• Tim Pratt (Blood Engines) invents a new literary movement at John Scalzi's Whatever blog.


• The Agony Column has part one of a podcast-interview with Charles Stross (Halting State), who, at his own website, lists his upcoming novels.


• A.R. Yngve takes an introspective look at sf fads and fashions: "All science-fiction fads, when you look back at them, seem naive. They are invariably rooted in the wishful thinking and cultural anxieties of their time and audience."


• More 2007 Best Lists:
  • Abigail @ Asking the Wrong Questions lists Best Books of 2007.
  • Joe Sherry @ Adventures in Reading lists The Nine Best Reads of 2007.
  • Tim @ A Progressive on the Prairie lists Best Books of 2007.
  • James @ Big Dumb Object continues his 2007 Dumbie nominations with his television, video game and comic nominees.
  • Justine Larbalestier (Magic and Madness) lists her favorite books of 2007.


• As part of The Sci-Fi Experience 2008, Dark Orpheus shares his re-reading experience with C.J. Cherryh's Cyteen.


• The New York Times recollects an article from 1908 that offered predications for 2008. "We may have gyroscopic trains as broad as houses swinging at 200 miles an hour up steep grades and around dizzying curves..."


• And finally, the last tidbit of 2007: Brewster Rockit, Space Guy looks at New Years' Resolutions.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 31, 2007 at 12:19 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Just before Christmas, Art Asylum released two pictures of their new retro Galactica minimates figures. These are cool beyond words, and they go nicely with the minimates for the new series they released earlier this year. I'm heading to Target as soon as these are released. They'll look so good in my cube...[via ToysREvil]


• So you say you missed out on the previous LOST ARG and had to miss all the fun of deciphering the clues. Well never fear! A new ARG for LOST is starting today! It appears the Oceanic Air is re-opening it's doors to the flying public, and their new web site, Fly Oceanic Air, is set to open today. If this is your thing, give it a go. I prefer to wait and let others do the hard work while I reap the story benefits.


• Matt Reves, director of Cloverfield has seen the Trek XI teaser trailer and thinks fans should be excited about it. Knowing how Hollywood can make any movie look good in a trailer, I'm still not excited.


• MySanAntonio lists their Best TV of 2007 and Journeyman, Dr. Who and Torchwood make the grade.


• SFFaudio points us to the new Blake's 7 radio program on BBC 7. It's apparently three, one-hour long broadcasts, and you can find them on the BBC site. Sadly, you can only listen to shows from the last week, meaning the first episode is unavailable.


• For those of you who watch Medium, the new season starts on January 7th, and NBC has placed the last three episodes, of last season, online so you can catch up. And fans of the show give their predictions for the new season over on YouTube. I've never watched the show, but they must be doing something right to get 4 seasons.


• The Website at the End of the Universe points us to the pilot for the shot-lived TV show Automan. Just check out that Tron looking uniform. In fact, the whole show looks like a Tron rip-off, with cheesier SFX.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday December 31, 2007 at 12:12 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

"Well, it really depends. I read more if we spend the holiday at home or with my in-laws. But it's way less if I spend it with my parents. They spend all year just reading, and when the kids are around they want to talk, talk and talk some more." - Karen Burnham

"I daresay there is scarcely a more beautiful and satisfying thing than to be in your bed till the very late/early hours of the evening/morning on a holiday reading a nice book. Happy holidays to all." - General X

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 31, 2007 at 12:00 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Those of us of a certain age, which includes all of us here at the big SFS, remember the 'classic' SF movie Tron with at least some fondness. I managed to score the 20th Anniversary DVD edition for my birthday a couple of years back and introduced my kids to Tron, which they then proceeded to watch at least 5 times over the next two days.

Writer/director Steve Lisberger directed two more movies, Hot Pursuit and Slipstream, but nothing that approaches the cult status of Tron. But now, Tom's Games has an interview with Lisberger where he details the new script he's working on called Soul Code. The new movie isn't a sequel, as Lisberger says Tron stopped pretty much at the end of the road, but Soul Code will deal with human interaction with advancing technology. Those of you who want to see more of the Tron story ought to find the PC game Tron 2.0, which is actually a really nice FPS in it's own right, aside from continuing the story.

From what is in the article, Soul Code will deal with the discovery of the ability to 'download' people's memories, presumably into a computer. Nothing really new to us in the SF community, but as far as SF movies go, I'm hard pressed to think of one that deal directly with this. Maybe the Lawnmower Man movies.

It's a long article and I'm officially interested in the movie, which could be ready by late 2009, so set your alarms now.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday December 30, 2007 at 2:53 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

Last week we showed you a bunch of science fiction TV episodes from Hulu. Today we're going to bring you the next episode of one of the best, if shortest, science fiction shows ever produced. I'm talking about, of course, Firefly.

If you've never seen it before, now, and in the coming weeks, you'll have the chance to see it right here. Hopefully you'll be drawn in and become a raving browncoat like many of us. Or possibly you'll be interested enough to purchase the box set of the DVDs so you can see it in it's full glory on the television. In any event, after the break you can watch the second episode Whedon intended.

(See here for the first episode.)

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday December 30, 2007 at 4:54 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Recently free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "Damned If You Don't" by Randall Garrett (1960).


• The Time Traveler Show podcasts "The Velvet Glove" By Harry Harrison. [via SFFAudio]


• James Wallace Harris (author of the The Classics of Science Fiction essay) offers us Science Fiction Short Stories State of the Union. "...in the far future year of 2008, we can still find SF&F stories in magazines and books, but also online, as podcasts, audio books and even ebooks. It's pretty damn science fictional to read SF&F on a Kindle or listen to it whispered into your ears via an iPod."


• More Bloggers' Bests of 2007:
  • Asking the Wrong Questions: Best Short Stories of 2007.
  • OF Blog of the Fallen: Best Anthologies and Story Collections of 2007.
  • Stainless Steel Droppings: The Comprehensive 2007 Year In Review, including "Best Of's".
  • Visions of Paradise: Favorite Books of 2007.


• SF Crows Nest has Part II of an interview with Bloggers of the SFF-sphere. (Thanks for the kind words La Gringa and Angela! :))

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 30, 2007 at 12:15 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

SciFi Wire has been listing 2008 genre movies, though I'm not sure how some of these fall under the guise of sf/f (blame SciFi Wire, not me!)

• From 20th Century Fox: Jumper, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, Shutter, Starship Dave, The Happening, and Babylon A.D..


• From Disney: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, WALL*E [w/ Pixar], South of the Border, Bolt, and Bedtime Stories


• From Paramount:Cloverfield, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Ruins , Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Kung Fu Panda , Nowhereland, Ghost Town, Madagascar: The Crate Escape, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Star Trek, and A Tale of Two Sisters.


• From Universal: The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Death Race, The Tale of Despereaux, and Doomsday.


• From Warner: One Missed Call, 10,000 B.C., Speed Racer, Get Smart, The Dark Knight, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 29, 2007 at 12:29 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Jeanne Robinson, co-author Stardance with husband Spider Robinson, will be the first to perform zero-gravity choreography onboard a "vomit-comet" free-fall jet, and the result is being filmed for Imax. [via Boing Boing and Biology in Science Fiction]


• Baen Webscriptions offers sample chapters from two new Subterranean Press offerings: Screaming Science Fiction by Brian Lumley and Laughin' Boy by Bradley Denton.


• Locus Online has posted profile excerpts of Elizabeth Hand and Nnedi Okorafor from their December issue.


• More Bests from 2007: Bookgasm lists The 5 Best Sci-Fi Books of 2007 and A Variety Of Words lists The Top Ten Reads in 2007.


• Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting The Sci-Fi Experience 2008, where he encourages folks to read science fiction and share their experiences during January and February. [via Stephanie]


• Mary at Better Living Through Science Fiction points us to a 21-page preview of a graphic novel prequel to the movie Jumper, which is based on the Steven Gould book.


• Marooned looks at the connection between asteroids and science fiction.


• Real Science: Time may be slowing down. I'm all for this if it meant I could read faster. Somebody check the math on that and get back to me...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 29, 2007 at 12:11 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Today is the birthday of Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek's Lt. Uhura). What better way to do a Friday YouTube than with Nichelle singing "Know What I Mean?" from her 1967 Down to Earth album?

Happy birthday, Nichelle! And what a coincidence...I got tasty-hasty pudding too, if you know what I mean, know what I mean...

This almost makes up for Shatner's early singing career. Or not.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 28, 2007 at 12:28 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Adult Swim is showing every single episode of Futurama from now until the crack of Midnight, January 1st, 2008 (see the schedule for times and episodes). I believe it actually started last night, but still, for those of you who don't have the DVDs, now is the time to set your DVRs or stay up late every night. Then why not top it off by buying the new movie on DVD?
• D. Maass at Film.com goes back in time to dissect an About.com article bemoaning the lack of 'diversity' in science fiction TV. Maass, quite rightly, shows that much of science fiction today has strong non-traditional leads and uses Bionic Woman, Galactica and Torchwood to make his point.
• TV Squad has a spoilerific review of the first two episodes for The Sarah Conner Chronicles. I know I'll watch just to see how it turns out.
• Speaking of remakes, did you know the BBC is re-imagining the 1960's sitcom Bewitched? As with the Dune remake, is this really necessary? Even with Sheridan Smith as Samantha.
• Paul Levinson lays into TV Guide's Worst TV of 2007 for including Journeyman on the list. Levinson basically says that Adam Schubak, the TV Guide critic, doesn't 'get' science fiction (and neither do most people) and that's why Schubak didn't 'get' Journeyman. I never watched it, but I've heard some good things about the later episodes. Hmm, it is on Hulu. (and the NBC main site)
• Super Punch points us to a photographic look at the old TV show UFO. First, what's up with the horrible, on the men anyway, mesh shirts. Is there a shortage of cotton (or any other fabric) in the future? Second, the anime chick with the purple hair looks a lot like a young Jane Fonda...
• The anime production company, Gonzo, is creating their own P2P netowork to compete with the other networks and, hopefully, sell their shows. Although at $9 an episode ($14 for HD), I don't see this going anywhere fast. If you're going to compete with the pirates, you need to provide your product at a competitive rate (vs. free), and these prices are too high, at least to me.
• Dreamworks/Paramount is remaking the creepy Korean horror flick, A Tale Of Two Sisters, for American audiences. It will star Emma Browning and Elizabeth Banks. I've seen the Korean version which was very creepy and suspenseful, with a cool, and logical, twist at the end. I'm interested to see how this can be 'Americanized'.
• With the start of season 4 of LOST fast approaching, ABC is reaching out to fans, both current and lapsed, with this 8:15 (natch) recap of the previous 3 seasons to get people up to speed for the new season. Just over one month and counting. This is worse than waiting for Christmas.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday December 28, 2007 at 12:25 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Slice of SciFi looks at The Science of Science Fiction:

Science Fiction involves buying into the premise of a scientific "reality" that often pushes, even shatters, the boundaries of what we know. As fans we accept this. As fans, we realize the vehicle need not be 100% feasible to transport us to good entertainment, with believable characters, and viable plots. I can buy into some things I know are not yet possible within our current understanding of science, and go with it for the sake of a well-told story.

