#Alex Shvartsman

[nzbookwyrm]

[jonathanpongratz]

New Book Release: Kakistocracy (Conradverse Chronicles #2)

    Blurb: If you do it well, lying is every bit as effective as magic. Conrad Brent has no innate magic, so he bluffs a lot and uses a myriad of magical items to protect Brooklyn from monsters and arcane threats. As a member of the Watch, the group that protects the mundane humans from such dangers, he risks his life on a regular basis. Sometimes twice before lunch. Sometimes during lunch, when…

[primmlife]

Review: Kakistocracy

Review: Kakistocracy by Alex Shvartsman from CAEZIK #ScienceFiction & #Fantasy #books #bookcommunity #review

Second books in a series are actually way more important for a series than the first book. Sure, the first book is what hooks the reader, but it’s the second book that shows whether the long term commitment to a series is worth it. Second books are also difficult because they have to be better than the first while still doing everything the first book does. It has to introduce the characters…

[infactforgetthepark]

[Free eBook] Humanity 2.0 [Futurology Science Fiction Anthology]

Humanity 2.0 edited by Alex Shvartsman is an anthology of science fiction short stories, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Phoenix Pick Press.

This is their featured Free eBook of the Month for April. NB: in May, Phoenix Pick will be teaming up with other sfnal specialty publishers and authors to offer the new BookBale ebook bundle/subscription service, more details on their website.

The anthology contains fifteen short stories exploring how interstellar flight and other technologies might change humanity in the future, and the meaning of what it is to be human. Contributors include classic and more recent authors including Hugo and Nebula Award winners and finalists such as Caroline M. Yoachim, Robert J. Sawyer, Robert Silverberg, Nancy Fulda, Ken Liu, John Varley, and more, with a mix of newly-written and reprinted shorts.

Offered DRM-free worldwide through the month of April and probably through May 1st (the offer usually rotates on the first Tuesday of each month, but this might be the last one), available directly from the publisher.

Free for a limited time directly @ the publisher's special promo page (DRM-free ePub & Mobi bundle available worldwide in return for your valid email address; follow the instructions on the page to reset the suggested cart price to $0.00 during checkout)

There's also a tie-in offer for a discount on another recently published anthology, The Reinvented Heart: Tales of Futuristic Relationships edited by the freebie anthology's contributor author Cat Rambo & Jennifer Brozek, containing new stories exploring the evolution of partnerships by female and non-binary authors including more award-winners and finalists such as Jane Yolen (SFWA Grand Master & World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement), Premee Mohamed (Nebula, World Fantasy, Aurora), Seanan McGuire (Hugo), Naomi Kritzer (Hugo, Locus, Lodestar), for just $3.99.

Description What will it mean to be human in the future? How will we evolve in order to reach the stars?

Fifteen short stories collected in this book examine how interstellar flight might change humanity itself. Will we choose to upload our minds into a singularity? Enhance ourselves with alien DNA? Will our bodies remain the same, but our culture and societal norms adapt to accommodate for effects of time dilation, or become subsumed by advanced alien cultures?

Hugo and Nebula award winning authors, bestsellers, and some of the hottest new writers in the field of hard science fiction imagine an array of possible futures—from bright to dystopian—and different permutations of what's in store for us as a species.

Includes stories by Robert J. Sawyer, John Varley, Robert Silverberg, Brenda Cooper, Ken Liu, Mike Resnick, Jody Lynn Nye and many more.

[theamazingstories]

Unidentified Funny Objects 9

Unidentified Funny Objects 9

Humorous science fiction and fantasy can be a bit of a hard sell with certain readers, but certainly not with Alex Shvartsman. Alex Shvartsman is a writer, anthologist, translator, and game designer from Brooklyn, NY. He’s the winner of the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and a two-time finalist (2015 and 2017) for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Writing and he has…

[duckprintspress]

Albacon Panels Now Available!

Did you see me talking on social media about the panels we’d be participating in at Albacon and think “oh wow, I wish I could hear that, but I’m not able to attend the con so I guess there’s no hope”? Well, there IS hope – all FIFTY Albacon panels and readings are now available online for anyone who registers to attend the con as a hybrid attendee – and you can still register as a hybrid attendee, for only $15, for the next month (you can register, and watch, until October 11th).

I personally participated in two panels and did one reading – Starting a Small Press, a reading from my story in Add Magic to Taste, and Crowdfunding for Print.

We had great discussions at all three – Starting a Small Press also feature Bianca D’arc, Ian Randal Strock (owner of Fantastic Books), and Inanna Arthen (panel moderator, owner of By Light Unseen Media). We had a great chat with a lot of specifics and details related to owning and operating small presses. Crowdfunding for Print included me, Bianca, and Ian again, with Tris Lawrence (whose work with Duck Prints Press can be found here) and Alex Shvartsman contributing their expertise as well.

