REVIEW SUMMARY: A very good group of stories that's better than many best-of-the-year anthologies.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Original anthology of six far-future SF novellas.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: 4 standout stories
CONS: 1 mediocre entry
BOTTOM LINE: Four out of six is a very good score.

I've been reading lots of short stories and it amazes me how original anthologies can sometimes be better than some best-of-the-year types. I suppose it stands to reason that the best-of anthologies are the opinion of (usually) one editor whose tastes might differ from that of the reader. On the other hand, given the law of averages, an anthology of original stories should be equally hit or miss.

Along comes Between Worlds edited by Robert Silverberg. Two of these stories were chosen for Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction #22: "Shiva in Shadow" by Nancy Kress and "Investments" by Walter Jon Williams. I did not re-read them this time around. Pity I didn't take better notes on the Kress story, though, which I thought was perfect.

Standouts in the collection were "Between Worlds" by Stephen Baxter, the Kress story, "The Colonel Returns to the Stars" by Robert Silverberg and "Keepsakes" by Mike Resnick. Four out of six is a very good score. The weakest story in the bunch, by my reckoning, was mediocre. But then again, that was the Williams story that got chosen for the Dozois best-of anthology. So what do I know?

In addition to providing an excellent story, Silverberg tasked each of the other writers with providing a snapshot of life in the far future and far from Earth. I don't know that all of the writers met that challenge as life remains pretty much the same. Or maybe that's the point? No matter, there are some really top notch stories in this anthology.

This makes the second original anthology I read this year from the Science Fiction Book Club that is well worth the read; the other being Down These Dark Spaceways, which also featured stories that have since gone on to be collected elsewhere and nominated for awards.

Reviewlettes follow...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 30, 2006 at 11:06 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

• New Gutenberg fiction: "Space Tug" by Murray Leinster.


• Neal Asher talks on Forbidden Planet's blog. [via Big Dumb Object]


• Vernor Vinge on computers, freedom and privacy. [via Boing^2]


• Chronicles Network interviews Geoff Ryman.


• Part movie trailer, part 70's-feel video, check out Star Lords, a mashup of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. [via Texas Best Grok]


• Naomi Novik is writing 3 more Temeraire novels to add to the series that's made up of His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 30, 2006 at 11:57 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

We recently mentioned how Cross Plains, Texas, was celebrating the 100th birthday of Robert E. Howard, author of the Conan books. Now there's official word from Chris Roberson, author of Paragaea and owner of MonkeyBrain books, that a new limited-edition anthology is due to be released celebrating Howard and his work.

The book, Cross Plains Universe: Texans Celebrate Robert E. Howard, is being edited by Scott Cupp and Joe R. Lansdale. Stories will be written in Howard style and/or use some of his characters. The book features this nice lineup of Texas talent:

• "Slim and Swede and the Damned Dead Horse" by Dean Andersson


• "The Heart" by Neal Barrett, Jr.


• "Prince Koindrindra Escapes" by Jayme Blaschke


• "The Diamonds of Golconda" by Lillian Stewart Carl


• "The Heart of Ahriman" by Bill Crider and Charlotte Laughlin


• "One Fang" by Scott Cupp


• "The King Comes to Texas" by Brad Denton


• "A Whim of Circumstance" by Mark Finn


• "The Sea of Grass on the Day of Wings" by Melissa Mia Hall


• "A Penny a Word" by Rick Klaw and Paul Miles


• "The Pillar in the Mist" by Ardath Mayhar


• "The Roaming Forest" by Michael Moorcock


• "The Bunker of the Tikriti" by Chris Nakashima–Brown


• "The Toughest Jew in the West" by Lawrence Person


• "Wolves of the Mountain" by James Reasoner


• "Two Hearts in Zamora" by Jessica Reisman


• "The Warrior and the King" by Carrie Richerson


• "The Jewel of Leystall" by Chris Roberson


• "Thin, On the Ground" by Howard Waldrop


• "Boomtown Bandits" by Livia Washburn


• "Six From Atlantis" by Gene Wolfe

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 30, 2006 at 8:02 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Check out this rather scary 1979 Star Wars drunk driving PSA. Remember, friends don't let Greedo shoot first.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday June 29, 2006 at 3:19 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

Sad news, folks. Publisher Jim Baen has pased away.

Through the Baen Free Library, Jim proved that free (and DRM-free, too!) e-books do indeed help print sales. Stop by and read Jim's sensible reasoning why that is.

SF Author and friend David Drake has written an obituary. More are sure to follow.

UPDATE: See also the Press Release, the SFWA Obit, SciFi Wire, Jerry Pournelle, Boing Boing, Patrick Nielson Hayden, John Scalzi, Memory Machine and Lou Anders.
[h/t Eternal Golden Braid]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 29, 2006 at 9:15 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Revolution SF reviews John Picacio's art book Cover Story. They also have posted a gallery of Picacio's work. I thumbed through this while at Borderlands recently. This. Book. Rocks! [via Locus Online]


• Just in time for the release of Superman Returns, and the release of the book Man From Krypton, comes a Superman-related essay by Karen Haber called Clark Kent Just Gets Better Looking Every Day.


• Greg Egan offers Foundations, a series of articles on some of the theories of twentieth-century physics that have most influenced modern science fiction. [via CoolSciFi]


• TV journalist and a counterfactual author Giampietro Stocco interviews Robert J. Sawyer and C.J. Cherryh. [via Sawyer's blog]


• John Scalzi (Old Man's War, Ghost Brigades) interviews David Louis Edelman (Infoquake).


• BBC Radio 4 serializes H. Rider Haggard's She on July 2nd. [via SFF Audio]


• Paul McAuley reviews A Scanner Darkly. [via Big Dumb Object]


• Forbidden Planet bookstore has a blog and a podcast. [via SFBC Blog]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 29, 2006 at 12:05 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

University of Houston's Digital History offers Trailers of Historically Significant Films. [link via Cynical-C]

I've included the 53 films of note for sf/f/h genre fans in chronological order with links to their trailers. And before the genre-Nazis start howling at the moon, these are Digital History's classifications, except for Tarzan and His Mate (which was classified as Africa) and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (Education :O). Oddly, the 1933 King Kong is labeled as fantasy and the 1976 version is labeled as science fiction. Go figure. Also, I was going to include The Way We Were because it's arguably horror, but I didn't.

BONUS QUESTION: How many of these titles were based on books (excluding Outer Limits) ?

1. Metropolis (1927)


2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)


3. Frankenstein (1931)


4. Dracula (1931)


5. The Mummy (1932)


6. King Kong (1933)


7. Invisible Man (1933)


8. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)


9. Buck Rogers (1939)


10. Wizard of Oz (1939)


11. Thief of Bagdad (1940)


12. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1942)


13. Ape Man (1943) (2nd trailer)


14. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)


15. Harvey (1950)


16. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)


17. War of the Worlds (1953)


18. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)


19. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)


20. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)


21. Forbidden Planet (1956)


22. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)


23. Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)


24. 1984 (1959)


25. Angry Red Planet (1960)


26. Time Machine (1960)


27. Outer Limits (1960's TV)


28. Psycho (1960)


29. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)


30. Wolfman (1966)


31. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)


32. Barbarella (1968)


33. Planet of the Apes (1968)


34. Night of the Living Dead (1968)


35. Exorcist (1973)


36. Tommy (1975)


37. King Kong (1976)


38. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)


39. Star Wars (1977)


40. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)


41. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)


42. Blade Runner (1982)


43. Zelig (1983)


44. Terminator (1984)


45. Ghostbusters (1984)


46. Back to the Future (1985)


47. ET: The Extraterrestrial (1988)


48. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)


49. Jurassic Park (1993)


50. Independence Day (1996)


51. Being John Malkovich (1999)


52. Day After Tomorrow: Storm Surge (2004) (2nd trailer)


53. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 28, 2006 at 6:25 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

Here's the height of irony. The cast of SF Signal is being featured on MemeTherapy's Brain Parade feature. And by "cast" I apparently mean "posse". :)

And as the SF blogosphere's undisputed linkmaster, I'd like to thank MemeTherapy for providing the link fodder.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 28, 2006 at 10:13 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• SciFi Wire profiles Paul Park, whose well-received novel A Princess of Roumania was just nominated for a Sidewise Award. The second in the series, The Tourmaline, is due out from Tor in July. Next in the series: The White Tyger and The Hidden World.