What I find increasingly objectionable is the outright violation of science, as we know it. Humanity stands on the shoulders of countless individuals who painstakingly built the foundation for understanding the world around us. We owe them respect, not dismissal. Whatever premise we are asked to accept should build on this foundation, extrapolate it, even stretch it, but not tear it down for the sake of a "cool" visual.
...
I see it as a duty of the science fiction fan to hold sci-fi vehicles to a higher standard. Science is an important part of our lives, and reasonably good science should be the first requisite of "Science" Fiction. Instead, I see science casually tossed aside for the sake of a plot point, or worse, for the sake of presenting a special effect in lieu of a plot. The unintended consequence is that it makes "real" science seem mundane, boring, and lame.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 28, 2007 at 12:22 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Readers Voice interviews Ann VanderMeer, Editor of Weird Tales: "The fantasy element can give the writer the freedom to explore topics and ideas that may come across as too dogmatic in mainstream fiction. The best fantasy stories will take the reader someplace new and out of the ordinary. They will stick with the reader long after the story has been read. Whether it is a single character, an event or perhaps even the overall theme of the story, if you finish it wanting more yet are still satisfied, then the story works."


• Brandon Sanderson has written a FAQ on Memory of Light, the 12th and final volume of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time fantasy series, which he has been commissioned to finish.


• Grasping for the Wind has a version of Tobias Buckell's Sly Mongoose video w/ sound added.


• Free Fiction: BenG offers a list of books available on MobileRead sorted by genre.


• More Bloggers list their Best of 2007:
  • Pat's Fantasy Hotlist rounds up the 2007 Year-End Awards called, what else, The Hotties.
  • Big Dumb Object does the same with the 2007 Dumbies.
  • Fantasy Book Critic also lists some favorites.


• Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Bob Zemeckis' Back to the Future were added by the Library of Congress to its national registry because they are "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.


• SciFi Wire lists some 2008 genre movies from 20th Century Fox (Jumper, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, Shutter, Starship Dave, The Happening, and Babylon A.D.) and Disney (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, WALL*E [w/ Pixar], South of the Border, Bolt, and Bedtime Stories).


• Neat-o-rama has this cool retro X-Men poster by Eric Tan, the guy who did those retro WALL*E postcards.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 28, 2007 at 12:08 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Subterranean Press has just started posting the Winter 2008 issue of Subterranean Online. Here's what available now, with more to come in the weeks ahead:

• Audio: "Trunk and Disorderly" by Charles Stross
• Column: Bears Examining #6: Congratulations by Elizabeth Bear
• Fiction: "Ceremony" (an excerpt from Black & White) by Lewis Shiner
• Fiction: "The Pile" by Michael Bishop
• Lansdale Unchained #4: Typewriter Mystique, the Bull of it by Joe R. Lansdale
• Memoir: Shake But Don't Stir by Neal Barrett, Jr.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 27, 2007 at 12:22 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• At Omnivoracious, Jeff VanderMeer interviews Peter S. Beagle: "...there are fiction writers out there who are so good at bringing the literal stink of a certain period into your nostrils as you read..."


• The Village Voice profiles Young-Adult Lit "It" couple Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier: "Teen consumers reject the thematic hierarchies that bedevil every other media market, unwittingly creating a utopia for iconoclasts like Scott and Justine, who write teen fiction because it frees their best ideas from the deadly limitations of any adult genre ghetto."


• John Scalzi's Whatever reprints the essay Mark Gruenwald, the father of modern superhero comics by Chris Roberson (The Dragon's Nine Sons).


• Rick Kleffel's Agony Column podcasts a conversation with Lou Anders.


• StarWars.com looks at The Best Star Wars Moments of 2007. [via Club Jade]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 27, 2007 at 12:11 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Just before Christmas, Universal quietly (as if they would make a big about this one) released Battlestar Galactica 1980 on DVD. If only they had released it in November, making it the perfect White Elephant gift. There's always next year.
• The 'fan' made Trek film, Of Gods And Men, released part 1 of their production, online, on Dec. 23rd. Many Trek alums have roles in this film, including Nichelle Nichols, Grace Lee Whitney, Alan Ruck and others. It takes place 12 years after Cpt. Kirk was swept up in the Nexus.
• Jalopnik has the new, 15-second Knight Rider trailer online. I tried to find it on YouTube with no luck. And everyone can rest easy, the Cylon red lights are still present. Sadly, Grace Park doesn't appear in the show.
• Speaking of Cylons, check out these (if you haven't seen them already) really cool propaganda posters for Battlestar Galactica. Follow their links for other cool SF related items, some which we've highlighted before.
• Slashfilm brings us a short pictorial on this terribly geeky, yet strangely awesome Batcave home theater setup. Bat suit not included.
• Detroit's AmericaJR reasons we are all geeks because: 1) Science fiction on TV is rather popular and 2) the stuff we take for granted today is the science fiction of yesterday (cell phones, iPods, etc). The people bringing it to you? Geeks. So we're all a part of geekdom,whether you like it or not. Myself, I kinda like it.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday December 27, 2007 at 12:02 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Director Peter Berg confirmed that a new Dune movie is ready to go, and that the writer's strike is the only thing holding it back. Presumably that means there's no screenplay yet.

The question then becomes, do we really need yet another version of Dune? I like both David Lynch's overproduced and overacted silver screen version and the Sci Fi Channel's much lower budget miniseries. Both have their strength and weaknesses and both show just how difficult it is to adapt Dune for a visual medium without compromising the source work in some way. you simply can't film the internal monologues without looking silly (I'm looking at you Kyle MacLachlan) and doing without forces you to find other ways to dispense the information.

And let's not forget the SFX that will be needed to make this look really good. While ok for the movie, I felt the SFX were much better in the miniseries, at least enough to not get in the way. I'd think with today's technology, it ought to at least look really good. In fact, I'd go in expecting to be knocked out. That means big $$$ to do it right.

What do you think, is this a good idea or just another example of Hollywood being bereft of ideas?

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday December 26, 2007 at 7:04 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Futurama returns in a glorious tour de force! Rivaled by only such classics as Casablanca and To Kill a Mockingbird this seminal film is an instant 'straight to DVD' classic. Er, OK, I'm an admitted raving fanboy of the show, so this might not be an entirely unbiased review. That and a shout out to my new amphibian master, the Hypnotoad.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The Planet Express package company was 'cancelled' by the idiot executives at the 'BOX Network'. However those folks are gone, and the company and crew are back once again delivering packages. That is, until they are scammed out of their personal information by a bunch of aliens using well known Internet scam techniques who then proceed to take over everything using the same mechanism, eventually scamming President Nixon's head out of the Earth itself. Will the Planet Express crew be able to organize a rag tag fleet of rebels against a planet defended by a ring of solid gold Death Stars?

MY REVIEW:
PROS: The show is back and doesn't miss a beat; liberal bashing of the Fox Network for canceling the show, "Torgo powder - apply directly to the buttocks" homage to Manos: The Hands of Fate, Two fun singing numbers, time travel paradoxes, cameos voices by Al Gore, Coolio, Mark Hamil, appearances by favorites from the show, and lots and lots of Bender.
CONS: Fans of the show will love it. Fans of math too. And science. And this blog. And puppies and kittens. And air. If you don't like those things, then maybe you won't find it to be awesome beyond your ability to think straight. Coming, green master!

BOTTOM LINE: If you don't already have your own copy, check your pulse and click the friggin' link above and have one delivered to you by the fine folks at Amazon already! And no downloading a pirated version either - not if you want more comedy goodness.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Wednesday December 26, 2007 at 8:18 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Yummy Xmas leftovers: The Daily Pop features A Batman Christmas Carol.


• Recently free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "But, I Don't Think" by Randall Garrett (1959): "As every thinking man knows, every slave always yearns for the freedom his master denies him..."


• More free fiction: "Chicken Soup for Mars and Venus" by Matthew Jarpe (2004): "A collision course. Well, that had to be a mistake..."


• The Eaton Science Fiction Conference, scheduled for May 16-18, 2008, will be themed "Chronicling Mars" and will bring in Ray Bradbury, Frederik Pohl, Arthur C. Clarke (via video teleconference), Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, David Brin, Ben Bova, Howard V. Hendrix, Geoffrey Landis and Kim Stanley Robinson.


• XKCD spoofs Blade Runner.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 26, 2007 at 1:11 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

We wrap our Christmas science fiction extravaganza of shows with the poster child for great science fiction killed too early by no nothing execs. I'm speaking, of course, about Firefly.

Below we present the original pilot episode as intended by Whedon, "Serenity". Yes, all (almost) two hours.

I hope you've enjoyed the videos we've brought to you today. You can look for a more in-depth look at Hulu in the near future. For now, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Enjoy the rest of your day!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 3:00 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

Hopefully our glimpse at the original Galactica put you in the mood for a little of the new Galactica, which, of course, Hulu has online. Unfortunately, this is one of the shows where there is a lack of episodes to choose from, with only 5 available. All from season 3.

