If you haven’t discovered the Culture yet, check out this post at Slashdot by reviewer (and astrophysicist!) Simon DeDeo. For US newbies we can heartily recommend either Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games, both out this month from Orbit.
The News At 10:00 last night carried the sad story that Sir Arthur C. Clarke had passed away, some three months after his 90th birthday.
Although best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke’s work encompassed so much more than just an iconic date. The Fountains of Paradise won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards and his brilliant Rendezvous with Rama went one better by adding the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. The scenes at the opening of Independence Day, of giant spaceships appearing over the Earth’s major cities, is straight out of the majestic Childhood’s End, written over forty years earlier.
His incredible body of work is reason enough to consider ‘greatness’ an entirely appropriate adjective, but Clarke was so much more than simply a science fiction writer. He gave us Clarke’s Three Laws; he served in the RAF during the Second World War, where he was involved in the development of the early warning radar defence system; and in a paper published in Wireless World in October, 1945, he practically invented the telecommunications satellite.
When I heard the news last night, I went upstairs and took my copy of The Collected Short Stories off the bookshelf. I’ve read pretty much everything Clarke’s written over the years – certainly all the solo works – but it has probably been over twenty years since I’ve read any of his short stories. As I looked down the contents page trying to decide where to start, it was like reading a Shakespeare play and seeing all the quotes leap out. An unremitting catalogue of brilliance stared out at me: here was Loophole, there was Rescue Party; The Wall of Darkness, Nemesis, Second Dawn, All the Time in the World, The Lion of Comarre, No Morning After, A Meeting with Medusa, “If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth. . . “, Encounter at Dawn, Expedition to Earth, The Other Side of the Sky, Transit of Earth, The Wind From the Sun, Against the Fall of Night.
Those who know anything about Arthur C. Clarke will have spotted three glaring omissions in the above, and of course, that’s where I started. I re-read The Nine Billion Names of God, then I re-read The Star, and then I re-read The Sentinel. In some cases, the prose style may have dated a little, but the concepts and the execution are as powerful as ever. If you’d asked me as a teenager what reading Arthur C. Clarke felt like, I’d have said ‘having my brain pried open and the universe poured in’. After reading those stories again last night, I’d say my teenage self had it spot on.
We lost one of our Greats yesterday. Farewell, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the world is poorer for your passing.
Pop over to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist for a chance to win a copy of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Last Wish.
The Last Wish introduces The Witcher, one of the best loved heroes of fantasy in Europe, and recently the star of the hit PC video game from Atari. You can check out the trailer for the game here, and some gameplay animation here (rated mature). There’s an enhanced edition of the game set for release this summer. The Witcher is currently PC only, so console players will have to wait (or talk their significant others into a video card upgrade… hmmm.)
Geralt was also the object of some gentle ribbing at Penny Arcade. Having read the book that inspired the game, we can assure you that yes, he is indeed the Witchest.
The Last Wish will be available from Orbit in the US in May.
We’re happy to announce that Brian Ruckley, Charles Stross, Mike Carey and Philip Palmer are going to be at this year’s Alt.Fiction event, taking place at the Assembly Room in Derby on Saturday, April 26th.
If you’re not familiar with Alt.Fiction it’s a fantastic weekend of writers, writing and all things genre. The schedule of events and more information is available here and here. Hope to see you all there!
Over at her livejournal Jo Graham discusses the “Warrior Princess” archetype in fantasy, and explains how she aimed to make Gull – the priestess in Black Ships – distinct from it.
“I think it’s important that our stories talk about the full range of human experience. Throughout human history important and interesting things have been done by people of both genders, playing a variety of gender roles. Our popular fiction chooses to focus on a few. Why not talk about Ruling Queens? About Sacred Whores, as Jacqueline Carey does in Kushiel’s Dart? About the neglected male archetypes of The Priest and The Psychopomp?”
You can read the whole post here.
Black Ships is out now in the US, and is forthcoming in the UK. Click here to read an excerpt.
Your intarwebs would have to be broken for you not to know that the shortlist for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke Award has just been announced. Shortlists are inevitably the source of much discussion and usually some controversy, and this year’s Clarke Award shortlist is no exception. There has been much written already about whether some books have been unjustly omitted and others undeservedly included. We, of course, couldn’t possibly comment. One thing we can comment on, though, is the completely uncontroversial shortlisting of Ken MacLeod‘s excellent The Execution Channel (also shortlisted for this year’s BSFA Award for Best Novel – don’t forget to vote!).
Many congratulations to Ken on The Execution Channel‘s double shortlisting. Ken’s previous book, Learning the World, was in the running for the BSFA, Clarke and Hugo Awards, in 2006. We at Orbit have our collective fingers crossed that he goes one better this year and walks away with a trophy!
Via Charlie Huston‘s excellent website comes news that Charlie has been interviewed in Second Life – or, more correctly, his avatar has been interviewed on the Second Life Cable Network, SLCN.TV. As the man himself says:
“Carlos Suave is a Latin R&B Producer, the owner of a West Hollywood lounge, and a Promoter Extraordinaire, and, if you catch him on the right night, he will admit he knows a guy who can get you a little maryjane, comprende? Also, he writes bloody thrillers and horror novels. Trust us: This ese es loco!”
This will all make sense if you go here and here. Your third destination should probably be your local book shop to pick up a copy of Half the Blood of Brooklyn, published by Orbit in the UK just last month.
Stan Nicholls’ ORCS is one of the most entertaining fantasy books of recent years. The idea is simple: take fantasy’s ultimate bad guys (the orcs); add a teaspoon of compassion, followed by a great big dollop of aggression. Sit back and enjoy the fun. ORCS has already been a huge bestseller, with worldwide sales rapidly approaching a million copies. Orbit will be unleashing them for the first time in the US this September. And do we love this cover? We certainly do.
Just a reminder to all those in the Glasgow area – and all those who have a chance to get to the Glasgow area – the Aye Write! Bank of Scotland Book Festival is on this weekend. Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod will be discussing their latest novels, Matter and The Execution Channel, at The Mitchell Library at 6pm on Sunday, March 9th.
Find out more about the festival and buy your tickets here.
This week, 11 of the Top 20 Fantasy bestsellers in the US are urban fantasy titles, including the Top 3. Most people are aware of the growth of urban fantasy over recent years, but I wonder how many are aware of the degree to which it now dominates the fantasy bestseller lists? This week’s chart shouldn’t be a surprise, either. Looking back over the fantasy bestseller charts of recent years, there’s a clear trend:
2004: 1 urban fantasy title in the Top 20.
2005: 4 urban fantasy titles.
2006: 5 urban fantasy titles.
2007: 7 urban fantasy titles.
Without any doubt, urban fantasy has changed the face of SF and Fantasy publishing in the US over recent years and there’s no sign that it won’t continue to do so.
