REVIEW SUMMARY: Some kids' books are best read by kids.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A young girl named Emma discovers a magical hotel buried in the sands of a faraway land.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Baker's easy-going writing style; colorful characters; positive message for kids.
CONS: Missed opportunity giving Emma's back story some import; lacked the magical quality I was expecting.
BOTTOM LINE: A mediocre story for adults, though kids (the intended audience) may find it more enjoyable.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 30, 2009 at 1:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

In case there was any doubt that Jekyll and Hyde fell under the label of horror...

[via Poe TV]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 30, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Manybooks: Astounding Stories of Super-Science September 1930.


• @Book View Cafe: "Thin Man" by Steven Piziks (1997).


• @Strange Horizons: "River of Heaven" by Rachel Manija Brown.


• @Big Pulp:
  • "The Beast" by Jennifer Povey.
  
  
  • "Code Violation" by William Meikle.
  
  


• @Audio Fiction:
  • @Beam Me Up: Part two, the conclusion, of "The Street That Wasn't There" by Clifford Simak, read by Crystalwizard.
  
  
  • Relic Radio: Part two, the conclusion, of "Earth Abides" (1950).
  
  


• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Horrors of It All: "Blood Brothers!" (1952) and "Stranger from Space" (1953).
  
  
  • @Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Tall In the Saddle!" (1973)
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Tuesday June 30, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

If you're like most of America, you missed Fox's premiere of Ron Moore's new SF show, Virtuality. We here at SF Signal also missed it so that's why we decided it was a good idea for all of us to find out why no one watched Virtuality. Together.

Don't say we aren't a caring bunch. Let us know what you think after watching, or if actually did watch you, you can skip the watching again part and give us your thoughts below. Note to the rest of the world: Sorry, Hulu is U.S. only, no Virtuality for you. Besides, that may not be a bad thing...

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday June 29, 2009 at 11:39 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The winners of our Gail Z. Martin Giveaway have been notified. They are:

• The Blood King advance review copy #1, signed: Deborah P. (Bellerose, NY)


• The Blood King advance review copy #2, signed: Ana Cristina Amaral A. (Amadora, Portugal)


• Dark Haven copy #1, signed: Seahn G. (Coffs Harbour NSW, Australia)


• Dark Haven copy #2, signed: Joel B. (Riverton, UT)

Thanks to everyone who entered.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 29, 2009 at 10:45 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Three surrealist stories in which people follow odd people and odd things happen.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: The writing is spare and effective
CONS: I have no idea what to think about this collection of stories (but I've written 760 words about it anyway)

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Posted by Karen Burnham at Monday June 29, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 29, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Noah Wyle has signed on with DreamWorks Television to star in a pilot for a new science fiction show. The pilot is being executive produced by Stephen Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan). The show will be about a group of resistance fighters attempting to stop an alien invasion. And here I thought V had that sewed up.
• Anyone hoping that Ron Moore's Virtuality could be saved and picked up as a series due to strong ratings can stop hoping. The ratings are in and they are terrible. Yes, it's only the 18-49 demographic, but that's where the money is and Virtuality was basically seen by no one. Sure the specials about Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson didn't help. I bet Moore is cursing Fox's decision to move his show up a week.
• Unless you live in the U.S., you are unlikely to be able to stream videos from Hulu. But things will soon change in Britain as Hulu is set to go 'live' in September. It looks like they will be adding several British channels worth of shows and maybe have access to the U.S. shows as well. Sweet! No our British friends can watch The A-Team!
• Popmatters lists (at the end of the article) all the new science fiction shows on network TV through the fall season. The good news is there is a lot of SF-ish stuff coming, the bad news is almost none of it is of the 'in space, with spaceships!' variety. That's what I really like to see, but I'll watch the other stuff if it's good.
• You can excused if you've never seen (or heard of) the cable channel G4. It's been through a lot of changes since being aimed at gamers and seems to have settled on a Spike TV-lite motif. However, with Comic Con 2009 coming up in July, they are doing something cool. G4 will broadcast, live, the Lucasfilm panel from Comic Con, which will focus on the extended universe of Star Wars and will feature a a live table read of an exclusive new Clone Wars script. That's almost worth tuning in for (July 25th, 2pm/1pm C).
• And lastly, a belated clip with the recently passed away Ed McMahon. It seems that in 1979 NBC aired a live-action psuedo-Super Friends show called Legends of the Superheroes. It had Adam West and Burt Ward reprising their roles as Batman and Robin, and a large cast of other superheroes. Who knew? Ed McMahon played the role of the host in this bizarre variety show meets superheros production. [via Fanboy.com]
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Monday June 29, 2009 at 12:02 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Steamboy is a Japanese animated film directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release following Akira. Here's a synopsis:

In this animated tale that's as riveting as it is retro, genius teen inventor Ray Steam receives a strange spherical device containing a mind-boggling new form of energy that can power a whole country. Soon two ominous gents turn up looking to get their hands on the gadget; next thing you know, Ray is caught in a battle between the Yanks and the Brits, who'll do anything to obtain the priceless orb.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 28, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• Raygun Revival 53rd issue of Space Opera online with fiction by, Swapna Krishore, Scott Davis, Brandon Meyers, L.S. King, Raz Greenberg, M. Keaton, Justin R. Macumber, and Keanan Brand.
• @Tor.com: "The House That George Built" by Harry Turtledove. [via Futurismic]
• @Book View Cafe: "The Boarder" by Madeleine Robins (1982).
• Audio Fiction:
  
  
  • @Maria Lectrix: "The Thief of Time" Part one and part two by S.P. Meek, read by Maureen O'Brien.
  
  
  • @Cthulhu: Episode #59 featuring "After a Year in the Asylum" by Justin Lowmaster.
  
  
  • @Radio Drama Revival: Episode 128 featuring Roger Gregg's "The Return of the Bogman Mummy." [via Monster Rally]
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Fabuleous Fifties: four classic horror comic stories "Murder at Midnight," "Dark Dungeon," "Beware the Eyes of Horror," and "The End of the World."
  
  
  • @Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Believe It...Or Not!" (1970)
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Sunday June 28, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Kevin Maher writes in to point us to the original, darker ending to Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. If you recall, Kevin was a participant in our Mind Meld Which SciFi Movie Ending Would You Change? and this was the film he cited...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 27, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

There are only a few days left to enter our giveaway for a free copy of Stargate: Atlantis Season 5 on DVD.

See the original post for details on how to enter.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 27, 2009 at 12:14 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Sure, we're in the midst of a brown out of SF on TV, but that's about the change as Sci Fi and BBC America gear up some SF shows in July. However, there are a few shows on TV this weekend that may appeal to the SF fan.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday June 26, 2009 at 2:30 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

I'm not sure whether this is totally awesome or completely appalling. The people behind the Hello Wars website have taken it upon themselves to create and sell this stickers that are a mashup of Star Wars characters done in the artistic style of Hello Kitty, with bows. You can purchase them individually for $1 a piece, or in packs for $10. I keep thinking "Who's a cute wittle bounty hunter? You are aren't you Boba Kitty! Yes you are!"

Clearly I need help.

[via Japanator]

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday June 26, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Batman's not quite on the top of his game here. Methinks he's feeling a false sense of bravado rising in that supercool BatCopter. Though, to be fair, Robin's the noob who's overeager with the controls. And can someone tell me why, in God's name, does Robin have to hang upside down to hand Btaman the Shark Repellent spray?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 26, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Audio Fiction:
  • @FrankMarcopolos.com: Part one of "The Hortlak" by Kelly Link, read by Frank Marcopolis [via Not a Journal].
  • @Escape Pod: "Requiem in D-minor (for prions, whale and burning bush)" by Ian McHugh, read by Frank Key.
  • @PodCastle: "Nine-Fingered Maria" by Hilary Moon Murphy, read by Christopher Reynaga.
  • @Dunesteef: "Cold Trail Blazing" by Stephen Gaskell.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @Grantbridge Street & other misadventures: "Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species."
  • @Golden Age Comics: Mysteries Of Unexplored Worlds #3 (1957).
  • @The Bronze Age of Blogs: "Solomon Kane: The Right Hand Of Doom"
  • @Fantasy Ink: "Out on a Limb!" (1971)
  • @His Name Is. . .: "The Paul Revere of Time."

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 26, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

[Note: Tidbit posts are going on sabbatical for at least a week, so get your fill!]

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @SciFi Wire: Robert Charles Wilson explains why he destroyed America in Julian Comstock and Neil Gaiman reveals what killed the Sandman 20th-anniversary comic.
  • @Whatever: Sarah Rees Brennan (The Demon's Lexicon).
  • The Babylon Podcast interviews Babylon 5 creator/writer J. Michael Straczynski. [via SFFaudio]


• Tim Pratt's "Bone Shop" is a serialized, donation-funded urban fantasy novella.


• Angry Robot has posted free excerpts from Book of Secrets by Chris Roberson and Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner.


