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 An interview with Robert J. Sawyer
01/12/2005. You'd think science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer's books would be easy to find in the UK, says Uncle Geoff. But on British bookshelves they're rare, which is unfortunate because based on the ones Geoff has read, Sawyer really is an author that needs more recognition over here.
 Fantasy authors Amber Benson and Christopher Golden talk about their new novel, Ghosts Of Albion
01/12/2005. In Ghosts of Albion: Accursed, it is 1838. William and Tamara Swift inherit a startling legacy from their dying grandfather, transforming them into the Protectors of Albion, mystical defenders of the soul of England. But the shocked, neophyte sorcerers also inherit unique allies in their battle against the dark forces. Fighting alongside them are the famous - even infamous - Ghosts of Albion: Lord Byron, Queen Bodicea, and Lord Admiral Nelson.
 John Birmingham interview
01/12/2005. An interview with John Birmingham, author of science fiction thriller Designated Targets - where the modern US military time travels back to world war two by accident and all havoc breaks loose.
 Feed the cat
01/12/2005. Short fiction from the magical yet murderous pen of Geoff Willmetts. Do you love cats? Best you don't read this story, then, dear reader.
Boys and girls and books
01/12/2005. At Novacon a couple of weekends ago there was a panel on the best books with which to introduce young readers to SF. Peter Weston, Farah Mendlesohn, Claire Brialey and Julia Daly came up with a wide variety of suggestions. From the floor, Scots science fiction author Ken Macleod questioned why anyone would want to introduce young readers to SF in the first place!
 Act of faith
01/12/2005. The only thing we can all really contribute positively towards, muses Uncle Geoff, is the reduction in global warming - to show the next generation that there was once a time when global dimming didn't also make the skies darker when cloudy. Don't forget to be ecology conscious as part of your new year's resolutions. Your world needs you.
 Chicken Little (Frank's Take)
01/12/2005. Frank discovers that in the innocuous Disney digitally animated feature Chicken Little, director Mark Dindal (The Emperor's New Groove) serves up a cute and cosy tale about a tiny bespectacled bird saddled with all kinds of paranoia and self-doubt.
 Doom (Frank's Take)
01/12/2005. The movie's obvious title says it all, says Frank, because some audiences will feel doomed when enduring this tedious ultra-synthetic rush ride that dares to emulate the frightening frivolity of the 1986 blockbuster Aliens.
 Saw II (Frank's Take)
01/12/2005. It's quite interesting to see how fast the filmmakers decided to whip up another grisly instalment of Saw, says Frank, after only a mere year of making the raw rounds just around Halloween 2004. Well, things apparently haven't changed THAT much since Saw II wants to desperately emulate its predecessor by accomplishing a few similar feats.
 Alien Planet (Mark's Take)
01/12/2005. The Discovery Channel's special Alien Planet blurs the distinction between science and science fiction, but for good purpose. Alien Planet, based on Wayne Barlowe's book Expedition is a dramatisation of a plausible visit by mechanical probe Van Braun to the earth-like planet Darwin IV.
 Seven Swords (Mark's Take)
01/12/2005. Tsui Hark tells the story of seven defenders of justice standing against the minions of an evil ruler of the Qing Dynasty. An evil mercenary general named Fire-Wind has killed hundreds in support of the Qing Emperor's ban on martial arts. Now seven peasants, each a great martial artist, ban together to defeat the evil Fire-Wind. Yada, yada, yada. The story is just as comic-book-ish as it sounds with some interminable battle scenes. Your enjoyment will be limited by your capacity to watch people try to carve each other up.
 Interview with David Gemmell author of Troy: Lord Of The Silver Bow
01/11/2005. Fantasy author David Gemmell on how inspiration comes from many sources, how so little is really known about Bronze Age Greece, and why his latest novel doesn't follow either Virgil or Homer: it follows Gemmell!
 An interview with Andy Remic
01/11/2005. Why SFF author Remic wanted to write James Bond on acid, how a covert organisation working for the good of mankind might actually work, and the joys to be found in penning fast-paced hardcore military sci-fi thrillers.
 Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Frank's Take)
01/11/2005. Previously, filmmaker Tim Burton had already made his whimsical mark with the colourfully cheeky children's fantasy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, says our Frank. Now Burton - along with reliable leading man Johnny Depp from Factory - adds spice to yet another off-kilter kiddie fable in the delightfully dark Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.
 The Fog: 2005 remake movie (Frank's Take)
01/11/2005. John Carpenter's 1980 original release of The Fog wasn't exactly a skilled and penetrating horror movie to behold, says our Frank. Nevertheless, Carpenter's sinister showcase had the atmospheric creepiness to at least register some legitimate jolts. So what does he think of the remake? Read on.
 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Frank's Take)
01/11/2005. It is no big secret whatsoever that the British claymation shorts featuring the terrific tandem of Wallace and Gromit are convincingly entertaining, notes our Frank. Creator Nick Park (best known in America for 2000's Chicken Run) deservedly received two Academy Awards for his engaging account pertaining to the playful exploits of a brilliant but loopy inventor and his sensible mute pooch.
 The Big Bag Never Opened
01/11/2005. Some time in the 1980s The Guardian, then so notorious for misprints that it was nicknamed The Grauniad, published an article that referred to 'the big bag theory' of the origin of the universe, recalls Scots science fiction author Ken Macleod. A letter pointing out this mistake was sportingly illustrated with a cartoon of the Greek goddess Cornucopia, shaking the stars and galaxies out of a big bag.
 NBT (Mark's Take)
01/11/2005. In this film Mark finds an often hilarious and painfully on-target mockumentary about people who are pulled into special interest cults like "Star Trek" or, in this case, frozen entree fandom. How these interests interlock has never been treated in film and at least this first time the result is a gem of a film.
 Serenity (Mark's Take)
01/11/2005. TV's series Firefly - cult and cancelled - comes to the screen not as a glorified episode of the series but as a finish to the series and that ties up the loose ends, notes Mark. While the film may be a little terse and telegraphic for people who were not fans of the series, those familiar with the series will be quite please that there were some interesting ideas behind the fun adventures.
My take on Firefly
01/11/2005. A man sits on a sand dune. There appears to be nobody around for many miles of desert in any direction. That may be a good thing because the man is stark naked. There is no sign of his clothing anywhere. The man is apparently reflecting on the events that brought him here. "That went well." You immediately find yourself wondering what has happened and where he would have been and in what state if things had not gone so well. This is the beginning of an episode of the TV series Firefly.
 Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (Mark's Take)
01/11/2005. Nick Park's animated comic duo is back, this time in a feature-length satire of Terence Fisher's Curse Of The Werewolf and several other films, says Mark. The previous Wallace & Gromit adventures have been shorter and more dependent on cuteness. The script this time is really better than the animation and the result is genuinely funny.
 Words without understanding are just gibberish
01/11/2005. Or keeping the wolf from the door by equipping the sheep with teeth. Yes, it's November's editorial from Uncle Geoff.
 San Diego Comicon diary
01/10/2005. I am now absolutely positive that nothing could have properly prepared me for the craziness that is San Diego Comicon. Prior to leaving for San Diego, I was both nervous and anxious about attending the convention. Well, I was more scared than nervous. All I had been hearing for the past months was how insane Comicon was.
 Interview with Richard K. Morgan, author of Woken Furies
01/10/2005. Morgan on the art of science fiction noir, his three Kovacs series books - Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies - and the possiblity of a new Warner Brothers movie based on the SF novels.
 Interview with Terry Brooks
01/10/2005. Brooks chats about his new fantasy novel, Straken, muses about the High Druid of Shannara trilogy reaching its natural conclusion, and tells us about penning a short story for Robert Silverberg's Legends II anthology.
Warning: This article contains spoilers
01/10/2005. Reviewing films for Mark is a game with certain rules. In fact, he has his own three laws of reviewing films. They are, he muses, yet another set of three laws inspired by Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.
