Five Mars SF&F guys who committed suicide

Guess who?
1. James Ashmore Creelman (1894-1941) Hollywood film writer whose credits include King Kong (1933) and The Journey to Mars (1936).

2. Thomas Disch (1940-2008) Science fiction author and poet whose works include the children’s book The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1988).

3. Gray Morrow (1934-2001) Illustrator of paperback book covers and comics whose works include the cover art for the 1966 editions of the trilogy Warriors of Mars, Blades of Mars, Barbarians of Mars by Michael Moorcock.

4. H. Beam Piper (1904-1964) Science fiction author whose works include the classic short story “Omnilingual” (1957).

5. Wally Wood (1927-1981) Comic book writer and artist whose works include “Spawn of Mars” (1951) and the concept roughs for the famed 1962 Topps Mars Attacks trading cards.

Dejah fails to crack Top 1000 popular baby names for 9th consecutive year

According to data for 2009 just released by the U.S. Social Security Administration, the female name Dejah failed to make the list of the Top 1000 popular baby names for the ninth consecutive year. Here’s all the info on Dejah, going back 100 years:

Year of birth / Rank in Top 1000

• 2000 -- #927
• 1999 -- #672
• 1998 -- #784
• 1996 -- #983

Wonder what’s going to happen in 2012!

Journalist Michael Kinsley: 12 reasons why Publishers Row has high overhead costs

In response to a recent article published in The New York Times about the math of e-book publishing, Michael Kinsley, an editor at Atlantic Media Company, former editor of The New Republic, founding editor of Slate, and a former panelist on television’s Crossfire, has presented 12 reasons why Macmillan and the other large houses down on Publishers Row have such high overhead expenses, thus prohibiting them from making e-books more affordable for working class families.

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!

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.

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

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:

Five things about Macmillan CEO John Sargent

As a publishing industry outsider, I’m embarrassed to admit that before last weekend’s e-book pricing dispute erupted between Internet retailing giant Amazon and publishing behemoth Macmillan, the only John Sargent I had ever heard of was the famous portrait painter, John Singer Sargent. But, in an effort to learn more about Macmillan CEO John Sargent, I surfed over to the publishing house’s website, expecting to find a respectable biography and a decent photo of the guy who made Amazon’s Jeff Bezos blink. Apparently, Macmillan, “the new face of publishing,” doesn’t publish bios of its top executives. So, I had to go compile my own biographical notes on John Sargent. Here are five interesting things that I learned:

25 notable Mars books of the past decade

After browsing some bibliographies, perusing industry and fan reviews, and reflecting upon my own readings, I’ve put together a list of 25 notable Mars books from the past decade. While I don't consider it to be a “Best of” list, I think most readers of Martian science fiction will agree with about 20 of the 25 titles. Best of success in finding some of these at your local library!

Mission to Mars and Red Planet make John Scalzi’s list of worst SF films of decade

Award-winning science fiction novelist and AMC media critic John Scalzi has posted his list of the Ten Worst SciFi Blockbusters of the '00s.

Both Mission to Mars (2000), starring Gary Sinise, Connie Nielsen, Tim Robbins and Don Cheadle, and Red Planet (2000), starring Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss, Tom Sizemore and Benjamin Bratt, made Scalzi's list.

Pictured: Promotional poster for Red Planet.

[via Charles Tan of SF Signal]

Bob Eggleton one of 50 Best Living SF/F Artists

Congratulations to award-winning science fiction and fantasy artist Bob Eggleton, who was recently named as one of the 50 Best Living SF/F Artists by the British digital art magazine ImagineFX. While Eggleton's artwork has spanned many themes over the years, he has produced quite a few works of Mars art, including the covers of these books:

• Labyrinth of Night (1992), by Allen Steele

• Man O’War (1996), by William Shatner

• Rainbow Mars (1999), by Larry Niven

• Martians and Madness (2002), by Fredric Brown

• The Martian War (2005), by Gabriel Mesta

Eggleton maintains his own website and blogs at Bob’s ART du Jour, where you can browse (and buy) some of his Mars art.

