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Articles from Issue 188. July 2009.

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.

(c) Mark Garlick: Titan arrival
Art by Mark Garlick: Titan arrival


Daily News Updates

Add our news to your blog/web site

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.

More SciFi News ...

Sci-fi stories we've spotted Offworld the Nest recently ...


Anime box-sets for Spring/Summer 09: Part four

Niven and Lerner: Juggler of Worlds

Wish You Were Here - On The Moon [Vacation]

Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen

Shatner's Newest Priceline Ad

Purple and Black by K.J. Parker

Free Fiction and Stuff for 07/03/2009

Top 10 Fantasy Worlds

Book Review: The Game of Stars and Comets by Andre Norton

Back Up Over (I guess)

Photos from Duncan Lay?s launch of The Wounded Guardian

e-books, limited editions, and exciting anthologies

Wish Pete Crowther a happy sixtieth birthday!

We?ve Moved!

First look: Arthur The Legend

SCI FI Wire takes the holiday weekend off

Jim Baen's Universe Vol. 19 Vol 4 Num 1 June 2009

Warriors of Time

New Website

Star Trek Re-watch: ?Errand of Mercy?

Lavinia wins Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel

Top Posts after (nearly) one year of Suvudu

Red Mist

LeGuin Comics on Book View Cafe

The Best Ever Human-Alien Bonding Over Stabbing Other Aliens [Found Footage]

Indiana Jones And The Staff Of Kings

Byrne Star Trek Crew #5 Preview

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast by Aaron Allston

Stargate SG-1 Watchathon - 'The Enemy Within'

Rejection: Soul For Sale

Video: Trailer for the "The Box"

Way out West (WoW)

The moment ? by Duncan Lay

Back from Scandinavia

Free fiction samples now available online from PS Publishing!

Thought you might like to see this?

Wolverine sequel in development

The new trailer for the animated comedy Planet 51 has landed

Human Immortality

The Man with the Iron Heart

Interzone 221

MacVampire Production Diary: T minus 9

Blood of Elves wins David Gemmell Award for Heroic Fantasy

Free Library: July New Additions!

Eagle Rising

Jeff Carlson's Plague Year spreads to Czech Republic
Sci-Fi news around the web

 

 

 

 

 

 

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