Nerdery
Confluence (Parsec) 2017
Friday, August 4 6 p.m. Superhero movies: Why hasn’t the bubble burst? Commonwealth East JL Gribble (moderator), Timothy Liebe, Randee Dawn, Dame Dahlia “Star Wars” initiated a series of Hollywood sf films, and “Halloween” started a craze for slasher films. But in the end, the bubble burst. We’re saturated with superhero movies, television series, and…
Read More7.08.17 Flashback! Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman talk Readercon (1994): ‘It’s like Brigadoon!’
In 1994, I had my first brush with science fiction/fantasy conventions when The Boston Phoenix asked me to interview Ursula K. LeGuin, who was to be the Guest of Honor (along with Terri Windling) at the 7th annual Readercon. At that time, I still had an image in my head that SFF conventions were all…
Read MoreReadercon 2017
Readercon, which bills itself as “the conference on imaginative literature,” is meeting for the 28th time in Massachusetts from July 13-16 and I will definitely be there! If you’re planning to attend, please say hello and come to find me at these readings and panels: Thursday, July 13 8:00 p.m. Salon A Broad Universe Rapid…
Read More03.10.17 I Hate Book Reviews: C.S.E. Cooney’s ‘The Bone Swans of Amandale’
I have spent many years being critical. Of movies, of TV shows, of music albums. It’s part of my job – it’s part of what I do on a daily basis as an entertainment writer. But I’ve never wanted to be a book reviewer. I discovered that by being critical of so much entertainment I…
Read More1.3.17 ‘I would like to be who my mom has been – not afraid to be a little weird’
I never did get to speak with the late Carrie Fisher or Debbie Reynolds (more’s the pity) but I hear they were cracking gals. The pair died within a day of one another last week, which sent a lot of us into a tailspin, once again shaking our fists at the craptacular way 2016 presented.…
Read More9.6.16 ‘Do there have to be zombies in it?’
Before the show was picked up by AMC for domestic and Fox for international, its creator Frank Darabont presented the first version of the script to NBC, with whom he had an overall deal. According to Hurd, their response was, “Do there have to be zombies [in it].” NBC then asked Darabont if the show…
Read More4.08.16 20 Years in NYC, Pt. 5: ‘Keep your eyes on the spinning top’
What I think I’ve discovered in the last 20-odd years (some rather odd years, at that) is that planning is a good thing, but not the only thing. Sometimes you just have to get the top spinning — and watch where it goes all on its own.
Read More3.28.16 20 Years in NYC, Pt. 4: ‘They’re touching you!’
Having stakes in the city — that is, a mortgage — and being here during a national tragedy seemed to forge a whole new sense of belonging for me. By 2002, I’d been in New York City for over five years and it was the place I never knew I wanted to be but couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
Read More3.13.16 20 Years in NYC, Part 2: Be the shark, never stop moving
If life isn’t giving you what you want, find a new path. Be the shark, never stop moving. That path may not take you where you want to go, but on the road you may — if you’re lucky — run into a fork that actually leads you forward.
Read More1.23.16 ‘They were completely blindsided by the reaction’
Boys will play with girl toys; girls will play with boy toys. And if you have a whole lineup of characters from a favorite movie, leaving one out makes the entire package suck. You want characters who come with enough variation to make the play interesting.
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