Book Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

The protagonist of the story is Anastasia Steele, and shortly after the story begins she travels from Portland to Seattle to interview Christian Grey, a CEO who will be speaking at her college commencement in the near future. Ana (as she prefers to be called) is not only a virgin, but she had never felt sexually attracted to anyone in her life, until she met Christian. Christian is a dazzlingly attractive well-endowed billionaire who is very sexually experienced but who is only interested in relationships with himself as the Dominant member, with lots of bondage and sadomasochism. There is an immediate attraction between the two of them, and they begin a trial relationship which tests the boundaries between what he demands of her and what she is comfortable giving. The seeking of this balance is the primary arc of the book, and the source of most of the tension (there are some sideplots but that’s the core of it all).

Movie Review: The Avengers

I’ve been a fan of Marvel Comics and their various media productions for a long time. The most recent of their movie productions is “The Avengers.” As far as I know it’s unique in taking several other recent successful Marvel title superhero movies and combining them with the same actors into a single movie. Robert Downey Jr. as Ironman, Chris Evans as Captain America, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor

Unsettled Foundation: Minneapolis-based “live anthology”

Hello everyone! For all of you out there, but especially those who are within easy driving distance of Minneapolis, I wanted to tell you about an upcoming event in which I will be participating. It is the debut event of the Unsettled Foundation live anthology series. Like a print anthology, authors submit their stories and an editor selects the ones they consider to be the best. But instead of binding them in a book, the selected authors read their stories aloud to an audience.

Sale! “Meat” at Pseudopod

Just a quick sale announcement, I sold my 10th short story yesterday, “Meat” to Pseudopod, to editor Shawn Garrett. It will be my third appearance on Pseudopod, and my second Pseudopod original. It’s a horror SF flash fiction story about a robot domestic helper who is trying very hard to complete a few simple tasks under adverse conditions.

Fare Thee Well, KD Wentworth

I heard the sad news today that the long-time contest coordinator of the Writers of the Future contest, K. D. Wentworth, has died from pneumonia. I didn’t know her on a personal level, apart from the occasional forum exchange, but by everything I have seen she was a very friendly person, and very patient with the questions all of the eager entrants of the Writers of the Future contest. She was one of the first editors I submitted a short story to, and I’ve sent her one story per quarter ever since. It will feel weird to know that someone else is reading my submissions.

Giveaway! Uncle John’s Flush Fiction Anthology

The day has finally arrived, the publication date of Uncle John’s Flush Fiction anthology. As I mentioned a few months back, I sold a story titled “Mysterious Ways” to the anthology. I am particularly excited about this sale, because I know many more people who are familiar with Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader books than who are familiar with my favorite speculative fiction magazines. So, to celebrate, and to help get the word out about the anthology, I’m hosting a giveaway of a copy of the book.

The Best of Variant Frequencies

Variant Frequencies was a fiction podcast that ran from 2006-2010. It was run by Rick Stringer, Ann Stringer, and Matt Wallace, and was originally created as a way to help promote Ann’s and Matt’s writing. Their archives are still up on their website for all to download. First some thoughts on the podcast as a whole. The production is very good quality, often with full cast recordings, and a good group of voice actors. Because of the fact that its original focus was promote the work of the founders, its not too surprising that the quality is sometimes… uneven. One advantage of having an impartial third party for an editor is that their purpose is to select stories of the highest quality. In self-published collections (which this kind of is) you get everything as judged by the author, which isn’t quite the same thing.

The Best of Escape Pod 2011

And here is the final of my “Best of” lists covering the year 2011. Escape Pod published steadily over the year, publishing 59 short stories. Among their usual fare, they also published winners and runners-up from their 2010 Flash Contest, whose winners were decided by forumite polling.

The Best of StarShipSofa 2011

Well, StarShipSofa is still StarShipSofa. I said what I thought last year, and nothing much has changed, so I’ll just say “ditto”. I do have one thing to add: they’re not great at taking criticism.

Forty-nine episodes this year, with (by my count) 58 stories. On to the list!