News Archive: September 2005

Google goes to Mars
29/09/2005. NASA Ames Research Center, located in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, and Mountain View-based Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced plans to collaborate on a number of technology-focused research-and-development activities that will couple some of Earth's most powerful technology resources.

Hidden masters of the world
29/09/2005. Secrets of the the Bilderberg Group - the shadowy gathering of top Western politicians, business leaders, bankers and others that meets behind closed doors once a year to discuss world events - have been revealed in an exclusive BBC interview with its chairman.

Comments on Robert Wise
28/09/2005. While I was in Canada for the Toronto International Film Festival I heard the news that Robert Wise had died. He was 91 years and four days old. I was very sorry to hear that.

Heffers science fiction extravaganza
28/09/2005. On November 1st 2005 from 6.30pm, the Heffers bookshop is hosting a Science Fiction and Fantasy Evening at Heffers, Grafton Centre, Cambridge (UK).

Self-publishing and toilet paper
27/09/2005. JK Rowling, Agatha Christie and Hunter S. Thompson all got their share of publishers' rejection letters. Stephen King got so many that he used to nail them on a spike in his bedroom.

Marvel taps Carnivale creator Daniel Knauf to pen six issues of Iron Man
27/09/2005. Screenwriter will be the creative mastermind behind new Iron Man comic series.

Robot soldiers for Korea
26/09/2005. South Korea announces a plan to spend billions developing a droid army.

Dolphin soldiers on the loose
26/09/2005. Armed dolphins with dart guns set free by Hurricane Katrina.

Don Quijote, asteroid killer
26/09/2005. ESA selects targets for asteroid-deflecting mission Don Quijote.

October 2005 signings
25/09/2005. Authors and other notables turning up at the Forbidden Planet SFF superstore in London and other UK locations.

Eos books October-December 2005
25/09/2005. Upcoming novels from the science fiction and fantasy imprint over at publisher HarperCollins.

Robot Stories and More Screenplays
25/09/2005. Immedium is publishing Robot Stories and More Screenplays by writer and director Greg Pak. Featuring a foreword by playwright David Henry Hwang, best known as the author of M. Butterfly, this book collects Pak's film scripts for the first time.

ConJose committee discharged
24/09/2005. At their meeting on Saturday, September 17, 2005, the board of directors of San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (SFSFC) voted to discharge the ConJose Asset Management Committee, dissolving the final administrative remnant of the 2002 Worldcon Committee.

Invasion review
24/09/2005. Review of the new US TV SF series Invasion. Great series, but the worst timing in the history of television?

Conventions of War and The World Before
23/09/2005. Upcoming novels from science fiction imprint Eos - up to December 2005.

The satellite hunters
23/09/2005. American military deploy a new division set up specifically to take down and disrupt enemy communications satellites.

Students build robot sentry
22/09/2005. Students build the robot sentry gun from the Aliens movie with a webcam and some old bits from their garage - and a machinegun, of course. Cool.

SFsignal battens down storm hatches
22/09/2005. The crew of the online science fiction zine SFsignal bravely opt to stay in Houston as mega-storm approaches Texas.

Narnia gets royal blessing
22/09/2005. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe film to have world premiere - December 7th 2005 - at London's Royal Albert Hall, and is named as the 2005 Royal Film Performance.

Aliens in London
21/09/2005. From life on other planets to mankind's obsession with extra-terrestrials on Earth‚ the Dana Centre in London - the Science Museum's bar and café annex for adults to discuss contemporary science - is launching a series of debates exploring alien life.

What a load of G.A.A.K
21/09/2005. They came from outer space. Life alien to our own. Using science and technology far advanced of our own. Boldly seeking out new worlds and new civilizations like our own. Not to explore, but to conquer. And, of course - to meet the original cast of Star Trek.

Manga preview web sites launched
20/09/2005. Del Rey Manga has announced the launch of new title-specific websites, each of which will allow manga readers to preview thirty pages from the first volume of a new manga title-before the official publication date-in a page-a-day approach.

