I am grateful to Corie Weaver and her delightfully named Dreaming Robot Press for selecting my Prix Aurora Award winning story “Crimson Sky” for inclusion in their 2017 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide. I had written “Crimson Sky” with young readers in mind and I am thrilled that Corie is helping me bring the story to a YA audience. The story was first published in the July/August 2014 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.
Imaginarium 4, the latest edition of ChiZine’s prestigious annual collection of the best Canadian speculative fiction, is now available. Edited by Sandra Kasturi and Jerome Stueart with an introduction by Margaret Atwood, the anthology includes my post-apocalyptic short story “Túshūguăn”. It is an honour to be sharing a table of contents with Kate Story, Jean-Louis Trudel, Kelley Armstrong, Suzanne Church, David Clink, Alyx Dellamonica, Cory Doctorow, Amal El-Mohtar, Gemma Files, Nalo Hopkinson, Matthew Hughes, Matthew Johnson, Helen Marshall, Matt Moore, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, David Nickle, Tony Pi, Peter Watts, and many other terrific Canadian writers.
Carbide Tipped Pens is now available in trade paperback, with a great cover blurb from The Washington Post: “A dynamic interplay between human psychology and technological advancement while also delivering thrilling plots.”
I will be having a one-on-one conversation with Jeff Beeler about Carbide Tipped Pens at GenreCon 2015 this Saturday, May 2nd at 1:00pm. We will be talking about the origin and creation of this new anthology of hard science fiction, how Ben Bova and I came up with the idea, found a publisher and the authors, obtained the stories, and put them together to create the collection. GenreCon will be held at the Sarnia Public Library, located at 124 Christina Street South in Sarnia, Ontario. Here is my full programming schedule:
10:00am — How Books Get Published
What is the way books are created and how can you access it to get the books you want to read or write in print or electronically?
Sandra Kasturi (moderator), Sylvia Hubbard, Brett Savory, Dennis Collins, Monica Royal, Eric Choi
11:00am — Meet and Greet
1:00pm — Carbide Tipped Pens
A conversation with Eric Choi about the origin and creation of this new anthology of hard science fiction he created with Ben Bova, how they came up with the idea, found a publisher and the authors, obtained the stories, and put them together to create the collection.
Jeff Beeler (moderator), Eric Choi
2:00pm — The Weird and the Wonderful
The attraction of reading and writing science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror.
Sandra Kastury (moderator), Brett Savory, Dennis Collins, Monica Royal, Eric Choi
Carbide Tipped Pens continues to garner positive reviews.
Nancy Hightower in the Washington Post says: “The strongest stories, by Liu Cixin, Aliette de Bodard and David DeGraff, explore a dynamic interplay between human psychology and technological advancement while also delivering thrilling plots.”
Alex Good in the Toronto Star writes: “As the stories in this new collection, edited by Choi and SF master Ben Bova, indicate, hard SF can go down many different roads. And the point is never just the science and engineering itself, but rather what people do with it, or what it does to them.”
The book is also a Bakka Phoenix recommendation.
A big THANK YOU to many people for a terrific launch of Carbide Tipped Pens: Lorna Toolis, Annette Mocek, Donald Simmons and the Friends of the Merril Collection volunteers; the Toronto Public Library; Chris Szego of Bakka-Phoenix Books; Kate Story and David DeGraff who made long journeys to be here so that they could share their wonderful stories; and of course, everyone who came out to share the evening with us. Thank you!
Ben Bova was not able to join us in person, however, I would like to share his prepared opening remarks:
“To me, hard science fiction is the most exciting and mind-expanding field of writing. At its best, hard science fiction takes the reader to places no human eyes have yet seen — but someday we will reach those alien scenes and meet the strange and wonderful creatures who dwell there. Good fiction tests the human heart in a steaming crucible. Hard science fiction allows writers to make the crucible hotter, and test the human heart in new and fascinating ways — all while playing true to the known facts of the Universe. From the far future to the distant past, from here on Earth to the farthest galaxy, hard science fiction shows the Universe and the humans who inhabit it as they are, and as they will be. The stories in Carbide Tipped Pens are all excellent examples of this demanding, enthralling and enriching field.”
Carbide Tipped Pens is available now in hardcover (Amazon, !ndigo, Barnes & Noble), ebook (Amazon, !ndigo, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play) and audio book (Downpour, Audible, Overdrive).
For more information: [Toronto Public Library] [Facebook Event]
Carbide Tipped Pens, the new hard SF anthology from Tor co-edited by Ben Bova and me featuring seventeen stories by today’s top authors, is now available in hardcover (Amazon, !ndigo, Barnes & Noble) and ebook (Amazon, !ndigo, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play).
Coinciding with the book’s release, Bureau42.com has posted its review. Kudos to Daniel H. Wilson, Nancy Fulda, Dirk Strasser, Leah Petersen, Gabrielle Harbowy and David DeGraff.
“If you’re looking for an SF anthology to purchase this season, I heartily recommend Carbide Tipped Pens.”
Library Journal has a review of Carbide Tipped Pens. Kudos to Doug Beason, Leah Petersen, Gabrielle Harbowy, Greg Benford, David DeGraff and Aliette de Bodard. The book will be available starting next week.
“Compiled by Bova, a six-time Hugo Award winner, and Choi, a rising star of the short form, these 17 stories...are considered ‘hard’ SF. As Choi explains in his introduction, hard SF is the ‘literature of change’, interested in the effects of science and technology on society, while still telling human stories. This is a solid anthology, with only a few missteps; some of the best selections include Doug Beason’s ‘Thunderwell’, a tense tale of efforts to save a human mission to Mars; ‘Skin Deep’ by Leah Petersen and Gabrielle Harbowy, about a lawyer who confronts a company that makes medical tattoos; and David DeGraff’s ‘SIREN of Titan’ in which an artificially intelligent rover on the surface of Saturn’s Titan moon decides to go off-mission and explore, much to the consternation of her handlers back on Earth. Verdict: A pleasing sampling of stories, all showing the range found even within a subgenre like hard SF. Well-known novelists such as Gregory Benford appear alongside Aliette de Bodard and other top writers of the short form, plus some talented newcomers are featured.”
Watch the book trailer for Carbide Tipped Pens, coming December 2 from Tor.