Archives for the 'SF/F News' Category
EP BONUS: Ecru - The Butcher of Balis
Published on 9 Aug 2007 at 5:27 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under Bonus, Podcasts, SF/F News.
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Here’s a special prerelease of a new podcasting first: a full comic book distributed exclusively via podcast!
Ecru debuts today from Particle 9 Productions, distributed by Outcast Multimedia. The first issue features art by Chasen Grieshop and an original story by Earl Newton (of Stranger Things). We’re pleased to deliver this special preview edition of the comic on the Escape Pod feed.
(And yes, today’s regular Escape Pod episode will be posting shortly.)
EP BONUS: Ancestor by Scott Sigler
Published on 19 Mar 2007 at 12:01 am.
10 Comments.
Filed under SF/F News, Shoutouts.
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As part of Scott’s “Monday Bloody Monday” campaign, we’re giving you the full text of his novel for free.
The paperback will be available on April 1st. Scott wants to hit #1 that day by having everyone order from Amazon at noon Pacific time. So if you like what you’re reading, support him by buying the book!
Return from Balticon 40 and news
Published on 31 May 2006 at 5:30 pm.
138 Comments.
Filed under SF/F News.
Apologies for the silence; many of us spent the weekend at Balticon 40 talking about podcasting, editing, scotch, and “Hey, I saw Neil Gaiman in the hallway!”
Latest news: Tour Asia in 2007! China is hosting an International SF/Fantasy Conference in Chengdu, August 24-27, 2007. This coincides nicely with WorldCon in Nippon, scheduled for August 30-September 3. There are even direct flights from Chengdu to Tokyo. No site link, but the full press release is at the Emerald City Weblog.
If you didn’t get to see Serenity as many times as you’d hoped in the theater, many cities are screening it again on Joss Whedon’s birthday (June 23 for all of you non-obsessed fans). Learn more here.
Pern Movie!
Published on 25 May 2006 at 10:17 pm.
89 Comments.
Filed under SF/F News.
Anne McCaffrey’s (why is it never “Hugo-winning novelist, Anne McCaffrey”?) rich world of telepathic dragons is finally coming to a movie house near you. SciFi Wire reports that Copperheart Entertainment will be adapting it to the movies.
This makes me want to send a note back in time to my 15 year old self and say, “Just be patient. It will come.”
Writers Beware!
Published on 23 May 2006 at 4:43 pm.
12 Comments.
Filed under SF/F News.
BoingBoing recently broke this story, which is something anyone who is interested in genre fiction needs to take interest in. A University of Florida graduate student wrote a horror story on his LiveJournal which got the interest of the university police. They have been harassing him for his fingerprints and DNA so they can try to match him to other murders. The unstoppable force that is Cory Doctorow got involved, calling and investigating, with the police quite unwilling to discuss the situation, although they chose to use Doctorow’s interest in the situation as more ammo with which to threaten the student. There is no case. There are no charges. And yet they won’t lay off this guy.
Writing is not a crime. Writing about bad things is not a crime. Being an unpublished writer, writing about bad things, is not a crime. (Notice no one going after big time authors.)
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In other news. SciFi Wire reports that Dabel Brothers Productions will start adapting some popular SFF novels to graphic novels. If they do it half as well as Mike Carey and Glenn Fabry are depicting Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, look to see some good stuff. The first three titles up will be Orson Scott Card’s Red Prophet and Wyrms and Laurel K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake book, Guilty Pleasures.
[EDIT- these are not the first titles, these are the first of a new batch. They've been doing this with other titles already. Thanks for the comment, John!]
Tiptree Longlist Controversy
Published on 19 May 2006 at 3:16 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under SF/F News.
Sorry for the radio silence lately.
The blogosphere was on fire yesterday with the news that apparently a piece of fanfiction (”Arcana” by Emily Brunson - the work has since been removed from the web) was on the long list for this year’s Tiptree Award (1). There are, of course, strong opinions on either side. Fanfic has been looked down upon for years - it’s a copyright violation (which is true), it’s not “real writing” (not quite so true), it takes no skill (untrue) and there’s a lot of crap out there (true of any art). The other side, well, they just argue the opposite. I (2) realized that there’s a fine line - if someone hires you to write, it’s no longer fanfic. But what’s the difference between a Star Wars fanfic and a Star Wars novel? Money, licensing, permission, and perhaps skill. I write professional fanfic when I write in established RPG worlds. I’ve written World of Warcraft fanfic and Exalted fanfic, technically.
