This is what I said last month when I was doing a follow-up on the authors I had selected for consideration for the later-cancelled Best American Fantasy 4 anthology:
32. Viet Dinh. He has had several stories published in several leading literary journals/magazines and has been working on a novel that apparently hasn't been published yet.
33. Stephen Marche. Marche's most recent book was How Shakespeare Changed Everything, published in 2011. He has had other novels and stories published in years prior. I have an e-book edition of Shining at the Bottom of the Sea to read in the future.
34. Traci O. Connor. Connor published her debut short fiction collection, Recipes for Endangered Species, in May 2010. May order this shortly.
35. Adam McOmber. He has a blog, plus his debut collection This New & Poisonous Air was published in 2011. His debut novel, The White Forest, which seems to already have comparisons to Erin Morgenstern and Sarah Waters, comes out in September. I see his Amazon page notes the shortlisting for BAF 4, which is very cool. I bought an e-book edition of This New & Poisonous Air to read later.
36. A.C. Wise. Wise also has a blog, which lists her published stories, but no indication there if she's had a story collection published yet.
37. Teresa Milbrodt. I reviewed her debut collection, Bearded Women, back in November 2011.
38. Karen Russell. Russell's Swamplandia! (which I read, mostly enjoyed, but didn't write a formal review) came out in February 2011. She was chosen as one of The New Yorker's "20 Under 40" writers during the summer of 2010.
39. B.R. Smith. Could not locate a blog, but did notice that he's working on a novel, based on the short bio at the end of his "Caregivers," which is the story I chose for consideration.
40. Joe Meno. Meno is an established author, who had two books come out since early 2010. I bought his collection Demon in the Spring and his novel The Great Perhaps came out in 2011.
41. Judith Cooper. Her "Sister Light-of-Love Love Dove" appears in the anthology New Stories from the Midwest. Could not find more information when I searched.
42. Kelly Luce. Luce has a blog that highlights her work. No collections published since early 2010, however, although her 2008 book, Ms. Yamada's Toaster, is available on Amazon.
43. Gilbert Allen. This is the only information I could find on him. It seems to be out of date, as nothing is listed after 2007.
44. Sean McMullen. Interesting, as I seem to have listed an Australian SF writer here, but his site does list his works.
45. Wayne Wightman. Wightman has released several of his short fictions in e-book format over the past year. This link will take you to his Amazon page.
46. Elizabeth Hand. Hand is an established writer who has two novels coming out this year: Available Dark, released last week, and a possibly YA-marketed novel, Radiant Days, coming out in April.
47. M. Rickert. Rickert is an award-winning SF/F short fiction writer, whose latest collection, Holiday, came out in December 2010.
48. Damian Dressick. Dressick has a site and apparently his debut collection, Fables of the Deconstruction, was to be published in late 2011 by Spire Press, but I haven't yet found a link to where I could purchase it, as it is not on Amazon.
49. Anthony Farrington. Could not find a site/blog for him and it seems he has no collections or novels released.
50. Melanie Rae Thon. Thon has had several books published, including a novel (The Voice of the River), which I've purchased as an e-book, and a story collection (In This Light), that came out in 2011.
51. Debbie Urbanski. Could not find information as to whether or not she has had any collections or novels released.
52. James B. Pepe. Could not find information as to whether or not he has had any collections or novels released, although I did see he received an Honorable Mention for Best Horror of the Year, vol. 2.
53. Richard Parks. Parks has had several collections and other short fiction and novels released in both print and e-book formats over the past few years. Here is a link to his Amazon page that highlights this.
54. J.W.M. Morgan. Morgan has a site that lists his publications, but no collections nor novels listed there.
55. Blake Butler. I reviewed Butler's excellent There is No Year back in July 2011.
56. Brad Modlin. Modin is a poet and writer, but no collections seem to have released yet.
57. Adam Peterson. Could not find any definite news as to whether or not he has had a collection or novel released.
58. Micah Rieker. No information on whether or not he has had a collection or novel released, but there is a little bit on Cincinnati Review about his short stories published there, plus his inclusion in an anthology linked to above in Judith Cooper's entry.
59. Laura C.J. Owen. Owen has a site that lists her publications, but no collections or novels.
60. Tabaré Alvarez. I found a short bio sketch that lists Alvarez's publications through 2009, but nothing newer than that.
Hopefully, some of these authors and their works will lead to further explorations by readers here. While I am still sad that BAF had to be discontinued, hopefully this look back at the longlist I developed will underscore the reasons why Ann and Jeff VanderMeer and the original BAF series editor, Matt Cheney, felt it was important to have this anthology series founded in the first place. Even though BAF 4 will not be, the first three volumes are out there for readers to discover other authors (and some of the ones mentioned in these posts of mine also appeared in those volumes) and perhaps new favorites.
It was around 18 months ago that the decision was made to put the Best American Fantasy series on hiatus. I was the new series editor at the time and I had just compiled a list of 66 print (and a couple of online) works (Alan Swirsky I believe handled all but a handful of the online submissions) that I thought were worthy of the guest editor Minister Faust's consideration for the final list of 20-25 titles. Glancing over that list, I found that there were several emerging voices to go with the more established writers and I thought that it might be a good idea to make a post listing these authors and recent publications, in case a few want to check out their works. Order is based on the listing I did in August 2010, which was by order of story read:Now, later than I had planned, here is the second half of "what have they done" post:
32. Viet Dinh. He has had several stories published in several leading literary journals/magazines and has been working on a novel that apparently hasn't been published yet.
