Space Station Mir

I started my SFF Lit project last year, and decided to make it an ongoing project for the blog. Here are my criteria for literature that I established last year: "I look for a distinct and effective writing style that uses language appropriately and creatively, a plot with a distinct structure (beginning, middle, and end, not necessarily in that order but present) that is appropriate to the genre/topic/characters, and characters that feel like real people and who can be understood, identified with and/or emotionally reacted to." I've also been heavily influenced by Litlove's thoughts on what is literature . Here's my list of SFF Lit Read in 2012: 1. The Coldest War by Ian Tregellis Tregellis' writing style is inundated with imagery and wit, and populated with dark but human characters. I'll never forget that opening sentence, "Wizards do not age gracefully," nor the terrifying Borg-Queen-esque Gretel or the well-meaning traitor Will B...

How many books read in 2012? 51, as of December 28th. How many fiction and non-fiction? 8 non-fiction and the rest fiction. That's an unusual amount of non-fiction for me! Male/Female author ratio? 19 male and 26 female authors. I had a feeling I'd read more women this year, but didn't know it was that many more! Favorite book of 2012? Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and/or The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. Least favorite? Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why? Not that I can remember. Oldest book read: Plato's Symposium , written between 385-380 BCE. Newest? The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll came out in November 2012. Longest and shortest book titles? The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making ; Symposium Longest and shortest books? I think Lorna Doone was the longest, not sure about the shortest, maybe Symposium again or...

DragonCon is the largest science fiction/fantasy convention in the world, and this year I got to go. This was my first convention and definitely not my last! I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go. In particular, I was very impressed with the demographics-boys and girls, men and women of all ages attended. There were so many panels I wanted to go to and so many people to see and things to do, I didn't get to nearly half of them. I'm going to list the panels I did attend, some book-related and some not-so-book-related. For the book panels, I'll do some follow-up posts so I can have a chance to respond to them. I do wish there was more time for the audience as well as panelists to discuss issues, not merely listen or Q&A. The picture is of " A Night in Bree." DragonCon Panels I Attended: Friday Top Ten Things I Wish I'd Known [As a Writer] with Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta Writers Talk: David Gerrold Sex and Romance in SF Sa...

Yesterday was my last day as a bookseller-at least for a while. Shortly, I will be on my way to Chicago to get my MA and, if all goes well, on the path to my PhD and cozy tenured professorship (one can dream right?) I'd been gathering a stack of perspective buys in anticipation and an attempt to ameliorate the specific brand of torture that is the constant passing and shelving and handling of books that you would love to own, but shouldn't buy if you want to keep within your budget (not to mention bookshelf space, but I passed that bar a while ago and never looked back). Anyway, for my last chance to use my employee discount, and with the aid of birthday gift cards, I decided to splurge. A digital portrait of my loot: 1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 2. Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger 3. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Conner McNees 4. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares 5. Insurgent by Veronica Roth 6. The Girl Who C...