Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.8
I only have a few more pictures left before hitting a long wall of silence on this feature. I don’t buy books terribly often, just in large quantities, and I don’t expect to add many more books to my library in the next few months. This volume involves some books I discovered a week or so ago at Books-a-Million, some stuff I bought for an independent study I’m working on, some things I won, and some things I discovered at the Friends of the Library book sale (the second one I’ve gone to, though I didn’t buy as much this time). So, here’s the picture:And the books are, from left to right, top to bottom (descriptions taken from Amazon.com and Wyrm Publishing): 1. Tides of the New Worlds by Tobias S. Buckell (signed limited edition; independent study) Caribbean born novelist Tobias Buckell established himself as a gifted new voice in science fiction with his stunning first novel Crystal Rain. Now, in his first collection, Buckell demonstrates his strengths in the short form, offering readers a collection of stories that are compelling, smart, wonderfully imagined, and entertaining. Tides from the New Worlds contains 19 stories that range from multicultural science fiction to magical realism, some in print for the first time. Table of Contents: * Fish Merchant * Anakoinosis * Aerophilia * In The Heart of Kalikuata * The Shackles of Freedom (with Mike Resnick) * Shoah Sry (with Ilsa Bick) * Her * In Orbite Medievali * Four Eyes * Trinkets * Spurn Babylon * Death’s Dreadlocks * Smooth Talking * Tides * Something In The Rock * A Green Thumb * All Her Children Fought * Necahual * Toy Planes 2. Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Buckell (signed first edition; independent study) Welcome to Chilo, a planet with corrosive rain, crushing pressure, and deadly heat. Fortunately, fourteen-year-old Timas lives in one of the domed cities that float 100,000 feet above the surface, circling near the edge of a monstrous perpetual storm. Above the acidic clouds the temperature and pressure are normal. But to make a living, Timas like many other young men, is lowered to the surface in an armored suit to scavenge what he can. Timas’s life is turned upside down when a strange man crash lands on the city. The newcomer is fleeing an alien intelligence intent on invading the planet and discovering the secret hidden deep inside the perpetual storm—a secret that could lead to interplanetary war. As the invaded cities fall silent one by one, Chilo’s citizens must race against time to stop the enemy. And Timas will find out what kind of man he has become in the harsh conditions of Chilo’s surface. 3. Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell (signed first edition; independent study) The Benevolent Satrapy rule an empire of forty-eight worlds, linked by thousands of wormholes strung throughout the galaxy. Human beings, while technically “free,” mostly skulk around the fringes of the Satrapy, struggling to get by. The secretive alien Satraps tightly restrict the technological development of the species under their control. Entire worlds have been placed under interdiction, cut off from the rest of the universe. Descended from the islanders of lost Earth, the Ragamuffins are pirates and smugglers, plying the lonely spaceways around a dead wormhole. For years, the Satraps have tolerated the Raga, but no longer. Now they have embarked on a campaign of extermination, determined to wipe out the unruly humans once and for all. But one runaway woman may complicate their plans. Combat enabled, Nashara is more machine than flesh, and she carries inside her a doomsday weapon that could reduce the entire galaxy to chaos. A hunted fugitive, she just wants to get home before she’s forced to destroy civilization—and herself. 4. Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckell (signed first edition; independent study) Long ago, so the stories say, the old-fathers came to Nanagada through a worm’s hole in the sky. Looking for a new world to call their own, they brought with them a rich mélange of cultures, religions, and dialects from a far-off planet called Earth. Mighty were the old-fathers, with the power to shape the world to their liking—but that was many generations ago, and what was once known has long been lost. Steamboats and gas-filled blimps now traverse the planet, where people once looked up to see great silver cities in the sky. Like his world, John deBrun has forgotten more than he remembers. Twenty-seven years ago, he washed up onto the shore of Nanagada with no memory of his past. Although he has made a new life for himself among the peaceful islanders, his soul remains haunted by unanswered questions about his own identity. These mysteries take on new urgency when the fearsome Azteca storm over the Wicked High Mountains in search of fresh blood and hearts to feed their cruel, inhuman gods. Nanagada’s only hope lies in a mythical artifact, the Ma Wi Jung, said to be hidden somewhere in the frozen north. And only John deBrun knows the device’s secrets, even if he can’t remember why or how! Crystal Rain is the much-anticipated debut novel by one of science fiction’s newest and most promising talents. 