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reactor_feed posted: Living in Hope is a Discipline: Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks - the final novel is set to be released on June 4th.Terrible things happen to people in this novel, but the novel is not about terrible things happening to people. It’s about their whole-hearted survival.
As an example of how Marks’s ethos of constructive optimism structures the text, I’ll point toward the calm pleasure I felt in realizing that, for all the violence and abuse that occurs in Shaftal, gender and sexuality exist in a space of unremarkable equity. Homophobia and sexism are not considerations or powers with which to be reckoned. While rape exists and is acknowledged—as are murder, torture, political assassination, genocide—the potential for victimization is not directed with exploitive and lavish attention toward the punitive destruction of women’s bodies, or brown bodies, or queer bodies, or all of the above.
The couples (and moresomes) featured in romantic connections throughout the book are in fact predominantly and wonderfully queer: Karis and Zanja as well as Emil and Medric pair up, out of our protagonists. Norina is a woman in a relationship with a man, but Marks has cleverly illustrated the functions of gender in Shaftal’s social order therein as well. Norina is a Truthken, a lawgiver and sometimes-soldier, while her husband is a healer—and when she becomes pregnant, the irritation of carrying a child is explicitly noted as a thing she wishes he biologically was doing. He’s also the primary caregiver for the baby once the child is born. Their approaches to their roles are individual and specific rather than gendered in the “expected” manner.
It hearkens back, in my mind, to classic feminist, queer SF. Marks has built a world in the shape that Joanna Russ wrote about critically, that Le Guin imagined and so forth, where gender is not swap-reversed or rendered implausibly invisible. Rather, questions of production, labor, time, and privilege are constructed around the presumption of creating equity. There is a subtle brilliance to that considered and thoughtful approach to a world without patriarchal oppression. And it also means that sometimes, for instance, colonial brutality is meted out as much from a woman’s hands as a man’s, as much by soldiers as politicians as citizens.
reactor_feed posted: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost Adapting Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London for TelevisionSimon Pegg and Nick Frost, the folks behind Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End, a.k.a. the Cornetto trilogy, are taking on another series: Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London, an urban fantasy procedural in which aspiring detective Peter Grant finds himself working for The Folly, Scotland Yard’s department of supernatural beings. Frost and Pegg’s production company Stolen Picture will adapt the first book in the Peter Grant series for television (with Sony Pictures Television), with Aaronovitch also serving as an executive producer.
reactor_feed posted: On the Origins of Modern Biology and the Fantastic: Part 10—Ray Bradbury and Mechanisms of RegulationBradbury followed up The Martian Chronicles with his last book of largely science fiction stories, The Illustrated Man (1951), full of metaphorical stories about civil rights, atomic war, and the misuse of technology. Meanwhile, Bradbury was welcomed into the literati, further inspiring him to publish more and more literary stories. In 1953, his first collection mixing SF and literary fiction, Golden Apples of the Sun (1953), was released. But it was his reputation within SF that finally earned him the opportunity to break into Hollywood with his first original story treatment for a movie, It Came From Outer Space, which turned the space invader trope on its ear.
It was this foray in film that exposed Bradbury to McCarthy’s Hollywood Communist witch hunts and in response, Bradbury produced perhaps his most enduring book, Fahrenheit 451 (1953). Bradbury also drew on his memories of the Nazi book burnings he’d seen in newsreels as a kid and from a bizarre encounter with the LAPD he’d had while walking. The novel was written in two sessions in the basement of the UCLA Library, where he pumped dimes into a rental typewriter, and Bradbury released it with Ballantine Books, a publisher who recognized science fiction’s literary potential. Bradbury was clearly on to something and Fahrenheit 451 was an instant success, garnering high praise from critics nationwide for its unflinching look at censorship and the dangers of mass-media-induced complacency.
reactor_feed posted: Murderbot Will Return in…Network Effect. A Full Novel by Martha Wells.Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series of novellas has caught the world by storm! Not only is it a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, not only has it won a Hugo, a Nebula (and currently nominated for another!), an Alex Award and Locus Award, and been nominated for a Philip K Dick Award, RT Reviewers’ Choice Award and a British Science Fiction Award, its story of a self-aware security bot has touched many and when we announced we’d commissioned Martha to write a full length Murderbot novel, you could hear the fans squee across continents!
And now, as the writing of the novel enters the final stages, Martha has told us what the novel will be called, so we thought we’d share it with you.
