Calling all armchair art critics! It's time once again for another Book Cover Smackdown!

Here are today's contenders...

Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why.
Books shown here:

1. EVE: Templar One by Tony Gonzales (Tor Books; Artist: Unknown)


2. A Million Suns by Beth Revis (Razorbill; Artist: Unknown)
   


3. The Chalice of Death: Three Novels of Mystery in Space by Robert Silverberg (Paizo Publishing; Artist: Unknown)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 28, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Regular listeners to the SF Signal podcast know that the smooth, sultry voice of our host belongs to Patrick Hester and that he has his own podcast with John Anealio called The Functional Nerds. Last week, I was invited on the show and that episode is now up.

So head on over to The Functional Nerds to listen to Patrick, John, special guest Samuel Montgomery-Blinn and myself geek out about stuff!

(I'm still annoyed at myself for neglecting to mention Spotify's biggest dealbreaker - the requirement that all new accounts register via Facebook. I'm happy I got in before all that nonsense...)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 28, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Daily Science Fiction has announced its January 2012 line-up of free stories:

Plus, a special bonus:

We are pleased to announce The Numbers Quartet, a series of 12 stories based on important concepts of mathematics, written by Aliette de Bodard, Nancy Fulda, Stephen Gaskell, and Benjamin Rosenbaum. The first story launches on Wednesday, January 4th. The series will continue for the following 11 Wednesdays, culminating on March 22nd. The following stories are scheduled for email distribution in January of 2012. Each story will be posted at www.dailysciencefiction.com one week after its exclusive email distribution. The stories from January 2012 will appear in a Kindle edition available on Amazon.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 28, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Joseph Mallozzi interviews Marjorie M. Liu.
• The Coode St. Podcast The Second Annual Boxing Day Super Mega Podcast.
• Angela Slatter interviews Ben Julien.
• John Scalzi's The Big Idea features Ryan David Jahn.

• Louis Thirion (1923-2011).
• Richard Bessière (1923-2011).
• LEC names Pyr Best SFF Publisher or Imprint 2011.

Events

• Podcast: Manila International Literary Festival 2011: World Book Market vs. World Readership

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Posted by Charles Tan at Wednesday December 28, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

I sometimes think that the term "Golden Age" leads to the idea that all stories from that era are light or optimistic tales with valiant heroes and happy endings. When we think of Golden Age stories, we tend to think of the most famous stories, many of which came from technological optimists like Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke. The Golden Age bridges a time leading into the Second World War and the boom that followed and the stories reflect the changing mood, just as stories written today reflect the mood of our times. Yet for every Kimball Kinnison, there is a story with a hero more grounded in the realities of the time. And while there are many stories from the Golden Age that convey a sense of optimism, there are a fair number that give us a more realistic view of the world in which they were written.

All of this has been on my mind recently because I'd seen a number of discussions online where the question was asked why there aren't more positively slanted stories in science fiction today? It is a valid question, but one that often seems to be followed by "...like stories from the Golden Age." The type of story a reader desires is a matter of personal taste. But as one who has spent the entire year reading every single issue of Astounding from July 1939 through 1941 as part of my Vacation in the Golden Age, I feel obliged to point out that this perception of the Golden Age is inaccurate. There are plenty of dark stories with nasty characters, anti-heroes and bleak outlooks. Some of these stories are probably ones that you've even heard of.

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Posted by Jamie Todd Rubin at Tuesday December 27, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Courtesy of Penguin Books, SF Signal has a paperback copy of Deborah Harkness' debut novel, A Discovery of Witches, to give away to 1 lucky reader!

Here is what the book is about:

In a sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches became the "it" book of early 2011, bringing Deborah Harkness into the spotlight and galvanizing fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and the descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting story of magic and suspense.

And here's how you can enter for a chance to win:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 27, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Fantasy (T.J. McIntyre) interviews Naomi Novik.
• ReasonTV interviews Vernor Vinge (video).
• The Economist profiles Hugo Gernsback
• NPR interviews George Takei (audio). [via The Cultural Gutter]
• Cult Pop interviews Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (video).

News

• Call For Stories: The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Of The Year: Vol. Seven.
• Stone Telling Queer Issue Call for Submissions.
• Golden Gryphon Press 50%-off Everything Sale extended!

• On Tour: Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert to promote Sisterhood of Dune.
• SFR Brigade announces the SFR Pitch Tournament, a fun competition for writers of science fiction romance.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Tuesday December 27, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Directed & Animated by Ben Richardson & Daniel Bird, Seed is about "an egg and an apple build competing broadcast towers that vie for the attention of a transistor radio. With its complex characterization and narrative of animal evolution, competition and reproduction, SEED is a beautiful and sinister stop-motion story about the struggle to survive."

[via Cartoon Brew]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 26, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 26, 2011 at 12:11 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Agony Column Podcast interviews Jonathan Lethem.
• Nebula Awards interviews Jack McDevitt.

• University of California, Riverside. Tenured or Tenure-track Position, Science Fiction Media Studies.
• Mike Glyer wins Forry Award.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Monday December 26, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Taking time to spend with the family today. Until tomorrow...please enjoy these Christmas-themed covers from Galaxy.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 25, 2011 at 12:01 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Tad Williams' new short story collection, A Stark And Wormy Knight, is now available worldwide as an ebook for $4.99 (or equivalent) for one month

To romote and celebrate, the following story, which is not in the book, is being posted here at SF Signal and a few others for your holiday entertainment.

Happy Holidays!

Danny Mendoza counted his change three times in while the teacher talked about what they were all supposed to bring for the class winter holiday party tomorrow. It was really a Christmas party, at least in Danny's class, because that's what all the kids' families' celebrated. Danny had his party contribution covered. He had volunteered to bring napkins and paper plates and cups because his family had some left over from his little brother's birthday party with characters from Gabba Gabba Hey on them. He'd get teased about that, he knew, but he didn't want to ask his mother to make something because she was so busy with his little brothers and the baby, and now that Danny's stepfather Luis had lost his job they had a Money Situation. Danny could live with a little teasing.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 24, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

A very Mangy Christmas to all of you SF Signalites and your patchy dogs too! We're temporarily skipping a few episodes of Beware The Hairy Mango in order to deliver the four part pirate epic, The Careerist's Guide to the Sea, right up your chimney! It's the Christmas present you didn't know you didn't want! Dole it out slowly and cover half of Chanukah! No matter what religious affiliation your damned greedy kids enjoy, we've got you covered.

WARNING! I'll bet there's some dirty stuff in at least one of these shows!

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Posted by Matthew Sanborn Smith at Saturday December 24, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Infinity Plus eBooks has a great lineup of recently-published titles.

From a press release, here's a description of their 8 new titles...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 24, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Written

• @Daily Science Fiction: "The Black Spirits Which Rage In The Belly Of Rogue Locomotives" by Rahul Kanakia.


• @Daily Science Fiction: "A Stitch in Space-time" by Nicky Drayden.


• @Daily Science Fiction: "Lures, Hooks and Tails" by Adam Colston.


• @Fantasy Magazine: "Crystal Halloway and the Forgotten Passage" by Seanan McGuire.


• @Lightspeed: "The Parting Glass" by Andrew Penn Romine.


• @Tor.com: "Reading in Bed" by Joan Aiken.


• Now Posted: Lovecraft eZine - Issue #9.
  • "Elder Instincts" by W.H. Pugmire.
  • "Among the Dark Places of the Earth" by Julio Toro San Martin.
  • "At Best An Echo" by Bradley H. Sinor.
  • "Stone City, Old as Immeasurable Time" by Kelda Crich.
  • "Just An Accountant" by Henrik Sandbeck Harksen.

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Posted by David Tackett at Saturday December 24, 2011 at 12:14 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Interviews & Profiles

• Kindle Post interviews Amanda Hocking.
• My Bookish Ways interviews Lucy A. Snyder.
• Mur Lafferty interviews N.K. Jemisin (podcast).
• In conversation: William Gibson and Timothy Leary (from 1989). [via Boing Boing]

• Title Revealed for Lev Grossman's Third (and Final?) Magicians Book.
• NASA's Cassini Delivers More Striking Pictures From Saturn.

• 2012 Jack Williamson Lectureship will include guests Michael Cassutt, Carrie Vaughn and Connie Willis.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 24, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Happy holidays! There's geek music from just about everyone out there, and I know that I'm completely sick of it already. (Some radio stations had begun November 1st. Ugh.) Christmas is the dominant holiday, and unfortunately, I don't know of any geek music songs that really relate to other holidays, but if you know of any, let us know! So, to change things up, here's what I'll be listening to for the holidays:

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Posted by Andrew Liptak at Friday December 23, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

The first trailer for one of the biggest SciFi film releases of 2012...Prometheus directed by Ridley Scott.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 23, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

I caught the "Time Enough at Last" episode of The Twilight Zone recently -- loved that episode -- and have since learned that the episode was parodied on Futurama. And now, through the magic of YouTube, we can all enjoy it. This is a bit of a spoiler for the The Twilight Zone epsiode, but come on, the episode aired 52 years ago.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 23, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Fantasy Matters (Megan Kurashige) interviews Delia Sherman.
• Angry Robot Podcast interviews Adam Christopher. 
• SFFWRTCHT: An Interview With Author Moses Siregar III.
• Speculate! interviews Courtney Schafer (podcast).
• Amazon (Omnivoracious) interviews Christopher Paolini (video).
• Speculate interviews Courtney Schafer (podcast).

News

• Science Fiction Chat: A new Google+ page for science fiction discussion.
• Goodreads Giveaway: The Worker Prince.
• Biting Dog Publications has released Through Darkest America and the sequel, Dawn's Uncertain Light by Neal Barrett Jr. in ebook format.
• Jeffrey Carver Holiday eBook Sale. 

Events

• As part of the Fantastic Fiction free reading series, Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present James Patrick Kelly & Kelly Link Wednesday January 18th, 7pm at KGB Bar in NYC.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Friday December 23, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

It's been a terrible reading year for me, in terms of quantity. My reading this year has been a small fraction of what it was last year. As such, it feels like I'm falling more behind than usual.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 22, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

New Author Spotlight is a series designed to introduce authors with 3 books or less in the different SF/F subgenres. Today's spotlight shines on Lev A.C. Rosen!

His debut novel is All Men of Genius (Tor).

Here's the cover copy...

Inspired by Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, All Men of Genius takes place in a Victorian London familiar but fantastical, where mad science makes the impossible possible. 

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father's policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won't be easy, not with her friend Jack's constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke's young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet's alter ego, "Ashton." Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, the way Violet's pulse quickens whenever Ernest speaks to her, and a deadly legacy left by Ernest's father. She soon realizes that it's not just keeping her secret until the end of the year she has to worry about: it's surviving that long.

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Posted by Jessica Strider at Thursday December 22, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

It is eighty-three years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler took the name of Corrino and established himself as the first Emperor of a new Imperium. Great changes are brewing that will shape and twist all of humankind.

The war hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on politics and Salusa Secundus. The descendants of Abulurd Harkonnen Griffen and Valya have sworn vengeance against Vor, blaming him for the downfall of their fortunes. Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School on the jungle planet Rossak as the first Reverend Mother. The descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva have built Venport Holdings, using mutated, spice-saturated Navigators who fly precursors of Heighliners. Gilbertus Albans, the ward of the hated Erasmus, is teaching humans to become Mentats...and hiding an unbelievable secret.

The Butlerian movement, rabidly opposed to all forms of "dangerous technology," is led by Manford Torondo and his devoted Swordmaster, Anari Idaho. And it is this group, so many decades after the defeat of the thinking machines, which begins to sweep across the known universe in mobs, millions strong, destroying everything in its path.

Every one of these characters, and all of these groups, will become enmeshed in the contest between Reason and Faith. All of them will be forced to choose sides in the inevitable crusade that could destroy humankind forever....

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 22, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• ActuSF interviews Terri Windling.
• Angela Slatter interviews Sue Isle.
• Interview with Richard Lee Byers.
• Flickering Myth (Trevor Hogg) interviews Michael Owens.
• The Once and Future Podcast interviews Ari Marmell.
• SFWA (John Ottinger III) interviews Jack McDevitt.
• Samuel Montgomery-Blinn interviews Robert J. Sawyer.
• Erin Underwood interviews Trent Zelazny.

• Year's Best Fantasy 10 Table of Contents.
• Chicon 7 Extends Submission Deadline for Hugo Base Design Competition.
• Tor/Forge Books published 30 New York Times bestselling books in 2011.
• Science Fiction Research Association Review Issue 297 Now Available.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Thursday December 22, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

It is Christmas, Hanukkah, Mithras, Festivus, and Solstice Week...and that means it's time for the 2011 Bad Day Studio Holiday Card.

