News – Page 29 – Black Gate

Sean P. Fodera Apologizes to Mary Robinette Kowal

Saturday, February 22, 2014 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

Macmillan Associate Director of Contracts Sean P. Fodera, who attacked Mary Robinette Kowal in a series of public posts at SFF.Net, and recently threatened to sue individuals linking to a critical Daily Dot article by Aja Romano, has consulted with his attorney and been absent from the Internet for several days. Now, as noted by the folks at Reddit, Fodera has posted “a full and lengthy apology, beautifully written by his lawyer.”

First, I’d like to be clear that any statements I have made (or make hereafter) on this matter have been (or will be) my own opinions, and do not represent the opinions of my employer. I should have included a disclaimer to this effect in my regular posts on sff.net…

I fully accept and acknowledge that my statements about Mary Robinette Kowal were extreme and unnecessary… I want to apologize to Mary for doing that. Mary, if you are reading this, I really am very sorry for my inconsiderate and insensitive response to the question, and my later posts…

With regard to the articles and other posts that my comments inspired, I have spoken at length to legal counsel, who feel that I may have legitimate cause to bring suit against The Daily Dot and/or Aja Romano for defamation. However, this would be a costly and very lengthy endeavor… My attorney has also updated me on the legal status of linking to the Daily Dot article. I had not kept up on the recent rulings in this area, and was therefore referencing outdated information in stating that I believed linkers are also liable in defamation cases. This is why it was important to consult counsel, so that I could have reputable and up-to-date information about my options in this situation.

Mary, always a class act, responded immediately on SFF.Net.

Thank you. That is a deeply handsome apology. I accept without reservation.

You can read the complete text of Fodera’s apology here and Mary’s response here.

Sean P. Fodera Threatens to Sue 1,200 Writers Linking to Daily Dot Article

Thursday, February 20, 2014 John ONeill Comments 21 comments

Macmillan’s Associate Director of Contracts, Sean P. Fodera, who used the ongoing kerfuffle inside SFWA as cover for a sexist attack on ex-SWFA officer Mary Robinette Kowal, has now threatened to sue all those linking to Aja Romano’s article on the topic at Daily Dot (including, presumably, Black Gate).

I have a very good case for a libel suit. I suppose no one noted that I work in the legal profession within the publishing industry, and have taught college courses on the subject… as of now, it looks like the article was “shared” 1,200 times already. That makes each of those sharers a part to the libel, and makes each of them equally culpable in the eyes of the law. I’ll speak to my attorney first thing tomorrow.

Macmillan owns Tor, the company that publishes Mary’s Nebula Award-nominated Glamourist Histories novels.

Earlier this week on his blog Whatever, ex-SFWA President John Scalzi invited Fodera to sue him first:

If you honestly believe you can sue me for libel for linking to this article, you are, in my opinion, deeply ignorant of how libel works in the US… But if you are determined to sue 1,200 people for linking to a newsworthy article, you may begin with me. You know who I am and I am very sure you know where I am, since many of my book contracts route through your office. I await notification of your suit.

…

Bioshock Creator Irrational Games Shuts its Doors

Wednesday, February 19, 2014 John ONeill Comments 12 comments

The tumult in the computer entertainment industry continued this week, with word that A-list game studio Irrational Games is shutting down, effective immediately.

Irrational Games was formed in 1997 from the wreckage of legendary Looking Glass Studios (Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief) by three ex-Looking Glass employees: Jonathan Chey, Robert Fermier, and Ken Levine. Never an exceptionally prolific studio, they nonetheless released three excellent games over the next seven years: System Shock 2 (1999), Freedom Force (2002), and Tribes: Vengeance (2004).

Irrational Games was acquired by one of the largest distributors in the industry,Take-Two Interactive (publishers of Grand Theft Auto and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, among many others); for several years after that, their games appeared under the 2K Games label. They had perhaps their greatest hit in 2007 with the worldwide success of Bioshock, a first-person shooter set in the beautiful and mysterious underwater city of Rapture (which offered, incidentally, one of the finest and most touching endings I’ve ever seen in a video game). Bioshock eventually sold over four million copies and won almost universal critical acclaim, winning PC Game of the Year from IGN and the top spot on their Top 25 Modern PC Games list in 2012. Time magazine named it one of the greatest video games of all time in November 2012. The game inspired two sequels: Bioshock 2 (developed by 2K Marin) and Bioshock Infinite (from Irrational Games.)

