(Jango and me, checking out the links.)

A few links for a Wednesday–some really interesting stuff, I think. I’m pretty happy with how the Lennon review turned out, too.

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Via John Coulthart. I’m having my mushroom suit custom-made.

Just a few choice ones:

Clarions to Reduce Weeks, Team Up with SyFy, and Engage in Cage Fighting (see Kelly Link swear like sailor) - by a certain squid…

Mashups, Including My Forthcoming War and Peace/Alien-Pred Novel (and more fool linkage in the sidebar)

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Anyone who has followed this blog knows of our continuing interest in and concern about the penguin war situation. To get yourself up to speed if you’re unaware of this international crisis, just visit Sir Tessa’s comprehensive blog entry, with massive imagery and summary.

Here’re a couple more images from said entry to show you the importance of this issue:

Not to mention these developments:

Club Penguin

Penguin War Simulator

Penguin bombs dropping:

Penguins trying to elicit our deepest sympathy before they totally destroy our way of life:

(And really not to mention penguins managing their own presets, muted nine-second penguins, and a penguin sentinel up a tree!)

But now it has come to my attention that the invasion continues on the cultural-capitalist front:

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Would you buy a book or listen to a presentation from these two goofs? Well, the folks at MidSouthCon did. Due to a, well, just a mistake I forgot to pack my more formal clothes and wound up giving my part of our Booklife workshop in a hoodie and a t-shirt that read “Nyet!”. Matt Staggs at least had on the mimic’s version of a professor’s uniform. But you couldn’t have more of a contrast. Matt’s thoughts on the con can be found here.

Me, I’m still formulating my thoughts, but here are a few pre-con observations, in the context of having had a good time and the con people treating us just wonderfully well.

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(Ann couldn’t pick up this huge billiard ball, but I’m sure she could pick up a Hugo…)

First up, thrilled for Ann (and Stephen Segal) that Weird Tales is up for a Hugo for the first time in its history. I hope it wins. I also think Ann should’ve been up for best editor given not just WT but also the anthos she co-edited last year, but so it goes. Let’s not be greedy, shall we? (Congrats to all the nominees–limited internets here in Memphis, so no link, but I’m sure you can find it.)

Second up, Memphis photos, including metal lizard shell thingee and much more.

Third up, Sean Wallace has a break down of the percentage of new writers in several prominent genre magazines in 2008, which is worth reproducing here:

F&SF: 5%
Analog: 5%
Asimov’s: 20%
Baen’s Universe: 21%
Intergalactic Medicine Show: 32%
Interzone: 40%
Realms of Fantasy: 51%
Clarkesworld: 61%
Strange Horizons: 68%
Weird Tales: 72%
Chizine: 78%
Fantasy Magazine: 88%

If I were a new writer, this would probably make me consider focusing my efforts on Asimov’s and Weird Tales in addition to mostly online sources. Consider also that the main reason to get into Asimov’s or F&SF beyond trad prestige factors would be their virtual stranglehold on the Hugos and Nebulas. But the Hugos in particular tend not reward new writers. (Am I wrong? Tell me if so.)

Dear readers: The world is shifting. Are you shifting with it?

Which of these subjects do you want to discuss? I don’t care. Surprise me.

UPDATE: Great post here!

I don’t know if most of you have already seen this post at Editorial Ass, but it’s pretty insightful and interesting. The comments thread is also good.

The point is, we want our national literary culture to reflect our country–diverse, complex, and interesting in thousands and millions of ways, not on one very limited way. It’s in everyone’s interest to break down these accidental dumbnesses, and the first step is building awareness that there are problems.

(How’d I get 10? I didn’t. I got two, but in this alternate Earth, I can create extra copies with my mind juices. How’d the two get to me so fast? Brain fu. Puttin’ a little extra something on the curveball.)

Other Earths, edited by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake, arrived today (publication date April 7; you can pre-order on Amazon). It’s a crisp, smart little mass market anthology featuring the fiction of moi, Robert Charles Wilson, Stephen Baxter, Theodora Goss, Liz Williams, Gene Wolfe, Greg Van Eekhout, Alastair Reynolds, Paul Park, Lucius Shepard, and Benjamin Rosenbaum. All-original, all-alternate history stories set on Earth. What if Lincoln had never become president and the Civil War had never taken place? What if Columbus never discovered America, and the Inca developed a massive, technologically advanced empire? What if George W. Bush existed in more than one reality? (Shudder).

Here, for your perusal, in a Friday tip of the hat to that attention-robbing social media fad Twitter, find one line apiece from all eleven stories…

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That’s right–the latest Weird Tales is now out and being shipped to subscribers. Including a feature on Neil Gaiman and fiction from Tim Pratt, Michael Bishop, Kathe Koja, Micaela Morrissette, Felix Gilman, and Matt Cheney. Some really strong stuff.

And what was WT fiction editor Ann V doing last night, when she should’ve been celebrating her pre-birthday (said b-day being today)? Why, wrapping the copies for the contributors:

Don’t give a crap about WT? Have some fishmen:

I have to admit–I’m not real fond of creators pimping themselves on Facebook beyond sharing links and stuff. I don’t know that the format lends itself to aggressive self-promotion. Most of the stuff I get in my Facebook inbox I just delete. But Danny Fontaine recently sent me the following missive about the Horns of Fury through Facebook, and it’s the kind of thing that gets around your defenses. Thought I’d share it here–especially since I like this band a lot. (Danny Fontaine [info at dannyfontaine.co.uk]; images theirs.)

Jeff

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This ain’t spam yo, it’s your humble narrator, Daniel P Fontaine, on behalf of ‘imself and ‘is loyal Horns Of Fury.

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