In which nice things are said by Sam Tomaino about Abyss & Apex #33 (Q1 2010) at SFRevu, including a snippet about my story:

Tony Pi's "Night of the Manticore" is set during "the Ides of Quintile, in the Seventh Year of the Reign of King Edmund V of Lyonesse". It is a world alike but also different from our own, in which goddesses are worshiped and their equivalent of prehistoric beasts are Leolithic Wonders like a Manticore, a Griffin, a Mer-Lion or a Gynosphinx. The guests of honor at the Grand Exhibition are Professor Tremaine Voss, Chief Curator of Aigyptian Magic at le Musée d’Ys and his son, Ellery, who has sculpted marvelous statues of these beasts. Also, at the exhibition is the professor's rival, Hector Mason, who has brought something to upstage Voss. Pi tells a marvelous story here that I enjoyed thoroughly.

In other news, I just finished revisions on "The Gold Silkworm" after helpful comments from the Stop-Watch Gang. Mike Rimar's wizard story was the funniest during the crit session, and I hope it sells somewhere soon.

My novelette, "Night of the Manticore", is live at the newest issue of Abyss & Apex (#33, Q1 2010). It's a stand-alone sequel to "Sphinx!" in AGES OF WONDER [B&N].

Abyss & Apex has accepted my novelette "Night of the Manticore" for their Q1, 2010 issue! This story is a sequel to "Sphinx!" in Ages of Wonder.

John Joseph Adams was on THE HOUR OF THE WOLF on WBAI in New York today (see his blog for complete details). What's gotten me all excited is that they chose my story, "Dynamics of a Hanging", from the audiobook version of The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes for broadcast. You can hear the whole show, including the interview with John and my story, here.

A few things of potential interest:

The Dragon and the Stars

The Dragon and the Stars anthology from DAW now has cover art! It will be released on May 10, 2010. This is an anthology of Chinese-themed stories by Chinese authors living outside of China. I'm really looking forward to it.



Alembical II

This novella anthology from Paper Golem will also be published later this year. I'll be appearing with two other great writers (all of us are former Writers of the Future winners.) The Table of Contents (in no particular order) is:

• "Iron Shoes", J. Kathleen Cheney
  
• "Second Chance", David Levine
  
• "The Paragon Lure", Tony Pi
  

2010 Prix Aurora Awards

The nominations for the 2010 Prix Aurora Awards are open until February 5, 2010. You may nominate if you are Canadian, and there is no cost to do so. The ballot is here. My short story "Sphinx!", published in the DAW anthology Ages of Wonder, is eligible in the "Best Short-Form Work in English" category. (Other eligible works in the same category include "Come-From-Aways", in On Spec 76, and "Silk and Shadow", at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.) If you would like any copies for your consideration, please email me at wistling @ gmail.com. The full list of eligible works for all categories is available at the Canadian SF Works Database.

I didn't get around to posting a year's end summary for 2008 until the first day of 2009, so I'm going to post early this time like I did in 2007, partly in hopes that it will help me figure out my 2010 resolutions (in a later post).

New stories published in 2009: 6

• "The Shadow-Witch", Cinema Spec, Raven Electrick Ink (print, short story/fantasy)
  
• "Come-From-Aways", On Spec #76 (print & PDF, short story/science fiction)
  
• "Stilts and Straw", Flashing Swords #12 (print, short story/fantasy)
  
• "Sphinx!", Ages of Wonder, DAW Books (print, short story/fantasy)
  
• "Tekkai Exhales His Avatar", Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show #11 (online, short story/science fiction)
  
• "Silk and Shadow", Beneath Ceaseless Skies #11 (2009, online, short story/fantasy)
  

Reprints published in 2009: 2

• "Metamorphoses in Amber", The Best of Abyss & Apex, Vol. 1, Hadley Rille Books (print, novelette/fantasy)
  
• "Dynamics of a Hanging", The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Night Shade Books (print & online, short story/mystery)
  

To be published in 2010: 3

• "The Character of the Hound", The Dragon and the Stars, DAW (TBD, print, short story/fantasy)
  
• "The Paragon Lure", Alembical II, Paper Golem LLC (TBD, print, novella/fantasy)
  
• "Cygnet's Shadow", On Spec (TBD, short story/print)
  

Awaiting editorial response: 3

• "Night of the Manticore" (novelette/fantasy)
  
• "The Curse of Chimere" (short story/fantasy)
  
• "The Spirit of Wine" (short story/fantasy)
  

In the hands of my writer's group: 1

• "Stilts and Sorcery" (short story/fantasy)
  

Firsts

• nominated for the 2009 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
  
• attended my first WorldCon
  
• started a a neo-pro writer's group in Toronto (the Stop-Watch Gang)
  
• third pro sale, qualifying me for full membership in the SFWA
  
• about to join Crime Writers of Canada
  

Plus a handful of works-in-progress. Overall, a great year! I hope it finishes on a high note.

