(date: 2024-09-01 11:20:26)
date: 2024-09-01, from: Locus Magazine
A Tempest of Tea, Hafsah Faizal (Farrar Straus Giroux 978-0-374-38940-6, hc, 336 pp) February 2024. Cover by Valentina Remenar.
Hafsah Faizal has written a banger of a caper novel with A Tempest of Tea. Her tale of thieves, forgery, and political malfeasance set in the town of White Roaring takes readers on a ride with twists and turns they can never expect. Reminiscent of 19th-century London, White Roaring …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/09/colleen-mondor-reviews-a-tempest-of-tea-by-hafsah-faizal/
date: 2024-09-01, from: IF Competition Blog
2024 IFComp Logo, by Lauren Davies
We’re glad you’re here. If this is your first time joining us, welcome! If you’re already familiar with us, welcome back! Either way, we hope you have a great time and enjoy exploring some of the over seventy new games we have for you this year.
What’s next?
We would love to expand the number of judges! You can help!
Talk about the competition on social media, and encourage others to check out all these new games. Consider playing with a friend or family member who is new to interactive fiction, talk about the games together, and encourage them to vote as well. Thanks!
We will do a post-competition survey to capture your ideas for improving the competition in the future, so if you have thoughts about improvements, please watch for the survey in October.
Email us at ifcomp@ifcomp.org if you have any questions.
Thank you in advance for judging!
—Jacqueline Ashwell, September 2024
https://blog.ifcomp.org/post/760428725197242368
date: 2024-09-01, from: Locus Magazine
The September 2024 issue of Locus magazine has interviews with Catherynne M. Valente and Justin C. Key and a spotlight on artist Micaela Alcaino. The issue lists US and UK forthcoming books through June 2025. News covers 2024 Hugo Awards winners, the World Fantasy Awards ballot, Dragon Awards finalists, SFWA resignations, SF&F Hall of Fame inductees Okorafor and Griffith, MacInnes’s Clarke win, additional Gaiman allegations, the Galaxy magazine revival, and …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/09/issue-764-table-of-contents-september-2024/
date: 2024-08-31, from: Locus Magazine
To Turn the Tide, S. M. Stirling (Baen 978-1982193539, hardcover, 464pp, $28.00) August 2024
Time travel novels—recently, a trendy favorite of non-genre slipstream authors—have reached a state of incredible complexity. Multiverses, paradoxes, change wars, closed loops, and doppelgangers proliferate. This is all very entertaining, but sometimes it’s nice to read a simple, straightforward “person visits past, gets stuck, makes do” kind of book. A chrono-Robinsonade. That’s exactly what S. …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/paul-di-filippo-reviews-to-turn-the-tide-by-s-m-stirling/
date: 2024-08-31, from: Locus Magazine
The Jaguar Mask, Michael J. DeLuca (Stelliform 978-1-77809-260-2, 348pp, $19.00, tp) August 2024. Cover by Julia Louise Pereira.
I was quite charmed by Michael J. DeLuca’s novella Night Roll, a solarpunk-adjacent fantasy set in Detroit. In his debut novel, The Jaguar Mask, DeLuca takes up a different kind of magic, but a similar kind of realism: a story of individuals and communities resisting oppression, on wounded but still …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/jake-casella-brookins-reviews-the-jaguar-mask-by-michael-j-deluca/
date: 2024-08-30, from: Interesting, a blog on writing
What they see may not be what you intended.
https://inneresting.substack.com/p/215-not-connecting
date: 2024-08-30, from: Locus Magazine
Bourbon Penn
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/magazines-received-august-3/
date: 2024-08-30, from: Final Draft blog
“I think that Sunny [the robot], as a character, is kind of emblematic of this conundrum we have with A.I. In one scene she is cute and warm and is serving Suzie’s [Rashida Jones] emotional needs and is brimming with potential. And that’s really enticing. And then in the next scene, she is diabolical, and is going to like, cut a bitch! That is A.I. There are so many great things it can do, and there’s so many terrible scary things that it can do. At the end of the day, it’s up to us as society to figure out how we’re going to use it,” says Katie Robbins, showrunner and creator of the AppleTV+ show Sunny.
