New Reviews

A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects by Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente’s A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects from Norilana Books collects about two dozen poems, most of them previously published in various print and online venues. The poems largely draw from mythology and fairy tales. Interspersed among them are very short prose pieces, each labeled as being a particular tale [...]

Asimov’s, July 2008

Do you hear that sound? That, folks, is a year’s subscription to Asimov’s draining out of my bank account. Yeah, I’ve bought single issues, I’ve subscribed to other SF mags, but July’s cornucopia has sold me, and sold me well. There are future award winners in this issue, or what should be future award winners, [...]

Aberrant Dreams, April 2008

Four new stories and four new poems are offered in the current online issue of Aberrant Dreams, updated mid-April. Additional new material includes a review by Ernest G. Saylor of The Prefect, a novel by Alastair Reynolds, and a “Myles Cabot Presents” interview with Michael Swanwick, author of the Nebula award-winning novel, Stations of the [...]

New Articles

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• An Interview with Catherynne M. Valente

  In this interview with reviewer Elizabeth A. Allen, Catherynne M. Valente connects Snow White with CPR, late-night lamb roasts with her literary development, and writing with Katamari Damacy. Tell me about your perspectives on archetypes. Did a certain class, book, or person introduce them to you? What do you think they are, and why do they provide such fertile ground for your fictional and poetical works? (more...)

• The Day Job: Carpe Penicullus

  I experienced a chilling moment while on a flight this year. The attendant said, "If Denver is your final destination, thank you for traveling with us." She creeped me out. "Final destination," indeed! Bill Bryson writes in A Short History of Nearly Everything that "Even a long human life adds up to only 650,000 hours." It's sobering to picture a countdown clock in heaven ticking off the time I have left before retiring to procrastinator's paradise, before I check into the pine condo, or before I fill my reservation at Chateau Eternity. Time's winged chariot pauses for no one, and for writers whose passion almost always takes multiple hours, days, months, or years for the completion of a single project, the clattering of those distant hooves must sound distinctly loud, if we remember to listen to them. (more...)

• From the Podosphere: April 2008

  The highlight of April's podcast short fiction must be the long-awaited launch of PodCastle, the latest offering from Escape Artists, bringing their output up to three podcasts and completing the main genres of speculative fiction: SF, horror, and now fantasy. I was privileged to narrate PodCastle's inaugural story myself, Peter S. Beagle's "Come Lady Death" so I'll say no more about it and pass on to the first of PodCastle's flash pieces (known as "miniatures"). (more...)

• An Interview with Mike Dolan

  This month, Elastic Press will release two short story collections. One of those is Another Santana Morning by Mike Dolan, a revamped version of Mike's original Santana Morning, released in 1970. Here, Mike tells us what he has been up to since then and talks about the sad fate of that original collection. (more...)