In response to the recent controversy over Helix SF, several authors have created a new website, Transcriptase, to offer their stories and poems.

From the website:

In July 2008, Helix editor William Sanders stirred up controversy in the community with remarks that many found offensive. The blogosphere exploded with discussion. You can find a summary of the events here.

As the controversy continued, several Helix writers asked to remove their work from the magazine and were met with unprofessional treatment. This upset all of us. We agreed that we would not stand by in silence.

Transcriptase hosts reprints of our stories and poems originally published at Helix. During the controversy, some of us removed our work from Helix; others left it up. There are valid reasons to make either choice, and we hope you'll respect that we had difficult decisions to make. We offer our stories and poems at Transcriptase so that you can enjoy our work away from Helix, if you choose.

It's difficult to summarize how we feel about the incident, since each of us feels differently. Our reactions range from disappointed to sad to angry.

Share:
Comments (3) | PermaLink | Category: Web Sites
Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday July 31, 2008 at 11:58 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Fascinating stuff...

From the YouTube description:

Nine legendary authors present their ideas on why SF is important to readers and what it teaches them. These excerpts are from a series of interviews and lectures done from 1968-1978 by Prof. James Gunn at the University of Kansas. Full interviews are on the Literature of SF DVD. It's brought to you by AboutSF and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas.

[via Lou Anders]

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Books, Interviews
Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday July 31, 2008 at 12:47 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• A review of Mike Resnick's Stalking the Unicorn and Stalking the Vampire.


• Cool excerpt from a work in progress by Jonathan Wood.


• Rick Kleffel interviewed at Omnivoracious.


• New writers in SF: Ted Kosmatka.


• A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys: Or, a post on fallen "heroes" and fantasy.


• News on Asimov's Foundation Trilogy movie.


• Geek-off: Foundation vs. Robocop.


• On reading Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year.


• Win Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet, signed by author Gregory Frost.


• Starship Sofa Aural Delights #35K features Jeff Carlson, Spider Robinson and Bruce Boston.


• Some more examples of worldbuilding.


• LA Times book review editor Steve Wasserman on internet book coverage.


• Andrzej Sapkowski loves cats.


• Review: The Magician and the Fool by Barth Anderson.


• Ethics in Science Fiction.


• Cory Doctorow: Illegal Filesharing: A Suicide Note from the Music Industry.


• Literary Darwinists? (via Bookninja).


• Review: The Leather Maiden by Joe R. Lansdale.


• James Wood isn't afraid of literature's favorite sons.


• Feminism and Fantasy Novels.


• Review: The Grin of the Dark by Ramsey Campbell.


• Review: The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa.


• Will Blogs Save Books?


• Chris Roberson to write Fables spin-off series.


• High school teacher has a really solid list of SF recommendations.


• Interview with J. Scott Savage.


• "Exactly two modern authors are doing interesting things with the genre and producing good writing. Those are George RR Martin...and Terry Pratchett."


• San Antonio's Macondo Libre festival.


• Has Myths Over Miami been debunked yet?


• Review: The Creator's Map by Emilio Calderon.


• Interview with Keith Gray.


• Interview with Rick Kleffel.


• Adventures in SciFi Publishing features Neil Gaiman.


• The Future And You features Catherine Smith, Bruce Gehweiler, Mike McPhail, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Warren Buff, Shannon Souvinette and her daughter Elaina, Shannon Presley, Klon Newell, and David Benedict.


• io9 offers The Sci-Fi Mixtape of Doom.


• Cinematical has the Terminator: Salvation teaser poster.


• SciFi Scanner's SciFi Dept. sets it's sights on Dark City.


• Free Audio Fiction: "The Exiles Club" by Lord Dunsany. [via QuasarDragon]


• Scott Marlowe knows When To Stop Reading Short Stories.


• Suvudu has video of a Naomi Novik Q&A.


• Tor Podcast: Daniel Abraham interviews Melissa Snodgrass.


• Free Fiction: Black Gate issue #12.


• Dan Dos Santos paints Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker.


• 15 Classic Doctor Who Stories for New Fans.


• The Brain Trust: The 24 Smartest TV/Movie Characters.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Thursday July 31, 2008 at 12:20 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Comic-Con is one of those events that in recent years has grown to be much more than simply for comic book collectors. All sorts of folks show up these days to learn about new movies and games, and I know that it would have been great to attend. Namely in that it really gives us a chance to see cosplayers. They fill that need to emulate the image of their favorite comic book hero or character from a movie/video game, and they also give us an opportunity to have a little fun. With that preface out of the way, I have found this image over on Sebdal's Flickr page, and felt that nothing screamed "Caption Challenge" like this one. As with others, remember this is all in good fun so lets not get too nasty...

Share:
Comments (13) | PermaLink | Category: Humor
Posted by Tim Zinsky at Wednesday July 30, 2008 at 3:28 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

In keeping with our worldbuilding theme to help out the creative young minds of the Shared Worlds creative writing program, we asked this week's esteemed panelists the following question:

Read their answers below...

The best recent example I can think of is from Scott Lynch's Lies of Locke Lamora. The city which is the central setting of the book is built around, inside, and on top of a much more ancient city made from glass. This beautiful and mysterious architecture shows through, and contrasts with, the ugly crust of human buildings on top and the often filthy lifestyles of the villains living in them. It's a wonderfully simple idea, takes minimal time and effort to explain to the reader, requires no map and no glossary, but immediately gives a unique feel to pretty much every location in the book and allows for some great, vivid, descriptive writing. Sunset shining through the elderglass, sparkling on the water of the canals, I can see it now... The city truly becomes a character in its own right, and one with which the people in the novel all have their own relationship.

A fascinating, beautiful, and alien setting created without interrupting the flow of the story? That's my idea of great worldbuilding.

Share:
Comments (26) | PermaLink | Category: Mind Meld
Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday July 30, 2008 at 12:28 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• The diaries of George Orwell, the author of 1984 and Animal Farm, will begin to appear online and be freely available starting August 9th.


• Kelly Eskridge on "Reality Break" podcast


• Interview with David Louis Edelman


• Why do most Fantasy/SF authors avoid tours of the American South East?


• Cat Rambo's "I Like Podcasts"


• The Other by Thomas Tryon available in paperback edition from Centipede Press


• How to Raise and Keep a Dragon


• 29 Literary Science Fiction Books You Should Read


• The Seven Biggest A$$hole Computers in Science Fiction


• Interview with Ann Vremont


• The Bear in Fantasy Literature (Besides Elizabeth)


• It's Nancy Kress week?


• The Literary Brothel is bring Literary back


• Review: I, Zombie by Al Ewing


• Ekaterina Sedia at "Omnivoracious"


• Publishers now adding "Chick-Lit" style covers to books by women whether it's appropriate or not


• Spate of Weird Books Announced


• More on literary tattoos (check out this serious "Fight Club" commitment)


• Praise continues for Jeffrey Ford's The Drowned World


• Washington City Paper gets into the spirit of the Weird Tales spam contest


• Review: Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman


• Schedule change for Conflux Virtual Mini-Con


• Thoughts on Fabricio Gibaldi's The War for Earth


• Book Vs. Movie: Wonder Boys


• The evolution of author marketing


• On the "how" of literature


• "Touched by a Vampire" teens and moms getting into "Twilight" books


• Cover of Solaris Book of New Science Fiction Vol. 3?


• At orbit: "What I learned at Comiccon"


• Review: Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy edited by William Schafer


• So, you ready for some "Earthquake Fiction" now?


• John Scalzi's The Last Colony now out in paperback


• Biology in Science Fiction: Could We Evolve Into Iain Banks' "Culture"?


• Fred @ TexasBestGrok has already completed his "365 short stories a year" project. Way to go, Fred!


• Free Fiction: "The Wind" by Edward Willett


• The Apollo Image Gallery [via Cynica-C]


• A gallery of J. Allen St. John covers. [via QuasarDragon]


• Are You a Teacher of Science Fiction?


• The Internal organs of Lightning McQueen


• Free Fiction: "Mars Girl" by Jeff Garrity.


• The Crotchety Old Fan lists The Top 150 Classic SF Writers.


• What to Expect from Eureka


• Attention Star Wars fans! Yahoo has posted Star Wars: The Clone Wars trailers and video clips [via Suvudu]


• Hulu - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is free once again. [via ComicMix]


• Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy Headed to the Big Screen. No, really this time.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Wednesday July 30, 2008 at 12:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

A reminder for Eureka fans out there...Season 3 begins tonight.

It wouldn't be fair to slam the SciFi channel and not call attention to something they do right. This is one of the few shows I look forward to every week. The characters are fun... mostly (I'm looking at you, Dr. Nathan Stark); the storylines are good, if scientifically jargony; and it's one of the few sci-fi shows that the wife can tolerate.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: TV
Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday July 29, 2008 at 1:35 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

Via SuperPunch, who accurately describes it as 28 Days Later meets Lord of the Flies....

*** Warning *** NSFW...for language and violence.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Movies
Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday July 29, 2008 at 11:58 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Good premise, plausible science, fast-moving plot, but characters that are hard to care about.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Survivors of a nanotech plague attempt to undo the apocalypse.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Bleak setting; story keeps moving; feels like two types of stories in one book.
CONS: Characters are not particularly endearing; despite penalty of death, one group in a community of relative safety pursues plans with little hope for success.
BOTTOM LINE: A good post-apocalyptic novel depicting some well thought-out events.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Book Review
Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday July 29, 2008 at 12:57 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• You can own Marty McFly's hoverboard! ...For a mere $30,000 (USD). "Hello! McFly! Where am I gonna get that kind of money?" [via Fanboy]


• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @ComicMix: Wil Wheaton (part 3): "We have treated censorship as a network error to be routed around." (See also Parts one and two.)
  • @Publishers Weekly: Ellen Datlow: "I've been promoting my books as much as possible online, making sure that the publicist sends out review copies to bloggers as well as traditional reviewers."
  • @Bibliophile Stalker Ted Kosmatka. "...stories with a speculative element have always seemed more vital to me. As a writer now, I've found that science fiction allows you incredible freedom to tackle the big problems from oblique angles."
  • The Daily Herald profiles Frederik Pohl and Arthur C. Clarke (The Last Theorem).
  • @The Nebula Awards website: Sarah Beth Durst.


• Justina Robson talks about Doctor Who at BBC Radio.


• Several unfinished works of Philip Jose Farmer are being completed by collaborator Christopher Paul Carey, Tracy Knight, Paul Spiteri, and Win Scott Eckert.


• Alan Dean Foster was named the Scribe Award Grandmaster by the The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. [via Locus Online]


• Andy Remic (War Machine) is going to be on the radio.


• Publisher Solaris has launched a Facebook page.


• Ellen Datlow announces the winners of the KGB FF raffle, which generated enough money to keep the series viable for two more years.


• Cover Pr0n: Matt Cheney shares the cover of Best American Fantasy 2008. Wolves driving motorcycles...what will they think of next?


• Free Fiction:
  • @Subterranean Online: "Like Father" by John Farris and "Big Man: a Fable" by Joe R. Lansdale.
  • @Strange Horizons: "Called Out to Snow Crease Farm" by Constance Cooper.
  • @ManyBooks.net: "Security" by Ernest M. Kenyon. [via QuasarDragon]


• Free Audio Fiction:
  • @Librivox: King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard. [via SFFaudio]
  • @CrapHound: "The Super-Man and the Bugout" by Cory Doctorow.
  • @Podcastle: "Illuminated Dragon" by Sarah Prineas.


