News: I Am Still Here

Surprise! I'm still around, and I have not abandoned Tethyan Books.  I have a habit of underestimating how difficult life changes will be, or possibly just of overestimating how smoothly I'll be able to handle them.  These last few months have involved a lot of changes. They're all good changes, but they still take their toll on my time and ability to write book reviews.

I moved to Texas, and with my usual good sense I executed this move in the second half of July.  Yes, I knew Texas was going to be 100+ heat everyday, but I figured I could handle it.  I'd been away from the south long enough to forget what it's like to not be able to walk very long outside.  Anyway, now I am safely air-conditioned inside my new home, and have started my fun new job.

While I haven't had the bandwidth to write, I have still been reading.  I want to review everything I've read in this dead time at some point, but I realize that might not be realistic.  I might revert to shorter-style reviews for a while in order to catch up, because I do want to share what I've loved about the books I've read recently.  For a few words on recent award winners, I was thrilled to see N.K. Jemisin's The Stone Sky take the Hugo and Locus Fantasy awards, as I thought it was just a remarkable book.  Also, I was happy to see John Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire, a fun start to a new series, win the Locus SF award.

That's all for now, and I'll be back with actual book reviews very soon!

The Long Road to the Airport

Things have been pretty hectic since that peaceful break in Monaco, but we’re now finally settled in Michigan!  Now that we and all our stuff has made it here more or less intact, I can tell the second half of the moving story.

After Monaco, the next destination was to attend the wedding of two friends in the countryside near Arles.  We had a Twingo and the wide open roads of Provence ahead of us.  We left Monaco the morning after Bastille Day, and it was during the drive--actually while we were driving through Nice--that we heard the terrible news.  None of our friends or family were harmed, but we still grieve with the people of Nice.  I can only hope that someday we will live in a world without such evil in it.

Moving on to lighter subjects, I had never seen much of southern France, since a certain spouse of mine never seemed to think it was a good time to explore it.  Therefore, we decided to see as much as we could along the way.  

View from the hotel, Marseilles.

We walked by the sea on the Promenade de la Croisette in Cannes. We spent the night on the coast in Marseilles.  We wandered through the Pope’s Palace and sang at the Pont d’Avignon.  

Then, we got lost, arrived at the hotel less than an hour before the ceremony, and somehow managed to make it to the castle both on-time and presentable.  It was a beautiful wedding, and I hope they have a future full of happiness together!

Afterward, it only remained to return to Nice for the flight out.  On the way…

Romans put these things everywhere!

We explored the Roman tunnels beneath Arles, circled the Roman amphitheatre, and checked out an intact Roman barge at the history museum. We also tried really hard to find some lavender fields, and failed completely.  Where are they hidden?  I thought they covered all of Provence? Maybe someday, we’ll try again…

The transcontinental flight took us to New York City, and my next update will cover the United States portion of the journey!

I'll pause here with yet another city skyline (NYC).

Farewell, Ain!

In case you’ve been wondering why I’ve suddenly vanished, I’m in the middle of a transcontinental move with my husband. We’ve been planning to move from a little French village in Ain to Michigan for quite some time, so it feels a little surreal now that it’s actually happening. 

Goodbye, Ain! I'll miss the views!

As we approached the actual move date, things began to get more and more chaotic, and it seemed like tons of disasters started to pop up out of nowhere.  A water pipe in our bathroom broke, and we had to somehow move a harpsichord down three flights of stairs with less than 48 hours notice.  Some of the folks who planned to take our furniture backed out, so we spent more time than expected sawing apart large wood and metal structures for disposal.  During all of this, we were trying to prepare our stuff for the movers, sort through what we would ship and replace, inventory and value all our belongings, clean the apartment, and also try to keep up with work.  It was a nightmare, but at least one that had a definite end.

Finally, it was move-out day!  This was the day where we had to cancel all our services, close bank accounts, and move out the remainder of our belongings in our tiny car.  Soon afterward, we realized that our plan for departure might have been a little more ambitious than anticipated.  We were heading down to Monaco for a week, and had planned to drive all the way through southern France instead of taking the usual Mont Blanc tunnel. 

