
Starlings
by Jo Walton; Jo Walton; Jo Walton
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Pub Date Feb 23 2018 | Archive Date May 15 2018
Description
“Exquisitely written feats of imagination, each one leaving an impression long after it’s done.”
Kelley Armstrong, author of Bitten and Rituals
In her first collection, award-winning novelist Jo Walton (Among Others, The King’s Peace, Necessity) delivers both subtle legends and reinvented realities. An ancient coin cyber-spies on lovers and thieves. The magic mirror sees all but can do nothing. A cloned savior solves a fanatically-inspired murder. Three Irish siblings thieve treasures with bad poetry and the aid of the Queen of Cats.
A Note From the Publisher2>
Jo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian author of science fiction, fantasy, and poetry. She has published thirteen novels, and her fourteenth, Lent, is due out in Fall 2018. She has also published three poetry collections and an essay collection. Walton is the recipient of the John W. Campbell, Hugo, World Fantasy, James Tiptree, Jr., and Locus awards. She comes from Wales, has lived in England, and now lives in Montreal, where the food and books are much better.
Advance Praise
Praise for Starlings
A Verge Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book You’ll Want to Read in January
A Chicago Tribune New Short Story Collection Worth Reading
A Barnes & Noble Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Book of January 2018
An Unbound Worlds Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book of February 2018
—Kirkus
“This collection of fiction and poetry from Hugo- and Nebula-winner Walton (The Just City) showcases her trademark focus on genre and philosophical questions . . . fans of the [short] form will have plenty to appreciate.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Starlings isn't really a short-story collection. It's something better:
a written showreel, illustrating yet again that [Walton’s] imagination stretches
to the stars (or the starlings), and that she's endlessly inventive in finding
new methods to express it.
—NPR Books
“Walton's diverse collection of stories and poems sparkles with originality and fun. The joy of this book will linger with me for a while.”
—Beth Cato, author of The Clockwork Dagger
“Starlings is a showcase of Jo Walton's diverse talents—a collection too varied to be summed up in a few words. From fairytale fantasy to hard science fiction, from laugh-aloud play script to finely crafted poetry, with a writing experiment or two thrown in, Starlings should delight Walton's existing fans and garner many new ones.”
—Juliet Marillier, author of Daughter of the Living Forest
“Stephen King once wrote that ‘a short story is like a kiss in the dark from a stranger’—that is, sudden, pleasant, mysterious, dangerous, and exciting—and the collected short fiction of Jo Walton is exemplary of the principle.”
—Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother
“Jo Walton's short writings have for decades been among the things that make the Internet worthwhile. She makes science fiction illuminate life. This collection lives up to its title: iridescent, dark, gregarious, talkative and ever ready to fly up.”
—Ken MacLeod, author of Newton’s Wake and the Corporation Wars series
“Reading this collection felt like watching a wizard at the cauldron having fun with new spells . . . I recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys fantasy, Jo Walton’s previous works, or wants to try shorter works before committing to longer ones.”
—Infinite Text
“Jo Walton’s delightful collection, Starlings, runs the gamut from homemade fairy tales to hard-boiled cloned-Jesus detectives (just wait for the shaggy dog); to a play with figures out of Irish myth, and a talking dragon; to a selection of her fantastic poems. It’s the kind of collection you can glide through, often while laughing out loud.
—Gregory Frost, author of Shadowbridge
“One of the things I love about Walton’s work is her range of human possibility, from laughter to horror, but above all a reveling in profligate beauty. This collection celebrates the best in the human spirit.”
—Sherwood Smith, author of Rebel and Revenant Eve
“Multiple award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Jo Walton’s first short fiction collection is a captivating array of fairy tales, mythology, space fiction, machine sentience, alien encounters, heaven, and more.”
—Read Well
“I recommend Starlings to lovers of science fiction and fantasy who want bite-sized
pieces to enjoy and savor. It's an eclectic mix of themes and tones, some
humorous and some dark, that will keep you guessing.”
—Den of Geek
“As varied, as skilled, as intriguing as her
novels, this is a stunning collection of stories, vignettes, poetry and more.”
—Best Science Fiction
Books
“Coupled with
Walton’s frank self-assessments, the collection offers an incredible sense of
intimacy. It’s the closest we’ll come to understanding how Jo Walton’s dizzying
writer’s mind ticks along, and how her imagination flows. It’s a rare
opportunity, to peek in on the inventor in her workshop. Starlings is
revelatory not only as a collection of fiction, but as a sort of biography of
the process of writing itself. Fascinating.”
—Barnes and Noble
Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
“Sharp,
focused, and fresh.”
—Geek Dad
“5/5 stars. There wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about
[Starlings]. It ticked all boxes for me.”
The Misadventures of a
Reader
“A wild
and wonderful imagination at work.”
—Emerald City Book Review
“A master class
in studying technique, form, and ending stories with zingers.”
—Lightspeed
"Walton’s honesty and bold confidence gives this
collection its edge; her voice and passion is clear throughout and many of the
themes and ideas she weaves into her stories are thought-provoking and
resonant. A strong collection from a giant of fiction."
—Novel Observations
“Walton’s writing is as good as ever. But what really shines
through this collection is the calibre of Walton’s ideas.”
—Strangely Charmless
“Lovely and artful, a
definite must read for 2018.”
—A Bookish Beginning
“Recommended, and not
just for Walton completists!”
—Big Book Balloon
“Displays Walton’s formidable erudition, and her
fascination with the various forms stories can take . . . Starlings as
a whole may be the most interesting anatomy of that imagination than we’ve yet
seen in one volume.”
—Locus
Praise for Jo Walton
On Necessity
“Brilliant, compelling, and, frankly, unputdownable.”
—NPR
“As before, Walton has done a superb job of world building and character development, giving readers a novel that both stimulates and satisfies.”
—Booklist, starred review
“There’s more substance here than in many actual philosophy books.”
—Romantic Times
On Among Others
“A wonder and a joy.”
—New York Times
“Never deigning to transcend the genre to which it is clearly a love letter, this outstanding (and entirely teen-appropriate) tale draws its strength from a solid foundation of sense-of-wonder and what-if.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“There are the books you want to give all your friends, and there are the books you wish you could go back and give your younger self. And then there’s the rare book, like Jo Walton’s Among Others, that’s both.”
—io9.com
On The King’s Peace
“The King’s Peace is the novel that The Mists of Avalon shouldhave been.”
—Debra Doyle, author of School of Wizardry
“Walton writes with an authenticity that never loses heart, a rare combination in a genre where we are so often offeredone or the other.”
—Robin Hobb, author of Assassin’s Apprentice
“There is not an ill-written sentence . . . Never lacks immediacy or loses its historical quality.”
—VOYA
Marketing Plan
Planned publicity and marketing
Promotion at major trade and genre conventions, including BEA, Readercon, the World Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions
Features, interviews, and reviews targeting TRADE, literary, and genre venues, including the Washington Post, NPR, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the San Francisco Chronicle
Author appearance tour dates TBD
Planned galley distribution and book giveaways to include NetGalley, Goodreads, Edelweiss, Tor.com, and additional online outlets
Advertising and promotion in national print, online outlets, and social media
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781616960568 |
PRICE | CA$23.95 (CAD) |
PAGES | 288 |
Average rating from 95 members
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