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Bull Spec: Year 3, with fiction editors Natania Barron and Eric Gregory.
Posted on 2011-05-24 at 15:24 by montsamu
Wait. Just wait a minute. Year 2 has barely started and I’m talking about Year 3?
I’m talking about Year 3.
When I started Bull Spec, I committed to two years. Thanks to an awful lot of support (and trust, and work) from you all, I think that the magazine should go longer. I haven’t been accepting stories, or, in point of fact, reading many stories—if I can’t accept them, I shouldn’t be reading them, or at least that’s my excuse today—and that simply can’t go on. So I’ve been trying to get a plan set which not only means there will be a third year, but (in my opinion) that the magazine will be stronger.
That means among other things that’s it’s time for me to let the professionals get to work. On that note, I’m very happy indeed to announce that Natania Barron and Eric Gregory are coming on as Bull Spec’s fiction editors.
What does this mean? The stories they accept will appear (along with a few I already have accepted) as early as Issue 8 publication wise, but effective immediately they’ll be the ones reading and accepting and editing stories. (Though it doesn’t yet mean that we’re open for new submissions, as there are still quite a lot of stories to be read, and we have a reading process to get into place.) It also means that Bull Spec’s fiction will be even stronger, as Natania and Eric are very talented and imaginative young writers (and editors—Natania was most recently co-editor at Crossed Genres and Eric is one of the fiction editors at The Raleigh Review) with great eyes for good stories. I’m very excited about this, and I hope you all are as well.
It also means that Bull Spec is in good hands going forward, for Year 3 and beyond. Hooray! (And as a side note, completely unrelated I assure you, a subscription starting with issue 6 is now available, which means the first issue of Year 3 is, in a way, available for pre-order already!)
And there’s more plans. Finally, finally, real e-book versions? A completely re-vamped and (non-Sam-edited-by-hand-nonsense) website? A pile of book giveaways and other promotions? Yes. Soon. But for today, let’s celebrate Natania and Eric being so foolish awesome, and look forward to their reign of terror awesome over the slushpile. Again: Hooray!
Posted in announcements
Summer is Coming!
Posted on 2011-05-20 at 17:21 by montsamu
With all apologies to George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: SUMMER IS COMING! From the VanderMeers to Lev Grossman to our own Mighty Mur, there’s an awful lot going on.
7 The “summer” pretty much got started as Free Comic Book Day was here again. Ultimate Comics had (among others) locals Tommy Lee Edwards (TURF), Dale Mettam (Viper Comics), and Firetower Studios (The Order of Dagonet) and Chapel Hill Comics had Thomas Boatwright (Zeke Deadwood, Zombie Lawman) doing sketches.
(Much more…)
12-28 Durham’s Manbites Dog Theater plays host to Howard L. Craft’s new play Jade City Chronicles Volume 1, the first of a trilogy concerning the search for a new, great, black superhero. Craft was recently on WUNC’s The State of Things to talk about the play. (And earlier in the same show, James Maxey was on to talk about comic books and culture.) (Facebook event link to share around.)
19-22 SFWA brings the Nebula Awards weekend to Washington, DC. A weekend of programs, workshops, and, of course, the Nebula Awards, where Raleigh’s Kij Johnson and Raleigh native Mary Robinette Kowal are nominees.
27-30 Balticon 45 in Baltimore, MD. Raleigh’s Mark Van Name is listed as one of the participants, and it’s not THAT far.