Our first evening featured a drive to Lyon and a dinner at a traditional bouchon restaurant.  Unfortunately, we made the reservation by phone and somehow managed to forget the name of the place.  That wouldn’t have been a major problem, except the highway was closed, and the mountainous countryside through which we were detouring did not feature any kind of cell phone network.  It took several hours to search our phone history and find the name of the restaurant, but at least we found it before we arrived.  

The bouchon was lovely, and we had some excellent tablier de sapeur and quenelle.  We also had a kir and a glass of wine, which in our hungry, dehydrated, physically and mentally exhausted state, was enough to make us more than usually tipsy. As we finally made our way to the hotel, I managed to catch a nice photograph of what our experience of moving was so far:

Moving is about as easy as swimming while encased in rock.

The next morning, we were well rested, stocked up on sunscreen for the drive ahead, and ready to face the day… or so we thought, until the car didn’t start.  I still have no idea what was up with the car, but it managed to give us a nice 15 minutes of raw panic before it mysteriously started working again.  From there, all we had left was the drive to Monaco, but that carried with it a few unexpected quirks.

Arguably, all we had to do was follow the highway, but traffic was horrific.  We relied on Google maps to find our fastest route, and it often sent us on whimsical trips in the countryside.  At one point, the ‘optimal route’ involved driving directly through Crozes-Hermitage, an appellation that we both love.  We were surprised to see how tiny a village it really is, given how much wine they seem to produce.  

It was so tempting to just stop here for a day...

The other thing we didn’t take into account was exactly how grueling it would be to drive through south of France in July, in a car without AC or tinted windows.  We both crisped a bit, even with the sunscreen, and the heat and sweat was just torture.  Finally, though, we arrived in Monaco, and our journey is now on pause as we rest and recover for a week.  More adventures lie ahead!

Monaco, the land of peace and rest!

Current Challenges: Sci-Fi Experience & Vintage Sci-Fi Not-A-Challenge

I meant to do an introductory post on this earlier, but a series of work crises and an illness ended up derailing the beginning of my month.  It's time to celebrate science fiction with Stainless Steel Droppings and Little Red Reviewer!

The Sci-Fi Experience, hosted by Carl V. at Stainless Steel Droppings, takes place during the months of December and January, and focuses on sharing experiences of science fiction.  More information on the Experience can be found here, and the site collecting reviews from participants is here.

There are still a few fantasy books I need to finish off this month for my 2014 challenges, but I'm already starting in on some good science fiction.  My first Sci-Fi Experience novel will be Neal Stephenson's Anathem, followed by Christopher Priest's The Separation, which I have enjoyed on audiobook.  After that, I suspect it will be time to dive into the overlapping non-challenge...


The Vintage Sci-Fi Not-A-Challenge, hosted by Andrea of Little Red Reviewer, takes place during the month of January, and more information can be found here.  For the purposes of the challenge, 'vintage' is defined as science fiction that was published in or before the year 1979.  There are a lot of books I'd like to read for this challenge, but we'll see how far I can get in a month! I'm planning to start with C.J. Cherryh's The Faded Sun: Kesrith, possibly leading into the rest of the trilogy.  Other books I'm hoping to read are Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama (I really should have read it years ago!), Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, and Robert Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky.  If by some miracle I finish all of those, I suppose I could finally start reading the notorious Hugo winner The Forever Machine!

News: Loncon 3

I’m back from attending my first WorldCon, Loncon 3, and it was as amazing as I expected it would be!  I was only there for Sunday, and that made for one incredibly full day. In the future, I hope I can make it for the whole convention, because there is so much to experience.

In the morning, I went by the art show and bid on a few pieces—I ended up winning a nice poster by Fred Gambino (of this piece). The book stands were also a major draw for me, as a long-time addict of buying books. They’ll all be showing up in my reviews soon enough.

After lunch, I had the opportunity to meet Kim Stanley Robinson, Alastair Reynolds, and Stephen Baxter, who were signing books. It meant so much to me to meet a few of the authors I’ve loved since I was a little young adult, and to find that they seem to be really friendly people! 

Alastair Reynolds gave an interesting talk about interstellar travel in science fiction.  Among other interesting ideas, people have long been telling stories of the rapid development of technology–that a generation ship may be made obsolete before it reaches its destination. Afterward, Reynolds, Baxter, and several others discussed interstellar travel in science and fiction.  Most of the panelists agreed that manned interstellar travel was still lifetimes in the future, but the general consensus seemed to be that unmanned could well happen this century.

