Last year, I just listed five books of whatever category that rocked my world in 2008. I decided to split up this year's selections into a few categories, partly to be just a little more organized and partly as an excuse to post more books. These aren't necessarily books that came out in 2009, and in fact most are probably a few years old. I just happened to have read them in 2009! I also tried to limit myself to 2 or 3 in each category.
Fiction
City and the City by China Mieville
I liked Perdido Street Station and its sequel, The Scar, but City and the City is easily Mieville's best book so far. Its storytelling is tighter than in Perdido and Mieville's talent for creating and developing an interesting, fully-formed world does not weaken in this book in the least. I'm looking forward to his other new book, Kraken.
The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak
I've blogged about this one before, and I still stand by my claim that it is a truly superb book.
The Orphan's Tales: City of Coin and Spice by Catherynne Valente
This is the sequel volume to The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, which made my best-of list last year. Valente's use of various (uncommon) mythologies and her creative narrative structure make this volume an excellent follow-up and a fantastic read.
Non-Fiction
Science Fiction by Adam Roberts
This is another book I've already blogged about. Go figure.
Anthologies
Wastelands edited by John Jacob Adams
Not only do nearly all of the stories in this anthology rock, but the editor pieced together a handy bibliographic list of must-read apocalyptic literature. It's not a conclusive list by any means, but it makes for the perfect finishing touch on an anthology that already would have had my vote for this list.
Paper Cities edited by Ekaterina Sedia
This book took the 2009 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology, and against some stiff competition, too. And, what's more is that this book deserved to win against such competition. It's worth reading just to take a close look at urban fantasy (though I think Hal Duncan's contribution for Nova Scotia would have been just as at home here as the story Sedia selected.)
Nova Scotia edited by Neil Williamson
Amazon claims this book doesn't exist, but I have a copy so I know they lie. Perhaps on the U.K. version of the site...anyway, there's not a flop in this anthology. There were definitely a few I liked more than others, but overall this may be one of the most solid anthologies I've ever read.
Young Adult/Children's
Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman
I've already written more about this book here, and just as with Barzak's book I stand by my recommendation.
The Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
Gaiman and Vess make my favorite team in book writing and illustration. McKean is cool and all, but I've always preferred Vess's work. This is a very simple storybook, but it has a fantastic message and beautiful art, and I can't wait to give this book to my niece when she starts reading.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Playing Catch-Up
So, blogging time seems to be rather difficult to come by even when I'm not caught up in a whirlwind of school- and work-related chaos. I've been offline for about a month now, actually, just trying to catch up with myself and my household to-do list. Well, today I'm house (and dog) sitting for some friends, and I'm taking the opportunity to post a little something here, just to prove that I'm still around and in the game.
Shamefully, though I was so excited about the Outer Alliance's formation back in September, I haven't really been active on the site at all. However, every time I manage to drop by they have something cool posted. Every Friday sees another GLBT writer spotlighted on the site, and I'm not on nearly often enough to keep up. How do they find these people? I suppose the internet really has made the world a smaller place (though sometimes I get the feeling that everybody interesting lives on one of the coasts or another country all together. The pickings seem a bit slim in this region...)
I recently finished Richard K. Morgan's fantasy novel The Steel Remains, and I hope to pick up one of his earlier SF books before too long. The Steel Remains is an excellent, violent, bloody, and actually pretty funny book featuring a gay warrior who makes no apology for his queerness. It's a welcome change from the flouncy fag best friend/sidekick who dies halfway through the story. I like seeing a gay guy beat the crap out of somebody else for once. The book is by no means perfect, but if you're in the mood for a fun, rough-and-tumble fantasy that maybe happens to include one or two very interesting sex scenes (very well done, coming from a straight man!) then The Steel Remains is definitely for you.
