SF/F Links: The Last For June
Well, here are a few more for this month to keep things interesting. Enjoy! L. E. Modesitt, Jr. talks about the “golden age” of writing that everyone seems to refer to. Definitely eye-opening. Things weren’t all that great back in the day… A little history about my ancient relatives from many hundreds of years ago that might be interesting to some of you out there. I found it fascinating the other day. Bibliophile Stalker offers a fantastic argument for why the ebook industry is not like the music industry. The Torch Online asks why it’s called the “Science Fiction Section” when fantasy outsells SF. I don’t agree with the way the article ends, but it’s still interesting. Follow the Reader talks about the potential impact of Twitter and blogs on book sales. A bit inconclusive, but still interesting. An interesting prediction: reading and writing will peak in 2025 and then decline (like smoking did some time ago). Not sure I agree, but it’s an interesting prediction nonetheless. Here’s something interesting: a 35,000-year-old flute has been found and is the oldest musical instrument known to exist. How about some steampunk? Well here’s an interesting discussion on the intersection of race and steampunk. And don’t forget this history of steampunk. Seems like steampunk is the big things these day. Of course, that’s quite obvious. J. A. Brock asks whether fantasy is speculative fiction. It is, but his reasoning is worth checking out. The Cedar Lounge Revolution talks about the Guardian List of 100 best SF/F novels and literary fiction. A good bit of criticism about top lists. Here’s an informative article on dragons. Not sure if it was stolen from Wikipedia, but it’s still interesting. Fantasy Book Reviewers asks whether fantasy is more re-readable than SF. Is it? I don’t know. I’ve re-read 1984 a few times, but haven’t re-read any fantasy books. But that’s me.
Top 10 Overused Fantasy Cliches
I’m surprised that I haven’t done this one before. There are quite a lot of fantasy tropes/cliches, so this list is particularly difficult to put together to my satisfaction. Which ones deserve to be on a top 10 list? Which ones don’t? Well, here’s what I came up with. If you have suggestions, let me know in the comments! 10. Alternate Worlds/Dimensions (like Narnia)Mostly an issue in the YA world, but let’s be honest, how many more of these alternate worlds can we take before it becomes irritating? They’re piling up on one another and it’s getting hard to keep track of all the pieces. Aslan is being eaten by a talking toothpick! Good lord! (Yes, that is a Leven Thumps reference.)9. Schools (of any description)Harry Potter ruined it. Blame Rowling. Now any time you see a wizard school, you think of HP. And don’t forget all the blasted schools that teach eleven-year-old boys how to be great knights. How many knights do we need, anyway? I think we’re good with three. Bill, Ted, and King Arthur. That’s good enough.8. Enchanted Weapons, etc.The sad thing about this entry is that I still like enchanted weapons, but they have become an overused trope. All these magical flutes and swords and crystal balls, it’s just too much. Are there any normal things left in fantasy, or is everything magical? Even food is enchanted! Elven bread! It would suck if you were allergic to magic, wouldn’t it? Wait…that’s a story idea. Ha!7. ElvesI’m sick of elves. Honestly, I was sick of elves when Tolkien used them for Lord of the Rings. They’re all the same. Calm, collected, and slightly mental. They’ve invaded science fiction too. Someone needs to come up with something less, err, cliche. What about a weird mutant hybrid between an elf and a gerbil?6. Bearded WizardsDumbledore is lovely and likable, and yet one of a long list of cliched figures crammed into the fantasy genre. Bearded wise old men are probably annoying for most people, but they’ve made a glorious comeback in YA fiction. My question is: why are they always old and bearded? Where are all the young, attractive know-it-alls who hang out in libraries reading dusty manuscripts?5. VampiresTechnically part of the urban fantasy vein, vampires have pretty much flooded the market with their pointed teeth and thirst for blood. And I do mean flooded. The problem is that now all the vampires seem the same to me. Come on people, you can come up with something else. Where are my urban fantasy tales about talking capybaras? Or vampiric capybaras…ooooooh.4. HeroesFantasy has this thing with heroes. It’s like an intentional, seventy-year mating ritual between two siblings…or something like that. There aren’t nearly enough stories about villains, and certainly not enough about folks who have no desire to be heroes. It’s just about heroes. Black and white. Which brings us to…3. Good vs. EvilThere’s not nearly enough gray in the fantasy genre. Everyone is purely evil or purely good. Thankfully we’re seeing a few more novels that highlight the unexpected heroes of the world (thieves, assassins, etc.). But, such novels are overwhelmed by all the cookie-cutter black and white, good vs. evil battles. I get it. It’s a human thing. We want easily defined good guys and bad guys, but sometimes reality is more interesting.2. The Chosen OneIt seems weird that there is always a Chosen One. I guess it makes sense when you think about the prevalence of “chosen ones” in the real world, but I still find them grossly overused. Too many fantasy novels with chosen ones and prophecies and all that garbage. I think we need more books where the Chosen One dies and everyone is screwed. That would be interesting.1. DragonsWhatever it is about dragons, fantasy writers love to use them. They love them so much that the genre is ridiculously saturated with them. There’s Eragon, Naomi Novik’s stuff, Funke, Genesse, etc. Everyone is using dragons. Don’t get me wrong, some of them are wonderful stories, but it’s gotten to the point where if I see a dragon on the cover, I won’t pick it up–with rare exception. It’s sort of like the vampire thing: there are simply too many novels out there with dragons as a centerpiece, and after seeing it repeated over and over, it gets old and pointless. We need novels about centaurs and ninja unicorns and pirate lawn gnomes… And there you have it. What overused tropes bug you?
