by Gary Westfahl
Perhaps I am suffering from a form of dementia induced by excessive exposure to cinematic explosions and high-tech battles, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching Pacific Rim, despite the very low expectations that I brought to the theatre, and I would heartily recommend Guillermo del Toro’s production to anyone long enamored of science fiction films. This is because, in contrast to most of the noisy blockbusters that
Maria Dahvana Headley was born June 21, 1977 in Estacada OR. She attended NYU, where she studied dramatic writing. She lived in Seattle for many years before returning to New York, where she lives now.
Headley’s first book was memoir The Year of Yes (2006), chronicling a year in which she said ‘‘yes’’ to every person who asked her on a date. Her debut novel, Queen of Kings (2011), is
» Weird Tales second issue since relaunch this Friday
» The Potrero View profiles Tachyon Publications
» Notes from Coode Street Episode 149: Awards, Matheson and the Year to Date ...Read More
Read moreFinalists for the 15th Endeavour Award, given to a novel or single-author collection written by a Pacific Northwest writer, have been announced.
The 2013 judges for the award ...Read More
Read moreYou’ve got to love a literary novel that starts with the protagonist shooting Hitler in the heart in 1930.
Kate Atkinson is best known for her marvelous literary mysteries, notably the Jackson Brodie novels. While I eagerly await the next installment in that series, I was pleased to pick up her new standalone, Life After Life, and even more delighted when I realized it has a speculative premise. Apart
Longtime Tor Books editor James Frenkel has left the company. Tor senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden wrote in a series of posts to his twitter account:
James Frenkel is no longer associated with Tor Books. We wish him the best.
We’ll be contacting the authors and agents Mr. Frenkel worked with to discuss which editor here they’ll be working with going forward.
This process will take some days or even ...Read More
Read moreJudge Denise Cote has sided with the Department of Justice and found Apple guilty of conspiring to fix e-book prices: “The Plaintiffs have shown that the Publisher Defendants conspired with each other to eliminate retail price competition in order to raise e-book prices, and that Apple played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy. Without Apple’s orchestration of this conspiracy, it would not have succeeded as it did ...Read More
Read more
Neil Richard Gaiman was born November 10, 1960 in Porchester, England. He attended school in southern England before moving to London, where he worked as a freelance journalist in the early ’80s. His first stories sold to gaming and men’s magazines in 1984 and ’85, and his first work in the SF field was Ghastly Beyond Belief, a book of humorous SF quotations (1985, with Kim Newman). His career
* Bishop, Jeremy : The Sentinel (Amazon/47north 978-1611099065, $14.95, 278pp, trade paperback, July 2013) • Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Jul 2013 • Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B009MAAA3Q • Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 978-1469290751 • Jane Harper #1
Horror novel about an undercover government agent stranded on an arctic island along with survivors of a whale hunting ship and the environmentalists who tried to stop them.
Science fiction writers Michael Swanwick, Gardner Dozois, Tom Purdom, and Ben Bova were among 50 people honored in a display at the Philadelphia International Airport titled “Philadelphia’s Literary Legacy: Selected Authors, Playwrights, and Poets – from Writers of the Declaration of Independence to Present Day”. The airport partnered with the Free Library of Philadelphia to select a wide range of authors including Benjamin Franklin, Louisa May Alcott, and Pearl S. ...Read More
Read moreThis month we talk to two notables from the Philippines. Charles A. Tan and Dean Francis Alfar give us a tour of the speculative fiction authors working in their country right now.
http://locusmag.com/Blog/SBP06_Philippines.mp3Dean Francis Alfar is a Filipino playwright, novelist and writer of speculative fiction. His plays have been performed in venues across the country, while his articles and fiction have been published both in his native Philippines and ...Read More
Read moreStephen King’s Joyland is showing a bit more stamina than Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane, both of which have dominated lists in recent weeks. King’s novel remains #1 on two lists, and slips to #2 on another. Gaiman’s novel reaches #1 on the LA Times list — which always lags behind the other print lists — but slips two or three or twelve notches ...Read More
Read moreIn a press release today, Greg Euston, Director of Public Relations for Dragon*Con, announced that they have officially merged the old Dragon Con / Ace, Inc. into a new company, Dragon Con, Inc. in a cash-out merger. Ownership of the new company includes five of the six founding owners of Dragon Con / Ace; Edward Kramer, one of the founding members, was offered cash for his shares of the old ...Read More
Read moreThe Association for the Recognition of Excellence in SF & F Translation (ARESFFT) announced the finalists for the 2013 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards (for works published in 2012) at Finncon 2013.
LONG FORM
Everything electronic, leading off with an electronic anthology of novellas.
As the editorial introduction explains, this is an anthology of four novellas that the editor wanted to publish but which didn’t, for one reason or another but probably involving space, fit into an issue of F&SF.
Apex Magazine • Quarterly magazine of SF and horror, since 2005; current editor Lynne M. Thomas • Format: Online; Ebook formats • Frequency: Quarterly • http://apex-magazine.com/
July 2013— Issue 50 • This issue has fiction by Sarah Monette, Rachel Swirsky, and Kelly Link, and poetry by Catherynne M. Valente. • Nonfiction includes interviews with Sarah Monette and Kelly Link, an essay on “strong female characters” by Sarah Kuhn, and
The International Astronomical Union approved astronomer José Luis Galache’s request to name an asteroid after author Iain M. Banks, on June 23, 2013. Asteroid Iainbanks is 3.8 miles across, and is in the Main Asteroid Belt of the Sol system. It takes 3.94 years to complete a revolution around the Sun. Read more about the asteroid on the MPC blog, and view an interactive sketch of its orbit.
Read the ...Read More
Read more» Kirkus: Amy Goldschlager interviews Neil Gaiman
» NYT: Alan Dean Foster op-ed Living with Fire
» Deadline for Ragazine’s Best speculative fiction story by person of color contest with $1000.00 First Prize is extended to Sept 20, 2013 ...Read More
Read more
Daniel Abraham, The Tyrant’s Law (Orbit May 2013)
A tyrant’s quest for peace leads to ever greater was in this third book in the acclaimed fantasy series, The Dagger and the Coin. ‘‘This smart, absorbing, fascinating military fantasy, exciting and genuinely suspenseful, will keep readers on their toes.’’ [Publishers Weekly]
K. L. Armstrong & M. A. Marr, Loki’s Wolves (Little, Brown May 2013)
Norse myth and the end of
The Humble eBook bundle is a “pay-what-you-want” offer that will run for the next two weeks, allowing readers to purchase a six-title DRM-free e-book package for whatever amount they choose to pay.
Buyers can choose to allocate a portion (or the entirety) of their payment to charities including the Electric Frontier Foundation, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or Child’s Play Charity.
You can check out the promotional ...Read More
Read more
A quote variously attributed to Richard Feynman and Albert Einstein has it that ‘‘If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t really understand it.’’ Most of us have encountered this in our lives: you think you really know something and understand it, and then you try to teach it and realize that you never understood it in the first place.
Computers are the children of the ...Read More
Read more
* Allen, Mike, ed. : Clockwork Phoenix 4 (Mythic Delirium 978-0-9889124-0-3, $15.95, 275pp, trade paperback, July 2013) • Nominal Publication Date: Mon 1 Jul 2013 • Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B00DGQPX4S
Anthology of 18 original stories. • Authors include Yves Meynard, Ian McHugh, Gemma Files, Tanith Lee, Cat Rambo, and Richard Parks. • Series site www.clockworkphoenix.com has the full table of contents. • Amazon’s “Look Inside” function
The 2012 Sidewise Award Finalists for the best alternate history of 2012 have been announced:
Short Form:
Long Form
» Dave Langford’s Ansible 312
» NYT Book Review: Benjamin Percy reviews Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane
» Financial Times interviews Neil Gaiman
» Guardian: Five science fiction novels for people who hate SF
» NPR: Ellah Allfrey reviews Iain Banks’ The Quarry ...Read More
Read more
The July issue features interviews with Neil Gaiman and Maria Dahvana Headley, obituaries and appreciations of Jack Vance and Iain Banks, a new column by Cory Doctorow, complete results of the 2013 Locus Poll, and reviews of short fiction and new books by Connie Willis, Emily Croy Barker, S.T. Joshi,
Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Morrow) debuts on all five print lists, as high as #1 on the New York Times and Washington Post lists.
Stephen King’s Joyland remains #1 on three trade paperback lists.
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT 07.07 WP 06.30 LAT 06.30 USAT 06.23 PW 07.01 Amz (07.01) UK: Amz UK (07.01) Canada: Amz.ca (07.01) Items on list ...Read More Read more
