Wednesday, March 31, 2010
March 31, 2010 Links and Plugs
Interviews
- Suvudu interviews C.L. Anderson.
- Jeff VanderMeer interviews S.J. Chambers.
- M.G. Ellington on Inertia and the Practicing Writer.
- Penny C. Sansavieri on Write that book, but don't take anything for granted. (via Diana Gill)
- Nick Mamatas on The anarchy of translation.
- Deborah J. Ross on The Writing Life: Where Were You?
- Justine Larbalestier on Teenagers & Reading.
- Alma Alexander on The Eternal Questions 1: Who, What, Why.
- Glenda Larke on Playing God.
- Celine Kiernan on No MTV moments, please.
- Jason Sanford on Too bad you can't cash good karma.
- Nathan Bransford on All About Co-Op.
- Birmingham bog which inspired Tolkien to be restored.
- Creature! announced.
- Fantastic Books: Acquisition: Michael Moorcock.
- Locus Wants Interns!
- Neal Barrett, Jr., named 2010 SFWA Author Emeritus.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
March 30, 2010 Links and Plugs
Not speculative fiction-related, but Nicola Griffith has this essay: Books save lives. Queer books save queer lives.
Interviews
Here's a pretty cover from Nightjar Press:
Interviews
- The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy interviews John Langan.
- Adventures in SciFi Publishing interviews literary agent Joshua Bilmes, author Peter V. Brett and author Jon Sprunk (podcast).
- I Should Be Writing interviews Ellen Datlow (podcast).
- Barnes and Noble Review interviews Ann VanderMeer and "Evil Monkey".
- Salon interviews Alexandre O. Philippe.
- Ghost In The Machine Podcast interviews Michael Ventrella and Gillian Summers.
- Fantasy Book Critic interviews Ed Erdelac.
- Alisa Krasnostein on Don't let "it's ok, I have a papertrail" be your motto.
- NK Jemisin on I am the market.
- Paul di Filippo on Small Press Spotlight: Soft Skull Press.
- John C. Wright on Heinlein was a Fascist.
- Sarah Monette on Why plagiarism is bad.
- Grasping for the Wind on Inside the Blogosphere: How Do You Organize Your Library?
- Jim C. Hines on Writing the Other.
- Matt Staggs on Library internet usage among the poor: health, education and career figure prominently.
- Shawn Speakman on Finding An Agent: Part 2.
- K. Tempest Bradford on Tech News for Nerds: Life Without Wires.
- USA Today on International Space Station Comes Together. (via Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
- Steven Harper Piziks on Writing and Waiting.
- Rachelle Gardner on Be a Writer.
- Juliette Wade on Laughter.
- Janice Hardy on Testing...Testing...is This Query On?
- Pimp My Novel on Co-Op: Redux.
Here's a pretty cover from Nightjar Press:
Monday, March 29, 2010
March 29, 2010 Links and Plugs
Still not up at 100%. No more Facebook games for me though.
But congrats to the Bram Stoker Awards Winners.
Interviews
But congrats to the Bram Stoker Awards Winners.
Interviews
- Newsarama interviews George R. R. Martin.
- Fantasy Magazine interviews KJ Bishop.
- The Agony Column interviews Terry Bisson (podcast).
- Matt Staggs interviews Brian Ruckley.
- Ari Marmell on The Tie-Ins that Bind.
- Carrie Vaughn on Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Choosing to Leave a Publisher.
- Jim C. Hines on First Novel Survey Results.
- J.D. Shapiro on I penned the suckiest movie ever - sorry!
- Victoria Strauss on First Novel Sales: The Data.
- Tansy Rayner Roberts On Reading Bad Books.
- Rachel Aaron on Author Toolbox: The Knife Test.
- Nancy Jane Moore on Brave New (Writing) World: The End of the Slush Pile?
- Sarah Zettel on The Great Copyright Debate.
- Sherwood Smith on Fantasy and Comedy of Manners.
- Juliette Wade on Using the (Social) Tools You Have.
- Janice Hardy on World-Building Week: Painting and World-Building Week: Showing it Off.
- Nicola Morgan on The Greengrocers' Apostrophe's Solved.
- Pimp My Novel on Publishing in Five Easy Minutes.
- Submissions Call for 2011 Anthology.
- Big-name authors back rebellion at Chinese sci-fi magazine.
- Call for Papers: Strange Worlds – Paths and Spaces of the Fantastic in the 21st Century.
Book/Magazine Review: Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren
Every Monday, I'll be doing bite-sized book/magazine reviews.
Disclosure: The publisher sent a review copy for the purposes of this review.
I was a few dozen pages into Walking the Tree when a co-walker asked what book I was reading: was it fantasy, horror, or science fiction? Kaaron Warren has dabbled in all those genres and while this novel opened with an utopian/dystopian setting, I wasn't ready to pin it down as fantasy. True to my estimation, by the time I finished the book, Warren has written a story that doesn't quite fit any one particular genre although it did give off a vibe that's reminiscent of Ursula K. le Guin's more popular science fiction novels (The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness).
Whereas Warren's previous Angry Robot Books novel gripped you right from the very start, Walking the Tree starts slow and requires patience. The pace however is in the service of the story and Warren uses this leeway to develop both her setting and characters, two elements that are intertwined and pivotal to the narrative. While Walking the Tree could be summed up as a concept-novel that explores themes of culture, morality, and gender, it's Warren's execution that is to be praised. One of the recurring themes is subjective morality and the situations presented in the book tends to be gray as opposed to simply being one-sided. Nor are her characters perfect but instead flawed individuals that you come to care for. Feminists will also note the kind of culture Warren builds upon, arguably a setting wherein gender roles are juxtaposed from what we're commonly familiar with. Not that she's the first author to attempt it, but it feels carefully conceived here.
That's not to say the book isn't without its flaws. Arguably one could consider this a fantasy novel due to the proactive interference of the "magical negro" in the plot, an element that I feel weakens the impact the main character could have had. That's not to say that the magical negro was unnecessary, or that she wasn't foreshadowed, but she comes off as too forceful, diminishing in my opinion the role our main protagonist could have played. There is also a certain formulaicness that the novel follows as our protagonist travels from one region to another, although I wouldn't consider this a weakness per se as the journey is the point of the book. But whereas much patience was exercised during these journeys, I feel the ending was a bit rushed and could have used more exploration. As it is, Warren uses a competent info-dump to convey to the reader the epiphany of her main character in the final region she finds herself in. While Walking the Tree isn't the most elegant novel, Warren does fabricate a believable setting and weaves a narrative that's apt for our current generation.
Disclosure: The publisher sent a review copy for the purposes of this review.I was a few dozen pages into Walking the Tree when a co-walker asked what book I was reading: was it fantasy, horror, or science fiction? Kaaron Warren has dabbled in all those genres and while this novel opened with an utopian/dystopian setting, I wasn't ready to pin it down as fantasy. True to my estimation, by the time I finished the book, Warren has written a story that doesn't quite fit any one particular genre although it did give off a vibe that's reminiscent of Ursula K. le Guin's more popular science fiction novels (The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness).
Whereas Warren's previous Angry Robot Books novel gripped you right from the very start, Walking the Tree starts slow and requires patience. The pace however is in the service of the story and Warren uses this leeway to develop both her setting and characters, two elements that are intertwined and pivotal to the narrative. While Walking the Tree could be summed up as a concept-novel that explores themes of culture, morality, and gender, it's Warren's execution that is to be praised. One of the recurring themes is subjective morality and the situations presented in the book tends to be gray as opposed to simply being one-sided. Nor are her characters perfect but instead flawed individuals that you come to care for. Feminists will also note the kind of culture Warren builds upon, arguably a setting wherein gender roles are juxtaposed from what we're commonly familiar with. Not that she's the first author to attempt it, but it feels carefully conceived here.