• Planet Stories changes format, frequency, and offers new subscription benefits.


• Joseph Mallozzi reveals his Book of the Month Club Selection for August: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.


• Cover Pr0n: David Herter previews the cover to his forthcoming PS Publishing book, One Who Disappeared, the final installment of his Czech trilogy:


• SF author Mike Brotherton reveals his Path to science fiction.


• Alastair Reynolds gets his rocket on.


• Heather at Galaxy Express looks at the intersection of Japanese SF & Science Fiction Romance.


• SF Awards Watch has the scoop on the nominnes for the Zajdel Award, which honors the best in Polish SF.


• Apex Magazine returns from hiatus.


• USA Today sez: Science fiction predictions resemble reality 36 years later.


• Sci-Fi Song #19: "The Transformers Theme" by John Anealio.


• Real Old Science: NASA space shuttle solves mystery 1908 Tunguska Event in Siberia: "The mysterious 1908 Tunguska explosion that leveled 830 square miles of Siberian forest was almost certainly caused by a comet entering Earth's atmosphere"


• At AMC, John Scalzi says: Relax! Transformers Is Not the End of Cinema as We Know It.


• For our UK readers, BBC has posted a trailer for the five-part series Torchwood: Children of Earth.


• Lists:
  • Bloginhood lists Top 5 Rejected Ideas for Transformers.
  • OUPblog lists "Set Phasers on..." Tweets.
  • Scifi Watch lists 15 Ways Publishers Can Increase Sales, Save Money, and Promote Publicity.
  • At AMC, Mary Robinette Kowal lists 10 Films That Feature Portals to Another World.
  • Several genre films make the Film School Rejects lists of 10 Most Awesome Movie Explosions Of All Time Ever.
  • Mike brotherton lists 10 of the Dumbest Things in Science Fiction Film.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 26, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

You know the saying, bad news comes in threes, and this week is no exception with the passing of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and now Michael Jackson. Whatever you may think of Jackson, his influence on music can't be denied. I did indeed purchase one and only one of his records, Thriller, specifically for that song and while I was never huge MJ fan, I did find the occasional song of his to be entertaining.

I thought we'd take a look back at a couple of his genre related videos made during the '80's: Captain Eo and Thriller.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Thursday June 25, 2009 at 10:00 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

There are only a few days left to enter our giveaway for a free copy of The Blood King or Dark Haven by Gail Z. Martin.

See the original post for details on how to enter.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 25, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

See what you started , Al?

SF Scope is reporting that Brandon Sanderson's latest books sales -- the first four books in a new series called The Way of Kings expected to appear in the second half of 2010 -- comes with a per-book advance in the six figure range. With performance-added bonuses, the deal "could exceed $2.5 million"!

That's a nice chunk of change.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 25, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Analog has posted the table of contents for the September 2009 issue:

Serial:

• "Turning the Grain" (conclusion) by Barry B. Longyear

Novelettes:

• "Evergreen" by Shane Tourtellotte
• "The Last Resort" by Alec Nevala-Lee

Short Stories:

• "From the Ground Up" by Marie DesJardin
• "Attitude Adjustment" by Eric James Stone

Science Fact:

• "From Atlantis to Canoe-Eating Trees: Geomythology Comes of Age" by Richard A. Lovett

Reader's Departments:

• The Editor's Page
• In Times to Come
• The Alternate View by Jeffery D. Kooistra
• The Reference Library by Don Sakers
• Brass Tacks
• Upcoming Events by Anthony Lewis

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 25, 2009 at 12:13 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Asimov's has posted the table of contents for the August 2009 issue:

Novelettes

• "The Qualia Engine" by Damien Broderick
• "California Burning" by Michael Blumlein

• "Creatures of Well-Defined Habits" by Robert Reed
• "Blue" by Derek Zumsteg
• "The Consciousness Problem" by Mary Robinette Kowal
• "Two Boys" by Steven Popkes
• "Turbulence" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

• "Chicken from Minsk" by Karin L. Frank
• "Osteometry" by Erin Hoffman
• "Doing Splits" by Ruth Berman
• "And My Sinuses Are Killing Me" by Tina Connolly
• "Human Resources" by F.J. Bergmann

• Editorial: 2009 Readers' Awards by Sheila Williams
• Reflections: Adventures in the Far Future by Robert Silverberg
• Reflections: Adventures in the Far Future II by Robert Silverberg
• Thought Experiments: On James Patrick Kelly by Divers Hands
• On the Net: And the Winner Is by James Patrick Kelly
• On Books by Peter Heck
• The SF Conventional Calendar by Erwin S. Strauss

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

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• Author Robert J. Sawyer has made his novella "Identity Theft" available for online reading.
• @Manybooks: "Reel Life Films" by Sam Merwin (1954).
• @Book View Cafe: "Them Old Hyannis Blues" by Judith Tarr (1992).
• @Inside Spinward Fringe: First Light Chronicles: Freeground by Randolph Lalonde.
• @Ensorcelled:
  • "The Dome" by Lee Collins.
  • "Foretold" by Monica Parks.
  • "For Every Name" by Vicky Chen.
  • "Fragments of Dr. Skinner's Personal Log (recovered March 5, 2011)" by Kristine Ong Muslim.
  • "Take Your Time" by Aaron Milstead.
• @Audio Fiction:
  • @The Guardian Books Podcast: "Scales" by Alastair Reynolds. [Via SFFaudio and Free SF Reader]
  • @StarShipSofa: "Shoggoths In Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear.
  • @LibriVox:
    • Short Science Fiction Collection 19 with fiction by Andre Norton, Phillip K. Dick, Rog Phillips, Robert Silverberg, Edmond Hamilton, Anne Walker, David Mason, William Gerken, and Harry Harrison.
    • The Faerie Queene - Book 1 by Edmund Spenser, read by many readers.
• Art @Golden Age Comic Book Stories:
  • A gallery of pulp illustrations by artist, Boris Dolgov.
  • A gallery of art by the great pulp artist Virgil Finlay.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Horrors of It All: "The Weaker Sex!" and "Sleep, My Love!" (1953).
  • @Hairy Green Eyeball: Flying Saucers #1 (1967).
  • @Magic Carpet Burn: "The Burning Corpse" (1974)
  • @The Olden Age: "Dr. Horror" (1941).
  • @Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Forbidden Journey" (1970).
  • @Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Blood Thirsty"
  • @Golden Age Comics: This Magazine is Haunted #21 (1954).

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 25, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• James Wallace Harris is still writing excellent essays. (I've been hooked since his now-classic The Classics of Science Fiction.) His latest essay discuses The Time Machine by H.G. Wells: "The Time Machine is the big bang origin of the science fiction universe." Take that, Frankenstein!


• Alastair Reynolds comments on his recent book deal. Short version: business as usual. Cool! because his normal business is pretty darned good.


• Support Tim Pratt and his serial story idea.


• Speaking of International SF/F, Dr. Valentin D. Ivanov reviews some Bulgarian SF.


• Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff on Story-weaving in the Science Fiction Age. "Writing is a lot like painting. You have a palette made up of ideas and words and technologies and character relationships. Every 'color' interacts with every other color and alters it subtly or not-so-subtly." [via Bibliophile Stalker]


• Andrew Wheeler teaches Book Marketing 101: An Introduction.


• @Missions Unknown: Putting the Science in Science Fiction. 'If we want the next generation of SF fans to grow up with more than just an appreciation for the large franchises (Star Wars, Star Trek, Transformers, Terminator, blah, blah, infinite blah) we should ensure they have an appreciation for science as well."


• Interviews & Profiles:
  • The Dragon Page podcast-interviews James Enge (Blood of Ambrose).
  • David Steffen interviews Cat Rambo. [via Bibliophile Stalker]
  • io9 interviews Robert Charles Wilson (Julian Comstock).
  • @The Shirley Jackson Awards Blog: Ann & Jeff Vandermeer.


• Cool Graph of the Day: SFWA Grandmasters, by Age When They Won the Award courtesty of SF Scope and, I suspect, Excel.


• ABS-CBN News offers up tips on How to start a book club


• Fantastic Flashbacks goes ape over the the media hype given to the Planet of the Apes TV show premiere.


• All 18 episodes of Zerks Log Season 1 are on Youtube.


• Real Science: The Hunt for Life on Saturnian Moon Heats Up.


• Lists:
  • Mental Floss lists Surprising Facts About 15 Bestselling Authors. [via Bibliophile Stalker]
  • @io9: The 20 Best (And 20 Worst) Pets In Science Fiction.
  • Boing Boing points us to a cool X-Men Universe Relationship Map
  • @AMC: 10 Dream Double Features Worthy of the Drive In. [via BBT Magazine]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 25, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

There's a great big world out there! So we decided to ask folks from all over about the sf/f scene in their own countries/languages. This week we've got answers from Israel, Greece, Cuba, Peru, Poland, Turkey, Spain and France... And we'll have more in the weeks to come! Many thanks to Paweł Dembowski for helping get us started on this.

