Okay, flist...

[agilebrit]

I know there's a lot of SF/F readers and writers here. And most of you know I'm planning on going to WorldCon (denvention3) next year.

And I'm terribly afraid of looking like a complete and utter n00b. I only recently got back into reading genre fiction (fiction that's not fanfic at all, really}, and I have no idea who the "hot people" are or who I should be reading. Oh, I have my favorites (old and new)...but who are the people I'm missing?

Lois McMaster Bujold
Alan Dean Foster
Jim Butcher
Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman
Diana Pharaoh Francis

And of course, I cut my teeth on people like Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Niven, et al.

Added to the list of "who am I missing" is "who should I avoid like the plague and why?"

Also, I'm thinking I should be subscribing to at least one if not two magazines. I know Locus is the industry mag, but I'm wondering if I'd be better served by subscribing to a couple of fiction mags instead, because it might be easier to get me up to speed that way, rather than slogging through a bunch of "news." Which two should I subscribe to?

Comments

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

I have no idea, but I can tell you I went to Torcon, did many a panel, and nobody called me a noob.

There's a great variety of folk there. I wouldn't worry.

If anything you'll meet some authors, or go to their readings, and find out you like some and not others.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I'd still like to know who I should be looking for, other than the obvious. :)

[bookishwench.livejournal.com]

C.S. Lewis did quite a bit in both fantasy and sci-fi.

H. G. Wells is pretty much sci-fic, and the "first" sci-fi novel was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Kurt Vonnegut has done some very strange things with aliens and time travel that could fall under the title of science fiction. He's... intense, though.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I've read Lewis's Perelandra and Narnia books, and lots of Wells. :)

Someday I should come back to Vonnegut. I tried back in high school, and he just never grabbed me. I probably wasn't old enough.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

You might try reading some blogs. John Scalzi's Whatever and Making Light by Teresa Neilsen Hayden and Patrick Nielsen Hayden for instance. But are you feeling like a noob in your reading? Or in industry stuff? For reading, maybe try looking at some of the review blogs like Fantasy Book Critic, Scifi Chick and Pat's fantasy hotlist (I can give you urls if you want). Industry stuff means looking at writer blogs and agent blogs and what have you.

I've only been to one Worldcon and it was huge and it was not in America. Which means Denvention is going to be much bigger probably. There's so much going on, so much rushing about and so on, it's going to be a case of picking and choosing and just enjoying the whole experience. Look for Carol Berg. She's a good friend and very welcoming. Plus her books rock if you've not read them. I'm wishing I could make it there, but chances are not. Bummer.

Di

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Oh, darn, I was hoping you were going to make it. If you are, I could use a roomie, and I'd rather room with someone I've met rather than someone I've not, you know?

I feel like a noob in my reading. I've been researching markets and writing and stuff like that, so I feel mostly up to speed on the industry itself, but I really have no idea who the authors are I should be reading right now.

I read Scalzi's blog, and a bunch of other writers who either use LJ or have feeds on it. I should start compiling actual names from that list and make a run to the library. I've made a start on that; I have one of skbrust's collections sitting here on my "next to read" pile. I guess I'm just in a sort of panic right now because I just realized that I don't read nearly enough.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

Heh. All those books and not enough time. So I say Carol Berg because she's good. Robin Hobb--good and huge in the field. There's the obvious biggies like GRRM. This is the fantasy book critic: http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/ And he's got links to other review sites.

Personally I settle on what I like and just go there. Lately that's been epic fantasy and urban fantasy. I like Ilona Andrews' Magic Bites, Patty Brigg's Mercy series, Anne Bishop (The Black Jewels are my favorite, but be warned, the first one is dark and disturbing in its violence--the second two make up for it in a HUGE way with great characters and good winning over evil as it should be). I like Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's stuff. Lois Bujold. Kate Elliot. Robin McKinley's Sunshine is good too.

I've got lots more ideas of course.

As for Denvention . . . the trouble is Tony may be going back to work by then , in which case I'll be child-watching and may not be able to get there. Plus SpoCon is going to happen about then. I'm going to try to get to RadCon in February. Looks like huge fun.

All right, must go be productive. Oh, some more review sites I like:

http://sqt-fantasy-sci-fi-girl.blogspot.com/search/label/.Books?max-results=100

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/

http://scifichick.com/

http://www.dondammassa.com/

Di

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

And darn, again, I was hoping you'd make it down her for Life, the Universe, and Everything in February. *cough* I have a spare bedroom...

And thanks!