Monthly Archives: July 2011

Now That’s What I Call Closing!

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As we get into the full thick of the liquidation process with Borders, I’ve been working on a mix CD with my coworkers on a track list of songs that relate to closing and the end of Borders.  It’s called Now That’s What I Call Closing! I’ve now settled on the full list and will be burning the CD today to bring into work.  And here’s the track list:

Closing Time – Semisonic

It’s The End of the World as we Know It – REM

The Times They Are A-Changing – Bob Dylan

The Final Countdown – Europe

One More Time – Daft Punk

It’s Too Late Baby – Carole King

Changes – David Bowie

Closing Time – Leonard Cohen

Another One Bites the Dust – Queen

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey

Time of Your Life – Green Day

I Will Remember You – Sarah McLachlan

The End – The Beatles

The End – The Doors

Closing Time – Tom Waits

Funeral March – Chopin

World Fantasy Nominees

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World Fantasy Award nominees are up (you can find more info here).  Reviews and interviews are linked below!

 

Best Novel

Best Novella

  • Bone and Jewel Creatures, Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean)
  • The Broken Man, Michael Byers (PS)
  • “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon”, Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All-New Tales)
  • The Thief of Broken Toys, Tim Lebbon (ChiZine)
  • “The Mystery Knight”, George R.R. Martin (Warriors)
  • “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window”, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer 2010)

Best Short Fiction

  • “Beautiful Men” , Christopher Fowler (Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels and Heavenly Hosts)
  • “Booth’s Ghost”, Karen Joy Fowler (What I Didn’t See and Other Stories)
  • “Ponies”, Kij Johnson (Tor.com 11/17/10)
  • “Fossil-Figures”, Joyce Carol Oates (Stories: All-New Tales)
  • “Tu Sufrimiento Shall Protect Us”, Mercurio D. Rivera (Black Static 8-9/10)

Best Anthology

  • The Way of the Wizard, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Prime)
  • My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, Kate Bernheimer, ed. (Penguin)
  • Haunted Legends, Ellen Datlow & Nick Mamatas, eds. (Tor)
  • Stories: All-New Tales, Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio, eds. (Morrow; Headline Review)
  • Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, S.T. Joshi, ed. (PS)
  • Swords & Dark Magic, Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders, eds. (Eos)

Best Anthology

  • What I Didn’t See and Other Stories, Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer)
  • The Ammonite Violin & Others, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean)
  • Holiday, M. Rickert (Golden Gryphon)
  • Sourdough and Other Stories, Angela Slatter (Tartarus)
  • The Third Bear, Jeff VanderMeer (Tachyon)

Best Artist

  • Vincent Chong
  • Kinuko Y. Craft
  • Richard A. Kirk
  • John Picacio
  • Shaun Tan

Special Award, Professional

Special Award, Non-Professional

  • Stephen Jones, Michael Marshall Smith, & Amanda Foubister, for Brighton Shock!: The Souvenir Book Of The World Horror Convention 2010
  • Alisa Krasnostein, for Twelfth Planet Press
  • Matthew Kressel, for Sybil’s Garage and Senses Five Press
  • Charles Tan, for Bibliophile Stalker
  • Lavie Tidhar, for The World SF Blog

NIAA Progress Report #5

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Well, it took a little while longer, but combined with my trans-Atlantic flying over the last couple of weeks, and some intense days of getting over jet lag and working away this week, I’ve reached the end of the edit of Nothing is an Accident.  W00t!  Now I just need to input all the changes from the hard copy, make the scene additions, fixes and changes that I made notes for while doing this edit, and once all that’s done, this sucker should be done and ready to show itself to the world!

wordage

BookBanter #3: Too Much of a Good Thing

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BookBanter Column

In the third BookBanter Column, “Too Much of a Good Thing,” I take on the exploding genre of the Young Adult Dystopian genre that has burst to life after the incredible success of the Hunger Games trilogy.  Here you’ll find a nice list of some of the more crazy and unbelievable YA dystopian books that have been published in the last couple of years.  You can start reading below and follow the link for the rest of the column:

If there’s one thing that readers, writers and the publishing world have all learned from the likes of the Harry Potter and Twilight series, it is that children’s publishing seems to be going through a series of cycling genres right now. Continue reading . . .

Thank You Borders – #ThankUBorders

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Everyone pretty much knows now that it’s the end for Borders and starting on Friday will be the beginning of the actual end as the liquidation process begins. We can all spend lots of time and bytes and words going over what was done wrong and how things could’ve been done better, but at this point it’s a done deal. Borders is finished and in a couple of months will be little more than a memory for the hundreds of thousands of readers and employees who have had the pleasure to going to a Borders.

Instead, let us remember the good times; celebrate some great booksellers you had the pleasure of working with or having help you; recall a signing you enjoyed at a Borders; what you perhaps loved about working there . . . any little memory you would like to share.

A specific hash tag on Twitter has been set up for this, so I invite everyone to click on the link below and share your happy thoughts and memories of the Borders era . . .

#ThankUBorders

As for me, I plan to share a memory each and every day from now until the very end on my history with Borders.  And I’ll be adding those memories as a comment to this post.

So here’s to making the next two months enjoyable and great as we come to the end of an era in the book world . . .

On the Road Again . . .

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Tomorrow I will be getting on a flight bound for Paris, then eventually getting on anther bound for London for my brother’s wedding taking place on Monday.  I expect to have some sort of Internet connection at some point while over there for a week, but I’m not certain.  BookBanter will be quiet for a little while, unless I do have a solid daily connection and will make posts when I can.  The plan is to see some of Paris between flights, then on Saturday to travel to beautiful Somerset for the wedding location.  I will, of course, be taking A LOT of photos.

See you on the other side . . .

“The Other End” by John Shirley (e-reads.com, 2011)

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Other End
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In horror writer John Shirley’s new book, The Other End, he takes a break from the blood and guts and gore to address a more philosophical question in rebuttal to Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’ evangelical Left Behind series.  While some may think this an intended backlash against the various stories and predictions of the rapture and other end of the world prophecies from various Christian denominations, the story comes off as more of an interesting “what if” at first that, by the end, becomes more contemplative and questioning of those of certain beliefs.

The world as we know it is going through some changes, at least for some people.  Strange visions are being experienced across the planet, with colors and lights, and once over, the person is changed, except its affecting people of a certain nature, who can best be described as bad or evil or selfish or greedy, or all of the above.  We’re talking about corrupt politicians, child slavers and traffickers, genocidal warlords and soldiers, people harboring illegal immigrants under deplorable conditions, corrupt and greedy CEOs and board members, even abusive people, who experience this strange event that from that moment on find themselves fundamentally changed into good and decent and caring people, looking to change the damage they’ve already wrought and put things to right however they can, even if it cost them their lives.

And then the prophesied end time arrives, taking those deserving off to a paradise, and leaving those less deserving – at least according to the rules of this world as set by Shirley – to suffer and deal with each other back on Earth.  The Other End is far less preachy than one might expect, as the reader follows Jim Swift, a reporter for the Sacramento Bee, his family, and his tough and somewhat paranoid friend, Ed Galivant, who look to find out the truth behind these strange happenings.  While this print edition does contain a few typos, Shirley’s writing style keeps readers hooked, wondering what’s to happen next.

Originally written on June 27, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.