So, if you're one of the haters (looks at John), you may want to move on. Otherwise, we present the episode "Maelstrom".

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 2:00 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

"There are those who believe that life here began out there.." With those words Battlestar Galactica was launched, and gained quite the cult following, me included, that far outweighed it's campiness.

Still, it led to the new, re-imagined Galactica we have now. So let's return to 1979, and re-live the exciting encounter between the Galactica and Pegasus. Yes, we have both episodes!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 12:00 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

Cinematic Titanic, the new brainchild of the comic genuises who originally gave us Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (MST3K), released its first DVD a couple of days back, just in time to save us a long, cold, hard, icy, dark, cold, winter. Pop the little bundle of warmth titled The Oozing Skull onto your viewing device-of-choice and look forward to the funny (I myself have a mega-home-theatre that hoovers so much electricity that every time I power it up, Al Gore cries.). I find it most encouraging that they recorded it in front of a live audience and discussed how much that improved the performance (if only I were an employee of ILM and got to see it live!)

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 11:40 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

I'm sure you all remember the movie, Weird Science, starring Anthony Michael Hall and the hot, Kelly LeBrock. Did you know it made the jump to the small screen, and actually lasted for five(?!) seasons?

Starring no one you know, but also the hot Vanessa Angel. And we've got the pilot for you. Enjoy!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 11:00 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

As our tour of Hulu sci fi goodness continues, we move into the late, late 1970's and land on Buck Rogers, starring Gil Gerard and Erin Gray (you're welcome Tim).

I've selected a very special episode for you. Quite possibly one of the worst ever episodes: "Space Rockers"! No need to thank me, I'm doing this all for you.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 10:00 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

We continue our tour through Hulu's science fiction library, stopping on another Irwin Allen classic.

This time, we present the very first episode of Lost in Space, in all it's black-and-white glory!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 9:00 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Recently, I had the opportunity to join the closed beta for NBC's new streaming video service, Hulu. It's been called a YouTube competitor, but that's really an inappropriate description. What it is, is a repository for a ton of TV show episodes, both old and new, that you can stream to your PC or, even cooler, embedded on a website, such as ours. This is awesomeness beyond belief.

So, as our Christmas gift to you, every hour or so for the next few hours we'll be posting an episode, or two, of a classic or influential science fiction TV show. And what we show you is just a taste of the library Hulu has to offer. I'm impressed so far, I think you will be too.

First up, an Irwin Allen classic: Land of the Giants.

(Yes, you'll have to put up with the occasional commercial. Deal with it, it's free! And all videos are after the jump in deference to our readers with slower connections.)

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 8:00 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Not your typical fantasy novel that is extremely imaginative, this book falls a little short for me.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Following a rift in Texas the world we know is joined with 5 other planes filled with fantasy creatures. One of the elves named Zal has become a major rock star whose life is threatened when elements of his home plane move to kill him. Government agent and cyborg Lila Black is sent to help him and ends up with far more than she bargained for dealing with the sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll world that Zal and his pals live in.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Highly unique fantasy setting, very well written dialog, often hilarious
CONS: Simple in structure, character growth didn't seem genuine
BOTTOM LINE: Justina can write (far better than I ever well) and there are lots of things to like in this book. But the characters didn't seem genuine enough to me and as a result I ended up feeling somewhat underwhelmed with the total book.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 7:47 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

God Bless WIlliam Shatner, everyone.

Here's a clip from Denis Leary's Merry F#$%n' Christmas Special.

[via Milk & Cookies]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 12:29 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• At Omnivoracious, Jeff VanderMeer profiles Elizabeth Bear, author of Dust.


• Syne Mitchell podcast-interviews Eric Nylund, author of Mortal Coils. [via the author]


• Amy Sterling Casil has posted the 1st chapter of her novel, The Fire Gryphon.


• Sentient Developments looks at the cool, futuristic artwork of Adam Benton.


• SciFi Scanner has the video of a surreal meeting between Darth Vader and Wolfman Jack.


• John C. Wright makes a startling discovery while watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 25, 2007 at 12:10 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

As mentioned in the past three tidbit posts, Artist John Picacio has published the unabridged cover triptych for Jeffrey Ford's Well Built City trilogy, which is being re-issued by Golden Gryphon. Sweet....

Click the image for a larger version.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 24, 2007 at 3:10 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 24, 2007 at 1:18 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Christmas is fast approaching, and as the saying goes, it's better to give than receive.

We here at SF Signal receive a lot of books every year. So many, we can't possibly hope to read them all, even with a 'team' of readers (and by team, I don't mean Harriet Klausner). However, as many writers will tell you, getting that first novel published is thrilling, even if it takes a long time to happen. With that said, we do read first novels/first time authors from time to time, so, in the spirit of giving, we'd like to give some props to the first novels/first time authors we've seen this year.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday December 24, 2007 at 1:13 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• World's Biggest Bookstore's Sci-Fi Fan Letter interviews Joel Shepherd. "Fantasy tends to be more lyrical, which is fun as a writer, because you can just let the words play with each other through the sentences. My SF tends to be a little more brutal and direct."


• If ever we needed a reason to classify the Indiana Jones movies as science fiction, it's this way-cool book The Complete Making of Indiana Jones by J.W. Rinzler, slated for a May 2008 release. Rinzler is the man behind The Making Of Star Wars.


• Recently free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "...After a Few Words..." by Randall Garrett (1962).


• The latest Odyssey SF/F Writing Workshop Podcast features Michael A. Burstein on The Plot Skeleton.


• Quasar Dragon offers some Christmas treats for sf fans.


• L.A.'s the Place calculates Six Degrees of Inspiration with Richard Matheson. "Who do Steven Spielberg, Stephen King, and George A. Romero all have in common? His name is Richard Matheson and his influence is legendary."


• The January 16th KGB Bar reading will feature Marly Youmans and Dan Braum


• Artist John Picacio shows off the 3rd Jeffrey Ford cover, this one for The Beyond, part of his Well-Built City trilogy. When all three covers (The Physiognomy, Memoranda, & The Beyond) are placed side-by-side-by-side, it creates a larger image, which Picacio and Ford will post soon.


• I received 92 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz. How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 24, 2007 at 12:11 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

"No, but I have checked several books out of the library based on online reviews" - Cynthia Dalton

"I read a ton of books and only trust the reviewers I know from the web; SFSignal; Pat's Fantasy Hotlist; Fantasy Book Critic; Bookgasm and a handful of others. You bet they influence my book buying, and I'm glad they do." - David

"I learned about 'Eifelheim' through an online book review." - Gabriel McKee

"Any online review so long as its not Harriet Klausner." - Trey
[John D says: Here, here!]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 24, 2007 at 12:00 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 23, 2007 at 1:09 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• This one is for all you Dr. Who fans out there. If only your parents were as accommodating as little George Baker's of his Dr. Who obsession. George's parents redecorated his bedroom to look like the inside of the Tardis. That is awesome. And Geroge even looks like a Time Lord in training!


• Freema Agyeman (Dr. Martha Jones on Torchwood) has posted a trailer for series (season) two of Torchwood. Looks rather interesting. Anyone disappointed in the first season going to watch the second?


• The new Knight Rider show is in full production mode, and Popular Mechanics has the specs for the new KITT vs. old KITT. One thing: Sorry new KITT, if you're going to be a true American muscle car, you simple must be rear-wheel drive. None of this wimpy all-wheel-drive, it's wussy.


• Speaking of the old KITT, there appears to be an auction on eBay where one of the KITTs used during the original series is apparently up for sale. And at only a hair over $25k, it's a steal! Did I mention it has rear-wheel drive?


• January 31st is fast approaching/moving slower then Christmas for LOST fans. Luckily, BuddyTV has a bunch of season 4 premier pictures to whet your appetite for its, albeit strike shortened, return! (Checks calendar again. Dang.)


• As if the pictures weren't enough, MovieWeb has a new Season 4 trailer for LOST. It has scenes you've probably seen on the commercials, plus a bunch of other, new stuff. (Checks calendar. Dang again.)

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday December 23, 2007 at 12:17 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Three books were added to the Baen Free Library. They are Genellan: Planetfall by Scott Gier, Crown of Slaves by David Weber and Eric Flint, and Emerald Sea by John Ringo


• Neil Gaiman offers us a sneak peek of Coraline. I love the look of this... [via Geeks of Doom]


• Real Science: An asteroid might hit Mars on January 30th 2008. [via Futurismic]


• Artist John Picacio shows off another Jeffrey Ford cover, this one for The Physiognomy, part of his Well-Built City trilogy. When all three covers (The Physiognomy, Memoranda, & The Beyond) are placed side-by-side-by-side, it creates a larger image, which Picacio and Ford will post soon. Cool.


• Finally, an answer to the question "Where can I find a list of Amish references in science fiction?"

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 23, 2007 at 12:10 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Once again showing his web savvy, Tobias Buckell has put together a trailer for his upcoming book, Sly Mongoose. He's running a contest for a soundtrack to the trailer, so give it a view and have a go . Oh, and I might add, like the two books set in the same universe that came before this, this one also has a cover made from 100% awesome.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 22, 2007 at 1:17 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Del Rey has an interview Josh Conviser, author of Empyre . "Empyre is spy-fi -- cyberpunk spiced with Bourne Identity-style intrigue. "


• At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Joel Shepherd, author of Killswitch.


• Wired Science interviews Greg Bear.


• John Dalmas has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog. (Thanks, Fred!)


• Recently free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "Instinct" (1959) by George O. Smith, "Unborn Tomorrow" (1969) and "Revolution" (1960) by Mack Reynolds, "The Short Life" (1955) by Francis Donovan, and "Beyond Pandora" (1962) by Robert J. Martin.


• Let's hope that this article on homeopathy is the last time that science fiction and America's Funniest Home Videos are used together: "And yet, we really like science fiction. We like to believe in magical solutions and discoveries that break the mold - that there could be something out there that we find that no one else has thought of yet, or observed, or harnessed. This drive to discover is a wonderful force for investigation and scientific advancement, but it is a double edged sword. The other side can result in irrational beliefs, magical thinking, and snake oil science."


