And now AJ has left us.

Algis Budrys was one of the greats. He did not write many novels, compared to some, but the quality of his work was second to none. MICHAELMAS and ROGUE MOON and WHO were his masterpieces, and all three deserve a place among the classics of our genre, but HARD LANDING and THE FALLING TORCH and even THE AMSIRS AND THE IRON THORN are worth a read as well. He was also, for many decades, the field’s leading critic and reviewer. Like many other young turks of my generation, I remember waiting for AJ’s review — it was the one that counted.

Later in life, he became a mainstay of the Writers of the Future contest, but he was always a teacher. He was one of the charter members of the Windy City Writers Workshop that I founded during my years in Chicago, always willing to share his time, energy, and insights with the younger neopros who made up most of the group. He taught at Clarion as well, and of course he was one of the Milford Mafia, way back when Damon Knight first started the workshop.

Author, teacher, critic, scholar, he was all that, and a genial host and good guy as well. There was no one better to lift a glass with at a con. And he knew where all the bodies were buried too. Some of the stories he told… but no, I better not.

First Arthur C. Clarke, and now AJ Budrys. This is turning into a real bad year for science fiction.

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Parris is off to Ireland once again, and once again she’s having trouble.

Her flight was supposed to leave Albuquerque for Chicago at 1:15, but at last report was still sitting on the runway, with all the passengers aboard. The reason given was bad weather in Chicago. If and when she takes off, she may or may not make her Dublin connection at O’Hare. The key there is whether ALL the flights are being delayed, or just some. She had two hours to make that connection, but of course the delays have eaten up that cushion.

I know some of her Irish friends read this LJ. I’ll let you know the latest when I hear from her… but be advised, she may not be showing up on schedule.

Meanwhile, I’m still here, still holding down the fort, working on DANCE, on Vance, on WARRIORS, on WILD CARDS.

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Music: Nashville Cats
Talked to Bill Schafer of Subterranean Press today, and he told me that the lettered and numbered limited edition runs of SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH have already sold out half their scheduled print-runs, just in… what, three, four days since they were announced.

So if you’re a Jack Vance fan, a Tom Kidd fan, or a fan of Kage Baker, Neil Gaiman, Dan Simmons, Terry Dowling, Matthew Hughes, John C. Wright, Phyllis Eisenstein, Liz Williams, Tad Williams, Walter Jon Williams, Robert Silverberg, Howard Waldrop, or any of the other writers who will contributing, you really do want to reserve a copy now.

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Music: Benson, Arizona
Our Jack Vance tribute anthology, SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, is coming along wonderfully, with more stories arriving every day, so Subterranean Press has started taking pre-orders for their numbered and lettered limited editions of the book, illustrated by Tom Kidd.

Here’s an advance peek at Tom’s cover painting. It’s not quite done, but this will give you the flavor of it. The scene depicts the ruins of the Museum of Man. I’ve seen the rough sketches of some of Tom’s interiors as well, and those should be great as well.

But there’s no sense in me telling you all about the wonders of the book when Subterranean’s website does that for me. Go check it out at http://www.subterraneanpress.com/ and place your order soon. Jack Vance has a lot of fans, and we expect these editions to go fast.

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Music: Benson, Arizona
This is for my Spanish readers… especially those who do not check my Appearances page regularly (though if you don’t, you should).

I will be heading over to Spain and Portugal in July. Here are some of my scheduled appearances for the Spanish portion of my tour:

July 10 – Signing at Generación X bookstore, C/ Puebla, 15, 28004 Madrid, Spain (+34 91 521 99 85)

July 11-15 – Guest at Semana Negra, Gijon, Spain
signings, speeches, panel discussions, readings

July 17 – lecture at Jaume Fuster Public Library
Biblioteca Jaume Fuster, Districte Gràcia
Plaça Lesseps, 20-22, 08023 Barcelona (Tel. +34 93 3684564)

July 18 – Signing at NH Podium Hotel
10:00-13:30h, 16:00h-20:00h
C/ Bailén, 4-6, 08010 Barcelona (Tel.: +34.93.2650202 Fax: +34.93.2650506)

Dates and details for the Portugese portion for my trip (the week before Spain) are forthcoming. When I have them, I will post them here, but watch my Appearances page for changes, corrections, additions, etc.

