Tor.com quickly established itself as one of the web’s premiere online venues of high quality free fiction. Like they did last year, they are collecting some of the best stories from their archives during the last 12 months. And they’re offering for in DRM-Free, eBook format for the low, low price of nothing.

Here’s the table of contents:

1. “Dormanna” by Gene Wolfe
2. “Portrait of Lisane de Patagnia” by Rachel Swirsky
3. “The Mongolian Wizard” by Michael Swanwick
4. “A Tall Tail” by Charles Stross
5. “The Ghosts of Christmas” by Paul Cornell
6. “The Finite Canvas” by Brit Mandelo
7. “Am I Free to Go?” by Kathryn Cramer
8. “About Fairies” by Pat Murphy
9. “Our Human” by Adam-Troy Castro
10. “Faster Gun” by Elizabeth Bear

Sure, you could read these online for free. But why not pick up your favorite eBook reader and read it?

The free eBook is available from Amazon or iTunes. (Presumably a Nook version is coming soon)

Science fiction fans love new gadgets. The most recently hyped gadget is the Apple iPad. Sure, it’s sexy, but like any gadget, it has its pros and cons.

We asked this week’s panelists:

Here’s what they said.

Full disclosure: my brother works on the iPad. Which doesn’t give me any special insights or advantages — I spent a year and a half not knowing what his job was, just that he’d been moved to a new team at Apple, before they announced the thing publicly — but if you want to read bias into this, go ahead.

I don’t own an iPad, and am not likely to buy one any time soon, for a variety of reasons: cost paired with lack of immediate pressing need, caution regarding the first generation of *anything*, etc. Having said that, when I saw the specs of the iPad, I admit it looked attractive, for two reasons.

Weight/size and battery life…

Read the rest of this entry

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Fantasy Book Critic interviews Gary Gibson (Nova War).
  • The Future Awaits interviews Tobias Buckell.
  • Tor Editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden on ebooks, Star Trek fanfic, and the future of publishing. [via Tor.com]
  • In the Australian paper The Age, Scott Westerfeld and China Miéville are quoted on the public image of science fiction. [via Bibliophile Stalker]
  • @Paraoddity: Catherine Asaro. [via Saving my Sanity]
  • SF Universe interviews Wil Wheaton.
• Art:
  • Meanwhile, Wil Wheaton shows off the cover of his upcoming book Memories of the Future, Volume One.
  • Louise Marley talks about book cover art, too.
  • And speaking of fantastic art, the Spectrum Exhibit Opens September 1st & Honors Dave Stevens.
• Authors reviewing authors:
  • Nancy Kress recommends Elizabeth Moon’s 2004 Nebula winner, The Speed of Dark.
  • Jo Walton likes Roger Zelazny’s Doorways in the Sand.
• Jeff VanderMeer presents an overview of Steampunk at FilmFocus.
• @SF Gospel, Gabriel McKee is wondering Where’s the love for Defying Gravity? So, where is it, huh?
• Jason Sanford asks: Is the term SciFi still derogatory?
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers another installment of her Freelancer’s Survival Guide with Patience.
• From LifeHacker: Owners of Sony eReaders, users of the Stanza iPhone book reader, and anyone else with a device that reads the ePub format can now grab more than 1 million works from Google Books’ archives.
• Here’s a mesmerizing visualization of time travel plots in various films and TV programs. [via Information Is Beautiful]
• More chart fun: Here’s a nice poster of Jocks vs. Nerds at the Box Office by the folks over at MovieFill. Short version; Nerds rule the box office. [via Screen Rant]
• The Stargate Universe trailer hits theaters today before Halloween II and The Final Destination 3D. Hands up if you’re tempted to leave after the trailer…
• Howard Waldrop & Lawrence Person Review District 9.
• The Prisoner is coming out in a sexy Blu-ray edition.
• Rob Zombie will remake The Blob.
• Real Science: Suicidal planet seems on death spiral into star. [via BBT Magazine]
• Website: Moonbase Central is an offbeat chronicle of the past, present and future of lunar exploration.
• Lists:
  • Here’s 20 Outstanding Examples of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Origami. Is it me, or does the Jedi look the Scarecrow from the Batman comics?
  • James Long lists his own 7 Essential Second-Step Fantasies.
  • Cinematical lists The 10 Greatest Sci-Fi Deaths Ever.
  • Mary Robinette Kowal lists Fantasy’s Ten Best Treks.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Writing Raw has posted a [PDF] interview with Jeff Somers, author of The Eternal Prison.
  • @Talking with Tim: Jack McDevitt.
  • @Slice of SciFi: Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galatica).
  • @Clarkesworld Magazine: Part 2 of a Mind Meld with Editors Lou Anders, Philip Athans, Victoria Blake, Paula Guran, Gabrielle Harbowy, James Lowder, John Jarrold, Susan J. Morris, Darren Nash, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Chris Schluep, Simon Spanton, Deb Taber, and Jacob Weisman.
  • @SciFi Scanner: Actor John De Lancie discusses Alien Voices and rebooting Trek.
  • The Geek Files has an intervuiew with Torchwood‘s Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto) about Children of Earth.
• BoingBoing has the scoop on Ray Bradbury’s 89th birthday party being held August 22nd at 1PM in Glendale, Ca.
• Vonda N. McIntyre on The Pitfalls of Writing SF & Fantasy #7: Neologisms.
• Attention Wikipeia readers: Scott Edelman is not Robert Reed!
• Star Wars Tidbits [via Distracted by Star Wars]
  • What’s better than Star Wars lego? Why, Steampunk Star Wars Lego, of course!
  • Join the Dark Side and get a free cookie!
  • Looks like Darth Jack Black already did.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @The Teeming Brain: Nick Mamatas (You Might Sleep).
  • @Suvudu: a video interview with Patrick Rothfuss (Wise Man’s Fear).
  • @The Nebula Awards website: Gwyneth Jones (Spirit).
  • Edward Willett interviews Robert J. Sawyer.
  • @Ghost in the Machine: Janny Wurts.
  • @Clarkesworld Magazine: An Mind Meld with Editors Lou Anders, Philip Athans, Victoria Blake, Paula Guran, Gabrielle Harbowy, James Lowder, John Jarrold, Susan J. Morris, Darren Nash, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Chris Schluep, Simon Spanton, Deb Taber, and Jacob Weisman.
• The Guradian responds to Adam Roberts’ Hugo rant: When democracy fails: the Hugo SF awards.
• At Omnivoracious, guest Mark Chadbourn (author of the Age of Misrule series) blogs about Real-World Roots of Fantasy.
• Clarkesworld’s Neil Clarke talks about Saving the Semiprozine Hugo.
• Torie Atkinson talks about Reader’s Block
• Del Rey Books will publish Pride and Prejudice And Zombies: The Graphic Novel, based on the New York Times bestselling book by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.
• Angry Robot signs two new authors: Guy Adams (The World House; Restoration) and Gav Thorpe (The Crown of the Blood). [NOTE: Guy and Gav have been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog.]
• Speaking of Angry Robot, their publicist Lee Harris talks about The Year Of The eBook over at the SFX blog.
• Dork Tower vs. the new SyFy Channel.
• Two words: Stormtrooper zombie.
• Entertainment Weekly lists 23 Sci-Fi Characters You Want on Your Buddy List.