On the 28th of March 2013, Harper/Voyager will reprint 7 classic sf/f novels with beautiful minimalist covers to accompany the special minimalist-cover Collector’s Edition of The Hobbit that is out right now.

Read on to see bigger versions of the new covers…
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Chesley- and Hugo-winning artist John Picacio is now selling limited-edition prints from his vast portfolio. Selections include museum-quality prints in these categories:
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REVIEW SUMMARY: Worth the money, and it’s not just for kids.

MY RATING:

SYNOPSIS: Tell Me a Dragon is a beautifully-illustrated kids’ book, but would be as at home on a coffee table as in a nursery. The art is beautiful, and the writing is poetic.

PROS: Lush, pretty and appealing.
CONS: Too short!
SUMMARY: Worth the money, and fit for the coffee table.
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In episode 110 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester and Jaym Gates (continuing the discussion from Part 1) sit down with a mega panel of authors, editors and artists to discuss Sword and Sorcery for the modern reader.

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This is too good to not share. This trailer video for Painting Joan of Arc shows talented artist Donato Giancola at work and is absolutely amazing. This encapsulates what I love about art.

[via Tor.com]

Break out your ruler, folks! It’s time for another Book Cover Smackdown!

Here are the contenders…

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

Books shown here:

• The Five by Robert McCammon (Artist: Vincent Chong)
• Anno Dracula by Kim Newman (Artist: Unknown)
• Birthmarked by Caragh O’Brien (Artist: Unknown)

NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or title links.

Grab your ray guns and pressure suits! It’s time for another Book Cover Smackdown!

Here are the contenders…

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

Books shown here:

• Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (Artist: Daniel Dociu)
• Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi (Artist: Kekai Kotaki)
• Out of the Dark by David Weber (Artist: Stephan Martiniere)

NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or title links.

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @SciFi Scanner: Eoin Colfer.
  • @Stomping on Yeti: Joe Schreiber (Star Wars: Death Troopers).
  • @SciFi TV Zone: Morena Baccarin (V and Firefly). [via Whedonesque]
  • Scott Westerfeld has posted his video-interview with Romantic Times.
• Book View Cafe Forms Book View Press.
• The following authors to the list of sf/f authors who blog (Thanks, Phil & Amanda!):
  • Jaine Fenn
  • Andrew Hook
  • Gareth Jones
  • Gareth L Powell
  • Jason Sanford
• Cool Art: Maurizio Manzieri has completed the amazing illustration for Bone and Juwel Creatures by Elizabeth Bear.
• James van Pelt offers advice on How to Have a Successful Book Signing.
• Larry Ketchersid reviews Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.
• @Time magazine: Attack of the Kindle Killers: The Boom in New E-Readers.
• @TeleRead: How to get more young people to love books.
• Lists:
  • @The Guardian: 10 of the best secret societies in literature.
  • [via Lit Lists]
  • @SCI FI Wire: 16 horror movie posters so gruesome they make our eyeballs bleed.
  • @Discover Magazine: 10 things you don’t know about Hubble. [via MonkeyFilter]
  • @Cinematical: Villains Too Charismatic For Their Own Good.
  • @Cracked.com: 5 Superheroes Rendered Ridiculous by Gritty Reboots.

