A collection of novellas related to ongoing series, Honor Harrington, Belisarius and Hammer's Slammers. Never read any of the Belisarius work, seems interesting enough - something to do with aliens or future people providing advanced tech to ancient times - the General appears to have artillery and telegraph communications for example.
The first two are quite good, with Weber's rookie Harrington tale the pick, but I am still not much a fan of the Slammers it seems.
Warmasters : Ms Midshipwoman Harrington - David Weber
Warmasters : Islands - Eric Flint
Warmasters : Choosing Sides - David Drake
Tactically reduced.
4 out of 5
Wifely tour of duty instructions.
4 out of 5
Political payback Slam.
3 out of 5
4 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/20-TorchCD/TorchCD/The%20War%20Masters/The_Warmasters.htm
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Choosing Sides - David Drake
Political payback Slam.
3 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/20-TorchCD/TorchCD/The%20War%20Masters/0743435346___3.htm
3 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/20-TorchCD/TorchCD/The%20War%20Masters/0743435346___3.htm
Islands - Eric Flint
Wifely tour of duty instructions.
4 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/20-TorchCD/TorchCD/The%20War%20Masters/0743435346___2.htm
4 out of 5
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/20-TorchCD/TorchCD/The%20War%20Masters/0743435346___2.htm
Grand Central Arena 10 - Ryk Spoor
"DuQuesne continued. "I know exactly what I'm saying. I get fusion temperature and pressure, and exactly nothing happens. The stuff goes to plasma, but no fusion, no radiation, nothing." He shrugged. "You're right, it's impossible. But that's what's happening." DuQuesne looked over to Ariane. "That's also why you had to go to the chemicals for that emergency stop; the fusion pellets kicked out right on cue for the nuclear pulse, but didn't detonate.""
3 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/154403.html#cutid1
3 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/154403.html#cutid1
How To Be A Good Citizen - Aidan Doyle
Abduction consolation.
3 out of 5
http://reflectionsedge.com/index.php/2007/10/how-to-be-a-good-citizen/
3 out of 5
http://reflectionsedge.com/index.php/2007/10/how-to-be-a-good-citizen/
Reading the Text - Joel Shepherd
"Could you take a minute and explain what your Cassandra Kresnov series happens to be about?
The Cassandra Kresnov series is about an artificial person, Cassandra (or Sandy), constructed to be the most lethal ever soldier in an interstellar war, who decides she’d rather be a normal person instead. But of course, the powers that shaped her creation on all sides don’t make it that easy for her. So it’s a lot about choices and individual rights and the like, as well as all the way-cool action stuff."
3.5 out of 5
http://grindingtovalhalla.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/reading-the-text-joel-shepherd/
The Cassandra Kresnov series is about an artificial person, Cassandra (or Sandy), constructed to be the most lethal ever soldier in an interstellar war, who decides she’d rather be a normal person instead. But of course, the powers that shaped her creation on all sides don’t make it that easy for her. So it’s a lot about choices and individual rights and the like, as well as all the way-cool action stuff."
3.5 out of 5
http://grindingtovalhalla.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/reading-the-text-joel-shepherd/
SF Revu Interview - Joel Shepherd
"SFRevu: Sandy's much vaunted edge over the other artificial soldiers is her ability to think "laterally," and come up with creative solutions to problems. Do you really think combat is that complex a puzzle to solve? I mean, if AIs can currently beat chess masters, shouldn't we expect grunt AI bots to be able to beat humans?
Joel: Ah, big question, big answer.
Modern warfare makes chess look like a child's game, and the more technology advances, the more complex it will become. The most serious advances regard situational awareness. I've never been in combat, but I've read accounts, and most of the time, they've got no clue what's happening. So combat is reduced to luck, and what separates veterans from rookies is risk-assessment. The veteran can make educated guesses about risk and tend to fare much better.
But in the future, you're going to have all units supported by a computer intel that knows enemy and friendly positions and movements and creates real-time situational awareness for everyone on the battlefield. In the Cassandra Kresnov series, I call this system tac-net. As a side effect of this, infantry tactics will become infinitely more complex, because soldiers will have a much better idea of exactly what's going on, and their options will change from fuzzy options to precise options."
4 out of 5
http://sfrevu.com/Review-id.php?id=4595
Joel: Ah, big question, big answer.
Modern warfare makes chess look like a child's game, and the more technology advances, the more complex it will become. The most serious advances regard situational awareness. I've never been in combat, but I've read accounts, and most of the time, they've got no clue what's happening. So combat is reduced to luck, and what separates veterans from rookies is risk-assessment. The veteran can make educated guesses about risk and tend to fare much better.
But in the future, you're going to have all units supported by a computer intel that knows enemy and friendly positions and movements and creates real-time situational awareness for everyone on the battlefield. In the Cassandra Kresnov series, I call this system tac-net. As a side effect of this, infantry tactics will become infinitely more complex, because soldiers will have a much better idea of exactly what's going on, and their options will change from fuzzy options to precise options."
4 out of 5
http://sfrevu.com/Review-id.php?id=4595
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review Interview - John Joseph Adams
"I’ve interviewed a few authors but this is the first interview I’ve done with an editor of a short story collection. Could you tell me a little bit about the process you had to go through to put ‘Wastelands’ together? Did you have an idea about specific stories that you wanted to be included or did you ask writers to submit work that they thought was suitable?
Well, after reading the abovementioned titles, it became harder to find books on the subject, and so I decided to write an article on the sub-genre, which required tons of research. (I figured if I was going to do the research anyway, I might as well write an article based on it and get paid for it!) In the end, it served me quite well when the time came to put the anthology proposal together; when the time came to do that, I put down most of the table of contents right off the top of my head.