And, if you register, you can access all the other awesome panels and readings as well, including those featuring the guests of honor Walter Hunt and Linda Addison, the special guests Allen Steele and Dan Kimmel, and all the other con panelists!

You can register HERE if you want to check out all the awesome!

[taiyolog]

Audiobook of The Digital Aesthete is out

Alex Shvartsman announced that the audiobook of The Digital Aesthete is out. Alex Shvartsman announced that the audiobook of The Digital Aesthete is out. This anthology collects short stories about the relationship between AIs and humanity. Will true artificial intelligences be able to appreciate or even create art? Explore dystopian societies, where AI generates most of the content and human…

[phdsobko]

Ras-MAP Kinase Signaling in Model Organisms - Rasopathies and Biology of Aging, Journal Club (February 2023) by Alex Sobko, PhD from Alexander Sobko on Vimeo.

“Ras-MAP Kinase Signaling in Model Organisms -Rasopathies and Biology of Aging”, Journal Club (February 2023) by Alex Sobko, PhD

References:

Gelb BD, Yohe ME, Wolf C, Andelfinger G. New prospectives on treatment opportunities in RASopathies. Am J Med Genet C Semin Med Genet. 2022 Dec;190(4):541-560.

Laskovs M, Partridge L, Slack C. Molecular inhibition of RAS signalling to target ageing and age-related health. Dis Model Mech. 2022 Oct 1;15(10):dmm049627.

Marmion RA, Simpkins AG, Barrett LA, Denberg DW, Zusman S, Schottenfeld-Roames J, Schüpbach T, Shvartsman SY. Stochastic phenotypes in RAS-dependent developmental diseases. Curr Biol. 2023 Jan 20:S0960-9822(23)00008-8.

Copyright:

© 2023, by Alex Sobko, PhD © 2023, Record, edit, design, posts at social media – by Alex Sobko, PhD

[mystacoceti]

Finally, Raven finished talking. He struggled to draw a golden pocket watch using his feathered wings and not his beak. He had no choice but to use the beak to open it, however. Finally, the cover clicked open.

“I’ve taken too much of your time.” Raven sighed. “By the pallid bust of Pallas, I must go, my frrriend.”

He said this several times, but kept stalling. Finally, Crowley found his courage.

“What's wrong? Is anything causing trouble for you?” he asked quietly.

“No,” Raven replied after a long pause. “For you.”

“What do you mean?” Crowley looked at him, confused.

Raven stomped on the carpet with dusty boots. The carpet responded with an equal amount of dust, gleaming in the light beam from the table lamp.

“You know,” he said reluctantly, “I’m not trrrusted. Not even by my own . . . Fools. A thousand yearrrs spent living alongside humans without even trrrying to underrrstand them. But the humans, they trrried. Like Edgar, or Pushkin. That fine ballad you told me about the hawk and the raven . . . there’s trrruth to it. Carrrion tastes better, it’s digested better. It’s noble to be a carrion eater and yet sometimes one wants to change their fate. To my misforrrtune I learrrned your letters and worrrds. Because of that I grrrew too close to you and furrrther from Corrrvidae people . . . ”

“Don’t let it trouble you, Raven,” said Crowley. “This isn’t the first time in history—”

“I’m awarrre,” Raven cut him off. “I’m not the prrroblem. Today I was summoned to the Deparrrtment of Owls on official business. They don’t trrrust me, either, but they need me. Therrre, in the office of a barrrn owl who flew out to dine on mice, a recorrrding was playing. It was turrrned down, but you know I have excellent hearrring. It was a recorrrding of a man who spoke fluent Owl . . . ”

He pecked nervously at a button on his own cloak. The button shattered into black shards.

from “Fly Free”, Alan Kubatiev, tr. Alex Shvartsman

[brotherofcats]

Lost Signals Anthology is Finally Here.

Lost Signals Anthology is Finally Here.

As said in the title, the Lost Signals Anthology, set in the Terran Republic Universe of Dr. Charles Gannon, is finally here and available worldwide.

It can be found at Amazon US here.

Amazon UK here.

Amazon Australia here.

Amazon Canada here.

And finally, the English language copy at Amazon German here.

Twenty-one short stories by twenty-one authors, including many I have known for several…

[readingbooksinisrael]

Short stories by Jews

*top favorites

Stories with a Jewish protag

Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live/Sacha Lamb (magical realism ya trans romance)*

The Golem of Deneb Seven/Alex Shvartsman (sci fi feat. refugees)*

On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi!/William Tenn (pesach in space)

Seven Commentaries on an Imperfect Land/Ruthannna Emrys (magical realism pesach)

Shaina Rubin Keeps Her Head Under Circumstances Nobody Could Have Expected/Rebecca Fraimow (and others in the series) (all sorts of lgbt fantasy in the old country (eastern europe edition))

Three Partitions/Bogi Takács (weird planets) honestly, this is not my favorite but I don’t really know why

Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel/Peter S. Beagle (urban magical realism)*

Other

Build-a-Body/Avi Burton (trans sci fi)

Judge Dee series/Lavie Tidhar (vampire murder mysteries)*

The Last Question/Isaac Asimov (non-human sci fi)

Tadpole Prophecy/Avi Burton (fairy-tale tropes)*

[jonathanpongratz]

Book Review: Kakistocracy (Conradverse Chronicles #2)

  Well hello there readers! What’s going on in your world? Anything interesting? I’m dying to hear stories of the outside world having been stuck at home most nights for grad school. That being said, I do manage to take little detours in the form of books, and I just finished another one. This time I read Kakistocracy (Conradverse Chronicles #2) by Alex Shvartsman. This was a special treat for…

[paulsemel]

There's more to NYC than Manhattan. Just as Alex Shvartsman, author of the Brooklyn-based urban fantasy novel "The Middling Affliction." I did...in this exclusive interview.

📖🪄

[infactforgetthepark]

[Free eBook] Humanity 2.0 [Science Fiction Anthology]

Humanity 2.0 edited by Alex Shvartsman is an anthology of themed science fiction stories, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Phoenix Pick Press.

This was their featured Free Book of the Month for January, but seems to still be available today. The collection contains a mix of new and reprint stories exploring ways in which humanity might change as the result of interstellar travel and/or alien contact and what it means to be human as well.

Contributors include Hugo Award-winning authors Robert J. Sawyer and Ken Liu, World Fantasy Award-winning author John Varley, popular milSF and humorous fantasy author Jody Lynn Nye, Cat Rambo, and many more.

Offered through January (officially, but not yet replaced by the February offer), available DRM-free worldwide directly from the publisher.

Free for a limited time directly via @ the publisher's special promo page (DRM-free ePub & Mobi bundle available worldwide, follow the instructions on the page to reset the suggested cart price to $0.00)

The tie-in deal for this month is for a bundle of 2 additional anthologies for just $7: The Best of Galaxy's Edge Magazine edited by Mike Resnick, featuring stories from PPP's own online sf magazine, and The Best of Hal Clement edited by the late Lester Del Rey, a vintage collection of the Golden Age science fiction author's work, which has previously been offered in tie-in deals, IIRC, so you may already have a copy of it.

Description What will it mean to be human in the future? How will we evolve in order to reach the stars?

Fifteen short stories collected in this book examine how interstellar flight might change humanity itself. Will we choose to upload our minds into a singularity? Enhance ourselves with alien DNA? Will our bodies remain the same, but our culture and societal norms adapt to accommodate for effects of time dilation, or become subsumed by advanced alien cultures?

Hugo and Nebula award winning authors, bestsellers, and some of the hottest new writers in the field of hard science fiction imagine an array of possible futures—from bright to dystopian—and different permutations of what's in store for us as a species.

[theamazingstories]

BETTER LATE… NOV./DEC. F&SF (2021) REVIEW

BETTER LATE… NOV./DEC. F&SF (2021) REVIEW

Figure 1 – Nov.-Dec. 2021 F&SF Cover by Maurtzio Manzieri This should have appeared in December, but… you know how things can get away from one. But we’re here together, you and me; and the snow here seems to have ceased for now, washed away by several days of rain, and we can believe that spring will come as it always has. One of my favourite winter poems has always been this one of The…

[duckprintspress]

Con this Weekend: Albacon in Clifton Park, New York!

I'll be at Albacon in Clifton Park, NY, this entire weekend! Even better, Albacon is a FULLY HYBRID convention, so even if you can't get to Clifton Park, you don't have to miss out on the awesome panels and cool guests!

The entire schedule is here, if you're curious, but I know you're really here to know what yours truly will be up to, so here's my schedule.

Friday, 9/8, 5 PM (yes, this is in less than 4 hours, no I'm definitely not nervous even slightly why would you think that?): Starting a Small Press panel with me, Inanna Arthen, Ian Randal Strock, and Bianca D'Arc

Saturday, 9/9, 10 AM: Reading! I will be reading from my story Knishes and Noshes, published in our anthology Add Magic to Taste.

Sunday, 9/10, 10:30 AM: Crowdfunding for Print panel with Bianca D'Arc, Alex Shvartsman, Ian Randal Strock, and Tris Lawrence (@tryslora - it'll be nice to panel with a friend!)

We'll also be vending on vendor's row, and I'm hoping to get our virtual vending set up too, though no promises there (you can always just check out our shop!)

Tris Lawrence will be there too, helping out with vending and participating in several other panels and doing a reading, so don't miss her things either. :D

Some come on out to Clifton Park or join us hybrid if these are topics that interest you, and I hope to see some of y'all there!