SF Signal: February 2008 Archives

Friday February 29, 2008

REVIEW: Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner

REVIEW SUMMARY: A great hard science fiction story that delivers more ideas in a single novel than most do in a series. Niven is a great writer, and this is a great collaboration.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Fleeing a chain-reaction supernovae in the galactic core, the Citizens (Puppeteers from Niven's other books) take their planets and head out. This fleet of worlds comes across a human colony ship and turns the embryos they find into a race of slaves. Kirsten is one of the best and brightest and is eventually sent out to scout ahead of the fleet looking for danger. What she ends up discovering involves the history of her race and threatens to send the Citizen planets spinning out of control.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Niven and Lerner turn in a fantastic collaboration. Even if you haven't read any of Niven's known space novels you'll find a lot to like here. Excellent set of ideas around the alternative evolution of life, exploiting teleportation, starship construction, and much more.
CONS: You really need to be a fan of science fiction to enjoy this book.
BOTTOM LINE: Set in the universe of the Ringworld novels, this book stands very well on its own and delivers a very strong hard science fiction experience. It is a great novel that is not to be missed.

Set 200 years before the discovery of the Ringworld, Niven and Lerner do a great job putting together a reasonable prequel. The story fits with the rest of the universe, but it isn't necessary to have read any of the earlier works. I'm confident you will enjoy reading them in any order.

The alien creatures Niven has dreamed up are nothing short of fantastic. The Puppeteers are just as alien as ever with actions that are remorseless, back-stabbing, and cowardly. They aren't evil, but act out of so much self-interest that they are a threat to any other race they encounter. In their mind, it is better to destroy a proto-race that might be a threat in several years than it is to take the risk of letting them proceed naturally. They also introduce an alien species that evolved entirely in the water under a moon crusted with ice.

My favorite part of the novel involve describing the pedestrian use of teleportation technology and all the various uses to which it might be put. From transferring cargo to crossing planets to getting food on the table the authors take a good look at the many ways something like this might be used. Should teleportation ever become viable for humans, they would do well to look at the ideas from this book.

I have read the other Known Space novels but it has been many years since I read one. As a result, some concepts are familiar but I'm not intimate with the series. I had no troubles reading this book and enjoying it and can't see why somebody who hasn't read any of the other books would find this one a challenge. However, I saw one reviewer indicate that he felt the opposite - that if you hadn't read the previous books you would find this confusing. Certainly it is a valid opinion, but I might suggest that somebody who hasn't read any of Niven's other novels would be a better judge of this. My qualification is suspect here for the same reason.

I found this a great book to read and recommend it to others. This is the first of a two-volume series and has me anxiously awaiting the concluding chapters.

TOC: Seeds of Change edited by John Joseph Adams

John Joseph Adams has posted the Table of Contents of Seeds of Change, his upcoming anthogy of original fiction about world-changing events:

Introduction by John Joseph Adams
"N-Words" by Ted Kosmatka
"The Future by Degrees" by Jay Lake
"Drinking Problem" by K. D. Wentworth
"Endosymbiont" by Blake Charlton
"A Dance Called Armageddon" by Ken MacLeod
"Arties Aren't Stupid" by Jeremiah Tolbert
"Faceless in Gethsemane" by Mark Budz
"Spider the Artist" by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
"Resistance" by Tobias S. Buckell

The Religious Experience Of Philip K. Dick

In 1974 after having his wisdom teeth removed, Philip K. Dick experienced a profound religious experience. Pumped full of Sodium Pentathol, Dick answered the door to meet a girl from the pharmacy who was delivering his pain medications (if only they delivered now) and, upon seeing her golden fish pendant, experienced what he called 'anamnesis'.

This experience led to his 'discovery' of the 'Black Iron Prison' and, slowly, Dick would believe that he was a Christian from Roman times. Often times assuming the personality of that person.

If you've ever wondered what that might be like, then look no further than The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick, as illustrated and written by R. Crumb. There's something about reading this in comic form that works extremely well and gives us a great sense of what it must have been like to slowly loose touch with reality. Or did he?

