F&SF’s November acquisitions include:
SCI FI Wire print news thru November 30, 2007:
I’m going to a great concert on Friday–Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Soilwork, and DevilDriver. I’m a huge fan of all four of these bands and this is pretty much the best multi-band bill I’ve seen.
I got the tickets from Ticketmaster, and after checkout they send me a coupon code for a free song from iTunes, which I thought was pretty cool. They also gave me access to a free multi-song sampler of "hand-picked" music. By "hand-picked" I thought that they meant the selections were chosen based on the concert ticket I bought. And so I thought, "Wow, that’s pretty cool, and a great way to cross-merchandise bands." However, this is the artist list of the sampler they gave me:
Mandy Moore? WTF? In their defense, however, it was an email from Ticketmaster that notified me about the concert in the first place, so for that at least (and for the free iTunes song) I’m grateful.
Does anyone know of a third-party application for Windows Mobile that will allow me to read HTML messages from my Gmail account? I’ve got my Pocket PC phone’s default email manager setup to interface with my Gmail account, and it works, except that it won’t display HTML messages. It receives them, but when you open them, they’re just blank. So it’s still useful as a notifier, but I’d much rather, you know, be able to read messages with it. I’ve looked this problem up online, and it seems it’s a problem with all Gmail/Windows Mobile users, so it’s not just me. I’m thinking there must be some other program I could use, but I haven’t been able to find anything.
Voices From the Street
Author: Philip K. Dick
Book Description: Stuart Hadley is a radio electronics salesman in early 1950s Oakland, California. He has what many would consider the ideal life; a nice house, a pretty wife, a decent job with prospects for advancement, but he still feels unfulfilled. Something is missing from his life. Hadley is a restless young man-an artist, a dreamer, a screw-up. He reacts to the love of his wife and the kindness of his employer with anxiety and fear. He tries to fill his void first with drinking, and then with an affair, and finally with religious fanaticism, but nothing seems to be working, and it is driving him crazy.Voices from the Street is the story of Hadley’s descent into depression and madness, and his emergence out the other side.
Chronicles of the Black Company
Author: Glen Cook
Book Description: Darkness wars with darkness as the hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must. They bury their doubts with their dead. Then comes the prophecy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more…. This omnibus edition comprises The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose.
The Starry Rift
Editor: Jonathan Strahan
Book Description: Truly successful science fiction does two things: it gives credible glimpses into the future while entertaining the reader. With this in mind, noted anthologist Jonathan Strahan—who is also the reviews editor of Locus magazine—asked sixteen of today’s most inventive, compelling writers to look past the horizon of the present day. Neil Gaiman (Anansi Boys), Kelly Link (Magic for Beginners), Garth Nix (the Abhorsen Trilogy), Scott Westerfeld (Uglies; Pretties; Specials) and their colleagues have crafted a dazzling range of stories. Whether on spaceships, in suburbia, or in simulated gaming worlds, whether about cloning, battle tactics, or corporate politics, the stories of The Starry Rift will give every reader something to consider. This original anthology is crucial reading for those who want to see where the future—and the future of science fiction—is headed.
Tim, Defender of the Earth!
Author: Sam Enthoven
Book Description: Tim, Defender of the Earth, is a rock’em, sock‘em thriller filled with smoke, spectacle, and big-time adventure. Big Ben will fall! Westminster Abbey will crumble! London will never be the same!
TIM, aka Tyrannosaurus: Improved Model, is the product of a top-secret government military experiment, and he couldn’t be more loveable. Sure, he’s an enormous monster to most, but at heart he’s just a big, awkward, thirteen-yearold who realizes he could be all that stands between the earth and total destruction. (Take that, Godzilla.)
Now TIM must form an unlikely alliance with fifteen-year-olds Chris and Anna in order to save humanity from the greatest threat it has ever known: Anna’s father, the brilliant and demented Professor Mallahide, and his growing tide of vicious, all-consuming nanobots. Will TIM prevail and save the British Isles and the world from evil? We’ll all have to hold hands, read, and believe—in TIM, Defender of the Earth!
Gods of Manhattan
Author: Scott Mebus
Book Description
Look. What do you see? Sidewalks, skyscrapers, pigeons? But there’s more. More that only twelve-year-old Rory Hennessey can see. More that only Rory can reveal to others.
So, look again. What do you see? Layered on our own New York is a spirit city inhabited by warrior cockroaches, malevolent subway trains, kung fu rodents, hungry gargoyles, and children made entirely of papier-mache. Built by history and legend, it’s ruled by the Gods of Manhattan, lions of New York like Peter Stuyvesant and Babe Ruth.
Now everyone is racing to find Rory—the boy who can see. The boy who can change the destiny of New York.
Small Beer Press is having a sale!
It’s Yet Another Sale! Happens Once a Year. Ends December 24!
No, wait. Say someone gives you $$$ for Xmas or whatever and you (sensibly) want to Buy These Books! Ok. Now this sale runs until December 31st, 2007 and no later.
We Are Meeting Everyone Else’s Prices! Except Those People Who Live in the Middle of Nowhere and List Books for 1 penny. How Can They Do That? Anyway, There Are Tons of Deals! We Are Pretending We Are Crazy Used-Car Salesmen Shouting About Crazy Low Prices. (Our throats are getting sore.)
All Books Come with Meaningless 100,000-Mile Invisible Warranty! All Books Printed on Paper! Guaranteed to Be Printed with Ink! Guaranteed to Be Books!
Go buy some stuff. Lots of great things to choose from.
Frederic S. Durbin, whose story “The Bone Man” appears in the December 2007 issue of F&SF, said in an interview that his story tells the story of Conlin, a hit man who "rediscovers" the true spirit of Hallowe’en.
"On his way back to Chicago from a hit in tiny Enfield, Illinois, Conlin turns off the interstate for lunch and wanders into a small town among the fields and woods—a town that isn’t on his map," Durbin said. "He quickly discovers that he’s arrived on the day of the annual Hallowe’en parade, apparently a major event for this community; and he is intrigued by references to someone called ‘the Bone Man,’ a dancing skeleton that shows up every year as a kind of Grand Master of the parade."
Conlin’s curiosity is piqued by the locals’ apparent combination of dread and reverence for this figure, and especially by photos he’s shown: photos too old to be digital hoaxes, which indeed seem to depict an animated skeleton, Durbin said. "As he watches the town’s preparations for the evening, Conlin is drawn back into his childhood memories of the season and the sinister holiday for which he’s always had an affinity," he said. "Of course, Conlin, in the midst of the dark revelry, meets the Bone Man; and the specter is very real; and the encounter leaves Conlin forever changed (ominous chuckle)."