pornokitsch

The Weeks that Were

So, The Kitschies happened.

That was pretty awesome. Here on Pornokitsch, we reviewed all fifteen finalists. (We won't list them below, but you can get to them in all the normal ways - through our index or via The Kitschies' site.) Photos from the event are up on Facebook and the various acceptance speeches are also on the award's site. 

What else? 

A few non-Kitschies reviews:

• Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf (2011) (and ennui in the alpha)
• Alison Moon's Lunatic Fringe (2011) (and how to click with your werewolf clique)
• Gaie Sebold's Babylon Steel (2011) (Lizzie Barrett on female-centric fantasy and lizard phalluses)
• Benedict Smith's The Pack (2011) (and hormones and hairballs)

And a couple features:

• We went to the SFX Weekender. ("Blitz Spirit goes to Little Chef")
• Lawrence Block dropped by to talk about cover art, pseudonyms and generally being awesome.
• 10 tips for moderating a convention panel ("Do what I say, and not what I do", adds Jared)

What's up next?

Looming (darkly) on the horizon is the Gothic Evening on 8 March. Loads of guests (Jon Courtenay Grimwood! Tanith Lee! Christopher Fowler! Suzanne McLeod! Emma Vieceli! Too many to list!), loads of rum, loads of books.

We'll also be taking over the Blackwell's Blog again with guest posts from all sorts of properly horrific experts like Steve Resnic Tem, Louis Greenberg, Esther Saxey and more... More about this here.

We also started taking orders for our next Pandemonium volume, Stories of the Smoke. The book will be out in April (both as an eBook and a limited edition hardcover). More on this here.

Next week - many, many more reviews. We've got a lot of 2011 to talk about and, good lord, is it 2012 already?

The Weeks that Were & Will Be

For the next two weeks, Pornokitsch will be handed over entirely to The Kitschies. Anne and Jared will be reviewing the finalists for the Red and Golden Tentacles, while the Inky team will be taking turns going through all the shortlisted covers. These reviews aren't reflective of the judges' collective stance or final determination, but they are open, honest and (hopefully) a little bit provocative. 

Agree? Disagree? Love or hate a book or its cover? Please join in. This is our favorite part of the whole process, and we hope you enjoy it as well. Either leave your thoughts in the comments or share your own reviews and include the links. To help you plan your own reading, reviewing and arguing in advance, here's the schedule:

The Weeks that Were

There's a lot happening right now, so starting with the ongoing (and time-limited) excitement:

• You can win a hand-crafted Slake Moth by Deadly Knitshade in our "Nightmare Creatures" competition. (Ends Wednesday, 21 December.)
• We're looking for stories for our next collection, Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke. The anthology collects short SF/F about London and inspired by Charles Dickens. The details are here. (Ends 31 December.)
• Submissions are about to close for the 2011 Kitschies. If you're an author, publisher or artist and you haven't submitted your titles for consideration, now's the time to panic and contact us. (Submissions close on 31 December.)

The Pandemonium Stocking Stuffer was released on Friday. This holiday treat contains three new stories from Archie Black, Den Patrick and Oz Vance - comic fantasies packed with sex, violence and Tesla rifles. The adorable cover is by the amazing Sarah Anne Langton. Best of all? It is on sale for a whopping eighty-six pence. 

(Speaking of sales, did you know that Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse was still only £2.49?)

All that out of the way, let's take a trip down memory lane, and see what the past two weeks have brought...

The Weeks that Were

Two busy weeks on Pornokitsch and the other tentacles in our brand-squid.

Our second collection, Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke, is now open for submissions. We're looking for stories about London, inspired by Charles Dickens. The details can be found over on the Pandemonium site. If you haven't read it yet, Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse is currently half price for the holidays - 18 original stories of the end of the world for £2.49 (or $2.99, depending on geography).

The Kitschies have an event coming up on Thursday night - the award is hosting a Steampunk Evening at Blackwell's Charing Cross. Entry is free and the guest list includes authors, artists and plastic squid. We've also been curating a series of guest posts on the Blackwell's blog, authors and bloggers sharing their thoughts on the genre.

Meanwhile, back on the blog, we got to reviewing again:

The Weeks that Weren't

Well, thus endeth a sad time for Pornokitsch: our first week ever without a review. We've got a few scheduled for next week already, but this still makes a sad little blot on the record. 

We have had some big news recently on other fronts. For the Kitschies, the Inky Tentacle's judging panel is now in place and we're working with Blackwell's to host a Steampunk Evening on 8 December. Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse has also been released, both as an eBook and as a foxy limited edition that can be found exclusively at Tate Britain.

But next week? Reviews. 

Agatha the Ombudscat is lost for words.

The Weeks that Were

The biweekly distillation of the pornokaos. Another busy (and eerily fast) two weeks have gone by.

