much ran things, and I could see how useful they might be in the finished story, so I invited him to tell me every thought he had ever had concerning these wondrous super-beings. His response, though, was a lot less helpful than I had hoped. Everything he knew about the Grand Galactics, he told me, was in those pages of notes his agent had passed along to me. At one time, he said, no doubt he had possessed any number of additional ideas about them. He didn’t have them any more. They were gone without a trace. Marveling, worried, I asked Arthur for details. He could give me very few. Apparently a funny thing had happened to Arthur on a day in 2003. After signing all those contracts he had woken up one morning and discovered that he couldn’t remember how to write any of them. Don’t ask me to explain how this was possible. Arthur himself wasn’t very good at explaining it to me, but there it was. Every word of how to write any of those books had vanished from his mind. He said that since then he had had reasonable luck in writing 300-word greetings to various groups around the world who wanted to honor him. But nothing more ambitious than that. So I went up to the top deck and watched the river banks go by for a while as I pondered this new development. It was going to mean more work for me – or, more accurately, no more work but a good deal more responsibility. Still, that was not a wholly bad thing. Arthur promised to go over every page as I wrote the book and to make comments. This was a new ball game, true. But not necessarily one that I could not enjoy. So I went below for lunch, and as I was finishing my second cup of coffee the ship’s second mate handed me a new e-mail. It was from my own New York agent, and what it said was, ‘‘If you’re

Arthur C. Clarke (1988) actually writing The Last Theorem you should stop. Clarke’s agent has canceled the deal.’’ When at last the book was finished, and revised to suit Arthur, and re-revised to suit me, and re-rerevised to suit Chris Schluep, our Del Rey editor, I sent Arthur an e-mail announcing the good news and saying, ‘‘In all my books I have never encountered one with as many problems as this one. I’m pleased that it has turned out well, but I wouldn’t do it again for anything less than War and Peace.’’ For that cancellation by Arthur’s New York agent was only the first of a series of unparalleled travails. I did not take that first travail very seriously. The incident amounted to little more than a hissyfit Arthur’s and my own agents had got into over the sharing of commissions, and I knew that in the long run it wouldn’t stand. All the same it took a good many weeks of back-andforth negotiating to clear it up. But before things got better, they kept getting worse. For instance, a bit later the electronic provider for Sri Lanka went out of business, apparently without telling anyone, and so e-mails no longer worked and communications with Arthur were cut off for more than a week. (It is quite disheartening to try sending an e-mail to an address you have been routinely using and have the Yahoo demigod inform you that there is no such address and never has been.) Later the same cutoff occurred for another week but this time due not to any human agency but to a violent tropical storm. And in between all the other problems there was the repetitious and overriding one of Arthur’s health. In the early stages Arthur read what I had written as soon as I sent it to him and, as promised, commented and suggested in detail. This was not always pleasurable. Early in the book, for plot reasons, I wanted our Ranjit Subramanian to

spend a period of time in solitary confinement. The easy way to do this was to have him caught up in the on-and-off bloody and brutal conflict the Sri Lankan government was waging with a fraction of its Tamil population, but this, as Arthur quickly informed me, was a really regrettable idea. Although successive Sri Lankan governments had all been cordial to their distinguished house guest (and Arthur too had been quite generous to Sri Lanka) he had never forgotten that he was in fact a guest and his tenure there was subject to termination if ever he seriously offended the country’s rulers. Which he feared my description of the ongoing war might easily do. The fault here was mine. I did know what Arthur’s concerns on that subject were, and I knew, too, how worrisome the incursions of these socalled Tamil Tigers were to him. As far back as the early ’70s, when Arthur and I were on a busy lecture tour of Japan, he had been as brilliant and rewarding as ever while sitting before an audience, but as soon as he was offstage he went hunting for some English-language news broadcasts to check up on how close the Tigers were getting to his beachfront diving school. (Not close enough to do much damage, it turned out. The school survived all the battles of the war but was finally done in, decades later, by the Boxing Day tsunami of 2006 which killed hundreds of thousands of people in that area.) So I bit the bullet, discarded a sheaf of quite good pages and wrote a completely different passage of imprisonment for poor Ranjit. (Which I now think is actually quite a bit better than the material it replaced, proving that the easiest way is not necessarily the best way for a writer to go.) That was, in fact, the only story element that Arthur ever vetoed outright. Mostly his comments were both helpful and supportive. But as the weeks passed they became slower to arrive and increasingly less detailed. The culprit was his body, which was wearing out. As far back as half a century earlier I had noticed, one evening, that Arthur had a little trouble getting up from the overstuffed couch he had been sprawled out on at whatever gathering was going on that night. When I asked him about it he shrugged it off. ‘‘I had a little bit of a diving accident,’’ he said. ‘‘It will pass.’’ But his difficulty in moving wasn’t from a diving accident and it didn’t pass. The best medical opinion, which was pretty much the best opinion the medical world had to offer, because Arthur visited every major research facility available in his quest for assistance, was that it was what they called ‘‘post-polio syndrome.’’ That diagnosis did not lead to a cure, however, because there was no cure. Ultimately Arthur wound up in a wheelchair, and, in the last decades of his life, never got anywhere without it. But in those days of the ’60s and ’70s ‘‘ultimately’’ was a long way off. Arthur kept as busy as ever and we did spend time together at one kind of event or another. On the occasion of his 90th birthday, when it was clear that he was fading fast, a bunch of his friends were rounded up to send him birthday greetings. I chose to try to cheer him up by re

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 Sir Arthur and I minding him of some of the great times we had had together, in particular at one NASA symposium around 1970 on what they called ‘‘Speculative Technology.’’ It was by invitation only, but even NASA recognized that in order to speculate effectively you needed to have a science fiction writer or two on the guest list to show the others how it’s done. So they elected to invite two of our breed, Arthur Clarke and myself. I don’t know whether NASA got what it was looking for from the conference. What I do know is that for me, and I am pretty sure for Arthur as well, it was a grand weekend. It was, by design, held on an island off the coast of Georgia with no way of getting back and forth to the mainland but a single little propeller plane. This meant that the stars of the event, the ones who would normally fly in just long enough to deliver their remarks and then immediately fly off to their next date, were forced to stick around and talk to the rest of us for the whole weekend – by far the best way of organizing any such event. There were 50 or 60 invited guests, each one a headliner in some technological or scientific area, including some dear old friends like Marvin Minsky, MIT’s head man in robotics and artificial intelligence, and great new ones like the Apollo astronaut Ed Mitchell, the one who had tried to send telepathic messages from the surface of the Moon to associates back on Earth. All of them had interesting things to say. It wasn’t just the formal program that was great, either. Early on Arthur and I discovered some bicycles no one was using so we got some of the others to join us in bicycle-jousting, me pedaling while Arthur was on the handlebars fighting off the foes. (In my birthday message I asked him, ‘‘Remember when we were spry?’’) And then, for me, there was the matter of Werner von Braun. For years mutual friends, mainly Willy Ley and a few other transplanted German scientists, had been trying to persuade me to make friends with von Braun. I was reluctant. I could not readily forgive him for having been an officer in the Nazi SS who used slave labor to build his rockets. True, as the title of his book said, he had always aimed at the stars, but what he had hit had been London. So von Braun and I maintained a relationship

of distant acquaintance. He invited me to some major launches at the Cape, but I had never had a one-on-one conversation with him until that NASA conference. There, at the close of business one day, a bunch of us had been invited to a cookout on the far side of the island. There was a transportation problem, though. The island had a limited number of cars. Only three were available to us, with a nominal seating capacity of maybe 15, but there were already 20-odd of us lined up and hungry. There was only one possible solution. We doubled up. So for the next half-hour or so, as we crossed the island, I had von Braun sitting in my lap and conversation was inevitable. This did not result in a close friendship. I only ran into von Braun once or twice over the next few years, and then he died. But I’m glad it happened. The Nazis were a great evil... but if some of my grandparents had made somewhat different choices about where they wanted to spend their lives, back around the end of the 19th century, I might easily have been born in Germany instead of in Brooklyn. How I would have dealt with the monstrosity that was Hitler’s Third Reich I cannot say. I hope I would have resisted temptation; but I believe, up to a point, that von Braun had thought he had resisted as well. In the long run The Last Theorem turned out well, I think. Arthur’s health did not. He suffered more and more from old men’s disease, that recurring cycle of ailments and infections that tell us our bodies are getting tired of healing up all the injuries we inflict on them. (I am an authority on these matters because I was after all only a couple of years younger than Arthur.) In Arthur’s case some of his ailments were mysterious. One morning he awoke and couldn’t get out of bed. When the doctors arrived all they could tell him was that somehow in his sleep he had managed to crack a couple of his vertebrae, no one could say how. Now (he wrote me) what he was yearning for most in his world was the day when he might get back to the mobility of his custom-built wheelchair. After that there was a lot of silence, in stretches which went on for weeks or even a month or two. Now and then, I was told, this was because Arthur had been taken to the hospital, sometimes not allowed to communicate with the outside world. When he was really sick his Sri Lankan house and office staff did their best to close ranks to

prevent him worrying about anything but the task of getting well. It was after a month and more of such silence that I sent him the e-mail mentioned above to tell him that my work was complete and that I wished he would summon up the effort to tell me what he had thought of the final ms, long since in his hands. I think I must have been feeling a bit petulant, because I ended the e-mail with ‘‘Please let me hear from you. I know you are old and unwell, but so am I.’’ And then a day or so later I got a longish email from him, saying all the things I wanted to hear. He approved all I had done; he thought the book was fine; he forgave me for not making one or two quite minor changes because (I had told him) I had fallen in love with those bits and hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed that I hadn’t changed them. And it was not only that he said all the things I had hoped for, he said them in the unmistakable prose of good old Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, the style as lively and as concise as ever. It is hard for me to convey how pleasing that e-mail was for me to receive. I dashed off a reply to tell him that though his bones might be crumbling and his interior organs falling apart it was obvious that his mind was still sharp. And then, a day or so later, I snapped on the TV news to keep me company while I dealt with some letters, and what the newscaster was saying was that Sir Arthur Clarke had died in his sleep the night before. So we have lost him. Arthur was a valuable citizen of our planet and he will be – he already is – greatly missed. Still, there is another and almost comical aspect of this event that I wish he could have shared. Because I was privileged to read the detailed, good-humored instructions Arthur dictated and left for the arrangements of his own funeral I know he would have been amused by the small joke that lies within this sorrow. The lethality of collaborating on a book with Fred Pohl may have no basis in common sense, but the record seems to prove otherwise. And I don’t think I want to collaborate with any other writer again. –Frederik Pohl 

Arthur C. Clarke’s Final Instructions In almost 90 years of living, I have twice enjoyed reading my obituary in print – and their subsequent reaction and apology! But I am aware that one of these days, the news of my death will no longer be premature. This letter captures my wish for funeral arrangements. •

•

as possible. Please do not put up structures or decorations of any kind. •

My funeral should be held in Sri Lanka, as soon as possible following my demise and the medical/legal formalities are completed.

Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral, which should be entirely secular.

•

I have pledged to donate the cornea of my eyes to the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society, who should be informed within two hours of death to perform their task.

I am to be buried at the family burial plot owned by my adopted family, the Ekanayakes, at the Kanatte General Cemetery in Colombo.

•

Under no circumstances should there be any official involvement on the part of British or Sri Lankan governments. I am placing my long-standing business partner Hector Ekanayake and my office manager Rohan de Silva exclusively in charge of all arrangements. They have looked after me very well for decades, and I know they will respect my last wishes. –Arthur C. Clarke Colombo, Sri Lanka 8 August 2007

•

My body may be kept only for a minimum necessary period at Leslie’s House, 25 Barnes Place, Colombo. This has been my home since 1972 – and where I have buried several of my beloved canine friends.

•

The entire funeral should be a private event, allowing the opportunity for my friends, family, and fans to pay last respects. It should be on a very low key, and as inexpensive

44 / LOCUS October 2008

NEXT STOP: THE FUTURE

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Magazines Received - August

Analog Science Fiction and Fact– Stanley Schmidt, ed. Vol. 128 No. 11, November 2008, $4.99, 10 times per year, 144pp, 13 x 21 cm. Part one of a four-part series by Robert J. Sawyer; novelettes by Carl Frederick and Paul Levinson; short stories by Alan Dean Foster, Richard A. Lovett, Stephen L. Burns, and Oz Drummond. Cover by George Krauter. Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine–Lucy Zinkiewicz, ed., Vol 6 No. 6, #36, 2008, A$8.95, bimonthly, 96pp, 14½ x 21 cm. Australian SF and fantasy small-press magazine. This issue includes ten short stories, poetry, an interview with Greg Egan, and reviews. Cover by Eleanor Clarke. Subscription: one-year A$49.00/Overseas A$69.00 to Andromeda Spaceways Publishing, c/o Simon Haynes, PO Box 127, Belmont WA 6984, Australia; e-mail: <amagsub@gmail.com>; website: <andromedaspaceways.com>. Asimov’s Science Fiction–Sheila Williams, ed. Vol. 32 No. 10 & 11, Whole Number 393 & 394, October/November 2008, $7.99, 10 times per year, 240pp, 13½ x 21 cm. Double issue with novellas by Nancy Kress and Robert Reed; novelettes by Brandon Sanderson and Ian R. MacLeod; short stories by Peter Higgins, Sara Genge, Leslie What, Gord Sellar, Jack Skillingstead; poetry, reviews, etc. Cover by Virgil Finlay. Black Static–Andy Cox, ed. Issue No. 6, August/September 2008, £3.99/$6.00, bimonthly, 64pp, 20 x 27½ cm. Dark British SF/F magazine with stories by Simon Avery, Melanie Fazi, Peter Tennant, Nina Allan, Paul Meloy, and Ray Cluley; columns and reviews. Cover by David Gentry. Subscription: UK £21.00/ Europe £24.00/elsewhere £27.00 for 6 issues to TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK; website: <www.ttapress.com>; e-mail: <blackstatic@ttapress.demon.co.uk>. Interzone–Andy Cox, ed. Issue No. 217, August/September 2008, £3.75/$6.00, bimonthly, 64pp, 21 x 29½ cm. British SF/F magazine. Stories by Karen Fishler, Paul G. Tremblay, Jason Sanford, Suzanne Palmer, Paul McAuley, and M.K. Hobson; and reviews. Cover by Paul Drummond. Subscription: UK £21.00/Europe £24.00/elsewhere £27.00 for 6 issues to TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK; website: <www.ttapress. com>.

46 / LOCUS October 2008

The New York Review of Science Fiction–David Hartwell et al., eds. Vol. 20 No. 12, Whole No. 240, August 2008, $4.00, monthly, 24pp, 21½ x 28 cm. Review and criticism magazine, with essay‑length and short reviews, etc. This issue looks at the work of neglected pulp-era author Greye La Spina, the genre-tagging of Kim Wilkin’s Giants of the Frost, existentialism in Rudy Rucker’s Postsingular, the undermining of the Cinderella myth in Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Sharing Knife series, John Nizalowski’s reminiscence of Roger Zelazny, and Kevin Shaw’s experiences reading ‘‘The Argonauts of the Air’’ during Earth Hour. Subscription: $40.00 per year, to Dragon Press, PO Box 78, Pleasantville NY 10570. On Spec–Diane L. Walton, ed. Vol. 20 No. 2 Whole No.73, Summer 2008, C$6.95, quarterly, 112pp, 13½ x 20½ cm. Small‑press fiction magazine, with seven stories, poetry, and interviews with Daniel LeMoal and James Birkbeck. Cover by James Birkbeck. Subscription: C$24.00/US$24.00 per year, to On Spec, Box 4727, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6E 5G6; website: <http:// www.onspec.ca>. Postscripts–Peter Crowther, ed. No. 15, Summer 2008, £15.00/$30.00, quarterly, 384pp, 15½ x 21½ cm. British SF and fantasy magazine’s special hardcover Worldcon all-SF issue with fiction by Brian Aldiss, Scott Edelman, Keith Brooke, Garry Kilworth, Chris Roberson, Steven Utley, Alex Irvine, Jack Dann, Matthew Hughes, Ray Bradbury, Brian Stableford, Eric Brown, James Lovegrove, Terry Bisson, Kelly Barnhill, Stephen Baxter, Beth Bernobich, Paul De Filippo, Robert Reed, Jay Lake, Ian McDonald, Mike Resnick, Justina Robson, and Michael Moorcock; a ‘‘Dispatches From the Future’’ by Arthur C. Clarke; and a special Paul McAuley section with an essay by McAuley, an excerpt from his novel The Quiet War, and four new short stories. Cover by Al Feldstein. Signed hardcover and slipcased hardcover editions available. Subscription: £26.00 in the UK, £30.00/USD$60.00 elsewhere for four issues newsstand editions (subscriptions to signed, limited PPC semihardcover editions £100.00 in the UK, £110.00/USD$220.00 elsewhere) to PS Publishing LLP, Grosvenor House, 1 New Road, Hornsea, East Yorkshire, HU18 1PG, England; e-mail: <editor@ pspublishing.co.uk>; website:<www. pspublishing.co.uk>

Realms of Fantasy–Shawna McCarthy, ed. Vol 15 No. 1, October 2008, $3.99, bimonthly, 92pp, 20½ x 27½ cm. Fantasy fiction magazine. Fiction by M.K. Hobson, Vylar Kaftan, Greg O. Weatherford, Joe Murphy, Sharon Mock, and Evan Harvey; articles including a look at the work of author and illustrator James A. Owen; and Terri Windling’s last ongoing Folkroots column where she discusses her own relationship to fairy tales, reviews, etc. Cover by James A. Owen.

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Shimmer–Beth Wodzinski, ed. Vol. 3 No. 1, Spring 2008, $6.00, quarterly, 102pp, 13½ x 21 cm. Speculative fantasy ’zine with stories by M.K. Hobson and others, plus an interview with David Farland. Cover by Aunia Kahn. Subscription: Locus subUS form 11:31 $22.00 for 8/27/07 four issues, to AM BethPage Wodzinski, PO Box 58591, Salt Lake I

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Jean M. Auel “One of the great ser vices of LOCUS is to boost the general ‘street smarts’ of new writers and other professionals.” David Brin “No one who is serious about any aspect of science fiction publishing can afford to be without LOCUS.” Ben Bova

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The Outer Limits Harpur Palate (Vol. 8, Issue 1) has ‘‘Squander’’, an after-life fantasy by Jenny Hanning. Strand Magazine (June/September ’08) has Earl Hamner’s ghost story ‘‘The Guide’’. The Washington Post (8/27/08) had an article on the Salman Rushdie libel settlement. The Washington Post (8/17/08) has an article on the lack of feminism in the Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Wired (September 2008) has a long feature article on Neal Stephenson and his new book Anathem.

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Books Received - August

Compiled by Charles N. Brown & Carolyn Cushman. Please send all corrections to Carolyn Cushman c/o Locus. We will run all verified corrections. KEY: * = first edition + = first American edition. + Abercrombie, Joe Last Argument of Kings (Prometheus/Pyr 978-159102-690-7, $15.00, 637pp, tp, cover by Laura Brett) Fantasy novel, book three of The First Law series. First US edition (Gollancz 3/08). * Abnett, Dan & Mike Lee Warhammer: The Chro nicles of Malus Darkblade, Volume One (BL Publishing/ Black Library US 978-1-84416-563-6, $11.99, 762pp, tp, cover by Clint Langley) Omnibus of three novelizations based on the roleplaying game universe, in the Malus Darkblade series: Warhammer: The Daemon’s Curse (2005), Warhammer: Bloodstorm (2005), and Warhammer: Reaper of Souls (2006), and adds one new story and an interview/introduction with the authors. Copyrighted by Games Workshop. This first US edition has the same ISBN as the Black Library UK edition (8/08) but gives only US and Canadian prices. * Adams, C.T. & Cathy Clamp Touch of Darkness (Tor 978-0-7653-5962-9, $ 6.99, 418pp, pb, cover by Cliff Nielsen) Paranormal romance, sequel to Touch of Evil. Psychic Katie and werewolf Tom want to get married, but his ex is stalking Katie and her ex is undead and trying to take over the world. * Adams, John Joseph, ed. The Living Dead (Night Shade Books 978-159780-143-0, $15.95, 487pp, tp, cover by David Palumbo) Anthology of 34 zombie stories, one original. Authors include Stephen King, Clive Barker, Kelly Link, and Neil Gaiman. * Adams, John Joseph, ed. Seeds of Change (Wildside Press/Prime Books 978-0-8095-7310-3, $19.95, 239pp, hc, cover by Beboy) Original anthology of nine stories. Authors include Jay Lake, Ken MacLeod, and Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu. Prime Books, 9710 Traville Gateway Drive #234, Rockville MD 20850-7408; <www.prime-books.com>. Anderson, Kevin J. The Last Days of Krypton (Harper 978-0-06-134075-8, $7.99, 467pp, pb) Reprint (HarperEntertainment 2007) novelization about

Superman’s homeworld. This has a lenticular cover. Copyrighted by DC Comics. * Anna, Vivi Veiled Truth (Harlequin/ Silhouette Nocturne 978- 0 -373 61797-5, $5.25, 270pp, pb) Paranormal romance novel in the Valorian Chronicles, about an otherworld forensic unit led by vampire Caine Valorian. The witch Lyra reluctantly agrees to work with a powerful dhampir to solve murders in Necropolis. Copyrighted by Tawny Stokes. * Anonymous, ed. Aftershock (Harlequin/Silhouette Nocturne 978-0-37361796-8, $5.25, 275pp, pb) Original anthology of three paranoramal romances by Sharon Sala, Janis Reams Hudson, and Debra Cowan. * Anonymous, ed. First Blood (Berkley 978-0-425-22400-7, $7.99, 330pp, pb) Original anthology of four vampire romance stories by Susan Sizemore, Erin McCarthy, Chris Marie Green, and Meljean Brook. * Anonymous, ed. Star Wars: The Dark Lord Trilogy (Ballantine Del Rey LucasBooks 978-0-345-48538-0, $20.00, 1094pp, tp) Omnibus of three Star Wars novelizations in the trilogy: Star Wars: Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno (2005), Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover (2005), and Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno (2005). Copyrighted by Lucasfilm. * Arnzen, Michael A. The Bitchfight (Bad Moon Books, $15.00, 73pp, tp, cover by Caroline O’Neal) Horror novelette. Introduction by Brian Hodge. This is a limited edition of 200 signed by both Arnzen and Hodge; a hardcover lettered edition of 25 was announced but not seen. Bad Moon Books, 1854 W. Chateau Ave., Anaheim CA 92804; <www. badmoonbooks.com>. * Asamatsu, Ken Queen of K’n-Yan (Kurodahan Press (Japan) 978-4902075-23-6, $16.00, 213pp, tp) Horror novel. A scientist investigating a Chinese mummy starts hallucinating. Translated by Kathleen Taji. Introduction by Darrell Schweitzer. This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at <www.kurodahan.com> or from Kurodahan Press, Tenjin Matsui Building 403, 3-9-10 Tenjin, Chuo-Ku, Fukuoka 810-0001, Japan. Asher, Neal The Engineer ReCondi-

tioned (Dorchester/Cosmos Books 978-0-8439-6161-4, $6.99, 319pp, pb, cover by Ian Field-Richards) Reprint (Tanjen 1998 as The Engineer) collection of seven stories; this largely follows the 2006 Cosmos Books edition re-edited by Asher with the 2006 introduction and story notes, but drops three stories. * Ashland, Monk & Nigel Ashland Kaimira: The Sky Village (Candlewick Press 978-0-7636-3524-4, $16.99, 366pp, hc, cover by Jeff Nentrup) Young-adult SF novel, the first in a series set in a world where humans struggle to survive as animals and machines battle for control. Two young people with unusual genes and seemingly magical books must learn to control their strange powers. This also has a 42-page unpaginated section of extras including stories and journal entries. * Auster, Paul Man in the Dark (Holt 978-0-8050-8839-7, $23.00, 180pp, hc, cover by Lisa Fyfe) Alternateworld fantasy novel. An insomniac makes up a story about a man transported to an alternate reality in which a US civil war erupted after the 2000 election. Bakker, R. Scott The Darkness that Comes Before (Overlook Press 978-1-59020-118-3, $13.95, 589pp, tp) Reissue (Penguin Canada 2003) fantasy novel, the first in The Prince of Nothing trilogy. Bakker, R. Scott The Thousandfold Thought (Overlook Press 978-159020-120-6, $13.95, 510pp, tp) Reissue (Overlook Press 2006 ) fantasy novel, third in The Prince of Nothing trilogy. Bakker, R. Scott The Warrior-Prophet (Overlook Press 978-1-59020119-0, $13.95, 607pp, tp) Reissue (Penguin Canada 2004) fantasy novel, second in the trilogy The Prince of Nothing. The cover gives the title without the hyphen. * Barbeau, Adrienne & Michael Scott Vampyres of Hollywood (St. Martin’s 978-0-312-36722-0, $ 23.95, 325pp, hc) Horror novel/serial killer mystery. Vampyre movie producer/ actress Ovsanna Moore must find out who’s killing people at her studio before detectives look too closely at her past. Barry, Brunonia The Lace Reader (HarperCollins/Morrow 978-0-06-

162476-6, $24.95, 390pp, hc) Reprint (Flap Jacket Press 2007, not seen) supernatural mystery about death and disappearances in a family of Salem women who can read the future in lace. * Bassingthwaite, Don Eberron: The Doom of Kings (Wizards of the Coast 978-0-7869-4918-2, $ 6.99, 372pp, pb, cover by Michael Komarck) Novelization based on the roleplaying game, book one in the Legacy of Dhakaan series. Copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast. * Bear, Elizabeth Hell and Earth (Penguin/Roc 978-0-451-46218-3, $14.00, 419pp, tp, cover by Paul Youll) Elizabethan fantasy novel of playwrights Kit Marley and William Shakespeare, sequel to Ink and Steel, fourth overall in the Promethean Age series. + Becker, Tom Lifeblood (Scholastic/Orchard 978-0-545-03742-6, $16.99, 279pp, hc) Young-adult dark fantasy novel, the second book in the Darkside series about a boy in the Darkside, a part of London where vampires, werewolves and other dangers lurk. First US edition (Scholastic UK 2007). * Bedford, K.A. Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait (Hades / EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy 978-1-894063-42-5, $17.95, 323pp, tp, cover by Rachel Haupt) SF timetravel mystery novel. An ex-cop stuck in a job fixing time machines finds a body in one. Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, PO Box 1714, Calgary AB T2P 2L7 Canada; <www. edgewebsite.com>. Bell, Hilari The Last Knight (HarperCollins/Eos 978-0-06-082505-8, $6.99, 357pp, tp, cover by Larry Rostant) Reprint (Eos 2007) young-adult fantasy novel, book one of the Knight and Rogue series. * Bell, Hilari Rogue’s Home (HarperCollins/Eos 978-0-06-082506-5, $17.99, 422pp, hc, cover by Larry Rostant) Young-adult fantasy novel, the second in the Knight and Rogue series. Michael and Fisk investigate when Fisk’s brother is framed for blackmail. * Bentley, C.F. Harmony (DAW 9780-7564-0485-7, $24.95, 389pp, hc) Science fiction novel with psychic elements. A spy sent to steal high-tech secrets from the self-isolated planet 

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 Books Received Harmony finds himself becoming attached to the new High Priestess Sissy, a low-caste woman raised up by her psychic abilities. Copyrighted by Phyllis Irene Radford. * Birt, Danny Ending an Ending (Cyberwizards Productions/Ancient Tomes Press 978-0-9815669-1-7, $16.99, 271pp, tp) Fantasy novel, the first book in the Laurian Penology. The amnesiac Sanct possesses a staff that disobeys the gods’ rules, and learns the world is running out of Time. This is a print-on demand edition, available online at <www. cyberwizardproductions.com>, or from Cyberwizards Productions, 1205 North Saginaw Main #D, PMB 224, Saginaw TX 76176. * Blair, P.L. Stormcaller (Studio See 978-0-9796974-2-5, $14.95, 240pp, tp, cover by Pam See) Fantasy mystery novel, the second book in the Portals series. Human police detective Kat Morales and her elf partner must stop the Aztec god of rain from destroying the Texas coast. Studio See, 622 S. Thurmond, Sheridan WY 82801; <www.studiosee.com>. * Bodin, Felix The Novel of the Future (Black Coat Press 978-1934543-44-3, $ 20.95, 255pp, tp, cover by Stephan Martiniere) SF novel. Introduction and afterword by Brian Stableford, who translated/ adapted this from the French Le roman de L’avenir (Lecointe and Poucin 1834). This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at <www. blackcoatpress.com>, or from Hollywood Comics.com, PO Box 17270, Encino CA 91416. + Bowler, Tim Frozen Fire (Penguin/ Philomel 978-0-399-25053-8, $17.99, 328pp, hc) Young-adult paranormal thriller. First US edition (Oxford University Press 9/06). * Briggs, Patricia Cry Wolf (Ace 9780-441-01615-0, $7.99, 294pp, pb, cover by Daniel Dos Santos) Fantasy novel, the first in the Charles & Anna series, a spin-off of the Mercy Thompson series. Werewolf enforcer Charles introduces Anna, a rare Omega wolf, to his pack. * Brin, David Through Stranger Eyes: Reviews, Introductions, Tributes & Iconoclastic Essays (Nimble Books 978-1-934840-39-9, $22.88, 215pp, tp) Non-fiction collection of 38 pieces. Introduction by Arthur Salm. This is a print-on-demand edition. Nimble Books, 1521 Martha Ave., Ann Arbor MI 48103-5333; <www. nimblebooks.com>. * Brooks, Terry The Gypsy Morph ( Ballantine Del Rey 978 - 0 -345 48414-7, $27.00, 402pp, hc, cover by Steve Stone) Fantasy novel, volume three in the Genesis of Shannara trilogy begun in Armageddon’s Children. Asking people about their reading habits is only slightly less dicey than asking them to tell you how much money they make or how often they have sex. While choosing books may seem less personal than those other two activities, it’s actually pretty similar: what one says about one’s behavior is complicated, revealing and often inflated to impress. –Sara Nelson, Publishers Weekly, 7/14/08

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* Buckell, Tobias S. Sly Mongoose (Tor 978-0-7653-1920-3, $ 26.95, 320pp, hc, cover by Todd Lockwood) SF novel set in the world of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin. An alien intelligence invades domed cities high above the deadly surface of the planet Chilo. * Budrys, Algis, ed. L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XXIV (Galaxy 978-1-59212374-2, $7.99, 503pp, pb, cover by Stephan Martiniere) Original anthology of 13 stories by contest winners, illustrated by Illustrators of the Future winners. Includes essays on writing and art by L. Ron Hubbard, Rebecca Moeste, and Cliff Nielsen. Contest rules are included. Bujold, Lois McMaster Brothers in Arms (NESFA Press 978-1-88677874-0, $25.00, 318pp, hc, cover by Doug Beekman) Reprint (Baen 1989) SF novel in the Miles Vorkosigan series. This has a new foreword by Jeff Melcher. * Burke, Kealan Patrick You In? (Bad Moon Books, $15.00, 108pp, tp, cover by Steven Gilberts) Horror novelette. This is dated 2007, but not seen until now. A limited edition of 300 signed by both Burke and Gilberts; a hardcover lettered edition of 26 was announced but not seen. Bad Moon Books, 1854 W. Chateau Ave., Anaheim CA 92804; <www.badmoonbooks.com>. Burroughs, Edgar Rice Tarzan of the Apes (Penguin/Signet Classics 9780-451-53102-5, $4.95, xii + 307pp, pb) Reissue (McClurg 1914) of the first Tarzan novel; this has a 1963 essay by Gore Vidal and a new afterword by Michael Meyer. * Caine, Rachel Gale Force (Penguin/Roc 978-0-451-46223-7, $7.99, 308pp, pb) Contemporary fantasy novel, seventh in the Weather Warden series. This is copyrighted by Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, who also writes as Roxanne Longstreet and Roxanne Conrad. * Carlson, Jeff Plague War (Ace 978-0-441-01617-4, $7.99, 292pp, pb, cover by Eric Williams) SF novel, sequel to Plague Year. The US government has a vaccine for the nanotech plague, but refuses to share it. * Chaviano, Daína The Island of Eternal Love (Penguin/Riverhead 978-1-59448-992-1, $25.95, 318pp, hc) Fantasy novel, the fourth in The Occult Side of Havana series, but the first novel by this Cuban author to appear in English. Translated from the Spanish Isla de los Amores Infinitos (Grijalbo 2006) by Andrea G. Labinger. Christopher, John The Pool of Fire (Simon Pulse 978-0-689-85669-3, $5.99, 204pp, pb, cover by Joe Burleson) Reissue (Hamish Hamilton 1968) classic young-adult SF novel, third in the Tripods trilogy. Sixth printing. Christopher, John When the Tripods Came (Simon Pulse 978- 0 - 68985762-1, $5.99, 151pp, pb, cover by Sammy Yuen) Reissue (Dutton 1988) young-adult SF novel, a prequel to the Tripods trilogy. Sixth printing. Christopher, John The White Mountains (Simon Pulse 978 - 0 - 689 85672-3, $5.99, 195pp, pb, cover by Sammy Yuen, Jr.) Reissue (Hamish Hamilton 1967) classic young-adult SF novel, first in the Tripods trilogy; 15th printing. * Clarke, Arthur C. & Frederik Pohl The Last Theorem (Ballantine Del

Rey 978-0-345-47021-8, $ 27.00, 299pp, hc, cover by David Stevenson) SF novel begun by Clarke and finished by Pohl.

(Penguin/Signet 978-0-451-22466-8, $7.99, 377pp, pb) Paranormal romance novel, fourth in the Darkness Chosen series.

Clegg, Douglas The Vampyricon: The Queen of Wolves (Ace 9780-441-01620-4, $7.99, 328pp, pb, cover by Judy York) Reprint (Ace 2007) medieval sword and sorcery/ vampire novel, third in The Vampyricon trilogy.

Donaldson, Stephen R. Fatal Revenant (Ace 978 - 0 - 441- 01605 -1, $16.00, 610pp, tp, cover by John Jude Palencar) Reprint (Putnam 2007) fantasy novel, book two in the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant quartet.

* Clement-Moore, Rosemary Hell Week (Random House/Delacorte 978-0-385-73414-1, $16.99, 329pp, hc) Fantasy mystery novel, sequel to Prom Dates from Hell. Journalism student Maggie Quinn goes undercover at a sorority with a magical effect on men.

Douglas, Carole Nelson Pussyfoot (Tor/Forge 978-0-8125-1683-8, $6.99, 304pp, pb, cover by Joe De Vito) Reissue (Forge 1993) associational mystery in the Midnight Louie series partly narrated by a cat.

* Collins, Suzanne The Hunger Games (Scholastic Press 978-0439-02348-1, $17.99, 374pp, hc, cover by Tim O’Brien) Young-adult post-apocalypse SF, the first book in a trilogy. Sixteen-year-old Katniss becomes a contestant in a TV fight to the death. * Cooke, Deborah Kiss of Fury (Penguin/Signet Eclipse 978-0-45122476-7, $6.99, 393pp, pb) Paranormal romance, book two in the Dragonfire trilogy about shapechanging dragon warriors. Croggon, Alison The Crow (Candlewick Press 978-0-7636-4146-7, $9.99, 511pp, tp, cover by Matt Mahurin) Reprint (Penguin Australia 2006) young-adult fantasy novel, the third book in the Pellinor quartet. Croggon, Alison The Riddle (Candlewick Press 978-0-7636-3414-8, $ 8.99, 490pp, tp, cover by Matt Mahurin) Reissue (Penguin Australia 2004) young-adult fantasy novel, the second book in the Pellinor quartet. Third printing. Cross, Janine Forged by Fire (Penguin/Roc 978-0-451-46142-1, $7.99, 373pp, pb, cover by Paul Youll) Reprint (Roc 2007) dark fantasy novel, third and final in the Dragon Temple Saga. * Crowley, John Conversation Hearts (Subterranean Press 978-1-59606198-9, $20.00, 63pp, hc) Associational novelette of two families, one in a fictional world where everyone except one little girl has fur. A signed, limited edition of 250 ($45.00) is also available. Subterranean Press, PO Box 190106, Burton MI 48519; <www. subterraneanpress.com>. * Datlow, Ellen, ed. A Whisper of Blood (Fall River Press 978-1-43510962-9, $9.98, 606pp, hc) Omnibus of two horror anthologies: Blood Is Not Enough (1989) and A Whisper of Blood (1991). * Davidson, Andrew The Gargoyle (Doubleday 978- 0 -385-52494- 0, $25.95, 468pp, hc) Horror novel with possible fantasy elements. A badly burned man meets a sculptress of gargoyles who believes they were lovers in past lives. * Doctorow, Cory Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future (Tachyon Publications 9781-892391-81-0, $14.95, 210pp, tp) Non-fiction, a selection of 28 essays and speeches. Foreword by John Perry Barlow. Tachyon Publications, 1459 18th St. #139, San Francisco CA 94107; <www.tachyonpublications. com>. * Dodd, Christina Into the Flame

* Doyle, Noreen Otherworldly Maine (Down East Books 978-0-89272746-9, $54.95, 318pp, tp, cover by Greg Mort) Anthology of 21 dark stories, eight original, set in Maine. Introduction by the editor, who includes two excerpts from a true story by Henry David Thoreau. Authors include Stephen King, Elizabeth Hand, Gardner Dozois, and Mark Twain. Available from Down East Books, PO Box 679, Camden ME 04843-0679; <www.downeastbooks.com>; 800685-7962. Dozois, Gardner & Jonathan Strahan, eds. The New Space Opera (HarperCollins/Eos 978-0-06-135041-2, $7.99, 642pp, pb, cover by Stephan Martiniere) Reprint (Eos 2007) original anthology of 18 stories. * Duba-Barnett, Kathe Spacebabes Meet the Monsters (Alpha New Cinema, $5.95, DVD) DVD movie (Alpha Video 2003), an ultra-low-budget SF spoof about astronauts sent to the future where they meet monsters and deadly space babes, based on a story by Brad Linaweaver. Extras include a music video, behind-the-scenes feature, and experimental film The Walking Ink by Thomas Barndt. Available online at <www.oldies.com>. * Duncan, Dave Ill Met in the Arena (Tor 978-0-7653-1687-5, $ 24.95, 285pp, hc, cover by E.M. Gist) Standalone fantasy novel of courtly intrigue in a land where nobles are bred for psychic talents, women for mind control, and men for strength they use in gladiatorial contests. DuPrau, Jeanne The City of Ember (Random House/Yearling 978-0-38573628-2, $6.99, 270pp, tp) Reprint (Random House 2003) young-adult dystopian novel, the first in the Ember series. This is a movie tie-in edition with eight unpaginated pages of color stills. Durham, David Anthony Acacia (Random House/Anchor Books 9780-385-72252-0, $7.99, 753pp, pb, cover by Paul A. Romano) Reprint (Doubleday 2007) fantasy novel, book one of The War with the Mein series. * Eddy, C.M., Jr. The Loved Dead and Other Tales (Fenham Publishing 978-0-9701699-2-1, $16.95, tp, cover by David Moen) Collection of 13 weird tales by a friend of H.P. Lovecraft, who co-authored/ghostwrote at least four. Edited by Jim Dyer, who provides an introduction. Fenham Publishing, PO Box 767, Narragansett RI 02882; <www.fenhampublishing.com>. * Elledge, Heather M. Craven Deeds (Infinit y Publishing 978 - 0 -7414 4728-2, $14.95, 221pp, tp, cover by Katherine Plumer) Young-adult fantasy novel, book one in the Gnome King trilogy. Infinity Publishing.com, 

 Books Received 1094 New DeHaven St., Suite 100, West Conshohocken PA 19428-2713; <www.buybooksontheweb.com >; 877-BUY-BOOK. * Ellis, Phillip A. The Flayed Man and Other Poems (Gothic Press 978-0913045-16-0, $8.00, 84pp, ph, cover by Marge Simon) Chapbook poetry collection. Order from Gothic Press, 2272 Quail Oak, Baton Rouge LA 70808-9023 ; <www.gothicpress. com>. Estep, Jennifer Hot Mama (Berkley 978-0-415-22300-0, $7.99, 356pp, pb, cover by Aleta Rafton) Reprint (Berkley 2007) paranormal romance, the second in the Bigtime series after Karma Girl. + Feehan, Christine Turbulent Sea (Jove 978-0-515-14506-9, $7.99, 308pp, pb, cover by Dan O’Leary) Paranormal romance, book six in the Drake Sisters series. First US edition (Piatkus 7/08). Fforde, Jasper Thursday Next: First Among Sequels (Penguin 978-0-14311356-0, $15.00, 366pp, tp, cover by Viktor Koen) Reprint (Hodder & Stoughton 2007) humorous fantasy detective novel, fifth in the Thursday Next series. * Gabaldon, Diana Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (Delta 978-0-385-33750-2, $11.00, 494pp, hc, cover by Robert Hunt) Reprint (Delacorte 2007) associational historical novel, a non-fantasy spin-off to the time-travel fantasy Outlander series. * Gleason, Colleen When Twilight Burns (Penguin/Signet Eclipse 9780-451-22475-0, $7.99, 346pp, pb) Paranormal romance in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles. * Golemon, David L. Ancients (St. Martin’s 978-0-312-35264-6, $24.95, 339pp, hc) SF thriller of the Event Group. A collector of illegal antiquities has maps that may lead to Atlantis. A Thomas Dunne book. * Gonzalez, J.F. & Michael Oliveri Restore from Backup (Bad Moon Books, $15.00, 95pp, tp, cover by John Everson) Horror novella. This is dated 2007, but not seen until now. A limited edition of 300 signed by both Gonzalez and Oliveri; a hardcover lettered edition of 26 was announced but not seen. Bad Moon Books, 1854 W. Chateau Ave., Anaheim CA 92804; <www.badmoonbooks.com>. * Greene, Brian Icarus at the Edge of Time (Random House / Knopf 978-0-307-26888-4, $19.95, 30pp, hc) Picture-book, a board book using NASA photos to illustrate a tale of a young genius from a colony ship who explores too close to a black hole. * Greenwood, Ed Dark Vengeance (Tor 978-0 -7653-1766-7, $ 24.95, 318pp, hc, cover by Daniel Dos Santos) Fantasy novel, book two in the Niflheim series inspired by Norse myth. * Gregory, Daryl Pandemonium (Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-50116-5, $13.00, 288pp, tp, cover by Greg Ruth) Alternate-world contemporary fantasy novel. Del Pierce thinks he is possessed by one of the ‘‘demons’’ that have afflicted random people – even Philip K. Dick – since the 1950s. A first novel. Haldeman, Joe The Accidental Time Machine (Ace 978-0-441-01616-7,

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$7.99, 260pp, pb, cover by Craig White) Reprint (Ace 2007) SF time travel novel. * Haldeman, Joe Marsbound (Ace 978-0-441-01595-5, $24.95, 296pp, hc, cover by Fred Gambino) SF novel of Mars colonization and first contact. Hamilton, Laurell K. Bloody Bones (Berkley 978-0-425-22169-3, $14.00, 323pp, tp) Reprint (Ace 1996) dark fantasy mystery, the fifth featuring Anita Blake, vampire hunter. + Hamilton, Peter F. Misspent Youth (Ballantine Del Rey 0978-0-345461643, $26.00, 403pp, hc) Near-future SF novel about a rejuvenated 78year-old man who has trouble dealing with a 20-year-old’s hormones. First US edition (Macmillan UK 2002); this has been somewhat revised. * Henderson, Samantha Heaven’s Bones (Wizards of the Coast 9780-7869-5111-6, $ 6.99, 313pp, pb) Dark fantasy novel. Doctor Roberts show his love for his late wife by killing women and making angels out of their bodies. * Horowitz, Anthony The Complete Horowitz Horror (Penguin/Puffin 978-0-14-241162-9, $7.99, 432pp, tp) Omnibus/collection of 18 stories originally published in two volumes: Horowitz Horror (1999) and More Horowitz Horror (2000). + Horowitz, Anthony Groosham Grange (Penguin/Philomel 978-0399-25061-3, $16.99, 196pp, hc, cover by Tony Sahara) Young-adult horror novel. David Eliot’s new boarding school is seriously creepy. First US edition (Methuen 1988). Howard, Robert E. Kull: Exile of Atlantis (Subterranean Press 9781-59606-196-5, $150.00, 317pp, hc, cover by Justin Sweet) Reprint (Del Rey 2006) collection of 11 stories and a poem, plus three drafts and seven fragments featuring Howard’s other barbarian hero. Illustrated by Justin Sweet, with a separate section of 12 color plates also reproduced in b&w in the text. Part of the Robert E. Howard Library of Classics originally published by Wandering Star. This is a slipcased limited edition of 1,500 signed by the artist; a deluxe leatherbound edition of 50 ($400.00) is also available. Hulme, John & Michael Wexler The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep (Bloomsbur y USA 978-1-59990 298-2, $7.99, 282pp, tp, cover by Christian Lorenz Scheurer) Reprint (Bloomsbury 9/08) young-adult science fantasy novel. * Hurley, Tonya Ghostgirl (Little Brown 978-0-316-11357-1, $17.99, 328pp, hc) Young-adult satirical fantasy novel. An unpopular teen dies and makes herself popular. This is paper-over-boards with a cutout on the front cover. * Janus, Simon The Scrubs (Bad Moon Books, $15.00, 84pp, tp, cover by Alan Clark) Horror novella, the first of three parts. A serial killer in an experimental project creates an alternate world inhabited by the souls of his victims. Introduction by Weston Ochse. This is a limited edition of 200 signed by both Janus and Ochse; a hardcover lettered edition of 26 was announced but not seen. Bad Moon Books, 1854 W. Chateau Ave., Anaheim CA 92804; <www. badmoonbooks.com>. * J o h n s o n , J a l e i g h Fo r g o t t e n

Realms: Mistshore (Wizards of the Coast 978-0-7869-4966-3, $6.99, 310pp, pb, cover by Android Jones) Novelization based on the world of the roleplaying game, book two in the Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series. Copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast. * Joncquel, Octave & Theo Varlet The Martian Epic (Black Coat Press 978-1-934543-41-2, $22.95, 312pp, tp, cover by Arnaud Demaegd) SF novel, a direct sequel to H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds. Translated / adapted by Brian Stableford from the French L’épopée matrienne, originally published in two volumes as by Edgar Malfère: Les Titans du ciel (1921) and L’agonie de la Terre (1922). Stableford provides an introduction. This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at <www. blackcoatpress.com>, or from Hollywood Comics.com, PO Box 17270, Encino CA 91416. Jones, Frewin The Lost Queen (HarperCollins/Eos 978-0-06-087107-9, $8.99, 335pp, tp, cover by Ali Smith) Reprint (Eos 2007) young-adult contemporary fantasy novel, the second book of The Faerie Path. The longlost daughter of Oberon and Titania returns to the mortal world to search for her missing mother. Packaged and copyrighted by Working Partners Limited. * Jones, Linda Winstead Untouchable (Berkley Sensation 978-0-42522296-6, $7.99, 280pp, pb, cover by Danny O’Leary) Paranormal romance, the first book in the Emperor’s Brides series. * Kantra, Virginia Sea Fever (Berkley Sensation 978-0-425-22297-3, $7.99, 284pp, pb, cover by Tony Mauro) Paranormal romance, the second in The Children of the Sea series. * Kaye, Mar vin, ed. The Ghost Quartet (Tor 978-0-7653-1251-8, $25.95, 303pp, hc, cover by Stephen Hickman) Original anthology of four novellas about ghosts by Brian Lumley, Orson Scott Card, Marvin Kaye, and Tanith Lee. * Kearney, Paul The Ten Thousand (BL Publishing /Solaris US 978-184416-573-5, $7.99, 473pp, pb, cover by Chris McGrath) Fantasy novel. A king’s brother hires 10,000 Macht mercenaries to fight for the throne. Simultaneous with the Solaris UK edition. * Keene, Brian Ghost Walk (Dorchester/Leisure 978-0-84395645-0, $7.99, 275pp, pb) Horror novel. A Halloween attraction turns out to be really haunted. * Kittredge, Caitlin Pure Blood (St. Martin’s 978-0-312-94830-6, $6.99, 326pp, pb) Paranormal romance novel, the second book in the Nocturne City series about werewolf homicide detective Luna Wilder. Koontz, Dean Shadowfires (Berkley 978-0-425-22385-7, $7.99, 515pp, pb) Reissue (Avon 1987 as by Leigh Nichols) SF/horror thriller. This has a new afterword by the author; 28th printing. Koontz, Dean Watchers (Berkley 978-0-425-22180-8, $14.00, 391pp, tp) Reissue (Putnam 1987) horror novel. This includes the 2003 afterword by the author. * Korbel, Kathleen Deadly Redemption (Harlequin/Silhouette Nocturne 978-0-373-61794-4, $5.25, 275pp, pb) Paranormal romance, third in the

Daughters of Myth series. The faerie queen’s rebellious daughter Orla is sent to marry an enemy prince. Copyrighted by Eileen Dreyer. * Lamberson, Gregory Johnny Gruesome (Bad Moon Books, $45.00, 347pp, hc, cover by Zach McCain) Horror novel. Introduction by Jeff Strand. Color illustrations by Zach McCain. This is a limited edition of 250 signed by Lamberson, Strand, and McCain; a lettered edition of 26 (with an alternate chapter, added illustrations, an essay by the suthor, and a rock CD) is also available. Bad Moon Books, 1854 W. Chateau Ave., Anaheim CA 92804; <www. badmoonbooks.com>. * Laughlin, Robert Vow of Silence (Trytium Publishing 978-0-97984134-7, $11.95, 202pp, tp, cover by Alicia Hogan) SF novel set in an alternate world where writing has not been invented and a special caste with total recall records all information. A first novel. A print-on-demand edition, available online at <www. trytium.com>. * Lee, Mike Warhammer: Time of Legends: Nagash the Sorcerer (BL Publishing/Black Library US 978-184416-556-8, $7.99, 515pp, pb, cover by Jon Sullivan) Novelization based on the roleplaying game, the first book in a trilogy. Copyrighted by Games Workshop. This has the same ISBN as the simultaneous Black Library UK edition, but only gives US and Canadian prices. * Leonard, Anna The Night Serpent (Harlequin/Silhouette Nocturne 9780-373-61795-1, $5.25, 271pp, pb) Paranormal romance. Lily Malkin learns she has been pursued through many lives by the Night Serpent. * Lessing, Doris Stories (Random House / Knopf Borzoi / Everyman’s Library 978-0-307-26988-1, $26.00, 655pp, hc) Collection of 35 stories. Introduction by Margaret Drabble. This includes a select bibliography and detailed chronology. * Ligotti, Thomas The Nightmare Factory, Volume 2 (HarperCollins/Fox Atomic Comics 978-0-06162636-4, $17.99, 112pp, tp, cover by Jon Foster) Graphic collection of comics adaptations of four stories by Thomas Ligotti, two adapted by Stuart Moore, two by Joe Harris, illustrated by various artists. Ligotti provides introductions. Comics copyrighted by Twentieth Century Fox Film. * Little, Bentley The Academy (Penguin / Signet 978- 0 - 451-22467-5, $7.99, 391pp, pb) Horror novel. A school principal decides to turn Tyler High into a charter school, and strange things start happening. * Little, Denise, ed. Enchantment Place (DAW 978-0-7564-0510-6, $7.99, 338pp, pb) Original anthology of 17 stories set in a magic mall. Authors include Mary Jo Putney, Sarah A. Hoyt, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Copyrighted by Little and Martin H. Greenberg’s Tekno Books. * Logue, Les The Day the Sun Shone Down (Rosedog Books 978-0-80597976-3, $18.00, 182pp, tp, cover by Nicole Ray) SF novel. A man leaves the Holland Tunnel and discovers everyone has mysteriously died. Rosedog Books, 701 Smithfield Street, Third Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222; <www.rosedogbookstore.com>. MacHale, D.J. Pendragon: The Mer

DISCOVER HIDDEN TRUTHS Ragna Roc, a powerful magical bird, is on a mission to be the absolute ruler of the mystical realm. The Good Magician Humfrey enlists Cyrus the Cyborg and a team of traveling players to take on—and defeat—the dictatorial bird.

