Hugo Thoughts: Best Novel

February 27, 2017 at 12:54 pm

The Big One.

I read a lot of novels. I became a voracious reader as a kid, and very little has changed since… well, no, one thing has changed. I no longer feel an obsessive need to finish every book I start. Some just don’t hold my interest, and I find myself putting them aside and picking up something else. Sometimes I return to the books I’ve put aside and sometimes I don’t.

One of life’s greatest pleasures, for me, is finding a book that’s so bloody damn good that it won’t LET me put it aside. The kind of book that grabs me by the throat and will not let me go. Those sorts of books are not easy to find, but I treasure the authors who deliver them regularly.

Jack Vance had that effect on me, for decades. Bernard Cornwell still does. Stephen King too. Once I start a book by any of these worthies, I am hooked. I will keep reading till the end.

Recently I have had to add James S.A. Corey to that list. Which is annoying, because I know both halves of James S.A. Corey. One of them was a student of mine. The other was my proto-minion. How the hell did they get so damned good?

However they did it, it’s done. Now, I am sure there were lots of great SF and fantasy novels published during 2016 that I have not read yet (I read lots of books, like I said, but not all are SF or fantasy, I read lots of history and mystery and historical fiction and biographies and non-fiction as well, and I read older books too, not just stuff from the current awards year, so I’m always trying to catch up). Of all the SF novels from 2016 that I have read, however, this was the best:

For me, it wasn’t even close. I expect I will fill in all six slots on my Hugo nomination form with the titles of worthy contenders, but this will be the first one I write down.

I commend it to your attention. Jimmy Corey deserves his shot at The Big One.

((Which frosts my ass. Because if Jimmy actually WINS the Hugo, Ty will be unbearable.))

P.S. The EXPANSE tv series is amazing too. Have you guys been watching season two? I’m also going to be nominating “Leviathan Wakes,” the final episode of season one, for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

Tags: awards, hugo awards, television

A Damned Good Read

December 24, 2016 at 5:27 pm

Let me get the taste of this week’s football out of my mouth and turn to a more pleasant subject — the latest volume in the Expanse series, BABYLON’S ASHES, which I just finished reading a few days ago.

You know, for a voracious reader like myself, life has few pleasures that compare to finding a really good book, the sort that grabs you from page one and won’t let go, so you find yourself late at night, wanting to sleep but thinking, “Just one more chapter, just one more chapter,” until dawn breaks and you’ve read the whole damned thing.

That’s BABYLON’S ASHES. The Expanse series has been terrific from the beginning, but it went to a new level with the last volume, NEMESIS GAMES, which should have been a Hugo finalist last year. This new one is just as good. It will definitely be one of the books on my own nominating ballot. Jimmy Corey (who is really Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham in a two-man pantomime horse costume) just keeps getting better.

It also occurs to me that BABYLON’S ASHES would make a very worthy nominee for the new awards that Atlanta’s Dragoncon has started, the Dragon Awards. The Dragons, given for the first time last year, aspire to be the People’s Choice Awards of SF and fantasy… and could well achieve that if they can get sufficient participation from all sectors of fandom. Unlike the Hugo Awards, the Dragons have no short fiction categories, but they do give a number of awards for novel: best sf, best fantasy, best horror, best military SF, etc. “Military SF” has become popular enough to be regarded as its own category these days, it would seem. (Which was not formerly the case. Heinlein’s STARSHIP TROOPERS and Haldeman’s FOREVER WAR both won Hugo Awards simply as Best Novel back in the day, and — together perhaps with Gordy Dickson’s Dorsai series — pretty much defined what is known as ‘Milsf’ today).

One of the joys of the Expanse series is the way Jimmy Corey dances between subgenres. The series is certainly science fiction, no doubt of that, but assigning it to any particular sub-genre is more more difficult. Some parts read like space opera, some parts strike me as hard SF. The first book, LEVIATHAN WAKES, had some pretty strong horror elements with its vomit zombies, and also a real noir-ish mystery feel in the Miller chapters. With BABYLON’S ASHES, however, the war comes center stage, and we are definitely in the realm of Military SF. Lots of action, lots of tension, lots of battle… with some great world-building and characters you really care about. So I’m thinking, if we are going to have special awards for Mil-SF, I cannot think of a more worthy contender than the new Corey. So… Hugo, Dragon, or whatever, I commend BABYLON’S ASHES to your consideration. I think you’ll like it. I sure did.