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • Irene Gallo interviews Scott Westerfeld about the art of Leviathan, his latest book, a steampunk adventure.
  • Jon Armstrong interviews David Anthony Durham (The Other Lands).
  • Peter F. Hamilton answers blogger questions via video.
• Speaking of steampunk, check out Jaymee Goh’s article on Steampunk as Subculture over at Tor.com.
• Ever wonder what a book cover artists thinks of other people’s covers? Head on over to Missions Unknown and see their resident artist extraordinaire, John Picacio, do just that.
• SciFi Scanner points us to retro Iron Man cover art and re-imagined classic scifi movie posters.
• For those keeping track, George R.R. Martin is up to page 1100 writing A Dance with Dragons, and hopes to be done in less than 400 pages more.
• Alan Moore’s New Fanzine, Dodgem Logic, launches in November.
• Patrick at Stomping on Yeti has posted an awesome trailer for Star Wars: Death Troopers, the new novel by Joe Schreiber.
• Here’s Mike Allen on The Speculative Poetry Scene.
• For the writers: Victoria Strauss’ Thoughts on Self-Promotion.
• EVENT: Ray Harryhausen and his co-author Tony Dalton will be signing An Animated Life at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Saturday 24th October 1 – 2pm.
• Amazon Settles Kindle Deletion Lawsuit For $150,000: “Amazon.com has agreed to pay $150,000 to the student who sued the company for deleting his digital copy of George Orwell’s 1984 from his Kindle e-book reading device.” Wow! (Thanks, Daniel!)
• Lists:
  • @Stomping on Yeti: 10 Ways to use Time Travel to Fix the Short Fiction Market.
  • @Automopedia: 10 Fantastic Cartoon Science Fiction Ships
  • Mike Brotherton lists his scientific heroes
  • SciFi Scanner lists Cult SciFi Classics in Need of Interactive Treatment. I’d take a Big Trouble in Little China game any day…

• Here’s Total Dick-Head‘s First Look At Radio Free Albemuth – The Movie.
• At Asimov’s, Mary Robinette Kowal interviews Dr. Michio Kaku. [via Bibliophile Stalker]
• Scott Westerfeld has posted Leviathan artwork.
• Joseph Mallozzi names his November Book of the Month Club selection: Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro. Hmmm…might be a good excuse to read this. I’ve heard good things and have put it off far too long.
• Jeff and Ann VanderMeer announce the finalists for The First Annual Last Drink Bird Head Award.
• Andrew Wheeler celebrates his blog’s 4th Anniversary.
• Mike Brotherton is looking for Science Fiction Words in the Mainstream.
• For the writers: Vonda N. McIntyre’s Pitfalls of Writing SF & Fantasy.
• Gary Westfahl reviews Pandorum: “In order to appreciate Pandorum, then, one must ignore those silly mutants and instead focus solely on the shorter, better film they are viciously struggling to conceal.”
• SCI FI Wire lists 10 theories on what caused the flash forward in FlashForward.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Ben Bova joins Stephen Euin Cobb on his podcast, The Future And You.
  • Glenn Reynolds has a video interview with John Scalzi.
  • @Stomping on Yeti: Elizabeth Bear.
  • The Independent ran John Clute’s obituary of Charles N. Brown.
• Lev Grossman Responds to Criticism of his Wall Street Journal essay.
• Robert J. Sawyer on the death of science fiction.
• Jeff VanderMeer reviews Mark von Schlegell’s Mercury Station.
• Cheryl Morgan looks at Women & SF: Some Numbers. [via Enter the Octopus]
• @No Fear of the Future, Jess Nevins talks about The Zeppelin Pulps.
• @The World in the Satin Bag, S.M. Duke continues his essay on Punking the Begeezus out of SF/F.
• Norilana Books is reprinting the classic high fantasy Night’s Master by Tanith Lee, the first book in the Tales from the Flat Earth series.
• Angela Slatter on Editing Tips.
• Julian Card writes about SciFi film in his article Science Fiction Throughout the Ages and Into the Future
• AntipodeanSF, #135 now online. [via Beam Me Up]
• It’s time for another installment of…Fantasy or Football?
• I have a hunch you may do well at Young Frankenstein Ultimate Fan Quiz.
• Lists:
  • @Boxwish: Top 10 SciFi Movie Uniforms. [via The Website at the End of the Universe]
  • @Den of Geek: Top 25 fictional ads in sci-fi movies.
  • Rusty at Best Science Fiction Stories 4 Great Science Fiction Stories That Contain Long Walks.
  • For the artistically inclined, check out Speckyboy Design Magazine’s 50 Imaginative Fantasy Art Tutorials for Photoshop.
  • John Scalzi offers 5 Lessons From the SciFi Summer That Was.
  • Presidia Creative has an incredibly cool gallery of 28 Astounding Illustrations by Michael Dashow. Awesome work.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Fantasy Book Critic interviews Gary Gibson (Nova War).
  • The Future Awaits interviews Tobias Buckell.
  • Tor Editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden on ebooks, Star Trek fanfic, and the future of publishing. [via Tor.com]
  • In the Australian paper The Age, Scott Westerfeld and China Miéville are quoted on the public image of science fiction. [via Bibliophile Stalker]
  • @Paraoddity: Catherine Asaro. [via Saving my Sanity]
  • SF Universe interviews Wil Wheaton.
• Art:
  • Meanwhile, Wil Wheaton shows off the cover of his upcoming book Memories of the Future, Volume One.
  • Louise Marley talks about book cover art, too.
  • And speaking of fantastic art, the Spectrum Exhibit Opens September 1st & Honors Dave Stevens.
• Authors reviewing authors:
  • Nancy Kress recommends Elizabeth Moon’s 2004 Nebula winner, The Speed of Dark.
  • Jo Walton likes Roger Zelazny’s Doorways in the Sand.
• Jeff VanderMeer presents an overview of Steampunk at FilmFocus.
• @SF Gospel, Gabriel McKee is wondering Where’s the love for Defying Gravity? So, where is it, huh?
• Jason Sanford asks: Is the term SciFi still derogatory?
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers another installment of her Freelancer’s Survival Guide with Patience.
• From LifeHacker: Owners of Sony eReaders, users of the Stanza iPhone book reader, and anyone else with a device that reads the ePub format can now grab more than 1 million works from Google Books’ archives.
• Here’s a mesmerizing visualization of time travel plots in various films and TV programs. [via Information Is Beautiful]
• More chart fun: Here’s a nice poster of Jocks vs. Nerds at the Box Office by the folks over at MovieFill. Short version; Nerds rule the box office. [via Screen Rant]
• The Stargate Universe trailer hits theaters today before Halloween II and The Final Destination 3D. Hands up if you’re tempted to leave after the trailer…
• Howard Waldrop & Lawrence Person Review District 9.
• The Prisoner is coming out in a sexy Blu-ray edition.
• Rob Zombie will remake The Blob.
• Real Science: Suicidal planet seems on death spiral into star. [via BBT Magazine]
• Website: Moonbase Central is an offbeat chronicle of the past, present and future of lunar exploration.
• Lists:
  • Here’s 20 Outstanding Examples of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Origami. Is it me, or does the Jedi look the Scarecrow from the Batman comics?
  • James Long lists his own 7 Essential Second-Step Fantasies.
  • Cinematical lists The 10 Greatest Sci-Fi Deaths Ever.
  • Mary Robinette Kowal lists Fantasy’s Ten Best Treks.

