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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 28, 2005 at 12:00 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Exceptionally strong old-school space opera detailing humanity's first contact with an alien species.
MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Lord Roderick Blaine, fresh off his promotion as captain of the INS MacArthur, is asked to intercept and contact an alien probe entering the New Caledonian system for a remote and un-explored system called the Mote. Things don't quite go as expected, and soon Rod, and his crew, are sent to the More system to make contact with the Moties.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Well written, 'hard' SF space opera. Unique aliens and society. A page turner.
CONS: Devolves into diplomatic/political intrigue.
BOTTOM LINE: A very strong first contact novel that more than lives up to its Hugo Nomination.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday February 27, 2005 at 7:58 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

This is what happens when the intelligentsia reads comic books.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 27, 2005 at 6:59 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

A retrospective on the last 15 years of technological innovations viewed from 2020 - that's the concept explored by Peter Cochrane in his Uncommon Sense article on silicon.com dated Dec 16 2004.

You might consider his ideas for 'what will change' as whacked, but imagine how hard it would have been to predict the technology changes that went on between 1985 and 2000? The internet emgerged, PCs and cell phones became ubiquitous, and the IT business landscape change dramatically.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Sunday February 27, 2005 at 11:16 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Reads like classic science fiction.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Helward Mann discovers the true nature of the world outside of the traveling City Earth.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Excellent sense of wonder and mystery, multiple plot threads that were equally interesting, great premise, immersive.
CONS: Ultimate explanation of events somewhat lacking.
BOTTOM LINE: I enjoyed the heck out of this book.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 27, 2005 at 2:35 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Ran across this website that might be of interest to some. The name says it all: SciFiScripts

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 26, 2005 at 8:48 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

You've wanted it. You've waited for it. Now its finally happend. Now you too can own The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. Every single Calvin and Hobbes strip ever produced is in one, handy volume. Relive the days of Spaceman Spiff, Transmogrifiers and chainsaws.

I so want this.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 25, 2005 at 8:22 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

I know, this is an unusual thing. The lack of actual SF on SciFi makes you wonder why they call it that now, but they have done something interesting, and dare I say, internet aware. I'm not just talking about the new, improved, excellent Battlestar Galactica series, but also about the supporting things they've done on its website (well, except for the fact they use flash as their menu system, that sucks).

First, did you know you can now watch the first episode, "33", online and without commercial interruption? Well you can. And this is a great thing. The next logical step is to make the episodes available for download by the fans....

Second, did you know Ron Moore has a blog? He does, and he isn't afraid to answer viewer questions or to give insight into the give and take that occurs during production. Its quite good. And, even better, they have an RSS feed.

These two things show that someone at SciFi has a clue about fans want to watch and interact about a show. I must give mad props to the BG homies at SciFi for a job well done.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 25, 2005 at 8:03 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

A brief survey of upcoming/recently released SF(ish) games.

• Unreal Championship 2 - UC2 looks like an intriguing game. It's going to try to combine the FPS genre with the fighting genre. Some of the moves look rather cool, but I'm not sure how this will actually play out. How often do you end up in melee range in a FPS? Still, it looks good. Xbox only.
  
• Oddworld Stranger's Wrath - The latest incarnation in the Oddworld series. This one provides a mixed 1st person/3rd person view and adds a more FPS feel to the adventure series. The art in this game looks really cool, with a western meets alien species feel. Again, Xbox only.
  
• LEGO Star Wars - Its LEGO. Its Star Wars. Whats not to like? You cut your opponents in half with lightsabres. LEGO Darth Maul looks sweet. I'm expecting this game to be a lot of fun to play, especially if you can off Jar-Jar. All platforms.
  
• Republic Commando - Yet another Star Wars themed game, onlywithout Gungans. You are the commander of a four person clone warrior commando squad. You get to fight the seperatist army. The demo was fun. Although, Scott may say this isn't SF since its just Ghost Recon in space....PC/Xbox.
  
• Nexus The Jupiter Incident - Reminiscent of Homeworld, only without the resource gathering. Nexus is a tactical fleet simulator where you command capital ships in space. Excellent, and it looks great too. PC only.
  

These all look good. I may have to try them out, and I think I will be getting Republic Commando.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 25, 2005 at 4:22 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

It's all business on the set of War of the Worlds, where Tom Cruise has set up a Scientology tent where he can lull the cast and crew into conformance with a "glorified mini-massage".

As Scott might say, L. Ron hubbard would be rolling over in his grave if he were actually dead and not pretending to be so for tax reasons. :smiley1:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 25, 2005 at 3:34 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Not that I troll anti-Star Wars sites or anything.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 25, 2005 at 3:27 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Country Music Television has posted an ad for "Vice President, CMT Dukes of Hazzard Institute". Job requirements are to watch Dukes of Hazzard every weeknight on CMT, know all the words to The Dukes of Hazzard theme song and write the Dukes of Hazzard on-line blog for CMT.com.

It pays $100,000.

Let me write that with words: One-Hundred-Thousand Dollars.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 25, 2005 at 1:24 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

I alluded to it in a previous post, but thought that this might make a good topic for discussion.

"Booksplitting" is the process where a publisher will buy a manuscript for a single book, split it and publish it as 2 (or more) physical books. A good example here is Scott Westerfeld's manuscript for a novel called Succession being split into The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds. (See the review of the latter for some insight of the process by the author's wife - also an author.) Another example is John C. Wright's whose Golden Age story was published as three separate volumes. (See our interview for Mr. Wright's point of view on the subject.)

Earlier this week, Rick Kleffel wrote up a rant that talks about booksplitting (and, to the best of my knowledge, is the first to use that term). His piece was most recently addressed by Tor Books editor Patrick Nielson Hayden who defends the practice.

I'm of mixed mind here. I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of the publishing business or the book market, so I believe the usual arguments of publishers maximizing profit. Certainly, that's sound business sense. More money for them means being able to publish more (hopefully) quality stories. As long as readers keep buying books at $25 a pop, the publishers will gladly sell them. Until consumers send the message that they are overpriced, they would be foolish to do otherwise.

At the same time, from a reader's perspective, paying $50 (2 hardbacks @ $25 each) for something that could easily have been printed as a single book stinks. I've heard the argument that readers are unwilling to pay $50 for a bigger book from an unknown author. That is a weak argument in my opinion because Neal Stephenson's 900-page System of the World doorstop sold for only $28. And he's a well-known author. Are publishers expecting me to believe that Westerfeld's Succession would not have been sellable as a single 635 page book? (And that's if the large type of the split books was used - fewer pages required if a normal type size was used.) I'm not rich (or brazen) enough to support my biblioholism at $25 a hit. As I stated before, I was lucky enough to find both hardback Succession books at bookcloseouts for under $15. Maybe the occasional reader is willing to pay $25 every now and then for a 300-page book with a larger typeface, but this sf fan sees the practice of booksplitting as an impediment to getting crunchy sf goodness to the masses.

What do others think about booksplitting? Does it matter to you at all? Would you rather have the bigger single volume or multiple smaller ones?

Uh-oh. I think I feel a poll coming on. (As it were.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 25, 2005 at 12:50 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

:) I added smiley support to the blog tonight.
:D It took a while, but I finally got it!
(6) Of course, since it's new, we'll probably abuse the bejesus out of it.
:-@ If that happens, there'll be hell to pay!

Commenters can also use the smiley images by clicking on the smiley image on the comments page.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 24, 2005 at 11:54 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

JP sent this link around via email last week, but I thought I'd post it to the blog because it's just too funny not to.

Remember the popularity of Star Wars Kid? The newest thing is the Numa Numa Dance Kid.

It's been picked up by major media outlets (including CNN and VH1's Best Week Ever) and viewed more than 1 million times according to the Numa Numa Kid's website. He's a 19-year-old named Gary and he now offers a version with subtitles. (Lyrics here. You know you want 'em to sing along, Numa Numa fanboys.) For those (like me) who can't get the song out of their heads (like me) and want to know, the song is "Dragostea Din Tea" by O-Zone. For those who want more (who doesn't?), this guy did a lot of research. And don't forget the complete collection of videos and parodies! (Still new, surely more to come.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 24, 2005 at 10:29 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Here's an interesting read about a SF author Charles Stross' experiences in writing his latest novel The Family Trade. He likens it to writing a fantasy novel, a genre of which he is not too enamored. His rules for designing a successful fantasy series are:

Rule 1: Don't steal from living authors, their ecological niche in the publishing jungle is already occupied. (Alternatively: nobody needs another Robert Jordan.)

Rule 2: Steal from the best. There's no point stealing from the worst.

Rule 3: If you steal an entire outfit from one writer's wardrobe, people will mock you for being imitative. So steal from at least two, and mix thoroughly.

Rule 4: When choosing the themes to pilfer, only pick ones that you, personally, find interesting -- if you pick something boring you'll only have yourself to blame if it's successful and you end up chained to the desk to write more of it for the next decade.

Rule 5: However much you're stealing, make sure it doesn't look stolen. Genre publishing is a beauty show, and originality wins prizes (but not too much originality).

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 24, 2005 at 1:31 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

SciFi Wire reports that Battlestar Galactica will begin shooting new episodes in March, with the new season starting this summer. Excellent news. And, in what is sure to be a blow to Scott, all the cast has re-signed, including Olmos. It'll be interesting to see how they wrap up the ending of this season.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday February 23, 2005 at 3:44 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The Science Fiction Museum will induct 4 new members into its Hall of Fame on May 6, 2005. Nominations by museum members are being accepted through February 28 and the winners will join the ranks of current members.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 23, 2005 at 3:16 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

In case you don't know, Studi Ghibli is a Japanese film studio that produces animated movies. It is the home of the Japanese Animation Master, Hayao Miyazaki, of Spirited Away fame. Through a deal with Disney, three Ghibli films (two by Miyazaki) have just been released. The major title being Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind. You can find reviews at SciFi Weekley and at Anime onDVD. Looks like I will need to watch this one as its highly regarded as a film.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday February 23, 2005 at 2:42 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

That's right, you Star Wars fanboys who don't mind a lot of Ep. III spoilage will love this page, which shows Ep. III in a series of pictures, some animated. I'm not sure where he got access tot he film, or how long Lucas will let him keep this up. Until then, may the tingle be with you.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 22, 2005 at 6:05 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

They're integrating with Pizza Hut to sell more pizza! I guess that's one way to make money when the subscription numbers drop off. I wonder if all the FAT boys and girls out there (you know who you are, pudgy!) will sue SOE when they put on some major tonnage scarfing down the lard-laden, carb-ridden, sauce-drenched snack while sitting on their ever-immobile posteriors.

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Posted by Peter at Tuesday February 22, 2005 at 1:51 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Dark Horse comics will be releaseing a three-comic series that serves as a prequel to the upcoming movie Serenity, based on the canceled Firefly TV series. Firefly creator Joss Whedon says the comics will serve to bridge the gap between the series and the movie. Also, the movie will feature the dreaded Reavers!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 22, 2005 at 12:24 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The gaming world gets another "update" to the classic game Gauntlet. One thing to note is that this version is being done by John Romero (DOOM) and JE Sawyer (Icewind Dale - thanks to our spelling monitor - JP).

As a side comment, I do understand the marketability aspect of existing licenses, but I sometimes wonder why they apply a name like Gauntlet to this. I would think they could come up with a new license and start from scratch...

