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RYO Review: The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Kiernan‘s novel brings the structure and machinery of a classic supernatural tale to bear on a contemporary story with a very contemporary protagonist.
Sarah Crow, a midlist novelist, has suffered from writer’s block since the traumatic end of her years-long relationship with Amanda. She has retreated from Atlanta to a remote farmhouse in Rhode Island. (If only Crow watched movies on either Chiller Network or Showtime Beyond, she would have known this was a bad idea.) The house has minimal amenities, but sits on lovely acreage and has an out-of-state landlord not likely to disturb her writing. Sarah has died at this house.
JFF: Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell Winners!
Our Jo Fletcher Fridays contest has just concluded and we have the results! We had 124 re-tweets and 13 comments on the blog which is a new record response. Apparently you all want some good ass-kicking fantasy and you think de Castell’s Greatcoats are going to deliver it.
We put all those names into a spreadsheet and used a random number generator to pick our 5 lucky winners:
Kim Oleson French(@KimOleson)
Rajee(@momsfocus)
Michelle Beare(@dragonslady)
Donna(@donnak4)
AC Smyth
Congrats to all our winners! If you are one of our prize winners please send your full name and snail-mail address to us at “info [at] worldswithoutend [dot] com” so we can send you your prize right away. Be sure to mention Traitor’s Blade in your email so we know which prize you’re claiming.
Our thanks to Jo Fletcher Books and Sebastien de Castell for making the contest possible.
Don’t miss the Tales From High Hallack giveaway going on now and check back again for more free books to come.
Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers Annual Scholarship Fundraiser
The 2014 Alpha alumni fundraiser is happening now! Donate any amount to receive this year’s Alphanthology, a gorgeous PDF anthology of flash fiction written, edited, illustrated, designed, and produced entirely by Alpha alumni. This is a great cause and the donor premium is pretty sweet so if you’ve got a few extra bucks to send their way you really can’t lose. Here’s the press release with the details:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2014
WORKSHOP ALUMNI OFFER STORIES FOR DONORS, OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEENS
Graduates of the Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers are offering an illustrated anthology of flash fiction as a donor reward during their annual scholarship fundraiser. This is the fourth edition of the annual Alphanthology, edited, written and illustrated by alumni.
Founded by Diane Turnshek, Alpha is a ten day workshop for speculative fiction writers ages 14 to 19, where each student writes an original short story and participates in peer review critiques. Tamora Pierce, author of young adult series such as Protector of the Small and The Provost’s Dog, has instructed at the workshop every year since its inception. This year, additional instructors include Tobias Buckell, Bruce Coville, and SFWA Vice President Rachel Swirsky. Past instructors have included award winning authors and editors such as Ellen Kushner, Sheila Williams, Scott Westerfeld, Holly Black and John Joseph Adams.
Alpha works hard to keep costs low–every staff member is a volunteer, and the tuition is kept at the lowest possible level–but prospective students often require financial aid. The scholarship fund exists to make attendance possible for talented young writers from all walks of life.
Alphans have published in dozens of markets, including Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Analog and Strange Horizons. Many of them have placed and won in contests such as The Dell Magazine Award, Writers of the Future, and the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
The Alpha scholarship fundraiser will run February 2-8. Organizers are planning a blog tour and letter writing campaign in addition to social media announcements. To learn more about the Alpha SF/F/H Young Writers’ Workshop, please visit the Alpha website or follow @AlphaWorkshop on Twitter.
For more information please contact:
Fundraiser Coordinator Sarah Brand
sarah.b.brand@gmail.com
Publicity Coordinator Lara Elena Donnelly
lara.3lena@gmail.com
Book Giveaway: Tales From High Hallack – The Collected Short Stories of Andre Norton, Volume: 1
It’s time again to kick off another free book contest! What’s that I hear? We’re giving away too many books? Well, if you think so, I guess we could stop… What? Oh, you DO want more free books! I thought so.
The kind folks at Premier Digital Publishing have recently launched a new 3 part collection of works by the legendary Andre Norton and they wanted us to help them give out five paperback copies of Tales From High Hallack – The Collected Short Stories of Andre Norton, Volume: 1. And, because we love you so, we of course said: “Oh, Hell yes!”
From their press release:
For the first time, a collection of short stories by Andre Norton are available for her loyal fans. Still as fresh and relevant today as they were over a half-century ago, Norton’s stories have been curated in Tales From High Hallack, Volumes 1 (January 14, 2014), 2 (May 20, 2014), and 3 (Fall 2014). This collection of previously published short stories includes many themed anthologies from periodicals that are no longer in print.
Paying homage to Norton’s legacy, the collection of stories is entitled High Hallack, named after the location featured prominently in many of her works of fiction, as well as the genre writer’s library Norton opened in Tennessee. In this collection of short stories, the gates of High Hallack are now open for the world to enjoy these amazing science fiction and fantasy stories.
For your chance at one of these copies all you have to do is re-tweet this tweet:
This 1 is sweet: Win free #AndreNorton stories: http://t.co/0PZrS7fWeS RT to enter. Comment on blog 2 double chances pic.twitter.com/gn0ZKuStRg
— Worlds Without End (@WWEnd) February 6, 2014
…or comment here in the blog to enter the contest. Do both and double your chances! We’ll have a random drawing from our re-tweeter pool and announce the winners next Thursday so tweet away and don’t forget to tell your friends. Note: If you leave a comment without a way for us to reach you we’re going to draw another name so please give us a twitter link or something.
Tales From High Hallack – The Collected Short Stories of Andre Norton, Volume: 1
by Andre Norton
For the first time, the Grand Dame of science fiction – Andre Norton – has her short stories gathered for her fans’ reading pleasure. Tales reach back to the 1930s, as fresh and relevant today as they were when she wrote them… such was Andre’s skill. High fantasy, fables, science fiction, coming of age stories, and more fill three volumes. This impressive, must-have collection includes stories of Witch World. There are cats sprinkled here and there, as Andre treasured them so. And there is magic in the writing, unequaled prose to delight readers of all ages.
High Hallack was a place in Andre’s fiction, and was also the name of her genre writer’s library she opened in Tennessee. It is a wondrous keep that she called home, and now High Hallack opens its gates and allows these amazing stories to tumble out.
Lose yourself in her enchanted words, and read them again and again.
This look like a great collection to have for any library. Click through to the novel page to have a look at the table of contents. Best of luck to you all. Be sure to come back next Thursday to see if you’ve won!
RYO Review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Oxford University Press, 1969
Intended Audience: Adult
Sexual content: None
Ace/Genderqueer characters: none
Rating: PG-13 for violence and suicidal characters
Writing style: 3/5
Likable characters: 3/5
Plot/Concepts: 4/5
Victor Frankenstein was an ambitious student of natural science, who stumbled upon the recipe for bringing life to the inanimate. But when his man-like creature awakes for the first time, he is struck with horror at the creature’s ugliness and rejects his creation, only to later discover that this rejection has turned the creature’s spirit as ugly as its face.
I have heard many assert that Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein was one of the first novels of science fiction as we know it today, and so of course I had to choose it for my new reading challenge this year! I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, apart from the eloquent and poetic writing style. Of course, I knew the basic gist of the story, although I’d never watched a film adaptation or read the book before. Therefore, the beginning was a bit disorienting.
RYO Review: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Given his enormous output, I’m a very inexperienced Asimov reader but from what I understand his career in science fiction can be split into two major periods. The first covered the 1940s and 1950s, in which he wrote a great deal for the magazines that then dominated science fiction. Novels started appearing in 1950, starting with Pebble in the Sky, a novel of the Galactic Empire. So far I’ve read four of his books. The original Foundation trilogy and I, Robot. All of these have been published in the 1950-1953 period and lean heavily on work Asimov had produced in the 1940s. During the 1960s Asimov mostly wrote non-fiction. The Gods Themselves (1972) can be seen as something of a triumphant return to the genre. In this book he answers the critics of his earlier work, winning a Hugo, Nebula and Locus award in the process.
The story is that of the discovery of the electron pump, a device that promised a clean and inexhaustible source of energy by using the different laws of nature that can be found in parallel universes. The story of its discovery one of coincidence and pettiness but the man being hailed as the inventor soon achieves rock star status. His influence on the scientific world is such that he leaves a trail of broken careers in his wake and suppresses information that threatens his status and the use of ‘his’ invention. Not everybody is discouraged by his bullying though. Doubts are being raised about the safety of the device. Soon a theory surfaces that suggests continued use might cause the sun to go nova. Bitterness, stupidity and infighting ensue.
2013 BSFA Shortlist Announced
The shortlist for the 2013 British Science Fiction Association Award has been announced. The nominees for Best Novel are:
- God’s War by Kameron Hurley (Del Rey) 2573
- Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit) 5744
- Evening’s Empires by Paul McAuley (Gollancz) 5300
- Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell (Solaris) 4952
- The Adjacent by Christopher Priest (Gollancz) 6101
The winners will be announced in a ceremony at the Satellite4 Eastercon convention the Crown Plaza Hotel, Glasgow Sunday 20th April 2014. BSFA Prize-winners will receive a coveted BSFA trophy. Also in the ceremony will be the annual James White Award announcing its short story competition winner.
Congratulations to all the nominees. What do you think of this list? Any favorites to win? Ancillary Justice is making all kinds of waves but is it a favorite?
Book Giveaway: Wolves by Simon Ings Winners!
Our Wolves by Simon Ings contest has just concluded and here are the results! We had 41 re-tweets and 15 comments on the blog as well as a handful of likes on Facebook. No too shabby! We put all those names into a spreadsheet and used a random number generator to pick our 5 lucky winners:
Margo-Lea Hurwicz(@MangoHeroics)
ProjectiveEthnography(@ProjectiveEthno)
The Literati Press(@SKLiteratiPress)
Drew DoddDan Williams
Congrats to all our winners! If you are one of our prize winners please send your full name and snail-mail address to us at “info [at] worldswithoutend [dot] com” so we can send you your prize right away. Be sure to mention Wolves in your email so we know which prize you’re claiming.
Our thanks to Gollancz and Simon Ings for making the contest possible. Didn’t win this time? Don’t give up! We have more contests coming up. In fact, there’s still time to get your name in the hat for our latest Jo Fletcher Fridays contest The Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell.
