Science Fiction and Other ODDysseys (Free subscription) | yesterday
I'm still digging out from WFC and had an eventful week. I did receive two rejections for stories this week. Ah well. It's all a process. I just have to kick them back out there. I've also rejoined a critique group and met with my new business partner in yet another endeavor. I'll be team teaching workshops on developing an online presence with Jennifer March of JMA Services . My review of The Owl...
Reading with Tequila (Free subscription) | 07/11/2009
Opposites Attract Challenge Hosted by: Jen's Book Talk To play just read books that have at least one word in the title opposite to another book title's word. You can only use a book once though; not in 2 different sets. And be sure to use some of these with your other challenges if you can! There are many possibilities and combinations to come up with! Also if you have to; use the authors name as...
Mike Hudack (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
“This is the terrain explored by Philip K. Dick in his classic short story “The Minority Report,” and in the Steven Spielberg movie based on it, in which an official government department of “Precrime” identifies, charges, and jails people on the basis of anticipated actions.” - December 2009: Mark Bowden on Sexual Predators | vanityfair.com
SF Signal (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
[Interviewer's Note: This is a series of interviews featuring the contributors of The Apex Book of World SF edited by Lavie Tidhar. It'll run every Monday to Friday until I run out of interviews. Two of these interviews will be reprinted in Apex Magazine but the rest are exclusive to SF Signal.] Born in 1976 in Dunkirk (France), Mélanie Fazi mostly writes short stories and has published two...
thedeplorableword (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
“Let me sum it up this way. Science fiction has slowly and ineluctably settled into a monotonous death: it has become inbred, derivative, stale. Suddenly you people have come in, some of the greatest talents currently in existence, and now we have a new life, a new start. As for my own role in the BLADE RUNNER project, I can only say that I did not know that a work of mine or a set of ideas of...
Sci-Fi Fan Letter (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
The most recent Mind Meld on SF Signal deals with what speculative fiction novels first published in the last 10 years should be included in high school literature courses. I had to read the Chrisalids and 1984 in class, but most of my speculative fiction reading was done after school. I read mostly fantasy but felt after a while that I should read some of the SF classics as well, and started with...
The Blog of Walker (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009
Stumbled across this today. It's a collection of audio clips, mp3s, from old Paul Williams interviews of Philip K. Dick. Pretty cool stuff. H/t to Total Dick-Head .
Book Calendar (Free subscription) | 30/10/2009
Reading Woman, August Macke (1887-1914) Daily Thoughts 10/30/2009 I read some more of Sandman Slim during lunch. It is very entertaining. I am almost finished reading it. It might be a bit too dark for some people. It is also a bit profane so some people may not like it. The story is very good though and the writing is excellent for the type of story it tells. This morning, I did a display of mysteries...
Dad29 (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
Interesting. In 1799, the Federalist minority of the Virginia House of Delegates produced an extended defense of the Alien and Sedition Acts. This Minority Report responded to Madison's famous Virginia Resolutions and efforts by Virginia Republicans to tar the Adams Administration with having exceeded its powers under the federal Constitution. Originally attributed to John Marshall by biographer Albert...
Execupundit.com (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
Reverse decision-making is an amusing and informative exercise in which a group is asked to list what they would do if they were trying to produce a disaster. In no time, various actions such as "Don't seek legal advice" and "Alienate your best customers" may be on the board. As the participants ponder the list, someone usually says, "You know, we're sort of doing that third...
SF Signal (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
A press release for a worthwhile program: Registration is now open for the 2010 teen science fiction/fantasy writing camp Shared Worlds . Shared Worlds is a unique two-week inter-disciplinary experience on beautiful Wofford campus in Spartanburg, South Carolina. (It's also fun!) A number of scholarships will be made available. The official sponsors of the camp include Tor Books, Wizards of the Coast...
Blog Town, PDX (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
Last night, Jonathan Lethem took to the book-shaped podium at Powell's to read—in front of a not-quite-packed house—from his new novel Chronic City . The reading really impressed upon me how much most published authors could stand to learn from the average kindergarten teacher. Lethem is an excellent reader, and why? It's because he reads like he's talking to a room full of kids. He's...
<HTMLGIANT> (Free subscription) | 25/10/2009
Walked out of the coffee shop and saw the neighbors were having a stoop sale–again. Last week I bought a copy of Derrida’ Writing and Difference as well as The Philip K. Dick Reader and a thick paperback book of erotic photography from Carroll & Graf. Today I picked up Sontag’s On Photography, Charles Simic’s [...]
boiteaoutils (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
When I read this article on BLDGBLOG two weeks ago, I immediately thought of Fredrik Hellberg's marvelous project for AA intermediary 6 two years ago. Fredrik created a dreamlike Manhattan, some kind of uchronia that Philip K. Dick who have probably loved and which propose an hybridization of antinomic systems whose egoistic presence have to negotiate between one another in order to exist. Koolhaas...
Book Calendar (Free subscription) | 23/10/2009
The Quiet War by Paul McAuley This is a science fiction novel about low intensity conflict set in the 23rd century a.d.. Earth is ruled by a set of rich families who are trying to fix the environmental depredations of the previous centuries. Brazil is the rising military power. On the opposing side are the democratic colonies of moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Mars was previously in a conflict with earth...
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