Science Fiction News & Recent Science Review for the Spring 2007

This is an archive page. Go here for the latest seasonal science fiction news.

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

EDITORIAL MATTERS

NEW CONCAT' SITE UPDATE ALERT SERVICE: Now you can receive e-mail alerts (only every other month) letting you know when this site has a major update. This alert service is free and your e-mail addresses will not be passed on to other parties. For details see the bottom of this news page.
        So far we have used this update to alert those signed up to two 'Futures' stories and the autumn's news. Dan reports that there have been zero problems. So, treat yourself and also e-mail a friend who you think would be interested... Go on, brighten someone's day and e-mail them right now with this electrifying news. SF to your computer at near the speed of light. :-)

In-house project news: Essential SF is now available from Amazon.co.uk. Do your bit to spread the genre word. Makes for a great birthday present. See also news of signed copies from Porcupine Books (who can send you copies cheaper...).

As you know each season we carry a single selection of the Nature 'Futures' one page short stories. (Nature being the leading multidisciplinary science journal.) With the end of 2006 the series in Nature at least, has come to an end. This means that we have one more to select in February out of the autumnal pick. What then? Well we have not yet discussed matters with the good folk at Nature. The easiest thing to do would be to stop our run of selections. However there is the earlier 2000 run of stories a few of which very much deserve a new airing. This we will have to consider and see if Nature are up for this and of course the individual authors have to give their blessing too. (So far not one author has turned down being presented on the Concat site and this is something for which we are most grateful.) What we probably will not be doing is following the series for its short run in one of Nature's companion journals that specialises in physics. This likelihood is born out of pragmatism (and not our in-house (good-natured) rivalry between the natural and physical sciences). We will let you know what is decided after a chat with the folk at Crinian Street with our post Easter upload. Meanwhile there is stacks of news for you to tuck into...

Stop Press: Our other Tony is to swim the English Channel (or 'La Manche' for our French neighbour fans) and he is doing this for charity (and the personal challenge). Details on his website, so if you haven't supported Concat through getting (and giving) Essential SF you've now a chance to support the amazing and nearly bionic Tony instead (or even as well...).

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

MAJOR HEADLINE LINKS

Fiction Awards, and the Autumn saw all the fantasy biggies... -- The World Fantasy and the International Horror Guild Awards were presented at the World Fantasycon, US. The Zilant was presented at the 16th International Fantasy and Role-Playing Games Fantasycon, Zilantkon, Russia. Meanwhile, in the UK the British Fantasy Award winners were announced.

More Fiction Awards from -- the Ukraine, Israel, Spain and Germany.

The Nobel and Ig Nobel Prizes have been announced -- click here for Nobel and Ig Nobel details below.

The New Tolkien book, compiled from notes and drafts, is likely to be the fantasy event of the year! -- click here for details.

Stephen King visits UK to do signings and get marooned on a desert island.

The 2006 Blue Planet Prizes and the Loebner (artificial intelligence) Prizes have been announced -- click here for Blue Planet and Loebner details below.

The Russian film Viy, of Gogol's story, opens with much interest. -- details below.

Dr Who tops book and audio charts, meanwhile spin-offs profligate. -- For top books/audio see here and for spin-offs see here .

Our recommendations for the best SF and Science/non-fiction of 2006. -- details below.

British Minister for Science, Lord Sainsbury, resigns -- click here for details.

MS Internet Explorer 7 launched to hassles. -- click here for details.

Libyans' death sentenced again! -- click here for details.

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

NEWS

MAJOR SCIENCE & SF NEWS

The 2006 Nobel Prizes were announced in the autumn, so it was once again black tie and off to Stockholm time... The winners in the science categories were:-
Chemistry was won by US biologist Roger Kornberg for elucidating transcription mechanisms for getting sequence information from DNA via RNA to form proteins.
Medicine was won by two US geneticists, Andrew Fire and Craig Mello, who will share the £750,000 (US$1.4 million) prize money. In 1998 they elucidated the process of how RNA interference (RNAi) allows a gene to be specifically 'silenced'. This helps to regulate gene expression, and protects against viral infection and 'jumping genes' that can replicate and spread through the genome. The discovery overturns the previous, commonly held assumption that DNA is in control.
Physics was won by US cosmologists John Mather and George Smoot for cosmic background radiation discoveries. In 1990 John Mather announced that the cosmic background radiation had a black body curve. In 1992 George Smoot announced that he had found ripples, small variations, in different parts of the sky of the background radiation using the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite. Subsequent to this work there was a more detailed satellite examination using the Wilkinson Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), named after David Wilkinson. Wilkinson sadly died in 2002. Some think that he would have shared the prize had he been alive today (as the Nobel is only awarded to the living). In 2008 there will be an even more detailed survey of the sky with ESA's Planck satellite. +++ This year's Nobel wins cause debate - see piece in the General Science section below.

The Ig Nobel prizes for 2006 were announced shortly after the Nobels. The prizes are more a fun exercise in communicating science to the public than a high-flying science award. Though at first the winning works might seem zany, actually there are serious implications lurking underneath. The prizes were announced in October at Harvard in the US. Winners included:-
Biology: Bart Knols and Ruurd de Jong from Wageningen U. (Netherlands) for discovering that female malaria mosquitoes find the smell of Limburger cheese equally appealing as human feet. (Relevance: A synthetic cocktail might result that may lure mosquitoes away from people.)
Medicine: Francis Fesmire (Tennessee U.) and three from Bnai Zion Medical Center (Israel) for a cure for hiccoughs. (The cure: Digital rectal massage.)
Ornithology: Ophthalmologist Ivan Schwab and psychiatrist Philip May, both of California U., for discovering why woodpeckers don't get headaches. (Answer: Little cerebrospinal fluid to transmit shockwaves and a layer of spongy bone.)
Acoustics: Lynn Halpern of Harvard Vanguard medical Associates and Randolph Blake of Vanderbilt University for discovering the likely reason why people hate the sound of fingernails scratching on a blackboard. (Answer: The sound resembles non-human primate warning calls that trigger a vestigial fear response.) Literature psychologist Daniel Oppenheimer (Princeton U.) for his paper 'Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: problems with using long words needlessly', in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology. In his acceptance speech he said: "My research shows that conciseness is interpreted as intelligence. So thank you."

The 2006 World Fantasy Awards were announced at the World Fantasy Convention, Austin, Texas. The award for Best Fantasy Novel went to Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. For details of the other categories see www.worldfantasy.org.

The 2006 International Horror Guild Awards were announced at the World Fantasy Convention, Austin, Texas. The award for Best Horror Novel went to Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis. For details of the other categories see horroraward.org.

The 2006 British Fantasy Awards were announced at Fantasycon. The 'Best Novel' went to Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, published by Headline. For news of all the categories see the British Fantasy Society site. The convention was attended by about 300.

The 2006 Ukrainian Star Bridge Awards went to:-
Gold - Novel - Dalia Truskinovskaya for "Shaitan Star"
Silver - Novel - Olga Gromyko for "Flower of Kamaleynika"
Bronze - Novel - Sergey Dyachenko for "Wild Energy"
Gold - Series and Sequels - Alexander Gromov for "Islandskaya karta" [Icelandic Card], (The first book of Dilogii)
Silver - Series and Sequels - - Aleksey Pekhov for the "Finders of Wind" and "The Wind of Wormwood" (The first two parts of the "Wind and Spark" trilogy)
Bronze - Series and Sequels - Fedor Berezin for "War 2030" and Attack of Rocky Mountains" (3-4 books of the "War 2030" series)
Gold - New Author - Shimun Vrochek for "Sergantu nikto ne zvonit" [No-one Calls to the Sergeant]
Silver - New Author - Sergey Slyusarenko for "Tactile Sensations"
Bronze - New Author - Igor Paul for "Angel- Keeper 320"
The Awards were presented in September at the Kharkov, Ukraine and, we are told, made of real gold, silver and bronze respectively.

