Assorted news and announcements

George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois announced on Monday another of their well-received themed anthologies.  Unlike Dangerous Women and the forthcoming Rogues, their next anthology, the tentatively-titled Epode, will be devoted to modern epic poetry.  Writers mentioned as possibilities include China Miéville, Steven Erikson, R. Scott Bakker, Martin, Patricia McKillip, Toby Barlow, and Terry Goodkind.

Quirk Books has announced their latest mash-up and this one promises to be their strangest and most disturbing one yet.  Titled The 120 Days of Sodom Decision Points, it is a merging of the Marquis de Sade's infamous book and former US President George W. Bush's memoirs.  Below is a sample:

I awoke the next morning with a mean hangover. As I left for my daily jog, I couldn't remember much of the night before.  About halfway through the run, my head started to clear. The crosscurrents in my life came into focus. For months I had been praying that God would show me how to better reflect His will. My Scripture readings had clarified the nature of temptation and the reality that the love of earthly pleasures could replace the love of God. My problem was not only drinking; it was selfishness. The booze was leading me to put myself ahead of others, especially my family.  I then met Julie.  Julie was tall, well made although quite fat and fleshy, had the most lovely brown eyes in the world, a charming nose, striking and gracious features, the most beautiful chestnut brown hair, a fair body of the most appetizing fullness, an ass which might easily have served as a model to the one Praxiteles sculpted, her cunt was hot, strait, and yielded as agreeable a sensation as such a locale ever may; her legs were handsome, her feet charming, but she had the worst-decked mouth, the foulest teeth, and was by habit so dirty in every other part of her body, and principally at the two temples of lubricity, that no other being, let me repeat it, no other being but the Président, himself subject to the same shortcomings and unquestionably fond of them, nay, no one else, despite her allurements, could have put up with Julie.  Dick Cheney, however, was mad about her; his most divine pleasures were gathered upon that stinking mouth, to kiss it plunged him into delirium, and as for her natural uncleanliness, far from rebuking her for it, to the contrary he encouraged her in it, and had finally got her accustomed to a perfect divorce from water.  To these faults Julie added a few others, but they were surely less disagreeable:  she was a vast eater, she had a leaning toward drunkenness, little virtue, and I believe that had she dared try it, whoredom would have held little by way of terror for her.

Julie gained little by gaining the Président, whose prick, as we know, was exceedingly thick and, furthermore, however much she was dirty from neglect of herself, she could not in any wise keep up with a filthiness in debauch such as the one that distinguished the Président.  Five years later, I can barely write those words without feeling disgusted.  I told Laura at the time that it was the worst moment of my presidency. I feel the same way today.

Finally, Axl Rose announced today a follow-up to his too-long-awaited 2008 G'n'R album, Chinese Democracy.  Called Squirrelocracy, it is believed that tracks date all the way back to the 20th century.  Dr. Pepper immediately announced a promotion in which it would give out a free 12 oz. Dr. Pepper if Rose actually managed to release the album before the Rise of the Squirrels or whenever democracy comes to America, whichever comes first.

Received an interesting protest letter in my inbox yesterday

Just returned home from work to discover that there was an email sent to me by someone associated with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).  I thought perhaps at first it was a mass emailing, trying to raise money.  Certainly the header, "Stop the cruelty!", could have supported this view.  I usually just trash these sorts of emails without reading them, but for some perverse reason I decided to read the email.  Here is what I found:

"Dear Larry,

I am writing to you today to protest your inhumane treatment of squirrels.  A reader of your blog brought to my attention this article you wrote back in September 2013, in which you gleefully narrate the suffering that you inflicted on this most precious squirrel.  In addition, it seems that you frequently make reference to your squirrels' rabidness as if this were a condition to be exalted rather than a preventable illness.  If you do not immediately refrain from forcing squirrels to do your bidding (and your reading!), then we shall have no other recourse than to organize a mass boycott of your blog and to report you to the appropriate authorities for investigation of animal cruelty."

Interesting.  Perhaps I should cease and desist, as they ask?  Or should the squirrel legions be unleashed upon them?