In a message posted on the Irrational Games website yesterday, co-founder Ken Levine announced the studio was closing its doors. No explanation was given, although Levine did confirm that 15 employees (out of an estimated 150) will be retained “To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable.” It’s no secret that Bioshock Infinite‘s development was highly troubled, but the game was considered a major success, selling over 3.7 million copies in the first two months.

It’s been a troubled time for games studios — the much-loved LucasArts was shuttered by Disney just last year, and other developers have moved away from big-budget releases to focus on smaller games for mobile environments. It reminds me of the gradual move to consoles from PCs, which cost us such storied developers as Interplay, Origin Systems, SSI, Microprose, Sierra Entertainment, and of course, the brilliant Black Isle. I’m certain there will be plenty of great games on many new platforms in my future, but for now I’m still mourning what might have been.

SFWA Ugliness Spreads to Personal Attacks on Mary Robinette Kowal

Monday, February 17, 2014 John ONeill Comments 24 comments

Last week, we reported on the most recent public explosion in the ranks of the Science Fiction Writers of America, as Dave Truesdale, Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, Barry N. Malzberg, Gene Wolfe, and others signed a petition calling for changes in the planned oversight to the SFWA Bulletin. That particular brouhaha seems to have blown over for the most part, at least partially defused by a statement from SFWA President Steven Gould, clarifying that “the editor of the Bulletin will not have to go to any selection or editorial review board to approve material.”

But, like a needle lancing a boil, this latest controversy has brought an eruption of hurt feelings, long-festering grudges, and bitter commentary to the surface. Much of it has been in the public forums of SFF.Net (where Black Gate also has a newsgroup.) The most incendiary comments seem to be directed towards either the signers of the petition or towards the fan press who made an issue of it. But the sound of cannon fire seems to have been too much to resist for others, who are using the opportunity to level personal attacks at current and former SFWA officers.

One of the most egregious is Macmillan’s associate director of contracts, Sean P. Fodera, who launched a personal attack on Mary Robinette Kowal, bizarrely criticizing her wardrobe and critiquing her for being “somewhat attractive.” Fodera, a self-professed science fiction fan who apparently embraces ideas like teleporting wardrobes, magic wands, and giant space amoebas, seems to be completely unable to wrap his head around the concept of a woman who both likes to model and write science fiction. In fact, the whole thing seems to send him into a baffled rage.

For a long time, her website featured an array of photos of her in a diaphanous white outfit, posing on a beach. No metal bikinis or such, but they were not innocuous writer headshots either. One of them, with her recumbent on the sand with legs exposed, made her somewhat attractive. I also recall she’s fond of wearing tight-fitting gowns and plunging necklines when she attends cons and award ceremonies.

I’ll have to add “phony” to “incompetent” and “arrogant” in the mental tags I’ve assigned her.

…

Ares Magazine Kickstarter Succeeds!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014 Matthew Wuertz Comments 1 comment

Recently, I wrote about the Rebirth of Ares Magazine. Earlier this month, they wrapped up a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising $26,185, or 105% of their goal.

Now, they’re moving forward to deliver their premiere issue in May. The issue will contain the complete two-player game War of the Worlds, designed by Bill Banks, and a nice mix of intriguing articles, including:

Asimov’s Last Gasp – A discussion on Robotics and Ethics
The Queen’s Guard – High Fantasy in the land of Hadera
BattleChrome – Mechs, Techs, and Wrecks
Sarita’s Gambit – Star Fury Fiction

along with three short stories, interviews, ads, and other content.

Ares is inspired by the classic Ares Magazine, published by SPI between 1980 and 1984. It included a complete SF or fantasy game in every issue, including Greg Costikyan’s classic Barbarian Kings and Citadel of Blood; The High Crusade, based on Poul Anderson’s 1960 novel of interstellar conquest on horseback; The Wreck of the B.S.M. Pandora; Nightmare House; The Omega War; and nearly a dozen others.

The issue will be 80 pages in full-size (8.5″ x 11″) format; future bi-monthly issues are already in the works. Keep up on the latest news on their website.

Congratulations, Ares!

Robert Silverberg, Gregory Benford, Dave Truesdale and Others Sign Petition Calling for Changes to SFWA

Monday, February 10, 2014 John ONeill Comments 29 comments

Word of a new controversy inside the hallowed walls of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) is hardly news — the organization is known for regular rows. Less than a year ago, in fact, we reported that SFWA Bulletin Editor Jean Rabe resigned amidst a controversy over a series of sexist and rather tasteless articles. As a consequence, the membership of SFWA demanded additional oversight of the Bulletin and the new President, Steven Gould, promised the organization’s officers would take a more active role in overseeing production.

