Turkish fiction writer Elif Shafak avoided prison today. she was brought to trial under Article 301, an ominously sounding law on speech and the written word in Turkey. Acquitted for the crime of insulting Turkish national identity, she’s one of several writers accused and tried for this crime. Apparently bringing up the fact that almost one million Armenians were murdered in the early 20th century is bad form. Several dozen writers of non-fiction and fiction are awaiting trial for voicing various opinions on Turkish history and policy, rendering free speech in that country a fragile risk. Insulting Turkishness is a vague term, usually limited to people to criticize those in power, and often used to stifle opinion. When The Bastard of Istanbul is published next year (not Shafak’s novel), I’m tempted to buy it just to grab onto that ability to speak one’s mind.
Author: Anders Monsen (Page 61 of 82)
Yowza! I’d better start saving now for the 2007 Michael Shea colleciotn, if these prices are any indication of the publisher’s offerings. Reminds me of Charnel House’s extra special editions. Collectors and die-hard fans only, I guess.
I’m a huge Michael Shea fan. The man is a master with words, charaters, and turns of phrase, all in the weird/horror/fantasy genre. Today I saw by chance two new short stories coming in out later this year while idly searching Shocklines.com. I jumped to Shea’s web site, and almost sprayed my tea on my monitor. Shea states that in 2007 a 400 page collection of all his stort stories and novellas will be published. I have almost all of Shea’s published works, except for three very hard to find short stories. I hope the tables of contents soon will be available, to check off if all the stories are indeed there.
Shea is not for everyone, but this award-winning author should have had another collection years ago. To date there’s only been the Arkham House collection, Polyphemus, but now I’m excited about 2007. Now, maybe other publishers will take note and publish some of his finished novels…
It’s been a while since I updated my blog roll, but I’m adding a section on resources, otherwise known as “places that will take your money and give you stuff.” I like stuff.
I’m starting small, and probably will add links to places I’ve patronized, or that I know have good reputations. (I got ripped off my first time on eBay ad have never been back since. Lesson learned: know from whom you are buying.) Shocklines is a great source for horror, fantasy, and the occasional sf. I recently placed an order there in hopes of getting an sf book (more of which later if I get that book), and found it amusing that the site had to stress this was science fiction. Forbidden Planet gets a mention because Joe Gordon there does some great stuff, and they have cool things.
I probably need to make other link updates, and that photo is twenty years old… but in due time.
Joe Gordon at Forbidden Planet pointed out to me a new series of comic novels by noted tech writer Doug Rushkoff, called Testament. According to the author himself, “It’ll follow a band of cyber-alchemist revolutionaries, in a future just a day after tomorrow – when the draft is reinstated, and the mind virus known as the dollar requires military enforcement.”
I’ve recently discovered a somewhat decent comic book store in San Antonio (nowhere near as comprehensive as Austin Books in, duh, Austin), so I plan to see if they have any copies on hand.
Forgive me while I sneer yet again at a company that wants to be all things to everyone, as Microsoft imitates yet another technology. Now they want to replicate YouTube. Previously they ripped of the Mac OS, the spreadsheet, Playstation, iTunes, iPod, smart phones. The list goes on. When do we ever see innovation from this behemoth?
The cover photo’s a little creepy, but now you can pre-order Others: The Tales of F. Paul Wilson from Shocklines. This DVD contains three short stories where the author granted permission to three young filmmakers – “Foet”, “Traps,” and “Lipidleggin.” The first two are horror tales, and the last a libertarian sf story that originally appeared in Asimovs in 1978, and then reprinted in Survival of Freedom an anthology edited by Jerry Pournelle in 1981. None of the shorts run longer than 20 minutes, but you can bet I’m ordering this little item. Expected ship date is October, 2006, and the cost is a mere $13.99.
I’m trying to minimize surfing while working on the Fall issue of Prometheus, but while wasting time elsewhere trying to add cover art to some iTunes albums, I stumbled upon a site that lets you sample tracks via free downloads, for jazz fans only, I guess. All available by permission from artist or record company, and all in the mp3 format. No apparent DRM. Probably friendly across many digital jukeboxes. There are currently 421 available downloads. I’m hoping this will lead to me discovering cool new jazz, as my tastes tend to be stuck in the 1950s and 1960s in that genre…
The next issue of the print newsletter of the Libertarian Futurist Society is slowly coming together. So far this is what’s planned:
Prometheus Award Winners’ remarks. Reviews of fiction by Naomi Novik, Keith Brooke, David Louis Edelman, Ian MacDonald, Gary Bennett, Chris Roberson. Movie review of V for Vendetta. Scheduled publication date is early to mid-October.
I’ve just finished putting together a wickedly cool cover for the newsletter, which I won’t yet reveal. My only concern with this issue is that it looks like I’m writing five or six reviews to fill content. Not that I mind, but I’m hoping for submissions from others so I can step back a little.
Speaking of which, if you like libertarian sf, and like to review stuff, please consider Prometheus.
I’m not longer sure… Do I belong to the cult of Apple, or a libertarian sf cult. I’m astonished at the intellectual strength required to label different ideas as cult like. Gosh, some weird people actually like an OS and and hardware design, instead of living with clunky and imitative software, viruses, blues screens of death, and grey boxes. You are a cult! Some people like liberty and dream of space. Cultist! With friends like this, who needs enemies.
