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Jim C. Hines Brings the Fantasy Funny
2008-03-31 19:25:00
      Jim C. Hines is the comic mastermind responsible for the Snort-Fest Trilogy--my name for it--consisting of Goblin Quest, Goblin Hero, and, now, Goblin War (DAW). In these hilarious novels, Hines pokes fun at anything and everything while still maintaining a tight plot arc and creating believable characters. The result, to an old fantasy buff like me, is both entertaining and oddly nostalgic. I interviewed Mr. Hines via email recently to see what makes him tick, and to ask that all important question, "Ogres or goblins." Amazon.com: How hard is it to do humorous heroic fantasy that also spoofs or satirizes serious heroic fantasy? There’s Shrek, there’s bad serious heroic fantasy, there’s all kind of competition. Jim C. Hines: Actually, this is the kind of writing that's always come naturally to me. My first big sale was a story called "Blade of the Bunny." I whipped that story out in a week, and it won first place at Writers of the F...
More About: Funny , Fantasy

Trust no one over 14: The Children's Choice Book Awards
2008-03-29 00:00:00
I know. I know. Another set of book awards. But this one is actually different, I promise. This time the kids get to decide who wins. Finalists have been posted for the first-ever Children's Choice Book Awards (sponsored by the Children's Book Council). Finalists in the following categories were determined through the CBC's Children's Choices program, which means that they were chosen by kids from all over the country: Favorite Book, Grades K to 2 Dino Dinners by Mick Manning and Brita GranstromFive Little Monkeys Go Shopping by Eileen ChristelowFrankie Stein written by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Kevan Atteberry Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark written by Ken Geist, illustrated by Julia GortonTucker's Spooky Halloween by Leslie McGuirk Favorite Book, Grades 3 to 4 Babymouse #6: Camp Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matt HolmBig Cats: Hunters of the Night by Elaine LandauMagic Treehouse #38: Monday With a Mad Genius written by Mary Pope Osborne, i...
More About: Trust

The Art of Fake Fiction
2008-03-28 21:22:00
I am, as I think I have noted in this space before, a geek for the Paris Review interviews. In my college library I procrastinated my way through all of those old Writers at Work collections when I should have been studying up on the Yugoslav economy or some such immediate assignment, and I still keep an eye on the newsstands to see which authors have been brought into the Art of Fiction canon in the latest issue (this issue, by the way, it's Kenzaburo Oe). So when I got an advance copy of Nathaniel Rich's upcoming debut novel, The Mayor's Tongue, with an unexplained photocopy of an interview (The Art of Fiction XXI) with the writer Constance Eakins folded inside, well, I felt that someone had found my alley and parked right there. It's a fun pastiche, down to the spine-shading to make it look like the Xeroxes I've made of my favorite exchanges over the years, and you can see it for yourself on the still-building site for the book . Who is Eakins? It appears on first gla...
More About: Fake

Thunderin' Felix Gilman's Thunderer
2008-03-28 16:24:00
       Felix Gilman's epic urban fantasy Thunderer was published in hardcover by Bantam Spectra earlier this year, to a rousing round of praise from the likes of Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and SciFi Weekly. Realms of Fantasy reviewer Paul Witcover wrote in part, "Gilman exuberantly plunders sources literary, historical, and mythological in bringing his protean labyrinth of a city to life, and the mysterious act of creation by which the imaginary is made real, and the real imaginary, becomes one of the novel’s main themes...This masterly first novel is as stunning and unexpected as a thunderclap out of a clear blue sky..." I recently interviewed Gilman via email about being a first-time novelist, our mutual contacts, and much else. Amazon.com: Can you describe where you are while answering these questions?Felix Gilman: In the day-job office, on a weekend. I am somewhere near the top floor of a very tall jet-black building. Through porthole-thick p...