Pictured: The Other in the Mirror (Subterranean Press 2009), an omnibus by Philip José Farmer that contains a reprint of his novel Jesus on Mars (1979). Cover art by Bob Eggleton.

[via John DeNardo of SF Signal]

Lars of Mars makes list of 1000 greatest comics

Jeff Kapalka, a reviewer of comics and video games for the New York website Syracuse.com, is taking complete responsibility for the inclusion of Lars of Mars No. 10 in the new book 1000 Comic Books You Must Read (Krause 2009), by comic writer and columnist Tony Isabella. Attributed to writer Jerry Siegel and artist Murphy Anderson, Lars of Mars No. 10 was published by Ziff-Davis in May 1951 and is really the first issue in this short-lived series. Thanks to the French website GotoMars, you can read beautiful jpegs detailing the exploits of that incredible crusader from another world, Lars of Mars!

Pictured: Lars of Mars No. 10 (May 1951).

All the colors of Mars: A list of 17 works

Many months ago, while perusing science writer Oliver Morton’s brilliant nonfiction work of scientific journalism, Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World (2002), I came across a footnote which mentioned some SF books about Mars that have the names of colors in the titles. Building on Morton's footnote, I've compiled “All the Colors of Mars: A List of 17 Works”:

10 Stories you wouldn’t know are Martian Science Fiction, Volume 4

This is Volume 4 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 4:

10 things Ray Bradbury and Nikki Sixx have in common: #1 – Fascination with fire

#1. Both SF&F author Ray Bradbury and Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx have a fascination with fire.

Ray Bradbury is the author of the gloomy 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, the quintessential work of fiction about censorship, the destruction of knowledge, and the burning of books. Here are the opening lines of Bradbury’s fiery magnum opus:

10 things Ray Bradbury and musician Nikki Sixx have in common: #2 - Opposed to censorship

#2. Both SF&F author Ray Bradbury and Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx are strongly opposed to censorship.

Ray Bradbury has been a longtime opponent of censorship, which he once defined as “when government controls things, and you cannot publish or sell or find in a library the books that you want.” His classic novel Fahrenheit 451 is perhaps the quintessential fictional work about censorship and is read more widely today than when it was first published in 1953.

Bradbury discussed his views on the First Amendment, freedom of expression, and censorship in a 1991 interview with Gauntlet, a publication devoted to the subjects. Here are two excerpts from the interview:

5 things the field of Martian SF needs

1. A full-length biography of Leigh Brackett

2. Kim Stanley Robinson to establish a blog

3. Caitlín R. Kiernan to excavate her long lost novella “The Dinosaurs of Mars,” so she can bring it to life

4. An artist to create a logo for Sky Mountain Brewery, based on David Lunde’s poem “First Beer on Mars” (2009)

5. Allen Steele to write a sequel to his novel Labyrinth of Night (1992), even if that means communicating with disciples of Richard C. Hoagland

10 things Ray Bradbury and musician Nikki Sixx have in common: #3 - Hate the Internet

#3. Both SF&F author Ray Bradbury and Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx hate the Internet.

Ray Bradbury was quoted in a June 2009 article in The New York Times as saying: “The Internet is a big distraction. Yahoo called me eight weeks ago. They wanted to put a book of mine on Yahoo! You know what I told them? ‘To hell with you. To hell with you and to hell with the Internet.’ It’s distracting. It’s meaningless; it’s not real. It’s in the air somewhere.”

10 things Ray Bradbury and musician Nikki Sixx have in common: #4 - Hollywood Walk of Fame

#4. Both SF&F author Ray Bradbury and Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx are stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Ray Bradbury received the 2,193rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002 for his contributions to literature, film, and television. "I am truly grateful to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame," said Bradbury at the ceremony. "I received so much inspiration from this city that it is a wonderful feeling to be a permanent part of my hometown. I dedicate this landmark to all of my family, friends and fans that have encouraged me throughout the years and I want to thank Mayor Hahn, the City of Los Angeles and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for this honor."

Nikki Sixx does not have his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but Mötley Crüe received the 2,301st star in 2006 for its contribution to music. "We're across the street from the Erotica Museum and Frederick's of Hollywood. This is a perfect place for us to be," Sixx told an estimated 600 screaming fans at the ceremony.

Previous entries on the Ray Bradbury-Nikki Sixx 10 list:

#10. Both are Angelenos who once palled around with a motley crew doing crazy things

#9. Neither attended college

#8. Both are intimately familiar with Playboy magazine

#7. Both created an illustrated man

#6. Both have exploded on stage

#5. Both have had their lives impacted by a horrible car accident

10 things Ray Bradbury and musician Nikki Sixx have in common: #5 - Horrible car accident

#5. Both SF&F author Ray Bradbury and Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx have had their lives impacted by a horrible car accident.

Ray Bradbury has never had a driver’s license or driven a car. Here’s how he explained it in the instrumental 1996 interview with Playboy magazine:

"Playboy: Were you surprised when, after the [1994 Northridge] earthquake, the freeways were rebuilt within a few months?

Bradbury: And almost before anything else? No. Here a human without a car is a samurai without his sword. I would replace cars wherever possible with buses, monorails, rapid trains - whatever is takes to make pedestrians the center of our society again, and cities worthwhile enough for pedestrians to live in. I don't care what people do with their cars, as long as they give them up three quarters of the time - roughly the amount of time people spend every week superfluously driving places they don't want to go to visit people who don't want to see them.

Playboy: That's easy for you to say; you have never driven a car.

Bradbury: Not a day in my life.

Playboy: Why not?

Bradbury: When I was 16, I saw six people die horribly in an accident. I walked home holding on to walls and trees. It took me months to being to function again. So I don't drive. But whether I drive or not is irrelevant. The automobile is the most dangerous weapon in our society - cars kill more than wars do. More than 50,000 people will die this year because of them and nobody seems to notice."

Nikki Sixx was nearly killed in a 1983 car crash while driving home from a party in a drunken stupor. Here's how he described the accident in the book The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band‎ (2002):

"I ran to the wall and scaled it, completely naked. As I dropped down on the other side, I noticed that the stones had cut up my chest and legs, which were trickling blood. Outside, two girls who couldn’t get into the party were waiting in a ’68 Mustang. “Nikki!” they yelled. Fortunately, I always left my keys in my car then – I still do. So I hopped into my Porsche and gassed it down the hill. The Mustang screeched on the gravel and took off after me. I floored it to ninety, looked back to see if I had lost them, and, as I did so, was suddenly thrown against the dashboard. I had crashed into a telephone pole. It was sitting next to me in the car in a decimated passenger seat. If anyone had been sitting there, their head would have been smashed flat. I stepped out of the car, in shock, and stood in front of the steaming mess that was once my true love. It was totaled, useless. The girls who were chasing me were gone, probably more scared than I was. And I was alone – naked, bloody, and dazed. I tried to raise my arm to hitch a ride, but a sharp pain raced from my elbow to my shoulder. I walked to Coldwater Canyon, where an older couple picked me up and, without saying a word about the fact that I was butt-naked, drove me to the hospital. The doctors put my shoulder in a sling – it was dislocated – and sent me home with a bottle of pain pills. I spent the next three days unconscious, whacked out on painkillers. […]

The car crash, combined with everything else creepy and dangerous that had happened to us, brought me back to reality and Lita talked me into backing off my flirtation with Satanism. Instead, heroin began to consume me, first to kill the pain of the shoulder then later to kill the pain of life, which is the pain of not being on heroin.”

Pictured: Cover of Volume 1 of Mötley Crüe’s two-volume CD box set entitled Music to Crash Your Car To (2003-2004). The brainchild of Nikki Sixx, the picture and title are indirect references to lead singer Vince Neil’s 1984 drunken driving accident that killed his passenger, Hanoi Rocks drummer Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley. In response to criticism of the “tasteless and murderous gimmick,” Sixx explained that Music to Crash Your Car To was a "sarcastic statement towards a lifestyle."

Previous entries on the Ray Bradbury-Nikki Sixx 10 list:

#10. Both are Angelenos who once palled around with a motley crew doing crazy things

#9. Neither attended college

#8. Both are intimately familiar with Playboy magazine

#7. Both created an illustrated man

#6. Both have exploded on stage