West of the Moon

science fiction

strange horizons, fourth week of january.

Our new no-fiction-fourth-weeks thing is in effect, so there’s no new fiction at Strange Horizons this week.  What we do have instead is Articles editor JoSelle Vanderhooft talking “mythpunk” and Tolkein with Cat Valente, in what looks like an interesting conversation. I think I’m going to use these fourth-week-no-fiction weeks to highlight some stuff from [...]

Tags: this week at strange horizons

three small pieces.

1)  Robert asked, a week and a half ago, for my thoughts on the whole New Yorker / female writers thing.  (To the extent that it’s a thing, I guess?  Robert pointed to the Jezebel coverage; I prefer the Hairpin version, which has less explanation but exponentially more interesting commenters. )  Short version for those unfamiliar: [...]

Tags: chicken, mary h.k. choi, women in publishing, yes still talking about the stupid chicken

Strange Horizons, third week in January

In the fiction department, we have “Pinion” by Stellan Thorne, a not-quite-noir story of cops and angels. He cuffed together long lovely wrists, then bent back one wing at a painful angle. The angel cried out with a voice like a tuning fork. “Try to use these,” Greyling said, “and you’ll get a bullet through [...]

Tags: angels, john clute, stellan thorne, this week at strange horizons

Strange Horizons, second week in January

This week at Strange Horizons, we have an utterly brilliant column by Matt Cheney, in which he argues with himself about a book.  And about science.  I am, of course, predisposed to think that this column is brilliant, because I agree with his acknowledged bias towards gendered behavior as social construct, etc etc.  But there [...]

Tags: cassandra clarke, matt cheney, this week at strange horizons

This week at Strange Horizons!

So, first week of January 2011, and we’re leading off the new year at Strange Horizons with a new story from Charlie Jane Anders.  Charlie Jane is the hostess of the amazing Writers With Drinks events in San Francisco, and one of the main forces behind io9, but she’s also an author herself, and her [...]

Tags: charlie anders, fiction department, this week at strange horizons

trying to talk about spaceships.

I’ve been immersed in the Vorkosigan books–really, for a few weeks now, my leisure reading has been all Miles Miles Miles.  I’m near the end and expect to have something more to say about them soon, but these books caused me to have a very awkward moment at work today. Specifically this: at lunch, I [...]

Tags: dante, miles vorkosigan, mixed media

Oh, I do love Cordelia.

Huh.  I had a post planned out, and was going to write more about books I’ve been reading, but a book got in the way.  I downloaded that free CD of all the Vorkosigan books that Baen has on offer.  Ever since, basically every minute not spent teaching or grading has been spent reading Shards [...]

Tags: miles vorkosigan, mixed media

Strange Horizons Fund Drive!

It’s that time of year again!  The Strange Horizons fund drive is underway, and we need your help.  As always. Why should you help? Because Strange Horizons is awesome!  For ten years now (TEN YEARS) we’ve been publishing high-quality speculative fiction and related nonfiction.  We update every week, we pay professional rates to our authors, [...]

WisCon Schedule!

A bit late to be posting this, given how many people are already arriving in Madison, but better late than never!  I’m getting in Friday night, arriving too late for dinner but (barring flight mishaps) not too late for the karaoke extravaganza. I’m on two panels, both of which are in the Science and Technology [...]

bored now.

I feel like this is the kind of thing I shouldn’t admit, but honestly, I’m in kind of a reading slump where science fiction is concerned. You know those moments where you’re casting about for something to read?  It used to be that my first impulse in those moments was always towards the science fiction [...]