Shooting War Optioned for Possible Mini-Series
2008-03-27 18:00:00
As announced on the Shooting War website, the provocative and controversial graphic novel Shooting War, which started out as a web comic, has been optioned by Power for TV mini-series development. Shooting War takes place in the future of the Iraq War and is a powerful commentary on journalism and how the eye of the media affects our perceptions of events. According to journalist Anthony Lappé, who wrote Shooting War (Dan Goldman did the art), "Power sells a lot of their films...to networks like Discovery and Sci-Fi, which would be an awesome place for it. I'd also love to see it on FX, Showtime, HBO or AMC, which has the killer [show] Breaking Bad. Power is also in a co-production to do a new series for NBC, so they are in a great position to develop Shooting War." Lappé will write any adaptation and be consulted on every element of production. Although it's too early to discuss who might direct, Lappé had some definite opinions on who might make good choices for t...
More About: Series , Mini

A conversation with Kristin Hannah
2008-03-25 21:17:00
Reading Firefly Lane will likely be a trip down memory lane for most readers out there. Kristin Hannah weaves great period moments of growing up during the '70s and '80s into the story, and in Kate and Tully she's also created a portrait of a real friends--ones who celebrates the good times but who also takes a hard look at love and loyalty when the chips are down--that will remind you of your own lifelong friendships. It's the kind of book you'll devour in one sitting and immediately want to share with your friends so you can dish about it. And speaking of dishing, that's exactly what we did over lunch last fall with the author here in her native Seattle. The city figures largely in Firefly Lane and it was fun to hear about how her own experiences growing up in the Northwest found expression in the book. She was gracious enough to catch up with me recently over e-mail--and to send us a snapshot of her fantastic book collection, which you'll see pictured above. --Anne Amaz...
More About: Conversation

5 Young Lions and 20 Oranges
2008-03-25 21:00:00
The New York Public Library (and Young Patron Ethan Hawke) announced the shortlist for this year's Young Lions Award ($10,000 to "a promising author under the age of 35"). (Speaking of youth, I'm thinking of creating a new literary award for which any writer younger than me--and suddenly, there are many--will be eligible, to be known as the Logan's Run Prize.) Last year's winner was Olga Grushin for The Dream Life of Sukhanov, and this year's contenders are Ron Currie Jr., God Is Dead Ellen Litman, The Last Chicken in America Peter Nathaniel Malae, Teach the Free Man Dinaw Mengestu, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Emily Mitchell, The Last Summer of the World By the way, I haven't read The Last Summer of the World (ok, I'll confess: I haven't read any of the five, but the Mengestu is a big favorite around here), but the raves for it from PW and Booklist on our page made me think I'd really like it, and then I noticed in the Customer Reviews this short note f...
More About: Oranges

It Must Be Something in the Air: Science Fiction Awards Frenzy!
2008-03-25 18:53:00
Wow. You turn your back for one second and SF award announcements pop up like colorful exotic weeds. First, the Philip K. Dick Award goes to Omnivoracious favorite M.J. Harrison for Nova Swing, then the British SF Association Awards in London announce another favorite Ian McDonald as the winner for best novel with Brasyl. (Those crazy Brits also annointed Brian Aldiss' Non-Stop as Best Novel of 1958, marking a really odd trend in SF of literary time travel.) And, finally, the Prometheus Awards for "best Libertarian SF" of 2007 announced their finalists. It's a virtual monopoly, with all five novels published by Tor: Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell, The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod, Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven & Edward M. Lerner, The Gladiator by Harry S. Turtledove, and Ha'Penny by Jo Walton. Apparently, there's not a single libertarian at Eos, Bantam, and Del Rey, et al. What this means for Tor isn't clear, but I would expect startling effects. As the libertarian...
More About: Science , Fiction , Science Fiction , Frenzy

Yes! Verdun!
2008-03-25 18:21:00
In his NYT column today, David Brooks makes the following analogy:For three more months (maybe more!) the campaign will proceed along in its Verdun-like pattern. There will be a steady rifle fire of character assassination from the underlings, interrupted by the occasional firestorm of artillery when the contest touches upon race, gender or patriotism.After reading Alistair Horne's The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 this month, I was able to say "Yes, because it was a long, drawn-out battle of infantry skirmishes punctuated by brutal artillery attacks!" And I said this to myself as if I'd achieved something great, when in actuality I'd only recognized a pretty obvious cultural reference. Horne's book is a great read for anyone interested in WWI, but as to which candidate is Pétain and which is Falkenhayn: no comment.

Old Media Monday: Reviewing the Reviewers
2008-03-25 08:34:00
New York Times: Sunday Book Review cover: Colm Toibin on Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker: "Slowly, as you read, because of the variety in the tone and the shocking or tragic nature of the quotation, and because of how well chosen they are, 'Human Smoke' becomes riveting and fascinating. It is as though a brilliant film editor, with an urgent argument to make, began to work with gripping newsreels.... He has produced an eloquent and passionate assault on the idea that the deliberate targeting of civilians can ever be justified." Kakutani on The Finder by Colin Harrison: "In 'The Finder,' as in earlier thrillers..., Mr. Harrison combines a Balzacian eye for social detail and a poet’s sense of mood with a sleazily sensationalistic plot — this time, so gory at one point and often so far-fetched that it seems more like a story line borrowed from a straight-to-video production than a high-budget feature film. The result is a grisly page turner of a novel that lacquers its cheap t...
More About: Media , Reviewing , Monday

Lydia Millet's How the Dead Dream
2008-03-24 21:05:00
Lydia Millet is one of my favorite writers--she takes chances, she isn't afraid to get political but manages to do it in the context of character and situation so the results aren't preachy. Her latest, How the Dead Dream , is a deceptively quiet novel about T., a real estate developer who, as Millet put it via email recently, fetishizes "actual dollar bills instead of the things they can buy." When he starts to lose his tightly wound control, T. begins to obsess about vanishing species. The details of T.'s descent and the empathic way in which Millet describes animals in the book are both remarkable. On a sentence level, Millet's prose has a restrained but muscular quality--as of emotion just beneath the surface, held in check. Several times I re-read sentences just for the quality of their invention. When I asked Millet about the idea of taking risks, she responded that she'd like to see "the publishing establishment to take more risks with literary fiction--to throw ambitiou...
More About: Lydia

James Beard Foundation Awards: 2008 Finalists Announced
2008-03-24 18:48:00
Following last Monday's reveal of the 2008 IACP finalists, today the James Beard Foundation announced their nominees for 2008 (along with a snazzy update to their website).  Hailed as "the Oscars of the food world," the Beards honor cookbooks, chefs, journalists, food writers, and food and beverage professionals. Winners will be announced in a black-tie ceremony at Lincoln Center on Sunday, June 8. Ten Speed Press led the pack with the most IACP nominations and continues their run with the most James Beard nods (6 total, including their Celestial Arts imprint). Titles Nominated in More Than One Category: The Country Cooking of France (International, Photography) Total Nominations Per Publisher: Ten Speed Press: 6 John Wiley & Sons: 5 HarperCollins: 4 Artisan: 3 Penguin Books: 3 Stewart, Tabori & Chang: 3 Chronicle Books: 2 University of California Press: 2 W.W. Norton & Company: 2 Bloomsbury: 1 DK Publishing: 1 Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 1 Flammarion...
More About: Awards , Finalists

A Real-life Kids' Publishing House, and its Really Close Imitation
2008-03-22 01:29:00
"My mom says you write kids books." "I don't write kids books. I edit kids books. It's a very different job. Hard to explain." "She said you wrote Brambles McGee." "I didn't write Brambles McGee. I edited Brambles McGee." "How come you made Brambles die?" "I didn't make him die, I made him die quicker. And with a fancier font." So began last week's pilot of The Return of Jezebel James, the latest show by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (the pop-culture quipping creators of Gilmore Girls). The new sitcom, which will run its next episode tonight on Fox, features a children's book editor, Sarah (Parker Posey), who asks her sister (Six Feet Under's Lauren Ambrose) to have her baby. It's no mistake that Sarah's office looks like the real-life Harper Collins Children's Division. PW had a nice article today about how the Palladinos worked with HarperCollins to make the show as true to life as possible, down to the classic book quotes painted on the conference ...
More About: House , Life , Kids , Publishing , Close

Hugo Award Finalists Announced
2008-03-21 18:06:00
The 2008 Hugo Award finalists have been announced on the website for the 2008 World SF Convention. The nominees in the novel category are as follows: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate) Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr) Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007) The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor) Halting State by Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit) The Hugo Award is perhaps the most venerable of the science fiction awards and tends to provide a core sample of the "center of genre" in any given year, sometimes with what might call "celebrated outsiders" getting a nod (in this case Chabon). The best book on the list, for my money, however, is Brasyl by Ian McDonald and I'll be crossing my fingers that the Scotsman gets the win. The winners will be announced at the World SF Convention in Denver, held August 6-10 this year. Congratulations to all of the finalists!
More About: Finalists