Elle, Zen, Saving Animals on the Moon
Wed 12 May 2021 - Filed under: Not a Journal., events, Holly Black, Susan Stinson, Zen Cho| Posted by: Gavin
Alison Bechdel spotlighted the first line of Susan Stinson’s novel Martha Moody in an interview with Elle:
This “speculative western” first came out in 1995 but was just reissued. The first sentence is magnificent in the way it’s a microcosm of the whole book, as well as a glimpse at the way Stinson writes so beautifully about fat bodies: “I was crouched next to the creek baiting my hook with a hunk of fat when I heard a rustling on the bank upstream.”
This Saturday June 15th Book Moon will be part of a Cottage Street Sidewalk Sale, We’ll have books on the sidewalk. Should be interesting.
And at 3 p.m. ET/8p.m. UK on Sat. the 15th Zen Cho (England) and Kelly Link (Massachusetts) will do an online event celebrating Zen’s new novel Black Water Sister which came out this Tuesday. Register here.
Book Moon has some excellent events coming hitting up a couple of different parts of the old cerebellum:
June 1st, 6 p.m. ET: Strange Light Reading Series features Rivers Solomon (Sorrowland) and Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone). UMass zoom link goes live 2 weeks before the event so will post it again then.
June 2nd , 7 p.m. ET: Join local author Elan Abrell (Saving Animals) and Alex Blanchette (Porkopolis) online for celebration of the publication of Saving Animals and an interesting conversation on same.
June 15th, 7 p.m. ET: Join NYT bestselling authors Gayle Forman (Just One Day, If I stay) and Holly Black (The Cruel Prince, Tithe) at Book Moon for a reading and discussion of Gayle Forman’s new book, We Are Inevitable, which will be published in June by Viking Books for Young Readers. Register here.
Northampton Book Fair
Tue 6 Dec 2016 - Filed under: Not a Journal., book fairs, Emily Houk, Holly Black, Jedediah Berry, John Crowley, Kelly Link, Leslea Newman, Mordicai Gerstein, Ninepin Press, Northampton, Rich Michelson| Posted by: Gavin
This world continues to be crap — i.e. “Half of Detroit votes may be ineligible for recount” (great pop up on that page, btw — everyone needs an instant audio ad for viagra to start when they click on a link!).
So for a brief moment instead of that here are some photos from a couple of panels at the Northampton Book Fair this weekend. The fair was in the Smith College Campus Center which is a beautiful building just outside the center of Northampton. The events were in two lovely, airy rooms on the ground floor and there was an antiquarian book fair full of the most tempting things upstairs. Wow, so many pretty things.
I saw some of the 10 a.m. Children’s picture book panel readers: Rich Michelson gave a, wait, no, really, fascinating presentation on Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy, Leslea Newman read her new book Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed (you can listen to Ketzel’s 21-second composition here), and Mordicai Gerstein (The Sleeping Gypsy, I Am Pan) strode up and just started drawing away on the white board. That was fabulous. Here he is drawing Hera (he noted she didn’t trust Zeus) and his drawing of the god Pan:
I missed Heidi Stemple and Jane Yolen (what a line up that panel had!) as I had to split to prepare for John Crowley’s reading of The Chemical Wedding in the next room over at 11 a.m. John is erudite and smart and very funny — and, hey, we sold books, which is always nice. He read and then answered quite a few questions, as the reading was well attended, and afterward I met some more local book and nonbook people.
Here’s one photo and perhaps a one-minute video I just tried uploading to Flickr:
I came back in the afternoon and — with mostly patient kid — sat in on the Ninepin Press celebration/reading where Jedediah Berry and Emily Houk read from, played with, and showed their current projects:
Jed read from The Family Arcana, Holly Black and Kelly read from Cosmogram, and Emily read from Zodiac B. Random people were asked to volunteer their birthdays to hear their “actual” horoscope and then for their Zodiac B horoscope — you can find out here which sign from Zodiac B you were born under. It was a lot of fun.
