John Picacio to Guest Blog for Joe Mallozzi

Stargate: Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi kindly shows off John Picacio's artwork for my forthcoming anthology Fast Forward 2on his blog in a July 12 post "Bookly things and behind the scenes..." Mallozzi asked both Picacio and I for a quote, and then he turned around and asked John to guest blog. So he's now soliciting questions for John from his fans, who will post his response in a few days. Head on over and check it out.

Meanwhile, ever since my own stint guest blogging there, Mallozzi has had a steady stream of SF&F writers through, including Joe Abercrombie, Jeffrey Ford, K.J. Bishop, and Kage Baker. I've already turned in my WFC award nominations this year, but I think Mallozzi's going to get my nomination for Special Award Professional next year, for all the incredible work he's doing to get consumers of SF&F TV to read the literature. I've said before what a service to our genre this is, but get used to me saying it over and over, 'cause it's true.

Time Magazine on River of Gods

Time magazine's Barbara Ehrenreich recommends Ian McDonald's River of Godsin the current issue, in a piece entitled, "Alternative Universes, With a Hindi Glossary."

She says: "I read fiction addictively to get as far out of this flat and blighted 'real world' as I can. When a friend recommended Ian McDonald's River of Gods, I was dubious; 600 pages, including a glossary of Hindi terms? But it worked... There aren't many literary sci-fi thrillers that deliver a mind-expanding metaphysical punch, and this one ended all too soon. But in the afterglow of McDonald's lushly blooming imagination, even the real world is looking better."

Podcast: David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman is the latest victim in Jon Armstrong's If You're Just Joining Us podcast, the latest in his series of interviews with his fellow John W. Campbell Best New Writer award nominees. Dave describes their interview thusly:

Jon’s strategy with these podcasts is to steer away from the typical bland interview questions (”what was your inspiration for [insert book title]?”, “who were your biggest literary influences?”, etc.). So our 20-minute chat covered the coming death of the novel, the MacBook Air, the similarities between Infoquake and Grey, the pantheon of superheroes I created when I was a kid, my editor Lou Anders, how my dad taught me to always be the devil’s advocate, how 9/11 changed Infoquake, and the engineering of foreign toilets and doorknobs.

(Our conversation was actually over an hour long, and we talked about a ton of great stuff. I regret that our talk about David Lee Roth’s vocal track for “Runnin’ with the Devil” didn’t make it in.)

Adventures in Lou-Casting

Me talking about cover art here on the new Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing podcast. Someone named Kelly Link also interviewed.

Pyr Party @ WorldCon

Hi all,

This forthcoming World Science Fiction Convention, on Friday night, August 8th, from 8pm to 11pm, at the Sheraton Denver Hotel ...

We will be hosting a Pyr Party in specific honor of Ian McDonald's Best Novel Hugo nomination for Brasyl,and in general for all of our authors and readers and friends. And you are all invited!

I say "we" are hosting because my Director of Publicity, Jill Maxick, will be making her first ever convention appearance at this time. (This is the first official visit from anyone else at my company, though Editorial Assistant Jacinta Meyers did visit Prometheus-local EerieCon last April and wrote up this excellent report.)

Jill will be coming in Friday to help set up for and host the party, and she'll be staying through Sunday morning so that she can attend the Hugo ceremonies as well. This means that she'll be available all day Saturday if any of the authors, reviewers, critics, bloggers etc... that she deals with would like to take a meeting. Please do! I want it to be worth her time so she'll come again.

Naturally, the hotel is unable to give me a suite number until check in that Friday morning, but fortunately the Pyr Books Presentation will be held at 5:30 PM that Friday afternoon - so I'll be able to announce the room number to everyone there. And, the Sheraton being the only party hotel, it shouldn't be too hard to find this and every other party, as per always, right? If not, just look for the bald guy running around doing 1,000 different things and ask him where the party is going to be.

The Martian General's Daughter: SF of the Very Highest Quality

Now, this is a nice way to end the day.

Chris Moriarty has reviewed Theodore Judson's The Martian General's Daughterin the pages of the August 2008 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. And she calls it, "A rare beast ... one of those books so astonishingly good that it made me run out and buy everything else its author ever wrote."

She goes on to say, "The story is familiar to anyone who's read the Augustan Histories or seen the film Gladiator. But Judson's retelling of the old tale is quietly riveting, and his image of a decaying post-galactic aristocracy lamenting the loss of email and central air conditioning is priceless."

