SF Signal: January 2006 Archives

Tuesday January 31, 2006

What's the Last Book You Read and Was it Any Good?

It always interests me to see what other people are reading. I like to see what appeals to their tastes in reading. Some people like to stick to a single author until their entire bibliography is read. Others like to mix it up by alternating authors and even genres. Some switch between fiction and non-fiction. I'm curious to know what our readers read and what their impressions were.

For my part, as I religiously post on this very site, I recently read Frederik Pohl's career-spanning collection Platinum Pohl. It was a good collection of stories, though Pohl is liberal with the economic and political themes. But man, there were some great stories in there. I think I tend to overdose on a particular writing style in collections but not so much with anthologies where the various authors have widely different styles. And yet, that's a reading impediment that does not usually occur with novel-length fiction. Somehow, the short doses of science fiction make me more aware of the writer's style.

So, what's the last book you read and was it any good?

SF Tidbits for 1/31/06

Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas discuss Snow Crash.

Author Scott Westerfeld (The Risen Empire, The Killing of Worlds) is profiled in the Melbourne Age newspaper. [via John Scalzi's Whatever]

SF author Jeff VanderMeer argues that activism has a place in the writing of fantasy fiction in his article Politics in Fantasy. [via Emerald City]

Jon Courtenay Grimwood interviewed at SciFi Weekly.

Coming February 1st: Neil Gaiman's new website. [via The Alien Online]

100 Best First Lines from Novels. [via Cynical-C]

Monday January 30, 2006

Some Future SF Book Titles

One of the nice things about Locus Magazine is the People and Publishing section which lists "book sales" and "books delivered". The January 2006 issue shows a sneak peek into the future of SF. (Some of this news may be a little old...print is a slower medium than the Internet, after all!)

Stephen Baxter is writing the four-book Time's Tapestry cycle, the first book is called Emperor.

Charlie Stross sold a near-future heist novel about MMORPGs tentatively titled Halting State and also sold an unnamed sequel to Iron Sunrise.

This was already mentioned but is worth repeating: John C. Wright sold the third book in his Orphans of Chaos series.

John Scalzi sold book three in his Old Man's War series, titled The Last Colony.

Alan Dean Foster sold Sagramanda, a near-future tale of India.

William C. Dietz sold two more novels in his Legion of the Damned series: When All Seems Lost and When Duty Calls.

Kage Baker sold a collection titled Dark Mondays.

Neal Asher sold Prador Moon, described as "a sequel prequel of sorts" to Skinner.

James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel turned in Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology.

There's a New Google Toolbar in Town

Google will soon be releasing an updated version of their awesome Google Toolbar. For now you can download the beta

New features include:

Adding custom button - This innocent-sounding feature allows you to create a custom search button (like I did for SF Signal) and it allows you to integrate a site's RSS feed through it so that the latest entries appear at the click of a button! Way cool!

Bookmarks - Create bookmarks that are accessible from any computer.

Enhanced search box - lets you see suggested terms while you are typing them.

"Send To" feature - Send web pages to friends via Gmail or SMS, or post directly to a blogger blog. (Hopefully, MT support will be added soon.)

Log into your Google account - from the Settings menu

POLL RESULTS: 2005 BSFA Awards

Here are the results of the latest SF Signal poll.

QUESTION
Which of the following should win the 2005 BSFA Award for best novel?

RESULTS

(16 total votes)

Voter turnout was seriously down this week. What's the deal? Poor topic? Poor choices?

Sunday January 29, 2006

2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award Nominees

The shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award has been announced:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Learning The World by Ken MacLeod

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds

Air by Geoff Ryman

Accelerando by Charles Stross

Banner Of Souls by Liz Williams

Although the award is given to the best SF novel published each year in the UK (but not necessarily by a British writer), this is the first all-British shortlist in the history of the Award. The winner will be announced April 26, 2006 at the Apollo Cinema in London.

