Blue Tyson on September 7th, 2010

The Curse of Capistrano – Johnston McCulleyhttp://worldebooklibrary.com/eBooks/WorldeBookLibrary.com/markzorro.htm
Repression and oppressive taxation grows in one corner of California. Don Diego Viega, whose picture might just be beside the word ‘fop’ if California had a dictionary, can do nothing about it.
As one of the local military says “he is about as dangerous as a lizard basking in [...]

Continue reading about The Curse of Capistrano 01 – Johnston McMulley

Blue Tyson on September 5th, 2010

“What got you attracted to Carter Brown in the first place?
Carter Brown is the person about whom I talk the most because he is probably the best known of all Australian writers. It started, as most research projects do, from a very simple question – who is Australia’s most *popular* author…my colleagues at the University [...]

Continue reading about On Carter Brown – Toni Johnson-Woods

Blue Tyson on September 4th, 2010

As a sword and sorcery anthology this generally succeeds, and in general the writers understand what that actually means.
Except for Gene Wolfe. Having read a lot of stuff by Wolfe, I see no evidence of him ever having the ability to produce a sword and sorcery story.
And I still don’t. As a story [...]

Continue reading about Swords and Dark Magic – Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders

Blue Tyson on August 10th, 2010

““You really killed one of these beasts?” She was watching him keenly now, he knew. “With that blade you carry? Now that is remarkable.”
“I suppose so. As I said, I did have help.”
“Even so. Are you not proud?”
Ringil grimaced. “If you’d seen some of the other things I’ve done [...]

Continue reading about The Cold Commands Draft Excerpt – Richard Morgan

Blue Tyson on July 14th, 2010

Sphere world Phroon pirate slaughter dragon dad distraction White Sword steal.
4.5 out of 5

Continue reading about Red Pearls: An Elric Story – Michael Moorcock

Blue Tyson on June 20th, 2010

As the title suggests, a collection of work related to the title character, including herself, Phineas Trout, McGlade, and others. So they range from straight shooting, to hardboiled hits, to perverted black comedy.
As far as his short stories go, this is the best stuff, and two of these tales are extremely strong.
Jack Daniels Stories [...]

Continue reading about Jack Daniels Stories – J. A. Konrath

Blue Tyson on June 18th, 2010

“What kind of books and stories do you look for when deciding on submissions? Like, do you have a set of criteria (such as, must have swords, wizards, minimum of 10 decapitated bodies) or do you tend to examine each piece on its own—if so, any themes or styles you tend to find yourself [...]

Continue reading about Editor of Pyr books BCS interview – Lou Anders

“[This week's questions comes from Heather Massey, proprietor of The Galaxy Express.]
From Star Wars to Avatar, stories blending science fiction and romance have persisted for decades in books, films, fan fiction, and even video games. However, despite such evidence, there are those who believe the two genres can’t, or shouldn’t, be combined. We asked this [...]

Continue reading about MIND MELD: What Does Romance Bring to the Science Fiction Genre? – John DeNardo

Blue Tyson on June 9th, 2010

“was eight years old when the stars went out.
November 15th, 2034, 8:11:05 to 8:27:42 GMT.
I didn’t witness the circle of darkness, growing from the antisolar point like the mouth of a coal-black cosmic worm, gaping to swallow the world. On TV, yes, a hundred times, from a dozen locations — but on TV it looked [...]

Continue reading about Quarantine 1 – Greg Egan

Blue Tyson on June 8th, 2010

“You can see traces of that thought in some of the best Clarkes, like Childhood’s End or the short story “The Nine Billion Names of God.” And he did confess to me once, over a meal at the restaurant next to the old Hotel Chelsea, that he was kind of wondering if it was possible [...]

Continue reading about More About Sir Arthur C. Clarke – Frederik Pohl

Blue Tyson on June 8th, 2010

“ll right. He’s dead. Go ahead and talk to him.”
The bioethicist was a laconic young asex with blond dreadlocks and a T-shirt which flashed up the slogan SAY NO TO TOE! in between the paid advertising. Ve countersigned the permission form on the forensic pathologist’s notepad, then withdrew to a corner of the room. The [...]

