The New York Review of Science Fiction

ISSUE #249 May 2009

ISSUE #249 May 2009

Volume 21, No. 9 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Amy J. Ransom: WorldCon 2009 in Montréal: How the Other Half Lives; or, SFQ: More than Just a Hobby: 1

Eric A. Johnson: My London Time-Slip: 1

Tom Purdom: When I Was Writing: Installment Five: 11

Chuck Gannon: A “Dear John” Letter to a Fallen Giant: Revisiting Updike’s Marginalization of SF: 18

Darrell Schweitzer: Robert Bloch and the Death of Science Fiction—1951: 19

REVIEWS

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s TH.2058, reviewed by Michael Swanwick: 9

Kage Baker’s The House of the Stag, reviewed by Jenny Blackford: 10

C. J. Henderson’s Tales of Inspector Legrasse, reviewed by Peter Rawlik: 13

Cory Doctorow’s Content: Selected Essays, reviewed by Robert Bee: 21

Brenda Cooper’s Reading the Wind, reviewed by David Mead: 23

PLUS

David Langford’s Random Reading (14) and an editorial (24).

 

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Staff: Ann Crimmins, Alex Donald, Jen Gunnels, Eugene Reynolds, and Anne Zanoni.

Weekly Crew: Avram Grumer, Aubrey Lynch, Lisa Padol, and Christine Quiñones.

Special thanks to Arthur D. Hlavaty and Eugene Surowitz.

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Electronic subscriptions are available; e-mail <nyrsf.payments@gmail.com> for information.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>. 

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf.mail@gmail.com> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2009 Dragon Press.

ISSUE #248 April 2009

ISSUE #248 April 2009

Volume 21, No. 8 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Darrell Schweitzer: An Interview with Charles Stross: 1

Mike Barrett: Mostly in Shadow: The Work of Mary Elizabeth Counselman: 1

Douglas A. Van Belle: A Comprehensive and Totally Universal Listing of Every Problem a Story Has Ever Had: 17

Donald M. Hassler: Entropy, Entertainment, and Creative Energy in Ben Bova: 20

REVIEWS

Eileen Kernaghan’s Wild Talent, reviewed by Ursula Pflug: 5

Michael Flynn’s The January Dancer, reviewed by David Mead: 7

Robert M. Price’s Blasphemies and Revelations, reviewed by Peter Rawlik: 13

Justina Robson’s Selling Out, reviewed by Jenny Blackford: 14

Justina Robson’s Going Under, reviewed by Niall Harrison: 15

John Scalzi’s Zoe’s Tale, reviewed by Joe Sanders: 16

Greg Egan’s Incandescence, reviewed by Karen Burnham: 19

Dirk Wittenborn’s Pharmakon, reviewed by Paul Kincaid: 22

PLUS

Dave Langford on Christopher Priest (10); much Screed (23); and an editorial (24).

 

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Staff: Ann Crimmins, Alex Donald,and  Eugene Reynolds.

Weekly Crew: Avram Grumer, Aubrey Lynch, Lisa Padol, and Christine Quiñones.

Special Thanks to: Arthur D. Hlavaty, Eugene Surowitz, and Anne Zanoni.

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Electronic subscriptions are available; e-mail <nyrsf.payments@gmail.com> for information.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>. 

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf.mail@gmail.com> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2009 Dragon Press.

ISSUE #247 March 2009

ISSUE #247 March 2009

Volume 21, No. 7 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Braulio Tavares: Camp Concentration at The Reading Gaol: 1

Brian Stableford: The Reign of the Absolute Savants: Gaston de Pawlowski’s Idealist Future History: 1

Robert von Stein Redick: Altered States: Paul Park’s Roumania Quartet and the Honoring of Complexity: 13

Tom Purdom: When I Was Writing: A Literary Memoir, Pt. 4: 17

REVIEWS

Jo Walton’s Half a Crown, reviewed by Joan Gordon: 12

Christine Cornea’s Science Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality, reviewed by Joe Milicia: 14

Jay Lake’s Escapement, reviewed by Joe Sanders: 19

M. John Harrison’s Nova Swing, reviewed by Alex Donald: 22

PLUS

Wolfe and Kafka (7); hi-test Heinlein (16); and a new-fangled editorial (24).

 

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Staff: Ann Crimmins, Alex Donald, Eugene Reynolds, and Eugene Surowitz.

Weekly Crew: Avram Grumer, Aubrey Lynch, Lisa Padol, and Christine Quiñones.

Special Thanks to: Arthur D. Hlavaty and Anne Zanoni.

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Electronic subscriptions are available; e-mail <nyrsf.payments@gmail.com> for information.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>. 

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf.mail@gmail.com> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2009 Dragon Press.

