SciFi & Fantasy Novels

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The Alienated Critic: a column by D. Douglas Fratz

SF Site

16 May 2013 | 4:00 am

The novella (or short novel) may be the best of all lengths for science fiction -- long enough to fully explore the complex ideas, narratives, settings and characters needed for excellence in SF, but short enough to avoid the need for extraneous material that too often slows the pacing, diverts reader attention, and dilutes the emotional and intellectual impact of the story. D. Douglas Fratz believes that a persuasive case for this can be made with examples throughout the history of modern science fiction. He also gives us a glimpse into how he became a fan of ebooks and their role in his…
Why Boston? A Plea For Support

SF Novelists

David B. Coe

23 May 2013 | 9:53 am

Let me start with this: For those of you who don’t know, I am hosting a fundraiser/giveaway to benefit the victims of the Boston Bombing through the One Fund of Boston. The details on the fundraiser and how the various giveaways work can be found here: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/DBJacksonThieftaker/thieftakergiveaway You can also make your donation at that site, and I would urge you — beg you — to do so. Many victims of the bombing face years of rehabilitation and medical treatment, the costs of which are scarcely comprehensible. Though the bombing…
Tweets for the week of 05-11-2013

Eric James Stone

Eric James Stone

18 May 2013 | 10:59 pm

Blog post: http://t.co/5Kk9UaapnY – Tweets for the week of 05-04-2013 00:00:27, 2013-05-12 @jimduckett Well, you seemed like a man of obvious taste and discernment. in reply to jimduckett 22:56:50, 2013-05-14 I interview alternate history author @LauraSAndersen over at the blog of the Association for Mormon Letters: http://t.co/GgypjWQ2hC 13:58:49, 2013-05-15
Meet Cambridge Ramada

Fabianspace

23 May 2013 | 5:27 am

One of my favorite characters in The Maltese Falcon is Kasper Gutman. I liked that he was affable yet dangerous, had cunning and intelligence, and in the end, could shake off defeat and consider it an adventure. He was also comfortable with his weight, and didn't keep him for dressing well. Here's a clip of him with Sam Spade in the movie:I kept those qualities in his Greater Treasures analog, Cambridge Ramada. I needed a good buy (or at least one who was neutral) to offset my villains. Ramada is a private detective with an unusual specialty: artifacts and…
Weight Loss for Geeks Part Five: Money

James Maxey - Jawbone of an Ass

25 May 2013 | 6:42 am

One side effect of losing a lot of weight: It can be a little expensive. I've lost eight inches from my waist size, closing in on ten. I started out wearing a 42" waistband, but by the time I hit a 38" waist, trying to keep my old pants on was somewhat comic. I bought several new pairs with a 38" waist, but they were soon pretty baggy, and 36" inch waists fit much better. Now, I'm in 34" and

SF Site
The Alienated Critic: a column by D. Douglas Fratz

16 May 2013 | 4:00 am

The novella (or short novel) may be the best of all lengths for science fiction -- long enough to fully explore the complex ideas, narratives, settings and characters needed for excellence in SF, but short enough to avoid the need for extraneous material that too often slows the pacing, diverts reader attention, and dilutes the emotional and intellectual impact of the story. D. Douglas Fratz believes that a persuasive case for this can be made with examples throughout the history of modern science fiction. He also gives us a glimpse into how he became a fan of ebooks and their role in his…
Death Perception by Lee Allen Howard

16 May 2013 | 4:00 am

Kennet Singleton is not your usual nineteen-year-old. Many would be out enjoying themselves at that age, out with their friends, chasing girls, and other things associated with teenage life. Not Kennet, his life with his invalid mother means he has to care for her most of the time, and the only break he gets is working at the local funeral home where he cremates the dearly departed. This type of teen would give some the impression that he is a young Norman Bates character.
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

16 May 2013 | 4:00 am

When the Others came, it was not in peace. They destroyed our modern infrastructure. They drowned our cities. They sent a plague to weed out the vast majority of the survivors. They enlisted silent killers and deadly drones to pick off the stragglers. And now those few who've made it this far must worry about the rumored 5th Wave, the one that will eradicate the last remnants of humanity and leave the Earth to its new owners.
New Arrivals compiled by Neil Walsh

16 May 2013 | 4:00 am

Forthcoming books include the latest from Joe Hill, Naomi Novik, Joe R. Lansdale, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mark Hodder, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Drew Karpyshyn, and much more.
Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane edited by Jonathan Oliver

16 May 2013 | 4:00 am

This book is a short sometimes sweet anthology, including the works of fifteen authors variously celebrated -- some deservedly so -- and others living on the fumes. There is no single theme to the collection, or anything to connect the individual plots, but the overall tone is a dark one, and concerns the dangers to both the victims and the practitioners whenever the power of magic is abused.

SF Novelists
Why Boston? A Plea For Support

David B. Coe

23 May 2013 | 9:53 am

Let me start with this: For those of you who don’t know, I am hosting a fundraiser/giveaway to benefit the victims of the Boston Bombing through the One Fund of Boston. The details on the fundraiser and how the various giveaways work can be found here: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/DBJacksonThieftaker/thieftakergiveaway You can also make your donation at that site, and I would urge you — beg you — to do so. Many victims of the bombing face years of rehabilitation and medical treatment, the costs of which are scarcely comprehensible. Though the bombing…
You keep using that word

Marie Brennan

16 May 2013 | 3:00 am

Almost every “how to write” book I’ve ever seen has a section devoted to style. Or sometimes voice. Or sometimes one for each. Frequently with vaporous declarations about it arising from the writer’s soul in some mysterious, half-divine fashion. I have a secret to share. When it comes to this subject, I don’t think we — writers as a group — have any idea what we’re talking about. Okay, maybe that’s an unfair way to put it. More accurate to say, I don’t think we have any agreement as to what we’re talking about. I have seen…
The Skill List Project: Exposition Preliminaries

James Alan Gardner

29 Apr 2013 | 7:34 am

This is another post in The Skill List Project: an attempt to list all the skills involved in writing and selling fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy. Last time, I said that we’d begin looking at the E-word: exposition. So let’s get to it. Opening Exposition Exposition means conveying background information so that the reader can understand the story. A famous (and blatant) example of exposition is the Star Wars crawl at the start of the first Star Wars movie: “It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first…
Three Authors Who Got Me Started

David B. Coe

23 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am

I am on the verge of finishing the manuscript of the third volume in my Thieftaker series (written as D. B. Jackson). The book is tentatively called City of Shades, and it will not see light of day until the Summer of 2014 (book 2 in the series, Thieves’ Quarry, will be out on July 2 of this year), and in fact it’s not really done, since eventually I will have revisions to do, and then copyedits, and then proofs, and . . . well, you get the idea. But soon, and for a while at least, it will be out of my hair. And that’s a good thing. The Thieftaker books are a bit of a…
Noun of Nouns

Marie Brennan

16 Apr 2013 | 3:00 am

I wish I were a classical music composer. Or a visual artist — they can get away with it, too. “Third Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Minor.” “Untitled #16.” “Sonata in D.” “Red Four.” Don’t have an actual title? Doesn’t matter! Just call it what it is! Authors aren’t allowed to get away with that. As I remarked on LiveJournal recently, I cannot in fact call my next book “Victoriain’t Fantasy Number Two in West African Major.” It needs a name, a real one, something that describes what it is without,…

Eric James Stone
Tweets for the week of 05-11-2013

Eric James Stone

18 May 2013 | 10:59 pm

Blog post: http://t.co/5Kk9UaapnY – Tweets for the week of 05-04-2013 00:00:27, 2013-05-12 @jimduckett Well, you seemed like a man of obvious taste and discernment. in reply to jimduckett 22:56:50, 2013-05-14 I interview alternate history author @LauraSAndersen over at the blog of the Association for Mormon Letters: http://t.co/GgypjWQ2hC 13:58:49, 2013-05-15
Tweets for the week of 05-04-2013

Eric James Stone

11 May 2013 | 10:59 pm

RT @davidfarland: Happy Star Wars Day! Help us #HelpBen, son of a Star Wars author. Ben has brain trauma: http://t.co/4Sl1lxD9rA #maythefou… 19:11:55, 2013-05-04 Blog post: http://t.co/O8scAJReRt – Tweets for the week of 04-27-2013 23:59:08, 2013-05-04 Watch our wedding video, complete with trumpet fanfare, robot ring-bearer & helicopters: http://t.co/FcDvkEmBWT 09:04:53, 2013-05-06 Sometimes my brain wants to pronounce "misled" to rhyme with "fizzled." 13:30:58, 2013-05-07 @daviddlevine Hmm. Does MS Word have a word weight function? in reply to daviddlevine…
Tweets for the week of 04-27-2013

Eric James Stone

4 May 2013 | 10:59 pm

Blog post: http://t.co/rsle7KjKLU – Tweets for the week of 04-20-2013 00:00:44, 2013-04-28 RT @trevso_electric: I want to defend a penguin in court just so I can say, "Your Honor. My client is clearly not a flight risk." 15:59:20, 2013-04-29 @LeahCypess It's not really that difficult. Email me your manuscript and I can do it in under 2 minutes. in reply to LeahCypess 11:03:38, 2013-05-01 @LeahCypess It would take me longer to explain than to do it. in reply to LeahCypess 11:04:01, 2013-05-01 @EricDSnider Suprisingly, you don't see a distinction between a headline…
Ender’s World is out

Eric James Stone

2 May 2013 | 6:27 am

The anthology of essays about Ender’s Game I talked about here is now available. My essay is titled “How It Should Have Ended,” and you can read the beginning over on the SmartPop Books website. Here’s the table of contents: Introduction: Ender’s World – Orson Scott Card How It Should Have Ended – Eric James Stone The Monster’s Heart – John Brown The Cost of Breaking the Rules – Mary Robinette Kowal Winning and Losing in Ender’s Game – Hilari Bell Parallax Regained – David Lubar, Alison S. Myers Mirror, Mirror –…
Manuscript Tip: How to replace underlining with italics in Microsoft Word

Eric James Stone

1 May 2013 | 5:25 pm

For years, standard manuscript format has held that italics should be indicated by underlining. So many writers are used to underlining in their manuscripts. But some editors and agents now prefer to have real italics instead of underlines. Fortunately, it is possible to use Microsoft Word’s search and replace tool to make the change. I offered to do this for a friend earlier today, and she emailed me her novel manuscript. Two minutes later, I emailed the manuscript back with all the underlines changed to italics — and that included download and upload time. But I…

Fabianspace
Meet Cambridge Ramada

23 May 2013 | 5:27 am

One of my favorite characters in The Maltese Falcon is Kasper Gutman. I liked that he was affable yet dangerous, had cunning and intelligence, and in the end, could shake off defeat and consider it an adventure. He was also comfortable with his weight, and didn't keep him for dressing well. Here's a clip of him with Sam Spade in the movie:I kept those qualities in his Greater Treasures analog, Cambridge Ramada. I needed a good buy (or at least one who was neutral) to offset my villains. Ramada is a private detective with an unusual specialty: artifacts and…
Weight Loss Update 4: How Real People Lose Weight

21 May 2013 | 11:30 pm

Hey, time again! Here are photos and stats on my progress in losing weight and toning up.As usual, let me remind everyone that I am on no particular diet. I still eat pizza and chimichangas, drink soda, and have desserts now and again. What I have done is reduce the number of sodas, cut down desserts by more than half, and drink a gallon of water nearly every day. (I don't always make it). So what you see is mostly the results of five hours of circuit training a week.Also, I am making no attempt to suck in my gut, alter my pose or do anything to make myself look…
Back Cover Blurb: Need Your Input

20 May 2013 | 12:48 am

It's that time again, already! Mind Over Psyche, the second in the Mind Over trilogy, comes out in September, and I need to get a back-cover blurb to my publisher this week. I've narrowed it down to these. Please vote and/or give comments. I will have time to tweak, but we need something to send to advance reviewers.1. Desperate to escape the insane asylum, psychic Deryl Stephens teleports to Kanaan, a world of telepaths who regard him as an oracle. But freedom comes at a price. The Kanaan expect their oracle to teach them to use their powers to wage…
Self-Publishing: Another Arrow in My Quiver

15 May 2013 | 11:30 pm

When I tell folks that I self-published Greater Treasures, some assume that I'm changing direction from my previous path of traditional publishers. I'm not. I have enjoyed working with each of my publishers. They've all treated me fairly, been great help in polishing my novels, and do their best to promote my books and support my writing efforts. In fact, I credit them with giving me the confidence and tools I needed to embark on this adventure. I chose to self-publish the novella for several reasons, which I've talked about on the blog tour, but today, I want to talk about…
Circuit Torture: No post this week

14 May 2013 | 11:30 pm

Sorry, guys. My computer is acting up and blogger is being affected. This is about all I can do this week. Glad I pre-scheduled some blogs. My husband, Colonel Rob Fabian, comes home next Sunday, so hopefully, he can help me figure this thing out.Keep exercising--and keep laughing! It burns calories!

James Maxey - Jawbone of an Ass
Weight Loss for Geeks Part Five: Money

25 May 2013 | 6:42 am

One side effect of losing a lot of weight: It can be a little expensive. I've lost eight inches from my waist size, closing in on ten. I started out wearing a 42" waistband, but by the time I hit a 38" waist, trying to keep my old pants on was somewhat comic. I bought several new pairs with a 38" waist, but they were soon pretty baggy, and 36" inch waists fit much better. Now, I'm in 34" and
Weight Loss for Geeks Part 4: Bodies in Motion Remain in Motion

8 May 2013 | 7:14 am

Exercise. This is the part of weight loss that has most tripped me up in the past. Because, bluntly, exercise bores me. I've got other stuff to do. I work a full time job, write novels in the evenings, and would like to spend my weekends enjoying the company of friends and family instead of being trapped in some gym. I'm already running out of hours in the day before I run out of stuff I gotta do
Weight Loss for Geeks Part 3: Eating Smart

7 May 2013 | 7:39 am

I used to eat like an idiot. I have only myself to blame, because, looking back, my mother did a very good job of feeding us healthy food. Part of this was because we were dirt poor. We just didn't have the money to eat out at fast food restaurants or pizza joints. We also couldn't splurge on junk food like potato chips or snack cakes. We did what we could to stretch meat. In recent years, I've
Weight Loss for Geeks: Part Two: It's Just Math!

1 May 2013 | 6:01 am

First, let me say that I know a fair share of skinny geniuses and I've met plenty of fat people who are dumber than stumps. But, one thing I notice going to a half dozen science fiction conventions each year is that there are also a very high percentage of really smart geeks who are obese. If Big Bang Theory reflected the reality of my personal experience, among it's core group of geniuses (
Weight Loss for Geeks: Step One: See a Doctor!

30 Apr 2013 | 4:28 am

How many times have you read diet advice that begins, "see a doctor?" (Or, more pretentiously, "consult with your physician?") I hate that advice. For several reasons, I'm skeptical of our medical system. About fifteen years ago I had a doctor who seemed to want to prescribe a pill for everything. I never left his office without a grab bag of pharmaceuticals. He didn't seem so much an actual

Side-Show Freaks
Explaining Cthulhu To Grandma—Alex Shvartsman

22 May 2013 | 5:13 am

Inspiration comes in many ways, often from where you least expect it. This particular story started out as a Twitter conversation. One day, fellow writer Sylvia Spruck Wrigley made a post on Twitter saying something along the lines of "I'm having such a difficult time explaining Cthulhu to grandma." To which I immediately replied with: "this would make an awesome story title." Sylvia agreed, but when I checked in with her a couple of weeks later, she hadn't come up with an idea for a story yet. So I asked if I could have the title instead, and she generously allowed me to…
Notes on a Page – Barbara A. Barnett

28 Mar 2013 | 4:06 am

"Notes on a Page" began life as a flash-length story written for a contest over at the Codex Writers' Group called Weekend Warrior. You're given several prompts Friday night and have until Sunday night to write a flash story using one of them. One of the prompts last year was to write a story in which someone finds a secret passage in a public building. At the time, I had just been offered an internship working in an orchestra library, and that inspired my take on the prompt: a portal in an orchestra hall that quite literally takes one inside the music. I realized two things very…
Through the Veil—Michael T. Banker

11 Mar 2013 | 7:26 am

This story was the culmination of two self-imposed missions. One was on a train, staring out the window, telling myself that I had to come up with a story idea this trip. (It's amazing how often that works, actually, I should really do it more often.) I just let my gaze flit around, latching onto random things and immediately twisting them into something else. I am a very visual person, so it's often images I’m working with. This time, melting icicles became melting wax, became a girl encased in wax like a cocoon. So there has to be some sort of metamorphosis, right? I saw her emerging from…
The Temple’s Posthole—M.K. Hutchins

4 Mar 2013 | 4:56 am

"The Temple's Posthole" is filled with things that make me happy: postholes, a cool family dynamic, and lots of Classic Maya-ish stuff. My writing group was once waiting for someone to return to Skype. After an awkward silence, our illustrious leader asked if there was anything we wanted to talk about. Without hesitation, I answered "Postholes!" Postholes are fascinating. Carefully excavated, they can show the shape of a structure long after the actual building has disappeared. Someone else in my writing group jumped in with her love of postholes and ruins. Our leader…
Winning Veronica’s Heart—Ian Creasey

26 Feb 2013 | 4:57 am

"Winning Veronica's Heart" is my second appearance in IGMS, following "The Report of a Doubtful Creature" in the November 2009 issue. It is, however, a very different style of story. I've always been fascinated by the notion of parallel worlds. As a child I read a lot of books by Andre Norton: she was my "gateway drug" into the SF genre. Her novel The Crossroads of Time introduced me to the idea that there existed different versions of the Earth, where history had taken different paths; and with a suitable technological gizmo, you could travel…

Kathryn Cramer
New collage poem, 5/14/13

Kathryn

15 May 2013 | 3:26 pm
Dubious Valentine: Important Tax Document Enclosed (collage 2/10/13)

Kathryn

13 Feb 2013 | 4:01 am
Dubious Valentine: You Choice Is Simple (collage 1/21/13)

Kathryn

22 Jan 2013 | 6:08 am
Collage 1/14/13: Carried Away

Kathryn

15 Jan 2013 | 3:36 am
New Collages: Dubious Valentines

Kathryn

9 Jan 2013 | 8:36 am

New collages from the past few days.

KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "Move Along Home"

24 May 2013 | 6:15 pm

Allamaraine! Second shap! Choose your path! The DS9 Rewatch needs to "Move Along Home."An excerpt:For an episode that is generally the go-to example of why the first season of DS9 sucked, it’s actually not that bad.Okay, it’s not good, exactly, but the vitriol many throw at this episode is often on the same level as that reserved for the likes of “Spock’s Brain” and “Sub Rosa,” and it’s nowhere near that bad.
Friday fanfare: "Step by Step"

24 May 2013 | 11:20 am

Continuing this week's theme of music from The Wire (click here for why, but it relates to Balticon, where I am, and Tales from Dragon Precinct, which is out this weekend), here's the music played over the show's first-ever end-of-season montage, Jesse Winchester's "Step by Step."
updated Balticon schedule

23 May 2013 | 1:59 pm

I've been put on another panel at Balticon, a books-to-movies panel Saturday at 10pm. Check it out...
my first trip to Camden Yards on the Pinstriped Bible

23 May 2013 | 9:18 am

An account of my first-ever trip to Camden Yards on Tuesday, which was wonderful despite the Yankees' tenth-inning walkoff loss.An excerpt:The O's have a pretty storied history since moving to Bawlmer from St. Louis. (Amusingly, there is no evidence that the O's were ever the St. Louis Browns on display in the Yards that I could find. Given the Brownies' history, including just the one pennant in 1944 when most of the good players were fighting in World War II, this isn't much of a surprise.)A lot of that history can be found in front of Gate H, the gate closest to the light rail station and…
midweek music (a day late): "Sixteen Tons"

23 May 2013 | 8:46 am

Continuing this week's theme of music from The Wire (explained here), here's the Jayhawks performing "Sixteen Tons" from the show's second season. In-show, they were performing it live at the bar where all the dockworkers hang out. The intro bit is Frank Sobotka, the head dockworker and a major character in the season, pretty much explaining the theme of the show's second season...

Robert J. Sawyer
Yay for theme anthologies!

Rob

16 May 2013 | 8:19 pm

Back in 2006, when my novella “Identity Theft” — which makes up the first ten chapters of my new novel Red Planet Blues — was a Nebula Award finalist, I was asked to comment about the story’s origin for the SFWA Bulletin. Here’s what I had to say (“Identity Theft” first appeared in Mike Resnick‘s Science Fiction Book Club anthology Down These Dark Spaceways): There’s a tendency in our industry to pooh-pooh theme anthologies. Somehow, the notion of writing a story to order strikes people as inherently wrong, and the idea that a story…
Academic conference about Canadian science fiction

Rob

16 May 2013 | 8:14 am

The conference “Science Fiction: The Interdisciplinary Genre” at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, September 13-15, 2013, is shaping up to be the biggest and best academic conference ever focusing on Canadian Science Fiction: Three Days! Multiple Tracks! Banquet! Authors? We got ‘em: Aurora Award-winner Julie E. Czerneda, Hugo Award-winner Robert J. Sawyer, Aurora Award-winner Élisabeth Vonarburg, and Hugo Award-winner Robert Charles Wilson. Editors? The most important ones in the history of Canadian SF: Order of Canada member John Robert Colombo and Hugo…
Expanding Identity Theft into Red Planet Blues

Rob

15 May 2013 | 9:00 am

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by John DeNardo of Kirkus for an article about expanding short works into novels, which is what I’d done with my latest book, Red Planet Blues. The full by-email interview is below, and here is the finished article, with a couple of my quotes used and quotes from other authors, as well. 1. Why did you choose to extend the shorter story to novel length? In February 2004, Hugo Award-winning author Mike Resnick approached me with an offer I couldn’t refuse: write a “science-fictional hard-boiled private-eye novella” for an original…
Reading is in Kitchener, not Waterloo

Rob

29 Apr 2013 | 12:34 pm

Some early publicity for my Red Planet Blues book tour had my event on Tuesday, April 30, listed as being at the Waterloo Public Library. That’s not correct. The event actually takes place Tuesday, April 30, at 7:00 p.m. at the Kitchener Public Library, Country Hills Community Branch, 1500 Block Line Road, Kitchener. The library recommends advance registration; you can register here. Robert J. Sawyer online:Website • Facebook • Twitter • Email
30th anniversary as a full-time writer

Rob

29 Apr 2013 | 9:28 am

Today is my 30th anniversary of being a full-time self-employed freelance writer. On Friday, April 29, 1983, I finished the last job I ever had — being a teaching assistant in the School of Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson in Toronto. I’ve never had a boss since then. I spent most of the rest of the 1980s doing freelance newspaper and magazine journalism, plus writing projects for corporate and government clients; I didn’t transition to full-time science-fiction writing until the early 1990s. It’s been an amazing thirty years. I’m a lucky guy. Robert J.

Whatever
Phoenix/Scottsdale: I’m At the Poisoned Pen, Saturday, 5pm!

John Scalzi

24 May 2013 | 6:00 am

As most of you know, I’m heading to Phoenix to be part of the Phoenix ComicCon. But for those of you who are not attending that little soiree, you’ll be happy to know that I am also making a public appearance at Poisoned Pen Bookstore to chat a bit and to sign The Human Division (and other books you might have). Aside the information in the headline, here are all the details on that. Come on down, we’ll have ALL THE FUNS. Yes, I’ve arranged for all of the funs to be shipped to the store. They’ll be in boxes. Labeled “funs.” That’s how it works,…
I’m Alive

John Scalzi

23 May 2013 | 10:18 am

Just busy. Amuse yourselves in my absence. Be back later.
Madison! I’m at A Room Of One’s Own TOMORROW, 4pm! Note the Time!

John Scalzi

22 May 2013 | 11:46 am

I’ll be doing a rare afternoon tour appearance tomorrow in Madison because at 6pm, A Room of One’s Own welcomes the Guests of Honor at Wiscon, the (completely fantastic) science fiction and fantasy convention. So if you’re coming at 4 o’clock to Room of One’s Own to see me, stick around afterward for the GoHs, which include last year’s Nebula and Hugo Award winner, Jo Walton. And if you’re coming at 6pm to see the guests of honor, why not come out a little bit early to see me? It’ll be more speculative fiction writers than you can shake the…
Amazon’s Kindle Worlds: Instant Thoughts

John Scalzi

22 May 2013 | 8:43 am

The Twitters are abuzz today about Amazon’s new “Kindle Worlds” program, in which people are allowed to write and then sell through Amazon their fan fiction for certain properties owned by Alloy Entertainment, including Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars, with more licenses expected soon. I’ve had a quick look at the program on Amazon’s site, and I have a couple of immediate thoughts on it. Be aware that these thoughts are very preliminary, i.e., I reserve the right to have possibly contradictory thoughts about the program later, when I think (and read)…
The Big Idea: Rhiannon Held

John Scalzi

22 May 2013 | 5:29 am

Readers often have default expectations when it comes to their reading — default expectations that we call “tropes.” But where do you go as a writer when the tropes don’t take you where your characters need to be? It’s a question that Rhiannon Held explores today as she writes about her new novel, Tarnished. RHIANNON HELD: Tarnished is the second book in my series, and if I had to articulate an over-arcing big idea for the whole series, it’s that I love to explore emotional truths tied to situations that don’t come up in typical urban fantasy tropes. In the…

Magical Words
CREATING A UNIVERSE (it takes a lot more than seven days)

James R. Tuck

24 May 2013 | 9:38 am

As a writer and as a human I must admit, I am a bit of an egotist. Occasionally I swerve over to arrogant assdom, but mostly I reel it in and keep it entertaining. But often, like the slip of the drunk cousin at the church social, my ego shows in my writing for the world to see. You see, all my stories are set in the same universe, some more obviously than others, but all of them there. I don’t have a name for it, though I’m leaning toward the Spiralverse. The Spiralverse is a universe built on the concept that major events cause a resonance that splits reality into a new timeline…
Sick of being sick and tired

John G. Hartness

23 May 2013 | 4:48 am

As I write this, I am home sick from work for the second day in a row with bronchitis, an infection that has become a nearly annual houseguest in my lungs, and I’m finally pissed off and scared enough to do something about it. I asked my doctor if there was something wrong with me other than my immune system being suppressed because I’m fat, and she looked me square in the face and said “Nope.” So all I need to do is to lose weight and everything will be better? Pretty much, was the answer. Now I understand that it’s not that simple. Losing weight won’t…
You have to research to write

Diana Pharaoh Francis

21 May 2013 | 9:16 pm

Two things converged for me this week to bring home the fact that I don’t know enough. First, I’m writing on something where in which in the first few pages I’ve run across a number of things I need to dig up: kinds of spiders in Tennessee, and what sorts of poisonous spiders do people keep as pets; who can obtain police complaint information and how and how long is that information kept: What do you call someone who is a deputy sheriff but not the elected sheriff (I figure deputy is the title, but do people in the town just call him Sheriff anyhow?). There were some other…
Get What You Don’t Pay For

Misty Massey

21 May 2013 | 3:42 am

A few days ago I received an email from PMI Publishing. You probably haven’t heard of them – they don’t publish books, or magazines or short stories. Apparently they’re a promotions agency. Nothing wrong with that – lots of folks employ promo people to help get the word out about their careers. But this particular email made me uncomfortable. Let me share the bulk of the email with you, so you can get where I’m coming from. “We just signed an exclusive deal with the three monthly publications in Florida to provide book reviews. As part of…
On Creativity: Narrative, Fiction, and Life

DavidBCoe

20 May 2013 | 1:45 am

Today (Sunday), my older daughter was graduated from high school. It has been an emotional weekend, full of celebration, of wistful remembrance, of joyful anticipation of adventures and journeys to come. Throughout the various events, as I have watched my child take these first decisive steps into adulthood, even as she still smiles at me with a face that doesn’t seem to have changed at all in the past eighteen years, I have found myself thinking about many things, most of them having nothing at all to do with writing. But I have given a good deal of thought to the notion of…

Chrysalis
Freebies

20 May 2013 | 4:44 am

I’ve had a couple people ask for a comprehensive list of my online fiction. You know, stuff that can be read for free in a web browser. I’m not positive this list is comprehensive, but it is at least nearly so. More recent publications are listed near the top. Older stories are at the bottom. Happy reading! Dawn, and the Stars, A Dark Expanse tie-in story, published by Deorc Enterprise, May 2013. A Song of Blackness, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, October 2012 Godshift, Daily Science Fiction, March 2012 The Death and Rebirth of Anne Bonny, Daily Science Fiction, January 2012 All or…
Genetics and Tie-In Stories

20 May 2013 | 2:18 am

One of the reasons I love writing is because of the things it allows my subconscious to tell the rest of my brain. I’ve never yet written a story that didn’t include a couple of surprises, little turns of phrase which change the color of the universe in my eyes. I’ve always said that I hope my readers come away from my stories as a slightly different person than they were before. I know for a fact that I come away as a different person after writing them. This week Dawn, and the Stars appeared on the Dark Expanse web site. This is one of those stories that I thought would be…
22 Apr 2013 | 9:39 am

22 Apr 2013 | 9:39 am

The happy moments in life happen by accident. Like shouting "I love you" to your husband on a sunny afternoon while you're both hopping in cars to speed away to urgent appointments.
Maria Schneider: Under Witch Curse

4 Apr 2013 | 12:11 pm

Maria Schneider's Moon Shadow Series centers on Adriel, a New Mexico witch with an intriguing and evocative magic system. I had the pleasure of editing the first book in this series, and have enjoyed watching the series progress. New out this week, the book is on sale until April 9.
Godshift receives 2013 AML Award

1 Apr 2013 | 9:33 am

The Association for Mormon Letters has selected “Godshift” as its 2013 award recipient for short fiction. This delights and astounds me. The AML is an insightful and highly literary organization, and I’m pleased that they found value in the concepts I sought to explore in the story. They’ve also written up a lovely description of the story on the AML blog: Nancy Fulda gives a realistic depiction of what might happen if God, the unchangeable and infinitely merciful, changed. It’s so difficult to write a believable story wherein characters reach a mind shattering…

No Fear of the Future
There’s a Zucker born every minute

Chris N. Brown

24 May 2013 | 7:34 am

[Pic: $200 million Tumblr wundrboy David Karp] Tumblr Flickrs out just when it's getting good. Twitter evolves into a big media cacophony filled with commercial stalkers working it for an angle. Facebook works on cracking the human genome of product placement, helping the advertising bots infiltrate the few remaining social relationships that aren't just transactions in disguise. How is it that we are allowing our self-expression and our friendships to be harnessed as the wageless fuel of the new platforms of our commercial exploitation—as both workers and consumers—without any real…
When the stop-motion stops

Chris N. Brown

8 May 2013 | 8:33 am

R.I.P.
Postcards from the Zeitgeist

Chris N. Brown

6 May 2013 | 7:50 am

In the decade just passed that we keep trying to forget, while the Iraq war was at its peak, an enterprising sleazeball from Florida stumbled his way into a perfect media platform for the spirit of that age. Chris Wilson of Orlando started a website at the domain nowthatsfuckedup.com. The original business model was amateur porn-swap. The novelty came when he gave access to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by allowing them to crowdsource new material for the site in lieu of payment (since most of the soldiers had difficulties making card payments from their overseas posts). Instead of skanky…
A message from the Department of Hobbesian Security

Chris N. Brown

8 Apr 2013 | 9:30 am

Sunday's New York Times shared the news that police have changed their recommendations on how citizens should respond when faced with an "active shooter" invading our place of institutional confinement (office or school) with a video game arsenal's worth of automatic weapons. Apparently acknowledging the likelihood that the shooter will have completed his mass murder by the time the police arrive, the advice is no longer to stay passive and call 911, but to take action. [Video" "Run. Hide. Fight. Surviving an active shooter event," Ready Houston (2012)] The article links to "Run. Hide.
Abbottabad Playset Sold Separately

Chris N. Brown

21 Mar 2013 | 6:04 am

Courtesy of the underground network of trans-Pacific ateliers harvesting souvenirs from the dark intersections of banal pop culture and apocalyptic Zeitgeist, last night's spam brings the perfect gift for that special friend celebrating the 10th anniversary of the decapitation strike that started the Iraq War: the zombie Osama action figure. The ZOMBEE TOY 1/6 Ozombie Walking Dead Terrorist Infected action figure comes complete with jungle camo field coat, custom AK-47 with three banana clips, weathered leather boots, and a 1/6 scale copy of Time Magazine with a picture of W. on the front and…

SF Novelists
Why Boston? A Plea For Support

David B. Coe

23 May 2013 | 9:53 am

Let me start with this: For those of you who don’t know, I am hosting a fundraiser/giveaway to benefit the victims of the Boston Bombing through the One Fund of Boston. The details on the fundraiser and how the various giveaways work can be found here: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/DBJacksonThieftaker/thieftakergiveaway You can also make your donation at that site, and I would urge you — beg you — to do so. Many victims of the bombing face years of rehabilitation and medical treatment, the costs of which are scarcely comprehensible. Though the bombing…
You keep using that word

Marie Brennan

16 May 2013 | 3:00 am

Almost every “how to write” book I’ve ever seen has a section devoted to style. Or sometimes voice. Or sometimes one for each. Frequently with vaporous declarations about it arising from the writer’s soul in some mysterious, half-divine fashion. I have a secret to share. When it comes to this subject, I don’t think we — writers as a group — have any idea what we’re talking about. Okay, maybe that’s an unfair way to put it. More accurate to say, I don’t think we have any agreement as to what we’re talking about. I have seen…
The Skill List Project: Exposition Preliminaries

James Alan Gardner

29 Apr 2013 | 7:34 am

This is another post in The Skill List Project: an attempt to list all the skills involved in writing and selling fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy. Last time, I said that we’d begin looking at the E-word: exposition. So let’s get to it. Opening Exposition Exposition means conveying background information so that the reader can understand the story. A famous (and blatant) example of exposition is the Star Wars crawl at the start of the first Star Wars movie: “It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first…
Three Authors Who Got Me Started

David B. Coe

23 Apr 2013 | 5:00 am

I am on the verge of finishing the manuscript of the third volume in my Thieftaker series (written as D. B. Jackson). The book is tentatively called City of Shades, and it will not see light of day until the Summer of 2014 (book 2 in the series, Thieves’ Quarry, will be out on July 2 of this year), and in fact it’s not really done, since eventually I will have revisions to do, and then copyedits, and then proofs, and . . . well, you get the idea. But soon, and for a while at least, it will be out of my hair. And that’s a good thing. The Thieftaker books are a bit of a…
Noun of Nouns

Marie Brennan

16 Apr 2013 | 3:00 am

I wish I were a classical music composer. Or a visual artist — they can get away with it, too. “Third Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Minor.” “Untitled #16.” “Sonata in D.” “Red Four.” Don’t have an actual title? Doesn’t matter! Just call it what it is! Authors aren’t allowed to get away with that. As I remarked on LiveJournal recently, I cannot in fact call my next book “Victoriain’t Fantasy Number Two in West African Major.” It needs a name, a real one, something that describes what it is without,…

Something Wicked
Velocity

Casey

22 May 2013 | 7:37 am

These days, you'll hear a lot of authors talk about "velocity." It has nothing to do with car racing (at least not most of the time) and everything to do with book sales.Why?The first week sales of a book are what propels it onto the New York Times list, and first week sales are all about velocity. Publishers love it and readers notice when a book starts strong out of the gate (I think I'm mixing my racing metaphors here).I'm mentioning velocity because as book buyers, it's something we all need to keep in mind. Sure, an author appreciates every book sale he or she…
My Big Fat Demon Slayer Wedding: the story behind the story

Angie Fox

21 May 2013 | 6:11 am

Hi all! Apologies for my AWOL status lately, but I've been burning it up trying to put the finishing touches on My Big Fat Demon Slayer Wedding. That's the book due out on July 1. In fact, you can find an excerpt here.It's all about Lizzie the demon slayer and her attempts to fight off the Earl of Hell, while planning her wedding. The book is a lot of fun (the biker witches are crazier than ever). And it's been a really neat experience for me because I'm doing this book all on my own.By that, I mean without an official publisher. My original publisher for the series went bankrupt (not because…
Bugs Bunny

Shirley Damsgaard

16 May 2013 | 5:41 am

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a sucker for animals. My downfall has always been letting strays into my house. Once they’re inside, I can’t bear forcing them out into the cold, cruel world. Over the years, this has been true with dogs… cats…and now bunnies! Two days ago, my son found a baby bunny who’d wandered too far from its nest on my front walk. He, of course, brought it inside! BUT…this time I was smarter! My granddaughter, Kassidy (who happens to be the daughter of the son responsible for me acquiring the rabbit in the first place), is as big of sucker as I am, so…
Mayhem!