Continue reading about Distress 1 – Greg Egan

Blue Tyson on June 7th, 2010

“”I’ll do it,” I tell Pek Brimmidin. And then, formally, “I stand ready to serve our shared reality.”
“One more thing, before you agree, Pek Bengarin.” Pek Brimmidin is figeting again. “The suspect is a Terran.”
I have never before informed on a Terran. Aulit Prison, of course, holds those aliens who have been judged [...]

Continue reading about The Flowers of Aulit Prison – Nancy Kress

In which Sheila Finch picks Terry Dowling’s Tom Tyson series, and Cynthia Ward picks Leigh Brackett’s Skaith. Can’t argue with that!
4.5 out of 5
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/06/mind-meld-what-science-fiction-series-is-underrated/

Continue reading about MIND MELD: What Science Fiction Series is the Most Underrated? – John DeNardo

Blue Tyson on June 1st, 2010

“Let the winds of jungle’s night
Stay the hunter in her flight.
Evening’s breath to witch’s mind;
Let our fates be intertwined.
Jhereg! Do not pass me by.
Show me where thine egg doth lie.”
http://dragaera.info/mailinglists/dragaera/archive/2004q3/013769.html
4.5 out of 5

Continue reading about Jhereg – Steven Brust

“We only have a few songs which you could say are directly inspired by literary works, but all of our material is somewhat inspired by either science fiction or mythology. For clarification the songs directly inspired by specific stories or novels are “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter,” “To Take the Black,” and “The Black River” (all from [...]

Continue reading about The Sword’s J.D. Cronise: The Kind of Music We Play is the Aural Equivalent of Science Fiction – Matt Staggs

“Dozois’s affection for Adventure SF and Space Opera is given voice when he says of Poul Anderson’s 1995 story “Genesis” (from Far Futures, ed. Gregory Benford): “The Anderson in particular delivers a few genuine jolts of pure-quill old-fashioned undiluted Sense of Wonder, something the genre does all too seldom these days.” –Gardner Dozois, in his [...]

Continue reading about Gardner Dozois the Revitalization of Genre SF and The New Space Opera – Dave Truesdale

Blue Tyson on May 28th, 2010

“In A Door into Ocean, the Sharers use advanced skills of “lifeshaping,” a kind of genetic engineering, to manage the ecology of their ocean-covered planet. They must use all their skills, as well as the discipline of nonviolence, to repel invading traders and soldiers, without destroying their own way of life.
To appreciate the [...]

Continue reading about A Door Into Ocean Study Guide – Joan Slonczweski

“For years now, people have been telling me to read Richard K. Morgan’s cyberpunksploitation novel Altered Carbon, and I’ve been meaning to get around to it. But holy fuck, it really is that great.”
4.5 out of 5
http://io9.com/5542862/cyberpunk-detective-novel-altered-carbon-really-is-all-that?skyline=true&s=i

Continue reading about Cyberpunk detective novel Altered Carbon really is all that – Charlie Jane Anders

Blue Tyson on May 21st, 2010

The ghost kings are marching; the midnight knows their tread,
From the distant, stealthy planets of the dim, unstable dead;
There are whisperings on the night-winds and the shuddering stars have fled.
A ghostly trumpet echoes from a barren mountainhead;
Through the fen the wandering witch-lights gleam like phantom arrows sped;
There is silence in the valleys and the moon [...]

Continue reading about The Ghost Kings – Robert E. Howard

An excellent collection of stories at 3.83, headlined by the brilliant title story ‘The Green Leopard Plague.’ Of the others I would have included Dinosaurs and Video Star or one of his Wild Cards stories ahead of weaker stuff like Send Them Flowers, but pretty much agree with the rest.
A great value collection that [...]

Continue reading about The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories – Walter Jon Williams

Blue Tyson on May 18th, 2010

“Crapsey was glad he’d never seen Dr. Husch before, because he probably would have done something stupid like pledge his life to defend her. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful, though she was that – Helen of Troy beautiful, classical statue beautiful, Emma Frost in a white corset beautiful, the kind of woman who [...]

Continue reading about Broken Mirrors 11 – Tim Pratt

Blue Tyson on May 14th, 2010

Dark space alien boy breeding visitation.
4.5 out of 5

Continue reading about The Broadsword – Laird Barron

“In her time, Modesty Blaise was huge. Beyond millions of book sales and comic strip readers, there was a (mediocre) movie about her. The plots bordered on outlandish, lacked the verite of, say, last year’s deservedly Oscar-winning thriller “The Secrets In Their Eyes,” but Modesty prevailed in an all too human fashion, triumphing over the [...]