Meanwhile
Mon 5 Oct 2015 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Holly Black, Kelly Link, LCRW, Mary Rickert, Nathan Ballingrud, Owen King, Paolo Bacigalupi, Sofia Samatar, year's bests| Posted by: Gavin
Out there in the world, the peoples they reads the books. What do they say? They like ’em! Just wait to see what’s going to be reviewed next week. Oh? Oh yeah, mmmhmm.
But I am meanwhiling here first about Sofia Samatar who has two stories in the inaugural edition of HMH’s latest addition to their Best American series: Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015. Also: are there more SBP authors in this book? Yes! See Nathan Ballingrud, Kelly Link, and two stories (Holly Black’s and Paolo Bacigalupi) from Monstrous Affections received honorable mentions.
It’s interesting to look at the list of stories passed on to Joe Hill by series editor John Joseph Adams to see where they were first published.
You can read Joe Hill’s introduction to the book on Entertainment Weekly where he calls Sofia ” a rising star in the genre” and “a young she-can-do-anything star” and describes her two stories as “incredibly different and equally breathtaking stories.” Absolutely!
More fun Best American fun news? Yes! Owen King’s story “The Curator” from Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet 31 got a honorable mention nod in T.C. Boyle’s Best American Short Stories 2015.
Meanwhile over in bookland, Mary Rickert’s You Have Never Been Here: New and Selected Stories received two lovely trade reviews from PW and Kirkus. We’re sending out our last few galleys now and fingers crossed we will have the book on hand at World Fantasy Con in Saratoga Springs in a month or so! Mary will be there and we will not be running out of books the way we did with Archivist Wasp at Readercon. Dammit! (Sorry again, Nicole!) See below for links to the reviews. Suffice to say if you’ve enjoyed collections we’ve published by Elizabeth Hand, Nathan Ballingrud, Kelly Link, etc., etc., this one is for you.
And we are working on another collection, this one for July of next year by none other than Jeffrey Ford. But, hey, enough for today. More on that manana!
“Beautiful, descriptive prose enriches tales of ghosts, loss, and regret in this leisurely collection. . . . Fans of . . . Kelly Link will appreciate Rickert’s explorations of myth and memory.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Short stories about people haunted by loss and transformed by grief. Ghosts walk through this collection. Witches are rumored. People collect bones, sprout wings, watch their feet turn into hooves. Above all, people tell stories—stories that cast spells, stories that change the world. In “Journey into the Kingdom,” a tale about ghosts who walk out of the sea has a powerful effect on a young widower. In “Anyway,” a mother asks herself what she would sacrifice to save her son’s life. In the collection’s longest story, “The Mothers of Voorhisville,” a group of women are drawn together when they realize their newborn babies have something very strange in common. Not every piece sings, but those that do have a powerful, haunting effect. As the mother of a dead girl puts it in “The Chambered Fruit,” the best of these stories show how “from death, and sorrow, and compromise, you create,” how “this is what it means…to be alive.” Rickert’s (Holiday, 2010, etc.) writing is crystal-clear, moody, occasionally blood-chilling. Her characters maneuver through a world where strange, troubling transformations are possible, but they live and breathe on the page, fully human. The worlds Rickert creates are fantastical, but her work should appeal not just to fantasy fans, but to anyone who appreciates a well-told tale.”
— Kirkus Reviews
Locus Recommended Reading
Fri 13 Feb 2015 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Alice Sola Kim, Delia Sherman, Eileen Gunn, Holly Black, Kelly Link, Locus, Monstrous Affections, Nalo Hopkinson, Ysabeau S. Wilce| Posted by: Gavin
This month’s issue of Locus (handily available on Weightless) is a humdinger of a read — not just for this here publisher, although our books do get many great shout outs. For which, Yay!
I always find the year in review columns interesting to see the range of books covered, what I’ve read, and what I’ve missed. This year I thought they were even more enjoyable than ever because they were even more personalized than ever. There is still the authoritative Recommended Reading List, but there are so many books and magazines mentioned and highlighted throughout the whole issue (ok, I haven’t read the whole thing yet) that I found it made for immersive reading. I love how widely the editors look for books and how fresh their eyes are. It’s easy to get tired of the unending stream of books, magazines, anthologies, ebooks, audiobooks, podcasts, etc., but what I got from this issue was that it was put together by a group of people who are enthusiastic about books and their jobs and are happy to share their enjoyment.
