PM's Outspoken Authors Books

Winner of a Prometheus and Sidewise Award, this science fiction novella is a comedic and biting commentary on capitalism and an exploration of technological singularity in a posthuman civilization. As a world war rages on without an emerging victor, the story follows John Matheson, an idealistic teenage Scottish guerilla warrior who must change his tactics and alliances with the arrival of an alien species. This alternate history and poignant political satire flips hero types and expectations, delivering a lively tale of adventure--as dramatic and thought provoking as it is funny. Also included is an interview with the author and two essays that relate his poignant views on social philosophies.

Having grown up in late-sixties South Central Los Angeles, Gary Phillips vividly recalls stories of what happened to brothers who ran afoul of the “polices” of the 77th Division. Small wonder that in his teens he organized against police abuse, later became active in the antiapartheid movement, was down against the contras, did duty as a labor rep, worked for a political action committee, and taught incarcerated youth. So of course matters of race, class, and the social fabric, along with influences of blaxploitation films and Jack Kirby comic books, permeate his crime and mystery stories. The Underbelly is a novella about a semi-homeless Vietnam vet searching for a disabled friend gone missing from Skid Row. It’s a solo sortie where the flashback-prone protagonist must deal with gentrification, kick-ass community organizers, an elderly sexpot, a magical skull, chronic-lovin’ knuckleheads, and the perils of chili-cheese fries at midnight. The Underbelly is illustrated with photos and drawings. Plus... A rollicking interview wherein Phillips riffs on Ghetto Lit, politics, noir and the proletariat, the good negroes and bad knee-grows of pop culture, Redd Foxx and Lord Buckley, and wrestles with the future of books in the age of want.

When President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the West, he told them to look especially for mammoths. Jefferson had seen bones and tusks of the great beasts in Virginia, and he suspected—he hoped!—that they might still roam the Great Plains. In Eleanor Arnason’s imaginative alternate history, they do: shaggy herds thunder over the grasslands, living symbols of the oncoming struggle between the Native peoples and the European invaders. And in an unforgettable saga that soars from the badlands of the Dakotas to the icy wastes of Siberia, from the Russian Revolution to the AIM protests of the 1960s, Arnason tells of a modern woman’s struggle to use the weapons of DNA science to fulfill the ancient promises of her Lakota heritage. PLUS: “Writing SF During World War III,” and an Outspoken Interview that takes you straight into the heart and mind of one of today’s edgiest and most uncompromising speculative authors.

As the editor of London’s revolutionary New Worlds magazine in the swinging sixties, Michael Moorcock has been credited with virtually inventing modern Science Fiction: publishing such figures as Norman Spinrad, Samuel R. Delany, Brian Aldiss and J.G. Ballard. Moorcock’s own literary accomplishments include his classic Mother London , a romp through urban history conducted by psychic outsiders; his comic Pyat quartet, in which a Jewish antisemite examines the roots of the Nazi Holocaust; Behold The Man , the tale of a time tourist who fills in for Christ on the cross; and of course the eternal hero Elric , swordswinger, hellbringer and bestseller. And now Moorcock’s most audacious creation, Jerry Cornelius—assassin, rock star, chronospy and maybe-Messiah—is back in Modem Times 2.0 , a time-twisting odyssey that connects 60s London with post-Obama America, with stops in Palm Springs and Guantanamo. Modem Times 2.0 is Moorcock at his most outrageously readable—a masterful mix of erudition and subversion. Plus: The non-fiction essay “My Londons” and an Outspoken Interview with literature’s authentic Lord of Misrule .