That's not to say the book isn't without its flaws. Arguably one could consider this a fantasy novel due to the proactive interference of the "magical negro" in the plot, an element that I feel weakens the impact the main character could have had. That's not to say that the magical negro was unnecessary, or that she wasn't foreshadowed, but she comes off as too forceful, diminishing in my opinion the role our main protagonist could have played. There is also a certain formulaicness that the novel follows as our protagonist travels from one region to another, although I wouldn't consider this a weakness per se as the journey is the point of the book. But whereas much patience was exercised during these journeys, I feel the ending was a bit rushed and could have used more exploration. As it is, Warren uses a competent info-dump to convey to the reader the epiphany of her main character in the final region she finds herself in. While Walking the Tree isn't the most elegant novel, Warren does fabricate a believable setting and weaves a narrative that's apt for our current generation.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
March 25, 2010 Links and Plugs
Just a reminder, won't be available for the weekend so here's the last update for the week.
Interviews
Interviews
- Ed Gorman interviews Christopher Golden.
- Bildungsroman interviews Margo Lanagan.
- Locus interviews Samuel Delany.
- Shawn Speakman interviews Tad Williams.
- The Agony Column interviews Chaz Brenchley (podcast).
- Jim C. Hines on Novel Survey Results, Part III.
- Tansy Rayner Roberts on Entitlement to Books.
- Matt Staggs on Writers’ Conferences: Which Ones?
- Bridget McGovern on It’s Ada Lovelace Day! Go blog!
- Michael Moorcock on The Genesis of Hawkmoon.
- Charlie Stross on CMAP #7: Miscellanea.
- Janice Hardy on World-Building Week: Building Out the Rooms.
- Livia Blackburne on Scientific Proof That Some Character Names Are Hotter Than Others.
- Mythic Delirium close to submissions on May 23.
- BVC welcomes Jay Caselberg.
- American Literature Special Issue on SF, Fantasy, and Myth Call for Submissions. (via Lawrence Schimel)
- 2010 Prometheus Best Novel Award Finalists.
- Lambda Literary 2010 Awards Finalists.
- Tor Books is excited to welcome author Carrie Vaughn to our list!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Essay: Fandom and Piracy (Part 4)
Every Wednesday, I have an essay or feature article on any topic that catches my fancy!
Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
The biggest gripe when it comes to piracy--although this probably remains unacknowledged--is that it's become mainstream (and the only thing that's worse than that is for piracy to be legitimized). Take for example the era of cassette tapes and mix tapes. Were record companies hunting individuals who made mix tapes? If you made them accessible however, such as selling pirated music in malls, or making them available for free on radio, then suddenly you have the attention of the rights-holders, and lawsuits were in order.
When it comes to the Internet, all sorts of piracy was happening, but the key factor here is that it was taking place beyond mainstream consciousness. Bulletin boards, chat rooms, and obscure P2P services are the tools of piracy, but there was a certain learning curve the casual user needed to master before they could use them. That's why music labels focused on Napster: it was a relatively easy-to-use service that disseminated music. And the same goes for the various BitTorrent sites. The basic rule of thumb is that if you can access it via a web browser, then you're mainstream enough to warrant the attention. It's also the biggest slap to the face as the rights-holder if your intellectual property is available for free on some Google-able website. (Interestingly enough, this fact can also be used to counter piracy. The reason Apple's iTunes store works is because it's convenient to use if you're familiar with their service.)
The source of such pirated material, however, isn't on websites. As I mentioned before, pirates are organized, and some even develop brand names for themselves: "This pirate comes out with releases quickly." "That pirate produces quality releases." The key here is that the pirate has their own community and thrives within it. Without the said community, the pirate loses motivation to continue what they're doing (in the same sense that real pirates lose out if no one wants to buy their stolen goods). The problem with current piracy counter-measures is that the rights-holders aren't suing the original pirates, merely the middle-men. And unlike authentic criminal organizations, these middle-men aren't under the employ of the original pirates, but fans (misguided as they may be) who think they are doing a service to fellow fans by perpetuating piracy. Eventually, one of these middle-men comes out into the open (and putting up a website or a Torrent host), but for the most part, the original pirates are content living in their enclosed community. The best analogy here is that Internet piracy is like an infinite chain letter, with the scapegoats being the most recent propagator. Does this end the chain letter link? Not really.
Now the question is, where are these safe and private communities? Message boards and bulletin board services (BBS), while sounding archaic by today's Internet lingo, is actually quite prevalent to this very day. What prevents message boards from being mainstream is that they don't look pretty and are far from intuitive. It requires some knowledge of code (even if it's as simple as using opening and closing tags) for example (today's Internet user is more used to user-friendly services that replicate the features of message boards such as Facebook and blogs). It also requires registration (and verification via email). More exclusive message boards even have tiered membership benefits, with casual users not having access to certain forums. The piracy innovation brought about by this decade is the availability of file-sharing services such as Megaupload and Rapidshare. Pirates can simply upload a file to those services and post the link to bulletin boards. While it's not the most convenient of methods, it's relatively simple and easy, and doesn't tax the servers of the said message boards.
Bulletin boards are useful for pirates because it allows for collaboration, even among pirates who don't know each other. This is best seen in the manga scanlation industry. One person uploads a raw (uncleaned and untranslated) scan in one forum. Another person reads that forum and makes the translation. A third person might clean up the original scan. A fourth person combines the efforts of the last two.
Another such community is chat rooms. The barrier to entry here is similar to message boards. You need to be familiar with certain codes and commands (to enter a channel for example, you need to type "/join #name"). In some chat rooms, you also need to have a registered account or an authorized member of the said channel. The third mainstream hindrance is that you usually need a third-party application to access chat rooms.
If the specialty of bulletin boards is that it allows collaboration (the same applies to chat rooms as well), chat rooms on the other hand are the original peer-to-peer distributor of pirated material. Because complex code is allowed, there are scripts that have been developed which facilitate the distribution of media. Bots typically operate in this area and all you have to do is send them a specific command and the pirate's chat avatar sends you a list of pirated material they have (some would even do Ray Kroc proud with their signature mentioning "XX millions served"). Another command snags you the pirated material you requested for. Rinse and repeat.
Because both of these are taking place "underground", there's a plethora more material there than what is typically found on, say, a Torrent site. For example, nothing concrete comes up when you put in SF author Rudy Rucker's name in torrent search engines but in chat channels that specializes in eBooks, his name pops up with (not a lot) some frequency. A rule of thumb is that the more popular you are (i.e. J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or even just a Robert Jordan), the likelier you'll appear in mainstream pirate venues such as BitTorrent. Cult sensations might remain in the sphere of these cloistered areas, while obscure writers remain obscure.
What's interesting to notice is that while there are pirates in various industries, be it anime, manga, eBooks, comics, movies, music, etc., they tend to operate the same way. They use either message boards or chat rooms (or both) to disseminate their material, and each one has similar membership rules. There are variations of course. One might bar the use of the "@search" command in a chat room, while another encourages it. At the heart of it though, a pirate community operates like a fan community, and follows the same guidelines the latter would (except for the pirating part).
Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
The biggest gripe when it comes to piracy--although this probably remains unacknowledged--is that it's become mainstream (and the only thing that's worse than that is for piracy to be legitimized). Take for example the era of cassette tapes and mix tapes. Were record companies hunting individuals who made mix tapes? If you made them accessible however, such as selling pirated music in malls, or making them available for free on radio, then suddenly you have the attention of the rights-holders, and lawsuits were in order.
When it comes to the Internet, all sorts of piracy was happening, but the key factor here is that it was taking place beyond mainstream consciousness. Bulletin boards, chat rooms, and obscure P2P services are the tools of piracy, but there was a certain learning curve the casual user needed to master before they could use them. That's why music labels focused on Napster: it was a relatively easy-to-use service that disseminated music. And the same goes for the various BitTorrent sites. The basic rule of thumb is that if you can access it via a web browser, then you're mainstream enough to warrant the attention. It's also the biggest slap to the face as the rights-holder if your intellectual property is available for free on some Google-able website. (Interestingly enough, this fact can also be used to counter piracy. The reason Apple's iTunes store works is because it's convenient to use if you're familiar with their service.)
