Best American Fantasy Headed to Underland

I’d been meaning to post something about the recent reminder (after February’s initial announcement) that the Best American Fantasy anthology series was moving from Prime Books to Underland Press, and that stewardship of the anthologies is shifting from Matthew Cheney, the creator of The Mumpsimus, to Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. But, while I was dithering, Tor.com covered all the basics on that deal, so my best option is probably just to steer you all there and then underscore how excited I am to read the stories that Kevin Brockmeier has picked for Real Unreal: BAF3, including works that originally appeared in traditionally “literary” venues like One Story, The Kenyon Review, and Tin House—as well as two stories from Dave Daley’s excellent FiveChapters.com website: Paul Tremblay’s “The Two-Headed Girl” and Ryan Boudinot’s “Cardiology.”

Now, granted, I’m prejudiced in favor of all the parties involved, but I’m still quite confident in asserting that this is going to be fun, and I can hardly wait.

31 August 2009 | read this |

Lady Jane’s Salon: Leanna Renee Hieber

Next Monday, September 7, will bring a special installment of Lady Jane’s Salon, the monthly romance reading series I’ve been hosting since last February. We’ll be celebrating the publication of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, the debut novel from Salon co-founder Leanna Renee Hieber. We’ve been looking forward to this party for a long time, and Leanna has all sorts of plans to make it a memorable occasion—so you might come join us at Madame X (94 W. Houston St.) from 7 p.m. onward.

And here, courtesy of the new Lady Jane’s Salon Book Club from RomanceNovel.tv, is Leanna herself, talking about the historical research that went into her magickal Victorian romance tale…

Isabo Kelly, a friend of the Salon from the beginning, will also be reading from her work this evening. So come cap off your Labor Day weekend with a fantastic book party!

30 August 2009 | lady jane's salon |