The World in the Satin Bag (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009
There was an enormous book sale here in Gainesville over the last few days and I thought I’d let you all know what I got (a lot of stuff, actually). Next time, in April, I don’t think I will be going quite as all out, mostly because I don’t have as much need for a lot of books anymore. I intentionally went this year trying to find things to use for my research, and now I’m only...
Bibliophile Stalker (Free subscription) | 09/14/2009
I just want to remind Filipino readers that Wednesday is the start of the Manila International Book Fair . Be sure to drop by the Anvil booth to grab a copy of A Time for Dragons edited by Vincent Simbuan (personal plug), Waking the Dead and Other Stories by Yvette Tan, or the upcoming short story collection The Lost Language by Marianne Villanueva. In other news, Fantasy Magazine is looking for slush...
SF Signal (Free subscription) | 09/12/2009
Asimov's has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the October/November 2009 issue: Novella : "The Sea of Dreams" by William Barton Novelettes : "Blood Dauber" by Ted Kosmatka & Michael Poore "Wife-Stealing Time" by R. Garcia y Robertson "Flowers of Asphodel" by Damien Broderick "Flotsam" by Elissa Malcohn "The Ghost Hunter's Beautiful...
Ask Nicola (Free subscription) | 08/13/2009
On Saturday it's Kelley's turn in the spotlight at Author Central . Authors they've had so far: 8/1 Alfred Bester 8/2 William Tenn (Phillip Klass) 8/3 Gene Wolfe 8/4 E.T.A. Hoffman 8/5 Norman Spinrad 8/6 Lucy Sussex 8/7 Robert J. Sawyer 8/8 Phillip Reeve 8/9 Ian McDonald 8/10 Ken MacLeod 8/11 Dan Simmons 8/12 S.M. Stirling Tomorrow it's James Blish. (I wish I could have met him. I loved his work--both...
Ask Nicola (Free subscription) | 08/01/2009
Over at Author Central they're planning a special series starting today: Every day during August a different author will be spotlighted in their own thread in our Author Central forum. We encourage all to visit on that day and post photographs, reminiscences, cover scans, links to appropriate sites, reviews, and other reactions. With 31 days and 31 authors there's a chance to share what you know as...
Gerry Canavan (Free subscription) | 07/31/2009
There have been some interesting Infinite Summer posts about whether Infinite Jest "counts" as science fiction—see, for instance, these two at Infinite Tasks and this from Chris Forster)—so I thought it might be interesting to run through some of my standard classroom definitions of science fiction and see how the book shapes up. (My notes on this are older than the Wikipedia...
The Eternal Golden Braid (Free subscription) | 07/09/2009
Living on the New Frontier When Jim Baen came to Galaxy magazine as editor, one thing he did was to keep Jerry Pournelle on as science writer. The relationship went as long as Baen edited Galaxy; he eventually left to become editor at Ace. While at Ace, he started a "bookzine" called Destinie s, and Pournelle came along to write science articles. When Baen left Ace to work with the folks...
Muss My Hair (Free subscription) | 06/10/2009
Was really into this show as a kid. And like the rumors that one day you see Zoltar with no mask, turns out there was truth to schoolyard rumors: in this case we can thank the science fiction writers (Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, Ben Bova, and Norman Spinrad, ….Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana, Walter Koenig, and David [...]
Eye of Polyphemus (Free subscription) | 06/04/2009
Star Trek --"The Doomsday Machine" “The Doomsday Machine” is my favorite episode of TOS. Feel free to groan because I have passed over several more popular choices. The episode had a rare double intensity because two dramatic situations were occurring at once. the first was the sparring between Decker and Spock over command of the Enterprise and the proper way to deal with the...
QuasarDragon (Free subscription) | 05/27/2009
A few cool freebies this morningVideoAt Hulu: the first season of the uber-cool, classic kid's show Land of the Lost. Dinosaurs, a lost civilization populated by a primitive alien race, time travel, and more, with episodes written by such SF worthies as David Gerrold, Larry Niven, Norman Spinrad, Walter Koenig, Ben Bova, and D.C. Fontana.All streaming online HERE. [via Monster Rally]
The Electronic Replicant (Free subscription) | 05/05/2009
Now Reading: Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. Just Finished: The Void Captain's Tale by Norman Spinrad. Although others have rated this book quite highly, I beg to differ. It felt like a very long short story, although the lavishly ornamented, and almost baroque, language just kept this book out of the realm of the Science Fiction Joke Book. Not that there was anything remotely funny...
The Electronic Replicant (Free subscription) | 04/21/2009
Now Reading: (Resumed) The Void Captain's Tale by Norman Spinrad Just Finished: The Art of Capacity Planning by John Allspaw Chances are good that you know of at least one website that's been a victim of its own popularity, whether it's been Slashdotted, Farked or Dugg, or it is visited by the Fail Whale too often. In The Art of Capacity Planning, the chief engineer at Flickr explains how to gauge...
Circle of 13 (Free subscription) | 11/25/2008
He finds himself dealing with a byzantine political situation worthy of anything from the banned past. The dictatorship is the Hegemony. Opposition is provided by the aptly named agents of C.H.A.O.S. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood of Assassins plays a game that no one can fathom. Whose side are they on? Whose fool are you'Spinrad explores his philosophical theme in a manner all too rare in contemporary...
Nature (Free subscription) | 11/05/2008
SirIn his entertaining Futures story 'The brown revolution' (Nature455, 564; 2008), Norman Spinrad waxes eloquent about turning faeces into energy. Some, however, are taking the idea more seriously. Swedish Biogas International is collaborating with Kettering University in Flint, Michigan
StarShipSofa Podcast: science ficti (Free subscription) | 10/01/2008
Aural Delights No 44 Lucius Shepard Poetry : Flesh Eating Alien Vampire Sex On The Moon by David Kopsaka Merkel 01:30 Flash Fiction : Man Of The Theatre By Norman Spinrad 4:00 Fact: Halloween by Amy H Sturgis 13:20 Book Review: Sean Keough 28:50 Main Fiction : Senor Voltro by Lucius Shepard Narrators : Julie Davis , Mark Nelson , Paul Caggegi Advertisement : This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com....
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