• Lois and Jimmy from the 1950's (Jack Larson and Noel Neill) get parts in Superman Returns.


• The World Transhumanist Association has award the 2006 H.G. Wells award for Outstanding Contributions to Transhumanism to Charles Stross. Ah yes, but did he foresee the Gilette Sungularity? [via Charlie's Diary]


• [On NPR] Tech Tycoons' Dream: My Own Private Spaceship.


• MemeTherapy interviews Fantasy & Science Fiction editor John Joseph Adams, a.k.a. The Slush God.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 28, 2006 at 12:06 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

The very first teaser trailer of Spiderman 3 is available. Like any reasonable teaser trailer, it shows very little but really fires up the old blood. And Lowell as the Sandman...cool.

[via Every single science fcition website that shows even the most remote signs of being updated on a regular basis and even a few that aren't science fition-related at all.]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 27, 2006 at 6:31 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

UPDATE: Rules updated to not require postal address. We don't care where you live unless you win.
UPDATE #2: Changed submission email address while we change web hosts.
UPDATE #3: Changed submission email after web host move.

At SF Signal, our motto is: "We got so many books, they're comin' out of our - whoa, hey kids!" And what better way to clean house than to give some books away for free! Well, almost free. There is some effort involved. Just answer the questions below and you could win a free book!

THE PRIZE:
A brand spankin' new trade paperback copy of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town by Cory Doctorow.

THE QUESTIONS:
I'll give you a hint: All answers can be found on sfsignal.com.

1. Which author wrote the book that was the basis for the movie The Iron Giant?


2. What book was the basis for the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man?


3. Name three science fiction authors who wrote for the TV show Land of the Lost.


4. What was C.J. Cherryh's original last name?


5. Which author was nominated for two Hugo awards in 2006?


6. What three novellas make up Robert Silverberg's book Nightwings?


7. The SF Signal review of which sf book featured a snippet of dialogue from Woody Allen's Love & Death?


8. Who wrote the short story "I, Robot".


9. What's the name of the Google-like H.P. Lovecraft search engine?


10. What participant on the TV show Mythbusters has been honored multiple times on SF Signal by Pete?

READY, SET, GO!
All entries should be submitted to contest*AT*sfsignal*DOT*com.

RULES

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 27, 2006 at 1:48 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Pyr editor Lou Anders has posted an appeal to U.S. readers to buy American (or both American and U.K.):

[I]f you live here in North American, can I ask you a favor, on behalf of myself, Pyr, and both of these authors? Please wait for our edition. I didn't used to think that it mattered. Sometimes I liked the UK cover better than the US, or I wanted a hardcover when the US publisher only brought the book out in trade paperback or mass market. Or I didn't want to wait [...] But now I know better. There are a long list of deserving British and Australian authors that you don't see over here. There are others that you don't see here any more. Science fiction is not such a big market that the few hundred editions that slip through the specialty shops, or get shipped from Amazon.co.uk don't make a difference.

There's some good comments on Lou's blog and on Emerald City. SFBC editor Andrew Wheeler also comments.

I've personally never bought a book from outside the U.S. There's plenty to read here and there was never a book that was published that I just had to have that warranted the extra charge. (Although the Gollancz Masterworks editions come darn close.)

I do wonder how many of our readers buy books overseas. (I'm extending this to out non-U.S. readers who may buy U.S. books before they are available locally.) So, have you ever purchased a science fiction book (or any book, really) from another country? For what reason?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 27, 2006 at 1:40 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Scott Westerfeld's young adult novel Uglies (first in a trilogy that is followed by Pretties and Specials) has been optioned by Hollywood. Now, if only we can convince Hollwood to pick up his Succession books. [via SciFi Wire]


• Orson Scott Card in a podcast-interview [via No Blasters]


• Highbrow List: SF works with archaeological elements.


• Lowbrow List: Nudity in SF.


• Mal vs. Doctor Who #10. [via From the Heart of Europe]


• Samuel R. Delany makes the Publishers Weekly pic-of-the-week. [via Andrew Wheeler]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 27, 2006 at 1:37 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

BBC 7 is airing an audio rendition of "Shambleau" by C.L. Moore in three, 30-minute parts. The story is about "a space bounty-hunter who lives to regret rescuing a young woman from attack." This is Moore's first story and was written in 1933.

If you can't wait you can read it in glorious French!

A few years ago, I happened upon the Gnome Press edition of the collection Shambleau and Others. It's a beautiful reproduction of the original 1953 book. It comes in it's own sturdy carboard sleeve and earns a spot on my precious shelf.

Just don't ask me if I've read it yet. :)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 26, 2006 at 12:10 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 26, 2006 at 12:00 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

UPDATE: Whoops! Forgot one: The "Must" Audiobook.

The latest Entertainment Weekly (double issue #884/#885), which contains their "Must List", contains some entries of note for genre fans:

• "Must" Revivalist: Neil Gaiman (The Eternals)


• "Must" Love Machines: The Cylons of Battlestar Galactica - Grace Park (Sharon), Tricia Helfer (Number Six) and Lucy Lawless (D'Anna Biers).


• "Must" Comic Book: Rocketo by Frank Espinosa.


• "Must" Audiobook: A Scanner Darkly read by Paul Giamatti.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 25, 2006 at 2:07 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• William Shatner is the guest of honor at Comedy Central's next Celebrity Roast, premiering Sunday, August 20. [via Trek Today]


• The Top 10 Classic SF Lines As Written by Shakespeare.


• A.R.Yngve on The Art Of The Blurb.


• Entertainment Weekly (double issue #884/#885) reviews Glasshouse by Charles Stross and gives it a "C".


• Minega shows some appreciation for Philip K. Dick.


• Ben Bova: Losing a job is just a part of working


• The Reality of Science Fiction: Chatting with Brenda Cooper.


• Score one for Delaware: "Century of Science Fiction" exhibition slated for library gallery.


• 40 Things You Don't Know About Superman.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 25, 2006 at 1:51 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Wonder Audiobooks is promoting the audio anthology Among The Aliens by providing the free audio story "Beyond Lies The Wub" by Philip K. Dick.

The impressive table of contents for full contents of Among The Aliens looks like this:

• "Green Patches" by Isaac Asimov


• "Lover When You're Near Me" by Richard Matheson


• "Anthropological Notes" by Murray Leinster


• "Arena" by Fredric Brown


• "The Monsters" by Robert Sheckley


• "The Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum


• "The Hanging Stranger" by Philip K. Dick


• "The Wind People" by Marion Zimmer Bradley


• "Captains Mate" by Evelyn E. Smith


• "The Devil On Salvation Bluff" by Jack Vance

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 24, 2006 at 4:13 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A contemporary pulp adventure that injects some fun back into the genre.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Retro-style adventure story in which cosmonaut Leena Chirikov is transported to Paragaea and must search for a way home.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Fast-paced and action-packed; wondrous setting; likable characters; fun!
CONS: Slight pacing issues at times. Characters sometimes acted questionably.
BOTTOM LINE: True to its promise, if you like old-school pulp adventure, you'll like Paragaea.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 24, 2006 at 1:40 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

As is the way, stories are surfacing related to an upcoming summer blockbuster. Here are a few items that have cropped up thanks to next week's release of Superman Returns.

