SF Signal: SF Tidbits for 1/11/08

SF Tidbits for 1/11/08

Christopher Barzak's debut novel, One For Sorrow, was named the winner of the 2008 Crawford Fantasy Award. (See also: previous winners.)

Penguin Blog interviews Sean Williams, whose Saturn Returns was just nominated for the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award. "My intention is to capture three very distinct phases in this arc of humanity's history: the aftermath of an empire's fall, the peak of reconstruction and a constitutional crisis, then the 'weaponising' necessary to take on a powerful threat from the outside."

The Solaris blog shows off the cover of Andy Remic's Biohell, the sequel to War Machine.

IO9 talks to Ken MacLeod (The Execution Channel) about the near future.

L.E. Modesitt, Jr. talks about character-driven vs. plot-driven sf. "...there seems to be a bit of an emphasis by some who think themselves experts on F&SF on the need for more "character-driven" fiction. Then, perhaps this has always been true. Whether or not it's a resurgent emphasis or a long-standing one is irrelevant. It's wrong. Dead wrong."

Free fiction: "Zombie Lenin" by Ekaterina Sedia" [via Paul Jessup]

Mike Brotherton lists a revised list of his previous Top Ten Science-Based Sci-Fi Movies. By-by Alien and Aliens. Hello Primer and Minority Report.

Eos Books lists the New Year's resolution of Karen Traviss (Judge).

Fantasy Book Critic surveys a bunch of genre authors for their favorite books of 2007 and upcoming plans for 2008.

Here's a list of upcoming New York Review of Science Fiction readings. [via Yatterings]

Speaking of Hollywood's treatment of scifi, a movie version of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End is in the works. [via SciFi Scanner]

One of Roger Ebert's readers asks: Why attack Philip Pullman but not C. S. Lewis?

Real Science: An image showing the 88 known objects in our Solar System that are larger than 200 miles in diameter. [via Texas Best Grok]

What is your threshold for pain? Find out at Premium Hollywood with their YouTube video of The Bionic Man singing (singing!) to The Bionic Woman.

I wonder: did the writer of the letter to Ebert actually read the Screwtape Letters? Sure, Lewis is writing from the point of view of demons, but "protagonist" and "good guy" aren't synonomous. I feel pretty confident in saying that the whole point of the book is to expose the devil's workings, the better to resist him. In other words, it's a satire.

That said, I've haven't seen The Golden Compass, and probably won't (not for religious reasons--I just don't like fantasy), so I can't comment on the rest of the letter.

Posted by Claire on Friday January 11, 2008 at 1:58 PM