If you’re in Spain and would like to get a book signed, hear me talk, hear me read, ask me a few questions, turn up at one of these events. I’ll be glad to meet you. I especially recommend Semana Negra, the amazing pop culture festival in Gijon, which will feature lots of other exciting guests from the worlds of mystery, comics, SF, fantasy, thrillers, from all over the world, and a carnival to boot. Parris and I had a wonderful time the last time we attended, eating dinner at midnight and drinking sangria in the booth of the red chicken.

I also hope to make it down south to visit the Rock of Gibraltar (my model for Casterly Rock) and the Alhambra, but so far no public events are scheduled for that portion of the tour. If that changes, new events will be adding on my appearances page.

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Music: Money for Nothing, and Your Chicks For Free
… about the two big anthologies that I’m editing with Gardner Dozois for Tor Books. Well, they’re both coming together very nicely, thanks.

For WARRIORS, our huge crossgenre anthology about war, warriors, and the warrior ethos, we’ve got stories in from Robert Silverberg, Joe Haldeman, Cecilia Holland, David Morrell, Lawrence Block, and Robin Hobb. Robin’s novelette is the latest to turn up, a terrific tale called “The Triumph,” about two Romans captured by the Carthaginians during the First Punic War. But Carthage is the least of their problems… Joe Haldeman gave us a story set in the ‘Soldierboy’ universe of his Hugo-winning novel FOREVER PEACE. Vikings, serial killers, the French Foreign Legion, this book is going to have it all.

Meanwhile, the Jack Vance tribute anthology SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH is also moving right along, with fine stories already on hand from Kage Baker, Tanith Lee, Robert Silverberg, Glen Cook, Terry Dowling, and Liz Williams, and manuscripts from Lucius Shepard, Walter Jon Williams, and Jeff Vandermeer expected any day now. The latest arrival is from Kage Baker, who did a Cugel the Clever story that was a delight from start to finish. Don’t know Cugel? Shame on you. In her afterword Kage describes him as a cross between Wile E. Coyote and Harry Flashman, and that’s about right. I’d rank him as one of the great characters of modern fantasy, right up there with Conan the Barbarian, Elric of Melnibone, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Jirel of Joiry, and those guys with the hairy feet from Tolkien. A visit from Cugel is like a visit from an old friend… albeit the sort of old friend where you’d do well to count the silverware after he leaves.

Besides the stories, I’ve also been seeing some of the rough sketches for the interior illustratons that Tom Kidd will be doing for Subterranean Press’s signed limited edition of SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH, and those look spectacular as well. Eventually, when we have the final art, I’ll post a few samples here to give you all a taste.

Lots more cool stuff is coming on both books. Diana Gabaldon, Howard Waldrop (twice), Neil Gaiman (twice), Tad Williams, Dan Simmons, Peter S. Beagle, Lucius Shepard, and many more. And I get to read all the stories first. Editing is fun.

So that’s where we stand on that, and thanks for asking.

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Music: Wild Thing
… that the second issue of THE HARD CALL comic is now on sale.

Story and script by Daniel Abraham, art by Eric Battle.

So run down to your favorite comic store and get a copy. Slug girls, serial killers, and Croyd Crenson, what more could you want?

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Music: The Only Living Boy in New York
Parris is off in Kansas City, having fun at ConQuest. I’m here at home, working, working, working. It’s not fair, it isn’t. Waaaah.

I am getting a lot done. Finished an Arya chapter yesterday, and a Sansa chapter the day before. (And before you guys assume I’m writing a chapter a day, I said “finished,” not “wrote.” Large portions of these particular chapters were written years ago. A chapter a day? I wish). Felt good to get them done. Been making a lot of progress with Dany too.

Even so, the time is going by so fast. I grow ever more pessimistic, but I can’t think about dates and deadlines now. My mantra remains the same. One chapter at a time, one page at a time, one sentence at a time.

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Parris is home from Ireland, hurrah, hurrah. And I’m feeling much better than when I last posted, hardly coughing at all. So all that’s good.

Losing a couple weeks to sickness was not good, however. It has put me further behind with everything, and I was already pretty far behind. I have to start thinking about that, or I’ll go mad. One day at a time. One page at a time. One word at a time.

June is coming up too fast.

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Sorry I haven’t posted lately. Haven’t done much of anything this past week except (1) cough, (2) watch the NFL draft, (3) hack up phlegm, (4) cough some more.

Just saw my doc. Looks like I have bronchitis. Got an RX for some antibiotics that should take care of it. But I probably won’t be blogging much in the next week or so. What little energy I do have will be used for work.

Later, guys.

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