SF Signal: SF Tidbits for 1/30/07

SF Tidbits for 1/30/07

The BBC is animating Doctor Who in a 13-part adventure called The Infinite Quest. [via Forbidden Planet]

Velcro City Tourist Board lists an incomplete bibliography of worthwhile science fiction and genre criticism culled from a new website/forum set up by Gabe Chouinard to discuss such matters.

Free fiction at Analog: Queen of Candesce (part I). [also via VCTB]

CBS has picked up two SF pilots: Babylon Fields, an hour-long zombie-themed comedy-drama, and Twilight, a drama about a vampire private eye who's dealing with the fallout from being immortal.

Literary Kicks says Books are Too Damn Expensive.

Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy will host Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier, a History Channel documentary special that will take a look at the 40-year history of the venerable SF franchise, on Feb. 19 at 9 p.m. ET.

Make shows us How to make an invisible book shelf.

A few new additions to the list of sf/f authors who blog: James Barclay, Jeffrey Carver, Paul Di Filippo, Mark Morris, Susan Palwick, Brian Ruckley, Ryk E. Spoor and Steph Swainston.

Twilight!? Oh, for God's sake, Forever Knight meets Angel. Note, from the SciFi Wire page, "the central character contends with foes in the vampire world and a budding love for a mortal."

As to books costing too much, I disagree. The price cited, $28.00 for a hardcover, in 2006 dollars, equals slightly less than $5.00 in 1967 dollars. I use 1967 dollars because that's the year I graduated from HS and started spending my own money on things like books. As I recall, $5-$6 is about right for a hardcover novel in that era. This compares with the current price of a paperback, mass market original for $8 2006 dollars being equal to about $1.40 in 1967 dollars. This also seems about right, given the respective average page counts. As I recall, the mid-60s marked the rise of the $1.25 and $1.50 mass market paperback. I still have a 1966 edition of Stranger In A Strange Land that cost 95 cents. Of course, that was when I was working as a gofer at Franks Nursery for 75 cents an hour.

Posted by Tim Morris on Tuesday January 30, 2007 at 9:35 AM

My problem is that while 1967 books prices have been translated into 2007 book prices, my salary has been translated from a 2003 range to a 1995 range.

And they say time travel is impossible.

Posted by Fred Kiesche on Tuesday January 30, 2007 at 11:54 AM