(date: 2024-12-29 07:06:08)
date: 2024-12-28, from: Locus Magazine
We Are All Ghosts in the Forest, Lorraine Wilson (Solaris 978-1-83786-144-6, 400pp, £18.99, hc). November 2024. Cover by Jo Walker.
The image that I think will stay with me longest from Lorraine Wilson’s resonant new novel, We Are All Ghosts in the Forest, comes a little over halfway through the book. The novel’s protagonist, Katerina, has completed a trade in a village on the shore of Lake Peipus, …Read More
date: 2024-12-28, from: Locus Magazine
The 28th ICon was held October 20-22, 20-24 in Tel Aviv, Israel, and included almost 350 panels, lectures, workshops, games, and roleplaying. Some 11,000 tickets were sold to the different events. In each of the three days, at a certain point, entrance to the venue had to be restricted to those who had tickets, because the 1,800 people limit on premises, set for health and safety reasons, was reached.
The …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/icon-tel-aviv-2024/
date: 2024-12-27, from: Locus Magazine
It’s the end of 2024 and we’ve got one last video for you, so come on by our YouTube channel to discover the hottest new SF, Fantasy, Horror, and YA releases to add to your growing TBR pile! Support what we do and stay up-to-date on our videos by subscribing to the channel, we upload every week and you don’t wanna miss out on your next favorite book!
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/new-books-youtube-video-is-up/
date: 2024-12-27, from: Final Draft blog
“As someone who’s been obsessed with vampires since I was a little
kid, I don’t totally know [why we love vampire movies so much].
Obviously, sex and death are always interesting and in vampire stories,
including the very earliest accounts of folk vampirism in Eastern
Europe, that connection has always been there. Some of these early
folkloric vampires didn’t drink blood but fornicated with their widows
until they died. And then, being undead, rising from the grave, you know
Dracula and Jesus have had the most movies made about them of any
popular characters in Western cultures, so there must be something to
that as well,” says Robert Eggers, writer/director of
Nosferatu, starring Lily Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult and Bill
Skarsgård.
In this episode, Eggers talks about the
play-version of Nosferatu that he wrote and directed when he was in high
school, writing the Ellen character (Depp) as a woman at war with
herself, and making Orlok (Skarsgård) the villain without making him too
arch or campy.
“[Orlok] has a sense of humor and he has a
sense of poetry. He’s a well-learned man so that’s enjoyable. It’s fun
to write dialogue for someone who had their heyday in the 16th century
and English was like their 17th language, that’s fun,” says Eggers.
We also asked Eggers about telling an old story but making it
relevant to today. He says that while he doesn’t worry about making a
film with a specific message, “I don’t live in a vacuum. So even if I’m
not trying to write a film with a message, whatever is happening around
me is coming out. Also, it’s interesting that the movie didn’t get made
until when it did. The original Nosferatu came out a couple of
years after the Spanish flu. This is coming out a couple of years after
the pandemic. And I wrote all that stuff before the pandemic. In fact,
they had face coverings originally, and I took them away because it felt
too much on the nose. So, I think it’s all there for the taking,” he
says.
To hear more about the power of vampires and Egger’s
writing process, listen to the podcast.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/write-on-nosferatu-writer-director-robert-eggers
date: 2024-12-27, 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 say goodbye to 2024 with some favorite features that perfectly capture those last few days of the year. You survived ’til ’25 — congratulations! Our collection includes: Fruitvale Station by Ryan Coogler Phantom […] The post Featured Friday: New Year’s Eve first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/featured-friday-new-years-eve
date: 2024-12-27, from: Locus Magazine
Sargassa, Sophie Burnham (DAW 978-0-7564-1936-3, $28.00, 416pp, hc) October 2024.
Sophie Burnham’s Sargassa is another first novel, and another novel that flits with playful seriousness between the trappings of fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history, using all three to question and upend the reader’s assumptions about the world of the novel (and perhaps the world at large) and how it works. Sargassa takes the aura of Rome – perennial …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/sargassa-by-sophie-burnham-review-by-liz-bourke/
date: 2024-12-26, from: Final Draft blog
Disclaimer warns audiences at the beginning to be wary of
narratives and forms that distract from hidden truths. Written and
directed by auteur Alfonso Cuarón, this AppleTV+ miniseries weaves
together storylines to uncover the truth about what happened years ago
between a young Catherine Ravenscroft (Leila George) and Jonathan
Brigstocke (Louis Partridge), the deceased son of a grieving
widow.
After the adult Catherine (Cate Blanchett) receives a copy
of an independently published novel with the disclaimer: “Any
resemblance to persons living or dead is not a coincidence,” the mystery
begins to unravel before the audience.
With a heavy focus on form
and structure, Disclaimer offers valuable lessons for
screenwriters looking to hook audiences with a shocking mystery.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/how-disclaimer-redefines-narration-and-structure
date: 2024-12-26, from: Locus Magazine
The Presidential Papers, John Kessel (PM Press 979-8-88744-058-3 , $16.00, 160pp, tp), October 2024.
PM Press’s series of “Outspoken Author” collections, reaching its 30th volume with John Kessel’s The Presidential Papers, has long provided useful short overviews of the fiction and nonfiction of some of our field’s most distinguished writers (always accompanied by insouciant but revealing interviews by the late series editor Terry Bisson). While some authors have …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/the-presidential-papers-by-john-kessel-review-by-gary-k-wolfe/
date: 2024-12-25, from: Locus Magazine
Aliette de Bodard, In the Shadow of the Ship (Subterranean 9/24) This far-future SF mystery novella is the latest installment in the author’s popular and ambitious Xuya universe. Khuyĕn, now a magistrate, returns to the sentient ship Nightjar and the family she hasn’t seen since fleeing as a teen to attend her grandmother’s funeral… but a disappearance forces her to face the past. “A sharp-edged and glittering science-fictional gem.” …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/new-notable-5/
date: 2024-12-25, from: Locus Magazine
The Bog Wife, Kay Chronister (Counterpoint 978-1-64009-662-2, $28.00, 336pp, hc) October 2024. Cover by Nicole Caputo.