[link via Locus Online]

Locus 2005 Recommended Reading List

I always look forward to getting the next issue of Locus magazine in the mail, even if it does come late. But I anticipate the February issue even more because it contains the Recommeded Reading List of the prior year. This weekend, Locus Online posted the Locus Magazine 2005 Recommended Reading List, a consensus by Locus editors, Locus reviewers and some other big names in the field. It's quite an impressive list and it covers SF novels, fantasy novels, first novels, young adult books, collections, anthologies, non-fiction, art books and short fiction (novellas, novelettes and short stories).

From the list, here is what I read:

Godplayers by Damien Broderick

Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder

Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow

Hammered by Elizabeth Bear

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Platinum Pohl by Frederik Pohl

Galileo's Children edited by Gardner Dozois

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-second Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois

Science Fiction: The Best of 2004 edited by Karen Haber & Jonathan Strahan

Maybe it's because I skipped the short-story-a-day thing in 2005, but I haven't read any of the short fiction titles in the list.

REVIEW: Platinum Pohl by Frederik Pohl

REVIEW SUMMARY: A worthy career-spanning retrospective.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A collection of thirty short fiction pieces from Frederik Pohl's 50-plus-year career.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: 23 stories good or better, 9 of them outstanding.
CONS: 7 stories mediocre or worse.
BOTTOM LINE: A good collection of entertaining fiction; a must-have for Pohl fans.

SFWA Grandmaster Frederik Pohl has been writing science fiction for over fifty years. If anyone was due for a career retrospective, it's him. Platinum Pohl, edited by James Frenkel, collects thirty of Pohl's short stories that span his entire career. Among the many award winning and nominated titles, there are other stories of note, including one collaboration with C.M. Kornbluth and the first-ever story set in the Gateway/Heechee universe. The stories are in no particular order but it might have been interesting to see a chronological ordering to see how Pohl changes as a writer over the decades. Or maybe not. A quick look through the nine standout stories shows no discernable rating trend that I can see which just means relatively consistent quality across several decades

Pohl's style and choice of content in his stories is unique and, if I am to be truly honest, not always immediately appealing. Many of the stories concern themselves with political and/or social issues - and that's fine - but my tastes tend more to the adventure side of the literary spectrum. To be sure, more often than not the stories do entertain and evoke wonder, and even those stories that seemed to have something to say were still enjoyable on some level. Needless to say, For Pohl fans this is a must-have volume.

There were nine standout stories in this collection: "The Merchants of Venus" (1972), "The Kindly Isle" (1984), "Spending a Day at the Lottery Fair" (1983), "Some Joys Under the Star" (1973), "The Day the Icicle Works Closed" (1959), "The Knights of Arthur" (1957), "The Meeting" (1972), "Let the Ants Try" (1949) and "Fermi and Frost" (1985).

One other thing about this collection that I wanted to mention concerns the readability of the book. I found it, at times, difficult to read; the type is relatively small which, on the one hand makes it possible to cram more stories between the covers and keep the price reasonable but, on the other hand, affected readability (for me at least). I'm not sure if my eyes are getting old (stupid eyes) or if it was a perception thing as the time between page turns was considerably longer than average for me. Anyway, it didn't affect the rating but I just thought I'd mention it. (Not too long ago, I remember seeing some blog entry that compared type sizes side-by-side. It might be interesting to see if I could find that again.)

Reviewlettes follow...

STORIES IN THIS ANTHOLOGY:

"The Merchants of Venus" [Heechee universe] [1972 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 01/01/06]
- Synopsis: A Venusian huckster named Audee Walthers is hired by a millionaire to hopefully find unclaimed treasures in an undiscovered tunnel of the Heechee, the mysteriously absent aliens who often leave behind valuable artifacts.
- Review: Excellent story that not only introduces the reader to the Heechee, but also presents a tension-filled tale of the sympathetic con man who has one last chance to make a big score so he can afford to replace his failing liver. Much is learned about the background of the Venus settlement and the way of life there. Also, the mystique of the absentee aliens provides a colorful backdrop to deliver the sense of wonder. It helps a lot that the story itself nicely details the tension between Audee and the millionaire Cochenour, who might actually be the one who is calling the shots. Cochenour's girlfriend, Dorrie, is a nice go-between character, at times unexpectedly knowledgeable and sympathetic to Audee. By the climax of the story, I couldn't read the pages fast enough to soak in the story. Great stuff!
- Note: This is the first story in Pohl's Heechee universe, even preceding the first Heechee novel, Gateway. This story has nothing to do with Pohl's The Space Merchants or, despite the title pun, Shakespeare's play.
"The Things That Happen" [1985 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 01/04/06]
- Synopsis: A supposed psychic is discovered by a believer and tested by a skeptic.
- Review: An OK story but Pohl has done better. The story's timeline alternates between the time Hans is mistakenly thought to be psychic and a pair of skeptics whose offer of fifty thousand dollars is too good for the con man to pass up. The get-what-you-ask-for ending was an improvement over the rest of the story and bumped it up half a star.
"The High Test" [1983 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/08/06]
- Synopsis: A naive twenty-six-year-old driving instructor named James Paul Madigan teaches lessons to various students, including a spoiled brat named Tonda and a two-headed reptilian alien named Torklemiggen.
- Review: I liked how some tension was built in knowing what James did not. Obviously, Torklemiggen has some ulterior motives. The format of the story, a series of letters home to James' mother, lent well to his initial cluelessness. A very good story.
"My Lady Green Sleeves" [1957 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 01/08/06]
- Synopsis: The story of a near-future prison riot in a society where there is segregated social classes based on occupation.
- Review: Occupational segregation turns out to be an interesting and disturbing premise for a story. It's an odd idea and getting a handle on it took some time. Can you imagine a physical laborer (a "wipe") being arrested for asking a white collar worker (a "Pro") to go out on a date? Cool, but weird. O'Leary, the prison guard, manages to stick to his beliefs, though, even when encountering Sue-Ann Bradley, a senator's daughter who believes in equality to the point of setting fire to a segregated restroom - which of course strips her of her Civil Service profession and lands her in jail just before the riot. Even worse for her, her misunderstanding of each working profession's lingo lands her in the O-block, where she is restrained with a green-colored straight jacket (thus the story's title).
"The Kindly Isle" [1984 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 01/10/06]
- Synopsis: A finance guy from a real estate development firm surveys a prospective hotel deal but cannot escape his past where he worked for the government at a biological warfare research facility.
- Review: Excellent story whose only drawback was the occasional lingering on descriptions of the island scenery. Widower Jerry Wenright gets an unexpected surprise when he sees a man from the research facility where he worked years before, a job he left when he discovered the true nature of their research. The foreshadowing of the story's title made all too plain the Stepford Wives nature of the island's residents, but all told, this was a fun read with a pleasingly steady rise of drama and a dash of the widower backstory poignancy.
"The Middle of Nowhere" [1955 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/11/06]
- Synopsis: An adventure story of a Mars mining colony that encounters the previously undetected and menacing Martians
- Review: A good story that's all plot but very little characterization.
"I Remember a Winter" [1972 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/12/06]
- Synopsis: A piecemeal look at the life of a man.
- Review: Not entirely sure this qualifies as science fiction just because the narrator ruminates about possible causality and asks "What would have happened if...?" Even so, this was a good, but not great, story.
"The Greening of Bed-Stuy" [1984 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 01/13/06]
- Synopsis: Marcus, a 10-year-old resident of a rapidly crumbling New York, gets involved in a prison escape while caring for an elderly blind man who has grand plans for rebuilding the city if he can cut a deal with gangster.
- Review: Even though there was a lot to like about this soft sf story - intricate character details; the wonderfully dark and depression depiction of the city; poignant moments like the death scene of the wealthy man's wife - I found this to be a tough read and a bit hard to get into as much as I would have liked. The late night reading session was most likely the cause. I should note that the decaying New York setting reminded me of Thomas M. Disch's 334.
- Note: Nominated for the 1985 Nebula Award.
"To See Another Mountain" [1959 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 01/17/06]
- Synopsis: An aging genius named Noah Sidorenko undergoes treatment by "The Group". But is he really insane?
- Review: Pohl's writing is deeper than some novels here. The writing is filled with heart and emotion and the plot doesn't kick in until the story's last pages. When it does, you realize that things are not as they seem.
