(1) TOLKIEN’S GONDOLIN. Tor.com carries the official word: “J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Gondolin to Be Published as a Standalone for the First Time”. It will be published August 30.
HarperCollins UK announced today that it would publish The Fall of Gondolin, J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale documenting the rise of a great but hidden Elven kingdom and its terrible fall, for the first time as a standalone edition. Edited by Christopher Tolkien using the same “history in sequence” mode that he did for 2017’s standalone edition of Beren and Lúthien, and illustrated by Alan Lee, this edition will collect multiple versions of the story together for the first time.
Tolkien has called this story, which he first began writing in 1917, “the first real story of this imaginary world”; i.e., it was one of the first tales to be put to paper. The only complete version of The Fall of Gondolin was published posthumously in The Book of Lost Tales; however, different compressed versions appeared in both The Silmarillion and the collection Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth.
(2) POTTER ANNIVERSARY COVERS. Gwynne Watkins, in the Yahoo! Entertainment story “Accio ‘Harry Potter’ covers: See the dazzling new 20th anniversary artwork”, says the Harry Potter books are coming out with new covers by Brian Selznick, author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (which was the basis for the movie Hugo). See all the covers at the link.
Do your well-worn Harry Potter books need a new look for spring? In honor of the 20th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Scholastic is releasing new paperback editions of J.K. Rowling‘s entire series, featuring gorgeous cover art by Brian Selznick. When the seven books are placed side by side, the intricate black-and-white illustrations form a single piece of art chronicling Harry’s adventures. Scroll down to see the covers, which are full of tiny details for readers to discover. (Can you spot the Hogwarts Express? How about Harry’s Patronus?)
(3) ABOUT THE SIMPSONS’ APU. The Simpsons creators can’t figure out how something people laughed at in the past became “politically incorrect.” (And isn’t that term always a signal flare preceding a complete lack of empathy…) Entertainment Weekly’s Dana Schwartz discusses “Why The Simpsons’ response to the Apu controversy was so heartbreaking: Essay”.
…In 2017, comedian Hari Kondabolu wrote and starred in a documentary called The Problem with Apu in which he examined the cultural significance of The Simpsons character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the Kwik-E-Mart owner, who speaks with a heavy, stereotypical Indian accent and is voiced by Hank Azaria, a white man.
Last night, The Simpsons offered its tepid reply.
The scene began with Marge reading a bedtime story to Lisa that had been neutered with social justice buzzwords. “What am I supposed to do?” Marge asks when Lisa complains.
“It’s hard to say,” says Lisa, breaking the fourth wall and looking directly at the camera. A photo of Apu on the nightstand helped make it very clear they were no longer talking about the fictional bedtime story. “Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?”
“Some things will be dealt with at a later date,” says Marge, also to the camera.
“—If it all,” Lisa concludes.
There’s something about the response that came across as not only tasteless but viscerally unsatisfying. In his documentary, Kondabolu initiated the complex conversation about what it meant to have a white actor voicing an Indian character (with a heavy, caricatured accent) during a time when there was little or no Indian representation in the media.
The Simpsons on-air response reveals that the minds behind the long-running animated series either entirely failed to grasp Kondabolu’s point or (perhaps, unfortunately, more likely) they were completely indifferent to it.
(4) VAST GALLERY OF SFF ART. Enjoy TheVaultofRetroSciFi — Lots and lots of SF images, from all sorts of media.
(5) PARANORMAL ROMANCE. Mad Genius Club’s Amanda S. Green explains why it’s hard to “Know Your Genre – Paranormal Romance”. She disagrees with the definitions posted on some of the leading sites.
…So why the confusion about what a PNR is when checking the RITA nominees?
Simply put, that confusion rests solely with RWA. A quick check of their website shows this definition for paranormal romance: “Romance novels in which fantasy worlds or paranormal or science fiction elements are an integral part of the plot.” See, there it is. Science fiction elements.
This definition might have worked several years ago, before there was an increase in the number of science fiction romance titles. Now, it only confuses the issue and muddies the waters when it comes to readers and booksellers. “Paranormal” doesn’t send most readers into the realm of sf, no way and no how. Yet, for RWA’s purposes, science fiction romance mixes and melds with PNR.