In this episode of the Final Draft’s Write On Podcast, we talk with Katie Robbins about delving into artificial intelligence, Japanese culture and making a robot appealing (and frightening) to audiences in her show Sunny. Based on the book, The Dark Manual, by Irish writer Colin O’Sullivan, Robbins says she made changes to the story to allow for exploring isolation and the importance of female friendships.
“I was excited about the idea of giving [Suzie] a couple of female friends. So one is in the body of a robot and then the other is this aspiring mixologist who she meets in the pilot, Mixxy [Annie the Clumsy]… and telling the story of a friendship like love triangle. Mixxy is a little jealous of Sunny’s relationship with Suzie and Sunny is really jealous of Mixxy’s relationship with Suzie. The film The Favourite was a big influence for a lot of their relationship dynamics. And it was really fun exploring what that is if one of the friends is an A.I.” she says.
To hear more about the show Sunny that’s currently streaming on AppleTV+, and hear Robbins’s advice on writing TV pilots, listen to the podcast.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/write-on-creator-showrunner-katie-robbins-sunny
date: 2024-08-30, from: John August blog
Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a new curated collection of screenplays each week. This week, we look at movies that use the confines of a single day to their advantage, keeping characters constantly pushing against time and towards their goals. Our collection includes: All is Lost by J.C. Chandor […] The post Featured Friday: 24 Hours or Less first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/featured-friday-24-hours-or-less
date: 2024-08-30, from: Final Draft blog
In recent years the pitch deck has become a frequently used sales tool within the film and television industry. A pitch deck is similar to a PowerPoint presentation: combining both text and visual elements to market a screenplay, a proposed film or television series, or even your approach to a possible writing or directing job.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/creating-a-colorful-and-exciting-pitch-deck
date: 2024-08-30, from: Locus Magazine
Blackheart Man, Nalo Hopkinson (Saga 978-1-6680-0510-1, $28.99, 384pp, hc) August 2024.
Those who have been following Nalo Hopkinson’s fascinating (and Grand Master-winning) career have long been aware that a major novel titled Blackheart Man has been in the works for some time. In a Locus interview a couple of months ago, Hopkinson said she’d been working on it for more than fifteen years, and she even mentioned the book …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/gary-k-wolfe-reviews-blackheart-man-by-nalo-hopkinson/
date: 2024-08-29, from: Final Draft blog
Dave and John Chernin are a writer-director team best known for creating the show The Mick starring Kaitlin Olson which ran for two seasons. The duo cut their comedy teeth while writing for the show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia that’s going into its 17th season. Now, the Chernin brothers have a boundary-pushing R-rated high school comedy film called Incoming that’s set to stream on Netflix on August 23. I chatted with the siblings to get their take on the state of the once hugely popular R-rated comedies and what they learned while working on It’s Always Sunny. Their takeaways may surprise you.
date: 2024-08-29, from: Locus Magazine
The Last Hour Between Worlds, Melissa Caruso (Orbit 978-0-31630-347-7, $19.99, 432pp, tp) November 2024.
If I tell you that I love The Last Hour Between Worlds to pieces, that I read it when I was miserably sick and it took me entirely out of myself from the first page to the last, that’s probably not quite enough information to constitute a proper review. Melissa Caruso’s latest novel, her first …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/liz-bourke-reviews-the-last-hour-between-worlds-by-melissa-caruso/
date: 2024-08-28, from: Locus Magazine
The Locus Selected Books by Author list has been updated on our Forthcoming Books page, with information from the September 2024 issue covering upcoming titles from genre houses slated through June 2025. Find out about your favorite authors’ upcoming books!
For the complete list of books by publisher, subscribe to our print magazine or purchase the September issue in print or digital editions, available September 1, 2024.
While you are …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/forthcoming-books-through-june-2025/
date: 2024-08-28, from: Interesting, a blog on writing
Or any films for a focused specialty audience.
https://inneresting.substack.com/p/making-christian-movies
date: 2024-08-28, from: Locus Magazine
Kirkus has announced finalists for their 2024 prizes. Authors and titles of genre interest follow.
