Last April we noted that Dan Simmons' awesome Hyperion Cantos had been optioned by Warner Bros. to be brought to the big screen. Things must be moving behind the scenes as Warner Bros. has tapped Scott Derrickson to direct. Derrickson's last film was the forgettable The Day The Earth Stood Still. Having not seen that movie, I can't comment on whether Derrickson is a good director or not. But damn, this will be a hard one to direct.

The writer will be Trevor Sands, who will be adapting both Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion all into one movie. Good luck with that. The sheer breadth and scope of the books cannot possibly be handled by any movie that is roughly 2, or even 2 1/2 hours long. It's just not going to happen. Inevitably, something will have to go. I'm guessing characters will be dropped or condensed and all the stories from the first book will be either axed or only referenced in passing. Then, the conflict with the Ousters will be blow up (heh) into a summer, science fiction SFX extravaganza! You could say I'm skeptical. I see Sands has written a movie I've never seen, but more interesting is that he has worked on the adaptations for Six Million Dollar Man and Startide Rising (which is another of my top 10 SF books, something I'd love to see on the big screen and probably not possible to do the book justice). Sands looks to have some SF pedigree, but the lack of his screenplays actually being made into movies isn't reassuring.

I'll stay skeptical, but I will continue to watch this. For something fun, let's resurrect the casting game from the original post! Who do you think should play:

The Consul
Brawne Lamia
Sol Weintraub and his daughter Rachel
Marting Silenus
Colonel Kassad
Father Hoyt
The Shrike (I'm guessing CGI Andy Serkis again. He certainly has a face for CGI! J/K Andy!)

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday January 31, 2009 at 12:59 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Two things the world needs more of: The Wrath of Khan and Robot Chicken.

[via Neatorama]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 31, 2009 at 12:50 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Free Excerpt: BookSpot Central is featuring a preview of the first three chapters of The Dragon's Nine Sons by Chris Roberson, one on my favorite reads. The latest book in Roberson's Celestial Empire series, Three Unbroken, has just been released.


• Jeff VanderMeer reveals The genesis of Shriek: An Afterword.


• There's a less-than-stellar interview at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist with Glen Cook. More enlightening, perhaps, are the responses by Andrew Wheeler and Matt Staggs.


• Awards News: Winners of 2008 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards have been announced. [via Locus Online]


• Neal Asher really likes showing off his bookcases!


• Empire Online has some cool Watchmen Portraits, which quite frankly, put the Wolverine poster to shame.


• Jeff Somers hates Fringe. "...I watched my first episode of Fringe, and it sucked." It didn't help that his first exposure was in the episode in which a computer virus liquefies your brains. What is it, I wonder, that makes me tolerate such foolery on one show (Fringe, which I still like) and denounce it on others (like Heroes) to the point where I stop watching it?


• Over ar Mania, Tim Janson lists The Top 15 Greatest Science Fiction Writers of All-Time. Sadly, Pel Toro is not on the list. Is your favorite author on the list?


• Ectoplasmosis offers this tongue-in-cheek The Three Laws of Female Robotics. [Sexy cat noise!]


• SFX offers this Brief History Of Sci-Fi TV Spin-Offs. I'm thrilled (and by "thrilled" I mean "nauseated") to see the unique level of suck that is Galactica 1980 make the list. Please, SFX, don't remind me!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 31, 2009 at 12:45 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

He starts off okay, but his finish is way off the mark.

[via Poe TV]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday January 30, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Drawn! interviews Shaun Tan, who is also profiled on Omnivoracious.
  • Joseph Mallozzi interviews Jeff Vandermeer.
  • @NewsMiner: David Marusek (Mind Over Ship).
  • @Los Angeles Times: Star Trek director J.J. Abrams (part 1), who says that the reboot is true to the original, but also a "completely different experience". I don't care as long as it's good.


• Tor.com serves up some more free wallpaper featuring art by Gregory Manchess and Stephan Martiniere.


• Meanwhile, io9 posts a decent gallery of Pulp SF Book Covers.


• Free Flash Fiction: "The Fallen Angel" by Mike Resnick. [via Fred K.]


• Free Excerpt: Read the first 9 chapters of Eric Nylund's new book, Mortal Coils.


• Neil Gaiman really digs the button. The video was shot in Gaiman's home. I would gladly give him many, many buttons in exchange for his library room.


• Amazon prepares to launch new Kindle reader. No details yet on what's new. [via Bookninja]


• William Shatner remembers Ricardo Montalban. Quite fondly, I might add. Get a room! Oh, and Shatner re-attempts his famous "Khaaan!" yell. Epic fail on that one.


• The Website at the End of the Universe points to this article on How to Stop Accumulating Books. Yeah, as if.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday January 30, 2009 at 12:09 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

At Futurismic, Adam Roberts accuses Science Fiction book awards of being rubbish, arguing that only the distance of time can indicate the best:

But awards lists and best-ofs are rubbish [...] The problem is timescale.

It is a convention, no less foolish for being deeply rooted, that the proper prominence from which to pause, look back and make value judgments, is at the end of the year in question. This is wrongheaded in a number of reasons. One has to do with the brittleness of snap-judgments (why else do you think they're called snap?). Take those fans and [awards-panelists] of the 1960s and 1970s who really really thought that the crucial figures of the genre were the often-garlanded Spider Robinson or Mack Reynolds rather than the rarely noticed Philip K Dick. They weren't corrupt; they just spoke too soon.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 29, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• ABC seems to be going gaga for genre. On the heels of greenlighting a pilot for a re-make of V, ABC has also given the go ahead for another TV adaption of the John Updike novel, The Witches of Eastwick, which many people will remember was also a big screen movie starring Jack Nicholson. I actually saw that movie in the theater (why? I wonder now), and so I'd have to give this news a big 'meh', even if it is a genre show.
• NBC appears to be getting into the genre pilot act as well, giving the nod to Day One, a post-apocalyptic drama from Jesse Alexander, writer for Heroes. Post-apocalyptic is good (especially if they can make it as memorable as Fallout 3), writer for Heroes is sending up a red flag. I'm not sure what episodes Jesse has been involved in, so it's possible he's only worked on the 'good' ones. I'm still interested to see this, though I'd really like to see Niven's Lucifer's Hammer on the small screen.
• Cast your mind back (if you're old enough) to that golden era known as early 1980's TV and to one show in particular: The A-Team. Never has there been a show with so much ammo expended with so little actual on target hits, though the brass manufacturers got a boost. Now Warner Bros. is going ahead with a big screen adaptation of The A-Team, with Ridley Scott (yes, Ridley Scott) set to produce and his brother, Tony Scott set to exec produce.They will keep the original template of the show, 4 Vietnam vets escape from a military prison to become do-gooder mercenaries, as the basis for an action film. Let's hope these new actors are better shots. But my goodness, who in the heck could ever replace Mr. T? Here's the intro, with one of my all time favorite TV show theme music:
  
  
  
• Many former fans of Battlestar Galactica would mark the reveal of the 'Secret Cylon Society' and the use of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" as the catalyst for the reveal, as the moment when Galactica finally reached the other side of the shark. But! Those crazy kids over in the game EVE Online, took the music by Bear McCreary and created this really cool machinima that shows some of the battles that make up the backstory of EVE. Well played gentlemen. Now if only EVE didn't have a learning cliff involved, and be friendly to non-hardcore types, I might play it. Note to the BG producers: This is how you use the song correctly, as a backdrop to all out war and not for amnesiac Cylons. (Watch the HD version if you can)
  
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday January 29, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @Subterranean Online: Nick Gevers interviews Kage Baker (The Empress of Mars). [via Locus Online]
  • NPR interviews Neil Gaiman about his Newbery win for The Graveyard Book. [via Locus Online]
  • Locus Online has interview excerpts with Frederik Pohl (Platinum Pohl) and Daryl Gregory (Pandemonium).
  • The Penguin Podcast features podcast from Kelly Link (Pretty Monsters)
  • @Adventures in SciFi Publishing: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, authors of the new Dragonships of Vindras series.
  • @Wyrdsmiths: David J. Williams (Mirrored Heavens)
  • @Blogging the Muse: Scott Sigler (Contagious).
  • @io9: Artist Daniel LuVisi, who has some concept art for the upcoming adaptation of World War Z by Max Brooks.


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • @Everyday Weirdness: "The Difficulties of Writing a Novel (in a Zeppelin Fortress)" by Jens Rushing.
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @LibriVox: Short Ghost and Horror Story Collection 001 by Various.
    • @Maria Lectrix: The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, Jr. (Chapter 9).
    • @StarShipSofa: Fiction from Lewis Shiner and Ken MacLeod.


• Award News: The Horror Writers Association has announced the winners of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and F. Paul Wilson. [via Juno Books]


• Adam Whitehead gives an exhaustive history of George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series in his essay A Defence of Dragons, Part 1.


• At The Guardian Books Blog, the article Science fiction: the genre that dare not speak its name talks about the mainstreaming of science fiction: "Mainstream authors and publishers seem happy to appropriate the tropes of science fiction but not the label itself."


• James Enge rants about the Guardian's Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels Everyone Must Read list.


• Erika Nelson looks at the parenting angle of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: "The novel's statement on education is equally nebulous and contradictory. Some theorists have seen a straight-ahead moral of the important role parents play in educating and nurturing children, but there is a more conservative message, as well."


• Mindy Klasky talks about when to toss a book. I use The 33% Rule.


• New places to get fiction:
  • M-BRANE SF is a new genre magazine available in PDF.
  • NewFiction.com offers free, episodic "iSoap" audio books.


• SciFi Songmeister John Anealio has another song up for your aural pleasure: "Leodora", inspired by the Shadowbridge/Lord Tophet duology by Gregory Frost.


• Not a Planet Anymore lists Top 5 most bad-ass Doctor Who moments. I dunno, those weeping angels in "Blink" that aren't on the list scared the begeezus out of me...


• Movie Sequels and Adaptations:
  • A sequel to Blade Runner? Really? Sigh.
  • I would have guessed that the final Watchmen poster would have the omnipresent smiley face. Oh well.
  • John Scalzi lists SF Books that Would Make Great Adaptations.
  • The guy writing the upcoming Gears of War movie wants it to be a "darker Lord of the Rings". Personally, I think the world is ready for a slapstick comedy version of Lord of the Rings. [via SciFi Scanner]
  • Variety has an update on Universal's remake of The Thing: Dawn of the Dead director Matthijs Van Heijningen will directing the script by BSG's Ron Moore. According to Variety, this adaptation will lean heavily from the John W. Campbell Jr's original short story "Who Goes There", which was the basis of both the 1982 John Carpenter film and the 1951 Howard Hawks "The Thing From Another World." We recently showcased Carpenter's The Thing in a "Sunday Cinema" posting a few months ago, which only proved that old Confuscious saying: "You can never get enough Wilford Brimley."

