Author of THE UNITY SEQUENCE. Doing the right thing for Alderaan reasons since 2012.
Imagica – Clive Barker
I remember bringing this home from my local library when I was about twelve years old. My mum took one look at the blurb below, and refused to let me read it:
“A book of revelations. A seamless tapestry of erotic passion, thwarted ambition and mythic horror. Clive Barker takes us on a voyage to worlds beyond our knowledge, but within our grasp.”
I imagine it was the erotic passion she objected to. Mythic horror was probably fine.
This is a bit freaky.
‘A Swedish expedition team has found an unidentified object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, leaving some to believe it’s the remnants of an extra-terrestrial ship…The object had an egg shaped hole leading into it from the top, working like an opening. On top of the object, they found strange stone circle formations, which resembled small fireplaces. The stones were covered in something that resembled “soot.”’
Full article here, and just for fun here’s an artist’s impression:
(Image courtesy of http://vaghauk.deviantart.com.)
I found this article through Tor.com, but I’ll link to the original on N. K. Jemisin’s own site here. It’s a superb argument against the dogmatic need for a magic ‘system’ in fantasy worlds – well worth a read.
I couldn’t agree with her more. My favourite fantasy of all time is Steven Erikson’s Malazan books, and the magic in that is absolutely batshit insane – almost every race has their own particular kind of magic, and they clash in utterly unpredictable ways, any of which might end up destroying the surrounding area (or entire world in some cases). Which means when there’s a conflict every forty pages you can rarely guess how it’s going to pan out. Who wins in a fight between a Jaghut and a T’lan Imass? (No-one, basically, but that’s another story.)
I should really get around to reading Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms soon, as well. And how good is this cover?!
The TV show, that is. I’ve not read the books, which is why I’ve been putting off watching the show for fourteen months. I always prefer to read the original before watching the adaptation, but I finally gave in.
And ohmygoditsawesome. Why?
I’m very excited – I just received the final version of my cover! Stephanie Mooney (http://mooneydesigns.net/) did a fabulous job, and I’m really pleased with the result. So without further ado…
They’re right. This excerpt – from Gaiman’s contribution to a new collection of short stories paying tribute to Bradbury – is haunting:
‘My dreams. I do not know your dreams. Perhaps you do not dream of a veldt that is only wallpaper but that eats two children. Perhaps you do not know that Mars Is Heaven, where our beloved dead go to wait for us, then consume us in the night. You do not dream of a man arrested for the crime of being a pedestrian.’
Read it here.
I came across this article on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site today, here.
I’ve been vaguely aware of PublishAmerica for a while, mainly for their notoriously shady and author-unfriendly business practices:
‘Defendant provides very poor editing services, is slow to respond to book orders, and it routinely overprices the books it publishes. This is no accident. Defendant will only lower the price of its clients’ books to a competitive rate for a $399 fee. These practices make it difficult for even the most enterprising authors to promote their own books.‘
It seems like the chickens might be coming home to roost for PA.
Awesome/terrifying report on io9 here.
‘Shostak also admitted that the discovery reaffirms the idea that life could have emerged in the Galaxy a long time ago. “It’s been possible to have worlds with life for quite some time now,” he said, “there could be life out there that’s billions of years old.”‘
THEY ARE COMING FOR US.
It’s getting exciting. I’m nearly at the end of my beta reader edits, which have been really helpful. (If you’re reading – thanks!)
Soon it’ll be professional edit time; I have a slot booked with the team at RedAdept Publishing, who come very highly recommended by the folks on the KindleBoards Writers Café. Looking forward to that.
And as if that wasn’t enough, my cover designer, the lovely Stephanie Mooney, sent me the first mock-ups for my cover yesterday! They look awesome, really close to what I’ve been envisioning. Just a few tweaks needed, and it’ll be done. You’ll see it here first, of course.
Exciting times!
Lovely article from Lev Grossman on Larry Niven. Makes me want to read Ringworld again – it’s been years.
DAN HARRIS: 10% SCI, 90% FI 