I'm leaving for Christmas vacation soon, during which time I will not be posting, and there are several things I want to share before I head out. So today you're getting a blob of things. Tomorrow you'll get one too, but it wont be quite as bad.

Blogging in Sci-Fi
A few of Tor's weekly podcasts were about blogging. It's worth a listen no matter what genre you write. They talk about how blogs are the new generation of fan zines and much more. Brief, choppy summary: Editor Hayden does surf occasionally for articulate people, and then asks if they write fiction. Social networks more popular in Japan. You can use your blog as a promotional tool, but look at John Scalazi and John Freeman for how to do it. Avoid writing life stuff; use the blog as a compliment to your writing. They discussed which systems offer the best support and the technology aspects.

It was interesting, but hard sometimes to figure out who was talking, and hard to hear sometimes. Still, worth a listen, especially if you're thinking of starting a blog and are trying to figure out how to make it work.

People of color in fantasy literature
Fantasy Magazine had a multiple part round table discussion with:

• Moondancer Drake, a Cherokee writer of GLBT environmental feminist spirituality multicultural paranormal fiction.
• Keilexandra, a Chinese-Canadian writer of fantasy; mainly fantasy-of-manners-esque.
• Wendy Bradley, publisher and editor of British genre magazine Farthing.
• Christine Yao, a female Chinese-Canadian graduate student in English literature. Her academic interests are in epics, graphic novels, and issues of race and gender.
• N. K. (Nora) Jemisin, an African-American writer who’s had a number of fantasy short stories published in Strange Horizons, Helix, and elsewhere.
• Micole Sudberg, a white SF and fantasy writer who blogs on SF, fandom, and race.
• Debbie Notkin, former Tor editor and now proud dilettante. She chaired the first Carl Brandon Kindred Award jury. (She is also white.)
• Chesya Burke, an African-American writer. She’s written and researched many articles for the The African American National Biography, published by Harvard University and Oxford University Press. Her fiction has appeared Dark Dreams, Would That It Were, Voices From the Other Side, and more.

Legality of torrents
Those of us in the know have been watching Marvel and DC’s recent attempts to curb some of the torrent sites and get more control over the digital content. However, current copyright laws are a little confusing when it comes to digital media. CBR talked with an intellectual property lawyer about the legalities of downloading. If you want more background info, there are articles archived on CBR about it.