STRONG MEDICINE: July 2006

The latest installment of my book review column, STRONG MEDICINE: Books That Cures What Ails You, has just been published at Intergalactic Medicine Show.

In this column, I review Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series: His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War; for comparison and contrasting purposes, I review Mike Resnick’s Dragon America; and on a wholly separate note, I review Jim Kelly’s & John Kessel’s new slipstream anthology, Feeling Very Strange.

[Excerpt:] Talking dragons, or talking animals or beasts of any kind really, is no easy trick to pull off, but Novik manages it nicely. Given that there is no magic in Novik’s world–the only fantasy element present is dragons, and their existence is treated scientifically–there are some issues with the talking that require some suspension of disbelief (as do some other issues with the dragons). Even if you set aside their miraculous language skills (Temeraire learned to speak fluent English through the shell in about a week’s time, for instance), there is the issue of speech: just how exactly do those giant beasts make human sounds with those huge dragon jaws? There are other examples of nitpickery one could dwell on, but ultimately all of those things are irrelevant; if you can’t get past them, you probably won’t enjoy the books, but if you simply accept the fact that there are certain allowances that need to be made in order to have the world Novik created function, you’ll likely get completely sucked into the story as I did.

Go read the review and then come back and tell me how awesome it is.

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Camera Obscura: TNT “know[s] drama,” but do they know horror?

Intergalactic Medicine Show just published the latest installment of my column, Camera Obscura, in which I review the first two episodes of the new TNT miniseries, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, which premieres tonight on TNT (if you missed it already, never fear, there are encore airings, and each episode stands alone).

[Excerpt:] Stephen King has said “I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries,” which is to say that he’s kind of an everyman writer: nothing too fancy, just something good and satisfying. Although he may think that, I don’t think it’s true, and if you examine the failed films that have been adapted from his stories, I think you can see why. The reason is that King’s ideas often aren’t revolutionary in of themselves; instead, he uses his craft to spin those ideas into something truly special. And so when you strip away his prose, and adapt the work into film, you are left with nothing but the idea–an idea that’s been filtered through the creative process of an entire cast and crew. This filtering sometimes results in a product that seems watered down and devoid of spirit, and that’s the case with “Crouch End.”

Read the review!

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Readercon Report

So, as I indicated in my previous teaser post, Readercon was awesome.  Gordon rented a big minivan and drove a bunch of locals up there.  In the van were me, Gordon, Doug Cohen, Chris Barzak, Rick Bowes, and Konrad (a Polish translator and scholar; not actually a local, but he’s temporarily local).  On the drive up, it was like we had our own mini-con going on, as we chatted pretty much nonstop about the genre.  The only thing dampening our enthusiasm was the fact that the gas gauge on the rental was malfunctioning, and so we never really knew how much gas we had.  In transit, Doug delighted us all with the first verse of his rap, “Spittin’.”  I’m not much of a rap fan, but I dug it; his wordplay is undeniably clever.  Konrad seemed rather astounded by the whole thing, and treated us to a few lines of Polish rap.

[Since this post is crazy long, I’ll post the rest in the extended entry.]

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I [heart] Savage Critiques!




Chris Cevasco

Originally uploaded by slushgod.


At the June KGB, a bunch of my friends and I presented Chris Cevasco with this “Good Luck at Clarion” gift. We kept the photos secret until now, so that his Clarion buddies wouldn’t see the shirt before he unveiled it at the workshop. But now that it’s been unveiled (and he’s been savaged), I figured it was time to share. Here’s another one.

And what’s that you say?  You would like to get yourself one of those shirts?  Well, due to popular demand, I’ve set up a Spreadshirt.com shop where you can buy one just like it.  Now available in a wide variety of colors and styles!  Go shop!  Come on, you know you want one.

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Readercon Guerilla Reading

This just in: John Langan has informed me that since he was not given a reading slot at Readercon, he plans to hold a guerilla reading, featuring both him and his fellow F&SF contributor Laird Barron (in which, I imagine, they will compete to see who can instill more nightmarish imagery in the as-yet-unformed dreams of the audience). Room and time are unknown, so be sure to keep your eyes and ears open for details!

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Camera Obscura: Eureka! I think they’ve got it!


Intergalactic Medicine Show just published the latest installment of my column, Camera Obscura, in which I review the pilot episode of Eureka, which premieres on The SCI FI Channel on July 18.

[Excerpt:] Eureka’s two-hour pilot never drags or feels too long; it works extraordinarily well as a piece of entertainment on its own, even as it sets up the rest of the series, so it succeeds on both levels. The pilot also has a nice surprise that I didn’t see coming, one that changes the town dynamic a bit and bodes well for some intrigue in the future. And there are enough other glimpses of malevolence hiding beneath the surface that generating tension (and future plotlines) should not be a problem.

Go read the review! 

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