The source of such pirated material, however, isn't on websites. As I mentioned before, pirates are organized, and some even develop brand names for themselves: "This pirate comes out with releases quickly." "That pirate produces quality releases." The key here is that the pirate has their own community and thrives within it. Without the said community, the pirate loses motivation to continue what they're doing (in the same sense that real pirates lose out if no one wants to buy their stolen goods). The problem with current piracy counter-measures is that the rights-holders aren't suing the original pirates, merely the middle-men. And unlike authentic criminal organizations, these middle-men aren't under the employ of the original pirates, but fans (misguided as they may be) who think they are doing a service to fellow fans by perpetuating piracy. Eventually, one of these middle-men comes out into the open (and putting up a website or a Torrent host), but for the most part, the original pirates are content living in their enclosed community. The best analogy here is that Internet piracy is like an infinite chain letter, with the scapegoats being the most recent propagator. Does this end the chain letter link? Not really.
Now the question is, where are these safe and private communities? Message boards and bulletin board services (BBS), while sounding archaic by today's Internet lingo, is actually quite prevalent to this very day. What prevents message boards from being mainstream is that they don't look pretty and are far from intuitive. It requires some knowledge of code (even if it's as simple as using opening and closing tags) for example (today's Internet user is more used to user-friendly services that replicate the features of message boards such as Facebook and blogs). It also requires registration (and verification via email). More exclusive message boards even have tiered membership benefits, with casual users not having access to certain forums. The piracy innovation brought about by this decade is the availability of file-sharing services such as Megaupload and Rapidshare. Pirates can simply upload a file to those services and post the link to bulletin boards. While it's not the most convenient of methods, it's relatively simple and easy, and doesn't tax the servers of the said message boards.
Bulletin boards are useful for pirates because it allows for collaboration, even among pirates who don't know each other. This is best seen in the manga scanlation industry. One person uploads a raw (uncleaned and untranslated) scan in one forum. Another person reads that forum and makes the translation. A third person might clean up the original scan. A fourth person combines the efforts of the last two.
Another such community is chat rooms. The barrier to entry here is similar to message boards. You need to be familiar with certain codes and commands (to enter a channel for example, you need to type "/join #name"). In some chat rooms, you also need to have a registered account or an authorized member of the said channel. The third mainstream hindrance is that you usually need a third-party application to access chat rooms.
If the specialty of bulletin boards is that it allows collaboration (the same applies to chat rooms as well), chat rooms on the other hand are the original peer-to-peer distributor of pirated material. Because complex code is allowed, there are scripts that have been developed which facilitate the distribution of media. Bots typically operate in this area and all you have to do is send them a specific command and the pirate's chat avatar sends you a list of pirated material they have (some would even do Ray Kroc proud with their signature mentioning "XX millions served"). Another command snags you the pirated material you requested for. Rinse and repeat.
Because both of these are taking place "underground", there's a plethora more material there than what is typically found on, say, a Torrent site. For example, nothing concrete comes up when you put in SF author Rudy Rucker's name in torrent search engines but in chat channels that specializes in eBooks, his name pops up with (not a lot) some frequency. A rule of thumb is that the more popular you are (i.e. J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, or even just a Robert Jordan), the likelier you'll appear in mainstream pirate venues such as BitTorrent. Cult sensations might remain in the sphere of these cloistered areas, while obscure writers remain obscure.
What's interesting to notice is that while there are pirates in various industries, be it anime, manga, eBooks, comics, movies, music, etc., they tend to operate the same way. They use either message boards or chat rooms (or both) to disseminate their material, and each one has similar membership rules. There are variations of course. One might bar the use of the "@search" command in a chat room, while another encourages it. At the heart of it though, a pirate community operates like a fan community, and follows the same guidelines the latter would (except for the pirating part).
March 24, 2010 Links and Plugs
Interviews
Try out this magazine:
- American Frankenstein interviews Laird Barron.
- The Agony Column interviews Malinda Lo (podcast).
- John Ottinger III interviews Carrie Ryan.
- Torque Control interviews John Meaney.
- Margo Lanagan on What I Do When I Get Stuck.
- Deborah J. Ross on The Craft of Writing: Every Character Has A Story.
- Rachelle Gardner on How Long?
- David B. Coe on More on Allowing Yourself Not to Write.
- Janice Hardy on World-Building Week: Putting up the Walls.
Try out this magazine:
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
March 23, 2010 Links and Plugs
Will be away over the weekend due to a compulsory company outing so no updates for me on Friday...
Interviews
Go go go:
Realms 2: The Second Year of Clarkesworld Magazine edited by Nick Mamatas and Sean Wallace
Interviews
- Lou Anders interviews John Picacio.
- It Happened in Chicago interviews Nnedi Okorafor.
- Lab and Out interviews Cory Doctorow (podcast).
- William Sullivan interviews Alex Dally MacFarlane.
- Gail Z. Martin interviews Gillian Summers (podcast).
- The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast interviews The Tolkien Professor, Corey Olsen.
- Peter Watts on DVD Extras and Director Commentary.
- Odyssey Workshop on Writing Question: Research Sources.
- Shawn Speakman on Learning From A First Rejection Letter.
- K. Tempest Bradford on Tech News for Nerds: Living in the Future with Smart Phones and eReaders.
- Steven Harper Piziks on Writing Nowadays: Bad Queries.
- Justine Larbalestier on Writer as Career v Writer as Identity.
- Juliette Wade on The Right Narrator.
- Robert R. Chase on Science Friction. (via Juliette Wade)
- Janice Hardy on World Building Week: The Foundation.
- Nicola Morgan on Be Careful What You Wish For.
Go go go:
Realms 2: The Second Year of Clarkesworld Magazine edited by Nick Mamatas and Sean WallaceMonday, March 22, 2010
3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Links Part 2
Here are some Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards coverage and Neil Gaiman interviews/testimonies.
- Fully Booked's Revelations: The Book Signing Event photos.
- Cynthia Arre on A short video of our dinner with Neil Gaiman / Chef Jessie @ Rockwell Club, Makati, Philippines.
- Gerry Alanguilan on Neil Gaiman and Me, March 2010 (video).
- Azrael's photos: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
- Philippine Star interview.
- Budjette Tan's experience.
- Maui's new resume.
- Business Mirror interview.
March 22, 2010 Links and Plugs
Your not-quite-zen-photos for the day:
The Legion of Substitute Neils
(via Neil Gaiman 1, 2)
If that freaked you out, check out this video of Neil's entrance (3 min. in)
Interviews
Advice/Articles
News
The Legion of Substitute Neils(via Neil Gaiman 1, 2)
If that freaked you out, check out this video of Neil's entrance (3 min. in)
Interviews
- Hour of the Wolf interviews Chick Digs Time Lords.
- Temple Library Reviews interviews Lee Harris.
- Hub Magazine interviews Joe R. Lansdale.
- Business Mirror interviews Neil Gaiman.
- The Philippine Star interviews Neil Gaiman.
- Matt Staggs interviews Ethan Gilsdorf.
Advice/Articles
- Athena Andreadis on Being Part of Everyone's Furniture; Or: Appropriate Away!
- Rich Horton on Summary: New Stories from Collections, 2009.
- Peter Watts on Guilty.
- The Times Herald on Watts guilty of Blue Water Bridge assault.
- Cheryl Morgan on Border Issues.
- Madeline Ashby on The Crossroads.
- Gord Sellar on Don't Ask Why...
- J.M. McDermott on Trying to Make Sense of the Peter Watts conviction...
- Charles Stross on Politics, free trade, violence.
- Cynthia Ward on “Watching Avatar While White”.
- Ari Marmell on Okay, I'm here. Now what?
- Rachel Aaron on the 7 habits of highly effective authors.
- Lori Devoti on Writing a book? This better be personal!
- Sherwood Smith on Kids’ Reading and the Question of “Age Appropriate”.
- Madeleine E. Robins on You Got to Know When to Fold.
- Janice Hardy on Let's Get Ready to Research.
News
- British Fantasy Awards 2010: the Longlist.
- Tor.com looking for Administrative Editor.
- Market News: Mountain Magic.
Book/Magazine Review: Shine edited by Jetse de Vries
Every Monday, I'll be doing bite-sized book/magazine reviews.