Oh, and speaking of THE EXPANSE… there’s a second season of the TV show coming at us as well. Here’s a trailer for it.

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Tags: awards, hugo award, science fiction, television

Three Thoughts

December 12, 2016 at 5:36 pm

Just a grab bag of thoughts and opinions I’ve been meaning to share…

I never had the honor of meeting John Glenn, but his death saddened me. The last of the Mercury Seven. I am old enough to remember when NASA first introduced them to the world… and incidentally coined the term “astronaut” (before that, we called them “spacemen”). The dawn of the space age! An age, sadly, that now seems to be passing, at least insofar as manned exploration is concerned. If you had asked me in 1961, I would have said by 2017 we would certainly have a base on the moon, and maybe one on Mars. Hard to believe all seven are gone. They were all heroes to me.

Now that WESTWORLD has finished its first season, I see that HBO is going to be rerunning its crime and courtroom drama, THE NIGHT OF. If you missed it last time, don’t make that mistake again. Yes, it’s very dark, but damn, this is brilliant television, with a bravura performance by John Turturro at its heart that ought to win him a whole shelf full of awards, if there is any justice.

Emily St. John Mandel appeared at the Jean Cocteau Cinema last month (you can find my post about her downstream), and I had the honor of interviewing her. I had long been an admirer of her SF novel, STATION ELEVEN, which I thought deserving of a Hugo nod… but at the time of her appearance, I had not read any of her three earlier novels. She was such a charming and fascinating guest, however, that I made up for that lack afterward, and now I am even more impressed with her talent than I was before. LAST NIGHT IN MONTREAL, THE SINGER’S GUN, and THE LOLA QUARTET are not science fiction or fantasy — don’t know how to characterize them, “literary noir” is about the best I can do — but damned, they are good. Fascinating characters, original stories, and such gorgeous prose. Rich, evocative, beautiful writing, but never intrusive. She makes her people and her places come alive in a way that draws you in and will not let you go. I can’t wait to read what she does next.

Tags: life and death, television

Rock On

December 10, 2016 at 12:24 pm

So we were watching Dennis Leary’s rock comedy SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL t’other night. The plot of this episode involved Gigi firing her band, the Assassins, and bringing on a new band of younger musicians to take their place.

The name of new young (fictional) band was… wait for it… Red Wedding.

Sooner or later, everything comes around in a big circle, doesn’t it?

In 1983, when I wrote my rock novel THE ARMAGEDDON RAG, the name of my own (fictional) band was… wait for it… the Nazgul.

Rock on, friends.

Tags: novels, television, the writing life

Some Hugo Picks

December 5, 2016 at 4:07 pm

December has come, and the end of 2016 (thank god, what a bloody awful year) will be upon us in a few more weeks. Which means, inevitably, that people will soon be drawing up lists of the year’s best books, stories, television shows, and movies… for the Hugo Awards, the Emmys, the Oscars, the Dragons, the Tiptrees, the Nebulas, the World Fantasy Awards… or just for the fun of it.

For my part, I already know what two of my Hugo nominations for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form will be.

ARRIVAL, to start with. Terrific adaptation of a classic story by Ted Chiang. Brilliant performance from Amy Adams. (She is always great, I think, but this was her best role to date). A real science fiction story, not a western in space. Intelligent, thought-provoking, with some wonderfully alien aliens.

