Author: David Steffen

David Steffen is an editor, publisher, and writer. If you like what he does you can visit the Support page or buy him a coffee! He is probably best known for being co-founder and administrator of The Submission Grinder, a donation-supported tool to help writers track their submissions and find publishers for their work . David is also the editor-in-chief here at Diabolical Plots. He is also the editor and publisher of The Long List Anthology: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List series. David also (sometimes) writes fiction, and you can follow on BlueSky for updates on cross-stitch projects and occasionally other things.

The Best of Cast Macabre

sFor those looking for more audio fiction, here’s a podcast you might not have heard of: Cast Macabre. They started up in mid-2010, and filled a nice horror fiction gap while Pseudopod was on hiatus. It didn’t take too long to get caught up, as they’re only 28 episodes in. And in case you’re really pressed for time, here’s a top five for you. They’re also running classic stories, including Bram Stoker and H.G. Wells.

I first heard of Cast Macabre when Barry’s story “Corvus Curse” ran on Pseudopod (which made my Best of Pseudopod 2010+ list posted last week)

1. Metastasis by Nathaniel Lee
read by Barry J. Northern

A man searching for his brother. They both have powerful abilities, and the brother who has advanced stages of cancer, has not been himself lately. This story kept me on the edge of my seat, very good stuff.

2. Faces in the Window by Talu Briar
read by

Awesome dark humor! It’s all about a conversation between a married couple at the breakfast table. I won’t ruin the surprise for you, just go listen!

3. What They Consumed by Helmut Finch
read by Alasdair Stuart

A long lost manuscript discovered by C. Deskin Rink. Good Lovecraftian style horror in a classic style.

4. Like, Popular by Kevin Brown
read by Julie Hoverson

This one was chilling because I could just see it happening. What teens won’t do to be popular, child abuse becomes the next “in” thing.

5. A Little Nest Egg by Ken Goldman
read by Barry J. Northern

The protagonist in this one is one of those characters you love to hate, looking to find little old ladies to steal from. At first it seemed a bit predictable but this one had some twists and turns I didn’t see coming.

The Best of Pseudopod 2010+

written by David Steffen
On November 9, 2009 I posted my very first “Best Of” podcast list, the Best of Pseudopod, which was based on Pseudopod episodes 1-167 and flash episodes 1-22. Well, I’m still listening and still enjoying myself, so I figured there’s no reason I can’t make another list. I expect this will become a yearly thing, and will usually cover everything within 1 calendar year. This one will be a tiny bit different because a bit more than a year has passed since my last, which is why this is 2010+. It will cover episodes 168-219, 60 stories total (because there are a few episodes with more than one story).

Pseudopod reached landmark episode 200 during this time period, and this range of episodes includes my premier on Pseudopod, episode 169 “The Disconnected”. In addition, I received another acceptance letter from them just a few weeks ago for my flash story “What Makes You Tick”, which should appear some time in 2011. Now, on to the list.

Instead of ten in the list, I’m going to include 10% of the total and make it a Top Six (plus honorable mentions).

If you like this list, check out my other “Best Of” articles.

1. The Snow-White Heart by Marie Brennan
read by Ben Phillips

I love reimagined fairy tales, and this may be my favorite of all. This is a reimagining of Snow White. Finally, a story that explains why she’s so darn pale, and why she lives with seven strange little men.

2. Ankor Sabat by C. Deskin Rink
read by Ben Phillips

A man on an all-consuming quest to save his wife from the evil cult that has taken her, so many years ago. This starts a little slowly, but I enjoyed it enough that it didn’t bother me. The story went on just a tiny bit longer than it needed to, but other than, it was great.

3. The Dark Level by John F.D. Taff
read by Ian Stuart

Near empty parking garages are one of the creepiest locations in the modern world, and this story takes that idea and magnifies it. There’s something not quite right about this particular garage. Enhanced greatly by the amazing Ian Stuart’s reading, you’ve got to check this out.

4. The Mother and the Worm by Tim W. Burke
read by Paul S. Jenkins

This picks up where the The Garden and the Mirror (another Pseudopod story by the same author) left off. This stars the same two main characters, the yantra master and the woman who wants to use his power.

5. The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle
read by Alasdair Stuart

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is, of course, most well known for his Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but apparently he did some supernatural horror as well. This is the tale of a daring man who flies his plane to impossible heights, and the chronicles of his visit.

6. Spirit of Nationalism by Richard Marsden
read by Mike Bennett

Historical fiction tends not to suit my fancy, but I really enjoyed this one, supernatural horror story taking place during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. The plot seemed familiar, but it didn’t go where I expected.

Honorable Mentions

1. Corvus Curse by Barry J. Northern
read by Ian Stuart

Note that the author is also editor of Cast Macabre, a new horror fiction podcast, which I am currently listening to. Expect a Best Of Cast Macabre, coming soon.

2. Turning the Apples by Tina Connolly
read by Cayenne Chris Conroy

3. The Evil-Eater by Peadar O Guilin
read by Wilson Fowlie


On November 9, 2009 I posted my very first “Best Of” podcast list, the Best of Pseudopod, which was based on Pseudopod episodes 1-167 and flash episodes 1-22. Well, I’m still listening and still enjoying myself, so I figured there’s no reason I can’t make another list. I expect this will become a yearly thing, and will usually cover everything within 1 calendar year. This one will be a tiny bit different because a bit more than a year has passed since my last, which is why this is 2010+. It will cover episodes 168-219, 60 stories total (because there are a few episodes with more than one story).

Noms: John W. Campbell (and Hugo)

written by David Steffen

Hello, everyone! I wanted to bring to your attention that this is the first year that I am eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. My eligibility opened up because of publication of my story “Turning Back the Clock” in Bull Spec #3, so I figured I’d pander a bit for nominations, and while I’m at it, Hugo noms.

How can I vote?

Nominations–You can vote any time between now and March 26th. You are eligible to vote if you had an attending/supporting membership to last year’s World SF convention (AussieCon) or this year’s World SF convention (Renovation). You don’t actually have to attend to be able to vote–you can buy a “supporting” membership for $50. When you’re ready to vote the online or print ballots are available here. You can nominate 0-5 entries for each category. A list of categories is also available at that link.

Voting–Some time after the nomination round votes are counted, they’ll open up for the main voting. You’re eligible for this only if you’re an attending supporting member of this year’s World SF convention (Renovation)–not the difference in eligibility rules from the nomination round. There’s no link yet, but presumably it will be in a similar place to the nomination voting ballot.

What Categories?

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

I (David Steffen) am eligible for this one because of my qualifying sale to Bull Spec, for “Turning Back the Clock”. I think that any of my stories can be taken into consideration for this. If you want to read some of my work, most is available for free in some format, linked from my biblio page.

Best Short Story

I have two stories this year eligible for nomination:

“What Makes You Tick” in War of the Worlds:Â Frontlines. This was also reprinted in Brain Harvest where you can read it for free.

“Turning Back the Clock” in Bull Spec. You can get a PDF of the issue here for an optional donation.

Best Professional Artist/Best Fan Artist

Our resident artist Joey Jordan can be nominated for either of these categories. Her Bull Spec work qualifies for professional work, but she may also have other things eligible for fan art category. You can also check out her own web page.

Best Fan Writer

This could apply to anyone who has written nonfiction for Diabolical Plots in the last year, especially me (David Steffen) and Frank Dutkiewicz.

Best Fanzine

Diabolical Plots itself should be eligible for this.

Website Spotlight: Kongregate

written by David Steffen

I came across a very fun website recently, on the recommendation of Nathaniel Lee (of Mirrorshards fame). The site is called Kongregate and it’s an ever-growing collection of online mini-games. I’m not sure how I haven’t heard of it–it’s been around for a few years. Kongregate is more than just your run-of-the-mill game site. Not only are the games clever and fun,the site has an overarching Achievements system to make everything all the more fun. Most or all of the games are made by indie developers, and I love that this site provides a showcase for their abilities.

When you view a game you can view a list of achievements you can reach by playing this game. They may be things that you would normally do while playing the game anyway like “pass levels 1-5” or they could be something extra that you wouldn’t have thought of if not for the Achievement list. Each achievement is worth a certain amount of points, and higher points upgrade the level of your account. To take full advantage of this, you just have to register for the site which is free and you don’t have to give away any important information to sign up.

According to their “About Us” page, indie developers can upload their games quickly and easily, and the most popular games end up on the home page. The developers retain full rights to their creations (which is great) and also get a share of the advertising and donation revenues. The site provides a lot of extras for them too, such as keeping a persistent list of high scores and player achievements. It sounds like a really great place for indie developers to get their games out to the world.

A Few of the Games

And, here are a few of the games on there that I found the most fun. There is a wide variety of games there, so if these don’t suit your fancy, odds are that something else will.

Amorphous+

My favorite that I’ve found. In this one you’re a blob hunter trying to clear out “gloople” hives. Your weapon: a person-sized meat cleaver. The controls are very simple, the characters walks towards the mouse, and swings his blade wide on a left-click. The first enemies you come against are harmless, little green blobs that will knock you off balance if they bump into you. There are more than a dozen different kinds of blobs, each requiring a different strategy, from the Melties that splash acid everywhere when you splat them, or the Biters that pounce straight at you with teeth flashing. This is a great game, fun and very challenging. One important tip: Use a real mouse. Playing this game with a laptop touchpad really kills the wrist.

Continuity

This is a very close 2nd that I’ve found so far, a very clever little game, a side-scroller puzzle solver with a structure based on those sliding puzzle games that I so rarely solve. You know the type I’m talking about–you have a rectangular grid of rectangles, each with an image, and one of the smaller rectangles is missing so that you can slide the tiles around until you form a larger image out of the tiles. This game isn’t exactly like that because the goal is not to make a big picture. You control a stick figure that exists within this grid of squares and your objective is to collect a key and bring it to the exit door to pass the level. You can rearrange the squares to rearrange the level, but you can only pass from one square to another if the walls along their common edge match up with each other. You pass through each level by alternately controlling the figure and rearranging the level (during which time the figure is frozen in place). The first levels make a good tutorial and seem almost too easy, but the difficulty quickly picks up and things get much more interesting.

The Company of Myself

Another fun side-scroller puzzle solver. In this case you control a self-professed hermit who must find a way to reach the exit door in each level. Okay, so that’s pretty straightforward, but what makes it interesting is his ability to create shadow selves–if you walk around the level, do any action, then press spacebar, then you’ll be brought back to the beginning and a shadow of you will replay your previous actions, requiring you to figure out how to work with your self phased across time to solve the puzzles. There’s a storyline attached to this one, but I thought it was pretty corny.

Gamma Bros.

A neo-retro space shooter game. You can move freely around the screen and fire in the four cardinal directions. A multitude of alien spaceships attack from every direction. This is old-school game challenging, no holds barred. I have not beat this game, but I’ve had a lot of fun losing.

Robot Wants Ice Cream

A side-scroller action game. You controller a little robot up against an army of attacking robots in your quest to find ice cream. The fun of this game comes from seeking out all the upgrades, allowing you to jump higher, upgrade weaponry, and even to fly. Just challenging enough to be fun.

The Best of StarShipSofa


written by David Steffen

And here I am again with the latest in my “Best of” podcast series. If you want to see my other “Best of”lists, just click on “The Best Of” category on the right side of your screen.

This time, the podcast is StarShipSofa, the first (and so far, only) podcast to win a Hugo award. StarShipSofa was launched in 2006 by Tony C. Smith and Ciaran O’Carroll. Back then, they were an entirely nonfiction podcast, talking about authors and other science fiction related topics. About a year later, Tony went solo and launched the Aural Delights podcast as a separate cast which has been running ever since. Most episodes of Aural Delights includes one main fiction, one flash fiction, one speculative fiction poem, and a couple fact articles. If you want to learn more about Tony, the editor and co-founder, you can check out our interview of him that ran in October.

Now, keep in mind that StarShipSofa is a rather different format from the other podcasts I’ve reviewed so far. The other ones have been entirely fiction-focused, generally with an intro, the story, and the outro. This one goes for a more well-rounded aesthetic, which is good or bad, depending on what you’re really looking for. For the purposes of this list, I am only going to include the main fiction, and only stories which I did not first hear somewhere else. Not that there’s anything wrong with more than one podcast running the same story, I just want these lists to be about suggesting new fiction, so I don’t want to list the same stories over and over.

If you’re trying to decide whether you want to undertake this podcast, I’ll list some pros and cons:

The Good and The Bad

The Good:

-Tony seems like a genuinely nice guy. I’d love to buy him a pint at a pub some time.

-What really makes this podcast special is the community dynamic. Tony does a good job putting it together, but there is a lot of effort by a wide cast of contributors, and it’s fun to hear the variety of voices as well as the variety of the content.

-StarShipSofa was the first to win a Hugo, hopefully making it easier for other fiction podcasts to win the award in the future.

-They have a lot of Big Name authors, like Michael Moorcock, Paolo Bacigalupi, even Tad Williams.

-There is a lot of great nonfiction, especially Amy H. Sturgis’s Genre History segments, J.J. Campanella’s Science News, and Matthew Sanborn Smith’s Fiction Crawler.

-They have a team of really great fiction narrators. My particular favorites are Amy H. Sturgis and Lawrence Santoro. Note that Lawrence has graced Diabolical Plots’ Best of Escape Pod list, where he made Eugie Foster’s #1 story even better with his fantastic narration.

The Bad:

-The self-promotion in episodes of this podcast is way beyond normal levels, enough so that I almost gave up the podcast at several points. StarShipSofa has launched three related books, which is great, but for months before and after they insert long fact articles about the making of (Often 30 minutes or more apiece), constant reminders to buy the book, even recordings of people opening packages containing the books when they arrive in the mail. They advertise themselves as a science fiction magazine, but this non-stop self-selling makes it hard to take them seriously. They only pull this off at all because of their audio format, which I feel undermines the trust that they should be nurturing in the audio medium for professional science fiction publications in audio. Imagine if Gordon Van Gelder of F&SF released an anthology, and spend 60 pages of every issue of his magazine advertising it, ad nauseum. It would not go over very well, and I don’t think we should cut SSS any more slack because it is audio.

-StarShipSofa doesn’t pay their contributors.

-Many of the episodes are really, really long. This is understandable, considering the volume of their nonfiction content, but the average length is well over an hour, and some top out at three and a half hours. The end result of that is that not many of them are going to have a permanent home on my iPod–I’m still using a first generation iPod, and this takes up a sizable chunk of my hard drive.

The List

1. A Map of the Mines of Barnath by Sean Williams
Ooh, a dark and mysterious mine story. A man heads into the depths to find his missing brother. Rumor has it that disappearances are common, and there are rumors of something that lurks in the mines and steals people away. The way I just described it sounds a bit cliched,but it did not go the way I expected it, and the result was very memorable.

2. Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi
This is the story that convinced me to stick with StarShipSofa. A tale of the distant future where the old machines are still running, but no one remembers how any of it works anymore. Pump Six at the water treatment plant is having trouble, and no one knows why. The employee in charge of the monitoring station goes to find the answer.

3. Knotwork by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
The story stars a woman from another world where the people have a wide range of powers, the most notable of those being knotwork, a way to influence relationships and the minds of those around. When she came to this world she vowed never to use those powers again, but the knot of her marriage to a mundane is unraveling and now she must choose what to do.

4. The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate by Ted Chiang
A tale in India, tales within a tales. An alchemist has created a gateway through time, and this tells several tales of those who’ve passed through it in pursuit of their own goals and how each one turned out. Each story is interested in its own right and they all tie together into a great story as a whole.

5. Mars: A Traveler’s Guide by Ruth Nestvold
This was an odd story, but a good one, and was much-improved by the reading and editing. It’s told as one side of a conversation, a reference computer program responding to prompts that you don’t get to hear, as the unheard user asks questions, interrupts, and asks again. It starts a little slow, but the real story behind the scenes is implied by the answers and the questions you can infer from them.

6. Let the Word Take Me by Juliette Wade
This is a great story, typical of Juliette’s fare, rooted in her background in linguistics. After years of trying to translate the language of of chameleon-like aliens, the team of scientists in charge of establishing contact are at a dead end. They have to make a breakthrough, and soon.

7. Just a Couple of Highly Experimental Weapons Tucked Away Behind the Toilet Paper by Adam Troy Castro
Silly title, silly story. This had a Douglas Adams vibe to it, oddball alien races, entirely improbable inventions. Lots of laughs and fun twists.

8. Snatch Me Another by Mercurio Rivera
I first read this one over in Abyss & Apex and was glad to see it reprinted here. This is a followup to another short story by the same author showing the repercussions of a new invention called the “snatcher”, which opens a hole into other dimensions onto items that match a sample item inserted into the machine. The protagonist has recently lost her son to disease, and lives through most of the story in a drugged haze, but the very interesting world kept me interest, and it is very well told.

9. Flowers of Aulit Prison by Nancy Kress
A well-told alien perspective. An undercover agent in prison trying to learn information about a terrorist. What’s really interesting though, is her society’s point of view, that our reality is the end-result of our shared perspective of that reality, and anyone who violates that perspective is a dangerous criminal.

10. Boatman’s Holiday by Jeffrey Ford
Did you ever wonder what Charon, the boatman over the River Styx does when he’s on vacation? Okay, me neither. Rumor has it that there’s one patch of Hell that’s like an oasis in a desert, and Charon intends to find it.

Honorable Mentions

These are ones which ALMOST made it onto the list. But my Top Ten list with 15 entries is sort of a cop-out, so this is extra.

The Tenth Muse by Tad Williams
Yes, you read that right. Tad “Dragonbone Chair” Williams, author of many great novels, including the “Otherland” quadrilogy, one of my favorite series. This is a space colony story. First contact with a new alien race has just occurred, and the aliens are hostile as can be, blasting everyone in their path. The story is told by a child-like cabin boy, one of the lesser members, and the story centers around his interaction with a rich passenger and their dilemma as the alien presence isolates them from the transport channels back to the rest of the inhabited galaxy. This story was quite enjoyable. So far I’ve liked his novels better than his short stories, but I thought this was quite good.

When Harry Met Faerie: The Tolkien Solution to the Rowling Problem by Amy H. Sturgis
I would have put this on the list, except for my policy of keeping the list to fiction only. This is a great talk, nonfiction, that Amy has written regarding the value of science fiction and fantasy as a genre. In particular, addressing criticisms of JK Rowling’s work, which some say is too childish for adults, yet too adult for children. These are criticisms that have been leveled in the past, and Amy has put together a great discussion including quotes from JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis as well as JK Rowling. Very interesting and enlightening discussion that kept me interested from beginning to end. It’s a full length talk, longer than Amy’s usual Genre History articles, but well worth the 45 minutes to listen.

Edgar Allen Poe Special by Amy H. Sturgis
And another nonfiction entry by Amy H. Sturgis, which again made the honorable mention list because I’m keeping the main list reserved for fiction. In this episode, she’s taken over the helm of StarShipSofa and this episode is entirely dedicated to one of my favorite authors–Edgar Allen Poe. This includes discussion of his upbringing, his writing, his contributions to science fiction, and the mysterious circumstances of his death.

The Defenders by Phillip K. Dick
PKD is one of my favorite SF authors of all time. His writing contains really great ideas that have been copied time and again, always with less effectiveness than when PKD himself wrote them. His work has inspired many movies, including many great ones like Bladerunner and Total Recall (as well as some which were badly botched by the filmmakers, the more so whenever they deviated from the original ideas). This story is not among my favorite PK Dick stories, which is why it’s not on the main list, but it has some neat ideas and is worth listening to. It takes place in a future where automation has advanced much further than today, to the point that robots are fighting our wars on the surface while humans huddle in caves underground. The robots report back all the information, showing images of blasted cities and desolate landscapes, but recent discoveries have revealed to the humans that things are not what they seem.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Diplomat by Matthew Sanborn Smith
“Take me to your leader,” the tiny aliens say as they go door to door trying to find the ultimate authority of human civilization. This cliched opening line doesn’t work so well in this future earth, as no one seems to agree who’s in charge, as they talk to one-man nations and personality conglomerates. I got a lot of laughs out of this story.

http://www.starshipsofa.com/20100202/aural-delights-no-119-john-w-campbell-jr-vs-nina-kiriki-hoffman/

Review: Andromeda Spaceways #48

written by David Steffen

As I mentioned in my review of ASIM #47 last month, I enjoyed that first issue enough that I decided it was well worth my money to get a subscription. Well, my family’s money anyway. I was having trouble thinking of items for my Christmas list, and put a digital subscription to ASIM on there. So I got to celebrate Christmas a bit early.

One thing that I was very interested to see was whether or not the quality of the magazine would feel consistent from issue to issue. ASIM, you see, has a rotating set of editors who each take turns in the captain’s chair. #47 was edited by Patty Jansen. #48 featured Juliet Bathory. I’m quite happy to say that the quality between the two was consistently high. I very much enjoyed most of the stories–a much higher portion than I enjoy in a typical magazine. Not only that, but there are just so many stories–plenty of meat here to keep you entertained.

Now, on to the stories!

A Bag Full of Arrows by Mark Farrugia

This story focuses on a dragon-hunter’s wife and son. It’s an odd sort of dragon, who generally only eats those already dead. When the story begins the dragon-hunter has gathered a group of men to attack the dragon, but this is not his tale. This is the tale of the family he left behind, dealing with the aftermath of the attack.

Well titled, well written. A bit distant at times, and is a good complex character in a good complex problem. I really cared about what happened to the characters. She faces a difficult choice that defines the story, and which I found very interesting and well conveyed by the writing.

To Stand and Stare by Jayaprakash Satyamurthy–Venu is a professional slacker, avoiding getting a job however he can. He comes up with an ingenius idea to make a fake cell phone, which he uses to pretend that he is busy working, so that people will stop pressuring him to find a job. The trick works remarkably well… until the day his fake phone rings.

I loved the idea of this story, and though I’m not sure I really relate to his unyielding desire to do nothing at all, I still found him very likable. It kept me very interesting through these beginning stages, but later on it seemed to lose momentum and just tied everything up with a too-neat ending. I’d still recommend it for the first half.

The Number Made Flesh by Ross Murray–A tale of Death and his daughter, his heir. Death is fascinated with modern desensitization to death caused by media saturation, and the meanings attached to otherwise unimportant things like the number 13.

This was an interesting idea, and I usually like a good anthropomorphic personification, and I like see different interpretations of Death as a character. But I just found this one impossible to get into. It was very hard to get a handle on the setting and time period that the story occurs in, and it wasn’t until nearly the end when I was finally certain that this was Death. Rather than enhancing my enjoyment, this mystery just distracted me from other aspects of the story I might have enjoyed. Although I think the metaphor of Death watching death-saturated media and commenting on its affect on people, in the story it ends up being mostly about a guy watching TV.

Hobbit Query Letter by Peter Cooper. A hypothetical rejection letter that young writer upstart Mr. Tolkien might have received for his little-known manuscript Lord of the Rings.

Besides just being funny on the surface, it also makes an interesting commentary about yardsticks of equality shifting over time, and how one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure. As a writer I found this quite hilarious, and at least a little bit reassuring. As with other writers I’ve received many a rejection that blames this or that aspect of a story as though those qualities are universally undesirable by all editors, when in reality they just reflect a particular editor’s world view. I’m not sure how well this one will translate to someone without writing aspirations, but as a writer I found it quite entertaining.

Joey Blue and the Gutterbreed by Marty Young. Joey Blue lives on the streets, and every night lives in fear of the nasty and powerful creatures called the Gutterbreed that lurk in the shadows of night. Normally he would try to drink himself into a stupor to avoid the Gutterbreed, but on this particular night he finds a young girl, lost and alone and not in the best of health. To save her he must face his fears and avoid the temptations of alcohol and pass through the alleys where the Gutterbreed gather the thickest.

Throughout this story I was constantly trying to decide whether or not the Gutterbreed actually existed. In the end I decided it doesn’t really matter, especially once the stakes are raised with the introduction of the little girl. The Gutterbreed are clearly very real to Joey’s mind, and therefore they become a very real obstacle to saving the girl’s life, whether they are entities that exist outside of his fogged mind or not.

I wasn’t sure what I thought in the first half of the story, partially because I was trying to decide how much of it was real. In the end, this turned out to be my favorite story in this issue of ASIM. I liked Joey Blue. I wanted him to save the girl. And from his point of view the Gutterbreed were a terrifying and very real threat. All of this came together for a really great tale.

Halcyon by A. Dale Triplett The end of the world is nigh! Scientists have spotted an asteroid on a collision course with earth, and we only have four days to live. As if that’s not bad enough, global war breaks out in these final days. A last ditch effort is put together, a space mission to save the remnants of humanity. Most of the story takes place as the crew of this last ditch effort is visiting a bar for the very last time.

This story is just unrelentlessly depressing. I’m not saying it’s unrealistic but it is bleak as bleak can be about the nature of humanity, but is bleak without offering me any new insight to human nature or offering me any characters that I could at least root for. Among other things, the people who have been chosen to try to continue the species are spending their last day drinking heavily when they know darn well that they might need to emergency launch at any time if someone launches missiles at them. As if this story wasn’t bad enough, the last vestiges of humanity are at the mercy of drunk drivers.

The Whim of My Enemy by Amanda J. Spedding–An all out battle for survival on a train. It started with dozens, but the order has come that when the train stops, only 10 can be allowed to live.

Very action packed, non-stop happening, obviously lots of death. Shows in a very compact way how different personalities might react under extreme pressure. It kept me very interested to the end, and the author used the anticipation implicit in the setup very well. Very well done.

Radioactive Gumshoe Blues by Jamie Shanks–a 1920’s private detective story, with aliens! Benson Sterenko has taken over his brother’s P.I. business a few months after his brother’s disappearance. Benson’s sworn to find out what happened to his brother. One day, an FBI comes in, and starts talking about Sterenko’s brother, and an invasion of shapeshifting aliens, and it goes on from there.

It’s certainly an interesting idea, but I found it too slow and too exaggerated at the same time. I found the “goon” manner of speech distracting, especially constant verb number mismatches, and mispronounced words like “districk”, “crockydile”, and “precautionarial” that did nothing to enhance the story. They just set off copyediting alarms in my brain every few sentences (I know they were intentional, but without an actual purpose they were just a distraction to me). Also, I was put off by constant overblown self-descriptionsuch as “I was coiling my considerable muscles under me to spring at him like a Bengalese tiger”.

Ash by C.S. Cole A wartorn future where everyone takes a vaccine to help them breathe ash that is ever-present in the atmosphere, the ash of the enemy. Those who choose not to breathe ash are criminals and deviants.

Very interesting idea, very interesting setting, but I didn’t really feel like it was a full story.

Free Falling by Mark Welker–A future where pop media saturation has reached new lows, where suicides are covered extensively and from every angle, with up to the millisecond coverage and live footage. This is the tale of one such suicide.

Well told, very cool idea. The perfect length.

Holding by Melanie Rees–God calling tech support, trying to get a new atmosphere for the earth because this one is defective.

Very funny. Anyone who’s had to deal with phone tech supports will empathize, and the escalation to atmosphere replacement was a fun idea.

High Bidder by David C. Pinnt–South Dakota resident buys what someone claims to be the holy grail in an online auction site. It turns out that drinking from it turns people into zombies.

I spent the first 22 years of my life in South Dakota, and this story did not ring true in the slightest. It struck me as someone who has only barely heard of the state:
-The characters ALL talk with a stereotypical “back woods southern” kind of accent that I’ve never heard in SD before.
-The story takes place in relatively modern day, because there is a Brokeback Mountain joke. Yet everyone is still using party lines , the old fashioned phone setup where a whole neighborhood shares one common line, which have not been common for decades.
-Not only that, but he has internet access, which makes no sense to mix with a location that has party lines.
-A rural South Dakotan who has ever handled a gun is going to be pretty familiar with general gun terms, but this story constantly mixed up the details. A single gun switches characteristics from a rifle to a shotgun and back again. The ammunition is referred to as shells in the same sentence that it is referred to as a rifle. It sometimes makes a small hole like a rifle, and sometimes a big blast like a shotgun. The writer really ought to have checked his gun details to get them straight, and someone else should’ve double-checked it.

Beyond all the South Dakota and gun inaccuracies, the story was an unremarkable zombie story. The only thing that really struck me as original is that the holy grail is the thing that spawns zombies, for no apparent reason. The story might’ve been fair-to-middlin’ if not for the inaccurate portrayal of South Dakota and the complete botch of gun details.

Review: Daily Science Fiction – Sept 1, 2010 to Sept 30, 2010

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

Daily Science Fiction is the ambitious project of Clarion alumni and Writers of the Future author, Jonathan Laden, and King Arthur fanatic, Michele Barasso. The duo jumped feet first into the growing SF & F industry with an idea that is innovative and ideal with the ever-changing information age. The pair have dedicated getting the best of what today’s writers have to offer, and bringing it right into the laps of the most devote readers of speculative fiction, delivering it as easy (daily email) and as cheap (free) as a lover of fantasy and science fiction could hope for. To insure they’ll have only the best for the cliental, they have offered an attractive pay rate (8 cents a word) to entice the best authors out there.

Why have they embarked on this crazy idea, you may ask?

“Our kids refuse to let us read them Harry Potter, so we needed another outlet for our love of SF” is the answer they offer. Whether their real reason is noble or they really are greedy to read new and fresh fiction before anyone else has a chance to view it, publishing good speculative fiction requires more than a nice pay rate as bait. They need to be able to pick out gems that will make readers want to come back for more. Do Jon and Michele have the ability make DSF a success? I read the first month to find out for myself.

The Stories

“An Adventure in the Antiquities Trade” (debut 9/1/10) by Jeff Hecht is the perfect themed piece to open a mass email project like Daily Science Fiction. The story involves two collectors, and is set in the mid to late 21st century. The protagonist presents a correspondence to a Mr. James, one written on an old manual typewriter in the mid 20th century, when such things were still done on paper. The correspondence tells the tale of a clerk in Nigeria that has uncovered a scheme by the trading company he is working for. The company is bilking the Nigerian government and hiding the profits in a Swiss bank account. The clerk has asked a random American for his bank account so he can transfer 43 million, and promises a 10% kick back as a reward (sound familiar?).

I found “An Adventure in the Antiquities Trade” to be a clever and crisp story. Although it was a bit short, and the twist ending predictable, it was fitting as a debut story for a science fiction magazine looking for a unique way to stand out.

“Mark and ,S-h-e-l-l-y-‘-s-“ (debut 9/2/10) by Steven R Stewart is a story of a pizza shop owner named Mark and his one time romantic interest and former partner, Shelly. Shelly suddenly appears at the spaceport stand, not looking a day older, after a ten-year absence. The sign out front is still the same but her name has been crossed out. The bitter Mark feels cheated, abandoned, and is not interested in any excuse his former partner has to offer. Shelly regrets leaving in a huff all those years ago and admits in making a wrong turn, a turn that may have cost her everything but her youth.

“Mark and ,S-h-e-l-l-y-‘-s-” is a science fiction twist on the old ‘bitter lovers reuniting’ premise. The story is Mr. Stewart’s first publication (nice catch). I found the brief tale to be a cute idea but the present tense narration was a big negative for me. It was unnecessary and lent to a disconnection with the characters and plot.

Butterfly gets her first tattoo on her 13th birthday and receives a gift she didn’t ask for in “Butterfly and the Blight at the Heart of the World” (debut 09/03/10) by Lavie Tidhar. The young granddaughter of the Head of the Council can hear the Rogon, long dead aliens cocooned in the trees of the forest. At first, the incomprehensible murmurs are nothing more than idle chit-chat in Butterfly’s ears, than one day their tone changes. Butterfly believes they are calling her, and they need her help.

At over 9000 words, “Butterfly and the Blight at the Heart of the World” is one of the longest stories you’ll find in Daily Science Fiction. I couldn’t help thinking while reading it that it didn’t need to be so. An awful lot was thrown into the story that had little to do with the overall plot. Much was made about Butterfly’s relationships with other characters when they had little to do with the solution to the story. All the extra material slowed the pacing to a crawl. Another problem I had was the age of the cocoons. The aliens were supposed to be dead for a quarter of a million years, wouldn’t they be fossils by now? What I did like was the unexpected reveal of the nature of the voices Butterfly hears. Unfortunately you had to get through two-thirds of the story to get to it.

“Butterfly and the Blight at the Heart of the World” would make a nice sci-fi mystery if it were shorter. The author took great pains to show Butterfly as a normal girl with a unique problem. Lavie Tidhar made the story mundane in the process.

“Fiddle” (debut 09/06/10) by Tim Pratt opens with a small history lesson on the Roman Emperor Nero, told by a mysterious guide. The guide speaks of the legend of Nero playing a fiddle while Rome burned in the first century AD and offers a unique explanation of how it may have come to life.

“Fiddle” is more like a tease than a story. Its short size limits what I can say about it without ruining it for the reader. Hard for me to recommend it. I found it not attractive enough to call it cute, but I did like that last line.

In “Ezra’s Prophecy” (debut 09/07/10) by Debs Walker, Ezra is a hermit living in a cave. She studies the book of God’s Prophesies with only a weekly visit from a young village woman to look forward to. Then one day the Gods grace her with a vision. Ezra is eager to write her own book of prophesy but takes advantage of her brief gift of premonition to see what effect her holy book will have in the future.

I had two different impressions of “Ezra’s Prophecy”. The first two thirds I found slow and I worried that the plot was headed nowhere. The last third, however, was a making of a classic tale. I found it deep,an outstanding concept on religion and of the people who founded it. Ezra is granted a great gift from the God’s and makes a choice that proves to be an even greater one to her people.

The first half of “Ezra’s Prophecy” is dull, but the end made the pay off worth it.

The protagonist in “Hobo Signs” (debut 09/08/10) by Ree Young is an elderly lady who finds a hobo on her porch. The man has alcohol on his breath and a tale of aliens on his mind.

“Hobo Signs” is almost cute. The story is told from an old woman’s perspective and done well, but I wanted to scream ‘get on with it!’ at her at one point. The story doesn’t have much to it, at least not enough to satisfy me.

“Tag, You’re It” by Melissa Mead (debut 09/09/10) is a tale of a lost soul and a devil playing a childhood game with the playing field Earth. The hider hides as an ordinary person (and other things) while the seeking player hunts them down.

If character growth defines what makes a good story for you than “Tag, You’re It” is your kind of piece. The devil learns much about life as he takes on a trio of different personalities in the game. I rather liked the story. I found the ending fitting. A well done work of flash fiction.

“Seek Nothing” (debut 09/10/10) by Cat Rambo is the story of Sean Marksman, a clone psychologist who specializes in scent alterations. Sean is eager to escape his religious, puritan home. The planet he has escaped to is in need of a specialist like him, but his fellow humans are suspicious of his fundamentalist background. Sean has been raised to believe clones are beings without a soul. His fellow workers treat them as if they are machines , machines that can be abused. As time drags on, Sean begins to identify with the clones plight.

“Seek Nothing” is not a story for everyone. The plot drags and the protagonist is a hard one to like. The supporting characters are portrayed as unsympathetic and aloof , or worse – and the clones are nothing more than living mannequins. However, by the end of the story a realization of the depth of this masterpiece fell on me like a ton of bricks.

This story is one of repression. Sean tires of his purist early life and wants to be a normal man, one free of the guilt of sin his father weighed on him. However, young Sean hooks up with people that are anything but normal and as degenerate as could be imagined. He is like an Amish boy whose first experience with the outside world is with exiled men alone in the Arctic. Added to this jaded experience, details of Sean’s own past surfaces as the story progresses. What we witness in this tale is the disassembling of a man to the point where he feels on par with soulless machines. RECOMMENDED.

“Chameleon” (debut 09/13/10) by Colin Harvey is set in an America under attack by a race of aliens called Dragons and their Chinese allies. The Dragons have the ability to mimic humans, and have gotten good enough at it to make them indistinguishable from the person they are imitating. Major Emily Sparrow has been brought into the ruins of the Pentagon to help determine if her husband is really an alien in disguise.

“Chameleon” is an excellent example on how intriguing and thorough a short story can be. Mr. Harvey opened up a big world and introduced wonderful characters in a handful of words. The story was extra special for me because of its ending. I knew there was a twist coming yet was still caught off guard when the reveal hit me; so subtle and unexpected. It was the whipped cream on top of delicious sci-fi work of art. RECOMMENDED.

“On the Sweetness of Children” (debut 09/14/10) by Michelle Muenzler opens when the Green Fairy falls dead in the middle of blessing the infant princess. She drops at the word ‘hunger’ and the princess becomes a glutton as a result. The round royal is sensitive about her weight, and isn’t above devouring her critics, which isn’t good for her public image. But when you have a bottomless pit for a stomach, public image becomes secondary.

“On the Sweetness of Children” is a very cute story. It is a birth of a fairy tale, which I always find neat. Enjoyable but not “finger licking good.”

Dain talks the crew of the ‘Maidens Crescent’ into stopping at every satellite while traveling through the Sol System in “Mercury in Hand” (debut 09/15/10) by Amanda M Hayes. The Zero-rank magician wants a piece of every planet for a wealthy client to take with him.

I would like to delve deeper into the point of the story but it was completely lost on me. The who, what, and why of the tale is a mystery to me. I didn’t get it and still don’t after I read it three times in an attempt to understand it.

In “Azencer” (debut 09/16/10) by Rigel Ailur, two sisters with the gift of telekinesis battle for the right to be queen.

At a hundred words, Azencer is as short as a complete tale can get. The author did well with so few words.

“American Changeling” (debut 09/17/10) by Mary Robinette Kowal takes place in a quiet Oregon town on a planet called Earth. Kim is the daughter of two faerie changelings. She has been raised for the day to open the gate between the Faerie world and Earth. The key to unlock the gate has been hidden in iron (deadly to faeries) and protected by Catholic magic. Kim is the only one that can resist both, but the enemies to the queen are aware of her and are ready for the great event.

“American Changeling” is an adventure story. It is one of the longest stories in DSF but it reads quick. The characters stand out and the action is well done. The story is done quite well but the general plot is very familiar. Nevertheless, the reading experience is very enjoyable but I would expect nothing less from a pro like Ms. Kowal.

“Flint’s Folly” (debut 09/20/10) by J Chant is a story about a Nobel Prize winning scientist’s, Professor Flint, greatest discovery. His most trusted assistant, Mattius, attends the press conference where Antarctica’s most respected scientist unveils his faster-than-light machine. The demonstration is a success, making the already famous scientist a giant on the world stage. As a close associate, Mattius basks in the professor’s glory, but soon discovers it only takes one mistake to erase a legacy.

“Flint’s Folly” is my kind of story. The author introduced a complete world and set of circumstances that I could buy into. The premise of the story is one I could see happening one day, and circumstances of our not-too-distant past have proved this type of mistake has been made before. Mattius is successfully presented as a loyal comrade. He believes in his mentor and is proud of his past accomplishments. You can feel the validation he feels when the rest of the world cheers for the professor’s breakthrough discovery. Telling the story from his viewpoint was genius with the direction the author decided to take. At the risk of revealing too much, I particularly enjoyed Professor Flint’s attempt to salvage pride at the end, emotionally well done.

This story was great. RECOMMENDED.

Young Revka is ten and has yet to discover her talent in “Picture in Sand” (debut 09/21/10) by Susan A Shepherd. Her mother discovered her woodcarving gift right away, while her father had to search through all nine talents before finding his own. It can be a lot of work before your talent is discovered, or if you’re lucky, your talent may discover you.

Ms Shepherd put a lot of thought into creating her magical world in this story. Impressive considering she didit in so few words. Unfortunately I think the story needed more for it to work. This heartwarming piece came off as flat to me.

“The Man who said Good Morning” (debut 09/22/10) by Ralph Gamelli is set in a future where everyone reads minds and talking is considered taboo. That doesn’t stop Louis McKalty. He first works his voice on his wife, chasing her as if he were holding a dead mouse. He then proceeds to greet the world with his rediscovered gift of speech. The world isn’t prepared to listen to his primitive mode of communication, and if he doesn’t listen to reason, society will send his brand of ‘getting to know each other’ the way of the Neanderthal.

“The Man who said Good Morning” is a fun story about a man who is having some innocent fun. Louis is rediscovering himself and that makes others uncomfortable. I liked how Mr. Gamelli decided to introduce a society where only silent, psychic interaction is allowed. Nice story that could have used some expanding.

Annalisa begs her father to take her to an unsavory fair in “The Jug Game” (debut 09/23/10) by Jennifer Moore. While her father disappears in a beer tent, Annalisa is encouraged to play a jug game. The prize is she gets to keep the soul inside if she wins.

“The Jug Game” puzzles me. The stories ending left me unsatisfied and I wondered if I read the complete version.

“The Fosterling” (debut 09/24/10) by Therese Arkenberg starts off in a shack of a house that is the home of the future king, Hepastian IV. It has been seven years the young prince has lived in the slums and it is Jain Harley’s duty to retrieve the boy and take him to New Geneva to reunite him with his father the king. The foster mother is not ready to give up her ‘Jacky’ and the boy isn’t eager to leave the only home he has known. Jain is chosen for this duty because she does it well, even when crushing migraines afflict her without mercy.

“The Fosterling” is a good story that is written very well. Jain Harley is convincing as a duty bound Captain of the Guard who has a job that simply sucks. All the past kings have spent their first seven years living in the slums so they will learn compassion. Jain is mystified on why Jacky doesn’t want to leave the ghetto he was raised in and wonders at one point “Didn’t all kids dream of being princes?” Coupled with the stress of tearing a young child from the only home he knows, a recurring migraine inflicts Jain.

I could find little fault with this piece. Therese Arkenberg is a very skilled writer. The story is solid and quick but is thin with content. Nevertheless I enjoyed reading it very much.

“Long Pig” (debut 09/27/10) by Matthew Johnson, is the name of a new restaurant featuring a popular chef. The menu is unique and the food is delicious thanks to a chef with a unique past and a commitment to put all he has into his creations.

It wasn’t too difficult to figure out what “Long Pig” was all about. Too many clues made it obvious early on. The chef’s willingness to share his past to his customers made him more creepy than interesting to me.

The restaurant’s customers may have found “Long Pig” appetizing but it didn’t satisfy me.

“Sparks” (debut 09/28/10) by Mari Ness is about a man who has replaced his hands with wands. The protagonist is drawn to the mysterious man and the lovely sparks his wands create. She takes great effort to not stare at his wands and wants to learn why he would make such a trade.

“Sparks” is a story of desire. The protagonist clearly has fallen for the stranger. I however was not drawn into his spell and fail to see the appeal he has over her. The appeal didn’t translate to me.

Unlike the protagonist, I failed to fall under “Sparks” ‘spell.

Jack and Sarah share tea in their home, drinking it out of their favorite cup, just as they always did in “Small Differences” (debut 09/29/10) by Tim Patterson. The only problem is this is the first time they met.

“Small Differences” is a story set in a world where alternate universes have intersected. People are switched into a new one that is very similar to the one they originated in. Slight changes make it different. Sarah and Jack shared a life with their alternate selves and their not-quite-the-same past makes their meeting painful and hopeful.

Not a bad story but one that was too brief for me to enjoy. Not that it needs expanding. I think the author got as much as he could from the idea.

George Washington is about to attend his inaugural in “A Little-Known Historical Fact” (debut 09/30/10) by Tim McDaniel. He talks with his aide Billy and tells him what his mother said he could accomplished if he applied himself.

This short story is just plain silly. The premise relies on GW’s mother knowledge of a term that I believe didn’t exist in her era.

Overview

I asked an editor of a leading review outlet on why DSF is ignored. The answer I got back was there was too much to review and the editors must be nuts if they think they can keep up throwing so many stories, at the rate they pay, for essentially free. Maybe Mr. Laden and Ms Barasso have deep pockets, maybe they have a business model other publications should emulate. I don’t know. I do know, word count wise, they publish as much as Analog, F & SF, and Asimov do each month. Sure they’re putting out 20 plus new stories a month, but 80% are under 2000 words and most are flash fiction size; an easy to get through length if you’re looking for a daily outlet. The question is, does the quality match up to what other pro-rated magazines have to offer. The answer is yes.

I found almost all the stories of a high quality. Because they were so high, my standards for recommendation were raised. If Jon and Michele can continue to publish such thoughtful, creative, and outstanding fiction, I see no reason why Daily Science Fiction won’t be the next big thing in publishing today.

My personal favorite of the month was “Chameleon” by Colin Harvey. I just simply loved it.

I recommend that you all sign up to receive a daily hand-delivered story from Daily Science Fiction. You can sign up for them, and read these stories and other ones here.

Frank is lurking back around in Diabolical Plots again. Other places have throw him out on his ear but Dave is a sucker for people that have worn out their welcome elsewhere. So Dave has Frank review to keep him out of his hair.

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

written by David Steffen

The Harry Potter movie series is almost complete. Just one more movie to go after this one, which will cover the second half of the 7th and final book in the series. If you haven’t read/seen the first six in the series, then you really ought to stop now–there’s no way to discuss this without major SPOILERS to the earlier books.

Premise

The Deathly Hallows as a whole takes on the final conflict between the forces of good led by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix rebel organization, and the forces of evil led by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (aka Voldemort) and his army of Death Eaters. The forces of good have recently taken a huge loss with the death of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and the only person Voldemort has ever feared. Not only that, but the death was at the hands of Severus Snape, who had been working undercover as a member of Voldemort’s Death Eaters. Dumbledore trusted Snape absolutely, despite many objections from other members of the Order.

The stakes in this tale are higher than ever. The protective charms protecting Harry while he lives at the Dursleys’ are still in place until his seventeenth birthday, but with that birthday fast approaching, the Order of the Phoenix has to set up drastic plans to ensure he can be safely moved from the Dursleys’ to a secure location. The story starts off full of action. Although the movie glosses over this, Harry, Hermione, and Ron decide to skip their seventh year at Hogwarts. Instead, they devote their entire attention to seeking out Voldemort’s four surviving Horcruxes on their quest to defeat him once and for all.

My Thoughts (and spoilers)

All in all, this movie was much more faithful to its book than Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Half-Blood Prince, movie 6, was particularly bad in this respect, cutting out many important scenes and replacing them with long drawn out scenes that were fluffy digressions and violate long-standing story rules (such as the hard and fast rule in the series that humans cannot apparate into or out of the Hogwarts grounds. This one was pretty much on-track all the way through, though I did see a few notable changes. Splitting this book into two movies was a very good move, because there is just too much ground to cover comfortably in two hours. Movies 4, 5, and 6 have each had to cut significant parts out to squeeze it into even a 2.5 hour movie, and because this is the last book in the series there’s not much that can be cut out that doesn’t seriously change the final effect of the series.

Unlike all of the other movies, this is not really a complete story arc, but that should come as no surprise with the “Part 1” in the title. It actually picks a very dark place to end the film with Voldemort laying hands on a powerful artifact that he has been seeking throughout the movie.

And the first half of this book was one of my least favorite parts of the series and not what I would call Rowling’s best work. The opening is good, action-packed, and the wedding of Bill and Fleurs is a nice touch before everything goes downhill, but then for several hundred pages I have two big peeves. Both of these are peeves I have with the book, so the fact that they are present in the movie just means that they were faithful in their reproduction:
1. Harry, Hermione, and Ron are on the run. Most of this time they seem to spend bitching at each other about whatever comes to mind. There is a reason for this bickering, but this gets old really fast.
2. The trio have a pretty much impossible task ahead of them, in the tradition of large scale fantasy plots, which is great. But the way they’re able to surmount most of this is simply wild coincidences. Three Ministry officials happen to pass by that they can capture and Polyjuice with no effort. They run into Umbridge in the elevator, who happens to be wearing the locket. Dumbledore’s gift of the Deluminator has a secondary purpose suddenly revealed that seems to be nothing but a Deus Ex Machina convenience.

Overall, though, I thought they did a very nice job with it, but I will be much more excited to see Part 2, and to see how they pull off the grand finale.

What was changed (Spoilers)

In case anyone’s curious what they changed, I only noticed a few things that really stood out, though I haven’t read it since the book was first released:
1. Hedwig died in a different manner. In the book, she was loaded in her cage on the back of Hagrid’s flying motorcycle. The motorcycle crashes into the ground at high velocity and Hedwig dies in the crash. In the movie, Harry lets her free before the chase, but she catches up to them and attacks the Death Eater who is chasing Harry. She’s killed by a green curse in retaliation, perhaps an Avada Kedavra.
2. Peter Pettigrew dies in a different manner. In the book, he actually shows mercy on Harry, but his silver hand, given to him by Voldemort, acts against his will and strangles himself. In the movie, Dobby strikes him down in some unexplained way, perhaps through his elf magic.
3. The opening scene with Hagrid and Harry on Hagrid’s motorcycle embellished way too much, having them driving on London freeways as the trailing Death Eater tosses curses that destroy innocent drivers.
4. Polyjuice potions in the movie only change appearances, but not voices. This is inconsistent with earlier movies, and also does not make sense–how can it make an effective disguise if the voice is all wrong.

Lucky Pig Studio: Grand Opening!

written by David Steffen

I have some very exciting news for you. Joey Jordan (our resident artist) and I are joining forces once again in a different webspace, this time to design and sell t-shirts (and other novelties) with designs of our own devising upon them. The name of our store is Lucky Pig Studio–just click on the name to go check out our wares. You can see a select few of our designs in this article, but we have many more available at the store, each of which can be printed on many types of goods, including t-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, baby clothes and more. If you order soon your order will hopefully arrive in time for Christmas, making a lovely stocking stuffer for your family or friends. We think there’s a little something there for everyone. We have 12 designs posted for now, to give you something to browse through.

Joey is the talented member of the duo. She is a fantastic artist and a truly nice person, and I’m happy to be working with her. In case you didn’t know, she’s the one who provided our awesome site art, as well as the pieces showcased in the Diabolical Art section of our site. She’s a professional illustrator, which is very clear from the quality of her work.

“What does David contribute?” I hear you wonder aloud.  Well, I just try to keep up, mostly. Some of the designs are created and perpetrated by my own hand. You can tell which ones they are because they’re the ones that look like they were not made by a professional artist. What I lack in skill, I try to make up for with humor and enthusiasm. I like to make designs that make me giggle, and I hope they make you giggle too.

We’re just getting started, so anything you can do to spread the word will be greatly appreciated. If you know someone who would enjoy our wares, please, please share a link with them. Post to your blog. Wear one of our t-shirts to a science fiction convention. Hire a sky writer plane to write our URL in the sky above New York City. Whatever you can do, thank you very much in advance.

We very much look forward to hearing from you, and we hope that you like what we’re putting together. And we’ll be feverishly working on new designs, so please stop back every once in a while to see what’s new. This shop is of the small, temporary variety. In the long run we plan to assemble a bigger shop with more products and more designs, but we are very excited about this and wanted to launch before Christmas. The homepage of the new improved store will be here.

Also, with the current kind of shop we’re working with, there’s no way to disallow certain unwise combinations, so you’ll want to avoid those yourself, particularly:
-If there is a caption with black font, you won’t be able to see it on black and some dark shirts.
-For light colored but non-white shirts, CafePress does not print white ink for white/gray parts of the image. So, the white part of a design printed on a yellow shirt will just be yellow instead.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Other Tron-related media

written by David Steffen

Even after watching the original Tron movie, and playing the Tron 2.0 game, you’re still not satisfied and you just want more and more?

Tron (Arcade Game)

The same year the original Tron movie was released, a coin operated arcade game was released with the same title. It consisted of 4 mini-games based on the film:

Light Cycles: A top-down view of the famous light cycle game, where the player drives a motorcycle-like vehicle that leaves a solid wall behind it. The object is to make all of your opponents crash into walls.
MCP Cone: A simulation of the final battle of the movie against the MCP, trying to get past its protective plates to the MCP core.
Battle Tanks: Driving a tank, and destroying enemy tanks in a maze level.
I/O Tower: A simulation of the scene in the movie, trying to get into the I/O Tower.

I was too young to play this when it first came out, but I did play it in an arcade in the late 80s, and I thought it was fun. If you want to play it and you happen to have an Xbox 360, then you’re in luck, as you can download a demo for free or buy a full version at Xbox Marketplace.

Discs of Tron

The Tron arcade game was originally supposed to include 5 mini-games, but the fifth wasn’t included in time for the game’s release. The fifth game was released separately in 1983, titled “Discs of Tron”. In the game you face off against Sark playing a game shown in the movie, where two opponents on platforms made of concentric rings and throw energy pellets at each other, trying to destroy your opponent’s platform.

Again, I was too young to play this when it came out, and I didn’t see this in an arcade later. If you want to play this one, it is also available for download on Xbox Marketplace.

Tron:Â Ghost in the Machine

Tron also inspired a 6 part comic book series, released between 2006 and 2008. It is a direct sequel to the Tron 2.0 game. It takes place 6 months after the events of the game, following the same protagonist, Jet Bradley, who is still trying to get over the trauma he experience, after having been zapped into the game world.

I was unaware of this comic until I was looking up material for this article, but now I am looking forward to picking up a copy for myself. You can buy individual issues at Amazon or you can order the collection that combines the 6 issues into one volume.

Tron:Â Evolution

And with the release of the Tron Legacy movie next month, there’s a cross-console game tie-in. The game is released on December 7th, the movie on December 17th, so you can sort of get a sneak peak. It occurs before the events of the movie and provides some of the basis for the events of the movie. I have mixed feelings about this–the same thing was tried for the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movie. On the one hand, it was kind of neat to see some characters and hints of events before they’re revealed in the movie, but it came off as more of a marketing gimmick than actual value added.

You can’t get the game quite yet, but you can check out the official site. Once the game’s available, you should have no trouble whatsoever finding it.

Kingdom Hearts 2 level:Â Space Paranoids

You may have seen my review of Kingdom Hearts back in January. The second game was pretty much more of the same, but with more worlds to explore. One of the worlds was “Space Paranoids”, a Tron world. This was probably my favorite world of the game, especially since Sora and his friends Donald Duck and Goofy get dressed up in Tron fashion, which was pretty neat. Tron the character was available as a temporary companion to join the group as a fighter, and it was also fun to see the incarnations of the Heartless enemies.

You should be able to find the game used in a variety of places, and you can check out the game’s official website.

Southpark episode:Â You Have 0 Friends

This is one of my favorite episodes of Southpark, released earlier this year as part of season 14. Stan’s friends start a Facebook account for Stan as a surprise. Stan doesn’t want an account, because he doesn’t want to get “sucked in”, but one by one, his friends and relatives guilt trip him into adding them, as they take his lack of Facebook interaction as a sign that he isn’t a good friend. Before he knows it, he has a million friends, and the demands just get more and more. Finally he decides to just delete his account, but Facebook won’t let him do it, zapping him into the system Tron-style. Inside the system, he’s captured by guards similar to those in the movie, and everyone’s facebook account is dressed in Tron fashion. This episode was just awesome.

You can watch the whole episode for free on the Southpark Studios.