Fantasy Magazine: The Men Burned All The Boats by Patricia Russo
Filed Under: Recommended Media, Short Story
I haven’t been reading much short fiction lately, but I am subscribed to the Fantasy Magazine feed. I saw the opening of this story and the words drew me in. I had to read it, even so early.
The men burned all the boats, so it is impossible to leave the island now. Everyone cheered when the pyres were lit. The dancing went on for three days, as if for a wedding. The men chanted, We are fearless! Let our enemies attack us now. We will slaughter them, and take their boats as war prizes. And if the sea folk come against us, we will crush them, too. Our magic is so strong we will pursue those cold ones under the waves, torches blazing. We will burn out their black eyes, tear their silver flesh to strips, and lick up their pale blood. We are mighty. We are invincible.
via Fantasy Magazine » The Men Burned All The Boats.
Patricia Russo is another Fortean Bureau alum. It makes me so happy to see a new story by her, and one that is so great. I highly recommend you give it a read.
Federations Table of Contents
Filed Under: My Writing, New Sale, Speculative Fiction, personal
Federations | John Joseph Adams.
John has posted the table of contents to Federations, the anthology to which I have made my latest sale. Excuse me while I get a little starstruck and nostalgic.
The first author I ever shared with my father was also my first science fiction author. When I was around 8 or 9, I stumbled across a little book in my grade school library called Dragonsong by Anne McCaffery. To this day, it is one of less than half a dozen books I have read more than once, an honor I reserve only for the most important titles in my life or, books I had to read for more than one class through my long education. One of the first books I ever bought with my own money was an omnibus of the Dragonriders trilogy. The first (and as far as I know, only) fan letter I wrote as a child was to Anne McCaffery. I think she even wrote back.
My Dad and I read every single McCaffery book she published, pretty much. She was one of those authors who the library system managed to get new books for, oddly enough. Whereas I was mostly stuck reading Golden Age SF in the bowels of the local library (literally, the SF section was in the basement, in the back corner), the new books shelf seemed to always have a McCaffery.
My Dad and I didn’t talk SF very much, but most of the time we did, it was regarding the latest McCaffery book. We had long discussions when [spoilers] Pern turned out to be a lost human colony of space farers. [/spoilers] Later books, I haven’t been on top of. Since her son started writing them, I haven’t read them, not because of any reason other than lack of time, and well, nobody to talk about them with.
In one of the last conversations I had with my Dad, when he was in the hospital the day we learned that he wasn’t going to get any better and that it was time was hospice care (a medical term meaining ‘give up and die gracefully’), I signed a copy of All Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories for him, telling him that he could beat the cancer like a pulp hero beats up Nazis. He stood up, all 90-some pounds of what was left of him, and gave me the strongest hug I think he ever gave me and he said, “I’m proud of you son.” I must have acted surprised because he said, “I’ve always been proud of you.”
That was probably the most emotional moment of my life, and will remain so for a very long time. At least until I get to tell my own child the same thing,
Today, I feel like I earned that pride a little more, and I know that if he were here, he would be as excited about me being in this book as I am.
New Podcast: The Girl With the Sun In Her Head
Filed Under: My Writing, Podcast, SF Podcasting, Speculative Fiction, Top Post
My story from Polyphony 4, and one of my earliest successful attempts at the short story (although your definition of success may vary from mine in this case), is now live as a podcast on PodCastle. You can give it a listen over on the PodCastle site, but if you’re into fantasy, you should subscribe to their feed. The team over there does good work. With this publication, I have one story left to appear on a podcast–I believe my story “Captain Bl00d’s B00ty” is supposed to appear on Starship Sofa at some point, although I haven’t heard anything about when.
Special thanks to Jay Lake and Deborah Layne for purchasing the story originally, and again, thank you to the PodCastle staff, Anne, Rachel, et al for picking it for the ‘cast. I am grateful.
The story, by the way is inspired by the Orbital song of the same name. I was banging my head against the wall trying to come up with a story to write when the song came up in Winamp. I saw the title and thought, hey, I could write a story about that Girl. I don’t the story reads like the song, sadly. I would be awesome if I could make stories read like songs.
I wrote a series of stories with titles identical to songs. Another one was Louis Jordan’s “A Chicken Ain’t Nothing But a Bird” about a southern family’s rooster named Scratch that was actually a cockatrice. Never went anywhere with that one. I’m a huge fan of Lois Jordan’s music. “Beans and Cornbread” is a classic. Never wrote a story with that title although I am tempted should I find the time. I even have an idea of what it’s about. Coincidentally, cornbread is one of my favorite foods. Nothing like some fried catfish and cornbread hush puppies on a summer night. Remind me to tell you how I feel about fish frys. As in, everbody getting together and frying up a bucketload of fish, not some new Burger King perversity.
Available for Order: Seeds of Change
Filed Under: My Writing, Speculative Fiction
The latest anthology edited by John Joseph Adams, Seeds of Change, is available for pre-order on Amazon now. The table of contents includes Ken Macleod, Tobias S. Buckell, Jay Lake, and many more fine writers. It also includes my story, “Arties Aren’t Stupid,” one of my personal favorites.
The origin for this story came from reading about mad gardeners in Britain creating living graffiti with blendered moss and spray bottles. I wondered what would happen if such people had in their hands something a bit more powerful than a blender, and the story spun off of that concept.
I hope you’ll order a copy, if not for me, than for those other fine writers. I’ve read the anthology, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
