Promo Bits: Arctic Rising by Tobias S. Buckell
Buckell has hit the Internet with news about his latest book, Arctic Rising. Set to hit shelves in Feb. 2012, it’s certainly one of the few books I am eagerly anticipating. I suspect I’ll be in line (in costume) when my local B&N or indie store gets it in stock. In any case, here’s some cool stuff about the book. First, the back cover blurb: Global warming has transformed the Earth, and it’s about to get even hotter. The Arctic ice cap has all but melted, and the international community is racing desperately to claim the massive amounts of oil beneath the newly accessible ocean. Enter the Gaia Corporation. Its two founders have come up with a plan to roll back global warming. They plan to terraform Earth to save it from itself—but in doing so, they have created a superweapon the likes of which the world has never seen. Anika Duncan is an airship pilot for the underfunded United Nations Polar Guard. She’s intent on capturing a smuggled nuclear weapon that has made it into the Polar Circle and bringing the smugglers to justice. Anika finds herself caught up in a plot by a cabal of military agencies and corporations who want Gaia Corporation stopped. But when Gaia loses control of their superweapon, it will be Anika who has to decide the future of the world. And the cover image: The cover is certainly not typical of Buckell’s work, but they may be trying to market his novel to a broader SF audience (i.e., all those folks that read SF novels and don’t know it because they are marketed as thrillers or what have you). I have no problem with this. If it makes Buckell as filthy rich as J. K. Rowling (or at least half as rich), then it’s a win-win. I get more books to read and he gets to spend every day of the rest of his life doing the one thing he loves: writing fiction. (Assuming that’s his primary passion, of course). What do you all think about the book?
Chalkboard Wonders: Philip K. Dick, Joe Haldeman, Octavia Butler, and Everyone Else!
If you’ve been stalking me on Google+, then you’ve likely already seen the newest additions. If not, then these should be of interest to you (unless you don’t care about literature classes which include liberal doses of science fiction and related genres). The following are the last two weeks or so worth of chalkboards. I’ll mark them based on the text; you can click the images for larger versions. Some of the chalkboards contain historical or genre-based information. They aren’t in the order in which the texts were taught, though, which probably won’t change how you interpret the boards anyway. Here goes (warning: lots of pictures after the fold): 1. “Faither of Our Fathers” by Philip K. Dick 2. “The Lions Are Asleep This Night” by Howard Waldrop 3. “Advancing Luna–and Ida B. Wells” by Alice Walker & “Going to Meet the Man” by James Baldwin 4. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman 5. “The First Clean Act” by Larry Heinemann and “Thi Bong Dzu” by Larry Rottmann 6. “Speech Sounds” by Octavia Butler If you have any thoughts, feel free to leave a comment (I’m nearly to 5,000 published comments, by the way, so the more the merrier).
The Skiffy and Fanty Show #4.7 is Live! (Science Fiction is Science Fiction)
The intro text for the latest episode of SandF is amusing enough to post here instead of coming up with something new to say. So, here you go: Our first proper episode of August is part squee, part bitter rant, and part cringe-inducing horror. It’s like a Shaun and Jen cocktail laced with acid inside a Philip K. Dick pie…topped with whip cream, of course. (Don’t try to imagine what that would look like…) In 4.7, we talk about why Another Earth is science fiction (and why the person who says it isn’t is a moron), Adam’s nifty news, the SF Gateway, and a few other fun things, such as how scientists are ruining science fiction and Jen’s slurpie habit. Tune in and enjoy! You might also like to know that our newest feature, Monthly Movie Madness, had its second episode today. Let us know what you think of everything if you have the time. iTunes reviews are always welcome!
American Lit Chalkboard Wonders: Flannery O’Conner and W.E.B. Du Bois
What’s more awesome than more chalkboards from my American lit class? A lot of things, I suppose, but so be it. The following are the boards for Flannery O’Connor’s “The Artificial Nigger” and W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Comet” (a science fiction story). Hopefully they are as interesting as the Vonnegut boards from the last few weeks. What do you think?
Guest Post: A Quest for Treasures in the Stacks by Cindy Young-Turner
The bankruptcy of Borders puts another nail in the coffin of the big box bookstores. As a reader, there’s nothing better than browsing the stacks and looking for new books to discover. I admit, I love the sheer volume of books available in places like Borders and Barnes and Noble, and the combination of books and a café is appealing. But the cost of a new book is often a deterrent for me. And if you’re looking for an older, less popular book, or something by an indie publisher, you have little chance of finding it. Used bookstores, on the other hand, are a book lover’s paradise. Books for a quarter? I’ll take a dozen, please! I got hooked on SF/fantasy through used bookstores. I didn’t read much genre fiction as a kid, and I’m embarrassed to admit that when I initially picked up The Hobbit, it bored me (both The Hobbit and LOTR are now favorites, though). The first SF/fantasy books I tried to read were a jumble of confusing names and places, so I gave up on them for a while. Some friends in college successfully reintroduced me to the genre, and then after college a friend who shared my love of fantasy and creepy tales took me to his favorite used bookstore in Providence, Rhode Island. (Note: the year was 1996 or so, before Google and Amazon.) The best part about this bookstore was its amazing SF/fantasy section. What better place to be introduced to H.P. Lovecraft than in his hometown? I started with The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and At The Mountains of Madness and immediately became a fan, drawn in by the lush, descriptive language and bizarre and wondrous creatures. It’s sad to think that Lovecraft would probably never be published today, with the prevailing belief that readers don’t have the patience to wade through that kind of prose. I actually prefer reading authors who really care about the craft of language in addition to telling a great story. From Lovecraft, I moved onto Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes and The October Country, Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan, and C.L Moore’s Jirel of Joiry. This bookstore also had a number of books that had been part of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in the 60s and 70s, with beautiful cover art. I splurged on some of the short story collections edited by Lin Carter, partly because I loved the covers. Not only did these books make me a fan of the genre, they also raised the bar pretty high for used bookstores. After that, I tended to judge a used bookstore by the quality of its SF/fantasy section. I’ve found a few good ones over the years, including one in Boston that was solely devoted to genre fiction, but none that ever matched the store in Providence. Eventually my bookshelves filled up and the backlog of books to read became a bit overwhelming. I started to avoid the temptation of used bookstores. Then the big bookstores popped up everywhere, driving out the independents. Now the future of print books themselves seems to be at stake. You can download a book to your e-reader with the touch of a button without even getting up off your couch. I see the appeal in bringing an e-reader on vacation rather than lugging several books around, but I’ve rarely browsed for books online. It just doesn’t have the same appeal as perusing the musty shelves and pulling out a book to read the back cover blurb, admire the artwork, and flip through the pages. But I’m a throwback. I drive a stick shift, use a Mac (okay, maybe Macs are trendy these days), and I don’t even own an e-reader—yet. I’m a reader and an author and a book lover, and I’m proud to display my love for the genre in the form of well-worn paperbacks. Those pretty book covers don’t look nearly as nice on your Kindle. ————————————————— What about you? What kind of fun experiences have you had with used bookstores? Let us know in the comments! ————————————————— Cindy Young-Turner is the author of Thief of Hope, a fantasy novel published by Crescent Moon Press. Check out her website. Sydney, a street urchin and pickpocket in the town of Last Hope, has managed to evade the oppressive Guild for years, but there is no escaping fate when she’s sentenced to death for associating with the resistance. After she’s rescued by a wizard, Sydney is forced to accept that magic-long outlawed throughout the Kingdom of Thanumor-still exists, and the Tuatha, a powerful faery folk, are much more than ancient myth and legend. When the wizard offers a chance to fight the Guild and bring Willem, bastard prince and champion of the Tuatha, to the throne, Sydney embraces the cause as a way to find her own redemption. But Sydney’s fear of the Guild, distrust of authority, and surprising connection to the Tuatha threaten Willem’s success. Can she untangle the strange threads that entwine her life not only to the fate of the kingdom, but also to Willem himself?
American Lit Chalkboard Wonders: Vonnegut Ends (*sadface*)
I’ve been meaning to post this for you all to see. I finished teaching Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five the week before last. The following images are from the last day of lecture on the novel: I’ll have more lovely chalkboard images to show you all later, including some related to science fiction and great writers of American lit! What do you think?