In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Great Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Who Never Wrote Sequels or Trilogies: Io9 continues to publish interesting articles pertaining to our favorite genres. You have to dig for them a bit since they tend to get buried quickly.

2) ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Turns 50: A classic and the introduction to genre fiction for many readers turns 50 and is making a lot of people feel very old.

3) Science Fiction Pioneer Homer Eon Flint Gets Second Chance at Publishing Career: I’ve never heard of him, but feel like I should. Glad someone is paying tribute by republishing his work.

4) Writing Tips by Henry Miller, Elmore Leonard, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman & George Orwell: A solid set of rules for writers to follow.

5) Hey, GRRM agrees with me!: Aidan over at A Dribble of Ink emphasizes the need to keep new media part of the Hugo Awards, and George R.R. Martin apparently agrees with him.

In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Movies from an Alternate Universe, by Peter Stults: A very cool series of poster reinterpretations.

2) 60 second Interviews: David Gemmell award nominees are interviewed in 60 seconds.

3) Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons: Free Ebook…and apparently a good one at that.

4) Digital Rights Showdown: HarperCollins v. Open Road: Harper and Open Road do a battle of digital copyrights.

In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) The Disney John Carters That Never Were: A surprisingly detailed article about the John Cart journey into film.

2) The dark elf of Leominster: A nice article on R.A. Salvatore. Though I think it’s safe to say if you haven’t heard of Salvatore, then you don’t read Fantasy.

3) Dungeons & Dragons 5th d. coming, fan input wanted: A Dribble of Ink provides a heads up that Tor is looking for some input on the D & D edition.

4) Hugo Award nominations have begun: So it begins. And since we’re on the subject: Fantasy Literature is eligible to be nominated for Best Fanzine, and any of our reviewers can be nominated for Best Fan Writer. If you enjoy our blog, and/or one or more of our writers, please consider us when you send in your nominations!

5) Dystopian science-fiction films of the 1970s : Ever wanted to watch 70′s dystopian SciFi and didn’t know where to begin. Well, here you go.

6) Poor Morales: Werst revu evar.

Welcome to 2012. Lots of interesting bits to share with you today. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) ‪The Dragonborn Comes: I’ve played this game way more than I should have. This is a beautiful rendition of the main song.

2) Orbit Books E-book Deals: A few choice e-Book deals from our friends over at Orbit.

3) Free Stories from Neil Gaiman: Neil is a regular among my links. It seems he is always doing something worth noting.

4) Blade Runner Sketchbook: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I’m not sure, but I like this concept art from the Philip K. Dick inspired movie.

5) Alternate Histories by Matthew Buchholz: These look spectacular.

6) USA Today’s Author of the Year: George R.R. Martin takes the award. He has had quite a year.

Kind of a slow news week due to the approaching new year. I managed to produce a healthy selection anyway, with the help of some submissions. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Carved Book Landscapes: I was not expecting to see what I saw when I clicked that link. These are mind blowing.

2) How Firefly fans saved free speech: An interesting video featuring our beloved Neil Gaiman.

3) The Most Beautiful College Libraries in the World: I’d love to visit a few of these… ok, all of these.

4) Samurai Star Wars: Star Wars themed feudal Japanese art.

5) Io9′s 10 Science Fiction Movies for People Who Think They Don’t Like Science Fiction: I’ve only seen two of these…

6) Steampunk Animals: The artwork is gorgeous, but anyone else thinking that steampunk has run its course?

In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) First Official Trailer for The Hobbit: There are no words to describe my level of excitement.

2) LOTR Google Easter Egg: Confused? I was too, at first. Follow the link and it will all make sense… sort of.

3) Steampunk Disney Villains: A collection of Disney villains re-imagined in Steampunk.

4) Writers and artists design money fit for modern times: An odd collection that includes works by some authors and artists you may know.

5) George Takei is the Broker of Star Peace: George Takei, William Shatner, Carrie Fischer, and Twilight?

In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Darrell Sweet Dead at 77: Another icon of Fantasy has left us. Darrell Sweet may not be a name you recognize, but I guarantee you will recognize his work. Mr. Sweet created more than 3000 illustrations during his lifetime. He’s best known for his WHEEL OF TIME, SAGA OF RECLUCE, and XANTH covers.

2) Lightspeed and Fantasy Magazines Merge: John Joseph Adams combines two of his popular genre rags.

3) Rules of Magic: Io9 discusses the rules of magic that have been established by the greatest fantasy sagas of all time.

4) Salvador Dali does Wonderland: I do not need to elaborate about how awesome this is.

5) A Private Letter from Genre to Literature: Daniel Abraham says what needs to be said, and in entertaining fashion. Well done sir, well done.

I’m super busy taking classes for work this week, so I’ve just listed a few interesting items below. If you’ve got something you think SFF fans should know about, please post it below as a comment.

1) Magick4Terri: Editor Terri Windling, who’s been working closely with many SFF authors for decades, needs some assistance herself. The SFF community is responding by holding an excellent auction. You can bid for the opportunity to create some of the character names for Catherynne M. Valente’s next Fairyland book, or have the next Steven Brust novel dedicated to you.

2) Want to be an audiobook narrator?: Tanya Perez, publicist for Blackstone Audio has a series of columns inspired by a letter she received from someone who wants to narrate audiobooks. In the column I’ve linked, she explains how much audiobook narrators earn. Previous columns answer other questions from the same letter.

3) Time-Lapse video of cover art creation: This is a time-lapse film of artist Dei Gaztelumendi creating the cover art for the comic book magazine Xabiroi.

4) A n00b’s Guide to Speculative Fiction Poetry: Over at Electric Velocipede, John Ottinger from Grasping for the Wind gives us a short course in SFF Poetry Appreciation.

5) Orbit’s digital short fiction goes international: e-shorts from Orbit authors will now be available in the UK and other markets.

In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Worldbuilders Starts: The phenomenally successful charity run by author Patrick Rothfuss has started again. Be sure to check it out.

2) Behind the Scene of Planet of the Apes: That’s a lot of smoking apes.

3) ComicCrits: Illustrated book reviews. What a fun and creative way to review a book.

4) Books in the Future: How books are portrayed in Science Fiction.

5) Rejection Letters to Famous Authors: The Ursula LeGuin letter made me cringe. Ouch.

6) Neil Gaiman’s Audiobook Label: The Gaiman starts his own audiobook label. I’m looking forward to seeing what this may produce.

I mixed it up a bit this week and culled from some sources we don’t usually see on WWW. Hope you all enjoy. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Anne McCaffrey Dies at age 85: Some of the biggest and saddest news we’ve had on WWW. Even if you’re not a fan, her impact on fantasy literature is undeniable. She will be missed by many.

2) Aurora Award Winners: A great selection of awards from the Canadian SF and Fantasy Association.

3) Angry Robot Now Has Strange Chemistry: Strange Chemistry will be Angry Robot’s Young Adult imprint, but that’s not the best part. This new imprint will be helmed by the WWW queen herself, Amanda Rutter. Congratulations, Amanda! I hope this starts a trend of WWW writers getting awesome jobs in publishing.

4) The End of Borders and the Future of Books: An interesting article about what went wrong with Borders.

5) Middle Earth Beer: Ah, the Beer Advocate forums, how I miss thee.

6) Penguin Pulls Library E-Books Over Security: As the publishing industry kicks and screams into the digital age, we’ll be seeing headlines like this off and on for years to come.

Book news was a little lopsided this week with the Kindle Fire release, so I had to include at least a couple of Amazon articles. I’m still holding out for news on the other color readers before plunking down cash for a Fire. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Kindle Fire Released: Engadget takes a deeper look at the Kindle Fire

2) Authors Guild Weighs in on Amazon Lending Library: Hmmm…So Amazon is letting Prime customers “borrow” books for free, and paying the publisher full price for every copy borrowed. I’m failing to see the problem here. Is another revenue stream not good? I’m confused why this has authors and publishers so upset. Is it just the fact that they listed the books without asking? Why would they even have to ask when they are paying for every single copy? If anyone on the publishers’ side of things can enlighten me, then please do.

3) Apocalypse Calendar: The one with the Four Horsemen made me chuckle.

4) Skyrim Fan Fiction: I have very little free time anymore, especially with the new baby. What free time I have had lately has been spent playing this evil time-sucking game. Kataku is running a series of articles where fans write their own Skyrim tale.

5) NBC Has a New Genre Series: Grimm is a show that I was very skeptical about. It looked to me to be a cheap ploy to snag both CSI and Buffy fans in one show. However, it has quickly become my favorite show on television. I only watch a few things regularly, and this is now one of them. You should definitely check it out.

Hope this Wednesday finds you all well, and my links keep you from doing any work. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Illustrations from A DANCE WITH DRAGONS by George R.R. Martin: Aidan over at A Dribble of Ink always finds the most beautiful artwork to share.

2) China Miéville Talks about Scholarly Genre Fiction: Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist compiled this post very nicely for Miéville fans

3) John Joseph Adams Buys Lightspeed and Fantasy Magazines: Adams is an incredible editor. These magazines could not be in better hands.

4) Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet Unveiled: I will be buying one of the new tablet e-readers, I just haven’t decided which one. I’m still leaning towards the Kindle Fire, but I may wait a few weeks after release to see what people say.

5) National Novel Writing Month has begun: Want to write a novel? This is the month to do it! At Suvudu, Shawn Speakman talks about why he loves NaNoWriMo. Have any of you ever tried NaNoWriMo?

It’s good to be back for this week’s WWW. I appreciate Kat covering for me on account of my new baby. It’s been an interesting week for me, going through all the trials and tribulations that come with caring for a newborn. It was during this process that I became convinced babies have wormholes in their lower intestines. This wormhole must link to some distant universe that consists entirely of poop. I can see no other explanation. Maybe some some great physicist can get to work on this. Anyways, if in the coming weeks you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Wallpapers for The Heroes: Joe Abercrombie‘s kick-ass book now has a few very cool wallpapers.

2) The Grand Ole Bestiary: What’s not to like about people with animal heads?