Fiction
Young Adult
Other categories include Nonfiction, Picture Book, and Middle-Grade. “Each award comes with a $50,000 cash prize. Books become eligible
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/2024-kirkus-prize-finalists/
date: 2024-08-28, from: Locus Magazine
Toward Eternity, Anton Hur (HarperVia 978-0-06334-448-8, 256pp, $26.99, hc) July 2024. Cover by Stephen Brayda.
Initially set in a near-future Cape Town, South Africa, and eventually taking us to ever more distant times and locales, Anton Hur’s debut novel Toward Eternity begins with scientist Mali Beeko confronting the mysterious disappearance and reapparance of “Patient One.” Mali specializes in a nanotechnology treatment that cures cancer by replacing the host’s cells with …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/jake-casella-brookins-reviews-toward-eternity-by-anton-hur/
date: 2024-08-28, from: Literature & a Latte blog
<p>If you look at fiction on a continuum, pulp fiction (a term no longer used) is at one end and literary fiction is at the other. Pulp fiction, named for the cheap magazines it was published in during the early and mid–20th century, was often hastily written and offered readers a quick thrill. However, many well-known writers came from the pulps: Dashiell Hammett, Robert Heinlein, and Zane Grey were all pulp writers who have come to be respected for their work.</p>One could even consider classic authors such as Charles Dickens or Alexandre Dumas to be pulp writers. Their writings were published in serial form, weekly or monthly, and sold in cheap publications that allowed everyday people to follow their stories. Some were even serialized in newspapers, such as Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. While these authors, and many others who published in serial form, are considered to be among the greats, the majority of serial authors are forgotten. These older authors, whose books have stood the test of time, are considered to be classic authors, and their works are today often called literary fiction.
What is literary fiction?
Literary fiction exists in opposition to commercial fiction or genre fiction. It suggests books that are better written, with deeper themes and more developed characters, and often less dependent on plot. This term was developed near the end of the 19th century as a way of distinguishing artistic fiction from serial fiction. It stood apart from genre fiction, which was considered to be for “the people,” and created an elite group of writers who belonged to academies, whose work was analyzed by critics and professors, and who were awarded prizes for their work.
Literary fiction is a broad church and can include many works that were published in serial form, such as works by Charles Dickens and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, as well as more demanding fiction by authors like James Joyce, Franz Kafka, William Faulkner, and Marcel Proust. Today, it is often used to separate authors from genre fiction, which, to some, can seem reductive.
Authors of literary fiction can write in genres, as Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishiguro have done with their speculative fiction, or John Banville with his series of mysteries written under the name Benjamin Black, or William Boyd, who has written James Bond novels. Some genre authors are considered to be literary authors, often after their deaths: Raymond Chandler and Isaac Asimov are often cited in that respect. More recently, Stephen King received the Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2003, from the National Book Awards, highlighting that, even as a genre author, his writing is of a quality that transcends much genre fiction.
What is upmarket fiction?
Upmarket fiction tries to straddle the gap between commercial fiction and literary fiction. Upmarket fiction may have plot structures similar to commercial or genre fiction, but focuses more on carefully crafted writing style rather than fast pacing or plot-driver stories. It can have deeper characters and themes and may feature techniques such as multiple points of view or multiple timelines. Upmarket fiction is a term generally used in the publishing trade, and not often by readers. It is a way of saying that a novel is well-written but has broad appeal.
Literary fiction used to be the space where authors would focus on character development, examine the human condition, analyze social and political issues, and experiment with language. But these are elements of many genres these days. Crime fiction often deals with social issues, science fiction delves into politics, and many genres feature more experimentation with language in recent decades than in the past. Upmarket fiction can be genre fiction that goes beyond the tropes of the genre to touch on issues previously the province of literary fiction.
What is book club fiction?
Book club fiction is a recent concept, which began early in this century, to describe high-quality, thought-provoking fiction. These are not book clubs that send readers books each month, like the Book of the Month Club in the United States, but rather a type of fiction that can be discussed in a book club setting. Book club fiction is generally upmarket fiction, and is often marketed specifically to book clubs, small gatherings of people who read and discuss books. Many such books contain questions at the back of the books that can be used to stimulate discussion in book clubs.
