Suicide Girls is doing some reorganizing, and the budget for the Newswire is being cut in the process. The Geek in Review is a casualty of the downsizing, so for my final column today, I collected some of my favorites from the last year in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.
I’ll be honest: I’m sad that this is over, and I want to thank Sean, Missy, Helen, Erin, Gerry, and Christopher (who brought me here in the first place two years ago as an editor) for making me part of this tremendous community. This has been an incredible time for me, and I’ve really enjoyed working with everyone on the newswire. I’m proud of everything I did here, and it’s been an honor to share the masthead with people like Warren Ellis and Rob Corddry. I don’t know where I’ll take my geeky writings next, but I’m keeping my membership and will be visiting regularly, uh, for the articles . . . even if I’m not writing them.
I’m going to miss doing the GiR, but I’ll be able to look at some of the offers I’ve gotten in the last year to write for other magazines and publications, now that I’ll have a little bit more time in my schedule.
If none of that pans out, I have three Sci-Fi ideas sitting in my mental queue, and as soon as I finish this manga script, I’ll be putting all of my time and creative energy into transforming them from ideas into actual stories, with the intention of collecting them into one book to be released next year. I’m also planning to finish the first season of TNG reviews at TV Squad over the next couple of months, and put all of those into their own book, since the demand for that is pretty high right now. If you subscribe to the notion that everything happens for a reason, the end of the GiR, while sad for me in many ways, could be an enormous opportunity to write some things I’ve wanted to write for a very long time.
Sorry about the end, I am sure a cool new beginning will take its place. I started reading a series of books you might like that I didn’t see in you blog archive anywhere. The first book is called “Already Dead” by Charlie Huston.
Wil, you’ll succeed in whatever you decide to do! I know I’m looking forward to your next project.
aww, awesome column. And I agree, you’ll succeed in whatever you tackle next.
I’m definitely excited about your projects on the horizon. I saw your, Poshy, and Warren Ellis’ twitters about the cuts but didn’t really know if you’d been downsized. It sucks but I’m glad there’s very cool stuff to take the place of GIR. Hey, and you could always still write a GIR style article for WWDN:IX.
Thank goodness you’re releasing a full version of your TVSquard TNG reviews in bookform. I mean, asking you to sign my homemade version of your chapbook that I made because I couldn’t go to PAX to buy a real chapbook would have just been sad, right? *shifty eyes* Um, I mean I never, ever did such a thing as copy the reviews into a Word document, make a chapter page and bound it with an appropriately designed cover one day at work because I was bored and wanted an offline version to read. Yeah…
Anyway, sad to hear about the sad news, happy to hear about the happy news!
Cheers!
Sorry the position went away, good luck with whatever happens next.
Any coincidence between you posting this and the fact that SG’s currently offline due to excessive traffic? Let’s hope so…’tis a crime to take WW offline 😉
Anyway, glad to see there’s always a silver lining. You know we’ll all be wherever you go, right?
I will be one of the first in line for a coy of your original collection of sci-fi. A Collection of Awesome by Wil Wheaton. Rad.
I’m sad because an outlet to get more of your writing is closing, but not sad to hear of SG’s troubles. That organization is nothing but trouble…and I look forward to being able to better support you without having to support them.
http://www.apneaticmedia.com/ for more information.
That’s a bummer, but as you said, it has opened up other doors.
I was an old skool member of SG, and Shalome pointed out (about the time I was letting mine lapse)you were doing the column. It almost made me keep my membership, but I knew where to find you.
A geek in review here would be nice, as long as they don’t own the name rights to the column.
Everything does happen for a reason, as I had to remind myself today, and I’m sure you’ll have great opportunities in the near future.
And I, for one, am totally looking forward to a TNG reviews book. Wil Wheaton’s TNG Companion Handbook. Awesome.
I have to be honest, I’ve never read a single article of yours there for the simple reason that SG is run by disingenuous litigious people.
Someone posted a link, above, about their frivolous lawsuit against Phillip (Lithium Picnic).
I’m certain you’re aware of their reputation in the community. Knowing that you’ll land elsewhere makes me not upset to say that I’m glad to see the gig come to an end.
Wil, your column was the only reason I read Suicide Girls. It will be sorely missed.
I’m looking forward to the ST:TNG review book — I decided a while back to re-watch the series on DVD while reading your reviews; I figured it’d be fun to see them with your perspective fresh in mind. So hurry up and finish them, already! 😉
Oh, one other thing: any chance of getting your books published in electronic format? That’s about the only thing keeping me from buying them — I’ve gotten addicted to my space- and paper-saving ebook device (I have an 1150 from ebookwise.com). For a self-professed geek like yourself, it’s shameful that your books are all confined to paper!
Quite a bummer for me as I had only found Geek in Review a few months ago. I looked forward to it but at least I have WWDN as my homepage 🙂
Wil, I think this sounds like a great thing for you. It seems like you’ve stressed a lot this year about not having enough time or energy to keep all your balls in the air (heh heh…balls…), so this could provide you with just the respite you need to be able to pursue some of the creative ideas that have been piling up in your big, wonderful brain. Bon chance!
To quote SemiSonic:
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.(Although once I eventually get MY book finished, I’d have loved for you to review it, heck, I’d still like you to do that regardless…)
Okay, the fact that you’re going to put all of those TNG reviews into a bona fide book has just made my week, cause I’ve been dying for just that since I first discovered your reviews. Don’t stop with Season 1 though; if anything there’s even more snark to be found in Season 2!
For some reason the last couple months seem to be forcing a ‘transition phase’ on just about everyone I know. I’m hoping this wave of transitions will continue until it applies to, I don’t know, a certain important date in November… we could definitely use a big transition there.
In any case, letting go of the familiar and beloved is difficult, and you’ve had a fair share of goodbyes this fall/winter. I just want to say that you are handling these changes with an admirable degree of grace and aplomb, and are providing for your sons and your readers an excellent model for moving into the future with hope while maintaining an appreciation for the gifts (and lessons) of the past.
Thanks for all the fish, indeed!
Just to echo others, I always felt dirty going to SG to read your stuff. Not from the subject matter, mind you — hot naked punk rock girls are fine by me — but the fact that the folks who run the company are liars who treat the girls very poorly.
I’m sure as talented a writer as you will find something else soon.