When Christy Pickering’s PI goes missing, she asks Jack to look into his disappearance. Upon finding the PI dead, Jack does his own private investigating into Christy’s case. What he digs up proves devastating. “F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack is a cultural icon. If you haven’t crossed paths with him, you’re out of the loop. Get with the program.” —David Morrell, author of Creepers

“[Xanth is] a great series for fantasy fans.” —School Library Journal Also Available in Paperback:

Air Apparent 978-0-7653-4313-0 • 0-7653-4313-4 978-0-7653-1935-7 • 0-7653-1935-7 HARDCOVER

978-0-7653-5632-1• 0-7653-5632-5 PAPERBACK

Society’s unwanted children live in the Castertown MegaMall, and they only come out at night. The night children carry on their unseen existence, but the mall’s owner, Amos Zozz, knows they’re there. And he wants them out.

In the heart of czarist Russia, the vampire Count Saint-Germain is on a spy mission, disguised as a missing Hungarian nobleman. His disguise—and title, wealth and True Nature— is tested when another man claims to be the real Count Saint-Germain.

“Kit Reed’s work freaks me out.” —Daniel Handler, Official Representative of Lemony Snickett

978-0-7653-2038-4 • 0-7653-2038-X HARDCOVER

( “Absorbing. The setting is authentic down to the smallest detail. History buffs will be thrilled.” —Romantic Times BOOKreviews (4½ stars) on Roman Dusk 978-0-7653-1981-4 • 0-7653-1981-0 HARDCOVER

The immortal Emperor’s only fear is the machinated humans known as the Rix. They are dedicated to replacing him, and he is dedicated to keeping a terrible secret.

Accused of a murder he didn’t commit, Frank Compton seeks out the deceased woman’s missing 10-year old sister. The girl is part of a key resistance group fighting the Modhri throughout the galaxy, and it’s up to Frank to get her to safety and to ensure that the resistance continues.

“With a light touch all his own, Westerfeld illumines the clash of mighty galactic empires by focusing on individuals who, despite the distractions of war and politics, cannot help falling in love.” —The New York Times on The Risen Empire 978-0-7653-2052-0 • 0-7653-2052-5 TRADE PAPERBACK

“Tim Zahn is a master of tactics and puts his own edge on complex hard-SF thrillers.” —Kevin J. Anderson

978-0-7653-1733-9 • 0-7653-1733-8 HARDCOVER

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LOCUS October 2008 / 51

 Books Received chant of Death (Simon & Schuster/ Aladdin 978-0-7434-3731-4, $8.99, 374pp, tp, cover by Victor Lee) Reissue (Aladdin 2002) young-adult fantasy novel, the first in a series about dimension Traveler Bobby Pendragon; 32nd printing. Marsh, Katherine The Night Tourist (Hyperion 978-1-4231-0690-6, $6.99, 233pp, tp, cover by Antonio Javier Caparo) Reprint (Hyperion 2007) young-adult dark fantasy novel, a reworking of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. McAllister, M.I. The Mistmantle Chronicles: Book Three: The Heir of Mistmantle (Hyperion 978-07868-5491-2, $7.99, 316pp, hc, cover by Omar Rayyan) Reprint (Bloomsbury UK 2007) young-adult animal fantasy novel, the third in a series. Illustrated by Omar Rayyan. McIntosh, Fiona Emissary (HarperCollins/Eos 978-0-06-089912-7, $7.99, 525pp, pb, cover by Greg Bridges) Reprint (Voyager Australia 2006) fantasy novel, the second book in the Percheron series. * McKinnon, Verna Gate of Souls (HD-IMAGE 0-9770437-4-3, $35.95, 269pp, hc, cover by Henning Ludvigsen & Natascha Roeoesli) Youngadult fantasy novel, the first book in the series A Familiar’s Tale, about a young wampu named Mellypip, chosen to be a sorceress’s familiar. This is dated 2007 but not seen until now; a trade paperback edition (-6-7, $16.95) was announced but not seen. This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at <www.hd-image. com>, or from HD-IMAGE, 210 Van Ness, Peachtree City GA 30269. * Meyer, Stephenie Breaking Dawn (Little Brown 978-0-316-06792-8, $ 22.99, 754pp, hc) Young-adult vampire novel, fourth in the trilogy begun in Twilight. + Miller, Karen The Riven Kingdom (Orbit US 978-0-316-00836-5, $7.99, 745pp, pb, cover by Julia Denos) Fantasy novel, the second in the Godspeaker series. First US edition (Voyager Australia 2007). Moers, Walter City of Dreaming Books (Overlook Press 978-1-59020111-4, $16.95, 459pp, tp, cover by Walter Moers) Reprint (Harvill Secker 2006) fantasy novel. Translated by John Brownjohn from the German Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher. Ein Roman aus Zamonien von Hildegunst von Mythenmetz (Piper 2004). Mogg, Ken The Alfred Hitchcock Story (Titan Books 978-1-84576708-2, $35.00, 192pp, hc) Reprint (Titan Books 1999) associational non-fiction, a coffee-table book lavishly illustrated with photos and stills. Includes a filmography. Foreword by Janet Leigh. This has been somewhat corrected and revised.

Conglomerates (Ballantine 9780-375-50391-7, $14.00, 290pp, tp) Dystopian SF novel of an American dictatorship where old people are shipped off to a government-run facility. A first novel. Nicholls, Stan Orcs (Orbit US 9780-316-03370-1, $14.99, 731pp, tp, cover by Jim Burns) Reprint (SFBC 2002 as Orcs: First Blood) omnibus of three novels in the series: Bodyguard of Lightning (1999), Legion of Thunder (1999), and Warriors of the Tempest (2000); this follows the Gollancz 2004 edition, which added one story, ‘‘The Taking’’. Niven, Larry & Jerry Pournelle Inferno (Tor/Orb 978-0-7653-1676-9, $12.95, 237pp, tp, cover by Stephan Martiniere) Reprint (Pocket 1976) fantasy novel reworking Dante’s Inferno with a SF writer led by Mussolini through Hell. * O’Neill, Gene The Confessions of St. Zach (Bad Moon Books, $15.00, 60pp, tp, cover by Steve Gilberts) Post-apocalyptic horror novella. Introduction by Gord Rollo. Afterword by Brian Keene. This is a signed limited edition of 200; a hardcover lettered edition of 26 was announced but not seen. Bad Moon Books, 1854 W. Chateau Ave., Anaheim CA 92804; <www.badmoonbooks.com>. Oppel, Kenneth Darkwing (HarperCollins/Eos 978-0-06-085056-2, $7.99, 422pp, tp, cover by Christian Alzmann) Reprint (HarperCollins Canada 2007) young-adult fantasy about about the prehistoric ancestors of modern bats, a prequel of sorts to the Silverwing Saga. * Ota, Katsushi, ed. Faust 1 (Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-50206-3, $16.95, tp) Original anthology of ‘‘cutting edge’’ fiction from Japan, with nine stories, three essays, and four manga stories. Originally published in Japan in 2003 by Kodansha. * Owens, Robin D. Heart Fate (Berkley Sensation 978-0-425-22367-3, $14.00, 386pp, tp) Futuristic science fantasy romance set on the planet of Celta. Palmer, Philip Debatable Space (Orbit US 978-0-316-06809-3, $7.99, 533pp, pb, cover by GRDD) Reprint (Orbit 2008) SF novel. Paolini, Christopher Eldest (Random House/Laurel-Leaf 978-0-44023849-2, $7.99, 1016pp, tp, cover by John Jude Palencar) Reprint (Knopf 2005) young-adult fantasy novel, second in the Inheritance trilogy. * Paul, Graham Sharp Helfort’s War: Book II: The Battle of the Hammer Worlds (Ballantine Del Rey 978-0345-49572-3, $7.99, 325pp, pb, cover by Chris McGrath) Military SF novel, the second in a series.

bers, eds. The Darker Mask (Tor 978-0-7653-1850-3, $25.95, 385pp, hc, cover by Tomer Hanuka) Original anthology of 18 stories about the darker side of superheroes. Authors include L.A. Banks, Steven Barnes & Tananarive Due, Walter Mosley, and Ann Nocenti. A trade paperback edition (-1851- 0, $14.95) is also available. Pierce, Tamora The Realms of the Gods (Simon Pulse 978-1-41690817-X, $6.99, 338pp, pb) Reissue (Scholastic UK 1996) young-adult fantasy novel, fourth in The Immortals quartet; tenth printing. Pierce, Tamora Wild Magic (Simon Pulse 978-1-4169-0343-7, $ 6.99, 362pp, pb) Reissue (Atheneum 1992) young-adult fantasy, first volume in The Immortals quartet; 11th printing. Pierce, Tamora Wolf-Speaker (Simon Pulse 978 -1- 416 9 - 0 3 4 4 - 4, $ 6.99, 344pp, pb) Reissue (Atheneum 1994) young-adult fantasy, second volume in The Immortals quartet; tenth printing. Powers, Tim The Stress of Her Regard (Tachyon Publications 9781-892391-79-7, $14.95, 427pp, tp) Reprint (Ace 1989) fantasy novel. Tachyon Publications, 1459 18th St. #139, San Francisco CA 94107; <www.tachyonpublications.com>. Pratchett, Terry The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (HarperCollins 978-0-06-001235-9, $6.99, 341pp, pb, cover by Bill Mayer) Reprint (HarperCollins 2001) youngadult Discworld humorous fantasy novel. This includes an ‘‘Extras Inside’’ section with Pratchett’s Carnegie Medal acceptance speech. * Rabe, Jean DragonLance: Death March (Wizards of the Coast 978-07869-4917-5, $6.99, 310pp, pb, cover by Matt Stawicki) Novelization based on the roleplaying game, second in The Stonetellers series. Copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast. + Reaves, Michael Star Wars: Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows (Ballantine Del Rey LucasBooks 9780-345-47754-5, $7.99, 306pp, pb) Star Wars novelization. Copyrighted by Lucasfilm. First US edition (Arrow 8/08). * Reeves, Joel Of Quills and Kings (Leucrota Press 978-0-9800330-1-5, $14.95, 398pp, tp) Fantasy novel. An inept young deity is sent to recover the magical Orb of Immortality from a demonic hedgehog. This is a printon-demand edition, available online at <www.leucrotapress.com> or from Leucrota Press, PO Box 647, Poway CA 92074.

Pa xson, Diana L . M arion Zim mer Bradley’s Ravens of Avalon (Penguin/Roc 978-0-451-46211-4, $16.00, 394pp, tp, cover by Steve Stone) Reprint (Viking 2007) preArthurian fantasy novel, a prequel to The Forest House, telling the story of warrior-queen Boudica.

* Rhodes, Jewell Parker Yellow Moon (Simon & Schuster/Atria 9781-4165-3710-6, $24.00, 293pp, hc) Contemporary horror novel/mystery, second in the New Orleans trilogy begun in Voodoo Season, featuring Dr. Marie Laveau, a great-great granddaughter of voodoo queen Marie Laveau. Something is killing people by draining their blood.

Moning, Karen Marie Bloodfever (Dell 978-0-440-24099-0, $7.50, 350pp, pb, cover by Lynn Andreazzi) Reprint ( Delacor te 20 07) paranormal romance novel, sequel to Darkfever.

* Pearson, Ridley Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn (Hyperion/Disney Editions 978-1-4231-0365-3, $17.99, 378pp, hc, cover by Tristan Elwell) Young-adult fantasy, the second in a series about kids fighting evil forces at Disney World. Copyrighted by Page One.

* Richardson, Kat Underground (Penguin/Roc 978-0-451-46212-1, $21.95, 344pp, hc, cover by Chris McGrath) Supernatural detective mystery, the third Greywalker novel featuring Harper Blaine. A Native American monster is stalking Underground Seattle.

* Nevins, Thomas The Age of the

* Phillips, Gary & Christopher Cham-

* Risden, E.L. Heroes, Gods and

Monette, Sarah The Mirador (Ace 978-0-441-01618-1, $7.99, 471pp, pb, cover by Judy York) Reprint (Ace 2007) fantasy novel, the third in the series begun in Mélusine.

52 / LOCUS October 2008

the Role of Epiphany in English Epic Poetry (McFarland 978-0-78643541-8, $39.95, 204pp, tp, cover by William Blake) Associational nonfiction, a critical examination of epic poetry from its historical beginnings in works such as Gilgamesh and The Odyssey, on to English works from Beowulf to the Victorian era, with a final chapter speculating on the future of epic literature, with special consideration of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This includes index, bibliography, and notes. McFarland, Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640; 800-253-2187; <www.mcfarlandpub.com>. Robb, J.D. Strangers in Death (Berkley 978-0-425-22289-8, $7.99, 355pp, pb, cover by George Cornell) Reprint (Piatkus 2008) SF mystery novel, 27th in the Eve Dallas series. Robb is a pen name for Nora Roberts. Roberson, Chris Set the Seas on Fire ( BL Publishing / Solaris US 978-1-84416-568-1, $7.99, 397pp, pb, cover by Darius Hinks) Reprint (Solaris 2007) dark fantasy novel, a Lovecraftian Napoleonic sea story substantially expanded from a previous version (Clockwork Storybook 2001). This has the same ISBN as the simultaneous Solaris UK edition but gives only US and Canadian prices. Roberson, Jennifer Deepwood (DAW 978-0-7564-0482-6, $7.99, 440pp, pb, cover by Todd Lockwood) Reprint (DAW 2007) fantasy novel, the second in the Karavans series. R o l l o, G o r d T h e J i g s a w M a n (Dorchester/Leisure 978-0-84396012-9, $7.99, 289pp, pb) Reprint (Delirium 2006, not seen) horror novel, a medical thriller with elements of SF about a man who volunteers for experimental surgery * Rosenbaum, Benjamin The Ant King and Other Stories (Small Beer Press 978-1-931520-53-9, $16.00, 228pp, tp, cover by Brad Holland) Collection of 17 stories, one original. A hardcover edition (-52-2, $24.00) was announced but not seen. Small Beer Press, 150 Pleasant Street # 3 0 6, Easthampton MA 01027; <www.smallbeerpress.com>; <info@ smallbeerpress.com>. * Ruby, Lois The Secret of Laurel Oaks (Tor/Starscape 978-0-76531366-9, $17.95, 282pp, hc, cover by Sterling Hundley) Young-adult ghost story. Lily helps the ghost of a slave girl at a haunted plantation in Louisiana. Ruff, Matt Bad Monkeys (HarperPerennial 978-0-06-124042-3, $13.95, 230pp, tp) Reprint (HarperCollins 2007) SF thriller. Sage, Angie Septimus Heap, Book Four: Queste (HarperCollins/Tegen Books 978-0-06-088207-5, $17.99, 596pp, hc, cover by Mark Zug) Reissue (Tegen Books 2008) young-adult fantasy novel, fourth in a series. Illustrated by Mark Zug. Second printing. Sage, Angie Septimus Heap, Book One: Magyk (HarperCollins/Tegen Books 978-0-06-057731-5, $17.99, 564pp, hc, cover by Mark Zug) Reissue (Tegen Books 2005) youngadult fantasy novel, first in a series. Illustrated by Mark Zug. This lacks the CD-ROM of the first edition; 24th printing. Sage, Angie Septimus Heap, Book Three: Physik (HarperCollins/Tegen 

 Books Received

novel.

Books 978- 0 - 06- 057737-7, $17.99, 544pp, hc, cover by Mark Zug) Reissue (Tegen Books 2007) young-adult fantasy novel, third in a series. Illustrated by Mark Zug. Third printing.

Sinclair, Linnea An Accidental Goddess (Bantam 978-0-553-58799-4, $6.99, 434pp, pb, cover by Dave Seeley) Reissue (LTDBooks 2002 as by Megan Sybil Baker) science fantasy romance novel.

Sage, Angie Septimus Heap, Book Two : Fly te ( Har per Collins / Tegen Books 978-0-06-057734-6, $17.99, 532pp, hc, cover by Mark Zug) Reissue (Tegen Books 2006) young-adult fantasy novel, second in a series. Illustrated by Mark Zug. This lacks the CD of the first edition; 12th printing. * Saintcrow, Lilith Hunter’s Prayer (Orbit US 978-0-316-00176-2, $7.99, 329pp, pb) Near-future dark fantasy novel, the second book in the Jill Kismet series. Simultaneous with the Orbit UK edition. Salvatore, R.A. Forgotten Realms: Passage to Dawn (Wizards of the Coast 978-0-7869-4911-3, $7.99, 375pp, pb, cover by Todd Lockwood) Reissue (TSR 1996) novelization based on the roleplaying game, tenth volume in The Legend of Drizzt. Copyrighted 1996 by TSR, 2007 by Wizards of the Coast. Scalzi, John The Last Colony (Tor 9780-7653-5618-5, $7.99, 324pp, pb, cover by John Harris) Reprint (Tor 2007) SF novel, the third in the series begun in Old Man’s War. * Scalzi, John Zoe’s Tale (Tor 978-07653-1698-1, $24.95, 335pp, hc, cover by John Harris) SF novel in the Old Man’s War universe. * Schend, Steven E. Forgotten Realms: Blackstaff Tower (Wizards of the Coast 978-0-7869-4913-7, $6.99, 307pp, pb, cover by Android Jones) Novelization based on the world of the roleplaying game, book one in the Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series. Copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast. * Schroeder, Karl Pirate Sun (Tor 978-07653-1545-8, $25.95, 318pp, hc, cover by Stephan Martiniere) Post-singularity steampunk SF novel, the third in the Virga series. * Schubert, Edmund R. & Orson Scott Card, eds. Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (Tor 978-07653-2000-1, $15,95, 432pp, tp, cover by Tomislav Tikulin) Anthology of 18 stories originally published on Card’s webzine edited by Schuber t. This includes four Ender stories by Card; other authors include David Farland, Tim Pratt, and James Maxey. * Scithers, George H., ed. Cat Tales: Fantastic Feline Fiction (Wildside Press 978- 0 -8095-7321-9, $12.95, 175pp, tp) Original anthology of 15 stories (three reprints) about cats. authors include Nancy Springer, K.D. Wentworth, and Jack Williamson. This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at <www.wildsidepress.com> or from Wildside Press, 9710 Traville Gateway Drive # 234, Rockville MD 20850-7408. * Shepard, Lucius The Best of Lucius Shepard (Subterranean Press 978-159606-133-0, $40.00, 623pp, hc, cover by J.K. Potter) Collection of 17 stories and a poem. A signed, limited edition of 200 ($125.00) is also available, and includes a bonus trade paperback volume Skull City and Other Lost Tales with an added ten stories. Order from Subterranean Press, PO Box 190106, Burton MI 48519; <www. subterraneanpress.com>. Silverberg, Robert Son of Man (Prom et h eu s / P yr 978 -1- 5910 2- 6 4 6 - 4, $15.0 0, 224pp, tp, cover by John Picacio) Reprint (Ballantine 1971) SF

54 / LOCUS October 2008

Sinclair, Linnea Finders Keepers (Bantam 978-0-553-58798-2, $6.99, 453pp, pb, cover by Stephen Youll) Reissue (Bantam Spectra 2005) science fiction romance novel. Sinclair, Linnea Gabriel’s Ghost (Bantam 978-0-553-58797-5, $6.99, 447pp, pb, cover by Stephen Youll) Reprint (Ltdbooks 2002 as by Megan Sybil Baker) SF romance novel. This follows the 2005 revised edition. Sixth printing. Skelton, Matthew Endymion Spring (Random House / Delacor te 978- 0 385-73456-1, $9.99, 392pp, tp, cover by Peter Ferguson) Reprint (Puffin UK 2006) young-adult fantasy novel. This includes a reading group guide. * Smith, Howard S. I, Robot (Robot Binaries & Press 978-1-894689-06-9, $17.95, 410pp, tp, cover by Kathy Harestad) SF novel. A murder investigation reveals Japan and Israel trading nuclear weapons for intelligent combat robots. The copyright page disavows any connection with any known previous works by this title. Robot Binaries & Press, 704 Spadina Ave. #134, Toronto Ont M5S 2S7 Canada; <www. RobotPress.net>. Stahler, David, Jr. Doppelganger (HarperCollins /Eos 978-0-06-087234-2, $8.99, 258pp, tp) Reprint (Eos 2006) young-adult dark fantasy. * Stoker, Bram Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracula : A Facsimile Edition (McFarland 978-0-7864-3410-7, $65.00, 331pp, tp) Non-fiction, reference, an annotated collection of Stoker’s own notes on plotting and research for Dracula, reproduced in photos alongside a transcription for each page, with extensive notes, and further appendices with Stoker biography, bibliography, and possible influences. Edited, transcribed, and annotated by Robert EighteenBisang and Elizabeth Miller. Available from McFarland & Company, Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640; orders 800-2532187; <www.mcfarlandpub.com>. * Strickland, James R. Irreconcilable Differences (Flying Pen Press 978-0-9818957-1-0, $16.95, 308pp, tp) Near-future SF novel. An Interpol agent’s mind is copied into that of a 16-year-old farmgirl hacker. This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at <www.flyingpenpress.com> or from Flying Pen Press, 18601 Green Valley Ranch Blvd, Suite 112 No. 4, Denver CO 80249. * Strickland, James R. Looking Glass (Flying Pen Press 978-0-9795889-0-7, $14.95, 303pp, tp, cover by Timothy Lantz) Near-future SF novel of a paraplegic tracking murderers in virtual reality. This is dated 2007, but not seen until now; a print-on-demand edition, available online at < w w w. flyingpenpress.com> or from Flying Pen Press, 20000 Mitchell Place, Suite 25, Denver CO 80249. * Stuhler, David A. Tears of Everro (Rosedog Books 978-1-4349-9003-7, $19.00, 175pp, tp, cover by Vickie Froelich) Fantasy novel. The soul of student teacher Jeff D’Afoe is transplanted to a distant planet to fight evil. Rosedog Books, 701 Smithfield Street, Third Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222; <www. rosedogbookstore.com>. * Suzuki, Koji Promenade of the Gods

