Features
Joe Johnston directs an expansion and sophistication of the 1941 The Wolfman. In story and in style this is a cold, dark film. The script has some very nice touches but goes over the top in the final act. In many ways it is much more a work of art than the original film, but the original will be remembered when this film is forgotten. This film with the cumbersome title is a young adult movie from a young adult novel that reminds us of precursors Like Jason And The Argonauts And Clash Of The Titans, but is set in a contemporary setting. A high school boy finds out that the root of his problems is that he is a demigod in the sense of Greek mythology. In this world that mythology was not only true, the battles of the Greek gods continue today. Percy Jackson is suspect number one in the theft of Zeus's lightning bolt so goes from being an underachiever to battling the great monsters and gods of the Greek myths. This is a surprisingly satisfying fantasy adventure.
How many times, asks Uncle Geoff, have you seen the
above two phrases used in SF films and TV series? How
incredible that it gives unlimited speed and a massive
arsenal as if the technology has been holding back until
now to zap the opposition out of existence.
A new work of short(ish) science fiction by our editor GF Willmetts. Alien tourism in the future is just as tricky as today.
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FEATURES ...
VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
Hell Month
Some months you welcome in with open arms, and I had
every intention of making sure February 2010 was one
of these. What with the publication of my new 4th fantasy
novel, 'Secrets
of the Fire Sea' in the UK in hardback, and my much-anticipated
trip down to the British version of comic-con, the SFX
Weekender on the English south coast. It was going
to be a great month. Nothing could go wrong.
How little did I know that fate had other plans for
me!
It started the night before I was going to travel down
to the con, when I was knocked sideways by Noro-virus,
the winter vomiting bug. After a week of all the usual
unpleasantness associated with said virus, the gods
tossed down an extra week of increasingly agonising
stomach cramps my way, at the end of which I was sent
to the local A&E by my doctor (who appeared concerned
by my ever-increasing appetite for painkillers – ‘Morphine,
doc, just give me some &^%$££* morphine’).
After much scanning and probing, adoption of the nil-by-mouth
diet, and the like, I was then rushed into the operating
theatre for emergency bowel surgery, the good doctors
having located the forces of Sauron trying to re-establish
the dark bowers of Mordor within my guts.
Anyway, goodbye to meeting Tom Baker at the Weekender,
goodbye to signing books and meeting my fans, the SFX
crew and many fellow authors, and generally goodbye
to the whole month. So, a massive apology to all my
readers who were hoping to get an autograph on one of
my Jackelian novels at the SFX event… I hate letting
people down, and pride myself on my usual boring reliability
and punctuality, but I think this one has to filed away
under an act of god.
To make the month worse, SFcrowsnest.com has come under
near-constant attack now by hackers who – for reasons
best known to themselves – seem determined to bring
the site to its knees (maybe we gave their favourite
SF author a bad review or something?).
I’m in the process of changing the site to make it
tougher to break into via SQL injection attacks and
similar, and some areas of the service – the games area
and Hivemind – have been taken offline while this is
ongoing.
A big vote of thanks to Geoff for carrying the site
while I was laid up in hospital (ditto my wife, for
carrying the family), and an equally big vote of thanks
to the often maligned NHS, who did a fine job of keeping
my literary flame alive for at least a couple more novels.
Lastly, thanks to the HarperCollins Voyager team for
a lovely bunch of flowers via Interflora… I managed
in the end to resist the temptation of pretending they
were a belated valentine’s gift for her indoors.
Further surgery aside, I’m planning to attend the Eastercon
near Heathrow airport at the end of this month (http://www.odyssey2010.org/whoscoming.php)
and will be sitting in on various panels either as moderator
or one of the speakers. Feel free to come along and
get a signature on my novels and shoot the breeze with
yours truly.
I’m afraid you’re saddled with me for a little longer
yet.
Stephen
www.StephenHunt.net
EVENTS
Odyssey 2010
2 - 5 April 2010, Radisson
Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, London, UK
Fantasy and sci-fi author Stephen
Hunt will be guesting at Odyssey
2010, The 2010 Eastercon, early April. Eastercon is the annual British National Science Fiction
Convention. It has been held over the Easter weekend
every year since 1955.
