Hey, Pandemonium made the Locus Awards short list for best first novel!
If only I could be there in person. Then Paul Melko and I could duel to the death for the prize — while this plays in the background.*
(Extra nerd points if you recognized the soundtrack from “Amok Time” episode of Star Trek, the classic Spock/Kirk fight where Spock is mad with 7-Year Vulcan Lust. Pon farr, baby. Until just now I did not know that Theodore Sturgeon wrote that episode.)
I really should have blogged something lately, maybe something about my friends, or something good I’ve read, or something good I’ve read written by friends (hello? Jack Skillingstead’s forthcoming novel, Harbinger? Watch for it.) But instead, after a lengthy silence, more about ME.
Like me and my opinion on the forgotten classics of science fiction. I participated in one of SF Signal’s Mind Melds on the topic, and took the opportunity to talk about the books that influenced me in the 90’s–the weird, not quite rational fantasies of Rachel Pollack, Patricia Anthony, and especially Sean Stewart—each of which needs to be back in print.
But wait, there’s more about me. Yesterday they announced the Shirley Jackson Awards ballot and Pandemonium is a nominee in the novel category (as opposed to what, Daryl? Best interpretive dance?). The awards are given for “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.” For those new to the industry, “dark fantastic” is just like the fantastic, but harder to see.
They give out the award this July at ReaderCon in Boston. Fortunately, I go to that convention every year, so I’ll be there in person to either (a) smile manfully as the award goes to someone else, or (b) faint. Bet on (a)!
Tomorrow, I shall overcome my narcissism. Because nobody overcomes narcissism like me.
Okay, so that was a pretty great weekend. It ended with getting an award and people clapping. How often does that happen? I mean, if you’re me. (Answer: See blog post title.)
I was in Orlando, Florida, at the 30th annual ICFA, the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. It’s an academic conference invaded by writers, or an SF convention overrun by professors and students, take your pick. Some writers, like James Patrick Kelly, Elizabeth Hand, and Ted Chiang (yes, I’m linking to all of them, because if you’re not reading these people, you owe it to yourself to start) have been going there for years, and I can see why — the weather’s great, the conference is small, and the focus is on the kind of literary SF that those folks excel at.
The other day I wrote out a long e-mail to my friend Andrew charting the rollercoasting craziness in my life recently. It takes a certain amount of self-centeredness to complain to Andy, because the guy recently broke his frickin’ neck. Seriously. He’s not paralyzed or anything, and he’s back at work, though he feels sore whenever he spends too much time doing, well, anything involving his body. But he’s better. And his band, Attic of Love, is playing gigs again.
So in that spirit — Andrew’s spirit — today I shall speak only of the peaks, n0t the troughs.
For example, my mom is out of the hospital and recovering at home, with no infections or other nastiness. Props to my little sis and her employers for arranging for her work at home and help out. Because this is an all-peak post, I shall not mention my older sister, who just found out that the muscle tear in her shoulder is not JUST a muscle tear, but a cracked shoulder bone — with a missing chip floating somewhere in her body. Jiminy!
Also, I have a new agent that I’m just thrilled to be working with. Martha Millard represents some of my favorite writers, including Sean Stewart, Michael Swanwick, and William Gibson. I am the small fish in her pond, and happy to be swimming there.
Two days ago I finished the first draft of a story that will appear in an anthology of superhero stories later this year (or early next). The current title is “Message from the Bubblegum Factory.” And the first sentence:
The guards, Dear Reader, are kicking the shit out of me.
I’ve also found out the release date for my second book. The Devil’s Alphabet will be out November 24, 2009. To celebrate, I’ve just posted up the first chapter. It may be rewitten by the time the book’s published, but it should give you a taste of what I’m up to this time.
Welcome to 2009, people—especially my peeps in the Jersey and the NYC metropolitan area (that’s right, I’m talking to both of you). I’ll be at a group signing and Q&A on Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 2:00pm at the Barnes & Noble in The Shops at Riverside in lovely Hackensack, NJ. (Click the link to see a Google map to the place.)
I’ll be there with S. C. (aka Sam) Butler, Patricia Bray, Barbara Campbell, and Joshua Palmatier, all fantasy writers with multiple books under their belt. Sam promises writerly banter and possibly fisticuffs — hey, it’s Joisey.
The San Francisco Chronicle just named Pandemonium as one of its 10 SF Holiday Books for 2008. This is positive news for Do it for Thelma Day, but frankly it’s not enough. The population of the earth is about 6.72 billion. And the Thelma Day supporting Facebook group is only up to 75 as of November 24.
Now sure, you may say that Thelma Day is about buying the book on December 15, and most of the globe isn’t even on Facebook. True, true. But as an indicator of planetary participation, it’s worrisome. And I don’t like to make Mom worry.
But we can turn this around for her. By the end of Thanksgiving weekend, if the Facebook group adds only, say, 20% of the world’s population — 1,344,000,000 people, give or take — can you imagine how proud Thelma will be?
I’ll be seeing Mom next Thursday for the big day. Nobody wants to see a grown woman cry. So sign up your friends, pets, and ancestors for Facebook and the group, and let’s give Thelma something to be thankful for.
At least, that’s what it sounds like. My phone-in interview on Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib, the Philly radio show on WNJC-1360 AM, is now available in podcast form. You can listen to the full show, or download just my 15 minutes of radio fame (12mb MP3).
Sohaib, speaking from the studio, sounds great. Me, I sound like I’m barking through a time vortex using nothing but a Bakelite handset, rusty magnets, and a hand crank.
But I actually had a lot of fun talking to Sohaib. As I mentioned in a previous post, he was scarily enthusiastic about Pandemonium, and we talked about genre-bending, Philip K Dick, and how much I look like Christian Bale. (Actually, only I brought that up.)
But listen to the whole show, where he talks to some comic writers, including the legendary Jim Shooter.
Finally, a chance to use that headline.
After all the really nice reviews of Pandemonium—like two I ran across this week, A.M. Dellamonica’s at Sci-Fi.com and Faren Miller’s at Locus—I finally found one that was negative. No, negative’s too weak a word. The reviewer, from a site I hadn’t run across before called Static Multimedia, found the book to be repulsive, depressing, disorganized, meaningless, and “void of goodness.”
But why summarize? Reviewer Liese Cope says it best:
Pandemonium is void of anything inspirational and is not very thought-provoking. It seemed to be a jumbled mess of ideas and questions that never have any resolution or sometimes even any point. The book was also very depressing. There seems to be no hope and no sign of good. When dealing with the concept of demons (normally thought of as an ultimate evil) a reader desires to see that there is some goodness left in the world. However, this whole book is void of goodness and faith in humanity. In fact, even the “nun” who “helps” Del along the way is a cussing, violent, angry, and an impure person. The one person who would be expected to be a form of hope and goodness is very twisted, just like the book.
It’s obvious Pandemonium wasn’t written to be the feel good novel of the year, but if a book is going to be that depressing and utterly serious, the author usually owes the reader some glimmer of hope or some gem of wisdom that can be taken away. Unfortunately this book is void of both.
The key word seems to be “void.”
However, you really need to read the entire review to understand that not only is the book bad, but that I am evil, too. “Pandemonium just gives excuses for people’s actions, adding to the ‘not my fault, not my problem’ society we are living in. Ultimately, I [sic] Gregory tore down the integrity of humanity, showing them as nothing more than empty boxes for demons to fill and take total control over at any time.”
I (Gregory) was really hoping that no one would notice the integrity-tearing thing, much less the void of hope glimmers and wisdom gems. But you can’t fool all the critics all the time.