 Venom (Frank's Take)
01/10/2005. Venom is indeed a horror show but for other reasons entirely, says Frank. Considerably meagre and dubiously dull in its hair-raising high jinks, this brain-dead boofest of a movie is just another colourless creepy tale right off the conveyor belt of sluggish imagination.
 Everything I ever needed to know about being in the Time Patrol I learned from cheating at Solitaire
01/10/2005. Poul Anderson wrote a series of stories about a group of time policemen called the Time Patrol. They go back in time and change history or protect history from being changed. I have had a chance to actually experiment with going back in time and seeing how well I can make things right. It comes from an unexpected source.
 A Sound Of Thunder (Mark's Take)
01/10/2005. Based on a famous story by Ray Bradbury, this film will be a real disappointment for its lack of logic and even the misunderstanding of the original story. As an action film without the logic it is only fair. Peter Hyams is good at making sci-fi, but is not very good with science fiction.
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Mark's Take)
01/10/2005. This is another joyously morbid fairy tale from Tim Burton. A nebbish makes a fatal mistake and accidentally weds a zombie. These mixed marriages - one living and one dead - never really last. But while this one does our hapless hero gets to meet the underworld society of the dead. The mock morbidity is a lot of fun, and it all comes to a heart-warming ending.
 Eternal (Mark's Take)
01/10/2005. The notorious Countess Erzsebet Bathory has returned and is repeating her crimes in modern day Montreal. Eternal is a sexy and stylish horror thriller from Canada that unfortunately seems to be re-treading all-too-familiar territory. It gets points for its lavish production design, but very little for originality or real horror.
Jim Butcher interview
01/10/2005. Horror and dark fantasy author Jim Butcher on why his world of the Dresden Files is more or less our world, only with all kinds of paranormal and preternatural and quasi-magical things lurking in the shadows and around the corners, and on why his hero is intended to be as much Sherlock Holmes as Gandalf, as much Columbo as Merlin.
Attending a WorldCon: in at the deep end
01/10/2005. Pauline Morgan reports back from Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention which was held in Glasgow from 4th to 8th August 2005. There was much that grabbed her fancy, but she ponders that attending your first Science Fiction Convention can be a daunting prospect.
 Serenity and Universal Studios - Hero and Goat
01/10/2005. In the course of three days Universal Studios managed to take the prize for being Big Damn Heroes and bottom of the barrel scum. Aleta Vinas reports from the Hollywood premiere of the science fiction movie Serenity.
 Investing futures in Science Fiction
01/10/2005. It seems every other of my editorials is being dominated by some world crisis or another these days, says Uncle Geoff. Be it war, natural or unnatural catastrophe or something in between, it doesn't feel right to just glibly go on about some unrelated subject as if nothing has happened. SF might be seen as escapism by outsiders but on many of its levels, it's an examination of our current reality which seems to be on the brink of falling apart bit by bit as I write which oddly enough doesn't quite reflect in our fiction.
 Forbidden Power
01/09/2005. Mark considers a recent article which rails against the film industry repeatedly doing versions of the Frankenstein myth in films. Science fiction films in which a mad scientist or a whole scientific community overstep the bounds to knowledge that God has put in placed in His Wisdom. They invent a new life form or drill a hole though the crust of the Earth or clone a dinosaur. In a sense these are all Frankenstein myths reframed.
 Freedom is a three-edged sword
01/09/2005. The definition of the term 'freedom' is rather diverse, especially dependent on how you pre-fix it, says Uncle Geoff. There's my freedom, your freedom and country freedom. Often as not, at least in the western world, they might even mean the same thing as long as your personal freedom does not infringe on the freedom of other people.
 Troy Denning Interview
01/09/2005. When Del Rey asked author Troy Denning to write a trilogy of Star Wars novels featuring the classic heroes - Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker - he knew he had a tough act to follow.
