Pyr is now offering The Crooked Letter: Books of the Cataclysm: One by Sean Williams available as a free PDF download.

From the book description:

When mirror twins Seth and Hadrian Castillo travel to Europe on holidays, they don't expect the end of the world to follow them. Seth's murder, however, puts exactly that into motion.

From opposite sides of death, the Castillo twins grapple with a reality neither of them suspected, although it has been encoded in myths and legends for millennia. The Earth we know is just one of many "realms", three of which are inhabited by humans during various stages of their lives. And their afterlives...

In the tradition of Philip Pullman and Ursula K. Le Guin and inspired by numerous arcane sources, the Books of the Cataclysm begin in the present world but soon propel the reader to a landscape that is simultaneously familiar and fantastic.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 28, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Fantasy writer Joe Abercrombie discusses the inspiration behind his latest novel, Best Served Cold, with Blackwells' Marcus Gipps. (Contains all 5 parts of the interview)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 28, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• @BlogTalk Radio interviews Jeffrey Ford (The Drowned Life).


• @The Bat Segundo Show interviews Charlie Huston (The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death).


• Authors reviewing Authors:
  • Jo Walton on Ursula Le Guin's Lavinia.
  • Cory Doctorow on Ian McDonald's Cyberabad Days.


• Responding to the recent nonsense surround the Kindle 2's ability to convert text to speech (which Amazon has even more recently crippled) , Wil Wheaton goes head-to-head with Text-to-speech Conversion.


• Jennifer Pelland talks about Writing Ugly: "...to any writers out there who are afraid to write the ugly truths that keep popping into their heads, I say hang onto that fear, because fear is where truth lies..."


• At SciFi Scanner, Mary Robinette Kowal writes For Teens in Fantasy, It's Not Easy Being Big.


• Here's some concept art from the J.J. Abrams Superman movie that never was. [via Super Punch]


• Lots of Lego goodness from Look At This...namely Lego Star Wars Spaceship and Massive Stargate SG-1 Lego Ship.


• SF Author Mike Brotherton (Spider Star) lists The 15 Greatest Science Fiction Writers of All Time.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 28, 2009 at 12:06 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The finalists for this year's Nebula Awards have been announced:
[Note: Title links go to free online versions]

[3/2 UPDATE: The Nebula site has announced corrections. Two works that should be on the final ballot were not listed. Corrections made below. (via SF Awards Watch)]

NOVEL

• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow [See SF Signal review]
• Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Cauldron by Jack McDevitt
• Brasyl by Ian McDonald [See SF Signal review]
• Making Money by Terry Pratchett [See SF Signal review]
• Superpowers by David J. Schwartz

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 27, 2009 at 2:48 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

[via videosift]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 27, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Members of Book View Cafe have started to release select titles of their work as eBooks. Readers were requesting downloadable versions of the stories that now appear serialized on the website.

Launched this week were eBooks from Sarah Zettel and Maya Kathryn Bohnhoff.

Coming soon: eBooks from Brenda Clough, Laura Anne Gilman, Anne Harris, Phyllis Irene Radford, Vonda McIntyre, and Sue Lange.

The books will be available at the Book View Cafe site as well as the upcoming online science fiction convention, Flycon 2009.

See also:

• An interview with Amy Sterling regading Book View cafe's publishing goals.
• SF Signal Mind Meld: Members of Book View Cafe Reveal Their Favorite Books.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 27, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Cover Pr0n: The Black Library has posted Hardy Fowler's awesome artwork for Chris Roberson's upcoming Warhammer 40K novel, Sons of Dorn.


• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @Adventures in SciFi Publishing: Chris Roberson (End of the Century and Three Unbroken). Note: SF Signal reader Blue Tyson (who turns out to be a fellow Roberson fanboy) gets a question answered.
  • Vernor Vinge says humans will create or become super-intelligent through the use of technology.
  • io9 interviews David Louis Edelman (Multireal)
  • Brian Evenson (Last Days) is featured in John Scalzi's latest Big Idea post.


• Speaking of Scalzi, over at SciFi Scanner, he delves into why George Lucas intends to re-release the Star Wars films in 3D.


• Hal Duncan on Creative Control (part 4 in a series).


• David Brin has an editorial over at Sigma Forum: Forgetting our American tradition...The folly of relying exclusively on a professional protector caste. [via Fred K.]


• Effective immediately, the Best American Fantasy series is moving from Prime Books to Underland Press. Volume 3, guest-edited by Kevin Brockmeier (series editor Matthew Cheney), will be published by Underland in early 2010.


• Over at the Locus Blog, Graham Sleight talks about adaptations: "...attempts to cram sf stories into a movie frame often take away what's most interesting about them."


• Gerry Canavan looks at Science Fiction and Ecological Futurity: "Science fiction should be understood as [an] ecological literature..."


• Super Punch has posted a few cool Retro Star Wars Posters.


• Apparently, this decade has run out of original ideas, so we're mining used-up concepts from the 80's. To wit (or witless, as the case may be) the proposed remakes of Total Recall and The Neverending Story. I have fond memories of both of those films, even decades later. Which one was it that had the tri-breasted luck dragon with that tiny dude coming out its stomach?


• Lists:
  • David Moody shares 7 Reasons Why You Need to Read Hater. (Read SF Signal review.)
  • Scalzi lists 10 Things to remember about authors. Bonus points to Scalzi for using the HTML entity for "does not equal".
  • @AnthroGoggls: The first 4 SF books you should read if you're working in social media.
  • A librarian at the Fremont Library in California offers 13 SciFi/Fantasy Books Worth Reading.
  • Not a Planet Anymore lists The Top 5 Worst Jobs in SF. A Pizza Delivery Driver in Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson...good call.


• Things I want for Christmas: this Remote-Controlled Zombie.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 27, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Adam Whitehead rediscovered David Langford's SFX list of Top 20 Pre-1990 SF Novels:

1. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
2. Little, Big by John Crowley
3. The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Pavane by Keith Roberts
6. Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
7. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
8. Dune by Frank Herbert
9. Blood Music by Greg Bear
10. Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
11. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
12. The Owl Service by Alan Garner
13. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
14. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
15. The Affirmation by Christopher Priest
16. Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
17. Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh
18. Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
19. Gateway by Frederick Pohl
20. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

More interesting to me was the list of The 10 Worst Pre-1990 SF Novels:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 26, 2009 at 12:56 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

There is still time to enter our currently running giveaways:

• White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison Book + Extras


• Signed Copies of The Blood King and Dark Haven by Gail Z. Martin

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 26, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Suvudu has a series of videos featuring Dan Simmons talking about Charles Dickens and his latest book, Drood. I've taken it upon my geeky self to assemble all 7 parts into a playlist, shown here for your enjoyment. Just sit back and each part will play automatically.

Great stuff.

OK now, JP, hurry up and finish it! :)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 26, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Put on your thinking caps, sf fans!

I mentioned this in a recent tidbits because it was getting late, but I thought this deserved more attention, so here it is...

Rusty at Best Science Fiction Stories is looking for a short science fiction story that would be a good fit for a 10-15 minute film. It should be futuristic and dramatic.

If you have any suggestion, head on over to Best Science Fiction Stories and let Rusty know.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 26, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @SCI FI Wire: Ian McDonald (Cyberabad Days).
  • @Locus Online: Interview excerpts with Jonathan Lethem.
  • John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to Paul Melko, author of excellent parallel world story The Walls of the Universe.


• For 35 days, Alex Irvine is posting the rants an ravings of Walt Dangerfield, a character from his upcoming book, Buyout.


• Cory Doctorow's latest Make column is up: Love the Machine, Hate the Factory...which was written for the steampunk theme issue.


• Flickr Gallery o' the Day: The Secret Life of Stormtroopers [via Cinematical]


• Family Guy will Reunite Star Trek: The Next Generation cast in the March 29th episode. Cast members lending their voice talents should include Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes. Freakin' sweet.


• In the New York Times Roy Blount, Jr., president of the Authors Guild, talks about The Kindle Swindle, arguing that authors should be paid audio rights. [via Robert J. Sawyer and Engadget]


• Lists:
  • @CrunchGear: 10 reasons to buy a Kindle 2... and 10 reasons not to
  • @SciFi Scanner: 6 Fabulous Film Hackers.
  • @Airlock Alpha: Top 10 Science-Fiction Films Based on Short Stories, Novels and Novellas. [via Divers and Sundry]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 26, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Sad news...

The Official Philip José Farmer Home Page is reporting that Philip José Farmer passed away today at age 91.

Farmer is perhaps best known for his Riverworld and World of Tiers series and began writing science fiction 50 years ago.

UPDATE: Remembrances and articles are appearing all over the web, including: Christopher Paul Carey, Win Scott Eckert, Frederik Pohl, Chris Roberson, SCI FI Wire, Biology in Science Fiction, Fantasy Book Critic, io9, Guardian, NYT Obit.

See also:

• The Official Philip José Farmer Home Page
• Wikipedia entry.
• Bibliography at ISFDB

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 25, 2009 at 11:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Just as readers are sometimes influenced by the fiction they read, so, too, are writers. This week, we asked a bunch of writerly types:

Here's what they said:

Bruce Sterling's Islands in The Net is initially set on Grenada. For me it was a light bulb moment. I'd tasted a bit of this with Arthur C. Clarke's novels, where he has Pacific-Ocean characters, Indian computer scientists, and so forth. Clarke and Sterling and Gibson felt like writers who used the world and the world's people as a stage in a fundamental manner that I didn't feel as much in other works.

As an author I have no idea what statement or challenge I've really thrown down to other writers coming after me. If pressed further, I think part of a message I have is that fiction written with non-white characters or by non-white authors doesn't have to be magical realist or "literary" in nature. I get these "disappointed" letters every once in a while from people that I write straight up action/adventure. But then I get letters from people who expected "ethnic SF/F" (their words, not mine) to be boring, and were totally pumped by the action/adventure featuring Caribbean heroes. My statement/challenge is that there is no one true route to adding diversity to our field, but that that route should be diverse in and of itself. Adventure shouldn't be a specialized field, and diversity isn't a dirty word, it can be a great deal of explosive fun. So in addition to opening things up a little, I'm also hoping that writers who follow will realize that they can forge their own brand, and that they should, thus widening the field.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 25, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Physics (not physic) professor Jim Kakalios worked as science consultant on the Watchmen film. Here's what he has to say about the science in Watchmen...

Yeah, like I needed another reason to want to go see this...

[via Pharyngula]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 25, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Another great find from Chris Roberson: a musical version of H.P Lovecraft's classic story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", set to a song composed by The H.P Lovecraft Historical Society.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 25, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Cory Doctorow says Bruce Sterling's new book The Caryatids is the best book of 2009.


• Lou Anders continues his profile of Chris Roberson's Myriad Universe at Tor.com.


• Catherynne M. Valente News:
  • John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to Catherynne Valente, author of Palimpsest.
  • Speaking of whom, Omnivoracious interviews Catherynne M. Valente and points us to an excerpt of Palimpest.


• Fantasy author Terry Pratchett has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature. [via Book Blog]


• Charles Stross responds to George R.R. Martin's detractors and talks a bit about writing a series.


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • @Strange Horizons: "Sometimes We Arrive Home" by K. Bird Lincoln.
  • @Manybooks: "Minor Detail" by John Michael Sharkey (1959).
  • @Kat and Mouse: Chapter eight of "Easy Money" by Abner Senires.
  • @Subterranean: "A Four-Sided Triangle: A Lucifer Jones story" by Mike Resnick.
  • Free Excerpts:
    • Chapter 1 of "Knight Terrors: The (Mis)Adventures of Smoke the Dragon" is up at its homepage.
    • Chapter 1 of Spell Games by T.A. Pratt.


• The Shirley Jackson Awards has announced their Lottery Winners.


• SciFi Wire reports that Alex Proyas' Tripods movie will be the first of a trilogy of films.


• Which Science Fiction Stories Would Make Good Films? Rusty at Best Science Fiction Stories received a request from someone is looking for a good sf short story on which to base a short film. Head on over to see the details and offer your suggestions...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 25, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

One of the better JRPGs available for the Xbox 360 is Blue Dragon. What you might not expect is that Blue Dragon did well enough to merit its own anime show, which is now available for download from iTunes. The comments make it look bad...
• Everyone's favorite astronaut and all around cool guy, Buck Rogers, will be returning to the realm of comic books this May with Issue #0 (as every computer person will tell, numbers actually start at 0). The first issue from Dynamite Entertainment will retail for the low, low price of 25 cents. Now that's a bargain.
• In a cost cutting move, the J.J. Abrams show, Fringe will be moving production to Vancouver instead of New York. Does this mean there will be a Season 2? I don't think you'd announce a move unless you're actually planning to shoot there, so I think so.
• Fans of science fiction British style should have fun this season, as BBC Radio is going all out with several new SF shows. I'm not sure if their streaming player will work here across the pond (well, with a browser in its native state), but I'm going to try as the shows sound promising.
• From the 'WTF? Files', we learn that William Shatner wants to be Prime Minister of Canada. I guess he needs something to do now that Boston Legal is winding down? Of course, the tone is suggestive that Shatner is actually having a laugh. But still, how could Canadians not want a PM who took on, and defeated, the evil Khan?
• Nastra & Damus give us their list of the top 10 Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. It's a pretty good list just because Trumpy and the Pod People are on it. Someone needs to do a top 10 MST3K short films list. Mr. B Natural FTW!

  I miss MST3K, the good years (which was most of them). Sniff.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday February 25, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: An extension of Melko's novella that holds up quite well to the promise of the shorter work.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: John Rayburn meets his double from a parallel universe and becomes stranded on an alternate Earth.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Sense of wonder around the parallel universes; Melko's writing is smooth and easily digestible; both story lines are uniquely gripping.
CONS: The story meanders a bit too long around the pinball machine project.
BOTTOM LINE: An excellent, well-told story with a classic sf feel.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 24, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

There's a little movie opening up soon that you may have heard of, J.J. Abrams' reboot of Star Trek. Sci Fi Wire has a short 'behind the scenes' vignette with some of the cast and crew, along with a little new footage, in this short clip. And this movie will 'blow you away!', at least according to the cast.

I'm still skeptical. I'll say this for Abrams, the movie looks really good and I especially like the 'orbital diving' scene. But the reservations are still there: Chris Pine doesn't look like Kirk and while the trailers show plenty of action, Star Trek isn't necessarily about that. As a result, the trailers don't feel like Star Trek.

I'll still go see this in the theater though, damn you J.J. Abrams.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 24, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Locus Online reports that the Virginia State Legislature passed a resolution declaring June 27, 2009 to be Will F. Jenkins Day in recognition of "the author's creative genius and his numerous literary achievements."

They continue:

Jenkins wrote award-winning SF under the name Murray Leinster, and popularized parallel-universe stories with his famous "Sidewise in Time" (1934); the Sidewise Award for best alternate history is named in his honor. Jenkins died in 1975 at age 78, and spent most of his life in Virginia, where he was born. The author's family plans to hold a ceremony in his honor to celebrate the day.

If you've never read his work as Murray Leinster, you're in for a treat. Go check out these free reads at Bean's Free Library:

• A Logic Named Joe
• Med Ship
• Planets of Adventure

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 24, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Just in time to soothe the nerves of Galactica fans gripping over the soon-to-end series, TokyoPop, maker of all things manga (Japanese comics) will be releasing (April 7th) a manga version of Battlestar Galactica. Here is a snippet of the manga (there is a button to go full screen for easier viewing):

It certainly has the manga 'look and feel' to it, though I can't tell from the preview whether this book will be right to left (traditional Japanese style) or the Americanized left to right, probably the latter. What I find interesting here is that manga, which is apparently very big right, targets the teen set and this brings Galactica, and SF, to that audience. Yes, there are already SF manga titles, but this is a big SF name and will, hopefully, encourage some readers to check the whole SF thing out.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 24, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Bibliophile Stalker interviews Peter Crowther, publisher (PS Publishing) and Editor (We Think, Therefore We Are).


• Lou Anders gives an awesome profile of Chris Roberson's wonderful Celestial Empire series at Tor.com. Part 2 coming soon! (See also: SF Signal's review of some Celestial Empire stories.)


• Cover pr0n: Orbus by Neal Asher.


• John Joseph Adams announces the publication of a reprint anthology, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which will contain tales of both mystery and the fantastic. Hopefully, there will be little overlap with Sherlock Holmes in Orbit, which waits patiently in "the archives"...


• Ellen Datlow has posted photos from a recent Edgar Allan Poe event featuring Gregory Frost, John Langan, Laird Barron, and Poe editor Ellen Datlow.


• Pitfalls of Prophecy: Why Science Fiction So Often Fails to Predict the Future, an essay by Gary Westfahl, identifies the seven Fallacies of Prediction, debunks some of SF's current predictions about the future, and offers some predictions of his own. (See also: Our own Mind meld on which predictions Golden Age Science Fiction got right & wrong.)


• Technology publisher Tim O'Reilly on why the Kindle should be an open book: "Unless Amazon embraces open standards, the Kindle's lead will become a very short story." [via MobileRead]


• Free LucasArts Game Posters are available for download. [via GeekSugar]


• Automopedia lists The 15 Sexiest Science Fiction Ships.


• I *so* would have loved this Space Invaders alarm clock back in the 80's. These days, I see the alarm clock for what it truly is: an instrument of the Devil.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 24, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Asimov's has posted the preliminary Nebula short fiction nominees that first appeared in their pages:

Preliminary Asimov's Nominees for Best Novelette:

• "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story" by James Alan Gardner
• "Dark Rooms" by Lisa Goldstein
• "The Prophet of Flores" by Ted Kosmatka

Preliminary Asimov's Nominees for Best Short Story:

• "Skull Valley" by Michael Cassutt
• "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" by Kij Johnson
• "Don't Stop" by James Patrick Kelly
• "How Music Begins" by James Van Pelt

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 23, 2009 at 3:00 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Like most families, mine has a long history with both the DC and Marvel characters and universes. We've seen the movies, and, in addition, my now 18 year old son and I have waded through the entire Justice League of America graphic novel collection, and battle as the heroes themselves while playing Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and other video games (though my son never lets me win).

So when the offer came up from the SF Signal team to review Mr. Anderson's forthcoming novel about the first meeting between Batman and Superman, I decided to depart from the norm and do a tag team review with my son Josh (the self-proclaimed expert in this area). The following conversation ensued:

*** WARNING: There are some SPOILERS in this review ***

Larry: Josh, the SF Signal guys gave me this new book about Batman and Superman.

Josh: What's it called?

Larry: Enemies and Allies, by Kevin J. Anderson. He's written a bunch of those Dune novels I've been trying to get you to read. He's also written a lot of Star Wars stories as well.

Josh: What's it about?

Larry: Dunno, I haven't read it. From the cover it looks like the first meeting between Superman and Batman back in the 1950's.

Josh: Sweet. I'll read it.

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Posted by Larry Ketchersid at Monday February 23, 2009 at 11:00 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Thanks to the ever-vigilant Free Speculative Fiction Online...

