FlashNews

Twitterphishing

2009-01-05T22:05:00.002-05:00

Nothing is sacred. Now twitter has phishing, coming as direct messages. Details of twitter-scamming techniques are linked in the above article.

Speculative Fiction Universe Contracts a Bit

2009-01-05T10:54:00.003-05:00

The speculative fiction universe contracted a bit. Gordon Van Gelder's The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is switching to bimonthly publication. 'Rising costs -- especially postal costs -- and the economy put us in a position....

Open Source Software for Writers (and Readers)

2009-01-04T14:54:00.004-05:00

Open source software is, as the software developers say, free, as in free beer and freedom to change yourself. Here is a nice list of software tools for writers. I think many readers will find a treat or two there too. Some easy choices from the list are Open Office Writer, a Microsoft file-compatible word processor (Windows, OS X and Linux). Open Office Calc is an Excel file-compatible spread

Webcomic: Buttersafe

2009-01-03T21:59:00.002-05:00

You really ought to be reading Buttersafe. Really.

Transition of NASA to Obama

2009-01-03T09:21:00.003-05:00

The NY Times has this article about the transition of NASA to Obama.

Banned Words and Phrases

2009-01-02T10:46:00.005-05:00

No, not naughty words...words and phrases that, according to Lake Superior State University, have been so overused that editors consider them trite. New to the list this year is an emoticon that I must admit I'd never seen: <3 (a heart or love). It looks like less-than 3 to me, but I don't travel often in the emotisphere.

New Year Random Stuff

2009-01-01T12:02:00.005-05:00

Happy new year from Flash Fiction Online! Some random stuff: Wired magazine's 2009 movie guide. The website at the end of the universe offers its annual calendar of pulp magazine covers with bikini'ed space babes imperiled by leering space aliens.Media predictions about what won't happen.Technology predictions for 2009.Flash Fiction Online readers' psychic predictions. (No link needed; you know

Sir Terry Pratchett

2008-12-31T10:21:00.003-05:00

Terry Pratchett is known for his Discworld fantasy series and supporting research for a cure for dementia has received a knighthood. His support for research came on the heels of his diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Well done, Knight Commander.

Kindle Economics

2008-12-30T10:44:00.003-05:00

The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader with downloading over a built-in wireless connection. It costs US$359. Is it economical? One personal gripe is the inability to get free stuff (like blogs) and read it for free. I think the quickly expanding netbook market may provide a platform for similar applications.

Writing-Mill Grist

2008-12-29T11:15:00.003-05:00

Maybe something here will inspire a story: Top ten technology breakthroughs and new organisms of 2008

The Fine Art of Literary Rejection Letters

2008-12-28T10:01:00.003-05:00

Says Jean Hannah Edelstein: "One thousand is a conservative estimate of the number of books and book proposals that I rejected during my two-year publishing career. I have rejected books that have ended up selling for lots of money, and I have rejected books that were plagiarised wholesale from...."

Automatic Research Papers

2008-12-27T10:27:00.004-05:00

A scary story. A group a MIT has a program, SciGEN that automatically creates random computer science research papers with citations. They've had some papers accepted for lower-level technical conferences. One paper was accepted at an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) conference. If you understand what the IEEE is, you will be alarmed. This has the potential of driving

Eartha Kitt, 1927-2008

2008-12-27T10:12:00.004-05:00

Eartha Kitt: singer, dancer, actress, played Batwoman and Helen of Troy, "the most exciting woman in the world" (according to Orson Welles), died at the age of 81 on Christmas day.

Santa Rejected!

2008-12-25T07:19:00.003-05:00

Did you get coal in your stocking this year? Blame it on our Editor-in-Chief, Jake Grinchvald. On Christmas Eve, he rejected all of Santa's submissions to Flash Fiction Online: Thriller: Dark and Stormy Christmas Night Arctic frontier story: The Reindeersleigher Horror story: Santa Claws Kiss-and-tell: Sleigh Belles Polar thriller of mistaken identity: North by Northnorth

Newspaper Swan Song?

2008-12-24T10:24:00.002-05:00

The Tribune Company's bankruptcy filing makes this New Yorker story more poignant. The author points out that newspapers have fewer subscribers but more readers, due to online readership. Consequently, print advertising revenue is drying up. Interesting also is the author's comments about the relationship of the blogosphere to newspapers.

Year-End Giving

2008-12-22T08:23:00.003-05:00

There are many worthwhile web sites of great value to writers and readers. A few that stand out are Ralan's Webstravaganza, Duotrope's Digest, Critters Workshop, and Liberty Hall Writers. Ralan Webstravaganza offers up-to-date marketing information, particularly for periodical and annual publications, categorized in several ways, including anthologies, pro/semi-pro, paying, 4theLuv, humor and

Top 10 literary hoaxes

2008-12-21T12:03:00.002-05:00

This story is a bit little long in the tooth, but this subject matter does not change often: Top ten literary hoaxes.

Review of December's Short Fiction

2008-12-20T08:54:00.003-05:00

There was an earlier blog post listing the short fiction titles and authors for December's spec-fiction magazines and ezines. Here is a short review of many of those titles. This should inform your purchasing of spec-fiction publications.

SAG Awards Genre Nominations

2008-12-19T12:22:00.004-05:00

SFScope says that genre nominations faired slightly better than last year in the Screen Actors Guild's 15th annual SAG Awards. SAG's press release with a full list of nominees is here.

Klingon Opera

2008-12-19T09:01:00.003-05:00

Floris Schönfeld is a Dutch artist who has been developing a Klingon-language opera called “ ’u’. " The apostrophes are part of the opera's name; the author is 26, you see. For those of you younger than the author, the opera is inspired by the "fierce warrior race" of the “Star Trek" TV series. Apparently, fans have expanded the Klingon language over time from the series' and movies' hints and

In Your Facebook, Pal

2008-12-18T21:23:00.003-05:00

Some of us older guys feel too exposed by social networking. We prefer distant, non-instant, anti-social networking, like e-mail. Here's an example of our nightmares. A loan server in Australia got permission to serve legal papers on a couple via their Facebook account, unable to contact them any other way.

Nano-Flash: Twitter Fiction

2008-12-18T07:14:00.004-05:00

"Tell us a Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror story in under 140 characters. Other than that, we’re just looking for good stories," explains the submissions page for Thaumatrope, presumably the first spec-fic twitterzine. A twitterzine specializes in fiction that will fit in one twitter message: 140 characters, including spaces, about 24 words or so. They pay pro rates, 5-cents per word, so

Sci-Fi Writers and Technology's Future

2008-12-17T16:48:00.004-05:00

"Science fiction isn't (as a rule) about predicting the future, and science fiction writers aren't trying to predict it," according to Frederick Pohl, Larry Niven, Nancy Kress, Robert J. Sawyer and Charles Stross in an interview by CIO. So, what is it about?

Storytelling and Reading

2008-12-17T08:12:00.004-05:00

What does Grand Theft Auto, Twitter and Beowulf have in common? Storytelling is changing but still vital, says Sam Leith. One of the players in this change is MIT Media Lab's Center for Storytelling. But this slightly long-in-the-tooth story asks if we are still reading?

What's New in Spec Fic Magazines this Month

2008-12-16T08:45:00.004-05:00

What's in new issues of Analog, Asimov's, Black Static, Flytrap, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Premonitions, Star*Line, Talebones, and Vector. Larry Niven, Nancy Kress, our own Bruce Holland Rogers in Black Static, and many others.