…Just a quick reminder that tonight (11:59pm Pacific Daylight Time) is the deadline for the Hugo Awards. You can nominate here. If you’re still looking for something to put on your ballot, my awards consideration post is here, with a list of stuff I’ve liked in the past year. I’ve tried to focus it on online and diverse works–would be quite honoured and grateful if you had a look at some of it….
…ey’re the funny guys with odd customs colonists meet, the ones they try to commerce with or understand or (in the worst cases) subjugate. They’re the invaders that have to be fought back for the sake of civilisation. And I think “what civilisation?” I wonder how people like me fare, in the future. Or in the re-imagined past of fantasy. Probably not well. I publish my first stories. I go to cons. I meet other people, offline and online, and start h…
…depicts warring factions in a magical alternate version of 20th-century Paris, where decadence mingles with fear.” Intense. With Decadence and fear. Yeah, sounds about right 🙂…
…on one technique and have inserts on how to do things, rather than being a compilation of recipes (I like compilations of recipes, but sometimes you need to pause and learn a bit about technique). The Breath of a Wok has a slightly better and slightly more expanded wok selection and wok care section (at least I found it more useful), and Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge is better on preparing ingredients for a stir-fry (cutting them, blanching them,…
…vels in this universe (or indeed, more novels, full stop) is entirely dependent on sales, so if you fancy picking up a copy (whichever format) I’d be very grateful. And if you like it, dropping a good word about it on social media or reviewing at goodreads/amazon (doesn’t have to be long reviews–I’ll take inarticulate squeeing too *grin*) or recommending to a friend would help immensely. And here’s a little bit of a cheat: you can still get the ex…
…Quite happy to announce that my Xuya BCS story “A Salvaging of Ghosts” is going to be reprinted in Jonathan Strahan’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (complete TOC here), and in Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy (complete TOC here courtesy of Lavie Tidhar). It was originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies for their science fantasy issue: you can read it online here….
…r as I can tell, the Xuya universe series is eligible in the Best Series category (meets the total wordcount and had 3 new volumes released in 2016: take your pick between “A Salvaging of Ghosts” , “A Hundred and Seventy Storms”, and “Pearl” in the excellent anthology The Starlit Wood–you can read the first two free online, or you can check out the Cheat Starter Guide to Xuya)…
…s–repaired, but not well enough that Thuan couldn’t feel the imperfections under his feet, each one of them a little spike in the khi currents of magic around the room. Not that Thuan was likely to be much impressed by the mansions of Fallen angels, no matter how much of Paris they might claim to rule. He snorted disdainfully, an expression cut short when Kim Cuc elbowed him in the ribs. “Behave,” she said. “You’re not my mother.” She was his ex-l…
…erful To Shape the Dark. It’s now been reprinted, and you can read it free online. It’s about intergalactic plagues, vaccines, court intrigues and second chances–and what to do when the entire world changes around you. Also badass older women bacteriologists ftw. Read it free here. Things I researched for this were numerous, but the original seed of this was Waldemar Haffkine and the Mulkowal deaths, stemming from contaminated anti-cholera vaccine…
…ead–about the people we see and the ones we don’t, and how quick we are to deny people their humanity. Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience ™” is a strong read about Native American culture, appropriation and all the ways in which it hurts. Elaine Cuyegkeng’s “House that Creaks” is the sort of horror story that just sticks in the mind long after reading it–about a haunted house and how it became that way, and political…