• Here is a list of 10 Science Fiction Clichés to Avoid.


• Larry at OF Blog of the Fallen rounds up a collection of "Best of the year" lists. This is the only time of the year that I am an optimist. Under the false impression that the holidays will leave me enough time to read, I plan on posting my Best Reads of the Year in early January.


• Artist John Picacio shows off his cover for Jeffrey Ford's Memoranda, part of his Well-Built City trilogy. When all three covers (The Physiognomy, Memoranda, & The Beyond) are placed side-by-side-by-side, it creates a larger image, which Picacio and Ford will post soon. Cool.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 22, 2007 at 1:15 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Did you know there was a Jules Verne Adventures Film Festival? Well there was, from Dec. 5 - 15 in Los Angeles. Aside from screening many films and appearances by several notable genre figures, there was also a panel on Heroes. Tim Kring, Jeph Loeb and several of the cast members where on stage to talk all things Heroes. But the most interesting thing they did was to screen a teaser for season 3, called "Villains". Someone in the audience managed to capture the promo on video. See it below (hurry before YouTube yanks it!):

Looks like Sylar is back and just as bad as ever, but, I don't know. This really doesn't do a lot for me. At least there's no evidence of a Nikki revival.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday December 21, 2007 at 8:01 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

Here's part one of the 1994 sci-fi comedy pilot Galaxy Beat starring Gregory Harrison, Tracy Scoggins, Roddy McDowall as "Voice of Cod" and Michael Dorn as "Voice of The Chief". Follow the YouTube links for the remaining parts. Or not.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 21, 2007 at 1:22 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Sean Williams shows off the cover of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Is there a special term we give to media tie-in novels based on a games that are based on movies?


• Lou Anders, meanwhile, shows off the cover of his upcoming anthology Sideways in Crime.


• Dark Roasted Blend interviews John C. Wright: "I would venture to say that if you are reading a yarn where there are no space-pirates and no space-princesses, if the Dinosaurs of Mars never make an appearance, if no space-marine shoots through the core of the planet with a hand-weapon in order to kill an enemy standing on another continent, if no ancient alien artifacts larger than worlds stir into life after a million years of dormancy, and if not a single planet is blasted into molten asteroids, no star into a nova star, no galaxy into a Seyfert galaxy, no universe into a new Big Bang, then what you are reading might not be space opera. Space opera should contain at least one of these elements."


• Bldg Blog interviews Kim Stanley Robinson about climate change, the influence of Greek island villages on his descriptions of Martian base camps, about life as a 21st century primate in the 24/7 "techno-surround", how we must rethink utopia as we approach an age without oil, whether "sustainability" is really the proper thing to be striving for, and what a future archaeology of the space age might find. Mundane SF responds: "So pay attention all you Science Fiction writers of the future. This is the future, so put aside your time machines, talking robots, and so forth, and tell us what it's really going to be like." [via Futurismic]


• The Ballardian offers the 2-part essay Waste in the Fiction of J.G. Ballard: "For Ballard, waste registers a process, a cycle, a movement, and system in transition: durability and permanence have no place in a fictional world that revels in the power of waste to negotiate and renegotiate value."


• Dragon Page podcast-interviews Karen Miller (The Innocent Mage and The Awakened Mage).


• Here's a very brief article on How to Write Alternate History.


• Forbes lists Cory Doctorow among their list of web celebrities. [via SF Scope]


• Over at the Guardian, Gemma Malley lists Top 10 Dystopian Novels for Teenagers. (Short version: 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, The Children of Men by PD James, The Chrysalids by John Wyndam, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Children's Story by James Clavell, and The Diary of Anne Frank.) [via Libertas]


• Ellen Datlow has posted pictures of the December 19th KGB reading with Naomi Novik and Christopher Barzak.


• Roddenberry.com will be posting an online comic strip illustrated by David Reddick. It's called "Gene's Journal" and debuts in January.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 21, 2007 at 12:25 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• The writers' strike has caused many shows to end early. Heroes managed to make their last episode a season ender. But what's in store for the third season? The Stark Gossip Blog let's us know whats in store. Apparently, it will be a season full of villains. Which could be good, or bad.
• Speaking of Heroes, their ARG continues apace, expanding the storyline even as the writers are taking their break. To catch up, there is an Evolutions walkthrough to get you up to speed. Additionally, the 2nd volume of the Heroes online magazine has gone live.
• Season two of Torchwood is approachin and SF Universe has cast photos. Well, season 2 in America anyway, which starts on January 26th.
• If that doesn't get you excited, maybe this will. Illusion TV, the on demand science fiction channel, will be bringing back classic Dr. Who, starting in January '08. They will start with the series "Tomb of the Cybermen". Good news for Who fans.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday December 21, 2007 at 12:15 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

MY RATING:

The December 2007 issue of Jim Baen's Universe (Issue #10, also known as Volume 2, Number 4) contains 13 pieces of short fiction and 7 non-fiction articles. Eleven of the stories are reviewed below. (I did not partake of the classic reprint "A Holy Terror" by Ambrose Bierce and the "Fish Story" serial by Dave Freer, Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis, now in its tenth episode.)

The issue was good overall, despite the poor impression left by the longest story. This speaks highly of the other stories, I think. That said, the only standout story was "Darwin's Suitcase," perhaps because time travel is a favorite sub-genre of mine and Elizabeth Malartre does it well.

Rounding out the issue were several articles including one by Mike Resnick wondering if there aren't too many Hugo categories, especially when relatively few awards are given to writers, the people for whom the award was created. There's also another "free fiction" article by Eric Flint, who makes a strong case against the naysayers of making science fiction freely available online.

Individual story reviews follow...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 20, 2007 at 2:24 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

If you're like me, then you're curious as to how film makers actually shoot the scenes that end up on the big screen. I find it fascinating all the mundane hard work that goes into making memorable scenes. Scenes like the opening to I Am Legend, where Will Smith is traipsing around a deserted New York in search of some venison on the hoof.

After seeing just how desolate the New York streets looked, I wondered how they managed to make them look that way. Along comes the New York Times' review of I Am Legend. If you look on the left hand side, about midway down, you'll see a section called 'Multimedia', with an 'interactive' video covering the opening sequence. Or, you can click here to launch the feature. Two tabs allow you to switch between the 'Video' of the scene, and the 'Commentary' by the director, Francis Lawrence. Lawrence goes into some detail on how they achieved the deserted look, which involved CGI and good old fashioned street closings. I can only imagine the traffic nightmare that caused in New York.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this look behind the scenes. Hopefully the DVD will go into more detail.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday December 20, 2007 at 1:22 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• At SF Gospel, Gabriel Mckee (author of The Gospel According to Science Fiction) lists The 10 Best Science Fiction Stories About Religion.


• At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, author of Borne in Blood.


• Locus Online has posted Graham Sleight's Locus Magazine column "Yesterday's Tomorrows" which, this month, looks at classic works by James Tiptree, Jr.


• Recently free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "Long Ago, Far Away" by Murray Leinster and "Charley de Milo" by Laurence Mark Janifer


• Free audio fiction: SFF Audio has a reading of "Trunk And Disorderly" By Charles Stross. [via Quasar Dragon]


• Reminder: Solaris continues serializing Chris Roberson's Three Unbroken.


• Robert J. Sawyer plays Alex Trebek with this set of tough Trek trivia questions.


• Real Science: Our Moon 30 million years younger and more Earth-like than previously thought. The Moon is "merely a 'chip off the old block' of Earth rather than being made up of the remnants of a Mars-sized body that slammed into Earth billions of years ago." James P. Hogan almost called it back in 1977 with his book Inherit the Stars, eh? [via Velcro City Tourist Board]


• My Paper Crane shows some Star Wars Voodoo dolls. Oddly, there's no Jar Jar. I'm thinking they sold out. [via SciFi Scanner]


• I wish all my Cthristmas Cthards looked like this.


• Speaking of Cthulhu, check out this hilarious Amazon review (by Matt B.) of this Bic Crystal ballpoint pen. [via Pat Cadigan]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 20, 2007 at 1:15 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A schizophrenic, somewhat self-parodying story of parallel worlds, apocalypse and ancient civilizations.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The Earth of Martin Winters is invaded by an alien species, an ancient civilization from a parallel world entering through gates opened during the 2012 age change, while Wylie Dale in a third parallel world tries to understand how he can know and write about these events without being there.

MY REVIEW
PROS: Imaginative apocalypse; action picks up the pace in the middle and end.
CONS: Starts slow, uneven beginning; little to no science explanations of many phenomena; somewhat contrived ending (could be related to 'no science')
BOTTOM LINE: An intriguing hypothesis of a possible apocalypse at year 2012, slowed down by jumps in point of view, characters that are difficult to care about and lack of hard science.

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Posted by Larry Ketchersid at Wednesday December 19, 2007 at 2:25 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Acacia by David Anthony Durham has been named one of the 10 Best fiction books of 2007. Kirkus also has a SF/F special section (PDF Link).


• At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Brandon Sanderson, author of A Memory of Light, the final installment in the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga.


• Phillip Pullman is writing a new novel set in the world of His Dark Materials. [via The Swivet]


• At Omnivoracious, Jeff VanderMeer lists Four Great SF/F Gifts for readers.


• Recently free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "History Repeats" by George O. Smith and "Gold in the Sky" by Alan Nourse.


• More free fiction! Jeff Patterson continues his tradition of Christmas stories with "The Harbinger of All Things Glorious". If you like this, you'll like his Solstice Chronicles collection.


• It's the twilight of the books...The New Yorker comments on the National Endowment for the Arts statistic that people are reading less: "There's no reason to think that reading and writing are about to become extinct, but some sociologists speculate that reading books for pleasure will one day be the province of a special "reading class," much as it was before the arrival of mass literacy, in the second half of the nineteenth century."


• Dave at Dave's Long Box explains why he hates Star Trek Gold Key comics. "Gold Key's Star Trek comics seemed like they were produced by bored hacks who had very little interest in the actual source material...Is that bearded guy slapping Spock's ass while he dances like a Russian? What the hell?"