Like all conscientious and well-meaning readers, I strive to bring an open mind unsullied by prejudice and bias to any fiction work. However, based solely on the title and cover of Kay Chronister’s new novel, The Bog Wife, I assumed it was a revisionist fairytale based on Celtic mythology that takes place …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/the-bog-wife-by-kay-chronister-review-by-ian-mond/
date: 2024-12-25, from: Literature & a Latte blog
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/why-you-should-do-a-year-end-writing-retrospective
date: 2024-12-25, from: Locus Magazine
Lackey, Mercedes: Miss Amelia’s List (Astra House/DAW 9780756419097, $28, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 12/24/2024)
Fantasy novel, 17th in the Elemental Master series. In 1815 Miss Amelia Stonehold, goes to the Devon town of Axminster, looking to buy and staff a property, and possibly find a husband. But the Honorable Captain Harold Roughtower has his eyes fixed on her fortune and his plans for her wealth include the hidden Roman temple …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/new-books-24-december-2024/
date: 2024-12-24, from: Locus Magazine
The Sapling Cage, Margaret Killjoy (The Feminist Press 978-1-55861-331-7, $17.95, 336pp, tp) September 2024.
The trope of gender-based magic is an old one in fantasy fiction. It never fails to annoy me, and not just because I’m genderqueer. Besides the whole gender essentialism thing, I just find it to be lazy and uninspired. At this point, the only time I’ll read a ’’girls do this magic and boys do …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/the-sapling-cage-by-margaret-killjoy-review-by-alex-brown/
date: 2024-12-24, from: John August blog
Live from the Austin Film Festival, John joins panelists Jordan Mechner (Prince of Persia) and Erica Harrell & Desirée Proctor (The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners) for an in-depth discussion on working across movies, tv, comics, plays, videogames and VR. Moderated by Evan Narcisse (Rise of the Black Panther), they discuss what led them to […] The post Writing Across Mediums first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/writing-across-mediums
date: 2024-12-24, from: Locus Magazine
On the Calculation of Volume I, Solvej Balle (New Directions 978-0-81123-725-3, 160pp, $15.95, tp) November 2024.
In Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume I, translated from the Danish by Barbara Haveland, rare book dealer Tara Selter has found herself trapped in a time loop on the 18th of November; the first entry in Balle’s septology begins with November 18 #121. For reasons unknown, time for her has “fallen …Read More
date: 2024-12-24, from: Locus Magazine
The Board of Directors of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has released a statement on the freedom of expression for writers residing in conflict areas and poor living conditions:
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in education, SFWA is restricted from political campaign intervention in particular forms. At the same time, our mission is to inform, support, promote, defend, and advocate for writers of science fiction, fantasy, and related …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/sfwa-statement-writers-in-crisis/
date: 2024-12-23, from: Locus Magazine
Brandon Sanderson’s Wind and Truth drops a notch or two on the four print lists compiled here, but remains solidly in the top 10 on all of them.
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT 12.29 LAT 12.22 USAT 12.15 PW 12.23 Amz (12.23) UK: Amz UK (12.23) Canada: Amz.ca (12.23)
Items on list -x- number of lists surveyed
10×3 10×2 150 15×3 100 100 100
Hardcovers
Aster, Skyshade …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/weekly-bestsellers-23-december-2024/
date: 2024-12-23, from: Author’s Union blog
The case Sedlik v. Drachenberg, currently pending before the 9th Circuit, presents the 9th Circuit a first opportunity to interpret the fair use right in the wake of the Warhol decision. Anticipating the far-reaching consequences for artists and authors, Authors Alliance filed an amicus brief in support of KVD. In our brief, we explained that (1) a distinct purpose is required for the first factor to tilt in favor of fair use, (2) a successful social media presence does not automatically render all postings “commercial,” and (3) concrete evidence is needed to prove the existence of a licensing market or the likelihood of it developing.
date: 2024-12-23, from: Locus Magazine
DAPHNE TONGE is the founder and CEO of Illumicrate, the UK’s first specialist book subscription box. She is also the founder and MD of Daphne Press, a science fiction and fantasy publisher. She’s judged for book prizes and is an event chair. Previously, she was an award-winning book blogger. She lives in London, but is Chinese-Filipino born and was raised in Manila.
Tell us about your book subscription box service, …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/spotlight-on-illumicrate-starbright/
date: 2024-12-23, from: Locus Magazine
New Year, New You, Chris Campbell, ed. (Immortal Jellyfish Press 979-8-99077-550-3, 312pp, $25.00, tp). Cover by Melinda Smith. October 2024.
In my experience, it’s often the case that once you hear a good idea, you think “Of course! Why has no one done that before?” In that spirit: the “new year, new you!” slogan seems a perfect theme for a speculative fiction anthology – now that Chris Campbell has …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/new-year-new-you-edited-by-chris-campbell-review-by-alexandra-pierce/
date: 2024-12-22, from: Locus Magazine
A Simple Intervention, Yael Inokai (Peirene 978-1-90867-087-8, 187pp, £12.99, pb). October 2024. Cover by Tessa Mackenzie.
There are different ways of writing medical SF. One, as in the case of Rajaniemi above, or Greg Egan occasionally, is to crank up the verisimilitude and extrapolate specific diseases or treatments in the best net-up hard-SF fashion; another is to lean into medicine as a system rather than a science and build …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/12/a-simple-intervention-by-yael-inokai-review-by-niall-harrison/