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A Mid Day Session: Ken Macleod interviewed
01/07/2009. Ewan Angus interviews Scots science fiction author Ken Macleod about his latest novel, The Night Sessions, why he might set another book in the same world, why he is moving away from space opera and hard science fiction, and chats to him about his next novel - The Restoration Game. 
 Tim Powers interviewed: With Great Powers comes great Plot lines…
01/07/2009. Twenty six years ago, the prestigious Philip K Dick Award was given to a novel which had one of the worlds most convoluted plots. Starting out in modern day 1983, the uncomfortable and intelligent Hero Brendan Doyle is given the chance to give a lecture on a poet, in 1810. Mixing adventure, beggar guilds, evil clowns, motor accidents and pure madness, The Anubis Gates was an instant classic. I caught up with author Tim Powers to talk about the novel and to have a general chat about time travel.
Tom Hunter's Arthur C Clarke Awards wrap-up article
01/07/2009. It's now just over month since we announced the winner of this year's Arthur C. Clarke Award and I'm now starting to take stock of the year just gone and begin the prep for 2010. And, yes, we really do start thinking about this sort of stuff now. I'm probably slightly behind schedule in fact.
 Speech for the Arthur C Clarke Awards ceremony April 2009 by Paul Billinger, chair of the judges
01/07/2009. As with last year we had a large number of submissions and for the first time we published the full list of submitted books via the Torque Control website. You can see a wide variety in the list which range from books that you would expect to be called 'science fiction' - the ones with spaceships and planets on the cover - to those that challenge people's notion of what is eligible for a science fiction award. I'd like to thank the publishers for their willingness to submit the books and for submitting them in a timely fashion, which does make it just that bit easier for the judges to give the books the consideration they deserve.
 Drag Me To Hell (Mark's take)
01/07/2009. A bank loan officer refuses a loan extension to a woman of Gypsy origin. In return, the officer is cursed. The effects of the curse are horrifying and frequently revolting. Were this a new story written by Sam Raimi and his elder brother Ivan it would have been a better piece of horror. The effects and the action are all Raimi, but the story is cobbled together from familiar pieces. Largely this is a high-octane version of M. R. James's Casting the Runes with equal parts of shock and humour.
John Barrowman talks about Torchwood Children Of Earth
01/07/2009. Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones return to the good old BEEB for Torchwood Children Of Earth, a new five part sci-fi TV series for BBC One. The cast, John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd and Kai Owen talk to SFcrowsnest about the return of Torchwood.
 Dead Snow (Mark's take)
01/07/2009. A week long Easter vacation visit to a remote cabin in the mountains turns into a horror for eight young medical students, finds our Mark. Following the inspiration of Sam Raimi films Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola does his own horror film of something nasty out in the woods. This is very much by-the-numbers horror film making. It is not at all bad, but it has little that is fresh and new.
 Arise, Sir Christopher Lee: Mark looks at horror's first knight
01/07/2009. Many of you may have seen the film The Curse Of Frankenstein. The monster's creator has given up on the experiment actually working. Then the man he has built gets up on his own and in a jerky move, rips the bandages off his face to reveal a visage with lumpy scars and stitches. Apparently Victor Frankenstein had been more concerned with making a face that would function than making one that would look good. It is a classic moment of shock.
 Life on hold
01/07/2009. On being the SFcrowsnest judge for The Arthur C. Clarke Award, by Pauline Morgan. Our Pauline gives a judge's personal insight into the hard work that it takes to pull off something of the scale of the Clarke Awards. An eye-opener for all the science fiction readers who simply roll out of bed one morning to read someone's 3rd hand cut-and-paste-copied blog about the winning author of such an award, chug a cappuccino, then immediately start bee-i-ching about who should or shouldn't have won.
