Kirkus Reviews Unveils Book Blogger Network
Kirkus Reviews has launched the Kirkus Book Blogger Network, a collection of literary reporters covering everything from mystery books to gardening books.
Here’s more about the program: “We’ve already added bloggers in romance (Smart Bitc...
Frequency Rotation: Janelle Monáe, “Neon Valley Street”
Each week, Frequency Rotation examines a different song with a speculative-fiction theme. Genre, musical quality, and overall seriousness may vary.
Everyone from Gary Numan to Daft Punk has written songs about androids. Predictably, many of these so...
OK, where do I start with that? I and J.
This week our alphabetical survey of where to start reading different writers gets to I—or it would, if I wasn’t the shortest section of my bookshelves apart from the entirely absent Q. So as well as I, we will take in the rather more prolific J.
...
Blogging Warner’s Opera: What’s Opera, Doc?
Under stormy skies, a helmed figure calls lightning, controls the winds and moves mountains. Is it Thor, mighty God of thunder? No, it is simply Elmer Fudd singing his classic line asking the audience to “Be vewy qwiet, I’m hunting wabbits” bef...
The Classical Approach
In my previous post I discussed what the literature of ancient Greece and Rome meant to my writing generally. Here I’ll show you how the classics have specifically affected my latest novel, The Legions of Fire.
This has two parts: first, the texts a...
Flying away from Fairyland: Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz
After eighteen Oz books, Ruth Plumly Thompson had understandably grown tired of the series, not to mention the ongoing fight with her publishers. Reilly and Lee continued to print the Oz books with multiple and frequently inexc...
Star Trek Re-Watch: “By Any Other Name”
“By Any Other Name”
Story by Jerome Bixby
Teleplay by D.C. Fontana and Jerome Bixby
Directed by Marc Daniels
Season 2, Episode 21
Production episode: 2x21
Original air date: February 23, 1968
Star date: 4657.5
Mission summary
Enterprise fo...
The Wheel of Time Re-read: The Path of Daggers, Part 14
Allo-allo, WOT readers! Welcome to another Wheel of Time Re-read!
Today’s entry covers Chapter 23 of The Path of Daggers, because it turns out that Chapter 24 is STUPID LONG, and I just canna do it, Captain. I din’t have the power!
Previous re-re...
Read the first three chapters of Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings
Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series, #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, every bit as ambitious and immersive. The Way of Kings, book one of The S...
The Way of Kings: An Introduction
I’ve been asked to introduce The Way Of Kings to you. And I have no idea how to start.
This is an odd position for me. Before, I’ve found it easy to explain my novels. Each one was built around one or two central premises. The gang of thieves ...
I’d love this book if I didn’t loathe the protagonist: Harry Turtledove and Judith Tarr’s Household Gods
Harry Turtledove and Judith Tarr’s Household Gods is a well-written book that always annoys the heck out of me. I thought about it after finishing Them Bones and wondering what other stories have time travel that don’t achieve anything.
[Read more...
Realms of Fantasy Subscription Numbers Dropping
Recently I got subscription renewal mailing from Realms of Fantasy. Included with the offer was a letter from publisher Warren Lapine exhorting me to renew my subscription or the magazine will have to cease publication. In respect to full disclosure, I...