• Good News! Peter Jackson will direct The Hobbit after all. Bad news: There's a sequel...filling in the time between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. No word yet on whether Tolkien has stopped rolling over in his grave.


• First Showing rounds up a host of 2008 movies, including several genre films.


• Stale Popcorn is counting down the 100 Best Movie Posters, which include Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Carpenter's The Thing.


• Wired explains the origins of Futurama's Zoidberg.


• I would be remiss in my supermodel-related duties is I did not point out this Flickr gallery: The Galactically Hot Women of Star Trek TOS. [via Boing^2]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 19, 2007 at 2:15 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• You know you want one. You know you need one. Fred Barton Productions will build you your very own celebrity robot, for a price. Not only can you purchase Robby the Robot, you can also obtain R2-D2, two flavors of Cylons, and Gort.
• John Kenneth Muir takes a long look back at the pilot episode of Planet of the Apes. Called "Escape from Tomorrow", we see that this series uses the age old storyline of a quest, as the astronauts search in each episode for technology to help them return to the past. I vaguely remember this one on TV.
• Stargate SG-1 may be over, but that doesn't mean it's stories aren't finished. Visimag has a short article with Ben Browder about the direct to DVD movie The Ark of Truth, the first of two movies to be released on DVD. Good news for fans, I'm sure.
• Take a gander, on the Forbidden Planet blog, at the sabre-toothed tiger that will be featured in the new season of ITV's Primeval. Can any of our British readers tell us whether this series is worth a view? The cat certainly looks good.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday December 19, 2007 at 12:35 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Here's yet another look at some of the trailers I've encountered on these here intertubes.

First up, we have the trailer for Prince Caspian, the second movie in the Narnia franchise. I've always felt that the Narnia books aren't really 'widescreen' fantasy, but smaller, more personal stories. So it's interesting to see how the filmmakers are trying to make them epic in look and feel. I saw the first movie with my kids, and I know they'll want to see this one too.

Next up, a movie I had no idea was being made, 10000 B.C....

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 18, 2007 at 10:58 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

It's Tuesday, so that means it's time for another Mind Meld question, where we grill those in the science fiction community on a question of interest. This time, a we ask a cross section of authors and editors our question.

Recently, Reuters ran a story (article here) about the internet and traditional book publishers. This gist being that, despite the easy availability of used books, the internet has actually helped publishers sell more new books.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 18, 2007 at 6:14 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Not content to let sleeping TV series lie, NBC is joining the media tie-in train and will be releasing the Heroes tie-in book, Heroes: Saving Charlie. As you might suspect, this book will tell the story of the six months Hiro spent trying to save Charlie from Sylar. Whether the book is any good is something even Isaac can't tell.
• It's a sad day in Star Trek land. Even though rumors of its demise have circulated for awhile now, the staff of STARTREK.COM have been let go by CBS Interactive. The ultimate fate of the website is unknown, but fans are asked to continue to use the forums. This seems like a boneheaded move on CBS' part. It's not like there's a movie coming up that could make use of a Star Trek website or anything.
• For those of you who were lucky enough to see the Korean horror flick The Host, good news for you. Sci Fi Japan reports The Host 2 is currently being written. A few details are spilled, with the most notable being that the new movie is actually set before the first film. Let's hope that they don't fall prey to George Lucas disease.
• And now for the musical portion of our show. We present to you, via our very own Fred K., the following video mashup of Heroes, set to the tune of 'Not Dead Yet' from the play 'Spamalot'. Enjoy!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 18, 2007 at 12:54 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

I saw this trailer on the big screen when I saw I Am Legend. I'm kinda stoked to see it. Heath Ledger's Joker looks cool.

Anyone else think that instead of saying "Then you're gonna love me", Batman should have said "Wait'll you get a load of me" as a nod to Jack Nicholson's Joker?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 18, 2007 at 12:26 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• The Leaky Cauldron podcast-interviews J.K. Rowling today. [via EW]


• SFX has posted reviews of The Family Trade by Charles Stross and The Escapement by K.J. Parker.


• Go, go gadget free fiction: Free Speculative Fiction Online has new additions from John W. Campbell, Colin P. Davies, G. C. Edmondson, Randall Garrett & Laurence M. Janifer, Tom Godwin, Frank Herbert, Dean Ing, R. A. Lafferty, Fritz Leiber, Murray Leinster, Andre Norton, Frederik Pohl, Mack Reynolds, George O. Smith, Walter Tevis, Stanley G. Weinbaum and more.


• Tired of anthologies with only a handful of stories you want to read? Here's an interesting concept: Build Your Own Anthology. The website lets you pick stories by criteria like author of genre (including sf) and purchase a custom anthology of up to 350 pages for just under $15. Now...if they only offered the stories I assembled for my own custom dream anthology... [via Jim Hines]


• Miniature Brainwave has a pic of a Yoda pizza. "Mmmm...gas, pepperonis give me..."

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 18, 2007 at 12:15 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

I got a chance to see I Am Legend on opening day. It was a work event that took place at Movie Tavern, one of those places where they serve you a meal while you're watching the movie.

Before I talk about the movie, I thought I'd talk about the venue because, well, it took away from the movie-going experience. I like to watch movies with no interruptions. (That's right guy-who-forgets-to-turn-off-cell-phone...I'm talking to you, too.) It's all about the immersion and I can't do that when I'm giving my order, keep looking at my plate, worrying about cutting my grilled chicken (tasty though it may be), looking for refills (stop watching the movie, hand the cup to the waiter, tell him what I'm drinking), etc. "Wait, did I just miss something on screen? Bah!" The reverse is also true - it's hard to appreciate a meal when you're trying to blindly shovel it in so you don't miss the movie. The bottom line, I suppose, is that meals are much more complicated than popcorn! Each experience (eating a meal, watching a movie) takes away from the other. You would think that the two experiences would complement one another, but it turns out they don't.

This is not a formal review of I Am Legend. There are a bazillion of those already. However, taking a cue from Peter Watts, I did think it was worthwhile to list my impressions.

*** SPOILER WARNING ***

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 17, 2007 at 12:49 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Unshelved recommends Cordwainer Smith's The Rediscovery on Man by way of comic strip. [via James Nicoll]


• ActuSF interviews Richard Paul Russo (Ship of Fools and The Rosetta Codex). "...science fiction seems the best way to explore how we are moving into the future even as we are living in the present."


• Over at Omnivoracious, Jeff VanderMeer profiles David Keck (In the Eye of Heaven and In a Time of Treason).


• Jay Lake ponders proposing a lifetime achievement Hugo. John Scalzi responds.


• After some last-minute rescheduling, NPR has finally posted a brief interview with John Joseph Adams talking about I Am Legend.


• At Locus Online, Gary Westfahl reviews I Am Legend.


• SF Site and SFF World want to know your favorite reads of 2007.


• Meanwhile, Ken at Neth Space and Patrick at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist list their favorite reads of 2007.


• At Talking Squid, Chris Lawson shows us how Genre conquered Hollywood and asks some interesting follow-on questions: "Why, when movies are so dominated by genre, does the book industry still treat genre like a set of exclusive enclaves and assume that readers will never want to venture beyond rigidly defined walls? Why are non-genre writers so pompously dismissive of genre -- even when they choose to write a genre book?"


• Cynical-C has the lost Star Wars intro.


• Does anyone else think that the Cloverfield monster looks like a giant Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? Maybe this Cthulhu version that Fred pointed out would be better after all?


• Chuckle of the day: Brewster Rockit, Space Guy goes Christmas shopping.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 17, 2007 at 12:35 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Will the next series (season, I think, for us Yanks) of Dr. Who be the last for David Tennant? Catherine Tate hints that it might be to The Independent. Is this good or bad for the show? It seems to have done well after Eccleston left.
• Jeff from The Shape of Days nerds out over Battlestar Galactica. The result is an incredibly long, techie look at the science behind Galactica, with the result you might expect: the science is unbelievable. Still, a nice attempt at deciphering it.
• Just when you thought you had to wait until February to catch the season premiere of LOST, along comes ABC to announce that LOST will debut on January 31st at 9pm ET. Sure, it's almost February, but its at least a whole week earlier. This is one of only three must watch on the night it airs shows for me. Note the link may not work. BuddyTV seems to have issues with this particular post.
• Did anyone catch Sci Fi's Saturday movie this past weekend called Showdown at Area 51? I have the vision of two aliens squaring off across the tarmac at Groom Lake, and one saying "This planet ain't big enough for the both of us. Draw!" Anyway, Terminally Incoherent took one for the team and reviews it for us. Short version: It sucks. But you knew that already. Surprisingly, there's a long version. Sadly, that's the only version they show on Sci Fi.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday December 17, 2007 at 12:27 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Here are the results of the latest SF Signal poll.

QUESTION

Who's your favorite Joker?

RESULTS

"It's not fair to Heath Ledger on there when we haven't seen him yet-except for the lucky few who've seen the extended preview-and so we can't judge until after the movie is out. Repoll then!" - Rachel

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 17, 2007 at 12:00 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Posthuman Blues uncovers the website Flying Saucers in pop culture, which features great cover scans of 4100+ books, comics and magazines...not to mention toys and other merchandising saucer images.

Simply awesome...

More after the jump...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 16, 2007 at 1:36 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Happy Birthday, Arthur C. Clarke, born 90 years ago today!


• Dave Itzkoff take a stab at poli-sci-fi humor in his Planetary Politics article.


• SF Author Mike Brotherton (Star Dragon, Spider Star) has a redesigned website. (He also points us to this seriously cool video of Crayon Physics.)


• AM New York presents a science fiction reading list offering "some of the best and most thought-provoking contemporary writing"


• To help celebrate the release of Inside Straight, the first book in a new Wild Cards series, a new Wild Cards website has been launched. [via George R.R. Martin, the series creator]


• SFX interviews Doctor Who Producer Phil Collinson. [via BLTSF]


• AskMen lists 5 Things You Didn't Know about Star Trek, which includes things every fans already knows about Star Trek. Oh well, at least they got some nice eye candy in the sidebar, if you know what I mean.


