This month's free e-book from Phoenix Pick

The free e-book for November from Phoenix Pick is The Children Star by Joan Slonczewski. You'll find instructions for download in our newsletter.

Thanks to SF Signal for spreading the word!

This month's free e-book from Phoenix Pick

The free e-book for September from Phoenix Pick is The River of Dancing Gods by Jack L. Chalker. You'll find instructions for download in our newsletter.

Thanks to SF Signal for spreading the word!

This month's free e-book from Phoenix Pick

The free e-book for July from Phoenix Pick is Rogue Queen by L. Sprague de Camp.
You'll find instructions for download in our newsletter.

Thanks to SF Signal  and SFFWorld.com for helping spread the word!

Seattle sets a record with books

Seattle Public Library (Photographer: Rem Koolhaas)

 

Oooh, but as a book lover, the video was a bit painful to watch, especially certain parts!

Did you know that SF writer Nancy Kress lives in Seattle? And that the Association of Writers & Writing Programs will hold its 2014 conference there?

Sadness ... Iain Banks (1954-2013)

BBC News
The Guardian
Obituary
In His Own Words
Five Minutes with: Iain M. Banks
Neil Gaiman journal entry

Playing around with sight and sound

Can you guess the city in these two pictures?

\

Click here for the answer.

Can you guess the book in these three manipulated versions of its beginning?

Version 1: No words shorter than four letters, and names removed
Pausing beside hanging needle rock tapped with lance Precise staccato-like tones filled passageway Hear coaxed right ahead don’t hear thing edged forward stumbled fell lightly against back Nothing hanging stones pits None hear There’s twenty paces Better stick close tapped rock again inclining would miss none subtle echoes right massive evil clung nearby ledge listening advance Ahead more needles rock could conveniently last echoes told much produced pair clickstones pouch brought them together sharply hollow hand concentrating returning tones right ears traced great formations rocks folded over other reflecting confusing pattern sound clutched shoulder pressed forward smart We’ll never catch with

Version 2: Adding a little alliteration to the above
advance again against ahead Ahead back beside Better brought catch clickstones close clung clutched coaxed concentrating confusing conveniently could don’t ears echoes echoes edged evil fell filled folded formations forward forward great hand hanging hanging Hear hear hear hollow inclining lance last ledge lightly listening massive miss more much nearby needle needles never None none Nothing other over paces pair passageway pattern Pausing pits pouch Precise pressed produced reflecting returning right right right rock rock rock rocks sharply shoulder smart sound staccato-like stick stones stumbled subtle tapped tapped them There’s thing together told tones tones traced twenty We’ll with with would

Version 3: Words going backward paragraph by paragraph
.yawegassap eht dellif senot ekil-otaccats ,esicerP .ecnal sih htiw ti deppat deraJ ,kcor fo eldeen gnignah eht ediseb gnisuaP
".daeha pu thgir s'tI" .dexaoc eh "?ti raeH"
".senots gnignah dna dum tub gnihtoN" .kcab s'deraJ tsniaga ylthgil llef dna delbmuts ,drawrof degde newO ".gniht a raeh t'nod I"
"?stip oN"
".raeh nac I taht enoN"
".em ot esolc kcits retteB .ffo secap ytnewt ton eno s'erehT"
.ecnavda rieht ot gninetsil egdel ybraen a ot gnulc ti sa live dna evissam—thgir lla ,saw ti erehT .seohce eltbus eht fo enon ssim dluow eh os rae na gninilcni ,niaga kcor eht deppat deraJ
.dnuos fo nrettap gnisufnoc a gnitcelfer dna rehto eht revo eno dedlof ,sckor fo snoitamrof taerg tuo decart srae sih ,thgir sih oT .senot gninruter eht no gnitartnecnoc ,dnah sih fo wolloh eht ni ylprahs rehtegot meht thguorb dna hcuop sih morf senotskcilc fo riap a decudorp eh oS .hcum taht mih dlot dah seohce tsal ehT .pat yltneinevnoc dluoc eh kcor fo seldeen erom on erew haehA
".ti htiw pu hctac reven ll'eW .trams oot s'tI" .drawrof desserp yeht sa redluohs sih dehctulc newO


Had enough of the weirdness? Here's how the original actually reads:
Pausing beside the hanging needle of rock, Jared tapped it with his lance. Precise, staccato-like tones filled the passageway.
“Hear it?” he coaxed. “It’s right up ahead.”
“I don’t hear a thing.” Owen edged forward, stumbled and fell lightly against Jared’s back. “Nothing but mud and hanging stones.”
“No pits?”
“None that I can hear.”
“There’s one not twenty paces off. Better stick close to me.”
Jared tapped the rock again, inclining an ear so he would miss none of the subtle echoes. There it was, all right—massive and evil as it clung to a nearby ledge listening to their advance.
Ahead were no more needles of rock he could conveniently tap. The last echoes had told him that much. So he produced a pair of clickstones from his pouch and brought them together sharply in the hollow of his hand, concentrating on the returning tones. To his right, his ears traced out great formations of rocks, folded one over the other and reflecting a confusing pattern of sound.
Owen clutched his shoulder as they pressed forward. “It’s too smart. We’ll never catch up with it.”

