2011 Holiday Logo Design Contest!

If the title doesn't entice you, then maybe this will:

The lovely folks at ooShirts, a Bay Area independent shirt company, has offered a few t-shirts to us for The World in the Satin Bag and The Skiffy and Fanty Show.  Rather than shoving our logos on the shirts and enjoying them by ourselves, we thought we'd give folks a shot at a t-shirt of their own!

Here's how it will work:
We want a new logo design for The World in the Satin Bag and The Skiffy and Fanty Show that reflects the content or feel of the sites in some way.  Roughly translated, that means we have no clear rules whatsoever, in part because we are artistically handicapped.  The designs should look nice (obviously) and it should have something to do with the sites, but we are more interested in seeing what you come up with than bogging down the artistic process with rules and rigid desires.

These will break down into two contests:  one for The World in the Satin Bag and one for The Skiffy and Fanty Show.  And you can enter both.

What you get if you win:

1. The two winning logos will receive a t-shirt with their winning logo on the front.
2. Free books -- winners will receive a $10 gift certificate to their preferred online bookstore AND a choice of a selection of books to be announced later.
3. A bio and thanks in the About sections of both sites (because you're awesome and we love you)

The Rules:

• High quality images (so that we can adjust, shrink, and move the images without worrying about all those shrinkage issues)
• Images must be submitted by 11:59 PM on January 8th, 2011 to skiffyandfanty[at]gmail[dot]com.  The winner will be announced the following week.
• Original work only.
• By submitting your images to this contest, you are not giving us ownership of your stuff.  You grant us the right to show the logo and use it on our website and materials we purchase only for ourselves (i.e., business cards, shirts for us to wear at conventions, etc., but not stuff we buy for friends and the like).  Any sale of your logo by us will have to be agreed upon at another time.  If you want to donate the logo(s) to us, that would be awesome, but we're not in the business of taking work from people without compensation unless they've offered it.  Should we become interested in selling the shirts with your logo, we'll contact you to talk about royalties.

A little about ooShirts:

While I'd love to reproduce their story here, I think you'd better read it for yourself.  They've got a great story behind them, and a great company philosophy.  We wish them the best of success (not because they're a Cali company, because we're totally not that biased...).

Have it it, logo designers!

Giveaway (Updated!): The Entire Ancient Blades Trilogy by David Chandler

I don't do giveaways often, so this is a super special post for all you reader types.

Update:  I now have three sets of the first two books in the trilogy for three lucky entrants!  This means that two people will receive the first two books and one person will receive all three!  Tell your friends!

I've got one copy of Honor Among Thieves by David Chandler (book three in the Ancient Blades Trilogy) up for grabs for one luck U.S. reader.  Entry is easy:

Leave a comment or email me at arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com tell me one thing you like about fantasy novels.

Your response need not be long (though more discussion is always welcome).  Winners will be chosen at random at 12 PM EST on Dec. 9th, 2011 (that way the publisher can hopefully get the book to you before the end of the month).

Here's a little about the book to get your brain juices flowing:

 

When allies become enemies, to whom can a clever thief turn? 

Armed with one of seven Ancient Blades, Malden was chosen by Fate to act as savior . . . and failed dismally. And now there is no stopping the barbarian hordes from invading and pillaging the kingdom of Skrae. Suddenly friends and former supporters alike covet the young hero’s magic while seeking his destruction—from the treacherous King and leaders of the City of Ness to the rogue knight Croy, who owes Malden his life. 

It will take more than Malden’s makeshift army of harlots and cutpurses to preserve a realm. Luckily the sorceress Cythera fights at his side, along with the ingenious, irascible dwarf Slag. And the wily thief still has a desperate and daring plan or two up his larcenous sleeve . . .

The first two books in the series are in mass market paperback (available just about anywhere).  If you don't have the first two, you should get them for the holidays and enter anyway!

SandF Episode 6.3 (Torture Literature Meets Modelland by Tyra Banks) is Live!

Listen at your own risk.  Discussing Modelland may cause inner ear infections, brain cancer, or leprosy.  You have been warned...

I don't think I need to say anything more than this:  the new episode involves my friend and I talking about one of the worst books ever released by a traditional publisher.  That is all.

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes Sells Film Rights

I just broke the news over at The Skiffy and Fanty Show, but I figure you all should know about it too!