And WESTWORLD, season one, from HBO. Of course, as with GAME OF THRONES, one can nominate individual episodes of this one in Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form… but for me it makes more sense to nominate the entire season in Long Form. (GAME OF THRONES season one was nominated in this fashion at Chicago, and won). It really is one very long, complex, wonderfully rich story, with great acting, writing, and directing, and the usual spectacular HBO production values. Like ARRIVAL, this is one that bears repeated re-viewing, and requires some thought. The Academy will likely nominate WESTWORLD for a shelf full of Emmys. I hope fandom recognizes its brilliance as well. This is a story about the nature of sentience and the cost of being human, a commentary on our society and (especially) on the ways we choose to entertain ourselves, full of twists and turns and gut punches and reveals and surprises, all masterfully delivered by Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy.

(GAME OF THRONES is also eligible for Hugo nomination this year, of course. The entire sixth season in Long Form, or individual episodes of same in Short Form. However, because of the air dates and eligibility periods, GOT will not be in the running for the Emmy Awards this year, so WESTWORLD will have a clear run at those… contending, of course, with BETTER CALL SAUL, OUTLANDER, and all of the other terrific dramas out there).

There were other good movies and television shows released in 2016, and I have no doubt that some of them will find places on my own personal Hugo ballot as well… but honestly, I cannot imagine that I will like any of them as well as I liked ARRIVAL and WESTWORLD.

Tags: awards, television

Emmys, Emmys, Emmys

September 13, 2016 at 6:20 pm

GAME OF THRONES kicked ass and took names last weekend in LA, at the Creative Arts Emmys, racking up nine victories, way more than any other show.

“Dominates,” the Hollywood press is saying. Hey, cool, I will go with that.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/creative-arts-emmys-game-thrones-927671

GAME OF THRONES took home the Emmys for casting, for makeup (non-prosthetic), for makeup (prosthetic).

Also for production design, for costuming, and for sound mixing.

And for editing, for stunt coordination, and for special visual effects (that was the fifth consecutive win for our SFX guys)

I’d say “eight is enough, and nine is even better,” but we also lost some… so instead I will just say congratulations to all our winners, and condolences to all our losers, and to all the other nominees as well. Hugo, Nebula, Oscar, or Emmy, it IS an honor just to be nominated.

With these nine wins, GAME OF THRONES has now taken home more Emmy Awards than any other drama in the entire history of television. That is a tribute to HBO, which truly has no rivals when it comes to production quality, and to David Benioff and Dan Weiss and the outrageously talented cast and crew they assembled to bring the Seven Kingdoms and their people to life. I have been thrilled to be a part of this.

And who knows? There are more Emmys Awards this weekend, so we may not be done making television history quite yet. Tune in on Sunday night to find out.

Tags: awards, emmy awards, game of thrones, hbo, television

The Wild Cards Are Coming… to Television

August 8, 2016 at 2:03 pm

We have some exciting new for all the Wild Cards fans out there.

Universal Cable Productions (UCP) has acquired the rights to adapt our long-running Wild Cards series of anthologies and mosaic novels for television. Development will begin immediately on what we hope will be the first of several interlocking series. Melinda M. Snodgrass, my assistant editor and right-hand man on Wild Cards since its inception, the creator of Dr. Tachyon, Double Helix, and Franny Black, and a seasoned television writer/ producer whose credits include STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (“Measure of a Man”), REASONABLE DOUBTS, THE PROFILER, and STAR COMMAND, is attached as an executive producer on the project, together with Gregory Noveck of RED, Slow Learner, and SyFy Films

UCP creates innovative and critically acclaimed television and digital content across various media platforms for domestic and international distribution. Their programming can be seen across numerous networks and channels across the world, and includes the Golden Globe and Peabody award-winning drama MR. ROBOT, the exciting new SF series COLONY, PLAYING HOUSE, ROYAL PAINS, and SUITS on the USA Network; Lev Grossman’s brilliant THE MAGICIANS, 12 MONKEYS, and KILLJOYS on SyFY; GIRLFRIENDS’ GUIDE TO DIVORCE on Bravo; THE ROYALS on E!; and DIFFICULT PEOPLE on Hulu. UCP’s content library includes such fan favorites such as the Emmy-award winning MONK, PYSCH, and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Universal Cable Productions is a part of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. (Follow them at @UCPisTV).

