Am I alone in feeling that the “coolification” of geek culture has just as much downside as it does upside?

On the one hand, if graphic novels (hipster for COMICS) never got into mainstream popularity we would have never gotten Hollywood to produce something as good as The Dark Knight. On the other hand, if comics had stayed “uncool” I seriously doubt that Paris Hilton would have had any interest in them at all. In this plane of existence, however, where comics are slowly taking over Hollywood, Paris Hilton is developing, with the help of Stan Lee, a superhero based on herself.

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Today is shaping up to be…difficult. I’m not sure this is the place to go into detail, even though I know that many people reading this are very good friends. In any event, I’m not at work now and I won’t be going today so I may post again later. Until then, I’ll share this and let you get back to whatever it was you were doing before coming here to wast time.

NOVEL
# The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon (HarperCollins; Fourth Estate)

NOVELLA
# “All Seated on the Ground”, Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec 2007; Subterranean Press)

NOVELETTE
# “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, Ted Chiang (F&SF Sep 2007)

SHORT STORY
# “Tideline”, Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s Jun 2007)

RELATED BOOK
# Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)

DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: LONG FORM
# Stardust (Written by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Charles Vess. Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Paramount Pictures)

DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: SHORT FORM
# Doctor Who: “Blink” (Written by Stephen Moffat. Directed by Hettie Macdonald. BBC)

EDITOR, SHORT FORM
# Gordon Van Gelder

EDITOR, LONG FORM
# David G. Hartwell

PROFESSIONAL ARTIST
# Stephan Martiniere

SEMIPROZINE
# Locus, Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong & Liza Groen Trombi

FANZINE
# File 770, Mike Glyer

FAN WRITER
# John Scalzi

FAN ARTIST
# Brad Foster

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (Not a Hugo)

# Mary Robinette Kowal

If you’re really interested, you can see the voting results here.

In the form of this video that my boss forwarded to me. Likely some of you have seen it before, but I think that you will all appreciate it nonetheless, especially Suavo…

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Apologies for being absent some this week. What with the migraines and the vomiting and doctors visits, and serious attempts at studying for my MA exam I’ve been neglectful to you faithful readers.

So So Tor now have their very own corner of cyberspace, appropriately enough called Tor.com. It seems to me a very interesting idea. The community portion is, essentially, a hybrid of a standard message board where anyone can register and use it (I’ve already put in one comment, huzzah for me!), as well as a place for Tor authors to blog and post stories. It’s a very natural point of evolution for the sci-fi/fantasy community that has long had at its core an intimate relationship between writers and readers.

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