JUNE
11 Mur Lafferty to debut her Afterlife series (Heaven, Hell, …) at Chapel Hill Comics. 5 to 7 pm! (Facebook event link.)
JULY30 A Cabinet of Curioisites Literary Extravaganza! Join Hugo Award winning editor Ann VanderMeer and World Fantasy Award winner Jeff VanderMeer for a book release party and evening of celebration-give-aways, short humorous readings, and great conversations. Spotlight on the debut of The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (HarperCollins) and definitive guide The Steampunk Bible (Abrams Image), along with Triangle author and Escape Pod editor Mur Lafferty’s new fiction series. Special guests of the Cabinet of Curiosities Literary Extravaganza include Cabinet of Curiosities contributors Ekaterina Sedia, Mur Lafferty, Scott Eagle, and S.J. Chambers (also coauthor of The Steampunk Bible). The Cabinet of Curiosities is an extraordinary anthology featuring art and fiction from the likes of Mike Mignola, Alan Moore, Holly Black, Lev Grossman, China Mieville, Carrie Vaughn, and more. Like books? Like beer? Both will be available. Come on out and support the arts, and have fun doing it. Presented by Bull Spec magazine and The Regulator Bookshop. At Durham’s Fullsteam Brewery (726 Rigsbee, Ave, Raleigh-Durham, NC), July 30 at 7 pm. Everyone welcome, no admission. (Facebook event link to pass around.) (Goodreads event link here.) (PDF flyers in color and black and white.) UPDATE: At 6 pm, The Davenport Sisters, host of the Steampunk radio show The Clockwork Caberet, will get things started with an hour of music!
AUGUST
30 Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books hosts Lev Grossman on his national tour in support of The Magician King, the sequel to his NYT-bestselling novel The Magicians. Not to be missed! This event is a real coup for the Triangle, so tell your friends, come out, and help send a message to the big publishers that RDU should continue to be a destination for author tours. (Facebook event link to pass around.)
31 Lewis Shiner’s new novel Dark Tangos to be published by Subterranean Press. (Look for more of Shiner’s “Definitive Edition” backlog to be published over the summer as well.)
SEPTEMBER20 Pyr to publish The Rift Walker (Vampire Empire: Book 2) by Raleigh’s Clay and Susan Griffith. Sequel to last November’s The Greyfriar.
NOVEMBER5-6 NC Comicon at the Morrisville Outlet Mall. Also check out their summer signing series which has June 25 and July 16 events already scheduled.
Whew. And there’s so much more to come! Natania’s debut novel Pilgrim of the Sky (Candlemark & Gleam), Jay Requard’s The Night (Peak City Publishing), Teresa Frohock’s Miserere (Night Shade, July), Rebecca Rowe’s Circle Tide (EDGE Sci-Fi, Fall 2011), and two new SF conventions right here in the Triangle: illogiCon (January 13-15, 2012, with literary guest of honor Joe Haldeman) and ConTemporal (June 21-24, 2012). Between them, an exciting lineup for High Point’s StellarCon (March 2-4, 2012) with literary guest of honor Patrick Rothfuss. I keep saying it, but: it’s a fun time to be into speculative fiction in the Triangle.
Help do your part to spread the word! Use the Facebook event links above to easily invite your Facebook friends, or download and print the PDF flyers. Here’s a four-event flyer which is good for posting around. And I hope to see folks out and about!
Posted in events
A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES LITERARY EXTRAVAGANZA!
Posted on 2011-05-12 at 13:22 by montsamu
A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES LITERARY EXTRAVAGANZA! Join Hugo Award winning editor Ann VanderMeer and World Fantasy Award winner Jeff VanderMeer for a book release party and evening of celebration-give-aways, short humorous readings, and great conversations. Spotlight on the debut of The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (HarperCollins) and definitive guide The Steampunk Bible (Abrams Image), along with Triangle author and Escape Pod editor Mur Lafferty’s new fiction series. Special guests of the Cabinet of Curiosities Literary Extravaganza include Cabinet of Curiosities contributors Ekaterina Sedia, Mur Lafferty, Scott Eagle, and S.J. Chambers (also coauthor of The Steampunk Bible). The Cabinet of Curiosities is an extraordinary anthology featuring art and fiction from the likes of Mike Mignola, Alan Moore, Holly Black, Lev Grossman, China Mieville, Carrie Vaughn, and more. Like books? Like beer? Both will be available. Come on out and support the arts, and have fun doing it. Presented by Bull Spec magazine and The Regulator Bookshop. At Durham’s Fullsteam Brewery (726 Rigsbee, Ave, Durham, NC), July 30 at 7 pm. Everyone welcome, no admission. (Facebook event link here.) (Goodreads event link here.) (PDF flyers in color and black and white.) UPDATE: At 6 pm, The Davenport Sisters, host of the local Steampunk radio show The Clockwork Caberet, will get things started with an hour of music! UPDATE 2: A creation by Steampunk “maker” extraordinaire Jake von Slatt, featured in The Cabinet of Curiosities, will be on hand as well!