"The Mapmakers" [1955 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 01/18/06]
- Synopsis: An exploration ship loses hyperdrive capability and must cope with the realities of long-term space travel. The mapmaker of the title is Lieutenant Groden, who has been enhanced to fully utilize the storage capacity of his brain as electrical equipment is catastrophic during hyperspace travel. Unfortunately, Groden has been left blind in an accident and the crew of the Terra II are running out of options.
- Review: Good premise but a little drawn out. Notable is the presence of women in significant roles in this 1950's story.
"Spending a Day at the Lottery Fair" [1983 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/18/06]
- Synopsis: In an overpopulated America, the Baxter family goes on an outing to the Lottery Fair where jobs are raffled and one of the attractions is the Hall of Life and Death.
- Review: Excellent story with a surprise twist in the vein of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery". (I assume this story pays homage to that.) All is not what is seems and we see it through the eyes of two foreign tourists who do not understand the American philosophy towards life and death. Great stuff. This is Pohl on top of his game.
"The Celebrated No-Hit Inning" [1956 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/18/06]
- Synopsis: A conceited baseball player travels to the future to learn that the rules of the game have drastically changed.
- Review: A humorous tale where the baseball of the future has robot players, in-game legal maneuvers and rules such as the hitter taking a base whenever the pitcher scares him. Sometimes silly, but overall a fun read.
"Some Joys Under the Star" [1973 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/19/06]
- Synopsis: As a comet flies by Earth, the reader gets sneak peeks into the lives of several individuals including amorous teenagers, the man who stalks them, a suicidal plane passenger strapped with explosives, the President and Secretary of State and the occupants of the comet itself - the so-called "watchers" sent by the Arrogating Race to assess any potential threat of mankind.
- Review: I liked the way this story was constructed. With just a few sentences, each of the many characters gets a back story. I knocked off half a star for the too-sappy effect of the Watchers weapon when it is eventually fired upon the Earth.
"Servant of the People" [1983 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/19/06]
- Synopsis: An aging congressman runs for re-election against a robot opponent.
- Review: Despite the political theme, I really enjoyed this one. It initially evoked memories of Asimov's "The Bicentennial Man" since the robots (the advanced models, at least) have the right to vote. The story focuses on the campaign for re-election but spends much time in fleshing out the main characters. Congressman O'Hare excels at blazing the campaign trail but can he compete with a robot?
- Note: Nominated for the 1984 Hugo Award.
"Waiting for the Olympians" [1988 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 01/19/06]
- Synopsis: In an alternate history where the Roman Empire still exists, the world awaits the arrival of the Olympians, an intelligent alien species. Against this backdrop, an author of scientific romance novels struggles to come up with an idea for his next novel which, a friend suggests, should be an alternate future novel.
- Review: Engaging for its first-contact backdrop and realistic cast. The author, a descendent of Julius Caesar who is himself named Julius, has a satiric novel rejected by censors because it depicts the Olympians in a negative way. Julius has thirty days to come up with a new novel. When his friend suggests writing an alternate future novel, Julius just doesn't get it (as if "sci-rom" by definition is fact-based). When the friend's idea starts to take hold (with the help the friend's historian niece, Rachel), an interesting plot twist emerges for the central plot of the in-story book.
"Criticality" [1984 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/20/06]
- Synopsis: The story of three people, Wilbert and Marian who meet for a date in a society where judging others on every little detail is the norm; and Arne, a foreigner in the service who does not understand American ways.
- Review: Meh. An interesting concept that failed to provide much kick. Seemed less concerned about story and more focused on social commentary.
"Shaffery Among the Immortals" [1972 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/23/06]
- Synopsis: Jeremy Shaffery, an unremarkable scientist in a dead end job, longs for the one discovery that will make him famous. Unfortunately, his fame does come.
- Review: Overly heavy on the characterization and light on plot, this story offers an ultimately entertaining look at a man's life.
- Note: Nominated for the 1973 Nebula Award.
"The Day the Icicle Works Closed" [1959 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 01/26/06]
- Synopsis: On Altair Nine, a planet whose poor economy is due to the closing of the Icicle Works, public defender Milo Pulcher tries to clear the names of six young kidnappers.
- Review: A cool story that combines mystery, world-building and the ability to transfer into other people's bodies. Renting is how people make ends meet since the jobs have all but disappeared, yet it is frowned upon because of the liberties the renting tourists take. The clues to the mystery nicely woven into a taut narrative.
"Saucery" [1986 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/25/06]
- Synopsis: Two rival con men wonder how to increase their drop-off in income when their alien encounter scams take a back seat to the impending arrival of real-life Martians.
- Review: An interesting germ of an idea but this comes across more like the start of a longer story.
"The Gold at the Starbow's End" [1972 novella] (Rating: ) [Read 01/27/06]
