#Dave Smeds

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Review: The Unicorn Anthology

Editors: Peter S. Beagle, Jacob WeismanAuthors: Marina Fitch, Dave Smeds, Nancy Springer, Carlos Hernandez, Karen Joy Fowler, Sara A. Meuller, David D. Levine, Carrie Vaughn, Jack C. Haldeman II, Margo Lanagan, Caitlin R. Kiernan, A.C. WisePublisher: Tachyon PublicationsReleased: April 19, 2017Received: NetGalleyFind it on Goodreads | More Anthologies Book Summary: Did you grow up on fairy…

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A host of Tachyon authors and editors to attend the 2019 Nebula Conference

Tachyon mastermind Jacob Weisman joins John Joseph Adams, Cory Doctorow, Daryl Gregory, Eileen Gunn, James Patrick Kelly, Ellen Klages, Dave Smeds, and Sheila Williams at the 2019 SFWA Nebula Conference in Los Angeles, May 16-19.

Jacob Weisman, John Joseph Adams, and Sheila Williams (photo: Ché Ryback)

SFWA members and other individuals who are interested in the field of science fiction and fantasy are welcome to attend SFWA’s Nebula Conference. Attendees may participate in workshops, programming and special events throughout the weekend.

Focusing on three tracks relevant to professionals in the genre, attendees will be able to choose from career management, professional development, and expert knowledge panels and workshops throughout the weekend.

Tachyon creators will take part in many of the conference’s events.

Cory Doctorow (photo: Jonathan Worth, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0), Ellen Klages(Scott Edelman), and Daryl Gregory

Thursday, May 16

3:30PM

Ignite Talks

Get snapshot talks on a variety of subjects, geared toward jumpstarting your brain. Presenters get 20 slides, which automatically advance every 15 seconds. The results are fast and fun presentation each of which lasts just 5 minutes. http://www.ignitetalks.io/

Topics include:

Daryl Gregory - Answer these 3 Questions to Make Your Plots Dramatic

Heather McDougal -Orreries

Stephen Granade - Five Minutes to Your First Interactive Story

Jeffe Kennedy - SFWA services

Friday, May 17

10AM

Kidlit: Creating foundations

Children’s literature often addresses tough topics in creative ways - from portal fantasies to adventure quests to space battles. What are the ramifications of doing so? Why are monsters and magic, and reaching beyond the ordinary world so vital? What are tools and techniques to do so?

Fran Wilde (m), Ellen Klages, Greg van Eekhout, Farah Rishi, Rachel Hartman

Short Fiction Contracts

Panel will describe the elements of short fiction contracts being used in the sf/f genres and talk about how to understand what they mean, negotiate changes, and relate personal experiences about contract-related interactions with sf/f magazine and anthology editors.

Anne Leonard (m), Neil Clarke, Jacob Weisman, Sheila Williams, Rosemary Claire Smith

2PM

Vonda McIntyre: Remembering her life and her work

The loss of Vonda McIntyre was sudden.  She leaves a legacy garnished by Nebula and Hugo awards. She wrote critically acclaimed fantasy novels, short stories and was a passionate mentor. In the 1970s, she founded Clarion West where many of today's top voices got their start.

When she received her diagnosis of stage four colon cancer in February, she pushed to finish her novel "Curve of the World." On March 21st, she did. Eleven days later, she passed.

Join a panel of friends, colleagues and fans as we remember her work and her life.

Jeffe Kennedy (m), Eileen Gunn, Connie Willis, Sheila Williams

3:30PM

Navigating as "Gatekeepers" of Publishing

From the outside, editors and agents seem to be an arcane force. If you want to get past the gates, what are the rules? Agents and acquisitions editors discuss their perspective of what it's like to be seen as gatekeepers and the dangers of being in a position of power. They discuss the limitations of their power, the politics of slush piles, and how they walk the line between being social and being predatory.

Diana M. Pho (m), Neil Clarke, Jennifer Udden, John Joseph Adams, DongWon Song

4PM

Office Hours

Often the best conversations at a convention are the ones that carry over after a panel. Here we have provided a space for authors, editors, agents, and our partners to share their expertise in intimate meetings. These can either be a one-on-one about an area of expertise such as hypnotism, sailing, or contract law. Or it could be an offer to talk shop such as brainstorming sticky plot points, world-building dilemmas, or how to set up book tours.