3) Philip K. Dick Estate Files Suit: Universal Pictures says Adjustment Team was public domain, the Dick estate begs to differ.

4) World Fantasy 2011 Winners: My To-Be-Read list just got a little longer. Also be sure to check our Terry’s series of articles about this very convention.

5) Neil Gaiman, Stephin Merritt, and Moby helped Craig Ferguson celebrate Halloween: A rather amusing performance that includes Neil and his wife Amanda Palmer.

6) Art of the Hobbit: Never-Before-Seen Drawings by J.R.R. Tolkien: This is a real treat. I love when things like this turn up, and I’m glad they are being included in the 75th Anniversary Edition of The Hobbit.

Justin’s gone again, but this time he has a good excuse. She weighs 8½ lbs and her name is Amarani Sedah Blazier. Here she is, the sweet little thing.

Baby and Mother are doing well. Congratulations, Justin!

So, just a few WWW items today which cover some of my favorite subjects: science, art, and music. If you’ve got something interesting to share, contact Justin, or just post it in the comments below.

1) Good news for wannabe alchemists: My grad school alma mater, Indiana University, has transcribed the alchemical documents of Isaac Newton and put them on the web in a project called The Chymistry of Isaac Newton. Now you can view the transcriptions or images of the actual pages of his notebooks — you can zoom in on them and actually read the recipes for yourself! I tried it last night after procuring the ingredients (it is difficult to find large amount of pure lead, BTW) and today I feel 10 years younger and now I can afford a new Kindle.

Chemists at IU have been creating some of Newton’s alchemical products, including the “Star regulus of antimony” (see what it looks like). Their studies of the documents demonstrate that “Newton employed the same painstaking combination of reason and experiment in alchemy that he did in his other scientific pursuits.” So cool!

2) Paper Cuts by Olly Moss: Mr. Moss creates silhouettes of famous fictional characters. How many do you recognize? Here’s more of Mr. Moss’s art.

3) Radio Rivendell: Want to listen to some fantasy themed music while you’re on your next quest? Radio Rivendell is the answer! I enjoyed listening to Radio Rivendell this week. It was so inspirational that I only barely managed to restrain myself from tossing my wedding ring into the Mountain of Doom.

For tomorrow’s Thoughtful Thursday, we’ll be planning baby Amarani’s bookshelves, so please come help!

I’ve gathered a few interesting tidbits from around the web. Be sure to let me know if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, by dropping me a line via the contact form, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Books-A-Million snubs DC Comics: Not sure how I feel about this one. I can certainly see where these big stores are coming from, but something about it feels kind of icky. Exclusive deals is something B&N and BAM do all the time. Seems like sour grapes to pitch a fit when Amazon does it.

2) 10 Words that Came from Science Fiction, Not Science.: Io9 always has fun articles like this.

3) Atwood Pilots New Reading Technology: Margaret Atwood‘s new book is made of 36% straw plus 64% recycled paper which makes it 100% nifty.

4) British Fantasy Award Chair Steps Down: There is definitely some controversy around the BFA this year. Hopefully this will put an end to a lot of it, and they can move on.

5) A Drible of Ink Features King of Thorns Cover Art: I’m with Aidan on this one. Something about this cover makes me really want to read this book. Though I’m not a huge fan of books revealing major plot advances in their title.

6) Gone Reading: A charity that focuses on providing books to those that do not have access to them. It’s difficult to imagine that illiteracy and general access to books is still a big issue, but it is. Here’s how you can help.

A bit of this and that gathered from around the net, hope you enjoy. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Broken Kingdom: New Yorker article on the 50th anniversary of Norton Juster’s The Phantom tollbooth.

2) Best of Books: Adam Doppelt has put together an interesting new genre book site. Definitely worth a look.

3) Amazon Launches 47North: A new SF/Fantasy imprint from Amazon.

4) Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Beta Launched: Another site to get lost in… forever.

5) Three Years of Mars Rover in 3 Minutes: Not Fantasy or SF, but so cool it ought to be.

Lots of good stuff this week. I stepped out a bit and included some links that are a bit different than the normal stuff you’re used to seeing here. Hope you enjoy. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Also, don’t forget to check out the interview with Emily Fiegenschuh. She’s lovely and amazingly talented, and you shouldn’t miss a chance to win a copy of her incredible book. Let’s get started:

1) New Dragon Age Web Series: Felicia Day as an elf, kicking asses in the world of Dragon Age? Get out of my head, whoever is making this, and how did you get access to my fan fiction?

2) Inaccuracies in fiction: when is reshaping fact appropriate?: An interesting article about the roles of facts in SF.

3) All these worlds are yours…: Bad Astronomy is not a blog I would normally get to post here, but blogger Phil Plait has linked to Dan Durda’s page of digital art…..and boy is it a treat. Beautiful.

4) Progressive Electronic Funk Rock…: Whatever genre you want to put it in, it has a Sci-Fi theme feel to it… and it is loaded with goodness. I recommend listening to it whilst looking at the gallery I linked above.

5) All Hallows Read: Give a scary book this Halloween. Neil Gaiman says so.

6) Amazon Updated Reamde on Kindle: If by “updated” you mean “fixed a few grammar errors and then wiped out all your highlights and bookmarks.”

I’m back from my hiatus due to zombie attack. It turns out they weren’t zombies after all, just new neighbors. I had a hard time explaining why I Molotov-cocktailed their eldest boy. That dude needs to get some more sun… geez. Oh well, it’s nothing a fruit basket and a “Get Well Soon” card won’t fix. Despite the false zombies, I did manage to find a few links to share. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) SF Signal’s NPR top 100 Flow Chart: I love me some flow charts, and this is a dandy that Fanlit reviewer Ryan gave me a heads-up on.

2) Best Selling Author Sara Douglass Passes Away: Sara Douglass had a large following and will be greatly missed.

3) Aspen Mountain Press in Trouble: SFWA publisher Aspen Mountain Press has gotten into some trouble. Take note if you happen to follow any of their authors.

4) Border’s Employees Air Their Grievances: A bit of sour grapes, and may shed some light on why the company was struggling. I sympathize with the employees, but this was just a little unprofessional and not that funny. Borders was my favorite big chain bookstore, and I’m sad to see it go.

5) Sirius Black up for Adoption: Yeah, you read that right. I’m pretty sure this fellow will find a home quickly.

6) Suvudu Casts Star Wars: Heir to the Empire: Nathan Fillion could play Leia and it would still be awesome.

Justin’s gone AWOL again. Last I heard from him, we were talking on the phone and it was hard to understand him because he was ranting hysterically. I thought I heard him yelling “A hack! A hack! Protect your brain, Abercrombie’s a hack!” I heard gunshots, and Justin’s dog barking madly. Here’s the recording from my phone. Then the line went dead. That was days ago and we haven’t heard from him since… Oh, well. Let’s carry on. Here are a few items of interest I scraped up to cover for Justin. As usual, if you’ve got something interesting to share, contact Justin, or just post it in the comments below.

1) The Million Basic Plots: Debut novelist Ned Beauman laments that the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer message board has evolved into TV Tropes. This is an easy way for an author to discover if his planned plot is unique, but how many original plots can there be? When Beauman discovers that his latest brilliant idea has already been done by Philip K. Dick, he turns to seasoned and successful China Miéville for support.

2) Book Blogger Appreciation Week is over: Congratulations to The Book Smugglers for winning Best Speculative Fiction Book Blog for 2011. They have an awesome blog and we were proud to be on the short list with them. Thanks to those who nominated and voted for us, and thanks to BBAW for a fun week!

3) Omnivoracious recommends some YA fantasies for fall: We’ll be reviewing some of these, of course, starting with Kelly’s review of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Coming soon!

4) Thieves as heroes: At Fantasy Cafe, Cinda Williams Chima guest posts about thieves as heroes. I’ve always wondered why I hate thieves in real life but adore them as heroes in books and movies. Chima suggests why this might be and I think she’s got it. What do you think?

5) Goths in Hot Weather: I live in Florida and it’s hot and sunny here most of the time. I only wear my Doc Martens in winter, but how do dedicated Goths handle the heat while still maintaining their sense of style? Find out at the blog Goths in Hot Weather. Thanks to Gail Carriger for this fun link. (Now I know what to do with all my photos of hot Goths.)

Well, that’s all I’ve got. If anyone knows what’s up with Justin, please fill us in. I’m not sure what he was ranting about, but if we never hear from him again, I feel certain that his last words were a renouncement of one of his favorite authors.

I’ve got a little bit of everything for you today. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Jim Hines Raps: Words cannot describe how terrible and yet totally awesome this is.

2) Dracula Mystery Club: A comic that rips on sparkly vampires. Some strong language in this, but it was still pretty amusing.

3) Author’s Guild vs. Michigan University: I’m not sure how I feel about this. What do you think?

4) Amazon Wants to Create the Netflix of Books?: This is one of those ideas that sounds good at first, but then won’t work out like we imagined it would.

5) Game of Thrones… Game: Aidan over at A Dribble of Ink informs us about the upcoming Game of Thrones video game.

6) Last Argument of Kings Gets the SubPress Treatment: The last of The First Law Trilogy gets a beautiful make-over. SubPress does such an incredible job on their special releases. Check it out.

A bit of a slow news week outside of DragonCon, and I’m not even going to try to cover all of that. If you have something particular interesting from DragonCon, please share. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Dragon*Con Mania has Ended: I will someday make it to this Con…. someday

2) Real Life Stories that Sound Like Fantasy: A fun and interesting article from one of my favorite sites, Io9.

3) Superheroes Get Old: … and this is what it would look like

4) Harry Potter Saga in One Image: Aidan over at Dribble of Ink posted this — go check it out. I spent a lot of time scanning over the little pictures.

5) 50 page Cherie Priest Preview: I don’t usually post preview links, but this was huge… 50 pages is nothing to sneeze at. Thanks to Suvudu/Del Rey.

