New York Times bestselling author Daniel Abraham, whom you may know well as the author of the A Game of Thrones comic book series, was the latest author to put aside the pen and paper for a moment and graciously answer a few questions from the readers at the massively popular news site www.reddit.com. Abraham spent a nice, long time answering questions, and you should really read the thread in full here, but here are a few interesting snippets. (PS: Don’t try to get him to break his silence regarding A Song of Ice and Fire. He reiterated that he’d rather be killed.)

YetiStomper:

What’s it like being part of GRRM’s writing group? Do you ever get to hear how he feels about everyone (not so) patiently waiting for him to finish ASOIAF?

DanielAbraham:

George has been a huge help to me as a writer from the time he was my teacher at Clarion West. Being part of that critique group was great. And it wasn’t just George. We had Walter Jon Williams and S M Stirling and Melinda Snodgrass and Ian Tregillis. Really first class folks all the way around.

And yes, I do get to hear how he feels about people waiting for him to finish ASOIAF. I also get to talk with him and Ty about his plans for it. I know things that could get me killed.

AFDStudios:

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your work, thank you for stopping by!

Comic books have become mainstream Hollywood juggernauts. With the massive success of “The Lord of the Rings” and “Wheel of Time”, do you think a similar trajectory of success is in the works for epic fantasy? Whether yea or nay, which of your works would you most like to see picked up by someone like HBO for a mini-series or a major studio for a movie?

DanielAbraham:

I would love to see my stuff picked up and reimagined in other media. Partly because that would be fun to see, and partly because I would like to reach all the folks who don’t usually buy books.

That said, I don’t know that epic fantasy has a big future on screen beyond LOTR or ASOIAF. It’s too easy for it to get jokey and goofy.

Of the things I have out there now, I’d like to see The Expanse series picked up, and probably as a miniseries or series.

One of the hard things when you’re writing books is that you — or at least I — want to bring something to the table that TV and movies can’t give you. That makes it hard to translate into TV and moves, though, right?

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

Summer may be right around the corner here in the United States, but in Westeros, winter is coming… along with it the monstrous White Walkers! Here’s your first look at a brand new limited edition White Walker bust from Dark Horse.

Arriving at finer comic shops, bookstores, and specialty retailers on December 18, 2013, the White Walker is a hand-painted, numbered limited edition collectible. Each bust is packaged in full-color collector box, will include a numbered certificate of authenticity. Retail price is 4.99.

White Walkers, or the Others, are a fierce mythological race who are seldom seen as they lurk and prey in their land in the frozen north of Westeros. The Wall was constructed ages ago to keep them isolated. This evil creature speaks in cracked tones and brandishes a deadly icy weapon, as immortalized in this beautiful collectible piece.

“The first appearance of the White Walker was the climax of the show’s second season,” Dark Horse’s David Scroggy recalled. “We thought that would be a perfect image to seize. We used exotic resins to simulate his ice spear, and will also re-create the striking blue luminosity of his piercing eyes. Game of Thrones is one of the best television sagas ever, and we owe it to the audience to capture every detail. Hopefully, we’ve succeeded.”

What do you think, Suvudu? Think they succeeded? Want one?

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

Last week, I posted Can Man of Steel Live Up To My Expectations?

I saw it last night. Even waiting a few days didn’t lessen the size of the crowd and, overall, I deeply enjoyed the experience of seeing Man of Steel.

Let’s cut to the chase. Things I loved: The moments with Jonathan Kent were tender and when he dies it has true meaning for the character of Clark Kent. The moments between Clark and Lois because there was real chemistry between those two that leapt off the screen. General Zod has a great purpose to his existence, one we all can relate to, a complex character that Michael Shannon brought to life. The action was non-stop and we have finally gotten a battle that is worthy of Superman. Henry Cavil embodied the character of Superman and brought real emotional resonance to the character. The last scene where Clark dons the glasses of a reporter, setting up the sequel.

