SF/F/H Link Post for 2013-09-30
Interviews & Profiles
- 50 years of Doctor Who: six of the actors who have played The Doctor’s companions – Louise Jameson, Freema Agyeman, Katy Manning, Carole Ann Ford, Billie Piper and Karen Gillan discuss their experiences on the show in video interviews.
- The Civilian Reader interviews Tony Ballantyne, author of the Penrose novels.
- Geek Planet lures Mary Robinette Kowal into their secret lair for cake and tea.
- Geoffrey Girard how his secret superpower relates to his new novel, Cain’s Blood.
- Godborn author Paul S. Kemp discusses antiheroes and whiskey with io9.
- Jonathan Lethem on the subversive power of comics and science fiction. The ‘Dissident Gardens’ author talks about Captain America, Philip K. Dick, and writing about his grandmother’s sex life.
- My Bookish Ways interviews Eric Lundgren, author of The Facades
- Philip Reeve interviews Natasha Ngan of The Elites
- The Qwillery interviews Eric Lundgren, of The Facades, as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge.
- SFFWorld interviews Susan Dennard, author of the Something Strange and Deadly series.
News
- Author Bill Bryson has called on publishers to give away e-books when people buy the printed versions in order to boost sales of physical books.
- Charlie Jane Anders’ Six Months, Three Days Coming to NBC
- France wants a Higher Tax On eBooks That Are Not Interoperable in order to discourage DRM.
- Goodreads’ New Censorship Policy Causing a Stir Among the Frequently Reading
- Penguin Expands E-books in Libraries
Events
Crowd Funding
- ConQuest – a party-based tactical RPG where players battle through the halls of a comic con gone wrong, defeating enemies and collecting swag along the way. The game is an irreverent and light-hearted take on the awesomeness of comic cons.
- Gerry Anderson’s Gemini Force One – a campaign devoted to continuing the work of television legend Gerry Anderson, of Fireball XL5 and Thunderbirds to Space 1999 and Captain Scarlet. Gemini Force One began as a series of science fiction stories penned by Anderson, and the late creator’s son Jamie aims to get them published as a series of books, with a view to getting them turned into a TV series or even a movie in the future.
Articles
- Review: Jim Steranko on Agents of SHIELD: ‘No Menace, No Tension’
- 4 Rules to Make Star Wars Great Again
- 5 Focal Points for Writers Reading Books
- 5 Tips for Creating an Urban Fantasy World
- The 7 Most Common Misconceptions About Science Fiction Publishing
- The 10 Best Science Fiction Stories Where Humans Are The Monsters
- 11 iconic sci-fi artifacts (that are pointless when you really think about them)
- 11 TV characters who were gonna die until fan love saved them
- 18 Of The Most Whedon-y Moments From “S.H.I.E.L.D.”
- Are we too Concerned that Characters be Likable?
- At ‘Hunger Games’ camp, children want to fight to the ‘death’
- The Big Idea: Brandon Sanderson
- The eBook Invasion—Taking over the World One Text File at a Time
- Fifty years of Doctor Who: how I fell in love with a timelord
- Fiction is Spinach
- Five Reasons to Love Novellas
- The history and technique of the siege by fantasy author K.J. Parker.
- HTML5 is the Future of Book Authorship
- A man walks into a bar: how a novella like “Equoid” gets written.
- One Person’s Utopia Is Another’s Dystopia
- PC publishers ban dragon from breathing fire in children’s book… because it’s too dangerous
- Putting the science into fiction
- Seven Kingdoms and Beyond: World-Building in Game of Thrones
- Something Wicked This Way Comes: 10 Horror Novels for Fall
- Space oddity: a glossary of science fiction. What’s in a name? Quite a lot, judging by the inability of science fiction fans to agree on what to call their favourite literary genre
- Steven Moffat confirms Doctor Who can only regenerate 12 times
- Top 10 Must Reads of October 2013 (SF/F/Horror)
- Wattpad – Reaching the Next Generation of Readers?
- This week, Notes from Coode Street contemplates the toxicity of literary canon.
- What It Takes to Be a Great Writer
Science and Technology
- How many Earths? Looking up at the night sky, it’s hard not to wonder how many other planets might be circling those pinpricks of light – and how many are home to beings gazing back at us.
- NASA’s Curiosity discovered there is roughly 2% water in soil samples, it also discovered a pyramid-shaped volcanic rock known as “mugerite,” which only forms in the presence of water.
- Number of Confirmed Alien Planets Nears 1,000
- Scientists Created a New Form of Matter. Have scientists accidentally created a lightsaber?
- This Real-Life Laser Rifle Cuts Through Metal Like Nothing
- World’s First Fully Bionic, Mind-Controlled Leg Goes for a Walk
Art
- Doctor Who 10th Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver Blueprint Poster
- “Eye of Raven” by Artgerm
More Fun Stuff
- Breaking Bad Collides With Game of Thrones in this Epic Mash-Up
- Infographic: From tablet to tablet – a short history of reading [
- Make The Empire State Building TARDIS Blue for The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary
- Read the first fifty pages of The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
- This steampunk-inspired coffee shop features large saw-blade tabletops, exposed pipes, and vintage antiques that make it look like the set for some live-action anime series.
- Watch a book trailer for Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett
- Watch the Doctor Who Series 7 Minisode “Rain Gods” online
- Watch the UK Trailer for Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart
Since I can’t seem to comment there, I’ll just saying a quick thing here about the Goodreadds news item. If people think that negative or undesired behavior can be squelched by using censorship then all I have to say is that they’re not thinking clearly. The public persona of an author is as open for criticism as the book especially if that author chooses to be controversial or careless.