Wild Cards Coming Atcha

February 13, 2017 at 2:03 pm

Got some cool stuff coming down the pike for Wild Cards fans… especially those of you who came in with INSIDE STRAIGHT or FORT FREAK or one of our other recent Tor originals, and have been seeking high and low for the older books ever since.

Many of those older books are, alas, still out of print. But Tor has reissued the first five volumes in trade paperback, and now we’re bring back volumes six and seven as well.

ACE IN THE HOLE is our sixth volume. Set during the dramatic (and bloody) Democratic National Convention of 1988, this one is a full mosaic, weaving together stories from Melinda M. Snodgrass (Dr. Tachyon), Walton Simons (Demise), Stephen Leigh (Puppetman), Walter Jon Williams (Golden Boy), and Victor Milan (Mackie Messer). Look for the new trade paperback on FEBRUARY 28.

DEAD MAN’S HAND, volume seven, is a companion piece to ACE IN THE HOLE. In fact, the two were actually one book, until it got too big and our publisher asked for a split. DMH takes place during the same week as AITH, the former mostly in New York City, the latter mostly in Atlanta. This one is a mosaic too, but with only two writers: John Jos. Miller writing Yeoman, and yours truly with Jay Ackroyd, aka Popinjay. Which makes it more of a collaborative novel, really. This is our noir novel, a classic mean streets murder mystery with superpowers. It will be great to have it back in print after so long. Look for it on JUNE 13.

((Both of those covers are by the amazing Michael Komarck. Do remember that name when you’re making your Hugo nominations for Best Professional Artist, Komarck is way overdue)).

OH, and hey… on other Wild Card fronts, there’s a cool new post up on the WC website, wherein David Anthony Durham confesses how he stole his IBT character from his son. 😉 You can check it out here:
http://www.wildcardsworld.com/

Fight the good fight, boys and girls. And remember, you can’t die yet, so haven’t seen the Jolson story.

Tags: tor, wild cards

Jimmy Is Coming

February 11, 2017 at 10:51 am

Come join us at the Jean Cocteau tomorrow.

James S.A. Corey — that famous two-headed science fiction writer, otherwise known as Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck — will be on hand at 1 pm to talk about his/ their latest installment in the Expanse series, BABYLON’S ASHES. And of course he/ they will be scribbling in books afterwards.

The fun starts at 1pm. Admission is free with the purchase of a hardcover book, $5 with the purchase of a paperback, and $10 without book purchase. You can call ahead and reserve a book if you like, and I do advise it; stocks are limited.

Daniel and Ty are also Wild Cards contributors (though Jimmy is not), the creators, respectively, of Jonathan Hive (Bugsy) on the one hand, and Tinkerbill and Horrorshow on t’other. And of course we’ll have piles of Wild Cards titles on hand for them to sign as well, along with the earlier books in the Expanse sequence, and lots of Daniel’s solo fantasy novels.

For what it’s worth, I loved BABYLON’S ASHES. One of the best Expanse books yet, and a novel that will certainly be on my own Hugo nomination ballot. If there’s any justice at all, it ought to be a finalist this year.

Might also mention that we have lots of other great guests and special events coming up at the JCC in the weeks and months to come. Comedian CARLOS MEDINA will be here on Tuesday, February 14, if you’d like to spend Valentine’s Day laughing. On March 13, Joe R. Lansdale His Own Self will be returning for a special screening of the second season of HAP & LEONARD… and of course to sign some of His Own Books as well. Further down the road, we’re expecting visits from JOHN NICHOLS and from TERRY BROOKS (not the same night, no), dates and details to come. And yes, we have MAX HEADROOM and H.P. LOVECRAFT coming as well! Visit the JCC website at http://jeancocteaucinema.com/ and sign up for our newsletter and e-mail blasts, and you’ll never need to miss one of our special events.

See you at the movies.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, jean cocteau cinema bookstore, signings

One of Our Aces Has Fallen

February 10, 2017 at 3:29 pm

Very sad news out of Denver for all readers of science fiction and fantasy, and for Wild Cards fans in particular. We’ve just received word that Ed Bryant has died.

Ed did reviews for LOCUS for years, and they’ve posted an excellent obituary for him… more complete than what I could have cobbled together. Find it here: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2017/02/edward-bryant-1945-2017/

In addition to all his other considerable accomplishments, however, Ed was also one of my Wild Cards writers. He’s been part of the series since the very beginning, contributing a story (a collaboration with his dear friend Leanne C. Harper) to the very first anthology, and appearing off and on in other volumes over the years. He created or co-created numerous Wild Cards characters, but the one he used most was Sewer Jack, the gay Cajun subway worker who turned into a twelve-foot long alligator in times of crisis.