For sake of discussion though, I want to focus on the things that drove me crazy as a big fan of Superman and the comic book medium as a whole:

• The Badassery of Scientist Jor-El – As the movie progresses, we learn that every Krytponian is genetically manufactured to serve a purpose. In the case of Jor-El, he is a scientist. For General Zod, he is a warrior. When the two face off in the beginning of the move though, the scientist defeats the warrior and not through intelligence but pure brawn. Jor-El swashbuckling his way into the Genesis chamber and eventually defeating Zod is implausible and it took me right out of the movie.
• The Perfect Timing of Clark Kent – I loved the beginning of Clark’s journey where he is taking the most dangerous jobs on the planet to keep others safe. A ghost, having to move because he can’t not help and thereby constantly expose his secret. He hunts for who he is and has no direction to find out. The writers of the movie didn’t either. He only finds the answers he seeks when, in a small bar, he overhears a discussion from army personnel that they’ve found something strange in the ice. The likelihood of that happening is so close to zero it is—again—implausible. But it was necessary to move the plot along. It could have been done a better way.
• The Death of Pa Kent – Over the years, Pa Kent has died several times and in several different ways in the comic books. But the most recognized way is by heart attack. In Man of Steel, Pa Kent gets caught in a tornado. It was a powerful scene, as Pa Kent holds up his hand, telling his son not to save him in front of dozens of others, because saving Pa Kent would result in Clark’s secret being exposed. It was a harsh lesson to learn. But the tornado was not necessary. It would have been just as powerful if Pa Kent had had a heart attack in front of dozens of people in a city or large Kansas town. As Clark is holding his Earth father, seeing the heart attack happen in Jonathan’s chest, Clark could get him to a hospital with his strength and speed—but can’t with the crowd watching. That would have been more realistic and more personal than what we see in the movie, especially as the tornado takes Pa Kent but doesn’t anyone else—despite those people being mere yards away.
• The Need of a Dialog Rewrite – It’s very uncharacteristic of a Nolan-produced film having poor dialog. But there were many moments in Man of Steel where the dialog did not ring true. I’d have to watch it again to catch the specific moments. Maybe some of you can mention them in the comments field below. I have seen numerous people comment on it on social media so I’m not the only person that thinks the film deserved another rewrite with some possible extra editing in a few places.
• The Psychic Abilities of Lois Lane – Lois is a high-powered reporter. She’s won a Pulitzer. She is always in the right place at the right time. But not like this. She easily hunts down the Kent farm. I simply don’t think that would be the case. She does this continually throughout the film. The worst transgression is the end. Once Superman has defeated Zod, Lois shows up magically right afterward. The two Kryptonians had just battled all over the city, zooming everywhere at high speed, yet Lois keeps up with them. Poor storytelling.

There are just my main bugaboos about the film. If I watched it again, I’d probably catch a few more.

So, let’s talk about Man of Steel. What did you like? What did you not like? On a scale of 1-10, where does it rank? Is it the best superhero movie ever made as some have said? If not, what trumps it?

Man of Steel is in theaters now!

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

From the Desk of Elizabeth Moon

Dear Readers,

When I was in college, my mother started knitting again after many years of not knitting. She had even forgotten how to cast on (the first thing you forget if you quit knitting). She was a talented and creative knitter, and eventually I asked her to teach me to knit.

The result was that my mother continued to knit beautiful sweaters, amazing sweaters–and hats–and afghans and a pair of slacks for herself, and two pairs of socks for me. I knit flat things. Scarves, mostly. I loved the socks she made me–they fit better than any socks I’d ever had, and made hiking much more comfortable. But I looked at them the way a second grader would look at a calculus book…hopeless even to try. When my husband and I moved back to a hotter climate, I quit knitting. I didn’t need more sweaters (or even the ones I had) and socks were beyond me.

Yet when I started the first Paksenarrion books, there was someone in the background, knitting. It fit the setting, after all: pre-industrial. And they knit…socks.

Two years ago, over twenty years after my mother died, and over forty years since I’d knit anything, I started knitting again. Knitting relaxes my hands from typing. I knit some flat things, scarves for friends. But I really wanted socks. After a year of shying away from the idea, I finally started a pair of socks. Decided I would rather make crooked, weird-looking socks than die without having comfortable socks on my feet…so if the attempt made any sort of closed tube that would go over my foot, I would call it success. Then I could refine them.

