Have you checked out our selected links in the far right column of the
science fiction/fantasy/horror page? I'd especially like to point out
SciFan, a database filled with thousands of titles and authors that allows you to search for books by themes, release dates, series names and more.
SF Site has tons of book reviews, author interviews and fiction excerpts.
SFF Net connects you to more than books if you're interested in writing speculative fiction yourself, or finding out more information about the SF community and its conventions.
This is just scratching the surface about what's available. Have fun exploring!
It's been 160 years since the great master storyteller
Edgar Allan Poe died at age 40, and only 7 people attended his first funeral. Fans decided it was time for him to be honored properly with a
full scale memorial in Baltimore on October 11 of this year. The author/editor
Ellen Datlow describes the funeral service
in her blog and shares the eulogy she wrote for him.
If you'd like to honor the great one yourself, watch this
performance by Vincent Price of Poe's poem The Raven and revel in the chilly goodness of his macabre sense of story.
So in my life outside the library I participate in local science fiction conventions and will be sitting on a panel this July called "Great Authors You've Never Heard Of." Using my social media fu, I put out the call to find new authors and thought I'd share the bounty with you. Some are shelved in the Teen or Young Adult sections but are awesome reads for "old" adults, too.
Who are some great authors you know of who deserve more recognition?
Arneson, Eleanor - fantasy (MN author)
Baker, Kage - science fiction, fantasy
Bear, Elizabeth - science fiction, fantasy
Blackman, Malorie - Young Adult audience; fantasy
Blaylock, James - steampunk
Bledsoe, Alex - fantasy
Bowes, Richard - fantasy
Buckell, Tobias - science fiction
Cadigan, Pat - cyberpunk
Durham, David Anthony - fantasy
Emshwiller, Carol - fantasy
Frost, Gregory - fantasy
Hairston, Andrea - science fiction
Hines, Jim - fantasy
Kessler, Jackie - urban fantasy
Knight, EE - dark fantasy
Kritzer, Naomi - fantasy (MN author)
Kushner, Ellen - dark fantasy
Link, Kelly - fantasy
Liu, Marjorie M. - romantic fantasy
Monette, Sarah - fantasy
Morehouse, Lyda aka Hallaway, Tate - science fiction, urban fantasy (MN author)
Nagata, Linda - science fiction
Okorafor, Nnedi - Young Adult audience; fantasy
Pratt, Tim - fantasy
Ridley, John - science fiction
Robson, Justina - science fiction
Ruff, Matt - science fiction
Russo, Richard Paul - science fiction
Schroeder, Karl - steampunk
Schwartz, David J. - fantasy (MN author)
Scott, Melissa - science fiction
Sedia, E(katerina) - fantasy
Sherman, Delia - fantasy
Shinn, Sharon - science fiction, fantasy
Smith, Kristine - science fiction
Stevermer, Caroline - fantasy (MN author)
Valente, Catherynne - fantasy
Wrede, Patricia - fantasy (MN author)
The
Hugo Award Nominees have been announced! The winners will be honored in August at
Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal. The Hugo Award comes from nominations by fans who plan on attending World Con, and their final votes determine the winners in categories such a Best Novel, Best Novella, Best Novelette, Best Short Story, etc.
Minnesota connections to the Award include local author
Neil Gaiman's best novel nominee
The Graveyard Book and the best related book nominee
The Vorkosigan Companion, which explores the universe of stories created by local author
Lois McMaster Bujold. It's an excellent field of candidates once again. What titles would you vote for?
Did you eagerly finish The Gypsy Morph and wonder what was next? Was Terry Brooks going to bring us all the way up to the original Shannara series with Genesis? Terry answers this for us on his Ask Terry section from his
official Website:
"The
Genesis of Shannara series is slated to run somewhere in the range of eight to ten books. Only three are done. I am at work on numbers four and five, which will probably publish in late August of 2010 and 2011. This set of two is a connected story line set hundreds of years after
The Gypsy Morph and featuring new characters. After that, I probably won't write the next set for several years. I am thinking of doing something entirely new and of going back to a set of books that takes place at the close of
High Druid of Shannara."
• Find "The Gypsy Morph" in a
suburban library
• Find "The The Gypsy Morph" in a
Minneapolis library
If you like good writing; dark, edgy and intelligent stories; and authors who explore these qualities in multiple formats, look up
Neil Gaiman. Right now his stories for children are taking center stage, but adults love them just as much as kids do.
Coraline focuses on a little girl who discovers another world through a mysterious door in her new home, one populated with marvelously creepy characters, including her Other Mother...someone who looks just like her mother except she has buttons for eyes. The Other Mother wants Coraline to stay with her forever and will go to any lengths to make it happen, forcing Coraline to save herself, her parents and other lost souls from the Beldame's nefarious plan. You can find this story in
novel,
audio (read by the author) and
graphic novel formats.
This award-winning novel has also been adapted into a
3-D animated film by Henry Selick (best known for
A Nightmare Before Christmas) and the
film Coraline comes out on
Friday, February 6. I was able to catch a sneak preview of the movie and was blown away by its visual style and great storytelling. Gorgeous, funny, and at times frightening, kids and adults will love this film, although it may not be the right fit for really little ones unless they like a good scare.
