Locus, May 2013

by Locus Publications

  Don’t get me wrong. I love getting great books to review. But the geek in me cringes as the sheer unsystematic chaos of it all. Even though there are publishers who are very selective, whose PR people seem to have a gift for knowing what sort of thing I’m likely to review, that should be the icing on the cake, not the cake itself. A comparatively tiny investment in a CRM system would tie together the efforts of editorial, marketing, sales and publicity so that people who should get books really get them, and people who will just throw the book into the reject pile don’t get them.

  But whenever I talk to publishing people about this, it seems like no one is bothering to build what amounts to a structured system for keeping track of what works and what doesn’t – who to send what to, in other words.

  And don’t get me started on electronic advance reading copies (eARCs). I once had lunch with a Big 5 publicity person who said, ‘‘We’ve figured out our company eARC strategy.’’

  Aha! I thought. Now we’re talking – I bet the whole thing is database-driven, sending out laser-targeted multiformat e-books to reviewers and buyers via their Dropboxes, Instapapers, and e-mail.

  But no: ‘‘We’re going to send out DRMed PDFs.’’

  Facepalm.

  eARCs are the next frontier of indiscriminate review-copy spamming. A golden opportunity to refine PR, marketing, and sales with highly selective, targeted pitching will, instead, almost certainly turn into a pointless exercise in flooding reviewers’ inboxes with badly behaved, crippled DRM files. On the other hand, DRMed eARCs will help me with my winnowing task: when you’ve got 100 times more books than you can read (and with eARCs, that will quickly balloon into a one-thousandfold surplus), one way to whittle down the pile to manageable size is to simply delete all the DRM-locked files.

  If I was in charge of this, I’d buy a bunch of Salesforce.com CRM licenses across the business and give everyone a crash-course in producing cheap, xerographic ARCs in the manner of Teresa Nielsen Hayden. Teresa produces ARCs on demand for her writers by laying up their books as two-column, 11-point type on a vertical 8.5” x 11” sheet, double-sided, with a 1” gutter on the left side. You can put 100,000 words into about 50 pages this way, and all it takes to bind it is a couple of staples up the left side. These can be produced on demand for cheap and mailed in standard business envelopes. Investing in these two, simple measures would do more to improve the sales, marketing, and publicity of major publishers than a thousand harebrained DRM eARC schemes.

  –Cory Doctorow

  Return to In This Issue listing.

  MAGAZINES RECEIVED: MARCH

  Analog Science Fiction and Fact–Trevor Quachri, ed. Vol. 133 No. 6, June 2013, $4.99, 10 times a year, 112pp, 15 x 22 cm. Part three of a four-part serial by Edward M. Lerner; novelette by Mark Niemann-Ross; short stories by K.S. Patterson, David D. Levine, Maggie Clark, Linda Nagata, and Jack McDevitt; a science fact on tsunamis by Richard A. Lovett; a special feature about working on the space shuttle by Jeff Mitchell; columns; and reviews.

  Asimov’s Science Fiction–Sheila Williams, ed. Vol. 37 No. 6, Whole Number 449, June 2013, $4.99, 10 times a year, 112pp, 15 x 22 cm. Novella by Robert Reed; novelettes by G. David Nordley, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch; short stories by Eric Del Carlo and Megan Arkenberg; columns, poetry, reviews, etc. Cover by Alan Lynch Artists/Mélanie Delon.

  Black Static–Andy Cox, ed. Issue No. 33, March-April 2013, £4.99, bimonthly, 96pp, 17 x 24 cm. Dark British SF/F magazine with stories by James Cooper, Tim Casson, Andrew Hook, Carole Johnstone, Gary McMahon, and Michael Kelly; an interview with S.P. Miskowski; columns and reviews. Cover by Richard Wagner. Subscription: Europe £24.00 or EURO36.00/USA & Canada USD$36.00/elsewhere £27.00 for 6 issues to TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK; e-mail: ; website: .

  BSFA Awards 2012–Anon, ed., 2012, free to member of the BSFA, oneshot, 96pp, 21 x 29 1/2 cm. Oneshot magazine containing all the shortlisted stories for the BSFA Awards, including work by Aliette de Bodard, Chris Butler, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Tim Maughan, China Miéville, and Ian Sales. Cover by Andy Bigwood.

  Galaxy’s Edge–Mike Resnick, ed. No. 1, March 2013, $5.99 for print or $2.99 for a digital download from Amazon.com or B&N.com/$2.99 for a digital download or free online directly from , bimonthly, 106pp, 19 x 24 1/2 cm. Premier issue of a new SF magazine with a mixture of original and reprinted fiction, reviews, and columns. This issue includes stories by Robert J. Sawyer, Kij Johnson, Nick DiChario, Lou J. Berger, Jack McDevitt, Alex Shvartsman, Stephen Leight, Robert T. Jeschonek, and James Patrick Kelly, and a serialization of novel Dark Universe by Daniel F. Galouye. Subscription: $9.99 for six digital issues at www.weightlessbooks.com. For more information contact Arc Manor/Phoenix Pick, PO Box 10339, Rockville MD 20849-0339; e-mail: ; website: .

