SF marginalia

Not really being that dumb, Big Dumb Object discovers some “cybercasts” of SF authors (and others) from the 2004 Library of Congress National Book Festival.

Wikipedia lists the current selections for SF Masterworks. (Also via Big Dumb Object.) Thanks in part to a fairly heavy dosage of Philip K. Dick, I’ve read about half of them.

SF fan complaints with which I generally agree.

I found it interesting that the same day I posted my review of Glasshouse, in which I comment about Charlie Stross blending what might be called “hard” and “soft” SF, I came across a recent interview where he doesn’t buy the distinction. Charlie also says “there’s very little new in SF today.” (Via SF Signal.)

Somewhat related to the last point, Lou Anders, editorial director of Prometheus Books’ science fiction imprint Pyr, has prompted an interesting discussion with two posts on his blog on the state of science fiction. Even some notable authors have chimed in.

Reading SF is probably a bad way to learn physics, however, reading it can and should be a good way to learn about what it means to be human.

Robert Sawyer, “Escapism and SF“