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 29, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Some of SF Signal's readers are aspiring writers, so we thought we take this week to ask some published writers in the genre to dispense with some useful writerly advice. Here's what we asked them:

And here are their collective words of wisdom...

It was Lester who pointed out to me that I was working from a false premise. "Even if all you're concerned with is making money," he said, "you're going about it the wrong way. You're knocking out penny-a-word stories as fast as you can, and, sure, you're pulling in the quick bucks very nicely. But you're shortchanging yourself, because all that you'll ever make from what you're writing now is the check you get for it today. Those stories will die the day they're published. They won't get into anthologies and won't be bought for translation and nobody will want you to put together a collection of them. Whereas if you were writing at the level that I know you're capable of, you'd be creating a body of work that will go on bringing in money for the rest of your life. So by going for the easy money you're actually cutting your future income."

I pointed out that when I wrote at the level I was capable of, I had trouble selling the stories. He laughed at that. It was a temporary phenomenon, he said. Now that my name was established -- I had won a Hugo my second year as a writer, and my name was in all the magazines -- the editors would pay more attention.

I began to upgrade the product. Everything sold; and, encouraged by the steady acceptance of what I thought of as my "real" science fiction, I moved quickly away from my hack markets, most of which had died off anyway. And, sure enough, I started to get my stories into anthologies, I sold them to British and French and German magazines, I got offers from publishers to do collections of my work. Lester had been right: the quick buck wasn't the best buck. Simply in terms of a basic goal of making money from my writing, I had taken the wrong track, because junk was never reprinted, and good stories lived on and on. And, of course, even then I knew that I wanted more out of a career in science-fiction than just making money, because I had been a reader before I became a writer, and I had dreamed of writing the sort of work that had the same impact on readers that the work of my great predecessors had had on me. If I simply had wanted to be a hack, I would have done a lot better writing for True Confessions. So I shifted away from the kind of churn-'em-out stuff I had done in my earlier years, and people began to notice the change. The Hugos and Nebulas and guest-of-honor invitations followed, and, many years later, the Grand Master award -- and simply on the financial level I did a lot better than I would if I had, Gernsback forbid, spent my whole life writing potboilers. Probably I would have figured all that out on my own. But Lester del Rey's blunt words, back there in 1957 or 1958, brought me to my senses a lot faster than would otherwise have been the case.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 28, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Several weeks back, I read and enjoyed Hater by David Moody, a tense thriller with science fictional leanings.

St Martin's is allowing us to offer the first four chapters right here on SF Signal. Read Chapter 1 below. The next chapter will appear next week.

HATER
by David Moody
Chapter 1

THURSDAY

SIMMONS, REGIONAL MANAGER FOR a chain of main street discount stores, slipped his change into his pocket then neatly folded his newspaper in half and tucked it under his arm. He quickly glanced at his watch before leaving the shop and rejoining the faceless mass of shoppers and office workers crowding the city center sidewalks outside. He checked through his date book in his head as he walked. Weekly sales meeting at ten, business review with Jack Staynes at eleven, lunch with a supplier at one-thirty...

He stopped walking when he saw her. At first she was just another face on the street, nondescript and unimposing and as irrelevant to him as the rest of them were. But there was something different about this particular woman, something which made him feel uneasy. In a split second she was gone again, swallowed up by the crowds. He looked around for her anxiously, desperate to find her among the constantly weaving mass of figures which scurried busily around him. There she was. Through a momentary gap in the bodies he could see her coming toward him. No more than five feet tall, hunched forward and wearing a faded red raincoat. Her wiry gray-white hair was held in place under a clear plastic rain hood and she stared ahead through the thick lenses of her wide-rimmed glasses. She had to be eighty if she was a day, he thought as he looked into her wrinkled, liver-spotted face, so why was she such a threat? He had to act quickly before she disappeared again. He couldn't risk losing her. For the first time he made direct eye contact with her and he knew immediately that he had to do it. He had no choice. He had to do it and he had to do it right now.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 28, 2009 at 12:24 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Brandon Sanderson has released his newest novel Warbreaker under a Creative Commons License. The book will officially be released by Tor Books in June 2009.

Get it while it's hot!

[via Grasping for the Wind]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 28, 2009 at 12:16 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Somehow, the game based on the Coraline movie doesn't quite capture the look of the film.

[via Robots and Vamps]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 28, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • Mike Brotherton interviews Eric Nylund (Mortal Coils).
  • John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to Carrie Vaughn, author of Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand.


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • Jeff Somers, author of (The Electric Church, The Digital Plague and the forthcoming The Eternal Prison) is Twittering a short story, a few lines at a time.[via Orbit]
  • @Strange Horizons: part two of "The Shangri-La Affair" by Lavie Tidhar
  • @Manybooks: "Light-Years Ahead of His Time" by Joseph Devon.
  • @Space Westerns: "The Reckoning" by John P. Wilson.
  • @Mindflights: "Marionettes" by Mike Simon.
  • @Kat and Mouse: Guns for Hire part four of "Easy Money" by Abner Senires.
  • @Polu Texni: part two of "Very Truly Yours" by Seth Gordon.
  • AntipodeanSF has its 128th issue out with fiction by Jill Smith, Julie Cohen Wornan, Kirstyn McDermott, Matthew Sanborn Smith, Angie Smibert, Shaun A. Saunders, Richard Thorne, Mark Farrugia, Ashley Hibbert, and Felicity Dowker. [via Beam Me Up]
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @Beam Me Up: the conclusion of "People of Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi, read by Paul Cole and "They're Made out of Meat!" by Terry Bisson, read by Ron Huber.
    • @Pseudopod: "The Ashen Thing" by Paul Mannering, read by Ben Phillips.
    • @Mister Ron's Basement: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" by F. Scott Fitzgerald story.
    • @The Cthulhu Podcast: "The Mask" by Roberts W Chambers, read by Peter Yearsley.
    • Scott Sigler has chapter eight of Contagious.


• Short fiction venue Realms of Fantasy is shutting down after its April 2009 issue. See responses from Ben Peek, Cherie Priest, Irene Gallo, Jim van Pelt, Liz Williams, Robert J. Sawyer, and Jonathan Strahan.


• Cover Pr0n:
  • Deathtroopers by Joe Schreiber
  • Bob Eggleton has posted the cover art for The Other in the Mirror, the forthcoming Philip José Farmer omnibus collecting the novels Fire and the Night, Jesus on Mars, and Night of Light due out from Subterranean Press. [via Christopher Paul Carey, who tells us there's also a new Wold Newton novel on the way]


• Viz Media is launching the imprint Hhaikasoru, helmed by sf author Nick Mamatas, to publish contemporary Japanese science fiction novels in English.


• Crooked Timber on Why you should read Charles Stross: "Science fiction is, more than anything, a literature of ideas. And Charles Stross has more ideas than is probably healthy for one man."


• Lists:
  • S.M. Duke wants your input on a Steampunk Reading List he found.
  • Popular Mechanics lists 20 Must-Have Blu-ray HD Epics.
  • @SciFi Scanner: The 10 Worst Superhero Actors of all Time and Great Flicks Based on Fake Games.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 28, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Artist Dusty Abell has created that awesome SF TV Shows of the 70's picture you see above. See his Deviant Art post for larger versions. Simply amazing, as is how many of the shows referenced in this picture I've seen, as a kid (a complete list can be found here, in the comments). In case you were wondering where the Saturday morning shows are, they are over here, also in a sweet picture. Of course, for the most part, the remembrances from childhood are actually cooler, and better, than the actual shows were. Still, nice job Dusty!
• Popular Mechanics got a hold of Unofficial SF Signal Theoretical Physicist Michio Kaku an discussed time travel, wormholes and exotic matter. All in the name of LOST of course! Because really, who would talk about that stuff if it weren't on the best SF show currently on TV?
• In an effort to combat sagging ratings, NBC is trying to court viewers for Heroes in the online world at Habbo.com. Habbo is aimed at 13-18 year olds and NBC will create a Heroes avatar in game that will invite others to play a Heroes themed game on both the NBC site an in Habbo.I'm thinking this is a very lame attempt. Why not try to write better stories and characters?
• You may have missed it, but last week marked the 25th anniversary of one of the most iconic TV commercials ever. During Super Bowl XVIII (remember when the Super Bowl was actually in January?), the Ridley Scott directed commercial for the Apple Macintosh created huge buzz for the then new computer. With it's 1984 stylings, it became an instant classic. See for yourself:
  
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday January 28, 2009 at 12:00 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A worthwhile story with interesting themes.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Children endowed with godlike powers for the purposes of terraforming a planet decide that they know better ways of using them.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Great premise; continued sense of foreboding; Evokes lingering emotions.
CONS: Somewhat predictable; the technology behind psyforming is never clearly explained.
BOTTOM LINE: A contemplative story that dwells in your mind after you are done reading it.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 27, 2009 at 1:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Everything else has received the 'steampunk' treatment, and now it's time for Galactica to do the same. Sci Fi's DVICE site is running a design your own steampunk Cylon through March 20th. Winners will receive various Galactica merchandise. In retrospect, a steampunk Cylon sounds only natural.
• Sci Fi Wire speaks with Ron Moore about the upcoming Caprica series that will probably air next year. Moore explains just how Caprica will be like Galactica, and what will be different. Let's hope the tone is lighter than what BG has become, which is pretty much a fleet in search of Zoloft, the antidepressant planet.
• Those kooky execs over at ABC loves them some SF: LOST, Eli Stone (-ish, SF-ish), Life on Mars Jimmy Kimmel Live! (Kimmel has a show as a 'comedian', how is that not SF?). Now you can add the cheesy, but fun, '80's series, V, as ABC has just greenlit a pilot for the remake. I think this is a sure fire hit as there is a distinct lack of rodent chomping aliens looking to steal our water on TV right now. They'll probably find some way to try and force current politics into it. Anyone else rather see Footfall on TV? It's got elephants!
• One non-SF fan's take on the time travel in LOST: As long as there's no paradoxes, it's good. Oh, and nice one tricking me into watching a SF show by not pimping the SF hard till season 5. Remember kids, there's more to time travel than just your average Star Trek romp through time, throwing caution to the causality police.
• In the past I've criticized Legend of the Seeker for making it difficult for new fans to find and watch the show. Well, they must be doing something right, because the show has been re-newed for a second season. At the very least, they took my advice and episodes are now online at Hulu for one and all to see, and as a bonus the first episode is in HD. Nice. See what happens when you follow our advice? You get renewed!
  
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday January 27, 2009 at 12:19 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Not that I needed another reason to vent my excitement for the upcoming movie by writing another post about Watchmen, but Newsarama gives me good reason to. They have the skinny on the latest Watchmen fanboy [looks at self] must-have...this set of Watchmen Kubricks!

For those who may not know who is whom: from left to right, top-to-bottom we have The Comedian, Nite Owl II, Ozymandias, Doctor Manhattan (the blue guy!), Rorschach and Silk Spectre II.

Sadly, these figures are only planned for release in Japan. Too bad...they're way cooler than Star Trek dolls. Take it from me: a grown man would know.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 27, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Awards News: Neil Gaiman Wins Newbery Award for The Graveyard Book. (See also: past winners.)


• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @Bibliophile Stalker: Nick Mamatas (You Might Sleep...).
  • @Rescued By Nerds: David J. Williams (Mirrored Heavens).
  • @SciFi Wire: Justin Gustainis (Evil Ways).
  • @If You're Just Joining Us: A podcast-interview with Charlie Huston (The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death).


• Two early Rudy Rucker's sf novels (The Sex Sphere and Spacetime Donuts) have been re-released with Rudy's own paintings for the cover art.


• Judith Berman offers up this Rather Cranky Post on Verisimilitude in Fantasy: "...if a writer is literate enough to write and publish a book, couldn't he or she manage some basic research into natural history and astronomy?"


• Joseph Mallozzi reviews Jeff Vandermeer's City of Saints and Madmen.


• Can you guess Fiction's Most Realistic Vision Of Our Astrobiological Future? I'd tell you, but...I'm sorry, I can't do that.


• MTV names Boba Fett one of the Greatest Movie Badasses Of All Time.


• Real Science @ Centauri Dreams: A Science Fictional Take on Being There, responds to Robert Metzger's State of the Art science column in the SFWA Bulletin: "Would a species capable of star travel actually need to make the journey, given the advances in technology that would surely make it possible to learn more and more about exoplanets from its own star system?"


• Someone tell me if this video is worth it. I just can't get past the heinous imagery of the headline "Fran Drescher on William Shatner".


• Lists:
  • In case you don't have enough to read, Jessica Merritt lists The Top 100 Science Fiction Blogs, grouped by focus area (perhaps unnecessarily as many of those sites fall under multiple groups). Still a great starting point for good sf on the web! (After you are done here, of course!)
  • A few cool-sounding films make Popular Mechanics' list of The 5 Geekiest Sci-Fi Movies at Sundance 2009.
  • Wired's lists of 10 Science Fiction Films I Cannot Wait to Share With My Kids is perhaps not as useful as [breaks arm patting own back] my own list of 7 Sci-Fi Movies For Parents to Share with Their Kids. I'm just sayin'...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 27, 2009 at 12:10 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Summer 2008 was a banner time for science fiction on the big screen, even if you don't consider The Dark Knight to be SF. 2009 has a slew of interesting looking SF movies scheduled to release, I'm going to take a look at those that have caught my interest. Hold on, 'cause there are a bunch of them.

Why It's Interesting: I have yet to read the graphic novel, but I've heard an incredible amount of good things about it. Even John liked it. Even so, the trailers I've seen just look incredible and the promise of the story makes this a 'must see'. The only issue is can Snyder adapt the novel for the big screen? Will it live up to the hype? My feeling is that this will be huge opening day, with all the fans attending. Follow on success will depend heavily on how good the story is and word of mouth to pull in the non-fans. We'll find out soon.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday January 26, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday January 26, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Geekerati podcast-interviews Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Bones of the Dragon). [via SFFaudio]


• Andrew Wheeler's Collected Thoughts about Mass-Market Paperbacks. (Or, The MMPB Business for Dummies.)


• Proving he's a fan just like the rest of us, Robert J. Sawyer talks about his eBay purchase of this 12-inch fan-made resin statue of Caesar from Planet of the Apes.


• This week see's the premiere of a new Futurismic column: The Adam Roberts Project, currently residing here.


• Dear Author tells us Why ePublishing Needs to Grow Up: "...many of those in charge in the epublishing part of the industry seems intent on killing ebooks." [via MobileRead]


• Leave it to Boing^2 to make sure the world knows about this new Star Wars/Classic Art photoshopping contest.


• Is it me, or is this Tiny Lego Star Destroyer truly uninspired? [via Super Punch]


• Several genre films appear in:
  • Holy Taco's photoshoppery post: If Movie Posters Were More Honest. [via Neatorama]
  • AMC TV's list of Ten Movies With Not-So-Great, Actually Really Bad, Leads. Mark Hamill for the Star Wars Trilogy and Keanu Reeves for The Matrix, I can see. But William Shatner for Star Trek I-VI"? Ouch! That would be a serious blow to the Shat's ego if ever decided to take the time to look away from his mirror. Hiyo!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday January 26, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

I recently met a person who was a major supporter and volunteer for the Boskone science fiction convention. He was concerned that the cons were dying. He indicated that attendance was down at Boskone and at other conventions across the country. He had a few reasons why he thought cons were waning in popularity, but most of them traced to the Internet. He felt that fans no longer felt the need to go to a convention to be with like-minded folks - they had friends online now all the time. He felt that artists and authors no longer had to attend a convention to meet with publishers since they could use the 'net to host portfolios and email treatments.

Honestly, I couldn't find fault with his thinking. Of course I pointed out that the economy this year might be part of the problem - fewer people are traveling to conventions (obviously a luxury item to most.) But he felt it had been declining for years and this wasn't a new phenomenon.

So what do you think? Are they going by the wayside? Is the Internet to blame?

[Image courtesy unforth]

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Sunday January 25, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Gregory Benford's follow-on to The Martian Race about life on the edge of the solar system is innovative and intriguing. There are lots of good ideas here, but the pacing was a little slow for me.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A pair of scientists have been living on and researching Mars for the last couple of decades when they suddenly discover the algae-like moss they have been studying on the planet might have more to it. Before they can study it further, they are ordered out to the edge of the solar system - to Pluto - where another set of scientists have found something truly amazing.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Very interesting sci-fi ideas about life at extremely low temperatures, includes facts based on the very latest science available in biology and planetology, characters were very interesting and well managed.
CONS: Overall story pacing was a little odd, with some parts advancing rapidly and many parts dragging. Ending felt rushed.
BOTTOM LINE: Benford is a scientist and it shows in his writing. I'd recommend this book for the ideas alone, but the characters he creates makes the really worth the time. I just felt the overall progression could have been sped up a bit.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Sunday January 25, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

It's been a long time since I've seen a decent creature movie. Too bad this isn't one. Oh well, at least it features Adam "Jayne" Baldwin.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 25, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Cover Browser has started a gallery if Mad Magazine Star Wars Covers.


• Bibliophile Stalker Charles Tan is keeping a list (A Google spreadsheet, actually) of 2009 Speculative Fiction Anthologies. What a busy year it will be!


• SF fan John Loyd shows off his collection of Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazines accumulated as a 26+ year subscriber. That's a lot of magazines.


• Edward M. Lerner looks at memorable SF aliens. The Mesklinites of Mission of Gravity...good call.


• I can't believe I missed HAL 9000's birthday a couple of week's ago. Do they have belated birthday cards for rogue AIs? [via Gravity Lens]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 25, 2009 at 12:10 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Peter McNamara Convenors' Award for Excellence: Jack Dann
• Best Science Fiction Novel: K A Bedford, Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait
• Best Science Fiction Short Story: Simon Brown, "The Empire"
• Best Fantasy Novel: Alison Goodman, The Two Pearls of Wisdom
• Best Fantasy Short Story: Cat Sparks, "Sammarynda Deep"
• Best Horror Novel: John Harwood, The Seance
• Best Horror Short Story: Kirstyn McDermott, "Painlessness"
• Anthology: Jonathan Strahan (ed.), The Starry Rift
• Collection: Sean Williams and Russell B. Farr (ed.), Magic Dirt
• Young Adult Novel: Melina Marchetta, Finnikin of the Rock
• Young Adult Short Story: Trent Jamieson, "Cracks"
• Illustrated Book: Shaun Tan, Tales from Outer Suburbia
• Children's Novel: Emily Rodda, The Wizard of Rondo
• Children's Fiction Illustrated Work/Picture Book: Richard Harland & Laura Peterson, The Wolf Kingdom Series

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 24, 2009 at 12:47 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

This year's BSFA Award nominees have been announced. I've mentioned this briefly before, but since the free fiction links began appearing, it seemed worthy to mention it again. We're all about the free fiction...

• Flood by Stephen Baxter
• The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
• The Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod
• Anathem by Neal Stephenson

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 24, 2009 at 12:42 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Who says stop-motion is dead? Check out what RexTheDog was able to do, including some DYI papercraft!

This is better than 100% of the crap currently on MTV. I love the dog.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday January 24, 2009 at 6:41 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Very interesting time travel movie that moved in a direction I hadn't expected.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: 30 years after his fathers death, a man discovers his fathers old HAM radio is allowing him to talk to his father in the past. When he warns his farther to avoid death it doesn't go exactly as they had hoped.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Overall well executed time travel story, great twists and turns
CONS: Ending wasn't totally satisfying
BOTTOM LINE: Worth spending a couple of hours with. Fans of time travel as a plot device should see it.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Saturday January 24, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• SCI FI Wire profiles David Marusek (Mind Over Ship).


• @Agony Column Podcast: Sean Stewart reads at SF in SF


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
  • @Infinite Canvas: "The Day The Saucers Came" by Neil Gaiman. [via Big Dumb Object]
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @Well Told Tales: "A Parliament of Me" by Patrick Hurley, read by Andy Catt.
    • @The Classic Tales Podcast: part three (the conclusion) of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol, read by B J Harrison.
    • @Timothy Callahan Podcasts: The Arwen seasons one, two, and three. [via Apex]


• At Time Magazine, Lev Grossman talks about the future of book publishing. "We think of the novel as a transcendent, timeless thing, but it was shaped by the forces of money and technology just as much as by creative genius." [via Locus Online]


• Nancy Kress has more proof that publishing is changing: "Hardcover books chosen by editors and backed by corporations will always be there, but will become "only the tip of a huge pyramid" of publishing."


• Dave Truesdale talks about the singularity in his F&SF article Through The Singularity Glass: The Emperor's Rice Revisited. [via Locus Online]


• SciFi Wire gives a rundown of SciFi Comic Book Tie-ins.


• The Interzone Readers' Poll is beckoning! [via Jason Sanford]


• Updates to the list of sf/f authors who blog (Thanks, Michael!):
  • Mad Genius Club, a group blog featuring Rowena Cory Daniells, Dave Freer, Sarah A. Hoyt, John Lambshead, Louise Marley, Pati Nagle and Jennifer Stevenson.
  • Michael Z. Williamson, author of several Baen books, including the freely downloadable Freehold.


• Mary Robinette Kowal writes For Harry Potter, Magic Means More Than Hocus Pocus: "Though fantasy plays havoc with the rules of nature, it's really just swapping out one set of rules for another. We're talking about magic here, folks, and the rules of magic for each fantasy universe are as diverse as the universes themselves."


• Real Science: A new study suggests that the far side of the moon could have been visible from earth billions of years ago. And in an unrelated story, NASA Sees Far Side of the Sun. What is it with this sudden fascination of the ass-end of celestial bodies?


• Slice of SciFi says: Star Trek will enter the world of Blu-Ray beginning May 2009! And there was much rejoicing.


• Chris Roberson follows up a previous art post with a full-color version of Dusty Abell's TV's Sci-Fi and Superhero Characters montage. Nice.


• I'm no longer a fan of Battlestar Galactica, but this steampunk Cylon is really cool. It's a contest so would-be artists (or is that "wood-be"?) can join in. [via Newsarama]


• Cool art: Jason Chan's Zombie Playground.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 24, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

I love, love, love the look of Coraline. Hopefully, it's as good as Neil Gaiman's book.

[via Chris Roberson & Post-Weird Thoughts and Neil Gaiman, who says this is the first Coraline trailer he's liked]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday January 23, 2009 at 2:52 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday January 23, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's a compilation I like to call The Chewbacca Dialogues.

BONUS: Compare and contrast with this door.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday January 23, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Sci-fi master Ben Bova delivers a surprisingly topical thriller including modern terrorism, politics and a bit of science fiction.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Dan Randolph has a dream of solar energy powering our cities. But rather than use solar cells here on Earth, he sees satellites in space using microwaves to beam the energy back to the ground. But he isn't the only one who has a use for satellite that can generate high-energy microwaves focused on the ground.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Excellent plot, fun read, great writing style
CONS: Most Characters are one-dimensional (except for Dan and his love interest)
BOTTOM LINE: Bova is a fantastic writer and he doesn't disappoint here. More techno-thriller than pure science fiction, the book is solid and a lot of fun to read.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Friday January 23, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Spike TV looks at Alien Invader Movies (and Their Remakes). See also: Part II and Part III.


• SF Universe has a Q&A with Bruce Campbell.


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • @Manybooks: "Vital Ingredient" by Gerald Vance (1956).
  • @Big Pulp: "Affections Between Space" by James Boone Dryden.
  • Audio Fiction: Zombie Astronaut has Usher's Passing, episodes of The Black Museum, and a collection of Lovecraft audio.


• EVENT: As part of the Fantastic Fiction reading series, Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present James Morrow (The Philosopher's Apprentice and Shambling Towards Hiroshima) & Laird Barron (The Imago Sequence & Other Stories) Wednesday February 18th , 7pm at KGB Bar in NYC. (Also: Check out the photos of Catherynne M. Valente and Harvey Jacobs from this month's reading.)


• Boing Boing Gadgets reveals what Darth Vader like to do on weekends.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday January 23, 2009 at 12:10 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Guardian has been running a series called 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and has recently published their 124 149 science fiction and fantasy picks. (Links to intro. For the list, see Parts One, Two and Three.) They've also listed a couple of interesting articles: The Best Dystopias by Michael Moorcock, Imagined Worlds by Susanna Clarke, and Novels that predicted the future by Andrew Crumey.

As if I needed a reminder of how horribly under-read I am in the genre, I thought I'd note (in bold) which books out of this huge list I have read.

Feel free to copy the list and do the same in the comments or on your own blog.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 22, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

I loves me some 12 Monkeys. In fact, I think it's probably Terry Gilliam's best film. I even know it's based upon the French film, La Jette by Chris Marker, but I've never seen the original, until now. Thanks to our series of tubes, you too can watch the original film below. Well, it's really a slide show with narration, but you get the idea.

[via J.M. McDermottt]

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday January 22, 2009 at 11:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Jetpack Dreams is a book I really wanted to love, but in the end it just became a collection of interesting anecdotes about the slightly odd people who are still pursuing the idea of a personal flying device (aka, jetpack or rocketbelt.) I enjoyed the writing style and the individual stories, but the book as a whole left me a little bit wanting.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Montandon sets out to answer the question: "Where is my jetpack?" in this tour through the world of people working on a personal flying device. We see the creation of the concept sponsored by the government but driven by the will of one man, Wendell Moore. When he died, the work went either to the home shops of numerous tinkerers or the purely sensational realm of advertising. Neither are likely to produce a usable solution and certainly as of today, they have not.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Montandon can write and he makes things interesting, the outlandish story of the Houston-based American Rockbelt Corporation is a standout involving kidnapping, theft, and murder.
CONS: The book doesn't have any startling revelations or much in the way of intrigue or compelling storylines (save the one), individual tales are disjoint.
BOTTOM LINE: It is hard to seperate the sad state of jetpacks from the state of the book. Can I fault Montandon for the fact that nobody has a secret jetpack project that's nearly complete he could uncover? Hardly. But I do have to say that I was left feeling like I had read a collection of newspaper columns versus a novel.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Thursday January 22, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The Watchmen viral website, The New Frontiersman, may seem like a necessity in these days of the Internets, and so, too, might be this backgrounder flavor video Better Blue Than Red, 10 years of Dr. Manhattan, but....damn, my fanboy senses are tingling.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 22, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• As you might expect, with LOST premiering last night we have several LOST links for you: Unreality Mag has the top 10 LOST WTF? moments so far. Ayup, too true.
• Michael Emerson, who plays the villainous Ben Linus on LOST, says the new season changes everything. The one change I want to see, and it looks like it will happen, is for questions to be answered. It even looks like the four toed statue issue will be addressed as well.
• Sci-Fi Wire has Adam-Troy Castro and Gabrielle S. Faust explain why they love/hate LOST. Put me down in the 'love' camp (I know, shocker). For all the haters, may I recommend any of the numerous CSI series or maybe American Idol?
• Brian Austin Green, Derek Reese on The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has some choice words for the haters of the show. Apparently the last 9 episodes are filled with action, leading up to a 'bad ass' cliffhanger of an ending. I gave up long ago. Anyone else still watching?
• NBC has a four-hour mini-series coming up called The Last Templar, starring Mira Sorvino as an archaeologist chasing down the secrets of the Templars. Sci Fi Wire spoke with Sorvino and exec-producer Robert Halami Sr. about the show. I think it's safe to assume, dealing with the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail will be involved somehow, and while not necessarily SF, the whole Grail/King Arthur/Templar mythos is just too interesting to pass up (see Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). I'll be tuning in:
  
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday January 22, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• People asking questions:
  • SCI FI Wire asks: Which SF writer has made us wait the longest for a sequel? Suvudu is feeling like it's George R.R. Martin...
  • At Tor.com, Heather Massey puts a new twist on an old question: Are Comic Books Dying?
  • James Enge defines science fiction and fantasy.
  • Jayme Lynn Blaschke asks about your experiences with The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. No, seriously!


• Awards News:
  • Locus Online has the British Science Fiction Awards Nominees.
  • Scott Edelman posts The 2008 Preliminary Stoker Ballot. [via Jason Sanford]


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @The Boston Review, John Crowley remembers Thomas M. Disch.
  • SFF World interviews Joshua Palmatier (The Vacant Throne).
  • SCI FI Wire profiles Jim Hines, author of The Stepsister Scheme.


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
  • James Maxon's children's fantasy "The Cat That Made Nothing Something Again" is available at his website.
  • @The Scientific Indian: "Touchstone" by J Ramanand.
  • Audio Fiction:
    • James Patrick Kelly returns to his Free Reads podcasts with his Nebula-nominated 2007 story "Don't Stop".
    • Starship Sofa features "The Vampire Kiss" by Gene Wolfe.
    • @Podcastle: "Honest Man" by Naomi Kritzer, read by Ann Leckie.
    • @Sci Phi Journal: "Requiem for a Silent Planet" by Stephen Dedman, read by TD-0013.


• Lists:
  • Omnivoracious lists J.M. McDermott's Best Books of 2008.
  • PSDTUTS lists 40 Mind-blowing Digital Space Paintings. [Eyes glaze over...]


• SciFi Scanner's SciFi Dept. looks at Post-Apocalyptic SciFi Films.


• Metropolis Mag goes Behind the Scenes of Coraline. [via Neil Gaiman]


• Wil Wheaton presents The Schwarzenegger Edition of Sci-Fi Guilty Pleasures, listing the good and bad points of Schwarzenegger's SciFi films.


• Drawn! points us to Retro "I Can Read Movies" Book Covers Flickr gallery.


• John Scalzi's Theory of a Film's SciFi-ness: "Whether a movie counts as science fiction depends on whether the science fiction elements are crucial to the plot." Sounds good to me. Does it also apply to TV? Can we all stop calling Chuck SciFi now?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 22, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Bill DeSmedt is offering his 2004 book Singularity, as a free audiobook. This is definitely one I'd recommend.

From the book description:

June 30th, 1908 -- In the remote Tunguska region of Siberia, the most violent cosmic collision in recorded history flattened ancient forests over an area half the size of Rhode Island. Yet after a hundred years of international scientific research the cause of this impact remains a mystery.

A MAVERICK ASTROPHYSICIST

Jack Adler thinks he's fingered the culprit: a submicroscopic black hole, smaller than an atom, heavier than a mountain, older than the stars. What's more, that fantastic object is still down there, deep inside the Earth, burrowing through the mantle in an ever-decaying orbit that will end only when it has devoured the entire planet.

A ROOKIE SECRET AGENT

Marianna Bonaventure is tracking three missing scientists suspected of involvement in weapons of mass destruction research. The trail leads to Rusalka, the luxurious floating corporate headquarters of billionaire Russian industrialist Arkady Grishin. Determined to prove herself, Marianna creates an elaborate ruse in order to infiltrate the megayacht -- a dangerous gambit that requires the coerced cooperation of a rather special civilian...

AN UNCANNY CONSULTANT

Jonathan Knox is one of the country's most sought-after analysts; his knack for intuiting hidden relationships among seemingly disparate events serves his Fortune-50 clients well. But when Marianna compels the reluctant Knox to join her undercover mission, he must grapple with puzzles of a whole different order of magnitude.

Against violent and cunning opposition, the three of them unearth a scheme to capture the submicroscopic black hole that caused the Tunguska Event and use its awesome power to transform the world -- or end it altogether.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 21, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Beautiful filmed, strong cast, boring movie.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The city of Ember is hidden underground in order to allow mankind to survive some kind of apocalypse. The people live there for 200 years, forgetting completely about the surface and about the builders instructions on how to get out, until 2 young children find the key.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Very high production value, excellent set, special effects, and costumes (with a fantstic Brazil-like look), quality actors
CONS: Terribly boring, no action, atrocious editing, unsympathetic characters
BOTTOM LINE: Skip!

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Wednesday January 21, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Based on this trailer, would you watch Stream, a new psychological thriller series debuting on FEARnet and on VOD that features Whoopi Goldberg's return to sci-fi?