• WebUrbanist rounds up some Creative Steampunk Art, Design and Fashion. Sweet.


• My generation's Shazam never looked like this. [via SciFi Scanner]


• From a Sci-Fi Standpoint shares 2 video galleries of Heavy Metal covers.


• Here's a gallery of Doc Savage covers where Doc is featured with various cultural icons (like Dracula, Gort, the Martians from War of the Worlds...) [via Website at the End of the Universe, who also links to a site that's reviewing the entire Doc Savage canon.]


• Lists:
  • @The List Universe: Top 10 Creepiest Tales of Edgar Allan Poe.
  • @ Discover Magazine: 20 Things You Didn't Know About... Aliens.
  • @Topless Robot: Mark Hamill's 10 Greatest Post-Star Wars Roles.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday July 29, 2008 at 12:34 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Oh how the mighty have fallen. The second 'direct to DVD' feature-length Futurama movie is a major letdown.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A tear in the fabric of space-time allows a creature from another universe to slip through and enslave our universe in order to mate with it. Meanwhile Bender breaks into a secret society of robots bent on destroying all humans.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: It's Futurama, and fans of the show will find something to like. There are lots of callbacks to earlier episodes and in-jokes for the hardcore fans. The actors do a great job with the characters as always.
CONS: Plot is all over the place. Subplot with Bender goes nowhere. Jokes are low-brow gross-outs that aren't funny.
BOTTOM LINE: I suggest renting this one if you are a fan of the show. Everybody else can give this one a pass.

Share:
Comments (3) | PermaLink | Category: Movies
Posted by Scott Shaffer at Monday July 28, 2008 at 9:08 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Just a friendly reminder to everyone that we are currently running two contests where you can win some free swag.

First, we're giving away 5 copies of Titan Books' newest offering, The Greatest SciFi Movies Never Made. You can find the rules here.

Second, we are also giving away 3 copies of the latest Stargate movie, Stargate - Continuum. The rules for this one are here.

Your odds of winning something from these two contests are orders of magnitude better than playing the lottery, plus you don't have to wait in line behind 'beer smell' guy as he buys 10 scratch offs and proceeds to play each one without moving. So why not enter?

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Contest
Posted by JP Frantz at Monday July 28, 2008 at 12:27 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Share:
Comments (5) | PermaLink | Category: Books
Posted by John DeNardo at Monday July 28, 2008 at 12:22 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• "Neil Gaiman has been tapped to write a two issue arc for Batman and Detective Comics in January 2009."


• Elizabeth Bear: "There's a generation gap in SFF"


• Classic authors on the value of sci fi


• New material from Philip Jose Farmer?


• Sci Fi writers, fans gear up for WorldCon


• "What to make of race and gender politics in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell?"


• 1980s Classics of science fiction


• Editor's note on the condition of the LA Times Book Review


• Review: Philip K. Dick: five novels of the 1960s and 70s edited by Jonathan Lethem (pretty cool piece)


• Can Sci Fi lit keep up with high tech changes?


• A writer's guide to web comics


• The Wonders of Small Beer Press (I want to read Alan DeNiro's "Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead" soooo bad)


• "The fairy monopoly" in urban fantasy literature


• Fundamentalism in science fiction


• Even James Patterson is writing YA now


• Interview with Greg Van Eekhout


• Arthur C. Clarke's last book, with help from Frederick Pohl, The Last Theorem coming to shelves near you


• A review of Gary Gygax's The Anubis Murders: "I was expecting a classic hero's journey in a fantasy setting, but what I got was a Sherlock Holmes mystery in a fantasy setting, with a lot more sexual tension between Holmes and Watson."


• Science fiction vs. fantasy, and how to maybe tell the difference


• Trains in literature


• C.S. Lewis On Adults Wanting To Be Adults: "When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."


• The bikini change the course of literature


• Interview with Rachel Caine


• The Fat Man at the End of the World: The BHMFFA Connection is currently looking for stories between 3000-5000 approx for a collection of fat-positive fiction centred around fat men. These stories can cover any genre, but must clearly have at least one fat male lead character, if not more. Stories which include fat women are strongly encouraged, especially if the fat women are in powerful or sexy roles. Depending on submission volume, stories which are centred around fat women may be considered for a upcoming collection on fat women fiction."


• High culture meets low culture in a mass-media world


• Street lit offers outlet for upstart authors


• A look at those Coraline Maquettes


• Austin American-Statesman savages Zach Plague's Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring


• Pirates won't rob writers of their riches


• "Hebrew Punk" author Lavie Tidhar has a new author photo (check out the beautiful landscape!)


• Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn already breaking records


• What The Nuns Didn't Teach Me: "The most important lesson I learned while working in a bookstore was taught to me by smut-loving nuns. In so many words, they taught me that people enjoy reading what they enjoy, and that trying to "elevate" them to your particular taste was a foolhardy and condescending endeavor."


• Frank Miller's Eisner Awards speech


• Review: My Incredibly, Wonderful, Miserable Life by Adam Nimoy (Leonard Nimoy's son)


• Stephen King: science fiction author?


• Contest: win vintage D&D rulebooks (old, old school)


• Frank Wu looks at Robots as characters


• Jay Maynard ("Tron Guy") on Tron 2.


• Wizards of the Coast has canceled its Discoveries imprint for original, non-gaming related novels


• Scott Edelman has posted his ComicCon photos


• SFX interviews David Duchovny


• Andrew Wheeler is handicapping the Hugos.

Share:
Comments (10) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Monday July 28, 2008 at 12:04 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

As you might expect, when the Tron 2 trailer was show this past week at Comic Con, someone was there to record it. Someone who needs to learn how to use the record function on their phone better, and lay off the hooch. However, another enterprising someone managed to clean up the crappy original video and make a somewhat less crappy, full frame video, which is now taking the world by storm.

Check it:

I was, and still am, a huge fan of the original Tron. It's one of the 'defining' SF movies from my childhood. I'm not sure a sequel is really necessary, but daym, those lightcycles sure look cool. If they were smart, these parts would be IMAX ready. Cookie tossing FTW! On the plus side, with today's CGI technology, I'm guessing the world of Tron could be something totally awesome. Would they dare go in a cyberpunk direction?

In any case, whenever this is released, I'll be there, if for no other reason than the visuals alone.

Share:
Comments (10) | PermaLink | Category: Movies
Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday July 27, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Vera Nazarian asked us to pass along the following information about a cover contest at Norilana Books:

Here's your chance to become a part of genre history!

Norilana Books is looking for a photo image of a warrior-like woman with a sword or other old-fashioned weapon, striking a martial arts pose, and dressed in an appropriate fantasy outfit (pre-industrial) to be used as part of a design for the cover of the upcoming volume of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress classic anthology series.

Get out those swords, go out there, get your friends to dress up in gorgeous costumes, strike up some fun warrior poses, and use your imagination! For best results photos should be full-body (as opposed to head shot or torso only), against a plain background (try to avoid too much background scenery).

Please submit your photos as a URL link via email to service AT norilana DOT com. DO NOT send attachments.

The winning photograph will be used as part of the cover image and you will receive credit in the book and a free contributor copy of the finished anthology.

Send in your entries now!

Deadline: August 10, 2008

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Contest
Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday July 27, 2008 at 12:25 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Waaaay back in 1977-78, Buck Henry, creator of Get Smart, created a science fiction comedy series called Quark. Richard Benjamin played Captain Quark (hmm, sounds like another captain I know), captain of a United Galaxies Sanitation Patrol Cruiser. It also starred the Doublemint Twins and a young Tom Thomerson.

I remember watching this on TV and, being 10, thinking it was not bad. I know better now. That laugh track is just painful to listen to. There's some funny stuff in here, but just not enough to carry the show, which is why it was canned two months after it started it's network run. We have the pilot episode for you below:

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: TV
Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday July 27, 2008 at 12:20 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Joseph Mallozzi interviews artist John Picacio (covers for Jeffrey Ford, Frederik Pohl, Walter M. Miller - great stuff!) [Ed: Thanks for the kind birthday wishes, Joe!]


• James Wallace Harris breaks down what stories are in which "Best of" anthologies this year - very cool!


• Review: Seeds of Change edited by John Joseph Adams


• Locus Awards problems


• "Watchmen" artist Dave Gibbons on Alan Moore's choice to distance himself from Hollywood


• Some quick Clarkesworld updates


• Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett and other prominent writers are urging publishers not to specify age groups on the covers of children's books


• "I don't want to live in a Pollyanna universe, but I do know this. Love and enthusiasm for what I do has always carried me through, and I hope to goodness it continues to do so. And, hey, if that love and enthusiasm lead me to a Bestseller, I can deal with that. So my motto is the same as always. Be true to yourself. Do what you love and the good things in life will come to you. But don't ask me for a loan." Joe R. Lansdale, Writer of the Purple Rage, story notes.


• What Shelf Monkey might have looked like


• "You don't need to be a neuroscientist or a cultural snob to realise repeated exposure to fast-paced video games and snippet-style music videos makes it harder to embark on reading a novel."


• New rules will place Canadian literature in Canadian schools


• Every kind of something-punk literature that you could possibly imagine


• Interview with "Ant King" author Benjamin Rosenbaum


• Paul Raven rounds up a bunch of cool free fiction


• Readers sound off on what they're looking for in the "Books" section of the Chicago Tribune


• More on the demise of the newspaper book review


• Young Adult novels about life on the fringe


• Check out the covers for Scott Lynch's The Republic of Thieves and Felix Gilman's Gears of the City


• M. John Harrison reviews Night Work by Thomas Glavinic


• Michael Chabon is serious about genre


• "So I wanted to address the question: Is there a New York literary scene, and if so, does being a part of it help you get published, no matter your talent (or lack thereof)?"


• Theodora Goss on finding your voice


• Teacher to use Nancy Kress' Dogs in class


• Fantasy Magazine looking for a slush reader


• Cat Rambo interviews L. Timmel Duchamp


• "Online, R U Really Reading?"


• Win a signed copy of Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson


• What role does religion play in speculative fiction?


• A few comments about Lovecraft and werewolves


• N. Robin Crossby, creator of "Harn" roleplaying supplements dead at 54


• At Gorilla Artfare, Kian posts his interpretation of John Carter of Mars. Nice.


• SFX has a mini-interview with Brent Spiner


• Ten Science Fiction Novelists Mike Brotherton Really Likes

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Sunday July 27, 2008 at 12:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

The independent filmmakers of Phasma Ex Machina, currently in pre-production, are looking for feedback on the movie's concept. Here's info on the film:

The Title:
Pronounced Phasma Eks Mah-kuh-nuh, it's latin for "Ghost from the Machine."

About the movie:
An independent feature film to be shot in the Twin Cities in the fall of 2008.

Synopsis:
An ambitious mystery, with strong elements of science fiction and the supernatural, Phasma Ex Machina follows the lives of two brothers and an electrical engineer trying to decipher a series of strange events. Everything changes when they discover that the distance between the living and the dead isn't all that far.

