A science fiction blog featuring science fiction book reviews and with frequent ramblings on fantasy, computers and the web.
This week’s Saturday Night Live featuring Zach Galifianakis included the omnipresent mock game show. This time around, it was a game show based on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Enjoy Game of Game of Thrones…
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Tagged with: Game of Thrones • SNL
Another high profile theft from Dave Tackett’s QuasarDragon and/or medicine cabinet.
What’s special about today’s free fiction?
Tagged with: Amazon • audio fiction • fiction • free • free ebooks • free fantasy fiction • Free Fiction • free flash fiction • free horror fiction • free science fiction • serialized • serialized fiction
Filed under: Free Fiction
Del Rey unveiled the cover and synopsis of the final entry in Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant Chronicles. Here’s the synopsis of The Last Dark, arriving October 15, 2013:
Here’s the synopsis:
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Tagged with: Cover & Synopsis • Stephen R. Donaldson • The Last Dark • Thomas Covenant
Filed under: Books
There is still some time left for you to enter our giveaway for Weird Detectives edited by Paula Guran…but hurry, time is running out!
See the original post for details on how to enter.
Filed under: Contest
Interviews & Profiles
Filed under: Tidbits
One of the tabletop games I discovered late last year was Mage Wars. It’s a two-player game where each player takes on the role of a powerful Mage, using their Mana to summon creatures and cast spells, in an attempt to reduce the opposing Mage to zero life. That initial pitch might sound like Magic: The Gathering, and the influence of that game is evident. But there are a lot of innovations in the rules (which I’ll discuss below) which distinguish it from the famous Collectible Card Game (CCG) and other tabletop games.
Here’s one game mechanic that fits with the theme and is ripe for deep strategy: during the Planning Phase of every turn, players pick two spells from their spellbook. The spellbook is a four-card binder (a pair comes with the game) composed of cards you chose to comprise your deck. Every round, it feels like roleplaying when you rifle through your spellbook, looking for the appropriate spell to cast later in the game. Because you’re choosing which two spells to cast, there’s no randomness when it comes to determining what your options are. On the other hand, because you’re selecting only two spells, you’re limited when it comes to reacting to the cards your opponent plays this turn: if you want to reverse or foil your opponent’s plans, you need to pick in advance the spell you think you’ll need.
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Tagged with: Arcane Wonders • Mage Wars
Filed under: Games
Unburning Alexandria is the sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates by Paul Levinson, now available from JoSara MeDia, first in eBook then in print.
Here is what the book is about:
Mid-twenty-first century time traveler Sierra Waters, fresh from her mission to save Socrates from the hemlock, is determined to alter history yet again, by saving the ancient Library of Alexandria – where 750,000 one-of-a-kind texts were lost, an event described by many as “one of the greatest intellectual catastrophes in history.”
Along the way she will encounter old friends such as William Henry Appleton, the great 19th-century American publisher, and enemies like the enigmatic time-traveling inventor Heron of Alexandria. Her quest will involve such other real historic personages as Hypatia, Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoe, Ptolemy the astronomer, and St. Augustine – again placing her friends, her loved ones, and herself in deadly jeopardy.
In this sequel to the THE PLOT TO SAVE SOCRATES, award-winning author Paul Levinson offers another time-traveling adventure spanning millennia, full of surprising twists and turns, all the while attempting the seemingly impossible: UNBURNING ALEXANDRIA.
Read on to read an excerpt from Unburning Alexandria.
Tagged with: excerpt • Paul Levinson • The Plot to Save Socrates • Time Travel • Unburning Alexandria
Filed under: Books
In episode 188 of the SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester chats with Hugo Award winning Editor, Author and Podcaster, Lynne M. Thomas.
Tagged with: Apex Magazine • Lynne M. Thomas • podcast
Filed under: Podcast
Launching on Kickstarter on May 15th is a new project by Emmy Award winning writer Michael Reaves (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation). It’s a new “Vamp Noir” film, called Blood Kiss.
[UPDATE: Kickstarter page is up!]
Genre fans may be surprised to learn that the stars of this project are none other than Neil Gaiman (Coraline, The Graveyard Book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane) and Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural).
From the press release:
Blood Kiss revolves around detective Joe Belicek, who must solve the murder of a vampire before a deranged killermurders them all. Inspired by Film Noir, this supernatural thriller is set in 1940s Hollywood with famous haunts like the Brown Derby.
“Michael sent me the script.I told him,”it’s a terrific script.” and he said,”I want you toact in it.”I replied “There’s nobody else I would act for.” – Neil Gaiman
BLOOD KISS will bypass the Studios, going straight to the fans for funding to greenlight the film. Fans who contribute to BLOOD KISS’ Kickstarter campaign are eligible to receive exclusive rewards in exchange for individual pledges ranging from $5 to $10,000.
Because of Michael’s personal struggle with Parkinson’s Disease, Blood Kiss is proud to be associated with the American Parkinson’s Disease Association to promote awareness of the disease.
Follow us on Facebook & Twitter to see all the surprises we have for Blood Kiss’ ever-growingfan base!
Tagged with: Amber Benson • Blood Kiss • Crowd funding • kickstarter • Michael Reaves • Neil Gaiman
Filed under: Movies
Hello, my hearty Mangolistas! It’s that time of year again: MuchoMangoMayo 2013!
Listen to a new episode of Beware the Hairy Mango each and every day this month at the best URL for the bewaring of hairy mangoes, bewarethehairymango.com!
Have I said “mango” enough? No? Well, listen to me say it a few more times in the audio promo below in which you’ll get such a paltry amount of additional details, you’ll shake your fist at your ears!
Filed under: Beware The Hairy Mango
Arc manor has posted the May 2013 issues launch of Galaxy’s Edge Magazine, the online/downloadable magazine edited by Mike Resnick. Here’s the table of contents for the new issue:
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Filed under: Books • Free Fiction • Web Sites
Coming later this year is the third and final book in John Barnes’ post-apocalyptic Daybreak series: The Last President.
Here’s the synopsis:
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Tagged with: Cover & Synopsis • john barnes
Filed under: Books
In the interest of full disclosure, here are the books we received this week.
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Tagged with: Books Received
Filed under: Books
Interviews & Profiles
Filed under: Tidbits
Some interesting comments throughout this speech…particularly about ebooks, ebook reading, and the future of books.
(Thanks, too, to Falls Into Writing, who provides a Full Transcription.)
Tagged with: eBooks • Neil Gaiman
Filed under: Books
The finalists of the 2012 Shirley Jackson Awards, recognizing outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic have been announced!
Tagged with: Shirley Jackson Awards
Filed under: Awards
This is the best thing I’ve seen all week.
“There’s too many different peanuts…looking sad.”
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Tagged with: Bad Lip Reading • The Walking Dead
What’s a parent to do to while away the time with the kids? If you’re filmmaker and Star Wars fan Sam K. Hale, you enlist your kids and their friends to film a new episode of Star Wars called Star Wars Episode 7: Return of the Junior Jedi.
I’m not saying this is Oscar material, but it’s pretty darned good and these kids actually did a better job under Sam than Samuel L. Jackson did under Lucas’s direction.
Bam!
Tagged with: Star Wars
Filed under: Star Wars
Another week of delicious free fiction links comes to an end, with some of the tastiest morsels stolen from Dave Tackett’s QuasarDragon.
What’s special about today’s free fiction?
Tagged with: Amazon • audio fiction • fiction • free • free ebooks • free fantasy fiction • Free Fiction • free flash fiction • free horror fiction • free science fiction • serialized • serialized fiction
Filed under: Free Fiction
Interviews & Profiles
Filed under: Tidbits
