This is a reminder, for those who might be interested, that Fourth Street Fantasy Convention is coming. For those who don’t know, we’re a small, literary convention, with single-track programming (with lunch breaks built in). It started many years ago when I wanted a way to bring together smart people I admired and listen to them argue about writing issues I wanted to work on. We stopped for many years, then a few years ago Lydia Nickerson brought it all back.
This year, some of the people who will be there are: Elizabeth Bear, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Lois McMaster Bujold, Skyler White, Patrica C. Wrede, and, uh, a bunch of people I can’t think of right now but who I’d travel to a convention just to see.
Anyway, if you’re interested, here’s the info: http://www.4thstreetfantasy.com/2011/
Registration rates go up at the end of the month.
The second program item – What should I be reading that I’m not? An open discussion of what’s exciting out there – sounds interesting. Would it be OK for you to talk about that here for those not attending? What books and authors will you be bringing up?
I had so hoped to make it back this year, but it is not to be — Westercon, Worldcon, and World Fantasy are taking too much of my available time off. Next year seems likely, though, since WFC won’t be local and I therefore won’t be staffing it.
I did enjoy the one I was able to attend, though.
L. Raymond: I’m too out of touch with the field to have anything useful to say; but I will put in a rave for Skyler White; especially her second novel, IN DREAMS BEGIN.
Gah, I booked my vacation a week ago :(
L. Raymond: you can see the results of last year’s version of that discussion here:
http://www.4thstreetfantasy.com/2010/program/ishouldread.ghtml
@3 Ah, well, when I saw the specification that it’s not limited to any one genre, I was thinking you’d bring up whatever non-fantasy you’ve been reading, besides Wealth of Nations, that is.
To my mind, some of the most interesting books that tend to be ignored are memoirs, anything from Sei Shonogan’s Pillow Book to Richard Burton’s Pilgrimmage to Mecca, with almost anything from the Donnelley’s Lakeside Press or Dover being of interest. At such a panel discussion, I’d be likely to wonder if anyone else reads them, whether for fun or research.
For non-fiction, I’ve been re-reading GRANT by Jean Edward Smith. Very, very good.
A good bio is a great find, isn’t it? Forrest McDonald’s Alexander Hamilton was such an exceptional book, and it edged out Gunther’s bio of Learned Hand as my favorite.
Weren’t you reading a bio of Lincoln not long ago? Are you doing CW research, or do you just like to read related books close together?
Just into the Civil War. Not planning on Doing Anything with it; not planning on Not Doing Anything with it. I’m just fascinated. Current one sentence summary: Bragg did a slightly better job of losing the war for the Confederacy than Hallack did of losing it for the Union.
Have you read any of the personal journals from the era? Maj. Connolly’s Three Years in the Army of the Cumberland is a fascinating account of soldiering from a Union officer’s perspective. Mary Chesnut’s Diary from Dixie is a view from home by a member of the south’s upper class (her husband was a senator before the war and a general during). The Fremantle Diary is unique in being the account of a British Lt. Col. who took a leave of absence in order to play the sight seer. He started in Texas and moved around the south, tagging after the big name generals and hoping to see a dashing calvary charge, finally ending up with Lee at Gettysburg.
Since you’re interested in the CW era, if you haven’t read any of these I highly recommend all of them for the different perspective you’ll get.
I find it fascinating to investigate how much of the Union’s incompetence during the first years of the war was due to high-level political infighting with Seward and the “established” generals in the Union hierarchy (Hallack, Pope, McClellan, Hooker, etc). It wasn’t until enough of those generals had failed miserably that Lincoln finally had enough of an excuse to turn to the “reckless” and “crazy” generals (Grant, Sherman, Sheridan) who actually knew how to fight with the weapons and tactics at hand, and the North’s immense industrial superiority could be effectively brought to bear.
All that being said, if you ever fancied writing a historical fiction novel set during the American Civil War, it would probably become one of my all-time favorite books ever.
Just sayin’.