- Synopsis: The purpose of an eight-man mission to the Alpha Centauri system may not be to find the Alpha-Aleph planet after all.
- Review: Very good story with a few surprises and some cool exposition. The astronauts, four couples sent with the purpose of populating the planet, bide their huge amounts of free time with learning the intricacies of science to a point that surpasses common human knowledge. Meanwhile, the scientist who organized the trip is grilled over the true purpose of the mission. The narrative remains engrossing as it swaps between reports from the spaceship and the latest happenings in Washington. Good stuff!
- Note: Nominated for the 1973 Hugo and Nebula Awards.
"Growing Up in Edge City" [1975 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/27/06]
- Synopsis: Chandlie lives in the strictly controlled environment of Edge City, but when curiosity leads him to wander outside for the first time ever, he is punished.
- Review: Good story (with some similar controlled environment themes as The Inverted World) with an even better ending but I felt it needed more depth.
- Note: Nominated for the 1976 Nebula Award.
"The Knights of Arthur" [1957 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 01/28/06]
- Synopsis: A story of survival after a nuclear holocaust in a sparsely populated America.
- Review: Excellent story that follows three characters - Sam, Vern and Arthur - as they infiltrate the military group run by The Major in attempt to secure themselves a safe haven. The character of Arthur is, let's just say, unique. The appeal of the story is that the state of affairs is told in puzzle pieces that keep you immersed, wondering what will happen next. Great stuff.
"Creation Myths of the Recently Extinct" [1993 vignette] (Rating: ) [Read 01/28/06]
- Synopsis: Aliens on a colonization mission consider how to rid the Earth of those pesky humans.
- Review: Very good tongue-in-cheek piece that uses a black monolith to advance mankind's evolution. Slightly preachy with its environmentalist message, but still very good.
"The Meeting" written with C.M. Kornbluth [1972 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/28/06]
- Synopsis: Harry Vladek attends a PTA meeting at a school for mentally challenged kids.
- Review: Excellent, smartly written story built around an awesome moral dilemma. Harry is attempting to assess the chances that his son, Tommy, can be cured. This will help Harry make an important decision regarding Tommy's future. Poignant and thought-provoking is a great mix.
- Note: Winner of the 1973 Hugo Award.
"Let the Ants Try" [1949 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/28/06]
- Synopsis: After a nuclear holocaust, a man goes back in time with mutated ants in the hopes that their evolution will unite mankind against the common foe, thus preventing the nuclear holocaust.
- Review: Another excellent story with only one minor, but glaring, fault. Why not go back slightly in time to warn mankind of the impending war? Why bother to go back to the far past where there is surely more room for plans to go amiss? OK, maybe I'm thinking about it too much but, as I said, this is only a minor nit and this is one excellent golden age story.
"Speed Trap" [1967 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/28/06]
- Synopsis: Dr. Chip Grew spends most of his life working and most of his working life attending conferences and traveling between them. This gives him a bird's eye "systems level" view of how one can become more productive and free up 75% of one's time. Unfortunately, forces conspire to keep that view from being realized.
- Review: Meh. The idea of a "Systems approach to the transmission of technological information" is interesting in a meta kind of way, but ultimately, this marginally-sf story left something to be desired. Nice ending, though, where we find that aforementioned forces are not necessarily supernatural.
"The Day the Martians Came" [1967 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/28/06]
- Synopsis: An extended scene in a hotel lobby where waiting journalists cover the story of Martians hitching a ride back to Earth on a space probe.
- Review: Yikes! This story (which appeared in Harlan Ellison's then-controversial anthology, Dangerous Visions under the title "The Day After the Martians Came") is said to be the final chapter of The Day the Martians Came, a fix-up novel that shows the effect a Martian arrival has on different walks of life. Maybe in that grander scheme this story works well, but as a standalone story it just wasn't doing anything for me. It was basically one long scene with random nameless characters (except for the hotel manager whose biggest worry was how to squeeze more money out of the info-hungry media) who sat around and made unfunny Martian jokes. Feh. Am I missing something?
- Note: Also available online at SciFiction.
"Day Million" [1966 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/28/06]
- Synopsis: A far-future love story between Don and Dora, as told by a third party.
- Review: Meh. This was more like an essay on what humans could be like in the (go, go, gadget calculator!) 28th century.
- Note: Nominated for the 1966 Nebula Award.
"The Mayor of Mare Tranq" [1996 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 01/28/06]
- Synopsis: Alternate history story in which SF author (and frequent Pohl collaborator) Jack Williamson is aboard the first manned flight to the moon.
- Review: Good story, though not for its alternate history elements (except maybe when Williamson prevents the Kennedy assassination). The cool part was when problems arise with the lunar lander and Williamson, back on the orbiter, refuses to give up hope.
"Fermi and Frost" [1985 short story] (Rating: ) [Already read on 04/24/04. What follows is what I said then.]
- Synopsis: The story of a man and a boy trying to survive a nuclear holocaust.
- Review: Really good writing that gives some striking images of a nuclear aftermath. Several sad parts. A great read!
- Note: Winner of the 1986 Hugo Award.