When I first heard of the proposal for Shine--an anthology of near-future optimistic science fiction--there was a part of me that was skeptical. Not because it couldn't be done, but it's one of those criteria that's difficult to write for. What exactly is optimistic science fiction? It's not simply a science fiction story with a happy ending as that's quite common. It's also not the opposite of dystopian science fiction, writing about a utopian society. Rather, to me, optimistic science fiction is about solving a real-world problem, but without sounding contrived or saccharine.
What really bugs me about the concept however is how to weave a narrative around it. At its worst, the story might have no conflict at all, or one that's not convincing. Another temptation that lesser writers might fall prey to is that the story will sound didactic, and would better serve as an essay rather than a short story. Now I've read Jetse de Vries's "Transcendence Express" and it's the perfect example of the kind of story Shine is looking for. It's hard science fiction, causes positive change, and there's a believable tension surrounding the piece. But the problem there is that de Vries is the editor for the anthology. Would he be able to find other writers capable of writing such fiction?
The honest answer is that Shine is a mixed success. All the stories, no doubt, are optimistic. But some do fall prey to my fears. "Russian Roulette 2020" by Eva Maria Chapman for example falls into the trap of utopian didacticism as the protagonist is reduced to merely being a foil in what is a one-sided narrative. There are also stories which are quite competent , but simply fail to be striking, such as "Sustainable Development" by Paul R. Stiles and "Scheherazade Cast in Starlight" by Jason Andrew.
Interesting for me to note are the stories which easily could have been dull but because of the technique the author uses, ends on a high note, albeit one that's predictable. "The Solnet Ascendancy" by Lavie Tidhar and "Seeds" by Silva Moreno-Garcia are, for the most part, trickster stories, but they work within the context of the theme.
Shine has its share of good stories such as "Overhead" by Jason Stoddard and "The Church of Accelerated Redemption" by Gareth L. Powell and Aliette de Bodard, but what I want to highlight are the stories that grabbed me by the balls so to speak. Originally, I didn't think this anthology would contain much of them, but by the time I read the closed the book, the number of memorable stories was surprising.
"Twittering the Stars" by Mari Ness could be interpreted as gimmicky due to its use of the Twitter format but Ness makes the most out of her medium. The story immediately engulfs you in the drama and wins you over to the protagonist's side. What's deceptive about the piece is that it's quite lengthy but because Ness uses Tweets, it doesn't feel overbearing. Another bonus is that the story could be read in reverse order and would still be just as relevant. "Twittering the Stars" is arguably the bleakest story in the anthology, and perhaps that's part of its charm, the fact that there's a complex yet immediate dilemma for the character to wrestle with. This is also a good example of science fiction that's relevant today: the story is set in the 2050's and I honestly doubt if Twitter will still be relevant four decades from now.
"At Budokan" by Alastair Reynolds is a story wherein the author isn't afraid of giving his imagination free reign. Reynolds manages to combine elements that on paper seem ridiculous for a science fiction story but here, he makes it work. What's surprising is that whereas the other stories tackle massive and ambitious social change, "At Budokan" has modest goals. This perhaps isn't the most socially-relevant piece you'll read in the anthology, but for me this was the most fun.
Striking the balance between sense of wonder, hard science fiction (be it biological or sociological), and social relevance is "Sarging Rasmussen: A Report (by Organic)" by Gord Sellar. This one immediately catches your attention with the author's style, and actually manages to sustain it until the very end. To me, this is optimistic science fiction done right, even surpassing de Vries's own fiction. The conceit here is that the short story doesn't read like it's preaching an agenda to you, and Sellar's enthusiasm for the story is conveyed in the text. There's a Second Foundation vibe to it and reminiscent of Nicola Griffith's "It Takes Two" from Eclipse Three but Sellar takes the concept into a different direction.
I had heard praises for Madeline Ashby before but it was only after reading her story "Ishin" that I had the realization that this was the Madeline Ashby other people were talking about. Ashby writes compelling hard science fiction that's both imaginative and very down-to-earth. I could easily see this author giving Ted Chiang a run for his money down the line, and while "Ishin" isn't the best story in the anthology, it's certainly reason enough to buy the book.
Shine isn't by any means a spectacular failure nor is it one of those rare anthologies where majority of the stories align with your personal taste. Rather, it's a mixture of hits and misses, although thankfully the good stuff outweighs the bad. The question that I ask every anthology is whether it contains enough stories that stand out to warrant its purchase and Shine is one such book.
When I first heard of the proposal for Shine--an anthology of near-future optimistic science fiction--there was a part of me that was skeptical. Not because it couldn't be done, but it's one of those criteria that's difficult to write for. What exactly is optimistic science fiction? It's not simply a science fiction story with a happy ending as that's quite common. It's also not the opposite of dystopian science fiction, writing about a utopian society. Rather, to me, optimistic science fiction is about solving a real-world problem, but without sounding contrived or saccharine.What really bugs me about the concept however is how to weave a narrative around it. At its worst, the story might have no conflict at all, or one that's not convincing. Another temptation that lesser writers might fall prey to is that the story will sound didactic, and would better serve as an essay rather than a short story. Now I've read Jetse de Vries's "Transcendence Express" and it's the perfect example of the kind of story Shine is looking for. It's hard science fiction, causes positive change, and there's a believable tension surrounding the piece. But the problem there is that de Vries is the editor for the anthology. Would he be able to find other writers capable of writing such fiction?
The honest answer is that Shine is a mixed success. All the stories, no doubt, are optimistic. But some do fall prey to my fears. "Russian Roulette 2020" by Eva Maria Chapman for example falls into the trap of utopian didacticism as the protagonist is reduced to merely being a foil in what is a one-sided narrative. There are also stories which are quite competent , but simply fail to be striking, such as "Sustainable Development" by Paul R. Stiles and "Scheherazade Cast in Starlight" by Jason Andrew.
Interesting for me to note are the stories which easily could have been dull but because of the technique the author uses, ends on a high note, albeit one that's predictable. "The Solnet Ascendancy" by Lavie Tidhar and "Seeds" by Silva Moreno-Garcia are, for the most part, trickster stories, but they work within the context of the theme.
Shine has its share of good stories such as "Overhead" by Jason Stoddard and "The Church of Accelerated Redemption" by Gareth L. Powell and Aliette de Bodard, but what I want to highlight are the stories that grabbed me by the balls so to speak. Originally, I didn't think this anthology would contain much of them, but by the time I read the closed the book, the number of memorable stories was surprising.
"Twittering the Stars" by Mari Ness could be interpreted as gimmicky due to its use of the Twitter format but Ness makes the most out of her medium. The story immediately engulfs you in the drama and wins you over to the protagonist's side. What's deceptive about the piece is that it's quite lengthy but because Ness uses Tweets, it doesn't feel overbearing. Another bonus is that the story could be read in reverse order and would still be just as relevant. "Twittering the Stars" is arguably the bleakest story in the anthology, and perhaps that's part of its charm, the fact that there's a complex yet immediate dilemma for the character to wrestle with. This is also a good example of science fiction that's relevant today: the story is set in the 2050's and I honestly doubt if Twitter will still be relevant four decades from now.
"At Budokan" by Alastair Reynolds is a story wherein the author isn't afraid of giving his imagination free reign. Reynolds manages to combine elements that on paper seem ridiculous for a science fiction story but here, he makes it work. What's surprising is that whereas the other stories tackle massive and ambitious social change, "At Budokan" has modest goals. This perhaps isn't the most socially-relevant piece you'll read in the anthology, but for me this was the most fun.
Striking the balance between sense of wonder, hard science fiction (be it biological or sociological), and social relevance is "Sarging Rasmussen: A Report (by Organic)" by Gord Sellar. This one immediately catches your attention with the author's style, and actually manages to sustain it until the very end. To me, this is optimistic science fiction done right, even surpassing de Vries's own fiction. The conceit here is that the short story doesn't read like it's preaching an agenda to you, and Sellar's enthusiasm for the story is conveyed in the text. There's a Second Foundation vibe to it and reminiscent of Nicola Griffith's "It Takes Two" from Eclipse Three but Sellar takes the concept into a different direction.
