BestSF.net reviews Analog's June 2007 issue.

SciFiWeekly reviews David Marusek's collection Getting to Know You.

New at Tangent:

• a review of the June issue of F&SF
• a review of issue 11 of Neo-Opsis
• a review of the March 2007 issue of Trabuco Road
• and a review of Blood, Blade & Thruster #2.

Don D'Amassa's page of Science Fiction reviews has been updated to cover Kage Baker's The Sons of Heaven (coming up in the SFBC omnibus The Company They Keep), The Mike Resnick-edited SFBC original anthology Alien Crimes, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson's Sandworms of Dune (coming soon from the SFBC), and more. (D'Amassa seems to review books as soon as he sees them, so his reviews often go up substantially before a book is actually on sale.)

D'Amassa's page of Fantasy reviews has also been updated, including John Moore's A Fate Worse Than Dragons, Sarah Monette's The Mirador, and more.

Have I mentioned Phantasik-Couch recently? It's a German review site that covers fantasy and science fiction, and has a section reviewing books written in English. (Unfortunately for this monolingual American, the reviews are in German.)

Monsters and Critics reviews Jim C. Hines's Goblin Hero.

Desicritics reviews Jonathan Stroud's "Bartimaeus Trilogy" (The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate).

The Los Angeles Times reviews Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union (coming soon from the SFBC).

Eve's Alexandria reviews M. John Harrison's Nova Swing.

Eve's Alexandria also reviews Jon Courtenay Grimwood's End of the World Blues (finishing up their series on all of the Clarke Award nominees).

Fantasy Book Critic reviews Jeffrey Thomas's Deadstock.

Fantasybookspot's update includes:

• a review of Jim Butcher's new "Dresden Files" novel, White Night (also available in the SFBC omnibus Wizard Under Fire)
• a review of Star Trek: Captain's Glory by William Shatner with Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
• a review of Joe R. Lansdale's Lost Echoes.

Monsters and Critics reviews Charlaine Harris's All Together Dead.

Monsters and Critics looks at, but does not itself review, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Hurin.

Velcro City Tourist Board reviews Rudy Rucker's Mad Professor.

Blogcritics reviews Eva Swan's The Bone Whistle.

Blogcritics reviews Catherine Jinks's Evil Genius.

Marianne Plumridge reviews Allen Steele's book of essays, Primary Ignition.

Abigail Nussbaum reviews the nominees for the 2007 Best Novella Hugo Award. 

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Locus Online has posted the profile page for their May issue, which features special coverage of the horror field.

Locus has also posted their periodic round-up of recent issues of other magazines; this one covers the second half of April.

Talebones posted a progress report on their upcoming issue (#35, expected in late spring) -- there will be new stories from Jack Skillingstead, Darrell Schweitzer, and others.

Science Fiction Concatenation has been updated with the spring newscast, a review of the UK convention redemption, and more.

Strange Horizons was updated this week with a new story by Amy Sisson and more.

Tim Pratt announces that Flytrap #7 is available for pre-order.

John Joseph Adams has the full scoop on Mundane SF's takeover of Interzone's May-June issue. 

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Black Gate interviews James Enge, author of a popular series of stories for that magazine.

The Williamsport Sun-Gazette talked to Joshua Palmatier about his Compton Crook-nominated first novel The Skewed Throne.

The Student Operated Press has an audio interview with Greg Bear about his "new" novel (published 2005 in the UK and 2006 by the SFBC) Quantico.

The Northern Echo talks to Terry Pratchett on the video release of the miniseries based on his novel Hogfather (and those of us on this side of the pond are still hoping it makes it here for this year's Hogswatchnight).

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist talks to Richard K. Morgan, author of Thirteen (coming soon from the SFBC).

Sci Fi Wire talked to Jane Lindskold about her "Firekeeper Saga" novels.

John Scalzi's recent talk at Google has been posted on YouTube as part of the "Authors@Google" program.

SFX talks with Joe Abercrombie, author of Before They Are Hanged.

Matrix talks with the nominees for the Arthur C. Clarke Award about their nominated novels.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sandra McDonald posts a short story related to her novel The Outback Stars (coming soon as a SFBC Selection) -- she calls it a "fanfic," but my brain doesn't want to make that word work that way... 

