Quintessence Sneak Peek
For those of you who enjoyed Terminal Mind and have been waiting patiently for my next book, thank you! Quintessence is undergoing some minor edits at the request of my editor, but the book is entirely written. (In fact, I’m halfway through the sequel.) “Where is it, then?” you might ask. “Where is this masterpiece, that we may read it?” Sadly, the wheels of publishing turn slowly, and small pebbles like me can get pushed out of the way by bestselling boulders. It may actually be another year yet before it hits bookstores. To help you while away the time, however, I’ve posted the first three chapters for your reading enjoyment. After you read, drop me a comment and let me know what you think!
Book Review: Blind Lake
Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is what Wilson does best: the impossible happens, some stunning scientific mystery that no one understands, which dramatically affects the lives of his characters. In Darwinia and Spin, the mystery affected the whole world (Europe, Africa, and Asia are replaced; the stars disappear). In Blind Lake, the effects are more local, when a scientific community is suddenly quarantined, their outside communications cut off, and their facility guarded by military drones who kill anyone who tries to leave. And they have no idea why.
The tensions caused by this mysterious quarantine erode the normal controls of polite society and reveal the characters as they really are: selfish or selfless, compassionate or borderline psychotic. The book started a bit slow, as the characters were introduced and the situation was set up, but once they were quarantined, the suspense really increased right through to the end. Wilson gradually reveals his secrets in generous handfuls along the way, until the final reveal, when everything is explained in typically weird and beautiful Wilson style.
Book Review: The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Outstanding. An intensely sympathetic heroine thrust into the most horrific situation, by her own choice, in order to save her sister’s life. Clever plotting, edge-of-your-seat danger, twists and turns, and a very satisfying resolution. There are many villains, but none of them wholly bad; all are sympathetic in some way, and yet together they are participating in ruthless murder with smiles on their faces. The author demonstrates a keen sense of how individual people, however nice, can be swept up in the values of their society, no matter how horrible. This story rings true on a number of levels. I’m rushing right out to get the sequel.
Magdalen Eleanore
I seem to be better at producing children than novels, since I’m up to six of the former and still working on my third of the latter. Of course, the children don’t go out of print as easily, either. Please welcome Magdalen Eleanore, the latest addition to the Walton family! She was released on June 22 to rave reviews.
Some of you may have noticed that an ‘E’ seems to have migrated from her first name to her second. The missing first E is to emphasize that the last syllable is pronounced”len” and not “leen”. The extra E in her middle name is because she was named for my grandmother, whose name was spelled with an E at the end. And now you know.
WWW: Wake
WWW:Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this one. Probably the best Robert Sawyer book I’ve tried (though he has many I have not tried). A charming blind girl regains her sight, and at the same time discovers an intelligence living in the Internet. Yes, “artificial intelligence living in the Internet” is a pretty old SF trope, but the connection between Caitlin’s growing sight and the intelligence’s growing awareness of itself worked very well. Of course, when Sawyer finally got to the end and had to give hing a name, he settled on “Webmind”. Come on! Was that the best you could do? Great book, though, and I’ll be reading the sequel.
The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack
The word is finally out: the winner of this year’s Philip K. Dick Award (judged by yours truly, with a panel of other worthies) is a delightful debut novel by Mark Hodder, called The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack. Full of manic, inventive energy, bizarre villains, a whirling plot as mad as some of the characters, it nevertheless delivers a complete and satisfying conclusion that wraps up every loose end. The alternate Victorian world is rich with detail and betrays a deep knowledge of the true history of our world, even as Hodder twists it almost to the breaking point to tell his tale. The characters are motivated by all kinds of unusual passions, but are both believable and sympathetic, even as the world around them goes mad. Ambitious, full of surprises, and very satisfying.
Judging the Philip K Dick Award
This year I had the honor of being one of the judges for the Philip K. Dick award, and it was quite an interesting experience. For one thing, it was eye-opening to have such a wide variety of books arrive on my doorstep, all in the category of US-published paperback science fiction. I was also curious to see how easy it would be to choose a shortlist and a winner. Would it be obvious? Would the judges all agree? The answer is no; there were definitely some different reactions, but nevertheless, we ended up with a finalist list we were all quite pleased with.
The books are as follows, and all are excellent reads:
- Yarn, Jon Armstrong (Night Shade Books)
- Chill, Elizabeth Bear (Ballantine Books/Spectra)
- The Reapers Are The Angels, Alden Bell (Henry Holt & Co.)
- Song Of Scarabaeus, Sara Creasy (Eos)
- The Strange Affair Of Spring Heeled Jack, Mark Hodder (Pyr)
- Harmony, Project Itoh, translated by Alexander O. Smith (Haikasoru)
- State Of Decay, James Knapp (Roc)
A number of people have noticed that there are two zombie books on the list, and wondered if perhaps a judge or two was a zombie fan. Not so. None of this year’s judges expected zombie books to be up their alley, and yet here we are with two on the list. This is simply because, regardless of their topic, they are well-written. (They are also quite different from each other.) So if you think zombies are “not your thing”, give them a try anyway. You might be surprised.
