It’s been seemingly quiet on the publishing front here at Crazy 8 Press. We had a flurry of books released around Shore Leave and our second anniversary.

Looking back, 2013 was a solid year for this outfit. We welcomed Russ Colchamiro and Paul Kupperberg to our family, each bringing some incredibly fun stories with them, from space fare to a murder mystery. We also released Rob Kelley’s Hey Kids, Comics, our first attempt at publishing a title not directly produced by one of us. We learned a lot from the experience and look forward to what may come next.

Peter David and Aaron Rosenberg both released new novels while Mike finally brought his very first novel back to print after several decades. Aaron, Paul, and I produced two volumes in our ReDeus world and had tremendous fun in the process.

Since then, we haven’t released much. But we haven’t exactly been idle.

First of all, Mike Friedman launched and succeeded with his Kickstarter campaign to fund his writing I am the Salamander, a brand new novel that will roll out early this year.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been talking and planning. We have definitely rededicated ourselves to getting the word out as far and as wide as possible, improving our sales and exposure. There are some incredible books available here but it feels like a well-kept secret and we want to change that.

So, in the coming months you will hear more about us and from us. Incrementally, you should start seeing changes to the website as we grow and evolve. Navigation should be easier and it’ll be more obvious when something new is here to read or buy. We’ve started adding in our personal appearances so you can find us and say hello.

Our publishing lineup is packed and everyone is at work on stories. Out-of-print titles by some of our writers will return, which is one of the benefits of self-publishing. All seven of us will have at least one new thing to offer before this year becomes a memory. We’re very excited about 2014 and our third year, as we grow in experience, only matched by our enthusiasm.

We hope you will enjoy the ride alongside us.

Although I’m a little behind this season I’ve really been enjoying Arrow, and based on how it’s developed so far I’m confident it will keep getting better and better. Agents of SHIELD is, well, let’s just walk on by and leave that to others to pick on.

But if we’re talking about genre shows that I love, where I just can’t get enough, the conversation begins and ends with Orphan Black, on BBC America.

Orphan Black is a dark, twisty, fast-paced conspiracy thriller with maybe the best performance … ever? … by an actress in any show, and I would argue the best of any genre show for sure. Tatiana Maslany is nothing short of brilliant playing nine — yep, nine — totally unique versions of the same character. I have no idea how they pulled it off, but man oh man they did.

But it’s not a one-woman show. It’s got a full cast of characters you either root for, or against — a shout out to Jordan Gavaris as Felix – and whereas they could have dragged out this 10 episode season into multiple seasons, just to milk it, they went full throttle and brought us so far so fast, without ever leaving us behind, that you just have to hang on try to catch your breath.

If there’s a problem with Orphan Black, it’s that they actually did pack so much story into season 1, it will be difficult to replicate the quality over season 2. But if there’s any show that might just pull it off, I’m putting my money on Orphan Black.

Tatiana Maslany?

Oh. Yes, please. Just tell me when and where Orphan Black is airing next, and I’m showing up.

The theme for this month’s blog posts by Crazy 8 authors is a look at television science fiction. The problem is, other than Doctor Who and the occasional Outer Limits or Twilight Zone rerun, I don’t watch any science fiction shows on TV…and please don’t bother recommending any to me, thanks all the same. The genre pretty much lost me after the clusterfornications that were Lost and Heroes. Why was I investing my time and sympathies with shows that didn’t know quite what they were or where they were going and would inevitably disappoint? So I save myself the aggravation and growling at my TV by just not watching it to begin with. My recent dip into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has confirmed the wisdom of that decision.

The problem I’ve always found is that the people producing science fiction TV shows aren’t usually very knowledgeable about science fiction. If they had ever read science fiction, it was probably back when they were kids. But seeing as they’re TV producers, it’s more likely their concept of science fiction was gleamed from the movies and television shows they watched growing up…produced by people who also weren’t very knowledgeable about science fiction. It’s like the way a friend described J.J. Abrams’ take on Star Trek, “It’s as though he heard a capsule outline of the original series as described by someone who watched it in 1967 and based his interpretation on that. Everything is more or less there, but it’s just not quite right.”

