Aaron's Book of The Week :: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

The Book of the Week is the first printing, paperback original edition of I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, printed in July 1954 by Gold Medal Books, cover art by Stan Meltzoff.

This was a highly collectible vintage paperback even before the success of the recent Will Smith movie. That film was the third film adaptation of I Am Legend. Will Smith's role of Robert Neville, the last man on earth, was previously played by Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth (1964) and by Charlton Heston in The Omega Man (1971). I'd say the recent film was the best of the three versions -- although many viewers fondly remember The Omega Man, it has not aged terribly well.

Richard Matheson has generally fared much better in Hollywood than most science fiction and fantasy writers. Even if you don't recognize his name, you would recognize some of his creations that have appeared on the screen: that creature staring at William Shatner / John Lithgow through the window of an airplane (The Twilight Zone); the vicious little doll attacking Karen Black (Trilogy of Terror); the creepy ghost girl appearing to Kevin Bacon (Stir of Echoes); the possessed cat in The Legend of Hell House; the faceless truck driver menacing Dennis Weaver (Duel, Steven Spielberg's first film); reporter Darren McGavin taking on vampires and succubi to get the story (Kolchak: The Night Stalker); Christopher Reeve willing himself through time to meet Jane Seymour (Somewhere in Time); Robin Williams traveling into the underworld to save his wife's soul (What Dreams May Come); Barbara Eden realizing that her unborn child is controlling her actions (The Stranger Within), and many more.

Next week's BOTW will be another early Richard Matheson novel, his very first book to be adapted to film.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: Glass Houses by Laura J. Mixon

After a couple weeks' hiatus (because I couldn't get my scanner to work), the Book of the Week is Glass Houses by Laura J. Mixon. This is the first printing, paperback original of the first book for adults by Laura Mixon, wife of our last BOTW author, Steven Gould. Glass Houses was a noteworthy work of cyberpunk, a subgenre we will return to in future BOTWs, but sadly the cyberpunk movement was nearly played out by 1992 -- its death knell came when non-SF geeks started using the term "cyberspace," signaling that it wasn't our playground any more.

Cyberpunk is another thing Hollywood has yet to get right, although the first Matrix film wasn't too far off. Next week's BOTW will be a science fiction novel that Hollywood did a more creditable job with recently.

Fantastic Reviews :: interview with Paolo Bacigalupi

New on Fantastic Reviews is Aaron's in-depth interview with Colorado author Paolo Bacigalupi.

Paolo Bacigalupi is a new author, but his powerful short fiction has quickly established him as a rising star of science fiction. His stories "The People of Sand and Slag", "The Calorie Man" and "Yellow Card Man" were nominees for the Hugo Award between 2005 and 2007. "The Calorie Man" won the 2006 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and "The Fluted Girl" was on the shortlist for that award in 2004. Paolo's first book, Pump Six and Other Stories, is just out from Night Shade Books. It collects all of his short fiction to date, plus the original title story.

To read the interview -> Fantastic Reviews author interview with Paolo Bacigalupi

Aaron's Book of the Week :: Jumper by Steven Gould

The Book of the Week is Jumper by Steven Gould, in honor of the film version opening this weekend. Jumper is the story of Davy, a young man who discovers he has the innate gift of teleportation (or "jaunting" as Alfred Bester called it in his 1957 classic The Stars My Destination), an ability that complicates his life more than one might expect. Teleportation is a favorite theme of Steven Gould, figuring in three of his seven novels. His other favorite topic is environmental concerns, central to three of his novels, including one in collaboration with his wife, also a successful SF writer who we will see in next week's BOTW.

This is the first paperback printing of Jumper, published in 1993. It is not especially valuable, but perhaps will become so if the movie is any good. One never can be confident of how Hollywood will adapt a science fiction novel, which is why Steven Gould has recently been spotted wearing a t-shirt that says, "Never judge a book by its movie." The preview looks good, but initial reviews are not promising. (A rather common pattern -- what a happy tradeoff it would be if Hollywood were not so good at making trailers and a little better at making movies.) After introducing Steven Gould's wife next week, the following week's BOTW will be another novel that was adapted by Hollywood recently, one that definitely is a collector's item.

Aaron's Hugo Recommendations :: Novella

FIVE FAVORITE NOVELLAS OF 2007:
Neal Asher, “Alien Archeology” (Asimov's, June ’07)
Orson Scott Card, “Stonefather” (Wizards)
John Meaney, “Sideways from Now” (Fast Forward 1)
Dan Simmons, “Muse of Fire” (The New Space Opera)
Connie Willis, “All Seated on the Ground” (Asimov's, December ’07)

NOTES:
There were many fewer novellas published last year than novelettes and short stories. Out of this relatively small pool, by far my favorite novella of 2007 was “Sideways from Now” by John Meaney, a terrific combination of hard SF with a New Weird sensibility.

It is a testament to the amazing talents of Orson Scott Card, Dan Simmons, and Connie Willis that their respective stories merit award consideration even thought they all fall short of the authors’ very best work. I’d especially love to see Orson Scott Card get a Hugo nomination, just to annoy the tolerance police who insist that Card should not win awards because they dislike his political and religious beliefs.

Aaron's Hugo Recommendations :: Novelette

FIVE FAVORITE NOVELETTES OF 2007:
John Barnes, “Rod Rapid and His Electric Chair” (Helix, Winter ’07)
Ted Chiang, “The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate” (F&SF, Sept. ’07)
Greg Egan, “Glory” (The New Space Opera)
Mike Resnick & Nancy Kress, “Solomon's Choice” (Fast Forward 1)
Rachel Swirsky, “The Debt of the Innocent” (Glorifying Terrorism)

OTHER VERY GOOD NOVELETTES FROM 2007:
Daniel Abraham, “The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” (Logorrhea)
Keith Brooke, “The Accord” (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction)
Paul Di Filippo, “Wikiworld” (Fast Forward 1)
Hal Duncan, “The Whenever at the City's Heart” (Interzone, April ’07)
Jeffrey Thomas, “In His Sights” (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction)
Harry Turtledove, “News from the Front” (Asimov's, June ’07)
Robert Charles Wilson, “YFL-500” (Fast Forward 1)

NOTES:
As with the short stories, I will update this if I encounter other worthy pieces this month, and I welcome other suggestions.

Unlike the novella and short story categories, there was no single novelette that was a clear favorite for me. Forced to pick one, I would probably go with “Glory” by Greg Egan, far-future SF as only Egan can do it, combining interesting hard science speculations (including a method of interstellar travel I’ve never seen before in the first two pages) with thought-provoking human issues. I have always been a big Greg Egan fan, and of the three stories of his I read last year (I never saw a fourth, from the magazine Foundation), this was my favorite.

Incidentally, anthologies generally don’t identify whether a piece is a short story, novelette, or novella, and it’s not always easy to tell. Apologies if I mislabeled any of these.

Aaron's Hugo Recommendations:: Short Story

FIVE FAVORITE SHORT STORIES OF 2007:
Susan Palwick, “Sorrel’s Heart” (The Fate of Mice)
Robert Reed, “The Hoplite” (Helix, Spring ’07)
Adam Roberts, “A Distillation of Grace” (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction)
Lavie Tidhar, “Daydreams” (Apex #10)
James A. Trimarco, “The Sundial Brigade” (Glorifying Terrorism)

OTHER VERY GOOD SHORT STORIES FROM 2007:
Stephen Baxter, “No More Stories” (Fast Forward 1)
Elizabeth Bear, “The Something-Dreaming Game” (Fast Forward 1)
Paul Di Filippo, “Personal Jesus” (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction)
Greg Egan, “Steve Fever” (MIT Technology Review, Nov.-Dec. ’07)
James Patrick Kelly, “Don’t Stop” (Asimov’s, June ’07)
Ben Payne, “Inside” (Ticonderoga Online, Autumn ’07)
Elizabeth Sourbut, “‘How I Took Care of My Pals’” (Glorifying Terrorism)

NOTES:
The first list shows the stories I would nominate for the short story Hugo Award as of today, while the second list contains my near misses. (Both lists are in alphabetical order by author.) There is still a month left before the nominations deadline, so I will update this if I run across anything else exceptional in that time. Suggestions of stories I may have missed are welcome.

My single favorite short story of 2007 is “Sorrel’s Heart” by Susan Palwick. “Sorrel’s Heart” is a love story between a girl who literally carries her heart on the outside of her chest, and a sadistic yet oddly noble young man. It is a powerful, beautifully written piece, and I believe it would have a very good shot at the Hugo if only enough people read it. So do yourself a favor and go track down a copy of Palwick’s collection The Fate of Mice. That goes double if you are one of those folks complaining that not enough women have appeared on the Hugo shortlist in recent years.

