SF Signal: May 2009

A classic. Obviously spawned from minds affected by mushrooms, but a classic nonetheless.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 28, 2009 at 12:34 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Interviews & Profiles:
- Fantasy Book Critic interviews James Enge (Blood of Ambrose): "I believe that the greatest danger to genre fiction nowadays is not the denial of respect from some notional group of literary tastemakers but the very real likelihood that sf/f may become respectable." Links to Enge's free online fiction included at no extra charge.a
- @Joseph Mallozzi's blog, Michael A. Burstein (I Remember the Future) answers reader questions.
- Borders Newsletter features a video interview of Joe Abercrombie (Best Served Cold) and an excerpt from Monster by A. Lee Martinez.
- Mary Rosenblum if featured in Oregon Live's PDX Green column: "[Rosenblum] writes science fiction because it's hard for people to change how they have always done things, including how they live in relation to the environment."
- @Booklist Online: T.A. Barron.
- Tor.com has posted Part 2 of an interview with Robert Charles Wilson.
- Mur Lafferty interviews J.C. Hutchins.
- The Sofanauts No 6 features Jeremy Tolbert, Paul Raven Graham, and Amy H Sturgis.

Advance Cover Pr0n: Here's 1,000 words on why I personally love the artwork of John Picacio. (See the story behind this upcoming Asimov's cover image here.)

An interesting thread at the Asimov's Forum: SF Masterpieces Ruined by the Ending.

Gabriel McKee talks about The complex religious landscape of Robert Charles Wilson's Julian Comstock.

Science fiction conventioneer files bankruptcy, and pisses off Edward James Olmos to boot: "Battlestar Galactica star Edward James Olmos publicly lambasted Senter during an interview at last year's DragonCon convention in Atlanta and vowed to work with the New Hampshire attorney general's office 'to bring this bastard down.'" Get 'im, Adama!

Free Fiction: Web Fiction Guide offers free online novels, story collections, and reviews. [via Alan Baxter, who is giving away some free fiction of his own...in the form of a signed copy of his book Realm Shift]

Real Science: Black holes are voracious space-pigs - Astronomers are getting a close-up look at a cosmic eating machine: a spinning black hole that devours the mass equivalent of two Earths per hour, verging on the limit of its feeding ability. :

Movie Stinger website shows which movies have post-credits extra scenes! [via SFXmagazine]

Weird Ralph maintains a list of free online games, including Free Online Space/Sci-Fi Games.

Neatorama made me shamble over to Mental Floss' Quiz of the Living Dead

Lists:
- @AMC:
  - The ABC's of Horror. [via BBT Magazine]
  - The Dos and Don'ts of Surviving a SciFi-Style Outbreak.
- A list for writers: S. Andrew Swann (Prophets) lists The 10 Commandments for writers who blog.
- @Baltimore Examiner: The 10 Best Star Wars Video Games. What, no vector graphics games from the 80's? Pfft! [via TheForce.Net]
- Convention Fans lists The Top 20 Sexy Male Science Fiction Costumes. I'm not sure Dr. Manhattan's birthday suit actually qualifies as a costume...
- @Manolith: 18 Vintage Sci Fi Posters: Robots, Aliens, Monsters and Hot Women.
- OnlyGoodMovies lists Top 85 Robot Movies

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 28, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

I fondly remember seeing The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the theaters during high school. Sure it's part campy, silly and funny, but it's also almost always awesome, especially John Lithgow. And how can you not like a film that has inscrutable watermelons and spawned endless 'Bigbootay!' jokes? Could you imagine how incredible a TV series based on the movie would be? Doug Drexler was approached to perform some development work on just such an idea and he's posted his work for all to see. Sweet!

If you've ever wanted to see the original cast of MST3K perform live, here's your chance. Joel, Frank and the gang are touring the country as part of their Cinematic Titanic venture, performing live! I know, very cool. Are they coming to your neck of the woods? Well, probably not, but you can check the schedule yourself. Dallas, really? Come on guys, you're better than that!

Will Ferrell, you either love him or hate him. The same could be said about Bear Grylls, the 'sleeping in a motel when he should be suffering through the night in the desert' host of Man vs. Wild. Now, in honor of the impending release of Ferrell's Land of the Lost, Will and Bear are starring in a very special episode of Man vs. Wild. Will and Bear will attempt to survive in the frozen reaches of northern Sweden, hopefully avoiding anything resembling an 'after school special'.

TV Tyrant looks at the current state of SF on TV and declares Fox to be the winner! And in terms of quantity I have to agree. Quality, however, is more debatable. LOST gives ABC a huge lead and if Flash Forward is anywhere near as good as the book, ABC should take the crown back next year.

Andrew Probert has worked on several well know SF series, all during the late 70's and through the 80's. Here's a video reel of sketches followed by the finished product (and I still love the original Battlestar Galactica theme):

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday May 28, 2009 at 12:02 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Some books are perfectly good but ultimately predictable. When you've been reading for a long time, more and more books fall into that category. We ask writers and critics of today what books still make you sit up and take notice.

Q: Sometimes it's easy to become jaded when you've been reading genre books for a while. When was the last time a sf/f book really surprised you? Who/what/when/why/how?

Christopher Barzak

Christopher Barzak is the author of the Crawford Award winning novel One for Sorrow, and most recently The Love We Share Without Knowing. His short stories have appeared in a variety of venues, including The Years Best Fantasy and Horror, LCRW, Strange Horizons, Interfictions, and Asimov's Science Fiction. He teaches fiction writing at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio.

The last sf/f book that really surprised me was Paul Park's A Princess of Roumania. I read it in 2005, when it appeared. Some friends sent a copy of it to me in Japan as a gift. I'd heard good things already about it, but when I first started reading it, I wondered if it wasn't perhaps only just hype, because for a good portion of the first few chapters it seems as if it was going to be any other YA teens get transported to another chintzy world novel. Then the story began to unfold in such a way that what kind of book you thought you were reading wasn't actually that at all, but its inverse, a narrative that made the world you inhabit outside the reading of a book the fantasy, and the one inside the book reality. An alternate Roumania in which magic exists, and a political system that felt all too believable and beautifully contrived at the same time. In the foreground of this astonishing backdrop were these wonderful characters, too, some incredibly good, and others, like the Baroness, deliciously insane and evil. Reading this book took me back to my early days of reading fantasy novels, when I hadn't read so many to grow bored yet by the vast amount of repetitive and derivative fantasy novels that flood bookstore shelves each year. In many ways, this novel is a very traditional fantasy with a few twists of the tale I hadn't seen before, but it's the uniqueness of the world and especially its characters that made me feel like I was finally reading an original fantasy novel again, for the first time in years. Read more...

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Posted by Karen Burnham at Wednesday May 27, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Ellen Datlow has posted the table of contents of her upcoming best-of anthology Best Horror of the Year #1, along with the original source publication:

"Cargo" by E. Michael Lewis (Shades of Darkness)
"If Angels Fight" by Richard Bowes (F&SF February )
"The Clay Party" by Steve Duffy (The Werewolf Pack)
"Penguins of the Apocalypse" by William Browning Spencer (Subterranean)
"Esmeralda" by Glen Hirshberg (Shades of Darkness)
"The Hodag" by Trent Hergenrader(Black Static 7)
"Very Low-Flying Aircraft" by Nicholas Royle (Exotic Gothic 2)
"When the Gentlemen Go By" by Margaret Ronald (Clarkesworld #21 July)
"The Lagerstätte" by Laird Barron (The Del Rey Book of SF & Fantasy)
"Harry and the Monkey" by Euan Harvey (Realms of Fantasy December)
"Dress Circle" by Miranda Siemienowicz (Hecate volume 34, No. 1)
"The Rising River" by Daniel Kaysen (Black Static 5)
"Sweeney Among the Straight Razors" by JoSelle Vanderhooft (Star*Line Sept/Oct)
"Loup-garou" by R.B. Russell (The Werewolf Pack)
"Girl in Pieces" by Graham Edwards (Realms of Fantasy, April)
"It Washed Up" by Joe R. Lansdale (Subterranean)
"The Thirteenth Hell" by Mike Allen (The Journey to Kailash)
"The Goosle" by Margo Lanagan (The Del Rey Book of SF & F)
"Beach Head" by Daniel LeMoal (On Spec summer #73)
"The Man From the Peak" by Adam Golaski (Worse Than Myself)
"The Narrows" by Simon Bestwick (We Fade to Grey)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday May 27, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

College Humor explains what their favorite science fiction movie of all time is and now that they mention it, it's uncanny, really.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday May 27, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

On July 7th you'll be able to purchase the complete Moon Machines miniseries on DVD. This series originally aired on The Science Channel focuses on " the efforts of the 400,000 people who created the equipment used to achieve the lunar landings". If you're like me, you loves you some space hardware and this series has a ton of it. Just check out that Saturn V, just like the one resting on its side down at the Johnson Space Center.