 Postcards from a lonely planet
01/07/2009. It’s hard to believe that its forty years ago this month that Neil Armstrong made the first steps onto the Moon. Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin made the second steps. Michael Collins in orbit, a bystander and only watched. Pretty much what we all did for the first most significant trip off-planet. Nothing like its Science Fiction equivalents but a step into a future we SF fans recognised so well even if it was nothing like early imaginings. No lunar life. No atmosphere. Just rock. Arthur C. Clarke’s prediction that there were seas of dust in ‘A Fall Of Moondust’ was also proved unfounded. Although I doubt if Science Fiction raised any expectation by that time as more was discovered about our solitary satellite.
 The Ultimate Collection
01/06/2009. a story of the macabre by: GF Willmetts.
 Top five bad-ass females in scifi movies
01/05/2009. With women still fighting for their right for equal pay, there's one thing they can be sure of: when it comes to being bad-ass, they're equal all the way. To celebrate the release of Dragonball Evolution on April 8th 2009, a film containing two feisty females who show the boys one or two things about 'feminism' via the method of kicking some ass, we've put together a list of the five strongest, scariest, toughest women ever to fight their way across the screen.
 Let the right horror director in: Thomas Alfredson interviewed
01/05/2009. The Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson takes the book Let The Right One In by author John Ajvide Lindqvist, and turns it into a hair raising affair. Here, SFcrowsnest interview him about vampires and all that is scary and some which is not. Sweden, he points out, may not have vampire myths but they do have a lot of stories about dangerous wolves.
 Meet the Marsters
01/05/2009. James Marsters chats with SFcrowsnest.com about his new role in the film Dragonball Evolution, why it's tough being in make-up for four hours then having to pull a twelve hour working day, and why being a goofy mellow guy doesn’t mean you’re weak at all.
 A chat with Chatwin
01/05/2009. Actor Justin Chatwin of War of the Worlds fame chats with SFcrowsnest.com about starring in the upcoming sci-fi film Dragonball Evolution, a live-action flick based on the manga created by Akira Toriyama. He tells us what it was like to work alongside Ghostbusters star Ernie Hudson, how he was thrown in at the deep end on War Of The Worlds, and what it was like to star in a scifi film with Tom Cruise.
 Winning an Emmy
01/05/2009. Actress Emmy Rossum talks to the Nest about acting in Dragonball Evolution, training with marines, learning how to drive a motorcycle without killing Justin Chatwin, and why in the manga, her character Bulma is boy crazy.
Dragonball: Evolution (Frank's Take)
01/05/2009. So here we go again sighs our Frank... another woefully generic actioner borrowing its inspiration from a popular television series (Dragonball Z) and/or highly regarded video game of the same name. Still, how could the immensely flashy and kinetic Dragonball: Evolution go so wrong when it has also been translated into best-selling graphic novels? After all, it is derived from the desired Japanese manga created by Akira Toriyama? Well gang, let us count the ways...shall we?
 Tennant Extra: Dr Who interviewed
01/05/2009. Lady Christina (Michelle Ryan) and Doctor Who (David Tennant) chat to the Nest about their recent picnic on Dune in the Easter special episode, Planet Of The Dead. Tennant chats about the sad lack of desert world landscapes in Wales, and his pure loathing for Lee Evans (okay: just kidding on the last one). Meanwhile, Michelle Ryan goes all bionic on us.
 Watchmen (Frank's take)
01/05/2009. We have arrived at the challenging age in cinema where sardonically bleak and cynical overtones have somehow considerably shaped the way we appreciate sophisticated action-packed superhero sagas. Previously, notes Frank, the arrestingly visual The Dark Knight captured the pure essence of a fierce fantasy that bleeds layers of ferocious forethought in its captivating confection.
 Alien Trespass (Frank's take)
01/05/2009. The tongue-in-cheek humour is thoroughly realised in the movie Alien Trespass, finds our Frank. It also has that bloke out of Will and Grace (Will, not Jack), and all the clichés of 1950's horror cinema are there - and, that is a good thing!
 Race to Witch Mountain (Frank's take)
01/05/2009. Race to Witch Mountain is sadly a race to the bottom of Frank's popularity scale, discovers our ace reviewer, as he delves into a sci-fi movie which offers little but lacklustre special effects and clichéd situational dilemma. Will your kids like it? Not if they've got any taste, he suspects.
