Gabriel Mckee's Blog: SF Gospel, page 7

SF Magazine Catchup: In which a great many stories are discussed

At the beginning of the year, a postal computer error led to a whole
bunch of my mail getting lost. (There are a lot of streets in Brooklyn,
many of them with the same name, and some brilliant pre-Singularity
machine decided that I lived on "L---- Place" instead of "L---- Avenue"
and redirected my mail accordingly. But not all of it, mind you. Only
about a third, so it took me some time to notice). Among the victims of
the error were my subscriptions to both Analog and Asimov's. The lovely
folks

Awfully quiet around here...

It's been a while since I've posted here, as you may (or may not) have noticed. July was a mixed-up month, between Cornerstone and a week-and-a-half vacation, and now I'm on another week-long trip that's basically a working vacation. I'm in Ithaca, NY, processing (among some other things) a collection of 2,000-odd science fiction magazines for Cornell University's rare book and manuscript library. Which is about the best job ever, yes? But while I'm up here my Internet access is somewhat limited

Cornerstone Festival diary, day 1

The first of three installments of my video diary from the Cornerstone Festival is now up at Religion Dispatches. In the first video, I talk about the Festival's many seminars (including those at the Imaginarium, where my seminar was held) and the changing political landscape of the festival. Check it out here.

Disching religion: The Word of God

I've been dreading reading Thomas M. Disch's The Word of God since I
first heard about it. The book, subtitled "Holy Writ Rewritten," is
Disch's tongue-in-cheek declaration of his own divinity, and includes a
not-too-pretty picture of Philip K. Dick. Disch, the
author-turned-deity, tells us that Dick has been languishing in the
suburbs of Hell thanks to a letter he wrote to the FBI in a fit of
paranoia in which he declared his suspicion that Disch was a communist
agent. (A broader picture: the

Some brief thoughts on Cornerstone, evangelical theology, and the "great Western heresy"

So, I'm back from Cornerstone. In short: it was fun; I met some cool people; I even found a band or two that I like (which I hadn't really expected to happen); I discovered punk monks, which is pretty cool (and who'd have expected to find an Eastern Orthodox group at a midwestern evangelical event?); I didn't get run out on a rail for mentioning the gay rights aspect of the X-Men, and in fact found a rather healthy discussion going on about how the conservative church needs to be better about ho

Through the Looking Glass...

I have arrived at the Cornerstone Festival, where I will be leading a three-day seminar on superheroes and religion. If you're reading this and you're planning to be at the festival, go to the Imaginarium at 2 PM Wednesday through Friday and learn some stuff about comics.

I'm also planning to post a sort of video diary, or something like that, on Religion Dispatches, so check there over the next few days for my thoughts on the wild, weird world of an enormous Christian music festival.

Say it's only a paper Moon...

...but it wouldn't be make believe if you believed in me...

I can't discuss Moon without giving away major elements of the plot. Therefore:

Spoilers ahead.

Moon is the story of Sam Bell—the sole inhabitant of a moon base that gathers energy to be sent back to Earth. He's on a three-year contract, with two weeks left to go, and the solitude has been getting to him—especially since a damaged communications satellite prevents any real-time communication with his family. He's starting to see things, a

I can't discuss Moon without giving away major elements ...

I can't discuss Moon without giving away major elements of the plot. Therefore:

Spoilers ahead.

Moon is the story of Sam Bell—the sole inhabitant of a moon base that gathers energy to be sent back to Earth. He's on a three-year contract, with two weeks left to go, and the solitude has been getting to him—especially since a damaged communications satellite prevents any real-time communication with his family. He's starting to see things, and it's interfering with his work. While working outside th

How to get The Gospel According to Science Fiction in Canada

I've heard from a few people who have had some difficulty getting their hands on a copy of The Gospel According to Science Fiction in Canada. The book is not in stock at Amazon.ca. However, it is in stock at chapters.indigo.ca, so you don't have to deal with a backorder wait. The book is still in print, so there's no need to fear your order getting canceled if it's backordered. And if all else fails, there's always eBay Canada!

Listen Up TV's Science Fiction episode online now!

Well, that was fast. As promised, here is Listen Up TV's episode "Exploring New Frontiers," in four parts.

Part 1, including an interview with Robert J. Sawyer, plus a comment or two from Robert Charles Wilson, among others.





Part 2, featuring yours truly. (They call me a "Harvard-trained expert," which amuses me for some reason. And that is one wacky face I am making in the still frame, huh?)






Part 3, including an interview with author John C. Wright about his (relatively) recent conversion t