• Screen Rant points to a two-and-a-half minute clip from Superman Returns. It looks cool for all the reasons Vic @ Screen Rant mentions. I got the same cool vibe I got when I saw Superman: The Movie and Superman II in my youth. Funny thing with those movies was they didn't quite hold up on recent re-viewings with my daughter. There were some dialogue and suspension of disbelief issues that I just didn't catch when I was eleven. Yet now my older (and more critical) eyes are looking forward to Superman Returns.


• Superman expert Tom DeHaven is looking forward to Superman Returns as he completes his Superman-related book for Yale Univerty Press' American Icon series.


• The National Geographic Channel will be airing The Science of Superman.


• Flixens offers The Real Heroes of Superman, an 8-part series, So far: Parts one, two, three, four and five. (Okay, this one's a semi-repeat, but part 5 is new. So there.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 24, 2006 at 1:31 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Alex Proyas' Dark City gets the Special Edition DVD treatment.


• Nebraska Press offers The Moon Maid: Complete and Restored by Edgar Rice Burroughs. [via Nebraska Press Blog]


• Andrew Wheeler's informal poll is over and he has posted the Great Novels of the '90s


• Locus Online has posted interview excerpts from the June 2006 issue with Christopher Priest, Betsy Wollheim and Jay Lake.


• Wild River Review interviews Ellen Datlow. [via Locus Online]


• About.com offers The Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movie Game. Find the 30 titles from sci-fi and fantasy movies and TV shows.


• H. Beam Piper goes Gutenberg!


• SF Reader offers up The Grand Index of [SF/F] Writing Advice.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 23, 2006 at 12:34 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Futurama will return with at least 13 new episodes on Comedy Central by 2008!

Sweet! This will be the reason I needed to get hooked on the show. For some reason, I never took the time to warm up to it when it originally aired. (Maybe it was that awful musical-in-Hell episode? :) ) My loss. I've since seen a few and find it well worth the time.

[via Club Jade]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 23, 2006 at 12:03 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

The Amazing Screw-On Head is an award-winning graphic novel by Mike Mignola, the guy who brought us, among other things, some Hellboy books.

Comics Continuum is reporting that SciFi Channel is producing an animated version of The Amazing Screw-On Head tentatively slated to air July 27th. Voice work is provided by Paul Giamatti (who will always be Bitter Beer Face Guy to me, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon and Patton Oswalt.

Details of the animated version are sketchy, but the comic is described like this:

When Emperor Zombie threatens the safety of all life on Earth, the president enlists the aid of a mechanical head. With Screw-On Head and Mr. Groin on the job, you just know there will be flying machines to be piloted, tombs to be robbed, and weird alien menaces to be thwarted -- all that and talking dogs, too! It's pure mayhem

[via Michael May]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 22, 2006 at 4:45 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

• SciFiWeekly gives Superman Returns an "A".


• The Real Heroes of Superman, an 8-part series at Flixens. Here are parts one, two, three and four.


• The Interocitor gives an advanced peek at Variable Star by Spider Robinson and based on an outline Robert A. Heinlein created in November 1955. [via Eternal Golden Braid]


• New SF Podcast: The Time Traveler Show has an emphasis on audio sf. [via SFF Audio]


• The new logo for the Andre Norton Award for Best Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel of the Year looks cool. [via SFBC Blog]


• Check out the British radio show Imagining Albion. [via Ian McDonald]


• SF Classic in a Nutshell: SparkNotes on Ender's Game.


• A 2004 treatment Star Trek: Re-Boot the Universe by J. Michael Straczynski & Bryce Zabel.


• Rotten Tomatoes offers a sneak peek at Danny Boyle's sci-fi film Sunshine.


• Ahhhh! Library Dominoes!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 22, 2006 at 12:37 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

The net is abuzz with rumors that the next Star Trek movie has been greenlighted. JJ Abrams, the creator of Lost is involved in some way - at least as producer and potentially as director. At least Variety claims he's on board as director and that the story (being written by Abrans and writers from MI3) will focus on a young James T Kirk and Spock as they join the Star Fleet Academy. Rumors flew that Matt Damon has been asked to act as Kirk and that Abrams asked for and received blessings from William Shatner for Damon's to take over playing the character that has so far only been played by Shatner.

However, Empire Online has news from Abrams himself stating that he's not the director, that it's not a story of a young crew, and that Damon isn't involved.

I suppose we'll all just have to hold on and wait to hear more and hopefully official news.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Thursday June 22, 2006 at 11:53 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Cory Doctorow has begun podcasting his story "I, Row-Boat" described as "a story about a theological dispute between an artificially intelligent Asimov three-laws cultist and an uplifted coral reef."

Interestingly, some commenters have pointed out that a similarly-named story, "I, Rowboat", appeared at parody site The Onion. here's a brief excerpt of The Onion's Three Laws Of Rowboatics:

1. A Rowboat may not immerse a human being or, through lack of flotation, allow a human to come to harm.


2. A Rowboat must obey all commands and steering input given by its human Rower, except where such input would conflict with the First Law.


3. A Rowboat must preserve its own flotation as long as such preservation does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 22, 2006 at 7:00 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

It's time again for the annual Houston science fiction convention known as ApolloCon, taking place this weekend June 23-25, 2006.

The Guest of honor is Peter S. Beagle who was just nominated for a Hugo award for his short story "Two Hearts". Other author guests include Bradley Denton, Jayme Lynn Blaschke and Martha Wells. (See the complete guest list.) The schedule contains a wide variety of talks and events.

[via Easter Lemming Notebook]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 21, 2006 at 2:59 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

So you've decided the new Superman is too much of a 'pretty boy' Hollywood type as we all know Supes would be the rugged type, not Mr. Smooth as portrayed in the new movie. If only you could somehow watch the old Max Fleischer Superman cartoons somewhere....

Well fear not, now you can! AOL's IN2TV site is now showing Superman TV. Along with episodes of the Fleischer penned Superman, they have the orginal Superman TV show along with some of the newer incarnations. Too bad they don't have any of the Cartoon Network Superman, but you can't expect everything for free. Note that you will have to watch annoying ads before seeing the episodes and the resolution is rather small. But, if you're really adventurous, you can download the Hi-Q plug-in and see them in full screen, if you've been beaten down by the Man and IE 6.0 or later. Those of us choosing to fight for a better tomorrow via Firefox are SOL. But, darn it, full screen episodes of Freakazoid is just soooo tempting,not to mention Brisco County Jr. and Babylon 5...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday June 21, 2006 at 2:47 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

From the press release:

One of pop culture's most recognized figures, Shatner has cultivated a career as a professional actor, director, producer, screenwriter, recording artist, author, horseman, and Hollywood philanthropist.

Born in Montreal, he worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Company and later won the Tyron Guthrie Award for his efforts on stage. After moving to New York City, he become part of television's Golden Age. Since making his film debut in 1957, Shatner has starred in several hundred television programs - including many classics.

In 1966, Shatner originated the role of Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek. After the show was cancelled and relaunched in syndication, he reprised the role in seven Star Trek feature films. He played title role in the hit network series, TJ Hooker, was the host of CBS series Rescue 911 for six seasons and made his directorial film debut in 1989. In 2004, Shatner won his first Emmy Award for his role as "Denny Crane" on The Practice. That same year, he released the compilation record Has Been, comprised with several musical artists. In 2005, he won his first Golden Globe award and a second Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Boston Legal.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 21, 2006 at 1:02 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Or 'How To Make Marlon Brando Appear In Superman Returns'. Rhythm & Hughes do the honors of bringing Brando back and now you can see how in this cool, if kinda creepy, short film on the FX behind the talking head.

