News Archive: March 2006

Tardisodes
30/03/2006. Doctor Who viewers are in for an extra treat when the new series launches next month. In addition to watching 13 new adventures - with David Tennant as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose - viewers will be given the opportunity to download 13 60-second mini-episodes via their mobile phones, or stream them on broadband as part of the BBC's TV Plus trials.

Stanislaw Lem dies
30/03/2006. Pioneering Polish science fiction author Stanislaw Lem dies aged 84.

Robert Jordan is unwell
30/03/2006. Fantasy author Robert Jordan - aka Jim Rigney - reports that he had been diagnosed with rare blood disease amyloidosis.

Lunar settlement
29/03/2006. NASA scientists working on a moonbase to test-bed their ideas for a Martian base.

Computing in 2020
29/03/2006. Science fiction author Vernor Vinge muses about the future of computing. Cyberpunk, it ain't.

ScramJets are go
29/03/2006. A £1m QinetiQ scramjet experiment was successfully launched at Woomera, 500km north of Adelaide, South Australia.

The force is large with this one
28/03/2006. New Star Wars TV series will get at least 100 episodes.

Philip Palmer joins JJLA
28/03/2006. British SFF author Philip Palmer has joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency.

Ian Cameron Esslemont's new agent
27/03/2006. Canadian author Ian Cameron Esslemont has joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency. Cam Esslemont is the joint creator of the world of Malaz, well known to readers from Steven Erikson's bestselling novels.

Gaie Sebold joins JJLA
27/03/2006. The latest client of the John Jarrold Literary Agency is Gaie Sebold.

Nevill joins JJLA
26/03/2006. British fantasy author Adam Nevill has joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency.

Zoran's bridge
26/03/2006. John Jarrold has sold limited-edition rights in two fantasy books by Zoran Zivkovic to Pete Crowther at PS Publishing.

Happy birthday Pyr
25/03/2006. Newish US science fiction and fantasy book imprint Pyr celebrates its first anniversary.

A For Andromeda
25/03/2006. Following in the footsteps of BBC Four's The Quatermass Experiment in April 2005, another adaptation of a science fiction classic, A For Andromeda, comes to the TV channel.

Amazing Stories axed
24/03/2006. Paizo Publishing has announced that Amazing Stories magazine will formally cease publication.

Black day for Gotrek and Felix
24/03/2006. The Black Library, Games Workshop's SFF fiction wing, have announced a new series of novels featuring their fantasy characters - Gotrek and Felix.

Rod Serling 101
24/03/2006. Works of Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling to be examined in conference at the USA's Ithaca College.

Upcoming SFF novels
24/03/2006. Forthcoming science fiction and fantasy novel releases from US SFF imprint Del Rey, April to July 2006.

David Moench joins Del Rey
23/03/2006. David Moench has joined Ballantine Books as publicity manager for science fiction imprint Del Rey.

New look SciFi.com coming soon
23/03/2006. There's a new look SciFi.com coming soon. As we predicted in the past, broadband will be king.

Memorial for Octavia E. Butler
22/03/2006. Warner Books, Seven Stories Press, Beacon Press, The Carl Brandon Society, Writers House, and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame announced today the creation of The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund in honor of the internationally acclaimed fiction writer, who passed away last month.

Website for McIntosh
22/03/2006. Fantasy author Fiona McIntosh gets a new web site.

An afternoon with Ruth Boswell
22/03/2006. To celebrate the launch of her new book 'Out of Time', Ruth Boswell comes to the UK's Midlands Arts Centre to talk about her career as a television and film producer. Ruth is best known for creating ITV's first science fiction drama called Timeslip while working for the ATV script department, followed by in 1972 moving to Thames and producing the first four seasons of The Tomorrow People.

The British Rail flying saucer
21/03/2006. Why did British Rail try to patent plans for a fusion-powered flying saucer in the 1970s.

The very first second
21/03/2006. NASA satellite glimpses universe's first trillionth of a second.

His Dark Materials the movie
20/03/2006. The film version of Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has gone to the casting stage now.

Lucky Landy
20/03/2006. Author Derek Landy's has landed 1.45 million Euros for a three fantasy novel deal with HarperCollins. It is kiddie fantasy, though, so the JK Rowling effect rolls on.

Google Mars
20/03/2006. Google adds an interactive version of the red planet using the same system as Google Earth. Nice.

William Gibson likes V for Vendetta movie
19/03/2006. Science fiction author and father of cyberpunk gives the V for Vendetta movie a resounding yes after catching it in the cinema.

Robo snake
19/03/2006. Ever wondered what a robot snake would look like - well ponder no more, because the Japanese have just made your day.

Trek fans get fruity
19/03/2006. At last, a dating site to allow Star Trek fans to set their phasers on stun.

Les Edwards in Brum
19/03/2006. On Friday April 7th, 7.45pm, at the Britannia Hotel, New Street, Birmingham, UK, the Birmingham SF Group has invited fantasy and horror artist, Les Edwards, to come and talk to them and present some slides of his work.

The future was FAB
18/03/2006. In 1964, young Mike Trim answered a newspaper advertisement seeking model makers for a film production crew and, beginning in the final days of Stingray, embarked on an odyssey that would last for more than four decades.

