Yay! A big congratulations to the 2010 Clarion San Diego class, just announced on the site. They’re all super-awesome, and Ann and I are really excited about meeting them and working with them in weeks 5 and 6 of the workshop. The instructors for weeks 1—4 are Delia Sherman, George R.R. Martin, Dale Bailey, and Samuel R. Delany.

Gregory Bossert
Stacie Brown
John Chu
William Farrar
Erin Gonzales
Jessica Hilt
Jennifer Hsyu
Adam Israel
Dustin Monk
Tamsyn Muir
Laura Praytor
LaTisha Redding
Dallas Taylor
Leah Thomas
Karin Tidbeck
Tom Underberg
Kali Wallace
Kai Ashante Wilson

(Why Shine? Well, it just came in the door and Jetse de Vries made a concerted effort to encourage submissions from around the world. It’s a good-looking antho.)

I’d just like to point people to the Locus Online compilation of international SF/Fantasy recommendations I’ve coordinated, which was completed and slotted well before the Spinrad controversy this week. These are largely not books yet translated into English–in fact, 90% of them aren’t–and so in addition to being a tantalizing look at what we’re missing out on, it’s of potential use to US and UK publishers.

Please spread the link–it would be nice to get enough interest in this feature to be able to keep repeating it yearly. It’s a labor of love and of necessity incomplete this year due to time constraints, among other factors. The plan would be to keep expanding it until most countries were covered to some extent. Major thanks to Locus Online’s Mark Kelly, who spent a lot of time finding most of the images and hand-coding foreign-language symbols.

In the meantime, anyone should feel free to add recommendations from 2009 from countries not covered (or covered), preferably with descriptions, either to the Locus Online article or here.

Secondly, a relatively new translation award has announced the winners.

Thirdly, John Klima is trying to start a magazine to showcase under-represented cultures. Go help him.

Finally, I should have Nisi Shawl’s post “Writing and Racial Identity vs. the Spinrave” up on Booklifenow by the late afternoon, EST.

Clearly a mock-up–note “Vendermeer”–but an interesting approach, found on Amazon UK. Out in July. (Other 2010 UK releases: Finch in August and the big book of weird, co-edited with Ann, in November, both from Atlantic/Corvus.)

First off, just a reminder: if you’re in high school and interested in being a SF/Fantasy writer or you’re the parent of a high school student looking for a creative writing experience involving SF and Fantasy for your teenager this summer…consider Shared Worlds. It’s two weeks of awesome fun and instruction that involves world-building, creative writing, working in teams and solo, and getting fascinating crash-courses in a number of subjects. Instructors include myself, Holly Black, Michael Bishop, Marly Youmans, Kathe Koja, and more. Attendees also have access to Wofford College professors. Also, artist Scott Eagle will drop by for a two-day workshop that’s going to be amazing. For more information, check out the site . There’s nothing else quite like it.

Meanwhile, as the anchor instructors for Clarion San Diego, we’ve been helping read applicant submissions. This week the final decisions will be made, including invites for the 18 slots and those of talent who are added to the wait list. Quite frankly, it’s been tough as heck to reach final decisions–there were so many worthy applicants that instead of inviting the maximum of 18, there could’ve been 30 invites without a dip in quality. Anyone who makes it in or makes it to the waiting list should be proud of that accomplishment. I know that the competition wasn’t nearly this tough the year I went, in 1992. (I also have to say that I was incredibly impressed by the fairness and structure of the selection process–kudos to Clarion San Diego for that.)

Finally, it looks like the big book of weird may be downsized by a couple hundred thousand words. Still waiting for the final word on that. Regardless, it’ll still be a huge anthology. (And we’ll have some new book announcements soon.)

Well, we’ve reloaded Steampunk Reloaded, adding a few things at the last minute that were too cool to pass up. I’ll summarize the additions here, but I’ve also included the entire updated TOC below the cut for those who would like it in context. The anthology, out in October, is now almost completely unbearable amazingness as far as we’re concerned.

What have we added, besides our intro?

—A reprint of Tanith Lee’s “The Persecution Machine,” a Steampunk story originally published in Weird Tales.

