The Alchemy of Stone

Author – Ekaterina Sedia

Hardcover
Pages: 304
Publisher: Prime Books
Release Date: November 1st, 2009
ISBN-10: 1607012154
ISBN-13: 978-1607012153

I stumbled into reading Ekaterina Sedia’s The Alchemy of Stone via a twitter conversation between Paul Jessup and Matthew Delman. It wasn’t a conversation about the novel’s themes or its characterizations, nor was it even about the quality; rather, they debated tone and setting. Delman likened the setting to Eastern Europe, akin to medieval Prague or Moscow, but Jessup didn’t see the connection. Having travelled quite extensively through that part of the world (in modern times, not medieval, mind you), I was curious about the distinction, and so took the novel from the (proverbial) pile and jumped into it knowing very little about Sedia or her work.

With the tale behind me now, I’m not surprised that Delman and Jessup’s conversation so heavily leaned on atmosphere. The nameless city in which the novel’s set is as important a character as any of the other characters: human, automaton or otherwise. Through the living stone Gargoyles, Sedia gives the city a voice:

But the nameless city, and its gradual degradation and destruction as two warring factions wage war in its streets, isn’t the ultimate make-it-or-break-it facet of the novel. Rather, that’s Mattie, a mechanical girl, an automaton, as she’s coined in the novel, trying to break free from the shackles that society has placed on her. The reader’s willingness to buy into Mattie will likely determine their attachment to the novel. She’s a well drawn, sympathetic character, much moreso than many of the secondary human characters (the only one who comes close to her level of complexity is Loharri, who’s woefully under-explored), but, in the end… she’s also a mechanical construction with little explanation of how a gunpowder society is able to create a fully sentient, emotional and adaptable A.I. This is doubly hard to buy into when much of the crux of the novel’s plot (which happens around and despite Mattie, rather than because of her) centres around a massive computer (for lack of a better term) that is powered by coal and much less sophisticated than Mattie. I was often enthralled by her, but then she would do something too human, and I’d be whisked away from the story. Ironically, perhaps, her character would have been better served if she was more alien – Ted Chiang’s Exhalation is a brilliant example of how to draw a sympathetic but believable robotic character. Her struggles with trying to break away from the preconceptions cast on her by society were fascinating, but her emotional relationships with human characters are hard to empathize with. Ultimately, had Sedia pulled back the curtain on Mattie’s creation, and given reason for why she was so far ahead of the technology curve (and I believe there was a very ample opportunity to do this, if she’d just followed one plot string about a trio of young boys to a deeper conclusion), all of a sudden the dichotomy of Mattie’s personality and emotional abilities would have been worlds easier to accept.
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Now, this is just too cool. Marcin Przybys, a graphic designer, decided to take Tolkien’s Tengwar, an Elvish script he created for his novels, and update it for modern times. The results are gorgeous.

You can check out more example of the font, and a breakdown of all the characters, on Przybys’ blog.

Well, I must’ve impressed them the first time, because the dudes at The Functional Nerds podcast asked me if I’d be interested in appearing on another episode. Obviously, I said yes. Alongside myself, John Anealio and Patrick Hester is Dan Goodman, from Literary Musings. The website has a nice write-up of the things we cover in the episode:

Also, I’ve got a couple of pieces of very A Dribble of Ink related news at the end of the podcast, so if you’re interested in hearing about some of my new projects (with some very cool folk), give it a listen.

You can also find my first appearance on Episode 009 of The Functional Nerds.

Jeff Vandermeer needs little introduction. Between his fiction (he’s just been nominated for another World Fantasy Award), his work on various anthologies or his popular blog, Ecstatic Days, it’s hard to miss Vandermeer’s presence when you step into the online Speculative Fiction community. With the recent release of The Third Bear, a collection of short fiction from Tachyon Publications, Jeff and I decided it would be a great time to sit down and talk about his latest project, the online reviewing sphere, sticks, awards, writing and, just maybe, what other projects he’s got up his sleeve.

It’s a long one, but Jeff pushes me around a little, so grab some popcorn, get comfy and enjoy.

The Interview

Jeff! Welcome to A Dribble of Ink and thanks for dropping by! Any opening words to set the mood?

    “I will smack your head from your body and pull your arteries out through your neck bones.” Oh, sorry, that was the third bear saying hi.

*gulp* The tone has been suitably set, I think.

    Behave yourself, sir.

Your most recent project is a short fiction collection called The Third Bear, recently released by Tachyon Publications. What can The Third Bear, and the stories it contains, tell us, right now, about you as a writer, both professionally and creatively?

    I’ve spent a great deal of effort not explaining anything about the stories in the collection—no story notes, no introduction, just a sparse afterword. It’s not really up to me to say what it tells readers about me or my fiction. For me, it was just important to have a tight, complex collection that entertained but also didn’t compromise.
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Reviews have started cropping up, and the release is just around the corner. Few authors have come around that can match the impact had on the genre by George R.R. Martin, Terry Goodkind or Robert Jordan, but Brandon Sanderson (with the marketing push behind him, his ties to Wheel of Time, the accessibility of his work, and, well, his popularity) seems poised to join them with the release of The Way of Kings, the first book in The Stormlight Archives.

