SF/F Links: Starting Off July

No need for introductions. Special thanks goes to Charles Tan, Matt Staggs, and SF Signal for pointing me to a few of these. Here goes:

• Help Orbit Books create the ugliest SF/F book cover ever. Seriously. This could be fun.
• Jonathan Strahan chimes in on the electronic vs. print submissions argument. You can see Scalzi’s thoughts here, and oldcharliebrown has a few things to say too. Oh, and Cheryl Morgan rants here, remarking on problems with standard manuscript format.
• The Galaxy Express tells us how to take a negative review. Good stuff.
• Jonathan Cowie makes an argument for the greatness of science fiction as a response to the question: Is it possible to be negative about SF? Quite long, but interesting.
• Rants & Ramblings talks about whether to write what’s hot. I agree with Rachelle on this one: write what you’re good at.
• The Elegant Variation wants us to discuss whether we’re writing more now than we were in previous generations. Yes, we are, but your thoughts are welcome too!
• io9 discusses Michael A. Stackpole and how online publishing will and currently is changing the methods of breaking into to the business. Read the article, because it’s impossible to break this damned thing down into a single sentence without making it sound weird. Good stuff.
• And here’s a list from io9 of fifteen science fiction movie sequels that don’t suck. Good list.
• Beyond Identity makes a fine argument for why scientific accuracy, and other things, are not the end-all-be-all for categorizing books as science fiction. I sort of agree. There are certain limits to what makes something science fiction, in my opinion, but the arguments made at Beyond Identity are interesting ones.
• My Five Best lists five best fantasy series. Mostly typical stuff, but I mention it because there’s one in there I’ve never heard of by a fellow named Joel Rosenberg.
• Unsearchable Riches asks “Why Fantasy?” It turns into a rant about why fantasy in almost any vein is perfectly safe for Christians, but don’t let that turn you off–it’s interesting.
• Smashing Magazine lists fifty resources to help you with your writing.
• Elizabeth Bear, one of my favorite authors, has a few good bits of writing advice.
• And last on this list is a WTF moment provided by Nnedi Okorafor. Apparently Penguin (the publisher) is offering up a new fiction prize for African writers, but it directly excludes science fiction and fantasy. Nnedi calls them out, as should we all. This is retarded. A lot of great African writers are not eligible.

And that’s it! Hope you found them useful!