And then she proclaims that The Martian General's Daughter is "sf of the very highest quality."

Nite, everybody.

Does Science Fiction Still Matter?

Via SFSignal, I see that Unintentional Irony is asking "Does Science Fiction (Still) Matter?" The gist of the piece is the proposition that SF mattered at one time, when the country's efforts were focused on nuclear technology and the space race, but that now such things don't hold the popular imagination, which has retreated to blogging and World of Warcraft. And so, "To my eye, it doesn't really look like SF is currently the place where someone with something to say goes to say it (I suspect that blogging now occupies that ground), nor is it the place where people go to read what such people have to say."

To which I have to say, the fallacy is in limiting SF to stories about space exploration. Despite it's fourth season dip, Battlestar Galactica is an extremely well-presented and popular science fiction series, taken seriously as quality drama by the mainstream media (TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, elsewhere), and they engaged the current Iraq war head on just a few seasons ago with their New Caprica storyline, which dared more than pretty much any other show on television by casting the heroes as the terrorists. Then there's Cory Doctorow's Little Brother,which takes on the incursion into our civil rights and liberties taking place right now - certainly Cory is "someone with something to say" choosing to say his piece in SF, and as for this being "the place where people go to read what such people have to say" - well, Little Brother has been several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. And don't even get me started on the increasing numbers of "mainstream" authors - like Michael Chabon, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy - who are choosing to go to SF as the place to say what they have to say.

Please.

Fast Forward 2: The Final Cover

Here it is, the final cover art for Fast Forward 2:

This is from illustrator John Picacio, and is quite a special cover for both of us, as it arose out of discussions we had on the state - and purpose - of science fiction, including science fiction's responsibility to engage the world around it. We also displayed the penultimate version of this cover (never shown online) to the attendees of the Pyr Presentation Panel at ApolloCon, and their feedback positively informed this final iteration of the image.

Moreover, John talks about - and displays - some of his inspirations on his blog On the Front. Well worth checking out.

Happy 4th!

Mind Meld: Is There a Gender Imbalance?

The latest Mind Meld up at SFSignal asks, "Gender imbalance in genre fiction publishing is an ongoing point of discussion in the blogosphere. Is there an issue here? If so, then what are possible solutions? What can readers, writers, editors and publishers do to rectify the situation?"

Lots of interesting responses. I'm there too.

To Twitter or Not To Twitter?

See this post on Galley Cat about publishers who Twitter.
Should we?

Coming to America

Mark Chadbourn has some exciting news.

Update: This GalleyCat coverage is hysterical:

The deal was brokered by Ian Drury at Sheil Land in London and although Chadbourn can't talk cash, the deal will "keep me in curry and absinthe for a while."

You know, whenever I ask an author about their deal, it always comes down to being flush enough to buy beer and pizza for an indefinite amount of time, however in Chadbourn's case, you can tell he's British.

Update 6/03/08: John Picacio has some related news as well.

ApolloCon 2008 - a Colorful Time

I'm back from ApolloCon, held this past June 27th to 29th at the DoubleTree Houston Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. It was my first stint as a Guest of Honor, and I wasn't disappointed. Certainly not by the friendliness and competence of the ApolloCon staff (hi Shai!) nor the quality of its other guests, nor the generosity of its attendees.

In short: Great weekend. Thanks to Katy Pace for picking me up and treating me to dinner, since Continental Airlines and stormy weather combined to make me miss the group GoH dinner Thursday night. Flight was delayed three hours, which was better than all those later flights that were canceled, sure, though ironically - having just come out of a period of heavy acquiring for Pyr, I had decided NOT to bring anything much to read! Just two short stories! (So I bought a Wired magazine, read it cover to cover, and am now feeling very plugged in.)

Speaking of being plugged in: Friday kicked off pre-con with a fascinating conversation with Fan GoH Anne K. G. Murphy, pictured here with my friend and frequent illustrator John Picacio. Anne is an utterly brilliant person and has some very interesting ideas both for convention promotions and for online fiction, and dialogging with her throughout the weekend was definitely one of my convention highlights.

