- The latest Reality Check podcast was recorded at the Clarke Award ceremony and includes interviews with Paul Raven, Adam Roberts, Ken MacLeod, Stephen Baxter and Richard Morgan, all moderated by Graham Sleight. Direct link to mp3.
- And the latest Drink Tank (pdf) is Chris Garcia’s “handicapping the Hugos” issue, with some comment from me.
- Abigail Nussbaum has posted a further in-depth look at Black Man, with some focus on gender roles; and I kept adding other peoples’ thoughts to my post here
- Other awards stuff: Nebulas surprisingly rightheaded; inaugural Shirley Jackson Award nominees are intriguing; and Locus Award nominees are solid
- Paul Kincaid’s latest science fiction skeptic column
- “The creators behind Torchwood may have some funny ideas about what constitutes “plot,” but they know their audience. The show feels like it was created expressly for fan service“
- Some interesting reviews from the Guardian: Michel Faber on Mark Evanier’s biography of Jack Kirby; and Nicholas Lezard on The World Without Us; see also Giles Foden on Pandora in the Congo
- This sounds intriguing.
- What is the feminist singularity?
- An interview with Junot Diaz at the revamped Granta site: “Díaz tells me about his new project. ‘I want to write a book where I get to blow up the planet and kill off the whole human species,’ […] With this novel he is not trying to break out of genre – it’s a science fiction book.”
- Steven Shaviro on character and genre fiction
- This week’s YA debate. Scott Westerfeld: the most significant sf writer right now? Scalzi says yes, with some sales figures; follow-up here and here and here
- And finally: more free ebooks! Small Beer Press have released Maureen F McHugh’s marvellous collection Mothers and Other Monsters; and Cory Doctorow has released Little Brother
Hmm, Linkhattan Transfer would have been better, wouldn’t it? Oh well.
I think either way you may be scraping the bottom of the link-related naming barrel.
(Linkers of the Day would have been my choice.)
Next up: The Steel Links?
Liz: I thought I’d already used Linkers of the Day, but apparently not.
Nick: Or The Links Remain.
There is plenty more barrel to be had, just looking at topical stuff: Linksilver (or Quicklinker?), The Linkfusion, Link Tank, Link Man, The Linkish Policeman’s Union. Or, indeed, just a post called Kelly Link.
Can anybody tell me if there’s a point anywhere in Paul Kincaid’s rambling review of Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology? His reviews recently, both here and on SF Site and presumably elsewhere have been rambling mishmashes of unrelated ideas that sound didactic until one tries to unravel them. Is William Gibson not true to the ideals of his generation? Is he too much of a downer? And how does all that make what the writers who have come after him interesting? Maybe if Kincaid had actually written more about the book and its other authors, there would have been a viable argument to be made? Does anybody edit book reviews anymore? Does this really pass for sf criticism?
Ralph, that’s not a review of Rewired. It’s a column exploring some thoughts inspired by the book. Paul’s actual review is here.