So when I learn of a new one to be released, I get truly excited. And when the lineup of authors matches my desire to read something new from favorite writers as well as try stories from authors I’ve been meaning to try, I literally cannot wait for it to be published.

Such is the case with Multiverse edited by Greg Bear and Gardner Dozois. The two editors have teamed up to produce an anthology devoted to the genius of Poul Anderson, one of the most significant science fiction writers of the last century. It’s not a surprise that bestselling author Greg Bear is helping to put this together; he is the son-in-law of the late Poul Anderson, bringing his extensive knowledge of science fiction history to produce an anthology that should make all sci-fi readers exceedingly happy.

And why not happy? Look at the line-up that has been put together!

Here is the press release from Subterranean Press:

Subterranean Press is pleased to announce Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds, which celebrates the SF Grandmaster’s works with new stories by modern masters of the form.

Poul Anderson (1926-2001) was one of the seminal figures of 20th century science fiction. Named a Grand Master by the SFWA in 1997, he produced an enormous body of standalone novels (Brain Wave, Tau Zero) and series fiction (Time Patrol, the Dominic Flandry books) and was equally at home in the fields of heroic fantasy and hard SF. He was a meticulous craftsman and a gifted storyteller, and the impact of his finest work continues, undiminished, to this day.

Multiverse: Exploring Poul Anderson’s Worlds is a rousing, all-original anthology that stands both as a significant achievement in its own right and a heartfelt tribute to a remarkable writer-and equally remarkable man. A nicely balanced mixture of fiction and reminiscence, Multiverse contains thirteen stories and novellas by some of today’s finest writers, along with moving reflections by, among others, Anderson’s wife, Karen, his daughter, Astrid Anderson Bear, and his son-in-law, novelist and co-editor Greg Bear. (Bear’s introduction, “My Friend Poul,” is particularly illuminating and insightful.).

The fictional contributions comprise a kaleidoscopic array of imaginative responses to Anderson’s many and varied fictional worlds. A few of the highlights include Nancy Kress’s “Outmoded Things” and Terry Brooks’s “The Fey of Cloudmoor,” stories inspired by the Hugo Award-winning “The Queen of Air and Darkness;” a pair of truly wonderful Time Patrol stories (”A Slip in Time” by S. M. Stirling and “Christmas in Gondwanaland” by Robert Silverberg); Raymond A. Feist’s Dominic Flandry adventure, “A Candle;” and a pair of very different homages to the classic fantasy novel, Three Hearts and Three Lions: “The Man Who Came Late” by Harry Turtledove and “Three Lilies and Three Leopards (And A Participation Ribbon in Science)” by Tad Williams. These stories, together with singular contributions by such significant figures as Larry Niven, Gregory Benford, and Eric Flint, add up to a memorable, highly personal anthology that lives up to the standards set by the late-and indisputably great-Poul Anderson.

• Limited: 250 signed numbered copies, housed in a custom slipcase: $125
• Trade: 1500 fully cloth bound hardcover copies: $40

Each story features a full-page black-and-white illustration by Hugo Award-winning artist, Bob Eggleton, who also contributed the full-color dust jacket. Look for Multiverse late in the Summer or Fall.

I love Poul Anderson’s work but I have not read all of it. It’s just an excuse to read more. It will also be fun to see what masters like Terry Brooks, Robert Silverberg, and Tad Williams do with the late grandmaster’s worlds.

To learn more about the anthology, visit the Sub Press website at www.subterraneanpress.com!

There are some great sci-fi/fantasy bloggers out there, fans who are devoting a lot of time and energy into supporting authors and their readers. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and with the menagerie of unique and very different individuals out there contributing, it produces a whole that is better than its parts.

Last week, Suvudu posted the First 50 Pages of Red Harvest by Joe Schreiber. Matt Staggs Took 5 with Ben Marcus, Author of The Flame Alphabet, and Aidan Moher posted Resident Evil 6 Demo. That’s not all though. Eric Geller posted Interview with Ryder Windham, Author of The Millennium Falcon Owners Workshop Manual, and I posted George R. R. Martin Recommends David Anthony Durham.

In other areas of the professional internet(s), Tor.com is reading Chapter 5 of A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin, Pyr Books revealed a book giveaway, and Orbit Books published Mass Effect: Deception by William C. Dietz!

Here are some of the blogging highlights I found outside of Suvudu week ending 2/4/12:

• Comment: Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht, posted by A Dribble of Ink
• Review: The Cold Commands by Richard K. Morgan, read by A Fantasy Reader
• Comment: 2011 Locus Recommends List, posted by Fantasy Book Critic
• Review: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan, read by Fantasy Book Review
• Review: Dark Victory by Michele Lang, read by Fantasy Literature
• Comment: The Book Haul, posted by Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review
• Interview: Chat with John R. Fultz, posted by Grasping For the Wind
• Review: Faith by John Love, read by The Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf
• Comment: A Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, posted by Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
• Review: Tribulations by Ken Shufeldt, read by Sci-Fi Chick
• Comment: New Watchmen Comics Coming, posted by Wertzone

I highly recommend all Suvudu readers to visit these fine examples of sci-fi / fantasy blog work! Get involved, post your thoughts, and enjoy what else is out there!

And feel free to talk about it or anything else on our Forum here!

Till next week…

Every week, I’ll be bringing you a comic book cover that I feel eclipses others out there—to the point I might just have to own it!