The original “Mad Professor” of cyberpunk, Rudy Rucker (along with fellow outlaws William Gibson and Bruce Sterling) transformed modern science fiction, tethering the “gnarly” speculations of quantum physics to the noir sensibilities of a skeptical and disenchanted generation. In acclaimed novels like Wetware and The Hacker and the Ant he mapped a neotopian future that belongs not to sober scientists but to drug-addled, sex-crazed youth. And won legions of fans doing it. In his outrageous new story “The Men in the Back Room at the Country Club,” Dr. Rucker infiltrates fundamentalist Virginia to witness the apocalyptic clash between Bible-thumpers and Saucer Demons at a country club barbecue. He shoots erotica into orbit with “Rapture in Space” to explore the future of foreplay in freefall. In his gonzo nonfiction masterpiece “Surfing the Gnarl,” he documents the role of the Transreal in transforming both the personal and the political, distinguishes with mathematical precision between “high gnarl” and “low gnarl” in literature and life, and argues for remaking popular culture as a revolutionary project. And Featuring: PM’s exclusive Outspoken Interview, in which the author explains Infinity, deconstructs his own outrageous film career, answers one Jeopardy question, and (finally!) reveals the truth about Time. All under oath. You’ll never be the same. Is that good or bad? Your call.

Patty Hearst & The Twinkie Murders is a darkly satiric take on two of the most famous cases of our era: the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst, and the shocking assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and gay leader Harvey Milk. As a reporter for the Berkeley Barb , Paul Krassner was ringside at the spectacular California trials. Krassner’s deadpan, hilarious style captures the nightmare reality behind the absurdities of the courtroom circus. Using his infamous satiric pen and investigative chops, Krassner gets to the truth behind the events: the role of the police and FBI, the real deal with Patty and the SLA, and what really happened in Patty’s infamous closet. Plus: A merciless exposé of the “Taliban” wing of the gay movement and their scandalous attacks on alt-rock star Michelle Shocked. Also featured is our Outspoken Interview, an irreverent and fascinating romp through the secret history of America’s radical underground. Names will be named.

As an ambitious, alienated, and awesomely talented kid from the Bronx, Norman Spinrad rode the revolutionary “New Wave” of 1960s science fiction to fame, if not fortune. His usually angry, often hilarious, and always radical novels changed the field forever. Once devoted to interplanetary adventure, SF began to explore the uneasy intersection between today’s illusions and tomorrow’s dystopian disasters. It grew dark, grew wild, grew up. An all-new novella designed to take a poke at both Christian fundamentalists and corporate CEOs, Raising Hell is a rousing account of the fight to improve working conditions in Hell, for both demons and the damned, with the help of such deceased immortals as Jimmy Hoffa, John L. Lewis, and César Chávez. Plus… “The Abnormal New Normal,” an impolite inquiry into today’s high-finance low-jinks, which unmasks the manipulations of the 1% and proposes a radical fix. And Featuring : our Outspoken Interview, the usual mix of intimate revelation, gossip, and tales from the front lines of writing and publishing.

Since his debut in Terry Carr’s legendary Ace Specials of the 1980s, Carter Scholz has occupied an enviable, if demanding, position on the cutting edge of modern speculative literature (vulgarly called SF). Proudly debuting in this volume, Gypsy is his first major work since his 2002 nuclear thriller Radiance . An interstellar adventure grounded in the hard science of accurate physics and biology, Gypsy soars far beyond the heliosphere of conventional science fiction. Jettisoning the easy warp-drives of fantasy and space opera, Scholz chronicles with chilling realism the epic voyage of a team of far-seeing scientists, who crowdsource a secret starship and abandon the doomed Earth for the Alpha Centauri system, our nearest stellar neighbor and last desperate chance. Heartbreak and hope collide in this moving and visionary tale. Plus ... An epistolary story about a story, “The Nine Billion Names of God,” uses a classic SF text to deconstruct literary deconstruction itself, with hilarious results. In the wickedly droll “Bad Pennies,” a spy tasked with trashing a foreign economy testifies before a complacent Congress. Quietly furious, “The United States of Impunity” is an alarming look under the tent of today’s political sideshow. Adults only. And Featuring : “Gear. Food. Rocks.”—our Outspoken Interview, in which a postmodern Renaissance man charts the synergies and dissonances of a career that embraces both literary and musical composition, reveals the hidden link between winemaking and deep space astronomy, and tells you how to steal his car.