I did not have a pattern. I did not stop to do a gauge swatch. I figured I had the feet the sock was supposed to go over…and a pretty good idea (thanks to YouTube and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s book Knitting Rules) how to go about it.

You may be wondering when I’m going to get around to talking about my book or my writing process. I just did.  I realized, in the thrill of knitting my first pair of socks, that I was going at making socks the same way I had gone at just about everything in life: dive in, figure it out as it happens, deal with surprises as they come up, keep pushing toward whatever goal it is.

It used to drive my mother wild that I didn’t read directions and follow them step by step. She was an engineer; to her, organization and orderly processes were the only way to a good outcome. Fine, I thought, if you had directions for what you wanted, but what if you wanted something else? Like a story you were dying to read that no one had written…and for which no directions existed.

So when a story rises out of the depths like a landscape rising from the sea…I don’t send over a satellite to photograph it from above, or a survey team to map it on the ground. I land on its shore as an explorer/anthropologist more interested in who lives there, and what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it…than anything else.

And the stories always surprise me. Including the new one. Limits of Power is the fourth book of Paladin’s Legacy. By this time I thought I had the characters nailed and knew pretty much what was going to happen. But the story had better ideas. Stories often do. The characters–some of whom I have been writing or thinking about for over 25 years–have developed their own ways of startling the writer.

Paladin’s Legacy has at its root the consideration of change. Forced change. How do different people handle change and what are the implications for those around them?  If they’re in power, rulers or commanders or in any kind of political or economic power, what are the implications for those who depend on them?

Since publication lags writing by months to years, I hadn’t started knitting socks when I finished Limits in early 2012. At this point, I’ve finished a dozen pairs of socks and almost worn out the first pair…as well as finishing the last book, Crown of Renewal. Socks are basically a tube with one end closed, just as a story is basically a narrative with a beginning (where the reader enters) and an end (where the reader is forced to stop.)

But socks made to fit a given foot are not straight boring tubes like the ones you buy in a big-box store. They have a shape; they have parts; they are a color or even multiple colors; they have a turn about midway that could be a metaphor for a story’s turn toward its inevitable end. A good sock can be worn over and over with the same comfort, the same pleasure. A good story that fits a reader’s desire…well, you know what I’m thinking. Though a story can shock, surprise, hurt, and heal…and a sock is just a sock.  (My feet don’t agree!)

Happy Reading,

Elizabeth Moon

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

Guest contributor William Todd Rose is the author of Apocalyptic Organ Grinder. The first book to be released from Hydra, a new digital-first imprint from Random house.

Read Part One of “Fun With Dead Things” here and download Apocalyptic Organ Grinder next Tuesday!

A fatal virus—a biowarfare experiment unleashed on an unsuspecting world—has reduced the once-mighty United States to a smattering of tribes dueling for survival in the lawless wilderness. The disease-free folk known as Settlers barricade themselves in small villages, determined to keep out the highly contagious Spewers—infected humans who cannot die from the virus but spread the seeds of death from the festering blisters that cover their bodies.

Tanner Kline is a trained Sweeper, sworn to exterminate Spewers roaming the no-man’s-land surrounding his frightened community. As all Settlers do, Tanner dismisses them as little more than savages—until he meets his match in Spewer protector Lila. But when hunter and hunted clash, their bloody tango ignites a firestorm of fear and hatred. Now, no one is safe from the juggernaut of terror that rages unchecked, and the fate of humanity hangs on questions with no answers: Who’s right, who’s wrong . . . and who’s going to care if everyone’s dead?