 Batman Begins (Frank's Take)
01/09/2005. It has been an astounding eight years since audiences last saw the Caped Crusader roam the gothic landscape in search of vengeance on the big screen, says Frank. Of course moviegoers were previously treated to distinctive versions of the Black Knight courtesy of the artistic whims by noted filmmakers Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher. While Burton chose to delve into the dank and sardonic surrealism of the courageous Costumed One, Schumacher delivered somewhat of a flexible frivolous take on the classic comic book hero.
 Is serious the new fannish?
01/09/2005. A few weekends ago SF author Ken Macleod was at Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention (the Worldcon) in Glasgow. The venue was the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre with its associated hotels. Constructed on a formerly derelict stretch of Clyde shore, the SEC and the Science Park across the water from it look like some spaceport of the future.
 Charles Stross interview
01/09/2005. Science fiction author Charles Stross talks about his novels Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise, how he tries to fit his working hours in around his social life, rather than vice versa, and why British SF is currently experiencing a renaissance of a kind that has not been seen since the new wave of the 1960s.
 The Skeleton Key (Frank's Take)
01/09/2005. In Iain Softley's preposterous Cajun creepfest The Skeleton Key, Frank says we get another variation of a formulaic terrorizing tale that spotlights the voodoo vibrations below the Mason-Dixon Line.
 The Dukes of Hazzard (Frank's Take)
01/09/2005. If you were looking for an evening of sophistication, an annoyingly hell-raising hillbilly hoot such as The Dukes of Hazzard wouldn't necessarily be your ideal cup of tea, says Frank. But then again, if you are purposely looking for moronic moments to fill your idle time then director Jay Chandrasekhar's pointless big screen treatment of the classic cornfield 1979-85 CBS series may satisfy your need for instant dumb-down entertainment.
Free will and peace are the aims of the individual
01/08/2005. Now this is a rare occurrence for Uncle Geoff. Having to re-write his editorial based on rapidly updating news and then hoping the relevance won't be out of date too soon. He would also point out that the material he is leaving out is probably worthy of detailed editorials somewhere down the line. Yes, let's talk religion, SFF fans.
 Interview with Orson Scott Card
01/08/2005. The science fiction author talks about his new novel Magic Street and what gives a white male, the insight and experience to write about African-American characters in a black community; where he got his ideas for Magic Street, and the steps he took to avoid stumbling into stereotype.
 Tricia Sullivan gets Double Vision
01/08/2005. Science fiction author Tricia Sullivan discusses her latest novel, Double Vision, why she envies authors who talk of their characters 'surprising' them by their actions, and why she's not a big fan of formal thought as the road to enlightenment.
 When Life Means Life
01/08/2005. Flash fiction from the pen of by GF Willmetts. It's tough being a jail bird - no matter what dimension you're doing your time in.
 Fantastic Four (Frank's Take)
01/08/2005. In director Tim Story’s (Barbershop, Taxi) banally bloated sci-fi fantasy Fantastic Four, the storytelling is so anemically conceived that this soulless superhero saga has all the thrilling vibes of an elevator ride at your local shopping mall, says Frank.
 Sailing Starry Seas
01/08/2005. Early fantasies of space travel envisioned ships pulled by teams of birds or versions of balloons, says Mark. Some fantastic accounts of voyages into space pictured it being on flying ships like the sailing ships in the seas. They were supposedly being propelled by winds in space.
 Stealth (Frank's Take)
01/08/2005. Stealth strives to be a Top Gun knockoff for the millennium ages, says Frank. Filmmaker Rob Cohen pushes all the necessary buttons in trying to stimulate the jingoistic vibes regarding this disjointed and hyperactive military melodrama. If your preference for fast planes and other arbitrary gadgets appear somewhat appealing to your cinematic needs, Stealth will probably satisfy your adrenaline rush as a boisterous thriller stuck in an overwrought and aimless mode.
