MASKED, MALLOZZI & ME (GateWorld Interview)

Art by Trevor Hairsine

Stargate producer, writer, and tremendous guy Joe Mallozzi is interviewed by Shaun Farrell on GateWorld today. He talks specifically about his story, "Downfall," that appears in my superhero prose anthology, Masked.

"I have long harbored a desire to switch gears and try my hand at writing prose. The only thing that stopped me from, say, tackling a novel, was my time-consuming commitment to Stargate. That and the fact that writing prose is really, really, really hard. Oh sure, scriptwriting is tough as well, but it’s a different kind of tough."

Locus magazine selected "Downfall" as the best story in Masked and said "It's a nicely twisty story, involving throughout, with some worthwhile surprises." 

MASKED, MALLOZZI & ME

Stargate Writer, Co-Executive Producer, anthology-contributor, friend to SF&F writers everywhere, and all around great guy Joseph Mallozzi has announced on his blog that my forthcoming superhero anthology Masked will be his September pick for his book of the month club. I will be stopping by the week of September 13th for a Q&A. I was Joe's first ever guest, and I look forward to being back. He has great fans!

Yours In Agony: Ranting About SciFi Migrations

The other day, I got excited by BioWare's forthcoming game Star Wars: The Old Republic, both in terms of what it represented as "what a Star Wars film/television series could be" and, in a larger sense, as evidence for science fiction narratives migrating out of literature and into gaming. I heard enough good things in response to that post to pick up a Game Pro magazine in a coffeeshop yesterday and read up on that title and BioWare's successful Mass Effect games. Mass Effect has already been mentioned to me a time or two, specifically as being "real science fiction," but you know how it takes something a time or two to get on your radar...Well, now BioWare is looming large on said radar. (You can follow them on Twitter here, btw.) Around the same time, I saw a Tor press release on the Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing blog, about their own forthcoming deal to produce EVE Online novels. So all these thoughts about convergence were bumping around in my brain.

Somewhere in there, Rick Kleffel called inviting me to guest on his wonderful Agony Column podcast, and all these jumbled thoughts came spilling out. I'm not sure what we actually said, but we talk about Tor's announcement, Mass Effect (which I mistakenly call "Massive Attack." Apologies, guys), the potential impact of James Cameron's Avatar, John Scalzi's new role on Stargate: Universe and the way SF is migrating out of category into YA, mainstream literature, videogaming, film, television, etc... We didn't actually mention a single Pyr book, so, you know, go buy some anyway please. But meanwhile, the podcast will be available on iTunes shortly, and here is a direct link.

I haven't gamed since I became a parent (I was 1/3 of the way into Ultimate Spider-Man when that happened), but I'm itching to see what I've been missing. And I'll certainly look to see if BioWare are attending the San Diego Comic Con.

AISFP 74: Joseph Mallozzi and Yours Truly

Episode 74 of Adventures in SciFi Publishing is up. In this one, host Shaun Farrell conducts a joint interview with Joseph Mallozzi (Co-Executive Producer of Stargate: Atlantis and Consulting Producer of the forthcoming Stargate Universe), and Yours Truly. We talk about the back and forth between science fiction literature and its TV/film counterpart. Topics discussed include adaptations, the sophistication of new TV shows, fantasy literature, a Pyr title making cameos on Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, Joe’s book club, and much more. You can listen to the interview on iTunes or at the direct link here.

The Stargate: Atlantis Book Club

Theodore Judson's The Martian General's Daughtermade its second appearance on Stargate: Atlantis last night, in the episode "First Contact." This one is a much better cover-shot than in the previous episode. Thanks to John-Mark for the screenshot, who has several more posted on his blog. Thanks also to Joe Mallozzi and the rest of the Stargate team for arranging this.

Stargate: Atlantis "First Contact" & Pyr

So, remember to watch Stargate: Atlantis' episode "First Contact" tonight for another (and much better) shot of Theodore Judson's The Martian General's Daughter.

Dusty was reading the book last time. I wonder who will read it tonight.

Stargate: Atlantis "Whispers" & Pyr

For those who watched Stargate: Atlantis' episode "Whispers," about mid-way through the episode, you may have noticed the character of Dusty reading The Martian General's Daughter.The cover wasn't 100 % visible in the frame, but you'll be seeing a full, clear cover shot in a forthcoming episode. Theodore Judson's book is reportedly part of the Atlantis book club!


A big thanks to John-Mark for the freeze frame image above.

And speaking of Stargate...

Unrelated to my previous post, here's Stargate: Atlantis Executive Producer/writer Joseph Mallozzi on Sideways In Crime:

"Editor Lou Anders assembles a little over a dozen contributions on the theme of alternative history and crime in this interesting mix of stories. As is the case with most anthologies, some of the selections resonate more than others. Stand-outs for me were Mary Rosenblum’s “Sacrifice”, Paul Di Filippo’s “Murder in Geektopia”, and John Counrtenay Grimwood’s “Chicago”. Although I preferred the more wide-open possibilities found in Anders' Fast Forward anthologies(I was struck by how many of the stories in this collection touched on contemporized Aztec culture, Sherlock Holmes, and French-controlled Louisiana), Sideways in Crime proved an entertaining read in its own right."

Watch Stargate: Atlantis Tomorrow

Check out Stargate: Atlantis'  episode  "Whispers" tomorrow, Sept 5th, the 7th episode of their 5th season. Look for a special Pyr plug. I'll come back here and explain it after it's aired. 

John Picacio: Behold the Man

John Picacio guests on Stargate: Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi's blog. John answers questions from Mallozzi's readers - all his comments are well worth checking out.

Meanwhile, here's a taste: "There was a time when cover illustrators weren’t even CREDITED with their work, which is absurd. Today, cover illustrators generally are at least credited for their work, whereas I find that a lot of the pre-90’s paperbacks and novels sometimes didn’t print the credit, and that was especially the case with pre-1970’s books. I think knowing who created the art helps foster an appreciation (and a marketplace) for the art itself in professional sf/fantasy work. From a professional standpoint, history shows that back in the 1950’s when the Ballantines were first building their publishing empire (now owned by Random House as Ballantine Books), they entrusted avant-garde artists like Richard Powers to create ground-breaking covers for their sf books, and they were rewarded with greater critical awareness, and booming sales of those books. Powers’ covers of the time were very modern and anti-traditional (i.e. anti-pulp, at a time when pulp dominated the book racks). Basically, the Ballantines had the courage to allow an artist to work outside the box of the existing marketplace tropes, and it both expanded the readership of the field and made a lot of money for them. These days, I don’t think publishers owned by multinational corporations are as willing to take a chance on ground-breaking artists like Richard Powers, unless they’re guaranteed in advance that it sells well, which means they’re usually chasing the tail rather than heading it. If you notice, when the Ballantines were working, the editorial department dictated the game to the marketing and sales department. Nowadays, that equation seems inverted. Today, marketing, sales, and accounting departments seem to dictate the final creative say to the editorial department, especially in terms of cover art. I don’t think cover art is better for it. Today’s audience is far more sophisticated than marketing departments currently envision. I’d like to see cover illustration in sf/fantasy be more proactive rather than reactive to the latest fads in movies, gaming, and tv."

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.

Thoughts and Tirades, with Special Guest Lou Anders

I'm guest-blogging today at Stargate: Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi's website, Thoughts and Tirades, Rants and Ruminations. Thanks to Mallozzi's extreme generosity, there's 6,600 words from Yours Truly, as I take questions from his reading group on my anthology Fast Forward 1: Future Fiction from the Cutting Edge(plus comments from some of the contributors to the anthology, and John Picacio on the cover illustration.) Also featured, a few embarrassing pictures I dug up from my time on the set of Babylon 5. So if you want to know where Paolo Bacigalupi found the inspiration for "Small Offerings" or want to see "Minbari Lou", head right over.

Stargate, FF1, and Me

Today is the day that Joseph Mallozzi, he of Stargate fame, kicks off his book group discussion about my own anthology, Fast Forward 1.He is currently aggregating questions from his readers, answers by Yours Truly to be posted later this week.

Update 2/19/08: Joe returns today with a huge, story-by-story analysis of his thoughts on FF1, and then opens the blog up for comments, which are up to 50 so far. Here's the permalink.

Update 2/20/08: Joe returns with his thoughts here and here. Comments somewhere over 100 now. Much insightful being said.

Stargate, the People and Me

So, congratulations to Joseph Mallozzi, as Stargate: Atlantis has just won The People's Choice Award.

And thank you to Joseph Mallozzi's fans, as Fast Forward 1: Future Fiction from the Cutting Edgewas just chosen by his people as their choice as the SF selection in his book club. Which is very nice.

Here are the relevant bits.

Meanwhile, as readers of this blog will know, I often bemoan the discrepancies between SF literature and cinema, so I'm delighted to know that Joseph is such an avid and informed reader of science fiction and fantasy books. If everyone in Hollywood were like him, we'd have a much different industry.