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A release day gift for Rob Mosca's High Midnight: 15 original icons!

Preview:

( Icons beneath the cut! )

About High Midnight:
Ghouls, cryptids, homicidal clowns, knife wielding chimps and the best damn phantom bordello north of the border... welcome to Unity, Texas!

Sheriff Laredo Beaumont, former truck driver, hobo savant and ex-luchadore, along with his bonobo deputy Cicero are the sole law in Unity - a literal ghost town perched on the mysterious crater known as the Devil's Outhouse - whose main economy derives from the spectral pleasures found within the Heskiaoff House bordello along with the Gallows Daughter Saloon (the last watering hole before exiting the American Dream). Whether corralling a pack of feral Chihuahua Yetis, giving chase to monstrous Thunderbirds or stemming the endless tides of sleep-walking dead - there's no problem Sheriff Beaumont couldn't handle either behind the business end of his trusted Colt or at the bottom of a bottle of Wild Turkey. But every man's got his limits and Laredo has long reached his, retiring from the badge that bought him little respect and less gratitude. Ready to settle down with his beloved Sally Mae, a ghostly soiled dove working in the town's infamous ghost bordello, Laredo has no idea that a gang of murderous clowns are closing in... each looking to settle a long forgotten score with the infamous 'Sheriff of Unity'.

A gonzo pulp western for the 21st century, High Midnight is a timeless tale of blood and redemption set against a preternatural and pre-apocalyptic Texas.

High Midnight can be purchased via this link.

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.

So, you may be here looking for that "Best of Cabinet des Fées" post I mentioned working on composing last Friday. Man, so am I! Here's the thing: I'm in graduate school and midterms were this past week. I had conveniently nearly forgotten that, or at least not calculated accurately how much of my time needed to be funneled into this take-home exam.

The end conclusion is this: I'm sorry, I'm still reading through the back-catalogue, and it's going to be up next week! In the meantime, how about a free webcomic from Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield?

I am, indeed, talking about Freakangels.

Here's what you need to know: It's written by Warren Ellis, so there's profanity and violence along with cleverness and imagination. If you don't like this mix, you won't like this comic.

I love this comic, I love the name: it's all bizarre psychic children ending the world and then their attempts to rebuild some of what they've destroyed in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Whitechapel. The story is incredibly detailed as well, so even though it's been on a regular publishing schedule (almost every Friday!) for years, only a few weeks or so have passed in the narrative.

Best of all, every bit of it is free. All of the archives are live, in color, and free of charge.

Of course, they've also published three collections of Freakangels at this point too. You can totally have them on your shelf if hardcover is your thing.

Give it a read if it sounds interesting. And tell me, in my quest to read more free material available online: what other excellent webcomics out there should I be reading?

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.

I've recently been reading through Cabinet de Fées' back-catalogue, catching up on the Scheherezade's Bequest issues that I hadn't yet made the opportunity to read in full. I'm planning on bringing you a free fiction post - hopefully next Friday - featuring the highlights of all nine issues of Scheherezade's Bequest, spanning 2005 to the present. There is some great work in those digital pages, and I can't wait to share with you the best.

So, since I've been caught up in that, I don't really have anything to offer in the way of free fiction this week. Instead, I'm bringing free visual content to your attention. In this case, a free web serial!

I am talking about The Guild: Felicia Day's initially crowdfunded YouTube-based webseries (now available in many more places!) starring herself, Jeff Lewis, Sandeep Parikh (to name a few) and following the real-life misadventures of a group of incredibly maladjusted and codependent people as they play a MMORPG and try, in twisted ways, to socialize.

It's satire, it's hilarious, and you'll need to be a gamer to some extent (or rather familiar with gamers) to really appreciate it. I just watched it for the first time this week myself, though I'd been vaguely familiar with its existence for some time. I'm really surprised I waited so long to check it out, given my latent gamerhood.*

If you game (mostly MMORPG) and appreciate pop culture satire and you haven't yet seen it, you should watch now:

The Guild! (Season 1, on YouTube.)

(And, hell... even if you have seen it, you should watch it again! Also: WTB merch stat!)

* Not so latent just now given the recent drop of FFXIII (anyone else here playing?). Still, the only MMORPGs I've really played to any extent were Asheron's Call, City of Heroes, and World of Warcraft. While I enjoyed the camaraderie of playing with my friends and family, I was never invested enough to keep up with them and stick to a regular gaming schedule.

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.

I decided to take a break from the Locus Recommended Reading List this week and check out the newest edition of Ideomancer, especially since they rolled out a beautiful and dynamic new layout with Volume 9, Issue 1.

(Many kudos to

cristalia and

zhai and everyone else involved with Ideomancer!)

Each piece of fiction chosen for this issue had a strong thematic element of isolation and a healthy, riveting dose of the bizarre. I found "Future Perfect" by LaShawn M. Wanak to be far and away the strongest piece: her story is hardcore awful and I love it. Concerning decisions and moments in time, and how one slight change can snowball into countless parallel scenarios, "Future Perfect" is an unflinching glimpse of obsession with imaginary perfection instead of real-life work and engagement. As some of the best fiction is, this story is an uncomfortable thought exercise and wholly captivating. If you read nothing else in this issue of Ideomancer, please read Wanak's "Future Perfect."

I found the remaining two stories to be much weaker in comparison. "Sunshine, Sunshine" by Autumn Christian was beautiful and demented by turns, cobwebbed with macabre joy. However, it just didn't come together in the end, feeling largely incohesive. My favorite part is actually that this piece was set in the South, down in Louisiana, in swamp-land, and this makes me incredibly happy; there's not enough contemporary fantasy set in the South. Nicole J. LeBoeuf's "The Day the Sidewalks Melted is notable for its bizarre premise (which is right there in the title), but it's too vague to really resonate emotionally. LeBoeuf used some excellent imagery, though.