Is this the only definition? Far from it. One site defines PNR this way, “For a novel to be a Paranormal Romance, a simple thing must occur: love must begin between a human and a supernatural being (whether wholly supernatural or partially, just as long as there are supernatural elements present)”
Another site has this to say: “Most people hear the words ‘Paranormal Romance’ and visions of sparkly vamps and bare-chested wares seeking virginal human mates spring like crack-addicted leprechauns from the recesses of their minds. While these have certainly been the topic of many a novel **cough** Twilight **cough**, there are so many more topics joining the ranks of Paranormal Romance today. Among them: Shapeshifters—half-human, half-animal beings with the ability to transmute between forms on cue, Angels, Demons, Nephilim, Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Ancient Greek mythology, and even the occasional Ghost or Alien thrown in for good measure. And I would be amiss in not mentioning the perennial time-traveling, kilt-wearing highlander with the rippling biceps and the heart of gold. His broadsword isn’t the only steely thing about him, if you know what I mean.” Where I have a dispute with the site and its definitions is when it say UF is a sub-genre of PNR. Nope, totally different.
(6) THE WASTELAND. The trailer for Future World has dropped:
In a post-apocalyptic world, where water and gasoline have long since dried-up, a prince from the oasis (one of the last known safe-havens) must venture out to find medicine for the ailing queen (Lucy Liu), but along the way he gets mixed up with the warlord (James Franco) and his robot Ash (Suki Waterhouse), which leads to a daring journey through the desolate wastelands.
(7) FOUNDATIONAL TELEVISION. From Deadline: “Apple Lands Isaac Asimov ‘Foundation’ TV Series From David Goyer & Josh Friedman”.
In a competitive situation, Apple has nabbed a TV series adaptation of Foundation, the seminal Isaac Asimov science fiction novel trilogy. The project, from Skydance Television, has been put in development for straight-to-series consideration. Deadline revealed last June that Skydance had made a deal with the Asimov estate and that David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman were cracking the code on a sprawling series based on the books that informed Star Wars and many other sci-fi films and TV series. Goyer and Friedman will be executive producers and showrunners. Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Marcy Ross also will executive produce….
The project shows a different level of ambition for Apple’s worldwide video programming team led by Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg. In November, they set their first scripted series, a morning show drama executive produced by and starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, with a two-season, straight-to-series order. Apple also has given straight-to-series orders to Amazing Stories, a re-imagining of the anthology from Steven Spielberg, a Ronald D. Moore space drama, a Damien Chazelle series, a comedy starring Kristin Wiig, world-building drama See from Steven Knight and Francis Lawrence, as well as an M. Night Shyamalan psychological thriller.
(8) TWO BUTLER FANS SEEK FUNDS TO ATTEND WORLDCON. Alex Jennings asks “Help Me and Amanda Emily Smith Get to Worldcon 76” via a YouCaring fundraiser. To date people have chipped in $285 of their $2,500 goal.
Last year, Amanda and I both submitted letters to be published in Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler. Octavia was a huge influence on both of us, and Amanda and I had met her separately before her death.
Both our letters were accepted for publication, and we were so pleased to be a part of such a wonderful project. This event was even more of a milestone for Amanda as this was her first professional sale in the science fiction field.
On April 2, the official announcement came down that Letters to Octavia has been chosen as a finalist for the Hugo Award in the category of Related Work! We literally jumped for joy. Honoring one of our greatest influences had lifted us up, as well!
The Hugo Awards are basically the Oscars of Science Fiction. Both Amanda and I have dreamed of attending Worldcon and the Hugo Awards all our lives, but we’ve never been able to before. Now that a book we are both in is a finalist, we feel we must get to Worldcon 76 in San Jose by any means necessary.
(9) TODAY IN HISTORY
- April 10, 1953 — Feature length, full color, 3-D movie premiered: House of Wax starring Vincent Price.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY
- Born April 10, 1953 – David Langford
(11) CANDLE TIME. Steven H Silver lights up Langford’s birthday cake at Black Gate with “Birthday Reviews: David Langford’s ‘Waiting for the Iron Age’”.
Langford may be best known as the holder of twenty-one Hugo Awards for Best Fan Writer, including an unprecedented nineteen year winning streak. During that time he also won six Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine for Ansible and a Best Short Story Hugo for “Different Kinds of Darkness.” In 2012, he won his 29th and most recent Hugo for Best Related Work for The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition, edited with John Clute, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight. Langford has tied with Charles N. Brown for the most Hugo Awards won.