Saturday January 28, 2006

Dune Ride-Along

Authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are in the midst of writing Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune, the two-volume chronological grand climax to the Dune Saga based on Frank Herbert's outline for 'Dune 7'. The cool thing about this is that they are letting readers in on the process of its creation through the Dune 7 Blog. This is the same thing they did when writing Dune: The Machine Crusade and it was apparently well-received. There are some interesting bits on their blog including three cover paintings and the book jacket copy. KJA even offers a little insight into his being commissioned to write a sequel to A.E. van Vogt's Slan.

[Link via The Alien Online]

SnapShirts

SnapShirts is a service that makes T-shirts using tag words. They will even troll your blog (or any website) and find commonly used words. So, natch, I plugged in SF Signal's URL and it generated the following word list:

action age alien author award best better big book books bottom brief character city cons cool different discussion down earth end excellent family fantasy fiction film fun future good half hard help high history home human idea interesting john life light like line little love movie movies mystery note novel novelette novella old one online page pages past people permalink planet plot point pros rating read reader reading robert science sense ship short signal slow society space star stories story style summary synopsis tale technology think thought three time trackback travel two universe war wonder work world writing years young

Conspicuously absent from this list is "supermodel". Obviously, we have a lot of work to do.

[Link via LifeHacker]

SF Tidbits for 1/28/06

The Nameless One finally achieves the recognition he deserves: It's the Cthulhu Antenna Ball!

Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Chris Roberson and Andrew Wheeler discuss the life expectancy of books.

Fortean Times interviews Don Coscarelli, director of genre classics Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep.

Speaking of Bubba Ho-Tep, and we do every chance we get, this week's SciFiWeekly names Bruce Campbell's website as the site of the week.

Speaking of Bruce Campbell, here's a Bruce Campbell Soundboard.

