Douglas Preston’s new novel Impact crashes off The New York Times bestsellers list

As predicted, Impact, the new Mars-related thriller by Macmillan author Douglas Preston that had reached #4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction bestseller list earlier this year, has crashed off the list. Presumably, this has something to do with Preston’s recent remarks belittling readers who oppose higher e-book prices and consumers who shop at Wal-Mart.

In related news, Amazon’s “Verified Purchase” program still has not confirmed that bestselling gothic author Anne Rice bought 10 copies of Impact in support of Preston, as she claimed on her blog more than two weeks ago. In short, Rice's latest piece of fiction!

Son’s attempted theft of Frank Frazetta’s $20 million art collection headed to trial

The Pocono Record of Pennsylvania reports that the bizarre case involving the attempted theft of renowned science fiction & fantasy artist Frank Frazetta’s art collection by his son, Alfonso “Frank Jr.,” from the family-owned museum in Marshalls Creek will be headed to trial. Frank Jr. was arrested in early December 2009 after he and two accomplices used a backhoe to break into the museum in an attempt to remove and “secure” about 90 of his father’s paintings, worth an estimated $20 million. Charged with burglary, criminal trespassing and theft, Frank Jr. claims he had permission from his father to remove the art collection from the museum. Other family members disagree. New details of the case reveal that Frank Jr. was wearing a ski mask at the time of his arrest.

“It Really Would Have Been Like This”: Stephen Baxter’s 1996 alternate history novel Voyage

Niall Harrison of Torque Control, the blog of the editorial staff of Vector, the critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association, has just had a hefty article about British hard science fiction author Stephen Baxter’s 1996 alternate history novel Voyage published in the fanzine Journey Planet #5 (pdf, 6MB). Harrison’s article is titled “It Really Would Have Been Like This.”

Commodities of Martian Rails: Colonists

Martian Rails (2009), the traditional board game manufactured by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of cool commodities that players can transport to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

Colonists -- To escape the pressures of overpopulation, depleted minerals, crime, pollution, ecological disasters, constant wars, and ennui on Old Earth, and to fill the vast emptiness of Mars, workers and sometimes their families flock to the frontiers of Mars.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Martian SF!

PublishAmerica sues Lightning Source Inc. over POD contract dispute

According to documents filed earlier this month in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, PublishAmerica (PA), a vanity press based in Frederick, Maryland, is suing one of its vendors, Lightning Source Inc. (LSI), a print-on-demand printer located in La Vergne, Tennessee, in a contract dispute over a “Print on Demand Agreement.” PA’s complaint (pdf), filed on February 1, 2010, includes seven counts and asks for nearly $1 million in compensatory damages, punitive damages, costs, interest and attorney’s fees. LSI answered with a counterclaim (pdf), filed yesterday, February 25th.

Pulp Sci-Fi author Joel Jenkins uncovers his new Dire Planet Compendium

Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins recently announced that he is building, in weekly pieces, an online compendium of his Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on Mars, also known as the Dire Planet. Each piece of the compendium “will be an entry (illustrated by no less than the talented Noel Tuazon) on the denizens, people, and etymology of Mars.” The first entry in the Dire Planet Compendium: Farona's Girth.

Free audiobook publisher LibriVox seeks funds

Dearest LibriVox listeners, volunteers, & supporters:

For four-and-a-half years, LibriVox volunteers have been making audiobooks for the world to enjoy, and giving them away for free. We’ve made thousands of free audiobooks that have been downloaded by millions of people; our site gets 400,000 visitors every month. To date, all our costs have been borne by a few individuals, with some generous donations from partners. However, these costs have become too big...

Learn more about LibriVox and find out how you can make a donation! Award-winning Canadian science fiction author and copyright activist Cory Doctorow sez he kicked in $100!

Date set for final issue of comic adaptation of William Shatner's 1996 novel Man O'War

Comic book company Bluewater Productions recently announced that the fourth and final issue of Man O’War, its adaptation of the eponymous 1996 science fiction novel by Star Trek actor and bestselling author William Shatner, will be released in May 2010. Written by CJ Henderson and illustrated by Pat Broderick in consultation with Shatner, the storyline for the comic series is a continuation of the novel’s plot, as opposed to a direct adaptation. Here’s a synopsis of Issue #4:

Benton Hawkes, barely escapes two more attempts on his life, only to discover that one of few people he has come to trust since leaving Earth is the main assassin assigned to kill him!

Issue #1 of Man O'War was scheduled to be released yesterday, February 24th.

Pictured: Cover of Man O'War, Issue #4.

Red Planet Noir: An interview with D.B. Grady

D.B. Grady, whose new retro Sci-Fi hard-boiled detective tale and debut novel Red Planet Noir (Brown Street Press, 2009) is generating some serious buzz, is interviewed by award-winning YA fantasy author Christine Rose over at Pop Syndicate. In a wide-ranging and insightful conversation, Grady discusses the origin of Red Planet Noir, his influences and inspirations, the research and writing processes, and publishers and promotion.

