Books

Women Win Literary Prizes

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

I gather that the Canadian writer, Alice Munro, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I’m not very familiar with her work, but several of the people I follow on Twitter are very excited about this, and she is only the 13th woman to win the prize in the 114 years of its existence. So, yay Alice, and well done people in Stockholm.

Meanwhile, across the water in Helsinki, the Finnish Literature Society has awarded their annual Aleksis Kivi Fund to Leena Krohn. This is only worth around £12,500, as compared to the £770,000 that Munro is apparently getting from the Nobel folks, but it certainly isn’t to be sniffed at, especially as the award is going to someone who very obviously writes “that weird stuff”.

Krohn’s work is something that I am familiar with. What’s more, I actually have her latest translated work in the bookstore. Datura: award-winning literature, and SF. Check it out.

Women in SF&F: The Cycle of Negative Feedback

~ Cheryl ~ 23 Comments

A few weeks ago some of my lady writer friends were having a grumble on social media about how, when Waterstones does a promotion for SF&F, the books they pick are almost exclusively by men. Now it so happens that the manager of my local Waterstones is a good friend, and a big SF&F reader, so I went in and had a chat. She asked me to provide a list of good SF&F by women that I recommend she stock, and also promised to pass the question up the command chain.

Somewhat to my surprise, we got a reply from the SF&F buyer at Waterstones HQ. Mainly it was the usual corporate platitudes about how they only consider “how good it is and whether I think it will sell”, carefully leaving aside the possibility that “it is by a woman” and “I think it will sell” might have very little overlap. However, the note did add that some really great SF by women was coming in October, including Ancilary Justice by Ann Leckie which, at least in my corner of the Internet, is by far the most talked about SF book of the year.

Well, that book has now been out for a week or so, and I have been into the shop twice since then. Can I find it on the shelves? No, I cannot. Of course it may be selling like hot cakes, but I rather suspect that Waterstones corporate figured it would not sell well enough to send copies to a small store in a country town. For comparison I checked the Bristol branch today. They had two copies. They had a big display table, which did contain some books by women (I was pleased to see Freda Warrington and Mary Gentle there), but Ancillary Justice was not included. Clearly the idea that it might be a big seller is not getting through to the stores.

For further comparison, I poked my nose into Foyles. They had no copies at all. I know the manager so I asked him about it. He’d never heard of the book. I showed him some of the chat about it on Twitter and he ordered a couple of copies. Sadly you can’t expect every bookstore manager to be an SF&F expert, but whoever does fulfill that role at Foyles obviously doesn’t think that Ancillary Justice will sell.

So here’s what I think happens. The editors at the big publishers are probably nervous about buying SF&F by women (unless they can pass it off as YA or “Dark Fantasy”) because they know how hard they’ll have to fight for such books within the company. If the books do get bought, the publicity department will be reluctant to allocate funds to them, because they think that SF&F by women doesn’t sell. When the sales staff visit the bookstore buyers, they don’t waste time pushing the SF&F books by women, because they think that they won’t sell. The note we got back from Waterstones said that in September only 6 of the 81 new SF&F titles offered to them were by women, which was fairly typical.

If the publishers do push SF&F books by women, the store buyers will be reluctant to take them, because they have sales figures that prove that SF&F by women doesn’t sell, and if they do take them then they are reluctant to send those books to any except the biggest stores. Consequently it is really hard to find SF&F by women on the shelves, and because of that such books don’t sell. Well gee, I wonder what that might be?

As far as I can see, there’s only one way out of that mess. That is that we, as consumers, need to go into branches of Waterstones and order SF&F books by women. Because there’s no way that they’ll be offered to us, no matter how much we big them up online. Unless we actively change those sales figures, the same cycle of negative feedback will perpetuate itself.

You might start by ordering a copy of Ancillary Justice. I’ve not read I yet, but it is on the pile and in the meantime smart folks like N.K. Jemisin, Genevieve Valentine and John Scalzi have been enthusing over it.

Today on Ujima: Historical Novels, Equality Act, Women of Color

~ Cheryl

It was another busy day for me in the Ujima studio. Paulette is still on vacation and I had to host 1.5 hours of the show. Many thanks to my colleagues who ran the other half hour to give me a break.