Along with the previously announced news that Harlan Ellison is the 2006 Science Fiction Grand Master, SFWA additionally reports that William F. Nolan (Logan's Run) is Author Emeritus.

Futurama heads to the small screen in 4 feature-length films.

Turn your friend into a zombie!

SF Signal Fanboys Getting Their Props

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I secretly have my fingers crossed that SF Signal will grab a mention in Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction anthology series. After all, being exlcuded from his awesome everything-but-the-kitchen-sink summary can only mean we're the kitchen sink!

I think Senior SF Signal fanboy and resident (and much needed) spellchecker Fred @ The Eternal Golden Braid has achieved a similar dose of fame today, for Fred and his blog are mentioned over at Space.com. Way to go, Fred! Now that you're famous, can you give Gardner a call?

Friday January 27, 2006

Star Trek At Home

Literally. This guy built his home theater room as a replica of the bridge of the Enterprise from the original series. This is scary impressive. Now, I'm not that big of a ST fanboy to want to actually do this too. However, the Death Star themed home theater room (on one of the pages) is a different story. Hopefully, it doesn't come complete with Grand Mof Tarkin foul stench.

How about a Seaquest DSV or B5 insipired theater? Galactica (now or old)? Oh! I know! A Buck Rogers themed one where Twiki is the universal remote!

Thursday January 26, 2006

SF Tidbits for 1/26/06

Here's what happens when you mash Depeche Mode and Tron. [via Transbuddha]

Showtime renews Masters Of Horror.

The official title of the third X-Men movie is X-Men: The Last Stand. And yes, there will be an X-Men 4.

Make holding books open easier with the plastic thumb reading aid.

Some Fantastic #7 (PDF file) features interviews and reviews of Charles Coleman Finlay, Terry Pratchett and Kid Reed. [via Locus Online]

Kathryn Cramer offers a peek at the cover art for the Year's Best Fantasy 6 anthology dues later this year.

Mech Muse offers sf in podcast format.

Wednesday January 25, 2006

New Earth-Like Planet Discovered

Cool news from Space.com:

Astronomers announced today the discovery of what is possibly the smallest planet known outside our solar system orbiting a normal star.

Its orbit is farther from its host star than Earth is from the Sun. Most known extrasolar planets reside inside the equivalent of Mercury’s orbit.

The planet is estimated to be about 5.5 times as massive as Earth and thought to be rocky. It orbits a red dwarf star about 28,000 light-years away. Red dwarfs are about one-fifth as massive as the Sun and up to 50 times fainter. But they are among the most common stars in the universe.

The Theory Of LOST?

Andrew at the appropriately named 4815162342 website for LOST fans, has posted his Ultimate Theory on just WTF is going on on LOST. It involves, magnatisim, satellites, collective consciousness and BF Skinner. It's an interesting read anyway and does seem to fit the facts. At least those he chose to include. I'm not sure if the producers and writers of the show, JJ Abrams in particular, went this deep and complex for a TV show, but I could be wrong. Oh, and SPOILERS!!!! abound for those who haven't caught up with the current season.

I still think LOST is a great show, doling out just enough mythology each episode to keep you wanting more. I hope they can pull off the reveal of the island's mystery without leaving us confused or disappointed.

SF Tidbits for 1/25/06

After realizing that the use of Roman numerals was waaaay past pretentious, I used regular numbers for SF Tidbits 70. But then Tim had an idea even more ingenious; an idea so useful that I cannot resist - use the date! Thanks, Tim!

Without further ado: Serenity in Lego! [via Asking the Wrong Questions]

Locus Online has the best of 2005 lists from Matt Cheney and Claude Lalumière.

Download Empire of Satanis, a Cthulhu role-playing game, for free. [via 1KM1KT]

Walden Media, who own the Narnia film, have bought the rights to Isabel Allende's Alexander Cold trilogy which begins with City Of The Beasts.

SFX Magazine is holding an SF writing competition.