The BadAss Comic Book Cover for this week is for Game of Thrones #5. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin has been a bestseller now for more than a decade, and now with the HBO show, it continues to draw new readers into the fantasy genre. The comic book adaptation by Tommy Patterson and Daniel Abraham are doing the same thing, though in an entirely different medium, and their work is not going unnoticed. The first couple of issues sold out, leading to several new printings. And with Daniel handling the writing and the second season of the HBO show looming in April, I’m sure this comic book adaptation will continue on for many more months to come.

Why do I love this cover though? It captures the scene perfectly. Sansa is saddened at the loss of her direwolf Lady, already turning away from her father and sister. Arya is all sorts of angry, wanting to kill Sansa for lying. Typical siblings. Ned has nothing to say, knowing they were trapped by Cersei and uncertain if he can be the Hand of the King that Westeros needs. And all the while the king sits in the back, passive to what is occurring. The artist, Mike Miller, captured the mood of the scene and translated it into art, with Sansa torn between her old life on the right hand side of the image and what will be her new life on the left.

Here is a bit more about Game of Thrones #5:

Rating: Mature
Cover: Mike Miller
Writer: George R.R. Martin, Daniel Abraham
Artist: Tommy Patterson
Colorist: Ivan Nunes
Publication Date: Jan 2012
Format: Comic Book
Page Count: 32 pages

The Story: Storm clouds gather over Westeros in the fifth installment of Daniel Abraham’s gripping adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s fantasy masterpiece A Game of Thrones. A childish game gone horribly wrong pits Arya Stark against Prince Joffrey, with Sansa Stark in the middle. But behind youthful rivalries, cold-blooded political intrigue is at work as Queen Cersei uses all her wiles to blunt the influence of Eddard Stark, the Hand of the King. Meanwhile, Lady Catelyn has journeyed to King’s Landing with the blade used in the attempted assassination of her son Bran-evidence that will upset a precarious balance of power. And in Winterfell, a dying Bran takes a mystical journey . . . and faces a fateful choice.

Game of Thrones #5 is in fine comic book stores now!

More next Saturday! In the meantime, go visit your local comic book store…

Now, clearly I’m biased. I started as her assistant, I’m still her colleague, and I’m also her friend.

But the fact that the Locus 2011 Poll and Survey is now up, and doesn’t list Anne Groell as a nominee for Editor of the Year bothers me.

Why?

Because name a science fiction and fantasy editor that had a bigger year in 2011.

And this is nothing against the other editors on the list—all of whom are great at their jobs and do terrific work. But to not have Anne Groell on the list?

Really?

But don’t take my word for it. Instead, let’s see what Anne did in 2011.

Oh, right: just edited a little book called A Dance With Dragons.

Now, this wasn’t just the biggest fantasy book of the year. It was, simply put, one of the biggest books of the year, one that’s still a New York Times bestseller, half a year after its hardcover release.

Anne’s been George R.R. Martin’s editor since A Game of Thrones, and although I’m a firm believer of the author getting all the credit, if we’re going to pick an editor to get some credit, then Anne certainly should be recognized.

Because, besides A Dance With Dragons, two of Anne’s books won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards last year: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis.

As I’m sure you know (since you’re reading a sci-fi and fantasy blog), those just happen to be two of the biggest awards in the genre. Connie’s novels won both—and Anne was the editor.

Now think about this: George’s and Connie’s books are wildly different. Different genres, different styles, different kinds of books (one is part of a series; the other, a stand-alone story).

Now think about this: In addition to Connie and George’s books (which she continue to work on the comic adaptation of A Game of Thrones), in 2011 Anne worked with Elizabeth Bear, Paula Brandon, Kelly Meding, MK Hobson, Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, Keri Arthur, Jules Watson, and Cherie Priest.

Again—did another SF/F editor have a bigger year than Anne? And, even if they did, does that mean her year wasn’t impressive enough to include on this list?

I don’t think so.

Therefore, I’m asking that not only should everyone write-in “Anne Groell” on this year’s Locus ballot, but make sure they rank her #1 when they do.

Because frankly, that’s the least we can do to recognize what an amazing year she’s had.

UPDATE: It appears the list does not include Anne Groell (as well as some other deserving candidates, it would seem). Thanks!

Nowhere is it better seen than in feminism. Feminism in science fiction has had a storied past all by itself, an incredible way to highlight many of the problems faced by the world. During my last quarter of college, I read a number of books featuring feminism in science fiction, some dating all the way back to 1818’s Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin was a far more contemporary look at the social movement, as is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. No other genre has the ability to represent feminist thought and yet be readable to everyone, engaging to everyone—hopefully changing everyone.

A few days ago, New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn was nominated for the 2012 Amelia Bloomer List, which names “the best books with significant feminist content that will appeal to young readers.” The book that got nominated? Steel!

Here is a bit more about the nominated Steel:

It was a slender length of rusted steel, tapered to a point at one end and jagged at the other, as if it had broken. A thousand people would step over it and think it trash, but not her.

This was the tip of a rapier.

Sixteen-year-old Jill has fought in dozens of fencing tournaments, but she has never held a sharpened blade. When she finds a corroded sword piece on a Caribbean beach, she is instantly intrigued and pockets it as her own personal treasure.

The broken tip holds secrets, though, and it transports Jill through time to the deck of a pirate ship. Stranded in the past and surrounded by strangers, she is forced to sign on as crew. But a pirate’s life is bloody and brief, and as Jill learns about the dark magic that brought her there, she forms a desperate scheme to get home—one that risks everything in a duel to the death with a villainous pirate captain.

Time travel, swordplay, and romance combine in an original high-seas adventure from New York Times bestseller Carrie Vaughn.

