Wattsworld: Peter Watts and Beyond the Rift

I'm quite a cheerful guy in person. Apparently people are surprised by this.

I don't know what they were expecting....But insofar as I'm known at all, I seem to be known as The Guy Who Writes The Depressing Stories....While mulling over what to put in this essay I did a quick Google search for the descriptors commonly applied to my writing. I list a few for illustrative purposes:

Brutal

Dark (frequently "unrelentingly" so)

Paranoid

Nightmarish

Relentless

The blackest depths of the human psyche

Ugly

Savage

Misanthropic

Dystopian

Cover art by Hugh Sicotte

So writes Peter Watts, in the afterword, entitled "Outtro: En Route to Dystopia with the Angry Optimist," to his forthcoming short story collection, Beyond the Rift.

As to Peter's opening sentence above, often readers confuse the writer with their writing. Though authors often call upon personal experiences in their writing, it certainly doesn't mean that the writer him/herself is in any way the protagonist in their stories. That's why these stories are called fiction.

If you've not previously read the works of Canadian science fiction writer Peter Watts, indeed, you are in for a treat.

Take, for example, the story "The Things," an homage to the classic science fiction movie, told from the creature's point of view. Then there is the story "The Island," in which a mother and son and an AI called "Chimp," aboard the generation ship Eriophora, must deal with a close encounter in the far reaches of space. "The Things" (originally published in Clarkesworld #40, January 2010) won the Shirley Jackson Award for best short story, and "The Island" (originally published in The New Space Opera 2, edited by Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan, HarperCollins) won the Hugo Award for best novelette. In fact, Watts's stories and novels have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hugo Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the Campbell Award, the Locus Award, and the BSFA Award, among others -- and some of these awards more than once.

Beyond the Rift was my most recent project for publisher Tachyon Publications -- a copy editing job that I had been looking forward to since I first learned of the project earlier this year.

Watts's stories are all so well written that it is difficult to pick a favorite story. I think my favorite is "A Niche" (originally published in Tesseracts 3, edited by Candas Jane Dorsey & Gerry Truscott, Porcépic Books) because, well, because we all need our own space, our own personal niche -- even if it just happens to be below three kilometers of ocean; and we're all a little bit weird in our own unique way, aren't we? But then again, if you asked me next week what my favorite story is I could very well select a different one: maybe "Ambassador" (originally published in Ten Monkeys, Ten Minutes, EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing), which is sort of like the car chase in The French Connection but with spaceships jumping across interstellar space.

In "Outtro," we also learn a bit about Peter Watts the person. He shares with us his run in, in December 2009, with U.S. border guards at the U.S.-Canadian border, upon returning home from a visit with friends in Nebraska. The outcome -- which prohibits Peter from ever again entering the United States -- most certainly contributes to his dystopian outlook in his writing.

You can read "The Things" online courtesy of Clarkesworld Magazine. After which, I hope you'll be adding Beyond the Rift to your online shopping cart. The book will be published on November 1.

Weird Solutions to the Fermi Paradox

Back in 2010, my co-edited (with Nick Gevers) anthology Is Anybody Out There? was published by DAW Books: stories each with a unique take on the Fermi paradox. And just what is the Fermi paradox, you may ask? Here's an excerpt from our pitch for the book:

Why is it that, in such a vast cosmos, with hundreds of billions of stars in this galaxy alone, and no doubt billions of Earth-like planets orbiting them, we have found no evidence of intelligent alien life? No evidence that aliens have ever visited Earth (other than discredited UFO mythology), no detectable signals in all our SETI searches with radio telescopes...

So it was with great interest that I happened upon an article on io9.com entitled "11 of the Weirdest Solutions to the Fermi Paradox." Though, when you think about them, they're not so weird after all -- especially in comparison to some of the stories in Is Anybody Out There?

I'll list the eleven points, with a very brief explanation; you'll need to read the io9 article, which I heartily recommend, for the details:

1. The Zoo Hypothesis: we're stuck inside some kind of celestial cage, and we're being watched.

2. Self-Imposed Quarantine: Extra-Terrestrial Intelligences (ETIs) may have collectively and independently decided to stay at home and not draw attention to themselves.

