Birthdays, Dystopia, And SF
Feb. 21st, 2010 08:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eldritchhobbitSo many terrific people celebrate birthdays this week! Happy early birthday wishes to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ankh_hpl, dqg_neal, nightlywanderer, xerum525, homespunheart, and jagash. May all of you enjoy many happy returns of the day.
Special Announcement: A few of you have mentioned to me that you wish to bookmark my often-updated working list of dystopian novels written/marketed for young adults. I've created a new tag just for this, so if you bookmark this link, you'll always be directed to the most recent iteration of the list. I hope this is helpful. Thanks so much for your interest!
Speaking of dystopian fiction...
* I will be giving an updated version of my WorldCon talk on young adult dystopias at the following venues soon: in March, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba County (NC); in April, at RavenCon 2010 (VA); and in May, at the “Liberty and Society” Seminar sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies at Wake Forest University (NC).
* From Publisher's Weekly: "Children's Books: Apocalypse Now."
* From Diana Peterfreund's blog: "Diana on Dystopia."
* From Travis Prinzi at The Hog's Head: "The Hunger Games: Panem's Politics."
* From Po(sey) Sessions: an interview with Presenting Lenore's Lenore about "Dystopian February."
And in other news, Sharon of Sharon Loves Books and Cats has a fantastic contest re: Before I Fall open until March 14. Check it out!
"But the highest goal of science fiction is to tell us the truth about ourselves. We find it in every sci-fi work that ever tried to say: 'This is how it is. Don’t pretend, don’t turn away, don’t lie. This is who you are. This is what we are.' Seeking truth is the strongest and the bravest course, the hardest fiction to write, the most difficult to fall in love with, because it holds an honest mirror to humanity. We never want to look that clearly at our own reflections. Is that a blemish coming on? Does this dress make me look like the privileged product of a globally exploitative oligarchy? Why, yes, actually, it does. Turn that mirror to face the wall."
- Maggie Burns, from "Mars Needs Women: How a Dress, a Cake, and a Goofy Hat Will Save Science Fiction"
ankh_hpl, dqg_neal, nightlywanderer, xerum525, homespunheart, and jagash. May all of you enjoy many happy returns of the day.Special Announcement: A few of you have mentioned to me that you wish to bookmark my often-updated working list of dystopian novels written/marketed for young adults. I've created a new tag just for this, so if you bookmark this link, you'll always be directed to the most recent iteration of the list. I hope this is helpful. Thanks so much for your interest!
Speaking of dystopian fiction...
* I will be giving an updated version of my WorldCon talk on young adult dystopias at the following venues soon: in March, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Catawba County (NC); in April, at RavenCon 2010 (VA); and in May, at the “Liberty and Society” Seminar sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies at Wake Forest University (NC).
* From Publisher's Weekly: "Children's Books: Apocalypse Now."
* From Diana Peterfreund's blog: "Diana on Dystopia."
* From Travis Prinzi at The Hog's Head: "The Hunger Games: Panem's Politics."
* From Po(sey) Sessions: an interview with Presenting Lenore's Lenore about "Dystopian February."
And in other news, Sharon of Sharon Loves Books and Cats has a fantastic contest re: Before I Fall open until March 14. Check it out!
"But the highest goal of science fiction is to tell us the truth about ourselves. We find it in every sci-fi work that ever tried to say: 'This is how it is. Don’t pretend, don’t turn away, don’t lie. This is who you are. This is what we are.' Seeking truth is the strongest and the bravest course, the hardest fiction to write, the most difficult to fall in love with, because it holds an honest mirror to humanity. We never want to look that clearly at our own reflections. Is that a blemish coming on? Does this dress make me look like the privileged product of a globally exploitative oligarchy? Why, yes, actually, it does. Turn that mirror to face the wall."
- Maggie Burns, from "Mars Needs Women: How a Dress, a Cake, and a Goofy Hat Will Save Science Fiction"