5. Canal Dreams by Iain Banks (book sale) By the author of “The Wasp Factory” and “Walking on Glass”, this book is set in Japan and on the Panama Canal. It concerns a world famous Japanese cellist, who refuses to fly, and as a result finds herself involved in the ominous realm of global “realpolitik”.|Hisako Onoda, world famous cellist, refuses to fly. And so she travels to Europe as a passenger on a tanker bound through the Panama Canal. But Panama is a country whose politics are as volatile as the local freedom fighters. When Hisako’s ship is captured, it is not long before the atmosphere is as flammable as an oxy-acetylene torch, and the tension as sharp as the spike on her cello. CANAL DREAMS is a novel of deceptive simplicity and
Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.7
Well, another edition of the stuff I bought for myself. You’re all so very interested in this, aren’t you? A little narcissism never hurt anybody. I actually purchased these books during a huge sale that Night Shade Books was having about a month or so back, and I actually got lucky with one of the books below. Apparently they ran out of paperbacks, which were the cheapest, and so the fine folks at Night Shade sent me the hardcover instead. How’s that for service? But enough about that. Below are the books (after the fold): And the books are, from left to right, top to bottom (take from Amazon.com and Night Shade):1. Dark Mondays by Kage Baker (signed limited edition) Kage Baker, celebrated creator of the Company novels and the standout collection Mother Aegypt now brings together pirates, primates, eldritch horrors, maritime ghosts, and much more in Dark Mondays. This captivating new collection of fantastic short fiction is sure to cement her reputation as one of the most original storytellers working in the fantasy and speculative fiction genres today. Dark Mondays features five never-before-published stories, including the forty-one-thousand word pirate novel, “The Maid on the Shore,” which chronicles the lesser known aspects of Captain Henry Morgan’s infamous sacking of Panama City. 2. Mother Aegypt and Other Stories by Kage baker A brand new short story collection from Kage Baker, including an original novella set in her ongoing series of The Company, “Mother Aegypt.” The Company novels are being released by Tor, and include The Graveyard Game and The Life of the World to Come. 3. A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire by Glen Cook Before there was Black Company, there was the Dread Empire, an omnibus collection the first three Dread Empire novels: A Shadow of All Night’s Falling, October’s Baby and All Darkness Met. 4. A Fortress in Shadow: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire by Glen Cook Once a mighty kingdom reigned, but now all is chaos. In the vast reaches of the desert, a young heretic escapes certain death and embarks on a mission of madness and glory. He is El Murid – the Disciple – who vows to bring order, prosperity, and righteousness to the desert people of Hammad al Nakir. After four long centuries, El Murid is the savior who is destined to build a new empire from the blood his enemies. But all is not as it seems, and the sinister forces pulling the strings of empire come into the light. Who and what lies behind El Murid’s vision of a desert empire? 5. Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon – these are our guides through the Wastelands… From the Book of Revelations to The Road Warrior; from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today’s most renowned authors of speculative fiction, including George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King, Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon. 6. Eclipse Three edited by Jonathan Strahan To observe an eclipse is to witness a rare and unusual event. Under darkened skies the sun becomes a negative image of itself, its corona transforming the landscape into a strange space where anything might happen, and any story may be true… In the spirit of classic science fiction anthologies such as Universe, Orbit, and Starlight, master anthologist Jonathan Strahan (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year) presents the non-themed genre anthology Eclipse: New Science Fiction and Fantasy. Here you will find stories where strange and wonderful things happen – where reality is eclipsed by something magical and new. 7. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi In this Time Magazine top 10 book of the year, Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen’s Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko. Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism’s genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of The Calorie Man; (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and Yellow Card Man (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions. This title has been nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. This title was also on the best book lists of the year for Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. 8. Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher Ian Cormac’s Early Years! Raised to adulthood during the end of the war between the human Polity and a vicious alien race, the Prador, Ian Cormac, is haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he doesn’t remember. Cormac signs up with Earth Central Security and is sent out to help restore and maintain order on worlds devastated by the war. There he discovers that though
Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.6
The funny thing about the Haul of Books feature is that now that I’ve almost caught up on all the things I bought for myself, I have another three pictures I just took to add to the list. Part of that is because I’m taking an independent study over the summer of Caribbean literature; my focus, if you hadn’t guessed already, is Caribbean SF (I’m taking “science fiction” very loosely). But enough of that. Let’s get down to business. Some time ago I went to Books-a-Million with a friend and discovered a treasure trove of awesome deals on awesome books. One of the books below isn’t part of that discovery, though. In fact, the last book on the list just randomly appeared at my mother’s house one day. I have no idea how it got there or who sent it to her. My mother forwarded it to me some months back thinking I had lent it to her, except I hadn’t, and she hadn’t bought it either. The mystery book! Anywho, here are the books:And here are the descriptions, from left to right, top to bottom (taken from Amazon): 1. The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod It’s after 9/11. After the bombing. After the Iraq war. After 7/7. After the Iran war. After the nukes. After the flu. After the Straits. After Rosyth. In a world just down the road from our own, on-line bloggers vie with old-line political operatives and new-style police to determine just where reality lies. James Travis is a British patriot and a French spy. On the day the Big One hits, Travis and his daughter must strive to make sense of the nuclear bombing of Scotland and the political repercussions of a series of terrorist attacks. With the information war in full swing, the only truth they have is what they’re able to see with their own eyes. They know that everything else is–or may be–a lie. 2. Mainspring by Jay Lake Jay Lake’s first trade novel is an astounding creation. Lake has envisioned a clockwork solar system, where the planets move in a vast system of gears around the lamp of the Sun. It is a universe where the hand of the Creator is visible to anyone who simply looks up into the sky, and sees the track of the heavens, the wheels of the Moon, and the great Equatorial gears of the Earth itself. Mainspring is the story of a young clockmaker’s apprentice, who is visited by the Archangel Gabriel. He is told that he must take the Key Perilous and rewind the Mainspring of the Earth. It is running down, and disaster will ensue if it’s not rewound. From innocence and ignorance to power and self-knowledge, the young man will make the long and perilous journey to the South Polar Axis, to fulfill the commandment of his God. 3. Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers Janis Cordelia Plumtree has killed the King of the West–or at least one of the personalities in her head has killed him, and the other personalities are resolved to restore the king to life. But first Plumtree must escape from a mental hospital with ally Sid Cochran, a winemaker who believes that his wife was killed by Dionysus, the Greek god of madness and wine. Their quest for redemption and vengeance leads them to San Francisco, where they find themselves in the midst of a supernatural battle among several magicians-who-would-be-king, and finally to a tumultuous face-to-face confrontation with the god on the cliffs below the Golden Gate Bridge. 4. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill Imogene is young, beautiful . . . and dead, waiting in the Rosebud Theater one afternoon in 1945. . . . Francis was human once, but now he’s an eight-foot-tall locust, and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing. . . . John is locked in a basement stained with the blood of half a dozen murdered children, and an antique telephone, long since disconnected, rings at night with calls from the dead. . . . Nolan knows but can never tell what really happened in the summer of ’77, when his idiot savant younger brother built a vast cardboard fort with secret doors leading into other worlds. . . . The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past. . . . 