A science fiction blog featuring science fiction book reviews and with frequent ramblings on fantasy, computers and the web.
In episode 36 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester & John DeNardo sit down to chat with prolific science fiction & fantasy author Paul Di Filippo!
In episode 35 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester asks the panel of irregulars:
Q: Are the works of Robert Heinlein relevant for science fiction fans and authors today? Are his works dated? Is he simply a relic from a bygone era best left on the shelf collecting dust?
If you’re like me, you are looking forward to Zach Snyder’s Sucker Punch.
Well, someone was so excited by the trailer, they created a new animated short inspired by the world Snyder has built for the movie.
It’s a creepy/cool bit of animation and I wanted to share:
In episode 34 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester, Jeff Patterson & John DeNardo sit down to chat with Hugo award winning author Kristine Kathryn Rusch!
In episode 33 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester asks the panel of irregulars:
Q: Is the stand alone novel dead?
Last year, I asked the SF Signal Readers to help me expand my scifi reading cred and Give Me One Good Reason Why I Should Read Your Favorite Science Fiction Novel. Your responses were fantastic and a little overwhelming, but I went through them and came up with a list of books, which I bought, and now I need your help again.
My plan is to read these books and then come back here and discuss them with you, but where to start?
Here’s the list:
Thanks in advance.
In episode 32 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Ottinger sit down to chat with author Peter V. Brett.
Brett has written The Warded Man and its sequel, The Desert Spear and is working on the third installment in the Demon Cycle series, as well as on the Red Sonja comic for Dynamite Comics.
Ward Shelley, Artist & Teacher at Parsons the Newschool for Design in Easton, CT, has created a map showing the History of Science Fiction.
Why? It was one of several maps submitted for the 7th Iteration on “Science Maps as Visual Interfaces to Digital Libraries“. A little about the project from their website:
Places & Spaces: Mapping Science is meant to inspire cross-disciplinary discussion on how to best track and communicate human activity and scientific progress on a global scale. It has two components: the physical part supports the close inspection of high quality reproductions of maps for display at conferences and education centers; the online counterpart provides links to a selected series of maps and their makers along with detailed explanations of how these maps work. The exhibit is a 10-year effort. Each year, 10 new maps are added resulting in 100 maps total in 2014.
The map is pretty complicated and what blows my mind is that the original is hand drawn and painted on Mylar!! Holy crap! That is awesome!
Anyway, wanted to share.
In episode 31 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester asks the SF Signal Irregulars to weigh in on Fringe and explain:
Why I don’t watch Fringe
Fringe is a science fiction series that features: alternate realities, time travel, genetic experimentation, the technological singularity and transhumanist experiments – but you still aren’t watching? Why?
What do you get when you mix Raj from The Big Bang Theory, Tink from The Guild and Zoe Graystone from Caprica?
A Cosplay music video extravaganza titled: Tonight I’m Frakking You, that’s what.
Enjoy:
Episode 30 of the SF Signal Podcast features the 2nd of our new, monthly mega-panels. We’ve invited some very special guests to weigh in on the state of the brick and mortar bookstores in the wake of the Borders bankruptcy and their scheduled closings of 200 stores nationwide.
Additionally, we ask:
Our virtual convention panel includes:
If you missed the SyFy Channel’s marathon of the classic 60′s television show The Green Hornet in January, you are in luck – my TiVo tells me they are replaying those 18 shows on the 24th of February.
The show, about Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher who fights crime by letting everyone think he’s a criminal, holds up really well. His partner is Kato, Britt Reid’s valet, played by Bruce Lee in his first big American break.
Again, the marathon runs on Thursday, February 24th at 8AM ET. Check your local listings for show times.
In episode 29 of the SF Signal Podcast, Fred Kiesche, Lisa Paitz Spindler, John DeNardo and Patrick Hester answer this question:
Why do fantasy novels & stories seem to appeal to a broader audience versus science fiction stories?
Later, John DeNardo and Patrick Hester interview Tobias Buckell.
We SciFi fans know what we love, and we love Firefly. Firefly, the short-lived, much obsessed about, canceled-before-it-had-a-chance television show, is still very much on the minds of fans and, oddly enough, the actors who were involved in the show.
The Science Channel has picked up Firefly for broadcast, the first time since 2008 that the show has been on basic cable. As part of the buildup to the shows premiere on March 6th, Fillion has done an interview with Entertainment Weekly that has stirred up Browncoats everywhere.
Nathan Fillion, who portrayed Serenity captain and Browncoat Malcom Reynolds, still thinks about the show. It’s his “what I would do if I won the lottery”. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said:
“If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to ‘Firefly,’ make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet.”
Firefly‘s loyal fan base – the Browncoats, have started to mobilize. Fillion is the head of that army (officially or unofficially), so when he speaks, they listen.
There’s already a campaign to help The Science Channel get the best rating possible for airing reruns of the show, and now some fans have registered HelpNathanBuyFirefly.com.
The smallest things can sometimes turn us off. At least, that’s what I have always found.
Take Borders, for example. They announced today they are closing 200 stores costing them $2 million a week. These unprofitable locations are spread out across the U.S. and the long reaching effects on the publishing industry won’t be known for a while yet.
But for me, it’s kind of odd. See, I have never liked Borders and you may be surprised to learn why.
I know, I know – what does the TV game show Jeopardy have to do with Science Fiction?
Well, normally – nothing. But starting Monday, they have something that I thought the readers here would be very interested in.
Remember when IBM’s chess playing computer ‘Deep Blue’ took on reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov and beat him? It was like science fiction becoming science fact.
Well, now they’re going to do it again – sort of.
IBM’s newest AI, called “Watson” after Thomas J. Watson, is set to be a contestant on TV’s Jeopardy.
Watson will be playing Jeopardy against two of Jeopardy‘s greatest champions – Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.
Jennings holds the distinction of being the Jeopardy Champion with the most consecutive wins totaling more than $2.5 million
Rutter is the Jeopardy Champion who has won the most money, more than $3.2 million. together, they’ll take on Watson in a 3 day mega-challenge that I’m sure everyone will be paying attention to. It starts on Monday, February 14th.
More details can be found on the Jeopardy website.
Uh… I may be calling in the ‘Skynet Clause’ in our friendship agreement if Watson kicks their butts people…
In episode 28 of the SF Signal Podcast, Fred Kiesche and Patrick Hester sit down to chat with legendary science fiction and fantasy author, David Drake! Drake has a long and storied career with dozens of novels, multiple short stories, collections, anthologies and collaborations.
Show: The Big Bang Theory
Episode Title: ‘The Thespian Catayst’
Air Date: February 3rd
Network: CBS
When Sheldon fails to connect and engage with students during a guest lecture, he seeks Penny’s help ‘teaching’ him about acting. Meanwhile, Raj has multiple fantasies and daydreams about horribly things happening to Wolowitz, forcing him to step in to ‘take care’ of Bernadette.
Warning: Spoilers ahead…
It’s time. Time to settle, once and for all, which genre shows rule and which ones drool.
Talk to the fans and you will always run into people who feel one show with a premise of x is so much better than that other show based on x.
Today’s Smackdown: Supernatural Vs Kolchak: The Night Stalker
In episode 27 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester, Jeff Patterson and Karen Burnham sit down to chat about politics in Science Fiction and Fantasy:
Q: Has Science Fiction and Fantasy gotten more or less political in the past few decades? Has functional anarchy and corporate super-cultures replaced the empires and federations of the past?
Later, Karen Burnham sits down to chat with Darryl Gregory, author of:
