Just got the really cool Earthling Publications lettered edition of Conrad Williams’ The Unblemished. A contributor copy since I did the introduction.

For a couple of years now Kate Bernheimer, in addition to all of the other wonderful editing and writing she does, has been working on Fairy Tale Review, which she founded and now helms. Contributors have included Donna Tartt, Marina Warner, Rikki Ducornet, Stacey Levine, and many more. It’s a elegant production and always thought-provoking. I have to admit that I go through phases where I get tired of folklore and re-told folktales, but each issue of The Fairy Tale Review has been near perfect, and I read each one from cover to cover.

I found a deleted scene from City of Saints & Madmen’s “Dradin, In Love” while cleaning out my electronic file folders…it’s a bit bathotic, to say the least.

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Starting next Tuesday, my blog will feature a different guest blogger each week through October 10. The excitement kicks off with a celebration of the fiction of noir master Jack O’Connell (with posts by the author as well as Ellen Datlow, Ron Hogan, and Kelly Shaw). That will be followed by NYT bestseller Michelle Richmond, Tiptree Award-winning fantasist Catherynne M. Valente, Soft Skull editor Richard Nash, fantasist and children’s book author Vandana Singh, satirical SF novelist Minister Faust, Brazilian critic Fabio Fernandes, crime novelist Meg Gardiner, Romanian editor and publisher Horia Ursu, Russian-born novelist Ekaterina Sedia, publicist Matt Staggs, short story writer John Langan, and writer-editor Cat Rambo. Come visit and experience what promises to be a lively and diverse discussion.

I’ll post more information on Monday morning. As of July 8, I’ll be pretty much off the internet for three months.

P.S. And, over at Omnivoracious, Richard Morgan will be blogging.

Very impressed with Valley of Day-Glo.

Excerpt:
Absurdist fictions tread a fine line. If they try too hard to present three-dimensional characters, they lose the pacing and quickness needed to pull off such a difficult task. If they, on the other hand, make too much fun of their characters or present characters that are too flat, the absurdity isn’t grounded in anything real. As important, good absurdism must be self-deprecating in a sense and must treat every human institution with similar suspicion. Finally, a great absurdist novel relies on fresh, uncliched images and should be, at times, biting rather than comfortable.

I loved all three of these books, as should be clear from the feature. Swamps, caves, and shorelines–how the heck can you go wrong?! I’m adding all three to my rec list on the right.

Excerpt:
But, for me at least, there’s another pleasure that comes from reading Walking the Wrack Line, and it’s selfishly personal. I’m one of those readers who also likes mucking about in tidal pools and searching the beach for seaweed, driftwood, and exotic creatures washed up far from home. On that level, Hurd’s book also has great appeal. Because nothing in Walking the Wrack Line seems false; instead, it’s as if someone had had the same experience, and knew the best way to get it down in prose.

The New York Times Papercuts Blog has posted a list with notes of the music Ann and I have been listening to recently. Everything from Ray Davies* to Willard Grant to The New Pornographers to Supersystem. Check it out.

What’ve you been listening to? And why do you like it or hate it? What’s the soundtrack to your life right now?

*JB’s gonna hate that one.

I got a press release the other day from a new website that’s a Mumbai Theatre Guide.

Centipede Press has a literary supplement.

Romanians doing flips off of rooftops. (Thanks, Dave.)

Ed Champion has just posted a links round up.

Consider pre-ordering our Night Shade pirate anthology, which includes all-new fiction from Kage Baker, Naomi Novik, Sarah Monette, Elizabeth Bear, Carrie Vaughn, Rachel Swirsky, Kelly Barnhill, Katherine Sparrow, and, er, 10 hairy white guys.

And, finally, a SF MindMeld I participated in on sexism in the field.

Other than listing someone other than Ann VanderMeer as the fiction editor, a great review by Sam Taimano of the 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales at the SF Revue. “Creature” is, as noted, an exceptional first published story.

Excerpt:
The fiction begin with a beautiful, lyric tale from Tanith Lee, “The Heart of Ice”. Nirsen is thrown out of his town, falsely accused of rape. He awakens to find himself out on the cold and snow but finds his way to the palace of the Ice Maiden. He spends the winter there and emerges deeply changed. Next we have the first published story by Ramsey Shehadeh, “Creature”. An amorphous beast with psychic powers approaches a town. He encounters a poor, little girl who is looking for her mother. There are those that would harm the girl and he becomes her protector. Shehadeh has written a touching, very compassionate story and I will be looking forward to more from him.

I’m over John Twelve Hawks, unless he personally comes to my house and reveals his identity. For every day he doesn’t, I’m down-grading him:

July 2-12:
John Eleven Turkeys
John Ten Rheas
John Nine Guinea Fowl
John Eight Geese
John Seven Vultures
John Six Kiwis
John Five Finches
John Four Mockingbirds
John Three Seagulls
John Two Pigeons
John One Sparrow

And more detail on the graphic novels:

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