This one's a 5500 word beast of a tale about power outages, podcasting, and time travel called Candle Gardens.

It is dedicated to two friends of mine who died this year, but it goes out to anyone who found themselves in the path of nature, misfortune, or any force outside their control.

Happy Holidays to all the SF Signal readers and irregulars!

[Editors note: You, too, Jeff! Folks should also check out Jeff's holiday greetings from 2009 and 2010.]

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Posted by Jeff Patterson at Wednesday December 21, 2011 at 11:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Rome Quezade, Senior Editor of The Science Fiction Book Club, has lots of great book suggestions and gifts ideas for SF/F fans..

First, here are Rome's top SF/F picks...

And here are his gift suggestions for sf/f fans...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 21, 2011 at 11:50 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

You know when you're reading a science fiction book and you think to yourself how deep and meaningful it is? Yeah, well forget about those for now because this week the Kirkus Reviews Blog, I take a look at the other end of the literary spectrum: Popcorn Science Fiction Books.

Proponents of literary science fiction are often so fixated on proving the literary merits of sf, that it's easy to overlook a simple fact: reading science fiction can be fun. Sure, there is a certain kind of pleasure that can be derived from literature utilizing symbolism and dabbling in The Deeper Meaning of Life (DML) -- sf can easily be a vehicle for substantial food for thought - but there's another kind of pleasure that comes from books that forgo the DML in favor of unabashed action and adventure.

Check it out and see which books I name as fun popcorn sf books. And tell me your favorites, too!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 21, 2011 at 10:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

[Do you have an idea for a future Mind Meld? Please let us know!]

As this year draws to a close, a new year in genre beckons! We asked this week's panelists :

Here's what they said...

2012 is the year of the speculative movie, apparently. I saw the trailer for John Carter of Mars tonight, and...wow. I really hope this isn't an indicator for what we're going to be seeing. That being said, I'm a sucker for the pretty action/comic-based movies, and there's a slew of those coming up: The Avengers, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, Batman 3, Dark Tower, Hellboy 3.

(How seriously can you take my taste in movies? My guilty pleasures are Ice Age 4...The Expendables 2. Yeah, seriously. I'm shameless.)

For books: Saladin Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon is something to look forward to, and John Fultz adds to the Sword and Sorcery list with The Seven Princes. A few others I've got on my wish list are The Drowning Girl by Caitlyn Kiernan; The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin and The Blinding Light by Brent Weeks.

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Posted by Paul Weimer at Wednesday December 21, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Well, at least until the very end.

[via The Great Geek Manual]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 21, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

The film's a year away, but you can watch the trailer right now for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit...

What do you think?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 21, 2011 at 12:10 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• The Functional Nerds interview Karin Lowachee and Gabrielle Gantz (podcast).
• Galactic Suburbia Episode 49 (podcast). 
• Suvudu Take Five with Lucy Snyder.
• Lightspeed Magazine (John Nakamura Remy) interviews Andrew Penn Romine.
• The Corner interviews Chuck Wendig.
• Fireside Magazine interviews Tobias Buckell.
• John Scalzi's The Big Idea: John C. Wright.
• Audible SF/F interviews Robert J. Sawyer.
• Fantasy Faction interviews Richard Morgan.

• Found! 2 Earth-Size Alien Planets, the Smallest Exoplanets Yet.
• Geek's Guide Ending Its Run on io9.com.
• The First Sci-Fi Movie, A Trip to the Moon, Fully Restored.
• B&N Signs Exclusive Deal with Manga Publisher Viz Media.
• 50K Blog - A Few of my Favorite Things.
• Patrick Kelly's free Xmas edition of Strangeways.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Wednesday December 21, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Michael Swanwick has received the Hugo, Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards for his work. Stations of the Tide was honored with the Nebula Award and was also nominated for the Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke awards. "The Edge of the World," was awarded the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award in 1989. It was also nominated for both the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. "Radio Waves" received the World Fantasy Award in 1996. "The Very Pulse of the Machine" received the Hugo Award in 1999, as did "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" in 2000. His stories have appeared in Omni, Penthouse, Amazing, Asimov's, High Times, New Dimensions, Starlight, Universe, Full Spectrum, Triquarterly and elsewhere. Many have been reprinted in Best of the Year anthologies, and translated for Japanese, Dutch, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, French and Croatian publications. His books include In the Drift, an Ace Special; Vacuum Flowers; Griffin's Egg; Stations of the Tide; The Iron Dragon's Daughter, a New York Times Notable Book, and Jack Faust; his short fiction has been collected in Gravity's Angels, A Geography of Unknown Lands, Moon Dogs, Tales of Old Earth, The Dog Said Bow-Wow and a collection of short-shorts, Cigar-Box Faust and Other Miniatures. Dancing With Bears by Michael Swanwick will be released in trade paperback in January.

Bradley P. Beaulieu: Dancing with Bears tells the story of Darger and Surplus as they head from their adventures in London to a post-Utopian Moscow. I have a strong attraction to Russia, and my debut novel with Night Shade was based loosely off of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. I haven't, however, had the pleasure of visiting the country. What is it about Russia that attracted you to it?

Michael Swanwick: Russia captures the imagination. Pretty much everyone who visits it falls in love with it, and I was no exception. It's a beautiful country with a tragic history and a brooding aura of mystery about it. There are no facts in Russia, only conflicting conspiracy theories, which makes it a natural setting for fiction. Then, too, the Russians are serious people in a way that Americans are not. They possess the gravitas that good writing requires. There's always a sense that they're leaving things unsaid.

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Posted by Bradley P. Beaulieu at Tuesday December 20, 2011 at 11:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Calling all armchair art critics! It's time once again for another Book Cover Smackdown!

Here are today's contenders...

Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why.
Books shown here:

• Family Portrait by Graham Masterton (Artist: Unknown)


• Blood and Feathers by Lou Morgan (Artist: Simon Parr (a.k.a. Pye))


• Drink for the Thirst to Come by Lawrence Santoro (Artist: Anton Semenov)

NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or title links.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 20, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Here's a nicely done book trailer for A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

I am intrigued...

An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 20, 2011 at 9:55 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Helen Lowe is a novelist, poet, and interviewer. Her latest novel, The Heir of Night, the first of THE WALL OF NIGHT quartet, is published in the USA and internationally. Helen has twice won a Sir Julius Vogel Award, for Thornspell (Knopf) in 2009 and The Heir of Night in 2011. She posts every day on her Helen Lowe on Anything, Really blog and on the 1st of every month on the Supernatural Underground. To read more about Helen and her writing, click here.

So over the past couple of weeks, to help get through that run-up to Christmas-New Year craziness, I've been having some fun with epic fantasy, first "Making the Grand Tour" (aka the quest-journey) and secondly looking at the importance of the "Band of Brothers" when embarking on that quest. And this week, with the festive holiday nearly upon us, I felt I just had to look at "elves" with soul-sucking swords.

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Posted by Helen Lowe at Tuesday December 20, 2011 at 12:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

We saw the book trailer yesterday...now you get Stephen Hunt's Sliding Void as a free Kindle eBook for a limited time, until December 23rd.

Here's the synopsis:

Captain Lana Fiveworlds has a hell of a lot of problems.

She's sliding void in an ageing seven-hundred-year-old space ship, scrabbling around the edges of civilised space trying to find a cargo lucrative enough to pay her bills without proving so risky that it'll kill her. She's got an alien religious freak for a navigator, an untrustworthy android for a first mate, a disgraced lizard for a trade negotiator and a deserter from the fleet acting as her chief engineer.

And that was well before an ex-crewman turns up wanting Lana to rescue a barbarian prince from a long-failed colony world.

Unfortunately for Lana, the problems she doesn't know about are even more dangerous. In fact, they just might be enough to destroy Lana's rickety but much-loved vessel, the Gravity Rose, and jettison her and her crew into the void without a spacesuit.

But there's one thing you can never tell an independent space trader. That's the odds...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 20, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

There's a batch of new film trailers this week. F'risntance:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 20, 2011 at 12:10 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Fantasy (Wendy N. Wanger) interviews Seanan McGuire.
• She Never Slept interviews Laird Barron (podcast).
• The Center for Fiction panel Outsiders in/of Science Fiction and the Fantastic with Steve Berman, Carlos Hernandez, Andrea Hairston, Alaya Dawn Johnson and Samuel R. Delany with moderator Ellen Kushner (video).
• Publisher's Weekly (Adam Lipkin) interviews Julianna Baggott.
• Black Gate (Patty Templeton) interviews Jeff VanderMeer.
• The Bloghole interviews Philip Athans.
• The Zone (Jim Steel) interviews Juliet E McKenna.
• The Zone (Duncan Lawie) interviews Jaine Fenn.

News

• Limited Time Kindle eBook Deals include Nation by Terry Pratchett and The Breach by Patrick Lee.
• Eric James Stone is offering a free Kindle ebook every weekday.
• Old republic Star Wars video game prepares to launch. [via Paul Di Filippo]

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Posted by Charles Tan at Tuesday December 20, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: With cutting wit and sharp dialogue, this book of the living dead explodes with life.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In the world of tomorrow, every man, woman and child is infected with the potential to rise from the dead, but it is still a world ruled by political agenda that will stop at nothing. A sister and brother blogging team seek the truth and a little zombie action, in an ever-descending downward spiral.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Snarky and cutting wit; excellent future prognosis in a well realized zombie world.
CONS: First-person narrative lacked some of the descriptive exposition to better reveal the physical world; main antagonist is revealed a little late and is a tad obvious.
BOTTOM LINE: With a narrative that speaks to the reader you are drawn into a world of the future that seems so plausible it may have you looking up Doctor Kellis and checking the existence of the filovirus Marburg EX19, just to make sure you don't need to stock up on ammo and blood testing units. It's zombies, bloggers, politics, technology and medical revolutions all mixed into a bloody cocktail and poured for your enjoyment. Beware of snarky dialogue that will make you smirk.

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Posted by Clifton Hill at Monday December 19, 2011 at 1:59 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

Welcome back to Roll Perception Plus Awareness, my column here on SF Signal about roleplaying games and their place in a genre reader and writer's world. This time out, I am going to tag back to the hook in the last column, where I tackled Traveller:

Next time, we'll tackle a recent science fiction role playing game that explicitly tries to take up Traveller's mantle, to the point of even having the players and GM define the setting in game creation. *And* try to make it with harder science than Traveller, too. What is it? Stay tuned!

And now I can reveal that the game I had in mind is the indie RPG Diaspora.

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Posted by Paul Weimer at Monday December 19, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Here's the table of contents for Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead edited by Stephen Jones, an anthology of new and reprinted ghost stories:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 19, 2011 at 9:55 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Sliding Void, the first book in a new trilogy by Stephen Hunt, is described thusly:

Captain Lana Fiveworlds has a hell of a lot of problems.

She's sliding void in an ageing seven-hundred-year-old space ship, scrabbling around the edges of civilised space trying to find a cargo lucrative enough to pay her bills without proving so risky that it'll kill her. She's got an alien religious freak for a navigator, an untrustworthy android for a first mate, a disgraced lizard for a trade negotiator and a deserter from the fleet acting as her chief engineer.

And that was well before an ex-crewman turns up wanting Lana to rescue a barbarian prince from a long-failed colony world.

Unfortunately for Lana, the problems she doesn't know about are even more dangerous. In fact, they just might be enough to destroy Lana's rickety but much-loved vessel, the Gravity Rose, and jettison her and her crew into the void without a spacesuit.

But there's one thing you can never tell an independent space trader. That's the odds...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 19, 2011 at 9:50 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In episode 100 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester offers up part three in our special three-part podcast on Sword and Sorcery moderated by editor, author and publicist Jaym Gates.

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Posted by Patrick Hester at Monday December 19, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Here's some video of George R.R. Martin's visit to the offices of Audible where he is interviewed by Steve Feldberg.

[via SFFaudio]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 19, 2011 at 12:18 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 19, 2011 at 12:11 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Locus interviews Charlie Stross.
• Jonathan Strahan chats with Gary K. Wolfe (podcast).
• The Book Show interviews Neil Gaiman (podcast).
• If You're Just Joining Us interviews Douglas Lain (podcast).
• Adventures in SciFi Publishing interviews Dan Wells.
• WJBC talks to Brian Greene about the science of a parallel universe (podcast).