I had heard praises for Madeline Ashby before but it was only after reading her story "Ishin" that I had the realization that this was the Madeline Ashby other people were talking about. Ashby writes compelling hard science fiction that's both imaginative and very down-to-earth. I could easily see this author giving Ted Chiang a run for his money down the line, and while "Ishin" isn't the best story in the anthology, it's certainly reason enough to buy the book.
Shine isn't by any means a spectacular failure nor is it one of those rare anthologies where majority of the stories align with your personal taste. Rather, it's a mixture of hits and misses, although thankfully the good stuff outweighs the bad. The question that I ask every anthology is whether it contains enough stories that stand out to warrant its purchase and Shine is one such book.
Friday, March 19, 2010
March 19, 2010 Links and Plugs
Interviews
Antho!
- Jeffrey Ford interviews David Herter.
- The Nebula Awards interviews John Scalzi.
- Fantasy Magazine interviews Jay Lake and Shannon Page.
- A Writer's Blog interviews Simon Clark.
- ANC interviews Neil Gaiman 1, 2 (video).
- Jay Lake on Writing Through Cancer.
- Alisa Krasnostein on WASFF: Statement of Values.
- Jim C. Hines on Novel Survey Results, Part II.
- Valio98 on Bulgarian Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2009, I Told You So or Is Vidia Neypaul a Third World Writer? and English Translation of the Statement of B. Strugatsky about the fake accusation of Cameron in plagiarism, or similarities between Avatar and the Noon Universe.
- Rochita Loenen-Ruiz on Identity and Writing.
- Kalayna on Unofficial CP appreciation day.
- Nancy Jane Moore on Brave New (Writing) World: Fans, Friends & Followers.
- Megan Reid on Being a Bad Reader.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch on The Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Groups.
- Juliette Wade on Do you use parallel drafts?
- A. Lee Martinez on The Batman Fallacy.
- Jason Sanford on Do writers suck as readers? Prove me wrong.
- Nathan Brasford on How To Format a Query Letter.
- The Intern on why famous authors don't want to read your unpublished manuscript.
Antho!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Links Part 1
I have some media files here.
First up is ANC's (local network) interview with Neil Gaiman up on YouTube: (Part 1|Part 2)
Edit: Rocket Kapre has some videos from the event.
And here are some files I uploaded:
1st: "A Kind of Flotsam" by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
2nd: "Filipina: The Super Maid" by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
3rd: "Cherry Clubbing" by Kenneth Yu and "Remembrance" by Dean Alfar
First up is ANC's (local network) interview with Neil Gaiman up on YouTube: (Part 1|Part 2)
Edit: Rocket Kapre has some videos from the event.
And here are some files I uploaded:
- Jaime Daez's introduction to the event. |MP3|
- Neil Gaiman's introduction speech. |MP3|
- Neil Gaiman reading an original poem. |MP3|
- Neil Gaiman's speech on why he sponsored the event. |MP3|
- Prose judge's criteria for picking the winning stories. |MP3|
1st: "A Kind of Flotsam" by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
2nd: "Filipina: The Super Maid" by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
3rd: "Cherry Clubbing" by Kenneth Yu and "Remembrance" by Dean Alfar
3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards
The title for the 3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards was Revelations: Stories of Light and Darkness and was held at the Rockwell Tent last March 17, 2010. Sponsors for the event were Pelicola, San Miguel and Globe.
Here's the list of this year's winners:
Prose: (Judges: Gabrielle de la Rama-Talan, Luis Katigbak, Angelo R. Lacuesta)
1st: "A Kind of Flotsam" by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
2nd: "Filipina: The Super Maid" by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
3rd: "Cherry Clubbing" by Kenneth Yu and "Remembrance" by Dean Alfar
Comics: (Judges: Gerry Alanguilan, Arnold Arre, Jaime Daez)
1st: "I See" by Manuel Abrera (disqualified but nonetheless recognized)
2nd: "Douglas" by Genevieve Go
3rd: "(Love) at Last Sight" by Heubert Khan Michael
Film: (Judges: Topel Lee, Quark Henares, Erik Mati)
2nd: "Kumot ng Panaginip" Jedd Chris P. Dumaguina
3rd: "Squatters from Mars" by Rommel Sales
There was also a People's Choice Awards category:
Prose:
1st: "Filipina: The Super Maid" by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
2nd: "A Kind of Flotsam" by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
3rd: "The Street Child and the Dwarf" by Diabelle Joy M. Pazcoguin
Comics:
1st: "Hunger" by Jeremiah D. Faustino and Norman Jim Faustino
2nd: "Raisinhead: A Tale of a Modern-Day Tiyanak" by Christian Oliver A. Cruz
3rd: "Traffick" by Alarice A. Francisco
Film:
1st: "Kumot ng Panaginip" by Jedd Chris P. Dumaguina
2nd: "Anak ng Tikbalang" Desiree Ann C. Samson
3rd: "Embrace" Ron Sapinoso
Here's the original Short List:
Prose:
1. "Babymakers" by Laura Jermina R. Abejo
2. "Leg Men" by Dominique Gerald Cimafranca
3. "Cherry Clubbing" by Kenneth Yu
4. "The Sweet Stranger" by Michael A.R. Co
5. "A Kind of Flotsam" by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
6. "Won't You Be My Friend, Mr. Faceless Creature of Evil?" by Karlos de Mesa
7. "The Street Child and the Dwarf" by Diabelle Joy M. Pazcoguin
8. "Filipina: The Super Maid" by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
9. "Remembrance" by Dean Alfar
10. "Pursuit of the Litaniera" by Elyrose G. Punsalan
Comics:
1. "Traffick" by Alarice A. Francisco
2. "Raisinhead: A Tale of a Modern-Day Tiyanak" by Christian Oliver A. Cruz
3. "The Revolutionary" by Kevin Justin T. Ang
4. "Hunger" by Jeremiah D. Faustino and Norman Jim Faustino
5. "Mekanix" by Romir Sucaldito and Jhem Manalang
6. "(Love) at Last Sight" by Heubert Khan Michael
7. "Douglas" by Genevieve Go
8. "I See" by Manuel Abrera
Film:
1. "Lost and Found" by Jethro Trogo and Gharawi Usman
2. "Squatters in Mars" by Rommel Sales
3. "Anak ng Tikbalang" by Desiree Ann Samson
4. "Blogog" by Rommel Tolentino
5. "Black Worms" by Khavn dela Cruz
6. "Panibugho (Jealousy)" by Alvin Yapan
7. "Takot Ako" by Jules Dan Katanyag
8. "Kumot ng Panaginip" by Jedd Chris Dumaguina
9. "Embrace" by Ronnie Sapinoso
10. "Kulob" by Camille Jensen Hirro and Liezl Ortacio
The 3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards was also the launch of the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards anthologies (one for comics, one for film) which includes the winners from all three competitions:
Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Prose (P550)
Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Comics (P699)
Here's the list of this year's winners:
Prose: (Judges: Gabrielle de la Rama-Talan, Luis Katigbak, Angelo R. Lacuesta)
1st: "A Kind of Flotsam" by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
2nd: "Filipina: The Super Maid" by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
3rd: "Cherry Clubbing" by Kenneth Yu and "Remembrance" by Dean Alfar
Comics: (Judges: Gerry Alanguilan, Arnold Arre, Jaime Daez)
1st: "I See" by Manuel Abrera (disqualified but nonetheless recognized)
2nd: "Douglas" by Genevieve Go
3rd: "(Love) at Last Sight" by Heubert Khan Michael
Film: (Judges: Topel Lee, Quark Henares, Erik Mati)
2nd: "Kumot ng Panaginip" Jedd Chris P. Dumaguina
3rd: "Squatters from Mars" by Rommel Sales
There was also a People's Choice Awards category:
Prose:
1st: "Filipina: The Super Maid" by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
2nd: "A Kind of Flotsam" by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
3rd: "The Street Child and the Dwarf" by Diabelle Joy M. Pazcoguin
Comics:
1st: "Hunger" by Jeremiah D. Faustino and Norman Jim Faustino