But to answer the question properly - what are we missing out on - my own regret is that I don't get to read French steampunk!

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Posted by Karen Burnham at Wednesday June 24, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

A whole new slew of trailers comin'; at ya'...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 24, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Ensorcelled: "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain" by Jason Sanford.
• Issue 342 of Bewildering Stories is out with fiction and poetry by John Vieczorek, John Anker, B J Bourg, Yelena Dubrovin, Ronald E. Heinrich, Tom Sheehan, Ron Van Sweringen, John Stocks, Bill Bowler, and Mary B. McArdle.
• @Manybooks:
  • "Grove of the Unborn" by Lyn Venable (1957).
  • "The Hammer of Thor" by Charles Willard Diffin (1932).
  • "Happy Ending" by Fredric Brown and Dallas McCord Reynolds (1957).
  • "The Great Dome on Mercury" by Arthur Leo Zagat (1932).
  • "Arm of the Law" by Harry Harrison (1958).
• Audio Fiction:
  • LibriVox: Short Ghost and Horror Collection 003 featuring stories by H. G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, and others, read by many readers.
  • Maria Lectrix: Part two, the conclusion, of "Mad Music" by Anthony Pelcher, read by Maureen O'Brien.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Horrors of It All: "Terror Below!" and "Terror in Time"
  • Golden Age Comic Books: Four Color #421 starring Tom Corbet: Space Cadet.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 24, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @SFX: Chris Wooding (Retribution Falls).
  • @Tor.com: Ken Scholes (Lamentation).
  • At Bloggasm, Simon Owens interviews Tor.com editor Pablo Defendini and asks: Is Tor Books seeking to become the Amazon of science fiction and fantasy?


• Recent goodies from @Tor.com:
  • Jay Lake on Telling Stories With Character.
  • Jo Walton reviews Samuel Delany's Babel 17: "If Babel 17 were published now as a new book, I think it would strike us [a] great work that was doing wonderful things and expanding the boundaries of science fiction."


• James Maxey is giving away free copies of Dragonseed to people who donate to support breast cancer research: [via Eric James Stone]


• Farah Mendlesohn has a 4-part reveiw of The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction.


• Bibliophile Stalker tells us How the eBook industry is not like the music industry.


• The World in the Satin Bag looks at The Rules of Shelving Books.


• What do you get when you cross the pace of print journalism, the creativity of fiction, and the interactivity of web 2.0? A wovel -- a weekly serial with a vote button at the end of each installment. Read the first installment of Exit Vector at Underland Press.


• Lists:
  • @RottenTomatoes: The 50 Best Movie Robots.
  • Sci-Fi Fan Letter round up Firts-Time Authors to Watch For.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 24, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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

• The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham (Artist: Stephan Martiniere)


• Best American Fantasy 3 edited by Kevin Brockmeier and Matthew Cheney (Artist: John Coulthart)


• Winds of Dune by Kevin J. Anderson (Artist: Stephen Youll)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 23, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: This is an excellent story of the apocalypse.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The human species approaches extinction as the Earth's ocean levels rise with no end in sight.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Wonderfully bleak mood that intensifies as the book progresses.
CONS: The prevalence of technology during the decline of civilization occasionally took me out of the story.
BOTTOM LINE: The book evokes a memorably bleak mood that lingers between readings.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 23, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

SF Signal has 3 copies of Stargate: Atlantis Season 5 DVD Sets to give away to 3 lucky SF Signal readers.

Details to win, and an extensive list of the DVD set's Episodes and Special Features, follow the jump...

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 23, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's a short SciFi film by Gerard Lough in which an alien scans for a hidden craft that will take him home.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 23, 2009 at 12:13 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [thanks to the Hurculean efforts of QuasarDragon]

• @Strange Horizons: "Another End of the Empire" by Tim Pratt.
• @Book View Cafe: "Kaleidoscope" by Kate Daniel (1997).
• @Kat and Mouse: "Babysitting Blues" - Part One by Abner Senires.
• @Fantasy Magazine: "Woman in Abaya with Onion" by Ruth Nestvold.
• @Manybooks:
  • Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930, with stories by Murray Leinster, Sewell Peaslee Wright, Harl Vincent, and others.
  • "Mutineer" by Robert J. Shea (1959).
  • "G-r-r-r...!" by Roger Arcot (1957).
  • "It's All Yours" by Sam Merwin (1956).
• Audio Fiction:
  • @Transmissions from Beyond: "Toke" by Tim Akers, read by Seth Harwood,
  • @Maria Lectrix: Part 1 of "Mad Music" by Victor Pelcher, read by Maureen O'Brien.
  • @Relic Radio: part one of a two part radio adaptation of George Stewart's Earth Abides as done by Escape (1950).
• Art:
  • @Fantasy Ink: A small, but cool, Science Fiction art portfolio with B&W art by P. Craig Russell, Howard Chaykin, Walt Simonson, Paul Gulacy, and Al Williamson.
• @Graphic Fiction:
  • @Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "The Tentacles of Death"
  • @ Golden Age Comics: More SF comics (requires CBR image viewer)Planet Comics #71, Planet Comics #67, Planet Comics #39, Planet Comics #56, Planet Comics #41, Unusual Tales #8, and Unusual Tales #15.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 23, 2009 at 12:11 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Art:
  • Scott Altmann shows off a few samples of stupendous artwork over at Gorilla Artfare.
  • At Tor.com, Irene Gallo posts Concept art from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.


• Interviews and Profiles:
  • Missions Unknown interviews Damien Broderick.
  • Fantasy Magazine interviews Alethea Kontis. [via Apex Blog]
  • @The Wertzone: Kim Stanley Robinson.
  • Here's a podcast-interview with China Miéville, recorded at BookExpo America. [via the resourceful SFFaudio...have you visited them today?]


• Writing advice:
  • Over at Book View Cafe, Vonda N. McIntyre looks at The Pitfalls of Writing SF & Fantasy (Part 1).
  • David b. Coe: What We Bring to the Books We Read: The Writer and the Reader (Part 3).


• John Clute reviews Green by Jay Lake. A well-written review, but Clute is no Karen Burnham.


• Online review site Tangent relaunches. Much coolness. [via Kathryn Cramer]


• The Prime Books website gets a facelift.


• James Wallace Harris asks: Is manned spaceflight even on your radar? "And when was the last time you took off from school or work to spend the day watching television of a space mission?"


• StarWars.com honors The Women of Star Wars.


• Yet another gadget I want but don't need: Transformers USB Memory Stick. [via Lauren Davis]


• James at Big Dumb Object enumerates Jetse de Vries' list of Excuses For Not Writing Optimistic Science Fiction.


• In response to the Federal Trade Commission's plans to monitor blogs for false claims and failure to disclose conflicts of interest, Edward Champion clarifies his Editorial Policy: "And if the FTC or anybody else honestly believes that a book, worth perhaps a few dollars at best at the Strand, is going to corrupt my goddam opinion, I urge these c*********s to go f**k themselves at the earliest opportunity. I would sooner cut off my right arm than sell myself out for a pittance." [Asterisks mine.] What he said.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 23, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Guardian is reporting that science fiction author Alastair Reynolds has landed a scored an unprecedented 10-year, 10-book deal from Gollancz for his 'mean line in alien cultures and technology':

As banks struggle and businesses collapse, the science fiction writer Alastair Reynolds is making his own contribution to the flagging UK economy, signing an unprecedented ten-book deal with Gollancz worth £1m.

Reynolds, who has published eight novels with the Orion imprint Gollancz since his 2000 debut, Revelation Space, said he was "amazed and thrilled" to commit himself to the same publisher for the next decade. "It gives me a huge amount of security for the next ten years," he said, "and writers don't have a lot of security. Even at the best of times you're worrying about the next deadline, the next contract. To have that in place is fantastic for me."

He has always struggled to write when his future has been uncertain, he continued, so he's delighted to be able to start "thinking strategically ... not just thinking one book ahead, but 'where do I want to be in four books?'"

[via NextRead]

UPDATE: Guardian has an interview with Alastair Reynolds: "'I don't like a lot of what's published as hard SF,' he says. 'Much of it is rightwing, reactionary crap.' Hard SF's insistence on abiding by the laws of contemporary physics is more than just a straitjacket, he continues – it's also unrealistic." [via Cheryl’s Mewsings]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 22, 2009 at 12:59 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

The Houston science fiction convention ApolloCon is coming up this weekend, June 26-28, 2009.

This year's Guest of Honor is Wil McCarthy. Other headliners in include Pat Rawlings (Artist Guest of Honor), Amy McNally (Music Guest of Honor), Al Jackson (Fan Guest of Honor), and NASA Astronaut Stanley G. Love (Special Guest, Saturday Only).

