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Bookish Post—Recommended Reading, Good Causes, Interviews, Reviews, and a Badass Italian Cover

I can't believe the year is already half over--time has been playing some serious funny business with me. Really, the only way I can believe it is by looking at the stack of books I've finished since January--couldn't have gotten through them unless I'd had six months, so, damn, must indeed be mid-June. Which means I'm imminently skipping town, and, if all goes according to plan, I'll be completely off the grid for nearly two weeks, so no internet, no phone, no nuthin. Given that I've made all of one post in the last six weeks and that was a random blather about a Danish director I can't imagine my absence will be felt too fiercely, but if you holler at me in that span and don't receive a response rest assured there's a slightly better reason than usual for it.

Before I ducked out of town I did want to do a general recap of what I've been up to, though most of the irons are still in their respective fires and aren't quite ready to come out--have written a few short stories that I've got high hopes for, and a few sales that I can't quite announce just yet. But more about me later--for now I wanted to mention some of the better books I've read in the last few months, though a thorough going over of them will wait until after I'm back in town. Here's what I've been lookin at, though:

The Steampunk Bible by S.J. Chambers and Jeff VanderMeer--I've been friends with Selena since Small Times, and Jeff is, well, Jeff, so seeing the product of their collaboration was especially thrilling for me. Even if you've never taken an interest in steampunk before this thing is jut gorgeous, a lush, smart tome that'll appeal to the novice and the hierophant alike. Pretty, pretty, to quote Barbarella.

Sensation by Nick Mamatas--Already posted a wee review at Amazon and Goodreads, but yeah, long story short I dug it deeper than a gloryhole, if you're up on your mining terminology. And I think you are.

Heart of Iron by Ekaterina Sedia--I'm holding off on posting a full review until the book launches in July, but it's a great, fun read, and I'm very flattered to report that Prime is using a blurb of mine smack on the cover. Can't stress enough how much I enjoyed this one!

Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs--Again, waiting on a full review until we're closer to publication, but this is one fierce motherlicker of a debut. Lean, mean, smart, and disturbing in all the best ways. Historical fiction done right, southern fiction done right, Lovecraftian fiction done right--hell, just call it writing done right and leave it at that.

I've also tried to read a bit more broadly in terms of small/indy/self published texts this year, and am planning a future post on some of my favorites, including titles by Allyson Shaw, Louis K. Lowy, and Berrien C. Henderson. I know I'm forgetting a few other books in my haste, but for now this'll do...Looking forward to checking out Genevieve Valentine's Mechanique and Chesya Burke's Let's Play White whenever I'm back and settled, and (at last!) I've got Gemma Files' A Book of Tongues at the top of my to-read stack. We yanks are alos lucky enough to now have Mark Charan Newton's paperback of Nights of Villjamur ready and able, which I've been waiting absolutely ages for since hardcovers are usually beyond my means, and Robert Jackson Bennett's The Company Man (of Mr. Shivers notoriety) is likewise burning a hole in my to-read stack. Better-late-than-never-wise, I started Mervin Peake's Gormenghast a ways back, and am still trucking along--love the shit out of it, so far. Hmmm, with all that to look forward to I suppose I should be relieved it's only halfway through the year...

While we're discussing what I'm looking forward to reading, a belated congrats is in order for Orrin Grey, who recently announced the sale of his debut short story collection to Evileye Books. It's called Never Bet the Devil & Other Warnings, and should be all kinds of awesome. Nicely done, sir; couldn't happen to a nicer skeleton!

And holy progenitor of fuck, have you seen the Table of Contents for Night Shade's new Book of Cthulhu?! That thing is rude. Ross Lockhart has assembled the single best line-up of authors in an anthology that I've seen all year. Huge congrats to Silvia, Laird, John, Other John (see SG above), and everyone else--I don't have the list in front of me so I'm surely overlooking people I love, goddamnit--but especially Molly von Tanzenstein, whose "Infernal History of the Ivy Bridge Twins" is being reprinted in the tome. I was lucky enough to read the story back in its raw form, when the words made your orifices weep flaming blood (in a good way), but trust me, this version is even better--one of my favorite stories in recent memory, and a synthetic feather in an already church-worthy hat. She's been kicking major ass as managing editor at Fantasy and Lightspeed, but it's also nice to see her receiving the recognition she deserves on the other side of the game.

Before getting into the ME ME ME section, I wanted to mention a few other cool things. Thing the First is the Tales for Canterbury anthology, which is a charity short story collection to benefit the victims of the recent earthquake(s) in New Zealand. Many thanks to Lynn Jamneck for cluing me in to the project, and of course Cassie Hart and Anna Caro for putting it together. It has a reprint of "The Bear and the Sea," one of my personal favorites of my short fiction, as well as pieces by Lynn, Jeff VanderWhatsit, Neil Gaiman, and lots and lots of other people. Here be the link to the book--again, it's for a very good cause.

Thing the Second is the Shirley Jackson Award fundraiser, which is currently underway. The SJA, as I'm calling it because I'm really creative, hasn't been around long but has quickly become one of my very favorite awards--the winners really do seem to be selected based on merit, as opposed to some of the more popularity-contest-style awards. Give, you fools, give!

Then in terms of my own writing, here's a bit of what I've been up to since last I sullied these digital waves:

• Guest blogged over at Martha Hubbard's website regarding my Icelandic Saga-inspired story in Historical Lovecraft. Thanks, Martha!
• SF Signal just ran a New Author Spotlight featuring moi.
• Was interviewed by Jeff VanderMeer regarding the Weird in general and The Enterprise of Death in particular for Amazon's Omnivoracious blog. This was part of a quick series on the Weird, with Michael Cisco and Brendan Connell previously being asked the same sorts of things. Thanks, Jeff!
• Was also interviewed by Pip Hunn for Hyper-critical.net, in what was a long, very fun exchange about such divers subjects as Game of Thrones (which I haven't read, nor watched the series of), the juggling of high and low brow humor, and plenty of other matters both profound and personal. Thanks, Pip!
• Chalked up some very much appreciated reviews for Enterprise, from such varied places as the above-mentioned Hyper-critical.net, Yatterings, Innsmouth Free Press (which I might have already linked to), Gonzobarian, The Fringe, The Spiral, and most likely a few others which I'm neglecting to mention. Many thanks to everyone for the intelligent critiques, apologies to anyone I missed, and more as I stumble over them!
• I've also been fortunate enough to have some of my peers (read: betters) recently take a crack at the book, including Stephen Graham Jones,  Paul Tremblay, Cassie Alexander, Philip Palmer and Ellen Datlow--thanks so much, all, and again, apologies if in my ever-increasing haste to be out the door I've left anyone off!
  
• In addition to the above-mentioned people and sites, I really can't convey how much I appreciate any and everyone who's just read the damn thing, to say nothing of firing me a message or FB request, or even going so far as to review it on Amazon, Goodreads, etc.--often the unhappy voices are the loudest ones, and I can't thank my supporters enough for encouraging me to keep at it. So long as I'm working--and thinking about how to work better--improvement seems inevitable, so thanks!
• Finally, the Italian edition of The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is pretty much the coolest thing ever, and deserves showing off:

Love the images, love the layout, love the new title--tis a thing of more beauty than my grimy words deserve. Many, many thanks to Castelvecchi for producing such a lovely artifact, especially art director Dario F. Morgante, fearless leader Cristiano Armati, and, big time, my translator Ilaria Senatore--wonderful work!

And with that I'm running out the door to make ready for the Great Grid Escape, 2011 edition. If you need me between now and early July...too bad. Somehow, I think you'll do all right on your own--cheers!

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