Other than that, I just talked to my friends and colleagues and solicited recommendations from them. Also, once word got out that I'd sold the anthology, I had a few authors approach me to point out that they had stories on the subject I should consider.
There's a bit more to the process than that, of course. Once you settle on a table of contents, you have to contact all of the authors (or their agents) to negotiate permission to reprint the stories. Then, once you secure permission for all the stories, you have to set the order of the stories, which can be a lot like putting together a puzzle. And in the case of Wastelands, I had to write the introduction, write the header notes to all of the stories, and finally assemble the "For Further Reading" appendix."
4 out of 5
http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com/2008/02/interview-john-joseph-adams.html
Well, after reading the abovementioned titles, it became harder to find books on the subject, and so I decided to write an article on the sub-genre, which required tons of research. (I figured if I was going to do the research anyway, I might as well write an article based on it and get paid for it!) In the end, it served me quite well when the time came to put the anthology proposal together; when the time came to do that, I put down most of the table of contents right off the top of my head.
Other than that, I just talked to my friends and colleagues and solicited recommendations from them. Also, once word got out that I'd sold the anthology, I had a few authors approach me to point out that they had stories on the subject I should consider.
There's a bit more to the process than that, of course. Once you settle on a table of contents, you have to contact all of the authors (or their agents) to negotiate permission to reprint the stories. Then, once you secure permission for all the stories, you have to set the order of the stories, which can be a lot like putting together a puzzle. And in the case of Wastelands, I had to write the introduction, write the header notes to all of the stories, and finally assemble the "For Further Reading" appendix."
4 out of 5
http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com/2008/02/interview-john-joseph-adams.html
Quiet Earth Interview with Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse editor - John Joseph Adams
"When you first started your research, were you surprised to find that an authoritative anthology of Post Apocalyptic fiction really wasn't out on the market? Have you formulated any opinions on why that is?
I wasn't surprised that there wasn't such an anthology--because there was one--but I was surprised that there was only one. The one I'm talking about is a book called Beyond Armageddon, edited by Walter M. Miller, Jr. and Martin H. Greenberg. But it came out around 1985, and it was the only anthology of its kind (not counting other similar anthologies, such as Armageddons, which is focused on apocalyptic rather than post-apocalyptic fiction).
Wastelands was put together as a kind of spiritual successor to Beyond Armageddon. I basically picked up where that left off. I purposely avoided duplicating anything that had already been reprinted in that book, and chose most of the stories from Wastelands from the time period following publication of Beyond Armageddon (though there are a few stories that pre-date it)."
4 out of 5
http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2008/03/01/Interview-with-Wastelands-Stories-of-the-Apocalypse-editor-John-Joseph-Adams
I wasn't surprised that there wasn't such an anthology--because there was one--but I was surprised that there was only one. The one I'm talking about is a book called Beyond Armageddon, edited by Walter M. Miller, Jr. and Martin H. Greenberg. But it came out around 1985, and it was the only anthology of its kind (not counting other similar anthologies, such as Armageddons, which is focused on apocalyptic rather than post-apocalyptic fiction).
Wastelands was put together as a kind of spiritual successor to Beyond Armageddon. I basically picked up where that left off. I purposely avoided duplicating anything that had already been reprinted in that book, and chose most of the stories from Wastelands from the time period following publication of Beyond Armageddon (though there are a few stories that pre-date it)."
4 out of 5
http://www.quietearth.us/articles/2008/03/01/Interview-with-Wastelands-Stories-of-the-Apocalypse-editor-John-Joseph-Adams
Nuts and Bolts - John Joseph Adams
"This week's Nuts & Bolts interviewee is John Joseph Adams. The assistant editor for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and a longtime book reviewer, he has recently turned his hand to editing anthologies. I interviewed him about Seeds of Change (Prime, August 2008)."
...
"Which leads us to editing difficulties--of which, I can thankfully say, there were relatively few. Which was fortunate, especially since this was my first attempt to put together an original anthology. One problem was that a lot of writers who I was counting on didn't deliver stories, so I ended up with a smaller pool of stories to select from than I'd been hoping for. (Not that I bear any ill will to those who didn't send me stories; it's all part of the process, and you have to plan accordingly for it.) Additionally, I couldn't hold an open reading period for the anthology (i.e., accept unsolicited submissions); this is because my day job is working as the assistant editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and the publisher and editor, Gordon Van Gelder (my boss), felt like it would be a conflict if I accepted unsolicited submissions in this particular case since the theme of the anthology is so broad. Which is fair enough, though it did make editing the book a bit more difficult."
4 out of 5
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/400000640/post/430032643.html?nid=4381
...
"Which leads us to editing difficulties--of which, I can thankfully say, there were relatively few. Which was fortunate, especially since this was my first attempt to put together an original anthology. One problem was that a lot of writers who I was counting on didn't deliver stories, so I ended up with a smaller pool of stories to select from than I'd been hoping for. (Not that I bear any ill will to those who didn't send me stories; it's all part of the process, and you have to plan accordingly for it.) Additionally, I couldn't hold an open reading period for the anthology (i.e., accept unsolicited submissions); this is because my day job is working as the assistant editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and the publisher and editor, Gordon Van Gelder (my boss), felt like it would be a conflict if I accepted unsolicited submissions in this particular case since the theme of the anthology is so broad. Which is fair enough, though it did make editing the book a bit more difficult."
4 out of 5
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/400000640/post/430032643.html?nid=4381
Grasping For the Wind Slush God An Interview With - John Joseph Adams
"GFTW: What qualities do you look for in a short story? Are these any different from what you might look for in a novel?
JJA: It's really hard to describe what it is one looks for in a story; if it were easy to spell out, writer's guidelines for every publication in the world would have a nice detailed description of what it is they're looking for. The trouble is, it's really kind of impossible to say. Or at least I can't think of how to describe it.