33. Stephen Marche. Marche's most recent book was How Shakespeare Changed Everything, published in 2011. He has had other novels and stories published in years prior. I have an e-book edition of Shining at the Bottom of the Sea to read in the future.
34. Traci O. Connor. Connor published her debut short fiction collection, Recipes for Endangered Species, in May 2010. May order this shortly.
35. Adam McOmber. He has a blog, plus his debut collection This New & Poisonous Air was published in 2011. His debut novel, The White Forest, which seems to already have comparisons to Erin Morgenstern and Sarah Waters, comes out in September. I see his Amazon page notes the shortlisting for BAF 4, which is very cool. I bought an e-book edition of This New & Poisonous Air to read later.
36. A.C. Wise. Wise also has a blog, which lists her published stories, but no indication there if she's had a story collection published yet.
37. Teresa Milbrodt. I reviewed her debut collection, Bearded Women, back in November 2011.
38. Karen Russell. Russell's Swamplandia! (which I read, mostly enjoyed, but didn't write a formal review) came out in February 2011. She was chosen as one of The New Yorker's "20 Under 40" writers during the summer of 2010.
39. B.R. Smith. Could not locate a blog, but did notice that he's working on a novel, based on the short bio at the end of his "Caregivers," which is the story I chose for consideration.
40. Joe Meno. Meno is an established author, who had two books come out since early 2010. I bought his collection Demon in the Spring and his novel The Great Perhaps came out in 2011.
41. Judith Cooper. Her "Sister Light-of-Love Love Dove" appears in the anthology New Stories from the Midwest. Could not find more information when I searched.
42. Kelly Luce. Luce has a blog that highlights her work. No collections published since early 2010, however, although her 2008 book, Ms. Yamada's Toaster, is available on Amazon.
43. Gilbert Allen. This is the only information I could find on him. It seems to be out of date, as nothing is listed after 2007.
44. Sean McMullen. Interesting, as I seem to have listed an Australian SF writer here, but his site does list his works.
45. Wayne Wightman. Wightman has released several of his short fictions in e-book format over the past year. This link will take you to his Amazon page.
46. Elizabeth Hand. Hand is an established writer who has two novels coming out this year: Available Dark, released last week, and a possibly YA-marketed novel, Radiant Days, coming out in April.
47. M. Rickert. Rickert is an award-winning SF/F short fiction writer, whose latest collection, Holiday, came out in December 2010.
48. Damian Dressick. Dressick has a site and apparently his debut collection, Fables of the Deconstruction, was to be published in late 2011 by Spire Press, but I haven't yet found a link to where I could purchase it, as it is not on Amazon.
49. Anthony Farrington. Could not find a site/blog for him and it seems he has no collections or novels released.
50. Melanie Rae Thon. Thon has had several books published, including a novel (The Voice of the River), which I've purchased as an e-book, and a story collection (In This Light), that came out in 2011.
51. Debbie Urbanski. Could not find information as to whether or not she has had any collections or novels released.
52. James B. Pepe. Could not find information as to whether or not he has had any collections or novels released, although I did see he received an Honorable Mention for Best Horror of the Year, vol. 2.
53. Richard Parks. Parks has had several collections and other short fiction and novels released in both print and e-book formats over the past few years. Here is a link to his Amazon page that highlights this.
54. J.W.M. Morgan. Morgan has a site that lists his publications, but no collections nor novels listed there.
55. Blake Butler. I reviewed Butler's excellent There is No Year back in July 2011.
56. Brad Modlin. Modin is a poet and writer, but no collections seem to have released yet.
57. Adam Peterson. Could not find any definite news as to whether or not he has had a collection or novel released.
58. Micah Rieker. No information on whether or not he has had a collection or novel released, but there is a little bit on Cincinnati Review about his short stories published there, plus his inclusion in an anthology linked to above in Judith Cooper's entry.
59. Laura C.J. Owen. Owen has a site that lists her publications, but no collections or novels.
60. Tabaré Alvarez. I found a short bio sketch that lists Alvarez's publications through 2009, but nothing newer than that.
Hopefully, some of these authors and their works will lead to further explorations by readers here. While I am still sad that BAF had to be discontinued, hopefully this look back at the longlist I developed will underscore the reasons why Ann and Jeff VanderMeer and the original BAF series editor, Matt Cheney, felt it was important to have this anthology series founded in the first place. Even though BAF 4 will not be, the first three volumes are out there for readers to discover other authors (and some of the ones mentioned in these posts of mine also appeared in those volumes) and perhaps new favorites.
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6 comments:
Spire Press appears to no longer exist (outside of a self-published author's attempt to look legit), so that could explain your trouble finding Dressick's book.
Marche's most recent book was How Shakespeare Changed Everything, published in 2011.
Words cannot express my hatred for this book.
What's horrible about it?
I actually just picked up Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche yesterday at a local book store. Crossing my fingers I'll enjoy it.
Ah, that explains the Dressick then. As for Marche, I haven't read that particular book (I've only read the story I selected for consideration), so that is dismaying to hear that it sparks not just disappointment but hatred.
Rather than expending my vitriol, I'll just leave this fellow's words to stand in for my own:
http://www.dispositio.net/archives/368
(Follow-up here: http://www.dispositio.net/archives/413)
Essentially, it's a piece of anglocentric drivel. Seeing the respect for his fiction, that's actually very disappointing.
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