Paradox,
“And didn’t the Bird’s Nest stadium look like a Jim Burns painting brought to life? For anyone who saw the whole of the opening ceremony, the future is here, and it is so sfnal. And with 2008 wu shu performers demonstrating their own kind of harmony.”
John Meaney Kicks Butt Read More »
The wonderful Rick Kleffel, whose Agony Column podcast is required listening on this editor’s iPod, has interviewed me today. We take about Denvention, the Hugos, and what’s forthcoming from Pyr. Here’s the direct link to the mp3.
Podcast: Lou Anders Read More »
In his series on the Hugo Novel nominees, Pablo Defendini of Tor.com is taking a look at both the US and UK covers for Ian McDonald’s Brasyl.
Full analysis and subsequent discussion well-worth checking out, but I’m particularly gratified that Pablo got what the overlays of the title were meant to represent:
“The neon/florescent color scheme for both the painting and the type certainly communicates a sense of electric vibration, which ties in nicely with the concept of quantum computing (and certainly reminds us of Terry Gilliam’s film by the same name). Perhaps florescent or otherwise special inks were used in printing—the final effect is blindingly intense. Overlaying three instances of the title, off-register with each other and in three different neon colors adds to this vibration. It also complements the bustle depicted in the street scene nicely. Additionally, the three instances of the title relate conceptually to the three-story structure of the novel. While the choice of typefaces is somewhat orthodox, and could be perceived as boring under other circumstances, I think it works in this case: anything more complicated or ornate for the title would have rendered it much harder to read, when coupled with the three-instance treatment; and the simplicity and directness of the sans-serif typeface used for the author’s name serves as a nice contrast to the busy, hectic feel of the title proper. It also adds a solid, light-valued area to the top of the composition, which helps balance out the lightest areas of the illustration towards the bottom, and tie the composition together a little better.”
Tor.com Analyses Brasyl Covers Read More »
Denver’s NBC TV affiliate 9News covered last week’s World Science Fiction Convention. You’ll be able to glimpse the cover art for the much-anticipated Pyr anthology FAST FORWARD 2, edited by Lou Anders; the mysterious “Man from Shanghai” that edits SCI FI MAGAZINE; as well as yours truly. Check it out, if you haven’t already.
Pyr’s FF2 Cover Art on Denver TV Read More »
So, having seen “mojito” online a few times, I’m here to tell you that, no, while it’s similar, what you were drinking last Friday was a caipirinha, made with lime and Pitu Cachaca.
Take 1 lime.
Slice and quarter it.
Put it in a glass.
Add two teaspoons of granulated sugar.
Muddle it (mush it up good).
Add 2 ounces of cachaca.
Add ice.
This guy here does a good job of demonstrating:
The Pyr Party: What was that we were drinking? Read More »
Great report below from Lou. Found this in my camera tonight: one last shot from Pyr’s epic bash in honor of Ian’s Hugo nomination for BRASYL — editorial director Lou Anders, left, with the great Ian McDonald. Here’s to many more good times, great books, and (hopefully) awards victories to come for both these guys. Ian may look a little sloshy here, but fear not — it would take a lot of caipirinhas to put this man down. The Brazilian Beats Boxset was playing in the background throughout the evening and it sounded awesome. Ian personally recommends it, and it’s hard to pass up a nod from Mr. Brasyl himself.
Ian McDonald + Brazilian Beats Read More »
Last Friday night, August 8th, we threw a party at the 66th World Science Fiction Convention in honor of Ian McDonald’s nomination for Best Novel for Brasyl.
Enough about the frogs, you say. So how did it go?
We were PACKED – with a great mix of fans and pros. In fact, at one point, we had 3 of the 5 Best Novel Hugo Nominees sprawled out in the back room at the same time. Alas, Rob Sawyer was elsewhere 
with a cold, and Michael Chabon – the actual winner of the Hugo- unable to attend the convention. But it was a wonderful mix of people, and while the room waxed and wanned from “crowded” to “even more crowded,” it was never less than full.
Pictured above left 
is Paolo Bacigalupi, Yanni Kuznia and John Scalzi, reclining on the bed in the back room and up to no good (trust me). Pictured right is Pyr author Kay Kenyon and our guest of honor, Ian McDonald, who in addition to giving the stamp of approval to the Pitu Cachaca used in the making of the capirinas also supplied a selection of the Brazilian music that “soundtracks” his novel.
Also in attendance was Eisner-award winning writer Bill Willingham (left), of the incredibly-successful DC/Vertigo title Fables, who when I joked in an email the week previous – “What are you doing next Friday? Do you want to come to Denver for a party?” – was coincidentally planning on driving through Denver at the exact same time (to my delight and the delight of one very surprised fan!)
John W. Campbell Best New Writer nominee David Louis Edelman was in attendance as well, pictured here with his evil twin Scott. (The two are often mistaken, and, in fact, each have stories in separate volumes of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction. My suggestion – they should collaborate for the next volume!)
I don’t think Night Shade Books’s uber talented publisher Jeremy Lassen was actually with these three woman, but somehow they complement the zoot suit, so maybe he should engage them for entourage purposes. I get shades of a notion about a gang boss and his faery family….