LOST, The Best SF Show on TV

As I write this, I just finished watching the latest episode of LOST, called 'The Constant'. To all those who poo-pooed the idea that LOST was not science fiction, watch this episode. After hinting and teasing, the writers finally pulled out the stops and gave us a full-bore science fiction episode.

'The Constant' is a Desmond-centric episode, which is great because Desmond is a great character, but what set it apart was that, depending on how you look at it, it was either a flash-forward episode, or a flash-back. Why? Because, due to forces only hinted at (of course), Desmond becomes unstuck in time, and oscillates between 1996 and 2004. He must find Penny in both periods (she is the constant) to ground him, or else he will die as his consciousness will be unable to handle the ever increasing time shifts. Yes, we get the paradoxical infomational loops, but they are handled pretty well, although there were a couple of areas that were glossed over. But that's ok, because:

Not only do we get some heavy duty SF tossed into the show, it only took the writers 4 seasons to smack people over the head with it, we also got a terrific character story centered on Desmond and Penny. Now we see what prompted Penny to start, and continue, her search for Desmond. We see the lengths Desmond will go to try and reconnect with Penny, ultimately ending with a very emotional, and powerful, reunion. This was, by far, the best episode this season and might be the best overall. An awesome job by all those involved.

I won't say much more then you simply have to watch it for yourself. If you gave up on LOST, I think you owe it to yourself to catch up (fulls eps available on ABC's website). If you've never seen it, all seasons are online at ABC, what are you waiting for? It should be one incredible run to the series finale in 2010.

Friday YouTube: Arthur C. Clarke & The Sea Monsters

Arthur C. Clarke talks about sea monsters...

This video is from the 70's. Compare and contrast that with this video from the 70's kids' show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

[via raincoaster]

More Free Stuff From Tor

Tor's latest free eBook is the 2006 Hugo Award-winning Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.

Have you signed up yet?

They've also posted a couple of cool desktop wallpapers: Todd Lockwood's cover for To Light a Candle by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, and Stephan Martiniere's cover for Escapement by Jay Lake. Get them quickly! They will be rotated out every week.

[via The Art Department]

SF Tidbits for 2/29/08

Free Reads:
- As promised, Neil Gaiman's publisher, Harper Collins, has made his book American Gods freely available. It's only available for one month and only via online reading. So hurry up and read it while you can!
- Tobias Buckell has posted the 1st chapter of his next novel, Sly Mongoose.
- Jayme Lynn Blaschke is giving away copies of his Locus Poll-nominated story "The Final Voyage of La Riaza".

Apex has purchased the short story collection (I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein). About time, imo. [via SF Scope]

Meet the Author: Iain M. Banks, whose mum recommends Matter.

Locus Online has interviews excerpts with Maureen F. McHugh and Lucius Shepard, pulled from the latest issue of Locus magazine.

At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Alastair Reynolds (The Prefect) and Robin Hobb (Renegade's Magic).
Angry Black Woman features a guest essay by David Anthony Durham.

Paul Levinson is reading from his upcoming book, Unburning Alexandria at Gypsy Moon, in Second Life this Sunday.

Fantasybookspot interviews Michael Cisco (The Traitor and Secret Hours).

At Time Magazine, Matt Selman tells us How to Store Books. "It is unacceptable to display any book in a public space of your home if you have not read it." Uh-oh... [via When Gravity Fails]

Check out Gus Hunter's cool King Kong artwork.

Cover Pr0n:
- Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams.
- The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia.
- Project Moonbase and Others by Robert A. Heinlein.
- The Affinity Bridge by George Mann.

Cinematical has the new WALL-E poster.

Jeff Prucher, editor of Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, talks about organlegging

Leonard Maltin interviews Anton Yelchin (Pavel Chekov in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot).

W.W. Ni has posted an excerpt from Tophero: Son of Smilodon, a "provocative prehistoric space action adventure for men who dare to dream".

Jim van Pelt lists 10 Reasons To Not Be Discouraged About the State of Science Fiction.

io9 lists The Twenty Science Fiction Novels that Will Change Your Life. A nice list, as far it goes, which is just short of explaining exactly why they are life-changing.

