SF SiteThe new issue of the SF Site is now online.Babylon 5.1: TV reviews by Rick Norwood- May 16, 2008 Jerome Bixby wrote for Twilight Zone, an early version of Fantastic Voyage and the original Star Trek. When Rick learned about Jerome Bixby's Man from Earth, the faithful filming of his last script, he had some thoughts on it.http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick272.htm The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007: Twentieth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant- May 16, 2008 Who said the short fiction market was in trouble This volume contains 41 stories and poems, and lists a further 834 titles in the Honourable Mentions. That's not far short of 900 works culled from the fantasy output of just one year, and presumably that's still some way short of the total published. A short fiction marketplace that can sustain such an output in what was not a particularly special year can't be doing too badly.http://www.sfsite.com/05b/ybh272.htm H.P. Lovecraft In Britain by Stephen Jones- May 16, 2008 When writer and anthologist Stephen Jones was compiling Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft for British publisher Gollancz, he was given access to the archives of their communications with Arkham House and Lovecraft's estate. Since Gollancz was the first to publish that author in the United Kingdom this gave Jones a unique window onto a tiny but formative part of horror publishing history.http://www.sfsite.com/05b/hp272.htm Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi- May 16, 2008 Paolo Bacigalupi is a new writer who has made a profound impression on the SF field with just a few stories. He is generally a hard SF writer, and his central theme, by far, is the environment. While the bulk of his stories are certainly set in depressing, environmentally ruined futures, they are also packed with plausible and fascinating SFnal furniture -- he's truly a science fiction writer, one who scratches the same itch John Campbell wanted his writers to scratch.http://www.sfsite.com/05b/pp272.htm Fairyland by Paul McAuley- May 16, 2008 The speculative elements of science fiction tend to age badly, and each passing minute of the real world causes futures that once attracted us with their visionary wonder to now offer only the amusement of yesterday's tomorrows. Near-future SF that attempts plausible extrapolations is particularly vulnerable to senescence, and it is rare to encounter such a book that is more than ten years old and still possesses the power to dazzle, because so often the writer has emphasized the speculation...http://www.sfsite.com/05b/fl272.htm Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic edited by Karen A. Romanko- May 16, 2008 In professional sports there are major leagues and minor leagues. The majors are where the best professionals play their games. The minors are the home of players, some on their way up, some on their way down, and others who know they'll never play at a higher level, but happy to be able to play at all. The world of publishing has a similar structure.http://www.sfsite.com/05b/gf272.htm Iron Man: a movie review by Rick Norwood- May 16, 2008 Iron Man is a fun superhero film, certainly a lot more fun than the comic book upon which it is based, whose highpoints are when the lead character became a drunk and when he turned fascist. The film is based, loosely, on the origin story in Tales of Suspense 39, with the action moved from Vietnam to Afghanistan and the story where the red and gold suit fights the old Iron Man suit, from Tales of Suspense 65.http://www.sfsite.com/05b/im272.htm Supernatural Companion Season 1 and Season 2 by Nicholas Knight- May 16, 2008 Supernatural is a happy coincidence of good story telling, powerful performances and exceptional crew combining together to deliver scary episodes that are fun and intriguing all at the same time. Its success has finally been recognised and the merchandising wagon has started rolling with the coverage of its first two seasons.http://www.sfsite.com/05b/su272.htm Up from the Bottomless Pit and Other Stories by Philip Jose Farmer- May 16, 2008 This is a compilation reprinted from the pages of Farmerphile, a quarterly magazine dedicated to the author's works. So anyone expecting brand new stories may be disappointed. Happily, this is the only disappointment here. The book is well presented, including a scattering of black and white illustrations throughout, from various artists, many of which perfectly compliment their stories. The collection itself comprises intentionally obscure examples of Farmer's work, including rare short...http://www.sfsite.com/05b/ub272.htm Aurealis 3839- May 16, 2008 This long-running Australian magazine soldiers on with a thick double issue, this time edited by Stephen Higgins and Stuart Mayne. It features an editorial by Mayne, a science article by Patricia O'Neill speculating on why SETI hasn't discovered any alien races, interviews with Elizabeth Moon, Alan Lee, and the entire Aurealis Team, a number of book reviews (including Bill Congreve's final column), and a generous fifteen stories.http://www.sfsite.com/05b/au272.htm |