Rebecca Gomez Farrell, Illimani Ferreira, Jennie Goloboy, Aimee Kuzenski, Trevor Quachri, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Jacob Weisman

Ellen Klage (photo: Scott Kline), Dave Smeds (Wikimedia Commons), and James Patrick Kelly (Bill Clemente)

Saturday, May 18

11:30AM

Conversation with William Gibson, Grandmaster, and Eileen Gunn

The wider world of publishing

Science fiction and fantasy take us to worlds beyond our own, but often the business of publishing is geographically centered in one or two locations. What are the challenges and opportunities for international authors, and how can those of us lucky enough to attend events like the Nebula Conference expand our reach to our colleagues who don’t have that opportunity? What can we do to encourage a diversity of voices in our literature?

Susan Forest (M), Lee Harris, Xia Jia, Jacob Weisman, Darusha Wehm

4PM

Megatrends for the near future

In SF, we talk about near future as being within our lifetime and try to imagine what it might be like. Did you know that the UN works on anticipating real-world megatrends and projecting the world until 2030? Population shifts, economics, demographics - These show trends such as China's ratio of dependents to workers increasing, and thus their economic boom slowing; while in India, the trend is going the other way - so there's a boom ahead, but rapid urbanization and shadow migration is creating monsters that are both unregulatable megacities and megaslums, like William Gibson's Sprawl. Meanwhile, militaries are focusing on cyberwarfare and smaller disruption teams, and the Pakistan-India conflict is gumming up the works on regional co-operation, and rising CO2 emissions are going to nuke agricultural economies. Our panelists discuss tools and lessons from the real world that SF writers can apply to extrapolate their near future fiction.

Xia Jia (m), Tara Smith, Cory Doctorow, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne

Sunday May 19

10AM

We Have Always Been Here

Women have been part of our genres from the beginning, but many have been allowed to fade into obscurity, or haven't been given their due. Our panel discusses which authors we should still be reading, and who might have become SFWA Grand Masters if they had been born or publishing in another time, from Leigh Brackett to Miriam Allen DeFord to Vonda McIntyre.

Sarah Pinsker (m), Connie Willis, Eileen Gunn, Cat Rambo

2PM

Productivity tools FTW!

You know you need to do the work. You even want to do the work and yet... When your brain is being derailed by the news, or social media, or just straight-up OMG THIS NOVEL SUCKS, how can you get work done? Our panelists will discuss a variety of tools and the workarounds that they've found to get their brains to just do the work.

Jenn Lyons (m), Vicky Hsu, Meghan Ciana Doidge, Daryl Gregory, Siena Leslie

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A Wife of Acorn, Leaf, and Rain by Dave Smeds

We all say goodbye in our own ways... #DaveSmeds

Title: A Wife of Acorn, Leaf, and Rain Author: Dave Smeds In: Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves: Death, Fae, Lust Dates read: 18th March 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: EOS Year: 1998 5th sentence, 74th page: But your word is enough as far as I’m concerned.

He misses his wife, and a…

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SD9s in the woods por Dave Honan Por Flickr: Hoosier memories... September 17, 2005 was an epic day. A month after first shooting the AW&W SD9s I found myself spending a weekend showing Steve Smedley and Randy Allard (what a couple of goofballs) around southern Indiana; we were checking out grade crossings along the ISRR mainline when we came across the tail end of a loaded coal train trundling southward near Washington. Some aggressive back road driving got us ahead of the train, and we were soon surprised to find AW&W 203 and 206 on the head end. (205 had been sidelined by a maintenance issue, hence why only two SD9s this day.) A spirited chase ensued as we followed the train to Oakland City, where it was dragged into the AW&W yard to be interchanged to NS for movement to Gibson Generating Station. (Incidentally, Smeds' enthusiasm for the '01 Cherokee he had at the time was a big reason I would buy one for myself a few months later.)

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Embracing the Starlight, by Dave Smeds

Embracing the Starlight, by Dave Smeds

Genre: Mixed Genre Anthology Publisher: Dark Regions Published: 2002 Reviewer Rating:  Book Review by Fraser Ronald Have you read this book? [ratings] Okay. When do I get to write short stories like that? That was my thought when I finished the first story–“Suicidal Tendancies”–in Dave Smeds’ short story collection entitled Embracing the Starlight. Dave Felts over at SFReader.com sent me the…

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Though the rain had passed hours ago, the trees dripped, creating an ominous whisper among the freshly fallen autumn leaves.

"The Heart of the Forest" by Dave Smeds

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It had not been a fool's quest. A prize had been waiting, after all.

"The Heart of the Forest" by Dave Smeds

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Tachyon well represented at FogCon 9

Karen Joy Fowler (photo: Beth Gwynn)

Co-Guest of Honor Karen Joy Fowler joins Eileen Gunn, Ellen Klages, Pat Murphy, and Dave Smeds at FogCon 9 in Walnut Creek (San Francisco Bay Area), CA on March 8-10. Becky Chambers is the other Guest of Honor.