At the end of a night of insomnia, a cheery mention in Rich Horton's Year End Summary 2009 for On Spec here:

My favorite story this year was Tony Pi's "Come-From-Aways" (Spring), about a linguistics professor in Newfoundland who risks her career when she decides that a strange shipwrecked man is really the [12th Century] Welsh Prince Madoc.

In other news...completed a draft of "Stilts and Sorcery" yesterday (fun!) It's now off to the First Reader and the Stopwatch Gang for critique. Can't wait to see what the writing group makes of this one. :)

And does anyone know why I can't find any chamomile tea anywhere in Toronto? Is there a shortage?

My Toronto writer's group finally has a name (after months of debate)...The Stopwatch Gang (because we use one). Members currently consist of me, Stephen Kotowych, Mike Rimar, Ian Keeling, Costi Gurgu, Brad Carson, and Derwin Mak. Just back from a great meeting, but I better get my new story in shape for the next meeting!

Lots to do before WorldCon at work and home, including last minute travel arrangements if VIA Rail goes on strike, so just a quick post for now. I'm steaming along on revisions for the Alembical 2 story, plotting a story for an anthology invite, and a sequel to The Character of the Hound. Unfortunately I cannot participate in the CityChase as I originally hoped due to a wedding invitation on the same day. There's another review in Locus of On Spec #76:

The Spring On Spec has finally arrived, with nice pieces from Jack Skillingstead and Tony Pi...Pi's "Come-From-Aways" is about a linguistics professor in Newfoundland who risks her career - and eventually much more - when she decides that a strange shipwrecked man is really the 11th century Welsh Prince Madoc. - Rich Horton

Another review - this time from Gareth D. Jones at SF Crowsnest:

'Come-From-Aways' is an enjoyable yarn by Tony Pi in which a Viking long-boat washes up in Newfoundland and a forensic linguist tries to identify the origins of the only survivor on board. The insight into linguistics and the glimpses of local history and culture are fascinating. Is the mariner a prankster or has he really travelled through time? As the story develops and with it the possibilities that the voyager's arrival suggests, the story takes on a marvellous spirit of adventure culminating in an endearing and satisfying conclusion.

A review of Ages of Wonder, this time from Nader Elhefnawy at Strange Horizons. It's a great review of the anthology, and it had a few nice things to say about my story (among others):

...two of the stories—Jana Paniccia's "A Swift Change of Course" (a Japanese-influenced tale in the "Age of Sail" set) and Tony Pi's "Sphinx!" (which takes place in a city somewhat reminiscent of early twentieth century Paris)—develop fully separate alternative worlds that were simply inspired by those milieus...some add an element of fantasy to other well-defined genres—the Western in Linda A.B. Davis's "Pony Up," the archaeological horror-mystery story in Pi's "Sphinx!" and hard-boiled crime in Queenie Tirone's "A Bird in the Hand." Pi and Tirone in particular offer more than an easy tweaking of well-known conventions, Pi providing some of the most impressive world-creation in the volume...

On a different front, I'm heading to Las Vegas at some point this summer for rest and relaxation (plus novel research). Anything I shouldn't miss while there?

Whoa, it was thunderstorm-black outside and still pouring rain, so I'm having lunch inside.

"The Character of the Hound" is done at 5,700 words and sent off to the Chinese theme anthology. Feedback from Codex and a few friends was positive and useful, so I'm hopeful the editors will like this one. The milieu (war-torn 12th century China; alternate history with magic) seems like a good series setting, and I've got lots of ideas already for other stories. Doing more research now.

ETA: Almost forgot...Gardner Dozois' review of Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show #11 in the June Locus says:

Also interesting in March is Tony Pi's "Tekkai Exhales His Avatar", where virtual entities maneuver and fight and double-cross each other through a game world influenced by Far Eastern metaphysics.

(The others mentioned that issue were Peter S. Beagle and Rebecca Day.)

I mentioned a while back that I was invited to speak to the students in the Science Fiction class at the English Department at the University of Toronto, and it was this afternoon. The class had read and discussed "The Stone Cipher", and I filled them in on the Writers of the Future Contest, how I came to submit to them, and the origins of the story. There was actually a very lively Q&A period, where they wanted to know things like the origins of the names, what would happen if I were to write another scene past where I stopped, how my own experiences fed into the story, and so forth. It was quite an enjoyable experience.