This one you can't "read," per se, but you can "listen to:" the 17th installment of The Time Traveler Show features a reading of H.G. Wells's story "The New Accelerator."

Will Shetterly has been posting chapters from his 1985 novel Cats Have No Lord on his LiveJournal; the first one is here.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this corner: Fanfic Makes Us Poor

In that corner: Fanfic Makes Us Stupid

For myself? Fanfic makes me really bored.

But, before I go, just two short points related to the first article.

First, the majority of fiction readers are women, and the largest fiction genre (romance) is overwhelmingly written by women -- so women are not actually marginalized in the fiction marketplace of 2007.

Second...and this is the tricky one... perhaps, just perhaps, if you want to "earn a legitimate income from what [you] create," you should actually, um, create something, instead of writing unsalable copies of already-exisiting material?

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As previously announced, Stephen King was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America at their Edgar Awards Banquet last week. Not much else this year was of interest to the SFF genre -- though Charles Ardai (the publisher of the great Hard Case Crime line, who has edited in the field and is married to Naomi Novik) did win for Best Short Story.

Dark Echo has a longer report, with a full list of the winners. And our congratulations to all of the winners!

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rick Kleiffel of The Agony Column has a longish post today on cover art, starting by talking about The Name of the Wind and running on from there. As usual with such complaints, he seems to assume that he is the target audience for Big Fat Fantasy, and there he goes wrong. (Kleffel is also a bit factually incorrect: there are two covers at retail for The Name of the Wind, and he shows both of them. The one he likes is actually a small detail of the one he doesn't like, blown up.)

I know the SF intelligentsia doesn’t like the usual look of epic fantasy covers; they complain about it at every turn. A lot of editors feel that look is tacky, as well – that’s why they keep trying different things: to find a reasonable replacement. But guess what? Those covers sell books, because the general fantasy audience likes to see a picture of a fantasy scene on the books they buy. It may seem frightfully down-market, but readers do know what they like, and they buy it when they see it…

(The other blog which has been talking about cover art a lot recently is Neth Space, where I disagree some and agree some – that cover for The Bonehunters in particular doesn’t look right to me. I don’t think you can put a stagecoach on an epic fantasy cover and have it look right, even if there is one in the book; stagecoaches just make people think of Westerns, and that's not what you want for epic fantasy.)

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Miami Herald reviews J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Children of Hurin.

There’s another review of The Children of Hurin up on PowellsBooks; it’s by Elizabeth Hand from the Washington Post.

SF Signal reviews Terry Pratchett’s The Last Hero.

The UK SF Book News Network reviews John Clute’s The Darkening Garden: A Short Lexicon of Horror.

Bookgasm reviews the SFnal graphic novel The Surrogates.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

And our last “Author’s Note” for May is from Carrie Vaughn, about the three novels that I stuck together into Long-Time Listener, First-Time Werewolf (and she’s such a good sport she even liked my silly idea for an omnibus title – can’t ask for more than that from an author):

When I wrote the first short story about a werewolf named Kitty who starts a talk radio show, a little voice told me, "This is crazy.  No one will ever go for this."  But I did it anyway. It turns out I had a lot more material than just a short story's worth. A bunch of stories and novels later, Kitty is still going strong.

I've since learned that when that little voice speaks—"That's crazy, you'll never get away with this"—I'm on the right track. That voice recognizes the really wild ideas. It's the same voice that says I shouldn't ride that motorcycle, that I should have majored in accounting rather than English lit, etc. That voice hates risk.  But you know what? That's where all the good stories are.  (Like this one time, with the motorcycle...)

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kelley Armstrong is up next, with a few words about her new “Women of the Otherworld” novel, No Humans Involved:

One of the great joys of fiction writing is the chance to inhabit another life, perhaps not one I’d care to stay in, but one that’s fun to visit. The revolving cast of narrators in my Otherworld series lets me do just that, and with No Humans Involved, I had the opportunity to bring to life a character I’ve been dying to do since she first appeared three books ago. Jaime Vegas is a blast to work with—an irreverent, bawdy celebrity spiritualist who embraces life, yet struggles with the darker side that comes with seeing ghosts at every turn. A fascinating character to create and to inhabit and, I hope, to read about. 