Speaks for itself: Spock as a DJ.

SciFi Web Comic Humor: Brewster Rockit takes on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Tube Bits for 02/29/2008

Marc Wade, former director of production at StarTrek.com, has landed a weekly column over at Roddenberry.com. His first column takes a look at Star Trek: The Tour.

Cine Fantastique Online has a very long, in-depth interview with George Takei. The cover a wide range of topics including Star Trek, William Shatner, Heroes, Howard Stern and a lot more. Part 1 here. Part 2 here. This interview happened some time last year, but only recently posted, so some of the information is out of date.

At last week's WonderCon, Chris Carter dropped some hints about the upcoming X-Files movie. It will be stand alone and won't deal with the mythology of the show, instead it will focus on the scarier stories that peppered the show during its original run. Rumor has it there may be werewolves involved.

If you really can't wait for the last season of Galactica and don't mind being very spoiled, then head on over to IO9 ans see thier BG video clips for season 4.

In case you weren't planning on playing the new video game, LOST: Via Domus, now you can watch TyndelM play through the entire game! In fact, it looks like he has several video walkthroughs. I find this, odd.

The fine folks over at RavenStake have released their second LOST parody video, using actual LOST action figures. Check it:

Wednesday February 27, 2008

MIND MELD: Which SciFi Movie Ending Would You Change?

Common sense and statistics say that, even when you think you're watching a decent SciFi film, you should refrain from celebration until after the end credits - because sometimes movie endings suck. We asked a host of luminaries the following question.

Q: Which SciFi movie ending do you wish you could change?

*** SPOILER WARNING! ***
Some of these answers (and accompanying videos) contain spoilers. But in this case, the answers are more entertaining than the end of the movie anyway, so...spoiler warning redacted.

Mike Brotherton

Mike Brotherton is the author of the hard science fiction novels Spider Star (2008) and Star Dragon (2003), the latter being a finalist for the Campbell award. He's also a professor of astronomy at the University of Wyoming, Clarion West graduate, and founder of the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers (www.launchpadworkshop.org). He blogs at www.mikebrotherton.com.

First, what makes for a good ending? The hallmark of a great movie ending is that it's impossible to anticipate while watching it, but seems like the only ending possible in hindsight. It shouldn't fall prey to sentimentality, at least not overly so, and should follow through with the power of the premise. Surprising, inevitable, memorable; some examples that come to mind include: A Boy and His Dog, 12 Monkeys, The Thing, Planet of the Apes (1968). I guess I like the shocking sci-fi horror ending! A lot of sf movies have conventional endings, a little too pat and expected, but not weird or ugly.

I decided to start with a list of movies I think have endings flawed one way or another, a list that includes a lot of movies I truly like. 2001 is pretty confusing. Contact is a bit of a let down and the government cover-up seemed unnecessary. AI goes for the weird alien happy ending. The Hulk ending is a dark mess. The finale of Sphere sucks. Changing the ending of Armageddon sure couldn't hurt it. Return of the Jedi is full of Ewoks and happy happy joy joy Darth Vader. Ridley Scott himself has changed the ending of Blade Runner several times.

And then there's the movie I finally settled on: Signs...

Signs isn't exactly a rigorous science fiction movie. It's more of a horror movie masquerading as science fiction, all in service to a bigger message about whether or not there's purpose in the world. I think some of the scenes in the film are terrific, and the movie sets a great mood. I usually have to watch a few minutes of the film when I find it on TV. But then comes the ending, and it literally makes me scream out. WTF? WTF? Water burns alien flesh?! Water?! This is so, so dumb, I can't even make sense of it. Maybe there was a purpose in this, some biblical allusion or something, but it's so stupid I can't see it. Even going with this crazy development, we're supposed to believe that the aliens would like to invade a planet where acid falls from the skies, and the native children carry it in toy guns.

Signs has the worst ending of a movie with some otherwise redeeming qualities, and I wish I could change it.