5. The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahl Elana, newly graduated from the Federation Anthropological Service Academy, is sent immediately into danger on the planet Toris-a world poised on the brink of nuclear war. She is ordered to merely observe, and must not reveal her alien origin or interfere with the planet’s natural course of evolution. But how can she stand by and watch? Her fellow agent, Randil, is not properly trained to work in the field, and his compassion for the Torisians may lead him to intervene. Yet his very actions may bring about the holocaust that he is so desperately trying to prevent. Elana must make a crucial decision: side with a renegade agent, or stop him at any cost. . . . 6. N-Space by Larry Niven Arthur C. Clarke was once asked to name his favorite writer. His answer was “Larry Niven.” Countless others agree. The Baltimore Sun and Kirkus Reviews have both dubbed Niven “the premier writer of hard SF,” and Gregory Benford has hailed him as “the paradigm of SF personality of the last several decades.” Now Larry Niven presents us with his undisputed masterwork. N-Space contains, very simply, the best SF of his career–marvelous fiction, a wealth of anecdotes and gossip, plus Niven’s own special brand of wit and excitement. N-Space includes: *Excerpts from some of Niven’s most loved novels, including The World of Ptavvs, a Gift from Earth, Ringworld, and The Mote in God’s Eye *His bets short fiction, including “Bordered in Black,” “The Fourth Profession,” “Madness Has Its Place,” and many others *Quips like the ever growing list of “Niven’s Laws” *Notes from Niven describing his inspirations
Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.5
Time for yet another edition of the Haul of Books, featuring stuff I bought for myself, because I like myself and feel like doing nice things for me. This is also part two of the books I picked up at the University of Florida’s book sale thing, the first half of which can be found here. There’s definitely some interesting stuff in this pile. Here goes (more after the “read more,” assuming Blogger decides to work correctly):Now that you’ve seen that beautiful picture, which isn’t fuzzy in the slightest, I’ll tell you what they’re all about, from left to right, top to bottom: 1. The Revenge of the Shadow King by Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis Max Sumner and his three best friends, Harley, Ernie, and Natalia–who form the secret club The Grey Griffins–seem to be the only people in their very normal Minnesota town to notice that strange things have started to happen. When creatures like goblins and fairies and unicorns, all characters from a card game the Grey Griffins play, begin to make appearances in Max’s backyard, Max and his friends know something is terribly wrong. And it’s up to them to stop the wicked creatures of the cards from destroying their town-indeed, their world. 2. Alien Encounters: The Secrete Behind the UFO Phenomenon by Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman Alien Encounters is the result of years of research into the history of UFO sightings, reports of alien abductions, and the struggle between Good and Evil. It confronts the issues head-on and offers answers to many of the most pertinent questions confronting mankind. Questions such as:–Are UFOs real?–Are aliens real?–Are they hostile or friendly?–Why do reports of alien abduction always seem to include experiments being performed on the human reproductive system?–Are angels involved?–Why about demons?–Is there a cosmic destiny for planet Earth unfolding before our very eyes? The answers to these questions and their implications are even more shocking than the events themselves. Behind the hype, the hoaxes, and the government disinformation lies a reality so astonishing that the original publisher was too shocked to follow through with this book. However, the reality remains: your personal destiny and that of your family may depend upon how you deal with the strange events that may soon take place. Are you prepared for an encounter? If these things are real, it will lead to the biggest challenge ever faced by mankind. There is increasing evidence that what lies behind these strange events will shortly affect every living person on this planet. 3. Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan In the tradition of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot, Cirque Du Freak is the frightening saga of a young boy whose visit to a mysterious freak show leads him on a journey into a dark world of vampires. Filled with grotesque creatures, murderous vampires, and a petrifying ending, Cirque Du Freak will chill, thrill, and leave readers begging for more. 4. Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop The national bestselling Black Jewels trilogy established award-winning Anne Bishop as an author whose “sublime skill…blends the darkly macabre with spine-tingling emotional intensity, mesmerizing magic, lush sensuality, and exciting action.”* Now the saga continues-with four all-new adventures of Jaenelle and her kindred. 5. Hatching Magic by Ann Downer You never know when magic will hatch…. Poor Theodora Oglethorpe! Her biologist father has gone off to explore the jungles of Laos without her, her best friends are away on vacation, and a long, hot, lonely Boston summer is all she has to look forward to. Poor Gideon! Wycca, his pet wyvern, has disappeared through a magic hole in time in search of a place to lay her egg. Kobold, Gideon’s wizard rival, wants nothing more than to get his hands on Wycca. In a desperate attempt to rescue Wycca from Kobold’s evil clutches, Gideon follows her through the magic hole?and finds himself transported from thirteenth-century England to the terrifyingly modern world of Boston, Massachusetts, in the twenty-first century. Soon Theodora’s involved with a chocoholic baby wyvern, a mysterious wyvern playing card, a couple of desperate wizards — and the summer vacation of her life! 6. The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop William has just received the best present of his life. It’s an old, real-looking stone and wooden model of a castle, with a drawbridge, moat, and a finger-high knight to guard the gates. It’s the mysterious castle his housekeeper has told him about, and even though William is sad she’s leaving, now the castle is his! William can’t wait to play with it–he’s certain there’s something magical about the castle. And sure enough, when he picks up the tiny silver knight, it comes alive in his hand! Sir Simon tells William a mighty story of wild sorcery, wizards, and magic. And suddenly William is off on a fantastic quest to another land and another time–where a fiery dragon and an evil wizard are waiting to do battle . . . . 7. Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis A postmodern Mary Shelley, taking the parable of Frankenstein’s monster several giant steps farther, might have written this fable of a novel about a tragic race of monster dogs–in this case, genetically and biomechanically engineered dogs (of several major breeds). Created by a German mad scientist in the 19th century, the monster dogs possess human intelligence, speak human language, have prosthetic humanlike hands and walk upright on hind legs. The dogs’ descendants arrive in New York City in the year 2008, still acting like Victorian-era aristocrats. Most important, the monster dogs suffer humanlike frailties and, ultimately, real suffering more serious and affecting than the subject matter might at first glance suggest. 8. Orion Shall Rise by Poul Anderson Years after Earth is devastated by nuclear weapons, the survivors of a floating solar station above Europe assist the emergence of a low-tech civilization, until a treacherous faction seizes control of the station. And there we go. So, anything sound interesting to
Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.4
Not too long ago the University of Florida had a little book sale in their used book store thing in Library East. It’s hard to pass up book sales if you’re like me. I should take a picture of my apartment one day so you all can see what it looks like. For the last few weeks there have been books all over my floor, piling up on top of shelves, and residing just about everywhere I can find a place to put them without tripping over them in the dark. So, here is part one of my grab bag journey, with a few other things tossed in because they fit into the picture (image should appear after the fold, but for some reason Blogger is being a pill about that):And, as usual, here are the descriptions, from left to right, top to bottom: 1. Genre Fusion: A New Discourse Practice by Marleen S. Barr (ARC; called Genre Fission in print) What do Amsterdam prostitutes, NASA astronauts, cross-dressing texts, and Star Trek characters have in common? Only Marleen Barr knows for sure. In Genre Fission, the award-winning author revitalizes literary and cultural theory by proposing an entirely new discourse practice of examining the points where genres and attendant meanings first converge, then reemerge as something new. Part literary analysis, part cultural studies, part feminist critique flavored with a smattering of science fiction and utopian studies, it is witty and eccentric, entertaining and enlightening. Barr expands postmodern assumptions about cultural studies by suggesting that “genre fission” is occurring among discrete literary and cultural “types” of events–mainstream novels, science fiction, historical narratives, film, paintings, and