Warhammer goes roleplaying
18/03/2006. Next year, 2007 will mark the 20th anniversary of the first publication of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 game system. March 2007 will also see the release of Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay (40KRP).

Mission Impossible III
17/03/2006. There´s a new online trailer for the movie Mission Impossible 3.

Galaxy on Fire
17/03/2006. Where there's smoke, there's fire - even in outer space. A new infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a burning hot galaxy whose fiery stars appear to be blowing out giant billows of smoky dust.

Howard Waldrop interview
16/03/2006. Writer Howard Waldrop was interviewed on location at Capclave 2005 for this month's episode of Fast Forward: Contemporary Science Fiction.

Nukes for mutants
16/03/2006. Nuclear power program must be expanded if we are to realise humanity's dream of superhero mutants.

New red spot for Jupiter
15/03/2006. One for all you backyard astronomers out there. Grab your telescopes. Jupiter is growing a new red spot.

Funny man Peter Kay joins Who
15/03/2006. Peter Kay to star in new series of Doctor Who as baddie.

Pratchett drools over Nebula Award
14/03/2006. British fantasy author Terry Pratchett is getting hot to trot over his very first first Nebula Award nomination.

Sir Patrick Moore in a bad way
14/03/2006. Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, host of The Sky at Night, and noted British eccentric is rushed to hospital with heart problems.

X-Men The Last Stand trailer
13/03/2006. New online trailer for the X-Men The Last Stand film is live now.

British Fantasy Society gets short
13/03/2006. The British Fantasy Society has announced their short story competion for 2006.

Homo Aspergerus
13/03/2006. Gary Westfahl over at science fiction news journal Locus looks at the premise that Asperger's Syndrome might just be the next leap forward for humanity.

Saw III
12/03/2006. Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures have announced plans to develop and produce Saw III, the next film in their psychologically intense and disturbing horror franchise, for an October 27th, 2006 wide release.

Alien rain
12/03/2006. Have the first samples of extraterrestrial life been isolated by researchers.

BigDog the robot mule
11/03/2006. The USA army has a new pal. BigDog, the robot mule. Carring the Marine Core's ammo up a mountain in a petrol-rich warzone near you soon. Hoooyahh.

Cow-abducting aliens in spandex hit the red carpet
11/03/2006. Forget the Academy Awards. There's something glitzier on the horizon - and it is a galaxy away from Hollywood. Star-gazing A-Listers say the real intergalactic action is actually in the middle of the desert at the world's largest UFO convention and film festival.

Ellison's dangerous vision for bookstore
10/03/2006. The 25-year old scifi bookstore once known as Dangerous Visions is seeking a new identity after SFF author Harlan Ellison reportedly threatened them with legal action through his lawyer. They are using the temp. URL of readsf.com until someone provides them with a better name.

Matrix makeover
10/03/2006. The newsletter of the British Science Fiction Association has some new interviews up with authors Hal Duncan and Mike Carey.

Orbit acquires two more Noble Dead
10/03/2006. Science fiction publishing imprint Orbit has acquired two new books from husband-and-wife writing team Barb & J.C. Hendee.

Orbit acquires Runelords
09/03/2006. SFF publisher Orbit has acquired David Farland's Runelords series, previously published by Simon & Schuster's defunct Earthlight imprint.

Moorcock not happy with US
09/03/2006. Fantasy author Michael Moorcock is not best pleased the USA publishing community is snubbing his latest novel, The Vengeance of Rome.

Goodbye Antarctic ice sheet
08/03/2006. University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have used data from a pair of NASA satellites orbiting Earth in tandem to determine that the Antarctic ice sheet, which harbors 90 percent of Earth's ice, has lost significant mass in recent years.

COSMOS Magazine publishes its science fiction online
08/03/2006. Australia's science magazine, COSMOS - which also publishes original science fiction every issue - has made all of its previously published stories available online.

Williamson lectureship 2006
07/03/2006. The Williamson lectureship returns for another year, with science fiction legend and author Jack Williamson at the helm.

Time travel cop to return
07/03/2006. Life on Mars, the 1970s-stylee time-travelling cop show, has been recommissioned for a second series on BBC One.

Forbidden Planet signings
06/03/2006. Some SFF authors signing through March and April 2006.

Ellen Datlow talks
05/03/2006. The ex-editor of SciFi.com's SCI-Fiction magazine spills her guts.

Del Rey upcoming SFF novels
04/03/2006. Science novels forthcoming from US publisher Del Rey March to June 2006.

Terry the I-Con
03/03/2006. Terry Brooks will be Guest of Honor at I-Con 2006, March 24-26 at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, Long Island.

Star Wars e-Books
02/03/2006. eBook fans, rejoice! Lucasfilm Ltd. and Del Rey Books have announced a pilot program of nine Star Wars titles.

EOS upcoming SFF novels
01/03/2006. Some science fiction novels coming your way from the EOS imprint - March to April 2006.

Eurocon-2006 glows green
01/03/2006. The annual European science fiction con is arranging a tour of Chernobyl, and places are, errr, nearly sold out. Do they come with a free Geiger Counter, dude.

Octavia Butler dies
01/03/2006. Author Octavia Butler, one of the first significant US African-American female science fiction authors, dies in a tragic accident aged 58.

TOR goes digital
01/03/2006. SFF imprint TOR Books has joined publisher Baen in selling unencrypted science fiction and fantasy e-books.