ISSUE #246 February 2009

ISSUE #246 February 2009

Volume 21, No. 6 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Christopher S. Kovacs: “. . . And Call Me Roger”: the Early Literary Life of Roger Zelazny: 1

Judith Moffett: POD Self-Publishing: Caveat Emptor: 1

David Drake: A Belated Thank-You: 21

REVIEWS

Paul Melko’s The Walls of the Universe, reviewed by Michael Levy: 7

Helen Collins’s Neurogenesis, reviewed by Joan Gordon: 11

Isaac Asimov’s Pebble in the Sky, reviewed by Donald M. Hassler: 13

Matthew Hughes’s Template: A Novel of the Archonate, reviewed by David Mead: 19

John Scalzi’s Zoe’s Tale, reviewed by Niall Harrison: 20

PLUS

Ink flows through it (7); lots of Screed (22); and an editorial (24).

 

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Production Staff: Ann Crimmins, Alex Donald, and Eugene Reynolds.

Weekly Meeting Crew: Avram Grumer, Lisa Padol, and Christine Quiñones.

Special thanks to: Arthur D. Hlavaty, Eugene Surowitz, and Ann Zanoni.

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Electronic subscriptions are available; e-mail <nyrsf.payments@gmail.com> for information.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>.

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf@comcast.net> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2009 Dragon Press.

ISSUE #245 January 2009

ISSUE #245 January 2009

Volume 21, No. 5 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Iain Emsley: Lighting the Lamp: Destabilizing the Occident in Aladdin: 1

Jess Nevins: The Nineteenth Century Roots of Steampunk: 1

Michael Swanwick: The View from the Wharf Rat: A Letter from Otakon 2006 in Baltimore: 10

David Drake: Surreal Splendor: Three Novels by Mark S. Geston: 11

Mark S. Geston: Fires Far Away: 12

Traci N. Castleberry: Twisting the Other: Using a “Third” Sex to Represent Homosexuality in Science Fiction : 13

Robert Guffey: Jack Kirby’s OMAC: Captain America Loves Big Brother: 17

Gary G. Garner: Observations Regarding the High-Tech Piracy Science Fiction of Murray Leinster: 19

REVIEWS

Thomas M. Disch’s The Wall of America, reviewed by Eugene Reynolds: 6

Ben Bova’s Mars Life, reviewed by Pierce Watters: 21

John Brunner’s The Compleat Traveller in Black, reviewed by Robert Bee: 22

PLUS

Lovecraftian anime (15) and an editorial (24).

 

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Production Staff: Ann Crimmins and Alex Donald.

Weekly Meeting Crew: Avram Grumer, Joshua Kronengold, Lisa Padol, and Christine Quiñones.

Special thanks to: Arthur D. Hlavaty, Eugene Surowitz, and Ann Zanoni.

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>. 

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf@comcast.net> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2008 Dragon Press.

ISSUE #244 December 2008

ISSUE #244 December 2008

Volume 21, No. 4 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Mary Catherine Harper: Connie Willis: Of Fused Genres, Marriage Plots, and Meta-Gender: 1

Philip T. Long: A Second Reading of Beasts: 1

Michael Hemmingson: Sleep Is Not Enough: The Art of Dreaming and Made-for-TV Adaptations of The Lathe of Heaven: 15

Michael Levy: The Transcendent in David Almond’s Play Wild Girl, Wild Boy: 19

Mike Barrett: Dunsany: The Final Resting Place: 22

REVIEWS

Mike Brotherton’s Spider Star, reviewed by David Mead: 7

Man vs. Machine, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and John Helfers, reviewed by Chuck Rothman: 13

Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier’s The Katrina Protocol and Edgar Allan Poe on Mars: The Further

Memoirs of Gullivar Jones, reviewed by Brian Stableford: 14

Melinda Snodgrass’s The Edge of Reason: A Novel of the War between Science and Superstition, reviewed by Jenny Blackford: 18

PLUS

Why write? (13); Screed (23); and an editorial (24).

 

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Production Staff: Ann Crimmins, Alex Donald, Arthur D. Hlavaty, and Anne Zanoni. 

Weekly Meeting Crew: Avram Grumer, Lisa Padol, and Christine Quiñones.

Special thanks to: Eugene Surowitz.

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>. 

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf@comcast.net> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2008 Dragon Press.

ISSUE #243 November 2008

ISSUE #243 November 2008

Volume 21, No. 3 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Fiona Kelleghan: A Definition of Savage Humanism, with Autobiographical Anecdotes: 1

REVIEWS

Michael Swanwick’s The Dragons of Babel, reviewed by Ariel Haméon: 1

Adam Roberts’s Land of the Headless, reviewed by Jenny Blackford: 11

Ken MacLeod’s The Execution Channel, reviewed by Donald M. Hassler: 13

Matthew Jarpe’s Radio Freefall, reviewed by Philip E. Smith: 17

Daryl Gregory’s Pandemonium, reviewed by Greg L. Johnson: 21

Judith Moffett’s The Bird Shaman, reviewed by Michael Levy: 21

PLUS

Grania Davis in the Alps with Tom Disch (5); David Langford reads Clarke and Baxter (9);

the ICFA calls for papers (19); and an editorial (24).