Read Chapter 1 (PDF) of Red Planet Noir, then check out these 5-star reader reviews posted on Amazon!

Exhibition displays metalsmith’s Vietnam-era wormy Mars art

Metalsmith and jewelry maker Bruce Metcalf’s new career-spanning exhibition, “The Miniature Worlds of Bruce Metcalf,” at the Southwest School of Art & Craft in San Antonio, includes his 1971 piece “Worms from Mars Invade an Authentic New England Village & Are Attacked by the National Guard.” According to an article posted on the website MySanAntonio.com, the piece is Metcalf's “Vietnam statement, with snakelike, toothy worms descending upon small, cartoonish toy soldiers with bayoneted rifles defending an old steepled church and a couple of clapboard houses.”

Pictured: "Worms from Mars"

Douglas Preston’s new novel Impact crashes down The New York Times bestsellers list

Macmillan author and intellectual elitist Douglas Preston, whose new Mars-related novel Impact reached #4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction bestseller list earlier this year, is crashing down the chart. After falling to #15, the novel has now plummeted to #29. At this velocity, Impact is predicted to vanish by March 1st.

In related news, Amazon’s “Verified Purchase” program cannot confirm that bestselling gothic author Anne Rice bought 10 copies of Impact in support of Preston, as she claimed on her blog nearly two weeks ago. No word yet on whether Rice intends to distribute the books to needy readers or entitled authors.

“Thus Spake the Aliens,” a new novella written by H. G. Stratmann

Published in the January-February 2010 special double issue marking the 80th anniversary of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine, “Thus Spake the Aliens,” a new novella written by physician and SF author H. G. Stratmann, is the fourth in his series starring a religious astronaut named Katerina Savitskaya, who is stranded on Mars with her fiancé, Martin Slayton. ("The Paradise Project," Analog, November 2007; "The Last Temptation of Katerina Savitskaya,” Analog, September 2008; "Wilderness Were Paradise Enow," Analog, December 2009). I haven’t read “Thus Spake the Aliens,” but here are the opening lines:

Earth was doomed.

Katerina Savitskaya, the woman responsible for her world's impending destruction, knelt alone and miserable on the metal floor of the sole dwelling on Mars. The filthy blue jumpsuit shrouding her shapely thirty-three-year-old figure like sackcloth reeked with sweat and fear. Tears stung her ashen cheeks as she prayed before the colorful religious icons attached to a closed locker door in the habitation module's science lab...

“Thus Spake the Aliens” has received several interesting reviews. Last November, Sam Tomaino of SFRevu concluded that “Stratmann fashions an exciting story, with a dynamite last line.”

Later, in December, Lois Tilton of the now-deceased Internet Review of Science Fiction wrote: “I had really hoped the previous episode was the last of this series. The stories have been just awful -- badly written, tedious, preachy -- and each one recapitulates the same awfulness all over again as if once weren't more than enough. In the unlikely event that any readers have been enjoying these, they will likely find this one more of the same.”

More recently, in early January, Carl Slaughter of Tangent concluded that “The last line is so intriguing, it almost makes you forget the pain of reading this amateurish, cumbersome, boring, excessively long story.”

Roads in Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood named for people & places in Tolkien’s Middle Earth series

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times profiling award-winning Martian science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson piqued my interest in the ecological nature of Mister Robinson’s neighborhood, Village Homes of Davis, California. A seventy-acre subdivision designed in the 1970s to “encourage both the development of a sense of community and the conservation of energy and natural resources,” Village Homes features all kinds of neat features, such as the solar orientation of streets, bike paths, natural drainage, edible landscaping and open space. And, according to the neighborhood’s website, nearly all of the streets are named for people or places in JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth fantasy series!

Collecting books penned by Michael Chabon

The March 2010 issue of Firsts: The Book Collector’s Magazine, features award-winning science fiction author Michael Chabon. Here is the description:

Collecting Michael Chabon. Whether he is writing mainstream fiction or genre novels, for adults or young readers, Michael Chabon has -- as evidenced by the acclaim of his fans and many critics -- achieved his potential and gained an honored spot in the pantheon of American Jewish writers.

Chabon is currently re-writing the script to Disney/Pixar's long-awaited film, John Carter of Mars (2012).

Pictured: Michael Chabon

DC Comics: Batman & Robin and the Martian from Gotham City

The blog Magic Carpet Burn has beautiful, readable jpegs of “The Martian from Gotham City,” an eight-page story published by DC Comics in the #132, June 1960, issue of Batman. Here are the opening lines: "How did he come here? What was his mission on our planet? He himself was not certain -- and yet, to overcome him, Batman and Robin first had to restore the memory of... the Martian from Gotham City!"

Could higher e-book prices spark book burnings?

At least two SF/F fans who own Kindle e-book readers and are following the growing conflagration over e-book pricing say that an increase in overall prices could ignite old-fashion book burnings. Lisa, a forty-something slacker who lives with her parents in the Connecticut River Valley, hates her job as a teacher’s aide, and wishes she had more time to read fantasy novels on her Kindle, says: “The big publishing companies have been gouging us for years. In high school, my parents paid hundreds of dollars to buy me English Lit. books because neither the school nor public library had enough copies. In college, I had to pay thousands of dollars for overpriced textbooks. Now, publishers are trying to make us pay more for e-books? Bullshit! If they’re going to do that, I might be tossing a few books on the hibachi this summer.” Asked to name a few titles, Lisa replied: “Whatever will get people’s attention. Bestsellers, probably. My mother reads all that crap.”


Bruce, a fifty-something, over-educated technology geek and science fiction fan who lives in an apartment in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago and drives a taxi for a living, says: “In this day and age, there is no reason why the cost of an e-book should be going up. People say, ‘Oh, you can afford to buy a Kindle, so you must be able to pay $15 for an e-book.’ I say, ‘Oh, you can afford to buy a car, so you must be able to pay $6 for a gallon of gas!’ I’m old enough to remember the riots of 1968 and the Disco Demolition gag in the late 70s. Maybe that’s what we need. An old-fashion book burning down at Comiskey Park. That ought to get the attention of those greedy bastards who run the publishing houses.” Asked to name a few titles worth burning, Bruce said: “Mike Royko’s biography of Mayor Daley is on the top of my list."

“Mars Confidential," 1953 short story written by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer

Thanks to the industrious folks at Project Gutenberg and ManyBooks.net, you can read online or download for free “Mars Confidential,” a short story written by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer (pseudonym of Harold Browne). Originally published in the April-May 1953 issue of Amazing Stories magazine, the plot revolves around two investigative journalists who travel to the Red Planet to expose the Mafia and its vice, violence and victims that have made “this heavenly body the cesspool of the Universe.” Here are the opening lines of the story:

P-s-s-s-s-t!

HERE WE GO AGAIN -- Confidential.

We turned New York inside out. We turned Chicago upside down. In Washington we turned the insiders out and the outsiders in. The howls can still be heard since we dissected the U.S.A.

But Mars was our toughest task of spectroscoping. The cab drivers spoke a different language and the bell-hops couldn't read our currency. Yet, we think we have X-rayed the dizziest -- and this may amaze you -- the dirtiest planet in the solar system. Beside it, the Earth is as white as the Moon, and Chicago is as peaceful as the Milky Way.

By the time we went through Mars -- its canals, its caves, its satellites and its catacombs -- we knew more about it than anyone who lives there.

We make no attempt to be comprehensive. We have no hope or aim to make Mars a better place in which to live; in fact, we don't give a damn what kind of a place it is to live in.

This will be the story of a planet that could have been another proud and majestic sun with a solar system of its own; it ended up, instead, in the comic books and the pulp magazines.

We give you MARS CONFIDENTIAL! ...

Pictured: April-May 1953 issue of Amazing Stories, depicting a scene in “Mars Confidential." Artwork by Barye Phillips.

[via Tinkoo Valia of Variety SF]

Answers to Mars movie Poly Sci-Fi quiz

Here are the answers to last week's Mars movie political science fiction quiz, which was based on Federal Election Commission records retrieved through NewsMeat, “America’s most popular campaign donor search engine.”

Review of Travis Taylor and John Ringo’s 2006 novel Von Neumann’s War

The blog Gutenberg’s Son has a short review of Von Neumann’s War (Baen Books, 2006), a military science fiction novel written by Travis S. Taylor and John Ringo and partially set on Mars. Gutenberg's Son concludes: "If you are a Sci-Fi junky looking for your next fix of planetary devastation... then this is the book for you.” Thanks to some anonymous fan, you can read Von Neumann’s War online for free!

9 things author Douglas Preston probably doesn’t know about Wal-Mart’s community impact on the state of Maine

1. As of January 2010, Wal-Mart's presence in Maine includes 16 Supercenters, 6 Discount Stores, 3 Sam's Clubs and 1 Distribution Center.

2. As of January 2010, the total number of Wal-Mart associates in Maine is more than 7,000.

3. As of January 2010, the average wage for regular, full-time hourly Wal-Mart associates in Maine is $12.40 per hour. In addition, associates are eligible for performance-based bonuses.

4. In recent years, Wal-Mart has contributed 4% of an associate's eligible pay to their combined Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan.

5. In FYE 2009, Wal-Mart spent $145 million for merchandise and services with 362 suppliers in the state of Maine. As a result of Wal-Mart's relationship with these suppliers, Wal-Mart supports more than 18,000 supplier jobs in the state of Maine.

6. Wal-Mart collected on behalf of the state of Maine more than $50 million in sales taxes in FYE 2009.

7. Wal-Mart paid more than $18 million in state and local taxes in the state of Maine in FYE 2009.

8. In 2008, Wal-Mart stores, Sam's Club locations and the Walmart Foundation gave more than $1 million in cash and in-kind donations to local organizations in the communities they serve in the state of Maine. Through additional funds donated by customers, and Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club associates throughout the state, the retailer’s contributions in Maine totaled more than $2 million.

