Well, blog traffic is starting to pick up just a little, and when I looked at my most frequently viewed pages/posts, this one was actually pretty high on the list. So I decided to update it again.
I started this blog to review sci fi books and other media, and to encourage new readers of the genre to look at some of the classics. I love Heinlein and Herbert, Niven and Pournelle, Bradbury and…well, you get the idea. I also enjoy many other genres, but I feel sci fi is largely under-appreciated and I would like to help correct that. I also tend to get a bit snippy when people lump all ‘speculative fiction’ under the sci fi rubric. It has to have science to be sci fi. Fantasy and horror are their own genres and should be given the respect they deserve as such, as should my beloved science fiction. This is from my original about page:
I am one of those rebellious, hard-core purists who believe that science fiction is its own unique genre, and that fantasy, horror, and all the other “sub genres” are also their own unique areas. On a scifi blog you should find science fiction. You should not find talk about dragons, or elves, or unicorns, unless they were created in a lab through genetic engineering or something, and they fit into a plot that actually uses science.
(I didn’t see the need to rewrite it.)
I also occasionally post about the space program, which I think any self-respecting sci fi fan should pay at least some attention to, and any new tech that catches my eye.
On a personal note, I am a stay-at-home mom homeschooling a very bright little boy who the public school system refused to teach on the grounds that he was too young even though his preschool teacher already had him doing first grade work before he retired. (I’m a little irritated about the public school issue, if you can’t tell. On the other hand, I love teaching him myself which I would probably never had tried if not for this situation.) You would think this would give me plenty of time to blog, but no. I do my best to post every day, but sometimes life intervenes, so if you actually look at my blog on a regular basis, please forgive me.
Stumble It!
True Science Fiction 
I love your site. Keep it up !
What touching a phrase 🙂
Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say
that I have really liked reading your blog posts. Anyway
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you post again soon!
Sometimes it’s really that simple, isn’t it? I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this myself/earlier, though.
Cool site, love the info.
This site rocks!
Excellent site, keep up the good work
Hey good stuff…keep up the good work! 🙂
Super site….where’s the blog roll?
Hey very nice blog!!….I’m an instant fan, I have bookmarked you and I’ll be checking back on a regular….See ya
Good article, thank you
If you are interesting 2012 year, by the way, welcome to us 🙂
http://2012earth.net
I‘m sure many of you are like me and one of the first things you do in the morning is head here and check out the new post. Along with seeing the new posts, I’m also always checking out the blog roll rss feed and watching them grow, or shrink sometimes. In one of my past …but all in all excellent site. Keep it up!
Your blog is so informative … ..I just bookmarked you….keep up the good work!!!!
Hey, I found your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, anyway cool blog, I bookmarked you. 🙂
–Robert Shumake Paul Nicoletti
I’ve heard such good things about your blog, and now I see why!
I am contacting you from Corvus publishers, a new imprint at Atlantic books in the UK. Amongst other things, we publish SF and fantasy. Authors on our list include Tim Powers, Chris Beckett, Jeff Vandermeer, and debut author, Charles Yu whose book, How To Live safely in a Science Fiction Universe has already won praise from the likes of Audrey Niffenegger who said, ‘Charles Yu is a tremendously clever writer, and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is marvelously written, sweetly geeky, good clean time-bending fun.’
Would you be interested in interviewing any authors in our stable? Or in receiving review copies?
I’d really love to put you on our mailing list. Here’s a link to our catalogue: Www
Hope to hear from you.
Best wishes,
Rina
I am an author who is interested in doing a guest post or a Q&A session for your blog. My book series, Marooned on Mogo, is an easy reader series published by Empowered Entertainment and is available at local book stores, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.
The premise of the story is a cross between Johnny Quest and Lost in Space whereas our heroes are four siblings who come across an ancient treasure map. They are pursued by space pirates to the alien world of Mogo. Stranded on this alien world, their only hope is to find their uncle, who holds the key to deciphering the treasure map and unveiling the treasure of Mogo.
Currently, all four books are also available online as free ebooks at the official website, http://www.maroonedonmogo.com. Please take a few minutes to browse through them. Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Andrew S. Leiter
Thanks! I will check these out, and run them by my son.
Thank you for doing your part to keep Science Fiction relevant. Honestly, I’m starting to worry that all “sci-fi” interest has boiled down to the SyFy channel and trendy new pop/scifi shows. Yours is the first blog I’ve found that actually has something unique to say…I will be visiting often.
Do you review Sci-fi Vlog Series? If so, please check out my Memoire de Rayloria Vlog Series. Promo video found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIbAUIfMphs
In short, my sentiments exactly. Here’s a post along the same lines: http://infinitybound.com/index.php/2009/10/12/hard-science-fiction-toward-a-definition/comment-page-1/
And more on the topic here: http://tinyurl.com/2cfschu
Hello,
I just launched a new science fiction website and was hoping you could give it a look. It’s called the Alpha Universe: The Origin Saga. The website so far has some really great written content and some really excellent illustrations and artwork.
Thought it would be worth a mention and something you might be interested in. Especially for any fans of Sci-Fi. If you like it, please feel free to add a review to your website or give the website a plug. Thanks!
B.M. Garrett
Hi, i just thought i’d post and let you know your blogs layout is really messed up on the K-Melonbrowser. Anyhow keep up the good work.
Thanks for letting me know. I’ll look into it. I had never even heard of that browser until today!
How do people contact you for potential reviews? Feel free to e-mail me if you would prefer not to have that info on your site. My novel Exchange sounds like the kind of thing you would enjoy–definitely science fiction in the Heinlein, Niven, Pournelle, etc tradition, with considerable amounts of technology and no unicorns, vampires, elves or zombies. I don’t know how much more I can say about it in a comments thread without seeming like I’m spamming you, so I’ll stop there. Do feel free to e-mail me if you’re interested in a review copy.
I emailed you!
Your blog is brilliant I will have to read it all, thank you Thank you.
Hi there,
I too am a homeschooling mom … awesome! But that’s not why I’m here. 🙂 I also set up reviews for authors, and wondered if you’d drop me a note so I can discuss what types of things I might be able to send you.
Thanks!
I really enjoy your blog. I hope you post some new stuff soon!
Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My site addresses a lot of the same topics as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you’re interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Excellent blog by the way!
Hmm it appears like your blog ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I had written and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any tips for first-time blog writers? I’d genuinely appreciate it.
You have a wonderful blog, and I appreciate the time you take to review the works of many people. You are one of the main reasons we authors write as passionately as we do. We want people to thoroughly review and contemplate our work.
Great job!
Hi there,
Not sure if my last post worked but I wanted to get in contact with you about reviewing an up and coming SF novel named “Slabscape: Reset” it’s being billed as a “webback” the first of it’s kind a book backed up by an online database, especially designed for ereaders where the epub of the book is embedded with links to the site. It’s intriguing stuff, especially considering the amount of work that has gone into Slabscapedia and how immersed in the story and in the tech people can get.
If you could let me know what you think that would be great, I would really appreciate your time.
You have an interesting blog with a huge variety of topics. Obviously you stay very well informed about all the sci-fi books and movies worth reading/watching. I suppose I should use your page as a great reference resource.
On the other hand, I am trying myself to do something just the opposite: write some sci-fi online. My project wants to start with blog posts as very short stories and then, when I’ve got about 50 or so, to put them on a book. Of course, I would like some feedback from people who know a lot about sci-fi, like you, to help me improve what I am writing. If you can spare some time to take a look at my page at http://anarres2.blogspot.com/ I would be grateful!
Hey congrats on growing your readership! Ten gold stars lol. To help thought you might like a widget on the sidebar for your readers. It’s from Shelf Awareness to give your readers a chance for free books. Don’t worry it changes every few weeks when the new offer comes so you don’t have to adjust it at all. Anyway here’s the link to the contest http://bit.ly/kpC8pH and more on Shelf Awareness if you’re interested (http://bit.ly/luZsZl). Congrats again! feel free to email me with any questions if you’d just like to chat! 🙂
Sincerely,
Brittany Foster
Hey there! I was just trolling around trying to get people to take a look at my book and I happened to find your site. I get what you mean about sci-fi needing “sci” in order to actually be SCI-fi. Now, what I’m wanting to do – and this might be crazy – is to have a “choose your own adventure” subset of every preexisting genre. What do you think of that?
See, my book that I’m pushing is a sci-fi story with a branching narrative. I was hoping that you might take a look. It’s called Heavy Metal Thunder, and it takes place in an era when humans have pretty much given up on finding any meaning in life. When an imperialistic alien species attacks, humanity barely puts up any fight at all. The main character, however, is a “human fanatic” fighting in a last-ditch guerilla war against the invaders. He’s not a superheroic badass, but he is determined and driven and more than a little unbalanced.
Be warned: There are a few graphic action sequences!
If you’re interested, you can check out the book here:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82634
And here’s the coupon for a FREE copy, which is good until September 7: DD42L
And you can check out the blog here:
http://heavymetalthunderseries.wordpress.com
Amazon reviews are definitely appreciated! Here’s the amazon page:
And if you’d like to get in touch with me, my email address is prime entertainer at g mail dot com.
I saw this question in an earlier comment, but not an answer. If you’re accepting SF novels for review, how should the author submit a book? If you’d rather not answer on the blog for any reason, I’d greatly appreciate an email. Thanks!
I see that others are telling you in comments about their upcoming SF books, so I’ll chime in. (If you emailed me in response to my previous comment, I can’t find the email — my apologies!) My novel Twin-Bred should be available on Amazon and other outlets by mid-October. The elevator pitch: “Can interspecies diplomacy begin in the womb?” If you’d be interested in hearing more and possibly reviewing it, please let me know!