Blog Entries for scififan - May 2007

Sci-Fi on the defense!

scififan

This is the best sci-fi related news I've read all day! Sci-fi Writers Pournelle and Niven have more imagination and brainpower in their fingernails than the Department of Defense!

Pournelle especially. The man's resume' and collaborations are a "who's who" of modern strategic warfare. Google "Project Thor" or "A Step Farther Out" to see an example of how these people think about real-world problems. Or just go to Pournelle's [...]

Aussie Comedy-SciFi Writer Wins American Literary Award

scififan

Got a recommendation for you folks , really something different. It's from Australian comedy science fiction writer Ian Taylor, author of the popular Spindle series, has just won the 2007 Indie Excellence Award for Science Fiction. Spindle, the 2005 comedy science fiction novel by Ian Taylor, has won the 2007 Indie Excellence Award in the Science Fiction category.

Spindle tells the story of Peter Turner, a 22nd-century Earth guy who joins the Space Force, expecting an exciting [...]

Cryptonomicon hurts my brain

scififan

Scifi and fantasy are my greatest loves when it comes to what I read, admittedly, however, there is a hell of a lot of science fiction and and fantasy that I simply don't understand.

A lot of it seems to center aroung the technology or science and the characters play second fiddle-that's just not the way it's supposed to work. I prefer a story that take seriously cha [...]

Writer's block

scififan

Well, I beleive I am suffering from writer's block. And that has resulted in very little posting online, or any desire to post to my weblog. Nothing interesting to post. While it lasts at least, when I am on the Internet, I'm catching up on my favorite weblogs. So I imagine it isn't time wasted anyway.

So, summer is here! The last few days around here have been amazing. Sunday it was like 65! I'm so happy to be finally be able to throw open the shutters and let breeze ro [...]

A quick exercise

scififan

When marathoner Roger Bannister (now knighted!) crossed an Oxford finish line on a windy day in 1954, he was certain he had achieved a four-minute mile.

The rest of the world, however, was amazed. The previous record had stood for nine years and writers of the time had created a myth around the four-minute mile. They had made their readership believe it was an unreachable and possibly even dangerous goal.

So what does this have to do with my writing? Just as the media in the fifties ha [...]

My dirty secret: Multiple submissions

scififan

I have a confession to make. When I am planning to submit a story for publication, I always submit to five publications at a time. I could tell you again and again how slowly some magazines respond, so I ignore (sorry editors!) the request to avoid multiple submissions. When an editor holds and then later rejects, a submission after 3 years, one learns quickly that one must look out for themselves. I have been told that they are lost, won't be retuned (after keeping my SASE), that they [...]

Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451

scififan

I was watching the Movie Network Saturday morning and saw for the first time the 1967 film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I had never seen it before. Directed by Francois Truffaut, this little unpretentious movie cleverly depicts Bradbury's vision. They have newspapers, but they are comics without words, merely pictures or images, much like the television in each family's living roo [...]

Webby Award winners

scififan

This year's Webby Award winners have been announced. You can find the full winners list here. I just chose a few of the award-winners and nominees in a few of the media-related categories, that might be of interest.

Guides: Yelp.com (Webby) CNet (People's Voice) Humor: The Onion (Both) Magazine: MediaStorm (Webby) Salon.com (People's Voice) Music: Last.fm (Both) News: BBC News (Both) Newspaper: Guardian (Webby) NYTimes.com (People's Voice) Television: Current.tv ( [...]

Writer's Group

scififan

I should probably start thinking about joining a writer's group to keep me disciplined during the summer months. Early on, colleagues had invited me to join groups, but I always declined because I didn't feel that I was at that stage yet. I wanted to focus on my own writing, and not have to devote time to reading other people's work-aside from the novels I was already reading.

I was considering a group based near my home. In addition to its regular monthly meeting, it splits [...]