There's a must-read interview with legendary Cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling over at FortyKey, where Cory Doctorow, Paul Di Filippo and a bunch of other people ask him questions about writing and the future. In particular, Di Filippo asks him what his strategy would be for breaking in as a new science fiction writer in …

The finalists for the 2009 Sidewise Awards, honoring the best in alternate history, have been announced. And just in case the version of you in this universe hasn't already read the novel and five short stories, here's your primer.

Paul Di Filippo, whose Steampunk Trilogy originally made me fall in love with the subgenre, surveys the state of steampunk literature, and he is pleased. In his witty essay, he points to Monty Python's Terry Gilliam as a steampunk progenitor.

If you believe in reading short fiction for pleasure, you're condemned to frequent disappointment. Most short fiction, even the good stuff, is... laborious. So when reading the anthology Eclipse Three, you may be startled at the unexpected sensation of enjoyment.

This may be the best era for original anthologies since the days of Dangerous Visions. Jonathan Strahan announced the final list of contributors for Eclipse 3, and it's made of want. Other anthologies promise down-and-dirty werewolves, and stellar flash fiction.

Can't wait for Watchmen? Spend your afternoon reading superhero stories online. The Free SF Reader updated its homepage, and there's a whole "superhero" section, including stories by Paul Di Filippo, Jonathan Lethem and Kelly Link.

A new anthology gives some hints at the cutting edge of storytelling about artificial intelligences. We Think Therefore We Are, just out from Daw, includes a number of brilliant concepts amidst mostly lukewarm writing.

If you really loved your loved ones, you'd get them Cosmocopia by Paul Di Filippo, with illustrations by Jim Woodring. It's that rare thing: an art book that makes your brain burst. NSFW pic below.