(12) SOCIETY PAGES. Liz Bourke, Sleeping With Monsters columnist and 2018 Hugo nominee, announced the good news earlier this month:
https://twitter.com/hawkwing_lb/status/980579863974367232
(13) READY FOR HIS CLOSEUP. Neil Gaiman will appear on The Big Bang Theory this month. He’s guested on various TV series over the years, sometimes as an animated character, but this will be live action.
Mark your calendars! On the April 19 episode of The #BigBangTheory, special guest star @neilhimself will put Stuart's comic book store on the map, and (spoiler alert!) Sheldon won't like it. pic.twitter.com/OGkxYjDKIR
— The Big Bang Theory (@bigbangtheory) April 5, 2018
It’s kind of pathetic there are people tweeting responses that they never heard of him. Who cares?
(14) THIS DOCTOR IS NOW IN. ScienceFiction.com reveals that “Peter Cushing’s ‘Doctor Who’ Is Now Canon (Sort Of)”.
One of the biggest tasks an anniversary special has is to balance fan service with a story that can stand on its own merits. Among the many ways ‘The Day of the Doctor’ accomplished this rare feat was to feature appearances by multiple incarnations of the Doctor. Though only three were really sharing the spotlight, every version of the beloved Time Lord made at least a brief appearance, mostly through the use of archival footage. On top of this, Steven Moffat even took the opportunity to introduce a new incarnation in the form of the War Doctor, unforgettably brought to life by John Hurt.
And now he’s done it again.
In the newly released novelization of the fiftieth anniversary special, Steven Moffat has slyly worked Peter Cushing’s version of the Doctor into the series’ continuity
(15) OUTWARD BOUND. A new find pushes the date back: “Finger bone points to early human exodus”.
New research suggests that modern humans were living in Saudi Arabia about 85,000 years ago.
A recently discovered finger bone believed to be Homo sapiens was dated using radio isotope techniques.
This adds to mounting evidence from Israel, China and Australia, of a widespread dispersal beyond Africa as early as 180,000 years ago.
Previously, it was theorised that Homo sapiens did not live continuously outside Africa until 60,000 years ago.
(16) MODEST TRIBUTE. The BBC says “Belgrade’s ‘tiny head’ Gagarin statue causes dismay”.
The bust of Yuri Gagarin was ordered by the city council last year, and was put up on a street that bears his name, the Blic news website reports.
But its appearance – a tiny bust on top of a tall plinth – has been met by a hugely negative reaction, the paper says.
“The only way you can see it clearly is to launch yourself into the sky,” the Noizz website says. “While this is somewhat symbolic,” adds writer Ivana Stojanov, “there’s certainly no common sense on show”.
(17) IT’S NOT DEAD, JIM. Nerd & Tie’s Trae Dorn tries to figure out what happened: “Cherry City Comic Con Confusingly Cancelled and then Uncancelled?”.
…Of course, as a Facebook video, it’s highly unlikely that anyone will really end up watching this. Which really does beg the question: if you uncancel a show no one knows was cancelled, did anything really happen at all? Because right now, most people have no idea.
Update 4/10, 12:00pm: In a strange series of events, Cherry City Comic Con has now been uncancelled. The announcement was made, again, with a Facebook video…
Of course, as a Facebook video, it’s highly unlikely that anyone will really end up watching this. Which really does beg the question: if you uncancel a show no one knows was cancelled, did anything really happen at all?
(18) QUICK FLASH. Charles Payseur turns his eye to “Quick Sips – Flash Fiction Online April 2018”.
Continuing the newer tradition of coming out with fairly thematically linked issues, Flash Fiction Online presents an April full of fools. Or maybe fooling. Also aliens. Yup, all three stories feature alien beings, and in most of them there’s also a vein of something…well, of someone pulling one over on someone else. Maybe it’s an actress tricking an alien monster to spare Earth, or a group of alien agents trying to set up first contact on the sly, or even the own paranoid post-drunken-weekend-in-Vegas thoughts of a man who might have just married an extraterrestrial. In any case, the stories are largely bright and fun, even when they brush against planet eating and possible invasion. So without further delay, to the reviews!
(19) ALL KNOWN BRITISH SFF. At THEN, Rob Hansen’s British fanhistory site, you can find scans of a 1937 British SF Bibliography. Once upon a time, the literary universe was a smaller place.
