News and Blog Updates: July 06, 2008

Spcial Feature: Nicola Griffith: "why I love science fiction"

Nicola Griffith recently posted a blog entry titled "why I love science fiction", and with her permission I am posting the entry below in it's entirety:

"At the SF Hall of Fame induction last month, William Gibson said, "I am a native of sf, not a resident." I know exactly how he feels. I just did a blog post about it over at Ask Nicola. I also posted on my website and essay, first published last year, called Identity and SF: Story As Science and Fiction. Enjoy."

I found both the ASK NICOLA "quotes, an occasional series, #4: native of sf" blog post and "Identity and SF: Story As Science and Fiction" essay very interesting, and with respect to the essay, very inspiring. I think they are well worth your time to read and enjoy as I did. Also, below you will find links to Nicola's site, Blogspot blog, as well as MySpace profile and blog:

• http://www.nicolagriffith.com/
• http://asknicola.blogspot.com/
• http://www.myspace.com/nicolagriffith
• http://blog.myspace.com/nicolagriffith

Thanks again to Nicola Griffith for allowing me to post the contents of the blog here ~ Jim


News Headlines:
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Are We Alone - Next show available: July 7, 2008 "Speaking Klingon - Communicating with the aliens."

Ever try talking to an alien? In the movies, they always speak perfect English. But what if we really made contact? Could we just whip out a universal translator - or even a babelfish - to understand one another? Let's say we do learn to communicate: what to say, what to say? We'll hear the protocol for just how to reply to ET. And, from Klingon to Esperanto: the recipe for creating a language from scratch. Plus, get ready to babble with your Blackberry: how computers are learning to recognize - and respond - to human speech.

h:qs:.p*. D5Q5=Q1=D3Q3 Q1=ql.px:n.k*. D5Q5=tr'.z*w What does this mean? Listen to the show to find out! Guests:

• Terrence Deacon - Professor of anthropology and neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley
• Douglas Vakoch - Director of Interstellar Message Composition, SETI Institute
• Donald Boozer - Librarian, Coordinator of Cleveland Public Library's recent exhibit "Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond...The World of Constructed Languages"
• Jim Glass - Director of the Spoken Language Systems Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Systems.
  Ask MIT's Jupiter about the weather!

You can listen to this and other episodes at: http://radio.seti.org/ and be sure to check the Are We Alone Profile and Blog on MySpace.

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Clarkesworld Magazine / Wyrm Publishing - New Books from Wyrm Publishing (Gene Wolfe and Clarkesworld)
Now in stock and shipping from Wyrm Publishing:

• Memorare by Gene Wolfe (signed limited edition hardcover)
• Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine (trade paperback and hardcover)

Details and ordering information available here.


News Worth Reposting:
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Next Steamcon Meeting! - Sunday July 27th at 3:00 - 4:45 P.M. at the Capitol Hill branch of the Public Library. 425 Harvard Ave. E. Seattle WA

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Platinum Comix & Games - Fire victims benefit show! Sunday July 6th 5 pm to 9 pm - Outdoor all ages event.
Sickamore, Jonn Rockwell, Skwish & The Mighty Return of Horsehedd! Playing at Bison Creek Pizza, 630 SW 153rd Street Burien, WA (206) 244-8825

To benefit the families left homeless after the deadly fire at The Tara Apartments and The Jenny Marie Apartments. Collins Chiropractic and Sterling Savings Bank will be there to accept donations of Money, Food, Clothing and Furniture. The American Red Cross is also accepting money donations on the families behalf. Fire District #2 will try to make an appearance with a fire engine.

Bring all the clothing, food, blankets, furniture and money you can spare to help these families! Special thanks to Burien City Hall, Collins Chiropractic, Sterling Savings Bank, American Red Cross, Jared Butcher, Fire District #2 and The Highline School District.

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GUD Magazine - Special offer for NWSFS News Blog readers!
For the entire month of July, GUD Magazine ( http://www.gudmagazine.com/ ) will be offering 50% off for the PDF versions of Issues 0 and 1 for readers of the NWSFS Blogs. Go to: http://www.gudmagazine.com/subs/subscribe-nwsfs.php

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Phoebe Matthews - A note from Mudflat (and a free postcard)
Tarbaby Trouble, by Phoebe Matthews, first of the Mudflat series, is available through Bookstrand.com on July 2. Fantasy readers, check Phoebe's website at http://phoebematthews.com to read the first 2 chapters, plus blurbs and reviews. If you would like a free postcard from Mudflat, check the Mudflat page!


Headlines From SF News Sites:
Due to the holiday weekend there is not much news, but one of the articles you just have to catch is posting from The Website at the End of the Universe: "Darth Vader in love". Also StarShipSofa presents "StarShipSofa No 95 Round Table Mary Rosenblum mp3", has "A Trio of Videos of Neal Stephenson Talking About SF", & SF SignalPantechnicon posted "Metropolis Footage Found"

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io9: Where The Marvel Universe And Real World Intersect [Superhero Geography], This Year's Terminator Will Be Jealous, Unstable [Emo Terminator], Four Anime Robots That Made Me More Human [Mangobot], 10 Batman Books You Must Read [Must Read], The Heroes You'll Never See [Heroes], Why Steven Moffat Isn't All That [Rant], & Sarah Jane Says Goodbye to Doctor Who

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Pantechnicon: Metropolis Footage Found

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RevolutionSF: RevolutionSF Newblast : Life on Mars, Prisoner, Galactica, Smallville (News), Bat-Actor Prefers To Remain Robin-Free (News), & Hancock (Review)

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Science Fiction Buzz: Babylon 5 Daily News Beat for 4 July 2008, & Battlestar Galactica Daily News Beat for 3 July 2008,

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SF Novelists: For the love

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SF Signal: 1960's Iron Man Intro, SF Tidbits for 7/6/08, A Trio of Videos of Neal Stephenson Talking About SF, SF Tidbits for 7/5/08, & This Week's Free Tor Book: Flash by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

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SFScope: New play Without Whom is based on the lives of Marguerite and Ray Bradbury

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StarShipSofa: StarShipSofa No 95 Round Table Mary Rosenblum mp3

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The Website at the End of the Universe: Darth Vader in love (this is hillarious!), & The adventures of Propellerman (NSFW - Adult Content)


Selected Blog Updates:
I've added some new blogs to take a look at this time around, so be sure to take a look at "The Crotchety Old Fan", "kelleyeskridge.com", & "Whatever", and of course remember to read your old favorites too!
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Are We A Blog? - sun@home, & Need a Second Life?

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Boxcar Astronaut - "EARTH BOY LANDS ON MARS?"

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Bret Jordan - "SINISTER LANDSCAPE"

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The Crotchety Old Fan - Statistics Can Be Dangerous, The Classic Science Fiction Channel Updates, Commentary from Around the Web, & SFSignal Better Than BoingBoing?

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Cynthia Leitich Smith - "YA Book & Writer News; Wake & Black Pearls Giveaways"

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David Thorpe - "Genre and Literature"

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Di Francis - "happy independence day"

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Fantasy Book Critic - "NEW Fantasy Book Critic GIVEAWAYS for the Month of July 2008!!!"

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JAMES AND DADDY - "Update 6th July 2008"

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Janet Lee Carey - "WRITER VS. WILD"

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Jodi Lee - "LBF - Lachesis - Sinful Moments Staff/Author Notice", "Baseball Update", "All I can say is - what a close call...", & "LBF Books - Fictionwise Top Sellers - Congrats Lorrieann!"

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kelleyeskridge.com - Exploding like spiders across the stars, Interview at Enter the Octopus, Short love, & Asimov’s SF reviews Dangerous Space

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Lisa Mantchev - "Théâtre Illuminata at Amazon"

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Louise Bohmer - Lachesis Publishing - "For Lachesis, LBF Books, and Sinful Moments Press Authors: Staff Groups"

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Marianne De Pierres - "Gen Con Oz - last day", & "Gen Con Oz"

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Morpheus Tales - "Free Preview of Morpheus Tales on Literate Machine", & "Morpheus Tales - We need your help!"

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Robert J Sawyer's Blog - Hugo voting deadline is THIS MONDAY!

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TREI Literary Magazine - Meet the newest addition to TREI Literary Magazine, & TREI Literary Magazine....Launch Update

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Whatever - Quick Ping, Zoe’s Tale Wallpaper, & The Big Idea: David Louis Edelman

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Yasmine Galenorn - "Taking some time...", & "Stick a fork in me, I’m done for the day.... "