Spain's Ignotus Awards were presented at Hispacon.:-
Best Novel - Danza de Tinieblas [Dance in Darkness] by Eduardo Vaquerizo
Best Novella - 'La Traición de Judas' ['The Treason of Judas'] by Joaquín Revuelta
Best Foreign Novel - Tormenta de Espadas [Storm of Swords] by George R.R. Martin (published by Gigamesh)
For details of all the other categories see Sitio de Ciencia Ficción [Site of Science Fiction].

The 2006 Israeli Society for SF & Fantasy Geffen Awards were voted on and presented at Icon in October. The winners were:-
Best Translated Science Fiction - Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
Best Translated Fantasy - Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Best Original Hebrew Story - "'East of Eden'" by Hagy Averbuch
The 'Best Novel' category is only awarded every other year and it was not its turn this year. The Geffen Awards are named after the SF editor and translator Amos Geffen. Back in the new year 2006 Spin was one of the Concatenation team's choice of best books of 2005.

Our recommendations as to the best SF of 2006 starts with SF novels. Now this is only a bit of fun, it being a straw poll of a few of those associated with the Concat team, and largely (but not always exclusively) applies to those published in the UK. Having said that, last year we were somewhat predictive of titles short-listed for a few awards (including the Hugo winner) so who knows. It also might be a help to SF enthusiasts in case there is anything you may have missed.
         Capacity by Tony Ballantyne. It is the mid-21st century and Earth's computer system is infested with a virus of possibly non-human origin. (Stop Press Erratum: Apologies, Capacity was published first in 2005 in the UK (it was only the paperback edition published in 2006). It is therefore not eligible for a 'best book' of 2006 but had we had a review copy of the hardback then no doubt we would have had it as a best book of 2005. However this is still newsworthy as Capacity has yet to be published in the US but will imminently (January 2007) by Bantam Spectra.)
         End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. One for those that like a complex and rich plot. This one involves a future Earth that needs a solar protective shield and there is time travel as well in a tale of rivalry.
         Keeping It Real by Justina Robson. A fast-paced, science fantasy adventure set in a near-future world following a collider experiment that brings together parallel Earths and magic. Great kick-arse, motor-biking, cyborg heroine. A little over the top but in a decidedly fun way.
Meanwhile on the firmly fantasy front there was:-
         Temeraire by Naomi Novik with a dragon fantasy military adventure set in Napoleonic times.
         The Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko, that had its first English translation debut (from the Russian) last year, and which concerns the balance of good and evil in the present day as maintained by a truce between those with magical powers including vampires and werewolves.
         And there was also The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch about a rogue for whom you can't but help having a sneaking fondness.
         As for reprints of the year there was:-
         Peace and War by Joe Haldeman that brings together his three war-themed, hard SF novels that began with his Hugo-winning classic 1974 story The Forever War.
         and finally Macrolife by George Zebrowski. Originally also published in 1974, it is a hard SF story of one family following events from the present day to the end of the Universe.
On the non-fiction front there was:-
         Counterfeit Worlds: Philip K. Dick on Film by Brian Robb. Not only have films of Dick's works been made but he also submitted ideas for TV. This part-biography and review of his media work appears to be well researched, and is both amply illustrated and very readable.
         The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. This biologist presents a rationalist argument against religious fantasy. We have yet to review it but Tony hopes to have one ready for our Easter update. Given that religion (from Wicca to Christian myth) has inspired so much fantasy fiction (the latter being honestly portrayed as fiction) that it would really be quite something if this was at least short-listed for the non-fiction Hugo. (It has sold very well in the UK.)
As for films, 2006 was rather good. Very worthy mainstream offerings (not counting independents) included:-
         Underworld Evolution. The war between vampires and werewolves continues. Will the mingling of DNA be successful enabling a vampire-wolf hybrid roam in daylight? A great monster romp.
         V for Vendetta. Directed by the (The Matrix) Wachowski brothers who also wrote the screenplay but not the screenstory which is in fact based on the Alan Moore and David Lloyd 1988/9 comic series (compiled 1990 into a graphic novel). It is the near future Britain and a totalitarian regime rules. One enigmatic man stands against the authorities. (The graphic novel was excellent and the film is fairly faithful unlike previous Moore adaptations though does not catch the full Orwellian 1984-ish feel of the graphic novel. In short the comic is more novel like, while the film has a comic-book feel to it.)
         Children of Men It is 2027 and humans have for some years been infertile... This is based on the P. D. James novel albeit a little plot sanitised.
         A Scanner Darkly the latest Philip Dick story to hit the screen and naturally a hot tip for the Hugo.
         The Fountain a thoughtful SF offering from Darren Aronofsky that explores longevity.
         Superman Returns certainly at least rivalled the first two Christopher Reeve Superman films but, some might say, did not overshadow them. (And some in Britain may remember the trouble caused, and Reeve's comments, when Superman won the Dramatic Presentation Hugo in Brighton... steady with those towels folks.)
         However the sheer mass popularity of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest may get this fantasy onto the Hugo 'Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form' Award for Science Fiction Achievement's short list. These things happen.

The nomination period has ended (31st Dec) for the 2007 Arthur Clarke Awards for best promotion of UK space research and exploration. The awards are made by the British Rocketry Oral History Programme (BROHP). Categories include: corporate achievement, individual, student, space reporting, education, TV/radio, film, written, public promotion, inspiration and lifetime achievement. The winners will be announced at a dinner at the BROHP conference in April. Unfortunate timing for Concat as we only got news of the nomination period in October after our September posting for the autumn, and the winner will be announced just after our Easter posting for the summer. These things happen. However you can keep track of developments on www.clarkeawards.org.

BAFTA (British Academy of Film & TV Arts) goes boldly where Worldcon fears to tread. Each Worldcon committee has the right to create its own Hugo category for the year and in 2006 is was for the best SF computer game. Unfortunately there was little enthusiasm and not enough nominations to make a reasonable shortlist that could be said to reflect a broader fan approval. However BAFTA have now grasped the nettle with a new range of awards (17 categories all told) for computer games. The first of these annual BAFTA Video Games Awards were announced in October. Category winners of science & genre interest were:-
Innovation - 'Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?' (Nintendo/Nintendo) which is a game test of your mental agility hence age. (Not to be done the morning after a night of heavy partying as four of the Concat team found out.)
Multiplayer - 'Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach' (Atari/Turbine)
Gameplay - 'Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy' (LucasArts/Traveller's Tales)
Sadly 'Rogue' in 'Rogue Trooper' (Eidos Interactive/Rebellion & 2000AD), though short-listed, did not win the 'Character' category (LocoRoco did). +++ For details of all winners see the BAFTA site.

Stephen King does BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and BBC TV's Newsnight. He did the first programme (aired 19th Nov') while on a promotional visit to Britain. During the programme Stephen King, born 1948, revealed that he first 'sold' stories via his fanzine aged 12 and that he came from a poor background. A basic scholarship package got him into Maine University. In the 1970s he sold stories to men's magazines, and married Tabitha. At that time he was living in a trailer (caravan), working getting a local teacher's salary and so worked summers topping this up in a laundry: he was also writing. His wife Tabitha encouraged him and gave critical advice, including rescuing a draft of Carrie from the wastebasket. He owes his life to Tabitha who not only helped his work but got him onto rehab (1986) for drink and coke. In the summer of 1999 he was a pedestrian and got hit by a van sustaining injuries to his skull, collar, spine, pelvis and leg. Tabitha not only helped him through but also bought the van so as to prevent someone else from selling it on e-bay. While he likes his readers, he also hopes that fans keep their distance from his personal life. He has a number of times been a stalker victim and one time (when he was away in another city) someone entered his home confronting his wife with what was claimed to be a bomb.   Nonetheless he appreciates his readers though does not like the double standards of some reviewers who say they like his stories but that his work is not somehow proper writing. (Let's hope he is not upset with our review of his latest novel.).
          His 'desert island discs' were:
                    'She Loves You' - The Beatles
                    'Desolation Row' - Bob Dylan (King's favourite)
                    'Chalk Tall in Bingo' - James McMurtry
                    'Middle of the Road' - The Pretenders
                    'Barrier Reef' - Old 97s
                    'Ram Rod' - Bruce Springsteen
                    'Ponda Replay' - Rhianna
                    'When The Stars Go Blue' - Ryan Adams
          He also said he liked The Doors but they were not on his list because of bitter-sweet memory associations. His book for the desert island would be W. H. Auden's collected poetry and his luxury would be a water hammock. He also admitted to liking the TV programme Lost.
          His Newsnight TV interview was broadcast on 2nd November (bumped a day due to the current news agenda). In it he said Lisey's Story was fed by his life's experiences, especially those of his road accident, and what happens to love in the wake of death. He again affirmed irritation of literary critics; though the fact his books have sold over 350 million copies is hard to dismiss. Regarding labelling his writing, he said that he always thought that this was done so that people knew where to find an author in the bookshop.

