Notes from all over

It’s been a while since I last posted, so I thought I’d quickly run through a few upcoming items. On Saturday June 15, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago will be showing Arwen Curry’s acclaimed new documentary Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin. After the screening, I’ll be taking part in a discussion panel with Mary Anne Mohanraj and Madhu Dubey to discuss the legacy of Le Guin, whose work increasingly seems to me like the culmination of the main line of science fiction in the United States, even if she doesn’t figure prominently in Astounding. (Which, by the way, is up for a Locus Award, the results of which will be announced at the end of this month.) The next day, on June 16, I’ll be hosting a session of my writing workshop, “Writing Fiction that Sells,” at Mary Anne’s Maram Makerspace in Oak Park. People seem to like the class, which runs from 10:00-11:45 am, and it would be great to see some of you there!

Presenting “The Whale God”

Over the weekend, I was delighted to learn that my novelette “The Whale God” had been named to the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2013. In the ten years since my first story appeared in Analog, this is only the second time I’ve appeared on the list—the other time was two years ago for “The Boneless One”—so making the cut this time around is a real cause for celebration. Stories here are automatically included on the ballot for the upcoming Locus Awards, and although I’d welcome any votes, I’m aware that I’m up against some stiff competition: the other authors in the novelette category include such luminaries as Neal Stephenson, Zadie Smith, and Neil Gaiman, as well as countless other excellent writers in the field. Needless to say, it’s a thrill to find myself in such good company, and I’m grateful as always for the recognition.

And as I’ve done in the past, I’m pleased to be able to post “The Whale God” on this blog in its entirety—you can read the whole thing here. (Later, if you’re curious about the story’s origins, I’ve discussed this elsewhere in possibly excessive detail.) When you finish a story, you don’t know what its reception will be, or even if it will ever get published in the first place, and in fact, this turned out to be a slightly divisive novelette among certain readers. Still, it is science fiction, however unlikely the setting, and if it looks a little out of place in the pages of a magazine like Analog, that’s because it’s the only kind of story I know how to write. That said, plenty of other readers seemed to like it just fine, and to my own eyes, it’s one of the two or three best stories I’ve written. Please check it out if you’re interested, and if you do, I hope you enjoy your trip to Phan Thiet. There are some strange things happening down on the beach…

UPDATED: The return of “The Boneless One”

I’ve said before that of all my short fiction, the novelette “The Boneless One,” which appeared in the November 2011 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, is my own personal favorite. It isn’t always the case that a writer’s own opinion coincides with that of the rest of the world, but for once, a lot of other people seem to agree: in addition to being selected for inclusion in the upcoming edition of The Year’s Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois, it also made Locus Magazine’s Recommended Reading List for the year. Both are huge honors, and the latter is especially exciting, because it automatically puts the story on the ballot for this year’s Locus Awards.

With this in mind, if you missed it the first time around, I’d like to remind you that the November issue of Analog is still available for electronic purchase at Fictionwise for only $3.99. (A free audio version of the story will also be released by StarShipSofa at some point in the near future, although I’m not quite sure where it fits in their schedule.) If you’re in the mood for a dark aquatic story of murder and octopuses, with overtones of The X-Files and The Thing—and as far as I know, there aren’t a lot of other stories that fit that description—you should check it out. Later, if you’re so inclined, you can check out my own posts on how I wrote the story, as well as a few reviews. Enjoy—and don’t let the octopuses bite.

Update: After clarifying the rights situation with Analog, I’ve confirmed that I can also post “The Boneless One” right here on this blog! I’ll probably only keep it up for a few weeks, but if you’re interested, you can read it here.