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10-09-03: New Edition
of Death to Dust, New Harry Turtledove, New Caitlin R.
Kiernan, Time Traveler John Titor, and Wireless Agony for
the World
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Galen
Press Offers a New Edition of Death to
Dust
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Galen Books
Namesake looks on in
approval.
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For some reason, though I
enjoyed Galen Press' 'Death
to Dust', I never got
round to investigating the publishers
themselves. Someone with the name of Sales
almost didn't make it through my level one spam
filter, but fortunately, I try to trawl through
the trash to find the treasures such as this,
and I'm really glad I did. As a sometime horror
writer, I've often used 'Death to Dust' as a
reference. Had I been to the Galen
Press Website, I
might have seen the absolute bounty of great
stuff they have to inspire and back up writers.
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More fun every
day!
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From 'Physicians as Serial
Killers' (more horror non-fiction reading in the
tradition of Mary Roach's wonderful
'Stiff')
to 'Death Investigation: The Basics' to 'Grave
Words: Notifying Survivors about Sudden,
Unexpected Deaths', to 'The Cost Effective uses
of Leeches and Other Musings of a Medical School
Survivor', these guys have a very peculiar
market cornered, nailed down and tied to the
railroad tracks. I know a number of folks who
would probably love these books; what better
gift to give than the gift of eternal
rest!
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A new, expanded edition of
this classic text is now
available.
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Yes, at $48.95, it's pricey,
but well worth it. Kenneth Iserson's
'Death
to Dust' has been
re-issued in a second edition. If you wonder
whether it's worth it, you can look at the
web
page for the book. It
includes "Funeral
Industry Jargon",
"The
Worm Song" and even a
handy Decomposition
Table. What more
could you ask for? Well there are 822 pages in
the expanded edition, which includes news
sections on "Death Photography" and
up-to-the-minute death factoids. Yes, you are
reading this column on purpose. Go ahead, admit
it and then visit the website. Hours of fun for
the whole family with the new Leech Farm!
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Turtledove
Re-Writes WWII For the WW Second Time
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Damn! We need a WW III
so alternate history authors
can hop to it and revise what
really happens. Who's gonna
drop that bomb for Uncle
Harry? C'mon, I know you're
out there!
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There have been alternate
history versions of World War Two as there were
battles in World War Two. In case you were
longing for another, Harry Turtledove has
answered the burning question: What would happen
if Germany won World War Two and was still going
strong? Presumably, the trains are running on
time, but it's my understanding that's not the
point of 'In the Presence of Mine Enemies'.
Turtledove's last standalone novel, 'Rule
Britannia' actually received quite favorable
reviews, though I never got round to reading it.
We'll see if one of the intrepid reviewers here
can't get a look under the hood and report back
to us. I must admit I loved the first three, no
four volumes of Turtledove's WordWar series,
wherein the Earth is invaded by a rather inept
set of aliens while in the midst of fighting
WWII. I've even got hardcovers of the followup
ready for a rainy day. Where's my damn monsoon?
Probably stuck in some alternate history, where
I read faster and have enough time to read all
the books I want to read.
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Low
Red Moon by Caitlin R. Kiernan
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The look and feel of last
year's 'Threshold'.
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Caitlin R. Kiernan follows up
last year's 'Threshold'
with 'Low Red Moon'. We find our heroes from
'Threshold' married with children pending. But
Chance is hallucinating, seeing blood
everywhere, and her husband, the psychic Deacon,
is afraid he'll be drawn into the search for a
serial killer after experiencing a vision of the
killer in action. Kiernan writes with passion
and some very nicely chosen prose. Readers who
enjoyed Poppy Z. Brite's horror should seek
Kiernan out, as well as Poppy's latest.
Kiernan credits perennial
favorite Charles Fort, so there's likely to be
some more enjoyably Fortean material within.
Yes, with Halloween coming up, expect a slurge
of scary books. If in fact, you don't find
reality frightening enough.
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Time
Traveler John Titor
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John Titor's Time
Machine.
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Now, some of you may have
heard all about this, but this is the first
time it's come my way -- via the Fortean
list, and it's a pretty fascinating science
fiction tale. At least I hope it's science
fiction. If it's not, it's pretty damn scary.
Let me quote directly from
the John Titor - Time Traveler
web
site to give you
an intro:
Although
there is debate over the exact date it
started, on November 02, 2000, a person
calling themselves Timetravel_0, and later
John Titor, started posting on a public
forum that he was a time traveler from the
year 2036.
One of the first
things he did was post pictures of his
time machine and its operations manual.
As the weeks went by, more and more people
began questioning him about why he was
here, the physics of time travel and his
thoughts about our time. He also posted on
other forums including the old Art Bell
site. In his posts John Titor entertained,
angered, frightened and even belittled
those who engaged him in conversation.
On March 24, 2001,
John Titor told us he would be leaving our
time and returning to 2036. After that, he
was never heard from again. Speculation
and investigation about who John Titor was
and why he was online continues to this
day.
Although it may be
easy to dismiss all this as science
fiction, most people who read his posts
agree that there is something very
haunting about John Titor and what he
said. In addition, and open to more
debate, he also made a series of
predictions and comments that eerily seem
to be coming true.
