Science Fiction News & Recent Science Review for the Summer 2008

This SF & science news page builds on the seasonal science fiction news previously posted.

[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.]

Summer 2008

EDITORIAL MATTERS

As of Easter 2008 the Science Fact & Fiction Concatenation was 21 years old...

Cover of issue no.1 in 1987.

Yes, we are twenty one!   And it does not seem that long ago we were just 20. (A year possibly?) For our potted history see last summer's editorial matters. Now, it was mooted that we hold a party but the team is these days so dispersed that finding a time and a place where many of us can get together has proven difficult. We still haven't quite given up though suspect that we may have to hold some splinter gatherings. Having said that, it is only four years to our quarter century... Tempus fugit. Meanwhile enjoy this issue.

Concat' Site Update Alert Service: You can receive e-mail alerts (only every other month) letting you know when this site has an 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. SF to your computer at near the speed of light. :-)

Help support Concatenation: Get Essential Science Fiction which is also available from Amazon.co.uk. In addition to helping this site it makes a great present and helps you do your bit to spread the genre word. See also news of signed copies from Porcupine Books (who can send you copies cheaper than Amazon...).

[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.]

Summer 2008

MAJOR HEADLINE LINKS

Both Britain's top SF author and fan die aged 90! See A. C. Clarke and Ken Slater below.

Terry Pratchett does a very decent thing in his fight and vows to eat a dead mole's arse -- click here for details

The nominations for the 2008 Hugo Awards for SF achievement are out. - click here for details

SF awards last season included: Australia's Aurealis Awards and Ditmar Awards, Britain's BSFA, Italy's Italcon Awards, New Zealand's Sir Julius Vogels, Russia's Silver Arrow and Mir F. Awards,.

First Hideyo Noguchi Africa prize-winners announced. -- details here.

New publications. -- 2000AD now on-line (details here) and New Romanian SF magazine (details here).

China bans SF horror. In the run up to this summer's Olympics - click here for details

What has happened to our 2008 New Year recommendations of the top British SF books of 2007? In three short months all but one have now been short-listed for major SF awards here and/or in North America. -- Details here.

News of SF and science personalities, among many, includes that of: Brian Aldiss, Iain Banks, J. G. Ballard, Richard Dawkins, Greg Egan and even Tarzan's Cheeta -- Yes, the species barrier means sod all to us.

Eastercon SF conventions abound in: Australia, Britain, Italy, New Zealand and the Ukraine.

Stardrive drink launched in the Ukraine. -- details here.

Jump to other specialist news using the section menu below or else scroll down to get everything...

[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.]

Summer 2008

NEWS

MAJOR SCIENCE & SF NEWS

The nominations for the 2008 Hugo Awards for SF achievement in 2007 are out. The principal category nominations are:-
          Novel
                    Brasyl by Ian McDonald
                    Halting State by Charles Stross
                    The Last Colony by John Scalzi
                    Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer
                    The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon.
          Related Book (non-fiction SF)
                    The Arrival by Shaun Tan
                    Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher
                    Breakfast in the Ruins: Science Fiction in the Last Millennium by Barry N. Malzberg
                    The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Diana Glyer
                    Emshwiller: Infinity x Two by Luis Ortiz
          Dramatic Presentation (long form)
                    Enchanted directed by Kevin Lima
                    The Golden Compass directed by Chris Weitz.
                    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix directed by David Yates
                    Heroes, Season 1 Created by Tim Kring
                    Stardust directed by Matthew Vaughn
          Dramatic Presentation (short form)
                    Battlestar Galactica: Razor directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá and Wayne Rose (note that this is the televised
                    version and not the film which presumably would be long form?)
                    Doctor Who: 'Blink' directed by Hettie Macdonald
                    Doctor Who: 'Human Nature'; 'The Family of Blood' directed by Charles Palmer
                    Star Trek New Voyages: 'World Enough and Time' directed by Marc Scott Zicree
                    Torchwood: 'Captain Jack Harkness' directed by Ashley Way
The results of the vote for the winners in each category will be announced at the end of the summer at this year's SF Worldcon.

Comment on the Hugo nominations. Not that many surprises this year. As far as we know only two of the SF novels was published in the British Isles in 2007 and that was Brasyl -- which we had already identified as being one of the top UK SF books back in the New Year -- and The Yiddish Policeman's Union. Scalzi and Stross are strong SF writers some of whose previous work we have previously reviewed. Sawyer is a good ideas man but his Hugo win in 2003 was, truth be told, a bit of a surprise and indirectly alluded to by a comment in one of that year's Worldcon newsletter following the Hugo ceremony. (Some (gossip) have suggested that that win was due to him having been Hugo nominated so many times previously so that there was an 'it's-his-time' vote, though this hardly seems worthy of neither Hugo voters, their intended beneficiaries nor Gernback's name. This still does not detract him from being an ideas man.) None of the Concat team have seen his Rollback and it could well have ample good ideas to make it of SF note, but will Sawyer's prose be up to those of his rivals? Alas Rollback has not been published this side of the Atlantic (which is the reason our reviewers haven't seen it). Meanwhile a cursory scan of all the Hugo categories as well as the separate (but presented at the same time) John W. Campbell Award nominees suggests that SF publishers Gollancz and fantasy publishers Voyager in the UK, and Pyr and Tor in the US, should be happy.
          Regarding the related (non-fiction) nominations, only two were published in the British Isles last year and we already identified Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction as being one of our top UK non-fiction SF books back in the New Year (actually it was our only non-fiction recommendation).
          As for the dramatic presentation (long form), Hollywood as ever dominates the Hugo nominations and as such it more ties in with our UK weekly box-office chart assessment of top science fiction films of the year than our core team's views. Here three of the five Hugo nominations are on our 2007/8 top science fiction films chart though of course both our chart and the Hugo nominations include works of fantasy as well as SF. That Hereos season one was nominated was also not a huge surprise (see the end of our last year's comment on television Hugo nominations ).
          The dramatic presentation (short form) was even more devoid of surprise (again see our last year's comment on television Hugo nominations ). Once more there were Dr Who and Battlestar nominations with the Dr Who spin-off Torchwood now also in the mix. The Star Trek New Voyages: 'World Enough and Time' nomination was somewhat predictable as (as we reported on the sci-fi/media hit of last year's Worldcon) a screening of that episode wowed last year's Worldcon goers and of course they vote for the Hugo.
          Summary of this year's nominations: nothing unduly out of the usual. In fact the only tangible benefit to SF buffs in Europe is that it provides a few recommendations for novels that we (or your local SF bookshop) might order from North America, though with luck Stross' novel may be published in Britain this year.

Brian Greenwood and Miriam K. Were win the first Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize fro service to global public health. Brian Greenwood is a distinguished malaria researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Miriam Were is an AIDS specialist working in local communities on East Africa. Both receive their medals in May. There is also an honorarium worth 100 million Yen (£421,500, US$843,000). The prize has been established by the Japanese government and is named after Noguchi Hideyo (1876) the researcher who discovered that Treponema pallidum (syphilitic spirochete) was the cause of syphilis. The award is to be given every five years.