There has been a significant shift in the past couple years as to where one can expect to find strong SF/F short fiction. Until very recently, the best short fiction was largely confined to the major print magazines, notably Asimov’s, F&SF, Analog, and Interzone. While those magazines remain very good, much more excellent short fiction is now appearing in original anthologies and on-line. Six of the stories listed above are from original anthologies and three from on-line publications. Five years ago, the only on-line site that compared to the major print mags was Ellen Datlow’s SciFiction. Today, there is a great deal of short fiction on-line at Helix, Clarkesworld, Subterranean, Strange Horizons, Lone Star Stories, Baen’s Universe, and others that is well up to the standards of the major print magazines.

If you are a member of Denvention 3 or were a member of Nippon 2007, and you read anything from 2007 that you thought was very good, PLEASE NOMINATE. Do not feel that you need to have read everything published in 2007 to be qualified to nominate, because no one has.

Aaron's Magazine of the Week :: Amazing Stories August 1941

The Magazine of the Week is the August 1941 issue of Amazing Stories, with an Edgar Rice Burroughs cover story and great BEM cover art by J. Allen St. John.

As discussed in an earlier BOTW (seen here), Amazing Stories was the first of the science fiction pulp magazines. This issue's cover story, "Yellow Men of Mars," is by Edgar Rice Burroughs, probably the most successful of all the pulp writers. Burroughs is best known outside science fiction circles as the creator of Tarzan of the Apes, but most fondly remembered among SF fans for his tales of John Carter of Mars. "Yellow Men of Mars" is a John Carter story, later incorporated into the novel Llana of Gathol, tenth in the John Carter series.

The St. John illustration on the Magazine of the Week is one of my favorite examples of pulp era BEM cover art. Like any specialized community, science fiction fandom has its own peculiar jargon. (You are an SF geek, for example, if you can translate the statement, "I can't decide whether to go check out the filk or just gafiate.") Any serious SF fan will instantly recognize the creature on the cover of the Magazine of the Week as a traditional skiffy BEM, or "bug-eyed monster."

Aaron's Book of the Week :: The Thing That Made Love by David V. Reed

A first edition may be especially collectible because the book become a classic or because the author went on to have a distinguished career. And then there are the books that are collectors' items simply because they are too outrageous and absurd for any collector to resist. In the latter category, the Book of the Week is The Thing That Made Love by David V. Reed.

This is a first printing, paperback original, published in digest format by Uni-Book in 1951. The novel had previously appeared in the pulp magazine Mammoth Detective, but under the dull title The Metal Monster Murders. Uni-Book changed the title, added cover art of a woman in a torn shirt and lacy bra, all under the tag line "No woman could survive such harrowing ecstasy!", creating perhaps the single most exploitative edition of a science fiction mystery ever published.

David V. Reed was the pen-name of David Vern (born David Levine, but no relation to the David Levine featured in our August 31, 2006 Magazine of the Week ). He started out as a minor author for the science fiction pulps before going on to a bit more success in comic books, authoring a number of Batman comics. By coincidence, a David V. Reed story appears in one of my personal favorite pulp magazines, also with an outrageous cover, illustrating a story by the most successful pulp writer ever. You will see that magazine, and learn what a "BEM" is, next week.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: 20 Million Miles to Earth by Henry Slesar

The Book of the Week is 20 Million Miles to Earth by prolific pulp and screenwriter Henry Slesar, published in 1957 by Amazing Stories. This was the first and only digest novel Amazing Stories issued, and it is the digest-format book most prized by collectors today.

20 Million Miles to Earth is a novelization of the 1957 film of the same title, featuring a rampaging monster created by special effects legend Ray Harryhausen. A great part of the book's appeal to collectors is its campy cover image of the salivating monster. We'll have another digest book that is collectible for its outrageous cover art (and title) next week.

(Oddly enough, after writing this week's BOTW posting, I discovered that the film version of 20 Million Miles to Earth is on television this weekend -- on Saturday, January 12th at 4:30 p.m. Mountain time on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Check it out for some campy fun, even if you may notice a slight difference in production values between it and the film that follows it on TCM, also made in 1957, The Bridge on the River Kwai.)