I can compare short stories to novels, though. Short stories need to be really tight and don't have much room for digressions, while novels allow the writer more room to sprawl. Also, short stories tend to be a better vehicle for experimentation, and for challenging a writer's comfort zone."
4 out of 5
http://otter.covblogs.com/archives/024600.html
JJA: It's really hard to describe what it is one looks for in a story; if it were easy to spell out, writer's guidelines for every publication in the world would have a nice detailed description of what it is they're looking for. The trouble is, it's really kind of impossible to say. Or at least I can't think of how to describe it.
I can compare short stories to novels, though. Short stories need to be really tight and don't have much room for digressions, while novels allow the writer more room to sprawl. Also, short stories tend to be a better vehicle for experimentation, and for challenging a writer's comfort zone."
4 out of 5
http://otter.covblogs.com/archives/024600.html
Ticonderoga Online Interview - Marianne de Pierres
"The setting for the Parrish Plessis trilogy shows aspects of a mutated Australia. Is the Australian landscape important to all of your writing?
Hugely. It's me. My writing identity. I love having its flavour in my books. I've spent as much time in the country as the city so I feel like I understand most aspects of it ‚ or at least my relationship with it physical and emotional landscape. The challenging thing is to try and capture it in different ways. I have a series of short stories set on Stradbroke Island that have a totally different tone to the Australia in the Parrish novels. The Gin Jackson story (although a Parrish-like character) in Agog!, is a world influenced by my time in the Pilbara.
Reading Terry Dowling opened my mind to so many possibilities. His writing is genius."
4 out of 5
http://ticonderogaonline.com/006TOL/interview006a.html
Hugely. It's me. My writing identity. I love having its flavour in my books. I've spent as much time in the country as the city so I feel like I understand most aspects of it ‚ or at least my relationship with it physical and emotional landscape. The challenging thing is to try and capture it in different ways. I have a series of short stories set on Stradbroke Island that have a totally different tone to the Australia in the Parrish novels. The Gin Jackson story (although a Parrish-like character) in Agog!, is a world influenced by my time in the Pilbara.
Reading Terry Dowling opened my mind to so many possibilities. His writing is genius."
4 out of 5
http://ticonderogaonline.com/006TOL/interview006a.html
Walker Of Worlds Interview - Marianne de Pierres
"With the change of sub-genre with the Sentients of Orion series, how much of a difference is there writing space opera? Any pros or cons?
Sentients of Orion has given me a chance to be a whole lot of different people and visit some exotic and weird places - better than a holiday really. Much as I love Parrish, her world was tawdry and downright loathsome at times. Writing Sentients has been like growing wings. With Space Opera you can go anywhere, be anyone. I love that but it’s also meant juggling a number of balls over a number of books and I’d be lying if I didn’t say how demanding that is. One the greatest pleasures in writing this series has been weaving the character’s storylines so that they fall in and out of each others lives. Manipulating fate is unbelievably cool."
4 out of 5
http://walkerofworlds.blogspot.com/2008/12/interview-with-marianne-de-pierres.html
Sentients of Orion has given me a chance to be a whole lot of different people and visit some exotic and weird places - better than a holiday really. Much as I love Parrish, her world was tawdry and downright loathsome at times. Writing Sentients has been like growing wings. With Space Opera you can go anywhere, be anyone. I love that but it’s also meant juggling a number of balls over a number of books and I’d be lying if I didn’t say how demanding that is. One the greatest pleasures in writing this series has been weaving the character’s storylines so that they fall in and out of each others lives. Manipulating fate is unbelievably cool."
4 out of 5
http://walkerofworlds.blogspot.com/2008/12/interview-with-marianne-de-pierres.html
SFF World Interview - Marianne de Pierres
"Background first. Let’s start with a biggie. You were born and brought up in Western Australia. I’m a big believer myself in the idea that our experiences in our formative years affect our futures (and in the case of writers, their need to write as well as their writing!) Would you say that Western Australia was an influence on you in that way?
Marianne: Without a doubt. I grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in the central wheatbelt area of the state. Then I spent my twenties in an outback mining town in the far north of Western Australia. After that I have a couple of years on a sub-tropical island. I have a very strong connection with the physical landscape of Australia. In the Parrish series it is very definitely another character. In Dark Space the mining planet of Araldis is a direct extrapolation of my time living in the iron ore mining town, Paraburdoo (Place of the White Cockatoo). "
4 out of 5
http://www.sffworld.com/interview/233p0.html
Marianne: Without a doubt. I grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in the central wheatbelt area of the state. Then I spent my twenties in an outback mining town in the far north of Western Australia. After that I have a couple of years on a sub-tropical island. I have a very strong connection with the physical landscape of Australia. In the Parrish series it is very definitely another character. In Dark Space the mining planet of Araldis is a direct extrapolation of my time living in the iron ore mining town, Paraburdoo (Place of the White Cockatoo). "
4 out of 5
http://www.sffworld.com/interview/233p0.html
Dragon Page Cover to Cover - Marianne de Pierres
"Interview: Michael, Summer and Michael talk with Australian author Marianne de Pierres about her latest book, Dark Space, the first book in her new series “The Sentients of Orion”. She’s created a new universe, different from the world in her Parrish Plessis series, one where the races are in a technological race to talk with God, who was discovered in deep space after an ship on a mining exploration run suffers a navigational failure and drifts off course."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.dragonpage.com/2007/08/06/cover-to-cover-274a/
3.5 out of 5
http://www.dragonpage.com/2007/08/06/cover-to-cover-274a/
Falcata Times Interview - Marianne de Pierres
"Mad Max meets Tank Girl."
4 out of 5
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=129548115&blogID=419987228&Mytoken=35EC52BF-5D8C-4F01-BD9091A3EC303CCA191882684
4 out of 5
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=129548115&blogID=419987228&Mytoken=35EC52BF-5D8C-4F01-BD9091A3EC303CCA191882684
An Interview with the Creator of Parrish Plessis - Marianne de Pierres
"Will you ever return to The Tert?
I have one more story to tell in the Tert. Book 3 finishes as the Tert and Viva are on the brink of war. I’m pretty keen myself to find out what Parrish will do during *major civil unrest*. Could get ugly.
So, yes."
3.5 out of 5
http://writing-genre-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/sf_author_marianne_de_pierres
I have one more story to tell in the Tert. Book 3 finishes as the Tert and Viva are on the brink of war. I’m pretty keen myself to find out what Parrish will do during *major civil unrest*. Could get ugly.
So, yes."
3.5 out of 5
http://writing-genre-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/sf_author_marianne_de_pierres
SFF World Interview - Joel Shepherd
"Q: What was the spark that generated the idea which drove you to write CROSSOVER and the Cassandra Kresnov series in the first place?
I'd had an idea for a super-warrior in my head for a long time, I've long been fascinated by the concept of great power, and the morality plays entailed in deciding how to use such power. Not in superheroes so much, because so few of the great American superheroes actually kill anyone, which seems to me the true essence of great power -- the power of life and death. Comic book superheroes always seemed to me to be dodging the issue -- the villain threatens to kill entire nations, and Superman responds by punching him in the jaw... no. That's a false moral choice, because Superman gets off cheap -- he never has to make the truly hard choices, the choice of whether or not to take life... and possibly a lot of life... and as such, he never acquires much depth for me as a character. Sandy's dilemma is much deeper, because all of her power is derived from lethal force, and she's the kind of person who'd much rather be loving life than taking it.
But it never occurred to me to make her fully artificial until one day I was reading the manga of 'Ghost in the Shell' by Masamune Shirow, and some characters were talking about how in that world, cyborgs with human brains have souls, and wholly artificial minds do not. It seemed a strangely metaphysical and possibly indefensible notion... and what if you were artificial, and quite certain you had a soul, and deserved all the same rights as cyborgs or straight humans, but no one believed you? And then it occurred to me that this could be the super-warrior concept I'd had before, and the proverbial light flashed on in my head -- her ethical dilemmas, her struggle for a purpose in life, the discrimination against her, the fear she generated, the broader politics of her creation... etc. And I knew I had to write a book about her. Possibly several books."
4 out of 5
http://www.sffworld.com/interview/209p1.html
I'd had an idea for a super-warrior in my head for a long time, I've long been fascinated by the concept of great power, and the morality plays entailed in deciding how to use such power. Not in superheroes so much, because so few of the great American superheroes actually kill anyone, which seems to me the true essence of great power -- the power of life and death. Comic book superheroes always seemed to me to be dodging the issue -- the villain threatens to kill entire nations, and Superman responds by punching him in the jaw... no. That's a false moral choice, because Superman gets off cheap -- he never has to make the truly hard choices, the choice of whether or not to take life... and possibly a lot of life... and as such, he never acquires much depth for me as a character. Sandy's dilemma is much deeper, because all of her power is derived from lethal force, and she's the kind of person who'd much rather be loving life than taking it.
But it never occurred to me to make her fully artificial until one day I was reading the manga of 'Ghost in the Shell' by Masamune Shirow, and some characters were talking about how in that world, cyborgs with human brains have souls, and wholly artificial minds do not. It seemed a strangely metaphysical and possibly indefensible notion... and what if you were artificial, and quite certain you had a soul, and deserved all the same rights as cyborgs or straight humans, but no one believed you? And then it occurred to me that this could be the super-warrior concept I'd had before, and the proverbial light flashed on in my head -- her ethical dilemmas, her struggle for a purpose in life, the discrimination against her, the fear she generated, the broader politics of her creation... etc. And I knew I had to write a book about her. Possibly several books."
4 out of 5
http://www.sffworld.com/interview/209p1.html
Fantasy Book Critic Interview - Joel Shepherd
"Q: In other interviews you mentioned how you wanted to play around with certain stereotypes in the Kresnov books, such as the ‘android cliché’, making your leads female, and I also liked how the futuristic setting was utopian rather than the much more common dystopian backdrop and how you made Cassandra accountable for her actions. Were there any other tropes that you were trying to break down in the series?
Joel: Not really. Though I’m not sure I’d describe the series as utopian, more just as not dystopian. I think the trend of human progress has been generally to the positive, with some nasty hiccups, and I don’t expect that to change. I also think some of the attraction of dystopian worlds is that a lot of writers either aren’t interested in politics, or can’t see a way to use it excitingly in their plots. Dystopian worlds usually preclude politics as we understand it...so it’s a bit of a cop out."
4 out of 5
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2007/11/interview-with-joel-shepherd.html
Joel: Not really. Though I’m not sure I’d describe the series as utopian, more just as not dystopian. I think the trend of human progress has been generally to the positive, with some nasty hiccups, and I don’t expect that to change. I also think some of the attraction of dystopian worlds is that a lot of writers either aren’t interested in politics, or can’t see a way to use it excitingly in their plots. Dystopian worlds usually preclude politics as we understand it...so it’s a bit of a cop out."
4 out of 5
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2007/11/interview-with-joel-shepherd.html
Tobias Buckell Interview - Joel Shepherd
"-Last, but not least, if zombies were spreading throughout the land
by infectious bite what would be your 5 point response?
One: Kill all the zombies.
Two: Have a lie down.
Thereby making the final three points redundant. Cunning, huh?"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2007/03/08/joel-shepherd-interview-2/
by infectious bite what would be your 5 point response?
