Women in Early Comic Books
By Carl Slaughter: THE SUPERGIRLS: FASHION, FEMINISM, FANTASY. AND THE HISTORY OF COMIC BOOK HEROINES By Mike Madrid Has Wonder Woman hit the comic book glass ceiling? Is that the one opposition that even her Amazonian strength can’t defeat? Entertaining … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/8/16 No Pixel Necessary, No Scroll Needed
(1) ALL IN. It’s a rule of thumb that most small businesses fail within five years. Do professional writers face the same odds? Kameron Hurley discusses the long haul, in “The Mission-Driven Writing Career” at Locus Online. What drives you, … Continue reading →
Describe Your Favorite Cover Art
By Carl Slaughter: Roaming publisher and agency catalogs in search of interesting/impressive books/series to feature or authors to interview/profile, I estimate I’ve seen the cover art for 5,000 science fiction, fantasy, and horror books. Few have caught my attention. Fewer … Continue reading →
2016 WSFA Small Press Award
“Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker, published in Clarkesworld Magazine, ed. by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace, (August 2015), is the winner of the 2016 WSFA Small Press Award given by the Washington Science Fiction Association. The award … Continue reading →
2016 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards
The winner and shortlist for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award’s Best Novel category were announced today at Gaylaxicon 2016. The award honors outstanding works of science fiction, fantasy and horror which include significant positive explorations of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered characters, … Continue reading →
Bill Warren (1943-2016)
Critic, film historian and long-time LASFS member Bill Warren died October 7. Over the past decade he’d suffered from a series of cardiac and pulmonary health problems, and lately was treated for an infection but never recovered. When Mark Evanier … Continue reading →
Robert Kroese: Fleece Noir
By Carl Slaughter: THE BIG SHEEP by Robert Kroese Los Angeles of 2039 is a baffling and bifurcated place. After the Collapse of 2028, a vast section of LA, the Disincorporated Zone, was disowned by the civil authorities, and became … Continue reading →
Michael Byrnes: Crowdsourcing Crime
By Carl Slaughter: BOUNTY By Michael Byrnes Ballantine Books When a notorious Wall Street vulture is executed in his high-rise office by a sniper’s bullet, it’s the kill shot heard around the world. Welcome to Bounty4Justice.com, a rogue website for … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/7/16 You Keep Using That Pixel. I Do Not Thing It Scrolls How You Think It Does
.(1) NEW YORK COMIC CON. Tor.com’s Leah Schnelbach says fans packed the room to hear “You Can be Mythic!” Ta-Nehisi Coates, Steven Orlando, and Tee ‘Vixen’ Franklin Discuss Race, Sexuality, and Representation in Comics. Gray kicked off by asking Coates … Continue reading →
Arthur Jean Cox (1929-2016)
The death of long-time LASFSian and author Arthur Jean Cox was announced at the club’s October 6 meeting. No details were given. He never missed a LASFS meeting from May 1945 to January 1952. He served seven terms as secretary and … Continue reading →
Wesley Chu Keeps Time
By Carl Slaughter: TIME SIEGE by Wesley Chu sequel to Time Salvager Tor Having been haunted by the past and enslaved by the present, James Griffin-Mars is taking control of the future. Earth is a toxic, sparsely inhabited wasteland–the perfect … Continue reading →
Katherine Ann Adams: Freedom Seekers
By Carl Slaughter: ANOTHER TOMORROW By Katherine Ann Adams Debut author A classic science fiction tale of a dystopian society with classic science fiction elements, themes, and conflicts: androids, bio domes, implants, replicators, time travel; surveillance, bio-ethics, adoption, euthanasia; nature … Continue reading →
A Bradbury Link Omnibus
(1) IN LETTERS OF FIRE. Book Riot’s Nikki Vanry presents “19 of My Favorite Fahrenheit 451 Quotes”. “‘Books were only one type of receptacle where we stored a lot of things we were afraid we might forget. There is nothing … Continue reading →
Call For Papers: CFP Ray Bradbury And Horror Fiction
The New Ray Bradbury Review seeks papers for its special issue on Ray Bradbury and Horror Fiction. Categories: Genre & Form, Narratology, Interdisciplinary, Cultural Studies, Film, TV, & Media, History, Philosophy, Literary Theory, Pedagogy, Horror, Fantasy Location: Publication Organization: Center … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/6/16 Have Fun Storming The Pixels!