If you've got a bunch of old TV shows or movies on DVD that you want to get rid off but don't really know what to do with them, Amazon is here to help. They just launched the beta for their Movie and TV Trade-In store where you can get Amazon gift cards for your unwanted Movies and TV shows on DVD. Right now the SF pickings are exceptionally slim: Firefly the series will net you a $10 gift card, but who would trade that in? Expect to see the store fill out in the coming months.

In July, Sci Fi will debut the new series Warehouse 13. The guys over at The Sci Fi Cast have posted a Warehouse 13 primer to get you up to speed on the show. I agree there is a lot of potential here based on what could be in the warehouse, but I was less than impressed with the trailer.

Annie Nau rants about people who feel their SF TV shows is the best evah! and look down on those who haven't seen all the episodes or who fell other shows are better. She is quite correct, it's all a matter of taste. Which is why I am not a fan of Stargate and think LOST is the best SF show on TV right now! Ahahahahahahaha!

You may think the upcoming TV series Flash Forward is based on science fiction. Ah, but UFO Digest explores the possibility there is current knowledge to support the idea of warped time and consciousness.

BBC America will be debuting a new series, Being Human, on July 25th. This new series explores the lives of three twentysomethings as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Although, if you're a ghost, can you really be said to have a 'life'? Any of our UK friends care to comment on this show?

Dr. Who is a busy guy lately. Not only will the eponymous Doctor be appearing in an animated series, he'll also be featured in 12 episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures and possibly in a big screen movie! Although there may be yet another Doctor for the big screen adaptation.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday May 27, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Interviews & Profiles:
- @Scavenging: Rudy Rucker (Hylozoic).
- @SF Novelists: Kelly McCullough, MythOS.
- @Cult Pop: Cherie Priest (Fathom).
- @The Nebula Awards: Vera Nazarian (The Duke in His Castle).
- @Whatever: China Miéville (The City & The City ).

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- @Manybooks: "This is Klon Calling" by Walter J. Sheldon (1953).
- @Strange Horizons: "If Wishes Were Horses" by Tiffani Angus-Bodie.
- The latest issue of Allegory "Tri-Annual Online Magazine of SF, Fantasy & Horror" is out with fiction by J.C. Tabler, Michael Andreoni, Jennifer Linnaea, Adam Armstrong, Martin Turton, RJ Astruc, Philip Roberts, AJ Brown, and Ty Drago.
- Video:
  - @The Internet Archive: The pilot episode of Men in Space "Moon Probe" (1959).
- Graphic Fiction:
  - @The Bronze Age of Blogs: "Kittens for Christian" (1972).
  - @The Horrors of It All: "Beast of the Bayous" (1954).

Art:
- Cool art at Gorilla Artfare: a series of illustrations from Patri Balanovsky. That first one looks like one of the X-Men with middle age spread.
- This tutorial on How to Create a Steampunk Style Illustration in Photoshop is cool even you don't know how to use Photoshop.

Joseph Mallozzi reviews The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll.

Jo Walton reviews Dread Empire's Fall by Jon Williams.

Jo Walton also asks Is the right book winning the Hugo?

Sajbrfem (of Fifty Two Acts fame) is starting a Women in Science Fiction reading club. First book: The Female Man by Joanna Russ.

Old school newsstand magazines are reinventing themselves and giving readers a reason to buy and keep rather than forcing them to buy and then discard.

Over at Fantasy Book Critic, David Craddock has posted Part I of a new series: Sharing a World. [via Grasping for the Wind]

The latest film to be sucked into the Hollywood Remake Machine: Flight of the Navigator.

Wired looks at the coming plethora of genre films from Guillermo del Toro.

@SCI FI Wire: Scientist Wil McCarthy shows how Star Trek's planets explode.

Lists:
- @Sci-Fi Fan Letter: Epic Fantasy to Watch Out For.
- @io9: 10 Scariest Eco-Catastrophes from Early Science Fiction.
- @Wired: 10 Strange Species Discovered Last Year.
- @Topless Robot: 5 Things Comic Book Movies Need to Stop Doing.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday May 27, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

'Tis the long dark summer of our science fiction discontent...

It's been almost two weeks since the best show, SF or otherwise, on TV ended its season (LOST) and many more SF shows before it also ended, either for the season (Fringe and Dollhouse) or for good (Sarah Connor and Galactica). With the ending of LOST, the science fiction on TV has a long period of nothingness, or endless CSI re-runs which is basically the same thing, to look forward to over the summer. There is literally nothing promising on the network TV front until next fall. The only glimmer in the darkness is on the Sci Fi Channel (soon to by Sy Fy) as Eureka returns in July along with new series Warehouse 13 and possibly The Listener on NBC, though I'm not hot to watch that one.

Since I like Eureka I'll definitely tune in for that and I'll take a look-see at Warehouse 13 because there's nothing else to watch. And even when the new season starts up again in the fall, there's really not a lot of good SF returning then. Fringe is almost a must-see and I may catch up with Dollhouse over the summer. It's not until next year that LOST returns and Flash Forward and Stargate Universe premiere.

Our question to you is: What will you be doing over the summer to quench your SF TV thirst?

There's a lot of options for online viewing from catching up on older shows or watching some new web series. I'll probably do some of both. I also have an enormous backlog of SF anime just screaming at me to watch. Some on Crunchyroll and some not. Netflix and other sources will also help out. Hopefully we'll all be able to weather this SF interregnum without losing our sanity.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday May 26, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: A wonderful space opera with some surrealistic elements that (mostly) work.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A seriously dysfunctional crew of a scavenger ship faces a deadly threat in deep space.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting plot and interpersonal relationships between characters; a unique take on space opera.
CONS: The surrealistic elements of the plot were huge pills to swallow; abrupt ending.
BOTTOM LINE: A good story with an intense space opera vibe.

One of the quotes on the cover of Paul Jessup's novella, Open Your Eyes, calls it a "surrealistic space opera". What a perfectly succinct way of describing the book's feel.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday May 26, 2009 at 1:00 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Because it's been way too long since we made fun of the Lucas Marketing Machine^TM...

Listening to this, why am I reminded of Badger^2?

[via Poe TV]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday May 26, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Interviews & Profiles:
- @Tor.com: Part 1 of an interview with Robert Charles Wilson, author of the upcoming Julian Comstock: A Story of the 22nd Century. Presumably based on (or an extension of) the novella "Julian: A Christmas Story".
- @Sci-Fi-London Film Festival: Patrick Rothfuss (The Wise Man's Fear).
- @SciFi Scanner: Alan Dean Foster.
- @The Shirley Jackson Awards Blog: Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem.
- @Bibliophile Stalker: Dot Lin, Publicity Manager for Tor Books
- @Locus Online: Kim Harrison

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @Atomjack: "Purple" by Alissa Grosso.
- @Manybooks:
  - Jason, Son of Jason by J.U. Giesy (1921).
  - "When I Grow Up" by Richard E. Lowe (1956).
- Audio Fiction:
  - @Escape Pod: "Taco" by Greg Van Eekhout, read by John Meagher.
  - @ScottSigler.com: Episode #25 of Contagious by Scott Sigler.
- Graphic Fiction:@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Spell of the Dragon" (1972).

@Daily Kos: David Brin reacts to Star Trek and other issues. [via Locus Online]

Here's a collection of some cool Star Wars cover songs courtesy at Fong Songs. [via John Anealio]

Super Punch points us to the steampunk toys of Doktor A. and SpookyPop.

The Zombie Diet. Even zombies need to watch what they eat. If they have eyes, that is.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday May 26, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Fringe fans everywhere can rest easy knowing that Fringe will be returning this fall. September 17th at 9pm to be exact. Maybe this season we'll get some hot dimension on dimension action?

Looks like fans of the new Dr. Who are getting something special. A new Doctor Who animated series on Children's BBC. The story will be split up into seven six-minute long episodes.

Can't get enough Trek? Then you'll want the new DVD set from Roddenberry Productions and Toolbox Productions that will bring you more than 500 hours of previously unseen footage from 20 years of Trek starting with The Next Generation and closing with Enterprise. Let's hope it isn't makeup video of Riker manicuring his beard or incessant outtakes of Patrick Stewart performing the 'Picard Maneuver'.