Other folks in attendance include Paul Abell, Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Lillian Stewart Carl, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Bill Crider, Scott Cupp, Gail Dayton, Bradley Denton, Linda Donahue, Marianne Dyson, Rhonda Eudaly, Larry Friesen, Kimberly Frost, Bennie Grezlik, K. Hutson Price, Kandy Jarvis, Rocky Kelley, Julie Kenner, Alexis Glynn Latner, Julia S. Mandala, A. Lee Martinez, Joe McKinney, Nancy Jane Moore, Chris Nakashima-Brown, Cat Osborne, Lawrence Person, Rie Sheridan Rose, Patrice Sarath, Caroline Spector, Lee Thomas, Kathy Thornton & Derly Ramirez, II, Martha Wells and Mel. White.

Sadly, I won't be able to attend this year, but I've gone in the past and have had a wonderful time. If you're in the Houston area, stop by and check it out.

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

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of the magnificent QuasarDragon]

• @Manybooks:
  • "The Pygmy Planet" by Jack Williamson (1932).
  • "Foundling on Venus" by Dorothy De Courcy and John De Courcy (1954).
• @Space Westerns: "A Rage for Justice" by John Whalen.
• @Atomjack: "The Orrery Man" by Brant Danay.
• @Tower of Light:
  • "The Ethics of Blood Madness" by James R. Stratton.
  • "Give In" by Billy Wong.
  • "Blackened Tears" by Tommy B. Smith.
  • "It Never Helps" by Abby "Merc" Rustad.
  • "Upriver" by KJ Kabza.
  • "The Old Soldiers' Home" by Henry Brasater.
• Audio Fiction:
  • @Beam Me Up: Part one of "The Street that wasn't There" by Clifford D. Simak, read by Crystalwizard.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Horrors of It All: "House" and "The Horrible House!" (1954).
  • @Golden Age Comics: Four Color #400 starring Tom Corbett: Space Cadet and Captain Science #5.
  • @The Fabuleous Fifties: "The Tall Tale that Came to Life" and "They'll Never Take Me Alive!"

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 22, 2009 at 12:14 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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

SF Signal in conjunction with author Gail Z. Martin has 2 signed advance review copies of Gail's book The Blood King and 2 signed copies of Gail's book Dark Haven to be given away to 4 lucky readers:

Here's a brief description of the books:

The Blood King
The second installment of the Chronicles of the Necromancer. Outcast Prince Martris Drayke continues his quest to seek retribution and restore his father's honour. He must gather his allies and make a direct challenge to the armies of his brother, Jared. Meanwhile, Jared's mage seeks to raise the spirit of the Obsidian King, and creates an imbalance in the natural currents of magic. Tris must learn to use his powers as a Summoner to fight the forces of evil plaguing the Winter Kingdoms.

Dark Haven
The third installment of the Chronicles of the Necromancer. Matris Drayke, king of Margolan, is faced with the challenge to rebuild his shattered kingdom. With his wedding weeks away, Tris must address the trials and executions of those responsible for the atrocities against Margolan's people. Jonmarc Vahanian, the new Lord of Dark Haven, and one of Tris's allies, faces trouble with the Blood Council, where there is defiance against the prospect of a mortal lord. And beneath Dark Haven, the Flow, the vast river of power damaged when Arontala wrested the Soulcatcher from Dark Haven's foundation, is becoming unstable, threatening the balance of magic itself, and the future of the Winter Kingdoms.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 21, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Two reporters explore the remote theme park called Futureworld. This sequel to Westworld stars Peter Fonda, Blyther Danner, and Yul Brenner playing a robot. No, really!

[via The Classic Science Fiction Channel]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 21, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The contents of Black Static #11 (Cover art by David Gentry) have been posted:Stories

• "De Profundis" by Al Robertson
• "None Had Sharp Teeth" by Will McIntosh
• "The Likeness" by Lawrence Conquest
• "Served Cold" by Gary Couzens
• "Off With The Furies" by Daniel Kaysen
• "Red Ribbons" by Stephanie Burgis

• White Noise by Peter Tennant
• Interference by Christopher Fowler
• Electric Darkness by Stephen Volk
• Night's Plutonian Shore by Mike O'Driscoll
• Blood Spectrum by Tony Lee
• Case Notes by Peter Tennant

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 21, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Book View Cafe: "Cuckoo" by Madeleine Robins (1984).
• @Smashworlds: The Unsuspecting Mage: The Morcyth Saga Book One by Brian S. Pratt. [via Grasping for the Wind]
• @Manybooks:
  • "Houlihan's Equation" by Walter J. Sheldon (1955).
  • "The Hoofer" by Walter E. Miller (1955).
• Audio Fiction:
  • @Pseudopod: "Stepfathers" by Grady Hendrix, read by Nerraux.
  • @SFFaudio: A video of China Melville discussing "The Horror Of Red Hook" by H.P. Lovecraft and a Broken Sea Audio reading, by April Sadowski, of the story.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @Grantbridge Street & other misadventures: "Museum of Murder"
  • @Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Manphibian"
• Gaming: Retro/Old School gaming zine Footprints has its 15th issue available for free PDF download.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 21, 2009 at 12:09 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• The omnipresent John Joseph Adams profiles Jonathan Maberry, author of Patient Zero. (See also; SF Signal's interview with Jonathan Maberry).


• @io9, Samuel R. Delany answers reader questions.


• Fast Forward interviews Maria V. Snyder


• A tallying Nicholas Whyte wonders Who's written the most Doctor Who books?


• Attention Kindle owners: Did you know that there is a limit to the number of times you can download a book to your Kindle ? [via Cliff Pickover]


• Johnny Cat lists 5 Worthless Droids, probably the first list with which I completely agree. [via Neatorama]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 21, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• Time Slingers is a fee free online time travel adventure series updated twice a week.
• Afterburn SF: "The Battle of Ganymede" by Mark Laurence.
• @Manybooks:
  • "Operation Lorelie" by William P. Salton (1954).
  • "Acid Bath" by Vaseleos Garson (1952).
  • "The Mathematicians" by Arthur Feldman (1953).
• Audio Fiction:
  • @Maria Lectrix: Chapters Ten and Eleven, the conlusion, of "The Beetle Horde" by Victor Rousseau, read by Maureen O'Brien.
  • @Pseudopod: "Orifice" by John F.D. Taff, read by Kris Johnson.
  • @The Classic Tales Podcast: "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" Part 1 of 2, by H.P. Lovecraft, read by B. J. Harrison.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @Golden Age Comics: Planet Comics number two and number seventy (1953).
  • @The Fabeluleos Fifties: "The King of Nightmare Jungle."
  • @The Horrors of It All: "The Two Who Were Alone!" and "Joe" (1951).

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

SF Tidbits for 6/20/09
• Authors@Google hosts Robert J. Sawyer, author of WWW: Wake.


• The latest episode of the ever-entertaining Sofanauts includes guests Jeremy Tolbert, Damien G. Walter and Mary Robinette Kowal.


• Literary legend Ray Bradbury fights for a library. [via Scott McNulty]


• Why Jetse de Vries Can't Write a Near Future, Optimistic SF story.


• For the writers:
  • Dean Wesley Smith talks about Life After Agents, Part 1 and Part 2.
  • Michael A. Burstein continues his essay The Value of Our Work with Part 3 ("Free Options") and Part 4 ("Donations").


• EVENT: As part of the Fantastic Fiction free reading series, Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present a special Clarion West version of their reading series, featuring Samuel R. Delany, Jack Womack, Cat Rambo, Kris Dikeman and guest-hosted by Rajan Khanna. It happens Wednesday July 15, 2009, 7pm at KGB Bar in NYC.


• Ellen Datlow has posted photos from Stoker Award weekend.


• Marvel has posted a gallery of Marvel's Top 70 Covers Ever. [via Scott Edelman]


• Lots of genre films make the OMG Lists list of 8 Famous Film Villains who Died by Melting and Speckyboy's list of 24 Lego Stop Motion Films Mimicking Cool Movies Scenes. [via Look At This]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 20, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

[Editor's Note: This interview was conducted by Guest Blogger Lucien Spelman.]

I recently had the honor of interviewing Joe Abercrombie, my favorite new author of The Genre (The Genre being George R.R. Martinesque-dark-fantasy-hacking-off-of-heads-with-a-bit-of humor, intrigue, and-just-enough-magic-for-those-whose-loafers-might-feel-a-little-light-as-of-late-but-still-feel-they-need-a-bit-of-Conan-fiber-in-their-literary-diets-so-they-can-look-their-macho-D&D-playing-peers-in-the-eyes-type-of-fantasy). Having read prior interviews with him, all I could think is boring, boring, boring. Not him, the interviews. "Homage to the genre?" "Surprised by your success?" "Favorite pub?" (Alright, that one was pretty good, but still.) Puleeze...

Using my best journalistic instincts, I went straight for the questions his readers really have on their minds...

Yes, I have received a head wound. I will refer you to THIS blog post incidentally, my most commented upon of all time. Seems people love violence - who knew? And yes, as will be clear from the story, I am a delicate, whinging bag of mush. Most of us are, really...

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Posted by Lucien Spelman at Friday June 19, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

OK, so maybe I'm liking the new Tonight Show.

[via Show Me SciFi]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 19, 2009 at 12:16 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Warning: There will be man butt. Blue man butt, but man butt nonetheless.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 19, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Book View Cafe: "New Year" by Nancy Jane Moore.
• @At Project Gutenberg: "Equation of Doom" by Gerald Vance (1957).
• @Beneath Ceaseless Skies:
  • "The Mansion of Bones" by Richard Parks.
  • "Havoc" by A.C. Smart & Quinn Braver.
• @Manybooks:
  • "Keep Out" by Frederic Brown (1954)
  • "No Pets Allowed" by Monette A. Cummings (1957).
• Audio Fiction:
  • @Escape Pod: "The Fifth Zhi" by Mercurio D. Rivera Read by Steve Eley.
  • @Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Haxan" by Kenneth Mark Hoover.
• Art:
  • @Magic Carpet Burn: A cool gallery of 8mm Japanese Monster Movie Boxes.
  • Horror and Fantasy art galleries by artist Billy Tackett are available online in both color and B&W galleries.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Bronze Age of Blogs: A pair of Wally Wood classics "Of Swords and Sorcery" and "The Misfits."
  • @RPGNow: A preview comic of the Darwin's World novel Burning Lands by Dominic Covey. (Free membership required)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 19, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

From the Tor files, Brandon Sanderson talks about standalone novel, Warbreaker.

Pay attention to the end of the video where Brandon dropsa hint of his next solo project.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 19, 2009 at 12:10 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @Fantasy Book Critic: Mark Chadbourn, author of Age of Misrule.
  • @At Tachyon, Michael Moorcock answers Boing Boing reader questions.
  • @Enter the Octopus: Alexander C. Irvine (Buyout).
  • @The Prague Post: Iain Banks (Transition).
  • @Talking with Tim: Kevin J. Anderson.
  • @SciFiDimensions: Kevin J. Anderson again!
  • The latest Agony Column Podcasts feature:
    • Michael Boatman (The Revenant Road)
    • Jeff VanderMeer at Shared Worlds, the Speculative Fiction Camp for Teens.


• Two for the writers:
  • Nancy Kress on Discipline.
  • Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Freelancer's Survival Guide: Money (Part 2)


• Cory Doctorow's awesome book, Little Brother, has been optioned for film to Don Murphy (Natural Born Killers).


• Jason Sanford announces the winners of the Million Writers Award.


• Tor.com announces the opening of the Tor.com Store.


• Author Gail Z. Martin is launching her 2009 Hawthorn Moon promotion. We'll be participating in the form of a giveaway. Watch for it in the next few days.


• Check out this awesome photography gallery by Kyle Cassidy of SF/F Authors and Where They Write. [via Patrick Hester]


• A long time ago, in a magazine far away...Fantastic Flashbacks posts a scan of a 1977 Time magazine Star Wars article. [via Science Fiction Brewed Fresh Daily]


• Posthuman Blues point us to this massive gallery of Women in Tubes, mostly from the covers of pulp sf. Natch! [via Gerry Canavan]


• John Anealio has posted a new Sci-Fi Songs Podcast. Learn the story behind "Cylon #6".


• Scifi.co.uk. has developed a game (based on Adobe Air) called Desktop Blaster which converts your computer desktop into a game of Asteroids.


• Lists:
  • @AMC: Mary Robinette Kowal lists Ten Fantasy Fathers Who Really Do Know Best.
  • @bloginhood: Top 10 Dads of SF. JP will love #1.
  • @Scifi Watch: 5 Movies About Writers that Inspire Me to Write.
  • @SF Universe: Torchwood Fun Facts.
  • Lots of genre films on Unreality's list of 10 Most Polarizing Movies of the Last Decade.
  • Patrick at Stomping on Yeti lists Notable works of Theopunk. Add to his list!
  • @Obsessed With Film: 50 reasons why Ghostbusters might be the greatest film of all Time. Ray Parker Jr's Theme Song? Really?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 19, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's the first 12-minutes of Ron Moore's Virtuality, a new sci-fi thriller that "raises fascinating questions about the lines (or lack thereof) between reality and virtual reality":

Extra: See cast members answer the question: What 3 things would you bring into space with you?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 18, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

I assume that if you have any connection with the internet world and its culture (and I have not entirely decided if this is "culture" like a group of people and their shared common experiences, knowledge, and rituals or "culture" like bacteria samples; it depends on how close I've been to Craigslist that day) then you probably have heard about the Amazon Kindle e-book reader. You cannot visit Amazon.com without them assuring you that the Kindle is perfect for everything, which can be perplexing if, like me, you primarily use Amazon.com to purchase loose leaf tea.

And you have probably also heard of their competitors, things like the Sony eBook Reader, which is slim and brushed metal and has the advantage over Amazon of actually being carried in real-world stores where people go. My local Target has one on display, which you can fiddle with and realize how little desire you have to read Marley & Me in any form, let alone eBook.

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Posted by Peter Damien at Thursday June 18, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The Hachette Book Group is making The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers available for free reading online.

From the book's description:

Avery Cates is a very rich man. He's probably the richest criminal in New York City. But right now, Avery Cates is pissed. Because everyone around him has just started to die - in a particularly gruesome way. With every moment bringing the human race closer to extinction, Cates finds himself in the role of both executioner and savior of the entire world.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 18, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Manybooks: "The Doorway" by Evelyn E. Smith (from Fantastic Universe, September 1955).
• @Big Pulp: "Tin Man" by K.C. Ball.
• @Book View Cafe: "Defender of the Faith" by Judith Tarr (1985).
• Issue 341 of Bewildering Stories features fiction and Poetry by Autumn Canter, Jennifer Stakes, Bill Bowler, Bob Brill, Bertrand Cayzac, Ashutosh Ghildiyal, Cleveland W. Gibson, Will Gray, Francine Schwartz, Gabriel Timar, John Vieczorek, and Lewayne L. White .
• Audio Fiction:
  • @StarShipSofa: "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Diplomat" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.
• Art:
  • @Wizards of the Coast: "Kingdom of the Ghouls" art gallery.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @Golden Age Comics: Jungle Comics #116.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 18, 2009 at 12:14 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The finalists for the ASFA Chesley Award, awarded to recognize achievements in the SF and Fantasy art community, have been announced:

(Do check out the above link for images of these outstanding pieces of art.)

Best Cover Illustration: Hardback Book

• Dan Dos Santos: Stalking the Vampire: A Fable of Tonight by Mike Resnick (Pyr, August 2008)
• Scott Fischer: An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe (Tor, September 2008)
• Donato Giancola: A Book of Wizards edited by Marvin Kaye (SFBC, April 2008)
• Stephen Hickman: Ghost Quartet edited by Marvin Kaye (Tor, September 2008)
• Todd Lockwood: Quofum by Alan Dean Foster (Del Rey, October 2008)
• Stephan Martiniere: The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick (Tor, January 2008)
• John Picacio: Viewpoints Critical: Selected Stories by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (Tor, March 2008)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 18, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Author Gail Z. Martin podcast-interviews Mur Lafferty (Playing for Keeps) and Mark Charan Newton (Nights in Villjamur).


• At A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, J.A. Konrath asks: Should E-Books Be Cheap? "The rules of supply and demand don't work in a digital world, because the supply is unlimited. You don't fight piracy with weapons. You fight piracy with cost and convenience."


• USA Today: Book publishers make a move toward mobile to attract teens.


• To celebrate the release of Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's ebook "Laldasa: Beloved Slave," BookViewCafe.com (BVC) will be holding its 3rd twitter fic contest from June 17 through June 19


• Over at SFX, Stuart Hall discusses The Joy Of Second-Hand Bookshops.


• Paul Di Filippo reviews Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson.


• At AMC, John Scalzi rates SciFi's Movie Fathers.


• Lists:
  • @Galactic Binder: Top 10 Stormtrooper Crossovers. [via Cinematical]
  • Angela Slatter lists A Few Reasons to Love Nancy Kress.
  • One for the writers of children's books: The 8 Rules of Rejections. [via Ripping Ozzie Reads]
  • @SciFi Wire: Top 10 reasons why Star Trek is suddenly cool.
  • Are your favorite SciFi films on Kottke's list of 50 Films You Can Wait to See Until You're Dead. [via Neatorama]
  • @Omnivoracious: China Miéville lists 5 Literary Movements To Watch Out For.
  • At The Guardian: Science Fiction Properties That Should Be Adapted For the Screen.
  • @Film Roster: 7 Reasons Arnold Schwarzenegger Must Return to Film. Any rebuttals?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Thursday June 18, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was widely anticipated by Indy fans everywhere. Who wouldn't want to see the continuing adventures of Dr. Jones and his friends? So it's no surprise that the actual movie failed to live up to the hype, being a by-the-numbers Indy film closer to Temple of Doom than to the other films. Even for an Indy adventure there were several wildly improbable events that occurred (refrigerator vs. nuke for instance) and the character moments seemed like the writers were aping the originals, not capturing the essence. Still, the movie raked in over $700 billion worldwide so it shouldn't come as a surprise that another movie would be in the works.

Which is exactly what 'star' Shia LeBeouf is hinting at when he says that Speilberg has 'cracked the story' for film #5.

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 2:44 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Once again, in conjunction with the Shared Worlds creative writing program, we turn the spotlight of this week's Mind Meld on world building, and asked this week's panelists:

Here's what they said:

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 12:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's an imaginative short film called Civilization from Marco Brambilla.

[via Candlelight Stories]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 12:13 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Subterranean Press: "Mother Scorpion's House of Fallen Flowers: A Lucifer Jones Story" by Mike Resnick.
• @Planet Magazine: "The Man in the Cowboy Hat" by Jude Coulter-Pultz.
• The latest issue of OG's Speculative Fiction has fiction and poetry Ben Farthing, Bruce Golden, Adrian Simmons, Greg Schwartz, Diane Gallant, Paula Stiles, Suzanne Sykora, and G.O. Clark.
• Everyday Weirdness: "Alone With Him" by Erica Naone.
• @Manybooks:
  • "Shipwreck in the Sky" by Eando Binder (1954).
  • "The Gun" by Philip K. Dick (1952).
  • "With The Night Mail: A Story of 2000 A.D." by Rudyard Kipling (1909).

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 12:12 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• You may not have heard of the new web series called The Cabonauts, but I'm sure you've heard of Erin Gray (shiny bodysuit wearing Wilma Deering from the NBC series Buck Rogers). Gray has signed on to the web project as its casting director.
• Masi Oka is a talented and lucky guy: Brown graduate, ILM alum and now Hiro Nakamura on Heroes. Oka has just landed a deal with Dreamworks who have purchased the rights to his MMORPG themed movie, The Defenders. The movie involves a group of teenagers, friends inside a fantasy game world, who meet and become heroes in real life. Rumor also has it Oka is looking to leave Heroes but NBC does not want him to leave.
• Sad news Primeval fans, ITV has canceled the show after only three seasons. Looks like ITV wants to concentrate on more adult oriented dramas instead of ones with dinos and prehistoric monsters. Pity.
• Over a year ago it was announced that Leonardo DiCaprio's company Appian Way and Warner Bros. were working on a live-action adaptation of the anime classic Akira. The bad news (or is it, considering how Hollywood ruins things?) now is the adaptation is dead dead dead. No reason given in the article, but this wouldn't have been cheap to make and there isn't a large built0in audience for it either.
• Fox recently announced premiere dates for its two SF shows. Fringe will air on Thursdays at 9pm (ET) starting Sept. 17th and Dollhouse will air on Fridays at 9pm (ET) starting Sept. 18th.
• Is the new ABC mini-series Impact (starts June 22, set your DVRs) going to be any good at all? According to the Bad Astronomey, Phil Plait, the science is horribly, terribly bad, which is to be expected. And with no Sean Connery, Natalie or even Karl Malden (hell I'd settle for Bruce Willis and Michael Bay) I don't see this being a bit hit. But, see the trailer for yourself:
  
  

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Posted by JP Frantz at Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• The Always-awesome Cover Browser website has been update with new galleries of Stephen King Book Covers, X-Men Book Covers, Doctor Who Book Covers, and Isaac Asimov Book Covers.


• Adam Paquette shows off his awesome, step-by-step artwork done for Wizards of the Coast.


• At Reading and Writing podcast, Jeff Rutherford interviews Joe R. Lansdale.


• Here's a mini-report from Black Library Day.


• Michael A. Burstein continues his essay on The Value of An Artist's Work.


• Mike Brotherton On Science Fiction and Novelty Seeking: "One of the reasons I love science fiction is that, frankly, I am easily bored and depressed by normal everyday life."


• Jeff Somers loves him some bad books: "Let's contemplate the horror of Xanth books..."


• Meet Heather Massey...C.J. Cherryh fangirl


• @The Guardian: "If you measure the health of literature by its impact on language, then there's no genre in better condition than SF."


• The Dragon Page's Cover to Cover podcast talks about Becoming a New Author.


• Talebones, the monthly magazine, is closing up shop. Rising from the ashes: Talebones the annual anthology. [via Vera Nazarian]


• Stephen King's and Peter Straub's The Talisman comes to the comics.


• Captain America is not a zombie, but he is coming back from the dead. [via SciFi Scanner]


• Here's a cool Futuristic Movie Timeline. [via Popped Culture]


• One of the things I always loved about Star Wars was the landscapes and architectures. That's why I like Architects Journal's list of The architecture of Star Wars (Part 1).


• Graham Sleight lists The 12 Best Theodore Sturgeon Stories.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

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

• Project ULF: Acquisition by Stuart Clark (Artist: Henning Ludvigsen; Designer: Stuart Clark)


• Last Drink Bird Head edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer (Artist: Scott Eagle; cover design by Jacob McMurray)


• WWW: Watch by Robert J. Sawyer (Artist: Tony Mauro; Design by Rita Frangie)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: An ultimately satisfying story, though it's somewhat burdened by the limitations of the graphic novel format.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: PI/Wizard Harry Dresden tries to solve a double murder and missing person case.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Interesting premise; Harry's a likable character; nice illustrations.
CONS: The story felt too rushed, usually at the expense of world-building and characterization.
BOTTOM LINE: My interest is piqued; I want to see what happens next.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Manybooks: "The Terror from the Depths" by Sewell Peaslee Wright (1931).
• @Kat and Mouse: Easy Money by Abner Senires is now complete.
• @Hub: "Storm Chaser" by Craig Pirrell.
• @Strange Horizons: "Second-Hand Information" by Jennifer Linnaea.
• @Fantasy Magazine: "Superhero Girl" by Jessica Lee.
• @Book View Cafe: "The Bandido of Pozoseco" by Kate Daniel (1997).
• Audio Fiction:
  • @PodCastle: "In Ashes" by Helen Keeble, read by Marie Brennan.
  • @Escape Pod: "Tired" by Michael Bishop, read by John Meagher.
  • @Maria Lectrix: Chapters Eight and Nine of "The Beetle Horde" by Victor Rousseau, read by Maureen O'Brien.
  • @Cthulhu: "Captain Dice and the Isle of Twisted Stone" by Michael Panush.
• Video @The Internet Archive:
  • Men into Space - Episode 14 - "Tankers in Space" (1960)
  • Men into Space - Episode 15 - "Sea of Stars" (1960)
  • Men into Space - Episode 16 - "A Handful of Hours" (1960)
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Demon of Destruction" with art by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta (1951).
  • @Grantbridge Street & other misadventures: "The Muck Monster" with art by Berni Wrightson.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @BSC: Alan Dean Foster (Flinx Transcendent).
  • @Bibliophile Stalker: Paul Witcover (Everland and Other Stories).
  • This week, Studio 360 interviews Duncan Jones, director of Moon.
  • @Tor.com: Remembering Stan Winston.


• EVENT: The World Horror Society has named Austin, Texas, as the location for the 2011 World Horror Convention. The international gathering of horror's brightest talents and their fans will take place from April 28 through May 1, 2011.


• Michael A. Burstein on writing for free: "Google released a statement in which they said that while they don't usually offer money for the use of the art in the browser, they feel that they would be giving the artists an opportunity to display their work in front of millions of people. In other words, no money, but think of the exposure! How I have come to hate that word."


• Cory Doctorow's novel Little Brother lands on the stage.


• Fantasy author Gail Z. Martin previews the newest book in The Chronicles of the Necromancer adventure series on June 19...one sentence at a time via Twitter.


• Plaigurus MakeMoneyus! Harry Potter publisher denies plagiarism claim. You know, I thought that the scene with Harry & Hermione horseback rising down the beach and finding the Status of Liberty looked familiar! [via Jason Sanford]


• @Pink Tentacle: Alien squid vs. giant robots in tourism videos.


• @Super Punch: Monster and robot-filled concert posters


• @Pyr-o-mania: Pyr Books arrives on the Kindle


• Angry Robot Books signs 3 new authors.


• Neatorama lists 8 Starship Enterprise Facts Every Trekker Should Know.


• At Omnivoracious, China Miéville lists 5 Reasons Tolkien Rocks

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Posted by John DeNardo at Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

I've got a new post up at AMC TV's Future of Classic blog to coincide with the release of the new Duncan Jones film, Moon. Head on over and check out my list of 7 Iconic Shots of the Moon in the Movies and leave a comment there, if you'd like.