All kinds of good stuff today. Everything from beautiful illustrations to feminist rants, hope you all enjoy. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Tolkien Library Interviews Benjamin Harff: A nod to John Ottinger over at Grasping for the Wind for finding this link. Benjamin is hand-illustrating The Silmarillion, and it looks stunning.

2) Joe Abercrombie’s Work in Progress: Joe blogs a bit about his upcoming novel, Red Country. I’m already very excited.

3) Fantasy Book Critic Giveaway: Robert has posted a giveaway for a SIGNED SET of Night Shade Books’ Miserere: An Autumn Tale, Of Blood & Honey, The Whitefire Crossing and The Winds of Khalakovo. Very Nice. Check out the interview with the authors there also.

Lots of good stories today. Be sure to check out the Hugo Awards and let us know what you thought. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) The Hugo Award Winners: Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. 2010 was a good year for speculative fiction. I need to read Connie Willis‘ book, like now.

2) Tor and NASA Publishing Collaboration: This could prove to be an interesting relationship. The best Science Fiction usually has some actual science involved. It’ll be nice to see what comes out of this.

3) Publish America vs. J.K. Rowling: Who will win? My money is on the one with enough money to purchase a medium-sized nation.

4) Weird Tales Changes Hands: The Vandermeer era of Weird Tales has come to an end.

5) The Hunger Games’ New Snazzy Cover: The Hunger Games is getting a lot of attention due to the movie, including some new covers.

6) Terry Brooks Chats with Suvudu: Terry Brooks stops by Suvudu on release day.

7) Portal Fam Film Looks Incredible: So what does this have to do with Fantasy? Nothing. I just adore Portal, and figured everyone here was cool enough to recognize this as completely awesome.

A fairly busy news week for genre fiction. The award season is pretty much over. Seems like there are quite a number of authors who are between projects and are out in the blogosphere, so it wasn’t too difficult to find you a few things worth taking a look at. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) The Final NPR top 100 Science Fiction Fantasy Poll Results: Quite a few were expected, but there are some surprises on the list.

2) Game of Thrones Scripts Stolen: A couple of autographed scripts have gone missing.

3) Hugo Awards to be Streamed Live: I’m curious about how this will go. I will try to tune in if time allows for it. If anybody else manages to watch it, let us know what you thought about it.

4) The Best Presidential Portraits Ever: Lincoln riding a grizzly bear… nothing else needs to be said.

5) When Did Magic Become Elitist?: An interesting article over at Io9 dealing with class issues in magic. Wish I had thought of it for a Thoughtful Thursday column.

6) Lost in Translation : Ari Marmell over on the Pyr blog wrote an informative post about word choices in fiction. He particularly focuses on those words that readers complain “pull them out of the story.” As a reviewer I found this to be a helpful article, and I’ll keep his thoughts in mind the next time I come across an odd word choice.

Summer conventions are in full swing, and there is plenty of news being thrown around. I managed to wrangle in a few of the more interesting articles for your consumption. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Jim Butcher Interviews Patrick Rothfuss: Is this some sick joke Suvudu is playing on me? Get out of my head. My fanboy level nearly reached critical mass when I spotted this.

2) Lev Grossman Interview at the Onion AV Club: Lev gives good interview. A very intelligent guy, and always a pleasure to hear from.

3) 10 Places to Buy SFF Art: Io9 put together a handy list of places you can buy genre art.

4) The Cruelest Hoax: There are instances when I would support reimplementing medieval justice. This is one of them.

5) World War Z Set Photos: A little sneak peak at the set of World War Z.

6) Vonnegut Library Gets Around Stupid School that Banned Slaughterhouse 5: This makes me proud to live in Indiana where the fairly new Vonnegut Library is located.

I’m standing in for Justin today. Apparently there was a Bigfoot sighting in Multnomah County, Oregon, so he’s loaded up the guns and ammo and is on his way. Personally, I think he’s gone to shop at Powell’s and just doesn’t want to admit it. Anyway, just a few things of interest (to me, at least) recently. If you’ve got anything else for SFF readers, please put it in the comments.

1. Sadly, L.A. Banks passed away yesterday after a struggle with cancer. The announcement is at her website. To learn more about what Ms. Banks was like, read this touching blog post that Cherie Priest wrote about her several weeks ago.
   

   L.A. Banks

2. Tia Nevitt talks about how writing character-driven fantasy requires baring your soul. Specifically she’s focusing on the emotion of envy.
3. Phoenix Pick’s free SFF e-book of the month is James P. Hogan’s The Multiplex Man.
4. Alex Bledsoe, in his cape and long underwear, analyzes two NYT reviews and laments the “shafting of the genre.”
5. Our own Stefan Raets discusses the Hugo-nominated novellas and novelettes at Tor.com.

If Bigfoot doesn’t get him, Justin will be back next week…

Lots of links for you today. You will find everything from ebooks to time travel amongst the gems below. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Gollancz announces SF Gateway: Thousands of out of print classics available online at a new site developed by Gollancz.

2) Monica Valentinelli Goes Offline: Monica experiments with going offline from social media for 100 days and has came to some interesting conclusions.

3) iO9 Lists the Biggest Winners and Losers from this Year’s Comic Con: Whether you follow comics or not, there is no denying the impact Comic Con has on the genre industry.

4) Knox Robinson Looking for Manuscripts: Writers take note: Knox Robinson Publishing is now accepting medieval fantasy manuscripts.

5) Slaughterhouse Five Banned in Missouri: Matt Staggs at Suvudu brought to my attention this epic display of stupidity. I hereby heap mountains of shame upon this Missouri school board.

6) Science Bursts Time Travel Bubble: Well, this appears to be the end of any sort of real scientific basis for time travel. A group of party-pooping scientists have released a study that seals the deal on the possibility of time travel.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you find the links to your liking. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Suvudu Talks with Editor David Pomerico about Conan: Another great interview from Suvudu, and about one of my favorite fantasy characters.

2) Nerdiest Dress Ever?: There are so many inappropriate jokes I could make here…

3) BattlePug!: I just want to know where to buy a pug saddle.

4) A Game of Thrones Legos: At least they are easy to decapitate.

5) Best SFF Novels of the Decade: This was posted a while ago and I missed it. Some interesting choices, all of them good. The most interesting part is how highly ranked a few went with out much support from their communities.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. It was Independence Day in the States and we blew up a respectable amount of stuff in celebration. I personally managed to unwittingly turn a Chinese lantern into a floating fireball of death. An unknown insect made a suicide dive into my wife’s cornea, but nobody was permanently damaged and we all had a good time. Despite the ongoing festivities, I managed to find a few links for you. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) 10 Classic SFF Books that were Originally Considered Failures: Fellowship of the Ring sure turned out to be a real stinker.

2) Free Kitty Norville: Tantor is releasing the first audio chapter of Carrie Vaughn‘s Kitty’s Big Trouble for free.

3) Really bad SFF covers: Some of these are truly awful, and some are not so bad. I personally enjoyed the Space Cat Weasel things. Let’s rename some of these soon.

4) Doh! Germans ship A Dance with Dragons Early: Oh boy. Watch out for spoilers. The web is apparently crawling with them after Amazon Germany started accidentally shipping Martin‘s highly anticipated release way too early.

5) 60 Rules for Short SF (and Fantasy): Terry Bisson writes 60 rules to follow when writing short fiction. This is all pretty solid advice. I did find it amusing that he used the word “quotidian” in the rule about ordinary language.

6) 2011 David Gemmell Award Winners: A solid lineup with several of my favorites.

It’s been a busy week and there were plenty of news items to pick from. I narrowed it down to my usual handful of the best ones. Thanks again for stopping by. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) If You Lived Here: The Top 30 All Time Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Worlds: This project is authored and edited by Jeff VanderMeer. It’s going to be a sort of SFF travel guide. Underland Press hopes to get your input on what worlds it should include.

2) Locus Awards 2011: A fine looking list of award winning fiction. The Locus Awards always have a stellar list.

3) Lego Mordor: Legos + The Dark Lord Sauron = Awesome

4) The Strange Instruments that Make the Creepy Noises in your Favorite Movies: Io9 has compiled a nice list of the unusual instruments in SF movies and shows. It’s pretty cool to see the machine behind those familiar noises.

5) Holy Crap!: Sasha by Joel Shepherd is currently free on Kindle. I’ve been told by many people that this series is very good. Has Pyr actually published anything that was bad?

6) Martin H. Greenberg Dies at Age 70: Known in the industry as the Green Bay Packager for the hundreds of anthologies he helped put together. An amazing contributor to SFF publishing. He will be sorely missed.

Check today’s links and find some free books, snarky authors and even a little epic MIDI music. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Free YA Audiobooks All Summer: SYNC is offering a selection of Young Adult and Summer Reading Classics from 6/23/11 – 8/17/11.

2) Pottermore?: J.K. Rowling has created a website called Pottermore, and nobody knows what it is. Another license to print cash is most likely.

3) The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults In History: Holy cow! These titans of literature do not hold back.

4) Gary Gygax Memorial gets a location: The location for the memorial of the Dungeons and Dragons founder will be located in Lake Geneva, WI.

5) Game of Thrones, an 8-bit video game?: Digitapp has remade the Game of Thrones television theme music in 8-bit style.

6) Brandon Sanderson Wins David Gemmell Legend Award for The Way of Kings: Congratulations to Brandon Sanderson. He writes amazing fantasy, and I hope he never stops.

7) Best Science Fiction, Fantasy Books? You Tell Us: Stop by and let NPR know what your favorite SFF book is.

I’ve gathered some weird and wonderful things for you to read this week. I’m not sure if I should be frightened at how easy I find some of the more odd articles. Let me know what you think about them. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Ponymen: My Little Ponies + Watchmen = Awesome? The scary part is that I’d probably go watch this.

2) American Gods coming to HBO: Looks like Tom Hank’s production company will be bringing this modern classic to the small screen. I really hope this fantasy book-to-mini-series trend continues.

3) L.A. Banks is very ill: Link leads to a Publishers Weekly article that shows you where to go to offer support.

4) 1st person vs. 3rd person: Shawn over at Suvudu poses an interesting question, with a poll.