Other luminaries of the sci-fi scene attending alongside
Stephen Hunt include authors such as Alastair Reynolds,
Iain M. Banks, Liz Williams, Paul Cornell, John Meaney,
Ian R Macleod, Juliet E McKenna, Ian Watson, SF columnist
David Langford, 2000AD artist Carlos Ezquerra, and comic-book
creator Mike Carey.
Be there, or you'll plumb such depths of
unhappiness you'll make Marvin the Paranoid Android look
like Comic Book Guy finding a mint-condition issue of Batman
#1 for 50 cents at a yard sale.
www.odyssey2010.org
REVIEWS
Reviews of fantasy, science fiction and horror
books, comics, magazines, DVDs and any other sci-fi
genre gear we've laid our grubby hands on this month.
pub: Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 410 page paperback. Price: $ 7.99 (US), $10.99 (CAN). ISBN: 0-345-48237-9). pub: Gollancz. 323 page small hardback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-575-08390-5). pub: Gollancz. 644 page enlarged paperback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-575-08246-5 pub: Gollancz. 534 page hardback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-575-08245-8) pub: Bantam Spectra/Random House. 491 page hardback. Price: $26.00 (US), $32.00 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-553-80319-8). pub: TOR/Forge. 414 page enlarged paperback. Price: $15.99 (US), $20.50 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-1841-1). region 2 DVD: pub: Network B002ZJ1JR2. 4 DVDs 600 minutes 12* 50 minute black & white episodes. Price: £29.99 (UK)) stars: Edward Woodward, Russell Hunter, Ronald Radd, Michael Goodliffe, Derek Bond and Anthony Valentine pub: TOR/Forge. 493 page small enlarged paperback. Price: $19.95 (US), $25.50 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-2119-0). pub: Big Finish. 2 CDs 100 minutes. Price: CD: £14.99 (UK), Download: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84435-445-0) cast: Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Nabil Shaban, Malcolm Rennie, Maggie Steed, Susan Franklyn, Tina Jones, William Townsend, Callum Witney Mills, Nicholas Briggs and James George pub: Big Finish. 2 CDs 120 minutes Price: CD: £14.99 (UK), Download: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84435-433-7) cast: Sylvester McCoy, Tracey Childs, Ann Bell, Abigail McKern, Joannah Tincey, Chuk Iwuji and Alex Mallinson region 2 DVD: pub: BBC 2438. Price: about £12.00 (UK) if you know where to look) I have to confess that I tend to be a little cautious when it comes to buying boxsets that aren't consecutive stories. On the other hand, it's difficult to get the three stories below separately now and at about £4 each, makes this a decent bargain. You could always argue that only as a boxset would you seriously consider buying 'Warriors Of The Deep'?! That aside, lets look at each of the stories. pub: Big Finish. 2 CDs 109 minutes. Price: CD/Download: £ 5.00 (UK). ISBN: 1-903654-47-5) cast: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Tracey Childs, David Tennant, Toby Longworth, Julius Schäfer, Nicholas Young, Peter Rae and Neil Corry region 2 DVD: pub: BBC 1354. 1 DVD 96 minutes 4 * 24 minute episodes and extras. Price: about £ 5.00 (UK) if you know where to look) stars: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Nicholas Courtney, Roger Delgado and Bernard Holley pub: TOR. 320 page paperback. Price: $14.99 (US), $18.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-2409-2). pub: TOR/Forge. 400 page enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US), $16.96 (CAN). ISBN: 978-07653-2408-5). pub: Orbit. 391 page small enlarged paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84149-227-8). pub: TOR/Forge. 640 page small enlarged paperback. Price: $19.95 (US), $21.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-2068-1). pub: Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 385 page enlarged paperback. Price: $13.00 (US), $15.00 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-345-49943-1 pub: Orbit. 385 page paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84149-737-2) pub: Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 400 page small enlarged paperback. Price: $15.00 (US), $17.50 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-345-49944-8 (pub: Orbit. 400 page paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84149-738-9) pub: Solaris/Rebellion Publishing/HarperCollins. 606 page paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84416-762-3). pub: Macmillan Audio. 12 CDs 14 hours. Price: $49.99 (US). ISBN: 978-1-4272-0786-9) voices: Steve Downes, Holter Graham, Frank O'Connor & Jen Taylor. pub: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 310 page indexed enlarged paperback. Price: $17.95 (US), $21.99 (CAN), £11.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-470-37338-5). pub: Bantam Books/Random House. 180 page small enlarged paperback. Price: $14.00 (US), $17.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-553-38578-6). pub: Del Rey/Ballantine. 283 page paperback. Price: $ 7.99 (US), $ 10.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-345-50684-9 pub: Titan Books. 283 page paperback. Price: £6.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84576-919-2) pub: Rebellion/2000AD. 384 page softcover graphic novel. Price: £15.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-906735-22-7). pub: Angry Robot. 302 page small enlarged paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-00732-389-0). pub: Del Rey/Ballantine Books. 315 page small enlarged paperback. Price: $14.00 (US), $17.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-345-49589-1 (pub: Orbit. 300 page small enlarged paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84149-682-5) pub: Immanion Press. 352 page enlarged paperback. Price: £12.99 (UK), $21.99 (US). ISBN: 978-1-904853-59-6).
pub: Rebellion/2000AD. 384 page softcover graphic novel. Price: £13.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-906735-21-0). pub: Spaceship Away. Rod Barzilay, 8 Marley Close, Preston, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 6DH, UK. 40 page A4 glossy stock magazines. Price: £ 6.99 (UK), 9.00 euro, £10.00 (overseas). On subscription or wanting to get back issues, buy 6 and the 7th is for free!!!). pub: Titan Books. 76 page small softcover graphic novel. Price: £ 4.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84576-905-5). pub: Big Finish. 1 CD 60 minutes. Price: CD: £9.99 (UK), Download; £ 8.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84435-406-1) cast: Gary Jones and Beth Chalmers pub: Rebellion/2000AD. 288 page softcover graphic novel. Price: £13.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-905437-29-0). pub: Gollancz. 583 page enlarged paperback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-575-08493-3). pub: Doubleday/Corgi. 425 page illustrated enlarged paperback. Price: £ 5.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-552-55127-4). region 2 DVD: pub: Network B002ZJ1JOK. 4 DVDs 13 * 55minute episodes with a photo gallery. Price: £39.99 (UK)) stars: Cyril Luckham, Derek Smith, David Burke, Lynn Farley, Gwyneth Powell, John Colin and Edward Petherbidge pub: Tachyon. 92 page A5 size enlarged paperback. Price: $11.95 (US). ISBN: 978-1-892391-92-6). region 2 DVD: pub: Entertainment In Video/New Line Cinema EDV 9489. 1 DVD 92 minute film with extras. Price: about £ 2.00 (UK) if you know where to look) stars: Chris O'Neill, Rhiannon Leigh Wryn, Timothy Hutton, Patrick Gilmore, Joely Richardson and Michael Clarke Duncan Michael Rubens' first novel, 'The Sheriff Of Yrnameer', is a Science Fiction comedy. pub: Orbit. 390 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84149-710-5). pub: Sphere/Little, Brown Book Group. 191 page illustrated indexed hardback. Price: £16.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-84744-403-5). pub: Titan/Wildstorm. 144 page graphic novel. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84576-933-8). pub: TOR/Forge. 382 page hardback. Price: $27.99 (US), $35.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-2095-7). Books we've reviewed in different formats. Use our search engine to see what we said.
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Got a scifi book, video or game review for
us? Send your submissions to reviews@sfcrowsnest.com
NEWS
The youthful new Doctor Who series is creeping ever closer, as evidenced by this trailer our chums in the BBC have sent over to us. Albedo One, Ireland’s main magazine of science fiction, fantasy and horror, has announced the winners of the International Aeon Award 2009 short fiction contest. Chris Beckett is a Science Fiction writer who wins literary awards (The Edgehill Prize, 4th July 2009) and has a day job as senior lecturer in social work at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He has authored a number of academic textbooks on social work theory, ethics and child protection. The Zeno Literary Agency has taken on Indian SFF author Samit Basu as a client. Samit is a rising star on the scene on India – his Gameworld Trilogy, hit the best seller lists over there and he joins Zeno having sent his novel Turbulence into the agency. A trailer for Supernatural season 5 episode 4, which airs in the UK Wednesday 24th February at 9pm on Living. Jasper Kent has revamped his website, including a new flash animation, in advance of Bantam Press's UK publication of Thirteen Years Later, the sequel to his historical vampire debut Twelve. You never know where a fan of fantasy author Stephen Hunt might crop up. Take, for instance, the Tintin-like graphic novels featuring the scifi adventures of Detective Inspector Tozo by illustrator/writer David O'Connell - in David's latest series, he actually has Stephen Hunt appearing as a character! Puffin have acquired two fantasy novels in a new series entitled Wereworld by British author and artist Curtis Jobling (creator of Bob the Builder). Shannon Park, Executive Editor at Puffin secured world rights for the series from the John Jarrold Literary Agency, for an undisclosed five-figure sum. The Wereworld novels are due for publication in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Following their publication of Ian R. MacLeod's 2009 novel Song of Time, Peter Crowther at PS Publishing has acquired limited edition rights from John Berlyne at the Zeno Agency for MacLeod's new novel Wake up and Dream and will publish in the latter part of 2010. The PS edition will feature cover art by Dirk Berger. William King has signed a major new deal with the Black Library, for a trilogy based on the high elf characters Tyrion and Teclis. Literary agent to the scifi stars, John Jarrold’s latest client is British fantasy writer Charlotte Naylor, who is planning a fantasy series that will appeal to readers of Trudi Canavan, Kristin Cashore and Maria V Snyder, opening with The Lady of Eslaya. The people behind the live action version film of Avatar, aka the Last Airbender (well, M. Night Shyamalan, mainly), has tipped us off that his new movie has it's first big trailer out. First trailer for a spy-fi flick based on the comic-strip, The Losers. A CIA suicide squad has to go against the agency when the government decides they know too much and need killing. Looks like guilty watching pleasure. A couple of steampunk pieces, including a video clip from Abney Park's latest album, Aether Shanty, and some steampunks performing at the Oxford exhibition. The Green Man sends in the very sad news of the death of science fiction author Kage Baker, who finally died of cancer on Sunday January 31st 2010 at the age of 58. Fantasy author Sir Terry Pratchett will present an impassioned plea for people to have the right to choose how, where and when they die when he delivers the Richard Dimbleby Lecture on BBC One tonight at 10.35pm. Marc Webb is to direct the next chapter in the Spider-Man movie franchise, set to arrive in the cinemas summer 2012, SFcrowsnest has been told by Columbia Pictures and Marvel. Julie Crisp, Senior Commissioning Editor at Tor UK at Pan Macmillan has concluded a second two-book world rights deal for UK fantasy author Mark Charan Newton, for an undisclosed five-figure sum. The agent was John Jarrold. Due to author Dan Abnett’s health issues, the Horus Heresy novel Prospero Burns will now be published in Jan 2011. Albedo One, Ireland’s magazine of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, tells us their fifth International Aeon Award short fiction contest is on the horizon. Grand prize is 1000 Euros and publication in Albedo One. Second and third place stories win 200 and 100 Euros respectively, alongside publication in Albedo One. Vincent Chong came onto the horror and fantasy scene several years ago with a sequence of artworks. Since then he has gone on to provide cover artwork for authors such as Stephen King. Now some of his artwork is collected in Altered Visions. Jasper Fforde switched to writing from a career in the film industry and has been publishing his novels since 2001. His first book, The Eyre Affair, kicked off the Thursday Next series, which is still ongoing and include Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten (which was nominated by the British Fantasy Society for Best Novel in 2005) and First Among Sequels. Here are 2 new episode preview clips from Episode 4 of BBC3’s ‘Being Human’ series, which airs this Sunday at 9pm on BBC3. Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner are, we are told, set to return for a third series of BBC Three horror drama Being Human, as the supernatural friends trying to live normal lives despite their unusual afflictions.
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NEWS...
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OTHER BUSINESS
Write for us
Do you like curling up and reading a book?
Do you have a preference for fantasy, SF or
horror? Do you find it the greatest pastime you have next to being on
your computer?Are you very vocal about what you like and don’t like in
what you read? Would you like to share your thoughts with others about
books? Would you like an endless supply of books to do this with? Do
you live in the UK?
If you’ve been nodding your head up to this
point then link in below and see if you have what it takes to be a
reviewer at SFCrowsnest. If you have that special knack to read and
write or want to develop said skill then the only way you’re going to
find out is to take the plunge yourself rather than wait for others to
do it first. It’s got to be better than waiting for the sun to come
out. Check out our recruitment procedures through the following link
and let me decide if you have what it takes ... gfwillmetts@hotmail.com
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