[via SFUniverse]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 21, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Sweet! Frederik Pohl has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog. His first post recounts a first meeting with Arthur C. Clarke, his co-author for The Last Theorem. [via Locus Online]


• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @Comic Book Resources: Wil Wheaton, who voices Blue Beetle in Batman: The Brave & The Bold.
  • @Blogging the Muse: Joe Haldeman (Marsbound).


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
  • @Space Westerns: "Semantica" by Fredrick Obermeyer.
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @Maria Lectrix: chapter eight of The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, Jr., read by Maureen O'Brien.
    • @Zombie Astronaut: "The Adventures of Herbert Daring Dashwood," several Edgar Allan Poe stories, and twenty episodes of "Vanishing Point."
    • LibriVox:
      • Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 009 featuring short stories by many authors and many readers.
      • The Creature from Beyond Infinity by Henry Kuttner, read by Mark Nelson.
      • Operation Terror by Murray Leinster, read by Mark Nelson.
      • Animal Ghosts by Elliott O'Donnell, read by Hester.


• Guardian Books blog asks: Is Neil Gaiman your cup of cup of novelty coffee?


• At Books & Authors, Don D'Ammassa offers the essay 2008: The Year in Science Fiction Literature: "Although the return of space opera to a prominent place in science fiction is a welcome sign, the pendulum should not swing too far in the other direction."


• Cinefantastique looks ahead to 2009 Fantasy and Science Fiction Films.


• The Crotchety Old Fan is guest-blogging at the Cordwainer Smith site.


• Nathan Fillion says that the seeds of a proposed sequel to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog were planted in the original's DVD.


• Topless Robot lists 5 Reasons Why the Fringe Team Is the Worst Department in the FBI. Ouch!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 21, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• From the 'wouldn't it be cool if' department: Rumor has it that Warner Bros. is interested in giving JMS a pile of cash to write a big screen movie to continue Babylon 5. Wouldn't it be cool to see the events after the end of season 5? Or to finish Crusade's story? Or may go back in time and see the first Shadow war.
• The Chicago Sun Times clues the clueless in that, in fact, LOST will be all about time travel this season. As I write this, I wish time travel was real so could go to tomorrow (tonight) and watch LOST and then gloat here. But I can't. Curse you arrow of time! I'm going to have to go back and watch the previous episodes that deal with time travel so I can try and understand the whole 'course correction' thing.
• Media Daily News notes that while NBC is in last place ratings-wise and is losing viewers, its 'net viewership far surpasses its rivals. What does it say about your shows that people flock to your website instead of your network?
• Televixen lists her favorite SF TV captains. I'm assuming Televixen is of the younger persuasion as there is nary a Star Trek captain mentioned.
• Sci Fi Wire has a short interview with the executive producers of NBC's upcoming series, Kings. The cover the 'magical realism' of the show and why they chose an 'alternate reality' city akin to New York for the show.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday January 21, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: It feels like you're reading a story instead of watching a film

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A man reveals to his educated colleagues that he is an immortal born 14,000 years ago.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: A thorough deconstruction of immortality; a few welcome plot twists.
CONS: Some non-stationary camera work would have been welcome, as would a few extra lights; somewhat slow-moving at times.
BOTTOM LINE: A SciFi film worth watching.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 20, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's a suitably sf-nal music video from Coparck for their song "A Good Year for the Robots".

[via Tor.com]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 20, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• One more day until LOSTmas is here! Remember, LOST returns tomorrow night with a vengeance. Be there. Speaking as a huge fan, I've taken great pains to avoid as many show-destroying spoilers as I can because I don't want to be, well, spoiled. It seems that Damon Lindeloff and Carleton Cuse agree with me, but in stronger terms. The brain you spoil just may be your own.
• With the premier of the final 'season' of Galactica behind us, we now know who the final Cylon is. My reaction: We waited how long for that? Any hope that there is some big, cool reason behind it was preemptively destroyed when Moore admitted they made the whole 'final five' thing up as they went along. Is it any wonder Moore has to now defend his pick? I really don't see the end being anything other than a train wreck at this point, but I'll keep watching just in case.
• Speaking of Galactica, Thrillist has some interesting questions revolving around the show and current pop culture. You even get answer which pop diva you would most expect to be spaced.
• Despite its checkered past with genre shows, FOX has ordered a pilot for Human Target. Target is based on the DC Comics book and will be written by Jericho co-creator, Jonathan Steinberg.
• SF Universe ponders the current cast of Stargate Atlantis. I'm not sure a younger, edgier Stargate is what's needed. How about a cooler, filled to the brim with awesome SF ideas Stargate? Hopefully John Scalzi will help out with that, but, you know, no pressure or anything.
• I'll leave you now with the latest installment of the LOST parody series, LOST, What Will Happen Next?
  
  
  

• Bits about Edgar Allan Poe (or as I like to call them "Poe-bits"):
  • In this week of Edgar Allan Poe's Bicentennial, Ellen Datlow has posted the introduction to Poe, her tribute anthology.
  • At Weird Tales, Cherie Priest offers up this tribute: Growing Up Poe.
  • The New York Times offers this Edgar Allan Poe gallery.
  • Bonus from the NYT: What Literature Owes to Edgar Allan Poe, a PDF of an NYT article from January 10, 1909.


• S. Andrew Swann interviews Tobias Buckell (Halo: The Cole Protocol).


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]"
  • @Strange Horizons: "The Shangri-La Affair" by Lavie Tidhar
  • @Subterranean Press: "Three Fancies from the Infernal Garden" By C.S.E. Cooney.
  • @Fantasy Magazine: "The Gnomes Are Coast Guards" by Chantel Tattoli.
  • @Genrewonk: "The Historian's Apprentice" by S. Andrew Swann.
  • @Kat and Mouse: Guns for Hire: part three of "Easy Money" by Abner Senires.
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @Pseudopod: "The Interview" by Mike Norris, read by Dani Cutler.
    • @Beam Me Up: part two of "People of Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi, read by Paul Cole.
    • @The Cthulhu Podcast: "The Beast with Five Fingers" by William F. Harvey, read Mark Nelson.
    • Scott Sigler has posted chapter seven of his novel Contagious in PDF and MP3 formats
    • Cory Doctorow reads from his book Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (part 3).


• The Swivet points us to this essay on independent booksellers: "...the whole business of books is, has always been, and Gods willing, will always be an irrational, impractical and frankly foolhardy enterprise.


• At Wet Asphalt, Matt Cheney and Eric Rosenfield continue their discussion about critical writing in science fiction. "...there are a number of self-identified SF writers who are innovating but are choosing emphatically to remain part of the SF community, like China Mieville, Kelly Link, Neil Stephenson etc. The question then becomes, is it better to innovate within the community and still have the benefits of that community (James Morrow being an example) or to try to innovate outside of the community because that's where so much innovation is happening, anyway?"


• S.M. Duke offers advice on writing reviews.


• HBO will premiere the sneak peek TV special Watchmen: HBO First Look on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 6:45 p.m.


• EW lists 20 Black Sci-Fi Icons.


• Reminder for the Artists out there: Deadline for Spectrum 16 entries must postmarked by January 23rd.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 20, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

There's a new "SF Signal Irregular" reviewer gracing our hollow halls. (Yes, you read that right.) Her name is Terry Weyna and while you were sleeping, she posted her first review: Gears of the City by Felix Gilman. As is customary, we asked Terry to talk about herself in the third person. Here is her response:

Terry still remembers the moment she first understood how to read. Reading struck her as miraculous then, and she has never had any reason to reconsider that opinion. She currently reads virtually anything that holds still long enough, but has a special interest in fantasy and horror, especially those works that fall into the realm variously described as New Weird, slipstream or interstitial fiction, whether published as genre fiction or mainstream fiction. Terry maintains her personal blog at Reading the Leaves. When she must, Terry practices law, as she has for 28 years; but she'd almost always rather be reading. Terry lives in Northern California with her husband, Fred White, the author (most recently) of The Daily Writer: 366 Meditations to Cultivate a Productive and Meaningful Writing Life (Writer's Digest Books, 2008). They share their home with the imperious Cordelia Cat Weyna-White, who demands incessant petting, and some 12,000 books, nearly all of which constantly clamor to be read or reread next. While most people would find it a quiet home, for two bookworms and cat lovers with active imaginations the place can get pretty noisy.

Welcome, Terry!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday January 19, 2009 at 11:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Sad news...

Yahoo and others are reporting that Bob May has passed away at 69.

May was known to SciFi fans as The Robot in the Lost in Space television series from the 1960s.

[via Fred K.]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday January 19, 2009 at 10:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A brilliant, dark, New Weird novel of the end and the beginning of the world.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Arjun arrives at the foot of the Mountain at the end of the life of Ararat, still seeking his God in a world deserted by all gods.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Full of dark, haunting, horrific imagery, Gears of the City grips the imagination and doesn't let go.
CONS: While Gears of the City is stronger on plot than was Thunderer, plotting is still Gilman's weakness.
BOTTOM LINE: Gears of the City is a wonderful achievement that extends the promise of Thunderer, but we have not yet seen the full flowering of Gilman's talent.

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Posted by Terry Weyna at Monday January 19, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

NOVELS

• Brain Wave by Poul Anderson
• Star Ways by Poul Anderson
• Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
• The Rim of Space by A. Bertram Chandler
• Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye
• Across Time by David Grinnell
• Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
• The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• A For Anything by Damon Knight
• Fury by Henry Kuttner
• Mutant by Henry Kuttner
• City on the Moon by Murray Leinster
• Mission to a Star by Frank Belknap Long
• Beyond Apollo by Barry Malzberg
• Invaders from Earth by Robert Silverberg
• Master of Life and Death by Robert Silverberg
• Stepsons of Terra by Robert Silverberg
• Slan by A. E. Van Vogt
• The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. Van Vogt
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
• Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
• Giants from Eternity by Manly Wade Wellman
• The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
• The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday January 19, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday January 19, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews:
  • The SF Site: Michael A. Burstein (I Remember the Future).
  • Joseph Mallozzi interviews Stargate Producer Robert C. Cooper


• Award News: An online Hugo ballot is available to voters. (Insert "SF Signal for Best Fanzine" plea here. :) ) [via Science Fiction Awards Watch]


• Over at Fantasy Magazine, Randy Henderson talks about The Future Of Speculative Fiction Magazines: "...how can both print and online magazines stand out and prevail in this crazy wired world of information overload and multimedia mania?"


• Why I Write Science Fiction: An Apology by Alan DeNiro: "If science fiction is a choice that one makes before writing a story, then dismissing it part and parcel simply can't make sense, especially if particular writers are trying their darndest to reinvigorate the usual, even shopworn tropes-or invent new ones altogether."


• Sarah Zettel gets her zombie on.


• Brandon Sanderson is auctioning off two different characters to be seen in Memory of Light, his sanctioned continuation of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga.


• Joe Haldeman has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog. (Thanks, Christopher!)


• 1000 novels everyone must read: Over seven days, the Guardian is recommending the best books to read about crime, war, fantasy, travel, science fiction, family and love. (Trivia: Harry Potter makes the list of most stolen books.)


• Blood, Blade & Thruster Magazine is under new ownership. Long live BBT!


• SF Zen of the Day: Robert Silverberg on a Segway. No, really! (Also: That's SciFi Wire Editor Scott Edelman as the road kill.)


• Soundtrack Geek lists The Top 5 Fantasy/Science Fiction Film Scores of 2008. Finally...some good news for The Day the Earth Stood Still remake...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday January 19, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

It looks like the stalled film adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation may be moving forward.

Says Variety:

Columbia won an auction late Thursday for screen rights to "Foundation," Isaac Asimov's ground breaking science fiction trilogy. The film will be developed as a directing vehicle for Roland Emmerich.

Emmerich and his Centropolis partner Michael Wimer will produce the film. The deal was mid six-figures against low seven figures.

Originally published as a series of eight short stories in Astounding Magazine beginning in 1942, "Foundation" is a complex saga about humans who are scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, living under the rule of the Galactic Empire.

A psycho-historian who can scientifically read the future sees an imminent empire collapse, and sets to work preparing to save the knowledge of mankind.

Emmerich has another link to Asimov, as it turns out. IMDB shows Emmerich is also slated to direct (in 2010) a remake of the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage. That film was originally written by author Jerome Bixby ("It's a GOOD Life") and novelized by Isaac Asimov (who is often credited with the idea for the film beacuse the novelization appeared before the film). I'd have more to say about this, but I'm suddenly only thinking of Raquel Welch...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 18, 2009 at 12:36 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

It's easy to forget that we have seen the sands of Mars. Here's a behind-the-scenes look of the Mars Exploration Rover project...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 18, 2009 at 12:32 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Joseph Mallozzi interviews David Weber , author of the Honor Harington books, including the upcoming Storm from the Shadows.
  • Mike Brotherton interviews David Coe, author of The Horsemen's Gambit.


• John Scalzi and Mary Robinette Kowal were both featured at a Borderland Books event. Salzi shares some video from the event.


• Jeff VanderMeer offers an essay on Ambergris: Building a Fantastical City.


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
  • The sf magazine Escape Velocity is celebrating BSFA award nominations by offering free .pdf files of their first three issues for a limited time.
  • @Afterburn SF: "Time Tracker" by G. Miki Hayden.
  • Audio Fiction:@Dunesteef: "Creature Of The Sea" by Lisa A. Koosis.


• The April issue of Apex Magazine will be guest-edited by award-winning author Michael A. Burstein, author of the collection I Remember the Future.


• Geek math: 60,000 Lego pieces + free time = Star Wars LEGO Hoth Habitat. (Thanks, Tim!)


• Lists:
  • One for the nerd inside of all of us: AMC's Future of Classic blog lists Famous Cinematic Nerds.
  • The List Universe lists 15 Great Science Fiction Movies Of The 1970s. (Note to own psyche: Yes, this picture still scares the begeezus out of me.)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday January 18, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Johannes Muecke is an artist/designer with Different Futures. They were asked to design and build a spaceship for kids to be placed at the Sensapolis theme park near Stuttgart, Germany. Muecke outlines the process in this awesome post over at Concept Art. I urge you to head on over there and check out the rest of production details.

Different Futures did a bang up job on this project, and there's even a back story for the ship, the Second Solar, and its journey to Gliese 581. Now, I'm not sure what all the exhibit does, but I do know there are two slides for the kiddos to slide down. In any event, how cool is it that a theme park asked for, and got, such a sweet looking spaceship?

Truly one of the best jobs in the world. Good job Johannes!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday January 17, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Stainless Steel Droppings (SSD) is hosting a short fiction challenge this weekend: The Out of This World Mini-Challenge!

From SSD:

The Challenge will take place Saturday and Sunday, January 17th and 18th.

All you need to do during this Mini-Challenge is to read at least one science fiction short story and post about it in the comments of [SSD'd Out of This World Mini-Challenge post]. Prizes will be awarded from a random drawing of all participants during the challenge, and for each short story you read and post about in the comments before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, January 18th you will get one entry in the contest.

You can read any science fiction short story that you want, as long as it is science fiction. This is not a fantasy mini-challenge so please make sure your story, or stories, fit into the category of science fiction.

If you don't have an anthology of science fiction stories handy I strongly recommend visiting this excellent website, Best Science Fiction Stories. At Best Science Fiction Stories, Rusty posts mini-reviews of science fiction short stories and includes a link to the place where they can be read online. This is an excellent resource for science fiction short stories. In fact, I so strongly recommend this website that I will put your name in for an extra entry if you read a story from his site and comment on it there. Simply let me know you did so in the comments of this post.

You are welcome to post a review of your short story on your own site but you do not need to in order to qualify for the drawings. Just leave a comment here about the story you read, perhaps a few thoughts on it, and where you read it from.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 17, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• NBC's interesting looking alternate Earth series, Kings is set to air on March 15th at 8pm. A couple of interesting points: NBC calls this a 'magic realism' drama series, it is a modern day re-telling of the story of King David, and its scheduled air day is Sunday evenings which may not bode well.
• USA Today had fans of LOST send in their questions for the brain trust to 'answer'. The result is this neat video answer session with Cuse and Lindeloff. As a bonus, you can catch up on where the cast was left at the end of last season. Next week can't get here soon enough...
• Sci Fi's DVICE site asks the question: Who would win a fight between the old school Enterprise and the new school Galactica? Judging from the comments, the answer is obvious: the fanboys.
• With the production wrapped and the final episodes airing, Sci Fi Wire asked the cast of Galactica to recount their favorite moments from the production. I have to say this is one of the few useful articles posted so far on the revamped Sci Fi Wire.
• Not to be outdone, The LA Times chats with visual effects supervisor for Galactica, Gary Hutzel. How cool would that job be? Just think of all the SF goodness in just the space battles alone. Those battles are the one are where the show hasn't been uneven. I love them all, but then again, I'm a sucker for space hardware.
• Peter Suderman over at Culter 11 lists his reasons why Galactica is the best science fiction show ever. I'm not sure I'd go that far.
• We all know the Japanese love seafood and robots. Bud Light decided to combine these two cultural tendencies with the 'taste' of beer. What we get is the following commercial:
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday January 17, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Watchmen news:
  • Fox and Warner Brothers announced that they have resolved their legal battle over the release of Watchmen. Bottom line: it will be released as scheduled on March 6. Yay!
  • Can't wait for the film? Amazon is offering Watchmen motion comics for PC viewing. Basically, it's a narrated, animated version using art from the graphic novel...at $1.99 for each of the 12 chapters. Previews are free!


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @Tor/Forge's Blog: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Bones of the Dragon).
  • @Neth Space: Hal Duncan (Escape From Hell!).
  • @BookSpot Central: Matthew Sturges (Midwinter).


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • @Mindflights: "Soulsong" by Rabia Gale.
  • @The Scientific Indian: "Noah's Ark" by Narendra Desirazu. [via Variety SF]
  • Audio Fiction: @The Classic Tales Podcast: part two of three of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, read by B. J. Harrison.
  • Free Excerpt: Orbit has published chapter one The Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills.


• Cover Pron:
  • Wake by Robert J. Sawyer.
  • Midwinter by Matthew Sturges.


• Fantasy with a big F: "A group of fantasy authors have teamed up to launch a new award celebrating the genre and the bestselling author David Gemmell, who died in 2006."


• In January Magazine: "The suitability of Margaret Atwood's 1985 classic The Handmaid's Tale has been challenged at a Toronto school..."


• Mary Robinette Kowal delves into Middle Earth's Civil Rights Movement.


• John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to Charlie Huston, author of The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death.


• Richard Bowes talks about The Mosaic Novel. [via Jeffrey Ford]


• Locus has a news blog!


• For the writers: Ellen Datlow is editing a new anthology series, Best Horror of the Year from Night Shade Books, and is currently reading for the first volume, which will be released this year and include material originally published in 2008. She has also posted a Call for Submissions to Best Horror of the Year Volume Two, to be released in 2010 and covering fiction published in 2009.


• Lists:
  • io9 lists SF Writers' Cruddiest (And Craziest) Day Jobs.
  • @SciFi Wire: 16 things you might not know about Star Trek's beloved villain Khan.
  • @SciFi Wire: 6 obscure Prisoner films you need to see (plus the comic that never was)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday January 17, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Enjoy a romp through time with Tim Powers as he tackles the challenges of time travel head on with a plot involving legendary physicist Albert Einstein.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The daughter of Albert Einstein, Lieserl, has been up to some mischief with her fathers greatest, secret, invention. With it she has manipulated time and the past and left a mystery for her grandchildren to unravel. And while they work, a secret cabal and the state of Israel are gunning for the machine that can maniuplate time.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Fun exploration of time travel with some great mythos around Einstein and the ability to manipulate the past, seems to be internally consistent despite the challenges of time paradox, very well written - a page-turner that is hard to put down.
CONS: Occasionally just bizarre, with passages that seem more mad than mad genius, ending was too predictable (to me anyway)
BOTTOM LINE: Very fun read by one of the top authors in sci-fi today, you can't go wrong with this one.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Friday January 16, 2009 at 8:12 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

It's Friday and that means two whole days free from the distraction of 'working' to get in some quality science fiction time. And for those of you suffering from extreme cold, you really need something to warm you up.

So the question is this: What science fiction is on tap for your consumption this weekend?

For me, I'll be trying to finish (again) Iain M. (the M stands for science fiction) Banks' The Algebraist, which I've been working on for two weeks now. I'm also 5 episodes from finishing the Ga-Rei Zero anime series so I may crank that out as well. Of course, tonight will be filled with the newest episode of Psych and the return of Battlestar Galactica.

But if you're looking for something to watch, in honor of the late Patrick McGoohan, we present the first episode of The Prisoner (helpfully streamed from AMC TV):

I've just started watching this series and it's oddly compelling, in a kitschy, 1960's way.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday January 16, 2009 at 2:58 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Pssst...Billy Dee Williams is a little sensitive about the Lando-traitor thing...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday January 16, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Fringe returns next week and J.J. Abrams says the show will hit its stride with the new episodes. Especially the 'giant slugs' one. Err, ok.
• Jamie Bamber reminisces about his time on Battlestar Galactica and Apollo's journey as a person over the course of the show.
• Whoa, dude! Keeanu Reeves is set to star in a live-action remake of the anime series, Cowboy Bebop. Bebop is one of my 10 best SF anime series and I'd rather it not get ruined by Hollywood or wooden 'acting'. But darn it, the setting is just so cool, it will be hard to resist.
• The distinctive and dulcet tones of George Takei will be on display Jan. 23rd in the Clone Wars episode "Defenders of Peace". He plays a Separatist General whose mission could spell the doom for the Jedi! Unless you've seen Episode 3 and know that is Darth Vader. Oh, SPOILER!
• Retrovision Internet TV as the 1954 show Rocky Jones, Space Ranger up and ready for you to view. This is your grandfather's science fiction so give it a shot, won't you?
• Did you know Comedy Central is getting in on the whole fantasy TV thing? They are, with a parody series called: Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire! Please, contain your excitement, at least until you the see the trailer:
  
  Kröd Mändoon Series Preview

  More Funny Videos
  Comedians on Tour

  Get Funny Ringtones
  Stand-Up Comedy

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday January 16, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Cover pr0n:
  • Lou Anders shows off the Todd Lockwood cover for The Twilight Herald by Tom Lloyd.
  • Mark Chadbourn shows off the cover for his Hellboy novel, The Ice Wolves.


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @The Fix: Pat Cadigan (Tea From An Empty Cup).
  • @Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: R. Scott Bakker (The Judging Eye). [via The Wertzone]


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • @Tor.com: "Errata" by Jeff VanderMeer.
  • @No Fear of the Future: "Memory" (Part 31) by Jayme Lynn Blaschke.
  • @Author's website: "Sleight of Hand" by A.R.Yngve.
  • @Beneath Ceaseless Skies:
    • "Beneath the Mask" by Aliette de Bodard.
    • "Winterblood" by Megan Arkenberg.
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @Forgotten Classics: part two of "The Alien" by Murray Leinster, read by Julie Davis.
    • @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Precious Meat" by Catherine S. Perdue


• Awards News: The SFWA has changed the Nebula rules. Science Fiction Awards Watch rounds up responses from 'round the blogosphere.


• The group blog Ripping Ozzie Reads (including contributions from Margo Lanagan, Marianne dePierres, Cory Daniells, Richard Harland, Trent Jamieson, Dirk Flinthart, and Tansy Rayner-Roberts) has been added to the list of sf/f authors who blog.


• Fantasy author David Anthony Durham tells us why he may never be able to write science fiction.


• Fred Kiesche reminds us about James Gunn article The Protocols of Science Fiction.


• The Mars blog Marooned is running a poll: Should Oprah's Book Club read the classic Burroughs novel A Princess of Mars?


• John Scalzi talks about SciFi TV Series Become Movies That Fail.


• SciFi Songster John Anealio has re-remixed his song "Summer Glau", this time giving it a bit of an ethereal quality.


• Would you believe there is an entire blog devoted to superuseless superpowers?


• There's more Fantasy or Football quizzery by Brandon Barker: "Iakin Nefud: Strong Safety for the Washington Redskins or Guard Captain for the House of Harkonnen?"


• Topless Robot lists The 7 Sci-Fi Shows That Deserved Better Endings.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday January 16, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

It's no secret that I wasn't crazy about Blade Runner, but it is surprising (to me, at least) that Siskel and Ebert did not see it for the classic that everyone claims it to be.

Here's their take on the original 1982 version of the film:

And here is their review 10 years later, of the 1992 Director's Cut:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 15, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

It's not quite a Key Map, but this 50,000 parsec view map of the Star Wars galaxy should be enough to get you in the neighborhood.

It also shows that Tatooine is indeed located at the ass-end of the galaxy. If I grew up there, I'd be like Luke, spending inordinate amounts of time "going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters", which we all know is Tatooine-slang for "trolling Mos Eisley for hookers."

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 15, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Kevin Maher's latest SciFI Department video reveals a phenomenon of which I was unaware that is apparently sweeping the nation: movie theater screenings of the 1986 David Bowie/Jennifer Connelly film Labyrinth complete with sing-along interaction. (The way Jim Henson meant for it to be experienced.)

Would it be totally lame if I admitted I have the soundtrack to Labyrinth? I thought it might...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 15, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• The big news of the day (well, yesterday): John Scalzi is now a creative consultant for Stargate Universe. Excellent, a real life SF author actually working on a SF series! Joe Mallozzi has more on what a 'creative consultant' actually does.
• Sci Fi Wire has an exclusive clip of Sci Fi's new series, Warehouse 13. Sci Fi Chick laments the clip's lack of 'science fiction' to generate interest. I agree.
• Torchwood's "Capt. Jack Harkness", John Barrowman, is writing his own Torchwood comic.
• If you're like John (and if you are, I'm sorry), you likes you some Fringe. If you also like spoilers, then Sci Fi Wire has some Fringe season ending spoilers for you.
• You have LOST questions, the Chicago Tribune has answers! Via a Q&A with Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse. Don't expect all questions to be answered in season 5 as some need to be left for season 6. And the cherry pie analogy is genius.
• A small warning for all you DVRers recording the opener of Battlestar Galactica: It will run a few minutes long, so adjust your recording time accordingly.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday January 15, 2009 at 12:06 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @SCI FI Wire: Andrew Stanton, director of the upcoming (in 3 years!) John Carter of Mars. Meanwhile, The Crotchety Old Fan offers a John Carter of Mars gallery.
  • Fast Forward interviews author Bud Sparhawk, author of the very awesome "Bright Red Star" (reviewed here).
  • SciFiDimensions podcast-interviews M. M. Buckner (Watermind).
  • Genreville asks publicists: What Do You Think of Book Trailers? Responses come from William Schafer (Subterranean Press), Gavin Grant (Small Beer Press), Jill Maxick (Prometheus Books and Pyr), Vera Nazarian (Norilana Books), and others.


• James Enge talks about how the closing of the American frontier gave rise to 20th Century Sword & Planet, and how the accomplishments of the woman's movements now gives rise to urban fantasy. [via Lou Anders]


• Jonathan Strahan talks about the books he's looking forward to: Part one & Part two.


• Bibliophile Stalker Charles Tan has a thoughtful essay discussing the demise of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology. Publisher John Klima does too.


• At Wet Asphalt, Matt Cheney and Eric Rosenfield discuss the world of critical writing about science fiction. "...the problem as I see it is that science fiction was an interesting publishing phenomenon of the mid-20th century, and most of the forces that created and nurtured that phenomenon have dissipated, metamorphosed, and disappeared, leaving most of the SF of today to be little more than a reiteration of what was done in the '50s." Meanwhile, Nial Harrison responds: "...I do somewhat resent the implication that those not trained in the ways of criticism have no useful contributions to make to critical debate, and I would have thought that attracting people with different sorts of mind to literary studies would be all to the good." Good comments follow Niall's response.


• The SFWA announces that Victoria Strauss will be honored with 2009 SFWA Service Awards during Nebula Awards Weekend.


• Orbit is celebrating that they published the bestselling SFF debut novels in both the UK and the US.


• EVENT: Forbidden Planet is hosting a signing with author Andy Remic, author of Biohell.


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
  • Joel Sieh is publishing a new fantasy story in blog format called "Iron and Ash".
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @StarShipSofa: fiction and poetry by G O Clark, Church H Tucker, Gregory Frost, and David Brin.
    • @LibriVox: Collected Public Domain Works of Stanley G. Weinbaum read by Gregg Margarite.


• The latest issue of Science Fact & Science Fiction Concatenation has been posted.


• Lists:
  • Adam Troy-Castro travels to the year 2010 to list The Best and Worst Sci-Fi Movies of 2009. Safe bets, all.
  • The Top 6 Things Overheard at the U.S.S. Enterprise Holiday Party: "The Captain's standing under the mistletoe. Again."

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday January 15, 2009 at 12:03 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

More sad news today...

Yahoo is reporting that Actor Ricardo Montalban has died at 88 years of age.

Montalban acting credits are extensive (Fantasy Island, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the Spy Kids films), but genre fans will always remember him most fondly as Khan from Star Trek, bot in the original series ("Space Seed") and the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

See also: Ricardo Montalban Wikipedia and IMDB entries.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 14, 2009 at 3:41 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Sad news...

Yahoo and others are reporting that Actor/Director/Producer Patrick McGoohan has passed away at age 80.

Just one month ago I wrote a short biography for Patrick McGoohan for AMC TV, who is streaming McGoohan's classic show, The Prisoner and also producing a remake. I had never realized that he accomplished so much.

[via The Lensman's Children]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 14, 2009 at 1:32 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

After a brief respite from our Mind Meld interview feature, we're back!

This week we accosted the good folks over at Book View Cafe, a group blog made up of more than 20 professionally published authors seeking to reach a wider audience by distributing their work directly to readers. We asked them a deceptively simple question:

Read on to see how they responded...

I have to say this is a hard one. Of all time or what? Back in high school it would have been a toss up between Childhood's End (for it's optimism) and Cat's Cradle (for it's pessimism). I gave up reading science fiction once I got to college but several years after I graduated a friend of mine demanded that I read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That pretty much did it for me. I remembered how great sf could be, even with Monty Python in the mix. I got sucked right back in. I can't remember half of what I've read since then, but two writers stand out: Joanna Russ and Neal Stephenson. And the winner is: Snow Crash by Stephenson.

There's so much in this book that I like, the sardonic humor, the themes, the settings. What really kills me though is the very first section where he describes pizza delivery in California. It's so funny and exhilarating at the same time. Stephenson's ability to make the story fantastic and at the same time very real, logical, possible, maybe even likely makes him a great writer in my opinion. And Snow Crash a great book.

Gotta go insert the head set now. See you in Second Life.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 14, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The contents of Interzone #220 have been posted:

Stories:

• "Monetized" by Jason Stoddard
• "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster
• "After Everything Woke Up" by Rudy Rucker
• "Spy vs Spy" by Neil Williamson
• "Miles to Isengard" by Leah Bobet
• "Memory Dust" by Gareth L. Powell

• Ansible Link by David Langford
• Readers' Poll - vote for your favourite stories of 2008
• Book Zone
• Laser Fodder by Tony Lee - DVD reviews
• Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe - film reviews

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 14, 2009 at 12:16 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Asimov's has posted the table of contents (with samples) for the February 2009 issue:

• Novella: "Pelago" by Judith Berman
• Short Stories:
  • "Colliding Branes" by Rudy Rucker & Bruce Sterling
  • "The Bird Painter in Time of War" by Carol Emshwiller
  • "The Coldest War "by Matthew Johnson
  • "The Certainty Principle" by Colin P. Davies
  • "The Point" by Steven Utley
• Poetry:
  • "The Brlieved in Fairies During World War One" by Darrell Schweitzer
  • "The Silence of Rockets" by G. O. Clark
  • "Singularity Song" by David Lunde
  • "Regular Riders" by Ruth Berman
• Departments:
  • Editorial: Musica Universalis by Sheila Wiliams
  • Reflections: It Wasn't That Easy by Robert Silverberg
  • Next Issue
  • On Books by Peter Heck
  • The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 14, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @SCI FI Wire: C.J. Cherryh (Regenesis) and Felix Gilman (Gears of the City).
  • @BookSpot Central: Chris Roberson (Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love).
  • Here's an essay (from 2004) about Samuel R. Delany written by K. Leslie Steiner.
  • @Concept Sci-fi: Peter Crowther from PS Publishing.