Lauren Beukes, South African author of Moxyland and Zoo City, has sold the film rights to her Arthur C. Clarke winning novel, Zoo City to Helena Spring, a renowned South African filmmaker.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Helena Spring, widely regarded as one of South Africa’s most accomplished motion picture producers, has just been awarded the highly sought-after film rights to Zoo City, the Sci-Fi thriller penned by South African author Lauren Beukes – who garnered the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award for best Science Fiction novel. In the wake of whopping sales figures, multiple awards and critical acclaim Beukes’ book generated fierce interest from numerous bidders in the entertainment industry, putting Spring alongside major US and UK producers eager to tell Beukes’ unique tale. 

And:

Spring’s career in the entertainment industry spans nearly three decades, during which time she has produced over twenty motion pictures – including the first ever South African film to receive recognition at the Academy Awards®: Darrell Roodt’s Yesterday earned a Best Foreign Picture nomination in 2004. 

Spring, who has worked with some of the foremost filmmakers in the world – such as Paul Greengrass who helmed the box office smash hits The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, and Academy Award® winner, Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), will soon be putting the project out to a select party of directors, while Beukes has first look as screenwriter to adapt her novel for the screen. “Lauren is perfectly placed to do this. The characters are alive inside her,” says Spring.

This is huge news!  Congrats, Lauren!

You can read my review of Zoo City here and the Skiffy and Fanty interview with Lauren here.

Video Found: John Dies at the End

When it comes to surreal or downright bizarre movies, you can always count me in.  The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.  Donnie Darko.  Existenz.  Love them all.

Now comes John Dies at the End, a 2012 film based on David Wong's (a.k.a. Jason Pargin) novel of the same name.  And Paul Giamatti is in it, which means I'll probably see it even if everyone else says it sucks.  Giamatti is bloody brilliant!

Here's the trailer (after the fold):

Happy Thanksgiving

Unlike a lot of my fellow Americans, I won't pretend that this holiday celebrates anything other than being with family and eating an insane amount of food (which could probably feed a small, poor country for a year).  I won't pretend that this holiday is about how great the Pilgrims were to the Native Americans, because that would be historical revisionism at work (and I'm a stickler for getting my history "right," as far as right can be).

Instead, this post is about celebrating what the holiday really means to me:

• Being with friends or family and enjoying a meal together, without all the hubbub of daily life
• Saying thanks for the things I have, whether material or personal

And that means I need to say some "thanks" to all of you.

Thank you all for reading this blog, leaving comments, and otherwise making this whole blogging thing an enjoyable experience!

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, even if you don't live in the U.S.  In fact, I'm of the opinion that Thanksgiving should be universal.  Tonight, when you have dinner with your loved ones, take a moment to think about how wonderful it is to have them there with you.  And then say thanks.

Have a great day!

RIP: Anne McCaffrey

It seems that Anne McCaffrey, one of the great science fiction writers, has passed away.

Needless to say, the genre community has suffered some big losses in the last few years.  McCaffrey will be remembered for a long time to come, if not for being a great writer (she was), then certainly for helping shape genre fiction (she did).  She'll be placed along side E. E. "Doc" Smith, Isaac Asimov, Octavia Butler, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Joanna Russ, and many more.

We'll miss you, Anne.

SandF #6.2 (Magical Realism and Book Love w/ Jason Sanford) is Live!

Jason Sanford joins Jen and I for another riveting episode of The Skiffy and Fanty Show.  Okay, so it might not be so riveting, but we're pretty sure it's at least moderately interesting.  Or maybe not.  We're biased!

To the point:  this latest episode involves a short discussion of some interesting news going on in the SF/F community, a roundtable on magical realism (which is sure to annoy some people), and a long game of book love, in which we tell the world what we want for Christmas.

We hope you'll tune in, but most of all...we hope you enjoy it!

Science Fiction = Naturally Optimistic

Nothing I will say here should be misconstrued as "original thought."  Rather, these are the things that spring to mind when I read posts like this one by Bryan Thomas Schmidt on how science fiction lacks optimism and hope.

