Steven Gould's Blog, page 3

Give Away.

North America only. (Postage, sorry.)
Ends Midnight Mountain Time Sunday 3 August 2014. (7 days.)
Enter by commenting below (don’t forget to fill out the contact email in the form.) If you retweeted the announcement (un modified) on twitter, you are already entered.
1 copy for now. If more than 50 people enter, I’ll add another copy and draw for two winners.

Abby thinks you’ll really like this book! (Or, is that popcorn you’re eating? I like popcorn!)

This is for the upcoming Trade paper edition of Jumper which is being released in conjunction with Exo.

Release date is 9 September 2014.

 

Disclaimer: I am the current president of SFWA (the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.)  The below is a mixture of my opinion and some statements about the official policies of SFWA.  I will bold those things that are SFWA policy.

Recently a member of SFWA resigned and gave as their reasons that they were being slandered and libeled by leaders and members of SFWA who were also engaged in an “organized attempts to harass my readers and hurt my sales figures.” He subsequently posted this letter on his website.

The writer in question is a successful author of over a dozen SF & Fantasy novels and has previously been nominated for the Nebula Award. The fact that I’d never heard of them before receiving their resignation email says far more about me and the scope of my reading in the field than it does about them. There are 1800 members of the organization after all, but I would like to point out that this also means that neither I nor any other officer or director of this organization has been slandering, libeling, or organizing against that person–I would certainly have heard about it. When asked for specifics, the author replied that it would be unprofessional to name those who had.

In researching this I have seen some critical historical posts by both members and non-members responding to statements made by the author. Without passing judgment on the nature of the author’s posts I would like to make the following points:

1. The only place where the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America makes an effort to monitor and control what members and non-members say or write is within the official publications and venues of the organization itself and then only to the extent that the language does or does not support the goals and purposes of the organization. These venues include, among others, The SFWA Bulletin, the SFWA website, our meetings, official communications to the membership, and our online member discussion boards. They certainly do not include members’ own websites, their fiction, their conversations, pieces published in non-sfwa publications, and any other private and public space.*

2. It is the position of SFWA that language within our official channels and publications which marginalizes and/or alienates any portion of our membership  does not support the goals and purposes of the organization.

3. I don’t see this as a particularly onerous or oppressive policy as this simply boils down to treating all our members with respect in our official channels of communication. While it is my belief that the vast majority of our members would not intentionally disparage their fellows based on irrelevant factors like gender identity, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual preference, or ableness, they certainly are not constrained from doing so in a host of non-SFWA venues.

4. Just as SFWA doesn’t control what members and non-members say in non-SFWA spaces, it also doesn’t control what members and non-members say in response to members’ public comments, statements, essays, and blog posts. When persons say things in public that others find objectionable, it is likely they will receive criticism and objections. There is an odd misconception among some that Freedom of Speech includes freedom from the consequences of one’s speech and freedom from commentary on what one has said.

5. There also seems to be an oddly misplaced tendency to look at SFWA’s recent efforts to moderate language in its own channels as somehow being responsible for public criticism of various individual’s public statements and positions. I submit, though, that if one is somehow threatened by the organization’s requirements that we treat fellow members with respect within our official channels, then the problem is someplace other than with SFWA.

*Board investigation of harassment complaints may take public statements into consideration, but this is extremely rare.

Comments closed.

Benefitting charities Worldreader and the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund.

Jumper is one of the eBooks in the bundle, but even better, there’s these:

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black

The Happiest Days of Our Lives by Wil Wheaton

Zombies Versus Unicorns – An Anthology edited by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier.

‘Pay more than the average and you’ll also receive:

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw!

As a special exclusive, pay $15 or more and you’ll also get Homeland by Cory Doctorow (narrated by Wil Wheaton) in audiobook format!

(Everything is DRM free and here will be more books unlocked TOMORROW!)