Edited by Douglas W. F. Mayer for the Science Fiction Association and dated August 1937, this was one of the earliest bibliographies to be produced by fandom and contains many titles that would be unfamiliar to a modern reader. A mimeographed publication, it was printed in purple-blue ink, had a soft card wraparound cover, and was stitch-bound. The particular copy scanned for this site includes its unknown previous owner’s checkmarks against many entries.
This is a list of books, only. However, it’s still an interesting coincidence that Mayer himself edited Amateur Science Stories #2, where Arthur C. Clarke’s first published story appeared in December 1937.
(20) JAWS. Or at least part of a jaw: “Ancient sea reptile was one of the largest animals ever”.
Sea reptiles the size of whales swam off the English coast while dinosaurs walked the land, according to a new fossil discovery.
The jaw bone, found on a Somerset beach, is giving clues to the ”last of the giants” that roamed the oceans 205 million years ago.
The one-metre-long bone came from the mouth of a huge predatory ichthyosaur.
The creature would have been one of the largest ever known, behind only blue whales and dinosaurs, say scientists.
(21) SUMMER MUNCH. The Meg is slated for release on August 10, 2018.
In the film, a deep-sea submersible—part of an international undersea observation program—has been attacked by a massive creature, previously thought to be extinct, and now lies disabled at the bottom of the deepest trench in the Pacific…with its crew trapped inside. With time running out, expert deep sea rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) is recruited by a visionary Chinese oceanographer (Winston Chao), against the wishes of his daughter Suyin (Li Bingbing), to save the crew—and the ocean itself—from this unstoppable threat: a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark known as the Megalodon. What no one could have imagined is that, years before, Taylor had encountered this same terrifying creature. Now, teamed with Suyin, he must confront his fears and risk his own life to save everyone trapped below…bringing him face to face once more with the greatest and largest predator of all time.
(22) AND DON’T FORGET THESE SHARKES. The Shadow Clarke jury’s Nick Hubble picked six books on the submissions list to review, and tells why in this post.
My criteria for the selection of these six titles this year – none of which I have read – was not what I think might be in contention or even necessarily what I think I will personally rate. Instead, I have chosen a range of books that I hope will enable some sort of literary critical discussion of the field as a whole in 2018 (although clearly this remains an entirely subjective choice on my behalf). Therefore, I have tried to mix first-time authors with established novelists, sequels with standalone works, and genre and mainstream literary texts; but I have married this with a practical policy of also choosing books that took my fancy for whatever reason.
I was also trying to pick a set of choices similar to the that offered by this year’s shortlist for the BSFA Award for best novel: Nina Allan’s The Rift, Anne Charnock’s Dreams Before the Start of Time,? Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, and Ann Leckie’s Provenance?. I thought this was a good list because there were different types of novels, all of which I enjoyed (and because I have read them, I have excluded them from my Clarke selection below even though all have been submitted). Despite large differences in approach, these novels share a focus on family relationships that perhaps tells us something about the preoccupations of our age. It would be trite to argue that they simply demonstrate a retreat from political and ideological uncertainty to take refuge in the personal sphere but perhaps they suggest different ways in which politics and relationships are both being reconfigured in an age of digital communication. It will be interesting to see what patterns emerge from the wider Clarke submissions list.
(23) ABOUT KRESS. Joe Sherry is not fully satisfied with the book, but it’s close: “Microreview [book]: Tomorrow’s Kin, by Nancy Kress”, at Nerds of a Feather.
Once we move past the conclusion of Yesterday’s Kin, the focus remains on Dr. Marianne Jenner as well as pushing in tighter on that of her grandchildren. This is character driven science fiction. Kress explores the impact of Earth’s interaction with a spore cloud that was initially described as a world killer, but she does so through the lens of characters who have become as familiar as family. To a reader not steeped in the nuance and minutiae of science, the unpinning science of Tomorrow’s Kin comes across as fully rigorous as anything in a more traditional “hard” science fiction novel. Kress does not engage in interminable info dumping. I read Tomorrow’s Kin not long after finishing the latest Charles Stross novel, Dark State (my review). There is no real point of comparison between the two novels, except that I generally love the ideas that Stross plays with and wish he did a better job at actually telling the story. That generally isn’t the case with Nancy Kress. She is a far more accomplished writer and is far smoother with her storytelling. Kress’s ideas are just as big and just as bold, but they are strongly integrated into the story.
(24) CATS STAR ON SFF. Moshe Feder has discovered the true identify of Number One!
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, JJ, Mark Hepworth, Chip Hitchcock, Martin Morse Wooster, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Carl Slaughter, Hampus Eckerman, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Ingvar.]
