September 2006 – Page 5 – John Joseph Adams

Archive for September, 2006

War Story Recalls Forever

Today, SCI FI Wire published a piece I wrote about Joe Haldeman’s new story collection, a Separate War.

By now you all have probably heard about the new Star Trek project, in which the TOS episodes will be remastered, with spiffed special effects (like Lucas did with Star Wars, but not quite; think of it as a Lucas-lite overhaul). I know a lot of people will probably be up in arms about this, but I’m cool with it so far. Sounds like they’re not going to monkey with it too much, and if it brings new life to the franchise, then good on them. (I reserve the right to change my opinion after seeing the remasters, of course.)

But while this sounds like a big project that’s going to get people talking…it’s not being broadcast on regular network TV–it’s going to be syndicated (as the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were). So, it’s not exactly expected to be a big hit, I guess. But that’s fine, so long as I can watch it. So where do I watch it? Um…a little help here, Star Trek people. Why in the hell isn’t the TOS Remastered station list available somewhere on StarTrek.com? Oh, and if you go examine the list, you’ll see further evidence of just how small potatoes everyone thinks this is going to be ratings-wise: in the New York area, it’ll be airing on Monday mornings at 3:05 AM.

STRONG MEDICINE book reviews: September 2006

The latest installment of my book review column, STRONG MEDICINE: Books That Cures What Ails You, has just been published in Intergalactic Medicine Show.

In this column, I review Paragaea by Chris Roberson; James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips; and Map of Dreams by M. Rickert.

[Excerpt:] Will our intrepid heroes find the portal home, or will they be stuck on Paragaea forever?

If that last line doesn’t clue you in to the very essence of what Paragaea is all about, then the novel’s subtitle, “A Planetary Romance” (a term harkening back to the days before science fiction was called science fiction), surely will. It’s neo-pulp; that is, it’s written in the tradition of the pulp masters of the past–Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, et al.–but is written in a modern style more accessible to contemporary readers. Roberson knows his pulp well and has fun exploring and reinventing the tropes of that era, and he does so in a fresh, original, and–most importantly–fun way. And like Burroughs’s Barsoom stories, Roberson’s Paragaea is otherworldly swashbuckling action-adventure at its finest.

Go read the review and then come back and tell me how awesome it is.

Inda Returns To Source

Today, SCI FI Wire published a piece I wrote about Sherwood Smith’s new novel, Inda, which is set in the same world as her best-selling young adult novel Crown Duel.

Read the story!

As Ansible Sees Us

In February of last year, I stated it was a goal of mine to get myself quoted in Ansible. I’d hoped to achieve that in the 2005 calendar year, as it was a resolution sort of goal, but mission finally accomplished. I’m quoted in the just-published September 2006 issue, which you can read here.

Carnival Re-Imagines SF Ideas

Today SCI FI Wire published a piece I wrote about Elizabeth Bear’s new novel, Carnival, which she described as resulting from “putting [Joanna Russ’] ‘When It Changed’ and [Robert A. Heinlein’s] Farnham’s Freehold in a box and poking them with sticks until they fought.”

Read the story!

Office Banter

JJA: I’m going down into the dungeon* now.

GVG: Could you bring up a cask of Amontillado?

JJA: For the love of god, Montresor …can’t you get it yourself?

*A/K/A the basement, where we keep our filing.

Hugo Voting Wiki

There’s been some talk on the Emerald City blog about someone taking over Hugo Recommendations for Cheryl once she closes the doors of EC. John Klima, meanwhile, has set up a SF/F Best Editor Wiki to help folks determine who edited what come Hugo voting time.

Might not the best option be a combination of these two ideas? What I think would be ideal is if someone setup a wiki devoted to Hugo eligible works. I know I’ve found it difficult in the past to recall all of what’s been published in a given year, and if I had an easy reference that would make things much simpler. This would be especially useful when it comes to the Dramatic Presentation categories, which I always find difficult to fill out.

A lot of people have been bemoaning the lack of Hugo voting — if you look at the vote tallies, it’s quite appalling to see how few of Worldcon’s some-6,000 attendees actually vote (it’s in the low hundreds in each category) — if this Hugo wiki was setup, and then linked to on the Worldcon/Hugo voting website, perhaps it would encourage more people to participate? Perhaps the current system is just too much work for most fans?

Thoughts? Ideas?