2nd: "Raisinhead: A Tale of a Modern-Day Tiyanak" by Christian Oliver A. Cruz
3rd: "Traffick" by Alarice A. Francisco
Film:
1st: "Kumot ng Panaginip" by Jedd Chris P. Dumaguina
2nd: "Anak ng Tikbalang" Desiree Ann C. Samson
3rd: "Embrace" Ron Sapinoso
Here's the original Short List:
Prose:
1. "Babymakers" by Laura Jermina R. Abejo
2. "Leg Men" by Dominique Gerald Cimafranca
3. "Cherry Clubbing" by Kenneth Yu
4. "The Sweet Stranger" by Michael A.R. Co
5. "A Kind of Flotsam" by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
6. "Won't You Be My Friend, Mr. Faceless Creature of Evil?" by Karlos de Mesa
7. "The Street Child and the Dwarf" by Diabelle Joy M. Pazcoguin
8. "Filipina: The Super Maid" by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
9. "Remembrance" by Dean Alfar
10. "Pursuit of the Litaniera" by Elyrose G. Punsalan
Comics:
1. "Traffick" by Alarice A. Francisco
2. "Raisinhead: A Tale of a Modern-Day Tiyanak" by Christian Oliver A. Cruz
3. "The Revolutionary" by Kevin Justin T. Ang
4. "Hunger" by Jeremiah D. Faustino and Norman Jim Faustino
5. "Mekanix" by Romir Sucaldito and Jhem Manalang
6. "(Love) at Last Sight" by Heubert Khan Michael
7. "Douglas" by Genevieve Go
8. "I See" by Manuel Abrera
Film:
1. "Lost and Found" by Jethro Trogo and Gharawi Usman
2. "Squatters in Mars" by Rommel Sales
3. "Anak ng Tikbalang" by Desiree Ann Samson
4. "Blogog" by Rommel Tolentino
5. "Black Worms" by Khavn dela Cruz
6. "Panibugho (Jealousy)" by Alvin Yapan
7. "Takot Ako" by Jules Dan Katanyag
8. "Kumot ng Panaginip" by Jedd Chris Dumaguina
9. "Embrace" by Ronnie Sapinoso
10. "Kulob" by Camille Jensen Hirro and Liezl Ortacio
The 3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards was also the launch of the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards anthologies (one for comics, one for film) which includes the winners from all three competitions:
Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Prose (P550)
Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Comics (P699)March 18, 2010 Links and Plugs
Have cold. 4 hours sleep. Lots of stuff to do.
Best thing I can do right now is quote Theodora Goss: "Support your local medical examiner -- die strangely."
Congrats to the winners of the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards. Rocket Kapre has the list here.
Interviews
Best thing I can do right now is quote Theodora Goss: "Support your local medical examiner -- die strangely."
Congrats to the winners of the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards. Rocket Kapre has the list here.
Interviews
- I Should Be Writing interviews Don Vaughn (podcast).
- Unsearchable Riches interviews Lisa Mantchev.
- Fantasy Literature interviews Marjorie Liu.
- Hal Duncan on Racebending and Integration.
- Wheatland Press on Polyphony 7: The Update with extra honesty.
- Paul Di Filippo on Small Press Spotlight: Graywolf.
- Ross E. Lockhart on Genre Fiction is Going to the Dogs.
- Charlie Stross on CMAP #6: Why did you pick such an awful cover for your new book?
- Editorial Ass on Do I really want to be published? (Your Questions continued).
- Janice Hardy on Re-Write Wednesday: Onward...No?
- Pimp My Novel on O Fortune, Fortune!
- Support Youth Literacy: Barrelhouse Hosts the D.C. Dzanc Creative Writing Workshop.
- James Tiptree, Jr. Award 2009 Winners.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
March 17, 2010 Links and Plugs
DHL package arrived. It contained one book. It costs UK$7.99. I was taxed by customs for UK$7.99. Philippines complying with the Florence Agreement? Yeah right.
Interviews
Interviews
- Temple Library Reviews interviews Lauren Beukes.
- Matt Heppe interviews Christian Cameron.
- Nick Harkaway’s Guest of Honour Speech at P-Con (video). (via Cheryl Morgan)
- Suvudu interviews Elizabeth Moon and Jack Campbell.
- John Scalzi's The Big Idea: Carrie Ryan.
- The Extra interviews Michael Shea.
- SFWA on How to Kill Your Imaginary Friends: How To Talk Doctor! Lesson 1.
- Cindy Pon on Diversity in fantasy mine. (via Tansy Rayner Roberts)
- Jim C. Hines on Novel Survey Results, Part I.
- Nick Mamatas on The Professional.
- Victoria Strauss on Content Mills–Just A Stepping Stone in Your Career.
- Michael A. Stackpole on Will Ebooks Kill The Joy of Reading?
- Nisi Shawl on Writing and Racial Identity Versus the Spinrave.
- Nnedi Okorafor on Can you define African Science Fiction?
- Juliette Wade on Insiders and Outsiders.
- Missions Unknown on Scrap the Remakes and Film These Books Instead.
- Mark Kelly on Genres of Sequels and Series.
- Brit Mandelo on Queering SFF #1: First Experiences.
- Jo Walton on In Sheep’s Clothing: Why Fantasy and SF might be disguised as each other.
- Kristin Cashore on the Flying Trapeze.
- Marie Brennan on First Girl Ever.
- A. Lee Martinez on Abracadabra!
- Nicola Morgan on Conflicting Advice.
- The Rejectionist on 5 Traits That Bag an Boyfriend Agent, Courtesy of Cosmopolitan Magazine.
- Imogen Russell Williams on What's in a name? A lot, when it comes to fantasy.
Essay: Fandom and Piracy (Part 3)
Every Wednesday, I have an essay or feature article on any topic that catches my fancy!
Part 1 and Part 2.
Despite my discussion of anime/manga piracy, note that this is a unique phenomenon and not applicable to other forms of media. Music and books, for example, don't generally owe their current popularity to piracy in general, although some authors have leveraged the habits of pirates in their favor as a promotional tool (which is the case of authors who have works under the Creative Commons license).
When it comes to the book industry, the appeal of pirated books isn't just the "free lunch" mentality (although I eventually will talk about the mentality of a pirate). One point in their favor is that they're simply better and more efficient at packaging an eBook as opposed to publishers. Now this shouldn't really be surprising. Pirates are usually ahead of their time. For example, they were circulating mp3s before there were iPods (I even remember the days of mp2) and MPEG-2 quality videos before there were DVDs. Pirates simply have had more experience with technology. That's not to say they have everything figured out, but they learned from earlier production mistakes--errors which publishers are only making now. For example, one complaint with some eBooks is that they're not formatted correctly, contain inappropriate breaks or indents, spelling typos, etc. Pirates however are passionate and thorough--two assets that are otherwise invaluable in other industries--and makes these adjustments to the eBooks that they create. In PDFs (and this is evident in the RPG piracy "industry"), this could mean inserting comprehensive bookmarks, making sure all the text is OCR, etc. Contrast this to some official products which is riddled with inconveniences, such as the lack of bookmarks or an index.
The second point in favor of pirates is that they don't recognize international borders--and neither does the lay person. I've heard complaints from eBook consumers as to why they can't purchase an eBook in an online store due to regional licensing reasons (i.e. It's a US vendor and the customer is living in Australia). Now I understand the rationale behind it (and these are laws drafted before there ever was an Internet) but to most people, such an enterprise seems counter-intuitive. To them, the Internet is worldwide and is supposed to facilitate transactions between various countries but due to current legislation, the eBook retailer only has rights to a specific region (they can certainly purchase a worldwide license but is it feasible for their business?). Pirated eBooks, on the other hand, are not only DRM-free, but are as convenient as simply downloading it: No EULAs to read, no accounts to sign into, no checking of your region, etc.
