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A Conversation With Gary Turner and Marty Halpern
An interview with Nick Gevers
On Jim Turner:
"I expect most people will agree that he didn't suffer fools gladly, was a meticulous scholar, and loved to
gossip. The sheer effort he would expend as an editor puts most other editors to shame. He would read everything an author had written, then
study the stories carefully, reading all reviews and references about the author that he could locate. He read every book he could find
on editing and publishing, in order to be the best possible."
Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds
reviewed by David Soyka
Set in the same far-future setting of his grand space opera novels, this
novella portrays sibling rivalry and reconciliation in the context of planetary invasion and destruction.
Sisters Naqi and Mini Okpik are researchers on the largely aquatic world of Turquoise, studying a life form that coats the oceans
in an algae-like way. (A song lyric by Echo and the Bunnymen apparently inspired the setting.) The life form is a Pattern Juggler,
which inhabits other worlds (and figures a bit in the author's other novels).
Golden Gryphon Press
compiled by Rodger Turner
Golden Gryphon Press was founded in 1997 by Jim Turner, the long-time editor of Arkham House. He wanted to publish handsome,
quality books of short story collections. Upon his death in 1999, Gary Turner and his wife Geri took over the operations
Shortly thereafter, Marty Halpern joined the publishing house to help in the acquisition and publication of new titles.
Jim Turner won the 1999 World Fantasy Award for his work at Golden Gryphon Press.
Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer
reviewed by William Thompson
Set within some far distant dystopian future in which human habitation has been confined to isolated and walled city-states, and
the natural environment utterly destroyed, life begins in artificial vats, conception created in the imagination of genetic
bioneers, birth an expression of the Living Arts. No longer limited to creating inanimate objects with mere paint and brushes,
the artists of this world fashion their work instead out of the genetic clay of flesh and bio-mechanics.
Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Rick offers his thoughts on the TV adaptation of Frank Herbert's Children of Dune.
He says it is well worth buying when it comes out on DVD next month.
As well, he provides us with what to watch on television in April.
Paperquake by Kathryn Reiss
reviewed by Ian Nichols
The mystery begins when Violet Jackstone, the non-identical sibling in a set of triplets, begins to dream of things which
she has never experienced, but which seem real to her. Dreams of ordinary domestic pastimes, such as needlepoint, are intermingled with
dreams of terrible tragedy, of flames and earthquake. The earthquake dreams, she thinks, might be explained by the series of small tremors
which San Francisco, where she lives, is experiencing. But how to explain the domestic dreams?
Coyote by Allen Steele
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
By the year 2070, the United States has become transformed; becoming so mired in politics and repression that the ideals it was based on have
been twisted unrecognizably. The elite, hoping for an even better life, have built a ship called The Alabama, and imprisoned the scientists
who created it with the other political prisoners. This does not sit well with Captain Robert E. Lee, who, with a band of like-minded
people, steal the ship and take the prisoners and a few guards with them. In cold sleep, they hurtle through space, to a new planet
called Coyote, where they will try and establish a new life for themselves.
Pavane for a Cyber-Princess, She Was There for Him the Last Time and In Far Pale Clarity by Bruce Boston
reviewed by Trent Walters
He has three long poems out now and its difficult to say which is
best because they're very much the same, and very much different. "As far
as the East is from the West" always puzzled Trent. At some point, the East
becomes the West, doesn't it? So, too, is the difference between these three poems.
The Prize in the Game by Jo Walton
reviewed by Steven H Silver
The author claims her 3rd novel, set in the same
world as her previous books, can be read without recourse to
those books, despite growing out of a brief passage in her debut, The
King's Peace. While it is certainly true that a person can read this book
without previous acquaintance with her world, to do so will leave
the reader with the opinion that its culture is not as fully
detailed as might be indicated by the earlier volumes.
The Scar by China Miéville
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Bellis Coldwine is taking passage on a ship, fleeing persecution in her home city of New Crobuzon for an uncertain
future in distant Nova Esperium. An urban intellectual, Bellis loathes the prospect of years of exile in the colonies, but when her
ship is captured by pirates, she realizes she may never see her home again.
The pirates live on Armada, a secret floating city haphazardly lashed together from ships and debris.
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A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
reviewed by Matthew Peckham
In genre fiction, families are often either terrorized victims of chainsaw wielding maniacs, or nostalgic bubbly after-school-special caricatures
wrapped in kid-safe behaviors and words. This coming-of-age novel plays the field near the latter, unfurling
its mysteries in to-the-point plotting bounded by the author's home-cooked narrative musings on philosophical questions of identity, sibling
rivalry, power, and love. Packed with curious variations on the old "what would you do with magic powers" theme, the tale is a whimsical romp
through adolescence to adulthood that mostly succeeds in drawing the reader along to the wistful end.
Fires of the Faithful and Turning the Storm by Naomi Kritzer
reviewed by Victoria Strauss
Sixteen-year-old Eliana is a violin student at an isolated rural conservatory. Times are hard -- a recent war has laid waste to large parts
of the Mestierese Empire, and there's famine in the south. But life at the conservatory is reasonably secure, and Eliana has hope, once her
training is complete, that she'll land a prestigious appointment to one of the ensembles at the Imperial Court.
Then a new roommate, Mira, arrives, and Eliana's life is changed forever.
SF Site News
compiled by Steven H Silver
Every day, items of interest to you arrive in our email. Our bi-monthly format doesn't lend itself to daily updates.
However, this is a small inconvenience to our Contributing Editor Steven H Silver. He's begun a new column which
will fill you in on recent news in science fiction. We'll be updating the page as he sends in new items.
A Conversation With G.O. Clark
An interview with Trent Walters
on the outer ear and the inner ear:
"The outer ear refers to how things actually sound, whether spoken word or
music. How the poem sounds out loud in front of an audience or alone with a
mirror. I don't know how many times I've heard people say, "I never
understood that poem until hearing read out loud". The way a poet reads his
work often clarifies its meaning, and the relationship between the
musician(s) and audience creates an understanding, or vibe. It's always a
two way thing. The inner ear I guess would be more accurately labeled the
inner voice, the dialogue that translates into words, sentences, stanzas and
poem, or with music, the notes."
A Box Full of Alien Skies by G.O. Clark
reviewed by Trent Walters
Writers -- whether they are aware of it or not -- have an agenda that they work
out as any oeuvre gathers enough mass to bear out. This collection should fill
that gap in poetry left by Ray Bradbury's more literary fiction endeavors
proving that, yes, Virginia, it is a Science Fictional world... with poems
like "Where Are You Now My Bug Eyed Ones" which puts Bob Dylan's eco- and
humanitarian-lamenting lyrics of this title to strange use: half-seriously,
half-mockingly lamenting the loss of SF tropes from 50s cinema.
Technogenesis by Syne Mitchell
reviewed by Donna McMahon
Jasmine Reese is brilliant, and even better she's a "natural." As her boss
says: "You slip into network protocols like the computer's clock cycle is the beating of your own heart." Jaz spends all her waking hours
connected to the net, and most of them working at her job as a "data miner" for a software company.
But when her top-of-the-line data mask breaks down, this arrogant workaholic is unwillingly thrust into a real Seattle where she can't go
anywhere or do anything without a connection -- she can't even switch on her own apartment lights.
New Arrivals
compiled by Neil Walsh
New Arrivals this time out include such highlights as new novels from Steven Barnes, Cory Doctorow, Lucius Shepard; new anthologies from Nalo Hopkinson, Martin Greenberg & Larry Seagriff; new collections from Michael Bishop, Howard Waldrop; and new editions of old classics from H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, Mary Norton -- plus a whole lot more.
The World of Null-A by A.E. Van Vogt
reviewed by Cindy Lynn Speer
By the year 2650, the people of earth have moved away from Aristotelian logic, training themselves through years of study and
discipline to become Null-A. Everyone knows the people who manage to work their way through the levels of the yearly Game will
get a better job, a better life. They may even go off-planet to the utopia-like Venus if they are lucky and pass all the
tests. Gilbert Gosseyn is one of these who gather to take the test to see what life he will lead. Until he finds out that the
life he's been living is not his own. Soon he finds himself not only on a quest to discover who he really is, but to foil the
plans of an alien race bent on intergalactic conquest.
The Babylon 5: Crusade Episode Guide by Sandy Van Densen and Loriann DeGiacomo
reviewed by David Maddox
The character line-up was impressive. No-nonsense Captain Matthew Gideon at the helm, telepath John Matheson by his side,
stalwart Dr. Sarah Chambers in the medical bay, despicably likable Max Eilerson, good-hearted thief Dureena Nafeel and the
mysterious and enigmatic Technomage Galen crewed the Excalibur. Unfortunately, it was not to be. The series ended after a
mere 13 episode run on TNT.
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