2000AD (the weekly) reached prog (issue) 1,500 and the monthly Judge Dredd Megazine no 250 in the autumn. Both SF comics' autumnal anniversaries were passed in a blaze of lack of publicity, despite the editor noting that it is "a ripe old age in these cut throat times, and one worthy of celebration." Perhaps they're holding their fire until February? 2000AD did though mark it, albeit a few issues late, with a major new Dredd story 'Origins' that started in prog 1,505. Meanwhile the Megazine saw a sequel (another one) to the classic saga 'America', which may signal in the future an updated/expanded edition of The Complete America graphic novel. Called 'Cadet' this sequel centres on the daughter of the democracy activist America, who was taken by the judges to be one of their own after the Judges 'accidentally' shot America.   In the run-up to Christmas the now cheaper Megazine saw its new editor make the publication more Dredd-universe centric with a new series 'Black Atlantic' (named after the future 22nd century, and now heavily polluted, ocean) as well as the return of Devlin Waugh (a gay vampire in the service of the Vatican who is a (sometimes distant) part of the Dredd continuum) and the return of 'The Simping Detective' (an undercover judge into silly, over-the-top (Simping) clothes fashion). Marvellous stuff. This then is an alert for you to check out the current state of both publications and, if you are in the UK and are quick, you might be able to get the 100 page 2000AD Christmas/New Year special called (only slightly confusingly) 2000AD prog 2007. If you are outside of Brit Cit but are into SF comics then you could try a one year subscription to the Megazine (and if you don't like it then pass on the copies at the end of the year as a Christmas present to a friend). Details on www.2000adonline.com. Borag Thungg Earthlets.

2000AD's 30th anniversary is in February. At the time of posting 2000AD told Concat that this will be marked by special content. So as per above, this is a good time for those with an interest in SF in comics but not yet familiar with Tharg to take out a subscription. The Spring also sees a new line of 2000AD collectable figures, that will appeal to core 2000 fans. The 30th anniversary issue will be prog 1526, out 28th February, so if you are tempted then that is the one to ask your subscription to run from if you decide to place an order with them any time by mid January (see the link in the item immediately above this one). This issue sees new stories including: Savage - Double Yellow by Pat Mills and Charlie Adlard, and Nikolai Dante - Hellfire by Robbie Morrison and Simon Fraser. There are also plans for a celebratory 30th anniversary bash in London. Splundig.

The best of Look and Learn is being reprinted weekly over a two year period starting January 2007. The magazine for children between 7 and 14 was originally published in Britain between 1962 and 1982. The pre-Christmas preview issue showed just how interesting it was with historical and science articles and quizzes. There is even the Don Lawrence science fantasy strip The Trigan Empire (much of which has been previously published in a couple of different editions as a graphic novel but not for a number of years). Mostly well-researched some of the content is a little dated and the science is of its time. For example, the answer to how many ways does the Earth move ignores the various motions about the Galaxy, or the movement of the local group or the movement of the local group and other galaxies towards the Great Attractor, or the expansion of the Universe. The answer to the question as to 'what provides the purest light' obviously does not consider monochromatic and coherent light as pure, while that to what is a billion is now wrong being dated. Nonetheless such quibbles are few and the publication a joy even (albeit a brief one) for adults.

The Rocky Horror Show is back for a tour of Britain. This cult SF comedy musical play, laced with eroticism and with many SF and sci fi references and tropes, is in London for January before touring England and ending up in Glasgow for the last week of June 2007. Details on www.rockyhorror.co.uk.   Dream it.

Lego Star Wars computer game wins BAFTA. Those who heard our Dan Heidel's talk on SF and the internet either at LOTNA or the H. G. Wells Society, Timisoara, will know of the Lego 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now the Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy is out and has won one of the new BAFTA's (see above) It is unashamedly for kids but has a charm that may well enchance some parents. Out from Activision at between £30 - £50, and available for Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo, DS, PS2, PSP,Gamecube and PC.

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy is to become a computer game. The deal involves Pullman's publishers, Scholastic, and is between New Line (who own the film rights) and Sega.

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

PEOPLE: MAJOR SF & SCIENCE AUTHOR AND ARTIST NEWS

The Autumn saw that...

Margaret Atwood has been trying out her remote autographing invention signing from Dunfermline in Scotland into books at the 'Word on the Street' book fayre in Toronto (the city in which she normally lives). Last March, when she tried to remote autograph books in New York, the 'LongPen' system which had been working all night suddenly failed. After the event it had transpired that the day time heat plus that of the crowd in the New York shop had upset the computer. Meanwhile, back in the present, this time it worked.

Iain M. Banks sees trade publicity for his new non-SF novel begin -- almost unprecedently -- 5 months prior to publication.The Steep Approach to Garbadale will be released in March and bookshop managers have been treated to a mini-booklet of (presumably) the opening pages. Meanwhile Banks' fans can enter a draw on his website (see our SF author links portal) for the opportunity to get an autographed pre-publication proof edition. This is his first novel since the SF gas giant The Algebraist space opera, but begins the same way with a walk in a garden by water. However it soon becomes apparent that this is a suicide walk. The novel concerns the associated family turmoil.

Clive Barker has announced on his 'official' information website (see our SF author links portal) that Weinstein Co has asked him to script a remake of his horror film Hellraiser (1987) but he does not want to be involved in directing. Apparently the re-make will have a bigger budget and the past two decades have seen a tremendous improvement in effects technology. +++ Those of you who remember Concatenation's print incarnation may recall from the 1989 issue that our Tony visited the set of Hellraiser's sequel, Hellbound. He also got the chance to do one of the effects. +++ Clive Barker is reported that he will team up with Walden Media to make a film about the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe. A group of teenagers attempt to uncover what happened during the last two weeks of Poe's life. Shades of Mark Renfield's The Death of Poe that was premiered at the 2006 Festival of Fantastic Films (see our con report).

Arthur C. Clarke has finally stopped writing and reportedly (in December's Ansible) handed over his current novel to sprightly Frederik Pohl, two years his junior, to finish off.

Philip K. Dick and 2007 is the 25th anniversary of Dick's death. Gollancz marks this with reprints of some of his classics -- see below in our forthcoming books listing. Meanwhile the Library of America (US) has announced that it will include Dick in its canon of US literature with the publication of a collection of his work.

Harlan Ellison^® is making his mark in SF circles again with, Ansible reports, more litigation. Meanwhile elsewhere reverberations appearing on the net following happenings at the 2006 Hugo ceremony. For example see this site. Other authors have somehow been caught up in all this, for example see here.

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett have signed film option rights with director Terry (Brazil) Gilliam for their story Good Omens. The November issue of Locus carries news of Gaiman's comments that are too good to pass. "We like the idea of a Gilliam film. So we put our heads together and decided that it should cost him a groat. And I don't believe they've actually made groats, which is an old English coin worth about four pence, since the 1780s. Which means he is going to have to go to e-Bay... We figured out we were going to need farthings to pay the agents."   (More Pratchett news below.)

David Gemmell's 'Troy' trilogy is to be completed by his wife. Last time's sad news of his demise came shortly after his second 'Troy' novel was published. It is said he had already delivered some 70,000 words of the final book (that's getting on for half the total word count). His wife, Stella, had been helping him research the novel and he had already drawn up chapter outlines for the whole book. Transworld is to publish.

Jon Courtenay Grimwood now has a blog. See his site.

Stephen King had his first UK promotional visit for a decade. He has made media appearances including BBC's Radio 4's Desert Island Discs as well as TV's Newsnight, and did bookshop signings. At Borders of Oxford St, London, some fans began queuing the night before King's appearance scheduled for 4pm the next day. Stephen King previously toured North America including Seattle and Portland, Oregon. +++ See Tony's review of his latest novel Lisey's Story.