5) The Dervish House nominated for the John W. Campbell Best Novel Award: This is also on sale on Amazon Kindle for $1.99. You’re crazy if you don’t pick this up.

6) Loving the Alien (and the Alien is You): Fábio Fernandes writes a guest post over at A Dribble of Ink. A very cool post about a unique character he created and fell in love with.

Everything from sarcastic authors to beautiful art is represented in today’s selections. Hope you all enjoy. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Sam Sykes abuses err… interviews Andrew P. Mayer: Sam Sykes seems to be confused about how to interview people. Whatever the reason… it’s brilliant.

2) Tim Powers: ‘I don’t have to make anything up’: A nice interview with the author of On Stranger Tides. I had no idea the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie was based off a real book.

3) 10 fantasy sagas more wrong than Twilight: An amusing look at a few notable and not so notable fantasies that challenge Twilight on the scale of wrongness.

4) Suvudu Interviews Peter David: Peter David writes everything: movies, TV shows, comics, fantasy, scifi. His Star Trek and Babylon 5 novelizations are considered some of the best.

5) New Riyria Revelations Covers: The story behind Michael Sullivan and his Riyria Revelations series is almost as wonderful as the books are. These are amazing covers. Read our reviews here.

6) Fan Art: It Doesn’t Suck: Aidan displays a few amazing pieces of fan art. The April O’Neil took my breath away. Gorgeous.

Wednesday has come upon us once again, and I have plucked the ripest of links for your enjoyment. The Nebulas are over, and I’ve linked to the results below. There is a little bit of everything in there, even free books. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it as a comment below. Let’s get started:

1) 2010 Nebula Awards Winners: Congratulations to all the nominees and especially to the winners. I’m not so sure awards are always accurate predictors of the best, but 2010′s crop looked rather exceptional. You might want to read Bill’s review of Connie Willis’s winning novel Blackout/All Clear and Terry’s reviews of the nominated novellas, novelettes, and short stories.

2) GRRM blows the lid on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS: A Dribble of Ink has a nice little article about a recent A Dance with Dragons update from George R.R. Martin.

3) Free ebook: Pick 1 of 3 collections from Jeff Carlson: John Ottinger lets us know about a very cool promotion from Jeff Carlson.

4) R.I.P. Jeffrey Catherine Jones, One of Fantasy’s Greatest Artists: Anyone who has read Heavy Metal magazine is familiar with Jones’ work. A pioneer of fantasy art, she will be missed.

5) Pyr to Enter Young Adult Market: One of our most beloved publishers is expanding into the YA market. Congratulations to Pyr and I most certainly look forward to new YA you’ll be bringing our way.

6) Bookselling Mapped: While reading the article about Pyr, I stumbled across this gem.

Today I take you down a road that goes from boinking mermaids to getting arrested at a Russian zombie parade, and everything in between. This proved to be one of the most interesting WWW ever. So check it out and leave a comment. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) How to Have Sex with a Mermaid (slightly NSFW): Stranded at sea? Surrounded by hot mermaids, but too embarrassed to ask the needful questions? Well no more! Io9 has totally got your back. This comprehensive guide to making love to fish ladies will solve your problems.

2) Writers and Illustrators of the Future Honored at 27th L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards: Regardless of how you feel about it’s namesake, the “of the Future” series and awards has given a career launching platform for many a new writer. Congratulations to all.

3) Guest Posting Abounds on A Dribble of Ink Blog: Aidan’s been on Honeymoon since the 5th. He has invited several guest bloggers to fill in. To say that we have been treated to some very good articles while he’s been gone is an understatement. Head over there and read them all.

4) A science fiction author blogs his battle with cancer: An article about Jay Lake and the chronicling of his battle with cancer.

5) Photo Essay of a Russian Zombie Parade (a bit NSFW – Blood and gore effects): I never thought I’d be able to post a link to English Russia, which happens to be one of my favorite blogs. 3 pages of hi-res images of a parade of zombies in Moscow. Looked like fun, though a few unlucky creatures were hauled for unlawful assembly.

6) Author Pirates Copies Of Own Books To Put Them In E-book Format: Walter Jon Williams uses pirates to ease the workload of digitizing his out of print works.

It’s been a fairly interesting news week. I managed to dig up a few good articles, and even a couple that struck a personal note for me. Hope you enjoy. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Read a 250-page preview of zombie kung-fu comic insanity online: Kagan McLeod has posted a massive preview of his new graphic novel.

2) Awesome Sci-Fi Moms: Mother’s Day was just this past Sunday, so I thought this list was appropriate.

3) 2011 Audie Awards Finalists: There is so much that goes into making a good audiobook. Here are a few that stand above the rest.

4) Writing advice from Helena Bell: She makes some valid points which I will keep in mind as I work on my own writing. However, I think there is a tremendous amount of help to be gained by consulting experienced (and willing) writers while you are developing your craft. Just because someone can’t teach you everything, doesn’t mean they can teach you nothing at all.

5) Writer Beware: Pay to Play Anthologies: I was suckered into one of these when I was a kid. I was so excited that I was possibly getting published. My 13-year old heart took a pounding when I realized I would have to pay to see my poetry in book form. Luckily my parents recognized it immediately as a scam and explained how it all worked to me. I’ve loathed them (the scams, not my parents) with every fiber of my being ever since.

6) The New York Times Is Very Sorry For Getting Bilbo’s Sword Wrong: Ha! The Times learns just how many fantasy nerds watch baseball.

7) Keanu Reeves to play in Akira?: This is not really fantasy-related, but it’s a topic near and dear to my heart. N.K. Jemisin broke the news to me in a blog post about it a little while ago. Akira was my introduction to Anime and more importantly to Asian film in general. It’s gut-wrenching to see Hollywood whitewash Akira. Somebody stop them, please….

I found a few links to distract us from the Osama onslaught that’s currently going on. Even good news can get tiresome on a 24-hour news cycle. I hope these links serve you well. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Why Bother with Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror? Chris Modzelewski writes a thoughtful article on why speculative fiction should be taken seriously.

2) What’s the Craziest or Most Experimental Science Fiction or Fantasy Book You’ve Ever Read? Jeff Vandermeer wants know. Head over to his blog and participate.

3) SF Reviews.net celebrates 10th Anniversary with some serious giveaways: Giving away 10 books between now and July 1st. The link is to the first giveaway. Follow @SFReviewsnet on Twitter for updates also.

4) Zombie-Proof Home: It’s perfect!

5) Ogle the mother lode of Hobbit artwork from around the globe: I love these articles on Io9. This one features various Hobbit-related art, too cool.

6) In Memoriam: Joanna Russ (1937-2011): A tribute to the SFF pioneer.

This week’s news is full of FanLit favorites. I had fun scouring the net this week. It’s definitely award season, and it is great to see so many people getting the recognition they deserve. I hope you enjoy this week’s column, and feel free to comment with some of your recent favorites that might not have made the awards lists. Also, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it in the comments below. Let’s get started:

1) John Picacio nominated for 2011 Hugo Award: A Fanlit and personal favorite artist, John Picacio gets his 7th consecutive nod for a Hugo. I think it’s well past time that he wins it. Good luck, John!

2) 2011 Hugo Award Nominations Announced: Here are the rest of the Hugo nominations. A couple of my favorites are listed. N.K. Jemsin for Novel and Pyr Books Editing Director, Lou Anders for long form editing. Pyr in general is making quite a splash in the award nominations.

3) Have a conversation with Guy Gavriel Kay: Guy is using new software from Pollstream to interact with fans. The event takes place on May 3rd from 2pm-3pm. This is definitely something to attend.

4) Self-Publishing: An Interview with Scott Nicholson: Jim C. Hines talks with Scott Nicholson about his experiences in self-publishing. Scott has managed to make it work. I have to admit that Scott makes some interesting points.

5) 10 Greatest Handguns in all of SFF: The only one I would add to the this list would be the Speaking Gun in Simon R. Green‘s The Nightside books.

6) Michael Chabon essay about The Phantom Tollbooth: Norton Juster’s classic was a major influence on me as a child. It taught me to look at words in a completely different way. The book is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and it is still the book I recommended most for young readers.

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• Neil Gaiman: A little about his episode of Doctor Who
• Nate Simpson: An interview with the creator of a rather beautiful comic
• Brent Weeks: An ebook-only release from Orion
• Patrick Rothfuss: Pat extends the deadline for his photo contest
• Lou Anders: Our favorite editor from Pyr blogs about Norwescon

World Wide Wednesday has returned. Sorry for the hiatus, being a secret agent makes my schedule a little hectic. There is only so many exploding shoes and smoking hot lady ninjas a guy can fit in a day. It’s been a busy news week so I won’t keep you any longer. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) American Gods series in the works?: I know many will wish my face to melt when I say this, but American Gods is way over rated. I liked it, don’t get me wrong. The level of adoration this book has doesn’t seem justified. Gaiman has much better stuff than this.I do admit it will make a great TV show or movie.

1) A horrible NewYorker article about George R.R. Martin and his horrible impatient scumbag fans: Legions of impatient Martin fans find happiness in ruining their favorite author’s day/life.

2) An articulate well reasoned response to the above article, written by a impatient scumbag fan: Well, the nerve of this fan. He’s a fan and he sounds so reasonable and…. and… nice? But what about the New Yorker article? I’m so confused.

3) Pern goes to Hollywood: This will be terrible.

4) Win a Steam-punk Kindle from Angry Robot: OK they got me… this is pretty nifty.I’m looking forward to seeing the entries.

5) Here there be dragons: Oh boy…

6) Jeff VanderMeer compiles a list of quality international Fantasy and Science Fiction: Jeff has compiled a nice list of his favorite international speculative fiction.

