Question: New York SF/F Resources

Question

Just a quick question to, well, everyone. I am looking to start attending more science fiction and fantasy conventions, workshops, lectures--pretty much whatever is in the neighborhood. Is anyone aware of any of those in New York? Maybe a centralized resource or something along those lines? Anyway, I appreciate whatever knowledge anyone may have on the subject. Thanks!

Bona Fide: Weekly Roundup #26

Hello and welcome to a new issue of my weekly roundup. Last Sunday we entered the summer season in Europe, which is nice as long as we don't get temperatures above 25 °C. But I know we will get some hot days... Then I only want a leafy bower, an iced drink, and an awesome book. Another possibility is to watch a good movie in an air-conditioned cinema. Hope you enjoy summer and my roundup.


Authors

Even in this economic crisis it is possible to earn a lot of money with SFF books. Here are two examples:

Brandon Sanderson sold four books to Tor. A deal which could exceed $2.5 million.

Science fiction author Alastair Reynolds signed a 10-book deal with Gollancz worth £1m.
To be honest I'm not envious. I hope that both of them will write extraordinary good books which we will love.

And there is one more author worth mentioning: George R.R. Martin. Like a lot of other people I'm still waiting for the release of A Dance with Dragons. He mentioned on his Not A Blog that he has had a very productive period. Fingers crossed that this period will continue... because god knows we have all waited long enough.

Books

Robin Hobb is one of my favorite authors. This week, The Dragon Keeper, the first book of her new Rain Wild Chronicles series hits bookstores. The following book trailer contains more information. I can't wait to read it:


Hopefully you read the review of Hyperion by Dan Simmons on this blog. But he is more than only a science fiction author. He wrote books in other genres. I think during the summer you should read books with a cool background. And Mr. Simmons has something to offer:

Terror

Dan Simmons tells the story of the last expedition of John Franklin, who tried to find the Northwest Passage in 1845 with the ships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus. Based on the know facts, Dan Simmons presents an expressive and quite impressive metaphor of the expedition. I felt the cold on nearly every page. Let's not forget the intense description of the feelings of the expedition members. Beside all the obvious fun, the reader gets to learn a lot about the customs and traditions of the Eskimos.

The appendix contains the list of crewmembers, a glossary and explanations of Eskimo terms. I recommend this book warmly to everyone who is interested in Arctic Zones, Explorers, and the depths of the human soul.

Blogosphere

Don't know whether you followed the heated debate over at OF-Blog in his "When Do You Stop Whoring Yourself Out" or not. I don't want to comment here--I left comments over there. From my point of view, Aidan responded very well and in a positive way. Please read A Dribble of Ink » Blog Archive » Article | Where’d the Enthusiasm Go?
Andrew Lipson likes LEGO. And I admire when he renders Escher pictures into LEGO. Visit his site. I promise you won't regret it...

Quote of the Week

The quote of this week just impress my love for books:

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them

Arnold Lobel, (1933 -1987)

News: FTC to Regulate Bloggers!?

Today started out as a terrible day--I forgot my morning commute book at home. Oh well, it was not that great to start with and AM New York is given out for free at pretty much every Subway entrance. Buried in the backpages, almost overwhelmed by adds, I found an insightful piece of journalism. Sadly, I could not find a link to the article on the AM New York website, but I did find the original AP article that gave it birth: FTC Plans to Monitor Blogs for Claims, Payments.

The timing of this article is impeccable--as many of you know their has been some heated debate going on over at OF Blog in his "When Do You Stop Whoring Yourself Out". The claim was that many blogs have given up on posting meaningful content, and tend instead to just spam viewers with giveaways and contests. Well, the FTC is going to change all that; apparently even so much as posting a graphical ad will be enough to trigger oversight from Big Brother (FTC).

Personally, I believe accountability to be essential to journalism of any kind, but trying to tame bloggers is just going to be a huge headache for the government, kind of like trying to stop file sharing. Not only that, but American bloggers will be put at a disadvantage against international bloggers who are not held to the same standards--it just isnt' fair.

What are your thoughts. Should we be regulated? Do I now need to post a huge disclaimer instead of my colorful header? I don't disagree that the system should be systematised, but being regulated by the heavy hand of Big Brother is not the way to go. Good honest blogs are quickly known as such, and become magnets for like minded visitors. So to all you "whores" out there, your time is coming!

Review: The Steel Remains, by Richard Morgan

     The Steel Remains (2009) is Richard Morgan's first stab at the fantasy genre, jumping the fence from his dystopian science fiction adrenaline rides. Much like his other work, it is a brutal assault on the senses that will leave you wondering what the hell just happened. 

The Setup

     Nothing fancy here. You get a court advisor, a depressed warrior, and a clan chief whose stories (big surprise) eventually merge. Morgan's science fiction origins come through with the introduction of an alien race (the bad guys) who travel through a determinedly mysterious space time. Skimping a bit on lore and history, The Steel Remains chooses instead to focus on sex and gratuitous violence. For those of you familiar with Morgan's earthy style and action driven plot, you won't be disappointed, but you also won't be surprised.

     To my disappointment, Morgan falls back on a decadent and decidedly unoriginal vision of Islamic culture as the backdrop for the novel. It seems to me too many authors are doing this of late--oh well--sign of the times I guess. For anyone familiar with Jacqueline Carey's highly textured and sensual historical fantasy, Kushiel's Legacy, The Steel Remains will seem like a pale, if more violent imitation. To sum up the action, you get an outcast warrior hero son who is asked by his mother to rescue a distant cousin form the chains of slavery--he obliges--while killing a couple people along the way. Almost forgot, as you can tell form the pic, our antihero also has a really cool sword. 

My Take in Brief

     As you can probably tell form my unenthusiastic summary, this is not one of Morgan's best novels; it is a good stab at his first fantasy book, but definitely not his best work. Some of you no doubt disagree, but that is only because you secretly reread the lengthy scenes of explicit gay sex. To be fair though, there are good parts, and yes, overall the book is worth reading. Morgan also leaves a number of loose threads that will make for some great stitching in the next installment. However, I can't help but think that he has made the switch for the money, fantasy being much more popular than science fiction.

     Let me emphasize, given all the negatives that I have mentioned, that The Steel Remains is still worth reading. My only real issue is that I did not enjoy it nearly as much as his Takeshi Kovacs novels. I have no doubt that this is partly due to my current infatuation with science fiction, but to try and remain objective, this fantasy is generally unimaginative--violence and sex fill the void that creativity has left. Why oh why Mr. Morgan have you abandoned Mr. Kovacs to the barren soil of novels past!? 

Ratings & Links

Amazon: Honestly how cares?

B&N: Yea, won't be using this dude anymore.

My Rating: 3/5

Piqued Your Interest?

     Don't let me have scared you away, you should even go for a signed copy of The Steel Remains. The cover art is pretty sick.