Science fiction author and podcaster
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Podcast, Episode 11: Star Wars! Ewoks! The Almighty Sarlacc!
Alexandre Philippe, director of the documentary The People vs. George Lucas, joins us to discuss Jar Jar Binks, movie merchandising, and death threats from Star Wars fans. Dave and John chat all things Star Wars.
 |
 |
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Podcast, Episode 10: Space Battles! Giant Ants! Physics!
Tom Rogers, author of Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics, joins us to discuss leaping hulks, giant ants, and why shooting down alien spaceships is harder than it looks. Dave and John examine the role of science in science fiction.
 |
 |
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Podcast, Episode 9: Vampires! Werewolves! Unicorns!
Carrie Vaughn, author of the Kitty Norville urban fantasy series, joins us to discuss strong heroines and werewolf-related romance. Dave and John discuss vampires in film and fiction.
 |
 |
Dammit. Just saw on Bill Shunn’s blog that Ryan Maguire’s Ale House has been destroyed in a fire. For years this is where we’d all head after the New York Review of Science Fiction Reading Series to enjoy the food, conversation, and waitresses with nigh-incomprehensible Irish accents.
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast will be interviewing the Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen, so if you have any Tolkien-related questions or topics you’d like to suggest, feel free. Here’s an interesting tidbit from the latest episode of the Tolkien Professor podcast:
Please keep in mind I am not asking for a “tragic flaw.” The phrase “tragic flaw” is one of several phrases I would eliminate from the whole sphere of English classes and literary analysis if I could. It is a misleading concept which almost always leads to oversimplification — based upon, by the way, a complete mistranslation of a passage from Aristotle. The Greek word that Aristotle uses to describe that thing that tragic heroes have is hamartia, which means “error in judgment” or “mistake.” Somebody does something they knew they weren’t supposed to do. One of Oedipus’s great hamartia is killing his dad at the crossroads — that was an error in judgment. So I’m not looking for “tragic flaws.” Human beings are a little more complicated than that, and so are most characters.
See also Hamartia at Wikipedia.
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Podcast, Episode 8: Magic! Medicine! Fantic Episy!
Blake Charlton, author of Spellwright, joins us to talk about fantasy, dyslexia, and medical school. Dave and John discuss magic and medicine in fiction.
 |
 |
Saw an ad for this in Realms of Fantasy. Don’t know anything about the book, but the cover cracks me up.
| The deadline for applying to Alpha 2010 is March 1st, so get those applications in the mail. |
July 14-25, 2010
University of Pittsburgh, Greensburg Campus
Featuring Special Guests:
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Nice note from Jason Warden of the ShadowCast podcast, who writes:
Just thought you’d like to know your story “The Skull-Faced Boy” got me hooked on podcast fiction. It was perhaps the first I’d ever listened to, although I have always been an avid audiophile. In 2009 I started my own short fiction podcast. I just ran across your story in iTunes again today and gave it another listen. It strikes me that you and your story are somewhat responsible for what I’m doing now. For that I thank you … and also for that my wife would like to kill you. Keep writing original ideas.
One of my favorite contemporary artists is Camille Rose Garcia, who’s just illustrated a new version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
NP: And if you look at most of the set-in-suburbia dramas and soap operas on TV, they set up very unreal expectations. For example in Desperate Housewives, Mike Delfino is a plumber yet he lives in this gorgeous, million dollar plus suburban home. Kids have grown up with this promise of what suburban life should afford that they have no way of attaining for themselves.
CRG: Yes, and it’s already crumbling because their parents are now in foreclosure and can’t afford those houses. It’s kind of like the collective fantasy of suburbia. It’s not real. It’s not working. This façade is falling apart. These kids that have grown up in those cultures aren’t prepared at all for what’s coming, for fighting over resources globally and global economic collapse. They’re just not prepared at all for any of that.
NP: Talking of the American fairytale that’s come crashing down, I was reading an interview you did that was first published on Sept 16, 2006 on a website called Crown Dozen where you very specifically predicted the global economic crash.
CRG: Well I had a lot of other people I was reading that were talking about it long before it happened. All these bankers, now the big lie is “Oh, we didn’t know.” They knew. It was written about extensively. They knew exactly what was happening and they knew how they were going to get their money out. It just becomes part of the collective lie. That’s the thing, I think American culture is just a series of collective lies presented to us.
NP: I agree. When people were signing these mortgages that they never had any prospect of being able to afford, they were signing on the back of a fairytale. They were sold a fairytale.
CRG: Yeah, and along with the mortgage you get the anti-depressant drugs. It kind of reminds me a lot of Philip K. Dick stories where the characters, they’re taking these drugs because they’re living on Mars and they want to pretend they’re living on earth. It’s like you need the drug to continue the fantasy of the lie. You can’t have the lie without the anti-depressants.
Wow, here’s a job I’m actually qualified for:
“Many people in the U.S.—perhaps 20 million to 40 million—believe there will be a Second Coming in their lifetimes, followed by the Rapture. In this event, they say, the righteous will be spirited away to a better place while the godless remain on Earth. But what will become of all the pets?