Thanks for stopping by for another World Wide Wednesday. It’s been kind of a slow news week in fantasy. It’s been difficult finding anything worthwhile. The internet is full of Game of Thrones screens and trailers. I’m getting kind of sick of it actually. I’m looking forward to the show, but enough with the “OMG!! look Eddard Stark has different boots in this scene WTFBBQ!!!” Oh well, if in the coming weeks you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Diana Wynne Jones, Children’s Author, Dies at 76: As the author of beloved works like Howl’s Moving Castle, she will be missed. We’ve reviewed much of her work and hope you’ll try it if you’re not familiar with it already.

2) Douglas Adams’ lost Doctor Who story is becoming a book : Very cool. I will be sure to keep an eye on this. As both an Adams and Who fan, I find this irresistible.

3) Nebula Awards voting ends today: This year’s selection is amazing. I’m pulling for N.K Jemisin and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

4) 7 Excerpts from J.K. Rowling books that were never written: Excerpts from books she should have written.

5) Japan’s fantasy films act as a buffer against the reality of the natural world: How fantasy is helping the Japanese cope with disaster.

6) Self-published author acts like a moron: This is the reason why a lot of review sites refuse to touch self-published works. It’s a shame really, ’cause I’m quite certain there are tons of great independent authors out there.

7) A science fiction, fantasy and horror auction in aid of the Red Cross Japanese Tsunami Appeal: A good idea and a very worthy cause.

Some interesting articles today. Ranging in topics from sex slaves to bumbling wizards. Quite a bit linked down the Chum this week, so be sure to check it out too. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Pictures from the set of The Hobbit: Aidan Moher has dug up a couple of stills from the new movie set. Looks awesome.

2) Google Books settlement rejected: Depending on which side you are on this is either the best or worst news to hit you all week.

3) Discworld TV show?: Looks to be true. Terry Jones is the only person on the planet qualified to do it too.

4) Interview with John Norman creator of Gor: Kat‘s favorite author (Ha!) and the object of many a debate about gender in fantasy. The interview contains gems like this, “Women are wonderful, and precious. It is a delight to own one.” Mr. Norman is the real deal folks… wow.

5) Dune is dead: Paramount pulls the plug on a new Dune movie.

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• Kevin J. Anderson: A look inside the release of a major science fiction novel
• Patricia Briggs: The guilt-free fantasy of Patricia Briggs
• Elizabeth Bear: Interview over at Suvudu
• John Scalzi: Where Are the Female Directors and Writers in Science-Fiction Film?

I’m not doing a normal World Wide Wednesday today. As I’m sure you all are aware, Japan was devastated by a tsunami at the end of last week. This isn’t fantasy related, but I felt compelled to share a few links with you in support of our friends in Japan. This is list of a few pages that contain a collection of links to organizations assisting with rescue and relief in Japan. It didn’t seem like that long ago when I watched the coast of my wife’s home country of Thailand get smashed to bits in a similar fashion. The world reacted quickly and with an unprecedented amount of love and kindness. I can only hope that once again we as people on this planet can come together and help a neighbor in their time of great need. Sorry for the bummer article….

1) Survivingjapan.com: This site contains a comprehensive list of organizations that are poised to help the most in Japan. Go here.

A couple of links not listed on the above page that looked worthy of mentioning:

2) Save the Children: A worthy organization already mobilizing and assisting in Japan.

3) Americares: I really don’t know much about this organization but I like what they have to say. They do not seem to be fully set up yet, but are close.

4) Japan Earthquake: before and after: A little perspective on the extensive damage.

This picture says everything….

World Wide Wednesday is back from hiatus. I hope you all were able to survive the black emptiness that was Wednesday for a few weeks. Let us not ever speak of those dark days again. Turn towards the future and be filled with linking goodness. As always, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Map of Abercrombie’s First Law series: Aidan Moher over at A Dribble of Ink picked up on this gem. This looks very good.  Now I can geographically pinpoint the location were Abercrombie broke my soul.

2) Some book written by some dude to be released some time soon: It’s the most anticipated fantasy release to date.Yes, it’s finally arriving. 100% for sure guaranteed yes… probably.

3) Dune Coloring Book: Somewhat disturbing.

4) 33 years since Hitchhiker’s Guide invaded our airwaves: I read the Hitchhiker’s guide when I was in high school, and I used to watch the BBC TV program also. Very rarely has a work had such an impact across so many mediums. Douglas Adams was a genius and left us way too soon.

5) The Next Big Author Contest: A nice little contest for you writers out there.

6) Huge Malazan Giveaway: Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist has a massive Malazan giveaway, be sure to enter.

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• Pat Rothfuss: A fun little re-cap of The Name of the Wind.
• George R.R. Martin: And the fans thought they had to wait a long time! Congrats to the Martins!

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me. Feel free to post your own relevant news links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form.

Welcome to World Wide Wednesday. Last week was a pretty good week. Not much happened in fantasy news, but I did buy a last-minute cruise to the Bahamas… muwahaha! I leave in two weeks. Old Man Winter can kiss my ass for at least 6 days. I plan on getting an international calling plan just so I can call friends and family from the beach and let them listen to warm summer-like noises. So there won’t be any WWW for a couple weeks as I work overtime next week and then actually take my vacation the week after. Do not despair I’m sure we will come up with some sort of content to distract you with. Maybe we can bring in the Dancing Baby? In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) The best Super Bowl commercial: Darth Vader kid VW commercial. I’m sure most of you have seen it, but it’s worth watching again.

2) Submit poetry to Oprah, forfeit your soul: Holy cow, these copyright agreements HarPo is making writers sign is insane. You’d be absolutely crazy to agree to these kind of terms.

3) A little article about some things to think about when self-publishing: Self-publishing is a common theme you will see in my WWW posts. I think 99% of all self-publishing is a scam at most, and damaging to your potential writing career at least. Very rarely will self-publishing actually work to your favor, and that is usually when an already successful author publishes something they couldn’t sell otherwise.

4) Game of Thrones Graphic Novel: The multi-media onslaught is in full swing with Martin’s epic series. This addition should prove interesting.

5) The Death of a legend: Brian Jacques died a few days ago. It has been announced at Brian Jacques’ website.

6) The next Dresden Files gets delayed: I’m a little late with this story, but the book would’ve been released in a just a couple of weeks.

7) “Feminization” in epic fantasy?: A nice discussion article by N.K. Jemisin. I may have agreed with her 15 years ago, but I think the gender bias in epic fantasy has balanced out pretty evenly.

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me. Feel free to post your own relevant news links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form. And don’t forget to enter our most recent giveaways!

Oh look it’s the middle of the week, time for another World Wide Wednesday. Kind of a slow news week, but I managed to find a few choice articles for your consumption. I also recommend you take a close look at the Author Chum section since I found some fascinating articles dealing with the individual authors listed there. In the coming weeks, if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) The Evolution of Alice in Wonderland: A Book Cover Odyssey: A fascinating trip through a timeline of various Alice in Wonderland covers.

2) Thai Buddhist Temple with Fantasy Twist: A fantastically inspired temple in Chang Rai, Thailand. I’ve been to a few Thai temples and they always amaze me with their detail. The next time I’m back in the northern sections, I will make sure to visit this one.

3) Men in prison love science fiction and fantasy…especially Twilight: Ummm… ok. That’s kind of creepy.

4) Ron Howard you are losing me: Shawn speaks his mind about some disappointing developments in the upcoming Dark Tower movie.

5) A truly graphic adventure: the 25-year rise and fall of a beloved genre: Arzs writes a nice article on one of my favorite genres in gaming. Adventure games were also my introduction to Terry Pratchett‘s Discworld.

6) Smart Self-Publishing: How to Get Published Without Getting Scammed: If you are thinking about self-publishing, then you should read through this article. It’s filled with some solid advice and resources.

7) Steve the Mortal is Stupid: This was “discovered” by a friend of mine. It’s about a fairy who spends its time tormenting a mortal and then blogging about it.

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• Connie Willis: Io9 Interview
• Rachel Caine: Ft. Worth Weekly Article
• Ben Bonva: Rooted solidly in science, reaching the realm of science fiction
• Tobias Buckell: Writing on the high seas

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me. Feel free to post your own relevant news links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form.

Welcome dear readers to another World Wide Wednesday. It’s been a rough week for me. I somehow managed to pinch a nerve in my lower back. This whole week I’ve felt like a character from a Joe Abercrombie novel. I was completely unaware that a human being could endure this sort of thing. I went to the doctor, but he vehemently refused to remove the lower half of my body. The X-rays came back with nothing serious, and I was relieved to learn I would not die a slow and agonizing lower-back death. I owe my wife a big thanks since she has been a real trooper in caring for a 240lb invalid for the last several days. With some good stretching tips and lots of TLC I was able to trek my way across the internet to find you all some worthy links. If in the coming weeks you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started

1) Invisibility cloak gets a step closer: Step by tiny step technology inches us closer to achieving every boy’s dream of being invisible. The day this technology is accessible to the public is the day infrared security is installed in every girls locker room.

2) Are you writing a vampire novel, too?: This link came in from a reader, and is actually from a blog I frequent.I never thought I’d be linking noted skeptic P.Z. Meyers in my WWW post, but here he is. He’s talking about his frustration with some urban fantasy characters and their constant whining at being cursed with super awesome abilities. Also know as Cursed with Awesome.

3) Girl Geeks get their own convention: Are you a geek? Are you a girl? Then you should definitely take a peek at this.

4) BSC picks Best Fantasy Movies of the Decade: 2000-2009: Not a bad list, but there are few that I consider questionable. Noticeably absent in my opinion is the Narnia movies, I rather like them. I was really disappointed when Eddie Izzard did not reprise his role as Reepicheep.

5) 2010 Goodreads Choice Awards is Complete: The votes have been tallied and the results are actually a good mix, but with only a couple surprises.

6) Last day to vote for FanLit: If you like us, pleased vote for Fantasy Literature at the Preditors & Editors Poll for Best Review Site. Today’s the last day. Thanks!

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• Peter S. Beagle: Interview about his new Last Unicorn graphic novel
• Richard Kadrey: More Sandman Slim coming our way.
• Gene Wolfe: Interview at Io9
• Mark Chadbourn: Finding Fantasy In The Past

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me. Feel free to post your own links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form.

