INTERFICTIONS Podcast 4

With the kind participation of some wonderful writers, I have cobbled together a podcast of the INTERFICTIONS story teasers that were performed aloud at Readercon 18.

The December episode, featuring "Pallas at Noon" by Joy Marchand, is the last of them. Further story teasers shall have to wait until I attend another reading!

Subscribe using RSS

Or use your RSS reader's subscribe feature to add the following URL: http://mjd.joskinandlob.com/podcasts/interfictionspodcasts.xml

To subscribe with iTunes, choose "Subscribe to Podcast..." from the Advanced menu and paste in the above URL, or click below to visit the INTERFICTIONS Podcast page at the iTunes Store:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=263967559

Links to the MP3s podcast thus far (right-click to download):
"Pallas at Noon" - Joy Marchand (5.5 Mb)
"The Utter Proximity of God" - Michael J. DeLuca (7.0 Mb)
"Hunger" - Vandana Singh (7.5 Mb)
"Black Feather" - K. Tempest Bradford (8.4 Mb)
"A Dirge for Prester John" - Catherynne M. Valente (7.9 Mb)




Enjoy!

INTERFICTIONS Podcast 3

With the kind participation of some wonderful writers, I have cobbled together a podcast of the INTERFICTIONS story teasers that were performed aloud at Readercon 18.

The November episode features, well, me--Michael J. DeLuca.

Subscribe using RSS

Or use your RSS reader's subscribe feature to add the following URL: http://mjd.joskinandlob.com/podcasts/interfictionspodcasts.xml

To subscribe with iTunes, choose "Subscribe to Podcast..." from the Advanced menu and paste in the above URL, or click below to visit the INTERFICTIONS Podcast page at the iTunes Store:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=263967559

Links to the MP3s podcast thus far (right-click to download):
"The Utter Proximity of God" - Michael J. DeLuca (7.0 Mb)
"Hunger" - Vandana Singh (7.5 Mb)
"Black Feather" - K. Tempest Bradford (8.4 Mb)
"A Dirge for Prester John" - Catherynne M. Valente (7.9 Mb)




Enjoy!

Interfictions reading and signing

NEW YORK CITY
Tuesday, October 30, 7:00 p.m.
with editor Delia Sherman, and contributors Veronica Schanoes,
Matt Cheney, and K. Tempest Bradford

at

McNally Robinson
52 Prince St. (between Lafayette and Mulberry)
New York, NY 10012
(212) 274-1160

Our little anthology takes flight...

...literally! We were startled and delighted to see Interfictions blurbed in the current issue of United Airlines's in-flight magazine Hemispheres, in their Halloween-reading spotlight. Hmmm -- there's a logic here. To a traveler with a departure and a destination in mind, an airliner's cabin itself is rather an interstitial space, isn't it?

INTERFICTIONS Podcast 2

The October episode features Vandana Singh's "Hunger".

Subscribe using RSS

Or use your RSS reader's subscribe feature to add the following URL: http://mjd.joskinandlob.com/podcasts/interfictionspodcasts.xml

To subscribe with iTunes, choose "Subscribe to Podcast..." from the Advanced menu and paste in the above URL, or click below to visit the INTERFICTIONS Podcast page at the iTunes Store:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=263967559

Links to the MP3s podcast thus far (right-click to download):
"Hunger" - Vandana Singh (7.5 Mb)
"Black Feather" - K. Tempest Bradford (8.4 Mb)
"A Dirge for Prester John" - Catherynne M. Valente (7.9 Mb)




Enjoy!

INTERFICTIONS Podcast

With the kind participation of some wonderful writers, we have cobbled together a podcast of the INTERFICTIONS story teasers that were performed aloud at Readercon 18.

The first episodes include Catherynne M. Valente's "A Dirge for Prester John" and K. Tempest Bradford's "Black Feather". New teasers will follow monthly.

Subscribe using RSS

Or use your RSS reader's subscribe feature to add the following URL:http://mjd.joskinandlob.com/podcasts/interfictionspodcasts.xml

Enjoy!

*Strange Horizons* review

"Putting the 'what the hell is interstitial?' question aside for the moment, this is a very nice collection of strange stories."

More of David Soyka's view, in considerable detail, at the Strange Horizons site.