9. The hardcover edition of Preston's new Mars-related novel, Impact, can be purchased through Wal-Mart's website for only $15, a savings of 42% off the publisher's suggested retail price. Not only can one save money, one can help subsidize the simple lifestyle of a struggling Maine author!

Source: Wal-Mart

Cities of Martian Rails: Barsoom

Martian Rails (2009), the traditional board game manufactured by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of interesting cities that players can capitalize on to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

Barsoom -- A small settlement in the north central section. Edgar Rice Burroughs determined that it was the name for Mars in the Martian language.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Martian SF!

Martian Knightlife, two related novellas by James P. Hogan (2001)

Martian Knightlife, two related novellas starring Kieran "the Knight" Thane ("His Own Worst Enemy" and "The Khal of Tadzhikstan"), by James P. Hogan.

Pictured: Hardcover (Riverdale, NY: Baen Books, 2001), 278 p., $22.00 Cover art by Clyde Caldwell. Here’s the promotional piece from the inside flap of the dust jacket:

The Knight is a saint (with a twist).

At least you might think so if you read his curriculum vitae. You would swear, in fact, that this private eye of the future is honest, paying for what he gets, getting what he's paid for, wth somehow a little extra for everybody to go around. Take this case for example.

Well, perhaps not, because that would be telling, something this knightly saint would never do. But it did involve a matter transmitter which the inventor tested on himself -- then found his bank accounts empty and his credit cards overflowing, all done by someone whose DNA looks just like that of the rightful owner...

But that wasn't all. There was also an archaeological expedition which had uncovered ruins that might solve the mystery of the Martian race that had vanished from the planet eons ago -- except that a greedy interplanetary corporation was all set to bulldoze them over in pursuit of the bottom line unless a gallant knight -- or Knight -- could come galloping up on his charger...

Then there were some people who were not amused at how the Knight had foiled a sure-fire scheme worth billions, and were looking for him with heavy muscle and heavier artillery...

People in trouble and people who are trouble just seem to populate his life -- and thank goodness, because they are the very thing the Knight needs to keep his life from getting boring. And the bad guys never seem to know what hits them...

Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, while Barnes & Noble has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

Cool cover art. The dog reminds me of the canine on the cover of another Mars-related book, a 1970s paperback reprint of Kurt Vonnegut's novel The Sirens of Titan (1959).

Anne Rice defends Douglas Preston, buys 10 copies of his novel Impact off Amazon

Last week, bestselling gothic author Anne Rice defended fellow author Douglas Preston’s recent remarks, published in the The New York Times, which implied that readers of e-books suffer from “a sense of entitlement,” have a “Wal-Mart mentality” and maintain “this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.” In a moving statement posted in the review section of Preston’s new Mars-realted novel, Impact, on Amazon.com, Rice wrote, in part:

Stop beating up on this author. A book review site is no place for your protests and complaints against New York publishing. Remember this: somebody has to write the books that you want to read; and somebody has to make the movies that you want to see. That "somebody" is a creative individual willing to try to make something out of virtually nothing. Such creative individuals fight tremendous battles and take tremendous risks. It's part of the job that you may never see or ever understand. How an author's efforts should be priced in this world is an ongoing question and an ongoing mystery. But viciously attacking the creator of a literary work because he is caught in the crossfire of a price war is ugly and self defeating. I urge others to buy copies of this book to support Douglas Preston.

Later, in a separate post on Amazon, Rice wrote, in part:

Of course no author should insult or alienate his readers. Without our readers we would be nothing, quite truly. And most of us appreciate this very much. But I don't think Mr. Preston's comments are all that radical or insulting. [...] I feel for an author caught in the maelstrom. Authors aren't saints; they aren't politicians; they aren't PR people; they're human beings, and their complexity as such is intimately connected with their creative ability. I want to support this guy. He's being scapegoated here.

Later, Rice announced on her blog that she purchased ten copies of Impact in support of Preston.

Hilarious. A rich celebrity author telling working class fans that they don’t “understand” the literary creative process, pricing is an “ongoing mystery,” and Preston is just some helpless victim whose comments are not “all that radical or insulting.”

Maybe it is time for Congress to hold hearings on the issue of e-book pricing. Macmillan CEO John Sargent and the executives of competing publishing behemoths, along with a few celebrity authors like Rice, can explain to Congress, and the American people, the finer points of e-book pricing, production costs, profit margins and compensation packages.

Graphic novelist Jessica Abel working on new Mars script

Award-winning cartoonist and writer Jessica Abel is working on a script for a new graphic novel about roller derby on Mars. According to an item posted in Publishers Marketplace in February 2009, Abel is collaborating with illustrator Ron Wimberly. Apparently, the project is titled Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars.

Does author Douglas Preston suffer from a sense of entitlement? Ask Senator Susan Collins!

Charlie Jane Anders of the SF blog io9 has the latest news about Macmillan author Douglas Preston, whose new Mars-related novel Impact hit #4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction bestseller list earlier this year. Anders contacted Preston about his recent remarks, published in the Times, which implied that readers of ebooks suffer from “a sense of entitlement,” have a “Wal-Mart mentality” and maintain “this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.” In explaining to Anders that his comments were a “mistake,” Preston told her:

I think my comments were pretty stupid, to be frank. They came after a long month of being attacked by Kindle owners who blamed me personally for the fact that my publisher delayed the Kindle release for four months. I was frustrated and said some things to the New York Times reporter that did not reflect my actual views on the subject. I have been hearing back from many readers, some supporting my comments, many more criticizing them.

All of this has me wondering whether it is Preston who suffers from a sense of entitlement. Consider:

• Preston grew up in the wealthy suburb of Wellesley, Mass., and attended a swanky private high school in nearby Weston.

• Preston’s brother is bestselling author Richard Preston, whom Douglas once referred to as “of course, the famous and talented Richard Preston.”

• Preston’s father is Jerome Preston Jr., a retired senior partner at Foley Hoag, a prominent Boston law firm. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Jerome Preston Jr. is perhaps best-known for serving as one of two trustees of the Fuller Trust who were accused in the early 1990s of conspiring to drain the entity of almost $700,000 in electronic book legal and other fees over a three-year period while attempting to convert a home for elderly women into a "life care" retirement community. In 1995, a Massachusetts probate judge ordered Jerome Preston Jr. and his colleague to repay $500,000 each to the trust.

• Preston’s grandfather was Jerome Preston Sr., a founder of the now-defunct investment management firm of Preston Moss & Co. An ambulance driver during World War I and a member of the Army Air Corps during World War II, Jerome Preston Sr. was awarded three Croix de Guerre by France, a Bronze Star and Legion of Merit by the United States, and the Order of the British Empire.

• Preston traveled to Italy in 2006 to conduct some research for a nonfiction book about a serial killer known as the Monster of Florence, who murdered and mutilated fourteen people in the hills of Florence from 1974 to 1985. Ironically, Preston became trapped in his own thriller after his co-author criticized and irritated an Italian legal official. According to a 2006 article published in The Boston Globe:

Since returning to Maine, Preston has appealed to US Senator Susan Collins for help. A Collins spokesperson told Preston that the senator has given it her highest priority and has asked the State Department to find out what evidence Italian authorities have against Preston.

[...]

As for his identity as an international writer and the freedom he expects to go with that privilege?

"I never expected them [Italian authorities] to go as far as they did," says Preston. "And I felt that, as an American and a fairly prominent journalist and author, they would leave me alone. I was wrong."

Yeah, seems like Douglas Preston suffers from a sense of entitlement. It's called “Do you know who I am?” Wonder if this condition will be formally recognized in the upcoming DSM-V (2013).

Preview: Warriors of the Red Planet RPG ruins

Al of the blog Beyond the Black Gate previews some random ruins in Warriors of the Red Planet, an in-the-works old-school pulp Sci-Fantasy role playing game inspired by the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, Michael Moorcock and Leigh Brackett. Noting that “one of the important parts of the Sword & Planet genre is the constant presence of reminders that grander civilizations have fallen. No proper ocher wasteland or purple fungus forest would be complete without a smattering of bizarre monuments, relics, and ruins,” Al describes some of the monuments, relics, settlements, vehicles, buildings and other unexplainable ruins that will be part of the landscape of Warriors of the Red Planet.

Imagine if Italian artist Piranesi took his sketch pad to Mars!

Pictured: Sketch for Warriors of the Red Planet, by artist Thomas Denmark.

Reading of Mike Resnick’s 2004 ERB-inspired short story “A Princess of Earth”

The most recent podcast from audio fiction magazine The Dunesteef includes a reading of SF&F author Mike Resnick’s Hugo Award-nominated short story “A Princess of Earth,” which was first published in the December 2004 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Here’s a synopsis of the story according to Fictionwise:

An aging widower is visited by John Carter, the main character from Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars, who delivers a cryptic message concerning the fate of his beloved wife.

Complete with music and sound effects, the reading of Resnick's “A Princess of Earth” starts at about the 1-minute mark of the podcast and runs through the 33rd minute.

[via Jesse Willis of SFFaudio]

Looney Tunes: Crazed killer Amy Bishop wrote a novel titled Martians in Belfast

The Boston Globe reports that Amy Bishop, the biology professor at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, who shot three of her colleagues to death last Friday, attended a writers group in the Boston area in the early 1990s in which she wrote a dramatic novel titled Martians in Belfast. According to one member of group, the novel “recounted the life of a girl growing up during the Troubles of Ireland.” No word on whether or not Bishop sports a tattoo of Marvin the Martian.

Interview with author David D. Levine

Hugo Award-winning science fiction author and Portland resident David D. Levine, who recently participated in a two-week simulated Mars mission as a member of Crew 88 at the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, was just interviewed at OregonLive.com. In answering an array of questions, Levine revealed his favorite Martian SF novel: Mars Crossing (2000), by Geoffrey A. Landis!

