A.C. Wise

A review of Sybil’s Garage No. 7 from SFRevu.

Captured: America in Color from 1939-1943, a set of gorgeous photos reproduced from color slides. It’s like stepping into a combination of Carnivale, Grapes of Wrath, and American propaganda posters - really wonderful stuff!

To make up for the fact I had to work over the long weekend, I went book shopping. It’s like comfort eating, but slightly healthier…maybe. The results: Patient Zero by Jonathan Mayberry,  House of Mystery: The Beauty of Decay, by various authors, and Sympathy for the Devil, by various authors, edited by Tim Pratt.

Finally: Dear cooler weather, where did you go? What gives? Don’t be a tease. It’s not nice. Seriously.

The past few days have been cloudy, threatening storms that never quite happen, but offering rain instead. While this is good news for the grass, and my sanity (I no longer feel the need to scream at the sun), it’s bad news for trying to snap photos of people in the fountain. Two days in a row, and no one here but us pigeons…

In other good news/bad news, I found out yesterday that my short story ‘A Mouse Ran Up the Clock’ made the long list for Best American Fantasy Vol. 4….in an announcement about the series being canceled. The list is posted here, if you’re looking for some short fantasy fiction recommendations, and the official announcement about the series is here.

The demise of the series saddens me for reasons beyond the incredibly slim chance that I might have made the final cut for the anthology. Among the year’s best/best of breed of anthologies, Best American Fantasy aimed for and achieved something different. It blurred genre lines, and sought out fiction in markets that many genre readers may have missed. If you haven’t read the three existing volumes, they are definitely worth seeking out.

Listing a bunch of unrelated things is kind of like writing a proper post, right?

Thing One: Cern Zoo: Nemonymous Nine, which contains my short story, Mellie’s Zoo, is a finalist for the 2010 British Fantasy Awards. Woohoo!

Thing Two: Aliette de Bodard’s Memories in Bronze, Feathers, and Blood is a lovely story - you should go read it.

Thing the Third: Moon is a beautifully shot and well-acted movie - you should go watch it.

Thing the Last: Futurama is back from the dead, and the first episode of its newly zombified life premiers this Thursday at 10pm. Contrary to the alarming rumors that were floating around at some point, the original cast is back for the second go around. Drop what you’re doing and go set your DVR right now, or if you don’t have a DVR, cancel whatever plans you have, and watch the show real-time. If you don’t, it’ll make robot Jesus cry.

Candy and magic, what more could you want from a story? Go read A Sweet Calling by Tony Pi

And for a different kind of sweetness, check out this surprisingly subtle and understated story (don’t let the title fool you): WE HEART VAMPIRES!!!!! part 1 and part 2 by Meghan McCarron.

I’m so far behind on my online fiction reading that I’ve given up any pretense that I will ever catch up. But you should still read this: Saving the Gleeful Horse by K. J. Bishop. It’s lovely.

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. Of course, it doesn’t do much good if you’re unable, or unwilling, to move beyond step one. I’m not proud of myself. Oh, wait…yes I am!

The craving struck me this morning, as it often does, to go book shopping. Naturally, I gave in immediately. This is the result.

Believe it or not, this is me practicing restraint. There were easily three or four more books I could have walked out with, but I didn’t. The books I chose, of course, were not only necessary, but perfectly justified. (shut up)

I’ve been eagerly awaiting The Domino Men since reading The Somnambulist. I’m contractually obligated to support my fellow Canadians, plus I resisted buying The Mystery of Grace in hardcover, so that means I deserve it now that it’s in paperback. This is The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The. Very. Best. Enough said. Not only is The Best Horror of the Year 2 also The Best, it’s edited by Ellen Datlow, which makes it required reading. So there. (shut up)

And speaking of The Best Horror of the Year, Ms. Datlow was kind enough to give a shout-out to “A Mouse Ran Up the Clock” in her yearly summation. Woohoo!

Last night, happily ensconced against the last of the snowstorm, I finished reading Caitlin R. Kiernan’s The Red Tree. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so affected by a horror story. I started off being lukewarm on the book; by the end, I couldn’t put it down.

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I read fifty some-odd books this year, a combination of novels, graphic novels, single-author short story collections and anthologies. About 98% was within the spec fic genre - note to self: branch out more. The problem is, there are so many things within the genre that I want to read, and only so much time.

Out of the fifty, I managed to come up with a Top Ten, plus two. The plus two were my absolute favorites, and pretty much on opposite ends of the spectrum, though I’m sure my Liberal Arts training could come up with some kind of parallel if pressed.

The Top Two:

Beloved by Toni Morrison

I’d been meaning to read Beloved ever since I saw the movie. It lodged certain images (true to the source material) in my skull that remain there to this day. The book is so much more. It’s darker, it’s more painful, and it’s full of far more beauty. It isn’t a comfortable read, but reading shouldn’t always be comfortable. Appropriate to a ghost story, it is a book that will continue to linger, haunt me, and never let me go.

Finch by Jeff VanderMeer

Finch was everything I wanted it to be and more. Even though I’m a fan of Jeff VanderMeer’s work, a lot of it is hit or miss for me. I loved parts of City of Saints and Madmen and Veniss Underground, and I feel the same way about his short stories. Everything about Finch hit the right notes for me. This is a novel that’s drenched in style, beautifully weird, and strikes the perfect tone. It’s the Ambergris story I’ve been waiting for.

The rest of my top ten, in no particular order, below the cut.

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Christmas gets twelve days and an advent calendar, but where’s the love for Halloween? Why should St. Nick get all the pre-event buzz when Old Nick’s got a perfectly good holiday worthy of a countdown of its own? (And no, stores putting out their candy and plastic skeletons in July doesn’t count. Same goes for the Christmas trees that come out the second Halloween is over.)

In order to right this grievous wrong, throughout October I will sporadically make various Halloween-related posts in anticipation of the big day. After all, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing in a half-assed way!

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I’m still catching up - I’m always catching up - on short fiction, movies and life in general. Some recommendations of the speculative fiction variety are Golden Lilies by Aliette de Bodard, a lovely fiction piece on the practice of foot-binding over at Fantasy Magazine, and Mammals Underfoot! An Interview with Emerging Writers by Jeff VanderMeer over at Clarkesworld Magazine.

Also related to speculative fiction, I recommend you support Ralan during his annual September fund raising drive. If you’re even remotely interested in writing and publishing speculative fiction, you should regularly be checking Ralan’s site for new markets, market updates, and other tips. And if you are checking the site regularly, you should also be supporting it - it’s only fair, after all.

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