To TV and film producers, science fiction is just another medium, along with cop shows, forensic shows, medical and legal dramas, etc. Another example from Star Trek is the famous story of Gene Roddenberry’s use of the line “Wagon Train in space” in his pitch to the networks. For better than a decade, Westerns had been the most popular thing on the tube, so Roddenberry’s pitch line was an obvious descriptor for his show, and if’n you think about it, pardner, wouldn’t’a been so hard to transpose the Star Trek concept to a Western setting, the Enterprise swapped out for a railroad train with a company boldly going to lay tracks where no Europeans have gone before. Or as a period naval drama seeking out new civilizations during the age of exploration. It just shows the interchangeability of backdrops for a lot of ideas in the minds of TV producers.

Of course, what they–i.e. the producers and creators of TV “sci-fi”–consider science fiction is to us–i.e. longtime/lifelong readers of science fiction and even somewhat aware of the history of the genre–a joke. Even my print science fiction aficionado friends who watch televised science fiction and profess to enjoy much of it still spend more time tearing it apart for its lack of verisimilitude to “real” science fiction than praising it for its own merits. Fortunately for the producers, however, the True Fan is, other than as annoying creator of anti-buzz on the internet, irrelevant to the program’s bottom line. The True Fans’ numbers are too small to make a difference to the ratings (or box office) and, besides (Spoiler Alert!) they usually watch the shows anyway, if only to be able pick them apart so they’ll have something to complain about on Twitter…as if the Neilsen Ratings can distinguish between viewers who are tuned in because they like the show or out of sheer spite.

But what I want to see on the screen as a lifelong reader is what I’ve been reading all my life. A miniseries based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy? Bring it on! Except…do you know how dull that would be? Asimov’s books were largely talk and thought and, while there may be an exciting way to film it, it’s beyond my meager imagination to figure out how. I’d watch it if someone else solved the puzzle. But how many mainstream viewers would last through the first hour? TV and cinematic science fiction is designed to be a kind of shorthand version of the real thing, built with a general audience to whom “sci-fi” means ray guns, spaceships, and aliens in rubber masks in mind. Old timey non-SF conversant TV viewers remember contemporary programs like Star Trek and Lost In Space with about equal weight. Both were labeled science fiction. But then again, so were The Jetsons and It’s About Time.

So I’m not the right person to ask for my views on the latest “sci-fi” on the tube. I don’t think it’s gotten everything wrong–I call the iPhone my “Star Trek communicator,” their “replicator” has become fact with current-day 3-D printers, and, let’s face it, The Jetsons called a lot of things right about the civil and social applications of science, albeit draped in cartoonish trophs, like turning the fully-automated home into the character of Rosie the Robot-Maid–but enough so that I have, as I said, decided to opt out. Except, as I say, for Doctor Who. But that’s just the exception to my rule.

So…you have time to watch TV? Really? How do you do that? Does it involve a deal with an infernal being? Because, I mean, that wouldn’t be a total deal-breaker.

When I was young, in fact all the way up through high school, I watched prime time TV with a singular devotion. Not just science fiction but everything. Have Gun, Will Travel. The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. Colonel Bleep. Coronet Blue. Candid Camera. The Smothers Brothers. Captain Nice. I’ve Got A Secret. If I missed a show it was only because it was on at the same time as a show I was already watching, and in those days you didn’t have the option of a DVR.

On Saturday mornings I watched cartoons with near-religious fervor. If I didn’t start my day with a heaping helping of Jonny Quest, Heckle and Jeckle, and the Herculoids, I just didn’t feel right.

In college, all that went away. Suddenly I didn’t have a TV nor did I feel the need for one. I don’t know if it was TV or me that changed, but we were no longer a couple. We would run into each other at parties, exchange a few awkward comments, and gratefully recall other engagements. We had grown apart.

It happens.

Sure, there were shows I watched and enjoyed later in life. In some cases, enjoyed immensely. All In The Family comes to mind. The Star Trek programs, of course. Beauty and The Beast. Cheers. Hill Street Blues. Seinfeld. More recently, Big Bang and Madmen and Fringe, and Game of Thrones.

But it ain’t destination TV for me because there are so many other places I have to be, some of them rather unexpectedly, and I hate missing the odd episode and coming in the following week in the middle of a crisis I don’t understand. In fact, these days I seldom watch a dramatic series until it’s over and available on Netflix.

So right now, I’m the wrong guy to ask about Sleepy Hollow and Dracula and SHIELD. A few years from now, sure.

But now, not so much.

I watch too much television and these days, that means keeping up with what I like is difficult. Especially when people keep telling I have to try a series. My wife and I have begun to get a little draconian, dropping shows we’ve lost interest in or have outlasted their premise. But, here we are in December and most prime time shows are about to take a mid-season hiatus, letting us catching our breaths so it’s not a bad time to look back at the genre shows.

This month the C8 team will be taking a look at the newer shows and offering you our thoughts. First, let it be said that science fiction and fantasy television is alive and well, thriving across the cable box, showing up on many different channels from the major networks to the premium channels. That’s a major positive and with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon all joining the fray with original content, it won’t be long before genre shows start popping up. As it is, Netflix already has four Marvel Universe shows announced and in the works.

CBS’ Person of Interest has moved from speculative fiction closer to reality based on the revelations from Eric Snowden. While The Machine does not yet exist, data mining and drawing conclusions are alive and well. The series’ third season is stronger and keeps surprising us, especially with Carter’s long-planned death.

Over on NBC, J.J Abrams and Jon Favreau’s Revolution got off to a fine start, meandered for a bit and had a fine cliffhanger. The second season, though, feels as if it is spinning its wheels and the new pyrokinetic talents Aaron has demonstrated has the show veer far from its original premise., My biggest issue is that things blow up and people fight but every single cast member is devoid of character and the show never lets the characters actually talk to one another. Grimm’s third season is also stronger than its second although I could do without the entire European thread. It’s lightweight entertainment with an attractive and varied cast. I am not even going near Dracula since it has nothing to do with Bram Stoker’s character.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived with high expectations and we expected perfection right out of the gate but it’s taken the show five or six episodes to truly warm up. I think its biggest failing is its lack of sharp dialogue and strongly drawn characters, but they seem to be fixing it. It could use a little tighter connection to the cinematic universe and the Big Bad is lackluster but it has all the elements of a good show so I’m sticking with it. Similarly, Once Upon a Time drifted into aimlessness last season but this year it’s much better with some very surprising twists. But I do have my limits and haven’t gone near Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

On the other hand, I arrived with low expectations for the CW’s Arrow and was pleasantly surprised last season. Its second season is stronger, tighter, and smarter giving the CW demographic incredibly adorable men and women to ogle while delivering strong stories and evolving characters. I’m surprised at how much I’ve been enjoying it. On the other hand, much as I adore Payton List, I can’t bring myself to even try The Tomorrow People and won’t go near the mess that is Beauty and the Beast.

I’m late to Lost Girl on SyFy but am a quick convert. It’s also somewhat lightweight but damn is it sexy and has some interesting mythology to play with. That being said, it’s the only show I’m watching on the channel which a shame is considering its once great pedigree for compelling shows.  BBC America, though, seems to be where the action is at, letting us have Doctor Who, with its most excellent 560^th anniversary celebration. The one show I need to delve into is the well-regarded Orphan Black, a crowning achievement for the British company and, I gather, pleasant present for fans.

On the premium side, Game of Thrones continues to take its time showing us the perils of politics and remains a textbook example of how to adapt a book series to television. It and True Blood (admittedly, I’m two seasons behind here) continue to shine with good writing, strong casting, and taking advantage of the pay wall.

Sure, I have fond memories of the Gil Gerard Buck Rogers movie and TV show, and as a kid I loved the so-bad-it’s-good Flash Gordon movie with the Queen soundtrack.

And if you haven’t read it, the novel version of 2001 — which was actually a short story in 1948 but came out in novel form after the movie — is actually a lot more optimistic than what Kubrick did with it. And by the way, Kubrick’s version is incredible, although not the kind of movie I run back to very often. Too ominous.

For my money, the best prose-to-visual translation of sci-fi begins and ends with Blade Runner, from Philip K. Dick’s Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep?

The next question becomes … which version of Blade Runner? And my answer is … all of them.

They each have their subtle distinctions, and I’m not going to get into those now, but as a stand-alone, 2-hour movie, I just love the atmosphere, the noir tone, and the underlying question of what it means to dream.

And rarely has Harrison Ford been better.

It’s the kind of movie — and role — where I wish there had been an entire detective series of movies, with Harrison Ford essentially playing Humphrey Bogart, only in a hardcore, sci-fi setting.

There are plenty of other great sci-fi movies, but when we’re talking adaptations, for me … it’s all about Blade Runner.

I’ll never look at origami the same way again …