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Movies
Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday July 26, 2008 at 12:45 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

Red Sonja is the new film from producer Robert Rodriguez, starring his is she/isn't she girlfriend Rose McGowan as the titular hero (that's either good or bad depending on your view of Rose. She's no Brigitte Nielson). As with many things this week, Comic Con 2008 was a good time to debut two posters for the movie. Take a gander below:

  

Well, wow, okay, red seems to be the operative word here. Let's look at the first poster. Aside from the allure of 'chicks in skimpy chain mail', we have Sonja kneeling on top of a pile of skulls. Rather creepy I'd say. I'm not sure it generates much interest in the movie for me though.

The second post is just, disturbing. Licking blood off a sword? Thanks, but no. I'd rather not see that, even if it is in keeping with Red Sonja's theme, and not being a Red Sonja fan, I don't know one way or the other. Again, not piquing my interest in the movie.

Looking at both posters, I'd have to say the creators are aiming at the 15 - 25 year old male crowd, which these posters obviously cater to. Not that that's a bad thing, necessarily, but not something that going to make me want to run out to the theater to see the movie. Which is the point of a poster, no?

And one more thing: Is McGowan physical enough to play a sword-wielding barbarian heroine?

What say you?

Share:
Comments (9) | PermaLink | Category: Movies
Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday July 26, 2008 at 12:22 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Free Audio Fiction:
  • Legacy by James H. Schmitz. [via QuasarDragon]
  • By Mike Brotherton: "The Point".
  • @LibriVox: Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 006, a collection of classics.
  • @Well Told Tales : "Sentience Stigmata" written by Fred Ollinger. [via QuasarDragon]
  • BeamMeUp reminds us of the free audio fiction archive of the radio show MindWebs
  • @PodCastle: Tooth Fairy by Jeffrey Valka.


• Mike Brotherton on "Why We Crave Stories".


• Philip K. Dick story to be adapted as comic book: "The Electric Ant".


• Cool article on Stephenie Meyer's fans, "twilighters," in the Philippines.


• Interview with David Anthony Durham (Via Mary Robinette Kowal).


• An exclusive excerpt from Michael Moorcock's book in progress: Lovers: Mervyn and Maeve Peake. A Personal Memoir.


• Is Joe Abercrombie genre enough?


• "After Aquilonia and Having Left Lankhmar: Sword-and-Sorcery since the 1980s."


• An appreciation of Clifford D. Simak.


• Paul Jessup's keys to good genre fiction.


• Review: Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell.


• New interview with Ekaterina Sedia.


• Review: Martin Martin's On the Other Side by Mark Werhnam.


• Cory Doctorow praises Jack Womack's Senseless Acts of Random Violence.


• Fantasy Magazine looking for audio dramas to podcast.


• Concept Sci-fi interviews Robert Silverberg.


• Cinemaroll lists Five Campy Sci-Fi Movies You Should Watch (Again)


• Topless Robot lists The 10 Lamest Doctor Who Villains


• Topless Robot also has the skinny on the return of Tron. The good news: It's got Jeff Bridges. The bad news: it's called Tr2n.


• "Stephen King is offering an original 25-episode graphic video adaptation (running approximately two minutes each) of his previously unpublished short story, "N."

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday July 26, 2008 at 12:13 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Yes, that's right, George Lucas isn't content to light his cigars with his cast off rolls of $100 bills, oh no. He's looking to up grade to rolls of $1000 bills as his cigar lighter of choice and to do so, he needs to mint more money. What does the man who brought us the prequel Star Wars movies do when he wants to fleece the fans once again? Why, release the original Star Wars trilogy in 3D.

Yes, 3D ,because nothing says 'cha-ching' like an Ewok completely all your face, or Greedo shooting first, in 3D! That and gullible fans going to see yet another release of Star Wars. Seriously, is this even necessary? Was Lucas' original artistic vision compromised because of the lack of decent 3D technology in 1976? Other than money, what's the motivation here?

Dreamworks CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg actually said this with a straight face, "He (Lucas) isn't going to put a product out, I think, that isn't anything other than first rate." He forgot to add, "Other than Ewoks, Jar Jar, and, come to think of it, pretty much all three of the new films."

And you know what else we'll get, aside from hosed by $14 ticket prices. We'll get something like 20 different DVD sets for this. We'll have each movie released separately, packaged together in a set, packaged together in a set with 'never before seen' extras, and so on. I'm tired just thinking of it. Leave it alone George, why can't you leave the memory of the original series unsullied by your meddlesome hand?

Share:
Comments (7) | PermaLink | Category: Movies, Star Wars
Posted by JP Frantz at Friday July 25, 2008 at 2:42 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

Who Goes There? Why, it's G.I. Joe!

Quasar Dragon reminds us that we can read John W. Campbell's 1928 paranoia-fest novella "Who Goes There?" online. What a great story. This was, of course, the basis for the 1951 film The Thing from Another World and the 1982 John Carpenter film, The Thing.

And in a bit of Information Superhighway Synchronicity, along comes Topless Robot to point us to this high quality music video for the music group Zombie Zombie. It's essentially John Carpenter's The Thing Re-enacted by G.I. Joe.

Here it is in YouTube Quality:

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Movies, Music
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 25, 2008 at 12:55 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

Lest anybody forget about The Star Trek Jukebox, here is a video reminder of all that is unholy with the universe.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Music, Star Trek
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 25, 2008 at 12:33 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Here's a small batch of recently discovered free online fiction:
@Feedbooks:

• "The Prince of Mars Returns" by Philip Francis Nowlan


• "The Cosmic Express" by Jack Williamson


• "Valley of the Croen" by Lee Tarbell


• "Vandals of the Void" by James Morgan Walsh

• "Hail to the Chief" by Gordon Randall Garrett


• "The Memory of Mars" by Raymond F. Jones

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Free Fiction
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 25, 2008 at 12:22 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Interview with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.


• Science fiction and fantasy that make you laugh.


• Free preview of Michael Jasper's A Gathering of Doorways.


• The fight continuesover the estate of the late Andre Norton.


• One Wisconsin man's struggle to make M.O.O.N.CON the state's largest sci fi convention.


• Watch Cory Doctorow's talk about privacy at the 2008 ALA conference. (Via Geeky Librarian)


• Comprehensive round-up of free book contests


• Read the first chapter of Matthew Hughes' Hespira (Via Fantasy Book Critic)


• Jim C. Hines on "Getting Lucky"


• Midnight Never Come author Marie Brennan at OMNIVORACIOUS.


• Review: The Promise of the Wolves by Dorothy Hearst.


• Help Ben Peek help his friend out with cancer treatment.


• Here's a list of genderbending SciFi


• io9 lists Opening Sentences From Science Fiction.


• Tor has a quick Q&A with Doctor Who Scribe, Steven Moffat, as does io9. (What? Still not watching Doctor Who? Sigh...check out this guide to Doctor Who for Beginners.


• Reminder: Tor offers mini-galleries showcasing sf cover artists...like this one by John Picacio.


• Scalzi@AMC: Science and History: Everything the Movies Tell You Is Wrong.


• Cover Pr0n: Song of Time by Ian R. MacLeod.


• Fantasy Magazine interviews Ekaterina Sedia (The Alchemy Of Stone).


• Blasting bugs is more complicated than you think - The Guardian revisits Heinlein's Starship Troopers. [via Bookninja]


• Neil Gaiman's Top 10 New Classic Monsters.

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Friday July 25, 2008 at 12:18 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• BuddyTV attended the Knight Rider Comic Con panel and wonders if the new show can live up to the original. Bwahahahaha! Live up to the original. I think they meant live down to the original, and if the info in the article is true, the new show should hit that mark easily. I'm getting the feeling the new Knight Rider is going to blow.
• Milo Ventimiglia says about Heroes season 3, "there's gonna be a power that comes in that everybody has to kind of band together to make sure it doesn't run wild." Wait, wasn't that Sylar in the first season? But wait! He also says, "I think everybody is confronting something worse than Sylar." Well, that's a relief to know the writers aren't recycling plot lines already.
• Frank Lovece of Newsday wonders if the timing is right for the new X-Files movie. He has some interesting points in the article, especially about how the series ended.
• Who doesn't love Robot Chicken? Who doesn't love Robot Chicken when they parody Star Wars? No one! That's why Robot Chicken will debut Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episdoe II on November 16th. Set your DVRs now.
• BuddyTV is spreading the word about NBC's upcoming SF-ish drama series Kings. It's a futuristic take on the David and Goliath story, which could crash and burn very easily. I'm not sure what my feelings are on this one.
• And one more video from Boing Boing TV with Syd Mead. This time, take a look at Mead's LEGO Spinner replica (from Blade Runner) and prepare to be jealous:
  
  

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tube Bits
Posted by JP Frantz at Friday July 25, 2008 at 12:09 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

[Update: Deadline extended another week. You have till Aug. 7th to turn in your entry]

The latest Stargate movie, Stargate - Continuum is releasing on July 29th. And now, 3 lucky SF Signal readers can win their very own copies of the DVD! Just follow the simple rules below to win:

1. The contest runs from today, July 24 through Aug. 7th (11:59pm CT).


2. Send an email to: contest [at] sfsignal [dot] com


3. In the subject line please put 'Stargate' so we can keep track.


4. Only one email per person. US/Canada only again.


5. Please include your snail mail address so we can pass them on for the winners.

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Contest
Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday July 24, 2008 at 1:47 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

We're five years old this week! Yay us!

It's been another fine year here at SF Signal: our readership is still increasing, we've taken on new bloggers, we managed to not kill off James Earl Jones. (Whaddya want? We take what we can get.)

The most significant thing we did this past year - and by "significant", I mean something that does not involve supermodels - was starting a new weekly feature: The SF Signal Mind Meld. This is where we throw a single question to some folks in the science fiction community and beyond. Popular Mind Meld book-related topics included controversial novels, tomorrow's big genre stars, Golden Age sf predictions, definitions of science fiction, the purpose of short fiction and whether it's in trouble (it ain't), and the job of book covers. We also wondered whether young adult fiction is too explicit and which YA books were also good for adults. We asked which authors were underrated and which books have the best & worst endings. We talked about the impact of the Internet and online reviews on the publishing world. And because we were feeling particularly daring, we asked about gender imbalance in publishing. On the TV and movie Mind Meld fronts, we asked about better SciFi movie endings, the best superhero movies and TV shows, stories Hollywood should film, and whether TV or Film is the driving force behind SciFi. We also attacked the more cerebral, technological and scientific aspects of field. The Mind Meld feature is popular with our readers (that's you) and we thank you for taking the time to consume them. We also would like to thank the panelists who have participated and continue to put up with out fanboy pestering. Without them, you would be listening to us whine all day about Heroes and Battlestar Galactica.

Share:
Comments (14) | PermaLink | Category: Meta
Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday July 24, 2008 at 12:45 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

As a Star Wars fan, there's only one thing I want more than a sculpture of Han Solo in Carboinite....and that would be a sculpture of George Lucas in Carbonite.

What's next? William Shatner made out of ham? Or Keanu Reeves made out of wood? Oh wait...those have already happened.

Hiyo!