Did you ever wonder how Fox made the decision to axe Sarah Connor but bring back Dollhouse? The webcomic Hinjinks Ensue has the answer!

Some people are taking the season end of LOST a little bit too hard. Not me, nuh-uh. Sure there's nothing else to watch now, and there's a black hole on Wednesday nights sucking the fun out of everything, but I'm not bitter.

Alien invasions must be the new 'it' thing in Hollywood. TNT has ordered a pilot from Stephen Speilberg and writer Robert Rodat for a series set six months after an alien invasion. V, you're on notice! Now, and alien invasion series I'd like to see would be one based on Harry Turtledove's World War series. Aww yeah!

Here's something cool for you 360 owners: the bittorrent client Vuze just released a new version that allows live streaming of HD content to the 360 (oh, and PS3). This sounds like something worth investigating.

One show we'll have to wait a long time for is the new Human Target on Fox, the network where SF goes to die, usually. The following trailer has Tricia Helfer, Emerson from Pushing Daisies and that guy from Fringe who died, got stuck in Olivia's head then really disappeared:

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday May 26, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

SF Signal has 3 copies of Rachel Caine's latest book, Carpe Corpus, to be given away to three lucky readers!

What's the book about? here's the description from Amazon:

In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace--until all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He's kept a death grip on the town ever since. Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants--the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having such a taste of power?

For a chance to win a copy, follow these simple steps:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 25, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

There's a new blog in town: Missions Unknown!

More specifically, the town is San Antonio. Missions Unknown aims to celebrate the local genre scene as seen through the eyes of San Antonio notables Sanford Allen, John Picacio and Paul Vaughn.

From their press release:

Horror writer Sanford Allen, World Fantasy Award-winning & Hugo-nominated artist John Picacio, and tech guru Paul "The Mac Guy" Vaughn have banded together and formed MISSIONS UNKNOWN! -- a blog celebrating science fiction, fantasy, and horror in San Antonio. The blog's main mission is to celebrate SA-based creators and fans of sf/f/h and everything related to the literature and art of sf/f/h. That includes books, authors, artists, comics, prose, and the making and enjoyment of all of them. The blog launched Sunday, May 24, 2009.

Welcome to the party, guys! I've already subscribed to your RSS feed...

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

After brief introductions, SF/F authors Jaine Fenn, Alex Bell, Suzanne McLeod, Joe Abercrombie, Richard Morgan and Alastair Reynolds discuss the difference between female and male SF & Fantasy writers.

[via SFX Magazine]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 25, 2009 at 12:16 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Best. Mashup. Ever.

A very talented fan has put together this dream trailer for a Green Lantern film that doesn't exist. But, oh, how cool it would be if it did.

Bonus Game: Can you name the films seen in this trailer?

[via Nerdist via Matthew Sanborn Smith]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 25, 2009 at 12:14 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:

@Manybooks: Deviations: Covenant by Elissa Malcohn (2007).
@Drums of Nyumbani: Part Four, the conclusion, of "Luendi" by Charles R. Saunders (1977).
@MindFlights: "The Trees of Angar Forest" by Scott Appleton.
@Afterburn SF: "King of Heroes" by Billy Wong.
@Planetary Stories: the latest issues of Planetary Stories and Pulp Spirit with fiction by Rob Shelsky, Richard Logan, Gerald W Page, Fran Douglas, Jim Griffin, Erwin K Roberts, Shelby Vick, Bob Bolin, and T J Glenn.
@Senses Five Press: "Élan Vital" by K. Tempest Bradford.
Audio Fiction:
- @Beam Me Up: "Chicken" by Colin P. Davies, read by Paul Cole
- BBC Radio 7 is broadcasting 2 classic stories [via MobileRead]:
  - "Summertime on Icarus" by Arthur C. Clarke.
  - "Before Eden" by Arthur C. Clarke.
Graphic Fiction:
- @Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Mars God of War" (1942).
- @The Horrors of It All: "Snakes Alive" (1953).
- @Viz Signature IKKI: chapter 1 of "Children of the Sea" [via SFScope].
- @Golden Age Comic Books: Witchcraft #4 (1952) in CBR format.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 25, 2009 at 12:14 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The contents of Interzone #222 (Cover art by Adam Tredowski) have been posted:
Stories:

"Johnny and Emmie-Lou Get Married" by Kim Lakin-Smith
"Unexpected Outcomes" by Tim Pratt
"Lady of the White-Spired City" by Sarah L. Edwards
"Microcosmos" by Nina Allan
"Ys" by Aliette de Bodard
"Mother of Champions" by Sean McMullen

Features:

Editorial
Ansible Link by David Langford
Readers' Poll
Book Zone by Jim Steel and the team
Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe
Film reviews including Watchmen, Push, Franklyn, Knowing
Laser Fodder by Tony Lee

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

In the interest of full disclosure -- because we all know haw painful half disclosure can be -- here are the items we received this past week. Read more...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 25, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Retro-Cover Pr0n: Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell show off the 1970's cover art for of The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian.

Interviews & Profiles:
- @The Guardian: How Ursula K. Le Guin led a generation away from realism: "The most vital writers of my generation have been weaned from a puritanical distrust of imagination by her influence."
- Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources has 6 questions for Robot 13 writer Thomas Hall.
- @SFX: Linda Hamilton talks about Christian Bale and Terminator.
- @The Galaxy Express: Jennifer Dunne, as part of The History of the Science Fiction Romance Newsletter, Part I.

The Geeks of Doom round up Terminator: Salvation-related books.

Jeremiah Tolbert says Writers Should Not Blog About Writing: "...some things writers like to blog about are just plain boring or, worse, portray them in a negative light." [via The World in the Satin Bag]

Locus Online has posted the contents of the June 2009 issue of Locus Magazine.

Website: Plots with Ray Guns = noir & transgressive fiction, as long as it has a ray gun in it somehow, some way. [via Victor Gischler, author of Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse]

Paul Levinson reviews the new Trek.

Lists:
- Purple Slinky lists 5 Five Reasons Flying Cars Will Remain Unavailable.
- @Cracked: 7 WTF Military Weapons You Won't Believe They Actually Built. [via Bibliophile Stalker]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 25, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Christopher Paul Carey writes in to let us know about Paizo Publishing's completely redesigned Planet Stories book line, which hearkens back to the old pulps. These covers look great and totally fit in with the content.

Titles featured in the above can't-do-it-justice-in-a-resized-image include:

Robots Have No Tails by Henry Kuttner (with an introduction by F. Paul Wilson)

The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt (with an introduction by Tim Powers)

Sos the Rope by Piers Anthony

Steppe by Piers Anthony (with an introduction by Chris Roberson)

Who Fears the Devil? The Complete Silver John by Manly Wade Wellman (with an introduction by Mike Resnick)

UPDATE: As noted in the comments, only the first two are finalized covers. The others used stock art with their final versions coming soon.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday May 24, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

When SF Signal was named Angry Robot's Site of the Month, we were tickled pink. (And some off-shade of Bruise Purple, but we're getting some ointment for that.) As part of that distinct honor, we were sent a box of swag, the contents of which you can see in the accompanying photo:

A plush creature from the science fiction book Moxyland by Lauren Beukes. If there's anything we like more than swag, it's plush swag.

If you look closely, you can see that Li'l Moxy (as I have taken to call him affectionately) is clutching a USB drive. On that drive is a quintet of advance copies of Angry Robot books. Awesome.

Thanks, Angry Robot!

And, as is the tradition of the Internets, to the rest of you, we say: Neener, neener, neeeeener.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday May 24, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

As per IMDB: "An idyllic sci-fi future has one major drawback: life must end at 30."

As per me: Bummer.

[via Drivers and Sundry]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday May 24, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Cover Pr0n Redux: It wasn't enough that I was salivating over the U.S cover and the U.K. cover of Scott Westerfeld's upcoming steampunk adventure, Leviathan. Now there is a new U.S. cover, and it is also awesome.

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @The Online Pulps Site: "The Last Monster" by Gardner Fox (1945).
- @Book View Cafe:
  - "One of Us" by Alma Alexander.
  - "White Fire" by Sylvia Kelso.
- @Manybooks:
  - "Collector's Item" by Robert F. Young.
  - "One Out of Ten" by J. Anthony Ferlaine.
- @Audio Fiction:
  - @Maria Lectrix: Parts Three and Four (the conclusion) of "Spawn of the Stars" by Charles Willard Diffin, read by Maureen O'Brien.
  - @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Sacrifice Pit" by Brian Dolton.

Beam Me Up wrestles with the elusive definition of science fiction. (Se also: our two part Mind Meld on that very definition.

io9 has some video of Russell T. Davies talking about Why Doctor Who Couldn't Fail.

The Crotchety Old Fan is retro-interview scan happy, sharing this 2002 scanned interview with William Shatner.

I totally missed Laughing Squid's exhaustive Star Trek observations.

Jeff Patterson's rant against action figures seems to have had no effect. At least, if these Blammoid superhero collectibles are any indication. [via Gravity Lens]

Two words: Steampunk Fashion. [via it's all one thing]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday May 24, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

People ask why I use Twitter. Here's one reason:

A couple of days ago, writer/blogger Shaun Duke was looking for a rant topic. A few tweets later, and his task morphed into writing a 300-word steampunk cat manga detective story. The result was surprisingly good.

I cannot let dedicated efforts go unnoticed. So here's my review:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday May 23, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The latest issue of Arkham Tales, featuring "a cover by George Cotronis, and containing fiction by Nicholas Ozment, J.C. Koch, Rob Brooks, Nandi Ekles, Eric W. Jepson, Maura McHugh, J.J. Beazley and Edward Morris," is available for free download. [Via Futurismic]
@Wizards of the Coast: "Seven They Were" by James P. Davis.
@Manybooks: "Compatible" by Richard R. Smith (1958).
@Everyday Weirdness: "Purgatory is for Pencils" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.
Audio Fiction:
- @Pseudopod: "The Looking Men" by James R. Kristofic, read by BJ Harrison.
- @Maria Lectrix: Part One and Part Two of "Spawn of the Stars" by Charles Willard Diffin, from Astounding Stories of Super-Science, Feb. 1930, read by Maureen O'Brien.
- LibriVox, Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 017 with stories by Gordon Randall Garrett, Algis Budrys, Jack Egan, Philip K. Dick, Edgar Pangborn, H.G. Wells, Robert Silverberg, Harry Harrison, Gerald Vance, and E. E. Doc Smith, read by many readers.
- @Dunesteef: "In Absence Of Mind Wiping Thingies" by Derek J. Goodman.
Graphic Fiction:
- @Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogspot: "Mail Rider to the Stars!" (1958).
- @The Horrors of It All: "Swamp Monster" (1953).

[Courtesy of QuasarDragon, one of the best collectors of fun free stuff for genre fans.]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday May 23, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

@John Scalzi's Whatever: C.C. Finlay, author of A Spell for the Revolution.

Lou Anders is quoted in B&N Book Club on Walter M. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Shhhh! Chris Roberson has a secret...

Free Book Samples:
- Angry Robot offers a free sample chapters Slights by Kaaron Warren.
- "The Variant" by author/screenwriter John August. [Thanks, Tim!]

SCI FI Wire's got some pics of M. Night Shyamalan's Last Airbender.

A feature film based on the 1970s British TV series UFO is in the works. [Thanks, Fred!]

Lists:
- @Save the Semiprozine: 5 of the best new writers appearing in semiprozines.
- @Little Fivers: 9 Reasons Why Machines Won't Take Over the Planet.
- @io9: 13 Books That Will Change The Way You Look At Robots. Great list. I so want to read Ekaterina Sedia's Alchemy of Stone.
- @Popular Mechaics: The 5 Geekiest Sci-Fi Movies at Sundance 2009. [via Space Time Stories]
- @SciFi Scanner: 10 actors who manage to make doomsday look like fun.
- Hero Complex lists Top 10 vintage Batman toys...including a somewhat lewd Batman watergun. [Also check out Hero Complex's shared video: Batman's game addiction.]

John Scalzi vs. a Bidet. I've got $5 on the bidet.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday May 23, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Andy Remic tells us that he has coordinated The Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics Group, a new consortium of speculative fiction writers who revel in sf having a positive outlook. The site will include reviews, articles, interviews, opinion pieces and collaborative fiction. Their mission statement:

The SFFE is a core platform, a hub of authors who have banded together with the aim of celebrating all that is positive in genre fiction. We aim to leave cynicism and negativity at the door, and concentrate on what makes us smile, what entertains us, and what brings light and joy to our SF, fantasy and horror universe.That's not to say there is no place for criticism--- there's plenty bad in the world. However, this little digital corner is a place for positive progression, somewhere you will (hopefully) come if you want to smile.

Initial members of the group include: Tony Ballantyne, Eric Brown, Mark Chadbourn, David Devereux, Ian Graham, Paul Kearney, Tim Lebbon, Tom Lloyd, James Lovegrove, Gail Z. Martin, James Maxey, Juliet E. Mckenna, Mark Morris, Sarah Pinborough, Andy Remic, Brian Ruckley, James Swallow, Jeffrey Thomas, Jetse de Vries, Danie Ware, and Conrad Williams.

I wonder how this aligns with Jetse de Vries's upcoming Shine anthology, which he bills as "optimistic near-future SF"?

[Note: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics Group has been added to the list of SF/F Authors who blog.]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday May 22, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

More free speculative fiction goodness (mostly) from the amazing resource Free Speculative Fiction Online. Lots of great authors here. Some of them are making repeat appearances here, but so what? Read 'em again!

Kage Baker: "Speed, Speed the Cable" (PDF) (Extraordinary Engines Anthology, 2008)
Terry Bisson: "TVA Baby" (Tor.com, April 2009)
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff: "Home is Where" (1991) (@Book View Cafe).
Marion Zimmer Bradley: "Year of the Big Thaw" (Fantastic Universe, May 1954)
Mike Brotherton: Star Dragon (Tor, October 2003)
Philip K. Dick: "Beyond the Door" (Fantastic Universe, January 1954)
Philip K. Dick: "The Crystal Crypt" (Planet Stories, January 1954)
Philip K. Dick: "The Defenders" (Galaxy, January 1953)
T.D. Edge: "System, Magic, Spirit" (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
Sarah L. Edwards: "The Tinyman and Caroline" (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
Clayton Emery: "Forged in Fire" (Realms of the Deep Anthology, 2000)
Clayton Emery: "Night School" (The Halls of Stormweather Anthology, 2007)
Clayton Emery: "Robin Hood's Treasure" (The Fantastic Adventures of Robin Hood Anthology, 1991)
J.U. Giesy: "Palos of the Dog Star Pack"(1918) (@Manybooks)
Harry Harrison: "Deathworld" (Analog [a.k.a. Astounding], January 1960)
Nancy Kress: "Clad in Gossamer" (Audio) (Silver Birch, Blood Moon Anthology, 1999)
Nancy Kress: "Ej-Es" (Audio) (Stars Anthology, 2003)
Nancy Kress: "End Game" (Audio) (Asimov's, April 2007)
Nancy Kress: "Explanations, Inc." (F & SF, July 1984)
Nancy Kress: "Margin of Error" (Audio) (Omni, October 1994)

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

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday May 22, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Interviews and Profiles:
- Angry Robot shares a video that has Dan Abnett talking about stuff. I've heard great things about Dan Abnett's work from several people...I really need to check out his work. He's made quite a name for himself in the Warhammer 40K world, of course, and Angry Robot will be publishing Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero (October 2009) and Embedded (Summer 2010).
- @SCI FI Wire: J.C. Hutchins (Personal Effects: Dark Art).
- Lou Anders time travels back to 1996 and his interview with Leonard Nimoy.

Paul Melko Won Compton Crook Award. Congratulations!

Catherynne M. Valente has put together a "ReadMix" story reading/song based on her story in the anthology Federations edited by John Joseph Adams.

The conclusion to Sean Williams' Astropolis series, The Grand Conjunction is out this month. Here's an extract.

Frederik Pohl continues his discussion of the lecture circuit.

One for the writers: Kristine Kathryn Rusch has posted more of The Freelancer's Survival Guide: Staying Positive.

Dark Worlds shares a mini-gallery of Heavy Metal Covers.

Ellen Datlow has posted pictures from last month's KGB reading.

Real Pretty Science: Pictures of Hubble's final servicing mission. [via Candlelight Stories]

Michael A. Burstein reviews Terminator: Salvation.

John Scalzi sez SciFi Movies Made Money Before Star Wars, Too.

Groknard has a A Retrospective of Star Trek RPGs.

Dan Aykroyd says the entire cast is returning for a third Ghostbusters movie. Bonus: Eliza Dushku as a new 'buster.