Today I’ve got robot heads, zombies, and no less than two Pat Rothfuss links. That’s right the bearded one is twice linked below, go ahead and count ‘em. Hope you all enjoy, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or two. In the coming weeks if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it as a comment below. Let’s get started:

1) Walking Dead tops Graphic Novel Charts: We’re living in the Zombie era at the moment. The groaning shamblers are everywhere, and they are making millions.

2) Phillip K. Dick’s Robotic Head: I have only one question… Does it dream of electric sheep?

3) Best SFF of the Decade: Well at least according to the Tor readers. Some really good ones on that list. My TBR list just grew some more.

4) Hard to Love: James Knapp wrote an interesting blog on the relationships between characters and their readers. Personally I need a character to be emotionally engaging. It’s ok if I hate them and want them to die, but I need to feel something for them. Morally obtuse or “grey” characters will often lose my interest quickly.

5) Rewritten after publication?: A selection of books that were re-released after being re-written. Some of these were kind of surprising.

6) Signed copies of Wise Man’s Fear: Where, when and how to get one… and for charity.

7) Publisher to decide Borders fate: This is a topic near and dear to me. You see I have serious love for Borders Books. I do not have any independent book sellers remotely close to my locale, so Borders is where I go. Borders also has kick-ass coupons. I’m not kidding. Barnes and Nobles will send me these laughable 10% off a selection of books they choose. Borders on the other hand regularly sends 33%-50% off any item in the store. I am cheap, and when you read as much as I do, it can become a real expense. Coupons aside, this is a major retailer that is on the verge of biting the dust. If Borders were to sink I would essentially have B&N as a my only brick and mortar book store, and they suck (at least my local one does). I hope Borders convinces the publishers to cut them some slack and they can restructure their business model successfully.

8) Hey, if you like us, we’re up for Preditors & Editors Best Review Site. Won’t you please click the link and vote for Fantasy Literature?

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• Neil Gaiman: Guest stars on The Simpsons
• Patrick Rothfuss: A Suvudu Interview
• Lev Grossman: An Interview

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me! Feel free to post your own news links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form.

It’s time for another World Wide Wednesday. Things are beginning to settle down after the holidays. We are all now dealing with extra weight, and extra fruit cake. The pickings were slim for good articles, but I managed to find a few gems. Hope you all enjoy, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or two. In the coming weeks if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it as a comment below. Let’s get started:

1) Goodreads Choice Awards: Some of the winners I was surprised by, most I was not. I don’t understand how the Wheel of Time books keep winning all these popularity contests. Before Jordan bought the farm all I heard fans say was how Jordan had lost his touch and that WoT was a complete mess. I’ve never started the series. I was warned off by my brother who, by book 6 or 7, was suffering nose bleeds from the plot chronology.

2) Game of Thrones’ will bring winter to April: This better rock my world, cause I’m sick of hearing about it. Martin‘s quote at the end of the article made me laugh, “The scary thing is if these guys catch up with me!”…HA! Scary won’t begin to describe the reaction of the ASOIAF nerds if that happens.

3) Another Potter Plagiarism Case Dismissed: The book in question was titled The Adventures of Willy the Wizard. Sounds like the title to a really bad porn film.

4) The Gaiman is now married: Sorry ladies, but The Gaiman was recently hitched to Amanda Palmer. I would usually reserve this news for the chum below, but it is Neil Gaiman we’re talking about. I could hear the wistful sighs from billions around the world when the news broke.

5) British writer China Miéville gives science fiction a sexier image: Since Neil is taken, why not set your sites on China Miéville? Ok, I wouldn’t normally post this kind of article, but I found it amusing that Miéville’s sexiness is the hook of the article, and not that he’s won a metric crap-ton of awards.

6) Lord of the Rings Alternate Ending: This made me laugh. I can’t count how much time I’ve wasted on youtube with LOTR remixes.

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• Orson Scott Card: Suffered a stroke on New Years Day, doing ok.
• Paolo Bacigalupi and Terry Pratchett: Take home a couple ALA Awards
• Kate Elliott: Mmmm…Cold Magic Cookies

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me! Feel free to post your own links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form.

Welcome dear readers to the first World Wide Wednesday of 2011. 2011? That sounds so..futuristic. In 2011 we should have cars that fly, and robot dogs that do our laundry. My car only flies briefly when driven off a cliff, and my dog is still very much biological. I wish to apologize for the lack of WWW last week. I was overcome with the Holiday Spirit *blackberry wine if you wish know the precise spirit* and I missed Wednesday completely. Not to worry though, I stowed away the Santa hat and got back to work searching for items of interest. Hope you all enjoy, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or two. In the coming weeks if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it as a comment below. Let’s get started:

1) How to blow up a planet: Handy information in case you ever wish to explode our planet, or someone else’s.

2) New site for SFF news: A nice looking news site for all things SFF.

3) The Face of Syfy: Howe to Hammer Away a Channel: Not so happy with SyFy channel lately? This is an interesting article about the force that is the root of all the changes. The Science Fiction Channel was beloved to SFF nerds everywhere, but slowly over the years it has become less and less endearing to its core audience. I can’t tell you the last time I tuned in.

4) Stanley Kubrick directs Lord of the Rings, starring The Beatles: This movie was being seriously considered before the plug was pulled. The folks over at SuperPunch have put together a collection of what the promotional poster may have looked like if this had actually happened.

5) The David Gemmell Legend Awards for Fantasy is open for voting: Click, vote and prepare to expand your TBR pile. So many amazing works…so little time.

6) Stage and Studio interviews Ursula Le Guin: Linked from the SFWA website is Dmae Roberts’ podcast/audio documentary of Ursula Le Guin

7) Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die: An interesting article at Wired by comedian Patton Oswalt on geek culture, and its death.

8) Firstborn: A space opera short story by Brandon Sanderson. If you click the listen button on the left you can have it read to you by Mr. Sanderson and his wife Emily.

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• China Mieville: New worlds of play
• J.R.R. Tolkien: Happy Birthday!
• Isaac Asimov: Happy Birthday!
• Harlan Ellison: Sells his first typewriter

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me! Feel free to post your own links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form.

Welcome dear readers to another World Wide Wednesday. I have a diverse selection of stuff for you today, ranging from the funny to the scientific. Hope you all enjoy, and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or two. In the coming weeks if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me a line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Let’s get started:

1) Dorchester Publishing Spanked by the SFWA: I wanted to link this as an example of how important groups like the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) can be. Dorchester dropped the ball contractually with some SFWA members. The SFWA stepped in and gave them a gentle nudge. On the other hand, if you are struggling writer who happens to be an SFWA member, this takes a publisher off your list of possible candidates. In this case I think the benefit of telling Dorchester to get their act together far outweighed the negative.

2) HBO’s Game of Thrones isn’t George R.R. Martin’s First Time on TV: Anyone remember Beauty and the Beast from the 80′s? My mom used to love that show. Who knew that the man behind the story would go on to write a series like A Song of Ice and Fire?

3) Superheroes photographed through the ages: Ok, this is just silly. Captain American driving an old-timey milk truck? Priceless.

4) Hunger Games Lands a Director: Gary Ross of Pleasantville fame is to direct the movie adaption of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. I am probably the last person on earth to read these books. I’d better read them before the movie comes out!

5) Kim Harrison Sale on Amazon: Book 2 of The Hollows series is now $1.99 on kindle. I wish it was book one, but this is still a really good deal. If you are a fan of the series there is also bonus material in this edition.

6) A New Elric Comic Book Series: What can I say? One of the most recognizable characters in fantasy literature is getting a comic series. Michael Moorcock’s Elric has come a long way from fist appearing in Conan. Elric fans should be rejoicing, and comic fans should at least be interested.

7) The Birth of Culturomics: This is really cool, but maybe a little difficult to understand the scope of at first glance. Google and Harvard have joined forces to chart cultural changes through printed works. Using the thousands of books and texts that Google has stored over a long range of time, they are graphing terms and phrases as they have been used over the years. It might not sound like much, but this is really the first time we’ve had the ability to query this data in this way and it’s producing some amazing data. They will continue to get better at it and, as Google adds more text, it will improve exponentially.

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors: I’m posting just one link today for the Chum. The most comprehensive list I’ve seen yet of SFF authors who have blogs. Enjoy the hours of browsing and loss of work productivity.

• Science Fiction/Fantasy who blog:

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me. Merry Chrisolsticehannadon to everyone! Feel free to post your own links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form.

Welcome dear readers to this week’s World Wide Wednesday. I will be your chaperone through various wanderings across the intertubes. Amanda always did such a great job with these segments, and it will be difficult to fill her shoes. Seriously, I wear size 14 so these things are killing me. Read the article with an English accent and it will help you in your transition from Amanda to myself. I shall do my best to be your new guide.  In the coming weeks if you find something interesting you think everyone should read, drop me line via the contact form and let me know, or just post it below. Ok, Let’s go…

1) Amazon starts offering Bookscan data to authors: This is a big deal. Essentially Amazon has given authors a sales/marketing tool that publishers were dropping huge money for just a few years ago. The bad news is that some authors have already developed a complex from watching Amazon sales rankings, so watching sales in this kind of detail will likely drive them mad.

2) A Wrinkle in Time hits the stage : Madeleine L’Engle‘s A Wrinkle in Time is an important piece of children’s literature, and the introduction of many kids into the world of Speculative Fiction. John Glore has taken this beloved classic and adapted it for stage, and has apparently done an excellent job of it.

3) Google Launches E-Book Store: Google takes a stab at Amazon by entering into the e-book market in a major way. Google not only has massive support from publishers, but it is also bringing along its substantial public domain library, too. So that copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel you’ve always wanted can finally be yours. Google books are both downloadable and web based. They are compatible with every device…. except Kindle.

4) A quick look at the bestselling Fantasy books on Amazon : I always find lists like these interesting. You are always going to see the regulars like Charlaine Harris and Stephenie Meyer hanging around. Then there are a few that surprise me like Michael Sullivan’s The Crown Conspiracy at #16. I’m not sure exactly how Amazon calculates the bestselling list, but it is nice to see some underdogs being listed up top.