[Editors Note: Couldn't find the verbatim ending of Signs, but this video does contain scenes from the mentioned ending.]

David Gerrold

David Gerrold is in training to be a curmudgeon. Approach at your own risk. You've been warned.

I'd change the ending of E.T. I'd show Elliot barbecuing the little animated baseball mitt for his family. Enough with this feel-good crap! Next thing we'll have sci-fi writers adopting Martians.

Gabriel Mckee

Gabriel Mckee is the author of The Gospel According to Science Fiction: From the Twilight Zone to the Final Frontier, published in January 2007 by Westminster John Knox (and thus, *ahem,* eligible for this year's Locus and Hugo Awards), and of the blog SF Gospel. He is also the author of Pink Beams of Light From the God in the Gutter: The Science Fictional Religion of Philip K. Dick, and has written for Religion Dispatches, The Revealer, and Nerve. He is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and currently works in Bobst Library at New York University.

I would love to see a different ending for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

Let me begin by explaining something: I think Star Trek V gets picked on unfairly. Sure, it's not the best film in the series, and it may in fact be the worst. But one of the worst films ever? I wouldn't go nearly that far. It has some wonderful character moments, and some of the design and effects are gorgeous. People like to beat up on it, but it isn't that bad.

But there's that ending: After hearing Spock's hippie brother Sybok tell us about the impassable barrier at the center of the galaxy, the Enterprise sails right through it with no problems at all. On the other side they find Sha Ka Ree, a planet that supposedly houses the origin of the universe. It looks like a quarry, which is par for the course for television SF like the original Trek or Doctor Who, but a bit of a let-down for a feature film. And then God - yes, God, depicted as a glowing, rear-projected guy with a beard - demands the surrender of the Enterprise and starts zapping people with beams from his eyes. And then - well, then they ran out of money. There's a somewhat nonsensical spaceship rescue (God can be defeated by a couple disruptor blasts, apparently), Kirk delivers a platitude about God existing "right here, in the human heart," and the credits roll. It's a mess, but there are some parts of the ending I truly like. In particular, Kirk's inquiry about what God needs with a starship is legitimately classic line and a key bit of Star Trek theology (on which more below). But on the whole, the ending feels a bit off.

In a way, it's a good thing that the film went over budget. The original plan was to have God summon an army of rock monsters to fight the Enterprise crew. Test footage of a monster suit is included on the special edition DVD, and the full scene made its way into the DC Comics adaptation. Judging from that evidence, the ending wouldn't have been better, and could very easily have been a great deal worse. (What do rock monsters have to do with God, anyway?) It wasn't just running out of money that made the ending a failure. The ending we got was a bit of a mess, but the ending they wanted could have been a complete fiasco.

When I was writing The Gospel According to Science Fiction, I had a small dilemma over this film. I knew that I needed to discuss it - after all, it's Star Trek's clearest (or at least loudest) statement about religion. But what does it mean? After struggling with it for a while, I had an insight: Kirk's interrogation of God is an awful lot like Abraham bargaining over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Despite McCoy's protests, Kirk wants to be able to challenge, question, and haggle with God. Buried in the murk of that ending is a plea for a humanistic religion, but we simply don't get enough of it. I realize that a feature film needs to end with an action sequence, but did God have to jump to the eyebeams so quickly? An additional 30 seconds of dialog would have done wonders for bringing more sense to this scene, but apparently fully fleshed-out ideas are even more expensive than monster suits.

The real problem is that I had to struggle to find something thematically interesting here, that I had to put so much thought into this movie to figure out what it was trying to say. Trek usually packages its philosophy much more clearly than this, but this film just doesn't try hard enough to be interesting. It ends up being just a rehash of the original series episode "Who Mourns For Adonais?", which isn't the best episode to begin with, though it did reveal the interesting fact that Starfleet ships have religions specialists on board. Star Trek V could have gone further and done something more original, but it didn't, and that's a shame.

Kevin Maher

Kevin Maher is the host of American Movie Classic's The Sci Fi Department. He is also an Emmy-nominated comedy-writer whose work has appeared on Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and HBO's This Just In.

