From England, England hails this fellow, an ideal choice. He’s been a madman, a nut, a spud, a martian, a king, and a slaver, he’s gone up with a balloon and down with a ship. But why he is so sad when he’s stroked so many women?
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The Clarion West writer’s workshop in Seattle has announced its lineup of instructors for 2012.
I’m one of them.
Here’s the scoop:
http://www.clarionwest.org/
The Clarion workshops are a sort of writer’s boot camp. They’re not for everyone — the criticism can be intense — but for those who are willing to live, eat, drink, and breathe SF and fantasy for a summer, there’s no better training. Admission is pretty competitive as well. Many apply, few are chosen.
But over the decades Clarion and Clarion West have turned out more professional SF and fantasy writers than all the college creative writing programs in the country combined.
Scholarships are available for those who cannot afford the tuition.
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And this year it’s… drum roll, please… GAME OF THRONES.
GOT just took the “Outstanding New Program” award at the 2011 TCA awards, voted by the members of the Television Critics of America, an organization of professional television critics, reviewers, and journalists.
Here’s the scoop:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/friday-night-lights-game-thrones-220054
Goes without saying that we’re all jazzed.
Thanks to all the members of the TCA for the recognition, and to Dan and David and the rest of their team, whose efforts produced a series we can all be proud of.
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Cool news from Valyrian Steel. Their full-sized steel replica of Ice is now ready and shipping.
Mine turned up a few days ago. If you preordered, you should have yours as well.
And if not, well, there’s still time to arm yourself for the invasion of the Others and/or the zombie apocolypse, whichever comes first.
Order from Valyrian Steel at http://www.valyriansteel.com/shop/swords/ice-sword-of-eddard-stark/prod_9.html
(I should note, for those who came in late, that the Valyrian Steel replica is derived from the blade in the books, and is NOT modeled on the version seen in the HBO television show. HBO preferred to make its own versions).
Replicas of Longclaw and Needle remain available as well, while the supply lasts.
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Dunk and Egg are contending in another tourney. The third of my Dunk & Egg novellas, “The Mystery Knight,” has been announced as a finalist for this year’s World Fantasy Award.
Here’s the full list of this year’s nominees:
BEST NOVEL
* Zoo City, Lauren Beukes (Jacana South Africa; Angry Robot)
* The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
* The Silent Land, Graham Joyce (Gollancz; Doubleday)
* Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay (Viking Canada; Roc; Harper Voyager UK)
* Redemption In Indigo, Karen Lord (Small Beer)
* Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
BEST NOVELLA
* Bone and Jewel Creatures, Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean)
* The Broken Man, Michael Byers (PS)
* !œThe Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon!, Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All-New Tales)
* The Thief of Broken Toys, Tim Lebbon (ChiZine Publications)
* !œThe Mystery Knight!, George R.R. Martin (Warriors)
* !œThe Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window!, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer 2010)
BEST SHORT FICTION
* !œBeautiful Men! , Christopher Fowler (Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels and Heavenly Hosts)
* !œBooth’s Ghost!, Karen Joy Fowler (What I Didn’t See and Other Stories)
* !œPonies!, Kij Johnson (Tor.com 11/17/10)
* !œFossil-Figures!, Joyce Carol Oates (Stories: All-New Tales)
* !œTu Sufrimiento Shall Protect Us!, Mercurio D. Rivera (Black Static 8-9/10)
BEST ANTHOLOGY
* The Way of the Wizard, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Prime)
* My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, Kate Bernheimer, ed. (Penguin)
* Haunted Legends, Ellen Datlow & Nick Mamatas, eds. (Tor)
* Stories: All-New Tales, Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio, eds. (Morrow; Headline Review)
* Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, S.T. Joshi, ed. (PS)