(Vertical 978-1-934287-26-2, $24.95, 319pp, hc, cover by Chip Kidd) Associational mystery of disappearances linked to a cult, with possible SF elements and minor crossovers with the Ring trilogy. Translated by Takami Nieda from the Japanese Kamigami no puromunaado (Kodansha 2003). * Swallow, James Warhammer 40,000: Blood Angels: Red Fury (BL Publishing / Black Library US 978-1-84416560 -5, $7.99, 284pp, pb, cover by Adrian Smith) Novelization based on the roleplaying game universe. Copyrighted by Games Workshop. This first US edition has the same ISBN as the Black Library UK (8/08) edition, but has US and Canadian prices only. * Traviss, Karen Star Wars: Republic Commando: Order 66 (Ballantine Del Rey LucasBooks 978-0-345-50618-4, $ 27.00, 432pp, hc, cover by Greg Knight) Star Wars novelization, the last in a four-book series based on the Republic Commando video game based on the universe of the movies. Copyrighted by Lucasfilm. * Trent, Tiffany & Amanda M. Jenkins Hallowmere: Queen of the Masquerade (Wizards of the Coast/Mirrorstone 978-0-7869-4921-2, $8.95, 293pp, tp) Young-adult dark fantasy, the fifth in a series about six teenage girls and vampiric fairies. Copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast * Turtledove, Harry After the Downfall (Night Shade Books 978-1-59780 130-0, $24.95, 324pp, tp, cover by David Palumbo) Fantasy novel. A German officer at the end of WWII is transported to a magical world. Night Shade Books, 1423 33rd Avenue, San Francisco CA 94122; 415-759-8901; < night@ nightshadebooks.c om>; <www.nightshadebooks.com>. * Urbancik, John House of Shadow & Ash (Bad Moon Books, $15.00, 84pp, tp, cover by John Pierro) Dark fantasy novelette. Illustrated in color by John Pierro. This is dated 2007, but not seen until now; a limited edition of 150 signed by both Urbancik and Pierro. Bad Moon Books, 1854 W. Chateau Ave., Anaheim CA 92804; < w w w.badmoonbooks. com>. * Vernon, Steve Plague Monkey Spam (Bad Moon Books, $15.00, 102pp, tp, cover by Alan Clark) Horror novella. Introduction by Tim Waggoner. This is a limited edition of 200 signed by both Vernon & Waggoner; a hardcover lettered edition of 26 was announced but not seen. Bad Moon Books, 1854 W. Chateau Ave., Anaheim CA 92804; <www.badmoonbooks.com>. * Viehl, S.L. Omega Games (Penguin/ Roc 978-0-451-46224-4, $7.99, 372pp, pb) SF novel, eighth in the Stardoc series. Viehl is a pen name for Sheila Kelly, who also writes as Lynn Viehl, Gena Hale, Jessica Hall, and Rebecca Kelly. * Vox Anon The Unicorn Man (Lulu, $19.99, lxii + 233pp, tp) Collection of three metaphysical/fantasy stories and 215 poems, plus 59 unpaginated pages of b&w collage illustrations, all tracing the transformation of a man to myth and beast and back again. This expands on an earlier version (Lulu 2007, not seen), adding three stories, 55 images, and 55 poems. Available online at <www. lulu.com>. * Waldrop, Howard Other Worlds, Better Lives: A Howard Waldrop Reader: Selected Long Fiction 1989 -2003 (Old Earth Books 978-1-882968-38-1, $15.00, xi + 260pp, tp) Collection of seven novellas and novelettes, with

a new introduction and afterwords on each story by the author. The second volume of Waldrop’s Selected Fiction. A hardcover edition (-37-4, $45.00) was announced but not seen. Wallington, Aur y Heroes : Saving Charlie (Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-34550323-7, $7.99, 279pp, pb) Reprint (Del Rey 2008) novelization based on the TV show. Copyrighted by NBC Universal. * Washington, Peter, ed. Ghost Stories (Random House/Knopf Borzoi / Everyman’s Library 978-0-307-26924-9, $15.00, 407pp, hc) Anthology of 19 ghost stories. Authors include M.R. James, P.G. Wodehouse, Edith Wharton, and Ray Bradbury. * Weber, David Worlds of Weber: Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington and Other Stories (Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-177-4, $45.00, 609pp, hc, cover by Bob Eggleton) Collection of nine stories. This is a signed, limited edition of 2,000; a traycased, lettered edition of 26 ($250.00) is also available. Order from Subterranean Press, PO Box 190106, Burton MI 48519; <www. subterraneanpress.com>. Whyte, Jack Standard of Honor (Jove 978-0-515-14507-6, $9.99, 776pp, pb) Reprint (Viking Canada 2007) associational historical novel, second in the Templar trilogy. * Wilce, Ysabeau S. Flora’s Dare (Harcourt 978-0-15-205427-4, $17.00, 511pp, hc) Young-adult fantasy novel, sequel to Flora Segunda. * Williamson, Jack Gateway to Paradise: The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Six (Haffner Press 978-1-893887-27-5, $ 40.00, 571pp, hc, cover by Rudolph Belarski) Collection of ten pieces from 1940-41, in chronological order, with an appendix of four non-fiction pieces; this includes The Reign of Wizardry (1964) and a novella version of Darker Than You Think. Foreword by Frederik Pohl; afterword by Williamson. A signed, slipcased, limited edition of 75 (-28-6, $125.00) is also available. Haffner Press, 5005 Crooks Rd, Suite 35, Royal Oak MI 48073-1239; add $5.00 postage; <info@haffnerpress.com>; <www. haffnerpress.com>. * Windsor, Anna Bound by Flame (Ballantine 978-0-345-49854-0, $6.99, 379pp, pb) Paranormal romance in the Dark Crescent Sisterhood series. * Windsor, Anna Bound by Light (Ballantine 978- 0 -345- 49855-7, $ 6.99, 469pp, pb) Paranormal romance in the Dark Crescent Sisterhood series.  August 2008 SF Novels 20 Fantasy Novels 21 Horror Novels 9 Paranormal Romance 12 Anthologies 13 Collections 8 Reference 2 History/Criticism 1 Media Related 9 Young Adult 13 SF 2 Fantasy 5 Horror 6 Paranormal Romance 0 Other 0 Omnibus 4 Art/Humor 3 Miscellaneous 12 Total New: 127 Reprints & Reissues: 68 Total: 195

Year to Date SF Novels 129 Fantasy Novels 168 Horror Novels 72 Paranormal Romance 158 Anthologies 69 Collections 78 Reference 11 History/Criticism 25 Media Related 71 Young Adult 149 SF 31 Fantasy 81 Horror 29 Paranormal Romance 6 Other 2 Omnibus 33 Art/Humor 20 Miscellaneous 50 Total New: 1033 Reprints & Reissues: 795 Total: 1,828

Interviews! Locus Back Issues! Interviews! Abraham, Daniel: 569 Aiken, Joan: 448 Aldiss, Brian: 322,341,378,416,475,564 Anderson, Kevin J.: 419 Anderson, Poul: 435 Anthony, Patricia: 399 Asaro, Catherine: 466 Bacigalupi, Paolo: 558 Baen, Jim: 307 Baird, Wilhemena: 410 Baker, Kage: 509 Ballantine, Betty: 502 Ballard, J.G.: 332 Barker, Clive: 327,411,530 Barnes, John: 427,553 Barnes, Stephen: 506 Barrett, Neal, Jr.: 392 Barzak, Christopher: 570 Baxter, Stephen: 423,450,495,523 Beagle, Peter S.: 390,558 Bear, Elizabeth: 543 Bear, Greg: 342,404,469 Benford, Gregory: 320,394,468 Berman, Judith: 535 Bishop, Michael: 335,426,526 Bisson, Terry: 366,476 Black, Holly: 544 Blaylock, James: *(316) Bond, Nelson: 453 Bova, Ben: 363,478 Bradbury, Ray: 427 Brin, David: 302,347,434 Brite, Poppy Z.: 388 Broderick, Damien: 536 Brooks, Terry: 397,481 Brown, Charles N.: 500 Brust, Steven: 398 Budrys, Algis: 442 Budz, Mark: 534 Bujold, Lois McMaster: 343,415,481,534 Bull, Emma: *(375) Bunch, Chris/Allan Cole: 409 Butler, Octavia E.: 333, 473 Cacek, P.D.: 454 Cadigan, Pat: 349,382,414 Campbell, Ramsey: 507 Card, Orson Scott: 317,*(372),503 Carey, Jacqueline: 503 Carroll, Jonathan: *(338), 513 Chabon, Michael: 527,571 Charnas, Suzy McKee: 352,380 Cherryh, C.J.: *(315),345,384,420 Chiang, Ted: 499 Clarke, Sir Arthur C.: 464 Clarke, Susanna: 531 Clute, John: 414 Cole, Allan/Chris Bunch: 409 Collins, Nancy: 407 Craft, Kinuko Y.: 499 Crowley, John: 398,484 Dann, Jack/Janeen Webb: 460 Datlow, Ellen: 482 de Camp, L. Sprague & Catherine/ Jack Williamson: 328 de Lint, Charles: 362,509 Delany, Samuel R.: *(361),418 Denton, Bradley: 432 Di Fate, Vincent: 385,445 Di Filippo, Paul 512 Dickinson, Peter: 336 Dickson, Gordon R.: 363 Dillon, Leo & Diane: 471 Disch, Thomas M.: 485 Doctorow, Cory: 528 Doherty, Tom: 513 Donaldson, Stephen R.: 353,524 Dorsey, Candas Jane: 475 Dowling, Terry: 401 Dozois, Gardner: 443 Duncan, Andy: 487 Duncan, Dave: 387,540 Edwards, Malcolm: 311,530 Effinger, George Alec: 341

Eggleton, Bob: 388,487 Elliott, Kate (Alis A. Rasmusen): *(361) Elliott, Kate/Melanie Rawn/ Jennifer Roberson: 422 Ellison®, Harlan: 486 Erikson, Steven: 484 Farmer, Nancy: 516 Farmer, Philip José: 353 Feist, Raymond E.: *(318) Finlay, Charles Coleman: 519 Fitch, Marina: 459 Ford, Jeffrey: 522,569 Foster, Alan Dean: 368 Fowler, Karen Joy: 392,462,527 Freas, Frank Kelly: 482 Frost, Gregory: 472 Gaiman, Neil: 459,529 Gaiman, Neil/Terry Pratchett: 362,541 Gaiman, Neil/Gene Wolfe: 500 Gentle, Mary: 339 Gerrold, David: 390 Gibson, William: 508,562 Gibson, William/Bruce Sterling: 3 64 Gilman, Greer: 571 Goldstein, Lisa: 371,460 Goss, Theodora: 568 Goonan, Kathleen Ann: 416,485,560 Goulart, Ron: 385 Gould, Stephen/Laura J. Mixon: 439 Griffith, Nicola: 428 Grimwood, Jon Courtenay: 515 Gunn, Eileen: 525 Haldeman, Joe: 340,382*(400),438,489 Hambly, Barbara: 305 Hamilton, Laurell K.: 476 Hamilton, Peter: 448 Hand, Elizabeth: 417,498,563 Harness, Charles L.: 455 Hartwell, David G.: 524 Harrison, Harry: 542 Harrison, M. John: 515 Hendrix, Howard V.: 461 Hill, Joe: 546 Hobb, Robin (Megan Lindholm): 356,444,539 Hoffman, Nina Kiriki: 405,497 Hogan, James P.: *(337) Holdstock, Robert: 423 Holland, Cecelia: 360,533 Hopkinson, Nalo: 456,489,557 Ian, Janis: 535 Irvine, Alexander C.: 522 Jablokov, Alexander: 374,421 Jacques, Brian: 418 Jeschke, Wolfgang: 358 Jeter, K.W.: 425 Jones, Diana Wynne: 339 Jones, Gwyneth: 419,516 Jordan, Robert: 470,542 Joyce, Graham 496 Klages, Ellen: 554 Kandel, Michael: 434 Kay, Guy Gavriel: *(359 ),472,519, 560 Kelly, James Patrick: 502,548 Kessel, John: 391,437 Keyes, Daniel: 437 Kirshbaum, Larry/ Nansey Neiman: 312 Kirstein, Rosemary: 532 Koja, Kathe: *(372) Koontz, Dean: 406 Kress, Nancy: 383,474 Kurtz, Katherine: 302 Kushner, Ellen: *(375) Lake, Jay: 545 Lanagan, Margo: 533 Landis, Geoffrey A.: 468 Lansdale, Joe: 556 Lee, Tanith: 447 Le Guin, Ursula K.:

334,348,388,488 Lethem, Jonathan: 441 Lindholm, Megan (Robin Hobb): 356,444,539 Link, Kelly: 498,562 Lock, Owen: 310 Lynn, Elizabeth A.: 441 MacLeod, Ian R.: 514 MacLeod, Ken: 477,548 Maddox, Tom: 369 Malzberg, Barry: 495 Marley, Louise: 467 Martin, George R.R.: 412,479,538 Marusek, David: 474 Mason, Lisa: *(400) McAuley, Paul J.: 373,420,451,497,539 McCaffrey, Anne: 386,526 McCarthy, Wil: 480 McDevitt, Jack: 409,537 McDonald, Ian: 547 McHugh, Maureen F.: 395,465,565 McIntyre, Vonda N.: 445 McKillip, Patricia A.: 379,426 McMullen, Sean: 472 McQuinn, Donald E.: 412 Meacham, Beth: 531 Miéville, China: 494,550 Mixon, Laura J./ Stephen Gould: 439 Mohanraj, Mary Anne: 549 Sarah Monette: 567 Moon, Elizabeth: 410,518 Moore, Alan: *(510) Moorcock, Michael: 393,442,506 Morgan, Richard K.: 524 Morrow, James: 451,551 Mosley, Walter: 491 Murphy, Pat: 333,462 Nagata, Linda: 433,478 Neiman, Nansey/ Larry Kirshbaum: 312 Niven, Larry: 433 Nix, Garth: 435,504,570 Norton, Andre: *(365) Novik, Naomi: 552 Nylund, Eric S.: 438 Nnedi Okorafor: 563 O’Leary, Patrick: 464 Oppel, Kenneth: 544 Park, Paul: 377,549 Phillips, Holly: 557 Pierce, Tamora 496 Pohl, Frederik: 429,477 Potter, J.K.: 300 Powers, Tim: 3 05,396,446,493,554 Pratchett, Terry: *(338),467,520,567 Pratchett, Terry/ Neil Gaiman: 362,541 Pratt, Tim: 538 Preuss, Paul: 431 Priest, Christopher: 545 Pullman, Philip: 479 Rasmussen, Alis A. (Kate Elliott): *(361) Rawn, Melanie/Jennifer Roberson/ Kate Elliott: 422 Reed, Robert: 447 Resnick, Mike: 355 Reynolds, Alastair: 511 Rickert, M.: 564 Roberson, Chris: 532 Roberson, Jennifer/Kate Elliott/ Melanie Rawn: 422 Roberts, Keith: 308 Robinson, Frank: 461 Robinson, Kim Stanley: 330,379,422,440,492,555 Robinson, Spider: 517 Robson, Justina: 543 Roessner, Michaela: 390 Rosenbaum, Benjamin: 537 Rosenblum, Mary: 399, 555 Rucker, Rudy: 536

Rusch, Kristine Kathryn: 356 Russell, Sean: 436 Ryman, Geoff: 540 Sawyer, Robert J.: 505 Scalzi, John: 559 Schroeder, Karl: 508 Scott, Melissa: 456 Shaw, Bob: 321 Sheckley, Robert: 512 Sheffield, Charles: 348,403 Shepard, Lucius: *(344),383,490,565 Sherman, Delia: 405 Shiner, Lewis: 328,407 Shinn, Sharon: 424 Shippey, Tom: 402 Siegel, Jan: 494 Silverberg, Robert: 355,430,518 Simmons, Dan: 350,364,401,436, 501 Somtow, S.P.: 370,449 Spinrad, Norman: 335,457 Springer, Nancy: 413 Stableford, Brian: 367 Steele, Allen: 373,453,552 Stephenson, Neal: 463,523,573 Sterling, Bruce: 328,424,483,561 Sterling, Bruce/ William Gibson: 364 Stewart, Sean: 407,458,532 Stirling, S.M.: 540 Straub, Peter: 351,396,455,546 Stross, Charles: 511,528,566 Strugatsky, Boris: 314,443 Sullivan, Tricia: 450 Swanwick, Michael: 380,446,521 Tan, Shaun: 491 Taylor, Lucy: 454 Tenn, William: 425 Tepper, Sheri S.: 367, 402,452 Tilley, Patrick: 323 Turtledove, Harry: 387,505 Valente, Catherynne M.: 568 Van Gelder, Gordon: 519 VanderMeer, Jeff: 501 Varley, John: 525 Vinge, Joan D.: 374,431 Vinge, Vernor: 480 Vonarburg, Elisabeth: 368 Waitman, Katie: 465 Waldrop, Howard: 331, 514 Peter Watts: 566 Webb, Janeen/Jack Dann: 460 Weisskopf, Toni: 554 Westerfeld, Scott: 544 Whelan, Michael: 384 White, James: 386 Williams, Liz: 520 Williams, Sean: 521 Williams, Tad: 408 Williams, Walter Jon: 352,428,561 Williamson, Jack: 395,429 Williamson, Jack/L. Sprague & Catherine de Camp: 328 Willis, Connie: 343,378,432,504 Wilson, Gahan: 458 Wilson, Robert Charles: 507 Windling, Terri: 513 Wingrove, David: 357 Winter, Laurel: 531 Wolfe, Gene: 365 Wolfe, Gene/Neil Gaiman: 500 Wollheim, Betsy: 545 Womack, Jack: 413 Wright, John C.: 547 Yolen, Jane: 360,439 Zelazny, Roger: 369 Zettel, Sarah: 444 Zindell, David: 391,473 Zipes, Jack: 490

All issues available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please list alternates. Prices: 300-335: $2.50; 336-380: $3.50; 381-415: $3.95; 416-443 : $4.50; 444-499: $4.95; 500-539: $5.95; 540-551: $6.50; 552-date: $6.95. US Postage: $3.00 postage for the first copy, plus $1 for each additional copy up to $10.00; any additional shipping over that amount is free. International shipping (including Canada) will be calculated. Order from: Locus, PO Box 13305, Oakland CA 94661; fax: (510) 339-8144. (Please note: we accept Visa and MasterCard for orders of $10.00 or more.) Please include street address for UPS delivery. (*Issue sold out; photocopied interviews available for $2.00.)

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Short Fiction: Gardner Dozois  p. 15



alternate, as it requires the fewest changes from our own timeline, is Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s story; the least likely is probably Mike Resnick & Eric Flint’s story, even more so than Chris Roberson’s story with its crosstime-traveling zeppelins. Several of the basic plotlines here are pretty similar – important man found dead under strange, usually politically charged circumstances – although the settings change radically from story to story, so again I’d recommend that you read these a few at a time rather than all in one sitting. Some good solid stories in The Solaris Book of Science Fiction Volume Two, edited by George Mann, which is more even in quality than the first volume – none of the stories are as bad as the worst of the stories in the first one... but then again, none

Short Fiction: Rich Horton  p. 17



older woman he admires. And finally I should mention some good work in the latest Andromeda Spaceways: ‘‘The Nalendar’’ by Ann Leckie is another of her incisive examinations of the consequences of dealing with gods; ‘‘Piper’’ by Cat Sparks wrenchingly explores the idea of creating artificial memories as a man watches his wife decide she prefers her artificial (?) past to life with him; and ‘‘The Amazing Story of Dominic Lazar’’ by Rachel Swirsky, a very funny send-up of a whole variety of pulp conventions. Gaslight Grimoire is a new anthology of Sherlockian stories with fantastical elements. As with most such previous books the contents are a hodgepodge – a few stories written by earnest Sherlockians (or so I assume) who know the canon but don’t write very well – a few more that work OK as stories but don’t seem very good as Holmes stories – and a couple gems. The gems here are the last two stories.

Gary K. Wolfe  p. 19

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Heaney, having come across a fragmentary book on demonology, cobbles together a manuscript of his own ersatz guide to demons. It’s intended as pure bullshit, but he leaves the manuscript in an attic room of the college where it’s later discovered by a fellow student, with ominous consequences. The fellow student resurfaces in the present, having transformed himself into a flimflam guru launching a new book called How To Make Friends with Demons, drawn mostly from Heaney’s old manuscript (the novel is packed with frauds and fakes at all levels). But it’s the second subsidiary narrative that in many ways is the core of the novel. A client of Heaney’s introduces him to a haunted Desert Storm veteran named Seamus, who shortly thereafter chains himself to the fence around Buckingham Palace, demanding to see the queen. When Heaney and his client try to reason with him, Seamus passes to

Faren Miller  p. 22



court of Mughal emperor Akbar, claiming to have some mysterious connection with him despite his freakish (to the locals) height and blond hair. From his own point of view, he’s heading toward a place as fabulous as the land of Prester John, or even ‘‘the legendary doorway to Paradise on Earth.’’ At first the bullock cart driver who gives him a ride takes him for a fool, but then he revises that opinion: ‘‘If he had a fault, it was that of ostentation, of seeking to be not only himself but a performance of himself

56 / LOCUS October 2008

of the stories are as good as the best of the good stories were. The best stories here, in my opinion, were ‘‘The Eyes of God’’, by Peter Watts, ‘‘Sunworld’’, by Eric Brown, ‘‘Evil Robot Monkey’’, by Mary Robinette Kowal, ‘‘Book, Theatre, and Wheel’’, by Karl Schroeder, and ‘‘Shining Armour’’, by Dominic Green. If I had to narrow it down to only two picks, it would be ‘‘Evil Robot Monkey’’ and ‘‘Shining Armour.’’ Green’s ‘‘Shining Armour’’ is one of at least two stories this year that are clearly influenced by anime (there were several stories obviously inspired by MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, but that’s not quite the same thing). Thomas R. Dulski’s ‘‘Guaranteed Not To Turn Pink in the Can’’ is the most interesting story in the April Analog, but.... SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ...it’s not a science fiction story. Although it uses

SF motifs such as UFOs and aliens and alien abduction, by the end of the story, all of these have proved to be fake, and there’s actually no science fiction content here at all; in the fashion of Dave Truesdale’s bête noire, ‘‘What They Didn’t See’’, it’s a straight mainstream story that smells a bit like science fiction because it’s had some familiar SF motifs rubbed against it but not actually put in the story, like the drinks they used to sell in McDougal Street clubs in the ’60s that had been flavored with rum extract to make the tourists think they actually had rum in them. This is unusual for Analog. In spite of their claim to run nothing but science fiction, I’ve run into a number of stories there before that proved to ultimately be fantasy, but it’s rare to run into a story that isn’t either science fiction or fantasy. –Gardner Dozois 

‘‘Red Sunset’’ by Bob Madison is told in the voice of Sam Spade, who has run into a difficult case in wartime LA, and who seeks help from a very old guy who has been brought to the US because of the war. The Chandlerian voice is very well done, and the actual story (which brings in a third author – Bram Stoker) is effective enough, and finally the character of the aged Holmes, if not to my mind convincingly Doyle’s character, is convincingly a real character, very entertaining – even offering the best off-thecuff Holmesian deduction in this book. And ‘‘The Red Planet League’’, by Kim Newman, is the only story not to feature Holmes at all. Rather, it is told by Sebastian Moran, about Professor Moriarty taking revenge on a prat of a rival astronomer. The plot is trivial and rather silly, but the narration is delightfully comic.

‘‘The Man Who Built Heaven’’, Keith Brooke (Postscripts Summer ’08) ‘‘The Thought War’’, Paul McAuley (Postscripts Summer ’08) ‘‘The Magician’s House’’, Meghan McCarron (Strange Horizons 7/08) ‘‘Araminta; or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake’’ Naomi Novik (Fast Ships, Black Sails)* ‘‘Truth’’, Robert Reed (Asimov’s, 10-11/08) (*see my review elsewhere in this issue) –Rich Horton

Recommended Stories: ‘‘Boojum’’, Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette (Fast Ships, Black Sails)* ‘‘The Golden Octopus’’, Beth Bernobich (Postscripts Summer ’08) ‘‘Private Eye’’, Terry Bisson (F&SF 10-11/08)

Semiprofessional magazines, fiction fanzines, original collections, original anthologies, plus new stories in outside sources should be sent to Rich Horton, 653 Yeddo Ave., Webster Groves MO 63119, <Richard.Horton@sff.net>, for review. 

Heaney a scarf containing a manuscript (the novel’s also full of real and fake books) detailing his experiences during and after the Iraq war. Seamus’s tale – the core of which involves inadvertently stepping on an apparent land mine and staying motionless for hours, afraid to move for fear of detonation – not only provides the novel with its central metaphor, but is brilliant in its own right, as close as we’re likely to get to the first Iraq war as it might have been written by Kipling. But even Seamus’s tale, with its visits from a possibly phantom crow and a possibly phantom Iraqi soldier, questions the nature of illusion and reality, and of the consequences of inaction versus action in a hazardous world. The somewhat waggish titles attached to this novel in both the British and American editions might suggest a light comic fantasy (the American title inevitably recalls Joyce’s last YA novel, Three Ways to Snog an Alien), and while there is a fair amount of good-humored comedy here, there’s also a touching romance involving a woman named Yasmin

(who also isn’t who she first appears to be), a tonally dead-on family drama, a war story, a satire of social service bureaucracies, and a bit of a college novel. What there isn’t much of is material fantasy (despite the occult tone of the college flashbacks and Heaney’s own questionable obsession with demons), but as I mentioned earlier, it’s the new Graham Joyce novel, and Joyce has never been one to be confined by genre expectations or narrative conventions. Though perhaps a bit less unified in its telling than The Facts of Life or The Limits of Enchantment, How to Make Friends with Demons (which I think is the less misleading of the two current titles) is characterized by the same trademark prose, the same concerns with fantasy versus reality, and the same finely tuned and slightly off-balance characters. It’s the sort of non-fantasy fantasy that Joyce readers will appreciate, the sort of writing that is increasingly coming to make genre irrelevant. –Gary K. Wolfe 

as well, and... around here everybody is a little bit that way too, so maybe this man is not so foreign to us after all.’’ The Italian backstory doesn’t really emerge until Chapter Ten, where Rushdie shows some boys swearing and ‘‘blowing loud raspberries’’ at a hanged man’s corpse, then changes tone and declares, ‘‘In the beginning there were three friends, Antonio Argalia, Niccolo ‘il Machia,’ and Ago Vespucci.’’ From the color of his hair, Ago must be our traveler, while Niccolo is none other than the young Machiavelli. Despite the burgeoning culture of Florence, they live in a place as haunted by magic and superstition as Akbar’s palace

is haunted by half-legendary history and ghosts, so wherever the book takes us any sense of realism can suddenly slip away. Akbar himself is sometimes called an enchanter, when he’s not being the skeptical humanist or ‘‘royal we’’ monarch. And when a reverie takes him to ‘‘the spires and domes of an Italian city far away,’’ Florence strikes him as a kind of enchantress. The woman of the title eventually shows up in the backstory, though she’s just the most powerful among many avatars in a book where very few of the ‘‘fair sex’’ entirely free themselves from the male imagination and become human characters in their own right. Instead, we get

one who is the emperor’s ghostly lover, another who embodies the ‘‘memory palace,’’ and when the first Queen Elizabeth shows up she’s at least as much an icon of expansionist ambition as a mortal woman. Less magical or imperial females mostly seem to personify various deadly sins – though Machiavelli’s wife has ample reason to be jealous! For a book of less than 400 pages, The Enchantress of Florence covers a vast amount of physical, metaphysical, historical and emotional ground yet still manages to wrap up its many plot threads by the end, everything from the truth behind Ago’s secret to the love story of emperor and ghost. And though it won’t tell you how Rushdie pulled it off, the lengthy Bibliography offers a fascinating view of the research that went into this gloriously eccentric tome. Have you long since overdosed on elves, gnomes and ogres? Does the very idea of a fictional ‘‘hunter’’ sorcerer who has spawned a video game make you want to run screaming for the exit? Well, Andrzej Sapkowski just might change your mind. Blood of Elves, first English translation of a Polish novel that appears to be the second to feature ‘‘Geralt, the witcher of Rivia,’’ strips away the fustiness of high fantasy with straight talk, conflicted characters, political turmoil (including the threat of genocide, particularly against some elves), and forms of magic that can seem more like the post-apocalyptic remnants

Russell Letson  p. 24

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(reviewed in July 1995) but the expanded Beowulf Shaeffer cycle in Crashlander (reviewed in February 1994), which reframes and extends earlier stories. Now, working with Lerner, he has re-reframed these stories to produce an overview of key events in this 27th-century segment of the history of Known Space. Or maybe I should say, a backstage view, since Juggler does not reprint the stories themselves but shows what was happening behind the scenes and between the acts, as witnessed (or instigated) by Sigmund Ausfaller and Nessus. Thus we see Ausfaller investigating Puppeteer influence on human government, following the money trail (he is among other things a forensic accountant), and keeping an eye on or participating in the activities of Shaeffer (that is, the events of ‘‘Neutron Star,’’ ‘‘At the Core,’’ ‘‘The Borderland of Sol,’’ and so on). Similarly, Nessus corrupts and subverts United Nations personnel, explains the Puppeteer exodus to Ausfaller, undermines the credibility of Earth’s Fertility Boards, and generally keeps humans distracted and misdirected while his people start their escape from the galaxy. The behind/between-the-scenes material does have its own dramatic arc, though, and it belongs to the two misfits, Ausfaller and Nessus, both (in their home cultures’ terms) crazy as hell and thus not very happy, despite the ways that their abnormalities have made them successful in their difficult, dangerous, and finally heroic jobs. Ausfaller’s natural paranoia makes him a superb ARM agent, since he suspects everyone and is capable of considerable feats of intrigue, manipulation, and long-term contingency planning.