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Tuesday February 22, 2005 at 9:33 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Interesting ideas but hard to get into it.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An episodic story of the above-ground Rebels who fight the underground Hive society.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting ideas; quick-moving story.
CONS: One-dimensional characters; very dry writing style and lots of made-up verbiage made for slow reading;
BOTTOM LINE: I slipped into speed-reading mode just to get through it.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 22, 2005 at 12:07 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Good ideas made inaccessible by dry, unknown-word-laden writing style.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A standup citizen of the overly-complacent underground Hive society gives birth to a "freak" five-toed child, a throwback to years gone by, and longs to escape.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting ideas; quick-moving story.
CONS: Very dry writing style; hard to make sense out of some of it; I just couldn't get into this story at all.
BOTTOM LINE: I could not finish this book; I gave up after about 100 pages.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 22, 2005 at 12:03 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

The 36th AggieCon Science Fiction Convention will be held on April 21-24, 2005.

Guests include Elizabeth Moon, Michael Moorcock, Todd McCaffrey, Martha Wells and Joe R. Lansdale.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 21, 2005 at 3:49 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 21, 2005 at 1:01 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

IFilms as a teaser trailer online for A Scanner Darkly. Now you get to see the 'animation' in action.

I'm not sure about this movie after seeing the trailer. I'm especially turned off by drug-boy, errr, Robert Downey, Jr. While I think the look of the film will definately fit the whole reality falling apart theme, I'm just not sure the actors are up to it. Keanu acts like a tree stump. Again. Its like death and taxes...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday February 20, 2005 at 7:00 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The February issue of Locus Magazine contains a book summary of 2004. In, it they tally up some interesting statistics about sf/f book publishing; things like number of books published (by year, by publisher), original books vs. reprints, hardcover vs. trade paperback vs. mass market paperback, etc. To get an idea of the numbers, in 2004 there were 2,550 books published. Of those, 1,417 were new and 1,133 were reprints.

The conclusion of the article states that "Publishers are putting out too many books." They say that publishers seem more interested in quantity than quality and that smaller publishing houses suffer. The big guys, they say, seem to spawn a new imprint to meet a new trend.

What do you think? Are there too many books being published? Surely no one person is reading 2,550 (or even 1,417) books a year! (Insert Klausner Exclusion here.) Should there be fewer reprints to lessen the total? Or does the larger number mean more variety which is, ultimately, a good thing?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 20, 2005 at 10:35 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

But especially in our kids. Science Toys sells a wide range of science kits that you can help your 'kids' put together that demonstrate basic scientific principles. I especially like the film can cannon that uses Binaca as fuel. Excellent.

Lots of cool stuff here. Check them out!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday February 20, 2005 at 9:26 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Not the Seinfeld episode, but an upcoming 3 issue comic series that serves as a prequel to this October's SF movie, Serenity. I dunno, could be good. I have most the the Babylon 5 comics (ye, B5 fanboy, thank you), so I may pick these up.

And this is for Scott. It's easy to buy comics. Just walk into a comic store. Yes I know, you may run into Comic Book Guy, but you only have to deal with him for a few short minuter. And Bedrock City Comics is now located next to Half-Price Books at North Oaks Mall.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday February 20, 2005 at 9:17 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

A hat tip to Gravity Lens for the link.

A hilarious writeup on the various ways to destroy the Earth. These range from the scientifically possible to the science fictiony. All done using irreverant humor. Its good stuff.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday February 19, 2005 at 12:54 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Ye must call Cpt. Hooke Silver, Attourney and get the Booty Ye Deserve!

Yaaaaaarrrrrrr!

Darn ninjas...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday February 19, 2005 at 12:35 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

IFilm has trailers up for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 6 online. One of them, is 8 minutes of the unintentionally hilarious short, Mr. B Natural. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll marvel at Mr. B's androgenousness. Click the appropriately named 'Mr. B Lost Shorts' link.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday February 19, 2005 at 12:33 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: More of a literary experiment and character study than a story.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A collection of interwoven stories about the inhabitants of an apartment building in a near-future Dystopia.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Realistic characters in a well-imagined and wonderfully depressing setting.
CONS: More literary experiment than story. More character study than plot. Sometimes hard to follow.
BOTTOM LINE: Worth a read if you're looking for something literary and different.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 19, 2005 at 2:18 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

From our friends at /., I have found out we can now order pizza from EQ2. Thats right ladies and gentlemen, SOE has added the ability to order a pizza to be delivered to your real home from inside a game. What will they think of next...

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Friday February 18, 2005 at 11:34 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

SciFi Wire spreads a rumor that Lucas may make a cameo in episode III. Big Dumb Object, also posting this info, warns of spoilers if you decide to click on the link to the rumor. As of this posting, the image of Lucas in costume has been removed. Those LucasFilm lawyers are fast!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 18, 2005 at 4:15 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The forums are a-buzz with cries about the sf sky falling in May, what with the last Star Wars movie due and the end of Enterprise. Battlestar Galactica fans will like this quote:

"Don't go on about how fantastic the new Battlestar is, or about
Stargate: Chthulu, or Farsrcape. If these shows were so great, they'd
be on NBC in Fear Factor's slot"

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 18, 2005 at 3:43 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

[Via WorldChanging]

Here's one for Iain Banks fans...a fresh off the pres interview with Salon. if you don't have a site pass, there's a brief ad interim page.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 18, 2005 at 3:38 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

It seems that WB Kids is hemorraging viewers left and right. Once riding high with Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, they are now fighting Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network for eyeballs. So what do you do to rekindle that spark? Why you re-imagine the classic Loony Tunes characters of course! Excuse me while throw up.

Better now. This is totally insane. They new series will be called Loonatics, will feature crappy looking angular characters, and will have superpowers. That's right, superpowers. Because being able to pull a hammer out of nowhere or causing an anvil to drop on someone just isn't enough anymore. But lets let the WB guys speak for themselves.

