For a couple of years now Kate Bernheimer, in addition to all of the other wonderful editing and writing she does, has been working on Fairy Tale Review, which she founded and now helms. Contributors have included Donna Tartt, Marina Warner, Rikki Ducornet, Stacey Levine, and many more. It’s a elegant production and always thought-provoking. I have to admit that I go through phases where I get tired of folklore and re-told folktales, but each issue of The Fairy Tale Review has been near perfect, and I read each one from cover to cover.

Very impressed with Valley of Day-Glo.

Excerpt:
Absurdist fictions tread a fine line. If they try too hard to present three-dimensional characters, they lose the pacing and quickness needed to pull off such a difficult task. If they, on the other hand, make too much fun of their characters or present characters that are too flat, the absurdity isn’t grounded in anything real. As important, good absurdism must be self-deprecating in a sense and must treat every human institution with similar suspicion. Finally, a great absurdist novel relies on fresh, uncliched images and should be, at times, biting rather than comfortable.

I loved all three of these books, as should be clear from the feature. Swamps, caves, and shorelines–how the heck can you go wrong?! I’m adding all three to my rec list on the right.

Excerpt:
But, for me at least, there’s another pleasure that comes from reading Walking the Wrack Line, and it’s selfishly personal. I’m one of those readers who also likes mucking about in tidal pools and searching the beach for seaweed, driftwood, and exotic creatures washed up far from home. On that level, Hurd’s book also has great appeal. Because nothing in Walking the Wrack Line seems false; instead, it’s as if someone had had the same experience, and knew the best way to get it down in prose.

Other than listing someone other than Ann VanderMeer as the fiction editor, a great review by Sam Taimano of the 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales at the SF Revue. “Creature” is, as noted, an exceptional first published story.

Excerpt:
The fiction begin with a beautiful, lyric tale from Tanith Lee, “The Heart of Ice”. Nirsen is thrown out of his town, falsely accused of rape. He awakens to find himself out on the cold and snow but finds his way to the palace of the Ice Maiden. He spends the winter there and emerges deeply changed. Next we have the first published story by Ramsey Shehadeh, “Creature”. An amorphous beast with psychic powers approaches a town. He encounters a poor, little girl who is looking for her mother. There are those that would harm the girl and he becomes her protector. Shehadeh has written a touching, very compassionate story and I will be looking forward to more from him.

I’m over John Twelve Hawks, unless he personally comes to my house and reveals his identity. For every day he doesn’t, I’m down-grading him:

July 2-12:
John Eleven Turkeys
John Ten Rheas
John Nine Guinea Fowl
John Eight Geese
John Seven Vultures
John Six Kiwis
John Five Finches
John Four Mockingbirds
John Three Seagulls
John Two Pigeons
John One Sparrow

And more detail on the graphic novels:

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Ursula Pflug reviews The New Weirdon IRofSF. Nice, eccentric, and nuanced review. Lots of other cool content, too. You have to sign up to get a login and password.

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Here’s my interview with Jack O’Connell on Amazon. A pretty comprehensive interview, with detailed intel on his magnificent rustbelt imaginary city. Please spread this far and wide if you’re an O’Connell fan.

Excerpt:
Basically, and over time, Quinsigamond became my supreme noir machine, the eternally dark and unknowable American metropolis. A nefarious, urban, capitalist hive where cycles of mystery, violence, manipulation, degradation, fear, loathing and meaninglessness play out repeatedly. Quinsigamond is the enormous, shadowy, chaotic, violent city that you have seen in so many films: It is Alphaville. It is Chinatown. It is Gotham City, Sin City, the Naked City. It is the Asphalt Jungle, the Nightmare Alley, the Shock Corridor and the Street of No Return.

The latest Clarkesworld is up, and it includes my interview with John Grant (Paul Barnett) on his book Corrupted Science. I think it might just be one of my favorite interviews yet.

This issue also includes fiction by Margaret Ronald and Sergey Gerasimov, an article on Vintage paperbacks by Lisa Morton, and an editorial on the current debate over sexism in the field by Clarkesworld’s publisher, Neil Clarke, called “Cavemen Discovered in 21st Century“. (You can comment on any of these pieces, btw.) There’s also audio fiction narrated by Cat Rambo.

Talk about weird juxtapositions…

Also, just FYI–after this week the books received feature will become a once-a-week Friday event, recapping everything received during the week. Just for the summer while I’m working on the novel.

Finally, make Matt Staggs’ day and go visit his site, where he’s talking about storytelling the age of the internet. He’s close to a new record for visitors.

Check out my latest interview, this time with first-time novelist David J. Williams.