Posted in events
World Fantasy Awards: nomination deadline approaches (May 31)
Posted on 2011-05-09 at 16:43 by montsamu
Did you know that you can still register as a supporting member of World Fantasy Convention 2011 and submit your nominations for best novel, life achievement, and other categories? You can, until May 31. While San Diego’s World Fantasy Convention 2011 is full up on attending memberships (they do have a wait list set up) a supporting membership includes nomination privileges. So: go forth, register, and let your voice be heard. And if you were a registered member of last year’s convention in Columbus, or the year before in San Jose, you’re already eligible to vote. You can do so via mail or via e-mail, and the ballot is here.
While the World Fantasy Awards are indeed a judged/juried award, two of the nominations are decided by these votes. There’s been some good suggestions from John Klima in recent years (here’s his 2008 and 2009 posts) as to the Life Achievement category. (Note that Terry Pratchett was one of those awarded last year.) In individual categories, while my previous posts on local and regional eligibility for the Hugo awards stand fairly well, they are not sorted specifically for fantasy. So I’ll do a quick run-down of those:
NOVEL:
- David Drake, The Legions of Fire (Tor)
- Clay and Susan Griffith, The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire, Book 1 (Pyr)
- Mary Robinette Kowal, Shades of Milk and Honey (Tor)
- Warren Rochelle, The Called (Golden Gryphon)
- Tim Akers, The Horns of Ruin (Pyr)
- Richard Dansky, “Mad Eyes of the Heron King” in Dark Faith (Apex)
- Michael Jasper and Jay Lake, “Devil on the Wind” in Black Gate 2010
- Kij Johnson, “Ponies” at Tor.com
- James Maxey, “Where Their Worm Dieth Not” in Masked (Simon & Schuster) and “Greatshadow” in Blood & Devotion
- C.S. Fuqua, “Rise Up” in Bull Spec #1
- Uri Grey, “The Sad Story of the Naga” in Bull Spec #2
- Kaolin Fire, “By the Dragon’s Tail” in Bull Spec #2
- Lavie Tidhar, “The Story of Listener and Yu-En” in Bull Spec #3
- Katherine Sparrow, “Like Parchment in the Fire” in Bull Spec #3
- David Tallerman, “The Burning Room” in Bull Spec #4
- Nick Mamatas, “Oh, Harvard Square!” in Bull Spec #4
Posted in Uncategorized
Whew. Announcements a-plenty a-go-go!
Posted on 2011-04-15 at 16:36 by montsamu
OK. Here we go, announcements time!
1. Bull Spec #5 is available now! IN PRINT: You can (1) come to Quail Ridge Books tonight for the launch party at 7:30; (2) wait until early next week for the issue to show up on local newsstands; or (3) order (or, you know, subscribe…) print copies at [bullspec.com]. IN PDF: (1) E-bookstores Weightless Books ($) and Wizard’s Tower Books (£) both have the issue available, or (2) via the still-funky-clunky e-order page.
2. The issue contains the winner of the Bull Spec Teen Writing Contest. That winner is Hillsborough’s Benjamin Paul, whose story “The Messengers” is on page 29. Honorable mention goes to Maryam Ali’s “Out of Darkness”.
3. Speaking of contests, the BLACK HALO backhanded evil mini-blurb contest also has a winner. While I really liked Jared’s “Probably not the book you’d expect from the cover art.” the book goes to Steve Burnett, though, for:
For writing Black Halo, Sam Sykes should not immediately be helping the police with their inquiries.4. Lastly, and this quite fun: I’ve just heard from SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) that its board has voted to accept Bull Spec as a qualifying short fiction market. That was one of the goals I set out for Bull Spec, and along with delivering on a (more or less!) quarterly schedule, now looks to be achieved. Thanks again to the writers and artists who’ve entrusted me with their work, and I look forward to the next challenges.
Posted in announcements
While this isn't the contest news some are waiting for: a new mini-contest!