One: Kill all the zombies.
Two: Have a lie down.
Thereby making the final three points redundant. Cunning, huh?"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2007/03/08/joel-shepherd-interview-2/
2009 SF Anthology Database - Charles Tan
A list of the anthologies that have come out (or will) in 2009 for SF, fantasy, horror.
It is editable.
5 out of 5
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0zUEk4idZvfpaEXrGLqWGQ
It is editable.
5 out of 5
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0zUEk4idZvfpaEXrGLqWGQ
2010 SF Anthology Database - Charles Tan
A good idea - making it a form that people can enter newly discovered books into for the upcoming year.
5 out of 5
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tHCBTtHRsyQf0XlRBKXDCYg&output=html
5 out of 5
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tHCBTtHRsyQf0XlRBKXDCYg&output=html
Bibliophile Stalker Interview - John Joseph Adams
"What I appreciate about you is how you market your anthologies, especially the websites you create which feature short interviews and excerpts from the book. How involved are you with the marketing/promotions, and who comes up with these ideas? What techniques in your opinion have been the most effective so far?
I'm glad you and others seem to find the anthology websites useful; it's hard to measure how effective they are, but I figure they can't hurt, and it's always nice to be able to sample before you buy. I believe I decided to do the website for Wastelands on my own, or perhaps it came about as a result of a discussion with my friend and colleague Jeremiah Tolbert, who built and designed that website for me. Later anthologies have all employed a WordPress template customized to the anthology; building a new template for each book proved to be too time consuming and costly (as I can't do that stuff on my own), but what matters most is the content, and the template I've been using is clean and has a nice aesthetic. Basically what happens is, I get Jeremiah (who is also my web host and webmaster) to setup the blank template for me (substituting the default banner with one for the anthology), then I just use WordPress to fill the site with content. (Lately, I've had my interns help me out with this; huge thanks go to Haris Durrani for the work he did on the By Blood We Live and Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes sites.)
As for marketing and promotions otherwise, well, for my Night Shade titles, I'm pretty involved otherwise, as I'm also Night Shade's publicist. (That's not how or why I was able to sell Wastelands, incidentally; they hired me to be their publicist after I sold them Wastelands.)"
4.5 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/09/interview-john-joseph-adams-2009.html
I'm glad you and others seem to find the anthology websites useful; it's hard to measure how effective they are, but I figure they can't hurt, and it's always nice to be able to sample before you buy. I believe I decided to do the website for Wastelands on my own, or perhaps it came about as a result of a discussion with my friend and colleague Jeremiah Tolbert, who built and designed that website for me. Later anthologies have all employed a WordPress template customized to the anthology; building a new template for each book proved to be too time consuming and costly (as I can't do that stuff on my own), but what matters most is the content, and the template I've been using is clean and has a nice aesthetic. Basically what happens is, I get Jeremiah (who is also my web host and webmaster) to setup the blank template for me (substituting the default banner with one for the anthology), then I just use WordPress to fill the site with content. (Lately, I've had my interns help me out with this; huge thanks go to Haris Durrani for the work he did on the By Blood We Live and Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes sites.)
As for marketing and promotions otherwise, well, for my Night Shade titles, I'm pretty involved otherwise, as I'm also Night Shade's publicist. (That's not how or why I was able to sell Wastelands, incidentally; they hired me to be their publicist after I sold them Wastelands.)"
4.5 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/09/interview-john-joseph-adams-2009.html
Bibliophile Stalker Interview - Pablo Defendini
"In your opinion, how is Tor.com leveraging New Media and the genre? What are the things that you're doing right?"
One of the things we’re doing the best, I think, is engaging with our audience, and listening. Publishing is a very insular industry, where insiders are constantly talking to each other, but very rarely do they actually talk to or listen to the actual end customer: the reader. There have traditionally been some very valid arguments as for why this is the case, but as digital media democratizes the world more and more, those arguments become much less convincing or even relevant.
Tor.com is one way in which we’re talking directly with readers, listening to what they have to say, and we’re finding out a lot about them. And I do mean a whole hell of a lot—some of the very dearly-held assumptions of the publishing industry really don’t hold much water with the reading public, and it’s very sobering to compare and contrast what I see and read every day on Tor.com in particular and the internet in general with what I see and hear from within the walls of the Flatiron building."
4.5 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/10/interview-pablo-defendini.html
One of the things we’re doing the best, I think, is engaging with our audience, and listening. Publishing is a very insular industry, where insiders are constantly talking to each other, but very rarely do they actually talk to or listen to the actual end customer: the reader. There have traditionally been some very valid arguments as for why this is the case, but as digital media democratizes the world more and more, those arguments become much less convincing or even relevant.
Tor.com is one way in which we’re talking directly with readers, listening to what they have to say, and we’re finding out a lot about them. And I do mean a whole hell of a lot—some of the very dearly-held assumptions of the publishing industry really don’t hold much water with the reading public, and it’s very sobering to compare and contrast what I see and read every day on Tor.com in particular and the internet in general with what I see and hear from within the walls of the Flatiron building."
4.5 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/10/interview-pablo-defendini.html
Bibliophile Stalker Interview - Elizabeth Hand
"You've written both novels and short stories. Is it difficult for you continually switching back and forth or is it a seamless experience by now? Did a short story ever turn into a novel and vice versa or do you always know beforehand which it's going to be?
The form I’m most comfortable with is actually in between those two — the novella, and sometimes the novelette. “The Boy in the Tree” grew into Winterlong, but I’ve never had the reverse happen. Usually — almost always — I start work on a short story, and it grows into a novella. Sometimes the novellas turn into short novels, as with “Illyria” and “Chip Crockett’s Christmas Carol.” It’s kind of a problem, because I think my best work is in the novella form, and that’s the most difficult format to publish — too long for most traditional print magazine formats, too short for book publisher.