This year three of our 2014 books and one story from LCRW were included in the list. (We published 3 new collections and 1 new novel, and reprinted 2 novels and 4 ebooks to make a total of 10 books, plus 1 chapbook and 2 issues of LCRW):
Questionable Practices, Eileen Gunn
Young Woman in a Garden, Delia Sherman
Prophecies, Libels, and Dreams: Stories of Califa, Ysabeau S. Wilce
“Skull and Hyssop”, Kathleen Jennings (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet no. 31, Dec. 2014)
I’m very happy to see that Monstrous Affections, the YA all-monster-all-the-time anthology that Kelly and I edited for Candlewick was on the list, received some fabulous mentions, and had 5 stories included. Me, I’d have included all 15 stories, but, hey, I co-edited the beast:
Monstrous Affections, Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant, ed (Candlewick)
“Moriabe’s Children”, Paolo Bacigalupi
“Left Foot, Right”, Nalo Hopkinson
“Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind)”, Holly Black
“Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They Are Terrifying”, Alice Sola Kim
“The New Boyfriend”, Kelly Link
And it is also pretty fabby to see Kelly’s three stories included, one from Monstrous Affections and one story from the anthology My True Love Gave to Me which is not included in her new collection, Get in Trouble (also reviewed in this issue by Gary K. Wolfe):
“I Can See Right Through You”, Kelly Link (McSweeney’s #48)
“The Lady and the Fox”, Kelly Link (My True Love Gave to Me)
Happily for us, there were also a couple of reviews of our books. Gardner Dozois reviewed Ysabeau S. Wilce’s Prophecies, Libels, and Dreams:
. . . lyrical, whimsical, eccentric, baroquely ornamented, and often very funny. . . . but what really makes these stories shine is the voice they’re told in – one using flamboyant, over-the-top verbal pyrotechnics that somehow almost always pay off. . . .
and Eileen Gunn’s Questionable Practices:
Nobody sees the world quite like Gunn does, who puts her own unique spin on everything, transforming even the mundane into something rich and wonderful . . . [including] two stories published in this collection for the first time, “Phantom Pain” and the richly textured variant on the Golem story, “Chop Wood, Carry Water”.
and even a review of Monstrous Affections by Rich Horton.
And, if you do go check out the Recommended Reading list, don’t forget you too can go vote in the poll. I like voting in almost any context so of course I recommend it here. In the meantime, thanks to Locus for all the work that goes into that corker of a February issue and to everyone who reads and votes for our books.
Champagne!
Tue 28 Jan 2014 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Eileen Gunn, Holly Black, Sofia Samatar| Posted by: Gavin
Lovely news came in late last week for Sofia Samatar and her debut novel, A Stranger in Olondria, which has been honored with the Crawford Award. We are immensely happy for Sofia! Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors: Yoon Ha Lee for Conservation of Shadows (Prime Books), Helene Wecker for The Golem and the Jinni (Harper), and N.A. Sulway for Rupetta (Tartarus Press).
Sofia will be at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, Florida, where the award will be presented on March 22.
And in an amazingly graceful segue, I can reveal that Eileen Gunn will also be at that conference and will be celebrating the publication of her second collection of stories, Questionable Practices, which just received its first review, and it’s a star from Publishers Weekly!
“Nebula-winner Gunn combines humor and compassion in 17 short, intricate gems that showcase her many talents. Of particular note among these outstanding works are the poem “To the Moon Alice,” in which a bombastic threat provides escape from comedic domestic violence, and “Michael Swanwick and Samuel R. Delany at the Joyce Kilmer Service Area, March 2005,” an affectionate fable-like tribute to two legendary authors. “Up the Fire Road” provides dueling accounts of triadic romance and problematic parentage. “Phantom Pain” is a kaleidoscopic examination of a wounded soldier’s life. Though Gunn first saw print in the 1970s, this short collection contains a surprisingly large portion of her stories; her rate of publication has recently been increasing, giving fans reason to hope for many more delights to come.”
Nice!
And since all posts should have 3 items, we’re raising up a glass of champagne to toast Holly Black whose novel Doll Bones is one of this year’s Newbery Honor books!
