Brian’s post — and Roboseyo’s comment appended to it — reminded me of a subject I haven’t yet posted about but have sometimes thought of discussing here. That is, the way SF authors imagine the future of the English language. This is a subject of particular interest to me, since I’m kind of working my way over to looking at SF in non-Anglophone societies, where the role of English-as-medium and English-as-culture impacts what non-Anglophones do (or don’t do) with SF as a literary genre. Of course, for a long time, many Anglophone writers simply assumed that the dominance of America …
Month: December 2008
Global SF Project… Just an Idea, For Now, But…
A friend’s recent post (on a mailing list, so no link) has me thinking about the fact I’m in a slump in terms of sending out stories and even in terms of writing. The last semester just really took it out of me. Between the stress of considering hunting for a new job, getting my freelance gig done, staying on top of my classes, and dealing with personal stuff, there’s been little energy or brain-space left over for writing. Which drives home to me the importance of priorities. What’s more important: freelance gigs, or writing? What’s more important: making each …
Books I Should Have Reviewed Already!
Well, I’m supposed to have reviewed these books, having received them free from Librarything, but it’s hard for me, because I always feel leery giving less than positive reviews of books. (Everything else, I am more comfortable panning, but books, well…) Anyway, I’m way late, but I’m going to say what I have to say, and then crosspost these to Librarything. At least I’m not panning all of them! The Book from the Sky by Robert Kelly is one of those books that made me think about genre. It’s become quite common among authors of speculative fiction (SF, fantasy, horror, …
Clarion West — Support or Attend!
If you love speculative fiction — horror, fantasy, SF, and so on — then I’ve got a way you can pitch in to keep pumping fresh blood into the genre. That is, the Clarion West workshop is looking for donations, and for students for next year. If you read this blog regularly, I’ll have mentioned Clarion West before, but I have described it in a while. So here goes: it is a workshop for speculative fiction writers, one that is sometimes described as a “boot camp” for them to cross over into professional publishing. I’m far from the only person …
Must Sleep, But…
Though I never did finish the book I tried out (which is actually the book he’s reading from in this book), I still really enjoyed this talk/reading by Pico Iyer: The section of that book titled “The Multiculture,” which deals with Toronto, was what I discussed with my class last week. Good stuff, well, for those who actually read and discussed. Neat essay, and an interesting interrogation of the idea of multiculture/multiculturalism as a way of being, as a policy, and as a not-quite-utopia. I especially enjoyed his comment (during the question period) regarding moving beyond fears of cultural homogenization …