Tuesday January 24, 2006

REVIEW: Prodigy by Dave Kalstein

REVIEW SUMMARY: A worthwhile near-future science fiction thriller.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An unlikely pair of students from a prestigious school that educates via designer drugs, team up to solve the mystery of murdered alumni.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Cool near-future setting; raises thought-provoking issues; crisp, clear writing style.
CONS: Slow to get started; some minor suspension killers.
BOTTOM LINE: A thought-provoking and entertaining read.

The Stansbury School is the most prestigious private school in the year 2036. Candidates are screened at age 5 and attend for the next twelve years if their parents can afford the $500,000 per year tuition to send them there or if a kid is one of the lucky ten chosen in the annual lottery that wins them a free education. The benefit of attending Stansbury is clear: all of the students (with very, very few exceptions) go on to attend top universities and eventually become the nation's leaders. How does Stansbury do it? They do it through the heavy use of designer drugs that enhance the mental and physical growth of the children. Stansbury seniors are smarter and stronger (and taller) than the average teenager. If it weren't for the drugs' built-in inhibitors, in fact, they would be lethal weapons. The use of drugs and loss of childhood innocence is seen as an acceptable cost to achieving the education and success that only Stansbury can provide.

Unfortunately, some of Stansbury's alumni are turning up dead. They are the victims of murder and the culprit appears to be William Winston Cooley, wayward student who won his education through a lottery. Since a series of messy murders promise to threaten the school's reputation, not to mention a pending trillion-dollar government grant, the school's administrators decides to handle matters without the police. Days away from his graduation, they dispatch valedictorian Thomas Oliver Goldsmith (it is an unspoken requirement that all of Stansbury's elite students are addressed by their full names), who doubles as a deputized member of school security, to investigate the murders and Cooley's involvement.

The near-future setting of Prodigy is cool. The incorporated city of San Angeles suffers from overpopulation due to an electromagnetic pulse bomb (eBomb) that killed all electronics on the east coast and caused everyone to head west. Travel is mainly through the use of gyrocabs zipping around the sky lanes. Stansbury security walks around with ThermaGuns that detect and lock onto a person's unique heat signature so its bullets can turn corners to find an all-too-common human target. Cool stuff indeed. Society is also sufficiently interesting as the school "Specimens" (as the students are openly called) are locked away in the remote Stansbury tower, hardly ever seen in public. When they do make the rare excursion, they have minor celebrity status.

Kalstein's writing is clear and crisp and the plot is obviously well thought-out, but there are a small handful of suspension killers and awkward moments - like when bad boy Cooley receives an illegal drug injection over the Internet. That's matter-transportation and doesn't really fit the near-future setting that is so carefully and wonderfully drawn. But moments like these are few and fleeting and are only minor detractors. Better were the characterizations of Goldsmith, Cooley and their friends Camilla (Goldmsith's academic rival), Sadie (Cooley's girlfriend), Stansbury President Lang, and even the reporter Pete who may be more than he seems.

As a science fiction thriller, Prodigy is ultimately effective although I must say that it took some time for it to become that way. Nearly the first third of the book is slow going with not much happening other than long character background narratives which, while interesting, didn't do much to move the story along. A "show, don't tell" approach may have been more effective in, say, showing how valedictorian Goldsmith and bottom-rung Cooley are an unlikely team to uncover a plot that extends into the U.S government. Still, as it stands, that slow beginning thankfully turned quite interesting and then became downright page-turning when the plot twists were bandied about like a roller-coaster car on speed. Not bad for a first novel at all.

But it's not just the cool setting and interesting mystery that make this book stand out. One of the more compelling virtues of Prodigy is the questions it raises. The Specimens' achievements are only possible because of a daily injection of the latest drugs. Can you get a perfect education via a syringe? Many of the students feel lost, lonely and friendless; detached from the very society for which they are being groomed. Is a good education worth cost? Several Specimens are caught breaking school rules and are blindfolded, beaten and interrogated by the Security staff (led by the truly evil Captain Gibson). To what extent should a school be allowed to violate an eighteen-year-old's civil liberties? These are some of the meaty questions that are raised and nicely handled in a way that makes for a thought-provoking read.