Scenes from KGB

The KGB Fantastic Fiction showcase on Interfictions last week went smashingly -- and thanks to KGB co-host Ellen Datlow, you can see tons of pictures from the reading!

The latest reviews

Our newest biggest fan: "If you like literary fiction, weird fiction, or more simply, to read; then pick up this anthology." So sayeth Rick Kleffel at The Agony Column!

The Baltimore City Paper devotes some in-depth attention to Interfictions and its premise in an outstanding review by Adrienne Martini: "This idea of playing with genre conventions is interstitiality's charm and what makes it a movement for the hypertext age. We want words to do more now and for our time not to have been spent with just one idea. Make a list of what the earmarks are of any genre. Can you have something you can call science fiction if it doesn't have any notion of technology? Can you have traditional fiction without a sense that the writer's world is recognizably real? Can you label a text fantasy if it doesn't involve magic?"

A view from inside

In the days leading up to the official publication of Interfictions, contributing writer Michael J. DeLuca ("The Utter Proximity of God") undertook the bold task of reviewing each story in the book one at a time, his own included, on his blog. In his fascinating final post, he links back to each review and ponders how his perspective on interstitial fiction has changed — not just since writing his own story, but since reading the others.

A new Dora & Delia interview...

...is online at the blog Yatterings. The Interfictions editors continue to delve into the whys and wherefores of interstitial art in general and literature in particular!

Interfictions reading at the KGB

This month's installment of the Fantastic Fiction reading series at the KGB Bar in Manhattan presents several writers from Interfictions! Co-editor Delia Sherman joins regular hosts Ellen Datlow and Gavin Grant to introduce readings by Rachel Pollack, K. Tempest Bradford, Veronica Schanoes, and newly minted Tiptree Award winner Catherynne M. Valente.

The reading takes place on Wed., June 20 at 7pm. The KGB Bar is located at 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Ave.), upstairs. Admission is free! So come out, buy a couple drinks, kick back, and enjoy the strange stories. Note: Arrive early. It's a popular event and a modestly sized room.

Playing Around on the Borders

Alex Dally MacFarlane talks about Interfictions and Text:UR, The New Book of Masks in the same review.

It made sense to me to review these two together, considering what they have in common: they both play around with the borders between genre fiction and mainstream fiction. Interfictions does it explicitly -- the purpose of the anthology is to examine the borders, to cross them and to blur them -- whereas Text:UR just does it anyway. That said, they are very different anthologies, a reflection of the difference in taste between the editors.

Of Interfictions, she "tended to enjoy most the stories that leaned closer to the fantastical."

"A Dirge for Prester John" by Catherynne M Valente, a fictional origin for the Letter of Prester John, was probably my favourite; "A Map of the Everywhere" by Matthew Cheney I liked for its strangeness and its touching love story, "What We Know About The Lost Families of ---House" by Christopher Barzak" I liked in particular for its collective and slightly creepy narrator, "A Drop of Raspberry" by Csilla Kleinheincz" attracted me because what's not to like about a love story between a lake and a person, "Black Feather" played excellently with fairytale bits and pieces and the idea of past lives.

She concludes: "The anthologies are both good... I will happily read Interfictions 2 and Text:UR 2 if they come into being."

"Buy this book."

That's reviewer Sean Melican's prescription for Interfictions in the newest issue of Ideomancer. "Various editors attempting to collect and define slipstream, or fabulist, fiction fall into the trap of simply clothing genre fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror) with a new term, not for the sake of defining or inventing a new genre, but attempting to make genre palatable to mainstream readers, writers, and critics. But ... Interfictions is the most successful anthology thus far, both defining its terms and presenting stories that function on those terms."

Interfictions-inspired art opening June 2

Three Dimensions: an interstitial art show combining art, music and writing inspired by the launch of the Interfictions anthology edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss.

