Tag Archives: pornokitsch

Speculative Fiction 2012: Out now!

Posted on April 25 2013 by Justin | 3 Comments

We have news(!) – Speculative Fiction 2012 is now available on Amazon.

This collection contains over fifty of the year’s best online essays and reviews, from Tansy Rayner Roberts on Supergirl to Lavie Tidhar on China Miéville to Aishwarya Subramanian on My Little Pony to Joe Abercrombie on, er, himself. It is a diverse collection of some of last year’s best and most interesting writing. We fully expect – and hope – it will cause discussion, debate and a bit of a ruckus.

The book also contains a foreword from Orbit author Mur Lafferty, an introduction from this year’s editors (Jared Shurin and myself) and an afterword from the 2013 editors, Ana Grilo and Thea James of The Booksmugglers. Not to mention the beautiful cover from the talented Sarah Anne Langton.

All proceeds from sales of this book are donated to Room to Read, supporting literacy and gender equality in education around the world.… Read the rest

Announcing SpecFic ’12 Contributors

Posted on March 20 2013 by Justin | 10 Comments

Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary announced its lineup of contributors, Wednesday. Edited by bloggers Justin Landon (Staffer’s Book Review- US) and Jared Shurin (Pornokitsch – UK), SpecFic ’12 collects over fifty pieces from science fiction and fantasy’s top authors, bloggers and critics.

Author and podcasting sensation Mur Lafferty, whose newest novel The Shambling Guide to New York City is due out from Orbit Books this Spring, has agreed to write the foreword. “Lafferty’s writing career germinated online. She’s been a pioneer in the space and understands why the work in this book is so important. She’s the perfect person to put it into context,” said Landon.

Landon and Shurin also announced that they will pass the torch in 2013, establishing a precedent of rotating editors every year. The 2013 volume will be edited by Thea James and Ana Grilo of The Book Smugglers. Shurin commented, “We’re excited to see this move forward with Thea and Ana.… Read the rest

SpecFic 2012: Cover Reveal and Details

Posted on January 17 2013 by Justin | 12 Comments

Last year, I began a partnership with Jared Shurin, co-owner/editor of Pandemonium Fiction, to release an anthology titled Speculative Fiction 2012, The Years Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary, with proceeds to be donated to charity.

Our goal, if any such thing can be claimed, is to create a record of all the incredibly rich content being created on the web. We put out a call for submissions from the community at large and received over 200. Accounting for our own finds, that means well over 300 pieces of non-fiction that range from reviews, to essays about the field, to what it means to live the genre life (or something to that effect).

Over the next few weeks we’ll be narrowing that down under fifty, contacting authors to get rights, and writing our witty and charming introduction that will both highlight our complete capability as curators of taste and impugn our credibility with self aggrandizing adjectives.… Read the rest

See me at Pornokitsch today. . .

Posted on January 11 2013 by Justin | Leave a comment

With the Hugo Awards recently opening their doors to nominations, Jared Shurin from Pornokitsch invited me over to talk about the books I think are mostly likely to be forgotten by the voters.

Our first Friday Five for 2013 is a doozy, with three of the interweb’s more thoughtful genre reviewers swinging by to chat about the Hugo Awards. As you may have noticed from the recent inundation of “‘I’m eligible!” posts, nominations for Science Fiction’s Most Biggest Award are open. Anyone attending the 2012, 2013 or 2014 WorldCons can (and should) nominate their favourite works of the year.

Read the rest. . .

… Read the rest

KJ Parker Interviewed by Pornokitsch

Posted on July 3 2012 by Justin | 1 Comment

Anyone who reads this blog knows I’m a monster fan of KJ Parker. Orbit is releasing a new Parker novel this month titled, Sharps, which I’ve read and will be reviewing soon. Given the nature of Parker’s public profile, or lack there of, few interviews are granted by the publisher and/or author and the only one of any real substance I’ve seen thus far was the one done by Tom Holt for Subterranean Press. Until now.

Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch was given an opportunity to interview Parker via e-mail. He posted the replies today and they’re fantastic. Not surprising given the quality of Shurin’s questions. I strongly suggest everyone check it out.

PK: Magic appears infrequently in your work, and is invariably accompanied by someone trying to explain it away as something un-magical. Why take this approach to the supernatural? Given how much you accomplish without magic/natural philosophy/weirdness, what leads you to include it when you do?

… Read the rest

Today I wrote a post somewhere else…

Posted on May 16 2012 by Justin | 6 Comments

Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch, who along with his partner Anne Perry writes one of the best blogs on planet Earth, queried the Twitter about people’s favorite novels from their childhoods. I responded with The Sword of Shannara and thought nothing else of it. Then Jared asked me to write about it. It took me a while. I had no idea what angle to take or how to put my thoughts into words.

This is what I can up with:

1/17/94

Not a date the world recognizes. It’s not 5/8/45 or 11/22/63 or 7/20/69 or 9/11/01. But, January 17, 1994, just outside Los Angeles, California, an earthquake struck. Fifty-seven people lost their lives and nearly nine thousand were injured. Twenty billion in property damage, it remains one of the most devastating natural disasters in history.

It was a seminal moment in my life for wholly different reasons.

Read the rest of the post at Pornokitsch. … Read the rest