For reasons that defy explanation, I am somehow considered a viable authority on the general fields of science fiction and fantasy media, because the poor fools over at the SF Signal Podcast allowed me to inflict myself upon their 2013 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Year in Review episode.
Fortunately, an actual best-selling genre author (Gail Carriger) and an actual seasoned podcast authority (Jeff Patterson) were on hand to make sure Patrick Hester wasn't trapped with just me on the line to make himself look bad. Gail is worth the price of admission alone, and Jeff is...well...he's spent several decades working the dark underbelly of television. It's done things to his mind...unnatural things...but it makes for good podcasting.
In a recent #MindMeld column, the beneficent SF Signal Irregular Paul Weimer posed the following question to a glorious and resplendent cavalcade of sci-fi and fantasy media figures (and, also, me):
Because Patrick Hester uses wisdom as his dump stat, I was invited back on the Hugo-winning SF Signal podcast to discuss both what sci-fi I'm reading, prose-wise, and what I will pull out all the stops to read by year's end. Fortunately, Jeff Patterson, Fred Kiesche and Paul Weimer are along for the ride to inject some actual informed genre bibliophilia into my relentless name-checking of Scott Lynch, Brian Wood and Cherie Priest.
If you're building a Christmas list for the sci-fi-o-phile in your life, or just like hearing geek-banter normally reserved for side-chats at the D&D game table, you could spend worse hours than to hear the SF Signal Recommendations for 2013's Remaining Sci-Fi Must-Reads. My segments are imminently mutable.
We all know that one guy who claims to love science fiction but throws a galactic hissy fit if any story involves faster-than-light travel. But is that FTL-snob typical of science fiction in a way that, say, historical swordcraft experts are not typical of epic fantasy?
Hard science fiction is often code for "sci fi that requires the reader to do math" -- it's a label that turns off not just non-sci-fi fans, but even devout but nontechnical science fiction fanatics. Are there hard sci-fi books that not only overcome this label, but might imbue a nascent love of the subgenre?
[BONUS: We stop mid-podcast to disabuse Patrick of the notion that The 13th Warrior is a good movie. I may have instigated this intervention. I also haven't been invited back to the podcast since. Coincidence? I think not.]
If you're looking for the nerdiest of all possible holiday gifts, this podcast is an ultra-geeky idea factory. Take a listen.
Image via WikipediaI spent all of three hours at this year's ReaderCon, the famous Boston-based literary science fiction and fantasy convention. Somehow that qualified me to expound upon the features of the event via my latest appearance on the SFSignal podcast. Not to worry, the panel discussion includes actual informed opinions from the likes of:
Image via WikipediaRobert A Heinlein is considered one of the most influential writers in the history of science fiction -- but are Heinlein's works still relevant today? Thus is the question posed (and, ostensibly, answered) in my latest SF Signal podcast appearance.
Image via WikipediaI have been frustratingly unavailable to participate in these of late, but suffice it to say, the SF Signal Podcast is audibly awesome. Should you have some perverse need to hear my spoken opinions on various sci-fi topics, you can do so via the following SF Signal episodes:
Mundane (n.) - A slang term from science fiction fandom which describes all non-fans. In many instances the term is used as a perjorative. Mundanes is also a term adopted for similar usage by other related subcultures, including goths, who use it to describe non-goths, and the Society for Creative Anachronists, who use it describe anyone who isn't a participating member of the SCA.
The term mundane, sometimes shortened as mun or mundie, is also used within works of science fiction and fantasy. For example, telepaths in the Babylon 5universe refer to all non-telepaths as mundanes and in the Fables graphic novel series, all characters that do not orginate from fairy tales or folklore are referred to as mundies.
Moreover, there is a subgenre of science fiction known as mundane sci-fi, which adheres to highly realistic and plausible settings and plot devices within its stories, eschewing the more fantastical and extraordinary tropes more often associated with mainstream science fiction, particularly space opera.
Thus, usage of mundane within fandom is somewhat recursive, referring at various times to characters, stories, non-fans, or as a derogatory term for fans that are perceived as inferior or lacking sufficient devotion to fandom in general or an individual franchise in particular. Mundane as a fandom descriptor has fallen somewhat out of usage in recent years in favor of the Harry Potter-inspired (and thus currently more widely recognized) term muggle.
I bring it up because: Today is the first day of the 2009 World Science Fiction Convention, whence come the Hugo Awards, and if any place is likely to illustrate the varied usage of the word mundanes (to say nothing of the obvious dichotomy between fandom and the mundanes) it's WorldCon. Moreover, today is the 75th birthday of author Piers Anthony, whose obscenely long Xanth series of fantasy novels includes one of the most popular invocations of the term mundane, which in his context describes any normal human not born of the fictional world of Xanth. We commend either occasion as an excuse to reach out to any of the Mundanes in your life and share a little bit of the joy of fandom with them. Or just point and call them a mundie. Whatever leads to joy, really.
As my previous post indicated, I have recently resigned the longest-running writing gig of my career, authoring Geek Trivia and The Geekend for CBS Interactive. As part of dealing with my separation anxiety--and also to incentivize my former Geekend readers to come check out this blog--I've list my personal Top 25 Geekend columns from my four-year run with the blog. Enjoy.
The awesome gang over at SFSignal have put together probably their best Mind Meld column to date, offering up writing advice from over a dozen published and professional science fictionwriters and editors. It has some great advice, including how to embrace hate mail, where Robert A. Heinlein was wrong, and exactly what it is that HarperCollins' new SF imprint is looking for. For the sake of example, we give you this paraphrased list from just one of the contributors, authorMatt Hughes:
Leave out the passages that readers love to skip. (Those would be the ones you worked hardest on).
Never open a book by describing the weather.
Never open a book with a prologue. They are usually boring.
Never describe the physical appearance of a character with details that the reader will soon forget.
Even though he promised not to berate the dying Big Three science fiction magazines, Warren Ellis just can't help himself--pointing out with bitter glee that the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction had to cut its frequency in half to survive. Meanwhile, Analog and Asimov's dropped their per-issue word counts by 4000 apiece. Taken together, these are the latest death tremor of printed short-form sci-fi. Put another way, people won't be putting short-form sci-fi onto bundles of dead trees much longer.
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