mariness

The new fall TV season is upon us, and...er, I haven't been keeping up. I can say that Castle is still ridiculous and needs to avoid conspiracy theories, but, you know, Stana Katic in a bra, not a bad look; Revenge is still unexpectedly, marvelously over the top and awesome (I mean, really. This season started with Exploded Boat, Dead Floating Arm, and Scuba Divers in its first minute and a half, in but the first of many, many over the top moments, with bonus Mysterious Dude With British Accent); for all of my praise of Revenge's over the top moments, 666 Park Avenue needs to learn that less is more, and that violins are very very expensive and should not be gratuitously smashed just because you think a demon isn't going to let you leave your apartment, and, sure, I realize New York City has housing issues but let's be realistic for a moment, so I probably won't be bothering with the rest of the show; enough people have asked me to snark Revolution (which, no, I haven't seen yet) that I am genuinely concerned; and Allo! Allo! is still hilarious and David Suchet is a great Poirot.

(What?)

So, still forthcoming on the blog, possibly: comments on season two of Game of Thrones, comments on Grimm, and Mari Gets Annoyed at Once Upon a Time again without even seeing this season yet. (I caught the last minute while turning on the TV for Revenge. And, oh, yes, if I can brave it, snark on Revolution. It can't be as bad as you are all saying, can it?

(I'm holding off on Elementary for a bit as well.)

Castle, I love you. You are my mind-candy program, my show I watch when I do not want to do any thinking whatsoever. You are generally thoughtless, pointless, and filled with Very Large Plot Holes, Conveniences, and Things Actual Pathologists Cannot Do, but I love you anyway.

But.

( Minor spoilers for most recent episode, Countdown. )

Yesterday was, to put it mildly, a hideous day, with approximately two good things in it: one, Castle got renewed, as if ABC knew I needed something, and second, it was the official launch of Shine
an anthology of Optimistic SF, available through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Powells, Books-A-Million and through local and independent bookstores. (I was about to plug Orlando's local independent bookstore, Urban Think, here, but, unfortunately, they are closing. Sniffle. So, let me direct you to B & L Books, up in Altamonte Springs, instead. Go independent bookstores! While I'm sort of on the subject, Urban Think is apparently having a massive going out of business sale as I type, so, locals, head over.) And if you happen to be attending Eastercon over at Heathrow, various Shine writers (not me), including aliettedb and Alastair Reynolds, should be at the launch party there.

(On a completely unrelated note, while I was writing this up, I clicked on the Amazon.com link for Science Fiction > Anthologies, to find that Amazon.com regards the combined edition of David Eddings' last two Mallorean books as a Science Fiction Anthology. All together now: SIGH. Moving on.)

As I earlier mentioned, I was insanely pleased with how my story in this anthology, "Twittering the Stars," came out, largely because it fulfilled a long cherished goal of mine: to write a short story that could be read backwards or forwards. I don't know if I will ever try this narrative trick again – and it definitely requires a decent word processor – but accomplishing it the first time was a Warm Feeling Moment.

By complete coincidence, Shine just happens to include stories by Innsmouth Free Press editor and publisher Paula Stiles (thesnowleopard and Silvia Moreno-Garcia (silviamg), allowing you to see what happens when Cthulhu writers get optimistic. Well, when the two of them get optimistic. My story is a bit more bleak. As a special bonus, Paula's story has ROBOTS and for many reasons its ending made my little heart spring in joy, and Silvia wrote about one of my other fascinations, genetic crop rotation (and her story cracked me up, quite possibly not in all the places she intended to have me crack up.) So other fun stuff as well.

Here are some reviews of Shine:

Charles Tan, Bibliophile Stalker. (Singles out "Twittering the Stars" as one of the better stories in the anthology.)

SciFi Wire, Nick Mamatas (aka, nihilistic_kid (Liked "Twittering the Stars" but got the title wrong.)

Barnes and Noble bookclub (Liked "Twittering the Stars.")

And a review in…Italian? Seriously? Is here. Since I lived in Italy for several years, this is kinda beyond awesome. Finding out that geek means geek in Italian? Also awesome. With that said...they also got the title wrong, perhaps because they seem to have been following the Sci Fi interview. (I can follow Italian, sorta, but I haven't had the time to really look closely here.)

And now for today's sorely needed day trip.

And just to show that I'm not entirely negative about this year's television shows:

1. Really enjoying Castle, to the point where I must admit to a bit of heresy – I may – just may – be enjoying Nathan Fillion as Castle more than I did as Mal. Gulp. I know. I submit myself to your judgement.

(Not that the characters are all that different, really. Also, loved the return of Mal for Halloween moment.)

2. Also sucking me in: Flashforward, admittedly mostly because of the ongoing cliffhanger endings, which, let's face it, I'm an absolute sucker for (Lost! Come back to me quickly, Lost!). Also, the kangaroo. I am seriously hoping that in the season finale, we find out that This Was All The Fault of the Kangaroo, who, as it turns out, is a Evil Scientist Mastermind.

(Let's face this, too: if you're going to be an Evil Scientist Mastermind, why NOT turn yourself into a kangaroo? You have just enough strength in your paws to operate all of your dangerous evil scientific equipment, and when the bad guys show up, you have a wealth of options: look adorable, cute and helpless, the sort of kangaroo that would never hurt anyone; leap away, leading off a wild chase through city streets which, awesome, because, kangaroo; or alternatively, use some harsh kangaroo kung fu kicks on your enemy. But I digress.)

Also enjoying the show's willingness to play with the inevitability of time and the future and questioning the concepts of fate and destiny.

I do have some quibbles: several episodes in, I still don't like most of the characters, except Demetri, which is not good for keeping me sucked in long term, and not surprisingly the show hasn't been able to keep up the intensity of the first couple of episodes. But they have me hooked for now.

3. And one advantage to watching V and Stargate: Universe is that I am now regarding the insanity that is Fringe in a much kinder light.

They still need to get rid of the cow, though.