1972's Conquest of The Planet of the Apes is my favorite of the original Apes films, but man, that ending blows.

For those of you who haven't seen it (or don't remember which movie it is)...Caeser spends the entire movie organizing and executing a bloody ape revolution. At the end of the film he delivers a stirring speech, with the city of Los Angeles burning behind him.

But then, he changes his mind and says apes and men must live together in peace.

This change-of-heart speech was tacked-on, using close-ups of Roddy McDowell's eyes and a rough voice-over. Apparently test audiences disliked the revolution ending, so this was added at the last minute. I would prefer to see the original ending.

Gary Westfahl

Gary Westfahl, who teaches at the University of California, Riverside, is the author, editor, or co-editor of nineteen books about science fiction and fantasy, including the Hugo-nominated Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits, the three-volume The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction. He is a regular film reviewer and commentator for the Locus Online website, and in 2003 he earned the Science Fiction Research Association's Pilgrim Award for lifetime contributions to science fiction and fantasy scholarship.

It probably never would have been considered a masterpiece in any event, but one science fiction film ruined by an absolutely wrong ending was Ivan Reitman's Evolution (2001). Having depicted tiny alien organisms that landed on Earth and rapidly generated more and more advanced creatures, up to and including primates, the film should have properly concluded with the development of intelligent humanoid aliens, who would calmly introduce themselves, apologize for all the problems caused by their more ferocious predecessors, and announce plans to gather all of the alien beings together and depart to another world that is not already inhabited by a thriving biosphere. Such an ending would not only have been logical, but it also would have provided a worthwhile commentary on the process of evolution, which was after all the film's title: the idea that, whatever value fierce competitiveness might have in the advancement of species, the best strategy for ultimate success is usually cooperation. Unfortunately, since such an ending would not have provided the spectacular special-effects fireworks and improbable heroism which contemporary Hollywood lore insists is essential in concluding a sure-fire box-office success, the filmmakers instead opted for the inane emergence of an enormous one-celled organism which could somehow be exterminated, as I vaguely recall, by the desperately improvised application of some Head and Shoulders shampoo - foreshadowing, it seems clear in retrospect, that a lot of investors were going to take a bath, and the film was going down the drain.

Paul Levinson

Paul Levinson, PhD, is an author, professor, and media commentator. His first novel, The Silk Code, won the Locus Award for best first science fiction novel of 1999. Entertainment Weekly called his current novel, The Plot to Save Socrates, "challenging fun". His eight nonfiction books have been translated in a dozen languages around the world, and have been reviewed in The New York Times, Wired, and major newspapers and magazines. Levinson appears on The O'Reilly Factor, CNN, MSNBC, and is interviewed every Sunday morning about the media on KNX 1070 all-news radio in Los Angeles. He is Professor and Chair of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in NYC.

I would change the ending of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.

Now, I actually loved most of this movie, and for that matter, Stars Wars I and II, and I hate to offer any criticism of this saga, lest it give comfort to its critics, and/or be seen as taking candy from a baby.

But...the way Padmé dies was a real letdown. What do you mean, she lost her will to live? What kind of limp fish way is that to go out?

If I could change the end of that movie, I'd have Padmé giving birth to Leia and Luke, then going down in a blaze of glory, fighting off the clone army to save her children, with perhaps Vader even trying to come to her assistance at the very last moment, failing, tortured, and not knowing what became of his children.

End with Padmé fighting with her last breath to save what was best in her universe...

But, then again, I'm always an optimist when it comes to these things...

Adam-Troy Castro

Adam Troy Castro's film/DVD reviews appear regularly on SciFi Weekly. His book reviews appear in SCI FI magazine. Several of his award-nominated short stories are available for download on FictionWise. For further updates, check out www.sff.net/people/adam-troy.

I'm certain that there are any number of possible answers, but the first to come to mind is Contact. Too many members of the audience wholly misunderstand the nature of the first encounter at the end, and believe the point of the movie is than an atheist gets heaven shoved in her face and is forced to change her mind. Second choice: 2010. Audiences thought the end of the movie was a greeting card, when in actuality it was an event of cosmic importance. Both endings needed clarification.

Paul Di Filippo

Paul Di Filippo has been writing professionally for over 25 years, accumulating close to 150 stories and twenty-five books in the process. His newest book, Cosmocopia, will soon appear from Payseur & Schmidt, with art by Jim Woodring. His website can be found at www.pauldifilippo.com and he blogs at http://community.livejournal.com/theinferior4/.

I want to rewrite the ending to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and make the revelation be that HAL'S AI consciousness is downloaded into the Star Child's wetware, and the Singularity is upon us!

Jay Maynard (Tron Guy)

Jay Maynard (also known as the Tron Guy) is a professional computer geek who became famous on the Internet for the first costume he ever made for a SF convention. He spends a lot of time reading, and most of that is SF.

I can't think of any SF movies whose endings I'd like to see change. By and large, they've all worked for me. I do have to say that I haven't seen every SF movie out there; in particular, I stay well away from the horror stuff (Aliens, Predator, and the like), and a lot of the rest I just haven't caught up with.

Michael L. Wentz

Michael L. Wentz is a writer and filmmaker. He blogs over at RealHonestFilm.com and PhantomReflections.com. He's also been known to dress up as The Doctor at costume parties.

This was a tough question for me to answer. Most of the time if I don't like a film I come to that realization well within the second act and the ending is just the final little bit of suffering I have to endure before leaving the theater or ejecting the DVD. The thing about the film industry is that when it comes to making a movie there are so many cooks in the kitchen that a film's tone and watchability are cemented consistently throughout the picture by the time any of us see it. Chances are if the beginning stinks, the ending will follow suit. So if I really had the opportunity just to change the ending of a film I would have to tinker with Serenity. I know I can hear the collective groans of the fans right now, because we all know that Joss Whedon is awesome and can do no wrong, but there was one thing that bugged me about the film--the death of Wash. It seemed to come at the wrong time and for apparently no reason. He didn't die fighting--he was just sitting in the pilot's seat after a masterful flight through a huge battle between the Alliance and the Reavers. It shocked the heck out of me and I couldn't get past it for the rest of the movie, which was sad since I couldn't initially appreciate some of the wonderful things about the ending because I was so disturbed by his sudden death. I can maybe understand it as a mechanism to allow River full acceptance into the crew, but I still didn't like it. If I would redo the ending, I'd let Wash live and leave the rest of it as is, because Whedon is awesome.

Rob Bedford

Rob H. Bedford is a longtime genre fan who works and lives in New Jersey. He has held various marketing and publishing positions, building up the diverse background (he hopes) required for becoming a published writer all the while plugging away at various stories and novels. He also writes book reviews for SFFWorld and moderates the forums there.

The easy answer would be Star Wars Episode III, but that ending was almost a multiple choice with George Lucas providing viewers with all a few different options. I don't think I'd change the ending(s) he gave us though. The ending I would change, though, would probably be Signs. I was really into the "ride" of the movie, going along with the tension that built up over the course of the story. Then it turns out the aliens were basically clones of the Wicked Witch of the West. Water? Freaking water is their kryptonite? These aliens, who can travel across galaxies decide to land en masse on a planet whose surface is over 70% of their version of kryptonite! Asinine. I thought Mel Gibson's character's return to the Church was a bit ham-handed. There were other holes in the plot, but what movie doesn't ask viewers to take some sort of logic leap? The water though, was too much and threw the whole movie into the light of parody.

Wednesday YouTube: 1968 J.R.R. Tolkien Interview

MilkandCookies Middle-Unearths this 1968 interview with J.R.R. Tolkien and grandson Adam (2007).

SF Tidbits for 2/27/08

Science Fiction Quarterly interviews Robert J. Sawyer (Rollback). "What's best about the genre right now is that a goodly number of writers are striving to engage the heart as well as the mind, and are giving us books that actually live up to that hoary old cliche we've trotted out for decades about SF being a special lens for examining the human condition." [via Jason Sanford]

The Agony Column podcast interviews Terry Bisson (Number s Don't Lie).

The following stories have been added to the list of Free Nebula Fiction [via Joe Sherry]:
- "Awakening" by Judith Berman
- "The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs Of North Park After the Change" by Kij Johnson
- "Unique Chicken Goes In Reverse" by Andy Duncan

Free audiobooks: SFFaudio rounds up some short fiction stories with Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 3.

Free Magazine: Steampunk Magazine Issue #4, which includes fiction, features and an interview with Ann & Jeff VanderMeer. [via Ecstatic Days] (VanderBonus: PS Publishing shows off the awesome cover art for Jeff VanderMeer's chapbook/novelette, The Situation.)

Free Sample: Eos Blog has a sneak peak of The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison.

Guardian Unlimited Arts blog wants to know what you think of reading books in bite-size, daily chunks via email, like via DailyLit.

Paul Jessup shares some information on his intriguing-sounding surrealist Space Opera.

As advertised: Speculative Fiction Writers Pick Their Favorite Stories.

Helium lists The most famous science fiction authors.

The Onion A.V. Club interviews Summer Glau.

GalleyCat, with the help of Ellen Datlow, names the most award-nominated story you've never heard of.

Screen Rant has a first look at the X-Men Origins: Wolverine poster.

Looking to drop $50 in a hurry? PopTherapy takes us to these Alien Spaceship Lawn Figures. Hmmm..lawn ornaments or 3 Dalek T-Shirts...

Tuesday February 26, 2008

REVIEW: Deep Inside by Polly Frost

REVIEW SUMMARY: A collection of well-written erotic science fiction short stories.

MY RATING: See the text below.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: 10 erotic science fiction short stories written by Polly Frost.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: An interesting collection of stories that makes fun of science fiction tropes occasionally but also contains some interesting ideas. Most of the stories involve a last-minute twist (ironic or otherwise) that I enjoy most in short fiction.
CONS: Some stories are just strange as opposed to interesting.
BOTTOM LINE: If you find erotic fiction to be your cup of tea, I think you'll enjoy this collection of stories that Polly has written.

Because I'm not sure how sensitive our readers are to this sort of thing, I'm putting the rest of my review and an analysis of each of the stories after the jump. Read on if you dare!

I think you have to be careful when reviewing erotic fiction because it certainly isn't for everybody. Because of that, I decided my regular review criteria didn't apply. If you like the genre, you're going to find this a pretty darn good collection of short stories. But if you don't, you shouldn't read it at all.

Of the ten stories, only 2 ("The Orifice" and "Imagine It") I didn't like. However this becomes more complex the more I think about it. Did I dislike the stories because they were poorly written? No - Polly can write and even these stories had good pacing, dialog, and characterization. Instead the things I didn't like were related to the plot and the strangeness of the situations. Is this a result of my own inhibitions or repressed desires? Maybe. Or maybe they would appeal more to others? I'll have to wait for other reviewers to see.

According to the author's forward, Polly revised the stories and prose through review at live readings in New York City. I suspect that shows up in the final work. Having gone through a trial by fire - live audiences are the most unpredictable and most difficult to impress - the text is succinct and focused. However sometimes I wonder if the humor didn't play a little bit better with a live audience than it does in text - if only because the lines can be delivered with a tone of voice that conveys better the authors intent.

But to paraphrase a wiser man, when it comes to good erotic fiction, I know it when I see it. This is certainly quality work.

"The Threshold" is a story about a virgin high school girl named Cameron. She is teased mercilessly by her friends for her virginity and finally decides to get it over with. But there is a new girl in town who places an unusual value on Cameron's virginity. The ending is scarier than I would have thought and as the first story in the book it set the stage well for the stories to follow.

"The Orifice" is a story about a pair of young lovers obsessed with piercings. They get more than they bargained for in a special piercing shop though and ... well, you'll just have to read the story. This is one of the stories that didn't work for me. I found the ending to be flat rather than the high impact I think Polly wanted. I also wonder if this is one of those stories that was very powerful in a live performance but didn't translate to text as well. I don't know much about the piercing culture and as a result it might have gone over my head.

