Podcast: Get to Work Hurley

If you haven't heard about it, Kameron Hurley, author of The Stars Are Legion, The Mirror Empire, God's War, etc. as well as the essay collection The Geek Feminist Revolution, is doing a podcast. And it is brilliant. In the 4th episode (the most recent) she converses with her agent (warning, there are some TV/movie spoilers in this episode). If you're interested in the writing life I highly recommend these.

Kameron Hurley Podcast

If you haven't heard, Kameron Hurley (The Stars are Legion, The Mirror Empire, God's War) has started a podcast. While it's funded by her patreon, it's free to listen to online. She's got 2 episodes up and they're really good, with some writing advice as well as ways to cope with the insanity that is the current world. Be aware, there is some profanity.

• EPISODE ONE: The Business is Writing, The Business is Death. Chat about broken stairs in the publishing world, multiple income streams, writing and entitlement. With bonus apocalypse Q&A.
• EPISODE TWO: How to Get to Work When the World Wants to Get You Down. Chat about how to create and promote work during tough times, how to balance caring for your sanity and health with being a good, active citizen, and why you should tell everyone to f*ck themselves and just write what you want!

TOR Books Announces “TOR LABS” Dramatic Podcast Imprint

Got this intriguing press release this morning:

Tor Books, a leading global publisher of science fiction and fantasy, announced today that it is launching TOR LABS, a new imprint emphasizing experimental approaches to genre publishing, beginning with original dramatic podcasts.

Helmed by Senior Editor Marco Palmieri and Editor Jennifer Gunnels, Tor Labs will debut this summer with Steal the Stars, a science fiction audio drama which will be produced in partnership with Gideon Media and written by Mac Rogers, the award-winning writer of the global hit podcast thrillers, The Message and LifeAfter.

Steal the Stars is the story of Dakota Prentiss and Matt Salem, two government employees guarding the biggest secret in the world: a crashed UFO. Despite being forbidden to fraternize, Dak and Matt fall in love and decide to escape to a better life on the wings of an incredibly dangerous plan: They're going to steal the alien body they've been guarding and sell the secret of its existence.

Steal the Stars is a noir science fiction thriller in 14 episodes, airing weekly from August 2 – November 1, 2017, and available worldwide on all major podcast distributors through the Macmillan Podcast Network. It will be followed immediately by a novelization of the entire serial from Tor Books, as well as an ads-free audio book of the podcast from Macmillan Audio.

In a joint statement, Gunnels and Palmieri said, "There's a little mad science in every new publishing experiment, and we're tremendously excited about the creative possibilities of Tor Labs. We're especially thrilled to be partnering with Gideon Media on Steal the Stars, and bringing their phenomenal work to a wide audience."

"I was intrigued by the idea of a science fiction heist thriller told in the classic noir tradition of James M. Cain and Patricia Highsmith," said writer Mac Rogers. "I've always loved those stories of illicit lovers trying to pull off one nearly impossible crime in order to be together. As forces close in on them from all sides, they're pushed to greater extremes than they ever imagined."

SF Signal Podcast: Our Favorite SF&F Books of 2011

I had the pleasure of being on this week's SF Signal podcast.  If you're looking for some good books that came out in 2011, some great ones were mentioned by all the panelists (Paul Weimer, John DeNardo, Andrew Liptak, Aidan Moher andPatrick Hester).

So head on over and listen in. :)

SF Signal Podcast: Science Fiction Movies Every Fan Should See

I had the pleasure of being on one of this week's SF Signal Podcasts, talking about SF movies.  I took the stance that to truly understand modern films, you have to have a basis in what's come before.  So I suggested some older science fiction movies, based on what I've seen myself and the SF film history page on Wikipedia.  Namely: Metropolis (1927), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Godzilla (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Planet of the Apes (1968), Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986) Gattaca (1997), and Matrix (1999).  These are movies that, even if you're not a fan of them, they're worthwhile watching for the impact they had on society and the films that came after them.

 
Obviously a lot of fantastic films are missing, some of which the other podcast members mentioned, and some we merely discussed at the end (or after the podcast ended, thinking of the films we'd forgotten to mention).  Films like Westworld, Jurassic Park, 5th Element, 12 Monkeys, Logan's Run and on and on.

I've noted down a bunch of movies I've yet to see (including Forbidden Planet - for shame), that were mentioned on the podcast and will be watching them (and posting reviews) over the next few months.  So far I've seen The Thing From Another World and John Carpenter's The Thing.

Also on the podcast were:

• Lisa Paitz Spindler
• Scott Cupp
• Carrie Cuinn
• Derek Johnson
• Patrick Hester

What would make your SF essential film list?