The World SF Tour: Fantastic February Dates!
Here’s what’s on the tour docket for February: Holdovers from January (already dropped): Torture Cinema review of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and an interview w/ Myke Cole (published 2/1 and 2/2, respectively). 2/7 (already dropped): discussion w/ Tansy Rayner Roberts and Marienne de Pierres on Australian Speculative Fiction 2/11: discussion w/ Helen Lowe, Norman Cates, & Stephen Minchin on New Zealander Speculative Fiction 2/14: WISB discussion of Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson) 2/17: an interview w/ Adam Christopher about Hangwire, out from Angry Robot Books 2/21: WISB discussion of Babylon 5 (season one; disc three) 3/2 or 3/3 (technically not a Feb. date, though it’s supposed to be): Torture Cinema review of Sons of Steel So, there you go 🙂
Saga (a Simon & Schuster Imprint) Picks Up Stina Leicht’s Flintlock Fantasy Series!
That title is a bit of a mouthful, but I wanted to make sure the gravity of the situation could sink in before you read the rest of this post. That’s right. Stina Leicht — one of our lovely hosts — has just announced her two book deal with Simon & Schuster imprint, Saga. And it’s a secondary-world flintlock fantasy. From the author of Of Blood and Honey and And Blue Skies From Pain. If that doesn’t entice you, then perhaps the description will: The future for the ancient Kingdom of Eledore is grim. A small pox epidemic is sweeping through the land. A decadent aristocracy employs immense magical powers to quibble with one another, and dominate the populace, the Regnum of Acrasia has declared a holy war against magic, and an ancient evil living beneath Eledore threatens to break free. Can Princess Suvi navigate her family’s deadly politics, create justice for her people, unify the survivors, and hold back a demon horde at the same time? Disowned and cast off, can her twin brother Nels successfully fight a war that no one is willing to acknowledge against a nation whose technology is far superior? You can read more about the books on Stina’s blog (including a little snippet). Needless to say, we’re super excited about these books and cannot wait for them to be in our hands! Delicate, book-loving hands. After all, Jen and I have spent the last three years handselling Stina’s previous books on the intergalactic scene, so we’re happy we’ll get to handsell some more of her work (this time to the Necrophages of Sirius, who are really into that whole flintlock thing). Congrats to Stina and to Simon & Schuster’s new imprint, which will clearly be successful because they have good taste.
Fundraiser: Bring The Skiffy and Fanty Show and the World SF Tour to Worldcon in London!
Worldcon is coming! I want to bring The Skiffy and Fanty Show and the World SF Tour there this August. And I need your help raising the funds to travel to London to make this happen! What is the World SF Tour? Throughout 2014, The Skiffy and Fanty Show will focus much of its attention on science fiction and fantasy works from places outside of the United States. This will consist of interviews, movie discussions, the occasional Torture Cinema special, and discussions of World SF w/ locals. It’s a fairly large project, but it’s one I think is worthwhile. Additional details about the project can be found here. What I’m Going to Do:
Top 10 Blog Posts and Episodes for January 2014
It’s officially February, which means it’s time to let you know what was popular over the last 31 days. Here are the top 10 episodes: Episode 4.2 — Torture Cinema Meets The Wicker Man 186. Israeli Publishing and Translation w/ Didi Chanoch & Rani Graff (World SF Tour) 187. Lavie Tidhar (a.k.a. NYC P.I.) — The Violent Century (2013) (An Interview) 189. Our Favorite Things from 2013 (A Roundtable Discussion) #12 — The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion 188. Shimon Adaf (a.k.a. Revelationator) — Sunburnt Faces (An Interview: the World SF Tour) 116. Season of the Witch — A Torture Cinema “Adventure” #13 — Babylon 5 Re-Watch (Ep. 5-8) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion 183. Douglas Lain (a.k.a. Le Révolutionnaire) — Billy Moon (An Interview) #10 — Babylon 5 Re-Watch (Ep. 1-4) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion And here are the top 10 posts (note: I’ve removed giveaways and polls from the list): My Superpower and Mini-Interview: James Dashner Recommended Reads: 2013 Post-Holiday Reading List The Masks the Monsters Left Behind by Romeo Kennedy (Guest Post) My Superpower: J. M. McDermott The World SF Tour: A Comics and Graphic Novel Reading List? by Shaun Duke Book Review: A DARKLING SEA by James Cambias (by Paul Weimer) The Disquieting Guest — Some Notes on Gore by David Annandale Guest Post: “Tackling Other Cultures in Fiction” by Stina Leicht Series Review: The Split Worlds by Emma Newman (by Paul Weimer) Mining the Genre Asteroid: Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp (by Paul Weimer) If you missed any of this lovely stuff, catch up now!
Myke Cole at the Library of Congress on January 31st!
In our upcoming interview with Myke Cole, he mentioned that he will be giving a talk at the Pickford Theater at the Library Congress on Friday (Jan. 31st, 2014). Since the episode won’t be up in time for people to hear about this event, we wanted to make sure to mention it on the blog. The event takes place at noon in the Pickford Theater (LM-302, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20559). Full details can be found on this File 770 post. We hope some of you can make it!
Dashner Giveaway Winner!
And the winner is… Tristan! His favorite YA SF/F book, as it turns out, is The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Go figure, right? 😛 Congrats to Tristan! And thanks to everyone who entered the contest.
