The SF Site: Letters to the SF Site

Letters to the SF Site

With an ever-growing readership at the SFSite, there has come an ever-increasing chorus of readers asking to be heard; to voice their opinions, to find help in looking for that lost book title, and to keep us informed.

This is what came over the wires to us at the SFSite over the last two weeks. If you have anything to add to the discussion yourself, mail us at editor@sfsite.com. We'd like to hear it.

George R.R. Martin series information

From: Elio M. García, Jr.

Thanks for the great article. [See Reader's Choice Best SF and Fantasy Books of 1999.] Some very interesting choices. As a fan of George R.R. Martin, I'm particularly gratified by the placement at #1 (in fact, came rather as a shock to me.)

One thing, however:
The third book is in fact A Storm of Swords, not A Dance with Dragons (though that is what is reported in the hardback of A Clash of Kings -- which, BTW, is only the second book in a series of six.)

Mr. Martin originally intended the series as a trilogy, realized it needed more than that in the midst of writing, and then realized even as he was writing A Clash of Kings that it would need even more room. So, some of the titles have been shifted around and some new ones added. He's sworn repeatedly it won't get past six, though.

Elio M. García, Jr.

Thank you for updating us on the titles and series order. A number of Martin fans out there sent us messages letting us know that we'd gotten the title wrong in the article. Thanks, guys!

Portuguese Science Fiction

From: Maria de Menezes

I am writing you to tell you how much delighted and enthusiasmed I was when I read your review on Sinning in Sevens, our latest anthology.

I'm the president of Simetria, the SF&F Portuguese association, and one of our objectives is to promote Portuguese SF&F literature abroad. We are a young association (we are on our 4th year of existence), with a small number of associates (yet), but the sort of feedback you gave us shows that we are in the good direction.

We are also very proud of our new writers. Apart from the elder generation (myself, Macedo, Tércio, Barreiros), there's an entire new group of young writers on their twenties: Silvana de Menezes (my own daughter, so I'm twice the proud), Ricardo Madeira and Luis Miguel Sequeira. By the way, Sequeira has just won the major SF award in Portugal, the Caminho Editors SF award - since you liked his writing so much, I'm sure you will be glad on hearing this.

Ms. de Menezes goes on to say that their next annual anthology will be out in October, and will include the winner of the Simetria SF&F Short Story Award. To get a taste of the work, read Lisa Dumond's review of Sinning in Sevens.

Where to Find Masterworks

From: Mario Scaffardi

Lately you've been announcing the release books from the SF masterworks series and I've been dying to get my hands on them. Regretfully I haven't been able to track them down, either on the web or in book stores ( except for on lonely copy of the 3rd volume, James Blish: Cities in Flight). Could you please let me know where I could find them

Most, if not all, of the SF Masterworks from Orion are available from any UK web retailer. The ones we visit include:

Internet Book Shop

Amazon.com in the UK

Alphabetstreet Books

but there are many more.

Gayle Greeno / Gael Baudino Update

From: ssfresquez

Can you tell me whether Gayle Greeno or Gael Baudino are working on anything new?

Thanks for your e-mail. According to our sources, Gayle Greeno's The Farthest Seeking is due in June. We haven't heard about anything new from Gael Baudino, but there may be more information at this unofficial tribute site.

Finding Science Fiction for Children

From: Jen Cairns

I was looking for children's science fiction in which computers/virtual reality plays a part... couldnt find anything.. not even Harry Potter. If you have any thoughts I'd be grateful.

The SF Site has suggestions for younger readers. Here's the link: The SF Site: Titles for Young Readers Many are fantasy but some of the SF have computers in them. As far as VR goes, nothing comes to mind. You might try this list though: L.A.S.F.S. for Mature Children and Young Adults

We've put your note in our Letters column to see if it'll produce some results. As an alternative, you could try posting your query to the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written. I've heard that it's a fine source of information.

The volume of letters coming in has certainly picked up, and it's great to know that people are reading the column and paying attention to what they see in it! We're seeing more responses to reviews, some updates, the usual help requests, and (what I find interesting) more information about SF around the world. Keep it coming, and we'll keep posting it.

Until next time.
Kristen Chew
SF Site