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Articles by Force Alone
Book and Film Globe
The book of arcane knowledge the techno-capitalists don’t want you to read
Books for Sale
It’s time to clear up some shelf space again. All prices include postage+packaging to make life easier. All copies will include one bonus limited edition signed art print. Query at booksale @ lavietidhar.co.uk in first instance. The Escapement. PS Publishing, 2021. Limited edition hardback, designed by Pedro Marques, limited to 100 signed copies; in an illustrated slipcase, with art by Sarah Anne Langton. Philip K. Dick Award nominee. £160. Unholy Land. PS Publishing, 2018.
BRESSON ON BRESSON: INTERVIEWS 1943-1983
Robert Bresson’s NOTES ON THE CINEMATOGRAPH is, to me, an essential volume for anyone interested in visual narrative: he thought very deeply about what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. But, in that book, his vision appears austere, almost dogmatic. BRESSON ON BRESSON: INTERVIEWS 1943-1983 presents him very differently. He is still determined, still firmly opinionated, but it brings forth the sense that he believed his work to be not rigid.
Judge Dee and the Executioner of Epinal
Unknown forces attempt to stop Judge Dee and Jonathan from transporting a mysterious and possibly dangerous prisoner, who holds a secret about the Judge, to an executioner in France… 1. The horses were skeletal and plumes of steam came in great huffs from their noses as they galloped through the night. Judge Dee and Jonathan sat in the coach on either side of the prisoner. The prisoner never spoke and neither did the judge. The driver whipped the horses, faster, faster.
Looking Glass Sound
Available From: A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • Best Book of 2023 (Vulture) • A Best Horror Book of All Time (Cosmopolitan) • A Best Horror Book of 2023 (Esquire) • A 2023 World Fantasy Award finalist Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street, delivers a masterful story about friendship and betrayal, dark obsessions, and the impossibility of escaping your own story.
Adama Publication Day!
It’s Adama‘s official publication day today! Here is the official Bloomsbury Page. There is no adama without dam – no land without blood. In 1946, a young Ruth begins building a new life in Palestine, haunted by the death of her family in Europe and driven by youthful ideals in a land hostile to her presence. Her sister, Shoshana, survives in the Displaced Persons camps of Germany and joins her in Palestine, but dreams of escaping to distant America.
The Ghasts - Uncanny Magazine
1. The little girl was blonde and had very blue eyes. She stood on the steps to the house and stared at Mara without expression. “It lives in the closet,” the little girl said. “Klara…” her father said. He looked apologetically at Mara. “Please,” he said. “Will you come in?” Mara followed them inside the house. The house was on the outskirts of town, one of a bewildering array of variously coloured painted homes all tumbling fantastically on top of each other. Public housing, new builds.
Shapers of Worlds Volume IV
Story I'm raising funds to publish an anthology of short stories by some of the authors, including many major award-winners and international bestsellers, who were guests during the fourth year of my Aurora Award-winning podcast, The Worldshapers, where I talk to other science fiction and fantasy authors about their creative process.
Welcome To Your A.I. Future
"You must be wondering who you are..." Welcome to your A.I. Future A SHORT A.I. SCI-FI ART FILM BY NIR YANIV & LAVIE TIDHAR You wake up in the future. A kind A.I. is there to help you. But that's far from being your only problem...
Shapers of Worlds Volume IV
You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. CA$ 15,504 pledged of CA$ 12,000 goal Story I'm raising funds to publish an anthology of short stories by some of the authors, including many major award-winners and international bestsellers, who were guests during the fourth year of my Aurora Award-winning podcast, The Worldshapers, where I talk to other science fiction and fantasy authors about their creative process.
Maror
A multi-generational saga with cultural and political depth, drawing on the rich, often troubling recent history of Israel, for fans of A History of Seven Killings or The White Tiger. How do you build a nation? It takes statesmen and soldiers, farmers and factory workers, of course. But it also takes thieves, prostitutes and policemen. Nation-building demands sacrifice. And one man knows exactly where those bodies are buried: Cohen, a man who loves his country. A reasonable man for unreasonable times.
