Fabio Fernandes on Fast Forward 2
Over on Fantasy Book Critic, Fabio Fernandes has posted his review of Fast Forward 2.
Fabio Fernandes on Fast Forward 2 Read More »
Fast Forward 2
Fast Forward 2: Awards and Best of’s Round Up
The anthology itself
Hugo Award nominees:
Best Novella – “True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
Best Novelette – “The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award nominees:
“True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
“The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi
2009 Locus Award Finalists:
Best Novella: “True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
Best Short Story: “The Kindness of Strangers” by Nancy Kress
The Year’s Best Science Fiction, volume 26, edited by Gardner Dozois:
“The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi
“An Eligible Boy” by Ian McDonald
Year’s Best SF 14, edited by David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer:
“Mitigation” by Tobias Buckell & Karl Schroeder
The Best SF and Fantasy of the Year Vol. 3, edited by Jonathan Strahan:
“The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi
Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2009, edited by Rich Horton:
“Catherine Drewe” by Paul Cornell
Not too shabby, no?
Fast Forward 2: Awards and Best of’s Round Up Read More »
FF2 up for the PKD: 2008 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced
Fast Forward 2
The judges of the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society, along with the Philip K. Dick Trust, are pleased to announce six nominated works that comprise the final ballot for the award:
EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD by Adam-Troy Castro (Eos Books)
ENDGAME by Kristine Smith (Eos Books)
FAST FORWARD 2 edited by Lou Anders (Pyr)
JUDGE by Karen Traviss (Eos Books)
TERMINAL MIND by David Walton (Meadowhawk Press)
TIME MACHINES REPAIRED WHILE-U-WAIT by K. A. Bedford (EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing)First prize and any special citations will be announced on Friday, April 10, 2009 at Norwescon 32 at the Doubletree Seattle Airport Hotel, SeaTac, Washington.
The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and the Philip K. Dick Trust and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. Last year’s winner was NOVA SWING by M. John Harrison (Bantam Spectra) with a special citation to FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN by Minister Faust (Del Rey). The 2008 judges are Tobias Buckell, M. M. Buckner (chair), Walter Hunt, Rosemary Kirstein, and William Senior.
For more information, contact the award administration:
David G. Hartwell (914) 769-5545.
Gordon Van Gelder (201) 876-2551
For more information about the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, http://www.psfs.org/:
Contact Gary Feldbaum (215) 563-2511
For more information about the Philip K. Dick Trust: www.philipkdick.com
For more information about Norwescon: http://www.norwescon.org/:
Contact NorthWest SF Society: (360) 438-0871
Congrats to all the nominees, and a special shout of gratitude to everyone who contributed to Fast Forward 2!
Update 1/14/09: Kristine Smith’s Endgame is apparently ineligible. It has been removed from the list, and replaced with my friend Jeff Carlson’s Plague War. Congratulations Jeff!
FF2 up for the PKD: 2008 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced Read More »
Best of 2008: FF2 is Bookgasm’s Best Book of the Year
Ryun Patterson, at Bookgasm, publishes his 5 Best Sci-Fi Books of 2008, and Fast Forward 2
“Up until last year, I would never have believed that an anthology of new science fiction could be the best sci-fi book put out in a given year. First of all, is there even a demand for such a beast? It seems that a budding anthologist could make a far more successful book by picking a theme, say ‘green aliens with tentacles who are really children in search of their parents but are thought of as evil because of a cultural misunderstanding,’ and find awesome tales from the genre’s creaky grandmasters that would guarantee an endcap placement at Borders…
But Anders, who has paid his dues many times over in the science-fiction trenches, doesn’t seem to do the predictable thing, and his risk-taking has paid off. Fast Forward 2 is even more electric than last year’s first: Anders has assembled some of the best and brightest current stars of the genre, and they turned in stories that, as a whole, really do represent the cutting edge of fiction. From a fashion designer who grows living gowns to a raid on the doomsday seed bank to a young man getting Cyrano-with-a-twist dating advice in the India of the future, Fast Forward 2 is the book to read this year. It’s the surest of sure things, and a bargain, to boot.”
Deeply honored.
Best of 2008: FF2 is Bookgasm’s Best Book of the Year Read More »
FF2: An Instant Classic
Ryun Patterson, of Bookgasm, on Fast Forward 2:
…a worthy successor [to Fast Forward 1]: Anders has assembled a batch of stories that span the breadth of modern science fiction and provide a better introduction to today’s scene than the musty copies of Fahrenheit 451 lingering in high school English classes ever could. …anybody that loves science fiction (and fans of the recent outpouring of well-written sci-fi television and movies looking for literary sustenence) can put their trust into Mr. Anders and this instant classic.
And I’m grateful that Ryun took time to mention the cover art:
John Picacio’s ridiculously cool jet-legs-ape-in-front-of-rampaging-mob cover infers a story all its own, and readers can use their own imaginations to come up with the plot for that one.
FF2: An Instant Classic Read More »
Fast Forward 2: Catching the Zeitgeist
Paul Raven, of Futurismic, reviews Fast Forward 2,
…if you wanted a good argument for buying anthologies of original short science fiction stories – or even a good defence against those who claim the form is ossified and irrelevant – Fast Forward 2 has your back. The economics of sf magazine publishing may be in question, but the quality of fiction available is riding as high as it has ever been. Sincerely recommended.