The third problem is availability: publishers don't publish their entire backlist. Pirates, on the other hand, have no restriction (which isn't to say that every book in the world is out there). Sometimes, consumers don't have a choice between picking a publisher's eBook or a pirate's: only the latter exists. Also, not everyone keeps softcopies of everything they've written--not even the authors themselves (whether it's due to technical failure or simply because the manuscript was written on a typewriter). One of the most ridiculous incident I've come across is a publisher seeking a pirated copy of a prospective author's work because the latter didn't have a softcopy. Or hearing about editors having to scout pirate sites to search for polished manuscripts. (Unfortunately, both incidents are true.)
At least from this paradigm, the best way to combat piracy is to simply be more efficient and deliver a polished product (or, at the very least, produce some form of product). Similar to the pirates in anime/manga, the mentality of some pirates is that they exist to fill a void--in this case, either because the product doesn't exist (a publisher's backlist for example) or because the existing product is inferior in some way (i.e. sloppy formatting, lack of bookmarks, etc.). That's not to say all pirates are like this, and there are definitely pirates out there who pirate even when the publisher does produce a quality product (and sometimes, disseminates that very product), but there's definitely a segment of pirates who is best discouraged not by copyright-protection measures, but by simply producing a good product in the first place.
Part 1 and Part 2.
Despite my discussion of anime/manga piracy, note that this is a unique phenomenon and not applicable to other forms of media. Music and books, for example, don't generally owe their current popularity to piracy in general, although some authors have leveraged the habits of pirates in their favor as a promotional tool (which is the case of authors who have works under the Creative Commons license).
When it comes to the book industry, the appeal of pirated books isn't just the "free lunch" mentality (although I eventually will talk about the mentality of a pirate). One point in their favor is that they're simply better and more efficient at packaging an eBook as opposed to publishers. Now this shouldn't really be surprising. Pirates are usually ahead of their time. For example, they were circulating mp3s before there were iPods (I even remember the days of mp2) and MPEG-2 quality videos before there were DVDs. Pirates simply have had more experience with technology. That's not to say they have everything figured out, but they learned from earlier production mistakes--errors which publishers are only making now. For example, one complaint with some eBooks is that they're not formatted correctly, contain inappropriate breaks or indents, spelling typos, etc. Pirates however are passionate and thorough--two assets that are otherwise invaluable in other industries--and makes these adjustments to the eBooks that they create. In PDFs (and this is evident in the RPG piracy "industry"), this could mean inserting comprehensive bookmarks, making sure all the text is OCR, etc. Contrast this to some official products which is riddled with inconveniences, such as the lack of bookmarks or an index.
The second point in favor of pirates is that they don't recognize international borders--and neither does the lay person. I've heard complaints from eBook consumers as to why they can't purchase an eBook in an online store due to regional licensing reasons (i.e. It's a US vendor and the customer is living in Australia). Now I understand the rationale behind it (and these are laws drafted before there ever was an Internet) but to most people, such an enterprise seems counter-intuitive. To them, the Internet is worldwide and is supposed to facilitate transactions between various countries but due to current legislation, the eBook retailer only has rights to a specific region (they can certainly purchase a worldwide license but is it feasible for their business?). Pirated eBooks, on the other hand, are not only DRM-free, but are as convenient as simply downloading it: No EULAs to read, no accounts to sign into, no checking of your region, etc.
The third problem is availability: publishers don't publish their entire backlist. Pirates, on the other hand, have no restriction (which isn't to say that every book in the world is out there). Sometimes, consumers don't have a choice between picking a publisher's eBook or a pirate's: only the latter exists. Also, not everyone keeps softcopies of everything they've written--not even the authors themselves (whether it's due to technical failure or simply because the manuscript was written on a typewriter). One of the most ridiculous incident I've come across is a publisher seeking a pirated copy of a prospective author's work because the latter didn't have a softcopy. Or hearing about editors having to scout pirate sites to search for polished manuscripts. (Unfortunately, both incidents are true.)
At least from this paradigm, the best way to combat piracy is to simply be more efficient and deliver a polished product (or, at the very least, produce some form of product). Similar to the pirates in anime/manga, the mentality of some pirates is that they exist to fill a void--in this case, either because the product doesn't exist (a publisher's backlist for example) or because the existing product is inferior in some way (i.e. sloppy formatting, lack of bookmarks, etc.). That's not to say all pirates are like this, and there are definitely pirates out there who pirate even when the publisher does produce a quality product (and sometimes, disseminates that very product), but there's definitely a segment of pirates who is best discouraged not by copyright-protection measures, but by simply producing a good product in the first place.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
March 16, 2010 Links and Plugs
Things are looking bleak for Polyphony 7. Why don't you pre-order a copy? (Now! It's the last day!) Here are statements from Jay Lake and Nick Mamatas.
Interviews
Interviews
- New Zealand Radio interviews Neil Gaiman. (via Aurealis Xpress)
- Blood and Stardust interviews Nicholas Kaufmann.
- The Dragon Page interviews F. Paul Wilson.
- Geek's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast interviews director Alexandre Philippe.
- Rich Horton's Summary: "Novella Chapbooks", 2009.
- Tansy Rayner Roberts on Stealth Worldbuilding & the Other Kind of Standalone Fantasy.
- Ian McDonald on Spingate.
- Josh Jasper On Rocket Ships and Palm Trees.
- Gary Westfahl on Searching for Tomorrow: A Second Look at FlashForward.
- Jo Walton on Why reviewers don't often say “This sucks”.
- Brandon Sanderson on Can you do that in a fantasy novel?
- Judith Tarr on Ways to Trash Your Riding Career: The More You Know…
- Editorial Ass on What's a standard submission process like? (Your Questions continued).
- William Shunn on Publishers who ask for camera-ready copy.
- Courtney Milan on Lying.
- Rachelle Gardner on Common Questions Answered.
- S.C. Butler on Write What You Don’t Know.
- SALE: 50% Off All In-Stock and Forthcoming Night Shade Titles!
- Lightspeed Will Temporarily Close to Submissions.
Monday, March 15, 2010
March 15, 2010 Links and Plugs
Neil Gaiman dropping by the Philippines on Wednesday...
Also, help John Klima Make a science fiction magazine showcasing underrepresented cultures.
Interviews
Looks fun:
Also, help John Klima Make a science fiction magazine showcasing underrepresented cultures.
Interviews
- The Author Hour interviews R.A. Salvatore.
- Hour of the Wolf interviews N.K. Jemisin (podcast).
- A Journey Round My Skull interviews Franz Rottensteiner.
- Hub Fiction interviews Joe R. Lansdale.
- Odyssey Workshop interviews Alexander Jablokav.
- Embrace the Shadows interviews Laura Bickle.
- Jeff VanderMeer on An Overview of International Science Fiction/Fantasy in 2009.
- Victoria Strauss on Content Mills–Why Aspiring Writers Should Avoid Them.
- Tansy Rayner Roberts on My Top Ten Super-Solo-Unsequelled-Standalone Fantasy Novels.
- Jacqui Hayes on Talking squids in outer space.
- Arachne Jericho on Thoughts on the Cultural Appropriation of Geek Culture and Race.
- Paul Witcover on The role of the artist.
- Christchurch City Libraries Blog on Gaiman, Lanagan: doing it for the kids, not the librarians and The most surprising thing you will ever hear Simon Schama say.
- Talula on Readers + Writers week – Neil Gaiman and Margo Lanagan.
- Larry Nolen on Can a gabacho understand non-gabacho writings?
- Matt Staggs on All You Zombies: Taking a Look at the Latest Zombie Fiction.
- Ari Marmell on What if Sauron had Won?
- MK Hobson on The paradox of diminishing competency.
- Ursula K. Le Guin on Art, Information, Theft, and Confusion.
- Brenda Clough on Ways to Trash Your Writing Career: Writers Block.
- Sherwood Smith on Kids and a Sense of History.
- Kim Malo on Readers.
- Justine Larbalestier on How to Get Published? Don’t Ask Me.
- Eric Rosenfield on Where's my Foreign Pop Fiction?
- The Intern on The Ten Best Things You Can Do For Your Manuscript.
- The New York Times on Living With Music: A Playlist by Michael Moorcock.
- Lucius Shepard on Cultural Appropriation.
