It’s Twilight week still … The Daily Beast has photos a dozen Twilight fans tattoo’s.
While not the first to get literary ink I wonder if the series has the staying power to justify permanent body art.
Archive for the ‘science fiction’ Category
Twilight Tattoos
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Brief History of Vampires
Friday, October 30th, 2009Twilight is but the latest episode in a long and deep Vampire history, for centuries the tall, dark, and undead have haunted the pages of literature. Today we chronicle the history of these blood sucking creatures of the night.
1816
A group of friends were holidaying in a villa near Lake Geneva during the unseasonably cold “year without a summer.” John William Polidori, Claire Clairmont, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley decided to pass the time with a ghost story competition. This epic gathering produced two of the first vampire tales in English literature - Polidori’s The Vampyre and Lord Byron’s unfinished Fragment of a Novel. Mary Shelley’s entry was to become the basis for her classic contribution to horror, Frankenstein.
1845-47
Vampire stories started to become more popular in this period and they also began to make their way on to youth reading lists. James Malcolm Rymer published Varney the Vampire as a series of penny dreadfuls (which were an early type of pulp pamphlet aimed at working class adolescents). The serialization proved to be very popular, so much so that it was later published as a single epic book. The story was highly influential on future vampire lore, perpetuating many themes common in vampire tales today such as having fangs leaving two puncture wounds, coming through a window to attack a sleeping maiden, hypnotic powers, and superhuman strength. Varney was also the first example of a sympathetic vampire who loathes his own condition but is helpless to stop it.
1872
Sheridan le Fanu’s classic novella Carmilla was the one of the first to successfully add erotic fixations into vampire literature, with a female vampire seducing the novel’s heroine to draw her vital fluids. This was also one of the first examples of the lesbian vampire trope.
1897
Dracula by Bram Stoker; the quintessential vampire book is published. The book mixed medieval myths and previous vampire fiction with sex, blood and death to create a novel that struck a chord with late 19th century Britain. Stoker’s vampire hunter, Abraham Van Helsing, helped create a trend for heroes willing to fight the undead. After Dracula, authors continued to create vampire stories but most failed to captivate reading audiences in the same way. No new concepts were introduced until the golden age of science fiction.
1954
I am Legend by Richard Matheson popularizes the use of vampires in science fiction in his post-apocalyptic vision of a world crippled by a disease that induces vampirism. The book has been adapted into multiple films over the years. I am Legend is often referred to as the first modern vampire novel.
See more vampire history… and a list of twenty of the strangest vampire titles on record.
Science Fiction Sleeze
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009This is why Science Fiction had such a bad name for so long…
Or the sleezy science fiction starter kit, the Complete Set of Beacon Galaxy Science Fiction Novels including Flesh, The Sex War, A Woman a Day, The Mating Cry, The Male Response.
Inspired by Vintage Paperbacks
Canadians choose top 10 science fiction writers
Monday, October 5th, 2009The CBC has been running a poll amongst its faithful attempting to choose the top 10 science fiction writers of all time. Although somewhat predictable they did get some contemporary authors in the mix; and because it’s Canadian William Gibson gets a nod, and rightfully so.
1. Frank Herbert
2. Isaac Asimov
3. Robert J. Sawyer
4. Arthur C. Clarke
5. William Gibson
6. Philip K. Dick
7. Ursula K. Le Guin
8. Robert A. Heinlein
9. Neal Stephenson
10. Roger Zelazny
Neil Gaiman wins Hugo Award
Monday, August 10th, 2009
The 2009 Hugo Awards were given out this past weekend at Anticipation in Montreal. The winners for the book related catagories were as follows.
Best Novel: The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Best Novella: “The Erdmann Nexus”, Nancy Kress
Best Novelette: “Shoggoths in Bloom”, Elizabeth Bear
Best Related Book: Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008, John Scalzi
Full award winner list is available on the Hugo Awards site
Worst science fiction cover ever?
Friday, July 17th, 2009
I’m a sucker for bad science fiction book covers… I LOVE bad science fiction book covers. In fact I often think that the steps towards more palatable SF book covers has really taken the genre back several leaps. Perhaps it’s just my desire to embrace my inner nerddom but I really think Baen has done some great things with SF book covers.