Michael Moorcock features quite a bit in the new book celebrating Savoy's 30th along with other SF luminaries.

Naomi Novik was understandably a little excited when she heard that Temeraire was to become a film. The Voyager PR office told Concat she said, "There was lot of screaming in my household when I first got the call. I am thrilled."

Christopher Priest seems to be finding out when is an author not an author? Answer: When the film of the book is made.   His book The Prestige, as we reported at the beginning of last year, has been adapted to the big screen by Christopher Nolan for a film also directed by Nolan. Apparently Nolan urged prospective viewers not to read the book beforehand as reportedly: `It spoils everything.' Having said that Nolan has changed the ending. Also it is said that there will not be a US tie-in edition of the book to go with the film's release, though as we noted last time, in our forthcoming autumnal book TV & film tie-ins, Gollancz is producing a UK edition which may well be available in North American specialist bookshops. Meanwhile our advice is not to watch the film until you've read the book. Despite the film's different ending, prior viewing of the film does tend to spoil full enjoyment the book can potentially impart. Meanwhile Chris Priest himself enjoyed the film's London premiere and party afterwards.

Terry Pratchett was asked to present the Random House Award for Outstanding Contribution to Bookselling as part of the 2006 Bookseller Awards at a glitzy dinner at the Natural History Museum. Ottaker's James Henage received the award. +++ He also had an acting TV appearance over Christmas as the toymaker at the end of the adaptation of his own The Hogfather. (See also news with Neil Gaiman above.)

Roberto Quaglia, the Italian writer, is hoping will be visiting the UK in January or February. His UK itinerary will include visiting author Ian Watson with whom he has just completed a collection SF short stories The Beloved Of My Beloved. One wonders whether a Brit edition will be forthcoming but a story from this collection has already been sold to, and can be viewed at, Clarke's World online magazine. Finally, Roberto hopes to visit a few of those active in the European SF Society (of which he is currently an officer) to discuss Eurocon matters.

Carl Sagan, cosmologist with an interest in the prospects for alien life, now has a memorial blog. Marking the 10th anniversary of his death, bloggers reveal how Sagan has impacted on their lives.

Martin Sketchley has redecorated at his website www.martinsketchley.co.uk.

Charles Stross has a particularly informative blog item (10th November) on why fiction book production takes so long. +++ On which Jonathan comments that science fact production takes as long. Science book productions have no plot editorial change stages but does have a fact check and presentation editorial stage as well as an indexing stage.

Ian Watson, after a little while where it seemed you mainly saw him being published in the US and Japan, is now being published again in the UK with his collection The Butterflies of Memory that came out from PS Publishing last July. He was at the British Midlands convention Novacon (in November) for the re-launch of his 1977 novel Alien Embassy with a new edition from Immanion Press. He has also just completed a collection of shorts jointly with Roberto Quaglia.

Tad Williams may be visiting the UK on a promotional tour.

For SF author websites click SF author links.

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

FILM NEWS

Naomi Novik's Temeraire is to be made into a film by Peter (Lord of the Rings) Jackson. The news just missed our Autumnal update but we can say that the folk at Harper Collins were cock-a-hoop. Not surprising as Harper publishes The Lord of the Rings and its fantasy imprint 'Voyager' published Temeraire. Novik was reportedly, and equally understandably, quite excited. Jackson has not yet decided whether he will make one film or three (following the book trilogy) and he has a couple of projects already in train. What he has done is use his own money to option the books before involving a studio. Meanwhile the third part of the trilogy, Termeriare: Black Powder War, comes out just as we are posting this news page early in the New Year.

The Time Traveller's Wife is to be made into a film. New Line Cinema is to produce.

Peter Jackson will not be involved with the hobbit film as well as a Lord of the Rings prequel. Jackson had queried New Line's ways of accounting for the profits and has gone to court. He refused to be tied to a commitment to do the film as part of a proposed settlement but wanted a settlement to be separately reached before discussing possible future work. Jackson is not short of other future projects including a film version of Temeraire. Elijah Wood, who starred in Jackson's Lord of the Rings film, is reported as supporting Jackson saying that it would be foolish of New Line to assume that they can make as good a film without Jackson.

Sci-Fi London -- We could have put the news here in the film news section but did it later with fan events.

Festival of Fantastic Films 2007 -- News also given later.

Film site tip!: The Trailer Mash mixes up different soundtracks to film trailers. The results are very short films that are quirky takes on the familiar. For example you can mix the visuals from Star Wars with the sound from Brokeback Mountain. Regulars at the Festival of Fantastic Films, at least those early in the series, will know just how good such mini-mixes can be. Whereas the Fest's opening ceremony used to consist of a montage of film excerpts put to a carefully chosen music track, this is a little more constrained but no less fun. The site is worth revisiting to watch just one or two at a time. Delightful.

Film download tip!: This one comes from the SF Signal site (well credit due where credit due) who note that there is a 1967 Perry Rhodan film (95 minutes) available for download from You Tube.   They also later suggested...

A two-minute showcase of all of Ray Harryhausen's creatures is brought to our attention by the SF Signal site: see here. (Tell youngsters today that we had special effects before CGI and do they believe you..?)

Here is a delightful space probe short (around a minute). click here to see it. Thanks go to Steve Green (and in turn Chris O'Shea).

The Dark is an SF film serial on available on the web. The Dark follows the adventures of the crew of the Recluse as they fight to take a bit of the Galaxy from aliens and worse - designer humanity. -- Making and distributing The Dark follows a new business model. The first two 12-minute episodes are free to download and you pay a small sum for the rest. A colour comic by Alchemical Press is forthcoming. -- Some initial commentators say that the SF is particularly good.

Stephen King's 1985 short 'The Mist' is to be a film. Mist appears in a small US town and seems to kill those it engulfs. The surrounded locals make a stand in the supermarket. Frank (The Green Mile) Dabaront scripts and directs. An early 2008 launch is anticipated. +++ Stephen King's Cell is is coming out in paperback.

New Stargate DVD films proposed. Further to last time's science fiction news, that a second Stargate film that will be more of a follow-up to the film than the TV series, it now appears that there may also be a couple of TV series spin-off straight-to-DVD films. The first could tie up the series' loose ends, while the second may involve time travel.

A brand new Stargate spin-off TV series has been announced. Reported by Gateworld the new series will probably launch in 2008 after the final episode of the original Stargate TV series.

The 4th series of Stargate Atlantis will commence later this year.

Rumours abound as to the 11th Star Trek film. The person behind the venture is said to be J. J. Abrams who was behind the TV series Lost and who directed Mission Impossible III. Matt Damon is rumoured to be a candidate to play James T. Kirk. The release date is said to be 2008. TrekMovie.com is taking it very seriously.

For a reminder of the top films in 2005/6 and earlier years then check out our top Science Fiction Films annual chart. This page is based on the weekly UK box office ratings over the past year up to Easter (which of course we will update next time, shortly after Easter, for 2006/7).

For a forward look as to film releases of 2007 see our film release diary.

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

SF BOOK TRADE AND RELATED TRADE NEWS

Gollancz recharges its batteries. UK SF publisher Gollancz Orion held an autumnal beerfest for its stakeholders (authors, agents, cover designers, contract staff, book chain buyers etc.). Editor Jo Fletcher ensured that connections were made. Supremo Malcolm Edwards announced to the assembled that all was well with Gollancz. Its new authors were selling and attracting some critical praise (Joe Abercrombie was one of a few singled out). A number of authors in the Gollancz stable had also won awards and here Geoff Ryman shone having gathered (at least) three for Air. Gollancz's reprints of past classics in its SF Masterwork series are also doing well and each title has had an extra printing. This last is good news indeed as Gollancz is doing its bit to keep some of the key SF flames of yesteryear alive. Finally Malcolm encouraged folk to see the film A Scanner Darkly, the latest Philip K. Dick novel to be adapted to the big screen, and of course Gollancz recently re-released the novel.   The event was ably organised by Jonathan Weir and colleagues, and held in London's Theatre Museum, Covent Garden. The cunning ploy of the beerfest having wine instead, reduced glomeruli activity hence any queuing. Departing folk received a bag with a copy of Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan, one of Gollancz's recently published 10 greatest SF novels. (This edition comes with an introductory short article by Jasper Fforde while the series' books have simple covers with bevelled corners away from the spine.) Dead doggers continued at a local hostelry around the corner.

The new British SF/Fantasy imprint Solaris has its first book launch in February. Further to the earlier news of this imprint's creation, there is now a website www.solarisbooks.com. Their new releases are included in our new SF and new fantasy book listings. +++ According to Bent (Bookseller 8th Dec, p42), Solaris are already getting pressurised by authors' agents. Apparently Solaris decided to pass on an MS from a notable US agent because her sales history was not strong enough compared to the aspirations for her future prospects. Apparently came the reply, well in that case I am going to resubmit it to you under a pseudonym.

The British Bookseller Retailer Awards were announced at the Awards dinner in Kensington. Genre notables present included Terry Pratchett. The big prize went to Amazon.co.uk who narrowly beat Borders. Borders itself got the 'Retail Chain' award. Small bookshops got recognition with luminaries: Torbay Bookshop; Newham Bookshop; and Simply Books (Bramhall). The event was held at the Natural History Museum (always good for a corporate function) in the grand entrance hall under the shadow of casts of fossil dinosaur skeletons, which inevitably led to some unfavourable (and unimaginative) literary and trade comparisons.   This is only the second year that the awards have been given with each category getting its own commercial sponsor. The judging is done by a small panel of independent retailers (such as an exec' from a sweet shop chain) as opposed to being a vote of book consumers themselves: so the award's cred value is limited other than as a trade bash. The dinner format impeded networking though this was made up for by the setting and atmosphere. Amazon's win probably rightly reflects the significance of the rapidly growing internet sales sector, which itself does not bode well for high street bookshops, not to mention genre specialists. Indeed today some London boroughs no longer have a large, general bookshop (over 1,000 square yards/metres)! All of which raises the question of whether this award will have much meaningful longevity beyond a couple of decades or will the selling of physical books be largely the domain of newsagents and supermarkets?

Temeraire is to be made into a Jackson film -- details below.

The Odyssey Critique Service is the new resource from the Odyssey writer's workshop team. Workshop director Jeanne Cavelos says, "The mission of Odyssey is to help developing writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror improve their work. I've been searching for the best way to extend that help beyond the sixteen people who attend Odyssey each summer. To that end, we've created the Odyssey Critique Service." The service gives potentially commercial authors professional-level feedback to the standard with which Odyssey is associated.

The summer Odyssey workshop is to take place at Saint Anselm College in Manchester (that's New Hampshire, US, not England, UK) from 11th June and run to 20th July. Details www.sff.net/odyssey or www.odysseyworkshop.org.

The top UK popular science books of the autumn were:-
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins from Bantam (selling 21,207 UK copies in the month to October 7th) which Tony will hopefully review for next time
and
Darwin's Watch: The Science of Discworld III by Pratchett, Cohen & Stewart from Ebury (selling 10,809 copies over the same period).

The Royal Institution of Great Britain (that promotes science, not to be confused with the Royal Society that encourages excellence in science research) has listed the all time top popular science books. This was derived by a small panel of judges. They were:-
Primo Levi's The Periodic Table
Konrad Lorenz's King Solomon's Ring
Tom Stoppard's Arcadia
Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene
Runners-up included James Watson's The Double Helix and Charles Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle.

The top genre writer according to US book sales around Christmas is Stephen King. Both his Lisey's Story and Cell were in each of the weekly Nielsen BookScan top 20 throughout December. Good to see an author like King spreading Christmas cheer.

The two top UK SF/fantasy books of the autumn were a close call:-
Dr Who: The Official Annual (Penguin) came 11th in the overall UK 'consumer market books chart' selling 15,785 copies in just one week in mid-October. It narrowly beat by just four copies...
Thud by Terry Pratchett (Corgi).

The top selling UK genre books of the 2006 year up to Christmas of all 'mass market' titles were:-
Dr Who: The Official Annual (Penguin) published in August and which came 31st in the UK top 100 listing with 271,551 copies sold.
The Time Traveller's Wife (paperback edition) by Audrey Niffenegger, from Vintage, which came 61st with 189,403 copies sold.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling, paperback published in June from Bloomsbury, came 80th with 171,347 copies sold.
Thud by Terry Pratchett, Corgi's paperback edition published later in the year (so less time to accrue sales) in October came 84th with 164,037 copies sold.
On the non-fiction front there was the...
The Guinness Book of Records: 2007 only published at the end of September by Guinness, came 10th with 427,695 copies sold.
QI: The Book of General Ignorance published in October by Faber which came 67th in the UK 2006 top 100 mass market title listing with 182,087 copies sold in the year by Christmas.

Dr Who cleans up on the UK audio front. In the half-yearly UK audio book chart (to October 7th) Dr Who titles came 3rd, 4th and 5th. +++ Who audio fans may also like to see below.

Savoy Books marks its 30th anniversary with the publication of Sieg Heil Iconographers which provides an insight into one of Britain's delightfully nefarious publishing houses. Savoy Books has existed since 1976 to ensure the bridge between high literature and popular books with little regard for political correctness should it ever get in the way. Notably it has given more obscure works not considered commercial all be they by respected writers -- such as Samuel Delany, Harlan Ellison and Charles Platt -- their first UK publication. Many of the folk behind Savoy -- David Britton, Michael Butterworth, John Coulthart and Kris Guido -- also entwined with the MaD and BaD SF groups (Manchester and District, and Bolton and District). For example MaD's Charles Partington and David Britton enabled Savoy's first book. (Charles himself helped enable the first print edition of Concatenation so you can see how these connections can grow.) However it is the literary connections, rather than the fan ones, in which most people will be interested. Here Sieg Heil Iconographers features many such luminaries and especially there is a fair bit for fans of Michael Moorcock. It is over 600 pages and illustrated with plenty of photographs of said luminaries and costs £25 direct from Savoy (postage and packaging included for UK sales).

Harmonising UK book launch dates plan scuppered a second time. Plans to get major publishers and booksellers to harmonise their book launches to the same day of the week so as to maximise media coverage, have once more been thwarted. This follows on from last autumn's attempt which failed because the newsagent chain W. H. Smiths broke ranks. This time it was a more fundamental failure between the two camps of book publishers and sellers with the Booksellers Association and the Publishers Association failing to agree. Had the scheme gone ahead then the thinking was that newspapers and the media might devote a news item to the launch of several books simultaneously of the same day of the week, whereas they would not for just a single book launch unless the title was a really major one. +++ The problem with all of this is not so much the scheme as such but that if the two big groups of players -- the producers and sellers -- cannot agree that their overall interests are mutually beneficial then what hope do we have as readers, or authors for that matter, to see the industry grow?

More book trade news early shortly after Easter. Meanwhile...

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

TV NEWS

The new Prisoner TV series will hopefully have its premiere broadcast in January 2008 (though there may be some slippage).

Sulu returns to the small PC screen. George Takei has agreed to appear in a 50 minute episode of the on-line Star Trek New Voyages.com in an episode entitled 'World Enough and Time'.

The Star Trek auction did rather well. A model of the Enterprise as used in the pilot and title sequences of Star Trek: The Next Generation sold for US $576,000 (£311,000). More than 1,000 items from the archives of all the CBS Paramount Trek series sold for a total of over US$7.1 million (£3.84m).

Russia's celebration of Star Trek's 40th anniversary was held in the open air in the countryside. Taking place last summer the news is only just came in of this event (sorry but sometimes we are told late but glad to be told at all). Around 100 gathered in the forests around Moscow for the 6th year in a row, but this time to celebrate Trek's 40th anniversary. A field kitchen helped sustain those attending a programme of talks and panels. +++ For information only... One of the other outdoor SF fan events regularly held is that of the Romanian Atlantykron summer SF camp. It has been held for the best part of two decades on an island in the Danube biosphere reserve and regularly has authors and scientists as guests.

