SF Signal: June 2005 Archives

Thursday June 30, 2005

Galactica In 5 Minutes

Via the Unofficial Battlestar Galactica Blog comes the very funny condensed version of the Battlestar Galactica Miniseries. Much like the Book A Minute people, Kira at 5 Minute Movies give us their take on the mini-series. Enjoy.

And remember new episodes start July 15th!

SlingBox

Sling Media is rolling out the SlingBox today, a device that allows you "placeshift" your TV viewing in the same way that Tivo (or any Digial Video Recorder) "timeshifts" it.

The device takes input from a TV source (your cable box, satellite box or DVR) and streams it through your broadband router allowing access via the Internet from any computer that has the SlingBox software (and the appropriate access credentials, I imagine). The setup even allows remote control of your DVR and cable box so it's like you were sitting in front of your TV. You can watch TV or your latest Tivo recording - all while on the road!

Initial reviews are positive. The worst complaints I see are less-than-perfect (though not horrible) video quality. Once nice feature is the single $250 investment - no subscriptions required.

[Thanks Bob and engadget]

What Science Fiction Websites Do You Frequently Visit?

I'm curious to know what other science fiction (and/or fantasy and/or Horror) websites people visit regularly. (Besides this one, of course! )

Most of the websites I visit regularly are listed over in our Links section on the main page, but generally they fall into categories, sometimes one site falling in several categories as listed below.

What about you? Are there any worthy websites you like that aren't listed here?

NEWS SITES
The best sources for original science fiction news are those places who make a living reporting it. So I frequently hit up Locus Magazine and SciFi Wire. (Science Fiction Weekly is just a summary of the past week's news.)

Other sites (SF Signal included) collate the news from these and other sources. While not original information, the one-stop-shopping is nice. SF Crowsnest is good for SF news in the UK although its propensity for popups is starting to irritate. Solar Flare has been stepping up a bit in terms of news posts as well.

BLOGS
SF Blogs can be interesting. SF bloggers post two different kinds of information - news and opinions - sometimes in the same post. The news, as mentioned above, is usually just a rehash of what's easily found elsewhere (with a link and a hat-tip). That's fine for blogs like ours where we have a community of people with whom we want to share the news. But the opinion is usually the more interesting content. Even better when it's not just a rant for the sake of ranting, but an honest opinion or reflection based on the topic. Better still when the topic starts a conversation by several contributors.

There are several SF blogs I like to visit regularly. Matthew Cheney's Mumpsimus and Jonathan Strahan's Notes From Coode Street are always good reads. Big Dumb Object is another frequent stopping place and a good source for UK news as well. John Scalzi's Whatever blog is another favorite as of late. I frequently visit the consistent content of SciFi Dailyand Sci-Fi Ranter Girl, but I'm a bit confused by The Dragon Page blog since they started podcasting via their more popular Slice of SF site. Other blogs, while not solely science fiction, do offer the occasional science fiction tidbit; sites like The Eternal Golden Braid, TexasBestGrok, Spacecraft and Voyage to Arcturus.

MAGAZINE SITES
I call sites that tend to release a new version of their categorized websites at predetermined intervals "Magazine Sites". (Oddly, I don't place the website for Locus Magazine here because they focus on daily news and tidbits - the real content is in the printed magazine.) SciFi Weekly (updated every Monday or Tuesday) is usually a must-read as is SF Site (updated twice a month). The UK-based Alien Online is also fun to read and updated more often than most. Revolution SF is both interesting and funny. The Internet Review of Science Fiction always has some thoughtful discussion but, alas, is published on a monthly schedule. Emerald City is another mag site. Then there are the online versions of the print magazines: Asimov's , Analog and Fantasy & SF.

FREE FICTION
There are many places (some mentioned in other sections) for free fiction, but the most comprehensive collector of this fiction has got to be Free Speculative Fiction. I've snagged many a short story through this site. (A simple conversion via the MS Word eBook converter to store eBooks on my PDA and I'm good to go!) Infinity Plus is another site I visit when looking for original short fiction, although it used to be updated much more frequently.

REVIEW SITES
Occasionally I like to read reviews that others have written. (So I can steal their opinions, reword it using John-speak, and publish it as my own. Just kidding...or am I? ) Two of the best sites for short fiction reviews are Tangent and Best SF. Mark Watson at Best SF has a great review archive of anthologies. After I review older anthologies myself, I like to go there and compare notes. Evil Androids and Fantastica Daily are good, too, and both offer news items as well.