I also see that people who have already seen the film are raving about how good it is. I may possibly have to move this up on my list and see it in the theater...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday June 20, 2006 at 1:28 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

Dear Science Fiction Anthologist,

I'll keep this brief as I know you are very busy reading story submissions.

I enjoy reading short stories and love reading anthologies (keep 'em coming!) so I am going to freely give you 2 killer annual anthology themes:

1. All Nebula Award nominees for that year.


2. All Hugo Award nominees for that year.

Admittedly, I know relatively little about the publishing industry and even I could come up with reasons to not do this: obtaining rights; hitting the optimum selling window; book length; stories (especially these past couple of years) already freely available online. I'm hoping there is sufficient economic reason to do it anyway, like maybe people prefer a book over digital format; or maybe people want to own the best-of-the-best; or booksplitting the nominees to make it profitable.

A single editor's "best of" picks are nice. So, too, would the shortlists that are chosen by multiple award voters.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 20, 2006 at 12:24 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• MySanAntonio profiles artist John Picacio.


• Meme Therapy interviews Jeffrey A.Carver.


• Five Years of SFRAReview in PDF. [via Speculative Fiction and Robert J. Sawyer]


• Author Michael Burstein delves deeper into the publishing model ideas behing the recently-announced Helix webiste.


• It's Cthulhu-rama!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 20, 2006 at 12:21 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

AFI has posted Top 100 Inspiring Films. Some entries of note to genre fans:

6. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial


26. The Wizard of Oz


39. Star Wars


47. 2001: A Space Odyssey


58. Close Encounters of the Third Kind


67. The Day the Earth Stood Still

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 20, 2006 at 12:19 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Given the success of the re-imagined Galactica, could Star Trek, the original series, benefit from the same treatment? We may never know, but in 2004 Bryce Zabel (Dark Skies and JMS (Babylon 5), created a document that would effectively re-boot the Star Trek franchise, starting with the orignal series. New actors would be cast to fill the same character roles, and a new underlying mystery would have been added to the five-year mission. The document is linked in the middle of the post and gives more details. The actual over-arching five-year story arc is very Babylon 5-ish (not surprising) and the fact there is a mystery behind the mission has some X-Files and B5 flavor. It sounds intriguing, although I think the actual 'mystery' has been done to death in SF, but, if anyone can pull it off, it would have been Joe Straczynski.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday June 19, 2006 at 3:30 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

• George R.R. Martin is reviving his Wild Cards series.


• Authors on trading cards. [via Blogcritics]


• Older kids are reading less. [via Phantom Reflections]


• The lifespan of the bestseller is shrinking. [via Collision Detection]


• David Louis Edelman shows why science fiction can never truly predict the future with any kind of scientific precision.


• Scott Edelman, Sci Fi Weekly editor-in-chief, talks about Erasing the Smell of Sci-Fi.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 19, 2006 at 12:37 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Remember our old post about The Best Opening Line For A SF/F Book?

Along those lines, Lit Line has posted 100 Best First Lines from Novels. Some entries of note to genre fans:

3. A screaming comes across the sky. - Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow (1973)


8. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. - George Orwell, 1984 (1949)


30. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. - William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984)


38. All this happened, more or less. - Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)


47. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. - C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)


53. It was a pleasure to burn. - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 19, 2006 at 12:23 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 19, 2006 at 12:00 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Manybooks.net offers Invaders from the Infinite by John W. Campbell, Jr. (1961).


• Science fiction as literature.


• From The New York Times: Star Trek Fans, Deprived of a Show, Recreate the Franchise on Digital Video. [via Deep Genre]


• Dr. Ian Hocking is podcasting his techno-thriller novel, Déjà Vu.


• What Cthulhu eat for dessert.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 18, 2006 at 12:30 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

The winners of the the 2006 Locus Award have been announced:

• BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL: Accelerando by Charles Stross


• BEST FANTASY NOVEL: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman


• BEST FIRST NOVEL: Hammered/Scardown/Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear [see SF Signal reviews here/here/here]


• BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK: Pay the Piper by Jane Yolen & Adam Stemple


• BEST NOVELLA: "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link [see SF Signal review]


• BEST NOVELETTE: "I, Robot " by Cory Doctorow [see SF Signal review]


• BEST SHORT STORY: "Sunbird" by Neil Gaiman


• BEST MAGAZINE: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction


• BEST PUBLISHER: Tor


• BEST ANTHOLOGY: The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link & Gavin Grant, eds.


• BEST COLLECTION: Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link (Small Beer Press)


• BEST EDITOR: Ellen Datlow


• BEST ARTIST: Michael Whelan


• BEST NON-FICTION: Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop by Kate Wilhelm


• BEST ART BOOK: Cathy & Arnie Fenner, eds. Spectrum 12: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 18, 2006 at 12:24 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

I was surprised to see that I received my June Locus Magazine a mere 5 days into the month. (I guess my mailman is reading even faster than before.) The issue's People and Publishing section contains some early previews into upcoming books being written and published:

• Former game show producer Chuck Barris (yes, that Chuck Barris) sold The Big Question, a near-future satire of reality TV, to Simon & Schuster.


• David Marusek sold Mind over Oship, set in the same universe as Counting Heads, to Tor.


• Peter F. Hamilton sold his Void trilogy (The Dreaming Void, Life of Dreams and Evolution's Dream) which is set in the same universe as Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, to Del Rey.


• Mike Resnick sold Starship: Mercenary, sequel to Starship: Mutiny and Starship: Pirate, to Pyr. (The Starship series will conclude with Rebel and Flagship.) Resnick also resold Walpurgis III and The Branch to Pyr who will publish them as an omnibus called Blasphemy.


• Kevin J. Anderson delivered Slan Hunter, the completion of A.E. van Vogt's unfinshed final novel. Anderson also (with Brian Herbert) delivered Hunters of Dune, based on Frank Herbert's outline for his final "Dune 7" novel. Finally, Anderson also (with Rebecca Moesta) delivered the young adult fantasy Crystal Doors: Ocean Realm.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 17, 2006 at 12:28 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Author Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn) is working on a new book in the works called Warbreaker. You can find sample chapters here.

Additionally, author Chris Roberson is also working on a new book, Beyond The Threshold. He has also posted sample chapters.

I'm glad to see this happening. Now, potential book buyers can 'try before they buy' and decide whether the full book will be worth their time. Sort of the book version of a game demo. Sweet.

Oh, and, BYOB.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday June 16, 2006 at 9:55 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Like the previous project to read the 2005 Nebula Nominees for short fiction, I undertook the task to read the short fiction nominees for the 2006 Hugo Award. Once again, all of the nominees were available online this year. Thanks, Al Gore!

Overall, the stories were very good and stronger than the Nebula nominees. Indeed, many of these stories have already been chosen to appear in one "Best of..." anthology or another due out this year. Three of the Hugo nominated stories ("Identity Theft", "Magic for Beginners" and "Singing My Sister Down") are also recent Nebula nominees. Besides those stories, a couple of authors appear on both ballots as well: namely James Patrick Kelly and Paolo Bacigalupi. Michael A. Burstein has the distinct honor of having two stories on the Hugo ballot this year.