  Interzone–Andy Cox, ed. Issue No. 245, March-April 2013, £4.99, bimonthly, 96pp, 17 x 24 cm. British SF/F magazine. Stories by Chris Butler, Melanie Tem, Carlos Hernandez, Damien Walters Grintalis, and Antony Mann; interview with Paul Cornell; and reviews. Cover by Jim Burns. Subscription: Europe £24.00 or EURO36.00/USA & Canada USD$36.00/elsewhere £27.00 for 6 issues to TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK; website: .

  The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction–Gordon Van Gelder, ed. Vol. 124 Nos. 5 & 6, Whole No. 707, May/June 2013, $7.99, bimonthly, 260pp, 13 x 19½ cm. Novella by Andy Stewart; novelettes by Robert Reed, Rand B. Lee, Albert E. Cowdrey, Dale Bailey, and Bruce McAllister; short stories by Angélica Gorodischer, Alexandra Duncan, Paul Di Filippo, Joe Haldeman, and Ted White. Cover by Kristin Kest.

  Pravic–David Gill & Nathaniel K. Miller, eds. No. 2, Spring 2013, $3.00 for print or $1.00 for a PDF directly from , quarterly, 54pp, 14 x 21 1/2 cm. This issue includes four pieces of short fiction with accompanying interviews of the authors, including Rudy Rucker, Robert Onopa, and others, two nonfiction articles, and notes from the editors. Cover by Nathaniel K. Miller. Subscription: All subscriptions are for issues one through 12. Twelve print issues (digital issues included free) for $36.00 US and Canada/$50.00 elsewhere/$10.00 for digital-only to , or Pravic Magazine, 1551 Madison #308, Oakland CA 94612; e-mail: ; website: .

  ONLINE MAGAZINES

  Apex Magazine –Lynne M. Thomas, ed. Issue #47, April 2013, free online or $2.99 e-book, monthly. Online SF/fantasy magazine, publishing both new and reprinted fiction. This issue includes fiction by Michael Griffin, Sofia Samatar, Ken Liu, and Daniel Abraham; poetry by Sonya Taaffe; an essay on poetry by Amal El-Mohtar; and an interview with Daniel Abraham. New issues posted the first Tuesday of the month. Cover by Naoto Hattori. Subscription: $19.95/year from Apex or Weightless Books . Also available from Amazon.com at $1.99/month.

  Beneath Ceaseless Skies –Scott H. Andrews, ed. Issue #117, March 21, 2013, free online, bi-weekly. Online SF/fantasy magazine. This issue includes fiction by Marissa Lingen and Alec Austin and a podcast of ‘‘Boat in Shadows, Crossing’’ by Tori Truslow. Cover by Maciej Wojtala. Subscription: $13.99/year from Weightless Books .

  Beneath Ceaseless Skies –Scott H. Andrews, ed. Issue #118, April 4, 2013, free online, bi-weekly. Online SF/fantasy magazine. This issue includes fiction by Benjanun Sriduangkaew and A.J. Fitzwater and a podcast of ‘‘Armistice Day’’ by Marissa Lingen. Cover by Maciej Wojtala. Subscription: $13.99/year from Weightless Books .

  Beneath Ceaseless Skies –Scott H. Andrews, ed. Issue #119, April 18, 2013, free online, bi-weekly. Online SF/fantasy magazine. This issue includes fiction by Michael Haynes and Rich Larson and a podcast of ‘‘The Barber and the Count’’ by Michael Haynes. Cover by Maciej Wojtala. Subscriptio
n: $13.99/year from Weightless Books .

  Clarkesworld –Neil Clarke, ed. Issue #79, April 2013, free online or $2.99 e-book, monthly. Online SF/fantasy magazine publishing both new and reprinted fiction. This issue includes original short fiction by Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Kali Wallace, and Emily C. Skaftun, and reprints by Kij Johnson, Robert Reed, and David Moles; podcasts of ‘‘Spar (Making Bacon Version)’’ by Kij Johnson; a conversation with Myke Cole; and nonfiction essays by Ken Liu and Daniel Abraham. Cover by Alexandru Popescu. Subscription: $1.99/month Amazon.com, £1.99/month via Amazon.co.uk, or $19.95/year from Weightless Books .

  Eclipse Online –Jonathan Strahan, ed. March 22, 2013, free online. Eclipse Online posted ‘‘In Metal, In Bone’’ by An Owomoyela. In April, Night Shade announced the closure of Eclipse Online. The website with all previously posted pieces will remain up indefinitely.