• Interviews and Profiles:
  • @If You’re Just Joining Us: Jeff VanderMeer.
  • In a video over at Angry Robot Books, Dan Abnett talks about writing.
  • @The Nebula Awards website: Jeffrey Ford.
  • The Los Angeles Times profiles John Twelve Hawks…kinda…since he writes anonymously.
  • @Suite101.com: Esther Friesner.
  • @BoingBoing: An exit interview with Doctor Who: David Tennant and Russell T. Davies, interviewed by Richard Metzger.
  • John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to C.L. Anderson, author of Bitter Angels.
• Jay Lake on The Kindle $9.99 boycott vs Green.
• Nancy Kress likes Paolo Bacigalupi’s debut novel, The Windup Girl.
• Jeffrey Somers has sold the film rights to his Avery Cates books: The Electric Church, The Digital Plague, and The Eternal Prison.
• @The Art Department, Irene Gallo shares Jon Foster’s Boneshaker sketches. [Homer Simpson Gurgle Noise...]
• Tim Holman plays amateur (and awesome) statistician again with this Urban Fantasy Growth chart. [via GalleyCat]
• Ian Randal Strock is no slouch when it comes to chartage either. Check out his chart of Number of times Dr. Sam Beckett leaped into various states (and foreign countries) during Quantum Leap.
• George Lucas has been named as a 2009 California Hall of Fame inductee.
• Lists:
  • @Wired: Best Science Visualization Videos of 2009.
  • @Mental Floss: 7 Space Missions to Remember
  • @MTV: Horror Franchises That Rob Zombie Should Tackle After Halloween.
  • @Unreality: An Awesome Collection of Star Trek Bloopers. [via Look At This]

