Where do the candidates stand on superheroes?

Randy Henderson has a very funny take on what McCain and Obama would say about the destruction of cities by superheroes fighting villains.  In some alternate universe, these things are being said, I swear.

This Week @ Fantasy

This week we had a lot of interesting stuff go up at Fantasy, so you should all check it out!

First, this week’s story, Marrying the Sun, by the writer to watch out for, Rachel Swirsky.  Rachel has also agreed to do a Puppet Strings Author Spotlight for us, so go over there and ask her questions about her story and such.

And if you’re still in need of a fiction fix, there’s an excerpt from Seaborn by Chris Howard available.

On the non-fiction side, I did an interview with Gregory Banks about disability in SF/F fiction and there’s a review of Empress by my homeslice Naamen.

And, of course, today is Fantasy Friday.  Time to Blog For A Beer!  We’re talking about superheroes and property damage today, inspired by my marathon watching of Justice League Unlimited.  Almost every show in the Bruce Timm DC Animated Universe is like crack to me, so I’m happy to get a chance to talk about it (even if this particular aspect is annoying).

Today @ Fantasy

Today’s Blog for a Beer is all about your favorite female genre writers:

we invite you, dear readers, to share with us who your favorite female genre writers are and why. Be they writers with a solid track record like Eileen Gunn or Nancy Kress, or writers who you’ve only seen a few stories or novels from, but are so far impressed by.

Go forth and name drop!

Today @ Fantasy

Over the next few weeks we’re rolling out some new features at Fantasy Magazine. One that we’re very excited about is Puppet Strings, a cousin to our Author Spotlights. Once or twice a month a Fantasy author will give you a sneak peek into the magic behind their fiction–be it the inspiration, the writing process, the research, or whatever else. Then for the next five days the author will answer questions and participate in discussion about their story.

Our first author is Darja Malcolm-Clarke, author of His One True Bride.  She talks about the background behind her inspiration, which is wide ranging and very interesting:

I love the idea that a spontaneous, violent physical reaction is the only possible response to being separated from the divine after it being so close (whatever form He or She might take, and through whatever belief system). That is how I imagine being in contact with the divine must be: it undoes you. There’s no going back.

Read it here. Also, Darja will answer questions about her Puppet Strings post and discuss His One True Bride until Sunday evening.  So go and discuss, question, poke, and be impressed.

Oh Sci-Fi Channel Movies

Today @ Fantasy we’re talking about Sci-Fi Channel movies and why we watch them (or why we stay away).  Inspired by Genevieve’s brave forays into the living room to watch these crazy things, I thought it would make for fun discussion.  Plus we can talk about AZTEC REX and all that is wrong with it.  Join us as we laugh at the likes of Mansquito, Mr. Stich, and pre-spork the movie Genevieve just found out is coming on soon.  I’ll give you a hint:

She’s a model, he’s an elite commando.  They’re going to solve global warming — by destroying the aliens who are causing it!

You think I am lying?  I am not.

The Horror, The Horror…

Today I was finally able to put up the review Genevieve did of Aztec Rex, a movie that is exactly as bad as it sounds from the title.  Go read.

Today @ Fantasy

Jeremy Tolbert Asks: How Has The Internet Changed Fandom?

Today, we see almost weekly flare-ups and controversies in this thing called the blogosphere. New movements among writers appear almost as regularly, sometimes lingering (such as the Mundane SF manifesto). They burn bright, fast, and die down, it seems, just in time for the next major brouhaha. I think that’s the downside to this ease of communication. The Internet makes everything personal. Enemies are made quickly–but friends too. Perhaps not a unique trait of the medium, but a trait nonetheless.

I’d like to invite you to talk about the ways in which the internet has helped you connect with others and what communities you have formed or joined because of it.

Go comment!  Win $10.

So…

Yesterday was interesting, wasn’t it?

Science vs. Fantasy - Fight?

Today’s Blog For A Beer is a bit different.  I invited Mike Brotherton to expand and repost some commentary from his blog as a jumping off point for this week’s Fantasy Friday.  It’s an experiment, we’ll see how it goes.  The post is pretty interesting.

A conflict under these situations, pitting a logical scientific type against a wild-eyed believer, reason against belief, is a false conflict. Scientists are not dogmatic and their measurements, experiments, and observations can and do change their minds. Or not, in too many cases. How many times have you seen the skeptical scientist character in a story with fantastic elements mutter something like, “There must be a logical explanation,” and then go on to offer something feeble and likely stupid in face of the reality of the story? Let me illustrate this with some TV series that regularly pitted science against the fantastic.

The only real quibble I have with his thesis is the part about scientists not being dogmatic.  hahahahahahaha NO, I say.  Sure, Mike probably isn’t, but hoo boy, I have come across many dogmatics in my brief exposure to various types of sciences.  I think scientists are like any other group of people.  Some are prone to dogmatism and head in the sand behavior and some aren’t.  We’re all human (I hope), it comes with the territory.  And at least those type of scientists don’t tell me I’m going to hell.  That’s a step up!

Anyway, go read and comment, it’s sure to be an interesting discussion today.

In which I have an opinion about fantasy fiction

I know, this is very different from every other day of my life.

Today on Fantasy I have some commentary up about one of the things that annoy me about many fantasy stories and novels I have read:

…my biggest pet peeve is with stories and novels that lack specificity–specificity of place, time, culture, even ethnicity. The reader is given a default medieval Europe-type setting, filled it with random, unspecified peasant or royal types, no discernible culture beyond “they believe in magic” or “X fantastical creatures/races are real”, but not much else. Yes, there are characters who have personalities and Do Things and are specific, and the plot they find themselves in is spelled out, sometimes in great detail, and all of this is good. But it does not excuse the fact that the author has not done the work of creating a fully realized world, because so much of it is left nebulous, or left for the reader to fill in themselves. And I feel this makes for bad fantasy.

I would like to note that though this commentary came about because of the many, many, many conversations I had with folks surrounding the story posted on Monday, this commentary is not specifically about that story.  I am speaking to the trend.  Also, this is not the first time I’ve said something along these lines:

An editor can shout from the rooftops all he or she wants that they would love to see more stories by women, or by minorities, with female and minority characters. However, writers will not believe them if they look at the magazine and see nothing but Blandy McWhitey White in Blandy McNeighborhood in America or Blandy McMedieval Europe or Blandy McDefaulty Man in any setting anywhere.

I’m particularly proud of the phrase “Blandy McWhitey White”.