Now Tangent Online editor Dave Truesdale (a non-member of SFWA) has circulated a petition taking issue with the planned oversight, citing fears of censorship and excess political correctness. I think. It’s 12 pages long and seriously rambly, and frankly lost me when it started quoting Charlton Heston as “an early civil rights activist” (you can read the original doc here).

Predictably, the petition has struck a chord on both sides of the issue. It has already been signed by Gregory Benford, Robert Silverberg, Barry N. Malzberg, Mike Resnick, Nancy Kress, Gene Wolfe, Jack Dann, Norman Spinrad, and Sheila Finch. Meanwhile, several folks have been speaking up loudly against it — most entertainingly Natalie Luhrs:

It’s full of appeals to the sanctity of the First Amendment – which, as a private organization, SFWA doesn’t need to abide by – and a whacking great heap of sexism and racism, too. I don’t understand why some people are constantly conflating their desire to say anything they want, wherever they want, with private organizations’ right to moderate spaces that they own.

For those who want a slightly more balanced and objective viewpoint (and why would you want that?), I recommend C.C. Finlay’s concise summary of the issue, Editing is not Censorship, posted on Facebook here (with comments) and on his blog here (comments disabled).

Robin Hobb on What’s Wrong with Epic Fantasy

Wednesday, February 5, 2014 John ONeill Comments 10 comments

Over at SF Signal, Andrea Johnson has put together one of the more interesting round-robin interviews I’ve read in a some time. As part of their Mind Meld series, she asked eight well known fantasy authors — including Martha Wells, Melanie Rawn, Sam Sykes, and Robin Hobb — to answer the question “What’s Wrong with Epic Fantasy?”

Many of the answers are both fascinating and insightful. Martha critiques the current trend towards multiple viewpoint characters (“A perfectly valid style, but… when it’s done wrong, it’s tedious”), Marc Alpin comments on the necessity to switch gears between books (“Some readers, especially those who wanted more of book one, freak out and think they’ve been cheated”), and Patrick Tomlinson discusses inevitable book bloat (“The longer an author writes inside a world, the longer the books tend to become.”) But it was Megan Lindholm, aka Robin Hobb, who I thought had the most salient comment, pointing out that the rise of independent publishers has also unleashed a host of amateur marketeers, whose newbie mistakes have left us with countless books that are misrepresenting themselves on the shelves:

I’m going to commit heresy here. I think that old time publishers are actually better at targeting the audience and showing readers the books they want than our current climate of ‘Everyone quick, promote a book you like’ is. Authors see their own books differently from how their publishers see them, and some of the author promotions I’ve seen led me to expect one sort of book and then [they] delivered another… I think that some (not all) of the people who are hired to create the book trailers don’t really know much about marketing… They make terrific trailers, and I get so excited to read the book, I buy it, and then think, ‘Well, this is a pretty good book, but it’s not at all what I thought it was going to be…’

To find a book that you really want to read, I recommend going to a bookstore (a big building sometimes made out of brick and mortar where they sell books made out of paper), and talk to the book seller (a person who knows all about what she or he is selling)… If you do not have a bookseller who can do this, then I am very sorry for you. Try your librarian.

Read the complete article here.

Sony Shuts Down Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Three Other MMOs

Sunday, January 26, 2014 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Sony Online Entertainment announced on Friday that it is cleaning house by shutting down four underperforming online games: the long-running Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, the free-to-play Free Realms, the Star Wars game Clone Wars Adventures, and the dungeon crawler Wizardry Online.

Vanguard is the most well-known of the lot. Despite high expectations — it was created by key developers of the popular EverQuest — it had a disastrous launch in January 2007, winning Gamespy‘s “Biggest Disappointment” award (and winning “Least Fun”, “Most Desolate,” and “Lamest Launch” in the 2007 MMOWTF Awards). The launch destroyed developer Sigil Games, who reportedly gathered all 150 employees in the parking lot on May 14, 2007, where Director Andy Platter told them, “You’re all fired.” Vanguard was acquired that month by SOE, who have nurtured it for the past seven years. It will shut down on July 31.

The family-friendly Free Realms, developed in-house by SOE and released on April 29, 2009, was generally well reviewed, but never really found an audience. It will shut down permanently on March 31, 2014. The free-to-play Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures launched on September 15, 2010, but has recently been hemorrhaging players; it will shut down on March 31 as well.

