Kit Whitfield’s In Great Waters is a truly unusual book. It’s hard to describe—it’s an alternate history where there are merpeople and that has changed everything. The merpeople—or “deepsman” to give them their proper name—are like a missing link between people and dolphins. They only need to surface to breathe every thirty minutes or so. They have tails. They are immensely strong. They have language but they are sub-sapient, they’re at a very interesting cusp of alien that we don’t see explored very much. They can cross-breed with humanity, and we first see them through the eyes of Henry, who is a cross-breed, or “bastard.” He has a bifurcated tail and can only stay underwater for fifteen minutes, but he can lie and say a shark is coming when he’s being bullied by the other children. It’s a lie that always works, and it works on the adults too. Henry has more cunning than the rest of his tribe but has less strength and power. Then he comes out of the water and begins to discover the world of landsmen and how he can relate to them. We discover it all with him, how similar and how different that world is from our history, what a difference the deepsmen have made.
May 22, 2013
Super Bass
Is Gian’s love for the Summer King stronger than his hate?
May 15, 2013
The Button Man and the Murder Tree
An all-new Wild Cards story
May 14, 2013
Shall We Gather
When one world brushes another, asking the right question can be magic…
May 8, 2013
Fire Above, Fire Below
The dragon below our city has died. What is to be done?
Mar 11 2013 9:00am
Sep 27 2012 11:30am
Enjoy this original comic by cartoonist and author Mark Siegel, who's first graphic novel Sailor Twain, or The Mermaid in the Hudson comes out next Tuesday, October 2nd, from First Second Books.
In “Steamboat Willy,” a lovesick sailor requests divine help in showing his affection to a beautiful mermaid. What the sailor receives is... exactly what he asked for.
(Note: Mermaid nudity ahead! Mildly NSFW.)
Aug 16 2012 3:00pm
I started working on Sailor Twain in my mid-thirties. This is a peculiar time in a man’s years, the summer of life. By then some inhibitions have dropped off, the anxieties and contradictions of the spring-chicken-days have quieted, and a man’s sense of himself and his power changes. A strident but dispersed potency gives way to a more focused, laser-like intention, sometimes. It’s also a time when mermaids sing.
Aug 15 2012 2:00pm
In honor of Sea Monster Week we bring you this 14-page excerpt from the upcoming graphic novel Sailor Twain, out on October 2nd from First Second.
One hundred years ago. On the foggy Hudson River, a riverboat captain rescues an injured mermaid from the waters of the busiest port in the United States. A wildly popular—and notoriously reclusive—author makes a public debut. A French nobleman seeks a remedy for a curse. As three lives twine together and race to an unexpected collision, the mystery of the Mermaid of the Hudson deepens.
Aug 15 2012 12:00pm
In honor of Sea Monster Week and the impending release of Mark Siegel’s mermaid-centric graphic novel, Sailor Twain, (look for a sneak peek of it later today) the author is sharing some of his favorite mermaids with you! Take it away, Mark:
Jun 21 2012 5:00pm
There are days when I despair with regards to the increasing predictability of the paranormal YA genre. Girl meets Boy, Girl discovers Boy is really some sort of mysterious supernatural being, Girl falls in love with Boy, Girl discovers her own secret past/hidden powers/true destiny, Girl and Boy fight Evil, Girl and Boy have adventures and misunderstandings before overcoming Problem of the Moment and setting the stage for Book Two of YA Paranormal Romance Series #332.
I know, there are still a lot of exceptions, and to be fair, every series has something to set it apart from its fellows. But when you’re calculating the difference by what flavor of supernatural beastie the hero is, something needs to change. What I found in Of Poseidon was a promising book with a few flaws, that doesn’t quite manage to escape the template mentioned above. But this one, you see, has mermaids. So let’s dive right in.
Nov 10 2011 1:00pm
In Wet Magic, Nesbit temporarily abandoned her usual practice of allowing children to interact with magic while remaining in their own worlds — or at the least, magical worlds they had created, instead taking them to a strange new fairyland beneath the sea. (And if this reminds you of L. Frank Baum’s The Sea Fairies, which had come out two years earlier in the United States, you are not alone.) As experiments go, it is not an entirely successful one, however much Nesbit may have been aching for a change from her usual formula, or needing to release some hostile thoughts about other authors.
Sep 13 2011 3:00pm
“The Lake” by Tananarive Due, tells the story of Abbie LeFleur, a lifetime Bostonian who hides her scales, webbed feet, and an incredible hunger for people. She’s relocated to Graceville to start her life anew when she sets her eyes on a young student in her English class.
This story is featured in the upcoming monster anthology Monster’s Corner, out from St. Martin’s Press on September 27th. You can download a a free ebook version of this story here or wherever ebooks are sold. Check out who else is gathered in the Monster’s Corner on Facebook.
Keep an eye on Tor.com next week for more monster tales and read what we’re doing in the future for All Hallow’s Read.
Oct 28 2010 11:51am
By 1910, L. Frank Baum had become exhausted with his popular Oz series, going so far as to announce that the citizens of Oz had conveniently chosen to cut themselves entirely off from the rest of the world, ending the Oz tales.
But Baum still had to make a living, so, like many a professional author, he studied his previous works to see what, besides Oz, might bring in some cash. He was astute enough to realize one noticeable difference between his Oz bestsellers and most of the rest of his books: the bestsellers featured young Americans traveling to fairylands. And so, Baum decided to try a slight twist on his Oz formula, with a tale about a young girl traveling to a fairyland—but not alone, and not to Oz.
Aug 18 2009 5:10pm
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A mermaid has been spotted in Kirit Yam, Israel! NB: The photo to the right is not of the Kirit Yam mermaid, or I would have a million dollars.
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Some non-fiction books for science fiction writers recommended by the panel at Worldcon (made up of Niall Harrison, Vince Docherty, James Cambias, Geoff Ryman, and Kari Sperring).
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Mary Robinette Kowal on gay characters in fantasy movies. “What gay characters in fantasy movies?!” I hear you cry. Exactly.
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Artist Peter Root makes amazing cityscapes out of soap, staples, and scrap metal. (via Big Dumb Object)
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A retro-futuristic prank. (Thanks, Navah!)
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Following up on the recent controversy over Justine Larbalestier’s Liar, a book with a non-white protagonist that was going to have a white girl on the cover, London University’s Laura Atkins discusses white privilege and children’s publishing. (via Bibliophile Stalker)
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Attention museum owners and those too rich for their own good: T Rex for sale! The fossil is 57% complete and is known as Samson.
[Image by flickr user Temari 09, used under a Creative Commons license.]
