It's a Jumble

The sun is shining, the world has not yet ended, and I have a free morning to write this. I’m late with my bimonthly list of short fiction recs, but let’s go, shall we? Stories About Family Our relationships with our birth families are often the most fraught of all—these ties we did not choose and cannot sever. The stories that have hit hardest for me of late are the ones that look at these bonds. My Grandmother’s Bones  by S.L. Huang at Daily Science Fiction So much conveyed in such a short flash piece. The gaps between generations, the disappointments and distance and love that endures despite it all. This story is spare, understated, and devastating. I did not know the Chinese term, haau , before I read this, but I think I understand it just a little, now. Of all the “family” stories I’ve picked this month, it’s the one that I most personally connect with. Some Breakable Things by Cassandra Khaw in the The Dark Like Huang’s story above, Khaw’s is als...

The Grace of Kings , the debut novel by famed short story writer Ken Liu, is unlike anything else I’ve read in contemporary fantasy. It is “epic” in every sense of the word, portraying the collapse and rise of empires; huge battle scenes, complicated plot twists and betrayals; intimate small moments and a dizzyingly large cast of characters. It takes place in an intriguing, beautifully realized secondary world setting: the world of Dara, an archipelago of what was once seven separate kingdoms. The geography of this world ranges from tropical beaches to misty forests, deserts, plains, and snowy mountains. There are airships, battle kites, and rainbow-scaled whales with horns. There is a variety of cultures and ethnicities, with people described in a rainbow of skin tones and eye/hair color, yet the overall cultural bedrock is plainly that of ancient China. It’s a work that is soaring, enthralling, heart-wrenching, intricate, and almost astonishingly ambitious. All this said, I wil...

Annorlunda Books is a small press specializing in short books (novella length or shorter), including both fiction and non-fiction. The company’s tagline is “Books to inform, entertain, and make you think.” It is a division of Annorlunda Enterprises , which also creates designs for T-shirts, bags, and other print-on-demand projects, and also runs a short ebook review site called Tungsten Hippo. This year I was very lucky to work with Annorlunda Books on the publication of my fantasy novelette, The Lilies of Dawn . All around, it’s been a wonderful experience. I realized that I had a number of questions on what it’s like to start and run a small press, and I figured a number of other writers and readers might be interested, too. Melanie Nelson, founder of Annorlunda Books and Annorlunda Enterprises, was gracious enough to appear on this blog to answer my questions in detail. Okay, first question that popped into my head for this interview: What does the name, “Annorlund...

I’ve lived most of my life in Michigan, but only last week did I really visit the Upper Peninsula. I saw Lake Superior for the first time, which means that I have now finally seen all the Great Lakes. My girls on the shore of Lake Superior My family and I took a boat cruise on Lake Superior, that great, cold, inland sea. We saw cliffs streaked with ancient mineral stains, worn by wind and waves. We hiked to see waterfalls (so many waterfalls!) We ate pasties, the hand-held savory pies beloved in the UP, brought there by Cornish immigrants who worked the copper mines generations ago. L akeside cliffs in Painted Rocks National         Lakeshore  Waterfalls in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore I’m reminded, again, of the treasures we have in America in our national and state parks, in the areas set aside for conservation. The UP is protected forest and lakeshore; blue waters and empty beache...

So it's real. My little book came out and my publisher sent me three copies and I can hold them in my hand and put them on my shelf and coo over the cover and layout and my words in print on real paper. It's a real book, y'all.   My hardworking publisher lined up advance readers and bloggers and the reviews are beyond what I expected. As I said to her in an e-mail earlier today, readers are getting it . That makes me so happy.  And there are giveaways for this book, too! Annorlunda Books has arranged for a Goodreads giveaway. One print copy will be given away, and you have until Aug 12 to enter. Click here for more info. Vicky at the book review blog, Books and Strips, was kind enough to interview me and also host a giveaway of the ebook version for us. Click here for the interview and an introduction to her lovely blog. The blog Rope and Tire also had a lovely review. My gratitude to all who have bought the book, mentioned it on social media, retweeted...

So my fantasy novelette, The Lilies of Dawn, has now been officially released! You can go here to the publisher page for more information and links to purchase (it's available as both ebook and paperback). I've been seeing people retweet my initial announcement on Twitter; I've heard writer friends and non-writer friends tell me that they've purchased a copy. I've already seen lovely reviews from advance readers on Amazon and Goodreads. And I am so, so gratified. I'm thrilled to be finally sharing this world and its characters, Kai and Kevak, with you all. (Note: that gorgeous cover art is by Likhain . Check out all her work! And thank you, too, to Francesca Forrest for expert copyediting. And thank you to Annorlunda Books for believing in this work and investing in it). 

I seem to have settled into a rhythm of posting short fiction reviews bimonthly. So hey, let’s go with that, shall we? Okay, some wonderful things I’ve read lately. . . Uncanny Magazine " The Drowning Line" by Haralambi Markov I’m finally almost caught up with Uncanny Issue 10. It’s a truly stunning issue, and this story is one reason why. Visceral, intense, harrowing—it’s the tale of a terrible family curse and the narrator’s struggle to free himself and his descendants of it. The intensity of imagery and feeling remind me of Alyssa Wong’s desert tale, “You’ll Surely Drown Here if You Stay”   from the same issue ( recommended in my last short fiction roundup ). It’s an interesting pairing of stories—water and desert, constrictive families ties, a common struggle to escape. And Markov’s story is a fine bookend to a truly strong issue. "El Cantar of Rising Sun" by Sabrina Vourvoulias   I’ve only just started Issue 11 of Uncanny Magazine, but t...