News

• Announcing the Angry Robot Sock Amnesty.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Monday December 19, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

A time travel experiment that was supposed to produce a window into time turns out to be a portal instead. I hate when that happens...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 18, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

[via Eoghann Irving]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 18, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Interviews & Profiles

• Boing Boing interviews Lisa Goldstein & Ayize Jama-Everett.
• Melville House Books interviews Rebecca Swift, founder of The Literary Consultancy, on changes in the industry and getting published.

• Comet "Harpoon" Being Test Fired in NASA Lab.
• Largest-Ever Simulation of the Universe Revealed. [via Gravity Lens]
• Superflies bred to be the first astronauts on Titan. [also via Gravity Lens]
• Obverse Books Quarterly, Year Two.
• Betsy Mitchell Editorial Services.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 18, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Sean Wallace has posted the table of contents for Rich Horton's upcoming anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2012 Edition:

1. "The Silver Wind" by Nina Allen (Interzone)
2. "Martian Heart" by John Barnes (Life on Mars)
3. "East of Furious" by Jonathan Carroll (Conjunctions 56)
4. "Late Bloomer" by Suzy McKee Charnas (Teeth)
5. "The Last Sophia" by C.S.E. Cooney (Strange Horizons)
6. "Walking Stick Fires" by Alan DeNiro (Asimov's)
7. "The Adakian Eagle" by Bradley Denton (Down These Strange Streets)
8. "Rampion" by Alexandra Duncan (F&SF)
9. "And Weep Like Alexander" by Neil Gaiman (Fables from the Fountain)
10. "Pug" by Theodora Goss (Asimov's)
11. "Widows in the World" by Gavin Grant (Strange Horizons)
12. "Ghostweight" by Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld)
13. "Choose Your Own Adventure" by Kat Howard (Fantasy)
14. "Younger Women" by Karen Joy Fowler (Subterranean)
15. "The Man Who Bridged the Mist" by Kij Johnson (Asimov's)
16. "The Sighted Watchmaker" by Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed)
17. "Mulberry Boys" by Margo Lanagan (Blood and Other Cravings)
18. "Canterbury Hollow" by Chris Lawson (F&SF)
19. "Some of Them Closer" by Marissa Lingen (Analog)
20. "The Summer People" by Kelly Link (Steampunk!)
21. "The Choice" by Paul McAuley (Asimov's)
22. "A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong" by K.J. Parker (Subterranean)
23. "Woman Leaves Room" by Robert Reed (Lightspeed)
24. "My Chivalric Fiasco" by George Saunders (Harper's)
25. "Fields of Gold" by Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse 4)
26. "The Smell of Orange Groves" by Lavie Tidhar (Clarkesworld)
27. "The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland, for a Little While" by Catherynne M. Valente (Tor.com)
28. "The Sandal-Bride" by Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy)
29. "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" by E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 17, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Here's a trailer (firected by J.J. Palomo) for a film that doesn't exist yet. It shows mechanical SWAT forces storming a robots-operated drug lab ans has a bit of a creepy vibe.

I, for one, welcome our robotic overlords...

[via Motionographer via Paul Di Filippo]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 17, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Written

• @Author's Site: "Nameless" by Helen Lowe.
• @Author's Site: "Digitall" by Stuart Clark.
• @Baen: "Pawn to King Four" by Timothy Zahn.
• @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Heartless" by Peadar Ó Guilín.
• @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The God Thieves" by Derek Künsken.
• @Cosmos: "All The Wrong Places" by Val Nolan.
• @Daily Science Fiction: "Substitution" by Brooke Juliet Wonders.
• @Daily Science Fiction: "Character is What You Are" by Michael R. Fletcher.
• @Fantasy Magazine: "Torn Away" by Joe R. Lansdale.
• @Lightspeed: "After the Days of Dead-Eye 'Dee" by Pat Cadigan.
• @Ray Gun Revival: "Jackson Bluffs" by Alice M. Roelke.
• @World SF Blog: "Kolkata Sea" by Indrapramit Das.

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Posted by David Tackett at Saturday December 17, 2011 at 12:14 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Interviews & Profiles

• @Locus Roundtable: Marie Brennan and Kari Sperring.
• The Browser interviews Lev Grossman.
• Literary Musings (Daniel Goodman) interviews Rob Zeigler.
• World Literature interviews Zoran Živkovic. [via The World SF Blog]
• Sci-Fi Fan Letter interviews Michael Rowe.
• Somerville Scout profiles New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA). [via Paul Di Filippo]

• Del Rey and Random House say goodbye to Betsy Mitchell.
• Christopher J. Garcia and Steven H. Silver have announced a new fanzine, Paint, Pen, and Pixel to showcase the excellent artwork done by fan artists.
• Czech census shows jump in 'Moravians' and 'Jedi Knights'. [via Paul Di Filippo]
• Microbes Found Thriving in Volcanic Mars-like Habitat.
• The December issue of The Lovecraft eZine is now online.
• Ellen Datlow last book sale of the year - get books for less than cover price.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 17, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

The winners of our The Grinding House by Kaaron Warren giveaway has been randomly chosen and notified.

Congratulations to:

• Stefano S.


• Ria B.


• Nuno F.

And thanks to everyone who entered.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 17, 2011 at 12:04 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: The best entry of the film series, thanks in no small part to Brad Bird's engaging direction, several outstanding set pieces, and a good deal of tongue-in-cheek humor.

RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: After breaking out of a Russian prison, secret agent Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Mission Force team set out to stop a Swedish peace proponent from stealing codes to a nuclear arsenal and detonate a device.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: A refreshing ensemble cast led by Tom Cruise, with Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, and Jeremy Renner adding much life to every scene; two soon-to-be-famous set pieces; Brad Bird's outstanding command of pace despite the movie's length.
CONS: Inane nuclear weapons storyline; not enough time developed to either the principal or most of the secondary villains; tone at times too slight and diffident.

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Posted by Derek Johnson at Friday December 16, 2011 at 11:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Silly, with too many subplots and not quite enough brain, this follow-up to 2009's Sherlock Holmes still manages the same level of energy and dynamism, helped in large part by Guy Ritchie's energetic pace and Robert Downey, Jr.'s return as the iconic sleuth.

RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: On the eve of Dr. John Watson's wedding night, Sherlock Holmes investigates the death of an Austrian prince, whom Holmes believes has been murdered by Professor James Moriarty.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: The chemistry between Jude Law and Robert Downey, Jr., again; the fully-realized Victorian London; outstanding battle aboard a train hurtling through the English countryside as well as the Holmes-Moriarty fight over Reichenbach Falls.
CONS: Lack of memorable lines; emphasis on action over intellect; a screenplay that makes too little use of deductive reasoning and far too many subplots; Guy Ritchie occasionally losing control as director.

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Posted by Derek Johnson at Friday December 16, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Born in Los Angeles, Harry Turtledove received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history from UCLA in 1977. In 1979, Turtledove published his first two novels, Wereblood and Werenight, under the pseudonym Eric G. Iverson. He continued to use the Iverson name until 1985 when he published his "Herbig-Haro" and "And So to Bed" stories under his real name. From 1986-1987, he served as the Treasurer for the Science Fiction Writers of America. Turtledove won the HOMer Award for Short Story in 1990 for "Designated Hitter", John Esthen Cook Award for Southern Fiction in 1993 for Guns of the South, the Hugo Award for Novella in 1994 for "Down in the Bottomlands". "Must and Shall" was nominated for the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novelette, the 1996 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and received an honorable mention for the 1995 Sidewise Award for Alternate History. The Two Georges also received an honorable mention for the 1995 Sidewise Award for Alternate History. The Worldwar series received a Sidewise Award for Alternate History Honorable Mention in 1996. On August 1, 1998, Turtledove was named honorary Kentucky Colonel while Guest of Honor at Rivercon XXIII in Louisville, KY.He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, mystery writer Laura Frankos. He can be found online at http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/turtledove.html.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt, the one behind Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Chat and twitter feed (@sffwrtcht), had the opportunity to interview Harry for SF Signal...

SFFWRTCHT: Let's start with the basics: Where did your interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy come from?

Harry Turtledove: I found it through things like the Oz books, the Mushroom Planet stories, and the Miss Pickerel yarns (when you're in the third grade, you don't realize how bad they are). When I was 11 or 12, I found Norton and Heinlein, and that was it. I was hooked for life.

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Posted by Bryan Thomas Schmidt at Friday December 16, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Welcome back to the Weekend Playlist!

Last week, we looked at music inspired by William Gibson, and it seems only logical to jump to a couple of other modern cyberpunk-ish shows and movies. Coming most readily to mind is Joss Whedon's fantastic show Dollhouse, and Christopher Nolan's film, Inception. Both look at the brain and its potential for stories.

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Posted by Andrew Liptak at Friday December 16, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Editor Sean Wallace has posted the table of contents for the upcoming anthology he co-edited with Rich Horton, Robots: The Recent A.I.:

1. "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov's)
2. "A Jar of Goodwill" by Tobias S. Buckell, Clarkesworld Magazine)
3. "Balancing Accounts" by James Cambias (F&SF)
4. "The Rising Waters" by Benjamin Crowell (Strange Horizons)
5. "The Shipmaker" by Aliette De Bodard (Interzone)
6. "I, Robot" by Cory Doctorow (The Infinite Matrix)
7. "Kiss Me Twice" by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov's)
8. "Algorithms for Love" by Ken Liu (Strange Horizons)
9. "Alternate Girl's Expatriate Life" by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz (Interzone)
10. "The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald (Asimov's)
11. "Houses" by Mark Pantoja (Lightspeed Magazine)
12. "Artifice and Intelligence" by Tim Pratt (Strange Horizons)
13. "Stalker" by Robert Reed (Asimov's)
14. "Droplet" by Benjamin Rosenbaum (F&SF)
15. "Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com)
16. "Under the Eaves" by Lavie Tidhar (original)
17. "Silently and Very Fast" by Catherynne M.Valente (WSFA Press / Clarkesworld)
18. "The Nearest Thing" by Genevieve Valentine (Lightspeed Magazine)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 16, 2011 at 12:18 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Hour of the Wolf interviews N.K. Jemisin (podcast).
• Alma Katsu interviews Gavin J. Grant & Kelly Link.
• Chuck Wendig interviews Thea Harrison.
• SFFWRTCHT transcript with Ellen Datlow.
• Chomu Press interviews Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
• Grasping for the Wind ([SFFWRTCHT]) A Chat With Author Brent Weeks.
• Mad Hatter interviews Mazarkis Williams.
• Article Detail interviews Shaun Tan. [via Paul Di Filippo] 

• RIP: T.J. Bass (1932-2011).
• Latest Pyr eZine: Steam, Brass, and Bullets in Deadwood.
• Amy And Rory To Leave Doctor Who In Series Seven.
• Superheroines Give Self Exams In Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.
• Now posted: StarShipSofa #216: Robert Sheckley. 

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Posted by Charles Tan at Friday December 16, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

The winners of our Ancient Blades Trilogy Giveaway have been chosen and notified. Each of them will be receiving copies of both Den of Thieves and A Thief in the Night.

Congratulations to:

• Doug G.


• James K.


• Margaret M.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 16, 2011 at 12:04 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

"The literatures of the fantastic are not metaphors. They are the tale itself." - John Clute

When I started writing this column in January, I had no idea what it was going to be about. I wanted to write a weekly column to chew over issues of genre, reading protocols, and the literary field of production as I saw them. Now, almost a year later, I am still not sure what it's all about, but I have learned a lot about commentary and criticism and the imagination and reading and reflection through the writing of it. As the year winds down and I prepare to take a few weeks off (less for the holidays than to work on other stuff and spend more extra time with the kidlet), I want to consider what I have learned from a year of writing about fantastic and weird literature and at the same time talk about some of the fiction that has helped shape my thinking.

So far this year I have read about 50 books, scores of articles, several dozen individual short stories, and a lot of blog posts. Most of that reading was for this column or for reviews and articles for publication, so this year was much more about reading for writing. That lensing was a significant shift for me; while I had often read as a writer (of fiction and as student), this year I read to think about reading and writing as a practice, as a social act, and as an imaginative exercise. Looking at my reading from this angle turned out to be very educational; instead of reading as an undifferentiated (yet very subjective) "writer" I was able to think about the processes and ideas that surround that position. This has gradually altered (mutated, perhaps) my ideas about genre, narrative, and the interplay between texts and their reception, and I think begun to enrich how I read and write.

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Posted by John H. Stevens at Thursday December 15, 2011 at 11:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In episode 99 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester sits down to chat with author Elizabeth Moon.

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Posted by Patrick Hester at Thursday December 15, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

I came across this video in a recent YouTube binge...uh, I mean, during some research for a new story...or something...

Anyway, I was blown away. I love the violin, love the music (yeah, I'm a Zelda fan, but you don't have to be to love this) and was impressed with the production value.