I'm in the midst of reading Adam Robert's Science Fiction and China Mieville's The Scar. The Adam Roberts title comes from a series of literary criticism works, the New Critical Idiom. From what I've heard and from my experience with the series, it's a pretty magnificent collection and well worth the effort of tracking the individual books down. I'd like to get my hands on a few other volumes, such as Magic(al) Realism, Myth, Gothic, Postmodern, and possibly Genre, just because. All of them would be cool to have though, since there's such a high quality of scholarship that goes into each volume. Roberts' book covers the basic history of science fiction and takes a stab at defining the genre, which is something I think has been turning up more and more lately on blogs with much higher traffic than this one can expect (such as Hal Duncan's column on BSCReview). Also, Roberts looks at the role of women and race in SF (using Star Trek and Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness as case studies, so what's not to like?) and also examines the use of technology. I haven't read this last segment yet, and I was honestly a little surprised to see it included, though upon further thought it seems obvious. After all, what would science fiction be without science? My surprise is based mostly on the fact that I simply take science for granted and accept it in whatever role it is presented in, though one of my biggest gripes with the latest Star Trek movie is its misuse of (disregard for) science. But more about that later- it'll be a whole other blog post. I'll probably write more about Roberts' book when I finish it. So far it's been an education and a joy to read, and it's only made me want to read his novel Salt even more than I already did.
Mieville's book The Scar has also been an intriguing adventure. I love his city made of ships- but then his settings always astound me. This book maybe isn't as good as The City and the City but so far it's a worthy follow-up to Perdido Street Station. I'll be reading his YA novel Un Lun Dun before too much longer, and I'll also pick up the leather bound copy of King Rat from the bookstore I work at. It is...very pretty. This guy pretty much rocks everything he tries his hand at.
I'll compile my best-of-2009 list before too long. I may extend it to include more categories than I did last year- perhaps a separate YA category, maybe a non-fiction thing. I already pretty much know what's going to be on the list, I just have to make a few last decisions.
Shamefully, though I was so excited about the Outer Alliance's formation back in September, I haven't really been active on the site at all. However, every time I manage to drop by they have something cool posted. Every Friday sees another GLBT writer spotlighted on the site, and I'm not on nearly often enough to keep up. How do they find these people? I suppose the internet really has made the world a smaller place (though sometimes I get the feeling that everybody interesting lives on one of the coasts or another country all together. The pickings seem a bit slim in this region...)
I recently finished Richard K. Morgan's fantasy novel The Steel Remains, and I hope to pick up one of his earlier SF books before too long. The Steel Remains is an excellent, violent, bloody, and actually pretty funny book featuring a gay warrior who makes no apology for his queerness. It's a welcome change from the flouncy fag best friend/sidekick who dies halfway through the story. I like seeing a gay guy beat the crap out of somebody else for once. The book is by no means perfect, but if you're in the mood for a fun, rough-and-tumble fantasy that maybe happens to include one or two very interesting sex scenes (very well done, coming from a straight man!) then The Steel Remains is definitely for you.
I'm in the midst of reading Adam Robert's Science Fiction and China Mieville's The Scar. The Adam Roberts title comes from a series of literary criticism works, the New Critical Idiom. From what I've heard and from my experience with the series, it's a pretty magnificent collection and well worth the effort of tracking the individual books down. I'd like to get my hands on a few other volumes, such as Magic(al) Realism, Myth, Gothic, Postmodern, and possibly Genre, just because. All of them would be cool to have though, since there's such a high quality of scholarship that goes into each volume. Roberts' book covers the basic history of science fiction and takes a stab at defining the genre, which is something I think has been turning up more and more lately on blogs with much higher traffic than this one can expect (such as Hal Duncan's column on BSCReview). Also, Roberts looks at the role of women and race in SF (using Star Trek and Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness as case studies, so what's not to like?) and also examines the use of technology. I haven't read this last segment yet, and I was honestly a little surprised to see it included, though upon further thought it seems obvious. After all, what would science fiction be without science? My surprise is based mostly on the fact that I simply take science for granted and accept it in whatever role it is presented in, though one of my biggest gripes with the latest Star Trek movie is its misuse of (disregard for) science. But more about that later- it'll be a whole other blog post. I'll probably write more about Roberts' book when I finish it. So far it's been an education and a joy to read, and it's only made me want to read his novel Salt even more than I already did.