Posted on 2011-03-25 at 16:07 by montsamu
I’m not the only one who has been amused by John Scalzi’s blurb for Sam Sykes just released book BLACK HALO. The blurb reads: “I do not wish Sam Sykes Dead.” High praise, indeed! Still, it leaves me wanting more. So: a weeklong mini-contest!
HOW TO ENTER AND WHAT: Either comment here, on the relevant post on Bull Spec’s Facebook Page, or reply to the relevant tweet from @bullspec on Twitter, with an even better backhanded evil blurb than Scalzi’s. OK, I know, that’s impossible. Just do the best you can. The winner will receive — well, it makes sense, doesn’t it — a copy of BLACK HALO. (The one pictured below to be precise. Only with less camera flash reflecting off of it.)
ELIGIBILITY: The book will be sent only to folks who can receive USPS media or flate rate (US postage) mail. So: US (yes, Hawaii and Alaska), US territories, etc. If you’re outside this area please do enter anyway, because, well, it’s fun and you might still win. I’ll just only be able to send the book to the US mailing address of your choice. Hey. Worldwide postage ain’t free.
DEADLINE: I’ll round up the submissions next Friday, April 1. I can totally see the winning entries sounding like April Fool’s jokes already…
UPDATE: Winner is posted here.
Posted in contests
From the issue 4 cutting room floor: NC Speculative Fiction Night article by Alex Granados
Posted on 2011-03-22 at 19:03 by montsamu
(Sam’s note: Issue 4 grew from 64 to 68 pages, and still I couldn’t get everything in. Some things moved onto the upcoming issue 5, but some things were of a more time-sensitive nature and were left, more or less, on the cutting room floor. Here’s one, an article on the November 11, 2010 “NC Speculative Fiction Night”, by Alex Granados.)
by Alex Granados
 |
| Photo by Libby Himberger, LKH Photography |
Everyone from Bull Spec’s own poetry editor Dan Campbell, to horror writer and game designer Richard Dansky was in attendance at the event dubbed “N.C. Speculative Fiction Night”. Participants qualified their presence by describing dragon-themed novels, romanticized tales of the walking dead, and more. Davey Beauchamp, contributor to the collection of short stories Rum and Runestones, summed up the mission of speculative fiction writing for the audience.
“We have worlds to explore,” he said. “We don’t stay within the confines of the real world.”
And that was in evidence as the writers introduced themselves and some of their work.
There was Kij Johnson, a Nebula Award Winner and Hugo finalist; Mur Lafferty, the podcast professional in charge of the Escape Pod podcast magazine; and conference organizer Jaym Gates, editor of Rigor Amortis which can be summed up in four words: horror, erotica, zombies, and romance.
“There was actually a brief period of time where we were outselling a couple of Stephen King novels,” she said of Rigor Amortis.
Hillsborough’s James Maxey, author of the Dragon Age Trilogy was there as well. He talked a little about himself, his work and even touched upon science fiction in the context of the 70s and 80s.
“I think then science fiction was very much the province of outright nerds,” he said. “And I grew up as a nerd.”
He went on to talk about how Harry Potter and superhero movies have really moved the “geek/nerd” culture into the mainstream. But despite its increasing popularity, Maxey pointed out that speculative fiction writing isn’t a game for people looking to make it big.
“If people truly understood the economics of writing, nobody would be doing it anyway,” he said.
The panelists talked about their personal journeys towards science fiction and answered questions from the audience during the event. Everything from the prominence of digital fiction to the relationship between gaming and speculative fiction was touched upon. After it was all over, the crowd surged to the front to meet the panelists, buy their books, and get signed copies.
This event is the first in what is supposed to be a quarterly event. The next will be hosted by Bull Spec at 7 p.m. on January 12 at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham. Bull Spec’s Samuel Montgomery-Blinn said that events like this highlight all the talent present in the area.
“The Triangle is a fantastic place to be a part of speculative fiction, whether you’re a reader, a writer, a critic, an editor, an artist, or all of the above,” he said. “Bringing this community together to recognize the wealth of authors here is one of the big reasons I started Bull Spec, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see it happening.”
(Related: Additional photos of the event were posted by photographer Libby Himberger of LKH Photography.)
