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News Archive
Current: November 2004
Terry
Brooks gets Tanequil
Fantasy author Terry interviewed about his new novel, Tanequil,
the second book in the High Druid of Shannara trilogy, on growing
as an author, and his plans to return to his earlier Word & Void
series.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
Sea,
Sky by Rosemary Kirstein
The author of The Language Of Power ruminates about world creation
and comes to the conclusion that there are basically two ways to
do it. You can begin from the top down, or from the ground up.
(ARTICLES)
Third
World
One of our famous one page stories by GF Willmetts.
(FICTION)
Black
Cat Investments Ltd. - Your Money Is Safe With Us
One of our famous one page stories by Rod MacDonald.
(FICTION)
San
Diego Comic-Con '04
So, it looks like half the people who voted in a Crowsnest poll
a couple of months back have never been to a convention. Which is
a little sad when you come to think of it - there's really nowhere
else on earth you get to indulge your genre weakness like a Con.
If only because everyone else there is doing exactly the same thing.
(CON REPORTS)
One
Page Stories Submissions (or What To Do, What To Write And How to
Submit)
This is an experiment on the website for all of you writers and
neo-writers out there. One of the criticisms that I raise when working
my way through our slush pile is that writers need to learn how
to tell a story with a limited word count to make everything count
and tell a good story.
(ARTICLES)
I
Remember Superman
Christopher Reeve, 1952-2004 - a lament by: GF Willmetts.
(ARTICLES)
Offworld
Report: Science Fiction and Fantasy, November 2004
Interviews with Stephen R. Donaldson, Clive Barker, Matt Stone and
Trey Parker, Clark Kent's foster father, and John Clute, Dell Magazines'
SF boat cruise, fiction by Peter Crowther, and getting laid at a
science-fiction convention.
(NEWS)
Offworld
Report: Weird Science, November 2004
Iran's first satellite, the X Prize is won, a fossil dragon, robot
fish, why space access costs must, and can, drop dramatically, and
has the Great Galactic Ghoul lost its appetite for Martian probes?
(NEWS)
Resident
Evil: Apocalypse (Frank's Take)
Director Alexander Witt takes over this elaborate gory gaming gimmick
by ushering out the second installment Resident Evil: Apocalypse.
The labored formula remains the same regarding a curvy and calisthenics
cretin-kicking cutie leading the charge in eliminating some serious
zombie butt.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Shark
Tale (Frank's Take)
DreamWorks tries awkwardly in their blind ambition to continue the
delightful digital-animated ditties in the celebrated spirit that
has been previously so vastly successful at the box office. As a
result, the DreamWorks creative machine conjured up a spry but uneven
underwater adventure in the derivatively upbeat animated feature
Shark Tale.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Frank's Take)
In the stylistically ambitious sci-fi fantasy Sky Captain and the
World of Tomorrow, Conran concocts a colorful creation dripping
with cheerful arty set designs armed with a refreshing old-fashion
storytelling sentiment that drives this opulent noir to its creative
core.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Shaun
of the Dead (Frank's Take)
The devilishly dandy flesh-eating farce Shaun of the Dead certainly
fits the bill as a monstrously subversive parody that delivers the
ghoulish goods. With its British-oriented sense of stinging wry
wit coupled with some truly genuine gloomy gumption, Shaun of the
Dead is a delightfully sick-minded yet spry frightfest that captures
the twisted imagination.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Ghost
In The Shell 2: Innocence (Mark's Take)
Mark checks out this popular Japanese anime flick and discovers
the animation is never flat, but demonstrates varying degrees of
dimensionality, frequently within the same frame.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Hero
(Mark's Take)
China tries to make its own Crouching Tiger with a story of an enigmatic
stranger who has killed a triad of assassins for the benefit of
China's first Emperor. The stranger tells the emperor multiple versions
of how he killed the emperor's enemies. Visually Hero is stunning.
The telling is operatic in style but becomes muddled.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Les
Revenants (Mark's Take)
A creative and intelligent recycling of the horror concept of the
dead returning, but this time it is used for non-horror purposes.
Les Revenants runs into pacing problems toward the middle.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Primer
(Mark's Take)
This SF film gets the research environment and the baffling scientific
techno-jargon just about right. The story is hard to follow, but
that might not be so unrealistic either. Definitely this is a demanding
and puzzling film that does a lot with its minuscule budget.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Shark
Tale (Mark's Take)
Dreamscape's latest animated film is set in a sort of undersea urban
environment and should entertain the whole family. The story is
familiar but the jokes come in a rapid fire.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Shaun
of the Dead (Mark's Take)
This film is like a crossbreeding of George Romero and Mike Leigh.
Oblivious lower-middle-class Londoners slowly become aware that
the dead are returning at trying to eat the living. This satire
laughs at the tropes of the zombie movie, but even more at the foibles
of English life today. The first half is very funny and the second
half is at least witty.
(FILM REVIEWS)
Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Mark's Take)
The Art Deco future as it was seen from the late 1930s is the background
for this super-paced sci-fi adventure. The plot is just a chain
of action sequences, one leading to the next, and the characters
are one-dimensional. Even the artwork is a little too dark, but
the images are genuinely exciting and they are what make the film
worth seeing.
(FILM REVIEWS)
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