July 2009 – John Joseph Adams

Archive for July, 2009

My Worldcon Schedule, or Where You Can Meet and Stalk John Joseph Adams from August 6-10

For those of my fans and/or stalkers in the Montreal area, and others planning to attend Worldcon, here’s my programming schedule:

When: Thu 12:30
Location: P-511BE
Title: I Read the News Today
Session ID: 176
All Participants: Brad Templeton, julie c andrijeski, John Joseph
Adams
Moderator: julie c andrijeski
Description: How has the war on terror been reflected in onscreen SF?
Do those aliens represent al-Qaeda or us? Does SF provide a means to
discuss these matters indirectly?

Duration: 1:00 hrs:min
Language: English
Track: Media
AV/Internet request: None

When: Fri 10:00
Location: P-518A
Title: When did SF Conquer the Mainstream?
Session ID: 483
All Participants: Daryl Gregory, Fred Lerner, Julie McGalliard, Kathy
Morrow, John Joseph Adams
Moderator: Julie McGalliard
Description: Once upon a time, very little science fiction was to be
found that didn’t appear either as a novel of ideas with a dash of
action (Wells, Rosny) or a juvenile yarn with a dash of ideas (Verne,
E. E. Smith). Today, science fiction runs the entire gamut from the
pulpish to the mainstream (Chabon, McCarthy) and ideas may be served
up wholesale in many other media.

Duration: 1:00 hrs:min
Language: English
Track: Literature in English
AV/Internet request: None

When: Fri 14:00
Location: P-Autographs
Title: John Joseph Adams Signing
Session ID: 1232
All Participants: John Joseph Adams
Moderator: <Not Available>
Description: John Joseph Adams Signing
Duration: 1:00 hrs:min
Language: English
Track: Autographs
AV/Internet request: None

When: Fri 21:00
Location: P-513B
Title: Vampire Rules–and How to Recognize Them Without a Mirror
Session ID: 724
All Participants: Inanna Arthen, Jennifer Williams, Karen Dales,
Victoria Janssen, John Joseph Adams
Moderator: Victoria Janssen
Description: Are there vampire rules that writers MUST follow? Some
experts and enthusiasts discuss vampires, including eastern vs western
vampires.

Duration: 1:00 hrs:min
Language: English
Track: Creative Writing
AV/Internet request: None

When: Sat 15:30
Location: P-513A
Title: “Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is over.”
Session ID: 631
All Participants: Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Kij Johnson, John Joseph
Adams, Liz Gorinsky
Moderator: Kij Johnson
Description: That was The Onion’s headline when George W. Bush took
office, and, in many respects, it was an accurate piece of SF-nal
prediction. What use has sf made of the George W. Bush presidency, and
the War on Terror in particular?
Duration: 1:30 hrs:min
Language: English
Track: Literature in English
AV/Internet request: None

When: Sun 14:00
Location: P-516E
Title: From A to Zombies
Session ID: 862
All Participants: Eric Gauthier, Adeline Lamarre, John Joseph Adams
Moderator: Eric Gauthier
Description: Lend us your brains — we’ll find out why zombies are so
cool.
Duration: 1:00 hrs:min
Language: Bilingual
Track: Teen Programming
AV/Internet request: None

When: Sun 22:00
Location: P-511CF
Title: The Living Dead
Session ID: 393
All Participants: Jason Bourget, Jeanne Cavelos, Seanan McGuire, John
Joseph Adams
Moderator: Jeanne Cavelos
Description: Forty years after George Romero gave us “Night of the
Living Dead,” his zombies still walk among us in remakes, new films
from Romero himself, and astonishing recent movies from others ranging
from “Shaun of the Dead” to “28 Weeks Later.” Why is this SF/horror
subgenre so enduring? What are its classics and which are merely the
walking dead?

Duration: 1:00 hrs:min
Language: English
Track: Media
AV/Internet request: None

When: Mon 9:00
Location: Outdoors
Title: Stroll With The Stars – Monday
Session ID: 7
All Participants: Lawrence M. Schoen, Stephen H. Segal, Stu Segal,
Frank Wu, John Joseph Adams
Moderator: Stu Segal
Description: A gentle, friendly 1 mile stroll with some of your
favorite Authors, Artists & Editors. Leaving daily 9AM, from the
Riopelle Fountain outside the Palais (corner of Ave Viger & Rue de
Bleury), returning before 10AM.
Duration: 1:00 hrs:min
Language: English
Track: The Light Programme
AV/Internet request: None

Some New Reviews

The Sacramento Book Review reviews Federations:

“For this anthology of twenty-four stories, editor John Joseph Adams tasked some of the brightest luminaries of speculative fiction to write stories of vast, galaxy-spanning empires and the people that live in them. … By mixing writers with great experience in with newer authors, Adams captures both the feel of the old pulp magazines and the practical elements of the ever-changing science of astronomy and space travel. … Editor Adams has collected both the finest writers and their finest tales in the definitive volume of vast, epic, interstellar Federations.”

Bibliophile Stalker reviews Federations:

“It’s a testament to the strength of the editor when a mixed anthology–one that features both reprints and original stories–features a consistent selection that one has trouble discerning which is which (or ceases to care about identifying them). Federations is one of those anthologies where I open the book and each story is a treat. … Federations is an accessible science fiction anthology and features both recognizable and refreshing elements of the genre. … [O]ne of the more enjoyable books I’ve encountered in quite some time”

BookPage Magazine reviews By Blood We Live:

“More than anything, this anthology demonstrates that the vampire is not only undead but mutable, and in the best writers’ hands, a tool for analyzing our mortal frailty and resilience in the teeth of unadulterated evil and unimaginable love.”

Whoops

So sorry about that Twitter weekly roundup (which has been since deleted). That’s not what I wanted it to do.

Readercon Schedule

I’ll be attending Readercon next weekend (July 9-12, in Burlington, Mass.). Here’s my schedule:

Friday 7:00 PM
Salon F: Autographing

Friday 11:00 PM
Meet the Pros(e) Party

Saturday 12:00 Noon
VT: Group Reading

Federations Group Reading (60 min.)

John Joseph Adams (host) with K. Tempest Bradford, Robert J. Sawyer, Allen Steele, Catherynne M. Valente,
Genevieve Valentine

Readings from the original and reprint anthology (cover blurb: “Vast. Epic. Interstellar.”) edited by Adams and published by Prime Books in January.

Sunday 1:00 PM
Salon A: Panel

We Won, We Lost. John Joseph Adams, Michael A. Burstein, F. Brett Cox (L), Paul Di Filippo, Robert Killheffer, Michaela Roessner

[Greatest Hit from Readercon 12.] It’s an sf world. Our once-visionary iconography is now commonplace. The present turns into the future even before we wear it comfortably, let alone wear it out, and this sense of constant change is now the common currency of our culture rather than our precious private truth. And yet the sf readership shrinks, or at least gets older, every year; as sf media ascends (and merges with real life), the written sf word seems ever more irrelevant-and certainly wins no greater prestige for its creators than in the past. Maybe this has nothing to do with sf, but just reflects the death of reading (a development we perhaps ironically foresaw). But maybe somehow the contents of sf, the accidents, have conquered mass culture, but some crucial part of the form, the essence, has been left behind. Is it an sf world after all? Or just a holographic simulation of one?

ALSO, in addition to these programming items, it looks like I might just be hosting a con-sanctioned Rock Band party in one of the con rooms after hours, sort of as counter-programming to the inevitable Mafia games.

Philadelphia Science Fiction Society event

I’ll be speaking at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society on July 17. If you’re in the area, drop by! The event is free and open to the public. They will have copies of my books on hand to sell and for me to sign. Here’s the press release about the event.

The Philadelphia Science Fiction Society

The Philadelphia Science Fiction Society brings in a professional writer, artist, editor, or some other kind of mover and shaker in the Science Fiction genre, nearly every month.

July’s guest will be:

John Joseph Adams

Friday July 17th at International House 3701 Chestnut St. Phila. PA 9:00 PM

John Joseph Adams is the editor of the anthologies Federations, The Living Dead, Seeds of Change, and Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. Forthcoming work includes the anthologies Brave New Worlds, By Blood We Live, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Living Dead 2, The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, and The Way of the Wizard. He is also the assistant editor at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Adams also works as a freelance writer. He is currently a blogger for Tor.com, and he has written reviews for Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. His other non-fiction has appeared in: Amazing Stories, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Locus Magazine, Novel & Short Story Writers Market, Science Fiction Weekly, SCI FI Wire, Shimmer, Strange Horizons, Subterranean Magazine, and Writer’s Digest.

He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The University of Central Florida in December 2000. He currently lives in New Jersey. His website is www.johnjosephadams.com.

The event is free and open to the public. There will be books on hand for purchase and signing.

Past guests include:

Forrest J. Ackerman, Poul & Karen Anderson, Catherine Asaro, Terry Bisson, Jeff Bredenberg, Lois McMaster Bujold, P.D. Cacek, Ray Cannella, Jack Chalker, David A. Cherry, C.J. Cherryh, Hal Clement, Greg Costikyan, A.C. Crispin, Tony Daniels, Peter David, John DeChancie, Samuel Delaney, Vincent DiFate, Gardner Dozois, George Alec Effinger, Bob Eggleton, Lloyd Eschbach, Mark Fabi, Jan Howard Finder, Leslie Fish, Phil & Kaja Folio, Esther Friesner, Gregory Frost, Craig Shaw Gardner, Marty Gear, David Gerrold, Alexis & Dolly Gilliland, Charles Grant, James Gurney, Laurell K. Hamilton, Elizabeth Hand, David Hartwell, Bruce Jensen, Janet Kagan, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Angela Kessler, Todd Kimmell, Eric Kotani, Nancy Kress, Ellen Kushner, David A. Kyle, Warren Lapine, Jonathan Lethem, Shariann Lewitt, Kelly Link, Don Maitz, George R.R. Martin, Lisa Mason, David Mattingly, Julian May, Jack McDevitt, Maureen McHugh, Catherine Mintz, Stuart Moore, James Morrow, Larry Niven, John Norman, Rebecca Ore, Severna Park, John Passarella, Frederik Pohl, Andrew I. Porter, Tom Purdom, Roman A. Ranieri, Mike Resnick, Mark Rogers, Steve Saffel, Pamela Sargent, Felicity Savage, Robert Sawyer, Charles Sheffield, Joan Slonczewski, Allen Steele, Michael Swanwick, Shane Tourtellotte, Bob Walters, Martha Wells, Janny Wurts, Stephen Youll, Timothy Zazhn, George Zebrowski

PSFS: www.psfs.org

Philcon: www.philcon.org