First - an invitation. This coming Friday, 4 November, is the launch of Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse. The anthology is edited by us, introduced by Tom Hunter and features original stories from Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Lauren Beukes, Jonathan Oliver, Scott K. Andrews, Lou Morgan, Charlie Human, Tom Pollock, Sam Wilson, Chrys Balis, Den Patrick, S.L. Grey, Sophia McDougall, Andy Remic, Archie Black, David Bryher, Magnus Anderson, Oz Vance and Kim Lakin-Smith.

The launch takes place as part of Tate Britain's Late at Tate festivities. By signing up as one of our guests (it takes 3 seconds and we won't spam you), you get special offers including a glass of wine, a poster and (best of all) two for one tickets to the John Martin: Apocalypse special exhibit. We'll be wandering our flogging the ebook (the hardcover won't be in shops for another two weeks), listening to readings and generally making it the merriest apocalypse ever.

We hope to see you there.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... a few reviews:

The Weeks that Were

What we've been fiddling with for the last two weeks. 

If you missed it in SFX, the winners of the 2011 Kitschies will be revealed at the SFX Weekender 3. The Kraken hits Wales! We're huge fans of the Weekender and can't think of a better venue to reveal the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining books. Friday, 3 February, 2012. Hope to see you there. 

On the Pandemonium side of things, we're pleased to share that Tate Britain will be carrying an extremely limited edition of Stories of the Apocalypse. For the latest information on the anthology as it approaches release, please check out the site and sign up for the mailing list.

And now for the really fun part - the reviews!

The Weeks that Were

Our big, big news of the last two weeks was the announcement of the 2011 Kitschies - now presented by The Kraken Rum.

The Kitschies are our annual award for those books that 'elevate the tone of geek culture'. For 2011, we're really pleased to have an extended judging panel (Lauren Beukes, Rebecca Levene and three amazing & soon-to-be-disclosed experts from the visual arts), a new category (cover art) and, of course, £1,250 of cash prizes to go with the bottles of delicious black rum and our Tentacle trophies.

We're really pleased by the feedback we've gotten both online and in person since the announcement. The idea of an award that brings attention to 'intelligent, progressive and entertaining' genre fiction - and rewards those that create it - has been warmly received. Of course, we'd like more - more coverage, more feedback, more everything. If you're a journalist or blogger and would like to chat more about the Kitschies, please let us know and we'd be delighted to help. And if you're an author, publisher, designer or agent, please make sure your books are submitted for consideration. 

As with previous years, most of the discussion and debate will all take place on Pornokitsch, including our tradition of reviewing all the shortlisted books. The Kitschies website contains all the relevant facts and information about submissions. The Kitschies are also on Facebook, which is another great way of keeping abreast of the awards and other, related events.

Pfew.

Anyway, here's what else went down recently...

The Weeks that Were

Between a holiday, editing Pandemonium and putting the final touches on our latest not-so-secret project, we've not accomplished quite as much reviewing as we normally do.

Still, we covered off a book or two over the past couple weeks:

• Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet (2007+) (and the difficulty of reviewing a great book)
• Rose Dana's Night Club Nurse (1965) (and why happiness makes for a dull book)
• David Gemmell's White Wolf (2003) (and how not to write women)
• Tim Maughan's Paintwork (2011) (and the future of art)
• John McPartland's No Down Payment (1957) (and the literary appeal of the suburbs)
• Simon Morden's "Never, never, three times never" (2002) (and the personal apocalypse)
• Peggy O'More's Nurse Kathryn (1965) (and the romantic rewards of smugness)
• K.J. Parker's "A Room with a View" (2011) (and how to wander around in someone's head)

Monsters & Mullets found a musical sort of monster in The Little Mermaid (1989).

Our Friday Fives included a discussion of our favorite gods from myth (& legend & genre fiction) with screenwriter Chrysanthy Balis and a debate about our favorite horror stories with Adam L.G. Nevill. 

Off the internet, we mucked around looking for fossilised squid butts in Lyme Regis. We also found an enormous plastic squid butt at Gosh! London, as the noble Plarchie was in attendance for the book launch of Deadly Knitshade's Knit the City. 

The Ombudscat is pleased about the diversity of eras, genres and authors we covered. However, she sternly reminds us that we are committed to new content five days a week. We won't disappoint her again.

The Weeks that Were

A spoiler-free recap of the last two weeks on Pornokitsch (and off of it).

The reviews:

• Cartel & Bocquet's Kiki of Montparnasse (2011) (and the art of biography)
• Richard Foster's The Rest Must Die (1959) (and the Virilicide in post-apocalyptic NYC)
• Kim Lakin-Smith's Tourniquet (2007) (and looking beyond the fangs)
• Tim Lebbon's Echo City (2011) (and writing geocide)
• Theodore Pratt's Tropical Disturbance (1961) (and wind-powered schadenfreude)
• Nicholas Royle's Regicide (2011) (and the occasional importance of re-reading a book's final chapters)