http://www.sfsite.com/ The new issue of the SF Site is now online. Copyright 1996-2010 SF Site en-us http://www.sfsite.com/images/sfspot1.gif http://www.sfsite.com/ http://www.sfsite.com/08b/wg350.htm Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Paul is coming to the conclusion that the worst disservice ever done to "science fiction" was saddling it with that name. In particular, the "science" part. It raises expectations and assumptions on behalf of both readers and writers that the genre mostly cannot, and should not, even attempt to fulfil. As long as we expect fiction to incorporate scientific rigor, we are doomed to disappointment. And if we expect science fiction writers to be better qualified than any other reasonably well-informed member of the public to comment on the scientific issues facing us today, we are deceiving ourselves. http://www.sfsite.com/08b/pn350.htm Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Have you ever had the inner yearning to write your own novel? Even if it started out as a short concept and you had got it down on paper or even as a draft on your computer. You needed to see it completed, and hope against hope to see it published, and gracing the shelves in book stores. It's what everyone wants to see, isn't it? Well, now you know what poor salesman Piers Langland is going through as he tries his hand at NaNoWriMo every year. http://www.sfsite.com/08b/dh350.htm Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT When promising young novelist Thaddeus Beaumont began to suffer from writer's block, he took the cue from one of his favorite writers and decided to try writing under a pen name, George Stark. Unlike Thad's earlier books, Stark's novels were darker and more violent, something the public seemed to crave since Stark's books were much more popular than Thad's had been. http://www.sfsite.com/08b/sd350.htm Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT This three-story volume is the first of several collections of Leiber's iconic Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. Organized chronologically according to the character timeline, it contains two origin stories for the unlikely duo and the Nebula and Hugo-winning "Ill Met in Lankhmar" that narrates the duo's first caper together. http://www.sfsite.com/08b/mb350.htm Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Vampires are a part of us. They are the dark side within all of us. Who wouldn't want to have special powers, be able to live forever and keep looking young even though we might be over a hundred years old. Vampires, like werewolves and Frankenstein's monster have a special place in our hearts, and Dracula is the crown prince of all vampires. Since Bram Stoker penned his 1877 novel, it has been the basis for a whole host of writers who enjoyed its sinister premise, the characters and its dark outlook on life. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica350.htm Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Rick Klaw's earliest comic book memory centers around an issue of Joe Kubert's Tarzan. His father, a Tarzan movie fan, probably picked it up and after looking through it gave it to his three-year-old son. While he wasn't quite reading yet, Kubert's powerful portrayal of the gorillas created a lasting impression. Shortly after, his younger sister destroyed the comic, ripping it to shreds. Apparently it scared her. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new350.htm Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Our latest crop of new arrivals includes the latest from Richard Kadrey, Richard K. Morgan, Stephen Hunt, Kim Harrison, Greg Keyes, and many others. http://www.sfsite.com/08b/di350.htm Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT So let's get the painful stuff out of the way immediately. Philip K. Dick was a drug-taking, paranoid, wife-beating maniac; or so Lawrence Sutin presents him -- in the nicest way possible. But please, let us qualify these "facts" with more context. Drug-taking -- yes. Mr. Dick did indeed take handfuls of dubious tablets on a regular basis, and had many an interesting hallucinatory episode -- both on and, indeed, off drugs. In fairness, in later life, as he matured, Phil saw the "error of his ways" and according to Sutin denounced drugs as a social evil, whilst still puffing on weed and popping prescription mood stabilisers. But hey, the life of a tortured artist is never a easy ride right? http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica349.htm Tue, 2 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Since it's early August, Mark London Williams is back from his annual trek to Comic Con. He stayed for all four days this time (or at least parts of all four days) so took in more Con than usual. He went to see a crime writers panel one of the evenings which included renowned comics writer Mark Waid. When the panelists were asked who they were looking forward to seeing at the Con, Waid started to rave about the digital comics work of Parisian-based animator/artist Yves Bigerel and how it was changing his own thoughts about narrative form. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/rl349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Peter Grant, a probationary constable with the London Metropolitan Police, has issues with focus and faces a move to the Case Progression Unit, a group that does paperwork for the real cops when a conversation with a ghost changes his destiny. Returning to the scene to recontact the ghost, a detective inspector asks him what he was doing and he answers with the truth and becomes the first trainee wizard in fifty years under Inspector Thomas Nightingale. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/gs349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Grimscribe is an apt title for this definitive reissue of the 1991 collection of horror stories. There's almost nothing here that is humorous, or uplifting or anything other than, well, grim. The plural subtitle of "His Lives and Works" may refer to the multiple lives and works of characters whose individual stories vary in circumstance, but who are all engaged in the same discovery that our ordinary existence is permeated by nefarious forces of which we are ordinarily only dimly aware. The discoveries are not pleasant. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/tw349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Inducing suspension of disbelief is the necessary requirement for any work of fiction. This is especially true for stories dealing with the supernatural or the paranormal. But when the supernatural issue is addressed by a "detective," who has to use his skill to analyze and deduce things become even more difficult and only great writers can manage to achieve and maintain the required suspension of disbelief. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/ds349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT The novel begins in the time when Jardir was growing up in Karsia before he meets Arlen and the narrative tells of how he grew into power and the circumstances which led to his betrayal. In The Warded Man, Jardir's betrayal is shocking, but the focus on the events from Jardir's perspective casts him in a much different light as we slowly begin to see the reasons that led up to this point. The contrasting and changing perspective of The Desert Spear is really a breath of fresh air to the reader as the author is creating some very complex plot threads and some very interesting characters. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/su349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT On June 9, 2037, a major solar event occurred. All across the planet Earth, people experienced electrical blackouts, communications outages, and all other manner of electronic disruption. At a monitoring station on the moon, a Russian scientist registered the event and he and his colleague began investigating the matter. The results of the study were at once astounding and terrifying. The electronic interruptions experienced on Earth were found to be merely a precursor to a more devastating event that was yet to come. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/ff349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Hugh Farnham is prepared for nuclear war. As a contractor, he has designed, built and stocked a fallout shelter. Nuclear war begins while the entire Farnham clan (and a visitor) are home, so Hugh quickly moves his wife, college-aged daughter, her sorority sister, his lawyer son and their house servant Joseph into the shelter. They all survive the attack and emerge in a world that is not destroyed, but is actually a lush forest with wildlife and no radiation and no sign of the nuclear war that occurred. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/rs349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT If you have been following the series, the crew of the Catharand has successfully made it across the ruling sea, well most of them anyway, and now the really weird stuff seems to begin. You see, not only did the crew cross the untraversable ruling sea, it seems they have been transported 200 years into the future and some fairly significant changes have occurred to the human race. Meanwhile, Panzel, Neeps, Thasa and the host of supporting characters are still at odds with the evil sorcerer Arunis and his quest to master the power of the Nilstone in order to destroy Alifros. http://www.sfsite.com/lists/yb-sf-author01.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT In 1984, Gardner Dozois gathered together what he thought was the best short science fiction of the previous year. He scrutinized as many of the magazines, collections and anthologies published in 1983 that he could get his hands on and chose those which he felt best represented the science fiction field. Jim Frenkel published it as part of his Bluejay Books line (for three years) and it has been produced every year since then (by St. Martins's Press). Volume 28 has been added to the lists compiled by author, by title and by volume. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/derek349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT The aliens are here. Again. And they're out to wreak havoc. Again. What started as H.G. Wells's commentary on imperialism in 1898 has turned, each summer, into an update on the art of special effects, possessing at best the merest sliver of intelligence that Wells and his myriad successors bring to any First Contact tale. Indeed, the Martian tripods loom large each time visitors arrive to cinema screens, often with far more noise but with far less visual frisson no matter why they decide to make Earth's prime real estate their battlefield. Derek Johnson imagines Herbert George spins in his grave faster with each retelling of his classic novel (and by now some enterprising MIT grad should hook him up to a generator). http://www.sfsite.com/books/new349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Some of the newest books to show up at the SF Site doorstep include the latest from Kelley Armstrong, J.G. Ballard, John Clute, Cory Doctorow, Tim Powers, Justina Robson, Brandon Sanderson, Chris Wooding, and many others. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/ca349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Cowboys & Aliens is in the sf western genre, which goes back at least to The Phantom Empire, a Mascot serial starring Gene Autry. The movie starts well, finishes badly, and doesn't really have anything new to add. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick349.htm Mon, 1 Aug 2011 11:00:00 GMT Rick is back from Comic-Con where he heard Kevin Smith ask William Shatner if he was coming out of the closet, heard J. Michael Straczinski rate himself a 6 or a 7 to Alan Moore's 10 and attended comics fandom's fiftieth anniversary reunion. One thing he didn't do was to see any movies. http://www.sfsite.com/rssfeeds01.htm Sat, 1 Jan 2005 11:00:00 GMT After constructing our first RSS feed, it soon became apparent that the size of files could grow quickly. We decided to separate them into smaller ones, breaking them up by month. On this page you will find RSS feed files for all of our content beginning with January 2005.