However, the sticky situation comes up when you realize if the piece had won, then the author would have received things such as chocolate, a trip to the award ceremony at WisCon, and… money. That’s right. The author would have received money, making the “homage” copyright violation (something that’s usually accepted online) into a definite illegal commercial copyright violation.
People are questioning the credibility of the judges, as fanfic isn’t even considered “published”, was the piece good enough, should it be judged on writing or just gender exploration, etc. It’s an interesting situation. I have to admit that my opinion of fanfic has changed in the past years, but I’m still firmly in the camp that it should be seen as a hobby that hones writing skill and is fun to do, not something you can publish, no matter how good it is.
[EDIT- response from Debbie Notkin, chair of the Tiptree motherboard in the comments.]
(1) James Tiptree Jr. Award celebrates scifi that explores gender issues. The 2005 winner was “Air: Or, Have Not Have” by Geoff Ryman
(2)This was written by Mur, not Steve.
The Dragon Page Expands the Reach of Podcasting
Published on 9 May 2006 at 11:21 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under SF/F News.
Summer Brooks, Producer of The Dragon Page podcasts, reports that this Saturday they will be doing something new with Cover to Cover.
We will be recording the next “Cover to Cover” feature on Saturday, May 13th, beginning at 10:30am Pacific Time. What makes this different is that we’ll be talking with 3 authors from Edge Publications, and you’ll be able to call in with questions and comments during and after their roundtable discussion. Rebecca Rowe (”Forbidden Cargo”), Lynda Williams (”Courtesan Prince”, “Throne Prince”, “Righteous Anger”), and Australian author and Borealis winner K.A. Bedford (”Orbital”, “Eclipse”, “Hydrogen Steel”) will be talking about their books, all of which have something to do with genetic modification and the use of nanotechnology in humans. Listeners will be able to hear the feed here: http://haven.homelinux.net:12346/listen.pls Australian listeners can catch a feed closer to home: http://stream.froosh.net:8000/wingin_it.m3u We are in the process of adding another server, so keep an eye out here, and in the new IRC channel #dragonpage for more news. Both IRC channels #dragonpage and #wingin_it are available at irc.freenode.net
Leave it to Michael and Evo and the Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas to fiddle with the possibilities of the awesomeness of podcasting. If you’ve got some time Saturday, check it out.
Free Hugo Nominated Works
Published on 8 May 2006 at 9:51 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under SF/F News, Site News.
Limited to Hugo voters (members of LACon IV, this year’s WorldCon), free electronic copies of John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin and Charlie Stross’s Accelerando are available! More information on how to get your copies are on Scalzi’s blog. (Stross’s Accelerando is also available to non-voters through his site.)
And for those of you (us) who are unable to make it to WorldCon, instead of gnashing your teeth and beating your breast, why not snuggle down with the free e-book of James Patrick Kelly’s nominated work, Burn? If you missed the podcast (shame on you, it was fantastic) then you can still get it for free through e-book (you can still download all the chapters through podcast, if you want to hear Jim’s voice telling the story in his compelling way.) All information on his site.
And then, of course, you have at least four of the five nominated short stories available here on Escape Pod starting this week!
Congratulations to the Nebula Winners!
Published on 7 May 2006 at 9:06 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under SF/F News.
Last night the Nebula Awards, presented by the SFWA, were awarded in Tempe, Ariz.
The winners were:
NOVEL Camouflage, Joe Haldeman
NOVELLA “Magic for Beginners”, Kelly Link
NOVELETTE “The Faery Handbag”, Kelly Link
SHORT STORY “I Live With You”, Carol Emshwiller
SCRIPT Serenity, Joss Whedon
ANDRE NORTON AWARD Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie, Holly Black
Harlan Ellison was honored by becoming Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for his lifetime achievement in science fiction and fantasy. William F. Nolan was honored as Author Emeritus.
Congrats to all the winners!
Jeff VanderMeer’s Exhaustive Reading List
Published on 6 May 2006 at 3:09 pm.
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Filed under SF/F News.
Jeff VanderMeer is compiling a list of the “Exhaustive Essential Fantasy Reading.” If you’re looking for a summer project, or just to find some gems you might have missed, check this massive (and somewhat humbling) list out. If you think he’s missed something, he’s welcoming input.
