The Adventures Of The LA Science Fantasy Society

My latest post is up on Kirkus Reviews, and it's all about the L.A. Science Fantasy Society, the longest-running science fiction fan clubs in the world.

Fandom is a really interesting thing in the SF/F world, because the edges between professional, amateur and fan are very blurry. Fans often go from engaged readers to active writers, or simply contribute by remaining involved in the community.

The LA group is particularly interesting, because they've had such a major hold on fandom, and some of the genre's best-known writers, from Robert Heinlein to Ray Bradbury, have been part of their ranks.

I want to take a moment as well to recognize Chelsea Langford, who's been editing the column for the last couple of years. She's recently picked up a new job, and won't be editing the column. She's been great all around, and I'll miss working with her.

Go read The Adventures Of The LA Science Fantasy Society over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

• The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction, Paul A. Carter. There's some good details about the society here.
• Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction, Sam Moskowitz. Moskowitz has a good section on Bradbury and Heinlein here, with some interesting details.
• Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue With His Century, Volume 1: Learning Curve, 1907-1948, William H. Patterson Jr. This is a fairly comprehensive biography (if at times flawed), but there's some details about Heinlein and this group.
• Bradbury, An Illustrated Life, Jerry Weist. Weist mentioned Bradbury's involvement, as well as his friendship with Leigh Brackett.

Now Managing Events For Montpelier's Bear Pond Books

Growing up a bookworm in Central Vermont, there weren't a lot of places to go to buy books. However, I could reliably find something to read in Montpelier, which boasted the now gone Yankee Paperback Exchange, Rivendell Books, and Bear Pond Books.

Bear Pond Books is the epitome of what an indie bookstore should be like: well curated selection of books, complete with creaky wooden floors. I've long been a fan of the place, and I'm happy to say that I'm now working there: I've accepted a position as their Events and Marketing Coordinator. I'll be playing with the website, and I'll be planning and scheduling all of their IRL events.

I'm really excited about this: not only is it a bookstore that I've shopped at for as long as I've been buying books, I get to do things that I've been doing with Geek Mountain State: bring authors to talk about their work. In all likelihood, the Vermont SF Writer's Series will find a home base here, at least part of the time, and I've already begun planning the first of what will be some exciting events in the next couple of months.

I've worked in a bookstore before: I spent a couple of years at Walden Books in the Berlin Mall, which was quite a bit of fun, and I've been wanting to get back into the bookselling business once again.

So, stay tuned.

Building a Brand: Tom Doherty's Tor Books

Chances are, if you've read a science fiction book in the last thirty years, you've picked up a book published by Tor. Founded by Tom Doherty in 1980, Tor has become one of the biggest dedicated publishers of speculative fiction since its founding.

Go read Building a Brand: Tom Doherty's Tor Books over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources this time? Tom Doherty himself, (as well as the SF Encyclopedia) who agreed to an interview.

Josh Ritter, Sermon On The Rocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrBAdzACig0 Josh Ritter stopped by South Burlington's Higher Ground the other day, and I went up with a couple of friends to see him. I've seen Ritter and his band a couple of times already, and he puts on a decent show.

This wasn't my favorite concert of his that I've seen: the setlist didn't work for me as much as I'd have liked: he held most of the songs off of his new album, Sermon on the Rocks until the very end, which is a shame, because it's one kickass album.  I stayed through until I heard Homecoming, though - it's turned into one of my favorite songs.

Homecoming is one fantastic album, one that channels Paul Simon a great deal. There were some of the other brilliant songs: Henrietta, Indiana and Getting Ready To Get Down were in there (that one was great to see live) and there were some other good ones from this and earlier albums. It just didn't click together. Still, it was a fun night: I ran into three high school classmates that I haven't seen in years - ten minute catchups on everything that's happened in the last decade and a bit.

Sermon on the Rocks is something that you should pick up and listen to, though. Ritter's one of those artists who has steadily gotten better over every album - after already starting from a great first album.

One thing I realized: I really miss live shows.

FOALS: Birch Tree

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFkGvVFdx-o

I first came across the FOALS a couple of years ago with their song 'Spanish Sahara'. I don't remember exactly what context, but I think it was one of those end-of-the-year film mashup sorts of things.

YouTube sent me over to this track from them, 'Birch Tree', off their latest album, What Went Down. This feels a little more energetic, and I'm digging the chorus. It's keeping me accompanied this week while I write.

Ms Mr: Hurricane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sj684zcmzw There are some albums out there that just come out of nowhere and strike you: that's what happened with me with Ms Mr's debut album, Secondhand Rapture, and in particular, their song Hurricane.

I'm not sure where I first heard Hurricane, but it was something that just grabbed me. Lizzy Plapinger's vocals are haunting, and there's a nice intersection between her voice and music that accompanies her. I picked up the whole album on that song alone, and the entire thing is really good - it's one of the few that I'll throw on in the background while I'm writing.

They have a new album out now, How Does It Feel, which I haven't listened to yet. I loved Secondhand Rapture quite a bit, and as with any sequel, I'm not sure if it'll live up. But, I'll give it a listen.

Fredric Brown's Arena

I need to get back in the habit of posting up these. My latest column for Kirkus Reviews is all about Fredric Brown, the author behind the story 'Arena', and a couple of novels, including The Lights in the Sky are Stars, which I read a couple of years ago.

Brown was a prolific author, and one who wasn't widely known outside of the genre, but someone who helped build its character.

Go read Fredric Brown's Arena over on Kirkus Reviews.

A couple of other ones that I've written recently include Terry Brooks, Alan Dean Foster and Philip K. Dick.

Don't You Give Up On Me, Lissie

https://youtu.be/kQevK_bUV9g Here's an album I'm really looking forward to: Lissie's Wild West, due out in February. The lead single is Don't You Give Up On Me, which is a really catchy track from the first bit of guitar work to the chorus. Her debut album, Catching a Tiger is a great rock album that you really should listen to.

It's been years since I've done any sort of proper music blogging. I miss it, because it put my ear to the ground and forced me to listen to a ton of new and upcoming artists. That's actually how I got my start as a blogger: before I got into reviewing science fiction, I listened to a lot of music, and went to a lot of concerts. 

I sort of stopped when I started focusing on science fiction, because I'd hit a point where I realized that I had to either commit to it full or part time (hard, when I was only really doing it on lunch breaks, and with no internet), and because there's only so many ways that you can describe an angsty, bearded artist wielding an acoustic guitar.

But, I've got some time now, and I've missed discovering new artists. I doubt that I'll ever return to actual music criticism, but there's plenty of albums out there that I want to share.

All The Birds In The Sky, Charlie Jane Anders

Here's a book that I've been looking forward to for a long while, ever since it was first announced a couple of years ago: Charlie Jane Anders' All The Birds In The Sky. It's a stunning debut novel, one of the best that I've ever read.

If Charlie Jane's name seems familiar, it's probably because it is: she's the editor of io9, and is my boss. So, take that as you will. I can't say that my view on the book is completely unbiased, but I really enjoyed this novel.

The story is a fun mashup of fantasy and science fiction. There's Patricia, who learns to talk to birds when she's a young girl, and Laurence, who invents a time machine that takes him two minutes into the future. Their paths diverge in childhood, but converge back when the world is ending.

What I love about this book is CJA's voice. It's light, snarky, entertaining and sinks right in. I blew through this book in a handful of sittings, and I think that's a testament to just how accessible it is. This isn't a clunky genre book designed for hardcore genre readers, although there's a lot to love for them as well.

I've been trying to think of comparable books that I've read, and the only thing that I can come up with is Lev Grossman's The Magicians or Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible, but with a bit more weirdness. This is a strange book, but it's the type of strange that you get when you're writing and editing a site like io9. There's a ton of genre love here, but also for a really great story of two characters, when you break everything right down.

So, go read it. It's a wonderful book.

A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab

I'm trying to make it a point to read up on some of the books that I missed over the last couple of years. One, V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic came recommended from all corners of the internet, and it lives up nicely to those reviews.

Schwab has put together a really intriguing world: four of them, in fact. A select few can travel between worlds. Kell is one such individual, and he travels between Grey, Red and White Londons. At one point, magic was commonplace throughout the worlds, before Black London fell to corruption. White London is cold and brutal, while Red London is decadent. Only Grey London is largely without magic, and when Kell stumbles upon a secret, he's saved by Lila, a street thief from Grey London, and plunged into a deeper conspiracy.

I really loved this book: it sucked me in and didn't let go. Schwab has paced her story really well, populating it with really fun characters and some distinct worlds that gripped me from beginning to end.

The story is straight forward: Kell discovers a remnant of Black London, and there are people who want to use it to their own ends. He has to resist the token's power in order to save himself and his friends.

It's a fun adventure, plain and simple. I'm already looking forward to the next, A Gathering of Shadows, which is due out in a couple of months.

These Are The Best Things I Wrote In 2015

  2015 was a really great year in a lot of ways. I began working at io9/Gizmodo as their weekend editor, as well as Barnes and Noble's SciFi and Fantasy blog.

Over the course of the year, I had the chance to write some pieces that I'm really pleased with, and I rounded them up here.

Word broke that the first standalone Star Wars film would be called Rogue One, which got me excited, because hey! Rogue Squadron! The film isn't the about Rogue Squadron, but it's fun to dream. I wrote up a short history for Barnes and Noble. Before Star Wars: Rogue One Takes Off, a History of the X-Wing Series

The Expanse have been some of my favorite books, and when the television show went into production, I began writing about how the entire story came together. This piece had me interviewing a bunch of people, and visiting the set of the show up in Toronto. Evolution of a Space Epic: James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse

In March, I was a guest at Vericon, where Ken Liu was discussing translations and that got me thinking about the history of Chinese science fiction. I began researching, and it turned into a fantastic history. Narratives of Modernization: China’s History of Science Fiction

I've been a long-time Star Wars EU fan, eating up the books throughout high school. As the new films were coming up, I decided that I wanted to look a bit deeper into the history behind the SWEU, how it formed and where it headed. This turned into a five part series that I'm very, very proud of.

• Building a Galaxy Far, Far Away: The Story of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Episode I
• Building a Galaxy Far Far Away: Heir to the Films (1990-1994)
• Building a Galaxy Far, Far Away: New Stories (1995-1998)
• Building a Galaxy Far, Far Away: New Publisher, New Directions (1998-2005)
• Building a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Endings and Beginnings (2006-2015…and Beyond)

I've also wanted to write for Clarkesworld, and when the opportunity came up to write some nonfiction for them, I looked into the history of Mars and science fiction in Destination: Mars.

I've been writing for io9 and Gizmodo now for years, but as their Weekend Editor, I've been working for them directly now. It's a very fun job, and I've gotten to write up a bunch of high-profile reviews and features for them.

• The Very Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books Of 2015
• The Man In The High Castle Is This Year’s Most Political Show, And What It Reveals Is Frightening
• Our Visit to the Mind-Blowingly Realistic Spaceship Sets of Syfy’s The Expanse
• The First Time NASA Docked with a Soviet Spacecraft in Orbit
• RIP Melissa Mathison, The Woman Who Gave Us E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
• To Save The Alien Universe, Fox Should Take A Leaf From Marvel’s Playbook
• This Is What The 2015 Hugo Ballot Should Have Been
• A Girl Was Bullied For Liking Star Wars, And Was Helped In The Best Way 
• Can A Home Drone Kill You? The Mythbusters Test With A Chicken Says Yes
• So You Want To Join The Empire: Building Stormtrooper Armor

In particular, I got to write up a couple of detailed histories on two highly visible (thanks to NASA) points in the Solar System, Ceres and Pluto. These were a ton of fun to research and write:

• When We Discovered Pluto, It Changed How We Saw The Solar System
• The Complete History Of Ceres, The Planet (?) Between Mars And Jupiter

Finally, for Kirkus Reviews, I've been continuing my column on the history of science fiction. This has been a fun year, but the post that stands out the most for me is about Kim Stanley Robinson, and his Mars trilogy: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars.

In other places, Fragmented was recorded as a podcast, I tore a book to shreds and got to interview one of my favorite authors at one of my favorite bookstores. Oh, and met Colin Trevorrow, who'll be directing Star Wars: Episode 9.

Now, I've left work at Norwich to do this full time. I've got a bunch of projects in the works, and I'm excited to see just what comes up in the next 12 months.

Freelancing

On December 23rd, I left my job at Norwich University. It's one of those things that's been a long time coming. As I began to do more work with places like io9 and Barnes and Noble, I came to a conclusion: I can do one of those two jobs well, but not both. So, I opted for the one that brought me more satisfaction. I'm now completely freelance, and I'm excited by the possibilities (let's check in on that in a couple of months), and the time that it'll afford me to research and explore some interesting things.

I haven't left Norwich completely - there's a saying: Norwich Forever! and ever and ever. - I'm now teaching for their undergraduate program. My first class, ENG250B, Crime and Literature, begins today.

In addition to that, I've got an impressive stack of books that I've been wanting to read and review (which I can now do), a bunch of science fiction / fantasy / science / history topics that I want to dig into, and a couple of enterprise projects that I'll be doing. Then, there's a couple of TV recaps that I'm doing, as well as my regular Kirkus column.

What excites me more, however, is what I can now say 'YES' to. There's a couple of places that I've spoken with about writing, but have never really had the time to do anything with. Plus, my cat is happy that I'm home. He's already climbed into my lap to take a nap.

Building A Galaxy Far Far Away: The Story Behind The Star Wars Expanded Universe

So, I've got a major series of articles going up on Barnes and Noble this week: Building A Galaxy Far Far Away: The History of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

I'm very excited for this series. It started out as something that I thought would be a fairly short article. As I researched more, there was more to the story, and it grew.

I want to thank the following individuals for their cooperation, time and interviews:

• Alan Dean Foster
• Barbara Hambley
• Martha Wells
• Steve Perry
• Troy Denning
• Kevin J. Anderson
• Daniel Abraham
• Lou Aronica
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Matthew Stover
• Bill Slavicsek
• Betsy Mitchell
• Lucy Wilson
• Kathy Tyers
• David J. Williams
• David Wolverton
• Elaine Cunningham

I also need to thank two other people: Elizabeth Templeton, who's been diligently proofreading my work before I submit it, and Joel Cunningham, who's been editing the entire thing. Without them, this series wouldn't nearly be as good.

All in all, this comes to about 35 pages of material, or 16,000 words. It's a labor of love, and I have to say, I really want to go back and burn my way through the EU like I used to in High School.

Here's the entire series:

• The Story of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Episode 1
• Heir to the Films, 1990-1994
• New Stories, 1995-1998
• New Publisher, New Directions, 1998-2005
• Endings and Beginnings, 2006-2015, and beyond

There were a bunch of books that were instrumental in having this come together. Interviews and other sources that I didn't conduct have been linked to in the piece itself:

• Star Wars: The Essential Readers' Guide, Pablo Hidalgo
• The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski
• The Making of Star Wars / Empire Strikes Back, J.W. Rinzler
• How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, by Chris Taylor
• The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Mark Cotta Vaz

Narratives of Modernization: China's History Of Science Fiction

I have a new feature article up on Barnes and Noble's Science Fiction and Fantasy blog titled Narratives of Modernization: China's History Of Science Fiction.

This particular article was a long time coming: earlier this year, I attended Vericon as a guest. Ken Liu was the Guest of Honor, and had a lot of things to say about translating science fiction, and had a presentation called Heroic Translators, which was a really interesting talk.

He spoke about how translation worked, and how Chinese translators really had to play with language to get science fiction ported over from western languages to their own.

Along the way, I realized that I didn't know anything about Chinese history, other than the fantastic novel that Ken had just translated: Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem.

This led to a bit of an exploration on my part, and what turned into an incredibly difficult article to write. I had taken courses in Chinese Military history while taking my Master's, and I struggled with what was really an unfamiliar tradition. While researching this article, I also had to brush up on the last century of Chinese history, in order to provide the proper context for how this strain of science fiction emerged. What I thought would be a fairly straight forward article turned out to be a much more complicated and interesting one - the best sort of stories.

I used a bunch of sources and interviews for this, all of which are linked in the article, but I would be remiss if I didn't thank Ken for answering a bunch of my questions over the last couple of months, and for providing some of the inspiration for this piece in the first place.

Kirkus Columns: Edward Ellis And Philip K. Dick

I've been really bad lately about updating sources for my Kirkus columns in a timely manner.

As I've been writing this column, I've been playing with a couple of variables: 1) writing about a topic that's interesting to me, but also interesting to a wider audience, if anything, for some of that 'secret history' knowledge. 2) Tying it in with other things in the news, such as a movie or television show. 3) Filling in a vital gap in the history that I've been stringing together.

The latest two columns are on Edward Ellis, who helped to pioneer the 'Dime Novel', which was a pretty important forerunner to the pulp magazines and the stories that in turn, inspired things like Amazing Stories and so forth.

The next was about Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, which was recently turned into a television series by Amazon. It's a pretty good show, and I was able to review it for io9.

Help The Shelburne House

A while back, I posted up a post about one of our members in the New England Garrison: Peter Allen, asking for people to donate to a fund to help as he went into hospice care after suffering from ALS. People came through in a great way.

As an incentive, I told people that if they donated, I'd send along a perk: a copy of War Stories: New Military Science Fiction. Let's do the same thing for the Shelburne House. This is a house that specializes in mental health services for young boys between the ages of 8-12.

Our program is home to three amazing boys that have worked through so much this year. Our residents have experienced trauma and childhoods that were not able to reflect the positive experiences during the holiday season. This fact is a major drive in why we want to raise money this year. We strive to able to provide these boys with a holiday to remember, and to restructure their ideas of what the holidays are really about. This fund me page is more then just monetary donations, its a way to prove to these boys that they are loved and supported. It is a way to prove to them that they can trust and lean on others. Most importantly, it is to show these boys are they live in a world that is good and that they have things to look forward to in their lives.

Funds from this project will go to the purchasing of gifts for the boys during the holiday such as: clothes, shoes, art supplies, winter gear, yoga balls, new sports equipment, Magic cards, meditation pillows, certificates for art and martial arts classes, yoga classes and so on.

All gifts are chosen to not only help in their treatment, but to cater to the individual interests of each resident in a therapeutic way.

They'll take the money that they raise, and purchase a bunch of gifts and clothes for the boys currently under their care. These gifts in turn, will be delivered by members of the 501st Legion's New England Garrison.

They need some help, and if you can, I'll send you a copy of War Stories:

If you make a donation of $30 or more, I’ll send you a copy of War Stories: New Military Science Fiction. If you’re you’re from outside the United States, donate at least $15 and I’ll get you an ebook copy (Sorry, shipping books internationally is just too time consuming and annoying). Here’s what you can do:

1. Make the donation.
2. Take a screenshot or forward me your receipt for said donation, and an address where I can mail you the book.
3. I’ll send you a copy of the book. (And maybe another random one as well!)

My e-mail address is: liptakaa [at] gmail[dot]com.

Thanks in advance.

The Expanse Is Here And It's Amazing

So, there's this book series that I've really enjoyed - The Expanse. I read the first book before it hit stores, and I've been hooked since. Now, it's been turned into a TV series on SyFy, and after watching the first four episodes, I'm pretty sure that it's as good as Battlestar Galactica. Yeah, I said it.

The show does a good job adapting Leviathan Wakes, but it does do it's own thing. They nailed the casting, and they absolutely nailed the sets and look and feel of the world.

I've been doing a lot with this show: earlier this May, I wrote up a major article for Barnes and Noble about how the Expanse came together, which is a really fascinating story. I'm very proud of that article. A little after that, I reviewed the 5th book, Nemesis Games for io9.

More recently, I've written up a couple of things:

• Over on io9, I've published a set report from when I got to visit the shooting set in March. It was amazing to go stand on the Roci and meet a couple of the actors. That trip blew away any worries that I might have had about the show.
• Over on Barnes and Noble's SciFi & Fantasy Blog, I've reviewed the first four episodes. There's some light spoilers, but it's pretty tame if you've seen the first episode.

Speaking of which.

The pilot is now available just about everywhere, including on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/FvZeQD1Vf2s

You should go watch it. It's pretty excellent.

You Can Now Read 'Fragmented' Over On The Art Of Future Warfare

My short story 'Fragmented' is now available for reading over on the Atlantic Council's Art of Future Warfare project!

It was originally published with Galaxy's Edge Magazine, and after June or July 2014, it went away when a new issue went up. I hadn't really thought about submitting it as a reprint anywhere, until Brett Cox submitted his story, 'Where We Would End A War' for their site. So, you can now read Fragmented over on the Atlantic Council!

August Cole, author of the fantastic novel Ghost Fleet and guy in charge of the program, did a brief Q&A with me about the story as well - you can read that here.

Playboy's Science Fiction

Playboy announced the other day that they're pulling all of their nude photos from the magazine. The company made the decision in order to focus more on their written content, and so forth.

Something interesting that I learned earlier this year was that Playboy published a lot of science fiction. Earlier this year, Alice K. Turner, Playboy's longtime fiction editor, passed away, and in the ensuing tributes and obituaries, I found that it was an interesting story, one that says a little about how Science Fiction began to go mainstream.

Go read Playboy's Science Fiction over on Kirkus Reviews.

Leaving The Day Job

So, this is something that happened in the last couple of weeks: I'm leaving my job at Norwich University. I've reached a point where I realized I was happier doing work writing and reviewing, and that I'd gone about as far as I could go with Norwich at this time. So, in December, I'll be heading out for good. I'll admit: it's a little nerve-wracking. I've been working at the school since 2007 - eight years. I've been there even longer when I count the years that I spent there as an undergraduate.

One of the things that I'm looking forward to is spending more time with Bram. There's a lot that I've wanted to do, but just haven't been able to do. Now, I'm hoping that there'll be more adventures for the two of us.

I'm also excited. I've got a ton of projects that I've been wanting to get to for weeks or months, and just haven't been able to do much on them. This'll give me more time to devote to those things, and explore some new ones. Stay tuned: if some of these things work out, there'll be some cool things coming!