Amazing News, Saturday, March 2, 2013
Richard E. Geis, the “Alien Critic” died February 4th. Richard Geis’s fanzines – Science Fiction Review and The Alien Critic were among the first fanzines I subscribed to and avidly sought back issues to. In […]
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Scide Splitters: Doughnut by Tom Holt
Known more for his works of comic fantasy, Tom Holt serves up humorous science fiction in his latest novel, Doughnut. This move toward SF seems to be a growing trend for Holt, although, since the […]
Playing the Short Game: How to Sell Your Short Fiction (Part 7 in series)
Where to First?: How to choose short fiction markets Welcome back. This is the seventh in my weekly (more or less) series of posts on how to market and sell short fiction (I missed a […]
The First Rule of Time Travel
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Do you believe in time travel? Dr. Angela Noyce: Sure! As much as I believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. That is just to say that I love the idea […]
The Worm Has Turned for this Amazing Story
Here is another testament to the depth of genre fiction and the timelessness creative authors of Amazing Stories have provided us over the years.
Why Sorcerers Have Long Grizzled Beards
Ever notice that fictional sorcerers always seem to have long, grizzled beards? Ever wondered why? Well, probably you haven’t, but you’re about to find out. The sorcerer “look” originally comes from a real-life sorcerer named […]
Mini-Review of Felicity Savage’s “Black Wedding”
It’s been so long since I’ve heard a “new voice” in horror writing that I’d forgotten what it feels like. Felicity Savage’s “Black Wedding” in her collection Black Wedding and Five More Funerals gave the […]
Metadrama and Science Fiction in Affleck’s Argo
I had given some thought to doing an Oscars recap this week, tallying the various gains and losses of the science fiction and fantasy fields within that most prestigious of movie awards ceremonies. But given […]
The James Allison Stories: Dreaming of the Past
Robert E. Howard produced several series: Solomon Kane, Kull of Valusia, Bran Mak Morn, and finally Conan the Cimmerian, all existing more or less in the same world at different times. In “Kings of the […]
Now with more Pulp!
Pulp… no, wait… it should be written like this: PULP! What I am referring to is not what you find in your orange juice. It refers to a type of low grade paper that was […]
From the In Box
UPDATE: See below for a new release from Eric Brown Frank R Paul interior art for sale The Man of Bronze is Back Lightspeed’s latest issue The Serene Invasion Frank Wu sent along a note […]
Dynamo – Unsuccessful Wooing, Decrees from Rashmon & A Silent, Bearded Man
If there’s a recently popularized term that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, it’s “webisodes.” This demeaning and fun-sized determination of quality stems from the misconception of tacked-on extra content pumped out in the […]
The Science Fiction Fan’s Bucket List
I’ve been fortunate to be able to travel a lot and do many things I’ve always wanted to do. Some of my opportunities have been work related (e.g. using the Hubble Space Telescope, and helping […]
Me and My Sofa.
Ah yes, me and my Sofa. I feel confident calling it my Sofa. With a capital S because the sofa I’m referring to, StarShipSofa, is a podcast magazine. And I can call it mine because […]
The Impossibility of Escaping the Palm of Buddha’s Hand
“Mortal, you have angered Shaka-sama and now Pigsy will eat your face.” This is one of the improbable lines that is never spoken in the foundational saga of Buddhist fiction. Many other improbable lines are. Further out on the improbability spectrum: Shingo Katori costumes up as a monkey.
KIDS N ZOMBIES
When I was a little kid, three things terrified me. Bugs, Gargoyles, and Zombies. My fear of Gargoyles came from an early 70s movie of the same name. A scene where the people are driving […]
War and Dreams – Two Novels by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Kathleen Ann Goonan’s In War Times, originally published in 2007, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel and the ALA’s Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year. A complex exploration of the […]
Amazing News Thursday, February 28th, 2013
Inspiration Mars, a two-person Mars flyby mission is being planned by the world’s first space tourist- Dennis Tito – was featured in the same issue of the Concord Monitor as their coverage of Amazing Stories. […]
Crossroads: Is this a Kissing Book? SFF’s Relationship with Romance
Whenever I think of speculative fiction’s relationship to romance, I am always reminded of that scene in The Princess Bride where Fred Savage’s character interrupts his grandpa and – voice dripping with scorn – asks: […]
Amazing Stories Featured in Concord Monitor’s A&E Section
On Tuesday Steve Davidson, the publisher of Amazing Stories, was interviewed by Sarah Earle for a feature in the Concord Monitor, one of New Hampshire’s leading daily newspapers. Davidson and others involved with the project […]
Sequential Wednesdays #2 – To Stand The Gap: The Secret Truth of S.H.I.E.L.D.
This is not how the World ends. This oft-spoken mantra, among others, repeated throughout the narrative of the Marvel comic S.H.I.E.L.D. is a tried and true indicator of how much I adore this work. Created by heralded […]
JJ Abrams is coming back to the small screen
The man behind hit TV shows and films such as Lost, Cloverfield and Armageddon (yes he was involved in the script writing for the latter) is bringing a new show to our screens – Revolution. […]
Living in a Glass House
Welcome internet traveler. I will be stockpiling neatly organized bits into a collective known as a blog along this portion of your journey. Do not fear for your personal safety, as I will take great […]
The Careful Writer: Some Notes on Composition
During my recent reread of Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style”, this little book yielded more good advice that I wish to share with you. “The shape of our language is not rigid,” they […]
Strange Days
Fighting monsters is easy. Maintaining an interstellar relationship? That’s hard.
Review: The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
Alright we are back with my coverage on SF detectives and we return with the classic SF/mystery novel, written by the grand-daddy of SF himself, The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov. This first novel in […]
Characters: Per Langstaff from Typhon’s Children
Oh, Toni Anzetti, or Ann Tonsor Zeddies, whichever. She’s magnificent in her creation of alien worlds. Not so magnificent in her characters. The Typhon series isn’t widely known, and I’ve never really met another who’s […]
Serial Fiction for Beginners
Serial fiction is old school and the best examples I can think of is probably comic strips, soap operas and the black and white episodes of Flash Gordon, Doctor Who and Lost in Space that […]
Video: Cory Doctorow in Concord NH
Cory Doctorow made a stop at Gibson’s Bookstore (oldest book store in NH) yesterday, Sunday February 24th. Amazing Stories was there to tape the event, one stop of a 24 city tour promoting Cory’s latest […]
Vital Editing
Once you have written something with a great hook, a beginning, middle, and satisfactory ending… you don’t have those? Well, that’s a blog for a different day! The next task is to edit what you […]
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