SF in SF: John Carter

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11TH
Join SF in SF for a screening of JOHN CARTER (of Mars!) (PG-13, 132 mins.)

Truly, we don't feel this can POSSIBLY be as bad as Disney's spin doctors claimed...it promptly disappeared from the theatres, but gee, we know a lot of people in the field of science fiction literature that really liked it!  We're going to let you make up your mind yourself - any fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs should find something enjoyable in there!

As a special bonus only for SF in SF attendees - we're delighted to have a Burroughs scholar on hand to introduce the film!  Author Richard A. Lupoff was the editor at Canaveral Press in the early 1960's, when they issued many of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels.  This included first editions based on unpublished manuscripts and previously uncollected magazine stories. Lupoff also briefly served as a consultant to Pixar Studios on the John Carter motion picture. Ironically, he has never seen the finished film, so it will be as new to him as to anyone else in the audience!  He is also the author of Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

5:30PM - doors and cash bar open
6:30PM - Event begins - free popcorn for the movie!
$5-$10 suggested donation at the door.
All SF in SF events are held as fundraisers for Variety Children's Charity of Northern California - to date, we've helped raise over $30,000 for the kids in our community!

Seating is limited, and is first come, first seated.

The Variety Preview Room Theatre
The Hobart Bldg., 1st Floor — entrance next to Citibank on Market St.
582 Market Street @ 2nd and Montgomery
San Francisco, CA 94104

Don’t Drive — Seriously. Parking sucks in this area. We are directly adjacent to the Montgomery Street BART/MUNI station! Street parking ($3.50 per hour) is metered M-Sat., til 6PM; otherwise, find a parking garage here.

Email sfinsfevents@gmail.com, or call 415-572-1015 (night of event only)
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MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR FUTURE SF IN SF EVENTS!

• SF in SF will be on hiatus in August, with no author event due to our participation at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago 
• Saturday, September 15th with authors MALINDA LO, CINDY PONS and ROZ KAVENEY
• Friday, October 12th - LITQUAKE!!  authors KEN SCHOLES, ANDREW MAYER, and TAD WILLIAMS join us for EPIC!  Legends of Fantasy.  Epic fantasy is storytelling at its biggest and best -- from the creation myths and quest sagas of ancient times to the mega-popular fantasy novels of today 
  
• Saturday, November 10th with authors KIM STANLEY ROBINSON and CECELIA HOLLAND
• Films in Sept., Oct., and Nov. to be announced closer to the dates

Top-notch Sword & Sorcery

I couldn't think of anything clever to say involving the Olympics, so I'll just skip ahead to pointing you towards this juicy review of The Sword & Sorcery Anthology. There's a rundown of each story in the book that is near-but-not-actually spoilery, so if you aren't sure if Sword & Sorcery is for you, this is the review to check out.

"Hartwell and Weisman’s choices are top-notch, and provide both an excellent introduction to the subgenre for new readers, and exciting reading for long-time fans."
 —Grasping for the Wind

Read the full review here

Convention Season

I've been on the road again; this time for longer than usual.  Rina and I left for Readercon a couple of weeks ago, arriving in Burlington, Massachusetts just as the heatwave broke.  A number of Tachyon authors and editors were in attendance, including James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel, Suzy McKee Charnas, Jeff VanderMeer, Rick Wilber, Ellen Datlow, David Hartwell, James Morrow, and Michael Swanwick.  Many plots were hatched, some of which, hopefully, you may see for yourself in the coming months. 

From there it was on to Manhattan.  I got a chance to stop in and see a Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading, where Rina and I enjoyed hearing Ysabeau Wilce and Leah Bobet.  I'd never been to a reading at the tiny second floor bar and it was entertaining to compare it to the SF in SF reading series that Rina and I host here in San Francisco.  Both events were pioneered by Terry Bisson, who still moderates SF in SF, and both are unique in ways one might imagine of events run on their respective coasts.  Much to my surprise, I was introduced by co-host Matt Kressel as a visiting dignitary and received some applause from an audience that seemed to already know a lot about Tachyon.

The next day, David Hartwell and I celebrated the launch of The Sword & Sorcery Anthology at a reception hosted by Henry Wessels in the James Cummins bookshop.  The bookstore is aptly described on their website as “a seventh floor oasis” and is one of my favorite book venues ever.  It was there, several years ago, that Henry Wessels once showed me a signed first edition of Alice in Wonderland—inscribed to Alice.  We were all exceedingly cautious and none of the fine antiquities inside the shop were damaged by any of us rampaging barbarians. 

On Saturday Rina and I brunched with Carol Emshwiller, who despite problems with her eyesight, is still unbelievably hale and hearty.  It's been several years since Tachyon published I Live With You and The Secret City, back when Carol was just a youngster in her mid-eighties. 

The next convention, thankfully, will be here in the Bay Area: Mythcon on August 3rd.  But both Worldcon in Chicago and World Fantasy in Toronto loom on the horizon.  If you also plan to be at any of them, please come by and say hello: we'll be tabling at all three.

Jacob

SF in SF Presents: John Shirley and Richard Kadrey

Are you ready for some football edgy authors?

This Saturday, July 7th, SF in SF will host John Shirley and Richard Kadrey for an author event you won't want to miss.

John Shirley is the extremely prolific author of more than 30 novels, such as Everything is Broken, The Other End, and the cyberpunk groundbreaker City Come A-Walkin'. He was the initial screenwriter for The Crow and also wrote scripts for Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

Richard Kadrey is the author of Kill the Dead, Aloha from Hell, as well as many more novels, short-stories, and collaborative graphic novels. He his best known for the novel Sandman Slim, which William Gibson called "The best B movie I've read in at least twenty years," and was named one of the "Best Paranormal Fantasy Novels of the Last Decade" by Barnes and Noble. Both authors will read selections from their work, followed by a Q&A.

This event takes place Saturday, July 7th

Doors and cash bar open at 6PM, event starts at 7PM.
$5-$10 suggested donation at the door
all money from the event goes to Variety Children's Charity.

All SF in SF events take place at:
The Variety Preview Room Theatre
The Hobart Bldg., 1st Floor — entrance next to Citibank on Market St.
582 Market Street @ 2nd and Montgomery
San Francisco, CA 94104

 Right off the BART, so no need to drive!