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And here’s Joel Shepherd writing about his second “Cassandra Kresnov” novel, Breakaway:

I'm sometimes asked about the differences between Crossover and Breakaway.   Well, Sandy gets less sex in Breakaway.   No seriously.   She's not happy about it either.

That aside, it's been great fun to write a series about an artificial intelligence where the protagonist isn't much interested in chess, couldn't give a hoot about quantum physics, but becomes a keen surfer and gets into sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.   The actual plot aside, Breakaway's where Sandy's finally allowed to let her hair down a little.   And learns what that costs...

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Next, Allen Steele talks about his new novel, Spindrift:

Very often, my stories and novels are inspired by visual images. Spindrift is one such instance. Several years ago, while at a science fiction convention in Boston, I had a conversation with my friend and collegue, the science journalist Jeff Hecht, about an article he’d recently published in New Scientist. Jeff’s piece was about so-called trans-Neptunian objects – asteroids or small planets that astronomers believed existed in the outermost reaches of the solar system – and accompanying his article was an illustration depicting the surface of just such a world.

This image of a dark and ice-covered plain, far beyond the Sun, got stuck in my mind; I knew almost immediately that there was a story to be told about this place. At the time, though, I was just beginning work on Coyote, so it was put on the back burner. Coyote led to Coyote Rising, which in turn led to Coyote Frontier … and still, I kept thinking about men in spacesuits, trudging across a lightless world, their way guided only by the wan illumination of their helmet lamps.

During that same period, astronomers confirmed the existence of trans-Neptunian objects: first Sedna, then Eris, and finally the revelation – still controversial in many quarters – that Pluto is not a true planet after all, but rather just another resident of the Kuiper Belt. At the same time, articles were being published in science magazines regarding the possibility of rogue planets, something which had long-since been a staple of science fiction that now appeared to be real.

All this happened while I was writing the Coyote books. By the time I was halfway through Coyote Frontier, I was beginning to think that I might be able to continue the series beyond the conclusion of the trilogy, perhaps as a related novel set in the same universe, using the events on Coyote as background. And then I recalled that mental image which had been haunting me for so long…
Looking back on it now, I realize that I’d set up the situation for Spindrift within the first chapters of Coyote. Perhaps this was an act of my subconscious mind. All I know is that, once I finally arrived at the place where I’d imagined those lonely space explorers, it was with an eerie sense of familiarity. I’d been there before, and now I was getting a chance to describe what I’d seen.

So Spindrift is the title of a novel about a place called Spindrift. It has evolved considerably from what I first thought it would be – indeed, its greatest secret (shhh! … I’m not telling you here) literally came to me in a dream – but nonetheless it goes back to that magazine illustration, briefly glimpsed nearly a decade ago. I had a lot of fun getting there; I hope you will, too.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’m running late this month – I should have posted the May “Author’s Notes” last week – so I’ll forego any attempts at cleverness. Our first note this time is from Robert J. Sawyer, author of our Main Selection Rollback:

One of the most interesting panels I ever saw at a science-fiction convention had Larry Niven and Mike Resnick on it. The moderator asked them each to describe the kind of SF they wrote. Larry said he writes things that remind him of the stories that hooked him on the genre when he was a teenager. Mike said he writes stories that appeal to him as a middle-aged man. Of course, I immediately thought of counterexamples: Nivenesque stories by Mike, and Resnickish tales by Larry—but I’ve often wondered how one might do both, combining that grandly cosmic sense-of-wonder with the down-to-Earth and intimately human. I don’t know if it’s possible to succeed on both levels, but I do know that there’s no other genre that even tries to be fractal—to be fascinating and beautiful at scales large and small. That’s one of the many reasons I love being a science-fiction writer.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week's entry posted without mishap (unlike the week before), so I think I'll keep doing this.

Once again, the explanation: in the publishing business, we often see bestseller lists early. I have in my hands the list for the New York Times Book Review dated May 6th (which goes on sale this weekend as a standalone and will appear in the following week's paper).

The major news this time is that last week's big launch has put J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Hurin at #1 on the hardcover fiction list. Also on that list, dropping to #11 in its third week, is Jim Butcher's White Night, the new "Dresden Files" novel (also available in the SFBC omnibus Wizard Under Fire).