Continue reading about Farewell to the Creator of Feminism’s Forgotten Legend Modesty Blaise – James Grady

“Here is the first full-length Coode Street podcast. Recorded just minutes ago, Gary and I discuss what it means to work and review for Locus, SF’s attraction to the ‘new’ in new weird, new space opera and new sword and sorcery, career pressure on short story writers, as well as books by China Mieville and [...]

Continue reading about Notes from Coode Street: Live with Gary K. Wolfe! – Jonathan Strahan

“”A lot of what I write is so grim and depressing. The stories are designed to hurt. And when I’m writing them, I also feel hurt. It’s hard to do. This was an opportunity to write a story that wasn’t about hurt, and it felt good.”
If Bacigalupi has learned anything from his own journey into [...]

Continue reading about Sci-fi phenom Paolo Bacigalupi has seen the future and it’s scary as hell – Alan Prendergast

Blue Tyson on May 6th, 2010

An article about Hugo Gernsback.
“It is September 1, 2660, and a genius sits in his study, resting up prior to a remarkable display of his scientific prowess. Tomorrow he will demonstrate to scientists that a dog three years technically dead, but preserved with rare elements, can be resuscitated back to life by a simple blood [...]

Continue reading about The man who foresaw science fiction – Matthew Lasar

Blue Tyson on May 3rd, 2010

“It happens there is a member of my immediate family who exemplifies the Pohl–Heinlein relationship of that period more accurately. Her name is Milly. She is a nine-year-old Jack Russell, and at every meal she sits at my feet, waiting for me to finish so she can lick the crumbs off my plate. This well [...]

Continue reading about Working With Robert A. Heinlein – Frederik Pohl

Blue Tyson on April 29th, 2010

If there’s a bear in there, you are rooted. Out there isn’t good, either, in the long run.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.archive.org/download/second_variety_1004_librivox/secondvariety_2_dick_64kb.mp3

Continue reading about Second Variety 2 – Philip K. Dick

Blue Tyson on April 29th, 2010

If there’s a bear in there, you are rooted. Out there isn’t good, either, in the long run.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.archive.org/download/second_variety_1004_librivox/secondvariety_1_dick_64kb.mp3

Continue reading about Second Variety 1 – Philip K. Dick

Blue Tyson on April 29th, 2010

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.
4.5 out of 5
http://media.libsyn.com/media/classictales/CT_153_Cthulhu_2of2.mp3

Continue reading about The Call of Cthulhu 2 – H. P. Lovecraft

Blue Tyson on April 29th, 2010

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.
4.5 out of 5
http://cdn2.libsyn.com/classictales/CT_152_Cthulhu_1of2.mp3

Continue reading about The Call of Cthulhu 1 – H. P. Lovecraft

Blue Tyson on April 18th, 2010

“But, anyway, there is a lot of violence, and if you’re asking how I managed to achieve that, I’ve always had a personal philosophy when it comes to action: “Ramp that shit up.” Conflict, I feel, has to keep growing to remain interesting. Immediate conflict has to grow immediately. Thus, if you [...]

Continue reading about A Dribble Of Ink Interview – Sam Sykes

Blue Tyson on April 17th, 2010

“Will tossed uneasily. He had never known a feeling like this before. It was growing worse every minute. As if some huge weight were pushing at his mind, threatening,trying to take him over, turn him into something he didn’t want to be. That’s it, he thought: make me into someone else. But that’s stupid. Who’d [...]

Continue reading about The Dark Is Rising 1 – Susan Cooper

Blue Tyson on April 17th, 2010

“His companion seemed less at ease. He was small, with wide, staring eyes and a way of raising and turning his head which suggested not so much caution as a kind of ceaseless, nervous tension. His nose moved continually, and when a bumblebee flew humming to a thistle bloom behind him, he jumped and spun [...]

Continue reading about Watership Down 1 – Richard Adams

Wherein various people give their favorites.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/04/mind-meld-the-best-sword-sorcery-stories/index.html

Continue reading about MIND MELD The Best Sword and Sorcery Stories – John DeNardo

Blue Tyson on April 14th, 2010

“CT: What made you decide to write science fiction?
MA: A lot of things. I was raised in a science fiction household. My dad had this copy of “To Sail Beyond the Sunset” under the bed, the one with Maureen doing her Birth of Venus thing on the cover. We also had the Dune and [...]

Continue reading about SF Signal Interview – Madeleine Ashby

Blue Tyson on April 13th, 2010

Bloody Mary comeback.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.apexbookcompany.com/apex-online/2010/04/short-story-dying-with-her-cheer-pants-on-by-seanan-mcguire/

Continue reading about Dying With Her Cheer Pants On – Seanan McGuire

Blue Tyson on April 13th, 2010

Talking elephants and dragons.
4.5 out of 5

Continue reading about Jackie’s Boy – Steven Popkes

A big list.
4.5 out of 5
http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/257207.html

Continue reading about Full Honorable Mention list from Best Horror of the Year volume 1 – Ellen Datlow

A big list.
4.5 out of 5
http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/257207.html

Continue reading about Full Honorable Mention list from Best Horror of the Year volume 1 – Ellen Datlow

Blue Tyson on April 9th, 2010

Just a revolutionary superspy minus one agent.
http://www.comicspace.com/the_black_coat/uploaded/960/1173835359_aBFC3dUTzc.jpg?1185087736
4.5 out of 5
http://www.comicspace.com/the_black_coat/comics.php?action=read&file_id=52295

Continue reading about Black Coat A Call To Arms 1

Blue Tyson on April 8th, 2010

“The March 1935 issue of Weird Tales featured “Julhi,” the fifth of Catherine Lucille Moore’s Northwest Smith tales. That same issue also featured Robert E. Howard’s “Jewels of Gwahlur,” a classic Conan tale.
After a year of writing Northwest Smith tales, Moore’s “Julhi” manages to integrate what are now the “old stand-by’s” of the Smith series [...]

Continue reading about Blogging Northwest Smith: Julhi – Christian Lindke

“China Miéville argues convincingly in his introduction to Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness that it was a retelling of Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, and not in any way a sequel. I think he is right, but I think that Moore’s “Dust of the Gods” is a sequel to both the Lovecraft and [...]

Continue reading about Blogging Northwest Smith: Dust of Gods – Christian Lindke

“Throughout the story, there are references to a beast of some sort that was responsible for the murder of the young woman’s sister — beast that eventually comes for everyone when their time has come. Smith is unworried, and the girl is fatalistically accepting of her mortality. Life in this world is idyllic, yet the [...]

Continue reading about Blogging Northwest Smith: Scarlet Dream – Christian Lindke

“The beauty that Moore has the Alendar describe is in itself horrifying, yet it is also an interesting spark for discussion. Vaudir — who has asked Smith for assistance and led to his current state of danger — is beautiful, but she possesses something more. She possesses and intelligence and free will that make her [...]

Continue reading about Blogging Northwest Smith: Black Thirst – Christian Lindke

Blue Tyson on April 8th, 2010

“”Shambleau” opens with a prefatory paragraph which sets the tone of the tale, establishes a sense of history and place, and gives readers some foreshadowing regarding the turn the tale will take. The paragraph is reminiscent of the paragraphs Robert E. Howard used to open his Conan tales. Where his paragraphs represented excerpts from the [...]

Continue reading about Blogging Northwest Smith: Shambleau – Christian Lindke

Blue Tyson on April 8th, 2010

“When she excused herself for a moment to call home and tell them she was staying for the roast, I walked up, thanked him, and told him that as a token of my gratitude I wouldn’t insult him from the podium that night. He looked truly hurt, and insisted that not insulting him in front [...]

Continue reading about I Remember Isaac – Mike Resnick

Blue Tyson on April 5th, 2010

“Twenty-three years ago today, the reign of Catherine Lucille Moore, the first Queen of Sword-and-Sorcery, came to an end. Miss Moore occupies a vital place in the history of modern fantasy and science-fiction, for not only was she one of the pioneering female speculative fiction authors, but she created what may be the archetypal Sword-and-Sorcery [...]