 Super Capers (Frank's take)
01/05/2009. Now, our Frank knows that we're all meant to be doing our bit for the environment, but recycled gags? Come on! As you might be able to gather, the new superhero spoof movie Super Capers didn't exactly tickle our movie critic's entertainment-buds. Strap your cape on and get ready to fly at the speed of sound… into a cinematic brick wall.
 17 Again (Frank's take)
01/05/2009. It must have taken the powers-that-be a brief 20-minute lunch session over a stale roast beef sandwich to conceive this woefully derivative teen comedy 17 Again, rages our Frank. For the sake of argument one cannot blame the handlers of this flaccid fable to see dollar signs dancing in their collective heads. First, why not milk the body swap gimmick for the ten millionth time?
 Crank 2: High Voltage (Frank's take)
01/05/2009. Predictably, discovers Frank, Stratham is given permission to crank it up a few more notches and go totally ballistic in the outrageously fuel-injected follow-up High Voltage. Brash, outrageously inane and chaotically crafty, Crank 2: High Voltage is unapologetic in its sheer penchant for graphic-induced ribaldry as its charismatic calling card.
 Astounding's Daughter: Sheri S. Tepper interviewed
01/05/2009. With fantasy and science fiction novels of the calibre of The Fresco, Singer from the Sea, Six Moon Dance, The Family Tree, Gibbon's Decline and Fall, Shadow's End, A Plague of Angels, and Sideshow & Beauty behind her, Sheri S. Tepper is one of America's greatest novelists. Her book The Margarets is in the running for this year's Arthur C Clarke Award, so what better time for fantasy author Stephen Hunt to sit down with her and chat about just what an early diet of Astounding and Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine can do to a lady of letters.
 Fighting the Quiet War: Paul McAuley interviewed
01/05/2009. Science fiction novelist Paul McAuley has just been shortlisted for the 2009 Arthur C Clarke Award for his novel The Quiet War. He chats with fantasy author Stephen Hunt about why the default political debating position of SF shouldn't be Earth: bad, tyrannical and ossified; Colonists: smart and sympathetic; and why it's difficult to improve as a writer if you don't read other writers who are better than you.
 The coming king of steampunk: Alastair Reynolds interviewed
01/05/2009. Alastair Reynolds chats with the Nest about his life and works as one of the UK's reigning princes of space opera, about his cunning plan to dominate the steampunk genre (not to mention the coming bakepunk genre), and why he is fascinated by science but lacking the mathematical aptitude to really swim in it.
 Let there be Light Ages: Ian MacLeod interviewed
01/05/2009. Ian MacLeod, author of such SFF classics as Song of Time and Light Ages speaks to fantasy author Stephen Hunt about the junction between naturalistic and non-naturalistic fiction, and why his next science fiction novel is going to be set in alternate version of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Wake Up and Dream, dear reader.
 Interviewed on the other side: Mark Wernham
01/05/2009. Mark Wernham is the author of Martin Martin's on the Other Side (from Jonathan Cape), one of the shortlisted works for this year's Arthur C Clarke awards. When it comes to science fiction, Mark's influences are writers like JG Ballard and Michael Moorcock, and he talks to the Nest about these, life as a Melody Maker journalist, and being stuck in a prison cell with a big red panic button.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Frank's take)
01/05/2009. There is one amazing thing that you can say about the flaccid featherweight fantasy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past in that it managed to do a handful of cinematic crimes in one sweep. First, says our film reviewer Frank, it destroyed whatever credibility legendary scriber Charles Dickens had in his cherished A Christmas Carol gimmickry of revisiting spirits to keep one's soul grounded. Secondly, it reminds us how weak-kneed mainstream Hollywood romance comedies continue to be strained in imagination and conception. Thirdly, it reinforces how much that bland box office boy-toy Matthew McConaughey has overstayed his welcome in these aforementioned fluffy fantasies.
 Going digital
01/05/2009. Or Is there no place for hardcopy magazines any more? Discovering that the magazine 'Starlog' has gone out of business after thirty years in the business, says Geoff, not to mention several genre mags also getting the chop in the UK, should give anyone pause for thought.