Take a listen below:

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Posted by Patrick Hester at Thursday December 15, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Under the Covers profiles Joan Swan and interviews Marjorie Liu.
• Omnivoracious (Jeff VanderMeer) interviews Haruki Murakami.
• SFFWRTCHT interviews Sarah Chorn.
• Fireside Magazine interviews Ken Liu.
• Flames Rising interviews Heroes of Neverwinter.
• Starburst Magazine (Graeme Reynolds) interviews Tim Lebbon.
• SFFWRTCHT (Bryan Thomas Schmidt) interviews Sarah Chorn.

• New Teaching with Brian Selznick Website Launches with a Virtual Field Trip to the American Museum of Natural History.
• Russell Hoban obituary.
• T.J. Bass (1932-2011).
• Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation - new 'Futures' story is now up.
• Supermassive black hole will 'eat' gas cloud. [via Paul Di Filippo]
• Now available from Book View Cafe: Skye Object 3270a by Linda Nagata.
• Arc, edited by Simon Ings, is a forthcoming magazine about the future from the makers of New Scientist.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Thursday December 15, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The United States has succumbed to climate change, and the country has become a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The government is a tool used to distribute aid, while Satori, a corporation and living entity, has plans of her own to survive and thrive in the new environment. When a designer escapes Satori, an agent is brought in to retrieve the post-human to help break the entity's hold on the country.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Compelling; dark view of the future with some fantastic imagery and concepts.
CONS: Story is splintered and frustrating throughout.
BOTTOM LINE: A disappointing debut novel.

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Posted by Andrew Liptak at Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 11:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

This week at the Kirkus Reviews Blog, the second of a two-part look at zombie fiction, focusing on zombie novels.

Unlike most portrayals, the zombie apocalypse is not always so sudden. Dust and Frail by Joan Frances Turner imagines a world where humans both alive and undead have co-existed side-by-side for centuries...a delicate balance now threatened by the onset of a new illness. In Daryl Gregory's Raising Stony Mayhall, a woman discovers a zombie baby in 1968 and raises it as her own. James Knapp's State of Decay features corpses technologically regenerated to handle society's dirtiest jobs...

Head on over and see if your favorites are listed...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 9:58 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Just the other day I was thinking to myself how wonderful it would be if I could escape the everyday pressures of my workaday life by enclosing myself in a sensory deprivation tank. Only instead of silence I would listen to the ambient engine noise of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D. And instead of a sensory deprivation tank, I would be sitting in front of a web browser showing a YouTube video.

Thanks to Laughing Squid for making my dreams come true...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 9:55 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

[Do you have an idea for a future Mind Meld? Please let us know!]

As 2011 draws to a close, it's time for our annual roundup of SF/F consumed during the year! So we asked a gallery of genre people about what they consumed and liked.

Here's what they said...
[This is Part II. Also see Part I.]

My favorite actual science fiction movie this year was "Paul". The trailers did the movie a disservice as it was actually extremely funny. I am totally the target audience. "Super 8" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" were also among my favorite sci-fi films of the year.

As far as my favorite TV shows, I'd have to say "Terra Nova" and "American Horror Story". "Terra Nova" feels like Star Trek with out space, ships, and a military presence. I absolutely believe that Braga and Echevarria have everything to do with this. It's one of the reasons I like the show so much. I miss this type of story-telling. It also feels like they all sat in a room and tried to figure out what makes Cat happy. "American Horror Story" is not science fiction per se but I like it because it's so different from anything on TV today. Every episode has something new and unexpected.

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Posted by Paul Weimer at Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

For a limited time, you can get free Kindle versions of these four eBooks by Norman Spinrad:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

OK, as book trailers go...this is freakin' cool.

Blue Remembered Earth is the first volume in a monumental trilogy tracing the Akinya family across more than ten thousand years of future history...out beyond the solar system, into interstellar space and the dawn of galactic society.

One hundred and fifty years from now, in a world where Africa is the dominant technological and economic power, and where crime, war, disease and poverty have been banished to history, Geoffrey Akinya wants only one thing: to be left in peace, so that he can continue his studies into the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But Geoffrey's family, the vast Akinya business empire, has other plans. After the death of Eunice, Geoffrey's grandmother, erstwhile space explorer and entrepreneur, something awkward has come to light on the Moon, and Geoffrey is tasked - well, blackmailed, really - to go up there and make sure the family's name stays suitably unblemished. But little does Geoffrey realise - or anyone else in the family, for that matter - what he's about to unravel. Eunice's ashes have already have been scattered in sight of Kilimanjaro. But the secrets she died with are about to come back out into the open, and they could change everything. Or shatter this near-utopia into shards .

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• The Functional Nerds interviews Cherie Priest and Sam Sykes (podcast).
• Lightspeed (Erin Stocks) interviews Pat Cadigan.
• Angela Slatter interviews Rae Carson.
• Gail Carriger interviews Adam Christopher.
• Suite101.com profiles John Wyndham.
• Pornokitsch interviews Lev Grossman.

• The 12 Blogs of Christmas: One. The This Time Next Year Game.
• TransAtlantic Fan Fund Announces 2011 Winner.
• Helen Lowe Wins Creative Writing Residency.
• Fantastic Filipino Speculative Fiction - Alternative Alamat Now Available.

• Book Tour info for Among Others by Jo Walton.
• Book Tour info for Arctic Rising by Tobias Buckell.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Helen Lowe is a novelist, poet, and interviewer. Her latest novel, The Heir of Night, the first of THE WALL OF NIGHT quartet, is published in the USA and internationally. Helen has twice won a Sir Julius Vogel Award, for Thornspell (Knopf) in 2009 and The Heir of Night in 2011. She posts every day on her Helen Lowe on Anything, Really blog and on the 1st of every month on the Supernatural Underground. To read more about Helen and her writing, click here.

"...And Crispin...[Day]...shall ne'er go by
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered -
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother..."

If anyone doubts epic fantasy's strong and enduring roots in story, this quote from Shakespeare's Henry V (the famous St Crispin's Day speech made on the eve of Agincourt) must dispel their error. For the famous quote, "we band of brothers", speaks to the heart of epic fantasy just as much as the quest-journey of my previous "Having Fun With..." post.

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Posted by Helen Lowe at Tuesday December 13, 2011 at 1:59 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

Over the last year, as I've made my way through my Vacation in the Golden Age, I've read stories by a number of writers who I'd never heard of before: Arthur McCann, Phillip St. James, Lee Gregor, Caleb Saunders, Frederick Engelhardt, Kurt von Rachen, Rene La Fayette, Marice G. Hugi, E. Waldo Hunter, and Robert Willey to name just ten or so. Often times, one of the stories by these authors will be particularly striking, and it makes you wonder what happened to them? Why can't I find other stories by that author? Did they just up and quit after a few short pieces in Astounding? Or is something else going on?

As it turns out, in most cases something else is going on. It's been said that a professional fiction writer is a paid liar and so it should come as no surprise that in some instances, even the name that appears on their byline is made up. And so it is for each of the names mentioned above:

Arthur McCann is the pen name John W. Campbell used for non-fiction articles in Astounding. Phillip St. James is Lester del Rey. Lee Gregor is Milton Rothman. Caleb Saunders is Robert Heinlein. Engelhardt, von Rachen and La Fayette are all incarnations of L. Ron Hubbard. Maurice G. Hugi is Eric Frank Russell. E. Waldo Hunter is Theodore Sturgeon. And Robert Willey is the pen name that Willy Ley used for fiction, in particular, a great story called "Fog" (Astounding, December 1940). One name I didn't mention because it has become a well-known pseudonym is Anson MacDonald, a.k.a. Robert Heinlein.

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Posted by Jamie Todd Rubin at Tuesday December 13, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Puts most postapocalyptic novels to shame by facing a reality not commonly dealt with.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Danny McCoyne uses his unique ability to control his murderous rage as a survival tactic as the human population dwindles even further.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: A chillingly portrayed non-future; disturbingly compelling; captivating story.
CONS: An implied glimmer of hope at the very end slightly undermines the otherwise stark portrayal of mankind's approaching extinction.
BOTTOM LINE: A worthy end to a fantastic (and recommended) series

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 13, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Q: What happens when you mix sci-fi songster John Anealio with the holiday season?

A: You get this awesome digital album: Seasons Geekings.

With little more than an alternate-tuned acoustic guitar and a dog-eared copy of The Hobbit, Sci-Fi Songwriter John Anealio composes and performs geeky anthems for writers, librarians, lovers of Science Fiction, Best Buy customers, and robots. His music sounds like John Mayer, Weezer, and James Taylor playing Dungeons and Dragons together on their iPhones.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 13, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

First, Shatner takes a swipe at Star Wars. Then Carrie Fisher takes a swing at Star Trek. Shatner retaliates...

People, can't we just all get along?

Listen to George:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 13, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

There is still some time left for you to enter our giveaway of The Grinding House by Kaaron Warren, but hurry, time is running out!

See the original post for details on how to enter.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 13, 2011 at 12:11 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Fantasy Book Critic (Mihir Wanchoo) interviews Kelly Gay.
• The World SF Blog (Nick Wood) interviews Tom Learmont.
• Command Line interviews Cory Doctorow (podcast).
• Fantasy Magazine (Jennifer Konieczny) interviews Joe R. Lansdale.
• SFWA Nebula Awards interview (Tehani Wessely) with Pearl North.
• Writing Excuses with Mary Robinette Kowal, Ellen Kushner, and Delia Sherman (podcast).
• Weird Fiction Review interviews Steve Rasnic Tem.
• On the Flipside interviews Paolo Chikiamco.
• Fantasy Faction interviews Patrick Rothfuss.

• Gilbert Adair (1944-2011).
• NASA ignores Arthur C. Clarke, may attempt landings on Europa. [via Paul Di Filippo]
• Steve Davidson will be the new proprietor of SF Awards Watch, Kevin Standlee revealed on the SMOFs list.
• Thomas Ligotti -- The Agonizing Resurrection Of Victor Frankenstein Back in Stock.
• Ruler of Naught by Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge Coming December 27 from Book View Cafe.
• The speculative fiction anthology Angel Body is half price on Amazon UK until Monday 19 December 2011.
• Renegade Arts Entertainment is offering one of every comic book and graphic novel Renegade has published in 2011 for less than $20, until December 15th.
• Missing Doctor Who episodes found.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Tuesday December 13, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

James L. Sutter is the author of the novel Death's Heretic and co-creator of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game campaign setting. His short stories have appeared in such publications as Escape Pod, Starship Sofa, Apex Magazine, and the #1 Amazon bestseller Machine of Death, and his anthology Before They Were Giants pairs the first published stories of SF luminaries with new interviews and writing advice from the authors themselves. In addition, James has written numerous roleplaying game supplements and is the Fiction Editor for Paizo Publishing. For more information, check out jameslsutter.com or follow him on Twitter at @jameslsutter.

Far too often, I run into authors who assume that science should be left to science fiction, on the grounds that fantasy is inherently science's opposite. In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. Even if your world is filled with boundless magic, there are still natural laws governing ninety-nine percent of your characters' daily activities. And by injecting a little science into your setting, you can create far more interesting worlds than if you attempt to totally revamp reality from the ground up. Truth, as they say, is still stranger than fiction.

Whether you're creating science fiction or fantasy, one of the easiest ways to inject some strangeness into your setting is to take a page from astronomy. As one of the designers for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game campaign setting, and in particular the one in charge of designing that setting's solar system, I've found the tactic extremely useful, and several of the examples presented below ended up in the resulting sourcebook, Distant Worlds. By tweaking your planet even slightly off Earth-standard, you can radically alter your world, and the resulting changes may lead you and the cultures who reside there in directions you had never expected. When creating a new planet, here are a few factors to consider.

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Posted by James L. Sutter at Monday December 12, 2011 at 1:59 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The long building conflict between Jerzy and his allies, and the forces behind the threat to the Lands Vin comes to a head as long laid plans come to fruition

MY RATING:

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Character building, world building, and the other strengths Gilman shows in the first two volumes remain in force.
CONS: The ending might be a bit too abrupt with a disconcerting lack of customary denouement. The motivations of the antagonists need work.
VERDICT: An excellent finishing wine to the Vineart War Trilogy

The Shattered Vine is the third and final volume of Laura Anne Gilman's Vineart War Trilogy, following the nebula nominated Flesh and Fire and Weight of Stone, both previously reviewed in this space.

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Posted by Paul Weimer at Monday December 12, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

There is still some time left for you to enter our Ancient Blades giveaway, but hurry, time is running out!

