Search Results for: "written by David Steffen"

“WorldCon 2012 Con Report” or “David Steffen Finds Fandom”

This is the first big SF convention that I’ve ever been to, and the only one where I came with a large number of friends I’d known ahead of time. The only convention I’ve been to besides this has been MiniCon in the Twin Cities, which is a few hundred people, and although I’ve made some friends there, I didn’t know any of them ahead of time. Here at WorldCon there are literally dozens of people whom I have met in some respect, varying from casual acquaintances from forums, to editors who have considered my stories for their magazines, to close friends who I’ve been in continuous contact with for years.

Hugo Picks 2012 (Part 1)

This is the first year that I’ve chosen to pay for a supporting membership to Worldcon. This is where the Hugo awards, the fan-based major award of the science fiction community, are presented. Paying for a supporting membership not only gives you the right to nominate and to vote, but also gives you the Hugo packet, a package containing most of the individual Hugo nominated works and examples of work from Hugo nominated individuals and magazines. That’s a load of bargain-priced brand-new fiction at $50.

Lucky Pig Studio Relaunch!

So this is the 1st day, and here’s the first design. It’s the iconic image of Lucky Pig Studios, the “Lucky Pig!” This design is based on the studios namesake, a piglet that my wife and I rescued from the side of a South Dakota Interstate in the summer of 2010 in the heat of summer. We got it some food, and got it out of the brutal August heat, and to a hooved animal rescue society. So that was one lucky pig.

Specutopia Inaugural Issue!

Just a brief note to point out that the brand new speculative fiction magazine Specutopia has launched. They publish every 2 months in various and sundry electronic formats, for $3.49 you’ll get 7 short stories, including my story “Never Idle” about a man who can talk to cars and the woman he stops to help on the side of the road when she’s having car trouble.

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.