Another highlight was dinner with Author Guest of Honor Allen Steele, courtesy of the very generous John Husisian, who saw us milling around the restaurant lost and offered to treat us both to the buffet. Thank you John H! Also got to spend some real time with John DeNardo of SFSignal (and a little time with JP as well). Both great guys, and John D, this is for you: "I'm up on the eleventh floor, and I'm watching the cruisers below..."

Also got to meet J.M. McDermott at my KaffeeKlatsch - author of Last Dragon and firmly convinced that Steampunk doesn't actually exist. Caught up with Chris Roberson (who thinks that it does and is even bigger than the rest of us know), Jayme Blaschke (fellow Green Arrow enthusiast), and Alexis Glynn Latner (pictured here signing copies of Hurricane Moon. Have you got your copy yet?).

I judged the masquerade contest Saturday night, along with Artist Guest of Honor and very funny man Brad Foster and artist Victory. The highlight here was actually Bradley Denton's opening band, though I am proud to have named the "Best Hagrid" Award, given to the, well, the Best Hagrid. What else?

It was wonderful as always to see Zane Melder of Edge Books. Zane always has the best selection (particularly of backlist), and I don't just say that because he's been so wonderfully supportive of Pyr and Yours Truly, though he has been wonderfully supportive of Pyr and Yours Truly. (He has impeccable taste in shirts too, btw.)

I hear the convention had 414 registered attendees come Saturday night, and I was surprised to see people buying day passes as late as 11am Sunday morning, so they must have done all right. For a relatively new, relatively small convention, it was very well run, very smooth, and I had a wonderful time. The staff at the Doubletree were also very friendly and helpful. The complimentary cookie was delicious, and signs proclaiming "We Proudly Brew Starbucks Coffee" should be made a requirement of all con hotels, on a par with "a good bar."

Thank you all! I am honored to have been there!

Reviews: MultiReal / Starship: Mutiny

Back from ApolloCon, and will be blogging that soon.

In the meantime, thrilled to come back and see that Fantasy Book Critic's Liviu C. Suciu loves David Louis Edelman's MultiReal,though be warned there are some spoilers in this very thorough review:

"The Matrix meets Boston Legal… A true page-turner that I could not put down, and when the final page came I was sad since I really wanted more… The combination of extraordinary world building, compelling characters that grow on you in Jara and Natch, legal intrigue, political maneuverings and fast action made MultiReal an even more entertaining book for me than Infoquake,which I loved too. Better pacing and a more compact time frame make MultiReal technically more accomplished too, and I really have the highest hopes for Geosynchron. Highly, highly recommended."

And the hilariously named POD People (I'm getting shades of The Dark Crystal here) are quite fond of Mike Resnick's Starship: Mutiny:

"...fun and an interesting commentary on politics, the media and government. Commander Cole is not of the 'blast-them-first, ask questions later' school, so his solutions to the problems presented are inventive and indirect. The secondary characters are well-realized, and the problems presented are grounded in human nature. I really enjoyed Mutiny and can recommend it to fans of science fiction and good stories. Since Pyr is a traditional if small publisher, the mechanics of layout and editing are perfect."

Doctor Who: Short Trips - Transmissions

There's an interview up at Unreality SF with Richard Salter, the editor of the forthcoming Doctor Who anthology Short Trips: Transmissions, out next month from Big Finish. My own story "Generation Gap" is in the book, along with a story from Solaris head George Mann. I've blogged about my history with both Richard and Doctor Who fiction before, but basically it's nice to see a project over a decade and a half in the making coming together.

All we had to do to make it come together was reverse the polarity.

Technologies Converge to Shape our Lives in Unimaginable Ways

Snagged from the Prometheus Newsletter as being "of possible interest":

Imagine direct communication links between the human brain and machines, or The Coming Convergencetailored materials capable of adapting by themselves to changing environmental conditions, or computer chips and environmental sensors embedded into everyday clothing, or medical technologies that eliminate currently untreatable conditions such as blindness and paralysis. Now imagine all of these developments occurring at the same time. Far-fetched? Not so. These are actually the reasonable predictions of scientists attempting to forecast a few decades into the future based on the rapid pace of innovation.