“In this distinctive coming-of-age tale, best friends Zach, Poppy and Alice set out on a life-altering quest driven by the presence of a sinister bone china doll who haunts their dreams and waking hours. Black explores complex questions of storytelling, imagination and changing friendships in this superbly haunting narrative.”
It’s a great book for kids or adults and we are just beside ourselves with joy that Holly’s book was recognized by the ALA. Props to the ALA for running a fabulous awards organization: it’s not even the end of January and they fired off a couple of dozen fab awards in under an hour. Wow!
Holly Black’s book is in the 2nd Humble Ebook Bundle
Wed 10 Jul 2013 - Filed under: Not a Journal., DRM-free, Holly Black, Humble Bundle| Posted by: Gavin
The 2nd Humble Ebook Bundle now includes Holly Black’s dark and delicious short story collection The Poison Eaters and Other Stories. A couple of the extras were included with the 1st bundle in case you missed them but Holly’s collection and Machine of Death are new. Humble Bundle says:
“If you have already purchased the bundle, these refreshing reads should automatically show up on your download page. New customers can access them by paying more than the current average on the site. All four books are available DRM-free in PDF, MOBI, and ePub formats — perfect for your computer, eBook readers, and tons of mobile devices!”
Also, a bunch of the Humble Bundle authors will be taking part in a group Reddit AMA on Thursday, July 11 at 12:30 EST.
You choose how your purchase is divided: between the authors, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Child’s Play Charity, or the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, and the Humble Bundle peeps themselves.
We say: go forth and acquire 10 new DRM-free ebooks including books by Cory Doctorow, Will Wheaton, Cherie Priest, Robert Charles Wilson, Peter Beagle, and, yes, more!
Steampunk! ToC
Wed 19 Jan 2011 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Cassandra Clare, Christopher Rowe, Cory Doctorow, Delia Sherman, Dylan Horrocks, Elizabeth Knox, Garth Nix, Holly Black, Kathleen Jennings, Kelly Link, Libba Bray, Shawn Cheng, steampunk, Ysabeau Wilce| Posted by: Gavin
Today Kelly and I are handing over the final copyedited manuscript of the anthology we’ve been working on for the last year or so: Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories to our editor, Deborah Noyes at Candlewick. Yay!
It’s been a huge amount of fun getting the stories (and two comics!) from the writers who hail from the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. There was the usual amount of last minute hijinks trying to corral 14 authors (including Kelly!) to go over the copyedits in superquick time, luckily for me none of them were on internet sabbatical.
But that it all done. The introduction is written, the bios are in, the stories are copyedited (and the copyediting arguments are over!) and so out the door it goes. Now we get to put together a website (although getting back to the 19th century and doing a website is harder than I expected it to be) and at some point soon we’ll get to post the cover. Candlewick showed us a couple of exciting cover roughs—more on that when it’s finalized.
And now: the table of contents!
Cassandra Clare, “Some Fortunate Future Day”
Libba Bray, “The Last Ride of the Glory Girls”
Cory Doctorow, “Clockwork Fagin”
Shawn Cheng, “Seven Days Beset by Demons” (comic)
Ysabeau Wilce, “Hand in Glove”
Delia Sherman, “The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor”
Elizabeth Knox, “Gethsemene”
Kelly Link, “The Summer People”
Garth Nix, “Peace in Our Time”
Christopher Rowe, “Nowhere Fast”
Kathleen Jennings, “Finishing School” (comic)
Dylan Horrocks, “Steam Girl”
Holly Black, “Everything Amiable and Obliging”
Want a signed Holly Black book?
Wed 8 Dec 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Holly Black| Posted by: Gavin
Holly Black is coming into our office this afternoon to sign copies of The Poison Eaters. Order now to get your personalized copy shipped out today!
Thursday: freebies, signed books, etc.
Tue 9 Mar 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., bookshops, Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Kelly Link, Poison Eaters, Ursula| Posted by: Gavin
This morning the Boston Globe includes our awesome event this Thursday at 6 at the Brookline Booksmith in their Three to See mini feature.
