ellen_datlow

After six days in sunny warm L.A. I had a lovely time. Yesterday was very busy. I met two elementary school through high school friends for lunch (met a third from our group the afternoon before for coffee), signed many copies of Teeth and other books at Dark Delicacies, then, with fourteen friends/writers/writing students from my Clarion West class (and a couple of kids) headed to Bob's Big Boy for whatever. It was wonderful to see everyone, especially Maureen McHugh who I've not seen in ages and has relocated from Austin to LA just a few months ago.

Then, I had dinner with Jim and Viki Blaylock and a couple of young people they know at Eclectic and finally, finished off the day with a marvelous production of Pinocchio done with a combination of signing and voice from the theater company of Deaf West.

A few very nice stray emails came in while I was out there--about stories in books I and Terri and I have edited:
Telling the Flip Side of the Tale

and Attention Ellen Kushner fans

Terri and my editor at Viking, Sharyn November just alerted us:

http://tinyurl.com/46pebp

This is excellent news!

The money shot is: "I’d be very surprised if this isn’t one of the very best young adult fantasy books published this year."

Here's the whole review by Don D'Ammassa at Fantasy Review

Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth

"An Unwelcome Guest," Garth Nix, Troll's Eye View - a snarky black comedy version of Rapunzel, from the point of view of a long-suffering witch and her cynical cat.

"A Delicate Architecture," Catherynne M. Valente, Troll's Eye View - a beautiful, cruel origin story for one of the most iconic villains of fairy tale tradition - I won't say who, because it would spoil the story experience! But this is one of those lovely precise-prose stories in which every sentence is a pleasure to read.

"The Cinderella Game," Kelly Link, Troll's Eye View - a creeping horror piece that explores some of the more disturbing elements of the Cinderella-stepsister dynamic through a modern boy-Cinderella and the very disturbing little girl he is now related to by marriage. The story is borderline speculative, and yet belongs irrevocably to the genre.

Yay! At the SF Site--a couple of excerpts and the entire Featured Review
...Not one of these stories is anything less than excellent.
...There's a subtle complexity, a questioning of traditional fairy tale morals, a subversion of the familiar, and taken as a whole, it gets the point across without overdoing it. So in that regard, Troll's-Eye View is a splendid anthology."

The event was a success and a lot of fun. We weren't sure if the contributors would be reading because of how the announcement from BOW was worded but everyone--Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner, and Holly Black-- read (I read the brief intro and introduced the readers) for a few minutes. Then Ellen, Delia, and Holly talked about their stories and how they came to write them--other than being commissioned ;-)and then we answered questions and finally signed books.
Here are photos. I took most of them (except the ones that I'm in and possibly a couple of others--a cousin of Ellen K's, I think-- took those).

Troll's Eye View signing photos

Everyone is welcome to a reading/signing of Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

at Books of Wonder, June 7, 1-3pm
18 West 18th street
New York, NY

Holly Black
Ellen Datlow
Ellen Kushner
Delia Sherman
Catherynne M. Valente

This event is free and open to all. Please note that you are welcome to bring one book from home to be signed for each book you purchase on the day of the event. If you have any questions, call us at (212) 989-3270.

Yayy. I've been so busy that I almost forgot.
This is Terri and my middle grade (8-12 year olds) anthology of retold fairy tales empathizing with the villains. Although it's aimed at younger folk, some of the stories should most definitely appeal to adults:

TOC
Wizard’s Apprentice Delia Sherman
An Unwelcome Guest Garth Nix
Faery Tales Wendy Froud
Rags and Riches Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Up the Down Beanstalk Peter S. Beagle
The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces Ellen Kushner
Puss in Boots, the Sequel Joseph Stanton
The Boy Who Cried Wolf Holly Black
Troll Jane Yolen
Castle Othello Nancy Farmer
Skin Michael Cadnum
A Delicate Architecture Catherynne M. Valente
Molly Midori Snyder
Observing the Formalities Neil Gaiman
The Cinderella Game Kelly Link

Update--I forgot to post the cover so here it is!

For anyone wondering what I've been up to in addition to shilling for the ongoing raffle and the Shirley Jackson Award fundraiser, I've been busy going over galleys and copy edits for forthcoming titles, one of which is Troll's Eye View, Terri Windling's and my middle grade book coming out next spring.
Here's the wonderful cover art by the amazing esao andrews