"Brightest in dungeons, Liberty, thou art,
For there thy habitation is the heart." — Byron
CAMPBELL AWARD NOMINATED NOVEL--
Any Day Now is not exactly science fiction and not exactly not. It's an alternate history of 1968. John Crowley was kind enough to say, "If you were there then, this is where you were."
Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and made it a Pick of the Week. It also got a good review in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Bay Area literary icon Richard Wolinsky gave me a generous interview on KPFA.
And it was nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel of the year. (Didn't win, but it's a nomination just to be nominated.)
My most recent collection of short stories TVA BABY is from PM Press. It includes a little shop story, a starship story, a noir detective story, a time travel tale (with paradox), an un-mundane adventure, a retro romantic comedy (with cigarettes and lingerie), and a plundering of pirates.
My utopian novel FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN (also PM) is about what might have been if abolitionist John Brown's 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry had succeeded. It has a generous (and perceptive) introduction by Mumia Abu Jamal.
BISSON BACKLIST-- good as new! Now on Kindle, Nook, Apple, etc.
My World Fantasy Award loser Talking Man is a solid book filled with practical tips for all those planning an auto trip to the North Pole. Costs less than a gallon of gas. The bureaucratic saga Pirates of the Universe is about a Disney-Windows employee trying to hold onto his perks. The Pick-Up Artist is about a guy who makes room for new art by destroying the old. All now E-vailable from Kindle, Apple, etc. All with new covers by LIsa Roth.
EDITORIALLY SPEAKING
I am editing a cool SF series for PM called Outspoken Authors. Each volume includes a story, a rant, an interview and an argument by a Lefty scribbler with Something to Say. John Shirley's New Taboos will be launched at San Francisco's Green Arcade books June 27. John will sign with his mark.
Karen Joy Fowler, Norman Spinrad and Charles Stross are in the works. I'm proud of the Outspoken Author list which looks like a science fiction Who's Who or Hall of Fame, except that I included myself. Because I could.
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Good news: the Paul Robeson film that I scripted with Richard Akel of Four Stars International is underway with some big names: Director Darrell Roodt (Cry, the Beloved Country); David Harewood (Homeland) as Robeson, Lou Gossett Jr. as W.E.B. DuBois, and Sidney Poitier's daughter Sydney as Robeson's faithful wife Eslanda Cardozo Goode Robeson. Production scheduled for Fall 2013. How can it fail?
My lunar junkyard adventure, "The Hole in the Hole," has been optioned by the Brooklyn film team of John Ramaine and David Capurso. I think these guys have what it takes.
My day job is writing a regular feature, THIS MONTH IN HISTORY, for Locus magazine. It's the longest-running trade magazine fiction feature in the history of the Universe.
For fun and fellowship I have the good fortune of hosting a monthly author reading series in downtown San Francisco called SFinSF. The series is sponsored by Tachyon. On Saturday June 22 we are featuring Hadley Rille authors Cliff Winnig, Heather McDougal and Cassie Alexander. Hey, I'm a Hadley Rille author myself! Tachyon too.