The Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas has announced that it's changing the name of its annual conference from the Campbell Conference (named after Analog editor John W. Campbell) to the Gunn Center Conference. In the same announcement, it no … | Continue reading
Seriously, these flowers arrived on my doorstep with a note that said "Congratulations for just being a pretty awesome person" and it was signed "The Internet." And, well. I'm actually touched. Whether I am actually awesome enough to truly deserve flowers from the Internet remain … | Continue reading
Reboot, reimagine, reinvent -- there is nothing new under the sun, as they say, and humans find ways of looking at old stories in new ways. This is an idea that acclaimed editors Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe have taken to heart in their new anthology The Mythic Dream. Here th … | Continue reading
First, this tweet from CoNZealand 2020 (next year's Worldcon), regarding how it intends to proceed with the newly-renamed Astounding Award: https://twitter.com/CoNZealand/status/1167557852493279232 This is relevant because there were some folks who were saying that due to the nam … | Continue reading
David Koepp is already one of the most successful screenwriters of all time, with films like Jurassic Park, Spider-Man and one of my personal favorites, Death Becomes Her, to his name. Now he's turned his attention to novels with the bio-thriller Cold Storage. Koepp is here to te … | Continue reading
I woke up early enough that dew was still on the spiderwebs. I imagine it's a little annoying for the spiders, but it sure is pretty for the rest of us. (And yes, we have quite a few spiders. Which means we have fewer of the others sorts of bugs. Fair trade.) | Continue reading
He's got a good view of it all, I have to say. At the airport now and heading home. Hope you're having a lovely Labor Day weekend. | Continue reading
As we roll into the final weekend of summer*, here's a hefty stack of new books and ARCs for your consideration. What's in this stack you'd like to see summer off with? Tell us all in the comments! (*Northern Hemisphere only. Statement inaccurate in terms of equinoxes. Your mil … | Continue reading
This view is very similar to another view around this time a couple of years ago, for the reason that I'm in the same city with the same purpose -- I'm in Washington DC for the National Book Festival. My particular event is tomorrow at 1pm, and I'll also be signing books right af … | Continue reading
I'm a simple man, and so I can say one of the things that made me feel like a real fancy pants person -- someone who had really made it in the world -- was the day we got a new refrigerator and instead of throwing out the old one entirely, we moved it to… | Continue reading
"Gaaaaah! So much effluvia!" Thank you for your attention. Have a fine evening. | Continue reading
It's undergoing a name change, to the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. All the details are here. I don't know if the name change is retroactive, but I gotta say I wouldn't mind being known as an Astounding Award winner. It was Jeannette Ng who made this happen by speaking up … | Continue reading
It's easy to be a hero -- sometimes. In Spaceside, author Michael Mammay examines the other side of being seen as heroic, and what it can do to a character (and the story they're currently in). MICHAEL MAMMAY: Spaceside is a sequel. It stands alone, but it takes place after the e … | Continue reading
When I was in high school, Kevin Stampfl, one of my best friends, was a huuuuuuuge fan of Iron Maiden, and through his good graces I was introduced to the band, and its repertoire of delightfully aggressive new wave of British heavy metal. I became a fan myself -- Maiden was, and … | Continue reading
I got back from Ireland and this stack of new books and ARCs was waiting for me. What here would you be happy to have for your own? Share your thoughts in the comments. | Continue reading
It varies. But it's generally pretty nice. | Continue reading
In today's Big Idea, Susan Forest is an author with a mission -- a real-world mission that reveals itself in a fantastical way in her novel Bursts of Fire. SUSAN FOREST: I love traditional fantasy. I love the magic and the quest. I love the perils, the monsters, and the politics. … | Continue reading
It was great! Okay, that's it, thank you for coming. Oh, wait, you wanted details? Well, I mean, okay, I guess I can do that. In no particular order: * Krissy and I actually started our trip a few days before the Worldcon started. This year the Worldcon was in Dublin, Ireland, an … | Continue reading
In the aftermath of the Hugo Award ceremony this year, there's been quite the harumph harumph about the fact that this year's winner, Jeannette Ng, started her acceptance speech by offering up the opinion that John W. Campbell, the foundational science fiction editor for whom the … | Continue reading
A number of years ago, and during one of those occasional mud-flinging spats that happen in science fiction, a person who I will mercifully not name now tried to dismiss and minimize Mary Robinette Kowal as "no one you should have heard of, and no one of consequence." This was wh … | Continue reading
Dublin is pretty at night, with the moon peeking through the clouds. | Continue reading
Sophia McDougall's Romanitas series was written a number of years ago, but only this month is being released in the US for the first time. Today, McDougall recounts the where, when and why this alternate history series was created... and what it's like looking back on that creati … | Continue reading
Both the lion and the unicorn look shocked that the gull has invaded their tableau. The gull, obviously, could not care less what they think. (From the Customs House here in Dublin) | Continue reading
