recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
The Core of the Sun

*The Core of the Sun* by Johanna Sinisalo

Excerpt available.

Published by Black Cat, January 2016.

*From the author of the Finlandia Award–winning novel*Troll: A Love Story*,* The Core of the Sun*further cements Johanna Sinisalo’s reputation as a master of literary speculative fiction and of her country’s unique take on it, dubbed “Finnish weird.” Set in an alternative historical present, in a “eusistocracy”—an extreme welfare state—that holds public health and social stability above all else, it follows a young woman whose growing addiction to illegal chili peppers leads her on an adventure into a world where love, sex, and free will are all controlled by the state.The Eusistocratic Republic of Finland has bred a new human sub-species of receptive, submissive women, called eloi, for sex and procreation, while intelligent, independent women are relegated to menial labor and sterilized. Vanna, raised as an eloi but secretly intelligent, needs money to help her doll-like sister, Manna. Vanna forms a friendship with a man named Jare, and they become involved in buying and selling a stimulant known to the Health Authority to be extremely dangerous: chili peppers. Then Manna disappears, and Jare comes across a strange religious cult in possession of the Core of the Sun, a chili so hot that it is rumored to cause hallucinations. Does this chili have effects that justify its prohibition? How did Finland turn into the North Korea of Europe? And will Vanna succeed in her quest to find her sister, or will her growing need to satisfy her chili addiction destroy her?*

Johanna Sinisalo’s tautly told story of fight and flight is also a feisty, between-the-lines social polemic—a witty, inventive, and fiendishly engaging read.
Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg

Title: *Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg*

Author: Robert Silverberg and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Publisher: Fairwood Press

Publication Date: August 2016

In addition to exploring Silverberg’s career, now in its sixth decade, this collection of transcribed conversations delves into aspects of Silverberg’s life — such as his extensive travel, passion for film, opera and classical music — not covered elsewhere.

A decade-and-a-half-long friendship, and working together on When the Blue Shift Comes, afforded Alvaro the opportunity to speak at length with Silverberg. The result: a remarkably candid series of conversations that will be of interest to science fiction readers and anyone curious about the writing life.

*Robert Silverberg is always interesting to talk to, as he is a brilliant writer and a well-read and well-traveled man, as well as a long-time participant, observer, and historian of the science fiction community. Within that community he tends to be a fairly cool and deflective character, who talks about many other things before himself. That habit means this book is distinctly more than a sequence of ordinary conversations with him, because the well-prepared and congenial Zinos-Amaro has taken the time, and Silverberg has given the time, to talk at some length, and coherently, about many of his central interests, including his own life. It makes for a typically indirect but ultimately fascinating portrait of the artist, and a very nice supplement to his wonderful novels and stories.*

— Kim Stanley Robinson, author of *Aurora*

*Reading Alvaro Zinos-Amaro's interviews with Robert Silverberg is a lot like parasailing: an exhilarating rush through atmosphere higher and richer than one usually inhabits, with sweeping views of everything below. Zinos-Amaro is a skilled interviewer and Silverberg a brilliant polymath looking back at a long life well spent. Writing, reading, travel, art, opera, archeology, food — he talks wittily and interestingly about them all. I learned something on every page.*

— Nancy Kress, author of *Yesterday's Kin*
Arabella of Mars

Title: *Arabella of Mars*

Author: David D. Levine

Publisher: Tor Books

Release Date: July 12, 2016

*Since Newton witnessed a bubble rising from his bathtub, mankind has sought the stars. When William III of England commissioned Capt. William Kidd to command the first expedition to Mars in the late 1600s, he proved that space travel was both possible and profitable.*

*Now, one century later, a plantation in a flourishing British colony on Mars is home to Arabella Ashby, a young woman who is perfectly content growing up in the untamed frontier. But days spent working on complex automata with her father or stalking her brother Michael with her Martian nanny is not the proper behavior of an English lady. That is something her mother plans to remedy with a move to an exotic world Arabella has never seen: London, England.*

*However, when events transpire that threaten her home on Mars, Arabella decides that sometimes doing the right thing is far more important than behaving as expected. She disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew of the* Diana, *a ship serving the Mars Trading Company, where she meets a mysterious captain who is intrigued by her knack with clockwork creations. Now Arabella just has to weather the naval war currently raging between Britain and France, learn how to sail, and deal with a mutinous crew... if she hopes to save her family remaining on Mars.*

Arabella of Mars, *the debut novel by Hugo-winning author David D. Levine, offers adventure, romance, political intrigue, and Napoleon in space!*
Foz Meadows

Shattersnipe Blog

Featured Posts:

* Unempathic Bipeds of Failure: The Relationship Between Stories and Politics

* YA, Race & Assimilation: A Response

* Gentleman Jole and the Vorkosigan Saga: Thoughts

* Romance & Queerness: Genre vs Device

* Identity & Narrative: A Response to Lionel Shriver

* How To Suppress Female Characters
Everfair

**"Everfair" by Nisi Shawl**

Published by Tor Books, September 2016

Editor:

Cover artist: Victo Ngai

An alternate history / historical fantasy / steampunk novel set in the Belgian Congo, from noted short story writer Nisi Shawl.

*Everfair* is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history novel that explores the question of what might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had learned about steam technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as escaped slaves returning from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated.

Shawl's speculative masterpiece manages to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on record into a marvelous and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history. *Everfair* is told from a multiplicity of voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a compelling range of voices that have historically been silenced. *Everfair* is not only a beautiful book but an educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new insight into an often ignored period of history.
Kelly Robson

Eligibility: Second Year

Works:
*(All these available in Up & Coming)*

* *Waters of Versailles*, Tor.com, June 2015 (novella)
* *The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill* (Content Note: horror elements), Clarkesworld, February 2015
* *Two-Year Man*, Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 2015

Other Works:

* *Good for Grapes*, in *The Exile Book of New Canadian Noir*, Exile Editions, March 2015
* *The Gladiator Lie*, in *License Expired: The Unauthorized James Bond*, ChiZine Publications, November 2015
* *Tremontaine: The Eye of the Swan*, Tor.com October 2016
How High Your Gods Can Count

How High Your Gods Can Count by Tegan Moore

*Strange Horizons*, May 2, 2016

Description (by Eric Kimminau): "A creation and retribution story, told from the perspective of monkeys who live in the Great Jaguar Pyramid and who interact, sometimes aggressively and with antagonism, toward the tourists who regularly visit the Temple. Each time a monkey attacks a tourist, men from the local village arrive to kill a monkey or monkeys if the incident seems to warrant it. “We cant let the monkeys ruin the tourists.” The story teller (a monkey) relates the tale of the first creation, where the gods created the animals, giving them the intelligence of society, only to take it away because their “voices were wrong.” So the gods bring the second creation, the men of mud. But their voices were no better and their bodies fell apart, which angered the gods, so they brought the third creation, the monkeys, men of wood..."
Brave New Words

Ed Fortune and his team dive into the world of genre fiction, with book news, author interviews and in depth reviews of the latest science fiction, fantasy and horror novels. Guests include the likes of George RR Martin, Robin Hobb and Sarah Pinborough.

Hosted by Starburst Magazine (but a labour of love by fans), Ed attempts to review a book. His friends try to stop him. Along the way they talk to some lovely authors.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/brave-new-words/id1132627431?mt=2
Daughter of Blood

Published by Orbit Books, January 2016

*A failing wall, a broken shield, and an enemy that will exploit every weakness...*

*Malian and Kalan have recovered two of the three legendary weapons of the Derai, but already it may be too late. The Wall of Night, fractured by centuries of blood feud and civil strife, is on the verge of falling.*

*Meanwhile, among Grayharbor backstreets, an orphan boy falls foul of dark forces. A daughter of the House of Blood must be married to the Earl of Night, a pawn in the web of her family’s ambition, and Kalan is caught in a political web he may not be able to escape.*

*While even as Malian dodges Darkswarm pursuers in her search for the Shield of Heaven, rumour whispers that it may be broken beyond repair – and she herself may be the blade the ancient enemy will drive into the heart of the Derai Alliance.*
Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass

*Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass*, by Jeremiah Tolbert

Published: Lightspeed Magazine Feb 2016

Reviews: SFRevu, Rocket Stack Rank Quick Sip Reviews

Description:

*Louisa lives in world where "rabbit holes" have been opening up on a regular basis, whisking people away to fantastic lands. Each rabbit hole is personalized. You can't stay in someone else's world. Louisa has read fantasy novels all her life and had dreamed of escaping the mundane. But she has had to stay in a "real world" that is becoming swiftly depopulated of regular humans and populated by fantasy creatures.*
The Vanishing Kind

The Vanishing Kind by Lavie Tidhar

Published: Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction July-August 2016

Word Count: 18,093 words

Reviews: Rocket Stack Rank, Tangent, SFRevu, Amazing

*It’s a noir novella, set a few years after the end of a Second World War when the Nazis are rebuilding London, and concerns the arrival of an ex-soldier and screenwriter in the city who is searching for a missing ex-flame.*
Charles Payseur

Charles Payseur reads huge amounts of short fiction and writes consistently thoughtful and interesting reviews. He updates his page almost daily and also contributes a monthly column to Nerds of a Feather. This has to be a lot of unrenumerated work and deserves recognition.

http://quicksipreviews.blogspot.com

Examples:

* Monthly Roundup at Nerds of a Feather
* Quick Sips - Fantasy #60 People of Colo(u)r Destroy Fantasy!
* Quick Thoughts - Owning Your Opinion
The Virgin Played Bass

The Virgin Played Bass by Maria Dahvana Headley

Published: Uncanny Magazine Jan/Feb 2016

Word Count: Approx 8,700 words

Reviews: Tangent, Quick Sip Reviews, Rocket Stack Rank

Description (from the author)

A riff on the Town Musicians of Bremen, The Master and Margarita, and a few other things, this is a dark novelette about a band touring in a warzone. It was inspired by a story told to me by an accordionist friend, and
I went a lot of places with it. Commissioned by editors Michael Damian Thomas, Lynne M. Thomas, and Michi Trota for Uncanny Magazine.

