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The Disquieting Guest — A Panel on Horror Writing

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Friday afternoon, I took part in a panel on horror writing organized by the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and hosted by the Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba. Chaired by Maurice Mierau, the panel consisted of Chadwick Ginther (author of the Norse urban fantasies Thunder Road and the recently-launched Tombstone Blues), Michael Rowe (in Winnipeg as part of the book tour for his ghost story Wild Fell) and myself. It was a very cozy setting to talk horror while a -30 C windchill howled outside, and while the event is fresh in my mind, I thought I’d touch on a couple points that came up in the discussion (and I thank Chris Borster for the idea of doing so). So here we go; any misrepresentations in the paraphrasing that

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Mining the Genre Asteroid: The World of Tiers series by Philip José Farmer

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Robert Wolff has had a series of hard knocks in his life. He can’t remember anything before the age of twenty, and in fact was fostered and taken care of by a family whose last name he now borrows. He has a wife and  is looking to buy a new house, but being on the verge of a nervous breakdown and at his retirement age to boot, not even the end years of his life seem to be set to be peaceful or happy. So, when he discovers a strange inter-dimensional portal in the basement of said house and an invitation to use the aural horn-like key to open it, Wolff doesn’t hesitate. On the other side, he finds a wondrous artificial universe built like the layers of cake, with creatures out of mythology, magical portals, dread forces working against him, and the true secret of who and what he *really* is. Welcome to the World of Tiers.

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Adventures in SF Parenting: The Cell Phone Dilemma

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Parents are continuously struggling to keep up with the technology that their children are using.  We’re rather like the federal government in that our policies are often decades behind the technological curve (hence the NSA communications debacle).  As such, we tend to treat things like cell phones the same way we would, say, a personal diary.  If we’re the type of parent who fundamentally doesn’t trust how our children will interact with the world, then we are perfectly willing to violate trust by reading a diary, right?  So, therefore, we should also be able to monitor text messages and other interactions that our children might have using their cell phones. Here’s the thing though…  We’ve spent decades letting our teenagers talk on the phone without listening in on the other line or hovering over their shoulder, haven’t we?  The only difference between a phone call and a text message is that the latter makes it EASIER for us to keep tabs on our children.  However, I’ve always been uncomfortable with what these actions (reading texts, instant messages, facebook conversations, reading diaries, etc) teach our children.  Particularly given broader questions of privacy in modern society.

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My Superpower: Adrian Reynolds

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My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Adrian Reynolds to talk about how the power of selective stupidity relates to White Lily, an upcoming SF short film. ————————————————————— Hi, I’m Adrian Reynolds, and I’m selectively stupid. Not generally stupid, but specifically stupid around some stuff – like science. Which, seeing as some of what I write is science fiction, could be thought of as limiting. Actually, it’s not: being selectively stupid is my superpower. I caught online comments from some people who’d seen Gravity and were dismissive of the physics. Me? My mouth was open the whole time. That’s called awe by the way, not snoring. And why? Well, I don’t need an in-depth understanding of science to be blown away by an awesome film. And

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Book Review: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

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I would normally begin with the fact that the name Lady Isabella Trent is known to every schoolchild and adult of the slightest education, but such assumptions have gotten me into trouble before here at the S&F Herald. While it’s possible that some villagers in far off corners of the world, or even in quiet corners of our own Scirland, have not heard of the life and times of the foremost studier of dragons, I would expect most of our readers to be familiar with her and her work. Breaking conventions of her time in regards to her sex, Lady Isabella Trent’s more salacious and popular accounts of her adventures have no doubt gotten many young boarding school readers into trouble for possessing and passing around. To say nothing of askance looks from one’s social peers to find such volumes on their bookshelf.

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Top 10 Posts and Episodes for November 2013

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By popular demand (Paul!), I present to you the top 10 posts and episodes for November 2013.  Enjoy! Posts: Out-Brutalling the Last Guy:  “Grim and gritty, yes…but make sure it’s doing some honest work” by K.V. Johansen Worldbuilding:  Why It Ain’t So Easy by Stina Leicht Mining the Genre Asteroid:  Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (post by Paul Weimer) Adventures in SF Parenting:  the Wild, Wild Web by Jen Zink Mining the Genre Asteroid:  Way Station by Clifford Simak (post by Paul Weimer) The Disquieting Guest — Horror in/and Fantasy by David Annandale LitBits:  The Politics of Author/Work Separation by Shaun Duke Movie Review:  Mama (2013) by Stina Leicht The Disquieting Guest — A Belated Explanation by David Annandale Geekomancer Under Glass:  Beyond the Capes (Part Two) by Mike Underwood Episodes: 177. Nick Mamatas — Love is the Law (An Interview) Episode 4.2 — Torture Cinema Meets The Wicker Man 175. Religion and Genre Fiction w/ Max Gladstone & David Levine (A Discussion) 176. Sam Sykes at Worldcon (An Interview of Sorts) 174. Cassandra Rose Clarke at Worldcon (An Interview of Sorts) 178. Emma Newman (a.k.a. Tea & Cake) — The Split Worlds Trilogy #05 — Pacific Rim (2013) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion w/ Michael R. Underwood #03 — Man of Steel (2013) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion w/ David Annandale and Michael R. Underwood Episode 84 — Women in Military SF (or The Kratman Rule is B.S.) 173. The Gate (1987) — A Torture Cinema “Adventure” (the Halloween Special)  

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