[via Cynical-C]

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Star Wars
Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday July 24, 2008 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• John Scalzi's The Big Idea: Greg Egan


• Interview with David Schwartz, author of Superpowers.


• Randy Nakamura: Steampunk'd, or Humbug by Design. (Thanks, John!)


• Free audio fiction at the latest Starship Sofa!


• Hal Duncan offers "Notes on Strange Fiction: Magic".


• Seattle attempting to lure WorldCon with "green" appeal.


• The Dark Knight, the War on Terror, and Science Fiction's Moral Authority.


• What's in the latest issue of Weird Tales?


• How publishers spot the next big sellers.


• Doctor donates classic sci fi collection to university library.


• Christopher Priest's Top 10 Slipstream Books.


• China Mieville's Top 10 Weird Fiction Books.


• Sitting down for writing tips with Neil Gaiman.


• Here's Ellen Datlow's Introduction to the Nebula Awards Showcase 2009


• John Scalzi: "Just in case you thought hand-wringing over science fiction was an English language thing".


• A fantasy version of Godwin's Law.


• Win a copy of Terry Brooks' The Genesis of Shannara.


• The life-cycle of a trope: Sci Fi's tragedy of the commons?


• Bruce Sterling to keynote at Austin GDC.


• Jeremiah Tolbert asks, "What are some of your favorite bad 80's SF films?"


• Specimen number six from Jeffrey Thomas.


• Cool art at Avalanche Software Art Blog.


• Newsvine lists SciFi books that ought to be movies


• David Drake lists joke book covers. [via TexasBestGrok]


• The Evangelical Outpost lists 50 Favorite Works of Imaginative Literature


• Cinemaroll lists 5 Great Science Fiction Villains


• Paolo Bacigalupi: How to write a short story - by throwing away a short story


• Topless Robot lists The Top 10 Misfired Sci-Fi TV Shows of the '90s

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Thursday July 24, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• If you've ever missed an episode of your favorite TV show, you may have wondered if there was a way to see what you missed before re-runs. Today, the major networks usually put the episodes for their shows online so you can stream them. Some even put them up on Hulu. But what if they don't? Well, the bittorrent network is around and will always have the latest episodes of almost all TV shows. TorrentFreak did some digging and some figuring and brings us the top 10 most pirated shows on bittorrent. Stargate Atlantis comes in at number 3. Of course, the biggies are on summer break so expect those to climb the charts when they restart.
• Jennifer Ouellette over at Twisted Physics takes the opportunity of the release of the new X-Files movie to take a look at the season 6 episode, "Monday", and to use that episode to explain, in wonderful detail, about time loops. Twisted Physics is always entertaining, and this reminded of this Groundhog Day-like episode.
• Femme Fatales interviewed, and photo-shot, Jolene Blalock for their latest issue. She had some things to say about the upcoming Trek movie. Things that should make William Shatner proud.
• Eoghann over at Solar Flare explains why British SciFi Television is better than American. He makes some interesting points.
• Everyone seems to be jumping on the webisdoes bandwagon. Joss Whedon is planning on doing a "full season of them" for Dollhouse, to go along with the 13 broadcast epsidoes, one for each TV episode.
• BBC 1 is producing a 13-part fantasy series called Merlin, which Julie Gardner (head of Drama at BBC Wales) says, "In this new version, Merlin and Arthur are young contemporaries for the first time ever, bringing a much loved tale to a whole new generation with a fresh, youthful new look and approach for Saturday nights this autumn on BBC1." Great, Smallville comes to Camelot. Anywho, Michelle Ryan, the new and canceled Bionic Woman is set to play the evil sorceress Nimueh.
• According to Jamie Bamber (Apollo on Galactica if you've been living under a rock for past three years), the last 10 episodes of Galactica will wrap up all the outstanding questions and mysteries. Hopefully that means a 'good' ending, in the sense that it wraps up the series well, and not 'good' in the sense of humans win outright over the Cylons.
• Is a live-action adaptation of the anime series Cowboy Bebop a good thing? I don't know. I do know it's one of my favorite SF Anime Shows. You want to talk heavy CGI, talk live-action Bebop. Still, I'm intrigued.
• NBC has just posted a trailer for the web series, Gemini Division, starring Rosario Dawson. This looks like an interesting SF/action drama show. [H/T Sci Fi Chick]
• And now the video portion of our post, with a tip of the hat to Boing Boing for the links. First up, artist, futurist and all around hoopy frood Syd Mead talks with Boing Boing TV about Bladerunner:
  
  
• Speaking Syd Mead, Shrapnel is a new graphic novel, with mechs designed by Syd. Check out the trailer for the comic:
  
  
• And finally, here is an awesomely creepy video of the song, "Dust in the Wind", as sung by zombie puppets (an art form sadly lacking in exposure if you ask me):
  
  

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Tube Bits
Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday July 24, 2008 at 12:04 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

We've mentioned Sillof's Workshop before, most notably for his (Sillof's) Steampunk Star Wars and Gaslight Justice League creations, both of which are extremely cool. This time, Sillof has chosen to give The Empire Strikes Back the Steampunk treatment. And all I can say is, "These are way cooler than just about any other official Star Wars figures, ever!"

Just check out the cool 'punk version of Boba Fett over there on the right and tell me you wouldn't want one of those over the regular old version. I encourage everyone to go take a look at all the figures Sillhof has created, many of them with 360 degree animated GIFs for you to drool over.

Let's just imagine, for a moment, that Lucas gets a wild hair and loosens his autocratic grip on the Star Wars universe and lets people, like Sillhof, go crazy with new concepts for Star Wars. I would totally play a Steampunk Star Wars game, or read a book or comic set in this setting. Too bad Lucas would never consider doing something like this, probably because his mattress is stuffed with enough Benjamins and adding anymore would just be ridiculous. Or Lucas believes he's the only one allowed to be creative with the Star Wars universe, the first three prequels (and Jar Jar), not withstanding.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Star Wars
Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday July 23, 2008 at 3:53 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

Another reader writes in with a story description looking for a title. Do any of our readers out there know the title of this story?

The book concerns an investigator who is looking for a missing Russian (I think) Ballerina who was traveling with her luggage via a teleporter system that is world wide. The system has sending stations, and receiving stations. Before transport they weigh the person, and the cargo that will be transmitted to determine how much power to push them into the system with so they will arrive at their destination. Without accurate measurements they will overshoot, or undershoot the destination. Later in the novel the investigator is in one of the "relay" rooms. They have large metal spheres that somehow boost the signal as it moves along. They ping, or ring, when a person or signal is transmitted.

The plot revolves around the Russian Ballerina who goes into the system but never comes out of the teleport system. It runs very much like a murder mystery, the investigator looks into other deaths related to the system. One of which was the death of a linemen, the persons who get into a suit with a power supply of its own and coils on it that allows them to flow in the system, to pull people and items out. The linemen have a job where they are paid very well and retire only after a few years of svs due to the high hazard level of the work. This lineman had been retired a few years was living in a posh California home, when he fell into a depression. He took his life by putting a pistol to his head and pulling the trigger, twice. Linemen who live develop very fast reflexes.

The setting is very 1950s to 1960s. The cars, they cold war... all still a factor in the system. They treat the teleport stations very much like an airport of today, making a point that the system is expensive and not used for short trips. They depend on a recovery drug that is taken to assist with the transport shock, a pill. One trip, with the drug is fine, a few more and it starts to catch up with you, and you really start feeling poorly.

- Eric H.

Share:
Comments (4) | PermaLink | Category: Books
Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday July 23, 2008 at 9:59 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

This week's Mind Meld is brought to you in conjunction with the Shared Worlds creative writing program for teens, currently in session at Wofford College. During this program, groups of teens create a 'shared world', much like the Wild Cards or Thieves Guild books, then create stories, art and games set in that world. Along the way they learn how to work together to create the world and the assets, and how to solve the problems that come up in a team environment. The first challenge is, of course, building the world, which is the subject of our Mind Meld question this week:

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Mind Meld
Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday July 23, 2008 at 12:28 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• The bizz is beginning to increase around Joss Whedon's new show, Dollhouse. The Calgary Sun has an interview with Eliza Dushku covering the new show, Joss Whedon, and empowered women characters from Whedon.
• But what's this? Fox has ordered a new first episode of Dollhouse! They did this with Firefly, have they not learned from the past? Of course, Whedon is saying "It's not you, it's me!"
• Apparently NBC is going to ride Heroes to death. They've ordered 3 more episodes for season 3, bringing the total to 25. If the writing stays as poor as it was in season 2, this will be a long, slow, whimpering demise.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender may have ended it's series run, but the creators have left open the possibility of more in the universe, albeit with new characters. This is one show on my 'must see' list.
• The executive producers of the upcoming Eleventh Hour series say their show will be focusing on real science. Which sounds good to me, even if the suits actually confused real science with science fiction, as if a little SF would be a bad thing.
• The Sci-Fi Channel has released a trailer for the mini-series Caprica. I'm still not sold on this. And depending on how Galactica ends, I may wash my hands entirely of the show.

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Tube Bits
Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday July 23, 2008 at 12:27 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Gwyneth Jones' Top Ten SF by Women Writers.


• M. John Harrison's Top Ten Favorite Books.


• John Courtenay Grimwood's The Top Ten Cult SF Novels.


• The Golden Age of Geekdom.


• Nancy Kress on the "point" of fiction.


• Ellen Datlow shares her Readercon photos .


• Podcast fiction: "Goblin Lullaby" by Jim C. Hines.


• Contest: Win Jhegaala signed by Steven Brust.


• Some cool history and vintage art: "The Werewolf of Plonkert" by H. Walter Warner Munn.


• Jeffrey Thomas invites us to compare his personal life and his fiction: which is more disturbing?


• Do SF/F authors have to be SF/F fans in order to be good writers?


• Charles Tan interviews Night Shade Books' Jeremy Lassen.


• Contest: Win a signed copy of Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky.


• Hellboy now included in revised "Animal Friendly Heroes" list from PeTA.


• Interview with Joe Abercrombie.


• Elizabeth Bear is selling some really cool books!


• Worth1000's latest entry puts Star Wars characters, items, vehicles and scenes into classic art works. [via TexasBestGrok]

Share:
Comments (4) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Wednesday July 23, 2008 at 12:05 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Shira Lipkin is holding a charity blogathon and sent along the following information:

I'm doing a blogathon this Saturday, July 26 - posting to my LiveJournal every half hour for 24 hours to raise money for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. This is my sixth year blogathonning, and I write spontaneous short fiction every year. It usually tends to have an urban fantasy bent (as in fantasy in a city, not paranormal romance), but this year, I'm taking a distinctly SF angle on it. For 24 hours, I'll be in character as a xenoarchaeologist, trying to make sense of precollapse Earth... with the help of over 50 artists who donated "artifacts" to this project, including a few SF/F authors themselves. All artifacts are being auctioned, with a story card.

It all goes down here: http://shadesong.livejournal.com
And the auctions are here: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZshadesong

And there's a lot more info on my LJ about why I do this, and why BARCC.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Events
Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 12:29 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

It's that time again, time for yet another freebie for you our readers! This time, Titan Books has graciously provided 5 copies of their soon to be released book: The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made, and you, our readers, get the chance to own a copy of your very own, for free. Always a good thing.