Continue reading about Queen of Swords: C.L. Moore – Al Harron

Blue Tyson on March 29th, 2010

Ramona is horrified when Tesla says they have to terminate The Mountain. Suggests throwing him a parade instead. Now she has to do it.
4.5 out of 5
http://media.podiobooks.com/swc3wwl/PB-SecretWorldChronicle3-06.mp3

Continue reading about Moving Mountains 1 – Steve Libbey

Blue Tyson on March 29th, 2010

“If I say I could go on and on discussing “Bulldozer,” this look at its opening lines offers some explanation why. Of course, my first encounter with the story, I didn’t engage in any of this analysis, (not consciously, anyway). I was too caught up in the relentless forward drive of its narrative, in the [...]

Continue reading about Bulldozer by Laird Barron: An Appreciation – John Langan

Blue Tyson on March 28th, 2010

“8. Do you detect a different response to your science fiction/fantasy between the public in Britain and America (or elsewhere)?
Well, yes and no. You do see some minor cultural hiccups sometimes when my work crosses the Atlantic – for instance, there were a number of comments criticising the amount of foul language used by the [...]

Continue reading about BSFA Survey Response – Richard Morgan

Blue Tyson on March 27th, 2010

“Atop of the tank’s stand were a number of household tools—pliers, wrenches, screwdrivers, box-cutter, claw hammer and more. Judging by the dried blood crusting their edges and the captive’s wounds, they’d been converted into instruments of torture. In the corner was a large coffee can half-filled with human waste.
“Jesus,” McCann whispered.
Simon grinned. “Oh, I called [...]

Continue reading about Deluge 48 – Brian Keene

Blue Tyson on March 27th, 2010

“Terry Dowling knows the heart of fear hasn’t strayed far from the caves and he understands the raw, ineluctable fascination of a campfire tale. He is conversant with its rules and rituals-—Did you hear the one about the guy, this salesman, who couldn’t get a room at his regular hotel? So the clerk says, “Hey, [...]

Continue reading about Clownette by Terry Dowling: An Appreciation – Laird Barro

Blue Tyson on March 25th, 2010

“I’m not even sure what the year was. I’d had the outline for the series for a year or two, together with a couple of chapters, I think, when Larry Shaw of Lancer asked me for a new fantasy series to follow the first two Elric books and the Blades of Mars series. This would [...]

Continue reading about The Genesis of Hawkmoon – Michael Moorcock

Blue Tyson on March 22nd, 2010

“When Robert E. Howard, an outcast in his native Cross Plains, started down the path that would eventually give the world the genre now known as Sword & Sorcery, he used Paul L. Anderson’s story, “En-ro of the Ta-an” as the template for his various “Am-ra of the Ta-an” story drafts. Anderson would likely be [...]

Continue reading about Robert E. Howard Exile of Cross Plains – William Maynard

Blue Tyson on March 22nd, 2010

http://images.darkhorse.com/darkhorse/downloads/ecomics/hbyepilogues/2ch/hbyepiloguesp15.jpg
Red Right Hand ain’t yours Raspie.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/eComics/981/Hellboy-The-Epilogues?part_num=1&page=15

Continue reading about Hellboy The Epilogues

Blue Tyson on March 22nd, 2010

http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/7/1719_180×270.jpg
Spider journalism.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=1719

Continue reading about Transmetropolitan Back On the Street 1

Blue Tyson on March 22nd, 2010

Custer’s stand.
http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/6/1645_180×270.jpg
4.5 out of 5
http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=1645

Continue reading about Preacher Gone To Texas 1

Blue Tyson on March 22nd, 2010

Just a great zombie apocalypse.
http://i.newsarama.com/images/TheWalkingDead01_p14.jpg
4.5 out of 5
http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album_view.php?gid=1358&page=14

Continue reading about The Walking Dead 1

Blue Tyson on March 22nd, 2010

A series of comic strips – in Spanish! The first of which has Modesty and Willie dressed as Vikings.
http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=43b8f3a65e52c9d967a28d3b1ed1b619
4.5 out of 5
http://www.gocomics.com/espanol/modestyblaise/2004/03/01/

Continue reading about Modesty Blaise strip in Spanish

Blue Tyson on March 22nd, 2010

Skinny hippy cuckoo world’s end comeback brainblast.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.freakangels.com/comics/FA0090-2.jpg

Continue reading about FreakAngels

“My name is Keith Taylor and this is my first post. A Tasmanian-born long-time resident of Melbourne, I’m married to an — I assure you — lovely and very smart girl named Anna. We have a twenty-year-old son. He’d kill me if I said anything about him on the web, no doubt.
It’s chiefly through the [...]