On the extended hardcover list, Christopher Buckley's Boomsday is at #25, Kim Harrison's For a Few Demons More ranks at #28, Raymond E. Feist's Into a Dark Realm lurks at #31, and Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box claws out #32.

In paperbacks, Cormac McCarthy's The Road is still holding at #1 -- which means that both #1 fiction slots are held by SFF books, probably for the first time ever. Otherwise, for more genre goodness, we have to drop onto the extended paperback list  for Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five at #17 and Gregory Maguire's unstoppable Wicked at #27.

On the children's lists, Stephenie Meyer's vampire novel New Moon holds #1 on the chapter books list, with Scott Westerfeld's Specials at #5. The paperback list finds Christopher Paolini's Eldest still at #1 and his Eragon at #8, with Meyer's Twilight in between at #6, plus James Patterson's Maximum Ride: School's Out -- Forever at #4, a book about "Harry Potter 7," and two novelizations of fantasy movies (Pirates of the Caribbean and Spider-Man). The series list is also dominated by fantasy, with Rowling's "Harry Potter" books at #1, the "Magic Tree House" series at #2, Angie Sage's "Septimus Heap" in third place, "The Underland Chronicles" at #5, "A Series of Unfortunate Events" at #7, and "d'Lacey's Dragons" at #10.

For those counting at home, that's five genre #1s this week:

1. The Children of Hurin, hardcover fiction
2. The Road, paperback fiction
3. New Moon, children's chapter
4. Eldest, children's paperback
5. "Harry Potter," children's series

A good week, I think!

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The "Alien Nation" art exhibit opened at the Manchester Art Gallery on the 17th; it runs through May 7th. (This is the Manchester in the UK, so I doubt most of us will be able to see it.)

The official description:

Alien Nation explores the relationship between science fiction, race and contemporary art. Twelve contemporary international artists use science fiction and extra-terrestrial forms to explore racial difference as a metaphor for the threat of the outsider. The artworks include film, sculpture, photography and multi-media installations.

Am I allowed to say "Oh, God" here? Trendy po-mo racial identity artsiness dressed up in third-rate Star Wars drag: that's what it sounds like to me. I'm glad I'm on the other side of the Atlantic, or I'd feel compelled to go...

[via SciFi UK Review]

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Minister Faust talks to Robert J. Sawyer (mostly about his new novel Rollback) for VUE Weekly.

SciFi Wire talks to John W. Campbell nominee Sarah Monette about her novel The Virtu.

Aurealis interviews Alastair Reynolds. [via SF Signal]

Adventures in SciFi Publishing's 19th podcast includes a talk with Tee Morris.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bob Guccione, Jr., current CEO of Discover magazine and the son of the founder of OMNI, has a plan to bring back OMNI as "much more science fiction."

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Locus Online has posted Gary K. Wolfe's review of Kathleen Ann Goonan's In War Times from the April issue of the magazine.

Locus Online has also posted Faren Miller's review of Ellen Klages's debut collection, Portable Childhoods.

The Telegraph (of Calcutta, India) sort-of reviews Julie Phillips's biography James Tiptree, Jr., but mostly just talks about Alice Sheldon's life.

Blogcritcs reviews Sharon Hinck's The Restorer.

The Agony Column looks at John Scalzi's The Last Colony.

SciFi UK Review covers issue 6 of Forgotten Worlds.

SFF World reviews the Richard (K.) Morgan novel known as Black Man in the UK and Thirteen in the US (which will be available from the SFBC, under the latter title, once it's published here in late June).

Strange Horizons reviews Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union (coming soon from the SFBC).

Bookgasm reviews Tim Lebbon's The Everlasting.

CA Reviews looks at Patricia Briggs's Moon Called.

In case you don't want to read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Hurin, The Guardian has digested it for you.

Sherwood Smith read two YA novels: David Lubar's True Talents and Charles Butler's Timon's Tide.

Eve's Alexandria looks at Adam Roberts's Gradisil.

Eve's Alexandria also reviewed Jan Morris's Hav.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chapter Feeds has the beginning of Joan D. Vinge's classic novel Psion available now.

Lou Anders lists the massive number of sample chapters available for Pyr books, including titles by Jack Dann, Sean Williams, Chris Roberson, Ian McDonald, Joel Shepherd, and Justina Robson.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Paranormal Romance author Shanna Swendson (most recent book: Once Upon Stilettos) recently spoke at a Dallas-area library, and her remarks were recorded by the august Coppell Gazette Star. Oddly, she claimed "she couldn’t market the book as fantasy, because the industry sees fantasy as a male-genre." There are a small number of women writing fantasy, I guess, such as Sara Douglass, Jennifer Fallon, Lois McMaster Bujold, Patricia A. McKillip, Ellen Kushner, Patricia Briggs, Kat Richardson, Karen Chance, Caroline Stevermer, Lynn Abbey, Cassandra Claire, Cherie Priest, Mary Gentle, Violette Malan...

Fantasy Book Critic interviews the Dabel Brothers, who are adapting a whole lot of fantasy stories (including George R.R. Martin's "The Hedge Knight" and Laurel K. Hamilton's "Antia Blake" novels) into comics form.

...Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Kelley Armstrong, Jane Lindskold, Barbara Hambly, Judith Berman, Sharon Shinn, Holly Phillips, Vera Nazarian, Catherynne M. Valente, Margo Lanagan...

SciFi Wire interviews Michael Flynn, author of the Hugo-nominated Eifelheim.

...Justine Larbalestier, Holly Black, Tamora Pierce, Angie Sage, Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia C. Wrede...

...Delia Sherman, Mercedes Lackey, Ursula K. Le Guin, Mary Gentle, Naomi Novik...

Sci Fi Wire talked to Vernor Vinge about his Hugo-nominated novel Rainbows End (which has also been nominated for the Prometheus Award).

...Elizabeth Haydon, Elizabeth Moon, Elizabeth Bear, Elizabeth Hand, Elizabeth Knox, Lisa Tuttle, Liz Williams, Lisa Goldstein...

...P.C. Hodgell, C.J. Cherryh, J.K. Rowling, P.N. Elrod, C.S. Friedman, Wen Spencer, M. Rickert...

Publishers Weekly chatted with once (and future?) SF writer William Gibson, about his new novel Spook Country and his introduction to a new edition of Jorge Luis Borges's Labyrinths.

...Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, Rachel Caine, Tanith Lee, Robin Hobb, Jane Yolen, Jacqueline Carey, Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley, C.L. Moore, Carol Emshwiller, Joan Aiken, Kristen Britain, Carrie Vaughn, Ysabeau Wilce, Kelly Link, Barbara Roden, Sarah Monette, Nisi Shawl...

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Rudy Rucker has posted the third issue (free as always) of his webzine Flurb, a double-sized extravaganza including stories by John Shirley, Paul Di Filippo, Eileen Gunn, Mark Laidlaw, and more. [via Dark Echo]

SciFi UK Review lists the contents of Interzone's issue #210, including a long essay by Harlan Ellison about Theodore Sturgeon; stories by Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Tim Akers, and others; and more.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Agony Column reviews Best American Fantasy (series edited by Matt Cheney; first volume edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer) and Year's Best Fantasy 7 (edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer).

SciFi Weekly reviews Tesseracts Ten, edited by Edo van Belkon and Robert Charles Wilson.

Strange Horizons reviews Richard K. Morgan's new novel, known as Thirteen on my side of the Atlantic (and to be available from the SFBC once it's actually published here) and as Black Man over in the UK.

Book Fetish reviews Maria Lima's Matters of the Blood.

Bookgasm reviews Neal Asher's Black Man (which the SFBC has offered with a money-back guarantee! how can you go wrong? if you like SF adventure at all, I bet you'll love Asher...)

Abigail Nussbaum reviews the 2007 Hugo Short Story nominees.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you looking for Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Wretches, on this most auspicious of days, feast your browsers on:

Infinity Plus has an excerpt from Kay Kenyon’s new novel Bright of the Sky and the story “In Transit” by Keith Brooke and Eric Brown.

Alex Irvine's story "Europe" is available as a PDF.

The entire text of Charles Stross's novella "Missile Gap" (currently a Locus Award nominee, and originally from the Locus-nominated anthology One Million A.D., edited by Gardner Dozois) has been put online for free by Subterranean Press.

Keith R.A. DeCandido posted his short story "Wild Bill Got Shot" for IP-STD.

