Author name: shaunduke

Dr. Shaun Duke is an instructor at DMACC and the Director of the Portolan Project at the Speculative Literature Foundation. He received his M.A. and Ph.D in English from the University of Florida and a B.A. in Modern Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He studies science fiction, digital fan cultures, Caribbean literature, literary canons, postcolonialism, and digital rhetoric. In addition to his academic work, he wears many hats. He is a writer of genre fiction and a freelance editor at The Duke of Editing. His fiction has appeared in Curiouser Magazine, Stupefying Stories, and elsewhere. He also hosts and produces The Skiffy and Fanty Show, a four-time Hugo Award finalist podcast dedicated to examining the literary, cinematic, and cultural world of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His podcast work has sent him around the world to participate in conventions, conduct interviews, and more. When he's not podcasting, he can be found on his Twitch channel, AlphabetStreams, or Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, and other social media places.

Blog Posts

Lit Bits: Angry Robot Signs Two “Open Door Month” Authors

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Here’s the press release: Like most successful publishers, Angry Robot generally only accepts submissions through literary agencies. Earlier this year, however, the company ran a pilot programme to see how many unpublished – but talented – authors there were without representation. During March, Angry Robot invited all un-agented authors to submit completed manuscripts as part of an “Open Door Month”. Over 990 novels were submitted during that period. Today, Angry Robot are delighted to announce the first acquisitions from the first Open Door Month. Two new authors,

Question of the Week

? of the Week: SF/F TV Netflix Should Bring Back?

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The folks at Netflix are putting their hands in the production box and trying to bring back some favorite shows like Arrested Development.  But as Gamma Squad notes: You know what, Netflix? There’s no SF in that mix; let us help you out. They’ve listed Firefly, Reaper, Pushing Daisies, and Justice League Unlimited.  That’s an interesting list, but what we want to know is this: If Netflix could bring back any science fiction or fantasy television show, live action or animated, which one should they bring back and why? Me?  I’d love to see Firefly come back, but I’m smart enough to know that a reboot in any form would be disastrous.  How do you bring back a show when half the lovable characters are dead or changed for the good?  I don’t know.  I want a reboot so bad, but it will probably never happen… But there are other shows I’d love to see come back.  It would be amazing to have someone reboot Space: Above and Beyond.  Don’t start where they left off, but redo the entire concept a la Battlestar Galactica.  Why?  Because the show had so much potential when FOX produced it way back in the day.  It was one of the few shows I’ve ever seen that took seriously the idea of an interstellar war.  But it was flawed beyond reason.  The series had a lot of bad writing, some mediocre acting, and undeveloped plot points (the conflicts between humanity proper and the two versions of synthetic life could have been developed with more fervor). So that’s what I would like to see get a reboot.  For now.  In a week, my mind might change… Now it’s your turn!

Blog Posts

RIP — Realms of Fantasy, III

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SF Scope reports that Realms of Fantasy, which was previously purchased from Warren Lapine by the people behind Damnation Books (Lapine had purchased it from the original owners), is once more closing its doors.  Citing financial problems, the current owners said During our time with the magazine we picked up without missing a single issue and were lucky enough to produce the 100th issue. We were able to introduce poetry and bring back the table top gaming column. We have been truly amazed at the positive feedback on the issues we have produced from all of the fans. This is what makes this decision so painful for us. As we were considering closing the magazine we thought it was important for the October 2011 issue to be released in print for the fans. We did this knowing there would not be a return on the investment, but did it simply because we felt it was right. This does mean the October 2011 issue will be the last issue. The issue did go to newsstands and we have copies for those who are not active subscribers. Realms of Fantasy will be available for sale from the current owners, who can be reached here:  support [at] rofmag [dot] com.  Other inquiries can be sent to the same address.  Editors Shawna McCarthy and Douglas Cohen have posted their fairwells here and here. Needless to say, I’m quite sad about this.  I was excited when they announced they would open to electronic submissions in the near future, since it would make RoF top on my list for my fantasy work.  But now we’re one major market short in the short story world, which makes writing short stories with reckless abandon.  Something tells me that the future of the short story isn’t looking very good.  There’ll be plenty of places to submit to, of course, but the value of the short story in the SF/F field may fall to the wayside.  Then again, I may be a little pessimistic. What do you all make of the announcement?  

Question of the Week

? of the Week: Is Amazon Devaluing Books?

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Over at RT Book Reviews they’re wondering whether Amazon has an impact on how we value books.  Amazon is the premiere source for cheap books, as we all know, but is its aggressive practices to make books cheaper and more accessible to consumers good for writers?  From the article: But many authors and industry insiders worry that Amazon’s extremely low price scheme will end up devaluing authors’ work. Discussing Amazon’s low prices, Carina Press’ Angela James tweeted, “Don’t train readers to believe the full value of a book was in the paper it was printed on, not your creative content!” And author Moira Rogers replied via tweet, “Or the difference in prices between formats. I do think the devaluation of the story goes a lot deeper than e-books.” To piggy back onto their concerns, we’d like to know what you think.  Is Amazon devaluing books or the creative process?  Let us know in the comments.

Question of the Week

? of the Week: What are the new gateway scifi/fantasy films?

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It’s about time we drag this segment up from the depths!  Every Friday, we will have a new ? of the Week feature.  And we want you to get involved! This week’s question as a fun one.  There are plenty of films we older folks remember from our youth.  They were the films that got us into SF/F, or helped foster a burgeoning interest.  But what are the new gateway flicks?  Which films would you give to your children to get them into SF/F?  Which would you suggest for those who want to get into the genre via film, but aren’t sure where to go? The comments are open.  Have at it!

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