 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Mark's Take)
01/08/2005. This is the high-sucrose story of a good little boy who, along with four bad children, gets a much-coveted tour of a mysterious candy factory, says Mark. Roald Dahl's now-classic story is a cheerfully hypocritical children's cautionary tale gone weird. Tim Burton gives us his visually creative approach to the story with effects that frequently do not deliver. Still, it is a tale told with imagination and exuberance.
 War of the Worlds (Mark's Take)
01/08/2005. It is easier to admire than to enjoy Steven Spielberg's adaptation of The War of the Worlds, says Mark. The film is dark and bleak with little real sense of wonder - the thing that should be Spielberg's forte. The alien technology is not allowed to steal attention away from the human story, but that may not be a good thing. This is a film that is dark in just about every meaning of the word.
 From Merlot to Cockfosters
01/08/2005. There is a law called The Law of Unintended Consequences, says Mark. According to this law almost all human actions have at least one unintended consequence. What ever you do, it will have additional side effects that you did not intend. Sociologist Robert K. Merton's name is associated with this rule, though Mark remembers musing about it back when he was in high school and before it was ever spelled out for him.
 Serenity Happens
01/07/2005. Same Sith, different day. Move over George Lucas, there's a new Master in town - Joss Whedon. The creator of television hits, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel has a new movie, Serenity, due to premiere on September 30th, 2005.
 Russell T Davies interview
01/07/2005. Here, Russell T Davies - award-winning writer and executive producer of Doctor Who - gives an exclusive insight into the Christmas 2005 episode and reveals why 'pigeon-holing' in his early career as a writer in children's television made the transition into adult television difficult.
 R. Scott Bakker Interview
01/07/2005. He's an author and a student of history, philosophy, literature and ancient languages. He's unfeasibly clever and he's written one of the great fantasy debuts of recent years. He's R. Scott Bakker and he's talking.
Batman Begins: Mark's Take
01/07/2005. Batman Begins re-invents Batman for the screen and still has time to comment on the story of a certain other recent blockbuster. Nolan's and Goyler's script is not perfect, but it has many very interesting ideas and touches. The film sports an all-star cast led by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne - soon to be Batman.
 Time of Endings: Star Wars
01/07/2005. Last issue Mark discussed the end of Star Trek series of series. This month he would like to talk about his take on the Star Wars series, also coming to an end.
 The Lucas Loophole
01/07/2005. I read a review of the "Star Wars" series that complained about the absurdity of the whole thing. The author had a number of complaints about characters and motivations, all very much matters of taste. Only one complaint had real substance. The writer complained that the whole idea of a galactic civilization is absurd. The distances are too great. People seem to flit around between star systems as if they were states in the United States. That seems on the face of it absurd.
 High Tension (Haute Tension): Mark's Take
01/07/2005. This is a French slasher film directed and co-written by Alexandre Aja. In spite of a slight continental feel and a little lesbian relationship, this film is solid cliché from the early days of slasher films. It is one cliché after another, and then at the end the writer plasters on an ending that is logically inconsistent with the rest of the film.
 Phantoms of the Opera: A Survey of Adaptations
01/07/2005. Imagine a man born with the sort of genius and universal mind that Goethe had, but also born with a hideous face that sends people away screaming, says Mark. Even Erik's mother is terrified by the face of her own son. Erik spent his early years in a freak show, but still found time to develop his keen mind, perhaps more so because he could have no social life.
 A Time of Endings: Godzilla
01/07/2005. With two other science fiction franchises coming to an end, much less notice is being given to a third important series. Currently being released in this country is Godzilla: Final Wars. I have had people look at me strangely when I have said that this is an important science fiction series and lament its passing.
 Madagascar: Frank's Take
01/07/2005. In the DreamWorks family flick Madagascar, we're treated to an innocuously animal-oriented fable that will no doubt entertain the kiddie masses with its infectious silliness. However, the slight knock on Madagascar may be its surprisingly plain and punchless presentation that doesn't necessarily make anyone forget about the thriving vibes of a Toy Story or understated sweetness of the uneven Ice Age.