Continue reading about Wild Men of the Wild Sea… and Robert E. Howard – Keith Taylor

Blue Tyson on March 20th, 2010

An interesting article to go along with two pretty decent stories:
Future Brains: Neuroscience Fiction versus Neuroscience Fantasy
by Luc Reid
Clarkesworld 42 : Alone With Gandhari – Gord Sellar
Clarkesworld 42 : The History Within Us – Matthew Kressel
Ronnie Mac Attack Guru.
3.5 out of 5
Universe history pollution Horde stardive.
3.5 out of 5
4.5 out of 5
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_42

Continue reading about Clarkesworld 42 – Sean Wallace

“Robert E. Howard Properties and Del Rey are glad to announce the next planned book in the Howard library series: Dark Agnes and Other Historical Adventures, with planned release in spring 2011.
Following the historical footsteps of El Borak and Other Desert Adventures, which takes us to Arabia at the turn of the 20th century, Dark [...]

Continue reading about Del Rey: Dark Agnes and Other Historical Adventures By Robert E. Howard – Deuce Richardson

Blue Tyson on March 18th, 2010

“So he sat down again and took off his shoes. After writing his name and a few other words on the heel of his left shoe, he trimmed a strip of leather from the sole and tied it around his bare left foot at the arch. He did the same with the other shoe (and [...]

Continue reading about Turn Up This Crooked Way – James Enge

Blue Tyson on March 16th, 2010

“I particularly remember one trip to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I was informed by the dive master to beware of the many hazards found in the region. ‘On land, Australia has seven of the ten deadliest snakes. The seas are worse. Box jellyfish can kill in minutes. Local sea snakes are some of [...]

Continue reading about Barnes & Noble Meet the Writers – James Rollins

You write quite a bit about heroes. Who were your heroes (fictional or real) when you were growing up? What, to you, makes a real-life hero in today’s world?
Well, for real heroes, I think I hinted at that before, but of the fictional heroes who most influenced me, that would be a character from [...]

Continue reading about The Internet Writing Journal A Conversation With – James Rollins

“Which member of Sigma Force are you most like?
The pat answer is that a little of me lurks in all my characters. But as mentioned above, I have an especially strong affinity for Painter. I don’t if I’m most like him, but he’s definitely someone who I wish I could be.
I have read that my [...]

Continue reading about Megalith Interview with NYT Best Selling Author – James Rollins

Blue Tyson on March 13th, 2010

“That pulled my cork. I think it was the only time in my life that I was really mad at Isaac. I all but threw the manuscript back at him. “Isaac,” I said — well, I think yelled, “we’re talking about grown-up publishing here. You’re the author. You give me a manuscript, I try to [...]

Continue reading about Isaac Part 5 in our continuing series – Frederik Pohl

“Although my year’s best selections included some international fiction, I thought it would be of use to compile a few “core samples” of work mostly in other languages that my contacts found of particular interest in 2009. Except for the books from places like Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, these titles are not yet [...]

Continue reading about An Overview of International Science Fiction Fantasy in 2009 – Jeff VanderMeer

Blue Tyson on March 11th, 2010

“The Timeline provides a chronological record of the composition, submission and/or publication of a large part of Howard’s fiction and verse. It is culled from a variety of sources: the few surviving records Howard kept of his submissions, his letters to various correspondents (notably Tevis Clyde Smith), and his fictionalized autobiography, Post Oaks and Sand [...]

Continue reading about Robert E. Howard Fiction and Verse Timeline – Rusty Burke

Blue Tyson on March 5th, 2010

Mummy, it’s a coffin.
4.5 out of 5
http://henrykuttner.bravehost.com/Kuttner,%20Henry%20-%20The%20Graveyard%20Rats.html
http://www.archive.org/details/TheGraveyardRats

Continue reading about The Graveyard Rats – Henry Kuttner

“I am one of the heretics who believes that art must be enjoyed first and analyzed later.
I am also a member of the Star Wars generation. Sixteen years old when the movie came out, at a first-night screening with a dozen of my high school buddies, I watched the world change right in front [...]

Continue reading about On Star Wars: Barbarian Confessions – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Blue Tyson on February 24th, 2010

On Will Jenkins (Murray Leinster) and inventing, etc.
“I’ve had several exchanges of emails lately with Wenllian “Billee” Stallings, daughter of the late, great Will F. Jenkins who, under the pen name of Murray Leinster, was one of the people who built the genre of science fiction. As David Hartwell recently observed, “In a parallel [...]