In May 2020, prepare yourself for The Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect.
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squidgiepdx posted: Books! Free books!
here's a ton of free stories and books available, so if you're interested, the link is below. There are hundreds of stories and books available. All the author asks when you get one of their books is to join their mailing list. Authors rely on their email lists to let you know about new book releases, etc
reactor_feed posted: 5 Books that Give Voice to Artificial Intelligence
While working on the anthology Mother of Invention, our lives and attention spans were full of knitted robots, intelligent spaceships, living computer programs and living creatures built out of sugar. Although our focus was largely on the creators of artificial intelligences and robots, several of our authors rose to the challenge of writing in the point of view of the AI itself. It’s a special challenge for writers, but so rewarding when done well.
Both of us love this theme as readers too, so here we’re sharing some of our favourites.
arduinnaA free e-book on the history of filk music, from its beginnings in the forties to the present.
Help make it happen for Tomorrow’s Songs Today: The History of Filk Music. Only a few days left in the fundraiser to help pay for the copy-edited and cover art.
Ellora’s Cave is an indie publisher that has helped published numerous erotica and M/M authors and played an influential role in the indie erotica publishing industry in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, they seemed to have run into ongoing financial and organizational difficulties
which has led some of the authors to blog about the situation
and Publisher's Weekly, a publishing magazine to report twice on some of the troubles.
In September 2014, Dear Author also reported on their difficulties.
On Sept 26, 2014, Ellora’s Cave filed a defamation lawsuit against Dear Author . In addition, they've demanded in the lawsuit the names of those who have commented anonymously on Dear Author's article.* There are many other paths they could have chosen: publicly addressing the royalty worries of their authors, explaining how they planned to solve their organizational problems and loss of staff or clarifying how they were going to handle their two years of unpaid state tax liens.
The main contributor of Dear Author is hiring an attorney to respond to the lawsuit (anyone in Ohio know a lawyer willing to help?). Ellora's Cave’s lawsuit seems to imply that their owner is ignorant of the Streisand Effect – something I think the Internets will be happy to assist with.
Some Ellora’s Cave authors are now asking their readers to not buy their books through Ellora’s Cave until there is a better accounting. Also, at least one reader has reported that when she logged into her Elllora’s Cave account, the books she purchased had disappeared from her library. In general, it is a good idea to never rely on a publishing house to store your ebooks. You should always download a copy to hard drive, if allowed.
Edited to add: another blogger makes a chilling observation - many erotica authors write under pseudonyms in order to prevent possible complications when linking their real lives to their pen names.
"....by filing [a public lawsuit against one blogger in her personal capacity] they’re also reminding their authors and editors that they have no compunction about publicizing the personal information of anyone they see as an adversary. It’s not necessary to sue an individual person in this case; suing Dear Author LLC would have taken care of their needs.** But it wouldn’t have sent the same “we know who you are” message. EC has already stipulated in internal communications that authors “include both legal name and pen name when communicating with Ellora’s Cave.” This just ups the ante."
Whether the threat of outing may not be real or even likely, Ellora Cave's decision to reach for the litigation hammer against one blogger and to demand the names of those commenting on the article speaks volumes. How we as community want to respond to this "speech" is up to us to decide and implement.
**Attorneys may bring a personal lawsuit against an owner/operator of an LLC in the hopes they can pierce the LLC shield and hold the owner personally liable for a tort like defamation.
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Pulliam Weston (Your Credit Score), columnist for MSN Money and author of the nationally syndicated column "Money Talk," provides a practical, easy-to-understand guide to taking control of personal finances and establishing financial security. Like most financial advice books, this collection covers the basics, such as creating a financial toolkit, investing, planning for retirement and saving for college. While Pulliam Weston provides insights into these areas-especially for those without a financial background-she also charts new territory with her "60 Percent Solution" and "50/30/20 Plan," both aimed at spending control, as well as getting the most out of your credit cards and what to do if you've overspent on a car purchase. An advocate of online banking, Pulliam Weston maps out the right way to pay bills and advocates account aggregation and consolidation. She also provides a useful resource guide for finding a financial planner, a tax professional and an estate planning attorney. Checklists are included in each chapter, as well as helpful charts and tables that aid in getting and staying organized. This book will be a valuable guide on the path to financial control and security. --Publishers Weekly
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