So if you are like me and enjoy a lack of quality in your SF book covers, you will be giddy with anticipation as Orbit Books atempt to create the worst science fiction book cover of all time.
You can submit suggestions on the Orbit site.
Science-Fiction Novelist Phyllis Gotlieb Dies at 83
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Over on the Boing-Boing blog, Cory Doctorow has put up a really lovely and touching tribute to Phyllis Gotlieb, the Canadian Science Fiction novelist and poet who died yesterday at age 83.
She was best known for her novel Sunburst about a nuclear accident and the resultant effects on the surviving people, both disabilities and peculiar enhancements. Sunburst is said to have been one of the inspirations for the X-Men comics.
Doctorow’s tribute reads as follows:
Phyllis Gotlieb, the legendary Canadian science fiction writer, died yesterday. Phyllis was very old but very sharp — I last saw her at an Ad Astra convention in Toronto a few years ago, and I followed her on a mailing list for Canadian sf writers, where she was a smart and funny poster. Phyllis wrote well into her old age, continuing her very long career in the field.
I first met Phyllis at Ad Astra, the Toronto area science fiction convention. She and I were co-panelists on the very first panel I ever sat on. I was 17 and I’d just sold my first story. Phyllis was well into her senior years. She was delightful. I don’t remember what the subject of the panel was, but I remember the warmth and wit with which Phyllis engaged with little pipsqueak me, the welcome she made me feel as a freshman writer. I have never, ever forgotten that — the author of O Master Caliban! deigning to notice me, much less treat me as a colleague.
Phyllis and her husband were palpably, achingly in love (he once had my father in his university physics class, a class he never forgot). We had dinner together in 2007 at Ad Astra, and the two of them were the epitome of sweet old married coupledom, finishing each others’ sentences, helping each other in a million tiny and affectionate ways.
By my reckoning, Phyllis was 82 when she died (I don’t know the details of the death). I can only hope that when I’m 80, I’ll be as sharp, productive and good-spirited as Phyllis was when I last saw her. Science fiction has lost one of its greats today, and Canada, too. My sincerest condolences to her family. You are missed, Phyllis.
Couldn’t have put it better myself. Lovely words.
Mr. Spock a Sex Symbol? Suprising Revelation from a Roddenberry Letter
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
C’mon ladies, you know you find the pointy ears sexy! Or perhaps the sharply angled eyebrows are more your thing.
Surprisingly, Mr. Spock was supposed to be the sex symbol of Star Trek. Yes you read that correctly. (Take that, William Shatner!) It appears Gene Roddenberry was going for the bad-boy appeal by giving Spock a slight resemblance to the devil.
This bizarre truth comes from a letter penned by Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry after the cancellation of the original Star Trek series. The letter has been sent to Britain by its American owner where it is to be sold at auction.
In addition to the revelation about Mr. Spock, Rodenberry writes in the letter:
“It is important to the typical Star Trek fan that there is a tomorrow. They pretty much share the Star Trek philosophies about life, the fact that it is wrong to interfere in the evolvement of other peoples, that to be different is not necessarily to be wrong or ugly.”
If you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes goings-on of Star Trek and its creator, you can find a few of Gene Roddenberry’s TV contracts (signed) on AbeBooks.
Ten Martian Science Fiction books
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
I just found my way to a neat blog called Marooned - Science Fiction books on Mars, this morning they posted a list of 10 neat books about mars that they found on AbeBooks.com.
1) A Plunge into Space, by Robert Cromie, with an address by French science fiction author Jules Verne.
A second edition published in London in 1891, this 240-page novel is dedicated to Verne, who contributed a one-page address “To My English Readers.” Apparently, the 1890 first edition does not contain Verne’s address. $850
2) Mars as the Abode of Life, by Percival Lowell, signed by Ray Bradbury. A 1910 edition of an influential nonfiction work and the first Mars book to mention canals. Signed by author Ray Bradbury: “This book influenced me, age 10! Ray Bradbury.” $945
3) Original two-page contract between author Edgar Rice Burroughs and his publisher, A. C. McClurg & Co., for the publication of the first edition of The Chessmen of Mars (1922). Signed by Burroughs and dated September 6, 1922. Framed with a photograph. $6,500
4) August and September 1929 issues of Amazing Stories magazine, which contain Part 1 and Part 2 of Leslie F. Stone’s little-known short story “Out of the Void.” The story was later expanded and published as a novel in 1967. $30 each.
5) March 1933 issue of Wonder Stories magazine, which contains
“The Dweller in Martian Depths,” a famous short story by Clark Ashton Smith. Apparently, Smith submitted the story under the title “The Dweller in the Gulf,” but magazine editor Hugo Gernsback changed the title to “The Dweller in Martian Depths” and altered the ending. $75
6) Quip, by Hugo Gernsback, with illustrations by artist Frank Paul. Printed in 1949 as a “Christmas card,” this 48-page booklet contains “facts” about Mars and Martians. $250
7) Black Wing of Mars, by Vargo Statten (pseudonym of John Russell Fearn). A paperback original published in London by Scion Limited in 1953. $25
8) Blades of Mars; Warriors of Mars; and Barbarians of Mars, by Edward P. Bradbury (pseudonym of Michael Moorcock). Here we have Moorcock’s Michael Kane trilogy, a pastiche of Edgar Rice Burrough’s Barsoom novels. Three first editions, first printings, paperback originals, all published in 1965 and signed on the title pages by Moorcock. $350
9) March 1975 issue of Science Fiction Studies, which is devoted to “The Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick.” A pamphlet published by Indiana State University, it contains articles by Brian Aldiss, Stanislaw Lem, and Ian Watson, among others. $60
10) Invaders from Mars, by Ray Garton. A paperback original published in 1986, this book is a novelization of the screenplay for the 1986 film Invaders from Mars. $25
John A Keel, Mothman Prophecies author, dies
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
John A Keel, the author of The Mothman Prophecies, died on Friday. The news seems to have been overlooked by the media until today.
Although much of Keel’s work involves UFOs and other paranormal activity, he preferred to be called a Fortean, which encompasses a wide range of paranormal subjects, rather than a ufologist. In 1975, Keel published The Mothman Prophecies, which is an account of his 1966-1967 investigation of the Mothman sightings that were reported in Point Pleasant and surrounded areas. The book was adapted into the 2002 movie, which stared Richard Gere.
Signed first editions are pretty affordable. This is a landmark book among people who believe in extraterrestial life.
Cory Doctorow wins John W. Campbell award
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009More science fiction news this morning, Cory Doctorow and Ian MacLeod were announced as the joint winners of the John W. Campbell award for the best science fiction novel of the year. It was Doctorow’s Little Brother and MacLeod’s Song of Time which won them the honors.
It’s only the third time that the balloting has resulted in a tie the other two being in 1974, Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama and Robert Merle’s Malevil tied. In 2002, Jack Williamson’s Terraforming Earth and Robert Charles Wilson’s The Chronoliths tied.
2009 Locus Award winners
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
The 2009 Locus awards for the best science fiction books were announced yesterday. You can see the whole list of winners at their website but here are the highlights
Sci fi novel: Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Fantasy novel: Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
First novel: Singularity’s Ring by Paul Melko
YA book: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Novella: Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Welsh Sci-Fi Author’s Unprecedented Deal
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Alastair Reynolds made a deal that’s out-of-this world. The science fiction author whose latest novel House of Suns was shortlisted for this year’s Arthur C. Clarke prize, has signed a 10-year, 10-book deal with Gollancz. For Reynolds, it’s a £1 million paycheque.
Born in south Wales, Reynolds spent 16 years as an astronomer with the European Space Agency in the Netherlands, also wrote short stories. In 2000, while working as an astrophysicist, he gained literary success with his debut novel, Revelation Space. In 2004, Reynolds switched career paths and took up writing full time.
According to Maxim Jakubowski, a science fiction expert, editor and writer, over the past decade there hasn’t been a deal with a science fiction writer of such sizable proportions. “A ten-book deal is almost unheard of, and is a real expression of faith,” he said. “He’s certainly in the top 10 of UK science fiction writers, if not the top five, and those I’ve read [of his] are absolutely wonderful.”