Thursday, March 06, 2008

"Unique Chicken" is online

For the duration of awards season, my Nebula-nominated story "Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse," from Jonathan Strahan's Eclipse One anthology, is available as a free download at the website of the book's publisher, Night Shade Books.

Whatever happens at the Nebulas -- and no, I don't expect to win -- I'm honored by all the nice things folks have said about the story.

  • Michael Swanwick: “Wonderfully demented … The highlight of the book … It’s good enough to make principled men go against their conscience and vote to give a genre award to a mainstream story. Honest.”
  • Nancy Kress: “Hilarious … funny and sad with a punch at the end … This story is wonderful. … Like all Duncan stories, it’s difficult to say briefly what it’s ‘about.’ Maybe it’s about what miracles mean, what grace means, and why extremes are needed to bring about both. Or not.”
  • Gardner Dozois: “What it is is an Andy Duncan story, who’s a genre to himself.”
  • Jeffrey Ford: “The story is great. ... Definitely read it.”
  • Ed Park: “Odd, mesmerizing … Duncan’s brisk little fiction develops into a sly variant of [Flannery] O’Connor’s intense modern morality tales.”
  • Mark Bartlett: “Probably the best Duncan story I've read.”
  • Kathryn Cramer: “A really cool story.”

    "Unique Chicken" also is on the Locus 2007 Recommended Reading List and has been named one of the top stories of the year by SFRevu.com.

    My mother-in-law likes it, too.

    My thanks to all. I'm surprised and gratified.
  • 2 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    I'm so glad Nightshade posted the story online...not that I didn't already have my copy suitable for framing. And I've actually heard all the good bits read aloud in the appropriate southern drawl by a man in a fish-tie.

    Oz

    Meghan said...

    I am going to read it right now; the title is awesome. Also, I saw your book about Alabama Curiosities on the coffee table at the Bottletree, an indie music bar in Birmingham, and I got really excited.

    -meghan holmes