So I was reading the new issue of Entertainment Weekly the other day. In it, I was reading their article about some forthcoming things, movies, books, etc. In July, it seems, there’s a new movie about clones coming out called The Island, directed by Michael Bay, he of the kinetic action thriller (plot & characterization optional) extravaganza. Mr. Bay is quoted as saying “It’s weird to say it’s a movie about clones. I don’t even like the word clones. It makes it sound really geeky. But the movie’s not geeky in any way.”

Is it just me, or does hearing the director of a SF movie say he thinks the word “clones” makes his clone movie sound “geeky”…well, let’s just say it doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence. Not that I had any hope of a Michael Bay movie being good, but, well… can expectations be lowered past rock-bottom?

But anyway, since we’re all geeks here, I’m sure we all know there’s good geeky and there’s bad geeky. And based on Mr. Bay’s quote, one thing’s for sure: his clone movie will be geeky, and in the worst possible way.

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We’re acquiring stories like mad, mad I tell you! On Thursday, we did the acquisitions for this month. We bought new stuff from: Geoff Ryman, Dale Bailey, Bruce McAllister (2 stories), Harry Turtledove (political satire), Gardner Dozois, Matthew Hughes (a Guth Bandar yarn), and Albert Cowdrey. And to top things off, another new slush survivor: Matthew Corradi.

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Just a quick note to say that I’m planning to attend Lunacon (March 18-20) and Readercon (July 8-10) this year. Adjust your worshipping schedule accordingly.

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I picked up a copy of the excellent NEFSA Press Corwainer Smith collection, The Rediscovery of Man. Much to my shame, I’d previously only read what are Smith’s two most well-known stories, “Scanners Live in Vain” and “A Game of Rat and Dragon.” I’m never sure how I’ll react to a collection like this one, but I’m quite enjoying it thus far; I’m only a quarter of the way through with it, but I’ve already found several stories that I thought to be the equal of the two aforementioned celebrated tales. I especially liked “The Lady Who Sailed The Soul” and “Think Blue, Count Two.” If you want to learn more about Smith, check out his official website, maintained by his daughter, at http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/index.htm. You can even order a Cordwainer Smith t-shirt!

But speaking of “Scanners Live in Vain,” what’s the deal with that word, “Scanners,” anyway? There are at least three prominent examples I can think of it being used in SF: “Scanners Live in Vain,” Phil Dick’s A Scanner Darkly, and David Cronenburg’s film, Scanners. None of these stories are related in any way, yet they all use this same term. Isn’t that odd?

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On Monday, I went to a reading in the city, part of the New York Review of Science Fiction reading series, held every month at The South Street Seaport Museum’s Melville Gallery. I attended the reading to see my friend and colleague John Langan, but much to my delight the other reader on the ticket turned out to be none other than Samuel R. Delany, so that was a nice surprise.

John read a section from one of his novels-in-progress (he’s working on two simultaneously…I really want to read the first one but he’s put off finishing it to work on this new one, grumble grumble). Chip Delany, meanwhile, gave a rousing performance of his classic from Dangerous Visions, “Aye, and Gomorrah…”

Afterward, a few of us went out for dinner. Chip couldn’t make it, but Gordon, David Barr Kirtley, Amy Goldschlager, Jim Freund, John Langan, and I all went to a little Irish pub around the corner. Topics of discussion included Jeff VanderMeer’s non-fiction collection, the merits of Michael Chabon, and the possibility of digitizing Jim Freund’s incredible audio history of SF…which is all stored on old analog reels in his basement.

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I woke up this morning to the news radio informing me of the tidal wave in Asia that killed more than 20,000 people. Needless to say, a great tragedy.

We in the SF community can at least be thankful that Sir Arthur C. Clarke was unharmed (he lives in Sri Lanka). Both Josepha Sherman and Allen Steele reported on SFF.net that they’d received word that Clarke was okay. I know a lot of people have expressed concern for him on various message boards, so please do pass along the news.

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So, this month we acquired new stories from Matthew Hughes (a new Henghis Hapthorn adventure), two new pieces by Robert Reed, a hard SF story from Mary Rosenblum, a literary tale of quantum mechanics from Eugene Mirabelli, and another new story from last month’s slush survivor Mike Shultz, who seems to be striking while the iron is hot.

Nothing else new to report. Happy holidays, everyone!

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On the Nightshade Message Board, Jonathan Strahan posted his favorites of the year, which prompted me to do the same. I reproduce my comments here for further discussion. I’ve expanded my list a bit to include a few more categories.

Note that I’ve chosen not to include F&SF stories in my list in the interest of fair play, but feel free to include them in your own lists, which I hope to see posted in response to this one.

Favorite Novel
Market Forces, Richard K. Morgan (Gollancz)

Favorite Collection
Trujillo, Lucius Shepard (PS Publishing)

Favorite Anthology
The Faery Reel, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling eds. (Viking)

Favorite Fantasy Short Story
“The Annals of Eelin-Ok” by Jeff Ford (The Faery Reel)

Favorite Science Fiction Short Story
“Shadow Twin” by Gardner Dozois, George R. R. Martin, & Daniel Abraham (SciFiction)

Favorite Horror Short Story
“Hands Up! Who Wants to Die” by Lucius Shepard (Night Terrors 11)

Favorite SF/F/H Publication
SciFiction, Ellen Datlow, ed.

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Oh, one more quick thing to report…

There was a slush discovery this month. We bought “Old as Books” from Mike Shultz, a newish writer who has had one previous sale to Black Gate. So I guess I can’t claim all the credit for discovering him, but I did read the story, saw that it was good, and passed it along to the man who signs the checks.

Sorry to disappoint those who thought that the title of this post was referring to a new reality TV show in which slush writers try to out-write, out-revise, and out-format each other (with the winner, of course, not winning a million dollars, but publication in a fine literary journal of the fantastic).

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I was reading something this weekend that got me interested in Mensa. I was curious just how smart you needed to be to get into it. It’s pretty intimidating — only like the top 2% of the highest IQs get in.

On their website, there’s a “workout” quiz, which you can take as practice before taking a real IQ test, and you can use it to gauge how well you might do. It’s at http://www.mensa.org/workout.php.

I did better than I thought I would. I’ve never considered analytical thinking to be the strongest part of my intelligence (I always thought of myself as more of a knowledge guy). But I got 24 out of 30 correct, and the results page said “That is a very good score, you would have a good chance of passing the Mensa test.” I was pleased at how some of them came to me almost instantly, and then satisfied when I worked out some of them that I didn’t immediately recognize. I think the only sad thing about it is that three of the questions I missed were word-related (not math-related). Two were straight up word scrambles, and one was a different sort of scramble, and I just didn’t even really understand how I was supposed to unscramble it (once I saw the answer sheet, it made complete sense, and I felt slightly stupid).

I used a calculator to help me with the math problems, assuming that was okay. If it’s not, I don’t think I’d be able to pass it (I can’t do complex math functions in my head, or perhaps I’m just too lazy to do it). Oh, and it says to take 30 minutes to do it, and to time yourself and be honest. Well, I totally blew the time limit. Took me about an hour actually to do it. What? It isn’t enough to be smart, but you have to be smart *fast* too? Sheesh.

Kinda made me want to play Trivia Pursuit or something.

Oh, and yes, I realize I haven’t blogged in a quite a while (sorry, kittens!), and that a ramble about Mensa is not what you folks are looking for from me. But hopefully more will be forthcoming soon.

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