See the original post for details on how to enter.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 12, 2011 at 9:55 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Lou Anders

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 12, 2011 at 9:45 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Martha Wells notes that her novel The Cloud Roads is available as a free Kindle eBook download.

Here's the book description:

Moon has spent his life hiding what he is--a shape-shifter able to transform himself into a winged creature of flight. An orphan with only vague memories of his own kind, Moon tries to fit in among the tribes of his river valley, with mixed success. Just as Moon is once again discovered and cast out by his adopted tribe, he discovers a shape-shifter like himself... someone who seems to know exactly what he is, who promises that Moon will be welcomed into his community.What this stranger doesn't tell Moon is that his presence will tip the balance of power... that his extraordinary lineage is crucial to the colony's survival... and that his people face extinction at the hands of the dreaded Fell.Moon must overcome a lifetime of conditioning in order to save and himself... and his newfound kin.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 12, 2011 at 9:44 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In episode 98 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester offers up part two of a special three-part podcast on Sword and Sorcery moderated by editor, author and publicist Jaym Gates. (See also: Part 1.)

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Posted by Patrick Hester at Monday December 12, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 12, 2011 at 12:11 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• The Agony Column interviews Cecelia Holland (podcast).
• The Outer Alliance interviews Zen Cho, Shveta Thakrar, and Patty Templeton (podcast).
• Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe interviews Paul Cornell.
• Hito Magazine (Youchan Ito) interviews Zoran Zivkovic.
• Suvudu (Matt Staggs) interviews Bryan Thomas Schmidt (video).

News

• Offered: 25% of all sales from the Philip José Farmer Estate - through 12-15-11 go to Magick4Terri!
• Extra Dies On Dark Knight Rises Set.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Monday December 12, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

New Author Spotlight is a series designed to introduce authors with 3 books or less in the different SF/F subgenres.

Today's spotlight shines on Mazarkis Williams!

Mazarkis' debut novel is: The Emperor's Knife, published by Night Shade Books.

Here's the cover copy...

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Posted by Jessica Strider at Sunday December 11, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Before Jamin Winans became known for Ink, he shot this awesome short film called Spin that is wonderful in so many ways. No wonder it's the winner of over 40 film festival awards worldwide.

[via Film School Rejects]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 11, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: If you're not liberal in your thinking, run from this book. If you are, it's a great read.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Hannah Payne, a young woman with a fundamentalist Christian upbringing, must learn how to navigate the world as a Chrome, a criminal whose body has been dyed red to denote her status as a murderer.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Intense character development; fascinating - if terrifying - world; positive message at the end; thought provoking.
CONS: Very dark tone; some disturbing scenes (religious/near-violent).
BOTTOM LINE: Not for the faint of heart, this is a good thought-provoking read about personal rights, the justice system and being your own person.

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Posted by Jessica Strider at Saturday December 10, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Gardner Dozois has posted the table of contents for his upcoming anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 10, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I do know I want more of it.

[via It's Art Mag]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 10, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Subterranean has posted the table of contents for their upcoming Winter issue:

• "Water Can't Be Nervous" by Jonathan Carroll
• "The Way the Red Clown Hunts You" by Terry Dowling
• "The Least of the Deathly Arts" by Kat Howard
• "Seeräuber" by Maria Dahvana Headley
• "Drunken Moon" by Joe R. Lansdale
• "Chicago Bang Bang" by C.E. Murphy
• "Treasure Island: a Lucifer Jones Story" by Mike Resnick
• "The Last Song You Hear" by David J. Schow
• "Three Lilies and Three Leopards" by Tad Williams (a new 20,000 word novella)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 10, 2011 at 12:18 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Written

• @AE: "Billy O'Bannon's Time Travel Dating Service" by Joseph L. Kellogg.
• @Anotherealm: "Ah, Spring" by Keith Kennedy.
• @Daily Science Fiction: "The Girl in the Next Room is Crying Again" by Peter M Ball.
• @Daily Science Fiction: "A Puddle of Dead" by Grayson Bray Morris.
• @Fantasy Magazine: "Her Lover's Golden Hair" by Nike Sulway.
• @GigaNotaSaurus: "The House of Aunts" by Zen Cho.
• @Kasma: "Life Plus Seventy" by Ken Liu.
• @Lightspeed: "The Sighted Watchmaker" by Vylar Kaftan.
• @Strange Horizons: "Penelope Napolitano and the Butterflies" by Aliya Whiteley.
• @Tor: "Glitches" by Marissa Meyer.
• @Wily Writers: "The Deepest Hour" by Tina Lonergan.

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Posted by David Tackett at Saturday December 10, 2011 at 12:14 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Interviews & Profiles

• Sci-Fi Fan Letter interviews Lev A.C. Rosen.
• SciFiChick interviews Marjorie M. Liu.
• Staffer's Musings interviews Bradley Beaulieu.
• Speculate interviews artist Mark Winters (podcast).
• The Bat Segundo Show interviews William Kennedy.
• SpecFicMedia interviews Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris (video).
• Ray Gun Revival (Bryan Thomas Schmidt) interviews Ken McConnell.
• Exploratory Engineering and Radical Abundance interviews Dr. Eric Drexler. [via Paul Di Filippo]

• J.A. Konrath Versus Hachette. (See also: Eisler & Konrath Vs. Hachette.
• Amazon Is Recruiting Authors For Its eBook Library.
• Rosa Goes From Online Sci-Fi Short To Major Motion Picture.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 10, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Courtesy of the publisher 40K, SF Signal has 3 eBook copies of Kaaron Warren's horror story The Grinding House to give away to 3 lucky SF Signal readers!

Here's the description:

A horror story set in a futuristic society where people face an epidemic that's not only infecting its food supply, but every living being in it, too. And no matter how hard you try, you can't get away from it. Of course. The Grinding House will be there to pick up the pieces, bones and all.

And here's how you can get it...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 09, 2011 at 12:30 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

Daniel Abraham is the author of the critically acclaimed The Dagger and the Coin series. He also writes as MLN Hanover and (with Ty Franck) as James SA Corey. He has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. His forthcoming books include The King's Blood and Caliban's War. He lives in New Mexico

I saw you tonight. You were walking with your cabal from the university to the little bar across the street where the professors and graduate students fraternize. You were in the dark, plain clothes that you think of as elegant. I have always thought they made you look pale. I was at the newsstand. I think that you saw me, but pretended not to. I want to say it didn't sting.

Please, please, darling let us stop this. This artificial separation between us is painful, it is undignified, and it fools no one. In company, we sneer at each other and make those cold, cutting remarks. And why? You laugh at me for telling the same stories again and again. I call you boring and joyless. Is it wrong, my dear, that I hope the cruel things I say of you cut as deeply as the ones you say of me?

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Posted by Daniel Abraham at Friday December 09, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Welcome back to the Weekend Playlist!

This week, we're going to take a look at something fairly specific: songs inspired by William Gibson's various works. While compiling my master list, I was surprised at the number of artists who have been specifically inspired by him. In retrospect, it's an easy thing to see: Gibson's vision is far reaching, and his formative stories that deal with cyberpunk have many implications in a number of fields.

BONUS: Not all these songs are available in Spotify, but the ones that are can be listed to via this songlist: Songs Inspired by William Gibson

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Posted by Andrew Liptak at Friday December 09, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Well lookee here.

Back in 1966, Harry Harrison collected the all of the editorials from Astounding Science Fiction (now known as Analog) written by then-Editor John W. Campbell and published them as John W. Campbell, Collected Editorials From Analog.

This book is available on the Internet Archive, freely downloadable in a variety of formats.

Enjoy!

[via eBookNewser]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 09, 2011 at 12:20 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Brit Mandelo has posted the table of contents for her upcoming anthology Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction, which will be released by Lethe Press in May 2012:

1. "Sea of Cortez" by Sandra McDonald
2. "Eye of the Storm" by Kelley Eskridge
3. "Fisherman" by Nalo Hopkinson
4. "Pirate Solutions" by Katie Sparrow
5. "'A Wild and a Wicked Youth'" by Ellen Kushner
6. "Prosperine When it Sizzles" by Tansy Rayner Roberts
7. "The Fairy Cony-Catcher" by Delia Sherman
8. "Palimpsest" by Catherynne M. Valente
9. "Another Coming" by Sonya Taaffe
10. "Bleaker Collegiate Presents an All-Female Production of Waiting for Godot" by Claire Humphrey
11. "The Ghost Party" by Richard Larson
12. "Bonehouse" by Keffy R. M. Kehrli
13. "Sex with Ghosts" by Sarah Kanning
14. "Spoiling Veena" by Keyan Bowes
15. "The Metamorphosis Bud" by Liu Wen Zhuang
16. "Schrodinger's Pussy" by Terra LeMay

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 09, 2011 at 12:12 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Booktopia interviews Jennifer Egan.
• Geekdad (Ethan Gilsdorf) interviews Shelly Mazzanoble and Stephen H. Segal.
• Rick Novy interviews Ian Creasey.
• Galactic Suburbia Episode 48 (podcast).
• Grasping for the Wind (SFFWRTCHT) A Chat With Author Greg van Eekhout.
• Horror Writers Association interviews Steve Alten.
• AZ Central profiles Gini Koch.
• Locus Roundtable on Becoming Assigned Reading with Karen Burnham, Theodora Goss and Siobhan Carroll.
• The Future And You podcast on 'When Did Science Become a Bad Word?' featuring Jim Craig, James Maxey, Chris Berman, Justin Chung, Emlee Vassilos, Terry W. Erwin II , and Stephen Euin Cobb.

• Prime Price Drop.
• The Corpse-Rat King - a New Open Door Acquisition.
• Jerry Robinson 1922-2011.
• Justice Department investigating e-book pricing.
• It's Official: Fantasy Magazine Merges with Lightspeed.
• Kelley Armstrong Ebooks for $.99.
• Angry Robot Books signs Lee Battersby (The Corpse-Rat King).
• Boing Boing featured in anthology of best science writing on the Web.
• Pyr: Best SFF Press for eBooks.
• New cross-genre fiction venue, Fireside Mag, being funded via Kickstarter.
• Del Rey and Spectra Publishing Schedule -- 2012.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Friday December 09, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

David Chandler is the author of the Ancient Blades Trilogy, comprising Den of Thieves, A Thief in the Night, and Honor Among Thieves, all of which are available now from Harper Voyager. There are elves and magic swords in his books, but he promises they're especially gritty, and not what you'd expect.

The rise of "Low Fantasy" has surprised many of the genre's traditional pundits. The books of George R. R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie, for instance, have captured enormous audiences even though they don't look much like what fantasy used to be. There is very little magic in these books. There are no grand quests, no singing swords, and definitely no elves.

The "High Fantasies" which dominated the market for so long-most of them imitators, to one degree or another, of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien-seem to be receding from view. At a panel at New York Comic Con recently the question came up as to why this is happening. Why do people want gritty fantasy now? Why are they turning up their noses at the elves they used to love?

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Posted by David Chandler at Thursday December 08, 2011 at 1:59 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

From filmmaker Robert Dastoli:

The short is based on the Tomorrowland episodes of the Disneyland TV series (specifically Man in Space), showcasing artistic projections and live action dramatizations of a flying saucer invasion. It's design comes entirely from the early space race and cold war period.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 08, 2011 at 1:50 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

"The problem is that this is a book that means well towards sci-fi; Atwood wants to take it seriously, and wants her readers to take it seriously, yet she can never quite conquer her own ambivalence towards the genre." - Paul Kincaid

"It may be that like a lobster in a trap who cannot find the exit door, Atwood cannot work her way out of the perplex of ill-judged subjectivity in which she had trapped herself: perhaps because, as with any statement of belief as opposed to argument, her "definition" of SF is as unfalsifiable as any sermon." - John Clute

"Margaret Atwood is bedeviled by genre -- or possibly by others' notions of genre." - John Williford

A re-reading of the first part of the book, where much of the discussion of SF and imagination takes place, inspires me to think that Atwood is not interested in current debates over the definition of genre or the contemporary constitution of the literary field. This book is not an apologia for her stance, nor is it some revelatory confessional about her secret history with SF. This is a book designed to show the reader what is going on in Atwood's head and what effect her encounters with SF have had on her creative process and her own writing, and how these inform her critical position, which she admits in the book is not an academic one. This book is not designed to answer the Big Question of SF's relationship to the human imagination, but serves rather as Atwood's own very personal take on what she had learned about the human imagination from her experiences in reading and thinking with SF. This book is not a rapproachment or a deep analysis; it is a collection (of pieces written over a number of years) brought together to show readers where Atwood is coming from, and to demonstrate the human imagination's workings through the writing and thinking of one author.

