OLD News

Since I’ve often gone on record lamenting the relative dearth of short-fiction markets for sci-fi and fantasy, I think it’s only fair that I help spread the word regarding Realms of Fantasy magazine. Specifically, RoF–which was saved from oblivion last year by a new publisher–is once again facing possible cancellation, due to insufficient subscription rates. You can learn more at the site linked above, or here, at the blog of editor Douglas Cohen.

I’m not suggesting that you should subscribe out of "loyalty to the genre" or anything like that. If you’re not interested (or can’t afford it), that’s perfectly all right. But if you’ve ever considered subscribing, or have wanted to but have been putting it off, now would be a really, really good time.

I just spent almost three hours on a one page pronunciation guide to serve as an appendix for the novel I’ve just completed. 😯

On the one hand, part of it’s my fault. I’m the one who chose to draw names for certain mythological creatures from Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, Germanic, and Norse mythology. So in a way, I was asking for it.

On the other hand, people who add mythological creatures to Wikipedia without including a pronunciation guide should have their Internet privileges revoked. 😡 😛

My brain is tired.

I hate season-finale cliffhangers on TV.

No, you don’t understand. I hate them. Not in the "Oh, the producers are such geniuses, I hate them in a good way," like you feel when a writer pulls a particularly clever, devious trick. I mean I really hate them. They piss me off, and the fact that they’re becoming standard fare pisses me off even more.

They irritate the crap out of me. Occasionally there’s a good reason for them, like in a series that’s one long continuing story (i.e. Babylon 5). But most of the time? They’re cheap gimmicks. There’s rarely any good reason why you can’t complete a full, satisfying arc over the course of a full season. And that includes the ending.

I’m not saying that every last plot thread has to be tied up; a TV series is ongoing, and there should be ongoing plot points and character developments. But that’s a far cry from a three-month-long "to be continued."

I have never dropped a show I liked just because there wasn’t a cliffhanger to draw me back next season. And I have never continued watching a show I dislike just because there was a cliffhanger. But I have, on occasion, dropped a show I was liking because a season-ending cliffhanger rubbed me the wrong way. (Not often, I admit, but it has happened.) And slightly more often, a lingering cliffhanger has pushed me over the edge into dropping a show that was on my personal "bubble."

They used to be only occasional. I remember how shocking it was when Star Trek: the Next Generation did it with the Best of Both Worlds two-parter. (If you don’t remember what that was, get off my lawn, you dang young-uns!) But then, as I said, it became more and more standard. Now? Now, based on what I’ve seen for myself and what I’ve heard, I think every single show I watch is ending on a cliffhanger this season, with the possible exception of Mythbusters. (And at this rate, I wouldn’t put it past them to find some way to do it there, too. :-P)

And it’s freaking annoying!

I’m already either coming back next season or I’m not! Quit annoying me like this, or I’m going to start leaning a lot more often toward "Not." 👿

Got a new Suvudu column up, in which I discuss–or more accurately, ruminate aloud on–the very nature of genre classifications, and why the concept doesn’t tell us as much as we think it does.