Each new character retains personality quirks of the original. The new Bugs, for example, will be the natural leader of the Loonatics' spaceship; the new Daffy will remain confident that he is the one who should be in charge.

Please. To paraphrase Tom Hanks, there's no leadership in Looney Tunes. No leaders, just a bunch of frenetic, maniacal characters being involved in insane situations, cracking jokes. Now, Bugs may have been superior to Daffy, but the original cartoons weren't serialized and didn't have an 'ensemble cast' feel. This is a bad move.

The challenge now for Warner Bros. is to find a fresh way to tap the funny bone of an audience raised on Bart Simpson and SpongeBob SquarePants.

I don't think enjoyment of The Simpsons or Spongebob is mutually exclusive with the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. I know I like them all. My kids do too, especially since I got Volume 1 of the Golden Collection. Making the Looney Tunes like Spongebob or The Simpsons is another bad move.

The plots are action-oriented, filled with chases and fights. Each character possesses a special crime-fighting power.

Oh barf. There were chases and violence in the originals. No superpowers needed. What's next? A Bugs Bunny Begins movie?

That's enough for now. There's more in the article, but its too depressing to read. The originals worked because of the characters, the situations and the humor. I'd say you could move the original characters into a world like today's and have it work. In fact, they did that with the Animaniacs which worked out extremely well. You don't need to toss in superpowers or a new look to make it work.

And I can smell the Loonatics Collectible Trading Card Game from here...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 18, 2005 at 10:47 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: After years of waiting, Half-Life 2 comes on the scene and brings the story of Gordan Freeman back to the world. The game is a very good one and manages to really raise the bar with respect to character models (on a higher end video card) but maintaining playability on older cards. I have tested this both on my main machine and had it confirmed by a friend running a Ti4400 which is a much older card. The folks at Valve really maintained the excellent enemy AI and figured out that folks did not really like the giant floating head at the end of HL1. The game really consists of 3 parts: Halflife 2 the story and game, Counterstrike Source and HL2 Deathmatch (which was added after launch.) All 3 play differently, and I can say that the first two are fantastic. I am not much of a deathmatch fan, but from what I hear that is equally fun. The game is not without its downers though. The game has no "offline" mode and requires an active internet connection to play - major suckage. The load times between levels is a bit longer than I would like, and the ending was anti-climactic for me. I am sure that some will like it, but I am sure some folks think it fits well. Overall, I put this on my must have list along with Baldur's Gate (1 and 2), Half-life, and Knights of the Old Republic.

MY RATING:

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Thursday February 17, 2005 at 10:21 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

In a very weak attempt to cover the series of books I have read since November on my trip to Vietnam (and subsequently failed to review.) I am going to cover them all in a single post. It will be long and tedious, but well worth looking at as they were all very good books. Obviously the ones I have finished most recently will be freshest in my mind, but hey nobody is perfect (although I put money on somebody claiming perfection and this post will wind down into the pits of insults and random acts of violence.) I will also warn you that while these reviews seem Klausner-like, they are not Klausner reviews and these books are all quite good.

Without further ado - we begin the festivities:

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Thursday February 17, 2005 at 9:24 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Oh man, this is funny. The entire episode, in stills, with an.....alternate script. Note, this is not for easily offended. Or those without a sense of humor, about just about anything...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday February 17, 2005 at 8:47 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In the distant future, mankind has evolved into a post-human state, leaving only a small remnant of normal humans behind on Earth. Sentient bio-machines have been seeded throughout the outer solar system and have removed themselves from all human affairs. On Mars, the Greek Gods are resurrecting Greek scholars to help them study the Trojan War and to see how strongly that war hews to Homer's Iliad. Ilium begins the story on how these three strands intersect, and what the ultimate fate of humanity will be.
PROS: Filled with Simmons' usual cool ideas and humor. When things get going, its a rocket ride to the end.
CONS: Very slow start. Disparate story threads makes it difficult to keep track of what is going on.
BOTTOM LINE: Certainly recommend for fans of Dan Simmons. If you can get past the initial setup of the pieces, the book zooms to the end.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday February 17, 2005 at 4:46 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

If you thought Badger Badger was bad, wait till you see this guy. Tim informs me he saw this on the Today Show, where they compared it to the Star Wars Kid video.

Some people need to get out more...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday February 17, 2005 at 3:05 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Jason Taverner has it all, a popular singer and highly rated television host, he's riding high on public popularity. Until one day, he wakes up and discovers no one knows who he is or remembers his TV show or albums. He has become an 'invisible' man. Trying to establish what happened, Taverner runs afoul of the police, and the titular Policeman.
PROS: Strong on the alternate reality/true reality/paranoia angle. Decently realized future police state. Well done characters.
CONS: Some clunky writing. Rather preachy in parts. A few anachronisms were jarring.
BOTTOM LINE: A decent effort from PKD, with an ending that, while it may seem abrupt, stays with you.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday February 17, 2005 at 11:27 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Lord knows some of us around here do. Good thing that you can now purchase your own brain in a jar! This is really cool, if spendy. For some reason, I keep thinking of Steve Martin....

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday February 17, 2005 at 10:10 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

At Fantastic Metropolis, author China Miéville has listed 50 SF/F Works That Socialists Should Read.

Hmmm...another list, this time with titles where politics feature prominently. Not too promising for me given my dislike for political fiction.

However, in true biblioholic fashion, I own eighteen of the titles but I've only read three:

• Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights (the UK name for the trilogy we know as His Dark Materials) - I enjoyed this a lot. At the time, I said that these books restored my faith in fantasy as being an enjoyable genre. Although, I remember liking these books more for the story and less for the themes.


• Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. This book, to me, was a long, drawn-out chore. This could easily have been a third of its length and way more enjoyable. I remember also saying that this was political fiction disguised as sf.


• Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged - Another very long book. I remember enjoying the early parts of the book, but then later it got a bit tiresome (as in the 50-page Galt speech).

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 17, 2005 at 9:10 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Here's a story about a town in Nebraska that's so rural its population is one. But that doesn't stop them (and by "them" I mean "her") from having a 5,000 volume library! It's the personal library of her late husband whose lifelong wish was to make his book collection public. It does include science fiction but also some really older books:

How to Get Filthy Rich, Even If You're Flat Broke recommends reading obituaries so you can assume a dead man's identity to throw creditors off the hunt. Adventures in Science with Doris and Billy - circa 1945 - advises: "If you could fly in an airplane to the moon, you might reach it in about 100 days."

[Link via Mental Multivitamin]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 16, 2005 at 9:23 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

The Infinite Matrix has been updated recently and includes a new short story by Cory Doctorow called "I, Robot".

This continues Cory's running bit on naming stories after already-existing works of science fiction. I read in a his Locus interview that this was in reaction to Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury getting annoyed at Michael Moore for leveraging the Fahrenheit name for his controversial documentary. ("...to assert that the person who comes up with the meme has the right to control the condition as to who can riff on that meme is not just ironic, it's ludicrous!") Another title "borrowed" by Doctorow is "Jeffty Is Five", originally written by Harlan Ellison who Doctorow calls an "antitechnological guy".

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 16, 2005 at 8:21 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Microsoft is planning to release version 7 of its Internet Explorer browser. It will focus on better security although methinks there need to be a lot of bells and whistles in there to compete with everyone's darling Firefox [looks at JP and Kevin]. The article cites IE usage at 90% (down from 95%) and Firefox usage at 5%.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 15, 2005 at 3:10 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

From the folks over at Gadget Madness - we have a way to track the status of Abe Vigoda. Oh and apparently there is a plugin for Mozilla and Firefox that enables you to check his status daily - ah the internet - I love it...

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Tuesday February 15, 2005 at 2:37 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Forget Flash! Who needs it when you can play DHTML Lemmings?

[In preparing this post, I noticed a few Lemmings fan sites which actually made me stop and ponder whether we could otherwise harness the enormous amounts of energy expended by Lemmings fans and recycle it for the forces of good.]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 15, 2005 at 2:08 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

[via Locus Online]

The final ballot for the 2004 Nebula Awards:

NOVEL

• Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (Random House)


• Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow (Tor)


• The Knight, Gene Wolfe (Tor)


• Omega, Jack McDevitt (Ace)


• Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold (Eos)


• Perfect Circle, Sean Stewart (Small Beer Press)

• "The Cookie Monster", Vernor Vinge (Analog Oct 2003)


• "The Green Leopard Plague", Walter Jon Williams (Asimov's Oct/Nov 2003)


• "Just Like the Ones We Used to Know", Connie Willis (Asimov's Dec 2003)


• "The Tangled Strings of the Marionettes", Adam-Troy Castro (F&SF Jul 2003)


• "Walk in Silence", Catherine Asaro (Analog Apr 2003)

• "Basement Magic", Ellen Klages (F&SF May 2003)


• "Dry Bones", William Sanders (Asimov's May 2003)


• "The Gladiator's War: A Dialogue", Lois Tilton (Asimov's Jun 2004)


• "The Voluntary State", Christopher Rowe (Sci Fiction 5 May 2004)


• "Zora and the Zombie", Andy Duncan (Sci Fiction 4 Feb 2004)

• "Aloha", Ken Wharton (Analog Jun 2003)


• "Coming to Terms", Eileen Gunn (Stable Strategies and Others)


• "Embracing-the-New", Benjamin Rosenbaum (Asimov's Jan 2004)


• "In the Late December", Greg van Eekhout (Strange Horizons 22 Dec 2003)


• "The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Anne", Mike Moscoe (Analog Nov 2004)


• "Travels with My Cats", Mike Resnick (Asimov's Feb 2004)

• The Butterfly Effect, J. Mackye Gruber & Eric Bress (New Line Cinema)


• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry (Anonymus Content/Focus Features)


• The Incredibles, Brad Bird (Pixar)


• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson (New Line Cinema)

The award ceremony is April 30, 2005. The toastmaster is Neil Gaiman.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 15, 2005 at 1:07 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Science Made Stupid is the website companion to the book of the same name. It's an attempt to use humor to educate. Kind of like SfSignal. Except we don't educate. And we're not very funny.

[via SciScoop]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 15, 2005 at 12:19 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

I saw this in my RSS feed and I thought that John had finally comes to his senses and drop his SF books for some cool gadgets.

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Posted by Peter at Tuesday February 15, 2005 at 11:11 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

The editors of SF Site have posted their Best SF and Fantasy Books of 2004. Next week, the reader's picks will appear.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 15, 2005 at 8:58 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Well, the a@@-clowns are at it again. Recently, SF Signal has been inundated with a new (for us) flavor of spam called "trackback spam". To help combat this, we are using an MT plugin to disguise our trackback URL. Which works, except for the RDF section of the index template. To answer that hole, I had to remove the template tag that generates the RDF which, I think, just disabled trackbacks altogether. Grrr!

Still, better to prevent spammage via no trackbacks than to allow those a@@-clowns to spam us.

A@@-clowns.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 14, 2005 at 10:34 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 14, 2005 at 12:14 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

With the success of World of Warcraft, I think the folks at Sony Online Entertainment (SOE or as I like to call them, ScrOEw) is starting to get worried about their subscription base. This is evident in this new missive from their president, John Smedley.

But who can blame them? All I ever hear from WoW players is "Wow, this game is great!" or "Wow, this is game is so accessible!" Even friends whom I never thought would play an MMO game are playing and loving it. In Smed's message, he talked about the competition (Blizzard) and how they have to put forth their "A" game just to compete. While it seems like he's pep talking; to me, it's more like of a desperate cry to the his subscribers, "Please stay with us and give us a chance to fix the numerous ScrOEws. You are our livelihood, we've been too aloof and we're now willing to listen as long as you give us a chance..."