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
First maybe.
Ok, is the photo in 24 legit, or did Feder retcon the cat in? It’s been so long since I watched the series that I’ll afmit that a cat might’ve been in such a shot and I could’ve forgotten it.
Good question. Looks like Blofeld’s cat to me. (Was SPECTRE running The Village?)
6) I read about this earlier today. Sounds like a challenging film:
(12). That pen looks like a Lamy Safari, or possibly an Al-Star. I wonder if it’s a ballpoint, a rollerball, or a fountain pen. Also the color isn’t one I recognize.
(I own a ridiculous number of Lamy fountain pens.)
Ooo! Today’s Pixel Scroll takes place in an alternate universe timeline! 😉
Mike, is today really the zero-th of April? (I thought it was the 10th.)
Also, (5) – shapeshifters aren’t half-human and half-animal. Werewolves are shapeshifters; centaurs and minotaurs are half-human and half-animal. (Shifters are generally one or the other at any given time.)
Is the date really 4/0/18, Mr. Glyer?
12) Happy for Liz. I caught on twitter they are considering buying a house together, too. I wish them the best for both.
14) This reminds me of the first season of the new DW, where they reference an event that happened in a book released that year. So did that also make the novelization canon? Also, when in the short episode with the 8th Doctor regenerating into the War Doctor, he invokes companions who were otherwise only in audio dramas. Did that make them canon?
24) AHA! I don’t remember this happening in the series, so its either a photo shop edit, or someone was having fun on set.
Paul Weiner asks 14) This reminds me of the first season of the new DW, where they reference an event that happened in a book released that year. So did that also make the novelization canon? Also, when in the short episode with the 8th Doctor regenerating into the War Doctor, he invokes companions who were otherwise only in audio dramas. Did that make them canon?
IIRC the audio drams are indeed considered canon by the BBC. I think that the books authorized by BBC are also canon. And yes that means that verse is very, very expansive!
The War Doctor audio dramas are well worth experiencing as they round out a character who’s not really well served in terms of his story in the BBC series.
(3) ABOUT THE SIMPSONS’ APU.
30 years ago, I thought that Apu was funny, too.
The difference between me and (apparently) the entire group of writers for The Simpsons is that I grew the hell up, learned to recognize offensive stereotypes, and developed some empathy for marginalized people. 🙁
Zeroday! (Didn’t somebody put that in a short story?)
Re: (5)– The line between “Urban Fantasy” and “Paranormal Romance” can be quite fuzzy, if not downright porous. Frankly, sometimes the only difference is which publishing imprint bought the manuscript.
@17: Facebook videos aren’t watched? I don’t do Facebook; is there a reason why not? (And yes, it sounds like this guy needs to get his s**t together.)
@22: !@#$%^&*()! tease — but I’ll probably keep it bookmarked for calibration.
@24: That can’t be Number One; if it were, we’d never have a picture of Number Two in that chair because it would always have jumped on the chair just before Two wanted to sit down. OTOH, it would explain a lot about The Village
12) Hurrah!
oh, and @5? “bare-chested wares” — harrumph. I suppose it goes with “geese” and “dyetees” — although I’ve never seen those in print. Or are they channeling Mandingo?
[click]
(1) TOLKIEN’S GONDOLIN.
Túrin becomes Trin
Eärendil becomes Erendel
I am so confused. Who were these people anyway?
17) @Chip HItchcock: I don’t ever watch any video for information if I can possibly help it. I try not to listen for information, either, but sometimes radio is all you have. Why? It’s too damn slow! I can read many times faster than I can listen and I think (it would be interesting to test) I retain it better.
Video and audio are for entertainment in JohnnieWorld. If I am to consume spoken information, I almost have to be eating it live, preferably in person. The sort of rich sensory flow those media give is not primarily verbal, but I am, except when I’m musical (which you probably hope I won’t be around you), so the hell with that.
Nancy: It is a Lamy All-Star fountain pen, in purple. The cutout in the barrel is the giveaway. (p.s. I am the former librarian for the Pen Collectors of America and the club organizer for the Southern California Pen Collectors Club, from which the PCA sprung).
