SF Signal: SF Tidbits for 2/9/08

SF Tidbits for 2/9/08

Fantasy Book Critic interviews Felix Gilman, author of Thunderer: "I wrote a fantasy because I thought it would be fun, because I wanted to write something really strange, and because a sort of pulp-adventure-narrative seemed like a framework on which to string together the imagery and mood I wanted." [Note: Felix Gilman has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog.]

UK SF Book News interviews James Lovegrove about his forthcoming Solaris novel, The Age of Ra: "It's more a fantasy-flavoured imagining of how the world might have turned out if (a) gods are real and (b) one of the pantheons decided to turf out all the others and claim the entire earth for itself."

More Solaris news:
- Chris Roberson points out that the cover of Nick Gevers' steampunk anthology being published by Solaris, Extraordinary Engines, is quite cool.
- Solaris has announced the purchase of two new books: an anthology from Ellen Datlow (Poe, an anthology of remixed and re-imagined tales inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's work), and Evil Ways by Justin Gustainis (a second Quincey Morris novel).

Recently free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "The Circuit Riders" by R.C. FitzPatrick (1962).

Kathryn Cramer tells us the website for The New York Review of Science Fiction has undergone a redesign. Spiffy!

Over at SF Novelists, and his own site, Mike Brotherton (Spider Star) names The Worst Science Fiction Movie Ever! Can you guess what it is?

Over at A Different View of Reality, Emil Jung looks at The Value of Science Fiction and Fantasy: "Imaginative literature ultimately enables us to face ourselves."

Sure, science fiction is the literature of ideas, but sometimes those ideas don't come easy to writers. Worry no more! Julia West offers a Science Fiction Idea Generator which provides random ideas in categories like characters, items, descriptors, places, events. , jobs/occupations, and emotions. Why, I'm not even a writer and this generator helped me craft (and by "craft" I mean "hodge-podge") this beauty: "The mutant starship crew was fearful of their escape from prison." Take that, Mr. Wolfe!

You want lists? We got your lists right here!
- A.M. Dellamonica has written an insightful article for writers and readers alike: Four Steps to Creating Unforgettable Fictional Bad Guys: "Readers and writers alike can understand the goals of a good guy. They appreciate their good qualities, empathize with their flaws, and take their setbacks to heart."
- Little Fivers lists 10 Things Sci-Fi Characters Say When They're Stoned.
- The Times lists The Top 10 Modern Sci-Fi Movie clichés. [via Big Dumb Object]
- Great White Snark lists The Top 5 Best Science Fiction Apocalypses.