Most of the nominees' names are familiar through previous award wins and nominations, so I was expecting some good things. For the most part, I was not disappointed. The two least enjoyable Hugo nominated stories for me were not bad, but somewhat mediocre. This was unexpected as Waldrop is considered as master of the short form (I loved "Calling Your Name") and, if this is any indication, he's had 10 stories chosen for the first 23 volumes of Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction anthology series. The other mediocre story was by Michael Burstein - surprising since I thought his other story, "TelePresence", was the best novelette in the bunch and most deserving of the win.

So, in a nutshell, here are my impressions of the stories in each category, sorted from most to least enjoyable. Obviously, the winning picks are the tops ones listed in each category.

Novella
"Burn" by James Patrick Kelly
"Identity Theft" by Robert J. Sawyer
"Inside Job" by Connie Willis
"The Little Goddess" by Ian McDonald
"Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link

Novelette
"TelePresence" by Michael A. Burstein
"I, Robot" by Cory Doctorow
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle
"The Calorie Man" by Paolo Bacigalupi
"The King of Where-I-Go" by Howard Waldrop

Short Story
"Singing My Sister Down" by Margo Lanagan
"Down Memory Lane" by Mike Resnick
"Tk'tk'tk" by David D. Levine
"The Clockwork Atom Bomb" by Dominic Green
"Seventy-Five Years" by Michael A. Burstein

Reviewlettes follow...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 16, 2006 at 12:33 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Sad news: SF/F artist Tim Hildebrandt has passed away.


• More sad news: Baen Books publisher Jim Baen has suffered a stroke.


• Happier news: There's a new SF Website...Helix, a speculative fiction quarterly e-zine run by authors (William Sanders, Lawrence Watt-Evans and others) to brace against the oncoming digital age that sure to change the publishing industry. [via SFBC Blog]


• John Joseph Adams (F&SF editor) discusses The Great Gender Debate.


• Nick Mamatas' related (and link-engorged) post also covers How to Sell Science Fiction. [via The Publishing Spot]


• Conan the Barbarian is being revived in a version that's "more faithful to the [Robert E.] Howard story".


• New for June 2006! Revolution SF offers a 2005 Movie Year-in-Review.


• Latest Meme Therapy Brain Parade: How do you feel about the way science is portrayed in science fiction?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 16, 2006 at 12:31 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Another old comic book memory...

In the throes of my DC Comics phase, I bought (with my hard-earned lawn-mowing money, I imagine) one of DC's Giant comics. These were just jumbo-sized version of the regular comic; bigger pages with bigger art. One of the few I had was Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, which, thanks to Dial B for Blog, has once again come to my attention. This is the second time in the past month, actually. I saw a copy of it at Dog Eared Books in San Francisco, which is just down the street from Borderlands. It must be destiny. Or something.

Note the celebrities on the cover. They had a key inside that showed who everyone was. Is that Jimmy Carter? Sonny Bono? Lucille Ball? Yeah, put Sonny and Lucy into the ring, that's the match I'd really like to see.

[via Backwards City]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 16, 2006 at 12:03 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

J.A. Konrath from A Newbie's Guide to Publishing offers up an great post on book remainders, the unsold copies that publishers sell at a discount - the ones you find at discount bookstores. One of the downsides he lists as a "remaindered" author is:

Being in the bargain bin has a stigma that isn't pleasant.

I've since wizened up. In fact, during several biblioholic bouts, I've found many good remaindered books. One of the most fortunate finds was a hardback copy of (dare I say "SF Signal fanboy"?) John C. Wright's The Golden Age. I've since gone on to buy and read the rest of that very worthwhile trilogy. As Konrath notes, I might not have found him through other means. (Let alone buying another mass-market copy of the first book and the Science Fiction Book Club omnibus of all three books. Hel-LO? Biblioholic here!)

Upon reflection, my initial stigma against remainders was due to ignorance. I just didn't understand how it could could be possible that something worth buying could be offered at such a huge discount. That was my loss. But I'm debatably smarter now!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 15, 2006 at 5:42 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

GOBELINS is a French animation school that has produced several well done and humorous animated shorts. Burning Safari is one such short, made for the Annecy 2006 international animated film festival. It has spaceships, an exploratory feel, cute robots and monkeys. What's not to like? Take a look!

Update: The YouTube link no longer functions. They must have removed the video. Fear not! I found a link on the Gobelins site and added the link above.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday June 15, 2006 at 2:20 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) is leaving Doctor Who.


• New sf/f website: Deep Genre, a group blog by authors David Louis Edelman, Carol Berg, Constance Ash, Kate Elliott, Katharine Kerr and Lois Tilton.


• William Shatner DVD Club Contest: If you win, the Shat will record a personalized outgoing voice message for your answering machine or voice mail. [via Slice of SciFi]


• The Written Mashup: Books and band names. [via Sarcasmo]


• SciFi Wire profile Tim Pratt, author of The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, which was just nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. [via John Joseph Adams]


• Now blogging: Neal Asher, author of Gridlinked and The Voyage of the Sable Keech. [via Jose at MemeTherapy]


• SciFi Wire profiles Mike Resnick and his latest collection, New Dreams for Old, which inlcudes 10 stories that won or were nominated for awards.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 15, 2006 at 11:05 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

A post on the Asimov's forum lists the table of contents for next month's space opera anthology The Space Opera Renaissance, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. As I said before...[Homer gurgle]. Check out this juicy lineup:

I. Redefined Writers
"The Star Stealers" by Edmond Hamilton
"The Prince of Space" by Jack Williamson
"Enchantress of Venus" by Leigh Brackett
"The Swordsman of Varnis" by Clive Jackson

II. Draftees (1960s)
"The Game of Rat & Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith
"Empire Star" by Samuel R. Delany
"Zirn Left Unguarded, the Jenjik Palace in Flames, Jon Westerly Dead" by Robert Sheckley

III. Transitions/Redefiners (late 1970s to late 1980s)
"Temptation" by David Brin
"Ranks of Bronze" by David Drake
"Weatherman" by Lois McMaster Bujold
"A Gift from the Culture" by Iain M. Banks

IV. Volunteers"Revisionaries (early 90s)
"Orphans of the Helix" by Dan Simmons
"The Well Wishers" by Colin Greenland
"Escape Route" by Peter Hamilton
"Ms Midshipwoman Harrington" by David Weber
"Aurora in Four Voices" by Catherine Asaro
"Ring Rats" by R. Garcia y Robertson
"The Death of Captain Future" by Allen Steele

V. Mixed Signals/ Mixed Categories (to the late 1990s)
"A Worm in the Well" by Gregory Benford
"The Survivor" by Donald Kingsbury
"Fools Errand" by Sarah Zettel
"The Shobies Story" by Ursula K. Le Guin
"The Remoras" by Robert Reed
"Recording Angel" by Paul McAuley
"The Great Game" by Steven Baxter
"Lost Sorceress of the Silent Citadel" by Michael Moorcock
"Space Opera" by Michael Kandel

VI. Next Wave/21st Century
"Grist" by Tony Daniel
"The Movements of her Eyes" by Scott Westerfeld
"Spirey and the Queen" by Alastair Reynolds
"Bear Trap" by Charles Stross
"Guest Law" by John C. Wright

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 14, 2006 at 10:02 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Those Angry Alien guys are at it again, this time with Superman: The Movie in 30 seconds, as re-enacted by bunnies. (The way it was meant to be seen.) I love these clips. "C'mon Dad, I'll race you!"

Notice that the Angry Alien Superman clip is being hosted by the Starz channel. There's a success story, huh? Why, I remember them when they were young whippersnappers! I also see that some upcoming productions include parodies of Office Space and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sweet!

[Link via Backwards City]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 13, 2006 at 11:15 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

• CNN profiles Conan author Robert E. Howard and his hometown, Cross Plains, TX, which will soon celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday.