—A “Future of Steampunk” roundtable interview with Libby Bulloff, S.J. Chambers, Jaymee Goh, Margaret “Magpie” Killjoy, Jess Nevins, Mike Perschon, and Diana M. Pho (Ay-leen the Peacemaker)

—A reprint of Sydney Padua’s comic strip “Lovelace and Babbage in ‘Origins (with Salamander)’”

—Extensive additions to the already awesome section “A Secret History of Steampunk,” which forms a unified story out of several pieces of fiction, nonfiction, and art, the new bits including:

>>A 5k frame story by the Mecha-Ostrich, Steampunk heretic

>>L.L. Hannett and Angela Slatter’s “The Curious Case of Physically-Manifested ‘Bed-Sheet Mania,” along with related letters and diary entries.

>>Felix Gilman’s “An Ode, on Encountering a Mecha-Ostrich.”

>>Jess Nevin’s “Unpublished Pages from the Encyclopedia of Victoriana.”

>>Additional snippets of text by Rikki Ducornet and Mary Shelley, as well as excerpts from Albert Robida’s “Railroad Wars” and the 1800s Edisonade “Electric Bob’s Big Black Ostrich”.

A comparison of the TOC below and the original one will also reveal that we’ve re-contextualized a few things. Finally, I cannot confirm or deny that I am the Mecha-Ostrich.

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That thar is the catalog image for the big book of weird fiction Ann and I are putting together for Atlantic/Corvus, to be turned in around May 1st and published in November. It may turn out to be a placeholder, but I find it oddly comforting and comfortable. Heh.

The catalog page has us both even more excited about the project, although it’s crazy in a sense to see the catalog page while we’re still working on it and have only begun to contact agents and the like for the first batch of acceptances. Still working on the title of the book, too.

(Rough of the cover)

Without further pomp or ceremony, we present our latest anthology’s full contents. We’re both extremely happy with how it turned out–including materials original to the book and some great reprints at its heart.

UPDATE 2/24: We’ve confirmed that we’ll also reproduce an installment of Sydney Padua’s Lovelace and Babbage comic in the anthology. – Ann & Jeff

STEAMPUNK RELOADED: Steampunk 2
Edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, from Tachyon, Oct. 2010
Interior design by John Coulthart, the genius behind The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, et al.

This lavishly illustrated anthology edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer builds on the strengths of the World Fantasy Award nominated first volume, presenting 155,000 words of rich and varied Steampunk stories, nonfiction, and art that plays off the idea of Steampunk not just in the context of dirigibles and other antiquated technology but also as connected to the maker movement and other aspects of the Steampunk subculture that have begun to infiltrate the literature. It includes the William Gibson story that inspired the Steampunk offshoot of “Raygun Gothic”.

Original Art by:
Winona Cookie
John Coulthart
Eric Orchard
Ivica Stevanovic

Original nonfiction by:
Gail Carriger, author of Soulless (fashion and fiction)
Jake Von Slatt of the Steampunk Workshop (maker movement)

Along with thoughts on the future of Steampunk by Mike Perschon, the Steampunk Scholar, and others.

Original fiction by:

Ramsey Shehadeh, “The Unbecoming of Virgil Smythe” – A fast-paced, riveting tale of time slips and the perils of colonialism, featuring the enigmatic Dromedons, rebellion, and a very strange train ride.

Vilhelm Bergsoe, “Flying Fish (Prometheus)”, translated by Dwight R. Decker – A novelette from 1869 previously unpublished in English, by a Danish writer. This progressive tale of the dirigible Flying Fish, written in the form of a letter from the future to the past, will dazzle you with its Steampunk stylings and its prescient knowledge of a genre that would not be named for more than another century!

“A Secret History of Steampunk” featuring further originals by:

Ekaterina Sedia “Two Short Excerpts from the Russian Book of the Improbable” – Eclipses and lunar seas collide with robots and airships in these delightful Russian clockwork concoctions presented in their original context as pages from the heretical (and possibly theoretical) Russian Book of the Improbable.

Jeffrey Ford, “Dr. Lash Remembers” – A harrowing tale of Steampunk disease that will make you think twice about jumping into an airship. It was recently discovered by Dr. Ford in a trunk whilst cleaning out his attic, and most probably penned by one of his forebears. Its original context as an extended fold-out broadsheet from the 1800s will be represented by facsimile.

Matthew Cheney, “Confessions and Complaints of a True Man” – Incontrovertible evidence of Steampunk invention in the time of the American transcendentalists, including mechanized elephants.

As well as contributions by Fabio Fernandes, Brian Stableford, Jess Nevins, and the Steampunk heretic known only as “The Mecha-Ostrich.”

Amazing Reprint Stories Culled from Broadsheets Far and Wide:

Daniel Abraham, “Balfour and Meriwether in the Adventure of the Emperor’s Vengeance”
Stephen Baxter, “The Unblinking Eye”
Winona Cookie, “The Unlikely Career of Portia Dreadnought,” “Artemesia’s Absinthe,” and “Obadiah Theremin, MD”
G.D. Falksen, “The Strange Case of Mr. Salad Monday”
William Gibson, “The Gernsback Continuum”
Samantha Henderson, “Wild Copper”
Caitlín R. Kiernan “The Steam Dancer (1896)”
Andrew Knighton, “The Cast-Iron Kid”
Marc Laidlaw, “Great Breakthroughs in Darkness”
Margo Lanagan, “Machine Maid”
Lisa Mantchev & James Grant, “As Recorded on Brass Cylinders: Adagio for Two Dancers”
Shweta Narayan, “The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar”
David Erik Nelson, “The Bold Explorer in the Place Beyond”
Cherie Priest “Tanglefoot”
Chris Roberson, “O One”
Margaret Ronald, “A Serpent in the Gears”
Catherynne M. Valente, “The Anachronist’s Cookbook”

The TOC to The Third Bear, my first major story collection since Secret Life in 2004, has been finalized…finally. This includes the 9,000-word story “The Quickening,” which is original to the book, and which I turned in this morning. I’ll be writing some end matter and someone’s doing an introduction. Another new story, “Komodo,” has been dropped from the TOC because it’s still in progress and it might top out at thirty or forty thousand words. Not sure yet.

The Third Bear
The Quickening
Finding Sonoria
Lost
The Situation
Predecessor
Fixing Hanover
Shark God Versus Octopus God
Errata
The Goat Variations
Three Days in a Border Town
The Secret Life of Shane Hamill
The Surgeon’s Tale (with Cat Rambo)
Appoggiatura

The Nebula Award finalists have been announced, and my novel Finch is up in the best novel category. To be honest, when I got the call Wednesday it was a complete shock. I was in the middle of reading for the big book of weird fiction and my first response was something along the lines of “this is a joke, right?” followed by “are you sure they got the votes right?” I don’t lobby for or even mildly suggest people nominate me for awards, don’t belong to SFWA, and had no idea I was even in the running. Anyway, after Mary Robinette Kowal started laughing at my wide-eyed bewilderment, it finally kind of sunk in, and I am happy about it—especially for my publisher, Underland, and its founder/editor, Victoria Blake, and glad people have liked the book. Congrats also to the other nominees.

I’m especially happy to see crazy-ass brilliant work like the Kij Johnson up in the story category, and that, in general, the ballot more accurately reflects the landscape of short fiction (see Clarkesworld’s showing, for example).

Okay, back to reading weird fiction and finalizing Steampunk Reloaded and finishing off that Lovecraft-Borges reunion story.

Me, I’m going to be flailing around at 9pm EST in Second life for a Copper Robot interview.

I’d also like to alert you to the publication of Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy, guest edited by Kevin Brockmeier. This is the third installment of the best-of anthology Ann and I founded with help from Sean Wallace. Underland Press is doing a lovely job publishing it, and Kevin, with the help of volume 3’s series editor Matthew Cheney, has found some amazing stories. BAF is the only series with revolving guest editors, allowing readers to get a different point of view on the field every year. Volume 4’s guest editor will be the remarkable Minister Faust. If you want to support eclectic and diverse views of the field, please buy this book. It needs your support.

Meanwhile, the TOC for BAF3 is below the cut.

Even more meanwhile, I’m buried in deadlines the rest of the week and unlikely to post more, so please do entertain me with stories of what you’ve been up to. Plug stuff. Tell me harrowing anecdotes. Ask silly questions. Whatever you like.

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