It has been a couple of months since my latest collaboration with Iain McIntyre, Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985, hit the shelves in the US, and a lot has been happening. So, a short update is in order.
The book, available via the publisher PM Press, as well as all other book selling platforms has been well received. It made The Washington Post’s list of best science fiction, fantasy and horror books for 2021, and was also postively reviewed – twice – on the influential science fiction site, Locus. Ian Mond wrote in one of these reviews that ‘With its gorgeous interiors and thoughtful, detailed essays, I know that Dangerous Visions and New Worlds will inform newbies like myself while providing those familiar with the subject matter a contemporary perspective on the New Wave’s radical antecedents and the influential foundational texts the movement produced’ (you can read Mond’s full review here).
Our book was generously reviewed in Forbes magazine, on one of my favourite sites, We Are the Mutants, and for Counterpunch. I was also a guest on the wonderful British podcast, Breakfast in the Ruins. You can listen to the discussion, which ranged from new wave science fiction, to Norman Jewison’s 1975 film Rollerball, and the wonder that is New English Library’s teensploitation novels of the 1970s, in full here.
Things have been a little slower on the Australian front, largely due to the fact that the books have not yet arrived via our local distributor. That said, my co-editor and I have copies, which we have supplied to Melbourne bookstores Brunswick Bound, Metropolis Bookshop, and Lulus. If any local readers want me to send them a copy, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below and I will be in contact.
Iain and I have a number of things cooking in terms of upcoming publicity and events. The most exciting of these is a two day on-line symposium on the Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction 1950-1985 book, organised by the iconic San Francisco bookshop City Lights.
The symposium will take place on Saturday, February 26th and Sunday 27th San Francisco time, so it will be the Sunday 27th and the Monday 28th for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere. The two days will feature a large number of authors, including icons of the new wave science fiction scene, Michael Moorcock, Marge Piercy, and Samuel Delany. I am particularly excited – and more than a little nervous – to interviewing Piercy and US SF writer Terry Bisson on the second day on the topic ‘The Forever War: Vietnam’s impact on sci-fi’.
The event is on line and free to all but you will need to register at the event page on the City Lights site.
Last, but not least, if you have read the Dangerous Visions and New Worlds book and enjoyed it, it would be great if you could find the time to leave a review and/or rating on Amazon or Goodreads.
