Writing, Editing, and Publishing: The Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist has been announced, and it includes some lovely genre gems like Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Bees by Laline Paull,
March 11th, 2015. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 2 comments |
On this day in 1918, The USS Cyclops departs from Barbados and is never seen again, presumably lost with all hands in the Bermuda Triangle.
Writing, Editing, and Publishing:
A new SFF bookstore might be coming to Charlotte, NC, if it is funded by this Thursday via Kickstarter. Regis Murphy has a dream to open a bookstore and bar called “Worlds of Wonder,” and it sounds pretty fabulous. He also makes a good case for why we need more indie bookstores, something I’m 100% on board with. Support this Kickstarter and help open a haven of nerddom or,March 4th, 2015. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 7 comments |
In Edge of Dark, Brenda Cooper comes back to the world she created in her RUBY’S SONG duology. In it, humanity has driven AI robots to the edge of the galaxy — to the titular “Edge of Dark” — and maintained their own perimeter of ships and space stations, called The Glittering, around habitable planets, keeping warmth and life to themselves. However, the robots (called, ominously, The Next) have come back, invading a lone scientific space station,
March 2nd, 2015. Kate Lechler´s rating: 3 | Brenda Cooper | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
On this day in 1866, miners in Calaveras County, California, discover what is now called the Calaveras Skull, human remains that supposedly indicated that man, mastodons, and elephants had co-existed. It was later revealed to be a hoax.
Writing, Editing, and Publishing
Publisher’s Weekly covers an evening with Neil Gaiman and Daniel Handler, speaking in an evening called “En Garde!” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Borderlands Bookstore, a store in San Francisco specializing in SFF, was under threat of closure, but thanks to an inventive sponsorship strategy by the store,
February 25th, 2015. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 3 comments |
Kelly Link throws a mean sucker punch. Her latest short story collection, Get in Trouble, is calculated to get you — to draw you in under one premise, and then take you somewhere else entirely. It explores modern America through her special blend of genre-busting surrealism. Exploring various landscapes such as rural North Carolina, Florida swamps, and Southern California, Link exposes the inherent weirdness of our everyday lives. She spins out alternate realities based on the already-established facts of our existence,
February 19th, 2015. Kate Lechler´s rating: 5 | Kelly Link | Audio, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Once upon a time, in a town called Fairfold, Holly Black set her story for her stand-alone novel The Darkest Part of the Forest. The dark faerie-tale fuses the fantastical with the mundane, as humans and Fae folk exist alongside one another, the faeries even being a huge source of tourism for the little town. That is an original and intriguing premise if there ever was one, with promises of dark twists and turns. But somewhere along the lines the plot failed in its execution,
February 19th, 2015. Ray McKenzie, Kate Lechler and Jana Nyman | Holly Black | Audio, Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 10 comments |
On this day in 1930, Pluto was discovered. Also, it was the first time a cow ever flew (and, subsequently, was milked) in an aircraft. Elm Farm Ollie bears the distinction of being the first cow to fly.
Writing, Editing, and Publishing
Next Monday launches Geeky Feminism Week at Housing Works bookstore cafe in NYC, a week full of geeks of all stripes talking about feminism and women’s representation in the fields of geekery.
SF Said wrote a great article for the Guardian this week on the relevance of children’s books for adults.
February 18th, 2015. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 6 comments |
On this day in 1938, BBC Television produces the world’s first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term “robot”.
Writing, Editing, and Publishing
George R. R. Martin‘s original book proposal for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series looks radically different than the way the books have turned out. Still, as this article points out, it does provide us with some sense of where Martin is headed with the series.
Mark Lawrence gathers some fascinating responses from authors often labeled as “grimdark”
February 11th, 2015. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Distrubances by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman’s latest collection of short fiction and poetry, Trigger Warning, begins, like his other collections, with a long, explanatory introduction. While the reader certainly doesn’t have to read this chapter, here entitled “Making a Chair,” I really enjoy this practice of Gaiman’s. These introductions not only forecast what the stories are about (you know, just in case I’d want to skip anything) but they also provide a window into Gaiman’s writerly process. I’ve always appreciated this about Gaiman in general;
February 5th, 2015. Kate Lechler and Jana Nyman | Neil Gaiman | Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | no comments |
On this day in 1454, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master. I love it when history sounds like a fantasy novel.
Writing, Editing, and Publishing
Publisher’s Weekly posted a great interview with Kelly Link, whose new collection of stories, Get in Trouble, is out now.
The 2015 Locus Recommended Reading list was recently released; check it out here.
There is also a lot of award news.
February 4th, 2015. Kate Lechler | World Wide Wednesday | 1 comment |
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…