Always a fan favorite, Sewer Jack was last seen in volume twelve, DEALER’S CHOICE… but, perhaps fittingly, he will be back for one last hurrah in the forthcoming volume MISSISSIPPI ROLL, in a story penned by David D. Levine. Ed read and approved David’s handling of his character, and was pleased to see him back on stage.

Here’s Ed at happier times, from the 1988 worldcon in New Orleans, when WILD CARDS was a finalist for a Hugo Award. We all dressed to the nines that night, and had a hell of a celebration afterwards, even though we lost to Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN.

I first met Ed in 1971 or 1972, either at a worldcon or perhaps at Harlan Ellison’s house. After so many decades, the details fade. But he’s been a friend for decades. We partied together at more cons than I can recall, competed for Hugos and Nebulas and occasionally for women, attended Milfords together and critiqued each other’s work. He visited Santa Fe and stayed at my house, I visited Denver and stayed at his.

Out here in the west, Ed was often asked to preside at cons as a toastmaster and master of ceremonies, a task at which he excelled. He had a wry, dry wit, always funny, never cruel. No one who attended the 1981 worldcon in Denver will ever forget Ed in his maroon tails presenting the Hugo Awards on roller skates. So far as I’m concerned, he’s right up there with Connie Willis and Robert Silverberg as the Best Hugo Hosts Ever.

Ed’s health had been failing for some years, sadly, and he was not able to attend as many cons as he had in the past. But I was fortunate enough to see him in November at Tuscon in Tucson, Arizona, where he was once again the toastmaster, and at MidAmericon II in Kansas City a few months before that. He was frailer than he used to be, but still the same old Ed, sharp and funny as ever

Fandom and the world of science fiction will miss his gentle wit, his easy laugh, his talent. For for those of us who were his brothers and sisters in Wild Cards, our universe will never be the same. One of our aces has fallen.

Tags: life and death, wild cards

Meow Wolf Gets Even Cooler

February 4, 2017 at 4:10 pm

Just wanted to give the locals… and anyone passing through the Land of Enchantment… the heads up that Meow Wolf is open again. The attraction was closed from January 17 to February 1, alas, but for all the best reasons. Not content to rest on their (by now considerable) laurels, the amazing Meow Wolf collective decided to make the House of Eternal Return even cooler by adding some new rooms and revamping some old ones. So now there are even more secrets to uncover and portals to explore.

Come check it out.

It’s been an amazing year for Meow Wolf, by the way… less than a year, actually, since we’re still a month and a half shy of our first anniversary. You always hope for success when starting any new project, and when the project is as new and different and creative as this one, you cross your fingers and mutter a prayer to whatever deities you believe in. A year ago, as the Meow Wolf artists were madly pushing to finish everything before the scheduled opening, the hope was that we would be able to draw 100,000 visitors to the attraction every year. If we managed 150,000, that would have been occasion for celebration. Well, Meow Wolf hit that mark within the first three months, and by now, some ten and a half months since the opening, more than 400,000 people have visited the House of Eternal Return.

If you’re not one of them, hey, you don’t know what you’re missing. Meow Wolf has become the most Instagramed place in New Mexico, surpassing even White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, and the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. And the reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp will blow your mind.

There has been all sorts of incredible recognition as well, even beyond the excitement and pleasure of all our visitors (especially the kids). In November, Meow Wolf won a THEA Award from the Themed Entertainment Association. https://meowwolf.com/2016/11/meow-wolf-wins-thea-award/ They will be collecting that in April at Disneyland. And the American Institute of Architects in Santa Fe voted Meow Wolf an award as well, for its fusion of art and architecture. http://www.aiasantafe.org/2016

It pleases me to observe that Meow Wolf is also reaching out to help other artists. Most recently, in the wake of the tragic Ghost Ship fire in Oakland that claimed the lives of 36 people, Meow Wolf has announced a hundred thousand dollar fund to help DIY (Do It Yourself) art and music spaces improve their venues and bring them up to code, so that horrors like the Oakland fire need never recur http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2016/12/13/meow-wolf-starts-fund-for-diy-artists-in-response.html (And in case you are wondering, the defunct bowling alley that houses Meow Wolf was brought completely up to code before opening, and is inspected regularly. In fact, the fire marshall was there two days ago, when I last visited, testing the ear-splitting fire alarm. There are smoke alarms all over the House of Eternal Return, much of it is fireproofed, and all of it is sprinklered. Wonders are wonderful, but we did all we could to put safety first).

All this success, all this coolness, all this good work… I can’t take credit for any of it, really. I am just the landlord. But I am proud to be associated with it. The artists and creators of Meow Wolf are an incredible bunch of people, and they’ve made Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the world a better place with their energy, imagination, and hard work.

And the best part is, they’ve just begun. Denver, Austin, Los Angeles, watch out for spiders and giant robots, you never know what might turn up on your doorstep.

Tags: artwork, meow wolf, santa fe

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