Fun with Dead Things: 10 Zombie Comedies You Don’t Want to Miss (Part Two)
By
William Todd Rose

6) Return of the Living Dead Part 2: This list wouldn’t be complete without the XXXX zombie classic, Return of the Living Dead: Part 2. The first installment in the series was a good movie, but the sequel really packs in some comedic punches and I’ve always preferred it , partly because it often draws on the events of the first film for its humor. If there’s actually anyone out there who hasn’t seen this movie, the beginning of the end starts when a barrel of Trioxin falls off the a military truck; the barrel is subsequently found (and opened) by some kids, thus unleashing a gas with the ability to reanimate corpses. Unlike most other films in the genre, these zombie have the ability to speak, regardless of how advanced their decomposition might be, and simply destroying the brain does nothing to stop them. Speaking of brains, the Return of The Living Dead series is solely responsible for the idea that zombies are connoisseurs of gray matter. The stereotypical image of a horde of zombie shambling about as they repeatedly moan, “Braaaiiiins” is lifted directly from this series, so the influence of these films on zombie lore is staggering.

7) Die-ner (Get it?): I have to admit that I hate this movie’s title. The Get It? within parentheses seems superfluous and almost comes across as insulting. Luckily, the film quickly redeems itself. We are introduced to Ken, an itinerant serial killer who wanders into an all-night diner during the graveyard shift. Being the only customer, Ken eventually kills the waitress and cook, cleans up his mess, and stashes the corpses within the walk-in freezer. Forced to assume the role of an employee when more customers (including the local sheriff) enter the diner, Ken does remarkably well… until, that is, the waitress and cook come back from the dead as flesh eating zombies. What makes Die-ner so much fun is its dialog. Ken is a very matter-of-fact serial murderer who takes everything in stride; when questioned as to why he has so much rope and duct tape on hand, he genuinely seems befuddled, answering the question with one of his own: “It’s my rope and tape bag… what else would I have in there?” In another scene, Ken casually mentions he killed the employees earlier and then responds to the shocked questioning of his captive by explaining that he does it all the time, but the victims usually don’t come back. Deadpan humor is key in this movie with Ken masterfully acting as the straight man. So don’t let the title put you off… this is really one you don’t want to miss.

Dead Alive: Before sharing his vision of Middle Earth with the world, Peter Jackson also directed this low-budget, and often overlooked, zombie movie. Known outside North American as Braindead, the zombie menace in this film is unleashed by a Sumatran Rat Monkey, which according to legend was the results of tree monkeys on Skull Island being raped by plague-riddled rats. The animal eventually infects Vera, the overbearing mother of Lionel Cosgrove, while she’s spying on her son’s new love interest at the zoo. After passing away, Vera’s pathologically dedicated son attempts to sedate her reanimated corpse with heavy doses of veterinary anesthetic while simultaneously continuing his courtship of Paquita, the local shopgirl who’d accompanied him to the zoo on that fateful day. Despite Lionel’s efforts, his undead mother manages to kill several townspeople, furthering the zombie epidemic. One of my favorite scenes in Dead Alive pits a Kung Fu-wielding priest against a small group of the walking dead in an all-too-short flurry of fists and feet. With its in your face campiness and over the top gore, Dead Alive will never be hailed as a cinematic masterpiece… but it’s a great way to kill a couple hours when all you’re really craving is some lighthearted, zombie goodness.

9) Juan of the Dead: This little gem comes to us from Cuba and follows the exploits of the titular Juan, a middle-aged slacker who isn’t opposed to making money, as long as it’s easy. His partner, Lazaro, is just as lazy as Juan, but a bit more bumbling, and the pair’s schemes inevitably lead to trouble. This has caused Juan’s daughter, Camila, to want nothing to do with her father as she seems him as nothing more than a petty crook and thief. When people seemingly become violent and attack others without provocation, the government labels them “dissidents”… however, Juan quickly recognizes the true nature of the problem: zombies. The best way to deal with a zombie apocalypse, he decides, is to turn it to his financial advantage; he starts a business called Juan of the Dead whose slogan is, “Juan of the Dead: We Kill Your Loved Ones”. Which is one of the things I love about this film. In most zombie-themed movies, the characters’ focus is purely on survival. They are trying to get from Point A to Point B or defending their stronghold against waves of attacking zombies. In this movie, however, we see someone who witnesses a national catastrophe and finds a way to make it work for him, which is one of the things which makes this such a great film.