5)
Amanda Green is not wrong about the differences between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Urban fantasy is contemporary fantasy, usually but not always set in a city, which may or may not include a romance plot. Paranormal romance is a love story between two or sometimes more people or supernatural beings, which includes supernatural and fantasy elements, and has an upbeat ending with the central couple (or larger group) alive and together. Urban fantasy series usually follow the same character or characters, while paranormal romance series feature a new couple in every book. There are a lot of edge cases such as a lot of urban fantasy series where the central couple takes several books to get together or paranormal romance books and series with a stronger than usual focus on the worldbuilding. I think one series by Nalini Singh was actually billed as urban fantasy romance.
But while I agree with Amanda Green’s basic points, I could have done without her dismissive comments about the Anita Blake series. No, I don’t like the Anita Blake books either, but I’d never call Anita a slut. And besides, romance readers that the Anita Blake books aren’t actually romance, because while Anita has a lot of sex with varying partners, there is no sign of her getting permanently together with any one of them. I guess paranormal erotica would be the best term to use for those books.
As for the 2018 Rita Award finalists (the full list may be found here BTW), I suspect that the book Amanda Green is referring to is Wanted and Wired by Vivien Jackson, which is indeed not a paranormal romance in the closer sense of the word, but a post-apocalyptic/dystopian science fiction romance. Of the other finalists in the paranormal romance category, Eleventh Grave in the Moonlight by Darynda Jones is urban fantasy with romantic elements and Song of the Nightpiper by Hannah Meredith is epic fantasy romance. However, the Ritas have no separate categories for science fiction romance, fantasy romance, urban fantasy or time travel romance and therefore use paranormal romance as a catch-all category for all books that include speculative or fantastic elements. In fact, the category used to be called something along the line of paranormal, futuristic and time travel romance, but they eventually shortened the name to just paranormal romance.
Coincidentally, Wanted and Wired sounded interesting enough that I just ordered it. Will report back once I’ve read it.
c4c
“Scroll the other one—it’s got pixels on it!”
@Cora: I’ve heard people complain about the Anita Blake books not because of the character’s sex life (from what I know, I agree that would be slut-shaming) but because what started out as a paranormal detective story with sex turned into paranormal erotica with crime. These were readers who’d dropped the books over time, or whose interest in them had lessened, but who’d enjoyed the earlier books. I’m not sure how I’d distinguish between that, which sounds like a valid complaint, and what you’re reporting. It sounds as though you’ve read enough of them to have an opinion which, unlike mine, is informed. What do you think?
@Chip It’s a bit of a joke, a couple of years ago Facebook started auto playing videos in your feed and then telling advertisers about the large number of people who had “watched” their video. Icing on the cake, later surveys showed a majority of people kept the sound on mute while on Facebook ( to avoid unexpected sounds from the auto play videos)
People do watch Facebook videos, just not at the rate official numbers suggest.
2) At the risk of repeating myself, instead of a new cover, I’d rather have a US eBook release that keeps the original Britishisms.
Hugo reading: Read the Murderbot book pretty much in a single sitting (of, say, 90 minutes?) and started Down Among the Sticks & Bones, which so far looks like it’s at the head of my novella ballot. Of the three and a half that I’ve read (I’ve also read Black Tides of Heaven and River of Teeth; for the other two, I’ll wait to see what gets included in the packet), I think they’d all potentially make worthy winners.
I’m also just back from seeing Martin Carthy in concert (I did my Murderbot & McGuire reading before the show and during intermission) and I’m very glad I got the chance to see him live again.
@Chip: I think it’s to do with how Facebook used to autoplay videos, and the only obvious option in their settings was one to leave them on mute. They now also have a thing where if you do play a video on desktop and then try to scroll away, the video jumps to the side and follows you down the feed. I mean, usually when I scroll away from a video I just want it to stop playing because I’ve lost interest… It all seems to be aimed at getting people to stay on a video for long enough to command more money from advertisers for higher engagement, but it mainly just pisses people (or me at least) off.
Related: I’ve noticed a few pages lately making videos of still images. Presumably there’s a theory out there that Facebook prioritises video over still images or something so they get seen more often.
@John A. Arkansawyer
The Anita Blake books indeed switch from noirish urban fantasy mysteries to paranormal erotica midway through the series. There is some debate when the change occured, but most people point to Book 9 Obsidian Butterfly, published in 2000. At around the same time, Laurell K. Hamilton’s marriage ended and she got together with a new partner, which might account for the shift in tone. Her other series, the Merry Gentry series, had always been erotica heavy. The first book came out around the same time as Obsidian Butterfly.