  Lightspeed Magazine –John Joseph Adams, ed. Issue #35, April 2013; free online or $3.99 e-book, monthly. Online SF/fantasy magazine publishing both new and reprinted fiction. This issue includes original SF by Desirina Boskovich, and Hugh Howey, and reprints by Kathleen Ann Goonan and Robert Silverberg; original fantasy by Anaea Lay and Karin Tidbeck, and reprints by Bruce Sterling and Christopher Barzak; interviews with Jane Yolen and Brandon Sanderson and an artist showcase featuring the work of cover artist Armand Baltazar. The e-book edition is available on the first of the month with an exclusive novella not available on the website. April’s exclusive content includes ‘‘Bellony ‘‘ by Nina Allan, an interview with Nina Allan, and an excerpt from Linda Nagata’s new novel The Red: First Light. On the website, each month’s contents are posted throughout the month with new features published on the first four Tuesdays. Cover by Armand Baltazar. Subscription: $2.99/month via Amazon.com or $35.88/year from Weightless Books .

  The New York Review of Science Fiction . Review and criticism magazine, with essay-length and short reviews, etc. This issue includes theatre reviews of Inflatable Frankenstein (created and performed by Radiohole), reviewed by Aaron Grunfeld, and Sayonara and I, Worker (written and directed by Oriza Hirata and produced by the Seinendan Theatre Company & Osake University Robot Theatre Project), reviewed by Jene Gunnels; Michael Andre-Driussi documents the video game Fallout 3’s debt to Richard Matheson’s The Omega Man, and defends the movie John Carter; and Graham Andrews looks at the SF work of mystery/detective fiction writer Richard S. Prather. Subscriptions: $30.00/year from Weightless Books .

  Nightmare Magazine –John Joseph Adams, ed. Issue #7, April 2013; free online or $2.99 e-book, monthly. Online horror/dark fantasy magazine publishing both original and reprinted fiction. This issue includes original fiction by Marc Laidlaw and Weston Ochse, reprinted fiction by Elizabeth Hand and Angela Slatter, a showcase of cover artist Steven Meyer-Rassow, an essay by Dale Bailey; and an interview with Sarah Langan. The e-book edition is available on the first of the month. On the website, each month’s contents are posted throughout the month with new features published on the first four Wednesdays. Cover by Steven Meyer-Rassow. Subscription: $2.08/billed monthly from Nightmare or $24.99/year from Weightless Books .

  Strange Horizons –Niall Harrison, ed. Posts weekly, March/April 2013; free online. Speculative fiction magazine with original fiction, poetry, articles, podcasts, and reviews. New issues are posted every Monday. For March and April, the site posted fiction with accompanying podcasts of works by Ryan Simko, Lane Robins, and Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam; interviews with Ken Liu and Adam Roberts; poetry and a podcast of the poetry appearing on the website; a nonfiction articles by Mark Plummer; and reviews.

  Tor.com –Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Irene Gallo, Fritz Foy, Tom Doherty, Liz Gorinsky, et al., eds. March-April 2013; free online. Macmillian publishing house site specializing in genre fiction. Each month Tor.com publishes free fiction and articles including original works, reprints, novel excerpts, and comics; re-reads/re-watches of novels and television shows; an artist gallery; original reviews; and articles and commentary, as well as providing a forum for the genre community. New material is posted throughout the month. March/April fiction posts include novel excerpts by Wesley Chu, Jill Wolfson, Bonnie Shimko, Bethany Wiggins, Freda Warrington, Joshua Alan Parry, Nathaniel Rich, Jim Steinmeyer, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Jeremy Robinson, Christian Schoon, Ian Tregillis, Zenn Scarlett, Leigh Bardugo, Joelle Charbonneau, Jamil Nasir, Adam Roberts, K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr, Chuck Wendig, Emmy Laybourne, Olivia Samms, Sarah Pinborough, Anna Banks, Jack Campbell, and Rhiannon Held; comic book excerpts from The Titular Hero by M.K. Reed & Jonathan Hill, and Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks, art; original short fiction by Harry Turtledove, Gregory Benford, Priya Sharma, and Karin Tidbeck; reprinted short fiction by C.J. Cherryh, and Joelle Charbonneau; and poetry by Neil Gaiman and Jane Yolen.

  THE OUTER LIMITS

  Fortean Times (1/13) features an article by Brian J. Robb where he traces the history of steampunk, from literary movement to sub-culture.

  The Weekly Standard (3/18/13) includes an article on the ghost stories of M.R. James.

  Return to In This Issue listing.

  BOOKS RECEIVED: MARCH

  Compiled by Liza Groen Trombi & Carolyn Cushman. Please send all corrections to Carolyn Cushman c/o Locus. We will run all verified corrections.