Mieville's book The Scar has also been an intriguing adventure. I love his city made of ships- but then his settings always astound me. This book maybe isn't as good as The City and the City but so far it's a worthy follow-up to Perdido Street Station. I'll be reading his YA novel Un Lun Dun before too much longer, and I'll also pick up the leather bound copy of King Rat from the bookstore I work at. It is...very pretty. This guy pretty much rocks everything he tries his hand at.
I'll compile my best-of-2009 list before too long. I may extend it to include more categories than I did last year- perhaps a separate YA category, maybe a non-fiction thing. I already pretty much know what's going to be on the list, I just have to make a few last decisions.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Cory Doctorow, New Arrivals
This entry was originally going to be my paper on Rousseau and Matthew G. Lewis' The Monk, but Blogger freaks out every time I try to transfer the text from my Word document. Maybe I'll upload it somewhere and post the link instead...I had the same problem with a post on mythology I went through the trouble of typing, only to find out I couldn't put it up here. Grr.
So instead of posting my paper, which probably no one wants to see anyway, I decided that today's entry would be a review of Cory Doctorow's YA novel Little Brother. This book was up for this year's Hugo Award, and deservedly so, I think. As you can probably tell by the title, Little Brother pulls heavily (and quite beautifully) on George Orwell's 1984, and would probably be an awesome follow-up to any teen reading Orwell's masterpiece.
I've been on a major kick with this whole "classics-updated-for-the-new-age-of-politics" thing (just ask me how I feel about the incredible Gundam Wing revamp that is Gundam 00) and Little Brother does not disappoint on that front. I just wish Doctorow had written this novel a few years earlier, while I was still in high school and growing up in the shadow of 9/11 inspired domestic fear-mongering legislation like the Patriot Act. I can just imagine the uproar his book would have caused in my little reading circle! I've already been advocating it to several of my friends, many of whom went to high school with me.
Honestly, at first I was a little put off by Doctorow's use of 'hip slang', which occasionally...wasn't that hip. I got a good snicker or two (at at least one moment of "WTF, srsly?") but after a few chapters I didn't even realize I was listening to a 17 year old techie geek speak. All I was aware of was how rocking awesome the book had become once it started really taking off. Doctorow's knowledge and use of technology is both frightening and seriously cool, and kind of makes me want to pick up a computer programming book or two so I can learn how to actually do some of the bad-ass tricks Marcus pulls off in the novel. Also, he managed to piss me off all over again about the U.S. running rough-shod over MY personal rights and privacy. Ooh, I felt 16 and angry again!
The plot summary on Amazon covers everything else you probably want to know. I simply felt the need to share my exciting discovery with the world! If you see a copy of this book, at least pick it up and look it over. It may be one of the best books you read this year.
---
In addition to Last Drink Bird Head, I have a copy of Richard K. Morgan's fantasy The Steel Remains on its way to my doorstep. It's shipping all the way from London though (isn't it sad when directly importing something is cheaper that buying it used from a middle man?) so it may be a few weeks before it arrives.
Next review- possibly Max Brooks' World War Z? Seriously, it totally rocks. Or perhaps Greg Pak's and Carmine Di Giandomenico's X-Men: Magneto Testament. Guys, when a graphic novel is good, it's really, really good, and Magneto Testament is AWESOME.
So instead of posting my paper, which probably no one wants to see anyway, I decided that today's entry would be a review of Cory Doctorow's YA novel Little Brother. This book was up for this year's Hugo Award, and deservedly so, I think. As you can probably tell by the title, Little Brother pulls heavily (and quite beautifully) on George Orwell's 1984, and would probably be an awesome follow-up to any teen reading Orwell's masterpiece.
I've been on a major kick with this whole "classics-updated-for-the-new-age-of-politics" thing (just ask me how I feel about the incredible Gundam Wing revamp that is Gundam 00) and Little Brother does not disappoint on that front. I just wish Doctorow had written this novel a few years earlier, while I was still in high school and growing up in the shadow of 9/11 inspired domestic fear-mongering legislation like the Patriot Act. I can just imagine the uproar his book would have caused in my little reading circle! I've already been advocating it to several of my friends, many of whom went to high school with me.
