m. c. de marco

This is one of my absolute favourite things to read. I’ve been trying to hold off on re-reading until the sequel comes out, but I couldn’t make it any longer, I was overwhelmed with longing for them and picked them up. The Secret Country and  The Hidden Land are one book in two volumes. The Whim of the Dragon is the conclusion, but it is slightly more separate—there is a natural break there. I recommend getting hold of all three and reading them together, as if they were all bound together. At that, they’d be shorter than many fat fantasy single volumes.

You know how children in children’s books find their way into a magic kingdom? You know how you read stories like that when you were a kid and loved them? Then when you re-read them as an adult they’re much shorter than you remembered and all the colour has drained out of them? The Secret Country books are that kind of book but written for adults, jewel bright, with all the depth and resonance and layering that anyone could want. There are five American children who have made up an elaborate game about a secret and magical country, largely based on their reading of Shakespeare. Then they find themselves there, and it both is and isn’t the way they expect, they have to negotiate the shoals of the story they made up, because once they’re there they really don’t want it to happen any more.

[Read more: no spoilers]

My posts here are always about the books I feel like reading, I don’t have an agenda, but I do read them differently knowing I’m going to write about them. I observe my reactions to share with you.  As I started reading The Secret Country the bit of me that observes my reactions felt very aware of just how much I was enjoying it. There are books I sink into so much that there’s really no me left, no awareness of separate consciousness. And there are books where I have a kind of doubled consciousness, inside and outside, observing, paying attention. Reading this, I kept thinking “Gosh, I love this!” Then I’d read another couple of lines and think “Gosh, I really do love this so much!” I was so delighted to be re-reading it that I almost couldn’t concentrate on actually reading it.

I’ve re-read these books countless times, which is unusual for something I didn’t read at all until the late nineties. These books have got into my heart in a way that was quite normal when I was a child but which has become increasingly less so since I’ve grown up. I do sometimes still want to hug a book, but I’m not so open to them getting in so deep. There’s something about these that really encourages that. I’ve also written quite a lot about them, and the details of the world, a long time ago on rec.arts.sf.written. I don’t want to repeat that here, not that it’s really possible. (It’s still findable via Google Groupe if you want a very long, very detailed discussion with spoilers.) So, they’re books I’ve read a lot and thought about a lot and talked about a lot.

What makes them outstanding isn’t the world, though it’s very good. The world is something that’s been made up and which is getting more baroque in the corners where they haven’t been paying attention. They started with all sorts of “because that’s what imaginary medieval kingdoms are like” and then it got more convoluted and interesting from there. It isn’t the language, though the language is wonderful, both the use of “high” language and the way that combines with the way kids talk naturally when they’re excited. There’s a lot of Shakespeare in both language and world, and that’s just lovely. But what makes them truly great is the way they’re about the difference between reality and story, that tightrope of responsibility.

Laura is eleven and her brother Ted is fifteen, and it is through their eyes that we see the Secret Country for the first two volumes. They are quiet bookish kids and a lot of the fun is watching them walk the tightrope of knowing too much and not enough. They, their cousins Ruth, Ellen and the fiercely atheist Patrick, are masquerading as the Royal Children of the Secret Country. They are surrounded by parents and teachers and wizards and nurses, all of whom expect incomprehensible things of them. There’s a way in which Dean captures the state of being a child very well  with this—they’re surrounded by people who are bigger and more powerful and who have their own agendas and who won’t take the children seriously. It’s not all that different for Laura treading carefully in the High Castle from doing the same in her aunt’s house in Illinois. Yet it’s infinitely more interesting, and there’s a lot more at stake. The scale has changed.

The actual revelatory end is a little disappointing, and there are some questions left unanswerable. It doesn’t matter, because the rest of it is so good and the expository end is so very satisfying.

If you like books and have always secretly wished you might step into one and have an adventure, do try these.

Jo Walton is a science fiction and fantasy writer. She’s published eight novels, most recently Half a Crown and Lifelode, and two poetry collections. She reads a lot, and blogs about it here regularly. She comes from Wales but lives in Montreal where the food and books are more varied.