Oh! The swag! The first 100 guests received Pyr Pint Glasses – less the three that broke in transit, alas. The remaining 97 glasses were a HUGE success – real glass, with the Pyr logo, “Ignite Your Imagination”, “World Con 2008” and our url on the side in black lettering. We served the first of the capirinas in them, and when they ran out, folks were really disappointed. Fortunately, some glassware had been discarded by drinkers who either didn’t realize they could keep ‘em or didn’t want to, and so we had a steady trade in rounding them up, washing them out, and repurposing them all night, so anytime a glass was found a cry of “who wants it?” brought lots of eager shouts. (Four were left over that evening and went immediately on the panels I had left. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see these things show up on eBay…)
Enormous thanks to Jill Maxick, our publicist who procured all the decorations and the chocolates and was unfortunately unable to attend at the last minute, and to Amy Greenan and Lynn Pasquale for all the posters, invites, book covers etc… Enormous thanks also due to Alexis Glynn Latner, who drove me all over downtown Denver day-of to procure food and drinks.
Thanks also to Kristina Eccles (left), the bartender Jill engaged to make our Brazilian drink, and to Jetsie de Vries (Interzone co-editor) and Paolo Bacigalupi (award winning short story author) who volunteered their muscle and help setting up. And we REALLY owe Jetsie de Vries (below, left) for above the call of duty help. Kristina was top notch. Really good to work with, and stayed an extra hour on from what we planned when we hit 11pm and still had a full house and plenty of cachaca, but she was SLAMMED, never able to stop for a single moment. Jetsie volunteered to be
her bar back, and washed 110 limes, hand washed and dried all the cups in the case with the broken one to free it of glass-dust, kept her in ice (even heading out to beg ice off other parties when we ran out), bagged trash, and washed the discarded glasses so we could keep the party favors coming. He was incredible, stuck mostly in the bathroom over the sink off where we set up the bar, covered in sweat he was working it so hard. We are totally indebted, and he is a golden god.
And Pitu Cachaca? That sugarcane rum is pretty strong stuff!
The Pyr Party @ WorldCon Read More »
There’s something slightly awry in the minds of people who celebrate the vast, sprawling landscape of the imagination. It’s not just our extremely low threshold for the appreciation of very poor SF TV and movies, though the screenwriter side of me does give that a lot of thought. (My own benchmark is The Invaders, the sixties Quinn-Martin Production, for which I hold an inexplicable love. Hugo voters appear to have a similar attachment to the execrable movie adaptation of The Golden Compass – quite how it didn’t get one hundred per cent ‘No Award’ votes is beyond me…)
I realised that odd dissonance when I was browsing the site of PS Publishing which produces very fine limited editions of SF/F/H novellas and longer works (including one of my own novellas, for clarity in reporting). There, in the online catalogue, was a slip-cased, two volume edition of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine priced at £375 (double the figure for dollars) and I realised with a faint queasy feeling that I was seriously considering if I could afford it. Yes, it did have a unique introduction by Stephen King, and the second volume contained all the stories from Bradbury’s fictional town where the novel is set, published and unpublished.
But I have read Dandelion Wine many times. The ancient, dog-eared paperback is still on my shelves, and there’s a hardback floating around somewhere. How could I possibly consider spending that kind of money on something I’d already consumed? Normal people don’t do that kind of thing.
But, you see, I love Bradbury. His work is one of the foundation stones of me, and I seriously wonder if I would have become a writer without reading The Martian Chronicles, The October Country, The Illustrated Man and Something Wicked This Way Comes as a kid.
What those works engender in me – what comparable works engender in you – is immeasurable, transformative, almost, without getting too precious, spiritual. Once you’ve tasted it, your brain is screwed and you’re hooked for life. Then you spend the rest of your days trying to hang on to the feeling, recapture it, buy it and bottle it – even if it means spending a small fortune on a limited edition book, or going to see movies that everyone tells you are bad, bad, bad…you know, just in case.
There’s a long-standing belief in publishing that if you don’t experience speculative fiction by the age of thirteen, you will never “get” it. Clearly, something does happen to the mind when you have that first experience at the right age, and I wonder exactly what. It’s a life-shaping moment, like walking smack into a shiny, black monolith, and I don’t know anyone in this field who has every forgotten that transformative experience. Does it make us crazy? Does it make us better? Naturally, when we’re all in our huddles where we consider ourselves the monarchs of taste and sophistication, we think it’s the latter.
We’ve all been saved and ruined by our first encounter with speculative fiction (or film, or comics), and, look, Pyr is now doing it to another generation… Damn them!
Which is a long-winded way of announcing the foundation of the International Aid Fund (to Purchase Dandelion Wine (slipcased-edition)). I take Paypal.
Mark Chadbourn
SF Makes You Crazy Read More »
Hey!
This is Pyr author James Enge, sneaking in to break a few windows while Lou is away at Worldcon.
Here’s hoping Lou and everyone else headed to (or already in) Denver has a good time at Denvention 3.
For the rest of us, fantasist Sherwood Smith (a.k.a. sartorias) is setting up a Bittercon through LiveJournal. Some of the (virtual) panel topics look like fun. (If you could see me at this moment you’d know that I’m pointing modestly at the “Theory and Practice of Monsters” topic, which I suggested.) You won’t have to be registered with LiveJournal to comment (at least not on my topic).
Don’t get bitter–get Bitterconned! (That slogan needs some work, maybe.)
JE
Worldcon and Bittercon Read More »