I’ve been taking a break from Hollywood by teaching on beautiful Martha’s Vineyard. This is my 14th year of teaching on the island and, as they say, What Happens on the Island, Stays on the Island. But here’s a picture, anyway, of the HORROR THAT IS THURSDAY (James Macdonald, presiding.)

My new BFF.

So, for the last five weeks I’ve been working with screenwriters (War of the Worlds, The Sarah Conner Chronicles), and (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle), and (Savages, Armageddon, and Salinger), and the big guy himself, , on the next three Avatar  movies.  I will be writing 4 novels based on the original movie and the next three movies. I have been granted what I feel is extraordinary access and I have nothing but praise for everyone involved.

signed: Cinderella at the Ball.

 

ps. Some people have expressed concern about my Jumper and 7th Sigma universes but I feel confident that I will be able to continue with those in the same period.

 

Full press release below.

JAMES CAMERON TAPS NOTED SCIENCE FICTION AUTHOR STEVEN CHARLES GOULD TO WRITE FOUR NOVELS BASED UPON AVATAR AND ITS THREE SEQUELS

BOOKS WILL EXPAND UPON THE FILMMAKER’S STORIES FOR THE FILM QUADRILOGY

LOS ANGELES (August 22, 2013) __ Filmmaker James Cameron has tapped noted science fiction author Steven Charles Gould (Jumper) to write four stand-alone novels based upon – and expanding — Cameron’s history-making 2009 film Avatar, and Cameron’s stories for his three upcoming Avatar sequels.

Cameron commented, “Steven Gould is one of the shining lights in contemporary science fiction, and I’ve long admired the worlds and characters he’s created in his books and stories.  We’re very fortunate to have Steven bring his formidable talents to the Avatar universe.  He is already working closely with me and the screenwriters to flesh out the expanding world of Avatar.”

While Gould is best known for his 1992 novel Jumper, which Twentieth Century Fox and New Regency turned into a motion picture in 2008, he has been acclaimed for his short fiction, including his Hugo Award-nominated short story “Rory,” and the novelette “Peaches for Mad Molly.”  The latter was also on the shortlist for the Nebula Award. His other novels include Wildside, the Jumper sequel Reflex, 7th Sigma, and Impulse.   He is president of the Science Fiction Writers of America.

Kathy Franklin, Lightstorm Entertainment’s President of Franchise Development, noted, “The novels are just one example of our commitment to our fans to extend the world of Avatar, in this instance in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products.”

Cameron also is currently writing the screenplays for the three new Avatar pictures, along with screenwriters Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds), Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planets of the Apes) and Shane Salerno (Savages, Salinger).

The sequels will be filmed back-to-back with production beginning next year.  The release of the first sequel will be in December 2016, with the second to follow in December 2017, and the third a year later.

I will be in San Antonio a week from today for the WorldCon. You can see my schedule at their site. Or you can click on the pic to get the entire pocket program in pdf form.

SFWA President

 

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Writer

So, this is my third day as SFWA president and it is already becoming apparent that this is a post I’ll need to point to over and over again.

I am the writer Steven Gould.

I am also the curent President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy writers of America.

Yes we are one person but we have two functions.  To keep those two functions separate I would like communications to be separate, too.

If you are contacting me to ask a question about my books, my writing, or even that set of 5 chickens that live outside my office, contact me here, on Twitter ( @stevengould ) on facebook and with my “writerly” email [email protected].

If you are contacting me because you want to ask a question about SFWA, my role as president, a recent action I took as president, a future action you would like me to take as president, a really angry feeling you wish to express to me either because I did (or did not do) something or somebody in SFWA did (or did not do) something, please contact me through the SFWA discussion forums or my official SFWA email: [email protected] .

I may occasionally point to things related to SFWA from social media and I may occasionally say things on this blog about SFWA, but it won’t be often and when I do, I will be turning comments off because the SFWA conversations really need to happen over at sfwa.org.

Thanks for understanding.

Unless you didn’t.

But it still doesn’t change things.

Yep, comments are off.