In the Book of Job, the titular Job suffers all sorts of maladies, boils, burning, utter agony, the loss of loved ones.  He cries out to God, “Why?  I have been a good man all my life.”  For the next several hundred lines or so in beautiful, timeless prose, Job’s friends try to convince him of the superiority of God’s ways, and though God’s ways are hidden from humanity, Job should just accept his fate.  It’s all part of God’ plan. But Job is not one to roll over easily.  It …

It has come to my attention that a man named David Boyer (which may be one pseudonym of many) has plagiarized Livia Llewellyn’s “Jetsam,” her story which appeared in Sybil’s Garage No. 4, and passed it off as his own.  There is a blog post describing the offense here, and more posts describing the investigation of this David Boyer (with many other instances of plagiarism, including none other than Dean Koontz) here. Authors put their blood, sweat and tears into their work (I know, I’m one of them), and it can …

In a college course on Western Philosophy and Culture, the instructor, a man of forty plus years proceeded to tell the class, when it was time to study Judaism, that the Hebrew peoples of history “offered no great works of art or literature,” except, of course, the Old Testament.  He then went on to explain this was because the prohibition against “graven images” (art can be considered a type of graven image).  At the time I was too shy and too naive of my own culture to respond , but …

Ellen Datlow has released the table of contents for her Young Adult anthology of dystopian stories, After, and I’m proud to be part of it.  Here’s the full list (Ellen tells me the “gorgeous” cover photo is coming soon): The Segment by Genevieve Valentine After the Cure by Carrie Ryan Valedictorian by N.K. Jemisin Visiting Nelson by Katherine Langrish All I Know of Freedom by Carol Emshwiller The Other Elder by Beth Revis The Great Game at the End of the World by Matthew Kressel Reunion by Susan Beth Pfeffer Faint Heart by Sarah Rees Brennan Blood Drive by Jeffrey …

A lot of people have emailed me about the recent Blade Runner news.  If you haven’t heard, Ridley Scott has signed on to do a prequel or sequel of the seminal film.  Many of you know that’s my favorite film, and I’ve seen it over a hundred times. People also want to know what I think about this.  The short answer.  I don’t think it sucks.  I’m actually quite excited.  I’ll admit, when I first heard about Purefold several years back, how it was to be used as a vehicle for …