Well, the internet doesn’t seem to reflect it yet, but the latest issue of Fifth Estate (which I believe to be North America’s longest-running anarchist periodical) is centered around anarchism and fiction. I just got a copy at the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair and am excited to read it. I contributed an article as well, covering the history and present of anarchist fiction as best as I was able from my research for Mythmakers & Lawbreakers.
I’m excited to be in this documentary that’s coming out on steampunk, Vintage Tomorrows, alongside Jaymee Goh, Cherie Priest, Cory Doctorow, Libby Bulloff, and who knows how many more talented and awesome people.
Five years after its first incarnation, I’m coming back to my position as print editor of SteamPunk Magazine! I edited issues 1-4 and about half of #5, and then my dear friend Allegra Hawksmoor took over up until issue #7. She had her own reasons to step back from the project, and I’ve been so inspired by so many people in steampunk that I’ve felt the call to return to editing the damn thing. Full-time unpaid labor, here I come!
The magazine will be published by Combustion Books.
The day has come at last! I’m in a van halfway between Death Valley and Yosemite using my friend’s phone for internet while he drives and my first fiction book is out.
What Lies Beneath The Clock Tower, published by Combution Books and distributed by AK Press. Reviewed by Boing Boing and Fantasy Book Review.
That’s the last I’ll post of it for awhile, don’t worry. I’ll resume travel pictures and complaining about politics shortly.
I was honored to be interviewed by Jon Decker over at Grasping @ Creativity as a “featured creative.” I met him at the steampunk world’s fair and had a number of good conversations with the fellow. We talked about steampunk and politics and DIY mostly.
It isn’t going to be released for another month still, but we got What Lies Beneath The Clock Tower back from the printer. It’s Combustion Books’ first title, and it’s my first fiction book.
I don’t know why I haven’t been talking about this more. I worked on this book for years. And now it’s going to be the first book release by the newly formed Combustion Books, a collective-run fiction publisher I’m part of.
This is my first novel and I’m proud as hell of it. It will be released on June 17th, 2011.
It’s available for pre-order from AK Press: What Lies Beneath The Clock Tower.
Descend into the depths of the undercity and embroil yourself in the political struggles of colonialist gnomes and indigenous goblins. Fly in air balloons, drink mysterious and pleasant cocktails, smoke opium with the dregs of gnomish society. Or dream and speak of liberation for all the races. Fall in love and abscond into the caverns. It’s up to you, because this is an adventure of your own choosing. From the founder of SteamPunk Magazine and editor of our very own Mythmakers & Lawbreakers comes this interactive novel of danger, drugs, and revolution.
“If you make your way through to the end, you’ll discover that Killjoy’s not just spinning a shaggy-dog story—there’s a surprising amount of heart and adventure to be had if you’re bold enough to choose the path of heroism.”
—Cory Doctorow, author of For The Win“In What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower, the estimable Margaret Killjoy takes a story-form usually associated with younger readers and infuses it with decadence and absinthe along with delirious and dissolute fantasy. If you’re choosing your own adventure, I strongly recommend you make it this one.”
—Alan Moore, author of Watchmen“A highly imaginative, energetic debut that’s subversive and intelligent.”
—Jeff VanderMeer, author of Shriek: An Afterword“As I aspire to be a drunken and feckless adventurer myself, I felt great kinship with Our Hero Gregory. Well done sir, well done indeed!”
—Jake von Slatt, proprietor of steampunkworkshop.com
I went once again to the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam (see posts from my recent trip to the IISH and my trip from a year ago to the IISH). Here’s what I photographed this time:
I’ll be at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam for a few days next week doing research, with “research” being defined as “geeking out over anarchist fiction and shit.” I was there last year and photographed a lot of spanish anarchist fiction and some other stuff, which is available online. On Friday, I photographed:
If anyone wants to search the archives and suggest materials for me to photograph, I’d be quite likely happy to oblige.
Here are some more photos of the magpies I saw outside the building. Did you know a group of us is called a “tiding” ?
[flickr album=72157626412082196 num=3 size=Medium]
In January, I sat down with an old friend and his friend to record more accordion music. I haven’t been performing or recording accordion songs in a few years, because I was frustrated with my voice and hadn’t yet figured out what I’d rather be doing with it. But after a long evening of recording, the pair managed to coax something new out of me, and I’m very happy with it. It’s likely that I’ll be returning to acoustic songwriting in the near future.
Embedded above is a cover of “Sam Hall,” more famously sung by Johnny Cash.
It’s part of Prison is an Angry Father (also available via bandcamp), a benefit album to support prison abolition. Which is something I can certainly get behind. The album itself isn’t what I run across often in the anarchist scene: it’s weird, jazzy, poetic. A lot of the tracks are poetry, in fact. Imagine an earnest (and reasonably unpretentious) modern incarnation of the beats, perhaps. Please listen to the album and consider buying it to support the project they’re working on.