If I sound gleeful, you're right! Long time readers will know that I've often complained about their holier-than-thou disdainful attitude toward their customers. It seems they're finally waking up to the prospect that they need to get off their high horse. Bravo Blizzard!

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Posted by Peter at Sunday February 13, 2005 at 12:01 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

First there was Darth Tater. Now you can use a potato to make a Darth Vader Valentine!

What's next? Wookie Cookies? Oh, wait...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 13, 2005 at 12:14 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

As a recently outed Star Wars fanboy, I feel beholden - no compelled - to relay this bit of trivia from Sci Fi Wire about Ep III (fanboys call it "Ep III" don't they?):

Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) revealed to the official Star Wars Web site that his character will have the last word in the upcoming final prequel film Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, and in the same set on which he had the first line in Episode IV—A New Hope.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 13, 2005 at 12:05 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A must-read for dark fantasy fans of all ages.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A young girl discovers a home similar to her own and must rescue herself and the souls trapped by her "other mother".

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Vivid writing; great characters; disturbingly dark mood.
CONS: Magical things go unexplained (my usual complaint with fantasy).
BOTTOM LINE: An excellent read even for this casual fantasy fan.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 13, 2005 at 12:00 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Two more fictional name generators for you today. The first, The Hobbit Name Generator. And the second is The Elvish Name Generator. At least this site looks nice.

I'm "Falco Baggins of Bywater" (rock me Amadeus!) and "Nolofinw? An?rion".

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday February 12, 2005 at 10:27 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

In Vienna's Museumsquartier, a group of 'hackers' put together then displayed, an operational Turing Machine built using a model railroad. Its called the Turing Train Terminal, and it looks extremely cool. I would have loved to have seen this in operation. The site has a bit more info, not enough for my liking, but the PDF goes into more detail on the actual operation. See, you knew model railroads were cool, now you can tell your wife/GF your building a computational device in the garage!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday February 12, 2005 at 10:22 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Salon has an interesting article online that discusses the man behind everyone's favorite master of evil (Cthulhu), entitled Master of disgust. One of the main points being that, for many fans, the appeal of Lovecraft lies in the camp factor inherant in his writing. Now, I've never actually ready anything by him, but from the quotes in this article, I'd say H.P.'s Lix Score would probably be rather high.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday February 12, 2005 at 10:16 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Not that I...Oh, never mind. I'm a fanboy.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 11, 2005 at 9:50 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

At least, according to the Which Science-Fiction Writer Are You? quiz, I could be Hal Clement.

Except for the whole 'I suck at writing' thing. Otherwise, spot on!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 11, 2005 at 7:39 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

EvilAndroids.com is a new SF/F book review site. Sorta like MetaCritic, only focused on SF/F book reviews. Culled from all types of review sources, including blogs etc. Books get a good android if reviews are overall postive, and a big, fat evil android for overall negative.

Check them out! How can you go wrong when Gort appears twice in the header? But was he evil, or just misunderstood....

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 11, 2005 at 6:48 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

And I'm not talking about evil Spock. IGN has two interviews up about the forthcoming movie, Mirrormask by Neil Gaiman. The first is with Dave McKean, director and the second with the man himself, Neil Gaiman. Of note, this is a Jim Henson production and is supposedly in the mold of other JH films like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. Only more successful. Hopefully.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 11, 2005 at 4:08 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Ok, well, it is bad. But the Vogons of Hitchhiker's Guide are pretty horrible too.

I hope this movie doesn't suck eggs...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 11, 2005 at 4:02 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

SciFi Wire has posted some "secrets" about Speilberg's War of the Worlds remake - oh, excuse me..."re-imagining".

• The aliens will appear in the massive mechanical tripods described in Wells' book, and not the boomerang-shaped flying saucers from George Pal's 1953 movie of the same name. The tripods will be largely computer-generated.


• Tom Cruise's character, Ray, is a dockworker and father, not a scientist or military leader, as in previous incarnations of Wells' story.


• Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, stars of Pal's movie, will have cameo appearances.


• Spielberg's film will hew closely to themes and events in Wells' novel, featuring such elements as the red weed and the black smoke, as well as a cellar sequence right out of the book.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 11, 2005 at 2:17 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

As seen from the past. Some really cool Fantasy Planes, most conceived/dreamed of during the early part of the 20th Century. There is some seriously cool airplanes here. I especially like the Bel Geddes Airliner #4 and any of the Zeppelins. Truly, we lack such imaginative and cool airplanes today. All we have is that new Eurpoean monstrosity, the Airbus A380. Not to be confused with the US monstrosities from Boeing. Why can't someone design a plane that looks cool as well as carrying a ton of people? And why isn't there airship service, where zeppelins are the cruiseships of the skies? I'd pay for an air cruise. You could go just about anywhere, I'd like to see a dumb old ship get Ayers Rock or Angel Falls!

This link made me think of Jeff at Gravity Blog cause he likes this kind of stuff.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 11, 2005 at 1:24 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Every now and then I come across some website or other where someone names a book that "changed his/her life". Now, I'm not calling them liars, but personally, I do not know of any book that has changed my life. I would suspect that a non-fiction book might change one's life more easily than a fiction book would. Maybe since I mostly read fiction I have not had the experience of reading a life-changing book. Then again, some people claim that a fiction book changed their lives, so who knows. (Links to these postings escape me at the moment unfortunately.) I could easily see how some authors could easily claim that there's one book that pushed them toward their chosen profession, but I cannot make the same claim. At least I don't think so.