All of these books are worth the read. Author and Tor Books columnist Jo Walton (no relation) does a good job of summarizing them in her post on Tor.com. I’ll hold off from comparing and contrasting for now, lest I give anything away. The authors have to wait until April to find out which book is the winner.
Contract Signed
Good news! Yesterday I signed a contract with Tor to publish my next book, QUINTESSENCE. It’s an exciting step. TERMINAL MIND blew away my expectations by winning the Philip K. Dick Award, but it was a work by an unknown author, published by an unknown publishing company on a small budget. Meadowhawk Press did a great job in many ways, but they weren’t able to distribute the book very widely or get it sold in many stores.
Tor is the big time. They’re the largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy in the world. When Tor publishes a book, it gets put on the shelves in bookstores all across the country. I don’t yet have a publication date, but when I do, I’ll be sure to announce it here!
Much thanks goes to my agent, Eleanor Wood, for making this deal and navigating all the contract details.
At Long Last
Book Number Two
It’s the first question people ask me: “When will we see book number two?” I’m happy to tell you that my second novel is finished, revised, revised again, and now sits at the desks of several New York publishers, awaiting their enthusiastic endorsement. The title is Quintessence, a brand new book full of arcane science, alchemy, human dissection, sea monsters, betrayal, torture, alternate astronomy, religious controversy, and magic.
But you’ll have to be patient. The book industry is slow. It will be quite some time before you’ll have the story in your hands. When that time finally comes, I hope you’ll think, as I do, that it’s worth the wait. Stay tuned here for updates as I have them!
Free Fiction
My Jim Baen Memorial Award-winning story Letting Go is now available to read for free on the Cosmos Magazine web site. The award was given by Baen Books and the National Space Society for the story of the year that best depicted the exciting future of near-term space development. Here’s a teaser to whet your appetite:
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I NEVER WANTED RACHEL TO GO INTO SPACE. Space was my passion, but for my daughter I wanted a normal American life: Barbie dolls and pony rides, make-up and boys, the senior prom. A good college, a good career, marriage, kids.
Only I wasn’t there, most of the time, to see it happen. When she played Mary in her Sunday School pageant, I was on the ISS.
When she graduated high school, I was on the Moon, already starting the Gravity Train project. But there must be some truth to the argument for nature over nurture, because despite my long absences she took after me instead of her mother. Joined the academy, earned her pin and followed me to the Moon.
The morning of the accident, we were all ready to celebrate. We gathered in the control room, Rachel holding my hand, Commander André Gretzsin, Jr. beside her, and the rest of the crew pressed in close behind.
On screen, a Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine named Big Betsy churned through the lunar rock at the bottom of The Hole, as it had been doing without stop for almost eight years.
Read the rest of the story here.
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And while you’re at it, here are two other David Walton short stories available online at Futurismic Magazine:
The Future Is Here
The future is here! A friend pointed me to this article in Popular Science, which talks about “a breakthrough nano-gel” that will “catalyze cartilage growth” by “stimulating the stem cells in bone marrow”. That’s uncannily similar to the celgel I described in Terminal Mind. It’s closer than I thought.
Judging the PKD Award
What goes around, comes around. Having won the Philip K. Dick Award in 2008, I’ve been asked to be one of the judges for the contest this year, for books published in 2010. That means publishers will send me a boatload of free books and I’ll get to read them all and argue with the other judges about which ones are the best! Should be a lot of fun. And, of course, it means I can be a part of giving another writer the same thrill I got from being given the award. I’m looking forward to it.
The other judges are William Barton, Andy Duncan, Bruce McAllister, and Melinda Snodgrass. The official announcement is out on SFScope.
Premium Edition of Terminal Mind?
A number of copies of Terminal Mind are available on eBay. The price ranges from $12.11 for a copy in “very good condition” to the premium edition at $53.82 . . . which is exactly the same as the usual edition. It’s not even signed. Come on: $54 dollars for a trade paperback you can buy for $13.45 on Amazon? What’s going on? It’s a seller with thousands of positive feedback ratings, too.
I’ve seen that kind of thing before, where books are listed for exorbitant prices by some sellers. Somebody must buy them, presumably, or they wouldn’t do it.
Fantastical Visions Anthology
The Fantastical Visions IV anthology is now available from Fantasist Enterprises, featuring my short story, “Dragonfly Savior”. These anthologies always contain wonderful stories and are beautifully illustrated inside and out, so I’m very pleased to have a story of mine included. Mine is one of 18 fantasy stories included in the book. This small press works very hard to produce high-quality fiction books and still make a profit, so I hope many fantasy lovers among you will pick up a copy. You will soon be able to order from Amazon, or you can order directly from Fantasist Enterprises.