Casey

8 May 2013 | 5:00 am

Who doesn’t love a good mystery?And what mystery writer could possibly compete with Agatha Christie, la grande dame of the genre?Naturally, Christie was my choice when I was writing “Mayhem at the Orient Express,” the first book in the League of Literary Ladies series. The women in my book (a court-ordered book discussion group) need a book to read, and they choose the Christie classic, “Murder on the Orient Express.” So what could possibly go wrong?I guess the first clue our heroines should have had was that there was a new Asian restaurant on South Bass Island where they live. You…
RT Convention or Bust

Shawntelle Madison

29 Apr 2013 | 9:00 pm

Happy Monday, all! It's a gorgeous day here in St. Louis!First of all, my next novella for the Coveted series is available today! I had a blast writing Aggie's story and I can't wait for everyone to get into Aggie's head! So what's the book about you ask?Werewolf Natalya Stravinsky’s outspoken sidekick, Aggie McClure, is featured in this prequel novella. Before Agatha set foot in South Toms River, New Jersey, she had the fight of her life to face. Destined to be the alpha female over her Manhattan pack, Aggie was fully prepared to take on her role until her father arranges a marriage…

theinferior4+1
New Review at the B&NR

theinferior4+1

24 May 2013 | 7:47 am

I look at three books from Angry Robot:http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/In-the-Margin/Robot-Visions/ba-p/10265
New Review at LOCUS ONLINE

theinferior4+1

20 May 2013 | 8:02 am

I review Bruce McAllister's third novel:http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2013/05/paul-di-filippo-reviews-bruce-mcallister/
The Best Room in the World

ljgoldstein

19 May 2013 | 8:32 pm

A while back Sheila Williams, the editor of Asimov's, called to tell me she'd be in the Bay Area for the Nebulas, and that one of her authors, Gregory Bossert, worked at Industrial Light and Magic and wanted to give her a tour, and that she could bring a guest… And she'd barely gotten the sentence out before I was saying, "Me! Pick me!!!"The tour was terrific. We went to the headquarters of Industrial Light and Magic in the Presidio, and from there Greg drove us to Skywalker Ranch in Marin. Whatever else you can say about George Lucas, it's…
Brief Photoessay on the Steampunk World's Fair

theinferior4+1

19 May 2013 | 9:55 am

Just a few snapshots sketching the immense doings at the SWF:http://steampunkworldsfair.com/RegistrationMidway performance tent, outsideMidway performance tent, insideAtrium of one of the two hotelsOne of the many, many vendor spacesA musical performanceA burlesque performanceMore musicThe bar and "Hangout" areaA tiny instance of the vast elaborate cosplay. KW Jeter with book.Jeter & DiFi, looking noirish
Me & Griffy

theinferior4+1

19 May 2013 | 8:20 am

Wyrdsmiths
Writing is Work

Eleanor

21 May 2013 | 9:16 am

This is a comment on a post by the facebook colleague. He spent 40 years working in a bank and writing in his free time. Now, he is free of the bank and able to write full time. People ask him what he's doing. He says writing, and they don't take him seriously. Their response is, "That's nice. Do you think you'd be able to walk my dog, or trim my garden, since you aren't working?"I don't get that kind of condescension much anymore, because I have not stayed in contract with people who don't understand I'm a writer. But I know this conversation well. I think it comes from several places.
A Good Day

tate hallaway

13 May 2013 | 6:20 pm

Today my Facebook feed exploded over the joyous news that the Minnesota Senate passed the Marriage Equality for All (or whatever the bill was officially called). There was so much excitement that I nearly missed that a friend of mine posted a link to this: http://firstronin47.blogspot.com/2013/05/review-four-books-by-lyda-morehouse.html#!/2013/05/review-four-books-by-lyda-morehouse.html A wonderful review of all for of the Penguin published AngeLINK books.So, yeah, good day for me.*faints*
Trust Your Instincts, Murphy

Sean M. Murphy

9 May 2013 | 9:23 pm

(cross-posted from Mental Chaff) Tonight was a meeting of the Wyrdsmiths, and after we were done critiquing, celebrating the passage of the Minnesota House bill legalizing marriage equality, and before we'd gotten to naming Sled Dog Squee or going into the finer points of pelvic comb overs, we discussed our upcoming CONvergence schedules.Now, if you'll remember, last week I posted my panels for CONvergence, and made this note about the panels:"Every time I go check their programming portal, I find out I'm on another panel. It was one, then a few days later, two, then three. Now? I'm…
Writers' Nightmares

tate hallaway

9 May 2013 | 5:07 am

I think writers probably have different nightmares than some other professions. I know that when I used to act on the stage, I had the classic one in which I'd been an understudy to a major role and all of a sudden I have to perform and I know NONE OF THE LINES.That dream has mostly faded. Now-a-days, I have a reoccurring dream/nightmare where I'm arriving at a science fiction convention bright and early on a Saturday morning, I make my leisurely way to registration and... discover I've missed half of the panels I was supposed to be on.After last night, I suspect I'm going to have…
A Happy Ending/Last Thoughts

tate hallaway

8 May 2013 | 2:40 pm

The young man from Seoul, South Korea who started this whole conversation about world-building with his database in need of a critique, wrote to me the other day. He gave writing a short piece about his world a try and asked if I'd be willing to look at that.I did.It wasn't half-bad, either. In fact it was quite good. There was drama, a bit of humor, a sympathetic character, and an out of control spacesuit. One thing was very clear to me, and I told him so in my response: the work he'd put into building the background of his universe came through. It amazes…

Joe Abercrombie
Just How Bad Was Your First Draft?

Joe Abercrombie

21 May 2013 | 12:40 am

The Inquisition should be uprooting treasons and bringing dangerous criminals to book, but they just won’t leave me alone, and it seems they’re fixated on the process of writing, or at least what passes for it in my case. Today a question via email from Practical George Allen, who describes himself as, “a cringing, neurotic, self-deprecating aspiring novelist.” Don’t talk yourself up, George. His question: “Just how bad was your first draft of The Blade Itself? Not the original attempt, however many years ago, I mean the first draft of the book that…
From Script to Coloured Page 4

Joe Abercrombie

19 May 2013 | 12:29 am

Andie Tong’s finished inks are coloured by Pete Pantazis and end up like this: I guess before starting on this project I was vaguely aware that you usually had a guy who drew the pages and a guy who coloured them, but if I’d thought about it at all I’d supposed that colouring was a pretty mechanical process, yeah, you decide a jacket’s red and you make it red, APPLY. Seeing what Pete does with Andie’s pages has been quite a revelation. He gives every scene a very different treatment, he thinks a hell of a lot about the lighting, the weather, the time of day,…
From Script to Coloured Page 3

Joe Abercrombie

18 May 2013 | 1:17 am

And now Page 5 inks: With the ink (digital ink, I would assume) comes texture, shadow, detail, realism and weight. I usually don’t see the pencils, just comment on the inked pages, and more often than not I’ve got very little to say. They then go straight on to Pete Pantazis for colouring…
From Script to Coloured Page 2

Joe Abercrombie

17 May 2013 | 12:17 am

And now the pencilled page 5: When I think about the amount of work that goes into each page, I get a bit scared. There’s the design of the costumes, the characters, the architecture, a huge task which is akin to asking the artist to act as costume designer, set designer, and casting agent on a film rolled into one. Then he or she has to turn director and decide exactly how to organise the panels specified in the script – here Andie’s chosen to make them a little jagged and off-kilter, suggesting Jezal’s drunkeness and the sudden explosion of action, the graphic…
From Script to Coloured Page 1

Joe Abercrombie

16 May 2013 | 1:19 am

Now that The First Law Graphic Novel is chugging away, I thought I might share some of the process, looking at the script, pencils, inks, and colours on a few pages from issue two I particularly like. First up is the forthcoming page 5, which will be going up on the site this coming monday. We start, of course, with script. I’ve done a rough breakdown of the first book into 16 issue sized chunks, which ends up being around 20-35 pages of mass market book to each 22 page issue, which makes it a pretty comprehensive adaptation and means it hasn’t been necessary to cut whole…

Dan Abnett
SF Bokhandeln - Sweden!

Dan Abnett

23 May 2013 | 2:34 am

Coming to a Sweden near you this weekend (and I'm very excited about it!).... me!Now, I don't speak Swedish, so I can't be sure, but I THINK these links will tell you everything you need to know:For Friday and Saturday.Also for Friday and Saturday.And for Sunday.This should be an awful lot of fun, so if you're... you know... in Sweden... come and join in!
Free Comic Book Day (or, May The Fourth be with you)

Dan Abnett

26 Apr 2013 | 2:23 am

Be it an old gag, or an internationally recognised Festival, May the 4th is also this year's Free Comic Book Day, and I'll be a Forbidden Planet in London from 1 PM supporting 2000AD's FCBD publication, alongside Al Ewing, Ben Wilsher and - oh my goodness! - Ron Smith! Details, well, here. We are, apparently, "Legends of 2000AD", and with all due respect to the lovely Al and Ben, I suspect one of us is rather more legendary than the other three. And by that I mean... RON SMITH!In the meantime, no blog post is complete without pretty pictures, so try this, the cover of the book I'm finishing…
Gilead’s Blog

Dan Abnett

6 Apr 2013 | 1:18 am

Any minute now, those lovely people at Black Library will be launching Gilead’s Curse, which is not only one of my all too infrequent forays into the Warhammer side of things, but one of the rare and exciting opportunities I have to collaborate with Nik Vincent (ie, the wife).Gilead’s Curse will appear alongside a reissue of our previous collaboration, Gilead’s Blood, which was published by the Black Library back in ninety-ten-a-hundred-and-frozen-to-death (and don’t you just love Stefan Kopinski's gorgeous matching covers? Two sides of Gilead!)Nik and I have…
Doctor Who... and DemonCon

Dan Abnett

16 Mar 2013 | 2:49 am

I had a great time at the Doctor Who 50th birthday event at Forbidden Planet last Saturday. Not the last event of its kind I'll be involved with this year, I imagine. It was a bit of an honour, to be honest. To have been even a small part of Doctor Who's fifty year history is a big fething deal to me.What was the event specifically about? Thanks for asking, you at the back there. The BBC is re-releasing eleven classic Who novels this year, one for each Doctor. The design is gorgeous, and the set looks lovely all together (a full figure shot of each respective Doctor side-by-side on the…
Who is 50

Dan Abnett

3 Mar 2013 | 11:57 am

Of course he is. We all knew that. And to celebrate that momentous birthday... well, lots and lots and lots of delicious Doctor Who things are happening this year. Cakes, for starters. Cakes in the shape of Daleks, most likely. Hot air balloon flypasts where the hot air balloons are ingeniously made to look like Sontaran capsule ships. Or, indeed, Sontaran bonces, both being conveniently spherical. What else? I dunno. A special broadway revival of the musical Miss Zygon.I digress ("No, really? You? Digress?" they all call out sarcastically). I'd like to draw your attention to one…

Colleen Anderson
Supporting the Arts

colleenanderson

22 May 2013 | 2:26 pm

I’m highlighting a few worthy causes today. One is local, taking place in Vancouver, and the other takes place somewhat virtually through Canada. COLLABORATIVE ART First is the Magpie’s Nest Community Art Space Events. This is a group of local artists who are trying to create pop-up art spaces for artists to come by and work in, and just spread the fun and love of art. May 25 at Astorino’s1739 Venables Street, Vancouver, BC Magpie’s Nest Community Art Space invites you to create a patchwork of ideas and creativity with your neighbours, young and old. The completed…
Writing Update

colleenanderson

17 May 2013 | 4:25 pm

Creative Commons: http://dancurtis.ca/2010/07/ It’s been a while since I posted about writing. The last few months I was caught up in co-editing, with Steve Vernon, the Tesseracts 17 anthology. I hope to be able to announce the table of contents soon. As well, I’ll be giving a demographic breakdown of the submissions once the details are revealed. Suffice to say, we had around 450 submissions. This was an open theme, which means there were more submissions. I was so busy in fact, that I didn’t even mention the stories that have come out recently so here we go. Deep…
Liz Strange Writes About the Strange

colleenanderson

10 May 2013 | 2:53 pm

Hello, World. I’m back. Sorry about the absence but I’ve been swamped. I’m spotlighting Liz Strange today while I ease my brain back into writing. www.lizstrange.com The Fair Folk in Knob’s end, released in March.. Fair Folk in Knob’s End is about a 16-year-old girl who moves in with her grandma after the death of her mom. At her new school she makes friends with a girl who turns out to be one of three magical sisters from the world of Annwn. She’s in hiding while the people of her land try to find the solution to a terrible curse that’s been placed upon…
Writing: Chi Reading Series Vancouver

colleenanderson

28 Mar 2013 | 10:14 am

The Chiaroscuro Reading Series Vancouver launches April 10 Beginning April 10th we will launch the inaugural Vancouver Chiaroscuro Reading Series. The ChiSeries began in Toronto with Sandra Kasturi of Chizine Publications organizing the monthly event. Now we’re launching in Vancouver, Ottawa and Winnipeg, with Edmonton and Halifax later on. Vancouver’s launch will be quarterly to begin with. We feature published authors of speculative fiction. If you’re near or around Vancouver come by to this free event and participate in the no-cost raffle. Here’s a little bit more…
Writing Update

colleenanderson

15 Mar 2013 | 3:45 pm

Creative Commons: Drew Coffman, Flickr. Why haven’t I been posting much this last month or two (with the exception of the Women in Horror interviews)? It’s because I’m consuming poetry and fiction, constantly. As Steve Vernon and I came down to the deadline of fiction stories, the submissions went up with over 100 coming in the last two days of the deadline. This if for Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast coming from Edge Publishing. The final product will be a collection of stories and poetry by Canadians, expat Canadians and those now living in…

Eleanor Arnason's Web Log
Writing is Work

Eleanor

21 May 2013 | 9:08 am

This is a comment on a post by the facebook colleague. He spent 40 years working in a bank and writing in his free time. Now, he is free of the bank and able to write full time. People ask him what he's doing. He says writing, and they don't take him seriously. Their response is, "That's nice. Do you think you'd be able to walk my dog, or trim my garden, since you aren't working?"I don't get that kind of condescension much anymore, because I have not stayed in contract with people who don't understand I'm a writer. But I know this conversation well. I think it comes from several places.
Diamond

Eleanor

11 May 2013 | 2:22 pm

I just read "A Diamond As Big As The Ritz" by F. Scott Fitzgerald as research for a story I'm writing. I'm sure I've read it before, but not for many years. It's a combination of a tall tale and King Solomon's Mines and chock full of class hatred. If this is any indication Fitzgerald did not like the American rich much at all.
Literary Fiction

Eleanor

11 May 2013 | 7:04 am

Bits of a discussion on facebook:I am trying to figure out why I am so hostile to post WWII literary fiction. My current theory is it's due to all the periodicals I read as a kid. My parents subscribed to The New Yorker, the Sunday New York Times, The London Times Literary Supplement and -- when it began to be published -- The New York Review of Books. I read them all. (I also read cereal boxes.) I think they gave me lasting negative impression of literary fiction.My reading in literary fiction is spotty at best. I liked Moo, The Robber Bride, Possession -- though I liked Byatt's collection…
A Four Day Visit by my Brother

Eleanor

10 May 2013 | 9:27 am

Sunny day here. Patrick has spent the day napping, due to feeling ill. I am feeling tired. Because my brother is arriving tonight, I am still cleaning. Yesterday Patrick said, "Do you think he will notice dust?" I said, "Of course not. He's not the kind of person who checks the top of picture frames." Then I thought, OMG I haven't dusted the picture frames. So I did it today, but only the ones that were easy to reach.Years ago, my brother came for a visit. Before he arrived, Patrick said, "You two will have a huge argument about something pointless, and then you'll go to an art museum, and…
More from Facebook

Eleanor

5 May 2013 | 9:16 am

More from the facebook discussion of writing. I love sercon, serious conversation, and I managed to get a pretty good discussion going on facebook. This makes me happy.I have my own arguments with science fiction, though the field has changed so much that many of my arguments are with a previous generation. Anyway, the vision of SF as a field of working writers -- pound it out, send it out, get paid and to hell with art -- can be offensive. But the focus on gritty reality can also be helpful. Learn the rules of the game and keep up on them, because they change, and don't whine. Or rather,…

THE SKINNER
Artichokes and Teeth

Neal Asher

25 May 2013 | 6:47 am

Monday 13th May I have to admit to drinking an excessive amount on Friday night. After wine and brandy at the Gabbiano I made the critical mistake, when back here, of deciding to have some raki. As many hardened soaks out there know: it always seems like a good idea at the time. I spent the next day feeling like crap and with an indescribably foul taste in my mouth and was of course telling myself, ‘Never again!’ In the evening, after an internet session down at the taverna, we strolled back to the house past and above our new neighbour’s little terrace. Anna and Babbis were down there…
Showers and Sharks

Neal Asher

11 May 2013 | 8:42 am

Monday 6th May It’s been boiling hot lately – 25C up in the village and 30C down in Makrigialos – so on Sunday we decided to go for a swim. It being Paska we found that most of our usual haunts were closed so tried one called by some ‘the shack’ (I tried translating the Greek name for it and its comes out as something like ‘service’). There we had some souvlaki before venturing down on their sun beds where, despite the umbrella, we were soon frying. Into the sea for a cool off, therefore... I have a feeling that we have been in the sea before at this time of year and my…
Trading in Danger - Elizabeth Moon

Neal Asher

11 May 2013 | 8:33 am

Elizabeth Moon is a name I’ve heard in science fiction for a long time but I’ve never read one of her novels before. She’s American (and a former marine) and I may have come across her in Asimov’s. I guess the fact that I’ve now read one of her novels is down to the power of having a book, with an eye-catching cover, sitting on the shelf in a book shop. Now I have read one I’m happy to discover she’s written over 20 of them, and I’ll be happy to buy some more. Trading in Danger has a slightly old-fashioned feel to it in that it could have been written 30 or 40 years ago.
Great North Road - Peter F. Hamilton

Neal Asher

11 May 2013 | 8:31 am

It’s been a while since I picked up a Peter Hamilton book, mainly because of an aversion to great big doorstops. However, I really shouldn’t have let that effect me since I very much enjoyed his previous enormous tomes including a trade paperback version of The Naked God that made my wrist bones crunch every time I turned a page. My version of The Great North Road weighs in at over a thousand pages and, had I not started it in England and then finished it in Crete (with much ado between) I would have finished much sooner than now. Was there stuff that could have…
Into May

Neal Asher

2 May 2013 | 7:50 am

Sunday 28th April The new taverna at the bottom of the village is a handy addition for us here. I’ve learned that it’s called ‘To Avli’ which translates as ‘The Yard’. We like chilled white wine in this climate while the old kafenion down there was limited to beer, coffee, raki and soft drinks, not so the Avli. We don’t have internet in our house here because, until recently, every option seemed to work out at about €50 a month. Our only internet connection was a 20 minute drive away, but not any more: it is now available just a couple of minutes stroll away. It’s free for…

Dar Kush
Completing the "Writing Machine" parts 8-10

Steven Barnes

23 May 2013 | 4:54 am

Once upon a time, I created a work-flow model based on conversations with, and study of, hundreds of writers. A “critical path” of what seemed to be the most important characteristics. Most excellent writers have these skills in some form or other, often at the level of “unconscious competence” but it is possible to extract and refine them separately.In communicating them to students, I gave this process the name “The Machine” or sometimes “The Garden”, depending on the preference of the student. Over the last weeks I’ve parceled them out,…
I'm off to be the wizard!

Steven Barnes

23 May 2013 | 4:54 am

Tomorrow, we take off for Albany to create our first short film. The goal is to use DANGER WORD to leverage ourselves into a full feature (on the theory that you can move up one order of magnitude per project, max) that first feature being a feature-length version of this story, and/or a feature-length version of T’s book “My Soul To Keep.” We hold the rights. We have the experience, and the circle of allies. We have powerful motivations that go WAY beyond our personal careers—so it has been gratifyingly possible to enroll others in this…
The Perfect "Diamond Hour" 8-10

Steven Barnes

14 May 2013 | 4:02 am

Because of Saturday’s Diamond Hour show, I was forced to sit down and work out the rest of the “Perfect Diamond Hour” sequence, and I want to put this out as fast as possible, so BOOM, here it goes today! We cannot control external events. What we CAN control is what they mean to us. And if you have been hurt in the past by aiming at a goal and failing, it is natural that you will associate pain with focus, hope and dreams. This is just your nervous system trying to protect you, and one of the “dragons at the gate” of your performance. …
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Steven Barnes

12 May 2013 | 5:17 am

One of the reasons Motherhood seems to inspire greatness is that every good mother is committed to something other than herself. Something that goes beyond the edge of her own life. Something she loves enough to die for. You can touch this space by the simple joy of giving to others, of finding something to believe in that is larger than you, deeper than you, that will outlive you. By knowing what you would die for, and start living for it. Let the love you feel for your mother inspire you to be not just a great parent...but a great spirit.
Diamond Hour Tomorrow!

Steven Barnes

10 May 2013 | 9:00 am

Diamond Hour May show. - Saturday, May 11, 2013 1:00 PM Pacific Daylight Savings time (4:00 PM Eastern)http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/77111Connect via phone or VoIP (Skype, etc.)(724) 444-7444

Max Barry
Dear Pirates: This is How to Help

24 May 2013 | 5:02 am

Sometimes people pirate my stuff. Then sometimes they write to tell me they pirated my stuff, because they feel kind of bad about it, and wonder if they can pay me somehow. (Except one time when a guy said he’d pirated a compilation of “100 Great E-Books” and he just wanted to let me know I was in it, as a compliment. A kind of compliment.) For example: Now I had read your latest blog post about the movie the other day saying it had been released on iTunes and some cable websites, so <pirate pirate pirate>, so right now Syrup is 42% completed, and with my guilt (and…
Thoughts As My Movie Comes Out

2 May 2013 | 2:30 pm

Official Syrup Website • Trailer • Watch on iTunes (US) • Cable On Demand (US) • Early Theater Screenings (US) • Clip Where Max Tries to Act People are about to watch my movie. Seriously. This is happening. Until now, I’ve been able to say, “Oh yes, I have a movie,” and no-one could say, “Yeah, I thought that SUCKED.” Because no-one had seen it. That time is over. Today, May 2, 2013, Syrup launches as a “sneak” on Video on Demand, which is something I had no idea about until very recently, but I have since learned is how you…
Max Barry, Act-or

1 May 2013 | 5:06 pm

A clip from Syrup featuring my big-screen debut. Look at me rocking that role. You could totally believe I was a waiter. Some assistance provided by Amber Heard. Here is the blog I wrote about filming that day, by the way, if you’d like to relive my gut-churning terror.
Compendium of News

10 Apr 2013 | 2:37 pm

I’m seriously losing the battle to Facebook and Twitter. It’s just so easy to post stuff there. I hardly even need to think about it. For a blog I actually have to spend time composing my thoughts. I know that’s not really evident, but I do. As a result, I have accumulated a COMPENDIUM OF NEWS, each item of which failed to inspire a blog all by itself, but which nevertheless requires mention. So buckle in, sparky. Syrup Movie: Trailer & US Release Date There was a teaser, now there’s a trailer! Those are different, trust me. Syrup trailer on YouTube The film is out…
Book Sadist

15 Jan 2013 | 5:46 pm

I was in a bookstore recently and there was a boy, about 10, who wanted a book. His dad was not sure he should have the book. The issue wasn’t the book itself; the book was fine. The issue was that the book was #3 in a series, and Dad established that the boy had borrowed the first two from a library. “Why don’t you borrow this one from the library and I’ll buy you a different book?” he said. The boy mumbled something I didn’t catch but I’m guessing was some variation of, “I want this book.” I figured that Dad was seeing the book as an…

Christopher Barzak's
Kirkus reviews Before and Afterlives

Christopher Barzak

28 Apr 2013 | 11:01 am

A late but better than never review from Kirkus Reviews came for Before and Afterlives at the tail end of last week. It’s a goodie. I’m happy. I can only post a couple of lines from the review without infringing on copyright stuff, lalala, so I’ll post two of my favorite lines here, and then link to the rest of it, which you can read at the site itself. “The 17 stories collected here bring readers into worlds where mermaids beckon to the sea, where a boy wrapped in barbed wire becomes wrapped up in love, where the end of the world is just another way to find…
Sneak Peeks of Before and Afterlives (The Ghost Hunter’s Beautiful Daughter)

Christopher Barzak

21 Apr 2013 | 11:24 am

Today’s preview from Before and Afterlives is the opening of my story, “The Ghost Hunter’s Beautiful Daughter,” which originally appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction. It’s a story about a young girl named Sylvie, who has a talent for manifesting ghosts around her, making them visible to others. And it’s about how her father, an out-of-work laborer, recently widowed, capitalizes on his daughter’s ability by becoming a ghost hunter. Set in Warren, Ohio, this is one my favorites of my “locally set” stories, because it features a scene at…
Sneak Peeks of Before and Afterlives (The Drowned Mermaid)

Christopher Barzak

17 Apr 2013 | 8:22 am

There’s been a break in the sneak peeks of Before and Afterlives, but I’m back with the next one, the opening scene to my story, “The Drowned Mermaid”, which originally appeared in the magazine, Realms of Fantasy. This story is one of my few that take place in southern California, where I lived for a short stint in the late 90s. I wrote it after walking along a strip of beach one night, down below a short cliff where these amazingly beautiful houses were perched above with these decks that came out from the cliffside almost like small piers themselves. Down below the…
Sneak Peeks of Before and Afterlives (Born on the Edge)

Christopher Barzak

9 Apr 2013 | 9:43 am

Today’s preview from Before and Afterlives is the opening of my story,”Born on the Edge of an Adjective”. It’s a story about two lovers who can’t get it together, one of whom moves across the country to find himself, and is instead found by a different sort of love, an alien love. I mean that, too. An alien love, though you won’t be able to tell just how alien from this excerpt, which will seem fairly realistic. The story originally appeared in the very cool zine, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. Born on the Edge of an Adjective “I was born on the…
Sneak Peeks of Before and Afterlives (Vanishing Point)

Christopher Barzak

5 Apr 2013 | 11:03 am

Today’s preview from Before and Afterlives is the opening of my story, “Vanishing Point”, which first appeared in the Canadian literary journal, Descant. It’s a story about a mother whose son has been afflicted with a mysterious disease that is plaguing her community. People begin to vanish slowly, to become invisible and to lose their solidity in increments, and over a period of time, they disappear altogether. The narration style is a monologue, or a letter, however you’d like to imagine it, in which she speaks to a social scientist who is attempting to…

The Battersblog
THUMBNAIL THURSDAY GETS HITCHED

Lee Battersby

15 May 2013 | 4:15 pm

Ah, wedding humour. It's quick, it's easy, and it's infinitely variable.This is one of them.What do you mean, "What are the options?"?
PRETTIES FOR YOU

Lee Battersby

14 May 2013 | 4:31 pm

Things have been quiet on the writing front in recent days as the day job has taken over my life. Two weeks ago we had the lovely Kaaron Warren over for the weekend as part of an art exhibition based upon her book 'Through Splintered Walls', and this last week has been eaten by the annual Castaways Sculpture Awards, which we stage on the beach every year and is bigger than a Justin Beiber-shaped rash. I normally keep the day job of these pages, but I might sneak some photos on here once I've got a few moments to do so, because frankly, they're cool.In the meantime, there's a teensy bit of…
THUMBNAIL THURSDAY GOES ALL ELEMENTARY

Lee Battersby

8 May 2013 | 4:19 pm

Nothing much to say about this one, other than I love the look on Watson's face. I'd probably find to hard to replicate properly on a final draft, which is why I'm an author and not a cartoonist."Don't be too sure, Watson. Moriarty's mad genius may lead him to anything."
VALE RAY

Lee Battersby

7 May 2013 | 4:29 pm

It's 1984. I'm 13 years old, pushing 14. My father has left us, and as a way of adjusting to our new life, my mother has scraped together some of our remaining money and managed to buy our first VCR. We join the only video library in town.From now until I leave home, aged 22, this and the late night Friday Creature Feature are going to be very warm security blankets around my burgeoning imagination. I will discover Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Dracula, the Reptile, the Swarm, 1950s black and white SF movies, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Them!..... I am going to discover my world.Soon,…
Review: A Father's Story

Lee Battersby

7 May 2013 | 6:58 am

A Father's Story by Lionel DahmerMy rating: 1 of 5 starsJeffrey Dahmer will long be remembered as one of the most gruesome and appalling serial killers of all time. But if there was any hope that the reader might gain any insight into his mental makeup by reading this memoir, by the man who should have known him better than any other, it is quickly dashed.Lionel Dahmer reveals himself as a cold, emotionally distant father and husband who's greatest influence upon his oldest son seems to have been to create an atmosphere of such utter disregard and disinterest that Jeffrey's withdrawal into an…

throw another bear in the canoe
the land was too changed to ever change

it's a great life, if you don't weaken

21 May 2013 | 6:24 pm

View Poll: just a man and his will to survive
you gotta keep on going. you gotta feast on crumbs.

it's a great life, if you don't weaken

21 May 2013 | 8:07 am

Oh, gosh. Here's your weepy moment for the day.http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147264nTerriers, man. You can't keep a schnauzer down.
a dream within a trail of sparks

it's a great life, if you don't weaken

21 May 2013 | 8:01 am

It always amazes me how getting a couple of big, mentally taxing projects (like, say, a major novelette commission and the Very Important Third Book Of A Trilogy) squared away opens out the horizons. There are suddenly more hours in the day, and more energy to get stuff done in those hours.Creative work is really emotionally taxing. The more ambitious it is, the more taxing. I've been struggling, the past couple of months, to get the basics done--dishes washed, bills paid, exercise exercised. Now that the book and one of May's two novelettes are done, suddenly my head is full of room.Case in…
i'm going to drive to the river styx. i'm gonna take route 66.

it's a great life, if you don't weaken

20 May 2013 | 4:43 pm

Ding dong, the draft is dead.That's "The Heart's Filthy Lesson," handed in at exactly the contracted length (10K: The manuscript is 10K manuscript (40 pages in manuscript format) ~9.3K MS Word.)This old features writer still has enough column-inch damage that it feels awfully good to dial it after running 25% long on that damned book last month. *g* Now there's just one more June 1 deadline I should really try to hit. And, oh yeah, a cross-country flight, two ten hour drives, and a convention guest gig in the middle.Where's my fucking Wonder Woman icon?Oh yeah, I'll be at Up In…
no sleep 'till brooklyn

it's a great life, if you don't weaken

20 May 2013 | 8:29 am

I have olive bread, sharp cheddar, orange/cardamom tea, wrist braces, & 16 unscheduled hours. This draft dies today.

New @ GregBear.com
DISCUSSION: Second Trilogy Saga?

29 Apr 2013 | 6:01 pm
DISCUSSION: Darwin's Children

28 Apr 2013 | 6:01 pm
DISCUSSION: Halo

25 Apr 2013 | 6:01 pm

Vicious Imagery
Genius: The Great Catsby

DAVID BISHOP

14 May 2013 | 3:58 am

Cracking mashup of Great Gatsby and The Aristocats (via @AndreaMann et al).
2013: A Space Oddity

DAVID BISHOP

12 May 2013 | 10:30 pm

In case you've missed this gem. Chris Hadfield sings a tweaked version of David Bowie's Space Oddity - in space.
Second series of Endeavour is surely inevitable...

DAVID BISHOP

6 May 2013 | 12:24 am

Shaun Evans as Detective Constable Morse in Endeavour. Photo © ITVThe first series of Endeavour concluded last night with an episode displaying the same care, cunning and craftmanship as the three that preceded it. I won't spoil the plotfor those who haven't seen it, but you're in for a treat. All four stories in this first series - Girl, Fugue, Rocket and Home - more than fulfilled the promise of last year's Pilot.Devising a prequel to beloved TV series Inspector Morse [and Colin Dexter's original novels, of course] could easily have gone wrong. In less skilled hands this visit to Morse's…
"Oh, bugger..." Why the Daleks always fail

DAVID BISHOP

2 May 2013 | 10:29 pm

One for the classic Who fans: a previously unseen Genesis of the Daleks sequence where the fourth Doctor explains how his greatest enemies were defeated in all of their previous encounters. Genius!
NSFW: Should you ever need an excuse in future...

DAVID BISHOP

1 May 2013 | 7:34 am

...friendly Miami serial killer Dexter has got a bunch here you could borrow. The NSFW tag is due to the ever-lovin' sweariness of Dexter's sister.