Arguably (and who doesn’t like to argue?) the world’s bestselling cult author, Joe R. Lansdale is celebrated across several continents for his dark humor, his grimly gleeful horror, and his outlaw politics. Welcome to Texas. With hits like Bubba Ho-Tep and The Drive-In the Lansdale secret was always endangered, and the spectacular new Hap and Leonard Sundance TV series is busily blowing whatever cover Joe had left. Backwoods noir some call it; others call it redneck surrealism. Joe’s signature style is on display here in all its grit, grime, and glory, beginning with two (maybe three) previously unpublished Hap and Leonard tales revealing the roots of their unlikely partnership. Plus… A hatful and a half of Joe’s notorious Texas Observer pieces that helped catapult him from obscurity into controversy; and “Miracles Ain’t What They Used to Be,” Lansdale’s passionately personal take on the eternal tussles between God and Man, Texas and America, racism and reason—and religion and common sense. And Featuring: Our Outspoken Interview, in which piney woods dialect, Bible thumpery, martial arts, crime classics and Hollywood protocols are finally awarded the attention they deserve. Or don’t.

Hand, Elizabeth, or Liz as she’s known to her colleagues, students, and devoted fans, is a maverick in modern fiction: a fearless literary sojourner whose award-winning novels and short stories mix murder and magic, high fantasy and post-punk noir in extravagant and unforgettable new ways. The title story, “Fire.”—written especially for this volume—is a harrowing postapocalyptic adventure in a world threatened by global conflagration. Based on Hand’s real-life experience as a participant in a governmental climate change think tank, it follows a ragtag cadre of scientists and artists racing to save both civilization and themselves from fast-moving global fires. “The Woman Men Didn’t See” is an expansion of Hand’s acclaimed critical assessment of author Alice Sheldon, who wrote award-winning SF as “James Tiptree, Jr.” in order to conceal identity from both the SF community and her CIA overlords. Another nonfiction piece, “Beyond Belief,” recounts her difficult passage from alienated teen to serious artist. Also included are “Kronia,” a poignant time-travel romance, and “The Saffron Gatherers,” two of Hand’s favorite and less familiar stories. Plus: a bibliography and our candid and illuminating Outspoken Interview with one of today’s most inventive authors.

The title novella, “The Atheist in the Attic,” appearing here in book form for the first time, is a suspenseful and vivid historical narrative, recreating the top-secret meeting between the mathematical genius Leibniz and the philosopher Spinoza caught between the horrors of the cannibalistic Dutch Rampjaar and the brilliant “big bang” of the Enlightenment. Plus: equal parts history, confession, complaint, gossip, and personal triumph, Delany’s “Racism and Science Fiction” combines scholarly research and personal experience in the unique true story of the first major African American author in the genre. And featuring: a bibliography, an author biography, and our candid, uncompromising, and customary Outspoken Interview.

Rachel Pollack is a sorceress, a wizard with words who spins together the spiritual, the political, and the passionate in her unique, indeed inimitable, tales. An award-winning SF and Fantasy author, she is also an esteemed Tarot Grand Master with devotees and students around the world. A progressive voice in the transgender community and a trusted guide to the ancient traditions of shamanism, she writes of shimmering and dangerous worlds that have never been imagined before—much less explored. Her queer cult favorite “The Beatrix Gates” draws on magic realism, quantum science, memoir, and myth to tell the story of a girl born not in the wrong body but in the wrong universe. Plus… “Trans Central Station,” written especially for this volume, is Pollack’s personal and penetrating take on the transgender experience then and now—and tomorrow? “Burning Beard” is a fiercely revisionist Old Testament tale of plague and prophecy told through a postmodern prose of, shall we say, many colors. “The Woman Who Didn’t Come Back” is about just what it says it’s about. And Featuring: Our Outspoken Interview, which tells us all about comics history, the automotive origins of Tarot, the benefits of Nerd celebrity, and why the Sun exists. It will be on the test.

