SF/F Links: The Giveaway Batch
Because there are a lot of book giveaways going on during the month of May, I thought I would have a post dedicated specifically to them. Here goes: J. Kaye’s Book Blog has a copy of Starfinder by John Marco up for grabs. Presenting Lenore has a prize pack of fantasy novels from Penguin to give away. She also has a prize pack of realistic fiction there too, which might be worth checking out. Wendy’s Minding Spot is giving away a copy of Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant. Happy Are We is tossing up some Michael Scott books (The Alchemyst and The Magician), as well as a mug! Sounds good to me! Reading, Writing, and Ranting is letting you choose between winning The Host by Stephanie Meyer or Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris. Fantasy Dreamer has Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre up for grabs. Win a copy of Dead and Gone: Charlaine Harris plus a signed copy of The Sweet Scent of Blood: Spellcrackers.com, Book 1, here at Suzanne McLeod’s blog to celebrate Dead and Gone being No. 1 on the New York Times list and Suzanne’s book 2’s upcoming release on 16th July 2009. And that’s it for now! Thanks for reading!
7 Reason Why I Won’t Follow You on Twitter
Twitter is a great tool when used properly. One of the biggest problems with Twitter is that everyone and their mother is trying to use it, and unfortunately I’m not going to follow everyone and their mother. Here are the seven reasons why I won’t follow you on Twitter: You post nothing but links. I’m not interested in your dozens of links about a topic I’m already not interested in. Twitter isn’t a link mill. Do something else. You use Twitter only to promote yourself and refuse to be a part of the community. I don’t follow people I know I’m not going to be able to chat with. I want conversations, sharing, and cooperation, not a one-sided borefest. There are exceptions, of course, for publishers. You type in textspeak or are otherwise incapable of using even basic English spelling, punctuation, and grammar. I know you only get 140 characters, but if I need a chatspeak dictionary to decipher what you’re writing, then you’re a waste of my time. You follow ten times more people than follow you. Unless I already know you, I’m likely not going to follow you if it’s clear to me that you’re on Twitter to spam. You try to force me to buy your product. Chances are, I don’t want it, even if it is something up my alley. Tell me about it, and then shut up. You’re just another of those self-proclaimed SEO masters or whatever other nonsense Web 2.0 titles are out there. Honestly, I don’t really care. I’m not on Twitter to find out how to make my blog the next Boing Boing or whatever. That, and, there are about ten trillion of you people out there, and none of you offer anything new. I can Google most everything you say. You’re interested in subjects that I’m not interested in or you don’t have a bio. With rare exception, I am not going to follow you if your bio indicates that you are into something that, quite frankly, I could care less about. I don’t care about horse racing or bingo or how to sell dresses. My bio indicates what I am interested in, and unless I know you or somehow find you interesting, I’m not going to bother following you if your Twitter account will be dominated by subjects I find exceptionally boring or inappropriate. What about you? What reasons do you have for not following people on Twitter? Let me know in the comments, and if you like this post, consider stumbling or digging it. Thanks!
SF/F Links: May and a Half!
Another roundup of links for the month of May. The interesting stuff keeps coming and coming. So here goes: Redneck Catholic talks about military science fiction and some classics in the genre. The Other Side of the Story has some great advice on how to write stories the follow the antagonist rather than the protagonist. Will Shetterly talks about anti-racism, which might be worth a look if you’re interested in discussions on the subject of race. Tor.com asks whether alternate history is science fiction. I don’t think it is, except in certain cases, but that’s neither here nor there (or is it? I don’t know, I just say things that sound right sometimes). Attention science fiction writers: these are the 7 unnecessary science fiction worldbuilding details you might want to take note of. Seriously. Jeremiah Tolbert has a short list of four excellent tools for writers. Definitely some good stuff in there. Love books? Me too. Which is why this collection of images from some interesting bookstores around the world made me squeal. Giveaways: So Many Precious Books, So Little Time is also joining in on the Asian Heritage Month giveaways here and the Latino Book Month here. If you read this and decide to enter, please let them know you found out about it here. Ultimate Book Hound has a copy of Sea Changes by Gail Graham to give away. Review From Here has a copy of Stephenie Meyers’ The Host up for grabs. Reviewer X has a copy of The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams to give away. You can also see Steph’s review here. BSC Review has a copy of Jeff VanderMeer’s Secret Lives up for grabs. Cool stuff. Oh and it’s signed! Jenn’s Bookshelf has a huge lot of 20 books up for grabs. Holy moly! Win a copy of Blood Ties: Season 1: DVD [reg 2] and a signed proof of The Cold Kiss of Death at Suzanne McLeod’s blog to celebrate her book’s upcoming release on 16th July 2009.