(1) MCCARTY REMEMBERS HARRISON. Dave McCarty pays tribute to his friend Howard Harrison, who passed away October 5, by retelling the experience of running the 1999 Capricon. …I asked what if we weren’t actually throwing *Capricon*? What if instead, we … Continue reading →
Aniara Being Adapted For Screen
By Hampus Eckerman: The Swedish opera Aniara never won a Hugo, but was the largest reason its author Harry Martinson won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1974. Now, 60 years after it was written, it will become a movie. … Continue reading →
Home Town Selects Design for Bradbury Statue
I think I’d be happier with the winning design if I had never seen Slim Pickens riding the A-bomb in Dr. Strangelove. In August, the Ray Bradbury Statue Committee chose the design for the statue that will be erected in the writer’s … Continue reading →
Nick Mamatas’ I Am Providence
By Carl Slaughter: Imagine H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Sheckley meet at a fan convention and start brainstorming. The result would be I Am Providence by Nick Mamatas from Night Shade. For fans of legendary pulp author H. P. Lovecraft, there … Continue reading →
Richard Cox: The Boys of Summer
By Carl Slaughter: If you binge watched the flawlessly crafted Stranger Things and crave more, try The Boys of Summer by Richard Cox from Night Shade. A haunting coming-of-age story and a character-driven, deeply-affecting supernatural thriller. In 1979, a massive … Continue reading →
Thomas K. Carpenter’s New Series: The Hundred Halls
By Carl Slaughter: Thomas K. Carpenter, author of the bestselling Alexandrian Saga series, launched a new YA magician series with The Trials of Magic in September. Web of Lies, the next in the Hundred Halls series will be released in … Continue reading →
National Finish-Your-Book Day
Six hours ago John Scalzi announced he had finished writing his latest book. Hey, guess who just now finished writing his latest book? (Spoiler: It’s me) Details: https://t.co/PfNDM4wAvK pic.twitter.com/sZ9SckO8bU — John Scalzi (@scalzi) October 5, 2016 And he told Whatever … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/5/16 That’s Appertainment!
(1) BEST SERIES HUGO FLAW? Sami Sundell is dissatisfied with the 2017 Hugo test category, judging by his title: “Best Series is a popularity contest”. Last year, Eric Flint wrote about the discrepancy between popularity in bookstores and winning (Hugo) … Continue reading →
2016 Copper Cylinder Awards
The winners of the fifth annual Copper Cylinder Awards have been announced by the Sunburst Award Society. The Copper Cylinder is an annual members’ choice award for Canadian literature of the fantastic. Adult Award Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia … Continue reading →
Kate Yule (1961-2016)
Kate Yule lost her life October 4 following a long struggle with brain cancer. Her husband, David D. Levine, made the announcement online: Kate passed away at 3:30 this afternoon. I was holding her hand, Sue was on the other … Continue reading →
Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St. Mary’s
By Carl Slaughter: Imagine Doctor Who’s companions all got together and ran off with The Tardis and he never caught up with them. That’s something close to what you will find in The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series. Jodi Taylor … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/4/16 But With Strange Pixels Even Scrolls May File
(1) IT CAN WEAR ON YOU. Wendy Ross Kaufman has written a concise history of fan costuming culture that explains why she prefers her activity not be lumped in with cosplay, in “They’re Young. We’re Dead. So it’s Cosplay”. And … Continue reading →
Not Murray but Danny the K
By John Hertz: I’m no citizen of Electronicland, but I try to look now and then. I see I needn’t remark that George Orwell (Pixel Scroll 3 Oct 16, No. 9; Jack Lint, 4 Oct at 11:29 a.m.) seems to … Continue reading →
Lexie Dunne’s Anonymous Series
By Carl Slaughter: If the first book in your superhero humor series is entitled, Superheroes Anonymous, what’s the most obvious choice for a sequel? That’s right, Supervillians Anonymous. And if your superheroine protagonist ups her game from saving Chicago to … Continue reading →
Edward Ashton: Not Just Any Three Days in April
By Carl Slaughter. In his debut novel, Edward Ashton offers a refreshingly different angle on the apocalypse/genetic engineering subgenres in Three Days in April. THREE DAYS IN APRIL By Edward Ashton HarperCollins Anders Jensen is having a bad month. His … Continue reading →
Barbara Barnett, Medicine and Magic
By Carl Slaughter: Experimental medicine, corporate intrigue, the quest for immortality, and an ancient mystery. A shared curse, a dangerous secret, a stunning revelation, and a powerful love. APOTHECARY’S CURSE by Barbara Barnett Pyr books In Victorian London, the fates … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/3/16 Con-Ticky
(1) HOOKED. When the Book Smugglers Quarterly Almanac leads with a title like this, it’s hard to resist ordering a copy whatever you may think about Harry Potter — Excerpt: Characters Are Not A Coloring Book Or, Why the Black … Continue reading →
Women in Early SF
By Carl Slaughter: Collections featuring women in early science fiction, feminist speculative literature, and speculative art. Women of Wonder, the Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s Editor: Pamela Sargent. Women of Wonder: The Contemporary … Continue reading →
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Teaser Trailer
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales comes to theaters May 26, 2017. The credits at IMDB show Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Geoffrey Rush will be in it (Paul McCartney, too!), but don’t list Keira Knightley. … Continue reading →
Alma Alexander’s Worldweavers
By Carl Slaughter: Alma Alexander’s Worldweavers series is about the transformation of Thea from a magicless girl in a magic filled world into a powerful woman mage. In book #1, she is shuffled off to Wandless Academy, where students are … Continue reading →
Charles Beaumont’s Perchance to Dream Collection
By Carl Slaughter: PERCHANCE TO DREAM: SELECTED STORIES By Charles Beaumont Penguin Classics The profoundly original and wildly entertaining short stories of a legendary Twilight Zone writer, with a foreword by Ray Bradbury and an afterword by William Shatner. It … Continue reading →