Some interesting news from around the blogosphere

The successor site to the defunct WoT fansite, wotmania, Read and Find Out, recently announced plans to change its name to "Read It And Found Out" once the fourteenth and final volume of the WoT series is released in January 2013.  According to webmaster Nebhead:

"For the past three years, we have kept alive wotmania's tradition of honoring Robert Jordan and his acclaimed Wheel of Time series, even going so far as to adopt as our website name his favorite RAFO quip to fans eager to know what ultimately happens to Bela.  But after January 2013, we all will have read it [A Memory of Light] and have found out not  just what happened to Bela, but also the fate of that chicken farmer who was introduced in the sixth volume, Lord of Chaos, but who quickly disappeared from the story.  It will be exciting times for our readers, who now will have the ultimate ammunition against those wrong-headed people who argued that LTT was three levels of power stronger than Demandred, rather than the 1.5 levels hinted at in the 2010 Q&A with Brandon Sanderson, where he slipped up and had to quickly cover his tracks with a hrmm...and a cryptic reference to Maria's notes..."

Controversial SF writer John C. Wright recently announced on his LiveJournal that he plans on attending the annual WisCon convention during the Memorial Day weekend in late May.  In typical Wright fashion, he devoted over 5,000 words to outlining the topic of his speech, tentatively titled "Radical Feminism in The Hunger Games," replete with citations from Mr. Rogers, James Joyce, Joyce Meyer, Rush Limbaugh, and Vladimir Putin, most of which were tangents from tangents that ultimately circled back around to Wright's puzzlement over why women do not necessarily want to be domestic goddesses.

Inspired by the years-running bets between Pat's Fantasy Hotlist and George R.R. Martin on the Super Bowl and whether or not the loser had to include the winner's name in an upcoming novel or review three novels chosen by the winner, Rob Bedford of SFF World and Rob's Blog O' Stuff and Caine's Law writer Matt Stover have a similar bet, except they are betting on the winner of the The Rock/John Cena main event at tonight's Wrestlemania 28 in Miami, FL.  Rob, when questioned who he picked, took his right hand and waved it in front of his face a few times before resuming his breakfast of champions, Fruity Pebbles.

Encouraged by the positive response he and other bloggers participating in the ongoing Scott Lynch re-reading/commentary threads on their blogs, blogger Bryce Dayton announced on Twitter earlier this weekend that he would be changing his blog's name from My Awful Reviews to My Somewhat Decent Reviews.  He also said that after the Lynch project was complete, that he would be busy with the sequel, organizing a group review effort of Marcel Proust.

The fallout from the Christopher Priest criticism of the Clarke Awards is still ongoing.  Last report had him and some of the Clarke Award judges arranging a series of ad hoc panel discussions for next week's EasterCon convention in the UK.  There would be a symposium on the pros and cons of internet puppies, a debate entitled "Is Sherri Tepper's In Rising Waters Truly a SF Novel?:  Yay or Neigh?," and a physics demonstration to see if the science behind Greg Bear's Hull Zero Three can be applied to internet rhetoric.

Highly respected athletes and knowledgeable climate control experts Jose Canseco and The Iron Sheik announced that they would be doing a tribute to the "late, great" Al Gore next week.  Canseco promised a follow-up to his critically acclaimed Twitter instructional series on climate change, while The Iron Sheik outlined a plan on how to make both Canseco and Gore humble "the old country way."


Stephanie Meyer announced last week on her site that she was going to write a sequel to her Twilight series where Edward and Bella's children would be fourth graders at a Washington state public school.  There may actually be two sequel books, as leaked titles include "Tales of a Fourth-Grade Vampire Nothing" and "SuperVamp."  No word yet if Edward is still in high school.

Even though "The New iPad" is already a huge seller for Apple, this has not stopped the company from developing the fourth generation of iPad tablets.  During the recent investigation of the Foxconn plants in China, an investigator turned up a mysterious set of images that seem to be linked to this rumored iPad "4."  The image may not be very clear, but it does seem to hint at a new marketing direction for Apple:

New projects, new foci

A week or two ago, I informed readers that I completed a translation of Argentine author Leopoldo Lugones' "El escuerzo" for May publication in the ODD? e-book anthology that Ann and Jeff VanderMeer are editing.  At the time, I believe I hinted that there would be future projects, with some already in the pipe.  However, I didn't feel comfortable discussing all of these projects without consulting with some of the principals involved and seeing if they would be OK with me breaking news of some exciting projects.  Now that I have their approval, it's past time to reveal certain projects that will be of interest to readers here.