• Neil Ayres: "Under the Influence of Meat Puppets" (Apex Online, June 2007)
• Beth Bernobich: "A Handful of Pearls" (Interzone, September 2007)
• Ben Bova: "The Next Logical Step" (Analog, May 1962)
• Marion Zimmer Bradley: The Door Through Space (Ace, 1961)
• Michael A. Burstein: "Paying it Forward" (Analog, September 2003)
• Michael A. Burstein: "The New Breed" (Men Writing Science Fiction As Women Anthology, 2003)
• Greg Egan: "Crystal Nights" (Interzone, April 2008)
• Randall Garrett: "What The Left Hand Was Doing" (Analog" (Astounding), February 1960)
• Edmond Hamilton: "The Man Who Saw the Future" (Amazing, October 1930)
• Raymond F. Jones: "The Great Gray Plague" (Analog, February 1962)
• Alexis Glynn Latner: "Blu 97-023D" (Analog, June 2004)
• Alexis Glynn Latner: "The Listening Glass" (Analog, February 1991)
• Nick Mamatas: "Summon, Bind, Banish" (Apex Online, July 2008)
• Ruth Nestvold: "On the Shadow Side of the Beast" (Apex Online, January 2009)
• Scott Nicholson: "Skin" (Apex Online, June 2006)
• G. David Nordley: "The Touch" (The Age of Reason Anthology, 1999)
• Jennifer Pelland: "Clone Barbecue" (Apex Online, April 2006)
• Jennifer Pelland: "Organ Nell" (Apex Online, December 2008)
• Adam Roberts: "Dick Does Time" (A Dick And Jane Primer for Adults Anthology, 2008)
• Christopher Rowe: "Men of Renown" (Apex Online, February 2006)
• Gord Sellar: "Cai and Her Ten Thousand Husbands" (Apex Online, February 2009)
• Robert Shea: All Things Are Lights (Ballantine, 1986)
• Robert Shea: "Resurrection" (Fantastic Universe, December 1957)
• Robert Shea: Shike (Ballantine, 1981)
• Robert Shea: "The Helpful Robots" (Fantastic Universe, September 1957)
• Lavie Tidhar: "All the Wonder in the World" (Abyss & Apex, 2006)
• Lavie Tidhar: "Blakenjel" (Apex Online, October 2008)
• Lavie Tidhar: "Dark Planet" (Apex Online, February 2009)
• Lavie Tidhar: "The Jerusalem Theatre" (Apex Online, December 2005)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 23, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 23, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• The Philip José Farmer International Bibliography interviews Christopher Paul Carey, the editor of Farmer's forthcoming collection, The Other in the Mirror. [via Win Scott Eckert/a>]


• Retro Cover Pron: Here's a way-cool Flickr photo set of Ron Turner pulp covers. [via Neat Neat Neat]


• Apex Publishing sends word that they are planning to release The Apex Book of World SF edited by Lavie Tidhar, an anthology of genre short stories from around the world.


• Jonathan Strahan on the Hugos: "The awards are important, and being nominated is an enormous honor. Disenfranchising anyone is a decision that should be made cautiously and compassionately."


• Jeff VanderMeer offers A Teacher's View of Clarion South 2009. (See also, his Omnivoracious entries.)


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • Australian SF 'zine Antipodean has its 129th issue up with free fiction by J D Brames, Liam Thorpe, Steve Duffy, Jan Napier, Mick Dawson, Shaun A Saunders, Mark Farrugia, Houston Dunleavy, Houston Dunleavy, and Felicity Dowker. [Via Beam Me Up]
  • @Hub: "Montgolfier Winter" by Alasdair Stuart.
  • Author/Game Designer Greg Costikyan has a set of four of short stories from Asimov's, Analog, and Aboriginal online at his website.
  • Audio Fiction:
    • LibriVox its Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 011 by many Authors and readers
    • Beam Me Up has part one of "Devining Light" by Ted Kosmatka and "Butter Side Up" by Shaun Saunders, both read by Paul Cole.
    • @Pseudopod: "The Greatest Adventure of All" by Ian McHugh, read by Alasdair Stuart.
    • @Dunesteef: "Lonely Heart Clob" by Michael Stone.
    • @The Cthulhu Blog: "The Mark of the Beast" by Rudyard Kipling, read by William Coon.


• For those that track Oscar winners: Wall-E won for best animated film and Heath Ledger won for best supporting Actor.


• Mike Brotherton wants your choice for The Best SF/Fantasy/Horror Movie Soundtrack. I like outdated 80's synth music as much as the next guy, but Ladyhawke? That has to be a red herring.


• Giveaway Reminder: It's not too late to enter our giveaway contests! See details to win:
  • Signed Copies of The Blood King and Dark Haven by Gail Z. Martin!
  • White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison + Extras!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 23, 2009 at 12:06 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Over at the Pyr blog, Ian McDonald talks about reading speed vs. quality of enjoyment when he asks How Soon is Now?

To me reading isn't a [progression] of events, it's a [sensory] wash; every part of the imagination is engaged, verbal, visual, empathetic, olfactory. Reading is a virtual reality that's entirely personalised to you. It's not about where you get to, --we all know what that is; the end, the last page, the final period, no more story and we're all headed for that one way or another; it's how you get there.
...
Nicholas Carr wonders in the The Atlantic if the online world is changing the way he reads. What interests me here is not so much the dwindling of attention spans, as what I call 'nuggeting' --scanning only for the important points, the catching points where the eye and the brain latch on to information --a point of change or transition or a contrast. Nugget to nugget, getting the eye-kicks in at the required bpm. I wonder if that's what the commentariat mean when they say 'the storyline did not engage me' --the nuggets, the changes, the beats didn't come fast enough. I think it's a sad and bad thing. If we're exposed to only what stimulates, it deadens the response. Reading isn't only about finding out what happens next. Why hurry to the end? Take your time. There's plenty to enjoy on the way.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 22, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Ursula Le Guin's excellent book, The Lathe of Heaven, has seen a couple of adaptations. This one, from PBS, aired in 1980 and stars Bruce Davison as George Orr and Kevin Conway as Dr. William Haber.

[Yet another great find from Divers and Sundry!]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 22, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Blogging the Muse interviews Jay Lake (Green).


• The World in the Satin Bag interviews Chris Howard (Seaborn).


• In part 5 or their tribute, Fear.net asks Was Edgar Allan Poe a Goth?


• Charles Stross talks about some upcoming books: The Revolution Business (the 5th Merchant Princes novel) and Wireless.


• When Science Fiction Meets Marxism, or "A review of John's Carpenter's They Live": "Although it appeared about 20 years ago, in 1988, the movie remains timely and relevant as one of the most devastating and sharp criticisms of American imperialism ever made."


• At SF Novelists, Laura Anne Gilman tells writers Why Continuity Matters


• Cover Pr0n: Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson.


• Over at Internet Evolution, you'll find Media-Morphosis: How the Internet Will Devour, Transform, or Destroy Your Favorite Medium by Cory Doctorow, which he describes as "a noodle on the factors that led to the demise of newspapers, the transformation of music, and the potential destruction of big budget movies and mass-market publishing (and what can be done about the last one)"


• Stargate showrunner Joseph Mallozzi is taking reader questions for Amanda Tapping.


• The life of pulp writer Emerson LaSalle is coming to the big screen. [via Victor Gischler's Blogpocalypse]


• Mark R. Kelly's absolutely essential resource, The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards, has been updated with the past year's awards results, new sections for the Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Dwarf Stars awards, and also has been given a facelift. Nice job, Mark!


• The List Universe lists Top 20 Greatest Science Fiction Movies of the 1980s. Interesting choices...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 22, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A brief meditation upon art and death

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An artist muses about death that he has seen, while seeking out his ex-lover's artwork.

MY REVIEW
PROS: Intensely focused on its theme; a very quick read.
CONS: If you aren't already familiar with the art he describes, you can easily get lost; also, generally without a strong plotline.
BOTTOM LINE: Not terribly approachable for those not already in that art scene.

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Posted by Karen Burnham at Saturday February 21, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• George R.R. Martin is tired of people complaining about the "lateness" of A Dance With Dragons.


• S. Andrew Swann interviews Mary Turzillo.


• Publishers Weekly's Genreville asks publicists: Is an Imprint a Brand?


• Last month, the Guardian ran their list of 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. Now they've appended their readers' all-time favorite science fiction and fantasy novels they missed.


• Jeff Carlson talks about the genesis of his book Plague Year.


• Here's where Jack Dann gets his ideas...as he wrote in the afterword to his 2001 collection Jubilee.


• Garistotle says Frank Herbert's Dune Helped Forge My Religious Identity: "...I got more of a religious sense, at least when it comes to who I am as a person, from the Dune novels than I did from The Bible itself."


• Lists:
  • @Bukisa: Top 10 Mythological Men of Science Fiction
  • Little Fivers lists Signs a Sci-Fi Geek Is Sick.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 21, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

First up today we have Sleep Dealers, winner of the 2008 Spirit Awards for Best First Feature. Sleep Dealer is the story of Memo Cruz, who attempts to find work in a future America where all of the manual labor is now accomplished via technology. After watching the trailer, I really like the direction the story goes in with respect to technology, but I'm wondering how 'PC' the movie is. Being an indie production, it could go either way.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 20, 2009 at 11:34 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

This mashup of Buck rogers and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is actually pretty good!

[via Dark Roasted Blend]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 20, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Watchmen tidbits
  • The theatrical release of Watchmen - Can't wait! - clocks in at 2 hours and 37 minutes. The DVD/Blu-ray releases will be even longer...as in 3 hours and 10 minutes long for the Director's Cut DVD in July. But wait! There's more! A ginormously long "Ultimate Watchmen Cut" due in the Fall will be 3 hours and 25 minutes. That's a lot of Watchmen goodness. I sure hope it's good.
  • On the plus side, Wil Wheaton has seen Watchmen and raves about it.
  • Super Punch, meanwhile, points us to a Flickr gallery of The Watchmen as food.
  • SCI FI Wire posted behind-the-scenes portraits from Watchmen.
  • Entertainment Weekly seduces Watchmen noobs with this Watchmen movie primer for Watchmen virgins.
  • Or for those less inclined, here's some merchandising gone too far: Watchmen condoms. Whoever is watching the Watchmen must be a Peeping Tom! [via Keith R.A. DeCandido]


• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Jay Lake video-interviews Ken Scholes (Lamentation)
  • Self-Publishing Review interviews Rudy Rucker (Postsingular).
  • Mur Lafferty podcast-interviews Holly Lisle (Hawkspar: A Novel of Korre).
  • Gail Z. Martin podcast-interviews Juliet E. McKenna (Irons in the Fire).


