Link Love

First of all, in keeping with the zombie theme for this month, here's another article from a couple of years ago on 5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually Happen.  I'm not too worried - as we've already learned, zombies have many issues that will keep them from succeeding.  We have bigger things to worry about.  Like the robot revolution.


Something I like to muse over - Should it matter when awful people create great art?  Should someone's personal life effect how their art is viewed?  In general, my answer is no. But in
reality, it is sometimes hard to not let bad behavior color how a piece of art is viewed.  That's why there are artists whose work I adore, yet I hope never to meet .  I don't want to know too much about them.  I don't want to see their feet of clay.  Over at Salon, Laura Miller has a piece on When Bad People Write Great Books and dealing with disappointment when you find out your favorite writer has personal flaws.    


Inspired by Miller's piece, Flavorwire came up with A Collection of Wonderful Books by Morally Questionable People. Make sure to click on the link on the Roald Dahl page to read a fascinating article on the shittiness of the author.


Juliet McKenna asks some thoughtful questions on why there are so few women who write science fiction and how things can be improved.  "This is the vicious circle women SF writers are faced with – publishing is about what sells and white men write SF that sells. So white male SF is published. So that’s what sells... It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy."   Women Being Published in SF - an issue for all genre readers. 


Wow, Danielle Steel is the 8th best selling author of all time.  She's sold over 800 million books.  With sales like that, naturally, she's on Forbes' 10 Most Powerful Women Authors.


Damien G. Walter sounds the cry for more critical reviews of genre fiction.  "And some of that crap is very popular. Some of the crappest books in genre are some of the most popular. They may well be fun crap, or effectively escapist crap, or crap branded with the latest sci-fi franchise, but they are still crap. Crap sells.
But if genre wants to gain the respect it deserves in the world at large, we need to get better at telling the world who our best and brightest are." 
I could not agree with this more.  Check out Genre Needs to Stop Applauding Crap  


Every year, I tell myself - Next year I'm going to Wiscon.  It sound too awesome, I can't miss another one.  Now in it's 35th year, Wiscon is the foremost feminist science fiction convention in the world, with a focus on feminist, gender, race and class issues within the genre.  It is always held on Memorial Day Weekend which is also the weekend of my dad's birthday.  So as much as I would love to attend, when it comes down to it, I can't miss my dad's big birthday BBQ.  At least I can read the blog reports from those who were present.  Here's a smattering of posts about Wiscon 35:
Black Souls in Shawl's Deep End
WisCon 2011: The Ongoing Conversation
The Self-Reflective Revolutionary
Sean's Wiscon Report
E-Publishing Wisdom from WisCon 35
Magical Realism & Diaspora Literature
WisCon Highlights and Observations Part 2


And Just For Fun:
Justin Somper's Top 10 Pirate Books
Wave At the Bus
"Domestic Superheroes"