I’m especially looking forward to this book coming out, because this is the first time my children will be able to enjoy reading one of my published works. They’re too young for Terminal Mind or most of my short stories, but “Dragonfly Savior”, about little people interacting with animals in a wood, is something they’ll be able to appreciate. Here’s a short excerpt to whet your appetite:
Dewdrop, astride his mantis, was leading the snake away from the river, dodging its lunges and slashing out with his mount’s spiked forelegs. There was no hope he could hurt it. Hickory wondered why he didn’t just try to escape. Then he saw the other mantis behind the snake, its body crushed, and beside it, a slumped, motionless form. Marigold. Dewdrop was leading the monster away from her, making himself the target of an enemy many times his size.
The snake moved with deadly grace, as smooth and fast as the water falling from the rocks behind it. The battle could not have been raging for long, or Dewdrop would have been dead. The snake lunged again, just as Dewdrop was slashing forward, and he was thrown from his mount. The snake opened its mouth, fangs bared, to finish him, but at that moment the weasels attacked. They tore into its unprotected throat; the snake writhed, ripping itself away, but fell twitching, belly up, onto the sand. By the time Hickory and Cori arrived, it was dead.
The soldiers helped Dewdrop to his feet, clapping him on the back. They draped Marigold, still alive but unconscious, over one of the weasels to send her back to the fielding.
“That girl will kill somebody one of these days.” Cori kicked at the ground so hard that Hickory jumped a step back. She relaxed just as suddenly, though, laughing a little at her own emotion. “I’m just glad it wasn’t today,” she said.
Audio Short Story Available at Dunesteef
The classic Walton story “All The Rage This Year” is now available in audio form at the Dunesteef podcast. This story was originally printed in the third anthology from Phobos Books, also titled “All The Rage This Year”. Enjoy!
Terminal Mind Wins Philip K. Dick Award
I’m writing this from Seattle, where I just WON the Philip K. Dick Award! The award is given every year at Norwescon (the Northwest Science Fiction Convention) for the best science fiction novel of the year originally printed in paperback. The competition is tough (see the post below this one for a description of the New York Times bestsellers and internationally published authors I was competing against). For Terminal Mind to win was a tremendous upset.
It was an Academy Award-like event: six nominated books and none of the nominees knowing which of us would win until the award was announced. Just being nominated was a huge thrill, so I was trying not to hope. I sat in the ballroom, barely eating, while the award administrators intentionally dragged things out to add to the suspense. My editor from Meadowhawk Press, Jackie Gamber, was there as well for moral support. And then the announcement… !
Traditionally, there is both a Winner and a Special Citation awarded, but this year the judges couldn’t decide which was which, so both my book and Adam-Troy Castro‘s book, Emissaries for the Dead, were jointly given the award. This is an amazing honor (especially for a first novel!), and means my work can forever be emblazoned with “Philip K. Dick Award Winning Author”.
Here I am with Jackie and the award:
Checking out the competition
In only ten days, I will be at Norwescon in Seattle to hear which of the six finalists will be the winner of the Philip K. Dick award. Of course, I’m rooting for Terminal Mind, but the competition is pretty fierce. Check out the other authors with novels in the running:
Karen Traviss is a full-time novelist from England whose first published novel, City of Pearl, made her a finalist for the Campbell Award. The novel under consideration for the award, Judge, is the sixth and last book in that series. In addition, Traviss is a New York Times #1 bestselling author for her Star Wars novels.
Adam-Troy Castro has published sixteen books and almost eighty short stories, for which he has been nominated for the Nebula, the Hugo, and the Stoker. His contribution is Emissaries for the Dead, a novel in his series about futuristic homicide detective Andrea Cort.
Jeff Carlson‘s novel Plague War is the second book of a trilogy from Ace that has already been picked up by German-, Spanish- and Romanian-language publishers. The first book is in its third edition and came out in audio form from Recorded Books. He has a double chance of winning the contest, since he also wrote one of the short stories in the finalist anthology Fast Forward 2, edited by Lou Anders.
K. A. Bedford lives in Australia, and his last four books have all been finalists for the Aurealis, Australia’s award for the best science fiction, fantasy, or horror published in that country, including this year’s Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait.
These are some pretty talented authors! I’m honored just to be associated with them. Wish me luck!
Fantastical Visions IV
This long-awaited anthology features one of my stories, “Dragonfly Savior”, and I’m excited to see the book finally come out! This is the fourth in this anthology series (the fifth will feature one of my stories as well), and they always feature gorgeous artwork inside and out. The artist is Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, and here is what the book will look like:
Interview on Tor.com
Check out the interview that John Joseph Adams did with me, posted today on Tor.com. Tor is the largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy books in the world, and John Joseph Adams is the assistant editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, as well as several Tor anthologies. The interview is about the writing of my novel, Terminal Mind, and I’m quite pleased with how it went.