Friends of the Genre (FOGcon) is a literary-themed San Francisco Bay Area SF/F con in the tradition of Wiscon. Each year we focus on a new theme in speculative fiction and invite Honored Guests ranging from writers to scientists to artists. We build community, exchange ideas, and share our love for the literature of imagination.

Eileen Gunn (photo: Scott Edelman), Ellen Klages (Scott R. Kline), Pat Murphy (Lawrence Person), and Dave Smeds (Wikimedia Commons)

FOGcon offers a selection of readings, signings, and panels. To find any of these authors, check out the entire schedule on their site.

FOGcon 9 March 8-10 Walnut Creek Marriot 2355 North Main Street Walnut Creek, California

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Happy birthday to Nebula Award finalist  Dave Smeds

Dave Smeds, photographed at Westercon 64 in the Fairmont San Jose Hotel on Saturday, 2 July 2011 (Wikimedia Commons)

The Nebula Award-nominated writer Dave Smeds has authored six novels including the two volume War of The Dragon series (The Sorcery Within and The Schemes of Dragons), the original X-Men novel The Law of the Jungle, and Piper in the Night.

His numerous short stories have been collected in Earthly Pleasures (as Reed Manning), EMBRACING THE STARLIGHT, and Raiding the Hoard of Enchantment: Seven Tales of High Fantasy.

All of us at Tachyon wish the fantastic Dave, a happy birthday.

For more information about EMBRACING THE STARLIGHT, visit the Tachyon page.

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Reviewers, booksellers, and librarians get THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY, the new book from World Fantasy Award-winning editors Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman

Review copies of THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY are now available via NETGALLEY and EDELWEISS.

These copies are only for reviewers and librarians. For more details, visit NETGALLEY and EDELWEISS.

And while you are there, check out other Tachyon titles for review on NETGALLEY.

“What a treasure trove! This anthology is filled with stories that will surprise, fascinate, and delight you.” —Sarah Beth Durst, author of Queen of the Blood

Unicorns: Not just for virgins anymore. Here are sixteen lovely, powerful, intricate, and unexpected unicorn tales from fantasy icons including Garth Nix, Peter S. Beagle, Patricia A. McKillip, Bruce Coville, Carrie Vaughn, and more. In this volume you will find two would-be hunters who enlist an innkeeper to find a priest hiding the secret of the last unicorn. A time traveler tries to corral an unruly mythological beast that might never have existed at all. The lover and ex-boyfriend of a dying woman join forces to find a miraculous remedy in New York City. And a small-town writer of historical romances discovers a sliver of a mysterious horn in a slice of apple pie.

Peter S. Beagle’s new anthology contains a marvellous collection of stories about the animal that probably never existed, but that we still can’t stop dreaming about. Like the creature itself, the stories are wild and wistful, graceful and glorious, kind and crazy. Everything we need to help us believe . . . in something worth believing in.” —Simon R. Green, author of  Night Fall and Blue Moon Rising

TABLE OF CONTENTS

“The Magical Properties of Unicorn Ivory” Carlos Hernandez

“The Brew” Karen Joy Fowler

“Falling Off the Unicorn” David D. Levine and Sara A. Mueller

“A Hunter’s Ode to His Bait” Carrie Vaughn

“Ghost Town” Jack C. Haldeman II

“A Thousand Flowers” Margo Lanagan

“The Maltese Unicorn” Caitlín R. Kiernan

“Stampede of Light” Marina Fitch

“The Highest Justice” Garth Nix

“The Lion and the Unicorn” A. C. Wise

“Survivor” Dave Smeds

"Homeward Bound" Bruce Coville

“Unicorn Triangle” Patricia A. McKillip

“My Son Heydari and the Karkadann” Peter S. Beagle

“Unicorn Series” Nancy Springer

For more info about THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Thomas Canty

Design by Elizabeth Story

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Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

Absolutely adored this #Collection #anthology #EllenDatlow #TerriWindling

Title: Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers: Magical Tales of Love and Seduction Author: Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, Storm Constantine, Delia Sherman, Joyce Carol Oates, Tanith Lee, Edward Bryant, Garry Kilworth, Michael Swanwick, Elizabeth E. Wein, Pat Murphy, Ellen Steiber, Jane Yolen, Dave Smeds, Neil Gaiman, Doris Egan, Melissa Lee Shaw, Kelley Eskridge, Brian Stableford, Conrad Williams, Mark W.…

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Award winners Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman’s varied and creative THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY will make you reconsider the unicorn trope

With over a month until publication, reviews keep rolling in for Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman’s recommended THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY.

