Hey, folks!
It’s time for that obligatory end of year post where I tell you what I published this year, in the hopes that if you read it and like it you might (ahem) consider nominating it for your favorite SFF awards in the coming year.
So, without further ado:
2019 Publications
Novels:
Ancestral Night, from Gollancz (UK) and Saga (US), Gillian Redfearn UK ed., Navah Wolf US ed. (novel, March)
A big queer space opera featuring dark energy, snarky AIs, angst, and Mantis Cop, who is everybody’s favorite, it turns out.
The Red-Stained Wings (Lotus Kingdoms #2), from Tor books, Beth Meacham, Ed. (novel, May)
A big queer fantasy (middle book of the Lotus Kingdoms trilogy) featuring ethical dilemmas, fancy geology, badass women, a metal man, a lich with a great sense of humor, bearded vultures, and a certain amount of megafauna.
Novellas:
"A Time to Reap," from Uncanny Magazine, Lynne M. Thomas and Michael D. Thomas, eds. (novella, Nov-Dec issue)
A young actress falls through a tesseract into 1978 and is offered an unprecedented opportunity to study the girl she’s portraying in a murder mystery… or to save her life.
Novelettes:
"Erase, Erase, Erase," from The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, C. C. Finlay, ed. (novelette, Sep - Oct issue)
What if you were pretty sure you knew who was behind a terrorist plot that might kill millions? What if you couldn’t remember?
"Deriving Life," from Tor.com, Beth Meacham, Ed. ( novelette, January 31)
Would you become host to a sentient cancer?
"Bullet Point," in Wastelands 3, from Titan, John Joseph Adams, ed. (short story, June 4)
You’re the last woman on earth. Thank God.
"Lest We Forget," from Uncanny Magazine, Lynne M. Thomas and Michael D. Thomas, eds. (short story, June 4)
The people who love war are mostly the ones that have never been in it.
"Soft Edges," Current Futures: A Sci-Fi Ocean Anthology, Ann Vandermeer, Ed. (Short story, June 7)
Technology can solve crimes. But does punishing the guilty solve anything?
"No Moon and Flat Calm," Slate, Andres Martinez, ed. (Short story, May 25) Response by Amanda Ripley here.
A group of interns are the only ones that can make life or death decisions as the crew of a dying space station attempts to evacuate.
Normally I’d also have a few recommendations for you, but honestly I have been reading vintage murder mysteries all year and am totally behind on current SFF. I can tell you that I’m about halfway through Max Gladstone’s Empress of Forever and it’s great gonzo madness, and that I’ve read Katherine Addison’s Angel of the Crows and C.L. Polk’s Stormsong in manuscript and can highly recommend that you preorder the heck out of both of those.
Speaking of preorders (and reviews), there are still copies of the limited edition The Best of Elizabeth Bear mega-anthology available. The reviews are coming in, and they’re fabulous.
From Publishers Weekly:
“Though many of these offer glimpses into vast, intricate worlds, all are grounded in deep human feeling and small, interpersonal dramas… Bear’s protagonists range from machines (the living spaceships of ‘Boojum’) to the human (the tired homicide cop in ‘Dolly’) to the monstrous (the discontented vampire of ‘Needles’), but she crafts them all with huge helpings of empathy and heart.”
From Booklist:
“The collection begins with the fascinating and haunting tale of a serial killer in ‘Covenant’ and ends with the recent ‘Erase, Erase, Erase,’ a haunting look at responsibility, identity, and memory. Notable in between are a tale of a literal rock god (‘Hobnoblin Blues’), a visit with Doc Holliday (‘Faster Gun’), even a murder mystery with unexpected and far-reaching consequences (‘Dolly’).”
From Kirkus:
“From the award-winning author of The Red-Stained Wings (2019, etc.), a collection of 27 tales published between 2005 and 2019, spanning most of Bear's career. Readers familiar with Bear's novels soon learn to expect the unexpected, with characters, worlds, and ideas eyed from drastically skewed perspectives.”
I mean, even Kirkus liked it. That’s a hat trick!
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back soon!
Best,
Bear