Neil Gaiman also just won a
Newbery Award for his riff on The Jungle Book called
The Graveyard Book (also available in
audio read by the author). A toddler's family is murdered and he finds sanctuary in a nearby graveyard where ghosts adopt him and raise him to adulthood. Each chapter of the novel finds the boy Bod a little older and growing a little wiser as he survives adventures with cut-throats, ghouls, and other things that go bump in the night.
Both novels, while scary and exciting, also explore the nature of love and family, and most especially courage. Readers of any age will enjoy Coraline's and Bod's quests.
Mike Carey, a comics creator and author resonsible for the Lucifer series and a great run on X-Men brings a gallant new anti-hero to life in his prose novels about Felix Castor, exorcist. Set in an alternate London that sees a scary increase in the undead and deadly at the turn of the millennium, Fix's special talents, questionable methods, and perverse honor take him down paths dark and dangerous. His first outing made it across the pond to our shores in 2007, and
The Devil You Know finds him entertaining at children's birthday parties to make ends meet, even while he's battling a vengeful ghost, a predatory succubus, and a slimy Eastern European pimp.
Vicious Circle just arrived in the U.S. and it's a creepy, suspenseful, mysterious read where Fix does his best to save a little girl's soul from Satanists while trying to survive the cunning and dangerous predators who are hunting him. Another fast and fun read, I hope his other Felix Castor books make it here soon: Thicker Than Water and Dead Man's Boots are sure to be just as creepy good.
Fan of Maria V. Snyder's books? Can't wait for Fire Study due out March 2008? You can read the online serial story,
Assassin Study at eharlequin.com. If you haven't read her study series yet start with
Poison Study. The book follows a young woman, Yelena, who was kidnapped from her home as a child, lived as a servant then condemned for murder, offered a job as a poison taster instead of an immediate death sentence. She becomes embroiled in assassination attempts, political intrigue and discovers unknown magical ability. From there try
Magic Study. The description says it all. "you know your life is bad when you miss your days as a poison taster." Yelena is a strong female character and the stories offer an interesting departure from the usual romantic fantasy fare.
For the fun of it, I attended the Fantasy Matters academic conference at the U of MN. Organized by 3 grad students (who deserve heaps of praise) who wanted to showcase the deep well-spring of creativity to be found in speculative fiction, this was a rare opportunity to treat the genre with the respect it deserves and to meet some fabulous authors. Local professor and folklore expert Jack Zipes and local award-winning author/screenwriter Neil Gaiman were keynote speakers, with Patrick Rothfuss, David Anthony Durham, Drew Bowling, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Pamela Dean , and Jim C. Hines appearing as featured readers. Lots of other great writers were in attendance as well, including Jackie Kessler, Kelly McCullough, Barth Anderson, Naomi Kritzer, and Alan DeNiro to name just a few. Students from all over the country presented extremely erudite papers on a number of fantasy-related topics which definitely reinforced what a rich trove of literature this genre presents. Hope it happens again next year!
Another legend gone.
Jim Rigney died yesterday after battling a long illness. His legacy lives on in the works he created as
Robert Jordan,
Reagan O'Neal, and
Jackson O'Reilly.
Under the name of
Robert Jordan he created one of the most fascinating and complex worlds in fantasy ever seen in a series called the
Wheel of Time. It begins with
The Eye of the World and continued through book 11,
Knife of Dreams, which came out in 2005. He was writing the 12th book when he passed.
In a world where the True Source of magical power is divided into male and female halves, the Dark One has corrupted the male half and is loosening the bonds of his prison once again to do battle with the Dragon reborn, champion of the Light. The Dragon must come forth to do battle against true evil, but will he be driven mad first by the corruption of his source of power and destroy the world himself? The young people who are drawn into the web of this prophecy face terrifying challenges as they are pushed relentlessly toward their fates in this dark adventure.
Many works of speculative fiction from the 30's through the 60's are in the public domain but are forgotten and unavailable to the average reader.
Project Gutenberg is a digital library of works in the public domain with over 17,000 books free for downloading, including some of these gems from the past. But adding books to this collection is a labor of love, not profit. Want to help preserve the Golden Age of Science Fiction? You could volunteer for
Distributed Proofreaders. This is an online community that proofs classics, scholarly texts, cookbooks, children's books, mysteries, and, of course, speculative fiction. If you love books by authors such as E.E. "Doc" Smith, Andre Norton, Randall Garrett and H. Beam Piper, help share their books with the world by working as a proofreader and/or help create a new audience for these authors by sharing these books with others!
Lots of discussion at
John Scalzi's,
Tobias Buckell's, and
David Anthony Durham's sites about the implicit racism in some genre fiction. Durham writes a challenging blog post
On Being a Color Blind Reader that applies to all readers, not just speculative fiction fans. Definitely worth checking out, especially the comment threads. You should also check out his new novel
Acacia so see what genre fiction that acknowledges race conflict can be like. In a word, fascinating. Acacia the Empire falls to dark forces when Mein assassins kill its ruler Leodan. His four children escape to their separate destinies, where they hope to realize their father's dream of a nation that no longer traffics in drugs and slaves.
Durham also writes some excellent historical fiction.
I didn't see it coming. I've always had a soft spot for Terry Brooks since he was one of the authors that got me hooked in this genre. I've read all the Shannara and related series and I also have read Word and Void series through Angel Fire East. I didn't realize at first that
Armageddon's Children was related to the Word and Void and that it was building up to connect with the Shannara. Brilliant! I love it. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Elves of Cintra on August 28 to see how this is going to go and in the meantime I had better get through Armageddon's Children to catch up. I hope it ends up being as good as it sounds.
Did you know that Warner Bros. has optioned Shannara and Landover series for live action films? Find more info about this on the
Offical Terry Brooks website. After the success of the adaptations of the Lord of the Rings I have high hopes for what they could do for the Shannara books.
I admit my husband bought me the book Saturday afternoon and I had it read by Sunday afternoon. If you are interested in discussing the book with others who have already read it, check out
our potterblog page . *spoiler alert*
So, what did I think? First, I have to admit that it isn't my favorite series but I have a need to finish anything that I start so I had to read them all. The final book was the most mature of the series and provided a satisfactory resolution. It did seem a bit thin in places with the focus on the 3 main characters leaving me missing some of the more interesting supporting characters. I would have liked to see where Hagrid, Luna and the Malfroys ended up following the final sequence. I do suspect that there may be more coming related to the Harry Potter series. Perhaps following the children of the main protagonists? See what you think when you read the epilogue. I did enjoy the book, however, I prefer the movies in this series. I saw
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last week and really enjoyed it.
It's almost that time again, are you ready? The annual convention for fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy, CONvergence, will be held July 6,7,8 at the Sheraton Hotel South in Bloomington. What will you do there? Why there are exciting panels to attend, live music, food and goodies, gaming, merchandise, movies at Cinema Rex, a masquerade and more. The best part is getting to chat and mingle with like minded SciFi/Fantasy/horror lovers like yourself. Some of the amazing guest this year include Lois McMaster Bujold, Bernie Wrightson, Brian Keene, John Kovalic and many more.
See you there!
Science and government can be a scary combination, particularly in science fiction. Ever read any
Kim Stanley Robinson? I highly recommend his new trilogy set in Washington, D.C. and the near future which begins with
Forty Signs of Rain. The effects of global warming, a community of visiting Buddhist monks, and a local family who knows how to work the political system lead to a beguiling and at times frightening read. Robinson uses science plausibly in all his stories, but here it hits home in a very personal way. Also check out his award-winning Mars trilogy which begins with Red Mars, which focuses on the colonization of the Red Planet.
Just got back from
WisCon, the feminist science fiction convention in Madison. Guests of Honor
Kelly Link, editor and short story writer extraordinaire, and
Laurie J. Marks, an exceptional author and educator, appeared on a number of panels where they discussed a variety of fascinating topics as part of the convention's programming. Check out Kelly's own stories in her books
Stranger Things Happen and
Magic for Beginners, or the ones she helped select for the
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror collections. I also highly recommend Laurie's Elemental Logic series which begins with
Fire Logic. Conventions are a great place to meet the people who write the books you love. The Midwest has a wealth of them. Do you attend any?
We have a couple of great writers here in the Twin Cities who write chick lit vampire stories.
Tate Hallaway's Garnet Lacey isn't a vampire but she falls for one in a story that starts out in Minneapolis and ends up in Madison. What's a witch to do when she falls for a hunk of an undead man while she's on the run from trouble? You should also check out
MaryJanice Davidson's books about Betsy the Vampire Queen, denizen of St. Paul and any high end shoe store she can find. The first in a series,
Undead and Unwed begins her hilarious and rather steamy epic tale as she becomes the reluctant leader of the local vampire community. I love stories that reference places I've been. Do you find it distracting or cool to read a description of someplace you live?
Read the first chapter of Fatal Revenant, the next book in the The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, on the official
Stephen R. Donaldson website. The new book is due out October 9, 2007. Book one,
Runes of the Earth, left us with quite a cliffhanger. If you haven't visited the Land yet, start with the first series, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, with
Lord Foul's Bane. These books started me down the SciFi/Fantasy road and I haven't looked back.
Do you remember what books got you hooked on this genre?
Lois McMaster Bujold is a local writer and one who has won the biggest awards in science fiction/fantasy multiple times. Her stories have tons of action, her worlds have interesting dark corners, and her characters rock! I highly recommend her science fiction series featuring
Miles Vorkosigan. Born in a culture that values the military and fears mutations, handicapped by brittle bones due to an attack on his mother while he was in utero, Miles becomes a brilliant, hyperactive overachiever. When his home planet fails to recognize his worth, he strikes out into the universe and becomes the admiral of a troop of mercenaries. Many adventures, wacky and otherwise, ensue. Just how many times can Miles save the day? Read and find out.
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