*The first time Lazarus Mary resurrected, we found her crucified and hanging from a tree. We heard her shouting, and when we found her, she was very angry, her hands nailed to the branches with iron spikes. She was only a little girl, but her voice carried. Beside her there was a scroll that said something about trumpets and about angels, something about how proper miracles never happened in this world we lived in now, and how there was only black bread to pray over, never any fishes.*

*“Who will come out of the cave?” That’s the line I remember best from that screed. There were shreds of old religions all over the place, and some of those religions included the worship of plastic spoons, and others included the worship of witches.*

*“Somebody grabbed me from behind while I was pissing,” said Lazarus Mary. “I didn’t do any damage to them. I didn’t even see them. I regret it. How many lives left, Cat?”*

*“Enough,” said The Pet, and pried out the spikes with his claws, splashing Lazarus Mary’s wounds with vodka as he went.*
A Closed and Common Orbit

Title: *A Closed and Common Orbit* (excerpt)

Author: Becky Chambers

Series: Wayfarers #2

Publisher: Harper Voyager (US), Hodder & Stoughton (UK)

Publication Date: October 2016

Reviews:

* Adam Roberts, Guardian UK
* Mike Vago, A.V. Club
* Ana Grilo, Book Smugglers

*Lovelace was once merely a ship's artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has to start over in a synthetic body, in a world where her kind are illegal. She's never felt so alone.*

*But she's not alone, not really. Pepper, one of the engineers who risked life and limb to reinstall Lovelace, is determined to help her adjust to her new world. Because Pepper knows a thing or two about starting over.*

*Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that, huge as the galaxy may be, it's anything but empty.*

*The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet* (Wayfarers #1) introduced readers to the incredible imagination of Becky Chambers and was nominated for numerous awards and accolades, including the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction, the British Fantasy Award, the Tiptree Award, the Kitschies Golden Tentacle and the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Lovecraft Country

*Lovecraft Country* by Matt Ruff

Published by Harper, February 2016

*Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors—they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.*

*At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn—led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb—which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his—and the whole Turner clan’s—destruction.*

*A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism—the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.*
Pillars of Reality

Series: Pillars of Reality

Author: Jack Campbell (John G Hemry)

Eligible Publication: The Wrath of the Great Guilds

Eligible Publication: The Servants of the Storm

Eligible Publication: The Pirates of Pacta Servanda

Summary of Wrath of the Great Guilds from Audible:

"New York Times best-selling author Jack Campbell's epic series, The Pillars of Reality, reaches its exciting conclusion.

The Great Guilds, fearing the loss of their control of the world of Dematr, have gathered their power and joined it with the relentless legions of the Empire. The full might of that host will fall upon the fortress city of Dorcastle. If Dorcastle falls, the revolt led by Master Mechanic Mari and Mage Alain will fail, and their world will soon descend into chaos.

Only Mari, believed to be the daughter of an ancient prophecy, can inspire the people and lead the defense of Dorcastle. The prophecy says she has a chance to win, but it doesn't say she will survive. Alain will stand by her, both willing to die for the other, but neither one knows if their sacrifices will mean victory.

As they battle the Imperial legions and see friends fall, Mari and Alain face their greatest challenges. And if they somehow win in the face of impossible odds, neither one can be certain what sort of world that victory will produce."
The Souls of Horses

*The Souls of Horses* by Beth Cato

Published: Clockwork Phoenix 5, Mythic Delirium Books (April 2016)

Reviews: Ellen Datlow @SFEditorsPicks, SF SIgnal , Publishers Weekly

Wordcount: approx. 6700

*Ilsa can transfer the souls of dying horses into wooden carvings. Set during the US Civil War, the army come calling, wanting her to create new mechanical cavalry with wooden hearts...*
The Wrong Game

"The Wrong Game" by Ramsey Campbell, in *Dead Letters* [Titan Books, April 2016]

Word Count: 7,750 words

The famous author Ramsey Campbell is sent a writing prompt in the form of two playing cards enclosed in an envelope addressed to someone else, whose name stirs memories of an encounter way back at the start of his career.
Emergency Management Protocol

Emergency Management Protocol  by C. C. S. Ryan

Fireside Magazine

An engineer who is wasting away working for the municipal government on an under-developed colony world finally has a chance to use her expertise (including the field of teledildonics) when an earthquake traps her girlfriend in an outlying part of the colony.

Word count: c5000 words
Maurizio Manzieri

Maurizio Manzieri

###  **2016 work:**

Cover for *Asimov's Science Fiction* (July)Official Poster for the Swiss Comic Con *Fantasy Basel* (May)Cover for *Analog Science Fiction and Fact* (January)Cover for *The Year’s Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 8* (Infinivox, August)"The Sassari Spaceport" Official Poster for the Italian Convention *SardiniaCon* (September)Official Poster for the Italian Convention *Stranimondi* (October)
Magic Ex Libris

*Magic Ex Libris*

Four novels by Jim C. Hines

1: Libriomancer (2012)

2: Codex Born (2013)

3: Unbound (2015)

4: Revisionary (2016)

Isaac Vainio is a libriomancer -- someone who has magical power based on what's in books. That makes his life, and those of his friends, a lot more complicated than you might expect.
Strange Horizons

Strange Horizons edited by Niall Harrison

About:

Strange Horizons is a weekly magazine of and about speculative fiction. We publish fiction, poetry, reviews, essays, interviews, roundtable discussions, and art.
Our definition of speculative fiction includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, slipstream, and all other flavors of fantastika. Work published in has been shortlisted for or won Hugo, Nebula, Rhysling, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree Jr., and World Fantasy Awards.

Speculative fiction has a vibrant and radical tradition of stories that can make us think, can critique society, and can show us how it could be otherwise, for better or worse. We aim to be part of that tradition, and to update it: in the twenty-first century, speculative fiction must be a global, inclusive literature. We want to showcase work that challenges us and delights us, by new and established writers from diverse backgrounds and with diverse concerns.
The Lost Child of Lychford

*It’s December in the English village of Lychford—the first Christmas since an evil conglomerate tried to force open the borders between our world and… another.*

*Which means it’s Lizzie’s first Christmas as Reverend of St. Martin’s. Which means more stress, more expectation, more scrutiny by the congregation. Which means… well, business as usual, really. Until the apparition of a small boy finds its way to Lizzie in the church. Is he a ghost? A vision? Something else? Whatever the truth, our trio of witches (they don’t approve of “coven”) are about to face their toughest battle, yet!*

Reviews: Publishers Weekly, SF Bluestocking Rocket Stack Rank

Excerpt: Tor.com
Roses and Rot

**"Roses and Rot" by Kat Howard**

Publisher: Saga Press, May 2016

Editor: Joe Monti

Imogen and her sister Marin have escaped their cruel mother to attend a prestigious artists’ retreat, but soon learn that living in a fairy tale requires sacrifices, be it art or love.

What would you sacrifice in the name of success? How much does an artist need to give up to create great art?

Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wishing that her life would become one of these tragic fairy tales because she couldn’t imagine how a stepmother could be worse than her mother now. As adults, Imogen and her sister Marin are accepted to an elite post-grad arts program—Imogen as a writer and Marin as a dancer. Soon enough, though, they realize that there’s more to the school than meets the eye. Imogen might be living in the fairy tale she’s dreamed about as a child, but it’s one that will pit her against Marin if she decides to escape her past to find her heart’s desire.
A Guide for Young Ladies Entering the Service of the Fairies

A Guide for Young Ladies Entering the Service of the Fairies, by Rosamund Hodge

in The Hanging Garden, March 2016

*I. This is the lie they will use to break you: no one else has ever loved this way before.*

*II. Choose wisely which court you serve. Light or Dark, Summer or Winter, Seelie or Unseelie: they have many names, but the pith of the choice is this: a poisoned flower or a knife in the dark?*
Kerrie Hughes

### Kerrie Hughes

Publisher: Various

2016 Anthologies Edited:

* *Shadowed Souls* (with Jim Butcher), Roc / New American Library

2015 Anthologies Edited:

* *Fiction River: Alchemy and Steam*, WMG Publishing

2013 Anthologies Edited:

* *Fiction River: Hex in the City*, WMG Publishing

2012 Anthologies Edited:

* *Westward Weird* (with Martin H. Greenberg), DAW Books

2011 Anthologies Edited:

* *Chicks Kick Butt* (with Rachel Caine), Tor Books
The Raven and the Reindeer

*The Raven and the Reindeer* by T. Kingfisher

Published by Red Wombat Tea Co., February 2016

*When Gerta’s friend Kay is stolen away by the mysterious Snow Queen, it’s up to Gerta to find him. Her journey will take her through a dangerous land of snow and witchcraft, accompanied only by a bandit and a talking raven. Can she win her friend’s release, or will following her heart take her to unexpected places?*

Word Count: Approx 55,000 words

Reviews: Tor.com, James Nicoll
Dark Matter, Season 2

*Dark Matter*, Season 2

tv.com,

"*Dark Matter* follows a crew of six who wakes up on a spaceship with no memories and no recollection of who they are or how they have come to be on the ship. A large cache of weapons in the cargo hold and a destination to a mining colony in the remote reaches of space is the only clue to who they are."

Network: Syfy

All 13 episodes of Season 2 were first aired in 2016. Individual episodes are eligible for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
Bridget McKinney

Bridget McKinney blogs at SF Bluestocking -- media and book reviews and feminism. In March of 2016, she read and blogged the entire 2015 Campbell Awards showcase anthology (120 authors).

Examples:

* The Best of 2016: Novellas
* Book Review: The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde
* Book Review: Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer
* Let’s Read! Up and Coming - series reading potential Campbell award nominees
Laya Rose

Laya Rose

## 2016 Fan Artist Work:

Ashlinn from *We Awaken* by Calista LynneJune Costa from *The Summer Prince* by Alaya Dawn JohnsonCover for *Capricious 5* SF magazine edited by A.C. BuchananIllustration "My Witchsona" by Laya RoseNyssa from *Blades of Begnion* by Claudie ArseneaultVryn from *Blades of Begnion* by Claudie ArseneaultIllustrations "The Scorpion Rules" by Laya RoseIllustration from "Treasure Hunt" by Shira GlassmanMagnus Bane from *Shadowhunters* by Cassandra Clare
Tumblr

*Mistlands* Comic
Galen Dara

Portfolio

## 2016 Professional Artist Work:

Cover for *The Days of Tao* by Wesley Chu (Subterranean Press, July)Cover for *Long List Anthology 2* edited by David Steffen (Diabolical Plots, December)Cover/Illustration for "Magnifica Angelica Superable" by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz (*Lightspeed*, July)Cover/Illustration for "The Savannah Liars Tour" by Will McIntosh (*Lightspeed*, January)Cover for *Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling* edited by Jaym Gates and Monica L. Valentinelli (Apex Publications, November)Cover for *The Apothecary's Curse* by Barbara Barnett (Pyr, October)Cover for *The Purloined Poodle* by Kevin Hearne (Subterranean Press, September)
Love Is Never Still

*Love Is Never Still*by Rachel Swirsky

Published: Uncanny Magazine March/April 2016

Word Count: Approx 9,500 words

Reviews: Quick Sip Reviews, Tangent, Rocket Stack Rank

Description (from Quick Sip Reviews):

...*two primary, parallel stories, one featuring a sculptor and his sculpture, brought to life by the whim of Aphrodite, and the other features the goddess herself in a triangle with her husband Hephaestus and her lover (and her husband’s brother) Ares. Both offer a mix of loves and repulsions, betrayals and hurts and longings.*
Injection, Vol. 2

*Injection, Vol. 2* by Warren Ellis, art by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire

Published by Image Comics, August 2016. Collects Injection #6-10, the last of which was published in June 2016.