• Frederik Pohl receives his honorary high school diploma. [via Locus Online]
• Interviews & Profiles:
  • @Omnivoracious: Matthew Cheney interviews Samuel R. Delany.
  • @Strange Horizons: Terry Brooks.
  • @Bibliophile Stalker: Marty Halpern.
  • @Unbound: Damien G. Walter.
  • @Authors Unleashed: Kim Antieau. [via Bibliophile Stalker]
• For the writers: the website for The Science fiction Writers of America, Monica Valentinelli talks about The Pros and Cons of Having Your Own Website.
• Here’s a great Flickr gallery of Penguin book covers illustrated by cartoonists. [via Irene Gallo]
• Some more great artwork at Gorilla Artfare…this time by Dave Rapoza.
• Nnedi Okorafor was not impressed with District 9.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring comes to life at the world-famous Radio City Music Hall for two performances only, on Friday, October 9th and Saturday, October 10th.
• Real Science: Space.com looks at The Enduring Mystery of Saturn’s Rings
• Lists:
  • @Tor.com: Mindblowing SF by Women and People of Color.
  • @Strange Horizons” James Schellenberg’s Top 12 SF&F Books.
  • @MovieFill: A Chart Showing the History of Time Travel in Film. [via Look At This]
  • @Screenhead: Top 10 forgotten and underrated Sci-fi movies.
  • @SciFi Wire: 10 ways District 9 will change sci-fi moviemaking forever.
  • @Movie Moron: Top 10 Best Zombie Movies (With Clips).

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • Suvudu has a video interviews with Aaron Allston, Christie Golden, and Troy Denning, authors of the Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi series.
  • The Nebula Awards website interviews Charles Coleman Finlay.
  • SciFiNow has an interview with Director Alex Proyas.
• The World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award winners for 2009 are Jane Yolen and Ellen Asher.
• Win Scott Eckert posts covers for Phantom Chronicles 2.
• Cory Doctorow explains Why free ebooks should be part of the plot for writers: “…the right time to do a free ebook release is when the printed book is available…”
• David Brin has some issues with LOST, that “infuriating television show”.
• The Outer Alliance is a new group dedicated to intelligent discussion of LGBT issues in speculative literature. [via Cheryl's Mewsings via Hal Duncan]
• Amy Sterling Casil looks at more Star Trek book covers.
• James Wallace Harris asks: Has the Universe Gotten Too Big for Science Fiction?
• EVENT: As part of the Fantastic Fiction free reading series, Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present Andrew Fox (The Good Humor Man and Calorie 3501) & Chris Genoa (Foop! and the upcoming Lick Your Neighbor) Wednesday September 16th, 7pm at KGB Bar in NYC.
• Quiz: Can you name the books of George Orwell?
• The chicago-sf.org has some tidbist of interest:
  • Peter Watts (posting as ‘megasquid’) answers questions about his book Starfish.
  • The reading group’s September selection is Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree, Jr. [via Allan Rosewarne]
• Apex is running a promotion in support of Harlan County Horrors.
• @Wired: Marvel Moves Into Motion Comics With Spider-Woman.
• The Steampunk Workshop points us to the cool steampunk artwork of Ivan Mavrovic.
• Publishers Weekly‘s Genreville blog gets a reboot and a new (redirect) domain name.
• Horror Squad looks at science fiction horror films. [via ScifiSquad]
• Retro-Geek-cool: USS Enterprise record player.
• Lists:
  • Neil Gaiman and Wil Wheaton make the list of Top 10 Twitter Feeds to Follow by HowStuffWorks.
  • @Geeks are Sexy: Top 5 Places to get Free Science Fiction Online.
  • @GeekDad: 5 Science Fiction/Fantasy Books We Wish Had Never Been Written.
  • @Comicbook.com: 10 Fall Movies For Comic Book Geeks.
  • @Bookstove: 5 Sci-Fi Books That Should be Made into Movies.
  • @io9: The Best of SciFi’s Oppressed Alien Species.
  • @SFX: SciFi’s 26 Greatest Tearjerkers.
  • @Fancast: 50 Sci Fi Things You Must Watch Now.
  • @SCI FI Wire: The 10 most badass sci-fi battlesuits ever.
  • A response to Quentin Tarantino’s picks for Top 20 Movies of the last 17 years: Joseph Mallozzi’s Top 20 Movies of the Past 17 Years.
  • Just…Wow. Concept Art World has 25 Inspiring Examples of Spaceships and Aircraft.