3. The Whack-a-Mole Hypothesis: ETIs are hovering over us with a giant hammer ready to smack it down should they suddenly not like what they see. Sort of like the Zoo Hypothesis, but not as friendly.

4. We're Made Out of Meat: Yum! Reminds me of The Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" (based on the story of the same name by Damon Knight).

5. The Simulation Hypothesis: we're living inside a computer simulation — and the simulation isn't generating any extraterrestrial companions for us.

6. Radio Silence: it's possible that ETIs are listening, but no one is transmitting.

7. All Aliens Are Homebodies: an advanced enough ETI could lose all galactic-scale ambitions.

8. We Can't Read the Signs: it's totally possible that the signs of ETIs are all around us, but we just can't see/understand/detect them.

9. They're All Hanging Out At the Edge of the Galaxy: we’re looking for ET in the wrong place — they've set up camp where it's super cool, at the outer rim of the Galaxy.

10. Directed Panspermia: we haven’t made contact with ETIs because we're the aliens, or at least, they're our ancestors.

11. The Phase Transition Hypothesis: the universe is still evolving and changing, and the conditions to support advanced intelligence have only recently fallen into place.

Most of these "weird" solutions, or theories, however, are nothing compared to what you will find in Is Anybody Out There? How about an alien that appears only once a year, and only visible at a certain time and place, because the alien is out of phase with our own reality? ("The Dark Man" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch) Or aliens who try to communicate via the hypertext in an online library database? ("Graffiti in the Library of Babel" by David Langford) Or, a dying astronaut, who insists he made alien contact during his time in space, but no one believes him -- well, maybe one does. ("Where Two or Three" by Sheila Finch) Aliens are among us, residing in the human brain. ("The Taste of Night" by Pat Cadigan)

These are just a taste (no pun intended) of the fifteen stories included in Is Anybody Out There? which has obviously sold well enough to justify a second printing -- not too shabby in the world of mass market paperback anthologies. I have a dedicated IAOT? page with links to all the blog posts, including the complete text to a half-dozen of the stories, including the four mentioned above.

Skyhorse Publishing and Start Media Acquire Night Shade Books

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Oleg Lyubner
olyubner@skyhorsepublishing.com
Meghan Kilduff
kilduff@start-media.com

SKYHORSE AND START ACQUIRE NIGHT SHADE BOOKS

(June 3, 2013) Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. and Start Publishing are pleased to announce the acquisition of Night Shade Books, an award-winning independent publishing house dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Founded by Jason Williams in 1997, who was joined by partner Jeremy Lassen shortly after, Night Shade Books has over 250 titles in its catalog, including some renowned genre fiction—written by multiple nominees and winners of Shirley Jackson, Bram Stoker, World Fantasy, Nebula, and Hugo awards. In 2003, Night Shade Books won the World Fantasy Special Award for Professional Achievement. Both Williams and Lassen will continue to be with Night Shade in a consulting capacity.

THE AGREEMENT WAS REACHED FOLLOWING A SPIRITED AND PUBLIC DEBATE AMONG AUTHORS, AGENTS, FANS, AND PUBLISHERS, WHICH RESULTED IN A DEAL APPROVED BY NIGHT SHADE’S AUTHORS. “THIS AGREEMENT BRINGS TOGETHER NIGHT SHADE’S DISTINCTIVE EDITORIAL VOICE AND SKYHORSE’S BUSINESS SAVVY AND MARKET REACH, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL INVOLVED, INCLUDING AUTHORS AND THE GREAT COMMUNITY OF SF/F FANS,” SAYS MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ, AUTHOR OF THE DAEDALUS INCIDENT, SLATED TO BE THE FIRST TITLE FROM THE NEW NIGHT SHADE. “I’M HONORED THAT MY FIRST BOOK WILL HELP KICK OFF THE NEXT CHAPTER IN NIGHT SHADE’S ONGOING STORY.”