But before getting into the reasons why SF is naturally optimistic, I want to explain where I am coming from.  In a general sense, the world today appears to be in a worse position than it was at the height of the Cold War (a culturally relative position, to be sure).  We still live in a time where nuclear weapons are a legitimate threat, but also in a time where economic-, environment-, and resource-based threats are immediate and unavoidable.  When you break down the troubling world in which we live on the individual level, what you get is an existence which is, in and of itself, perpetually tenuous.  In the United States (where most SF is published), these facts are incontrovertible, and have been for the last 30-40 years, when sweeping reforms to our country reached the tipping point as politicians and corporations sought to deregulate and otherwise neuter the social safety nets put into place from WW2 to the end of the Vietnam War.

It's from this position, then, that I arrive at the central rationale for considering SF as inherently optimistic.  For me, waking up is the most optimistic thing about life.  Because at the end of the day, I am still alive.  I could be dead or dying.  I could be suffering endlessly.  I could be in a

Video Found: Astronauts Falling on the Moon

I giggled while watching this.  It's hard not to.  The falls are hilarious, but you can also imagine how frustrating it is to get tripped up for almost no reason so many miles from home.  You come hundreds of thousands of miles only to trip over air and fall flat on your face...

Here's the video:

Science Fiction as Semi-Experimental Teaching Practice

I don't know if what I did today in my ENC 1101 class (intro to college argument) could be called properly experimental, but it was certainly science fictional.  I've been doing a lot of playing around with education as of late, in part because I find the traditional educational forms rather dull as models for teaching traditionally dull classes.  As I mentioned here, my 3254/2210 (professional communication or tech writing) class has become a test bed for an educational card game, which I am now developing into a proper educational tool for others who teach the course.  And I expect a great deal of experimentation to come in the future.

Today's post isn't about 3254, though.  It's about 1101 and what happened when I inserted a heavy dose of science fiction into an educational environment.  Here's the recap:

What my students were reading:

Haul of Books 2.0: Books Received Vol. 5

I'm late as heck at getting to all the books I've received recently.  Just wait until I decide to crack open the books I bought at the local book sale (for research purposes, primarily -- no, I'm not joking).

What I want to know is:

1. What have you purchased recently?
2. Which books below most interest you?

Here's the list:

Movie (Mini) Review: Chocolate (Thai Martial Arts Flick of Awesome)

(I originally posted this mini-rant on Google+, but figured those of you who don't bother with all that social networking B.S. would also be interested.)

I just finished watching a martial arts movie called Chocolate.  The movie itself is pretty awesome:  it's about girl whose autism allows her to learn fighting styles at a young age; her mother and father were part of a gang/Yakuza dispute in Thailand, which led to her father's exile (before she was born).  And when her mother contracts cancer and can't afford the medicines, Zen (the girl) and her "cousin" Moom set out to try to collect on debts once owed to Zin (the mother).  But things go terribly wrong, as you can imagine.  Point is:  touching little story with a whole bunch of amazing fight scenes a la Ong Bak (only, you know, with a seemingly pre-teen girl beating the crap out of fully grown men).

But that's not the amazing part.  The really amazing part is when you get to the end and they start showing you the results of some of the fights.  This stuff wouldn't be allowed in the U.S., I imagine.  All the actors do their own stunts, and they get stabbed, break ribs, get smacked in the face, fall badly, and so on and so forth.  It adds a whole new dimension to the experience, because you start to realize that a lot of the things you see on the screen, while scripted, really do lead to the people getting effed up.  And that's, well, kinda awesome.

In any case, if you haven't seen Chocolate and you're looking for a little magical realism in your martial arts obsession, this is one to check out.

(Psst.  It's on Netflix stream!)

(I should note that I'm well aware that injuries occur in martial arts films quite regularly -- and probably with some regularity in other kinds of stunt-heavy films.  We just don't get an opportunity to see the carnage to the extent that you see in Chocolate.  Everyone gets messed up in this film at some point or another -- even the main actress.)

SandF #6.1 (An Interview w/ Michaele Jordan) is Live!

Another episode is coming your way from The Skiffy and Fanty Show.  This week, Jen and I interview author Michaele Jordan (Mirror Maze).  Topics include:  Victorian pulp fiction, Victorian morality, names, mysticism, and a lot of other cool stuff you all need to listen to.

If you want to get the episode, you can do so here (or on that iTunes thing).

English: The Non-essential Fun Degree?

The basis for this post comes from a troll who left a frothy list of accusations and assumptions about what I know, and, most importantly, what I do.  As trolls are wont to do, much of what was said can be waved off as pish posh and poppycock, but it's the attack on the English degree that, I think, stems from a much larger misunderstanding of the field.  I'd like to address those misunderstandings here.