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

EUROCON / WORLDCON NEWS

The World Fantasy Convention was held in Austin, Texas, 2nd - 5th November. Some 900 professionals and fans gathered. Much of the programme was themed around the works of Robert E. Howard (most famous for his Conan stories) who was born 100 years ago and also lived in Texas. To mark the anniversary a special anthology was launched, Cross Plains Universe: A Texan Tribute to Robert E. Howard, edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Scott Cupp. Guests of honour included Glen Cook, Dave Duncan, and Robin Hobb, along with editor guest of honour Glen Lord, artist guest of honour John Jude Palencar and the "Robert E. Howard Artist Guest" Gary Gianni. The author Bradley Denton was the official Toastmaster. During the convention the World Fantasy Awards were announced.

The 16th International Fantasy and Role-Playing Games Convention, Zilantkon, was held in Kazan (Russia's 3rd city 450 east of Moscow and part of Tatarstan) on 3rd - 6th November. Some 2,500 were expected to attend but from reports it appears that attendance was higher, possibly nearer 3,000! Among the many authors and role-playing personalities present were the guests who this year included: Evgeniy Lukin, Svyatoslav Loginov, Elena Khaetskaya and Leonid Kudryavtsev. Aside from talks and panels, there were filk ('bard') sessions and a contest, films, dramatic presentations, fancy dress including a masquerade ball, and a fencing tournament. Role-playing outings were organized for children from orphanages in Kazan and Zelenodolsk.
        The name Zilantkon comes from the Zilant, a legendary beast, a sort of cross between a dragon and a wyvern.
        During the convention the Zilant Awards were presented as well as the Durandal. This year's 'big' Zilant went to Leonid Kudryavavtsev for his 'hunter' sequence of books. The 'small' Zilant went to Emma Mikheykina for her journalistic coverage of fantasy and fantasy gaming. The Durandal Award is for those who have contributed to the development and advance of fantasy and role playing fandom and culture. This year's Durandal went to the magazine MIR Fantastiki [Fantasy World], which you may recall won a Eurocon Award earlier in the year. (For a description of MIR Fantastiki see our article on the 2006 Eurocon.)

The 2006 Worldcon has raised US$8,463.75 (£4,455) for books. The money is split between the RIF (Reading is Fundamental) campaign and the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.

The 2007 Eurocon, Denmark (September), plans are coming along. Further to last time's details and the earlier weblink, the guests so far announced are authors Anne McCaffrey, Stephen Baxter, and Zoran Zivkovic as well as space artist Dave Hardy. All have affirmed they are go for the con and a new Ghost of Honour has been announced: Stanislaw Lem. The big news is that two books will be published. One will be an anthology of one of the guests' works and be in Danish Fantastiske Virkeligheder[Fantastic Realities].. The other will be in English and will be a collection of short stories originally published in 2006 from as many European countries as possible. The stories should have some claim to excellence, be it an award winner or passed some sort of jury scrutiny. This anthology will be a small press publication and so royalties uneconomical (the cost to administer will outweigh the payments per author) and the exercise should be viewed as one of promotion and the authors (having granted permission to publish) will retain copyright. The stories should be in good quality English (needing only the lightest of editorial touches). In the case of multiple submissions from one country, the anthology's editor's decision as to what is included is final. Interested parties should contact the editor at anthology AT eurocon2007 DOT dk. The deadline is 1st June 2007.   The Eurocon organizers also inform that in addition to the literary program that there will be a full film track with some material rarely seen! This includes Himmelskibet [The Sky Ship]from 1917, Danish, and is considered to be the World's first full-length sf-movie. It has only recently been restored and is currently being published on DVD. Other news is that the Eurocon will be launched at a reception by the Mayor of Copenhagen. +++ Do not forget, if you have not registered yet then there are new registration rates as of the New Year. Details on www.eurocon2007.dk.

The 2008 Eurocon will be held in Moscow, Russia. As per previous news, the Brit science fantasy author Neil Gaiman, US fantasy author G. R. R. Martin and Russian horror writer Sergei Lukyanenko are the Guests of Honour. (Sergei wrote the 'Nightwatch' sequence of books that are really BIG in Russia and the Russian-speaking Sov Block nations.) The main news this season is that there is a website up, now also in English, at www.eurocon2008.ru as well as another here convent.ru/euroscon. This last has an online membership form. The all-inclusive rate includes a bed in a twin room. You (assuming you are coming from the west) need to give your address so that they can write to you inviting you so that in turn you can go and get a visa. Hopefully ESFS will be advising them on things are needed like sorting out a couple of days tourist extensions either before and/or after the event, provision of student translators, and assistance getting to and from the airport. The 2008 Eurocon will also be a Roscon. Roscon being since 2001 one of the major book and film SF conventions. The 2006 event attracted over 600 from a number of (former) Sov Block nations. Don't forget that this is a Russian convention, so livers on standby everyone.

Preparations for the 2007 Worldcon in Japan 9the first Asian Worldcon) progress. The latest membership details can be found on its website. Those going are advised to check out the discussions on their online community site. In the run-up to the new year there was concern that the official agents handling the accommodation were charging around 37% more for bookings staying in the Intercontinental Grand Yokohama than if you booked direct with the hotel itself! Meanwhile other fans were beginning to realise just how expensive Japan is! On the good news front, there are several groups of fans who will welcome others join them to site see before and/or after the Worldcon. +++ Appeal: If you fancy semi-immortalising your views of the Japanese Worldcon then we would welcome a convention report from someone as to what went on. Usual thing: numbers, programme highlights, films shown, anything occur that was news-worthy at the convention, and of course for us being the science fact and fiction Concatenation what were the science-related programme items and, as it is the first Japanese Worldcon, how was Japanese fandom presented and how did Australasians, Europeans and N. Americans cope? Anyone wishing to send a report to us can do so to news AT concatenation DOT org.

Need help with translating at the Japanese Worldcon? While there will be some dual language programming (including the Hugo ceremony), the convention itself will see just a few hundred Anglophones amidst a sea of Japanese. As such even getting by with basics such as ordering a beer could be problematic for those for whom Japanese is incomprehensible. Fortunately information technology is getting better and better (though according to on-line reviewers still not ideal). On the translation front there is a software package called the Sony Talkman for the Sony PSP. It contains around 3,000 standard phrases in Japanese, as well as Italian, French, German, Spanish and, of course, English. With voice recognition all you do is speak into it and out comes the translated phrase. Alternatively (if your diction is not good) you can select from a menu that is broken down by situations such as nightclub, hospital, restaurant and so forth.   In many countries using this could be embarrassing, but word has it that the techno-phile Japanese themselves find it useful.

World Horror Convention 2007 has announced its Special Media Guest of Honour. The screenwriter/author Peter Atkins will be the Special Media Guest of Honour. Born in Liverpool (1955), Peter Atkins has lived in Los Angeles (US) since 1992. He has published two novels, Morningstar and Big Thunder. He also wrote the screenplay for Hellraiser II and III. Other Guests include Michael Marshall, Nancy Kilpatrick, and Peter Crowther. For the first time in its seventeen-year history, The World Horror Convention will be held outside the United States. The convention already has more British and Canadian attendees than any previous World Horrorcon, making it more of an international event. It takes place 29th March -1st April.

2008 SF Worldcon PR1 out. Next year's Worldcon Progress Report 1 is due out this Spring. So any time now (if not already by the time you read this).

For links to Worldcon bid websites check out the Worldcon bid page.

For a list of 2007 national and major conventions, check out our convention diary for 2007.

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

FANDOM & OTHER NEWS

One of the high points of this year's Novacon saw the launch of the new, SF collection Time Pieces.. Novacon is one of Britain's longer-standing (since 1971) SF conventions held in Britain's Midlands each November. Time Pieces has all-new original stories by Stephen Baxter, Steve Cockayne, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Mark Robson, Sarah Singleton, Ian Watson and Liz Williams. It is edited by Ian Whates of the Northampton SF Writers Group. It is perfect bound, on high quality paper with all stories donated by the authors to raise money for NewCon activities. Beautiful cover by Fangorn. Published by NewCon Press. There are not many copies so those interested should get it while they can. The launch party itself was conducted with amiable panache by Storm Constantine shortly after the convention's opening ceremony. +++ Novacon also saw mutterings about what to do with the cancelled Brit national convention

Area 51, the internet sci-fi 'radio' station has successfully completed its first year. It now has over 20,000 downloads (listen sessions?) every three months. To celebrate it had an on-line special on November 1st. It has also started an e-newsletter that can be e-mailed to you as an MS word.doc. Comments for the news letter can be sent to lea AT area51radiostation DOT com.