The 2008 Australian Aurealis Awards have been given for 2007 works. The winners of the principal categories were:-
          Best SF Novel - The Company of the Dead by David Kowalski
          Best SF Short Story - 'Hollywood Roadkill' by Cat Sparks (in Canada's On Spec #69)
The Aurealis is judged by a panel. The award was established in 1995 by Chimaera Publications, the publishers of Aurealis magazine, to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror. Details of all categories here.

Australia's Ditmars are the nation's SF fan-voted awards presented at the country's national convention which this year was Swancon at Easter. This year's principal category wins went to:-
          Best SF Novel - Saturn Returns by Sean Williams
          Best Collected Work - The New Space Opera edited by Jonathan Strahan & Gardner Dozois
          and (this year it was a tie)
          Fantastic Wonder Stories edited by Russell B. Farr.
The Ditmars are Australia's national SF Awards. The Tin Duck Awards were also presented for Western Australian SF.

The British SF Awards were presented at this year's national convention at Easter. The winner of the 'Best Novel' category went to Ian McDonald's Brasyl.
          The runners up were: Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot, Black Man by Richard Morgan, The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod, The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds, and The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon.
          A special BSFA 50th anniversary award for 'Best Novel of 1958' went to Brian Aldiss' Non-Stop. A special presentation to mark the BSFA's 50th anniversary went to fan Peter Mabey who has had continuous membership throughout the Association's half-century.
          Full details of all categories are on bsfa.co.uk.

Italy's Italcon Awards were presented at this year's Italcon. Thanks to Roberto for the heads up and at the time of posting this was not easily searchable on the internet and so here are all the categories:-
          Best Science Fiction Novel or Anthology - L'essenza del futuro [The Essence of the Future] by Vittorio Catani
          Best Book Collection - Urania Collezione
          Best Editor - Vittorio Curtoni
          Best Artist - Dino Marsan
          Best Translator - Salvatore Proietti
          Best Professional Magazine - Fantascienza.com - Delos Books
          (Note: Which of course separately was a previous Eurocon magazine winner and was the first on-line
            publication to receive a Eurocon Award)
          Best Essay - 'La Fantascienza sugli schermi 3' by Giovanni Mongini
          Best (non-fiction) Article in a professional publication - 'Philip Dick, le barriere di Blade Runner e i superuomini che non sanno volare' ['Philip Dick, The Barrier Between Blade Runner and Supermen Who Do Not Know How to Fly'] by Salvatore Proietti
          Best Artistic Production - Marcello Rossi and Aleksandar Mickovic for il programma Wonder Stories (Jimmy)
          Best Fantasy Novel or Anthology - I Draghi di Chrysos [The Dreggs of Chrysos] by Debora Montanari
          Best Short Story in a Professional Publication - 'Crescerà a poco a poco' ['[It will grow little by little'] by Alberto Cola
          Best Fanzine - Fondazione SF Magazine
          Best Fan Website - Uraniamania
          Best Fan Short Story - 'Illusione Celeste' ['Celestial Illusion'] by Mauro D'Avino
          Best Fan Article (non-fiction) - Fantaspot by Enrico Di Stefano
          Best TV Series - Lost
          Best DVD - The Prestige directed by Christopher Nolan
          Best International Novel - Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
(Note: Fondazione SF Magazine [Foundation SF Magazine] also published the 'Best Fan Short Story' and the 'Best Fan Article'.)

New Zealand's Sir Julius Vogel Awards were presented during this year's national convention, Conjunction, held over Ester weekend.
The principal category winners were:-
          Best Novel Adult - Path of Revenge by Russell Kirkpatrick
            (Note: The sequel Dark Heart is now out and a further follow-up is anticipated next year.)
          Best Novel (Juvenile) - The Sea-wreck Stranger by Anna Mackenzie
                             that tied with...
                                         - Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier
          Best Anthology: Doorways for the Dispossessed by Paul Haines
          Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) Black Sheep directed by Jonathan King
          (Note: You may recall from last time that this film also won a prestigious award at France's SF Utopiales
            which is one of the World's biggest SF gatherings (many times the size of the Worldcon).).
The awards are named for Sir Julius Vogel, a prominent New Zealand journalist and politician, who became Prime Minister of New Zealand in the 1870s. He also, in 1889, wrote what is widely (though possibly erroneously) regarded as New Zealand's first science fiction novel, Anno Domini 2000 - A Woman's Destiny. The book pictured a New Zealand in the year 2000 where most positions of authority were held by women - at the time of writing, a radical proposition. In 2000, New Zealand's Head of State, Governor General, Prime Minister, Chief Justice and Attorney General were all women.
            The full list of winners and nominations can be found here.

This year's Bram Stoker Awards were presented at the World Horror convention at the end of March. The principal category winners were:-
          Best Novel - The Missing - Sara Langan.
          Best First Novel - The Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill.

The Silver Arrow Awards were presented at Russia's third Silver Arrow convention. The winners of the principal categories were:-
          Best Science Fiction Writer 2007 - Alex Ovkosh
          Best Fantastic Book of 2007 - Sea-Scape by Sergey Dyachenko
          Best Russian Science fiction Writer - Vadim Panov
In addition to the awards they received 20% discount Russian tourist vouchers.

The Russian magazine Mir Fantastique [Fantasy/Fantastic World] has presented its annual awards. For the first time these were physically (as opposed to virtually) presented and the venue for the occasion was Moscow's Silver Arrow convention. The winners of the principal categories were:-
          Book of 2007 was won by the author Yuri Burnosova
          Popular Science Book of 2007 was Mars by Anton Pervushin

Chilean SF magazine Tau Zero marks its fifth anniversary with issue 24. The content of this anniversary edition includedshort stories by Chilean authors and an interview with Brit author Alastair Reynolds with a story of his especially translated for the issue. There is also an article in the value of a scientific and sceptical approach to 'paranormal' phenomena. Ben Bova provided a report on Japan's 2007 Worldcon.

A new Romanian SF magazine has been launched -- Sci-Fi Magazin. Actually it came out last October but we have only just been told. It consists of short stories and mainly by western writers. Issue one has contributions from Bud Sparhawk, William Sanders, Ursula K. Le Guin, Alfred Coppel, Will Shetterly, Matthew Hughes, Ken Lui, George Lazar and Cory Doctorow. Website www.sci-fi.ro.

A Spanish SF magazine has been launched in Madrid. Called SciFiWorld it was officially launched during an evening of fantastic films that featured three screenings of features by the director Javier Tolentino. In the midst of these half an hour was devoted to the launch. Those present included directors Jorge Grau, Paco Cabezas, Elio Quiroga and Alex Sampayo and the writer Jose Manuel Serrano Cueto. SciFiWorld is apparently Spain's only genre magazine selling in Spain's major high street newsagents.

2000AD Britain's leading SF comic of the past three decades is now available on-line. Published weekly and with characters such as Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog and script writers such as Alan Grant, John Wagner, David Bishop and even occasionally Alan Moore, 2000AD has developed a solid following in the UK. It has also won more Eagle Awards (Britain's leading comic award) than can easily be remembered. Despite continual but marginal profit, 2000AD has suffered a number of transfers of ownership before a few years ago it was bought out by the computer games company Rebellion whose owners are 2000AD fans. Being no longer within a major magazine company has presented difficulties but its support has remained. It has managed to attract a few overseas readers but distribution is a big problem. At least up till now because going on-line gets around that problem providing you are used to (as increasingly people are) material being electronic. Now issues of 2000AD are available to buy on-line the week following the paper versions distribution from www.clickwheel.net... All that can be said is 'splundig'.

