World Fantasy Award Nominees Announced

So, via Twitter I see that the 2009 World Fantasy Award nominees covering the 2008 award year have been announced. I generally like this award more than most of the main-stream SFF awards since it is a juried-award, though due to whoever the jury is made up of, the sort of books that get nominated year-to-year can vary quit a bit. Anyway, this year’s nominations for Best Novel are below:

The House of the Stag, Kage Baker (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)
The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)
Pandemonium, Daryl Gregory (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (US, UK, Canada, Indiebound)

What’s interesting about this year’s nominees is that I’ve actually read 3 out of the 5 books.

The House of the Stag by Kage Baker
Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Of those 3, I think that Tender Morsels really stands out as the front-runner (even though personally, I didn’t care for it). I also find it interesting that at least 2 of these books are considered YA – see some of the best SFF being written right now is for the YA market and it crosses-over to the adult market very well. We’ll see where it goes from here.

Pandemonium!

Today is officially Do It For Thelma Day - the day declared by Daryl Gregory as the day to buy his book, Pandemonium (US, UK, Canada, my review). It's gained some traction - below are a couple of groups that have sprung up in support of idea to buy Pandemonium on December 15th.

• Facebook
• 42 Blips

The story behind Do It For Thelma Day is below:

I recently did a Questions Five interview with author Daryl Gregory. Below in an excerpt from the interview:

Why should Pandemonium be the next book that everyone reads?

DJG: Do it for my mother. When I started my writing career, she said, You know what you ought to do, DJ? (My family calls me DJ.) You should write a best-seller.This seemed like excellent advice. But how to execute it?

Your question, Ken, points the way. If everyone—and I mean everyone, each man, woman, and child on this planet, plus any Russians and billionaires currently in orbit—makes Pandemonium the next book they read, then my mother’s dream can become a reality. You don’t even have to read the book, you just have to buy it. Let’s pick a day in December. December 15th. On that day, go out or get online and buy a copy for yourself and one for any relative that is bed-ridden and/or computer illiterate.

Come on, people, we can do this. If we can just put aside our petty excuses—for example, that you don’t like science fiction, or that you don’t read English, or that your refugee camp doesn’t have a decent internet connection—if we can just stop all that whining for a minute and buy my book, then, finally, my mother, Thelma Gregory, will know I’m a success. For more information on Do It For Thelma Day, see my website.

So, go forth and buy Pandemonium (US, UK, Canada), and come back and share your Do It For Thelma Day story here.

Pandemonium on December 15th

I recently did a Questions Five interview with author Daryl Gregory. Below in an excerpt from the interview:

Why should Pandemonium be the next book that everyone reads?

DJG: Do it for my mother. When I started my writing career, she said, You know what you ought to do, DJ? (My family calls me DJ.) You should write a best-seller.This seemed like excellent advice. But how to execute it?

Your question, Ken, points the way. If everyone—and I mean everyone, each man, woman, and child on this planet, plus any Russians and billionaires currently in orbit—makes Pandemonium the next book they read, then my mother’s dream can become a reality. You don’t even have to read the book, you just have to buy it. Let’s pick a day in December. December 15th. On that day, go out or get online and buy a copy for yourself and one for any relative that is bed-ridden and/or computer illiterate.

Come on, people, we can do this. If we can just put aside our petty excuses—for example, that you don’t like science fiction, or that you don’t read English, or that your refugee camp doesn’t have a decent internet connection—if we can just stop all that whining for a minute and buy my book, then, finally, my mother, Thelma Gregory, will know I’m a success. For more information on Do It For Thelma Day, see my website.

Now, this exchange has gotten a bit of attention. A very nice young lady has taken up a crusade to get people to buy Pandemonium on December 15th (US, UK, Canada, my review). There are even two groups you can join to promote this.

• Facebook
• 42 Blips

So, make the world a better place and make a writer's mom happy - buy Pandemonium on December 15th!

Daryl Gregory Answers Questions Five

Daryl Gregory is known for more in the SFF world for his short fiction. Daryl has recently released his first novel, Pandemonium (US, UK, Canada, my review), which I enjoyed quite a bit and encourage all to read. His day job is in computer stuff and he lives in State College, PA with his family (one of whom is a counseling psychologist).

Thanks again to Daryl for taking the time to answer Questions Five.


How do you win an argument with a counseling psychologist?

DJG: You can’t—not as long as it’s an argument. You have to convince her that you’re not arguing, but that you’re processing your feelings. Feelings such as, I feel we need to buy a big screen TV. Or, I feel that washing your white top with a red hoodie is a mistake anyone would make.

If JoePa were a demonic archetype, what role would he play in your fiction?

DJG: Joe Paterno is an archetype. First, he’s clearly unkillable. The man’s 81 but he’s still screaming at refs. And like all archetypes, his image is everywhere. The faithful purchase cardboard cutouts of him called StandUp Joes that are erected like shrines in homes across the nation. He says nothing that he hasn’t said in every post-game interview for the past 60 years— “I think we gotta work on the fundamentals, they’re pretty good kids, but we can’t get lazy”—but those gnomic utterances are parsed for nuance as if they were scripture. People believe in Joe. Wherever two Penn State alumni are gathered in his name, He is there.

JoePa’s archetypal status presents a problem for me. Because he really is Head Coach of the Collective Unconscious, I can’t use him in my fiction. I’ve got to make up stuff, or they won’t pay me.

Fill in the blank: Kids today just don’t appreciate the value of ______. How does Pandemonium reflect this?

DJG: Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots.

A few Christmases ago I bought the set for my son. He said, “What does it do?”
“They punch each other.”
“That’s it?”
“Put your hands on the controllers. I’ll be the Blue Bomber.”
“Can they kick?”
“No. Look, I’m punching you. Now you try to punch me.”
“I want to open another present.”
“Ha! I knocked your block off!”

Pandemonium is the entire toy box. I put in all my favorite pop-cultural things, from Marvel comics to golden age SF to Sinead O’Connor. The book is yet another attempt to foist my personal obsessions on others. The Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots appear in chapter one.

What other peculiar qualities of Pandemonium should readers be aware of?

DJG: There’s a pretty good sex scene in chapter 14.

Why should Pandemonium be the next book that everyone reads?

DJG: Do it for my mother. When I started my writing career, she said, You know what you ought to do, DJ? (My family calls me DJ.) You should write a best-seller.

This seemed like excellent advice. But how to execute it?

Your question, Ken, points the way. If everyone—and I mean everyone, each man, woman, and child on this planet, plus any Russians and billionaires currently in orbit—makes Pandemonium the next book they read, then my mother’s dream can become a reality. You don’t even have to read the book, you just have to buy it. Let’s pick a day in December. December 15th. On that day, go out or get online and buy a copy for yourself and one for any relative that is bed-ridden and/or computer illiterate.

Come on, people, we can do this. If we can just put aside our petty excuses—for example, that you don’t like science fiction, or that you don’t read English, or that your refugee camp doesn’t have a decent internet connection—if we can just stop all that whining for a minute and buy my book, then, finally, my mother, Thelma Gregory, will know I’m a success. For more information on Do It For Thelma Day, see my website.

Review: Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory

Following one of the more common routes to becoming a published author, Daryl Gregory, fairly well-known for his short fiction, has just released his first full-length novel, Pandemonium (US, UK, Canada). The world of Pandemonium is a reflection of our own – the difference being that entities known colloquially known as demons inspired by modern pop culture regularly possess people, reeking their own individual havoc in the process.

Possessed as a child by the demon known as the Hellion, Del, now grown, struggles with mental illness and the scars of his past. A car accident resurrects these troubles and Del seeks the comfort of home and a chance to finally rid himself of the affects of the possession that never really left. Thrown into the world of demonology and count-culture world of demon worship, Del wrestles with his identity and the very origins of demon possession.

Pandemonium will appeal to a wide-range of age groups – from the vibrant YA audience all the way through the aging baby-boomer nostalgic for the classic sci-fi and comics of their youth. Through his unique brand of Americana, Gregory explores such varied topics as the treatment of the mentally ill in society, influences of popular culture, and generational clashes of 1950’s-era ideals in the twenty-first century.

Del represents the classic stereotype of the modern young man – a screw-up who can’t hold a job and scrapes by leaning heavily on his family. Del’s foil is his older brother – the ‘good son’ with a successful business and wonderful wife who never moved far away from the family home. The devotion of the brothers to each other, with their at times bitter banter, is one of the touching aspects of Pandemonium. This relatively ideal family behavior is reinforced by the particular pop-culture emphasis of the most visible demons of the story. Strait out of 1950s world, these demons embody the ideals, fears, and mythos a post-World War II America.

Interspersed throughout the narrative are examples of past Demonology that showcase influential demons – the Truth, the Captain, the Little Angel, Smokestack Johnny, the Kamikaze, Boy Marvel, and finally the Hellion. Each shows both a pop-culture alteration of the world and deviation of Gregory’s America from our own – the most interesting and influential deviations being the killing of OJ Simpson in his trial by the vengeful Truth and the assignation of President Eisenhower by the Kamikaze. Other demons make cameo appearances to round out the homage to an earlier age of pop-culture – a ‘monster’ who haunts a rural lake in up-state New York and has become a tourist attraction and a still-living Philip K. Dick, possessed by the demonic sage, Valis. Another classic sci-fi reference of note is a secret society devoted to the extermination of demons founded by fans of A.E. van Vogt.

In many ways, Pandemonium shows us the death of 1950s pop-culture in our twenty-first century world. Or it tells a fun, accessible story of a journey through Americana. Both interpretations are true and Daryl Gregory’s debut entertains at multiple levels and shows a promise for more to come in the future. 7.5/10

Related Posts: Interview with Daryl Gregory