Write geek-themed poem, win geeky book on Geek Mom
Ethan Gilsdorf at Tor
Now is the time when geek pride meets the poetic. We’re hoping you’ll dust off your quill pens to jot down a geek-themed poem and send it our way.
Compose an “Ode to Harry Potter.” Dash off the “The Ballad of Gary Gygax.” Or perhaps a “World of Warcraft War Chant” or “Balrog Haiku” speaks more to the muse of your geekery?
If we choose your poem (there will be five winners), you’ll get an autographed, personalized copy of Ethan Gilsdorf’s road trip through geek subcultures, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms, now in paperback.
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Space Monsters! The Interstellar Void! Coffee & Muffins!
Jack Womack at Orbit
US readers! From November 23 to December 7, the full text of Greg Bear’s HULL ZERO THREE will be available for free on the just-launched Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo! The novel will also be available in hardcover and ebook editions in bookstores.
The Starbucks Digital Network offers customers access to premium, free content on the in-store Wi-Fi network. Customers will be able to access the complete text of HULL ZERO THREE on their laptops, tablets, and many smart phones.
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Ten of the best angels in literature
John Mullan at The Guardian
Paradise Lost by John Milton Milton’s angels don’t just fly around doing good (or ill), they eat, drink (fruit juice only) and chat. Adam asks the visiting angel Raphael whether angels have sex, “To whom the Angel, with a smile that glowed / Celestial rosy red, Love’s proper hue, / Answered, ‘Let it suffice thee that thou knowest / Us happy, and without love no happiness’.” Yes they do.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman Pullman has derived more than his title from Milton’s Paradise Lost, though his interpretation is Blakean: we find out that there was indeed a war in heaven once, but the rebel angels fought for freedom against “those who want us to obey and be humble and submit”. Will and Lyra enter the world of angelic conflict and acquire their own guardian angel called Balthamos.
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