To celebrate her nomination, to shed light on feminist thought in present day science fiction, and just to have a great discussion, here is a new interview with Carrie Vaughn:

INTERVIEW: STEEL BY CARRIE VAUGH

Shawn Speakman: Hi Carrie! You are best known for your bestselling series work with your heroine, Kitty Norville. In 2011 though, you wrote a book titled STEEL that is very different. Tell Suvudu readers about STEEL and how it came about?

Carrie Vaughn: I had a two-book contract with HarperTeen, because I had some stories I wanted to tell that didn’t involve the supernatural world of the Kitty novels, and that would work best as young adult novels. The first was Voices of Dragons, which came out in 2010. For the second I decided to write a pirate story, because I think I was watching one of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels and I decided I could write a much better pirate story than that. Because I like fencing, I centered the story on rapiers and sword fighting, and I made the story about Jill because it’s become a mission of mine to write adventure stories starring teen girls that don’t focus on getting a boyfriend.

SS: STEEL has just been recognized by the 2012 Amelia Bloomer List, which names “the best books with significant feminist content that will appeal to young readers.” As a writer, what role should science fiction and fantasy play in feminism and social activism?

CV: Far be it from me to declare the role science fiction and fantasy should play in anything…my first impulse is to declare, broadly, that science fiction and fantasy should play whatever role people want it to. In Steel, the fantastic elements aren’t particularly feminist – there’s time travel and a cursed sword. The female characters in it are all firmly based on people who really existed. I fence at a club in Boulder that trains world-class teen fencers, and Jill is based on the girls who train there. My pirate captain, Marjory Cooper, is very much based on real women pirates who sailed the Caribbean in the 18th century. That was part of my point in writing the book, that we don’t have to go to fantasy or futuristic worlds to find strong women. They’re all around us, and all through history.

I will say what many other people have said before, that science fiction and fantasy can provide fertile ground for thought experiments, for taking us out of our own world and showing us issues in new lights. SF&F has done marvelous things in terms of holding up issues of sex and gender and questioning the status quo.

SS: The likes of Terry Pratchett and Tamora Pierce have also been recognized by the 2012 Amelia Bloomer List, along with a number of other authors. Great company. How does it feel to be nominated alongside them?

CV: Wonderful. Really wonderful. These are authors *I* look up to. You throw books and stories out into the world and hope they make an impact, even if it’s just for one person. To set out to write a book highlighting strong women characters, then have a respected organization point to it and say, “Yes, this is feminist,” is so validating. It’s an honor.

SS: What books with strong female characters would you recommend young adult women read? Adult women?

CV: Two of my favorite books of all time are Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown. (It really is all about the swords with me.) I’d also recommend Lois McMaster Bujold’s Shards of Honor and Barrayar, for showing strong women in so many different roles – war hero, starship captain, survivor, mother. Anything by Tamora Pierce, of course.

SS: Do you think Kitty is a good role model for young people too? If so, where should they start?

CV: I know Kitty has a lot of teen readers because I get email from them and meet them at signings. I like to think Kitty’s a good role model, but some people might argue with me. She isn’t much of an in-your-face fighter, which is what some people think of when they think of “strong women.” But I definitely think Kitty has a lot of great qualities – she stands up for herself and what she believes in, she’s a leader and a diplomat. She has a sane and stable romantic relationship. They probably ought to start at the beginning, with Kitty and The Midnight Hour.

To learn more about Carrie, visit her website at www.carrievaughn.com!

Steel by Carrie Vaugh is in fine bookstores now!

It can be great for obvious reasons. The world conflict. The multitudes of characters. Magic, and talismans, and quests to retrieve them. The uncertainty of who will live and who will die. The hours and hours that it takes to make it through multiple volumes, leaving the reader with late nights or early mornings, heightening the enjoyment. It all makes for great reading.

It can be bad for a very important reason. Volumes in an epic fantasy series are usually quite large, requiring a lot of words to tell the tale. Words take time to write and that time requires… well… a lot of time on the writer’s part. Throw in most epic stories requiring a lot of words, and it takes a long time for an epic fantasy series to come to conclusion with its final volume. It can be downright frustrating.

Not so with David Anthony Durham’s Acacia trilogy. It is finished. It is epic. And it is fantastic.

Here is what George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Dance With Dragons, had to say about David Anthony Durham’s work:

“David Anthony Durham knocked me out with Pride of Carthage. He brought Hannibal, his brothers, and the Second Punic War to vivid, bloody life, and established himself as one of the bright new lights of historical fiction. He’s doing great work in science fiction as well, as the Campbell Award voters attested when they elected him the best new writer in the field. His epic fantasies make him a triple threat. No matter the genre, David Anthony Durham has serious chops. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next…”

This coming from an author who has not finished his epic fantasy saga. It’s not every day the most popular author going not only loves your work but is willing to blurb it for the entire world to know. George is obviously a very talented writer but he also has a great eye for talent. It’s the reason he has produced many bestselling short story anthologies and the Wild Cards books. When George likes your work, it’s legitimate. He loves David’s work. And I know George well enough to know he doesn’t blurb lightly. It means the Acacia trilogy is well worth the read.

The War with the Mein, The Other Lands, and The Sacred Band by David Anthony Durham are all published in paperback and ebook and available from all fine booksellers!

To learn more about David Anthony Durham, visit www.davidanthonydurham.com!

In DARKSIDERS: THE ABOMINATION VAULT, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (beings charged with maintaining the Balance between the forces of Heaven and Hell) have uncovered a plot to resurrect ancient weapons of unimaginable power. Death, with the help of his compatriot War, must track down and neutralize the mysterious individuals behind the scheme before the entire universe is plunged into a devastating conflict.

