The Oxford English Dictionary is, well, the single standard reference of the English language. Printed, it comprises a 20 volume set that pretty much demands its own bookcase. The one pictured above is Audra’s copy, the “compact edition,” which literally compresses nine pages of the big version onto each single 11-1/4″ by 17.5″ page, resulting in a single massive tome weighing in at around 12 pounds. The OED really shines online, though, where it receives updates every three months. And the last few updates have been quite geek friendly, including words like “woot,” “follower,” “retweet,” “auto-complete,” and even “sexting.”
The Andromeda Galaxy as seen by Terry Hancock from Michigan (with permission)
Andromeda. Few words immediately bring forth imagery of science fiction, fantasy and real-life astronomy to me like Andromeda does. Andromeda is our heavens, Andromeda is in our history, Andromeda is in our music and literature, Andromeda is in our oceans and Andromeda is in our science fiction and fantasy. I’ll admit I am less knowledgeable about Andromedas than I am about Enterprises (see my 20 Favorite Ships Called Enterprises post), but several Andromedas are also at the root of my geekdom. Recently I decided to take some time and run through the Andromedas that I’m aware of. I’m confident that there are additional Andromedas of relevance out there. If you know of one, please let me know in the comments section below because I would greatly appreciate and enjoy learning about it. In the meantime, please sit back and allow me to take you through my tour of the Andromedas.
“Are you reading that for the first time?” a stranger asked me on the New York City Subway.
“Yes” I responded somewhat cautiously looking up from my book. As a New Yorker, I am not used to unsolicited literary commentary in public or any kind of interaction with strangers, ever.
“I envy you” he replied simply and in a moment was gone.
At first I was tempted to brush off this exchange. I closed the book for the first time in two days and considered what had just happened: A person was so moved by a book he felt obligated to engage a stranger in the subway to share the importance of the novel. I glanced at the cover which really didn’t give anything away of the plot, just standard sci-fi ships flying in space. The story was becoming with each passing word my absolute favorite science fiction novel of all time. In the coming years when asked what my favorite book was I would name this one and every book I read after this would be compared to it.
That novel? Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
As some of you are aware, I’m a writer and I’m searching for an agent right now. With the possible exception of the fourteenth century’s Black Death outbreak, I’ve picked the worst time in history to be an unknown author with a book to sell. As a writer, I’m following publishing news daily and trying to stay current on an industry that is both changing rapidly and struggling to keep from changing too much. While being a writer is more difficult than ever, it’s a fantastic time to be a reader, which all of us here at GWC are.
I’d like to give you a layperson’s glimpse of some of the bigger book trends, how they’re affecting both writers and readers, and who I believe comes out ahead with each new innovation.
Did the new Harry Potter movie pique your interest in reading (or, as in my case, re-re-re-reading) the book that started it all? Starting this month (August 2009), a group of GWCers are going to be reading through the Harry Potter series, one book a month beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and we’d love for you to join us! It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time through or you’re better at remembering the spell names than Hermione — just check out the GWC forum for discussion threads (spoiler and non-spoiler), and keep your eye out for upcoming TalkShoe chats about the books!
Think you bought a copy of Orwell’s 1984 or Animal Farm for your Kindle? Think again. This week in a move that would make George himself say “I told you so,” Amazon remotely deleted copies of these Orwell classics from hundreds of Kindles. Though Amazon credited buyers’ accounts for original purchase price, Kindle owners are rightfully pissed.
Amazon says the move was prompted by their discovery that the publisher offering the digital editions didn’t actually own the rights. Sadly for high-tech book lovers everywhere, though, this kind of mess drives another nail in the coffin of digital book delivery — and serves as yet another skirmish in the on-going war over copyright and digital rights management
Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle [New York Times]
Kindle [Amazon]
You’re relaxing during your time off and an image of the opening credits of Star Wars: A New Hope scrolls through your mind. Or maybe it’s an image of ET’s glowing finger, the sound of Inigo Montoya saying “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die,” or an image of the Charlotte’s Web cover. All of these things remind me of my childhood and teenage years. I’ve loved sci-fi and fantasy as long as I can remember.
But how did it start? Did my parents guide me into sci-fi or did I just fall into it on my own? I may never know the answer, but it definitely made me think: How does one introduce children and young adults to the genre? Read on for a few suggestions from me and fellow GWCers!
Gamers know David Gaider for the great characters he’s created for popular games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Neverwinter Nights. And now that he’s the lead writer on Bioware’s upcoming fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Origins he’s published his first novel (and prequel to the new game), Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne. It’s chock full of the usual fantasy trappings like elves, dwarves, mages, giant spiders, magic and sword fights, but its focus remains squarely in Gaider’s strength: developing the main characters.
In 1940 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, three writers — Jorge Luis Borges, Silvina Ocampo, and Adolfo Bioy Casares — published an anthology of fantastic fiction, Antología de la Literatura Fantástica, much of it what today would be considered literary fantasy, and much of it translated to Spanish from other languages, mainly English. When the same anthology was re-edited in 1965, however, many of the new stories were originally written in Spanish. Borges, Ocampo, and Bioy Casares were all also authors of fantastic literature, as fantasy is usually termed in the context of Spanish American fiction, and the growing number of fellow-Argentines and Latin Americans writing fantasy throughout the twentieth century produced a very thoughtful, interesting, and challenging corpus of speculative fiction that is perhaps not as well-known as it deserves to be. Though not comprehensive, these suggestions can point an interested reader towards some stand-out Spanish-language (in English translation) stories and novels.
This week we watch Goblet of Fire and finish up our pre-Half-Blood Prince ‘Potter discussion. Highlights: we dive more into the various houses and their meanings, discover Chuck’s final sorting result, hear from Kristina Horner and listen to the music of The Parselmouths, note all the awesome new GWCer-generated content on the GWC Community Blog, discuss the similarity between the Death Eaters and real-life hate groups, love how the best battle advice Potter and friends receive is “hold your friends close,” enjoy Harry’s great relationship with Ron, wonder if all the wizards in France and witches in Bulgaria are MIA, dis on Ron’s dress robes, and take some great listener calls.
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A couple of months ago when I neared the bottom of my “must read” pile, Sean mentioned on the ‘cast that he really enjoyed the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. Since I’m not a “book bigot,” I decided to give the first, On Basilisk Station, a try. After waiting seven to ten days for Amazon to ship it to me I finally had it in my hands and ready to crack the cover.
In short: I loved it! Honor is strong, conscientious, and treats her enemies with respect.
I think Vampires and Vampire stories suffer from a bit of an image problem. Yeah I know, that sounds funny, but it’s true. I often hear people say Vampires are disgusting or that the stories are limited in their scope because all vamp tales are the same. In my most humble of opinions these are folks who must not have much imagination. There’s tons of badass stuff out there if you care to look, so I wanted to post up a quick slam course in Vampire and why they’re cool. Don’t worry, this won’t be too painful.
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