My time at WorldCon concluded with the Hugo Awards Ceremony.  I couldn’t be happier with the results, even though they did not all match up perfectly with my picks. Here’s a quick rundown of the Hugo winners:

Best Novel – Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit)

As I’m sure is obvious from my previous post, I was thrilled to see Ancillary Justice take home the Hugo Award!  This must be an exciting year for Leckie, with all the awards ceremonies she must be attending!

Best Novella – “Equoid” by Charles Stross

This was one of my favorites of this year’s novella nominees, and easily the most disturbing Lovecraftian unicorn story I’ve ever read!

Best Novelette – “The Lady Astronaut of Mars” by Mary Robinette Kowal

I really enjoyed this story, and Kowal wore a beautiful dress (which I heard her say she’d sewn herself) to accept her award.  In her acceptance speech, she said she’d believed that this Hugo was probably going to Aliette or Ted. I think any of the three would have been a great choice, so lots of congratulations go to Kowal!

Best Short Story – “The Water that Falls on You from Nowhere” by John Chu

John Chu had a really touching acceptance speech.  He said that he’d always been told that no one would want to read the kinds of stories he wrote.  It seems like winning a Hugo Award is an excellent way to prove them wrong.

Best Related Work – “We Have Always Fought” by Kameron Hurley

Best Fan Writer – Kameron Hurley

Best Fanzine – A Dribble of Ink, by Aiden Moher

Kameron Hurley had a lot of success at this year’s Hugo Awards, and Aiden Moher even attributed half of his rocket to having hosted Hurley’s award-winning “We Have Always Fought” blog post. 

Best Graphic Story – “Time” by Randall Munroe (XKCD)

I used to read XKCD regularly, but I missed this somehow.  It seems like a really cool idea, and I’m a little sad I missed experiencing it while it was happening.  Here is the description.

Best Dramatic Presentation – Gravity

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short  Form) – Game of Thrones “The Rains of Castamere”

Gravity was a really entertaining movie, and "Rains of Castamere" was definitely a very memorable and effective episode.  At the awards ceremony, they played a clip near the end, right up to the point where Catelyn Stark realized what was happening at the wedding.  After the clip ended, there was some relieved laughter as people realized they weren’t going to show the rest.

Best Editor – Short Form – Ellen Datlow

Best Editor – Long Form – Ginjer Buchanan

Congratulations to the editors! Buchanan's award comes at the conclusion of 30 successful years as an editor, and in the year of her retirement.

Best Professional Artist – Julie Dillon

I’ve seen a lot of her art around lately, and she has a very distinctive style. You can check her out on Deviant Art.

Best Fan Artist – Sarah Webb

Webb is a stunningly talented young artist. Her compositions are positively gorgeous, and I hope I can buy some of her prints soon! You can also find her on Deviant Art.

Best Semiprozine – Lightspeed Magazine

Best  Fancast – SF Signal Podcast

Congratulations to SF Signal Podcast and Lightspeed Magazine, which are clearly things I should really be listening to and reading :).

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (Not A Hugo) – Sofia Samatar

I’ve now finished A Stranger in Olondria, and I think this is a well-deserved award.  Samatar was actually not far off in nominations for getting on the Hugo ballot.  Really, I think all of the nominees for the Best New Writer Award show that there’s a lot to look forward to in genre fiction!

What are your thoughts on the outcome of the Hugos this year?

The Apex Blog Tour

The Apex Blog Tour!

I am a few days behind in announcing this, but I've joined the blog tour for The Book of Apex Volume 4, of Apex Magazine.  This book contains original fiction published in Apex Magazine during its fourth year.  There are a variety of posts to look forward to from many different bloggers, and you can see the full schedule of this month at Little Red Reviewer's place. There will be short story reviews, guest posts by authors, author interviews, giveaways, and hopefully a lot of fun for everyone involved!

What kind of fiction can you expect from The Book of Apex?  Well, first of all, the magazine publishes science fiction, fantasy, and horror.  In terms of style, the selected short stories are those that are well-crafted, edgy and that evoke strong emotion in the reader.  In the words of the collection's editor, "Beautiful prose, great ideas and interesting worlds are important, but if I do not feel along with the characters, it is not a story for Apex."  The short stories in this volume definitely don't disappoint on that count!  The authors featured contain some whose work I have reviewed on this blog before (Valente, Barzak, Tidhar, Bear), some who I've heard of and have been meaning to read, and others that are entirely new to me!

Over here at Tethyan Books, I'll be putting up a review of some of my favorite short stories of the collection on the 8th, and I will be posting a sphinx-related guest post from the author Thoraiya Dyer (who, in this collection, wrote "The Second Card of the Major Arcana") on the 22nd!

Brandon Sanderson Giveaway!

A Massive Brandon Sanderson Giveaway!

In celebration of our read-along of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, as well as the upcomingWords of Radiance, Tor has generously sponsored a giveaway of 10 copies of both books for readers in the US and Canada!  If, like me, you're elsewhere, some of the read-along hosts have chipped in to create an international give away as well, with 2 copies of each book to be won!  The giveaways are open until the end of this month.
release of the second book in the series,

US/Canada Giveaway:

There will be 20 lucky winners for the US/Canada giveaway! Rules: No PO boxes (as per Tor's policy), the winners have 48 hours to respond to my email (make sure your email in Rafflecopter is one you check often)! We the hosts cannot be responsible for anything lost in the mail, etc. 

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

International Giveaway:

All of us hosting the read-along didn't want our international followers to feel left out, so several bloggers have chipped in to include their own small giveaway of two copies of The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance for four winners. As long as The Book Depository ships to you, you can enter, though we ask that US/Canada residents refrain from this giveaway. Winners still have 48 hours to respond, or we will be forced to pick a new winner. We definitely can't be responsible for books lost in the mail, sorry!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

News Completely Unrelated to Fiction

I just successfully defended my thesis!  I now have a doctorate in high energy experimental particle physics!  I don't have anything else coherent to say, but I am so happy!

News: A Quick Note

Due to an abnormally high number of transatlantic flights in my recent past, I've gotten a little too far ahead in my reading.  Unfortunately, my reviewing has not kept pace.  I've been thinking about how to deal with this, because I don't want to keep reviewing all my books on a long delay. My current solution is as follows:

• I've created two lists on the right "Upcoming Reviews" and "Currently Reading".
• ...At this point, I've already read all the books on the "Upcoming Reviews" list.
• Whenever I finish reading a book on the "Currently Reading" list, it will immediately hop up to the top of the to-review list.
• That way, books I finish now will be reviewed shortly afterwards, and the ones I've let get away from me will still be reviewed, eventually.

Having a plan is half the battle!  Now I just need to get to work on the reflecting and writing. Anyhow, I'm currently working on reviews for both The Magicians and This Immortal, and hopefully I'll also have Strange Toys up before the end of January.  

News

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I haven't vanished.  I've been on vacation, and I just haven't had the time I expected to write new book reviews. Posts will resume by next week at the latest!

News: There Are No Heroes (Film)

There Are No Heroes: A Science Fiction Film of Cape Town, South Africa

 
Though I typically blog about novels, I'd like to help draw attention to this dystopian cyberpunk drama.  There Are No Heroes was brought to my attention by Kyle Stevenson, the director, co-writer, and co-producer, and it looks like a promising independent film. 

There Are No Heroes has a somewhat roundabout connection to a novel I read and loved, Lauren Beukes’ Moxyland. Two years ago, Beukes’ publisher, Angry Robot, held a competition for short stories inspired by Moxyland. One of the top three stories of this competition was “Land of the Blind”, by Charlie Human.  There Are No Heroes is a 48-minute independent student production of this short story, made by Donald Leitch and Kyle Stevenson, of the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance.

Here’s the description of the plot, taken from the There Are No Heroes facebook:

“It has been several years since a nuclear power plant in Cape Town had a meltdown. The film follows Drew, a young single-mother and factory worker, who must fight to survive in a dystopian future Cape Town, ruled by a sinister pharmaceutical company called DARCORP.”

There Are No Heroes premiered at the AFDA film festival in Cape Town, South Africa, on November 19^th. I pretty much loved Moxyland, so I am hoping that this Cape Town science fiction film, set in the same universe, will be able to make its way into many international festivals. For instance, I personally would love to have a chance to see There Are No Heroes somewhere local, like at Geneva’s annual Movie Festival.

Below is the official trailer!

*Information and promotional materials are taken from the There Are No Heroes Facebook group.