What We (Don't) Do
There are a lot of myths about English majors, some of them perpetuated by films and others by people who really don't know anything about the state of the field today.  But it would be more efficient to deal with what English majors do rather than refuting the long list of things that they don't.

English is an interdisciplinary field.  That means that rather than only studying literature and literary criticism, English majors also study sociology, history, science, economics, anthropology, archaeology, philosophy, and dozens of other fields -- depending, of course, on individual study interests.  My research, for example, requires me to be familiar with at least half of the disciplines already lists, as studying empire demands knowledge from a variety of directions.  While it is true that English majors are not trained in most of these fields (in the proper sense of the term "trained"), they are also not lazy wanderers.  They take

Book Review Published: Bricks by Leon Jenner (Strange Horizons)

Good news!  I got another book review published.  Awesome, right?  Go read it and let me know what you think.  And if the book sounds interesting to you, go buy it on Amazon or B&N or somewhere else!

SandF #6.0 (Worldbuilding and Women in SF (w/ Kay Kenyon)) is Live!

The lovely Kay Kenyon joins Jen and I for a discussion about The Entire and the Rose series, worldbuilding (what we love and what bugs us), and women in science fiction.  We get into some heady stuff, too -- like the recent charges of sexual harassment at the World Fantasy Convention.

Click through to check it out!

Gentle Reminder: Jesse Jackson Isn't Running For President

Amusing as it may be to play the "the liberal media is going after Herman Cain" card when it comes to the allegations recently made against Jesse Jackson, it is also prudent to remember one incredibly important fact:  Jesse Jackson isn't running for President.  Let's also be honest about something else:  if he were running for President, you better believe that liberals and conservatives alike would, in their own way, go after him for his numerous failings as a "moral person."  Jackson is not unfamiliar to the controversy bucket, as his 1984 comments about Jews (shortly after losing the Presidential ticket) and his numerous infidelities make clear.  And I think his history makes him unlikely as a legitimate Democratic candidate for the Presidency in the future.

Of course, The Huffington Post did report on the incident.  But I suppose we can just pretend they aren't part of the "liberal media" or the "media" in general.  Ever so insignificant that Huffington Post... In any case, the predominately right-leaning base will take this oversight as an indictment

Promo Bits: The Fallen Queen by Jane Kindred

The folks over at Entangled Publishing brought this interesting book to my attention, and so I am passing on the information to all of you.  (FYI:  Lynn Flewelling, author of a whole bunch of lovely books, has a blurb on the back cover!)

Here goes:

Promo Bits: The Hermetica of Elysium by Annmarie Banks

Some interesting stuff is flying through my email.  I can't read it all, so I've offered to toss up some information for all of you who might be interested.

Here goes:

1494 Barcelona. As Torquemada lights the fires of religious fervor throughout the cities of Spain, accused heretics are not the only victims. Thousands of books and manuscripts are lost to the flames as the Black Friars attempt to purge Europe of the ancient secrets of the gods and the bold new ideas that are ushering in the Renaissance.

Nadira lives a dreary life as servant to a wealthy spice merchant until the night a dying scholar is brought to the merchant’s stable, beaten by mercenaries who are on the hunt for The Hermetica of Elysium. To Nadira, words are her life: she lives them as her master’s scrivener and dreams them in her mother’s poetry. She is pursued as passionately as the fabled manuscript for her rare skill as a reader of Ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew that makes her valuable to men who pursue the book to exploit its magic.

Kidnapped by Baron Montrose, an adventurous nobleman, she is forced to read from the Hermetica. It is soon revealed to her that ideas and words are more powerful than steel or fire for within its pages are the words that incite the Dominicans to religious fervor, give the Templars their power and reveal the lost mysteries of Elysium.

As Nadira begins her transformation from servant to sorceress, will she escape the fires of the Inquisition, the clutches of the Borgia pope, Alexander VI and the French king, Charles VIII? And will Montrose’s growing fear of her powers cause her to lose her chance for love?

You can find out more about the book at Knox Robinson Publishing (where they have a magic excerpt).

Guest Post: Smackdown: Pangrelor vs. Middle Earth by Robert Louis Smith

(I first must apologize to Mr. Smith for the lateness of this post.  The email containing the guest post below got buried, which has happened far more times than I think is fair.  This will be resolved ASAP.)