 Eric Flint interview: The Rivers of War
01/07/2005. The author talks about why The Rivers of War isn’t his first alternate history by any means, it is his first without a science fiction or fantasy element to it. He explains the change of pace.
 Born-Again Cynic
01/07/2005. Whether it's the 1933 Loch Ness Monster Surgeon's photograph actually being a model or the 60s Big Foot film footage actually a woman in a gorilla suit from a relative who couldn't hold a camera on horseback but made it more spontaneous by the effect, one thing that comes out of it is that even experts can be taken in by fakes. Is it any wonder that it's harder to convince people of anything out of the ordinary these days might be the real thing?
 Time For A Change: The Return Of Doctor Who
01/07/2005. For the past 13 weeks, there has been a resurgence in British Science Fiction TV. Oddly enough, where in the 60s 'Star Trek' started to raise the TV media standard and in the late 70s, films with the 'Star Wars' trilogy that had an adverse effect on the expectations on BBC stalwart 'Doctor Who', these are now on their last legs as this regeneration comes up again.
 H.G Wells' The War of the Worlds: Mark's Take
25/06/2005. This is the first film to do the novel in the period in which it was intended, says Mark. The acting is stylized; the photography is stylized; the special effects are stylized. All this effectively evokes a period feel on a dime-store budget. This exceptionally faithful adaptation of the Wells novel, but is a film that will appeal to only a very narrow audience.
 Chekhov's Gun
01/06/2005. Chekhov's gun is a literary weapon, says science fiction author Charles Stross; "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there."
 Cast Interviews: Doctor Who: The Empty Child
01/06/2005. In episode nine of Doctor Who - The Empty Child, first shown on BBC ONE on Saturday 21 May - The Doctor and Rose travel back in time to 1941 in part one of an action-packed adventure written by Steven Moffat.
 Coffee Makes You Feel Alive
01/06/2005. Flash fiction from the pen of Lori L. E. Simpson.
 The Amityville Horror: Frank's Take
01/06/2005. The real horror behind 2005's The Amityville Horror is that it had the audacity to try and mine its lukewarm absurd scares from the 26-year old original bland product. Let's face it-the 1979 blueprint and its woeful 3-D sequel wasn't exactly anything uniquely distinctive to write home about in the first place.
 House of Wax: Frank's Take
01/06/2005. It’s safe to say that this glossy and contemporary take on the nostalgic horror movie House of Wax is not exactly anyone’s idea of an ideal reminiscence that represents this classic boofest from yesteryear. First-time director Jaume Collet-Serra weaves a throwaway thriller that proudly features anemic acting, cheap-minded scares, the obligatory presence of youthful periled pretty people, and a host of thinly veiled horror cliches enough to last a darn lifetime.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith: Frank's Take
01/06/2005. It’s hard to believe that nearly three decades ago, innovative filmmaker George Lucas thrust upon a movie-going global landscape a dynamic cinematic vision that would become to grow into a hysterical pop cultural phenomenon. There’s no doubt that the illustrious film franchise known as Star Wars has captured the escapist imagination of a generation of enthusiastic sci-fi thrill-seekers.
 The scientist's apprentice
01/06/2005. The Jurassic marine crocodile Metriorhynchus was a lithe and elegant beast, says Scottish science fiction author Ken Macleod. We know a fair bit about it, including that it sometimes suffered from arthritis.
 A Time of Endings: Star Trek
01/06/2005. Well, last week an era came to an end when the last episode of Star Trek was broadcast. I suppose it is time to think about my take on the series. I remember when nobody had heard about Star Trek and TV Guide had on their television news page that there would be a new program that would be a sort of Wagon Train to the Stars.
 Do the Math
01/06/2005. A phrase you hear frequently is "do the math." The sort of thing is "One man. Three women. Do the math." Wow. Sounds impressive, huh? Usually when you hear or read that there is no mathematics whatsoever to do. Or if there is mathematics to do, it is second grade arithmetic. There is a one third of a man per woman. So what does that mean? They aren't going to divide him up.