The first two poetry selections did nothing for me, unfortunately: Rachel Swirsky's "Mundane" is remarkably self-descriptive, lacking in poetic fire, and "Voyager 2, Upon Arrival" by Chris Flowers has some nice images but is not really my cup of tea. However, the latter two!

Upon finishing Liz Bourke's "Autocannibalism: Not a Love Poem," all I could do was utter "Ouch" in an admiring tone. This poem is lovely and painful, hitting all the best notes of pathos in cosmic imagery. "Lunar Parable" by Shef Reynolds likewise captivated me, leaving me drunk on words and imagery and wishing for a poetry discussion group. Seriously, this poem invites re-reading and discussion. Anyone want to take me up on that?

Overall, this was a solid issue of Ideomancer and, considering it was my first issue read in full, leaves me excited to comb through their archives to discover more excellent fiction and poetry.

What did you think?

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on March 5th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

It's time to talk about the Campbell awards, y'all!

For those not in the know, and quoting the Writertopia website, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer "is given to the best new science fiction or fantasy writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy was published in a professional publication in the previous two years. For the 2010 award, which is presented at the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon), the qualifying work must have been published in 2008 or 2009."

I know several excellent and brilliant people who are eligible for this award this year: Camille Alexa, Cecil Castellucci, Michael J. DeLuca, Amal El-Mohtar, Shira Lipkin, Seanan McGuire, and Shweta Narayan. Each of their names links to their Writertopia pages, giving you a handy listing of what publications qualified them to be eligible for the Campbell.

Each of these people are fine writers, several are my friends, and I would be over the moon to see any of them so honored for their talent and hard work.

But I really just have to take a minute and paint you a picture of amazing creative proportions:

Seanan McGuire.

She writes: she has the distinction of having two forthcoming series in her first year as a professionally published author, beginning with the first three books of the October Daye series from DAW (with Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation currently available, and An Artificial Night coming in September). She has a horror trilogy forthcoming under the pseudonym Mira Grant, with the first installment, Feed, poised to drop next month. She's already appeared in two anthologies: Ravens in the Library and Grant's Pass, and she's serializing her Sparrow Hill Road series of stories about the hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall at The Edge of Propinquity. Also, she's an active member of the Book View Cafe; did I mention she's also writing an irregular crowdfunded series called Velveteen Vs. Everything about superheroes in a corporate world? And, of course, she has approximately three or four other series of books that she's currently noodling in her spare time - something I'm not sure she's allowed to have in a sane world of linear and finite time. But she does. Possibly because she has a TARDIS somewhere in her back pocket.

She sings: No, seriously, she has three albums currently available for purchase (though quantities are seriously limited on a couple of those - get them while they're in print!). I can attest to the general excellence and keen sing-ability of these albums. Also, she wrote nearly every song on them. In fact, the number of her songs that she's actually recorded is startlingly low: a look at her online songbook reveals hundreds of songs in her unrecorded catalogue. (Seriously: TARDIS.)

She draws: Again, not kidding. She's done a promotional strip or two for Rosemary and Rue which you can see here and here. Plus, on her website, she has a gallery of her quirky Art Cards and a fledgling gallery of her irregular comic series "With Friends Like These..."

Beyond all this productivity, she also manages to be a completely delightful person: she's the best kind of bizarre and often hilarious. She's full of fascinating and terrifying facts, and I'm pretty sure she's allergic to dullness. She's also generous with her attention and affection (possibly to a fault, given everything she needs to do), incredibly supportive, and kind. And she still has to work a full-time job.

Did I mention that she's in the midst of a 50 essay series on different aspects of writing?

... I mean, I don't know what else to say. If she's not a poster child for the Best of My Writing Generation, I don't know who is.

If the following nominating or voting criteria apply to you, I really hope you'll support your favorite candidate in this year's Campbells:
"To be able to nominate a writer for the 2010 award, you must have been a member of Anticipation (the 67th World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal) or a member of Aussiecon Four (the 68th World Science Fiction Convention in Melbourne) before Jan. 31, 2010. (Members include both supporting and attending members."

And, seriously, guys, let me throw out my endorsement of Seanan McGuire one more time: let's make 2010 the first year an urban fantasist takes the Campbell. Especially one who can put her bid in so stylishly:

Seanan McGuire Would Look Great in a Tiara.
(Clickenzee to embiggen!)

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on March 4th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

Happy news! The March issue of EMG-Zine, all about dance, is now live: within its pages, you will find my very short story "When Death Dances." Please, do give the magazine a read-through! And, if you've a mind, tell me what you think of my sort-of fairy tale about dance and La Muerta.

I've recently begun blogging for Cabinet des Fées, although both of my early blogs have been reviews of one kind or another. I'm incredibly grateful to Erzebet for the opportunity to do so, and hope all of you will check Cabinet des Fées often (or join

cabinetdesfees , where the notifications come to you) to see what new content has gone up between official issues. I'm not the only contributor: besides my two reviews linked below, Donna Quattrone has reviewed Impossible by Nancy Werlin.

My first blog went up on February 17th, and contains a rather personal look at the fairy tale "Brother and Sister" through the lens of Terri Windling's poetry and Lisa Stock's short film:

I remember, perhaps ten years ago, first reading Terri Windling’s "Brother and Sister." I was in college, on my own for the first time and, in several private ways, learning what it was to survive. It was the afternoon, golden light sliding through autumn trees and filtering through an unclothed window. I was thumbing through one of my favorite sites, The Endicott Studio, and there it was.