Short Reviews by Carolyn Cushman  p. 25

him to his people, but it quickly becomes clear that someone on his side is trying to kill Edmir. Suspicion falls on his stepfather, the powerful Blue Mage. The mercenaries and prince join the only survivor of a theatrical troup, disguising themselves as players to get the prince home safe, but their plans are suddenly overset when Dhulyn discovers the mage is a member of her tribe, of which Dhulyn has long believed she is the only surviving member. The plot twists and turns with plenty of action, good fun for any fan of S&S adventure. Tamora Pierce, Melting Stones (Scholastic Press

of modern science. Though the storyline deals with a girl named Ciri, whose developing powers may make her the longawaited trigger of some form of Last Days – ending the current cycle of massacres, resistance movements and fragile détentes – Sapkowski seems more interested in exploring his world and engaging his characters in political, ethical and cultural debates than in taking her story beyond some early perils and temporary refuge when Geralt hides her among fellow witchers. It’s a pleasure to listen in as Ciri learns from these far more sophisticated practitioners of various magics, whose worldly and unworldly wisdom bears very little resemblance to anything that Harry Potter’s instructors would come up with. But unless this heroine returns for another volume or two, Sapkowski does leave us with a lot of unanswered questions. If indeed there will be war on a vast scale, will this ‘‘child of destiny’’ be involved as anything other than marriage fodder or a murder victim? Just how evil is the supposed enemy side? Will returning technology eventually replace magic? While this book’s irreverence makes it easy to imagine some unconventional responses, the next tale of Geralt might pick up somewhere else, posing (and perhaps answering) questions we haven’t even thought of yet. –Faren Miller 

His opposite number, Nessus, possesses madcap (for a Puppeteer) adventurousness, abnormal curiosity, and a liking for the humans with whom he spends so much time. The pair are siblings under the skin/fur and quite sympathetic even when doing unpleasant things to the opposition. Interestingly, in this epic in which the fates of whole species are at stake, much of the individual motivation is personal-biological. Nessus longs to be the breeding partner of the Hindmost, while on the human side the urge to have a family or a particular mate is as powerful a force as greed or political or professional ambition. Natural paranoia excludes ARMs from breeding eligibility, and the longing for a child affects one of Ausfaller’s colleagues (with dire consequences), and Ausfaller himself feels the pull of normality – though not enough to distract him from his job. There’s a big dose of inside baseball in Juggler – not only is it not the book to give to a newbie SF reader, it’s not even for those who haven’t read a decent chunk of Known Space stores, since part of the game is noticing which story fits where in the narrative. I might have preferred more new material of the sort that accumulates toward the end of the book – after all, the Fleet of Worlds is headed out of Known Space at right angles, and the series could pursue a similar course into new territory. This treatment has its charms, though, and the portraits of Ausfaller and Nessus in particular (along with one or two other characters who might affect future events) and the further insights into Puppeteer politics and psychology are as appealing as anything in Niven’s work, and that’s considerable. –Russell Letson  978-0-545-05264-1, $17.99, 312pp, hc) October 2008. This young-adult fantasy novel is the first in a new series about the students of the protagonists of the Circle Opens series – written to be an audio book, produced in 2007 by Full Cast Audio, and now available in book form. The novel focuses on stone mage Evumeimei – Evvy – a young but very powerful mage, found by plant mage Briar, but currently traveling with Briar’s teacher Rosethorn, visiting an island where trees are mysteriously dying. Evvy’s been through a lot in her short life, but she has yet to master either her powers or her temper – and both get her into trouble as she learns about the volcanic nature of this island chain, and has to tackle 

a bison original

The Man with the Strange Head and Other Early Science Fiction Stories miles j. breuer

Edited and with an introduction by Michael R. Page $21.95 paper bison frontiers of imagination series

Shadrach in the Furnace robert silverberg The exciting and incredible adventure of Dr. Mordecai Shadrach, who must devise a plan to save his life from the very person he has been working to keep alive.

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*for complete descriptions and to order, visit us online!

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LOCUS October 2008 / 57

 Carolyn Cushman magic on a geologic scale. It’s a sweet tale with some interesting characters in touching – but never cloying – situations. Michelle Sagara, Cast in Fury (Luna 978-0-37380269-2, $14.95, 490pp, tp) October 2008.

Graham Sleight  p. 29

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instance, we’re told that sexually transmitted diseases are not endemic in the Keth valley, but are known and called ‘‘foreigners’ misery’’. Life expectancy is much shorter than we might expect in 2008, but the book’s central argument is that that might be a price worth paying. In the end, all the apparatus of Always Coming Home – and the story of Stone Talking – adds up to an advocacy, perhaps the most comprehensive in science fiction. It’s a book that refuses narrative pleasures, that doesn’t ‘‘resolve’’ or ‘‘make sense’’ in the closing pages, I think because it wants to suggest that certain

The Chronicles of Elantra continue with this fourth volume, which focuses on yet another of the races of Elantra: the Leontines. When Kaylin’s sergeant Marcus, the sole Leontine in the Hawks, is arrested for murder, it’s up to Kaylin to learn more about this felinoid race, their customs and dominance battles, and even their origins, in order to clear him – and get her back a supervisor she can stand. And at the

same time, she’s supposed to be helping a playwright create a play that will make the humans stop fearing the mind-reading Tha’alani, who are being blamed for causing the tidal wave that struck the city in the previous book. All-in-all, another tough job for Kaylin, whose own lack of diplomacy is notorious, and a fun read for her fans. –Carolyn Cushman 

axioms we might hold about, say, the satisfaction we get from textual closure are part of the larger picture that it wants us to question. I have to say, for myself, that Always Coming Home’s advocacy is one I can’t bring myself to agree with. Le Guin avoids the trap of sentimentalising the details of Keth life in many individual ways, by making clear for instance that nature is dangerous as well as beautiful. But somehow the whole enterprise strikes me as wishful thinking – as needing to wish away, in particular, many of the other 6,691,999,999 people on the planet and their desire to (presumably) keep living, to have families, and to prosper in safety. The question of the morality of this bit of Malthusianism is explicitly addressed on pages 147-8. But maybe my hesitation is a judgment on me

rather than Le Guin or the book: why, for instance, do I say that ‘‘wishful thinking’’ is a pejorative, or seem to accept our present overpopulation and its dire consequences? Maybe a reading of the book as literal advocacy is too narrow, and one should understand it as an advocacy of certain values rather than a specific endpoint. Maybe – like Le Guin’s other books – this is intended as much as anything as a provocation. You argue with it, you argue with yourself, you don’t ever stop. –Graham Sleight 

British Books - July

Note: This information, unlike the Locus main list, is put together by Ian Covell; send corrections to him at 2 Copgrove Close, Berwick Hills, Pallister Park, Middlesbrough TS3 7BP, United Kingdom. First world editions marked with an asterisk. Comments by Ian Covell. Alter, Stephen Island of the Phantoms (Bloomsbury 978-0-7475-8500-8, £6.99, 273pp, tp, cover by Fred Gambino) Reprint (Bloomsbury USA 2007 as The Phantom Isles) young-adult fantasy novel. * Amory, Jay The Wingless Boy (Orion/ Gollancz 978-0-575-08371-4, £12.99, 601pp, tp, cover by Christopher Gibbs) Fantasy omnibus of the first two books of The Clouded World series: The Fledging of Az Gabrielson (2006) and Pirates of the Relentless Desert (2007). * Anders, Lou, ed. Sideways in Crime (BL Publishing/Solaris 978-1-84416566-7, £10.99, 383pp, tp, cover by Bob Eggleton) Anthology of 15 original SF stories. Authors include Paul di Filippo, Kage Baker, and Paul Park. Simultaneous with the Solaris US edition. * Anderson, Kevin J. The Saga of Seven Suns: Book Seven: Ashes of Worlds (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84737079-2, £12.99, 734pp, tp, cover by Chris Moore) SF novel, seventh and final in the series. Simultaneous with the Orbit

58 / LOCUS October 2008

US edition. Anderson, Poul The Broken Sword (Orion/Gollancz 978-0-575-08272-4, £7.99, 231pp, tp, cover by Sophie Toulouse) Reprint (Abelard-Schuman 1954) fantasy novel. * Armstrong, Kelley The Summoning (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149710-5, £6.99, 390pp, pb) Fantasy novel, the first book in the Darkest Powers trilogy in the world of the Women of the Otherworld series. Simultaneous with the US (HarperCollins) edition. Bailey, K.V. The Sky Giants (Hilltop Press 978 - 0 -9 05262- 40 - 6, £ 3.50, unpaginated, ph, cover by Ian Brown) Reprint (Triffid Books 1989) chapbook poetry collection of 16 pieces in a futuristic sequence about the Grail knight Parsifal. The foreword by Steve Sneyd provides information on the author. New illustrations by Ian Brown. Hilltop Press, 4 Nowell Place Almondbury, Huddersfield, HD5 8PB, UK; Banks, Iain M. The Steep Approach to Garbadale (Little, Brown UK/Abacus 978 - 0 -349 -11928 -1, £7.99, 390pp, tp) Reprint (Little, Brown UK 2007) associational novel. * B a x ter, Ste p he n Flo o d ( O r i o n / Gollancz 978-0-575-08056-0, £17.99, 473pp, tp) SF disaster novel, the first in a series. The oceans rise over three decades, causing worldwide flooding that ultimately reaches Biblical levels.

A trade paperback edition (-08058-4, £11.99) is also available. Baxter, Stephen The H-Bomb Girl (Faber and Faber 978-0-571-23280-2, £6.99, 268pp, tp) Reprint (Faber and Faber 2007) young-adult SF novel about a teen in Liverpool during the Cuban Missile Crisis. B a x ter, S te p h e n We ave r ( O r i o n / Gollancz 978-0-575-08229-8, £7.99, 321pp, tp) Reprint (Gollancz 2008) SF novel, book four in the Time’s Tapestry quartet. * Bear, Greg City at the End of Time (Orion/Gollancz 978-0-575-08189-5, £12.99, 470pp, tp, cover by Steve Lailey) SF novel. A hardcover edition (-08188-8, £18.99) was announced but not seen. * Black, Charles, ed. The Third Black Book of Horror (Mortbury Press 9780-9556061-2-0, £7.50, 226pp, tp, cover by Paul Mudie) Original anthology of 17 horror stories, the third in a series. This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at <www.freewebs. com/mortburypress/>; Mortbury Press, Shiloh, Nantglas, Llandrindod Wells, Powys LD1 6PD UK. Bova, Ben Mars (Hodder 978-0-34096099-8, £7.99, 567pp, tp) Reprint (Bantam Spectra 1992) SF novel. Briggs, Patricia Blood Bound (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149-684-9, £ 6 . 9 9, 3 2 6 p p, p b ) R e p r i n t ( A c e 2007) fantasy novel. Book two in the

series about shapechanger Mercy Thompson. Brooks, Terry The Elves of Cintra (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149576-7, £7.99, i + 374pp, tp, cover by Steve Stone) Reprint (Orbit 2007) fantasy novel, the second in the Genesis of Shannara trilogy bridging The Word and the Void trilogy and the Shannara series. * Brown, Eric Kéthani (BL Publishing/ Solaris 978-1-84416-473-8, £10.99, 311pp, tp, cover by John Harris) SF novel. * Butcher, Jim Small Favour (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149-696-2, £12.99, 437pp, hc) Dark fantasy/mystery novel, tenth in the Dresden Files series. Simultaneous with US edition (Roc as Small Favor). Caine, Rachel Heat Stroke (Allison & Busby 978-0-7490-7921-5, £6.99, 389pp, pb, cover by Christina Griffiths) Reprint (Roc 2004) fantasy novel, book two in the Weather Warden series. This is copyrighted by Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, who also writes as Roxanne Longstreet and Roxanne Conrad. Caine, Rachel Ill Wind (Allison & Busby 978-0-7490-7916-1, £6.99, 414pp, pb, cover by Christina Griffiths) Reprint (Roc 2003) contemporary fantasy novel, first in the Weather Warden series. Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin is accused of killing a superior, and has to run for her

life. This is copyrighted by Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, who also writes as Roxanne Longstreet and Roxanne Conrad. * Chadbourn, Mark The Burning Man (Orion/Gollancz 978-0-575-07949-6, £12.99, 339pp, tp) Fantasy novel, b o o k t wo i n t h e K i n g d o m of t h e Serpent series after Jack of Ravens. A hardcover edition (-07677-8, £18.99) was announced but not seen. * Connolly, John The Reapers (Hodder & Stoughton 978 - 0 - 3 40 - 93 6 65 - 8, £14.99, 390pp, hc) Mystery/suspense novel with elements of dark fantasy in the Charlie Parker series. * Crumey, Andrew Sputnik Caledonia (Macmillan /Picador UK 978-0-33044702-7, £16.99, 553pp, hc, cover by Sam Farrell) Literary fantasy novel. * Dahlquist, G.W. The Dark Volume (Penguin/Viking UK 978-0-670-91653-5, £18.99, 516pp, hc, cover by grey519) Fantasy novel, sequel to The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. * Dann, Jack The Economy of Light (PS Publishing 978-1-905834-28-0, £10.00, vii + 250pp, hc, cover by Vincent Chong) Fantasy novella. A retired Nazihunter in Brazil, survivor of Mengele’s ex per iments, d evelo ps a strang e illness after Mengele’s body is found. Introduction by Michael Swanwick. This is a paper-over-boards, signed limited edition of 500; a jacketed hardcover edition of 200 signed by Dann and Swanwick (-29-7, £25.00), and a deluxe slipcased edition of 26 signed by Dann, Swanwick, and Chong (£50.00) are also available. PS Publishing, Grosvenor House, 1 New Road, Hornsea HU18 1PG, UK; <www.pspublishing.co.uk>. * D av i d , J o h n L e t N o t t h e L e f t (AuthorHouse UK 978-1-4259-9031-2, £7.30, 287pp, tp) SF novel, the fifth ‘‘episode’’ in the Enemies of Society series. Published in 2007, but not seen until now. This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at < www. authorhouse.co.uk >; AuthorHouse UK, 500 Avebury Blvd., Central Milton Keynes, MK9 2BE UK. * David, John Morituri (AuthorHouse UK 978-1-4343-4481-6, £8.30, 312pp, tp) SF novel, the sixth and final ‘‘episode’’ in the Enemies of Society series. Published in 2007, but not seen until now. This is a print-on-demand edition, available online at <www.authorhouse.co.uk>; AuthorHouse UK, 500 Avebury Blvd., Central Milton Keynes, MK9 2BE UK. Donaldson, Stephen The Fatal Revenant (Orion / Gollancz 978 - 0 575-08238-0, £10.99, 789pp, tp) Book two of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Reprint (Gollancz 2007) fantasy novel. * Douglas, Stephen Slave Lord (Silver Moon 978-1-903687-78-9, £6.99, 234pp, pb) Erotic SF novel, the fifth book in the Slaveword series set in an alternate England where the Romans never left Britain. * Elliott, Kate Shadow Gate (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149-625-2, £12.99, 657pp, tp, cover by Larr y Rostant) Fantasy novel, the second book in the Crossroads series. Simultaneous with the US (Tor) edition. * Ellis, Madelynne Phantasmagoria (Black Lace 978-0-352-34168-6, £7.99, 301pp, tp) Erotic novel with fantasy elements, a sequel to A Gentleman’s Wager. Er i k s o n , S t e v e n R e a p e r ’s G a l e (Transworld /Bantam UK 978-0-55381316-6, £7.99, 1260pp, pb, cover by Steve Stone) Reprint (Bantam UK 2007) fantasy novel, the seventh volume in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. * Erikson, Steven Toll the Hounds (Transworld /Bantam UK 978-0-59304637-1, £18.99, ix + 923pp, hc, cover by Steve Stone) Fantasy novel, the eighth volume in the Malazan Book of

the Fallen series. * Erskine, Barbara The Warrior’s Princess (HarperCollins UK 978-0-00717428-7, £18.99, 548pp, hc) Fantasy timeslip novel. * Etchells, Tim The Broken World ( H e i n e m a n n 978 - 0 - 4 3 4 - 018 3 3 - 8 , £14.99, 420pp, tp) Mainstream novel with fantasy aspects about a man obsessed with writing a guide to a complex online fantasy game. Fallon, Jennifer Wolfblade (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149-652-8, £7.99, 711pp, pb, cover by Paul Young) Reprint (Voyager Books Australia 2004) fantasy novel, the first book in the Wolfblade trilogy, a prequel to the Demon Child trilogy in the Hythron Chronicles series. * Flieger, Verlyn & Douglas A. Anderson, e d s . To l k i e n o n F a i r y - s t o r i e s : Expanded Edition, with Commentary and Notes (HarperCollins UK 978-000-724466-9, £14.99, 320pp, hc, cover by J.R.R. Tolkien) Annotated study of Tolkien’s article ‘‘On Fairy-stories’’ in its preliminary and final forms. This includes bibliography and index. * Fowler, Christopher The Victoria Vanishes (Transworld/Doubleday UK 978-0-385-61068-1, £12.99, 333pp, hc, cover by David Frankland) Gothic mystery novel, the sixth in a series featuring detectives Bryant & May; this was to be the final book in the series, but Fowler has announced at least one more to come. Gibson, Gary Stealing Light (Macmillan/ Tor UK 978-0-330-44596-2, £6.99, 603pp, pb, cover by Lee Gibbons) Reprint (Tor UK 2007) SF novel, the first book in a trilogy. G i b s o n, W i l l i a m S p o o k C o u nt r y (Penguin UK 978-0-141-01671-9, £7.99, 370pp, tp) Reprint (Viking UK 2007) SF novel. * Gilman, David Ice Claw (Penguin/Puffin UK 978-0-141-32303-9, £6.99, 434pp, tp) Young-adult thriller with fantasy elements, second in the Max Gordon series after The Devil’s Breath. Graham, Jo Black Ships (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149-699-3, £7.99, xxv + 412pp, tp, cover by Debra Lill) Reprint (Orbit US 2008) fantasy novel. Grossman, Austin Soon I Will Be Invincible (Random House/Vintage UK 978-0-141-03077-7, £7.99, 287pp, tp) Reprint (Pantheon 2007) fantasy novel. Hamilton, Peter F. The Dreaming Void (Macmillan/Pan 978-0-330-44302-9, £7.99, 796pp, pb, cover by Jim Burns) Reprint (Macmillan UK 2007) SF novel, the first volume in the Void trilogy. Harris, Charlaine Definitely Dead (Orion/Gollancz 978-0-575-08220-5, £6.99, 324pp, pb) Reprint (Ace 2006) humorous Southern vampire mystery novel, the sixth featuring telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse. Harris, Joanne The Lollipop Shoes (Black Swan 978-0-552-77315-7, £7.99, 572pp, tp) Reprint (Doubleday UK 2007) fantasy novel, a sequel to Chocolat with the leads having assumed different names. Published in the US as The Girl with No Shadow. Hearst, Dorothy Promise of the Wolves (Simon & Schuster UK 978-1-84737327-4, £12.99, 315pp, hc) Reprint (Simon & Schuster 2008) fantasy novel, book one in The Wolf Chronicles. H o b b, Ro b i n R e n e g a d e’s M ag i c (HarperVoyager 978-0-00-719620-3, £8.99, 760pp, pb, cover by Jackie Morris) Reprint (Harper Voyager 2007) fantasy novel, the third book of the Soldier Son trilogy. Hobb is a pseudonym for Megan Lindholm. Howard, Rober t E. The Conan Chronicles (Orion /Gollancz 978-0575-08273-1, £7.99, 547pp, tp, cover by Sophie Toulouse) Reprint (Millennium

20 0 0 as The Conan Chronicles : Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle) fantasy collection of Howard’s barbarian hero, in internal chronological order. Edited by Stephen Jones. H u l m e , J o h n & M i c h a e l We x l e r The Seems : The Glitch in Sleep (Bloomsbury 978-0-7475-9332-4, £6.99, 275pp, tp) Reprint (Bloomsbury USA 2007) young-adult fantasy novel, the first in a series. * Iliffe, Glyn King of Ithaca (Macmillan UK 978-0-230-52923-6, £12.99, 382pp, hc, cover by Larry Rostant) Historical novel with fantasy elements, retelling the story of Odysseus. Keyes, Greg The Born Que en (Macmillan/Tor UK 978-1-4050-3358-9, £17.99, 448pp, hc) Reprint (Del Rey 2008) fantasy novel, fourth book in The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone tetralogy. * Kyme, Nick & Lindsey Priestley, eds. Warhammer 40,000: Planetkill (BL Publishing/Black Library 978-1-84416550-6, £6.99, 317pp, pb, cover by John Blanche) Anthology of seven stories set in the world of the far-future roleplaying game. Le Guin, Ursula Powers (Orion Children’s Books 978-1-84255-631-3, £6.99, 391pp, tp, cover by Stephen Wyatt) Reprint (Orion Children’s Books 2007) young-adult fantasy novel, third in the Annals of the Western Shore series begun in Gifts. * Lee, Steve N. What If...? (Blue Zoo 978-0-9556525-1-6, £17.99, 350pp, hc) Near-future thriller. The US government is determined to stop a man with the power to heal, predict the future, and change the world. Available online at <www.steve-n-lee.com>. Lloyd, Tom The Twilight Herald (Orion/ Gollancz 978-0-575-08228-1, £7.99, 535pp, tp, cover by Larry Rostant) Reprint (Gollancz 2007) fantasy novel, second in The Twilight Reign series. Copyrighted by Tom Lloyd-Williams. * Mann, George The Affinity Bridge ( S n ow b o o ks 978 -1- 9 0 5 0 - 0 5 8 9 - 5, £18.99, 350pp, hc) Alternate-world steampunk /science fantasy novel. the first in a series, set in a Victorian London of airships and mechanical ser vants, plagued by supernatural forces. This includes related novelette ‘‘The Hambleton Affair: A Maurice Newbury Investigation’’, which will not be in the paperback edition. A limited hardback edition (-0593-2, £30.00) was announced but not seen. * Maxey, James Dragonforge (BL Publishing/Solaris 978-1-84416-644-2, £7.99, 549pp, pb, cover by Michael Komarck) Fantasy novel, sequel to Bitterwood. McCaf frey, Anne & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Acorna’s Children : Third Watch (Transworld/Corgi 9780-552-15542-7, £6.99, 395pp, pb, cover by Fred Gambino) Reprint (Eos 2007) SF novel. Meyer, Stephenie Eclipse (Little, Brown UK/Atom 978-1-904233-91-6, £6.99, 628pp, tp) Reprint (Little, Brown 2007) young-adult vampire romance novel, third in a series after Twilight and New Moon. Moon, Elizabeth Victory Conditions (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149598-9, £6.99, 460pp, pb) Reprint (Del Rey 2008) military SF novel, fifth in the Vatta’s War series. * N i x , G ar t h S u p e ri o r S a t u r d ay (HarperCollins Children’s Books UK 978-0-00-717511-6, £5.99, 323pp, tp, cover by Larry Rostant) Young-adult fantasy novel, the sixth book in the Keys to the Kingdom series. * Peake, Mervyn Collected Poems (Carcanet Press/Fyfield Books 978-185754-971-3, £12.95, 259pp, tp, cover by Mervyn Peake) Poetry collection with 235 poems, over 80 not previously

published. Illustrated with over 50 drawings by Peake. Edited and with an introduction and notes by R.W. Maslen. Rankin, Robert The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code (Orion / Gollancz 978 - 0 -575 08227-4, £6.99, 350pp, pb) Reprint (Gollancz 2007) humorous fantasy novel. This does not include the CD issued with the first edition hardcover. Reeve, Philip Starcross (Bloomsbury 978- 0 -7475 -8912-9, £ 6.99, 370pp, tp, cover by David Wyat t) Reprint (Bloomsbury 2007) humorous youngadult SF novel, sequel to Larklight. Illustrated by David Wyatt. Riordan, Rick Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth (Penguin/Puffin UK 978-0-141-38291-3, £9.99, 342pp, hc, cover by Christian McGrath) Reprint (Hyperion 2008) young-adult fantasy novel, the fourth book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury 978-07475-9583-0, £8.99, 607pp, tp, cover by Jason Cockcroft) Reprint (Bloomsbury 2007) fantasy novel, the seventh and final in the Harry Potter series. * Saintcrow, Lilith Night Shift (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149-706-8, £6.99, 326pp, pb) Near-future dark fantasy novel, the first book in a series about demon slayer Jill Kismet. * Secombe, Andy Looking for Mr. PiggyWig (Macmillan/Tor UK 978-0-23071233-1, £12.99, 344pp, hc) Humorous SF novel. In a future Britain where oil shortages have forced the reintroduction of airships, private eye Jack Lindsay gets dragged into a worldwide conspiracy. Somers, Jeff The Electric Church (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149-616-0, £6.99, 383pp, pb, cover by Jae Lee) Reprint (Orbit 2007) SF novel, the first in the Avery Cates series. Stewar t, Sean, Jordan Weisman & Cathy Brigg Cathy’s Key (Bloomsbury 978-0-7475-9481-9, £12.99, 216pp, hc) Reprint (Running Press 2008) youngadult associational interactive fantasy mystery novel, sequel to Cathy’s Book. Illustrated by Brigg, the book includes a packet of evidence, and links to websites and phone numbers with extra clues. * Stross, Charles Saturn’s Children (Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-1-84149567-5, £15.99, 371pp, hc) SF novel. Simultaneous with the US (Ace) edition. * Tchaikovsky, Adrian Empire in Black and Gold (Macmillan/Tor UK 978-0230-70413-8, £7.99, 612pp, pb, cover by Dominic Harman) Fantasy novel, the first book in the Shadows of the Apt series. Copyrighted by Adrian Czajkowski. * Wild, Kate FireFight (Chicken House, The 978-1-905294-67-1, £6.99, 317pp, tp, cover by Kev Walker) Young-adult fantasy novel. Second in a series after FightGame.  Year to Date July 2008 42 SF Novels 10 SF Novels Fantasy Novels 21 Fantasy Novels 75 Horror Novels 4 Horror Novels 21 Paranormal Paranormal Romance 30 Romance 1 14 Anthologies 3 Anthologies 7 Collections 0 Collections 1 Reference 1 Reference History/Criticism 0 History/Criticism 7 Media Related 0 Media Related 18 47 Young Adult 7 Young Adult SF 11 SF 0 Fantasy 33 Fantasy 7 Horror 3 Horror 0 Paranormal Paranormal Romance 0 Romance 0 Other 0 Other 0 8 Omnibus 1 Omnibus 4 Art/Humor 1 Art/Humor Miscellaneous 1 Miscellaneous 5 279 Total New: 50 Total New: Reprints & Reprints & 181 Reissues: 24 Reissues: 460 Total: 74 Total:

LOCUS October 2008 / 59

Locus Bestsellers

Months Last on list month ARDCOVERS H 1) Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik (Del Rey) 1 - 2) By Schism Rent Asunder, David Weber (Tor) 1 3) Jhegaala, Steven Brust (Tor) 1 4) Saturn’s Children, Charles Stross (Ace) 1 5) Blood Noir, Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley) 3 2 6) Kushiel’s Mercy, Jacqueline Carey (Grand Central) 2 1 7) The Host, Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) 3 7 8) Mage-Guard of Hamor, L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor) 1 9) The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (Random House) 13 10 10) The Man with the Iron Heart, Harry Turtledove (Del Rey) 1 PAPERBACKS 1) Sandworms of Dune, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (Tor) 1 2) The Lost Fleet: Valiant, Jack Campbell (Ace) 1 - 3) Halting State, Charles Stross (Ace) 1 4) Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Del Rey) 14 7 5) Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card (Tor) 22 5 6) Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs (Ace) 1 7) The Dark River, John Twelve Hawks (Vintage) 1 - *) Making Money, Terry Pratchett (Harper) 1 - 9) Shadows Return, Lynn Flewelling (Bantam Spectra) 1 10) Hell Hath No Fury, David Weber & Linda Evans (Baen) 1 The victor in hardcover bestsellers is Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik, her fifth novel in the Temeraire series, with a fair lead over second place By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber. The sagacious runner-up was Kevin J. Anderson’s The Saga of Seven Suns, Book 7: Ashes of Worlds (Orbit US), and there were 56 titles nominated, two more than last month. New Dune paperback Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson nudged into first place, just above The Lost Fleet: Valiant by Jack Campbell. The runner-up was demon hunter novel The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu (Ace), and there were 80 nominations, up from 68. Spook Country by William Gibson stayed at the top of the trade paper list for the second month, with over twice as many votes as the next title;

Months Last on list month TRADE PAPERBACKS 1) Spook Country, William Gibson (Berkley) 2 1 2) Ink and Steel, Elizabeth Bear (Roc) 1 3) Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman (Vintage) 1 4) Thirteen, Richard K. Morgan (Del Rey) 1 5) Duma Key, Stephen King (Import) 1 *) The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon (HarperPerennial) 3 5 MEDIA-RELATED 1) Star Wars: Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight, Michael Reaves (Del Rey) 2 1 2) Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Karen Traviss (Del Rey) 1 3) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Fearful Symmetry, Olivia Woods (Pocket) 1 4) Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Invincible, Troy Denning (Del Rey) 3 2 5) Star Trek: The Next Generation: Greater than the Sum, 1 Christopher L. Bennett (Pocket) GAMING-RELATED 1) Forgotten Realms: The Orc King, R.A. Salvatore (Wizards of the Coast) 1 2) World of WarCraft: Beyond the Dark Portal, Aaron Rosenberg & Christie Golden (Pocket Star) 1 3) Forgotten Realms: Ascendancy of the Last, Lisa Smedman (Wizards of the Coast) 2 1 4) Warhammer 40,000: Battle for the Abyss, Ben Counter (Black Library US) 1 the runner-up was collection Elric: The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock (Del Rey), and there were 55 nominations, way up from 41. Star Wars: Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight by Michael Reaves held the lead in media-related titles for the second month; movie novelization The Dark Knight by Dennis O’Neil (Berkley Boulevard) was runner-up, and 25 titles were nominated, down from 31. Forgotten Realms: The Orc King by R.A. Salvatore is first in gamingrelated titles; there was no new runner-up, and 26 titles were nominated, just up from 24.

Compiled with data from: Barnes and Noble (USA), Bakka-Phoenix (Canada), Borderlands (CA), Borders (USA), McNally Robinson (2 in Canada), Mysterious Galaxy (CA), The Other Change of Hobbit (CA), Pages for All Ages (IL), St. Mark’s (NY), Toadstool (2 in NH), Uncle Hugo’s (MN), White Dwarf (Canada). Data period: July 2008.

General Bestsellers

HARDCOVERS The Host, Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) Odd Hours, Dean Koontz (Bantam) Blood Noir, Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley) The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie (Random House) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (Riverhead) Undead and Unworthy, MaryJanice Davidson (Berkley) Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik (Del Rey) Paperbacks The Road, Cormac McCarthy (Vintage International)• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon (Harper Perennial)• The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova (Back Bay Books) Star Wars: Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight, Michael Reaves (Del Rey) The Lost Fleet: Valiant, Jack Campbell (Ace) The Iron Hunt, Marjorie M. Liu (Ace) Sandworms of Dune, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (Tor) Forgotten Realms: The Orc King, R.A. Salvatore (Wizards of the Coast)

NY Times Bk Review 7/6 13 20 27 3 5 6 7 12 14 20 23 16 25 28 - 27 28 25 27 28 30 31 31 - 22 27 - - - - 28

Publishers Weekly 7/7 14 21 28 4 5 3 4 14 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

14 18 35 - - - - -

- - - 15 - - - -

8 20 - 21 29 35 - -

8 22 - 27 - - 32 35

6 21 - - - - 25 19

- - - - - - - -

- - - - - - 12 10

Washington Post* 7/13 20 27 10 - 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - -

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, Eclipse and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, and The Magician by Michael Scott made the hardcover YA list. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer made the YA paperback list. See Locus Online for weekly charts of genre books on these and eight other general bestseller lists! * lists top 10 only • trade paperback

60 / LOCUS October 2008

John Joseph Adams, ed., Seeds of Change (Prime 8/08) Paradigm shifts – moments of great change, whether scientific, cultural, political – are the focus for this original anthology of nine stories by authors including Jay Lake, Ken MacLeod, Mark Budz, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, and Tobias S. Buckell. Stephen Baxter, Flood (Gollancz 7/08; Roc US 5/09) The flooding goes well beyond global warming in this SF novel of an inexorable inundation that over decades reaches truly Biblical proportions, leaving humanity scrambling to survive. The first of two volumes, to be followed, naturally, by Ark. ‘‘Baxter seems out to reinvent the classic disaster tale on its own terms… presented with spectacle and efficient pacing, Flood is a pretty effective entertainment.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe] Elizabeth Bear, Hell and Earth (Roc 8/08) The second book in the Elizabethan fantasy duology begun in Ink and Steel (part of the Promethean Age series) finds Will Shakespeare feeling inadequate as he tries to cope with intrigues of both mortals and Faery. The duology makes ‘‘… a rich stew of heresy, faith, myth, literature, fairy tales, magic, and adventure… some of the year’s most artful, witty, and moving works of fantasy.’’ [Faren Miller] Tobias S. Buckell, Sly Mongoose (Tor 8/08) An alien intelligence invades the domed cities high about the surface of the planet Chilo, where miners work in the deadly atmosphere like divers in pressure suits. Yet another in the multicultural SF series set in the world of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin. Daina Chaviano, The Island of Eternal Love (Riverhead 6/08) This multigenerational tale of Cuban families is the first novel by a noted Cuban author to be translated into English. A Cuban journalist in Miami listens to an old

New & Notable

woman’s stories of a haunted house and three families, tracing Cuba’s multicultural heritage in the process. ‘‘It’s a rich, moving, musical novel, which has already won the Best Spanish Language Book prize in the 2007 Florida Book Awards, and that only makes you wonder where the English versions are of the rest of Chaviano’s works.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe] Daryl Gregory, Pandemonium (Del Rey 9/08) People are randomly possessed by ‘‘demons’’ – archetypal or mythical personalities, or even comic-book characters – in this impressive first novel, a quirky contemporary fantasy set in a world where such demons started appearing in the 1950s. ‘‘… An unusually strong debut… Gregory’s appropriation of pop-cultural icons is shrewed, amusing, and… often surprisingly poignant.’’ [Paul Witcover] Jo e H a ld em a n , M a r sb ou n d (Ac e 8 / 0 8 ) Colonization and first contact meet on Mars in this Heinleinian coming-of-age story from one of the SF’s masters. Adolescent Carmen Dula finds colony life frustrating – until she stumbles on aliens who give her a message for the human interlopers. Marvin Kaye, ed., The Ghost Quartet (Tor 9/08) The latest anthology of novellas from noted editor Kaye brings four new ghost stories from literary luminaries Brian Lumley, Orson Scott Card, Tanith Lee, and Kaye himself. Benjamin Rosenbaum, The Ant King and Other Stories (Small Beer Press 8/08) Rosenbaum displays an impressive range from traditional to the surreal in this collection of 17 stories, one new. ‘‘If pure intellectual play and conceptual legerdemain are your hankerings, this volume is splendid entertainment… Benjamin Rosenbaum is

B&N/B. Dalton

HARDCOVERS 1) The Host, Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) 2) The Gypsy Morph, Terry Brooks (Del Rey) 3) By Schism Rent Asunder, David Weber (Tor) 4) Underground, Kat Richardson (Roc) 5) Blood Noir, Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley) 6) The Last Theorem, Arthur C. Clarke & Frederik Pohl (Del Rey) 7) The Man with the Iron Heart, Harry Turtledove (Del Rey) 8) From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris (Ace) 9) Jhegaala, Steven Brust (Tor) 10) Zoe’s Tale, John Scalzi (Tor) PAPERBACKS 1) Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs (Ace) 2) Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Del Rey) 3) The Elves of Cintra, Terry Brooks (Del Rey) 4) Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card (Tor) 5) Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris (Ace) 6) Gale Force, Rachel Caine (Roc) 7) The Last Colony, John Scalzi (Tor) 8) Nightwalker, Jocelynn Drake (Eos) 9) Sandworms of Dune, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (Tor) 10) Invasive Procedures, Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston (Tor) TRADE PAPERBACKS 1) Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Del Rey) 2) Greywalker, Kat Richardson (Roc) 3) Fatal Revenant, Stephen R. Donaldson (Ace) 4) Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson (HarperPerennial) 5) Bitten to Death, Jennifer Rardin (Orbit) MEDIA-RELATED 1) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Sean Williams (Del Rey) 2) Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Karen Traviss (Del Rey) 3) Star Trek: The Next Generation: Greater than the Sum, Christopher L. Bennet (Pocket) 4) Star Wars: Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight, Michael Reaves (Del Rey) GAMING-RELATED 1) Forgotten Realms: The Orc King, R.A. Salvatore (Wizards of the Coast) 2) Warhammer 40,000: The Horus Heresy: Battle for the Abyss, Ben Counter (Black Library US) 3) Mass Effect: Ascension, Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey) 4) Warhammer 40,000: Angels of Darkness, Gav Thorpe (Black Library US) 5) Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Eric Nylund (Tor)

a consummate skater of the glittering surfaces of SF and fantasy, and [this] is a fine showcase of the ingenious figures he traces.’’ [Nick Gevers] ‘‘Quite possibly the collection of the year, certainly the best first collection of the year.’’ [Rich Horton] John Scalzi, Zoe’s Tale (Tor 8/08) Scalzi returns to the Old Man’s War universe for this SF novel, a standalone YA running parallel to events of The Last Colony, following teenaged Zoe’s adventures on the new colony world of Roanoke. Karl Schroeder, Pirate Sun (Tor 8/08) The third novel in the Virga series, a post-singularity pirate adventure in the man-made worlds contained within the Virga sphere, finds Admiral Chaison Fanning escaping from his enemy captors in a series of wild adventures, ‘‘But it’s not all hidden panels and trapdoors and hairbreadth escapes and swordfights. The world itself remains a delight, a source of seemingly endless invention.’’ [Russell Letson] Lucius Shepard, The Best of Lucius Shepard (Subterranean Press 8/08) A hefty retrospective of the works of one of SF’s most noted writers of short fiction, this collection presents 17 stories, mostly award nominees, plus one Rhysling awardwinning poem. Ysabeau S. Wilce, Flora’s Dare (Harcourt 9/08) Flora’s efforts to learn magic against her father’s wishes take her out of her magical mansion into war-torn Califa, where she encounters strange monsters, earthquakes, and more in this youngadult fantasy novel, sequel to the critically acclaimed Flora Segunda. Jack Williamson, Gateway to Paradise: The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, Volume Six (Haffner Press 8/08) The latest volume in this ambitious and authoritative collection of works by SF Grand Master Williamson features ten stories from 1940-41, plus four non-fiction pieces. 

Borders/Walden

HARDCOVERS 1) The Host, Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) 2) The Gypsy Morph, Terry Brooks (Del Rey) 3) The Last Centurion, John Ringo (Baen) 4) The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, Galen Beckett (Bantam Spectra) 5) By Schism Rent Asunder, David Weber (Tor) 6) The Man with the Iron Heart, Harry Turtledove (Del Rey) 7) Small Favor, Jim Butcher (Roc) 8) From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris (Ace) 9) Victory of Eagles, Naomi Novik (Del Rey) 10) The Last Theorem, Arthur C. Clarke & Frederik Pohl (Del Rey) PAPERBACKS 1) Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs (Ace) 2) Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Del Rey) 3) The Elves of Cintra, Terry Brooks (Del Rey) 4) Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card (Tor) 5) Nightwalker, Jocelynn Drake (Eos) 6) The Last Colony, John Scalzi (Tor) 7) Sandworms of Dune, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (Tor) 8) The Innocent Mage, Karen Miller (Orbit US) 9) Gale Force, Rachel Caine (Roc) 10) Storm Front, Jim Butcher (Roc) TRADE PAPERBACKS 1) Wicked, Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks) 2) Chronicles of the Black Company, Glen Cook (Tor) 3) Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (Del Rey) 4) The Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company, Glen Cook (Tor) 5) Fatal Revenant, Stephen R. Donaldson (Ace) MEDIA-RELATED 1) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Sean Williams (Del Rey) 2) Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Karen Traviss (Del Rey) 3) Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Visual Guide, Jason Fry (DK Children) 4) Star Trek: The Next Generation: Greater than the Sum, Christopher L. Bennett (Pocket) 5) Star Wars: Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight, Michael Reaves (Del Rey) GAMING-RELATED 1) Forgotten Realms: The Orc King, R.A. Salvatore (Wizards of the Coast) 2) Warhammer 40,000: The Horus Heresy: Battle for the Abyss, Ben Counter (Black Library US) 3) Mass Effect: Ascension, Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey) 4) Halo: Contact Harvest, Joseph Staten (Tor) 5) World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal, Aaron Rosenberg & Christie Golden (Pocket Star)

LOCUS October 2008 / 61

Ursula K. Le Guin  p. 5

(1991). Her 1994 novelette “Solitude’’ won a Nebula. Her latest novel is historical Lavinia (2008). Le Guin’s work has been collected in The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (1975), which contains all but one (“The Word for World Is Forest’’) of her early short fiction; The Compass Rose (1982); Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences (1987), containing stories and poems published between 1971 and 1987, including Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight’’ (1987); A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (1994); Unlocking the Air and Other Stories (1996); The Birthday of the World (2002); Changing Planes (2003); and others. She has also written numerous books for children and young adults, including the recent Annals of the Western Shore series: Gifts (2004), Voices (2006), and Powers (2007). She has edited many anthologies, including Nebula Award Stories 11 (1976); Interfaces (1980, with Virginia Kidd); Edges (1980, with Virginia Kidd); and The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990 (1993, with Brian Attebery). Her poetry has been collected in Hard Words and Other Poems (1981), Wild Oats and Fireweed (1999), Going Out with Peacocks and Other Poems (1994); Sixty Odd: New Poems (1999), and others. Her non-fiction includes Dancing at the Edge of the World (1989), a collection of essays, commentary, and reviews from 1976-86, which includes her famous essay “Is Gender Necessary?’’ (later “Is Gender Necessary? Redux’’); Steering the Craft (1998), about writing; and essay collection The Wave in the Mind (2004). Le Guin has translated Argentinian writer Angélica Gorodischer’s Kalpa Imperial (2003) and the poems of Chilean writer Gabriel Mistral. She was Guest of Honor at the 1975 Worldcon in Australia, and won the 1975 World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement. In addition to her five Hugos, five Nebulas, and the other awards mentioned above, she has won the Gandalf; James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award; Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award; Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; Prometheus Award; Rhysling; the 1970 Pilgrim Award for her body of work; and 19 Locus Awards. She was named a SFWA Grand Master in 2003. “Reading The Aeneid in Latin – very slowly! – I got fascinated with the second half of the book, especially the character of Aeneas. And what are all these battles? Did Vergil just include them because he’s writing an epic? No, he’s too good a poet for that. He had to have some reason. And the battles are horrifying. Homer’s battles are kind of fun: everybody chops everybody’s head off, and whoopee! Homer seems to enjoy it, and Vergil does not. So I got totally intrigued by what he was doing. Then the idea of looking at it from the girl’s point of view appeared. In the poem, she doesn’t have a line; she just watches. What does Lavinia, the little Italian girl, think of it all? Sothere’s my book. “I learned Latin first in high school. I got through Caesar (which takes two years), and they make you read Cicero next – you can’t read the poets yet. There I was, 14 years old, and there’s this dead lawyer I’m supposed to read for a year? No way! I had to learn Latin all over again when I went for my doctorate, so I took a crash course at Cal. I relearned it then – and I forgot it all again. Then, when I was about 75 years old, I thought ‘If I’m going to read Vergil, I’d better get to it.’ That’s when I dug out my old grammar books and started all over. “Nobody’s ever been able to translate poetry,

62 / LOCUS October 2008

at least not into English. Vergil is very musical, and poets like that just don’t work as well in other languages; they use their own language so perfectly. You can get the story in a translation, but a poem isn’t just the story. People who have only read the Aeneid in English don’t remember it too well, and aren’t that impressed. Those who have to grind through it in Latin, the way I did, all remember it very vividly (and most of them affectionately). It makes a big difference. “Ploughing through it in Latin isn’t exactly reading – it’s translating very slowly. (There’s the English on the right-hand side of the page to help you figure out the more complicated bits.) I was reading about 10 lines a day, 15 on a really good day, but when you read something like that it really gets into you! “I was still reading Vergil when I started writing Lavinia, so there’s this overlap. I had to be in the poem, as well as the history – a sort of double obligation, which was in fact a lot of fun. Until the Trojans arrive, Lavinia’s Italy is fairly idyllic. That’s the old Roman myth of the Age of Saturn, which was the Golden Age. Then history begins, and everything goes to pieces! Guys start killing each other in groups, and so forth. “Usually I keep what I read separate from what I’m writing. When I’m in the middle of a novel I’m likely to read mysteries and lightweight stuff, so I don’t get my mind confused with some great writer and start imitating him. This was so strange, to have a book grow right out of my reading. I love to translate and I’ve done a great deal of translation. I can’t translate Vergil into English poetry, but I could kind of translate his epic into a novel, by taking a little piece of it and moving it into a different form. I think that’s what I was doing. I tried to catch something of his mood, but didn’t have to get the words or the voice. “I don’t feel a great difference between what I’ve done in science fiction and Lavinia. There are some facts, and you want to get ‘em right; and then you cut loose. In a historical novel, trying to imagine what it was like in eighth century BC or 1200 AD, you have to get your facts right, the way you do in science fiction. The same as in Realism. If you’re writing about San Francisco and you don’t live there, you may have to do a little research. You have to make it plausible, and realize you have pretty knowledgeable readers. As Chip Delany said, ‘You use what is known to be known.’ And once you’ve got that, you can just go ahead and invent all you please. If it’s science fiction, you can’t break away from scientific fact, and if you do break away then I think it’s properly called fantasy. That’s the difference. I do feel that difference, and since 1970 or so I’m perfectly clear which one I’m writing. But an awful lot of science fiction is more fantasy than we want to admit. The whole thing about long-distance space travel is just as fantastic as it ever was. We haven’t been able to do it, and it gets more unlikely the more we know. “I think both science fiction and fantasy are now becoming part of the mainstream. I wanted them to be respected as part of the mainstream – I didn’t want genre snobbishness to prevail. But there is a difference between how you write science fiction and how you write a realistic novel and how you write a western, even if they always have miscegenated (as we used to say). I think it’s improving the mainstream, but I’m not sure it’s improving science fiction. “I wish I was as good-natured as Michael Chabon about writers who write science fiction but don’t allow it to be called that (or their publishers don’t), like Cormac McCarthy. Geez! The cross country trip through the ruins has been done, and in better English than he writes. But he gets all this

respect and special treatment for it, meaning that snobbishness still prevails. I get really cross about people waltzing off with literary prizes for writing second-rate science fiction. (So there!) And I long to warn the people coming into SF from elsewhere, be quite sure you’re not reinventing the wheel for the 50th time. That was my main objection to Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. Whereas The Handmaid’s Tale was solid, inventive science fiction. “In some ways, I’m lucky Lavinia got published. Harcourt, my publisher, and Houghton Mifflin were smooshed together by this Irish corporation that owns them, so now we’re down one of our great independent publishers. You lose competition, and there’s one less place to submit a novel. If I’d been a couple of months later, Houghton Mifflin might have cancelled the book. It was all very scary. “Then Barnes & Noble rejected it. Their famous fiction buyer said, ‘No, this won’t sell,’ and they didn’t buy it – which was an awful blow, of course, to the publisher. But it’s doing just fine without Barnes & Noble, thank you very much. The reviews have been wonderful, pretty much universally, and there’s been some good word of mouth. I never have been on the bestseller list – what my books do is just keep selling. They go on, there’s a demand for them. I like that! And I feel fortunate. I know so many writers now whose books are being allowed to go out of print. “It’s this crazy thing about publishing now: ‘Oh, we can’t have any midlist writers.’ The degree to which the accountants run the firms now.... The editor used to be able to say, ‘Look, I made out this contract with these people and they’re not asking for too much. Now do it!’ Now the sales department can screw up a deal at any point in the negotiation. “Young Adult? They only invented the term less than 30 years ago, and it seems absolutely a market category. When A Wizard of Earthsea was first published, the front flap said ‘11 up.’ They had the good sense to remove that line before the next edition, I think. I kept saying, ‘It isn’t just kids that read fantasy,’ and they found out I was right. “Last year I judged the Western PEN Awards, so I read a whole lot of YAs – the whole shebang. Some of them were amazingly explicit. Granny was learning things she didn’t know! A lot of YAs are really aimed toward teenage problems (like a lot of the books I was reading) – they’re for specific kids. They aren’t great books, but they’re the right book for the right kid – very unpretentious. They really are for young people. But are most YA fantasies only for kids? Although I have to tell you, I’m tired of the Feisty Female with red hair. She is somebody it’s important for girls from about 11 to 15 to read about. That’s why they love Clan of the Cave Bear. They’ve got that heroine, and can model themselves on her: she can invent fire and discover a continent and have sex every night. But most of us outgrow her. “When my agent told me I should write a YA, because they’re so easy to sell, I said, ‘I’m too old!’ I knew I couldn’t write about modern teenagers. But then I thought, ‘Fantasy. A teenager in a fantasy doesn’t have to be modern.’ In a YA, naturally, your protagonist is going to be young, under 20. You’re not writing about kids. The story may be about people growing up, but so is Romeo and Juliet. They used to call them bildungsroman, ‘novel of education,’ which is exactly what most YAs are. “But after I wrote my Annals of the Western Shore trilogy, I was kind of discouraged about how YA traps you in a little niche. Nobody in SFWA paid any attention to those books at all, even the jury for the Norton award ignored the first two. I’m beginning to resent the categorization. If you put ‘YA’ on a book, I would say 85% of your male

readers won’t even look at it: ‘Oh, that’s for kids.’ Women are less prejudiced, but I don’t know how much less. “Am I going to sell another book to Hollywood? Probably not. Bit once, OK; bit twice, you’re stupid. I think a couple of my books would make very good movies, but you’ve got to have somebody who really believes in you, really believes this

book would make a good movie, not, ‘I’m going to buy this book so we can use her name, and then I’ll make the movie I want to make.’ However, I got wonderful letters of condolence for months after the Sci Fi Channel’s version of A Wizard of Earthsea. People were so sweet, so mad! I do have wonderful readers. They write the nicest damn letters. “I have no idea what I’ll work on next. There’s

one story in the setting of my recent YA trilogy that I’d like to tell, but so far it will not make itself into a book – it won’t come out book-size. So I’m just waiting on that. Sometimes a story happens, and sometimes it doesn’t happen; it just lingers in the middle distance and says, ‘Not ready yet.’’’ –Ursula K. Le Guin

The Data File

the company in their second quarter. He noted ‘‘the Internet is where the growth is,’’ and expects the company’s internet division to benefit from that. There are cuts at the brick-and-mortar stores, though, with executives calling this the ‘‘worst retail environment in 30 years.’’ Because of the increase in book sales online, B&N has reduced the number of books it carries in certain categories like computer books, atlases, dictionaries, and reference books, all of which sell better online. Children’s books sell best in physical stores, while music sales are down so much that B&N may replace CDs with other products. They’ll also try to cut costs by improving efficiency in the supply chain and reducing payroll – though they’ll inevitably have to hire more parttime work for the holidays. The number of new store openings will decrease, too, with only 20 to 25 new stores planned for next year, compared to 30 to 35 this year.

Worldcons News • Anticipation, the 67th World

 p. 12

Morality Clause • Random House UK has inserted

a morality clause into its standard contract for Young Adult authors, according to a report from the Society of Author’s Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group. The clause reads: ‘‘If you act or behave in a way which damages your reputation as a person suitable to work with or be associated with children, and consequently the market for or value of the work is seriously diminished, and we may (at our option) take any of the following actions: Delay publication / Renegotiate advance / Terminate the agreement.’’ The Society advises authors to ask for the clause to be struck before agreeing to sign any contracts.

Publishing News Folds • British weekly

publishing trade magazine Publishing News has closed, producing its final issue July 25, 2008. The magazine, founded 29 years ago, couldn’t continue in the loss of revenue from advertisers shifting their money from print to online ads and direct marketing.

Watchmen in Dispute • The film adaptation of

Alan Moore’s Watchmen is under dispute, as 20th Century Fox stakes their claim to the rights to the film, already wrapped by Warner. Producer Lawrence Gordon was granted rights to the film by Fox in the 1990s, under the condition that the studio had the right to become involved with the project any time a star, director, budget, or other material element changed. According to Fox, the project was never offered to them, and Warner now has the film finished and ready for distribution. Fox filed suit against Warner in February, something studios rarely do, and the case is headed for trial in Los Angeles federal court next January.

AuthorScam • A new scam aimed at booksellers hit Oakland’s Diesel: A Bookstore last December when they received a call from someone claiming to be cookbook author Eric Gower, due at a multiauthor event that afternoon. He said he was stuck in Los Angeles, his car had been stolen, and he needed an emergency $150.00 sent to him by Western Union so he could get to Oakland. Store co-owner John Evans said, ‘‘It sounded strange though, calling us and not someone else, when there was no way to make the event in any case.’’ They suggested he call his publicist, and he agreed, and they heard nothing further – until the real Gower showed up at the event, and had no idea why the store’s staff were so surprised. Evans called the con the ‘‘Nigerian author scam.’’ Other similar cases have turned up, according to a late April article in the Los Angeles Times, with one caller even claiming to be Ray Bradbury (staff at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena CA weren’t fooled). B&N Makes Adjustments • Barnes & Noble announced plans to cope with the changing retail environment and bad economy at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference in September. B&N CFO Joseph Lombardi said the bookselling business is ‘‘holding up,’’ pointing out a 13.9% increase for

YA Fantasy Tops Costa Poll • Children’s fantasy

authors topped a list of favorite authors in a UK poll conducted to mark the 2008 Costa Book Awards (previously the Whitbread awards). Top place went to prolific children’s author Enid Blyton, whose fantasy works include the Faraway Tree and the Wishing Chair series. Roald Dahl came in second, followed by J.K. Rowling in third. Jane Austen and William Shakespeare round out the top five. More than half the authors, 29 of the 50 listed, have at least some SF or fantasy to their credit. Others making the list: Charles Dickens (6), J.R.R. Tolkien (7), Stephen King (9), C.S. Lewis (11), Oscar Wilde (17), Dan Brown (19), Martin Amis (22), Isaac Asimov (23), Margaret Atwood (24), H.G. Wells (27), Arthur C. Clarke (29), George Orwell (30), Iain Banks (32), Arthur Conan Doyle (35), Peter Ackroyd (36), Kingsley Amis (37), P.G. Wodehouse (38), Doctor Seuss (39), Mark Twain (40), J.G. Ballard (41), Thomas Hardy (42), James Patterson (43), Leo Tolstoy (45), Irvine Welsh (46), and Ray Bradbury (49). (Conspicuously missing: Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman….)

eBay Changes Continue • Online marketplace eBay announced new policies aimed at shifting from auction sales to fixed-price sales. Starting September 16, sellers could list fixed-price items for a drastically reduced price of $0.35, even an unlimited number of identical items at the same price, for a month at a time. Booksellers get an even better deal; books, movies, DVDs, music, and video games have a fixed-price insertion fee of only $0.15. The changes were partly made in response to seller complaints over changes made in January that some felt benefitted big retailers at the expense of smaller merchants. The move may also help calm Wall Street concerns about eBay’s growth potential; fixed-price sales are currently the fastest-growing segment for eBay. As part of efforts to improve customer satisfaction, eBay also made it impossible for sellers to leave negative feedback on buyers, though buyers can still leave negative comments on sellers. This has some sellers complaining about buyers trying to extort better deals by threatening to make negative comments; eBay search results began favoring vendors with high feedback ratings in spring.

Science Fiction Convention, to be held August 6-10, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, has published Press Release #11, announcing a special category Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, which will cover any SF or fantasy narrative in graphic form appearing for the first time in 2008. They also announced a call for papers for the academic track welcoming 15-minute presentations on any topic related to science fiction, especially about Guests of Honour Neil Gaiman, Élisabeth Vonarburg, and David Hartwell; 300-word abstracts with audiovisual requirements should be sent in .RTF format to division heads Christine Mains at <cemains@ shaw.ca> and Graham J. Murphy at <grahammur phy@trentu.ca> by January 15, 2009.

Book News • Terry Goodkind’s first novel Wiz-

ard’s First Rule (1994) has been released as an ebook from Rosetta Books exclusively for the Kindle e-reader. This is the first of Goodkind’s books to be released in electronic form. His agent Russell Galen explained: ‘‘Terry believes deeply that the power of novels is connected in part to the physical experience of reading a printed book, and so for years he refused to permit electronic editions of his work. A hands-on demonstration of the Kindle convinced him that here at last was a technology which provided that powerful reading experience.’’

Announcements • The International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts has issued a call for academic paper proposals and panel discussions. The deadline is October 31, 2009. The 30th ICFA will be held March 18-22, 2009, at the Orlando Airport Marriott in Orlando FL. The theme is ‘‘Time and the Fantastic’’; the Guests of Honor are Guy Gavriel Kay and Robert Charles Wilson and the Guest Scholar is Maria Nikolajeva, with Special Guest Emeritus Brian Aldiss. Details at <www.iafa.org>. Simon & Schuster UK has moved, effective September 15, 2008. The new address is Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 1st Floor, 222 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8HB. The Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency is changing its name to Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, after Anna Ghosh was made partner. Financial News • The US Census Bureau’s preliminary report for June shows bookstore sales down 7.1% to $1.07 billion, the first drop in sales for the year. Year-to-date sales were up 3.1% to $7.67 billion. The overall retail segment saw June sales up 1.3%; year-to-date sales up 3.1%, the same as bookstore sales. The AAP sales report for June shows trade sales up for the month, with juvenile books leading the way, hardcovers up 18.2% and trade paperbacks up 17.9%; for the year to date, YA hardcovers were down 6.6%, and trade paperbacks up 6.2%. Hardcovers led the adult segment, up 12.2% (down 6.3% YTD), followed by trade paperbacks, up 5.5% (up 11.5% YTD), and mass market paperbacks, up 1.2% (down 0.9% YTD). For the six-month period, e-books were up 43.3% to $22.2 million; audiobooks were down 15.5% to $74.5 million.  LOCUS October 2008 / 63

 The Data File US book exports for the first half of 2008 were up 10.5% to $1.08 billion, thanks largely to the weak US dollar. Exports to the UK were up 21.7% to $173.2 million. Sales to Canada, the largest importer of American books, were up 10.1% to $470.9 million. Exports declined to the third and fourth largest importers, Australia down 4.7% and Mexico down 11.8%. The United Arab Emirates managed to increase their imports by 237%, to $6.9 million. Book imports by the US were up 3.5% to $1.06 billion; China remains the biggest supplier, up 3.3% to $344 million, followed by the UK, down 1.5% to $163 million. The year 2007 was hard for bookstores but mixed for trade publishers, according to a Publishers Weekly year-end report. Among the chain bookstores, Borders had the worst results, taking heavy losses in continuing operations and on their UK operations before selling them at a loss, ending up with a minuscule 0.1% operating margin; Barnes & Noble had a 1% drop in its operating margin, with an operating income of $208.1 million. Books-AMillion saw their margin down by a mere 0.7%. Trade publishers all saw profits in 2007 (but they still complain). Scholastic actually increased their operating margin, but ended up with a net loss of $22.4 million, due to discontinued operations. Harlequin improved their margin 13.1% from 11.9% in 2006, a restructuring year, but didn’t come close to 2005’s 18.1%. Penguin Group, Random House, and Simon & Schuster all saw slight increases, while HarperCollins’ operating margin dropped a slim 0.4%. The first half of 2008 was also tough for bookstore chains. The three biggest chains saw sales slip in the second quarter (ending August 2, 2008) with combined sales of $2.19 billion, down 3.8% compared to the same period in 2007; for the year to date, their sales were $4.21 billion, down 2.2%. Barnes & Noble was down 1.7% for the quarter (down 0.3% YTD) with sales of $1.2 billion. Borders Group dropped 6.6% (down 4.8% YTD), and BooksA-Million dropped 7.5% (down 4.3% YTD). Even excluding the massive sales for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007, all three chains said comparable store sales were down for the quarter. Borders Group’s second-quarter revenue of $758.5 million was down 6.6% over the previous year, but the company’s debt was also down to $465.7 million, a significant drop from a debt of $738.4 million. Their net loss from continuing operations dropped from $18.1 million to $11.3, a significant improvement. Borders superstores had sales of $614.5 million, but a loss of $7.7 million compared to a loss of $2.9 million the year before, blamed on poor same-store sales, down 8.9%. (Superstores figures include the new Borders.com site launched in mid-July, which had sales of $7.4 million.) Four new superstores, all new concept stores, were opened in the quarter, for a total of 518 US superstores. Waldenbooks stores had sales of $96.9 million, down 17.0%, with same-store sales down 7.0% (down 1.4% if you exclude Harry Potter from last year). The company ended the second quarter with 468 stores, down from 532 the year before. Borders’ international division sold off its Australia/New Zealand/Singapore operations; remaining operations had sales of $30.4 million, up 3.8%. The five largest US trade publishers saw sales up a slim 0.5% for the first half of 2008, their global sales reaching $4.24 billion. Hachette leads, with sales of $1.334 billion, up 1.4%; Hachette Book Group USA out-performed the rest of Hachette, up 11% for the period. Random House was second in sales with $1.125 billion, a drop of 7.9%; Penguin had $745.1 million in sales, up 11.2%; also up 11.2%

64 / LOCUS October 2008

is HarperCollins, with $652.0 million. Simon & Schuster trails the rest with sales of $387.6 million, down 9.8%. Bertelsmann’s report for the first half of 2008 shows Random House not only had declining sales, but EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) dropped 29.5% to $46 million. Random North America did somewhat better, with flat results for the period. In the US, they acquired The Monacelli Press and Watson-Guptill. They also sold more e-books in the first six months of 2008 than in all of 2007, though e-books remain a tiny part of their revenue.

International Rights • Czech rights to The Clan Corporate, The Merchants’ War, and The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross went to Talpress via Cailtin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates and Kristin Olson. Chinese rights to Sarah Monette’s Melusine sold to Wanyu Culture & Art Co via the Grayhawk Agency with Jack Byrne. German rights to E.C. Tubb’s City of No Return went to Peter Hopf, and rights to S.T.A.R. Flight to Blitz-Verlag, via Phil Harbottle and Uwe Luserke. Other Rights • Large print rights to E.C. Tubb’s

Escape into Space went to F.A. Thorpe via Phil Harbottle.

Publications Received • Burroughs Bulletin, #74

(Spring 2008) and #75 (Summer 2008), quarterly publication of the Burroughs Bibliophiles, with articles on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s life and works, plus letters and reviews. Information: George T. McWhorter, c/o The Burroughs Memorial Collection, University of Louisville Library, Louisville KY 40292; phone: (502) 852-8729; e-mail: <george.mcwhorter@louisville.edu>. British Science Fiction Association, No. 2 (Spring 2008). Special edition, ‘‘Fantasy & SF: The Roots of Genre,’’ featuring essays by Farah Mendlesohn and Paul Kincaid. Edited by Niall Harrison. Website: <www.bsfa.co.uk>. Farmerphile, No. 13 (July 2008), a quarterly magazine devoted to the works of Philip José Farmer, with essays, articles, news, and previously unpublished works by Farmer. $11.00 per issue. Information: Michael Croteau, Publisher. E-mail: <mike@pjfarmer.com>, website: <www.pjfarmer. com/farmerphile.htm>. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Volume 18 #1 (2007), Volume 18 #2 (2007), quarterly journal featuring essays on the study of the fantastic in arts, media, fiction, and literature. Information: Brian Attebery, Editor JFA, Department of English and Philosophy, Idaho State University, 921 S. 8th Avenue, Stop 8056, Pocatello, ID 83209-8056; phone: (208) 282-2537; e-mail: <jfa@isu.edu>; website: <www.iafa.org/jfa>. Mythprint, Vol. 45, No. 5-6 (April/May 2008), Vol. 45, No. 6 (June 2008), Vol 45, No. 7-8 (July/ August 2008), monthly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, with news, reviews, etc. Information: Mythopoeic Society Orders Department, 920 N. Atlantic Blvd. #E, Alhambra CA 91801; e-mail: <correspondence@mythsoc.org>; website: <www. mythsoc.org>. Prometheus, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Summer 2008), newsletter of the Libertarian Futurist Society, with articles and news. Information: Libertarian Futurist Society, 650 Castro St., Suite 120-433, Mountain View CA 94041; e-mail: <moulton@moulton.com>; website: <www.lfs.org>. SFRA Review, #284 (Spring 2008), #285 (Summer 2008), newsletter of the Science Fiction Research Association, with SFRA news, reviews, etc. Information: SFRA Treasurer Donald M. Hassler,

1226 Woodhill Dr., Kent OH 44240; e-mail: <extrap@kent.edu>; website: <www.sfra.org>. The SFWA Bulletin, #176 (Winter 2008), #177 (Spring 2008), #178 (August-September 2008), quarterly journal of the SF & Fantasy Writers of America, with articles, news, dialogues, market reports, etc. Free to members; for others, $4.99 per issue, $18.00 per year. Information: SFWA Bulletin, PO Box 10126, Rochester NY 14610; e-mail: <bulletin@sfwa.org>; website: <www.sfwa.org>. Star*Line, 31.2 (March/April 2008), 31.3 (May/ June 2008), 31.4 (July/August 2008), bimonthly journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, with poetry, news, reviews, market information, etc. Membership: $21 per year US, Mexico, and Canada, $25 elsewhere. Contact Samantha Henderson, SFPA Treasurer, PO Box 4846, Covina CA 91723; e-mail: <sfpatreasurer@gmail.com>; website: <www. sfpoetry.com>. Vector, #256 (Summer 2008), the critical journal of the BSFA, with articles, interviews, reviews, etc. Single copy: £4.00. Also included: Focus, #52 (Summer 2008), the writer’s magazine of BSFA. Information: Peter Wilkinson, 39 Glyn Avenue, New Barnet, Herts. EN4 9PJ, UK; e-mail: <bsfamembership@yahoo.co.uk>; website: <www. bsfa.co.uk>.

Catalogues Received • Black & White Books,

Rushton H. Potts, 100 W. Main St. #5, Hyannis MA 02601; e-mail: <bwbooks@comcast.net>. Catalogue #109 (2008), with new acquisitions plus selected stock categories in used SF, fantasy, mystery, etc., many first editions, some proofs and signed books. DreamHaven Books, 912 West Lake St., Minneapolis MN 55408; phone: (612) 823-6070; e-mail: <dream@dreamhavenbooks.com>; website: <www.dreamhavenbooks.com>. Catalogs #219 (March 2008), #221 (May 2008), #222 (June 2008), #223 (July 2008), #224 (August 2008), with new/ recent SF, fantasy, and horror books and magazines, plus used, rare, and collectible books, many first editions, hardcovers, and paperbacks. Fantasy Centre, 157 Holloway Road, London N7 8LX, England; phone: 020-7607-9433; e-mail: <books@fantasycentre.biz>; website: <www. fantasycentre.biz>. June 2008, July 2008, and September 2008 catalogs, with new and used SF, fantasy, horror, adventure, mythology, hardcovers, paperbacks, and magazines. L.W. Currey, Inc., 203 Water Street (PO Box 187), Elizabethtown, New York 12932; phone: (518) 873-6477; e-mail: <lloyd@lwcurrey.com>; website: <www.lwcurrey.com>. Catalogue 120 (Fall 2008), with 19th and 20th century literature, including fantastic, utopian, horror and science fiction, with many rare and first editions. Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore/Uncle Edgar’s Mystery Bookstore, 2864 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis MN 55407; phone: Uncle Hugo’s: (612) 824-6347; Uncle Edgar’s: (612) 824-9984; e-mail: <unclehugo@aol.com>; website: <www. UncleHugo.com>. Catalogs #82 (June-August 2008) and #83 (September-November 2008), with new and used SF, horror, mystery, techno-thrillers, and non-fiction. Includes awards news, gift ideas, and reviews. Wrigley Cross Books, PMB 455, 2870 NE Hogan Rd., Ste. E, Gresham OR 97030; phone: (503) 667-0807; toll free: (877) 694-1467; e-mail: <books@wrigleycrossbooks.com>; website: <www. wrigleycrossbooks.com>. Catalogs #157 (June 2008), #158 (July 2008), #159 (August 2008), and #160 (September 2008), with new and used SF, fantasy, horror, mystery, British imports, etc.

guitar conference. He’s going to see his Editorial Matters slack-key niece in a play tomorrow before returning to exile

year’s Worldcon were pretty blatant. Some of the people involved were the same ones who created the semiprozine award to keep Locus from (usually) winning the fanzine award. We’ve dominated both categories when eligible, but not monolithically. We lost to SF Chronicle twice, Interzone several times, and others. We withdrew one year, but stopped that since no one seemed to care. We’re proud of the magazine, and what it’s accomplished in 40 years, and plan to keep going, awards or not. Beth Gwinn, Liza Groen Trombi, Amelia Beamer, Charles N. Brown, We hope everyone else beJonathan Strahan, Kirsten Gong-Wong ing affected by this decision will keep going as well. But it certainly seems unfair to be singled out because we’re too good at what we do, and unfair to disenfranchise an entire category. The proposition will be up for ratification at the WSFS business meeting at next year’s Worldcon. We’ll be there, along with some of the other magazine supporters in the category – New York Review of SF, Interzone, and various websites (which may now be eligible under Best Related Work) who also plan to protest. If you’re an attendee of next year’s Worldcon, you have a vote. We’ll all be there, and ask your help. I said last editorial that Neal Stephenson, Tim Pratt, Kirsten Gong-Wong, Charles N. Brown, Liza I attended only one party. Actually, not true. I attended Groen Trombi, Amelia Beamer, Francesca Myman one off-site party, the Eos anniversary bash, and actually stayed a while Ah, September. It used to be a big month for Locus, with (it was pouring rain) sitting in a corner lookWorldcon at the beginning, distribution of the ing pathetic. Friends felt sorry for me, brought extra-large September issue to take to Worldcon, me food and drink, and sat to talk. My favorand a hectic schedule to get the October issue ite party in years. And it was over by 8 p.m.! out. Now with several Worldcons having moved FALLING OUT OF BED I turned over a little too violently while getting back to early August, it has all changed. August is now our hectic month, with September more up the other morning and rolled off the edge of relaxed, except for Liza and Amelia, who have to the bed, banging my head, shoulder, knee, etc., get convention photos ready for printing. It meant on a table, a wall, and the floor. After a few minTim could take a well-earned vacation in Hawaii. utes, I realized I wasn’t badly hurt, got up, and Later this month, Kirsten is off to London and forgot about it – until a nice black eye and large Paris (her husband, AAron, has some business bruises formed. Then the fun began. People at there) with Teddy, and Liza and family are off to the gym kept asking me what happened. When Mexico. Me? I’ll gladly stay home, read books, I tried to tersely tell the truth – that I fell out of and listen to music. Except for some English- bed – nobody believed me. So the explanations began to get more fanciful. I was attacked by a speaking conventions, my travel days are over. door (worked well). Beaten up for not taking out CONVENTION REDUX Alas, it may be the last or penultimate time we the garbage (most comments). You should see the can win a Hugo. The business meeting passed an other guy – not a mark on him (most laughs). I anti-Locus amendment saying that any magazine dreamed about being in a fight and woke up with that qualifies as a semiprozine can no longer win a a black eye (most puzzled looks). It’s makeup; I’m Hugo. Mind you, they didn’t abolish the category, getting ready for Halloween (scared them off), just the award, so that the semiprozines can’t go plus variations. The truth doesn’t set you free. back to being fanzines, or Best Related Work Sometimes it’s better to be free with the truth. (new definition of Best Related Book). Some of VISITORS Neal Stephenson was in town for his book tour the other semiprozine editors are madder than we and stopped by for an afternoon. Scotch, food, are (after all, we’ve won many times). We normally try to stay out of convention plenty of talk. A good time for all of us. We politics and don’t even take sides in conven- learned all about shovel fighting. Russell Letson is here now, having attended a tion bidding, but the anti-Locus forces at this

in the Midwest. More scotch, music, talk. THIS ISSUE No, it isn’t April 1, although some of the stories make it sound that way.... Eoin Colfer writing the sixth Hitchhiker’s Guide book? Most fowl, I say. Angry Robot as an imprint? I don’t believe it. Too silly. Nerd Power Lifting? Hurray for ADF! As far as the rest of the issue, it was wonderful to get to spend an afternoon with Ursula Le Guin (Liza and Amelia had not met her before), and Toby Buckell and his wife were fun to entertain here in Locusland. Seeing the Worldcon photos tells me how many people I would have liked to talk to, but missed seeing. We ploughed through a solid 1,900 or so images for the Worldcon coverage – it’s really difficult to pick and choose sometimes but we managed to pare them down. It’s always a group effort to get the Worldcon report together; thanks to Cheryl Morgan & Kevin Standlee for the considered report on the WSFS Business Meeting and to everyone who sent us photos from and commentary on events we were unable to make it to. Congratulations to Gardner Dozois on his new column. We’re more than happy (ecstatic?) to have him. We still don’t know exactly what shape the column will take. Tune in each month to find out. Somebody asked why we sometimes run obituaries for mystery writers and others with little or no connection to SF. Mostly because these were writers who were important to my understanding and appreciation of fiction, and were important to other authors and readers for the same reasons. I’ve probably talked to more fans of James Crumley, Gregory McDonald, Arthur Lyons, and Ross McDonald at SF conventions than I thought possible. The crime field is still important to SF people of all stripes. I knew Brian Thomsen quite well and will miss his phone calls (he didn’t use e-mail). My condolences to his wife, Donna. He was an enthusiastic man who loved being involved in the field. When Julie Schwartz began to have trouble getting to conventions, it was Brian who took care of him and made his appearances possible. It was also Brian who assembled Julie’s autobiography out of a welter of notes and scraps of paper. He gave a lot of TSR authors their break into the regular book market while at Tor. He was proud of his nomination for a Hugo and a World Fantasy Award. Farewell. RENEWALS On the business side, we will be changing our renewal slips from the standard paper forms that come in an envelope to a simple postcard. This will help us keep our (otherwise ever-rising) costs down. The protocol is mostly the same: fill it out, fold it in half, and send it back in an envelope. You will still get three renewal notices, one a month, starting the month before your subscription expires. Keep your eyes peeled for them! Our next convention coming up is World Fantasy in Calgary. The organizers have made a concerted effort to minimize the border problems that previous cons in Canada have faced, with onerous tariffs for artists/exhibitors, resulting in disappointing art shows. If you are on the fence about exhibiting there, check out their website, <www.worldfantasy2008.org>, and look at the US Crossing form in the Art Show section. Everyone else, we’ll see you in Calgary! –C.N. Brown 

LOCUS October 2008 / 65

On CD-ROM from Locus Press Updated and Revised to 2006: The Locus Index to Science Fiction (1984-2006) by Charles N. Brown & William G. Contento combined with Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections by William G. Contento. The Locus Index to Science Fiction lists all SF, fantasy, and horror books, magazines, and stories published from 1984 through 2006.

The Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections

lists the contents of anthologies and collections published prior to 1984. The CD also includes indexes to the Locus reviews, interviews, and obituaries.

Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Weird Fiction Magazine Index (1890-2005) by Stephen T. Miller & William G. Contento. An index to all professional, semi-professional, and major fanzines published since 1890.

Mystery Short Fiction Miscellany: An Index by William G. Contento. NEW 2008 edition. Combines the Index to Crime and Mystery Anthologies by William G. Contento with Martin H. Greenberg (G.K. Hall 1990), complete indexes to several mystery magazines, and book and magazine listings from the Mystery Short Fiction website. A Master Index to mystery short stories in anthologies, mystery stories in single-author collections published since 1990, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, The Saint Detective Magazine, and other mystery magazines published since 1980. Indexes over 2,700 books, 2,400 magazine issues, and 61,000 stories by 10,000 authors. Now with links to over 1,000 magazine cover images. Crime Fiction IV: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1749-2000, Revised Edition by Allen J. Hubin. NEW 2008 Revised Edition: adds over 2,000 books, updates author information, and includes many other additions and corrections. This massive bibliography indexes by author, title, series character and setting for 108,900+ detective and mystery novels and collections. Listing of alternate titles and publishers brings the total to over 143,000 books. Includes author, title and contents lists of stories in single author collections, chronological list of books and stories, publisher list, and an index of films derived from the books and stories. ********** Detective and Mystery Fiction: An International Bibliography of Secondary Sources,

Third Edition, revised and expanded by Walter Albert. The first edition of this bibliography won a special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. This is the revised and expanded Third Edition, with new corrections. Continues reference through 2000. Major sections are: I. Bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, & checklists (283 entries), II. General reference works: historical & critical: books (669 entries) and articles (1,359 entries), III. Dime novels, juvenile series & pulps (859 entries), IV. Authors (4,476 entries)

The Index to Adventure Magazine by Richard Bleiler. NEW 2008 edition includes links to over 590 Adventure cover images. An author, title, illustrator, and issue-by-issue index to Adventure magazine, along with a history of the magazine that was called “The No. 1 Pulp”. Revised and expanded from the two-volume hardcover edition. **********

Each of these indexes contains the following: • List of books and magazines by author and title • List of book and magazine contents • List of stories by author and title • List of book and magazine cover artists •All lists contain extensive links to the other sections for easy navigation These indexes are accessed using your existing web browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc.). Directions are included. PC and Macintosh Compatible. ___The Locus Index to Science Fiction/Index to SF Anthologies & Collections.............................................................. $49.95 ___Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazine Index..................................................................................... $49.95 ___Mystery Short Fiction Miscellany: An Index................................................................................................................ $49.95 ___Crime Fiction III: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1749-1995................................................................................... $49.95 ___Detective and Mystery Fiction........................................................................................................................................ $29.95 ___The Index to Adventure Magazine.................................................................................................................................. $29.95 Shipping/handling: In the US and Canada : $3.50 first CD, +$1 each additional. Overseas postage double. California residents add 8% sales tax.

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Obituaries

Gregory Burke Christopher Mcdonald was born February 15, 1937 in Shrewsbury MA. He attended Harvard, graduating in 1958, and before becoming a full-time writer, worked as an insurance underwriter, Peace Corps volunteer, teacher, journalist, and “international yacht troubleshooter,” and as editor and critic-at-large for the Boston Globe (1966-73). He was president of the Mystery Writers of America from 1985-86, and received two Edgar Awards, for Fletch (1975) and Confess, Fletch (1977). He is survived by second wife Cheryle Higgins (married 2001), two sons from his first marriage to Susan Aiken (married 1968, divorced 1990), three stepsons, and grandchildren.

of Forgotten Realms tie-in novels: Once Around the Realms (1995) and The Mage in the Iron Mask (1996). He edited many anthologies, including Alternate Gettysburgs (2002), The Reel Stuff (1998), Mob Magic (1998), Oceans of Magic (2001), Oceans of Space (2002), The Repentant (2003), and A Yuletide Universe (2003), all with with Martin H. Greenberg; Halflings, Hobbits, Warrows and Weefolk with Baird Seales; (1991); Furry Fantastic with Jean Rabe (2006); Masters of Fantasy with Bill Fawcett (2006); The Warmasters (2003), The Further Adventures of Beowulf: Champion of Middle Earth (2006), Novel Ideas: Fantasy (2006), Crime novelist JAMES CRUMLEY, 68, died Novel Ideas: Science Fiction (2006), shared-world September 17, 2008 of natural causes in Missoula anthologies The War Years Vols. 1-3 (1990-91), and MT. Crumley described himself as ‘‘a bastard child various roleplaying-game anthologies. Fiction and critical anthology The American Fantasy Tradi- of Raymond Chandler,’’ and was known for dark, David Foster Wallace (2006) tion (2002) was a World Fantasy Award nominee. violent novels filled with drugs and profanity. He wrote two series featuring troubled PIs Milton Chester Author DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, 46, died He helped Julius Schwartz write his autobiography September 12, 2008 in Claremont CA of an apparent Man of Two Worlds: My Life in Science Fiction Milodragovitch and C.W. Sughrue respectively. First novel One to Count Cadence (1969) was about suicide. Wallace was a noted postmodern writer, most and Comics (2000), and wrote books of non-fiction soldiers in the Philippines, but his other works were famous for his sprawling, Pynchonesque Infinite Jest in various fields, including history. Thomsen was born April 13, 1959 in Brooklyn mostly crime, including The Wrong Case (1976), (1996), which satirized a future America dominated The Last Good Kiss (1979), Dancing Bear (1987), and grew up in Rockaway Park. He attended Long by corporations. The Mexican Tree Duck (1993), Bordersnakes Born February 21, 1962 in Ithaca NY, Wallace at- Island University, graduating with a BA in English (1996), The Final Country (2001), and The Right Literature in 1981. He briefly pursued tended Amherst College, majoring in Madness (2005). Some short work was collected a PhD in English Literature at the City English and Philosophy and graduatin The Muddy Fork & Other Things (1991) and University of New York Graduate ing in 1985. His senior English thesis Whores (1988). Center, but dropped out of the probecame first novel The Broom of the Crumley was born October 12, 1939 in Three gram to pursue a career in publishing. System (1987), literary SF set in the Rivers TX, enlisted in the Army in 1958, and served He started as an editorial assistant near future. He earned his MFA in until 1961. He briefly attended the Georgia Institute at Warner and helped develop the creative writing at the University of of Technology and got a BA in history in 1964 from SF/fantasy line. In the early ’90s he Arizona in 1987. He briefly attended Texas Arts and Industries University, and an MFA moved to Lake Geneva WI to work Harvard to study philosophy as a in English from the University of Iowa in 1966. He for TSR, returning to New York in graduate student before becoming a worked as an English professor and visiting writer the late ’90s, where he remained for professor at Illinois State University at various universities, and spent ten years in Holthe rest of his life. in 1992. In 2002 he relocated to Clalywood as a writer and script doctor. Crumley is Thomsen was a Hugo finalist in the remont to teach English at Pomona survived by his fifth wife, Martha Elizabeth (married Best Professional Editor category in College. 1992), five children from previous marriages (which 1987, and a judge for the 1993 World In addition to his two novels, Wal- Brian M. Thomsen (2003) all ended in divorce), eight grandchildren, and two Fantasy Awards. He is survived by his lace published story collections Girl great-granchildren. with Curious Hair (1989), Brief Interviews with wife Donna Benedetto, married 1990. Hideous Men (1999), and Oblivion: Stories (2004). Star Trek fan JOAN WINSTON, 77, died SeptemGREGORY McDONALD, 71, died September A noted essayist and memoirist, his non-fiction ber 11, 2008 of Alzheimer’s in Manhattan. Winston includes A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do 7, 2008 in Giles County TN of prostate cancer. organized the first Star Trek convention in January Again (1997), Up, Simba! (2000), Everything and Mcdonald is the author of two dozen novels, most 1972, and was instrumental in organizing later events More (2003), and Consider the Lobster (2005). He mysteries. He is best known for the darkly humorous as well. After 1976 she stopped organizing, but atwas guest editor of Best American Essays 2007. Fletch series of mystery novels, which began with tended many conventions as a speaker and guest of Wallace received numerous literary awards and Fletch (1975) and continued for nine books, ending honor. Her encyclopedic knowledge of the series and was the recipient of a Macarthur ‘‘Genius Grant’’ with Fletch, Too (1986). The series also spawned its creators and cast helped her co-write Star Trek in 1997. He had a history of depression, and often two spin-offs, including Son of Fletch (1993) and Lives (1975) with Jacqueline talked about suicide. He is survived by wife Karen Fletch Reflected (1994) about Lichtenberg & Sondra Marshak, the character’s son, and four Green, married 2004. and write The Making of the books featuring an eccentric Trek Conventions (1977). She Author and editor BRIAN M[ICHAEL] THOM- police detective, beginning with also edited Trek fanzine Number SEN, 49, died September 21, 2008 of a sudden heart Flynn (1977). Other notable One and cartoon book Startoons attack at home in Brooklyn NY. Thomsen was a works include first novel Run(1979), and contributed to many founding editor for the Questar line at Warner beginning Scared (1964) and The fannish publications. ning in late ’80s, where he edited many important Brave (1991), both made into Winston was born June 19, books, notably Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh (1988). In films, as were some of the Fletch 1931 in Washington DC and grew the early ’90s he went to work for roleplaying-game novels. He edited Last Laughs: up in Brooklyn. She worked as company TSR, where he was publisher of their The 1986 Mystery Writers a merchandiser for a department book line. When TSR was acquired by Wizards of of America Anthology (1986) store and in the contracts departthe Coast in 1997 he moved on to freelance editing, and wrote essay collection The ments of networks CBS and writing, book packaging, and working as a consult- Education of Gregory McdonABC, using her TV connections ald: Writings about America ing editor for Tor. to meet Star Trek personnel and Thomsen was also a fiction writer, producing 1966-73: Sketches from the organize events.  around 30 stories for various anthologies and a pair Sixties (1985). Gregory Mcdonald (1980s) Dear Locus, I am now considering stories and novellas FIRST PUBLISHED between December 2007 and December 2008 for the 20th Anniversary issue of multiple awardwinning The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror series, to be published by Robinson (UK)/Running Press (USA) in 2009. AUTHORS, do not assume that I have seen the book, magazine or website that your work appears in. If you think you have had a story published of exceptional quality (and I am only interested in seeing your very best work, no matter where it originally appeared), then send a copy to the address below.

Locus Letters

PUBLISHERS, I am also interested in seeing novels, collections, anthologies, magazines, art books, graphic adaptations, DVDs and anything else connected with the horror field that I can mention in the comprehensive overview of the year in horror. I will also list your contact information in the list of useful addresses. Please send all material (sorry, no electronic submissions), with details of first publication and all contact details, to:

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #20 c/o 130 Park View Wembley Middx HA9 6JU England The deadline for receiving material is February 1st, 2009. Submissions cannot be returned, and you will be notified by e-mail sometime after the deadline if your work has been selected to appear in the book. Thank you for your continued interest and support. –Stephen Jones 

LOCUS October 2008 / 67

TOBIAS S. BUCKELL Tobias Samuel Buckell was born January 2, 1979 in Grenada in the West Indies, where he lived for the first decade of his life before relocating to the British Virgin Islands. He moved to Ohio in 1995 in the aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn, which destroyed the boat his family lived on. Buckell graduated from Bluffton University with an English degree in 2000, and now resides in Bluffton OH with his wife Emily. Buckell attended Clarion in 1999, and shortly afterward sold first story “The Fish Merchant” to instructor Scott Edelman, then editor of Science Fiction Age. That same year his “In Orbite Medievali” was a Writers of the Future finalist. He has published about 30 stories in various magazines and anthologies, including Analog, Nature, and Year’s Best anthologies. His short stories and novels frequently draw on his Caribbean roots for inspiration. First novel Crystal Rain (2006) introduced readers to his Xenowealth universe, about farflung human colonies menaced by aliens. Sequel Ragamuffin (2007) was a finalist for Nebula and Prometheus Awards. Sly Mongoose (2008) is his latest book in that setting, with Duppy Conqueror forthcoming. He is writing Halo: The Cole Protocol, set in the world of the video game. Collection Tides from the New Worlds will appear this October. Buckell worked for a while as webmaster for review site Tangent Online, and is the founder of online writers’ group SF Novelists. He was a finalist for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002. • “When I was really little my mom kept me occupied by cutting up words and putting them in matchboxes, so I’d sit there with a box full of words and make sentences from them. As early as I can remember, I did that. She introduced me to reading when I was four or five, and I started reading novels so I could stay out of her hair. I read Clive Cussler novels when I was four or five (I loved adventure), and around seven or eight I picked up Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke, my first science fiction book. It blew my mind — spaceships and aliens and the destiny of mankind, all that stuff. Coming across the big ideas of science fiction just rearranged my mind and blew my imagination up. I thought, ‘I want more of this stuff.’ I’ve been on

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a hunt for it ever since. (You do get jaded, and it’s harder and harder to find something that astonishes you like when you were seven and everything was new.) “In the Caribbean, the public schools didn’t have as many opportunities, so my mom saved and scrimped to make sure I got into a private school. For most of my nine years in Grenada we lived in boats anchored in various bays and harbors, but I always went to school. What you do is row the dinghy into shore every morning and hop off real quick, holding your shoes. Run up the beach, dust your feet off, put your shoes on, catch the bus and go to school! “Hurricane Marilyn hit the Virgin Islands in 1995, the second in a series of two hurricanes and one really horrible tropical storm. We survived the first two and were debating whether we should stay on board for Marilyn, but when it started gusting 60, 70, 80 miles per hour, we had a brief powwow and decided, ‘That’s not a good idea, because the storm’s still 12 hours off. Let’s toss some crap in a backpack and move on.’ “The boat got blown out to sea, but when the winds changed because of the spiral effect it was knocked all the way back into the tip of St. Thomas, about five miles down from where it had been anchored. We had to leave the cats aboard, so at first we’d written them off, but then we found the boat had been thrown about 20 feet up into rocks and they’d survived. (Both cats had profound personality changes!) We rescued the cats and salvaged a few things, then packed up and moved to Ohio, where my stepdad’s parents lived. “It was really bizarre to go from a cosmopolitan tropical environment to the Midwest, where everyone has to have a car to do anything, the temperature’s different.... Very weird transition. I’m biracial. My biological dad is Grenada-born and my mom is English, born in London. So even though I look white and sound white, I identify as Caribbean and spent a lot of time amongst Caribbean people. I went from being someone who looked white but identified as Caribbean to being someone people assumed was white but with whom they had no culture in common — beyond basic western culture. My music, my speech patterns, even just being loud — the Caribbean is really loud, and he who shouts loudest gets heard. In the Midwest, everyone’s got that proper Swiss-German background. You actually wait your turn to say something! “From growing up with a mom who has a perfect British accent and classmates who had Caribbean accents, I became almost bilingual

with accents. But I ditched my British accent and my Caribbean accent when I came to the States, because everyone around me spoke Broadcast Midwest Standard and I don’t like to stand out. I’m a geek, I’m a nerd, I read books in class — I’ve got enough things that make me stand out! “On the boat we never had a TV, so at college in order to get myself up to speed in conversations I basically gorged myself on reruns. Everyone on the soccer team would be slinging Conan O’Brien references back and forth, while I had no clue! I had these weird gaps in my pop cultural knowledge, so I’d just sit there and nod. “Nowadays a lot of science fiction is TV shows as much as literature. When I went to my first convention, I had no idea what fandom was going to be about. There’s just enough missing in my exposure to media that I often can’t have long conversations with someone I meet at a con. I’m comfortable when we’re talking novels, but it inevitably veers off into media — all these series and films from the late ’70s or early ’80s that I’ve never even heard of — and I’m like a deer in the headlights. “In written science fiction, it took me forever to catch up in short fiction. I’d read a few issues of Analog and Asimov’s that were donated to my school library after Hurricane Hugo. To arrive in America and find this huge, thriving short story market was strange. “When I was a sophomore in college, I determined that I wanted to write as many stories as I could and collect a lot of rejections, because that was something I could control. I couldn’t control whether I’d sell a short story or not, so I set out to write stories, send them in, and get all those rejections! Each story was a little experiment (one would focus on dialog, one on an idea), just to develop all the tools I needed in the storytelling toolbox. I wrote probably 130 short stories from 1999 to 2002. “I was also learning to find my own voice. Some of what I wrote was fun, but none of my stories brought together all my different interests until I wrote ‘The Fish Merchant’. That story included everything I wanted to do: cyberpunk, adventure-action, a non-western setting, and a multi-cultural Caribbean hero. Everything clicked. When I finished it I thought, ‘This is what I’d like to do,’ and I submitted it as my application story to Clarion. “I grew up in a tough environment, with instances of barely scraping by, where we didn’t know if we would have dinner, things like that. And I grew up biracial in the Caribbean Islands. (I have a complex relationship with my biological father, because he was an abusive alco-

holic.) When I was reading science fiction as a kid it was more than just reading for fun; it was survival reading. It took me out of where I was. A lot of people get dragged down by being poor, stuck in situations where they don’t see any way out. There were many factors that should have prevented me from escaping my situation, and one of the things that always kept me going was reading. It was not just escapism, but the ability to see people in tougher places than I was getting through them. That was a powerful thing for me. It definitely helped me stay centered and have goals and be on a mission to get myself out of my situation. I never had any doubt I would succeed, and that’s what literature gave me. Science fiction literature, in particular, gave me a tremendous amount of imagination and hope, optimism that horrible things could be overcome. “The novel that crystallized my desire to be a writer was Bruce Sterling’s Islands in the Net, because the first third of it is set on Grenada. That was a huge novel for me. When I hit that book, I realized hardly anyone in the third world was represented in science fiction. There were secondary characters, and people would visit in a touristy way, but there was nothing that did what Sterling did. Though I had my quibbles with some of the things he said, I thought it was an honest attempt to include the developing world in the dialog. Those places had a political role to play. “That was like a lightbulb going on, and I thought, ‘That’s true!’ There are all these people like me who don’t see themselves in science fiction, all these brown kids reading it. They might go to it for hope, they might see that it’s something amazing, but they don’t see biracial heroes or Caribbean heroes or minority heroes going out and having the adventures that other kinds of heroes are having. So my mission became to write quality, interesting science fiction and fantasy, genre fiction, in the vein of my contemporaries, but featuring multicultural heroes. “I got a letter from a librarian in this innercity library who said my books are really popular because the kids are excited that it’s science fiction, but with characters like them. They’re hungry for it. That’s my imaginary target audience: 14-year-olds who are interested in seeing multicultural heroes in science fiction. I don’t think the up-and-coming readers of science fiction are as scared of this as others might be. Most of what I get from the younger generation is a lot of excitement and buzz. The hate mail I get is from older people! And it’s the right kind of hate mail, the kind I don’t want from people

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on my side. So that’s cool. “I write a lot about political freedoms and “Multiculturalism isn’t something to be the nature of revolution, the way revolutions feared. It’s actually a really cool adventure. I always start with the best intentions, but a few found a lot of Caribbean literature that was people think the ends justify the means, and magical realist or realist, even some mysteries, suddenly you have a group that’s doing very so I thought it would be interesting to bring it nasty things, ostensibly for a good cause. My to science fiction. I love what Nalo Hopkinson inspiration for Ragamuffin was the politics does, but for my own direction I’m a classical between Haiti and the colonial powers when it Clarke/Asimov rationalist and it’s really hard was trying to achieve freedom. The aliens are for me to write magical realism or fantasy. My very much stand-ins for colonial powers, and mind rebels. It doesn’t get me going as much as taking an “There are all these people like O’Neill Cylinder and having an me who don’t see themselves in African-American cyborg blasting her way down the midscience fiction, all these brown dle of it in zero gravity! I want kids reading it. They might go to to work with the kind of fiction it for hope, they might see that I love: big explosions, big it’s something amazing, but they ideas, big dumb objects, and the people exploring them. I don’t see biracial heroes or love the sense of scale with a Caribbean heroes or minority sense of adventure. heroes going out and having the “I have a really short attention span. I read a lot and I adventures that other kinds of read fast, so I like to be conheroes are having. So my misstantly engaged. When I read sion became to write quality, something where all the characters just stand around and interesting science fiction and talk to each other, it drives me fantasy, genre fiction, in the nuts. ‘Blow something up, vein of my contemporaries, but already! Run for something, featuring multicultural heroes.” create a threat. All these ideas are fascinating, but stop talking!’ I love Sterling’s non-cyberpunk stuff, the remnant humans are dealing with colonial like The Artificial Kid. I totally geek out on politics. Alistair Reynolds, I love Iain Banks. And “The latest, Sly Mongoose is my ‘airship when I’m not reading science fiction I enjoy porn’ novel. Geoff Landis told me a Venusian noir. world is really a pain in the butt at ground “When I started working on novels, I level because it’s 800 degrees and everything tried to repeat the success I had with ‘The Fish melts and it rains sulfuric acid, it’s windy, the Merchant’ instead of experimenting with new pressure is insane, and you can’t breathe. But approaches. If I’m going to be writing a piece if you go up a hundred thousand feet it’s Earthof fiction for five, six, seven months, I want temperature, the pressure is Earth-standard, that confidence. Bringing Pepper from ‘The and it’s not cloudy, so you have a nice habitFish Merchant’ as a main character was a able level except for the fact that there’s no crutch, in a way. I knew how the character ground. But air is a natural lifting gas on a worked and he was a lot of fun to write, so I Venusian world, so if you build a giant bubble kept using him. and fill it with air, it’s gonna float and you can “Crystal Rain was my attempt to write build a mile-wide city in it. steampunk planetary adventure with a mostly “I thought ‘Wow! It’s like a hard-science Caribbean cast, or to take the best of Edgar justification for Cloud City in Star Wars — Rice Burroughs but leave out the occasional you just have to bubble it instead of letting it snide racial comments, kind of flip that upside float out there.’ Then I decided you’d need airdown. I took that Barsoom sort of adventure ship travel everywhere, so I got to do a bunch and set it on a planet settled by Caribbean of pulpy stuff that’s a lot of fun. Since the ’30s, refugees, and all’s well — until recloned the deep sea diving adventures have disapAztecs decide to start invading over the moun- peared, but in this novel I get to return to that tains! because if you’re going to mine the surface, “Ragamuffin was my Very Serious space you have to drop people down in massive presopera/technology novel. I put so much sure suits. You get to have your submarine research into it! Of course, everyone in the adventure sequence with airships, where you world who’s really smart scooped me. I was have to dive below crush depth, only instead fascinated with virtual reality contact lenses of water coming in it’s going to be sulfuric that put a layer of data on top of the world, and acid-tinged air. of course Vernor Vinge did that in Rainbows “I play with a lot of big ideas in this book. End and other writers are having fun with it Peter Watts did the hard-SF justification for too. I wanted to make Ragamuffin as meaty vampires, and I do the hard-SF justification for as I could, to play with modern technologies of zombies. So you have this airship world, and consciousness, alternate-reality markup, and then a giant massive network of zombies also a little bit with post-colonialism. attack. That’s the rough background for it. 70 / LOCUS October 2008

Throw in Caribbean heroes and Aztec-derived heroes, and you’ve got the ingredients for an interesting book. “There’s a lot of stuff I have notes on, six years of obsessive note-taking about stories I’d like to tell, set in this universe. My map has 48 worlds, of which I’ve explored three. Of the 120 short stories I wrote before my first novel, 30 or 40 are set in different worlds of this place. Even though they’re not publishable, the ideas have gone into the general idea folders. I hope I’ve kept it open-ended enough that I still get to have a lot of fun without burning myself out. And if that doesn’t pan out, I have plenty of ideas about technothrillers that I wouldn’t mind writing. “My webgroup, SF Novelists, started from a desire to get a bunch of working writers together to share information, because I was having trouble finding the sort of discourse I needed to further my career. One source of inspiration was a group of young, hungry semipros called Codex Writers, who were nice enough to invite me into their group, an invitationonly online forum. I got more tips about short story markets and new agents and acquiring editors from them than I had from three years of being in SFWA. I thought it was a useful model. I was sitting around with a couple of my friends, talking about what I would want from an online discussion group for working writers, and realized there’s only one way to get something done if you have very particular ideas: do it yourself. “It took a while to get going but after I moved it to a listserv, I just kept inviting people (I’m like the benevolent dictator), and pretty soon we had about 40 people. Now we have a membership committee that listens to the membership about who they want to invite. It has been amazingly positive, full of advice. I’ve learned more about the industry in the last year than ever before. So far we’ve avoided fights, and we get along well. No ego, because we’re all in the same spot, trying to make a living. “A writer without an Internet connection is like a business without a phone number. You can do it, and you can be successful at it, but it puzzles people. People expect to at least be able to look you up when they type your name in Google. Plenty of writers are successful without web presences, but there’s so much benefit to it! To be blunt, I’ve gotten so much money and so many sales from people who just Google my name when they see something of mine they like — then they use my website to send e-mails saying, ‘Dude, I really like that story. Can I reprint it?’ Or asking me to write something for them. All these opportunities just come with the territory.” —Tobias S. Buckell

From Newbery Award-winning author

★ “A lavish and lasting treat.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Robin McKinley weaves a captivating tale that reveals the healing power of duty, honor, and love.

★“A sharply incisive, wildly

intelligent dragon fantasy.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Newbery Honor Winner

World Fantasy Award Finalist

G.P. Putnam’s Sons A division of Penguin Young Readers Group www.penguin.com/teens

Newbery Medal Winner