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In 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien published the first of a breathtaking series of books that would go on to become some of the most influential novels of the 20th century. As anyone who has ever read The Lord of the Rings knows, Tolkien's books are so imaginative and unexpectedly powerful that his fantastic tale still captures our imaginations more than a half century after its original publication. These stories gave birth to the modern fantasy genre, and it is perhaps inevitable that so many contemporary fantasy books replicate aspects of Tolkien's writings. So pervasive is Tolkien's influence that the English Dictionary offers a word for it: Tolkienesque. Perhaps this is why we see so many fantasy tales that feature elves, dwarves, wizards, magic rings, and magic swords. The presence of these features is, in many ways, what we have come to expect from a modern fantasy novel.

But over the course of 57 years, these constructs of classical Northern European (or Tolkienesque) fantasy fiction have been imitated to the point of monotony. In tome  after tome, we see elves and dwarves wielding magical swords or speaking in Northern European conlangs (fictional languages) as they follow some particular heroic quest. And let's be honest. Although there are many wonderful and imaginative novels that feature these elements, no one has done it as well as Mr. Tolkien.

When I sat down to write Antiquitas Lost, I promised myself there would be no magic rings, magic swords, elves or dwarves. A major goal was to create a fantasy novel where the creatures and setting were fresh. Pangrelor, the fantasy world described in Antiquitas Lost, is envisioned as a pre-industrial, medieval society with beautiful artistic accomplishments set in a savage and magical natural environment -- the Renaissance meets the Pleistocene, with magical beings and crypto-zoological creatures. Devoid of elves and dwarves, Pangrelor is inhabited largely by creatures that we are familiar with, but different from the usual fantasy fare -- gargoyles, Bigfoot creatures, Neanderthal types, Atlanteans and dinosaurs, to name a few. These differences give Pangrelor a much different feel from Middle Earth and the countless, adherent worlds that have followed. Hopefully the reader will find this refreshing. Over time, I have come to think of Antiquitas Lost as more of a "North American" tale, with many references to new world mythologies, as well as a hint of Native American influence.

 Although Antiquitas Lost is not immune to Mr. Tolkien's sweeping influence, it is unique in many ways. When you take your first journey to Pangrelor, it is my sincere hope that you will experience a hint of the joy that accompanied your maiden voyage to Middle Earth, and that you will connect in a meaningful way with this unprecedented new cast of characters as you explore an altogether unique fantasy destination.

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Robert Louis Smith, author of Antiquitas Lost: The Last of the Shamalans, has numerous degrees, including psychology (B.A.), applied microbiology (B.S.), anaerobic microbiology (M.Sc.), and a Medical Doctorate (M.D.). He serves as an interventional cardiologist at the Oklahoma Heart Institute. He is married and the father of two young children. He began writing Antiquitas Lost in 2003 while studying atTulane University in New Orleans.

For more information please visit http://www.antiquitaslost.com/ and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter

Things Like Mythical Unicorns: Female Comic Book Readers?

The title is intentionally provocative.  Why?  Because I think it is utterly ridiculous that an organization claiming to be about "the news" needs to do a story about a guy who threw a party to prove female comic book geeks exist in order to put this whole B.S. argument to rest.  And here's why I think that:

It was all of the hubub on the Internet about women not being part of the hobby at all. Day in and day out, I can see that’s an utter lie. I see customers walking in my door who are female and of different ages every single day — everyone from women in their 60s to teenagers. I see lots of daughters coming in with their moms and dads, and they love the stuff.

The above, by the way, is Brian Jacoby's response to the first question.

Perhaps I'm being unfair to CNN, but it seems to me that this whole story could have been avoided if someone had simply walked into a comic book shop, spent more than three seconds inside during "rush hour," and then went home to report, "Women enter comic book shops.  Myth busted.  Goodbye."

Of course, CNN's correspondent (Erika D. Peterman this time around) had to ask this question:

World Fantasy Convention: A Possible Sexual Harassment Policy

If you haven't heard about the latest pile of B.S. already, then you need to read this, this, and this.  The short version:

A man at the World Fantasy Convention made several women incredibly uncomfortable by a) inappropriate comments made towards them, b) groping or touching them inappropriately, and/or c) blatantly disregarding their complaints and the complaints of others who had witnessed his behavior.

To start, we should probably get a few things out of the way: