Neil Gaiman reads chapter 1 of his newly released novel, The Graveyard Book, an excerpt from the audiobook. Shh! Listen...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 30, 2008 at 3:18 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
REVIEW SUMMARY: This is a very readable anthology despite my usual aversion to history.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An anthology of 15 original alternate-history mystery stories.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Alternate history and mystery are two good genres that taste good together.
CONS: My own ambivalence towards history made the stories that emphasized it less enjoyable.
BOTTOM LINE: A worthwhile anthology for alternate history lovers and mystery lovers alike.
I was never a student of history. It always bored me. It wasn't until I ran across engaging alternate history stories in science fiction anthologies that I took a mildly active interest. Admittedly it was limited to Googling for the true history to better understand the fictional one, but even so, the sub-genre of alternate history intrigued me.
In his illuminating introduction to Sideways in Crime, an anthology of alternate-history mystery stories, Lou Anders sheds some light on why that might be. It has to do with another genre I like: mystery. Anders makes a compelling case for both alternate history and mystery being close genre cousins since both engage the reader by dropping clues that explain the world or plot. He's right. There is an added appeal to these stories for being two-pronged mysteries that reward careful reading.
That tasty blend is not necessarily a sure-fire formula for success, though. Like any anthology, this one has some hits and misses. The ones that didn't work so well for me were the ones that put the emphasis on the history instead of the mystery - an impression that is probably a holdover from days of long and dreadful history lessons in school.
Be that as it may, there were plenty of enjoyable stories here. Two of them stood out as being exceptional: "Via Vortex" by John Meaney and "Murder in Geektopia" by Paul Di Filippo. These stories went one step further than just offering up an alternate history and a mystery. They also mixed in some more traditional science fictional elements and for me, that made all the difference between a good story and a great one.
Individual story reviews follow...
Read more...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 30, 2008 at 12:28 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Here's a bunch of links to recently-free fiction (too much for a tidbits post!), courtesy of eagle eyes over at QuasarDragon
- @Munseys: The Fire People by Ray Cumming (1922).
- Gwyneth Jones has posted an extract of Spirit: Or, The Princess Of Bois Dormant. [via MobileRead]
- @Subterranean: "Mirror of Fiery Brightness" by Chris Roberson (part 1 of a new Celestial Empire story)
- @Polu Texni: "Collapse" by Michael A. Burstein.
- Lilith Saintcrow is serializing her novel Selene, here's Part 18.
- @Hub Magazine: "We. They." by Dave Hoing.
- @Strange Horizons: "Kimberley Ann Duray Is Not Afraid" by Leah Bobet.
- Anil Aggrawal has a collection of forensic Science Fiction stories online. [via Variety SF]
- @Fantasy Magazine:
- "In This City" by Brian Dolton.
- "The Annie Oakley Show" by Ari Goelman.
- @Feedbooks:
- "Maquech" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2008).
- "Alchymical Romance" by Lee Battersby (2008).
- "The Vampire" by Jan Neruda (1920).
- @Manybooks:
- Ladies Whose Bright Eyes by Ford Madox Ford (1911).
- Black Spirits & White: A Book of Ghost Stories by Ralph Adams Cram (1895)
- Refuge by Richard Herley (2008)
- Audio Fiction:
- @Escape Pod: "How The World Became Quiet: A Post-Human Creation Myth" by Rachel Swirsky, read by Frank Key.
- @Escape Pod: "Usurpers" by Derek Zumsteg, read by Stephen Eley.
- @PodCastle: "The Fable of the Ostrich" by Peter S. Beagle, read by Stephen Eley.
- @Maria Lectrix: Parts Three and Four of "Code Three" by Rick Raphael, read by Maureen O' Brien.
- @Beam Me Up: Episode 123 with Mary Robinette Kowal's "Evil Robot Monkey" read by the author and Frederic Brown's "Earthmen Bearing Gifts" read by Dave Tackett
- @Beam Me Up: Part One of "Uxo Bomb Dog" by Eliot Fintushel, read by Paul Cole.
- @Librivox: Ghost Story Collection Volume 006 by Robert Howard and other authors, read by many readers
- @Clonepod: "Inside Every Successful Man" by Gareth D. Jones, read by Patty Kim.
- @Chatterbox Audio: Part Two of Jules Verne's "Master Zacharius" directed by Robert Arnold.
- @Variant Frequencies: "All The Time" by Anne Stringer, read by Marck Pearlstone.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 30, 2008 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- @SciFi Wire, Star Trek:TOS scribe D.C. Fontana picks her favorite Star Trek episodes, including ones written by Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, and David Gerrold.
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @Bibliophile Stalker: Mur Lafferty (Playing for Keeps).
- Meanwhile, Mur Lafferty interviews Connie Willis (part 1).
- @Whatever: Kenneth Hite (Tour de Lovecraft).
- @Polu Texni: Michael A. Burstein (I Remember the Future).
- @Genreville: Tobias S. Buckell (Sly Mongoose).
- @Enter the Octopus: Mike Allen, editor of Clockwork Phoenix.
- Charlie Stross says: "We are living in interesting times; in fact, they're so interesting that it is not currently possible to write near-future SF."
- "Censorship is a terrible thing. So thank goodness it never works, says Philip Pullman." [via Bookninja]
- H.P. Lovecraft Had a Sense of Humor.
- Samuel L. Jackson did voice work for the Afro Samurai video game, which is based on the animated series that he produces and also voices.
- Shaun Farrell looks at The First Wave of Podcast Novelists.
- In October, the Beyond Reality discussion group will be talking about Singer of Souls by Adam Stemple and Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell and will be joined by the authors.
- Paolo Bacigalupi (Pump Six and Other Stories) asks: Should Fiction Writers Write About Politics? One reader says, "Do you think authors blogging about their views on the election can undercut their fiction? It is very difficult to experience the fiction of Orson Scott Card or John Scalzi the same way after reading their political posts."
- Literacy outreach: Stormtroopers and Cybermen to teach reading.
- Bored? Make a stormtrooper helmet out of paper. OK, maybe you're not that bored.
- io9 lists The 12 Coolest Deaths In Science Fiction History.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 30, 2008 at 12:10 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
The recent Harrison Bergeron post has put me in a Kurt Vonnegut mood.
Here's a video interview with Vonnegut from a 2005 episode of PBS Now:
[via The World in the Satin Bag]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 29, 2008 at 12:27 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Fun games you can play:
- Rate the book covers!
- Tell us which books pique your interest!
- Tell us about past reading experiences with any of these authors!
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 29, 2008 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Free Fiction: Gwyneth Jones has posted a PDF version of her book, Bold As Love. [via Futurismic]
- Jay Lake shows off the cover for Alembical, an anthology of four novellas by Lake, Bruce Taylor, Jim van Pelt, and Ray Vukcevich.
- Jason W. Ellis at Dynamic Subspace considers David Foster Wallace, Philip K. Dick, and Transgressive Parody: "Is PKD like Wallace in respect to the concept of 'transgressive parody'...? How does PKD move beyond parody?"
- James Wallace Harris looks at Future History and Science Fiction in which he looks at some of the technologies s"promised" by science fiction.
- Steven Harper Piziks on ePublishing: "Electronic publishing is the future! Embrace e-publishing! Paper is dead! You publishers are idiots, ignoring this new market! Please."
- Cat Rambo on writing groups: "Bearing in mind that everything I say may be wrong for you, writing groups can be pretty useful -- if it's a good group."
- Dear Abby on the joys of reading: "...while history, science fiction, mysteries and romance provide a wealth of diversion, reading provides far more than just an escape."
- Full Contact Christianity looks at Theological Science Fiction and the Fall of Satan: "Theologians love to speculate. The problem arises when they begin to think of their speculations as fact -- and especially when they begin to convince laymen that their speculations are fact." [via Planet-x]
- From a SciFi Standpoint lists The Top 5 imaginary literary works from science fiction.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 29, 2008 at 12:05 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Mike Brotherton implores writers of SF TV and movies who are adapting SF stories to not add some sort of 'societal message'. There's a reason the story is good, adding a message can only muck it up.
- BuddyTV gives us 5 steps for success for Knight Rider. After seeing the series premier, I don't think success is in the cards.
- Aaron Douglas supposedly spills some heavy duty spoilers about the ending episodes of Battlestar Galactica. Could be cool, depending on how they do it, if this is true.
- Kristin from E! Online has a bunch of spoilers for Heroes season 3 and boy, if they don't convince you Heroes is a soap opera, nothing will.
- Is Fringe already too predictable? I'd have to agree so far with the thesis...
- Check out this cool Cylon Raider Artisan Replica from Quantum Mechanix, and all for just a tad under $1k.
- And finally, here's Amanda Tapping talking about the upcoming Sci Fi Channel series, Sanctuary:
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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday September 28, 2008 at 8:28 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
Matt Selman offers A Moral Guide to Online Book Buying, in which he says:
The sticky question is this: when you buy a book online, you must ask yourself, "Who needs the money more -- the author or the bookstore?"Yes, 'tis a sticky question indeed. That's why I steal books. :)Authors deserve to be paid for their work, but America's independent bookstores are dying. When you buy a NEW book on Amazon, a royalty is paid to the author, and the rest of the money goes to the publisher and Amazon. When you buy a USED copy from a network of independent book sellers, like Alibris or AbeBooks or even Amazon Marketplace, the store gets (almost) all the money -- and the author gets nothing.
How about you? Do you think about author compensation when you buy books online?
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday September 28, 2008 at 12:33 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
This week Dan tries to protect a witness from certain death. However, armed with knowledge of the future, Dan and Livia ensure things turn out how they are 'supposed' to, and Dan's actions in the past start to intrude on present day time.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday September 28, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Concept Sci-fi interviews Gareth L. Powell (The Last Reef).
- Theodore Judson's The Martian General's Daughter was again featured on Stargate: Atlantis.
- How SciFi Channel Twittered Its Way to 3,000 Fans.
- @Geekend lists The Worst TV Science Fiction Shows.
- The International Society of Supervillains lists 9 Grossly Underrated Supervillains.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday September 28, 2008 at 12:12 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Chakotay pulls a Green Lantern...
[via Poe TV]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday September 27, 2008 at 12:13 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- John Scalzi shows off the cool cover of Metatropolis, an audio fiction compilation featuring Elizabeth Bear, Toby Buckell, Jay Lake, Karl Schroeder, and Scalzi himself.
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @Rocky Mountain News: Connie Willis.
- @Joe Mallozzi's blog: Robert Picardo (Stargate: Atlantis).
- @Biology in Science Fiction: Ben Bova.
- Free Excerpts:
- Sly Mongoose, Chapter Three by Tobias Buckell.
- Lilith Saintcrow is serializing her novel Selene, here's Part 17.
- Free Excerpt: All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear, Chapters one, two, three.
- SciFi Scanner asks: What Weapon Is the Deadliest in SciFi? (No, Waterworld is not a valid choice. Hi-yo!)
- Tor.com debuts the web comic Better Zombies Through Physics.
- Quip-of-the-Week award goes to John Brownlee: "A long time ago, in a bathtub far, far away...." in reference to these Star Wars ducks. (Not to be confused with My Little Star Wars Ponies.)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday September 27, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
What kind of freaky stuff is the Riddler into? You be the judge...
[via Poe TV]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday September 26, 2008 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- DreamWorks has acquired the film rights to John Wyndham's Chocky. "Steven Spielberg is said to be keen to make the adaptation his next directing project." [via Locus Online]
- An I Am Legend prequel starring Will Smith is being planned. Topless Robot is not amused.
- At SciFi Scanner, John Scalzi talks about SciFi film music.
- Damien G. Walter Guardian piece, Science fiction doesn't have to be gloomy, does it?, gets responses from Kathryn Cramer and Lou Anders.
- The Guardian interviews Peter F. Hamilton (The Void trilogy).
- io9 interviews Diane Duane [via SciFi Scanner]
- Free Excerpt: Sly Mongoose, Chapter Two by Tobias Buckell.
- Via Boing Boing: The Sorted Books project makes stories from book spine text.
- Tor shows the progression of Todd Lockwood's artwork for Tom Lloyd's Stormcaller.
- Pawel D. writes in to tell us that Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is being adapted as a stage play in Poland.
- Vote in this year's SFX Awards!
- Just in case you were wondering...Nicole Richie Totally Looks Like A Sleestak. [OpticalPoptitude]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday September 26, 2008 at 12:07 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
For those users who have been using Internet Explorer to read SF Signal, it seems that the Google book Preview widget we posted yesterday causes IE to crash.
That post has been updated. Apologies for the inconvenience.
And a pox on Google! A pox, I say!
Thanks to loyal Reader/Spell-checker/Trivia-Master/Fanboy Fred K. for alerting us
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday September 25, 2008 at 12:59 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday September 25, 2008 at 12:16 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Interviews and Profiles:
- @The Dragon Page: S. M. Stirling, author the the alternate history novel The Scourge of God.
- @Genreville: Del Rey editor-in-chief Betsy Mitchell.
- @Suvudu: Video of Steven Erikson talking about his latest Malazan book, Toll the Hounds.
- Free Fiction @Starship Sofa: "The Seventeenth Kind" by Michael Marshall Smith.
- The Guardian asks: Science fiction doesn't have to be gloomy, does it? "The challenge for writers of science fiction today is not to repeat the same dire warnings we have all already heard, or to replicate the naive visions of the genres golden age, but to create visions of the future people can believe in."
- Science Fiction: A Defense of the Genre. "To assigning genre fiction to "low-brow" and literary fiction to "high-brow" is a means of controlling the context in which the work is received and therefore the importance it should have in the minds of the readers."
- Frank Herbert does poetry: "Carthage: Reflections of a Martian". [via Marooned]
- Author and teacher James Van Pelt has evidence that high school kids are reading for pleasure.
- Vote Nurglon in 2008!
- Do you Know Your Spock?
- Lists:
- @Geekend: 10 sci-fi technologies that just might happen.
- @SciFi Scanner: 5 Actors Who Needed the Money.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday September 25, 2008 at 12:07 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
BenBella Books has just released a new book about Terry Pratchett's Discworld stories entitled The Turtle Moves!: Discworld's Story Unauthorized, written by author Lawrence Watt-Evans. It's part reference guide and part commentary, and all written in Watt-Evans' humorous style. We have one copy to give away to a lucky reader, but we're going to do something a little different. This time, we're going to make you work, a little, to win.
Mr. Watt-Evans, as a part of publicizing his book, is available to us to answer SF Signal reader questions. This will happen in a later post, but first, we need questions. That's where you come in. You see, you get to ask the questions that Mr. Watt-Evans will answer. As you might guess the contest rules involve you sending us questions. So, the rules are:
- Enter a question you'd like Mr. Watt-Evans to answer in the comments to this post. One question only per person but it can be about anything Discworld or Watt-Evans (stories, writings, etc).
- This contest will run for one week, through Oct. 1st, at which point we'll close the comments and pick a winner.
Once done, we'll collect the questions and send a selection off to Mr. Watt-Evans for him to answer. You're question does not have to be selected for you to win. Everyone who submits a question will be entered.
So get to asking and good luck!
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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday September 24, 2008 at 2:38 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
Next year, "Everyone Will Finally Be Equal".
That's the tag line for 2081, a short film version of Kurt Vonnegut's story "Harrison Bergeron".
This is not the first adaptation, though. In 1995, Showtime aired a star-studded version of "Harrison Bergeron", which you can watch right here. It is described thusly:
Welcome to the future. It's a no-brainer. "All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so." This is the premise of the Showtime film adaption of Kurt Vonnegut's futuristic short story Harrison Bergeron. The film centers around a young man (Harrison) who is smarter than his peers, and is not affected by the usual "Handicapping" which is used to train all Americans so everyone is of equal intelligence.[via Jesse Willis of SFF Audio]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday September 24, 2008 at 11:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Despite what I said in my Fall TV preview post, the online videos for The Mentalist piqued my interest enough to get me to DVR the series pilot last night, which I then watched a bit later in the evening. So, job well done CBS video/PR dudes, you got me. But how was the actual show?
The Mentalist is about Patrick Jane, "an independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his razor sharp skills of observation. Within the Bureau, Jane is notorious for his blatant lack of protocol and his semi-celebrity past as a psychic medium, whose paranormal abilities he now admits he feigned."
Right off the bat we see Patrick involved in a missing persons case turned homicide as he 'interviews' the mother of the murdered victim who suspects the father actually did the killing. This opening scene is there for two reasons: first, to familiarize ourself with how Jane canvases a crime scene looking for clues and second, to establish how he doesn't follow the CBI playbook, which, in this case, leads to a bad result.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday September 24, 2008 at 10:21 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Google Book Search now lets folks embed book previews into blog posts. The following Frank Herbert book, Hellstrom's Hive, is labeled as a preview, but seems to contain the whole shebang.
UPDATE: Thanks to Fred K. for alerting us that the Google Books widget is crashing Internet Explorer. I have removed it from this post, but if you can click here for the preview.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday September 24, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Christopher Paolini's Brisingr (sequel to Eragon and Eldest) sold 550,000 copies on its first day. Them's a lot of books.
- Antiquarian Weird Tales posts Sam Moskowitz's introduction to A Canticle for P. Schuyler Miller, from 1975: "It is the continuing regret of any historian and literary critic that too often the people they write about, whom they like, are no longer around to read what was said about them. I regret it particularly in Miller's case, and accept it as an emotional price to be paid when writing about some of the people who play a role in the unfolding panorama of scientifictional events."
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @SciFi Wire: Julie E. Czerneda (Riders of the Storm).
- @Concept Sci-fi: M. John Harrison.
- @The Nebula Awards site: Judith Berman.
- @Bibliophile Stalker: Jesse Willis of SFF Audio.
- @SciFi Wire: Patricia A. McKillip (The Bell at Sealey Head).
- Free Fiction:
- @FeedBooks: "Captain Gardiner of the International Police" by Robert Allen.
- Audio fiction @PodCastle: "Black Ribbon" by Dawn Albright, read by Heather Welliver.
- Mike Gordon has posted free excerpts of his novel Tracks at his website.
- Mike Brotherton looks at Time Travel.
- The Crotchety Old Fan website, a sub-site of Rim Worlds, has an updated website.
- SF Diplomat Jonathan McAlmont calls it quits and hangs up his blogging typewriter.
- Fantasy Magazine asks you to name your top 5 favorite characters from genre literature.
- Lists:
- @10 Dots: Top 10 Weapons from Sci-Fi. (And fantasy, apparently, if the inclusion of Excalibur and other swords is any indicator.)
- @Suvudu: 10 Horror Sequels and Remakes that Top the Originals.
- @io9: SciFi TV Classics You're Not Allowed To Own On DVD.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday September 24, 2008 at 12:10 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- NotCot 'twitterviews' S.A.R.A.H. from Eureka. Yes, the house was interviewed using Twitter, which is a rather cool idea, and yes again, S.A.R.A.H. has a twitter account that you can follow.
- And now for the obligatory Heroes portion of our bits. After the premier, you may not care, but I'm guessing some do...
- Amazon has a long interview with Zachary Quinto and Tim Kring.
- It seems the viewing public is catching on that Heroes is not 'all that' anymore. The show came in third place for the evening in ratings. I like how they call Heroes a 'novelty' series.
- Sci Fi Wire predicts Fringe will win in a battle between it and Eleventh Hour. Having not seen Eleventh Hour yet (Oct. 9th), but I don't think the bar is set all that high by Fringe.
- Sy Fy Portal wonders where the idea for Virtuality came from, then proceeds to drop Old Twentieth by Joe Haldemann as a possible 'source'. It sounds very close, but who knows what Moore has or hasn't read?
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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday September 24, 2008 at 12:05 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Our Anathem T-shirt giveaway is still 'live', through Sept. 27th. If you win, you'll be one of only 1000 people who can sport the 'Bulshytt' shirt!
If you're interested, here are the rules:
- The contest runs from today, Sept. 13 through Sept. 27th (11:59pm CT).
- Send an email to: contest [at] sfsignal [dot] com
- In the subject line please put 'Tshirt Men' or 'Tshirt Ladies' so we can keep track.
- Only one email per person. US/Canada only again.
- Please include your snail mail address so we can pass them on for the winners.
And to whet your appetite for the book (which is quite good overall), you can read the first two chapters, online, from Harper Collins. Plus you can get a head start on all the new vocabulary by browsing the included Glossary.
Good luck!
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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday September 23, 2008 at 1:31 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
Against my better judgment and and common sense, I let the wife talk me into watching the Heroes season 3 premiere. I figured it would at least confirm my decision to turn my back on the show when I (finally) realized that season 2 sucked.
Boy, was I right to quit. This episode is just the same suckage from season 2 under the season 3 label.
This time, the show didn't even hold me for its entirety. I gave up (again) after the first 45 minutes or so, but here's what I wish I could forget:
*** Spoilers Ahead! ***
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 23, 2008 at 11:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Jeffrey A. Carver has just posted a freely downloadable copy of The Infinite Sea, the third book in The Chaos Chronicles.
For those who missed the first two books, check out Neptune Crossing and Strange Attractors.
They are all available in multiple formats.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 23, 2008 at 11:27 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
REVIEW SUMMARY: A good series overall, but this one is a misstep.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS:
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Joe is a likable character with an attitude that just won't quit; nice world building.
CONS: Lacks the narrative drive and depth of the previous books.
BOTTOM LINE: While the book was not bad, it is probably the weakest of the series so far.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 23, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Cover Pr0n: Snowbooks shares the awesome cover of The Osiris Ritual by George Mann, the sequel to the steampunky The Affinity Bridge (also awesomely be-covered).
- Speaking of steampunk, check out The Galaxy Express who proclaims that Steampunk Is The New Black. Lots of steampunk titles to explore...(Bonus: features an interview with The Swivet's Colleen Lindsay!)
- The World in the Satin Bag interviews Tobias S. Buckell (author of Sly Mongoose, which now has a MySpace page).
- Strange Horizons asks: "Who Killed Thomas M. Disch?"
- Meanwhile, Texas Best Grok asks: What's Wrong with Greg Egan?
- Michael Cassutt develops the Delta Quotient which lets you know what kind of sci-fi you're watching or reading: "Being able to measure the DQ isn't just a writer's tool or an academic exercise. It's a way of gauging your own reaction to something that looks like sci-fi (it's got robots and spaceships), but somehow doesn't feel like it."
- One for the scientists (...Looks at Peggy...): The Anthropology of Star Trek.
- Free Fiction:
- Subterranean Press has just posted the last chapter of Mike Resnick's 'Kilimanjaro", the follow-up to his award-winning Kirinyaga stories
- @Strange Horizons: "Cowboy Angel" by Samantha Cope (Part 2).
- Audio fiction @PodCastle: "The Fable of the Tyrannosaurus Rex" by Peter S. Beagle, Read by Stephen Eley.
- Free Excerpts @ Pyr: The Stormcaller: Book One of the Twilight Reign by Tom Lloyd and Going Under by Justina Robson.
- Lists:
- Several sf/f characters make The Telegraph's list of The 50 greatest villains in literature. [via Lit Lists]
- @Weird Photo Reports: 10 Amazing Old Pics from Science Fiction World. (Mostly pulp covers.)
- Lynn Viehl lists 25 reasons to keep writing.
- @Tor: 5 Things I Don't Want to See in the New Season of Heroes.
- @Topless Robot: The 10 Villains Who Deserved Better
- @Digital Spy: Top 10 Star Wars Games.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 23, 2008 at 12:05 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 22, 2008 at 11:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Here are the winners of the 2008 British Fantasy Awards:
- The Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award: Scott Lynch
- BFS Special Award: 'The Karl Edward Wagner Award': Ray Harryhausen
- Best Non-Fiction: Peter Tennant for Whispers of Wickedness Website Reviews (Whispers of Wickedness)
- Best Artist: Vincent Chong
- Best Small Press: Peter Crowther, PS Publishing
- Best Anthology: Stephen Jones for The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18 (Robinson)
- Best Collection: Christopher Fowler for Old Devil Moon (Serpents Tail)
- Best Short Fiction: Joel Lane for "My Stone Desire" (Black Static #1, TTA Press)
- Best Novella: Conrad Williams for The Scalding Rooms (PS Publishing)
- Best Novel: 'The August Derleth Fantasy Award': Ramsey Campbell for The Grin of The Dark (PS Publishing)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 22, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 22, 2008 at 12:27 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Sci Fi Channel has greenlit the series, Warehouse 13, after ordering the two-hour pilot. Warehouse 13 looks like a cross between The Librarian, The X-Files and the warehouse seen in Raiders. It sounds interesting, which means Sci Fi will probably find a way to make it terrible.
- The run of SF on major network TV continues, as ABC is close to landing the spec script for Flash Forward, based on the Robert J. Sawyer novel and partly penned by Star Trek alum, Brannon Braga (who has a bad rep in Trek circles). SF on network TV has a checkered history, so we'll probably see this one not succeed, although it sounds good.
- Gateworld has the scoop on the characters for the new Stargate: Universe series. They all sound like your typical Hollywood characters to me...
- It seems that it isn't just John and myself who have been underwhelmed with The Sarah Connor Chronicles so far. The series is bleeding viewers so far this season. With ratings that low, the future doesn't look good.
- If you live, or will be visiting, in or around Boston on October 18th, you might want to check out the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival's Anime After Dark series, which starts at 7pm. They will be showing a lot of good stuff including: Grave of the Fireflies and Ghost in the Shell: Innocence.
- In a moment of WTF?, Marvel has created a commercial to promote their Secret Invasion limited series. Just, whoa.
- Still on the fence about tonight's premier of Heroes? Here is the first 5 minutes of the show. I'll let you decide if the writing has improved.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday September 22, 2008 at 12:18 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @Static Multimedia: Liz Williams (Precious Dragon).
- @Tor: Artist Thomas Tenery.
- @Joseph Mallozzi's blog: Justina Robson (Going Under).
- @Slice of SciFi: Ben Bova (Mars Life).
- Sweet Download of the day: Grab the artwork for David Palumbo's cover art for The Living Dead anthology
- Ellen Datlow has posted pictures from the last KGB reading featuring Holly Black and Lauren McLaughlin.
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about the The Mythical Perfect Short Story.
- Cat Rambo is guest-blogging on Jeff VanderMeer's Ecstatic Days this week.
- Stephen Hawking unveils oddest clock ever.
- io9 rounds up some Stop-Motion Lego Star Wars shorts.
- Fantasybookspot has been renamed to Bookspotcentral.
- File 770 has some info on Ray Bradbury's appearance at UCLA's annual library donors dinner and CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
- Super Punch tells us about this poster of a Giant Robot Samurai taking out a skyscraper.
- Ian Sales is rereading Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun.
- Lists:
- @Geekdad: Geeky Movies' Top 10 Coolest Kids.
- @Cracked.com: 5 Retarded Space Travel Ideas (That Might Actually Work).
- @Suite101: Clark Ashton Smith's Picks for Best Horror Stories.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 22, 2008 at 12:07 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
And it looks horrible. After watching the trailer, I believe this version of Spaceballs could only find a home on either G4 or Spike. I don't see any of the goofy, stupid humor of the film here, just a pre-occupation with cleavage and sex jokes. If I wanted that, I'd talk to John (Hi-yo!). The movie, while having a little bit of that, was still entertaining at times, especially when making fun of Star Wars and other SF movie tropes. This doesn't look to have any of that.
Words just can't describe the depths of pulchritude that the animated Spaceballs descends to. See for yourself! (Warning: NSFW if anyone is watching)
If you're still interested, it premiers tonight at 5pm ET on G4.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday September 21, 2008 at 6:13 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
In this episode, Dan travels back to 1986 (a fine year) to help a couple of brothers who have an abusive father.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday September 21, 2008 at 5:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday September 21, 2008 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Wowio has a slew of Star Trek comics available for free online reading:
- "The Planet of No Return"
- "The Devil's Isle of Space"
- "Invasion of the City Builders"
- "The Peril of Planet Quick Change"
- "The Ghost Planet"
- "When Planets Collide"
- "The Voodoo Planet"
- "The Youth Trap"
- "The Legacy of Lazarus"
- "Sceptre of the Sun"
- "The Brain Shockers"
- "The Flight of the Buccaneer"
- "Dark Traveler"
- "The Enterprise Mutiny"
- "Museum at the End of Time"
- "Day of the Inquisitors"
- "The Cosmic Cavemen"
- "The Hijacked Planet"
- "The Haunted Asteroid"
- "A World Gone Mad"
- "The Mummies of Heitius VII"
- "Siege in Superspace"
- "Child's Play"
- "The Trial of Captain Kirk"
- "Dwarf Planet"
- "The Perfect Dream"
- "Ice Journey"
- "The Mimicking Menace"
- "Death of a Star"
- "The Final Truth"
[via QuasarDragon]
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| Category: Free Fiction, Star Trek
Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday September 20, 2008 at 11:22 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @SciFi Wire: Edward Lerner (Juggler of Worlds, a Known Space book).
- @Omnivoracious: Judith Tarr (Bring Down the Sun).
- @The Agony Column: Jeremy Lassen (Night Shade Books).
- @io9: artist Aaron Jasinski.
- @Suvudu: GoodRead's interview with Neil Gaiman (The Graveyard Book).
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- Afterlife by Douglas Clegg. [via Suvudu]
- Lilith Saintcrow is serializing her novel Selene. Here's Part 14.
- @SpaceWesterns: Part 1 of "The Mound" by H. P. Lovecraft and & Zealia Bishop's.
- Audio Fiction:
- @PodCastle: "Anywhere There's a Game" by Greg Van Eekhout, read by Benjamin Manoochehri
- @Pseudopod: "The Teacher" by Paul G. Tremblay, read by Mur Lafferty.
- @LibriVox: She and Allan by H. Rider Haggard, read by Lars Rolander
- StarShipSofa has its 42nd episode up with readings of "Earthmen Bearing Gifts" By Fredric Brown and "The Ant King" by Benjamin Rosenbaum.
- The next meeting of the Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series (Wednesday October 15th) is a celebration of Weird Tales magazine and features Jeffrey Ford, Ann VanderMeer, Stephen H. Segal, Karen Heuler and Micaela Morrissette.
- The upcoming National Book Festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush, is being held on September 27th 2008 and features over 70 award-winning authors including Neil Gaiman.
- Jason Sanford is offering bloggers a chance to win a free subscription to Interzone.
- John Picacio shares his preliminary artwork for Muse of Fire by Dan Simmons, an upcoming publication from Subterranean Press.
- Do You Really Want Science Fiction Books To Be More Literary?
- @Blood & Rhetoric: Book cover trends in fantasy and science fiction.
- Nick Cave talks about scoring the supervolcano post-apocalypse for the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. [via SciFi Scanner]
- Deadbooks is an online serialization of Hasso Wuerslin's SF-Horror series, The DeadBooks.
- GeekAlerts shares a cool looking Steampunk Headset.
- Lists:
- @io9: The 20 Best Worst Science Fiction Movies Of All Time.
- @Discover Magazine: The 5 Greatest Space Operas.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday September 20, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
This contest actually ended on the 15th, but due to weather related circumstances, I'm only now able to publish our winners, for one of 5 copies of the Torchwood Yearbook from Titan Books. Our winners are:
Michael Carter from British Columbia
Joe Andersen from Cambridge, MA
Stephen Winer from New York, NY
James Johnson from Leesburg, VA
Elizabeth Mays from Stevensville, MI
Congratulations to our winners and a big thank you to all who read our blog! If you're interested, we still have the Anathem T-shirt contest running. The book is darn good so far, and you'll look fabulous in one of only 1000 T-shirts created for the book's release!
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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday September 19, 2008 at 8:29 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
Arrrrgh! It's Talk Like a Pirate Day, matey!
But if you don't feel like talking like a pirate, how about reading pirate fiction? Check out these links:
- Shimmer is making the electronic edition of the Pirate Issue freely available (edited by John Joseph Adams), for September 19th only.
- At Wired: "Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette, which is part of the upcoming pirate anthology Fast Ships, Black Sails edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday September 19, 2008 at 10:00 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
What a fun movie this was...
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday September 19, 2008 at 12:12 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Frank Herbert demystifies the computer. ("Spyware is the mindkiller...")
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @Baen's website: Michael Z. Williamson.
- @The Living Dead website: Catherine Cheek ("She's Taking Her Tits to the Grave").
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @Cosmos: "Micro Expressionsa>" by Stephen Gaskell.
- @FeedBooks: Doctor Who: Nightshade by Mark Gatiss.
- Audio Fiction @LibriVox: Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs, read by Ralph Snelson
- Antipodean SF has its 124th issue up with several short SF stories.
- John Scalzi sez: The Look, Not the Idea, Makes a SciFi Movie.
- The Cthuhlu Tragedy: : The Nature of Victory and Defeat in the work of H. P. Lovecraft.
- Paintings by Rudy Rucker. [via Tor]
- Charles Stross was Predicting Possible Futures back in May 2007.
- Lisa Paitz Spindler lists 13 Facts About Black Holes.
- 10 Things Mike Brotherton Loves About Science Fiction.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday September 19, 2008 at 12:08 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
The new Knight Rider doesn't air until next week. However, Hulu has the series premier online and now you can watch it, right here! Don't expect anything much more than cheesy melodrama, but it does that fairly well. K.I.T.T.'s shape changing ability could become really annoying, if not way too powerful. And, of course, the bad guys' ability to shoot accurately is sorely lacking. Still, tell us what you think...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday September 18, 2008 at 4:26 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
Anybody remember the old 60's TV show The Time Tunnel? I haven't seen that many of them, but it was the third series created by the father of television science fiction, Irwin Allen. Sure, he created disaster movies like The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure but before that he created several science fiction TV shows. The most popular was probably the ultra-cheesy Lost in Space, but he also created Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, and the aforementioned The Time Tunnel.
I mention this only because I recently saw an episode of National Geographic Channel's Naked Science where they discuss with leading scientists the fact that most of them feel time travel is not only possible, but inevitable. In fact, it's already happened. Now before you assume I've gone X-Files or something, the fact is the astronauts orbiting the in the space station are going so much faster than those of us here on Earth that several of them have returned to find themselves in the future!
Read more...
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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Thursday September 18, 2008 at 12:22 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Eoin Colfer to write sixth Hitchhiker's Guide book.
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @FeedBooks: Doctor Who: Human Nature by Paul Cornell (1995).
- @Tor: War for the Oaks by Emma Bull and Dogland by Will Shetterly. (Registration required.)
- Lilith Saintcrow is serializing her novel Selene. Here are Parts 12 and 13.
- @Munseys:
- "Postmark Ganymede" by Robert Silverberg (1956).
- "The Hunted Heroes" by Robert Silverberg (1956).
- "The Nothing Equation" by Tom Godwin (1957).
- Audio Fiction:
- @The Internet Archive: "Despoilers of the Golden Empire" by Randall Garrett, read by Maureen O'Brien.
- @LibriVox: Space Tug by Murray Leinster, read by Mark Nelson.
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @The LA Times: William Shatner, on comics, fame and missing the Star Trek movie.
- @The Art Department: Artist Joshua Middleton.
- @Agony Column: A podcast-interview with Terry Brooks. [via Suvudu]
- @Concept Sci-fi: Robert Buettner ( Orphanage).
- @SciFi Wire: A. Lee Martinez (Too Many Curses).
- @The Mighty Mighty MOC-BLOG: Alan Dean Foster (Quofum).
- Captain Picard talks about baldness. [via Poe TV]
- Lists:
- @Fantasy Magazine: 5 Thoughts On The Popularity Of Steampunk.
- @SciFi Scanner's SciFi Dept: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Escape From NY. (Missed video opportunity: getting Ernest Borgnine as the cabbie.)
- @io9: The Best SNL SciFi Sketches Of All Time.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday September 18, 2008 at 12:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Books and visual media (TV/film) are different, so telling the same story in each must inherently be different. But some TV/Film adaptations of sf/f books succeed better than others.
Read on to see a variety of viewpoints...and be sure to tell us your opinion!
So I guess I need to revise that answer. A good book adaptation is like pornography -- I know it when I see it. I think it helps when the people doing the adaptation have a deep love for the original material and a strong vision of what they'd like to do with it. Sometimes, that vision clashes with the original material (as in Starship Troopers, where Paul Verhoeven used over-the-top parody to make a film that had the opposite message of the novel -- and for the record, I liked the film better than the book). Sometimes, that vision humanizes a very cold and analytical novel (as in the George Clooney adaptation of Solaris, which I also loved, and not just for Clooney's butt). And sometimes, you get Dune. Meh.
But no matter what the scriptwriter and director do, there's no way to please all of the book's fans, no matter how hard they try. So I'm happy so long as the author gets a big, fat check, and the movie is entertaining in its own right.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday September 17, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
[via BB]
Rollbots is a new animated kids show coming in Feb. 2009 on 4K!DSTV. One of the people who works on the show has this to say about it:
It's about a race of spherical bots that race around a city in the sky, and mainly about a kid named Spin who has to cope with being the only bot without a tribe. Spin's a new recruit at the FCPD, and when he's not keeping the peace on the cross-town RMS, he's got to stop things like the crontab from messing up time, or cope with the Do Right Module gumming up the works.Hmm, Linux geeks ought to be right at home here, despite the 'kid' target audience. But really, aren't we all just big kids?
Here's the trailer:
I must say it looks really good, visually. And if it gets my kids exposure to computer/OS related concepts, I'm all for that. I'll be watching come next February!
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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday September 17, 2008 at 12:24 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Karen Traviss talks about Order 66, the final book of her Star Wars: Republic Commando series. [via TheForce.Net]
- Edward M. Lerner talks about his latest release, Juggler of Worlds, a Known Space book and his 2nd collaboration with Larry Niven.
- Stargate: Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi is open for questions for this month's selection in his book discussion group, Justina Robson's Keeping It Real.
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @CBC Radio: Theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku (Physics of the Impossible). [via Fred K.]
- @The Fix: Gregory Frost (Lord Tophet).
- @SciFi Weekly: Thomas Ligotti (The Nightmare Factory).
- @SciFi Wire: John Scalzi (Zoe's Tale).
- @Genreville: Jason B. Sizemore of Apex Publications.
- @Tor's MySpace page: a video interviews with Kevin J. Anderson (Paul of Dune).
- @Tor: Matthew Kalamidas, Senior Art Director for The Science Fiction Book Club.
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- The new issue of Flurb features fiction (and articles) by Rudy Rucker, Madeline Ashby, Michael Blumlein, Brian Garrison, Charles Platt, Brendan Byrne, Jetse de Vries and Bruce Sterling. [via Boing Boing]
- @Strange Horizons: "Cowboy Angel (part 1 of 2)" by Samantha Cope.
- @F&SF: "Nine Whispered Opinions Regarding the Alaskan Secession" by George Guthridge.
- @Fantasy Magazine: "Nora" by Becca De La Rosa.
- @Feedbooks: "Portrait of Ari" by Mary Robinette Kowal (2006).
- Free Speculative Fiction Online has added five more speculative fiction stories to their large database
- Audio Fiction:
- @The Classic Tales Podcast: "The Music of Erich Zann" by H. P. Lovecraft, read by B. J. Harrison. [via Monster Rally]
- @LibriVox: Horror Story Collection 005 by many authors and readers.
- Wired previews Marvel's upcoming Ender's Game comic. [via Topless Robot]
- @B&N, Jeff VanderMeer reviews Anathem by Neal Stephenson.
- @B&N Tagged has an inside look at Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. Surprise! There is going to be a 4th book.
- SF Scope has the scoop on two dead online magazines: Helix and Oddlands.
- From the SFWA Press release: Janis Ian will be Toastmistress at the 2009 Nebula Awards Weekend.
- Norilana Books has acquired the rights to reprint The Captain's Witch, an erotic dark epic fantasy masterpiece by Rosemary Hawley Jarman.
- Spectrum shows a behind-the-scenes look at the Call For Entries poster for Spectrum 16. [via The Art Department]
- More great artwork from Gorilla Artfare: L'il Frankenstein.
- George Takei is a newlywed. [via Wil Wheaton]
- Pawel D. writes in to tell us that "Stanislaw Lem's family gave Lem's car, which he used for 27 years, to the Mam Marzenie Foundation (Polish Make-A-Wish Foundation), who auctioned it at the Allegro Polish auction website.
- Wil McCarthy discovers what drives the physics of Death Race.
- I don't think the Daleks would take kindly to the use of their image on these Dalek Coasters.
- Lists:
- @io9: The 12 Weakest Deaths In Science Fiction History.
- @Crotchety Old Fan: The Top 10 (Pre-1950) Coolest SF Pulp Magazine Spaceships.
- @RevolutionSF: Sci-Fi Hunks (Part 3).
- @Slice of SciFi: 5 things the producers of Heroes need to address to keep the fanboys and the public tuning in.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday September 17, 2008 at 12:17 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
This is why I love the Internets...
A while back, seemingly the result of a seriously lapse in editorial judgment or a drunken binge gone horribly wrong, I posted the lyrics to "Summer Glau (Makes Me Feel Fine)," mostly as a way of destroying the association between her name and the Seals and Crofts song, "Summer Breeze". (It didn't work.)
Along comes John Anealio, musician and proprietor of Sci Fi Songs, a website where John collects his recordings inspired by the works of speculative fiction. John has taken my Summer Glau lyrics and set them to an original tune of his own.
The result is "Summer Glau". It's simply awesome and you must go and listen to it.
Well done, John!
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 11:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
REVIEW SUMMARY: The continuation of Schroeder's Virga sequence is an action-packed, hard sf space opera worth reading.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Chaison Fanning escapes imprisonment and works his way toward Slipstream and the ruler that betrayed him.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Fast paced, swashbuckling adventure; fantastic low-tech world building wrapped up in an intriguing high-tech universe.
CONS: Every representative town government portrayed as equally inept and deserving of being overthrown. Some variation would have been nice.
BOTTOM LINE: This is every bit as exciting as a pirate space opera should be.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
I finally got to watch the new show from Lost creator J.J. Abrams (that's him on the right) on FOX, Fringe. The pilot was about 90 minutes long which I felt was perfect for introducing you to the characters and giving you a good story. It really helped me to see what the show was going to be like, and when you get down to it, that's what a pilot is supposed to do. Overall I liked the show and was glad I watched it, but there are some oddities.
More below, along with spoilers...
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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 12:12 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @Manybooks: Uncanny Tales anthology by many authors (1916).
- @Munseys: "The Man Who Hated Mars" by Gordon Randall Garrett (1956).
- @Hub Magazine: "Lovers Sleeping" by M. P. Ericson.
- Sorcerous Signals features fantasy fiction by T.J. Glenn, Ardyth DeBruyn, Steven Cavanagh, Ian Whates, Marisol Dunham, Elizabeth Barrette, Lindsey Duncan, Lawrence Barker, and Martin Turton.
- Audio Fiction:
- @Beam Me Up: "The Pyramid of Amirah" by James Patrick Kelly, read by Paul Cole
- @Clonepod: "Asleep in the Forest of the Tall Cat" by Ken Brady, read by Leslie Ann Moore.
- @BBC - Radio 4: "Torchwood: Lost Souls" by Joseph Lidster, performed by a full cast. [via SFFaudio]
- @Feedbooks five stories by Mary Robinette Kowal:
- "This Little Pig" (2007).
- "Cerbo en Vitra ujo" (2006).
- "Death Comes But Twice" (2007).
- "For Solo Cello, op. 12" (2007).
- "The Bound Man" (2006).
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 16, 2008 at 12:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
No doubt you've already heard that one of the classic science fiction movies of all time has been remade starring Keanu Reaves. The new movie will release on December 12th, and an extended trailer was released in front of the pilot episode of Fringe. As you can see, there are some changes afoot (not a surprise) although none of them look to be about taking the story back to its roots (the 1951 film is an adaptation of a Harry Bates short story titled "Farewell to the Master".) Enjoy!
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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Monday September 15, 2008 at 10:20 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Simply awesome...
[via The Art Department]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 15, 2008 at 12:28 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 15, 2008 at 12:18 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Here we are, 36 hours after Ike slammed into Galveston and Houston, and, depending on where you are around here, things are either really horrible (Galveston) or almost normal (Katy). Being in Tomball, we're closer to the normal side than not. We have water and gas, but not AC, which made for a rather nasty evening for sleeping. Hopefully the power will be on soon, as neighborhoods around us are now getting power.
I'm at my in-laws house in Katy, and let me tell you, AC is awesome. How in the world did people live around here before the invention of AC? The good news is that the weather is clearing, and will be turning cooler for the next several days so things shouldn't be too bad while we clean up and almost pleasant at night.
Myself and my family are ok, if tired. You might be surprised how difficult it is to sleep during a hurricane. We have trees down all over the subdivision, but our house appears to be ok, and none of our trees came down, although one in the front is now leaning to the right more than it did. I've heard from Tim and Kevin but not from John yet. I'm not sure when things will get back to normal around here, but probably when we get power back.
We have a few posts scheduled to appear over the next couple of days, so you'll see some activity here, and we still have our Torchwood contest going on if you're interested. Hopefully we'll be back at it in the next couple of days after we've had some decent sleep...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday September 14, 2008 at 2:30 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
"The Legend of Dylan McCleen" may seem familiar to you if you know the story behind the D.B. Copper bank robbery. There's some eerie similarities here. And watch out for what Dan does in the past, it will play a role in future episodes...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday September 14, 2008 at 7:10 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
"When I was a kid, I remember telling people Star Trek TNG was too cerebral for some viewers," says one of the commenters at Poe TV, who posts this video of Star Trek Sexy Time!
Stop by Poe TV and read some of the other hilarious comments.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday September 14, 2008 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Unless you've been under rock, you know that Neal Stephenson's latest book, Anathem was just recently released. In celebration, Wiredset has given us two Anathem t-shirts to give away, a Men's L and a Women's M.
The T-shirt is back, and contains the definition of the word "Bulshytt". What is the definition you may ask? Let's let Neal tell us himself:
That's a lot to put on a t-shirt, isn't it? Here is the front of the shirt:
There's only 1000 of the T-shirts floating around, so if you have one, you'll be in select company. I dare say you'll be an avout in the Stephenson Concent...
If you're interested, here are the rules:
- The contest runs from today, Sept. 13 through Sept. 27th (11:59pm CT).
- Send an email to: contest [at] sfsignal [dot] com
- In the subject line please put 'Tshirt Men' or 'Tshirt Ladies' so we can keep track.
- Only one email per person. US/Canada only again.
- Please include your snail mail address so we can pass them on for the winners.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday September 13, 2008 at 6:53 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Hurricane Ike rolls into Houston today, which begs the question: WWBATJD? (What would Batman and Joker do?)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday September 13, 2008 at 12:22 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Jeff Carlson writes in to tell us that his book Plague Year is on its way to the big screen.
- SFRevu interviews Joe Abercrombie (Last Argument of Kings).
- The inimitable Andrew Wheeler says, "io9 is the David Itzkoff of the Internet."
- Lou Anders has details of Angry Robot, a new sf imprint. [via Torque Control]
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- @Diet Soap: "Life's Simple Pleasures" by John Klima. [via Futurismic]
- @Fanzine: "Mankind Through the Ages" by Scott Bradfield. [via Futurismic]
- Aphelion has its latest issue up, featuring short stories by L. J. Geoffrion, E. S. Strout, Michael J. Flanagan, C. S. Malerich, Ty Johnston, Dan Shelton, Kevin King, Lee Gimenez, and Terry Larson.
- Audio Fiction @PseudoPod: "Front Row Seats" by Scott William Carter, read by Rick Stringer.
- Oddlands has its final issue up featuring short stories by Edward Morris, Adam Durrant, and Derek Goodman. [via Futurismic]
- Lilith Saintcrow is serializing her novel Selene. Here's Part 11.
- Book vs. Book vs. Film: Who Censored Roger Rabbit? vs. Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? vs. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
- @SciFi Scanner: The Homemade SciFi Worth Watching Online.
- Some enterprising young kids have made their own homemade Dalek video.
- Web Comic of the day: Marooned - A Space Opera in the Wrong Key.
- Lists:
- Over at Zap2it, Tamara Brooks lists Top 5 Ways She'd Misuse The Force
- Top 10 Ways to Celebrate the Sci-Fi Channel's Sweet 16 Birthday. (#9: Get Edward James Olmos to jump out of a cake.)
- @SciFi Wire: 10 Guaranteed SF Weepers
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday September 13, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Attention all road warriors! And no, I'm not talking about Mel Gibson...
SF Signal has partnered with 310.tv to provide science fiction content for mobile devices like phones and PDA's. This free service also provides loads of other content, so if you have mobile access, check it out.
How, you ask? On your mobile device, just browse to http://310.tv and your good to go!
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday September 12, 2008 at 3:10 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
[via MilkandCookies]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday September 12, 2008 at 12:27 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Interviews and Profiles:
- @SciFi Wire: Warren Hammond (Ex-KOP).
- @The Living Dead website: Adam-Troy Castro.
- @Premium Hollywood: Naoko Mori (Torchwood).
- @PopMatters: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer on The Second Coming of Steampunk. [via Marooned]
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- @Tor.com: "The Girl Who Sang Rose Madder" by Elizabeth Bear.
- @Feedbooks: "Rocket Ride! A Short Day's Journey into Space" by Jeffery A. Carver (2004)
- @Manybooks: "Monkey On His Back" by Charles V. de Vet (1960).
- Audio Fiction:
- @Escape Pod: "Reparations" by Merrie Haskell, read by Mary Robinette Kowal.
- @Transmissions From Beyond: "Bury the Carnival" by Simon Avery, read by the author.
- @LibriVox: The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells, read by many readers [via SFFaudio].
- According to their latest newsletter, Tor.com plans on resuming their free eBook giveaway, at least one title per month
- Subterranean Press previews the Jon Foster's cover art for Barry Hughart's The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox.
- Ellen Datlow has posted her summation of the 1987 Horror scene, from the first year she edited The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology.
- The Guardian talks about free publicity: "Here's a novel plan for bypassing the usual obstacles facing publishers - simply handing them out for nothing."
- The Straight Dope tells us how would the U.S. military fight a zombie army. [via Tim]
- Mike Brotherton looks at The Stupidest Clothes in Science Fiction.
- @io9 lists The Best Skin Melting Scenes From Scifi.
- Speaking of melting faces...are you ready for a big screen version of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters? Didn't think so.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday September 12, 2008 at 12:08 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Our U.S. readers probably know that Hurricane Ike is currently in the Gulf of Mexico, menacing the Upper Texas coast and possibly Louisiana (that sweet pic up there is Ike, way back on Sept. 4th). What most of our readers probably don't realize is that SF Signal World HQ is located in Houston, Tx, which sits about 60 miles inland from Galveston, on the Upper Texas Coast.
The upshot, Ike has been causing major nervousness around these here parts for the better part of two days now. The current track has Ike coming in right over Galveston, and making a right turn over downtown Houston and accosting parts north of the city. Luckily, the storm track has been slowly moving up the coast, away from Houston, and us. Also, the intensity was forecast to be a Category 3, maybe 4, is now expected to be a 2 when it hits sometime Friday night. Hopefully, the track will continue to move off to the north east and leave us on the 'clean' side of the storm.
In any event, if you suddenly notice a lack of bloggage over the weekend and into next week, you can blame Ike. I'm expecting, right now, Thursday night, that we will lose power sometime tomorrow night for an indeterminate amount of time. The last big storm to hit Houston was Alicia in 1983, and we were without power for about 2 weeks. Ike is bigger, in size, than Alicia, although they are both Cat 2s at this time. So, John, Tim, Kevin and myself are busy battening down the hatches, scouring the store shelves for anything the panicked crowds have left behind, and generally getting ready to ride this out.
We'll have stuff tomorrow, but who knows for how long after that? We could be gone for days, or not at all. It's a waiting game, and I hate waiting games. Good thing I have some Prilosec handy.
If you're keen on tracking the storm yourself, do yourself a favor and visit the awesomely cool storm tracking site: Storm Pulse. I can only imagine how much traffic they now getting. They seemed to come from nowhere and I've been telling everyone I know about. In fact, they must be getting popular because my Dad knew about it, and I didn't even tell him about the site. That, my friends, means you are popular. I still have to remind him about our site.
Nothing SF here, but, really, think of all the science involved in this post. The ISS, the Shuttle to get to the ISS, the satellites watching Ike and all the computing power involved in forecasting and tracking hurricanes. It's awesome, and something we all take for granted.
If anyone is interested, I'll be Twittering the hurricane. You can follow that at our Twitter page. Currently, a little windy and warm.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday September 11, 2008 at 9:55 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
This week's Mind Meld was influenced by a post on Lou Anders' blog entitled Science Fiction Belongs to the World. In it, questions are raised about stories that espouse a viewpoint that is opposed to one(s) the reader holds.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday September 11, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- Free zombie stories (Woot!) from The Living Dead edited by John Joseph Adams [via Tor, which offers multi-format links]:
- "Some Zombie Contingency Plans" by Kelly Link
- "Death and Suffrage" by Dale Bailey
- "Dead Like Me" by Adam-Troy Castro
- "Stockholm Syndrome" by David Tallerman
- Lilith Saintcrow is serializing her novel Selene. Here's Part 10.
- @Coyote Wild Magazine: "The Haunting of Jin's Ear" by Jim C. Hines [via Free SF Reader].
- Audio Fiction:
- @StarShipSofa: "East" by M. John Harrison, read by Simon Chapman.
- Futurismic has three Tom Doyle stories, read by the author.
- @Maria Lectrix: Part two of "Code Three" by Rick Raphael, read by Maureen O'Brien.
- Also @Maria Lectrix: Part one and part two of "Hail to the Chief" by Randall Garrett, read by Maureen O'Brien.
- Excerpts:
- Minister Faust, who is blogging over at Jeff VanderMeer's Ecstatic Days this week, offers up an exceprt from his book The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad.
- @BookSpotCentral: Chapter 1 of Nercopath by Eric Brown.
- Free zombie stories (Woot!) from The Living Dead edited by John Joseph Adams [via Tor, which offers multi-format links]:
- Interviews & Profiles:
- @Tor: Artists Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Anthony & David Palumbo.
- @Adventures in SciFi Publishing: Sean Williams (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed).
- @Concept Sci-fi: Philip Palmer (Debatable Space).
- @Genreville: Tor's Art Dicrector Irene Gallo.
- @SciFi Wire: Kit Reed (The Night Children).
- Eos has launched their our own internet radio show called The Beyond on the Authors on Air network. It will feature author interviews and talks with fans
- Eric Flint and Cory Doctorow are featured on the CBC Radio podcast Who Owns Ideas? [via Fred K.]
- Lou Anders compares sf literature & film: "I think that traditionally a majority of filmic sci-fi is concerned with maintaining the status quo and getting the genies back in the bottles...By contrast, literary science fiction is often set after such an event has already happened, sometimes a good deal after, and throws us in medias res into a world in which part of the fun of the narrative is working out how the world in the tale differs from the world we know and part of the theme lies in examining how these changes act as a lens to illuminate some aspect of humanity that we take for granted."
- John Scalzi on Why We Love Our Post-Apocalyptic Flicks.
- John C. Wright informs us that a story set in his Golden Age milieu will appear in New Space Opera II edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan.
- @AbeBooks: Win a signed copy of The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon.
- Edward M. Lerner has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog. [via SFScope]
- Orbit has acquired Robert Bennett's Mr. Shivers, a dark fantasy set in the Great Depression American West in the vein of Stephen King's The Gunslinger.
- The 2008 issue of Triangulation features fiction from Reesa Brown, Amy Treadwell, Elizabeth Barrette, Katy Darby, Rachel Swirsky, Paul Stefko, Gail Sosinsky Wickman, Shanna Germain, Matthew Johnson, Jacob Edwards, Gerri Leen, David Seigler, Ian Creasey, Marc Vun Kannon, Matt Betts, Stephen V. Ramey, Lavie Tidhar, Shweta Narayan, and Eugie Foster.
- Scott D Parker points us to some cool images of noir Marvel comic characters.
- Fight like a dinosaur (literally) with this online game: Jurassic Fight Club: Turf Wars! (A companion site to The History Channel's Jurassic Fight Club special.)
- Large Hadron Collider-inspired lists:
- @MSNBC: Novels that Explore the Fictional Frontiers of Particle Physics. (Also features a picture of physicist/author John Cramer, who I met at ApolloCon last year. Smart and funny fellow, he is.) [via Tor]
- @io9: 10 SciFi Stories Where Physics Experiments Destroy the World.
- Finally: It's Wall-E Lego!
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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday September 11, 2008 at 12:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
The migration of science fiction authors to the young adult category is not new [looks at Scott Westerfeld], nor is dabbling in the YA category. A slew of recent books from established science fiction authors are appearing (or will appear) that are targeted for younger readers:
- Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - Teenage hacker Marcus Yallow takes on the Department of Homeland Security after being falsely connected with a terrorist attack.
- Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi - A retelling of Scalzi's The Last Colony through the eye's of Zoe, John perry's and Jane Sagan's adopted daughter. Obviously set in the Old Man's War universe.
- Iron Jaw and Hummingbird by Chris Roberson - Two teenagers, one raised as an aristocrat and one a reluctant soldier, join forces to bring down the corrupt government. Takes place in Roberson's futuristic Celestial Empire setting.
- The Stowaway: Stone of Tymora, Book I by R.A. Salvatore and Geno Salvatore - A teen holding a secret takes refuge on a pirate ship where he meets the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden. A brand new fantasy trilogy that Salvatore wrote with his son.
Do you know of any other recent/upcoming YA adult book written by sf/f authors who normally don't write YA?
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday September 10, 2008 at 11:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Not that I like to promote Nickelodeon or anything, but I bought my young 'un a copy of Nickelodeon Comics' Spongebob Squarepants special issue because, let's face it, everybody could use a little sponge (if you know what I mean). It sports a 2-page "Super-Zeroes" feature listing some lame superheroes.
Here's their list with excerpts:
- Black Spider (created in 1940) - "Unlike the famous wall-crawler, Black Spider doesn't have super powers or an elaborate costume. He has a black mask and he has come spiders - and that seems to be enough for him to get the job done."
- Madam Fatal (created in 1940) - "A lot of superheroes wear tights and capes to fight crime, but actor Richard Stanton - alias Madam Fatal - puts on a wig and a dress."
- Music Master (created in 1943) - "As the Music Master, [John Wallace] is able to pull music notes out of the air...and use them as weapons and tools. He can also ride notes, allowing him to fly."
- The Whizzer (created in 1941) - Bob Frank's African Jungle fever is cured with mongoose blood, enabling him to run with the speed of a mongoose. (Of course!) "Bob returns to New Yoirk to fight crime and, perhaps inspired by his bright yellow costume, calls himself The Whizzer."
- Matter-Eater Lad (created in 1962) - "Matter-Eater Lad comes from the planet Bismoll (as in Pepto?) where the inhabitants have the ability to eat any substance."
- Dazzler (created in 1980) - "Born with the ability to shine blinding colored lights from her head and hands, she puts on roller skates, a white jumpsuit, and a mirror-ball necklace and becomes Dazzler - the first disco superhero comics star."
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday September 10, 2008 at 1:01 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Interviews and profiles:
- @Reality Break Podcast: Bruce Sterling (The Caryatids).
- @io9: Neal Stephenson (Anathem).
- @Baen: The 1st in a series of military sf interviews, Tom Kratman (A Desert Called Peace).
- @SciFi Wire : Dave Duncan (Ill Met in the Arena) and Gary Phillips and Christopher Chambers, editors of The Darker Mask.
- Tobias Buckell (Sly Mongoose) gets some interview love at The Nebula Awards and Crucial Pop.
- Television producer (and avid sf book reader/promoter) Joseph Mallozi has a great lineup of author guests in the coming weeks:
- Week of September 15th: Justina Robson (Keeping It Real).
- Week of September 22nd: Glen Cook The Black Company.
- Week of September 29th: Sarah Langan (The Missing).
- Week of October 27th: John Twelve Hawks (The Traveler)
- Week of November 3rd: David Anthony Durham (Acacia).
- Week of November 10th: Brian Lumley Necroscope (I've been wanting to read this one for years).
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- Mary Robinette Kowal reads he story "Evil Robot Monkey". [via SFFaudio]
- @Manybooks: The Crack of Doom by Robert Cromie (1895).
- Audio Fiction@ PodCastle "It Takes a Town" by Stephen V. Ramey, read by Bill Ruhsam.
- @Byzarium:
- "The Mistman" by Michael John Grist.
- "An Occurrence at Oakpost Sundries" by Jacob P. Silvia.
- Now blogging: Artists Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. [via Irene Gallo]
- Cover Pr0n: Prime Books shows off the covers of their Years Best anthologies for SF & Fantasy.
- Heinlein's Fan Mail Solution: A form letter. [via Cynical-C]
- Speaking of Heinlein, Jerry Pournelle reveals that Baen will release an eBook version of Take Back Your Government, Heinlein's nonfiction book about practical politics. [via File 770, who offers more juicy Heinlein links]
- Cory Doctorow has a new collection of essays called Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future.
- "The difficulty of writing near-future sf has to do with the complexity of the world and the way that things develop in a very unpredictable way...," says Jetse de Vries.
- Colleen Lindsay gives the "cold, hard economic facts of the bookstore signing". [via Andrew Wheeler]
- The Fly: The Opera has a website. Heeelp meee..... [via File 770]
- GeekAlerts shows us an $18,000 Darth Vader Bronze Statue.
- Lists:
- @io9: The Greatest Concept Album Adaptations of Classic Scifi Tales.
- @Eyrie of the Arch-Anarch: Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy for Libertarians.
- @Popular Mechanics: The Best Neal Stephenson Characters.
- @Topless Robot: The 10 Most Annoying Post-Apocalyptic Worlds.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday September 10, 2008 at 12:10 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
In a move that will be sure to please John, Sci Fi Wire is reporting that Stephen J. Cannell, creator of the original Greatest American Hero TV series, confirmed that a feature film, based on the TV show, is in the works.
They have a screenplay and have hired a director and are working to put the movie together. Rumor has it that the director is Stephen Herek, probably best known for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, and lesser known for Critters and Mr. Holland's Opus. This will be a reboot, with new cast members in the familiar roles.
Even better, it seems that Cannell wants the original cast, Connie Selleca, William Katt and Robert Culp to be in the movie, in roles larger than cameos. Additionally, there appears to be a some webisodes in the works, starring the voice talents of the original cast.
What with all the comic heroes making the transition to the silver screen, it was only a matter of time before Greatest American Hero received its shot as well. However, will a light-hearted superhero film work? Is the movie going audience only expecting dark, brooding heroes now? We'll see, and John will be first in line at the theater.
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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday September 09, 2008 at 10:24 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
REVIEW SUMMARY: A weaker outing in the otherwise hugely enjoyable Old Man's War universe.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Zoe is a very likable character; previously-unseen scenes filed in plot holes of The Last Colony.
CONS: Not the popcorn action book I was expecting; some action sent offstage; readers of The Last Colony may feel like they've been here before.
BOTTOM LINE: Didn't give me the same kick that I got from Scalzi's other Old Man's War books.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 09, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Asimov's has posted the table of contents for the October/November 2008 issue:
Novellas
- "The Erdmann Nexus" by Nancy Kress
- "Truth" by Robert Reed
- "Defending Elysium" by Brandon Sanderson
- "The English Mutiny" by Ian R. McLeod
- "Listening for Submarines" by Peter Higgins
- "Prayers for an Egg" by Sara Genge
- "Money is No Object" by Leslie What
- "Dhuluma No More" by Gord Sellar
- "Cat in the Rain" by Jack Skillingstead
- "The First Dancers" by Michael Meyerhofer
- "Return of Zombie Teen Angst" by Mike Allen
- "Goodbye Billy Goat Gruff" by Jane Yolen
- "A Crisis of Forest" by Sandra Lindlow
- Editorial: The 2008 Dell Magazines Award by Sheila Wiliams
- Reflections: Beaming It Down by Robert Silverberg
- On The Net: Alternativity by James Patrick Kelly
- On Books: Post-Genre Speculative Fiction by Norman Spinrad
- The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 09, 2008 at 12:23 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Interzone #218 is releasing this week. Here's what's in it:
Fiction:
- "Poppyfields" by Chris Becket
- "Greenland" by Chris Becket
- "Rat Island" by Chris Becket
- "If" by Daniel Akselrod & Lenny Royter
- "His Master's Voice" by Hannu Rajaniemi
- "The Corner of the Circle" by Tim Lees
- Ansible Link by David Langford (news, gossip, obituaries)
- Book Reviews
- Interviews with Charles Stross and Gareth L. Powell
- Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe (film reviews)
- Laser Fodder by Tony Lee (DVD reviews)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 09, 2008 at 12:20 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
I'm into sci-fi (sci-fi,sci-fi),
I'm into sci-fi ufo,
I think that I spy (I spy,i spy),
That where I go, The Force will go,
But these opinions,
I keep to myself,
I leave my Asimov,
Closed on the shelf.
[via PiraceTam]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 09, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Don't mind being spoiled about the last season of Galactica and its follow-on movie, The Plan? Then head on over to io9's article that has a lot of tantalizing bits of info.
- Vince Horiuchi of the Salt Lake Tribune has a decidedly negative take on the pilot episode of Abrams' new series, Fringe. Although calling the series a mix of X-files and Altered States is wrong. The pilot, yes, the series, no.
- Tim Kring promises that by the end of the third hour of season three of Heroes, many open questions will be answered. Probably not: "Why are you keeping Nikki around? Are you insane?" Plus a lot more stuff from him and Zachary Quinto.
- ABC's really getting into this SF thing. They are going to develop a new SF series using an idea never seen before in the history of SF TV: alien first contact with Earth. The series is called The Return and will be penned by Rene Echevarria.
- ComicMix interviews Joss Whedon about the new Dark Horse comic which will answer the question: who is Shepard Book?
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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday September 09, 2008 at 12:06 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Interviews & Profiles:
- Neal Stephenson's long-awaited and much-anticipated Anathem releases today. Here's a interesting podcast-interview of Neal talking about Anathem at Book Expo. Neal essentially says that short-attention span is no good and people need to spend more time thinking deeper about things. At least that's what I think he says...that interview was, like, really long. Hi-yo! :) (Want more? Amazon and YouTube have a slew of videos about Anathem's themes, origins and layout.)
- @io9: Doctor Who scribe Paul Cornell.
- @SciFi Scanner: J.J. Abrams. (Bonus: They ask J.J. about my proclamation of him being SciFi's new overlord.)
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- "Dead Like Me" by Adam-Troy Castro, a story that can be also be found in the zombie anthology The Living Dead.
- Lilith Saintcrow is serializing her novel Selene. Here's Part 9.
- @Feedbooks: Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link (2001).
- @Fantasy Magazine: "A Foreigner's View of the River" by A. M. Muffaz.
- @Manybooks: "A Brief Guide To Other Histories" by Paul McAuley.
- @Strange Horizons: "The Future Hunters" by Christopher J. Clarke.
- Audio Fiction @Miette's bedtime story podcast: "When I Was Miss Dow" by Sonya Dorman.
- Video: Christopher Paolini reads from Brisingr.
- Jo Walton reviews George R. R. Martin's The Armageddon Rag.
- Cover Pr0n of the future:
- Bob Eggleton's cover for an upcoming issue of F&SF.
- John Picacio's Cover for Muse of Fireby Dan Simmons.
- One for aspiring writers: Publishers Weekly is holding a Book Publishing 101 seminar in New York on September 22nd.
- Electric Velocipede is running a subscription drive. $20 gets you four issues in the U.S. $150 will get you copies of all past and future issues, and more...
- Should SF&F books have maps included for the readers?
- Real science: Mark Chadbourn asks, "Should scientists forget Space?"
- Lists:
- Mike Brotherton lists Ten Issues with Hard Science Fiction.
- @Great White Snark: The Top 5 Unexpectedly Bad-Ass Geek Heroes.
- @SciFi Wire: 10 Guaranteed SF Weepers.
- @Discover Magazine: 5 Things That Can Fix Torchwood.
- Seperated at Birth? John "Spock" Picacio and Chris "Spock" Roberson.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday September 09, 2008 at 12:04 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Today is the anniversary of the first-ever Star Trek episode, "The Man Trap," which aired on NBC in 1966.
In it, a "shape-shifting, salt-craving creature terrorizes the crew of Enterprise". No, it's not Richard Simmons, but it still made Wired's list of 10 Cheesiest Classic Star Trek Creatures.
Head on over to CBS to watch the full episode of "The Man Trap". (What, no embed capability! Bah!)
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 08, 2008 at 12:51 PM
© 2008 SF Signal
The new fall SF TV season kicks off with a bang this Monday with the return of The Sarah Connor Chronicles and on Tuesday, with the premier of Fringe, by supposed new uber-geek, J.J. Abrams. I've seen the pilot, and it's enough to get me to watch the next few in the series. Certainly it was better than what Heroes has become.
But there is a lot more to this new season than just Fringe. I'm going to take a look at each day, starting with Monday, and I'll go over my thoughts for each genre show that we find (thanks to Futon Critic for this awesomely detailed guide to the Fall season for the assist).
Read more...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday September 08, 2008 at 11:28 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
REVIEW SUMMARY: A combination wacky pop-culture alt-history and moving portrait of mental illness
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Del has to try to understand the demons that are possessing him and plaguing the world.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: An excellent integration of fun, plot, and emotion.
CONS: Some of the fun may be padding.
BOTTOM LINE: An excellent effort by an already polished author.
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Posted by Karen Burnham at Monday September 08, 2008 at 12:29 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
With apologies to the Bard...
I've been looking forward to the new PC game, Spore, for awhile now. I even went so far as to purchase the Spore Creature Creator to get a taste of the game. (Result: Needed more info than was provided to me, but I'm slow)
The hype just kept building, but a few chinks in the damn appeared this past week, with a couple of European sites giving Spore less than awesome reviews, citing a general lack of gameplay as the main reason. Sure, all the stages of the game are interesting in concept, but the actual 'fun' was left out to some degree. I see the Metacritic score is rather high from the review sites, but a lot lower from the actual gaming public. Strike one.
Then along came word that Walter John Williams actually wrote all the dialog and some of the space situations for the game. A real life SF writer writing real life, SF for a game. Awesome! The count is now: 1 ball, 1 strike.
Read more...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday September 08, 2008 at 12:20 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 08, 2008 at 12:15 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Golden Age Batman, Superman, Flash papercraft! Awesome. [via Super Punch]
- The Agony Column interviews Kathleen Ann Goonan (In War Times).
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @Apex: "The Limb Knitter" by Steven Francis Murphy.
- @Munseys: "A World Called Crimson" by Darius John Granger (1956).
- @Manybooks: The Day of the Nefilim by David L. Major (2002).
- Free Speculative Fiction Online has added a ton of new additions this week.
- Audio fiction @Beam Me Up: The Conclusion of "Bodies in the Water" by Jack Mangan and "Gentle Art of Salesmanship" by Shaun Saunders, both read by Paul Cole.
- Ted Kosmatka reports that Gardner Dozois, editor of the annual Year's Best Science Fiction series, will be reviewing short fiction for Locus Magazine, replacing Nick Gevers (as per John Joseph Adams's comment).
- Ray Bradbury and the State of the Public Library.
- Jonathan Strahan has posted a revised table of contents for Eclipse 2.
- Former Dark Horse publisher Victoria Blake has started a new publishing house called Underland Press which specializes in dark fantasy/Sci Fi/New Weird fiction.
- The Sci Fi Catholic sez: Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from Grimm's Fairy Tales: "All elderly women practice magic. Some are evil witches, and some are good fairies; they're impossible to tell apart, but if you don't guess right, you're screwed."
- Night Shade books has a facebook page.
- One for the writers: Damage that an author can do to his or her career by choosing the vanity press route. [via swivet]
- International Society of Supervillains list The 11 Lamest Supervillains in History, Ever. (See also: Movie Superheroes Who Are Also Jerks.) Neatorama
- Obvious Math, Part I: Star Wars + Pink Floyd = Dark Side of the Moon.
- Obvious Math, Part II: Tricia Helfer + Katee Sackhoff + Harley Davidson = SciFi Biker Pr0n. [Not that I subscribe to Tricia Helfer's blog feed or anything...]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday September 08, 2008 at 12:08 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- And now for the J.J. Abrams/Fringe portion of our bits:
- Wired has a really nice interview with Fringe co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci. They talk Fringe, Star Trek and a bunch of other stuff they're involved in. How does one get that gig?
- MovieWeb also has an interview dealing with Fringe, this time with Abrams himself and with male lead Joshua Jackson. I do like, however, Abrams saying the storied in the show are not influenced by the politics of the times, just the science.
- Fox is going high-tech to measure ad effectiveness during the premier of Fringe. During a test screening of the pilot, a group of viewers were outfitted with a biometrics vest to measure heart rate and respiration, indicators of ad effectiveness. It's just one more step from there to VR suits, but who knew it would be the commercials leading the way?
- Would you let your kids watch Stargate: Continuum? Wired Blogs has a handy parents guide to the movie to help you decide!
- Masi Oka banned from Scrubs finale, by NBC. I guess being on a rival network will do that.
- Having played The Force Unleashed demo, I can now say, "I'm in!" See a cool TV commercial below:
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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday September 08, 2008 at 12:04 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
I have fond memories of the vector graphics Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back arcade games. So it was a trip down memory lane to see that Game Trailers has a 9-part (so far) retrospective of Star Wars video games.
Here are the first 3 "episodes" of that retrospective, and links to the rest:
Episode I:
Episode II:
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday September 07, 2008 at 10:56 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
Dan helps a young woman faced with 20 years in prison; while stranding his wife at her gala fundraiser.
Don't worry, the show is slowly building its way towards the more interesting episodes...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday September 07, 2008 at 12:23 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @FeedBooks: "Security" by Ernest M. Kenyon.
- Audio Fiction:
- @LibriVox: Space Viking by H. Beam Piper, read by Mark Nelson [SFFaudio].
- @LibriVox: The People that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs, read by Ralph Snelson. [via SFFaudio]
- @Escape Pod: "Private Detective Molly" by A.B. Goelman, read by Stephen Eley.
- On Spider on the Web #54, Spider Robinson reads an excerpt from his and Jeanne Robinson's Stardance and John Varley's "Options."
- Lou Anders reveals the secret Pyr/Stargate: Atlantis connection.
- S.M. Duke talks about media tie-ins
- SF author Will Shetterly is dabbling with short films. Here's A Knock at the Door.
- Real Science: New Scientist's Special Reports on Robots.
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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday September 07, 2008 at 12:11 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
MY RATING: 
In case you've been under a rock, LucasArts is about to release a new video game called The Force Unleashed. This game takes place between Episode III and Episode IV, about 2 years before A New Hope. As you might expect from the Lucas, the marketing juggernaut is out in full force with both a novelization and comic adaptation of the game. Yes, a novelization based on a video game based on a movie franchise. Sort of a media-tie-in of a media-tie-in.
Having never been a big comic guy, I decided to go ahead and get the graphic novel and give it a run through. Maybe my lack if comic experience is coming into play here, but I had some issues with the story, as presented in comic form.
Read more...
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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday September 06, 2008 at 12:10 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
- Interviews and Profiles:
- @Concept Sci-fi: Neal Asher (The Engineer Reconditioned).
- @RevolutionSF: Patrice Sarath (Gordath Wood).
- @Eos: A recording of Neal Stephenson's live interview from earlier this week.
- @YMB: Tobias Buckell (Sly Mongoose).
- Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- Lilith Saintcrow is serializing her novel Selene. Here's Part 8.
- @Manybooks: "The Good Neighbors" by Edgar Pangborn (1960).
- Audio Fiction:
- @Pseudopod: "Jihad over Innsmouth" by Edward Morris, read by Ben Phillips.
- @Well Told Tales: Part two of "I Killed Awesome Man" written and produced by Finn Colgan, performed by a full cast.
- @PodCastle: The Desires of Houses by Haddayr Copley-Woods, read by Rachel Swirsky.
- Excerpt: Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre.
- Beautify an orc and you could win a copy of Orbit's Orcs omnibus!
- Check out this Star Wars influence chart at Kottke.
- Real science: Mars Water Mystery Surfaces: "A fork-like probe on the Phoenix Mars Lander has sensed changes in humidity in the Martian air, but finds the dirt below perplexingly dry."
- Lists:
- Philip Pullman's essential reading list.
- @Pop Vultures: 5 Creepiest, Scariest TV Monsters. [via Whedonesque]
- Ten Things Mike Brotherton Hates About Science Fiction.
- James Wallace Harris' All-Time Favorite Time Travel Stories. "All You Zombies" by Robert A. Heinlein...good call. Ken Grimwood's Replay...great book, but I'm not sure I'd classify it as time travel.
- Retrospace look up...I mean at...Short Skirts in the Sci-Fi Future. [Update: Crotchety Old Fan responds.]
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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday September 06, 2008 at 12:05 AM
© 2008 SF Signal
I've got a new post up at SciFi Scanner today:
SciFi Fans, You Have a New Overlord and His Name is J.J. Abrams
Watch as I denounce as driving sources in science fiction:
- George Lucas (easy)
- Ronald Moore (bold)
- Steven Moffat(brave)
- [Gasp!] Joss Whedon (foolhardy)
Drop a comment over there if you want to set me straight.
[UPDATE: SciFi Scanner interviews Abrams and asks him about my proclamation of him being SciFi's new overlord. Heh-heh...]
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