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

SF/F has a long history of collaboration ranging from two authors teaming up to shared worlds, we could list dozens of books that are the products of collaboration. But not everyone has worked on a story in this manner. We asked our panelists this question:

Here’s what they said…

The dream writing team I’d like to see is Ursula LeGuin and Karen Joy Fowler. Both have graceful, eloquent styles and a deep feeling for the human condition: perspicacity tempered with compassion, but never sentimentality. In addition, they would bring the perspectives of two different generations. That would be a story that I would give anything to read.

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

Very rarely does a short fiction anthology score a home run with every single story it contains. Tastes differ from reader to reader. We asked this week’s participants to play the role of Editor:

Here’s what they said:

I teach SF often and have never been able to find the exact anthology I want to teach! This would be it. I know there are many wonderful stories I left out either because I had no room (you limited me to 25) or haven’t read them. There are also great writers whose novels I prefer to their short fiction. But this anthology would be a joy to teach.

1. “Sandkings” by George R.R. Martin
2. “Nine Lives” by Ursula K. LeGuin
3. “Houston, Houston, Do You Read” by James Tiptree, Jr.
4. “Morning Child” by Gardner Dozois
5. “Johnny Mnemonic” by William Gibson
6. “A Braver Thing” by Charles Sheffield
7. “We See Things Differently” by Bruce Sterling
8. “Firewatch” by Connie Willis
9. “The Faithful Companion at Forty” by Karen Joy Fowler
10. “Baby Makes Three” by Theodore Sturgeon
11. “Continued on the Next Rock” by R.A. Lafferty
12. “When It Changed” by Joanna Russ
13. “For I Have Touched the Sky” by Mike Resnick
14. “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang
15. “Dead Worlds” by Jack Skillingstead
16. “Divining Light” by Ted Kosmatka
17. “Blood Music” by Greg Bear
18. “The Undiscovered” by William Sanders
19. “The Stars My Destination” by Alfred Bester
20. “The Star” by Arthur Clarke
21. “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” by Neil Gaiman
22. “Daddy’s World” by Walter Jon Williams
23. “The People of Sand and Slag” by Paolo Bacigalupi
24. “Lincoln Train” by Maureen McHugh
25. “Aye, and Gomorrah” by Samuel L. Delaney

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Despite what someone might initially think, genre boundaries are blurry, allowing storytellers to mix-and-match (intentionally or not) different genres, thus producing a story with an altogether new flavor.

We asked this year’s panelists this question:

Here’s what they said…

Favourite genre cross-overs…I’m very partial to forms that mix crime noire with horror, sci-fi or dark fantasy…Blade Runner (the film) is the obvious example of a crime – sci-fi crossover. A newer one is Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch, a crime-dark fantasy crossover made of win, and Miéville’s The City & The City – which is kind of even more an expectation-breaker than usual.

I’m also a fan of things that are just plain weird – Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, a mix of science and magic and horror. Kelly Link’s mingling of fantasy, magical realism and some really creepy horror (e.g. ‘Some Zombie Contingency Plans’) is always a winner. I’m also a fan of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker detective series as it mixes ideas and legends drawn from the Apocrypha with a crime storyline and the books work really well.

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• @B&N: The Candy Man Can: Or Why John Joseph Adams is Genre Fiction’s Willy Wonka.
• Sequential Tart interviews Mike Allen (Mythic Delirium).
• Matthew Hughes has signed a three-book deal with Angry Robot for “a contemporary fantasy series about a mild-mannered actuary who becomes a caped crusader crime fighter with the unwilling assistance of a demon who talks and dresses like Jimmy Cagney in a 1930s gangster movie.”
• David Herter and Earthling Publications are offering a page of David Herter’s original manuscript to anyone who buys a copy of his upcoming Halloween novel, October Dark. (See also: Jeffrey Ford’s introduction.) [Thanks, Christopher!]
• James van Pelt discusses The Fundamental Disconnect Between Young Adults and Young Adults Writing.
• Lou Anders on Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (with spoilers): “Moffat, you can’t get here fast enough for me.”
• Mark Wegierski writes about Traditionalist and libertarian themes in science fiction and fantasy. Part Four concerns Fantasy in pop-culture; military SF; and space opera.
• Fantasy Magazine is Looking For Slush Readers.
• Hayao Miyazaki and his anime museum in Tokyo. [via Raymond Thornton]
• Dr. Horrible wins first Emmy for Joss Whedon. Yay, Joss!
• Lists:
  • Angela Slatter lists Desirable Characteristics for an Editor (Not to be confused with What Makes an Editor Sexy).
  • Den of Geek lists Top 75 spaceships in movies and TV (part 6).
  • Innsmouth Free Press lists 10 Vampire Movies You Need to Watch.
  • Movies Everyone Else Loved That Joseph Mallozzi Hated. Agreed on Deathproof and Goldmember, but The Usual Suspects? That’s just crazy talk.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @Bibliophile Stalker: Artist John Picacio, who beautifully illustrated the covers of Mark Chadbourn’s Age of Misrule trilogy.
  • @Falcata Times: Chris Roberson (Dawn Of War II).
  • Jeff VanderMeer interviews Ann VanderMeer on WorldCon. [via Bibliophile Stalker]
  • @Suvudu: Karen Traviss discusses Gears of War.
  • @Angry Robot Books: 20 Minutes With Tim Waggoner.
• Terry Pratchett campaigns for the right to take his own life.
• Lorette C. Luzajic discusses The 44 Novels of Philip K. Dick. Meanwhile SFGate looks at PKD’s Valis and later novels. [via Locus Online]
• Author David Moody talks about the story behind the cover of Hater.
• One for the writers: Angela Slatter On the Fine Art of Submission.
• There’s more writerly linkage over at Marty Halpern’s blog.
• Attention artists: SFBC is having an art contest.
• Brad Shorr on What science fiction has taught me.
• Cool images of cities from space. Hey, I think I can see my house!
• Den of Geek discusses The plot-obstacles to an Alien prequel.
• @SFX: The extended Doctor Who universe.
• MoviesOddity lists 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time. A Boy and His Dog? Really?
• Wired.com’s Underwire blog lists (and shares some of the) 10 Space-Rocking Astronaut Songs. #1 should be obvious.