The 2006 Star Bridge convention has been one of the most successful on conventions among far eastern European nations in recent years. This Ukrainian convention held in September, which follows on from the also successful Ukrainian Eurocon earlier this year, saw around 360 attend. Held in Kharkov, this year's event was one of the best Star Bridges since the series of conventions began back in 1999. It covered both SF and fantasy books and films, had exhibitions as well as saw the presentation of this year's Star Bridge Awards. As in some of the past Star Bridges there was paintball challenge with 'SF vs. Fantasy' teams and a 'Roadside Picnic' that resulted in a number of 'empties' but fortunately not of the Strugatski kind. The convention's success is in no small part due to the combination of conrunner ability and state support. There was considerable local media coverage.

Icon, the Israeli national SF convention celebrated its 10th anniversary in Tel Aviv in October. Covering SF books, films, and role playing games, Icon's theme for the convention's four days was 'dreams'. Some 5,000 reportedly attended with the majority aged below their late 20s. The high attendance rate, given the country's comparatively small population has much to do with little non-Israeli SF getting translated into Hebrew and that TV shows commonly available in Central and Western Europe are not shown or if they are they struggle for ratings and rarely get the full run of seasons. Consequently Icon fills a gap in the SF market as opposed to being supplementary to it as cons are in other countries. The Geffen Awards were also presented and as the foreign Guest of Honour was Neil Gaiman, he was on hand to accept his win.

Spain's Hispacon a success despite being nearly cancelled. Spanish fandom has had it fair share of troubles in recent years with a number of grumbles on the convention-running front. This year's Hispacon nearly fell foul of the same. Originally Hispacon was to have been held in Córboda but with under two months to go the organisers informed the Spanish Association for Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror that they couldn't do it. Fortunately Alfonso Merelo, one of the Association's officers, and others stepped in. With the help of Carmen Gómez Varela, the Director of the public library in Dos Hermanas, who provided a free venue, the new organizers ran a smaller but memorably successful event... And this year's Ignotus Awards were presented. See Sue Burke's separate convention report.

France's national convention to be held in Canada. French fans have decided to play away from home at this year's Congress Boreal. (For details of current conventions see our science fiction diary page.) +++ This is not an unique event that a national convention has been held outside its own nation. Technically the UK does not have a 'national' convention (even assuming the Acts of Union define the UK as a single nation). The British Eastercon has historic ties (all be they on and off) with the British Science Fiction Association and so is effectively 'Britain's' national convention. This in turn means that the Eastercons held in the Channel Isles of Jersey were technically outside of Britain albeit within the 'protectorate' borders of the UK. +++ There will also be a meeting called "Rencontres de SF" held in L'Isle Sur La Sorgue (near Avignon, south of France) the last week end in August, mainly for those who will not be able to make it to Montreal.

India's SF studies newsletter is free. Further to last time's news, you do not have to join India's SF studies to receive its newsletter. You can get a PDF free by asking nicely of Ms Remma Sarwal at reema DOT sarwal AT gmail DOT com.

Britain's Cult TV media convention series may not see its full run of 15. This series of conventions began 13 years ago that had a host of guests from popular TV series (mainly but not solely SF) and films has seen a slow decline in attendance. One of the most popular was its 1995 event that attracted some 750. However last October's only saw around 250 attend. The fact that guests cannot always commit due to filming commitments has meant that the busiest (invariably those currently most popular) tended to drop out. This in turn resulted in falling numbers hence reduced resources from which the organisers draw upon to secure guests and maintain standards. And so the 2006 event drew criticisms as to most of the guests being from yesteryear shows as well as a very poor disco and catering.   It was announced last October that the series would stop at 15 in 2008, however if this year's 2007 event fails to attract sufficient then instead it will be the last.

The 2007 UK national convention Eastercon, Convoy, has been cancelled! The reasons given are not enough registrations possibly due to concerns as to security concerns over its proposed venue, The Adelphi, Liverpool. +++ OK, we have kept quiet up till now so as our coverage could not be mistaken for muddying waters, but how come the con got cancelled? Unfortunately Convoy do not have an e-mail address and a query sent to their site bounced. However a number of reasons as to why insufficient signed up leading to the con's collapse have separately come our way. We have distilled these down and leave you to take your pick.   Theory 1 The two year lead time meant that the convention bid had to be presented around the time of the 2005 UK Eurocon cum Worldcon which itself was a hugely successful event but which involved nearly all British fan conrunners who might have contributed to running the 2007 Eastercon. In other words there was not enough conrunning resource available to make informed decisions.   Theory 2 The failure of the tacit Elydore-Eastercon unification agreement in the early 1990s has fragmented UK fandom so that today some Eastercons struggle to get the numbers they grew to in the 1980s (re: gathering of the Brit SF clans also see Eastercon 09). As Eastercons are highly variable in quality, those perceived (rightly or wrongly) as lacking lose support. This now smaller pool of potential registrants exposes Eastercons to a greater risk of failing to reach a critical mass.   Theory 3 The Adelphi -- despite having an excellent layout for an Eastercon, and Liverpool being midway between Aberdeen, Bristol, Glasgow and London -- has a poor track record for security. For example search for 'Adelphi' somewhere in here and here. Virtually every Eastercon and media convention held there since the 1980s has had reports of some not-insignificant security problem be it theft from hotel rooms and/or pick-pocketing. Rightly or wrongly it has acquired a dismal reputation in some quarters of fandom. In short not enough fans wanted to go there again.   Our suspicion is that the reality is possibly due to a combination of the above, also that the perceived weighting for each 'theory' varies by individual fan.

A replacement for the above cancelled Brit national convention, Convoy, is announced. Called Contemplation it will, of course, be held over Easter 2007 (April 6th to 9th). At the time of compiling this news page (in the run-up to Christmas/New Year) the venue has just been announced as Chester. The largely Sheffield-based organisers, understandably, only have the time to put together a light programme but will nonetheless try to make it as full as possible. Details will no doubt be presented on their website contemplation.conventions.org.uk in the fullness of time. Attending membership is currently £45 but will probably go up nearer Easter.

Plans for Orbital, the 2008 Brit Eastercon, are coming along. There is a strong SF author Guest of Honour list with Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, China Mieville, and Charles Stross and the Fan Guest is the longstanding SF book dealer Rog' Peyton. The venue is the Radisson Edwardian Hotel by London's Heathrow airport that has previously hosted a number of media related SF events and the 1996 Eastercon. There will be a fancy dress masquerade and a cabaret is planned for folk to present comedy skits, magic tricks and filk songs. One of its key themes will be 'orbits' covering 'the various subsets of fandom: books, television, movies, comics, writing, costuming, fliking, and so on'.

There are two bids for the 2009 British Eastercon: LXcon (no website yet as we post this page) and Concordia. LXcon is called such because it is the 60th Eastercon and is contemplating a Yorkshire (possibly Leeds) venue. If LXcon is hoping to celebrate the long run of the UK Eastercon then 2009 is a good year to do this.   Meanwhile Concordia is looking to the Birmingham Metropole by the NEC. This was where the 1987 BECCON Eastercon was held and has good conference facilities and a potential overflow hotel next door. Concordia has taken the rather unusual step for Eastercons of the past decade in returning to the Eastercon roots making the event the gathering of the British SF clans, indeed equally if there is a time to do this then an anniversary year, such as the 60th, is arguably appropriate. Of course there is no reason why the Eastercon should be the gathering of the British SF clans but clearly there is an important role for a recognised annual gathering of the Brit clans. If Concordia's organisers are to achieve this they will have to do two things. First, persuade the hard core of current Eastercon goers who will be attending this year's emergency Eastercon that theirs is the preferred bid.   Second, produce different sets of promotional literature aimed specifically attracting the SF constituencies they wish to see attend and ensuring that these are properly distributed amongst these groupings. Involving leading lights of these groupings in organising sections of the programme would also help. After all it is one thing to 'showcase' all the aspects of British fandom and quite another to get warm bodies from these constituencies to actually attend and so be a 'gathering' of the Brit SF clans. Concordia is also being ambitious and plans to tread into (UK) Fantasycon territory. Whether this will stretch matters too far remains to be seen.