LINK SITES
I find lots of exciting SF-related stuff through link sites (sites whose main content are links to things - things you may want to bookmark or email to people). Usually, these sites are not strictly science fiction sites and they offer other good stuff too. Gravity Lens is a good one in this category. Although GL's Jeff is not as...spirited...on his own site as he is in these pages, his links are always interesting. I look forward to the first of every month where Jeff lists the [whatever]-of-the-month. Website at the End of the Universe does a good job of picking a current topic/link/story and finding lots of related information. Boing Boing, one of the most popular blog ever, puts anything and everything on their pages. Best is to subscribe to their newsfeed to wade through the noise. The best posts there are Cory Doctorow's science fiction related posts although I think others disagree with my assessment as just about everything else they post is reverberated throughout the blogsphere for days.

RESOURCE SITES
The value of some sites is not in their fresh content at all. Locus Magazine offers The Locus Index to Science Fiction and The Locus Index to Awards. The index lets you search for stories and novels by author, collection, anthology or whatever and shows the publication history. The Awards site lets you see all nominees and winners sorted by year, author, award, category and more.

SciFan's from page is not updated very often, but you can be sure that things are being added to their database frequently. SciFan collects comprehensive bibliographical information for authors and also lists books in a series. Their themes pages were a great way to find an if-you-like-that-then-you'll-like-this book.

Other useful resource sites are Classic SF (for a listing of currently-playing science fiction on TV) and SF Resource Guide. The Resource Guide hasn't been updated in years, but the content it contains (too much to mention here) is still valuable.

Wednesday June 29, 2005

Review - Dread Empire's Fall: The Praxis, by Walter Jon Williams

MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: For millenia, the Shaa have ruled the galaxy, forcing all sentient species to adhere to their code of morals and ethics know as The Praxis. Now, the last of the Shaa has died, and the remaining races must forge ahead into the unknown.
PROS: An interesting and unique setting, quick read.
CONS: Flat characters, mildly interesting storyline, the pieces just don't fit together.
BOTTOM LINE: As space operas go, this one is just mediocre.

MY REVIEW
I run hot and cold with Walter Jon Williams. I was unimpressed with Angel Station and Aristoi, but I liked his Metropolitan series. Dread Empire's Fall is an attempt to create a space opera in the mold of Night's Dawn Trilogy, where the emphasis is on action and story and not hard science. What we got was an uninspired story. With DEF, Williams has created an interesting universe for his characters to inhabit. And with the passing of the last Shaa, all kinds of opportunities are present for political intrigue and military action. In fact, the world building Williams did for this book (series actually) is the best thing about it. And with the setup, I was hoping for more.

Unfortunately, I found neither the characters nor the story lines to be that gripping. The characters themselves are rather flat, with the sole exception of the female protagonist, whose 'secret' was easily surmised. No one else distinguishes themselves. The story could have been filled with political maneuvering as, being basically a caste-based society, those with influence in the government used it to further their own ends. Instead, we get one race catching everyone else by surprise as they attempt to install themselves as the new rulers. I didn't really buy that, but it's key to the story moving forward. The action sequences aren't all that spectacular either. I'd characterize them as competent or workmanlike, but nothing cool or exciting. Again, disappointing.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. And even though I may seem to be trashing it above, it's not really that bad. Rather, its merely ok. The standard, for me, for action-based space opera is Hamilton's work, and this doesn't rise to that level. It ends up less than the sum of its parts. Still, I may pick up the second volume to see where it goes as I like space opera.

Tor/SciFi Channel Cross-Promotion

Tor, the world's largest publisher of sf/f, will be cross-marketing one book every month with the SciFi Channel. Each book chosen will receive the "SCI FI Essential stamp of approval" and will be promoted on SCIFI.com. The first 3 books to fall under this promotion are:

JULY: Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow
AUGUST: Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder
SEPTEMBER: The Road to Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

Monday June 27, 2005

Man's Best (Zombie) Friend

In a creepy story that presages the eventual collapse of civilization due to the zombie hordes, scientists in the US have created zombie dogs. One wonders whether the dogs usualy behavior of eating out of the cat box has been replaced with a penchant for brains, cat or otherwise....

