We haven't settled on a title for the anthology we are developing here at the Herscher Project, but Premonitions will certainly do for a working title. The anthology will feature stories and poems of mankind's future: dark dystopia... environmental bankruptcy... impending apocalypse... doom, gloom, and disaster... with a few scattered candles of flickering hope.
We've selected some "classics" from the Herscher Project's vault, sprinkled in some new material, and have opened the doors and given a shout out to our members for more new material. To reach our target for the anthology's length, though, we will be inviting some carefully-chosen non-tHP-members to join us!
A few selections that have been decided on are:
"Remnant" by Chris Heisserer,
"A Morning with Toireasa Cass" by Miriam Plachta,
"The Sacred World" by Louise Hughes,
"LifeCycle" by Jess Hyslop,
"Cloud of Witnesses" by Peter Blair,
"I Walk..." by Matthew Summers,
"Prometheus Rebound" by Steve Doyle,
"Fields of Blood" by Deb Smith,
"Domicile 4.5" by Matthew Williams,
"Up From Below" by Jamie A Hughes,
"In The Light" by Neil Foster,
"Aftermath" by Jim Bowers,
"Wave Goodbye" by Chris A Jackson, and
"One Day We Shall Be Gone" by Saana Tykkä
For authors interested in joining in on this adventure, a January 1, 2012 deadline for submissions has been set. Questions may be addressed to herscherproject[at]gmail[dot]com.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Jessica Bell's "String Bridge" book trailer
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4538875.Jessica_Bell
Friday, May 20, 2011
The Uncanny Valley of Faerie
I am still tantrumming.
I recently finished a couple of Tam Lin-inspired books sent to me by a friend, one of which was very good, technically speaking, the other probably self-published or put before a very apathetic editor. Both, however, drove me up the wall due to mixing 1) Scottish balladry 2) English scenery and 3) North American wildlife.
The first two an are insulting combination to the British reader, yet tolerable since the ballad did indeed make it down to England, with Janet tamed and renamed Margaret and the fairies' teeth drawn to make it more palettable to the Sassenach. The third kept throwing me out of the story like a kid from a car crash. Which set me wondering - at what point does fantastic ecology become jarring?
My thought was that an 'uncanny valley' exists for fantasy settings as much as in more acute/visual media. A completely alien ecology that still has human(oid)s wandering around is easy to swallow, likewise a clearly well-researched, fact-based alternate history setting...yet somewhere nearer the latter there's a deep well of wrongness, where bears and hummingbirds roam mediaeval Scotengireland and the desert folk are mysteriously white...where's the line? What would make you go "gah, no wizard could do that," and set the book aside, unsettled? Are there other corners of setting, character or culture that are subject to this effect?
Thoughts, anyone?
I recently finished a couple of Tam Lin-inspired books sent to me by a friend, one of which was very good, technically speaking, the other probably self-published or put before a very apathetic editor. Both, however, drove me up the wall due to mixing 1) Scottish balladry 2) English scenery and 3) North American wildlife.
The first two an are insulting combination to the British reader, yet tolerable since the ballad did indeed make it down to England, with Janet tamed and renamed Margaret and the fairies' teeth drawn to make it more palettable to the Sassenach. The third kept throwing me out of the story like a kid from a car crash. Which set me wondering - at what point does fantastic ecology become jarring?
My thought was that an 'uncanny valley' exists for fantasy settings as much as in more acute/visual media. A completely alien ecology that still has human(oid)s wandering around is easy to swallow, likewise a clearly well-researched, fact-based alternate history setting...yet somewhere nearer the latter there's a deep well of wrongness, where bears and hummingbirds roam mediaeval Scotengireland and the desert folk are mysteriously white...where's the line? What would make you go "gah, no wizard could do that," and set the book aside, unsettled? Are there other corners of setting, character or culture that are subject to this effect?
Thoughts, anyone?
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Writing and the Internet
Patricia C Wrede's observations regarding Internet pros and cons are words of wisdom worth reading, contemplating, and putting into practice. She touches on some advantageous aspects of the Internet as well as a few treacherous pitfalls.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
News from Chris A Jackson
On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 10:56 AM, Chris A Jackson wrote:
Hey all,
Well, the computer is recovered from the crash, and I'm up and running!
Jundag, Book 3 of The Cornerstones Trilogy, is up on Amazon, so you can finally fulfill your fix and get the final book in the series. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Jundag-Cornerstones-Trilogy-Chris-Jackson/dp/1439229597
Also, Scimitar's Heir, book 3 in the series of Scimitar Seas novels is in the final edit stages, way ahead of schedule. We will be back in the states for Gen Con in August, for the release of the "Hero Comes Home" anthology, edited by Gabriel Harbowy, my DMP editor, and Ed Greenwood, creator of The Forgotten Realms! We will, of course, also be doing Dragon Con again, where Scimitar's Heir will be released.
Also, Scimitar Sun is a finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year award this year. WOOT! Wish me luck!
Big year! Here it comes!
Thank you all!
Chris
Hey all,
Well, the computer is recovered from the crash, and I'm up and running!
Jundag, Book 3 of The Cornerstones Trilogy, is up on Amazon, so you can finally fulfill your fix and get the final book in the series. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Jundag-Cornerstones-Trilogy-Chris-Jackson/dp/1439229597
Also, Scimitar's Heir, book 3 in the series of Scimitar Seas novels is in the final edit stages, way ahead of schedule. We will be back in the states for Gen Con in August, for the release of the "Hero Comes Home" anthology, edited by Gabriel Harbowy, my DMP editor, and Ed Greenwood, creator of The Forgotten Realms! We will, of course, also be doing Dragon Con again, where Scimitar's Heir will be released.
Also, Scimitar Sun is a finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year award this year. WOOT! Wish me luck!
Big year! Here it comes!
Thank you all!
Chris
Friday, March 18, 2011
Blogs (and other such nonsense)
The world has transformed into a morass of blogs, tweets, and social networking.
I'm not certain that this phenomenon is a bad thing, but I do harbor some concern that it indicates a growing cultural inability to sustain coherent thought for more than a couple hundred words at a time... Is this the onset of LADD (Literary Attention Deficit Disorder)?
So, risking the possibility I may fall victim to LADD, I sit down to compose a blog post in the tried and true hunt-and-peck style. I pause to ponder, and come to the conclusion that whatever I write certainly will be lost among these billions upon billions of words that don't really exist, but appear as if by magic through the technology of the Internet. Perhaps I should be grateful of that, for I also realize I have little talent at stringing together these short streams of wit. Each time I've made an earnest effort at writing a few words of merit to post in a blog, the attempt seems to end as either a failure or a dismal failure.
Ah well, c'est la vie...
I'm not certain that this phenomenon is a bad thing, but I do harbor some concern that it indicates a growing cultural inability to sustain coherent thought for more than a couple hundred words at a time... Is this the onset of LADD (Literary Attention Deficit Disorder)?
So, risking the possibility I may fall victim to LADD, I sit down to compose a blog post in the tried and true hunt-and-peck style. I pause to ponder, and come to the conclusion that whatever I write certainly will be lost among these billions upon billions of words that don't really exist, but appear as if by magic through the technology of the Internet. Perhaps I should be grateful of that, for I also realize I have little talent at stringing together these short streams of wit. Each time I've made an earnest effort at writing a few words of merit to post in a blog, the attempt seems to end as either a failure or a dismal failure.
Ah well, c'est la vie...
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
tHP's Visitors
