Eeep, things have been up and down at FanLit the last week or so thanks to various server shenanigans. Hopefully it is getting back to normal now 11 and, as such, I bring you the top ten items brought to my attention over the last week. Enjoy!
1) Robert Rhodes is a winner!
Our very own Robert Rhodes (who writes our 25 Heroes in 2010 stories) came 2nd in Pyr’s essay writing competition to celebrate their five year anniversary! We are thrilled for him and have a link here to his winning entry: Why Fantasy and Science Fiction Matter.
2) Tor.com is two years old
And, as such, they have produced a post highlighting the top moments at Tor.com over the last two years. At the moment Tor.com are hosting the Malazan Re-read (conducted by me and Bill) and so I have had more reason than most to hop over there on a daily basis, but I would urge y’all to bookmark it as well — the community is vibrant and there are daily posts on interesting matters.
3) Bella and Edward: Romantic or Dysfunctional?
Okay, I confess outright: this is one of mine. I’ve been perplexed about the vitriol directed towards Bella and Edward’s relationship when I’ve seen other examples of dysfunctional relationships in both literature and TV/film. Do you feel the same?
4) What Sword and Sorcery Means
The latest Mind Meld brought to us by SF Signal asks various prominent authors in the fantasy genre what sword and sorcery means to them — some very interesting comments!
5) Wizard’s Tower Press
We have a new science fiction and fantasy publisher! Wizard’s Tower Press opened for business on July 17th 2010. They aim principally to focus on bringing out of print genre novels to eReaders, and they also have a magazine forthcoming. I have no doubt we’ll hear plenty more from these guys.
6) 100 YA Books
The amount of YA books that have a genre bent is truly incredible, which is why I’m bringing you Persnickety Snark’s first two posts showing a countdown of the top 100 YA books. It will be interesting to follow this series as the countdown continues. You can find our FanLit YA reviews here.
7) For Jessica
This is not my usual fare for you, but I was linked this through Twitter and found myself stunned by the strength of the writing and the heartbreak of the tale. I give you: “For Jessica” — I hope it moves you as much as it did me.
8) Leaving the Kitchen
This is another interesting article that found its way to me through Twitter — seriously, I follow so many great people who drop these gems into my lap. Here we have William Kostakis trashing Alexandra Adornetto’s article which compares Edward Cullen to actual boyfriends (yeah, yeah, we are a little Twilight heavy this week…)
9) Fictional animals being maltreated
Intriguing title for an article where Vincent of Un:Bound talks over the nature of conflict in literature — budding writers will enjoy this one.
10) Worldbuilding
Well, it looks as though Sam Sykes has taken over from Mark Charan Newton as “author with stuff to say on the Internet” — this week Sam brings us an entertaining article about worldbuilding in fantasy fiction.
And there you have it! Do let me know which of these articles intrigued you enough to click through this week!
I’m looking foward to seeing what Wizard’s Tower Press comes out with.
Rob-Loved the essay . You skillfully put into words what I’ve tried to explain to people who are puzzled at why I read fantasy and why I love it some much.
Well done.
Got very excited about the Wizard’s Tower bit, until I read the “to Ereaders” part. As someone who has zero interest in the whole eBook thing, I’d much prefer to see some of the older, out-of-print genre stuff on good old-fashioned paper again.
For anyone who read and enjoyed Swords and Dark Sorcery; I highly recommend checking out the sword and sorcery disscussion at SF Signal -#4 above.
Congratulations, Rob! We’re so proud of you!
Stefan–it’s much easier (for the most part) to acquire new copyrights for ebook versions of old books than to get physical copyright. Hopefully Wizard’s Tower will make enough with the ebooks that they can then start releasing books in paper format.
John – didn’t know that, thanks for the info. I’m not questioning Wizard’s Tower’s business model (more books is good, any which way) but when I saw the announcement, I couldn’t help but hope that this would be a new Meisha Merlin of sorts.
Meisha Merlin made great books — nice quality.
As for me, I’m happy to hear about Wizard’s Tower!
Thanks, y’all. Per Pyr’s publicity director, the 3-4 BOXES of books should be en route now. Help … :P
Don’t worry, Rob. We’ll understand if it takes a couple of weeks to send in the reviews for all of them :)
Rob- No joke. I was already a fan of your stories, but that essay says it all, for me anyway.. “I feel ya” or “I get what you are puttin’ down” :)
I read interviews with David Gemmell where he makes many similiar comments too. ( I read the winning essay, not bad, but I think yours should’ve won. Just sayin’ :) )