Today is author Samuel R. Delany’s 75th birthday.
Heartfelt congratulations and many happy returns, sir!
Image: Samuel R. Delany “The Star Pit” 40th Anniversary 2007-10-02 by Houari B. on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Author: Eppu
Speculative Stories Online: Finnish Weird
Finnish Weird is a recent project to publish new Finnish speculative fiction in English. Published yearly by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society and edited by Toni Jerrman, the issues are available online for free to read or download as either epub or pdf.
Each volume contains feature articles well as short stories by big-name authors such as Anne Leinonen, Leena Likitalo, Johanna Sinisalo, Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, Maria Turtschaninoff, and others. At this writing, the fourth issue (2017) has just been released.
Author Johanna Sinisalo introduces the project and the style suomikumma (“Finnish weird”) in the inaugural 2014 issue:
“After barely a couple of hundred years of written literary tradition and decades of gatekeepers who have shunned works including elements of fantasy as cheap escapism, Finnish writers now create fiction that is a phenomenal mixture of sf, fantasy, horror, surrealism, magic realism – you name it. It’s highly original, fresh and surprising, sometimes it celebrates elements of our rich folklore and mythos, sometimes it soars sky-high in sf worlds, sometimes the stories are almost realistic, but have that little weirdness or twist that makes them something other than mimetic writing.
[…]
“I’m not trying to say that we Finns reinvented the wheel – new weird – and are trying to claim it as our own, not at all. What I am saying is that Scandinavian countries did not invent crime stories either, but in the wake of the international success of detective and crime fiction from Sweden, Norway, etc., ‘Nordic Noir’ has become a label for a certain quality of story. In my opinion, the label ‘Finnish Weird’ is also a brand – a brand that promises a roller-coaster ride of highly original prose from very diverse writers with truly personal styles. We are weird and very proud of it.”
Images via Finnish Weird
Western Asian Science Fictional Art
Omar Gilani is an illustrator, designer, and concept artist currently based in Pakistan. Not all of his art has sci-fi elements, but the pieces that do are amazing. Take a look:
The engineer-turned-artist takes inspiration from everyday life and combines traditional drawing with digitally created elements.
I am very sorry I found out about his work only a day(!) after the Hugo nomination period closed. Well, hopefully he’ll continue producing genre art so I can nominate him next year.
Found via Islam and Science Fiction.
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Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.
A Hannu Rajaniemi Standalone to Come in August 2017
Mathematician and author Hannu Rajaniemi, known for his Jean le Flambeur series, will publish a new novel later this year.
Called Summerland, the novel is a standalone and sounds like a mix of ghost and spy stories:
“Loss is a thing of the past. Murder is obsolete. Death is just the beginning.
“In 1938, death is no longer feared but exploited. Since the discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, a metropolis for the recently deceased.
Yet Britain isn’t the only contender for power in this life and the next. The Soviets have spies in Summerland, and the technology to build their own god.
“When SIS agent Rachel White gets a lead on one of the Soviet moles, blowing the whistle puts her hard-earned career at risk. The spy has friends in high places, and she will have to go rogue to bring him in.
“But how do you catch a man who’s already dead?”
Summerland will be published at the end of August.
Having read the Jean le Flambeur trilogy, though, “ghost and spy story” is a woefully flat and utterly inadequate description. I’ve no doubt Rajaniemi will again produce something extraordinary. I’m looking forward to reading this particular fellow Finn again.
Image: Summerland cover by Jeffrey Alan Love via Gollancz
Johanna Sinisalo on the 2016 James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List
Finnish author Johanna Sinisalo’s novel The Core of the Sun (Auringon ydin, translated by Lola Rogers) made it onto the 2016 James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List.
The James Tiptree Jr. Award is a juried award presented annually to works of science fiction or fantasy that explore and expand the understanding of gender and gender roles. In addition to selecting the winners, the jury chooses a Tiptree Award Honor List. The Honor List is a strong part of the award’s identity and is used by many readers as a recommended reading list.
Onnea! That’s fantastic news. Earlier, The Core of the Sun was also voted onto the BSFA Awards 2016 longlist for best novel. Sounds like a very good year for the book.
The Award announcement has several books that I’ve already read or that are on my TBR pile. I might also have to check out some of the others; several sound interesting.
Image via Amazon
Happy Twentieth Anniversary, Buffy!
“Welcome to the Hellmouth,” the first episode of Joss Whedon’s cult series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, premiered on March 10th 1997. Happy twentieth anniversary, Buffy!
Here are a few of our favorite Buffy episodes or moments.
One of the better-executed truly creepy episodes I’ve seen is “Hush,” season 4, episode 10.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer | The gentlemen via SpookyTube
“Once More, with Feeling,” the musical episode (s. 6, ep. 7), is so much fun despite its cheesiness! Also has one of my favorite throw-away scenes ever: “They got the mustard ooooooouuut!”
They Got The Mustard Out! via PrincePrimeval
In “Grave” (s. 6, ep. 22), Xander saves dark Willow, who’s about to destroy the world, without any superhuman powers by reminding her of their friendship.
Xander saves Willow via ChrisPhaleus
Buffy’s speech to potential slayers and allies before the final battle in “Chosen” (s. 7, ep. 22) is also epic.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer – 7×22 – Chosen – Speach [sic] via Tito Luiz Pereira
“In every generation, one Slayer is born, because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. This woman [points to Willow] is more powerful than all of them combined. So I say we change the rule. I say my power, should be our power. Tomorrow, Willow will use the essence of the scythe to change our destiny. From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers, every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?”
What are your favorite Buffy memories?
In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.
Quotes: Stereotypes … Sometimes Bear Truth’s Imprint
“Stereotypes are untrue. Sometimes, though, they bear truth’s imprint. Sometimes they spring up from what truth has crushed down. As they manifest they can co-opt and mispurpose inescapable realities.”
– Nisi Shawl in the introduction to Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam
I’ve been thinking of reductivism lately and, serendipitously, found more food for thought in my fiction reading.
Shawl, Nisi. “Annunciation” (introduction). In Ancient, Ancient by Salaam, Kiini Ibura. Seattle, WA: Aqueduct Press, 2012.
Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.
Online Finds: Trappist-1 Illustrations
A NASA Tumblr post about the newly found exoplanets in the Trappist-1 system included fantastic artist’s renderings of what the system and the planets might look like.
“The planets also are very close to each other. How close? Well, if a person was standing on one of the planet’s surface, they could gaze up and potentially see geological features or clouds of neighboring worlds, which would sometimes appear larger than the moon in Earth’s sky.”
One is even a retro-style travel poster! (See other NASA retro travel posters here.)
Love ’em! Find more at NASA on Tumblr!
Note: I wasn’t paid or perked to mention this; just passing along a good thing.
Images by NASA, via the NASA Tumblr blog.
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Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.
5,000-Year-Old Beer Comes Alive
How would you like to make beer and get college credit for it? Students at Stanford got to do just that. Their final project for Professor Li Liu’s course Archaeology of Food: Production, Consumption and Ritual involved practical experiments with ancient brewing techniques and materials. The oldest “recipe” they tried is 5,000 years old:
“Liu, together with doctoral candidate Jiajing Wang and a group of other experts, discovered the 5,000-year-old beer recipe by studying the residue on the inner walls of pottery vessels found in an excavated site in northeast China. The research, which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provided the earliest evidence of beer production in China so far.”
The materials for the ancient Chinese beer contained millet, barley, Job’s tears (Chinese pearl barley), and traces of yam and lily root parts. The students tried other combinations as well. Watch a short video explaining the experiments:
Stanford students recreate 5,000-year-old Chinese beer recipe by Stanford
Professor Liu’s research also shows it’s possible that barley (a very popular beer grain even today) may have been introduced to China from western Asia hundreds of years before previously thought and specifically for brewing instead of a food crop.
Fascinating! It shows that as long as we have records—or material remnants, not just written word—there have been people interested in the minutiae of food and food production. I for one am grateful to be able to enjoy the fruits of such a long history of delicious experiments.
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Geeks eat, too! Second Breakfast is an occasional feature in which we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!
Quotes: It Is Dangerous to Build
“It is dangerous to build. Once you have built something–something that takes all your passion and will–it becomes more precious to you than your own happiness. You don’t realize that, while you are building it. That you are creating a martyrdom–something which, later, will make you suffer.”
– Sofia Samatar: A Stranger in Olondria
That which we deeply care about always has a chance to destroy us.
Samatar, Sofia: A Stranger in Olondria. Easthampton, MA: Small Beer Press, 2013, p. 103.
(This quote comes from my 21 new-to-me SFF authors reading project.)
Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.