What’s not mentioned: there will be free stuff! Franciscan will provide the candy, there will be a tiny leetle bit of chocolate, and we will have Working Writer’s Daily Planners for all and sundry! (Well, say the first 100 people, if UPS delivers them on time.)
Also, if you’d like any books signed by Holly Black (The Poison Eaters, Tithe, Spiderwick), Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters, Magic for Beginners), and Cassandra Clare (City of Glass, City of Bones), use these links to pre-order them directly from the fab peeps at the Booksmith.
And, if you have questions for these writers (especially for the “lightning round”!) please email them to:hollycassandrakelly@gmail.com.
Hope to see you there—or at least to read one of your questions!
Going Ironside
Sun 28 Feb 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Big Mouth House, Free reads, Holly Black| Posted by: Gavin
Here’s a link to Holly’s Modern Faerie Tale “Going Ironside” at the late lamented Endicott Studio Journal of Mythic Arts.
Also, an interview with Holly on LibraryThing:
Several of the stories are permutations of the Modern Tales of Faerie series. Do you feel there is more to come out of that world?
One of the stories—”Going Ironside”—was a short piece I wrote before Tithe was finished. It influenced Valiant, although at the time I wrote it, I didn’t know that it would. The second story, I wanted to tell to check in with the characters and show what I think they’re doing and what I think they’re dealing with. It was a fun story to write. I always like having Roiben and Corny talk about their views of the world, because they both are so dysfunctional that they almost see eye-to-eye in a way that no one else does.
I love the Modern Faerie Tale world, but right now I don’t have any plans to write a fourth book, mostly because I am busy with an entirely new series, The Curse Workers. I have two more books in that series to write before I can even consider anything else.
If you want to ask Holly a question for the March 11th event in Boston, email it to hollycassandrakelly@gmail.com.
What’s your poison?
Wed 24 Feb 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Big Mouth House, Holly Black| Posted by: Gavin
Send us a pic if you see Holly Black’s debut collection out in the wild!
Meanwhile here’s Steve Berman (see the dedication for who he is!) writing about the book on Guys Lit Wire and also a couple of pictures of Holly with actual copies (which, due to various logistical things, I haven’t seen yet!) of the book.
What’s your poison? Werewolves? Vampires? Devils? The Poison Eaters has them all!
While waiting for the delivery truck
Fri 19 Feb 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Alasdair Gray, Big Mouth House, Cons, Holly Black, Interstitial Arts, Jedediah Berry, John Kessel, Kelly Link, To Read Pile| Posted by: Gavin
Today’s the day when The Poison Eaters should be showing up the office. Dum-de-dum (waits, impatiently). Nice reviews have recently shown up in School Library Journal (“Although they are often centered on bleak, dark characters, the pieces inspire hope, are touching and delightful, and even turn the most ghoulish characters into feeling beings.”) and in BookPage (she shows “amazing range”—yes indeed she does!).
Update: Powell’s say they have it in their remote warehouse! Any remote viewers who can see it?? Maybe they mean Ingram, as they have it.
So in the meantime a few things:
Alasdair Gray (Old Men in Love) writes about the importance of place. Consider, he suggests, Dumbarton (which means “fortress of the Britons”).
We dropped the price of last year’s hottie The Baum Plan for Financial Independence to $9.95.
Fantasy Magazine reviews Interfictions 2 and suggests it’s an “anthology of literary fantasy.” Yours to agree or disagree about. Get your copy.
Con or Bust is running a fundraiser auction to assist people of color who want to attend WisCon from Feb. 22—Mar. 13. They’re looking for donations and buyers! Any suggestions for what we should donate??
BTW, if you’re going to WisCon, I’ll see you there! Sans baby, sadly (will try not to whine too much. But will some, so there). Maybe 2011.
We just signed up another book. Well, verbally. Will wait for the contracts (always good to have it on paper before announcing things) and then spring it upon the world. Fun fun fun!
The post office just delivered an empty envelope that should have been full of zines. Woe is me.
Past-LCRW contributor Katharine Beutner who is “currently being squashed under the weight of my dissertation” slipped out from underneath it to do an interview with us about her Ancient Greek underworld novel Alcestis which is out this month. Interview will go up next week or so.
