That's not very sci-fi, he said.
Oct 25I’m not terribly angry with Cory right now – more accurately, his enthusiasm on a few things grates. Like, Walking Dead. Cory’s discovered THE reigning king of the zombie comics. Well done, you. If you’ve just found it now, you need more comic friends.
But mostly I want to comment on Wired’s upcoming 6-word Sci-Fi Stories, which Cory is reporting, as Cory is one of them. Didn’t make the magazine, but he made the web edition.
What’s most interesting about this article is seeing what was submitted by very bright lights. Not as many actual science fiction writers as one might expect, or hope, but the results are amusing. What’s fairly apparent though is that most had fun with the idea of a six word story, but making them ring as science fiction was mostly ignored.
Case in point, Howard Chaykin’s submission;
“I couldn’t believe she’d shoot me.â€
I! LIKE! PUMPKIN! SPICES! (Dalek voice)
Oct 25
The best part of Halloween, especially now that I’m too old to metabolize more than a single treat per evening without killing myself, are the pumpkins. It used to be the costumes, and I guess they’re still a hoot, but they’re a rare treat – you can guess what you’ll see every year by the popular movies that past summer, and most are clever, but have to be explained to you;
“I’m Bill O’Reilly”
“Ah yes, I can see the nametag now. Bill O’Reilly doesn’t really wear a name tag though, now does he?”
“…”
Genius costumes are like a Corpse Flower blooming – they occur once in a blue moon and more than likely you’ll only hear about it afterwards.
But pumpkins… pumpkins are all over the place and the level of creativity poured into them each year makes my cheeks glow.
– Dalek Pumpkin
– Zombie Pumpkins – Best collection of pumpkin stencils going
– “Pumpkin” tag results at Flickr
I’ll be adding more, as I find them. Matt, Sarah? Got any good ones to add?
Sigh.
Oct 25I miss the days when TheForce.Net defined “news” as someone saying “Use the Force” on According to Jim, and not as an excuse to pimp overpriced signatures from Mace Windu.
Seriously. Have they no shame?
Grant NAN Recipients!
Oct 24Lea Hernandez has announced the lucky recipients of Grant NAN. Something cool: the recipients have their grant proposals posted on their respective websites. Just make with the clicky on the links listed next to each name.
Bubble?! Whaaaa…?
Oct 24Here’s a good interview with Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas. Teases for the next two mysteries included!
Also included is discussion of VM‘s demographic, which I find fascinating. Back at Comic-Con, one of my fellow con-goers expressed surprise at the inclusion of a VM panel, and I was trying to explain why the show seems to attract the culty, genre-loving audience, even though it’s not technically a genre show. One demographic-y thing I have noticed in particular is there seems to be a lot of crossover between VM fans and Battlestar Galactica fans. At first, I assumed this was wishful thinking on my part, as those are my two favorite series currently gracing the small screen. But then I started noticing the crossover in people who aren’t, well…me. And I introduced my BSG-lovin’ friend to VM and she was instantly hooked and concurred with my entirely unscientific assessment.
I think it has something to do with both shows being extremely dense, especially when compared to your average TV drama-rama. They also both have a tendency towards the dark and gritty and more than a few characters sketched in shades of gray. And there’s something about loving either of the shows that’s just…I don’t know, all-consuming? Like you can’t really be a casual fan. You have to be at least a little foamy at the mouth.
Appropriately enough, Veronica’s new favorite slang word this season is “frak.” You go, Rob Thomas.
