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Articles
from Issue 188. July 2009. 
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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.
|
Book,
Comic, Magazine & DVD Reviews
from Issue 188. July 2009.
|
 All
The Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear
01/07/2009. pub:
TOR/Sci Fi Channel. 368 page small hardback.
Price: $24.95 (US), $27.95 (CAN). ISBN:
978-0-7653-1882-4.
 Another
Time, Another Place - Quantum Leap by Richie
F. Levine & Judith A. Moose
01/07/2009. pub:
BearManor Media. 246 page illustrated enlarged
paperback. Price: $29.95 (US), £15.00 (UK)
but you really have to look around for it
to get a decent price. ISBN: 159393-119-0.
 Blood
Lust 4: Aftermath by Rhys A. Wilcox
01/07/2009. pub:
RAW! 209 page enlarged paperback. Price:
£ 9.95 (UK). ID: 3755149.
 Caprica
by Bear McCreary and The Hollywood Symphony
Orchestra
01/07/2009. CD
pub: La-La Land Records LLLCD 1098. 18 tracks
54:04 minutes. Price: $15.99(US), £ 9.99
(UK).
 Cinema
Anime edited by Steven T. Brown
01/07/2009. pub:
Palgrave Macmillan. 248 page illustrated
indexed enlarged paperback. Price: £14.99
(UK). ISBN: 978-0-230-60621-0.
 Diamond
Star (The Skolian Empire series book 14)
by Catherine Asaro
01/07/2009. pub:
Baen Books. 512 page hardback. Price: $15.64
(US), £13.59 (UK). ISBN: 978-1416591603.
Dr
Who: The Companion Chronicles: Magician's
Oath by Scott Handcock
01/07/2009. pub:
Big Finish. 60 minute 1 CD with extras.
Price: CD: £ 8.99; Download: £ 7.99 (UK).
ISBN: 978-1-84435-379-8) read by Richard
Franklin and Michael Chance.
Dr
Who: The Companion Chronicles: Transit of
Venus by Jacqueline Rayner
01/07/2009. pub:
Big Finish. 60 minute 1 CD with extras.
Price: CD: £ 8.99; Download: £ 7.99 (UK).
ISBN: 978-1-84435-356-9) cast: William Russell
and Ian Hallard.
 Fireball
XL5 Special Edition
01/07/2009. DVD
Region 2. Pub: Network B001VAF6SE. 6 DVDs
39 black and white episodes 975 minutes
with colour extras. Price: £59.99 (UK).
 Flames
Of Herakleitos by Bob Lock
01/07/2009. pub:
Screaming Dreams. 350 page enlarged paperback.
Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-9555184-1-5.
 GUD
issue 4 spring 2009
01/07/2009. pub:
Gud Magazine. 2 issues/$18 (US) per year,
$ 3.50 (US) electronic PDF copy.
 How
Not To Write A Novel by Sandra Newman and
Howard Mittelmark
01/07/2009. pub:
Penguin. 262 page indexed small enlarged
paperback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-141-03854-4.
 How
To Write Fiction (And Think About It) by
Robert Graham
01/07/2009. pub:
Palgrave Macmillan. 254 page indexed small
enlarged paperback. Price: £14.99 (UK).
ISBN: 978-1-4039-9315-1.
 Ice
Song by Kirsten Imanikasai
01/07/2009. pub:
Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 372 page enlarged
paperback. Price: $15.00 (US), $17.50 (CAN).
ISBN: 978-0-345-50881-2.
 Ink
(The Book Of All Hours) by Hal Duncan
01/07/2009. pub:
Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 615 page enlarged
paperback. Price: $15.95 (US), ISBN: 1-4050-8853-4
530 page enlarged paperback. $15.95 (US),
$19.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-345-48733-9 pub:
Pan MacMillan. 615 page hardback. £17.99
(UK). ISBN: 978-1-4050-5209-2.
 Interzone
# 222 -
01/07/2009. bi-monthly
magazine: UK publisher/editor address: Andy
Cox, TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham,
Ely, Cambridgeshire CB6 2LB. Price: £ 3.75
(UK) $ 7.00(US). ISSN: 0264-3596.
 On
Spec: The Canadian Magazine Of The Fantastic
vol 21 no. 1 # 76 Spring 2009
01/07/2009. pub:
Copper Pig Writers Society. 114 small magazine.
Price: $ 6.95 (CAN). ISSN: 0843-476X.
 Robin
Hood: Friendly Fire by Trevor Baxendale
01/07/2009. pub:
Big Finish. 60 minute 1 CD with extras.
