Posts Categorized: News

News

Thoughts on the 2013 Hugo Awards, All and Sundry

By Aidan Moher April 3rd, 2013

Hugo Awards LogoOn the back of Justin Landon’s provocative thoughts on the 2013 Hugo ballot, the past 48 hours has produced several thoughtful responses, some in favour, some against and some carving their own path to find answers to the Hugo ‘problem’ (if such even exists). My thoughts are here. Here I’ve gathered together some of the responses complement and balance out Landon’s article and the resulting discussion (nearing a staggering 200 comments at the time of writing this).

In particular, Vixyish and Lavie Tidhar both encouragingly suggest that we should not be focussing on the issues of blockvoting and ‘the old guard’ (as the SMOF crowd is sometimes affectionately called), but rather on the ethnic and gender diversity that is beginning to appear on the ballot of what has traditionally been a very staid and conservatively white/male award. Lots of food for thought.

So, onward. Read More »

News

‘The Wizard in Twilight’ by Daniel Abraham

By Daniel Abraham April 1st, 2013
'The Wizard in Twilight' by Daniel Abraham

“Poker is a man’s game,” Josh’s daddy used to say, “because it isn’t fair.”
–Galveston by Sean Stewart

Back in college I was in a roleplaying game set in medieval Europe, only with wizards. It was called Ars Magica. And one of the things that made it interesting was that, in that world, wizards didn’t die of old age. Either they died by violence, or else they just went . . . elsewhere. They fell so deeply into the magic that they stopped being part of the world that you or I experience. That process of moving on was called the wizard’s twilight.

About the same time I was sitting around a friend’s living room pretending to be a Latin-speaking wizard somewhere in 1300s Scotland, a guy named Sean Stewart won the Aurora and Arthur Ellis awards for a book called Passion Play. A couple years after that, he got the Aurora again for a book called Nobody’s Son. And the year after that, the New York Times named his novel Resurrection Man the best science fiction book of the year. And he kept getting better. A couple books later, Mockingbird was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award along with being a New York Times notable book of the year. In 2001, his novel Galveston shared the World Fantasy Award with Tim Powers’ novel Declare, beating out Guy Gavriel Kay, Paula Volsky, Phillip Pullman and China Mieville.

And after that, he couldn’t sell his next book. Read More »

News

Did Tolkien put a stop to a Lord of the Rings film by Stanley Kubrick & The Beatles?

By Aidan Moher March 28th, 2013

500x_beatleslotrAccording to First Things, J.R.R. Tolkien once nixed a film adaptation of his classic novel, Lord of the Rings, by the Beatles. Better yet, the film was to be directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Via Patheos, First Things lays out the original plans:

Once upon a time, the Fab Four—having slain the pop charts—decided to set their sights on the Dark Lord Sauron by making a Lord of the Rings feature, starring themselves. One man dared stand in their way: J.R.R. Tolkien.

According to Peter Jackson, who knows a little something about making Lord of the Rings movies, John Lennon was the Beatle most keen on LOTR back in the ’60s—and he wanted to play Gollum, while Paul McCartney would play Frodo, Ringo Starr would take on Sam and George Harrison would beard it up for Gandalf. And he approached a pre-2001 Stanley Kubrick to direct.

More details came from a conversation between Paul McCartney and Peter Jackson, who successfully managed to coerce the Tolkien estate into giving up the film rights to the trilogy (something that Christopher Tolkien still hasn’t lived down):

McCartney told Jackson about the failed scheme when the two bumped into each other at the Academy Awards: “It was something John was driving and J.R.R. Tolkien still had the film rights at that stage but he didn’t like the idea of the Beatles doing it. So he killed it,” Jackson told the Wellington Evening Post in 2002.

“There probably would’ve been some good songs coming off the album,” said Jackson.

That Tolkien didn’t care for the Beatles will come as no surprise to fans of either one, but Tolkien’s letters give us a hint that his opposition to the Beatles may have had a more personal dimension.

I think the real question, though, is whether the Beatles/Kubrick film would have managed to feel even more like an acid trip than the terribly awesome (or awesomely terrible) Ralph Bakshi adaptation.

News

SpecFic ’12 Contributors Announced, Includes… Me!

By Aidan Moher March 20th, 2013

Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary, edited by Landon and ShurinLazy cut & paste job here, since I clearly have nothing else to prove to the online SFF writing/fandom circle.

Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary announced its lineup of contributors, Wednesday. Edited by bloggers Justin Landon (Staffer’s Book Review- US) and Jared Shurin (Pornokitsch – UK), SpecFic ’12 collects over fifty pieces from science fiction and fantasy’s top authors, bloggers and critics.

Author and podcasting sensation Mur Lafferty, whose newest novel The Shambling Guide to New York City is due out from Orbit Books this Spring, has agreed to write the foreword. “Lafferty’s writing career germinated online. She’s been a pioneer in the space and understands why the work in this book is so important. She’s the perfect person to put it into context,” said Landon.

Landon and Shurin also announced that they will pass the torch in 2013, establishing a precedent of rotating editors every year. The 2013 volume will be edited by Thea James and Ana Grilo of The Book Smugglers. Shurin commented, “We’re excited to see this move forward with Thea and Ana. They have a great perspective on the genre community that’s also very different from our own. 2013 couldn’t be in better hands. I’m really looking forward to working with them as Jurassic London continues to publish the series.”

Read More »

News

Scott Lynch’s The Republic of Thieves Has a Release Date. For real this time.

By Aidan Moher March 14th, 2013

The Republic of Thieves by Scott LynchThe Republic of Thieves, the long-awaited and oft-delayed third volume in Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards sequence, finally has a release date, confirmed by his UK publisher:

The Orion Publishing Group (UK & Commonwealth) and the Random House Publishing Group (US) are thrilled to announce the publication of the third instalment in Scott Lynch’s popular fantasy series that began with The Lies of Locke Lamora. THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES will release on October 10, 2013 in the UK and Commonwealth and October 8, 2013 in the US.

Now, of course, The Republic of Thieves has had many release dates, but this one appears to be legitimate. This October, we’ll all be reading Lynch’s next novel. Simon Spanton, Deputy Publishing Director at Gollancz, discussed the release date, and

“Some of you will know about the real difficulties that gathered around this novel for Scott. I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank Scott for sticking with it. I know that he was always painfully aware of the delays and what those meant both for his publishers and his fans. So I’d also like to thank Scott’s readers for their patience and for the immense support and the profound goodwill towards Scott that they have shown during this time. It’s been a long wait but I have every faith that their patience will now be rewarded with The Republic of Thieves.”

Are you still excited for The Republic of Thieves after all this time? I certainly am. Expect The Republic of Thieves to soon be available for pre-order.