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

Posted on December 23, 2013 by PipedreamerGrey in Tidbits // 0 Comments

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.