Personally, I have no problems with sexual content in SFF, as long as it arises organically from the plot and isn’t gratuitous. The Anita Blake book crossed that line a long time ago and became extremely gratuitous. Nonetheless, I have issues with calling the character a slut, especially since there is an (admittedly contrived) in universe reason for her voracious sexual appetite.
Read one Anita Blake book, long ago. Not again.
Sorry to be OT, but I just saw that a novel I had heard the beginning of and was looking forward to has been cancelled. Does this kind of thing happen often? I don’t think File 770 has ever covered this.
@Jeff Jones
Do you mean in the sense of “has been finished and handed in, and now cancelled by publisher”?
I’m reminded of Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings, where he narrows the gap between the types by describing the shapeshifter Baldanders as “a sequential monster, a monster in time” — which I guess makes centaurs and minotaurs shapeshifters in space.
Posted from 4895, where all our shapeshifters are travelling in space.
@Mark: … and copyedited IIRC with cover, and scheduled for release etc. The Amazon pages that Google finds have been deleted.
Woohoo, title credit!
I find the urban fantasy / paranormal romance boundaries to be weirdly blurred. I am quite fond of the former, less fond of the latter, and find “paranormal erotica” to only rarely be redeemed by relevant plot between the sex scenes.
My recollection of both the Merry Gentry and Anita Blake series were what seemed like unsafe BDSM practices, if applied by humans on humans, rather than between super-powered individuals.
@Jeff Jones
Very odd, but maybe not unprecedented. Nick Cole made great play about having had Ctrl-Alt-Revolt “cancelled” by his publisher, ditto Milo Y.
Unless your author goes the same route of outrage-for-publicity then we may never know the story.
Jeff Jones,
1) If the Amazon page(s) which have been deleted were Kindle-only, this may not mean the book has been cancelled. I have seen the Kindle version of a book cancelled and replaced with a different page with new ASIN.
2) Can you say what the book is? Someone here may know more.
7
(via The Experimenter Publishing Company)
This month (actually, last month but that’s too confusing given cover dates) marks Amazing Stories 92nd anniversary.
Also, sex is incredibly boring in the Anita Blake books, even when BDSM is involved. I’m one of those who quit at book 9.
JJ, I saw something about Jo Walton’s Poor Relations being canceled. The Amazon pages for it that show up on Google are “Page Not Found.” I’ve not seen anything official from Tor about it, though some Jo Walton comments on Goodreads have the following:
and
Some of the comments on the Goodreads page (which still exists) indicates that maybe there was some backlash from the trans community (given that an apparent major plot point was the forced transition of one of the main characters, so it made it seems like gender reassignment surgery was a punishment).
I had Poor Relations on my watchlist on the grounds that “Jo Walton does space opera” was a tasty idea. Reading the description on GR I can see that there’s a gender concept in there that could be interesting if handled well, or absolutely terrible if not.
Sounds like someone (Walton, editor, beta readers?) has decided it’s the latter.
I came at the Anita Blake books from the mystery side so they lost me earlier. I made it through Burnt Offerings and I think I made it through Blue Moon but I am not sure. The shine had gone off and remember wondering what I was reading. I think I might have looked at Obsidian Butterfly at the bookstore and noped right out. I got interested because of the PI / mystery angle and as that phased out so did I.
I read on both sides of the fuzzy paranormal romance/urban fantasy divide and science fiction romance, too. However, I prefer more worldbuilding than many paranormal or science fiction romances contain and roll my eyes at gratuitous or flat out ridiculous sex.
1) When I first saw this title announced, I wondered why, as the story had been completely told in the Silmarillion. I now realise that I misremembered, confusing it with the more fleshed-out versions in Unfinished Tales/The History of Middle-earth.
I never quite understood Silmarillion’s reputation of being hard to read, but I’m guessing it is largely because of the early, mythological sections. Once the action moves to Middle-earth, there were some good stories (like Children of Hurin, Beren & Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin), but given the amount of mythery before the creation of the sun and moon , I can see why some would give up before they get to the good bits.
Does this mean this is the last Tolkien book, though? I don’t think there’s not enough material for a fourth novelisation of the First Age Middle-earth.
7) Looking forward to see if there are more women in the Empire than the handful who appeared in the books.
Also, paraphrasing Salvor Hardin: “A nuclear pixel is a good weapon, but it can scroll both ways.”