Posted in articles
The StellarCon typewriter pages.
Posted on 2011-03-21 at 17:09 by montsamu
To draw attention to the Durham Literacy Center, Bull Spec maintained a typewriter (an old, cantankerous, weighty old Underwood) in the hallway at StellarCon and invited people to type on it, to feel the power of writing and think about those who cannot read. Well, over the course of 3 legal-size blank sheets, some typing was done:
Page one:
Page two:
Page three:
Of course the last page somebody gets a little vulgar, but that’s what happens when you leave a typewriter in a public place. For the most part, people enjoyed it. The typewriter ended up a little worse for the wear, with a good new crack:
But overall it was a fun thing to do. I would have liked to have it at the table with me, but we ended up with a smaller space (and more stuff) than I’d expected. I hope to make this a bit of a tradition going forward as one of the things Bull Spec does — along with the rice crispy treats at the issue launches, of course!
Posted in Uncategorized
Third Bear Carnival contest winners.
Posted on 2011-03-18 at 17:45 by montsamu
I found this sitting in “draft” when trying to tie up some loose ends, and apologize to the winners for the lateness of the post — though they did get their books long ago. For this contest, I asked readers to submit reviews of non-existent books, tied however loosely, to Jeff VanderMeer’s recent collection The Third Bear.
Well, two came through with shining colors. The first comes from Stephen Gordon:
Two Weird by Jeff VanderMeer (2012)
Jeff VanderMeer produces remarkable collections of short fiction, and Two Weird, his latest since The Third Bear, is no exception. If the collection has a unifying theme, it would be the manner in which language, in its gaps and failures, can produce a dread deeper than that instilled by any monster. The first and last stories are illustrative.
The first, “Two Weird,” is set in the aftermath of Macbeth and relates the interrogation of two of the weird sisters by Macduff (the third having been killed during their capture). The sisters reluctantly hand over manuscripts ofMacbeth and its alleged sequel, insinuating a terrifying paradox of intertextuality and fate.
The final story, “Turtles All the Way,” is as a mashup of The Matrix and Borges’ “The Garden of Forking Paths.” Whereas The Matrix presents a horrific world (“the desert of the real”) paired with a shiny but illusory cybernetic projection, each world in “Turtles” is a projection of some other, with the web of worlds never ending, although sometimes looping. The protagonist, a lonely young woman named Differance, travels from world to world fruitlessly seeking meaning, always a signifier, never a signified.
Stephen Gordon writes short stories that are just a little weird and a little fantastical. He can be found on the web at facebook.com/ironnoir,twitter.com/ironnoir, or ironnoir@gmail.com, as you please.
Almost Eaten by Goldilocks
Review by Baby Bear
In casting herself as a hero in her new book Almost Eaten, Goldilocks has reached down into the deepest depths of her delusions and pulled forth the biggest, steamiest pile of shit I’ve ever tried to read. She’s no Robin Hood. She stole my porridge. She’s a burglar, a thief, and, as this book makes clear, a liar. Simple as that. Memoir? More like Mem-whore. If I ever cross paths with that little bitch again, her she’s going to have to call her second book Eaten.Whew. Well, that’s about three months overdue. I do promise that it won’t take that long to announce the winner of the Teen Writing Contest which I hope to post quite soon.
Posted in contests
Oh my: February will be a fun month.
Posted on 2011-02-03 at 17:41 by montsamu
But first, a quick recap of some things I missed along the way.