• Walter J. Hunt's latest newsletter offers book updates, projects in the Dark Wing universe, new writing projects and upcoming appearances.


• SciFi Weekly interviews James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel, co-authors of the anthology Feeling Very Strange.


• June 2006 Fast Forward features a audio and video interview with Peter S. Beagle, 2006 Hugo-Nominated author of "Two Hearts".


• Meme Therapy interviews Robert J. Sawyer, 2006 Nebula- and Hugo-Nominated author of "Identity Theft".

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 13, 2006 at 12:09 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Well, I was all set to show the results of the latest poll, and FreeBlogPoll is down. Does anyone know if FreeAndReliableBlogPoll.com is available? I'll keep checking to see if comes back and update accordingly.

But in the meantime, if memory serves, we were about 50/50 on whether there were too many science fiction awards. About half of the voters thought there were too many and the other half thought there were not. Go figure.

Be sure to vote in this week's poll on fanboys!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 12, 2006 at 2:54 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

According to CNN, Entertainment Weekly has voted Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, based on the sf novel by Anthony Burgess, the 2nd all-time most controversial movie. (Coming in first was Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.)

I saw that movie a long, long time ago and some of the imagery still remains vivid. (Besides the aforementioned eyes-wide-open scene, I seem to remember a shoe-licking and somebody being bludgeoned with a giant, porcelain...ummm...oh, never mind.) I would like to see the movie again, but I'd like to wait until I read the book, which waits patiently in a box somewhere.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 12, 2006 at 10:53 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Roanoke Times interviews Orson Scott Card. [via Locus Online]


• NY Times Book Review's Dave Itzkoff reviews Nebula Awards Showcase 2006. [via Locus Online]


• Quiz: Which movie had these Sci-Fi Movie Quotes?


• The NYT offers Lessons learned from science fiction/fantasy and asks: Does the fact that someone enjoys the science fiction/fantasy genre automatically relegate that person to nerdhood? [via SFBC Blog]


• Star Wars/Star Trek Mashup: The Enterprise vs. the Death Star.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 11, 2006 at 10:08 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

SF Signal blogger Tim has been on vacation and I think he returns this weekend. To welcome him back, I offer you a slice of zombie cake.

But what, dear friends, is cake without accompanying music? Well...it's still cake, but the point is I also offer unto you the undead equivalent of the Badger^3 song: Zombies^3!

Now eat cake and dance!

[Links via GailyColouredPlasticBag]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 11, 2006 at 1:52 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• A movie version of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Hogfather is being filmed right now in the UK. [via SFBC Blog]


• The Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society News interview Terry Pratchett. [also via SFBC Blog]


• Cinematical is having some fun re-casting Star Wars.


• IF magazine interviews Q, John DeLancie [via Sci-Fi Strom]


• SmartPop Books interviews Karen Haber.


• Matt Cheney contemplates the similarities between Alfred Kinsey and Theodore Sturgeon.


• Infoquake author David Edelman On the Writing of Sequels.
• MyGrassyKnoll podcast-interviews Vernor Vinge.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 10, 2006 at 12:01 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

I just finished watching the season/series 1 finale of Doctor Who with the episode "A Parting of The Ways". I thought it was pretty darned good; one of the better episodes this season, although I did miss a few. (TV Squad liked it too and has a full summary.) There were moments of questionable logic, but Doctor Who was always about the fun, not necessarily the flawless plotting.

I liked Chris Eccleston as The Doctor. He always played it with a bit of well-placed humor. I knew there was a new Doctor coming in the next season, but I didn't know the switch happened in this episode! The brief glimpse I got of the new guy (David Tennant, who for some reason reminded me of Davy Jones) left a good impression, though.

Since this was a late night viewing, I'll need to re-watch this episode with my daughter, who like the series. Ah, nothin' like getteng them hooked on sci-fi at a young age!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 10, 2006 at 12:00 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

JK Rowling!

So says a Book Magazine poll voted upon by readers.

As noted previously, Rowling was (yay us) one of the few genre authors who was nominated. At the time, I think the only other authors somehow connected with the genre were Terry Pratchett, Doris Lessing, Ian McEwan, A.S. Byatt and Kazuo Ishiguro. (See Andrew Wheeler's originating post.) Now, it seems like votes were received for Iain M. Banks, Philip Pullman, Martin Amis, Neil Gaiman, J.G. Ballard, Diana Wynne Jones and Michael Moorcock.

[via BlogCritics, who now humorously questions the usefulness of Democracy.]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 09, 2006 at 9:21 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

John has asked that I publish my review criteria, so here it is. Note that this only really counts for books I've read this year (2006) and beyond - in years past I wasn't quite as critical as I am now.

I have to admit I'm seriously thinking of changing my rating to simply 'Worth it' or 'Avoid it' since that's all I'm really trying to convey, but at least for now here is what my rating system is.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Friday June 09, 2006 at 1:06 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

The NY Daily News offers Fanboy 101 for would-be fanboys. They cover the essential comics, sci-fi movies, Hong Kong movies and horror movies one would need to consume to be considered a fanboy. (Anime, television series and sci-fi and fantasy books to come in a later article.)

Here's the list of sci-fi movies:

• The original Star Wars trilogy


• Blade Runner


• 2001: A Space Odyssey


• Alien/Aliens


• The Matrix


• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan


• The Day the Earth Stood Still


• Close Encounters of the Third Kind


• The Terminator


• A Clockwork Orange


• Jurassic Park


• Things to Come

[link via Emerald City]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 09, 2006 at 12:09 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

The nominees for the International Horror Guild Award, which recognizes achievement in the field of horror/dark fantasy during 2005, have been announced. Also, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is recipient of its annual Living Legend Award. Awards are presented during the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, TX on July 31st.

NOVEL

• Lunar Park by Brett Easton Ellis


• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova


• Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel


• The Stone Ship by Peter Raftos


• The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren (Translated by Paul Britten-Austin)

• "There's a Hole in the City" by Rick Bowes


• "The Third Factor" by Brian Evenson


• "Go Between" by China Mieville


• "Invisible" by Steve Rasnic Tem

• "Proboscis" by Laird Barron


• "Boatman's Holiday" by Jeffrey Ford


• "My Father's Mask" by Joe Hill


• "La Peau Verte" by Caitlin Kiernan

• "The Imago Sequence" by Laird Barron


• "Kiss of the Mudman" by Gary Braunbeck


• "Voluntary Committal" by Joe Hill


• "The Serial Murders" by Kim Newman

• Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham


• 20th Century Ghostsby Joe Hill


• To Charles Fort, with Love by Caitlin Kiernan


• Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

• No Award

And no award for anthology? What's up with that?

[Link via SFBC Blog]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 09, 2006 at 12:02 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• The Economist ponders Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and robot safety. [via Emerald City]


• Meme Therapy interviews Rudy Rucker.


• The Movie Blog has a teaser poster for Transformers slated for a July 2007 release.


• Sci Fi Wire profiles Nick Sagan and his latest, Everfree. [via Slush God]


• The 2005-2006 TV sci-fi flare up is apparently over.


• Progressive publisher Pyr now offers the ability to purchase their books through PayPal - and get a 20% discount to boot.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 08, 2006 at 11:54 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

I don't know whether to be scared or not, but now you can buy your very own Jedi Master and re-create your own personal Dagobah with Think Geek's Yoda Plush Backpack. This is perfect for the Star Wars Enthusiasts among us (you know who you are, ok, I'll give you a hint, his initials are 'Scott') or perhaps even their kids.

