MiniClip is a website offereing free Shockwave games. There are a whole lot of games there - more than I checked out - but you should:

• Fight the forces of a little evil in 3-foot Ninja!
• Marvel at the sarcastic, high-pitched dealer of Blackjack Elf!


• Test your piloting skills in Space Escape!


• Lose yourself in the ambient addictiveness of Xraye!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday March 31, 2005 at 10:00 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

StoryCode is a database of story characteristics used to recommend similar books you might like. Readers rate a book on a number of points including genre & characters, plot, setting, atmosphere and personal views. Each trait includes a left/right slider allowing you to record your own impression. Then, the engine add your results to the collective and recommend a list of similar books that have similar values on those traits. Or, if you are shy about rating the book, you can simply get a recommendation by searching for a book you like and clicking the recommendations link.

This is a cool idea. I've seen other collaborative filtering engines that do similar things, but this seems more deterministic. In the matching up, anyway - the ratings in each characteristic are all subjective, natch. And there are a buttload of sliders to rate the book theoretically resulting in a better match. One of the random recommendations on their home page said:

[Iain Banks']The Algebraist shows an 83% StoryCode Match with [Frank Herbert's] Dune.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday March 31, 2005 at 9:17 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

I knew that Fantasy Flight Games was coming out with a board game version of World of Warcraft (they've already done two games based on Warcraft III), but I just learned that it will be in a box the size of Twilight Imperium 3! For those who don't know, TI3 comes in a REALLY big box (bigger than a bread box, but smaller than, say a pool table.) Alas, I have to links or screen shots to include.

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Posted by APEGamer at Thursday March 31, 2005 at 2:25 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Did we just get a visit from the future Mr. Scott? Because someone seemed to have come up with the formula for the infamous "transparent aluminum" a la Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

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Posted by at Thursday March 31, 2005 at 12:23 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

One for the George R.R. Martin fans...

A report from the Boskone convention (see entry #57), which GRRM attended, says that A Feast for Crows is still not complete but will be soon. The book will be about 1300 pages long when completed and will most likely be available in the UK first. The book has 19 point-of-view characters (the earlier books had 8, 9 and 10 respectively). There are many more details about the books in the link so fans will want to check it out.

I have yet to read any of the 3 books in the Song of Ice & Fire series but several friends have raved about it and I am anxious to get to it. But 1300 pages...Wow!

A previous post on bloated fantasy mentioned GRRM one of the violators. He is the one author who, until the bloated fantasy article, I never heard associated with bloated fantasy. (Solar Flare agrees.) What surprises me is that these books have not become the target of booksplitting.

[Link to The Citadel, the archive of A Song of Ice and Fire lore, via Professor Bainbridge]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday March 31, 2005 at 7:59 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Seriously, we're going to need a Cthulhu category soon.

[Link via Asimov's Forums]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday March 30, 2005 at 7:32 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

I think there is a general consensus that, over the years, heroic fantasy has porked out a bit. What used to be lean, mean tales of adventure have become bloated, overbearing doorstops. In his candid article, Seán Harnett examines this very problem and swings the accusation as to the cause of it from Tolkien to Moorcock. And just don't get him started on Robert Jordan.

This is a refreshing read if for no other reason than Harnett is not afraid to slam what he thinks is tripe. The guy just doesn't mince words.

[Link via Alien Editor's Blog]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday March 30, 2005 at 12:15 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: The promise of the intriguing premise failed to materialize into something interesting.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Under threat of extinction from an unfortunate placement of their planet's three suns, the centaur-like natives of Ishtar attack the natives of the safer regions while visiting humans, with their superior technology, look on.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting backdrop with intriguing planetary mechanics.
CONS: Story lacked interest for me; slow-moving; hard to read.
BOTTOM LINE: I gave up reading this after 75 pages (27% of the way through)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday March 30, 2005 at 12:02 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Don't get me started.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday March 29, 2005 at 4:40 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Two great tastes that taste great together. Star Wars and M&Ms. See the rise of the M&M'S® Chocolate MPire. Be sure to catch the ending, with a re-imagining of John's favorite part of the Star Wars teaser trailer....

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday March 29, 2005 at 1:05 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Bob Wallace wants a blaster and a sword. His reflections on sense of wonder, imagination and Edgar Rice Burroughs is a pretty good read. I think it resembles the early reading experiences of many science fiction and fantasy fans.

