Well, if you have noticed me being quite its because I got an emergency call in yesterday( relief teaching). As to whether or not I will make it to Continuum 8, well that’s still up in the air and at this stage I am just hitting the “paying the bills” stage of work.
None the less here are some links for you to peruse:
First is the Outer Alliance podcast who interviewed Tansy Rayner Roberts: it covers fandom feminism and Tansy’s works. It’s a monster at close to 2 hours…enjoy
you can download it here as an mp3.
Then there is interview by Neil Gaiman, of Stephen King. Its nice, it makes me want to sit on the porch and just “shoot the shit” with Mr King.
My first encounter with Stephen King, long before I met him in the flesh, was on East Croydon station in about 1975. I was fourteen. I picked up a book with an all-black cover. It was called Salem's Lot. It was King's second novel; I'd missed the first, a short book called Carrie, about a teenage girl with psychic powers. I stayed up late finishing Salem's Lot, loving the Dickensian portrait of a small American town destroyed by the arrival of a vampire. Not a nice vampire, a proper vampire. Dracula meets Peyton Place. After that I bought everything King wrote as it came out. Some books were great, and some weren't. It was okay. I trusted him. [read more]
And to follow up that, more King in a non specfic but ultimately cheer worthy article where Stephen King takes on the rich, including himself.
Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!
…My question was, “How come I’m not paying 50?” The governor of New Jersey did not respond to this radical idea, possibly being too busy at the all-you-can-eat cheese buffet at Applebee’s in Jersey City, but plenty of other people of the Christie persuasion did.
Cut a check and shut up, they said.
If you want to pay more, pay more, they said.
Tired of hearing about it, they said.
Tough shit for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it. I’ve known rich people, and why not, since I’m one of them? The majority would rather douse their dicks with lighter fluid, strike a match, and dance around singing “Disco Inferno” than pay one more cent in taxes to Uncle Sugar. It’s true that some rich folks put at least some of their tax savings into charitable contributions. My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts.Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough.
and to round it out the 2012 Locus Awards Shortlist is out.
The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced the top five finalists in each category of the 2012 Locus Awards.
Science Fiction Novel
- Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
- 11/22/63, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton as 11.22.63)
- Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
- Rule 34, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)
- The Children of the Sky, Vernor Vinge (Tor)
[read on]
Many thanks to @kimode and @fearofemeralds on twitter for some of these links.
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