5) World of Warcraft splits sales record skulls: I did my time in WoW, and then I got over it. I swore never to return, but this expansion sure did have me tempted. Couple that with $10 bundles for the game and first expansion… must… say… nooo…..

6) Five Sci-Fi Children’s Books: This is just for laughs. Personally I like the Dr.Who cover the most.

7) Calling All Jim Butcher Fans…: Orbit UK wants to hear from you. Orbit has a busy Dresden schedule in 2011 in the UK and they wish to celebrate with a little feedback and some prizes. You can only win if you are in the UK, but it could still be fun to share why you’re a Jim Butcher fan.

Author Chum

In this section I’ll post bits and pieces of news from various fantasy authors:

• NK Jemisin and Jesse Bullington Make a sale to Orbit
• Pat Rothfuss exceeds charity goal
• Kim Harrison announces Pale Demon tour locations
• The Gaiman interviewed on Kevin Smith’s Podcast

That wraps it up for this week. Thank you for joining me. Feel free to post your own links in the comments below, or submit them to me for next week via the contact form.

I’ll be taking over the World Wide Wednesday column so Amanda can concentrate on her blog and several other gigs that she’s juggling. (Actually, we are pretty sure that she has one or two clones she uses – Kat read about this in a Jack Vance story, so she knows it’s true. One of Amanda’s clones will still be guest reviewing for us occasionally, unless it runs out of batteries.)

Unfortunately, none of the rest of us gets out as much as Amanda does… we’re all introverts. We just kind of sit here with our noses in our books. Sometimes we look up and make snarky comments about what we’re reading. That’s about it. But I’m going to try to extend myself and glance out the window occasionally. Last time I did that I noticed a few interesting things:

• You can vote for best cover art in 2010 over at All Things Urban Fantasy. And win a book!
• John Ottinger asked several bloggers which SFF author they’d like to meet and why. Read our answers and contribute your own at Grasping for the Wind.
• Don’t forget to vote in our “Anticipate our Best of 2010 List” contest from last week. Ruth’s giving away a book to the winner.

If you’ve got anything interesting to report, please do so (with appropriate link)  in the comments below. The Most Interesting SFF News Item (as judged by a formal unbiased elected committee consisting of me) wins the commenter a book from our teetering stacks (if s/he lives in the US, that is).

Ha, so I totally used that particular title because I like the word ‘kerfuffle’. Also – curmudgeon, rapscallion and dagnammit! But enough about that – time to bring you news from the World Wide Web!

1) Cook’s Source

So… pretty much the whole Net has now heard about Monica and her experiences with the editor at Cook’s Source – but for anyone who has remained oblivious, I bring you the full account here. This one went absolutely viral and Cook’s Source found their Facebook page inundated with complaints about the cavalier attitude shown – pretty horrendous, don’t you agree?

2) Want to Appear in a Book?

This is a way more heart-warming tale! Various authors – including Peter F Hamilton – are offering up the chance to be a named character in their books. It takes the form of an auction and all monies raised goes towards Autistica – give generously!

3) 1 Star Amazon Reviews

1 Star Amazon reviews are nothing new – there will always be books that not everyone enjoys. However, what about using 1 star reviews to show your displeasure that an ebook version isn’t available? Speculative Horizons brings us the story that this very thing has happened with the Towers of Midnight novel just released in the Wheel of Time series… It is always nice to have two sides to a story, and Fantasy Book Reviewer brings us this!

4) Making Lists is Problematic!

As Jeff VanderMeer found to his cost… He recently announced the best of 2010 list of SF/F that he prepared in conjunction with Amazon. And it created a kerfuffle (there’s that word again!) – just one of many this week. Here is a link to the discussion that kicked off on the Westeros forums.

5) Thar be Pirates!

Since the rise of the Internet, piracy has become easier and more common – and, we’re finding, ebooks are no exception to the rule. The Speculative Scotsman was fired up by the news that Celine Kiernan has been the victim of piracy and urges that the news be spread.

6) A Steampunk Kerfuffle

I just can’t stop myself! Kerfuffle, kerfuffle, kerfuffle! Alright, I’ll be serious – as was the Mad Hatter when he pulled together the links to various posts in a big old steampunk bust-up.

7) Harrassment

Ouch. This one is scary. Jim C Hines brought the news that various female authors found themselves sexually harassed at WFC by a well-known editor from a major publishing house. He followed this up with a post about how best to go about reporting the fact that you’ve been harassed. I have had some great experiences at conventions, and so this news really sobered me.

8) Horror Novels

I love SF Signal’s Mindmelds, which is why I’m bringing you yet another in my linkages. This time around they are asking which horror novels are ripe to be made into movies.

9) It’s Done!!

No, not that one, the other one… I’ll let Aidan explain!

10) This winter, internet TV will finally be Un:Bound

We heard news late yesterday via a press release on My Favourite Books that the team behind Un:Bound are bringing us vidcasts – including interviews, coverage of conventions and a look at the news from the genre world.

That’s all from me – see you next week, folks!

Welcome back to World Wide Wednesday! Any of the regular readers of WWW will know that every now and again there is a week’s break from the post: I should explain that it will most often fall on the first week of a month since I am an accountant and work increased hours, hence finding it hard to fit in extra-curricular activities.

I’m going to stop blathering now, and give you this week’s ten items of interest (at least to me!)

1) Nanowrimo

Those in the know will already recognise that this stands for National Novel Writing Month. This takes place every November, and offers the opportunity to join many thousands of others in the crazy endeavour of attempting to write a novel in a month – that is, 50,000 words! As long as you write 1,667 words every day in November, you will hit the target. Authors (such as Nicole Peeler) also use this month to romp through the first draft of a new novel. It is entirely mad, but extremely good fun!

2) Announcing ConJour 2011

This is a link for the British readers amongst you – I know there are some! Next March a new SF convention is coming your way – ConJour 2011. It is to be held in Leeds, and confirmed authors include Mark Charan Newton, Mike Carey, Kate Griffin, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Justina Robson and Freda Warrington. Check out the website for further details.

3) A new editor!

At World Fantasy Con last weekend Strange Horizons won a World Fantasy Award – but now it is all change at the helm. Niall Harrison (formerly features editor of Vector) has taken over as editor-in-chief. Congratulations Niall!

4) What is….?

It has been a celebration of steampunk over at the home of the Mad Hatter and, as part of this, he asked authors and reveiwers their opinion of what constituted steampunk. What do you recognise steampunk to be?

5) Six Word Stories

Over at my home away from Fantasy Literature, Tor.com have been having a little bit of fun – first asking for six word fantasy stories and then for six word sci fi stories. Some of these were extremely clever! How about coming up with some of your own and leaving them in our comments?

6) What is better than the Lord of the Rings?

Well, according to SF Signal, quite a few things! Their latest Mind Meld talks about those fantasy books and series that people believe are better than The Lord of the Rings – do you agree with the choices?

7) Dark Fiction Magazine

I bring you news today of a new online magazine for dark fiction – dealing with narrated short stories by some of the greats of recent horror novels.

8) Ms Maura Kelly

Now this one makes me steaming mad – and also proud that Babbling About Books was brave enough to tell us her own, deeply personal experience on the matter. Ms Maura Kelly wrote an article for Marie Claire called “Should Fatties Get a Room” and Katiebabs responded admirably in her own article: This Fattie Is Not Amused.

9) Intimidation

The lovely Mieneke wrote a post about Reader Intimidation, asking if you are ever intimidated – either by genius authors such as China Mieville, or by classic books that EVERYONE seems to have read. What form does your intimidation take?

10) Wert’s Essay Corner

Recently Adam from The Wertzone has started to write essays concerning the state of fantasy today – they are all worth a read. His latest is entitled “Roleplaying, the Malazan Book of the Fallen and Cliches.“

Welcome to another edition of World Wide Wednesday, Fantasy Literature’s quick look at what is buzzing around the Internet.

1) China Miéville is not on Facebook!

We’re a little late on this one, since the fake profiles have since been taken down, but Deanna Hoak first brought us Mr Miéville’s letter to Facebook. Just be careful that all the people you friend on Facebook are who they say they are!

2) Sticking with China…

We’ve also seen posts this week involving China Miéville and John Mullan in conversation at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in the UK. This proved interesting thanks to the commentary about the Booker Prize and the lack of genre representation.

3) Why can’t we all kiss and make up?

When the Booker Prize winner was announced last week (The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson won, if you didn’t know!) we had the usual round of posts concerning under-representation of genre fiction in literary prizes. Whereas other people mostly wanted everyone to kiss and make up!

4) Embargoes

Some people think embargoes don’t apply to them.

5) Censorship

Okay, warning first up – the post I’m about to link to links through to some rather disturbing content, so be careful about young eyes. Fantasy and Scifi Lovin’ is talking about censorship – are some films so vile that they actually make the case for censorship? Where does art stop?

6) Things I Don’t Have to Think About Today

John Scalzi brings us a truly wonderful stream-of-consciousness essay which makes you re-evaluate your own life. This really should be read widely – Things I Don’t Have to Think About Today.

7) Epic Fantasy

Adam brings us the question “What is epic fantasy?” and then proceeds to provide some answers in terms of the distribution of power. A quality read (and check out the subtitles for the pictures!)

8) Longest Fantasy Series

At the other end of the spectrum in terms of serious work, we have The Walk into Mordor blog aiming to show which are the longest fantasy series. It’s not scientific, but some of the results are fairly surprising!

9) The rise and fall of speculative magazines!

In this edition we bring you both the rise of a new print and pdf magazine as championed by the fab Lou Anders – BULL SPEC and the demise (again) of Realms of Fantasy.

10) Free Readin’

The Black Library – providers of Warhammer and Warhammer 40K tie-in fiction – have started producing eBooks. As a celebration of this fact, for all the Fridays during October they are issuing free eBook copies of some of their classic titles.