Joe Hill’s second novel Horns just came out. Read the first chapter here. There’s also an app for it. Phew. He’s on tour now.
Kelly’s contributor copies of Ellen Datlow’s new anthology, Tails of Wonder and Imagination just came in—her story is “Catskin” is one of many many other stories about cats. Who knew people wrote so much about the little beasties?
Might be imagining seeing a copy of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 4.
Jed is back from tour — he managed to write that floaty bike all the way to the west coast and back and even managed to escape Chicago despite its many charms and massive amounts of snow.
Tra la la la la. Wait. Dum-de-dum. Wait some more.
Good morning!
Mon 15 Feb 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Big Mouth House, Holly Black, Poison Eaters| Posted by: Gavin
Or, great morning! Given that our latest book, Holly Black’s The Poison Eaters, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. Wow! That link is behind a paywall but here’s part of it — it has to be one of the most positive Kirkus reviews we’ve ever seen:
“Black’s first story collection assures her place as a modern fantasy master…. Sly humor, vivid characters, each word perfectly chosen: These stories deserve reading again and again.”
The book shipped out from the printer on Thursday, Friday, and today (big shipments!) so it will start showing up in the world bang on time for publication day, February 23rd.
Holly Black, Kelly Link, and Cassandra Clare reading
Mon 8 Feb 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Kelly Link, Poison Eaters, readings, Ursula| Posted by: Gavin
Join three of the hottest writers in the Young Adult field on March 11th at the Coolidge Corner Theater for a panel discussion celebrating New York Times bestselling author Holly Black’s new book, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories. And it’s not just about having a great time: ticket sales—and 20% of event book sales—will be donated by the Brookline Booksmith to Franciscan Hospital for Children.
Holly Black (Tithe, the Spiderwick Chronicles) will be joined by Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters) and Cassandra Clare (author of the New York Times bestselling The Mortal Instruments series) for a discussion of . . . and this is where it gets interesting: readers, whether they will be attending or not, are invited to email their questions for the authors to hollycassandrakelly@gmail.com. The three authors will begin with a selection of submitted questions and then take questions from the audience.
There will be giveaways for the attendees. Afterward all three authors will sign their books at the Brookline Booksmith. Refreshments will be served.
The panel discussion as fundraiser was suggested by Holly Black who brought her fellow Amherst author, Cassandra Clare, aboard. Black’s new book, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, is being published by Big Mouth House—an imprint of Small Beer Press, an independent press run by Kelly Link and her husband, Gavin Grant. Link and Grant’s Easthampton, MA, office is in the same shambling old refitted warehouse as Black’s office.
While Black’s collection was in the planning stages (back in February 2009) Link and Grant’s daughter, Ursula was born at 24 weeks and 1 1/2 lbs. Ursula and her parents spent her first five months at Baystate Medical Center, and is now (doing well!) in a pulmonary rehabilitation ward at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton (Boston).
Kelly Link, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black
A Discussion Panel on Young Adult Fiction with Reader-Submitted Questions
Seating begins at 5:45 PM
6 -7 PM, Thursday, March 11th
at the Coolidge Corner Theater
(http://www.coolidge.org)
$5 (Buy tickets by calling the store at 617-566-6660
with a signing to follow at the Brookline Booksmith
(http://brooklinebooksmith-shop.com)
Ticket sales and 20% of event book sales will be donated to Franciscan Hospital for Children.
About Franciscan Hospital for Children
Franciscan Hospital for Children, located in Boston’s neighborhood of Brighton, is the leading pediatric rehabilitation center in New England. The hospital offers medical, behavioral and educational services for children with complex issues requiring interdisciplinary care. For more information on the hospital visit http://www.franciscanhospital.org.
Read a Holly Black story
Mon 25 Jan 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Big Mouth House, Free reads, Holly Black, Short Stories, The Poison Eaters| Posted by: Gavin
Today at BSC Review: read the very first story in Holly’s first collection: “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown.” It’s a total knockout — and may give second thoughts to anyone who thinks they might be attracted to vampires!
