Pornokitsch

Let’s talk shipping. (And no, I’m not talking spaceships)

Stark says: “I don’t give a curly-hair, yellow bear, double dog damn if ya did.”

If you like your Westerns obscure, oblique and cult then I have four words for you, friend: Monte. Hellman. The. Shooting.

In which Silvia Moreno-Garcia of Ka-Na-Da and Molly Tanzer of Ko-Lo-Ra-Do discuss Silvia's re-read and Molly's first read of the first four of John Norman's famous (notorious?) Gor series.

Silvia: Tal, Molly Tanzer of Ko-Lo-Ra-Do. Well, when last we saw our hero Tarl Cabot (what kind of name is that? I still can’t say his damn name) he had returned to Earth. But not for long! Soon he’s back in the world of Gor, where men are manly men and women are very pretty but like not threatening, like you totally could ask that chick out and she’d give you her phone number instead the number of a local deli shop. It’s obvious something has gone terribly wrong in Gor and now Tarl is a, gasp, Outlaw of Gor!

Okay, so I think part of the problem with this book on a technical level is that the first person point of view is just super annoying. Tarl is supposed to be writing all this shit down and it’s like for fuck’s sake, I’m bored. I’m so bored. Write funner, or something. Bad narrator.  

We're (almost) up and running! As is tradition, I want to set out my list of Special Judging Criteria for this year's reading.

(For newcomers: I read and review the DGLA finalists every year. Here are 2015, 2014,2013, 2012.)

For 2016, after much deliberation, I'm not going to tackle all the finalists. I'll be sticking to the Morningstar titles:

• Battlemage by Stephen Aryan
• The Traitor by Seth Dickinson
• The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig
• Starborn by Lucy Hounsom
• The Vagrant by Peter Newman
• An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

I'll add links as they appear.

One perk of being a Londoner? The BFI Southbank. Anne and I were there recently for an Indiana Jones marathon (all three films!), and I was reminded - for the 857th time - what a wonderful place it is. Pros: an unbelievable selection of movies from the timeless to the trashy. Cons: they don't sell popcorn (heathens!)

Smuggle in some Haribo and check out the website, because there's an amazing line-up for the rest of the summer. A few highlights below.

I started attending conventions as a fangirl long before I was a professional writer. I knew what to expect and when I got my first Guest of Honor invitation I was over the moon. I still get a little thrill at the very idea that someone wants me to attend a convention... as a guest!

But it's not the same thing. Whether heading out on a book tour or invited as a guest to a small local sci-fi convention, attending programming at a larger conference, or visiting one of those monster book festivals or comicons there are some things I think a professional writer should always keep in mind. 

So here, for your amusement (and perhaps education) are my highly subjective... Tips for the Traveling Writer

Well, the first round is complete!

Over the course of... some period of time... I checked out 30 self-published fantasy books for #SPFBO, reading the first 3 chapters of each. 

Based on that (results and mini-reviews here), I earmarked six for detailed perusal:

• Josiah Bancroft - Senlin Ascends
• K.M. Carroll - Malevolent
• Alessandra Clarke - Rider's Revenge
• Richard Crawford - Traitor Blade
• B.T. Narro - Kin of Kings
• Phil Tucker - The Path of Flames

The links all go to the complete reviews. If you're just joining now (hi!), there's some template action going on, as I evaluated all six against some wibbly criteria. 

The World Fantasy Award finalists are out. Although all the shortlists are, of course, amazing, we're particularly glad to see two of our contributors - Selena Chambers and Silvia Moreno-Garcia - on the list!

Selena's "The Neurastheniac", from Cassilda's Song, is up for best short story.

Silvia's She Walks in Shadows, co-edited with Paula R. Stiles, is competing for best anthology.

You can find the complete lists here.

Selena is currently hosting a Mary Shelley read-along for us, while Silvia and Molly Tanzer are (heroically) wrestling with Gor.

Congrats, all!

We have shortlists! I have thoughts!