Price: CD: £ 8.99; Download: £ 7.99 (UK).
ISBN: 978-1-84435-389-7) read by David Harewood
 Robin
Hood: Tiger's Tail by Jonathan Clements
01/07/2009. pub:
Big Finish. 60 minute 1 CD with extras.
Price: CD: £ 8.99; Download: £ 7.99 (UK).
ISBN: 978-1-84435-388-0) read by Jonas Armstrong.
 Shadows
In The Starlight (A Changeling Detective
novel) by Elaine Cunningham
01/07/2009. pub:
TOR/Forge. 286 page small hardback. Price:
$23.95 (US), $31.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-076530-971-6.
 Sky:
The Complete Series
01/07/2009. Region
2 DVD: Pub: Network 7953059. 1 DVD 7 * 25
minute colour episodes 175 minutes plus
extras. Price: £14.99 (UK))
 Speaker
For the Dead audio book by Orson Scott Card
01/07/2009. Macmillan
Audio. 14 hours 12 CDs. Price: $49.95 (US).
ISBN: 978-1-59397-476-3) read by David Birney
and Stefan Rudnicki.
 Star
Wars: Dark Lord - The Rise Of Darth Vader
by James Luceno
01/07/2009. pub:
Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 322 page hardback.
Price: $25.95 (US), $35.95 (CAN). ISBN:
978-0345477323.
 Starcombing
by David Langford
01/07/2009. pub:
Cosmos Books/Wildside Press. 233 page indexed
enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US).
ISBN: 978-0-8095-7348-6).
 Starship
Fall by Eric Brown
01/07/2009. pub:
New Con Press. 103 page small limited edition
hardback. Price: £18.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-907069-02-4.
Strange
& Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko (Hardcover)
by Steve Ditko and Blake Bell
01/07/2009. pub:
Fantagraphics. 220 page hardback. Price:
about £18.00 (UK) if you know where to look.
ISBN: 978-1-56097-921-0.
 Swarmthief's
Dance (The Swarmthief Trilogy book 1) by
Deborah J. Miller
01/07/2009. pub:
TOR-UK. 314 page enlarged paperback. Price:
£10.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-4050-5074-8 pub: TOR-UK.
500 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK).
ISBN: 1-330-43636-8.
 The
book conversions July 2009
01/07/2009. Hardbacks
to enlarged or standard paperbacks. Use
the SFC search engine to see what we thought
of them.
 The
Dark Volume: Glass Books Volume Two by Gordon
Dahlquist
01/07/2009. pub:
Bantam Dell. 508 page hardback. Price: $26.00
(US), $30.00 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-385-34036-6.
 The
Gift Of Joy by Ian Whates
01/07/2009. pub:
New Con Press. 252 page small limited edition
hardback. Price: £18.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-907069-00-0.
 The
Hienama: A Story Of The Sulh by Storm Constantine
01/07/2009. pub:
Immanion Press. 179 page hardback. Price:
£16.99 (UK), $30.99 (US), Є24.99 (euro).
ISBN: 978-1904853275.
 The
Lightstone (The Lightstone book 1) by David
Zindell
01/07/2009. pub:
TOR. 414 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US),
$34.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-76531-129-0.
 The
Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
01/07/2009. pub:
Gollancz. 505 page enlarged paperback. Price:
£12.99 (UK only). ISBN: 978-0-575-08046-1
508 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 7.99
(UK only). ISBN: 978-0-575-08348-6.
 The
Perils of Quad by Carl Joglar
01/07/2009. pub:
iUniverse.com. 272 page enlarged paperback.
Price: $17.95 (US), £12.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-144012-275-0.
 The
Ruby Dice (The Skolian Empire series book
13) by Catherine Asaro
01/07/2009. pub:
Baen Books. 400 page hardback. Price: £14.44
(UK). ISBN: 978-1-41655-514-8 reprint edition.
592 page paperback, Price: $ 7.99 (US).
ISBN: 978-141659-158-0.
 The
Sons Of Heaven (A Company Novel) by Kage
Baker
01/07/2009. pub:
TOR/SciFi Channel. 431 page hardback. Price:
$25.95 (US) $26.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-1746-9.
 The
Wingless Boy (The Clouded World books 1
and 2) by Jay Amory
01/07/2009. pub:
Gollancz. 601 page enlarged paperback. Price:
£12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-575-08371-4.
 Victory
Of Eagles (Temeraire book 5) by Naomi Novik
01/07/2009. pub:
Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 273 hardback.
Price: $25.00 (US), $28.00 (CAN). ISBN:
978-0-345-49688-1.
 With
The Light: Vol 2: Raising An Autistic Child
by Keiko Tobe
01/07/2009. pub:
Yen Press/Orbit Books. 527 page enlarged
paperback. Price: £10.99 (UK), $14.99, $17.25
(CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7595-2359-3.
 Wordsmithery:
The Writer's Craft And Practice edited by
Jayne Steel
01/07/2009. pub:
Palgrave Macmillan. 183 page indexed small
enlarged paperback. Price: £16.99 (UK).
ISBN: 978-1-4039-9828-6.
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News Updates
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Top twenty fantasy books for 2009
Deborah J Miller, the award administrator for the The David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy has just published the top twenty fantasy novels from the long-list in order of votes received. Our own sugar daddy, Stephen Hunt's novel, The Kingdom Beyond The Waves, was in at number seven.
popCULT
John Jarrold has sold limited-edition rights in popCULT!, a novel by UK author David Barnett, to Chris Teague at Welsh publisher Pendragon Press. David is the Assistant Editor of the Bradford Telegraph and Argus newspaper, and has had two earlier novels published by Immanion Press, Hinterland and Angelglass. He also writes regular blogs for the Guardian books website.
Nguyen is Boomer (true)
SFcrowsnest reader and scifi fan down under, Nguyen, sends us in some footage of her at the Australian Supanova con. It's a big genre event down there, and she loves to dress up as Boomer from Battlestar Galactica. I'm more of a No. 6 girl myself.
Planet 51
There's no space like home. Trailer for an animated scifi movie that reads like ET reversed - human astronaut lands on alien planet and has to be hidden by alien kid and helped back to his in-orbit return module. ET has a whole 1950s retro look going on, so lots of opps. to lampoon all the science fiction movies of the period.
A Quantum Quest to Comic-Con
A Quantum Quest panel, featuring film composer Shawn Clement and co-director and writer/producer Dr. Harry Kloor, will speak at Comic-Con on Thursday, July 23rd 2009 from 12pm-1pm in Ballroom twenty at the San Diego Convention Center. Shawn Clement scored the animated film Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey, which takes viewers on a solar safari through the universe.
Realms of Fantasy rescued from oblivion
Sci-fi publisher Tir Na Nog Press have purchased the recetly defunct Realms of Fantasy magazine from Sovereign Media.
The City & The City (in the city)
China Miéville talks about his new weird detective novel The City & The City - UK tour details are here.
From SCI FI to SyFy
SCI FI officially becomes Syfy on-air and online via Syfy.com in the USA on Tuesday July 7th 2009.
Tor Books goes for an EVE Online novelisation
Tor Books are set to publish a new space opera set in the universe of EVE Online, a science fiction MMOG.
Horror is back
Julie Crisp of Pan Macmillan in London has concluded a World Rights deal with John Jarrold, for two untitled horror novels by British author Adam L G Nevill, after a hard-fought auction.
Daybreakers
Trailer for an interesting concept for a horror movie - in Daybreakers, most of humanity have become immortal vampires, and it's the few human outcasts that are hunted down and farmed for blood. Trouble is, there's too many vamps and not enough human sheep to feed them. What's to do?
Forget life on Mars: how about life on Saturn's moon Enceladus?
For the first time, scientists working on NASA's Cassini mission have detected sodium salts in ice grains of Saturn's outermost ring. Detecting salty ice indicates that Saturn's moon Enceladus, which primarily replenishes the ring with material from discharging jets, could harbor a reservoir of liquid water -- perhaps an ocean -- beneath its surface.
The Last Airbender bends some airtime
M. Night Shyamalan's live action fantasy-scifi movie The Last Airbender gets its first trailer. This is the one that was based on the cartoon Avatar, which was unusually imaginative for a toon.
Fantasy gets Polish
It's not only Polish builders that are doing well in the UK - now, so are Polish writers! The first annual David Gemmell Legend Award for best fantasy novel has been won by Andrzej Sapkowski for his novel Blood of Elves (published in the UK by Gollancz). The Award was accepted on Sapkowski’s behalf by his UK editor, Jo Fletcher. Well done, Andrzej.
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra
An online trailer for the film G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. Much maligned in advance by the netarati, this film might just be a suprise hit with the kids. Well, it has some cool-looking power armour suits anyway.
Cold Souls
Online trailer for a movie where the actor Paul Giamatti, plays an actor called Paul Giamatti, who pays a high-tech outfit to remove his soul and put it in cryogenic suspension - but then it gets stolen by soul traffickers and bought by Russian criminals. It might be genius, it might be arse of the highest order.
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