Nuketown

Book & Print News

Open Call for Stories in the Ether, Volume 1

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 10:00am

Love writing science fiction, fantasy and steampunk short stories? Then check out Nevermet Press' open call for submissions for their upcoming anthology, Stories in the Ether, Volume 1. According to the official announcement, "Stories In The Ether will be published individually through Nevermet Press as a blog series, and later as a collected print, PDF, ePub and audio anthology for fans to enjoy offline or through other means."

They are looking for short stories (25,000 words or less) and flash fiction (3,000 words or less). Further details and submission guidelines can be found on their web site.

When Baseball Meets Lord of the Rings

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 9:09pm

This may be one of the best newspaper corrections I've ever seen, courtesy the MetsBlog. Apparently, the RA Dickey named his bat "Orcist the Goblin Cleaver", but mis-attributed it to belonging to Bilbo Baggins. It actually belonged to Thorin Oakenshield. It's not often that baseball and speculative fiction combine -- the last time I can remember it happening was the movie Frequency, a time-bending film set against the backdrop of the 1969 World Series (again involving the Mets).

SF Site: May 2011 Review List

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Sun, 05/01/2011 - 5:39pm

SF Site's May 2011 reviews are now online. They include Terror in the House by Henry Kuttner, Albedo One, Issue 39, Shadowheart by James Barclay, The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds, Christine (audio book) by Stephen King and The River Kings' Road (audio book) by Liane Merciel.

Of these, the one I'm most interested in is The Prefect; I've enjoyed most of Reynolds books, and I an SF-meets-hardboiled noir book sounds really good right now (though I suppose my friends will demand I read Altered Carbon first...

SF Site: January 2011 Book Reviews

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 8:57am

The January 2011 edition of SF Site is out with reviews of The Secret History of Fantasy edited by Peter S. Beagle, The Unlikely World of Faraway Frankie by Keith Brooke, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2010, Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold, Echo by Jack McDevitt, The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton, and much more. Read all of the reviews at SFSite.com

They've also opened voting for the SF Site Readers' Choice awards for 2010.

Kobold Quarterly #16 Now Available

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Tue, 01/11/2011 - 9:19am

Kobold Quarterly #16 Kobold Quarterly reports Issue #16: Winter 2011 is now available.

The new issue of the magazine includes new magic items for Pathfinder's Golarion campaign setting, potion miscibility rules for 4th Edition, the ecology of the gearforged, an interview with Robin Laws, new 4th Edition magic items, and much more. I'm looking forward to getting my print copy, but I know I won't be able to resist the temptation to read the digital version on the iPad.

SF Site: mid-November 2010 book reviews

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Mon, 11/22/2010 - 5:54am

The latest edition of SF Site is online with reviews of Conflicts by Ian White (a military SF anthology about all manner of future wars), Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (a vampire book in which the lead character is a woman in love with a vampire, trying to catch a non-vampire killer who's hunting women in love with vampires ... I think I just hurt my brain) and Absolute Planetary by Warren Ellis (a massive collection of the comic books of the same name). Read these and other reviews at SFSite.com.

Lightspeed SF Magazine Launches

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 10:20am

Lightspeed, a new science fiction magazine edited by John Joseph Adams, has launched. Published by Prime Books, it will feature four short stories a month, the first of which is "I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno" by Vylar Kaftan. New short stories will be released weekly, but you can buy the entire issue at one time as a download in Kindle, iBook, and ePub formats.

I'm happy to see this -- short fiction hasn't fared all that well on the web in the last decade, with magazines like Event Horizon and SciFiction coming and going, but recently we've seen an uptick with Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show and Tor's fiction offerings. The world could definitely use more SF short fiction, it's the format that helped launch the genre, and I think it's one that needs to be nourished.

The Periodic Table Of Super-Powers

Posted in by Kenneth Newquist on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 9:42am

Super powers have been spawned by almost every element known to man (and plenty that aren't) so it only makes sense that they should be transformed into a periodic table of their own. The Periodic Table Of Super-Powers is a handy chart that breaks down superhero backgrounds by origin, physical powers, and mental powers. It's a fun, quick read for anyone who loves comic books.