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • Catherine Asaro's has posted her novella "The Spacetime Pool" (2008) online at facebook. [via SFScope]
  • Lou Antonelli is serializing his alternate history novel Dance With Me Henry.
  • @BestScienceFictionStories.com: "The Cauldron" by Rocky Keele.
  • @Manybooks: 2012: The Last Will and Testament of The Gods by Mike Cooper (2007).
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @Pseudopodium: "The Star-Pit" by Samuel R. Delany, a radio drama.
    • @Fear on Demand: "Thief of Eyes" by Charles A. Gramlic, read by Glen Hallstrom.
    • @Maria Lectrix: Chapter seven of The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, read by Maureen O'Brien.
    • Zombie Astronaut has Nebulous, twenty episodes of Vanishing Point, and twenty episodes of Crisis.


• Iain Banks' next novel, tentatively titled Transition, will be published in September 2009.


• Spider Robinson has three sequels to Variable Star lined up, to be known collectively as The Orphan Stars Trilogy. [via Fred Kiesche]


• Over at Tor.com, Irene Gallo deconstructs Dave Seeley's Luke Skywalker.


• Biology in Science Fiction subnits part III of their series where they ask scientists about the relationship between science and science fiction.


• Christopher Barzak offers Notes Towards a Sort of Supreme Fiction.


• Edward M. Lerner is going to be blogging about truly alien aliens.


• Daryl Dregory reveals The Three Laws of Zombi-ism.


• The list of finalists for the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award has been updated.


• Event: Three contributors (Gregory Frost, John Langan and Laird Barron) from Ellen Datlow's tribute anthology, Poe, will read from their stories Saturday, February 21 at the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site.


• One of the readers at The Geek Files is either a hopeless dreamer of a certifiable genius; he thinks that The Dark Knight holds clues to future incarnations of Penguin, Riddler and Catwoman.


• Genre magazine SFX gives a sneak peek at their Five Star SciFi Special


• Find the error in this headline: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About the Star Wars Holiday Special but Were Afraid To Ask. You are correct if you said there is nothing you wanted to know. 5 points for you! [via Darth Mojo]


• Speaking of Star Wars-related things we'd like to purge from our memories...SciFi Scanner dares dredge up that Donny and Marie Did Star Wars.


• SCI FI Wire lists 10 greatest Star Wars moments from The Simpsons

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday January 14, 2009 at 12:09 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• The final, final season of Battlestar Galactica starts this Friday. Crave Online has an interview with producer David Eick about Galactica's journey to this point. He does have some interesting things to say about what they were trying to do with the show and how it ended up where it is.
• Kevin Reilly, president of entertainment at FOX, updated the Television Critics Association press tour about the status of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Dollhouse, Fringe, Virtuality, and the Friday night slot of death. He wants the viewers to judge Dollhouse and Virtuality will need to be retooled for a series commitment.
• If you just can't wait for LOSTmas (Jan. 21st), we've got you covered. Spoilers and hints for season 5, and beyond, abound. Proceed with caution!
  
  • TV Guide has a doosie of an issue coming out about LOST. It is filled with spoilers and hints about season 5 so follow the link only if you just can't wait anymore. I'm very tempted, but so far have resisted the urge to read. I want to go in cold.
  
  
  • Details Magazine has an interview with Matthew Fox about his character, Jack, and the end of LOST in 2010. Minor spoilers. I will say I find his attitude towards 'celebrity activism' to be refreshing.
  
  
  • Doc Jensen of EW.com has a detailed guide covering previous episodes you need to re-familiarize yourself with for Season 5. Just, go read if you like LOST.

• The new Number Six in AMC's upcoming remake of The Prisoner talks about his role, his costar, and the series itself. Anyone excited about this one? I need to go watch them over at AMC as I've never seen the series, just the odd clip or too featuring giant balls.
• Eliza Dushku on her role in Dollhouse. I like the idea here, I just hope the execution works.
• Now for little light entertainment, the Power Puff Girls sing "Love Makes the World Go Round." The early seasons of The Power Puff Girls are some of the best, and funniest, superhero episodes around. I particularly like Mojo Jo Jo...
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday January 14, 2009 at 12:00 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: An engaging military sf series that's quick to consume.

MY RATING: See individual reviews below.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Wilson Cole mutinies from the Republic Navy and tries to make a life for himself and the people who join up with him.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Quick and fun reads; amusing characters and dialogue; consistent writing style and quality; economy of storytelling.
CONS: Cole's high morals hinder his ability in some roles, and seem ambiguous in others.
BOTTOM LINE: Resnick's military sf is engaging, fun and consistently enjoyable.

Despite a prolific career in science fiction, the Starship series is Mike Resnick's first foray into military science fiction. The star of the books (four of them have been published so far, with more to come) is Wilson Cole, a military man with high morals and a low tolerance for nonsense. Each book follows Cole as he assumes a new role, first as part of the Republic Navy and then away from it. Along the way he makes friends and enemies and tries to make a living by leveraging his military acumen and a stolen starship.

The emphasis of Resnick's military sf is on tactics and strategy rather than combat. The single-threaded plots devote much attention to the logistics of running a military ship: things like sleep rotations, reassigning personnel and finding time for food, whereas military actions are resolved in mere paragraphs. And Resnick's quality never falters throughout the first four books: they maintain a consistent level of enjoyment, which is to say that if you like one you'll like them all. Each of the books are also loaded with Extras by way of appendices that explain timelines, back stories, behind-the-scenes insight and ship layouts.

Individual reviews for the first four books in the series (Starship: Mutiny, Starship: Pirate, Starship: Mercenary, and Starship: Rebel) follow...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

You know, Batman always needed a little perspective. Thanks, Supes!

[via Sci-Fi Heaven]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Gavin J. Grant & Kelly Link have announced that there will not be a new edition of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror this year. (Although their post sounds like the series is permanently gone.) Meanwhile,, series co-editor Ellen Datlow announced that she will most-likely edit two volumes of a new annual horror series for Night Shade


• Interviews:
  • @Agony Column, Rick Kleffel podcast-interviews Lou Anders.
  • @Bibliophile Stalker: Tobias Buckell
  • Coming Soon! This week (Thursday, 1/15/09, 1:00pm EST), The Beyond features Neil Gaiman and Stephen Jones in a conversation about the movie Coraline and Jones's book Coraline: A Visual Companion, which chronicles the making of the movie. [Eos]
  • SciFi Wire profiles Ellen Datlow (Poe).


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
  • @Strange Horizons: "Greetings from Kampala" by Angela Ambroz.
  • @Kat and Mouse: Guns for Hire: part two of "Easy Money" by Abner Senires.
  • @Fantasy Magazine: "The Moon, A Roman Token" by Darren Speegle.
  • @Polu Texni: "Very Truly Yours" Part I, by Seth Gordon.
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @ScottSigler.com: part six of Contagious.
    • @LibriVox: Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling, read by icyjumbo.
    • @Miette's Bedtime Story Podcast: "The Hyannis Port Story" by Kurt Vonnegut.
    • Audible.com is offering a free download of the audio book Neil Gaiman's "A Study In Emerald".


• Awards News:
  • Daryl Gregory wins the 2008 The Crawford Award, awarded to outstanding new fantasy writer whose first book was published in 2008, for his novel Pandemonium (See SF Signal review). See also: previous winners.
  • Sci Fi Wire does the math and hunorously tells us How to Buy a Hugo Win. Hmmm...Maybe "SF Signal for Best Fanzine" starts with a charity drive!


• Cover Pr0n:
  • John Picacio shows off the cover art for Drood by Dan Simmons.
  • The Agony Column shows off Picacio's cool covers for Mark Chadbourn's Age of Misrule.


• Charlie Huston is guest-blogging over at Omnivoracious this week.


• In case you were ever wondering how a book get made, Galleycat presents: The Book Industry in a Nutshell. [via Swivet]


• Total Sci Fi offers this 2009 Movie Preview.


• io9 lists The Coolest Robots of Pre-Golden Age SF.


• Den of Geek lists Top 24 worst special effects of all time.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Just over one week till LOSTmas and to help you get by, here is an interview with the awesome Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) from NY Magazine. Depending on your tolerance, there are some minor spoilers here.
• TG Daily goes to CES 2009 and reports back that 3D TV is almost here. According to them, all that is needed is infrastructure and content. Simple! Boy, if you thought this February's change over to HD signals was a cluster, wait till we have to swap TVs, again and swap signals, again, for 3D. But it would be worth it.
• Is cash strapped Cheyenne Mountain taking their MMO, Stargate Worlds, into the wild, woolly world of Multi-Level Marketing (think Amway)? Ten Ton Hammer investigates and thinks it's a bad idea, legit or not. I agree.
• Apparently it's not just the viewers that are disappointed with Heroes. It looks like both Ali Larter and Hayden Panitierre want off the show, citing lack of character time. The easiest way would be to cancel the show and put it out of our misery.
• Sci Fi continues on its 'reality' TV kick, this time bring us WGC Ultimate Gamer. "What the $%&@!#%? " I hear you ask. Yeah, I know. Here is the short description: "As the 12 contestants share a loft in downtown Los Angeles, they will be tested in real-life challenges inspired by best-selling game titles, compete in the video games themselves, and ultimately must avoid elimination in head-to-head battle in an arena filled with hundreds of spectators." The winner gets cash, prizes and a chance to compete in the World Cyber Games. Way to put the 'sci' into 'fi', Sci Fi.
• SciFi Wire lists 8 reasons why 24 is really science fiction, then takes it in the shorts in the comments. Ouch. And really, with such lame reasons, who can blame the commentors?
• And now, the evolution of technology, featuring a steamdriven T-Rex! Awesome!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The finalists for the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award, given to the best original paperback published each year in the U.S., have been announced:

[Update: via SF Scope , Endgame by Kristine Smith is ineligible because it was published in 2007 and has since been replaced with Plague War by Jeff Carlson. ]

• Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro (Eos)
• Fast Forward 2 edited by Lou Anders (Pyr)
• Judge by Karen Traviss (Eos)
• Plague War by Jeff Carlson (Ace)
• Terminal Mind by David Walton (Meadowhawk Press)
• Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait by K.A. Bedford (EDGE)

See also: Past winners

[via Locus Online]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday January 12, 2009 at 12:48 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Paolo Bacigalupi: "The Gambler" (Fast Forward Anthology #2, 2008)
• Greg Bear & S. M. Stirling: "The Man Who Would Be Kzin" (Man-Kzin Wars Anthology #4, 1991)
• Marie Brennan:
  • "