You probably can guess from the title what the book is about, but here's a short quote from the website:

This fully updated edition also reveals the fascinating details of the movies that nearly were: what would James Cameron's version of Spider-Man, or Terry Gilliam's Watchmen have been like? How close did Ridley Scott come to directing I Am Legend starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and why was Nicolas Cage paid $20 million for not playing Superman?

That sounds very cool to me. If it does to you too, here are the rules:

1. The contest runs from today, July 22 through August 5th (11:59pm CT).
2. Send an email to: contest [at] sfsignal [dot] com
3. In the subject line please put 'Book' so we can keep track.
4. Only one email per person. US/Canada only again.
5. Please include your snail mail address so we can pass them on for the winners.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Contest
Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 9:08 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: An engrossing steampunk/Sherlock Holmes story. With zombies.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Maurice Newbury and Victoria Hobbes investigate an airship disaster while victims of a revenant plague make the streets of Victorian London unsafe.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Excellent world building; captures the Sherlock Holmes feel; never a boring passage.
CONS: The prologue led me to believe the "zombies" played a more central role than they did.
BOTTOM LINE: A hugely entertaining book.

Share:
Comments (9) | PermaLink | Category: Book Review
Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• In 2001, Delia Derbyshire, the composer of the original Dr. Who theme music passed away. Unknown to all but a few, she left behind 267 tapes containing a multitude of unheard music. Now Manchester University's School of Arts, Histories and Cultures has made some of these recordings available. Follow the link to hear some samples, including a 'dance' track way before its time, recorded in the late 1960's.
• Some Galactica news for you: The upcoming telemovie will focus on new characters instead of ones we've seen before, the new season will start in January 2009 (nice one Sci-Fi), and the series finale is, indeed, three-hours long. It had better rock if it's going to as downer of an ending as has been hinted at.
• Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse (LOST) on the apparent death of Daniel Da Kim's character Jin: No one's ever dead on LOST. Read on for spoiler-ish info.
• Yet another summer is here and there appears to be yet another LOST ARG in full swing. Who has the time for these things, especially since this one will run through next February.
• Gary Scott Thompson, the new show runner for the updated Knight Rider series gives his thoughts for the future of the series. I'm not sure whether to be intrigued or horrified.
• Empire Online has this very thorough look at the Watchmen trailer and how it compares to scenes from the comic. It sure looks cool.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Tube Bits
Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 12:09 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Q&A with Iain Banks


• Joe Abercrombie gives Firefly a go


• The Crotchety Old Fan talks a bit more about the SF genre and whether it's actually dying


• John Scalzi and Jonathan McCalmont get into a bit of a tussle over a post regarding the new Tor online site


• Interview with Jacqueline Carey, author of Kushiel's Legacy
  


• Interview with Marjorie M. Liu, author of The Iron Hunt


• Should the Clarke Award change? (Via SF Awards Watch)


• A Five Point Manifesto for "Positive Fandom"


• A technical snafu is keeping Elizabeth Bear's new book off the shelves?


• Cory Doctorow answers your Little Brother questions at the Fire Dog Lake Book Salon


• PeTA makes list of top 10 animal-friendly superheroes


• Very nice Readercon summary from Matthew Cheney


• A movement is born: "Send Alan Moore a Fiver" if you go to see The Watchmen (Via Forbidden Plant blog)


• Fiction: "Sweetwater" by Lilah Wild


• Poll on films that came from famous SF short stories


• The Shirley Jackson Award winners


• Review of Daniel Abraham's An Autumn War with bonus Q&A

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 12:04 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

During the TV/movie writers strike a few months back, Joss Whedon (creator of such hits as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly) and his friends decided to do something different. They felt they wanted to give this new-fangled internet a try and use it to produce content they could actually make money on without involving traditional producers. The result, is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a 3-part web-series that was released for free on drhorrible.com for a short few hours.

JP commented on it last week, and unfortunately at the time the first act went up the server was overloaded. Unfortunately, it slipped out of my mind at that point. But thanks to one of the SFSignal crew (props Kevin!) I was reminded of it late Saturday and watched the entire 45min yesterday.

The show stars "TV's Doogie Houser" Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as his arch-nemesis Captain Hammer, and Felicia Day as the love-interest Penny. My guess is these folks that Joss has worked with before were willing to give his alternate business model a try and that's who is on the project (witness the crew contains his 2 brothers as well.) I applaud their attempt and I hope it works out for them because I have to see more.

Share:
Comments (7) | PermaLink | Category: Firefly, Humor, Music, Web Sites
Posted by Scott Shaffer at Monday July 21, 2008 at 11:55 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A glimpse into a television series that never was.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A collection of previously unseen scripts and story treatments for a science fiction television series that never came to be.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: A look at one of the many careers of Robert A. Heinlein, in this case, scriptwriter for a science fiction show well before serious SF was seen on television.
CONS: Alas, conditions dictated that this be a limited edition and sold at a high price. This means that many of those who would enjoy this book the most will never see it or be able to afford it.
BOTTOM LINE: If you enjoy Heinlein or if you enjoy reading about the nuts-and-bolts of television or film production, this will be a must-have purchase for you.

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Book Review
Posted by Fred Kiesche at Monday July 21, 2008 at 12:27 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

1. Which book has the coolest cover?
2. Which book has the worst cover?
3. Which book do you most want to read?

Share:
Comments (12) | PermaLink | Category: Books
Posted by John DeNardo at Monday July 21, 2008 at 12:20 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• NYT reviewer Dave Itzkoff takes on Elric of Melnibone.


• Here's an Interview with Jamie Hewlett, Tank Girl scribe. (via Forbidden Planet)


• Free Fiction:
  • The new electronic edition of Apex Digest is online.
  • "Scary Monsters" by Jonathan Wood


• The Ethics of "Free" E-Books.


• Christian protesters may mean that the rest of Philip Pullman's Golden Compass novels won't make it to screen (Via Crofsblogs)


• Jason Ellis reports back from SFRA 2008.


• Is "Fan Fiction" flouting the law?


• Warren Ellis rounds up some of the jewels of British science fiction television.


• Sci Fi channel to release 36 new original movies. Time to Celebrate?


• Ask a Robert E. Howard fan about The Dark Knight


• Doctor Who sweeps the Constellation Awards.


• Five Free Favourites: science fiction podcasts you shouldn't miss.


• Human speech has been traced to talking fish.

Share:
Comments (7) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by Matt at Monday July 21, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Matt Staggs is a freelance book publicist, blogger and sometimes writer who'll be guest-blogging at SF Signal for the next couple of weeks.

Matt caught my attention with the stellar job he does rounding up the best sf/f links the web has to offer, which he does at his own blog Enter the Octopus. (Which is not nearly as dirty as it sounds.)

Matt will be picking up tidbit duties here at SF Signal. If you have any tidbits you'd like Matt to consider for inclusion, you may contact him at mattormeg a-t gmail d-o-t com.

Welcome aboard, Matt!

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Meta
Posted by John DeNardo at Monday July 21, 2008 at 12:10 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• The BBC series Life on Mars has had an interesting road to American television. First adapted by David Kelley, he has since moved on and much about the show has changed. The producers of the newest incarnation held a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour where they detailed some of the changes, including writing a new mythology for the show. After seeing the 'trailer' for the old show, let's hope they change the tone as well.
• SignOnSanDiego has a nice write up on this week's ComicCon and the type of people who attend conventions.
• If you are lucky enough to be able to attend ComicCon this year, Stargate will have a series of panels for you to visit. They'll cover Atlantis, Continuum and the upcoming Stargate Worlds MMO, and with a life size stargate to boot. Sweet! If any of readers has the opportunity, send us a pic of the gate!
• J.J. Abrams talks to the Indiana (of Pennsylvania) Gazette about his new show Fringe. Interesting bits: he prefers the complex plots of LOST for his shows, Fringe won't have that complex a plot, and won't demand a weekly viewing. I'm sure the TV suits love to hear that.
• The TV adaptation of Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule is set to air in November. I'm curious to see how they develop this show. Will it be one book a season or just 'based' on the series? One way is much preferable to the other.
• Heroes story director Chuck Kim says season 3 will be a lot better, storywise, than season 2, and it's all because of the writer's strike. Uh, okay. I guess we'll see. And by we I mean not John, since he jumped off the bandwagon ages ago.
• Will Heroes season 3 blow? Decide for yourself:
  
  

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Tube Bits
Posted by JP Frantz at Monday July 21, 2008 at 12:05 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

The new Tor.com site is live.

Tor is trying to create a complete online user experience for science fiction fans. To that end, they have created something that is a cross between a blog and a social networking site. For the blogging aspect of the site, they have enlisted Tor authors to provide content -- a wise move as this will allow a wide variety of views and opinion. John Scalzi, for example, has signed up to be their science blogger.

The site will also feature free fiction for readers. Already available are "After the Coup" by John Scalzi and "Down on the Farm" (a Laundry story) by Charles Stross.

Check it out.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Web Sites
Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday July 20, 2008 at 1:11 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

I love the Internets.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Humor
Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday July 20, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Empire names The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters. [via Forbidden Planet]


• Jim Van Pelt thinks that there should be a Hugo for cover design. [via Science Fiction Awards Watch]


• Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic ponders gender in science fiction publishing. "...I am highly suspicious of the claim that publishers are acting out of sexism."


• The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas episode #40 will cover the first book in Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos saga: Jhereg.


• Dan Abnett has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog. [via ComicMix]


• The group blog Jerry Jarvis' Wig (with contributors Lee Battersby, Lyn Battersby, Brendan Duffy, Paul Haines and Geoffrey Maloney) has also been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday July 20, 2008 at 12:08 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

"Science fiction author Ray Bradbury regales his audience with stories about his life and love of writing in 'Telling the Truth,' the keynote address of The Sixth Annual Writer's Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University."

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Books
Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday July 19, 2008 at 2:42 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

[via Entertainment Weekly]
Entertainment Weekly managed to snag a look at the new poster for the upcoming Star Trek movie reboot. Take a gander below:

Sure, Zack Quinto looks awesome as Spock, but he also looks like Sylar with pointed ears. Is he type cast already?

Chris Pine plays Cpt. Kirk. Err, ok. He looks smug, and maybe he should. We all know Kirk re-programmed the Kobayashi Maru simulation so that he could win (I hear that is referenced in the movie) so maybe that accounts for the look on his face. Otherwise, his Kirk isn't doing much for me.

Eric Bana plays the Romulan. Okay, at least he looks cool, even if he might have come straight off the set of Star Trek Ink. But we do get to see what a Romulan looks like in the new Trek, and they certainly, well Nero here, look intimidating.

Finally Zoe Zaldana plays Uhura. You may notice that her pose on this poster is similar to how most female characters appear on the cover of SF books: back to the viewer, looking over the shoulder. 'Smoldering' is the word I would describe her appearance. Since she's prominently displayed on the poster, let's hope the character has more to do than wear a mini-skirt and answer the phone.

Which leads me to this question...

Share:
Comments (11) | PermaLink | Category: Movies, Star Trek, TV
Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday July 19, 2008 at 12:50 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Tor's latest free book is Darkness of the Light by Peter David.