"do you remember, brother / those days in the wood…"

I read, rapt. I read again. And then I abandoned that cold dorm room of linoleum and concrete for the college green with its fringe of wood. I ached to leap and run, but I settled for hugging my goosebumped-arms and walking down to the white gazebo near the pond with its overgrown banks. Perhaps I wrote some; perhaps I only dreamed. Windling’s words rattled inside me, sowing fierce joy and nettling discontent.

[Read the rest of the article at this link.]

My second blog post, which went up just yesterday, covers Syfy's announcement that their new brand of Saturday Night Original Movies will be re-imagined fairy tales and the rather awful Beauty and the Beast that served as their launch piece:

Most of you are probably already aware of Syfy’s new Saturday night original movie plans: seeking fertile ground after endless iterations of disaster movies and mega-monsters, Syfy has turned their sights on fairy tales, legendary figures, and classic children’s literature.

It’s not completely surprising: Syfy’s airing of Tin Man in 2007 and Alice last year suggested a quiet testing of the waters, feeling for viewer response to dark re-imaginings of familiar childhood tales. I haven’t seen Tin Man, the bleak and fantastical riff on The Wizard of Oz starring Zooey Daschanel, but I’ve heard it wasn’t a waste. Its ratings were phenomenal (for Syfy) and it was nominated for several Emmys, one of which it won. This past December, I was fully immersed in the fan response to the grungy and noirish Alice starring Caterina Scorsone and Andrew Lee Potts — Alice in Wonderland post-legendary age, basically — and there is a relatively small, yet dedicated and thriving fanbase. Critical reception, on the other hand, has been much more tepid. (For my part, I thought Alice had great potential, but that’s a topic for a future review.)

[Read the rest of the article at this link.]

Discussion is keen! Share any thoughts you might have over in the comments sections at Cabinet des Fées!

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on March 3rd, 2010. You can comment here or there.

A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire is officially out in stores today! All of you folks interested in urban fantasy and fairy tales should go out and buy it. Now. Don't worry, I'll wait. If you're in a Barnes & Noble, look for the standee! If you haven't yet gotten your hands on Rosemary and Rue, the first book of the series, go ahead and buy them both.

Oh, yes, my friends. They are that good.

Let's steal a peek at the book blurb from Seanan's website, shall we?

After spending fourteen years lost to both the fae and mortal worlds, only to be dragged back into Faerie by the murder of someone close to her, October "Toby" Daye really just wants to spend a little time getting her footing. She's putting her life back together. Unfortunately, this means going back to work for Duke Sylvester Torquill of Shadowed Hills, doing her duty as a knight errant. That isn't the sort of thing that exactly lends itself to a quiet existence, and before she knows it, Toby's back on the road, heading for the County of Tamed Lightning in Fremont, California to check on Sylvester's niece, January.

Things in Tamed Lightning turn out to be a lot stranger than they seemed at first glance, and Toby's talent for finding trouble isn't doing her any favors. With Quentin—a young foster from Sylvester's Court—in tow, and the stakes getting higher all the time, it's up to Toby to solve the mystery of Tamed Lightning, or face a failure whose cost will be too high for anyone to pay.

Mystery! Suspense! Danger! Also: dryads! Bannicks! Cait sidhe! And probably more coffee than you can shake a stick at.

And, now, an endorsement from my cats:

Tiger Jack fights off a nap in order to make sure you're not thinking of stealing his book.

( +4 more Cat Endorsements behind the cut... )

* Just to reassure you all that I wasn't torturing my cats by taking these pictures: Kaylee is opening her mouth in this picture in preparation to begin washing herself. She's not actually pissed. ;) Also, while I gave Kaylee the book in the latter pictures, Tiger Jack actually snuggled up to it by himself later in the day when I took the top pictures. Seriously, he likes to dream of Tybalt.

This entry was originally posted over at Livejournal on March 2nd, 2010. You can comment here or there.

The lovely

calico_reaction periodically makes "Book Bag" posts, where she shares which books she's recently acquired, why she bought them, and perhaps where they fit in her to-be-read pile. I'm the type of curious bibliophile who finds this type of data interesting; it's like a vicarious shopping experience each time, with the potential added bonus of bringing a new title to my attention that I might have missed on the recently-released lists.

I've decided to take a page from her book, if you'll forgive the associative near-pun, and post about my book purchases. However, instead of being a list of the books I've recently acquired, this is a list of the books I have pre-ordered or am looking forward to acquiring at the earliest opportunity after they're released.

A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire. This title officially drops tomorrow, but it's been spotted in the wild at many Barnes and Noble bookstores across the nation already; luckily, my local B&N was one of those so I've had the reach on all of you poor deprived souls for almost a week now! ;) This is the second installment in the Toby Daye series and I'm really digging it so far - snarky coffee-addicted changeling gumshoes and dryads whose home-trees are digital (slight spoiler, highlight to view) for the win!

Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Taro O'Shea. This title will be released sometime around March 17th and includes essays by Seanan McGuire, Catherynne M. Valente, Elizabeth Bear, Carole Barrowman and many other excellent ladies. There are also interviews with two of the Doctor's companions! By which I mean the actors who played them, of course. (Ace and Charley, for the interested.) I've got this baby pre-ordered thanks to my oldest little brother's birthday gift.

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris. I know, I know, I know this title has been out for nearly a year. However, I have a super-limited hardback budget and, by the time I finished reading all the Southern Vampire Mystery novels currently in paperback, most of the wait for the ninth book to be released as a paperback was done. I couldn't justify the hardback expense and, besides, it's let me have a Sookie back-catalogue a little longer. I started this series as a way to cope with running out of True Blood; I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of new Southern Vampire Mystery material as well. These are my tasty, tasty cotton candy novels. The MMPB drops April 6th.