The shared world of the Wild Cards diverged from our own on September 15, 1946 when an alien virus was released in the skies over Manhattan, and spread across an unsuspecting Earth. Of those infected, 90% died horribly, drawing the black queen, 9% were twisted and deformed into jokers, while a lucky 1% became blessed with extraordinary and unpredictable powers and became aces. The world was never the same.

The first volume of the Wild Cards series was published in 1986, and was a finalist for that year’s Hugo Award, ultimately losing to Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN. Twenty-two volumes have been published to date, with a twenty-third (HIGH STAKES) scheduled for hardcover release later this month, and three more in the works. Translations and reprints of many of the Wild Cards books and stories have been published around the globe, in France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Comic books, graphic novels, and role-playing games have also chronicled the adventures of the aces and jokers of the WC universe.

Generations of writers, from bold new voices to visionary grand masters, have contributed to the Wild Cards universe over the past three decades. Our roster of writers and creators includes Howard Waldrop, Walter Jon Williams, Stephen Leigh, Victor Milan, John Jos. Miller, Gail Gerstner Miller, Edward Bryant, Leanne C. Harper, Arthur Byron Cover, Chris Claremont, Lewis Shiner, Walton (Bud) Simons, Steve Perrin, Royce Wideman, Pat Cadigan, Sage Walker, Laura J. Mixon, Parris, William F. Wu, Michael Cassutt, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Daniel Abraham, Ty Franck, Bob Wayne, S.L. Farrell, Carrie Vaughn, Caroline Spector, Christopher Rowe, Ian Tregillis, David D. Levine, David Anthony Durham, Cherie Priest, Paul Cornell, Craig Chrissinger, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Max Gladstone, Marko Kloos, Diana Rowland, Bradley Denton, Saladin Ahmed, the late great Roger Zelazny, and of course Melinda Snodgrass and yours truly.

Wild Cards is a series of books, graphic novels, games… but most of all it is a universe, as large and diverse and exciting as the comic book universes of Marvel and DC (though somewhat grittier, and considerably more realistic and more consistent), with an enormous cast of characters both major and minor. There are thousands of stories to be told in the world of the Wild Cards, and Gregory and Melinda and UPC hope to be able to tell many of them.

Which stories will be adapted? Which characters will be featured? Hard to say at this early stage. Let’s see… we have Jetboy, the Four Aces, Dr. Tachyon, the Great and Powerful Turtle, Modular Man, Yeoman, Wraith, Cap’n Trips, Fortunato, Puppetman, Chrysalis, Popinjay, the Oddity, Father Squid, Water Lily, Sewer Jack, Bagabond, Peregrine, Carnifex, Infamous Black Tongue, Bugsy, Curveball, Earth Witch, Cameo, Elephant Girl, Demise, Ramshead, Mackie Messer, Mr. Nobody, Double Helix, the Amazing Bubbles, Stuntman, Rustbelt, Lohengrin, Hoodoo Mama, Drummer Boy, Abigail the Understudy, the Midnight Angel, and many many MANY more. Which ones will you see? I don’t know. Which ones do you want to see? Tell us below, in the comments. I am sure that Melinda and Gregory and UPC will be listening.

Only one thing I can say for (almost) sure. You will be seeing Croyd Crenson, no matter shape the eventual show or shows ends up taking. It wouldn’t be Wild Cards without the Sleeper.

So there it is. I hope you’re as excited as I am. Of course, Hollywood is Hollywood, and nothing is ever certain in development… but I think I hope I cross my fingers that the Wild Cards will be coming to your home screens in the next year or two.

I won’t be working on the series myself… my own development deal is exclusive to HBO, and I am writing THE WINDS OF WINTER, as I believe most of you will recall… but I have every confidence in Melinda Snodgrass and Gregory Noveck. They know and love the Wild Cards universe almost as well as I do, and I think they will do a terrific job. Wish them luck.

((And be sure to come to the Wild Cards Cage Matchs at worldcon, and snap up HIGH STAKES when it hits the stands later this month)).

Clear skies and tailwinds, as Jetboy would say.

((Please stay on topic in your comments. ANY comment not related to Wild Cards will be screened and deleted unread)).

