Thursday, July 28, 2011

The China Issue (Asian Cha)

China: a large country in East Asia. One of the world's oldest civilizations. An emerging superpower. A country in a state of transformation...

Asian Cha now devoted a theme issue to capturing a sense of this complexity, to provide a view of what a few people, both Chinese and non-Chinese, think of this multi-faceted and remarkable country at this fascinating juncture in history: The China Issue.

"In these works, you will see a handful of microscope slides, cross-sections of the contemporary Middle Kingdom, which when read together will hopefully provide a glimpse of the whole."

The issue includes a rich and varied range of formats: Poetry and Poetry in translation, Fiction and Fiction in translation, Creative non-fiction, Art and art criticism, and an interview with Pallavi Aiyar, author of "Chinese Whiskers". And: a fine selection of book reviews, which for this issue are all related to China. The list of contributors is online at Cha, it reaches from Ai Weiwei to Zhen Lianjie.

Editorial
Two thoughtful editorials form the starting point to the issue: "The Chinese Curse" by guest editor Mai Mang, and "China: What it is, what it could be" by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming, who writes: "It is exactly because the country has become more confident and influential globally that we are interested in publishing a special issue of Cha devoted to the social, political and cultural forces that are shaping the nation. It is not an exaggeration to think that the once self-proclaimed "Middle Kingdom" is now coming back apt as ever as a metaphor to describe its current self-identified position in relation to the rest of the world. China is what it is or perhaps more accurately it is a near infinity of realities and possibilities."

A note: the Cha website is currently experiencing technical difficulties. You can also find an introduction to the issue + the editorials in the Cha blog.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Ayiti - Roxane Gay (Artistically Declined)

The debut collection from the vibrant voice of Roxane Gay is a unique blend of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, all interwoven to represent the Haitian diaspora experience. Official release date of Ayiti is October 11. Pre-Orders will ship on or before the release date.

Roxane Gay is the co-editor of PANK, and assistant professor of English at Eastern Illinois University. Her story "Do You Have a Place for Me" was shortlisted in the Million Writers Award Top Ten List 2011. For a story from her about Haitia, visit "Things I Know About Fairy Tales" at Necessary Fiction.

About Artistically Declined Press
Artistically Declined Press is devoted to the pairing of fantastic writing with great design, creating complete works of art. The press publishes books of fiction and poetry, the literary journal Sententia, and ADP.PDF's, a series of free ebooks, and is run by Ryan W. Bradley, who writes and lives in Oregon with his wife and two sons.

Roxane Gay: Ayiti
collection, $9

Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Found Poetry Review #1: Summer 2011

The Found Poetry Review is a quarterly online poetry journal celebrating the poetry in the existing and the everyday. We publish found poetry, centos, erasure poems and other forms that incorporate elements of existing texts.

The first issue features found poetry by Christine Pacyk, Howie Good, Jill Crammond, Johnny Chinnici, Christina Burress, Jeanne Shannon, Mark Blaeuer, Clare Kirwan, Andrea J. Dickens, Claire Ferris, Jennifer Saunders, Guy Torrey and Ed Higgins.

The website also includes commonly accepted definitions of found poetry, links to examples of found poetry hosted elsewhere on the web, and guidelines to the fair use of existing texts, more here: About Found Poetry.

Submissions
The Found Poetry Review is accepting found poetry submissions through September 30, 2011, for its Fall 2011 issue. Guidelines: "Give us your poems made up of lines from newspaper articles, instruction booklets, dictionaries, toothpaste boxes, biographies, Craigslist posts, speeches, other poems and any other text-based source. Only found poems will be considered for publication; original poems, regardless of quality, will not be accepted."

related links: first issuespoetry, experimental

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Nightfish - Kristine Ong Muslim (Shoe Music)

Nightfish is a collection by the accomplished author Kristine Ong Muslim. Her poems explore the existence possible in between the realities of times: past, present, future, and between solid form and phantoms.

Kristine Ong Muslim has short fiction and poetry accepted in over five hundred publications. Her work received several Honorable Mentions in Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. She also garnered five nominations for the Pushcart Prize and four nominations for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling Award. Most recently, she was twice nominated for inclusion in Best of the Web 2011.

About Shoe Music Press
Shoe Music Press is a publisher of poetry and art through their serial publications Mastodon Dentist, Penny Ante Feud and Nefarious Ballerina, as well as full and chapbook-length book titles from new and established writers alike: "Through our numerous faces we offer a fresh yet experienced voice in the small press, without forgetting the community of writers and artists we belong to."

Kristine Ong Muslim: Nightfish
14 pages, $4

related links: poetryblueprintreview contributor

Monday, July 11, 2011

Lily. A monthly Online Literary Review, returned.

Lily was created in late 2003 by Susan Culver as a way to share the beauty of poetry, fiction and photography in a free and easily accessible way. Over the next four years, Lily was published monthly online - offering the creative work of newcomers and veterans alike.

In those four years, Lily published interviews with, and work by, writers such as Pushcart Prize winner, Beth Ann Fennelly; National Book Award nominee, Alicia Ostriker; Pulitzer Prize poets, Paul Muldoon and Claudia Emerson; and former U.S. Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser. Conversely, Lily has also been the first publication credit for a number of emerging poets and writers.

After a three and a half year hiatus, Lily has returned with a renewed energy and the hope of once again sharing the beauty of words and images.

You can read the new issues here: Lily Volume 5:
- Issue 1: May
- Issue 2: June (includes an interview with poet+editor Parneshia Jones)
Issue 3: July (with Sherry O'Keefe and Lisa Zaran)

About Lily:
Lily is edited by Susan Culver and Indigo Moor. Their mission: "We believe that art can originate anywhere and responds favorably to quality writing that shows us the world in a new way. We are moved by photography that captures the unconventional angle or recognizes everyday moments that shouldn't be overlooked."

Monday, July 04, 2011

The Life Cycle of Software Objects - Ted Chiang (Subterranean)

Locus online, the Magazine of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Field, announced the 2011 Locus Awards Winners. For the Category "Best Novella", the winner is "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" by Ted Chiang, pulished by Subterranean Press.

Ted Chiang is a science fiction short story writer. In his novella The Life Cycle of Software Objects, he takes a fresh approach to the development of artificial intelligence: "Chiang's novella--the second piece he's ever published that's long enough to stand on its own, following the 2007 Hugo- and Nebula-winning "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate"--is a welcome surprise: a triumphant combination of the rigorous extrapolation of artificial intelligence and artificial life, two of the high concepts of contemporary SF, with an exploration of its consequences for the ordinary people whose lives it derails." - Publisher's Weekly

The novella is available as book, and is also inlcuded in the Fall issue of Subterranen Magazine online: The Life Cycle of Software Objects.

You can read an unusual interview with Ted Chiang at BoingBoing, where he talks about science fiction, philosophy, religion, and technology - here's a taste: "Science fiction is very well suited to asking philosophical questions; questions about the nature of reality, what it means to be human, how do we know the things that we think we know". Link: Ted Chiang on Writing

Locus Awards 2011
The winners of the other categories are listed on the Locus Awards Page 2011, here some of the winners:
- Best Science Fiction Novel: "Blackout/All Clear" by Connie Willis
- Best Fantasy Novel: "Kraken" by China MiƩville
- Best first novel: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin

related links: time + space, novels + novellas, prize winners