Nisi Shawl’s steampunk-flavored alternate history of the “Belgian” Congo, Everfair , has taken the science fiction and fantasy world by storm. No surprise there. Their swift, sure, and savvy short stories had already established them as a cutting-edge Afrofuturist icon whose politically charged fiction is in the grand feminist tradition of Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, and Suzy McKee Charnas. In these previously uncollected stories, Shawl explores the unexpected possibilities and perils opened up by SF&F’s new intersectionality. In Shawl’s side-slippery world, sex can be both commerce and worship, complete with ancient rites, altars, and ointments (“Women of the Doll”); a virtual reality high school is a proving ground for girlpacks and their unfortunate adversaries (“Walk like a Man”); and a British rock singer finds an image in a mirror that reflects both future hits and ancient horrors (“Something More”). Also included is a presentation at a southern university, in which they patiently (and gleefully) deconstructs the academic and arcane intersections between ancient rites and modern tech. Ifa, anyone? Plus: Our Outspoken Interview with Shawl, in which unapologetics are proffered, riddles are unraveled, and icons are, as always, clasted.

“Elison offers a troubling yet hopeful vision of the future.” — Los Angeles Review of Books “A strikingly powerful story of one woman’s physical and emotional resourcefulness under the most dire of circumstances. An apocalyptic page-turner that picks up where Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale left off.” —Jackie Hatton, Tor.com “I could talk about female empowerment, body positivity, and gender flexibility. But those terms are wholly inadequate for Meg Elison’s clear-eyed satire in the guise of fantasy and science fiction. Powered by rage, incandescent with a deep understanding of injustice, angry for all the right reasons, yet still essentially optimistic, these are the stories I need to keep me warm through the long dark night. Compelling and fierce and unstoppable.” —Pat Murphy, World Fantasy Award winner “Meg Elison’s stories will raise blisters on your conscience. Her politics are smart, her prose is like a razor, and her characters will break your heart. Read at your own risk.” —Annalee Newitz, author of Autonomous “Meg Elison’s work is visceral and compelling. A voice that doesn’t so much demand attention as it 100 percent deserves every ounce of it.” —Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Hugo-winning writer and editor

Upending and recombining familiar genres with fearless abandon, Nick Mamatas is known for his wicked satires in which Horror rides shotgun with SF as they power through Fantasy’s rush-hour traffic. Lanes are crossed, speed limits exceeded, and minds often blown. Our title piece, original to this volume, is something entirely new. Trust me. “The Planetbreaker’s Son” is a starship novella in which interstellar emigrants maintain their stadium-sized vessel with dreams and play. On the fly. Think Pinocchio meets Ender’s Game . “Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring” is a cautionary tale about the perilous interface between ancient wizardry and modern ringtones. And it’s for you. “The Term Paper Artist” is Nick’s celebrated and hilarious how-to on embellishing the academic establishment with equal parts imitation and duct tape. Based on a true story of lies. And Featuring : of course, our casually candid Outspoken Interview, in which Greek sailors, Japanese manga mavens, Doc Martens, Lovecraft, Grandma, and Kerouac mingle and mix. Care to dance?

“Arctic Sky” tells of a young climate activist who discovers her own courage in the frozen depths of a Russian prison. “Palimpsest” is set on a bionic (living)space station that launches explorers into the farthest reaches of Time and Space. In “The Room on the Roof” an ancient culture meets modern mysteries with unexpected results. Our non-fiction title piece, “Utopias of the Third Kind,” is a first look at actual utopias that are responding to our looming dystopian nightmare. “Hunger” is a short story that finds both understanding and forgiveness for humankind’s original sin. Our Outspoken Interview and a bibliography round out this new collection.