The question I have is: Have any of YOU ever read a book that has changed your life?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 10, 2005 at 9:10 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

[Link via Eternal Golden Braid]

Lord of the Rings humor...animated GIF style.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 10, 2005 at 3:59 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Ok, I happened to be traipsing over multiple blogs. When I ran across one on the Houston Chronicle. Here they had a link to this somewhat interesting news clip from KLAS TV, about the science of teleportation. If you want, they also have a video clip there so you can hear the words come straight from the "scientist" hired by the Air Force to do the study. They discuss different issues, including whether or not you are who you started out as after the "teleportation". Of course they say there is no way to know because there is no biology of consciousness. You won't believe this but he was criticized as a crackpot!!!! Hmmm, maybe all the comparisons to movie teleportation like Stargate didn't help his credibility . . . On another note he is from Las Vegas but the story did not say if he worked at "Area 51".

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Posted by at Thursday February 10, 2005 at 12:31 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

In the first case of its kind, game company Tecmo (Ninja Gaiden, the Dead or Alive series) is suing game hackers for modifying their games by changing the appearance of game chracaters.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 10, 2005 at 10:40 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Tobias S. Buckell has completed a survey of genre author advances. The results reflect a sample size of 74 writers and are broken down in various ways.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 10, 2005 at 10:16 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

The SciFi Channel has renewed the new BG for a second season.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 09, 2005 at 3:09 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

JP and I are embarking on a "1975 Do-Over" reading project. (Seeing as how we were both under 10 years old at the time, it seemed like a good place to start. That, and the selection contains no mid-series titles or books we disliked.)

We will be reading all of the best novel nominees for the 1975 Hugo and 1975 Nebula awards. If anyone wants in, let us know. The plan is for each reader to review each book and, when we are finished, see if anyone got robbed. The whole project should take at least a couple of months. Stay tuned.

The nominees are:

1975 HUGO AWARD NOMINEES FOR BEST NOVEL

• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hugo Winner)


• Fire Time by Poul Anderson


• Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick


• The Inverted World by Christopher Priest


• The Mote In God's Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (Nebula Winner)


• 334 by Thomas M. Disch


• Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick


• The Godwhale by T. J. Bass

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 09, 2005 at 1:40 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

This month's Locus Magazine feature on Neil Gaiman spawned a special offer to either get the issue postpaid or get it free with a paid 1 year subscription.

Also, Gaiman has posted his Cthulhu story "I Cthulhu" at his website.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 09, 2005 at 8:54 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

In a word: INDEED...

I hope the SFSignal Continuum will pardon this transgression and minor abuse of my posting power.

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Posted by Peter at Wednesday February 09, 2005 at 8:40 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

I'm not sure the world needs another map website, but Google Maps sure do look nicer (less cluttered). Type in a zip code to zero in on an area. Oh look! That's where I live!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 08, 2005 at 1:50 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Ever notice that comics are becoming more an more adult-themed? The article Hey Kids! No Comics! notes that lack of comics aimed at kids.

I remember being a youngster, riding my bike to the local 7-11, and spending all my hard earned cash on comic books (in 35 cent increments). Looking back, I think this is what fostered my love of reading. That and the bizarre ads they contained.

Is it me, or were comic readers back then either DC-only fans or Marvel-only fans? I was all over DC what with Superman, Batman, The Justice League, The Legion of Superheroes, etc. I never really got into the Marvel side of things. I'm sure that says something about me psychologically, I'm just not sure what.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 08, 2005 at 1:09 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Reason Magazin has an interview with author Neal Stephenson. It focuses on his Baroque Cycle trilogy, but also covers a lot of other ground. Stephenson is his usually erudite, humorous self. Its an entertaining and informative read.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 08, 2005 at 9:28 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Check out the Republic Commando director's cut trailer for the upcoming Star Wars themesd tactical shooter. Aside from the goofiness of calling it a 'director's cut', this game looks fun. And based on the demo, it is fun. Now, the game really only covers part of one level, but that was fun to play. The real long term funability of the game will rest in the different missions you have to undertake. I'm hoping for a large variety, or else I see it becoming tedious quickly. Hopefully, they won't take the easy way out and will give us a fun, challenging game. And those Republic Commandos look cool.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday February 07, 2005 at 8:22 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

After seeing the trailer for this bad boy, I am very much interested in seeing this on DVD. Now you can get your own copy as a 3 disc special edition. Order now and order early...

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Monday February 07, 2005 at 12:05 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

As my inner fanboy cries out, I have been hesitant to buy SW Battlegrounds as it was pretty expensive and not many folks were playing. Meanwhile, I know several folks playing BF1942, and I saw a link for this mod: Galactic Conquest. I have not tried it but it does look interesting...

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Monday February 07, 2005 at 11:05 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 07, 2005 at 12:48 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Successful combination of humor and horror.
MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The tagline of the movie says it all: "A romantic comedy. With zombies."

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Humorous and gory at the same time.
CONS: Occasionally predictable.
BOTTOM LINE: A fun film. With zombies!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 05, 2005 at 12:01 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Continuing the theme I started in a previous post concerning book buyers being Hunters and/or Gatherers, I wanted to formally posit John's Law of Buying Books:

John's Law of Buying Books: The price of a book is directly proportional to the selection offered by the bookstore that sells it.

In other words, bookstores with larger selections usually have a higher price. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are great on selection, but many books offer little or no discount. Overstock stores (like bookcloseouts.com or overstock.com) offer excellent prices (50% - 80% off retail) but offer a much narrower selection.

This is not a hard and fast rule, mind you. There are exceptions. To which I might augment the Law with the Corollary of Tiers, which states:

Corollary of Tiers: Bookstores usually fit into one of these levels:

• Best bargains: Overstock stores (bookcloseouts.com or overstock.com)


• Good bargains: Used bookstores (usually 50% of cover price)


• Little or no bargain: Big-Name Stores (B&N, Amazon)


• Overpriced: Book Collector stores

These rules are bad news for Hunters but good news for Gatherers. Hunters, seeking the one title for which they are a-jonesin', will do better at Amazon or the local brick-and-mortar retailer. Gatherers, browsing the shelves without a clear target, will do better at the overstock and used stores.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 04, 2005 at 3:13 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

And not that Steven Spielberg thing, but the other one. I like the Victorian look to it and I am very interested to see how they do with the story...

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Friday February 04, 2005 at 11:39 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Tangent, a website focusing on reviews of short sff, has a new look. And it's much easier on the eyes, too.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 03, 2005 at 1:36 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Free Speculative Fiction, a great site for...free speculative fiction..., now offers pointers to this year's Nebula nominees for novella, novelette and short story.

Novellas

• "Walk in Silence" by Catherine Asaro


• "The Tangled Strings of the Marionettes" by Adam-Troy Castro


• "The Cookie Monster" by Vernor Vinge (also a Hugo Nominee)


• "The Green Leopard Plague" by Walter Jon Williams (also a Hugo Nominee)


• "Just Like the Ones We Used to Know" by Connie Willis (also a Hugo Nominee)

• "Zora and the Zombie" by Andy Duncan


• "Basement Magic" by Ellen Klages


• "The Voluntary State" by Christopher Rowe


• "Dry Bones" by William Sanders


• "The Gladiator's War: A Dialogue" by Lois Tilton

• "Coming to Terms" by Eileen Gunn


• "The Strange Redemption of Sister Mary Anne" by Mike Moscoe


• "Travels With My Cats" by Mike Resnick


• "Embracing-The-New" by Benjamin Rosenbaum


• "In the Late December" by Greg van Eekhout


• "Aloha" by Ken Wharton

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 03, 2005 at 11:14 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Locus columnists Jeff VanderMeer and Claude Lalumière offer up their Best of 2004 lists.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 03, 2005 at 10:59 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Here's a comic book style version of the whole Greedo Shot First fiasco.

[Link from MemePool]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 03, 2005 at 12:12 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

With a whimper. Seem poor ratings finally made Paramount throw in the towel and cancel Enterprise. I know I couldn't get into it. Even this season. Watch Battlestar Galactica instead for actual, really good SciFi.

Pray that whatever the next incarnation of Star Trek is doesn't suck dingoes kidneys.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday February 02, 2005 at 4:22 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The Alien Online is serializing an extract of Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire. Get a taste of one of the sf best books around. (Just don't get me started on how the publisher forced this excellent book to be published as two short volumes when it could have easily been published as a single volume.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 02, 2005 at 2:57 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

More awards...

The Clarke Award honors the best UK-published SF novel. The 2004 nominees are:

• Ian McDonald, River of Gods (Simon & Schuster)


• China Miéville, Iron Council (Macmillan)


• David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas (Sceptre)


• Richard Morgan, Market Forces (Gollancz)


• Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveller's Wife (Cape)


• Neal Stephenson, The System of the World (Heinemann)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 02, 2005 at 2:53 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Shane Ivey of Revolution SF humorously ponders the sf-ness of primetime shows Lost, Alias and 24.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 02, 2005 at 2:49 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The Internet Review of Science Fiction is a year old. Here are the contents of the latest issue:

• Editorial - It's Our Birthday!


• Interview - An Interview with Michael Moorcock


• Feature - The Best Short Stories of 2004


• Con Report - A Report from Archon 28


• Sub-Genre Spotlight - Steampunk


• Essay - So What Exactly Is Fantasy?


• Essay - Raygun Carnage


• Essay - Deciphering the Text Foundations of Traveller


• Review - The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson: A Review in Three Acts


• Review - The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm


• Review - Murder of Angels by Caitlin R. Kiernan


• Review - Short Reviews of Short Fiction

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 01, 2005 at 5:42 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Since JP is hesitant to accept his inner fanboy, I have saved him the horror of posting two Star Wars related entries in a single day. Scott Niven over at The SaltwaterPizza Blog has crafted a list of questions that every Star Wars junkie should consider the answers to. I suggest you meander over there and take a look see...

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Posted by Tim Zinsky at Tuesday February 01, 2005 at 2:00 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Nothing says Star Wars geek like a genuine Darth Vader Figural Mug. Well, that and trolling Star Wars sites for scraps of SW news. Which I don't do. John mentioned this one to me. Yeah.

On the plus side, it is dishwasher safe and lead free. Apparently, for Vader, lava = bad, dishwasher = good. If only Anakin had fought Obi Wan over a large Whirlpool GU2600XTP, then history would have been forever changed....

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 01, 2005 at 1:36 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The latest edition of the SF Site has some items of note:

• A brand new discussion forum.


• Part one of an interview with Susanna Clarke, author of the well-received Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.


• It's still not too late to vote for your favorite books of 2004. The Annual SF Site Readers' Choice: Best Read of 2004 deadline is February 11, 2005.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 01, 2005 at 10:06 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Microsoft launched their new search engine today. Search types include web, news, images, Encarta and desktop. Desktop search, allowing you to do local machine searches, requires the installation of MSN Toolbar Suite Beta. The tool is geared towards "answers" and not just links, according to one VP. That's just in case the letter from Bill Gates wasn't enough for someone I guess.

So, as always, my acid test for a new search engine is "science fiction". The results are as expected. The "science fiction" image search yields a different set than the Google result set. And the Encarta results provide even more sf goodness.

The corresponding news search is interesting - page 2 led me to a story of Gunslinging Robots. Gunslinging Zombie Robots would have been cooler, but hey, not bad for the first day. Curiously, Gunslinging Zombie Robots yields no results on MSN but 194 Google hits. So it would seem that MSN is doing some filtering, trying to weed out what it determines to be noise. Searcher beware! (Caveat Searcher?)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 01, 2005 at 9:03 AM
© 2005 SF Signal