–Rochita Loenen-Ruiz has a great story in the new issue of Interzone, “Alternate Girl’s Expatriate Life”, about exiles from Metal Town and the expatriate life of a woman unlike any others. I read two versions of this, and it kept getting stronger. I have no doubt the final version is going to kick some serious ass.

-Friend Christopher Kastensmidt gets interviewed by MG Ellington over at the Apex Blog about his fantasy series set in colonial Brazil, The Elephant and Macaw Banner.

-Many friends get HMs in Gardner Dozois’s Year’s Best Science Fiction (the HM section is visible on amazon.com). Notably Rochita Loenen-Ruiz for her horror SF “59 Beads”, T.L. Morganfield for her alt-hist “The Happiest Place on Earth”, Sara Genge for her much-noted gender exploration “As Women Fight”, Juliette Wade for her first professional sale “Cold Words”, Stephanie Burgis for her quiet frontier fantasy “True Names”, J. Kathleen Cheney for her family Chinese fantasy “Early Winter, Jenli Village”, Marshall Payne for his gonzo SF “Sausages”, and the unstoppable Mary Robinette Kowal for basically every short story she published in 2009. And others, too (my eyes started to cross after a while)–and many other familiar names. Slowly and inexorably, my f-list is taking over the world.
(I have mentions too, but I’ll save them for another post, the point of this one being shameless plugging of awesome people I know).

Lookie lookie, I found this awesome illustration for my Xuya continuity story “Fleeing Tezcatlipoca” (out now in Space and Time Magazine), courtesy of Alan F. Beck.

It’s not every day that I find a very long and loving blog post dissecting a short story I’ve written (in this case, “Memories in Bronze, Feathers and Blood”, my latest at BCS), and calling it the best of 2010 so far…

I need a liedown, but the universe being what it is, I will go and look for supplies instead.

My friend T.L. Morganfield has written a series of awesome posts on Using Critiques:

Using Critique: Part 1: First Things First
Using Critiques: Part 2: I’ve got a pile of critiques, but what do I do with them?
Using Critiques: Part 3: Where to get critiques, and how to develop lasting professional relationships through them.
The final part is forthcoming.

Well worth a read. Go check them out!

Fellow VDer Rochita Loenen-Ruiz’s beautiful tribal story, “Hi Bugan ya Hi Kinggawan”, is now online at Fantasy Magazine. I first read it a year ago at VD4 in England, and just knew this awesome piece of prose would find a good home. Go read it!

If not for the Mama-oh’s quick actions, you would have grown up without a mother. With a bamboo tube, and a woven blanket, she captured your mother’s spirit just as it was leaving her body, and so your mother was restored to life.

Your father came to see you when he was told all was well.

He looked at you, and he looked at your mother, then he took you in his arms and he gave you your name.

“We will call her Bugan,” he said.

“A wise choice,” the Mama-oh replied. “The Sky Goddess will be pleased.”

There was a Canyao. A carabao was killed, two pigs were offered up, and rice wine flowed freely.

Read more.

Since everyone is doing it for the final Hugo push (not that I think I have a rat’s chance, but it’s fun to share), a re-post of the stuff I’m particularly proud of for this year:

Short stories
-(SF) “After the Fire”, Apex Magazine, November 2009. Available in handy podcast format as well at StarshipSofa.
-(dark fantasy) “Golden Lilies”, Fantasy Magazine, August 2009. Came in the Top Five of the reader’s poll for 2009. Available in handy podcast format as well.
-(epic-ish/philosophical fantasy) “In the Age of Iron and Ashes”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 31st December 2009. Also available in handy podcast format.

Novelette
(SF)“On Horizon’s Shores”, IGMS, issue 14, September 2009. Will email.

You can find a longer list of what I published in 2009 here at my website. If you feel like reading anything in the short fiction department, feel free to email me and I’ll provide you with a e-copy (PS: the offer applies whether you’re a voting member or not; I’d be delighted to share what I published).

Next post will feature actual content, I swear.

-Elizabeth Bear at Ideomancer (which, BTW, has an awesome new look):

In Servant of the Underworld, Aliette de Bodard has created a rather good debut novel, replete with magic, blood, and complex worldbuilding. There was a great deal to enjoy in this book, not all of it the immediately obvious.

-Josh Vogt at Examiner:

(…)for those who enjoy mythology, subtle horror, and even “detective” stories, Servant of the Underworld blends these elements into a unique story. Fortunately, it’s labeled the first book in the Obsidian and Blood series, so hopefully we’ll be seeing Bodard’s next release soon. Looks like book 2 is called Harbinger of the Storm. Sounds…peaceful.

-And Hereward L.M. Proops at Booksquawk (who didn’t like it so much, alas, but you can’t win every time):

(…)those looking for something truly different could do much worse than check out this novel. Whilst not perfect, Aliette de Bodard’s debut shows a great deal of potential which could be better realised in the inevitable sequels.

-The book also gets mentioned over at SF Signal as part of the “What Book Have You Recently Read That’s Good Enough To Recommend To a Friend?” discussion.