Gibberish
Friday Night Videos

Jayme Lynn Blaschke

24 May 2013 | 11:23 am

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist for the Doors, died this week. This fascinating interview with him aired on NPR today, which really got me thinking about Light My Fire. It's amazing how Manzarek describes the song's evolution from a saccharine, Sonny & Cher pop ditty to one infused with a Latin beat, jazz elements and even Bach. I'd never noticed all of that before, but once Manzarek points them out, it's impossible to miss. Previously on Friday Night Videos... Chris Hadfield. Now Playing: Eric Clapton Live at the Royal Albert HallChicken Ranch Central
Chicken Ranch report no. 34: TELEVISION!

Jayme Lynn Blaschke

23 May 2013 | 8:09 am

Big news to share regarding the Chicken Ranch! The television series Expedition Texas is airing an episode dedicated to the Chicken Ranch this weekend, featuring yours truly prominently. Expedition Texas is most easily viewed by folks in East Texas, since it is based in the Nacogdoches area, but they have an array of stations listed on their website that carry the series. If you don't have access to a station that carries the program, don't despair! Expedition Texas makes individual episodes available for viewing online. Okay, maybe I should back up a little bit now that the important stuff…
Infrared camera for sale

Jayme Lynn Blaschke

22 May 2013 | 12:34 pm

SOLD! The time has come to sell my workhorse Canon Rebel XTi camera body. It has been infrared modified by Lifepixel, the 720nm option, so that the images it takes can either be processed as false-color or high-contrast black and white. I've found it pretty flexible in that regard. The autofocus system is calibrated to the EF 50mm 1.8 lens, and works flawlessly with that. I've also found AF works well with the EF-S 10-22mm lens if aperture is stopped down to at least f/8 when shooting. I bought this camera--my first ever DSLR--in March of 2008, new. I'm the only owner. We had it converted to…
122/365: Blueberry almonds

Jayme Lynn Blaschke

22 May 2013 | 11:47 am

No deep, meaningful artistic statement with this image. I saw these in the store, and being a huge blueberry fan from way back, had to give 'em a try. Ohmigoshthey'regreat! Camera: Canon 50D, 720nm infrared modified Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mmLisa On Location Now Playing: Various artists Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard CohenChicken Ranch Central
121/365: Twin yuccas in bloom

Jayme Lynn Blaschke

21 May 2013 | 1:36 pm

Twin yuccas in bloom at Presidio la Bahia, Goliad. We've visited the old mission before, but never the presidio across the river. I was impressed with both the preservation and reconstruction, and hope to return someday. Yuccas were in full bloom all over the grounds, and this pair was doing its thing at the southwest corner of the old fort. Lots of black-throated humming birds were squabbling over the flowers, wanting to keep the nectar all to themselves. I suspected the plants would contrast nicely against the stone walls in infrared, and it appears that I was correct. Camera: Canon 50D,…

Gwenda Bond
Pack(ag)ing It Up

Gwenda Bond

22 May 2013 | 12:36 pm

Let me first start this post by saying I know a little about book packaging, but purely from the outside in--through knowing authors who've done it as work-for-hire and people who worked at packaging houses and as a general "watcher of the industry" and articles that get written about it. None of that makes me an expert. But. The most interesting thing about watching heads explode this morning on twitter over the new announcement that Amazon has reached licensing agreements with Alloy/WBs (with more in the works) to allow writers to sell fanfic set in the Vampire Diaries,…
Let's Get Mythical

Gwenda Bond

22 May 2013 | 6:45 am

I'm over at the SF Signal Mind Meld today talking about the appeal of mythology, gods, and goddesses in fiction, along with fancy types like Tessa Gratton and Jennifer Estep, and my Angry Robot compatriots Chuck Wendig, Adam Christopher, and Mike Underwood, to name a few. Go check it out. Thrilled to be included, as always. *Also, please to excuse my typo. That "definitely literally" was supposed to be "definitely literarily." I was fresh off an edit pass, and thus experiencing deadline brain fritz.
Tuesday Hangovers

Gwenda Bond

21 May 2013 | 7:47 am

Whoops, sorry to disappear, but I predict a return to more regular entries starting now. At least until circus edits land. In the meantime, I'm accumulating research material for a new thing and pecking away at a collaborative project with C that has been major fun so far. And soon now The Woken Gods will be dipping its myth-infused toes into the waters of People Reading It Early and so I must. stay. busy. But what easier way to dip my non-mythical toe back into the blog than the sharing of some amassed links and the closing of tabs? There isn't one, so. Speaking of The Woken Gods,…
Thursday Hangovers

Gwenda Bond

9 May 2013 | 10:10 am

Jamestown Colony cannibalism story; this has been all over, but you know how I love my early settler drama. The fabulous Annalee Newitz, one of the smartest people around, has a shiny new book out, Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. This piece at io9 is a great teaser for it. How entrepreneurs come up with ideas. Ten steps for being a grown-up from Kelly Williams Brown. I need to get better at three. What does science tell us about how we'd use superpowers; good or evil? Loved this interview with Melina Marchetta on heroines: "Whichever way you…
Talking It Out

Gwenda Bond

7 May 2013 | 8:06 am

So, yesterday morning, I asked for twitter's help deciding what to blog about, because that's turned out well in the past, and Libba pitched in: @gwenda The uvula. You're welcome. #BlogSuggestions — libba bray (@libbabray) May 6, 2013 Well, why not? I learned many things about uvulas yesterday (fun word to say, and it sounds a little...dirty, doesn't it?)--that some people pierce them, that it's possible to get a bee sting there, that a friend knew someone when she was a kid who had two and could make them dance, that someone had a college instructor who mixed up…

Swan Tower
Neverland's Library

Swan Tower

21 May 2013 | 3:19 am

As I mentioned a while ago, my short story "Centuries of Kings" is going to be in the charity anthology Neverland's Library, whose sales will benefit the literacy charity First Book.Before it can do that, though, the anthology has to be funded. You can find them over at Indiegogo -- note that this is a "flexible funding" campaign, which means all pledges will be honored, even if the project doesn't make its goal. You can also see updates over there, with shiny things like the cover art (which is really, really lovely). If you scroll down the project page, you can also find a list of the…
Where I'll be next month

Swan Tower

20 May 2013 | 12:40 pm

By that title, I don't just mean "I'll be going to X place during June" -- I mean I'll be in X place for essentially the entirety of June.Some of you may be familiar with Duke TIP. (Others of you may know the very similar CTY instead.) This is a program I participated in as a kid; when I was twelve, I went to Davidson for three weeks to read and talk about science fiction short stories. The next year it was marine biology in Galveston; then it was tropical ecology in Costa Rica; then geology and a bit of archaeology in New Mexico. TIP is probably the single coolest thing I got to do during my…
'puter troubles, desktop edition

Swan Tower

6 May 2013 | 4:46 pm

It never rains but it pours.Remember how my laptop was going kaput a while ago, and I asked for tablet advice? (Thanks for all the responses, btw. I ended up going with a Google Nexus, and I'm quite pleased with it. In fact, that's what I'm writing this post on.)Well, my desktop has been acting strangely, to the point where I think I should look into getting a new one. The current one is pretty elderly, and I think I'd rather make the switch before it goes completely belly-up.So now I'm looking for opinions on that end of the spectrum. I'm a Windows user (please don't try to get me to…
various bits of news

Swan Tower

6 May 2013 | 11:57 am

1) Sure, I'll be kind and put the big one first. I've sold a story to Tor.com! "Mad Maudlin," a novelette based on the folksong variously known as "Bedlam Boys" and "Tom o'Bedlam." It won't be published until late this year or early next, but I'm extremely pleased nonetheless.2) One straggler from the ANHoD blog tour: an interview with me at LibraryThing, wherein (among other things) I divulge how kniedzw and I approached the most important question one must consider upon moving in together: whether to combine libraries or not.3) Latest post at BVC is on superstitions.Edited to add:4) A…
What we talk about when we talk about pockets

Swan Tower

3 May 2013 | 11:43 am

Originally posted by kylecassidy at What we talk about when we talk about pocketsThis post is about pockets, feminism, design, autonomy and common sense. Please feel free to repost or link to it if you know people who'd benefit from the discussion.A few weeks ago trillian_stars and I were out somewhere and she asked "Oooh, can I get a cup of coffee?" and I thought "why are you asking me? You don't need permission." But what I discovered was that her clothes had no pockets, so she had no money with her. Mens clothes have pockets. My swimsuits have pockets. All of them do, and it's not unusual,…

CONTRARY BRIN
Mixed News from Space

David Brin

17 May 2013 | 9:58 am

Amid fretful resignation, we learn of the likely loss of the magnificent Kepler missionwhich discovered as many as three thousand planets beyond our solar system. (About 10% of them now confirmed.) Only two of the four gyro systems are still working, not enough for the probe to aim at more than a hundred thousand stars with uncanny accuracy, each day. While this will be a sad loss, the epoch introduced by the Kepler Mission bodes well for your understanding of the universe.Can we agree by national consensus about just one thing? That we must follow this up with something…
News about Space and Science Fiction

David Brin

13 May 2013 | 5:38 pm

First a series of important announcements for the month of May:I'll be on the show "Star Trek: Secrets of the Universe" on the History Channel. A fun romp through the range of speculative sci & tech that help propel the fabulous Trek franchise to realms of vast imagining and hopeful possibility.Then -- May 21 and 22 -- the “Starship Century Symposium” at the new Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UCSD will be devoted to an ongoing exploration of the development of a real starship in the next 100 years. You can watch live streaming of the event -- speakers…
Grand challenges, X-prizes and Mars volunteers: stimulating bold wonders

David Brin

11 May 2013 | 6:03 pm

Grand challenges! It's an approach to stimulating research and technology that has been around for a while, stretching back to the British "longitude prize" of the 1700s. Aviation medals and awards spurred rapid advances during the 1920s and 1930s and sparked breakthroughs in human-powered flight in the 1980s and 1990s. One contest helped lead to creation of the "spaceship" sub-orbital craft that Richard Branson and Burt Rutan will soon use to offer spectacular jaunts for rich folks. (Something I portray evolving into an extreme sport,…
Dilbert, Skynet and the latest from the transparency front

David Brin

6 May 2013 | 5:53 pm

Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) and I have both agreed and disagreed about transparency, for years. In his posting, Crime and Privacy, he has opined, for example, that Ironically, the more the government clamps down on individual privacy, the more freedom the residents will have. When the government can detect every sort of crime, it will be forced by public opinion and by resource constraints to legalize anything it can detect but can't stop." Hm, well, that's right in the general gist, though wrong in the specifics. What Scott is fumbling around -- and that I made explicit…
Science - Technology Roundup

David Brin

4 May 2013 | 3:13 pm

The “High Quality Research Act,” sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), would strip the peer-review requirement from the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant process, inserting a new set of funding criteria that is significantly less transparent. Smith, sponsor of the highly controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that would expand U.S. oversight over copyrighted intellectual property on the internet, published an editorial in Roll Call describing how his vision of science funding is based not upon the impacts new research may have on the scientific…

Dispatches from Tanganyika
All-Seeing Eye Necklace

Billy Martin

23 May 2013 | 5:47 pm

NOLA Jewels All-Seeing Eye necklace, protection against evil eye, $40
Book Auctions

Billy Martin

21 May 2013 | 6:39 pm

It's been a while since I sold any signed books on eBay. Just listed five new auctions: WRONG THINGS by me and Caitlín R. Kiernan, TRIADS by me and Christa Faust, GUILTY BUT INSANE, and the chapbooks CON PARTY AT HOTEL CALIFORNIA and THE SEED OF LOST SOULS. As always, I'm happy to personalize the signatures.
Spirit Beast

Billy Martin

20 May 2013 | 9:54 pm

"Spirit Beast," mixed media shadowbox sculpture. Hand-beaded raccoon skull, wire horns, ammonite eyes, found objects. $125 or best offer.
NOLA Cross with Christ Medallion

Billy Martin

19 May 2013 | 2:52 pm

NOLA Cross with Christ medallion, $30Crossposted at Dreamwidth. Comment here or there, as you will.
NOLA Cross with Christ Medallion

Billy Martin

19 May 2013 | 2:52 pm

NOLA Cross with Christ medallion, $30

Tobias Buckell Online
Photo: Lilac bush outside office window

Tobias Buckell

23 May 2013 | 1:17 pm

The lilac fragrance fills my office as I work around this time of year if I have the window open. It’s quite pleasant.
TV leaves you dark on Tesla’s loan repayment

Tobias Buckell

23 May 2013 | 11:47 am

Via Ramez Naam: “The news that electric carmaker Tesla Motors has repaid its federal loan early is being ignored by some of the same outlets that tried to make the bankrupt solar company Solyndra the face of the Obama administration’s green initiatives — including ABC, which suggested Tesla wouldn’t be able to repay its loan.” (Via After Hyping Solyndra, TV News Ignores Tesla’s Loan Repayment | Blog | Media Matters for America.) Between the negativity aimed at Tesla by mainstream institutions, including politicians trying to stop it from being able to sell…
Billion dollar weather disasters rising

Tobias Buckell

23 May 2013 | 10:28 am

The Oklahoma tornados were highly unlikely to be climate related, however in general it has prompted an article that looks at the number of billion dollar disasters. Insurance companies track these, and according to them, these events are increasing (adjusted for inflation): “The billion-dollar weather club, as tracked by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reads like a Weather Channel hall of infamy: Hurricane Irene, at an adjusted estimated cost of ten billion dollars; the Texas wildfires of 2011, at a billion dollars; and Hurricane Sandy and the yearlong drought of…
Greek Yogurt’s Dark Side

Tobias Buckell

23 May 2013 | 10:23 am

First they tried to make me feel bad about my quinoa, now it’s Greek Yogurt. What’s next, guilt tripping me about kale? I want to eat my crunchy hippy food without guilt, damn you. “Greek yogurt is a booming $2 billion a year industry — and it’s producing millions of pounds of waste that industry insiders are scrambling to figure out what to do with.” (Via Modern Farmer | Whey Too Much: Greek Yogurt’s Dark Side.) I never even heard of Modern Farmer before. Great website. Bookmarked. Check out Kickstarting the Modern Farm.
Underwater mechanical energy storage system uses underwater tanks and natural water pressure

Tobias Buckell

22 May 2013 | 11:48 am

This is a clever mechanical energy storage system: “When the ‘hatch’ is opened, water is allowed to flow into the tanks through a turbine that drives an electric generator. The more and larger the tanks, the longer the generation can go on. When the tanks are filled, the turbine can be reversed to pump out the water, a process that draws on the power grid and consumes energy. In this way, the pumped storage plant functions like an underwater battery that can be re-charged, much like a hydroelectric plant on dry land pumps water into an upper reservoir after it has passed through a…

Dark Roast
The Reader Project: War for the Oaks

Emma Bull

7 May 2013 | 8:53 am

If you're in the Twin Cities area, or will be in the next month, or can make either or both of those things happen, volunteer for this absolutely coolest photo project: The Reader: War for the Oaks. Insert squee here!Edited to add: This isn't my project; it's the work of mighty photographer timprov. If you've got questions, the best place to ask them is in the comments on the page linked above!
Dear Toby,

Emma Bull

24 Apr 2013 | 9:12 am

You are the best cat in the world, and I will try to give you everything you want.Except dairy. Because it turns you into a barfosaurus.Everything else, though.Now, can I have my arm back? So I can type with both hands?
Oh, dear.

Emma Bull

21 Apr 2013 | 11:28 am

I'm proofreading Falcon for an e-book release, and came upon a sentence that struck me as relevant to current events:"You are a God-damned adolescent, and your understanding of death is that it's the ultimate expression of love."Niki, the protagonist, is nineteen when his mother says that to him.My heart goes out in so many directions: victims, families, witnesses, first responders, a frightened community, and one adolescent boy.
Really, it's a mid-life crisis.

Emma Bull

20 Apr 2013 | 8:56 am

For some people, it will always be Doc Marten's. For others, it's Converse hi-tops. I'm referring, of course, to the iconic footgear of one's rock-n-roll, live-fast, heart-on-your-sleeve youth. (Some of you are in the midst of it right now. If so, shield your eyes, move along, nothing to see, old people are so embarrassing.)My equivalent kicks were a pair of canvas lace-up boots I found in the Sportsman's Guide catalog. SG called them "Israeli Commando Boots." They only sold them in men's sizes, but the laces made up for some of the extra width. I figured if they were good enough for Entebbe,…
Flashmobbery

Emma Bull

17 Apr 2013 | 9:28 am

Pro flashmob projects don't have the same charm for me that amateur ones do.Notice I said it wasn't the same charm.

Stephanie Burgis
Waking Up Early, and a Happiness List

Stephanie Burgis

21 May 2013 | 11:33 pm

Oof! I woke up with a horrible start this morning at 5:50, at the climax of yet another vivid, pregnancy-linked nightmare. Needless to say, the sensible thing would have been to go back to sleep until my alarm was due to go off (at 7:45). The second-most sensible thing would have been to get up and Do All the Things! (And with a freelance deadline staring me in the face, believe me, there is plenty of work to be done right now.)Well. Instead, I eventually got up, got breakfast, and spent a long time cuddling Maya. It's worked for me so far. In 20 minutes, I'll go wake up MrD and get him ready…
Taking A Day Off

Stephanie Burgis

17 May 2013 | 7:50 am

Whew! I hit my big rewrite deadline this Wednesday, exactly on time...and it feels good. Guess what else happened? We found a new house! We're still waiting to hear final confirmation that all the credit checks, etc., have gone through, but with luck, we should be able to move in exactly a month....Which will mean that we're moving when I'm 8 months pregnant. Eep! Plus we're moving into a smaller house, so we need to do a massive purge of stuff beforehand (not just books anymore!), not to mention getting the whole house clean and organized for the movers to work with...But whatever! Sometimes…
Faking It

Stephanie Burgis

11 May 2013 | 1:06 am

The past week has been pretty intense, for one reason or another...and between my rewrite deadline (next week) and my next freelance deadline (in three weeks) - not to mention our house-hunting and, I hope, big move! - the situation may not improve until mid-June. But! At least today I'm finally blogging again, over at Girls Heart Books. This was a very heartfelt post I wrote yesterday afternoon, talking about faking it through the hard parts (of writing AND life).I'd love to read your comments either there or here! I miss you guys! I can't wait to get back to a less breathless routine, with…
Speaking German again

Stephanie Burgis

5 May 2013 | 10:13 am

This afternoon, MrD found a German picture dictionary, aimed at children, in the pile of books we'd been planning to discard in our Epic Book Purge. He pulled it out, got very excited, and he and I spent the next twenty-some minutes playing with it, teaching him some German words just for fun (even though I was really supposed to be washing dishes for dinner at that point - oh well)......and I was filled with the most amazing warmth and a sense of dèja vu. I finally realized why: because when I was his age, my family had a similar children's picture dictionary (or maybe textbook???) of…
My Next-Next Big Thing!

Stephanie Burgis

2 May 2013 | 12:27 pm

Thanks so much to Lindsay Eland, who tagged me for the Next Big Thing meme! And thanks so much to everyone who voted (here, on my other blog, on Facebook, or on Twitter!) for which project I should talk about here today.The truth is, my hope and (hopeful!) expectation is that my next published novel will be Antonia O'Toole Takes the Low Road to Hollywood, which should go out on submission later this month - please wish me luck! And you can read about that book in my last Next Big Thing meme (posted back in October, before I'd even started the rewrite process). (You can also check out my…

Mabfan's Musings
Hey Kids! Comics!

mabfan (Michael A. Burstein)

2 May 2013 | 6:07 am

Yesterday I bought actual comic books for Muffin and Squeaker for the first time. (The picture shows Squeaker reading on our front steps.) They've been enjoying lots of picture books, of course, and even early readers about superheroes. But they hadn't started comic books yet. Part of that is because I didn't want to present them with any of my own, and in fact, most of them are probably inappropriate for kids (ironic, isn't it?). But it gnawed on me, as I was buying and reading my own comic books when I was only a little older than they are now.So I was delighted when Sesame Street #1…
Boston Marathon Memorial Thursday Morning

mabfan (Michael A. Burstein)

18 Apr 2013 | 6:41 am

More pictures of the memorial. Someone moved it to the side, and many more items and messages have been left. Scroll over each photo for the title.
Two Days Out - Photos

mabfan (Michael A. Burstein)

17 Apr 2013 | 8:02 am

I took a bunch of photos this morning from a few blocks away from the Boston Marathon finish line. They're shown below, but the album can also be found at http://mabfan.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/8723 .And I'd like to thank publicly the two National Guardsmen who were guarding Arlington Street Station for allowing me to take their picture.
Checking In; Copied from Facebook

mabfan (Michael A. Burstein)

15 Apr 2013 | 12:41 pm

For those who want to know or need to know, I am checking in. I am fine. I was not at the office today, so I am nowhere near the explosions. We are home safe, reporting in at 3:10 pm EDT. — with gnomi.
Meeting Douglas Adams: A Note

mabfan (Michael A. Burstein)

11 Mar 2013 | 6:16 pm

Since Google is noting that today is the birthday of Douglas Adams, I feel compelled to mention that I met him once, when he was touring the United States promoting his books Last Chance to See and Mostly Harmless. The late lamented bookstore Wordsworth hosted a reading at the Brattle Theatre, and although he was a draw, it was not so crowded that we didn't all get a chance to spend a few minutes talking with him. He was quite friendly and personable. And tall. Boy was he tall. I finally understood why Ford Prefect felt that one of the things humans say over and over is the obvious phrase,…

Pushing a Snake Up a Hill
Nature's Reset Button

Jeffrey A. Carver

22 May 2013 | 8:42 am

Amazing how the writing mind can bounce back with a little time away, and some exposure to nature. The last two days have been great. Here are a few pix I took of, and around, Quechee Gorge in Vermont. That bridge you see way down is Vermont Rt. 4, but was originally the bridge for the Woodstock Railroad. Downstream of the gorge. Another shot downstream, but this one with accursed Japanese bamboo weed in the foreground. I hope it hasn't taken over by the next time I visit. Forest along the gorge.This sculpture replicates the movement of an eagle's wings when…
After Bread Loaf, a Retreat

Jeffrey A. Carver

19 May 2013 | 9:05 pm

The New England Young Writers Conference at Bread Loaf was a tremendous success. It always is, but I'd been away from it for five years, and felt pretty rusty going in. Though I arrived frazzled, and was exhausted most of the time (we had a very busy workshop schedule), it was an enormously rewarding experience. This conference selects over two hundred talented and motivated high school-aged writers, and they were a wonderful bunch of kids. One of my students came all the way from Paris for the workshop—a half-French girl with an Aussie accent and a great sense of humor. Another turned out…
Off to Bread Loaf!

Jeffrey A. Carver

16 May 2013 | 8:14 am

I'm leaving shortly for Vermont and the New England Young Writers Conference, where I'll be one of a couple dozen writers of all types and genres working with high-school student writers. I'm returning after a five-year hiatus, and I'm hoping for it to be a good time.We finished moving everything out of Allysen's mother's condo this week, and the closing for the sale went off yesterday. So that big job is behind us. Fay herself will arrive while I'm at the conference, and should be moved into her new place at the retirement village by the time I'm back.See you next week!
More Star Trek Fun

Jeffrey A. Carver

10 May 2013 | 6:30 am

With a new Star Trek movie about to open, why not sharpen our critical faculties with a look back at the last movie, in Everything Wrong With Star Trek (2009) In 5 Minutes Or Less: Almost makes me feel like a character in Big Bang Theory.
Star Trek Fun

Jeffrey A. Carver

9 May 2013 | 4:00 pm

This came to my attention from SyFy's Blastr site. A new car ad from Audi features dueling Spock actors. Zachary Quinto (new Spock) challenges Leonard Nimoy (old Spock) to a little competition in "The Challenge":The Audi-o is a little low, so you might have to turn up the volume.

Mark Chadbourn
Skull On A Stake Reveals Mysterious Ancient Ritual

markchadbourn

23 May 2013 | 6:18 am

A fascinating discovery by archaeologists in Sweden: poles with human heads impaled on them at the bottom of a pond, dating back to the stone age. Apart from the mystery surrounding the ritual, the academics are also scratching their heads about a stone burial mound found nearby – a kind that didn’t become common until much later. “According to Hallgren this mound of stones was built at the bottom of a pond where nobody could see it. What was the point?…”
Testimony Revisited

markchadbourn

6 Apr 2013 | 7:12 am

Very shortly you can expect a new ebook which reflects upon my one and only non-fiction book, Testimony. This was a truly terrifying account of a family trying to make sense of a maelstrom of supernatural experiences after they moved in to an isolated house in the wilds of Wales. The book sold out its first print run in record time – and then disappeared from the shelves completely. Another story surrounds that. The ebook will feature new content – including a detailed commentary about the case and how I went about investigating it. At the moment, the aim is to include enough to…
The Devil’s Looking Glass UK Publication

markchadbourn

14 Mar 2013 | 4:19 am

Published today in the UK: The Devil’s Looking Glass. First few lines: The merciless sun boiled in a silver sky. Waves of heat shimmered across the seething main deck of the becalmed galleon where seven sailors knelt, heads bowed. As blood dripped from their noses onto their sweat-sodden undershirts, they muttered prayers in Spanish, their strained voices struggling to rise above the creaking of hull timbers flexing against the green swell. Harsh light glinted off the long, curved blades pressed against their necks. At the sailors’ backs, the grey men waited in silence, still as…
Review: The Devil’s Looking Glass

markchadbourn

13 Mar 2013 | 3:49 am

Excellent review of The Devil’s Looking Glass in the latest Locus magazine. And they also take the time to praise The Sword of Albion/The Silver Skull: “These characters tend to peer out from tangles of painfully twisted emotions. The plot can seem just as gnarled, with many turnings, terrors, betrayals, and revelations about its mingling, shifting worlds.”
New Ebooks On The Way

markchadbourn

9 Jan 2013 | 3:59 am

Ebook versions of my out-of-print titles will be published in the coming weeks. These will be enhanced versions, with corrected copy and in some cases additions to text. They will also include detailed commentaries – background to the story, how the book came to be written and how it reached publication. The information, tips and knowledge here will be of particular interest to aspiring writers. In the pipeline are Lord of Silence, Scissorman, The Eternal, Nocturne, The Fairy Feller’s Master Stroke, and a collection of rare short stories and novellas, as well as a look-back at the…

The Mumpsimus
All of Aickman

Matthew Cheney

22 May 2013 | 8:19 pm

photo via Tartarus PressOnce Tartarus Press publishes their new edition of Robert Aickman's Night Voices at the end of the month, they will have brought all of Aickman's short stories back into print. (The new Night Voices will also include Aickman's "An Essay", written when he won the World Fantasy Award; his various prefaces to the volumes of The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories that he edited; and Ramsey Campbell's remembrance of Aickman.)I just wanted to take this moment to publicly say thank you to Tartarus for doing this. I can't imagine that they're getting rich…
Race and Illicit Desire in The Great Gatsby

Matthew Cheney

16 May 2013 | 9:28 am

I don't much care for the novel The Great Gatsby (the lyricism of the writing gets tiresome, the characters are annoying, and somebody ought to take out that damned green light with a sniper rifle), but one passage has long fascinated me:“Civilization’s going to pieces,” broke out Tom violently. “I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read The Rise of the Colored Empires by this man Goddard?”“Why, no,” I answered, rather surprised by his tone.“Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don’t look out the…
The Movies Are Dying: A Video Poem

Matthew Cheney

9 May 2013 | 5:07 am

The Movies Are Dying: A Video Poem.(Futzing around, I made a thing.)
"On Quitting": We Need New Forms

Matthew Cheney

3 May 2013 | 12:07 pm

Keguro Macharia has written an essay titled "On Quitting" that I've now read three times since I first learned about it this morning. So much of its subject matter sits close to my heart, and thus so much of it is heartbreaking.I begin to wonder about the relationship between geo-history, the saturation of space with affect, and psychic health. I want todescribe howI come tobe here-now:anotherthresholdI start writing a linear story, winding, but linear, about psychic health and academic production, a story that tries to make sense of why I am resigning from a tenure track job from a major…
Recent Reading

Matthew Cheney

2 May 2013 | 8:37 am

Blogging always slows to a crawl during the second half of a semester, but I was surprised to see that it's been almost a month since I last posted here. Egads. I've hardly had a moment to breathe, though.For now, I just want to capture a few moments of reading from the recent weeks.First, if you don't know that Lethe Press has recently released Christopher Barzak's first short story collection, Before and Afterlives ... well, now you do. I first discovered Chris through his short stories, and particularly through a story not included in the book, "The Blue Egg", which I wrote about here in…

John Crowley Little and Big
The grim slide

John Crowley

20 May 2013 | 9:08 am

In Michael Dirda's fine and heartfelt overview of the work of James Salter, in the new issue of what Rodger Cunningham dubbed the New York Review of Each Other's Books, that amid James Salter's journalism is an interview with Vladimir Nabokov for People magazine. Salter interviews Nabokov for People. This sounds like an alternative universe, but it's only the past, another country where they did things differently.
New Saint

John Crowley

13 May 2013 | 7:27 am

Saints are named fro proven miracles and lives of heroic virtue. Some more miraculogenitive and heroic than others. But I think it will be a while before this new saint is beaten out for Longest Saint Name(NYTimes):Pope Francis named Laura of St. Catherine of Siena Montoya y Upegui, who toiled as a spiritual guide to indigenous people in the 20th century, as a potential source of inspiration to the country’s peace process.
Me in Seattle, at work

John Crowley

12 May 2013 | 9:13 pm

I am in Seattle, doing a workshop for Les Howle and Clarion -- "Writing from the End," about causality in fictiona dn other things, and also offering help and counsel to those who need iT:http://www.bestseattlecriminaldefenseattorneys.com/serious-felony-lawyer-john-crowley-seattle-tacoma-yakima-tri-cities-snohomish/
Above average, really

John Crowley

7 May 2013 | 3:34 am

Stephen Hawking's famous quote-quote, repeated in a nice -looking new scince mag called Nautilius: “The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies.”Great name for a neo-punk rock band (if any such were needed) -- "Chemical Scum."
RU Nutz 2?

John Crowley

6 May 2013 | 3:34 am

From a Yemeni jihadist site called "Lone Mujahid Pocketbook" which trains American jihadist wannabes with advice and instruction:“R U dreamin’ of wagin’ jihadi attacks against kuffar?” the 64-page manual asks, using a pejorative term for unbeliever. “Have u been lookin’ 4 a way to join the mujahideen in frontlines, but you haven’t found any? Well, there’s no need to travel abroad, because the frontline has come to you.”I don't know why, but the delicacy of those unlikely apostrophes is particularly hateful.

ellen datlow
Guidelines to Fearful Symmetries--open reading period

ellen datlow

12 May 2013 | 8:12 am

Fearful Symmetries guidelinesRenowned editor and anthologist Ellen Datlow will be editing an unthemed, all original anthology of terror and supernatural fiction for CZP, Fearful Symmetries, scheduled to be published in Spring 2014. (The project was funded through Kickstarter by your generous donations!)Ellen says: "This is a non-theme, all original anthology of about 125,000 words of terror and supernatural horror. I’m looking for all kinds of horror, but if you’re going to use a well-worn trope, try to do something fresh with it. If you’ve read any volumes of The Best Horror of the…
Fantastic Fiction at KGB May 15: Kit Reed and Daniel A. Rabuzzi

ellen datlow

17 Apr 2013 | 8:53 pm

FANTASTIC FICTION at KGB reading series, hostsEllen Datlow and Matthew Kresselpresent:Kit Reed has two new books this season: Son of Destruction, her spontaneous human combustion novel, and a "best of" collection from the Wesleyan University Press: The Story Until Now-- A Great Big Book of Stories, 35 short stories ranging from her first published short story to six new and previously uncollected stories from the 2000. Her collection, What Wolves Know, was a 2011 Shirley Jackson Award nomineeandDaniel A. Rabuzzi is the author of The Longing For Yount series: The Choir Boats and The…
Jacket and TOC of Lovecraft's Monsters

ellen datlow

15 Apr 2013 | 8:31 pm

Here's the jacket art, by Barret Chapman, with cover design by Elizabeth Story. This is a reprint anthology (with one original novelette by John Langan). Each "critter" will be be illustrated by John Coulthart. The book which will be published by Tachyon, February 2014.Table of ContentsOnly the End of the World Again by Neil Gaiman Bulldozer…
Richard Bowes & Alaya Dawn Johnson at KGB 4/17

ellen datlow

11 Apr 2013 | 8:51 am

FANTASTIC FICTION at KGB reading series, hostsEllen Datlow and Matthew Kresselpresent:Richard Bowes winner of two World Fantasy Awards, an International Horror Guild, and a Million Writer Award. Recent and forthcoming short story appearances include: F&SF, Icarus, Lightspeed and the anthologies, Ghost's: Recent Hauntings, Handsome Devil, Hauntings, Where Thy Dark Eye Glances, and Weird Detectives: Recent Investigations. His new novel Dust Devil on a Quiet Streetwill be published July 2n by Lethe Press which also just reissued his Lambda Award winning novel Minions of the Moon. Also…
Honorable Mentions 2012

ellen datlow

1 Apr 2013 | 12:40 pm

These are the Honorable Mentions that will appear in print at the back of The Best Horror of the Year volume five. Congratulations.I also have a (very) long list that I will eventually post online only.Barron, Laird “A Strange Form of Life,” ,” Dark Faith: Invocations.Barron, Laird “DT,” A Season In Carcosa.Barron, Laird “Hand of Glory,” (novella) The Book Of Cthulhu II.Bell, Peter “A Midsummer’s Ramble in the Carpathians,” (novella) Strange Ephiphanies.Bestwick, Simon “the Churn,” Black Static 27Brownworth, Victoria A.

PeterDavid.net
Wanna find us at Phoenix Comic Con?

Kathleen David

24 May 2013 | 5:33 am

Kath here. I thought I would post our schedule and where Peter’s table is this weekend. The table is at 2416. We are right across from the Mysterious Galaxy booth. Caroline is selling her artwork at a 1.00 a drawing. I have a couple of Phluzzies for sale. Peter has a lot of books including Pulling Up Stakes and the Camelot Papers. Peter’s Schedule is as follows Friday 12:00-1:00pm In Defense of Bruce Banner (presented by Drawn to Comics) RM 126AB 3:00-4:00pm Spotlight: Peter David RM 124A 6:00-7:00om A Day in The Strife: The Making of Babylon 5 RM 128 9:00-? Phoenix Con…
Image: A Look Back

Peter David

24 May 2013 | 4:00 am

Originally published October 9, 1998, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1299 So was it worth it? Image, I mean. Understand, I’m not speaking of the company in the past tense, although some people already are. I’m speaking of the original launch, filled with high-flown cries of independence. A group of friends, banding together and displaying their independence, thumbing their collective nose at the Big Two in general and Marvel in particular. Friends, going into business together. “Friends and business, now there’s a volatile mix,” I said, and was roundly castigated for…
Peter Apologizes for Everything

Peter David

20 May 2013 | 4:00 am

Originally published October 2, 1998, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1298 It is a time of national contrition. Bill Clinton, whose inability to take responsibility for any gaffes or apologize for anything, has launched his Atonement Tour ’98. It’s pretty impressive as he embraces the newfound ability to publicly say he’s sorry with the sort of eagerness and enthusiasm that is usually reserved for Born-Agains or recovering alcoholics who have made it to the atonement step. I find a couple of things mildly riotous about this. First, there are those who compare Kenneth…
Movie Review: Blade

Peter David

17 May 2013 | 4:00 am

Originally published September 25, 1998, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1297 I still remember the first time he showed up in Tomb of Dracula, with a bandolier full of wooden knives, tinted goggles, a duffle coat, and more attitude than any five vampire hunters put together. He called himself “Blade” (which, admittedly, if you’re going to name yourself after your weapon of choice, is probably a catchier name than “wooden knife”). It always seemed to me that, whereas Dracula seemed to hold the rest of the book’s supporting cast in open contempt, there was…
The Wrap Party Convention

Peter David

13 May 2013 | 4:00 am

Originally published September 18, 1998, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1296 Assorted notes on “The Wrap Party,” a convention in the United Kingdom I recently attended: Hours before I headed for the airport, it was announced that the US had fired tomahawk missiles at Afghanistan and the Sudan. “Americans traveling abroad are warned to be extra careful,” the radio intoned. Great. Just what I needed to hear. “Wrap Party” was originally conceived to be a sort of capper for Babylon 5, a convention that was to be held at the wrap-up of the entire series. Several…

A.M. Dellamonica
That damned parade is coming ’round again…

alyx

25 May 2013 | 4:56 am

In the midst of chaos: Life goes on, except when it doesn’t. Auntie Emm wrote last night to say that my grandmother has had it with petering out slowly and painfully, and has stopped taking food and medicine. I think this is an amazing and right decision on Joan’s part–not that it’s for me to say. But, for myself and for K, ouch. Long and short of it: I feel much grief already, of course, and expect to be winging it to Saint Albert in a state of woe in the not too distant. Casualties of move: Rumble is very pleased to announce he has finally managed to bust one of our…
Sugar Sugar Yogi Yogi

alyx

24 May 2013 | 5:24 am

A bit of random in this post: The new yoga studio looks like it’s going to work out. We’ve only gone twice, and we miss the little bits of meditate-y spiritual guidance we used to get at Open Door (we miss many things about Open Door) but the two classes at Downward Dog were the right mix of do-able and challenging. It’s not hot yoga, but the small studio there has some ventilation challenges. This is nice for me, as I like a warm room. It’s maybe less nice for K. Speaking of nice, here are some baby robins I shot yesterday. It was a crummy day, in a way, with bad…
More Moving Things to Elevate Your Day

alyx

23 May 2013 | 6:03 am

Awesome: One of the friends who has been taking such excellent care of us is the brilliant and thoroughly wonderful Linda Carson (whose Ignite Waterloo talk Art… WTF? is five minutes you’ll never regret.) Here’s a shot of Linda and Kelly at the Art Gallery of Ontario on our first (failed) attempt to go there and partake of the wonder. Failed, because AGO is closed on Mondays. Problematic: There’s an elevator repairhuman strike ongoing in Ontario. In order to keep our building’s elevators in service, the management company has been running them like old timey…
Three things about the transition to Toronto

alyx

22 May 2013 | 4:13 pm

The Awesome: West King Street is so terrific. It’s like having all the awesome of Commercial Drive stretching endlessly in just about every direction, and then you slam into downtown. The Problematic: So our building is under construction. Okay, noise and dust, who cares. But, actually, our suite’s not quite finished either! We had guys in today replastering the ceiling. During the one stretch of time when I actually had to be home to make important phone calls and send important e-mails, I did it closed up in the bathroom, with le Throne as my office chair and somebody’s…
New #BuffyRewatch on @tordotcom, and a pic of the two of us

alyx

21 May 2013 | 5:47 am

The latest Buffy rewatch is up at Tor–the episode is “Spiral.” Kelly and I spent most of yesterday hanging out with a friend. We tried to go to the Art Gallery of Ontario, but it was closed for the holiday so we ended up snuggling on the Henry Moore statue outside. Originally published at A.M. Dellamonica. You can comment here or there.

Cory Doctorow's craphound.com
Interview with The Pod Delusion

Cory Doctorow

24 May 2013 | 4:43 am

I did an interview (MP3) this week with The Pod Delusion, following on from my Sense About Science lecture.
Interview on the New Disruptors podcast

Cory Doctorow

22 May 2013 | 9:08 am

Glenn Fleishman had me on his New Disruptors podcast and we had a great conversation! (MP3)
Privacy, public health and the moral hazard of surveillance

Cory Doctorow

21 May 2013 | 1:52 am

The Guardian
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom read-aloud part 08

Cory Doctorow

20 May 2013 | 11:42 am

As I mentioned in my March Locus column, I'm celebrating the tenth anniversary of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by m planning a prequel. volume As part of that, planning'I going to read aloud the entire text of that first book into the podcast, making notes on the book as I go. Here's part eight. Mastering by John Taylor Williams: wryneckstudio@gmail.com John Taylor Williams is a audiovisual and multimedia producer based in Washington, DC and the co-host of the Living Proof Brew Cast. Hear him wax poetic over a pint or two of beer by visiting livingproofbrewcast.com. In his free time he…
Sense About Science lecture

Cory Doctorow

19 May 2013 | 10:20 pm

I gave the annual Sense About Science lecture last week in London, and The Guardian recorded and podcasted it (MP3). It's based on the Waffle Iron Connected to a Fax Machine talk I gave at Re:publica in Berlin the week before.

Notes from the Geek Show
The Longest Con

Hal Duncan

24 May 2013 | 9:06 am

The morality of the penitent. The dogma that you can be a total cuntfucker and yet still earn eternal bliss if only you perform the prescribed rituals of obeisance. To the honest man, it is surely baffling to see the pious cleave to a creed of such transparent ethical bankruptcy. But as any hustler knows, the softest mark is the amateur hustler. The easiest rube to grift is the rube who thinks
Story's End at the Edinburgh Fringe

Hal Duncan

21 May 2013 | 3:16 pm

Click through for the trailer cut together by Johnny Barrington from footage of the CCA gig, including some shots of Yours Truly from my film debut as Naked Crazy Pictish Hobo Writer. Don't worry, all the shots used here are SFW. But yes, that's me standing naked on a moor. On Skye. In January. No doubt I'll link to listings and prices and places to buy tickets as and when, but for now all
Cardinal O'Brien on Craggy Isle

Hal Duncan

15 May 2013 | 11:45 am

Good friend and GSFWC cohort Phil Raines pointed me to this news story on disgraced anti-gay Cardinal "Handsy" O'Brien leaving Scotland to do penance, with a joke about him ending up on Craggy Isle from Father Ted. All I can think of now is a scene playing out like this: KEITH: Look, Dougal, remember what I told you... those handsome young men over there are far away. The ones over here are
ERRATA: OUT NOW

Hal Duncan

10 May 2013 | 8:45 am

A way away over fields of illusion is this city, far ago & now here, on the edge of blueblack night & sea... Built by bitmites in an afterworld of myth & history, the city has been known by many names in its time—Urauk, Enoas, Babalon, Atlantium, Byzantis, Arom. Its truest name though is Errata, an apt name for a city in which language itself has been unleashed to shatter & reshape
Dummies Indeed

Hal Duncan

7 May 2013 | 2:03 pm

Just a quick note to help clear something up publicly for a writer who emailed me earlier today, anxious about an accusation of plagiarism. As you'll see on the LiveJournal post linked, Alley Maxwell is a poet with a collection recently self-published via Lulu, THE FAULT OF NARCISSUS. One poem in this collection, "Auditory Hallucinations," contains the lines "where angels shatter angels / down

A Blister to My Eye
Dr. WTF?

David

22 May 2013 | 10:17 pm

We finally got the chance to watch Saturday's episode of Dr. Who. We had missed it because we were out of town. It started out promisingly, but that didn't last. Sadly, this was one of those episodes where Dr. Who turns into Dr. WTF? The people writing Dr. Who nowadays have come up with some wonderful episodes, but they've also produced some exceedingly bad ones, and I think the latter kind tend to happen when they forget that they're writing fun, silly adventure stories and try to create Art. I think that as a general rule, writers should never try consciously to create Art. The result is…
The World According to End-of-the-World Movies

David

16 May 2013 | 3:21 pm

Yesterday, I was exercising to a couple of SyFy Channel end-of-the-world movies. Both involved stuff raining down on Earth and destroying cities -- meteors in one case, technobabble electrical phenomena in the other. In both movies, the hits were random, sudden, numerous, and unpredictable. In both movies, the main characters escaped death by running madly while zigging and zagging. Occasionally, one would yell, "Look out!" and pull the others in a different direction. This tactic did not work for all of the extras running around in the background. From one of the movies, I learned…
The Abominable Mr. Selfridge

David

1 Apr 2013 | 1:13 pm

We watched the first episode of the new Masterpiece series "Mr. Selfridge" last night. I won't bother watching any of the rest of it. Mediocre writing, distasteful characters, inept acting, uninteresting story. My advice to the Masterpiece people: Don't pander to American audiences by including American characters, and certainly don't focus on the American characters. You've done very well in the past with your period tales of upper-class English families in expensive clothes and surroundings. In any case, and above all, focus on the story and hire the best writers and actors, and…
Get the government out the marriage business?

David

29 Mar 2013 | 8:12 am

So now the right wingers are adopting a seemingly libertarian stance on marriage and saying that the government should get out of the marriage-sanctioning biz entirely and leave that up to churches and synagogues (maybe some of them add mosques, but I'm skeptical). Fine, if they also mean that all the laws granting married couples any kind of special status compared to single people will also be removed. I'm sure they don't mean that, at all. I'm sure they just want to sucker libertarians*, yet again, with the aim of making marriage even more restrictive than it is now. * Is it in the…
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but plagiarism ain't

David

25 Mar 2013 | 12:08 pm

Someone sent me an e-mail alerting me to a blog post about vampires that lifted a lot of text from my essay about vampires. A link to my essay would have been nice. A polite request to use some of the text, with attribution, would have been even nicer. Unfortunately, I don't see any contact information on that blog or even a way to comment. Hmph.

But Enough About Me!
Daggerspell (Katharine Kerr) re-read at A Dribble of Ink. Join us!

Kate Elliott

24 May 2013 | 3:52 pm

This will start May 29 at A Dribble of Ink. Welcome to the Daggerspell Reread and Review Series, with Aidan Moher (your humble editor/blogger) and Kate Elliott (author of lots and lots of cool novels)! We thought it would be fun to bring two different perspectives (someone who’s read the series, someone who hasn’t), and explore Daggerspell together, comparing notes and reflecting on a series and world that are held dearly by many readers. We’re also hoping that, if you’re not familiar with Kerr, you might discover a new favourite author. If you are so inclined, read along with us.
COLD STEEL Giveaway

Kate Elliott

20 May 2013 | 5:13 pm

Copies of COLD STEEL arrived on my doorstep this afternoon. I can’t read them all, plus I already know the story, and meanwhile the book is not officially released until 25 June 2013. [The ebook will be released into the wild on 25 June but it is possible that the print book will start showing up earlier in bookstores just as the print copies of COLD FIRE did. So if you are buying the print version, keep your eyes open.] Obviously the only thing to do is to have a giveaway. I’m giving away four copies of COLD STEEL. Here are the rules: 1. The giveaway will be open for one week,…
News and plenty of it (Spiritwalker Monday 5)

Kate Elliott

20 May 2013 | 3:02 am

Cold Steel (Spiritwalker Trilogy #3) to be published in 25 June 2013. It is possible that print copies will show up in bookstores before that day so keep an eye out. I will be doing events in San Francisco (June 27), San Diego (June 29), New York City (July 2), Seattle (July 8), and Portland (July 9) in conjunction with publication. Information here. OTHER RECENT OR FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS: My essay “The Omniscient Breasts” is in Speculative Fiction 2012 edited by Justin Landon and Jared Shurin. Speculative Fiction celebrates the best in online non-fiction…
COLD STEEL events (readings/signings)(Spiritwalker Monday 6)

Kate Elliott

13 May 2013 | 3:03 am

To support the release of the third and final volume of the Spiritwalker Trilogy I will be at the following bookstores/events: Borderlands Books, San Francisco, CA: Thursday June 27 at 7 pm with Katharine Kerr who will also have a new book out. Mysterious Galaxy San Diego, Saturday June 29 at 2 pm with Andy Duncan and Clarion students (should be fun AND educational). New York CIty: NYRSF reading Tuesday July 2 (other author TBA) at 7 pm University Bookstore, Seattle, WA: Monday July 8 at 7 pm Powells Beaverton, Portland OR: Tuesday July 9 at 7 pm All events…
I have some thoughts on epic fantasy (Spiritwalker Monday 7)

Kate Elliott

6 May 2013 | 3:00 am

In July and August 2011 the excellent Clarkesworld ran a massive two part series on Epic Fantasy (Part One here and Part Two here) in which the intrepid Jeremy L. C. Jones heroically interviewed a ton (at least) of writers of epic fantasy and then collated these reams of material into two huge amazing sets of reflections on the genre. The answers were there divided by question rather than author, so here today (because I once again have a couple of half written posts that I’m not yet done with but meanwhile I need to make my Monday deadline) I’m excerpting my answers all in one…

The Incomplete Blog
Lessons from Critiques

Josh English

18 May 2013 | 4:23 pm

I'm trying to make a rush on Critters to get my ratio back up because I was supposed to have a story go out but I've been neglecting them and my ratio dropped and blah blah blah. Lazy Writer; No Critiques this week. So I'm slamming a couple out. Slamming, of course, is a strange word for it, but it's a combination of things my Best Art Teacher taught me, and what Jay Lake, Tina Connolly, Kirsten Lincoln, and Mischa DeNola have taught me over the years: I'm a better reader than a writer. My strength is apparently in giving read through reactions, because I'm generally…
On writing in first person past tense

Josh English

11 May 2013 | 3:58 pm

I went on a bit of a binge on Critters today, and encountered a story that was illustrative in how first-person can seem to go wrong. Since this is an unpublished story and someone else's work, all "quotations" will be grammatically parallel statements.The first-person point of view is a particular favorite of mine, so I should study it with a bit more scrutiny, I suppose.The story in question opens with two paragraphs describing a relative of the narrator and a special feature of this relatives existence. There isno action, just description of this unusual…
The LOTR Cast proposal, or "Why Crowdsourcing isn't always a Good Idea..."

Josh English

21 Apr 2013 | 10:43 pm

Way back in July 1997, when there were rumors of the Lord of the Rings movies getting made, I was involved in the rec.arts.books.tolkien usenet group. Being fans, we naturally had our own suggestions as to who should play what role.Looking back, I'm really glad we got it so wrong. There's only one name on this list in the actual movies.Good HumansFaramir: Alec Baldwin, Emilio Esteves, Michael BiehnBoromir: Keifer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Tom Selleck, Jonathan Frakes, Pierce Brosnan, Mel GibsonAragorn: Rutger Hauer, Tommy Lee Jones, Liam Neeson, Adrian Paul, Daniel Day Lewis,…
Kicking myself over this class

Josh English

8 Apr 2013 | 12:21 pm

This is the last week of my Coursera class, and I'm still wrapping up all my thoughts. The positive aspects included finally reading seminal works in my field, and getting an opportunity to think about fiction from both points of view (reader and writer). The negative aspects involved people bitching about having to read a novel a week, the timing of the release of videos, the apparent lack of involvement from the Professor and TA's, and the complete falloff of interest. The forums feel almost dead this week. Aside from writing some very clever (and at least one incredibly snarky)…
Quick thought on Introductions as a Literary Device

Josh English

12 Mar 2013 | 10:03 am

I'm taking this online class about Fantasy and Science fiction, and we've read a bunch of novels and short stories and even a few poems, and one technique we keep seeing is the Introduction as a Literary Device. I'm sure there's a proper name for it, but it's not one I want to take this second of writing to go look up.Shelley's Frankenstein begins with letters of a sea captain, telling his sister what this strange doctor told him, and later what the creature said to him. Well's The Island of Dr. Moreau begins with a young man saying "this is the story my uncle…

Doc 40
ELVIS FIGHTS OFF THE ZOMBIES OF CORPORATE CAPITALISM

Mick

20 May 2013 | 10:47 pm

Well, actually no. Not quite. Elvis is long dead and the Zombies of Corporate Capitalism have us by the global balls. This is a reprint of one of those angry diatribes by our pal Chris Hedges that we have made a regular feature on Doc40. Here’s an excerpt. Do read the rest. “Corporations write our legislation. They control our systems of information. They manage the
THEY THINK THEIR EYE CONTROLS US

Mick

20 May 2013 | 10:37 pm
THEY THINK THEY CAN SELL US ANYTHING

Mick

20 May 2013 | 10:35 pm
BUT IT’S GOING TO BE ONE BUSY WEEKEND. ON FRIDAY THERE’S STRAIGHT EDGE POETRY…

Mick

20 May 2013 | 10:32 pm
AND ON SUNDAY THERE’S FURIOUS ROCK & ROLL

Mick

20 May 2013 | 10:29 pm

The official home page of author Eric Flint
Burdens Of The Dead – Snippet 31

Drak Bibliophile

23 May 2013 | 10:00 pm

Burdens Of The Dead – Snippet 31 Chapter 21 Milan Fillipo Maria was delighted with the new conduit of news coming out of Venice. Details of the 48 pounders ordered, and how they were being fitted — along with the Arsenal guild masters varied reactions to it. The coming spring campaign was enough to make him chortle to himself. Firstly because by spring he planned to be ready for a fairly bloody summer — with a lot of Venice’s soldiery away. And secondly because his engineers had laughed at the bombards. The duke of Milan had nothing but disdain for the emperor of…
Noah’s Boy – Snippet 24

Drak Bibliophile

23 May 2013 | 10:00 pm

Noah’s Boy – Snippet 24 “I know,” she said, very quietly, interrupting him. “I know. It’s not so much that you are afraid of going out. You aren’t. I’m not. It’s that you’re concerned for how worried they are for you, and you want to make sure that nothing, nothing, ever happens to you that can hurt them. You… you’re very protective of them, not the other way around.” He looked at her, speechless, for a moment, then a small smile formed on his lips. “Yeah. You get it. If they’d treated me…
Burdens Of The Dead – Snippet 30

Drak Bibliophile

21 May 2013 | 10:00 pm

Burdens Of The Dead – Snippet 30 “To destroy it for ever so that I can have a better world for my daughter,” said Benito, lightly. “That’s what I want, but it is not what I’ll get.” Androcles was amused now. “And what do you hope to get? “I need to take a fleet all the way to Constantinople. In the teeth of winter. That is neither wise nor easy. But I believe it must be done. So we will do it. But I could use some help with the weather.” Juliette snorted delicately. “Try gods.” Benito ignored the comment.
Noah’s Boy – Snippet 23

Drak Bibliophile

20 May 2013 | 10:00 pm

Noah’s Boy – Snippet 23 Chapter 14 When they returned to the diner’s dining room, Conan was standing up, in the little circle they had cleared for his performance. Somehow it had got much smaller, with various people crowding around, all trying to talk to him. He had his guitar in one hand, and was bowing, seemingly in response to everything addressed to him. Tom patted Kyrie on the shoulder. “I go rescue the poor man, you make sure people have food and stuff, if they linger, and that no one leaves without paying.” It was easier said than done, but on the…
Burdens Of The Dead – Snippet 29

Drak Bibliophile

19 May 2013 | 10:00 pm

Burdens Of The Dead – Snippet 29 He paused and took a long drink from the goblet of wine that was given to him. “We had no trouble from there to until we entered the Bosphorus, although vessels were sighted. We were a goodly company. And we were glad of it, Monsignors. It’s time the pirates and Byzantines were taught to respect the ships of Venice.” “And, by the sounds of it, of Genoa.” The fleet admiral laughed. “You should have heard the Genoese senior captain’s reaction when the emperor demanded half of the Genoese vessels’ cargo…

Mad Libs
Finally

Diana Pharaoh Francis

23 May 2013 | 4:43 pm

It can be told: we have a deal on the house. Papers are signed. Now to just get through the process. Now to help the kids deal with leaving friends. Originally published at www.dianapfrancis.com. You can comment here or there.
Iron Man 3

Diana Pharaoh Francis

22 May 2013 | 10:19 pm

Finally saw Iron Man 3 with the kids today. It was fun. Really liked Guy Pearce and it was fun how Tony Stark was hardly ever in his suit. I loved how Pepper became more of a character and tough to boot, and I wish I understood the Extremis (is that what’s it’s called?) drug more. I liked Tony’s anxiety attacks–made him more real. I hope there will be a next one. I would like to see Tony grow some more and see what happens with Pepper. I have other potential good news, but won’t jinx it by talking about it too early. Hopefully soon. It is now raining. Pouring.
A bad bad day

Diana Pharaoh Francis

20 May 2013 | 6:30 pm

All my hopes and prayers going out to the people in Moore, OK, especially the children in the school. Please please please let them be all right. Originally published at www.dianapfrancis.com. You can comment here or there.
Because

Diana Pharaoh Francis

19 May 2013 | 8:11 pm

Because it’s cold and I refuse to turn the heater on in May, May 19th for criminy’s sake, I started a fire in the woodstove.Because I haven’t actually left town in seven weeks, and I haven’t seen a good friend in I don’t know how long, I went to Butte today and ran some errands and had lunch with said friend.Because the dogs are dropping hair like a billion dandelions, I vacuumed the house after the kids went to bed. Well, the lower half. Tomorrow will be the upper half.Because I forgot to run the dishes and the sink is overflowing, I not only ran the dishwasher,…
Rain

Diana Pharaoh Francis

17 May 2013 | 9:16 pm

It rained today. Still is raining. Well, it did stop for about an hour, but mostly it’s been raining all day. Girlie had to play soccer in it and frankly it was cold. In the 40s. But we really need the moisture. We’re in a drought and this will help all the fields and the feed for animals. Not to mention we’ve already had fires here. Didn’t do my walking though. Slugged out. More soccer tomorrow and possibly Iron Man 3. Working on something that isn’t coming together very well. It’s very shiny though. So I keep stirring it to see what will turn up. Trouble…

Allyn Gibson
On Gun Manufacturers and Criminal Prosecution

Allyn

3 May 2013 | 7:32 am

The story of the 2 year-old girl in Kentucky, who was shot and killed by her 5 year-old brother with a rifle he was given as a present, has been preying on my mind much of the week. I think about the little girl, I imagine that just a few days ago she was a giggling, happy child who liked flowers and dresses and dolls and ice cream and now she’s dead, and I get teary and I get angry and I get teary again and I cannot imagine how we can live in a world that thinks a five year-old boy, who probably still needs his mom to tie his shoes before he goes to kindergarten, is old enough…
On Doctor Who Casting News

Allyn

30 Mar 2013 | 6:15 am

The news has broken on casting for November’s Doctor Who anniversary special — in addition to John Hurt, the special will also guest star David Tennant and Billie Piper. Fandom, naturally, is sharply divided. There is wailing that there’s no Eccleston from the new series. Classic Doctor Who fans are wailing that the pre-new series Doctors aren’t represented. “Doctor Who is fifty years old! Why is the special limiting itself to the last ten?” There is wailing that it’s Tennant. “We’ll be treated to hyperactive…
On Antonin Scalia and the Hugo and Nebula Ballots

Allyn

27 Mar 2013 | 7:41 pm

For the historical record, because I want to lay claim to this idea, a Facebook post… Serious question time. Would Antonin Scalia’s written decisions in the Prop 8 case and the DOMA case be eligible for the Hugo and Nebula Awards? These decisions will be so divorced from reality that they would be fantasy fiction, after all. And there would be a lot of worldbuilding in these decisions as Scalia tries to communicate to the world what’s inside his mind. So could the science fiction community vote to put these on the ballot for their major awards? Could the science fiction…
On the Counterfactual Decade

Allyn

25 Mar 2013 | 12:34 pm

The tenth anniversary of the Iraq War has been on the minds of many in the past two weeks. Some who supported the war at the time have said that they were deeply wrong. Some who supported the war at the time fail to recognize that it was a collosal, world historical mistake. Last week I wrote an e-mail to Andrew Sullivan. He was one of those who supported the war in 2002 and 2003, and who turned against the war when it dragged on and the reasons for the war were shown to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Sullian wrote: “In the summer of 2000, when I foolishly…
On Shamrock Fest 2013

Allyn

18 Mar 2013 | 11:26 am

To get to Shamrock Fest, I had to navigate a phalanx of Bible-thumpers. Shamrock Fest is an Irish and Celtic music festival held annually at RFK Stadium, and the organizers recommend that people take the DC Metro to reach the music festival. You take the Blue or Orange line, disembark at the Stadium-Armory stop, climb the steps, and walk about two blocks to reach Shamrock Fest. The past years, as you stepped off the Metro stairs and onto the street, you would be assaulted by street vendors hocking t-shirts, hats, sunglasses, all sorts of stuff St. Patrick’s Day…

SF writer Gary Gibson
First Drafts now and then

Gary Gibson

20 May 2013 | 1:05 pm

A year or two back I wrote an article for a manuscript agency's website on something I called 'the one third slump', by which I meant the way a novel, outlined or otherwise, tended to dribble off into confusion round about the thirty or forty thousand word mark. This used to really freak me out when it happened to me, in a OH GOD MY NOVEL DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE TOR WILL ASK FOR THEIR MONEY BACK I'LL END UP ON THE STREETS DRINKING GUTTER WATER kind of way. When it happened to my third novel, Stealing Light, instead of completely losing my shit, as they say, I took my six thousand word outline…
Future Thinking

Gary Gibson

17 May 2013 | 7:52 am

Tor UK asked me to do an article for their website, in support of the current spate of re-issues of my backlist: One of the things you often hear people say these days is that science fiction is in danger of being overtaken by the sheer pace of advancements in science and technology. It’s an understandable refrain, particularly when the news is filled with reports about downloadable blueprints for building guns with those same 3D printers. The feeling that you’re living in a world co-scripted by John Varley and John Brunner tends to grow when you take a quick scan through any number of…
Windows Hate

Gary Gibson

9 May 2013 | 2:00 pm

I had occasion to be reminded just why I switched to Mac this afternoon. I was in town with my brother and his girlfriend (both visiting from Malaysia) where we picked up a cheap but hopefully good quality laptop (a Packard Bell) for our mother, whose computer died a few days back. We headed across the road to get it started up, download some software, the usual kind of thing, and I mucked around with Metro for a while and figured out some things. Now, I'm no dummy with computers, but 'intuitive' is not a word I'd use to describe Windows 8. I might even have preferred to have 7 on it, but of…
Celebration Day

Gary Gibson

9 May 2013 | 7:42 am

Today is the official release day for the entire repackaged and republished Shoal Trilogy, comprising Stealing Light, Nova War and Empire of Light, and to which my next book, Marauder, due out later this year, is a kinda-sorta sequel cum standalone. Here's a picture of them spine-on, leached from the Tor website. Aren't they pretty? (If you want to see them in their full resplendent glory, merely click on the 'my books' tab up there and they will be revealed.) In the meantime, I've got a quick five-question interview posted up at the moment over at Tor UK, in which I answer…
Deborah J Miller

Gary Gibson

7 May 2013 | 12:56 pm

Well, I just heard some horrible news, that fantasy author Deborah J Miller just passed away. I first knew Debbie when she was writing as Miller Lau, when she had some fantasy novels out at the turn of the century. We were stablemates at Tor Uk for a couple of years, and I first got introduced to her by fellow writer Mike Cobley. Debbie was one of the nicest people you could hope to meet. I have a recollection of telling her how I thought she had looked terribly exotic in her author photos in her early novels, not realising the reason she was wearing a turban was because of a long battle with…

Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...
State of the Meerkat, Saturday pre-BEA edition

Laura Anne Gilman

25 May 2013 | 4:54 am

Originally posted at Writer. Editor. Tired Person.It rains. And is chilly. I am not feeling the urge to haul down to the farmer's market this morning. In fact, my only urge is to sit on the sofa, nom toast-and-coffee, and work on the Hard-Deadline Client Project. I suppose that's not a bad goal, actually.Meanwhile, I have this odd feeling that I'm actually ready for BEA next week. This is, of course, utter self-delusion. And yet... Jaym has the SFWA signing schedule worked out. We have the SFWA booth coverage schedule worked out (more or less) to…
TRICKS OF THE TRADE ebook now available in the UK!

Laura Anne Gilman

23 May 2013 | 2:41 pm

http://www.lauraannegilman.net/tricks-of-the-trade-ebook-now-available-in-the-uk/After a delay that was making me twitch (and no, I don't know why there was a delay), TRICKS OF THE TRADE (Paranormal Scene Investigations #3) is available digitally in the UK!Book 4, DRAGON JUSTICE, will be available 1 June.*throws confetti*(and while you're there, check out the short fiction of DON'T READ THIS BOOK and DRAGON VIRUS!)Thanks to reader Catherine Sharp for the news!
a small but heartfelt rant

Laura Anne Gilman

23 May 2013 | 6:25 am

An old friend of mine, who happens to be a minister, posted the following link to her facebook page:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/pope-francis-good-atheists_n_3320757.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009"Pope Francis Says Atheists Who Do Good Are Redeemed, Not Just Catholics"Pope Francis rocked some religious and atheist minds today when he declared that everyone was redeemed through Jesus, including atheists.My friend, who is a genuinely good person, was pleased by this, as though it was a good thing. And yeah, compared to "all who are not devout Catholic are going…
this I feel therefore this I know

Laura Anne Gilman

23 May 2013 | 4:52 am

Woke up this morning with the faint trickle of cool, damp air streaming in though the open window, touching my skin. Suddenly I was many places at once - Cape Cod, Vermont, New Jersey most strongly - but all the same time, that early summer morning before the sun takes effect, when mist rises from the still surface of lakes and the hush of the air is broken only by the occasional bird or the crunch of someone walking outside, and the taste of a protein bar and coffee waiting before the day begins....Never underestimate texture. It's far more powerful than sight.
and oh, hey, here's another financial post...

Laura Anne Gilman

22 May 2013 | 8:26 am

Because all the writer-kids are doing it.http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1823219&highlight= Amazon Publishing Introduces “Kindle Worlds,” a New Publishing Model for Authors Inspired to Write Fan Fiction—Launching with an Initial License of Popular Titles from Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment Like Kindle Singles and Kindle Serials, Kindle Worlds Adds a New Approach to Digital PublishingSEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 22, 2013-- (NASDAQ:AMZN)—Today, Amazon Publishing announces Kindle Worlds, the…

BobGreenberger.com
Iron Man 3 was Great Fun but…

Bob Greenberger

6 May 2013 | 12:18 pm

Like most people, I enjoyed the heck out of Iron Man 3 over the weekend. It was fast, loud, noisy, and things blew up really well. The handoff from Jon Favreau to Shane Black was a step in the right direction and the casting was superb. There’s little doubt why it earned its $175.3 million here and over half a billion worldwide. The movie is definitely a sequel to The Avengers and not Iron Man 2, which everyone now seems to have declared a misfire. Clearly, the United States government has backed off demanding the armor now that they owe him their lives. It didn’t hurt that he allowed Jim…
Regaining my Mojo

Bob Greenberger

3 May 2013 | 8:29 am

The whirlwind beginning of the year is slowing down, at last, and new routines are being established. Looking back, it’s astonishing we listed, sold, bought, packed, moved, unpacked and are settling in just four months. We’re far from done but it’s starting to feel like home. As you might imagine, my focus and ability to concentrate was shot. I could work in short bursts so things like my semi-monthly Westfield Comics columns were easy to do. I could continue to consult on the After Earth material and even proofread some of the prose works. But when it came time to actually write a new…
After Earth: A Perfect Beast Out Today

Bob Greenberger

30 Apr 2013 | 8:16 am

Amazingly, more than two years after our work began on After Earth, the first book is on sale today. Last week, Random House’s Suvudu offered up a sampling of the book’s first 50 pages and now A Perfect Beast is out. While not the first offering – that was the one-shot comic given away last year at San Diego and sold by Dynamite – it is the first substantive look at Nova Prime. This glimpse into the world of After Earth does a nice job introducing elements and giving readers vital background to enrich the film viewing experience. You do not need to read this to understand the film,…
Making Adjustments

Bob Greenberger

26 Apr 2013 | 2:34 pm

Two weeks ago today, we moved into the house. On the one hand, we’ve made impressive progress, getting most of the boxes unpacked. On the other, now we see the remaining boxes and how much more needs to be done. We were very dedicated in getting the master bedroom suite and kitchen done first and we’re almost there. Other areas are makeshift until ordered furniture arrives. I’m chomping at the bit, waiting for the schedule to be announced for my office furniture to arrive. Then I can unpack those boxes and organize the work space. For the first time in thirty or so years, I am no…
Age and Tradition

Bob Greenberger

23 Apr 2013 | 10:46 am

As many of you know, Kate got engaged late last week. She and Mike have been dating for over two years and this was certainly the major reason Deb and I chose to relocate to Maryland this month. This milestone is not a surprise but it does suddenly make me feel my years. A child old enough to marry and planning a family, a new generation. This is significant. It’s also steeped in tradition and I find myself both perplexed and comforted by it. When we were washing dishes after Easter dinner, Mike turned to me and mentioned he already possessed the ring but wanted to make certain I had no…

squeetus
Announcing new Princess Academy books!