At FOREWORD, Meagan Logsdon praises the anthology.

Unicorns in literature are fascinating, evocative, mysterious, and elusive, and with THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY, editors Peter S. Beagle—himself of unicorn fame—and Jacob Weisman invite continued appreciation of the legendary beast, drawing it beyond its familiar medieval framework.

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A particular standout is Beagle’s own contribution, “My Son Heydari and the Karkadann,” which removes the figure of the unicorn from its typical Western context. Bruce Coville’s “Homeward Bound” enters beautiful metaphysical territory in its final scene. And Jane Yolen’s “The Transfigured Hart,” a hermetically inspired call to see with more than the eye, is a lovely end to the short stories. Nancy Springer’s series of unicorn poetry completes the collection as an effective set of word paintings that tie together, with shimmering thread, all that comes before.

The varied and creative stories of THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY inspire new ways of engagement with an old legend. Across cultures and times, the mystical essence of this beast continues to haunt the forest of the collective human psyche.

FAIRY BOOKMOTHER recommends the book.

This is not an anthology for younger readers, as there are references to bestiality (didn’t finish this story), references to sexual acts, and references to heavy-handed violence to people of all ages. This is a collection of stories that will make you reconsider the unicorn trope, and the collection includes a wide variety of stories to appeal  Overall, it’s a solid collection of stories, and I found myself wishing for a few more at the end.

My favorites were “The Maltese Unicorn” by Caitlín R. Kiernan (the lesbian unicorn noir you didn’t know you needed to read until now), “Ghost Town” by Jack C. Haldeman II (brother of Joe Haldeman!, and I also love western-esque stories about rogues being changed by chance encounters in nearly-abandoned towns), “The Highest Justice” by Garth Nix (I love anything Nix writes), “Survivor” by Dave Smeds (a Vietnam soldier gets a unicorn tattooed on his chest and therefore cannot die), “Homeward Bound” by Bruce Coville (he wrote a series of unicorn books for middle grade readers that I thoroughly enjoyed and was happy to see another unicorn story by him!), and “The Transfigured Hart” by Jane Yolen (anything she writes is pure magic and pure joy).

This collection comes with a recommendation from me, especially with the introduction by Peter S. Beagle himself.

Jacob Weisman and Peter S. Beagle at Worldcon 76 in San Jose, CA

INFINITE TEXT enjoys the different look at unicorns.

There are also tales in this collection on the darker more erotic side. I have recently become more acquainted with Cailtín R. Kiernan’s writing style and even so, I can honestly say her story “The Maltese Unicorn” will leave you in a state of shock. There are also more classic fantasy takes like the one found in “The Highest Justice” by Garth Nyx, and “The Transfigured Heart” by Jane Yolen. Far too many in this collection go right for your heartstrings like “Stampede of Light” by Marina Fitch: “Open a child’s mind and heart to the world, and you achieve immortality…whether they remember you or not, you’ll live forever” or a story by Beagle himself about a boy and an injured beast, the brief moments of friendship, and the intricacies of the healing process. There are many others in this collection, and they are all incredible voices contributing on the multi-faceted, and versatile existence of a unicorn in our collective imagination.

The collection ends on a poem written by Nancy Springer capturing the innocence and magic surrounding our fascination with unicorns. Reading this poem feels like walking straight into a Pre-Raphaelite painting.  This collection is a great introduction to various authors and a great sample of their writing, in addition to various ways one can look at a unicorn.

For more info about THE UNICORN ANTHOLOGY, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Thomas Canty Design by Elizabeth Story

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Piper in the Night by Dave Smeds

Dennis Short thought his tour of duty was over...but now he has stepped into another war.

Short, a Navy medical corpsman stationed in Hawaii after his ordeal in Vietnam, is looking forward to his two-week excursion to the island of Kahoolawe. He's there as the medic for a team of forward observers whose job is to coordinate the bombing, strafing, and shelling of the island's massive target ranges. All he expects to do besides watching the fireworks is work on his tan and get in a little fishing and hunting on an exclusive, untamed preserve. But from the first day, he is plagued by an oppressive sense that he is being manipulated. Each night, he slips into a dreamlike world of half-human mythical creatures who tempt him, frighten him, force him to become part of their battles with one another. 

He thought Vietnam was the way to hell. But a new portal is opening wide for him on a supposed island paradise.

"Nebula Award nominee Smeds should only enhance his his reputation with this well-crafted dark fantasy set during the Vietnam War. Mixing distinctly diverse elements into a coherent story with success, Smeds has created one of the better fantasies to come out of the Vietnam experience." — Publishers Weekly

Download an Ebook Sample

  Buy Piper in the Night at BVC Ebookstore