From the bookish point of view, the most interesting session is the first half hour in which I talk to Lucienne Boyce about two panels on historical fiction that she has organized for the Bristol Festival of Literature. These feature Romans and maritime history (including pirates!). You can learn more about them here. We also talked more generally about historical fiction, and I managed to get in mentions for Nalo Hopkinson, Mary Robinette Kowal and David Anthony Durham.

That was followed by a session on the UK’s Equality Act, which managed to be quite topical as an attempt by a Christian couple to claim that they have a right to discriminate against gay people was all over the news today. The last 10 minutes or so of that was given over to discussion of how badly the Act works for trans people. I was not in the least surprised the the current government is busily conspiring with business leaders to remove all of the provisions in the Act that are useful in court, so as to make it seem like the legislation is still in place, but render it toothless.

The whole of that first hour is available on Listen Again here.

I took a break for the third half hour, at least in part because I needed to talk to my final two guests because I didn’t have much idea of what we were going to say. Thankfully Lynn and Sandra proved really good interviewees, having lots of interesting material and a very positive attitude. Basically they were talking about an event later this month that will showcase the craft, entertainment and business talents of women of color in Bristol, and provide training and inspiration for young girls. It sounds awesome. I’m going, and I’m hoping to meet some people who will be good guests on future shows. Also I managed to sneak in a name check for the awesome Laverne Cox and her idea of being a Possibility Model.

The second half of the show is available on Listen Again here.

Routes to Diversity – Back This

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

So, you want more diverse SF&F; in particular YA SF&F? Well then, go here and back the latest project out of Twelfth Planet Press. Kaleidoscope will be an anthology of diverse YA fantasy, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios. They already have promises of stories from Sofia Samatar, Ken Liu, Vylar Kaftan, and Jim Hines, and they will be paying 5c/word. It should be good. Backing is via an Australian crowdfunding site called Pozible. Like Kickstarter, they don’t charge you unless the project fully funds. Not that I’m expecting any difficulty here. Indeed, I’m looking forward to them announcing stretch goals. Because you are all going to back it, right?

New Finnish Fiction from Cheeky Frawg

~ Cheryl

The fabulous VanderMeers have sent me the latest Cheeky Frawg book: Datura, by Leena Krohn (translated by Anna Volmari and Juha Tupasela). Here’s what the blurb says:

Our narrator works as an editor and writer for a magazine specializing in bringing oddities to light, a job that sends her exploring through a city that becomes by degrees ever less familiar. From a sunrise of automated cars working in silent precision to a possible vampire, she discovers that reality may not be as logical as you think ­and that people are both odder and more ordinary as they might seem. Especially if you’re eating datura seeds. Especially when the legendary Voynich Manuscript is involved. Where will it all end? Pushed by the mysterious owner of the magazine, our narrator may wind up somewhere very strange indeed.

Jeff and Ann go on to describe Krohn as “one of the most respected Finnish writers of her generation” but really she should be one the the most respected writers of her generation in any country. I am so pleased to have one of her books available in English.

And while I am here, don’t forget the fabulous bargain of the Michael Cisco omnibus. To give you a taster, The Divinity Student is being serialized on Weird Fiction Review. Check out what they have online already, and then come back and buy all four books at a knock-down price.

Book Slam in Bristol

~ Cheryl

A bit of catch-up from last week here. On Thursday evening I went into Bristol for a Book Slam event, hosted by my friend Nikesh Shukla. He read a short story all about trying to write a second novel which was very funny. You really should check out his novella, The Time Machine. Look, unsolicited recommendation:

The second reader was Bernardine Evaristo, whose latest novel, Mr. Loverman, is about a gay West Indian man living in London. I’ve seen a review that complains that the characters are caricatures, but it was obvious from listening to Evaristo read that the book is satire, and very funny too. I bought a copy on the strength of hearing her read it.

Finally we had Emylia Hall reading from A Heart Bent Out Of Shape. She was clearly a good writer, but I’m afraid my life is too busy to read romance novels that can’t even manage a sparkly vampire to liven things up. Sorry.

New From Masque

~ Cheryl

Prime’s ebook imprint, Masque Books, continues to turn out interesting titles. I’ve blogged before about Ascension, which is science fiction with a black lesbian main character. The latest two releases both have interesting authors. Every In Between is by Erzebet YellowBoy, who has native American ancestry, which Crowflight has a Native American main character, and is by an author whose bio (see here) suggests non-binary identification. And of course as ebooks they are nice and cheap. I do try to make this diversity stuff easy for you.

