THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

Michael Moorcock has finally finished what I think is his most ambitious and successful "series"--his account of the jaded anti-Semite Pyat and his various plots, machinations, and adventures. It is a stunning and merciless accomplishment. John Clute's review in SF Weekly is spot-on.



When Jeff Ford's collection came in the mail a couple of days ago, I literally let out a deep sigh of satisfaction. I haven't had as much time as I'd like to read short fiction in the last couple of years, so I have the wonderful experience ahead of me of catching up with Ford's gems. I love Ford's fiction because it is simultaneously familiar and deeply strange. I want to reserve a good three-to-four hour stretch to just luxuriate in this collection.

JeffV

PS Also pretty happy about having a short piece called "The Magician" accepted for Pete Wilde's new anthology THE FLASH (he's the editor of Bookmunch), fiction under 800 words:

To be called THE FLASH, 100 writers write a piece of flash fiction of between 300 and 800 words. There are no royalties as all ofthe proceeds will go to a charity nominated and voted upon by the contributors. Confirmed contributors to date include (deep breath!)... Jess Walters, Charlie Williams, Steve Almond, Fred Dutton, Christopher Fowler, Danny King, Bob Thurber, Jonathan Lethem, Nick Johnstone, Sara Gran, Ben Myers, Kevin MacNeil, Mitch Cullin, Hiag Akmakjian, Samuel Ligon, Daren King, Rick Moody, Matthew De Abaitua, Christopher Brookmyre, Clare Dudman, Ewan Morrison, Dermot Bolger, Andrew Holmes, Laird Hunt, Scott Mebus, Martin Ouvry, Barry Yourgrau, J Robert Lennon, Kitty Fitzgerald, Rebbecca Ray, Arthur Nersesian, Katherine Dunn, Gina Ochsner, Robert Shepherd, Chad Taylor, Ian Sansom, Kevin Sampson, Colette Phair, Steve Aylett, Matthew David Scott, Paul Di Filippo, Jeffrey Ford, Richard Evans, Emily Maguire, Jeff VanderMeer, AM Homes, Niall Griffiths, Nick Stone and Kevin Sampsell, Steve Sherill, Stella Duffy, Tim Lott, Jackie Kay, Matt
Thorne, Nicholas Royle, Christopher Coake, Stav Sherez, Susan Elderkin, Geoff Dyer, Kate Pullinger, Nic Kelman, Candida Clark, Ailsa Cox, Cintra Wilson, Mark Dunn, Stuart David, Aimee Bender, Elizabeth Baines, John Ashbrook, Stephen McCauley, Patricia Duncker, Ben Richards, Matt Haig, Simon Crump, Percival Everett, William Sutcliffe, Laura Hird, Dennis Cooper and Sam Lipsyte ...[and now, Matt Cheney]

From the Magician:

The stupid sad tricks that dripped from his hands with a loose insolence, the laissez faire shuffling of the cards, the way he flexed the singing saw before he cut his lackluster assistant (a sad-looking dog) in half—these were just the decoys to distract us