One thing I didn't prepare, though, was a list of my top ten authors and novels (I named a few I really enjoyed, but I haven't ranked them in a while -- reading preferences change over time too), but I promised to email the professor a copy. Maybe I'll stick to just SF authors for this, and do a separate fantasy list.

My scavenger hunt with Stephen Kotowych and Leah Bobet last weekend went well - although we only came in second. We were so close! I have gained new respect for cryptographers after solving all those codes. Leah's an ace now at the Enigma cipher.

I'm hard at work on the Chinese anthology story, which I'm now calling "The Character of the Hound". Everything's coming together, but I only have 20 days to the deadline to finish it. The hard part was all the research, but I'm brushing up on my Chinese reading ability as I go. Parts of it will be experimental, so I hope it all hangs together in the end. Guess what I'll be doing for the next two weeks! :)

My apologies for not blogging much of late - it's been insanely busy around here. I had meant to rave about the new Star Trek film - I particularly loved the new Scotty and Chekov, and think the franchise has regained much of its energy because of this reimagining. I can't wait for the sequel.

There was also an attempt at gardening, although I'm not much of a green thumb - my goal this year's to get sunflowers growing, but squirrels dug up almost all my mammoth sunflower seeds. I'm trying to get the mammoths growing indoors to avoid fattening the squirrels again. I did manage to get a different cultivar (with red flowers) going outside, but only four sprouted, and one withered recently. I'll keep at it, I guess.

A couple weekends ago, Cost Gurgu and I got together with Stephen Kotowych, Brad Carson, Eric Choi, and Derwin Mak to form a Toronto critique group; Leah Bobet was out of town and couldn't make it. We came to an agreement about what we wanted to do with the group, set down some rules, but we couldn't come up with a name. The best we could do was 'The Muse Isn't Coming'. I'm hoping we'll find a better one!

A few reviews surfaced recently. Rich Horton said in the May issue of Locus:

The nominations for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer have just been announced, and there are fine stories by four of the nominated writers on hand this month...

Tony Pi's "Silk and Shadow" (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 2/26) is a fine romantic fantasy, about Dominin, who has at last prevailed in battle against the Stormlord who killed his father. That victory came at a price: a deal with the notoriously treacherous witch Anansya. Dominin has also fallen in love with Anansya's apprentice, and that may make the eventual price even higher. All is resolved imaginatively in a well-enacted magical puppet show.

This story is in the Beneath Ceaseless Skies Reader Poll to choose a recent story for release as a _BCS_ Audio Fiction podcast. I'd love to hear it in audio! ;)

Another story, "Sphinx!" in Ages of Wonder was reviewed in Fantasy Book Critic:

Tony Pi, recently nominated for "The John W. Campbell Award” for best new writer, managed to catch me for good with his text "Sphinx!". In a Modern Period in which the Sphinxes and other hybrid fantasy figures have disappeared for centuries, fate still holds a major surprise for the heroes of our story. I liked the interesting combination of the Sphinx magic with the power of the riddles.

(FBC) Funny and thoroughly enjoyable

Finally, Cinema Spec is months ahead of its publication schedule, and is available for purchase already!

CINEMA SPEC: Tales of Hollywood and Fantasy views moving pictures in all their forms, real and imaginary, from shadow plays to classic films, from videocassettes to animated tattoos. 32 authors have contributed flash fiction, short stories, and poetry to the anthology, transporting readers back to a time when flames flickered and paintings waltzed on cave walls, and forward to possible futures when the heavens themselves might serve as vidscreens. Along the way, the anthology makes multiple stops in Hollywood, the one we know and the one that could never exist, from 30s noir to extraterrestrial infiltration, from a magical "gangland" to destruction after "the big one." Contributors include Greg Beatty, Ruth Berman, Robert Borski, Justin Howe, Vylar Kaftan, Deborah P Kolodji, Simon Logan, Lisa Morton, Gregory L. Norris, Tony Pi, and many others.

On Saturday and Sunday, I'll be hosting author readings at Hart House for Lit City and Doors Open, a City of Toronto event. Please come see beautiful Hart House at the University of Toronto and stay for fiction and poetry readings about Toronto.

University of Toronto – Hart House
7 Hart House Circle

Saturday, May 23, 2 – 2:30 p.m.
Jack McLeod reads from Uproar (fiction). With the University of Toronto as a backdrop, this novel entertains while grappling with ideas and social issues.