* Swords & Dark Magic, Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders, eds. (Eos)
BEST COLLECTION
* What I Didn’t See and Other Stories, Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer)
* The Ammonite Violin & Others, CaitlÃn R. Kiernan (Subterranean)
* Holiday, M. Rickert (Golden Gryphon)
* Sourdough and Other Stories, Angela Slatter (Tartarus)
* The Third Bear, Jeff VanderMeer (Tachyon)
BEST ARTIST
* Vincent Chong
* Kinuko Y. Craft
* Richard A. Kirk
* John Picacio
* Shaun Tan
SPECIAL AWARD, PROFESSIONAL
* John Joseph Adams, for editing and anthologies
* Lou Anders, for editing at Pyr
* Marc Gascoigne, for Angry Robot
* Stéphane Marsan & Alain Névant, for Bragelonne
* Brett Alexander Savory & Sandra Kasturi, for ChiZine Publications
SPECIAL AWARD, NON-PROFESSIONAL
* Stephen Jones, Michael Marshall Smith, & Amanda Foubister, for Brighton Shock!: The Souvenir Book Of The World Horror Convention 2010
* Alisa Krasnostein, for Twelfth Planet Press
* Matthew Kressel, for Sybil’s Garage and Senses Five Press
* Charles Tan, for Bibliophile Stalker
* Lavie Tidhar, for The World SF Blog
The winners will be announced Halloween weekend at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego, California. The award is a wonderfully gloomy bust of H.P. Lovecraft sculpted by Gahan Wilson.
I have one Howie on my awards shelf already, a best novella award for my werewolf story “The Skin Trade,” published lo these many years ago when the world was young… but he has a lonely look about him, and ‘twould be nice to have another. Hey, it’s always nice to get a little head. Not that I’m expecting to win. Unlike the Hugo and the Nebula, the World Fantasy Award is juried, so one never knows how it’s going to turn out.
“The Mystery Knight” was published in WARRIORS, the big crossgenre anthology I edited with Gardner Dozois. If you’d like to check it out, paperback copies are available from Amazon and other on-line bookshops.
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And here’s my appearance in Seattle, courtesy of Vimeo, Suvudu, and the University Book Store.
<lj-embed id=”196″/>
Any resemblence to my pre-signing remarks in Burlington, New York City, Indianapolis, San Diego, LA, Redwood City, Denver, and Lexington is entirely… ah… intentional.
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For those of you who couldn’t be there, here’s my interview at Google.
<lj-embed id=”197″/>
The Google campus was pretty amazing. Must be a fun place to work. I especially liked the slide who those who want to get to the ground floor quickly…
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Down under he was the voice of wisdom.
Later on he was the voice of everyone.
Now he’s wisdom.
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… this week, anyway.
Talking NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list now. Other lists may differ.
Between my book tour and the madness that is San Diego Comicon, I was too busy to post the requisite squeal of glee, but hey, better late than never.
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS debuted at #1 on the NYTimes list the week it came out. A “very strong” number one, my publishers tell me. (Though no number #1 can truly be said to be weak).
It held on to to the top slot the following week, despite a strong challenge from a thriller author who normally debuts at #1.
And yesterday, in its third week of release, DANCE slipped to the second spot, shoved aside by the new Harry Dresden novel from Jim Butcher.
I am also told that DANCE sold 298,000 copies on its first day of release, the biggest first day sale for any work of fiction released in 2011.
((And all this is just in the US. DANCE has been doing awfully well in the UK as well)).
So… all is good.
My thanks go out to all of you, my fans and readers, for your enthusiasm and support. It’s in no small part thanks to you spreading the word that DANCE has achieved these record sales. There’s no substitute for good word of mouth. ((Though having a hit series on HBO does not hurt either. Thanks, guys)).
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Here’s a new interview with me… for those of you who speak Polish.
http://e.czaskultury.pl/czytanka/rozmowy/718-nikt-nie-chce-sie-znalezc-w-prologu
At this stage, fifty interviews later, I have no idea what I said.
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