Chapter Three

The Black Jewel

Next morning, Dorian Hawkmoon was taken to see Baron Kalan again. The serpent mask seemed to bear an almost cynical expression as it regarded him, but the baron said hardly a word, merely led him through a series of rooms and halls until they reached a room with a door of plain steel. This was opened, to reveal a similar door that, when opened, revealed a third door. This led into a small, blindingly lighted chamber of white metal that contained a machine of intense beauty. It consisted almost entirely of delicate red, gold, and silver webs, strands of which brushed Hawkmoon’s face and had the warmth and vitality of human skin. Faint music came from the webs, which moved as if in a breeze.

“It seems alive,” said Hawkmoon.

“It is alive,” Baron Kalan whispered proudly. “It is alive.”

[“Is it a beast?”]

Named for Hugo Gernsback, the Hugo Awards are presented each year to outstanding works of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or related fiction genre published during the previous year. The winners are selected by the members of Worldcon. (This year’s convention is Aussiecon 4, in Melbourne, but members from last year are also eligible to nominate and vote.)

The nominations period is open through this Saturday March 13th, 2010, and we wanted to bring to your attention the eligible works that Tor.com had the honor of publishing in 2009. The ballot is here, and you may nominate up to five works in each category.

[See our eligible novelettes, short stories, graphic stories, artists, and editor below the fold.]

Novelettes:

“Errata,” by Jeff VanderMeer
January 15, 2009

“A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon,” by Ken Scholes
February 17, 2009

“Eros, Philia, Agape,” by Rachel Swirsky
March 3, 2009

“The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles,” by Kij Johnson
July 14th, 2009

“The Ruined Queen of Harvest World,” by Damien Broderick
August 18, 2009

“First Flight,” by Mary Robinette Kowal
August 25th, 2009

“Zeppelin City,” by Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn
October 5, 2009

“The Strange Case of Mr. Salad Monday,” by G. D. Falksen
October 20, 2009

“A Memory of Wind,” by Rachel Swirsky
November 3, 2009

“Overtime,” by Charles Stross
December 22, 2009

Short Stories:

“Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction,” by Jo Walton
February 6, 2009

“We Haven’t Got There Yet,” by Harry Turtledove
March 19, 2009

“Bugs in the Arroyo,” by Steven Gould
April 17, 2009

“TVA Baby,” by Terry Bisson
April 28, 2009

“Last Son of Tomorrow,” by Greg van Eekhout
May 15th, 2009

“The City Quiet as Death,” by Steven Utley and Michael Bishop
June 9, 2009

“The House That George Built,” by Harry Turtledove
June 23, 2009

“The Nostalgist,” by Daniel H. Wilson
July 28th, 2009

“Silver Linings,” by Tim Pratt
September 15, 2009

“The Star and the Rockets,” by Harry Turtledove
November 17, 2009

“The Horrid Glory of Its Wings,” by Elizabeth Bear
December 8, 2009

“Farewell Performance,” by Nick Mamatas
December 31, 2009

Graphic Stories:

“Great Uncle George’s Will,” by Andi Watson
January 9, 2009

“Yes We Will,” by Dan Goldman
January 19, 2009

“Montmartre à Trois,” by Wesley Allsbrook
February 20, 2009

“Black Strings,” by Ray Fawkes
May 6, 2009

“The Dreaded Question,” by Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon
June 4, 2009

“Happy Birthday, Michael Mitchell,” by Joanna Estep
June 17, 2009

“My Grandmother’s House,” by Cassandra Diaz
November 10, 2009

“The Tempest Wakens,” Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon
December 16, 2009

Editor, Short Form:

Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Professional Artists:

James Bennett
(“The House That George Built”)

Rick Berry
(“TVA Baby”)

Tim Bower
(“Farewell Performance”)

Chris Buzelli
(“The Star and the Rockets”)

Benjamin Carre
(“Zeppelin City”)

Jon Foster
(“The City Quiet As Death”)

Gary Kelley
(“Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction”)

Kekai Kotaki
(“The Ruined Queen of Harvest World”)

Ross MacDonald
(“Last Son of Tomorrow”)

David Malki
(“The Strange Case of Mr. Salad Monday”)

Gregory Manchess
(“A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon”)

Pascal Milelli
(“First Flight”)

Goni Montes
(“The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles”)

John Jude Palencar
(“The Horrid Glory of Its Wings”)

Jillian Tamaki
(“We Haven’t Got There Yet”)

Thom Tenery
(“Silver Linings”)

Jonathan Twingley
(“Errata”)

Sam Weber
(“Eros, Philia, Agape”; “The Nostalgist”; “A Memory of Wind”)

Carl Wiens
(“Overtime”)

Mark Zug
(“Bugs in the Arroyo”)

As part of its original sequential art offerings, each month Tor.com will be bringing you a new A Softer World strip, by the inimitable Joey Comeau and Emily Horne.

There are years worth of classic strips here, but these are ours. For a look at the previous A Softer World run on Tor.com, please go here.

Copyright © 2010 by Emily Horne and Joey Comeau

"Nation Shudders At Large Block Of Uninterrupted Text", The Onion, 3/9/2010.

Then again…

Well, some of it, anyway. There are some more plastic containers to the left of the picture edge which contain more books, and then up in my office there are another 20 or so boxes to shuttle down to the basement from the office, which I will do after lunchtime today, which incidentally I will be spending at Lowe’s, picking out paint for the walls. And then this evening Krissy and I will be breaking down the shelves and the desk and the loveseat, and pulling the art off the walls. So by the time we go to bed tonight my office will be almost totally bare.

What I really think when I see all these boxes is how the hell did I fit all this crap into my office in the first place? The topmost box there is at head height; there are a whole bunch of boxes you’re not seeing seeing here; I still have more stuff to bring down to the basement. My office is not that big. There may be some violations of physical laws here.

One thing which will be true is that much of the stuff that was in my office will not be making the return trip when the office is finished. The vast majority of the books will stay in the basement, not just for storage but also because we’re planning to make a more formal library there (someday…). The office furniture is going entirely; I’ve made the executive decision to graduate from particleboard shelving to something slightly more elegant, and I’ve also realized that having two massive wings on my desk just gives me an excuse to pile lots of crap on them, and I really shouldn’t give myself that excuse.

Beyond this, in a general sense I’ll be looking at everything and asking what it really adds to the feng shui. The fact of the matter is — and I know this will sound weird considering all the pictures you’ve seen of my office — at this point in time too much clutter starts being distracting for me when I write, and I am (alas) all too easily distractable. In one sense it would be lovely to have my office be a desk, a computer, a chair and then not a whole lot else. I don’t think I’ll actually make it that spartan in the end — I’m not that spartan a dude — but my office will be sporting a “less is more” philosophy moving forward. So, lots of stuff in the basement, on a more or less permanent basis. Well, that’s what basements are for.

Gene Buckley quoted this sentence from James R. Glenn, "The Sound Recordings of John P. Harrington: A Report on Their Disposition and State of Preservation", Anthropological Linguistics 33(4): 357-366, 1991:

[NAA] also anticipates that, once data editing is complete, information about both the Harrington sound recordings and photographs will be available on INTERNET, to which the Smithsonian recently subscribed.

Gene noted that the use of INTERNET with no article is an interesting relic of 1991 usage, and observed that for him, ARPANET never made the transition to usage with "the" (or, apparently, to lower case).

I remarked idly that "on INTERNET" is like "on Facebook", "on Google", or "on Language Log", and that when some elderly politician talks about looking something up "on the Google", you know that he doesn't quite Get It.

Geoff Pullum observed that

So Google, Language Log, and cyberspace are like Amsterdam and Vanuatu, while the Internet is like the Hague and the Solomon Islands.  As I put it back in 2007 "Language Log is strong".

Now, my default hypothesis is that this is a genuinely arbitrary syntactic distinction. There's no explanation; the functionalists who (doubtless) will run around in circles trying to find a subtle semantic link between all strong proper names, and a subtle distinction between them and weak proper names, will be wasting their time.  "The Internet" is a weak proper name, so the definite article is obligatory.  End of story.

The question is whether anyone can propose anything to be said about this topic that can enliven my (admittedly rather dull) description and give it some semantic rationale or explanatory oomph.  I am betting (though only a modest amount) that the answer is no.

Comments are nevertheless open.

[Further LL discussion can be found here, here, and here. And here.]

[And even if the distinction is an arbitrary one, there may be something to be learned by documenting the process by which recent words changed category, as internet apparently did.]

I don't normally run corporate press releases on my blog, or carry advertising — except insofar as the blog promotes my own writing. There's always a first time, though, and so here it is: Cubicle 7 Entertainment to publish roleplaying... Charlie Stross http://www.antipope.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=1&id=2

If the template cuts this off, just click on it:

NASA's venerable Mars rover Spirit is starting a second career as an explorer of the Martian core--but first it must survive the deadly Martian winter.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory amazed onlookers last week when it flew past a sundog and destroyed it. Must-see videos of the event captured shock waves from the rocket billowing through the sundog, eliciting cries of delight and amazement from the crowd below.

Imagine holding the entire sun in the palm of your hand. Now you can. A new iPhone app developed by NASA-supported programmers delivers a live global view of the sun directly to your cell phone.

Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) surge through thunderstorms at about the same altitude where commercial airliners fly. Do these blasts of gamma-radiation pose a hazard to air travelers?

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), slated for liftoff on Feb. 9th, will make IMAX-quality movies of solar explosions, peer beneath the stellar surface to see the sun's inner dynamo, and--researchers hope--unravel the mysteries of solar variability.

Rudy Rucker's "webzine of astonishing tales" includes work by Adam Callaway, Paul Di Filippo, Robert Guffey, Philip Harris, Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz, Kek, Richard A. Lupoff, Mari Mitchell, Jessy Randall, Alex Roston, Danny Rubin, and Christopher B. Shay...

[Editor’s note: I don’t hear from Gabriel Hunt frequently — maybe once or twice a year, and always for just a few minutes at a time. He always sounds like he’s out of breath when he calls, and I can usually hear sounds of shouting in the background, usually in a language I don't speak. But one day earlier this year, when I got into the office, I found a letter waiting for me in my mailbox. An old-fashioned blue-and-white airmail envelope with postage from New Zealand; and inside, a two-page, handwritten missive from the man himself. I pass it along to you unedited. — CHARLES ARDAI]

Dear Charles -

Apologies for the long silence! I didn’t mean to worry you. Thank you for the advance copies of CRADLE OF FEAR, which just made it to me here. You did a nice job with that one, and Orbik’s cover is spectacular. (Next time, though, could he make my jaw just a bit smaller? I don’t look quite that much like Bruce Campbell, do I?) 

You asked where I’ve been. Always a difficult question to answer, but this time more even that usual. You see, I’ve spent the last little while in Antarctica. Yes: Antarctica.  Yes, it was cold. And windy as hell. What was I doing there, you ask. Well.

[Read on...]

Have you ever heard of Dr. Lawrence Silver? Don’t feel bad if you haven’t; I hadn’t either. But Michael had. (Michael has heard of every academic there is. When we were kids, he used to memorize the publication orders in Nature and Science the way some kids teach themselves baseball statistics.) Anyway: Dr. Silver. Apparently one of the leading climatologists of the last fifty years, with a specialty in ice formations and their impact on global climate change. Which explains what he was doing conducting research at the South Pole. What it doesn’t explain is how and why he went missing. This was a careful man, and careful men don’t just radio in cryptic messages and then vanish out on the ice.

But this one did, according to his daughter, Velda, who came to the Foundation’s offices looking for help. Michael didn't want me to go with her, but Charles...you would have gone, too. Well, maybe not you. You’re like Michael, you catch a cold just stepping outside your office. But what did he expect me to do? A woman tells me about an expedition to the South Pole to find and rescue her missing father...what was I supposed to tell her? No? You go find him yourself, honey — pack warm? Not a chance.  

She brought a copy of his last transmission, for heaven’s sake. She played it for us in Michael's office. And the man claimed to have found trees. Trees! In Antarctica! Where nothing grows, Charles — nothing. And Dr. Silver was not the sort to just make things up. Now, he might have been hallucinating — that was Michael's theory. But...I had to find out.

And I did find out.

And I have to tell you...trees in Antarctica were the least of what we found. 

I got Rue Aparecido to come with me — you remember her, right? Brazilian, I introduced the two of you at that party downtown. She kept hitting on you till she found out you were married (and maybe after; she generally doesn't let little things like that stop her). She’d been on the ice before, and she can pilot anything that’s got the power of locomotion. If it’s got wings, she can fly it; if it’s got wheels she can drive it. And Millie — you haven’t met him, full name’s Maximillian Ventrose, Jr., but it’s ‘Millie’ to his friends, and if you’d ever seen him you’d know you very much want to be his friend rather than his enemy. Let’s just put it this way: each of his fists is roughly the size of Rue’s head. Good man to have around when you’re going into an unknown area. (But Gabriel, you’re wondering: What is there to punch down at the South Pole? Penguins? It’s a fair question. But I had a feeling we might run into something a bit more dangerous than penguins. And we did. Good lord, did we ever.)

I wish I could tell you more, Charles — but right now I have to run. I’ve already stayed here a bit longer than I should have and there are some men coming who don't exactly have my best interests at heart. I’ve booked transport on a freighter leaving Onehunga in an hour and I’d better get over there before they show up. But I’ll post this now and you’ll be getting a full manuscript in the mail in a few days from Christa Faust — she was kind enough to fly down here and spend a few days listening to the whole story. She’s written it up in book form and given it the title HUNT BEYOND THE FROZEN FIRE — a bit lurid, I admit, but I trust Christa, she knows what readers want. We were both wondering if you might arrange to have it published, in the same line as CRADLE OF FEAR and WELL OF ETERNITY, etc. (I just realized: all the titles are a bit lurid. How does that happen? My travels may not be quite as dry and uneventful as Michael’s lecture tours, but it’s not like I spend all my time being chased through torchlit caverns and dodging swords. Yes, some  of the time. But who doesn’t?)

Anyway: do read HUNT BEYOND THE FROZEN FIRE and let me know what you think. I swear, Charles, every word of it is true.  Though I’m afraid that Christa may have gotten a bit carried away on page 149. 

Off I go,

Gabriel

[Editor’s note: HUNT BEYOND THE FROZEN FIRE will be in bookstores on March 30. You can judge for yourself whether you believe every word of it is true. I admit I’m skeptical. But I’ve been wrong before.]

A world-renowned traveler, explorer, and finder of lost artifacts, GABRIEL HUNT is co-chairman (with his brother, Michael) of the New York-based Hunt Foundation, backers of numerous scientific and research expeditions across the globe. He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books and has been nominated twice for the Peaburg Prize for photography.

CHARLES ARDAI is the Edgar and Shamus Award winning author of novels such as Fifty-To-One, Little Girl Lost, and Songs of Innocence as well as founder and editor of Hard Case Crime and its companion series, The Adventures of Gabriel Hunt. In a previous life, he created the Internet service Juno.

Actress Nan Martin (1927-2010) was known for playing strong women and mothers, including Freddy Krueger's, and Counselor Deanna Troi's almost-mother-in-law...

There is no shortage of online communities for science fiction fans, but the folks behind MyOuterSpace.com think that the star power of Captain Kirk can make them stand out from the crowd. Perhaps it will, but it's a crowded field and I know that I'm not interested in "friending" William Shatner. I don't know how many people will be siphoned away from such sites as Facebook or MySpace, but I'm sure some will be. Starting an online community takes a lot of work, but technical know-how is not the biggest barrier to entry. With network-building sites like Ning, you can very quickly create a social network of your own centred on any topic like the International Space Art Network did. The internet is allowing all sorts of fan communities to thrive and we are seeing some fascinating social experiments, such as this attempt to  create a fan-funded science fiction film.  

Pyr SF is five years old, and giving away birthday gifts, including their complete catalog and a trip to Dragon*Con, with their "Pyr and Dragons Adventure 5th Anniversary Contest"...

Baen Books newest contest has two parts. First, honor your favorite Baen author, novel, or character with a limerick. Then guess who the limericks refer to...