(How’d I get 10? I didn’t. I got two, but in this alternate Earth, I can create extra copies with my mind juices. How’d the two get to me so fast? Brain fu. Puttin’ a little extra something on the curveball.)

Other Earths, edited by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake, arrived today (publication date April 7; you can pre-order on Amazon). It’s a crisp, smart little mass market anthology featuring the fiction of moi, Robert Charles Wilson, Stephen Baxter, Theodora Goss, Liz Williams, Gene Wolfe, Greg Van Eekhout, Alastair Reynolds, Paul Park, Lucius Shepard, and Benjamin Rosenbaum. All-original, all-alternate history stories set on Earth. What if Lincoln had never become president and the Civil War had never taken place? What if Columbus never discovered America, and the Inca developed a massive, technologically advanced empire? What if George W. Bush existed in more than one reality? (Shudder).

Here, for your perusal, in a Friday tip of the hat to that attention-robbing social media fad Twitter, find one line apiece from all eleven stories…

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That’s right–the latest Weird Tales is now out and being shipped to subscribers. Including a feature on Neil Gaiman and fiction from Tim Pratt, Michael Bishop, Kathe Koja, Micaela Morrissette, Felix Gilman, and Matt Cheney. Some really strong stuff.

And what was WT fiction editor Ann V doing last night, when she should’ve been celebrating her pre-birthday (said b-day being today)? Why, wrapping the copies for the contributors:

Don’t give a crap about WT? Have some fishmen:

I have to admit–I’m not real fond of creators pimping themselves on Facebook beyond sharing links and stuff. I don’t know that the format lends itself to aggressive self-promotion. Most of the stuff I get in my Facebook inbox I just delete. But Danny Fontaine recently sent me the following missive about the Horns of Fury through Facebook, and it’s the kind of thing that gets around your defenses. Thought I’d share it here–especially since I like this band a lot. (Danny Fontaine [info at dannyfontaine.co.uk]; images theirs.)

Jeff

***

This ain’t spam yo, it’s your humble narrator, Daniel P Fontaine, on behalf of ‘imself and ‘is loyal Horns Of Fury.

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Larry has a nice review of Best American Fantasy 2 on his blog. I think he’s right that when you constrict your focus you end up with more overall quality (in terms of reader perceptions–very few readers have the range to like a bit of everything) but fewer surprises. Which is to say, depending on whether you like wild and woolly or something more streamlined, you’ll prefer BAF1 or BAF2.

Don’t give a damn about BAF? Have some Hot Snakes:

If you missed last night’s Daily Show, you owe it to yourself to check out this instant classic online. Rick Santelli, a CNBC analyst who’d gone off on a rant against homeowners, was supposed to be the guest. Then he backed out. So instead Jon Stewart devoted the whole show to a take-down of CNBC. It’s brutal, vicious, deserved, and an example of the only TV-based investigative journalism worth watching besides Frontline. I’m sure Santelli wishes he’d gone on the show instead. (Starts after 30 seconds of commercials and one minute of schtick.)

Stewart: “Hmmm. If only I’d listened to CNBC, I would have a million dollars now…if I’d started out with a hundred million dollars.”

The return of the flips (thanks, Ann!)

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I know I’ve talked about John Coulthart’s work before, but I wanted to show in a larger context just how wonderful he’s been when it comes to setting a visual standard for my own work over the past year or so. Here’s a tour of what he’s designed in that period, in addition to the Finch cover above. It’s really a blessing. Consider also that he largely works with images he creates himself (except for the Templesmith cover to the limited Shriek)…

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Evil Monkey:
How’s it going?

Jeff:
Surprisingly well.

Evil Monkey:
Maybe you’re just delusional.

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An Amazon post on recent awards and on Farmer’s passing.

Farmer was also responsible for the pseudonymous Kilgore Trout novel Venus on the Half-Shell. This was one of my dad’s favorite books back in the day (although I think he thought it was by Kurt Vonnegut), and one of my first encounters with science fiction as a result. The confusion surrounding who it was by led me to first Vonnegut and then Farmer.

Note: John Coulthart had a great post on Farmer’s more trangressive works back in 2007.

Here’s some stuff wot got cut out on the last couple passes through Finch. Frags and jetsam, bobs and weaves. Just not doing its job, really. Had to go.

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