Continue reading about A Visit to the Wizard – Michael Swanwick

Blue Tyson on February 23rd, 2010

If there’s a bear in there, you are rooted. Out there isn’t good, either, in the long run.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.archive.org/details/SecondVariety

Continue reading about Second Variety – Philip K. Dick

Blue Tyson on February 21st, 2010

Very cool – entries for various people, races and places etc. including a timeline at the end.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.panmacmillan.com/assets/Neal%20Asher%20Encyclopedia.pdf

Continue reading about Polity Encyclopedia – Neal Asher

Blue Tyson on February 9th, 2010

Darkbird Bitter Star Mining Company scam freezeout.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_St…
http://www.archive.org/details/LastCallFromSector9g

Continue reading about Last Call From Sector 9G – Leigh Brackett

Another PhD thesis.
“This study analyzes works of cyberpunk literature written between 1981 and 2005, and positions women’s cyberpunk as part of a larger cultural discussion of feminist issues. It traces the origins of the genre, reviews critical reactions, and subsequently outlines the ways in which women’s cyberpunk altered genre conventions in order to advance specifically [...]

Continue reading about Mirrorshade Women: Feminism and Cyberpunk at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century – Carlen Lavigne

Note that this is a PhD thesis.
‘In this thesis I argue that science fiction is not a genre exclusively made up of written texts but a community or series of communities. I examine the science fiction community’s engagement with questions of femeninity, masculinity, sex and sexuality over the past seventy years, that is from 1926 [...]

Continue reading about The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction: From the Pulps to the James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award – Justine Larbalestier

Blue Tyson on January 31st, 2010

An omnibus of five books.
By Blood We Live – John Joseph AdamsThe The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One – Ellen DatlowHow to Make Friends with Demons – Graham JoyceMadness of Flowers – Jay LakeHouse of Windows – John Langan
An almost all reprint vampire anthology. It isn’t a best vampire stories of all time, [...]

Continue reading about Night Shade Books October 2009 – Jeremy Lassen

Blue Tyson on January 30th, 2010

This collection contains stories that are 2000 or earlier. In the introduction Stross talks about the future catching up and getting to the stage of making a couple of them obsolete. That being a problem with writing that sort of SF in general, too. Also an amusing mini-section about what would happen if you time [...]

Continue reading about Toast and Other Rusted Futures – Charles Stross

Blue Tyson on January 30th, 2010

Retrogeekgeargabfest.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/toast/toast.html

Continue reading about Toast A Con Report – Charles Stross

Blue Tyson on January 24th, 2010

“Like most authors, James Patterson started out with one book, released in 1976, that he struggled to get published. It sold about 10,000 copies, a modest, if respectable, showing for a first novel. Last year, an estimated 14 million copies of his books in 38 different languages found their way onto beach blankets, airplanes and [...]

Continue reading about James Patterson Inc – Jonathan Mahler

“MOTTO: Thanks so much for taking the time to help us visualize this world. And one goofy question to close: Did you notice the prevalence of tentacle-ish covers at the time? Any feeling about the use/misuse of octopuses and other marine monsters in the pulps?
RS: There were plenty of tentacles. Tentacles were very important. We [...]

Continue reading about Octopulps Featurette: SFWA Grand Master Talks Pulps – Robert Silverberg

Blue Tyson on January 21st, 2010

“Against the mighty forces of the assembled star-kings, the army of Valkyr counted for almost nothing; but the savage fighting men of the Edge carried with them their talisman — Alys Imperatrix, uncrowned sovereign of the Galaxy, Heiress of the Thousand Emperors…”
4.5 out of 5
http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_4_Number_8_

Continue reading about The Rebel Of Valkyr – Alfred Coppel

Blue Tyson on January 20th, 2010

Interview with Chris Meadows at Teleread:
“I conducted an interview with Pablo Defendini, Producer and blogger for Tor.com, via Google Wave. Our conversation ranged from the Tor.com blog itself, to the free e-book giveaway that kicked off the site, to the much-anticipated but still-absent Tor.com e-book store.
Defendini noted that Tor.com was a separate subsidiary from Tor [...]