This concept has also grown as celebrities have created their own book clubs. People such as Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and The Today Show’s Jenna Bush Hager select books, discuss them, and often provide interviews with authors. These book clubs are extremely influential in the publishing industry, often driving sales and helping to launch the careers of new authors, or creating huge best-sellers for books by established authors. Reese Witherspoon “picks books she loves with a woman at the center of the story,” and model Kaia Gerber’s book club chooses “books that aren’t on the typical bestseller lists in order to better highlight new voices, writers to watch, overlooked, or underrepresented stories.”
Interestingly, almost all these celebrity book clubs are run by women. One notable exception is former president Barack Obama, who, while not calling it a book club, releases a list of his favorite reads each summer. His choices cover a wide range of books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Readers may be aware of the term literary fiction; most retailers use this term, and it’s where non-genre fiction books are generally shelved in bookstores. But writers need to be aware of the differences between these three types of books, so when they query agents, they can situate their novels in the appropriate category.
<p>Kirk McElhearn is a <a href="https://kirkville.com" target="_blank">writer</a>, <a href="https://kirkville.com/podcasts/" target="_blank">podcaster</a>, and <a href="https://kirkville.com/kirks-photos-2/" target="_blank">photographer</a>. He is the author of <a href="https://www.literatureandlatte.com/store" target="_blank">Take Control of Scrivener</a>, and host of the podcast <a href="https://podcast.scrivenerapp.com" target="_blank">Write Now with Scrivener</a>.</p>
date: 2024-08-27, from: Locus Magazine
Niv: Let’s lay some groundwork, some worldbuilding, if we can borrow the term—we’ve been friends for over twenty years. I have a distinct memory of you at a party with a glittery spell book trying to convince me to help you cast a spell, much to my mother’s horror. We grew up together in overlap: neighborhood, high school, Indian parties. And yet we haven’t lived in the same state since …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/roshani-chokshi-and-niv-sekar-guest-post/
date: 2024-08-27, from: Locus Magazine
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/hearne-launches-horned-lark-press/
date: 2024-08-27, from: Final Draft blog
One of the most baffling questions for aspiring or newcomer screenwriters is the following: What are the differences between an agent and a manager?
https://blog.finaldraft.com/the-differences-between-an-agent-and-a-manager
date: 2024-08-27, from: John August blog
John welcomes journalist/screenwriter Max Read to look at the emerging sub-genre “halogencore” – stories of corporate malfeasance that are less about uncovering corruption as they are about characters learning to ignore it. They look at the evolution of the sub-genre, how these movies function, and why it’s important to define genres at all. We also […] The post Halogencore first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/halogencore
date: 2024-08-27, from: Locus Magazine
Momma Durtt, Michael Shea (Hippocampus Press 978-1-61498-417-7, 310pp. $20.00, tp) July 2024. Cover by Tom Brown.
Michael Shea (1946 – 2014) is usually noted for his World Fantasy Award-winning fantasy novel Nifft the Lean, but he is almost as well-known among horror lovers for his Lovecraftian fiction. Among a multitude of short work in this latter category is a 2012 novelette: ‘‘Momma Durtt’’. It is a good allegorical …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/paula-guran-reviews-momma-durtt-by-michael-shea/
date: 2024-08-27, from: Locus Magazine
Abtahi, Olivia: Twin Flames (Lee & Low/Tu Books 9781643790435, $24.95, 368pp, formats: hardcover, audio, 08/27/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel about teenaged Argentinian Iranian twin girls living in a small town, each one very different the other. On their eighteenth birthday a neighbor’s barn mysteriously burns down, and when one of the twins discovers a djinn arising from the fire she suddenly gains strange powers and can no longer touch iron.
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/new-books-27-august-2024/
date: 2024-08-27, from: Author’s Union blog
Authors Alliance and SPARC are excited to announce a new collaboration to address critical legal issues surrounding open access to scholarly publications. One of our goals with this project is to clarify legal pathways to open access in support of federal agencies working to comply with the Memorandum on “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access […]
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is holding a special election to fill the positions of president and secretary.