• The New York Times interviews and profiles David Gerrold who talks about Tribbles, Gene Roddenberry and his long-lost Trek script.


• At Omnivoracious, Jeff VanderMeer profiles Elizabeth Bear, author of Dust. [via The Swivet]


• Speaking of The Swivet, you should be reading that on a daily basis. Better yet, subscribe to the newsfeed. La Gringa provides a plethora of links to reviews, book releases, contracts and acquisition news that we just don't cover here. If you remember what Andrew Wheeler did for the SFBC blog, it's like that -- she's picked up that torch for all of us. Thanks, La Gringa! Keep up the great work! :)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 16, 2007 at 12:03 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Let the hype begin...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 15, 2007 at 12:29 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• There are two more posters for The Dark Knight. Both are cooler than the first, methinks.


• Charles Stross writes about Robert Heinlein at Penguin blog and mentions his upcoming Heinlein tribute novel, Saturn's Children. "I never met Mr. Heinlein, but I've felt his ghost breathing down my neck periodically, ever since I began writing science fiction. And I must admit, I resent it."


• Solaris Books announced that they will be publishing three Bengal Station novels to be written by Helix author Eric Brown. Necropath, Xenopath and Cosmopat features a telepath working at spaceport on Bengal Station, a vast twenty-level city-port, to read the minds of visitors to Earth in order to ferret out terrorists. Necropath is slated for a Spring 2009 release.


• Amazon has purchased J.K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard at an auction held by Sotheby's in London. The book, one of seven in existence, is referenced in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The purchase price was £1,950,000, or as we say in America: "A butt-load of money." [via #comments]


• The Washington Post lists Great Sci Fi for People Who Think They Don't Like Sci Fi. Short version: Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges, Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Good suggestions in the comments, too.


• Dragonriders of Pern is headed to the movies. [via Beam Me Up]


• More from Penguin: A brief roundup of some of their fantasy authors.


• John Joseph Adams will appear on NPR today talking about I Am Legend.


• Stephen Hunt of SF Crowsnest has a two-book deal with Tor.


• Kaza Kingsley (the Erec Rex series) has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog.


• Recently-free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "Talents, Incorporated" by Murray Leinster (1962) and "Fearful Symmetry" by Ann Wilson (1992)


• Marooned lists Clifford D. Simak's Mars-related short fiction.


• Jim Hill Media has an exhaustive list of Pixar self-references. Way cool.


• Discover magazine lists 20 Things You Didn't Know About Aliens.


• /Film looks at 30 Years of LucasFilm Christmas Cards. Funny: Yoda as Santa. Ridiculous: C3P0 as Santa. Painful: Ewok as Santa.


• In case anyone is wondering what to get you for the holidays, point them in the direction of Illusion TV's Retro Sci-Fi Buying Guide. You'll thank me.


• [Cue mechanical Black Sabbath voice] I...am...LegoMan...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 15, 2007 at 12:15 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Remember the rumors about how Star Trek XI was going to use the Guardian from "City on the Edge of Forever" to transport Romulans back in time, and how Harlan was a little, worked up, about it? Well, now Harlan is saying it isn't true. Well, not polite terms, but that's the gist. Either way, I don't have a good feeling about the new movie.
• The cast of The Sarah Conner Chronicles has been known for some time. Now TV Guide, via Buddy TV, clues us in on some of the guest stars for the upcoming season. I must not watch enough TV, I have no idea who any of them are. Is it just me?
• It looks like the fans of Jericho have started a trend. Although, instead of nuts, fans of Journeyman want to send boxes of Rice-A-Roni to NBC to protest its cancellation. Apparently it has something to do with a giant Rice-A-Roni box the hero gets trapped in. Maybe they should send these boxes to the writers who just happen to be out of work...
• Way back in the mists of antiquity, 1993, a little known cable channel (Sci Fi) launched a little known show called Sci-Fi Buzz. Buzz was an Entertainment Tonight-style show that focused on all things science fiction, but with the typical Sci Fi budget. Dave Lowe reminisces about designing the sets for the show. I barely remember that show, and I know I never watched it. But of course, YouTube has clips for its run.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday December 15, 2007 at 12:02 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Bonus: Shatner's quick jab at Buddy Hackett.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 14, 2007 at 12:28 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• SciFi Scanner lists 5 Fun Facts About Richard "I Am Legend" Matheson.


• Fantasybookspot interviews Paul Kearney (The Ten Thousand): "I don't think epic fantasy has stagnated - far from it. It may have been close to sinking into a quicksand of cliché a few years back, but times have changed radically. Writers like Joe Abercrombie and Steve Erikson have given it a good hard kick up the ass, which was exactly what it needed. Now if only the prejudice against fantasy books with slighter thinner spines could be overcome, then we'd really be going places. The spectre of Tolkien still looms too large."


• Penguin continues their tour of sf sub-genres with a look at Alternate History.


• Ray Bradbury wrote a play for Pasadena called "The Invisible Boy" about "a manipulative old woman who is searching for companionship and tries to adopt a relative as her son. In exchange, the boy gets to be invisible, but things don't work out quite the way they're planned."


• The Daily Galaxy looks at the airships of the future. Mmmm...airships...


• Hone your holiday survival skills with this Introduction to Traditional Klingon Melee Weapons.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 14, 2007 at 12:16 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• DirecTV recently asked their viewers to list their HDTV favorites in several categories. Aside from giving us a reason to post a totally gratuitous picture of Jessica Alba, who won for 'Hottest Celebrity in HD', we might also mention that Heroes won for 'Favorite Show in HD'. Has no one seen Galactica in HD? No contest. Maybe they were distracted by all that Alba.


• TV Squad shows us the the official unveiling of the new KITT from the upcoming Knight Rider movie. Apparently, KITT will come in three flavors: a remote controlled version, the everyday Hero version, and the super duper high speed Attack version. All will be voiced by Will Arnett, who won't come close to the smooth, dulcet tones of William Daniels.


• Not content to sit on the sidelines, several former Trek actors joined the picketing writers outside of Paramount. The LA-ist has the pictures to prove it. Man, Brent Spiner looks old. And what's up with George Takei's smile? Scary.


• Can't get enough of Unionized striking in real life? Sy Fy Portal brings us Working Stiff and Unions on Sci-Fi TV. It's long, but covers TV from the 60's through to the present.


• Just how hard of a ratings hit did NBC take this Fall season? It was so bad, they had to refund ad money to its advertisers. Usually, free ad spots are given as compensation for lower than expected ratings. At around $500k a pop, that's not good news for NBC's bottom line.


• ABC seems content to damn the torpedoes, and will go ahead and start the new season of LOST in February, even with only 8 episodes in the can. Check out the new Season 4 trailer below. Is it February yet?

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday December 14, 2007 at 12:10 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

We here at SF Signal love us some cool SF book covers, so should it be surprising that we (and by we I mean 'me') like cool SF movie posters? No! Recently we mentioned the worldwide posters for I Am Legend, which I thought were pretty cool.

In the past couple of days I've seen posters for three upcoming genre related movies, and I thought I'd look at them from the perspective of making someone interested in seeing the movie.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday December 13, 2007 at 7:04 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

Orbit is running a contest with this juicy 6-book prize to celebrate the release of the latest in the series, Metal Swarm. (Read an excerpt from chapter one of Metal Swarm right here.)

To enter for a chance to win, just send an email to [orbit at hbgusa dot com] with the words "The Saga of Seven Suns" in the subject line. A winner will be randomly chosen from eligible entries on December 17th.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 13, 2007 at 12:28 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Amazon Blog has the skinny on The Princess Bride downloadable game, available in Spring 2008. The trailer is just a teaser, but methinks even I could do a better "Inconceivable!"


• Paul Levinson will be reading from Unburning Alexandria, the sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates, in Second Life, this Sunday.


• At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Harry Turtledove, author of Opening Atlantis.


• Fantasy Magazine looks at People of Color in Fantasy Literature (part 1). Meanwhile, The Angry Black Woman interviews Catherynne Valente about the way readers perceive characters and race in her fiction. [Both via Better Living Through SF]


• Paul Raven provides some outtakes from his interview with Ken MacLeod, author of The Execution Channel.


• SciFi Scanner's Kevin Maher takes a look at the work of Richard Matheson in this video.


• PoeTV shares a video of National Geographic's coverage of real, live vampires. Yes, vampires.


• Ectoplasmosis points us to the Mechanical Mirage, the website of surrealism artist Kazuhiko Nakamura (a.k.a. Almacan).


• We are nothing if not a perpetuator of sci-fi babe posts - or rather, we are nothing and we are a perpetuator of sci-fi babe posts - so here is Asylum's lists of The Hottest 13 Babes in Space. [via SciFi Scanner]


• In related news, Online Games lists The Top 10 Sexiest women in Sci-Fi TV series.


• Cinematical lists 7 Stupid Things Last Men on Earth Do.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday December 13, 2007 at 12:05 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Author Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's. He posted the news in an open letter to fans at Paul Kidby's Discworld News:

Folks,

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer's, which lay behind this year's phantom "stroke".

We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet :o)

Terry Pratchett

PS I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell. I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 12, 2007 at 3:38 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Film.com wonders Why Can't Stargate Atlantis Be Better? I'm sorry to say I can't help there. None of the various Stargate shows have done anything for me. Maybe someone else can help.


• Jay at Geekend describes exactly when Trekkers jumped the shark. That's Trekkers, and not the show. He makes a very convincing case for The Klingon Dictionary. But I feel the Klingon language redeemed itself somewhat as Chuck (from Chuck) used Klingon to talk to his friend so the rogue CIA people couldn't understand what they were talking about.


• TV-Spoilers has in interview with Summer Glau about the upcoming The Sarah Conner Chronicles. TSCC two day premiere stars on January 13th.


• BuddyTV offers us a spoilery look at season 2 of Jericho. With only 7 episodes to work with, the story line will have to be resolved quickly. Can it gain a larger audience? We'll see.