Shannon Hale

22 May 2013 | 8:07 am

Eight years ago Princess Academy was published. Once it won a Newbery Honor, its success overwhelmed me. I'd considered writing a sequel before but decided against it, sure that it could never match up. So I resisted until my idea for what happens next overwhelmed me more than the overwhelmingness of the previous success. Just generally overwhelmed, I still had to write that story. I'm so glad I got to write Palace of Stone. I love that book. While working Palace of Stone, another burning question haunted me. And the only way to answer it was to write a third book in the series.
The book cover I never in my wildest fantasies imagined

Shannon Hale

19 May 2013 | 8:02 am

This will be happening. This edition of the book will hit stores in July. The movie premieres in NY and LA on August 16 with more cities and dates TBA. A British release is scheduled for September 27. Tallyho!
Bio before beauty

Shannon Hale

13 May 2013 | 1:25 pm

Over the past year between projects, I've been working on a short story. I like working on short things between drafts of novels. After a year of work and a dozen revisions, I decided I would send it to a fantasy and science fiction magazine I admire that publishes short stories. I used to write a lot of short stories and spent four years writing cover letters and sending them to magazines--all rejected. I hadn't written a cover letter for a submission since before my first published book, so it felt astounding now to be able to mention my honors and publications. How things had…
The Goose Girl is a big girl now

Shannon Hale

6 May 2013 | 8:00 am

This year marks the tenth anniversary of The Goose Girl, my first published novel. I began it in 1999, during the summer break between my 1st and 2nd year in graduate school. I finished a first draft in late 2000, rewrote for another year, and queried many agents, none of whom would read it. I eventually found upcoming agent Amy Jameson, who agreed to read the first five chapters. Then all. Then agreed to represent me. The following year was one of joy and agony. For about nine months, every single time my phone at work rang, my heart would jump. Maybe it was Amy! Maybe she'd sold it!
A few more voices on sex, consent, and rape

Shannon Hale

29 Apr 2013 | 7:14 am

This post is continuing the discussion from the past three, and again, is intended for those 14 and up. If you are younger, please get parent/guardian permission before reading. I have so many more thoughts and questions about this topic, but I want to step back now and highlight some of your voices before bringing this discussion to a close on my blog for now. I am so happy to hear how many of you are talking about this in your homes and classrooms. There were so many comments that impressed me and felt important and mini-conversations going on in the comments. Let me just pick a tiny few to…

the m john harrison blog
awake early

uzwi

21 May 2013 | 2:03 am

Daybreak at the ship hospital, dawn along the Dock of Dreams. May’s my favourite month. It’s a hairline fracture of the heart. It’s a smear of flight across the back of an eye. I see your shadow on your wall, your small pile of objects. Those are my objects too. I’m alive to all of that. Meanwhile I hear you whisper, “I feel really different to myself this morning.” It’s all right. You can get up now, they’ll never hear us. There’s a dry wind in the corners, smelling of salt and onions. But one day we’ll feel warm again.
16 May 2013 | 2:33 am

uzwi

16 May 2013 | 2:33 am
the cries

uzwi

11 May 2013 | 11:29 am

They start between six and six thirty in the evening. They’re usually distant. If they have a motive, it’s internal and psychic: like the sounds of someone with a head wound, they are not rational except in relation to themselves. At times they seem to move closer, the way sounds do on a wind, especially in the night. For a moment, the listener is able to distinguish more than one voice, perhaps even differentiate male from female. There are qualities of both plaintiveness and aggression, but words are hard to make out. They reach a peak by ten in the evening. By midnight they…
the wall of horrors

uzwi

9 May 2013 | 2:35 am

…forced into inhuman, expressionistic postures by its grim logic, Sankey strained and contorted up Wall of Horrors, until his impetus ran out just under the crux. He stretched up: nothing. He tried facing left, then right, grinding his cheek into the gritstone. His legs began to tremble. All the lines on the rock moved towards him, in a fixed vortex. When he lurched suddenly on his footholds everyone looked up: he was only sorting through the stuff on his rack for something to protect his next two moves. If he took too long to find and place it he would come off anyway. His last runner…
explaining the undiscovered continent

uzwi

8 May 2013 | 3:25 am

All things metal tapping together in the wind. Bleached fishbones one thousand miles from the sea. Sheds where you can get directions & diving apparatus. The inevitable airstream trailer. The inevitable rusty boiler. The inevitable graffito of a coelacanth. The highline of the last tide strewn with yellowish swim bladders of unknown animals like condoms inflated then varnished into fragility. Kilometer upon kilometer of unravelled polypropylene rope. Tin signs. Tied knots. A sense of petrol. Then the cliffs! with their abandoned funicular slicing up through maroon sandstone “to the…

Glenn Hauman: View From AboveGlenn Hauman: View From Above
Man finds “Action Comics #1″ being used as wall insulation

Glenn Hauman

23 May 2013 | 2:30 pm

While remodeling his newly purchased home in Elbow Lake, Minn., David Gonzalez noticed something unusual amid the old newspapers that had been used as wall insulation. It was a copy of Action Comics No. 1 from 1938, the very first comic to feature the granddaddy of all superheroes, Superman. Read the rest at Man finds comic book worth $100,000 being used as wall insulation | The Sideshow – Yahoo! News. Seen originally on
The Wackiest commercial you’ll see all day

Glenn Hauman

23 May 2013 | 7:57 am

This is a commercial from Brazil touting the new Peugeot 208. I’d heard street racing had gotten bad down there* but this is just… well, wacky. Click here to view the embedded video. Our only question– since in this video we see Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine #00, the Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile, the Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe, the Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer, Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat, Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special, the Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb, and Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific, does…
Monday Mix-Up: Andy Warhol and Nico as Batman and Robin

Glenn Hauman

20 May 2013 | 4:00 am

Photoshoot for Esquire Magazine. via Andy Warhol and Nico as Batman and Robin, 1967 Retronaut | Retronaut – See the past like you wouldn’t believe.. Seen originally on
Paolo Rivera wins the 2013 Spectrum Fantastic Art Awards for Comics

Glenn Hauman

18 May 2013 | 4:21 pm

The 20th Spectrum Fantastic Art Awards were announced this evening at the awards ceremony at Spectrum Live, a weekend long celebration of fantastic art, in Kansas City. Paolo Rivera won for his cover to Daredevil #10. The awards for comics are: Gold: Paolo Rivera, Daredevil #10 Silver: David Petersen, Mouse Guard Black Axe #4, Page 19 Jennifer L. Meyer, Aesop’s Ark, Ch. 2, P2 Paolo Rivera, Captain America #1 João Ruas, Fables #121 Congratulations to all the nominees and winners! Read the rest at Announcing the 2013 Spectrum Fantastic Art Awards | Tor.com. Seen originally on
Can you beat me on GeoGuessr?

Glenn Hauman

16 May 2013 | 9:30 pm

Click here and impress me…

Something to Talk About
Teaching Early Math to Infants and Toddlers/Preschoolers

angelinehawkes

30 Apr 2013 | 10:26 am

Teaching Math to Infants and Toddlers/Preschoolers I am not a fan of math. The subject caused me untold misery throughout my life, brought down my grade point average in high school and college, and overall just sucked. I used to joke with my former husband that I married him solely to balance out my seemingly math-deficient gene pool for my future children. Before my biological children were born I read over 400 books on infertility, pregnancy, fetal development, labor & delivery, and infant/toddler/preschooler/child development/psychology. And why shouldn’t I have? I studied for 4…
Make Your Own Reusable, Washable Swiffer WetJet Cleaning Pads

angelinehawkes

1 Apr 2013 | 11:42 am

Make Your Own Reusable, Washable Swiffer WetJet Cleaning PadsWith four kids, not mopping the floor is not an option. Spilled juice, shoe tracks from the backyard, dropped food at the dinner table – the list goes on. I loathe mopping. The water mess, the wet floor, so on and so forth. When Swiffer came out with their WetJet mop, I was so totally there – and I’m not usually the type that buys “newfangled” appliances or really anything that I can do myself somehow cheaper. But, I made an exception in this case. I love my Swiffer! The disposable, expensive cleaning…
Making Liquid Hand Soap

angelinehawkes

5 Feb 2013 | 10:22 am

Making Liquid Hand Soap Liquid hand soap can be made using shredded bar soap and a few other common ingredients. Making your own liquid hand soap can be inexpensive or expensive, based on the bar soap you choose to use. You can use natural soaps, handmade soaps, broken bars of soap you found on clearance. If you buy bulk lots of soap off Amazon or Ebay (I once got a box of 5000 hotel soaps for 5.00 on ebay!) making your own liquid hand soap can be very inexpensive. You can use your favorite scented soap to create matching liquid hand soap, or you can do what I do and use…
Replacing Ironing Board Covers

angelinehawkes

14 Jan 2013 | 8:04 am

Replacing Ironing Board CoversEventually ironing board covers, even after multiple washings, and sometimes bleaching, end up unsightly. Heat and spray starch take their toll on the fabric of the cover. Edges become ratty or loose. Sewing a new cover can be accomplished quickly and without much measuring or time. Recycle a flat sheet, a fabric shower curtain, an old curtain, or buy fabric of your choice to use as fabric for your new ironing board cover. You can even save the cord in the current cover and reuse it; or if the elastic is still good in your current cover, you can reuse that. If…
Making Soap from Soap Scraps

angelinehawkes

3 Jan 2013 | 12:39 pm

Making Soap from Soap ScrapsIf you made the soap scrap saver (http://angelinehawkes.livejournal.com/168907.html) bag from a previous journal entry, or if you save your soap slivers in some other fashion, there is a nicer way of recycling the bits and pieces other than the “Squish them together” method. In the grand scheme of things, recycling all those soap scraps into another bar of soap may not save oodles of money, but it does stay true to the old adage: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”. There’s nothing that says you can’t use it up…

People are strange, when you're a stranger . . .
Time for that reminder, again!

25 May 2013 | 5:14 am

Buy books! (all links go to Amazon, but books are also on B & N)POWERS http://ow.ly/d3QHZDRAGON'S EYE http://ow.ly/hlRwsDRAGON'S TEETH http://ow.ly/jP0SUTHE SUMMER COUNTRY http://ow.ly/cB5DpTHE WINTER OAK http://ow.ly/cBnXP
Raining

25 May 2013 | 4:55 am

Yes. Still. Air temperature 49 F, wind NNE gusting over 20 mph, wet. Here's that "northeaster" portion they promised us. Trapped inside. Cabin-fever season isn't supposed to extend to Memorial Day . . .Forecast includes chance of snow in the higher elevations.
24 May 2013 | 8:37 am

24 May 2013 | 8:37 am

Note to the world of G+ -- the site refuses to let me post. Probably a browser incompatibility.RIP.
Wet wet wet

24 May 2013 | 4:38 am

Rain, to continue at least into Sunday. Air temperature 60 F, dew point similar, wind south gusting to 20 mph. The weather-creatures are calling this a "wet northeaster" -- if it was winter, we'd have a serious snowstorm.Beginning to worry about the blueberry crop. Our personal berry-patch has blooms going without any bee-love.
Thursday floral report

23 May 2013 | 12:40 pm

First bunchberry seen on the forest edges, some kind of viburnum blooming -- arrowwood or hobblebush most likely. More rhodora in the bog. Lilacs are getting serious, while the apples are shedding enough petals for white and pink shadows underneath. I am a little surprised that the rhododendrons aren't showing color on the buds yet.Windy, damp, but the road dried off enough for a bike ride. And the forecast didn't show me a better offer in the next couple of days. 15.25 miles, 1:13:31

Jim C. Hines
To BEA in New York!

Jim C. Hines

24 May 2013 | 6:31 am

I’ve never been one for big cities. In some ways, I think of it as an extension of my introversion. Big cities = too many people, too much going on, and I get twitchy just thinking about it. But I’ve watched my fellow authors do the occasional New York trip to visit with editors and agents, and it’s been strongly advised by a number of folks that I do the same, especially with the relative success of Libriomancer. So when I received an invitation to moderate the Adult Book Bloggers Panel at Book Expo of America in New York, I was happy to say yes. I’m even happier now…
Amazon Jumps Into the Fanfic Business

Jim C. Hines

22 May 2013 | 8:07 am

Amazon announced Kindle Worlds today, describing it as “the first commercial publishing platform that will enable any writer to create fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so.” I didn’t know this was coming, but I’m not surprised, exactly. Amazon has been a very successful business, and if they see a potentially profitable area they can branch out into, they’re gonna do it. I found out about this through Chuck Wendig’s post here, wherein he talks about the press release and proceeds to fragment his own…
Discrimination and Marriage Inequality

Jim C. Hines

20 May 2013 | 8:14 am

I’m still waiting for someone — anyone — to present an argument against same-sex marriage that doesn’t boil down to, “My religion doesn’t approve” or “I think it’s icky.” Using the former as an excuse for discrimination is about as unAmerican as you can get, and the latter is just asinine. While politicians and bigots continue to argue that “those people” don’t need “special rights or protections” under the law, here’s some of what’s been going on recently… In Texas, a judge enforced a…
Collect ALL the D-seases!!!

Jim C. Hines

17 May 2013 | 7:00 am

On Facebook last week, I mentioned that I seem to be collecting D-themed diseases. First diabetes, then depression. Now I have a third one to add to the mix. During Penguicon, my wife noticed what looked like an elongated callus on my right hand, below the ring finger. (Spoiler: It’s not a tumor.) When it was still there two weeks later, I hopped online to do a little research, then went in to talk to the doctor. His diagnosis confirmed my guess, and the winner is… Dupuytren’s Contracture That link goes to the Wikipedia page, which includes a post-surgical picture with…
Job Hunting Tips

Jim C. Hines

15 May 2013 | 6:39 am

It’s strange to realize I’ve been a manager at Ye Olde Day Job for more than seven months now. One of the most surreal parts so far has been the process of hiring new employees, doing everything from reviewing applications to writing screening questions to conducting job interviews. In some ways, it reminds me a little of being an editor. Some stories just aren’t that well-written. Others might not be the right fit for your project. Then there are those that are good, but are they good enough? And of course, I hate the rejection part… Having done this a few times now,…

The Villages
A Modest Announcement

hutch0

24 May 2013 | 3:53 pm

Remember many, many years ago when I kept posting word counts for the novel I was writing? Well, I finally finished the damn thing, and anyway, this. http://www.sfscope.com/2013/05/solaris-buys-dave-hutchinsons-europe-in-autumn/
Spam

hutch0

4 Mar 2012 | 5:21 pm

Has this stuff been coming in since the Russians took over?
Checking in

hutch0

4 Mar 2012 | 5:14 pm

Right. Where the fuck did all this spam come from?
hutch0 @ 2011-02-18T01:50:00

hutch0

17 Feb 2011 | 5:50 pm

*wanders in* *waves hello* *wanders out*
and in other news...

hutch0

2 Feb 2010 | 1:48 am

I note with increasing bafflement that Locus have put The Push on their 2009 Recommended Reading List.

Nicholas Kaufmann's Journal
Doctor Who: “The Name of the Doctor”

International Bon Vivant and Raconteur

20 May 2013 | 10:46 am

After a very disjointed and lackluster season, Doctor Who sprints to the finish line with a superb example of what the show can do now that it’s been freed from the narrative shackles of the Amy-Rory-River arc: the Season 7 climax ”The Name of the Doctor.” Let’s dive in, shall we? MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW! BE WARNED! I think what I liked especially about this episode is that it had stakes. For the past two seasons, there haven’t been any real stakes involved to the season enders. In Season 5, a crack in time and space is going to destroy the entire universe, but…
The End of an Era

International Bon Vivant and Raconteur

17 May 2013 | 1:02 pm

I used to love NBC’s The Office. I watched it religiously for many years. For a long time, I considered it the best sitcom on TV. After three or four seasons, I became convinced the American version had actually surpassed the British sitcom on which it was based. Dwight and Creed in particular were amazing characters, and of course, like everyone, I was caught up in the Jim and Pam romance. (Though, for a while, I was pretty sure Jim would be better off with Karen Filipelli, the Utica branch co-worker played by the outstanding Rashida Jones, who treated Jim a lot better than Pam did at…
Season 4 Is Almost Here

International Bon Vivant and Raconteur

13 May 2013 | 4:43 am

Oh my God, yes! I cannot wait! Originally published at Nicholas Kaufmann. You can comment here or there.
Doctor Who: “Nightmare in Silver”

International Bon Vivant and Raconteur

12 May 2013 | 3:33 pm

I thought Neil Gaiman’s previous episode, “The Doctor’s Wife,” was pretty much the highlight of last season. Which is why, I suppose, “Nightmare in Silver” felt like such an enormous letdown. It wasn’t just bad, it was terrible, and it was written by Neil Gaiman, which adds an extra layer of disappointment. Cybermen! The distant future! Warwick Davis in a major supporting role! Neil Gaiman scripting! It should have been magnificent. Instead, it was a litany of squandered opportunities and lazy storytelling that with every instance only made me grow…
Doctor Who: “The Crimson Horror”

International Bon Vivant and Raconteur

7 May 2013 | 11:26 am

After last week’s frustratingly dreadful “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS,” Doctor Who is back with a much better, much more enjoyable episode: “The Crimson Horror.” Even the title is better! No spoilers here, but they tend to turn up in comments, so consider yourself forewarned! “The Crimson Horror” is a very entertaining episode, and it’s probably no coincidence that the Doctor doesn’t even show up until 15 minutes in. I had no idea how much I needed a break from Matt Smith! Well, yes, I did know, at least theoretically, but in…

Dear Sweet Filthy World
"Child, they're seeking weakness tonight."

greygirlbeast

24 May 2013 | 9:56 am

Cloudy here today. Cloudy and rainy and currently only 64˚F. The only upside is that Memorial Day weekend has been ruined for the tourists flooding into South County.---Yesterday, I wrote 1,636 words and finished Alabaster: Boxcar Tales #13. Which finishes Alabaster: Boxcar Tales.Spooky and I both got weepy, reading back over the last script.Last week I spoke with my editor at Dark Horse and told him that it was time for me to step back from both Dancy and comics for the foreseeable future. That, after almost two years of pretty heavy involvement on this project, it was time to refocus my…
"Shed these lung spires and breathe."

greygirlbeast

23 May 2013 | 9:29 am

We who revel in nature's diversity and feel instructed by every animal tend to brand Homo sapiens as the greatest catastrophe since the Cretaceous extinction. ~ Stephen Jay Gould---I don't trust new houses.---This morning I dreamt Kathryn and I were standing on the shore of one of the Great Lakes. I don't know which one. Foamy white waves were surging all around our feet, and I was telling her how those lakes were the remnants of an ancient sea. I was telling her they were exceptionally salty, the Great Lakes. A turkey fluttered past, settling on the beach not far away. It looked as if it had…
"Panic is a slow dissolve, a terror quiet calm."

greygirlbeast

22 May 2013 | 9:53 am

1. Yesterday afternoon, we saw J.J. Abrams' Star Trek: Into Darkness, and I loved it. Delightfully superb! Do not listen to the nay-sayers.2. Yes, I'm very sorry to hear that Christopher Eccleston will not be part of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special. The Constant Reader will recall that Nine is MY Doctor. But to these people who are acting pissy about Eccleston's declining to take part in the special I say fuck off. To paraphrase Neil, Christopher Eccleston is not your bitch. So, get over it. Also, he's still the coolest Doctor ever (I give Ten second place, and Benedict Cumberbatch is…
"That would be the test I could not forgive."

greygirlbeast

20 May 2013 | 10:09 am

If you should doubtMy heart,Remember this:That I would lie to youIf I believed it wasRight to do. ~ Wye OakI see my last entry was made on the 17th. And this would be a longish one, but I'm pressed for time. I'm several days behind, and I very much need to finish Alabaster: Boxcar Tales #12 today. A bad headache all day yesterday. Two nights in a row I've gotten to sleep early and easy, but then a sudden roller coaster of nightmares that's left even me impressed, before awaking six hours later, cold and disoriented and unable to get back to sleep. None of this, obviously, is conducive to the…
"When my last friend should leave me..."

greygirlbeast

17 May 2013 | 11:20 am

Brown Bird's David Lamb has become seriously ill from a condition that has yet to be diagnosed. As a result, he and Morganeve have already had to cancel the remainder of their tour after he wound up hospitalized in Houston. They've returned to Rhode Island and are awaiting the results of further tests, and having to deal with the $29,000 medical bill that's already been incurred, plus lost income from the canceled tour dates. The band has set up a donation page. Brown Bird has brought Kathryn and I both a tremendous amount of enjoyment, and we urge you to consider making a donation. Thank…

Mindy Klasky - Virtual Cocktails
Fanfic for Fun and Profit

Mindy Klasky

22 May 2013 | 7:33 am

This just in: Amazon is going to start selling fanfic, with royalties to be paid to both the author and the world-creator. Color me… bemused? Uncertain? Confused? Like many authors, I have an uneasy relationship with fanfic. Although my first serious-to-me writing effort was a sequel to The Lord of the Rings (drafted when I was thirteen years old), I’ve never been serious about fanfic, and I’ve never participated in any of the many online communities dedicated to the craft. As far as I know (and that’s the way I’d like to keep it), no one has created…
Whoosh Goes the Weekend

Mindy Klasky

20 May 2013 | 6:50 am

I know I had a weekend around here, but it seems to have slipped away, while I was blinking… We spent all day Saturday down at the Smithsonian, attending a seminar on “Neighborhood Walks Through London.” We’re going to London later this year, so the presentation was particularly welcome. The charming presenter did a great job of highlighting major and minor sites in her home town, relaying history, bits about art and architecture, and generally making me wish that my trip could last for about three months. Yesterday, I continued the salute to Britain by indulging…
Buzzy Magazine Video Interview

Mindy Klasky

14 May 2013 | 6:30 am

Last October, I attended my local science fiction convention, Capclave, where I had the good fortune of being interviewed by Jean Marie Ward, for Buzzy Magazine. Jean Marie has now posted her interview for all the world to see: http://buzzymag.com/morgan-keyes-interview/ It’s interesting to me, seeing how I convey on camera. We were in a dim lounge area, with a lot of background noise; the video actually came through more clearly than I expected. There *is* something a bit funky with the recording of my voice — I sound like I have a rather pronounced lisp, which I don’t,…
Great American Pastime

Mindy Klasky

13 May 2013 | 5:39 am

We had a pretty quiet weekend around here — at least, not much to write about. In a word, our weekend was: Baseball. On Thursday afternoon, we went to see the Nationals beat the Tigers. (This was a makeup game, after the original got rained out on Tuesday.) The game was exciting — it all came down to the very last out, with Prince Fielder at the plate. After, we went to Five Guys for dinner, where I indulged in a burger and fries and didn’t even think about feeling guilty On Friday, relatives came to visit from North Carolina, and we went to see the Nationals beat…
Magical Words – Synopses: The Nitty and the Gritty

Mindy Klasky

10 May 2013 | 4:43 am

I’m over at Magical Words today, talking about the details of writing a synopsis. Essentially, I provide line by line instructions for creating a strong synopsis for agents, editors, art departments, etc. Stop by and see what you think — and leave a comment or two! http://www.magicalwords.net/mindy-klasky/synopses-the-nitty-and-the-gritty/ Magical Words is a website by writers for writers (and readers who want a behind-the-scenes peak at the process of writing.) Regular posters include David B. Coe, John G. Hartness, Faith Hunter, and Misty Massey, with regular guest posts…

Mary Robinette Kowal
Writing Excuses 8.20: The Short Story, with Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal

21 May 2013 | 9:50 am

The number one request we got when we asked you what you’d like us to talk about? Short story writing. Mary is our resident expert, and if she weren’t already a member of the cast, she’d our go-to expert for an interview. Convenient! We begin by addressing the popular notion that writing short stories is a good way to practice for writing novels, and selling short stories is a way to break in and sell novels. We then return to the M.I.C.E. quotient (first addressed by us in 6.10) and discuss how the quotient (or model, or formula) helps you understand what to cut from the telling of a…
The thing I can’t believe about Game of Thrones

Mary Robinette Kowal

16 May 2013 | 1:17 pm

So my husband and I have finally started watching the HBO series Game of Thrones. Everyone has their own point at which the willing suspension of disbelief breaks. You have to be willing to accept certain things to enjoy a fantasy. Giant icewall, sure. Dire wolves? No problem. Dragons? I’m good with that. But will someone please explain to me why Daenerys Targaryen is not horribly, horribly sunburned? She has no melanin. Look at her. I mean, I get sunburned sitting outside at my niece’s graduation for two hours. She is in an equatorial environment with bare shoulders. Why…
Pronk for joy

Mary Robinette Kowal

16 May 2013 | 10:36 am

Ah… spring. The time when springbok pronk for joy.
Regency ladies in a Pirates of the Caribbean show down

Mary Robinette Kowal

16 May 2013 | 8:57 am

This is one of my favorite photos from my recent book tour. The members of the Oregon Regency Society came out to hear me read at the Beaverton Powell’s. They came in full dress, which was loooovely. Afterwards, a group of us went over to the nearby McMennamins and then this happened.
Reminder: I’m reading at The Book Cellar in Chicago with Stacey Kade. Tonight!

Mary Robinette Kowal

15 May 2013 | 3:03 pm

I’m reading with Stacey Kade at the Book Cellar tonight at 7pm. I’ll be reading from Without a Summer and Stacey will be reading from The Rules, her new YA science-fiction novel. Come out! The Book Cellar has wine… As a former award-winning corporate copywriter, Stacey Kade has written about everything from backhoe loaders to breast pumps. But she prefers to make things up instead. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg, and their two retired racing greyhounds, Tall Walker (Walker) and SheWearsThePants (Pansy). via Mary Robinette Kowal and Stacey Kade |…

Among Amid While
US and UK editions of Yellowcake

16 May 2013 | 11:50 pm

US edition My short story collection Yellowcake came out in the US this week, to some very nice starry reviews! "These are stories worth hungering for. Cut yourself a thick slice," said Cate Fricke in her review (click the "nice" link) while kind Sarah Potvin (click "very") said, "...if everyone wrote short stories of this caliber, they might be as popular as they should be. Lanagan has a true
Ditmar and Hemming joy!

29 Apr 2013 | 1:41 am

On Saturday night at the Conflux 9 convention in Canberra, I was very honoured to receive, for Sea Hearts/The Brides of Rollrock Island, the Norma K. Hemming Award (for exploration of race, gender, sexuality, class or disability in science fiction or fantasy), and the Ditmar Award for Best Novel.Thanks, Deborah Biancotti for hosting a great awards night, and thank you, Hemming and Ditmar judges
Ditmars, Norma K Hemming, CBCA, NSW Premier's

19 Apr 2013 | 9:59 am

More wonderful shortlistings! In the Ditmar awards, Sea Hearts is up for Best Novel, "Significant Dust" from Cracklescape is nominated for Best Novellette and Cracklescape itself is up for Best Collection. Sea Hearts is also up for the Norma K. Hemming Award, which will be awarded at the same ceremony next weekend at Conflux, and which "marks excellence in the exploration of themes of race,
Two new interviews

10 Apr 2013 | 6:14 am

Alan Baxter asked a bunch of writers about our "ongoing angst" and posted a great series of interviews on his blog. Here's mine; the other subjects are Kaaron Warren, Jo Anderton, Lisa Hannett, Angela Slatter and Trudi Canavan. Find out what we're all afraid of. And the Stella Prize is running interviews with shortlistees and judges over on its site; explore all those, too.
Oh, and remember that Indie shortlisting?

3 Apr 2013 | 1:15 pm

Well, look here! Sea Hearts, winner, Children's and YA section, Australian Independent Booksellers Awards 2013

Justine Larbalestier
Me and Libba Bray and Barry Goldblatt at Sydney Writers’ Festival

Justine

22 May 2013 | 7:23 pm

Look what’s happening this Sunday, 26 May at 10AM1 Sydney Writers Festival Pier 2/3 Club Stage Walsh Bay, Sydney, NSW This event is free and no bookings required. FUN AND GAMES WITH LIBBA BRAY AND JUSTINE LARBALESTIER Moderated by fancy NYC literary agent Barry Goldblatt (also known as Mr Libba Bray). I imagine this will involve juggling and poker. Even though I always lose to Libba. She’s a total card shark. I bet me and Barry can get Libba to pop out her fake eye. I love it when she does that. We’ll also tell the very weird story of mine and Libba’s second meeting.
Where I Will Be in 2013

Justine

24 Apr 2013 | 6:34 pm

After Scott put up this post about his appearances for the rest of this year, I realised I should do likewise because most of those places he is, I will be also. An eerie coincidence, I know. Most of the events are in Australia. Sorry, rest of the world, who may have some interest in saying hello. We’ll always have Twitter. Conflux Canberra, ACT April 26-28 I’ll be interviewing the brilliant and wonderful
Overused Words

Justine

22 Apr 2013 | 3:57 pm

This post is a reference post for my convenience. It’s taken from my large post on rewriting from a few years back. With some additions that I’ve noticed crop up in my writing more recently. (The horror.) When I get my novel to the point where I think it’s finished I have a ritual of searching on the following words. These are all words I have a habit of overusing. I’m always sure that I will have learned my lesson, that with each finished novel I will find I’ve overused fewer words. But, um, I appear to be a very slow learner indeed. Spoiler: I always overuse…
Ten Years of Writing YA Novels For A Living

Justine

31 Mar 2013 | 3:12 pm

It is now TEN WHOLE YEARS since I became a freelance writer. I know, right? How did that happen? Ten years! And one more time because truly my disbelief is high: I HAVE BEEN A FULL-TIME, FREELANCE WRITER FOR TEN WHOLE YEARS. I know it’s also April Fool’s day but I truly did begin this novel-writing career of mine on the 1st of April. What better day to do something so very foolish? Back in 2003, having sold only one short story, I took the plunge. The first year did not go AT ALL well, but since then it’s mostly worked out. Here is my traditional anniversary post writing and…
Torment and Writing

Justine

10 Feb 2013 | 8:44 pm

One of the most insidious myths about writing is that of the Tormented Genius.1 I blame the Romantics: Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, that lot. Who were all: [i]f you have not suffered, if you have not had your soul embiggened by your torment and anguish and substance abuse—preferably opium, but, hey, alcohol will totally do in a pinch—then you cannot write a single soulful sentence! If you are neurotypical2 and have managed to live past forty? Totally not a proper writer!3 Obviously this is one hundred per cent true because think of all those famous writers: F. Scott Fitzgerald,…

SF and Nonsense
Faster than a speeding photon

21 May 2013 | 3:40 am

I'm just home from a trip to California -- at no point traveling at anywhere near the pace suggested by the subject line. I went for SFWA's annual Nebula Awards. (This year's Nebula winners here, courtesy of SFScope.) I wasn't in the running this cycle for a Nebula, but I am delighted to have come home with a different award.Regular visitors here at SF and Nonsense will remember that I write frequently for Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Mostly those Analog appearances are fiction, but (as befits a physicist and computer engineer with thirty years experience in IT and aerospace) I also…
Something for everyone

14 May 2013 | 7:01 am

Is Glass half empty or half full?Think you're ready for Google Glass? Maybe think again. See "Google Glass: A Treat for Hackers":The report said that hackers will also be able to monitor Google Glass' users' activities on their smartphones ... How about another cutting-edge personal product: a smart watch? Maybe what's old is new again. Check out "8 myths about the smartwatch revolution."Let's move on to more revolutionary tech. I've long been fascinated with nanotechnology (an interest best illustrated by my 2009 novel of medical nanotech: Small Miracles). One of my primary research…
The road to hell ...

7 May 2013 | 2:20 pm

You can complete that adage, right?On occasion, that road might be literal. See "Pluto's Gate Uncovered in Turkey." In the Latin, Plutonium. Considering the element plutonium -- highly radioactive, maker of big booms, and chemically toxic -- that's a very apt name even today.Is the Internet your world? Here are some key finding of the Spamhaus attack that for a short while brought down much of said world. See, "Massive cyberattack: Here's what happened (Q & A)." (How big a deal was this? "At the peak of the attack, it was generating 300 gigabits per second of traffic."Maybe your idea of…
Of the unforeseen, unintended, and unfunny

30 Apr 2013 | 5:08 am

I've posted on several occasions (most recently, No time to go googly-eyed) about Google Glass. Will it be cool? Yes. Is it a sign of the apocalypse? Probably not. But between ...You likely won't look this coolTexting is fairly well estabished as a dangerous distraction to driving. So how about having the Internet in your face as you drive? NOT good. And so: Don't Glass and drive -- lawmakers seek to ban Google Glass on the road. And because Glass is a video recording device, be advised From strip clubs to theaters, Google Glass won't be welcome everywhere.Still want a pair? Already wear…
From many perspectives

23 Apr 2013 | 6:25 am

For me, one of the striking things about the Boston Marathon bombings, the pursuit of the perps, and how the world followed these fast-breaking events has been the role of modern tech. Last week's tragedy, compared to other terrorist bombings (and would-be bombings) of recent years, seems immersed in the latest technology. And reminiscient of much near-future fiction ...With non-jarring appsThe investigators had -- and made brilliant use of -- many thousand cameras. Ten years ago, would people in the crowd have had cameras? Sure. But would people in the crowd have taken nearly as many shots…

The Days Are Just Packed
JayFest! Sci-Fi Book Fair & Group Signing, June 13 at Powell's Cedar Hills

16 May 2013 | 10:40 am

Mark your calendars! Powell's Books will be hosting JayFest, a group signing and book fair in support of local author Jay Lake. Date: June 13, 2013Time: Book fair 6:00-9:00 pm, group signing 7:00-8:00 pmPlace: Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton, OregonAuthors in attendance will include David D. Levine, Phyllis Irene Radford, Devon Monk, Barb and J. C. Hendee, Shannon Page, Mark Ferrari, J. A. Pitts, M. K. Hobson, Diana Pharaoh Francis, and Tina Connolly. Ten percent of the proceeds for each book sold during the book fair will go to the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund, which…
Bits and bobs

23 Apr 2013 | 1:14 pm

Telling Tales: The Clarion West 30th Anniversary Anthology, including my story "I Hold My Father's Paws," will release on July 1 and is now available for pre-order for only $15 plus shipping. The anthology, edited by Ellen Datlow, has already received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. It also has a very spiffy cover, includes an embarrassingly complimentary introduction to my story by Geoff Ryman, and the proceeds benefit Clarion West. What's not to love?I'm also very pleased to announce that "The Tale of the Golden Eagle" will be appearing on the Escape Pod podcast in June. If all…
They call me "Walks With Llamas"

20 Apr 2013 | 10:53 pm

Self-portrait with llama.It started, as so many things do, with The Amazing Race. It was when we saw yet another pair of racers fail to cope with a stick shift, I think, that we said "haven't these people seen the show before? Didn't they know they should expect to have to drive a stick shift?" Which led to some thinking about what other things a potential Amazing Race contestant should know to expect from having seen previous seasons of the show. This list included: ride a bicycle; dive and/or swim; climb and/or rappel on something very high; and lead, ride, and/or milk an exotic animal.
An anthology I'm in is up for two awards!

