Yearly Archives: 2013

Art

Cover Art for The Very Best of Tad Williams

By Aidan Moher April 30th, 2013
Cover Art for The Very Best of Tad Williams Art by Kerem Beyit

If you’re read this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m something of an unabashed Tad Williams fanboy. He’s best known for his long (long, long, long) fiction, like Memory, Sorrow and Thorn or Otherland, multi-volume epics that would make most other authors weep at their length, but it’s often overlooked that some of his most finely crafted and powerful fiction is actually found among his shorter works. If this collection, coming from Tachyon, is, indeed, the ‘very best’ of his work, readers are in for a treat. The art on the cover is by Kerem Beyit, and is just lovely.

News

Introducing Foz Meadows, A Dribble of Ink’s newest contributing reviewer!

By Aidan Moher April 30th, 2013

Foz Meadows, contributing review for A Dribble of InkI’m happy to introduce Foz Meadows, the newest contributing reviewer here at A Dribble of Ink. Foz joins Justin Landon as a contributing reviewer and will be publishing monthly reviews covering a wide range of novels. You might recognize Foz’s work from her own blog, Shattersnipe, her contributions to the Huffington Post, and her past writing here at A Dribble of Ink, including yesterday’s essay on escapism and privilege in Fantasy and Science Fiction. The Book Smugglers, in discussing their choices for the 2013 ‘Best Fan Writer’ Hugo award, described Foz as having ‘written some of the BEST blog posts and articles last year addressing sexism, racism, problematic narratives in Fandom and in YA, all in relation to SF,’ and I’m incredibly proud to bring a writer with such pedigree to A Dribble of Ink.

I was first introduced to Foz’s writing last year after recommendations from several other critics and blogging friends. Her reviews and commentary are sharp, insightful and intelligently engage with many of the important issues being discussed in the overall SFF discussion. For a proper introduction to Foz’s writing, I encourage you to check out her 2012 Year in Review. I feel that adding Foz to the team at A Dribble of Ink will continue to expand and add variety to the areas of coverage and topics of conversation covered, which, in this editor’s opinion, is a very good thing.

So, then, here’s to Foz.

News

Speculative Fiction 2012 is out now!

By Aidan Moher April 25th, 2013
Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary, edited by Landon and Shurin

Buy Speculative Fiction 2012: Book/eBook(Coming Soon)

A couple of months ago, I announced that one of my essays was chosen to be included in a book called Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary. The book is out now, and I’m all tingly with excitement. Justing Landon, co-editor of the anthology, describes the project:

This collection contains over fifty of the year’s best online essays and reviews, from Tansy Rayner Roberts on Supergirl to Lavie Tidhar on China Miéville to Aishwarya Subramanian on My Little Pony to Joe Abercrombie on, er, himself. It is a diverse collection of some of last year’s best and most interesting writing. We fully expect – and hope – it will cause discussion, debate and a bit of a ruckus.

The book also contains a foreword from Orbit author Mur Lafferty, an introduction from this year’s editors (Jared Shurin and myself) and an afterword from the 2013 editors, Ana Grilo and Thea James of The Booksmugglers. Not to mention the beautiful cover from the talented Sarah Anne Langton.

All proceeds from sales of this book are donated to Room to Read, supporting literacy and gender equality in education around the world.

My contribution to this collection is an essay/critique of A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin, where I analyze how fervor and anticipation can be the enemy of objectivity and fair reviewing practices.

I am thrilled to be included in the anthology alongside other great fan writers such as Ana Grilo, Thea James, Paul Kincaid, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Jonathan McCalmont and Tansy Rayner Roberts. I mean, seriously, my essay comes directly after pieces by Abigail Nussbaum and Adam Roberts. Talk about humbling company. In addition to this, Speculative Fiction 2012 includes two other articles published on A Dribble of Ink: ‘Concerning Historical Authenticity in Fantasy, or Truth Forgives You Nothing’ by Daniel Abraham, and ‘Ma Vie en Zines’ by Chris Garcia. I hope you enjoy the book and, like I have, discover some new writers in the process.

Buy Speculative Fiction 2012: The best online reviews, essays and commentary (Volume 1): Book/eBook (coming soon)

Art

Brandon Sanderson, bringing back the Ace Double two stories at a time

By Aidan Moher April 23rd, 2013
FirstbornDefendingElysium

Brandon Sanderson’s a pretty cool guy. He’s generous with his time. Writes at a pace envied even by court transcribers. And writes some pretty cool books. On top of this, he’s a passionate Science Fiction and Fantasy fan, and he’s showing these roots with a new project that he’s put together for his fans. It’s a tête-bêche collection of two novellas, Defending Elysium and Firstborn, doubled up in the style of the old Ace Doubles series: two novels, back-to-back. And, man, it’s sexy.

It’s also interesting for fans of Sanderson, who is best known for his Epic Fantasy, to experience his take on Science Fiction. Firstborn is available to read for free on Tor.com. Sanderson explains why he chose such a unique format for his novellas:

The technical term for this kind of book layout is tête-bêche meaning “head-to-toe,” which indicates that the book has two front covers and no back cover; flip the book upside down to get the other story. When you reach the end of one story, the next page is the last page of the other story, upside-down.

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to get these novelettes out in print form for a while, and due to their length putting them together seemed like the best idea. Plus I’ve always thought Ace Doubles were cool. (These were classic SF novels put out in tête-bêche paperbacks by the publisher Ace.)

The “Firstborn” cover reprises Donato Giancola’s excellent illustration that he painted for the Tor.com version, and the “Defending Elysium” cover features an illustration by Dragos Jieanu (check out his website and his DeviantArt profile). (If you like his stuff, consider donating to the Chance for Life Foundation, a Romanian charity he supports.) The cover design is by Isaac Stewart, and the book design is by Peter Ahlstrom.

It’s terrific to see Sanderson using the freedom afforded to him by his success and popularity to assemble such a great keepsake for his fans. He promises to make them available on his website, for $17.99, but only if there are copies left after his run through the convention circuit. Good odds on them not lasting so long. I’d love to get my hands on a copy, but, well, I doubt it’s in the cards. Really lovely idea.