The annual Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List just came out — it's the critical consensus of Locus's reviewers on the best science fiction and fantasy of the year, and a more reliable guide to great speculative fiction you will not find. — Read the rest
Ha'penny is the sequel to Jo Walton's chilling, heartbreaking novel Farthing, an alternate history about a quisling Britain that makes peace with Hitler and helps create a stable, thousand-year Reich on the Continent. The story, a murder mystery in a Britain on the edge of fascism, made several none-to-subtle (and very apt) comparisons to Tony Blair's Britain, where Habeas Corpus and due process have been replaced by universal surveillance and a National ID Database. — Read the rest
At the next SFinSF event — free readings by and discussions with science fiction writers — Howard Hendrix debates Scott Sigler. Howard made headlines with an intemperate post calling writers who give away their work for free on the Internet "webscabs," saying "Webscabs claim they're just posting their books for free in an attempt to market and publicize them, but to my mind they're undercutting those of us who aren't giving it away for free and are trying to get publishers to pay a better wage for our hard work." — Read the rest
Tim sez, "Over 150 contributions were posted to the International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day LiveJournal community. Contributions came from a wide variety of well known authors including: Charlie Stross, Bruce Perens, Rachel Caine, and P.N. Elrod."
(Thanks, Tim!)
Update: Clifton sez, "Jo Walton's blog posting for IPSTP day has a long list of IPSTP postings followed by a long list more posted in the comments, as she requested."
The finalists for the Locus Award for the best science fiction of 2006 have been announced and I'm proud as anything to announce that two of my novelettes made the shortlist, I, Row-Boat and When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth (both are from my new collection Overclocked). — Read the rest
Jo Walton (author of the incredible, haunting novel Farthing, which you should read right now, but not if you plan on getting any sleep for the next week) has declared April 23 to be "International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day" (a reference to Howard Hendrix's now-infamous webscabs rant) to be celebrated by authors giving away a "professional quality work" on their websites. — Read the rest
The Locus Magazine poll for the best science fiction of 2006 is closing soon — the poll is open to everyone, and invites you to select your favorite works published last year for receipt of the prestigious Locus Award (I've won it twice: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom won Best First Novel in 2004, and I, Robot won best Novelette in 2005). — Read the rest
Glorifying Terrorism is a new anthology of short stories by British SF authors in praise of "terrorism" — from Nelson Mandela on. The anthology, edited by Farah Mendelsohn, was inspired by a ridiculous British law that makes it a crime to "glorify terrorism" in Britain — an effort by Parliament to save the British democracy by destroying freedom of expression. — Read the rest
Jo Walton's new alternate history novel Farthing manages the incredible, heart-rending trick of being a quiet little story about quiet, brave people while simultaneously conjuring the kind of haunting dystopia that rips your guts out.
In the Farthing timeline, Britain made peace with Hitler, through the intervention of a faction within the Tories called "the Farthing set," for the Farthing manor house on which they gather. — Read the rest