I think I've forgotten to mention this before, but Eric Flint regularly posts snippets of his books (he's currently posting from 1634: The Baltic War, 1634: The Bavarian Crisis, and Pyramid Power) on his webpage. (And by "regularly," I mean "what looks like the whole damn novel, in big chunks, with some every day.")

Jeffrey Ford has posted a story, "Weiroot," for IP-STD.

David Moles contributes his story "On the Night."

Chris Roberson gives us "The Famous Ape."

John Scalzi offers us the first half of an unfinished YA novel he wrote a decade ago, The Durant Chronicles.

Ryk E. Spoor's contribution is the story "Shadow of Fear," in two parts.

Sean Williams tosses his story "The Seventh Letter" into the pot.

Gwenda Bond points to her story "Unflappable," available for free for quite some time now.

Farah Mendelsohn posts part of her upcoming book, The Child Reader and the Reading Child.

Jess Nevins posts five pages of entries from his upcoming The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes.

And, to wrap it all up, the mother of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, Jo Walton, has a long list of stories available for free for IP-STD. (From a cursory glance, it looks like she's listed a bunch that I haven't, but I think I also have some that she doesn't, yet.)

Update, 4/25: Dusk Peterson is attempting to collect links to all of the IP-STD posts (and ancilliary items, such as banners and T-shirts); there's a whole bunch at this page, and more will be added as they are discovered.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Gwyneth Jones writes in The Guardian that "science fiction is finally, rapidly, becoming fact - just as the first pulp writers and movie-makers were convinced it would, back in the 1920s" (I guess she's ignoring all of the other times when SF writers and pundits were obsessed about SF "finally, rapidly, becoming fact" -- starting with the atomic bomb in 1945 and famously including Sputnik in 1957 and the moon landing in 1969 -- to keep her point clearer, but we have all heard this song many times before. Science fiction is nearly always rapidly becoming fact, or at least some bits of it are.)

Her article is mostly about robots, as it happens.

(And is there some robot uprising in the UK that we're not hearing about on this side of the pond? There's also an article in the Belfast Telegraph today titled "Should the human race be worried by the rise of robots?")

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bookgasm has reviewed the new SFBC original anthology Alien Crimes, edited by Mike Resnick, and they liked it!

They compare it to Resnick's previous SFBC anthology, Down These Dark Spaceways, which had all hardboiled stories, and find that Alien Crimes, by contrast, has "several different kinds of mysteries on tap, so there’s likely something here for every kind of armchair sleuth, antennae or not."

And, remember, you can only get Alien Crimes from the SFBC -- but you can get it, and four other books, for only a dollar each if you join today...

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Guardian talks to China Mieville about his new novel Un Lun Dun.

The Planetary Society has a downloadable "radio show" talk with Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Sixty Days and Counting.

A very short article in the Deseret News talks with fantasy novelist Brandon Sanderson (author of Mistborn: The Final Empire) about finally reading "the competition" -- J.K. Rowling.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle talks to Jonathan Lethem (whom only I remember used to write SF, it seems) about his new rock n' roll novel, You Don't Love Me Yet.

SciFi Wire talks to Vernor Vinge about his Hugo-nominated novel Rainbows End.

ActuSF interviews James Lovegrove, author of Days. [via Locus Online]

Sean Williams is the eighth contributor to "Vonnegut's Asshole," a tribute to the late humorous SF novelist (and his scatalogical doodles) in which various writers sketch their own asterisks. [via Lou Anders]

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Agony Column reviews Elizabeth Bear's new novel, Undertow.

SciFi Weekly reviews Edgar Rice Burrough's debut novel (from 1917!), A Princess of Mars. (You can also find that novel as the first third of the omnibus Under the Moons of Mars, if you'd like. Honesty also compels me to mention that it's in the public domain, so you can probably find it on Gutenberg or in a zillion cheap paperback editions as well.)

SF Signal reviews all of the short fiction nominated for the 2007 Hugo Awards.

Bookgasm reviews F. Paul Wilson's new "Repairman Jack" novel, Bloodline.

The Millions looks at Michael Chabon's new literary/thriller/Jewish/alternate history novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union (which will be available soon from the SFBC).

Niall Harrison at Torque Control reviews Michael Cunningham's Specimen Days.

