On Cover Mentions
Cover mentions. Every author loves them, but do they actually help sell magazines?
Scide Splitters: Next of Kin by Eric Frank Russell
Scide Splitters reviews Eric Frank Russell’s classic novel, Next of Kin. A story of one man’s ingenious plan to escape an alien POW camp.
Scide Splitters: Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown
Science fiction writers had long warned the people of earth about the potential of a Martian invasion, but nothing could have prepared them for a billion jeering Little Green Men.
MAGAZINE REVIEW: F&SF FOR JAN/FEB 2016
The January/February issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF) is under review by Steve, who likes it a lot, even though a couple of the stories kind of depressed him. You will probably like it too!
Scide Splitters: 1941 Retro Hugo Eligible Novelettes
The second of a three part series in which Scide Splitters examines humorous stories eligible for the 1941 Retro Hugos Awards.
Judging Books by Their Covers: Agent of Vega
No one loves space opera more than I do.
Hugo Award by the Numbers Part 4
Since 1966, the average length of Hugo nominated novels has more than doubled…
Scide Splitters: The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell
Scide Splitters reviews Eric Frank Russell’s hilarious classic, The Great Explosion – possibly the funniest libertarian science fiction novel ever written.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN’S JUVENILES: Are they still good? (Part One)
I seem to be unable to do single columns about stuff I’m passionate about. Heinlein is no exception. Robert A. Heinlein, who was characterized as the “Dean of Science Fiction,” though he was not necessarily the oldest or the best writer of SF during his lifetime, began his writing career before he went back into […]
Who Goes There? The Thing?
The Thing. The iconic black and white film from 1951 actually titled The Thing from Another World. Even with all of the name variations and numerous cinematic remakes, to most of us it will was and always will be The Thing. Or was it?
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Retro Read: A Martian Odyssey (Part 1)
Steve begins a new series of reviews devoted to examining the contents of what is arguably the single greatest anthology of science fiction’s first half-century – The Science Fiction Hall Of Fame, edited by Robert Silverberg and selected by the members of SFWA. Individual stories will be examined in order, with particular attention being paid to their suitability for today’s readers, as well as their place in SF literary history.
The Artful Collector: Should You Worry About Forgery in SF Art?
How important is Fraud in the SF/F art market? I could write lengthy blogs on how forgers break down and then reconstitute the same clay to fashion Mid- and South American artifacts, using original (thousand-year-old) molds. But there are Archaelogy magazines for that. I could tell you how numismatists weigh coins to identify the fakes, […]
FRITZ LEIBER: SWORD & SORCERY GROWS UP
In 1939 Farnsworth Wright began a move away from Sword & Sorcery. With Robert E. Howard dead, he no longer championed the dark fantasy tale, publishing Henry Kuttner’s Elak as the last. This meant that Fritz Leiber, who had written horror stories for Weird Tales, was not welcome with his new series, this featuring two […]
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 couple of weeks due to some extended travel and vacation, but I’m planning to return to a regular weekly posting […]
No. 5 – John W. Campbell, Who Goes There?, The Ultimate Weapon, and Hostile Aliens.
John W. Campbell, aka – Don A Stuart, wrote for Astounding Science-Fiction. His work Who Goes There? was voted the best science fiction novella EVER. Okay, slip of the tongue. ONE of the best. Sorry. I guess I just saw RED when I first misread the article. My first thought was” Hey! You can’t do […]