Honestly, at first I was a little put off by Doctorow's use of 'hip slang', which occasionally...wasn't that hip. I got a good snicker or two (at at least one moment of "WTF, srsly?") but after a few chapters I didn't even realize I was listening to a 17 year old techie geek speak. All I was aware of was how rocking awesome the book had become once it started really taking off. Doctorow's knowledge and use of technology is both frightening and seriously cool, and kind of makes me want to pick up a computer programming book or two so I can learn how to actually do some of the bad-ass tricks Marcus pulls off in the novel. Also, he managed to piss me off all over again about the U.S. running rough-shod over MY personal rights and privacy. Ooh, I felt 16 and angry again!
The plot summary on Amazon covers everything else you probably want to know. I simply felt the need to share my exciting discovery with the world! If you see a copy of this book, at least pick it up and look it over. It may be one of the best books you read this year.
---
In addition to Last Drink Bird Head, I have a copy of Richard K. Morgan's fantasy The Steel Remains on its way to my doorstep. It's shipping all the way from London though (isn't it sad when directly importing something is cheaper that buying it used from a middle man?) so it may be a few weeks before it arrives.
Next review- possibly Max Brooks' World War Z? Seriously, it totally rocks. Or perhaps Greg Pak's and Carmine Di Giandomenico's X-Men: Magneto Testament. Guys, when a graphic novel is good, it's really, really good, and Magneto Testament is AWESOME.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
I'm Still Alive!
My apologies for disappearing for so long. Class and work have been keeping me occupied from dawn til far past dusk, and I haven't had time to wash dishes, much less blog. In fact, I'm only on here because I'm taking a break from writing my latest paper. I have a few announcements to make, just to catch up with myself-
Miyavi will be performing in Dallas on my 21st birthday (in less than one week). I'm not going. I don't want to discuss it.
Last Drink Bird Head is on its way to my doorstep! It's the latest anthology from Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, and I'm terribly excited about it! It's a limited edition, 160 page collection of flash fiction from 80 writers (if my counting can be trusted) including Hal Duncan, Felix Gilman, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Jeffery Ford, K.J. Bishop, Jay Lake, Cat Rambo, Ekaterina Sedia, and Jeffrey Thomas. I'm so excited about this book that I sacrificed Miyavi's concert for it. Even better, all proceeds from the sale of this book go to ProLiteracy.Org, which is just as totally awesome as the book itself. Anyone who hasn't bought a copy yet should order one- it's a guaranteed keeper and it benefits a great cause. Now I just have to order Jeff Vandermeer's Booklife...after another paycheck or two.
Halloween is this weekend! I have to work on Saturday, sadly, but I'll be working in my costume. Beware the zombie elf behind the counter at the bookstore!
World Fantasy is also this weekend. Again, I won't be there, but this year's lineup for the World Fantasy Awards is, naturally, pretty freaking badass. I may have to stream the ceremony at work, because (except for every category Gaiman is in) there is some seriously stiff competition. I'm not even sure who I want to win in some cases...
In fact, Ekaterina Sedia's The Rhetorics of Fantasy , which I've already posted about here, is up for an award, and I just found out that she's written another book on the genre with Edward James, A Short History of Fantasy. Jeez, I'm going to need another shelf by the end of the week. That, and another job.
Miyavi will be performing in Dallas on my 21st birthday (in less than one week). I'm not going. I don't want to discuss it.
Last Drink Bird Head is on its way to my doorstep! It's the latest anthology from Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, and I'm terribly excited about it! It's a limited edition, 160 page collection of flash fiction from 80 writers (if my counting can be trusted) including Hal Duncan, Felix Gilman, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Jeffery Ford, K.J. Bishop, Jay Lake, Cat Rambo, Ekaterina Sedia, and Jeffrey Thomas. I'm so excited about this book that I sacrificed Miyavi's concert for it. Even better, all proceeds from the sale of this book go to ProLiteracy.Org, which is just as totally awesome as the book itself. Anyone who hasn't bought a copy yet should order one- it's a guaranteed keeper and it benefits a great cause. Now I just have to order Jeff Vandermeer's Booklife...after another paycheck or two.
Halloween is this weekend! I have to work on Saturday, sadly, but I'll be working in my costume. Beware the zombie elf behind the counter at the bookstore!