"Consulting detective Vivek Headland tackles a case involving a stolen ghost, but when human deli meat causes him to call for help the details of his investigation reveal a new battleground between humanity and The Injection."
The Shadow Campaigns

Series: The Shadow Campaigns

Author: Django Wexler

Eligible Publication: The Guns of Empire, Roc, August 2016.

*As the “audacious and subversive”\* Shadow Campaigns novels continue, the weather is growing warmer, but the frosty threat of Vordan’s enemies is only growing worse…
As the roar of the guns subsides and the smoke of battle clears, the country of Vordan is offered a fragile peace…
After their shattering defeats at the hands of brilliant General Janus bet Vhalnich, the opposing powers have called all sides to the negotiating table in hopes of securing an end to the war. Queen Raesinia of Vordan is anxious to see the return of peace, but Janus insists that*
 any peace with the implacable Sworn Church of Elysium is doomed to fail. For their Priests of the Black, there can be no truce with heretics and demons they seek to destroy, and the war is to the death.

*Soldiers Marcus d’Ivoire and Winter Ihernglass find themselves caught between their general and their queen. Now, each must decide which leader truly commands their loyalty—and what price they might pay for final victory.*

*And in the depths of Elysium, a malign force is rising—and defeating it might mean making sacrifices beyond anything they have ever imagined.*

Other titles:

1. The Thousand Names (2013)
2. The Shadow Throne (2014)
3. The Price of Valor (2015)
Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Website

Editor: Scott Andrews

About:

Beneath Ceaseless
Skies (ISSN 1946-1046) is a SFWA-qualifying, pro-rate online magazine
dedicated to publishing literary adventure fantasy: fantasy set in
secondary-world or historical settings, written with a literary focus
on the characters.

In seven years BCS
has published over 375 stories and 175 audio fiction podcasts. We
have been a finalist for three Hugo Awards, one British Science
Fiction Association Award, three Parsec podasting awards, three
Aurealis Awards, and five World Fantasy Awards, and stories from BCS
have won the Aurealis Award and the World Fantasy Award.

We love traditional
adventure fantasy, including classics from the pulp era and the new
wave of post-Tolkien fantasy. But we also love how the recent
influence of Realist literary writing on fantasy short fiction has
expanded the genre, allowing writers the freedom to use literary
devices such as tight points-of-view, round characters, unreliable
narrators, discontinuous narratives, and others. This sophisticated
level of craft has made fantasy short fiction more powerful than ever
before.

We want stories that
combine the best of both these styles—adventure fantasy plots in
vivid secondary worlds, but written with a literary flair. Beneath
Ceaseless Skies features exciting stories set in awe-inspiring places
that are told with all the skill and impact of modern
literary-influenced fantasy.

Beneath Ceaseless
Skies publishes two stories per issue, with a new issue every two
weeks. Readers can subscribe by email notification or by RSS feed, or
for automatic delivery to Kindle. We release all issues as ebooks and
selected stories as Audio Fiction podcasts. We publish annual Best-of
ebook anthologies and occasional theme anthologies of stories from
the magazine. We maintain a News page, a Facebook page, and a Twitter
feed @BCSmagazine to update submitting writers and to encourage
reader discussion of all things fantasy.
Kingfisher

*Kingfisher* by Patricia McKillip

Published by Ace, February 2016

*Hidden away from the world by his mother, the powerful sorceress Heloise Oliver, Pierce has grown up working in her restaurant in Desolation Point. One day, unexpectedly, strangers pass through town on the way to the legendary capital city. “Look for us,” they tell Pierce, “if you come to Severluna. You might find a place for yourself in King Arden’s court.”*

*Lured by a future far away from the bleak northern coast, Pierce makes his choice. Heloise, bereft and furious, tells her son the truth: about his father, a knight in King Arden’s court; about an older brother he never knew existed; about his father’s destructive love for King Arden’s queen, and Heloise’s decision to raise her younger son alone.*

*As Pierce journeys to Severluna, his path twists and turns through other lives and mysteries: an inn where ancient rites are celebrated, though no one will speak of them; a legendary local chef whose delicacies leave diners slowly withering from hunger; his mysterious wife, who steals Pierce’s heart; a young woman whose need to escape is even greater than Pierce’s; and finally, in Severluna, King Arden's youngest son, who is urged by strange and lovely forces to sacrifice his father’s kingdom.*

*Things are changing in that kingdom. Oldmagic is on the rise. The immensely powerful artifact of an ancient god has come to light, and the king is gathering his knights to quest for this profound mystery, which may restore the kingdom to its former glory—or destroy it...*
Speculative Blackness

**Title:** Speculative Blackness

**Author:** André M. Carrington

**Published:** University of Minnesota Press, February 2016

Examines race through fanzines, *Star Trek*, comic books, and Harry Potter.

Available through:

* University of Minnesota Press
* Amazon

**Publisher's Description:**

In *Speculative Blackness*, André M. Carrington analyzes the highly racialized genre of speculative fiction—including science fiction, fantasy, and utopian works, along with their fan cultures—to illustrate the relationship between genre conventions in media and the meanings ascribed to blackness in the popular imagination.