Continue reading about Interview: Producer for Tor.com – Pablo Defendini

Blue Tyson on January 17th, 2010

The Reality Dysfunction
Space opera horror monster massive tome.
The start of a humongous trilogy, and with so many pages to fill Hamilton is able to come up with all sorts of stuff.
The Confederation is divided basically on religious grounds between those that use organic technologically to actually bond with computers and animals, and those [...]

Continue reading about The Night’s Dawn Trilogy – Peter F. Hamilton

Blue Tyson on January 9th, 2010

Communal network rejection assimilation Goes There, that’s Who.
4.5 out of 5
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/#

Continue reading about The Things – Peter Watts

Blue Tyson on January 9th, 2010

Mars in the fiction of Leigh BrackettFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4.5 out of 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_in_the_fiction_of_Leigh_Brackett

Continue reading about Mars In the Fiction Of Leigh Brackett – Various Various

Blue Tyson on January 9th, 2010

Jupiter in the fiction of Leigh BrackettFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4.5 out of 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_in_the_fiction_of_Leigh_Brackett

Continue reading about Jupiter In the Fiction Of Leigh Brackett – Various Various

Blue Tyson on January 9th, 2010

Venus in the fiction of Leigh BrackettFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4.5 out of 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_in_the_fiction_of_Leigh_Brackett

Continue reading about Venus In the Fiction Of Leigh Brackett – Various Various

Blue Tyson on January 9th, 2010

Mercury in the fiction of Leigh BrackettFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4.5 out of 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_in_the_fiction_of_Leigh_Brackett

Continue reading about Mercury In the Fiction Of Leigh Brackett – Various Various

Blue Tyson on January 9th, 2010

Galactic Milieu SeriesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4.5 out of 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Milieu_Series

Continue reading about Galactic Milieu Series – Various Various

Blue Tyson on January 9th, 2010

About the International Fantasy Award.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.gostak.org.uk/ifa/ifaindex.htm

Continue reading about A Merit For Fantasy – Leslie Flood

Blue Tyson on January 7th, 2010

“In The Line of Polity, the outlink station Miranda is destroyed by sabotage, by a nanomycelium which Dragon supplied. Why did Dragon supply it?
That is still being answered even now in the book I’m presently writing, called The Technician, which is set on the planet Masada from The Line of Polity. Masada is the homeworld [...]

Continue reading about BSC Interview – Neal Asher

A conference paper talking about the 19th century Physical Culture movement in Britain and Superhuman figures in prose fiction, including some of the bodybuilder types – and how they were discredited. This led to the ‘depowering’ of most of the superhuman pulp characters eventually, even Doc Savage and The Shadow.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.archive.org/download/RememberingDocSavage/20091212nevins.mp3

Continue reading about Those Who Cannot Remember Doc Savage Are Condemned To Repeat Him: The 20th Century Backlash Against Posthuman Bodybuilders – Jess Nevins

Blue Tyson on January 6th, 2010

Eric John Stark has to deal with plotting by the last of the serial immortals of Sinharat.
4.5 out of 5
http://www.archive.org/details/Planet_Stories_Volume_4_Number_3_

Continue reading about Queen Of the Martian Catacombs – Leigh Brackett

Blue Tyson on January 1st, 2010

This is great. Some solo Doc action in an early car chase, and him vs 5 armed ‘Squint’-led hoods.
A scientist friend of his deceased father, distintegration ‘Smoke of Eternity’ grenades (that you get to see employed), and a showdown on a dinosaur infested Thunder Island, off New Zealand.
Absolutely fabulous, in other words. Not to mention [...]

Continue reading about The Land Of Terror – Lester Dent

Blue Tyson on December 30th, 2009

This book is the second volume of Brackett science fiction stories that Haffner has done, and it would appear that they are approaching the work chronologically, as this follows Martian Quest: the Early Brackett. So the stories start where those finished, and go up until 1950.
The title is apt, as there are several stories [...]

Continue reading about Lorelei Of the Red Mist Planetary Romances – Leigh Brackett

Blue Tyson on December 30th, 2009

An anthology that features the three Eric John Stark novellas, the Star Kings novel and fix-up, and the crossover story Stark and the Star Kings – the only time that the two writers worked together.
Brackett of course is far the superior talent, but the Star Kings stuff is diverting enough. The three Brackett [...]

Continue reading about Stark and the Star Kings – Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton