Mabfan's Musings

Last night ended my participation as a Book of the Month Club author in Joseph Mallozzi's book club, which he runs on his blog.

Joe runs the book club as follows. First, he announces the book a few months in advance and encourages everyone to go read it. Then, when the discussion week arrives, he posts his own thoughts about the book and encourages his readers to comment and ask questions. He passes along those questions to the author, who has as much time as needed to compose answers to the questions. Finally, Joe posts those answers on his blog, and the book club moves on to the next book.

It's been a lot of fun having I Remember the Future selected as one of the books for the month of May. I discovered that Joe's readers, while sometimes critical and analytical, are also very respectful. Whether or not they like a story, they explain exactly what worked for them and what didn't. And I have to admit that it was a thrill to have the book chosen by a producer of one of my favorite television show franchises. Joe noted my love of Stargate as well, in his introduction to the post with my answers:

When it comes to making a selection for our Book of the Month Club discussions, I like to take several things into consideration: recommendations, reviews, an intriguing premise, and, of course, whether or not the author is a Stargate fan. Well, when I learned that author Michael A. Burstein was an avid follower of the Stargate franchise, I was delighted to pick his book, I Remember the Future, for a May discussion. Michael is not only an established SF writer and fan of the show, but a blog regular as well and so it gives me great pleasure to turn today’s entry over to him.

Because I'm a fan of Stargate, I had an idea for an appropriate picture to go along with the post. Nomi agreed to the idea, and our friend Ari Baronofsky graciously agreed to take the picture and let us use it.

So the "author photo" that went along with my answers is a picture of Nomi and me posed with our DVD box set of Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series, which we purchased as a present to ourselves when it was released.

Anyway, here's the link if you want to see the picture for yourself, and maybe even read my answers:

Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog: Author Michael A. Burstein Answers Your Questions

And for any of Joe's readers who make it over here, a bonus question and answer. No one asked me what my favorite episodes of Stargate SG-1 were. So, in order of broadcast, here they are: 1969, Window of Opportunity, 2010, 2001, Wormhole X-treme!, and 200. Yeah, I tend to flock to the fan favorites....

What's that? My favorite episodes of Stargate Atlantis? That'll have to wait for later.

My review of Terminator Salvation can be found here:

http://sfscope.com/2009/05/insert-your-own-ill-be-back-jo.html

Folks may recall that back in March, I announced that Joseph Mallozzi had chosen I Remember the Future as one of his Book of the Month Club selections for the month of May.

Again, for those of you unfamiliar with his name, Joseph Mallozzi was one of the executive producers of the TV shows Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and is also an executive producer of the upcoming Stargate Universe. (And, as I've mentioned a few times, Nomi and I are big fans of the franchise.)

Mr. Mallozzi has just posted his Book Club blog entry at Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog: I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein. He has some fascinating things to say about the stories; some of them worked for him, and some didn't, for quite legitimate reasons. Like many other readers, Joe Mallozzi compares my writing style to that of the Golden Age writers, and it's a comparison I do not shy away from.

Anyway, if anyone reading here still has questions to ask me about the book, feel free to go over there and post your questions. He's going to collect them all for me and I'm going to try to answer them within the week (or the month). And while you're over there, check out what else he has to say; he's a very funny guy, he knows a lot about good food, and sometimes his dogs give away big Stargate secrets.

My review of the new "Star Trek" film is now available on SF Scope at The Future Returns – a review of Star Trek.

Short version: "This isn't just a great Star Trek film; it's a great film, period."

As the editor of the special issue of Apex Magazine (April 2009), I'm reposting this announcement from http://www.apexbookcompany.com/news/2009/05/story-titled-changed/ :

This morning, it came to our attention that Jamie Todd Rubin’s story “The Last Science Fiction Writer” (April Apex Magazine) shared the same title as Allen Steele’s “The Last Science Fiction Writer.” This had been causing some confusion, especially since Allen Steele had released a nice collection of his short stories using that same title.

For this reason, Jamie Todd Rubin has retitled his story to “Hindsight, in Neon.”

We apologize to our readers, Allen Steele, and Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press for any confusion and inconvenience this might have caused.

For those of you interested, in honor of the 100th episode of the TV show Lost, which airs tonight, I have the following piece up at SCI FI Wire:

Before watching Lost's 100th episode tonight, check out 14 other sci-fi milestones

The most interesting aspect of writing this piece for me was discovering just how few genre shows have made it to 100 episodes...

(And I couldn't help but notice that the 100th episode of Lost coincides with the 100th day of Barack Obama's presidency. Given the subject matter of Lost, this can't be a coincidence.)

I've been meaning to let people know about all of the following, just haven't had the time. None of this is Earth-shattering, but it might be of interest.

First of all, I reviewed the play The Superheroine Monologues for SF Scope. Unfortunately, at this point the play's run is over, but if you're interested in my opinion, you can find it at The Secret Lives of Superheroines – a review of The Superheroine Monologues: A Parody of Super Proportions.

Secondly, and a little more timely, I had an opinion piece appear on SCI FI Wire (soon to be Syfy Wire?) about tonight's season finale of the TV show Heroes. I managed to snag quotes from Paul Levinson, Bob Greenberger, and Miranda Thomas about the show; I thought Miranda's point about a need for a big battle was a good one. You can find the article at 5 things Heroes must do to deliver a killer season finale.

Thirdly, John Joseph Adams has chosen to reprint my Jews versus vampires story, "Lifeblood," in the anthology By Blood We Live (Night Shade Books). I suspect it's going to be a somewhat different take on vampires than the other stories in the book. "Lifeblood" originally appeared in the 2003 DAW Books anthology New Voices in Science Fiction edited by Mike Resnick, and I'm glad to see it come back into print.

Fourthly, Apex Publications announced that they're doing a book collection of stories from Apex Magazine, and it turns out that they're including the two stories I selected for the special issue as part of the book: “Waiting for Jakie” by Barbara Krasnoff and “The Last Science Fiction Writer” by Jamie Todd Rubin. If you want to learn more about Descended From Darkness: Apex Magazine volume 1, read their blog post Apex Magazine antho: Update.

And finally, the Falmouth Public Library in southern Massachusetts has invited me to participate in their SCI FI Author Panel on the evening of Wednesday, June 17. I'm particularly pleased to be invited to speak at a library because of my own connection to libraries in Massachusetts. One of the other panelists will be my good friend Jennifer Pelland, so I expect the audience that comes to the event will hear a lot of brilliant repartee. (At least, I'd like to think so.)

I'm looking for suggestions for the worst science fiction television season finale ever. (Not series finale, but season finale.) Any thoughts?

The Chronic Rift has announced the winners of the 2008 Roundtable Awards on their latest podcast, and I am delighted to be able to announce that I Remember the Future is the winner of the Best Anthology award.

My thanks to all listeners to the Chronic Rift who voted for the book. If you listen to the podcast, you can hear my recorded thanks as well.

I'm also delighted to announce another win that took me by surprise as I was listening to the podcast. Back in December, I entered a radio script adaption of my story "Decisions" into the contest that the Chronic Rift was running. They were looking for a script to perform on the show. Well, they've chosen to produce "Decisions" as an audio play. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

(The Chronic Rift: Spotlight - The 2008 Roundtable Awards)

I'm delighted to announce that the April 2009 issue of Apex Magazine, the issue for which I served as Guest Editor, is now available.

I'm very proud of this issue. As I discuss in the editorial, the stories I selected for the issue struck some very personal chords with me. "The Last Science Fiction Writer" by Jamie Rubin and "Waiting for Jakie" by Barbara Krasnoff both explore themes that I've also explored in my own fiction.

I was also pleased to be able to support science fiction poetry by publishing two poems: Michael Ceraolo’s “Message in a Bottle” and Elizabeth Barrette’s “Fallen Gardens." Apex Magazine doesn't usually publish poetry, so this was a departure for them. I'm glad they were willing to go along.

Editing the special issue of Apex also allowed me to reprint one of my favorite stories of all time: "Love, Dad" by Jeffery D. Kooistra, which originally appeared in the March 1992 Analog. It's also a bit of a departure for Apex, as it's more touching and moving and perhaps less dark than their usual fare, but I think Apex's readers will like it nevertheless.

Finally, the cover art by Stephen Rider does a wonderful job of illustrating "The Last Science Fiction Writer." You can see it for yourself if you check out the catalog page for the PDF version. And while you're there, maybe you'll consider buying the PDF; it's only $2, well worth the cost to support great short fiction online.

In addition to editing this issue, I also wrote a blog entry for the Apex Blog, Thoughts on Professionalism and Guest Editing, in which I discuss the process of serving as guest editor for the issue. I actually had a few surprises in store for me when I took on this task, and I encourage anyone who wants to know what happens on the other side of the desk to check it out.

Once again, many thanks to Jason Sizemore, the publisher of Apex, for allowing me this opportunity.

(Permalink to the April 2009 Apex Magazine)

For those interested, my review of the upcoming film Alien Trespass has been posted on SF Scope:

The Ghota Are Coming! – a review of Alien Trespass

"Delightful and charming, Alien Trespass is the best new film of the 1950s."

A year ago today, the world got the news that the last of the Big Three science fiction writers, Arthur C. Clarke, had died.

Growing up, I wasn't much of a Clarke reader. I loved Asimov's work, though, and Asimov himself used to say that people who liked his work also liked Clarke's. But for the most part, I never enjoyed Clarke's books as much as I did Asimov's. However, I did find Clarke's ideas mind-blowing, and I did enjoy Clarke's short stories more than his novels. (Who could forget "The Star" or "The Nine Billion Names of God"?)

I also loved Clarke's essays on science and the world. He seemed to have an innate inability to grasp the direction in which we were going as a species.

Oddly enough, when he died last year, I was in the middle of trying to figure out the plot of a new short story, the story that would give its title to my collection I Remember the Future. As I said in the book, Clarke's death somehow triggered in my mind exactly what I needed to write the story, and so I dedicated it to him.

As I noted last year when Clarke died, many people liked to quote his Third Law ("Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic") but I was more interested in exploring the ramifications of his Second Law: "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."

It's something I try to do every day.

Remember just a few days ago when I pointed people toward Joseph Malllozzi's weblog?

I am pleased to announce that Joseph Mallozzi has chosen I Remember the Future as one of his Book of the Month Club selections for the month of May.

For those of you unfamiliar with his name, Joseph Mallozzi was one of the executive producers of the TV shows Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, and is also an executive producer of the upcoming Stargate Universe. Nomi and I have been fans of the Stargate shows for a few years; in fact, as a present to ourselves, when Stargate SG-1 came to an end, we bought the full-series DVD set so we could go back and watch our favorite episodes over and over.

So I was delighted when a few weeks ago, Mallozzi asked me if I'd be willing to answer questions in the month of May about I Remember the Future for his Book of the Month Club. Besides being a writer of science fiction, Mallozzi is also a voracious reader of science fiction. Every month he selects books for his Book of the Month Club and encourages his blog readers to read the books and then discuss them and ask questions of the author. I'm looking forward to having a new audience enjoy my stories, even though I have slight feelings of trepidation regarding what questions they may ask. (Gulp.)

By the way, the other book Mallozzi has chosen for May is The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll. As a long-time fan of Carroll's work, I'm delighted to be in such august company. (I just hope the readers don't decide to spend their time comparing my book to Carroll's, since in my own opinion I would get trounced.)

If you'd like to join in the fun, check out Mallozzi's latest blog post, in which he also opens up the floor to questions for questions for the Stargate art department draftsman: March 17, 2009: Expert Analysis vs. Dumb Luck, Questions for Kate, Some Stargate News of Note, and May’s Book of the Month Club Selections.

I've noticed that the "Which Science Fiction Writer Are You?" quiz has started to pop up among some of my friends again. The last time it came around was in 2005, and rather than take it again, I thought I would just point people toward what happened when I took it then:

Which Science Fiction Writer Are You?, or, Did It Really Come Up With Your Name?
Confession: Science Fiction Writer Quiz, or, The Hoax Revealed

Joseph Mallozzi, a producer and writer on Stargate, has an interesting guest blog post up on the Apex Blog: I Should Have Stuck to Rubber Chickens:

Among the most common questions I get asked as an Executive Producer/Writer on the Stargate franchise are: “What sci fi shows influenced you growing up?”, “Can I send you my episode ideas?”, and, of course, “Why does my character get caught holding the rubber chicken?” In order: “None,” “No,” and “Because it’s a key plot point.”

He also keeps a regular blog, Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog, where Nancy Kress is answering questions from readers this week.

The Highlander's Book Reviews site has posted their review of I Remember the Future, and given the book a rating of four out of five. I'm particularly pleased with this part:

..if you want to find Isaac Asimov’s natural heir both in the art of short story writing but also in that connection between author and reader, look no further than Michael A. Burstein.

Given how much I do try to emulate Asimov, it looks like I'm getting it right.

Here's the link to the review: Highlander's Book Reviews: I Remember the Future.

On Monday night, thanks to the help of a friend whom I shall refer to as D., Nomi and I had a chance to see a preview of the film Watchmen, which opens tomorrow. Because I had a chance to see the movie early, I ended up writing a review for SF Scope, one of the premier websites for news of the speculative fiction fields. (SF Scope is run by my friend Ian Randal Strock, and has an RSS feed on LiveJournal at sf_scope.)

My review is posted as Contemplating Watchmen for anyone who wishes to read it.

The 2008 Roundtable Awards have been announced, and I am very pleased to note that the nominees in the Best Short Story category include both "Empty Spaces" and "I Remember the Future."

What this means is that I Remember the Future has now truly earned its subtitle, "The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein." Because the two new stories have now been nominated for an award, every story in the book is now an award nominee, with the exception of "Absent Friends." ("Absent Friends" is included because it bridges the other three stories in the "Broken Symmetry" series.)

I'm also amused to note that "The release of I Remember the Future" was nominated in their Best Thing of 2008 category. Certainly, it was probably the best thing of 2008 for me personally....

I would like to thank the voters in the Roundtable Awards, which is sponsored by the podcast The Chronic Rift, for their nominations. I'm honored to be up against stories by my friends Terri Osborne and Ian Randal Strock.

To see a list of all nominees in all categories, check out The 2008 Roundtable Award Nominees and listen to the podcast.

(ETA: I forgot to note that the book also got nominated in their "Best Anthology of Short Stories" category. So that's a total of four nominations for the book.)

Danny Adams, the nephew of science-fiction writer Philip Jose Farmer, reports that Farmer passed away this morning at the age of 91.

http://madwriter.livejournal.com/665507.html

Perhaps we'll see him again on the Riverworld.

As part of my book tour for I Remember the Future, I've had two recent audio appearances.

First of all, I'm the guest on this week's episode of The Chronic Rift podcast. If you haven't heard The Chronic Rift before, and you're interested in science fiction and related topics, you ought to give it a listen. To paraphrase their own description, the podcast is based on the New York public access television show of the 1990's. Each month they deliver news, reviews, interviews and discussion on the latest in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic art.

In my opinion, the cast of the show display an amusing banter and awesome wit. As for what else you can expect on this week's episode, I lifted this description from John Drew's announcement on his own LiveJournal at The View From Drew – Episode Ten Ready to Go!:

In our first double digit episode, Orenthal (popfiend) and John (drewshi) talk Knight Rider despite Andrea's best efforts to stop them. Also, Andrea warms everyone up for this year's Razzie Awards. In the review department, Keith (kradical) and Derrick (dferguson) rants about the glut of comic book "events". Plus, Keith interviews Michael Burstein (mabfan) about the release of his anthology, I Remember the Future. Listen for your chance to win a copy of the anthology.

Click here to find out more and to download: The Chronic Rift Episode Ten. (At the very least, you'll want to find out why I'm such a big fan of Andrea K. Linpinksi.)

As for my other recent audio appearance, radio station WRFR out of Rockland, Maine has a weekly broadcast about science fiction that's also a podcast, called Beam Me Up. The host, Paul Cole, recently read aloud my story Paying It Forward, and you can download his reading here:

Beam Me Up Podcast: Paying It Forward, Part One

Beam Me Up Podcast: Paying It Forward, Part Two

So, enjoy.