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
  • The latest Starship Sofa podcast features fiction by Ted Kosmatka and Edward M Lerner.
  • From Manybooks.net:
    • "The Great Gray Plague" by Raymond F. Jones (1962).
    • "My Father, the Cat" by Henry Slesar (1957).
    • "Moment of Truth" by Basil Eugene Wells (1957).
  
  
• Game designer Greg Costikyan has rewritten his classic 1979 SPI game Vector 3 "a 3D space combat board game" and released it under a creative license. [via freewargamesrules]


• Editor Ellen Datlow has posted the table of contents of her anthology Naked City: New Tales of Urban Fantasy.


• Cover Pron: The Pyr blog shows off the cool covers of Blood of Ambrose by James Enge and Brasyl by Ian McDonald.


• EVENT: As part of the Fantastic Fiction reading series, Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Stewart O'Nan (A Prayer for the Dying) & Paul Tremblay (Compositions for the Young and Old) Wednesday March 18th, 7pm at KGB Bar in NYC.


• Convert Google Book previews to PDF with this freeware app called Google Book Downloader. It will only convert those pages available for viewing, of course, and it requires Microsoft .NET. [via Download Squad]


• SFX wants your opinion on The Greatest Screen Vampires of All Time.


• Unreality lists 5 Christ Figures as Depicted in Science Fiction/Fantasy Movies.


• Not a Planet Anymore lists The Top 10 Doctors of SF. And by "Doctors" he means "physicians" so, no, Doctor Who doesn't make the list. (Though as a guess, I'd say he be at the top of a list titled "Top 10 SF Characters You Might Think are Doctors, But Aren't".)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 20, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Damn you, NetFlix! You keep making me watch movies I wouldn't have watched otherwise.

Last night it was the 2004 eco-disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow. Suspect science, mediocre acting, contrived drama, obvious CG effects, heavy-handed propaganda...these are not the things I look for in a SciFi film. I'm surprised I watched the whole thing.

What bad SciFI film have you watched most recently?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 19, 2009 at 12:52 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Eos has made Mario Acevedo's zombie/vampire novel The Nymphos of Rocky Flats available as a free online eBook until 2/24. This book was a Barnes & Noble's Editor's Choice for Top Ten Novels of 2006.

From the book description:

Back home in the States, the reluctantly undead former infantryman pays penance for his war-time sins--making a living as a private detective able to unravel mysteries that baffle his mortal counterparts. Now an old friend has asked him to investigate a bizarre outbreak of nymphomania at the secret government facilities in Rocky Flats, Colorado. Normally, Felix's unorthodox--and downright supernatural--methods of extracting information are foolproof. But this time his efforts inadvertently stoke the lustful fires smoldering within the bodacious babes he's interrogating . . . while eliciting cryptic mentions of Roswell and a top-secret Project Redlight.

P.I. Felix Gomez has finally landed a case he can really sink his teeth into. But when shadowy government agents and determined Eastern European vampire hunters get stirred in, this deadly goulash of tight lips and rampant libidos boils over . . .

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 19, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

SF Signal has a Kim Harrison prize pack to give away to one lucky reader.

The prize pack contains:

• One copy of White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison - the latest book featuring kick-ass witch and bounty hunter Rachel Morgan.
• One t-shirt.
• A couple of T4 Angel Tomato seed packets. Plant them if you dare!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 19, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

SF Signal has 2 sets of Gail Z. Martin Chronicles Of The Necromancer freebies to give away to 2 lucky SF Signal readers!

Each prize pack contains:

• A signed copy of The Blood King
• A signed Advanced Reading Copy of Blood King
• A signed copy of Dark Haven

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 19, 2009 at 12:13 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @SCI FI Wire: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, co-authors of Escape From Hell, sequel to their 33 year-old novel Inferno.
  • @The Black Library: Chris Roberson (Dawn of War II).
  • The Reddit Blog interviews John Joseph Adams, editor of The Living Dead.
  • @Graeme's Fantasy Book Review: David Moody, author of Hater.
  • Omnivoracious looks at the work of Alan Moore beyond Watchmen.
  • Boing Boing points us to this PDF scan of Rolling Stone's 1975 profile of Philip K. Dick.


• John Scalzi on media tie-ins: "The assumption that tie-in novels are all hackwork is just that, an assumption..."


• @Suvudu: Richard K. Morgan on Tolkien: "The great shame is, of course, that Tolkien was not able (or inclined) to mine this vein of experience for what it was really worth - in fact he seemed to be in full, panic-stricken flight from it."


• Over at Pyr-o-Mania, David Louis Edelman says that the only redeeming quality of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories is the character of Holmes himself.


• Cover Pr0n: Christopher Paul Carey exhibits Bob Eggleton's cover for The Other in the Mirror by Philip José Farmer.


• Real Science: Brain scans suggest that readers build vivid mental simulations of narrative situations. [via J.M. McDermott]


• Gizmotron offers up The Definitive Guide To Steampunk Gadgets.


• io9 lists 9Scifi Books That Deserve To Be Films.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday February 19, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

As pointed out by John C. Wright, the contents of the Jack Vance tribute anthology, Songs of the Dying Earth edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, have been posted.

Check out this stellar line-up:

1. "The Green Bird" by Kage Baker
2. "The Good Magician" by Glen Cook
3. "The Copsy Door" by Terry Dowling
4. "The Last Golden Thread" by Phyllis Eisenstein
5. "The Return of the Fire Witch" by Elizabeth Hand
6. "Grolion of Almery" by Matthew Hughes
7. "Evillo the Uncunning" by Tanith Lee
8. "An Incident in Uskvosk" by Elizabeth Moon
9. "Inescapable" by Mike Resnick
10. "Sylgarmo's Proclamation" by Lucius Shepard
11. "The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale" by Robert Silverberg
12. "The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz" by Dan Simmons
13. "The Final Quest of the Wizard Sarnod" by Jeff VanderMeer
14. "The Traditions of Karzh" by Paula Volsky
15. "Caulk the Witch-Chaser" by Liz Williams
16. "The Lamentably Comical Tragedy (or The Laughably Tragic Comedy) of Lixal Laqavee" by Tad Williams
17. "Abrizonde" by Walter Jon Williams
18. "Guyal the Curator" by John C. Wright
19. "A Night at the Tarn House" by George R.R. Martin
20. "Frogskin Cap" by Howard Waldrop
21. "An Invocation of Curiousity" by Neil Gaiman

This behemoth, expected in August but available now for pre-order, clocks in at 670 pages!

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 1:51 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Mike Brotherton has announced the release of a new, FREE online anthology featuring some big-name writers. It's titled Diamonds in the Sky and is comprised of both new and reprinted stories that feature Astronomy. It was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Here's the table of contents:

1. "In the Autumn of Empire" by Jerry Oltion
2. "End of the World" by Alma Alexander
3. "The Freshmen Hookup" by Wil McCarthy
4. "Galactic Stress" by David Levine
5. "The Moon is a Harsh Pig" by Jerry Weinberg
6. "The Point" by Mike Brotherton
7. "Squish" by Dan Hoyt
8. "Jaiden's Weaver" by Mary Robinette Kowal
9. "How I Saved the World" by Valentin Ivanov
10. "Dog Star" by Jeffrey A. Carver
11. "The Touch" by G. David Nordley
12. "Planet Killer" by Kevin Grazier and Ges Segar
13. "The Listening-Glass" by Alexis Glynn Latner
14. "Approaching Perimelasma" by Geoffrey A. Landis

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

We've look at movies, now it's time to turn our attention to something we all here at SF Signal love: books. Even though we receive enough review copies of books to help up us fortify the ramparts on our World HQ Castle, that doesn't mean we don't look forward to new books by our favorite authors or new releases with interesting covers. We'll take a look at both here.

I used the terrific Locus Online forthcoming books list to our list here, and, given how much I like to read, it's surprising how few books made this list for me....

Jack Vance is the master of the 'Dying Earth' genre of SF and now Subterranean Press, in conjunction with editor extraordinaire Gardner Dozois, is producing Songs of the Dying Earth, an anthology in honor of Jack Vance. That right there is enough to be intriguing, but look at some of the authors: Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, George R.R.Martin and many, many more high profile authors. Awesome!

I also like the cover of the book, it has that ancient, fantastical, blurry feeling that stories set on a far future Earth have (for me anyway), and it complements the aim of the collection well. If you want a copy, you'd better hurry, the Limited and Lettered editions are sold out, which means it's the $40 trade version for you. I've never bought anything from Subterranean Press before, but this just might be the first.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here, courtesy of the good folks at St Martin's, is the fourth and final excerpt of Hater by David Moody. Hater is a tense thriller that is being produced for the big screen by Guillermo del Toro. The book is out in stores now.

[See also: Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3; and SF Signal's review of Hater.]

HATER by David Moody Chapter 4

WE'RE OUT. WE'VE ESCAPED. For the first time in months Lizzie and I have managed to get away from the house together without any of the children in tow. I can't remember the last time we were out together like this. The fact that we're crammed into a small, dark, and sweaty concert hall with six or seven hundred other people doesn't seem to matter. The gig hasn't even started yet but the background music is already deafening and the lighting is virtually nonexistent. The chances of us actually managing to speak to each other are slim.

"Doesn't feel right, does it?" Liz shouts at me. She has to lift herself on tiptoe to yell into my ear.

"What doesn't?" I shout back.

"Not having the kids here. I'm not used to it. I keep looking around expecting to see at least one of them."

"Make the most of it," I tell her. "How long's it been since we went out together on our own?"

"Months," she screams, struggling to make herself heard over the noise.

The conversation is over quickly. The effort of having to yell at each other is already making my throat sore and the gig hasn't even started yet. I watch the stage as roadies and other crew members check the lights, the sound, and the instruments. How long does it take them to get ready? They seem to have been setting things up for ages, there can't be long left to wait now. Someone's going around putting towels and drinks down and gaffer-taping set lists to the floor.

Christ, what was that? Something hit me from the side and I'm down on the floor before I know what's happened. I try to stand up quickly, my heart thumping in my chest. Liz grabs my arm and pulls me to my feet. I don't want any trouble tonight. I'm not good at dealing with confrontation. I really don't want any trouble.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 12:23 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Fantastic and time-appropriate novel by a master of comedic fantasy. I wouldn't make this my first Diskworld book, but it is a great part of the series.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Moist, the protagonist of Going Postal is back and asked to take on Ankh-Morpork's banking system, including the mint, the treasury, and the bank itself.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Brilliant humor, excellent new characters, fun with old favorites
CONS: Banking humor might be over the head of many non-bankers
BOTTOM LINE: I enjoyed the heck out of this book and recommend it to Pratchett fans without question (although I'd read Going Postal first if you haven't already.) I don't think this is the book I'd recommend if you haven't read any in the series though. As we've discussed before, you might want to follow another order to reading the series.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's another batch of Free Fiction, courtesy of QuasarDragon:

• @Manybooks: Last Men in London by Olaf Stapledon (1932).
• @Tor.com: "A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon" by Ken Scholes
• @FeedBooks:
  • "Walls of Acid" by Henry Hasse (1947)
  • "Reluctant Genius" by Henry Slesar (1957)
  • "Shepherd of the Planets" by Alan Mattox (1959
  • "Strange Alliance" by Bryce Walton (1947)
  • "The Man Who Saw the Future" by Edmond Moore Hamilton (1930)
  • "The Next Logical Step" by Ben Bova (1962)
• @Strange Horizons: "The First Time We Met" by Maria Deira.
• @Fantasy Magazine: "The Adventures of Petal, the Paperdoll Pirate" by Paul Jessup.
• @Hub: "A Little Mystery" by Len Bains.
• @Kat and Mouse: Part seven of "Easy Money" by Abner Senires.
• Audio Fiction:
  • @LibriVox: The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker, read by Roger Melin.
  • @ScottSigler.com: Chapter eleven of Contagious written and read by Scott Sigler.
  • @PodCastle: "Dragon Hunt" by Sarah Prineas, read by Wilson Fowlie.
  • @Beam Me Up: Part two of "Paying it Forward" by Michael Burstein and "Yellow Ribbon" by Asley Thomas. Both read by Paul Cole.
  • @Free Reads: Part two of "Painting The Air" written and read by James Patrick Kelly.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• The Rumpus interviews Jacob Weisman, Editor and Publisher of Tachyon Publications: "The real question isn't where science fiction has been, but where it's going. You've got all these smaller groups in the field that are no longer able to really talk to each other, so there's less of a central conversation."


• Free Excerpts:
  • At Pyr-o-Mania, Paul McAuley posts his introduction to Ian McDonald's Cyberabad Days.
  • The first four chapters of The Kinship by Lisa Paitz Spindler.


• Food for thought: Is there a religious divide within American sf? [via Infocult]


• Edward Champion posts a humorous animation on The Future of the Ebook.


• United Scifi explores Leonard Nimoy's Love/Hate Relationship with Spock: "'Spockmania' took everyone by surprise."


• And for those who are fans, here's your chance to smell like Spock with Star Trek branded fragrances. Info is scarce, but I shudder to think of the aromas that might result... [via : RevolutionSF]


• I think, therefore I Jedi. The Star Wars Force Trainer is a toy that lets you levitate a ball with your mind. [via Gabriel McKee and Gopa from Out of Control Action Plan]


• Dan Meth offers a cool Trilogy Meter, rating films in (duh) trilogies. I like how it visually allows you to see which sequels fared better than the originals. [via Gerry Canavan]


• Topless Robot lists Science Fiction's 6 Excuses for Everything.


• Ten Things Niall Harrison Wants From The Locus Blog.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 12:06 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

MY RATING:

Big, sprawling, complex, satisfying; these are all words you could use to describe Neal Stephenson's latest opus, Anathem. At over 900 pages long, including appendices and glossary, Anathem follows in the mold of the books in the Baroque Cycle, yet manages to tell a complete story. It's sprawling not just in the distances the protagonists physically cover, but also in the intellectual and philosophical distances they cover. Complex because of the ideas being covered and the fact that we, as readers, have to learn with the protagonists and aren't spoon fed the answers. Anathem is also ultimately satisfying, with a 'proper' ending, unlike Cryptonomicon, that also manages to leave a few mysterious unanswered.

All in all, a very enjoyable read, especially if you like Stephenson.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Another excellent story in Roberson's consistently satisfying Celestial Empire setting.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: As seen through the eyes of three soldiers fighting for Imperial China, the Dragon Throne and the Mexic Dominion fight for control of the planet Fire Star.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Rich setting; fast-moving story; a fun, fun read.
CONS: Perhaps because the story went so fast, the portrayal of the ultimate transformation of the characters was undermined.
BOTTOM LINE: A non-stop story that thoroughly entertains

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The second issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories, tied in to the thetrical release of the new Star Trek, featured past Trek writers. The complete table of contents is:

• Novelets:
  • "Enterprise Fish" by David Gerrold
  • "Palladium" by Diane Duane
  • "Moon Over Luna" by David R. George III
• Short Stories:
  • "Manifest Destiny" by Michael Reaves & Steve Perry
  • "A Gift Though Small" by Melinda M. Snodgrass
  • "Float Like a Butterfly" by Norman Spinrad
  • "Dark Energies" by Larry Niven
• Classic Novella: "The Golden Helix" by Theodore Sturgeon
• Classic Novelet: "Arena" by Fredric Brown
• Classic Short Stories:
  • "Life Hutch" by Harlan Ellison
  • "The Seventh Order" by Jerry Sohl
  • F------" by Richard Matheson
  • "Rock-a-Bye Baby, or Die!" by George Clayton Johnson
• Features:
  • "Where No Scribe Has Gone Before" by Marc Scott Zicree
  • "Scientifacts" by James Trefil
  • "No Studio, No Network, No Problem" by Crystal Ann Taylor
  • "I Canna Change the Laws of Physics!" by Adam Weiner
  • "Columbus of the Stars: A Trek Not Taken?" by Ib Melchior & Vic Lundin
  • The Televisualizer: "Cult Camp Classics 1: Sci-Fi Thrillers" by Scott Ashlin
  • Sir Arthur C. Clarke & Forrest J Ackerman, In Memoriam
  • "Dr. Zotts" (comic strip)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• John Picacio continues to impress with his latest cover artwork for Mark Chadbourn's Age of Misrule, Book 1.


• More artist awesomeness: Vincent Chong's new website. [via Jason Sanford]


• AMC's SciFI Scanner interviews Eric Nylund (Mortal Coils).


• The Fix interviews Paul Di Filippo. [via Locus Online]


• Derryl Murphy's short story "Last Call," has been optioned by filmmaker Jean-Francois Da Sylva, who previously made The Grandfather Paradox, based on a short story by Edward M. Lerner. Derryl has some interesting updates on the film. [via SF Canada]


• Tobias Buckell likes to crack book spines! And dog-ear, too! [Shiver...] Has the world gone mad?


• The Guardian tells us how to create a buzz about a book. Adam Roberts responds.


• Happy 4th Bloggiversary to SciFi Chick!


• Buffy, Dollhouse creator Joss Whedon is to receive Bradbury Award.


• Finally: Star Trek: TOS on Blu-ray! ...to be followed soon by the Trek films. Personally, I can't wait to see "Khaaaan!" in hi-def.


• Real Science: Two, actually from Look At This:
  • A Comprehensive Guide to Black Holes.
  • The Many Faces of Our Moon.


• Cinefantastique lists The Best Fantasy Films, Horror Movies & Science Fiction Cinema of 2008.


• The World in the Satin Bag: 10 Things That Make Me Stop Reading.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 12:09 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• The Great Gnome Press Science Fiction Odyssey blog thinks that Battlestar Galactica is now like LOST, in space. the main takeaway: Because the show now has a deadline, the stories are being forced to fit into the remaining episodes, causing the writers to rush things and leave 'WTF?' moments lying around. Supposedly like LOST. While I agree Galactica has become much less focused than it once was (thank you, Final Five Cylon plot), to me, LOST isn't 'WTF?' at all, rather it now has a lot of 'holy frak!' moments. The difference: writers who know where they are going (LOST), versus those who made it up as they went along (Galactica).
• The series finale of Galactica will now be three hours long, split over two nights. The first Friday night will be a one hour episode, with the next Friday wrapping things up with a two-hour finale, which starts one hour earlier (natch). Anyone else concerned with how this thing is lurching toward the end?
• Chud.com author David Faraci lists five ways LOST can keep from jumping the quantum shark. As someone who loves the heavy does of SF that regularly occurs on the show, I don't think it's near any shark, quantum sized or larger. I'm with Cory Barker at Weekend Watchers. I have faith that the writers know what they are doing.
• On Saturday morning as I was out acquiring donuts, I had the radio tuned to our local NPR station (the only time that ever happens because there is nothing else remotely interesting on) and who did I hear? Joss Whedon. Fresh Air was interviewing Whedon about all things Whedon. You can hear the interview here. Hmmm, now it's almost imperative I buy Dr. Horrible on DVD. Listen to the interview to find out why.
• According to Nielsen, ABC.com has 7 of the top 10 most watched TV shows online. #1? LOST, with well over a million viewers. NBC's Heroes ranks in at #5. I don't mind watching the occasional episode online, to catch up, but the online experience needs to improve dramatically before I'd watch regularly.
• Associated Content has a list of some very nice papercraft Star Trek models. Now you can get your Trek geek on in paper before the new movie starts. Just don't let me catch you with your paper Enterprise in theater, shooting people while shouting 'Pew Pew!'

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Despite my immediate backlash reflex to virals and commando advertising, the big push to generate buzz about Watchmen is not bothering me. Perhaps its having read and loved Alan Moore's excellent graphic novel.

Whatever the reason, it seems logical to do my part as mindless lemming and point out this free online retro-style Watchmen videogame.

Punch! Kick! Jump! When will the enjoyment end? Go forth and enjoy it in all it's pixelated glory.

[via Kung Fu Rodeo]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 16, 2009 at 11:01 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 16, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • At the Denver Decider, Cat Rambo interviews Dan Simmons, author of Drood: "Almost every writer that wants a rewarding career, in terms of money and status and number of readers, finally finds a certain genre or certain style that he or she sticks with until reaching a critical mass of readership. And I've violated this from the get-go."
  • Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast-interviews Lou Anders and Joseph Mallozzi.
  • Nick Gevers is interviewing the creators and editors of Short Fiction. First up: Jonathan Strahan (Eclipse Two)


• Sarah Monette talks about writing and experience: "Our childhood experience informs what we write. It does not have to be our subject matter."


• Over at Book View Cafe, Vonda N. McIntyre talks about writing Star Trek Novels: "...the only drawback was that some of my colleagues took exception to my polluting my precious bodily fluids with evil tie-in novels."


• Liz Williams has a new website.


• Karen Burnham picks the Hugos. Note to voters: nominations are due February 28th!


• Technology book publisher Tim O'Reilly on Science Fiction: "A truly cultured person appreciates what has really shaped his world view, and uses literature and the arts as a tool to get more out of life."


• Awesome art: "The Ash Tree" by Mike Nash. [via Illustration News Portal]


• SF Site lists The Best Reads of the Year in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Editors' Choice).

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday February 16, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• For many of us, the original Star Trek played a huge role in the formation of our love for all things SF. It also had a huge impact on the people who have been designing technology these many years. Star Trek: The Exhibition is now open at the Detroit Science Center (through Sept. 7th) and looks at how the tech of Star Trek has influenced our own technology. I'm still waiting for my cell phone to 'chirp' like the old school communicators when I open it up...
• Last week's 'WTF?' moment on Battlestar Galactica (SPOILER!!): the revelation that Cylon number 7 is/was called Daniel, and that Cavil basically wiped the model out. Ron Moore says it was a Cain and Abel moment for the show. Whatever. Once again we see the Cylon mythology aspect of the show dragging the whole thing down with it.
• Not that it will help the Nielsen ratings, but Dollhouse is #5 on the iTunes 'Most Downloaded' list. BG is #1. Now, Whedon better hope that those downloaders decide to actually watch when the show is broadcast, or he's looking at another failed series on Fox.
• Speaking of ratings, the Americanized version of Life on Mars should be retitled Life on Life Support as its ratings keep falling to new lows. It's not surprising. The ABC series is in no way comparable to the BBC version. It's just not that good.
• Leave it to Cinemax (or, Skinemax at night) to take the Dollhouse concept and 'erotic' it up. Forbidden Science is the name, tune in if you dare.
• From the 'it isn't SF (or even TV) but it should be!' department, I give you Skittles flavored Vodka! Perhaps the best way to watch Forbidden Science?
• Sci Fi Wire interviews the creators of the web series Emissary at the New York Comic Con. Emissary will star Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) and debuts in 2010 (the year we make contact):

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday February 16, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

In case you've been living under a rock somewhere, the premier of Joss Whedon's much anticipated new series, Dollhouse, occurred this past Friday night. After months of hype, studio issues and re-shoots, is Dollhouse set to take the world by storm?

In a word: No.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday February 15, 2009 at 12:26 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Before you see the upcoming BBC production of John Wyndham's excellent cozy-catastrophe The Day of the Triffids, make sure you've seen this schlocky 1960 film, which takes all the goodness of the book and re-imagines it as a cheap, cheesy monster flick.

[via Divers and Sundry]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 15, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

QuasarDragon keeps the free fiction flowing...

• @Manybooks:
  • "The Man Who Saw the Future" by Edmond Hamilton (1930).
  • "Walls of Acid" by Henry Hasse (1947).
  • "Shepherd of the Planets" by Alan Mattox (1959).
  • "Strange Alliance" by Bryce Walton (1947).
  • "The Next Logical Step" by Benjamin William Bova (1961).
• @Beneath Ceaseless Skies:
  • "Hangman" by Erin Cashier.
  • "Kreisler's Automata" by Matthew David Surridge.
• @Big Pulp:
  • "The Choice Is Yours" by Stacey Janssen.
  • "Waiting Room At The Hero League" by Catherine Cheek.
• Aphelion has a new issue out with fiction by James Lecky, E. S. Strout, Michael Ray Laemmle, Anna Caro, and J. Keegan.
• @Afterburn SF: "Gargoyle" by Camille Picott.
• M-Brane SF has its first issue of free SF out.
• Arkham Tales has its latest issue out with fiction by K.S. Clay, Dev Jarrett, Jason Hardy, Bric Barnes, Bret Tallman, Matt Finucane, Catherine J. Gardner, John Jasper Owens, Diane Payne, and Garrett Calcaterra, and poetry by K.S. Conlon.
• @Polu Texni: Part three of "Very Truly Yours" by Seth Gordan.
• The latest issue of Three Crow Press is out with fiction by Fran Walker, Joe Nazare, Gerard Brennan, Jean Langill, Carl Hose, John Miller, Michael R. Fosburg, and Mina Kelly.
• Audio Fiction:
  • @LibriVox: "The Edge of the Knife" by H. Beam Piper, read by jfmarchini.
  • @Pseudopod: "Bottle Babies" by Mary A. Turzillo, read by Ben Phillips.
  • @Well Told Tales: "The Cosmonaut" by Michael Huie, read by Eleiece Krawiec.
  • @ScottSigler.com: Chapter 41, the conclusion, of Nocturnal.
  • @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Dragon's-Eyes" by Margaret Ronald
  • @SFFaudio:
    • "Scrimshaw" by Murray Leinster, read by Roy Turnbull.
    • "Accidental Death" by Peter Baily, read by Roy Turnbull.
    • "And All The Earth A Grave" by C.C. MacApp, read by Roy Turnbull.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 15, 2009 at 12:10 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Andy Remic (War Machine and Biohell) sent along the cool cover art for his next Combat-K novel, Hardcore.


• Joseph Alan says The Best Sci Fi Can Inspire Us: "...I think that the best sci fi can affect us in ways that are beneficial to all of society. Sometimes, it can even guide our thinking, helping us to new levels of creativity that we might otherwise not have achieved."


• In this video interview, James Morrow talks about his latest book Shambling Towards Hiroshima. (See also: SF Signal's interview with James Morrow.)


• Book Trailer: The Summoner & The Blood King, the first two book's in Gail Z. Martin's Chronicles of the Necromancer series which precede the recently released Dark Haven.


• Norilana Books announced the release of Lace and Blade 2 edited by Deborah J. Ross, the second annual volume of the swashbuckling romantic fantasy anthology series.


• Overlook Press announced the release of The Stranger by Max Frei, book 1 of The Labyrinths of Echo, about lazy slacker who is transplanted to a dream universe where he drums up mischief as a magical secret agent.


• Cracked lists The 7 Stages of Nerdgasm for a fanboy awaiting the Watchmen movie.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday February 15, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

For the first time, Del Rey is giving away a free electronic version of a frontlist book: The Patriot Witch by Charles Coleman Finlay (writing as C.C. Finlay), available as a DRM-free PDF. This is the first book in Finlay's Traitor to the Crown series. The sequel, The Demon Redcoat, is due out in June.

The Patriot Witch is also available on Scribd.

[via Locus Online]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 14, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

It's Valentine's day and we know how hard it is coming up with that something special for that special someone. On the off chance that you didn't get anything for your significant other, might we provide an excuse? Tell her/him that you listed to Leonard Nimoy singing "Maiden Wine".

WARNING: Listen *only* if there are no -- reapeat NO - other options...

And if they're still not buying it, bring out the big guns: The Star Trek Jukebox. Use only if divorce/break-up is imminent. Seriously.

[via MilkandCookies]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 14, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's a trailer of Watchmen's story-within-a-story: Tales Of The Black Freighter...coming soon to DVD and Bly-ray.

[via MTV]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 14, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews:
  • Neth Space has 5 questions for Ken Scholes (Lamentation).
  • Galleycat video-interviews Alex Irvine at ComicCon.
  • Genreville Mind Melds with Publicists: What Are the Publicity Advantages and Disadvantages of Your Company's Size and Position in the Market? [via Pyr-o-mania]


• Free Fiction:
  • The latest Starship Sofa features fiction by John Scalzi and Jay Lake.
  • @The authors website: "The Funeral Affair" by Chris Roberson.
  • Free Excerpt @ Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.


• Cover Pr0n: The Dragon Book edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. [via Sean Williams]


• Crotchety Old fan is selling Hugo T-Shirts.


• George R.R. Martin: In Memoriam of Roger Zelazny, from 1995. [via Del.icio.us.]


• Lists-a-plenty!
  • Top 5 Lists Signs You're Being Robbed by a Sci-Fi Geek: "#7: He smells worse than the horror geek who robbed you last week, but much better than the comic book geek who robbed you yesterday."
  • io9 lists 60+ One-Of-A-Kind Robots From Science Fiction.
  • @The List Universe: 10 Great Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Novels.
  • @SCI FI Wire: Top 12 Interspecies romances in sci-fi movies.
  • In honor of Valentine's Day, I recall your attention to SF Signal's list of Top Couples in Science Fiction. Damn, we were funny once.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday February 14, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

This is a friendly reminder that Joss Whedon's latest project, Dollhouse, premieres tonight on Fox.

Here's their synopsis:

ECHO (Eliza Dushku) is an "Active," a member of a highly illegal and underground group of individuals who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Hired by the wealthy, powerful and connected, the Actives don't just perform their hired roles, they wholly become -- with mind, personality and physiology -- whomever the client wants or needs them to be. Whether imprinted to be a lover, an assassin, a corporate negotiator or a best friend, the Actives know no other life than the specific engagements they are in at that time.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 13, 2009 at 2:13 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

I'll admit right off that I've found Fringe to be a poor imitation of The X-Files. The characters (aside from Walter Bishop) really aren't all that interesting and the episode stories could be right out of an X-Files episode, only stripped of all the mystique and paranoia that made The X-Files (when it was 'on') so good. But I still watched, if only to see what insanity Walter gets up to next.

So after this past episode, when I realized we have to wait until April for new episodes, I was rather perturbed. If I'm not into the show that much, why was I annoyed? Good question. This past episode, "Ability", changed the game for me. Sure, we had some goofy science (as usual) and Agent Dunham expresses said 'ability' completely out of the blue, but that wasn't enough to overshadow the awesome revelation of just how much SF is driving the actual events of the show.

WARNING: Spoilers below the jump, read no further if you haven't seen this past episode.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 13, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Dr. Who has been enjoying a resurgence in popularity due to the new series on BBC TV, so it's no wonder someone finally got around to creating an anime version of the good Doctor. What may surprise you is that it's Jon Pertwee as the third Doctor that has been given the anime treatment. The following clip, showing not only the progression of a scene from rough sketch to completion but also some other scenes as well, is from Paul "Otaking" Johnson. You can find more of his work at his Deviantart page.

As for the clip, it has its good and bad aspects. Some of the animation seems rather choppy, but it certainly has that anime feel which meshes surprisingly well with the Doctor.

[via Japantor]

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday February 13, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

This trailer for Krod Mandoon, a comedic fantasy coming soon from Comedy Central, was recently shown at ComicCon.

Is it possible Comedy Central can draw more genre viewers than the SciFi channel, I wonder?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 13, 2009 at 12:18 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

This essentially captures all my memories of Terminator 2.

[WARNING: NSFW for language. And also your co-workers might laugh at you.]

[via PoeTV]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 13, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's a...novel...approach to book advertising...

It's for Stephen Hunt's book The Rise of the Iron Moon.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 13, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• John Joseph Adams profiles Kit Reed (Enclave).


• Science-fiction writer Ian McDonald reflects on the digital doppelgangers that our growing use of the net is bringing about: "Digits are now our tool of choice to offload our memories: words, images, sounds, stored first on our own devices but increasingly online, where they can be accessed from anywhere in the world." [via Futurismic]


• Jeff Somers takes on ComicCon.


• Neil Gaiman sounds off on the Kindle2's text-to-speech ability so-called copyright infringement.


• Cover Pr0n:
  • @A Dribble of Ink: The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham, the second book in the Acacia series.
  • John Joseph Adams shows off the final cover for his upcoming anthology Federations.
  • Walker of Worlds is going to go blind if he keeps overloading on cool book covers due in 2009.


• Over at SciFi Scanner, John Scalzi asks: Is 3D still a gimmick? and Mary Robinette Kowal says Corpse Bride Contains Questionable Advice for Lovers.


• John Scalzi introduces a new website: BigIdeaAuthors.com, based off his author spotlight feature on his blog and launching on April 20, 2009.


• At Tor.com, Douglas Cohen comments on The Dark Writings of H.P. Lovecraft


• I'm not as interested in the Day of the Triffids casting as I am in the remake itself.


• Not coincidentally, Bloginhood @ Not a Planet Anymore asks: Which SF Classics Need to be Remade? Is Attack of the Killer Tomatoes an option?


• Lists:
  • @The World in the Satin Bag: 10 Reasons Why Fantasy Is Still Awesome
  • @The List Universe: Top 15 Movies Based on Stephen King Stories. I'm thinking they should have swapped 10 and 11 then stopped at 10.
  • @International Society of Supervillains: 10 Supervillains Who Need New Catchphrases.
  • S.L. Viehl lists The 22 Immutable Laws of Publishing.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday February 13, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

James Morrow published his first novel, The Wine of Violence, in 1981. His efforts since then include The Continent of Lies (1984), This Is the Way the World Ends (1986), Only Begotten Daughter (1990), City of Truth (1991), Bible Stories for Adults (1996), and The Cat's Pajamas & Other Stories (2004). He is best known for the Godhead Trilogy -- comprising Towing Jehovah (1994), Blameless in Abaddon (1996), and The Eternal Footman (1999) -- as well as The Last Witchfinder (2007), a postmodern historical epic about the coming of the scientific worldview, The Philosopher's Apprentice (2008), about a young ethicist hired to implant a conscience in an adolescent amnesia victim, and The SFWA European Hall of Fame, an anthology he co-edited with his wife Kathryn. Now he has a short novel coming out, titled Shambling Towards Hiroshima.

SF Signal had the opportunity to talk to James about monster movies, nuclear weapons, and the ethics of fictional annihilation...

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Posted by Karen Burnham at Thursday February 12, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Editor Jonathan Strahan is working on a new Hard SF anthology and is asking for the names of Hard SF writers...but only those with track records...writers like Greg Egan, Greg Bear, Nancy Kress, and Linda Nagata.

So who would you recommend? Who is your favorite hard science fiction author?

[See also: The new writers of Hard SF]

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

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @Futurismic: Bruce Sterling (Caryatids).
  • @Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: C. S. Friedman (Wings of Wrath).
  • @ActuSf: Joe Haldeman (The Forever War).
  • @SciFiDimensions: Robert Zubrin (How to Live on Mars).
  • @Fast Forward: David J. Williams (The Mirrored Heavens).
  • Robert J. Sawyer is interviewed by Italian zine Fantascienza.
  • Mur Lafferty's I Should Be Writing podcast features Kim Stanley Robinson interviews by James Patrick Kelly.


• Awards News:
  • SFWA has announced the inaugural Solstice Award recipients: Kate Wilhelm, Martin H. Greenberg and the late Algis Budrys. The Awards will be honored during the Nebula Award ceremony in Los Angeles, California on April 24-26.
  • Niall Harrison posts the Arthur C. Clarke Award nominees longlist.


• Congratulations to Mary Robinette Kowal, who sold 2 novels (one is Shades of Milk and Honey, her "Jane Austen with magic" novel) to Tor.


• The February/March selections for Joseph Mallozzi's Online Book Club include Infoquake by David Louis Edelman, The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari, Dogs by Nancy Kress, Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? by Brian Michael Bendis, The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime by Jasper Fforde, and Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe edited by Ellen Datlow.


• Lit Soup reports that there's a new anthology on the horizon: By Blood We Live, a reprint Vampire anthology edited by John Joseph Adams to be published by Night Shade Books.


• In Kindle2 news: The Authors' Guild contends that Kinlde2's "text to speech" software violates copyright, calling it a new derivative work. Yeah, good luck with that whole thing. [via John Scalzi]


• Empire asks: Can Cinema Do Science Fiction? "...as good as those films are, books have still gone further..."


• Meanwhile, Reporter-Times basks in The Joy of Science Fiction Magazines. "As I much as I love watching great science fiction movies and television shows, I find that nothing matches the joy of reading great science fiction."


• Real Science: 2 Satellites Collide in First-Ever Mid-Space Crash. [via Cynical-C]


• Flickr Sets of the Week:
  • Detail Man 60 is recreating the classic Star Trek episode "The Cage"...in Lego. [via Bureau 42]
  • Star Wars paintings by Alex Leighton. [via Super Punch.]


• Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the world's greatest fan of The Neverending Story. [via Cynical-C]


• Lists:
  • @SF Gaate: The 9 Best Star Wars Video Games. [via TheForce.Net]
  • @Topless Robot: 7 Sci-Fi Inventions That Are Way Past Due...using the dates they were prognosticated in SciFi films.
  • @Car Reviewers: 15 Classic Science Fiction Cars. Sweet rides!
  • @MusicRadar: 7 Classic SciFi Sounds and How They Were Created.

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

I'm not a writer, nor do I play one on TV, but I have read enough writers' blogs to know that it's a tough field to succeed in. And being published does not necessarily mean you're living on Easy Street. So we asked this week's writer panelists:

Here's what they said:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 11, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

"People who play video games, in general, ...sometimes have a hard time coming over to read books."

So says Eric Nylund, author of Halo media tie-ins and, his latest book, Mortal Coils. Check out Eric in this exclusive Galleycat interview:

Interesting comments about gamers having low tolerance for "Literary fluffery" (when an author is writing to impress someone rather than telling a great story). Does that mean video game-playing readers are less likely to enjoy books that are Literary-with-a-capital-L?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 11, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Courtesy of the good folks at St Martin's, SF Signal is offering folks a chance to sample the first four chapters of Hater by David Moody, a tense thriller that is being produced for the big screen by Guillermo del Toro.

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 appeared in previous weeks. Read Chapter 3 below. The final chapter excerpt will appear next week.

HATER by David Moody Chapter 3

THE ONE SLIGHT ADVANTAGE of leaving the office late tonight was that, for once, I was able to get a seat on the train home. It's usually packed and I'm left standing in between carriages, surrounded by other equally pissed-off travelers. I needed the space to help me relax and calm down tonight. While I was waiting on the platform I decided I should spend the journey home trying to work out what it is I actually want to do with my life and how I'm going to go about making it happen. I have similar useless discussions with myself on the way home at least once or twice every week. I was too tired to concentrate tonight. There were two girls sitting opposite me and their conversation about clothes, soap operas, and who'd done what with whose boyfriend was far more interesting than anything I was thinking about.

February. I hate this time of year. It's cold, wet, and depressing. It's dark when I leave the house in the morning and it's dark when I get home at night. This time tomorrow, I keep reminding myself, it will be the weekend. Two days without work. I can't wait.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 11, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Kate From Atom Films points out this humorous video aimed at genre fans:

The only thing missing in that mock battle scene is that memorable themes music from "Amok Time"...

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

• Free Excerpt at Pyr: End of the Century by Chris Roberson.


• Interviews & Profiles:
  • The Dragon Page Cover to Cover interviews Matthew Stover, author of Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor and Caine Black Knife.
  • Newsarama has a 2-part interview with: Matthew Sturges (Midwinter, which he describes as "Dirty Dozen with elves").


• Publishing News:
  • HarperCollins announced that it is merging its Collins imprint with the Harper division in the U.S.
  • Sean Wallace has acquired the Prime Books imprint from Wildside Press, LLC.
  • Marty Halpern has accepted a position as a freelance Acquisitions Editor for Wilder Publications genre imprint, Fantastic Books.


• Dark Roasted Blend offers a big-@$$ spreadsheet: The Ultimate Guide to Modern Writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy. [via Jay Lake]


• Michael Chiklis (Thing from the Fantastic Four films) is to create a new comic book series called Olympus, about "ancient Greek gods who return to a ravaged, chaotic present-day Earth where they battle for the future of mankind against the Titans".


• The Shirley Jackson Awards are hosting a fundraiser lottery from now through February 23rd to benefit the awards. [via Tor.com]


• Squidoo offers this interesting Guide to Science Fiction Roleplaying Games.


• EW has a slew of new Watchmen photos. [via Blog@Newsarama]


• Two words: Zombie car!


• Lists:
  • Metromix Chicago lists 10 horror remakes worth seeing.
  • Here's a lits of the Funniest Unofficial Star Wars T-shirts.
  • SciFi Scanner lists The Top Ten Moments From New York Comic Con.
  • @The List Universe, The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged make the list of Top 10 Most Overrated Novels.
  • @Geekend, Jay Garmon lists The top 12 sci-fi plot devices geeks love to hate. ("#12: Computer programs with needless and instantaneous animations and graphics." I see this in 24 a lot.)


• Two more words: Steampunk Cake! [via Boing Boing]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday February 11, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

MY RATING:

Daemon is one of those pleasant discoveries that would never have happened if it weren't for this blog. We get quite a few emails from people asking us if we'd like to review this or that particular book. Daemon was not one of those emails. Instead, Daemon was listed in the signature of an email asking us to consider a completely different book. Luckily, I read through the brief synopsis for Daemon and was instantly intrigued so I had to track a copy down. I'm glad I did, otherwise I would have missed out on this entertaining, fast-paced read. In fact, I can say that Daniel Suarez writes more convincingly about technology than Michael Crichton. Yes, I said it.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 12:15 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Violent Crimes, Devil Children and Teddy Bears, oh my! These describe the trio of books represented by the following book trailers>

Questions for the reader/viewer:

1. Does the book trailer help explain what the book is about?
2. Does it positively or negatively affect your decision to purchase the book?

Hater by David Moody:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 12:10 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Maintains the quality and wonder that began with The Dreaming Void.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A planet-eating region of space known as the Void continues to expand, forcing several factions to act towards guiding what they think are the best plans for human evolution.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Excellent world building; Distinct characterizations; Edeard's story was continually captivating.
CONS: Pacing issues cased some stalls at the corner of World Building and Info Dump, though that's a bigger issue for those coming straight off the previous novel.
BOTTOM LINE: Hamilton's plot and world building skills outweigh any occasional pacing issues the book has.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Amazon unveiled its new Kindle 2 eBook reader yesterday.

New features include

• A slimmer profile (8" x 5.3" x 0.36")
• Text-to-speech conversion
• An improved display (6" diagonal E-Ink electronic paper display, 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi, 16-level gray scale)
• Improved battery life (2 weeks in standby mode with wireless disabled)
• 20% faster page turns
• More storage (2GB internal, 1.4GB of which is available to the user)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 12:26 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• The Doc Arzt blog has noticed that many LOST fans are having problems coming to grips with all the time travel no occurring on the show. Their helpful article, Time Travel for Dummies, goes a long way to help people understand that the time travel is really just a form of the flashbacks/flashforwards that have always been a part of the show. Perhaps watching more SF would help people with the time travel thing.
• EW online has posted most of the physical magazine's cover story on LOST for all to read. It has all kinds of hints in it about the upcoming season so stay away if you (like me) don't want to know anything about what's to come. It's written by Doc Jensen so you know it'll be entertaining.
• Square Galaxy details why Stargate Atlantis was a failure. I'm not sure a series that lasted 5 season is really a failure, but rather a disappointment. Given the list of issues, it's rather amazing it lasted as long as it did.
• Joseph Mallozzi is interviewed by About.com covering all things Stargate: Atlantis, Universe, and a movie? I've never been a huge fan of the Stargate franchise, but I must say Stargate Universe intrigues me. If they can make it more 'space opera'-y, I'll tune in.
• Speaking of Mallozzi, he has posted an un-shot, time travel script for the original Stargate series. Hmm, if people think time travel on LOST is confusing....
• Only four more days until Dollhouse premiers on Fox. I know many Whedon fans can't wait. But how did Dollhouse come to pass on a network that has done Whedon wrong in the past? He says 'it was an accident'.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars must be doing something right as Cartoon Network has renewed the series for a second season. I have a few early episodes saved, but haven't had the interest to watch them.
• New York Comic Con was the place to be this last weekend as lots of interesting stuff was on display. StarWars.com has the trailer for The Ryloth Trilogy, a three part story arc in The Clone Wars set to air Feb. 27th. Space battle! Maybe I should actually watch this show?
• Yup, NYCC was the place to be. Cryptic Studios unveiled the following trailer for their Star Trek Online MMORPG, showing off the character/race creation system for the game. I'll admit, a Star Trek game has my attention.
  
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• SCI FI Wire profiles R. Scott Bakker (The Judging Eye).


• Science Fiction Memories: SciFi Wire columnist Michael Cassutt recalls the sci-fi moments that made him a writer.


• Dear Publishers: Girls Read Comics, Too: "Here's the deal: Most girls love to read and would adore reading great comics--it's just that sometimes they don't even know it yet."


• The Galaxy Express asks: "Who Should Publish Science Fiction Romance?" when considering that sf publishers don't do the romance justice and romance publishers don't get sf right.


• Paul Di Filippo reviews 4 genre anthologies for Barnes & Noble (Marvin Kaye's The Ghost Quartet, Ellen Datlow's Poe, Jack Dann's Dreaming Again, and Lou Anders's Fast Forward 2).


• Futurismic looks at Global science fiction and optimism (part 1): "...the big question here is whether a nation's artistic output passively reflects its political and economic aspirations, or whether instead it can be used to influence and change those attitudes."


• Adam Roberts is guest-blogging at the Pyr blog. His latest post tackles short-short fiction.


• Edward Willett sings!


• Free Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
  • @Strange Horizons: "Obedience" by Brenna Yovanoff.
  • @Fantasy Magazine: "The Men Burned All the Boats" by Patricia Russo.
  • @Hub: "The Astronomer of Baghdad" by Matt Keefe.
  • Abyss & Apex has a new issue out with fiction by Pauline J. Alama, Marie Brennan, Fraser Sherman, Richard Foss, Karl Bunker, and Samantha Henderson.
  • @MindFlights: "A Native Soul" by Anne M. Pillsworth.
  • The latest issue of Byzarium is out with fiction by Andrew Kaye, Andy Bolt, Elizabeth Hopkinson.
  • @Kat and Mouse: Guns for Hire: "Easy Money" part six by Abner Senires.
  • @Manybooks:
    • "Reluctant Genius" by Henry Slesar (1957).
    • "Resurrection" by Robert J. Shea (1957).
    • "The Spectre Bride" by William Harrison Ainsworth.
    • "The Devil in Iron" by Robert E. Howard (1934).
    • "The People of the Black Circle" by Robert E. Howard (1934).
  • @Big Pulp:
    • "To Know" by Amanda Walczesky.
    • "Regrets Of A Conquistador" by Jonathan S. Pembrook.
    • "The Other Job" by Stephanie Scarborough.
  • Audio Fiction:
    • @Free Reads: Part One of "Painting The Air" written and read by James Patrick Kelly


• Cool gallery of the day: Space Colony Art from the 1970s


• Hungry? Here's a Flickr photo set on how to make Space Invader cookies. Mmmmm...space invaders...


• Neatorama lists 10 Things Science Fiction Got Wrong. The usual suspects (like sound in space) are represented...


• Finally...SF Signal makes SciFi Watch's lists of 9 Science Fiction Blogs You Should Keep Track Of. Thanks, David! :)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

It's time for the 2009 edition of a question that comes up on SF Signal every so often. The other day, a colleague of mine recently asked me what five sci-fi books I could recommend to her. She had read what she considered to be some classic authors maybe 20 years ago (Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein) but wondered what was the best of the more modern sci-fi. Interestingly, she felt most of the genre was plot-driven and was honestly looking for that kind of book, but I didn't restrict myself to that.

I have listed my answer with a little description of why I included the book. But I would appreciate knowing what others might put on their 'top 5 of recent sci-fi' list.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Monday February 09, 2009 at 5:28 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

We're four episodes into the final 10 of Galactica, and I thought I'd talk a bit about what's happened so far.

WARNING: Spoilers abound below so don't read if you haven't seen any of the new episodes.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday February 09, 2009 at 2:43 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Because stealing borrowing content from Grasping for the Wind a couple of days ago wasn't enough, I'm doing it again. I'll stop when John Ottinger III stops posting worthwhile stuff.

In the meantime, check out this video of Ursula K. LeGuin Reads reading from her classic book A Wizard of Earthsea. (She comes in around 9:20.) And when you're done, be sure to stop by Grasping for the Wind for some more great stuff.

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