SF/F Links: Another May Linkup
I’ve got so many links to interesting articles it’s ridiculous. I’ll have another post going up at some point later on in the month too, by the way. Anyway, here are this batch’s links: Here is a really interesting reading list. Some science fiction and fantasy, and some other interesting titles. What happens to your MMORPG characters when you die? This seems so…bizarre and ridiculous. Is online gaming culture this obsessed? Scratch that, they are, I’m just not ready to face it yet. Publiteriat has a great article on three myths in writing. Well worth checking out. Sharon’s Share tells us about a site called Ether Pad, which might be useful for collaborative writing projects. Hmm. Ivor W. Hartmann: New African genre fiction superstar? You be the judge. The Book Publicity Blog talks about sending review copies to bloggers (part two, apparently). Centurean2 has an amazingly long and detailed post about the terrible things happening to freedom in England right now. That’s right: England. One of the supposedly free lands. Read it. It’s disturbing and terrifying. Jeremiah Tolbert tells us about five books on writing that made him a better writer. Might be worth checking out. He also has a list of five lies writers believe about editors, which is quite humorous and pretty much all true. Oh and don’t forget his argument about why Jason Stoddard is wrong about SF (a bit old, but it’s an interesting argument on both sides). Horror World talks about a possible future model for short fiction. It’s interesting and might work. And that’s it for the links this time around! Hope you found them interesting.
SF/F Links: May Won’t Leave Me Alone
What a better way to keep may interesting than to provide a whole bunch more links to nifty articles around the Interwebs? That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Here goes: Want to know how chocolate can save the world? Look no further than this Futurismic article. H. R. Williams talks about writing, the present, the future, and much more. It gets a bit religious-y at the end, but mostly Williams makes some great observations. SMC Philosophy Club talks about the consequences of time travel. Some old stuff here, but also some good observations and thoughts. Futurismic talks about a drug that can drastically improve your ability to recover “lost” memories. Most likely applicable to Alzheimer’s patients, but still wicked awesome! Ursela K. LeGuin gives anti-SF people what for. Damn good stuff, even if you don’t like her writing. David Kramer has an interesting idea for atheists: protest by putting the Bible into the science fiction section of your local bookstore. It’ll probably get you in trouble, but might be worth trying (and might be a funny joke for anyone who isn’t an atheist). China Mieville tells us about fifty SF/F titles that every socialist should read. Crazy list! Michio Kaku answers some interesting questions about time travel, robot takeovers and other physics-related things. Here’s an interesting video interview with Mahmood Mamdani on the politics of genocide. Might be worth a look if you’re interested in history and the present, and colonialism, of course. Book Giveaways: Booking Mama has a copy of The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams to give away. Literary Escapism has a whole lot of books up for grabs to honor Asian Heritage Month and Latino Book Month.
5 Black Science Fiction/Fantasy Authors Everyone Should Read
It’s been a while since I’ve done a list like this, so I thought this list would be a great way to get back into them. The following are five black authors I think everyone should read, even if only once: 1. Octavia ButlerDefinitely a favorite with me, Butler is the author of some of the best science fiction novels to come out of the era following the Golden Age, rivaling even the greats of the pre-social-revolution period. From Parable to the Sower to her Xenogenesis series, Butler has captivated readers everywhere with her brilliant examinations of the human condition. If you haven’t read her work, you should, and I’d recommend her stuff to anyone who happens to like speculative fiction, even if science fiction isn’t your thing; her work is sort of universal. 2. Tananarive DueAuthor of one of my favorite short stories, “Like Daughter,” Due has captured in so few words some of the most pressing issues of our time, from cloning to the lack of Black “heroes” in fiction. She even works with Blair Underwood, if you believe it, and that’s pretty cool in my book. Fantastic writer and definitely worth reading. 3. Samuel R. DelanyOne of the best literary critics and science fiction/fantasy writers of all time, Delany has a knack for philosophy, world building, and downright in-depth storytelling. His critical essays on science fiction are particularly interesting, in case you’re into that stuff. If not, check out some of his best science fiction works such as Dhalgren or Babel-17. 4. George SchuylerAuthor of Black No More, probably one of those novels you should read even if you’re not a science fiction reader, Schuyler has had a rather strong career dealing with issues of color, humanity, and much more. Black No More is a poignant social commentary on the culture of “whitening” (or creation of products to de-black African Americans so they could fit in) that gained prominence during the early 1900s. Definitely worth picking up. 5. Nalo HopkinsonRecognized as an author who draws upon her Caribbean roots, Nalo has had a brilliant career in the fantasy/cross genre world, writing such greats as Brown Girl in the Ring and working with Uppinder Mehan on the collection So Long Been Dreaming. I’d recommend her works if you like softer science fiction or crossover work, particularly Brown Girl in the Ring, which begs a lot of questions about organ donors in the future and the nature of culture and magic in a dystopic setting. And there you have it. What do you think are some must-read black science fiction authors? Particularly I’m thinking of authors who might not be so clearly labeled as fantasy or science fiction, but the names are escaping me at the moment. Feel free to tell me in the comments! I know I’m missing some folks!