Page 12 of posts by: montsamu

Coming to Town: Christopher J Garcia for illogiCon, interviewed by M. David Blake

Posted on 2015-01-08 at 14:50 by montsamu

Introduction and interview by M. David Blake:

Christopher J Garcia, who bears the dubious distinction of having delivered the only Hugo Award acceptance to ever subsequently receive its own nomination for a Hugo Award in a different category, is the fan guest of honor at this weekend’s illogiCon at the Embassy Suites RDU. His schedule includes speculation upon the future, spacefaring worth of contemporary, earthbound culture; steampunk, and the "Weird West"; Thunderbirds, Bone-Sharps, and their kin (think

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged christopher j garcia, illogicon, m. david blake

The Hardest Part: Stephanie Ricker on The Battle of Castle Nebula

Posted on 2015-01-07 at 20:48 by montsamu

I met Cary author Stephanie Ricker through publishing her story "Inseparables' War" in Bull Spec #7, and her reading of the story at a NC Speculative Fiction night event. I was very happy to see her have a story in the Rooglewood Press anthology Five Glass Slippers: A Collection of Cinderella Stories in June of 2014, and very excited when I learned that she would be continuing the universe of her story "A Cinder's Tale" in a novella series The Cendrillon Cycle. In December, Ricker published the first of

Posted in The Hardest Part | Tagged stephanie ricker, the battle of castle nebula, the cendrillon cycle

The Hardest Part: Bridget Ladd on Ardent Ascension

Posted on 2015-01-06 at 15:16 by montsamu

I don't have too much of an intro for you this time as I've only almost met Raleigh author Bridget Ladd. I can tell you that she came to my attention by way of Bull Spec art director (and fellow ECU grad) Gabriel Dunston, and that her 2013 dystopian Steampunk debut novel The Lotus Effect has received (and continues to pick up) acclaim and readers and reviews, including being named a Cygnus Award Winner. (It's also available in a fantastic audiobook edition, narrated by Elizabeth Klett.) Last year, Ladd

Posted in The Hardest Part | Tagged ardent ascension, bridget ladd, the lotus effect

Coming to Town: Jacqueline Carey for illogiCon, interviewed by Sharon Stogner

Posted on 2015-01-05 at 18:18 by montsamu

NY Times bestselling author Jacqueline Carey is the author of 16 novels, from her 2001 epic fantasy debut Kushiel's Dart (in the Top 10 of Tor.com's Best of the Decade poll) to her current urban fantasy series, Agent of Hel, most recently Poison Fruit. She's the author guest of honor at this weekend's illogiCon at the Embassy Suites RDU, and along with panels on "Contemporary Culture Influences on Dystopian Futures", "Diversity and Representation in Genre Fiction", "Religion and Mythology in Science Fiction

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged illogicon, jacqueline carey, sharon stogner

January newsletter: illogiCon preview, Kickstarter roundups, and Manly Wade Wellman Award coverage

Posted on 2015-01-03 at 13:00 by montsamu

Vol 5 No 1. January 3, 2015: Happy New Year! Since the November/December newsletter, we've had some fantastic events, seen a pile of new books and audiobooks, and! remembered that Bull Spec turned 5 years old in early November as well.

Let's start with a bit of an illogiCon preview, as in just less than a week the convention will open on Friday with a 3 pm Opening Ceremonies, with guests of honor Jacqueline Carey and Christopher J Garcia, and a fantastic panel of local, regional, and further-afield authors

Posted in newsletter

The Hardest Part: Michael Jasper on Finders, Inc.

Posted on 2014-12-10 at 16:12 by montsamu

I used to rely on (former) local author Michael Jasper to help manage magazine deliveries to Wake Forest's Story Teller Bookstore. Now that he's been living in Boone for a few years, I can only continue to rely on him for fantastic stories. The author of a fantastic collection (Gunning for the Buddha) and digital comic series (In Maps & Legends), novels of first contact sf (The Wannoshay Cycle) and contemporary fantasy (A Gathering of Doorways, which is excerpted in Bull Spec #1), a YA contemporary fantasy

Posted in The Hardest Part | Tagged finders inc, michael jasper

Coming to Town: Fred Chappell for "Familiars", interviewed by Warren Rochelle

Posted on 2014-12-08 at 14:42 by montsamu

This Wednesday at Quail Ridge Books marks the first of three Triangle-area readings for North Carolina's own Fred Chappell. While I personally know his work best for his short speculative fiction (particularly his "shadow" stories in F&SF) he has enchanted readers of every mode, from Southern novels, to the horrors of Dagon, poetry to prose. It is for his poems that he returns this year, for a new chapbook Familiars: Poems from Louisiana State University Press, for readings at the aforementioned Quail Ridge

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged flyleaf books, fred chappell, quail ridge books, the regulator bookshop, warren rochelle

Friday Quick Updates: Julia Elliott tonight, The Caroling Dead opens this weekend, A Browncoat Christmas on Sunday, three readings from Fred Chappell, crowdfunding roundup, and more

Posted on 2014-12-05 at 18:20 by montsamu

Friday, December 5, 2014: Readings, dark holiday comedy, and more await you, oh Triangle-area reader, starting tonight with multiple "Best Books of the Year" listee Julia Elliott at Durhams Regulator Bookshop at 7 pm for her collection The Wilds. If you missed her conversation with Bill Verner for bullspec.com's "Coming to Town" series, here's a pull-quote from one of Bill's questions: "medically induced human molting or lovelorn robots". I'm looking forward to it.

Starting tomorrow and running every

Posted in Friday Quick Updates | Tagged fred chappell, julia elliott, kickstarter

Paul Kincaid's From the Other Side, November 2014

Posted on 2014-12-05 at 17:42 by montsamu

From the Other Side, November 2014

By Paul Kincaid

[Editor’s Note: “From the Other Side” is Paul Kincaid’s monthly column on books and news from the other side of the Atlantic.]

Okay, let’s get this out of the way right at the start: there’s another new book from Adam Roberts. What’s that? I hear you cry. But didn’t he have a novel out in January (Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea from Gollancz, yes), and another novel in September (the excellent Bete also from Gollancz, yes), and wasn’t there a

Posted in From the Other Side | Tagged adam roberts, paul kincaid

The Hardest Part: Jim C. Hines on The Prosekiller Chronicles: Rise of the Spider Goddess (An Annotated Novel)

Posted on 2014-12-03 at 13:00 by montsamu

"The Hardest Part" has traditionally been mostly a column for NC authors, with some Bull Spec "alumni" in the mix. Jim C. Hines is neither, but when I read about his plans to release this book I knew I had to ask him for a guest essay about it. I mean, c'mon. Don't we all want to see our fantasy author heroes' awful, derivative, early fantasy novels that they have had -- until now -- the sense to hide from the world? Lucky for us, rather than keep his own RPG character fiction novel closeted, Hines has

Posted in The Hardest Part | Tagged jim c hines, rise of the spider goddess, the prosekiler chronicles