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have added Night Shade to our various other imprints and look forward to working with Start Publishing to build it into the strong science fiction imprint that we feel confident it can become,” said Tony Lyons, Publisher of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

“Nightshade has been at the forefront of science fiction and fantasy for years. Start Publishing, alongside Skyhorse Publishing, welcomes the opportunity to provide Night Shade and its authors a platform to continue that tradition,” added Michael Maher, CEO of Start Media.

“I am very excited to have found a buyer that is such a good fit for Night Shade, one that will be able to take us further than I was able to on my own. I look forward to building up Night Shade into the powerhouse of science fiction and fantasy for years to come,” said Night Shade founder Jason Williams. Night Shade had net sales of roughly $1.5 million for the 2012 calendar year.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Oleg Lyubner, Director of Publicity at Skyhorse Publishing, and Meghan Kilduff at Start Publishing.

Publicity Contacts

Oleg Lyubner / (212) 643-6816 x 229 / olyubner@skyhorsepublishing.com

Meghan Kilduff / (212) 431-5455 / kilduff@start-media.com

Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10018
(212) 643-6816
www.skyhorsepublishing.com

Ross E. Lockhart's Word Horde and Tales of Jack the Ripper

In the past few weeks I've worked on three projects by former Night Shade Books assets. "Assets" -- don't you just love that word? It's so wonderful when the publishing industry refers to its authors -- people -- human beings! -- as assets. I tend to think of assets as material objects: company cars, machinery, inventory -- property; but not people. And maybe, just maybe, that's why the traditional book publishing business is in the asset hole that it currently finds itself, as more and more assets -- people -- leave traditional publishing to self-publish and/or set up their own micro presses.

The first of the three projects was Bradley P. Beaulieu's self-published short fiction collection, Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten & Other Stories, which I blogged about here; and the second project is the forthcoming collection of Company stories, In the Company of Thieves, by Kage Baker and Kathleen Bartholomew, from Tachyon Publications -- which I blogged about here.

Which brings me to my most recent project:

There is a new publisher in town, virtually speaking, that is: Word Horde press.

After serving five years as the anchor that centered and steadied the inevitable tsunami-bound ship that was Night Shade Books, Ross E. Lockhart formed his own publishing venture earlier this year, and thus we have Word Horde.

Cover art by Arnaud de Vallois

While at Night Shade, Ross edited the two epic Lovecraftian anthologies -- The Book of Cthulhu and The Book of Cthulhu II. Now, with the launch of Word Horde, Ross's first book -- the enthralling Tales of Jack the Ripper -- affirms the Ripper's Whitechapel slayings in 1888, 125 years ago.

You can read the official Press Release, which includes a complete list of the contents of the anthology, but let me take this opportunity to excerpt just a paragraph from that PR:

The story of Jack the Ripper captured lurid headlines and the public's imagination, and the first fictionalization of the Ripper killings, John Francis Brewer's The Curse Upon Mitre Square appeared in October of 1888, mere weeks after the discovery of Jack's first victim. Since then, hundreds of stories have been written about Bloody Jack, his victims, and his legacy. Authors ranging from Marie Belloc Lowndes to Robert Bloch to Harlan Ellison to Roger Zelazny to Alan Moore have added their own tales to the Ripper myth. Now, as we arrive at the quasquicentennial of the murders, we bring you a few tales more.

Of the seventeen stories (and two bookending poems by Ann K. Schwader) included in this volume, fourteen of them are original to the anthology. (Again, check the official PR for a list of the contents.) The three reprint stories are by a few authors you may even recognize: Ramsey Campbell, Alan M. Clark and Gary A. Braunbeck, and Joe R. Lansdale.

Every themed anthology faces the issue of repetitive content: Can the editor -- and the contributing authors -- maintain the reader's interest/attention through fifteen or twenty or more stories without yielding to theme overload? After reading (and copy editing) Tales of Jack the Ripper this past week, I believe this anthology successfully (and I use that word with emphasis) responds to this issue. While reading these stories I found myself amidst the offal and stink of the back alleys of 1888 Whitechapel; questioning who the Ripper really was (a female assailant?); tracking how the "Ripper disorder" skipped generations to present day; and more.

It's probably best not to read the stories in Tales of Jack the Ripper at night -- and alone.