ABOUT DARKSIDERS II:
Summoned by the End of Days, Death, the most feared of the legendary Four Horsemen embarks on a quest to undo Armageddon. Along the way, the Horseman discovers that there are far worse things than an earthly Apocalypse, and that an ancient grudge may threaten all of Creation. Become the terrifying force which everything fears, but nothing can escape. Death Lives in Darksiders II.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ari Marmell is the author of The Conqueror’s Shadow, The Warlord’s Legacy, The Goblin Corps, Agents of Artifice, a Magic: the Gathering novel, and his young adult books Thief’s Covenant and False Covenant. Marmell lives with his wife in Austin, Texas.

ABOUT VIGIL GAMES:
In 2006, THQ Inc. acquired Vigil Games and enabled the dream to become reality through significant management and resource support. Today, Vigil employs over 200 talented and dedicated developers making games across multiple genres and platforms.

Vigil Games strives to be a world-class game development studio that produces high-quality interactive entertainment for a global audience.

ABOUT THQ:
THQ Inc. is a leading worldwide developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. The company develops its products for all popular game systems, personal computers and wireless devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles County, California, THQ sells product through its global network of offices located throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. More information about THQ and its products may be found at http://www.thq.com. THQ, Darksiders, Vigil Games and their respective logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of THQ Inc.

ABOUT THE RANDOM HOUSE PUBLISHING GROUP:
The flagship imprint of Random House, Inc., the Random House Publishing Group had its origins in 1925 when Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, two New Yorkers in their mid-twenties, acquired a line of classics and contemporary American works called The Modern Library from publisher Horace Liveright. The company assumed the name Random House two years later, in 1927, when Cerf and Klopfer decided to publish a few books on the side, “at random.” Their artist friend Rockwell Kent drew his now celebrated logo of a random house, which made its debut in February l927. Among the first titles of the new imprint were limited editions illustrated by Kent of Voltaire’s Candide and Melville’s Moby Dick.

Del Rey Books (http://www.delreybooks.com) was founded in 1977 as an imprint of Ballantine Books, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history.

Random House Worlds, part of the Random House Publishing Group, is responsible for the creation of original multi-platform intellectual properties (IP), developed and marketed within strategic corporate partnerships. The group also works with authors and partners on story creation, world-building and launch strategies for existing IP. Using its vast experience in bestselling storytelling and, in particular, the Del Rey imprint’s extensive expertise in such genres as science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and horror, Random House Worlds is in a unique position to help create complex storylines set in original worlds with fully imagined characters, world histories and geographies—all prepared for multi-platform implementation.

THQ Forward-Looking Statements: The statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts may be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the business of THQ Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively referred to as “THQ”), including, but not limited to, expectations and projections related to the release of the Darksiders Novel are based upon management’s current beliefs and certain assumptions made by management. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, business, competitive, economic, legal, political and technological factors affecting our industry, operations, markets, products or pricing. Readers should carefully review the risk factors and the information that could materially affect THQ’s financial results, described in other documents that THQ files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal period ended March 31, 2011 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and particularly the discussion of trends and risk factors set forth therein. Unless otherwise required by law, THQ disclaims any obligation to update its view on any such risks or uncertainties or to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.

In this case, a friend brought me an interview that is long and filled with great information about science fiction. The friend? Peter Orullian, Tor Books author of The Unremembered. Who did he interview? Ted Chiang, writer of numerous award-winning science fiction short stories and short story anthologies.

The two writers represent very different sub-genres. Ted writes is science fiction; Peter writes epic fantasy. But both possess a passion for the craft of writing and the genre as a whole and, given the chance, will talk about it at length. That’s what is great about this interview. It’s length and conversation.

Read on to learn more about Ted’s work and “the literature of ideas!”

PETER ORULLIAN INTERVIEWS TED CHIANG

I’ve done a number of interviews. They’ve all been fun and enlightening. And usually I’m speaking to writers who are passing through Seattle on a book tour. Not long ago, I realized that I was overlooking an obvious interview with someone local, and a friend of mine, to boot: Ted Chiang.

Most of the interviews I’ve done are of novelists. Ted’s work tends to be much shorter, though some of his fiction is of novella length. And his work—if you don’t know it—has received a great many accolades—deservedly so. To be frank, he uses these shorter forms more effectively than most novelists do their longer, more wordy form.

So, at one of our get-togethers—a few of us do dinner, movie, and after-movie Starbucks-so-we-can-deconstruct-the-movie conversation—I asked Ted if I could interview him. Obviously, he said yes. So, enjoy the conversation below with, in my opinion, one of the best science fiction story writers currently working.

Peter Orullian: Let’s get underway by having you give us a snapshot of your work to set the stage for our conversation: genres you write in, recognitions, etc., publishing vitals, if you will.

Ted Chiang: I write science fiction short stories. I have a collection of my stories, STORIES OF YOUR LIFE AND OTHERS, published by Small Beer Press, and I recently had a novella, THE LIFECYCLE OF SOFTWARE OBJECTS, published as a standalone volume by Subterranean Press. As for recognitions, I guess you mean awards? My work has won four Nebulas, four Hugos, and four Locus awards.

PO: I want to talk about your latest novella, but before we do, let’s start with the science fiction genre itself. It’s sometimes described as the genre of ideas. Whether an accurate or meaningful description anymore, I don’t know, but I’d certainly describe your work as pretty squarely science fiction. And yet, I’d also say your work is about more than ideas. I’m interested in your thoughts on the genre currently, and how you approach it in your own writing.

TC: “The literature of ideas” isn’t a bad description for science fiction if you’re limited to four words, but I don’t think any genre can be accurately characterized in such a brief sentence. If you tried to come up with a four-word description of fantasy or horror, there would certainly be people saying the genre was about more than that. Ideas are an important part of SF, but they aren’t the entirety of it. Not long ago there was a critical volume published called THE SEVEN BEAUTIES OF SCIENCE FICTION (by Istvan Csiscery-Ronay), about seven things SF does well, and “new ideas” is just one of them.

As for the current state of the genre, I’m not sure I have anything original to say beyond what everyone says: sub-genres are sprouting, genre boundaries are dissolving, the field is growing larger and more amorphous. But even though the genre is changing, I’d agree that my work remains close to traditional notions of science fiction. I like performing thought experiments, working through the implications of a speculative idea, and I think that’s something science fiction is particularly well suited for. And there’s another reason I feel my work is SF, and it has to do with the idea that a genre is a kind of conversation that takes place between books and authors over a period of years. You’re writing within a genre when you’re participating in that conversation and your work is in dialogue with earlier work in that genre, and in that sense, I definitely think I’m part of the science fiction genre. It’s a conversation I am happy to be a part of.

PO: I really like this last piece, Ted. It articulates something I’ve felt myself relative to genres I’m writing in. So, let me ask you: What are some of the books and authors you’d say are part of your own conversation with the science fiction genre?

TC: It depends on the particular story. I’d say my story “Understand” is in dialogue with a number of stories about increasing intelligence: Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon” is the classic, of course, but I also had Thomas Disch’s CAMP CONCENTRATION and Larry Niven’s PROTECTOR in mind when I was writing it. Similarly, “Story of Your Life” is in dialogue with other SF dealing with linguistics, like Samuel Delany’s BABEL-17, Suzette Haden Elgin’s NATIVE TONGUE, and Ian Watson’s THE EMBEDDING. More generally, a lot of my stories deal with the idea of a “conceptual breakthrough,” a term coined by Peter Nicholls in his SCIENCE FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA: a discovery that fundamentally changes the characters’ understanding of their universe. This is one of the central storylines of science fiction; some classic examples are Robert Heinlein’s “Universe,” whose characters discover that they’re actually living on a generation starship, and James Blish’s “Surface Tension,” whose microscopic characters discover the world beyond the puddle they’ve always lived in.

PO: A very good list of books. And now, in this same vein, are there other writers currently working whose work you read and admire? And I’m thinking both in and outside the science fiction genre.

TC: I find things to admire in a lot of what I read, but to pick out a few names: Greg Egan is an SF writer whose work really clicks for me; I can’t think of anyone else who can extrapolate from a premise as rigorously as he does. A couple of writers who have written within the genre, but more often write outside of it these days, are John Crowley and Karen Joy Fowler, while a writer who seems to be moving closer to the genre is Michael Chabon; they’re all very different, but they all have a gift for language that I can only dream about having.

PO: You and I were in a book group together for a time. I remember at a few of the gatherings this question was asked: Is this the book that will save science fiction? To be honest, I’m not sure it was a real or genuine question, but I’d love your thoughts on why such a thing would even be asked rhetorically.

TC: That question was prompted by a review of one of the first novels we discussed in the book group, COUNTING HEADS by David Marusek. It was reviewed in the New York Times by Dave Itzkoff, which was noteworthy because the NYT hadn’t reviewed SF with any regularity in years (Gerald Jonas used to have an occasional column reviewing SF, but that ended some time ago). Itzkoff’s review prompted some discussion online, because in it he was pretty critical of contemporary SF; he said, “I cannot [recommend SF novels to friends] in good conscience because if you were to immerse yourself in most of the sci-fi being published these days, you would probably enjoy it as much as one enjoys reading a biology textbook or a stereo manual. And you would very likely come away wondering, as I do from time to time, whether science fiction has strayed so far from the fiction category as a whole that, though the two share common ancestors, they now seem to have as much to do with each other as a whale has to do with a platypus.” (His review is available here:

So, in the book group, we wondered, was SF really in such a bad state, and did it need David Marusek to save it? The general reaction was no, SF was fine, and there were plenty of SF novels that might impress Itzkoff as much as COUNTING HEADS, if only he were to read them. And for a couple of meetings, we would ask, tongue-in-cheek, if the book we had just read was one that would "save science fiction"; that's what you're remembering.

I suppose the underlying question is, is SF's reputation among people who don't regularly read it in need of improvement? Written SF is still rarely reviewed in places like the New York Times, and last year Kim Stanley Robinson complained that the Booker Prize judges never consider SF novels. When the TV series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was rebooted a few years ago, the critics who praised it often said it wasn't science fiction because it dealt with real issues. I personally would prefer it if so many people didn't equate science fiction with fluff, but it's not something I lose sleep over.

PO: Yes, that’s right, it wasn’t that folks necessarily felt science fiction needed saving; but I still find the asking of the question at all very interesting, at least in part because fans of SF are aware of quality fiction that goes unnoticed since the genre is often taken together as the literary equivalent of popcorn. But that’s my take. And it leads me to my next question.

I know that media tie-in work isn’t always first-rate. Franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars have their own set of fans that just want more of those worlds. But I’ve wondered if there’s an opportunity for the genre to use that interest to draw readers into the worlds of other SF writers, or if they’re different enough beasts that they really do belong on different shelves and never the ‘twain should meet. Do you have any thoughts here?

TC: One theory that I’ve heard goes like this: back in the 70s and early 80s, Star Trek fans would often move on to regular SF novels after they’d read all the Star Trek novels, but nowadays, there’s such a steady supply of media tie-in titles that fans are more likely to alternate between various franchises than they are to try a novel set in an original universe. That sounds plausible to me, although I don’t know if there’s any hard data one way or the other. The publishing scene has changed in so many ways since the 80s that it might be impossible to isolate the effect that tie-ins have had on the sales of regular SF.

I haven’t read any media tie-in fiction, but I don’t doubt that there’s good work being done there. My main reservations with media tie-in fiction have to do with the vast disparity in power between the writer and the production companies that owns the movie or TV series. Media tie-in authors generally don’t retain copyright on what they’ve written — any characters or settings they invent become property of the rights holder — and this isn’t good for writers. Even apart from media tie-ins, there’s been a trend toward the corporatization of publishing, which requires treating books as product; because a consistent product is easier to sell, homogeneity in fiction becomes a goal. I think media tie-ins take the “books as product” idea even further by encouraging people to view prose fiction as just one more merchandising opportunity for a franchise.

PO: Let’s move on to your most recent work: The Lifecycle of Software Objects. One of its central explorations deals with artificial intelligence, familiar terrain in science fiction. In light of some of our “definition of science fiction” discussion, I’m interested to have you talk to us about how you approached the implications of this speculative idea. Did you have certain notions you wanted to explore in advance? Did your take on AI evolve through the writing? Etc…

TC: First, it’s worth clarifying what we mean by “artificial intelligence.” When people working in the software industry talk about artificial intelligence, they’re usually referring to stuff like algorithms for scheduling airport traffic more efficiently. No one’s seriously working toward the type of AI you typically see in science fiction: some form of conscious software that you can have a conversation with. However, there is a research avenue that seems promising to me, involving autonomous, embodied agents — i.e. robots — that can sense their environment and learn how to navigate it. I think an approach like that could eventually lead to conscious software, but the AI would have to learn everything the way a human does; you couldn’t just download Wikipedia into its brain.

Realistically speaking, I don’t know if we’ll pursue that research avenue far enough to develop conscious software. But as a thought experiment, I tried to reconcile the type of conversation-capable AI you see in SF with what I see in the actual software industry. And it seemed to me that the most plausible business case for AIs is not selling them as a productivity application, but as a kind of pet. Using a virtual body in a virtual environment will probably be a better option than manufacturing a physical body, because processing power keeps getting cheaper. Having the AIs inhabit a massively-multiplayer online world would offer them a much richer and more social environment, which will prompt more interesting behavior from them. And of course, you have to make the AIs cute and fun if you want people to buy them. So that’s basically the scenario in my novella.

Then I tried to explore some of the consequences of that situation. One of the notable attributes of high tech is that everything becomes obsolete pretty quickly. A lot of people replace their cell phones every eighteen months, which is less time than it takes to raise a guide dog for the blind. If you’re training something that’s as smart as, say, a chimpanzee, and it’s running on a modern technology platform, you are going to face obsolescence issues long before you’re done. And so my novella describes people dealing with those problems.

PO: On the notion of conscious software, I sometime struggle with this idea, but perhaps it’s a semantic issue with me. To say “conscious” would, by definition, mean self-aware, but the word also connotes self-awareness with regards to sensation and feelings¬, at least it does in my dictionary. I can suspend disbelief for a story’s sake, but in the real world, I find it hard to believe software could make the leap beyond simply being aware it existed. Learning to navigate an environment is one thing, but feeling anger or sadness or happiness or pain . . . it seems to me that these represent the challenge (in the real world) of a true manifestation of the kind of AI we see so often in SF. Would love your thoughts.

TC: One way to look at this issue is to ask, are animals conscious? People used to think that animals were little more than automatons, but I absolutely believe that animals experience some form of anger, sadness, happiness, etc. (I also think that the more closely related the animal is to humans, the more closely their experience resembles human experience, so a chimpanzee’s emotions are closer to ours than a mouse’s.) Even after we account for the human tendency toward anthropomorphic projection, I think the simplest explanation for the behavior we see in animals is that they are actually conscious. And if a computer program were able to demonstrate behavior fully as complex as an animal’s, I think the same thing would be true.

One of the counterarguments is that software merely simulates consciousness, and a simulation is not the real thing. An analogy I’ve read is that mistaking a computer simulation of consciousness for actual consciousness is like expecting a computer simulation of a magnet to attract physical iron filings. My response is, suppose I create a physical object that I call a “fake magnet,” but it attracts iron filings just like a real magnet. Suppose it passes every single test you can come up with. What’s the point of calling it a fake magnet then? Now, suppose we have a computer program which behaves like a conscious being in every respect. There’s no behavioral test that it fails. In what sense is it useful to say that it’s not actually conscious? Sure, it might not have a brain made out of jelly like animals do, but dissecting the brains of animals wasn’t the basis for our thinking that animals are conscious, it was their behavior. (Assuming you think animals have some form of consciousness.) Why should our criteria for computers be so much more stringent that the ones we apply to animals?

Currently we aren’t able to create the equivalent of an ant’s consciousness in a computer, so we’re a long ways off from creating the equivalent of mouse or chimpanzee or human consciousness, but I don’t see why it should be impossible in principle. And it might even happen in a sequence like that: first we develop ant-level AI, and we work our way up from there. SF usually skips right to the human-level AI, which I think contributes to AI seeming impossible, but if you imagine it happening over a long series of tiny steps, I think it becomes much more believable.

