Membership in CSFFA is $10/yr and open to any Canadian, and includes the right to nominate and vote for the Auroras.
My short story, "Age of Miracles", was nominated for a 2017 Aurora in the short story category, so is included in this year's voters' package. I'm really pleased because that means more people will likely have the opportunity to read the story, though the anthology it's from, Strangers Among Us is a good one (six aurora nominations in all!) and well worth buying.
Friday 1 PM: Live Action Slush - Early Bird Edition (Panel) in Fireside room
Friday 4 PM: Common Manuscript Problems (Panel) in 1-Parkland
Friday 6 PM: Writers’ + Editors’ Speed Mingle (Interactive) in A-Waterton
Saturday 10 AM: Pantsers vs Plotters (panel) in 2-Bonavista
Saturday 11 AM: Managing Sustained Writing Projects (Presentation) in 9-Rundle
Saturday 1 PM:Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and the Experience of Writing (Panel) in B-Canmore
Saturday 2 PM: Five Rivers Publishing Presents (Book Launch/Social) in Fireside room
Sunday 10 AM: Live Action Slush – YA Edition (Panel)3-Willow Park
Sunday 11 AM: The Publishers Panel: Novels (Panel) in 2-Bonavista
Sunday 2 PM:Working with an Editor (Presentation) in Rundle
Sunday 3 PM: Blue Pencil (Workshop) Café 6-Heritage
If you have a membership and are coming, let me know and maybe we can get together in the evenings or between panels (when I have more than a five minute break).
This is my favourite collection of Hughes short stories so far—which is saying something, because his collections have all been quite wonderful. Seven of these stories originally appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine (a significant guarantor of quality), one in a Gardner Dozios anthology (likewise, a good sign), and one is original to this volume—and frankly, a new Raffalon story is itself worth the price of admission.
The tales of Raffalon the Thief are not so much about thievery as they are about Raffalon extricating himself from one impossible predicament after another, often revolving around his involuntary involvement with various wizards. The stories in this volume fit together almost seamlessly, the characters or situations carrying over from one to the next, as we follow Raffalon's escapades to a surprisingly satisfying ending in "The Inn of the Seven Blessings". The individual stories are engaging mysteries, heists, or escapes set against Hughes' ongoing universe/magical system, and the characterization of Raffalon is delightfully twisted. Raffalon's ethical deficiencies seem entirely reasonable given the even worse characters against which he is pitted, and an age in which crime has been amusingly bureaucratized through the Guild of Purloiners and Purveyors.
It is, however, the dialog—and more especially, Raffalon's interior reflections—that sets Hughes apart from all others. "Droll" doesn't begin to cover it, because it is not merely witty, but reflects a worldview just completely off kilter. It all makes complete sense in the eccentric universe of Hughes' distant future, but one is left wishing both that people actually talked like that, and profoundly thankful that no one actually thinks that way.
Hughes' brand of dark humour is completely unique. A comparison with Jack Vance is often evoked to describe Hughes' work, but entirely misses that Hughes is often, as here, wincingly funny. I cannot recommend 9 Tales of Raffalon highly enough, to both long time fans and those not yet familiar with this grand master of the genre.
Runté reviews of some other Mathew Hughes books:
