If you missed the December 2016 issue of Analog and thus didn’t get to read my story “Prodigal,” now’s your chance: it’s online at the magazine’s website in PDF form for the present. That’s because it was a finalist in the AnLab reader’s poll, which means you can check out a metric ton of great stories on the website: 2016 ANLAB READERS’ AWARDS FINALISTS More happy writing news in a day or two, I promise, when I get a chance to catch my breath.
Category: WRITING
Bruno Overload
This post deals with some recent readings I’ve done on the subject of Giordano Bruno. It’s divided into three parts: Recent Readings covers the books I read, and my reaction to them, with a special emphasis on the system of artificial memory (that is, how Bruno modified the classical art of memory/memory palace system) that was one of Bruno’s biggest claims to fame in his own time. Side Note: The Temples? plays Six Degrees of Separation between Bruno and Jonathan Swift. I’ve narrowed it down to five degrees, too, which surprised me, but maybe it shouldn’t: Europe from 1580 to 1680 was a pretty small world, and …
More Prodigal News… and a Blowfish in a Pear Tree
With the intensive courses I’ve been teaching, I haven’t had time to reflect much on 2016, or all the stuff that happened last year. (And since today’s my wedding anniversary, I won’t be doing it now.) I’ll have a little time for things like that soon—after my courses end and I get the grades uploaded, sometime next week or early on during the week after—but for now, some happy news: I’ve finally received my contributor’s copy of the December 2016 issue of Analog! Pretty exciting. I’ve actually had it for about a week, but have been too busy to mention it here. In …
Prodigal Reviews
So, some positive reviews so far for “Prodigal,” which is nice to see. (Not everyone has the ability to totally ignore or dismiss critics and reviews so wholeheartedly encouraged by Miles Davis.) The highlights so far? Well, Greg Hullender’s review Rocket Stack Rank has this to say: “Moving, thought-provoking exploration of animal uplift. (…) as a metaphor for losing a loved one to a cause, it’s dynamite.” There’s an uncredited review at SFRevu that praises the story, too: “Sad story. Very well done.” And finally, Chuck Rothman over at Tangent has high praise: “[The issue] starts out with a bang with “Prodigal” by Gord Sellar… This …
Prodigal Published! (And More)
I was hoping to get this out earlier, but, it’s been a busy week, or, well, week and a half. I mentioned a while back that my story “Prodigal” was forthcoming in Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Well, it’s in the December 2016 issue, which may or may not be on newstands already, but which subscribers have been receiving. What’s more, not only is my name on the cover, but so is the story title, and I’m guessing that’s why the art references my story too! That was a complete surprise, and a wonderful one as well. To those who’ve read it already: …
Korean SF Translations, and Our Current Workflow
So, my wife and I have been working on a couple of translations lately. I mentioned, back in September, having finished up one of them. We just put the almost-final touches on the second one. (We sent off three questions to the original author of the second one we finished drafting, but otherwise, the translation’s pretty much done and just needs some proofreading before it’s sent off.) The two stories are: 레디메이드 보살 by Sunghwan Park (English title: “The Prefab Bodhisattva.” This is a story I’ve mentioned here before, as one of the tales adapted to the screen in The Doomsday Book omnibus …
Publication News, Old and New
I haven’t posted much new in terms of writing and publications news, but that doesn’t mean nothing’s been happening.
Cthulhusattva Has Arrived
While I was traveling, some dark and terrible figure left something in our mailbox. A package containing these: Doubtless the intent was for me to stumble upon it after our return, and drive me mad, but really, I’m just pleased and excited by what I see flipping through it. I’m especially excited to find a poem by internet pal Bryan Thao Worra and a Robert Johnson-as-Mythos acolyte story within its pages, because I really dig Robert Johnson riff-stories. Plus, of course, my own tale, “ἱερὸς γάμος [Hieros Gamos]” mutters and shrieks from somewhere among its pages. More on the book once I’ve had time to settle in …
The Incursus at Big Echo
For those who read my blog but don’t follow along on Facebook or Twitter, my short story “The Incursus, by Asimov-NN#71” was published in the inaugural issue (Summer 2016) of Big Echo a few days ago. Big Echo is new. It bills itself as a site devoted to critical SF, and this story fits there; it’s about AIs, human consciousness, human arrogance, and pronouns. I’ve also written some brief background notes on the story.
Street Mobs and Cyber-Mobs
A discussion of the parallels between cybermob behaviours and the original mobs of Georgian London. The parallels are pretty profound, and maybe there’s some lessons to be learned from how all of this was dealt with the first time around.