What's happened to our last season Top Books of 2007 recommendations? Were we on the ball? Well let's see how they fared in other areas of the SF community...?
          Brazyl by Ian MacDonald is now out in North America in hardcover from Pyr at US$25, ISBN 978-1-591-0-2543-6. Brasyl was subsequently nominated for the BSFA award which it then won and has also just been nominated for a Hugo (see earlier) and is on the Locus 2007 recommended reading list.
          Black Man by Richard Morgan was nominated for a BSFA Award and is on the Locus 2007 recommended reading list.
          The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds was nominated for a BSFA Award and is also on the Locus 2007 recommended reading list.
          Which brings us to Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley and Divergence by Tony Ballantyne. So far these are the only ones of Concatenation's Best Novels of 2007 that do not seem to have gathered much interest in the award stakes, though both have attracted some great reviews. It might be that this lack of award recognition was due to the books coming out later rather than earlier in 2007. Another reason, for Cowboy Angels at least, is that it has not yet come out in North America and (surprisingly), we currently understand, there are no plans for its publication that side of the Atlantic! For these reasons it never stood a chance of either making the Hugo or the Locus Award shortlists. Now the Hugo rules are such that it gets a second bite at the cherry if a publisher releases it over there this year (2008) so enabling nomination next year (2009). However it may be that both these titles have slipped between stools. Pity that. We sincerely recommend them so do seek them out. The mass market paperbacks should be out in the UK later this year to accompany the hardback already out. STOP PRESS: Cowboy Angel's paperback forthcoming release listed below.
          On the non-fiction SF front we only recommended one as our Best Non-Fiction SF of 2007and that was Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of SF by Jeff Prucher. This has since been nominated for a Hugo (see earlier).

An SF drink has been officially launched in the Ukraine. It is a vodka called Gravitsapa. It is named after the 1987 Soviet Science Fiction film Kin-Dza-Dza (director Georgy Danelia) Gravitsapa was intergalactic drive for space ships in the film. The launch (coincidentally) took place a few days prior to Ukraine's national convention Portal.

[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.]

Summer 2008

PEOPLE: MAJOR SF & SCIENCE AUTHOR AND ARTIST NEWS

Brian Aldiss has been talking about his recent life in January's Locus magazine and his forthcoming novel with the working title Walcot. Apparently his agent hated it as it was written in the second-person singular: 'you' did this etc, and Brian has been working on it for years. The novel appears to be a history of the 20th century as told through the eyes of a family member. However it turns out to be SF as the 20th century we experienced was an experiment. To find out by who and for whom you can find out when the book is published this side of the Pond later in the year.

Juan José Aro, due to poor health (necessitating two operations) has announced the rescheduling of releases from Spain's Espiral Ciencia Ficción [Spiral Science Fiction]. Details in book news.

Iain Banks was interviewed by The Guadrian newspaper (or Guardian if you are a non-Brit visitor to this site). He revealed: that he did not have a favourite book as a youngster but a favourite genre -- science fiction; that his parents were keen readers and that he was shocked to discover at school some of his friends did not have books in their houses ('I thought it was like not having oxygen'); and as for a tip to budding writers, the three 'P's 'practice, practice, practice. +++ Meanwhile he also gave an interview to The Australian. He said in the early days he thought of himself as an SF writer daring to dabble in the mainstream.

Clive Barker is to produce film of his own Book of Blood. See item in film news below.

J. G. Ballard, as noted as forthcoming last time, has his autobiography published. Simultaneous with its launch Miracles of Life was summarised and broadcast on national BBC Radio 4 in five daily broadcasts one week. In it he revealed how has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and grateful for the thoughtful care being given him by Hammersmith hospital (London). He also revealed two of his favourite contemporary authors: Will Self and Iain Sinclair. Both these writers are more associated with the mainstream than genre. Yet both have their SFnal moments. Notably, as we pointed out a little while ago, is Self's The Book of Dave. Then in February both Will Self and Iain Sinclair held a public discussion at the Victoria and Albert (Kensington, London) on psychogeography, and naturally both referred to Ballard a few times.

Eric Brown has sold a trilogy of forthcoming books to Solaris. These concern the work of a telepath, Jeff Vaughan, at a spaceport. The first, Necropath, is scheduled to be out from Solaris in September. Xenopath follows in June next year (2009) with the final due out in 2010. Eric Brown has written several SF thrillers set in the near and far future. See our reviews of: Helix, New York BluesNew York Nights and Penumbra.

Richard Dawkins, the British zoologist, having caused a stir with The God Delusion, is to have another book on the evidence for evolution to come out next year (2009) to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. Gossip has it that his US publisher has paid an advance of US£3.5 million (£1.8m). +++ In February Dawkins appeared on BBC Radio 4's Open Book programme and said that Science Fiction helps him think about science. Included in his top five fiction novels were Fred Hoyle's The Black Cloud (1957) and Daniel F. Galouye's Hugo-nominated Dark Universe (1961).

Greg Egan had a major boost to his backlist in February prior to the May launch of his new novel Incandescence in May. Computer scientist and part-time author, Australian Greg Egan is known for writing very hard SF. If this is how you like your SF (and arguably many SF-loving scientists do) and you have not come across Egan then now is the time. Gollancz have released eight of his books in nifty, themed-styled covers (all paperback at £7.99) that would look great as part of a collection. Our Jonathan and Tony highly recommend Quarantine (biotech controlled probabilistic determined manipulation of reality comes unstuck) and Permutation City (a pre-Matrix novel of computer simulation and human transmigration) but do not let their partisan favouritism put you off the others. Also in the mix are: Axiomatic, Diaspora, Distress (another review of which is here), Luminous, Schild's Ladder and Teranesia. If we get a chance we will do a stand alone review of Incandescence later in the year as well as fill in some of the gaps in our Egan coverage not to mention do a couple of second reviews. (A number of our reviews on this site stem from when we were more constrained in our early print incarnation, besides which it is good to see with second reviews how books stand up a decade on.)

Steven Erikson, author of the fantasy series The Malazan Book of the Fallen is due to come to the UK on an author tour in June. This ties in with the UK launch of the series' eighth volume Toll the Hounds. (There will be ten books in all.) Of course this follows on from April's British launch of the paperback edition of the seventh book Reaper's Gale. Publishers Transworld tell us that all in all it is going to be quite a year for Erikson this side of the Pond as, in addition to all this, the autumn will see the trade paperback edition of Toll the Hounds. +++ Also Ian C. Esslemont has a Malazan book out this summer.

Alan Lee has been visiting France to promote the latest Tolkien book he has illustrated, the Children of Hurin. Places visited have included: Bordeaux, Paris and Toulouse.

Doris Lessing had her first public appearance in January since winning the Nobel for literature last year. She had an hour session at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall (South Bank) with an interview by her biographer Hermione Lee. They also discussed her last genre book The Cleft. Before giving a reading from her next due out in May.