PO: Should be fun to watch the progression. I’m skeptical, but I blame bad science fiction movies. Let’s shift gears a little. You and I had an interesting conversation years ago over the notion of “semantic contagion.” This followed a rather bizarre story about an individual who responded to an ad that (and I’m paraphrasing) asked someone over for dinner, literally. Meaning, the person who responded to the ad was eaten. We spent some time discussing the notion that some ideas should not enter into the public consciousness, as they would give some individuals ideas that they would act upon and thus cause general harm to society. I wonder, in light of this, how you think about the exploration (or not) of certain topics in fiction. Like, just because you could chose to write from the POV of a rather reprehensible person and attempt to make them sympathetic, should you? I can imagine some behaviors that one might write about that would be rather untenable. For you, are there some things you actively chose not to write about because of this kind of sensibility? Or is it all “fair game,” as they say?

TC: The notion of semantic contagion was proposed by a philosopher named Ian Hacking; I encountered it in an article in The Atlantic called “A New Way to Be Mad,” about the condition known as apotemnophilia, the desire to have a healthy limb amputated. According to the theory of semantic contagion, the idea of elective amputation might never have occurred to people if they hadn’t read about it, so publicizing the existence of this condition actually facilitates its spread. I’ve since read about another theory about apotemnophilia that suggests it has a neurological basis rather than a psychological one, which might mean that semantic contagion is not actually a factor there. But more generally, I think the idea of semantic contagion is still definitely worth thinking about.

In the context of fiction, I do think that we as authors have to consider the moral dimension of what we write. If you think fiction can have a positive effect on how readers conduct their lives, then you have to acknowledge the possibility of a negative effect, too; I don’t see how you can coherently argue for one without the other. This doesn’t mean that there’s a list of things that are flatly impermissible; writers have to decide for themselves where they draw the line. To me, where a writer draws the line is usually less important than the fact that the writer has thought about the issue. There will inevitably be disagreements about where to draw the line, with some people thinking others have gone too far, and that’s okay; however, that’s different than trying to shock people just for the sake of shocking them, which seems pointless to me.

As for my own work, I can’t recall an instance where I’ve refrained from writing about a subject because of the message I might be sending. If the issue were to arise, I doubt it would take the form of a sympathetic depiction of a reprehensible character. It might come up this way: I have an interest in examining the underlying assumptions we make, and trying to identify which ones have real justifications and which are merely matters of personal preference. It’s possible that, while doing so, I might devise a pretty convincing philosophical argument supporting a position I strenuously oppose. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

PO: Let’s shift gears again. One of the things that’s been on my mind a lot recently is the degree to which there is autobiography in fiction. I don’t mean as an explicit effort on the writer’s part. Rather, in hindsight, I find (for myself anyway), some context for the work from my own life. Do you find that true at all in your own fiction? Is there a sense in which you would find your work at all autobiographical?

TC: Not really. Certainly my life experiences inform the fiction I write, but I’ve never had the experience of revisiting stories of mine and saying, “Now I see how that reflects what was going on in my life at the time.” I obviously can’t rule out the possibility of my realizing that in the future, but so far it hasn’t happened.

PO: Fair enough. Let’s return to the science fiction genre, for a moment. You mentioned before books from years ago as part of a dialogue. As you look back over the last, say, twenty years of science fiction, how would you say the genre has changed or evolved?

TC: Probably the biggest change is in the way speculative or fantastic elements are used. Many people have noted that the border between genre fiction and mainstream fiction has been breaking down in recent years. One way that this manifests, I think, is that writers feel free to use speculative or fantastic elements without making the entire story revolve around them. For example, in the past writers might mention a ghost at one point in a novel, even one that wasn’t primarily a ghost story. The idea of ghosts was commonplace enough that suggesting the presence of one didn’t automatically turn a novel into a piece of horror or fantasy fiction. However, in the past writers wouldn’t have included a vampire in a novel; vampires were too weird to include in a novel that wasn’t

PO: I remember thinking the same thing after reading a short story in the New Yorker some time ago. And for the most part, I like the change in approach. Let me ask you, are there any trends in science fiction today that you don’t find particularly healthy for the genre?

TC: It’s by no means a new trend, but in general I think that when commercial considerations override artistic decisions, it’s not particularly healthy for the genre. As I mentioned earlier, publishing is becoming more corporate: publishers are now subsidiaries of multinational corporations who demand consistent profits. There was a time when editors would make long-term investments in authors, continuing to publish them even if their first three or four novels weren’t successful. Nowadays new authors have to produce a successful novel almost immediately, or they’re dropped in favor of a newer author. There are a lot of famous writers who would never had careers under the current system; John Irving published three not-very-successful novels over ten years before he produced THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, and I doubt he would have been able to do that today.

PO: I think you’re right, where large New York publishing houses are concerned. But it makes me think about the rapidly-growing trend of self-publishing, where writers are going direct to readers. Will this change produce the next John Irving, ¬a writer who can improve and succeed, eventually, at publishing great work¬ even if New York isn’t interested? And is self-publishing something you’d consider for your own work? If not (or at least not entirely), what value do you continue to place on more traditional routes?

TC: The next John Irving may already be trying the self-publishing route, and we might simply be unaware of him or her. It’s been said that the new trend of self-publishing e-books has turned everyone into a slush pile reader. There are things like social media and recommendation engines to help sort through the slush, but it’s not clear that they’ll be as effective as a traditional publishing house at helping readers find the authors they’d like.