Will he become the next Frank Herbert, and bathe in pools of hot women and gold dubloons? Or the next Robert Newcomb, subjugated to the lowest levels of hell for not being able to live up to the grandiose quotes plastering the covers of his novels? Only time will tell, but Sanderson seems to succeed at everything he sets out to accomplish. The ball’s certainly in his court.

Tor Books has released Chapters Twelve and Thirteen on their website, to go alongside the Prologue and Chapters One through Six, Nine and Eleven.

Via io9:

It won’t be an easy series to adapt, but damn if it doesn’t look like they’re off to a bloody good start. Andrew Lincoln looks absolutely perfect for the role of Rick Grimes. The six-episode miniseries will begin airing on AMC on October, 31st.

From Locus Online:

It’s nice to see some new names on the list. Particularily, I’m interested in In Great Waters by Kit Whitfield, a novel I wasn’t aware of before it’s nomination, but that sounds wonderful and which I’ll be purchasing soon. An equal standout for me is Blood of Ambrose, but for an opposite reason: I wasn’t much a fan of Enge’s novel. Best of all, I’ve got a whole slew of new short fiction to wade through, which is always something to look forward to.

Congratulations to all those nominated!

Anything in particular stand out from the list for you? If you could suggest one item, from any list among the nominations, which would it be?

From Xavier Garcia:

And more of his artwork:

I’ve always been a fan of stylized art like this, and feel it fits Martin’s books quite well. In videogames, there’s a term called ‘uncanny valley’ that refers to the point where videogame models begin looking photorealistic, but the small imperfections stand out even further, making the models look eerily realistic and fake at the same time. The same thing can happen with art, but more particularly I find that I have an easier time reconciling the differences between stylized art and the images in my head than I do realistic art to those same images that I’ve derived from the text. Either way, it’s cool looking, right?

I’m looking forward to seeing further art from Garcia’s Project Westeros.

After the sublime The Lies of Locke Lamora, I was a little disappointed in Scott Lynch’s Red Seas Under Red Skies. That, however, hasn’t stopped me from salivating over The Republic of Thieves for the past few years. Now, it’s just around the corner and you can read the first chapter, courtesy Camorr.com. The prologue is also available via Lynch’s official website.

The wait until January, 2011 just got a little harder.

From Steve Thomas:

So awesome. As if I didn’t want to travel to The Shire and Rivendell already. Love the old school style. If interested, you can purchase prints through Thomas’ Zazzle page. He also has a whole whack of other posters, including similar travel posters for the rest of our Solar System.

Thanks to The Mad Hatter for the tip:

I loved the cover when it was first revealed, but it was missing polish. It wouldn’t be an Abercrombie cover without a splash of blood. That said, too much blood can be a terribly cheesy thing.

Last year, Orbit Books had a bit of fun by rounding up a huge swathe of 2008′s Fantasy novels and compiling a graph of the cliches used in the art. Now, they’re back at it, taking a look at the covers for 2009′s novels and comparing them against the novels in 2008.

It’s interesting to see that nearly all the categories dropped off (Maps, Hobbits/Dwarves/Trolls/Ogres, and Guns are the only categories to see an increase in 2009), suggesting, perhaps, that we actually saw a bit more variance in the cover art released in 2009. I think we’re all shocked by how low Hooded Figures ranked; though, if they took out the ‘hooded’ part and added in ‘hired college student wearing a cloak, labelled with a tramp stamp and/or looking menacing‘ to the list, I’m sure it’d rank near the top. I do like those ‘dark covers of meaningless’, though. We could use more of them, and maybe even add in a ‘light cover of meaningless’ or a ‘colourful cover of meaningless’ while we’re at it.

It’s an interesting, humourous look at the trends in the industry. It certainly shows that cliches are alive and well in the hearts of readers and the minds of graphic designers and marketers everywhere. Also of note is that Orbit Books will be compiling a similar graph based on the titles of novels released in 2009, which should be of equal interest.

From Roberts’ blog:

You know how I like to complain about cover art being boring, derivative and blandly figure-centric? Well, you won’t be hearing any of those complaints today. Lovingly kitschy and spot on for the tone and setting of the novel.

It’s Joe Abercrombie, no mistake. With each new novel, Abercrombie seems to be further cementing his style, to the point that his writing is distinctive enough to be recognized even without his name attached. This excerpt should enough to either A. whet your appetite for The Heroes or B. make you into a slavery, bloodthirsty fool who can’t wait until the initial release of the novel. I won’t tell you which category I fall in.

Head on over the the Orion Books/Gollancz Blog for the full excerpt from The Heroes.

From Tor.com:

Since his work on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Michael Komarck has become one of my favourite Fantasy Illustrators working in the industry. If put in Irene Gallo’s shoes, of choosing the artists involved in the Wheel of Time eBook re-issue, he would have been one of my first choices. I mean, just look at this Lord of the Rings painting.

I’m a big fan of the Knife of Dreams cover. Great physicality, emotion, colours, contrast. Just awesome. Plus, Rand actually looks like a man in the painting, as opposed to a teenager or a boy, as befits his transformation through the series. Great stuff from Gallo, Komarck and the rest of the Tor Books art team.