Tags: television, wild cards

Next Sunday at the Jean Cocteau

July 16, 2016 at 7:36 pm

If you’re going to be in Santa Fe a week from tomorrow — or anywhere in the Land of Enchantment, really — do swing by the Jean Cocteau Cinema.

We’ve got not one but two very special events planned for Sunday, July 24.

First up, at 2:00 in the afternoon, will be a Wild Cards Author Event, followed by a signing. Yes, most of the Usual Suspects will be on hand, the motley crew of New Mexico writers who started the series some thirty years ago, but they’ll be joined by some Wild Carders, new and old, who are coming in from afar to join us. Right now we have some nineteen (yes, I said 19!) writers scheduled to take part… from Chicago, from Denver, from New Hampshire, from Texas, from California, from Kentucky. Come by and meet them all! And get your books signed… not only your Wild Cards books (though we expect to have all the volumes presently in print on offer), but also some of the other great novels by the participating writers.

The format of this one should be fun. Melinda Snodgrass will be hosting, interviewing each of our guests in turn. But we’ll be doing this “in universe,” so she won’t be interviewing the writers, she’ll be interviewing their characters. And Weeds knows where all the bodies are buried, so I expect this to be a hoot and a half.

And that’s just the afternoon event.

Come evening, we’ll be putting Melinda to work again, with a very special screening of CHAOS ON THE BRIDGE, William Shatner’s tell-all documentary about the rocky beginnings of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. <lj-embed id=”748″/>

Melinda knows where the bodies are buried on the Enterprise as well; she was there, and she was one of the insiders that Shatner interviewed for the documentary. She will be hosting the screening, and answering questions afterwards… and if that was not enough, she’s arranged for DAVID GERROLD to join us as well, via the wonders of Skype.

It should be quite a Sunday. Be there. I will.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, signed books, signings, television, wild cards, writing

Three-and-Twenty Golden Gals

July 14, 2016 at 6:27 pm

This year’s Emmy nominations were announced this morning, and once again GAME OF THRONES and HBO kicked ass and took names.

HBO collected more nominations than any other network… once again.

And GAME OF THRONES was responsible for a big chunk of those… 23 nominations all told, more than any other series… for the second year in a row (we had 24 last year).

Last year we won Best Drama, and we’re nominated once again this year, so we have a chance to make it two in a row… against a formidable lineup of competitors in HOMELAND, DOWNTON ABBEY, MR. ROBOT, BETTER CALL SAUL, THE AMERICANS, and HOUSE OF CARDS.

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss got a nod for Writing, which they won last year.

For directing, two nominations: Jack Bender for “The Door” and Miguel Sapochnik for “Battle of the Bastards.”

And in the acting categories, GAME OF THRONES had its best year yet. Max Von Sydow was nominated for Best Actor in a Guest Role. Peter Dinklage and Kit Harrington both got nods for Best Supporting Actor. And in Best Supporting Actress, GOT snagged not one, not two, but three nominations; Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, and Maisie Williams will all be vying for the Emmy.

I am thrilled and happy for all our nominees, of course… but it made me especially happy to see Kit and Maisie get some love from the Academy at last. About damn time, I say. They are several years overdue. (And I would have loved to see Sophie Turner on that list as well. I know, I know, I’m greedy).

For a full list of the nominees, go here:
http://variety.com/2016/tv/awards/2016-emmys-nominees-list-drama-comedy-acting-nomination-1201814021/

The awards will be presented on September 18 in Los Angeles. Two days ahead of my birthday this year, but maybe we’ll get some presents anyway.

Tags: awards, emmy awards, game of thrones, hbo, television

Good Stuff

May 18, 2016 at 1:08 pm

I used to have a couple pages on my website called “What I’m Watching” and “What I’m Reading.” They’re still there, actually, but they’re years out of date. I just don’t have the time to keep them up any longer, with all the other things on my plate.

But that doesn’t mean I have stopped watching movies or television, or that I don’t read. I still read voraciously, watch lots of television, and go to a movie a week, on the average. So I thought I’d say a few very brief words about stuff I’ve enjoyed recently.