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Posted by John H. Stevens at Thursday December 08, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Watch an exclusive jaw-dropper prequel to the 2011 Christmas Special, written by Steven Moffat and starring Matt Smith. , Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe which
premieres this Sunday Dec 25 at 9/8c on BBC America.

In Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe, it's Christmas Eve, 1938, when Madge Arwell comes to the aid of an injured Spaceman Angel as she cycles home. He promises to repay her kindness -- all she has to do is make a wish.

Three years later, a devastated Madge escapes war-torn London with her two children for a dilapidated house in Dorset. She is crippled with grief at the news her husband has been lost over the channel, but determined to give Lily and Cyril the best Christmas ever. The Arwells are surprised to be greeted by a madcap caretaker whose mysterious Christmas gift leads them into a magical wintry world. Here, Madge will learn how to be braver than she ever thought possible. And that wishes can come true...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 08, 2011 at 9:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In episode 97 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester sits down to chat with author and editor Maurice Broaddus.

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Posted by Patrick Hester at Thursday December 08, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

I want a job where I can make videos like this all the time.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 08, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• I Smell Sheep interviews Marjorie M. Liu.
• USA Today (Pamela Clare) interviews Marjorie M. Liu.
• Helen Lowe interviews Brandon Sanderson.
• Apex Magazine (Stephanie Jacob) interviews Jennifer Pelland.
• Speculate! interviews Mark Winters (podcast).

• James Lovegrove signs up for "man vs. the gods" military SF sequel.
• Book View Cafe releases Judith Tarr's Lord of the Two Lands eBook.
• Literary Legend Margaret Atwood Thinks Twitter Boosts Literacy.
• Orion/Gollancz Charity Auction for the Samaritans.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Thursday December 08, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Michaele Jordan was born in Los Angeles, bred in the Midwest, educated in Liberal Arts at Bard College and in computers at Southern Ohio College. She has worked at a kennel and a Hebrew School and AT&T. She's a bit odd. Now she writes. Her previous novel, Blade Light, a charming traditional fantasy, was serialized in Jim Baen's Universe and is now available as an ebook at Amazon or at iBooks. Her next novel, Mirror Maze, is available for pre-order from Amazon.

Halloween, with its horror movies, is gone, and Thanksgiving, too. (Although there are few Thanksgiving movies; it tends more to serial marathons. Buffy and Babylon V and Star Trek Any Generation are all playing somewhere, like family come to help us hang out on the sofa over the weekend.) But now we must face "the bleak December." If you're like me....

But odds are good, you're not like me. Because I am a grinch. I say it without shame., even with pride. For I am no ordinary grinch-I am a great and glorious grinch. There's a statue of me in the Bah Humbug Hall of Fame. Each year, I send out a few decorously non-sectarian holiday cards, place a tasteful menorah on my mantle, and step back wondering if I've gone too far. I don't want the neighbors to think I condone seasonal excess; they've already glitzed up their houses like so many used car lots.

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Posted by Michaele Jordan at Wednesday December 07, 2011 at 1:59 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

Sad news...

Bob Sabella, the editor of 170 issues of the fanzine Visions of Paradise a well as the OE of FAPA, died on December 3. Earlier in the week, he had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. In 2000, he published the book Who Shaped Science Fiction? His last published piece was in the mock section of Argentus 11.

[via Steven H. Silver]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 07, 2011 at 1:44 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

This week at the Kirkus Reviews Blog, the first of a two-part look at zombie fiction, focusing on zombie short fiction and breakthrough zombie novels.

Shamble over feast your hunger! (See what I did there?)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 07, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

[Do you have an idea for a future Mind Meld? Please let us know!]

As 2011 draws to a close, it's time for our annual roundup of SF/F consumed during the year! So we asked a gallery of genre people about what they consumed and liked.

Here's what they said...
[This is Part I]

I'm not going to name all the hundreds of short stories I read, but the single best -- which I missed when it first came out -- was Kij Johnson's "Shroedinger's Cathouse".

I haven't watched a TV series since 1982, so I can't help you there, and I haven't been to the movies in over a year, so ditto.

I saw and greatly enjoyed revivals of the following plays, most of which I'd seen in New York the first time around: Stephen Sondheim's INTO THE WOODS, Samuel Becket's WAITING FOR GODOT, Gelbart and Coleman's CITY OF ANGELS, and Sondheim's ASSASSINS.

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Posted by Paul Weimer at Wednesday December 07, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In a week that has already seen four separate science fiction books get optioned for film, it shouldn't be a surprise that there's a fifth...especially when the author is philip K. Dick, the author whose novels have more film adaptations than any other writer I can think of.

The newest PKD book to be optioned is 1966's Now Wait for Last Year. According to Variety, Lila 9th and Electric Shepherd Productions have optioned the novel with Ted Kupper adapting. Barrie M. Osborne (Lord of the Rings), Cameron Lamb and the author's daughter Isa Dick Hackett are producing along with Dan Keston, Laura Leslie, Christopher Tricarico and Kathy Morgan as executive producing.

Storywise, as variety puts it:

Story is set in the distant future in a war between "the starmen" and earth and revolves around an organ transplant doctor who gets mixed up in the politics between both groups.

By comparison, here is the book's plot summary:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 07, 2011 at 12:18 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Apex Magazine (edited by Lynne M. Thomas) has posted the table of contents for the December issue:

Fiction:

• "The 24 Hour Brother" by Christopher Barzak
• "Faithful City" by Michael Pevzner

• "The Yellow Dressing Gown" by Sarah Monette

• "To a Gentleman Who Is Visited" by Sandi Leibowitz
• "A Woman of a Certain Age" by FJ Bergmann

• Editorial: Blood on Vellum by Lynne M. Thomas
• Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Genre All the Way by EE Knight

• Jennifer Pelland

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 07, 2011 at 12:12 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Angela Slatter interviews Kim Falconer.
• Chimeras interviews Courtney Schafer and Alison Sinclair.
• Read in a Single Sitting interviews Nancy Di Fabbio.
• Lightspeed Magazine (Christie Yant) interviews Vylar Kaftan.
• Lightspeed Magazine interviews Richard Dawkins.
• Samuel Montgomery-Blinn interviews Saladin Ahmed. 
• The Functional Nerds interviews Matt Forbeck and Jay Garmon (podcast).
• Dead Robots Society interviews James L. Sutter (podcast).
• Dark Cargo interviews Mike Allen.
• Little House Entertainment interviews Peter S. Beagle (video).
• John Scalzi's The Big Idea: Rudy Rucker.
• Weird Fiction Review interviews Ramsey Campbell.
• Deus Ex Machinatio interviews Chuck Wendig.
• Examiner.com interviews Charles Prepolec and J.R. Campbell.
• Sydney Morning Herald profiles Neal Stephenson.

• Expanded Horizons Fund Raiser.
• NIU Libraries acquires papers of Chicago-born sci-fi writer Fred Saberhagen.
• Alan Moore, Occupy Comics, slam Frank Miller.
• Nancy A. Collin' Urban Fantasy Heroine Sonja Blue Is Back With and Original Story, Search And Destroy.
• Canadian Fiction Anthology Tesseracts Sixteen: Parnassus Unbound Now Open For Submissions.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Wednesday December 07, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Helen Lowe is a novelist, poet, and interviewer. Her latest novel, The Heir of Night, the first of THE WALL OF NIGHT quartet, is published in the USA, UK, Australia/NZ, and The Netherlands. It recently won the Sir Julius Vogel Award 2011 for Best Novel, as well as a Single Titles' Reviewers' Choice Award in 2010. Helen's first novel, Thornspell, is published by Knopf and she posts every day on her Helen Lowe on Anything, Really blog and on the 1st of every month on the Supernatural Underground. To read more about Helen and her writing, click here.

A few weeks back I posted on why epic fantasy keeps "speaking" to us, by which what I really meant is that despite its critics, people keep writing and reading in the genre. I discussed epic's mythic roots and how it allows readers to step outside the everyday and focus on a wider world-but in a way that lets us have some fun as well. Since then, I've found myself coming back to the fun and reflecting on some of the elements of classic epic fantasy that I most enjoy. So much so that I thought I'd share a few of those elements here, starting today with "epic fantasy and the Grand Tour"-because ever since Beowulf first sailed to Hrothgar's hall, the quest journey has been one of the most distinctive elements of epic.

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Posted by Helen Lowe at Tuesday December 06, 2011 at 1:59 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

Right now you can get the Amazon Kindle version of The Undead: Zombie Anthology edited by David Wellington D.L. Snell and Elijah Hall for the low, low price of free.

The Undead is a stunning collection of 23 tales of the living dead by zombie fan favorites and up-and-coming authors. The Undead includes classic tales of survival in a world populated by the living dead as well as an array of unique takes on the zombie genre: zombies as reality entertainment, glimpses from inside the "life" of the undead, intergalactic war with humanity's own dead turned against us, and everything in between. The Undead will leave zombie fans hungry for more!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 06, 2011 at 11:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Sixteen stories about subversion and acts of rebellion, both large and political or small and personal.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: In some places, a very subtle and mature examination of subversion and rebellion, and of challenging the norm in the world about you. A number of excellent authors put forward stories which I dearly wish to make my friends read.
CONS: It's not all killer and no filler. There are a few dud stories.
BOTTOM LINE: A great deal more subtle than I initially expected, and an excellent book with which to discover from fantastic up-and-coming talent.

When Crossed Genres offered me an ARC of their upcoming anthology Subversion via Twitter, I said yes straight away. After all, I'm a tremendously subversive person. It's true! I wear a great deal of black clothing, I have a tendency to rant on the internet about things I don't like, I don't drive, and I drink tea instead of coffee, and in fact it's a good thing I don't leave the house a great deal or else I could subvert all of Western Civilization. Also, I quite like to read and write short fiction. What I'm saying is, me and this anthology, we were a pretty good match.

Actually, we're a good match, because I like well-written and thoughtful short fiction, and there's a great deal of that on display here. We'll get into that in a moment. But first, a word about the cover...

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Posted by Peter Damien at Tuesday December 06, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Authors love to salt their work with existing religious elements. Angels and demons are two such elements that pop up in countless genre tales, from novels to comic books to movies. These heavenly or ex-heavenly beings run the gamut from being shining protectors of humanity to red-horned beasts of despair to supernatural assassins to bumbling klutzes with wings. Yet whatever forms they take, they are often at the center of solid conflict, which makes for great stories.

So, polish your halos and sharpen your horns as we throw another batch of books into the fray.

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Posted by Josh Vogt at Tuesday December 06, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Not that I'm nerdgassing, but wouldn't a lighsaber bow split the instrument in two? I'm just sayin' that if I were going to enter a duelling cello competition with my evil onscreen twin, I might think twice before I lost on the first draw.

[via Blastr]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 06, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• The Skiffy and Fanty Show interviews JoSelle Vanderhooft (podcast).
• Drying Ink interviews Aliette de Bodard.
• Fear.net (Joseph McCabe) interviews Paula Guran (part 2).
• SFFWRTCHT interviews Ian McDonald.
• Fantasy Magazine (T.J.  McIntyre) interviews Nike Sulway.
• Fantasy Magazine (Andrew Penn Romine) interviews Chris Miller.
• Fantasy Magazine (Jennifer Konieczny) interviews J.P. Targete.
• The World SF Blog interviews Jared Shurin and Anne Perry on the Kitchies.
• Weird Fiction Review interviews Felix Kramer.
• The Bag Segundo Show interviews Charles Yu (podcast).
• Locus interviews Gemma Files.
• Alisa Krasnostein chats with Jonathan Strahan (podcast).
• The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy (John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley) interviews Chuck Palahniuk (podcast).
• Spinetingler interviews Richard Kadrey. [via Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine]
• SFX interviews Mike Cahill, the director of sci-fi indie Another Earth.
• Salon.com interviews David Cronenberg.
• From 1952: Edward R. Murrow interviews Robert A. Heinlein (podcast).

• Darrell K. Sweet, 1934-2011.
• Paul Cornell on Lex for Terri, and Tell Me Your Skyrim Stories.
• Subversion: Science Fiction & Fantasy tales of challenging the norm Table of Contents.
• Bibliotheca Fantastica opens for submissions Dec 15, 2011.
• 2012 Eisner Judges.
• 2011 Innsmouth Bundles.
• Irish Fan John Berry Dies.
• West Wins (and Declines) Rotsler Award.
• Found: Massive Black Hole 10 Times Size of Our Solar System.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Tuesday December 06, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Louise Marley is a recovering opera singer who writes science fiction and fantasy. Her science fiction has twice won the Endeavour Award, and she's been shortlisted for the Nebula, the Campbell, and the Tiptree Awards. Her publications include the three books of The Horsemistress Saga, an omnibus edition of The Singers of Nevya, and Mozart's Blood, the story of a vampire opera singer, and her new time-travel novel, The Brahms Deception.

Times are changing in the realms of science fiction and fantasy! Science and technology are advancing so quickly that it can be increasingly challenging for authors to speculate convincingly about the future. It's not surprising, in the current climate, that writers of speculative fiction turn to the past for material, and there are some fine examples in the genre.

Connie Willis, the much-decorated mistress of science fiction, used time travel-a classic device of science fiction dating back to H.G. Wells and even beyond-to explore fourteenth-century Europe in The Doomsday Book, turn-of-the-century England in To Say Nothing of the Dog, and the London Blitz of World War II in Blackout and All Clear. Connie uses history the way I like to do it: not changing historical facts as we understand them, but weaving a fictional plot in and around them. In my recent time-travel novel The Brahms Deception, my intent was to speculate about what might have happened to my characters without changing what we understand actually did happen to them.

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Posted by Louise Marley at Monday December 05, 2011 at 1:59 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

CHARLES TAN: Hi! Thanks for agreeing to do the interview. First off, could you tell us more about your upcoming novel, Planesrunner?

IAN MCDONALD: It's a fast-paced adventure that takes Everett Singh -- 14, clever, slightly geeky, Anglo-Punjabi, named after a quantum physicist (thanks Dad!) -- off on adventures through the 10-known parallel universes of the Plentitude, and beyond, into the unmapped billions of worlds of the Panoply. His Dad's been kidnapped, he's being chased by the villainous Charlotte Villiers and all he has is natural smarts and the Infundibulum -- the map of the all parallel universes, which his Dad gave him before he was taken. Oh, and the crew of Earth 3 cargo airship Everness. So what chance do the bad guys stand? Yes, there are airships. There have to be, it's parallel universes. Only they've got a particularly good reason for airships -- they never had any oil. They've had to build an entire industrial civilization on electricity. So though it may look like steampunk, it's electropunk.  The point is, it's fun, for all ages -- from about 12 up. I like to think it's well written fun that doesn't insult a 12-up intelligence.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Monday December 05, 2011 at 11:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

The Center for the Study of Science Fiction (CSSF) has just launched James Gunn's Ad Astra, an online specualtive fiction resource for authors, scholars and all those who are interested in speculative fiction.

From AboutSF:

The Center for the Study of Science Fiction (CSSF), in association with the University of Kansas, announces the launch of James Gunn's Ad Astra, an online resource for authors, scholars and all those who are interested in speculative fiction at http://adastra.ku.edu/.

CSSF is known for its resources, links, reading lists, workshops and online courses. James Gunn's Ad Astra is excited to expand these offerings to a wider audience through creative short fiction and poetry, featured reviews, and scholarly articles.

Its ambitious goals include building a creative community that will deepen the conversation within the genre. It hopes to inspire new authors and new readers by publishing original works and promoting them at CSSF's annual Campbell Conference.

The first issue of James Gunn's Ad Astra will be released, online, in conjunction with the Campbell Conference in June of 2012. Together, they will explore this year's theme of Communication and Information. Throughout this year, Ad Astra will discuss how communication and the information age have influenced both every day life and speculative literature.

James E. Gunn - founder of CSSF and Patron Saint of Ad Astra - has said that speculative fiction can help encourage the future by preparing minds today. Ad Astra wants to take its place among visionary publishers such as John W. Campbell and harness modern platforms to shape the future of the genre.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 05, 2011 at 11:55 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

If you've made it through Black Friday and Cyber Monday without buying for everyone on your holiday gift list, it's probably because (a) you're doing some extra searching to find the perfect gift, (b) your giftee isn't someone who is satisfied with something just because it's on sale, (c) you're disturbed by the implications of retailers manipulating consumers into a herd mentality, (d) you're lazy, or (e) you hand-fashion all of your gifts by whittling blocks of balsa wood into sculptures of the Pokémon that best match your giftee's personality.

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Posted by T.N. Tobias at Monday December 05, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In episode 96 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester offers up part one in a special three-part podcast on Sword and Sorcery moderated by editor, author and publicist Jaym Gates.

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Posted by Patrick Hester at Monday December 05, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 05, 2011 at 12:11 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Horror Talk interviews Ellen Datlow.
• Clarkesworld (Jeremy L.C. Jones) interviews Aliette de Bodard.
• Book Lovers Inc. interviews Marjorie M. Liu.
• Fear.net interviews Paula Guran.
• Leftlion interviews Marc Gascoigne.
• The Guardian (Neil Gaiman) interviews Shaun Tan.
• Jonathan Strahan chats with Gary K. Wolfe (podcast).
• SFWA (Samuel Montgomery-Blinn) interviews James Patrick Kelly.
• 2011 Bram Stoker Awards™ (video).
• Tor.com Steven Erikson Answers Your House of Chains Questions, Part 2.
• Helen Lowe interviews Brandon Sanderson.

• Past Future Present 2011 TOC.
• Cheeky Frawg's Unique and Extremely Cheeky New Website.
• Words Without Borders: The Fantastic issue.
• The New York Review of Science Fiction to switch from print to PDF editions in July 2012.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Monday December 05, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

It is a good week for science fiction books, isn't it?

Hot off the heels of the announcement that Zoo City by Lauren Buekes, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, and Grahame-Smith's Unholy Night are headed to the big screen, comes word that Chris Columbus' production company, 1492 Pictures, has acquired the rights to Charles Yu's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe.

Columbus and 1492 principals Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe will produce and Brendan Bellomo is set to direct.

The novel centers on a time travel machine repairman -- also named Charles Yu -- who has spent the past 10 years traveling back and forth in time in search of his father, who has disappeared. When the fictional Yu falls into a time loop he must find a way to change the future.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 04, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In Michael Dempsey's Necropolis, a dead man is resurrected and attempts to solve his own murder...

In a future where death is a thing of the past, how far would you go to solve your own murder?

Paul Donner is a NYPD detective with a drinking problem and a marriage on the rocks. Then he and his wife get dead--shot to death in a "random" crime. Fifty years later, Donner is back--revived courtesy of the Shift, a process whereby inanimate DNA is re-activated. This new "reborn" underclass is not only alive again, they're growing younger, destined for a second childhood. The freakish side-effect of a retroviral attack on New York, the Shift has turned the world upside down. Beneath the protective geodesic Blister, clocks run backwards, technology is hidden behind a noir facade, and you can see Elvis every night at Radio City Music Hall. In this unfamiliar retro-futurist world of maglev Studebakers and plasma tommy guns, Donner must search for those responsible for the destruction of his life. His quest for retribution leads him to the heart of the mystery surrounding the Shift's origin and up against those who would use it to control a terrified nation.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 04, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Lightspeed Magazine has posted the table of contents for the December 2011 issue:

• Editorial by John Joseph Adams
• Artist Spotlight: Alonso Garcia
• "The Sighted Watchmaker" by Vylar Kaftan (fiction)
• Author Spotlight: Vylar Kaftan, by Christie Yant (spotlight)
• Feature Interview: Richard Dawkins, by The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy (interview)
• "After the Days of Dead-Eye 'Dee" by Pat Cadigan (fiction)
• Author Spotlight: Pat Cadigan, by Erin Stocks (spotlight)
• Science (and Swindlers) Can Read Your Mind by Jeff Lester (nonfiction)
• "The Parting Glass" by Andrew Penn Romine (fiction)
• Author Spotlight: Andrew Penn Romine, by John Remy (spotlight)
• Cyborg vs. Cyborg by Nigel Watson (nonfiction)
• "The Hammer of God" by Arthur C. Clarke (fiction)
• Armageddon Rock by Alan Smale (nonfiction)
• Coming Attractions

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 04, 2011 at 12:14 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Fantasy Magazine has posted the table of contents for the December 2011 issue:

• Editorial by John Joseph Adams
• Artist Spotlight: J.P. Targete
• "Her Lover's Golden Hair" by Nike Sulway (fiction)
• Author Spotlight: Nike Sulway, by T. J. McIntyre (spotlight)
• Feature Interview: Puss in Boots director Chris Miller, by Andrew Penn Romine (interview)
• "Torn Away" by Joe R. Lansdale (fiction)
• Author Spotlight: Joe R. Lansdale, by Jennifer Konieczny (spotlight)
• The Deathly Shadows in Our Lives by Veronica L. Schanoes (nonfiction)
• "Crystal Halloway and the Forgotten Passage" by Seanan McGuire (fiction)
• Author Spotlight: Seanan McGuire, by Wendy N. Wagner (spotlight)
• Falling With Style, Travelling Through Portals by Alasdair Stuart (nonfiction)
• "Vici" by Naomi Novik (fiction)
• Author Spotlight: Naomi Novik, by T. J. McIntyre (spotlight)
• Three Dragons by Genevieve Valentine (nonfiction)
• Coming Attractions

(Note: Additional features appear online as the month progresses, or you can get it all right now by purchasing the Fantasy Magazine eBook.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 04, 2011 at 12:12 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

News

• Audible.com names Daryl Gregory's Raising Stony Mayhall as their Best Zombie Book of the year.
• Cliffhanger Productions announces Shadowrun Online game, based on the popular RPG. [via DailyPop]

• Karl Schroeder on The Deepening Paradox.
• Will McIntosh on Soft Apocalypse: My Book My Movie.
• Jamie Todd Rubin on Star Trek: Enterprise.
• David Moody on The Autumn artists - David Naughton-Shires.
• Josh Vogt reviews Death's Heretic by James L. Sutter.
• Stephen Aryan DC Comics 52 relaunch - Something is missing.
• Rich Horton on Summary: F&SF, 2011.
• LA Times on Young adult continues to be the literary world's fastest-growing genre.
• LA Times on William Morrow's blogger notice.
• The Spectator asks Did Philip K. Dick dream of a message from God?
• Cracked lists 13 Misconceptions About Today from Future History Classes Article. [via Paul Di Filippo]
• Geeks are Sexy lists 5 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novel Series That Should Be Put on TV.
• Flavorwire lists 40 Inspiring Quotes About Reading From Writers.
• LitReactor lists The Top 10 Best Opening Lines Of Novels.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 04, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Subterranean Press has posted the table of contents for the upcoming collection Dream Castles: The Early Jack Vance, Volume Two, edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan:

• "The Dogtown Tourist Agency"
• "Freitzke's Turn"
• "I'll Build Your Dream Castle"
• "Golden Girl"
• "Sulwen's Planet"
• "Cholwell's Chickens"
• "A Practical Man's Guide"
• "The Narrow Land"
• "The Enchanted Princess"
• "Son of the Tree"

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 03, 2011 at 12:18 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

It's nice to reminisce about days gone by...a more innocent time when films were movies and people wore haircuts like you see in this video...

[via Blastr]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 03, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Written

• @AEG: "Steel on Steel" by Shawn Carman.
• @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Gardens of Landler Abbey" by Megan Arkenberg.
• @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Princess Courage" by Nadia Bulkin.
• @Daily Science Fiction: "Meet Archive" by Mary E. Lowd.
• @Daily Science Fiction: "Silver Sixpence" by Craig Pay.
• @Daily Science Fiction: "Everyone Gets Scared Sometimes" by Ari B Goelman.
• @Daily Science Fiction: "Sand-Child" by Marie Croke.
• @Fantasy Magazine: "Red Dawn: A Chow Mein Western" by Lavie Tidhar.
• @Fantasy Magazine: "The Swordsman Whose Name Was Not Death" by Ellen Kushner.
• @Kasma: "Life Plus Seventy" by Ken Liu.
• @Lightspeed: "Snow" by John Crowley.
• @Mindflights: "Pocket Gods" by Philip Hoshiwara.
• @Notes From the Lair: "Invasion: 2012 by Dr. Ace T. Jericho, Rogue Journalist" by Abner Senires.
• @Ray Gun Revival: "Sheep Lie!" by Barton Paul Levenson.
• @Ray Gun Revival: "Thousand War Soldier" by Mjke Wood.
• @Red Lemonade: "The Sovereignties of Invention" by Matthew Battles.
• @Strange Horizons: "Tomorrow is Waiting" by Holli Mintzer
• @Tor.com: "The Rotten Beast" by Mary E. Pearson.