Looks fun:
Book/Magazine Review: The Best of Joe R. Lansdale
Every Monday, I'll be doing bite-sized book/magazine reviews.
Disclosure: The publisher sent a review copy for the purposes of this review.
Reading The Best of Joe R. Lansdale is peculiar for me because for the most part, this is my only exposure to Joe R. Lansdale. I've heard of his reputation before, whether it's his Drive-In series or how his stories have a Texas-flavor to them, but if we're talking about a genuine acquaintance with his writing, for me it's the new frontier.
The first thing noticeable with this collection is that the order of the stories aren't arbitrary. The first quarter of the book, for example, are stories that tackle old age and senility--geriatric fiction if you will. It's a theme you don't encounter in speculative fiction often but is quite relevant. On one hand, you have the cheesy "Bubba Ho-Tep" (yes, I've seen the movie), and while at times the story itself feels manipulative (our protagonist for example is spoon-fed all of the relevant information), it nonetheless hits the gut when Lansdale talks about the aging of man (and an icon). Lansdale's technique is also quite diverse, as can be seen in "Fire Dog" which is more fable-like but is one of his most effective pieces. And sometimes, it comes down to the framing device the author uses. "Mad Dog Summer" could easily have been a coming of age story--and it is--but the way Lansdale precedes and concludes the narrative with the perspective of the narrator as an old man makes all the difference. Suffice to say, the experience was refreshing and welcome.
And then we get the rest of the collection. Again, I can't stress Lansdale's diversity. Some of the stories aren't speculative in nature but feel more Western. Others are simply unlabeled stories, although they do have an agenda. The closest approximation I have when it comes to Lansdale's writing is that they're modernized pulp, possessing chauvinistic male bravado and racism of a certain period. That's not to say Lansdale is racist, simply that he was writing about a culture that, unfortunately, was. "Mad Dog Summer", "The Big Blow", and "Night They Missed the Horror Show" for example features compelling African-American characters but they also contain foils which hate them simply because of the color of their skin. The first two are immersive and dramatic, while the last one is a flat-out horror tale in the same way dystopias are chilling.
Lansdale's morals are also evident in his flash fiction, such as "Duck Hunt" and "Cowboy". They're too agenda-driven for me however, in the sense that they come out as didactic and lacking the finesse of his other stories. "Cowboy" for example is simply an African-American airing his complaints as to why there are no Black cowboys. Which is true enough and that's perhaps the true horror here, that that's the reality we live in, but as a story, there's not enough conflict to draw me in.
For the most part however, I did enjoy Lansdale's fiction. Consistently, the setting and voice of his characters are fully developed. The territory he treads is also unconventional, whether it's the aforementioned geriatric fiction, or the way he tackles the horror motif ("Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" is quite memorable). I wouldn't say The Best of Joe R. Lansdale blew me away in the sense that a collection of Ted Chiang or Jeffrey Ford stories would, but they're the next best thing and his writing is a category of its own.
Disclosure: The publisher sent a review copy for the purposes of this review.Reading The Best of Joe R. Lansdale is peculiar for me because for the most part, this is my only exposure to Joe R. Lansdale. I've heard of his reputation before, whether it's his Drive-In series or how his stories have a Texas-flavor to them, but if we're talking about a genuine acquaintance with his writing, for me it's the new frontier.
The first thing noticeable with this collection is that the order of the stories aren't arbitrary. The first quarter of the book, for example, are stories that tackle old age and senility--geriatric fiction if you will. It's a theme you don't encounter in speculative fiction often but is quite relevant. On one hand, you have the cheesy "Bubba Ho-Tep" (yes, I've seen the movie), and while at times the story itself feels manipulative (our protagonist for example is spoon-fed all of the relevant information), it nonetheless hits the gut when Lansdale talks about the aging of man (and an icon). Lansdale's technique is also quite diverse, as can be seen in "Fire Dog" which is more fable-like but is one of his most effective pieces. And sometimes, it comes down to the framing device the author uses. "Mad Dog Summer" could easily have been a coming of age story--and it is--but the way Lansdale precedes and concludes the narrative with the perspective of the narrator as an old man makes all the difference. Suffice to say, the experience was refreshing and welcome.
And then we get the rest of the collection. Again, I can't stress Lansdale's diversity. Some of the stories aren't speculative in nature but feel more Western. Others are simply unlabeled stories, although they do have an agenda. The closest approximation I have when it comes to Lansdale's writing is that they're modernized pulp, possessing chauvinistic male bravado and racism of a certain period. That's not to say Lansdale is racist, simply that he was writing about a culture that, unfortunately, was. "Mad Dog Summer", "The Big Blow", and "Night They Missed the Horror Show" for example features compelling African-American characters but they also contain foils which hate them simply because of the color of their skin. The first two are immersive and dramatic, while the last one is a flat-out horror tale in the same way dystopias are chilling.
Lansdale's morals are also evident in his flash fiction, such as "Duck Hunt" and "Cowboy". They're too agenda-driven for me however, in the sense that they come out as didactic and lacking the finesse of his other stories. "Cowboy" for example is simply an African-American airing his complaints as to why there are no Black cowboys. Which is true enough and that's perhaps the true horror here, that that's the reality we live in, but as a story, there's not enough conflict to draw me in.
For the most part however, I did enjoy Lansdale's fiction. Consistently, the setting and voice of his characters are fully developed. The territory he treads is also unconventional, whether it's the aforementioned geriatric fiction, or the way he tackles the horror motif ("Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" is quite memorable). I wouldn't say The Best of Joe R. Lansdale blew me away in the sense that a collection of Ted Chiang or Jeffrey Ford stories would, but they're the next best thing and his writing is a category of its own.
Friday, March 12, 2010
March 12, 2010 Links and Plugs
Can I get a mulligan for this week?
Interviews
Sounds And Furies by Tanith Lee
Interviews
- Teenage Reader interviews Lisa Mantchev.
- T.J. McIntyre interviews Lisa Hannett.
- The Agony Column interviews Lou Anders (podcast).
- StarShipSofa interviews Norman Spinrad (podcast).
- Fangoria interviews Brian Keene.
- Nethspace interviews Blake Charlton.
- Mark Charan Newton interviews Julie Crisp.
- Wizads of the Coast Community profiles Erin M. Evans.
- Matt Staggs interviews Lev Grossman.
- BSC Review interviews Walter Greatshell.
- Grinding to Valhalla interviews Janice Hardy.
- John Scalzi's The Big Idea: Skyler White.
- N.K. Jemisin on What especially pisses me off about Spinrad's article...
- Rose Fox on A Whiff of Colonialism.
- Clint Harris on The Infamous Spinrad Article.
- Larry Nolen on Norman Spinrad and the latest kerfluffle about international SF, with positive remedies.
- Juliette Wade on The Myth of the Native Speaker.
- Charles Tan on Where is International SF?
- The World SF News Blog on The Dilemma of the Term “World SF” Redux.
- Largehearted Boy on Book Notes - Various Authors ("Phantom").
- Nancy Jane Moore on Brave New (Writing) World: The End of the Throwaway Book?
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch on The Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Risks (Part One).
- Nishi Shawl on Avatar.
- Hal Duncan On Sublime.
- Jim C. Hines on Strong Women Characters.
- Tansy Rayner Roberts on To Be Continued.
- Ben Peek on Notes on Time.
- Heather Tomlinson on Lutins and Tengu and Were-Bears. Oh, my.
- Alaya Johnson on “What My Dad Said”.
- Nicola Morgan on Outline and Synopsis and Pointy Things About Punctuation.
- Nathan Bransford on Choose Your Own E-book Adventure.
- Alan Rinzler on How self publishing can lead to a real book deal.
- The Little Death of Crossed Genres: Under New Management.
- 2020 Visions.
- Scary Kisses Table of Contents.
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies #38 is out. (via Paul Jessup)
- Keith Stokes, Vonda N. McIntyre honored with SFWA Service Award.
- Book View Cafe Welcomes Chaz Brenchley.
- Harlem Casting for New Reality Show (book editor). (via Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
Sounds And Furies by Tanith Lee
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