SF Tidbits for 8/12/08

Posted on August 12, 2008 by John DeNardo in Tidbits // 1 Comment

Cool Site of the Day: Springfield Punx, which Simpsonizes superheroes and celebrities.
Interviews & Profiles:
- SciFi Scanner interviews:
  - Astronaut Buzz Aldrin about how SciFi can get real.
  - Hugo winner John Scalzi. (In true Scalzi form, he also interviews himself at his own blog.)
- NPR talks with Michael Chabon about the Hugo Awards. [via Locus Online]
- @SciFi Wire: Patricia Briggs, author of Cry Wolf.
- @Blogging the Muse: Catherine Asaro
Free Fiction:
- @Strange Horizons: “The Emerald King” by J. Kenneth Sargeant.
- @Feedbooks:
  - “Peace In Our Time” by Carrie Vaughn.
  - “Art’s Appreciation” by Tom Doyle.
  - “Consensus Building” by Tom Doyle.
  - “Is You Is/Is You Ain’t?” by Michael Canfield.
Free Fiction Sample: Brandon Sanderson has posted sample chapters from Mistborn 3 at his website.
RIF (Reading is Fundamental) teams up with Macy’s to promote childhood literacy with their “Book A Brighter Future” program, aimed towards children in the U.S. who lack adequate access to books.
Ken MacLeod gives the elevator pitch for his book, The Night Sessions. (Also: Read Chapter 1 and extract.) [via Futurismic]
J.M. McDermott on polemic fiction: “My first task at attempting to write good polemic fiction was to find some way to make the stink less stinky.”
Niall Harrison rounds up some Hugos award analyses, which includes the generation gap discussion.
Kathryn Cramer on the semiprozine rules change & NYRSF.
The group blog Something Wicked (comprised of Ann Aguirre, Shirley Damsgaard, Angie Fox, Tate Hallaway, and Karen MacInerney) has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog.
The Sybaritic Side of Iain Banks’ Culture: “One might best describe [the ethos of the Culture] as a super liberal who is actually right 99.999 percent of the time.”
Aiden Moher of A Dribble of Ink looks at Books he should like, but doesn’t. [via WISB]
A few thoughts on post-cyberpunk science-fiction, in which Neal Stephenson sets the trend for which William Gibson is given credit.
Lev Grossman talks about Time Bandits, too.
Was 1970-1989 the best time for science fiction movies?
Cone Wars Stuff:
- Why Star Wars: The Clone Wars Won’t Sound Familiar. Sez Lucas: “To be very honest with you, I don’t really think I need to hire a big movie star to publicize my movie.”
- Besides the Clone Wars, the Star Wars Comics Introduced Us to Talking Bunnies and the Dark Lady of the Sith.
- Mental Floss lists 7 Reasons Clone Wars Will Be Worth Seeing. Personally, I’m still “meh.”
My eighties senses are tingling when I see Spiderman on a skateboard. I hate to say that I subscribed to Pizzazz when I was but an impressionable lad, so this cover gallery – which includes the like of C3P0 & R2D2, Superman, the cast of the original BSG, and the Hulk – brings back memories and a respectable case of nausea. [via Look At This]
Lists:
- @Marc and Angel Hack Life: 30 Books Everyone Should Read Before Their 30th Birthday, which includes 1984 by George Orwell, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
- @Discover Magazine: Best Classic Science Fiction TV Show Themes. [via The Website at the End of the Universe]
The Boba Fett Pez dispenser [via Fanboy]

About John DeNardo (13012 Articles)

John DeNardo is the Managing Editor at SF Signal and a columnist at Kirkus Reviews. He also likes bagels. So there.

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1 Comment on SF Tidbits for 8/12/08

media boy // August 12, 2008 at 3:05 pm //

i guess George Lucas finally got to make (or a least approve of) a whole Star Wars movie after his love for CGI, looks fun though

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About John DeNardo (13012 Articles)

1 Comment on SF Tidbits for 8/12/08