Archive for July 2008
No Bookosphere tonight!
Sorry gang – I’m leaving for a day trip tomorrow and I had some running around to take care of tonight, but tomorrow we’ll be back up to speed with the latest Bookosphere, plus a new installment of “Books Received,” some very special photos, an interview with “Oh Don’t You Cry for Me” author Philip Shirley and more.
Off to bed for now – I’m heading into the delta in the morning – gotta meet that ol’ devil man.
Deities & Demigods: “Melnibonean Mythos”
Deities & Demigods” was a sourcebook for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying system which detailed various mythologies from actual cultures like the Sumerians and Celtic nations and fictional settings, like H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos and Michael Moorcock’s Melnibone.
Due to copyright issues with Chaosium, another game company that owned the rights to present these two latter mythos in a gaming context, they only appeared in the first edition of the book, and were thereafter absent from the second and subsequent editions. Today, the first edition Deities & Demigods book sells for somewhere close to $100 on eBay.
I don’t own a copy of it myself, but for now, you can find the complete mythos here. I’m not sure how Mr. Moorcock – or Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro – feels about their reproduction but seeing these brought back a lot of pleasant memories for me. I remember many a summer day of pitting this or that friend’s character against the very gods themselves – although none of us thought to dare Elric!
Elric of Melnibone mystery clip
This has been floating around the net for a while, but I still don’t know where the hell it came from. It can’t possibly be from the Moorcock-approved movie, which I don’t think is even in production yet. An amateur homage, perhaps?
links and things
Cool excerpt from work in progress by Jonathan Wood
Rick Kleffel interviewed at Omnivoracious
New writers in SF: Ted Kosmatka
“A Dragon Lives Forever, But Not So, Little Boys: Or, a Post on Fallen “Heroes” and Fantasy
News on Asimov’s “Foundation Trilogy” movie
Why no “heroic fantasy?”
A certain writer wrote to me today with the following observation:
I’ve been paging through the year’s best anthologies. It seems like none of them have traditional fantasy. There seem to be a lot with more contemporary/modern themes. My stories are mostly heroic fantasy. Why is that genre missing from “Best of” anthos? Is it out of style?
What do you think? Has heroic fantasy taken a dive, replaced by modern fancies like slipstream New Weird, and Steampunk? Or is it still out there? Is our querent mistaken?
In my personal opinion, I think that heroic fantasy is still there, but has been absorbed and changed to reflect modern literary preoccupations. Of course maybe I should ask first: do we have a working definition of heroic fantasy? Maybe we should begin there. If I really start to think about it, I’m not sure if I can come up with a satisfactory definition of the term. Maybe you can.
So, what is heroic fantasy, and by your own definition, is it still out there? Is it less popular? Why?
Sign on to dissect the giant squid! Together!
You will like! With family! Together! When in old age you all talk about time with the giant squid dissecting! Enjoy!
Speaker: Dr Mark Norman
When: Monday 18 August at 9.20am
For: Primary and Secondary teachers and students, Grade 4 and up
Where: Online in Elluminate.
Sign up: http://knowledgebank.globalteacher.org.au to sign up.
Earlier this month, Melbourne Museum held its first ever public dissection of the largest giant squid Australian researchers have encountered. In this seminar, world-renowned squid expert and Deputy Head of Science at Museum Victoria, Dr Mark Norman, will be talking about what was learned in the public dissection and how it might contribute to greater awareness and understanding of these little-known and rarely seen deep-sea creatures.
This seminar follows our hugely successful “Meet the Motherfish” seminar with Dr John Long where we had more than six teacher-led classes join us online giving their kids a chance to speak direct to Dr Long. This second Science Superstars event is a great opportunity for science teachers to attend with their classes by joining in via electronic whiteboards. Participants will get an opportunity to talk direct with Dr Norman about the squid and what it can teach us.