The Web site has a few
photos and the story that unravels -- what of
it you supposedly get from John Titor -- is
quite interesting. Civil war in America
starting in 2005, shortly after the
elections, lasting for ten years, nuclear war
that follows, predictions here and there that
seem sort of borne out. Let's be
optimistic and say this is all made up.
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A cutaway view of John Titor's
time traveling mechanism.
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Even so, it makes for some
pretty compelling Web reading. For those of us who
love fictional non-fiction, this is sort of a
treasure trove. The creators get it right enough to
seem rather haunting. To a certain extent, it just
feeds on the incipient depression that follows
"interesting times". But is there something more
here? We've got a couple of years to go to see if
this civil war things bears out. If it does, then
perhaps it's time to head to the shelters. Or, at
least invest in the bomb shelter industry. Maybe
it's time for me to haul out my PAST -- that is, my
Post Atomic Sales
Technique. You too can win World War Three!
And when we're done, you can start your novel about
the alternate version of World War Three. See?
Goodness surrounds us, even in the depths of
despair.
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Wireless
Agony for the World
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Now you can really feel the world's
pain!
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In case you weren't feeling enough
pain, this new website offers another great
technological advance. Unbehagen.com offers an
eclectic art gallery, and this
piece is fairly fun. The
idea is that you buy a little bit of wifi technology
that gives you a gentle shock every time one of 140
scannable news outlets mentions death, war, pain, or
any one of a list of keywords. Alas, these guys make
it amply clear that this is an art project. We're
living in a world where the advertisement has replaced
the product as the product. Yes, I guess we can look
forward to that civil war soon. And pretty soon
thereafter, hope for it.
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10-08-03: VanderMeer
Flashes on The Day that Dali Died, Chistopher Moore Makes it
Back East
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VanderMeer
Flashes on The Day Dali Died
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Prime Books has created a
beautiful setting for
Vandermeer's flash fiction and
poetry.
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I've got to admit that I'm a
bit unclear on the concept of flash fiction. One
is inclined to think that it's something to do
with the program Flash,used to deliver
movie-like content over the web at a fraction of
movie-like bandwidth. Well, it turns out it is
rather like that flash; flash fiction has the
same relation to regular fiction that Flash
conent has to movie content. that is, a similar
experience at a fractin of the bandwidth. Or at
least, that's how I'm defining it here.
VanderMeer's collection gives a distilled idea
of his novel-length work at a fractin of the
bandwidth. This Prime Books paperback is
beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. The paper is
heavy, the binding, though a trade aperback iws
full and strong and cover is -- well, you can
get a pretty good look at the cover.
One of the problem with books
like this is that upon their arrival, being
filled with so many things that aqre so easy to
read, they tend to get gobbled up before you
even realize that you've started. These are
beautiful jewels, nicely set. Take your time.
read one or two, sip a glass of wine, enjoy the
twilight of evening.
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Chistopher
Moore Makes it Back East
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Christopher Moore's is a
thoroughly enjoyable bit of
science fiction shot through with
humor.
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Christopher Moore wrote me
to mention that he's going to be on tour back
east, promoting a book I loved titled
'Fluke'.
Here's the skinny:
Christopher
Moore, author guy here. After many
requests from , I'm finally going to be in
New England. Here's the info:
Thursday,
October 23, 2003 07:00 PM - 09:00
PM
Christopher
Moore, will be promoting Fluke
Appears
on/at: NORTHSHIRE BOOKS/Reading/Signing
4869
Main St., Manchester Center, VT 05255
Tel:
802-362-2200
I'll
also be appearing at NEBA (the New England
Booksellers Association Convention) in
Providence, RI that weekend, so if you're
a bookseller, you can catch me there. I
don't have the schedule yet.
These
are the only New England events for a
couple of years. Hope to see you Yankees
there.
Your
pal,
The
Authorguy
Chris
Moore
If you haven't glommed on
to this book, you need to. Timews have become
far too interesting to be without the
resources offered by novels such as this;
mainly fun and more fun. Tell him I sent you
and get a free funny look as he says
"Who?"
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10-06-03: Robin
McKinley Steps into Sunshine, Lambshead Contest
Deadline 10/10/03.
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Robin
McKinley Steps into Sunshine
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Neil Gaiman sells books.
Vampire books.
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While I pretty much need
another vampire novel as much as I need a stake
through my heart, Sunshine, by Robin
McKinley looks to be just different enough that
I might give it a try. Set in a near future
after the Voodoo Wars, it looks to tread the
Anita Blake territory with perhaps a bit more
forethought and logical consistency -- a bit
more sfnal than Hamilton's hard-boiled shtick.
She's currently on tour, and is married to Peter
Dickinson. I recently covered an anthology they
released titled 'Water Spirits'. She's on a 12
city tour, including a stop tomorrow at
Borderlands
Books in San
Francisco. This novel is her adult fiction
debut; her previous works come recommended by
none other than Charles De Lint. As soon as we
get a chance to read this, we'll post our review
and let the readers know whether or not this is
a debutante ball to attend. Given the good press
from Charles De Lint and Neil Gaiman, this seems
like a decent bet.
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Lambshead
Contest Deadline 10/10/03
The deadline to turn in
material to win a free copy of a proof -- very
nice bound trade paperback proof, I might add --
of The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to
Eccentric and Discredited Diseases is this
Friday, 10/10/03. Winners will be posted in this
column next week, and sent out then as well. I
have some wonderful entries so far. Send away,
we need and want to give these proofs
away!
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