Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.2

Time for another edition of the Haul of Books. Since I’m playing catchup for 2010, a lot of these are either old news for me, or just things I forgot to talk about in the last few weeks that I very well should have. This batch is a mixture of stuff I bought, stuff I […]

International SF/F: Does it get an out from the “cliche” argument?

I’ve been meaning to talk about this subject for a while, and it is result of an experience I had a few weeks ago when the fine folks over at Tor sent me Alexey Pehov’s Shadow Prowler. I am, by all accounts, somewhat more critical of fantasy for its lack of originality than I am […]

Shared Worlds Teams Up With Science Fiction and Fantasy Greats!

Matt Staggs recently sent me this via email: Sci Fi and Fantasy’s Best Writers Join Forces with Shared Worlds Writing Camp for Bestiary of Strange Beasts! Here there be monsters! And beasts! And fantastical creatures. The faculty of Shared Worlds creative writing camp has called on some of speculative fiction’s most compelling storytellers to chase […]

Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.1

I’m rebooting the Haul of Books feature to show you all what I’ve been buying or getting in the mail (for review or otherwise). My hope is that you’ll at least find some interesting new reads to add to your own collection. Since I’m rebooting this, I am also changing the format. I’d appreciate comments […]

Why SF/F Awards Are Meaningless To Me

I used to care about the awards. Seeing “Hugo Award Winner” or “Winner of the Nebula Award” on a book used to excite me and make me want to pick something up and buy it. But not anymore. Things have changed. In the last year or so, I’ve sort of lost interest in the awards […]

Science Fiction and Fantasy in Airports

As promised, I do have something interesting to point out about the presence of science fiction and fantasy in airports, and something that might be a good indicator of the power of books among travelers. First things first, I can honestly say that I’ve seen a significant increase in the number of book-specific shops in […]