http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/samuel r. delany http://io9.com/tag/samuel r. delany The New York Review of Science Fiction has been a major source of insights into science fiction writing and criticism since 1988, with Hugo nominations every year since 1989. (Among many other fine essays, they published Samuel Delany's essay on racism and science fiction.) Now the Review may be converting to an electronic-only publication, for involuntary reasons. According to an announcement from the editors a couple days ago, the Review's printers, Odyssey Press, were sold, and the printer subsequently "ran out of paper." More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5865729&view=rss&microfeed=true If you're lucky enough to be in New York, then October is going to be a brilliant month for you — the Center for Fiction is putting on a whole month of science fiction and fantasy discussions, in honor of Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea. It's all part of "The Big Read," a month-long program focusing on a single book. More »
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When NPR revealed its list of finalists for its "Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books" survey, we were struck by how diverse and wide-ranging that list was. Now the actual list of the 100 greatest books has been revealed... and it's quite a bit more conservative. More »
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Some of science fiction/fantasy's classic books failed to win over readers at first. And the publishers of some of SF's most beloved works were convinced they had a disaster on their hands. Here are 10 masterpieces that were deemed failures. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5818006&view=rss&microfeed=true Over at Jeff VanderMeer's Ecstatic Days blog, VanderMeer asked his readers to name the "craziest or most experimental" science fiction novels of all time — and the answers are pretty diverse and fascinating. If you've been feeling the need for more novels along the lines of Dhalgren or House of Leaves, you could do worse than sifting through the lengthy comment thread on VanderMeer's post. There's a pretty great reading list in the making over there. [Ecstatic Days] More »
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We've been dying to read Samuel R. Delany's Through The Valley of the Nest of Spiders since we talked to him about it a couple years ago. So we were disappointed when his publisher ran aground. More »
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A ship plunges boldly into the swirling eye of an event horizon, criss-crossed by a searing beam of purple light. What happens next? It's the sort of tantalizing image that leaves you dreaming — and desperate to read the book that the image adorns. More »
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When Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren was first published, it was listed as "a Frederik Pohl selection." Now at last, Pohl blogs about how he acquired a book that 20 or 30 publishers had rejected, and helped make it a success. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5731324&view=rss&microfeed=true We were excited to read Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders, Samuel R. Delany's next novel which starts in 2007 and covers the relationship between two men over a 70-year period. But it turns out the troubles at publisher Alyson Books have put him back to square one — Delany tells us his agent is shopping the novel around to publishers once again. More »
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Science fiction's greatest authors have brilliant ideas, storytelling mojo... and plenty of stubbornness. Many of the field's greatest writers were buried in rejection slips, before they finally broke in. Here are 15 classic novels that publishers didn't want to touch. More »
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Some of science fiction/fantasy's classic books failed to win over readers at first. And the publishers of some of SF's most beloved works were convinced they had a disaster on their hands. Here are 10 masterpieces that were deemed failures. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5663136&view=rss&microfeed=true Two of the field's most respected authors will receive recognition for the ways in which they transformed science fiction. Samuel R. Delany and Harlan Ellison will receive, respectively, the 2010 and 2011 Eaton Awards for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction from the University of California, Riverside. Ellison will accept his award at the 2011 Eaton Science Fiction Conference in February. Says conference organizer and associate English professor Rob Latham: More »
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We've been excited about Samuel R. Delany's new novel, Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders, since we talked to him about it a year ago. And now, at last, you can read an excerpt from it online. More »
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Scientists now believe there's a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. But back in the day, we dreamed the galactic center held God's home planet. Or a super-civilization. What else did science-fiction authors think we'd find there? More »
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William Gibson shares his dearest science fiction novels with New York Magazine. The best is his blurb for Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren. "It won't work unless you can allow it to become your head for a few weeks." [via DisInfo] More »
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It's a massive behemoth and possibly the closest thing you could imagine to an unfilmable novel. But starting tomorrow, New York City's The Kitchen is doing a stage play of Samuel R. Delany's challenging Dhalgren. Have they gone mad? More »
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A truly great infodump is a work of art. The best science fiction authors can brief you on everything you need to know about their worlds, without making you feel lectured. Here are 20 great examples of the smooth infodump. More »
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You think your love affair is long lasting? Your romance is but an eyeblink compared to that of the characters in Samuel R. Delany's new novel — which is finally coming out this fall. More »
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Of all the alternate worlds we're dying to visit, the greatest is that mythical room containing every book that was never written. Here are the dozen unfinished novels by science fiction's greatest authors, that we wish we could read. More »
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Samuel R. Delany has been away from science fiction for over twenty years — and now he's coming back to it, sort of. His new novel Through The Valley Of The Nest Of Spiders is an introspective future history. More »
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Some of our favorite science fiction authors appear to have left SF behind, after creating stories that live with us forever. We asked Nicola Griffith, Karen Joy Fowler, Samuel R. Delany and Mary Doria Russell why they left the genre. More »
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Sex and science fiction have not always been the most obvious partners; combining the two has occasionally defeated even the genre's greatest luminaries. But here are ten authors who successfully brought sex into the future. More »
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People always say the story is the most important thing in good science fiction. But excessively "plot-driven" science fiction is dismissed as mindless or worse. What's the difference between story and plot anyway? More »
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Samuel Delany not only helped redefine science fiction, he's one of a few SF writers who teach writing at the college level. So I was excited to see he'd written a book about writing. More »
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When will "the literary establishment" start taking science fiction more seriously? Everybody from Michael Chabon to David Hartwell wants to know. But would most readers really be happy if science fiction actually became more literary? Here's our list of things that might change about science fiction if it took on more literary pretensions. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5050871&view=rss&microfeed=true I'm supposed to talk to Samuel R. Delany, award-winning author of Dhalgren, later today or possibly over the weekend. Are there any burning questions you've always wished someone would ask him? (That aren't rude or disrespectful, natch.) If so, please post them in the comment thread, and I'll try and pose them when I have him on the phone. More »
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