Hello 2010
Mon 4 Jan 2010 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Greer Gilman, Holly Black, Joan Aiken, Kelly Link, Poppy Z. Brite, Ursula| Posted by: Gavin
It’s kind of odd to hit a year-change with no Year’s Best duties but I’ve been enjoying reading many other Best of Year/Decade lists—and the odd squeak about how this isn’t the end of the decade, dammit! I will miss the year-in-summary but I certainly couldn’t write it this year—or any year soon.
Apparently by the end of the world (2012) we will have “golden fleece’ lozenges” containing “interferon alpha, a protective protein made naturally by the body when attacked by a virus” which would mean not being hit with a grotty cold-like thing first thing in the year. Can’t come fast enough. Blech.
Also, maybe by 2012 Apple will have developed a power cord that doesn’t break every couple of years. How often do you see this rating in the Apple Store:
Customer Ratings 
Based on 1139 reviews
Bah. Hard to get excited about the iSlate while our two old MacBooks are sharing a cord!
So, given that the the last couple of days have been cold-days here is some catch-up blathery mostly from the old year so that, maybe, just maybe, after this ohnine will be deid and ohten will not be the new year, it will just be the year.
First: thanks! Our fundraising sale raised just under a $1,000 for Franciscan Hospital for Children—so we made up the difference and will be dropping a check in the mail this week. A good piece of that total came a buck at a time but there were many people who paid retail price. Yay! We have a fundraiser reading coming in March in Boston which should be fun. Will, of course, keep you posted,
Second: Joan Aiken’s The Serial Garden is a finalist in the Cybils Awards in the Middle-Grade Fantasy & Science Fiction category. Yay for the Armitage family! (Did we mention it was chosen as one of the best books of 2009 by the parenting part of Toronto Star? 2008, 2009, who cares when it came out: we all know it’s a great book.)
And more: Much love was apportioned to Greer Gilman’s Cloud & Ashes at the end of year multi-critic list at Strange Horizons. It’s not a book for every reader but for those it hits, yep, it is the thing.
Poppy Brite’s Second Line continues to get coverage at home. New Orleans Magazine says, “Her novels Liquor, Prime and Soul Kitchen have introduced readers to the wild world of Chefs John Rickey and Gary “G-man” Stubbs. The couple lives for food and the art of making it as many New Orleanians do. The two stories in Second Line serve as earlier and later chapters in the steamy soap opera saga.”
Holly Black was interviewed by Veronika about spooky dolls, what’s coming up, and so on. We’re getting her book ready to send to the printer—it will be our biggest book for a while, so it’s pretty exciting.
Kelly’s second collection Magic for Beginners made two other Best of the Decade lists: HTML Giant and the Village Voice—both of these make pretty great To-Read lists. Also weird and great to find on the web was Bryan Lee O’Malley enjoyed “Magic for Beginners.” Huh and wow. Maybe after Scott Pilgrim 6 is done he’ll do MFB as a comic. Cough. But then the comments today include infinite boners, so readers beware. In wandering about his site I downloaded one of his albums (recorded as Kupek)—it’s no Sex Bob-omb (cough, again) but it’s worth checking out.
For new stuff, ah, come back tomorrow or next week. And in the mean time, cheers!
Getting excited
Thu 3 Dec 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Big Mouth House, Holly Black| Posted by: Gavin
about Holly Black’s short story collection! She just handed in her excellent (and funny) new story, “The Land of Heart’s Desire,” which has something to do with these characters Roiben, Kaye, Val, and a few others that might be familiar to some.
The book comes out in February which means it goes to the printer soon, what fun!
And, we just heard back from some early readers who are as excited as us about this book:
“Gritty, grim, and fabulous—Holly is a master of dark magic and dark reality!”
—Tamora Pierce (author of Bloodhound)
“Holly Black is the Real Thing: a gifted writer with a solid grounding in what matters. Her stories are dark and splendid blooms rising from roots sunk deep in myth and tradition.”
—Ellen Kushner (author of The Privilege of the Sword)
“Simply put, Holly Black is one of our best writers. Enchanting and edgy, yes, but it’s the big heart in her stories that brings me back to her writing, time and again. Reading a new book by Holly is like meeting up with an old friend. They might be a little messed up from the last time you saw them, they might have some serious drama going on in their lives, but the connection is immediate, and when they’re packing up to head off again, you don’t want to let them go.”
—Charles de Lint (author of The Blue Girl)
Would you like some Poison?
Fri 25 Sep 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Big Mouth House, Free books, Holly Black, Poison Eaters| Posted by: Gavin
We have five advance copies of Holly Black’s new collection, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, to go out to readers and bloggers (in the US + Canada, as we don’t have international rights to the book) who will post something about it before it comes out — all the long way away in the future of February 2010.
Interested? Tell us your favorite poison (and why) and we’ll send out five copies to the five shiveriest and scariest!
something from next winter
Tue 28 Jul 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Art, Holly Black| Posted by: Gavin
Here’s something fun: an early shot of the front cover of Holly Black‘s creepy and wonderful first short story collection The Poison Eaters and Other Stories which Big Mouth House will publish in February 2010:
And here’s the table of contents with the place of first publication in (parenthesis):
“The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” (Eternal Kiss)
“A Reversal of Fortune” (The Coyote Road)
“The Boy Who Cried Wolf” (Troll’s Eye View)
“The Night Market” (The Faery Reel)
“The Dog King”
“Virgin” (Magic in the Mirrorstone)
“In Vodka Veritas” (21 Proms)
“Coat of Stars” (So Fey)
“Paper Cuts Scissors” (Realms of Fantasy)
“Going Ironside” (Endicott Journal)
“The Poison Eaters” (The Restless Dead)
+ one more story.
What we’ll have in NYC
Wed 27 May 2009 - Filed under: Not a Journal., Big Mouth House, Cons, Holly Black, Interstitial Arts, Vincent McCaffrey| Posted by: Gavin
A good time? Knishes?* A trip back in time to the 1890s?
Or, maybe, books to show off — and even some to give away — at BookExpo. Which books? Lots to show off since last year, including The Baum Plan, The Ant King, The King’s Last Song, The Serial Garden, and now Cloud & Ashes.
Wait, wait, wait, though. Did we ever mention the books we’re going to be publishing this autumn and winter? The books we have been reading and playing with and designing and sometimes talking to the authors and thinking about covers but never actually doing anything about them? No?
Hot dang and Whoops!
Ok then, here are our next four titles (plus we have more more more TK after these, ha!) of which we will have early early not-at-all-real copies at BookExpo this week (as they are in various stages of discomportment and have just arrived in from a couple of different local printers):
- September: Hound by Vincent McCaffrey. A debut novel about a Boston bookhound, books, death, and maybe the death of books. This is the first in a series and it will come out in hardcover.
October: Second Line: Two Short Novels of Love and Cooking in New Orleans by Poppy Z. Brite. This paperback collects two of Poppy Z. Brite‘s chaotic and fun short novels (The Value of X and D*U*C*K) featuring two New Orleans chefs, Rickey and G-man, who grow up together, fall in love, open a restaurant, Liquor, and have some fun along the way. Poppy is writing a new afterword to go with the novels. Love this series, love that we get to be a part of publishing it. Huge thanks to Bill Schafer of Subterranean Press for helping put this together.
November: Interfictions 2: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing edited by Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak. The editors went out into the fields and found 21 pieces of excellently border-crossing material. They’re also putting together an online launch party and auction which will be filled with wonderful art, music, and stories. The book will be the icing and the cake, though.
- January: Suprise! We are still eating Christmas cake and not thinking about books. Not all true, though, as Feb. is going to be a big mouth month:
- February 2010: The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black. Our second Big Mouth House title is a debut collection of young adult stories from New York Times bestseller (and one of our neighbors), Holly Black. Holly’s stories have just gone from strength to strength over the past few years — as evidenced by her appearances in various Best of the Year anthologies and lists. The Poison Eaters includes a new Modern Faerie Tale as well as some of our favorite stories of recent times.
So, if you’re going to the big show in NYC, drop by the Consortium (our distro) area and say hi. Jed will be there all the time (except for knish breaks), Gavin should be there on Friday & Saturday, and, with luck, Kelly will be there on Saturday. Books, baby, all about the books!
* Order! Order!