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more about #fantasy braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.: What's confounding about it? more » Guang: ummm.......but when he wrote what he hated, it sold. Then he was a published author and could write what he loved finally, maybe? more » Anekanta - Go Play!: Good advice in any career. Do what you love. Make the thing you think is missing from the world--the thing you yourself would use and enjoy. more » Jim El: Also, originality is important. There are so many copies and rip-offs out there. I have some great visuals and neat twists on archetypical good-guys b... more » MargaretMoony: Didn't someone say once "write the book you want to read?" more » fraying: Charlie: Should that headline be "Don't Write" (instead of "Don't Writing")? more » Moff: See, this is exactly why I started writing coloring books. more » ManchuCandidate: Does this mean I have to quit writing about 18 year old Glitter Covered Vampire Zombie Wizards? more » Wookie1972: I feel a sense of desperation in all this, sort of a feeling of "barbarians at the gate" with the true sci fi fans fretting about all these fantasy f... more » deworde: Sorry, can't help you. In Britain, we have Doctor Who. The entirety of our nation's youth are being quickly re-indoctrinated in to madcap Fantasy with... more » Biku: We already have "urban sci-fi". It's sci-fi like the X-files (to use a tv example) that "normal" people also enjoy because the science part takes a ba... more » Klebert L. Hall: "What's the equivalent "gateway drug" for science fiction?" Star Wars. -Kle. more » toveydag: @Dresan I agree with you to a point about cartoons as the gateway drug (and would amplify it with TV and movies), but it won't work with somebody who... more » Rasselas: I don't mean to strike a needlessly cynical tone, but considering the small population of regular readers of anything in the U.S., much less regular r... more » Dresan: When talking about a gateway drug, one that gets your attention but doesn't necessarily hook you, you gotta talk about the easy and fun stuff. And by... more » Lassus: If we're talking solely books, I'd simply say Asimov is the true science fiction gateway drug. Period. End of story. But even for me, that probably... more » Chip Overclock: Stross' comment about why you can't write near-future SF reminds me why I like William Gibson's more recent novels: he writes about the present, or ev... more » RocktheDebit: We could probably poach a bunch of mystery readers by having... DETECTIVES IN SPACE! Post-scarcity-world crime-solving! Hell, Nora Roberts's "In Dea... more » LittleDragon: I love me some literature gateway drugs. more » MonkeyT: In a lot of ways, Bond (as well as any techno-thriller) is a gateway drug to science fiction. more » -
#freeadvice
Simple But Confounding Advice: Don't Write Stuff You Don't Enjoy Reading
Writer S.C. Butler has some advice that writers everywhere should pay attention to: Write the kinds of books you actually enjoy reading, not the books you think will sell, or the ones you have a killer idea for. More » -
#genres
Urban Fantasy Is A "Gateway Drug." So Does SF Need A Better First High?
Editor Diana Gill calls urban fantasy a "gateway drug" to regular fantasy, because it takes place in the world we know, except that it's laced with magic. This started us wondering: What's the equivalent "gateway drug" for science fiction? More » -
#genres
Is Fantasy The New Literature Of The Future?
Whenever people remark on the fact that fantasy books are slowly eclipsing science fiction, it's viewed as a fear of the future, because fantasy is all about the past, right? Not necessarily, says one blogger. More » -
#books
What Are The Greatest Fantasy Novels Of All Time?
If you could put together the perfect list of great fantasy novels, what would they be? Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians, put together his list and posted about it over on The Week. More » -
#quoteoftheday
Grossman: Failure Of Imagination > Harry Potter
Harry Potter's magic disappeared before the end of his final book, according to fantasy novelist Lev Grossman, and it's all because of happy endings. Spoilers ahead for those who still haven't read the Deathly Hallows! More » -
#madtaxidermy
Taxidermist Brings Flying Monkeys and Frankensquirrels to Unlife
Need an unusual gift for the cryptozoologist in your life? Sculptor Sabrina Brewer's medium is dead animals, which she mixes and matches to create fantastical creatures, from the more traditional griffins and unicorns to El Chupacabra and undead three-headed squirrels. More » -
#urbanfantasy
Urban Fantasy Always Takes Place In Alternate Worlds
Your urban fantasy automatically takes place in an alternate universe, because the existence of supernatural and magical items would alter society fundamentally. At least, that's what Bill Willingham, Jon Courtenay Grimwood and other panelists at World Fantasy 2009 claimed. More » -
#princessfrog
First 5 Minutes Of The Princess And The Frog Is A Love/Hate Experience
As much as I love the hand-drawn beauty that is classic Disney story-telling, it's hard not to let certain Princess And The Frog plot points fog up the animation. But you be the judge: here are the first few minutes. More » -
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#interview
Richard K. Morgan Talks Noir Fantasy
Richard K. Morgan's The Steel Remains blew us away with its nasty slog through a fantasy world where heroes get forgotten, mistreated or queer-bashed. And we were jazzed about the trend of noir fantasy, so we asked Morgan about it. More » -
#chartporn
Is This The Year Urban Fantasy Conquers Science Fiction?
Urban fantasy is swallowing up speculative fiction book sales, according to a new sales chart from Tim Holman, our new favorite chart pornographer. The Orbit Books publisher says that urban fantasy now claims nearly half the SF/F bestselller list. More » -
#chartporn
Proof That Every Fantasy Book Cover Must Contain a Sword
The nerds over at Orbit Books have examined every single fantasy book cover from the past year they could get their hands on, and tallied up the most popular visual elements. Shockingly, unicorns are extremely unpopular in fantasy cover art. More » -
#gentlemenbroncos
Sam Rockwell's Two-Sided Fantasy Hero Blows The Gentlemen Broncos Trailer Away
We never really understood what Sam Rockwell really meant when he described his character from Gentleman Broncos as Captain Kangaroo in drag. Now that the new trailer is released, we see his double-sided hero is even crazier than he described. More » -
#ponyoreview
Miyazaki's Fishy Love Story Celebrates the Spirit of Adventure
Hayao Miyazaki's latest film Ponyo may be inspired by "The Little Mermaid," but amidst its stunning underwater scenes and raging storms, it's less a tale of romantic love than of strong, self-sufficient characters eager for new adventures.
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#shorts
An Evil Steve Jobs Lords Over Robert Rodriguez's "Shorts"
In seven new clips from Robert Rodriguez's family comedy Shorts, we see the chaos a wish-granting rock can bring: booger monsters, cognitively ascended infants, and super-strong miniature aliens. But they're no match for James Spader as an evil Steve Jobs. More » -
#scifisnobbery
Has Sci-Fi Become Too Infected By Fantasy?
Where does science fiction stop and fantasy begin? Years of the two genres being paired together have produced such cross-breeding that it's become difficult to tell the two apart, according to the National Post's Philip Marchand.
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#imaginarium
Heath Ledger's Final Film Gets an Acid Trip Trailer
The first trailer for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus explains little more about the plot behind Heath Ledger's final bow. But it does offer glimpses of the flying jellyfish, neon motels, and Christopher Plummer-shaped balloons filling Gilliam's world. More » -
#foundfootage
Mickey Rourke Is The Master of Satanic Sex [NSFW]
Getting excited for Mickey Rourke's bondage outfit in Iron Man 2? Let us entertain you while you wait for its unveiling by taking a little trip back to an out-of-control movie called Angel Heart. More » -
#interview
Peter S. Beagle On Unicorns, Golems, and the Law
We Never Talk About My Brother is a newly-released collection of fiction by the celebrated Peter S. Beagle. We recently caught up with the writer to talk books, lawsuits, and life.
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#bookreview
Peter S. Beagle Soars With "We Never Talk About My Brother"
For decades, musician and author Peter S. Beagle has been hailed as the finest living American writer of fantasy. Now Tachyon Publications has released his latest collection of stories, We Never Talk About My Brother.
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#conceptart
John Carter of Mars Gets the Barbarella Treatment
Famed illustration team Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo have created this awesome image from Edgar Rice Burroughs' pre-golden age novels about swashbuckling hero John Carter's adventures on Mars. More »