Michael Moorcock has been awarded the 2008 Damon Knight Grand Master by the SF Writers of America. This is SFWA's highest accolade and recognizes excellence for a lifetime of contributions to science fiction and fantasy. Michael Moorcock is, of course, British. His latest collection of stories, The Metatemporal Detective was published last year by Pyr in the US. Though it is not out (yet?) from a British publisher, Pyr does have a UK distributor and as Moorcock is so well known over here we thought you would be interested. +++ Moorcock is glad that Elric blunder sorted -- see book news below.

Terry Pratchett is proactively supporting Alzheimer's Research. Further to last time's news of Terry Prathcett's embuggerance, he has given £500,000 (US$985,000) to Alzheimer's research. This news came the day he was giving a speech to the Alzheimer's Research Trust. The news hit the UK media at all levels including national BBC TV and radio. Terry pointed out that Alzheimer's research in the UK is just 3% that of cancer. Furthermore Alzheimer's victims are often hidden from the rest of society. Unlike cancer victims they are less able to speak out and often elderly and at home or in homes. Terry himself has a variant of the affliction that affects motor processing first: posterior cortical atrophy. His symptoms have begun to show and present themselves, for example, in him having difficulty sorting out a jacket sleeve that is inside out. So far it has not affected his story-telling but is beginning to affect his typing: he used to be able to touch type but now occasionally has to look to check keys out. Nonetheless he plans to continue writing a novel a year for as long as he can, although at some stage he expects to have to dictate his stories. Regarding campaigning for Alzheimer's he intends to "scream and harangue while there is still time." He said, "Personally I'd eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance." Aside from funding he noted that it was easier for him to get heroin down at a bus stop than it was to get Aricept. He is paying for the drug because the National Health Service (NHS) says that at 59 he is too young to get it for free! +++ Meanwhile the Alzheimer's Research Trust said, "Research is the only way to beat this disease and help people like Terry - to prevent them losing their thinking skills and keep them doing the things they love." +++ Terry's fans have started an Alzheimer's fund campaign (see below in 'Fandom and Other News'). +++ Catholic Church challenge stem cell embryo Bill, see story in the Interface: Science and SF section below.

Philip Pullman's books were a Christmas hit. Story below in the SF trade news subsection. Now he is turning part of his attention to comics and is providing the storyline for a strip about a mysterious boy who sails the Pacific in the new British comic The DFC.

Robert Rankin's next book, Necrophenia will be out 11th July 2008. There will be a book launch combined with a Rankin exhibit wrap party at the Gunnersby Park Museum (London). Following this he will do a book signing tour and then 5th - 7th of September he will be one of the principal guests at Zombiecon.

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.]

Summer 2008

FILM NEWS

The Signal SF horror may yet be released in British Isles. Maybe by now you will know, but at the time of posting we were told that UK date had not been set: if it is not, dare say it will be available on DVD. Set just before New Year, The Signal concerns the city of Terminus where electronic communications have been jam,med by a mysterious signal. And then the killing starts. Check out this YouTube clip.

The film Jumper topped the N. American mid-February box office ranking the weekend of its opening. It took some US$27.2million (£14m). It is a somewhat loose spin-off from Steven Gould's 1992 novel Jumper that has recently been published for the first time in the British Isles by Harper Voyager. It concerns a young man who has the (super power) ability to jump. Gould knows his SF and the teleportation trope roots within the genre. Apparently the film does not demonstrate this so clearly. Furthermore -- from the early reviews on the web -- the film is not a complete story and appears to be more of an incomplete pilot for a series. However the film's marketing and trailer does not indicate this. Further, co-star Samuel L. Jackson is reported as saying that he took part in the film as he could see it becoming a franchise. Do, though, check out the original book. Jonathan says he really enjoyed it. There is also a spin-off book of the film (as opposed to a film novelization).

The new Journey to the Center (sic) of the Earth is to parallel Verne's vision. This is at least the third film spin-off of the novel (not counting the failed TV pilot of the same name unrelated to the novel). The producer, Charlotte Huggins, says it will parallel the novel with the protagonists carrying a copy of Verne's novel with them for reference. Given that it is not strictly a novel adaptation, the real news then is that it is shot with James Cameron's Fusion 3-D digital camera system and will be a 3-D epic. No European release date has yet been announced, but it comes out in North America on 11th July as there are 1,200 cinema theatres there equipped with the "Real D" 3-D projection system. +++ A copy of a Verne book is going into space. Details below.

2012 goes to Sony following bid war. It will be director Roland (10,000 BC) Emmerich's next film and despite a budget of US$ 200 million (£1.01m) was fought over by a number of studios. 2012 is when the World is supposed to end. If all goes well it will be out next summer (2009).

Paramount delay next Star Trek film. The film's release has been pushed back from Christmas 2008 to May 2009 as the studio feel that it will see a bigger box office return with a summer release. +++ Scientist to help ST film! See story below in the Science & SF Interface section.

More hobbit trouble for Time Warner's New Line Cinema. This time the charitable trust of J. R. R. Tolkein and the Lord of the Rings publishers (Britain's HarperCollins) are owed 7.5% of gross receipts but apparently have only received a film advance of some US$62,500 (£32,000). The trilogy of films have now grossed US$6 billion (£2.08 billion) and the complainants reportedly say they are owed US$150 million (£77m). This is not the first time New Line have been accused of not paying out their contractual dues. At the end of last year director Peter Jackson received a settlement from New Line but the suspicion lingers that they only paid up because they wanted Jackson to work on the upcoming hobbit film. Meanwhile at the end of last year New Line -- who were behind the Golden Compass film sued the makers of a documentary of the film. In addition, back in 2004, following a dispute with New Line Saul Zaentz -- the producer of the cartoon version of LOTR received an out of court settlement as he optioned the rights he inherited from his work to New Line. The signal all this seems to be sending authors of works some studios might want to turn into films, is for authors to guestimate total earnings and ask for this as the upfront advance, as relying on a small advance with a subsequent share of profits may be a hassle.

Watchmen centre of 20th Century Fox case against Warner. As we have previously covered, production on the Watchmen film is well and truly underway (our previous story trail starts here). Now Fox is suing Warner as Fox claims it owns exclusive rights. Some might say this is what comes of buying up film options and then sitting on them but we could not possibly think that especially as... Apparently there is a complication in that a third party wrote the screenplay and it is the rights to this that Fox appears to be protecting. The film is of course based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel (who probably won't see a penny of all this) and the film's director is Zack Snyder.

The Hulk film, if successful, is designed to be a franchise. So the star Edward Norton is reported as saying. Enough said. The film is out from 13th June in Europe and North America. Trailer here.

The forthcoming Spanish SFnal film Tres Días [Three Days] or Before the Fall (international release title) is generating a fair bit of speculation on the net. Directed and co-written by F. Javier Gutiérrez, the plot concerns local events following a UN announcement that a planet-killer asteroid is just three days away. The film's protagonist decides to drink the last days away listening to music in his house in a small rural village. However a stranger arrives with obscure intent and he is forced to protect his brother's four children. +++ Trailer here.

Clive Barker's Book of Blood is to be a film. Matador Pictures and Midnight Picture Show have joined forces for the project. Clive himself is one of the producers (see earlier). John Harrison (Tales from the Darkside) will direct from a screenplay co-written with Darin Silverman. Sophie (Heartbeat) Ward and Jonas (Robin Hood) Armstrong will star. The plot concerns a paranormal expert investigating a grisly murder, finds a house that is crossroads of routes that take souls to the afterlife. It is hoped the film will be sufficiently successful to become a franchise. +++ The paperback of Barker's Mr B. Gone is out this summer (see below).

The X-Files 2 film has finished shooting and plot set-up revealed. The wrap took place in Vancouver, Canada. Mulder (Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) staged a kiss for photographers and predictably these were published and posted on the net. Apparently the plot set-up concerns what happened to Mulder and Scully six years on after the show's TV finale that was, of course, in 2002. +++ Meanwhile the trailer is here.

Cloverfield to have a prequel? Whatever fans say (and there has been criticism of the film being plot light), the non-traditional online marketing seems to have worked, not to mention the post 9/11 cathartic release nature of the film in the US, has enabled Cloverfield accrue a good US box office take in the first couple of months since its launch. So it is not surprising that there is already talk of a sequel or prequel. For example see the piece in Variety.

The Descent is to have a sequel. Called De2cent advance information suggests it takes off where the last film ended. The caving women are overdue and the local rangers are concerned. Then the surviving woman turns up bloodied and traumatised. Unable to get any sense out of her the rangers take he back to the cave... Bad move... Not least because the current gossip on the net is not very favourable and it looks like this sequel may well fail to live up to the Neil Marshall original. +++ Meanwhile Neil Marshall (director of the original Descent) has Doomsday coming out. This also has a female protagonist who takes a military team into a quarantined zone to find a cure for a plague affecting the World.

Rumour central has it that loose plans are being made for De3cent! Apparently (so gossip has it) in the process of casting De2cent one of the actresses was given an option for a second film... Talk about milking the franchise, they would have been better off doing a follow-up to Dog Soldiers that was directed by Neil Marshall who did the original The Descent. (Dog Soldiers had an unrealised back-story as clearly the authorities new or suspected there was a long-time were-wolf pack in the highlands otherwise they would not have sent in a hunting team and separately an uninformed soldier platoon (purportedly on exercise) as bait.)

More rumours as to another alien film. Further to last time's details there have been more rumours as to a possible sixth 'Alien' film. We thought you might want to known as all this fuels likelihood -- no smoke without fire and all that. Yet for all the fantastic film buff gossip (all of which is firmly in line with our previous report) there has been no more info on the likely plot.

Dan Simmonds' Hugo-winning Hyperion is to become a film. Warner Brothers is to make it with producer Graham King.

Film download tip!: Isaac Asimov on the future of SF. Isaac Asimov discusses the transformation of science fiction from the 1950's to 1971 (when this interview occurred). This interview is the 2nd of two Asimov excerpts from the Literature of SF DVD available at www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter It is brought to you by AboutSF and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. For more info, visit http://www.aboutsf.com. See the clip here.

Film download tip!: I Am Legend film alternative ending We let you know news of the changes made to the film last time. Well at last you can see for yourself, here it is.... the I Am Legend alternative ending (about 5 minutes).

Film download tip!: Which doctor is whom? Two Dr Who's, an old (Peter Davidson one) and the current David Tennant one in this mini-encounter first broadcast for BBC's Children in Need last year. See it here.

Film download tip!: Quick catch-up on Battlestar Galactica. OK, so the 1970s series was very sci-fi and dire but the 21st century series has been a huge improvement. You may have heard this what with the series nominations for a Hugo and all, but you may not have felt motivated to catch up on the long story arc. Here then is an eight minute catch-up for you.

For a reminder of the top films in 2007/8 (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. You can use this page if you are stuck for ideas hiring a DVD for the weekend.

For a forward look as to film releases of 2008 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.]

Summer 2008

SF BOOK TRADE AND RELATED TRADE NEWS

Top selling non-fiction science authors -- the 2007 figures for Britain are out. Bill Bryson's books sold £5.6m (US$11.2m) up £0.7m (US$1.4m) from £4.9m (US$9.8m) in 2006. Richard Dawkins sold £3.7m (US$7.4m) up £0.9m (US$1.8m) in 2006. See our review of Dawkins The God Delusion here.

Top library borrowed books. Yet more figures out showing that the most borrowed genre title from UK libraries in 2007 was J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (published by Bloomsbury, 2005) at number 23. This was followed by Stephen King's Cell (Hodder, 2006) at number 98.

New North American SF publishing imprint. www.citiria.com/citiriapublishing is now open for submissions of SF and modern fantasy. (By modern they mean no Swords 'n Sorcery). The guidelines are available at their website, and pros will not need telling that these need to be adhered to if proposals are to be considered. Criteria do have a distribution arrangement in the British Isles where Lightning Source is used to print their books.

Gollancz boost Greg Egan's backlist. -- See the news earlier in the authors' news section.

Gollancz to boost Arthur Clarke backlist. -- See Clarke news below.

Elric of Melniboné blunder narrowly avoided. Michael Moorcock's fantasy hero is due to get another airing. Yet the publishers Gollancz, who are normally very much on the ball, were to be publishing two Elric novels together as a compendium: Stealer of Souls and Stormbringer. They were to do this giving the compendium the title Elric of Melniboné. Yet Elric of Melniboné is actually the title of quite a separate Elric novel unconnected with the proposed compendium novels other than it is another adventure of the same protagonist. Apparently SF buff Guy Lawley found out and alerted Gollancz who put matters right, though Moorcock himself initially was not pleased. (Past title confusion (with other publishers and authors) has seen notable lost revenue and notwithstanding the author could have called for a misnamed book to be pulped on the grounds of misrepresentation.) No doubt Gollancz will be showing their gratitude and appreciation. These things happen but good to see that genre enthusiasts can help prevent mistakes of such magnitude: professionals need to value them. +++ Other Moorcock news earlier here.

Spain's Espiral Ciencia Ficción [Spiral Science Fiction] is to decrease its publishing frequency from bimonthly to biannual. The not-for-profit publisher has been going for around 13 years but recently the ill-health of its editor has taken its toll. This April saw the publication of La Marcha de las Anémonas [The March of the Anemones ] by the Chilean writer (and science journalist) Lilian Duery. This will be his second book. Set in the very near future, the plot concerns genetic experiments which end up enhancing global warming. Following this the next publication will be out in October.

US book chain Borders feels the credit squeeze. Despite total sales up 4.2% to US$3.8 billion (£1.9 billion) in 2007, there apparently was a problem with its selling its Australian and New Zealand branches and this and the overall economic climate has given it difficulties. You may recall from last season that Borders sold its British Isles operation arguably cheaply and last year it made an operating loss of US$45.7 (£22.6 m). And so it has sought to borrow US$42.5 million (£21.2 m) but had difficulty finding a lender. However its major shareholder (Pershing Square Capital) came to the rescue, sort of, with a loan but at a reported eye-watering interest rate of 12.5%.

