Public Service Announcement: Don’t Be a Dick

Don’t be a dick. That’s good advice for life in general, but at the moment I’m saying this in reference to the new Harry Potter book. With just a few days to go before the big release, I’m seeing posts on the net talking about spoilers of the final book–people have gotten advanced copies and blogged an ENTIRE SYNOPSIS (don’t look!), and someone even photographed every page of the book and posted a torrent.

So, do us all a favor: don’t be a dick. Don’t spoil the book for people who don’t want to be spoiled. Be mindful of where (and how loudly) you reveal crucial plot points. It’s bad enough the news will probably report on the ending as if it were, you know, *news*. Like they did with The Sopranos.

And for god’s sake people, when you get the book, take it home and read it. Don’t flip to the last chapter to find out if Harry lives. Pages are numbered for a reason, and it’s not just so you can find your place if your bookmark falls out. You’ve waited this long to find out what happens; surely you can wait just a little bit longer.

And I’m not just talking about regular folks either; remember that bookstore people might want to remain unspoiled as well, and they’ll be at the highest risk of overhearing something they don’t want to. I still remember working at Books-a-Million in the days and weeks prior to the release of The Phantom Menace and that stupid fat fuck who excitedly blabbed to his friend how Liam Neeson’s character dies at the end. Sure, the movie kind of sucked, but I didn’t know that then, and seeing that movie was the thing I was most looking forward to in the whole world at that time. There’s going to be a lot of Harry Potter readers out there who feel the same way.

So don’t be a dick.

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Night Shade Books 50% off sale

Night Shade Books just announced a big sale, and oh look, you can now pre-order Wastelands!

It’s sale time at Night Shade again. We’ve got a few big titles coming in, and we need to clear space in a big way! So until midnight on Sunday, July 29th, we’re offering 50% off all in-stock and forthcoming Night Shade books. Use the coupon code NSB0750, and there is a four book minimum order.

And just to entice you a bit more, we’ve just added a whole bunch of new forthcoming titles to the site, including new novels from Greg Egan and Walter Jon Williams, the new Detective Inspector Chen novel from Liz Williams, the fourth and fifth Clark Ashton Smith volumes, and a post-apocalyptic anthology called Wastelands that will include stories from Stephen King, Jonathan Lethem, George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Gene Wolfe, Nancy Kress, Octavia Butler, and a whole lot more.

In addition, for those that keep asking, we’re reprinting a bunch of classics. Volume one of the Clark Ashton Smith series is sold out, but will be reprinted in September. Volume one of the Hodgson series will be reprinted in January, and volume two will be reprinted in May.

Buy early, buy often. Spread the word! Oh, and did I mention you can now pre-order Wastelands?

And since you have to buy four books to qualify for the discount, I’d like to recommend the following:

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Heaven Describes History’s End

July 17 —

Sturgeon Award-winning SF/fantasy author Kage Baker, whose novel The Sons of Heaven concludes her Company series and is July’s SCI FI Essential book, told SCI FI Wire that the book describes the final downfall of Dr. Zeus Inc., on July 9, 2355, when recorded history ends.

More …

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Shimmer Wants Copyeditors

Shimmer is looking for some help in the copyediting dept. Publisher Beth Wodzinski says:

We’re looking for any extraordinary qualifications (beyond the usual extraordinary qualifications of copy editing). Detail-oriented, willing to look things up carefully, even if they seem very obvious and impossible to get wrong, familiar with Chicago manual, experience preferred. Unfortunately, it’s a volunteer position, but the work is usually not overly burdensome.

Interested parties should contact Beth Wodzinski at beth[at]shimmerzine.com.

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F&SF Giveaway!

F&SF is giving away copies of the Sept. 2007 issue to people who are willing to blog about it. Gordon sez:

1) Go to our “Contact Us” page: http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/contact.htm

2) Tell us where to mail your copy of the issue.

3) Receive the issue and blog about it. Naturally, we prefer if you read the issue before blogging about it, but I’m just insisting that you blog about it. (Last time we tried this promotion, people mistakenly thought they should blog about the magazine in order to receive the new issue. No. The idea is to blog about this issue, even if the whole blog entry is short. So instead of blogging “The cover sucks,” you’re supposed to write “The cover OF THE SEPTEMBER 2007 ISSUE sucks.”)

4) Send us a link to your blog.

5) If you already subscribe, please don’t request a copy, though of course you’re welcome to blog about it anyway. 

Here’s the table of contents:

NOVELETS

Wrong Number by Alexander Jablokov

Episode Seven: Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers by John Langan

The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chiang

SHORT STORIES

Envoy Extraordinary by Albert E. Cowdrey

Atalanta Loses at the Interpantheonic Trivia Bee by Heather Lindsley

Requirements for the Mythology Merit Badge by Kevin N. Haw

If We Can Save Just One Child by Robert Reed 

We’ve got copies at the office already, so these would be mailed out as soon as we get your requests.

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F&SF July 2007: Favorite Story Poll

What was your favorite story in the July 2007 issue of F&SF? Cast your vote in the favorite story poll!

July 2007: Favorite Story Poll
VOTING HAS CLOSED

Selection  
Votes
Stars Seen Through Stone – Lucius Shepard 68% 26
Daughters of Prime – Lawrence C. Connolly 8% 3
Car 17 – P. E. Cunningham 13% 5
Cold Comfort – Ray Vukcevich 3% 1
PowerSuit – M. K. Hobson 5% 2
I wasn’t impressed with any of them. 3% 1
38 votes total

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