But Viking is bringing out Illyria as a stand-alone novel next year, which is fabulous — that’s probably my favorite of everything of everything I’ve ever written, and it was a story I’d been trying to tell since I was 17. So that’s the happiest ending I can imagine for that particular work. I have a novelette ("The Far Shore”) in the current, 60th anniversary issue of FSF Magazine, and a novella called “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon” that will be out in Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio’s Stories anthology next year. I love writing at that length. It’s long enough to develop and fall in love with your characters, but it’s not the sort of marathon writing experience that a novel is."
4.5 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/search/label/interviews
The form I’m most comfortable with is actually in between those two — the novella, and sometimes the novelette. “The Boy in the Tree” grew into Winterlong, but I’ve never had the reverse happen. Usually — almost always — I start work on a short story, and it grows into a novella. Sometimes the novellas turn into short novels, as with “Illyria” and “Chip Crockett’s Christmas Carol.” It’s kind of a problem, because I think my best work is in the novella form, and that’s the most difficult format to publish — too long for most traditional print magazine formats, too short for book publisher.
But Viking is bringing out Illyria as a stand-alone novel next year, which is fabulous — that’s probably my favorite of everything of everything I’ve ever written, and it was a story I’d been trying to tell since I was 17. So that’s the happiest ending I can imagine for that particular work. I have a novelette ("The Far Shore”) in the current, 60th anniversary issue of FSF Magazine, and a novella called “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon” that will be out in Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio’s Stories anthology next year. I love writing at that length. It’s long enough to develop and fall in love with your characters, but it’s not the sort of marathon writing experience that a novel is."
4.5 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/search/label/interviews
Bibliophile Stalker Interview - Jeremiah Tolbert
"Well, I'm a nerd and a geek, and thus I have a genetic predisposition to anything vaguely science-y. I'm told that when I was asked what I wanted to be when I was 3 years old, I calmly sat aside my plastic dinosaurs and explained that the only logical path for me was to be a mad scientist."
4.5 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-jeremiah-tolbert.html
4.5 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-jeremiah-tolbert.html
Bibliophile Stalker Interview - K.J. Bishop
"I suspect a taste for the sensational is part of it. It might be that fantastical elements help me to organise my thoughts, by acting as archetypal or mythical magnets around which emotional and cognitive material can accrue. There's also the surreal factor. The mind is a strange place, and I like to express that strangeness directly, which produces oddness in my writing -- like taking my brain out of my head and making a sort of potato-print with it on the paper."
4 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-kj-bishop.html
4 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-kj-bishop.html
BSC Interview - Joe Abercrombie
"You have said on your blog that most of your reading time these days goes to non-fiction. If you’re not reading too much of your peers’ work, what do you do to keep yourself apprised of market trends, if you consider them at all?
I am the market trend. A ha ha. But seriously, I think if you’re watching the market to see what you should be writing you’re (a) going to write a rubbish version of what other people are writing, and (b) a couple of years too late anyway. Regardless of trends there will always be a place for quality, original fiction of any kind, and I think your best chance of producing that is to (a) write what you love and not what you think other people might like, and (b) try to be as honest and truthful as possible and find your own voice, and you do that by (c) not reading slavishly within any one genre, especially if you intend to write in it."
4 out of 5
http://www.bscreview.com/2009/11/joe-abercrombie-interview/
I am the market trend. A ha ha. But seriously, I think if you’re watching the market to see what you should be writing you’re (a) going to write a rubbish version of what other people are writing, and (b) a couple of years too late anyway. Regardless of trends there will always be a place for quality, original fiction of any kind, and I think your best chance of producing that is to (a) write what you love and not what you think other people might like, and (b) try to be as honest and truthful as possible and find your own voice, and you do that by (c) not reading slavishly within any one genre, especially if you intend to write in it."
4 out of 5
http://www.bscreview.com/2009/11/joe-abercrombie-interview/
The Hoarder 01 - Kelly Melding
"Killing was easy if you had the stomach for it. Killing quickly and efficiently, with only minor cleanup required, took effort and training. Judging by the sixteen countable pieces of goblin strewn around the row home’s dilapidated living room, as well as the congealing puddle of fuchsia blood and effluvia, the effort had not been made and training had gone sorely to waste. The Rookie was trouble, she thought. Trouble, plain and simple."
4 out of 5
http://www.suvudu.com/2009/11/dead-on-suvudu-the-dreg-files-day-1.html
4 out of 5
http://www.suvudu.com/2009/11/dead-on-suvudu-the-dreg-files-day-1.html
Revise the World 16 - B. W. Clough
"She looked up. “What is it, dear?”
He could feel the tingling retreat of the blood from cheeks and lips as he turned pale. Slowly he pulled his hands free from hers. “Shell. Was it — for practise?”
The fevered thoughts drove him to his feet. “You’ve been training to communicate with aliens. With the oddest, most unimaginably strange beings you can lay hands on. And who could be stranger and more alien than a traveller from 1912?” "
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Brenda-Clough/Novels/Revise-the-World-Chapter-16
He could feel the tingling retreat of the blood from cheeks and lips as he turned pale. Slowly he pulled his hands free from hers. “Shell. Was it — for practise?”
The fevered thoughts drove him to his feet. “You’ve been training to communicate with aliens. With the oddest, most unimaginably strange beings you can lay hands on. And who could be stranger and more alien than a traveller from 1912?” "
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Brenda-Clough/Novels/Revise-the-World-Chapter-16
Revise the World 15 - B. W. Clough
"“Titus, this is not Horatio Hornblower. Starships don’t have cabin boys.”"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Brenda-Clough/Novels/Revise-the-World-Chapteer-15
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Brenda-Clough/Novels/Revise-the-World-Chapteer-15
Revise the World 17 - B. W. Clough
"“Are you sure that thing is working correctly? It might almost be giving off an electric shock. And what is that smell?”
