SF Tidbits for 6/10/08
By John DeNardo |
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at
2:04 am
- Interviews and profiles:
- Bibliophile Stalker interviews John Joseph Adams, editor of Wastelands and Seeds of Change.
- SciFi Wire profiles Jo Walton, author of Ha’Penny, a finalist for this year’s Sidewise Award.
- The Guardian interviews Charles Stross.
- ABC TV interviews Scott Westerfeld.
- The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction interviews Al Michaud, Rand B. Lee, and Ted Kosmatka.
- The Onion AV Club interviews Harlan Ellison. [via A.R.Yngve]
- CNN profiles William Shatner and gets his thoughts on the new Trek movie.
- The British Fantasy Society has posted their Long Lists for the 2008 BFS Awards. [via Science Fiction Awards Watch]
- Free Fiction:
- “The Judas Valley” by Gerald Vance (1956).
- Helix #8 has free fiction from A.M. Dellamonica, Clifford W. Dunbar, Sara Genge, Robert Jeschonek, Ann Leckie, Robert Reed, and George S. Walker as well as poetry and other features (like The Well-Bitten Hand by John Barnes).
- Here’s a PDF preview of the layout and art placement for the first chapter of the 25th anniversary edition of John Crowley’s Little, Big. [via Homo Sum]
- Cory Doctorow’s Futuristic Tales is a free, remixable download.
- Bob Eggleton previews the cool cover for Bard’s Oath by Joanne Bertin.
- Clarkesworld Magazine: Chicken Little and the Death of Short Fiction by Neil Clarke.
- File 770 has the scoop on Eugene Roddenberry heading to to Vulcan.
- “Somehow we get it into our head that if we pick up a book to read for pleasure, we have a moral obligation to finish it. That’s ridiculous.” Hey look, my 33% rule is referenced!
- Real Science: This is what Earth looks like from Mars.
- Phrases that sound dirty but aren’t: Spock Monkey.
- SF Tidbits for 6/3/08
- SF Tidbits for 8/25/07
- SF Tidbits for 6/6/08
- SF Tidbits for 1/1/07
- SF Tidbits for 6/14/07
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I just can’t give up on a book once I’ve started, even if it’s making me spitting mad. Sometimes, that quality makes it MORE addictive, as it fills me with a righteous fury that I can then vent at like-minded friends.
Same with movies. I can’t just get up and walk out. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard so many people getting up and walking out of movies that I love before they get to the best part.
Maybe that’s the secret. The best part. I think I feel like leaving fiction unfinished is a sort of literary suicide. I can’t give up hope now, for the best might be right around the corner!!
I have left series unfinished, however. That’s a little easier. I found myself exhausted after wading hip-deep in grumpy agenda in “The Subtle Knife.” I thought “The Golden Compass” was was interesting and entertaining, if a bit spotty at points. But, by the end of “The Subtle Knife,” I felt like the author was so busy yelling at me and clobbering me over the head he had forgotten that I paid him to tell me a ripping yarn. There were several moments of genuine ripping yarnation, but, by the end, the ratio of yarn to yell was stacked decidedly against me. I made it through that one, but never picked up the third.
I also never red any of the books following “Eon,” by Greg Bear, because the man’s brain is too big for me to keep up with. I enjoyed the book, but the prospect of that universe getting bigger and more complicated has seemed so daunting that I’ve left the sequel sitting on my shelf for several years. Someday, after I’ve had brain enhancement surgery of some kind, I’ll finish it!
My 2 pennies regarding Movies: Depends on where I’m watching. It’s much more difficult to walk out of a theater after having just paid $8. It’s much easier to change the channel if I’m at home. In either case, the time commitment is much less than a book, so I’m more likely to persevere.
@Luke,
I know what you mean. I think a similar fury propelled me to the end of Old Man’s War. Discussing that book has also added to its entertainment value. I’ve never walked out of a movie, either. As John says, it’s less of a time commitment. But, once you get to a certain age, life is too short for books that aren’t rewarding you in some way.