More book trade news in our next seasonal news column in September. Meanwhile check out the forthcoming SF and forthcoming fantasy book lists sections (see the mini-index immediately below...).

[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.]

Summer 2008

TV NEWS

The Bionic Woman has been cancelled by NBC. As we reported in last time's science fiction news the series launch attracted a big North American audience. This then rapidly dwindled and then the writers' strike hit -- only 8 episodes have been broadcast. It was then released in Great Britain on the digital channel ITV 2 and got 2.2 million viewers (a record for that channel). However with the plummeting of the North American audience the writing was on the wall and NBC have pulled the plug.

Stargate: Continuum new DVD out July. It will be more stand-alone that the previous Stargate straight-to-DVD, The Ark of Truth (that came out back in March) which tied up the 'Ori' story line. Continuum will be accessible to more casual viewers.

[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.]

Summer 2008

EUROCON / WORLDCON NEWS

Worldcon hotel full but plenty of others nearby. The main hotel for this year's Worldcon, Devention, became fully booked early in the year not long after the accommodation form came out. The organisers point out that there are still many hotels within half a mile (10 minutes walk). Other news: There will be several programme (or 'program' items as Americans computerise it) items for aspiring writers. +++ Devention has announced the reported earlier +++ Pre-registration closes 10th July so book up before then unless you want to pay the inflated on-the-door rate. +++ The art show space request deadline is 15th July.

Anticipation, the 2009 Canadian Worldcon, has co-opted some Europeans onto its committee. Overall programming comes under the same person on the main committee who oversaw the programme for Canada's 2003 Worldcon (Torcon). This convention received some bitter criticism from some areas of fandom (for example see here). Certainly the 2003 programme was: panel dominated; the film section was particularly dire (very surprising given Canada punches well above its weight both in big-studio and independent film productions) plus poorly timetabled in the convention literature; and overall there was a lack of solo presentations other than readings. Many of the programme items on the day were not billed as advertised (science items largely excepted) and there were problems with some of the extravaganzas. So for 2009 a European programme director has been brought in to help out and this is arguably a welcome move. However a look at the Anticipation website reveals that so far those at the top of the 2009 programme organization are book orientated. Now there would be nothing wrong with that if this was balanced by those with expertise addressing SF's other areas. However with five staff members (not counting the programme director) concentrating on SF's written form and nobody (yet?) slated for, say, the cinematic dimension, it is obvious which way the wind is blowing. One saving grace is that there is someone with science expertise covering that part of the programme though of course science was one area that Canada did do reasonably well back in 2003, so it is a little surprising that a European was felt necessary for 2009. However if anyone from Europe can involve Canadian academics in the science programme then this individual can albeit an ocean away. (The chap is known to Concat and has done the odd thing with us.)
          Where does all this leave us? Truth be told, probably a little confused as to what sort of a Worldcon we will get. Book orientated yes, and this will be fine for those whose interests lie solely there. In addition, with two staff members working on the Francophone written SF programme then that dimension will be well covered, though without translated readings it is difficult to convey that genre dimension to those who are strictly Anglophones. So accessibility here is an issue. It would be easier (what with subtitling) to showcase recent cutting-edge and past classic Francophone cinematic offerings but, from what is on the website as nobody is covering film then the possibility of this last (currently) seems remote. Conversely the Anticipation Worldcon could attract French fans and pros and to do that could have a multi-pronged promotional blitz at the annual SF Utopiales.
          Does any of this matter? Worldcon regulars will go in 2009 regardless, and certainly a Canadian Worldcon is no barrier to US fans and professionals who make up the greatest proportion of attendees. Canadian locals will also go. To be honest as for anyone else, other than for tourist value, there seems little accessible on offer out of the usual. So will many decide to skip a year? Here Canada 2009 could benefit from Australia 2010 being difficult to get to from N. America and doubly so from Europe (as few Europeans or Americans would want to skip two years) but this is certainly a negative reason to attend Canada in 2009. What we do know is at the time of posting this seasonal newscast there are four months to this year's 2008 Worldcon at which point many (non-Canadians) still yet to decide what to do for next year will do so. If the 2009 Canadian Worldcon is going to come up with some clearly defined unique selling points then this season (summer 2008) is its last meaningful chance to both present them and demonstrate achievability. The 2009 committee needs to remember that for many memories of 2003's good and not so good aspects are still fresh in the mind.

New Zealand may run pre-Worldcon 2010 convention. -- see story in the following fandom section.

Worldcon bids for 2011. As we post this seasonal news page there is currently only one bid for 2011 and that is for Seattle, USA. It has the nifty slogan 'Yesterday's tomorrows today'. The northwest US has a fairly strong SF community and the region has at least five medium-sized general SF conventions, two SF and fantasy cons as well as five anime and comics conventions covering last year and this. The Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee are behind the bid. The results of the competition for the 2011 bid will take place at the 2009 Worldcon Anticipation in Canada.

Passports required when paying 2008 Eurocon hotel and other bureaucracy? If you are reading this shortly after posting, and are going to this year's Eurocon, then you may care to note that your passport may be required when you pay your hotel bill and elsewhere. While it is common practice for foreigners across Europe to show their passport on registering with a hotel, in Moscow it may also be required when settling your bill. This last is likely to apply to Russians too given the experience at February's Silver Arrow convention in Moscow! This is just one aspect to the bureaucratic hassles that visitors to Moscow may encounter. Hopefully lessons will have been learned from last year's Roskon. Nonetheless it is worth reminding those going to this year's event are reminded to double check that they have all their documentation and that it is all in order. (You need advance registration papers for every place you will be spending the night.) +++ Now before Western Europeans get all smug that they do not have to suffer such indignities in the 'free west', remember that the proposed British biometric ID cards are of a type that would be illegal in Germany due to lingering memories of the early part of the last century as well as the cold war in the eastern part of that country. Furthermore the British government proposals with the EU want passengers taking flights between European Union countries and even domestic ones to provide not only a passport but mobile phone and credit card details!!! In all 19 bits of information would be required so as to identify 'high risk' passengers. The data, it is proposed, would then be held for 13 years. If these proposals go ahead it is likely that sea and rail passengers would also be included... Seems like George Orwell was only a quarter of a century out.

European SF Society (ESFS) makes statement without meeting! Further to the complaints that were raised by an international group of fans (see last season's ESFS business meeting story) about the way the 2007 Eurocon Award nomination process was conducted, the ESFS officers have now formally replied. In the statement not widely circulated, the officers say the person presiding the nomination process "has the complete trust of the ESFS and is fully backed by the elected board". This is a pretty nifty achievement given that ESFS has not met to discuss the matter! Of course the 'elected' officers are fully entitled to speak up for themselves but how can they speak for ESFS on a matter ESFS has not even met to consider? The perversity of this is underlined by the ESFS officers' own reply that includes the comment: "Anything that is done before the Eurocon can only be considered preliminary actions." (The underlining is our emphasis.) That is to say that ESFS meets at Eurocons so that matters outside of this can only be preliminary. All told this clearly indicates that there is somehow a difference between 'preliminary action' between meetings and an 'official ESFS statement' coming out of ESFS which sort of undermines the officers' own statement! The 'elected' board bit does though give the statement an air of democracy, or it would had not the previous two ESFS officer elections only been announced just a couple of minutes before the votes at the 2005 and 2007 business meetings respectively! Responding to the ESFS officers' statement, Sabina Marinova-Theo said, "I cannot call it 'satisfactory' but I am satisfied with [the ESFS officers'] inclination to accept 'positive suggestions' in order to 'avoid any misunderstandings in the future'. This is exactly what many Eurocon members, including me, expect." +++ Meanwhile the ESFS review body the officers promised at the Copenhagen business meeting has still not, as far as we know, been established. And even if it was to be this month (April) it is now too late for it to do anything before the next ESFS meeting (Moscow) in May. Ho hum. And so it goes.

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

For a list of national and major conventions, check out our convention 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.]

Summer 2008

FANDOM & OTHER NEWS

The Sci-Fi London 7th festival of fantastic films highlights announced. Running 30th April - 4th May the Festival will feature a number of premieres including French film Chrysalis - a slick and classy thriller set in Paris in the year 2025, that dives into the depths of murder and moral issues like altering one's mind and dreams in order to become someone else entirely. From Russia there will be Wolfhound, a true hero with a pet bat - no really, the coolest sidekick ever. From Japan Dai Nipponjin, a mocumentary about a fourth generation superhero who is losing his popularity with the public. There will also be the regular items. These will include two all-nighters one will feature anime and include Tekkon Kinkreet and the UK premiere of the amazing Appleseed Ex Machina as well as that of Dante01. There will also be the usual free pub-quiz: huge fun with loads of film clips to identify. Then earlier in the month there is a 48-hour film challenge competition for film makers to make a film on a topic/theme given to them in just two days. This competition has prizes sponsored by Sci-Fi Channel who will also be making a documentary of the teams' efforts. Director John Landis is heading the jury deciding the winning entries.

Third Silver Arrow convention has been held demonstrating that Moscow is rapidly developing as a centre of Russian fandom. This third event now establishes the Silver Arrow as a regular convention series and, though smaller, as such it joins the longer-running Moscow-venued Roskons (of which this year's Eurocon is one). It was held in February two months before the EuRoskon. A couple of hundred attended including half a dozen established writers of mainly fantasy. The programme featured workshops, talks panels and a pop concert. The 2008 Silver Arrow awards were also given as were the Mir Fantastique [Fantasy/Fantastic World] awards.

The 2008 British Eastercon was held with some 1,300 attending. The event consisted of several parallel programme streams of talks, panels, and games over 4 days of the Easter long holiday weekend at the Radisson next to London's Heathrow airport. Guests of Honour were aithors Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, China Mieville, Charles Stross, and SF book dealer Rog Peyton. During the weekend a number of books were either launched or newly launched. These included the BSFA half-century Celebration of professional author short stories (see item below) and a fan collection of essays called What it is we do when we read Science Fiction from the specialist press Beccon Publications (check the afore link out for details). Science included the George Hay memorial lecture given by the European Space Agency's Prof. David Southwood (who like a good number scientists had his interest inspired by SF - in his case 'Dan Dare'), the decline of UK physics, clanger physics and ecology, and an item on 'bioastronomy' by someone vaguely associated with Concatenation (here Jon gives many thanks to Orbital's tech crew providing audiovisuals). Other items included: a half-day writers - and also two drama - workshops; a films of 2007 panel; and genre readings of both fiction and poetry. Discos and a fancy dress parade enlivened the evenings along with the obligatory late night bar. With the number registered in four figures, in terms of attendance if not feelings on the day, this was the most popular Eastercon since 1984 (and that was combined with a Eurocon!). One possible reason for this 24-year record was that from the word go the organisers adopted an inclusive attitude to all forms of SF as opposed to one over another, this despite all but one of the guests had their feet firmly planted in the genre's written form (the exception Neil Gaiman being involved in film as well as writing.) The all-inclusiveness of SF plus science stretched to promotion through London's SF film festival and sci-fi media (TV SF) magazine mentions. The big question is whether the new blood sufficiently enjoyed the event to come back? One (totally unsubstantiated) view is that a number from the SE went (Heathrow being well connected by both rail and underground) as well as a few overseas (due to the convention being next door to the airport?) +++ Assorted random and unweighted attendee comments: programme largely good; real ale bar too cold; real ale kept in good condition (because room was cool); great guests; hotel staff (mainly) tried particularly hard to help in difficult situations; posting of Arthur Clarke's press coverage welcome; Martian race irrelevant; no proper (celluloid/HD proj?) film screenings; video (film) programme not properly integrated into programme; however there was a video prog sheet (albeit separate); helpful that nominated Hugo dramatics in programme (this may have been fortuitous but if so good judgement); no local map (of restaurants just list); no disasters; four days not long enough; mostly well organised... however the programme had a lot of clashes that should have been thought through more clearly; good art show; hotel snack food not good plus expensive; there seem to be a few Americans (a plus); largely smoothly run; registration should open Thursday late afternoon and perhaps some light programming that evening as there were enough there that early; a decidedly better-than-usual Eastercon. +++ Here endeth the totally unscientific analysis.

The 2009 British Eastercon. Next year it is Bradford (halfway between London and Edinburgh) and is called LX. (If you are reading this page in 2008 or 2009 then see our convention diary for summary details and the weblink.)

The 2010 Eastercon will be back in London (Heathrow) -- this year's venue -- and will be called 'Odyssey 2010'. The title reflects that of the book 2010: Odyssey Two by British writer Arthur C. Clarke who died the week before Easter. Guests of Honour are the authors Alastair Reynolds (space opera) and Liz Williams (fantasy) as well as comics script writer Mike Carey. It won the bid unopposed at this year's Eastercon. At the bid session a proposal was made for it to bid at this year's Eurocon (Moscow) in May for it also to be the 2010 Eurocon. If it wins (and here, given this news page goes up in April and our next one is not due until early September, you may already know which country will run the 2010 Eurocon) then Odyssey 2010's organisers will need to upgrade their plans not only to showcase British SF (which all good Eastercons already do) albeit to mainland Europeans, but also to showcase mainland European SF to British Isles SF communities. Hopefully they will have had some idea as to how they will do this before they present their bid in Moscow. (If you are reading this page in 2009 or 2010 then see our convention diary for summary details and the weblink.)

The New Zealand national convention, Conjunction, was held over Easter weekend. Guest author: Philippa Ballantine. Overseas guest author: Peter F. Hamilton (in theory) but Elizabeth Moon stepped into the breach. Media guests: Kate Orman and Jon Blum Dr Who novel writers. Some 110 - 140 attended for a small but well formed convention. Nonetheless it still managed four or five parallel programme streams with at least a choice of two choose from at any one time and frequently three or four things. The evenings were enlivened with film screenings, a fancy dress masquarade and Live Action Role Playing. The high points included a tour to the Karori Wildlife sanctuary. The low point was that it transpired that the hotel was having its lease transferred in three weeks time and so the staff were not always enthusiastic. Worse, this affected the bar's opening hours! In common with the UK Eastercon there was a screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show... Mentioned here because there was probably some international time zone difference, or time warp, between the two conventions but we won't know until we've done it again.   The Sir Julius Vogel Awards were presented following the convention banquet.

Australia's national convention, Swancon, was held over Easter weekend. The programme had five parallel streams of talks and panels. The fancy dress had a few fun aliens in addition to the more fantasy related dress often seen these days not to mention a Dalek whose invasion of Perth was facilitated by bevelled curbs. See here. Science items included one of the practicalities of space travel and one on foresight horizon-scanning. At the con the Ditmar Awards were presented. In addition to the GoHs, DUFF winners Steve and Sue Francis attended.

Italy's 34 national convention, Italcon, was also the ninth Deepcon and held over Easter weekend. Programming began Thursday evening and ran through to Sunday night in two parallel streams. There were: panels on the works of Sturgeon and Lovecraft; a bad science panel (that is the topic was bad science and not the panel bad), science panels on artificial intelligence, living on other worlds and the past and future space opera; and finally a panel on Italian SF women. Talks included: a review of 70 years of Superman; and the charm and mystery of the Egypt. During the convention the Italcon Awards were presented +++ Next year's Deepcon will also be the 2009 Eurocon.

Ukraine's national convention Portal was joined by StarCon. StarCon is a convention of Soviet Fandom veterans dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the First Conference of Soviet Science Fiction Clubs that was held in Kiev, 15th - 19th March 1988. That event formed the face of Soviet Fandom. StarCon is a convention run by old fans for old and new fans with the aim on Fan history. It has its own awards 'Fandom Stars' awarded to fans' fanac that made the greatest contributions to Fandom's development. The joint convention also saw the presentation of the annual Ukrainian Portal Awards but we have not yet got the details. Just prior to the convention Ukraine saw the national launch of a new SF drink.

New Zealand may hold its 2010 national convention the weekend before the Australia Worldcon! Assuming the time travel news is correct and Australia wins its bid at this year's Worldcon to run the 2010 Worldcon then New Zealand is thinking about holding its national convention the weekend beforehand (27th -29th August 2010). It will be called 'Au Contraire'. Should everything fall into place then those going to the Worldcon from the US and Europe could go via New Zealand for a pre-Worldcon convention and a bit of tourism. This is something that Concatenation has been encouraging. It would mean that many from outside Australasia (from North America and Europe) could do two conventions for only a little extra travel cost. Here Europeans would come off best as round-the-World tickets (that allow you to stop off a often as you want provided you continue the same way around the World and with the same airline (airline affiliate group)) are almost the same price as a return Europe to Australia. The advantages are many. Not only do you get two conventions over a 11-day period but:-
          - a chance to acclimatise to the time shift before the Worldcon with a smaller more relaxing event.
          - get an extra chance to see the southern hemisphere star field (handy in case Australia is cloudy... [Sure you joke there sport?])
          - get to go to the planet's most southerly SF national convention.

Terry Pratchett's fans are aiming to match his donation to Alzheimer's research. The target is £500,000 (US$1 million) and it looks as if may well be achieved. Just a couple of weeks following the campaign's launch, and just prior to this pages posting in April, the campaign had almost reached 10% of their target with around £50,000 (US$100,000) raised. Norwescon (in the US), Eastercon/Orbital and ICFA were the first conventions that were able to attempt fundraising. Details on www.matchitforpratchett.org.

BSFA celebrated its 50th anniversary with a book of original SF short stories. It is called Celebration and is edited by Ian Whates. In addition to an appreciation of the BSFA by Pat Cadigan, there are stories from such SF luminary authors such as Brian Aldiss, Stephen Baxter, Ken MacLeod, Alastair Reynolds, Ian Watson and Liz Williams. One story even is a thinly disguised escapade of one of Concatenation's team members... (If you know us, and you read the story, you will know who. Tea vicar?) And so it goes.

The British SF Association (BSFA) newsletter Matrix is no longer being produced in print form. Matrix has been part of BSFA mailings since 1975. Instead it will have a distinct area on the BSFA website.

Reminder: The British Fantasy Society Awards nominations need to be in by 1st May 2008. Of course if you are reading this after that date there are always future years.

Late news in: Alt.Fiction in Derby, England, is running for the third year in 2008 and takes place on Saturday April 26th. Alt.Fiction is a one-day event drawing together a range of science-fiction, fantasy and horror writers for a mix of readings, panels and workshops across three rooms. This year's leading authors include Michael Marshall Smith, Brian Lumley, Charlie Stross, Mike Carey, Adam Roberts, Ramsey Campbell, Justina Robson and many more. Tickets for the day £20 (£16 concessions). Details www.derby.gov.uk/altfiction.

For a list of national and major conventions and their web links check out our convention diary.

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Last Season's Science News Summary including: General Science, Astronomy and Space and Natural Science |
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Summer 2008

NET WATCH

Coolshite.net reviews mainly fantastic (genre-related) films in the form of vid-casts. The vid-casts themselves feature trailers and a discussion panel. The panel clearly knows their stuff and have thoughtful comments. The only down side is that each cast is a little long. If they trimmed the introduction credits to 10 seconds (about two seconds per panel member), showed a couple of two minute trailers missed in with just 10 minutes of discussion, then it would be much better. Perhaps posting long and short (condensed) versions of each vid cast might be the answer? Nonetheless, now that it is in its third year the panel seem comfortable in their role and for fantastic film buffs this site is one worth checking out.

The children's film The Spiderwick Chronicles has spawned a rather nifty website spiderwickchronicles.com with lots of game elements. Go on. Give it a whirl. You know you want to.

The Happy Scientist blog. This is one probably only of interest to our core regulars: scientists into SF. OK, so there is little genre content, but it is refreshingly frank about a young scientist's life to which many in academe can relate.

MISCELLANEOUS -- COMPUTER CORNER

Nothing in this corner this time...

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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.]

Summer 2008

LAST SEASON'S SCIENCE NEWS SUMMARY

GENERAL SCIENCE

[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.]

Summer 2008

ASTRONOMY AND SPACE

Ultra fast spinning black holes at the centre of galaxies? Super-massive black holes at the centres of most galaxies could be spinning at rates close to (over 90%) the maximum rates allowed by Einstein's theory of relativity. The findings are suggested by observations of nine galaxies using Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope. These gravity wells could be completing one rotation each day. This may not seem fast but for objects of this size it is extremely rapid and rapidly spinning black hole makes space itself rotate. This frame-drag effect, coupled with gas flowing in towards the black hole, can produce a magnetic field which in turn generates a high-speed jet. In one second these jets release around fifty times the energy radiated by our Sun in one year. Weird time effects near these objects can be expected but then the gravity effects would be troublesome for any appropriately-equiped would-be time traveller.

NASA's MESSENGER (MErcury Surface Space ENvironmental, GEochemical and Ranging) mission flew past Mercury in January. Launched in 2004 it has taken three and a half years to reach Mercury but will take three more following this fly-by before it goes into orbit about the planet in March 2011. The fly-by enabled the probe to use Mercury's gravity to slow itself by 5,000 mph (8,000 km/h) to a speed relative to Mercury's of 16,000 mph (25,000 km/h). Two future fly-bys will slow it further still until it can achieve orbit. Nonetheless this fly-