Tor.com, a new blog and community site for SF lovers

In addition to my long-time duties as a Kick-Ass Mystic Ninja, which of course outweigh any obligations to friends, family, or nation, I work as an associate editor at St. Martin’s Press, a book publisher in New York City.

St. Martin’s is a part of Macmillan, which in turn owns Tor, the biggest and baddest SF publisher around. And Tor has just launched Tor.com, a publisher-agnostic blog and community site for SF lovers, and I’ve joined the team of bloggers (which includes some really, really terrific folks who are far more interesting than me like Jim Henley, Cory Doctorow, Charlie Stross, and more).

There’s also a gallery of SF art. And did I mention it’s a paying venue for new SF short fiction?

Currently, we’re all here at San Diego Comic-Con, blogging about the various geek-gasms to be enjoyed, but when we return the SF-related posts will continue 2 fast 2 furious, and I thought it might be up your Kick-Ass-enjoying alleys.

So go check it out, and let me know what you think of the site, both content and design. It’s in beta, so your thoughts are welcome and will be very much appreciated.

Tor.com: Science Fiction. Fantasy. And related subjects.

Show #40: Pre-show Discussion

Show #40 will cover Jhereg by Steven Brust.

Published in 1983, it’s the first book in the Vlad Taltos saga, of a planned 17 volumes. Steve likes the number 17; he’s said so.

The 11th book in the series, Jhegaala, just came out this month, in hardcover from Tor.

Immortals, sorcery, political intrigue, assassins, thieves and familiars. What’s not to love?

KAMN Show #39: RoboCop

Welcome to Show #39!

Feature Discussion: RoboDave, Brian-209, Summer and Jen discuss the 1987 hit movie RoboCop. A groundbreaking movie when it first came in, in terms of production as well as treading into new territories of movie ratings controversy, much can be said about RoboCop, and we try to hit all the fun points.

Brief Story Description: The city of Detroit is besieged by crime, and an overworked police force is struggling to keep from being outgunned. Because of the city’s financial problems, Omni Consumer Products (OCP) won the outsourcing contract to retool the city’s law enforcement ranks, in order to protect future plans to raze Detroit and build a better future city, Delta City, on top of it.

After a disastrous demonstration of the ED-209 enforcement robot, the corporate plans to implement RoboCop program is fast-tracked, but the project can’t proceed until a Detroit office has been gunned down.

Part man, part machine, all cop. And something more.

Listener Feedback: You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. You can also email all of us at ninjas-at-kickassmysticninjas-dot-com, and yes, you can also email in recorded commentary.

Movies mentioned:

Link: Criterion Collection: RoboCop
Link: Wikipedia: RoboCop
Link: RoboCop Archive
Promo: Adventures in SciFi Publishing

 

 KAMN Show #39: RoboCop [44:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3940)