-Still at SF Signal, my short story “Golden Lilies” is identified as one of several “Nebula-worthy” short stories by Eugie Foster

-Finally, BestSF reviews “The Wind-Blown Man”, in the February 2010 issue of Asimov’s

Aliette de Bodard looks to China to create an alien society, alien cultures and technology – a world in which China is on a par, or better, with Western Christian society. For my money, I’d rather see Earth cultures used as inspiration to create truly alien societies, as that is true SF – but failing this, I’d much rather see the creative efforts as put in by de Bodard.

I dithered over whether to post, or not, but what the heck…

Should you wish to read some of my shorts and nominate them for the Hugos (before March 13th): here are some stories I’m particularly proud of.

Short stories
-(SF) “After the Fire”, Apex Magazine, November 2009. Available in handy podcast format as well at StarshipSofa. AKA the one Lavie Tidhar commissioned out of me for his World SF special issue. Post-apocalypse, Chinese style.

In her dreams, Jiaotan saw Father: hands outstretched, the flesh of the fingers fraying away to reveal the yellowed, tapered shape of bones, the deep-set eyes bulging in their sockets, pleading, begging her to take him away.

-(dark fantasy) “Golden Lilies”, Fantasy Magazine, August 2009. Came in the Top Five of the reader’s poll for 2009. Available in handy podcast format as well. A story of Chinese ghosts, bound feet and unsatiated desires. This one was a lot of fun to write–fair warning though, it’s pretty explicit and somewhat gruesome (the violence is somewhat peculiar, and no one dies, but it’s kind of squicky all the same).

It was the smell which woke me up, insinuating itself between the planks of my coffin: cooked meat mingling with the sweet odour of aromatic rice, and the tangy hint of fruit and spices — a powerful summoning if there ever was one.

-(epic-ish/philosophical fantasy) “In the Age of Iron and Ashes”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 31st December 2009. Also available in handy podcast format. In a besieged city, a man confronts a runaway slave–and faces what he’s made of his life. I confess this one is by far my favorite of the three. I am not very sanguine about its chances, though, as it’s even bleaker than the other two (and believe me, that takes something), and it’s been published in a fairly obscure venue. But one can hope :=)

They ran the girl down, in the grey light of dawn: a ring of copper-mailed horsemen, racing after her until her exhaustion finally felled her.

Novelette
(SF)“On Horizon’s Shores”, IGMS, issue 14, September 2009. Erm. My only true SF story of the year (the other one is an alternate history). A story of extreme transformations, love and learning to let go.

Alex and Thi Loan transferred at Sapalawa Spaceport, from their small shuttle to a military Naga craft — the only ones still allowed to crawl between the stars with the fuel shortage.

You can find a longer list of what I published in 2009 here at my website. If you feel like reading anything in the short fiction department, feel free to email me and I’ll provide you with a e-copy (PS: the offer applies whether you’re a voting member or not; I’d be delighted to share what I published).

OK, I suck at that shameless self-promotion stuff, but I figure I’ll just follow the movement, and write down the stuff I published that’s eligible for the Nebulas–in case anyone is interested.

If you want to read any of the stories below that are not available online, feel free to contact me, and I’ll be glad to provide a copy (whether you’re a SFWA member or not).

Novelettes

• “On Horizon’s Shores”, Intergalactic Medicine Show, issue 14, September 2009 (SF)
• “Healing Hands”, Fantastical Visions IV, July 2009 (Pseudo-Greek Fantasy)
• “Beneath the Mask”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, issue 8, January 2009 (Aztec fantasy/mystery)
• “Butterfly, Falling at Dawn, Interzone, issue 219, November 2008 (SF, alternate history: I think that one is eligible by virtue of its first US publication in Dozois’ Year’s Best, but I’m not 100% sure on this)

Short Stories

• “After the Fire”, Apex Magazine, November 2009 (Dark Chinese SF)
• Golden Lilies”, Fantasy Magazine, August 2009 (Dark Chinese fantasy)
• “Blighted Heart”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, issue 22, July 2009 (Aztec Fantasy)
• “Memories of my Sister”, Expanded Horizons, issue 7, May 2009 (Pseudo Hindu fantasy)
• “Dancing for the Monsoon”, Abyss & Apex, issue 30, April 2009 (Pseudo Cambodian fantasy)
• “City of the Gods”, Alternative Coordinates, issue 1, Spring 2009 (Pseudo-Hindu fantasy)
• The Dragon’s Tears”, Electric Velocipede, issues 15/16, Autumn 2008. (Pseudo Chinese fairytale)

FYI, if I had to pick favourites, they’d be “After the Fire”, “On Horizon’s Shores”, “Golden Lilies” and “The Dragon’s Tears” (which I’m still absurdly attached to even though I wrote the first draft of it about 3 years ago).

I’ll be off to take a look at my reading list and see what I can nominate myself.

EDIT: added categories…

Doug Cohen has posted the TOC for the February 2010 issue of Realms of Fantasy, which will contain my story “Melanie” and associated artwork by Frank Wu (you can see the cover here, which is also the interior illustration for Ann Leckie’s “The Unknown God”). I would seem sharing a TOC with Harlan Ellison.

And, over at the Asimov’s website, the next issue announces “The Wind-Blown Man” as “a debut […] sure to turn heads” (along with a story by Codexian Caroline M. Yoachim).

Finally, Rich Horton mentions me, albeit very briefly, in his year-end summary of Interzone (for “Ys”).

Er, wow. I feel spoiled.