World Fantasy is also this weekend. Again, I won't be there, but this year's lineup for the World Fantasy Awards is, naturally, pretty freaking badass. I may have to stream the ceremony at work, because (except for every category Gaiman is in) there is some seriously stiff competition. I'm not even sure who I want to win in some cases...
In fact, Ekaterina Sedia's The Rhetorics of Fantasy , which I've already posted about here, is up for an award, and I just found out that she's written another book on the genre with Edward James, A Short History of Fantasy. Jeez, I'm going to need another shelf by the end of the week. That, and another job.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Artists Need to Eat, Too
Amanda Fucking Palmer on why artists actually do need to be paid for their art. (A la Hal Duncan, again, in reference to his recent experiment in selling his stories directly to his readers.)
Shakespeare gotta get paid, son.
Shakespeare gotta get paid, son.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
New Anthology (And Awards)
The Vandermeers have done it again. Once again, they've got an AWESOME anthology with a totally bad-ass lineup on the way- Last Drink Bird Head, due out in October/November. (Basically on my 21st birthday. I may need to buy myself a present.) It's a limited print, and the release party will be held at the World Fantasy Award ceremony (where the Vandermeers will be holding their own award ceremony for the newly inaugurated Last Drink Bird Head award.) Yes, it's a strange name. Yes, it's probably a very strange anthology. And yes, I want the damn thing so bad I can taste it. Hey, it's only $30...plus shipping...maybe I can sell my TV. You only turn 21 once, right? I deserve it.
And damn Vandermeer for also releasing Booklife in the month I am the most broke. (I think it's coming out this month, at least. Maybe not!) And I missed the very short print life of Steve Berman's latest book, Mr. October's Naughty Bedside Reader. Damn, damn, double damn. It was released in August and it's already out of print and unavailable. I knew I should have pre-ordered the damn thing. I wonder if he'll be putting out another Wilde Stories anthology this year?
And damn Vandermeer for also releasing Booklife in the month I am the most broke. (I think it's coming out this month, at least. Maybe not!) And I missed the very short print life of Steve Berman's latest book, Mr. October's Naughty Bedside Reader. Damn, damn, double damn. It was released in August and it's already out of print and unavailable. I knew I should have pre-ordered the damn thing. I wonder if he'll be putting out another Wilde Stories anthology this year?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Peadar O'Guilin Interview
Cool interview with Pedaar O'Guilin, author of The Inferior and the upcoming The Deserter. I have the first and loved it, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out. I also stalk Peadar's blog, because he cracks me up. It's a strange thing for me to discover someone new who has my same sense of humor.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Ten Things
Ten Things
Ten things I have learned about writing -- a la Elizabeth Bear and Ben Peek. This can also be read as a Stages of Writing thing, as these are largely consecutive "steps", to my mind. So:1. Don't eat the crayons, even if "purple tastes gooooood". No, really. Put that down; it's not meant for that.*
2. Young talent must be nurtured. A child who has a certain knack for, say, writing stories in English class needs to be taken aside and told it in order to make them realise that they're special, to encourage them and (more importantly) alienate them from the dickwad jocks around, breeding a seething resentment of their low status in the high school pecking order. Compensatory arrogance and narcissistic rage are the powerhouse of the creative impetus.
3. Writing is 100% inspiration and 100% perspiration. It's what you breathe and what you sweat, all of it, equally. It often stinks for that reason, but not devouring shit will usually improve this state of affairs.
4. Flattery is for fuckwits; ruthless critique is the only critique of any value. Workshops can be valuable then, but if a workshop session doesn't make you want to kill someone** it's not worth shit. Even if it does you probably won't listen to the content and rewrite your crappy mood-piece / novel fragment / background summary so it's an actual fucking story. You will however want to a) get your own back on the bastards b) show these fuckers that you really are a genius, so there. In attempting to achieve the first you will hone your critical skills. In attempting to achieve the latter you will apply those skills to your own writing.
