The Mumpsimus

Trent Walters's reflections on Donald Barthelme and realism over at s1ngularity:criticism (which, by the way, Jonathan Strahan says is now defunct) got noticed in various places, and has prompted a particularly interesting post at The Reading Experience , where Daniel Green writes: Much of the most important American fiction fits more comfortably into the the category of "romance" than realism. (The term goes back to the medieval narrative form, and doesn't have any connection to the modern "romance novel.") Hawthorne famously set out the terms in which the romance is to be understood in his preface to The House of the Seven Gables: "When a writer calls his work a Romance. . .he wishes to claim a certain latitude, both as to its fashion and material"; this "latitude" allows him to present the "truth" of human experience "under circumstances, to a great extent, of the writer's own choosing or creation" and to ...

I read Nick Mamatas's LiveJournal pretty frequently, not only because he has a knack for finding amusing stuff I'd never find on my own, but because when he gets annoyed, frustrated, or combative, he writes brilliantly. Today, though, he offers the sad news that the great horror writer and editor Charles L. Grant has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which will require him to have bottled oxygen for the rest of his life. The worst part about it is, Grant doesn't have health insurance. Nick passes on information about a "Fresh Air" fund that has been created so that donations can be sent to help cover the costs of oxygen and medical equipment. Anybody who has ever had to pay for medical expenses can guess that those costs must be tremendous. Here's the info: There are two ways to contribute. Mail a check in any amount, made out to Kathryn Ptacek [Grant's wife], to: Fresh Air Fund c/o Kathryn Ptacek P. O. Box 97 Newton...

While this has just about nothing to do with speculative fiction, I have to share it. I'll get back to imaginary worlds soon enough: A body pulled from the East River at 3 p.m. Sunday was that of actor-writer Spalding Gray, who had been missing since January 10, the New York City medical examiner's office said Monday afternoon. (from CNN.com ) Strange how celebrities can seem important in our lives -- I remember watching the film of Swimming to Cambodia when I was a teenager and thinking, "Wow -- you can do that in a theatre?" When I was looking at colleges, NYU was my top choice, and on my first visit to Manhattan I went to see Gray in Gray's Anatomy at Lincoln Center. It remains one of the best shows I've ever seen. One man sitting at a desk and telling stories about his crazy life. (The film they later made of it doesn't quite capture the effect.) During my three years at NYU, I saw Gray here or there, and once even had the chance to speak with...

Even though it was only published recently, I feel like I'm terribly late coming to The Etched City , the breathtaking first novel of K.J. Bishop . After all, Michael Moorcock reviewed the darn thing perfectly, as did Cheryl Morgan (with some good notes on alchemy in it). You must have heard about the book by now, and if you haven't gotten hold of a copy ... well, don't blame me. If your copy of the book is sitting in a big pile of books you're hoping to get to sometime before the heat death of the universe, let me suggest that you move it up to the top. It should be the next thing you read. You'll be thankful. It is conceivable that someone somewhere could be blind to the wonders of this novel, so let me explain what makes it so good. The Etched City takes place in a vivid world, one described in prose that often soars and reminds you of what the English language is capable of accomplishing. Many comparisons have been made to Perdido Street Station...

Before reading "Aliens Enter the Conversation" over at Fortean Bureau , I knew Greg Beatty's name primarily from his nonfiction at Strange Horizons , though he's been publishing fiction for quite some time now, and is, along with Jay Lake , one of the masters of SF short-short stories (aka "flash fiction"). I read "Aliens Enter the Conversation" after a couple of days of reading dull stories. For some reason, everything I picked up, from the latest issue of F&SF to a bunch of different tales online, seemed competent but undeveloped or juvenile or unambitious or just plain dull. Then I found Beatty's story. The story is a kind of incantation, a prose poem Allen Ginsberg might have come up with if he'd been stuck out in the desert with a bunch of old pulp magazines. Each paragraph begins, "Aliens enter..." and continues from there, often throwing in fun references to beloved SF personalities (as well as historical a...

James Patrick Kelly has created a Free Reads section of his website -- files of him reading his own stories. Good stuff, well read, and completely free, though of course it would be nice if you put a few virtual coins into his PayPal account. You can also hear Jim at the New Hampshire Public Radio website, since he has been a guest on The Front Porch program a few times.

A reader at the Nightshade discussion lists took Ellen Datlow's post of the contents for the next edition of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and added hyperlinks , so the stories which are online are available and you can easily click to get information about books other stories have come from. Looks to me like yet another good collection from Ellen Datlow , the first one where her collaborating editors are Kelly Link and Gavin Grant .