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, …