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SF Chronicle Review of Darkness

Michael Berry over at the San Francisco Chronicle has tipped his hat to Ellen Datlow's Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror.

"Darkness" promises to please both longtime fans and readers who have no clue what "splatterpunk" was supposed to mean.

You can read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/25/RV901D0SU1.DTL#ixzz0mFAmjacw

The Best of Joe R. Lansdale Contest Winners

First off, congratulations to Lansdale himself for getting some well-deserved recognition across the pond:

From The Guardian:

"Let this volume introduce you to his uncensored, unfiltered world. He is a writer deserving of a wide and appreciative audience."

Now, let's get to the contest winners!

Revolution Science Fiction issued a challenge: write a horror story in 67 words, and make it fun and weird. The winners will receive a free copy of The Best of Joe R. Lansdale.

Here are the winning stories:

Day 1 Winner:

Eyes smoldered red, vicious jaws opened far too wide, razor teeth anticipated flesh.

The little dog charged.

Suddenly, Top Hat & Cane was moving. His dark cloak swirled, a ball of silver became a streak.

The small animal mewled with pain then a midget lay dead in its place on the sidewalk.

“Goddamn Were-Pugs.”

Top Hat & Cane readjusted his cloak, brushed idly at a lapel. -- Thomas Mueller

Day 2 Winner:

"Tangled Hearts"

Battle ends, men scream. Night falls. Severed legs walk slowly to a pile, followed by crawling arms, which form a giant shape with multiple arms and dozens of legs, hundreds of fingers. A voice wails "never again," but a louder voice commands the arms to commence firing; the body disintegrates.

A mutilated head rolls out. "Told you to shoot that bastard in the mouth." -- Gay Fifer

Day 3 Winner:

Crash!

Marko’s front door tore away in a flurry of wood splinters. Beyond hovered a massive, phantasmagorical whale-like being, translucent and pale. Tentacles writhed around its mouth.

As one grabbed Marko about the middle and hauled him toward the cavernous mouth, Marko screamed, "Why?"

The whale boomed: "Your father only APPEARED human. He was really a ninth-dimensional plankton, and so are you."

Then it ate him. -- Allen Wise

Day 4 Winner:

"Bugs"

The secretary put the small brown box on the desk of Jack Watts, head of Warner Brothers’ animation department, and skittered away.

"Is it true?" Jack asked, absent-mindedly opening the box. "Has Bugs Bunny really joined Al-Qaeda?"

A nervous, sweaty underling adjusted his collar as Jack’s hand reached into the box and reappeared holding a bright red cylindrical object.

A lit stick of dynamite. -- Philip Burch

Day 5 Winner

"Grammar Nazi"

Terror screamed through her brain as demand for performance meant everything. All she could see was the large expanse of black: board, boots, uniform. The crop snapped across her back.

“Wrong! That is not a sentence. It’s a FRAGMENT. Take her to the shower chamber."

As she was marched away, she nearly wept. No one told her grammar would mean life, and now, death. -- Rhonda Eudaly

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Congratulations to all the winners, and don't forget to click the links to read each day's awesomely weird runner's up.

SF in SF Special Events

Do you like Science Fiction? Do you like it in San Francisco? Well good! Because that's where we've got it.

First, it's not too late to RSVP to the special kid's movie event screening of How To Train Your Dragon. Suggested donation is 15$ for an adult with child, with additional adult, $5, additional child, $10. Film starts at noon, this Saturday, and you get FREE popcorn and candy!

Proceeds go to the Variety Children's Charity to help help buy pediatric wheelchairs.

Please RSVP by Thursday, April 22nd for this special event to sfinsfevents@gmail.com, and put “DRAGON” in your subject line.

Find out more at the SF in SF homepage.

Next, on Wednesday, April 28th come on down to the 2nd Annual Science Fiction and Fantasy art exhibit.

See local artist show off their amazing talent for strange landscapes, unknown creatures, and visual concepts that are definitely out of this world.

Wednesday, April 28 – 6:00PM – 9:00PM

Periscope Cellars

1410 62nd Street, Emeryville, CA

You don't want to miss this

Darkness Goes Down Choate Road

Gregory Hall over at horror blog Choate Road has just reviewed Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror.

Another factor I enjoyed is getting to read established and decorated writers I haven’t had a chance to dive into yet. In some instances, their stories were the ones I enjoyed the most. Steve Rasnic Tem hit me hard with his story ‘Heat’. I loved Terry Dowling’s ‘Stitch’. I am sad to admit I haven’t read as much Dan Simmons or Poppy Z Brite as I should have. But after being sucked in by their stories here, I’m going to change that.
...DARKNESS is about as close to horror perfection as any fan could ask for in an anthology.

Awesome! Glad you love the book as much as we do, Gregory.

Read the compete review over at Choate Road

Shambling Towards the Hugos

The Hugo Award nominations are out, and we are happy to announce that James Morrow's Shambling Toward Hiroshima has been nominated in the Best Novella category.

The Hugo Awards will be presented at Worldcon this September.

Announcing the Make-a-Genre Contest Winner!

And the winner is...Andrew Fox!

Despite it being a total conflict of interest (he's the author of Tachyon title, The Good Humor Man), Andrew Fox is the winner of our first annual Make-a-Genre contest!

Here's his submission:



FURRYPUNK: THE ANTHOLOGY

Writers are encouraged to revisit the realm of classic American animation to appropriate any characters which have fallen into the Public Domain. Said characters, rescued from obscurity, will inhabit a new "shared universe" where the iconography, costuming, and speech patterns of the Jazz Age and Depression America have been grafted onto the U.S.A. of the Obama Era,
creating a rich mise-en-scene wherein anthropomorphic animals can act out their antisocial impulses, interact with bizarre new technologies, experiment with interspecies sex, and work on their abandonment issues.

--

Andrew, your book will be published as soon as we get your money for it (see contest rules from yesterday's post). We accept checks, paypal, Visa/Mastercard (NOT Discover, who do you think we are?) but of course, cash is preferred.

Andrew will be at RavenCon next weekend, stop by if you're in the area and let him know how much you're looking forward to FURRYPUNK: THE ANTHOLOGY.

Make-a-Genre Contest

Well, if Locus says it, it *must* be true. See below for contest submission information.

Tachyon Publications Announces First Annual Make-a-Genre Contest

by C.J. Klempest
-posted @ 4/01/2010 12:01:00 AM PT

Tachyon Publications publisher Jacob Weisman today announced a competition to invent a new subgenre of science fiction and fantasy. "Over the past few years we've published a series of books which group writers who have never heard of one another into tightly-knit literary movements," says Weisman. "Our slipstream, steampunk, post-cyberpunk, and new weird anthologies have done very well for us."

However, since Tachyon's stable of editors has so far failed to come up with any new titles for the 2010-11 publishing season, Weisman has decided to turn to the general public for ideas. "Ideally we'd like a book that has makes the case that Stephen King, Audrey Niffenegger, Michael Crichton, Diana Gabaldon, Robert Jordan, Garrison Keillor, Neil Gaiman, and Nora Roberts have worked in close concert over the years to push speculative fiction to the cutting edge. Of course, the list of contributors is negotiable, depending on the genre you decide to invent. Just hit us with your best shot."

The Make-A-Genre contest is open to all readers and writers over the age of twenty-one.... "A catchy name for your genre is a definite plus," adds Bernie Goodman, Tachyon's Vice President of Long Range Planning. First prize is publication in Tachyon's fall list. "We're hoping to debut this book at the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus," says Weisman, "and if we get the response we anticipate, we'll continue the contest on a yearly basis."

***

So email Make.a.Genre@tachyonpublications.com with your entry. The winner gets to bankroll their own Tachyon anthology - all you have to do is put up the money for the story acquisitions; cover and interior art and design; copyediting/proofreading; printing advance galleys and finished books; PR (Matt Staggs will do you proud), and distribution fees. Submissions must be in by April 1st, 11:59 p.m. P.S.T.

Perhaps you will be inspired by the planned sequel to today's brand-new Tachyon release, The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals. Yes, it's the next VanderMeer/Evil Monkey instant classic, The Goyim Guide to Tainted Meats. So very delectable, yet so not for the faint of stomach.