Most of the films I see are the ones I’m playing at my own theatre, the Jean Cocteau… but not all. A few days ago, Parris and I caught the new JUNGLE BOOK at the Violet Crown down the street from the JCC, and I loved loved loved it. A magnificent production. Supposedly it’s a remake of the old Disney cartoon version, but it’s about ten thousand times better for hardcore Kipling fans like yours truly (Kiplers?) Not completely faithful to the books, which I count as an enduring masterpiece, but it certainly captures much of their flavor, which the cartoon did not. Gorgeous to look at (CGI has come a long way), genuinely exciting… Shere Khan is scary. My only quibble is Baloo. Much as I love Bill Murray, and I do love Bill Murray, I wanted a lot more of Kipling’s Baloo. Murray’s version is so very Bill Murray he could have wandered into the jungle straight from GHOSTBUSTERS. That’s minor, though; the other voice actors did a marvelous job of becoming their animals, and the kid playing Mowgli (who has gotten some mixed reviews) struck me as charming and unaffected, a natural and believable performance. If you like Kipling, see this one. If you like good movies, ditto. (I wonder if talking animals make this fantasy enough to be eligible for a Hugo next year? I’d certainly be willing to nominate it).

Meanwhile, on television… this really IS the Golden Age of television, so much good stuff to watch. It’s hard to keep up. Parris and I are going to miss THE GOOD WIFE, but we’ve been enjoying the hell out of BETTER CALL SAUL and COLONY, and the new season of PENNY DREADFUL has been fun so far as well. The show that’s really knocking our (argyle) socks off, however, is the second season of OUTLANDER. Diana Gabaldon should be thrilled; they are really doing her books proud. This year the action moved to France, and the costumes, sets, and cinematography have all been fabulous. As have the performances. Both of the leads are terrific, and Tobias Menzies (who also appears in GAME OF THRONES from time to time) is sensational in his double role. They should nominate the guy for an Emmy twice, once for each character. OUTLANDER is one of the best shows on television, a wonderful blend of historical drama, science fiction, fantasy, and romance.

Books? Well, if you haven’t yet grabbed a copy of Joe Hill’s THE FIREMAN, you need to. Original and gripping, a page-turner… and I am looking forward to meeting Joe in person when he visits the Jean Cocteau on Monday for a reading and signing (tickets going fast! get yours now). I’ve also really enjoyed a non-fiction title from a couple of years ago called THE BEAUTIFUL CIGAR GIRL, by Daniel Stashower, which is simultaneously a bio of Edgar Allan Poe and a “true crime” account of a sensational NYC murder case that inspired him to write “The Mystery of Marie Roget.” Call this one history or biography if you must, but it reads like a novel… and I especially loved the stuff about the New York City press, one of my obsessions.

Oh, and while the stack of ARCs and bound galleys and new books by my bedside waiting to be read is taller than I am, I’m especially excited by a couple of recent arrivals. HIGH GROUND, the first volume of Melinda Snodgrass’s new space opera series, is here, and I can’t wait to get into it… especially since one of her villains, BoHo, is actually my creation (he is not really villainous, he’s just misunderstood) from the days when Snod and I were making up characters for a new shared world series that never took off. ((Think of BoHo as the Flashman of Space; I loved George McDonald Fraser almost as much as I love Kipling)).

Also on hand is David Anthony Durham’s new historical novel, THE RISEN, his take on Spartacus. DAD never disappoints, and Spartacus is another fascination of mine… I look forward to seeing how Durham’s take on him differs from Howard Fast’s and Colleen McCullough’s.

Also just in is Lisa Tuttle’s THE SOMNAMUBIST AND THE PYSCHIC THIEF, featuring Miss Lane and Jasper Jesperson, the Victorian-era detectives she first introduced in her stories for DOWN THESE STRANGE STREETS and ROGUES. Those were hugely entertaining stories, and I am eager to see what Lisa does with the characters at novel length. Fans of Sherlock Holmes should love this.

So… lots of good stuff.

Life is too short. So little time, so many books and movies and television shows.

Tags: films, reading, television

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