Five Weeks of Tachyon at Free Book Friday

Attention all freebie lovers, Lit Drift's Free Book Friday will be giving away Tachyon books for the next five weeks!

This week's book is The Cat's Pajamas and Other Stories by James Morrow, so head over to Lit Drift's Free Book Friday page. All you have to do is leave a comment in the post and you will be entered to win.

Good luck!

Win a Free Copy of The Very Best of Charles de Lint!

Want a free de Lint book? Here's how to get a free Very Best of Charles de Lint of your very own. Just go to the contest page on SF Site, answer the questions correctly, and you will be entered to win.

Good luck!

Come See Brian and Wendy Froud Tonight!

Attention faerie-loving Bay Area residents! Want to see Dark Crystal and Labyrinth artists Brian and Wendy Froud tonight? Of course you do!

Come down to the Variety Preview Room tonight to hear the renowned pair discuss their new box set, The Heart Of Faerie Oracle

As conceptual designer for Dark Crystal, Brian Froud provided Henson with hundreds of paintings, drawings and sculptures to define the characters, and worked very closely with the construction of the maquettes. Wendy Froud, a key member of the original conceptual team, was in charge of creating the Gelflings and also operated the radio-control mechanism that gave Jen his subtle facial expressions. For Labyrinth, Brian produced the drawings that gave inspiration to screenwriter, Terry Jones.

Wendy Froud was also part of the team that created Yoda for The Empire Strikes Back, doing a major part of the developing, sculpting and puppet building.

Seated is first come first serve, but you can email sfinsfevents@gmail.com to reserve up to two seats.

The Variety Preview Room
582 Market St. @ Montgomery
1st floor of The Hobart Bldg.
Doors open at 6:00PM
Cash Bar - Proceeds to Variety
Readings begin at 7:00PM

See you there!

Let's Go to the Third Bear Carnival!

Don't worry, it's a metaphorical carnival. An actual Third Bear carnival would probably be a major violation of the Department of Parks and Recreation's safety standards.

This particular carnival is on Matt Cheney's blog, and features a collection of various writer's reaction's to stories in Jeff VanderMeer's The Third Bear. Some are hilarious, some are critical analysis, and one is a comic strip! More will be added soon, so stay tuned.

Click Here to Visit the Third Bear Carnival


In other VanderNews, Richard Dansky over at fantasy-magazine.com has written a great review of The Third Bear.

The back cover text for Jeff VanderMeer’s short fiction collection The Third Bear makes it very clear that this ain’t your daddy’s short story collection. The contents are explicitly called out as “surreal and absurdist”, and the stories live up to this billing. No good versus evil here, no heroes or villains or tidy endings pop up amongst the talking rockhopper penguins and symbiotic flying manta rays and alternate 9/11s. Even the title of the collection, drawn from the lead story, is a warning not to expect the obvious.
...Crisp, elegant slightly detached prose and stories... much to admire and enjoy.

Read the rest here

James Morrow Wins the Sturgeon Award

Congratulations to James Morrow! Shambling Toward Hiroshima has won this years Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best novella.

Yet another reason to check out this great piece if you haven't already.

Click here to see a list of the finalists, all great stuff.

The Very Best of Summer Reading

Need some summer reading? Of course you do. The Very Best of Charles de Lint has made io9's list of genre fiction that you should definitely bring along on your summer vacation...or to the office, for those of us who don't get summer vacation.

Check out the entire list here! And remember, even if you don't get a real vacation, you can at least take your brain on one.

And if you're still not sure that The Very Best of Charles de Lint really is THE VERY BEST of Charles de Lint, well, maybe FantasyLiterature.com can convince you.

It's Friday Night, Let's See Some Art (and Zombies)!

Live in the San Francisco Bay Area? Need something to do tonight (July 2nd)? Good news! You can head on down to the Variety Preview Room for a night of art, wine, and zombies.

Science Fiction in San Francisco is hosting a reception for printmaker Daisy Eneix. Come have wine and snacks and enjoy Eneix's new twist on the age old art of brass rubbing. For more info on Daisy, check out her website.

Then, stick around for the SF in SF movie night. Tonight's showing is the pre-release screening of [REC]2, the hit Spanish horror film which was remade in the US as Quarantine. [REC]2 starts off 15 minutes after the first film left off, but it can stand alone so if you haven't seen the original don't let that stop you from coming. This film doesn't open to the public until July 9th, so catching tonight's showing gives you bonus bragging points for seeing it first.

So don't stay home tonight, hop on the BART and head to the Variety Preview Room. Art reception starts at 5:30, movie starts at 7:30. And don't forget to drop a $5 in the donation box or buy a drink, because all proceeds go to the Variety Children's Charity.

More love for The Third Bear

The Sacramento Book Review has just posted a great review of Jeff Vandermeer's The Third Bear:

"Many are reminiscent of Japanese surrealist author Haruki Murakami, whose characters’ ordinary desires and fears lead them to bizarre encounters.

Lushly imaginative and thick with atmosphere, the meanings prove elusive while the stories brim with emotions, ranging from horror, alienation, and sorrow to humor, curiosity, and love. VanderMeer’s stories are provocative marvels which collectively build into something colossally unforgettable."

Read the rest of the review here