Those are the things that Publisher's Weekly thinks my novel Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism is made of. There's a very nice review of my book posted at the magazine's website.
The salient parts, pulled expertly by CZP honcho Brett Savory, read as follows:
"Nickle (Monstrous Affections) blends Little House on the Prairie with distillates of Rosemary's Baby and The X-Files to create a chilling survival-of-the-fittest story. . . . [His] bleak debut novel mixes utopian vision, rustic Americana, and pure creepiness."
—Publishers Weekly
It was a good night, some weeks back, when Cory Doctorow and I read aloud from our new books at the Augusta House in Toronto. The evening was part of the ChiZine Reading Series - and this event celebrated the Cecil Street Irregulars, a writer's workshop from which Cory and I both learned everything we know. Karl Schroeder was to have joined us - but he was prevented, by a damn germ.
They made a video of the evening anyway. Here's the portion in which I read from Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism.
And here's the portion in which I take questions from the audience.
Eutopia's out in May. But pre-orders are always welcome. Check out CZP's Eutopia page, for all the places you can do that, right here. If you need convincing, horror author Nick Cato has posted a blisteringly generous review of Eutopia, at his blog Antibacterial Pope, right here.
For more CZP reading series goodness, and Cory's reading, have a look at their SF Colloquium page, right here.
This is a note to yard-apes spending the weekend in Toronto and wishing to say hello and listen to a cheerful bit of readings. This Sunday evening, I'll be joining actual optimists and good friends Cory Doctorow and Karl Schroeder at the Augusta House, to read from our novels. I will be reading from Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism. Cory and Karl will be reading from works of actual optimism, I hope.
This is part of the ChiZine reading series, and Sunday's theme is Cecil Street Irregulars reunion. Cory, Karl and I are alumni / current members of the Cecil Street Irregulars writers' group, you see - hence, um, the theme.
Here are the particulars:
Sunday March 6, 2011 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM
152 Augusta Avenue, Toronto, ON (map)
*Please note the time change from the afternoon to evening.
After her tenure in 1987 as writer-in-residence at the Merril Collection, Judith Merril founded the writing workshop that came to be known as the Cecil Street Irregulars. With Cory Doctorow in town, we're having something of a reunion...
Cory Doctorow, blogger, journalist, and world-renowned science fiction author, will be joining us on March 6th for a special reading. His latest book, For the Win, is centered around massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Other books includeDown and Out in the Magic Kingdom (Tor Books, 2003); Eastern Standard Tribe (Tor Books, 2004); Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (Tor Books, 2005);Little Brother (Tor Books, 2008 ); Makers (Tor Books, 2009). All of his books are available under a Creative Commons Licence.
Karl Schroeder divides his time between writing fiction and consulting--chiefly in the area of Foresight Studies and technology. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology, terraforming, augmented reality and interstellar travel, and have a deeply philosophical streak. One of his concepts, known as thalience, has gained some currency in the artificial intelligence and computer networking communities.
David Nickle lives and works in Toronto, where he covers municipal matters for the Toronto Community News group of newspapers. His fiction has been published in magazines, anthologies and online, and been adapted for television. In 1997, he and Edo Van Belkom won a Bram Stoker Award for their short story "Rat Food." Some of his stories are collected in Monstrous Affections, published in 2009 by ChiZine Publications. Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism will be released by ChiZine Publications in spring 2011.
This is the blog portion of my website, The Devil's Exercise Yard. It does all the things you've come to expect from blogs - although it won't be telling you what I'm eating, my mood, or whether my shirt needs laundering. Very occasionally, it may offer some insight to something you haven't thought about, or some update of news you haven't heard before. So keep checking it. Be obsessive. Give in to your inner web stalker. Click and click and click. It's the only way you'll be sure not to miss anything.
From the website:
I'm David Nickle, and I write stories. Most of them are what you'd call horror stories. But in the mix are science fiction, fantasy, and some stories that are just stories. Not one of them is true. I've had some of them published, in places like The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, the Northern Frights series, the Queer Fear series, Cemetery Dance, On Spec, and a whole bunch others. I've only got one novel out (The Claus Effect, with Karl Schroeder), and a story collection, Monstrous Affections (all on my own) - but I'm working on adding some more to the list.
From the blog:
I'm also a journalist. I write for the Toronto Community News group of community newspapers in Toronto, covering municipal politics in the big city. It's a good gig. But I blog about city politics for the paper, so you probably won't hear much about that sort of thing here.
Need to get in touch? Email me at davidnickle(at)gmail(dot)com.
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