Author Stanley Schmidt--physicist, writer, and Editor of Analog: Science Fiction and Fact-explores these and many more amazing yet probable scenarios in The Coming Convergence: The Surprising Ways Diverse Technologies Interact to Shape Our World and Change the Future ($27.95, April 2008), which New Scientist says, "does an excellent job of highlighting how all sorts of technologies have historically converged to create new and unanticipated possibilities." In this fascinating guide to the near future, Schmidt uses his scientific knowledge and expertise to show how past convergences have led to today's world, then considers tomorrow's main currents in biotechnology, cognitive science, information technology, and nanotechnology. Looking even further downstream, he foresees both exciting and potentially dangerous developments:

* Longer, healthier lives
* Cheap, generally available food, energy, and technology
* Reduced pollution and environmental stress
* Excessive power in too few hands
* Increased vulnerability from overdependence on technology.

Schmidt notes that even routine technology such as the CAT scan is the result of three wholly separate innovations started many decades ago which recently converged: the X-ray, the computer, and advances in medicine. On a more ominous note, he also observes that the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was made possible by the malicious convergence of two separate trends in modern engineering and technology: the concentration of people in high rises within cities and the success of the passenger airline industry. The message is clear: the choices we make now will converge to create a near and distant future that will be almost unbelievably wonderful or unimaginably catastrophic, or both.

As John Gribbin, author of The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, puts it, "Stanley Schmidt's vision of the future manages to steer a fine line between doom and gloom. He warns us of the problems inherent in the runaway growth of technology, but also describes the almost unimaginable benefits that can occur when different technologies come together in a happy marriage. The overall effect is uplifting and inspiring; if you think the world has changed a lot in the past twenty years, as someone once said, 'you ain't seen nothin' yet'."

ApolloCon

Very excited to be the Editor Guest of Honor at ApolloCon, held this coming June 27th to 29th at the DoubleTree Houston Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas.

And here is my (tentative) ApolloCon Schedule:

Fri 4:00PM - 5:00PM
KaffeeKlatsch: Lou Anders - BR 2 = Rm #217
On Friday afternoon enjoy an early bird treat: coffee and chats with our Honored
Guests. For names, times and locations check the pocket program and any posted
Programming Updates. (Limited attendance. Sign-up may be required.)
Lou Anders

Fri 7:00PM - 8:00PM
Opening Ceremonies - Seattle I
Celebrate science fiction and fantasy! Join the concom, our Guests and the
Guests of Honor in the official opening of ApolloCon 2008.
Mark B. Hall (M), Lou Anders, Brad Foster, Margaret Middleton, Allen Steele,
Anne K.G. Murphy

Fri 8:00PM - 9:00PM
What Makes a Good Book Cover - Scottsdale
Lou Anders leads our panel in a discussion of what makes a good book cover. Is it
all about marketing? Fashion? The story inside? Come and find out!
David Lee Anderson, Lou Anders (M), John Picacio

Sat 11:00AM - 12:00PM
Editor GoH: Lou Anders Q&A - Seattle I
Lou Anders answers questions from the floor, and possibly off the wall. Moderated
by John Picacio.
John Picacio (M), Lou Anders

Sat 12:00PM - 1:00PM
Trends in Science Fiction - Seattle II
What are the hot trends in science fiction right now? The panelists outline current
trends in our genre.
Derly N. Ramirez II, John Picacio, Lou Anders, Lawrence Person (M)

Sat 4:00PM - 5:00PM
Autographs: Allen Steele, Lou Anders, Brad Foster - Autograph Table
Your chance to get your books and memorabilia signed and to chat with our
guests. Please, if the line is long, limit the number of items signed to 3. (We
reserve the right to enforce the limit.) For names, times and locations check the
pocket program and any posted Programming Updates.
Allen Steele, Brad Foster, Lou Anders

Sat 5:00PM - 6:00PM
Balloons of War and Pearl-handled Ray Guns: Tucson
Steampunk Rampant
Steampunk is on the rise in fiction, media, art, gaming, and even costuming.
Where did it come from and where is it going? Our panelists discuss this
Chris Roberson, Lou Anders, Stina Leicht, Matthew Bey (M), Scott Cupp, Martha

Sun 11:00AM - 12:00PM
What's New at Pyr - Seattle I
Lou Anders gives us a sneak peak into what's going on at Pyr Books and what we
can expect to see from them in the near future.
Alexis Glynn Latner, Chris Roberson, Lou Anders (M), John Picacio, Ops