Loontown | NirToons
"I'm not a monster, detective - I'm a balloon!" A SHORT ANIMATED FILM NOIR BY NIR YANIV & LAVIE TIDHAR When someone pops Mordy the Mouth, balloon detective Muldoon runs into hoppers and gasbags – not to mention one sexy red balloon! – as he tries to solve the mystery of missing helium in Loontown.
End of Year: 2022
Ah, it’s the obligatory End of Year post. Isn’t it time for 2022 to be over already? Previous posts: 2021, 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 (but who’s keeping track). Well, it was a beast of a year. Did some film work – that was fun. Wrote a beast of a novel. Wrote too many short stories. Published too much. The usual. Let’s get this over with, shall we? Novels Maror came out in hardcover from Head of Zeus in August. You should read it. It’s also one of the Economist‘s best books of 2022, so that’s nice.
Maror | PS News
Reviewed by Robert Goodman. By Lavie Tidhar, Head of Zeus, $29.99. Science fiction and fantasy writer Lavie Tidhar turns to the very real history of Israel in his latest novel, Maror. This is not the first time Tidhar has used Israel as a setting for his work. But his award-winning Central Station is set around a Tel Aviv spaceport, and the multiversal Unholy Land imagines a state of Israel established in Uganda. Maror, by contrast, is based squarely on real events between 1976 and 2003.
Virtual Event - Lavie Tidhar in conversation with Samit Basu
Lavie Tidhar in discussion with Sami Basu A Virtual Event This virtual event with Lavie Tidhar, in conversation with Samit Basu, is free to attend! However, all purchases of NEOMor any other of his available books will come with a signed bookplate (while supplies last). Mysterious Galaxy's virtual events are hosted on Crowdcast. Click here to register for the event and here to view our virtual code of conduct.
The Portal Keeper
October 1st The rabbit was back this morning. It stopped outside the portal like it always does and it checked its pocket watch like it always does. It doesn’t matter—the rabbit’s always late. So far I never found out what the rabbit is late for. It wore a jazzy waistcoat. It looked nervously from side to side and mumbled to itself. Then it hopped through the portal and was gone. I trimmed the grass hedges and washed the flagstones and placed fresh seeds in the bird feeder. I’m a portal keeper.
King Arthur Books For Adults
There are few stories that have been as told and retold as the Arthurian legends. Adapted, drawn upon and played around with by everyone from Disney to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, these stories have had a massive impact on culture and literature from the medieval period onwards. There are many reasons for the enduring popularity of King Arthur books and Arthurian retellings.
Announcing The Best of World SF: Volume 2!
This has been a lot of hard work behind the scene, and today I’m delighted to share the cover and table of contents for The Best of World SF: Volume 2! Published by Head of Zeus in hardcover and e-book in September (UK and elsewhere) and November (US), this is big 175,000 words anthology! Cover design by Ben Prior.
Dr. Wasp and Hornet Holmes
Dr. Wasp and Hornet Holmes were gathering nectar one day when Holmes made a startling observation. “The Queen has been behaving rather oddly in recent days,” she said. Dr. Wasp pulled her proboscis from the flower and regarded Holmes with surprise. “However do you mean?” she said. “Do you ever feel that not all is as it seems?” Holmes said.
Reunion
A girl detective. A boy genius. A warrior princess. A young magician. Four young people with extraordinary gifts. For years, they solved mysteries, caught crooks, and slayed monsters. They were secret heroes, keeping an idyllic small town in the middle of America safe from the things that lurked in the dark. Then, the year of their high school graduation, the darkness came for them. During what the media called “New Year’s Evil,” a demonic force rose to turn their hometown into a literal Hell on Earth.
Around the Web: Wallpaper Warming. Painting Pastried. Grim Game. Daily Disruption. Mechanical Maids. Robot Roommate. Hamster Horror. Font Feeling. Bee Befuddlement.
Your Friday Reflective Vortex Using Liquid Gallium Metal Inside a Blender Graphene Climbs the Walls Was it a good week for graphene news? It’s always a good week for graphene news! From Graphene-Info: The “graphene heating system” supposedly looks and feels like traditional wallpaper—except perhaps for the fact that it can be plugged into an electrical socket, which regular wallpaper doesn’t usually require.