• Interviews & Profiles:
  • io9 talks with Hugo-Winner Ellen Datlow (editor of the upcoming Lovecraft Unbound) on the art of editing short fiction.
  • Omnivoracious talks with Hugo-Winner Ann VanderMeer, editor of Weird Tales.
  • The LA Times talks with Michael Moorcock.
• @CNet: Why does this e-book cost $14? “Dear e-book publishers: stop gouging us.”
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch continues her Freelancer’s Survival Guide series talking about time.
• Heather Massey’s been busy. First she Defines Science Fiction Romance, then she asks: Does Science Fiction Romance Need More Alpha Heroes?
• There are some nice, fantastical art pieces from Patri Balanovsky at Gorilla Artfare.
• Orbit Publisher Tim Holman offers up an illuminating Chart of Fantasy Art Cover Elements.
• Holy Copyright Caper, Batman! Warner Brothers and DC Lose Certain Superman Rights.
• Superhero Nation explains How to Avoid Info-Dumping.
• Here’s a Star Wars collectible that, at first glance, looks dirty, but really isn’t.
• These Star Wars Lightsaber Chopsticks work great with the General Grievous’ Chicken! http://bit.ly/15foNZ [via Derryl Murphy]
• Jen at Multi-Genre fan will not be watching Stargate Universe.
• Den of Geek looks at The Costumes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• Real Science: “Two recent scientific discoveries mark the latest steps toward the ultimate medical-diagnosis technology: the tricorder.” [via Duderina]
• Lists:
  • 100 Best Comic Book Covers
  • Geek Dad lists 10 Sci-Fi Movies We’d Like to Throw Into a Black Hole.
  • @VideoHound: The Ten All-Time Best Years for Sci-Fi Movies

• Ridley Scott is set to direct an Alien prequel film. WTF? Sir Ridley said Science Fictions are as dead as Westerns…Don’t get me started.
• Marty Halpern talks about his personal memories of Jack Vance.
• Mark Teppo talks about ideas in his guest-post at Electric Velocipede Blog.
• In response to Joe Abercrombie’s Dungeons & Dragons post, Bill Ward says Thank You, D&D .
• Edward Champion asks: Are Bookstores Being Too Censorious With Author Events?
• Weird Tales will be releasing One-Minute Weird Tales micro-fictions weekly from now through Halloween. [via J.M. McDermott]
• David Langford has posted the new Ansible for August 2009.
• Art:
  • Abduzeedo visullally lists 50 Tiny Superheroes Illustrations by Marcio Takara. Cool.
  • Steampunk Mickey Mouse. Also cool. [via Blog@Newsarama]
• Spiderman Saves the Day! Yay, Spiderman!
• More Dork Tower vs. The SyFy Channel.
• An Engadget contest to skin the Kindle has resulted in some cool designs — like this one based on Philip K. Dick’s Ubik.
• You want a jetpack? I got your jetpack tight here. Just bring your own water. [via Boing Boing]
• @io9 lists Our Favorite Last Lines From Science Fiction Novels and Science Fiction’s Scariest Priests and Preachers.
• Name that book: They speak German and they carry whips.