Home, lost money

Not much, luckily. Only about $25--playing the slots at Mohegan Sun. A little Friday night after my sister and I had dinner (paid for by my bus bonus) and today before the bus home. I miss the one armed bandit--it's all push buttons now. And no cash but vouchers--harder to put aside --easier to spend. The best slots are those with the bonuses --they're fun, even if I can never understand which lines win what....


Lee Thomas called me Sunday morning to let me know that neither his story nor the anthology Inferno won. The awards were given too late Saturday night for him to contact me, but it's not like I was on the edge. I had a feeling Inferno wouldn't win.

2007 Bram Stoker Award Winners--Congratulations everyone!

[presented March 30, 2008]
Novel: The Missing by Sarah Langan

First Novel: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Long Fiction: Afterward, There Will Be A Hallway by Gary Braunbeck

Short Fiction: "The Gentle Brush of Wings " by David Niall Wilson

Fiction Collection: (Tie)
Proverbs for Monsters by Michael A. Arnzen
5 Stories by Peter Straub

Anthology: Five Strokes to Midnight edited by Gary Braunbeck and Hank Schwaeble

Nonfiction: THE CRYPTOPEDIA: A Dictionary of the Weird, Strange & Downright Bizarre by Jonathan Maberry & David F. Kramer

Poetry Collection: (Tie)
Being Full of Light, Insubstantial by Linda Addison
VECTORS: A Week in the Death of a Planet by Charlee Jacob & Marge Simon

Lifetime Achievement Award: John Carpenter, Robert Weinberg

Richard Laymon President's Award: Mark Worthen, Stephen Dorato, Christopher Fulbright

New co-host of Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series

Ellen Datlow is proud to announce that she has a new co-host, writer/editor Matthew Kressel, for the KGB Fantastic Fiction Reading Series.

Kressel, publisher of Senses Five Press and Sybil's Garage, is taking over for Gavin J. Grant as co-host of the monthly reading series at the famed KGB Bar in New York City.

Terry Bisson and Alice K. Turner started the reading series in the late 1990s, attempting to bring together mainstream writers with writers of speculative fiction in order to show, in Alice Turner's words, "that at a certain level they were plowing exactly the same field." In the spring of 2000 Ellen Datlow took over for Alice K. Turner and in August 2002 Gavin J. Grant, publisher of Small Beer Press, stepped in for Bisson when he moved to California.

For six years Gavin has co-hosted the series with Ellen. We wish to thank him for the bang up job he's done, for the dedication he has shown to the authors and their work.

The KGB Fantastic Fiction readings—in addition to showcasing many of the major voices of the field—regularly bring together the members of New York City science fiction, fantasy, and horror communities where writers, editors, and readers can mingle and promote excellent fiction.
The readings (which are always free) are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 7 PM at KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Ave, upstairs).

Upcoming readers include P. D. Cacek, Jack Ketchum, James Patrick Kelly, Cassandra Claire, Christopher Barzak, Jeff Somers, Stefan Merrill Block, JoSelle Vanderhooft, and John Kessel.

For a full schedule visit:
http://www.sensesfive.com/kgb.php
KGB Bar website:
http://www.kgbbar.com
Subscribe to our mailing list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kgbfantasticfiction/join

To submit materials for consideration please send titles to:
Ellen Datlow
KGB readings
PMB 391
511 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10011-8436
and
Matthew Kressel
Senses Five Press
307 Madison St, Apt 3L
Hoboken, NJ 07030-1937

The full TOC for The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-first Annual Collection

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-first Annual Collection
Edited by Ellen Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant

Table of Contents

“The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” Daniel Abraham
“The Gray Boy’s Work” M.T. Anderson
“Troll” (poem) Nathalie Anderson
“The Monsters of Heaven” Nathan Ballingrud
“The Forest” Laird Barron
“Reversal of Fortune” Holly Black
“The House of Mechanical Pain” Chaz Brenchley
“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” Ted Chiang
“Scenes of Hell” (poem) Billy Collins
“Toother” Terry Dowling
“The Drowned Life” Jeffrey Ford
“The Last Worders” Karen Joy Fowler
“Monkey” (poem) Eliza Griswold
“Up the Fire Road” Eileen Gunn
“Winter’s Wife” Elizabeth Hand
“A Perfect and Unmappable Grace” Jack Haringa
“The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change” Kij Johnson
“The Boulder” Lucy Kemnitzer
“The Hill” Tanith Lee
“The Ape Man” Alexander MacBride
“Lovers (Jafaar the Winged)” (poem) Khaled Mattawa
“Hum Drum” Gary McMahon
“A Thing Forbidden” Donald Mead
“England and Nowhere” Tim Nickels
“Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go to War Again” Garth Nix
“Valentine, July Heat Wave” Joyce Carol Oates
“Mr. Poo Poo” Reggie Oliver
“Fragrant Goddess” Paul Park
“Holiday” M. Rickert
“Vampires in the Lemon Grove” Karen Russell
“Rats” Veronica Schanoes
“The Fiddler of Bayou Teche” Delia Sherman
“Village Smart” (poem) Maggie Smith
“The Tenth Muse” William Browning Spencer
“Follow Me Home” Sonya Taaffe
“The Swing” Don Tumasonis
“Closet Dreams” Lisa Tuttle
“The Seven Devils of Central California” Catherynne M. Valente
“Splitfoot” Paul Walther
“The Hide” Liz Williams

Two reviews of The Del Rey Book of SF&F from Locus

As often happens, different reviewers liked (or didn't like) different stories--and sometimes they agreed on the stories they liked. Not all the stories mentioned are mentioned below but here are some choice quotes:

Nick Gevers: "....Datlow's ambitious volume The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy , could easily be Scifiction resurrected in trade paperback. Much the same authors, much the same sensibility--edgy contemporary or near-future stories, full of good prose and suspense, with a touch of horror often evident. ...a feast of good short fiction...


"Prisoners of the Action" by Paul McAuley & Kim Newman, is a moderately hilarious send-up of the American military...Newman's expertise with secret history combines well with McAuley's hard-nosed wit in a caper rich with paranoia and epidemic craziness."

..."The book's best story overall is probably "Ardent Clouds" by Lucy Sussex, a sharp and amusing novelette about vulcanologists falling victim to the fiery natural gods they worship....
"Special Economics" by Maureen F. McHugh is also quite witty... a cutting satire on the Second World's overheated economies." Margo Lanagan is in a truly savage mood in "The Goosle"..."Pat Cadigan's "Jimmy" is a highly atmospheric look at American small-town life in the early 1960s...the phenomenon of scapegoating is very effectively explored here.

"Sonny Liston Takes the Fall" by Elizabeth Bear is an intense examination of what distinguished Mohammed Ali from his competitors in boxing, and how his heroic eminence could be founded in sacrifices by others."..."Aka St. Mark's PLace" continues the '60s theme, as Richard Bowes investigates the tragic effects of harsh official treatment on a runaway teenager..."

...."A couple of brief diversions into surrealism are quite entertaining: "The Passion of Azazel" by Barry N. Malzberg, which (chiming with Cadigan's story) avenges the Biblical scapegoat on a flock of trainee rabbis, and "Daltharee" by Jeffrey Ford, a typically Fordian efflorescence of miniature domed cities. The surreal also perhaps applies in "North American Lake Monsters" by Nathan Ballingrud...



Rich Horton: "...a strong original anthology.."

"One story truly stands out: Jeffrey Ford's "Daltharee", a dizzying fantasia about a "bottled city" created by a mad scientist..."

"The other standout comes from Maureen F. McHugh: "Special Economics', about a Chinese country girl come to the big city in the near future, who ends up more or less indentured to a shady corporation, but manages to come up with a surprising out."

Other strong stories include Lavie Tidhar's "Shira,"...Margo Lanagan's "The Goosle", Laird Barron's "The Lagerstatte"...Anna Tambour's "Gladiolus Exposed", ...very entertaining. Pat Cadigan's "Jimmy"...is a moving story..."

... The anthology is bookended by two nice longer stories: Jason Stoddard's "The Elephant Ironclads", ....Paula McAuley & Kim Newman offer "Prisoners of the Action", a downright goofy story about the aftermath of an odd alien invasion...."

Another Book giveaway going on NOW!

Two copies of INFERNO for blogging! If you're outside the US as long as you're willing to pay postage you too can get a copy....

Get your hot INFERNO now!