Books from Del Rey Sept 2005 to Jan 2006
19/09/2005. Novels coming soon from US science fiction imprint Del Rey.

Writing Bareback
18/09/2005. Betsy Mitchell, Del Rey Editor-in-Chief, has purchased Bareback and a second (untitled) novel by debut writer Kit Whitfield.

Berkey exhibition opens at ArtOrg Gallery
17/09/2005. Seldom seen works of science fiction illustrator John Berkey will be featured at a special exhibition in the USA.

The winds of Mars
17/09/2005. New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
16/09/2005. The battle to save humankind rages on with the release of X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, the sequel X-Men Legends, inspired by Marvel's Super Hero team.

Hyperdrive's On
15/09/2005. Hyperdrive takes BBC Two comedy into the future with the BEEB's new TV series.

Sling your web, son
14/09/2005. Palyers can now take on the role of Marvel's Spider-Man and his arch-nemesis Venom with the release of Activision's newest entry in the Spider-Man video game franchise - Ultimate Spider-Man.

A Scanner Darkly
13/09/2005. New trailer for the SFF movie based on Philip K Dick's novel.

Rhys Hughes joins Jarrold Literary Agency
12/09/2005. Welsh fantastical writer Rhys Hughes has joined the burgeoning John Jarrold Literary Agency.

Fantasy Magazine
12/09/2005. Something new from Prime Books: Fantasy Magazine. Like it says on the tin, it's a quarterly fantasy magazine with stories, book reviews, and interviews.

Finding your way around Shannara
11/09/2005. Fantasy novels in Terry Brooks' Shannara world finally get some maps.

File under lucky, lucky bar steward
10/09/2005. SFF author Jonathan Lethem wins a USD 500,000 prize for his science fiction novels from the The MacArthur Fellows Program. Hmmm-mmm. Got to get me some of that action!

How we will get back to the moon
09/09/2005. Before the end of the next decade, NASA astronauts will again explore the surface of the moon. And this time, we're going to stay, building outposts and paving the way for eventual journeys to Mars and beyond. There are echoes of the iconic images of the past, but it won't be your grandfather's moon shot.

Fox on Fast Forward
08/09/2005. Writer Andrew Fox is interviewed on this month's episode of Fast Forward: Contemporary Science Fiction.

Serial murder?
02/09/2005. Robert Silverberg reflects on the sad passing away of the science fiction serial format he grew up with. Alas, Astounding Stories, we loved you well.

Geffen Award nominees in
01/09/2005. The final nominees for the 2005 Geffen Award have been selected.

Live action Flux
01/09/2005. MTV's cartoon science fiction freedom fighter Aeon Flux gets a new online trailer for the upcoming live action movie. Think 80 per cent Nikitia, 20 per cent Blake's Seven.

His Dark Materials
01/09/2005. Some more news on the much anticipated film verison of fantasy author Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.

Niven and Pournelle get this year's Heinlein
01/09/2005. US science fiction authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle scoop this year's Heinlein Awards at the NASFiC Heinlein Banquet in Seattle.

Japanese probe arrives at asteroid
01/09/2005. The Japanese Hayabusa space probe has arrived at asteroid Itokawa. Way to go, JAXA.

The War balloons of Earth
01/09/2005. The USA are developing the next generation of super-airships for military freight - the Walrus. Think: a floating aircraft carrier capable of carrying two tank regiments into battle.

Seiun Awards 2005
01/09/2005. The Japanese Seiun Awards for the best science fiction novels of last year have been announced.

Clarecraft to close
01/09/2005. The fantasy figurines firm best known for its Terry Pratchett Discworld range is shutting its doors with about 29 jobs lost.

Wooden Rocket Awards 2005 - open for business
01/09/2005. It's that time again, the dust is now being brushed off the ballot boxes for the Wooden Rocket Awards for the best science fiction and fantasy web sites.

Arthur C Clarke Award rattles the collection tin
01/09/2005. A new fund raising effort for the Arthur C Clarke Award has been launched for 2005. Looks good too.

Eurocon-2005 round-up
01/09/2005. Eurocon-2005, the 27th European Science Fiction Convention was held in Glasgow, Scotland from August 4th till August 8th 2006. This year Eurocon had been run together with Worldcon, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention.

The art of John Berkey
01/09/2005. There's large gallery show of classic SF illustrator's John Berkey's original work opening on November 4th 2005 in the USA.

H.G. Wells' The War Of The Worlds descends on Australia and Japan
01/09/2005. As Tom Cruise's War Of The Worlds exits the theatres, the movie adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic novel produced by Pendragon Pictures, announces their director's cut.

Huge solar flare spotted
01/09/2005. Earth in danger from strange new levels of sunspot activity?

Superman Returns pictures
01/09/2005. Some photos from the new Superman Returns film.

Terry on TV
01/09/2005. New CBBC controller Alison Sharman has made her first Sunday teatime drama commission with an adaptation of Terry Pratchett's novel, Johnny and the Bomb.

Erikson loves England
01/09/2005. Steven Erikson is going to be making a rare visit to the UK at the end of this month as guest of honour at the British Fantasycon.

The condition of Brit
01/09/2005. Christopher Priest makes with the full guest of honour speech at this year's world science fiction con, Interaction.

Gemmell and Anderson land on the Forbidden Planet
01/09/2005. David Gemmell and Gerry Anderson are coming to London's Forbidden Planet science fiction superstore early September.

Mars here we come?
01/09/2005. 4Frontiers Corporation says it plans to establish the first private commerical Martian settlement - and will beat NASA to the job if it has to.

Bob Denver dies
01/09/2005. Nest reader Steve Green sadly reports that actor Bob 'Gilligan's Planet' Denver has died aged 70.

Corpse Bride trailer
01/09/2005. There's a new online trailer for the Tim Burton animated flick Corpse Bride.

Marvel to roll its own movies
01/09/2005. Marvel Comics to produce its own independent super-hero films with $525 worth of backing.

2005 Delta Film Award announced
01/09/2005. The winner of the 2005 Delta Film Award for best amateur entry screened at the Festival of Fantastic Films in Manchester was the fantasy The Kingdom of Shadows, directed by British film-maker Ross Shepherd.

Peter Hamilton in Brum
01/09/2005. Science Fiction author Peter F Hamilton is coming to talk to the Birmingham SF Group on Friday 14th October 2005 at 8pm.

Six dimensions
01/09/2005. Work being done in the field of dark matter might have discovered some extra dimensions, says scientists.

Free science fiction audiobooks
01/09/2005. Our pals at Project Gutenberg expand from offering free downloadable e-books to offering free downloadable audiobooks.

Serenity upgrade
01/09/2005. The web site for the science fiction film Serenity gets a makeover.

Escape from New Orleans
01/09/2005. Julia Houston, the science fiction editor of online portal Ask Jeeves and about.com tells of her Escape from New Orleans.

Too many people, too little help
01/09/2005. The USA could learn a lot from poor nations when it comes to disaster management.

Superman Returns
01/09/2005. Report from the set of the new Superman movie.

Eric Brown Joins JJLA
01/09/2005. British SF writer Eric Brown has joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency.

New Battlestar Galactica TV series fattens up
01/09/2005. First season launched on DVD with 9 hours of bonus features and collectible trading cards on September 20th 2005.

Nebula DVD released
01/09/2005. The 2005 Nebula Awards DVD is now available from Alpha Video Productions.

Horror film puppetmaster hits the road
01/09/2005. Cult horror film director Charles Band is set to take his macabre mix of creatures, puppets, dolls and bizarre movie magic on the road this October 2005 with Charles Band's Full Moon Horror Road Show.

When Worlds Collide
01/09/2005. Steven Spielberg is taking over the production of the movie remake of When Worlds Collide from Stephen Sommers for Paramount.