Bookish

November 26

I had a lovely moment at work today, looking upon the pile of books I get to consider for review, when I thought "This is what I do for a living." I read speculative fiction. And open mail, drive my boss around, carry heavy things, work with Photoshop and Pagemaker, yes-- but I also read speculative fiction. I have a good job.

So, books I have for possible review:

The Children of Cthulhu, a Lovecraft-inspired antho (I hear M'ris groaning now) boasting stories by writers like James Van Pelt, China Miéville, and Caitlín R. Kiernan. I'm looking forward to that-- I think I can expect more than mere pastiche from this table of contents, and the stories are all original to this anthology.

Skating the Edge by d.g.k. goldberg (a good North Carolina writer) and The Fan-Shaped Destiny of William Seabrook by Paul Pipkin. Those are both from iPublish, Warner's e-book and POD line. iPublish, as you may know, is in many ways a deeply evil enterprise-- the contract to which authors must agree (indeed, you agree to it merely by submitting your work) is ludicrously bad. Details are here. But I will say that the iPublish editor, Paul Witcover, seems to be a good guy-- passionate about the work and genuinely of the opinion that he's helping deserving writers get published. Paul isn't out to screw you, though his bosses certainly are. So, while I wouldn't recommend that anyone submit to iPublish, if you do, you may well have a good experience with the editor, even though the contract subjects you to the royal screwjob. Anyway, I expect to enjoy d.g.k.'s book, and have no idea about the other one. It's long, though. I won't be ranting about iPublish if I review their books, of course-- the point is to consider the book, not the circumstances of its publication. So I rant about it here instead.

Dead Roses for a Blue Lady by Nancy Collins. It's a collection of Sonja Blue stories. I liked one-third of the Sonja Blue novels, so, we'll see.

Daughters by Melanie and Steve Tem. I like the writers, so I'm cautiously optimistic, though from a cursory glance this doesn't seem like the kind of novel I'd normally enjoy-- an other-world fantasy where the people have funny names. Still, it's the Tems. I have faith. (This is also an iPublish book... I wonder if the Tems got a better deal than the standard?)

The Dragon Delasangre by Alan F. Troop. A first novel, contemporary fantasy about dragons. We try to cover first novels, so I'm to give it a try. We shall see.

I also bought a few books from work today:

Giants, Monsters & Dragons by Carol Rose. Basically a big encyclopedia of monsters, from the same compiler who did Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns & Goblins, which is a wonderful resource. These books have the best indexes ever. Everything is wonderfully cross-referenced. It's not deep research, but it's a great overview.

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. I hear very conflicting things about this book; now I get to make my own decision. Tra la.

I also got The Other Wind audiobook as a surprise for Heather (I already gave it to her; as an early Xmas present, since she can listen to it on the plane ride to Indiana, or when she works out, or whatever; there seemed sufficient reason to give it to her before Xmas). I got Black House for my Dad (who has no computer and doesn't read this journal-- if by chance you know Dad, don't mention to him that I got him said book, okay?), though I confess I plan to read it before sending it to him. I got a book for my friend Lynne, who I'm 99% sure doesn't read this journal, but in case she does, I shan't mention the title. I doubt I'll have time to read it (see big list of books I have to consider for review, above) before I give it to her...

And, at the moment, I'm still tandem-reading Wild Life and Summer of Night, which are both good and quite different from one another.

So. I should go. I've got some reading to do.

Tim Pratt
P.O. Box 13222
Berkeley, CA 94712-4222