Carrington’s argument about authorship, fandom, and race in a genre that has been both marginalized and celebrated offers a black perspective on iconic works of science fiction. He examines the career of actor Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed the character Uhura in the original *Star Trek*television series and later became a recruiter for NASA, and the spin-off series *Star Trek: Deep Space Nine*, set on a space station commanded by a black captain. He recovers a pivotal but overlooked moment in 1950s science fiction fandom in which readers and writers of fanzines confronted issues of race by dealing with a fictitious black fan writer and questioning the relevance of race to his ostensible contributions to the ‘zines. Carrington mines the productions of Marvel comics and the black-owned comics publisher Milestone Media, particularly the representations of black sexuality in its flagship title, *Icon*. He also interrogates online fan fiction about black British women in *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* and the Harry Potter series*.*
Throughout this nuanced analysis, Carrington theorizes the relationship between race and genre in cultural production, revealing new understandings of the significance of blackness in twentieth-century American literature and culture.
Summerlong

Summerlong, By Peter S. Beagle

Published: September 2016

Publisher's description: Beloved author Peter S. Beagle (*The Last Unicorn*) returns with this long-anticipated new novel, a beautifully bittersweet tale of passion, enchantment, and the nature of fate.

*It was a typically unpleasant Puget Sound winter before the arrival of Lioness Lazos. An enigmatic young waitress with strange abilities, when the lovely Lioness comes to Gardner Island even the weather takes notice.*

*As an impossibly beautiful spring leads into a perfect summer, Lioness is drawn to a complicated family. She is taken in by two disenchanted lovers—dynamic Joanna Delvecchio and scholarly Abe Aronson — visited by Joanna’s previously unlucky-in-love daughter, Lily. With Lioness in their lives, they are suddenly compelled to explore their deepest dreams and desires.*

*Lioness grows more captivating as the days grow longer. Her new family thrives, even as they may be growing apart. But lingering in Lioness’s past is a dark secret — and even summer days must pass.*
A Proportional Voting System for Awards Nominations Resistant to Voting Blocs

https://www.schneier.com/academic/paperfiles/Proportional\_Voting\_System.pdf

(Peer-reviewed paper on E Pluribus Hugo and E Pluribus Hugo Plus voting methods. Was not published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2016 because the journal that accepted it folded after peer review was complete but before the issue came out.)

Author(s): Jameson Quinn and Bruce Schneier

Published: https://www.schneier.com/academic/paperfiles/Proportional\_Voting\_System.pdf (linked May 16th here: http://file770.com/?p=28946 )
The Tomato Thief

The Tomato Thief by Ursula Vernon

Published: Apex Magazine Jan 16

Word Count: Approx 14,000 words

Reviews:

* SFRevu
* Tangent
* Rocket Stack Rank
* Quick Sip Reviews

Grandma Harken, the main character of Vernon's previous story "Jackalope Wives", notices that someone is stealing her tomatoes. When she finds out who it is, she learns of a serious wrong that needs righting.
Teenagers from Outer Space

Teenagers from Outer Space by Dale Bailey

Published: Clarkesworld, August 2016

Description (from Quick Sip Reviews):

...*a story with an interesting aesthetic, 1950s greaser feel with aliens there like it's no big deal. [...] The story focuses on two friends, Nancy and Joan, who are neighbors and going to high school...*

Reviews: Rocket Stack Rank, Quick Sip Reviews, Tangent

Word Count: 11,690
The Deep Sea Diver's Syndrome

*The Deep Sea Diver's Syndrome*by Serge Brussolo; translated by Edward Gauvin

* First publication in English translation by Melville House, January 2016
* Original publication in French as *Le syndrome du scaphandrier* by Denoël, January 1992

***An undisputed French master of the fantastic—as prolific as Stephen King; as original as Philip K. Dick—now in English for the first time***

*In* The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome*, lucid dreamers called mediums dive into their dreams to retrieve ectoplasms—sticky blobs with curiously soothing properties that are the only form of art in the world. The more elaborate the dream, the better the ectoplasm.*

*David Sarella is a medium whose dream identity is a professional thief. With his beautiful accomplice Nadia, he breaks into jewelry stores and museums, lifts precious diamonds, and when he wakes, the loot turns into ectoplasms to be sold and displayed.*

*Only the dives require an extraordinary amount of physical effort, and as David ages, they become more difficult. His dream world—or is it the real world?—grows unstable. Any dive could be his last, forever tearing him away from Nadia and their high-octane, Bond-like adventures.*

*David decides to go down one final time, in the deepest, most extravagant dive ever attempted. But midway through, he begins to lose control, and the figures in the massive painting he’s trying to steal suddenly come to life…and start shooting.*

Reviews: NPR , World Literature Today , SUVUDU , Weird Fiction Review (by the translator)
Children of Earth and Sky

by Guy Gavriel Kay

**The bestselling author of the groundbreaking novels *Under Heaven* and *River of Stars*, Guy Gavriel Kay is back with a new book, set in a world inspired by the conflicts and dramas of Renaissance Europe. Against this tumultuous backdrop the lives of men and women unfold on the borderlands—where empires and faiths collide.**

From the small coastal town of Senjan, notorious for its pirates, a young woman sets out to find vengeance for her lost family. That same spring, from the wealthy city-state of Seressa, famous for its canals and lagoon, come two very different people: a young artist traveling to the dangerous east to paint the grand khalif at his request—and possibly to do more—and a fiercely intelligent, angry woman, posing as a doctor’s wife, but sent by Seressa as a spy.

