Welcome to this week's SFF Blog Recap! I enjoy gathering these very interesting posts every week. I hope you enjoy reading them too.
(The blog posts below are ordered alphabetically according to their Blog Site names. So there's no favoritism. You should have picked a name starting with one of the first letters of the alphabet ;) ).
Babel Clash
Alastair Reynolds is now blogging at Babel Clash and his first post is an interesting one.
"I wanted to kickoff with some discussion about optimism and pessimism in SF/F (mostly SF, since that’s what I do) because it’s a topic that’s been much on my mind of late, and not least in the last couple of weeks. But let’s go back a bit further than that to begin with."
Fantasy Book Critic
Mark Charan Newton's City of Ruin has been one of this year's best books for me. You can also read Cara's excellent review here.
"City of Ruin is the second novel in the Legends of the Red Sun series - currently projected at four volumes - and it follows Nights of Villjamur which I reviewed last year."
Floor to Ceiling Books
Aidan runs one of the most successful book blogs on the Web: A Dibble of Ink. Last week, Amanda posted an excellent interview with Aidan.
"The reason I wanted to invite Aidan in to chat is because I am one of the very teeniest and newest book bloggers around, and I thought it would be amazing to find out the perspective of someone who has seen blogs come and go, and knows what it means to run a highly successful book blog. Without further ado, let's get to the questions!"
Orbit
Can the writers be surprised by the characters that they create?
"When I was about two or three chapters into Land of the Burning Sands, I sent a note to my agent to ask, facetiously, whether she could provide a role for the leading female character to play besides merely serving as the love interest in the story. If I didn’t come up with something important for that character to do, I said, I’d write her out of the book entirely."
I think we are becoming a pessimist, selfish, scared and unthrustworthy species in general. Does that cloud our judgment in what's realistic in fiction?
"’ve been seeing some interesting discussions around lately about realism in fiction — to wit, that positive portrayals of various human experiences and relationships were 'unrealistic' and ought to be confined to the lowest forms of genre fiction."
Pyr-o-mania
I personally don't think that iPad is the right eBook reader mainly because of the display. And I can probably thrown in the battery argument as well. But if you're using your iPad to read books, here's a good article about various iPad eBook reader apps:
"Yesterday, Barnes and Noble released their much-anticipated, long-awaiting B&N eReader app specifically for the iPad. With its arrival, there are now three excellent eReading options, and as a user of all three, I though a follow up to my "My Life in eBooks" post might be due."
Science Fiction & Fantasy Novelists
I'm not an aspiring writer, however Coe's good advice may serve others.
"I answered their questions for a while, but soon realized that they were overthinking the process. One of the students seemed to recognize this at about the same time I did. He asked, 'Okay, what is the one thing I should be doing now if I want to be a writer someday?'"
SFScope
Here's the winners of the Canadian The Prix Aurora Awards:
"The Prix Aurora Awards, the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards, are being handed out right now at Keycon 27 / Canvention 30, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada."
Wondermark
If you've ever wondered about "supernatural collective nouns", here's an excellent list for you:
Free Reading
A Dribble of Ink
"Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker, a tale of Steampunk Seattle beset by zombies, is hugely popular, into its seventh printing and collecting nominations for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel. It’s easy, then, to imagine the excitement building for the stand alone follow-up Dreadnought."
Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
"Thanks to the folks at Pyr, here is an extract from Ian McDonald's upcoming The Dervish House. "
Tor.com
"The city was old, begrimed by time. A place of wind-worn stones and tumbled masonry, its towers tilting and its walls crumbling. Wild sheep cropped the grass that grew between cracked paving stones, bright-plumed birds nested among columns of faded mosaic. The city had once been splendid and terrible; now it was beautiful and tranquil. The two travelers came to it in the mellow haze of the morning, when a melancholy wind blew through the silence of the ancient streets. The hoofs of the horses were hushed as the travelers led them between towers that were green with age, passed by ruins bright with blossoms of orange, ochre and purple. And this was Soryandum, deserted by its folk."
Giveaways
Grasping for the Wind
"Thanks to Sarah Totton, I have a signed copy of her story collection, Animythical Tales to give to one lucky winner."
Fantasy/Sci-Fi Lovin' Giveaways!
"Courtesy of Tor Books I have a copy of Black Blade Blues by J. A. Pitts to offer for giveaway."
Temple Library Reviews
"The Mylex Five-Shelf Bookcase is a great way to store your books, CDs, DVDs or other items without having to sacrifice style for function. Featuring a sleek black finish, this bookcase has five adjustable shelves to accomodate your storage needs. Perfect for use in the home or office!"
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