• John Scalzi interviews Sandra McDonald, author of The Outback Stars.


• Jim C. Hines profiles Michael A. Burstein.


• Matt Cheney is wondering if there exists a drug-themed science fiction anthology. A little Googling didn't find that, but it did find this paper that Robert Silverberg wrote for the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1974: Drug Themes in Science Fiction. (PDF download or a mostly legible HTML page.)


• John C. Wright, responding to The Death of Science Fiction, has this to say: "I also think that science fiction will die off as a genre, not because it will be gone, but only because it will no longer be unique. It will be absorbed into the mainstream. Once the common man is used to technological change as a fact of life, literature whose main point is awe and wonder or fear of technological change will not stand out."


• Michael L. Wentz asks: Does Literary SF Have A Self-Confidence Problem? "Could it be as simple as modern SF sucks? Has the genre become cynical and so self-obsessed that it's a turn-off to those who aren't already converts?"


• Neal Asher writes: "There seems a belief, ascribed to by many of those writing short science fiction today, that nothing of importance happens unless it is set in the 'mean streets' of some city."


• From The Boston Globe: Race, the final frontier. "Black science-fiction writers bring a unique perspective to the genre." [via David Anthony Durham]


• The August 2007 issue of Baen's Universe is now up.


• Issue #5 of Darker Matter is now live.


• John Scalzi looks at the economics of writing short fiction.


• New/Updated at Gutenberg: "The Radiant Shell" by Paul Ernst.


• More free fiction: "Raft", a short story by Stephen Baxter. The book version was my introduction to Baxter years ago. Raft, as I recall, rocked. I went on to read the rest of the Xeelee Sequence and enjoyed those books as well. [via Free SF Reader]


• The Stars my Destination blog looks at the politics in Matthew Jarpe's Radio Freefall. (See also the SF Signal review.)


• John Kessel says he's interested to see whether some people are offended by the political overtones in the episode of Masters of Science Fiction ("A Clean Escape") based on his short story. "...It's kind of a veiled allegorical hit at George Bush, basically."


• Voting for The 2007 SyFy Portal Genre Awards is now open. [via Sci-Fi Fodder]


• Video Double Feature: Here's Ridley Scott at ComicCon talking with SCI FI Wire and Cinematical about the upcoming "final cut" Blade Runner DVD.


• Matt Bailey does some serious Star Trek number-crunching. Did you know that red-shirts make up a whopping 73% of all deaths on the Enterprise? [via Neatorama]


• Farkers photoshop Harry Potter characters now that the series is finished.


• Paris Hitlton news, hot off the presses: Paris Hilton will be singing in a sci-fi musical thriller. Yikes! I'd rather listen to this.

Comments (3) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday August 01, 2007 at 12:05 AM
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