This first novel by Daniel F. Galouye was nominated for a Hugo. It's a tale of a post-apocalytic world where humans have built a society in the dark underground. The descendants of the survivors only remember the pre-apocalyptic world in old stories, legends and myths. To preview more of the book, click here.

Pallas the asteroid / god / crater / free e-book

Pallas's Cat

The asteroid
The Titan god
The lunar crater
It's also a book by L. Neil Smith, and it's the Phoenix Pick free e-book for this month.
Thanks to SF Signal and Grasping for the Wind for spreading the news!

(More books by L. Neil Smith on our catalogue page.)

For the 3rd -- 3 ways to keep your books close

Of course, there's always this option:

Just be careful when you roll over in your sleep.

Where do you keep your science fiction (and other) books?
Do special books have a special place?
Do you have a "to be read" stack or shelf?

Free e-book, no fooling!

 
The first volume of Mike Resnick's The Chronicles of Lucifer Jones is the Phoenix Pick free e-book for April.

Our monthly newsletter contains the code for the free e-book. Not signed up yet? All you need to do is send us an e-mail ... click here.

The books containing The Chronicles of Lucifer Jones (so far) are:

Vol. I: Adventures:1922-26
Vol. II: Exploits: 1926-31
Vol. III: Encounters: 1931-34
Vol. IV: Hazards: 1934-38 (published by Subterranean Press)

Lucifer Jones has many tales to tell. Story titles include "The Lost Race," "The Abominable Snowman," "Exercising Ghosts," "Death in the Afternoon,"and "The Island of Annoyed Souls."


For more from/about Mike Resnick, check out these links:

Several Resnick stories in podcasts at sffaudio.com ... including two stories read by Resnick himself.

More Resnick stories to listen to at Escape Pod.

Read Resnick's "Travels With my Cats" at the Asimov's website.

A recent (February) announcement from Subterranean Press.

Did you know Mike will be the author guest of honor at this year's Worldcon?

The first "Ask Bwana" post on his blog.

"The Sacred Tree" at Daily Science Fiction.

An extensive bibliography at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Also, Mike Resnick is on the faculty of Phoenix Pick's upcoming set of seminars on the various aspects of writing and the writing business. Care to learn from the experts while cruising to the Bahamas?  More information on the cruise website.

A great day to have been in Tampa ...

From the University of South Florida College of Arts and Sciences website (with some links added):

... Then on Tuesday, March 20, two leading apocalyptic science fiction writers: Joe Haldeman and Nancy Kress will speak at USF. Haldeman, who teaches science fiction writing workshops at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the author of nearly 30 novels and short story collections. His work has won numerous awards and his 1998 novel, “Forever Peace,” won the Hugo, Nebula and John W. Campbell Award. Nancy Kress has authored 26 novels and collections, often focusing on genetic engineering. She has won several Hugo and Nebula Awards and her novel, “Probability Space,” won the 2003 John. W. Campbell Award.

The authors will treat audiences to a reading on March 20, at 7 p.m. in the TECO Room (Education Building), preceded by a wine and cheese reception and book launch in the rotunda outside the TECO room, starting at 6 p.m. Kress will sign copies of her brand new book, “After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall,” while Haldeman will present his 2011 book “Earthbound.” ...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are some Valentine words for you:

"How does woman look? What makes you woman?"

"I have learned two ways to tie my shoes. One way is only good for lying down. The other way is good for walking. And I have learned conjugations. I am, thou art, he is, we are, you are, they are, I was, thou wast—"

"Only an Old One can always be sure of right action at a cusp ... and I have much learning to learn and growing to grow before I may join the Old Ones."

"... on Mars, when we needed to know anything, we asked the Old Ones and the answer was never wrong. Jill, is it possible that we humans don't have 'Old Ones'? No souls, I mean. When we discorporate—die—do we die dead ... die all over and nothing left?"

"Goodness is not enough, goodness is never enough. That was one of my first mistakes, because among Martians goodness and wisdom are identical."

"The Truth is simple but the Way of Man is hard. First you must learn to control your self. The rest follows. Blessed is he who knows himself and commands himself, for the world is his and love and happiness and peace walk with him wherever he goes."


Have you read Stranger in a Strange Land?

From Charles Dickens to Jules Verne ... sixteen years and one day

Some bits of Jules Verne, born on this day in 1828:

"Ah! sir, live—live in the bosom of the waters! There only is independence! There I recognise no masters! There I am free!"

Never was solitude equal to this, never had any living being been so utterly forsaken.

"It was just when I was alone that I was not afraid."

Jules Verne at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Entry for Jules Verne at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

and   more

and a video of an octopus going on a little land excursion.

Science fiction Hugo and Nebula - some early dual winners (novel)

Science is made up of so many things that appear obvious after they are explained.

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.

The phrase was his own, created to describe to himself what had happened to him. He hadn't used it often, but he'd never had to explain it. They always knew what he meant.

Twice more, unnoticed, she had buried herself in rock, and each time she sensed and knew, and each time when Odeen would explain matters to her, she knew in advance what it was he would explain.

Normally, he never went into so much detail, but these circumstances were scarcely normal. This might be the last gram he would ever send to those he loved. He owed it to them to explain what he was doing.

He wandered among the tanks for a long time, and often came back with her to the laboratory and the aquaria, submitting his physicist's arrogance to those small strange lives, to the existence of beings to whom the present is eternal, being that do not explain themselves and need not ever justify their ways to man.

New slang term for the type of operation whose main object was to gather Tauran artifacts, and prisoners if possible. I tried to find out where the term came from, but the one explanation I got was really idiotic.



Have you read any Hugo- or Nebula-winning novels? Do you plan to?

Are you eligible to nominate for the 2012 Hugos? Have a particular book in mind?

Last Day, Last Words

The first post of this blog listed some first sentences from science fiction books ... now here are some last ones:


"Sure I know. A boy loves his dog."

He loved Big Brother.

For you.

"Absolutely, a day to remember."

Would I lie to you?

"Perhaps it is at that."

They can hurt.

Second

(Venus - the second planet)
Image credit: Magellan Project,  NASA

A measure of time. The place after first. Something following. A small part, as of a minute ("just a second"). A repeating, as in a second chance. An alternate, as in every second year. Something inferior in rank ... a second vice president, a second chair in an orchestra. A standby in a duel. A gear in a car’s transmission. A reference to something or someone past … a second Pearl Harbor, a second Churchill. And the time needed for a cesium-133 atom to perform 9,192,631,770 complete oscillations.

An adding on. Like this entry.

Some "second" books:

The Children of the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
Sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep

Count Zero, by William Gibson
Sequel to Neuromancer

Cerberus, by Jack L. Chalker
Book II of the Lords of the Diamond series

Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card
Sequel to Ender’s Game

The Garden of the Stone, by Victoria Strauss
Sequel to The Arm of the Stone

The Gripping Hand, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Sequel to The Mote in God’s Eye

Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross
Sequel to Singularity Sky

Queen of Candesce, by Karl Schroeder
Book Two of Virga

The Player of Games, by Iain M. Banks
Book two of the Culture series

Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, by Frederik Pohl
Second book in the Heechee series

What second books would you like to read?

Beginnings

At the beginning of this blog, thinking about beginnings. Any word can be a beginning.

Many people can name their favorite book of all time ... but how many of us can remember the first sentence of that book?  Can you?


First sentences from SF books through the years:

1865
From the Earth to the Moon
During the War of the Rebellion, a new and influential club was established in the city of Baltimore in the State of Maryland.

1886
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable.

1895
The Time Machine
The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.

1901
The First Men in the Moon
As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under the blue sky of southern Italy, it comes to me with a certain quality of astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr. Cavor was, after all, the outcome of the purest accident.

1912
The Lost World
Mr. Hungerton, her father, really was the most tactless person upon earth—a fluffy, feathery, untidy cockatoo of a man, perfectly good-natured, but absolutely centered upon his own silly self.

1919
The Moon Pool
For two months I had been on the d'Entrecasteaux Islands gathering data for the concluding chapters of my book upon the flora of the volcanic islands of the South Pacific.

1924
We
I am merely copying out here, word for word, what was printed today in the State Gazette:
  In 120 days from now the building of the INTEGRAL will be finished.

1932
Brave New World
A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.

1939
Lest Darkness Fall
Tancredi took his hands off the wheel again and waved them.

1949
Nineteen Eighty-Four
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

1951
Fahrenheit 451
It was a pleasure to burn.

1957
The City and the Stars
Like a glowing jewel, the city lay upon the breast of the desert.

1961
Dark Universe
Pausing beside the hanging needle of rock, Jared tapped it with his lance.

1966
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
I see in Lunaya Pravda that Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect—and tax—public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure.

1970
Ringworld
In the nighttime heart of Beirut, in one of a row of general-address transfer booths, Louis Wu flicked into reality.

1975
The Shockwave Rider
The man in the bare steel chair was as naked as the room's white walls.

1981
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass
The little man in the synthetic tweed jacket didn’t look like a bomb.

1985
Neuromancer
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

1992
The Multiplex Man
The flashing signs on both sides of I-94 south into Minneapolis read: POLICE CHECK AHEAD, PREPARE TO STOP.

1994
Mother of Storms
This is the good part.

1997
Blue Limbo
As the copter lost altitude, Mitch Helwig, encased inside the prototype Honda skimmer that hung below it, suspended on steel cables like a spider dangling from some nightmarish hummingbird, donned his night goggles.

2001
American Gods  (audio clip)
Shadow had done three years in prison.

2004
40 Signs of Rain
The Earth is bathed in a flood of sunlight.

2007
Brasyl
Marcelina watched them take the car on Rua Sacopã.

2010
Surface Detail
“This one might be trouble.”


Do you have a favorite first sentence?