However, I’m always thrilled when a reviewer takes the time to consider the cover art, so it’s his summation of John Picacio’s artwork that I really want to call out here:
…a real Zeitgeist catch. Below is strife, carnage, religious angst; thrusting upwards is bionic monkey-man, his chains broken asunder, transcending mundane squabbles for the promise of space and rationalism (bubble chamber tracks?). The religious discord is heightened by the DNA motif, explicitly repeated in the exhaust blast of robomonkey… if you wanted to encapsulate the hope for a triumph (or at least secession) of a rational worldview, I think you’d struggle to make a more arresting and vivid image in the process.
Nice when someone gets it.
Fast Forward 2: Catching the Zeitgeist Read More »
Fast Forward 2: Best of the Year
In the just-released December issue of Locus, Gardner Dozois breaks down 2008’s best sf anthologies in his column, “Gardnerspace”.
“This has been an almost unprecedented year for the number of first-rate original SF anthologies published, at least since the heyday of Orbit, New Dimensions, and Universe in the ’70’s. …I’d have to say that the three strongest original SF anthologies of the year were Lou Anders’ Fast Forward 2,
Meanwhile, at Strange Horizons, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro writes:
“Fast Forward 2 proves itself that rare beast among anthologies of the imagination: one whose content actually provides a materialization of its own theoretical blueprint.”
Lots of nice things said about each of the individual stories. And (I must add) a very well-written review too, with paragraphs like:
“Catherine Drew” by Paul Cornell is wildly inventive. Its Hero, Hamilton, speaks in a way (“‘You’ve got a problem, Miss Drewe,’ he said”) that captures the essence of this alternate-history spy thriller in a British Empire-dominated future. The plot, propelled not so much by a single McGuffin as by a combustible gas of intelligent deceptions and counter-deceptions, makes as much sense as it needs to:
‘Is that the mission, sir?’
‘No. We’ve created and are ready to plant chaotic information of an unbreakable nature strongly suggesting that this has already happened…’ (p. 22)The alternate history milieu expertly justifies not only the background but the feel of the world that Cornell creates, yet is never so startling as to prove distracting from Hamilton’s exploits. Shaken, not stirred? More like vacuum-decompressed.
And then, in a final summation about the purpose of SF:
“What it should do, above all else, is tell stories well, so well that they cannot be disregarded, so well that they cannot but be taken seriously. Fortunately for us, Fast Forward 2 arrives with gifts that do just that. May it be followed by plenty of equally riveting and well-produced sequels.”
What a nice start to my Monday.
Fast Forward 2: Best of the Year Read More »
Podcast: Yours Truly at SciFi Dimensions
John C. Snider interviews me for the SciFiDimensions Podcast. You can hear in streaming from his website, or you can search iTunes for “SciFiDimensions.” I’ve not listened to it yet, so no idea how I come off, but it felt like a very thorough interview at the time. We talk about Fast Forward 2,
John also reviews Fast Forward 2 on his blog.
There’s no theme to the Fast Forward series, other than excellence in storytelling. The stories in FF2 cover the spectrum of sub-genres, from near-future parables to far-future space opera, from post-cyberpunk to hard SF; from cautionary tales a la The Twilight Zone to uplifting vignettes that affirm the best in human nature. With such a wide selection of styles and themes, it should come as no surprise that not every entry will appeal to every reader. At the very least, FF2 is like a Whitman Sampler; a little something for everyone, and if you find a story you like, it’ll be from a writer with plenty of other work you can chase down later.
Podcast: Yours Truly at SciFi Dimensions Read More »
Lou is Omnivoracious
Over on Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog, an interview with Yours Truly conducted by the great Jeff Vandermeer and regarding Fast Forward 2. Here’s a taste:
Amazon.com: When you edit an original anthology series where you solicit stories only, how do you protect against mediocre material creeping in?
Lou Anders: The very wise Jacob Weisman, editor and publisher of Tachyon Publications, once said that when selecting illustrators for book covers, you shouldn’t pick based on the best work in an artists portfolio, but based on their worst. Because, he said, you had to be willing to live with the worst piece in the portfolio if that is what they hand in. That’s one of the most helpful pieces of publishing advice I’ve ever encountered, and it rules all of my own cover art decisions at Pyr. But it also has applications to editing invite-only anthologies. As much as I’d like to, I can’t do open-reads anthologies and still fulfill my job as Editorial Director of the Pyr science fiction and fantasy line. There just aren’t enough hours in the year. But I love the short form and I want to always work in it, and so I must do invite-only. Therefore, I believe very strongly that the moment of editorial discernment falls at the point of the invitation. The best piece of general business advice anyone can give you is this hire people smarter than you are and listen to them. I believe, firmly, that I am working with some of the best writers in the business, and I trust them to deliver. I avoid mediocre material by avoiding mediocre writers!
Lou is Omnivoracious Read More »
Gonzo Alternate History in Fast Forward 2
The November 2008 issue of Locus has a review of Fast Forward 2
“Another politically charged piece may be the best story here – the opener, Paul Cornell’s ‘Catherine Drewe’. This is an alternate history, a bit gonzo, about an English spy charged with taking out the title woman, an Irishwoman who seems to be helping the Russians as they try to dominate Mars. I’ve failed to convey the interest in the steampunkish tech displayed, as well as the bitter political realism at the center of the story.”
And, as you may recall, “Catherine Drewe” is available in its entirety on our new Sample Chapters page. Just go there and click on the link to Fast Forward 2 in the right hand margin.
Meanwhile, I expect we’ll hear a lot more about Paul Cornell in the near future.
Gonzo Alternate History in Fast Forward 2 Read More »