If you haven’t tried The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction because you’ve living abroad and didn’t want to buy Fictionwise eMagazine editions because of the DRM (edit, see below), they’ve got an international subscription special on now. (Until mid-December.) I haven’t read the magazine in a while, or (shame) even caught up on the issues from when I was subscribed (I need to make myself less busy, I know), but those avid genre fans out there might consider it a good way to try it out. (Then again, if you’re in Korea, you’ll notice that 20% off doesn’t even …
Month: November 2008
Some news…
My friend Maura alerted me to the fact that my story “The Country of the Young” (in the current issue of Interzone, ie. issue 219) got a really positive review from Ziv Wities over at The Fix. I’m very happy to hear it, and more than ever I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of the issue. For those of you in the UK, it should be in shops. For the rest of the world, I don’t know whether a Fictionwise edition is forthcoming (Interzone 218 doesn’t seem to have been posted at Fictionwise yet either), but …
When Governments Are Quarrelling…
When governments are quarreling, The little folk get caught between: They say, “But wait! There is a way!” But none by bureaucrats is seen. “Fill this form out in triplicate, But no, not with that sort of pen. And this one was due yesterday, So now, you must submit again.” Submit, submit, papers and soul, Upon the desk the papers pile, And standing in the queue, souls wait, Submitting to the foul and vile. Like lice, they invade everywhere, And cling, and suck the living blood From institutions. We need them? Why? What official added to the common good? No, …
Depression, Recession, and Other Kid Stuff
In what seems to be Economic Depression Week here on my blog, another interesting thinglet via Critique de Mr. Chompchomp: What happens to kids’ lit during times of economic collapse, hardship, and woe? If you’re like me, you’re thinking about Ramona Quimby (one of the characters I grew up reading about, bless Beverly Cleary) and Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Well, the former comes up in this excellent slide show by Erica S. Perl detailing the intersections between economic poverty and kidlit. And by the way, there’s a great interview with Beverly Cleary here. Cleary seems exactly like the kind of person …
Things You Learn Grading Student Essays
No, really. This is not a litany of typos and mistakes and the like… instead, this post is made of meat… that is, of truly interesting facts I learned grading essays this week: Everyone knows that the world leader in sex-change operations is Thailand. But did you know that the runner-up is Iran? Wikipedia says so, therefore it must be, er… plausible? Now, why is Iran so big on sex change operations? For some reason, John McCain singing, “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran,” comes to mind. That’d probably be the biggest mass death of transsexuals on earth. And then, sadly, …
Who Do You Think You Are?
Continuing on the Great Depression theme from yesterday’s post: the current episode of This American Life, #368 which was titled, “Who Do You Think You Are?” is outstanding, featuring old interviews of people who’d survived the Hoovervilles of the Great Depression, the horrors of the Second World War, and all the chaos that followed on that time. Parts are very moving. And then there’s a discussion of what it’s like to see a black president from the point of view of a man who remembers explicit segregation and unrepentantly open racism against him as a black American — as a …
What’s New?
Recent stuff you might have missed, or want to check out, in case you don’t notice it over in the sidebar: For those of you in the UK, the December 2008 issue of InterZone, containing my story “Country of the Young,” is now on shelves in the UK. It’s the first in a projected series of tales set in a future North Korea. The best future North Korea I can imagine, in fact. This one’s a train wreck of love, ideology, immigration, and biotech. It’s not available online, but it’s mentioned very positively in this review at The Fix. StarShipSofa …
No Depression in Heaven
I don’t usually use soundtracks for posts, but hey, it’s always worth doing something a little different sometimes, right? My friend Jack was, when I first met him, a devoted inhabitant of that space where black and white and poor and crazy meet in early American music. He introduced me to musicians like Ralph Stanley and the Blue Sky Boys, and showed me how they connected to people like Howlin’ Wolf and Mississippi Fred McDowell. It was with Jack that I first heard McDowell, and Robert Johnson, and so much other music, and was initiated into the secret history of …
Time After Time
Music for when everything’s feeling difficult: Time After Time, sung by Cassandra Wilson, from the album Traveling Miles. Here are the lyrics. Yes, a Cyndi Lauper song, on my blog. The song won’t be here too long, for copyright reasons. But someone needs a copy, so… Here’s a video with the lyrics synched up:
“Dhuluma No More” podcast at Starship Sofa
The podcast of my story “Dhuluma No More” (from Asimov’s Oct/Nov. 2008) is now live at Starship Sofa. Check out the website — he’s got tons of excellent stories by others, including, last week, one of my favorite authors, Bruce Sterling — but feel free to download the podcast directly from here. The podcast has some other excellent content besides my story — including a fantastic piece (of a piece?) called “How We Did It, Or, Orson Welles and the Pickle Jar of Doom” by Lawrence Santoro, a short story by Bertram Chandler, some poetry by Mikal Trimm, a book …