December
6 Mur Lafferty and Mary Robinette Kowal among the guest narrators for Cory Doctorow’s With a Little Help
15 Natania Barron’s story “Without a Light” is published in Fantastique Unfettered #1
16 Clay and Susan Griffith’s The Greyfriar is named The Vamp Chix blog’s Best Vamp Novel 2010 (one of many, many lists and year-end praises for the book)
30 Natania Barron’s story “Dead’s End to Middleton” (originally in Crossed Genres “Steampunk” issue, and from which she read at the Bull Spec #2 launch) was published in audio by Escape Pod
January
1 Dale Mettam’s (story) new comic Orpheus comes out from Viper Comics
4 Orson Scott Card’s new book The Lost Gate (volume one, Mither Mages) is published by Tor Books
13 James Maxey was on WUNC’s The State of Things to talk about the soundtrack to Nobody Gets the Girl
18 JM McDermott’s new novel Never Knew Another (the first book of his Dogsland Trilogy) was published by Night Shade Books
22 Local author R.T. Crowley’s debut novel The Wanderer of New Hope is published by Apex-based Peak City Publishing
25 David Niall Wilson’s story “A Candle Lit in Sunlight” is published in Best New Vampire Tales (along with Alan Smale, Jay Caselberg, …)
27 Monica Byrne’s play “Nightwork” debuts at Manbites Dog (show continues through Feb 12; check out the podcast of her interview with Frank Stasio on WUNC’s The State of Things)
28 Joe Giddings’ story “Harvest Moon” is published in Indigo Rising
31 A new Raleigh-based convention was announced: illogiCon will debut in a little less than a year, 13-15 January 2012, with literary guest of honor Joe Haldeman
February
1 Gail Z. Martin’s new novel The Sworn is published by Orbit
1 Look for John Kessel’s story “Clean” in the Asimov’s March 2011 on newsstands now
1 Michael Jasper’s e-comic “In Maps and Legends” releases issue 4. Mike, along with artist Niki Smith, were recently announced as the Digital Creators of the Year by Comic Book Resources for their groundbreaking work not only in the story and art, but in the ridiculous number of electronic formats in which it is available
1 Crossed Genres issue 27, “Tragedy”, edited by Natania Barron and Jaym Gates, includes a story from Ada Milencovic Brown, “Nadirah Sends Her Love”
1 The full table of contents to the Ann & Jeff VanderMeer-edited The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities was revealed, including fiction from Mur Lafferty and art from Scott Eagle, and micro fiction from Bull Spec #2 contributor Kaolin Fire
3 David Halperin’s first novel Journal of a UFO Investigator is published by Viking (print and e-book) and Blackstone Audio (audiobook)
4-6 What the Hell?!con in Greensboro, NC (hey, Dale Mettam is going…)
8 Halperin reads and signs Journal of a UFO Investigator at Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books
8 Sale ends for the $4.49 Audible.com audiobook of David Drake’s With The Lightnings (RCN Series, Book 1)
9 Mur Lafferty to present at Ignite Durham
9 The Regulator Bookshop hosts author Alice Hoffman to read and sign her new book The Red Garden
10 Jaym Gates on WUNC’s The State of Things to talk about Rigor Amortis
10 Halperin reads and signs Journal of a UFO Investigator at Durham’s The Regulator Bookshop
10 Hoffman at Quail Ridge Books
11 Hoffman at Flyleaf Books
12 Chapel Hill-based artist Scott Hampton to sign copies of his new comic book Hellboy: The Sleeping and the Dead at Chapel Hill Comics (Herald-Sun article)
12 Halperin reads and signs Journal of a UFO Investigator at McIntyre’s Fine Books (Fearrington Village, Pittsboro) (more events outside the Triangle and in March listed here)
14 McDermott’s first novel Last Dragon (2008, Wizards of the Coast Discoveries) gets a new edition from Apex Book Company
15 IBM Jeopardy! challenge (trailer video)
16 Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston to sign copies of their new comic book Formic Wars: Burning Earth #1 (prequel to Ender’s Game) at Chapel Hill Comics
19 Jay Requard to talk about his upcoming first novel The Night as part of Apex’s Nevermore Film Festival
23 Alex Wilson’s graphic short (story) “The Whores in Trinidad Need Witnessing to” to be published in Outlaw Territory 2 from Image Comics
25 NC author Beth Revis among 5 stars of YA to speak at Quail Ridge Books, about her book Across the Universe (YR/YA murder mystery set in space) — Facebook event and Quail Ridge calendar
March
1 Charles Ebert’s story “The Ossuaries” to be published in the March Aiofe’s Kiss
23 UNC business professor John Kasarda will discuss and sign his new non-fiction book Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next at The Regulator
24 Halperin reads and signs Journal of a UFO Investigator at Bull’s Head Bookshop (UNC Chapel Hill)
Posted in happenings
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