Bad Writer by Riddle Fox Games
"The most depressingly realistic writer's life simulation I ever experienced" Lavie Tidhar, author of Maror, Hood, By Force Alone, Osama, Central Station, and others Hello! My name is Emily and I just lost my job. So I decided to chase my dream and try to make it as a writer. I have the support of my wife Cleo, and enough savings for a month. After that, we'll see what happens. But I know I can do it! I just need to stick with writing and submitting short stories each day. What is it?
Science Fiction What's New
A chronological log of updates to the Science Fact and Science Fiction Concatenation e-magazine. You can either scroll down here to find the latest, or alternatively find out from the specialist indexes about recent, SF news, all our science fact and science fiction book reviews, top science fiction films (including for past years), the forthcoming national & international science fiction convention and film diary, and articles or reach these indexes from the front page.
Bad Writer by greybeardgames
"The most depressingly realistic writer's life simulation I ever experienced" Lavie Tidhar, author of Maror, Hood, By Force Alone, Osama, Central Station, and others Hello! My name is Emily and I just lost my job. So I decided to chase my dream and try to make it as a writer. I have the support of my wife Cleo, and enough savings for a month. After that, we'll see what happens. But I know I can do it! I just need to stick with writing and submitting short stories each day. What is it?
Announcing MAROR!
LAVIE TIDHAR’S STATE OF THE NATION NOVEL TO BE PUBLISHED BY HEAD OF ZEUS Head of Zeus is delighted to be publishing Marorby Lavie Tidhar, an angry and moving novel that chronicles the creation of the state of Israel through the lives of its people. CEO and Publisher Nicolas Cheetham acquired UK & Commonwealth, excluding Canada, rights for Maror for Head of Zeus from John Berlyne at the Zeno Agency and will be published in hardback and ebook, under the Apollo fiction imprint, on 4th August 2022.
The 10 best books I read last year … and all the others, too — Constantine von Hoffman
These are the 10 best books I read this year, followed by a list of all the other books I read for the first time this year. (I don’t keep track of what I re-read.) Except for the first and the last, the order doesn’t imply anything. Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison: Text I sent a friend, “Mike Bloomfield was the hot shot American electric guitarist in the early 60s. In ’67 he saw Hendrix play and didn't want to pick up his guitar for a year.
End of Year: 2021
Previous posts: 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 Well, it’s been another weird year. I’m pivoting out of genre and into general fiction next year so that’s much on my mind these days. I’m writing a graphic novel for my long-time artist at the moment while waiting for the year to end. I got into making small mobile games during the seemingly-never-ending pandemic, so there’s that too – a new addition to the annual “end of year” list.
The Jewish Roots of ‘The Escapement’
After a string of pretty Jewish books—A Man Lies Dreaming, Unholy Land, Central Station (the only novel, I think, to feature a detailed bris carried out by a robot mohel) — it felt like a relief to write something that was very, honest my Lord, totally not Jewish in any way like The Escapement. Only I’m not sure that’s quite right.
Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy
Issue 181 – October 2021 Podcast, Original Fiction by Lavie Tidhar, read by Kate Baker TEXT VERSION Our fifth podcast for October is “Rain Falling in the Pines” written by Lavie Tidhar and read by Kate Baker.
'Dracula' brought vampires into the limelight. Let's talk about the best literary blood suckers since.
What is the appeal of the vampire novel - and how did this burgeoning horror subgenre begin? Silvia might point to John Polidori's 1819 novel " The Vampyre," inspired by the same ghost storytelling night on Lake Geneva that gave us Mary Shelley's " Frankenstein." Lavie might counter with Sheridan Le Fanu's " Carmilla," the progenitor of lesbian vampires. But there's no denying it was Bram Stoker who, with 1897's " Dracula," dragged the vampire into the limelight.
Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy
1. Two men in dark sunglasses stepped through the doors of the Monte Carmelo. They stopped and scanned the gloomy inside. Geshem-Nofel-Ba’oranim clocked them and kept to his booth. He knew trouble when it walked through the door looking for him. The two men were armed. Security, probably federal. That’s if Geshem was lucky, if it wasn’t someone he owed money to. The two men stepped up to the bar. “Looking for a Neand,” one said. There was a sudden silence around them at the slur.
The Big Idea: Lavie Tidhar
Posted on September 21, 2021 Posted by John Scalzi 2 Comments When it comes to his new novel The Escapement, author Lavie Tidhar is definitely not clowning around. (is passed note) Oh, wait, that should be, is definitely clowning around. Well, sort of. Look, he’s here to explain it all, I’ll just let him do it, okay? LAVIE TIDHAR: I’m loathe these days to try and give the “big idea” for my books, as all my elevator pitches sound like parodies of proper ones. A Man Lies Dreaming?
Perspective | Let’s talk about the best sword and sorcery books
Classic sword and sorcery stories have a special place in our hearts. To those unfamiliar with the genre, sword and sorcery tales usually follow the adventures of a solitary hero or heroine in a fantasy landscape peopled with supernatural beings — witches, wizards and monsters. If you’ve watched “The Witcher,” then you get the idea. Join us as we stroll (sword in hand!) through the history of the field and look at some notable titles that might have escaped your notice.
Newly Uncovered Manuscript Offers a Different Take on Merlin
If you’re an enthusiast for all things King Arthur, you might have noticed something — namely, that this is a time when an abundance of Arthuriana, historical and revisionist, is out and about. (We’re partial to Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora’s Once & Future and Lavie Tidhar’s By Force Alone, among other works.) And when you’re reading about King Arthur, the wizard Merlin is rarely far behind. All of which makes news of a recent discovery in a British literary archive that much more fascinating.
British Fantasy Awards 2021: Shortlists announced
Votes have been counted, juries have deliberated, and the final shortlists are set! Here are the nominations for the 2021 British Fantasy Awards, with the winners to be announced at FantasyCon in September. Best Newcomer (The Sydney J.
Active vs Passive Editing
An anthology editor once complained to me about the lack of diversity in his own anthology. “I was open to submissions,” he said, “but they never sent me stories!” (When Should Writers Edit Their Work?) We all understand passive editing. In this model, the editor sits in their office, somewhat like a melancholy monarch on the throne, and awaits the entreaties of their loyal subjects.
Perspective | Let’s talk about wonderful Indian science-fiction and fantasy novels
Amitav Ghosh made history in 1997 as the first Indian author to win the Arthur C. Clarke Award, for “The Calcutta Chromosome.” But Ghosh is just one of many writers of must-read Indian science-fiction and fantasy novels. Thankfully, many of these books are becoming more available to American readers — let’s hope this trend continues. There are many traditions of science fiction in South Asia, in several languages.
By Force Alone
We rated this book: Before starting with the praising pejoratives, I must state that this is a masterwork of startling and brutal perspective. I urge adult readers to acquire it as quickly as possible and to immediately sequester it, locked away from their children or conventional parents. There is Philosophy, and there is Filthosophy (yes, I just invented that word—reviewer’s prerogative). We have here a prime example of the latter.
Looking Glass Sound
The Dagger Man of Whistler Bay From the unpublished memoir by Wilder Harlow June, 1989 I’m looking at myself in the bathroom mirror and thinking about love, because I plan on falling in love this summer. I don’t know how or with whom. Outside, the city is a hot tarry mess. There must be someone in New York who … I wish I wasn’t so weird-looking. I’m not even asking to be loved back, just to know what it feels like.
Review | Let’s talk about fantasy and science fiction books that have fallen off the radar
After “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell” was published in 2004 its author, Susanna Clarke, went mostly silent. Hopeful readers wondered what happened to Strange and Norrell next, and only in 2020 did Clarke return with a new, slim novel, “Piranesi,” which didn’t answer the question.
Staff Picks: Pacific Storm by Linda Nagata
It’s Locus’s 2020 Holiday Countdown of Staff Picks! Russell Letson selects Pacific Storm by Linda Nagata: “in Pacific Storm, she explores an increasingly relevant near-future-nightmare territory, one that sits comfortably (or uncomfortably) next to recent work by Christopher Brown (Rule of Capture, Failed State), Greg Egan (Perihelion Summer), Nancy Kress (Sea Change), and even the political-satirical side of Charles Stross (Dead Lies Dreaming).” Read Russell’s full review online or in the...
Is It Time To Kill King Arthur?
From indiscriminately shoring up the legitimacy of Briton and Norman kings to damning us with theater students blurting “Ni!,” it’s fair to say the Arthurian legend has shown its got legs. And there’s no mystery why: It’s a damn good, and, it would seem, endlessly mutable story. An unlikely king rises during a time of strife and conflict. The king brings peace and prosperity to the land. But lo! His foibles lay the seeds for ruin.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Drowned God’s Heresy by Lavie Tidhar
1. It was early evening on the docks of Vinay-Rin, a hot day with no breeze. Men perspired and dogs slept in the shade. The corpse of a Merlangai merchant rotted in the alleyway under the Sign of the Fish. No one attempted to move it. It smelled like molluscs and shrimp. Gorel of Goliris sat at a table at the nearby No Way Inn. He wore his twin guns that bore the seven-pointed star of vanished Goliris. He was clean-shaven, relatively sober, and his boots, for once, were clear of mud.
I like the no friction
Simple Sharing Page A clean, simple landing page with an embedded HTML5 audio player (and audio cards for Twitter and Facebook). Embeddable Audio Player Paste this code to embed an HTML5 audio player with controls. Download URL Useful if you want to create a direct download link, embed in your own player, post from another publishing engine, link to from Patreon, etc.' Social Network Quick Links
Perspective | Beyond ‘The Shining’: Let’s talk about our favorite scary stories that take us inside unusual hauntings
As the leaves fall and pumpkins begin to pop up on porches, is there anything more Halloweeny than haunted houses? Literature is full of abodes fit for the damned, from Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” to the eerie seaside dwellings in Michael McDowell’s “The Elementals.” But to keep things a bit fresh, we decided to focus on unusual hauntings. Venture with us inside — if you dare! Silvia: Old houses are a prime location for hauntings.
BOOKISH TEXAS FOR THE WEEK OF 10.04.2020
Due to COVID-19 cancellations and closings, most events in this week’s calendar are online. (* Denotes nonvirtual, on-location events) The most comprehensive listing of book and author events, festivals, readings, lectures, and signings in the Lone Star State Don't see your book or literary event here? Email Events@lonestarliterary.comwith your complete info two weeks in advance of the issue in which your event is scheduled, and we'll include it.
Head of Zeus
There is a legend... Britannia, AD 535 The Romans have gone. While their libraries smoulder, roads decay and cities crumble, men with swords pick over civilisation's carcass, slaughtering and being slaughtered in turn. This is the story of just such a man. Like the others, he had a sword. He slew until slain. Unlike the others, we remember him. We remember King Arthur. This is the story of a land neither green nor pleasant.
By Force Alone
A retelling of Arthurian myth for the age of Brexit and Trump, from World Fantasy Award-winner Lavie Tidhar, By Force Alone. Everyone thinks they know the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. The fact is they don't know sh*t. Arthur? An over-promoted gangster. Merlin? An eldritch parasite. Excalibur? A shady deal with a watery arms dealer. Britain? A clogged sewer that Rome abandoned just as soon as it could.
Book review: An inventive retelling of the legend of King Arthur
Book review: An inventive retelling of the legend of King Arthur By Force Alone England and the U.S., as George Bernard Shaw quipped, “are two countries separated by a common language.” Jolly good, ol’ chap! Right on, guy! We’re also divided by climate and history, as I was reminded while glimpsing the streaky windows over my English class abroad.
The legend of King Arthur, reimagined » Borneo Bulletin Online
Vivian Shaw THE WASHINGTON POST – There are no ‘parfit gentil knights’ in Lavie Tidhar’s Arthurian epic fantasy By Force Alone. It is a vicious, beautiful, profane and wickedly funny reimagining of the rise and fall of King Arthur without the chivalry, divine right or holy quests. No one is pure of heart, no one is destined to rule; the right of kings is determined solely by the might of kings.
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