5. Learn to kill your darlings. But torture them first. And after you've killed them, strip the meat from their bones, take them apart and build them into one motherfucking huge serial-killer-style shrine. Alternatively, put them back together and reflesh them with muscle and sinew sliced from your own naked body (or neighbourhood pets) and vat-grown in your underground laboratory; raise them from the dead as a glorious army of skeletal warriors, unquestioning servants in your plan for world domination.
6. Shoeboxes full of adolescent scribblings make pretty fire. Should your army of undead sentences rise up against you, ceasing to obey your every whim and becoming instead an unruly mob seeking equal rights and inclusion in every story or novel you try to write, putting all of them -- every last motherfucking one of them -- to the torch will liberate you to start anew, utilising the skills acquired over five-ten years of twiddling and tweaking. As a wise man once said: exterminate all the brutes.
7. There is really only one way to be a writer: start writing, carry on writing, and keep on writing until it's five in the morning. A mix of uppers (e.g coffee) and downers (e.g. cigarettes) can keep you balanced for an indefinite period on the knife-edge between consciousness and complete collapse. This is known as "the Zone". Remember: sleep-deprivation is the poor man's hallucinogen.
8. Bad writers burrow; good writers steel themselves and face the fucking consequences when the monster they've created gets loose and runs amok inside their heads, raping innocent memories and pillaging knowledge, growing in might and violence until the landscape of the mind is all but consumed in chaos. Fear not. Once you have tamed the monster it will be a loyal friend and ally, demanding only the occassional virgin sacrifice. And that's what virgins are for.
9. "Art" is a poncy term for craft combined with flair. What distinguishes the talented writer from the good writer (c.f. Delany) is having the audacity to take on an insanely difficult project and the panache to fail gloriously, shrug it off and start on another even more insanely difficult project. Pretentious writing is only pretentious because it is not ambitious enough. Your detractors will not make this distinction, but what do they know? Bastards.
10. Fuck that shit.
* 1a. This simple childhood rule applies also in adult life to: playing computer Solitaire; browsing the interweb; checking email; surfing for p0rn. If you are doing any of this you are eating the crayons. Stop it now.
** 4a. If the someone that ruthless critique makes you want to kill is yourself then you are not a writer and never will be. You are a delicate flower... to be snipped off and worn as a buttonhole by men of cruel wit and savage passions.
...
Once again, I have stolen something off of someone else's blog. This time it's Hal Duncan's, since I was on there for the last post looking for something else entirely. Also, read the comments on his page!
"Good Books Don't Have to Be Hard"?
Ok, I respect Levi Grossman. However, I have to call bullshit on his article in the Wall Street Journal. Catherynne Valente (my hero) beat me to the punch here, and in fact brought Grossman's wrong-headed meandering to my attention. However, I still need to grouch a little bit.
Grossman seems to think there is some sort of vast intellectual conspiracy, which looks down upon contemporary literature and plot and calls it 'popular fiction', 'entertainment', 'escapist', and not at all literary. The crap he spews on the 'evils' of Modernist literature stands on its own.*
I'd spend more time on this, but I need to go home and write my book. Read his article, Valente's response, and if you have a few dozen hours to kill read Hal Duncan's blog. All of it. (I tried to skim through really fast and locate a few of Duncan's posts on genre and on literary fiction vs. popular fiction, but of course since I'm actually looking for them they are nowhere to be found. But, they are there, and they are excellent, so I encourage you to go on the hunt.)
Also, on a completely unrelated note, I want this book- Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn. Fuck yeah.
*All the words in quotes are mine, not his.
Grossman seems to think there is some sort of vast intellectual conspiracy, which looks down upon contemporary literature and plot and calls it 'popular fiction', 'entertainment', 'escapist', and not at all literary. The crap he spews on the 'evils' of Modernist literature stands on its own.*
I'd spend more time on this, but I need to go home and write my book. Read his article, Valente's response, and if you have a few dozen hours to kill read Hal Duncan's blog. All of it. (I tried to skim through really fast and locate a few of Duncan's posts on genre and on literary fiction vs. popular fiction, but of course since I'm actually looking for them they are nowhere to be found. But, they are there, and they are excellent, so I encourage you to go on the hunt.)
Also, on a completely unrelated note, I want this book- Rhetorics of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn. Fuck yeah.
*All the words in quotes are mine, not his.
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