Science Fiction/Fantasy Interviews, June 28th
Fantasy Book Critic interviews Austin Grossman, author of the swell new superhero novel Soon I Will Be Invincible.
Locus Online has posted excerpts from their interview with Nalo Hopkinson, author of The New Moon’s Arms, from the June issue of the print magazine.
Locus Online has similarly posted excerpts from the interview with Holly Phillips, also from the June issue.
CNN recently talked to Michael Chabon about his new alternate history novel, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, in which the Jewish homeland formed after WW II was in the Alaska panhandle.
SciFi Wire chats with Tim Pratt, author of the Asimov’s Readers’ Award-winning (and Hugo Award nominated) story “Impossible Dreams.”
Stage Noise has a podcast-interview with SF novelist Sean Williams and then (separately) with Jeff Wayne, creator of a War of the Worlds musical. [via Talking Squid] (more…)
You’d need to have a very long memory to remember the heyday of the original Planet Stories magazine, since it closed down in 1955. It was a pulp magazine – in both senses of the word “pulp.” But the name has lingered ever since, whispered at last call at convention bars to describe a certain kind of Science Fiction story – one where the science isn’t too complicated, and never gets in the way of the plot. One where the women are gorgeous and scantily clad, where the men are strongly-thewed (and often also scantily clad), and where the villains are black-hearted scoundrels out to rule their worlds. One where the blasters are hot, the ships have fins, and countless alien worlds are just waiting for the right blonde-haired American boy to become their new warlord. You know: the fun stuff.
Back in 1961, cartoonist Dan DeCarlo created a newspaper strip called Josie. Unsuccessful at selling into that crowded market, it was picked up by Archie Comics , and the feature evolved into Josie and the Pussycats. Dan based the lead character on his wife, Josie as sort of a different look at the Archie environment. He also created Sabrina The Teen-Age Witch and, with Stan Lee, Willie Lumpkin.
In entertainment, as with so many other subjective phenomena, many of the old clichés come into play, the main ones being “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like.” While one purpose of entertainment may be to seize on the universal in order to create a bond between creators and audience that explores or delights in our common humanity, it’s also a fact that everyone brings their own unique experiences to bear on their chosen entertainment, so different people can often have very different reactions to the same creation.