I wasn’t even aware there was a Wizardry Online until I read heard Sony was shutting it down. Based on SirTech’s RPG classic, the free-to-play title was developed in Japan by Gamepot and released in the US and the EU less than a year ago, on January 30, 2013. Like the original game, death was permanent — highly unusual these days — and players weren’t thrilled by the old-school graphics, and it never really caught on outside Japan. It will shut down on July 31. Of all the games on the list, I’m most intrigued by this one (see the YouTube First Look produced by MMOHuts last year to see why) and may try it out before it’s gone.

Sony says it is shutting down these games “to refocus resources in other areas,” including PlanetSide 2, Magic: The Gathering – Tactics and DC Universe Online.

C.S.E. Cooney’s “Martyr’s Gem” Acquired for Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014

Monday, January 20, 2014 John ONeill Comments 8 comments

We were very pleased and proud to hear reports this morning that editor Rich Horton has acquired C.S.E. Cooney’s novella “Martyr’s Gem” for his annual collection, The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014.

Yay!! Drinks are on us!¹

“Martyr’s Gem” was originally published in Ann Leckie’s online magazine GigaNotoSaurus in May of last year. Giganotosaurus publishes one longish fantasy or science fiction story every month, including the Nebula nominees “All the Flavors” by Ken Liu, and “The Migratory Pattern of Dancers” by Katherine Sparrow. If you can’t wait for the book, you can read the complete “Martyr’s Gem” here.

There’s a marvelous animated excerpt narrated by Ms. Cooney, “The Epic of Shursta Sharkbait,” here. Sara Norja at Such Wanderings pretty much summed up our feelings when she said:

It’s a gorgeously written story with characters that jumped off the screen and will linger in my mind for a good while, I suspect. The island culture she’s created is fascinating and vibrant. Sharks and gemstones! Bantering, loving sibling relationships! A society where men and women are pretty equal! An interesting oral storytelling culture and stories-within-stories! I love pretty much everything about this novella. Go forth and be immersed!

It’s fairly unusual for a 19,000-word novella to make it into a Year’s Best volume, so this is something to celebrate. Rich Horton’s volumes are our favorite Year’s Best anthologies out there; the 2014 edition is due in May. We covered the 2013 edition here.

We published C.S.E. Cooney’s novella “Godmother Lizard,” which Tangent Online called “a delightful fantasy… [it] entranced me from the beginning,” and the sequel “Life on the Sun” — which Tangent called “bold and powerful… this one captured a piece of my soul. Brilliant.”

1. Must be of legal drinking age. Must realize we’re joking. Offer not valid outside the continental U.S.A. Or anywhere that serves alcohol.

Neal Barrett, Jr, November 3, 1929 – January 12, 2014

Tuesday, January 14, 2014 John ONeill Comments 4 comments

Neal Barrett, Jr, author of The Karma Corps (1984), The Hereafter Gang (1991), and the four-volume Aldair series, died on Sunday.

Barrett first published story was “To Tell the Truth” in the August 1960 issue of Galaxy Magazine. He made a name for himself with his quirky, hard-to-classify short fiction, including the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist “Stairs” (Asimov’s SF, September 1988), and the Hugo and Nebula Award nominee “Ginny Sweethips’ Flying Circus” (Asimov’s SF, February 1988). His short work has been gathered in half a dozen collections, including Slightly Off Center (1992), Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories (2000), a nominee for the World Fantasy Award, and Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr. (2013). He continued writing short fiction right up to his death, with his “HERE and THERE” appearing in the Spring 2012 issue of Subterranean Magazine, and “Bloaters” in Impossible Monsters, an anthology released by Subterranean Press in July 2013

Barrett’s first novel was Stress Pattern, published by DAW in 1974. DAW published all four volumes of his Aldair series between 1976 and 1982, and his 1984 science fantasy The Karma Corps, which we covered in a Vintage Treasures piece just a few short months ago. His later books included Through Darkest America (1987), Pink Vodka Blues (1992), Dead Dog Blues (1994), Prince Of Christler-Coke (2004), and Finn, the Lizard Master series from Bantam (The Prophecy Machine, 2000, and The Treachery of Kings, 2001).

We discussed Neal Barrett’s Aldair novels — which Fletcher Vredenburgh called “a blast of strangeness and adventure. Really, [Barrett is] an author without enough attention from the average reader” — in the Comments Section of my September 10th Vintage Treasures post.

Neal Barrett was born in San Antonio, Texas, and grew up in Oklahoma City. He was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2010. He died January 12, 2014, at the age of 84.

Black Gate

Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Browsed by
Category: News