A Peek Behind the Curtain
For those wondering about the process of guest-blogging, here's something you may not know: Editors take your copy and correct the errors, trim the fat and generally spice it up. It's always for the better -- two sets of eyes are better than one, and all that -- but it does make for some interesting results. For example, in no way do I personally think that Will Smith looks "fetching" in a tank top. I'm just sayin'... :)

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 15, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Check out Batman: New Times, a student-made film based on Mini-Mates (Sorry, Jeff!) featuring the voice talents of Mark Hamill, Adam West and Courtney Thorne-Smith. And is that Dick Van Dyke as Commissioner Gordon?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 15, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Book View Cafe: The Moon and the Sun by Vonda N. McIntyre (1998).
• @Munseys: The Saracen: The Holy War by Robert Shea (1989).
• @AtomJack: "8 Minutes" by Caleb Jordan Schulz.
• Audio Fiction:
  • @Audible.com: "Chivalry" by Neil Gaiman.
  • @Beam Me Up: "What Else But War" by Shaun A. Saunders and "Maquech" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, read by Paul Cole.
  • @Fear on Demand: "Good Kids" by Sidney Williams.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @Grantbridge Street & other misadventures: The comic book adaptation of the classic sword and sandals epic film Spartacus.
  • @Fortress of Fortitude: "Storm Curtis of the U.S. Coast Guard."

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 15, 2009 at 12:14 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The Horror Writers Association announced the winners of the 2008 Bram Stoker Awards (awarded in 2009 for works released in 2008). They are:

• SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL: Duma Key by Stephen King (Scribner)
• SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A FIRST NOVEL: The gentling Box by Lisa Mannetti (Dark Hart Press)
• SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN LONG FICTION: Miranda by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
• SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SHORT FICTION: "The Lost" by Sarah Langan (Cemetery Dance Publications)
• SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ANTHOLOGY: Unspeakable Horror, edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder (Dark Scribe Press)
• SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A COLLECTION: Just After Sunset by Stephen King (Scribner)
• SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN NONFICTION: A Hallowe'en Anthology by Lisa Morton (McFarland)
• SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A POETRY COLLECTION: The Nightmare Collection by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)

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

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

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Actu SF interviews Matthew Hughes (Hespira).
  • Night Shade Books interviews Mark Teppo, author of Lightbreaker.
  • Michio Kaku tells Alok Jha that the science fiction of Star Trek is closer to reality than we think.
  • Odyssey Workshop interviews Melissa Scott.


• Sue Lange looks at Lions and Women Writers of Science Fiction: "Everyone knows that most book readers are women."


• Jo Walton's favorite bad book is Robert Heinlein's Friday.


• They say you learn something new every day. Today I learned that Harlan Ellison collaborated with Frank Miller on a Heroes For Hope comic, starring The X-Men, back in 1985. [via Forbidden Planet International]


• Suite101 gears up newbies with this Introduction to Steampunk.


• io9 lists 20 Marvel Heroes Who Deserve A Movie.


• "Dear Pixar, Please make a movie about a girl who is not a princess." [via Jed Hartman]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday June 15, 2009 at 12:05 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

REVIEW SUMMARY: Extremely funny offering by Pratchett, a true standout in a long series of quality books.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Rescued from the gallows by the Prince, Moist von Lipwig finds himself sentenced to running the postal service (which is only slightly better than being hanged.) The postal service has degenerated into nothing - no letters are delivered and the building is filled with literally mounds of undelivered mail. Mail has been replaced by the clacks, a series of signal towers that can move messages quickly over hundreds of miles. Who is going to pay to have a letter delivered in days when a they can send a message in hours? And what to do about all these stamps that keep getting misprinted?

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Best use of language in a book I've read this year.
CONS: Too short, I wanted it to keep going.
BOTTOM LINE: Very well worth reading, and a great book to start with if you haven't read Pratchett before.

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Posted by Scott Shaffer at Sunday June 14, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

An interesting discussion over at Mobile Read discussing the influence of literary awards have on reading behavior has me wondering the same thing about sf/f readers in particular:

Q: Do literary awards affect your reading choices?

For me, I'd say no. I have a hit-and-miss track record with award winning novels and stories. Thus I tend to just read whatever suits my appetite, which may or may not be an award winner. That said, I do have a super-secret desire to read through all the Hugo/Nebula winning pieces of short fiction.

How about you?

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 14, 2009 at 12:20 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• @Book View Cafe: "Nimuë's Tale" by Madeleine E. Robins (1988).
• Author Ilona Andrews has her short story "Questing Beast" online (2005). [via Free SF Reader]
• @RevolutionSF: "An Irdish Tale" by Jessica Reisman.
• @Afterburn SF: "Boots" by C. L. Rossman.
• @The Town Drunk: "The Bastard Saga" by Abby Rustad.
• Aphelion has its 133rd issue out with fiction by, Noel Carroll, Andy Echevarria, Ben Cooper, E. S. Strout, Dave Weaver, Richard Tornello, Lee Gimenez, Chris Sharp, Kristen Lee Knapp, Dan Edelman, N. J. Kailhofer, and Stuart Plotkin.
• NewMyths.com has its June issue out with fiction, and poetry by Owen Kerr, Bob Sojka, Brandon Nolta, Lydia Ondrusek, Jason Heller, Marge Simon, and Joshua Gage.
• Audio Fiction:
  • @LibriVox: Starman's Quest by Robert Silverberg, read by Dawn Larsen.
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Horrors of It All: "I Die Too Often" (1953).
  • @Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Cavern of the Doomed" and "The Spell of the Black Gloves"
  • @Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "The Monster!" and "...And Fear Shall Follow!"

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 14, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

The table of contents for Weird Tales #353 has been posted:

FICTION

• "Weiroot" by Jeffrey Ford
• "The Garbacologist" by Jeff Johnson
• "Headstone in My Pocket" by Paul G. Tremblay
• "Bruise for Bruise" by Robert Davies
• "Court Scranto" by Caleb Wilson
• "Selected Views of Mt. Fuji, With Dinosaurs" by Hunter Eden

FEATURES

• Thomas Ligotti: The Weird Tales Interview
• Richard Corben: Drawing Upon the Masters

DEPARTMENTS

• Weirdism | J.G. Ballard: the most mindblowing drug
• The Bazaar | steampunk art sorceress Bethalynne Bajema
• The Library | Tanith Lee, Catherynne Valente, and Jedediah Berry
• Lost In Lovecraft | a literary journey with Kenneth Hite

Cover illustration by Saara Salmi

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Posted by John DeNardo at Sunday June 14, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Here's another episode (the series premiere episode) of Land of the Giants, a show I used to watch in my youth but now just looks like a bunch of actors hiding behind giant props.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 13, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]:

• via Free Speculative Fiction Online:
  • Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff: "The Resident" (Jim Baen's Universe Vol. 4 No. 1, June 2009)
  • David Brin: "Gorilla My Dreams" (Jim Baen's Universe Vol. 4 No. 1, June 2009)
  • Jay Lake: "Leopard" (Jim Baen's Universe Vol. 4 No. 1, June 2009)
  • Nick Mamatas: "And Then, And Then, And Then..." (Innsmouth Free Press, Summer 2009)
  • Bud Sparhawk: "Winds of Mars" (Jim Baen's Universe Vol. 4 No. 1, June 2009)
• @Roberson's Interminable Ramble: "Annus Mirabilis" by Chris Roberson.
• The latest issue of The Lorelei Signal has online fantasy fiction and poetry by N.C. Whitehead, Charles Kyffhausen, Elizabeth Barrette, Darla J. Bowen, Barbara Davies, DM Kraft, Elizabeth Creith, Dawn Allison, Sarah Wagner, and Victoria Sonata.
• Macabre Cadaver has its eighth issue of horror fiction ready for PDF download with stories by Adam Blomquist, Lee Gimenez, Alan Kelly, Paul Piot, David Bernstein, Ted McAuley, David Misialowski, Jeffrey Conolly, and R. S. Pyne.
• @Dante's Heart:
  • "Fourteen Pieces" by Catherine Knutsson.
  • "The Fiddler" by Caitlyn Paxson.
• @Labyrinth Inhabitant Magazine:
  • "Angel Dust" by Jaine Fenn.
  • "Micronations; or, How We Became the Mole People" by Timothy Mudie.
  • "Norma and the Fiddler of Gurg" by T. M. Crone.
• @Audio Fiction:
  • @Pseudopod: "The Button Bin" by Mike Allen, read by Wilson Fowlie.
  • @EscapePod: "The Legend of St. Ignatz" by Samantha Henderson, read by Ray Sizemore.
  • @PodCastle: "The Sad tale of the Tearless Onion" by Ann Leckie. read by C. G. Furst.
  • @Dunesteef: "Love Bites" by Gregory Clifford.
  • @Classic Tales Podcast: "Battle of the Witchdoctors" and other tales, by H. Rider Haggard and others, read by B. J. Harrison.
• Video @The Internet Archive: :
  • Men into Space - Episode 13 - "Quarantine" (1959)
• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Fabuleous Fifties:"My Brother the Ghoul" from "The Burning Truth."
  • @Golden Age Comics: Captain Science issues three and six.
  • @Crosseyed Cyclops: Monster Hunters issues #1-5.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 13, 2009 at 12:22 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Oh noes! Leonard Nimoy warns us of the terror of Y2K!