WHERE:
Sleeping Dragon Gallery
340 W. Nepessing Street
Lapeer, MI 48446
Phone: 810-245-9278
Email: sleepingdragonart@sbcglobal.net

WHEN:

Friday, June 1 through Saturday, June 9, 2007

Saturday, June 2: Meet the Artists Reception, 2 to 5 p.m.
Hours: 11-5 Tuesday through Friday, by appointment on Mondays

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Ceallaigh Dwyer is a nationally known soft sculpture artist whose work has been featured in Art Doll Quarterly. Inspired by Brian Froud and Jim Henson, her pieces range in size from three inches to six feet. She blends nature, fairy tales, mythology and history to create sculptures expressing wisdom, charm and mischievousness. Working in a small studio in Flint, surrounded by her creations, she calls her company It's a Scream Productions. When not sewing, Ceallaigh writes fantasy and has been published in Nice Tattoo! The Magazine of Shadow Fiction and Morbid Curiousity. She currently has a novel in progress.

Tempest Smith Foundation: The portrait of Tempest Smith, painted by Kim Perkins-Murillo, will be on display. Hounded at school by teasing and bullying, Tempest Smith committed suicide at the age of 12. Following her death, her mother, Denessa Smith, founded the Tempest Smith Foundation to enlighten the public about diversity and acceptance. The portrait is an original oil on canvas depicting the three phases of womanhood and unity through diversity. For more information please visit www.tempestsmithfoundation.org

Melodie Bolt is a poet and short-story writer whose work blurs the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy, environmentalism, spirituality and feminism. Influenced by Greek and Roman mythology, Charlotte Bronte, Edgar Allen Poe, Frank Herbert and Ursula LeGuin, her characters' voices are diverse and lingering. Her work has appeared in Kiss Machine, Nice Tattoo! The Magazine of Shadow Fiction, Seasons of the Moon, Priestess Pathways, Pan Gaia and Sage Woman. She lives in Lapeer, Michigan with her husband, three children, four cats and a pond full of fish.

Don Morey is a fey changling who plays in the world as artist, musician and gallery owner.

Feedback from a story or stories, possibly

An alarming development?
Four grubby scraps of thought were slipped under my consciousness this morning, none of them signed. They are reproduced below, minus the grub - Anna Tambour (guilty of committing 'The Shoe in SHOES' Window')

I do feel more extra- than inter-
as in '-ordinary'. Is that splinter-
ing to a faction
or airy reaction?
Anarchy malarky misprinter.

Think you would like to be explained?

Collops being unobtainable in these parts, my neighbours were a handy and delicious substitute. I prepared them as for collops, being especially careful to free them from beards and grandmothers. Finished with a thick layer of fried breadcrumbs and a go-over with the blowtorch, they would have been better than collops, if I'd soaked them longer first. Too much grit.

Mere pages detain me? б-!л%$зX-и$@!

FYEO
Perhaps these are not feedback, but a dyspeptic mirage. I must report, in strict confidence, that the effect of the stories on my navel has been quite unnerving. It was always content to be an inny, but now that seems too in, and it doesn't want to be an outy. It has been trying to become interstitial, and that state makes it quite unstable. I feel as if I've eaten a ten-ton boiled pudding that's still alive. I might have to tie my navel in flannel if it doesn't settle back in and accept its lot in life.

"Odd, Deep, Delightful"

So says the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an in-depth review of Interfictions this week by Michael Bishop, who writes: "Editors Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss — practiced fiction writers as well as Ph.Ds in Renaissance studies and English literature, respectively — gather here 19 profoundly strange stories. From these airborne stories stream contrails of traditional realism, philosophical fable, literary fantasy, existential horror, transmogrified myth, off-center science fiction and unabashed slapstick. . . . [Interfictions] belongs on the nightstand of anyone interested in the development of contemporary short fiction."

Kudos from Australia

The Australian SF site As If has posted a comprehensive and carefully reasoned review of Interfictions, wrapping up on this note: "The prose throughout Interfictions is faultless... The stories that I loved provided me with a sublime reading experience, and I will be listening out with great interest to hear which stories are praised by other readers and critics. So far, for me, this is most definitely the anthology of the year."

It's official: Interfictions is hip

Quoth our first official post-release review, at the Hipster Book Club: "Interfictions is a phenomenal collection, containing ghost stories, fairy tales, romances, and realistic tales, none of which are precisely what they seem. The stories are as slippery as eels, and are engrossing and provocative."

Today's the day!

Interfictions is officially released today! Zip right on over to our publishing partner, Small Beer Press, to find out how you might be one of five lucky people to get a free copy.