Alas, there is no one standout book in my own past that opened the floodgates of sf. It was more of a gradual thing. In sixth grade we read Tolkien's The Hobbit. I liked it enough to start Lord of the Rings outside of class but, if memory serves, I didn't finish it then. (I did about ten years later.) The first science fiction books I remember reading are Larry Niven's Ringworld and Asimov's Caves of Steel and Foundation. I'm sure there were others but my memory fails me. It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I remembered my love for science fiction and the way in which it left me awestruck. I'm making up for lots of lost reading time now, though. I will occasionally read a classic and find myself like that proverbial 11 year old, mouth agape, furiously turning pages. Oddly, classic award winners are hit & miss with me; some of them I just don't care much for. But I still love the flavor of older science fiction.

So, which science fiction books made you a fan?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday March 29, 2005 at 11:14 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

There's a quickie-link from s1ngularity about sf author Michael A. Burstein's examination of readability. His reference is Fiction Writer's Barainstormer by James V. Smith, Jr. And for purposes of his discussion, Smith defines readability (measured by the Flesch-Kincaid scale) as the ability of the reader to understand what is being written.

The Flesch-Kincaid scale rates prose on two fronts: a percentage and a grade-level. An example from the link:

A story with a 75% readability will be understood by 75% of readers. A story with a grade level of 8 will be understood by anyone with an 8th grade education or higher.

The result of the Smith's study was essentially that bestselling fiction rates an average 83% readability score and a 4.4 grade level.

Some take issue with Burstein's subsequent likening of readability to quality.

Personally, I think the word "readability" is misused. "Accessible" might be more accurate. To me, and to Merriam-Webster, readability is more than just using a set of monosyllabic vocabulary words. (Does anyone else get a kick out of the fact that "monosyllabic" is such a polysyllabic word?) There is also the author's prose to consider.

Some works use sentences that are just awkwardly constructed. Some writers craft the prose to be lyrical. Particularly in genre fiction, the text could be weighed down with made up language. This prose construction is independent of whether or not the writer is using a bunch of 50 cent words in the process. Sometimes, like with my current read as I'm coming to realize, a book is just too hard to wade through. Or maybe better stated: it requires more work than the payoff it gives. Readability is a must if you want to make your reading accessible - it's the doorway to the story. If something is not readable, a reader is not going to bother.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday March 29, 2005 at 9:22 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

CAn be found here, at the Internet Archive. The 'classic' movies available in the public domain are: The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Ghost Patrol, Last Women On Earth, and The Phantom Planet.

I said free, not necessarily good...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday March 28, 2005 at 10:32 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

William Shatner's hoax begins on Tuesday. Spike TV, using the tagline "Shat happens", bills Invasion Iowa as a reality hoax miniseries.

The preview videos actually look interesting. The part where Shatner offers to let one of the locals touch is Emmy is funny. And who doesn't want to see Shat get hit in the head with a shovel?

And you know, for all the times we've referred to him as Shat, you'd think we could have come up with "Shat happens". Sigh.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday March 28, 2005 at 7:39 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday March 28, 2005 at 12:02 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Not that I troll websites geared towards women or anything... [Link]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday March 27, 2005 at 11:54 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The SciFi Channel's website has a nifty science fiction events calendar. A category filter lets you set the view for awards, book releases, film relasees, internet events, conventions and more. Cool!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday March 27, 2005 at 11:47 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

The winner of the 2005 Philip K. Dick Award was announced this weekend. Joining previous winners is Gwyneth Jones for her book Life. Also, a special citation was given to Apocalypse Array for Apocalypse Array.

The Philip K. Dick Award is given to the best original paperback published each year in the US.

[Links via Locus Online]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday March 27, 2005 at 11:38 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

I've improved support for PDAs. Besides being able to browse to http://www.sfsignal.com/pda.htm, links to post entries will now display using the full width of the PDA screen.

The change was quite simple, really. First, I created a copy of the site's style sheet page and optimized it for a PDA display (hiding the left and right columns and changing margins to zero). Then it was simply a matter of adding another style sheet reference (via the LINK tag) to the appropriate templates (the index template and the individual archive template) with the media attribute set to "handheld". Any mobile browser that supports this attribute on the LINK tag will use the PDA stylesheet instead of the regular stylesheet.