This event is free but you need to sign up. For more information and to sign up go to:
http://knowledgebank.globalteacher.org.au
links and things
New Weird Tales Contest
You’ve seen the latest wave of spam — you know, the faux outrageous news headlines: “Osama trains goats for tactical bombing.” “Laika the Russian space dog returns to Earth.” “Children admit to being little shits: Video.” Isn’t it a shame the headline is all we get? So here at /Weird Tales/ we’re inviting YOU to turn this spam into… um… spam-ade!
Write a flash-fiction story — under 500 words — based on a spam you’ve received. Send it to *contest@weirdtales.net* before 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 4. The Weird Tales editorial team will judge them, and three winners will be announced at the /Weird Tales/ reception on Friday, Aug. 8 at the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver!
The first-, second-, and third-place winners will all be published online at WeirdTalesMagazine.com the week of August 11. The first- and second-place winners will also receive three free issues of /Weird Tales/; and the first-place winner will also receive an autographed copy of Ekaterina Sedia’s new novel /The Alchemy of Stone/.
Note: entries from Nigeria will be examined very closely.
links and things
Ten great examples of science fiction worldbuilding
Ray Bradbury on literature and love (Videos)
Hivemind: social networking for SF fans
Review: “From Alien to the Matrix” by Roz Kaveney
Jeremy Lassen talks about ComicCon
The X-Files: Five Books to Read Before You See the Film
LOTS MORE AFTER THE JUMP
New releases from Christopher Golden
Poison Ink by Christopher Golden – Now available!
Everything had been poisoned, and the poison was spreading…
Sammi, TQ, Caryn, Letty, and Katsuko are floaters. None of them fits in with any particular group at Covington High School — except each other. One night, to cement their bond, the girls decide to get matching, unique tattoos. But when Sammi backs out at
the last minute, everything changes.
Faster than you can say “airbrush,” Sammi is an outcast, and soon, her friends are behaving like total strangers. When they attack Sammi for trying to break up a brawl, Sammi spies something horrible on her friends’ backs: the original tattoo has grown
tendrils, snaking and curling over the girls’ entire bodies. What has that creepy tattoo artist done to her friends? And what – if anything – can Sammi do to get them back?
This deliciously creepy psychological thriller is the perfect summer read.
“Action-packed horror with a sidebar of romance, sure to entice those with a taste for blood and the supernatural. Delightfully stomach-churning, [with] a satisfying, violent and sad ending.” – Kirkus Reviews
Read an excerpt at the book’s website:
http://www.christophergolden.com/poisonink/
Learn more about the author:
http://www.christophergolden.com/
MIND THE GAP: A Novel of the Hidden Cities by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon
Every big city has a soul, and every soul has a dark, secret side.
Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon have teamed up to create The Hidden Cities, books set in places we all know very well – places which hold secrets almost beyond belief.
Mind the Gap: A Novel of the Hidden Cities
You never know when you’ll find yourself falling through one of the cracks in the world…
Two of today’s brightest stars of dark fantasy combine their award-winning, critically acclaimed talents in this spellbinding new tale of magic, terror, and adventure that begins when a young woman slips through the space between our everyday world and the one
hiding just beneath it.
Always assume there’s someone after you. That was the paranoid wisdom her mother had hardwired into Jasmine Towne ever since she was a little girl. Now, suddenly on her own, Jazz is going to need every skill she has ever been taught to survive enemies both seen and unseen. For her mother had given Jazz one last invaluable piece of advice, written in her own blood.
Jazz Hide Forever
All her life Jazz has known them only as the “Uncles,” and her mother seemed to fear them as much as depend on them. Now these enigmatic, black-clad strangers are after Jazz for reasons she can’t fathom, and her only escape is to slip into the forgotten tunnels of London’s vast underground. Here she will meet a tribe of survivors calling themselves the United Kingdom and begin an adventure that links her to the ghosts of a city long past, a father she never knew, and a destiny she fears only slightly less than the relentless
killers who’d commit any crime under heaven or earth to prevent her from fulfilling it.
Visit the website to make YOUR mark on the map, enter a contest, and learn more about the series and the authors: http://www.thehiddencities.com/