No real info on how much crap you can stuff into Yoda's stomach, or on how long it will take for you to start talking in Yoda-speak. About 5 seconds I'm guessing.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday June 08, 2006 at 3:16 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Fine hard science fiction from a very capable author that could have been so much more.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Earth as been rendered devoid of life thanks to nanotech gone awry, and humankind has been split between those that eschew nanotech and hope to repopulate Earth the old fashion way (the Threshers or those who want to stand up to the threshold of nano use) and those who have embraced nanotech throughout their bodies and would like to terraform Earth with more nanos (the Slashers, named after those who use Slashdot - I'm not kidding.) An archaeologist from the Threshers Verity Auger becomes embroiled in interstellar intrigue when she discovers a duplicate Earth, held in stasis by alien technology, has become active and in fact can now be visited.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Great use of science fiction staples like nanotech, wormholes, and the unique concept of a giant sphere big enough to hold a copy of a world in quantum stasis.
CONS: Slow story in parts. Reynold's characters seem cold and lifeless.
BOTTOM LINE: Still a good read, but I had expected more from Reynolds.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Thursday June 08, 2006 at 10:21 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Naomi Novik has posted a new short story called "Feast or Famine" set in the world of Temeraire between the events of His Majesty's Dragon and Throne of Jade.[via SlushGod]


• Cory Doctorow is podcasting his stories "The Super-Man and the Bugout" and "Visit the Sins". [via SFBC blog]


• Wildside Press editor Sean Wallace has unofficially announced a set of upcoming "world-mythology" anthologies. Maybe under the Prime Books imprint?


• BlogCritics interviews Scott Peters, creator of The 4400.


• Following Part 1 of a very enlightening sneak peek into the publishing business, Tor paranormal romance editor Anna Genoese has posted Part 2 which covers "the hardcover to mass market profitable/neutral book".


• HUMOR: Superheroes + classic art = Photoshop Fun. [via Jay Tomio]


• MORE HUMOR: Cory Doctorow visits a Radio Shack. [via False Positives]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 07, 2006 at 12:48 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

Over at the Guardian, Jeff Jarvis is contemplating the limited lifespan of the book in his article Books will disappear. Print is where words go to die. [Link via BookNinja]

The article gives a nice 50,000-foot view of the situation between the capabilities and pressure of The Digital Age vs. the limited vision of The Old Ways:

...[E]fforts to update the book are hampered because, culturally, we give extreme reverence to the form for the form's sake. We hold books holy: children are taught there is no better use of time than reading a book. Academics perish if they do not publish. We tolerate censors regulating and snipping television but would never allow them to black out books. We even ignore the undeniable truth that too many books, and far too many bestsellers, are pap or crap. All this might seem to be the medium's greatest advantage: respect. But that is what is holding books back from the progress that could save and spread the gospel of the written word.

I still wonder, though, is this an insightful prognostication, or just malarky?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 06, 2006 at 12:53 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Today is 6/6/06: Here's an overly exhaustive list of the devil/evil/demons in sf/f.


• Andrew Wheeler says Nitpickery Is Killing Science Fiction.


• Meme Therapy interviews Matt Cheney.


• SF Revu interviews Jeffrey Ford and Tanya Huff.


• Holtzbrinck's Podcasts of the Weeks: Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan and Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card. [MP3]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 06, 2006 at 1:45 AM
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Jonathan Strahan has launched The Coode Street Podcast to promote work that he feels is "worthwhile, noteworthy, or just neat in some way."

The first podcast is "Stealing Free" by by Deborah Biancotti, winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Horror Story, the Ditmar Award for Best New Talent, and the Ditmar for Best Short Story, She describes "Stealing Free" thusly:

"This story is one of those, begun late at night, the broad brush stroked added over several days between work and Life and other projects, but the real guts of it, the meat of the tale, so to speak, requiring another late night to pull itself together. And here - for what it's worth - is an unusual piece on the dutiful Salamander and his odd mixed bag of friends and enemies. Kingfisher. Pelicans. Empress. Monster. Sea Snake. And all their attendants."

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 06, 2006 at 1:41 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Newer readers may be wondering what I mean when I drop occasional mentions of my biblioholism. Allow me to elaborate. But before you start with the ridicule, know that I am aware I am opening myself up to it by doing this. So, if you insist on poking fun, exceed my expectations, will ya', and make it really funny. As defined by me.

I regularly visit used bookstores. They are the best places to browse out-of-print science fiction and fortunately (or unfortunately) for me, Houston has an inordinate number of them. It used to be just me but in the past couple of years, the family has taken a shining to it. (Red Rum!)

My collection already contains more books than I could possibly read in my lifetime unless I was, say, augmented with Klausner-like nanotech, which has yet to be invented (sadly). I am honestly not bragging here - this behavior is illogical and, some would say, on the wrong side of sane. I think the affliction is the result of growing up in Long Island which is essentially a 100-mile-long strip mall. (Note to self: add "strip mall' to list of phrases that make me giggle.)

I was doing well for a while. I think I went three whole weeks without stepping foot inside a bookstore. My recent visit to the awesome Borderlands Bookstore in San Francisco put the kibosh on that dry spell. I dare anyone with even a remote fondness for science fiction to step into that store without wanting to walk out with oodles and caboodles of crunchy, sf goodness. I couldn't do it.

Anywho, in recent weeks, I found some good (to me) treasures that, while they are things I wanted, were not really things I needed. These titles fall into distinct categories. (Like Jeff from Gravity Lens once said, sf fans love to categorize.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 06, 2006 at 1:30 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

The June IROSF has been posted. Here's the TOC:

• Editorial: The Living and the Dead by Bluejack


• Obituary: Robert Sheckley by Kristine Kathryn Rusch


• Interview: An Interview with Lee Modesitt by Ken Rand


• Features: Who Needs Feminist Science Fiction? by Ruth Nestvold, Jay Lake and The 2005 UK Small Press Review by Lavie Tidhar


• Essays: The Wendigo by William I. Lengeman III and Hollywood Eats Its Own Brain! by MaryAnn Johanson


• Reviews: NFSF: Wonders from Down Under; Beyond Singularity ed. Dann and Dozois; Trujillo by Lucius Shepard; Zanesvilleby Kris Saknussemm; May/June Short Fiction

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 06, 2006 at 12:51 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• Michael Cassut examines science fiction's 5 Percent Factor where he discusses the ongoing imminent death of sf and the differences between sf/f.
• The June 2006 Ansible is out.
• Sci-Fi ranter girl is tracking the new season start dates of sf/f/h television shows.
• SciFi Dimension interviews Paul Di Filippo.
• Fantasy Bookspot interviews George R.R. Martin

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 05, 2006 at 12:39 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: While the series does not end on a whimper, the bang is less noisy than before.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Former Canadian Special Forces operative Jenny Casey attempts to establish contact with the mysterious Benefactor aliens while the world engages in a superpower finger-pointing match after the cataclysmic events of Scardown.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: The Benefactor thread evokes a sense of wonder; cool use of nanotech.
CONS: The second part of the book, which focused on the politics thread, was weaker than the rest of the series. Lack of drama.
BOTTOM LINE: Still a good read, but does not quite meet the achievements of the previous installments.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 05, 2006 at 1:23 AM
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 05, 2006 at 12:00 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Robert J. Sawyer has resurrected an old post citing a list of SF books that non sf readers would enjoy.

Sawyer's picks:

• The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov


• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke


• The Ghost from the Grand Banks by Arthur C. Clarke


• Neuromancer by William Gibson


• Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress


• Inferno by Mike Resnick


• Manhattan Transfer by John E. Stith


• Mysterium by Robert Charles Wilson

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 04, 2006 at 11:59 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

The June 9th issue of Entertainment Weekly offers some brief reviews of science fiction and fantasy books. Here's a snippet.