The election follows the resignation of president Jeffe Kennedy and vice-president Chelsea Mueller, among others. Secretary Anthony W. Eichenlaub is currently interim president.
Voting begins October 9, 2024. Those elected will fill out the current term (until June 30, 2025).
For more information, see the SFWA site.
While you …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/sfwa-calls-special-election/
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
The European Science Fiction Society (ESFS) announced the Hall of Fame Awards, Achievement Awards, and winners of the Chrysalis Awards for emerging talent.
Hall of Fame Awards
Best Author
Best Artist
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/2024-esfs-awards-winners/
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
The shortlist for the 2024 Prix Utopiales (honoring the best SF published in France) has been announced.
The winner will selected by jury, and announced at Les Utopiales International Science Fiction Festival, to be held October
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/2024-prix-utopiales-finalists/
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
Seattle Worldcon 2025 has announced a Special Hugo Award for Best Poem to be part of the Hugo ballot in 2025.
The award is open to “your favorite poem within the speculative, science fiction, and fantasy genres, published in 2024, that is at least three lines.”
Additionally, Seattle Worldcon 2025 has announced a Community Fund, seeded with $30,000 from DisCon III. The fund will have “four focus areas: Pacific Northwest …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/seattle-worldcon-2025-updates/
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
The winners for the 2024 Prix Rosny Aîné have been announced. The prize is awarded to SF novels and short stories written in French and published in print in 2023.
Best Novel
Best Short
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/2024-prix-rosny-aine-winners/
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
Two debuts this week. Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Born of Blood and Ash (Blue Box Press), fourth in her Flesh and Fire series, debuts in the top five on three lists. And Ava Reid’s Lady Macbeth (Del Rey), a retelling of Shakespeare with occult elements, debuts on all four print lists compiled here, ranking from #7 to #30.
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT 09.01 LAT 08.25 USAT 08.18 …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/weekly-bestsellers-26-august-2024/
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
A new online SF journal, The Sengkang Sci-Fi Quarterly, launched in August. Editor-in-chief Zubin Jain tells us,
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/sengkang-sci-fi-quarterly-launch/
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
The Melancholy of Untold History, Minsoo Kang (William Morrow 978-0-06333-750-3, $28.00, 240pp, hc) July 2024.
Early in Minsoo Kang’s remarkable first novel The Melancholy of Untold History, a character known only as the historian makes an interesting observation about how civilizations tell their own stories. First, he says, come ‘‘tales of gods, monsters, and heroes,’’ followed by historical narratives of ’’important personages of the past who achieved great things …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/gary-k-wolfe-reviews-the-melancholy-of-untold-history-by-minsoo-kang/
date: 2024-08-26, from: Locus Magazine
CHRIS MCGRATH was born in the Bronx and has lived in and around NYC his whole life. At an early age he became interested in art, especially science fiction and fantasy. After graduating from The School of Visual Arts in NYC, Chris gave guitar lessons for several years before beginning his career in 2001. Since then he has done covers for #1 New York Times best selling authors such as: …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/08/spotlight-on-chris-mcgrath/
date: 2024-08-25, from: Locus Magazine
The Redemption of Morgan Bright, Chris Panatier (Angry Robot 978-1-9152-028-95, $18.99, 416pp, pb) April 2024. Cover by Sarah O’Flaherty.
Chris Panatier’s The Redemption of Morgan Bright is a great psychological thriller full of mystery that slowly morphs into a full-blown horror novel. At once the story of a sister looking for answers, a narrative about a crumbling psyche, and a tale that gets progressively more mysterious with each new revelation, …Read More
date: 2024-08-25, from: Locus Magazine
Aman J. Bedi, Kavithri (Gollancz 5/24) This enchanting debut South Asian steampunk/fantasy novel, first in the Ghosts of Ethuran series, is inspired by the landscapes and society of colonial and post-colonial India, and follows a young outcast woman who dreams of attending a magical academy and gaining enough power to raise improve the lives and status of her people.
Tobias S. Buckell & Dave Klecha, …Read More