Stainless Steel Droppings reviews J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Hurin.

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new skiffy media magazine calling itself Death Ray will launch soon in the UK, and they've put up a page on Wikipedia about it. (Though I expect the Flying Wiki Ninjas will eliminate the free advertising pretty quickly.) [via Locus Online]

Posted by Andrew Wheeler at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Everyone was expecting the list of nominations to be released on the 24th (last Saturday), but better late than never. I saw these at SF Signal, and apparently Lit Soup had them first. (I haven't seen an official press release, and the Nippon 2007 Hugo page is silent on the subject.) So, assuming these are the real deal...

Novel

• Michael F. Flynn, Eifelheim (Tor)
• Naomi Novik, His Majesty’s Dragon (Del Rey) (also available in Temeraire: In the Service of the King)
• Charles Stross, Glasshouse (Ace)
• Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End (Tor)
• Peter Watts, Blindsight (Tor)

Novella

• Robert Reed, “A Billion Eves”
• Paul Melko, “The Walls of the Universe”
• William Shunn, “Inclination”
• Michael Swanwick, “Lord Weary’s Empire”
• Robert Charles Wilson, “Julian”

"A Billion Eves," "Lord Weary's Empire," and "Julian" will be in Jonathan Strahan's Best Short Novels: 2007, coming soon from the SFBC.

"Julian" will also be in Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection, also coming soon from the SFBC. 

Novelette

• Paolo Bacigalupi, “Yellow Card Man”
• Michael F. Flynn, “Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth”
• Ian McDonald, “The Djinn’s Wife”
• Mike Resnick, “All the Things You Are”
• Geoff Ryman, “Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter”

"Yellow Card Man" and "The Djinn's Wife" will be in Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection.

"Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth" will be in Year's Best SF 12, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, coming soon from the SFBC.

Short Story

• Neil Gaiman, “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” (from Fragile Things)
• Bruce McAllister, “Kin”
• Tim Pratt, “Impossible Dreams”
• Robert Reed, “Eight Episodes”
• Benjamin Rosenbaum, “The House Beyond Your Sky”

"Kin" and "The House Beyond Your Sky" will be in Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection.

Related Book

• Samuel R. Delany, About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews
• Joseph T. Major, Heinlein’s Children: The Juveniles
• Julie Phillips, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice Sheldon
• John Picacio, Cover Story: The Art of John Picacio
• Mike Resnick & Joe Siclari, eds., Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches

Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Children of Men
• Pan's Labyrinth (see below for explanation)
• The Prestige
• A Scanner Darkly
• V for Vendetta

Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

• Battlestar Galactica, “Downloaded”
• Doctor Who, “Army of Ghosts” and “Doomsday”
• Doctor Who, “Girl in the Fireplace”
• Doctor Who, “School Reunion”

Editor, Short Form

• Gardner Dozois
• David G. Hartwell
• Stanley Schmidt
• Gordon Van Gelder
• Sheila Williams

Editor, Long Form

• Lou Anders
• James Patrick Baen
• Ginjer Buchanan
• David G. Hartwell
• Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Professional Artist

• Bob Eggleton
• Donato Giancola
• Stephan Martiniere
• John Jude Palencar
• John Picacio

Semiprozine

• Ansible
• Interzone
• Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
• Locus
• The New York Review of Science Fiction

Fanzine

• Banana Wings
• Challenger
• The Drink Tank
• Plokta
• Science-Fiction Five-Yearly

Fan Writer

• Chris Garcia
• John Hertz
• Dave Langford
• John Scalzi
• Steven H. Silver

Fan Artist

• Brad W. Foster
• Teddy Harvia
• Sue Mason
• Steve Stiles
• Frank Wu

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (not a Hugo)

• Scott Lynch
• Sarah Monette
• Naomi Novik
• Brandon Sanderson
• Lawrence M. Schoen

The awards will be presented at Nippon 2007; I'll have to miss it this year (Japan is very expensive, as is trans-Pacific air travel), but best wish to all of the nominees and attendees.

Update, 4/2: The Hugo Administrators have announced a change in the "Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form" category; Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest is off and Pan's Labyrinth is on. There was an error in the original tally, and this is a correction tyo reflect the actual votes.

Further Update, 4/24: