Thomas 🚀 SFF180

Thomas 🚀 SFF180

@sff180.bsky.social

Science fiction, fantasy and horror book reviews and coverage on the web and YouTube. https://sff180.com https://youtube.com/c/SFF180

1.4K followers735 following5.6K posts

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

John is not somebody who plays. As much as I want these legacy print magazines to keep going and be successful, hostile rights grabs on the part of their new ownership is simply insupportable. I am hopeful, but not exactly optimistic, that they will see the light after seeing declining engagement.

John Picacio@johnpicacio.bsky.social

🧵 Attention, Fellow SFF Artists and Authors -- here is my response to Must Read Magazines, after they presented an Asimov's art contract expecting me to waive all Moral Rights and Copyright to my art. And, I would strongly advise the following to my fellow pros…. 1/

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

I like — but I am also wary of — this idea. I’ve been fostering dogs for years, and the idea of handing one off to just anybody, even for an afternoon, makes my eyelid twitch a little. Are we sure the person who is “checking out“ a dog is a safe person? 

Julian Sanchez@normative.bsky.social

This is, more generally, a super cool thing I recommend trying when you have a free afternoon. It’s a Dog Library, except you don’t even need a card. Just show up and check out a dog. They’ll give you a bottle of water & some treats, even. bvspca.org/shelter-skip...

bvspca.orgShelter Skip DayHelp a dog in need by giving it a day out. Brandywine Valley SPCA's Shelter Skip Day program is open to the public.
Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

But at least you know where to turn for the index. 

Jon Phillips@jowiph.bsky.social

I picked up a copy of the collected letters of JRR Tolkien for reasons, and this is the most bullshit table of contents I've ever seen. I'm actively angry that it exists

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

OK, wow, this is a story. When I was a young teen in the early 80s, my family and I went to what we were told was a screening of several sitcom pilots, and we were supposed to answer survey questions about which ones we liked best…

Sitcom People@sitcompeople.bsky.social

What’s the worst sitcom you will admit to have watched?

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Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

But what I remember most, even so many years later, was that as crap as all of these shows were, there were people in attendance absolutely cracking up at them, even at their dumbest, weakest and lamest jokes. It was my first youthful exposure to just how undemanding so many people’s standards are.

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

OK, wow, this is a story. When I was a young teen in the early 80s, my family and I went to what we were told was a screening of several sitcom pilots, and we were supposed to answer survey questions about which ones we liked best…

Sitcom People@sitcompeople.bsky.social

What’s the worst sitcom you will admit to have watched?

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

We weren’t told at the time (but it wasn’t hard to figure out) that these were already shows that had been rejected by their networks and were not going to series. The real point of the screening was to get our feedback on the advertising, the commercials that we were also shown during the shows.

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

All of the shows were bad. But I remember one in particular simply because it was BAD bad. It was called The Ugily Family (pronounced u-gee-lee), and the one and only running gag throughout the show was that everyone misunderstood the name and kept calling the father/protagonist character Mr. Ugly.

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

I honestly cannot remember, but it was probably something by Genesis because they were my main jam in those days. So maybe Abacab? 

The old internet@theoldinternet.bsky.social

44 years ago today, the first CD was produced. What is the first CD you owned?

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

There is a huge difference between engaging with art via critique, and simply feeling superior to art. Trope-spotting is a particularly noxious form of faux criticism. Tropes are not innately good or bad; they are simply tools. You aren’t a genius for noticing that your carpenter uses a hammer.  

David Sims@davidlsims.bsky.social

if I ever taught film criticism lesson one would be “you being smarter than the movie is not interesting to anyone”

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

Oh yay for a minute there horror was starting to get too original, hope we dodged that bullet! 🙄

The Hollywood Reporter@thr.com

Freddy Krueger has a new home and he's ready to carve up a new nightmare. Paramount Pictures has closed a deal for the U.S. rights to the original screenplay of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street,' and will adapt it into a new feature. bit.ly/4vsXVOK

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

He said he’d like to do horror, so I’d love to see what he’d do with a really great horror script.

Empire Magazine@empiremagazine.bsky.social

Question for you – After The Odyssey, what should Christopher Nolan tackle next? Reply with your answer, and you might see it in print in our next issue...

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

This is truly disappointing to hear, considering what an important and influential figure de Lint has been in modern literary fantasy. The only response that will drive the message home is simply to refuse to buy the book.

Evan May@gianttourtiere.bsky.social

Charles de Lint has responded to the questions about his AI cover on FB. It boils down to "while it's bad the tool was created through theft, I'm still using it" which is ... not great. If artists are not going to stand with other artists, no one will. Highly disappointing.

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

Apparently, there are people leaving comments on TikTok, saying they hate books written in first person, because the character is doing things that they would never do. These people read first person narration and literally think the book is expecting you to role-play as the viewpoint character.

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Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

On the subject of which Hugo categories to get rid of, I’m on board with this one. The film industry just doesn’t recognize or care about the Hugos, and unlike all other categories for the award, both Dramatic Presentation awards confer no prestige upon the winners.

An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog@hugobookclub.bsky.social

My personal pick would be Best Dramatic Presentation. Virtually none of the finalists attend the ceremony. Out of 70+ winners in these categories, there's only a handfull who I can find photos of with a Hugo trophy. And how many movies have you ever heard about *because* of the Hugos?

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising is not merely the best Arthurian fantasy for young readers, it’s one of the best Arthurian fantasies period.

Joachim Boaz@joachimboaz.bsky.social

Susan Cooper (1935-) was born on this day. Bibliography: www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.c... L, Michael Busselle, 1966; R, Alan E. Cober, 1973 #scifi #sciencefiction #fantasy #books

Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

This is cool!

Shane Hawk@shanehawk.com

ICYMI: I recently announced the Native Horror Index, a directory for all Indigenous creatives involved in horror. Film/TV, video games, literature, comics, painters, theatre, podcasters, VO artists, you name it! Now open to submit your own profile. nativehorrorindex.com #Indigenous #horror

nativehorrorindex.comNative Horror IndexA directory created by and for Native and Indigenous horror creatives across film, TV, theatre, games, comics, and more. Discover talent in every medium.
Thomas 🚀 SFF180
@sff180.bsky.social

The biggest problem for selfpubbers, I still think, is basic discoverability. Efforts like the SPFBO do much to counteract that, which is great, but there’s still so much material out there. With tradpub, one at least feels an agent/editorial process separated wheat from chaff. Harder to do with SP.

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