Lists:
- Design Moves Me lists 20 Stellar Websites with Robots. [via Smashing Magazine]
- @VideoHound: 10 Star Trek Movie Moments That Make Us Proud to Be Trekkies.
- @Topless Robot: The 10 Most Blatant Terminator Rip-Offs.
- @bloginhood: Top 10 Ugliest Ships of SF TV and Movies.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday May 22, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

District 9 - (Aug. 14, 2009)

If District 9 looks familiar, it should. It is the feature-length adaptation of his early short film, Alive in Joburg. (Video here). In any case, District 9 is the story of a group of aliens forced to live in squalor in a slum on Earth. If that sounds like Alien Nation in general, you're not alone.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday May 21, 2009 at 2:00 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

SF Signal would like to welcome John Ottinger III to our rank of Irregulars. Before he came to his senses and changed his obviously not-thinking-clearly mind, we asked John to write about himself in the third person. This is what he came up with:

John Ottinger III is the proprietor of the popular SF/F blog Grasping for the Wind. His reviews, interviews and articles have appeared in Publisher's Weekly, The Fix, Sacramento Book Review, Stephen Hunt's SFCrowsnest, Thaumatrope, and at Tor.com.

I understand John is thrilled to be joining us, a sure sign that he has no idea of the abuse we pile on newcomers. And let's not forget the ceremonial Bringing of the Bagels, a tradition passed down from one newbie to another for eons...or at least as long as there have been bagels. Remember, John, Blueberry bagels are my favorite. I'm just sayin'...

While John is getting us bagels, check out his inaugural post: a review of Bone Dance by Emma Bull.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 21, 2009 at 11:59 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Bone Dance is a science fiction novel that maintains a sense of the spiritual.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Psychic killers stalk the landscape of Earth after a nuclear apocalypse in which hoodoo and the tarot are the dominant belief system.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Clever integration of the tarot; intriguing look at identity; fast pace.
CONS: Simple worldbuilding, significant philosophical bent; jolting chapter transitions.
BOTTOM LINE: Bone Dance is an appealing, well-written, and thoughtful story, but is best suited to readers of a philosophical nature or reading temperament.

Psychic killers stalk the landscape of Earth after a nuclear apocalypse in Emma Bull's Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominated Bone Dance. Bull crafts a strange yet compelling story of identity and prophecy by basing the story on the ancient tradition of African folk magic known as hoodoo and the still widely practiced oracle of the tarot.

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Posted by John Ottinger III at Thursday May 21, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's a neat video compiled by William Castleman, an astrophotographer wo used time lapse photography to shoot the galactic center of The Milky Way during the 2009 Texas Star Party in Fort Davis, TX.

[via Laughing Sqid via Mike Brotherton]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 21, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Hal Duncan asks: What is Literary Fiction? "All fictions are of-a-genre but only those of certain genres are segregated out as being 'genre'." Yes...I've said that many times...

SciFi Love shares Part 2 of an interview with Duncan Jones, director of Moon. (Does anyone know if dad David Bowie is doing any music for the film?)

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- @Conjunctions: "Predecessor" by Jeff VanderMeer.
- @Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show: "The Tale of Junko and Sayuri" by Peter Beagle - but only free for the duration of the public vote for the Million Writers Award. [via Jason Sanford]
- @Manybooks: "The Copper-Clad World" by Harl Vincent (1931).
- Audio Fiction:@StarShipSofa: "Culture Archivist" by Jeremiah Tolbert.
- Art:
  - @Golden Age Comic Book Stories: a gallery of Roy G. Krenkel illustrations from The Cave Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
  - What's futuristic and drizzled in awesome? Björn Hurri's entries to the Dominance War 4 competition.
- Video: @The Internet Archive: Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1939).

EVENT: As part of the Fantastic Fiction reading series, Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Brian Francis Slattery (Spaceman Blues: A Love Song and Liberation) & Mary Robinette Kowal (Shades of Milk and Honey, Campbell Award winner for Best New Writer, Hugo nominee) on Wednesday June 17th, 7pm at KGB Bar in NYC.

At A Distant Soil, guest-blogger Sarah Beach has an interesting analysis of Why Kirk is Mythic and Picard is Not.

Lists:
- @SciFi Watch: 5 Ways Publishers Can Increase Sales, Save Money, and Promote Publicity, Part II. Someone likes our big-@$$ icons. (Part I here.)
- Fandomania lists The Top 10 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Friendships.
- AbeBooks lists 9 Books to Help You Learn Klingon.
- io9 lists 10 Most Murderous Robots (and also tells us How to Turn a Robot Evil, In 9 Easy Steps.
- @RadarOnline: The 20 Greatest Lines Ever Said By Comic Book Characters. ("Discussion is for bio-organisms." -- Deathlok)
- VideoHound lists 7 Things We Want From Star Trek 2. How about a Yeoman Rand? I'm just sayin'...

Create your own Wall*E computer case mode in 100 easy steps. (Easy if you like working with metal. And who doesn't?)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 21, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

We've talked before about Non-Genre Books for Genre Readers, now let's take it in the opposite direction. We asked this week's esteemed panelists:

Q: Which science fiction, fantasy, and/or horror books would you recommend to a friend who has never read them before?

Read on to see their answers, and be sure to let us know yours!

Brenda Cooper

Brenda Cooper is a technology professional, a science fiction and fantasy writer, and a futurist. Her recent books include the Endeavor award winning Silver Ship and The Sea and a sequel, Reading the Wind. See www.brenda-cooper.com for more info, and for periodic reading recommendations.

Well, besides writing science fiction, I'm also a practicing futurist, which means I talk to business audiences about the future. Many people in those audiences have never heard of me as a writer and don't read science fiction. But I recommend they start. I suggest Kim Stanley Robinson's Science in the Capital series, which is about climate change. KSR does excellent research and climate change is a topic those audiences are usually interested in. I also recommend Vernor Vinge's Rainbow's End for near-future work, and his A Deepness in the Sky for more classic sf. Dune, by Frank Herbert, of course. For readers who like adventure, I often recommend Allen Steele's Coyote and Coyote Rising. I like Nancy Kress's work for accessibility and interest, and I think I'd also recommend Wake, a recent book by Robert Sawyer. Then there's Connie Willis. My favorite is To Say Nothing of the Dog. I guess I'll stop now...

For fantasy, I'd recommend anything by Charles deLint, but particularly Moonheart and The Mystery of Grace. Nina Kiriki Hoffman is a lovely fantasy writer. The Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson books. I can't count how many copies of Mercedes Lackey's Magic's Price series I've given to teenagers. And then there's the dragonladys from Anne McCaffrey to Naomi Novik. Jay Lake's Mainspring and and Ken Scholes's Lamentation...

I could list a lot more, but mostly they have to be books that speak in the common tongue instead of science fictionese, and which treat character as at least as important as the big idea and have an element of adventure in them.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday May 20, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

In case rapper Tu-Spock isn't your cup of Vulcan brandy, here's something that might be.

Hardcore Nerdity uncovered this documentary about the Star Trek bromance. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday May 20, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

TuSpock is a half-Vulcan, half-gangsta rapper dreamed up for Jimmy Fallon's new late night talk show. Aside from the fact I detest rap, this is actually not bad, and quite funny in parts. They throw in a lot of in-jokes for Trek fans everywhere.

It still won't make me tune in to Fallon since that's one waaaay past my bedtime. Plus, with the internets, I don't have to!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday May 20, 2009 at 12:14 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The finalists for The 2009 Theodore Sturgeon Award (the short fiction counterpart of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year) have been announced:

Paolo Bacigalupi, "The Gambler" Fast Forward 2
Ted Chiang, "Exhalation" Eclipse 2
Charles Coleman Finlay, "The Political Prisoner" F&SF, August
Cory Doctorow & Benjamin Rosenbaum, "True Names" Fast Forward 2
James Alan Gardner, "The Ray Gun: A Love Story" Asimov's, February
Kathleen Ann Goonan, "Memory Dog" Asimov's, Apr/May
Kij Johnson, "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" (NOTE: Johnson, a juror, removed story from consideration. Asimov's, July)
Ian McDonald, "The Tear" Galactic Empires
Maureen McHugh, "Special Economics" Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Hanu Rajaniemi, "His Master's Voice" Interzone 218
Michael Swanwick, "From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled" Asimov's, February

Congratulations to all the nominees.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday May 19, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

@Jim Baen's Universe: "Shoresteading" by David Brin in two parts (Part One and Part Two).
@Book View Cafe: "Wood Song" by Katie Daniel.
@Cuphead.com: The Infinite when it was Two Digits Old and Counting up to Infinity, both by Allen I. Fleishman.
@Strange Horizons: "Baby in the Basket" by Cecil Castellucci.
@Fantasy Magazine: "Oh He Is" by Karen Heuler.
@Kat and Mouse: Part Twenty of "Easy Money" by Abner Senires.
@alternative coordinates: "Bedbugs" by Edward McKeown.
@Drums of Nyumbani: Parts One through Three of "Luendi" by Charles R. Saunders (1977). [via Free SF Reader]
The latest free online issue of ChiZine is up with fiction by Richard Thomas, Debi Carroll, Donald Jacob Uitvlugt, Sunil Sadanand, and Jesse Bullington
@Manybooks:
- The Ark by Boyd Morrison (2007).
- The Mouthpiece of Zitu by J.U. Giesy (1919).
@Atomjack:
- "Darkness Ends" by Gustavo Bondoni.
- "Cosmonaut" by David Wright.
Audio Fiction @LibriVox:
- Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 016 with fiction by Roger Kuykendall, Philip K. Dick, G. C. Edmondson, Frank Belknap Long, Charles L Fontenay, Desmond Winter Hall, Albert Hemhuter, Forrest James Ackerman, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. Read by many readers.
Graphic Fiction:
- @The Horrors of It All: "Witch Girl!" and "Birth After Death."
- @Fortress of Fortitude: "Hirschel's Hair."
- @Grantbridge Street & other misadventures: an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Tell Tale Heart"

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday May 19, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's a compendium of all the Boy Wonder's "Holy..." exclamations from Season 1 of Batman.