If you love yourself — and you know you do — give yourself a treat and read Adam Rakunas’ slightly lewd and very funny story, “The Right People,” appearing now at Futurismic. I love this story.
Now back to me, and my obsession with self-promotion.
So a couple weeks ago I recorded an interview with Sohaib, the host of the Philadelphia radio show, Fictional Frontiers. I had a great time, and Sohaib was scarily enthusiastic about Pandemonium. You’ll have to listen to the interview to hear who he’d pick to direct the film version.
You can hear me stumbling over my words this Sunday, October 12, at 11am eastern, on WNJC 1360AM (“Philadelphia’s Renaissance Radio Station” — though I have it on good authority that radio in the Renaissance sucked. The reception was terrible.). If you don’t happen to be living in Philly, you can hear a live stream on the web. A podcast of the show should be availbable about a week after that — I’ll post the link when I have it.
Meanwhile, if you want to see me stumble over words, Matt Staggs of the very cool Enter the Octopus blog interviewed me, and he got me to confess to several things — what I really think of archetypes (and the dolphins who write about them), why Philip K Dick forced his way into my book, and who is the hottest chick that I’ve ever made into a fictional character.
Notes from the Narrative Whiplash Wing
My brain still smarts from the gear change I put myself through in August. First I turned in a 95,000-word draft of the second novel to my editor at Del Rey, and then after WorldCon I started work on a very short story — maximum length: 2,000 words. A couple days ago I finished what I think is the final draft of “Glass”, a tale of mirror neurons, drugs, conscience, and psychopathic prisoners that squeaks in at 1,900 words. In about a month it’ll be appearing on the web and print editions of Technology Review Magazine. Not my usual venue, but I was pleased as punch that assistant editor Erica Naone invited me in.
Oh, and my story “The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm” will be out next month in the original anthology Eclipse 2, edited by Jonathan Strahan. The table of contents is chock full of loveliness.
(Cliff) Notes from the “I’ve Got Class” Department
Thanks to a connection made by My Favorite Nephew (Stephen Delafield, son of my good friend Gary, who earned that title years ago when the boy worked at Barnes & Noble and I heard that relatives could receive his employee discount), I was invited to inflict myself on a couple of creative writing classes at Penn State. So on Tuesday this week I woke up early to talk to the students of the poet Camille-Yvette Welsch. Evidently, and I’m a little shocked at how far standards have fallen since I was in school, there are college students who sign up for creative writing classes that meet at 8am—and show up for them. This just wasn’t done in my day. I excpected nothing but slack jaws, but really, the students were lovely, and asked a load of questions, from “how do you start” to “how do I find an agent” (answer: Go to a sci fi convention, kid, and walk into the hotel bar). I also read the opening scene of Pandemonium, as well as the short story “Unpossible” — though with the second class I ran out of time before I could finish — donk.
Noise from the Blog-Rhymes-with-Flog Echo Chamber
Reviews continue to roll in on Pandemonium, and jiminy, people are being nice. Here’s the latest from the San Francisco Chronicle, Chris Roberson, the Kansas City Star, ConNotations, Matt Stagg and the Watha T. Daniel Library (!). And for you Spanish-speaking folks, here’s a review by the coolest Colombian editor I know, Hernán Ortiz of Proyecto Liquido.
And of course, I keep talking about myself.
In the September edition of DRIN — the Del Rey Internet Newsletter — I opine about “plus 1” stories and why I think Pandemonium is one. On Sci-Fi Wire I talk some more about myself. More online interviews are on the way. And in October I’ll even have a radio interview to talk about. It’s a Festival of Me.
In the WPSU studios, avec book and cheesy smile
Reflections from the Meta Mirror Room: State College Writers on State College Writers
Finally, flogging someone else’s book.
Back in May, 2008 I recorded a review of James Morrow’s The Philosopher’s Apprentice for the Bookmarks program on my local public radio station, WPSU.
You can listen to the MP3 of the review.
Daryl Gregory 