SF/F/H Link Post for 2013-12-23

Interviews & Profiles

• A biting chat with Vampire Academy author Richelle Mead about the upcoming movie
• British sci-fi novelist Brian Aldiss talks about his Comfort Zone
• Carline Lemire interviews Josephine Kelly author of Liman Prince of Egypt at The Louvre
• The Director Of RoboCop, José Padilha, Claims “It’s Not An American Super-Hero Movie”
• E.M. Kaplan chats with A.C. Wise about her debut novel, The Bride Wore Dead.
• Fantasy Faction interviews Anthony Ryan, author of the Raven’s Shadow and Slab City Blues.
• Margaret Atwood talks Religion and The Hand Maiden’s Tale with Bill Moyers: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• Nicky Peacock interview with Rhiannon Frater author of the zombie trilogy Pretty When She Dies.
• The Oxford Press talks to Brian Adliss, author of Comfort Zone

Articles

• A Brief Whine About E-Books, Digital Publishing, and International Nonsense from Mother Jones
• CNet names its choices for The 15 best video games of 2013
• Curiosity Killed the Bookworm: Making the Magic of Shadowplay [via Alexandre Maki]
• Doctor Who: 13 Christmas adventures from The Dalek Invasion of 1964 to The Snowmen of 2012
• Farewell Matt Smith – 11 great 11th Doctor moments
• Finding New Readers with a Multi-Author Ebook Bundle
• Giant Freakin Robot remembers Six Sci-Fi Movies Set On Christmas.
• How would various news outlets report the end of the world? io9 imagines.
• I Love ‘Harry Potter,’ But It’s Time to Let It End
• Is book banning increasing in American schools and public libraries?
• The Life of a Science Fiction/Fantasy Geek
• On Fanfic and the Sherlock Q&A Incident: What happened at the Q&A by a reviewer who was there: Sherlock Season 3 preview. The buzz began with The Telegraph. Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch and fanfic: don’t mess with these women (and men). Bloggers jumped in with their two cents, beginning with Savvyliterate. Now, authors are weighing in on their own blogs, including Mary Robinette Kowal in “My Thoughts on Fanfic.”
• Publishing’s panic seems to subside in 2013: Sure, there are uncertainties — about the relationship between print and digital, for example — but it’s diversity that dominates.
• ScienceFiction.com takes A Look At The Sci-Fi Scripts On The Black List
• A scientist writes science fiction – thoughts on self-publishing my first novel
• Self-publishing was way easier than I thought it would be, says Nathan Bransford.
• The Trio: The Oral History Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Nerd Villains
• UNLESS you read science-fiction magazines, you probably have not have heard of Ted Chiang. He is not terribly prolific, but the Economist explains Why you should read The fiction of Ted Chiang.
• What I Learned about Leadership from Watching The Walking Dead

Science and Technology

• 10 pop-culture robots that inspired us
• 12 Ways Science Fiction Became Fact in 2013
• Do You Know What Life Will Be Like In 5 Years? IBM’s Top Scientist Does
• Jade Rabbit moon landing hailed by Chinese sci-fi writers
• Maybe not sci-fi, but robots readied for big tests. The real world has not caught up yet with “Star Wars” and its talking, thinking robots, but some of the most sophisticated units that exist are heading to Florida this week for a Defense Department competition. Some are worried, however, that By Sci-Fi Standards, Newest Robots May Disappoint. Watch Google’s SCHAFT bot win.
• Vitamin D has been proposed to have beneficial effects in a wide range of contexts. We investigate the hypothesis that vitamin D deficiency, caused by both aversion to sunlight and unwholesome diet, could also be a significant contributor to the triumph of good over evil in fantasy literature. The Hobbits are saved once again by Elevensies.
• What color is the Sun? Turns out, it’s not such a simple question. Based on data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the radiates a wide range of wavelengths that are invisible to the naked eye — that the telescope can view. SDO converts the wavelengths into an image humans can see, and the light is colorized into a rainbow of colors.” And because it’s NASA, you can download the video in various formats.

Art

• The Marvel Universe Is Way Better off with Ghost Rider as a Hamster [via Alexandre Maki]
• This Insane Case Mod Looks Like a World War III Fever Dream

More Fun Stuff

• Doctor Who: Matt Smith’s final episode – Spoiler-free preview
• Here’s Your First Look at the Much-Anticipated Museum of Science Fiction
• “Nicholas Was…” by Neil Gaiman, Set in Motion by Motion graphics studio 39 Degrees North
• Luke and Wampa Sweater is the Greatest Holiday Sweater Ever
• This Man Is Making The Guns Of The Future In His Apartment
• Reavers vs. The Gremlins: Who will win?
• The worst thing ever written – The terrible, wonderful weirdness of fake fanfiction.

Filed under: Tidbits

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