9 Apr 2013 | 10:57 am

Heiresses of Russ 2012: the Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, which includes my story “Tides of the Heart,” is a finalist for the Golden Crown Literary Award as well as the Lambda Award!
SFWA Pacific Northwest Reading Series: Seattle area Apr. 23, Portland Apr. 24

8 Apr 2013 | 10:40 am

This is just a quick reminder that SFWA's Pacific Northwest Reading Series is having its next events in two weeks!On Tuesday, in the Seattle area, award-winning writer Mary Robinette Kowal (Without a Summer) will be accompanied by Portland writer Tina Connolly (Ironskin) and Seattle writer Nisi Shawl (Filter House). The University Bookstore will be on hand again selling books and all the authors will be available to sign.When: Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM Where: Wilde Rover Irish Pub and Restaurant, 111 Central Way, Kirkland, WA 98033On Wednesday, the same three readers will be…

Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress
Revolution 1.18: Whodunnit?

21 May 2013 | 6:55 pm

It is often said - or, at least I often say - that if classic mystery is whodunnit, classic science fiction is whatdunnit. In last night's episode 1.18 of Revolution - which just keeps getting better and better - we get both: a classic whodunnit in this post-apocalyptic world of no power. The "it" is the murder of two people as Miles and company are en route to the "Tower" in the Plains Nation aka Colorado. There are suspects galore. Nora was tortured and drugged - who knows what that did to her mind. The guy who did that but then whisked her to freedom -…
The Borgias 3.6: Plague and Belief

21 May 2013 | 3:26 pm

Another excellent episode of The Borgias on Sunday - 3.6 - in which Caterina Sforza is revealed to be even more evil than we thought, certainly more evil than Rodrigo.Her latest plan to cleanse Italy of the Borgias is to get the black plague into the Vatican. There is a great storyline about how her plan was almost diverted. Cesare comes upon the young Cardinal carrying a box from Caterina with a peace proposal for the Pope. Unbeknownst to Cesare and the Cardinal, the box also contains the plague. But Cesare tells the Cardinal to burn the box, knowing that it can contain no…
Rectify Season 1 Finale: Searingly Anti-Climactic

21 May 2013 | 10:55 am

The season 1 finale of Rectify on Sundance last night - and a short, intensely powerful season it was, just six episodes of anvil to the brain that penetrated to the bone and the soul - was powerful and oddly anti-climatic at the same time, which made this narrative even more searing and memorable.We learn right away that Daniel didn't kill Teddy, just knocked him out with a choke hold, and then put coffee grounds on his bare backside (giving grounds for a literal interpretation to the oft-heard, "Ugh, this coffee tastes like ...") But I breathed a sigh of relief and felt bad…
Mad Men 6.8: Dr. Feelgood and Grandma Ida

19 May 2013 | 8:39 pm

There's always at least one insane show on Mad Men, sometimes two, in which all hell breaks loose to the point where you and the characters don't know who's dreaming what, or if it's really a dream at all. This is one of Matthew Weiner's signatures, and you'll recall it was used to excellent effect on The Sopranos in the aftermath of Tony being shot by Uncle Junior. At its best on Mad Men, it had Don going out to California a few years ago in his original identity as Dick Whitman.Tonight's Mad Men 6.8 was such a show. The trigger is a Dr. Feelgood kind of doctor - the name…
Why the US Dept of Justice's Grabbing of Associated Press Phone Records is so Egregrious

14 May 2013 | 5:30 pm

The proper relationship of the government and the press in a country such as ours that is governed by the First Amendment should be just this: the government should answer or not answer any questions put to it by the press. Period.Answering questions deceptively or incorrectly is morally wrong, even reprehensible - at its worst, propaganda, for want of a better name - but is not illegal. But doing anything to interfere with the press, anything that could be reasonably construed as attempting to intimidate the press, is a straight-up violation of the First Amendment, and its…

Holly Lisle: Official Author Homepage
Removed almost 10,000 folks from my Writing Tips newsletter

Holly

21 May 2013 | 1:49 pm

It was not the easiest thing I’ve ever done. There’s something comforting about thinking you’re talking to 21,000+ people at a time. But at the point where folks haven’t opened a single email you’ve sent in six months, you’re NOT talking to them. So if you look at the green Writing Tips sign-up form in the sidebar, you’ll see that instead of 21,779 people on the list, I now have 12,217. (Well, I just looked at at the moment it shows 13,000 and change…but the database shows the lower number, so I’m guessing it will take a little time for…
Results of the “Help I’m Looking For” Writers’ Survey

Holly

17 May 2013 | 10:46 am

I did a survey of folks on my Writing Tips newsletter, many of whom have dropped out of regular readership. Many of whom have a good reason for doing so. The migraines don’t prevent me from working (most of the time) because I am tenacious and I’ll put up with a lot of pain before I give up. (This is, after all, how I got published in the first place.) This post, for example, is the sort of thing I can do with a migraine. But the part of me that is creative crawls off in a hole and cries during migraines. Coming up with writing tips is big-C Creative. It does not play well with…
Which flash fiction sites / publishers do you recommend?

Holly

9 May 2013 | 6:54 am

I’ve had a migraine for the last three weeks. While Tylenol has helped take the edge off for a little while, it has not gone away completely. The pain was too bad to focus on the really cool, creative things I have to do in the final chapters of Create A World Clinic, so I’ve worked on less creative things. Putting together and then running a live-online Motivation workshop. Putting up my How To Find Your Writing Discipline course in its original form on the new site. And putting together a three-week class called How To Write Flash Fiction That Doesn’t Suck. See, I wanted a…
I’m missing something on World Clinic

Holly

24 Apr 2013 | 8:03 am

I’ve been fixing up the How To Think Sideways website for the past couple weeks; reformatting, relinking and in a couple of cases revising old products from my shop to put on my new shop, and otherwise doing lots of Working Very Hard While Not Writing, which is what I have always done when I’ve hit a snag. I hit the snag in World Clinic when I got to Part Two. Part One, the critical core of worldbuilding for writers, flew. It was fun and glorious every day I worked on it. But I got about ten pages into Part Two, which is how you actually use all the OTHER stuff, all the stuff…
Container Universes and Create A World Clinic #wabwm

Holly

16 Apr 2013 | 11:23 am

After very difficult last two weeks, where I was overhauling the major part of the HowToThinkSideways.com site, it was sheer joy to get back to writing Create A World Clinic. And while I didn’t set the world on fire, I did get 802 words, and the first two sections of the Container Universe chapter done. Also dressed up this place for spring. Some stress-related health issues hit over the weekend. They’d be a problem if I let them be. I’m not going to. I’ve started taking better care of myself: I’m taking breaks, working fewer hours, exercising more, sleeping…

Nathalie Mallet's Blog
Famous Writers’ Libraries

17 May 2013 | 6:05 am

This week we’re getting a peek inside the library of one of the giants of American literature: Hemingway. In my search, I found many photos of the man himself, (He was a fox by the way.) but very few of his personal library. And those I found show a surprisingly modest room. I expected something a bit more dramatic. Then again, it is understated just like his writing style. No: 6 Ernest Hemingway
Good movies that got bad reviews

14 May 2013 | 7:14 am

I saw Oblivion recently and really loved it. That made me questioned the mediocre reviews it received. Why do good movies get bad reviews? Well, I don’t know. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinions and taste is subjective. Still, it doesn’t explain why some people get it so wrong. That boggles my mind. Here a list of great movies that got, not bad, but scathing reviews: Star Wars "It’s an assemblage of spare parts—it has no emotional grip... an epic without a dream."—Pauline Kael, The New YorkerForrest Gump "It is... glib, shallow, and monotonous, a movie that spends so…
Famous Writers’ Libraries

10 May 2013 | 8:36 am

For the fifth instalment of this series, I choose one of my favorite writers, Dean Koontz. I must have read at least two dozens of his books, the latest being Odd Thomas. No: 5 Dean Koontz
When I realized my novel needed a complete rewrite instead of a revision

8 May 2013 | 6:27 am
The Top 10 Jobs That Attract Psychopaths

3 May 2013 | 7:44 am

I read this article on Forbes and thought. OMG! I have to reblog this. At some point in ours lives, we all had to work with crazy coworkers…I put up with a few myself. Well, maybe those persons were psychopaths. Apparently there are jobs that attract them. Without further ado, here’s the list of occupations most attractive to psychopaths:1. CEO2. Lawyer3. Media (Television/Radio)4. Salesperson5. Surgeon6. Journalist7. Police officer8. Clergy person9. Chef10. Civil servantHere’s the list of jobs with the lowest rates of psychopathy:1. Care aide2. Nurse3. Therapist4. Craftsperson5.

Nick Mamatas
A reason to buy from amazon

24 May 2013 | 8:39 am

Amazon is currently selling Love is the Law on pre-order for 35 percent off. This is a guaranteed price. If you have Amazon Prime and get free shipping, amazon will depending on where you live, either barely break even and perhaps even lose money on every sale.So...PRE-ORDER TODAYSTARVE THE GLUTTONDESTROY THE BEAST
Interview

21 May 2013 | 8:38 am

Nine years ago this week, the hardcover edition of Move Under Ground (now also on Kindle for $2.99, cheap!) was released. To celebrate, kind of, here's an extensive interview with me over at the Weird Fiction Review:Everything is terrible, everywhere.
My Two Minutes Of International Fame and Shame

20 May 2013 | 4:37 pm

So because I wrote Insults Every Man Should Know I was asked to speak on BBC5 about the weekend's row over swivel-eyed loons. I was told not to say the "f-word", the "c-word" or to "take the Lord's name in vain" but other than that anything would be fine.I was on for all of two minutes. We spoke very briefly about clever insults between politicians, and I pointed out that this case is different: it's someone insulting their own rank and file, not trying to either build a coalition by insulting some "outsider", nor is it performative like the…
SF Greek Film Festival

17 May 2013 | 12:14 am

Tonight I took in some movies at the San Francisco Greek Film Festival. There are many films I'd like to see, but this was the only night I had available. Three shorts and a feature:First up was "Kypseli", which is "hive" and a very congested neighborhood in Athens. Though the film plays on the pun, most of the shots show a bunch of fairly empty streets, as if someone is shooting a film in town or something. A pair of yuppies sit at a cafe, and the woman discovers that her phone is gone. First they blame a Pakistani street peddler, and get him arrested, and then…
Love is the Law

14 May 2013 | 1:08 pm

Love is the Law started as a joke, really. My then-agent had me on the phone about another novel which she was, predictably, having trouble selling. Her bright idea—the one after "be Don DeLillo" lead to Under My Roof—was to write a "boy book." Everyone's so worried about those little boys who don't read, you know, because of all that girly kid stuff. And YA is where all the money is, after all.So it just came pouring out. "How about..." I said, "Harriet the Spy*!" My agent said "huh" so I said, "But punk." It…

Not A Blog
Headed for Conquest

21 May 2013 | 10:24 am

I hear that everything's up to date in Kansas City, so I'll be headed that way tomorrow to see for myself.ConQuest beckons; KC's annual regional convention, one of the best. Should be a good time. Patrick Rothfuss is GOH, John Picacio will be there, along with Brad Denton, Caroline Spector, and all of my old KC friends and partners in crime. I'll be doing a reading, doing a panel, eating too much barbeque, drinking too much bheer.And even before the con, we'll have the road trip. I will be hitting the road with my Aussie friends, and driving right through the heart of Tornado Alley, which…
More Wild Cards Goodness

15 May 2013 | 11:36 am

Here's a fanfare for all of you Wild Cards fans out there.There's a brand new, never-before-published Wild Cards story just up on Tor.Com.This one was penned by Cherie Priest. It's called "The Button Man and the Murder Tree."The 'cover art' by the amazing John Picacio.This one is a sort of 'origin story' for Cherie's Button Man character, last seen in FORT FREAK.You can read it here:http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/05/the-button-man-and-the-murder-treeMore Wild Cards coming on Tor.com... and of course on the shelves of your local bookshop.
The Great Gatsby

15 May 2013 | 10:42 am

Went to see the new Baz Luhrmann version of THE GREAT GATSBY last night.The film is doing good business, but getting decidedly mixed reviews from the critics. Some love it, some are cool, a few are tearing it to pieces. And the sides don't necessarily line up with those who liked or didn't like the source material, the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.Count me with those who loved it. I think this is a great film. AND a great and faithful adaptation of the novel, which is not necessarily the same thing. I've never seen the two oldest versions of GATSBY, but the Luhrmann films stands head and…
The ROGUES Are Coming

13 May 2013 | 11:32 am

Gardner Dozois and I have just delivered the completed manuscript (well, e-manuscript, it being 2013 and all) for our latest big cross-genre anthologies, ROGUES, to our editor at Bantam Spectra.Once again, we've got a really kickass lineup of contributors, and some terrific stories.The table of contents:George R.R. Martin “Everybody Loves a Rogue” (Introduction)Joe Abercrombie “Tough Times All Over”Gillian Flynn “What Do You Do?”Matthew Hughes “The Inn of the Seven Blessings”Joe R. Lansdale “Bent Twig”Michael Swanwick “Tawny Petticoats”David Ball “Provenance”Carrie…
GOT Takes BAFTA

12 May 2013 | 1:11 pm

Hot damn.GAME OF THRONES has just won the Radio Times BAFTA Award:http://bafta-television.tumblr.com/post/50282069146/bafta-television-radio-times-audience-award-winnerThe BAFTAs, for those unfamiliar with them, are the British Emmys. Despite the fact that we shoot in Belfast, Northern Ireland (and Morocco, Iceland, Croatia, and Malta) and that half of our cast is British (most of the rest being Irish, with here and there a Dane, a Norwegian, a German, and even a token American), we are considered to be an American show, I guess because HBO is an American company, and therefore ineligible for…

Welcome to the Maze
Night Shade Unknown

13 May 2013 | 7:08 am

We still do not know the outcome of the pending thing with Skyhorse/Start, so we still do not know what will happen to our lovely books. In the mean time, might I suggest now is a great time to pick up a copy or two, if you were so inclined but putting it off for some reason? There's no telling what will happen if bankruptcy court steps into the picture. Also, frankly, it's not like Night Shade knew what they were doing to promote the books. Even if the deal goes through, they will likely not be long for this world without a lot more support from the world.Thank you, and happy Monday.
Growing Experiments

10 May 2013 | 6:38 am

I've been attempting to grow an Asian Pear tree from seeds that came from the store-bought fruit. This is how the stuff is supposed to be done, after all. Johnny Appleseed wasn't out spreading scionwood, but seeds. I've got these four seedlings in a pot, from the four seeds at the heart of the fruit. What happens next is I wait until they're six inches tall. Then, I carefully re-pot them into gallon pots from the garage. Then, next year or the year after, if they've survived, I've got these trees on their own roots ready to go in the ground somewhere. Or, I can use their whips for grafting.
I blogged over at APEX about Weird Fiction and Furniture

8 May 2013 | 6:53 am

I really liked the Book of Cthulhu, and it's sequel, but I also don't think of them as Weird Fiction anymore, since the feeling of Weirdness is lost in repetition.Lovecraftian is it's own thing, now, right? It's not Weird so much as it is just another tradition of Dark Fantasy with all the furniture of genre that entails. Explicated here: http://www.apexbookcompany.com/2013/05/weird-fiction-when-does-weird-become-normal-guest-post-by-j-m-mcdermott/Also, if anyone's writing about Weird Fiction in this moment in time, you have to talk about the awesomeness of Weird Fiction…
The Cleanest Phone

6 May 2013 | 5:30 am

Unbeknownst to me, my cellphone was jammed deep in a pocket of some gym shorts, that were gross and needed washing. The phone was pretty gross, too. But, at least it functioned. Now, it does not. The phone is dead. It is clean, and dead. We heard it bang-bang-banging in the dryer, and couldn't figure out what it was until we also noticed my phone was missing, and I went digging way down deep into the unholy depths of those gym shorts. Why are the pockets of gym shorts so much deeper and easier to lose things in than regular pockets? If I was a smurf looking for a place to hide, that'd be…
Let's See How Books are Made

3 May 2013 | 9:40 am

This man has blogged for the day, which promotes his books, which are visible to the right.

Robin McKinley
Placeholder of the continuing bad news variety

Robin

24 May 2013 | 6:16 pm

The hellhounds have stopped eating again. I had another four-hours-of-sleep night last night. The vets had only had some of the lab results back today, not including campylobacter, which is the miscreant both the senior vets like the best.* It is now the weekend. It is, furthermore, another bank holiday weekend. This means we won’t have the rest of the info till Tuesday earliest, and since stuff always backs up over a long weekend, Wednesday is likelier. Or Thursday. You’ll forgive me if I don’t feel like writing a proper blog entry tonight. * Note that I don’t…
Waiting

Robin

23 May 2013 | 7:19 pm

Nothing from the vets yet. If I haven’t heard from them by tomorrow afternoon I’ll go round and do the Haggard and Hysterical Hellgoddess* at them, just to make sure (a) they haven’t forgotten to tell me because they’re having a busy day and (b) if they haven’t heard from the lab maybe they should do a modicum of checking up. They could say that their client is a haggard and hysterical hellgoddess** and they’d be grateful to have something to tell her. That noise in the background, they could say, is the client under discussion gnawing holes in the clinic’s window…
Critter Update

Robin

22 May 2013 | 5:13 pm

And to add to the joy of nations* Pav has done a u-turn and decided to finish being on heat after all. And is dripping thick gooey blood all over the landscape. ** What a good thing she stays in the kitchen at the cottage—on the lino. And for the moment there is No Rioting at the mews. For more than merely the sake of the carpets. Rioting might create excitement. At the moment while hellhounds are VERY VERY INDEED VERY interested in her rear end, they’ve always been far too interested in her rear end and this interest doesn’t seem to have mutated into anything…
The Annual Bluebell Wood Photo Album*

Robin

21 May 2013 | 5:57 pm

Bluebells, like everything else this cold nasty year, are late.** I’ve been out stomping through the critical bit of countryside several times in the last three weeks or so and about ten days ago I thought, okay, next week is touchdown or lift-off or whatever. Of bluebells. And then various things intervened and I thought, if I miss the bluebells this year I am going to be CRANKY. Not to mention the small passionate sub-coterie of bluebell-adoring blog readers who would never forgive me. And then I thought, wait! Rima is coming! I will MAKE HER WALK THROUGH A…
Burano – Venetian lace making island. Guest post by CathyR*

Guest

20 May 2013 | 6:38 pm

I’d heard of Murano, the Venetian island where the famous glass is produced. I hadn’t, however, heard of Burano, renowned for its lace making. We spent a cloudy (but fortunately dry) few hours there photographing not the lace, but the wonderful brightly coloured houses and their reflections in the canals. Burano is about an hour away from Venice city centre by Vaporetto, the waterborne public transport equivalent of the London tube (subway) but with a much more confusing map! Waterborne public transport route map – Vaporettos and water buses. Water taxis are…

Day in the Life of an Idiot
Killed by Senbonzakura

22 May 2013 | 5:35 pm

So, we went to kuk sool finally after many days absence to discover that all the cherry blossoms had bloomed, so OF COURSE we had to take some petals home and have a little shikai battle. You'll have to imagine (a lot), but also that I have Zabimaru.I kind of like how the blossoms look like magic spikes. (Mason makes a good Byakuya, neh?)My sad death. Luckily, I'm headed to the Soul Society!No, I will rise again, like Renji!
Car Troubles and Porn Flail

21 May 2013 | 8:08 am

As I was driving Shawn to work today, we were idling at Lexington and Summit at the stoplight there when all of a sudden a plume of white smoke came up from under my hood. I've had so many problems with that particular sight I no longer go into super-panic mode, ie, "Ai! Car on Fire!!" Instead, I calmly finished taking Shawn to work, bought a few groceries on the way home, and then told Mason, "Looks like a library day!" My new auto repair guy is Dave's Auto's in Roseville, which is directly across the street from the library, so when the car is stuck in the shop, I (or Mason and I during…
Don't You Wish You Were My Pen Pal?

16 May 2013 | 7:52 pm

This is the sort of thing that appears as random art on the bottom of the letters I send to my pen pal, Keri, in Seattle. Several years ago (or maybe just a couple years ago), I decided that I missed the sensual, private pleasure of writing personal letters. So I put out a request on Facebook. Keri, a woman I only kinda-sorta knew at the time said, "Oooh, pick me!" So I did. We've been corresponding for at least a year and a half if not two years now and every time I write to her, I usually embellish the letter with a bit of fan art/art.Here's what I'm sending her this week:Pretty nice, huh?
Signed! Love is the Law!

15 May 2013 | 7:31 am

Yesterday, despite the WTF 90 degree tempuratures, Mason and I braved the crowds at the capitol to witness history in the making. Shawn was home for the afternoon, having come with us to Como Zoo earlier, but as she's such an extreme introvert that she faints in large crowds, she stayed home. Good call, I think, because it was REALLY crowded.We were never close enough to actually see our governor sign the bill into law, but we could hear his less-than-rousing-but-still-wildly-cheered speech. Poor Governor Dayton, he's just not a spit fire. He's got such a good heart, but he always looks and…
Ban Sai!

14 May 2013 | 1:19 pm

The Como Zoo has been doing a lot of renovation. One of the things they've added is a bonsai "garden." They always had a display, but they've arranged it now so that when you're head to the Japanese garden you stroll through a special gallery that displays not only the bansai, but also some of the traditional tea ceremony equipment for the tea hut they have. Some day, I'm going to register for one of their tea ceremonies. Maybe this year...At any rate, Shawn took half a day off to spend with Mason and me, and we decided to check out the zoo. Of course today it decided to try to hit 90 degrees…

the essential kit
Aw, Sherlock.

25 May 2013 | 12:59 am

We watched an ENTIRE SEASON of TV this week! Because it was 2nd season Sherlock, which is only 3 episodes. :) The very end of The Reichenbach Fall, although I’d seen it quoted roughly a million times already, was still very effective. In fact, the whole episode was. Somehow I spent at least half of it with my knees pulled up and my hands over my mouth, despite obviously knowing how it was going to end. I will never be able to watch Cumberbatch as Sherlock again without thinking “Oh, you with the cheekbones and the collar!” Which isn’t the line (nor is it from The…
TBR shelf

24 May 2013 | 7:48 am

I’m sure it’d be faster to take a picture, but here’s the to-be-read shelf: Michael Carroll: THE ASCENSION, SUPER HUMAN Neil Gaiman: THE GRAVEYARD BOOK Sarah Rees Brennan: UNSPOKEN Cassandra Clare: CIY OF BONES, CITY OF ASHES, CITY OF GLASS CS Friedman: LEGACY OF KING Nick Harkaway: ANGELMAKER Gene Kemp: THE TURBULENT TERM OF TYKE TILER Sheridan Le Fanu: IN A GLASS DARKLY Ian Whates: CITY OF DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES Pamela C Dean: THE SECRET COUNTRY MC Beaton: DEATH OF A CAD Faith Hunter: RAVEN CURSED, DEATH’S RIVAL Lynn Fwelling: THE BONE DOLL’S TWIN, HIDDEN…
*gone*!

24 May 2013 | 5:42 am

*laughs* To my delight, the artist for the Dublin Laydeez Do Comics drew the aftermath of the cookies I made: I like how the plate says “gone!” :) Apparently having an artist do the, er, meeting notes, is standard for the Laydeez Do around the world, which is pretty nifty. (x-posted from The Essential Kit)
Kitsnaps: Sea Lion

23 May 2013 | 10:02 pm

Sea Lion It’s not easy to get a picture of a diving sea lion when you’ve got to manually focus the heavy lens and keep an eye on a dashing little boy! (x-posted from The Essential Kit)
too. many. books.

23 May 2013 | 8:28 am

I know it’s blasphemy, but argh, there are too. many. books. in this house. Between Christmas and EasterCon, I (we, but I cop to it: *I*) had some significant Bookstores Accidents, and while this is most of the time merely inconvenient because there are never enough shelves, when I’m facing moving, all I can really wonder is why I didn’t bloody well buy digital copies of ALL THESE BOOKS. I mean, I know why. It’s far, far more satisfying to go browse and buy physical books than it is to do the same with e-books. And the local bookstore from which I prefer to buy books…

Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good
Family Stories

28 Apr 2013 | 6:00 am

Here's today's homily. The readings are Acts 11:1-18 and John 13:31-35.*I’ve always loved the story of Peter’s vision. There’s something about that image of the sheet being lowered, full of all kinds of animals, that immediately captures the imagination. All those creatures, all that potential food, and obedient Peter determined not to eat anything he shouldn’t, until the voice in his dream tells him it’s okay. “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” And soon enough, he learns that all people are clean, too. “God has…
No-Brainers

16 Feb 2013 | 6:51 pm

Here's tomorrow's homily, for the first Sunday in Lent. I've linked to the Gospel passage below.*My husband and I have just started watching the British science-fiction series Doctor Who. In the episode we watched a few nights ago, a high school is taken over by a race of aliens, disguised as humans, who are actually ten-foot-tall lizards with bat wings and ferocious teeth. At a crucial point in the episode, Doctor Who and his companions are cornered by a group of these creatures, who have been using the students to try to unlock a source of cosmic power. The head alien, waving his bat wings,…
Trigger Warnings: Two Stories

20 Dec 2012 | 10:05 am

Story one:When I was in junior high school, sixth through eighth grades, I got beaten up or teased or mocked every day, or almost every day, or enough days so that every day when I woke up to get ready for school, my stomach was a lump of fear. I was a skinny, homely kid with ill-fitting clothing, spotty social skills, a tendency to cry far too easily under pressure, and facial hair.This last earned me special torment from other kids. Some just asked questions, probably genuinely curious, like "Why do you have a mustache? Is it because you have more boy juices than girl…
Choosing Love

15 Dec 2012 | 5:14 pm

Here's my homily for 3 Advent. For obvious reasons, this is a challenging preaching occasion: one on which I find myself, as I've so often been before, infinitely grateful for poetry.The readings are Zephaniah 3:14-20 and Luke 3:7-18.*Today is the third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means “rejoice” in Latin. This is the day when we’re called to put aside the somber, penitential business of Advent to revel in the Lord’s impending arrival. “Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away…
Reading at Sundance Bookstore, November 15

18 Oct 2012 | 7:02 pm

On Thursday, November 15 at 6:30, I'll be reading from Brief Visits, my new book of sonnets about my ER volunteer work. Here's the official flyer for the event.If you're in Reno, please stop by, and even if you can't make it, please spread the word!

Old Enough to Know Better
"Eyes! I Only Do Eyes!"

24 May 2013 | 9:39 am

Two points for the first person to get the title quote's origin ...Few things more boring than somebody talking about their medical issues, save maybe somebody talking about their dreams, but for those following the Amazing Adventures of Stevieman, the follow-up visit to the eye guy more or less confirms what we already knew: The OD–that's the medical term for "right eye," with OS being the left (for "oculus dexter," and "oculus sinister," respectively, in case you really want to to know)–is almost certainly afflicted with another abbreviation, AMD, i.e., age-related macular…
And Your Little Dog, Too ...

22 May 2013 | 5:27 pm

Did I mention that the new toilets we are having installed–two in, one more to go–are made by the Japanese/American company Toto?That just gives rise to all kinds of bad puns in my twisted brain, including one wherein "Kansas" gets respelled as "Can's ass ..."Toilets aren't what you'd call major eye candy, I mean, it's a toilet, but this one qualifies for a government rebate; it uses 1.2 gallons of water and it actually works. The early 1.6er's we had were–I believe I mentioned this before–crappy in their inability to rid themselves of more than a few sheets of tissue without flushing…
More Things Emerge from the Murk

22 May 2013 | 2:48 pm

So the revised ego book case, with all my books, which looks really clean and neat, at least for the moment. And the ray gun my son made for me, second shelf up, something he spotted in an old toy catalog years ago. It's cast resin and hand-painted. I made the dial using PageMaker. (Three settings: Stun, Maim, Kill ...) Ergonomical design, handle-to-body, a natural pointer, and with the narrowing grips toward the little finger end it fits the hand really well ...
Odds 'n' Ends

19 May 2013 | 6:14 pm

Still slogging through the house reboot, and came across some things I found interesting.First, the inspirational books that have been in my rack for years: Lord of Light, The Lani People, Thongor of Lemuria, Wizard of the Pigeons, and The Elements of Style.A lot of my reference books are going into boxes, what with the internet lurking right there if I need a handy fact. But these helped shape me as a writer, and they are worth their weight in gold. Even the Lin Carter, which is awful. That's why I keep it there, to remind myself that he made a living writing stuff like that, I surely…
Hoarders

19 May 2013 | 8:50 am

So, the living room, after the floor and carpet guys are gone and before the stuff goes back to where it belongs, or away. I feel like somebody is going to do an intervention and we'll wind up on an episode of Hoarders: Oh, look at those old people's house. How sad is that, they live like that ... ?

FREE PLANET
Free Planet - real 'freedom' for a real 'planet'

25 May 2013 | 12:40 am

you hear it all the time from revolutionists and anti-Illuminati-ists, "We want the freedom to do what we want to do.""Freedom", it's all in the details.What is your freedom?The freedom to prosper - but then this gives you the 'freedom to enslave' by need to create profit.What is your freedom?The freedom of choice - but then this means someone else goes without.What is your freedom?The freedom to think - we all know this is LESS AND LESS IMPORTANT. We all know that corporate NDAs usurp your Constitution. We all know that religion, politics and 'foreign policy' is making a world ever-more…
Danny Vendramini - Neanderthal: Profile of a super predator

24 May 2013 | 4:52 am

PLANET OF THE APES happened in man's early history, so says Danny Vendramini, author of the book Them and Us: How Neanderthal predation created modern humans. Drawing upon the latest scientific evidence, Vendramini suggests that over a period of 15,000 years mankind was AT WAR with a race of ferocious ape-like creatures who hunted and raped early humans to the brink of extinction before the humans fought back and eradicated them.This enemy was THE NEANDERTHALS...
WIFI stops cress growing

22 May 2013 | 11:43 am

that thing that's in your house, probably on all the time, connected to your mobile phones and wireless devices i.e. WIFI ... it kills cress. Or rather five girls from form 9b in Hjallerup School in North Jutland DK have found that, "If you're trying to grow cress don't put it near the WIFI router." [forwarding source TAP]Okay, got that?cress grown away from WIFIcress grown beside WIFI router“It is truly frightening that there is so much affect, so we were very shocked by the result”, says Lea Nielsen, one of the girls.NOTHING WRONG WITH WIFI then, it's totally safe.
Klaus Dona - Lyddite tools, Conehead skulls and Glowing sculptures - 17,000 years old

22 May 2013 | 1:36 am

I'm surprised I haven't featured this March 2010 video presentation from museum curator turned archeological investigator Klaus Dona on Free Planet before.Highlights, for me, are the Lyddite instruments, the Conehead skulls and the Glowing sculptures stretching back as far as 17,000 years into a human history that's not supposed to have existed.
RED - the best film in ages!

20 May 2013 | 12:28 pm

R.E.D. means Retired, Extremely Dangerousyou know, Red... it's that little film about CIA death squads and the Vice Presidential incident in Guatemala, oh and the gun running, oh and the Russians and a machine-gun toting sniper-rifle wielding Helen Mirren, you know that film you thought might be rubbish so you never went to see it.Rent the DVD/bluray or download it to your preferred viewing platform.Do it tonight, RED is brilliant. The actors are literally THE BEST THERE IS, the script is funny, violent, romantic. Yeah, ROMANTIC... this film is loaded with romantic gallows humour and lust,…

Tiny Godzilla
Phoenix or Bust!

22 May 2013 | 2:59 pm

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'm heading out for Phoenix Comic Con! And though the trip itself will be long and boring, the weekend promises to be a blast. So come out and see me! Here's my schedule. Also, here's my Twitter feed. I link it here, because the odds are very high that I won't be doing any blogging - just snapping selfies and other assorted shenanigans, and uploading it all for your amusement. So! Tune in, show up, be amused. That's my suggestion.And for now ... I'm outta here! [:: zoosh ::]
Nonsense has a welcome ring

21 May 2013 | 3:53 pm

No word metrics today. I slept badly and woke up late, ending up with just barely enough time to walk the dog before spending the middle of the day getting my hair done. Then I came home and did some housework, took a short nap, managed some email and some business stuff, and made a phone call about getting more work done on the house.Long story short, when all the extra layers of shingles were pulled away for the roof work, rotting trim and siding were revealed around the attic windows. No water is getting inside or anything, and really, it's to be expected; the house is over a hundred years…
I may be mad I may be blind I may be viciously unkind

20 May 2013 | 11:14 am

Here’s recent progress on my fin de siecle gothic epistolary about Lizzie Borden fighting Cthulhu with her trusty axe, now with Bonus! ghosts, guilt, arcane science, and an accidental villain who's losing his mind and his humanity in tandem:Project: MaplecroftDeadline: October 15, 2013New words written: 4648 (multi-day total)Present total word count: 103,343 wordsThings accomplished in fiction: Probably best if I leave off with these, at this point. Even the vague stuff could point to spoilers.Next up: More cryptic shenanigans.Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunts around the…
After the war we said we'd fight together

15 May 2013 | 2:12 pm

Here’s today's progress on my fin de siecle gothic epistolary about Lizzie Borden fighting Cthulhu with her trusty axe, now with Bonus! ghosts, guilt, arcane science, and an accidental villain who's losing his mind and his humanity in tandem:Project: MaplecroftDeadline: October 15, 2013New words written: 1700 Present total word count: 98,659 wordsThings accomplished in fiction: Reassessment of the situation. Change in strategy before it's too late. In case it's not too late.Next up: A science experiment.Things accomplished in real life: Daily jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog;…
The Button Man and the Murder Tree (Chicago, 1971)

15 May 2013 | 8:19 am

Ladies, gents, and the otherwise affiliated - over at Tor.com you will now find my short story The Button Man and the Murder Tree, a Wild Cards project that I've been keeping under my hat for a few months. Free for the reading!It's a story about a fellow I introduced in Fort Freak - Raul Esposito ... back when he was a button man for the mob in Chicago, and long before he became a genteel (if somewhat creepy) restaurateur in NYC. Raul's in a race against time, the mafia, and his own body. One of them will betray him before the week is out.As a bonus, this story is accompanied by some truly…

www.AdamRoberts.com
2013 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Shortlist

Adam Roberts

19 May 2013 | 1:48 am

I could not be more delighted to have made the (very strong) 2013 John W. Campbell Memorial Award shortlist: The Hydrogen Sonata, Iain M. Banks (Orbit) Any Day Now, Terry Bisson (Overlook) Existence, David Brin (Tor) The Rapture of the Nerds, Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross (Tor) Empty Space, M. John Harrison (Gollancz; Night Shade ’13) Intrusion, Ken MacLeod (Orbit) Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey) The Fractal Prince, Hannu Rajaniemi (Gollancz; Tor) Blue Remembered Earth, Alastair Reynolds (Ace) Jack Glass: The Story of a Murderer, Adam Roberts (Gollancz) 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson…
The Lowest Heaven

Adam Roberts

9 May 2013 | 10:05 am

That book to which the Robots version of Adam contributed a story? It's The Lowest Heaven, edited by Jared 'The Man' Shurin and Anne 'The Woman' Perry; it'll be launched June 13th and the Royal Observatory are taking pre-orders now. Oh, it's a good collection. It's a very very good collection. Anne Perry's middle name isn't actually 'The Woman', by the way. It's 'C.' Just to clear that up.
Bilim Kurgu Tarihi

Adam Roberts

7 May 2013 | 2:00 pm

Turkish publisher Bilim ve Gelecek Kitapligi (Google translate leads me to believe the name means: 'the Library of Science and the Future') of Istanbul have just acquired the translation rights to my Palgrave History of Science Fiction. Hurrah!
Publishers Weekly choose Jack Glass as one of their ‘Books of Summer 2013′

Adam Roberts

7 May 2013 | 12:07 am

Which is nice of them. In an interview with PW, Roberts says that he set out to write a new kind of whodunit, where the murderer’s name is revealed on page one yet is still a surprise to the reader at the end. He succeeds admirably with this three-part SF mystery, which just won the BSFA Award. Its eponymous antihero has various escapades while keeping dangerous technological secrets from falling into the wrong hands.
Mechanised Me

Adam Roberts

4 May 2013 | 3:20 am

From the latest SFX.

