January 2010

Blog Tour: New Jersey! And pre-release housekeeping.

/ 2 Comments / 100K, Appearances, Conventions and Workshops, Interview / By

Newsflash! Although the official publication date of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is February 25, I found out yesterday that the release date is actually February 3rd. What this means, I think — remember, this stuff is new to me, too — is that the book will actually be available in many stores in ::ulp:: about two weeks. Which kinda blows my plan of posting a 30-day countdown clock, because I don’t actually know when people will be able to get this thing. On the other hand, screw the countdown clock; my book!! is coming!! What this means is that I’m […]

Blog Tour: New Jersey! And pre-release housekeeping. KEEP READING

A Story for Haiti: “The Effluent Engine”

/ 39 Comments / Causes, Shorts / By

A day late in posting this; I only heard about it in the wee hours of Monday morning, and wanted to put up the MLK post first. And ordinarily I would prefer to let that post stay topmost for a few days, but time is critical here. So… I heard through Cheryl Morgan’s blog about A Story for Haiti, a fundraising effort on behalf of the victims of the Port-au-Prince quake. Basically, a bunch of authors are posting free short stories online, some set in Haiti and some not, and asking people to decide how much those stories are worth.

A Story for Haiti: “The Effluent Engine” KEEP READING

Why I Think RaceFail Was The Bestest Thing Evar for SFF

/ 91 Comments / 100K, Controversies, The Industry / By

This post is for MLK Day. It’s also prompted by the coincidental approximate anniversary of RaceFail, which began in January of last year. (Missed the fun? Google is your friend. But here is a good place to start.) For those who want the Twitter version, RaceFail was a several-months-long conversation about race in the context of science fiction and fantasy that sprawled across the blogosphere. It involved several thousand participants and spawned several hundred essays — and it hasn’t really ended yet, just slowed down. But the initial outburst was very frank, and frequently very heated, and over the course

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Altered Fluid on Hour of the Wolf

/ Appearances / By

Once again, the Altered Fluid writing group will be on WBAI’s radio program Hour of the Wolf tomorrow morning, bright and early at 5 a.m. If you happen to be awake then, and thinking, “Gosh, I wonder how a good writing group works,” then tune in to hear Paul Berger read from his just-now-draft version of “Damp Spam”. It’s a hilarious tale of quantum physics and dinosaurs, which we will cheerfully critique on live radio. Those of you who are off at Arisia this weekend, which I am unfortunately not attending — if you happen to be awake after some

Altered Fluid on Hour of the Wolf KEEP READING

Fourfecta! Library Journal too!

/ 1 Comment / Review / By

OK, so I’d already mentioned the reviews by Romantic Times and Kirkus, and that the Publishers’ Weekly review was starred. Yesterday, however, brought a fresh surprise: Library Journal gave The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms a starred review too! Here’s the relevant bit: Debut author Jemisin creates a mesmerizingly exotic world where fallen gods serve as slaves to the ruling class and murder and ambition go hand in hand. VERDICT: An engaging heroine and a fresh take on traditional dynastic fantasy make this trilogy opener a delight for the fantasy reader and introduce a strong new voice to the genre. And since

Fourfecta! Library Journal too! KEEP READING

Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review!

/ 2 Comments / Review / By

OK, I heard about this a few weeks ago and hinted at it a few posts back. Have been gleefully sitting on the news, waiting for the folks at PW to post the review themselves before I unveiled it. It’s still not up there, so you can’t see the actual text yet. But the folks at Orbit have already spilled the beans, so that means I get to squee too — The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has gotten a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly! Like I said, I’ve seen the actual text of the review, and it’s phenomenal; can’t wait to

Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review! KEEP READING

And now, a moment of shameless fangirlery

/ 2 Comments / silliness / By

Via Stomping on Yeti, just saw the cover of the latest Temeraire novel! Go here to view it and read an excerpt. Oooh, is that Iskierka entwined with Temeraire? Probably not, given the coloring and lack of steam/flame. Plus he can’t stand her, the fussbudget; can’t imagine him happily tangling up with her like that. I hope she manages to win him over. But then what dragon is it? They’re in Australia for this one — will we see marsupial dragons at last?? Aaaaaaagh I can’t believe I have to wait ’til July…!!! And how long before the Temeraire movie?!

And now, a moment of shameless fangirlery KEEP READING

“The Narcomancer” Live at Podcastle

/ Pimping, Shorts / By

This week’s Podcastle is my novelette “The Narcomancer”, which was first published a few years ago in the now-defunct Helix (and is currently archived at Transcriptase). It’s read by fellow Altered Fluidian Rajan Khanna, whose voice I always love. Also features an illustration by artist Shaun Lindow. “The Narcomancer” is based on a couple of unpublished novels of mine, if you’re wondering: “the Tales of the Dreaming Moon” duet, which is more traditional epic fantasy than “the Inheritance Trilogy” except in that it’s set in a secondary world that consciously evokes ancient Egypt and Nubia. And the Jungian collective unconscious.

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Et tu, Kirkus?

/ 4 Comments / Review / By

Except this “et tu” is a good thing, because Kirkus’ review of 100K is fantastic: Debut fantasy features an intriguing, well-drawn mythology. At first glance, the basic plot may seem standard: A young woman, narrator/protagonist Yeine Darr, is named heir to the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which plunges her into a power struggle with two rival cousins. But Jemisin’s world-building and attention to detail raise this story to another level. In the novel’s complex but well-defined universe, a war between the gods took place in the distant past. The losing divinities were punished severely and forced to become the slaves of

Et tu, Kirkus? KEEP READING

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