Thanks for that, David H. I am/was on the waitlist for Poor Relations at my library (its status hasn’t changed yet), because the synopsis sounded interesting. But I admit that I kind of raised an eyebrow at the description of forced gender changes.
One of the GoodReads commenters says that they were on their library’s waitlist, but have just been informed by the library that the book order and their hold on it have been removed because the book’s publication has been cancelled.
Ana Mardoll has a lengthy Storify about Poor Relations here (keep clicking “Read Next Page” to see all of it).
Is there someone here who watches a lot of SFF television shows? I’m sicker than a dog right now, my brain isn’t up to doing even simple research, and wondered if someone who actually knows this area would be willing to look at a list and provide some brief feedback (i.e., for me it would take a while, but for someone who’s knowledgeable, it would be quick).
If so, please contact me a JJ File 770 (all one word) at gmail (dot) com. Thanks.
Wow. Turns out that the only Anita Blake books that I’ve read were Obsidian Butterfly and Narcissus in Chains. [Thanks Goodreads!!] Bad timing??
My experiences with OB wasn’t bad enough for me to dump the series. I think I was hoping that the premise would involve something more than chapters alternating between sex and plot development. Then I read NiC….and moved on.
Regards,
Dann
Wisdom includes not getting angry unnecessarily. The Law ignores trifles and the wise man does, too. – Job:A Comedy of Justice
Dann – You started the series where I gave up on it, I thought the first five or so were fun. I think Blue Moon was the last one I read before I decided that it was focused much more on the sex parts than the fighting the supernatural parts and was no longer my cup of tea.
I disagree with the dismissive tone of paranormal romance in the linked article, though I do get the frustration of looking for more Urban Fantasy but having to sift through the romance books (and on the flip side I’m sure there’s just as many who were looking for another SFF romance book and got frustrated by the wizards blowing stuff up in a city with no romance in sight). Both are relatively newer subgenres that share a lot in common so it’s not a surprise that they get lumped together by anyone who isn’t trying to split hairs over how much romance the book has in it before it’s not Urban Fantasy anymore. But those paranormal romance books certainly carry a lot of water for the urban magic/monster genre and just as likely where a person might accidentally pick up a paranormal romance book there’s also the chance that a normally paranormal romance reader will check out an urban fantasy book. Or receive inspiration from.
But I’m completely with her at the end of the article. Write your story and don’t worry about the classification of it. Genres help people figure out what to read and shouldn’t be boxes a person is confiding themselves into as they write.
I remember being taken aback, 25-30 years ago, when a co-worker did the Apu accent in fun. The mock dialect thing for immigrants and minorities has been iffy for a long time. My co-worker explained about the tv character, which in his mind made it lessin bad taste, I guess. I don’t know anything else about the character, never watched The Simpsons.
@O. Westin it’s been a very long time since I attempted to read the Silmarillion, but I remember having the opposite experience: I found all the world creation myth stuff fascinating, but completely bounced off as soon as it got into dry historical stuff…
Re. Walton cancellation: Huh. Poor Relations and some of the backlash was on my radar, and I was watching through my fingers to see how it was received and whether it would be worth picking up (because Jo Walton space opera DOES sound good, until you read on…). I’m impressed that she and the publisher took the criticism seriously enough to pull it, rather than going ahead and putting out a million excuses as to why a book with a premise which trans people have identified as intrinsically harmful at this moment is still worth publishing over their pain. It takes
12) Awww, I saw this on Twitter too – congrats to Liz and spouse-to-be, and I love the pen swap engagement!
5) I read most of the earlier Anita Blake books in bursts under vague duress (nothing else at hand to read and too broke to buy books). I was always underwhelmed with the heroine, and the writing reminded me a little of the Lustbader approach to formula books, even when the plot itself was intriguing. Where I bailed was when the writing started to come off as almost self-referential. I’m fine with someone’s fantasy life, but when it starts to feel like it’s coming from someone’s personal journal, I’m less comfortable with it.
(Sigh, left a sentence fragment in my earlier post then my internet went tits up until WELL after the edit window had passed…)
JJ, I’m sadly of no help at all when it comes to SFF TV, but I hope you feel better soon!
Kobo puts paranormal romances in with SF/F; they may also put them in with romance. It’s kind of annoying when you’re scanning the deal pages, because there’s no way to narrow it down (or to sort by author, and WTF do they index “The” and “A” at the beginning of titles?).
Maybe by 7596 they’ll have gotten this stuff figured out.