The trading ship that carries them is commanded by the accomplished younger son of a merchant family, ambivalent about the life he’s been born to live. And farther east a boy trains to become a soldier in the elite infantry of the khalif—to win glory in the war everyone knows is coming.

As these lives entwine, their fates—and those of many others—will hang in the balance, when the khalif sends out his massive army to take the great fortress that is the gateway to the western world... (less)

Hardcover, 571 pages

Published May 10th 2016 by NAL
Space Squid

Space Squid

Space Squid is an award-winning hybrid publication of hand-scrubbed scifi, fantasy, and humor. Surely you've seen the 'zine at your local zine superstore? Of course you were amazed at our snarky, outrageous stories, comix, and art.

Formerly printed on actual paper (and doggedly so), Space Squid now appears in primarily web form, with new stories and illustrations appearing free of charge on a monthly schedule.

We also publish samples and original content on this site for free, updated on a monthly basis. We're always putting up new stuff, including occasional podcast material and an annual "best of" print issue that coincides with Austin's Armadillocon speculative fiction convention.
Navah Wolfe

### Navah Wolfe

Publisher: Saga Press

2016 Novels Edited:

* *Borderline* by Mishell Baker
* *Icon* by Genevieve Valentine
* *The Mountain of Kept Memory* by Rachel Neumeier
* *A Green and Ancient Light* by Frederic S. Durbin
* *A Criminal Magic* by Lee Kelly
* *Fall of the Dragons* by James A. Owen
* *Time of the Dragons* by James A. Owen

Not eligible for Long Form Editor considerations:
Also edited *The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales* anthology.
Nin Harris

Name: Nin Harris

Eligibility: Second Year

Works: (see also: website, isfdb)

2016:

* *What the Stories Steal* in *Clarkesworld Magazine*, Issue #122, edited by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace,  2 November, 2016 (Print/ebook/Web).
* *Butter-Daughters* in *The Sockdolager*, Fall 2016, Issue 7, edited by Alison Wilgus and Paul Tuttle Starr, 20 October 2016 (Print/ebook/Web).
* *Moult* in *Alphabet of Embers*, edited by Rose Lemberg, July 2016 (Print/ebook).
* *Morning Cravings* in *POC Destroy Science Fiction (Flash Fiction)*, edited by Berit Ellingsen, Nalo Hopkinson, and Kristine Ong Muslim, 1 June 2016. (Print/ebook/Web).
* *Auto-Rejection: An Outro* in *Trash* (Fixi Novo), edited by Dean Francis Alfar and Marc de Faoite, 11 April 2016. (Print/ebook)
* *Tower of the Rosewater Goblet* in *Strange Horizons*, edited by An Owomoyela, Julia Rios, Catherine Krahe and Lila Garrott, 4 January, 2016.(Web)

2015:

* *Your Right Arm* in *Clarkesworld Magazine*, Issue #110, edited by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace, 2 November, 2015. (Print/ebook/Web)
* *The Faerie-Maker* in *GigaNotoSaurus*, edited by Rashida J. Smith, 1 October, 2015.(Web)
* *Sang Rimau and the Medicine Woman*, *Lackington’s*, Issue 7 (*Skins*, July 2015) edited by Ranylt Richildis, 2015. (Web/ebook)
City of Blades

Title: *City of Blades*

Author: Robert Jackson Bennett

Publisher: Broadway Books

Publication Date: Jan. 26, 2016

Reviews: NPR, Publishers Weekly (Starred), SF Signal, Kirkus

*The city of Voortyashtan was once the domain of the goddess of death, war, and destruction, but now it’s little more than a ruin. General Turyin Mulaghesh is called out of retirement and sent to this hellish place to try to find a Saypuri secret agent who’s gone missing in the middle of a mission, but the city of war offers countless threats: not only have the ghosts of her own past battles followed her here, but she soon finds herself wondering what happened to all the souls that were trapped in the afterlife when the Divinities vanished. Do the dead sleep soundly in the land of death? Or do they have plans of their own?*
The Judgment of Gods and Monsters

Title: "The Judgement of Gods and Monsters"

By: Kameron Hurley

Published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #200 - May 2016 - BUT - published via Patreon Jul 28 2015

http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-judgment-of-gods-and-monsters/

*The war is over, and those who collaborated with the enemy to do violence must be hunted down and destroyed. But what happens to those who must do violence to bring the collaborators to justice?*
Iris

Wenn ihr der Junggesellin Iris begegnet, wird sie euch vermutlich zunächst etwas launisch vorkommen. Sie zeigt sich aber sehr interessiert am Geschehen, da die Junggesellin ständig auf der Suche nach neuen Geschichten für ihre Bücher ist. Iris hat bereits einige Bestseller veröffentlicht. Da diese Junggesellin bei Story of Seasons gerne Streiche spielt, kann es sehr amüsant sein, mit ihr Zeit zu verbringen.