Right, I’m a busy little bee today, so I am breezing in and out with a very quick look at some of the posts that tickled my fancy this week – there is a more humorous tone compared to last time out, when I had such sad news to impart.

1) Top 10 Geeky Birthday Cakes

First up, this link is a ton of fun: showcasing the top 10 geeky birthday cakes. These are just incredible – some people really do take their geekdom to undreamed-of heights!

2) Women in Science Fiction

Alright, this one is a little bit more serious – Torque Control highlighted the absence of women in science fiction in a lengthy commentary, and has invited people to pick some of their favourite books by female science fiction authors.

3) Spellbound

Over on the Tor.com site Blake Charlton has revealed the artwork (and the process behind it) for his next novel Spellbound (due out next year). Personally, I think it’s absolutely gorgeous by Todd Lockwood!

4) How Many Series Are You Currently Reading?

We all know that fantasy books tend to run to series, rather than being handy standalone novels. If you are an avid fantasy reader it is surprising how quickly those series mount up! Some bloggers have counted their current series – check out Floor to Ceiling Books, Walker of Worlds, Bookworm Blues and Steve’s Fantasy Book Reviews. And how about telling us your magic number?

5) The Nine Stages of Dating A Novel

I’m sure this link is going to be more poignant and comical to those amongst us who write as well as read, but I found it highly entertaining – a look at the stages you go through while writing a novel.

6) The News According to Brandon Sanderson

Mr Sanderson is one of the most high profile fantasy authors right now, thanks to the Wheel of Time and his own Stormlight Archives series. Consequently, we sit up and take notice when he announces news about his writing. On the other hand, we’ve sort of heard it all before where George R R Martin is concerning! Wert brings us the news on both.

7) Are You Scared?

This post made me laugh out loud – even those who haven’t read his debut novel which involves Jakob Douglas can find much to amuse them in Gavin Smith’s comparison of his protagonist to other hard men in science fiction. And do read Veteran, it’s very good!

8) Mash-ups

Over on the Book Chick City blog, Carolyn is conducting her regular All Hallows Eve celebration – all month long she is bringing you the best in horror. Today she hosts a guest blog discussing horror/classic mash-ups – what do you think?

9) Failure

Failure is a nasty word, non? All the more surprising to find a number of authors talking candidly about their experiences with failure over on YA Addict.

10) 5 Hints You’re Surrounded By The Paranormal

Finally, let’s nip across to Grasping For The Wind to learn the 5 hints you’re surrounded by the paranormal!

It’s an odd WWW for you this week – we have some very saddening news to impart, some more hopeful news and then your usual mix of articles and features.

1) R.I.P. Jennifer Rardin

It was with great sadness that we heard about the death of Jennifer Rardin. She passed away on 20th September. The remaining two books in her very popular Jaz Parks series will still be published. A group of bloggers, including Lurv A La Mode have decided to celebrate her life and writing with a series of posts, reviews and giveaways.

2) R.I.P. Ralph Vicinanza

Legendary literary agent Ralph Vicinanza has also passed away. George R R Martin has written a moving eulogy to his friend and agent.

3) Harlan Ellison says goodbye

Harlan Ellison announced, prior to going, that Madcon would be his last appearance due to ailing health. In an interview, he said candidly: “The truth of what’s going on here is I’m dying. I’m like the Wicked Witch of the West – I’m melting. I began to sense it back in January.”

4) Jay Lake kicks cancer

Of course, there are always two sides to every coin, and happily Jay Lake has announced that he has beaten cancer.

5) Banned Books Week

Last week we mentioned the novel Speak and the fact that it was a banned book. This week Banned Books Week is being celebrated by a number of bloggers, including The Story Siren, who challenges us all to read banned books this week! We also have the absurd logic behind some of the most famous banned books.

6) A Robot Invasion

Did you know that you were being invaded by robots over there in the US and Canada? Mr YetiStomper knew! Angry Robot Books are bringing their unique blend of science fiction, dark fantasy and steampunk across to the States – they report on their second month and show off some gorgeous cover art!

7) Cover Art – Your Choice

In a unique move Mark Charan Newton and his editor, Julie Crisp, have announced that the readers of Mark’s series can pick the cover of his third book – The Book of Transformations – from two they are considering. In all honesty, there isn’t masses of difference between the two choices, but head on over to his blog to take a look! Dark Wolf and A Dribble of Ink have already posted their thoughts!

8) The 40K Universe

Games Workshop’s novels about the 40K universe have an enduring quality – on SF Signal the authors writing about 40K tell us what attracts them to the far-future world. If you’ve never read any Warhammer 40K novels, then the Wertzone has a handy guide to 40K for you.

9) Budding Writers?

Any of you out there? You could do a lot worse right now than head on over to the blog of M D Lachlan, and check out two posts: the first shows the Dan Brown effect of writing, while the second shows why adverbs are BAD!

10) Babel Clash

I mention this blog now and again when I think it will be of interest to the FanLit readers – this time round the three people contributing are Lou Anders, Ginjer Buchanan and Jeremy Lassen – editors extraordinaire! If they don’t say at least a few things of interest then I will be enormously surprised!

Okay, that’s the lot – see you next week!

Middle of the week again – these come and go like clockwork, don’t they? I won’t keep you long as you wend your busy way to the weekend, but here are ten posts you really should be reading this week!

1) SPEAK

Mr Scroggins believes that the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson should be banned because there’s a rape in the book. Mr Scroggins implies that rape is pornography. Everyone who believes that Mr Scroggins is wrong should Speak Out.

2) Are authors and their work inseparable?

This question was asked as a result of Elizabeth Moon‘s emotional post about 9/11 and Muslims in America. Because of some things she said, some readers were disappointed and said they’d no longer be reading her work, so OF Blog of the Fallen asked: Hate the writing and not the writer, or hate the writer and not the writing, or just dismiss them both?

3) Fantasycon 2010

Last weekend Fantasycon 2010 was held in the UK and a number of attendees have written their reports. The Fantasy Awards were also announced.

4) Genre Diversity

Aidan Moher has joined the SF Signal team and provides an essay on Genre Diversity as his first contribution.

5) The Book-O-Mat

This one is an amusing tale. In The Netherlands, a company has introduced the idea of a vending machine providing books. What do you think about this? Inspired, or madness?

6) Lost Libraries

Have you ever shuddered while wondering what would happen to your private library in the event of your death? A macabre thought, it’s true, but imagine all those books you diligently and lovingly collected being scattered all over the place! Here is a tale of a Lost Library.

7) 10 Ways to Annoy A Literary Agent

I’m sure a number of our FanLit readers aspire to becoming novelists themselves. Here we have Rachelle Gardner bringing us some of her pet peeves as a literary agent. In the same vein, we have here an article on How Not To Pitch Your Work To Any Publisher.

8) When Stories End With Ugh

Persnickety Snark talks with great passion about those series that utilise an epilogue to complete the final volume – and when those epilogues go wrong!

9) Worlds That Outgrew Their Stories

Our next destination is Grasping For The Wind, and an interesting article that takes a look at Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance, and the way they have continually grown since their inception.

10) Smart Chicks Kick It Tour

Finally on this week’s romp around the Internet, I bring you (via The Story Siren) news of the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour. Are any of you intending to head to this? Or have any of you been to the three signings so far?

That’s all, folks! See you next week!

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? My vacation seems a world away now and I’ve come back to discover that the ‘w’ key on my keyboard is sticking which is unfortunate when you’re writing a post entitled World Wide Wednesday! Anyway, let’s see what the Internet kicked up over the last week or so…

1) Pat’s Retiring?

Okay, the most recent kerfuffle concerns Pat of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, who has stated his intention to possibly retire. Mark Charan Newton blogs in reply regarding the general state of the blogosphere compared to when Pat started – and Larry from OF Blog of the Fallen snarks.

2) More Blogging – BBAW

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is going strong all this week – visit the website to see articles, awards and links to many new blogs!

3) Zombie Week on Tor.com

Not quite the same as BBAW, this week the Tor.com are celebrating everything zombie – with short stories, competitions, artwork and much more. Also check out their Twitter feed @tordotcom for plentiful discussion points.

4) Post Modernism

Brandon Sanderson wrote an essay on post modernism in fantasy, which was promptly shot down by Jeff VanderMeer. Speaking of Mr Sanderson, he and Brent Weeks are sharing the load over at Babel Clash this week.

5) Game of Thrones news hots up!

The Wertzone was once again ahead of the rest of us in bringing the latest Game of Thrones shots. Those over at Westeros dissected the trailer released, showing who each of the characters might be and in what scenes.

6) Inferior Fantasy?

Another post that created all manner of hoo-ha on the Internet was The Speculative Scotsman‘s discussion concerning fantasy vs. literary fiction, and whether fantasy came out as inferior. The post led to a feverish number of comments, some in favour and some not in favour, causing Niall to set out his position once again.

7) Finishing Books

Our friendly Book Smugglers did a fine post on finishing books – whether you finish every book you start, and the reasons for not being able to finish them. Some lovely comments as well that further the discussion.

8) The Allure of the Short Story

Over on Speculative Book Review, Cara has taken some time to examine short stories – what sorts are available and where we might find them. It is well worth a read if you enjoy speculative fiction in the shorter form.

9) To Whitewash or Not to Whitewash

We at Fantasy Literature decry whitewashing, and were very interested in a recent post over at Stomping on Yeti. Patrick raised the idea that a forthcoming cover by Angry Robot might have been whitewashed – to his credit, when Patrick was approached by Angry Robot he corrected his comments to reflect the information he had been given.

10) Best Female Characters in SFF?

The most recent Mind Meld over on SF Signal asks various authors who their favourite SFF female characters are.

While you are reading this, I am probably lying on a beach somewhere with a book and a glass of sangria! Because I have no idea what the Internet will be doing while I’m away, I am presenting you with a top ten list of author blogs you really should add to your Google Reader for their combination of articles and information about the books they’re writing. No doubt there are plenty more than these 10 to highlight, so feel free to add any that you particularly love to the comments section!

1) Mark Charan Newton

2) Sam Sykes