  KEY: * = first edition + = first American edition.

  * Adams, Guy The Good, the Bad and the Infernal (Rebellion/Solaris US 978-1-76108-089-4, $7.99, 315pp, pb, cover by Dominick Saponaro) SF/fantasy novel, the first in the Heaven’s Gate trilogy. The town of Wormwood, with a doorway to heaven, is due to make a once-a-century appearance in 1889 America. E-book also available.

  * Adams, John Joseph & Douglas Cohen, eds. Oz Reimagined (Amazon/47North 978-1611099041, $14.95, 365pp, tp, cover by Galen Dara) Original anthology of 15 stories inspired by L. Frank Baum’s Oz. Authors include Seanan McGuire, Tad Williams, Orson Scott Card, and Jeffrey Ford. Foreword by Gregory Maguire. Illustrated by Galen Dara. E-book also available.

  * Aguirre, Ann Agave Kiss (Penguin/Roc 978-0-451-46503-0, $7.99, 309pp, pb) Urban fantasy novel, the fifth featuring psychic pawnshop owner Corine Solomon. E-book also available.

  * Alexander, William Ghoulish Song (Simon & Schuster/McElderry 978-1-4424-2729-7, $16.99, 166pp, hc, cover by Erwin Madrid) Middle-grade fantasy novel, second in a series set in the magical town of Zombay. E-books also available.

  * Altenburg, Paula The Demon’s Daughter (Entangled Select 978-1-62061-037-4, $14.99, 342pp, tp) Paranormal romance/urban fantasy novel in the Demon Outlaws series. Airie is unaware of her ancestry, a mix of demon and divine, until the Demon Slayer, Hunter, tracks her down. A Liz Pelletier Collection book. E-book also available. The author also collaborates as Taylor Keating. Entangled Publishing, 2614 South Timberline Road, Suite 109, Fort Collins CO 80525; .

  * Angler, Evan Sneak (Nelson, Thomas 978-1-4003-1842-1, $9.99, 274pp, tp) Young-adult SF novel, the second in the Swipe series. E-book also available. This is dated 2012, but not seen until now.

  * Angler, Evan Swipe (Nelson, Thomas 978-1-4003-1836-0, $9.99, 273pp, tp) Young-adult Christian dystopian SF novel, the first in a series. Logan Langly starts to wonder about the Mark of citizenship he’s due to get on his 13th birthday. This is dated 2012 but not seen until now. E-book also available.

  * Angus, Jennifer In Search of Goliathus Hercules (Whitman, Albert 978-0-8075-2990-4, $17.99, 350pp, hc) Middle-grade fantasy novel. Henri Bell discovers he can talk to insects, and
eventually begins to transform into one himself. A first novel. E-book also available.

  * Anonymous, ed. ’Til the World Ends (Harlequin/Luna 978-0-373-80349-1, $14.95, 361pp, tp) Original anthology of three apocalyptic SF romance stories by Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre, and Karen Duvall. E-book also available.

  Armstrong, Kelley The Calling (Harper 978-0-06-179706-4, $9.99, 326pp, tp, cover by Carrie Schechter) Reprint (Harper 2012) young-adult dark fantasy novel, the second book in the Darkness Rising series.

  * Ashgrove, Claire Immortal Trust (Tor 978-0-7653-6760-0, $7.99, 440pp, pb, cover by Scott Grimando) Paranormal romance, the third book in the Curse of the Templars series. Copyrighted by Valerie M. Hatfield. E-book also available.

  Atherton, Nancy Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch (Penguin 978-0-14-312271-5, $8.99, 280pp, pb, cover by Tamaye Perry) Reprint (Viking 2012) mystery novel with supernatural elements, 17th in the series.

  * Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia Promises to Keep (Random House/Delacorte 978-0-385-74192-7, $15.99, 236pp, hc, cover by Ericka O’Rourke) Young-adult dark fantasy novel in the Den of Shadows world, featuring a side character from All Just Glass. E-book also available.

  * Bailey, Kristin Legacy of the Clockwork Key (Simon Pulse 978-1-4424-4026-5, $17.99, 403pp, hc) Young-adult steampunk fantasy novel, the first in The Secret Order trilogy. This is a pen name for Jess Granger. E-book also available.

  Baker, Adam Juggernaut (St. Martin’s/Dunne 978-1-250-01767-3, $24.99, 305pp, hc, cover by Dave Seeley) Zombie novel. Mercenaries looking for lost treasure in 2005 Iraq find horror. E-book also available. First US edition (Hodder & Stoughton 6/12).

  Baker, E.D. Fairy Wings (Bloomsbury USA 978-1-59990-756-7, $7.99, 307pp, tp, cover by Krista Huot) Reissue (Bloomsbury USA 2008 as Wings) young-adult fantasy novel. Third printing.