Science Fiction

Lord of the Worms

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

Yes, Sam Jordison’s journey through the list of Hugo winners has reached Dune. And at last we discover than poor Sam has been thoroughly corrupted by The Dark Side.

More intriguing yet is the planet Dune itself. Herbert deftly builds a vivid impression of a living, complex and fragile ecology. The place is also, more simply, pretty damn cool. Like many of the best sci-fi writers, Herbert understands and fully exploits the wonder of the weird.

Yep, that’s science fiction all over, that is. Welcome to geekdom, Sam.

Bérubé on Pullman

~ Cheryl

Michael Bérubé, who is an honest-to-goodness literature professor as well as a sometime contributor to Crooked Timber, has just posted a long article comparing apocalyptic fiction by Oxford types – Lewis, Tolkien, Pullman – and one Cambridge type – Milton. You’ll need your sarcasm filters turned up when you read it, but it is highly entertaining. Here’s an excerpt:

But in book two, we’re alerted to the possibility that all these narrative possibilities are dwarfed by the Largest Imaginable Narrative of All, in which Lord Asriel is challenging not merely the calcified Church and its resistance to scientific exploration, but the Authority himself, He Am Who Am. To this end Asriel is holing up in a mountain fortress and assembling the most awesome array of corporeal and angelic dissidents since . . . since . . . well, since the wrong side won the previous mother of all celestial battles eons ago and then got propagandists like Milton to chronicle their victory.

Ah yes, that Milton fellow, a veritable 17th Century Karl Rove, forever twisting our perceptions of the Forces of Darkness and encouraging us to submit to their tyrannical rule. Tsk.

Paid by the Word

~ Cheryl ~ 5 Comments

Teh intrawebs, or at least that part inhabited by writers, have been getting excitable over this LiveJournal post. It is a spectacularly bad piece of prose, but the first thing that sprang to mind when I read it was, “that’s Fanthorpe!”

So I Googled Ron Miller and found that he’s actually a very successful artist. He even won a Hugo (at ConJosé, no less) for a book about Chesley Bonestell. He has also written a number of novels, but his art credits include a cover or two for Fanthorpe novels. I sense a connection. Either the great RLF did some ghost writing here, or Mr. Miller was inspired by the magnificent awfulness that is March of the Robots.

As mysterious as anything in the great mysterious universe, unless of course you know that Fanthorpe was getting paid by the word and working to ludicrous deadlines.

Ada and Joanna

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

I’ve started to read the Joanna Russ book, but I have decided not to say too much about it at this point because it occurs to me that I really should post the review on Ada Lovelace Day. I’m going to do another post as well, but it seems like a good day to talk about Russ. Perhaps a few of you could do so too.

By the way, Ada made The Guardian yesterday – there is an interview with Suw Charmin-Anderson on their Tech Weekly podcast.

In the meantime I just want to say how much I like Lisa Yaszek’s work. Young revolutionaries are always contemptuous of their forbears who lived in less liberal times and were not able to be as open about their activism. Russ was no exception. The rediscover of “housewife heroine” SF that Yaszek is doing (including, ironically, some early stories by Russ herself) not only gives belated recognition to some fine early women SF writers but also helps remind us that women and men are not the same, and that just because some types of female behavior have been traditionally derided and undervalued by men that doesn’t mean that they are actually without worth.

The Postman Cometh

~ Cheryl

I haz book!

Today’s mail brought a book that I have been looking forward to for some time: On Joanna Russ, a collection of essays about the famous feminist science fiction writer, edited by Farah Mendlesohn. The contributors include Gary Wolfe, Edward James, Lisa Yasek, Sherryl Vint, Andrew M Butler, Graham Sleight and (fanfare) Samuel R Delany. That should exercise my brain for a while. I may do individual posts about some of the essays, but there will probably be a review too eventually.

(By the way, in case anyone is wondering, I have got very bored with Cyteen. Also the type is very small and it hurts my eyes. I will try to get back to it sometime.)

On Future Sexuality

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Wendy Pearson has set up a blog to continue the discussion about queer sexualities in science fiction that she began with the Queer Universes book. I see that Nicola Griffith has already signed up to contribute.

The opening post makes it clear that the blog is about sexuality, not about gender, and thus I don’t expect it to cover trans issues, excepting of course that trans people can obviously exhibit the full range of human sexuality. There may be the odd attempt to co-opt trans narratives as a sexuality issue, as there was in the book, but hopefully the blog will stay on mission. It is, after all, a good mission.

Interesting Developments

~ Cheryl

A couple of interesting things turned up in my blog feeds while I was out today. The first is a new LiveJournal called World SF News. This is nothing to do with the World SF folks in China. Rather it is an effort by the folks behind Apex Magazine to promote an international-themed anthology that they are working on. As the blog is looking to post stories about SF developments all around the world (and not just in the English language) it could turn into something very interesting indeed. I know I have a lot of readers outside of the UK and North America. I hope you’ll pop over there and offer them some news.

The other new development is Verb Noire, a proposed new small press which aims:

To celebrate the works of talented, underrepresented authors and deliver them to a readership that demands more.

What does that mean? That if you’re a talented writer with an awesome, original story about a POC girl/guy/transgendered character, there is a place for you. And that if you’re a sci-fi/fantasy fan who has grown tired of the constant whitewashing of these genres, there is a place for you, too.

Right now they are in the process of raising funds to get started. I have to admit that I’m a bit nervous about this. Running a small press is hard. I don’t like the idea of asking you to give people money when I have no idea who they are or what experience they have, and they don’t give their real names on their web site. On the other hand, what they are trying to do sounds very welcome, and I lot of people that I know and trust are already giving them support. So I’m leaving you to make up your own minds, and hoping that something actually comes of this.

Wolfe on Farmer

~ Cheryl

Gary Wolfe has a post about Philip José Farmer up at the Locus blog. He says:

…there are other writers who seem so idiosyncratic that it takes some time for their real influence to become apparent, as though their ideas and techniques have to seep into the groundwater of the field, or as though the field itself has to gradually mutate to accommodate them. Phil Farmer, I think, was one of these.

Feedback is requested.

SF Contest for Kids in Canada

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Via the Carl Brandon Society I have discovered the IMAGINE Sci-fi/fantasy Contests. These are a series of contests for kids: a short story competition for grades 6-12, a poster art contest for grades 7-9, and a newly launched poster art contest for grade 5.

The contests are run by the Visions of Science Network for Learning (VoSNL) who, according to their web site, are a “not for profit organization that advances the educational achievements and career aspirations of African Canadian and other under-represented youth in the fields of science, mathematics and technology.” They sound like a great bunch of people. There’s more information about the contests here.

And you know, this is a Canadian initiative, and Worldcon is in Canada this year. Isn’t there something we could do? At the very least I’d love to see the winning posters on display at the convention. And I know Worldcon can’t afford to pay travel and accommodation, but if the parents of the winners can get their SF-mad charges to Montreal I’d like to think they’d be welcome guests.

The Secret Service Guide

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

Over the past few months Chris Roberson has been publishing a series of post about various fictional clandestine government organizations. The series has covered groups such as The Diogenes Club, The Laundry and even Torchwood. Today Chris wrote a wrap up post, complete with links to all of the previous entries, and that seemed an ideal time for me to encourage you all to go and take a look. Chris has done a lot of good work there.