Elevators may stop, Leonard? I don't think so.

[via Cynical-C]

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 13, 2009 at 12:15 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Recent Geekerati Radio podcasts feature Gary Wolf and John J. Myers (Space Vulture) and Rob Rogers (Devil's Cape).
  • SciFiDimensions podcast interviews Kevin J. Anderson.
  • The latest episode of Sofanauts features JJ Campanella, Luke Burrage, and Jeremy Tolbert (the Charles Nelson Reilly of Sofanauts!)


• Yesterday's Best Artist Hugo nominee sample at Tor.com: this free wallpaper from Bob Eggleton.


• How Charlie Stross ended up as a science fiction writer [via Futurismic]


• L.E. Modesitt, Jr. offers his 2 pennies on positive science fiction.


• The website of Forbidden Planet gets a facelift. Love that Two Face Figure on the front page.


• Torchwood has succumbed to the story arc craze. And this is a bad thing?


• Hugo Weaving will appear in The Hobbit. Does everyone else keep picturing Elrond in his black Matrix suit saying "MIS-ter Baggins..."?


• Lists:
  • @SFX: The Best SF Cliffhangers.
  • @Listverse: Top 10 Survival Tips For People In Horror Flicks.
  • @io9: 50 Scifi Movie Intro Voiceovers.
  • @SpoutBlog: 10 Unhappy Astronauts in Movies.
  • @SciFi Scanner: Mary Robinette Kowal lists Fantasy Beefcake.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Saturday June 13, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Dark Void is a new science fiction action game with the retro feel that let's us fly around with your own personal jetpack! How cool is that? So cool it's one of my science fiction games to look forward to in 2009.

But just as cool is that composer Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica) wrote the soundtrack for the game (which will be receiving its own CD release) and tomorrow night McCreary will be performing a concert cover "The Music of Battestar Galactica" at the California Plaza in Los Angeles. Despite my issues with the show, the music was always good and hearing it live would rock. If you're in Los Angeles, you can win two VIP tickets by visiting the Dark Void community and sending in your entry. But hurry, they want to pick one today!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday June 12, 2009 at 12:48 PM
© 2009 SF Signal

Yoon Ha Lee wasn't able to join us for the Mind Meld on Wednesday, but has still dropped in to help us answer the question:

Q: What recommendations would you give this Golden Age SF reader to introduce them to what more modern sf/f literature has to offer?

Here's Yoon Ha Lee's response...

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Posted by Karen Burnham at Friday June 12, 2009 at 11:29 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

I think we're all pretty familiar with the epic poem Beowulf. It's been liberally mined for centuries and science fiction has no problem using the ideas, characters and even the story line for it's own purposes. But have you ever actually heard the poem? You know, the way it used to be told before there were such things as 'paper' or 'books' or even this 'internet' thing. Way back before all those things, stories were memorized and story tellers would recite, from memory, the story in front of legions of enthralled listeners. Okay, maybe some of you have. But have you heard it in the original Old English?

Benjamin Bagby has been performing Beowulf for many years, reciting it live, on stage, in it's original tongue and accompanying himself on an Anglo-Saxon harp. Here are the opening lines:

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday June 12, 2009 at 11:28 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

Listen Up, a Canadian religion news show, recently featured several science fiction notables in their episode on science fiction, including Robert J. Sawyer, Debbie Gaudet, Bob Wilson, Mark Askwith, Gabriel McKee, John C. Wright, and Dr. Peter Kazmaier. Here's a snippet:

See also: Parts two, three and four.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Friday June 12, 2009 at 12:25 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

NSFW for language. Bonus points for snark and gore.

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

Free Fiction and Stuff [courtesy of QuasarDragon]

• Graphic Fiction:
  • @The Horrors of It All: "Stay Away!" and "Roll Call" (1952).
  • @Golden Age Comics: Jumbo Comics #151 featuring Sheena and The Hawk.
• @Tor.com: "The City Quiet as Death" Steven Utley and Michael Bishop.
• @Book View Cafe: "Thank God for the Road" by Nancy Jane Moore.
• @Planet Magazine: "Three Gold Pieces" by Brock L. Noel.
• The latest issue of Crossed Genres has new stories by Phoebe Matthews, Nathan Crowder,Jessica Reisman, C.B. Calsing, and Hereward Proops.
• EMG-Zine has its spider-themed June issue out featuring short fiction and poetry by Sarah Cuypers, Michael A. Kechula, and Vonnie Winslow Crist.
• Audio Fiction:
  • @PodCastle: "Shard of Glass" by Alaya Dawn Johnson, read by N. K. Jemisin.
  • @Well Told Tales: "Eee" by Jonathan C. Gillespie, read by Eleiece Krawiec.
  • @Fantasy & Folktales: "The Goblin and the Woman" by Hans Christian Andersen.
• Video @The Internet Archive:
  • Men into Space - Episode 11 - "First Woman on the Moon" (1959)
  • Men into Space - Episode 12 - "Christmas on the Moon" (1959)
• Art:
  • @Golden Age Comic Book Stories: A large gallery of illustrations for stories by Otis Adelbert Kline, a writer who often wrote in the same vein as Edgar Rice Burroughs.

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

• Nancy Jane Moore of the Book View Cafe blog says she didn't like the new Star Trek movie because it basically brought nothing new to the table. A couple thoughts: wanting the new Trek to be a 'blow them all up and let God sort them out' with hard to tell good guys and bad guys goes against Roddenberry's original idea of an optimistic future (not that <SPOILER!>the genocide of Vulcan doesn't smack that idea in the face). Second, we can hope all the cool new SF-nal ideas will be brought out in the next movies while the first was a vehicle to attract the masses without scaring them.
• Ron Moore updates Sci Fi Wire on Caprica and thinks that most Galactica fans feel like "we did justice to the show by the end." Just don't tell that Chris Roberson fella!
• You'd think that Fox declining to pick up your new series would pretty much mean the end of things. Not if you're Ron Moore though who explains why he thinks a Virtuality series is still possible. He's hanging is hat on the idea that Fox has apparently never officially said "It's over!" and the hope that good reviews and ratings will change Fox's mind. Good luck with that.
• Paul Gross (the Mountie from Due South if you remember that show, I do) has signed on to play an important role in the new Witches of Eastwick series. Hmm, could it be....Satan! Why yes, yes it could.
• Still at least 6 months to go until LOST returns for its final series. Matthew Fox recently gave an press conference at the Television Festival where he touched on the last season and what would happen. Of the very end he says it's moving, redemptive, sad and awesome. But I ask you, what can be more awesome than SF Signal's version of how LOST will end?
  
  
  
  Now that's how you end a series!

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Posted by JP Frantz at Friday June 12, 2009 at 12:08 AM
© 2009 SF Signal

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • John Joseph Adams profiles Eric Garcia and his book, The Repossession Mambo. For what its worth, this was one of my best reads this year. Here's why.
  • @Whatever: Jay Lake, author of Green, out this week. (Read the SF Signal review.)
  • Pyr-o-Mania profiles its new author, Jon Sprunk.
  • @OmniVoarcious: Editor-Consultant Juliet Ulman. [via Jeff VanderMeer]


• Yesterday's Best Artist Hugo nominee sample at Tor.com: this free wallpaper from Shaun Tan.


• Kristine Kathryn Rusch continues her series of writing posts with this useful post: Freelancer's Survival Guide: Money, Part 1.


• The Boston Globe's Peter Bebergal on The Best of Gene Wolfe: "Science fiction has come to mean so many things, that Wolfe's collection of his best stories gives us an opportunity to firmly declare that the separation of science fiction from "literary fiction," has blurred so much, we may as well admit that none of these terms can accurately describe the workings of a hyper-charged imagination."


• Simon & Schuster will sell eBooks on Scribd.com.


• Sci fi Wire knows why Mark Millar is so involved in the movie of his Kick-Ass comic.


• The zombie comic series Deadworld is being adpated to film.


• Speaking of the undead, at io9, A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology.


• John Scalzi's Teaches Math: SNL Actors + SciFi Movies = Box Office Death.


• Esquire says "The Road Is the Most Important Movie of the Year". [via Katy Budget Books]


• The Chicago Tribune has a gallery speculating what would happen If robots ruled the world.


• Lists:
  • @Topless Robot: The 10 Least Necessary Doctor Who Figures.
  • @io9: The 10 Best Science Fiction Score Composers.
  • Over at Tor.com, Lou Anders lists 7 reasons why the Duncan Jones film Moon will rock.

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

Here are two (count 'em) awesome covers from MonkeyBrain Books.

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

• Two Hawks From Earth by Philip José Farmer (Artist: Lee Moyer)


• Death of a Starship by Jay Lake (Artist: Tony Shasteen)

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