Review - The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay, Michael Chabon

MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Two cousins ride the wave of the new comics art form with their creation of The Escapist for Empire Comics. Life happens to them along the way.
PROS: Strong, sympathetic characters and story, humorous and emotional writing, The Escapist should have been made into a comic book hero (see below).
CONS: The story's second half is not as strong as the first and seems to wander to its conclusion.
BOTTOM LINE: A wonderfully engaging story about about life and dreams that uses comics as a springboard for its characters. If you want to venture outside of the SF genre, you could do a lot worse than this story.

MY REVIEW:
I'd heard a lot of good things about The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, but what intrigued me most was the apparent focus on comics and superheroes. I picked this up and was pleasantly surprised.

Sam Clay lives in New York City and works for the Empire Novelty Company (think whoopee cushions). The year is 1939 and his heretofore unknown cousin, Josef Kavalier from Prague, makes an unexpected arrival at Sam's house. Both Sam and Joe have desires to be artists, but Sam is better at storytelling and editing, while Joe is better at drawing and illustrating (he's also a good magician and escape artist). The very first night together, they hit upon the idea of breaking into the comic book business with their new superhero, The Escapist. They convince Sam's boss to give them a shot at creating the comic and in the process vault themselves into competition with Batman and Superman, as well as make themselves, and Empire Comics, a pile of money.

The story is much more than the creation of The Escapist. It's also about two young Jewish men coping with a world on the brink of world war. Joe's parents are stuck in Nazi controller Poland and just managed to smuggle him out to the US. Joe saves the money he makes with the hope that, one day, he will get his parents and brother out of Prague and into a new life in the US. As a result, The Escapist tends to make life very difficult for the Nazi villains he faces. Joe struggles with being a successful writer and also tries to discover his place, as a person, in the world. The story continues on from there for a lot longer, but part of the fun is discovering how their lives unfold.

Chabon has created a terrific cast of characters. Everyone of the main characters is a strong, memorable character. We feel we really now them and what makes them tick. Chabon infuses his writing, particularly in the form of Joe, with a strong sense of playfulness and humor. This serves as a stark reminder of easier times as we see each character through the tough and trying times of WW II and after. Chabon also has a knack for creating interesting superheros. In fact, the two main ones from this story should have had their own comic series, or, at the very least, a series of pulp novels could have been written detailing their exploits. They are that good. The first half of the book chronicles Kavalier and Clay's rise to stardom in the comic business. But, as it is wont to do, life rears its ugly head and Joe runs off to fight in the war.

This is where, for me, the story lost something. The first half was tightly plotted, wound around K&C's attempts to make something of their Escapist idea. Once Joe leaves for the war, the characters are separated and the story seems to lose some momentum. I found the second half not as good, or as tight, as the first. The characters are still strong, but they've lose their youthful idealism and replaced it with a weary pragmatism. Eventually K&C are re-united, but the story just seems to meander around for awhile before drawing to an end. Which is unfortunate, but the overall book is still a strong read.

The Escapist if a very strong and well written superhero and I felt he would have made an interesting comic. Well, Darkhorse Comics agrees, and they have created a quarterly anthology of The Escapist. There are currently five issues. I'll have to check them out!

Supreme Court Rules Against File Swapping

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that peer-to-peer companies such as Grokster could be held responsible for the copyright piracy on their networks. This is a big win for the record and movie companies. The ruling essentially states that the distributors of a tool that allows copyright infringement may be held liabale for such infringement.

Thoughts anyone?

POLL RESULTS: Life Beyond Earth

Here are the results of the latest SF Signal poll.

QUESTION
When do you think that humans will discover life beyond the Earth? RESULTS

(29 total votes)

Just in case it happens in my lifetime, and as I've said before, I, for one, would like to wecome our alien overlords to the planet and offer my skills at trolling Star Wars sites to further their aims of world domination.

Sunday June 26, 2005

Still More Tidbits

I'm catching up on some newsfeed minutia and found some interesting tidbits from around the web:

There's a new podcast in town called The Signal (Hmmmm... Sounds familiar...) that is devoted to Firefly and the upcoming Serenity movie

A New York Times piece: The History of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds".

Some things you may not know about director Tim Burton.

The Horror Writers Association has picked this year's winners for the The Bram Stoker Award.