• Did you know there was a Star Trek manga? Me either. Sci Fi Japan has a nice review of it and it actually looks rather cool.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday December 12, 2007 at 12:59 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A fine collection that surpasses most anthologies in entertainment value.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: 13 short stories, 9 of which are set in Hughes's Archonate universe (comprised of 6 Henghis Hapthorn stories and 3 Guth Bandar stories).

MY REVIEW:
PROS: 11 stories good or better, 5 of them outstanding; the Hapthorn stories make me want more.
CONS: 2 stories in the mediocre range.
BOTTOM LINE: A very good collection of science-fantasy stories that offers an enjoyable introduction to the Archonate universe and its creator.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 12, 2007 at 12:22 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Grasping for the Wind interviews John Joseph Adams (Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse). "...post-apocalyptic fiction seems to be part of the zeitgeist right now. I mean, you've got Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road not only winning the Pulitzer Prize, but appearing as an Oprah Book Club selection! If that's not a sign of the apocalypse, I don't know what is."


• This I Believe has Robert A. Heinlein reading his essay Our Noble, Essential Decency. "I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching oversized braincase and the opposable thumb--this animal barely up from the apes--will endure, will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets--to the stars and beyond--carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage, and his noble essential decency. This I believe with all my heart." [via Locus Online]


• Penguin continues its look at the sub-genres of speculative fiction with this post on Military SF.


• Here's a 2006 Guardian article beginning a series on how to read a book. [via Hipster Book Club]


• Real Science: Hey! Who the heck squashed my solar system?


• Orbit books is posting The Science Fiction and Fantasy Twelve Days of Christmas, one post at a time.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday December 12, 2007 at 12:08 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

ManyBooks.net's latest batch of science fiction titles includes some revered classics:

Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon

At a moment when Europe is in danger of a catastrophe worse than that of 1914 a book like this may be condemned as a distraction from the desperately urgent defence of civilization against modern barbarism.

Year by year, month by month, the plight of our fragmentary and precarious civilization becomes more serious. Fascism abroad grows more bold and ruthless in its foreign ventures, more tyrannical toward its own citizens, more barbarian in its contempt for the life of the mind. Even in our own country we have reason to fear a tendency toward militarization and the curtailment of civil liberty. Moreover, while the decades pass, no resolute step is taken to alleviate the injustice of our social order. Our outworn economic system dooms millions to frustration.

The star Mira was unpredictably variable. Sometimes it was blazing, brilliant and hot. Other times it was oddly dim, cool, shedding little warmth on its many planets. Gresth Gkae, leader of the Mirans, was seeking a better star, one to which his "people" could migrate. That star had to be steady, reliable, with a good planetary system. And in his astronomical searching, he found Sol.

With hundreds of ships, each larger than whole Terrestrial spaceports, and traveling faster than the speed of light, the Mirans set out to move in to Solar regions and take over.

And on Earth there was nothing which would be capable of beating off this incredible armada--until Buck Kendall stumbled upon THE ULTIMATE WEAPON.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 1:30 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

Welcome to what we hope is a long-running feature of SF Signal: The Mind Meld!

In this series of posts, we pose a single question to a slice of the sf/f community and, depending on the question, other folks as well. The idea is similar to the Brain Parade posts that used to appear on the long-defunct Meme Therapy blog. What we hope to get is an interesting cross-section of views and opinions that open a particular topic up for discussion. We'd love to hear what you think!

For now, let's begin this post's question:

Online reviewing at this point is a hopeful mess, rather than a hopeless one. A majority of it still has the validity of a late night bar conversation, or an offhanded phone call, blurting out undefended opinions, to which everyone is entitled. The hopeful sign is that a small portion of it is written to publishable print standards, and an even smaller portion is actually edited. That small portion is what publishers and sensible writers pay some attention to. Readers tend to find their own level, and as in contemporary politics, go where their own opinions are reflected back at them. That's the real mess part. So no one learns anything.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 12:25 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• Comic Book Resources has lots of cool Serenity/Firefly news for us. Dark Horse will be
  releasing a new three-issue comic series called Serenity: Better Days, two lunch boxes one with Serenity on it and one with Fruity Oaty Bar, and two ornaments just in time for Christmas. Perfect for the Firefly fan on your list.


• The National Post has a fun article about William Shatner, called His phaser is set to fun. In it, Shatner talks about his later acting career and how he chooses projects based on what he thinks will be fun. I think we can agree this has helped his career tremendously.


• Speaking of Star Trek, the new Star Trek: The Tour will be touring various cities in the US. The exhibit will allow fans to walk around various sets of the NCC 1701-D. Sounds cool. If any of our readers in Long Beach, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Chicago or Detroit go, let us know how it is!


• Milo Ventimiglia, Peter on Heroes really doesn't want Nathan Petrelli to die. With the strike in full swing, he, like the rest of us, will have to wait. I guess we'll know when Adrain Pasdar is signed for a third season or not.


• American fans of the BBC series, Life On Mars (SF Signal review), can stop the waiting game. The second series starts tonight on BBC America! Episode 1 and 2 will air back-to-back. Good news, I've been waiting for this. And U.K. fans care to comment?

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 12:21 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Bookslut has an interesting post asking the question: Where's the Sense in Sensawunda?:

I'm not sure what the point of science fiction is these days...
...
Sensawunda really needs both the awe and the comprehension, it needs both sides of the equation that links the fantastic and the real; but more and more we are looking for the wonder above the sense. That has always been a part of literature. Fantasy has its own rationalisations, its own rules and perspectives, but if the story in the end gives you that thrill of amazement it doesn't really matter if it doesn't make sense in terms of the world as we understand it. Indeed, it is often the point of fantasy that it should not conform to any expectations of our mundane reality. But science fiction isn't like that.

Unfortunately, as we successively try to achieve that ever bigger hit of wonder, it's all too easy to throw in a god or a demon or a mystery man was not meant to know. Or we go the other way, we want to avoid the contention that sf is crossing over into fantasy, so we try to make it purely realist. We invent things like Mundane SF which is full of sense but has very little wonder.

Science fiction is a spectrum, it stretches between fantasy and realism and needs to be anchored in both. But more and more we see at one end of the spectrum fantasy and sf merging seamlessly, while at the other end realism appropriates, quite legitimately, the tropes of sf. In other words that unique affect that once upon a time made us love science fiction is now equally the province of fantasy and of realism. I'm not complaining, I've always loved the margins of genre precisely because of the productive way that different modes can feed upon each other. But still, science fiction's old unique selling point seems to have been lost, and I'm not altogether sure it has yet managed to find a new one.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 12:20 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Oh boy do we have a doozy for you, right out of the gate. Machine Girl is a Japanese horror/action flick, with lots of yakuza, ninja and bllod. Warning! The trailer is very gory, if really cheesy. Think Kill Bill meets Grindhouse.

Next up, the new trailer for Jumper. I'm still undecided about this one.

And lastly, a fan made 'trailer' for The Dark Knight. Part of a viral campaign? You decide.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 12:10 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

The fascinating transcript of Doris Lessing's acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize is online. In it, she warns of a detrimental effect of the Internet:

We are in a fragmenting culture, where our certainties of even a few decades ago are questioned and where it is common for young men and women who have had years of education, to know nothing about the world, to have read nothing, knowing only some speciality or other, for instance, computers.

What has happened to us is an amazing invention, computers and the internet and TV, a revolution. This is not the first revolution we, the human race, has dealt with. The printing revolution, which did not take place in a matter of a few decades, but took much longer, changed our minds and ways of thinking. A foolhardy lot, we accepted it all, as we always do, never asked "What is going to happen to us now, with this invention of print?" And just as we never once stopped to ask, How are we, our minds, going to change with the new internet, which has seduced a whole generation into its inanities so that even quite reasonable people will confess that once they are hooked, it is hard to cut free, and they may find a whole day has passed in blogging and blugging etc.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 12:06 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

You may have heard of Logorrhea, an anthology whose 21 stories are based on spelling bee words. Contributors include Tim Pratt, Daniel Abraham, Hal Duncan, Theodora Goss, Clare Dudman, Matthew Cheney, Jay Caselberg, Neil Williamson, Michael Moorcock, Michelle Richmond, Liz Williams, Paolo Bacigalupi, Anna Tambour, Leslie What, Alex Irvine, Marly Youmans, Alan DeNiro, Jay Lake, Elizabeth Hand, and David Prill and Jeff VanderMeer.

Jeff VanderMeer's contribution, the story "Appoggiatura", is special in that it also uses the other 20 words that for the basis of the other stories. Even better: "Appoggiatura" is now available as a serial podcast, with Jason Erik Lundberg reading each of the sub-entries. The book's editor, John Klima, has the handy index.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 12:04 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• A remake of the sci-fi classic Metropolis is in the works.


• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows made Time's list of Top 10 Fiction Books, compiled by Lev Grossman.


• Fantasy Book Critic interviews Terry Goodkind. "The destruction of values leaves young people no outlet for how to learn about life, to learn about overcoming challenges. As a consequence, they turn away from reading because it doesn't fulfill that basic human need. They turn to things like video games."


• Brandon Sanderson will be completing the final novel in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. [via SF Scope]


• New free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "Almuric" by Robert E. Howard.


• The results are in for a survey about book reviewing ethics. [via A Progressive on the Prairie]


• Penguin Blog will be enumerating sub-genres of science fiction. This week: Hard Science Fiction.


• Nancy Kress lists things readers look for when they read.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday December 11, 2007 at 12:02 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A thrilling science fiction tale of eco-terrorism, Darkness Falls could be ripped from the headlines.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Erin Neal is the world expert on using biotechnology to clean up a mess - especially oil. He's also become a hermit after his ex-girlfriend and now lives entirely off the grid in a remote part of New Mexico. When the US government comes asking for help he isn't interested, until it seems somebody has taken one of his ideas and twisted it to attack the world's dependence on oil.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Thrilling plot; flawed characters
CONS: Not every action is believable; villain is merely pathetic and not evil
BOTTOM LINE: Fun pulp fiction that can help pass the time during the cold winter months.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Monday December 10, 2007 at 8:25 PM
© 2007 SF Signal

Pop Quiz: What does this commercial for Fruity Oaty Bars have to do with science fiction?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 10, 2007 at 12:54 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• We still have a month and a half until LOST re-appears on our TVs (Feb. 6th). However, producers Cuse and Lindeloff offer up some information about season 4. Since it now has an end date, we will see more flash forwards as the story now becomes more of a mosaic, with each episode filling in missing pieces. This just serves to whet the appetite for more episodes. Sadly, with the writers' strike still in progress, we'll only get 8 or so episodes before a forced hiatus.