It's available in HTML, MobiPocket, and PDF versions for your reading pleasure

There are no new wallpapers this week, however, tomorrow the new Tor website launches. I've seen a preview and it looks to be interesting. It's blog-like and it's got interesting content from Tor authors and free stories.

Stay tuned.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Free Fiction
Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday July 19, 2008 at 12:45 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Free Fiction:
  • @The Infinite Matrix: "Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers" by Cory Doctorow. (Cory has posted some related artwork.)
  • @Feedbooks: Doctor Who and the Scales of Injustice by Gary Russell and Doctor Who: The Sands of Time by Justin Richards. A whole slew of Doctor Who books can be found at the BBC website.
  • @QuasarDragon2: "Shrouds of the Death-Crypts" by Montague Truex, PH.D. [via QuasarDragon1]
  • @Apex Digest: "These Days" by Katherine Sparrow.
  • @Authors website: "Necrotic Culver" by Charlie Huston. [via Orbit]
  • @EscapePod: "Love and Death in the Time of Monsters" by Frank Wu.
  • @PseudoPod: "Photo Finish" by Adam La Rusic.


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • The World in the Satin Bag interviews Edward Willett.
  • Will N. Stape interviews Keith R. A. DeCandido
  • @Joseph Mallozzi's blog: Jennifer Pelland.
  • SciFiDimensions podcast-interviews Ken MacLeod. [via Locus Online]
  • @Dark Horse Comics: Joe Lansdale and Mike Mignola.
  • @Apex Digest: D.L. Snell.


• Cover Pr0n: Jeff VanderMeer shows off the cover art for his upcoming pirate anthology.


• SFX offers a sneak peek at upcoming episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures.


• SciFi Wire has some details on tomorrow's launch of the new Tor website.


• Little Fivers lists Top 9 Things Written on the Sci-Fi Convention Bathroom Wall.


• Retrospace looks at the post-Forbidden Planet cameos of Robbie the Robot.


• Topless Robot lists The 10 Most Ridiculous Weapons in Batman's Arsenal.


• I saw The Dark Knight. Loved it. Sadly, a real-life Batman would last only about 3 years. [Thanks, Bloginhood!]

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday July 19, 2008 at 12:42 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: TV
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 18, 2008 at 12:28 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

I've never read the Watchmen comic books, but after seeing this trailer, I'll have to find them and read them. This looks really cool:

Share:
Comments (13) | PermaLink | Category: Movies
Posted by JP Frantz at Friday July 18, 2008 at 12:12 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

From the Science Fcition Writers of America:

Harry Harrison, creator of The Stainless Steel Rat and author of the novel that inspired the movie Soylent Green, will be honored as the next Damon Knight Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America during the 2009 Nebula Award Weekend® in Los Angeles, Calif.

Harrison's selection was announced by SFWA President Russell Davis after consulting with the Board of Directors and participating past presidents. The Nebula Awards Weekend will be held April 24-26 in Los Angeles, Calif., with the awards presentation banquet to be held on the UCLA campus to tie in with the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Past SFWA President and Grand Master (2004) Robert Silverberg will be presenting.
...
Harrison was born in 1925 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II, an experience that made a strong negative impression on him and inspired his satirical Bill, the Galactic Hero novel series. A regular contributor to the legendary John W. Campbell's Astounding, Harrison's work often reflected his interest in environmental issues and non-violent resolutions to conflict. His best-known creations are The Stainless Steel Rat and Make Room! Make Room! on which the film Soylent Green was based. His more recent works include best-selling alternate world trilogies West of Eden and Stars and Stripes Forever!
Harrison is the 26th writer recognized by SFWA as a Grand Master. He joins Robert A. Heinlein (1974), Jack Williamson (1975), Clifford D. Simak (1976), L. Sprague de Camp (1978), Fritz Leiber (1981), Andre Norton (1983), Arthur C. Clarke (1985), Isaac Asimov (1986), Alfred Bester (1987), Ray Bradbury (1988), Lester del Rey (1990), Frederik Pohl (1992), Damon Knight (1994), A. E. van Vogt (1995), Jack Vance (1996), Poul Anderson (1997), Hal Clement (1998), Brian Aldiss (1999), Philip Jose Farmer (2000), Ursula K. Le Guin (2003), Robert Silverberg (2004), Anne McCaffrey (2005), Harlan Ellison (2006), James Gunn (2007) and Michael Moorcock (2008).

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Awards
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 18, 2008 at 12:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Free Fiction:
  • @Fantasy Magazine: The Alchemy Of Stone (Excerpt) by Ekaterina Sedia.
  • @FeedBooks: "Doctor Who and the Empire of Glass" by Andy Lane (1995)
  • Three Unbroken (Part 42) by Chris Roberson.
  • @FantasyBookSpot: "The Valley of Giants" by Benjamin Rosenbaum. [via lcrw]
  • Jim C. Hines serves up the funny with I am the Very Model of a Modern SF Novelist.


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @Agony Column: Susan Palwick reading her story "Sorrel's Heart".
  • @SFScope: Kendra Leigh Castle.
  • Tor Podcasts has just exploded with a bunch of new content, mostly interviews, with:
    • Patrick Taylor
    • A discussion on What Makes a cover work (Parts One and Two) with Irene Gallo, Lou Anders, John Picacio, Tom Kidd, and Jacob Weisman.
    • David Lubar & F. Paul Wilson
    • R.A. Salvatore
    • Brian Slattery
    • Whitley Strieber (2 parts)
    • David Lubar and John Scalzi
    • And more John Scalzi


• Solar Flare offers another post on The History of Science Fiction, this one covering the years 1900 - 1909.


• Patrick Stewart talks about baldness.


• Cartoon: Basic Instructions offers tips on How to Make Someone Grateful For the Sci-fi Movies Hollywood Is Making Today. [via Other Worlds Cafe]

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 18, 2008 at 12:05 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Last week, we posted the Darth Vader Plays Golf video, one of the TV spots for Spike. Here's all of those TV spots, bundled together into one big Star Wars fanboy package:

• "Darth Vader Plays Golf"
• "Don't Mess with the Ewoks"
• "Tusken Raiders at the Office"
• "Don't Make Fun of Boba Fett"

Share:
Comments (3) | PermaLink | Category: Star Wars
Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday July 17, 2008 at 12:37 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

Jeff Carlson, author of last summer's nanotech thriller Plague Year (one of the buzz books I recently wrote about) and its imminent sequel, Plague War, due July 29th, has just released a book trailer entitled 4 Minutes Above 10,000 Feet. "Shot in the Sierra mountains, this short film can only be described as Alive meets The Blair Witch Project meets the new Andromeda Strain. Scary!"

Here's the YouTube version...

...but the author has a hi-def version at his website.

I haven't seen many book trailers, but of those I've seen, this on is better by far.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Books
Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday July 17, 2008 at 12:34 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A delightful blend of classic science fiction, wonderful settings and some of the most memorable monsters you've never encountered.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The complete tales of a classic science fiction "anti-hero" are collected under covers for the first time.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: All of the Northwest Smith tales are together for the first time.
CONS: Everybody has an off day. I could have lived without a couple of the stories.
BOTTOM LINE: Worth it as a peek into the early days of science fiction, a sampling of works by a fine author, or the archetype of some of today's biggest screen stars.

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Book Review
Posted by Fred Kiesche at Thursday July 17, 2008 at 12:56 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• John Scalzi says Ridley Scott Deserves an Oscar.


• Interviews and profiles:
  • @The Nebula Awards website: Robin Wayne Bailey. "If you've got something to say and it's worth saying, then you risk pissing someone off - a reader, an editor, a buyer, whoever. And if you don't have anything to say, why are you writing?"
  • @Post-Weird Thoughts: China Miéville. "...in any debate over literary movements or moments half the battle is having a kewl name, and I thought New Weird was superb. ...I also thought that it quite quickly reached the point where it ran the risk of becoming self-parody and/or merely a marketing term."
  • @SF Site: Terry Brooks. "What sells a fantasy book is the conflict between the characters, the depth of the characters and the struggle that you put them up against."
  • @SciFi Wire: Cory Doctorow (Little Brother) and Catherine Jinks (Genius Squad) are profiled.
  • @Boing Boing: A video interview with futurist and artist Syd Mead.
  • @The Future And You podcast: Harry Turtledove, David B. Coe, and Toni Weisskopf.


• Free Fiction:
  • @Podiobooks: A collection of three stories by John W. Campbell..."Piracy Preferred," "Solarite," and "The Black Star Passes." Read by Scott D. Farquhar.
  • @No Fear of the Future: "Memory" (part 18) by Jayme Lynn Blaschke.
  • @Manyboks.net: "The Cosmic Express" by John Stewart Williamson
  • @Starship Sofa: fiction by Robert Reed and Vonda N. McIntyre. (Also: poetry by Mark Rich, and point of view by Terry Edge.)


• Marie Brennan talks about hard fantasy at SF Novelists. "...hard fantasy and hard SF alike are concerned with how stuff works, and why."


• Tim Powers will illustrate James P. Blaylock's Metamorphosis. [via Enter the Octopus]


• Jeff VanderMeer is whetting my appetite (as it were) for The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds.


• James Enge (Blood of Ambrose) has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog.


• Real Science you may not know: Young Galaxies are Surprisingly Magnetic! (Seemed liked something that warranted an exclamation point.)


• The always-enthusiastic Kevin Maher from SciFi Scanner's SciFi Dept looks at Blobfest 2008. No, this is not a video about William Shatner... Hiyo!

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday July 17, 2008 at 12:36 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Our Stargate and X-Files DVD giveaway contest is over! And now, for the winners:

Stargate Atlantis: Season 4
Al Brown
Cindy Benson

The X-Files Revelations
Christopher Rowe
Eric Kolkmeir

Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who sent in an entry. Your names have been forwarded to the powers that be and your DVDs should be shipping some time next week!

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Contest
Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday July 16, 2008 at 12:21 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

There's plenty of recent controversy in the science fiction field, most of it having nothing to do with books themselves. So let's put the controversy limelight back where it belongs. We asked a panel of esteemed guests the following question:

Read their answers below...and tell us which ones you think are controversial.

But I'm not going to go with the Heinlein. I'm going with Dhalgren, by Samuel Delany. There's something in that book to piss off almost everyone: the lack of a conventional linear plot; complete disregard for the tying up of any loose ends (or beginnings, or middles); whole swaths of text literally scratched out and written over fer chrissakes; an endless narrative loop with neither beginning nor end. A story that might not even be science fiction, might not even be fantasy, although it contains explicit elements of both. Enough florid verbiage to drop the shuttle out of orbit. And let's not forget all the explicit gay porn.

A brilliant fucking book, even if I still don't know what the hell it all means.

Share:
Comments (38) | PermaLink | Category: Mind Meld
Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday July 16, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Buckell is a standalone novel set in the same universe as Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin. Here, the action takes place on Chilo, a planet with an atmosphere so harsh that people live in domed cities floating 100,000 feet above the surface. Young Timas, from the city of Yatapek, works as a "xocoyotzin" mining metals by donning a pressure suit and being lowered to the surface. His world is thrown into turmoil with the arrival of Pepper, a Ragamuffin who brings warning of an invasion. What they are after is hidden deep within a monstrous storm that harbors ancient secrets...