Here's some blog entry ruminating of Science Fiction Fascism.

Several science fiction, fantasy and horror movies have made the AFI's list of Top 100 movie quotes.

ConnectViaBooks is a free "social networking site that uses books to connect people". You make lists of books that other community members can see and comment upon. And, being an Amazon partner, they also allow you to generate book lists that include the Amazon links. [Link via The Alien Online]

SF author and blogger John Scalzi is looking for guest bloggers to contribute to his blog, Whatever, in July.

Why Some Publishers Are Going Digital

The Book Standard article Buying the Cow, Though the Milk Is Free: Why Some Publishers Are Digitizing Themselves talks about digital publishing and its relationship to book sales. Figures are given for the examples they give, including Cory Doctorow's books, Charlie Stross' Accelarando, the Baen free library and O'Reilly computer books.

Interesting to note is that although the free digital download rate is large, it often increases book sales. This seems counter-intuitive to me on one level. Why would people buy a book when they can get it for free? This is the fear of piracy in action. The difference, of course, is that the download is digital and the purchase is for something you can touch. I've often said that I prefer holding a book instead of reading from a screen, I just always thought that others felt differently. (As if I am a truly unique individual instead of a statistical nobody.) Maybe more people prefer hardcopy than I thought.

Charlie's quote from the article says it best.

"Readers like samples, and the ultimate sample is the entire book," says Stross. "People are more likely to download the entire thing, because there's the promise that they can read it all on their computer. However, in practice, most people don't like reading on a screen or a PDA. If they get hooked, they'll continue reading until it hits their personal pain threshold. Then they're highly motivated to seek out the paper edition-in hardcover, if necessary."

Saturday June 25, 2005

REVIEW: Star of Gypsies by Robert Silverberg

REVIEW SUMMARY: An immensely enjoyable read.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The story of Yakoub, the King of the Gypsy race known as the Rom, chronicles his rise to power (from student to slave to merchant to King) and his quest to return his people to their mother planet, Romany Star.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Exceptional storytelling; strong lead character; lots of wondrous worlds; never boring.
CONS: The Gypsies' ghosting ability, while cool, seemed like a half-explored plot device.
BOTTOM LINE: Robert Silverberg is a master storyteller.

Star of Gypsies was first published in 1986 and its 2005 reprint from Pyr is well-deserved. Like Nightwings, Star of Gypsies proves that Robert Silverberg's storytelling abilities make him more than worthy of the title of Grandmaster.

The backdrop and plot go like this:

The universe is populated by two human races: the Rom and the Gaje. Millennia ago, the Rom fled their home because of their volatile sun, Romany Star, and eventually evolved into the Gypsies of old Earth. By the 32nd century, they have integrated themselves with the other humans, the Gaje. Both races coexist in an uneasy peace; while the Gaje vastly outnumber the Rom, only the Rom can pilot the starships that spread mankind through the galaxy. At the same time, the Rom are frequently indentured as slaves to the Gaje, working for them to buy back their freedom. Both races have formed a monarchy: while the Gaje live under the rule of an emperor, the Rom are led by a Gypsy King. (While Democracy works within small geographic boundaries it has proven to be impossible to scale it to universal proportions.)

The current Gypsy King is Yakoub and, as the story opens, he has abdicated his throne and fled to the tranquility of the ice planet of Mulano. The galaxy is subsequently thrown into chaos as the Empire experiences leadership troubles of their own. With no Rom King to help, the universe is surely headed for war. To prevent it, Yakoub must regain his throne, restore order to the galaxy and, while he's at it, fulfill his destiny of leading his people home to Romany Star, the star of Gypsies. (Hey, that's a good name for a book!)

The first thing that I immediately liked about this novel (and continued enjoying in every single scene) was the wonderfully strong characterization of Yakoub. His first-person narrative was filled with attitude and gusto that elicited smiles and made him seem real. You just gotta love the guy. He's a tough leader who doesn't take guff from anyone, least of all a Gaje. (In a few scenes, within a single conversation, he has the boldness to alternately admit and deny any abdication at all. This, of course, confuses those who come to entice him off Mulano for purposes of supporting their own Gaje lords' bid for Emperor. Those chain-yanking scenes were a hoot! )

Other characters, while not as strong as Yakoub, are just as interesting. The three Lords battling for the seat of the Emperor (Lord Sunteil, who employs a Rom named Chorian to do his dirty work; Lord Periandros, a schemer through and through; Lord Naria, cowardly but determined to grab power) have distinct personalities. Yakoub's friends and family (the French-food-loving Julien de Gramont; close friend and fellow slave Polarca; Yakoub's inherently evil son, Shandor) round out the well-drawn cast.

Yakoub's rise to the throne is told to the reader in flashback scenes that show Yakoub hopping across worlds, from one perilous and adventurous situation to the next; from student to slave to merchant to King. Every episode of his earlier life was another unique and wonder-filled mini-story within the larger story of his attempts to return to the throne and bring his people home. The present-day thread was interesting as well as it was an enjoyable blend of political intrigue, manipulations, misplaced loyalties and the always-welcome dose of backstabbing. Every scene was intensely interesting. Period.

Taken together, I am simply floored by Silverberg's storytelling ability. Sure, the plot is interesting to begin with, but it takes more than a good plot to make a story this enjoyable. The way the author weaves the plot lines together, driving the story forward while worlds of wonder pass inside your mind, is just astonishing. I am convinced that Robert Silverberg can take Goldilocks and the Three Bears and turn it into a masterpiece. Truly, Silverberg is a master of the craft.

My only misgiving, and it's a minor one, was in the Roms' ability to "ghost". With this ability, the Roms can project themselves into the past where they may appear as ghostly apparition to select individuals with whom they can communicate. While Romany protocol dictates that the dreaded time paradox be avoided through the withholding of vital information, I can't help thinking that it was an unfortunate handicap to put on a plot device that could have been used to greater effect. However, the ghosting scenes were just too cool to dislike them in any significant manner.

In the end, I am left with the feeling that I was in the presence of a master storyteller who could take wonder, adventure, intrigue and chutzpah and weave them into a damn fine tale.

Friday June 24, 2005

LEGO +MAKE = Cool Magazine

BrickJournal is toutted as the magazine for Adult Fans of LEGO. Its sort of like MAKE magazine, but for LEGO fans. The first issue is available for download (PDF). Now we just need to make a LEGO HAL...

Futu(Pano)rama

Get ready for some cool futurama panoramas. A bunch of panaromas stitched together (I'm assuming) from frames of the show. Cool any way you slice it.

Gigapixel digital cameras

You think you're the man with your new 8- or 16-megapixel digital camera?

Bah, I say - you got nothin'! These folks have a 4-gigapixel digital camera with 4 billion pixels.

These images are huge - 24GB each as a raw file - but luckily have been rendered down to a little smaller files for ease of use. The site also discusses the issues with getting these massive images printed in a way that maintains the detail. Overall, a great use of technology.

The images are awesome - check them out in the gallery.

Thursday June 23, 2005

Who's Got Rocket Feet? InfraMan!

Here's a 3 minute movie trailer for InfraMan.

"The man beyond bionics, six million light years beyond believability. Is he man or machine? Electronic circuits integrated with living cells in the living body of a man! Powered by nuclear energy! InfraMan! You won't believe your eyes! You won't believe your ears! You won't believe your mind!"

I guess he truly is "the Ultimate Spectacle": he's got rocket feet. Seriously, this is like Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers...on Ritalin.

UPDATE: It gets better. Apparently he has Thunderbolt Fists.

[Link via Backwards City]

2 Women in Bed Read SF/Fantasy

This one should be right up Pete's alley. As it were.

There's a public-access TV show called Fantasy Bedtime Hour (Do I need to say NSFW?) in which two women read and try to understand science fiction and fantasy novels...in bed. The show's tagline: "Two girls in bed, ill-equipped to handle fantasy novel concepts."

Windows Game Advisor

Windows Game Advisor is a browser plugin from Futuremark that will scan your computer and determine whether you can play a specified game title with your current hardware.

[Via TechBlog]

SciFi Podcast Network

Sci-Fi Ranter Girl adds to my "things to check out" list with link to The SciFi Podcast Network. It's a collection of science fiction related podcasts.

I've listened to some podcasts before. And by "listened" I mean "played them in the background while occasionally fast-forwarding because they were too long". JP suggested once that SF Signal should podcast. An intriguing idea, to be sure, but is the world really ready to hear my whiny voice? I imagine there are other challenges as well, like how do we convert Dan's big ASCII head to audio?