Running Air
21 May 2013 | 7:00 am

21 May 2013 | 7:00 am

Thinking hard about the people in Oklahoma who were hit by the tornado. The photos of the storm were terrifying--like something out of a B science fiction movie. But in a movie, the self-serving crooks and bad-guys are punished by the forces of nature, and the good guys are plucky and survive.In real life Nature is not so selective, nor does it adhere to a neat fictional narrative. You can't argue with a storm like that, or pull a gun, or try out that cool move the sensei taught you. You can, if you have time and your wits about you, prepare, hide, and pray/hope…
In Which I am Scalzi'd

20 May 2013 | 6:59 am

And this morning, large as life, I've got a column in The Big Idea on John Scalzi's blog Whatever about Sold for Endless Rue. Whee. I feel so legitimate.Still haven't actually seen a copy of the book, but I have my hopes I will soon.
Fun, then the train, then the Farmers' Market

19 May 2013 | 12:28 pm

The Nebulas were great fun; got to meet new people; got to sign something; saw fabulous clothes (all men should be required to wear tuxedos or really well-tailored suits at least once a week) and wonderful jewelry (Ann Leckie had a stunning necklace she'd made herself from 11/0 glass beads). Carl Sagan won a posthumous Solstice award (as did the very-much-alive Ginjer Buchanan). Many awards given--but my favorite was the Bradbury, given to Beasts of the Southern Wild, which I thought was a kind of stunning film. Then more talking at the post-Awards reception until I…
Through the Kind Intervention of Fate

17 May 2013 | 6:55 am

I am going to the Nebulas (which are in my back yard this week...for certain values of back yard, anyway). Steve Gould's lovely wife Laura Mixon is home sick, and Steve's given me her membership and banquet ticket, so my waffling on the subject became: Oh, wow. Okay! I'm commuting down. And Kate Baker has even told Borderlands Books, so that there'll be books to sign if anyone wants them.This should be fun.
In Which I Am Interviewed

14 May 2013 | 9:48 pm

Deb Haupt at Reading Frenzy did a very nice interview with me about Sold for Endless Rue (I hope I gave her a good interview in return). And on the 17th I'm doing The Big Idea at John Scalzi's blog Whatever.Meanwhile, I'm trying to decide whether I should drop down to the Nebulas this weekend or not. Decisions, decisions.

Benjamin Rosenbaum
The Towel

benrosen

18 May 2013 | 3:19 am

In which I discuss where my towel is.
The Metaworld

benrosen

7 May 2013 | 3:42 am

A brief description of the Metaworld.
The Official Rules of "Adventure Mode Awesome"

benrosen

4 May 2013 | 11:11 pm

A 2-player collaborative dungeon crawl boardgame for when you've used up your weekly Minecraft time
Drawing Morning

benrosen

27 Feb 2013 | 2:02 am

Recently we spent a morning drawing each other.
From a discussion of the Australian systemless role-playing tradition

benrosen

6 Feb 2013 | 6:43 am

From a discussion of the Australian systemless RPG tradition, & a ludic axis from "game" to "play"

UnCommonwealth
New story

Christopher

1 May 2013 | 6:30 am

My latest short story, "The Jack of Coins," is now available to read for free at the Tor Books website. If you prefer to read things on ereaders, you can get it for ninety-nine cents (US) for your Kindle or Nook.
A Few Things & The View From Here

Christopher

5 Feb 2013 | 12:11 pm

A few things: Blackwood made the Locus recommended reading list in the first novels category. Sharing company with the other people on the list (including one Mr. Rowe in novelettes!) is an honor indeed. Completely thrilled. I'm over at The Mortal Instruments Examiner today talking about why I love these books so, my essay in Shadowhunters and Downworlders, and other things. Check it out. A couple of lovely posts about Blackwood that made my respective days: from the wonderful Mette Ivie Harrison and Kate Ormand. We are all getting lots of work done, talking about books and publishing and…
My Worldcon Schedule

Christopher

26 Aug 2012 | 9:30 am

Here’s my schedule of public appearances at this week’s Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention, also known as Worldcon. Friday, August 31st, 1:30-3:00 pm, Haymarket. John Joseph Adams reading. JJA is the editor of many anthologies, and of Lightspeed magazine. This reading will consist of various folks reading stories from his publications. I’m subbing in for the sadly absent Genevieve Valentine, reading her fantastic story “Good Fences,” from the new horror magazine, Nightmare. Saturday, September 1st, 12:00-1:00 pm, Tachyon table in the Dealers Room. Signing. Along…
Replace "harassed" with "robbed"

Christopher

2 Aug 2012 | 7:32 am

Those of you who read this (yes, very intermittently updated) blog because you're somehow associated with the world of science fiction have almost certainly already heard about the sexual harassment incident at the recent Readercon convention and that convention's board's spectacular failure to deal with the incident appropriately. If not, well, I'll just point you to this links roundup and suggest you confine yourself to the top four or five listed unless you have a lot of time on your hands. I don't have anything to say about the incident and its handling that hasn't…
Listen up!

Christopher

2 May 2012 | 6:35 am

Nifty. My story "Another Word For Map is Faith" is available as a podcast (you can also just listen to it through your browser) at the most excellent Podcastle website. Check it out, won't you?

Rudy's Blog
Golden Gate Bridge, Futurism, & the SF Biz

Rudy

20 May 2013 | 11:31 am

My wife and I were up at the Marin headlands and at the Cavallo Point Lodge in the Fort Baker Park this week. It was a conference sponsored by the Institute for the Future (IFTF), and organized by David Pescovitz. A lot of corporations and agencies sent people to join in discussions with futurists of IFTF about the coming age of “Networked Matter.” Pescovitz had the great idea of getting six SF writer to write stories about this theme, and he bound them into a little book. The stories will, I believe, appear on the BoingBoing web site as well, and at that point I’ll link to my story,…
Photo Clearance

Rudy

7 May 2013 | 2:11 pm

More photo clearance today with whatever comments come into my head. I like how the wideangle lens has so much depth of field. That five-sided mirror has always caught my fancy. Almost like something you’d see in a ghost story. There was a time in high-school when I’d seen too many scary episodes of “Outer Limits” that I was scared of things coming out of mirrors. And of disembodied hands. This is out past Four Mile beach north of Santa Cruz. Wide open. You walk a ways along this cliff and you see a lot of seals. A very deserted spot, this cliff north of Four Mile. As…
Gnarl All Around

Rudy

5 May 2013 | 2:43 pm

I’ve accumulated a backlog of photos to blog, but I don’t have any long essay-type thoughts today. All my energy is going into The Big Aha, which is about 80% done. I’m pushing pretty hard on it. During the closing phase of a finishing the first draft of a novel, I sometimes think of a predator who’s wounded his or her prey, and is now crashing through the underbrush, frantic to finish the hunt. Blood-lust writing frenzy. I got a new wide-angle lens the other day, a Canon 24 mm. I’d been making do with an old Leica lens on my Canon body, but the old lens didn’t have autofocus, nor…
On the Road, Satori, and The Big Aha

Rudy

25 Apr 2013 | 10:10 am

I feel like I’m the only person I know who saw the movie version of Kerouac’s On the Road recently. I liked it a lot, I saw it twice—the first time on it’s release date, which was also my 67th birthday. [Photo I took on one of our own Wild West road trips, first posted 2010.] The movie didn’t get much publicity, and it wasn’t in the theaters very long. Hard as it is for this old geezer to believe, most people in the younger movie-going generation haven’t even heard of On the Road, and they have only a hazy notion, if any notion at all, of who Jack Kerouac was. Father Time plows…
Leviathan Eats Us Via 4D Einstein-Rosen Bridges!

Rudy

5 Apr 2013 | 2:39 pm

I had a big SF revelation this week, a breakthrough for my story. Today’s post will include some illustratiave drawings, also some semi-relevant or irrelevant (but nice-looking) photos. I’m still working on my novel, The Big Aha. I’m about 75% done. Ever since the early chapters, I’ve had these two mysterious glass balls hanging around: the oddball and the dollshead. I wasn’t quite sure what they were going to do for me, but I had a sense that thought ought to be Einstein-Rosen (or “ER”) bridges to a parallel world that I call Fairyland. See my recent post “Four-Dimesional…

Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Business Rusch: Word of Mouth

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

22 May 2013 | 11:09 pm

Writers always panic. They finish a book and expect the world to fall at their feet. At the same time, they worry that no one will notice. And, because all writers who are writing today were raised in the traditional publishing model, they believe that if no one discovers their book now, this minute, if no one hears of them the day of the book’s release, then that book is a failure forever and ever, amen. So panicked writers behave badly. They promote stupidly. They alienate the very people whom they want to read their books. Tweeting Buy My Book! Buy My Book! twenty-five times per day.
Free Fiction Monday: Shadows On The Moon

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

20 May 2013 | 12:57 pm

Justin needs something to believe in. At a crossroads in life, he arrives in New York City reminiscing the past but uncertain of the future. Until he meets Wendy, who inspires him to take a leap of faith. But soaring into the unknown might prove harder than it seems. “Shadows on The Moon” by USA Today bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch is free in its entirety on this website for one week only. It’s also available for $2.99 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and in other e-bookstores. Shadows on the Moon Kristine Kathryn Rusch They say anything can happen in…
Fiction River News!

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

18 May 2013 | 3:20 pm

Fiction River #2 will be coming out in about a month. I can share both the final cover for the trade paper and the list of names in the volume. John Helfers did a fantastic job editing this issue. It’s got some edgy stories, and powerful stories (which are, sometimes, one and the same). I’m really pleased with our second issue. So subscribe now in order to get a copy before all your friends get theirs! (And the upcoming issues are great as well.) Here’s the cover: In case you can’t read the names clearly, the issue has stories by David Gerrold, William H.
The Business Rusch: Shifting Sands

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

15 May 2013 | 10:38 pm

I live on the beach. Here the sand shifts daily. We expect it. We watch it. The tide comes in; the tide goes out; the sand moves. But I grew up in the Midwest. The land is firm there, solid. When someone builds a road it remains a recognizable road. Frigid winters and hot summers may buckle the pavement, but the road beneath remains something you can trust. I love explaining Oregon road signs to Midwesterners. “Do you know what ‘sunken grade’ means?” I ask. “No,” they say, looking at me distrustfully. After all, if they drove to my house, they saw several yellow signs warning…
Free Fiction Monday: Flitting Away

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

13 May 2013 | 12:52 pm

When a vicious attacker leaves Nicole Walker for dead, she fights against the odds to survive. And to succeed, she must remember—the attack, the attacker, even her own desire to live. Her mind wants to flit away and escape the horrors of the attack. Flitting away means death. But remembering might mean an even worse fate. Originally written for a tribute volume to Edgar Allen Poe, this horrifying and moving story takes inspiration from Poe’s lesser-known story, “The Mystery of Marie Roget.” “Flitting Away” by multiple Edgar-Award nominee Kristine Kathryn Rusch will be free…

Mistborn
My Phoenix Comicon Schedule

23 May 2013 | 2:30 pm

Today through Sunday I'm in Phoenix for Phoenix Comicon. Here's my schedule. Thu, 6:00-7:00PM (Room 104B) Books & Authors Phoenix Comicon Kickoff Kick of Phoenix Comicon 2013's Books and Authors programming with a brief look at what all is going on this weekend and a group interview with several of our author guests conducted by Peter Orullian. Brandon Sanderson, Cherie Priest, Peter Orullian, Terry Brooks, Timothy Zahn Fri, 1:30-2:30PM (Room 132) Brandon Sanderson and The Wheel of Time Join Brandon Sanderson and some Wheel of Time fans for a discussion of the series and its completion.
Hugo Voter Packet Out Now, Signed THE RITHMATIST + Updates

21 May 2013 | 2:41 pm

A few weeks ago I talked about the Hugo Voter Packet and how for a $60 supporting membership to Worldcon you could get copies of most of the Hugo Award-nominated works. Well, the packet was finally released today, so if you're already a member go download it now! If you're not a Worldcon member already, check out the cover art of the nominated works (it looks like pretty much everything except for the Dramatic Presentations are included in the packet) and consider joining so you can vote for the Hugo Awards by the July 31st deadline. My Hugo Award-nominated novella THE EMPEROR'S SOUL is in…
STEELHEART Prologue + Signed THE RITHMATIST

16 May 2013 | 1:11 pm

Tor.com's reread of THE WAY OF KINGS reaches chapter 11 today, which is Kaladin's low point. My YA dystopia STEELHEART comes out in September. Today the Onion AV Club put up the prologue of the book. Check it out! I'm in the middle of the tour for my YA fantasy THE RITHMATIST right now; I'll be in Denver tonight. If you're not near the cities I'm signing in, you can still grab a signed copy by ordering it from one of the bookstores I've already stopped at. They have quite a few copies and will be happy to ship one to you. Books of Wonder 18 West 18th St. New York, NY 10011 Phone: (212)…
THE RITHMATIST Out Now

14 May 2013 | 11:04 am

The Rithmatist is out! Buy it from the links to the right or visit your local bookstore. (In the UK/Australia, the release date is May 23rd.) My book tour starts tonight in New York and continues in Philadelphia, Denver, Omaha, New Orleans, Houston, San Jose, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Provo, and Spanish Fork. For details see my events page. (And note, as always I'm happy to sign any books you bring to a signing. Don't feel bad showing up to a signing for The Rithmatist carrying your copy of A Memory of Light. I'll sign it gladly. And if you want me to send you an email when I'll be signing near…
Quick Update

13 May 2013 | 3:45 pm

Just a quick update today. I'm on my way to New York for the release of THE RITHMATIST on Tuesday. More about that in another post tomorrow, but The Book Smugglers have an interview with me where I talk about it and about writing YA, among other things. This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about the culture that surrounds the writing community and the conventions we attend. Tor.com's reread of THE WAY OF KINGS has reached chapters 9 and 10, including Kaladin's first flashback chapter.

Inhuman Swill
Video: Suzanne Clores takes a ride she can't refuse

24 May 2013 | 6:52 am

At the May 7th edition of Tuesday Funk, returning reader Suzanne Clores related the squirm-inducing tale of a car ride she took with a Brooklyn mobster, and it sounded a little like this...And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, June 4th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Darwyn Jones, Heather Corallo, Lawrence Santoro, Mare Swallow, and G.P.A. (Greatest Poet Alive)!Crossposted from Tuesday Funk
Meet Our Readers: Mare Swallow

23 May 2013 | 7:37 am

Mare Swallow is the Founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Writers Conference, as well as a professional public speaker and public speaking coach. She's the author of "25 Ways to Engage Your Audience," and is currently writing a book that aims to help liberal arts majors get jobs after college.Please join Mare and all our outstanding readers on Tuesday, June 4th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.Crossposted from Tuesday Funk
Meet Our Readers: Lawrence Santoro

21 May 2013 | 7:12 am

In 2001, Lawrence Santoro's novella "God Screamed and Screamed, Then I Ate Him" was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award by the Horror Writers Association. In 2002, his adaptation and audio production of Gene Wolfe's "The Tree Is My Hat," was also Stoker nominated. In 2003, his Stoker-recommended "Catching" received Honorable Mention in Ellen Datlow's seventeenth annual Year's Best Fantasy & Horror anthology. In 2004, "So Many Tiny Mouths" was cited in the anthology's eighteenth edition. In the the twentieth, his novella "At Angels Sixteen," from the anthology A Dark and Deadly Valley, was…
Video: William Shunn DEMANDS to know "What Changed?"

17 May 2013 | 11:32 am

At the May 7th edition of Tuesday Funk, our almost monthly Poem by Bill repeated a question we've heard before, and it went a little like this...And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, June 4th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Darwyn Jones, Heather Corallo, Lawrence Santoro, Mare Swallow, and G.P.A. (Greatest Poet Alive)!Crossposted from Tuesday Funk
Video: Andrew Huff delivers haiku from the news

14 May 2013 | 7:37 am

At our May 7th edition last week, co-host Andrew Huff brought us a fistful of fine haiku ripped bleeding from current headlines:Bombs, explosions, floods:this April found our heartstringsand pulled them hard.April's heavy showers brought destruction, but green too.Just in time for May.Three found in Cleveland:Amanda, Michelle, Gina.Three devils found too.Ernest Hemingwaywas known for daiquiries andextreme brevity.If you enjoyed that, we'll have more video from the evening coming up in the next few weeks. And please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, June 4th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an…

Douglas Smith's blog
Playing the Short Game: Parts 18 is now up

Douglas Smith

18 May 2013 | 7:42 am

The next part in my continuing series on marketing and selling your short fiction is up now at the new Amazing Stories site. Part 18 continues a 3-part discussion of short fiction contracts, a topic that I'll wrap up next week with part 19. This week, I deal with: When do my licensed rights revert to me? What legal liability am I being asked to accept? What happens if my story is never published? Please drop by and check it out and feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. You can check out previous posts in the series here.
I'm on the 2013 Aurora Ballot!

Douglas Smith

14 May 2013 | 1:35 pm

I'm happy to announce that my short story "The Walker of the Shifting Borderland" made the final ballot for the 2013 Aurora Awards. Woo hoo! Thanks to any and all of you who read the story and nominated it. "The Walker..." is one of five stories on the ballot under the "Short Fiction" category. Voting is now open and closes on September 13. The winners will be announced at the CanCon convention in Ottawa, Oct 4-6. Your support by way of a vote for "The Walker..." would be truly appreciated, and if you nominated anything this year, then voting is free for you. You can read the story online on…
Playing the Short Game: Parts 16 and 17 are now up

Douglas Smith

14 May 2013 | 12:44 pm

The next two parts in my continuing series on marketing and selling your short fiction are up now at the new Amazing Stories. Part 16, "Drawing the Line," discusses if and when you should ever stop submitting a story. Is there a magic number of rejections that signal you should draw the line and shelve this story? Or should you keep it out there? What happens when you run out of your target markets for a story? Part 17 starts a series of posts on the happier topic of what happens after you sell a story. I begin with the subject of short fiction contracts, a topic that I'll continue for parts…
Playing the Short Game: Parts 14 and 15 are now up

Douglas Smith

27 Apr 2013 | 2:58 pm

Well, part 14 has been up for a week, actually, and part 15 went up today. Part 14 discusses what happens when your story arrives at your chosen market and how editors make decisions on what stories they're going to accept or reject. If you're a new writer, a lot of this may surprise you. Yes, even good stories get rejected. Part 15 deals with dealing--with rejections. You've been rejected, dude. Deal with it. I try to explain why rejections are a common and even necessary part of a writing career. And no, they never stop coming. Check out these latest posts and please feel free to leave…
April 15 is the last day to nominate for the Aurora Awards

Douglas Smith

14 Apr 2013 | 3:14 pm

If you're a Canadian fan of science fictiopn and fantasy literature, you have until tomorrow at midnight to nominate your favourite works from 2012 for an Aurora Award. I have full details on how to nominate in my earlier blog post. And you are welcome to download a free copy of my eligible story, "The Walker of the Shifting Borderland," from my bookstore or read it online. Enjoy!

Rules for Anchorites
Because Other People's Dreams Are So Interesting They Must Be Blogged About

Living for the Revel

21 May 2013 | 5:53 pm

A dream from last night ever-so-slightly too long for Twitter:Queen Elizabeth had died and a young princess was being crowned Queen Anne. She was certainly not a princess that actually exists in real life. Long, lovely black hair that she wore down for the occasion, swept over her shoulder and flowing down the front of her white dress, obscuring all the medals and sash. She had thin silver crown.I was a flutist playing in the orchestra for the coronation. Anne started crying in the middle of her coronation speech. A crowd of ministers with pelican heads rushed to console her and guide her…
Because Other People’s Dreams Are So Interesting They Must Be Blogged About

Living for the Revel

21 May 2013 | 5:48 pm

A dream from last night ever-so-slightly too long for Twitter: Queen Elizabeth had died and a young princess was being crowned Queen Anne. She was certainly not a princess that actually exists in real life. Long, lovely black hair that she wore down for the occasion, swept over her shoulder and flowing down the front of her white dress, obscuring all the medals and sash. She had thin silver crown. I was a flutist playing in the orchestra for the coronation. Anne started crying in the middle of her coronation speech. A crowd of ministers with pelican heads rushed to console her and guide her…
The Melancholy of Mechagirl

Living for the Revel

21 May 2013 | 5:23 pm

I'm thrilled to announce the cover and existence of my next collection of short fiction: The Melancholy of Mechagirl, from VIZ media, and my awesome editor nihilistic_kid. This is a unique collection--while Ventriloquism was a general collection of everything ever, Mechagirl brings together all my Japanese-themed short fiction. That turns out to be rather a lot. Some, or perhaps even most of you, know that I lived in Japan for several years and the experience had a profound effect on my work. I'm very excited to have all of it in one place, and with such an amazing cover and team…
Dreams Come True

Living for the Revel

27 Mar 2013 | 12:40 pm

So remember how like, a million years ago, I post a list of 25 things I wanted to do before death if I believed in making lists like that, which I don’t? And then I updated it because I’d done a bunch of the stuff on it? (That list is seriously gutted now and I am so proud of myself, honestly. Most of the stuff that’s left I don’t even know if I really want anymore.) Probably not, as it was a million years ago and dinosaurs roamed the Internet, posting angrysaurus comments and learning to open doors. Well, one of the things I listed on the update was to go Somewhere…
April Appearances

Living for the Revel

20 Mar 2013 | 2:12 pm

So those events I had at the end of the Fairyland 2 tour that were cancelled by Hurricane Sandy? Rescheduled! I’ll be reading at Water Street Books in Exeter, New Hampshire at 6pm on April 5th. And the CRAZY AWESOME “In Conversation” with me and Lev Grossman has been rescheduled for April 11th, 7pm, at Community Bookstore in Brooklyn. Hope to see folks there! Mirrored from cmv.com. Also appearing on @LJ and @DW. Read anywhere, comment anywhere.

Ecstatic Days
Dradin, In Love: To Be Staged May 22-25 at the Granary in Cork, Ireland

Jeff VanderMeer

7 May 2013 | 1:20 pm

Bob Kelly and his cohorts at Tribe have wanted to do a stage production of “Dradin, In Love,” from City of Saints & Madmen, my book set in the imaginary metropolis of Ambergris, for awhile—and now they’re doing it! May 22-25 of this month at The Granary in Cork, Ireland. They’ve trained with a very physical theater group, so it should be an interesting production. I’ll have more information and inside looks at the production next week, but for now here’s a link to the description on The Granary’s website and also, below, one of their more…
Publishing Is Full of Creative, Interesting People

Jeff VanderMeer

4 May 2013 | 7:44 pm

I just thought I’d say that: Publishing is full of creative, interesting people. For an industry that’s supposedly dying–something I don’t believe–I certainly have met some of the most interesting and dynamic individuals over the last few days. Invigorating and inspiring. In other news, German rights to the Southern Reach series have sold, with more to follow. The note about the series from the German editor is one of the best I’ve ever received–hopefully might share a bit of it later if he doesn’t mind. (I’m motoring along on Authority,…
New Foreign Rights Sales for the Southern Reach Trilogy (and digging out and digging in)

Jeff VanderMeer

28 Apr 2013 | 4:27 pm

So, there has been more good news for the Southern Reach series (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance) on the foreign rights front. The Spanish rights have sold to the absolutely first-rate publisher Seix Barral and the Dutch rights have sold to the equally high-class De Bezige Bij. Just as good: Andrea Cannobio at Einaudi took the Italian rights. They all publish some of my favorite authors. Some more information on the deals mentioned in a prior blog post. The trilogy went to Nicholas Pearson at Fourth Estate, in a six-figure pre-empt; to Iris Tupholme at Harper Canada, in another…
Off the Internet for Awhile

Jeff VanderMeer

23 Apr 2013 | 4:15 pm

From April 24 through December 1, I will have limited internet access and only be checking my email sporadically, so I can work on my novels. If you have a query related to book rights, please contact my agent Sally Harding at the Cooke Agency. If you have a question regarding event bookings or an urgent matter that cannot wait, please email my wife, Ann VanderMeer, or use the contact form here on my blog. I’m afraid I cannot blurb anything for the rest of the year and I cannot look at your novel or answer any questions. Effective immediately, Ann will be taking over my duties at Cheeky…
Wonderbook: An Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (out in October)

Jeff VanderMeer

23 Apr 2013 | 8:46 am

(early draft of the cover) One reason I’ve been so quiet here on my blog is that I’ve been working nonstop on Wonderbook: An Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction. This is the world’s first fully illustrated, full-color guide to creative writing, with many of the images replacing instructional text. Jeremy Zerfoss did most of the art; his instructional diagrams are based on my rough sketches. The remaining art comes from over 30 artists from all over the world. More than 80 writers contributed to the book through sidebar essays, spotlight features, or just quotes…

Paperback Writer
Winners

Lynn Viehl

24 May 2013 | 9:30 pm

You all offered some terrific journal prompts for the Be My Guide giveaway, and I hope you'll take the next step and use your suggestion (or any of the other entries you found intriguing) as inspiration to start a journal or add to one you've already been writing.We got the magic hat to work its wonders, and the winners of the giveaway are:SandyL, who offered From a tarot deck, I pull out a card and then use the imagery and symbolism on the card to write a scene or a character.Liv, who suggested Write the life story of a lightbulb?Winners, when you have a chance please send your full name and…
Cities of Light

Lynn Viehl

23 May 2013 | 9:00 pm

This video uses time-lapse photography to show some of the architectural wonders of the Chinese cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen (contains background music, too, for those of you at work): Guangzhou'2012/CHINA from zweizwei |motion timelapse| on Vimeo.(Video link nicked from Gerard at The Presurfer)
Another Guide

Lynn Viehl

23 May 2013 | 4:00 am

I found How to Publish Your Own E-Book by Nik Rawlinson, published by Magbook, on the tabloid shelf at my local market's checkout line, which was probably why it caught my eye. That and waiting to pay for my groceries is always a little boring, so I picked it up, flipped through it and decided to fork out a rather pricey $14.99 to take it home for further study.The author is a UK journalist, btw, and brings that sort of no-nonsense tone to the book, which for me made it an easy read. He devotes the first twenty pages of the magazine to convincing the reader why digital self-publishing is the…
Direct e-Sales

Lynn Viehl

22 May 2013 | 8:51 pm

Sorry I'm so late posting today (long story), but I do want to pass on some info for those of you who want to self-publish but are not in love with the idea of signing on with Amazon, Apple etc. and handing over a chunk of your profits. Alternative services are coming onto the market now, like E-Junkie.com , which for a monthly flat fee will sell digital downloads of your books. You're paid directly and instantaneously for each purchase via services like Paypal, and you're not required to adhere to preset (and often obnoxious) formatting requirements. Do be sure to read carefully all the…
Be My Guide

Lynn Viehl

20 May 2013 | 9:00 pm

Guided journals, or blank books that include specific prompts or instructions on what to write in them, can provide an interesting journaling challenge and plenty of no-sweat writing practice. They're great for youngsters but I think adults can get a lot out of them, too. If you ever feel blocked, unable to focus or otherwise cut off from the work, a guide journal can be like jumper cables for your creativity. You still have to think and write, but it's nice to have your direction mapped out in advance for you.On a recent trip to BAM I picked up two newly-published guided journals: Michael…

Bluejo's Journal
Thud: Thessaly, and off to Wiscon

Jo Walton

21 May 2013 | 5:09 pm

Words: 2241Total words: 58949Files: 4Tea: Peppermint.Music: Orchestral Suites 1&2Reason for stopping: People stop? People stop when they're writing about Socrates trying to have a dialogue with robots? No, wait, people do totally stop and go to bed and then go to Wiscon in the morning.I'm off to Wiscon in the morning! I am packed. I'm going by train to Chicago and then I have a ride from there with ashnistrike. I'll be reading in Madison on Thursday, and there for the con, and not home again until Wednesday night next week. I did think seriously about taking the DOS laptop with me so I could…
Sassafrass Kickstarter: Update

Jo Walton

21 May 2013 | 10:36 am

After four days the Sassafrass kickstarter is more than fully funded at $8306, and creeping up towards the $10,000 point where I'll post the Odin poem. Support music! Save the poem! Thanks to those who contributed already. Every little helps.(A New World. This is another sample of the music, in case you want to see why I'm so very enthusiastic about it.)
Thud: Thessaly

Jo Walton

21 May 2013 | 10:19 am

Words: 2036Total words: 56558Files: 4Tea; Pu ErhMusic: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suite 2Reason for stopping: end of bitComing along.
Thud: Thessaly

Jo Walton

21 May 2013 | 7:07 am

Words: 2536Total words: 54448Files: 4Tea: Pu erhMusic: Brandenburg ConcertosReason for stopping: end of chapter.I think this book is going to be longer than I thought it was. I think it will need an extra set to get to the end. It comes in sets of six chapters -- two Simmea, a Maia, two Simmea, and an Apollo. I thought there were two more after this one, and I think there needs to be another. But I have an idea about what's between here and the end, and what the end is, so that's all good. And if it's longer than 93,000 that's not a problem. Just useful to know for pacing.
Thud: Thessaly

Jo Walton

20 May 2013 | 1:16 pm

Words: 2325Total words: 51589Files: 4Tea: Pu erh... I think I was going to make some more and forgot. Oh well.Music: Brandenburg ConcertosReason for stopping: end of chapter.So what tech level do you need to be at to fix a cleft palate as a birth deformity? Could the Victorians do it?

Martha Wells
Book Fundraiser for Oklahoma

23 May 2013 | 5:01 am

* Literati Literature Lovers Blog is doing a fundraiser for the Red Cross to benefit communities affected by the tornadoes in Oklahoma. Donate and enter to win signed books by a bunch of different authors. I've contributed signed copies of Emilie and the Hollow World, The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea, The Siren Depths, and Wheel of the Infinite.They're hoping to raise $2500 by June 7. Please pass the info on.* It's not part of the drawing above, but if you want to help displaced and injured animals too, you can donate to the Animal Resource Center of Oklahoma City and Pet Food Pantry.
22 May 2013 | 6:09 am

22 May 2013 | 6:09 am

The storms that were coming down through Dallas got here last night. We had huge thunder and lightning and pounding rain, but no hail, at least at our house.It's doing great things for our garden. On Monday I realized I didn't have a vegetable for a side dish for dinner (over-fried chicken) and went out in the garden and found a squash ready to go. We've already had tons of lettuce and some green tomatoes (which are great fried, sauteed, or baked in pies), and it looks like the okra will be ready soon.I updated my web site a bit, added the link to the interview with me by Liz Bourke on…
21 May 2013 | 5:45 am

21 May 2013 | 5:45 am

It's been horrible watching the news in Oklahoma. I know a lot of people there from the SF/F community, and felt very lucky when they all checked in on Facebook to say they were all right.To help, you can donate to the Red Cross web site or text REDCROSS to 90999. The Animal Resource Center of Oklahoma City has a link to a donation page for animal relief. And you can donate to Pet Food Pantry.If anyone knows any other places to donate, please post in the comments.***Here's a couple of tumblr posts I did in the past couple of days:* Kite Surfing in Galveston* What Jack did while we were gone*…
19 May 2013 | 7:39 am

19 May 2013 | 7:39 am

I just got back from a short trip to Galveston Island. It's only a three hour drive from here (depending on traffic) so it's a good place to go when you just desperately need to de-stress for a couple of days. The ocean was still a little too cold for swimming, at least for me, but we walked along the beach, had some drinks, and some really good food. One thing we did was take an early tour of the Bishop's Palace, and instead of a guide just got to walk around it with an audio-tour phone. It was really neat, just being able to walk around it wherever you wanted. I noticed this time that…
News of Me

14 May 2013 | 8:51 am

* The Kirkus Reviews guide to BEA is free online, and has the starred review for my book Emilie and the Hollow World in it.* My Star Wars novel Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge has been moved up again and will now be out on October 1.* Next few appearances:June 21-23, 2013. ApolloCon, in Houston, Texas.July 26, 2013. I'll will be signing Emilie and the Hollow World at Murder by the Book, in Houston, Texas, with Joy Preble (The Sweet Dead Life), Mary Lindsey (Ashes on the Waves), and P.J. Hoover (Solstice).August 29-September 2, 2013. LoneStarCon 3, the World Science Fiction Convention, in…

The Okal Rel Universe
Campfire: Where Silence Fears To Tread – Part 3

David Lott

21 May 2013 | 6:00 am

Where Silence Fears To Tread by Jennifer Lott. Illustrations by Doriano Strologo. Jennifer Lott has appeared in print in Neo-Opsis Magazine (“A Day in the Life”; Issue 18; December 17, 2009) and the Opus 5 Okal Rel anthology (“Pet Peeves”, Absolute XPress, 2011). Her first public foray into writing is her popular fan fiction Alternative Ending to the Animorphs. An early childhood educator, Jennifer writes mostly for children and young adults. She is currently working on the third novel in her young adult fantasy series. << Start at Beginning >> Kelsey called out to the…
NEWS Vote Okal Rel for Aurora Award 2012

Lynda Williams

20 May 2013 | 6:17 pm

Download: Voting Directions - Aurora Award 2012 - Okal Rel (PDF) Four Okal Rel contributors are on the short list for Aurora Awards - Sept 12 Deadline Members of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) or Canadians (landed immigrant okay) game to join CSFFA for $10, are invited to vote for Okal Rel contributors in the final round for Aurora Awards for works done in 2012. VISIT: http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/2013-aurora-award-ballot/ to vote Here's the Okal Rel Universe's recommendations for 2012: Best Novel Williams, Lynda, Part 7: Healer’s Sword, Edge Science Fiction…
Meet The Relatives – Post 14

David Lott

17 May 2013 | 6:00 am

Vras finds arguments harder than fighting Meet The Relatives by Lynda Williams, is the touching story of very Demish Dela's adventures in Red Reach. Illustrations are by Richard Bartrop. Vras finds arguments harder than fighting. << Start at Beginning >> The ugly Chief Stationer was thrust forward. "So these spoils Fital promised to share with you," Vras said giddily, and pulled free of Dela's support to stand alone. "Would those be highborn children? Kidnapped, perhaps? Or raid spoils? Children that clans with more ambition than honor would pay Fital for?" Frog's lower…
Interview with Amelia Schackelford

David Lott

15 May 2013 | 6:00 am

Amelia Schackelford Amelia Shackelford is Editor in Chief of Electric Sheep Press. She also works as a freelance music writer for local Atlanta newspaper Creative Loafing and a few other publications. Her fiction has graced the pages of Monkey Bicycle, R U M B L E Magazine, Sybil's Garage 7, as well as the Okal Rel anthology, Opus 3. Curious about a terminator’s perspective on Atlanta bands, cheap beer, and the human condition? Ask her. She probably won’t shoot you or break your neck. Electric Sheep Press can be reached on Facebook at www.facebook.com/electricsheeppress; on Twitter…
Campfire: Where Silence Fears To Tread – Part 2

David Lott

14 May 2013 | 6:00 am

Shadow Band Where Silence Fears To Tread by Jennifer Lott. Illustrations by Doriano Strologo. Jennifer Lott has appeared in print in Neo-Opsis Magazine (“A Day in the Life”; Issue 18; December 17, 2009) and the Opus 5 Okal Rel anthology (“Pet Peeves”, Absolute XPress, 2011). Her first public foray into writing is her popular fan fiction Alternative Ending to the Animorphs. An early childhood educator, Jennifer writes mostly for children and young adults. She is currently working on the third novel in her young adult fantasy series. << Start at Beginning >> The stairs ended…

All quiet in France
Shell shock

19 May 2013 | 6:33 am

Awake. Hungry. Still in shock that the Nebula Award on my table hasn’t done a vanishing act… This will be very brief as I need to pack before leaving for the airport, but wow. Apparently I looked grey for about 30 minutes after the awards were done, to the point where N.K. Jemisin very kindly badgered someone into brewing me orange herb tea (and I remembered the half-consumed bar of cereals in my bag). Pregnancy memo: NEVER ever forget your blood sugar levels… (also, that adrenaline rush that I was counting on to keep awake? I think the pregnancy hormones screw up with…
Nebula Awards brief checking-in

18 May 2013 | 7:30 am

Having a lovely time at the Nebulas–had two interviews (one with Locus, and one with Juliette Wade and Jaym Gates), an autographing session that had a surprising number of people turn up (considering I had no books for sale at the moment), a lovely dinner with Sheila Williams in a grill place (yum salmon), and sort of managed to stay awake during the reception for the Nebula Awards nominees (sort of. I dozed off and they had to wake me up when they were about to make the announcements :p). If I ever needed confirmation that pregnancy plus jetlag is a bad combination… Today is the…
Ebook edition of On a Red Station Drifting now live on amazon

17 May 2013 | 6:21 am

Just a heads-up on the website that the ebook edition has gone up on amazon. You can find it here: amazon.com|amazon.co.uk|amazon.fr. Meanwhile, am still jet lagged. Will go grab breakfast. Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard Leave a comment at original post, or comment here.
California

16 May 2013 | 7:02 am

Have safely arrived in SFO, am now ensconced in Dario Ciriello’s house (and of course have been unable to sleep for 2 hours). Flight was eventless if a bit long, and I was glad to lie down by the end of it. Have to admit am not looking forward to return journey… But in the meantime, Nebulas! Fun! (and naps. The snakelet insists) Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard Leave a comment at original post, or comment here.
Announcing… the ebook edition of On a Red Station, Drifting

14 May 2013 | 8:56 am

Ebook cover Aka the shiny… Art courtesy of Nhan Y Doanh, and cover layout thanks to Janice Hardy–thanks to both of them for putting up with my (short-term) deadlines and producing such beautiful things. (MC is Linh; the older woman in lower right-hand corner is Quyen. Slightly more detailed view of the original watercolour is here if you’re interested, since Doanh had to cut bits of it off to fit the cover format). The ebook should be live on amazon within a day or two if I didn’t screw up the Kindle upload… (and remember you can still get the limited edition…

Mostly English
Too hot for man and dog

23 May 2013 | 6:01 pm

Originally published at Lawrence M. Schoen. You can comment here or there.</a></p> My wife and I arrived home early Tuesday morning, and as is the way with redeye flights we were so wiped out that we spent most of Tuesday sleeping. So it goes. Northern California had wonderful weather while we were there, but the temperatures in Philadelphia had apparently been climbing. Yesterday, it got downright unpleasant with a high that breached 90 degrees and more humidity than I care for. No worries, we thought, just stay inside and bask in the A/C. Except… last winter we had been…
Eating Authors: Howard Andrew Jones

20 May 2013 | 4:31 am

Originally published at Lawrence M. Schoen. You can comment here or there.</p> I’m preparing today’s installment of EATING AUTHORS more than a week in advance because I’ll be on my way back from California when it posts, returning first from a bit of vacation, which will have been followed by the 2013 edition of the Nebula Awards conference. That’s going to serve as a segue into today’s guest, Howard Andrew Jones, who I first met earlier this year at a different convention. It happened the way it often does, a bunch of authors hanging about as part of a…
Eating Authors: Lois McMaster Bujold

13 May 2013 | 4:31 am

Originally published at Lawrence M. Schoen. You can comment here or there.</p> As has been mentioned here previously, long before I became a writer, I was a fan. And though I’m now a card-carrying member of SFWA and feel comfortable sending out email to assorted “Big Name Authors” and calling them by their first names at parties, there are still a few for whom I am a fan first and a colleague a distant second. One of these is Lois McMaster Bujold. I’m going to assume you know who she is, because you should. Lois has won the Hugo Award five times (four for novels,…
A Second Look at my ConQuesT 2013 Schedule

10 May 2013 | 2:34 pm

Originally published at Lawrence M. Schoen. You can comment here or there. And lo, if I’d only looked a little closer at the materials they sent me (thanks, Kat), I’d have realized that the additional details of who and what were actually there. And so, without further ado, here’s my new and improved schedule. Friday, May 24th: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. – (Salon C) – Publishing Challenges/Changes The Publishing Industry is ever changing. Come and listen as our panelists discuss the ups, downs, new and old. E. P. Beaumont, Bradley Denton, Selina Rosen, and Lawrence…
A First Look at my ConQuesT 2013 Schedule

7 May 2013 | 10:32 pm

Originally published at Lawrence M. Schoen. You can comment here or there. Later this month, mere days after I return from San Jose, CA and this year’s Nebula Awards conference, I’ll be winging off to Kansas City, MO for some barbecue, a visit with my publisher, and the convention mortals call ConQuesT (and no, I have no idea why they use medial and final majuscules, just accept it). Friday, May 24th: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. – (Salon C) – Publishing Challenges/Changes [MOD] 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – (Imperial) – Liars’ Panel Saturday, May 25th: 11:00…

Over the Dither and Through the Words
Drive the Friendly Road

Ami Chopine

14 May 2013 | 8:20 am

I wish cars had a button for a nice horn. So you can like say, Hey neighbor! Or, sure, I see you – you can cross. (had a biker need to make a left turn in front of me with heavy traffic in a 25 mile an hour zone) or I saw that awesome thing you did. Yes, you can do a light tap on the horn, but it startles people and they have to go through the process of filtering out that someone isn’t trying to get their “What ARE you doing?!?” attention or you know, other negative things. I want a sound that people hear and just automatically know is nice.
On the abuse of women in general, response to someone named Tom

Ami Chopine

9 Jan 2013 | 9:17 pm

I got a surprising response from a post of mine from 2007. Here is the post: The Abuse of Russian Women The links were broken, I added a couple of new ones. This is the comment. I personally think your husband’s mother is the lowest type of human being. She picked her husband. She should stay with him. You husband probably has a female personality now. I have been on the net for 10 years now. It looks like the best way to live with a Russian lady is the same as an Asian lady. You just do not say anything. One Russian lady is blonde in one picture, red head in another, and brown hair in…
Please excuse my dust

Ami Chopine

8 Jan 2013 | 10:13 am

I’m redoing the theme of my blog. It may be messy for a while, especially since I have a lot else on my plate.
Happy New Year 2013

Ami Chopine

2 Jan 2013 | 7:34 am

Sitting here with my family while they watch TV, laptop on my lap where it should be. Outside it’s really cold. So, what’s up this year? I’m secretary for Young Women. If you don’t know what that is, our church has a program for teenage women from 12 to 18 years old. It helps them learn how to study the scriptures and receive personal revelation so they can gain their own testimony of Jesus, it teaches life skills and encourages them to get an education so they can be self reliant, and we do a lot of community service. Generally we do this through Sunday services and…
Are Mormons too conforming and uniform?

Ami Chopine

9 Sep 2012 | 5:00 pm

I’m way behind the times, I know. But as you know, I’ve been getting my house in order. When I watched the recent ”Rock Center: Mormon in America” they asked if our strict code of conduct meant we were too uniform and conforming. I liked how it was answered by the wife in the family they interviewed. (BTW, nice to see an interracial family represented!) “I don’t see it as a kind of uniformity code that we all have to march to. I want to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to live the commandments of the Lord. And they bring me happiness. I’m…

The Urtaru Chronicles
Eras, transitions, and music

Armen Chakmakjian

5 May 2013 | 4:04 pm

This is an amazing time of life. I could say that an era of this or that is ending, however it’s not merely my impending graduation, or the graduation of my son samuel from Sunday school or from Armenian Saturday school both of which he attended for 13 or 14 years; it’s not just his [...]
OK folks May Day Sale – Buy My Kindle Book fah nuttin’

Armen Chakmakjian

30 Apr 2013 | 7:05 pm

Urtaru (The Urtaru Chronicles)
The Boston Massacre, and a wish for peace

Armen Chakmakjian

15 Apr 2013 | 6:37 pm

I am continually amazed by the human species capacity to maim and kill itself, and in the most cowardly ways. To plant multiple devices where children were celebrating other people doing amazing feats of endurance. We here in America shake out heads in disbelief at the way people in other countries kill themselves for religious [...]
Induction

Armen Chakmakjian

22 Mar 2013 | 4:30 pm

Tonight I was inducted into beta gamma sigma, the business student honor society Filed under: Business & Finance
The kind of morning I’m having…

Armen Chakmakjian

15 Mar 2013 | 5:58 am

So this morning I came to work with a lot on my mind. I parked the car in the garage underneath the building, walked to the far steps under the Rebecca’s where I buy my morning coffee. I usually don’t go this way, but I wanted to get a breakfast sandwich and the earnest guy [...]

David MackDavid Mack »
The Death Star ice cube

David Mack

24 May 2013 | 12:45 pm

I am determined to make the most of my recent birthday presents — especially this one:
Get Cold Equations while it’s hot!

David Mack

17 May 2013 | 11:39 am

Today’s the day, Star Trek fans! My bestselling trilogy Star Trek: The Next Generation — Cold Equations is on sale today as an Amazon Kindle Daily Deal. Get all three books for just $0.99 each — or give them as gifts. Really, at this price, how can you afford not to? But act fast — [...]
“Conan! What is best in Trek?”

David Mack

15 May 2013 | 11:28 am

Over at Slate, regular site correspondent Matthew Yglesias summarizes what is great (and not so great) in Star Trek. As a bonus for me, his write-up of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine even includes a complimentary hat-tip to “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” one of the episodes I co-wrote (with John Ordover and Ronald D. [...]
Cold Equations = A Kindle Daily Deal

David Mack

13 May 2013 | 5:02 pm

I’ve just learned from my editors that the Kindle versions of all three books of my recent New York Times-bestselling Star Trek: The Next Generation trilogy Cold Equations are going to be offered this Friday for the special Kindle Daily Deal price of just $0.99 each! The offer is good for one day only — [...]
My “Desert Island Treks” podcast

David Mack

10 May 2013 | 8:36 pm

Join me and hosts Michael and Sina of Trekmate.org.uk‘s podcast Ten Forward on this special “David Mack’s Desert Island Treks“ episode, in which we discuss what five episodes from all of televised Star Trek I would choose to represent the franchise as a whole. My top five episodes were: 5. TOS – “Mirror, Mirror” 4. [...]

Grasping for the Wind
PLEASE HELP! Book Recommendations Needed – FAST!

John Ottinger III

27 Apr 2013 | 11:07 pm

PLEASE HELP! I need someone to recommend to a me a fantasy novel written in the past six months to a year that contains little sex and uses swearing sparingly or either of them only to further the plot (rather than just to do it). I am having a hard time finding a novel for an article I am writing for a conservative Christian magazine which would prefer reviews of fantasies like those of Sanderson, Eddings, or Brooks over Martin, Abercrombie or Lynch. (I have no issue with the latter per se; I am just aware of my audience and am writing to please them rather than just myself.) Deadline is…
Yet another GFTW Blurb

John Ottinger III

2 Feb 2013 | 2:25 pm

Related posts: Kevin Hearne’s new novel Tricked includes John Ottinger III/GFTW Blurb A Blurb, A Blurb, A Glorious Blurb! My First Blurb!
[TV REVIEW] Midsomer Murders Set 21

John Ottinger III

30 Jan 2013 | 7:10 am

Actors: Neil Dudgeon, Jason Hughes Directors: Peter Smith, Renny Rye, Richard Holthouse Format: Box set, Color, Widescreen, NTSC Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Number of discs: 4 Rated: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Acorn Media DVD Release Date: January 8, 2013 Run Time: 372 minutes It can be difficult to come up with commentary on such a long-running and successful series as Midsomer Murders. It is only with a shake-up or great change that a reviewer like me can find something new to say. Fortunately, with the US release of Midsomer Murders Set 21, just such a shake-up is in the offing. Neil Dudgeon takes on…
[BOOK REVIEW] A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

John Ottinger III

7 Jan 2013 | 9:01 pm

Genre: Epic Fantasy Hardcover: 912 pages Publisher: Tor Books Publication Date: January 8, 2013 ISBN-10: 0765325950 ISBN-13: 978-0765325952 Author Websites: Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson It’s over. The last book, the absolute, actual last book of The Wheel of Time will be officially available today. A Memory of Light co-written by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, appears more than five years after the death of it progenitor Jordan. A whopping nine hundred and nine pages, the novel contains no glossary and no dramatis personae – just an abundance of epic storytelling and the…

SFX » | SFX
SFX 236 Preview: Brian K Vaughan Goes Under The Dome

sfx

25 May 2013 | 2:00 am

EXCLUSIVE Showrunner Brian K Vaughan talks about his new Stephen King adaptationRelated StoriesHOT TOPIC: Star Trek Into DarknessBryan Singer Teases X-Men: Days Of Future PastHuge Sale On Magazine Subscriptions This Weekend!SFX 236 Preview: Neil Gaiman Returns To SandmanSFX Comes Of Age!
SFX Comes Of Age!

Dave Bradley

25 May 2013 | 2:00 am

Your favourite sci-fi and fantasy magazine celebrates its 18th birthday this weekendRelated StoriesBryan Singer Teases X-Men: Days Of Future PastMan Of Steel Producer Talks Lois Lane, Costume Choices, Alpha Male Rivalry And More…Huge Sale On Magazine Subscriptions This Weekend!SFX 236 Preview: Neil Gaiman Returns To SandmanSFX 236 Preview: Brian K Vaughan Goes Under The Dome
Da Vinci’s Demons 1.06 “The Devil” REVIEW

Richard Edwards

25 May 2013 | 12:00 am

TV REVIEW Leonardo vamps it upRelated StoriesMonster by Dave Zeltserman REVIEWThe Moth Diaries REVIEWDoctor Who: Inferno – Special Edition REVIEWThe Shambling Guide To New York City by Mur Lafferty REVIEWWarehouse 4.13 “The Big Snag” REVIEW
SFX 236 Preview: Neil Gaiman Returns To Sandman

sfx

24 May 2013 | 9:30 am

The guest editor of the new issue of SFX speaks about his return to his legendary comicRelated StoriesQuicksilver Cast In The Aven… No, Hang On… In X-Men: Days Of Future PastBryan Singer Teases X-Men: Days Of Future PastHuge Sale On Magazine Subscriptions This Weekend!SFX Comes Of Age!SFX 236 Preview: Brian K Vaughan Goes Under The Dome
Warehouse 4.13 “The Big Snag” REVIEW

Jordan Farley

24 May 2013 | 7:58 am

TV REVIEW The Case of the Jade ElephantRelated StoriesMonster by Dave Zeltserman REVIEWThe Moth Diaries REVIEWDoctor Who: Inferno – Special Edition REVIEWThe Shambling Guide To New York City by Mur Lafferty REVIEWDa Vinci’s Demons 1.06 “The Devil” REVIEW

SF Signal
BOOK REVIEW: Extinction Point by Paul Antony Jones

Timothy C. Ward

24 May 2013 | 10:25 pm

REVIEW SUMMARY: A terrifying apocalypse for monster fans and survivalists that loses reader interest through plot holes and a weak main character. MY RATING: BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Red Rain creates a post-apocalyptic world for a bike-riding journalist to explore alone. MY REVIEW: PROS: Offers a fresh take on post-apocalyptic fiction; appeals to survivalist fans; scary; quick read. CONS: The implausibility of scenario and heroine’s survival tactics; passive conflict resolution. BOTTOM LINE: The story has promise, but the poor execution and attention to detail may kill the series for some…
See Your Favorite SF/F Authors Geeking Out For Geek Pride Day

John DeNardo

24 May 2013 | 10:20 pm

Today is Geek Pride Day, a chance to showcase your inner geek without fear of reprisals. (Well, theoretically, anyway…the people not on the business end of the reprisal likely don’t know of the immunity you possess today. Plus, that immunity is imaginary, so….) Anywho, Here’s a look at what science fiction and fantasy authors have done to get their geek on, courtesy of Open Road Media, who also helpfully shares 13 Novels to Satisfy Your Inner Geek This Geek Pride Day…. [Click below images for larger versions!] Award-winning science fiction editor Ellen Datlow on…
VIDEO: That Time the Death Star Destroyed The Enterprise

John DeNardo

24 May 2013 | 10:15 pm

Man, the Empire simply does not like the Federation… Some great imagery in this video set over the skies of San Francisco… Related posts: Death Star Designer AUDIO: Ambient Engine Noise From Star Trek TNG’s Enterprise…Idling for 24 Hours A Star Wars Parody Video About A Viral Video That Mentions Star Wars
Free SF, Fantasy and Horror Fiction for 5/25/2013

Regan Wolfrom

24 May 2013 | 10:14 pm

What’s special about today’s free fiction? Baen has a short story by Charles E. Gannon, excerpted from Beginnings: World of Honor 6 Daily Science Fiction has a story by Joanne Anderton Tales To Terrify has some of the nominated short stories for the 2012 Bram Stoker Awards Written @Baen: “By the Book” by Charles E. Gannon [Science Fiction] @Cosmos: “(Yet Another Episode Of) The BIG Show” by Mark Cole [Science Fiction] @Daily Science Fiction: “The Last Tiger” by Joanne Anderton [Science Fiction] @Short-Story.me: “The Body Shop” by…
SF/F/H Link Post for 2013-05-25

John DeNardo

24 May 2013 | 10:05 pm

Interviews & Profiles My Bookish Ways interviews Jill Archer (& Giveaway). Emma Newman interviews Sarah Pinborough. Emma Newman interviews Paul Cornell. The Pod Delusion interviews Cory Doctorow (podcast). The Qwillery interviews Richard Dansky. Amazing Stories interviews Ricky L. Brown. News The Kitschies Open for Submissions. Events & Event News LoneStarCon 3 Progress Report #4. Articles Sara M. Harvey on Lovecraft: Making the Known Strange and Terrifying. Jo Walton on Three Short Stories With Stranded Time Travellers. Sharon Ashwood on Death Becomes Her. David Barnett on Is…

Eikasia
Chapter 38.2

Illise Montoya

10 May 2013 | 3:38 pm

QUINCY_________________________ Quincy couldn’t connect the moment she had finished drinking the vial to the moment she woke up, confused and disoriented. It had just happened that way, as if Lethia Artaud had simply switched off her memory, leaving a huge gap for the woman to contend with. The wizard sat up, squinting, uncertain as to the source of the horrendous sounds of roaring and squawking and scratching. They echoed in the air, almost taunting her. The damp smell of wet rock and soil tickled her nose. Was she outside? The wizard groaned and called her lightning staff to her, her hand…
Chapter 38.1

Illise Montoya

29 Apr 2013 | 8:44 am

NYX____________________________ I was feeling sick with fear. The tremors worked through me so hard that I could barely get a solid grip on Quincy as I grabbed her around the torso under her arms. Lacertli said nothing, just dug his claws in deeper to keep from slipping. My first instinct was, of course, to flee to the shadows, but this sanctuary was closed to me–I suspected it was because of the monsters that now threatened to storm the keep. Left with no other option, I’d just managed to drag the wizard halfway up the dark staircase when a loud boom rocked the keep, and the clamor…
Chapter 37.5

Illise Montoya

22 Apr 2013 | 9:30 am

ELMIRYN________________________ Elmiryn caught up to Lethia. The sounds of the officers being subdued behind them echoed through the vents. The noises were loud and alien. The girl had ordered the enthralled cops to give their comrades a struggle, but not to kill them. The redhead wondered why as these people would just as well shoot at them as try to cuff them again, but she didn’t bother arguing. When she made her cousin fit into the small opening, the change hadn’t quite agreed with the girl, judging by the vomit at the corner. Elmiryn was feeling a bit out of sorts herself. Being made…
Chapter 37.4

Illise Montoya

14 Apr 2013 | 2:15 pm

HAKEEM________________________ Hakeem stared into the orb, seeing the scenes play out before him in simultaneity. It was almost too much, and that was saying something, given all he’d seen. He even almost lost count of time, the intervals shuddering as they passed his numb attention. There were so many things to process. A practical part of him–quiet, in these emotional moments–whispered that he should be cataloguing this information for later use. The greater part of him, raw and beating like a throbbing bruise, said that his companions needed help. But his powerlessness…
Chapter 37.3

Illise Montoya

7 Apr 2013 | 5:56 pm

“Gimme danger little stranger And I feel with you at ease Gimme danger little stranger And I feel your disease There’s nothing in my dreams Just some ugly memories Kiss me like the ocean breeze Now if you will be my lover I wish you were insane But you can’t be my master I will do you anything There’s nothing left alive But a pair of glassy eyes Raise my feelings one more time” ‘Gimme Danger’ by The Stooges, from the album ‘Raw Power’. Columbia, 1973. NYX____________________________ To say that I was ‘ready’ for whatever it was Izma had…

The World in the Satin Bag
Link of the Week: Judith Butler Explained with Cats!

24 May 2013 | 9:00 am

This. I'd put the images up here, but that's not fair to the individual who decided combining cats with Judith Butler's Gender Trouble would result in pure, theoretical wonder. Enjoy!
Shoot the WISB #02: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Reviewed w/ Paul Weimer and Jay Garmon

19 May 2013 | 8:10 am

Spoiler Alert: the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Paul Weimer (website / twitter) and Jay Garmon (website / twitter) join me to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of J.J. Abrams' second installment in the Star Trek film reboot. Feel free to offer your thoughts in the comments below. You can download or stream the mp3 from this link.
2012 Nebula Awards Winners (w/ Brief Thoughts)

19 May 2013 | 7:21 am

Last night, the SFWA folks hosted the 2012 Nebula Awards. I didn't get to watch the live stream because I was trying to recover from the episode we recorded for The Skiffy and Fanty Show on Friday night (I'm still sort of recovering). However, now that the awards have been announced, I see fit to talk about the winners. Here they are: Best Novel 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK) I like Robinson more than a lot of my friends. I'm not sure why. Most people I've talked to can't stand his Three Californias series, while I find them fascinating…
The Black Guy is Ruining the Fantastic Four Reboot!

13 May 2013 | 6:31 pm

Oh, what? He isn't? Are you sure? I mean. He's black. That means, like, Sue has to be black, right? She doesn't? Johnny or Sue could be adopted? Or they could be children of different mothers or fathers or maybe they're interracial or something? But I thought if you're half black and half white you just look almost white? That's not true? Really? Well, the original Johnny was a white guy, so he has to stay white. What about Idris Elba? Oh, yeah, he was cool in Thor? The original character wasn't a black…
Movie Review: Iron Man 3 (2013)

11 May 2013 | 10:20 am

If this is the end of Robert Downey, Jr.'s Iron Man films, then he's certainly left with a bang. While far from perfect, Iron Man 3 (2013) continues Stark's emotional development with the same humor and action we have come to expect. But it is also an unexpectedly deep look at Stark as a man amidst increasingly dangerous villains, tying together not only the previous two Iron Man movies (2008 and 2010), but also Joss Whedon's The Avengers (2012). Flawed though it may be, Iron Man 3 is an excellent conclusion to a superb series. Iron…

UFO Blogger : Uncover The UFO Truth
UFO Photographed Over Santee - ABC 10 News Report

24 May 2013 | 12:34 pm

Earlier this week we reported "Daylight UFO Photographed Over Edgemoor Barn In Santee, California" now ABC 10 News re-reported the Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) Sighting.
Mars Curiosity Rover Photograph Truck Wheel On Mars

22 May 2013 | 1:47 pm

Here is a NASA photo taken by the Mars Curiosity Rover. This object definitely looks mechanical of some sort Original Image Source : NASA
Daylight UFO Photographed Over Edgemoor Barn In Santee, California

21 May 2013 | 11:10 pm

A member of the Santee Historical Society (SHS) added a page to the paranormal history of Santee when she snapped a photo of an "unidentified flying object" over the Edgemoor Barn a couple weeks ago. Ellen Henry, a SHS researcher, said I did not see or hear the object, nor did the guys at Balfour Beatty who were out there at the same time I was taking the pics. I thought it
US Government Claims 100% Ownership Over All Your DNA

20 May 2013 | 1:31 pm

The United States government claims 100% ownership over all your DNA and reproductive rights. This astonishing revelation has emerged from the fact that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office claims the power to assign ownership of your DNA to private companies and universities who apply for patents on your genes. To date, more than 4,000 genes have been assigned ownership to corporations and
UFO The Real Deal - Documentary

17 May 2013 | 1:29 pm

Yellowed Perils
Tarzan revisited

William

24 May 2013 | 8:00 am

I have a confession to make: I only recently read “Tarzan of the Apes.” Believe me, I tried to read it several times — back in high school in the ’70s, again sometime in the ’80s, and another time still — but I could never get past the first chapter or two. I finally decided [...]
Seeking pulp photo help

William

22 May 2013 | 8:00 am

UPDATED 5.24.13 | Yesterday we posted six new photos over on ThePulp.Net‘s pulp photos gallery. The earliest of the latest batch is 1913; one was from 1939; and three others from 1943. There was one from, probably, the early to mid-1940s. We could use your help on two of those photos. The 1939 photo was [...]
Doc Savage movie links

William

16 May 2013 | 11:43 am

With the official news from Sony Pictures recently that Shane Black‘s next project will be writing and directing a Doc Savage movie, I wanted to call your attention to an update on the Doc Savage page here at ThePulp.Net. We’ve added links to more than two dozen articles to the “Doc Savage movie (2013)” listing. [...]
Before the ‘Planet of the Apes’

William

9 May 2013 | 6:30 am

Humans discover that Earth in the future is populated by civilized apes. Sounds like “Planet of the Apes,” doesn’t it? Well, turn back the clock back 22 years — and then ahead several million — and you have “Genus Homo,” a pretty solid SF novel by L. Sprague de Camp and P. Schuyler Miller. It was [...]
A history of ‘pulp magazine’

William

6 May 2013 | 7:50 am

Every so often someone raises a question online that basically asks: Did the folks putting out the pulp magazines call them “pulps”? The quick answer is yes. But who first called them that — pulp magazines or just pulps — and when isn’t certain. Of course, those terms derive from the low-quality, wood-pulp paper that [...]

Risingshadow - Science Fiction & Fantasy
A review of Lord Horror #7 (Hard Core Horror #5) and Lord Horror #8 (Reverbstorm #1)

18 May 2013 | 6:33 am

Lord Horror #7 (Hard Core Horror #5) was published in 1990 and Lord Horror #8 (Reverbstorm #1) was published in 1994 by Savoy Books. Information about Lord Horror #7 (Hard Core Horror #5): 'Art, like the God of the Jews, thrives on holocausts...And after each letting of the blood the flesh will weigh less.' - Gustave Flaubert, The Temptation Of St. Anthony The end of the line: more full page drawings present the malevolent architecture of the Death Camps in finely detailed character. A landmark portrait of human evil, intended as a contemporary equivalent of Piranesi's 'Prisons'. Coulthart…
A review of Kenny Soward's Rough Magic

7 May 2013 | 2:26 am

Kenny Soward's debut fantasy book, Rough Magic (Book I of the GnomeSaga), was published in March 2013. Information about the author: Kenny Soward grew up in Crescent Park, Kentucky, a small suburb just south of Cincinnati, Ohio, listening to AC/DC, Quiet Riot, and Iron Maiden. In those quiet 1970's streets, he jumped bikes, played Nerf football, and acquired many a childhood scar. At the age of sixteen, he learned to play drums, and did so with a passion. Kenny bashed skins for many groups over the next twenty years, and his musical tastes grew to include folk, alternative, bluegrass, and new…
GUEST POST (AND GIVEAWAY): Life (almost) imitating art by Sean Benham, author of Blope

1 May 2013 | 10:43 pm

Risinghadow has the honour of publishing a guest post article by Sean Benham, the author of Blope. Information about Sean Benham: Sean Benham is a Toronto-based entertainment industry professional who has worked as an art director, graphic animator, writer and producer on everything from Emmy award-winning children’s television programming to heavy metal music videos. Blope is Sean Benham’s debut novel. Click here to visit Sean Benham official website and click here to visit the official book website. Life (almost) imitating art By Sean Benham, author of Blope Read More...
A review of D.E.M. Emrys' From Man to Man

30 Apr 2013 | 5:10 am

D.E.M. Emrys' short story, From Man to Man, was published in October 2012. Information about the author: D. E. M. Emrys is the author of the Wroge Elements fantasy series. Click here to visit his blog. Information about From Man to Man: 'I've traded my old enemies for just this one...' The axe thundered home. 'I miss the old ones.' Every man has a past, none more so than Draven Reinhardt. Abandoning his old life to settle down as a villager, he struggles to fit in, let alone hold down a job. When opportunity offers the much needed coin, Draven is torn between a promise and a purpose. But,…
A review of Lord Horror: Reverbstorm (script by David Britton, art by John Coulthart)

29 Apr 2013 | 7:48 am

David Britton and John Coulthart's graphic novel, Lord Horror: Reverbstorm, was published by Savoy Books in February 2013. Information about David Britton: David Britton is a British author, artist, and publisher. In the 1970s he founded Weird Fantasy and Crucified Toad, a series of small press magazines of the speculative fiction and horror genres. In 1976 Britton co-founded (with Michael Butterworth) the controversial publishing house Savoy Books. Click here to read more about David Britton. Information about John Coulthart: John Coulthart (born March 15, 1962) is a British graphic artist,…

On Starships and Dragonwings
Updates from the Lair 5/25/13

Anya

25 May 2013 | 4:37 am

How May has been flying by! I decided to change the update feature to something more dragon-y themed, so it’s now Updates from the Lair :D. Lair meaning the dragon’s lair ;-). Anyway, the past couple of weeks have been fun and busy and I have really no excuse for not posting an update except for last week when I was traveling all over Minnesota! My Week This week I joined in with Bout of Books (or last week mostly I guess, but it missed the last update) and so I read a loooooot of books, yey! These are the books I finished this past week for Bout of Books. Four of them were review books…
4 Stars: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Anya

24 May 2013 | 4:03 am

This is a repost of my guest review over at Bibliotropic, thanks for having me Ria! And be sure to check out my review of Siege and Storm on Monday! I’ve always been on the lookout for unique fantasy. Fantasy that takes me to truly new worlds, with new creatures and powers. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo met that wish wonderfully! Between the Russian-inspired setting, the terrifying nature of The Shadow Fold and the intriguing power Alina suddenly manifests, I was hooked from the first page. It didn’t hurt that I had seen so many of my friends raving about Shadow and Bone. If you…
The Elite/The Selection SIGNED Giveaway! + “Dark Days” YA Author Tour

Anya

23 May 2013 | 4:10 am

Dark Days YA Author Tour That’s right ya’ll! I was lucky enough to be able to attend the “Dark Days” tour as it rolled through my town. This panel included Kiera Cass (author of The Selection/The Elite), Elizabeth Norris (author of Unbreakable), Aprilynne Pike (author of Life After Theft), and Amy Tintera (author Reboot). Such an awesome panel right?? The good news for you: I have snippets from the Q & A section and a giveaway for SIGNED copies of The Selection and The Elite!!! First the random fun facts :D. Amy Tintera, a hedgehog plushie, and I: the best combination Q&A Fun…
Do You Have an Addiction to Starting Books?

Anya

22 May 2013 | 10:10 am

Starting Books Addictions Confession: I’m addicted to starting new books. And by new I don’t mean “omg I got a book from the bookstore/mail, I’m so excited to start reading it!” I mean a grass is always greener kind of problem. Before I start a book, I look at it and see all the possibilities. This is especially bad when the cover is beautiful and the reviews have been positive because I start madly hyping a book in my head. I mean, I seriously stared at Cinder so long that I imagined it to be THE BEST BOOK EVER. Let’s be honest, no book, no matter how good, can live up to that…
Top Ten Favorite Book Covers Of Books I’ve Read

Anya

21 May 2013 | 4:51 am

Okay, I’m so freaking excited about this week’s TTT topic! I love covers but often don’t super connect with them until I’ve read the book. Then I fall absolutely in love if they actually make sense, haha. Book that lived up to the cover: I adored all of the these books. The covers were all shiny and tempting and then I was so happy when reading them. I love that these covers all make sense for the book as well. Above world has necklaces like that sea-horse one that are critical to the story. Poison has a scene that matches the cover perfectly. I pictured the MC of The Emperor’s Soul…

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