John: I have to admit I didn't know what to expect with Sly Mongoose. I really enjoyed Crystal Rain, but thought that Ragamuffin was a minor misstep. I couldn't really chalk that up to "middle book syndrome" since the stories are independent of one another. Sly Mongoose is another standalone story and I have to say this one was every bit a fun as Crystal Rain and, in some aspects, even more so.

JP: For whatever reason, I was expecting Sly Mongoose to pick up shortly after the end of Ragamuffin. It doesn't. Buckell takes a page from the Galactica playbook and moves the action 50 years in to future. This is a bold move that didn't quite work for me at first, but once the story got moving, it wasn't a big problem. By moving the story forward, Buckell is free to concentrate on the story he wanted to tell, without having to write the complete back story. Of course, that back story could have made an interesting book(s) as well.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Book Review
Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday July 16, 2008 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• More Cover Pr0n:
  • Lou Anders is sharing a very cool promo card from artist Dave Seely.
  • The British cover of Bad Monkeys. [via Torque Control]


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • Adventures in SciFi Publishing interviews James Patrick Kelly and Matthew Wayne Selznick.
  • Concept Sci-fi interviews Walter Jon Williams (Implied Spaces).
  • At Omnivoracious, Jeff VanderMeer is talking about L. Timmel Duchamp
  • Agony Column podcast-interviews Susan Palwick and Jay Lake.
  • The latest episode of Cult Pop features interviews with Matt Arnold and Vernor Vinge.
  • SFX interviews Jeffrey Thomas (Blue War).
  • Wyrdsmiths interviews David Louis Edelman.
  • Articulate interviews artist Shaun Tan.
  • At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Jacqueline Carey, author of Kushiel's Mercy.
  • SciFi Scanner interviews Kirk DeMicco, director of Space Chimps.


• Edward Campion's The Bat Segundo Show is going on indefinite hiatus, after the 9 shows already produced.


• Free Fiction:
  • Audio fiction @PodCastle: "Magnificent Pigs" by Cat Rambo, read by Matthew Wayne Selznick.
  • @Feedbooks:
    • "Arena" by Frederic Brown (1944)
    • Prince Zaleski by M.P. Shiel (1895)


• One for the writers: Making a Writing Group Work by James Van Pelt.


• The latest issue of Matrix Online, the news and media magazine of the British Science Fiction Association, has been posted and features:
  • Interviews with Bruce Sterling and Eric Brown.
  • A George Mann editorial on Steampunk.
  • A look at steampunk and its "soundtrack".
  • A look at the return of three classic British heroes.
  • A look at 30 Days of Night
  • A survey of the social networking phenomenon.
  • A list of The Best 1950s SF Movies Ever!


• SF Diplomat decodes The Stross Formula. [also via Torque Control]


• Matt Staggs looks at Apocalyptic Literature and provides a nice reading list.


• Borders has added a new audiobook download service. [via Publishers Weekly]


• Discover Magazine lists the 10 Best Science Fiction Movie Endings. Good entries there...


• SF Humor: Asimov's 30 Laws of Robotics.


• Something cool but not cool enough to own: this miniature Captain Kirk covered with Tribbles. [via Topless Robot]


• Wired grades Batman's gear.


• I love these retro-sf-style posters to promote workplace safety. [via File 770]

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday July 16, 2008 at 12:13 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• The Television Critics Association Press Tour has been going on this week. TV Week was there and live blogged the Fringe panel. Interesting, Abrams' love for The Night Stalker and The Twilight Zone influenced Fringe.
• Especially when you consider that Abrams says Fringe is not an X-Files clone. Let's see: FBI - check. Propensity to feature weird/psuedo-science - check. Overarching 'mythology' plot - check. It may not be a clone, but it sure looks like a cousin. Especially if you've seen the pilot.
• Saturday night looks to be an interesting night on Cartoon Network. Star Wars: Clone
  Wars, a new animated Batman series and new Ben 10 episodes will anchor the evening. I leave it to you decide whether this is a better lineup than Sci Fi has on Saturdays.
• After the manhandling Firefly took at the hands of Fox, you have to wonder why Whedon went back to them for his new show, Dollhouse. Joss apparently accepted what the network needs from his show, and, anyway, "They didn't do to me what was done to Firefly."
• Apparently Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog has gone live. As of this writing, the web site is down for the count, so no Doogie Howser goodness.
• Thomas Dekker, of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, says his character, John Connor, is going to become more cold-blooded in season 2. Good! He was too much of a wuss in the first season. If they do it right, they can chalk his transformation up to character development...
• JMS on whether or not to expect any more Babylon 5. The short answer: Don't hold your breath. Sad really. Imagine what could have been if they had had a real budget.

Share:
Comments (7) | PermaLink | Category: Tube Bits
Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday July 16, 2008 at 12:04 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

MY RATING:

Mirrored Heavens is author David J. Williams' attempt to marry cyperpunk and techno-thrillers in a near future Earth setting. In 2110, terrorists from Autumn Rain destroy the Phoenix space elevator and set the world superpowers on a collision course for all out war. In the run up, two-man special ops teams attempt to find Autumn Rain and stop them before the cold war turns hot. While a decent read, Mirrored Heavens has some major flaws that keep it from reaching greatness.

Stephen Baxter, on the back cover, calls Mirrored Heavens 'a crackling cyberthriller.' Well, if you're looking for cyberpunk, you won't find it here. True, the two-man teams consist of a Razor (hacker) and a Mech (muscle), with the Razor providing network backup and support for the Mech. However, just because the Razors can access the Zone (network) and work some heavy duty magic doesn't make this book cyberpunk. Yes the world of this future is a dystopia, but the characters here aren't from the bottom of society, fighting against the government or corporations, they are the government, and far from fighting for the little guy, they are fighting to save the status quo. There is also very little 'cyber' described in the story. We get the effects of the Razor's actions, but we don't 'see' how they do what they do.

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Book Review
Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday July 15, 2008 at 12:22 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Time for an opinion poll in the form of an open-ended question. Does the ending of a book matter to you? More specifically, how much does the ending make or break the book? I've talked to several people who haven't minded when a book had a weak or confusing ending, yet others who feel like it sinks an otherwise solid effort if the ending doesn't completely satisfy.

I fall into the camp that says a serviceable ending is good enough. I've ready plenty of books where the ending was entirely predictable from the middle onwards and yet that didn't prevent me from enjoying the book. I've also read books where the ending trashes an otherwise good book, so I suppose the answer is 'it depends.'

But I want to know what you think!

Share:
Comments (20) | PermaLink | Category: Books
Posted by Scott Shaffer at Tuesday July 15, 2008 at 12:08 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Interviews:
  • Pyr-o-mania interviews Robert Silverberg (Son of Man).
  • Bibliophile Stalker interviews Vera Nazarian (The Duke In His Castle).
  • Rescued By Nerds interviews Rob Rogers (Devil's Cape).
  • ComicMix interviews Wil Wheaton.


• Free Fiction:
  • @Strange Horizons: "The Magician's House" by Meghan McCarron.
  • @Munsey's [via QuasarDragon]:
    • "Cum Grano Salis" by Gordon Randall Garrett.
    • "When Super-Apes Plot" by Wilder Anthony
  • Audio Fiction: Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper [via SFFaudio]


• The winners of the Uplift computer graphics challenge have been announced in the video and animated categories. [via David Brin]


• Megan McArdle offers some thoughts on women and science fiction. "The feminists are mad because I said SF isn't girly..."


• Fantasy Magazine's website gets a facelift.


• The web is abuzz ith reactions from Buzz Aldrin's statement that Science Fiction is partly responsible for the lack of interest in real-life space exploration among young people. Here's one from Mike Brotherton, one from Biology in Science Fiction which looks at SF Stories that Inspire and Hinder Real Science, and one from io9, which looks at science fiction stories that inspire and hinder real science.


• Cover Pr0n from:
  • Charles Strosss for The Jennifer Morgue.
  • Keith R.A. DeCandido for A Singular Destiny and Mere Anarchy.


• Joe Abercrombie offers Advice for Budding Fantasists.


• Steven Schofield photographs British sci-fi fans dressed in character in their homes. [via MetaFilter]


• Kunochan begins listing The 10 Worst Sci-Fi Films of All Time with everyone's favorite easy target...Battlefield Earth.


• Cinema blend lists 5 Reasons The Dark Knight Is Better Than Batman Begins


• Symantec/Norton have downloadable papercraft bots for you to cut, fold and glue. (Launch the Flash feature.) [via Boing Boing]

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday July 15, 2008 at 12:03 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Just a friendly reminder that our X-Files and Atlantis DVD giveaway is still going strong! If you're interested in winning one of the sets:

1. Send an email to: contest [at] sfsignal [dot] com


2. In the subject line put either "Xfiles" or "Stargate", to let us know which set you'd like.


3. Only one email per person, per set please. This means if you'd like a shot at both, you'll have to send us two emails.


4. Please include a snail mail address so the sets can be shipped out to you.


5. Contest ends Midnight July 16th, that's tomorrow night!


6. Sit back and wait in breathless anticipation for your congratulatory email!

Times a wasting, so get to emailing!

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Contest
Posted by JP Frantz at Monday July 14, 2008 at 5:33 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

Here's the theatrical trailer for KRONOS (1957).

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Movies
Posted by John DeNardo at Monday July 14, 2008 at 12:16 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A near-future examination of feminism and dystopia.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A woman escapes from the oppressive dictatorship of post-oil Britain and finds a way to fight for her rights.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Resists easy answers; there's a lot here to engage (argue) with.
CONS: Unbelievable extrapolation and muddled political references make this an entirely unsatisfying work of feminism.
BOTTOM LINE: This book argues fiercely in favor of things most people already agree with, then undermines its own arguments.

Share:
Comments (16) | PermaLink | Category: Book Review
Posted by Karen Burnham at Monday July 14, 2008 at 12:59 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• What could be more innocuous than an actor's contract with a TV show? Well, if the show is LOST, those contracts can be spun into a new theory about what might happen wth one character on the show.
• We've heard the Rich Man, Poor Man comparison to the Galactica spin-off Caprica before. TV Guide gives us some more, horrible, information: Caprica will have a 1950's look and will it's 'not about hardware and space battles.' I'm even less interested than I was before, if that's possible.
• AMC appears to be doing a credible job of appearing like a science fiction network, what with their re-make of The Prisoner and now their desire to adapt classic SF for today's audiences. Someone should do it.
• Speaking of TV networks looking to expand their SF offerings, Mark Cuban's HD Net will be airing more SF in an attempt to expose more people to the genre. Not only does Cuban own a cable network, but also the indie film house Magnolia Pictures and the Landmark Theaters chain. You may see more SF coming to a theater sorta near you. Remind me again why the Sci Fi Channel can't air more classic SF?
• If you're ever on the Biography Channel, be sure to catch William Shatner's new interview show, Shatner's Raw Nerve. I'm not sure I like that title.

Share:
Comments (3) | PermaLink | Category: Tube Bits
Posted by JP Frantz at Monday July 14, 2008 at 12:46 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Moviehole interviews Hellboy Ron Perlman.


• SCI FI Weekly interviews Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan of The Dark Knight.


• Free Fiction:
  • @ManyBooks.net: "From the Hands of Hostile Gods" by Darren R. Hawkins (2003).
  • Audio fiction @Starship Sofa: "The Rainmaker" by Mary Rosenblum. [via The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]
  • Coming Soon: Apex Digest is moving to to online free fiction.


• Stargate: Atlantis Executive Producer Joseph Mallozzi has invited John Picacio to guest-blog and he's soliciting questions.


• In response to our Gender Imbalance Mind Meld, Karen Burnham looks at the Gender Balancing Act.

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Monday July 14, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Due to an email snafu on my part, author Matthew Warne Selznick didn't receive his invitation to this week's superhero themed Mind Meld post on time. So we're making it up to him by giving him his own post! As a reminder, the quest is:

I don't want to overlook Spider-Man III, either. Arguably the weakest of the series so far (please no Emo Parker ever, ever again) it nevertheless had perfect casting with Thomas Haden Church as the Sandman.

Not to focus too much on villains, but let's face it - in every super-hero movie, the villains are almost always a bigger draw than the hero.

Never much of an Iron Man fan, I found the movie to be almost perfect in every way, save the Obadiah Stane plot and that character's rather, um, "comic book" motivation. Casting, pacing, and visuals were spot-on, though, and if this is any indication of how The Avengers Initiative is going to look in a few years, well, reserve my ticket.

As far as television, many people point quickly to Heroes, which I find boring and predictable. Television has a hard time with super-heroes, having much better luck with cartoons. The Batman animated series was a whole lot of fun and very nice to look at. The original X-Men cartoon was entertaining, especially when they would
adapt classic Claremont plots. I can't really point to a favorite when it comes to television... but my memory keeps coming back to The Man From Atlantis like a candy bar from childhood. The memory is undoubtedly a lot better tasting than the experience of actually
consuming one today.

Honorable mention: The episode of NUMB3RS starring Will Wheaton as a crass comics collector and Christopher Lloyd as a Jack Kirby / Will Eisner pastiche. Fanboy fun for all!

[Note, bandwidth intensive section after the jump! - Ed.]

Share:
Comments (3) | PermaLink | Category: Mind Meld
Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday July 13, 2008 at 8:30 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

1. Which book has the coolest cover?
2. Which book has the worst cover?
3. Which book do you most want to read?

Share:
Comments (10) | PermaLink | Category: Books
Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday July 13, 2008 at 1:19 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Miette's Bedtime Story Podcast serves up "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. [via QuasarDragon]


• Robert J. Sawyer reminds us he has a bunch of free fiction posted at his site.


• Jay Lake lucks out with another beautiful cover, this one for Green is by Dan Dos Santos.


• @SF Chronicle: Steampunk's subculture revealed, with references to Gibson & Sterling, Jess Nevins, and Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. [via Locus Online]


• Larry Ketchersid (Dusk before the Dawn) is keeping tabs on the superhero flicks of 2008 and offers up a nice property matrix.


• Cinema Roll lists 7 Movies You Must Watch Before Writing a Sci-fi/Supernatural Novel. Hancock? Really?

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday July 13, 2008 at 1:00 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Best fan film ever.

[via Poe TV]

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Star Wars
Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday July 12, 2008 at 11:47 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• At Gorilla Artfare, artist Dave Palumbo has posted a slew of spectacular samples of his artwork, including the awesome work he did for the John Joseph Adams zombie anthology The Living Dead.


• Free Audio Fiction
  • @Escape Pod: "The Something-Dreaming Game" by Elizabeth Bear, read by Mur Lafferty. This was one of the standout stories in Fast Forward 1 edited by Lou Anders -- so go listen.
  • @PodCastle: "Eating Hearts" by Yoon Ha Lee, read by Ann Leckie. This first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • Cinematical has interviews with Hellboy's Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Mike Mignola.
  • K.J. Bishop (The Etched City) answers questions at Joseph Mallozzi's blog.
  • Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast interviews Robert Buettner (Orphan's Journey, Orphan's Destiny and Orphanage).
  • NPR re-broadcasts a 1990 interview with Batman creator, Bob Kane.
  • John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to Marie Brennan, author of Midnight Never Come. And so does Fantasy Book Critic. What a great day to be Marie Brennan!
  • At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Marjorie M. Liu, author of The Iron Hunt.
  • The Age offers The life and times of J. G. Ballard.
  • Harlan Ellison talks about the DVD release of Masters of Science Fiction. [via SF Universe].


• Cheryl Morgan addresses The Gender Balance Question.


• "Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. told SCI FI Wire that fantastic space science fiction shows and movies are, in part, responsible for the lack of interest in real-life space exploration among young people."


• Bertelsmann is selling its North American book club (including the Science Fiction Book Club) business to a U.S. private investor [via File 770]


• John Picacio is understandably impressed with A Lovecraft Retrospective: Arists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft.


• Irene Gallo's most excellent blog, The Art Department, is two years old. Go over and say Happy Birthday.


• Solar Flare serves up the essay Where Star Wars Went (and keeps going) Wrong.


• Event: Nunkie Theatre Company presents 2 ghost stories by M.R. James: Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad and The Ash Tree, both performed by R.M.Lloyd Parry. Shows to be performed in the U.S. between October 22nd and November 8th in New York City; and in the U.K. between November 14th and December 6th at various venues.
• Times online lists The best movie endings ever, from E.T. to Casablanca. [via Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine]


• Neon Bubble lists Top 10 Science Fiction Outfits.


• Cracked.com lists 5 Famous Sci-Fi Weapons That They're Actually Building.


• Rotten Tomatoes lists The 10 Best Superhero Hookups.

Share:
Comments (2) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday July 12, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

Tor's latest batch of freebies includes:

• Free Book: Soul by Tobsha Learner (Available in HTML, MobiPocket, and PDF versions.)


• This week's Free Wallpaper (These are only available for one week, so don't wait to snag 'em.):
  
  
  
  • Rick Berry's cover art for The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure by Storm Constantine.
  
  
  • Lars Grant-West's personal painting, Cybordragon.
  
  

Share:
Comments (0) | PermaLink | Category: Free Fiction
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 11, 2008 at 12:09 PM
© 2008 SF Signal

OK, this video title, taken from YouTube, is a little misleading...it's more like a string of Dr. Smith moments. But still...Lost in Space takes on a whole new level of awesome when watched this way.

Share:
Comments (5) | PermaLink | Category: TV
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 11, 2008 at 12:28 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• The Collider.com staff managed to get their grubby mits on a draft of the script for the Galactica prequel, Caprica. The review: Not too bad. Of course, this version is almost 2 years old. And I'm not at all interested in a 'soap' space opera.
• The Nickelodeon 'anime' cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender is fast approaching its series finale. BuddyTV gives us their top 10 episodes. Does anyone watch this show? It looks semi-interesting, but I've never seen any of it.
• If any of you are planning on being at the Shore Leave Star Trek convention tomorrow, you are in for a treat. James Cawley, via his Star Trek: New Voyages production, will unveil the never aired TNG script, "Blood and Fire", written by David Gerrold. This will be a smooth cut, without SFX. Cool.Next, maybe Cawley can help Gerrold finish the Cthorr series...
• We can expect Fringe and Eleventh Hour to rule the roost this fall season, at least according to one report about the new fall season. I think Fringe, with its built in Abrams' fan base, will do well. It helps that the show itself is pretty good too, if typical of Abrams and of the serialized genre nowadays.
• Gene Roddenberry Jr., in his latest (06/30) video blog, talks about Star Wars and Trek.
• The video game, Max Payne, is being made into a non-Uwe Boll movie. Check out the trailer:
  
  
• And for all 2 of you who still watch Heroes, here is a teaser for Season 3:
  
  

Share:
Comments (6) | PermaLink | Category: Tube Bits
Posted by JP Frantz at Friday July 11, 2008 at 12:18 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

• Chris Weston shows off the awesome artwork he did for Marvel's The Twelve 1/2.


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • If You're Just Joining Us interviews David louis Edelman (Multireal).
  • The Bat Segundo Show interviews Ralph Bakshi.
  • SFScope interviews Tom Piccirilli.
  • Coming up this month: The Ghost in the Machine podcast, hosted by fantasy author Gail Z. Martin (Chronicles of the Necromancer: The Summoner, The Blood King), welcomes authors Gina Farago (Ivy Cole and the Moon, Luna) and Michael Arnzen (Play Dead, Proverbs for Monsters).
  • At SciFi Wire, John Joseph Adams profiles Sean McMullen, author of The Time Engine.


• Free Fiction:
  • @Munseys: "Pharaoh's Broker" by Ellsworth Douglass.
  • Audio fiction at Well Told Tales: "Modifications" by Kris Ashton.
  • @Solaris: "Three Unbroken" by Chris Roberson (Part 41).


• PS Publishing announced a slew of new books including work by Ray Bradbury, Stephen Erikson, and James Barclay.


• Scott Edelman has posted a ton of Thomas M. Disch quotes that he's compiled over the years.


• Simon Owens asks whether Tor's free ebooks affect sales, and offers quotes from John Scalzi, Tobias Buckell, and Daniel Abraham. Robert J. Sawyer responds and Scalzi offers more insight.


• Neil Gaiman shares some photos from the set of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army in which he touches heads with two albino elves.


• Nicola Griffith talks about sex discrimination and awards.


• Visions of Paradise examines what makes an ideas sf story.


• Bookworms have stronger people skills.


• SFWA announces the creation of the new Ombudsman Committee, to be chaired by Lee Martindale


• The 2010 Nebula Awards will be held on May, 2010 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.


• Audiobook publisher Infinivox has a new blog.


• Look out, SciFi Channel! AMC Wants To Adapt Classic SF.


• Over at SciFi Scanner, John Scalzi tells us How Not to Make a SciFi Sequel and rips The Chronicles of Riddick a new one.


• Entertainment Weekly offers a gallery of 15 Space Exploration Movies.


• Topless Robot lists 10 Sci-Fi Shows That Were Canceled Way Too Soon


• Finally an answer to the question: Isn't a Battlestar Galactica toaster long overdue? [via Sci-Fi Heaven]

Share:
Comments (1) | PermaLink | Category: Tidbits
Posted by John DeNardo at Friday July 11, 2008 at 12:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal

From now through July 24, Audible is giving away a free download of The Disappeared, the first book in Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Retrieval Artist series, which grew out of her Hugo-nominated novella.

Registration at Audible is all that's required.

Here's the publisher summary:

Retrieval artists help the lost find their way back home, whether they like it or not. Specialized private detectives, they investigate the most unusual crimes in the galaxy. But Miles Flint isn't a Retrieval artist. He's just a cop, trying to do his job.

In a stolen space yacht, three people have been found eviscerated - the grisly signature of an alien vengeance killing. Moments later, the border patrol halts another ship launched out of the Moon's orbit. Its passengers are two human children, kidnapped by the most ruthless aliens in the universe.

Both ships are linked to a woman on the run: a Disappeared relocated to the inhospitable landscape of Mars. A reluctant outlaw with a bounty on her head and a detective on her case, she's about to teach all of them a lesson: it's dangerous to gamble with your life in a universe that rigs the game.

Share:
Comments (3) | PermaLink | Category: Free Fiction
Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday July 10, 2008 at 3:05 PM
© 2008 SF Signal