“Hairs being burnt off short. The electric sensation is a feature, not a bug. I mean to say, we’re told the slight static charge stands each hair up straight to be seared off close.”
“It sounds peculiarly painful. And dangerous. Suppose my hand slips — will I burn my head off?”"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Brenda-Clough/Novels/Revise-the-World-Chapter-17
“Hairs being burnt off short. The electric sensation is a feature, not a bug. I mean to say, we’re told the slight static charge stands each hair up straight to be seared off close.”
“It sounds peculiarly painful. And dangerous. Suppose my hand slips — will I burn my head off?”"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Brenda-Clough/Novels/Revise-the-World-Chapter-17
Nightmare 01 - Steven Harper
"During four days of captivity, they had picked up tiny bits of information here and there, mostly from what the slavers told them. The colonists had been sleeping for either nine hundred years (real time) or fifty years (ship time), take your pick. While the colonists lay in cryo-sleep, someone had discovered something called slipspace, which allowed faster-than-light travel between solar systems. Pelagosa and hundreds of other inhabitable planets had quickly been colonized. Slower-than-light ships vanished into history and the vastness of space, their slumbering inhabitants forgotten.
But the slavers remembered.
It didn’t matter to the slavers that the colonists and crew of the ship were not legally slaves. All records of their existence had long ago been lost or purged, and in any case, Earth was under a different government trillions of kilometers away. "
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Steven-Piziks/Steven-Piziks-Novels/Nightmare-Prologue-and-Chapter-One
But the slavers remembered.
It didn’t matter to the slavers that the colonists and crew of the ship were not legally slaves. All records of their existence had long ago been lost or purged, and in any case, Earth was under a different government trillions of kilometers away. "
3 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Steven-Piziks/Steven-Piziks-Novels/Nightmare-Prologue-and-Chapter-One
Nightmare 02 - Steven Harper
"“These’re American bullfrogs,” Pup said. “We have sixteen ponds of them. That’s the most. They’re used in laboratories and for eating.” He squatted and held out a bit of bread from his roll. A blur of movement launched itself out of the water with a great splash. Evan jumped and Pup snatched his hand back. The bread was gone.
“They eat bread?” Evan said.
“They eat just about anything,” Pup replied, wiping his hand on his shirt. “Crickets, worms, fish, mice—”
“Mice?”
Pup nodded. “They eat anything that fits in their mouths, so don’t hold out anything they shouldn’t have. They got no teeth, though, so you don’t need to worry about getting bit.” "
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Steven-Piziks/Steven-Piziks-Novels/Nightmare-Chapter-Two
“They eat bread?” Evan said.
“They eat just about anything,” Pup replied, wiping his hand on his shirt. “Crickets, worms, fish, mice—”
“Mice?”
Pup nodded. “They eat anything that fits in their mouths, so don’t hold out anything they shouldn’t have. They got no teeth, though, so you don’t need to worry about getting bit.” "
3.5 out of 5
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Steven-Piziks/Steven-Piziks-Novels/Nightmare-Chapter-Two
Makers 61 - Cory Doctorow
"Suzanne rode the bullet-train from Miami airport in air-conditioned amusement, watching the Mickey-shaped hang-straps rock back and forth. She’d bought herself a Mickey waffle and a bucket-sized Diet Coke in the dining car and fended off the offers of plush animatronic toys that were clearly descended from Boogie-Woogie Elmo."
3 out of 5
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=58224
3 out of 5
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=58224
List Of Poems By Robert E. Howard - Various Various
Not something that fits here generally, but I am putting it here for reference, so can check occasionally to see if more have been added. May interest someone else. It is from Wikipedia.
5 out of 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poems_by_Robert_E._Howard
5 out of 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poems_by_Robert_E._Howard
Monday, November 23, 2009
A Sad Story - Michael Swanwick
Diaphragm execution.
3.5 out of 5
http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories/swanwick/sleep_of_reason_31.html
3.5 out of 5
http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories/swanwick/sleep_of_reason_31.html
Science Fiction in Portugal: The Drawing Up of a Territory - Teresa Sousa de Almeida
"This work intends to present the outlines of science fiction and of a certain fantastic literature related to it, having a reference in the national space in which it has been produced (Portugal). Although it contains a sort of introduction, it is mainly focused upon the production of the eighties and nineties, in which there has been a slight defining of a new paradigm."
3.5 out of 5
http://worldsf.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/monday-original-content-science-fiction-in-portugal/
3.5 out of 5
http://worldsf.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/monday-original-content-science-fiction-in-portugal/
My Favourite Books - Lou Anders
A brief interview about upcoming stuff.
3.5 out of 5
http://myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/lou-anders-visits-mfb-and-talks-books.html
3.5 out of 5
http://myfavouritebooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/lou-anders-visits-mfb-and-talks-books.html
A Brief History Of Tanusha - Joel Shepherd
"Following on from my world-building piece about ‘Sasha’, I thought I’d do something similar for the ‘Cassandra Kresnov Series’."
4 out of 5
http://www.joelshepherd.com/2009/11/following-on-from-my-world-building.html
4 out of 5
http://www.joelshepherd.com/2009/11/following-on-from-my-world-building.html
Grand Central Arena 09 - Ryk Spoor
"Holy Grail drifted within a monstrous enclosure, in the shape of a somewhat flattened sphere, over twenty thousand kilometers across the wide axis, sharing that space only with a handful of other, spherical objects ranging in size from one at the exact center which was nearly three kilometers across to several only a few meters across; with the exception of the central object, none of them exceeded 300 meters.