SF/F Links: A June Roundup
I have way too many interesting links for you all, but it’s been a rather active month (May and June combined). So here goes: Yodle Local talks about some science fiction staples that are becoming real life. The invisibility cloak is particularly awesome. Warren Ellis rips on Asimov’s three laws of robotics. Pretty funny! Orion’s Arm lists some exceptionally useful worldbuilding links. You should definitely check them out if you’re interested in that sort of thing. KSU has an interesting chart and brief explanation of the various schools of literary criticism. Even if you’re not into that sort of thing, you might want to check it out anyway. Interesting stuff. Have Mac Will Blog lists ten words you probably don’t know. I don’t know any of them, that’s for sure. Really obscure and bizarre! PopCrunch lists the ten most disturbing books of all time. I haven’t read most of these, but some of the ones I have I don’t agree with. Still, it’s an interesting list of equally interesting books. Beer and SciFi lists ten science fiction movies for the thinking man. I now have a few more must-see movies on my list. Brown University puts together a host of articles about cyberpunk that might be worth checking out. Simon Haynes talks about plotting. Really in-depth, by the way. If you write novels, you might want to read that post. SciFi Watch lists five terms that science fiction coined. All good stuff. SciFi Wire lists seven unfilmable science fiction books. That’s not to say that Hollywood won’t try… And that’s it for this edition. Hope you found them useful!
SF/F Links: A Little Something For June
Well, I have more links for you all. No need to keep you waiting. Here goes: Want to know what those rejection letters actually mean? Here’s a post about deciphering them. The Magic District talks about objectification in fantasy. Good stuff. Widdershins Wizard offers a critique of fantasy and its cliches. Definitely worth reading. Topless Robot lists 10 blatant Terminator ripoffs. Wow, there are some really bad movies out there. The Torch Online lists the top eight fantasy villains. Darkness is a particular favorite of mine. io9 Lists 13 books that will change the way you look at robots. Some really good titles here. Beam Me Up asks: What is science fiction? They’re obviously not the first or only ones asking this and unfortunately it’s not a topic that will ever have a definitive answer… Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog lists five interesting Peter Pan books. If you like Mr. Pan, you might want to check those out! Pak Tea House links the Taliban to the Borg. Bizarrely amusing. io9 lists the 10 greatest libertarian science fiction books. Some good reading there! Check out the Save the Semi-pro Zine blog! Edward Champion points out some notable books not written by white people. There are some excellent suggestions there. And finally there is this recollection of a particularly horrible experience at a panel at WisCon. Read it. It deals with issues of rape in fiction and people being completely horrible human beings. Thanks goes to Mr. Tan of Bibliophile Stalker and John of SF Signal for pointing me to a handful of the links on this list.
Self-publishing Redux: The Good Books Three
In the aftermath of my criticism of self-publishing I thought it would be a good idea to point out some of those self-published books that I have enjoyed. Since no further introductions are needed, I’ll just dig right in: The Dark Dreamweaver by Nick RuthBy far one of my favorite self-published fantasy novels. With a cast of bizarre and fascinating characters, this one gripped me when I first read it years ago and it’s been in my library every since. It’s the kind of book I can see reading to my future children (when or wherever they happen to spring up).You can find my review of it here (warning: this is an exceptionally old review) The Tales of Tanglewood: The Lon Dubh Whistle by Scott KessmanI guess it’s somewhat strange that two of the best self-published books I have read also happen to be novels meant for younger audiences. Still, Kessman’s work is fun, a bit quirky, and magical; it’s another one of those books that I’d love to read to my kids one day. We’ll see!You can find a link to my review here. Honeycomb by Israel Del RioThe one adult novel that I found to be quite remarkable. While it’s not a perfect book, it’s premise is fascinating and the writing is generally pretty strong. Contains some interesting examinations of the afterlife and the complicated relationships between a series of connected individuals. Certainly worthy of a good read, in my opinion.You can find a link to my review here. There you have it! Evidence that I don’t hate all self-published novels. Have any of you read any particularly good SF/F novels that were self-published? Let me know in the comments!
SF/F Links: Some June Book Giveaways!
Here goes: SciFiGuy has a copy of Jacqueline Carey’s Naamah’s Kiss up for grabs. Bitten By Books has a huge giveaway that you have to see (too many things to list here). Darque Reviews is giving away three books in S. J. Day’s Marked series. J. Kaye has a copy of Ghost Huntress up for grabs. You can also find there a giveaway for the audiobook for Ludlum’s The Bourne Deception. Presenting Lenore is giving away a prize pack of three books she got in the mail while she was at the BEA. Awaiting Serenity has a copy of Fragile Eternity up for grabs. That’s it for tonight! Enjoy!