[via Poe TV]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday May 19, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Interviews and Profiles:
- Gwenda Bond interviews Greg van Eekhout (Norse Code).
- Bibliophile Stalker interviews Catherynne M. Valente (Palimpset).
- Wall Street Journal profiles China Miéville and his new novel The City & The City. [via Locus Online]

Ellen Datlow posts Ursula K. Le Guin's Calling Utopia a Utopia in which she calls out the author of a misinformed tribute to J.G. Ballard: "It is shocking to find that an editor at the publishing house that had the wits to publish J.G. Ballard (as well as the Norton Book of Science Fiction) can be so ignorant of what Ballard wrote, or so uninformed about the nature and history of the science-fiction genre, or so unaware of the nature of literature since the 1980's, that he believes -- now, in 2009! -- that to say a writer wrote science fiction is to malign or degrade his work." Go get 'im! [via Books Worth Reading]

Author/Editor/Physicist Stanley Schmidt (The Coming Convergence: The Surprising Ways Diverse Technologies Interact to Shape Our World and Change the Future) has an article up at IEET: The Mother of All Sci-Fi Wonders. [via Locus Online]

Frederik Pohl talks about The Lecture Biz: "Fortunately for my career, there was a lot of funny stuff going on in scientific research if you knew where to look for it."

Author Gary Gibson on hard sf. [via Mike Brotherton]

Rudy Rucker is guest-blogging at BoingBoing. [via Futurismic]

Joseph Mallozzi reviews Michael A. Burstein's I Remember the Future

Says the Guardian: "We should not rue the passing of a bookish golden age that never existed."

Gizmodo on Why Asimov's Laws of Robotics Are Total BS. [via Fantasy Magazine]

BSCreview Mind Melds with Charles Stross, Sonita Henry, and Jay Tomio about childhood favorites.

The finalists for the 2009 storySouth Million Writers Award have been announced. To vote for your favorite story, please go to the Million Writers Award website.

James Van Pelt lists his Top 10 Recommended Science Fiction Books.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday May 19, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Amazon recently allowed blogs to be made available for Kindle readers, so we went ahead and signed up. Feel free to peruse our SF Signal for Kindle page and leave comments.

Amazon allows Kindle readers a free 14-day preview before it charges Kindle readers Amazon's prescribed rate of $2 per month. We're not expecting any of our current readers to subscribe, and to be honest, we're not sure how receptive new readers would be to subscribing to any blog that they can read for free on their computer. But! This is another way for us to reach out and get ourselves in front of potential new readers, so there you go.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 18, 2009 at 1:00 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Last week we asked if a successful reboot of the Star Trek franchise was a good thing. After another $40+ million added to Paramount's coffers, I think it's safe to assume that the new movie is a hit with both fans and non-fans alike, which is a good thing. We know that a sequel as already been greenlit for production, but the writing team hasn't begun writing yet. But! Slashfilm let's us know that, according Abrams, William Shatner and Khan!! are possibilities for the sequel. To which the only appropriate answer is "Khaaan!!!".

For my money, which Paramount wants, I don't want to see a rebooted WoK or even William Shatner. Abrams has a shiny new alternate reality timeline to work with, why not do something new? Something cool, unique and different. And I don't even want to see the Borg, although it's probable they exist in the new reality. I want something we haven't seen from Star Trek in a long time: a sense of adventure and discovery, and not the tired old 'particle of the week' or overused time-travel (yes, the movie has this, sort of) episodes. Hire some science fiction writers as consultants and let the imaginations run wild. Please.

What would you like to see from the new Star Trek?

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

More cool covers. Yes, we've covered Leviathan before, but this is a shiny new cover for the UK version...

Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why. Go!
Books shown here:

Desolation Road by Ian McDonald (Artist: Stephan Martiniere)

Leviathan (w/ UK cover art) by Scott Westerfeld (Artist: Keith Thompson)

NOTE: Click on the book images or title links to access bigger & better versions of the cover art...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Daniel Davis is the creator and artist behind the Monster Commute (A Steampunk Traffic Novel) comic and he recently created this movie poster for a steampunk version of The Wizard of Oz.

Not only is this idea all kinds of awesome, the poster itself is executed brilliantly. I would totally go see this movie. Probably more than once! To see a larger version you should visit the original post over on Monster Commute and 12x18 prints will be available shortly.

And while you're there, why not check out the Monster Commute comic as well. The art style is just as eye catching and who doesn't like steampunk traffic?

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

John Dunne wrote us asking is any of our readers have ever heard of this science fiction reference book:

I used to own a book, non-fiction, written by a bunch of SF fans who worked at a bookstore. The book, most likely published in either the late 70s or very early 80s (because I bought it no later than 1982) was primarily a directory of author descriptions: who the author was, the type of works the author wrote, both sub-genre and major novels the author had had published in his/her career, and a feature for every author that started, "If you like so-and-so, try..." There was also a listing of 50 SF novels the authors considered "must reads" that was very broad in terms of the sub-genres of SF. Now if anyone can remember the title so I can try to rebuy this book that would be great. But what I'm really interested in is trying to find a website based on the "If you like..." idea. The listing of 50 novels, if it's also online, would be great as well.

Any ideas?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:17 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Ian Alexander Martin announces the launch Atomic Fez Publishing, a "Small Press House with Large Press notions of inclusivity":

The principle driving force behind certain titles being selected is simple: Books Are Fun Again! Too often things about books are made Quite Important and Very Serious Indeed, casting aside anything which might be seen as 'enjoyable'. There are some very important and worthwhile things about books and their roles in our lives, certainly; and one of the most important is that of the 'fun' and 'entertainment' they provide. Certainly, dark and serious stories aren't thought of in the same fashion as light and comedic ones, but both sort can easily be seen as 'fun' and 'entertaining' at the same time. One can be said to have fun reading something that scares us, just as one can enjoy reading something which makes us laugh aloud. What makes these various forms of stories similar is that they both contain content which is neither dull nor contain plot-lines within the well-trodden bounds of other writers.

Atomic Fez does not select titles due to them being rejected by other publishers, nor solely due to those works being difficult to market; rather, the catalogue contains titles which were selected despite these facts being true. This is, after all, a business, and there's no need to make this effort more difficult to break even at than it already is.

Atomic Fez will also be publishing making available all titles in the eBook format.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

In the interest of full disclosure, here are the books we received this past week.

Lots of nice covers here...which one do you like the best?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Over at Tor.com, Irene gallo says: "Cory Godbey has started Terrible Yellow Eyes, a Where the Wild Things Are tribute site. Each Friday he will post an image inspired by the best book ever written and drawn."

Free Audio Fiction [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- @PodCastle: "Change of Life" by K. Tempest Bradford, read by MA in PA.
- @Beam Me Up: "Looking for the Future that Was" by Shaun Saunders and the conclusion of Steven Francis Murphy's "The Limb Knitter"
- @At Fear on Demand: "Ashes to Ashes" by Amy Grech, read by Eleiece Krawiec.
- @At LibriVox: Great Pirate Stories by Joseph Lewis French, read by many readers.
- @ScottSigler.com: Episode #24 of Contagious.

Sci-Fi Talk podcast-interviews actor Dan Lauria (Alien Trespass).

Real Science: How Sand Dunes Grow Huge.

Mary Robinette Kowal asks what books should make the next round of fantasy films? [via Pyr_Books]

Fantasy Magazine lists 7 SF/F Conspiracy Films.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Fringe, LOST, Smallville and Supernatural all had their season finales this week. None of them had what you would call terrific ratings numbers, with Fringe leading the pack.