**Geburtstag**: 6. Herbst

**Lieblingsgeschenkpapier** (+50 FP): Lila und Schwarz

**Lieblingsoutfits**: schwarzer Arztkittel, elegantes Kleid, Gartenarbeitskleidung, lilanes Tanktop, weiße Jacke, Hexenkleidung

**Lieblingsaccessoires**: schwarzer Cowboyhut, schwarzer Nachrichtenjungemütze, Hüttenlandhut, Cowgirlhut, Dunhills hut, Hexenhut, schwarze Lesebrille, Mononokel, Schmetterlingsbrille, Sonnenbrille

**Lieblingstiere** (+250 FP):

**Absolutes Lieblingsgeschenk** (+1000 FP): Borschtsch

**Lieblingsgeschenk** (+500 FP) **und Geschenke die sie mag** (+300 FP): Hochwertiger Zebu-Fruchtjoghurt Hochwertige lila Alpaka- und Hassen-Kleidung Hochwertiger grüner Zebu-Käse Pinker Diamant Goldene Karotten, Broccoli, Melonen, Zwiebeln, Tomaten usw. Pizza und Quiche Ballons Italienischen, gemischten und Tomatensalat Nudeln Carbonara

**Geschenke die sie nicht mag** (-300 FP) **und Hasst** (-500 FP): Äxte Trompetenpilz-Samen Pilzsalat Fischeiscreme Blaue Honigbiene, Libelle und Marienkäfer Giftpilze Leere Kanne Fischgräten Trüffel Große Schmerle

**Horrorgeschenk** (-800 FP):gegrillte Pilze
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe

Reviews: Publisher's Weekly (starred), Tor.com, The Illustrated Page, All About Books

Word Count: approx. 36,000 words

*Professor Vellitt Boe teaches at the prestigious Ulthar Women’s College, in the heart of the Dreamlands. When one of her most gifted students elopes with a dreamer from the waking world, Vellitt must retrieve her.*

*But the journey sends her across a world ruled by capricious gods and populated by the creatures of dreams and nightmares—and into her own mysterious past, where some secrets were*
never meant to surface…
Galactic Journey: 55 years ago in Science Fact and Fiction -- day by day!

File:Wikia.png
Galactic Journey (http://galacticjourney.org)

Published by Gideon Marcus, et. al., throughout 2016 (posts every 2-3 days)

Imagine living in the post-Golden Age of science fiction and fantasy. What would it be like to actually <i>be</i> there, experiencing life, the movies, the books, the music, day per day?

The Traveler and co. live in 1962, regularly commuting 55 years into the future to write about then-contemporary science fiction and fantasy, particularly fiction found in magazines...including spotlights on the rising cadre of woman writers.  But that's not all there is to life 55 years ago!  So expect to read about the movies, the space shots, the politics, the music, and much more!

There is nothing like the Journey anywhere else in the universe.  Come jump through the portal and see a world you may but dimly remember, or which you may never have seen before, but without which your time could never have been...
Chris McGrath

Chris McGrath

### 2016 work:

Cover for *The Transference Engine* by Julia Verne St. John (DAW Books, July 2016)Cover for *Level Grind: The Twenty-Sided Sorceress: Volume One* by Annie Bellet (Saga Press, October 2016)Cover for *The Bands of Mourning* by Brandon Sanderson (Tor/Gollancz, January 2016)Cover for *Four Roads Cross* by Max Gladstone (Tor Books, July 2016)Cover for *Ghost Talkers* by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books, June 2016)Cover for *The Emperor's Railroad* by Guy Haley (Tor.com, April 2016)
* Cover for *Once Broken Faith* by Seanan McGuire (DAW Books, September 2016)
* Cover for *The Ghoul King* by Guy Haley (Tor.com, July 2016)
* Cover for *The Cold Between* by Elizabeth Bonesteel (Harper Voyager, March 2016)
* Cover for *Remnants of Trust* by Elizabeth Bonesteel (Harper Voyager, November 2016)
* Cover for *Shadowed Souls* edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes (Roc/New American Library, November 2016)
Postcards from Natalie

Postcards from Natalie by Carrie Laben [*The Dark*, July 2016]

Mandy is a teenager leading a lonely life in a small town since her sister Natalie ran off with her boyfriend; postcards arrive from Natalie although their angry mother destroys any she intercepts. Then Natalie reports her boyfriend abandoned her in a park, she joined up with other girls on the road, and her journey gets stranger.
Forest of Memory

Excerpt

Eligibility issue: This is a revised version of an 2014 Audible novelette, and as such its eligibility may depend on the extent of the revisions.

Reviews: Goodreads, Tor.com

Description:

*Katya deals in Authenticities and Captures, trading on nostalgia for a past long gone. Her clients are rich and they demand items and experiences with only the finest verifiable provenance. Other people’s lives have value, after all.

But when her A.I. suddenly stops whispering in her ear she finds herself cut off from the grid and loses communication with the rest of the world.

The man who stepped out of the trees while hunting deer cut her off from the cloud, took her A.I. and made her his unwilling guest.

There are no Authenticities or Captures to prove Katya’s story of what happened in the forest. You’ll just have to believe her…*
Rain

RAIN is a 23-minute original short fan film created by Maya Glick, directed by Zane Rutledge and Jeff Stolhand, and produced by Matt Joyce. Inspired by the “punk” incarnation of the Marvel superhero Storm of the X-Men.

Influenced by the more dystopian stories of the X-Men franchise as well as the seminal comic LifeDeath by Chris Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith, this original story takes a broken mutant hero “Rain” from the lowest depths of despair into the darker recesses of her own shattered memory. If she is to survive, she must discover a new identity and somehow rediscover her lost power.

RAIN — an independent fan film