Sunday, May 24, 2 – 2:30 p.m.
Maureen Hynes reads from Harm’s Way (poetry). These poems map Toronto in concentric circles of personal, historical and political reflections.

Sunday, May 24, 2:30 – 3 p.m.
Susan Helwig reads from Pink Purse Girl and Catch the Sweet (poetry). The life of a poet in Toronto is captured in these evocative poems.

Here's a better picture and a full list of contributors.

Coming September 2009

The game is afoot! Night Shade Books is proud to present the improbable
adventures of the world's greatest detective... mystery, fantasy, science
fiction, horror; no genre can escape the esteemed detective's needle-sharp
intellect and intuition.

This reprint anthology showcases the best Holmes short fiction from the last
25 years, featuring stories by:

Stephen King	Tim Lebbon	Anne Perry
Bradley H. Sinor	Edward D. Hoch	Vonda N. McIntyre
Darrell Schweitzer	Mary Robinette Kowal	H. Paul Jeffers
Barbara Roden	Anthony Burgess	Stephen Baxter
Laurie R. King	Geoffrey A. Landis	Amy Myers
Peter Tremayne	Sharyn McCrumb	Michael Moorcock
Dominic Green	Barbara Hambly	Tony Pi
Chris Roberson	Naomi Novik	Rob Rogers
Mark Valentine	Tanith Lee	Neil Gaiman
Robert J. Sawyer

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
John Joseph Adams
978-1-59780-160-7
September 2009

TP - 350 pages - $15.95

The first short story I ever sold was actually a mystery, "Dynamics of a Hanging", to a mystery e-zine called Shred of Evidence in 2005. I'm thrilled to announce that it will be reappearing in John Joseph Adams' reprint anthology, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [Amazon] in September 2009, in a sleeker reimagining of the original version.

The story's about Doctor Watson, Lewis Carroll, Professor Moriarty, and a young medical student named Arthur Doyle. Improbable? Yes!

Just look at the incredible line-up:

The game is afoot! Night Shade Books is proud to present the improbable adventures of the world's greatest detective - mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror, no genre can escape the esteemed detective's needle-sharp intellect and intuition. This reprint anthology showcases the best Holmes short fiction from the last 25 years, featuring stories by such visionaries as Stephen King, Robert J. Sawyer, Michael Moorcock, Tim Lebbon, Sharyn McCrumb, Stephen Baxter, Naomi Novik, Barbara Hambly, Anne Perry, Tanith Lee, and many more.

The volume will also include a story by Mary Robinette Kowal.

I'm really looking forward to this!

Writing and Day Job collide: one of the professors at the Cinema Studies Institute at Innis College, University of Toronto has written an article about me here.

I attended a Crime Writers of Canada event last night, where four authors debated the existence of muses. My favourite metaphor out of that discussion was that a muse was like a compost heap. Pile on the garbage and let it sit. Most of it might stink at first, but eventually it'll turn into sweet earth, and letting things grow from it.

The 2009 Hugo Voters Packet is ready, thanks to John Scalzi. Sign up to be a member of Anticipation for US$50 or CAN$55, you get electronic editions of several novels and many of the nominees for the Hugo and Campbell Awards, and the ability to vote for your favourites.

Mary Robinette Kowal has finished posting all 5 Campbell Award nominee interviews. My fellow nominees are wicked cool, and it's an honour to be named among them.

Huge congrats to David Anthony Durham for his induction into the Wild Cards circle...one of my all-time favourite series. He has also posted his own articles on fellow Campbell nominees - me, Gord Sellar, and Aliette de Bodard.

Two releases today and a review...

First up is The Best of Abyss & Apex, Volume One, edited by Wendy S. Delmater and published by Hadley Rille Books. It includes my Aurora-nominated long novelette, "Metamorphoses in Amber", and many other great reprints from my distinguished fellow authors, like dwarzel's excellent "Wikihistory". More info is here.



( TOC )

Next up is On Spec #76, Spring 2009, which contains my short story, "Come-From-Aways", set in Newfoundland.



( TOC )

Finally, a good review of Ages of Wonder, edited by Julie E. Czerneda and Rob St. Martin.



Rich Horton was pleased with the anthology in his review in Locus Magazine (April 2009), focusing on my short story "Sphinx!" and Liz Holliday's "Fletcher's Ghost". Here's what he said about my story:

In Ages of Wonder, Tony Pi's "Sphinx!" is a delight, set in a quite alternate history, in which the land of Ys is threatened by a sphinx that a film maker has apparently revived for a new movie. But other things are going on - most notably, perhaps, the jealousy of the movie's director about his young wife, the movie's star.

Try them all!

ETA: link to A&A write-up