Everfree by Nick Sagan
Genre Mash: 28 Days Later meets The Matrix.
Lowdown: Everfree is smart and fast-moving but, like its protagonists, emotionally computerized.
Grade: B-

Black Powder War (Temeraire, Book 3) by Naomi Novik
Genre Mash: Lawrence of Arabia meets Dragonheart.
Lowdown: STill enjoyable, but this faithful reader wanted less travelogue and more of the intricately rendered life-of-an-aviator derring-do that shone in the first book.
Grade: B

Firebird by R. Garcia y Robertson
Genre Mash: Scheherazade meets Czar nicholas II.
Lowdown: Complete with iron forests, Mongolian shamans, rapacious Tartars, and lesbian nuns, Firebird has a skewering with that's great fun to read; too bad the characters are made of cardboard. On the plus side, we learn that a properly trained nun should be fluent in the French kiss.
Grade: B+

The Greener Shore : A Novel of the Druids of Hibernia by Morgan Llywelyn
Genre Mash: A Wizard of Earthsea meets Siddhartha.
Lowdown: The wanderings of head druid Ainvar and his three wives as refugees in Hibernia (also known as Ireland) provide a deeply felt and at times lyrical meditation on exile and loss, but Shore lacks the oomph of the original tome.
Grade: B-

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 04, 2006 at 12:18 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

Spiderman 3 will have four villains. Three of them are confirmed: Venom, Sandman and the new Green Goblin (a.k.a. Hobgoblin). The last villain is rumored to be either The Lizard or Man-Wolf.

Holy flashback, Batman Spiderman! The Man-Wolf is lycanthropic alter-ego of John Jameson, J.Jonah Jameson's astronaut son. I wouldn't know this except that way back when I was but a wee lad, I had an audio Spiderman comic called Mark of the Werewolf. It was an abridged version of a Spiderman comic book and came with a 45 RPM record (what are those?) that contained voice actors acting out the comic. I'm not sure how I got this or why I would go the audio route as I was thoroughly entrenched in (DC) comics at the time. Still, the news of the new Spiderman movie bring back fond memories...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 04, 2006 at 12:01 AM
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Beginning June 5th, the BBC Radio show 7th Dimension will be running a 17-part reading of John Wyndham's classic The Day of the Triffids. Each part is about 30 minutes making the total piece about 8 hours. For folks outside the UK, the BBC makes the recordings available for 6 days after the broadcast at their Listen Again site.

I read this cozy-catastrophe story several years ago and loved, loved, loved it. Nothing at all like the cheesy movie I saw in my childhood. Thankfully. This is one of those books that you know you are going to read again. Luckily for me, I have since acquired the hardcover SF Masterworks edition of this.

[via SFF Audio]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 03, 2006 at 12:34 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• August will see the release of "the definitive comic re-telling of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars".


• IF Magazine interviews Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick, who talks about BSG season 3. [via Club Jade]


• Fractal Matter briefly interviews Ron Glass, Shepherd Book from Firefly/Serenity. (Warning: Serenity Spoilers!)


• SciFi Wire talks with Chris Roberson, author of Here, There and Everywhere.


• From June 7th through the 21st, the Science Fiction Book Club blog will be hosting a chat with Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire trilogy: His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 03, 2006 at 12:32 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

MetaxuCafe, referencing a post at Checkov's Mistress called The Culture of Impatience And The Real Market, asks Why Buy a Bestseller? In the MetaxuCafe post, Phil Wade asks:

"Does a story seem more interesting to you after you learn thousands of others--faceless, nameless readers--bought it and, by inference, liked it?"

Maybe the question does not apply directly, as such, to science fiction since sf rarely makes the NYT bestseller lists. But there are lists of top-selling sf books so the question can still be applicable.

Does a science fiction book's popularity entice you to read it?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 02, 2006 at 10:07 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

The first issue of Jim Baen's Universe is now live. The DRM-free e-mag is subscription based, but non-subscribers can get a free preview.

The contents of the first issue is looking sweet:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 02, 2006 at 2:18 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

Battlestar Galactica producer Ron Moore's Top 5 Favorite Science Fiction Novels

1. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (1961)


2. Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1951)


3. Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)


4. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey (1968)


5. I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison (1967 collection of short fiction)

Check out his Opinion Journal piece for more info.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 02, 2006 at 8:02 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A book full of stereotypes and a simple plot that is overall a mediocre effort. Worse yet - it was booksplit without being that long of a novel.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: When 12 worlds of the Confederation decide to succeed, its up to the Marines of FIST to help bring them back into the fold. The circumstances around this civil war are laced with politics as well as fighting in what is the 11th book of the Starfist saga.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: The universe is rich with a solid backdrop to the situations that develop. You can tell somebody has done a good job creating the big picture. The overall story isn't that bad and the action moves quickly.
CONS: Every character in here is a stereotype you've seen before done better. Think of every decent military sci-fi book you've read and you'll find those ideas here. The book is poorly edited to boot - there are several pages devoted on an impending inspection of the unit that matters not at all to the plot. There is a divergence into dealings with a backwater thug that is just discarded without further mention. I can't help but wonder if all these things couldn't have been left out and allowed the story to fit in one book.
BOTTOM LINE: It has action sequences and an interesting universe to exist in, but I suspect the best books in this series are well before this one. The worst part is how the book abruptly ends at a point that's not even logical. I can appreciate that it the entire 2-book effort would have been too much for 1 novel, but at least the authors ought to create a decent point to split it. Unless you're a huge fan of this series you can give this book a pass.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Friday June 02, 2006 at 1:05 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Solid novel by a very talented SF author. While it isn't quite as good as some of Bear's other works, it is definitely worth reading.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: In 2031, new FBI agent William Griffin battles the legacy of his father, also an FBI agent, a terrorist bent on unleashing a weapon of mass destruction, and his own government in this novel of intrigue and infighting. It is a futuristic techno-thriller that spans the globe chasing down middle-eastern terrorist (Jews in this case) and disenfranchised Americans.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Fun book that is serious in its subject matter (terrorism) that manages to have you cheering on the good guys. The action moves smoothly and the topic is honestly a little scary. The SF elements of the future technology are interesting - they are close enough to today's technology that it isn't hard to imagine that being the future. In particular interest are the tracking technologies available in a world where tracing terror suspects is an imperative.
CONS: The government infighting portions seems a bit forced - it would have a fine novel without it. Some of the character motivations aren't always clear which can make their actions appear arbitrary.
BOTTOM LINE: A thought-provoking thriller set about 25 years in the future that is a great read. It isn't very long but the action is interesting and the high-tech weapons (which are in the labs today but not in the field) lend an interesting SF element. Overall I recommend it.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Friday June 02, 2006 at 12:51 AM
© 2006 SF Signal

• SF Site interviews Hal Duncan, author of Vellum.


• The Guardian interviews Bruce Sterling.


• SF Revu interviews Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files.


• Adventures Underground bookstore interviews Jay Lake.


• Starship Troopers 3 is in the works. [via Cinematical]


• Tobias Buckell's story "Waiting for the Zephyr" is now available as an audiobook or podcast released under the Creative Commons license.


• Jeffrey Ford's Well-Built City trilogy will be reprinted by Golden Gryphon Press.


• Alastair Reynolds has delivered a short fiction collection, Zima Blue And Other Stories, to Night Shade Books. This one includes the previously unrealeased story, "Signal To Noise". Mmmm, more Alastair Reynolds.

Update: Added Golden Gryphon and Night Shade Books tidbits.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 01, 2006 at 4:46 PM
© 2006 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 01, 2006 at 12:12 AM
© 2006 SF Signal