Of course, I can extend this method to avoid having to use a special URL in the first place, but that's for another day.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday March 27, 2005 at 3:02 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: This is one nice coffee table book that any science fiction fan would love to have.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A man with no memory wakes on a world dominated by robot warriors and realizes his memories hold the key to save the dwindling remnants of the human and sentient beast population.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Fantastic artwork; attention-getting premise; top-notch production value.
CONS: Clunky dialogue in places.
BOTTOM LINE: Very good world-building and stunning visuals made this a fun reading experience.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday March 27, 2005 at 1:26 AM
© 2005 SF Signal

Fresh out of the starting gate this week, the Sony Play Station Portable (PSP) already has been hacked. Take your pick: A web browser or Tivo2Go.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday March 26, 2005 at 6:17 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

SF Crowsnest has posted two interviews:

Firstly, there's an interview with Stephen Baxter who talks about his new novel Sunstorm, co-authored with Arthur C. Clarke. This is the second book in the TIME ODYSSEY series and follows Time's Eye.

There's also and interview with Scott Westerfeld, author of the excellent SUCCESSION books which is comprised of The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds. (Actually, this is really one story that has been affected by bookspiltting.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday March 26, 2005 at 5:56 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Not that I troll magazines looking for links to online Star Wars quizzes or anything, but...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday March 26, 2005 at 5:37 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

Hot off the press, the nominations for the 2005 Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer have been announced.

NOVEL

• The Algebraist, Iain M. Banks


• Iron Council, China Miéville


• Iron Sunrise, Charles Stross


• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke


• River of Gods, Ian McDonald

• "The Concrete Jungle", Charles Stross


• "Elector", Charles Stross


• "Sergeant Chip", Bradley Denton


• "Time Ablaze", Michael A. Burstein


• "Winterfair Gifts", Lois McMaster Bujold

• "Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-Planes' by Benjamin Rosenbaum", Benjamin Rosenbaum


• "The Clapping Hands of God", Michael F. Flynn


• "The Faery Handbag", Kelly Link


• "The People of Sand and Slag", Paolo Bacigalupi


• "The Voluntary State", Christopher Rowe

• "The Best Christmas Ever", James Patrick Kelly


• "Decisions", Michael A. Burstein


• "A Princess of Earth", Mike Resnick


• "Shed Skin", Robert J. Sawyer


• "Travels with My Cats", Mike Resnick

• eFanzines


• Emerald City


• Locus Online


• SciFiction


• Strange Horizons

• Elizabeth Bear


• K. J. Bishop


• David Moles


• Chris Roberson


• Steph Swainston

[Thanks, Locus]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday March 26, 2005 at 4:11 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

National Public Radio has posted several audio segments that are genre related. As far as I can tell, these segments are recordings of the actual segments aired on NPR. At least this is a decent use of tax dollars:

• An interview with SF author Sheri S. Tepper. If you haven't, you should read Grass, Raising the Stones and Sideshow. Good stuff.
• Robert Holt opines on his adventures in World of Warcraft.
• This segment talks about the publishing company, Arkham House, inspired by the late horror write, H.P. Lovecraft.

I don't usually listen to NPR anymore, I'm not in the car for long enough when its on, but seeing how they have all this audio content online now, I may have to check back more often for more SF-ish stuff.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday March 26, 2005 at 3:19 PM
© 2005 SF Signal

A recent post at the Dragon Page got me thinking there have been a few (three to be exact) books or stories whose opening lines or paragraphs really made me take notice for one reason or other.

Here they are. Two are short and sweet and are from books. The Gibson one is so popular, I remember it and I haven't even read the book! The third is a bit longer and from a 1943 short story.

The sky above then port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel...

- William Gibson, Neuromancer

"In five years the penis will be obsolete," said the salesman.

- John Varley, Steel Beach

Have you ever dreamed of murder? Have you ever set your elbows on the desk and let your head slump down on your hands, and closed your eyes, and dreamed of how it would feel to drive a knife up to the hilt in a scrawny, wrinkled throat, and twist it until the thin old blood begins to slime your fingers and drip from your wrist - until the piercing old eyes roll back and close, and the skinny old legs crumble and sag? Have you felt the blood pounding in your own temples, and savage satisfaction swarming up in you as you stare down on the hideous, sprawling thing t