Quotation Addiction

Okay, it's not a serious addiction, I don't even indulge in it every day, but I do love other people's words. :)

Today, while scrolling though My Favorite Sayings, Quotes, and Thoughts I found the following:

"The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." Oliver Wendell Holmes

I grew up with that one, and I've always felt it a pretty good measure of civility. We all have the right to our own opinions and actions, just so long as we aren't harming others.

I was also amused to find these:

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!" Will Rogers

"If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?" Will Rogers

By the way, it's been up for a very long time, but I just discovered tonight that Elizabeth Bear (matociquala and elizabethbear) posted a podcast of her story "The Chains That You Refuse" as a "bedtime story" and thought I'd share. I hope everyone has (or had) a lovely evening.

Fun Author Interview

Today's post on kazdreamer's journal is Guest Blog & Contest: Suzanne McLeod. Suzanne McLeod (suzannemcleod), a writer from the UK, discusses her decision to include real people as characters in her first novel, The Sweet Scent of Blood, and provides a link to chapter one, so you can get a taste of her work. The Sweet Scent of Blood is a vampire (and other creatures that go bump in the night) novel, what is now called urban fantasy,* and I found chapter one, along with Ms. McLeod's guest blog, a fun read.

Oh, and by the way, by leaving a comment on the post in kazdreamer's journal before this Sunday, September 7th, you enter a contest to win a signed copy of the book.

So, stroll on over and take a peek.

* I'm still reeling from the realignment of my understanding of the term to what is sometimes also called Paranormal Romance, as to me it was the Fae (which show up in chapter one of TSSoB, btw), and magic in general, in an urban setting, more in line with what deLint does, or Emma Bull in War for the Oaks, but which now, if I've got my terminology straight, is called mythic fiction, or mythic fantasy. (If I didn't confuse you with that sentence you're doing better than I am. *g*)

Media Tie-Ins and the Future of SF

Sean Williams (ladnews) posted a notice here about a panel discussion in which he participated on SF Signal: Mind Meld: How Do Media Tie-In Novels Affect SF/F?. I found the various responses very interesting, but I was especially intrigued by Kristine Kathryn Rusch's article of a few years ago, which she linked to in her response.

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So, all of this (i.e., my blithering) is a long-winded way of getting around to a few of the questions raised by these two articles: Is science fiction mired in the past in a way that is preventing new readers from finding it enjoyable and worth reading? Are we, those of us who grew up reading classic science fiction and its subsequent successors, preventing science fiction from changing in ways that will allow it to be more accessible to today's readers? Or, is something else going on, that makes science fiction seem less relevant in today's admittedly high-tech world?

P.S. I've done my best to condense a few of the many ideas in Rusch's lengthy and well-reasoned article into the much shorter context appropriate for a journal entry. If, in the process, I've distorted or misrepresented the concepts she explained, please accept my apologies.