Interzone 229 has arrived!

Good news day: my copy of Interzone 229, edited by Andy Cox and Andy Hedgecock, has just arrived.

This issue includes fiction by Paul Evanby, Antony Mann, Toby Litt, Rochinta Loenen-Ruiz and Jim Hawkins (with the wonderfully punning "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Matter"); and commentary by David Langford, Tony Lee, Nick Lowe and others. Also included is an interview with Jeff VanderMeer. The cover is by Warwick Fraser-Coombe.

For information see http://www.ttapress.com/

The Network by Jason Elliot available soon

Jason Elliot's The Network is published by Bloomsbury on 12 July 2010 (at £11.99):

"The world is about to change. In the months leading up to 9/11 the intelligence community is on high alert for terrorist threats. Former army officer Anthony Taverner is recruited by the Secret Intelligence Service for an apparently straightforward mission: to destroy a cache of the CIA's precious Stinger missiles in Taliban-held Afghanistan. But in the kaleidoscope world of spying, nothing is what it seems.

SAS meets James Bond in this extraordinary thriller by an award-winning writer."

Hellblazer signing

Simon Bisley and Peter Milligan will be signing Hellblazer: Hooked at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Saturday 7th August at 1.00pm. According to FB's press release:

"Chain-smoking occultist anti-hero John Constantine is back in this new volume! After getting dumped by his girlfriend, Constantine goes to extremes to get her back. But will he sink to a new low by using a love potion? Constantine’s enemy, the Babylonian shape-shifting demon Julian, and the hot young alchemist-gangster’s daughter Epiphany will certainly have something to say about this turn of events."

I doubt I can make this event. Nevertheless, my copy is on order.

Thomas Burnett Swann revisited

Long time ago (ie, in the 1970s and early 80s) I lapped up everything by Thomas Burnett Swann -- at least everything I bought at the time. There were three titles that escaped me then: The Goat Without Horns, Wolfwinter and Queens Walk in Dust. I managed to obtain them over the years and promptly filed them on the shelves waiting to be read. Yesterday, I finally started on Goat. I wish I could say that I'm enjoying it as much as I enjoyed TBS' work when first encountered.

The story is narrated by a dolphin -- and yes, that does seem odd. But if you've read Swann you'll know that he plundered various myths and legends for his exquisite fantasies. However, because much of the action takes part on dry land, the dolphin is telling the story from a distance -- and that distance makes the tale feel stilted (not finished it yet and so it may improve). The story is set in the late 19th century -- and the attitudes displayed by the English about lesser souls is telling. And it's a little uncomfortable to be reminded of those attitudes.

However, reading Goat has encouraged me to revisit Day of the Minotaur and The Forest of Forever.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

The paperback edition of Stephen King’s massive tome, Under the Dome, is released this week by Hodder at £7.99. This 880-page volume is published with four different covers – it will be interesting to see which is the most successful (assuming fans don’t buy one of each). Luckily, my edition's cover is probably the best of the four alternatives. The story must be familiar to everyone by now: a small Maine town is cut off and separated from the world by the dome of the title. The town’s people come to terms with this and then “the power struggles begin”. It sounds like a larger scale The Mist but without the monsters hammering to get in (I haven't yet read the book so I may be wrong in that aspect).

Stories edited by Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio

With Neil Gaiman’s name on the cover you always expect something special. In this case, Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio have teamed up to edit an anthology called, simply, Stories. The flyleaf says, “Stories is a groundbreaking anthology that reinvigorates, expands, and redefines the limits of imaginative fiction.”

The book contains 27 all-new stories by: Richard Adams, Kurt Andersen, Lawrence Block, Jonathan Carroll, Jeffery Deaver, Roddy Doyle, Jeffrey Ford, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Hand, Joanne Harris, Joe Hill, Kat Howard, Diana Wynne Jones, Joe Lansdale, Michael Moorcock, Walter Mosley, Joyce Carol Oates, Stewart O’Nan, Chuck Palahniuk, Carolyn Parkhurst, Jodi Picoult, Tim Powers, Al Sarrantonio, Michael Marshall Smith, Peter Straub, Michael Swanwick, and Gene Wolfe.

With such a line-up expect something special, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it heading the ‘best of’ lists for 2010. The book is already available from Headline, at £18.99.

Black & white portraits

If you have access to FaceBook, you may have noticed that I've posted some of my photos of writers, artisits and editors -- after converting them to b&w images. I've always prefered monochrome photographs -- I think they help show the person without distracting colours getting in the way. This photo is of Paul McAuley, Stephen Jones and Ian Watson larking around at EasterCon 2009. Photo (c) Peter Coleborn

Jack of Fables volume 7 now available

I have mentioned before now that entry points into many comic series can be very difficult due to long, over-arching story lines. The Fables saga, including the spin-off series Jack of Fables, is one such example. Fortunately, volume seven of Jack (it collects issues 36 to 40 of the monthly comic) is an ideal jumping-on point. The preceding massive and involved conflict, in which Jack helps to save just about everything, ended in volume six. This book is a light-hearted start at a new arc. Jack of Fables: The New Adventures of Jack and Jack by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Chris Roberson, Russ Braun and Tony Akins is published by Vertigo and costs $14.99. A review of this graphic novel will appear in the BFS' newsletter, Prism.

White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat (The Curse Workers Book 1) by Holly Black
Gollancz 2010. Trade pb £10.99 / hc £18.99
Reviewed by Jan Edwards

Holly Black describes this as ‘...a novel about capers, curse magic and memory.’ I am not sure I can put it a lot better than that, but I shall try. Cassel is the only non-worker in a family of Curse-Magic Workers, and his elder brothers look down on him as a result. His father is dead and his mother is in jail for ‘working’ a sting on a millionaire with her ‘emotion’ touch. In fact, since Curse Working is illegal, many Workers are employed by a Curse-Worker Mob boss. Surely enough for any 17 year old to cope with, you would think? But Cassel has a lot more to contend with. His sleepwalking results in his being suspended from school, and he was haunted constantly for the past three years by memories of his murdering his girlfriend, Lila – who is the only daughter to the afore-mentioned Mobster.

With an opening like this you know life can only get complicated and so it does. A white cat is communicating with him through his dreams, and then it turns up in 'person'. The magic in White Cat is consistent throughout and the place and people are totally believable.Cassel himself is not just a crook by default. He enjoys the thrill of chasing down his mark, even without the aid of magic. He’s a con-man and you know you shouldn’t like him; yet you can’t help yourself.

Like many of the Paranormal Romance titles this is marketed as YA but can be found as easily among the adult novels, with characters, intrigue and pace of a high quality that sets the page-turning quotient on high (I read White Cat in one sitting). I would also say in passing that Gollancz cover (shown) is more fitting than the ‘Twilight’ cover of the McElderry US edition. Red Glove, the second Curse Workers Book is expected May 2011.

The Mythago Man, RIP

I haven't posted anything here for a long time. And then something occurred that left me feeling numb -- this was the untimely death of Robert Holdstock at the end of 2009. At the time I felt unable to put anything about this on my blog; it was too difficult.

It is still painful to think about. I met Rob years ago at a fantasy convention, and we quickly became friends (even though meeting once or twice a year). Rob was a biologist working in the field of immunology before becoming a full time writer, and he kept up with the latest developments in cell biolgy. When he learned that I worked in an immunology laboratory he took delight in bamboolzing me with the latest research. I didn't mind: there was always a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Jan and I were going to stay with Rob and the lovely Sarah last December but my family committments put a raincheck on that. Alas, our visit to Rob and Sarah (and the promised all night wine-tasting event) will never be. I miss Rob terribly. I took the attached photo of Rob and Sarah at the wedding of Jo Fletcher and Ian Drury. I rather like it but Rob complained that I cropped off what little hair he had.