"The Dominatrix has a Career Crisis" gives us Katie, a working dominatrix who finds her job boring. Punishing people no longer has the thrill it did and instead she finds herself drawn to a humiliating scene from high school between her and a teacher. Once she finds him, will the teacher submit to Katie or will he be the one with the power? I enjoyed this story quite a bit because the premise was very cool and the plot took some unexpected turns.

"The Pleasure Invaders" is a story I find strangely familiar - could this be a universal fantasy or was it just me? In any case, this tale tells us about an alien species that through its link to our subconscious is able to determine our every desire and fulfill it instantly. But of course this is wildly addicting to humans the impact on the city of Miami (where the aliens are first introduced) is immediate - the aliens are more valuable than any drug. The ending took a somewhat predictable turn but I felt the story was making fun of sci-fi stereotypes more than it was copying them.

"Viagra Babies" is what you think it is. Viagra has more side-effects than we thought - including producing children who die at a young age and have to be restrained from their over-amped physical impulses by drugs. This is more horror than sci-fi but I still enjoyed it. The ending was predictable but satisfying.

"Imagine It" describes an author with a fantasy that seems a bit too real to be imagined. The story is dark but the ending didn't work for me.

"Playing Karen Devere" is written almost like a screenplay. A young actress and her producer girlfriend find the perfect serial killer to make a movie about. But is the price the killer demands more than they can afford to pay? I liked this story quite a bit. In a way it reminded me of the David Cronenberg film Videodrome.

"Test Drive" is set 60 years into the future when technology has advanced and continued to be utilized for satisfying people's desires. Blake is a woman who works in a small business catering to these needs. But in the quest for more advanced technology have we given something up? This is a totally original tale with plenty of very interesting ideas and a great ending. I thought this was going to be the best story in the book until I read the last story.

"Visions of Ecstasy" is about a female psychic who reads the future and sees the apparent death of a young woman. In her attempt to save the woman, the psychic ends up the victim. I liked the premise and execution of this story, but the ending - which I think was supposed to be funny - was flat. I bet if I saw this performed live I would laugh out loud, but for some reason it didn't work as well in print.

In "Deep Inside" the narrator and her girlfriend have a business making voodoo dolls of the most carnal sort and selling them at a premium. But will they pay a price or delving into dark magic? Polly saved the best story for last. I enjoyed everything about this tale - the setup, the way the tension was built, and finally the surprise ending.

John Jude Palencar Wins 2008 Spectrum Grand Master Award

John Jude Palencar has been presented with the 2008 Spectrum Grand Master Award.

From the press release:

Cathy and Arnie Fenner, the directors for Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, announced that this year's Grand Master Award has been presented to John Jude Palencar. The Spectrum Advisory Board--consisting of Rick Berry, Brom, Mark Chiarello, Leo and Diane Dillon, Harlan Ellison, Irene Gallo, Bud Plant, Don Ivan Punchatz, Tim Underwood, and Michael Whelan--reviewed a list of eligible artists and reached a consensus to confer the honor.

The Spectrum Grand Master Award is presented annually to a living artist whose career has spanned at least twenty years, whose work has achieved and maintained a high-level of skill and imagination, and who has inspired others with their art and attitude.
...
Previous recipients of the award are Frank Frazetta, Don Ivan Punchatz, Leo and Diane Dillon, James E. Bama, John Berkey, Alan Lee, Jean Giraud, Kinuko Y. Craft, Michael William Kaluta, Michael Whelan, H.R. Giger, Jeffrey Jones, and Syd Mead.

Congratulation, John!

The Spectrum site has more winners of the Spectrum 15 Awards.

Daily Monster

Stefan G. Bucher's Daily Monster website operates with a simple premise: every day he posts a short, high-speed video of him drawing a new monster.

A simple idea, yes, but the results are awesome.

The website has also spawned a book: 100 Days Of Monsters, which also comes with a DVD that features videos from the website. Now why didn't I think of that? Oh yeah, no-talent @$$-clown. (With apologies to Michael Bolton...)

[via Boing^2]