Sideways in Crime: A Nifty Notion

"The earth's greatest science fiction and fantasy magazine," SFX, has reviewed my just-released latest anthology Sideways In Crime,calling it "a nifty notion." They toss out phrases like "it brilliantly conjures up a sense of place" (for Kristine Kathryn Rusch) or "proves he’s as adept at the whodunit as he is at rewiring the past" (for Stephen Baxter). They praise stories by Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Jack McDevitt, Mary Rosenblum, Pat Cadigan and Chris Roberson. But we only get three stars. Apparently, we are too clever. As in: "Here, the sheer cleverness of so many of the stories can become wearing: as clever twist follows clever idea, don’t be surprised if occasionally you find yourself yearning for more straightforward narratives." I am reminded of something Ian McDonald said recently about books verses television. And my own opinions of why The Simpsons was more popular than Futurama. But happy that we're nifty.

John W Campbell Memorial Award

Back from a week in Mexico to some good news, already broken elsewhere but no less exciting. Ian McDonald's Brasylhas been nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best SF Novel of 2007. The Campbell will be presented during the Campbell Conference Awards Banquet at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, July 10-13, 2008. The full list of 2008 Campbell Award Finalists is here.

Brasyl is also nominated for the Hugo Award, and won the British Science Fiction Association Award earlier in the year.

Battle Beyond the Stardust

I'm a huge fan of Rick Kleffel's Agony Column Podcast. Big fan. So I'm thrilled to announce that today's podcast features Yours Truly, talking about the state of Sci Fi Cinema, in what Rick has dubbed, "Battle Beyond the Stardust." Rick says:

Today's Agony Column Podcast News Report gets in touch with Lou Anders, editor of the incredible Prometheus Books imprint, Pyr. I've been wanting to get back to Lou and talk to him about SF on video and the upcoming Hugo Awards. You know, for all that I loved, and I mean LOVED Neil Gaiman's perfect prose construction 'Stardust', the trailers for the movie left me a little leery, and I never got round to even seeing it. I know, what's the matter with me? I run out to see Neil Marshall's Doomsday (which I really enjoyed), but not Stardust. Well, we sort it all out in this MP3 download; this is your chance to hear one of the great editors of the 21st century. Forward – Fast Forward!

Update: Thanks to Joel Shepherd for pointing me to this article in the LA Times about Sue Naegle, the new HBO program developer, who wants to make HBO a "dream destination" for writers again, and who lists among her favorite shows Battlestar Galactica and Lost.

Sideways in SciFi

John Joseph Adams interviews Yours Truly on SciFi Wire today regarding my "alternate mystery" anthology Sideways In Crime(due out very, very soon from Solaris books and apparently already in stock at Amazon).

Here's a snippet: The other inspiration for the book was Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, which marries a classic detective tale to an alternate history. "I was intrigued by Chabon's premise," Anders said. "So between Sawyer and Chabon, I found I was thinking about 'alternate mystery' a lot, and, as I try to make all of my anthologies explorations of genre, I decided--or rather discovered--that this was something I very much wanted to explore."

And here again - because, why not? - is the cool audio promo for the book, courtesy of Singularity Audio:

MultiReal: The Book Cover

The full jacket for MultiReal.Courtesy of illustrator Stephan Martiniere and designer Jackie Cooke. Nice, huh?

The New Swords & Sorcery

Well, I see Jonathan has outed us, so here's the Big News.

For some time now, my fellow Hugo-nominated editor Jonathan Strahan and I have been kicking around the idea of collaborating on an anthology. We had various ideas - all science fiction - shuffling around on the back burner. Independently of this, I started musing, around the time that The Lies of Locke Lamorawas first published, and before news of Del Rey's reissue of all the Elric books, or even that Richard Morgan was about to start writing fantasy, that Swords & Sorcery was due a come-back. Or rather, that the rather sophisticated S&S that was already being written was due its musical chairs spot at the front of the class (which is really all a comeback is).

Either way, I found myself thinking quite a lot about S&S. The least profitable idea to come out of this was a temporary obsession/conclusion that the Coen Brothers had to direct the Elric movie in black and white. A much more profitable (and implementable) notion was to do an anthology. I'd about decided that was the course when, at the Saratoga Springs WFC last year, Jonathan told me he'd been thinking the same thing (anthologies not Coen Brothers films). We realized this was the project we'd been searching for and so - viola! - Conquering Swords: The New Swords & Sorcery (working title) was born. We put a pitch together, Jonathan's agent Howard Morhaim handled, and we are VERY excited to announce that Diana Gill of Harper bought. Harper Eos published Jonathan and Gardner Dozois' The New Space Opera,so this is a very good fit, and gives you something of an idea of the scale of the project. The book will be out in 2010 and we'll let you in on the very exciting contributors list soon.