museum displays. For her literary insights, Barr turns her attention to such mainstream authors as Saul Bellow, John Updike, Marge Piercy, and John Barth as well as science fiction writers Ursula Le Guin and Octavia Butler and Hispanic American writers Julia Alvarez, Ana Castillo, and Cristina Garca, among others. Barr moves from literary to culture studies by addressing such phenomena from contemporary mass culture as the urban landscapes of New York and Los Angeles, Jackie Kennedy, the Star Trek industry, Lynn Redgrave, Amsterdam’s red light district, Lorena Bobbitt, and the Apollo astronauts–to provide only a few of the relevant examples. Thus Genre Fission attains what Barr herself designates (in describing the art of Judy Chicago and Lee Bontecou) as “utopian interweavings of difference,” crossing numerous boundaries in order to frame a larger territory for exploration. 2. PMLA, Volume 125, Number 1, January 2010 (subscribed; publication by the Modern Language Association) There’s actually a lot of stuff in this issue, with sections dedicated to Textual Materialism, Museum Studies, Visual/Literary Cultures, and other things. There are some great resources in this for English majors (mostly relevant to those at my level, though). 3. The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness by Reinhold Niebuhr All I know is that it is about Democracy, but since it has no description on the back and nothing online, that is only a guess. It looked interesting, though. 4. The Apartheid Regime: Political Power and Racial Domination edited by Robert M. Price and Carl G. Rosberg Should be self-explanatory. I can’t find a description for this one either, unfortunately. I’ve been very interested in Apartheid in the past, primarily because one of my focuses is “the Other” and it’s representation in science fiction. This is an old book, but it should be useful anyway. 5. The Myth Makers: European and Latin American Writers by V. S. Prichett Essays on the personalities and works–and how they reflect each other–of Boris Pasternak, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Goncharov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Alexander Pushkin, August Strindberg, Franz Kafka, Jean Genet, Emile Zola, George Sand, Gustave Flaubert, Stendhal, Eca de Queiroz, Benito Perez Galdos, Machado de Assis, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Jorge Luis Borges. 6. The Literary Use of the Psychoanalytic Process by Meredith Anne Skura (I’m on a Freud/Lacan kick lately) No description again, unfortunately. But, I don’t think the title is unclear on what this book is about. It might be of use to me while I continue working on my thesis, in which Freud and Lacan are making an appearance. The funny part about that is that only a few years ago I was not at all interested in these two and had planned on avoiding them like the plague. Look at me now… 7. Historicism (the New Critical Idiom series) by Paul Hamilton Historicism is the essential introduction to the field, providing its readers with the necessary knowledge, background and vocabulary to apply it in their own studies. Paul Hamilton’s compact and comprehensive guide:–Explains the theory and basics of historicism–Presents a history of the term and its uses–Introduces the reader to the key thinkers in the field, from ancient Greece to modern times–Considers historicism in contemporary debates and its relevance to other modes of criticism, such as feminism and post-colonialism–Contains an extensive bibliography of further reading Well, there you go. Anything sound of interest to you? Have you bought anything recently? Let me know in the comments!
Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.3
Another edition of the Haul of Books has arrived, featuring stuff I bought or received for myself! This particular edition is magazine-heavy, since I bought a whole bunch of magazines and what not some time back and have since received a few special copies of magazines in the last month or so. A lot of the stuff below might be unfamiliar to a lot of you, and that’s really unfortunate. GUD and Tales of the Unanticipated really are top notch venues that haven’t received nearly as much attention as they should. That’s enough from me. Here’s the image, followed by the descriptions:The descriptions are, from left to right, top to bottom (taken from Amazon or publisher websites): 1. Tales of the Unanticipated, Number 30 signed by Jason Sanford (won) Includes fiction by Eleanor Arnason, Stephen Dedman, Martha A. Hood, Patricia S. Bowne, Patricia Russo, William Mingin, Jason Sanford, Catherine Lundoff, Patricia Russo, Cornelius Fortune, Douglas J. Lane, T. J. Berg, Barbara Rosen, Terry Faust, Kurt Kirchmeier, Matthew S. Rotundo, and Sarah Totton; poetry by F. J. Bergmann, Ann K. Schwader, Ruth Berman, P M F Johnson, Ann Peters and Ellen Kuhfeld, Alexis Vergalla, G. O. Clark, KC Wilder, Zoë Gabriel, and Sandra Kasturi. Featuring the Art of Jules Hart. 2. Tales of the Unanticipated, Number 21: Ghosts and Machines Issue Our “Ghosts and Machines” issue, including fiction by Eleanor Arnason, Stephen Dedman, Martha A. Hood, Judy Klass, R. Neube, Fred Schepartz, Sandra Rector & P.M.F. Johnson, Manfred Gabriel, Naomi Kritzer, Kelly David McCullough, Robert H. Beer, Douglas M. Stokes, Steven E. Burt, and William Laughlin; and poetry by John Calvin Rezmerski and Ruth Berman. 3. Crossed Genres, Issue 12: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Issue – 10 diverse stories of queer characters– “Heinlein’s Friday: A Trans Novel?” by Cheryl Morgan– “Why Gay Sci Fi and Fantasy Is Important” by Lee Wind– Interview with author & outlaw Kate Bornstein– Astounding cover art by Julie Dillon– 7 pieces of creative art & comics by Megan Rose Gedris, David Willis, Michelle Gruben and Katoo Deziel 4. Tales of the Unanticipated, Number 18: Myths, Folk Tales, and Legends Issue Spring 1998. “Myths, Folk Tales, and Legends” issue, including Ursula K. Leguin interviewd; fiction by Neil Gaiman, Stephen Dedman, Martha A. Hood, Patricia Russo, Mark W. Tiedemann, Judy Klass, Gerard Daniel Houarner, and Amy Benesch; and poetry by John Calvin Rezmerski. 5. Greatest Common Denominator, Issue 4 (Spring 2009) (subscription) Issue 4 begins with the end of the world and moves on from there. From the unromantically magical take on Ragnarøk in the lead story “Unbound” to the curious history of squid in “A Man of Kiri Maru”, this issue is steeped in mythos, making use of the old familiar tales and some new ones, mixing cosmologies from around the world–and from other worlds as well. But the focus, be it of prose, poetry, or art, is always on the human–on the clashes between imagination and reality, on choices and redemption, on what the Other can tell us about ourselves. And like any GUD magazine, this one’s eclectic; browse around between the covers and you’re sure to come upon some things you’ll like, whether you’re a genre junkie or a generalist. We hope you’ll find some beauty, something uncommon, and that, for just a moment, the angle of the light will seem a little bit different. 6. Greatest Common Denominator, Issue 5 (Winter 2009) (subscription) Issue 5 wraps a scientific core with our most eclectic selection to date—including two mini graphic novels and a script that will have you bubbling over with mirth. We open with Rose Lemberg’s “Imperfect Verse”, a tale of poetry, deception, and warring gods; then span the years to Andrew N. Tisbert’s “Getting Yourself On”, which sees mankind taken to the stars but suffering new forms of wage-slavery. There’s science fiction that stretches to the fantastic, science that once stretched the fantastic and has now become brilliantly pervasive, and dollops of science in otherwise mundane lives (see “The Prettiest Crayon in the Box”). Of course, we’ve got fantasy, psychological horror, humor, and drama; poetry serious, sublime, and satirical; and art that stretches from the real, to the surreal, to the violently semi-abstract. 7. Electric Velocipede, Issue 15 & 16 (Winter 2008) Issue #15/16, our first double issue, 164 pages and almost 100,000 words of content! Featuring an amazing color wraparound cover from T. Davidsohn. There’s also fiction from people like Patrick O’Leary, Patricia Russo, William Shunn, Rachel Swirsky, and more. Lucius Shepard takes our Blindfold Taste Test this issue. The issue debuted at the 2008 World Fantasy Convention in Calgary, Oct 30 – Nov 2, 2008. 8. The Sense of Falling by Ezra Pines This is our first chapbook. Readers of the zine should already be familiar with Ezra Pines, particularly his Mr. Brain stories. Ezra is a curmudgeonly sort, and it shows in his writing. He also has an amazing imagination that can literally stun a reader. The chapbook features 10 previously published stories and two brand-new stories: “Antevellum,” a response to Hal Duncan’s excellent novel, Vellum, and “Of Light and Snow.” 9. Life’s Simple Pleasures by John Klima I don’t have a description for it, but the story inside can be found at Diet Soap. 10. Psychological Methods To Sell Should Be Destroyed Stoires by Robert Freeman Wexler “Psychological Methods To Sell Should Be Destroyed: Stories” by Robert Freeman Wexler. This is our third chapbook. Six stories in all, with a new novellette: “Sidewalk Factory: A Municipal Love Story.” Cover art by Tim Robinson. Introduction from Zoran Živković. 11. Gents by Warwick Collins (won) Ezekiel Murphy takes up a job as an attendant in a London lavatory. The other two attendants explain that they are under pressure from the council to reduce the amount of casual sex that goes on in the cubicles, but in doing so, they risk putting themselves out of a job as turnstile takings fall. 12. Subtropics, Number 2, Spring/Summer 2006 Fiction