In fantasy worlds, we're used to the idea of "secondary worlds" -- worlds not unlike our own, branched off in specific ways -- and in Shrouded Loyalties, author Reese Hogan branches off from an unusual place indeed. REESE HOGAN: To try to figure out the big idea behind Shrouded L … | Continue reading
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. (Actually it's just the entrance to the tasting rooms at the Guinness Storehouse tour, but it looks pretty sinister, no?) | Continue reading
Today's Big Idea, for Israeli author Keren Landsmann's new book The Heart of the Circle, is heartbreaking. KEREN LANDSMANN: I had a big idea. I was going to write about the murder of Shira Banki in Pride in Jerusalem in 2015, and how it affected writing The Heart of the Circle. I … | Continue reading
It's lovely so far. There are flowers everywhere. We've seen the Book of Kells and Christchurch Cathedral and had dinner with friends and been to pubs. It's a whole thing and we're here for it. Hope your week is going well, too. More updates when I can remember to do them. | Continue reading
No matter what, there are always lawyers. But what happens when there lawyers... but not much law? It's an idea -- dare we say, a big idea -- that Christopher Brown considers in his novel, Rule of Capture. CHRISTOPHER BROWN: Who are the lawyers you call when you get in trouble in … | Continue reading
No car parks (as they call them here), but a lovely view of the River Liffey. Oh, also, we have a balcony. We're in a few days before the Worldcon starts. Ironically, this weekend at the Dublin convention center there's a comic con, so it already feels vaguely familiar around her … | Continue reading
Here's your last look of Ohio (at least from me) for a week, because we're off to Ireland for the Worldcon in Dublin. We have a whole day of airports ahead of us. Think kind thoughts for our travel, if you would. | Continue reading
I'm in Dublin all next week, so this week you get a super-sized edition of the new books and ARCs stack. It's a very fine one, too. Which of these are calling to you? Tell us all in the comments! | Continue reading
A nice combination of clouds and orange, I have to say. | Continue reading
In today's Big Idea, author Matt Mikalatos considers the idea of justice, and how it works both in our world in and the world of his novel, The Heartwood Crown. MATT MIKALATOS: “Whatever happens, don’t go to the police.” Twenty years ago I lived in a totalitarian state. Still, I … | Continue reading
Athena finalized her next semester's class schedule today, and one of her classes is on digital photography. This got me talking about how the camera and the eye don't really see the same thing at all, and then taking pictures of her with my 28mm - 300mm lens at different focal l … | Continue reading
There's the old adage that history is written by the winners -- but history, and who gets to tell it, is more complicated than that. As Dee Garretson will tell you, as she talks about her new novel, Paradox Hunt. DEE GARRETSON: My son used to believe I had eyes in the back of my… | Continue reading
I saw it on my walk yesterday. It's lovely. Have a good Monday, if you can. | Continue reading
A man goes into an immigration services center in Binghamton New York, blocks the exit in the back with his car, goes through the front door with handguns, body armor and ammunition. He shoots the receptionists and opens fire on a citizenship class. He murders thirteen. This is h … | Continue reading
Lois Oglesby, 27. Megan Betts, 22. Saeed Saleh, 38. Derrick Fudge, 57. Logan Turner, 30. Nicholas Cumer, 25. Thomas McNichols, 25. Beatrice Warren-Curtis, 36. Monica Brickhouse, 39. For those who need it, here's my piece from three years ago on "thoughts and prayers." | Continue reading
An author who actively dislikes me and what I write laments on Twitter that in his opinion the era of Heinlein and hard SF has been replaced by -- Me! Oh, and JK Rowling and movies and black women who do math. Leaving aside whether that particular assertion is accurate (and even … | Continue reading
For the first weekend of August, a nice collection of new books and ARCs for you to consider. What here is calling to you? Share in the comments! | Continue reading
Hey, did you know you're on the internet right now? It's true! And as it happens, the internet has been doing things to the way language is used for almost as long as there has been an internet. And now, author Gretchen McCulloch is here to tell you a little bit about that, why s … | Continue reading
Authors Derryl Murphy and William Shunn weren't necessarily looking to collaborate on a story. But then a chance encounter on the road set events into motion that would result in Cast a Cold Eye. I'll let the two of them take it from here. DERRYL MURPHY and WILLIAM SHUNN: Derryl … | Continue reading
Thought you might like to see them. Have a good evening, folks. | Continue reading
How scary is too scary? Or not scary enough? And does the calculus change when you're writing for a younger audience? These are the questions that Christian McKay Heidicker confronted when writing Scary Stories for Young Foxes. Don't be frightened: His answers await you below. CH … | Continue reading
On my walks on my street these days, I pass by a dairy farm. Mostly the cows keep near the barn but yesterday they were down by the road, and they were very very interested in me as I walked by. I kind of wanted to pet them! But I suspect that would have been… | Continue reading
Because I forgot to post it last night. Not bad. Also, I'm outta here for the weekend. See you on Monday. | Continue reading
Here's a nice healthy stack of new books and ARCs to head into the weekend with -- what here is catching your eye? Tell us all in the comments! | Continue reading
As many of you already know, I will be attending the Dublin 2019 Worldcon, where I will hang out with friends, maybe watch some of them win Hugos, and -- oh! By the way! -- do a few events as well. Here's my schedule at the convention. 15 Aug 2019, Thursday 14:00 - 14:50, Level… | Continue reading