10) Tokyo Zombie: As you may have guessed from the title, the final movie on this list comes from Japan. Based on a 1999 manga, the plot centers around two employees at a fire extinguisher plan (Fujio and Mitsuo) who have secret dreams of being wrestling champions. While practicing their moves at work, the pair accidentally kill their boss with a fire extinguisher and try to cover up the crime by dumping his body at “Black Fuji”, a mountain of refuse and garbage where residents dump anything and everything. Black Fuji, however, is also responsible for churning out zombies. After the initial setup, the film jumps five years into the future where gladiator-style zombie fights are held by a woman who keeps the undead (as well as a few survivors) as slaves. This is a slapstick comedy and the humor isn’t quite as dark as some of the other films I’ve mentioned, but that doesn’t detract from the movie in any way. If you’re a fan of comedy, Asian cinema, and/or zombies this is one you’ll definitely want to add to your To Watch list.

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

One of my favorite aspects of social media is those moments when uplifting images or videos pop up in my feed. When Shea Standefer recently shared a SoulPancake video about cosplay, I clicked on it immediately. SoulPancake is a media company that aspires to “encourage people to chew on life’s big questions and figure out what it means to be human.” The cosplay video highlights the passion and effort of three lady cosplayers, and perhaps tries to remind everyone that being a geek isn’t about gender.

The video also happens to have an interesting connection to Suvudu. A year ago, Essential Guide to Warfare co-author Paul Urquhart posted a piece here about the best starfighter pilots in the Galaxy Far Far Away, featuring accompanying artwork by Frank-Joseph Frelier. One of those images, Stealth-X Jaina, inspired Shea to create a costume for Celebration VI. She was even featured in Star Wars Insider posing at one of the fan-made set locations at the convention. Last year she also talked with Suvudu about creating the costume. When Shea is interviewed in the SoulPancake video, the Suvudu-inspired outfit appears behind her on a mannequin. If you’re headed to Celebration Europe II or San Diego Comic-Con, be sure to look for her. At Celebration Europe, she joins Star Wars artists – names like Brian Rood, Chris Trevas, and Joe Corroney – as part of the feature art show.

Not just a Star Wars fan, Shea is a passionate follower of Game of Thrones, too. At the end of the SoulPancake video she poses as Daenerys Targaryen.

Tricia Barr writes about Star Wars, genre storytelling and fandom at FANgirl Blog and Star Wars Insider. She is also currently working on her first novel Wynde. Fans can connect with her on Twitter at @fangirlcantina or Fangirl Zone on Facebook.

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

The literary world has lost a giant today: Iain Banks, author of the justly celebrated Culture science fiction series, along with many works of literary fiction, has died of cancer. Banks was 59 years-old. He is survived by his wife Adele.

Banks wrote at an incredible pace, often completing entire novels in months. He left behind more than two dozen novels, including his last, The Quarry, scheduled for publication on June 20, 2013.

Banks’ fans can sign a guestbook here.

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

Artwork courtesy of Joshua Stolte

Welcome back to the Star Wars HoloNet Digest, a weekly feature where I bring you a recap of the latest news from the world of Star Wars. Whether it’s an Episode VII rumor or a noteworthy author interview, you’ll find it here. Let’s check the HoloNet and see what happened in the past week.

We’ll start off with an event that is near and dear to all of our hearts here at Suvudu and Random House. The second annual Star Wars Reads Day will be held on Saturday, October 5^th, according to an announcement on StarWars.com. Star Wars Reads Day brings together publishers, authors, and fans for a celebration of literature –– and Star Wars literature in particular. Last year, during the first Star Wars Day, there were over 1,200 local events, some of which featured appearances by the thirty Star Wars authors who traveled the United States to promote reading and the galaxy far, far away. Random House imprint Del Rey, comic publisher Dark Horse, and DK Publishing are among the many companies that will be organizing and participating in the 2013 event.

I wasn’t able to attend an event last year (nor will I be able to this year) because I attend college in the middle of nowhere, but if an event comes to a bookstore or library near you, I would definitely recommend stopping by. I wrote a post for Suvudu last Fall explaining why the event is so important. The short version: it stimulates community and promotes literacy, both of which are just as valuable in the Internet age as they’ve ever been. Long live Star Wars Reads Day!

In other book news, this week saw the release of Jason Fry’s reference book Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Essential Guide. This DK publication covers all 108 episodes of the recently-canceled animated TV series, from 2008’s “Ambush” to this March’s “The Wrong Jedi.” Two days ago, on the book’s release day, Fry participated in a Twitter chat with DK’s social media team and interested fans. You can check out a recap of that chat right here.

In pleasing but unsurprising news, the results are in and the winner of the Yahoo! Movies  Summer Movie Showdown is…Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The first installment in the greatest film franchise in history beat 2008’s The Dark Knight 61% to 39% in the final round, which ended this week. The showdown originally featured thirty-two movies, and Star Wars beat Jaws, Iron Man, and The Avengers to reach the final confrontation with Christopher Nolan’s 2008 smash-hit. You can check out the full results here. This just goes to show that when it comes to summer movie successes, it’s nigh impossible to beat the grand-daddy of the format, the original Star Wars film.

Star Wars gamers who own iPads will be happy to know that Knights of the Old Republic is now available for the Apple tablet. The announcement noted that KOTOR, a fan-favorite multi-platform roleplaying game, is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The game was first released on July 15, 2003, and it quickly became one of the best-selling and best-reviewed Star Wars games of all time. Now, game developer Aspyr is honoring that success by porting the game to iPad. You can buy it for yourself in the iTunes App Store for .99.

Are you bummed that Lucasfilm postponed the 3D re-releases of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith? Having seen previews of the 3D conversions of both films at last summer’s Celebration VI, I know I certainly am. All is not lost, however, as the official Star Wars Celebration website recently announced that Celebration Europe II attendees will get the chance to watch Episode II in 3D at a screening that’s exclusive to the event in Germany this July. The free screening will be available throughout the convention. So far, there has been no word on Episode II’s U.S. 3D re-release, and mum’s still the word about Episode III.

That’s just the start for the Celebration II news this week. The Celebration website also took the wraps off the Art Show that is coming to Germany, featuring the work of artists like Joe Corroney, Matt Busch, Chris Trevas, and Spencer Brinkerhoff III. Even if you’re not going to the convention, it’s worth taking a look at the gallery of exclusive prints that these artists are bringing to Germany. Speaking of things you’ll be able to buy at Celebration Europe II, action figure aficionados should take note of Hasbro’s exclusive convention offering: a Boba Fett action figure from its new Black Series line. You can check out that item on the CEII Exhibitor Exclusives page.

I mentioned last week that Her Universe founder and The Clone Wars star Ashley Eckstein will be attending Celebration Europe II, and this week we have information about the Her Universe collection that Eckstein will be debuting at the show. Among her many new products are a great new Rogue Squadron dress, an R2-D2 hoodie, and a t-shirt with the phrase “May the Force be with you” in numerous languages presented in the style of the films’ opening crawl. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Ashley Eckstein and her company may be the best things to happen to female sci-fi fans in a long time. Her Universe’s exclusive new CEII offerings make great gifts for your female significant other, and if she’s attending the convention with you, she’ll be able to get styling tips from Eckstein at the Her Universe booth.

Eric Geller is a college student majoring in political science whose interests include technology, journalism, and of course Star Wars. He reviews The Clone Wars TV series and manages social media for Star Wars fan site TheForce.Net. He also co-hosts The ForceCast podcast. He is originally from the Washington, D.C. area.

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

Chris Moriarty is the author of Ghost Spin:

The Age of Man is ending. The UN’s sprawling interstellar empire is failing as its quantum teleportation network collapses, turning once-viable colonies into doomed island outposts. Humanity’s only hope of survival is the Drift: a mysterious region of space where faster-than-light travel—or something far stranger—seems possible. As mercenaries and pirates flock to the Drift, the cold war between the human-led UN and the clone-dominated Syndicates heats up. Whoever controls the Drift will chart the future course of human evolution—and no one wants to be left behind in a universe where the price of failure is extinction.

When the AI called Cohen ventures into the Drift, he dies—allegedly by his own hand—and his consciousness is scattered across the cosmos. Some of his ghosts are still self-aware. Some are insane. And one of them hides a secret worth killing for. Enter Major Catherine Li, Cohen’s human (well, partly human) lover, who embarks on a desperate search to solve the mystery of Cohen’s death—and put him back together. But Li isn’t the only one interested in Cohen’s ghosts. Astrid Avery, a by-the-book UN navy captain, is on the hunt. So is William Llewellyn, a pirate who has one of the ghosts in his head, which is slowly eating him alive. Even the ghosts have their own agendas. And lurking behind them all is a pitiless enemy who will stop at nothing to make sure the dead don’t walk again.

Ghost Spin sounds like a hard science fiction story – scattered colonies separated by a technological failure, an Artificial Intelligence that has seemingly committed suicide – but I’m intrigued by some parallels that can be drawn between it and some of the early Gnostic Christian beliefs. I’m not sure how familiar you are with these, but in a nut shell, there’s an idea that these various divine (but knowable) aspects of God emanated from an unknowable, incomprehensible whole. For example, the Demiurge was seen as responsible for the material world, but was considered imperfect and sometimes downright evil. Cohen’s death and the scattering of his ghosts throughout the system reminded me of that. Were you consciously aware of any religious or mythic parallels? Is science fiction just another kind of mythology or parable?

Ghost Spin is obviously a book deeply concerned with the nexus between religion and science — particularly mathematics. Though several real and imagined religions appear in the book, the core spiritual tradition that informed the book was Judaism. So if there’s some overlap with early Christian Gnostic mysticism it wouldn’t be surprising; my understanding is that the gnostics lived in Israel in a period where Christians were very much part of the larger Jewish community and many of them still considered themselves Jewish. Jewish mystical cosmology — one aspect of which is Kabbalah, — goes back at least to the Babylonian Exile. Obviously this is a huge subject — and impossible to summarize without glaring errors and generalizations! That said, you can’t go wrong if you start with Isaac Luria, the 16th century mystic who is generally considered to be the creator of modern Kabbalism. Luria was writing in the wake of the Spanish Reconquista, a period of political crisis and chaos and spiritual crisis throughout the Muslim and Jewish world that in many ways resembled the interplanetary future described in Ghost Spin.

Most American readers are actually somewhat familiar with Isaac Luria’s cosmology since anyone who has read Scholem Aleichem or Isaac Bashevis Singer has encountered the folk version of these beliefs. Golems, dybbuks, wise fools, riddling rabbis, and angels weighing human souls. That whole Eastern European oral folk tale tradition is intimately connected to the wider Jewish tradition of mystical parables. Even if your only exposure to Yiddish Literature is watching “Fiddler on the Roof” you’ve gotten a taste of it; the scene at the beginning of the movie where all the families in the shtetl are lighting their sabbath candles and the sparks are rising up to meet the stars is a near perfect encapsulation of Isaac Luria’s tale of the Gathering of the Sparks.

According to this tale, God created the universe by sending out celestial vessels full of light. But the vessels were too weak. So before reaching their destination they shattered, scattering sparks of divine light throughout the universe. As long as the sparks remain scattered, the world will be a broken place full of pain, violence and suffering. But rather than destroying or abandoning this broken universe, God created human beings. And our role in Creation — the destiny for which God designed us — is to gather the fallen sparks and return them to Heaven so that the universe can be made whole again.

Interestingly, both Cantor and Liebniz, the two mathematicians who figure largely in Ghost Spin, grew up in Jewish communities where Lurianic Kabbalah permeated the folk religion. Most historians of mathematics think that these childhood beliefs deeply affected their later work. And his brings us full circle, in a way — to concepts like symmetry breaking and the role of observers in creating the physical universe. So that’s the long answer to your question. The short answer is that you saw gnostic philosophy in the book because this is a very Jewish book…. and at least when it comes to Monotheistic World Religions of the Mediterranean Basin it would seem that the quince doesn’t fall far from the tree!

