Yes, the news seemed inevitable, and here it is, CBS Drops Bomb On Jericho. The show that would not die is dying, after next week’s finale.

Better scifi/fantasy TV news follows:

Eick Adapts Children For TV

Caprica Very Different From Battlestar Galactica

SciFi Announces Scripted Pilots

Dadt Takes Sam Raimi’s “Wizard’s First Rule” To The Syndication Marketplace For A Fall 2008 Launch

Joshua Jackson is a Fringe Freak

Duane Simolke, author of Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure, winner of a StoneWall Society Pride in the Arts Award.

In Amazon Kindle’s Gay Fiction Chart, and its Genre Anthology Chart, The Acorn Stories: Kindle Edition is currently #1! It’s also the #2 book for gay short stories in general, not just Kindle eBooks. Brokeback Mountain is passing it up there as #1.

Acorn isn’t one of my scifi/fantasy books, but the eBook of Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure has also been charting recently.

Sf/f/h in the Kindle Gay Fiction Top 10 follows: Without Reservations (by J. L. Langley), #4. Eternal Darkness (by Rob Knight), #5. Vintage: A Ghost Story (by Steve Berman), #6. Falling, #7. IM (by Rick R. Reed), #9.

(Amazon’s charts update hourly.)

The wind blows colder now.
Did I dangle myself on a string
that would soon become my noose?
Did I lock myself
in the vault I robbed?

As I tend gardens around
this mansion like my former home,
I seek the shadow
of its Victorian columns.
Still, I feel the cold,
as if the mansion itself produces
chills, fear, a presence.

I hear someone laugh
as the new owner escapes to his job.
But he lives alone,
and that phantom
gliding past the window,
ruffling the curtains,
lacks substance.
It doesn’t seem real enough
to laugh.

The mansion is laughing,
knowing the owner might become
someone else’s gardener.

From my book Holding Me Together: Essays and Poems.

 

I originally mentioned the premiere of New Amsterdam repeating tonight. Actually, it's a new episode, Golden Boy! I enjoyed the premiere, and look forward to getting to know the main characters better.

From SciFi Wire: Amsterdam Has Strong Debut. That article includes sad news about ratings for Jericho.

Also from SciFi Wire: Amsterdam Lives to Die.

—Duane Simolke, author of the gay-themed novel Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure.

Heartbroken? Involved with someone who only calls you when no one else is available? Feeling kicked around like a scifi series on the Fox network? John Amsterdam knows how you feel.

The delayed, delayed, probably shelved, and now heavily promoted scifi series New Amsterdam premieres on Fox tonight, returning with a new episode Thursday night, and then moving to Monday night. The main character (played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) looks good for a four-hundred-year-old cop, and seems to have acquired a clever sense of humor during his extended tenure.

Knowing how Fox treats scifi, they might keep moving this show around, and then cancel it quicker than you can say “Firefly,” but they’re short on scripted programming, so it might stand a chance. It looks interesting; visit the New Amsterdam site for photos and video clips.

(Photo: Jericho’s Skeet Ulrich.)

And speaking of cancelled scifi series, resurrected fan favorite Jericho runs right after New Amsterdam tonight, over on CBS.

—Duane Simolke, author of the gay-themed novel Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure.

Though I frequently came across her name as a highly recommended science fiction author, I missed out on Lois McMaster Bujold until recently, when I read Ethan of Athos. That scifi adventure involves a man from an all-male planet who uses technology to provide children for his world's population. Ethan happens to be gay; many of the other Athosians simply practice celibacy.

Unfortunately, something goes awry, and Ethan must leave Athos on a mission that will cause him to rely on a woman for help. Despite the strange plot and the comical tone, Bujold delivers an exciting story and characters that seem real. I like that she doesn't remind me of any other writer.

As someone who enjoys reading (and writing) science fiction or fantasy novels with queer themes, I suggest this novel, as well as Wraeththu (by Storm Constantine), Cinátis (by Ronald L. Donaghe), The Left Hand of Darkness (by Ursula K. Le Guin), Stealing Some Time (by Mark Kendrick) and The Handmaid's Tale (by Margaret Atwood). Other readers could suggest more, but I loved those and plan to read many related titles.

Read more about Bujold's books at her official web site.

--Duane Simolke, author of the gay-themed novel Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure.