…as the natural order of things, too–that they had to modernize in order to compete, to become more Western because the West was so clearly intrisincally superior. They massively sent their children to Western schools–to London, Paris–to be educated as a mark of privilege. Some countries, like Japan or Thailand, managed to modernise and retain national independence and some measure of culture. Others… had less success. Yes, there was military super…

…8ND), as part of the BSFA London meetings. (and ahead of my stint as GoH at Mancunicon) MAP LINK Start Time: 19:00, room open from 6pm, fans gathering in the bar downstairs from 5pm onwards (I’ll likely be in the bar around 5pm because I’m arriving pretty early in London). This is a free event, and you don’t have to be a member of the BSFA to take part (non-members are welcome, in fact!). The interview will start at 7 pm. There will be a raffle (…

…ed-race people, but it’s the one I happen to have most recently read… Feel free to discuss/argue/disagree in the comments! <hr> [1] I’m less sensitive to those issues, but Rachel Swirsky rightfully points out that the dragons (highly logical, viewing emotions as incorrect) share many of their characteristics with traditional depictions of people on the autistic spectrum. [2] I’m aware such books exist, and are even published today! [3] Again, ther…

…wine wafting from those few bars still open; and above me, the distant light of the stars, a constant reminder of the inaccessibility of Heaven. I climbed the stairs to my flat, exhausted, my arms covered in claw-marks. At the shelter I worked at, drunken Fallen had started attacking some of the newcomers–and had turned on me when I’d tried to intervene. I fumbled in my bag for the key, wincing as the leather scraped against my skin. I didn’t blam…

….com Publishing, a novel about re-imagined Deep Ones. Read excerpts at tor.com| Buy at Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Indiebound We talk about how Ruthanna uses food to evoke memory in her book. What we didn’t realize is that we would also be talking about revising the Lovecraftian recipe, and exploring monster digestion. This podcast contains so much salt. Also a heads up about Ruthanna’s book party with her blog co-host Anne M. Pillsworth at Wiscon…

…r, aid worker, and PhD candidate. Her writing can be found at Leveler, Tor.com, Bengal Lights, Sundog Lit, Capricious, Reservoir, Inkscrawl, Rogue Agent, in the poetry anthology My Cruel Invention, and in Chasing Misery, an anthology of writing by female aid workers. Her science fiction political thriller Infomocracy is the first full-length novel from Tor.com, and the sequel Null States will be published in 2017. She was nominated for the 2016 Jo…

…er (FSG Originals; Fourth Estate; HarperCollins Canada) Novella We Are All Completely Fine, Daryl Gregory (Tachyon) Yesterday’s Kin, Nancy Kress (Tachyon) “The Regular,” Ken Liu (Upgraded) “The Mothers of Voorhisville,” Mary Rickert (Tor.com 4/30/14) Calendrical Regression, Lawrence Schoen (NobleFusion) “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap),” Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer ’14) Novelette “Sleep Walking Now and Then,” Richard Bowes (Tor.com 7/9/14) “Th…

…Silvia Moreno-Garcia interviews me at Innsmouth Free Press on Servant, writing in other cultures and my pet history peeves. The Shine competition has gone live: basically, guess the next sentence AND guess the story. See if you can spot the collab I did with Gareth L. Powell 🙂 And chapter 2 of Servant of the Underworld is now live at My Favourite Books….

…sation. I’m stuck at work, of course, with a zillion other things I should really be doing–but my first US book release is definitely worth a celebration. So feel free to party in my name, wherever you are. Virtual champagne and other delicacies appreciated from this side of the trenches 🙂 Extras, aka party over the blogosphere: -Janice Hardy lends me some blog space to talk about outlines and novel planning. -My French fantasy “Melanie”, original…