SF Signal: SF Tidbits for 7/27/07

SF Tidbits for 7/27/07

At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Chris Roberson, author of Set the Seas on Fire.

Matthew Jarpe is a hack. "One of the common epithets people throw at a writer they don't like is 'hack.' That's 'a writer who exploits his or her ability primarily for money.' As if producing a product of art with commercial potential is wrong. Well, here's the thing, I'm a hack."

Jeff VanderMeer has posted mystery excerpts from his New Weird Anthology. The first person to correctly guess the author who wrote them wins a copy of the book.

Over at Amazon's blog, VanderMeer lists 13 Reasons to Read Richard Morgan's Thirteen. See also the SF Signal review.

The Wall Street Journal profiles Robert A. Heinlein. [via Cynical-C]

JK Rowling says she will publish a Harry Potter Encyclopedia. [via No Blasters]

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist interviews Peter F. Hamilton (The Dreaming Void). "As a species we're just not psychologically adjusted to living for more than a century, yet billions are being poured into research that leads to increased life expectancy. Suppose it works out, and we can live for three of ten times longer than today. That's the kind of question which SF exists for."

Over at his AOL gig, John Scazli looks at overrated books and cited Catcher in the Rye as his pick. "Tell us of one piece of culture -- book, movie, album, painting, play, architectural "masterpiece," whatever -- that you think is wildly overrated."

Lou Anders responds to Discover magazine's "Blinded by Science: Fictional Reality" article.

Borders bookstores has cut back their soft seating by 30%. Ed Champion comes to the defense of sitting in bookstores.

It's official: J.J. Abrams, director the upcoming Star Trek movie, confirmed the casting of Heroes star Zachary Quinto as a young Spock and surprised the audience with the announcement that original Spock actor Leonard Nimoy would also appear in the film.

The Avalanche Software Art Blog is still going strong with nearly very post offering up some cool, artsy goodness by their very talented staff. Their latest entry is is a caricature of Qui-Gon Jinn.

What I love when I look at a finished manuscript, that four inch high stack of loose paper, is to tell myself that I've created a thing of some value.

four inches!?!?

To be honest about 3 inches of that is fill...I don't care who the sci fi writer is.

Posted by joshua corning on Friday July 27, 2007 at 12:32 AM

"To be honest about 3 inches of that is fill...I don't care who the sci fi writer is."

Joshua, ever see the pictures of the stack of paper for Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. Expand that pile to 3 feet...

Now we could debate how much is fill or not. Or whether fill is worth reading. Some days when I'm reading (as an example) Weber's Honorverse books, I get irritated by all the fill (copious backstory). Other days when I'm reading (as an example) Weber's Honorverse books, I love the fill (copious backstory). Go figure.

Posted by Fred Kiesche on Friday July 27, 2007 at 9:24 AM

"To be honest about 3 inches of that is fill...I don't care who the sci fi writer is."

Speak for yourself. It helps that I always print out my manuscripts on construction paper.

"I prefer to pronounce it: shar-pei."

Now you can call me Jar-pay and you can call me Shar-pay, or you can call me Har-pay, or you can call me Yar-pay. But you doesn't have to call me Johnson.

I'm sorry I brought up that painful memory of the worst ongoing comedy bit from the seventies.

Posted by Matt Jarpe on Friday July 27, 2007 at 2:06 PM