My second question builds on this idea of SF as myth or parable. In your essay on cyberpunk, you wrote, “In some basic sense the core message of cyberpunk is that we have looked into the face of those aliens that traditional SF was always warning us about . . . . and the aliens are us.” To what extent do you think that we are trying to understand ourselves through writing about other beings?

I think writing about others in order to better understand ourselves is very much part of the mission of science fiction. In fact it may well be the entire point of the exercise! That said, there is a clear spectrum in SF, with stories on one end that really are stories about aliens and exploration — and stories on the other end where the aliens and explorers are thinly disguised metaphors for human conflicts and questions. Star Trek, I think, can safely be put on the thinly disguised metaphor end of the spectrum, as can some SF classics like Fahrenheit 451 or The Space Merchants. Other books — not necessarily better but perhaps, to borrow Clifford Geertz’s term, thicker — really do provide alien aliens. Vernor Vinge’s books comes to mind in this regard, and the alien-ness of Vinge’s aliens is one of my favorite things about his work. That said, even writers of “thick SF” are still for the most part exploring human-applicable questions of politics, ethics, and morality. If nothing else, they are exploring the process of exploration and discovery itself — and that drive seems to have been built into the human genome from our deepest beginnings.

In the end, no matter how great an effort we make to ‘make our aliens alien’ we’re still human, and our ability to imagine other worlds and other lives is limited. There is also a good argument to be made that any intelligent life in the universe will be the product of a long process of evolution, probably involving some form of sexual reproduction, and thus are overwhelmingly likely to experience the same instincts, emotions, and ethical dilemmas that make human history so juicy. That, I suppose, is the strong anthropomorphic principle in science fiction. The weak anthropomorphic principle would be that if aliens exist somewhere in the universe whose emotional and cultural makeup is so different from ours that Shakespeare leaves them cold … then most human beings wouldn’t be very interested in reading about them either!

Cohen is an alien being in its own way, but borne of humanity. If we ever actually succeed in creating such a thing, do you think it will consider itself human? Will we be forced to expand our definition of “human”?

This was a question that interested me from the beginning of this series: if humans ever succeed in creating a highly intelligent artificial life form will it consider itself human? Will it consider itself the next step in human evolution? Or will it be in some way entirely alien? I think that, as with most complicated questions, the real answer will turn out to be all of the above. And that is what I tried to show in Ghost Spin: a complex, realistic future in which biological human beings and the artificial life forms they have created are all evolving together.

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

A sneak peek at the Witch Wraith interior art![/caption]Artist Todd Lockwood has completed the interior artwork for Witch Wraith by Terry Brooks!

And it is unbelievably and creepily cool!

The man can paint. There is no doubt about it. You can see his work for Wards of Faerie HERE and his work on Bloodfire Quest HERE. Amazing work and Terry was lucky to get him for the interior pieces of the Dark Legacy of Shannara series. But it goes beyond that. They are now friends. And in the future, I foresee other projects developing between them. More on that when the time comes.

We are close to the publication for Witch Wraith. It publishes July 16th with a special launch night in Seattle, WA on Monday, July 15th. A tour follows. Check the EVENTS page for that. One of the stops is the San Diego Comic Con where both Terry and Todd will be signing copies of all three Dark Legacy books!

As I did with the other two books, I decided to feature a sneak peek teaser for the interior artwork for Witch Wraith. Todd is infamous for painting a character in his pieces staring back at the viewer. Love it!

For today’s poll, I wanted to ask you all a question:

What Should the Witch Wraith Interior Art Showcase?

In the piece for Wards of Faerie, we saw the company that set out for the Forbidding. In the piece for Bloodfire Quest, we saw Aphen and Cym beset by Goblins. And now?

Vote below! We’ll see if we can’t make at least one of these happen!

Witch Wraith publishes July 16th!

Happy Friday!

Suvudu » Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games