Kristell Ink Revisit

~ Cheryl

One of the interesting things about retail is that there are seasonal patterns to it. I’m not entirely sure why, given the whole beach reading thing, but sales in the bookstore are always low in August. Now it so happens that one of the things I did in August was add a whole new UK small press to the store, and as I suspect that not many people were paying attention back then I’d like to give them another boost. So, hello again Kristell Ink, and welcome to the store.

Part of the reason for promoting them, of course, is that they published my friend Jo Hall’s book, The Art of Forgetting: Rider, which is reviewed here. I like the book, and I’m delighted to see Jo having taken a few risks with it by introducing QUILTBAG characters. Unfortunately, writers doing this doesn’t help much if no one buys the books. Publishers will just say, “oh, that stuff doesn’t sell”, and stop buying it. So I want lots of you to buy Jo’s book, OK?

New Author: Lochlan Bloom

~ Cheryl

Every so often I get a request from an author to stock their books. I think the last one was Aliette de Bodard, whom I trust needed no introduction. The latest author to join the store is Lochlan Bloom. He has a stand-alone novelette called Trade available. It is apparently about what happens when social media takes over the sex trade. Who knows, he could be the next big thing. And the story is only 99p, so why not give him a try?

Get Distances

~ Cheryl

The latest issue of the brilliant SF Crossing the Gulf podcast features “Single Bit Error” by Ken Liu, and “Distances” by Vandana Singh. Karen and Karen rave enthusiastically about how much they enjoyed Singh’s novella, and it so happens that it is available in the bookstore.

So have listen to this:

And then buy the book. (Or maybe the other way around, you’ll enjoy the podcast even more if you do.)

New From Galley Beggar: The Time Machine

~ Cheryl

OK, this novella isn’t actually about a time machine. Well, not a real one anyway. I quote from the blurb:

It tells of Ashok’s attempts to cook food like mum used to make. If he succeeds, his time machine will have worked and he’ll be transported back to a time when the family home was alive with the sounds of cricket, the smell of food and the presence of his mother. The story is a tender, funny ode to home-cooked Gujarati cooking (‘not tandoori or balti, are you rogan joshing me?’), peppered with family recipes and outdated wisdom from over-bearing aunties. It may well make you want to cry. It will definitely make you hungry.

It has Gujarati home cooking recipes. It is only £1. And of that 25p goes to the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. Just buy it, OK?

Mind Meld: Mount To-Be-Read

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

I am in an SF Signal Mind Meld today. It is all about the To Be Read pile, which in my case is less of a mountain and more of a small planetoid. If you want to know what I, and many other fine people, are trying to find the time to read, go here.

By the way, I’ve just started the Michelle Tea book, Mermaid in Chelsea Creek, and it is amazing. I can see I will be enthusing to Liz Hand and Amanda Palmer about it.

Airship Shape: The ToC

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

While I have been busy doing radio, Jo and Roz have been doing publicity for Airship Shaped & Bristol Fashion. The Table of Contents is now available and is listed below.

You will note that there is a story of mine in there. There is also one of Jo’s. We have a team, and no one gets their story in without it being vetted by the others. Also, as the publisher, I wanted to know what it was like being edited by Jo and Roz. I was very pleased with the experience (which means they made my story a lot better).

With any steampunk book the one thing that worries you is how people approach the realities of the Nineteenth Century. I’m pleased to see that many of the writers tried to tackle the issues of race, class and gender discrimination. How well they succeeded will be up to individual readers to decide.

Meanwhile, we need to get on with the actual production process if we are going to have anything available in October.

Table of Contents

Less Than Men

Case of the Vapours, by Ken Shinn
Brassworth, by Christine Morgan
The Lesser Men Have No Language, by Deborah Walker
Brass and Bone, by Joanne Hall

Lost Souls

The Girl with Red Hair, by Myfanwy Rodman
Artifice Perdu, by Peter Sutton
Miss Butler and the Handlander Process, by John Hawkes-Reed
Something in the Water, by Cheryl Morgan
The Chronicles of Montague and Dalton: The Hunt for Alleyway Agnes, by Scott Lewis

Travelling Light

The Sound of Gyroscopes, by Jonathan L. Howard
Flight of Daedalus, by Piotr Å wietlik
The Traveller’s Apprentice, by Ian Millsted
Lord Craddock: Ascension, by Stephen Blake
The Lanterns of Death Affair, by Andy Bigwood

New From Prime

~ Cheryl

My good friend Sean Wallace (congratulations on the Hugo again, Team Clarkesworld) has been very busy, and I’m delighted to see that he has added Steve Berman to his stable of anthology editors. I have a whole heap of new books for you:

There are some great writers in the anthologies. Click through to see the tables of contents.

Today On Ujima

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

On today’s Women’s Outlook show I spent the first half hour talking to Sarah Ash, author of some fine fantasy novels. In addition to being a novelist, Sarah is also an enthusiastic anime fan, and the second half of the interview is spent mainly enthusing over that. I have learned, from her, that there will be a Blu Ray edition of Cowboy Bebop out next year. I’m starting saving up now.

In the second half hour I talked to Claire Judd of Harvey’s Cellars, a fabulous eating an entertainment venue in Bristol based in the old cellars of the Harvey’s Sherry company, which in turn are the old cellars of a 13th Century Augustinian Monastery. According to Claire they have a space that would be idea for author readings, or perhaps a book launch. I am now pondering the possibility of launching a fantasy novel in 13th Century cellars. Oh, and the restaurant specializes in Creole tapas. 🙂

Along the way we also talked about the fabulous Bristol Blue Glass, from which Harvey’s sherry bottles are made. And I learned that the cellars have an art gallery. This gave me the opportunity to utter the phrase “steampunk furries” on air. Check out Julian Quaye to learn more.

All of this is available in the first hour of the show, which you’ll be able to find here for the next few weeks.

The second hour begins with a look at the daft things people leave behind on public transport (a parrot, really?). After 15 minutes we have Sarah back as our Woman of the Week, in which we talk mainly about music and the dire state of British education policy. And the final half hour is Paulette talking about the need to get people from ethnic minorities to give blood. That features the city’s Lord Mayor, Faruk Choudhury.

The second hour is available for listening here.

Around the World in 80 Stories

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

Here is a delightfully mad project.

A German publisher called Erik Schreiber is looking to put together an anthology of 80 SF stories from writers in 80 different countries. The book will take two forms.

1. A paper version with all of the stories translated into German, which Erik will sell through his publishing company, Saphir im Stahl.

2. An ebook edition of the stories in their original languages, which authors will receive as their payment.

I suspect that there may be some technical difficulties with part 2, if only because having an ebook that mixes Latin alphabets with Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Russian could be a nightmare. I’ll continue talking to Erik about that. I’m also still checking on the exact contract details. But it does seem an entertaining prospect if people have a story that they are prepared to donate.

Translation is the other issue. Erik apparently already has the resources to translate from English, French and Spanish. If people from countries that don’t use those languages are able to submit in one of them (probably English, I guess) that might help. But equally there are many competent German translators out there (hello Monique!).

For further information, and a list of the authors already signed up, see the project’s website. I note that Erik is cheating slightly in allowing the Republic of California as a separate country, but it used to be one, albeit briefly, and I’m totally on board with that. Maybe Emma Newman can donate a story for Kernow.

If you want to talk to Erik, he does have some English, but I recommend that you talk to my pal Dirk Weger whom I met at Finncon this year and whose English is superb. I’d be happy to put potential authors in touch. And if you have questions, please ask them in comments. Dirk and I will do our best to answer them.

Frawgs Do Cisco

~ Cheryl

The good folks at Cheeky Frawg have some amazing new books for you this month. They have release not one, not two, not even three, but four novels by the fabulous fantasist, Michael Cisco. These are ebook releases of his well-known work, all neatly packaged up with new, matching covers. Squee!

Even better than that, the books are available from Wizard’s Tower at a discount rate over a certain better known store, and if you buy all four at once you save even more. Thank you, Ann & Jeff, for making these books available, and for allowing me to give people such a great bargain.

The books in question are:

And you can buy all four together as the Michael Cisco Omnibus (£15.99).

We See A Different Frontier

~ Cheryl

I have been busy uploading books to the store today. I’ll be announcing them over the next couple of days, but I wanted to start with a very special anthology. We See A Different Frontier contains stories on themes of colonialism and cultural imperialism. It is edited by Brazilian writer, Fabio Fernandes, and The Future Fire’s Djibril al-Ayad. There’s a preface by Aliette de Bodard, and an afterword by Ekaterina Sedia. And the authors include Lavie Tidhar, Sandra McDonald, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz and Sofia Samatar. It is only £3. Give it a try.