SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16TH
FREE AND OPEN TO ALL
Join Tachyon Publications at the SF Public Library Main Branch for
SPACE SHIPS! RAY GUNS! MARTIAN OCTOPODES!
Interviews with Science Fiction Legends
Editor Richard Wolinsky and authors Michael Kurland and Jacob Weisman!
Event is from 3:00PM until 5:00PM
****FREE AND ALL AGES WELCOME****
This will take place at the San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch, James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center – 3rd Fl
Booksigning follows discussion, and attendees are welcome to bring their own books from home for signatures.
Books will be for sale courtesy of Fly By Night Books!
Our wonderful podcast hosts from Soma FM will be recording the evening’s talk for later broadcast – they are listener-supported, commercial-free radio broadcasting to the world! Catch up on previous SF in SF conversations and reading at our dedicated channel
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
RICHARD WOLINSKY was born and raised in New York City. Armed with a BA (Philosophy) from SUNY Binghamton and an MA (Philosophy) from the New School for Social Research, NYC, Richard moved to the Bay Area in 1975 and began volunteering at KPFA-FM in May, 1976. (KPFA is the San Francisco Bay Area’s local NPR station.)
Wolinsky was editor/chief writer of the KPFA-FM (Berkeley) publication Folio, the flagship program guide of the Pacifica radio network, from 1978-92. From 1977 to 1995 he co-hosted and produced the program “Probabilities” devoted to science fiction, mystery and mainstream fiction. From 1995 through 2001, he co-hosted and produced the interview show “Cover to Cover,” going solo in early 2002, when it was renamed “Bookwaves.” Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopodes! is the culmination of decades in the field, bringing together in one place his interviews with the writers of science fiction still attracting fans today. Included in the book are interviews with Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Philip K. Dick, Margaret Atwood, Fritz Leiber, Frank Herbert, and many others.
“Cover to Cover” was originally co-hosted with Lawrence Davison, and later, with the noted science fiction writer, Richard A. Lupoff. He departed in 2001 to focus on his writing, but occasionally returned.
Richard Wolinsky’s interviews have been published in numerous venues, including the SF Bay Guardian, Heavy Metal, Mystery Scene Magazine, and such books as Feast of Fear: Conversations with Stephen King, The Louis L’Amour Companion, and Macabre II: Stephen King & Clive Barker. “Bookwaves” and a second show, “Arts Waves” are now syndicated through Pacifica’s Audioport website and can be heard online.
MICHAEL KURLAND in his own words…. “A plump, middle-aged man with greying hair and mild, hazel eyes looking out from behind wire-rim glasses, Author Michael Kurland has the perpetually nervous look of a rabbit invited to lunch at the Lions’ Club. He has been a teacher of obscure subjects to disinterested children, the editor of a magazine even more idiosyncratic than himself, a seeker of absent persons, a magical explainer, and guest lecturer at numerous unrelated events. But he has never wandered far from his chosen profession of scrivener for very long, since he finds the fawning idolatry of his fans a useful counterbalance to the disinterest of landlords and the disapproval of bank managers.
He is the recipient of two Edgar scrolls and was nominated for an American Book Award for his first Moriarty novel, The Infernal Device. Among his other works are The Last President (with S.W. Barton), Death by Gaslight, Ten Little Wizards, A Study in Sorcery, The Unicorn Girl, and Star Griffin. His most recent work of nonfiction, an idiosyncratic history of Forensic Science called Irrefutable Evidence, has enjoyed a European vogue. The latest Moriarty novel, Who Thinks Evil, is now in bookstores near you, if there are any bookstores near you. His works have been translated into Chinese, Czech, Danish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and some alphabet full of little pothooks and curlicues.
Kurland presently lives in a Secular Humanist Hermitage in a secluded bay somewhere between San Francisco and Los Angeles, where he kills and skins his own vegetables.” He’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
JACOB WEISMAN began his career in the science fiction field by publishing a zine, Thirteenth Moon, in high school. He resurrected it as a semi-prozine and published quarterly from 1992-96. He realized he could print books for the cost of the magazine run, AND THE REST IS HISTORY! He is the World Fantasy Award-winning editor and publisher at Tachyon Publications, which he founded in 1995, and is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Authors he’s published include Peter S. Beagle, Joe R. Lansdale, Patricia McKillip, Daniel Pinkwater, Jane Yolen, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, Nalo Hopkinson, Lavie Tidhar, Samantha Mills, and many others. He edits many of Tachyon’s titles, and is the series editor of Tachyon’s Hugo, World Fantasy Award, Nebula, Sturgeon, and Shirley Jackson Award-winning novella line. His writing has appeared in The Nation, Realms of Fantasy, the Louisville Courier-Journal, The Seattle Weekly, and The Cooper Point Journal.
Jacob co-authored the novel Egyptian Motherlode (Fairwood Press, 2024) with the Shirley Jackson Award nominee David Sandner, and can answer any question on baseball you put to him. (He also loves dogs, bebop, poke bowls, and his wife, Rina Weisman, who runs SF in SF.)
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The San Francisco Public Library Main Branch is located on the corner of Larkin and Grove, off Hyde, with entrances on both Larkin and Grove. Parking is available in the Civic Center Garage across the street, and the Civic Center BART Station is located a block away in the UN Plaza. The 19 Polk MUNI bus has a stop directly in front of the library on Larkin Street. Check the website 511.org to easily plan your visit with public transportation!
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SAVE THE DATES – COMING UP NEXT WITH SF IN SF!
Join SF in SF for these next authors on our calendar!
Sunday, November 16th – Book launch for SPACE SHIPS! RAY GUNS! MARTIAN OCTOPODS! Interviews with Science Fiction Legends! With editor Richard Wolinsky of KPFA, publisher Jacob Weisman, and author Michael Kurland – at the SF Public Library
Sunday, November 23rd – Calling all Dickheads (otherwise known as Philip K. Dick fans!) Join SF in SF with experts David Gill, David Agranoff, and author Rudy Rucker, along with publisher Jacob Weisman, in a discussion on PKD and Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? David Gill, the authoritative expert on PKD, will tie Dick’s life and writing process with David Agranoff’s expertise as the co-host of the PKDickheads podcast, and discuss the larger religious and philosophical questions the PKD’s work explores. Author Rudy Rucker, and Jacob Weisman, publisher of The Search for Philip K. Dick, by Anne Dick will join in as well. This event is free and open to the public – no need to RSVP!
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE EMAIL RINA AT sfinsfevents@gmail.com
We are beginning to book authors in for 2026! If you have a book or ebook coming out, please let us know!