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris. So, about that limited hardback budget... Amazon has completely defeated me by having a pre-order price of $12.00 on this installment. So, for $12.00 I can have my new Sookie now (where now = May 4th) or I can wait a year and save about $3.00 by purchasing the mass market paperback. I have to say that I think instant gratification is worth $3.00, even if it does mean running out of Southern Vampire Mystery novels more quickly. At least True Blood will be back on the air soon after I finish it!

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev. This is another of those books that I've been (im)patiently awaiting in paperback. There are only a few things you need to know about this YA novel: there's a sarcastic orphan, she's named Beatrice Shakespeare Smith, she grew up in a magic theatre, and she's staging Hamlet set in Egypt. Hey, it was enough to intrigue me. April 13th, I await you!

Clementine by Cherie Priest. Grumble grumble, good-natured snark. This is one novel I'm looking forward to that I'm not sure how I'll actually afford: it's a Subterranean publication, which means it's a limited run costing $25.00 for the cheap edition. I'm sure it's worth it or it wouldn't be on this list, but eep. This is the continuation of one tale from Priest's immensely popular Boneshaker, set in a steampunk America in the grip of a dragged-out Civil War. With airships. And airpirates. And no-nonsense kick-ass women. Did I mention the airships? (I like airships.) Unspecified May release date.

Instructions by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess. "Instructions" is effectively one of my favorite poems ever. Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite writers. Charles Vess is one of my favorite artists. So. No surprise here... I believe this one will be released April 27th, and you can see some previews of the illustrations here. ♥

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. Yet another book that I've been (im)patiently awaiting in paperback! I've been reading Brennan's livejournal (at

sarahtales) for forever as she is an incredibly entertaining lady. Her debut YA novel about boys on the run and demon-slaying is definitely of interest (as anyone who knows of my keen interest in Supernatural -- pre-season 5, anyway -- can attest). Another April 27th release!

Feed by Mira Grant. Mira Grant is Seanan McGuire's Evil Twin, and this is her debut novel about the new journalism (hint: it's blogging) and the zombie apocalypse. Zombies scare me, actually, but I'm willing to brave my fears for good fiction. Given the caliber of Seanan McGuire's other writing, I have no doubt this will be an excellent read. i09 had the scoop back in the day, but we'll all be in on the Rising come April 27th. Also, it has one of the most compelling slogans ever: "Alive or dead, the truth won't rest. Rise up while you can."

I'm also really, really looking forward to Jay Lake's Green coming out in paperback, but I can't find a release date for it. Can anyone reading this enlighten me?

Also, what releases are you looking forward to?

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on March 1st, 2010. You can comment here or there.

Apparently this story has been available on Neil Gaiman's website for some time, but I just became aware of it when he twittered a link just a few moments ago.

Which story? Why, "Cinnamon" - a luscious and exhilarating piece of his that has never been collected. I first encountered it on the Neil Gaiman Audio Collection; it snuck up on me, a shiver-inducing surprise after I listened to "The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish" and "The Wolves in the Walls."

A fond memory: laying in the darkness of a humid Tokyo evening, drowsing on my futon while Neil Gaiman read "Cinnamon" to me from my laptop's speakers. A jungle painted in my mind, a tiger's fur roughsoft under my palms, and a strong Indian girl flashing a confident and adventurous smile at me.

It's rather short, beautifully illustrated, and available for free right here. Do read it!

Also, if you've a mind to listen his gorgeous reading of it, it's available rather cheaply at Audible.

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on February 28th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

Sorry for the silence, guys, but I lost most of this last week to Stephen King's It.

This week, I'd like to bring your attention to a further two pieces on the Locus Recommended Reading List (Shorter Works):

"Voice Like a Cello" by Catherine Cheek (Fantasy 5/4/09)

This story was odd and lovely, following the experience of a girl who cannot escape the voices of the dead. The text fully immerses you in her experience, an immersion that I found heady and compelling. The store moves inexorably toward insanity or solace, and I can't help feeling, at the end, that this tale is truncated. There should be more. Perhaps a novel.

"Three Fancies from the Infernal Garden" by C.S.E. Cooney (Subterranean Winter '09)

Oh, wow! I cannot sing my delight at this piece loudly enough or eloquently enough! Cooney is a marvel, a whimsical poet dressing in a writer's frock-coat and whisking all us unsuspecting readers off on a mortar-and-pestle ride through Koschei's infernal garden full of sassy scarecrows, enchanted princesses (who don't want to be saved, thank you very much), and furious firebirds. If I could paint, and I had a grand ballroom, I would from this story conceive grand murals in brilliant colors and cover the walls. And then hold a masque.

So, er, if you like fairy tales and whimsical delights of storydom shot through with darkness, you should read this. Now.

Also, remember, everyone: this weekend is your last chance to vote in the first annual Rose & Bay Awards!

This entry was originally posted over at Livejournal on February 26th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

I promised you all two posts concerning free fiction this week, and I mean to deliver! Unfortunately, my TMJD really wrecked me last night and so now I only have ten minutes here before leaving the work to make this post. So! Without further ado, please check out the following stories:

"Baby in the Basket" by Cecil Castellucci (Strange Horizons 5/18/09)

This story is absolutely fascinating, beginning with a domestic hook that I never thought would work as well as it did and slowly drawing us into a world fundamentally-the-same-yet-radically-different from our everyday lives. I don't want to spoil the experience of discovering the differences and enjoying the bizarre revelations, so please: just read.

"Dead Man's Party" by Seanan McGuire (Edge of Propinquity, 02/15/10)

Sparrow Hill Road continues unfolding the story of the hitchhiking ghost Rose Marshall in the second installment of "Dead Man's Party." This is a locked-room story, brutally focused and unyielding. If I were producing a Sparrow Hill Road television series, this would be a strong candidate for an introductory episode: it gives readers a familiar entry point into the series via the diner hold-up and then gets weirder and weirder from there. Deeper into the twilight. "Dead Man's Party" is definitely a worthy continuation of the series and I'm still incredibly excited to see where Rose goes next.

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on February 19th. You can comment here or there.

Last week, I began working through the stories freely available online from the 2009 Locus Recommended Reading List. My first choices were a bit random: I chose Catherynne M. Valente's "The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew" because I've been interested in it. I accidentally clicked on Kij Johnson's "Spar" and then could not turn away, its text inexorably drawing my eyes onward in horrifying train-wreck style. I finished the week off with "On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk" by Peter M. Ball because it was the first story on the list.

If one were to look for an unofficial theme to this unintended triumvirate of stories, I think it would be this: "bizarre steps to the left of everything."

Let's start with the least radical story and work up from there.

"On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk" by Peter M. Ball (Strange Horizons, 07/06/09)

In this short piece, we have a fellow dissatisified with his life and dallying with a younger woman under comfortably false pretenses for them both; concurrent with their affair, Copenhagan (where the fellow's sister has been traveling) is attacked by salvage-built merfolk-mech. That last bit is compelling in itself, except for the part where that aspect of the story unfolds indirectly through reported news reports and the narrator's casual neuroses. I finished this story indifferent to the narrator and wanting to know more about his sister, which would probably deepen the narrator's depression.

"The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew" by Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, 08/09)

There was much to appreciate in this one: beautiful and satiating language, a competently constructed mystery fraught with cosmic importance, and a bold, adventurous female filmmaker who manages to be the protagonist without ever appearing directly on screen, so to speak. (Directly on screen within the context of the story, certainly, but always through screens and images within the meta-screen of the text.) Unfortunately, I found it undercut by the juxtaposition of science fiction and its close adherence to the early forms of film. I could not reconcile extensive space travel and colonization with old film reels and vinyl soundtracks. And the balloons - I don't understand the exact details of the balloon-use, and the vague details of their use related to the story's space travel drove me to distraction. I'm in the curious position of appreciating the atmosphere, but being unhappy with the mechanical details.

That said, the closing image is completely killer.

"Spar" by Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, 10/09)

I don't even know. I read this story in a mad rush because I couldn't believe what I was seeing and it left me feeling slightly ill and mildly distraught. What does it mean? Does it mean anything? The very questions that plagued the narrator plague me, except I'm not trapped in a tiny world of incessant barbarism and interspecies copulation and faceless rape and the eroding memories of Shakespeare. I don't really feel like I can recommend other people read this story; however, it is on the Locus Recommended Reading List and was a real contender for the 2010 Nebula Ballot (whether it made it still remains to be seen).

Since this is my make-up post for last Friday's free fiction offerings, you get another one this week!

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on February 17th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

I'm sorry for the lack of a free fiction posting last Friday, folks! My life has been a bit crazy recently, I must admit.

How crazy?

Well, last Monday, I celebrated my birthday with meat and drink and all good things. I'm now living my thirtieth year!

In what is becoming a horrifying tradition, I then promptly fell ill with food poisoning (or something like) and didn't fully recover until Friday. Friday is, of course, in the middle of my work-week.

Also, in an unexpected afternoon of magic, the Snow Queen saw fit to dump several inches of snow on Atlanta. This threw the rest of the weekend out of whack, as my employer sent me home early because of the snow (thence to work from home, actually). On Saturday, I was iced in: I live on top of a steep hill with one road up and that road was ice. Luckily, my employer understood and let me work from home then as well.

Now, I am slowly digging my way out from under the work that didn't get done while I was ill. Expect to see pictures of Snow! in the South! (that's why it's mad), two posts concerning free fiction this week, and my debut blogging for Cabinet des Fées.

In the meanwhile, who fancies reading a poem of mine in draft?

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on February 16th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

The time is now, my friends, to vote for the recipients of the first annual Rose & Bay Awards!

Votes must be in by February 28th. In case you missed my explanation of the Awards at the beginning of January, allow me to re-post my initial explanation:

This past year has really been an excellent year for crowdfunded fiction: 2009 was the year Catherynne M. Valente serialized the remarkable The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. It was the year Shira Lipkin not only continued her Wind Tunnel Dreams, but put out a hardbound copy of all WTD pieces then extant. This was the year of T.A. Pratt's Bone Shop and Dave Freer's Save the Dragons and the continuing adventures of Seanan McGuire's Velveteen Vs. Everything. It was a year for the continuance of Shadow Unit, the hardbound publication of the previously web-published The Admonishments of Kherishdar, and so much more.

2009 was also the year that saw the birth of the Rose and Bay Awards, a five-category award conceived by the

crowdfunding community to honor both those who put everything into quality crowdfunded works and those individual patrons who pour financial support into these brave creators. The specified categories are Art, Fiction, Poetry, Other Project, and Patron. Just as these remarkable crowdfunded works benefits by the participation of every interested party, the Rose and Bay Awards likewise asks for the participation of the same as they search for eligible works for the first annual awards.

Read more about the Rose and Bay Awards in this post by

crowdfunding , and spread the word!

And now, here are links to the voting posts for each category:

Art: Vote for this category.
Nominees include

haikujaguar's Stardancer Art Archive and

flutterbychildflutterbychild's The Rebirth of Me.

Fiction: Vote for this category.
Nominees include Seanan McGuire

seanan_mcguire's Velveteen Vs. Everything and

catvalente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

Poetry: Vote for this category.
Nominees include

wyld_dandelyon and ysabetwordsmith

ysabetwordsmith.

Other Project: Vote for this category.
Nominees include

shadesong's Wind Tunnel Dreams and Ellen Million's EMG-Zine.

Patron: Vote for this category.
Nominees include

phinnia and minor_architectminor_architect.

Remember, you only have until February 28th to vote!

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on February 16th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

2009 was a pretty awesome year for the Interstitial Arts Foundation: Interfictions 2 came out, they released some excellent fiction for free online in their Annex, and we had a successful auction of interstitial art featuring some amazing creations. I hear they also had some pretty fabulous Salons in New York and Los Angeles, but this Georgia lady wasn't able to make any of those. (Here's for an Atlanta-based Interstitial Salon in 2010! Who's with me?*)

By the by, if anyone is located in or near Indianapolis, Indiana: there's a Interstitial Salon happening at the Indiana Writer's Center on February 28th! See this post for access to more information.

I'm excited to see this interstitial arts movement flourishing, and more people both noticing and celebrating art that defies categorization. I'm delighted a support structure is growing for those artists who create works that side-step genre and dance between forms; I'm overjoyed that necklaces-what-are-also-stories and fiction-that-is-also-an-itemized-list and postcards-that-are-poems have a platform on which to glory. And I'm absolutely on board with the IAF's latest call: we need more people, more enthusiasm, and more ideas!

In short, we need YOU.

The Board and Working Group have already compiled a bit of a 2010 Wishlist and posted it on the main IAF blog, but I'll reproduce it for you below:

Post more regular news, reviews, events, and promotion of interstitial artists and their work.

Establish a forum for interstitial artists to exchange ideas, collaborate, network, and brainstorm.

Create an online art gallery.

Feature guest bloggers on a regular basis.

Organize an interstitial art symposium.

Begin work on Interfictions 3.

Generate a wider engagement with the interstitial art community through co-sponsored events with other artists & organizations.

Hold more salons in towns across the U.S. & in Europe (Please visit our new How to Host an IAF Salon page!)

Each of these items is a solid prospect for perpetuating and heightening the momentum the Interstitial Arts Foundation now has. I'm completely game for assisting in an Atlanta Salon - and you can easily get started on one of your own, with the tutorial already available on the website.

But what else should be added to that list?

I'm considering ways to get interstitial art in general (and Interfictions in particular) involved more academically. My ideas are still largely inchoate; however, given my current status as a graduate student, this is definitely an area where I'd like to focus some enthusiasm and elbow grease.

But come, bring your thoughts and suggestions! Bring your enthusiasm! You can comment here or join in the discussion on the original IAF post. And, if you've ever wanted to volunteer with the IAF, now's the time to speak up!

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal on February 15th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

As you've no doubt noticed already, Locus released their 2009 Recommended Reading List this week. It is chock-full of awesome, as you would expect. Parts of it also include a number of shorter works available online, and nearly all of them free of charge. For this week's free fiction highlights, I've decided to reproduce part of the Recommended Reading List here, with all the freely available¹ stories appropriately linked.

I have no thoughts to share on any of them yet, sadly, for I haven't had time to finish reading any! I have started Catherynne M. Valente's "The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew," however; so far, it is quite interesting.

Locus Recommended Reading List, Shorter Works²

Short Stories

"On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk", Peter M. Ball (Strange Horizons 7/6/09)
"Strappado", Laird Barron (Poe)
"Home Again", Paul M. Berger (Interzone 3-4/09)
"The Boy Who Cried Wolf", Holly Black (Troll's Eye View)
"The Coldest Girl in Coldtown", Holly Black (The Eternal Kiss)
"Under The Shouting Sky", Karl Bunker (Cosmos 8-9/09)
"Baby in the Basket", Cecil Castellucci (Strange Horizons 5/18/09)
"Voice Like a Cello", Catherine Cheek (Fantasy 5/4/09)
"Early Winter, Near Jenli Village", J. Kathleen Cheney (Fantasy 5/4/09)
"Three Fancies from the Infernal Garden", C.S.E. Cooney (Subterranean Winter '09)
"Erosion", Ian Creasey (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"Bad Matter", Alexandra Duncan (F&SF 12/09)
"Lady of the White-Spired City", Sarah L. Edwards (Interzone 5-6/09)
"The Pelican Bar", Karen Joy Fowler (Eclipse Three)
"An Invocation of Incuriosity", Neil Gaiman (Songs of the Dying Earth)
"As Women Fight", Sara Genge (Asimov's 12/09)
"Child-Empress of Mars", Theodora Goss (Interfictions 2)
"A Story, With Beans", Steven Gould (Analog 5/09)
"Butterfly Bomb", Dominic Green (Interzone 5-6/09)
"Salt's Father", Eric Gregory (Strange Horizons 8/03/09)
"In the Lot and in the Air", Lisa Hannett (Clarkesworld 7/09)
"Spar", Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld 10/09)
"Collision", Gwyneth Jones (When It Changed)
"Going Deep", James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's 6/09)
"The Logic of the World", Robert Kelly (Conjunctions 52: Betwixt the Between)
"The Motorman's Coat", John Kessel (F&SF 6-7/09)
"Echoes of Aurora", Ellen Klages (What Remains)
"Singing on a Star", Ellen Klages (Firebirds Soaring)
"Dulce Domum", Ellen Kushner (Eclipse Three)
On the Human Plan", Jay Lake (Lone Star Stories 2/1/09)
"Ferryman", Margo Lanagan (Firebirds Soaring)
"Living Curiosities", Margo Lanagan (Sideshow)
"The Cinderella Game", Kelly Link (Troll's Eye View)
"Excellence", Richard A. Lovett (Analog 1-2/09)
"Useless Things", Maureen F. McHugh (Eclipse Three)
"Catalog", Eugene Mirabelli (F&SF 2/09)
"The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale", Paul Park (Postscripts 20/21)
"Her Voice in a Bottle", Tim Pratt (Subterranean Winter '09)
"Narrative of a Beast's Life", Cat Rambo (Realms of Fantasy 12/09)
"Before My Last Breath", Robert Reed (Asimov's 10-11/09)
"Tests", Robert Reed (Postscripts 20/21)
"Edison's Frankenstein", Chris Roberson (Postscripts 20/21)
"Writ of Exception", Madeleine E. Robins (Lace and Blade 2)
"My She", Mary Rosenblum (Federations)
"Colliding Branes", Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling (Asimov's 2/09)
"The Men Burned All the Boats", Patricia Russo (Fantasy 2/9/09)
"Blocked", Geoff Ryman (F&SF 10-11/09)
"Of Melei, of Ulthar", Gord Sellar (Clarkesworld 10/09)
"Wizard's Apprentice", Delia Sherman (Troll's Eye View)
What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night, Michael Marshall Smith (Nightjar Press)
( This gets a bit long... )

1. Two of the stories linked are only previews with the option to purchase access to the rest of the story. The sites that go with this model are Intergalactic Medicine Show and Jim Baen's Universe.

2. I've followed Locus' conventions in this list, italicizing magazine titles and bolding book titles.

This entry originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.

Cabinet des Fées is one of my favorite fairy tale-oriented publications on the Internet today: between this webzine edited by Erzebet Yellowboy and then Goblin Fruit under the auspices of Amal El-Mohtar and Jessica Paige Wick, some of the sadness left by the closing of Endicott Studio's The Journal of Mythic Arts in 2008 has abated.

Cabinet des Fées recently switched to formally updating three times a year, which means we get three issues of Scheherezade's Bequest with each turn of the wheel! This is a fine thing indeed: three issues full of poetry and prose, all tangled in the fairy tale aesthetic. The publication is pretty much guaranteed to offer new perspectives, old tales thrown askew. I'm ever eager to see what Erz brings in her basket: always the sweetest fruit, and the wicked too.

With the January 2010 update, Cabinet des Fées also debuted a new skin: dense and luscious, the fresh layout reminds me of all the excellent content already published there (Folkpunk 101! Interviews with Mike Allen and the Goblin Fruit ladies!) and leaves me eager for future updates. Plus, that title banner is lovely and the bright red apple in its center the most appropriate touch.

I'm sure you've realized by now that this week's highlights involve exhorting you to read Cabinet des Fées! Really, the whole site is worthy of your close perusal, especially if you're interested in fairy tales and folklore. Indeed, allow me now to segue into discussing my favorite pieces from the ninth issue of Scheherezade's Bequest:

Among the poetry selections for this issue, I found four particularly worthy of mention. "Tahlia, Risen" by Joshua Gage is a beautifully composed reflection on "Sun, Moon, and Talia" with a shivery, macabre turn at the close. "Bad Mothers" by Anne Brannen appeals to my "wicked girls saving themselves" sensibility, though I was at first surprised by the selfishness espoused by the narrator at the end; upon reflection, however, a little selfishness and hermit-like behavior is fair enough. "Song at a Cottage Door" by Megan Arkenberg inspired a gleeful exclamation of "Oh, I love this!" Really, it could be the beginning of a cautionary tale or a grand adventure, or both. Christopher W. Clark's "At the Palace of the North Wind" is a gorgeous piece about the life cycles of winds and the Lapland Witches.

I found nearly all of the fiction to be outstanding, beginning with the deliciously charged vignette "Her Heart Would Surely Break in Two," in which Michelle Labbé gives us a lesbian interpretation of "The Goose Girl." Anna Yardney's "In the Forest of Thorn" was also a lovely subversion, this time of the "Sleeping Beauty" trope, where we discover that, sometimes, perhaps it's best to let sleeping princesses lie. The last story, "The Wolf I Want" was a truly compelling and visceral retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" and, while it gave me pause in the beginning, it left me growlingly delighted by the end.

Also, I'd really like to given an honorable mention to "Nor Yet Feed the Swine" by Keyan Bowes - it had the makings of an excellent story and was not bad at all. I just felt that it would be even better expanded into a novel and not squished into a short story.

If you've read this issue of Scheherezade's Bequest, what did you think?

This entry originally posted at Livejournal on January 29th, 2010. You can comment here or there.

The time has come for more Wicked Girls icons! As before: Comments are keen. If you use, feel free to credit

talkstowolves. And I am totally open to requests!

If you have no idea what this is all about, see this post.

And now for the previews:

( Twelve more icons behind the cut! )

In order, this particular run of Wicked Girls icons stars: Eowyn (as portrayed by Miranda Otto, from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, of course), River (Firefly), Zoe (likewise Firefly), Yvaine (as portrayed by Claire Danes, from Neil Gaiman's Stardust), Yvaine again (this time as drawn by Jeff Smith & Eric Olive, and Michael Zulli), Rose Marshall (from Seanan McGuire's Sparrow Hill Road, drawn by Amy Mebberson), Ace (Doctor Who), Mina Harker (as portrayed by Winona Ryder in Dracula's Horror Bordello), Talia (from Jim Hines' The Stepsister Scheme &c), and Snow White (from Jim Hines' The Stepsister Scheme &c).

I did actually cheat a bit and include icons made from requests placed on the original post, but I hope you'll forgive that! And, as always, thanks to Bauble for the icon table generator.

This entry originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.

Have you been keeping an eye on

chimera_fancies? I hope you have! If you haven't, you've probably missed that Mia has just posted the last batch of shinies in the Valentine's Day/Spring is Coming sale!

You can browse through and select pieces from this post. Get them before they're gone!

Click through to discover the truth of everything I said Tuesday! And, remember, a portion of the proceeds will be privately donated by Mia to Partners in Health to go toward relief efforts in Haiti.

This week's free fiction highlight comes with a bit of context; if you're not too concerned with context, I recommend you head over to The Edge of Propinquity right now and start reading. The Edge of Propinquity is a well-established zine with a significant back-catalogue and multiple recurring universes. As the lead-in goes, it's "a series of short stories from four different authors in four different universes exploring the world that lurks just beneath the surface of everyday life. It is the world of the unexplained, supernatural, magic, horror, duty, responsibility, black humor, conspiracy, unknown heritage and power. This semiprozine is updated on the 15th of every month."

The story I'd most like to recommend debuted in the 15th January edition: "Good Girls Go to Heaven" by Seanan McGuire, set in the Sparrow Hill Road series. It's a whole lot of America and folklore and ghost story rolled up in a pretty little dead girl package, and I can't recommend it enough if you like any of those things.

Now, let's go back...

A few years ago, I first got to listen to Seanan McGuire's Stars Fall Home, an excellent and eclectic album that immediately earned a prize place in my usual rotation of most listened-to CDs. There wasn't a song on there that I disliked, and its overall quality and complexity ensured that different songs would capture my interest, moving to the fore or fading back depending on mood or recent media exposure or what the highway called out for me to sing, full-throated, as I rolled along the miles. And one of the best songs for eating up those miles was the ultimate song on the album: a rockin' 50's girl-quartet piece called "Pretty Little Dead Girl."

In "Pretty Little Dead Girl," we're introduced to the urban legend of a hot car-loving, fiercely independent, no little dangerous ghost by the name of Rose Marshall. After several conversations with Seanan and reading her journal, I came to realize that there was an incredible untold story to Rose Marshall and so much more - and so much different - than the one framed in the song. The song is fun and catchy and specific and creepy, as all the best urban legends are. And, like all the best urban legends, it's neither the only story or the one closest to the truth.

In Seanan's songbook at her website, you can find several other versions or aspects of Rose Marshall's story:
"Graveyard Rose"
"Hanging Tree"
"When I Drive"
"Waxen Wings"
"On Dead Man's Hill"

Each song will give you a different window onto Rose Marshall, although I recommend not reading "Graveyard Rose" until after you've read "Good Girls Go to Heaven." You'll see why. Also, I've linked to the lyrics for "Pretty Little Dead Girl" above there, although I definitely recommend picking up one of the albums that it appears on. (Those albums would be Stars Fall Home or Pretty Little Dead Girl.)

I was incredibly thrilled when

jennifer_brozek announced that Seanan would be one of The Edge of Propinquity's resident writers for 2010, and that she would be developing the story of Rose Marshall in a series of short stories called Sparrow Hill Road. I haven't ridden with Rose as long as some, but she's often been a companion on long drives for the past several years. I've wondered at her character, and found some roads in Georgia I just bet she'd wander along, if she ever moseyed on down south. And so, with all this, how did "Good Girls Go to Heaven" measure up?

Oh, it measured very high indeed.

Here's the thing. Folklore is my bread and butter: it fascinates me, it's what I study, it's one of my things. It's also one of Seanan's things and in her bones. I trust her to have done her research (hell, to have internalized her research), and thus to be steeped enough in these tales and bits of culture and Americana that she can create compelling folklore. Further, I trust her to be able to weave that part-created, part-borrowed folklore further into excellent fantasy.

My trust is not misplaced.

In one short story thus far, Sparrow Hill Road has managed to introduce me to an area of folklore previously unconsidered and left me considering it (i.e. truck-drivers and highway diners); evoked a believable urban legend and made the central figure of that urban legend multi-faceted and sympathetic; and enchanted me and fired my imagination with the intoxicating glimpses of a myriad of Americas, clothed in daylight, twilight, midnight. The other sides. The ghostside.

I absolutely cannot wait to see more of this series unfold and discover where Rose Marshall goes. Also, though I am always excited to investigate my best-loved field, I cannot deny that Seanan has provided me with a fresh infusion of enthusiasm for urban folklore.

Seriously: do yourself a favor and follow me into Sparrow Hill Road.

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or over there.

She talks to wolves...

...and other wicked creatures.

High Midnight - Icons

Free Webcomic!

Free stuff! The Guild.

Ideomancer 9.1

Campbell Award Awareness: Do You Know Who Your Candidates Are?

Short fiction sale! + Blogging for Cabinet des Fées.

Happy A Local Habitation Day!

Anticipated Book Releases, Early 2010

"And the tiger opened its mouth and grinned like a hungry god; which is how tigers grin."

Of voices like cellos and the infenal garden.

Fly-by Free Fiction!

Locus Recommended Free Fiction

The Fickleness of February

Vote in the first annual Rose & Bay Awards!

The IAF needs YOU!

Free Fiction from the Locus Recommended Reading List!

Cabinet des Fées

Wicked Girls Strike Back

The Chimera Fancies sale concludes!

Free fiction! Rose Marshall edition.

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