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Staff: Ann Crimmins and Alex Donald

Weekly Meeting crew: Avram Grumer, Lisa Padol, and Christine Quiñones.

Special thanks to: Arthur D. Hlavaty, Eugene Surowitz, and Anne Zanoni. 

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>. 

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf@comcast.net> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2008 Dragon Press.

ISSUE #242 October 2008

ISSUE #242 October 2008

Volume 21, No. 2 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Michael Swanwick: A Dizzy Celebration of Being Somewhere Wonderful: Reading Rhetorics of Fantasy in the Real World: 1

John Clute: Physics for Amnesia: Horror Motifs in SF: 1

Brian Stableford: The Martian Mummy of 1864: 13

Jason Sanford: Singing the Songs of Arthur C. Clarke’s Distant Earth: 18

REVIEWS

Adam Roberts’s Swiftly, reviewed by Niall Harrison: 11

Joanna Russ’s The Country You Have Never Seen: Essays and Reviews, reviewed by Henry Wessells: 16

David Levy’s Love + Sex with Robots, reviewed by Robert Bee: 20

Robert A. Heinlein’s Time for the Stars, reviewed by Ben Blattberg: 22

PLUS

Plus: Picking at a good book (6); Anticipation: Call for Papers (10); Karl Schroeder’s science reading list (17); and an editorial (24).

 

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Work Weekend Staff: Arthur D. Hlavaty and Anne Zanoni.

Weekly Meeting Staff: Avram Grumer,  Lisa Padol, and Christine Quiñones.

Special thanks to: Ben Blattberg, 

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>. 

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf.mail@gmail.com> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2008 Dragon Press.

ISSUE #241 September 2008

ISSUE #241 September 2008

Volume 21, No. 1 ISSN #1052-9438

ESSAYS

Paul Shackley: Transitions, Trilogies, & Tetralogies: The Interconnected Series of James Blish: 1

Allen Steele: Mad Science and Machine Guns: Doc Savage Revisited: 1

Spyros A. Vretos: Hellenes and Aliens: A Survey of Greeks and Greek Expatriates in the World of Science Fiction: 13

REVIEWS

John Shirley’s Living Shadows, reviewed by Greg L. Johnson: 7

PLUS

Plus: The Return of Random Langford (12); a Read This (16); the death of the book, Victorian style (19); 

Screed (20); and an editorial (24).

 

Kathryn Cramer, Art and Web Site Editor; Samuel R. Delany, Contributing Editor; Kris Dikeman, Associate Managing Editor.

David G. Hartwell, Reviews and Features Editor; Kevin J. Maroney, Managing Editor.

Staff: Ann Crimmins and Alex Donald.

Special thanks to Avram Grumer, Arthur D. Hlavaty, Joshua Kronengold,

Lisa Padol, Christine Quiñones, and Eugene Surowitz.

Published monthly by Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570.

$4.00 per copy.Annual subscriptions: U. S. Bulk Rate, $40.00; Canada, $44.00; U. S. First Class, $50.00 

Overseas Air Printed Matter, UK & Europe, $47.00; Asia & Australia, $48.00. Domestic institutional subscriptions $42.00.

Please make checks payable to Dragon Press, and payable in U.S. funds.

Send all editorial inquiries and submissions to <dgh@tor.com> and <kjm@panix.com>. 

An up-to-date index of back issues in Excel format is available; e-mail <nyrsf.mail@gmail.com> to request one.

New York Review of Science Fiction Home Page: www.nyrsf.com

Copyright © 2008 Dragon Press.

Issue #239 July 2008

Damien Broderick: The Dark between the City and the Stars: 1

Joe Sanders: Tidings of Discomfort and Joy: Neil Gaiman’s “Murder Mysteries”: 1

Karen Burnham: Gender Identity in a Post-Human Future: Glasshouse and Schild’s Ladder: 14

Tom Purdom: When I Was Writing: A Literary Memoir: Installment Three: Psi Fi: 18

Darrell Schweitzer: An Interview with Lisa Tuttle: 21

REVIEWS

Brian Francis Slattery’s Spaceman Blues: A Love Song, reviewed by Stacie Hanes: 5

A Cross of Centuries: Twenty-five Imaginative Stories about the Christ, edited by Michael Bishop, reviewed by Jenny Blackford: 6

Inferno, edited by Ellen Datlow, reviewed by John Langan: 10

Inferno, edited by Ellen Datlow, reviewed by Niall Harrison: 11

The James Tiptree Award Anthology 3, edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin, 

and Jeffrey D. Smith, reviewed by J. G. Stinson: 16

Theodore Judson’s The Martian General’s Daughter, reviewed by John Clute: 17

PLUS

Screed (23) and an editorial (24).