January 8, 2015
Reviews: January 8th 2015
My first Apex reviews of 2015 are up! They, of course, all focus on 2014 stories. Clicketty-click!
January 5, 2015
New Year, New Adventures!
I have a certain fondness for backlists. I like to push back, as much as possible, against the trend towards literature as ephemera. It is sad when a book fails to outlive its author. It is sadder still when it is consigned to the blue bin if it fails to take off in its first year of life. The saddest of all, in my opinion, is the $0.99 ebook, designed to be read and deleted, leaving not even a dusty volume behind as artifact. If a book was worth reading ten years ago, it should be worth reading today.
For the same reason, I love the idea of reprints. Great stories should be remembered, read again, and re-introduced to new readers. Short fiction writers should see the same long tail for their work that mid-career novelists might. Old stories gain new meaning in recent contexts, if we can only spare the time to look back.
I am terribly pleased, then, that Apex Magazine has asked me to be their new (and first) Reprints Editor! Once per month, I’ll have the chance to find and dust off an older gem for inclusion in their subscriber edition. I will still be contributing Clavis Aurea, my short story review column, to these issues, so now you have two good Charlotte-related reasons to go subscribe, if you haven’t already.
Not a bad way for me to start 2015! I have a shiny, warm feeling about this year!
December 11, 2014
Best of 2014 Roundup
I read a tonne of science fiction & fantasy short stories this year – upward of 500, at least. Picking from the pile my favourite stories of the year was incredibly difficult, but the final six really are all that. Check out my full Best SFF Shorts of 2014 (plus list of honourable mentions) at Apex Magazine!
December 1, 2014
Reviews: December 1st 2014
The way I write about him, you’d think I have something against Neal Stephenson. I swear I don’t, I really think he’s the most genius genius of all geniuses. I love him to death and want him to be my best buddy. But I also stand behind everything I say about his latest Big Idea short story over at Apex Magazine…
November 13, 2014
Reviews: November 13th 2014
Children make great protagonists because they are tiny sociopaths. True story. I said so over Apex Magazine this week! Read my reviews here!
October 31, 2014
Reviews: October 31st 2014
Love words? Like, more than you love stories? You will love THESE stories! Check out my reviews this week at Apex Magazine!
October 16, 2014
Reviews: October 16th 2014
I have to admit that I was feeling glum about the state of the world this week. Until I read the special Fantasy Magazine special issue – Women Destroy Fantasy! – and the wonderful Kingfisher story in it. I loved it so much I went out and did a round up of a trio of excellent retellings of classic tales over at Apex Magazine. Have a look!
October 2, 2014
Reviews: Oct. 2nd 2014
My bi-weekly reviews of science fiction/fantasy short stories are up at Apex Magazine! I looked human vs technological approaches to some very similar subject matter… Check it out!
September 19, 2014
Reviews: September 19th 2014
Yep, more reviews up at Apex Magazine. Read along, argue with me, comment, participate!
September 4, 2014
Reviews: September 4th 2014
My reviews are up at Apex! Being a poor, working-class man is, and always has been, a raw deal, as three authors told us this month…. Read on!