Bart Centre, 61, a retired retail executive in New Hampshire, says many people are troubled by this question, and he wants to help. He started a service called Eternal Earth-Bound Pets that promises to rescue and care for animals left behind by the saved.
Promoted on the Web as ‘the next best thing to pet salvation in a Post Rapture World,’ the service has attracted more than 100 clients, who pay $110 for a 10-year contract ($15 for each additional pet.) If the Rapture happens in that time, the pets left behind will have homes—with atheists.”
Someone else online misspelled my name (two in one week!), so I decided to make a list of all the variations I’ve seen. Watch this space for future updates!
David Barr Curtley
David Barr Curtly
David Bart Kirtley
David Barr Kirtly
David Barr Kitley
David Barr Kirty
David Barr Kirtlye
David Barr Kurtley
David Barry Kirtley
Donald Barr Kirtley (in a ToC! Bonus points!)
David Karr Brimley (this one’s actually kinda badass)
This is Simon Singh, a British science writer:
British libel laws are so insane that if you lose your case it might cost you millions of dollars and if you win your case it might cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. This essentially gives wealthy organizations unlimited license to terrorize people who are telling the truth and make them shut up. The British laws are so bad that, for example, a Saudi company might sue an American blogger in British courts just because the laws are so unfair there. This is known as “libel tourism,” and it’s gotten so bad that Congress is seriously considering a law to just immunize all U.S. citizens against British libel cases.
There’s currently a campaign underway to get Britain to fix its broken laws. You can learn more and maybe add your name to the petition at the Libel Reform Campaign website.
I finally have enough short story art to make a rainbow:
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Podcast, Episode 7: Escape Pod! Those Voices You Hear! Unabridged!
Steve Eley—editor of Escape Pod, the internet’s most popular science fiction podcast—stops by this week and we discuss the very promising future of audio fiction.
 |
 |
My new poster:
Anyone going to ICFA this year? If so, be sure to check out this session:
| Saturday March 20, 2010 4:00-5:30 p.m.
118. (H) More Zombies Pine Re-Humanizing Zombies in S. G. Browne’s Breathers “We help the dead”: Malevolent Evil and Psychological Continuity in David Bart Kirtley’s “The Skull-Faced Boy” Conformity of the Flesh in Dead Like Me |
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy Podcast, Episode 6: Steampunk! Sherlock Holmes! Eschatology!
Cherie Priest—Steampunk aficionado, amateur theologian, and author of Boneshaker—joins us as our guest this week. We explain what Steampunk is, why it’s cool, and where you can check it out.
 |
 |
Alpha grads made a particularly strong showing in this year’s Dell Magazines Award, with Rachel Sobel claiming first prize and Rebecca McNulty, Rachel Halpern, and Lara Donnelly all placing in the contest. Congrats!
The deadline for Alpha 2010 is March 1st. Author guests this year are Holly Black, Timothy Zahn, Tamora Pierce, and Mike Arnzen.
Added a “Cats in Victory” info page to my site. Here’s a synopsis of the story:
The catmen and dogmen have been at war for centuries, and Lynx, a young catman, has always been taught that in the last days Cat the Nine-Lived, lord of creation, will return to earth to lead his people to ultimate victory. But when Lynx finds himself present at Cat’s return, it’s not at all what he expected.
From “Cats in Victory”:
Father Cougar sighed deeply. “As I thought.” He leaned forward, his gaze steady. “How many times must I tell you? Curiosity is the gravest of sins. And now you see what your curiosity has cost us. If you had avoided detection, we could have easily located these dogmen and captured them. But now they’ll be expecting us, and will move on. The danger to those who track them is greatly increased. And what if the dogmen should slip away? You may very well have cost us the great Victory we have awaited so long.”
Lynx felt ashamed, despondent. Everything Father Cougar was saying was absolutely true.
Father Cougar shook his head. “Well, there’s no helping it now.” He turned to the scribe and instructed, “Go to the inn. Fetch the templars.” The scribe nodded once, and hurried off.
Lynx felt awe. “Templars?”
“Yes,” Father Cougar said. “They arrived this morning. Two of them. Pursuing these dogmen you saw. They’ll want to question you.”
“Of course,” Lynx agreed at once, his shame quickly giving way to excitement.
Templars! Holy ones, invincible warriors of Cat. In ages past, their order had eradicated the frogmen, the birdmen, and the monkeymen, and now only the dogmen remained.
The scribe returned a short time later, leading the templars. They were the tallest, most muscular catmen that Lynx had ever seen. Both wore long white tabards, and upon their surcoats were embroidered the holy form of Cat.
Father Cougar gestured to them. “Lynx, these are our templar friends, Lion and Tiger.”
The templars nodded politely. Tiger was brawnier, stern and dignified, with gray in his fur and black stripes around his eyes. Lion had a great tawny mane and seemed almost to vibrate with barely restrained energy. And he was younger, perhaps only five or ten years older than Lynx himself.
Lion said quickly, “Tell us about the dogmen.”