Ben Shapiro has an incredible write up of LOST's season finale entitled "What happens next on LOST?" If you're a fan of the show, you should go read it. There's a lot to chew on there. And can anyone name another show that lends itself to this type of extended discussion after each episode? Yet another reason why LOST rules.

If you're feeling blue that Fringe is on summer break, never fear! They've taken a page from LOST and have created an ARG for you to mess around with while you wait for more episodes. Let's hope more and more interesting stuff shows up there.

For those of you (like our own Kevin, hi Kevin!) who had trouble getting a handle on the whole 'many worlds' idea of Fringe's reality hopping characters, you should tune into NOVA this week as they explore Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives. They'll be exploring the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which is always fun.

Warner Bros. has ponied up some serious cash to obtain the rights for ITV's series Primeval, with the hope of adapting it for the big screen. The SFX on the show are decent enough for TV, but imagine what ILM could do nowadays for dinosaurs. I just hope they don't turn it into Jurassic Park.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday May 18, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption and next year's Fahrenheit 451 adaptation) has some...words...to say about the studio-forced voiceover narration of the original Blade Runner theatrical release.

[via videosift]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday May 17, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Check out this promo for The WotWots, a kids' show with alien characters that travel around in a steampunk spaceship -- but don't stay too long...it will melt your adult brain. I'm not sure how you can mix aliens and steampunk and not get awesome, but here you go. Think of it as Teletubbies for geek offspring...

[via Candlelight Stories]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday May 17, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

IGN has a gallery of The Top 100 Comic Book Villains. Cut to the chase...from #5 to #1: Galactus, Lex Luthor, Doctor Doom, Joker, Magneto. [via Guy Kawasaki]

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- The latest issue of Three Crow Press is out with dark fiction by Catherine Knutsson, Glenn Lewis Gillette, T.A. Moore, C.M. SheVLin, Nu Yang, Brian Dolton, Shannon Page and Jay Lake, Gary McMahon, David Priebe, and Rick Silva.
- @Manybooks:
  - "The Sargasso of Space" by Edmond Hamilton (1931).
  - ". . . And Gulliver Returns" by Bob O'Connor (2008).
- Video: @The Internet Archive: Lights Out : "Strange Legacy"(1951).
- Graphic Fiction:
  - @The Horrors of It All: "The Voice of the Dead!" and "The Mailed Fist of McGonigle!"
  - @Fantasy Ink: "Uncle Bill's Barrel."

Cool astrophotography: The Space Shuttle Atlantis during Solar Transit.

Real Science: 17 Steps to the Moon and Back -- Anatomy of a Moonshot

Robots: Man's Most Disappointing Invention. [via Gravity Lens]

Leonard Nimoy appeared on the Letterman and delivered The Top 10 Lines Never Before Said in a Star Trek Film. [via SF Universe]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday May 17, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

I finally managed to make it to the theater today to see Star Trek (Pete T., if you haven't seen it yet, sorry man, I couldn't hold out any longer). We had our group outing this afternoon and Star Trek was the choice for most (we're a bunch of engineers) and, since we had a large group, half-price IMAX tickets sealed the deal. I've intentionally avoided any and all spoilers, no matter how small since last week. The overall reception, though, couldn't be avoided. So, did it live up to the hype? For the most part, yes. I'm going to pull a John (HEL-lo!) and punch out my thoughts here in convenient list format!

A note about spoilers: I consider a week having past to be long enough to avoid spoilers, so I won't. However all spoilers have been placed after the break for your protection.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Saturday May 16, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Another reader writes in with a story description looking for a title.

Do any of our readers out there know the title of this story?

The story involves an alien race invading Earth. Another alien race, at war with the invaders, helps Earth out by giving us some sort of inertia-less drives. And, because Apollo landers suck in a fight, the drives get bolted into anything they can make air-tight, from submarines to battleships to tanks.

The coolest scene is when the battleship fires a shell at the invader ship (the cannon is wrapped with inertialess coils). The invaders are smug, knowing their shields will save them. Until the shell passes through the energy-weapon-defensive shields like air and blow up the ship. The invaders energy weapons can't burn through the six inches of steel hull on the USA battleship in space. Meanwhile, a squadron of F14s fly by. In Space.

I really hope somebody recognizes this one.

- Chris F.

Can you name this story?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday May 16, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

This is Australian animator Luke Randall's entry in the National Film Board of Canada's film competition. It's called Reach.

[via Candlelight Stories]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday May 16, 2009 at 12:18 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's the new promo for Flash Forward, the series based on Robert J. Sawyer's novel of the same name. (Sorta, Sawyers novel was actually one word: Flashforward, but that's television for ya'...)

This makes me want to read the novel now. <homer>Stupid promo...</homer>

Anyone else excited about this?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday May 16, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Creative Review looks at minimalist science fiction cover art.

Magical Words interviews Diana Pharaoh Francis, author of The Turning Tide.

Jeffrey Somers offers free writing advice.

Meanwhile, this is how Marie Brennan writes female characters.

Tor.com goodies
- Lou Anders reviews The Insidious of Dr. Fu Manchu.
- Jo Walton asks: Where do you find out about new books?

Peggy at Biology in Science Fiction talks about Technology on Star Trek: "Trek is about gadgets and engineering, not science."

EVENT: Troll's Eye View (New York, Sunday June 07, 1pm - 3pm) with Ellen Datlow, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, Holly Black, and Catherynne M. Valente.

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @Dragon Moon Press: Nina Kimberly the Merciless by Christiana Ellis [via Grasping for the Wind].
- @Manybooks: The Electronic Mind Reader by John Blaine (1957).
- Audio Fiction:
  - @Pseudopod: "Camp" by Jeremy C. Shipp, read by George Hrab.
  - @LibriVox: Varney, the Vampyre: Feast of Blood Vol. 2 by Thomas Preskett Prest, read by many readers.
- Graphic Fiction:
  - @The Fabuleous Fifties: A Tom Corbett, Space Cadet story "The Drifter!"
  - @Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: four horror stories featuring artwork by Rudy Palais.
  - @Golden Age Comic Book Stories: A cool collection of Shining Knight stories drawn by Frank Frazetta.

Book View Café presents Ursula K. Le Guin's "Cat T'ai Chi". In addition for the next three months, one of BVC's Thursday Specials will be Le Guin's comics, including "Pilllow Book for Cats" and "Supermouse." These one-of-a-kind comics, exclusive to Book View Café, represent some of the more unusual offerings at the website which also has an early screenplay from Le Guin, "King Dog."

/Film get the Trel LOL-of-the-week with this awesome Star Trek Movie Quick Recognition Chart.

Check out this cool Coraline paper toy [via Super Punch]

Lists:
- LittleFivers lists The Top 5 Ways Classic Pieces of Literature Would Be Different If Written by Robert Heinlein.
- io9 lists 10 Greatest Libertarian Science Fiction Stories. (Related article: Science Fiction and Libertarianism by Joe Schembrie.)
- Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver and Drood by Dan Simmons make Stephen King's list 7 Great Books for Summer. [via Omnivoracious]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday May 16, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Another reader writes in with a story description looking for a title.

Do any of our readers out there know the title of this story?

[A] Musician plays in bars, he plays an electronic instrument that creates holograms rather than (or in addition to) sound. He was recruited to be part of a crew on a ship that went to sample the sun's corona. During the dip into the corona, the crew shut down the ports but he opened a port and looked into the sun. It blinded him, but it also impacted his music.

- Bill B.

Can you name this story?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday May 15, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

He just doesn't care anymore...

[via Poe TV]

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

It was brought to our attention (Thanks, Greg!) that we overlooked mention of what is destined to be the first straight-to-DVD science fiction classic: Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus.

No, seriously....

All I can say is...WTF? This looks so bad, apparently even the science fiction channel wouldn't produce it. Hiyo!

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

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]
- @Baen's Webscription: "The Menace from Earth" by Robert Heinlein. [via BestScienceFiction.com]
- Audio Fiction:
  - @PodCastle: "The Nalendar" by Ann Leckie, read by M. K. Hobson.
  - @Escape Pod: "Elvis in the Attic" by Catherine M. Morrison, read by Ben Phillips.
  - @Well Told Tales: "Anniversary" by Hilary Davidson, read by J.B. Goodspeed.
- Graphic Fiction:
  - @The Horrors of It All: "Journey to Chaos."
  - @The Bronze Age of Blogs: "A Beast Within."
  - @Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "The Dead Will Live Again."
  - @Fight Evil With Evil: Manmachine a free online science fiction graphic novel.

The Believer interviews John Crowley. [via Locus Online]

Gail Z. Martin podcast-interviews Kevin J. Anderson.

John Scalzi looks at Future Trek-nology He Can Live Without.

Charles Stross on the future of gaming. [via Futurismic]

Author Ben Jaepes is against prologues.

Ladies and gentlemen...The William Gibson Aviator Briefcase. [Thank, Fred!]

Joseph Mallozzi's book of the month club will be reading Elric: The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock and Blood of Ambrose by James Enge.

Michael Cassutt explains why Batman Begins worked--and Wolverine didn't.

AMC's latest gallery asks: What Warped These Star Trek Villains?

Comedy Central has posted Outtakes from Krod Mandoon.

Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus gets a fan support site.

The web series Zerk's Log has posted their season finale.

John Anealio's latest SciFi Song is "Sundog" and was inspired by Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix.

Lunar Leftovers tells us How the Moon Became a Trash Can: "The moon has only been accessible for decades, rather than hundreds of years. However, in the short time available to humanity it is estimated that we have left over one hundred and seventy thousand kilos of debris on the surface of our once pristine satellite. Here are some of the more notable pieces of trash on the moon..." [via Cynical-C Blog]

The Daily Galaxy asks: Will Humans' Brains Change During Travel in Outer Space? [via MonkeyFilter]

Lists:
- @Discover Magazine: Rules for Time Travelers.
- @Timeout London: 50 essential sci-fi films, but intentionally exclude Dystopian films like Blade Runner, Fahrenheit 451 and Hardware. [via M. John Harrison]
- @The Crotchety Old Fan: The 18 Star Trek (TOS) Episodes Written by Science Fiction Authors. Extra Credit: Which of those authors also write episodes of Land of the Lost?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday May 15, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Ellen Datlow has just released the table of contents for her upcoming horror anthology, Darkness: 25 Years of Modern Horror. Check out this awesome lineup:

"Jacqueline Ess: Her Will And Testament" by Clive Barker (1984)
"Dancing Chickens" by Edward Bryant (1984)
"The Greater Festival of Masks" by Thomas Ligotti (1985)
"The Pear-Shaped Man" by George R.R. Martin (1987)
"The Juniper Tree" by Peter Straub (1988)
"Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds" by Dan Simmons (1988)
"The Power and the Passion" by Pat Cadigan (1989)
"The Phone Woman" by Joe R. Lansdale (1990)
"Teratisms" by Kathe Koja (1991)
"Chattery Teeth" by Stephen King (1992)
"A Little Night Music" by Lucius Shepard (1992)
"Calcutta, Lord of Nerves" by Poppy Z. Brite (1992)
"The Erl King" by Elizabeth Hand (1993)
"The Dog Park" by Dennis Etchison (1993)
"Rain Falls" by Michael Marshall Smith (1994)
"Refrigerator Heaven" by David J. Schow (1995)
"________" by Joyce Carol Oates (1995)
"Eaten (Scenes from a Moving Picture)" by Neil Gaiman (1996)
"The Specialist's Hat" by Kelly Link (1998)
"The Tree is My Hat" by Gene Wolfe (1999)
"Heat" by Steve Rasnic Tem (1999)
"No Strings" by Ramsey Campbell (2000)
"Stitch" by Terry Dowling (2002)
"Dancing Men" by Glen Hirshberg (2003)
"My Father's Mask" by Joe Hill (2005)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 14, 2009 at 12:30 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Another reader writes in with a story description looking for a title.

Do any of our readers out there know the title of this story?

The story line was about a man who lost his son to freeway violence, in a future where people armored their cars into rolling weapons, and took license plates as trophys. He's out for revenge and working on the Bonneville-which may have had a female nickname.

I am sure I read it sometime between 1980 and 1985.

- Renee C.

Can you name this story?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 14, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Wonder Woman can't do anything right, but the important thing is that she keeps trying.

And, to put things in perspective, she doesn't suck nearly as much as Green Lantern.

[via Poe TV]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 14, 2009 at 12:10 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Interviews and Profiles:
- @Omnivoracious: Arthur C. Clarke Award winner Ian R. MacLeod (Song of Time).
- The Nebula Awards website interviews K.D. Wentworth. [via Charles Tan]
- @Fantasy Book Critic: Lou Anders, editorial director of Pyr.
- @Book Spot Central: Claude Lalumière
- @Hardcore Nerdity podcast-interviews Robert J. Sawyer.

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:
- @Manybooks: "The Defenders" by Philip K. Dick (1953).
- @Hub: "Wink" by Lucy Kemnitzer and "Tastes of the Dark" by Malin Larsson.
- Audio Fiction:
  - @Dunesteef: "Revolving Door" by Pete Tzinski.
  - @ScottSigler.com: Contagious Episode #23
  - @StarShipSofa: "Then, Just a Dream" by Lawrence Santoro and "Titanium Mike Saves the Day" by David D. Levine.
- Graphic Fiction:
  - @The Horrors of It All: "Satan's Stradivari!"
  - @Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "A curse of Claws!"
  - @Hairy Green Eyeball: three Flash Gordon Stories.
  - @Crosseyed Cyclops: four issues of Starstream featuring comic book adaptations of stories by many classic SF writers.

Tor.com's Naughty Apocalypse contest may get you free burlesque tickets and post-apocalyptic fiction. "A Testicle for Leibowitz" indeed...

Neal Asher gives you his advice on how to become a writer: "The difference between someone who can fill in a postcard and someone else who can write a novel is the difference between someone who gets out of breath climbing the stairs and someone who runs a marathon."

To keep the pattern going...here's Angela Slatter on Jeff VanderMeer on Neil Gaiman on George R.R. Martin and the Reader-Writer Contract. (Short version: Readers shouldn't be so upset that Martin hasn't finished his next novel yet.)

Chris Roberson has a story in this month's issues of House of Mystery #13.

UK publisher Snowbooks has signed up The Affinity Bridge author George Mann for a further six novels, including: the first two novels in a new series The Ghosts of Manhattan, set in 1930s New York; books four, five and six in the Newbury and Hobbes series, which began with The Affinity Bridge, and the short fiction collection The Huntingdon Legacy. These books will be published in the U.S. by Pyr (Ghosts of Manhattan series) and Tor (Newbury and Hobbes series)

The upcoming five-part Torchwood: Children of Earth will air on BBC America in July.

@Salon: Why the original "Star Trek" still matters: "It wasn't an escape into a mythical realm of impossibly perfect heroes and implacably evil villains, but into a future of global techno-humanist harmony...A future where we would all agree that war and poverty and economic depression were barbaric, and where the girls would all wear miniskirts and nylons."

ComicMix has an exhaustive and spoilery list of Star Trek annotations. [via Cynical-C]

Found through Twitter: TheCrewTV, which describes itself as "a sci-fi comedy web series. The Office meets Star Trek".

Mmm...Star Wars AT-AT cake....

Only in the randomly-generated SciFi icons Showdown poll can you pit Wonder Woman up against the Terminator.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday May 14, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Hi there everyone. Infrequent contributor Trent here with a short interview with multiple award winning author C.J. Cherryh about her latest novel Regenesis, the long awaited direct sequel to the Hugo Award winning novel Cyteen. Mrs. Cherryh continues her story about the surviving clone of Ariane Emory, one of the great scientists humanity has even known, continuing the search for the murderer of her progenitor, the real Ariane Emory.

Before we get to the questions I would like to give a personal thank you not only to Ms. Cherryh herself, but to all who submitted questions for her (especially my brother Rob). This was a really fun task to undertake and I enjoyed my brief brush with Mrs. Cherryh. I was originally kind of apprehensive in contacting an author for a Q&A session "out of the blue' being that this is my first time out with this kind of thing. However Mrs. Cherryh was quite enthusiastic to participate and I appreciate that greatly. So enough with the fluff, let's get to the questions!

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Posted by Trent Ditto at Wednesday May 13, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Thanks to an email snafu, S. Andrew Swann's response to our last Mind Meld -- regarding the most realistic (and the most ridiculous) uses of science in SciFi film and TV -- got lost in the ether. A team of ethernauts was immediately dispatched to recover the lost response. After minimal loss of life, it was recovered. Here is the question:

Q: Which SciFi films and/or television shows do the best job in adhering to realistic science? Which ones do the worst?

Swann's response is below...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday May 13, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Sad news this week as we learned that the last Munchkin has died.

They will be remembered as a proud people who weathered oppression and scandal. They were diverse. They were tough.

In a time when we humans focus on our relati