April 29, 2014

Book News! Release of "Far Orbit: Speculative Space Adventures"!

Hey GCReaders! I wanted you all to hear about the release of a book that I think sounds incredibly awesome!

Today, April 29, World Weaver Press has announced the release of Far Orbit: Speculative Space Adventures, a new anthology of modern space adventures -- edited by Bascomb James and available in paperback and ebook.


Modern space adventures crafted by a new generation of Grand Tradition science fiction writers. Smart, readable, and engaging stories that take us back to a time when science fiction was fun and informative, pithy and piquant—when speculative fiction transported us from the everyday grind and left us wondrously satisfied. Showcasing the breadth of Grand Tradition stories, from 1940s-style pulp to realistic hard SF, from noir and horror SF to spaceships, alien uplift, and action-adventure motifs, Far Orbit’s diversity of Grand Tradition stories makes it easy for every SF fan to find a favorite.

Far Orbit: Speculative Space Adventures will be available in trade paperback and ebook via Amazon.comBarnesandnoble.comKobo.com, and other online retailers, and for wholesale through Ingram. You can also find Far Orbit on Goodreads.


Join World Weaver Press on Friday, May 2! For our open Twitter chat #SFFlunch from 12:00-2:00 PM EST @WorldWeaver_wwp where we discuss speculative fiction in general and the Grand Tradition of science adventure fiction specifically. Follow along, join in, or Tweet questions with #SFFlunch
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World Weaver Press is a publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction, dedicated to producing quality works. As a small press, World Weaver seeks to publish books that engage the mind and ensnare the story-loving soul.

Check out this Q&A with some of Far Orbits' Authors!


Jakob Drud:

What was your inspiration for creating your Far Orbit story?First, I have kids and a job, so I've learned how important is to have a dedicated person who can take care of your children while you're away. Second, I write a lot of case stories for my day job, and I know there's a fine line between telling a convincing story and sounding like a desperate show-off. The story first came to life in my mind when I started considering how and why a childcare provider would oversell their services. The answer turned out to be 'incidents involving alien babysitters'.
Why do you write Science Fiction stories?  What is it about this genre that appeals to you?SF has scope and opportunity like no other genre, except maybe fantasy. Civilization in space is what mankind decides it should be, whether that's new and radically different, or a degenerate version of life today. We can meet alien species, who can act as a mirror of our best and worst sides or show us life and ethics in forms we never saw on Earth. SF can tell tales on a galactic scale, or focus on a single individual working through the problems thrown at them by the near future. But most of all, I think SF is good at showing how people are shaped by the world surrounding them.  
Who are your favorite Science Fiction authors?I love to read novels by Neal Stephenson, Charles Stross, Elizabeth Moon, Paolo Bacigalupi and Peter F. Hamilton. One thing they have in common is their ability to create magnificent, rich worlds that form detailed and astonishing backgrounds for heroics of all kinds. When it comes to short stories, I like Elizabeth Bear, Robert Reed, Jason Sanford, Octavia Butler, and Ray Bradbury.
Tracy Canfield
What was your inspiration for creating your Far Orbit story?
Here on Earth, many animals have some way to communicate - but only humans have language.  All human languages, from English to Nɫeʔkepmcín, share certain features: you can use them to talk about things that aren't present; you build messages out of smaller, meaningful components, and you can understand messages you've never heard before.  Some animals do some of these things when they communicate - but no animals of them do all of them.
I was thinking about this (I'm a computational linguist) and wondered what kind of communication system might have all these qualities, and yet be limited in a way human languages aren't.  What kind of creatures might have such a limited language?  What would their lives be like?  And what would happen when we tried to communicate with them?

Why do you write Science Fiction stories?  What is it about this genre that appeals to you?
There's a saying that each of us lives one life - but through books, we can lead many more.  Science fiction offers readers - and writers - such a spectacular variety of fictional lives to visit. At its heart, science fiction asks "What if things were different?" That difference can be anything from one person inventing a new machine, to a change in the laws that govern the universe.

Who are your favorite Science Fiction authors?
Greg Egan and Ted Chiang are both brilliant at taking a science-fiction idea, finding an unexpected twist on it, and turning it into an unforgettable story.  Going back a bit, I love Philip K. Dick's books and stories, which get you to accept bizarre worlds because you understand the people who live in them; Octavia Butler's _Lilith's Brood_ trilogy, with its construct children who are simultaneously so human and so alien; John Varley's witty Eight Worlds stories, where death is an inconvenience, but having a second child is a capital crime; and E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman adventures.

Kat Otis

What was your inspiration for creating your Far Orbit story?
My story was inspired by a trip to Seattle, where pretty much everywhere I went people were hawking Mount St. Helen's jewelry – obsidianite.  Sadly, I was scheduled for knee surgery the following week so I couldn't hike any of the nearby volcanos for firsthand experience.  I jotted down some preliminary notes on the rather turbulent flight home, then went in for my surgery and forgot about the idea for a few months.  I only found the notes again right before another trip, so "Obsidianite" ended up being written longhand in a tent in Tennessee, between frequent interruptions for spelunking, whitewater rafting, and midnight tornado evacuations to the local grocery store.

Why do you write Science Fiction stories?  What is it about this genre that appeals to you?
I blame my interest in Science Fiction on my parents and their basement full of Star Trek books.  I never realized how much those books shaped my view of the world until college, when one of my math professors made an offhand reference to the Kobayashi Maru... and I was the only one who recognized it!

Who are your favorite Science Fiction authors?
Hmm... if we go by the authors who've claimed the most space on my bookshelves, it looks like I have to say Anne McCaffrey, Orson Scott Card, and Connie Willis.


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