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Posted by David Tackett at Saturday December 03, 2011 at 12:14 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In case you missed them, here are The Top 25 SF Signal Posts for November 2011, according to Google Analytics:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 03, 2011 at 12:09 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Interviews & Profiles

• Deus Ex Machinatio profiles Chuck Wendig.
• Midnight Echo 6 (David Conyers) interviews Jo Anderton.
• Alt Hist interviews Ian Sales.
• Novy Interviews Matt Forbeck.
• Adventures in SciFi Publishing interviews John Jarrold and Tone Milazzo.
• Locus Roundtable featuring Cecelia Holland, Karen Joy Fowler, Rich Horton and more.

• Harlan Ellison releases four new books.
• Man Builds A Hobbit House To House His Tolkien Collectibles.
• BBC Radio 4 Programmes - Great Lives, Series 26, Philip K Dick. [via Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine]
• Free Comic Book Day Announces Gold Level Comic Books.
• Fantasycon 2012 Announces First Guests.
• New website for The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett.
• For the entire month of December PS Publishing is offering all three books for the price of two.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 03, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Welcome back to the Weekend Playlist! We hope that you had a good week off for Thanksgiving, and now that the holiday is over, we're back to full swing.

On Saturday, NASA launched Curiosity, a new Mars rover that will explore the red planet, and to commemorate it's 9 month voyage, we're looking at songs about Mars this week.

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Posted by Andrew Liptak at Friday December 02, 2011 at 12:25 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Due to a brain freeze on my part technical issues, I managed to leave a few respondents off of this week's Mind Meld. As a refresher, here is this week's question:

In terms of movies, this was of course the movie year of superheroes, and a lot of other genre movies in general. I watched many of them, found many wanting, but also found some movies I would add to my movie collection. I particularly liked Duncan Jones' Source Code in the spring, and in the superhero category, it's a close run race between X-Men: First Class and Captain America. Thor wasn't bad, either. And I shouldn't forget to mention Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which was far better than it had any right to be.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday December 02, 2011 at 12:22 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

John Joseph Adams (recently interviewed here) has posted the table of contents for his anthology Armored, and original anthology of power armor fiction, which includes a Foreword by Orson Scott Card:

1. "The Johnson Maneuver" by Ian Douglas
2. "Hel's Half-Acre" by Jack Campbell
3. "Jungle Walkers" by David Klecha & Tobias S. Buckell
4. "The Last Run of the Coppelia" by Genevieve Valentine
5. "Death Reported of Last Surviving Veteran of Great War" by Dan Abnett
6. "The Cat's Pajamas" by Jack McDevitt
7. "Find Heaven and Hell in the Smallest Things" by Simon R. Green
8. "Power Armor: A Love Story" by David Barr Kirtley
9. "The Last Days of the Kelly Gang" by David D. Levine
10. "Field Test" by Michael A. Stackpole
11. "Trauma Pod" by Alastair Reynolds
12. "Contained Vacuum" by David Sherman
13. "You Do What You Do" by Tanya Huff
14. "Nomad" by Karin Lowachee
15. "Human Error" by John Jackson Miller
16. "Transfer of Ownership" by Christie Yant
17. "Heuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine" by Ethan Skarstedt & Brandon Sanderson
18. "Don Quixote" by Carrie Vaughn
19. "The Poacher" by Wendy N. Wagner & Jak Wagner
20. "The Green" by Lauren Beukes
21. "Sticks and Stones" by Robert Buettner
22. "Helmet" by Daniel H. Wilson
23. "The N-Body Solution" by Sean Williams

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 02, 2011 at 12:18 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In 1958, Mike Wallace interviewed Brave New World author, Aldous Huxley...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 02, 2011 at 12:15 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Clarkesworld #63 is now posted:

Fiction

• "Sirius" by Ben Peek
• "In Which Faster-Than-Light Travel Solves All of Our Problems" by Chris Stabback
• "Silently and Very Fast" (Conclusion) by Catherynne M. Valente

• Where No Human Has Gone Before: Visiting Sci-Fi's Exoplanets on Earth by Brenta Blevins
• Disrupting the World in Large Ways: A Conversation with Aliette de Bodard by Jeremy L. C. Jones
• Happy Holidays by Neil Clarke

• Audio Fiction: "Sirius" by Ben Peek, read by Kate Baker

• "Reactor" by Folko Streese

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 02, 2011 at 12:14 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Phoenix Pick is continuing their "Free eBook-a-Month" promotion! This month, it's Terence Green's Blue Limbo!

About the book:

Mitch Helwig is a cop on the edge, "a man who's gone through the valley of the shadow and hasn't quite made it out the other side" (Toronto Globe & Mail). Vengeance and heroism, the subtleties of family woven into the metaphysics of life and death, all come together here in a page-turner, "a near-future tech-noir thriller" (SF Site) that moves at breakneck speed.

"A chilling picture of Toronto in the not too distant future." -- The Toronto Star

"He writes with a real and rare sympathy for his characters." -- The Atlanta Constitution

"A deft storyteller." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"A wonderfully evocative writer." -- The Ottawa Citizen

"Solid entertainment, with more than a bit of heart." -- The Edmonton Journal

Instructions and download/purchase links at Phoenix Pick's catalogue page. (Note: The coupon code is only good between December 2nd - December 31st, 2011.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 02, 2011 at 12:14 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Grasping for the Wind (Bryan Thomas Schmidt) SFFWRTCHT: A Chat With Author-RPG Designer Ari Marmell.
• Black Gate (Bill Ward) Interviews James L. Sutter, Part Three.
• Suvudu (Matt Staggs) interviews Michael Reaves.
• Fantasy Magazine (Jennifer Konieczny) spotlights J.P. Targete.
• Lightspeed Magazine(Caleb Jordan Schulz) spotlights Angel Alonso.
• @Scalzi's The Big Idea: Colleen Mondor.
• SF Site (Trent Walters) interviews Douglas Lain.
• Philip José Farmer International Bibliography interviews Christopher Paul Carey.
• BookBanter interviews Ernest Cline.
• Upcoming: Ask Ekaterina Sedia anything you want about Heart of Iron.

• News from Lightspeed and Fantasy Magazine.
• Turbulence goes to Titan.
• Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! and Artist As Brand are aligning to bring creative empowerment and prosperity to artists in Kansas City next May, 2012. 
• Science Fiction Author Todd McCaffrey Named as a Judge for the Writers of the Future Contest.
• OrbitalDrop: The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow eBook for $2.99.
• Grahame-Smith's Unholy Night Headed to Big Screen.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Friday December 02, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Courtesy of Night Shade Book, we are able to bring you this free excerpt from Mazarkis Williams' new book, The Emperor's Knife.

What's it about?

There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague that attacks young and old, rich and poor alike. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until you die in agony, or become a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence, the Pattern Master. Anyone showing the tell-tale marks is put to death; that is Emperor Beyon's law...but now the pattern is running over the Emperor's own arms. His body servants have been executed, he ignores his wives, but he is doomed, for soon the pattern will reach his face. While Beyon's agents scour the land for a cure, Sarmin, the Emperor's only surviving brother, awaits his bride, Mesema, a windreader from the northern plains. Unused to the Imperial Court's stifling protocols and deadly intrigues, Mesema has no one to turn to but an ageing imperial assassin, the Emperor's Knife. As long-planned conspiracies boil over into open violence, the invincible Pattern Master appears from the deep desert. Now only three people stand in his way: a lost prince, a world-weary killer, and a young girl from the steppes who saw a path in a pattern once, among the waving grasses - a path that just might save them all! Mazarkis Williams is a writer with roots in both the US and UK, having worked in and been educated in both countries. Each year is divided between Boston and Bristol and a teleport booth is always top of the Christmas wish-list. Mazarkis has degrees in history and physics with a diverse set of interests accumulated while misspending a hectic youth. Cooking has always been a passion and in addition to feeding six children and a sizable herd of cats Mazarkis regularly caters for crowds of permanently hungry friends.

Mazarkis Williams himself introduces this free excerpt... himself introduces this free excerpt...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 01, 2011 at 1:59 PM
© 2011 SF Signal

"SF, along with fantasy more broadly, sets out to extrapolate imaginatively from the world." - Adam Roberts

""It is often asserted that 'Fantasy," a particular brand of fantastic fiction that became a publishing industry in the wake of the success of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, and 'Science Fiction,' brand of fantastic literature invented , or re-invented, in the USA in the technophile 1920a, have little in common. [...] But one thing science fiction and fantasy certainly have in common is the imaginary world. . . ." Gwyneth Jones.

"Fictive neologies have a paradoxical function. They conjure up a sense of the inevitability of a new thing. . . . Yet fictive neology also displays that it is fiction. " - Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr.

In the comments section for last week's column Paul Weimer brought up an idea that has been rolling around in my head for awhile:

"I wonder, John, in the seemingly crapsack world of a present we seem to be falling into, if that inspiration is more easily found these days in fantasy than in science fiction, and that's one reason why fantasy is currently ascendant over its sister genre. If the future looks bleak and smaller, than a truly and completely imaginary world allows for more stories that invoke in readers (and dare I say the writers) that effect you describe far more easily."

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Posted by John H. Stevens at Thursday December 01, 2011 at 11:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Here's a huge (and still incomplete) sampling of forthcoming book releases for December 2011. Lot's of good stuff here...

Which ones do you want to read?

1. A Bridge of Years by Robert Charles Wilson (Orb Books)
2. A Discovery of Witches: A Novel by Deborah Harkness (Penguin)
3. ABAKAN 2288: kallamity's world of mecha design part one by Luca Zampriolo (Design Studio Press)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 01, 2011 at 9:59 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

In episode 95 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester sits down to chat with author, editor and now publisher John Joseph Adams!

From JohnJosephAdams.com:

John Joseph Adams - called "the reigning king of the anthology world" by Barnes & Noble.com - is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, By Blood We Live, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Way of the Wizard. In 2011, he was a finalist for two Hugo Awards and two World Fantasy Awards. He is also the editor of Fantasy Magazine and Lightspeed Magazine, and is the co-host of io9's The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him on Twitter @JohnJosephAdams.

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Posted by Patrick Hester at Thursday December 01, 2011 at 12:29 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Looks like it's a good week for science fiction literature! Recently announced were, not one, but two science fiction books that are headed to the big screen!

First, Lauren Buekes' award-winning urban fantasy novel, Zoo City, has been optioned for film and television.

The second announcement is that Cherie Priest's steampunk/zombie mashup novel Boneshaker is also headed for the big screen.

Congratulation to both Lauren and Cherie! This is terrific news...

We all know good things come in threes...which begs the question: Which other science fiction book would you like to see made into a film?

UPDATE: We have our #3! Grahame-Smith's UNHOLY NIGHT Headed to Big Screen.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 01, 2011 at 12:18 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

Smart Pop Books has posted the synpsis and table of contents for their new book of essays about the television show The Walking Dead: Triumph of The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman's Zombie Epic on Page and Screen...

Here's what it's about:

All zombies are created equal. All zombie stories are not.

From its humble beginnings as an indie comic book, The Walking Dead has become a pop culture juggernaut boasting New York Times-bestselling trade paperbacks, a hit television series, and enough fans to successfully take on any zombie uprising.

Triumph of The Walking Dead explores the intriguing characters, stunning plot twists, and spectacular violence that make Robert Kirkman's epic the most famous work of the Zombie Renaissance. Jay Bonansinga, the Walking Dead novels' co-author, provides the inside story on translating the comics into prose; New York Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry takes on the perils of leadership during the zombie apocalypse; Harvard professor Steven Schlozman, MD, dissects the disturbing role of science in the television series; and more.

Triumph of The Walking Dead features a foreword by horror legend Joe R. Lansdale.

And here's the table of contents:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 01, 2011 at 12:11 AM
© 2011 SF Signal

• Lisa Findley interviews C.S.E. Cooney.
• Terri Windling profiles Phoebe Traquair & Jane Yolen.
• Book Obsessed interviews Marjorie M. Liu.
• Gollancz interviews Brandon Sanderson (video).
• Rowena Cory Daniells interviews Mark Charan Newton.
• Ghost in the Machine Podcast interviews Theresa Bane and Crymsyn Hart.
• Suvudu (Shawn Speakman) interviews Mark Lawrence.
• Mur Lafferty interviews Ann VanderMeer.
• Adventures in SciFi Publishing interviews N.K. Jemisin.

• Harlan Ellison Drops His Lawsuit Against In Time.
• SFWA's term of probation for Night Shade is lifted.
• How Tiny Worms Could Help Humans Colonize Mars. [via Paul Di Filippo]

Events

• Science Fiction and Fantasy Events in Toronto, December 2011.
• Gaslight Arcanum Online Book Launch and Live Q & A.

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Posted by Charles Tan at Thursday December 01, 2011 at 12:05 AM
© 2011 SF Signal