SF Tidbits for 2/27/10
By John DeNardo |
Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at
12:05 am
Interviews & Profiles
- Scalzi’s Big Idea profiles N.K. Jemisin (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms).
- Frederik Pohl on Isaac Asimov (Part 4).
- “Genre is a maximum security prison,” says author David Shields in his manifesto Reality Hunger. [via Omnivoracious]
- Lou Anders on Genetic Engineering.
- @Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews: Artist Dave Rapoza.
- @BoingBoing: Bruce Sterling explains “atemporality for artists”.
News
- Holy comic book, Batman! Detective Comics, featuring Batman’s debut, outsells the recent $1 million sale of Superman’s Action Comics #1.
- Hodder & Stoughton has acquired a new Stephen King title, Full Dark, No Stars, a volume of four novellas
- The International Aeon Award 2009 short fiction contest winners have been announced.
Articles
- @Incwriters:
- Andy Cox’s behind-the-scenes look at Interzone.
- Peter Tennant’s article on Horror Fiction has its Aficionados. (Beware: Killer psycho-bunny! That thing still gives me the creeps.)
- Galaxy Express on The Science Fiction Romance CoverConundrum.
- Dark Matters podcast on Bad Science Fiction
- Christopher Barzak writes Dear Reader…
- Smart Pop Books has posted online (for one week) Kris Rusch’s controversial essay Barbarian Confessions from the book Star Wars On Trial edited by David Brin and Matthew Woodring Stover.
- Tobias Buckell posts another chapter of his writers’ guide It’s All Just A Draft: Published Writers Find Markets.
- S. Andrew Swann’s Quick rules for tightly plotted fiction.
- Suite 101 on H.P. Lovecraft’s Fiction.
- Dustjackets? We don’t need no steenkin’ dustjackets! [via Bookninja]
- David Brin on Science Fiction That Teaches.
- H.G. Wells’ scornful Review of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. [via John C. Wright]
Fun Stuff
- The National on The 7 types of book bore
- Irene Gallo points us to The Philip K. Dick Covers of Antonello Silverini.
- Historical footnote: Harlan Ellison blurbs Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book, dammit. [via File 770]
Related posts:
- SF Tidbits for 9/6/07
- SF Tidbits for 9/3/06
- SF Tidbits for 11/4/07
- SF Tidbits for 10/29/06
- SF Tidbits for 2/1/09
Filed under: Tidbits
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Thanks for the link love, Sir John!
>Smart Pop Books has posted online (for one week) Kris Rusch’s controversial essay Barbarian Confessions from the book Star Wars On Trial edited by David Brin and Matthew Woodring Stover.
That is one awesome essay.
@MikeP: “That is one awesome essay.”
I agree completely.
Rusch’s essay, in fact, applies beautifully to Cameron’s Avatar. I’m thinking in particular of the generally negative reaction to and the widespread distaste for the film in the SF&F community. “Great visuals, but bad/derivative/cliched story” has been the typical response.
Yet Avatar is now the highest-grossing film worldwide ever — and that means something. Echoing Rusch, it means that it’s entertaining because it gives us hero(es) and gives us hope and uplift. In other words, it gives us story. Moreover, it means that a whole bunch of people all over the world are paying for an SF experience … and perhaps becoming wowed by the vision available in the genre, like Rusch was wowed by Star Wars as a teenager.
It is a film such as Avatar that saves SF and keeps the genre relevant. (And Cameron is apparently writing the novel tie-in, so ….)
P.S. Thanks for the link to Rusch’s essay!