Astounding Science Fiction magazine artwork from the 1930s-'40s exhibition held in Massachusetts, US. An exhibition of Canadian artist Hubert Rogers is to be held at the Amherst Library up to the end of January 2007. In addition to the artwork there will be vintage copies of Astounding on display.

The Masters of American Comics exhibitions will run at the Newark Museum and the Jewish Museum in New York, US, until January 28th.

Sci-Fi London - the SF film fest will be in May. Sci-Fi London (which covers all aspects of cinematic SF not just Sci Fi) confirmed the permanence of its calendar change late in the summer (see last time's news). News of anticipated programme highlights will be available in the Spring but after the posting of this season's news. So we will have coverage next time.

The 2007 Festival of Fantastic Films is to be held at the end of August and has announced some of its guests. Lamberto Bava - Director/Actor/Producer (Demons, Prince of Terror, The Torturer, Body Puzzle, and Dinner with a Vampire) and director Jean Rollin who will apparently be bringing his last two movies: The Two Orphaned Vampires and Fiancée of Dracula.  He may also be able to bring the currently-shooting Transfigurated Night if a copy is available from the cutting room.   Unfortunately the Fest sadly will not see William Franklyn.   The Fest's details are on fantastic-films.com/festival. There will of course be both SF and horror golden oldies and new independents and amateur films in parallel programme streams. See here for a review of the last 2006 Festival.

Australia's Friends of Science Fiction has a new venue. The move comes after 11 years and was prompted by room hire rates. Details on the Friends of SF site.

Nominations for the 2007 FFANZ (Fan Fund for Australia and New Zealand) have now closed. Voting on these nominations is to last to 31st March. Details are on ffanz.sf.org.nz.

The Transatlantic Fan Fund nominations are finalised but the trip is cancelled. There were two candidates, Chris Garcia and Mary Kay Kare, for the trip from North America to the British Eastercon. The one problem was that the Brit Eastercon is cancelled and so therefore the TAFF organisers have suspended this year's trip.

JETS the one-off fan fund to sponsor a European fan to the Japanese Worldcon was keeping the nominations confidential. The Japanese Expeditionary Travel Scholarship (JETS) is a special fund created to assist a European SF fan, elected by vote of other "European fans", to travel to and attend Nippon 2007. One of the organisers told Concat that the number and names of the nominations are confidential. However a week later Ansible reports the status: presumably you're meant to go there for coverage, so see the link. Concatenation's offer to post the winner's convention trip report still stands.

Our new listing of the planet's major SF cons for 2007 is now up -- see Science Fiction conventions diary.

Into TV related Sci-Fi memorabilia? Our other Tony is parting with a substantial chunk of his collection amassed over many years. Check out uk.geocities.com/captaincardigans. Probably only practical if you are London or home-county based (Tony goes to LOTNA), but if a serious collector and further a field you could arrange to do an international money transfer and add on the cost of shipping. (Concat team members are generally trustworthy types.)

[The other key sections within this seasonal newscast are: Major Headline Links |
News which contains: Major Science & SF News, People: Major SF Author, Science Writer and Artist News; Film News; SF Book Trade News; TV News; Eurocon/Worldcon News; Fandom & Other News; and Net Watch |
Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
Forthcoming Book Releases including: Science Fiction Forthcoming Fantasy & Horror Forthcoming Science Fact and Non-Fiction and Forthcoming TV & Film Tie-ins Book Releases | Selected Recent DVD Releases |
R.I.P | Interface: Science and SF | End Bits.]

Spring 2007

NET WATCH

New Ceres is a new fictional universe webzine from Australia. Each issue contains stories from the 'New Ceres' universe which is about the planet New Ceres. This is the destiny for many who have fled the war that ruined the Earth. The problem for arrivals is that apart from a few items, technology is banned and so many of New Ceres' inhabitants are effectively living in an analogue 18th century. Writers can submit short stories firmly based on the 'New Ceres' universe, and will be paid, but are encouraged to read the first issue first. Issue 1 is out, issue 2 will be out in March 2007. There will be a submission period later in 2007.

Pantechnicon is a new horror quarterly webzine. It features, as most do, fiction but also interviews and non-fiction articles. Accessible online and as PDFs.

The London Horror Comic is a new free horror comic strip webzine. Seems to be a place to showcase talent. (Correction summer 2007 -- their website seems to have died: that was short-lived.)

The Alien Online has gone offline!   But has been re-incarnated as the UK Book News.Net. The Alien Online folk, having done their introspection and found their true identity, have decided to be upfront about it: they are SF & fantasy book folk. It is early days yet for the new site and they are going to have to get a good few of specialist outlets to send in their news (other than FP London) if they are truly to do what it says on their tin. As Concatenation is seasonal (not bloggish) let alone has a quite different (albeit part overlapping) SF nuance, take this as not a criticism but us urging British specialist book outlets to let these folk know each month of anything special their shops have planned.

The 2nd issue of Helix is out. Helix being the new quarterly webzine that aims to publish stories that are too risqué (in politically correct terms) to be accepted elsewhere. Issue two has an absolutely delightful comedy horror with a great 'churchianity' message by Melanie Fletcher called 'The Padre, the Rabbi, and the Devil His Own Self'. Meanwhile Doranna Durgin demonstrates that while a little learning can be a bad thing, none at all can be worse especially if trying to get a jump in time. There is also an intriguing tribute (sort of...) of the 'ufo-ologer' Adamski. Plus: a Terry Bisson story of inter-racial co-operative racism; a contribution on perception from Jay Lake; supernatural passion provided by Peg Robinson; and the intertwining of dependence and handicap explored by Jennifer Pelland. +++ It could well be that by the time you read this issue 3 will be out, but the old issues can be found hitting their 'Archives' link.

Emerald City, the book review e-zine, continued with a couple of wind-up issues following its announcement to close. The September issue 133 features personal analyses of the Hugo Award vote and the 2006 Worldcon, and there were the usual reviews. Issue 134 was bilied as 'October/November' and was dominated by reviews to clear the EmCit desk. (We haven't linked directly to Emerald City this or last season as it was to close and we don't know yet where it will be archived. So you'll have to Google it for now.)

Starship Sofa is a new podcast site that's been going since the summer. Podcasts are added weekly and so far consist of the site's two creators chatting about their favourite SF authors: one author focussed on each week (well Dick took three). Chats usually last for under an hour. Ideal for downloading onto MP3 players for listening during the commuter run.

Specusphere has had a major update by Amanda Greenslade the Australian SF Bullsheet reports. Specusphere now features local and international speculative fiction links and is looking at publishing an e-journal or e-book in the near future. Check their website at www.specusphere.com/joomla for details.

Dr Who mixes. Rather fun especially (obviously) for Dr Who fans.

MISCELLANEOUS -- COMPUTER CORNER

Sony's Playstation 3 is launched in Japan and N. America. With its extra processing power and improved graphics the new console appears a consumer hit. It also has blu-ray disc drives that Sony is keen to push as a successor to the DVD format. Costing around US$780 (£425), which some say is too high, they are still being snapped up. But Europeans are going to have to wait until March due to manufacturing difficulties.

Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 7 - but there are a lot of problems. MS Explorer 7 is now out. Aside from the 'new look' hassles (soon overcome) there are a lot of problems. Many are listed on MS's 'Release Notes', others are not. One of the main problems reported is difficulty in transporting (either by clicking and dragging) web addresses to and from the address bar to and from e-mails (by mouse without using cntrl-c and 'v') as well as from the address bar to and from MS Word documents, and text files (used for creating web page source codes). Hopefully these problems will be sorted out in the course of 2007.