As for whether I’d consider self-publishing my own work: I can’t rule it out for the future, but right now I’m happy with more traditional publishing. Part of the reason is that short-story writers are in a different situation than novelists. One of the advantages of self-publishing is that the author gets a bigger percentage of any profits; if you’re a novelist, that could be a significant sum. But short stories don’t offer that promise. And the internet has trained people to expect short fiction to be free and readable on a web page without even the need to download an e-book. As a result, self-publishing short fiction often takes the form of putting a story up for free on your website, because readers are reluctant to pay for it.

Even if there develops a model for selling self-published short fiction, I don’t think my temperament is well suited to doing the promotion that self-publishing requires. As long as the option of traditional publishing remains available to me, where someone else takes care of production and promotion and all I have to do is write the stories, I’ll take it.

PO: All right, since I’m a musician, I’m always interested to know how/if music factors into your writing life. Do you listen to music while you write? Does it give you any particular inspiration?

TC: I don’t listen to music while I write; I find it too distracting. It’s difficult for me to even answer e-mail or surf the web when there’s music playing. Pretty much the only things I can do while listening to music are driving or household chores. I used to listen to music more, but that required me to specifically set aside time that wasn’t used for anything else, and I don’t do that much anymore.

PO: Let me ask, do you have a favorite band and genre of music? Who are you listening to these days, if anyone? And a part two of this question: What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?

TC: I don’t know that I have a favorite band, but the artist who appears most often in my music collection is Michael Nyman, a minimalist composer whose work I sought out after hearing his scores for the films of Peter Greenaway. (He’s probably best known for doing the score for Jane Campion’s THE PIANO.) I haven’t been to a lot of concerts, but the best one was probably a Cyndi Lauper concert back in the late 80s; I still think her album SHE’S SO UNUSUAL is awesome.

PO: Lastly, give us a peek into the future writing life of Ted Chiang. Anything you’re working on you can give us a preview of? Anything we should be watching for from you in the next year or so?

TC: Alas, I don’t have anything in the publication pipeline at the moment. I’m working on a new story, but I can’t talk about it yet.

PO: Thank, Ted. I really appreciate your time. And folks, if you haven’t read any of Ted Chiang’s work, I envy you, because you get to experience it for the first time. And the discovery of such elegant work is rare. You’ll do few things for yourself as rewarding as picking up one of Ted’s books. Really. Do it. You’ll thank me.

To learn more about Ted Chiang, visit his Wiki page HERE. To learn more about Peter Orullian, visit his website at www.orullian.com!

The season is based on A Clash of Kings, the second book in George R. R. Martin’s mega-hit series, A Song of Ice & Fire.

I love that the Spider is doing the voice over on this trailer and it features all the major players that are all starting to vie for the throne. Guess I’d better get out my copy of A Clash of Kings and give it a read before Season 2 of the HBO show premieres April 1st!

First, they optioned Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Then they optioned Otherland by Tad Williams. And now they have optioned the Landover series that begins with Magic Kingdom For Sale—Sold! by Terry Brooks!

Below is a statement from Terry Brooks along with a press release from producer Andy Cohen:

Dear Readers,

I may have alluded to a pending movie deal some two or three months back. That deal has now been consummated, and the announcement of the details to date is set out below. Remember, this is just an option, and if the option isn’t picked up the movie doesn’t happen. That said, we have interest from a major actor, a screen writer who is working on a draft of the adaptation, and reason to believe after talking to the principals that this time we have more than words to suggest something might really happen. More, when we have more.

For now, here is the announcement:

MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE – SOLD! To Warners and Weed Road

Warner Brothers has optioned Terry Brooks’ best-selling MAGIC KINGDOM OF LANDOVER series of books for Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road Pictures and Andy Cohen’s Grade A Entertainment. Goldsman and Cohen will produce with Weed Road’s Kerry Foster and Alex Block overseeing for Weed Road. Warner Brothers’ Matt Cherniss brought the book series into the studio and will run point. Brooks was represented by Anne Sibbald of Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

The film will be based on the first book in the series, MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE – SOLD!, which was first published in 1986 by Del Rey Books, a division of Random House. The most recent book in the six book, ongoing series is A PRINCESS OF LANDOVER which came out in 2009. Other titles in the series are: THE BLACK UNICORN, WIZARD AT LARGE, THE TANGLE BOX, and WITCHES BREW.

Brooks is a prolific author best known for the LANDOVER series and the SHANNARA series of fantasy books, which began with THE SWORD OF SHANNARA. There are currently 19 books in the SHANNARA series with the next book due out later this year.

Weed Road is in preproduction on A WINTER’S TALE written and to be directed by Goldsman. Recent credits include PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and FAIR GAME.

Cohen last produced UNTRACEABLE starring Diane Lane. He’s currently working on the stage show, HEATHERS – THE MUSICAL and the indie film, IN SIGHT.

More when I know it. Be good to one another in the meantime,

This is great news for Terry Brooks fans and genre readers as a whole. I have always thought the story of Ben Holiday would translate well to the silver screen with the right person directing and the right actor in place. I can tell you the actor who is attached to the project would be perfect for the role. I just hope he gets a chance to enter the magical world of Landover and set it—and all of the failed fantasy projects Hollywood has tried in recent years—right!

For those of you who have not read Magic Kingdom For Sale—Sold! by Terry Brooks, HERE is a bit more about it. And for those of you wanting to read the opening chapter of the book, click HERE!

My question this Friday to all of you is a poll: Do you think The Hobbit will stimulate Hollywood into producing more fantasy adaptations? I’m not sure of the answer yet. But perhaps we are already seeing it with the rights purchases of Priest, Williams, and Brooks’s work?

More when we know it!