 Philip Jose Farmer (1918-2008) a retrospect by GF Willmetts
01/05/2009. Philip Jose Farmer is one of those names you think will go on forever and who, sadly, in February at the age of ninety is no longer with us. Farmer brought several things to Science Fiction.
 Corden Bennet!
01/04/2009. James Corden, 50 per cent of the hero-duo battling it out in the Lesbian Vampire Killers movie, answers SFcrowsnest.com's cheeky questions about his new movie.
 We've got the Horne
01/04/2009. Mathew Horne, the other half of the Gavin & Stacey comedy duo talks to the Nest about his part in the new Lesbian Vampire Killers flick. What with Shaun of the Dead, is this part of some new British renaissance of horror movie making - or just a sly chance for some Carry On-style comedy debauchery?
 Rubbing the monolith: Tom Hunter interviewed
01/04/2009. The Nest's Paul Skevington talks to Arthur C. Clarke Award administrator Tom Hunter about running the UK's main literary science fiction award. Tom talks about the astonished reactions of some mainstream critics upon seeing literary authors on the Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist and pushing the boundaries of SF. Yes, he stands in the shade of the big man's monolith, as do we all.
 Demon slayer or politically incorrect cop: Philip Glenister interviewed
01/04/2009. Everyone's favourite copper, brash but loveable DCI Gene Hunt, is back in time travelling sci-fi cop series Ashes to Ashes, policing the streets of early 1980s London. Actor Philip Glenister, recently seen as demon slayer Rupert Galvin in Demons and donning breeches as Mr Carter in Cranford, explains why he still relishes playing the politically incorrect Mancunian.
 Keeley Hawes interviewed: from spy-fi to sci-fi
01/04/2009. Viewers last saw DI Alex Drake in despair in the scifi cop series Ashes to Ashes, after being unable to save her parents from the car bomb that killed them. It's now 1982 and Alex is settling into Eighties life while her memories of 2008 begin to fade. Actress Keeley Hawes, who starred in the first series of the BBC's spy-fi drama Spooks, plays the sassy DI and explains what is in store for Alex.
 Doctor Who says Welcome Aboard to Uncle Geoff
01/04/2009. I'm not sure if this should appear in the review column or as a guide to putting this model kit together. For those of you living in the UK, you've no doubt seen the Doctor Who: Welcome Back kit adverts in the media mags looking very impressive although I did wonder how many of you were put off by lack of modelling ability.
 Project Tic-Toc. An exploration of the Time Tunnel and how it worked and failed.
01/04/2009. If it wasn't for a budget-conscious Senator Leroy Clark, says Uncle Geoff, the top secret Project Tic-Toc also more commonly known as the Time Tunnel hidden below the Arizona Desert might have been a complete success. The premature test by its deputy scientist, Doctor Anthony Newman using his new radiation treatment trapped him on the Titanic in 1912 on the eve its destruction.
 The long ironic arm of coincidence
01/04/2009. I'm a great believer in synergy. Mostly cos I see patterns line up so much in my own life and in other events. Things like only having to think I haven't seen a familiar face in town and up they pop within a couple weeks is a common occurrence, especially when I'm not looking for them.
 Hugging the Hoodie: Jonas Armstrong interviewed
01/04/2009. Actor Jonas Armstrong talks to the Nest about playing the lasted incarnation of Robin Hood in the BBC's fantasy TV series, and tells us how he felt about donning the hood of justice without Maid Marian by his side.
 From Spook to Guy Of Gisborne: Richard Armitage interviewed
01/04/2009. Richard Armitage sets the hearts a-fluttering with his bad-boy dark leather clad villain act from BBC One's 3rd series of Robin Hood. He chats with the Nest about murdering poor old Marian and wanting everything that Robin has.
 Froggatt about it: Joanne Froggatt interviewed
01/04/2009. It's a brave girl who steps into Maid Marion's shoes in the BBC's Robin Hood TV series, not least because her life expectancy isn't exactly likely to last too long. Actress Joanne Froggatt is up to the challenge and loves watching fantasy on television, though.
 Tuck-ing in: David Harewood interviewed
01/04/2009. Actor David Harewood chats with the Nest about playing Friar Tuck in the new Robin Hood - fat, happy and hair-challenged he ain't. In fact, his last role was playing Nelson Mandela and he trained in martial arts for the Tuck role.
 Infrastructure: Look for the bare necessities...
02/03/2009. One thing the cold weather in Great Britain this February has shown is how dependent we are on infra-structure and the co-operation of various people to ensure personal welfare and even survival in this country. At the same time, it also showed how unprepared for an instant countrywide blizzard we are.
 Coraline: Mark's take
02/03/2009. With charming images in 3-D animation, discovers Mark, we have the story of a girl who finds a tunnel to a parallel world where she has two other parents who just love her to death. Everything is wondrous in this world until she finds out that ... but that would be telling.
 Who Without Blemish... a short story by GF Willmetts
02/03/2009. It was deemed as the next great thing. Television going digital meant finer pixel counts so blocking would be less intrusive and then to take advantage of it even more, a switch to High Definition even if HD made little sense to anything recorded up until a couple years before recording started that way. A tubed TV had a palate from combining three colours.
There's no accounting for taste, especially when having them defined in boxes
01/02/2009. I am lousy at picking favourites. Don't confuse this with preferences as that's more down to personal taste than favouritism. I mean I prefer Science Fiction but it would be a lot tougher to choose just one favourite author or film out of so many I like. Yet displaying such a list would surely indicate that is all you read which is obviously far from the multiple bookcases in my case.
 The worse case of parallel evolution
01/01/2009. Humans, says Uncle Geoff in his first editorial of the new year, are the worse case of parallel evolution with a limb at each corner and a head at the top instead of up its..
 Mark says goodbye to Forrest J. Ackerman, R.I.P
01/01/2009. I guess it is time to say good-bye to Forrest J. Ackerman. I knew that he was very highly regarded among the fans. I just did not realize how many people in how many news media were his fans. I thought there were a few monster geeks like me who knew of him, but I am seeing tributes come from all over the country. Apparently there were legions of us who owe a debt to Forry.
 What makes for a good book?
01/01/2009. Uncle Geoff brushes the dust off his volumous collection of science fiction and fantasy novels and asks the question, just what does make for a good book?
 Adam Resurrected (Mark's take)
01/01/2009. This, says Mark, is a bizarre surreal fantasy involving a man with psychic powers, a German Holocaust death camp, and people who are degraded to live and act like dogs. How does all that fit together? I vote for "not very well." Jeff Goldblum's performance is magnetic, but he has problems with the accent. Paul Schrader directs Noah Stollman's adaptation of Yoram Kaniuk's novel.
 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Mark's take)
01/01/2009. More than just a film, David Fincher's The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is a genuine accomplishment. It stylistically shows a span of history, carefully orchestrating an evolution of style and mood that tracks the passing years. This, finds Mark, is an intelligent fantasy with a beautifully sustained and intricate attention to tone. Almost certainly this haunting fantasy will be my best film of 2008.
 Let the Right One In (Mark's take)
01/01/2009. With, believes Mark, marked similarities to Carrie this is a Swedish vampire film. Oskar, the most bullied boy in school, makes friends with a girl who appears to be his own age, but is somehow different. The somehow is that she is a vampire, living a life as isolated in her way as Oskar is in his. The two form a bond against a background of vampire-related killings. In spite of the fantasy motif this is a serious film about serious problems.
 Quantum of Solace (Mark's take)
01/12/2008. Picking up just after where the Casino Royale movie left off, James Bond is involved in trying to find the people behind the death of his beloved Vesper. This is a decent spy thriller on an adult level, says our Mark. The tone is downbeat, but it is still one of the best in the series. Marc Forster's action scenes could be more coherent, but he is better with the dramatic material.
 In tune with Close Encounters of The Third Kind
01/12/2008. For Uncle Geoff, re-watching the three versions of the film 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind' raised some odd questions regarding first contact with an alien species visiting Earth, assuming director/writer Stephen Spielberg isn't too far off the mark with how humans would react. Logistically, an alien species would not be exactly world conquerors nor even wishing to impart their knowledge or wisdom to the primitive apes that populate this planet.
 The ruckus about Pluto
01/12/2008. Mark recently got into a discussion with an older science fiction fan about Pluto. He had brought it up jokingly saying the ninth planet was now supposedly no longer a planet.
 Nostalgia is always something that appears better than we thought it was
01/12/2008. Something I give some thought to occasionally is how the past can seem better than the present. Granted there is a habit of remembering only the good things not the bad from our childhood. As youngsters, when we're experiencing things the first time around we have nothing to compare it to so its no wonder we feel golden-eyed about it.
 Why science fiction needs a little magic
01/12/2008. Mark's wife Evelyn has been reading the book Beyond Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss. Krauss is the author of The Physics of Star Trek, in which he looks at the science of Star Trek from the point of view of a physicist. He is not just a physicist...
Upcoming 2009 fantasy and science fiction book releases - part II
01/12/2008. Back in August 2008, the Fantasy Book Critic posted an article that showcased his pick of the best upcoming 2009 book releases. That spotlight really only scratched the surface of what 2009 had to offer though, so now he is back with Part Two, which is a little bigger, and hopefully, better. So enjoy, and please note that all release dates are subject to change and that any covers depicted are not necessarily the final version.
Upcoming 2009 fantasy and science fiction book releases - part III
01/12/2008. And here's the 3rd and final part of The Fantasy Book Critic's look at the best upcoming 2009 book releases for the scifi and fantasy genre. There's a few SFF novels here that will be on our reading list for next year, that's for sure.
 Gareth L Powell interviewed
01/11/2008. Science fiction and fantasy author Gareth L Powell is interviewed by Gareth D Jones. He talks about his novel Silversands and writing works of short fiction for the likes of UK SFF magazine Interzone.
 Seeing Apparitions
01/11/2008. Apparitions is a new BBC fantasy horror drama that looks at priests fighting possession and satanic conspiracy. All out war between good and evil is imminent and it's time to choose sides. British actor Martin Shaw stars as Father Jacob, a Roman Catholic priest who is working to promote candidates for sainthood but is drawn against his will into the world of exorcism. The idea for the series came from Martin as he had long wanted to play an exorcist and it was subsequently picked up by ace SFF writer Joe Ahearne - Ultraviolet, Doctor Who etc. SFcrowsnest looks behind the scenes at Apparitions and interviews Martin Shaw, who is always very Professional(s), as well as others from the cast.
 Ghost Town: Mark's take
01/11/2008. A dentist who died for seven minutes on the operating table finds that he now can see dead people. Half of Manhattan has favours they want of him and making matters worse, it is the dead half. Ricky Gervais, popular star of BBC TV's The Office, plays the man who doesn't like living people and now has also to deal with the dead. He is asked by a dead husband to break up his wife's relationship with a new fiancée. The first half has some very good writing, says our Mark, but the film loses its centre and wanders in its second half.
 Hallo-Teen
01/11/2008. A really short story of Halloween by: GF Willmetts.
We are Wizards: Mark's take
01/11/2008. The growing phenomenon of fandom of the Harry Potter books and films is examined in several of its manifestations in this documentary, says Mark. From four-year-old Wizard Rock punk rock stars to the Warner Brothers battle to close down the web sites of fans of their own films director Josh Koury looks at the multiple threads of the Potter fandom movement. He goes back and forth among the threads, but he could have used a few more threads and his camera was not always on the most interesting material.
 Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you
01/11/2008. As you might have noticed in the past couple months of reviews, Uncle Geoff has been looking at the second 'Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers' film and, more recently, the first season of 'The Invaders' 1960s TV series - anyone else having problems getting their DVD player playing this?
 Skipped in science fiction
01/11/2008. Last month, says the ex-editor of the Science Fiction Book Club, Andrew Wheeler, it seemed like the whole science fiction and fantasy field was obsessed with skipping. Greg Frost was skipped by Borders. Toby Buckell was skipped by Borders. Pat Cadigan was outraged. Gwenda Bond was more thoughtful. Many other people examined their liberal guilt about buying from a chain store, and were vaguely uncomfortable about the whole thing.
 Inside the Blogosphere: Science fiction and fantasy's bedroom antics
01/11/2008. In science fiction and fantasy, should sex be included in the narrative or not? Should there be different standards for its inclusion in young adult or adult literature? John Ottinger throws the thorny question to a panel of leading scifi bloggers. What should those standards be? What are your personal standards and why?
 Sarah Jane Adventures returns for second series
01/10/2008. Sarah Jane, Doctor Who's former companion returns to the TV screens in BBC Children's drama adventure series produced by Russell T Davies.
 Godzilla after Cloverfield
01/10/2008. Mark R. Leeper was on a panel at Denvention in which the topic of giant monster movies was discussed. It got him thinking about them and how the film Cloverfield will affect them. For most of his life Godzilla has been a cultural icon. Godzilla is today one of the most recognisable fictional characters in the world, perhaps.
 The Man From Earth: Mark's take
01/10/2008. Thoughtful and thought provoking, this is a science fiction film with plenty going for it but no special effects. It is really just people sitting and talking. Yet it is full of ideas that will with stick the viewer long after the film is over. The Man From Earth very probably will be one of the best science fiction films of this decade. A group of college professors and friends discuss the history of mankind and find out what they have right and what they have wrong from someone who knows.
 The Hands Of Orlac (1924): Mark's take
01/10/2008. One of the nearly forgotten films of the German (actually in this case Austrian) Expressionist period is the Conrad Veidt version of The Hands Of Orlac. This is a seminal horror melodrama about a pianist whose hands are destroyed in a train crash and are replaced by hands taken from an executed murderer. The hands come to have a life of their own. This film was remade as the until- recently also rare Mad Love with Colin Clive as Orlac and with one of Peter Lorre's juiciest roles.
 Sword and Sandal Films
01/10/2008. Our Mark asks whatever happened to old Steve Reeves movies?
 Media Tie-ins: A Little More
01/10/2008. A lot more discussion have been going on regarding media tie-ins, making SM Duke realise how big an issue this really is in the genre world. Lou Anders wrote a fascinating post and in it he quoted someone else who likened the bias in genre fiction against media tie-ins to the bias of non-genre folks against genre.
Mapping science fiction and fantasy
01/10/2008. Is the map the territory? This issue, John Ottinger asks a panel of SFF bloggers to discuss their opinions on the use of genre maps in science fiction and fantasy novels. Is cartography only for directionally-challenged readers, and do they ever add to a novel, or simply dumb it down?
 Jeff Carlson interviewed: A plague on both your houses
01/10/2008. John Ottinger chats with science fiction author Jeff Carlson about his Plague trilogy, a series of scifi novels concerning a nanotechnology-based plague driving humanity to the edge of existence - and a very high one at that: mankind retreats to the tops of mountains to survive.
 Meeting the Marauder: an interview with Casper Van Dien - Starship Troopers 3: Marauder
01/10/2008. Casper Van Dien, star of Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, chats about why his Johnny Rico has failed to be promoted in the military, Ed Neumier's directorial debut, Casper's role in Mask Of The Ninja, and kicking some bug butt in fighting-mean power armour.
 An Interview with Joely Sue Burkhart
01/10/2008. Conducted by Kelly Jensen. Author of four books, Joely Sue Burkhart is quite the reader herself, her tastes ranging from mythology to romance. She lives with her husband and three children in Missouri. By day, she's a computer programmer with a Masters of Science degree in Mathematics. By night, she conjures tales of romantic fantasy.
 Nanny State
01/10/2008. A Psi-Kicks story by: GF Willmetts. Mary Travers hazel eyes flashed open, sparkling and full of life. There was also a sudden flash of anger mixed with sadness immediately followed by the sensation of solution. So many emotions but only one decision. The right one in every way.
 There is always a way to find money to spend
01/10/2008. If anything, Geoff thinks that we in the Science Fiction community have a greater awareness than we are credited with. Not that he necessarily wants to be gloomy, more from the point of view of some positive aspects that puts us in a better light.
 The wizardry of Merlin
01/09/2008. Merlin is a new thirteen part fantasy drama series on BBC One that aims to update the tale of the infamous sorcerer of Arthurian legend for a family audience. The mythical city of Camelot, in a time before history began. A fantastical realm of legendary beasts and mysterious peoples. A dangerous world in which the ruthless tyrant, Uther Pendragon, has banned magic. When Merlin, a young man gifted with extraordinary magical powers, arrives in the kingdom, he quickly makes enemies, including the heir to Uther's crown, the headstrong Prince Arthur. They aim to do for fantasy what Smallville did for Superman.
The Merlin interviews
01/09/2008. SFcrowsnest looks at the actors who appear in the new Merlin TV series, including John Hurt who plays a dragon (little-known fact: he also did the voice work for Watership Down), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer's own Anthony Head who plays evil-type Uther Pendragon.
 Meet the Bloodheir: Brian Ruckley interviewed
01/09/2008. Brian Ruckley talks to our Aidan Moher about his fantasy novels Bloodheir and Winterbirth, about how he came to the internet late but has now fully embraced it, and his involvement in the publishing process of his books.
 The best science fiction and fantasy novels of 2009: Part One
01/09/2008. Robert Thompson, aka The Fantasy Book Critic, brings SFcrowsnest a round-up of his pick of the best up-coming fantasy and science fiction novels for 2009. Part two is promised soon as soon as more catalogue details are sent in to him. Get to it, Rob.
 B-Day
01/09/2008. A short story by: GF Willmetts. In the future you have to use your loaf. In fact, the kinder people in the population might just invite you to one of their bread parties...
 Humans beware!
01/09/2008. A species' survival really depends on two things. The speed of propagation and making a niche in the ecology. Sometimes they can both work together, especially if you can evict or even eat your competitors. Saying that, creatures that prey on you aren't that big a problem cos its possible for a species to evade and propagate wildly to out-live the deadliest carnivore.
 WALL-E - Mark's take
02/08/2008. Pixar Animation is known for making good kids' films that even adults can enjoy. But now they really have crossed over the line to make an adult science fiction film that even kids can enjoy, says our Mark. WALL-E is a light fun scifi comedy set against a very grim background.
 Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Mark's take
02/08/2008. Guillermo del Toro makes great horror films like Cronos and Pan's Labyrinth, says Mark. His graphic novel films are just not his best work. Hellboy II's visual images are spectacular and the film is full of fights and action, but there is only a bit of plot and that involves an epic fantasy premise that would have taken multiple films to do well. The characters are flat and the film has no centre. This is a film to watch, but there is not much to think about. The conclusion holds no surprises.
 Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D: Mark's take
02/08/2008. Fun as a thrill ride, says Mark, but surprisingly poor as film, this is a story of three modern reluctant explorers who find out that the center of the Earth is just as Jules Verne described it with a lot of fast theme-park-like rides. It has even less logic than Verne gave it. Rent the 1959 version.
 The Dark Knight (Mark's take)
02/08/2008. In a year in which one film after another is based on comic books this, says Mark, is a super-hero film whose depth is like no other. It plays with the whole philosophy of the superhero and the whole nature of superhero battles. It manages to bring together an action film and a thought piece.
 Doctor Wow!
02/08/2008. An appraisal of the fourth season of Doctor Who by GF Willmetts. How, asks Geoff, to write a review of season four of Doctor Who without spoiling it for everyone who hasn't seen it across the world?
 Robots and Slaves
02/08/2008. Our science fiction reading group is discussing a shorter work this month, says Mark. It is Jack Williamson's novelette With Folded Hands, which appeared first in Astounding Stories in 1947. In the story a man who sells in mechanicals - basically robots - finds his business dying when new superior robots come along to compete. The new robots, streamlined black humanoids - are in every way superior to the robots he had been selling. But the new robots have more than superior technology; they have an ideology.
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