MIND MELD: Who's Driving This Bus?

SF Signal's back with another Lou-inspired Mind Meld question, this one, "Q: Although science fiction was born on paper, sci-fi presented through visual media (film and television) has significantly higher audiences. Which medium, then, is the driving force behind what science fiction is and where it's headed, and who is driving it?"

They open with novelist John Scalzi, IMHO one of the best and brightest of 21st century SF, saying it's apples to oranges, they're only indirectly related, but really it's the one with the money. This is followed by Stargate: Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi saying that film & TV is a case of too-many-cooks but it pays well, and the freedom of the novelist to chart their own vision independent of interference is the driving factor.

Other contributors include Yours Truly, Gary K. Wolf, Joe R. Lansdale, Lucius Shepard (who reminds us that it's all compromised crap), Paul Levinson, Mike Resnick, Charlie Jane Anders (with a nice sounding sound bite about how the future is open source fiction), Paul Cornell, Mike Brotherton, and Lawrence Person.

I was particularly struck by what Paul Cornell said - who has written for prose, television and comics so is certainly the most qualified to know:

Certainly, prose SF is always first to any given concept, but public awareness depends not on one movie, but on dozens of Sci Fi Channel movies of the week, parody, advertising use, etc. That public awareness is important, in that SF seeks to portray what happens 'if this goes on', and such satire only really bites if the public recognises the truth of the future being described, as used to be the case with Arthur Clarke's descriptions of the vastly agreed-upon post-Apollo future of humanity in space.

So at the moment, to some degree, in this matter of the public's collective unconscious vision of where it might all go, what's to be done and what's wrong right now, TV and the movies are indeed taking the lead, the superhero trope, Lost and Battlestar Galactica all, for instance, asking 'is my instinct about what the look on that person's face means enough, or do I need some greater insight into their nature in order to be safe?' Dick got there first, but the development of that thought has happened largely outside of prose.

Me, I think that the much smaller, but potentially richer, vein of SF literature charts the vanguard that gradually trickles down and informs the larger, vastly more successful media, which in turn throws up images that get reabsorbed by the literature. Symbiotic, but we're talking whales and those little fish that swim alongside them (I'm still seriously jet lagged).

Still, I think the best case that the literature is still driving (even if the media train it tows behind it is overshadowingly large) is this bit from Joseph Mallozzi's blog:

So who is John Scalzi? Well, he’s just the guy who renewed my interest in SF literature and restored my joy of reading, a joy I am forcing upon you all via this book of the month club. I used to read a lot as a kid, particularly scifi, but as I grew older my hours spent in the company of Asimov and Clarke lessened considerably. Given everything that was going on in my life, reading became an indulgence I no longer had time for. I would continue to read at a more leisurely pace, but I was no longer the voracious reader of my early youth when I would devour two or three books on a good week. Then, a couple of years ago, I sat back and took stock of things. Here I was, a fairly successful writer/producer who, unlike my co-workers, didn’t spend my free time golfing, playing video games, or traveling. So, what was I doing with my free time? Well, to be honest, I didn’t have a lot of it because I’d feel guilty if I wasn’t working on something or, at the very least, thinking about working on something. I realized that I was being ridiculous. I worked hard enough during the season to earn some downtime. I needed a hobby. Something I could enjoy guilt-free. Preferably something that would help me relax and yet, at the same time, keep my mind active. And that’s when it hit me. Reading! It offered the enjoyment and relaxation of a regular hobby but, in my case, also offered the benefit of serving as a means of research and education.I joined an SF online book club, enjoyed the first two selections, and then along came John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. I was blown away. It was fun. It was funny. And, most importantly, it was clever as hell! I loved it, and most everyone I have recommended the book to has loved it as well.

So, Scalzi writes book. Book so good that TV producer of long running, successful SF franchise loves book. TV producer becomes avid SF reader, promotes SF novels to his thousands of fans, spends all day reading, thinking about, proselytizing SF.

Conclusion A: Books still inform media.
Conclusion B: Both Scalzi and Mallozzi deserve big hug.

Free Online Stuff

Over at the Pyr website, we've added a Sample Chapters page that aggregates all the free reading in one spot (there's a lot of it!), and also a page that displays all our book banners for downloads.

A sly variation on the traditional cyberpunk novel...

Publishers Weekly on David Louis Edelman's forthcoming MultiReal.The bold emphasis is mine:

A sly variation on the traditional cyberpunk novel, Edelman's sequel to 2006's Infoquake views a stunning new technology through the eyes of the cutthroat executives vying to market it. MultiReal, a reality-altering tool combining biological programming and quantum physics, threatens to plunge a far-future world into chaos, but before it can penetrate the furthest reaches of society, Natch, an entrepreneur and rebel, must find a way to market and distribute it. He faces tremendous resistance from legislative bodies, competing business concerns and the ominous black code embedded in the mechanisms that enhance his body. Edelman brings fresh air to the technological thriller, but his characters remain somewhat anemic and caricatured, particularly Jara, Natch's second-in-command. MultiReal itself is firmly established as one of the most fascinating singularity technologies in years, and the inconclusive feel of this installment will build anticipation for the third Jump 225 book.

Apologies for Being So Quiet

I know this blog's been quiet of late. Reason? I've been away for 24 days in China - in Changsha, SuZhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Back now, jet lagged and ill. But will blog the trip, with photos, once my brain & body returns.

In the meantime, here are some news items worth pointing out / catching up on:

The Blade Itself author Joe Abercrombie has partaken of a mammoth Q&A on Stargate: Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozi's Blog.

Over on Omnivoracious, Jeff Vandermeer called Kay Kenyon's Entire and the Rose series (of which Bright of the Skyand A World Too Nearhave so far been published) a "modern classic." Whereas Greg L. Johnson of SFSite, calls the series "one of the most imaginative creations in recent science fiction history."

Joe Crowe of RevolutionSF has reviewed Chris Roberson's Paragaea: A Planetary Romance."Parageaa is a step ahead of most modern fantasies. It's not a blatant setup for a 17-part trilogy. Roberson isn't so in love with Paragaea that he spends pages of real estate describing the flora or the history. It's a backdrop for his characters to move through, and that's plenty. Best of all, it's fun. It plays in the backyard of Philip Jose Farmer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Michael Moorcock."

There's probably more, but I can't think straight right now.

Science Fiction Gold

Hey, I've just been informed that Matrix Online has uploaded the full 7,000 word text of the interview that Lon Cohen conducted with me to their website, here as a PDF. (The edited version appeared in Matrix # 186.)

Lou Talks in Three Articles

Lots of Lou on the Web!

SFSignal is back with another Mind Meld. This one looks at Hollywood Science Fiction and asks "What other story, or stories, do you believe are deserving of being made into movies and why?" In addition to Yours Truly, responses are from Peggy Kolm, Michael L. Wentz, Michael Blackmore, SciFiChick, and the always interesting John C. Wright. Wright argues that, as a visual medium, "A science fiction movie that does not involve spectacle and special effects is not taking advantage of the primary strength of movies." I concur. I'd pick my list from some newer works though, as nothing dates like the future. Still, as I say in my own piece, with the cost of CGI dropping, there's going to be more of everything, so I think they'll be enough to keep us all happy.

Meanwhile, I'm interviewed about illustrator Stephan Martiniere over on io9.com in "The Future Will Be Bio-Mechanical." Some very nice samples of his work, including the concept art he did for the I, Robot film that happens to be the piece that lead me to put him on our edition of River of Gods.(And speaking about Ian McDonald books, although I'm not in it, there is an interview with Ian talking about both Brasyland the forthcoming The Dervish House up at Post-Weird Thoughts.)

Finally, GalleyCat uses the occasion of Michael Moorcock's Grand Masterhood to quote me and others talking about John Picacio's genius in a piece titled "A Grand Master's Greatest Character Reborn." This is, of course, about Picacio's recent work conceiving and illustrating Moorcock's Elric: The Stealer of Soulsreissue for Del Rey as well as our own The Metatemporal Detective.Michael Whelan's Elric has always been the definitive portrayal of the character for me. Until now. Go see why.

Call it: Heads or ... Heads.

I'm down with this. In fact, it looks a lot like Neal Adams treatment of the character.