Mind Meld: Now It’s Your Turn
It’s been just over half a year since we started pestering and prodding various people in and around the science fiction field with our questions. We’ve had quite a bit of fun putting these together for you and we hope you’ve enjoyed them too. And to really find out, this week’s Mind Meld gives you, our loyal readers, the opportunity to answer the following questions:
- What do you think about the Mind Meld feature in general?
- What’s been your favorite entry and why?
- Are there any topics you’d like us to cover?
- Is there anyone we’ve missed that you would like to see included?
I’d also like to take this opportunity to explain a bit about how we put these together. John and I have a list with a bunch of names on it, containing authors, publicists, editors, artists and the like. For each question, we try and decide who, specifically, would be a good person to answer that particular question. We then start adding additional names to get to the point where we feel we have a wide enough net to ensure a decent number of answers. We do try to ask as broad a range of people as we can for each question.
As you might imagine, juggling the emails to 20+ people can be time consuming, not to mention putting together the final post. But it’s worth the effort, and we get to hobnob with a bunch of fine people in the field.
But now it’s your turn. Let us know what you think. If you’re a lurker, now’s your chance to take a minute and let us know your thoughts. We’d love to hear from all of you.
Filed under: Mind Meld
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My favorite Mind Meld has to be the Emerging New Authors one. I generally hit up these type of sites to hear about new and classic books that are worth reading. I would like to see more entries where the authors discus their favorites maybe on a sub-genre basis. Best Time Travel story, best Space Opera, best Singularity, best Cyberpunk, etc. I would also like to read about how authors got started or who their favorite childhood authors were. Or who is the one author that you would recommend (besides themselves).
I have enjoyed all the of Mind Melds though. They could be a little bit better formatwise (difficult to read) but thats just because of the ammount of information. Overall, keep up the good work.
Mind Melt? Is that like a Patty Melt?
:O
1. The Mind Meld is probably my favorite type of post on this blog. I love getting a range of perspectives on the same topic. Thanks for making the effort to make them happen.
2. My favorite entry was the one about the state of the F/SF short story market because I’m a fledgling author so it’s something I’m very interested in.
3. I’d be interested in hearing more about the history of F/SF (maybe as a two part “Where have we been? Where are we going?” kind of question). Also, Hal Duncan mentioned something in an interview a few weeks ago about how he thought he and his generation of writers had been influenced by comic books a lot–I think that could be an interesting discussion topic. One last one–a conversation about diversity within SF or more generally the politics and social issues in and around the field.
I like the Mind Melds–particularly when I’ve heard of the people who are answering–but I would still love your blog without it. This is just my one-stop spot for keeping up with the whole SF world. You do a great job–keep it up!
I agree with Joe, up above me here — especially the part about loving this blog with or without the MindMeld. I check it every day. The thing is — I think the Mind Melds are genius, and it’s something that really sets SFSignal ahead of the pack. I hope you guys are able to continue the feature as long as you’re able. As far as the specifics of your questions, maybe I’ll have some answers by Apollocon……
I think the Mind Meld is a great addition to the Sfisgnal blog.
My favorite thus far? The Next big thing…since I am always looking for new books and authors.
You’ve done a good job with topics and SF authors, so I will make no recommendations on that score!
I like it, especially the one I was in.
My favorites are the Next Big Thing, anything about short fiction, and pretty much anything that gets talking about the various writers out there. Mostly because it is what interests me about the genre. Let’s talk about the fiction and issues relating to the fiction.
A topic about perceived gender bias might be interesting, but again, that’s because I’m thinking about it right now. Another would be the responsibility of the author to the reader (primarily in terms of finishing a series and finishing on time, but even in general).
Have you had Abercrombie in a Mind Meld? I can’t remember, but that’s one funny guy.