The first project is a continuation of the three-pronged guitar review attack that I, Paul Smith, and Jeff VanderMeer have been doing since October 2010.  While we will be covering Eric Basso's work later this spring, a few things came up with Jeff's trip to Europe for half of April, so we agreed that we would do a short, "easy" read by a recent New York Times-bestselling author.  Jeff and Paul in particular seem to be excited by this change of pace, but I'll be more cautious in doling out praise, even despite the glowing review I read here.

There will be more translations this summer.  One of the stories I'm tentatively scheduled to translate is La Gran Alianza, by one of this country's most renowned and respected authors.  Another possibility is translating the Chilean classic, La rabiosa de las ardillas serbias, which has been a huge underground cult classic for the past several decades.

Others also, I learn, are doing their own projects.  In the wake of Paul Smith announcing his intention to focus on "weird fiction," a number of other bloggers, including those at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, Floor to Ceiling Books, A Dribble of Ink, and The Speculative Scotsman, have been contemplating on Twitter starting up a multi-reviewer group blog, similar to the SFF Masterworks blog, that would cover the backlist of the Marquis de Sade, Lautréamont, Mirbeau, Huysmans, and the Immortal One.  From what I've gathered from their tweets, there will be copious giveaways, exclusive excerpts, advance cover art images posted, a de Sade-themed ARC release party, and a seance involving one of Richard Gere's gerbils and a vole.

Hopefully, some or all of these projects, whether they be brought to fruition or not in the near future, will be of interest to readers.  Which one(s) appeal to you the most and why?

Random News and a Personal Announcement

I've been busy working on a few final details of matters, so this post is going up a little later than I had planned, so please bear with me as I talk a bit about things I've been working on and things that I've gathered from talking with authors and others in related fields the past few days.

As I believe some of you may have gleaned from comments here and there over the past couple of months, I am planning on leaving public school teaching, at least on a full-time basis, at the end of my contract in late May. However, I was a little coy in saying what I planned on doing, as it depended upon a few things that I couldn't quite control. My recent health scare with my liver postponed the announcement of my plans until now. My condition shouldn't keep me from doing vigorous activity, plus I am desirous of increased socialization. I've been lifting weights and I am conscious that I can win in professional competitions.

But instead of boring you with description, let me show you what I've been training to, via link.

I'm not the only one, however, who's been busy working with SF-related matters. Below are a few things that I've seen on the web in recent days:

• Inspired by the anti-George R.R. Martin blog, Finish the Book, George, a group of disgruntled fans of Harlan Ellison, who has failed to complete The Last Dangerous Visions for over 35 years now, have started a copycat site called (of course), Finish the Anthology, Harlan. Reportedly, Ellison has been collecting rotting skunk corpses to be sent to the malefactors' addresses, once those are discovered.

• Exhausted by all the 16-18 hour days he's put into trying to complete The Wheel of Time, Brandon Sanderson has announced on his blog that he's now going to take a 6-12 month break to finish a series that he believes will make him much more money than the pittance he's receiving to finish Robert Jordan's series. Link here, with Amazon pre-order page here.

• Just over a year ago, author Felix Gilman blogged about a near-fatal encounter with a hamster packing heat. He just recently announced on his blog that he was so inspired by what occurred, that his third novel, due out in 2010, will be the first of several novels devoted to a new literary movement he's starting that shall be called Hamsterpunk. Below is a mock-up of the first book's, Hamster Calling, cover art:

• Jeff VanderMeer has been busy announcing several new projects for 2010. First up is a sequel to his upcoming Booklife book coming out in September, I believe. Then there may be plans to write a fictional documentary transcript of his experiences grooming penguins. Finally, he's been rather coy about this on his site, but I've learned from hints dropped via email that he's landed the high-profile position of ghostwriter for the Immortal One. Yes, Jeff has landed the plum role of writing the tie-in novelization for this all-time classic:

More news later, as I learn more on this and other developments.