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In general

I can’t believe how OLD Die Hard looks. Please, goddess, please, don’t let anyone entertain the idea of doing a re-make of this film. Not only because they’d screw it up, but also because who could possibly afford all the glass they’d need to break/smash/shoot in the action sequences? Rat-a-tat-a-tat!!!

In other news:

* Twelfth Planet Press is offering an Xmas sale on all Aurealis-nominated items! Buy now, skip the postage (or, if overseas, half the postage).

* Danel Olson, editor of EXOTIC GOTHIC & the upcoming TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY GOTHIC is interviewed at Bibliophile Stalker. My whole understanding of gothic lit, when compared to Danel’s understanding, would take up a space about the size of his smallest cuticle.

* There is or was a subscriberthon over at Overland, which I discovered while reading THAT article on Nick Cave, but which I now can’t find a particular link to. Did I make it up? I just can’t be sure anymore.

* A cool reference in a steampunk fanzine I stumbled across re. the Why Steampunk Now? panel I chaired at WFC this year with Ann VanderMeer, Michael Swanwick, Liz Gorinsky & Nisi Shawl, Exhibition Hall (Issue #4 — but warning! The PDF is chockful of steampunk photos & consequently nearly 7Mb). The review mainly references Nisi’s eye-opening statements on the apparently-almost-obligatory whiteness of steampunk, which of course ends in a challenge to writers to come up with new, exciting, multicultural steampunk stories. Nisi inspired me. I for one plan on investigating this further!

the best panel I’ve ever been to on the subject of Steampunk was at the World Fantasy Convention over Halloween weekend. [snip]
There’ve been hundreds of Steampunk panels. I was on my first in 2003 at the Seattle Westercon with Alexander Irvine and Gordon Van Gelder. This one dwarfed that one.

Chairing that panel was one of the all-out highlights of 2009 for me. There was such a buzz in the audience & so much thoughtfulness & care from the panellists. I’ll post some more notes about it if people are interested.