A Dribble of Ink

From the press release:

Starting today, we are publishing digital editions of original short stories from some of your favorite authors! The stories will be available at all major ebook retailers – initially in the US, further afield in the very near future.

We’ve got a fantastic launch list of stories including apocalyptic SF from zombie-maven Mira Grant, kick-ass urban fantasy stories from Jaye Wells and Jennifer Rardin, and military SF from newcomer T.C. McCarthy.

And there’s plenty more to come, including Perfect Shadow, an original novella by Brent Weeks, available in June.

We’ll be announcing new stories as they become available, so visit us at orbitshortfiction.com or “like” us on Facebook for updates.

Happy reading!

Since first picking up my eReader last year, I’ve been exposed to the huge, wonderful world of Short Ficiton. It’s incredibly accessible, the perfect venue to find new authors and, often, exactly what I need after finishing the nth doorstopper Epic Fantasy of the year. I’m glad to see Orbit Books getting on board and encouraging their authors to write and publish short fiction.

Unfortunately, the only announced title that I’m interested in (and sure to be their big seller) is Weeks’ “Perfect Shadow”, a novella set in the same world as his Night Angel Trilogy, doesn’t hit for a few more weeks. I’ve not read Weeks’ trilogy, but having enjoyed Black Prism well enough, I figure this novella would be a good way to stick my toe in the waters and see how I like it.

Oddly, though the website has been set up with details about all the stories, one can’t actually purchase the stories directly from Orbit Book and instead must use any of the various major eBook retailers. Too bad. And with places like Tor.com (who I write for, blah blah blah, moneyhats), not to mention all the wonderful eZines (Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Clarkesworld, Fantasy Magazine, etc…) giving away their short fiction for free, a full pay model seems a little strange.

The stories can be found on the official Orbit Books Short Fiction Store.

Hot on the heels of the show’s first episode, Martin has revealed that HBO has already renewed the show for a second season:

HBO RENEWS GAME OF THRONES FOR SECOND SEASON

LOS ANGELES, April 19, 2011 – Following strong critical and viewer response to the series’ April 17 debut, HBO has renewed GAME OF THRONES for a second season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming.

“We are delighted by the way David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have brought George R.R. Martin’s amazing book series to the screen, and thrilled by the support of the media and our viewers,” said Lombardo. “This is the continuation of an exciting creative partnership.”

The gross audience for the premiere night of GAME OF THRONES on the main HBO channel was 4.2 million viewers.

I’m currently reading A Clash of Kings right now, and I’m scratching my head wondering how the hell they’re going to fit that book (which is much larger in scope, cast and plot than A Game of Thrones into 10 episodes. Perhaps, if Game of Thrones is a success, we’ll see the season expanded somewhat? Personally, I can’t wait to see that scene between Theon and Asha. So awkward in the book and so much potential on the screen. Also, Davos. Yes.

I think the obvious question, however, is when will we see season six and seven. Right? *instant rimshot*

For those who watched the first episode of Season One: what did you think?

I know I shouldn’t draw attention to this, it’s exactly what the editors of the New York Times were hoping for when they green-lit the review, but I just can’t help it. Long story short, a reviewer at the NYT didn’t like the first episode of HBO’S Game of Thrones. And you know what? That’s okay. What’s not okay are her poorly considered and narrow-minded criticisms; not to mention her tasteless views of Fantasy and women.

There’s an argument out there that the NYT should have handed the television show to a reviewer with a taste for and a history with Fantasy literature and cinema. I don’t fully agree with this, however. One assumes that the early viewership of the show will primarily be made up of fans of Martin’s series, an already established audience, but as the show moves on (and garners more critical acclaim, as it has everywhere besides the NYT), that audience will continue to grow and reach outside the typical circle of core Fantasy consumers. Does one need to be immersed in 60’s corporate politicking to enjoy Mad Men? No. Does one have to understand the Tudor dynasty to enjoy or critique The Tudors? So, newcomer to Fantasy is reviewing a Fantasy product. There’s a whole swathe of the audience who will be ignorant of the genre’s history. I’m fine with that.

But.

Regardless of any past experience, however, if one chooses to review a product (especially a paid review), isn’t it fair to expect them to go in with an open mind and a willingness to immerse themselves in an unfamiliar vocabulary and set of rules?

Well, the author of the New York Times review of HBO’s Game of Thrones doesn’t seem to think so.

Here are two of my favourite quotes:

The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to “The Hobbit” first. “Game of Thrones” is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half.

and

If you are not averse to the Dungeons & Dragons aesthetic, the series might be worth the effort. If you are nearly anyone else, you will hunger for HBO to get back to the business of languages for which we already have a dictionary.

Frankly, I can’t tell which is a more reprehensible statement: that for television to be good it has to be rooted in the cliche and familiar, or that women don’t like dragons and knights and wouldn’t watch the show if it didn’t have explicit sex scenes. Just wait until the reviewer gets a glimpse of some of the Tyrion/Shae sex scenes in the second season. In the meantime, she can go back to watching Nikita in all its contemporary glory.

Congrats, Ginia Bellafante! Not only do you write for the New York Times… you also get to publicly set both women and Speculative Literature back to the gutters they used to occupy and that we’ve all so often fought our way out of. I hope you’re proud.

Now, where’d I put my copy of Water for Elephants? Must’ve got lost when my fiance was baking bread and starching my sheets. Awe well… I’ll just go re-read this amazing rebuttal by the good folks at io9.

From Jackson’s Facebook page, via Suvudu:

Yeah. Just, yeah.