Ariane studied the other objects. Featureless spheres as far as their radar could make out, and no more detailed by the few visible-light images acquired during the brilliant firing of the rocket, they were all clearly laid out along a plane that cut through the center of the enclosure, none more than a relatively few kilometers off of that imaginary surface. Judging by the minimal data left from the recorders during their emergency stop, they'd first entered this weird place at roughly a thousand kilometers from the center, maybe a little less, and then careened outward until they'd almost hit the … wall. Moving pretty much along the plane of the other objects, too –"
3.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/154231.html
Ariane studied the other objects. Featureless spheres as far as their radar could make out, and no more detailed by the few visible-light images acquired during the brilliant firing of the rocket, they were all clearly laid out along a plane that cut through the center of the enclosure, none more than a relatively few kilometers off of that imaginary surface. Judging by the minimal data left from the recorders during their emergency stop, they'd first entered this weird place at roughly a thousand kilometers from the center, maybe a little less, and then careened outward until they'd almost hit the … wall. Moving pretty much along the plane of the other objects, too –"
3.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/154231.html
Grand Central Arena 08 - Ryk Spoor
"Why exactly did we design this experimental ship to be like a giant coffin?"
3.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/153563.html
3.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/153563.html
Grand Central Arena 07 - Ryk Spoor
"Simon floated in the zero-G observation lounge, looking straight "up" along the axis of Kanzaki-Three, staring at the long, slender shape of Holy Grail. The experimental vessel had the look of some delicate sea-dwelling creature, a streamlined torpedo with four exquisitely narrow tendrils – the magnetic guide ribs for its mass-beam drive – trailing far behind it. In a few days, he thought, they would all be on board, and only a few hours after that… he would know. One way or another, he would know.
Or, he admitted to himself and Mio, I may not know, if everything goes perfectly terribly and we explode or disappear."
3.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/153039.html
Or, he admitted to himself and Mio, I may not know, if everything goes perfectly terribly and we explode or disappear."
3.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/153039.html
Grand Central Arena 06 - Ryk Spoor
"In the past 40 years, no less than twelve interstellar probes were launched, using whatever was top-of-the-line in automation and nanodesign at the time. A couple of these were basically backyard fan projects, but most of them got quite a bit of interest and energy backing at their time. By now, more than half of them should have arrived at their destinations and started survey and possibly even nanoconstruction work.
"Not a single one of them has been heard from."
3 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/152487.html
"Not a single one of them has been heard from."
3 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/152487.html
Grand Central Arena 05 - Ryk Spoor
"Your prior tests only lasted for a few seconds,Simon," DuQuesne pointed out. "If we stay in this … transition space for days, how far away will we have gone?"
"A question that's not quite as simple to answer as it sounds. Remember that the probes seemed to emerge at almost random locations. There was some correlation between how fast they were going and how far they had gone when they emerged, but it was not nearly so clear as I would have liked."
2.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/151836.html
"A question that's not quite as simple to answer as it sounds. Remember that the probes seemed to emerge at almost random locations. There was some correlation between how fast they were going and how far they had gone when they emerged, but it was not nearly so clear as I would have liked."
2.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/151836.html
Grand Central Arena 04 - Ryk Spoor
"Yeah, he's definitely a Transcender; believes in the ultimate destiny of mankind to unify with the machines we created. Doesn't do the full Upload thing because it'd qualify him as an AI under current rules."
3 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/151626.html
3 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/151626.html
Grand Central Arena 03 - Ryk Spoor
" She tried to look as though she were thinking, then gave it up. "Much as I'd like to keep you hanging, Simon, I can't. The chance to be on the crew of the first FTL ship ever made? Even as a probably-useless supernumerary? You just try to keep me OUT of your ship!"
Simon's face relaxed slightly. "That's gratifying, I will admit. Now, I have to emphasize that there is a quite significant risk involved in this –"
She burst out laughing. "Risk? Doctor Sandrisson, I just ran a race where I tried – with my opponent – to get one of us run into a keyhole barrier at several klicks a second!" She laughed again. "One and a half percent chance of something going wrong? Without that, it wouldn't even be worth FLYING your little toy.""
3.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/151409.html
Simon's face relaxed slightly. "That's gratifying, I will admit. Now, I have to emphasize that there is a quite significant risk involved in this –"
She burst out laughing. "Risk? Doctor Sandrisson, I just ran a race where I tried – with my opponent – to get one of us run into a keyhole barrier at several klicks a second!" She laughed again. "One and a half percent chance of something going wrong? Without that, it wouldn't even be worth FLYING your little toy.""
3.5 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/151409.html
Grand Central Arena 02 - Ryk Spoor
" That explained the casing. A Tayler-5 was the highest permitted AI rating outside of special research and even with modern equipment you weren't fitting a T-5 in ordinary headware. A T-1 was generally considered equal to an ordinary human, and Mio – just about top-of-the-line for a headware AISage – had a Tayler rating of 2.5.
What a racing pilot needed, or wanted, with a T-5 AISage, now that was a mystery. Simon liked mysteries – it was part of what had drawn him into physics, unravelling the mysteries of how and why the universe worked the way it did – and now Ariane Austin wasn't just a daredevil in a totally anachronistic sport, she was a puzzle."
3 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/151202.html
What a racing pilot needed, or wanted, with a T-5 AISage, now that was a mystery. Simon liked mysteries – it was part of what had drawn him into physics, unravelling the mysteries of how and why the universe worked the way it did – and now Ariane Austin wasn't just a daredevil in a totally anachronistic sport, she was a puzzle."
3 out of 5
http://seawasp.livejournal.com/151202.html
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