• Just in case you ever wanted to make your own Sci Fi papercraft, Sci-Fi & PC Game Card Models has you covered. They have links to paper models for Space: Above and Beyond, Galactica, and Babylon 5, among others. It's amazing what you can do with paper now days...[Via Papercraft Paradise]


• If you aren't watching Chuck, not only are you missing a very funny, geeky show, you're also missing the return to the small screen of Adam Baldwin, as Agent John Casey. BuddyTV has an article with Baldwin where he discusses the show and his co-star Zach Levi.


• And if you hadn't heard, the upcoming live-action re-make of Speed Racer finally has a trailer available. Thanks to YouTube, you can see it below. It certainly has a very unique look, and I'm very interested in seeing this, especially since it is supposed to have a 'G' rating. Now I can take me kids.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday December 10, 2007 at 12:38 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• The L.A. Times' lists their Favorite SciFi Books of 2007. [via Locus Online]


• The L.A. Times also profiles Robert A. Heinlein: "He was one of the greats of golden-age science fiction, but his legacy polarizes today's readers." [via Locus Online]


• Over at Amazon Blog, Jeff VanderMeer lists 4 Jeff Great SF/F Gifts and video-interviews John Scalzi.


• Following a Part 1, here's the 2nd part of a Tor podcast featuring a conversation between John Scalzi, Scott Westerfeld, and Justine Larbalestier.


• Edward Champion wonders if the changes to the new Blade Runner will have fans crying up in arms in a "Greedo Shot First" manner.


• SciFi Ranter Girl shows us that you could have gotten a rare, Vader-ized Wii for a mere $15,000.


• Brewster Rockit starts the week with a mission to find space squids!


• Is it me, or does Mr. Clock Radio look suspiciously like The Iron Giant?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 10, 2007 at 12:11 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

"I only go green." - Christian J.

"A while back there was a porno called "Project Uranus" and it featured, among other things people having sex with blue women. How come they are not on the list?" - GeneralX
[John replies: Had I known about it, General X, I would have. Do you think I would intentionally miss the opportunity to put Uranus on a poll, as it were?]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday December 10, 2007 at 12:00 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Apologies in advance, but there is a price to pay for having us troll the web for tidbits. Now it's time for you to pay the piper, so man up and take your medicine like a good little geek...

Most fans remember the monstrosity that was The Star Wars Holiday Special, but how many remember a Star Wars Christmas album?

In 1980, someone had the audacity to release Christmas in the Stars, a painful sound assault by Meco & the cast of Star Wars. Feast your ears on "What Can You Get a Wookie For Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb)". And, if you're still alive afterwards, check out R2D2 singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Listen to more samples at Amazon. I bet it will have you wishing you were in a galaxy far, far away.

In all my life I thought I would never actually prefer listening to Leonard Nimoy.

[via About:Blank]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 09, 2007 at 1:23 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• A couple of years ago, we mentioned Monster Island, David Wellington's novel (posted in blog format) set in Manhattan, one month after New York has been overrun by zombies. According to Shock Till You Drop, Monster Island is headed for the big screen.


• The Fix Online interviews with Ellen Datlow. "I think the boundaries between the three fantastic fiction genres--sf, fantasy, and horror--have always been porous. Think of "fantasy" as the umbrella and sf/f/h as the spokes comprising that umbrella."


• Intergalactic Medicine Show interviews Robert J. Sawyer. "If hard SF is losing its market share, surely the only possible solution is BETTER SF to bring those readers back."


• Elizabeth Bear is a short story writer at heart.


• James Killus has inherited a lot of unpublished work of sf author Edgar Pangborn, author of Davy and A Mirror for Observers.


• William Shatner will receive the Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Patrick Stewart on behalf of a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the natural bio-diversity of the planet. Here is some backstage video from the opening of the festival where the award will be presented.


• Sentient Developments explains the problem with 99.9 % of so-called 'solutions' to the Fermi Paradox: "Sure everyone has a convenient answer to the Fermi Paradox, but nearly all of them fail the non-exclusivity test."


• New free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "Blessed Are the Meek" by G.C. Edmondson and "The Bramble Bush" by Gordon Randall Garrett.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday December 09, 2007 at 12:05 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

A trio of Thomas Tidbits for ya'...Earlier this year, I read Deadstock by Jeffrey Thomas, a book whose setting (the "crime-infested future city" of Punktown) makes you want more. In March of 2008, Solaris will be making Deadstock available as a free download just in time for the release of the sequel, Blue War.

Fantasy Book Critic interviews Jeffrey Thomas:

Anything can happen in Punktown. Behind every window of every apartment there is someone plotting a murder or mourning a loved one, beginning a romance or contemplating a crime. So many different alien races coexist there with the Earth colonists who established that vast city, and their cultural interactions are a fascinating topic for me. Punktown is ultimately a distorted mirror reflection of our own world, today, and how can one tire of that? I don't want to be constrained to only my Punktown setting, but if I was forced by some ironclad (and lucrative) contract, I could still deal with it easily. I can set any type of story within Punktown's borders.

Jeffrey Thomas was also interviewed by SciFi Chick:

My experiences in Vietnam inspired me greatly through the writing of Blue War, as will be very apparent to its readers. The similarities to Vietnam of the novel's setting are not a lazy device I'm trying to sneak past the reader, but something I chose very deliberately to do for thematic reasons. And you know, in the end I just want to share my great enthusiasm for that country. I want to shake your arm and say, "Hey, I saw this place that's so different from here -- let me tell you about it!" It's that impulse that makes me a writer in the first place.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 08, 2007 at 7:09 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

Amidst another controversy, Andrew Burt has stepped down as head of SFWA's Copyright Committee, to be replaced by Russell Davis. (See also Davis's statement on the matter.)

Many have been vocal about Burt's removal, so I found interesting this perspective from Peter Glaskowsky at CNet, who likens Burt to the persecuted Spiderman:

So there we have it. Burt doesn't look anything like Spider-Man, but he's had about the same effect--the streets get cleaned up at the cost of a few sticky bits left hanging around. And what's his reward? A few loudmouths are demanding his arrest and summary execution.

If you aren't impressed by this analogy yet, you have to compare this drawing of J. Jonah Jameson with this photo of Cory Doctorow.

Doctorow ought to know better. Even if he prefers to distribute his writings free of charge and make his living another way, he should show more respect for the right of other writers to sell their work. He should be supporting SFWA, not book pirates and those who protect them. And that goes for all the other SFWA members who've been giving SFWA grief over Burt's actions, too.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 08, 2007 at 1:08 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• John C. Wright serves up a sneak peek at chapter 2 of Null-A Continuum.


• At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles L.E. Modesitt Jr., author of Natural Ordermage.


• Ellen Datlow lists Aurealis Award nominees.


• The latest issue of Lone Star Stories has been posted, and features entries by Sarah Prineas, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Marguerite Reed, Rachel Swirsky, Jennifer Crow and Sonya Taaffe.


• Authors writing about movies:
  • Over at Locus Online, Howard Waldrop and Lawrence Person review Futurama: Bender's Big Score.
  • Tobias Buckell liked The Golden Compass.
  • Joe Abercrombie did not like I Am Legend.


• Better Living Through Science Fiction points us to this Steampunk Gift Guide.


• Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday features Pop-Up Books including these popup books based on the movies Alien and Zardoz.


• About:Blank shows us an health club ad campaign from India that features obese versions of Superman, Batman and Spiderman.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday December 08, 2007 at 1:07 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

We now have our two winners for the I Am Legend premiere tickets for Tuesday evening. They are:

Andrew W.

Joshua L.

Congratulations guys, your tickets should be winging their way to you very shortly. Have fun at the premiere and if you take pictures, let us know where they are so we can all oogle them.

I want to thank everyone who participated. Hopefully we'll have more of this sort of thing in the future.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday December 07, 2007 at 10:56 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday December 07, 2007 at 1:22 AM
© 2007 SF Signal

• At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Robert Charles Wilson, author of Axis, a sequel to last year's Hugo Award-winning novel Spin.


• Tor Podcasts features part 1 of a conversation between John Scalzi, Scott Westerfeld, and Justine Larbalestier.


• SFRevu interviews Tim Powers (Three Days to Never). [via Locus Online]


• Ernest Lilley of SFRevu responds to a recent Brian Aldiss article (Why are science fiction's best writers so neglected?). Sez Ernest: "I think that SF fails to engage literary critics because it's not gloomy enough, and readers because it's either too real or too patently wishful thinking, but in both cases of little use to their lives." [via Locus Online]


• BlogCritics interviews David Lynn Golemon, author of the Event Group series.


• Science fiction and fantasy publisher Tor Books announced plans to enter the U.S manga market by creating a new manga imprint.


• New free fiction at ManyBooks.net: "The Man Who Evolved" by Edmond Hamilton (1931).


• Doctor Who fan site Outpost Gallifrey points us to the season 2 trailer of Torchwood, which features a phone conversation mashup between Capt. Jack Harkness and Peter Petrelli of Heroes.


• Here's a set of lists of The Best Science Fiction Films according to SF writers Robert Bloch, Arthur C. Clarke, Frederik Pohl, and directors John Carpenter and Robert Wise. (Excerpted from 1994's The Variety Book of Movie Lists by Fred Lombardi.)


• If you catch Richard Matheson's classic horror story I Am Legend on an IMAX screen, you;ll get to see a 6-minute preview of Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins.


• SciFiChick.com lists 13 Things She Learned from Watching Wonder Woman. Mmmm...Wonder Woman...

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