Gallery of Northwest Smith cover art

I’ve created a gallery on Flickr of English language cover art depicting Northwest Smith, SF and fantasy author C. L. Moore’s beloved 1930s interplanetary space hero, some of whose adventures are set on Mars. Smith has undergone quite a few costume changes over the decades, from stylish threads in the 1950s, through a cape-and-tights get-up in the 1970s, to a punkish Sid Vicious look of just a few years ago.

“Mars is -- Hell!” a 1950 promotional piece by Forrest J Ackerman

Over at the Internet Archive, you can read or download the November 1950 issue of Planet Stories magazine, which contains “Mars is -- Hell!” a humorous promotional piece written by the late Forrest J Ackerman for the film Rocketship X-M (1950). Here are the opening lines of Ackerman's promo:

ACCORDING to an often reprinted story by Ray Bradbury, "Mars Is Heaven,” but according to the new scientifilm, Rocketship X-M, Mars is quite the opposite; in fact, the Warrior Planet is found to have lived up to its name, and an atomic Armageddon has destroyed its civilization! ...

“Mars is -- Hell!” was reprinted in Martianthology (2003), an anthology compiled by Ackerman and edited by Anne Hardin.

Pictured: Promotional poster for Rocketship X-M.

[via Tinkoo Valia of Variety SF]

Macmillan author and elitist Douglas Preston makes huge impact in dispute over ebook prices

Macmillan author and intellectual elitist Douglas Preston (born in The People’s Republic of Cambridge, grew up in the wealthy suburb of Wellesley, Mass., attended a swanky private high school in nearby Weston), whose new Mars-related novel Impact hit #4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction bestseller list earlier this year, has made a huge impact in the growing conflagration over ebook prices with these asinine remarks, quoted in a recent article in the Times:

“The sense of entitlement of the American consumer is absolutely astonishing,” said Douglas Preston, whose novel Impact reached as high as No. 4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction best-seller list earlier this month. “It’s the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It’s this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.”

Not surprisingly, Preston has tried to dull his comments by posting this piece on his website:

An open letter to our readers:

We have watched, with interest and no small amount of alarm, the recent struggles between publishers and eBook retailers. We thought it might help if we explained our position. We, as writers, have no real say in the matter, and no real influence on either side of the issue. We, like you, are caught in the middle. What we want is simple. We want to write the best books we can for you to enjoy; for our publishers to make available to you in the format in which you prefer to read them; and at a fair price that enables us to write future novels while keeping the publishers and the Amazons, Apples, Barnes & Nobles and WalMarts of this world in business. From our perspective, the most important element in all this is you, the reader. Without you, the Preston-Child books would not exist, and it is to you that we owe our first and greatest allegiance -- on this issue and, in fact, all related issues.

Unfortunately, Preston's attempt at damage control is not working. Just read some of these comments posted on Amazon in the review section for Preston’s new novel:

• "Dear Mr. Preston, I was so looking forward to reading your new book, Impact but couldn't have been more disappointed to learn that the kindle release has been delayed... so that you can sell more hardcover books. Then I read your comments on the American consumer."

• "This is just another mediocre novel written by a production author with more interest in padding his pocket book then producing a quality product. Truly a waste of time and money... delete this book from your list."

• "This is a substandard product done by a greedy man. It reminds me of the greedy bankers that pay themselves bonuses after someone bails them out of the mess they made. This is the greed factor. The fiction produced by the bankers was actually superior to Mr. Preston's."

• "I agree there is a sense of entitlement in this country, but there is also a sense of greed from writers and publishers. I won't be buying your books again."

• "This author has no sense of how mass consumer mentality can make or break a product. I have been an avid e-book reader but i only purchased books which cost 9.99 or less. I either buy a book at this price or totally opt out. Authors should evolve into this new model or will soon become extinct. Power to the Readers !!!!"

Keep up the good work, Hoss!

The Martian Wave is forecast for summer 2010

Speculative fiction author Lawrence Dagstine reports that the premiere issue of The Martian Wave is scheduled to be published this summer by Sam’s Dot Publishing. Formerly a quarterly webzine of “interplanetary stories, space opera, astronaut tales, and fiction about intergalactic exploration,” The Martian Wave has been recast as a semi-annual print magazine. The first issue will include a short story by Dagstine titled “The Great Martian Depression.”

Giveaway: Dr. Who “The Waters of Mars” DVD

The movie review website Week in Rewind is giving away three copies of the BBC’s acclaimed Doctor Who television special, “The Waters of Mars” (2009) on DVD, Set on the Red Planet in the year 2059, "The Water of Mars" stars British Actor David Tennant as the Doctor and acclaimed Scottish actress Lindsay Duncan as his companion. The DVD also includes a 60-minute, behind-the-scenes look at the making of "The Waters of Mars." Check Week in Rewind for giveaway details. The deadline is March 30, 2010.

Take the Mars movie Poly Sci-Fi quiz!

I have put together a short Mars movie political science fiction quiz based on Federal Election Commission records retrieved through NewsMeat, “America’s most popular campaign donor search engine.” There are only five questions. Unfortunately, you would have to be a real political junkie like NPR's Ken Rudin to answer all of them correctly!

Grand Master Joe Haldeman explains origin of his 2008 novel Marsbound

SciFi Bookshelf has an interesting interview with newly crowned SFWA Grand Master Joe Haldeman. While the bulk of the interview revolves around Haldeman’s new book, Starbound (2010), the masterful award-winning science fiction author does take a few moments to explain the origin of his 2008 novel Marsbound.

Joe Haldeman: Marsbound started off as a stand-alone novel. I'd written the novella "The Mars Girl" for a Dozois/Dann anthology of Young Adult sf stories, and I wrote it with the idea of expanding it into a YA novel. I used the novella to pitch the story to a YA editor, and she said no, thanks. (Later she told me she'd been wrong; her daughter read the novella and loved it.)

Interestingly, Haldeman’s LiveJournal entry for February 15th, 2008, describes how he chose the title Marsbound. Other titles he considered included Menace From Mars, Mars Threat, Mars Giveth, and To Mars.

John Carter opts for a low-tax environment

The Denver Post does a fantastic job of explaining why Barsoom Pictures Inc. chose to film part of the long-awaited Disney/Pixar film John Carter of Mars (2012) in Utah instead of Colorado. Surprisingly, it all revolves around tax incentives, not literacy tests or a fear of illegal aliens. Actress Lynn Collins, who will play the role of Dejah Thoris, is probably relieved to hear that.

Liverpool SF&F book club reviews PKD’s 1964 novel Martian Time-Slip

Waterstone’s Liverpool One Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club in the UK just finished reading and reviewing Philip K. Dick’s trippy 1964 novel Martian Time-Slip, concluding:

“In summary, the novel was largely (but not exclusively) enjoyed, it generated some interesting discussions on time, place and perception (which I cannot hope to do full credit to here -- so please continue the discussions in the comments section below), whilst stylistically awkward, and for some perplexing, the relationships and the manner in which Dick draws his characters was enough of an anchor that many of the readers left the novel feeling satisfied.”

Here’s how nine members of the club scored the novel, on a scale of one to ten: 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, for an average score of 7.

Pictured: 1999 Millennium paperback reprint.

Mammographic Mars art by Coop

Here’s a beautiful piece of Mars art by Coop, the infamous hot rod artist: Sexy Martian Alien Woman on Rocket with Ponytail. It's a 4 7/8" by 5 3/8" decal that’s ideal for truck windows, gun racks, skateboards, laptops, SF books, school binders and more! An industrial coating helps this well-endowed babe withstand washings and outdoor use!

Who Moved My Buy Button? is Authors Guild’s latest attempt to separate authors from works

Freakonomics, the well-known blog maintained by The New York Times, has an interesting post about the Authors Guild’s new anti-Amazon Who Moved My Buy Button? project, noting that the Guild “plainly views Amazon as something less than a trusted partner.” Hilarious, considering that the Guild, which represents a mere 8,000 authors, conspired with its publishing allies to sell the copyrighted works of tens of thousands of non-Guild authors to Google for $125 million. At first glance, Who Moved My Buy Button? seems like a benevolent attempt by the Guild to monitor the activities of Amazon. But a closer look reveals that the project is nothing more than the latest attempt by the Guild to separate non-member authors from their written works by assuming an ill-defined custodial role over ISBNs.

New flash fiction: “Joyride” by James C. Clar

AntipodeanSF, an Australian website, has a new piece of flash fiction titled “Joyride,” by James C. Clar. It’s about a NASA rover that disappears after landing on Mars. Here is the opening line: “The excitement and anticipation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena were palpable.”

Tinkoo Valia of the blog Variety SF rates “Joyride” a B and notes that it may have been inspired by, but not plagiarized from, Larry Niven’s 1974 piece of flash fiction, “Plaything.”

Events of Martian Rails: The Terrans Cometh!

Martian Rails (2009), the board game by Mayfair Games about railroading on the Red Planet in which players build tracks and haul freight, has a long list of events that players can respond to in order to generate revenue for their rail companies. For example:

The Terrans Cometh! -- The hungry refugees from Earth need to be fed. Sam Parkhill, CEO of Sam’s Hotdogs, will pay for the first delivery of Bachelor Chow and Soylent Red to the corporate headquarters in Hinkston Creek.

Martian Rails is loaded with references to Martian SF!

10 Stories you wouldn’t know are Martian Science Fiction, Volume 5

This is Volume 5 of a project whose goal is to compile a long list of stories you wouldn’t know are about Mars or Martians by simply reading the titles. Some of the stories you can read online or purchase through sites such as Fictionwise, but most you cannot. The Locus Index to Science Fiction and the Internet Speculative Fiction Database are good tools for obtaining citations that you can take to your local library. If your library does not have the anthology or magazine mentioned in the citation, ask your librarian about an “Interlibrary Loan Request.” I’ve been able to borrow old anthologies and get photocopies of stories from old pulp magazines with few problems.

Here are the ten stories that comprise Volume 5:

Review: Forthcoming reprint of Ian McDonald’s 2001 novel Ares Express

Publishers Weekly has a positive review of Pyr’s forthcoming reprint of British science fiction author Ian McDonald’s 2001 novel Ares Express, concluding “McDonald’s fantastic Mars is vividly detailed and owes much to Bradbury’s Martian stories. Despite a bit of hand waving around technology that is glibly indistinguishable from magic, this sequel is entirely worthy of its rightly lauded predecessor." The follow-up to Desolation Road (1988; Pyr 2009), McDonald’s acclaimed debut novel, Ares Express is scheduled to be released in April 2010.

Pictured: Cover for Ares Express (2010).

Comic adaptation of Fredric Brown’s 1955 novel Martians, Go Home shelved

Sad news from artist Mike Manley. Martians, Go Home, a new six-issue comic book adaptation of science fiction author Fredric Brown’s classic 1955 paranoia Sci-Fi novel, has been shelved because of the “shitty economy.” Written by Martin Powell and illustrated by Manley, the first issue was scheduled to be released by Sequential Pulp Comics a few weeks ago. Hopefully, when the economic picture improves, the project can be brought to fruition. Meanwhile, check out some of the beautiful artwork that Manley, a fan of artist Kelly Freas, created for Issue #1.

SF&F writers will be well represented at GBS fairness hearing on February 18th

New York Law School Professor James Grimmelmann of the blog The Laboratorium reports that United States District Court Judge Denny Chin has announced the line-up of twenty-six individuals and groups who have requested to speak at the Google Books Search settlement fairness hearing on February 18th in New York City. Speaking in opposition to the proposed settlement, we have lawyers for Amazon at the #3 spot (shhh!), followed by the attorney representing SFWA and the American Society of Journalists and Authors at #4 (yeahhh!), with esquire Cindy Cohen of the Electronic Frontier Foundation speaking on behalf of the “Privacy Authors and Publishers” (Michael Chabon, Cory Doctorow, Annalee Newitz) in the #7 slot (boooo!). Rumor has it that the proceedings will be accompanied by Authors Guild executive director Paul Aiken on the organ.

“Rule 18,” a 1938 Earth-Mars football story by Clifford D. Simak

Originally published in the July 1938 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, “Rule 18” was the first short story author Clifford D. Simak wrote for editor John W. Campbell. Set in the year 2479, the story's plot revolves around the annual Earth-Mars football game, in which Earth’s coach cheats by using a time tunnel to recruit players from the past. According to When the Fires Burn High and the Wind Is from the North: The Pastoral Science Fiction of Clifford D. Simak (2006), by Robert J. Ewald:

“Rule 18” did not make very much impact on the readers, except for its influence on an eighteen-year-old fan and budding writer named Isaac Asimov. Asimov, in a letter to Brass Tacks, gave “Rule 18” a very low rating for its “incoherent” style. He received a letter from Simak asking for details so that Simak could profit from Asimov’s criticism. Asimov, on a closer rereading, found nothing wrong except for Simak’s technique of writing the story in separate scenes without explicit transitional passages. He wrote Simak to explain and apologize, then adopted the same device in his own stories. He also made use of what he called Simak’s “cool, unadorned style," and later credited Simak with being the major influence on his style.

According to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, Simak's "Rule 18" has never been reprinted.

“The Poets of Mars,” a new piece of flash fiction by Ian Sharman

The blog Elephant Words, where short fiction is based upon images, has a new piece of flash fiction titled “The Poets of Mars” (2010), by British writer Ian Sharman. Based upon the photo “Mission Bar,” here are the opening lines: “The Mission Bar was one of the most notorious drinking establishments on Mars.”

Animated SF rom-com movie Mars to premiere at SXSW Film Festival

Texas filmmaker Geoff Marlett’s animated science fiction romantic-comedy movie Mars will premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin in mid-March. A Swerve Pictures production told in the style of a graphic novel, the film stars Mark Duplass, Zoe Simpson and Cynthia Watros as three astronauts on the first manned mission to Mars, during which they experience “life threatening accidents, self doubts, obnoxious reporters, and the boredom of extended space travel.” Here’s the trailer:

MARS - The Movie [HD Trailer] from Geoff Marslett on Vimeo.

Macmillan CEO’s home in Brooklyn once owned by JFK assassination photo expert

According to New York City public records (ACRIS) and other online sources, Macmillan CEO John Sargent’s $3.8 million home at 37 Garden Place in Brooklyn was once owned by renowned photographer David B. Eisendrath, who served as a consultant in technical and scientific photography to the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA, Reports) in the mid 1970s. Eisendrath lived at 37 Garden Place, a brownstone built in 1901, for several decades until his death in 1988. His widow, Barbara T. Eisendrath, sold the house to John Sargent and his wife Connie in 1992.