 SF: Episode I (Samurai Fiction): Mark's Take
01/06/2005. With its light touch, this is the most enjoyable samurai film that I have seen in years. It is a deft and slightly daft story of a valuable sword stolen by a by an enigmatic but unstoppable swordsman. The unready son of the rightful owner is forced to chase down an enemy whose fighting skills are far superior to his own.
 The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Mark's Take
01/06/2005. It is hard to be too harsh on a film with as many smiles as this one has. But for many of us the jokes will be just too familiar. Some of the visualizations are quite good and perhaps the best thing about this version of the oft-adapted stories of Douglas Adams. This film is a pleasant experience but a throwaway one.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith: Mark's Take
01/06/2005. The last "Star Wars" film bursts on the screen in an explosion of high melodrama. The final piece of the story falls smoothly into place as the origins of the 1977 film we saw become clear. As the episodes go, Chapter III seen this year is second only to the impact of Chapter IV as seen from 1977.
 Kelley Armstrong Interview
01/06/2005. Author Kelley Armstrong talks about her last book, Industrial Magic, why supernatural fiction is so popular, and why if you write characters that don't ever surprise you, you may not yet have fully-formed characters.
 Simon Pegg Interview
01/06/2005. Episode Seven of Doctor Who arrives ... entitled The Long Game. In the far future, Adam Mitchell discovers that life as a Time Lord's companion isn't as easy as it looks, in Russell T Davies' adventure through time and space.
 XXX: State of the Union: Frank's Take
01/06/2005. In Rob Cohen's numbing hit 2002 action-packed spy thriller xXx, muscle-bound misfit Vin Diesel played an extreme sports athlete turned risk-taking secret agent named Xander Cage. Naturally Diesel's trademark monosyllabic persona and the excitable recklessness of that movie's aimless mayhem helped turn this visually boisterous actioner into a hyperactive sensation.
 Would we be happy with utopia?
01/06/2005. This month, Geoff proves utopia ain’t a nice place to be. Neither is a distopia come to that.
 The Barry Hoffman/Gauntlet Books Publisher Interview
01/05/2005. Barry Hoffman is the publisher of Gauntlet Books, a limited book edition company with the likes of Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch and the works of Rod Serling coming off their presses. We've reviewed some of his books on our website and now its time to meet the man himself.
 K.J. Parker Interview
01/05/2005. For the second month running, we have an interview with the current Orbit Author of the Month. We hope you enjoy this fireside chat with the very talented K.J. Parker.
 Space Station Hinckley
01/05/2005. Author Ken Macleod spent the Easter weekend at the Hinckley Island Hotel, as one of the Guests of Honour at Paragon 2, this year's Eastercon or British National Science Fiction Convention.
Not a good word to say
01/05/2005. A fixture of SF conventions is the Dealers' Room, says author Ken Macleod. It's mostly books, of course, and these mostly second-hand, but you can also find craftwork, from real deadly daggers to dragon-patterned hairclips; jewellery and embroidery, T-shirts and tiaras. But it's mostly books.
 JW Rinzler interviewed
01/05/2005. An interview with J.W. Rinzler, author of The Art of Star Wars and The Making of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith.
 Matthew Stover interviewed
01/05/2005. An interview with Matthew Stover, author of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith.
 Sin City: Mark's Take
01/05/2005. The flash is exaggerated and the plot has minimal importance in this hyper-noir crime story based on Frank Miller's graphic novel. To take a phrase from the script, it is "loud and nasty." Mark has more respect than affection for this admittedly successful effort to give a film the feel of a graphic novel.
 May: Mark's Take
01/05/2005. May is a very nasty and disturbing little horror film that the viewer will probably either love or hate, says Mark. Like a road accident it is at once very unpleasant see and at the same time mesmerizing. It manages to be original while giving nods to many of the classics of horror. This is the story of a very disturbed woman with fixations on sewing and body parts and a doll.
 Man on Fire: Mark's Take
01/05/2005. A guilt-ridden but very deadly assassin drops his defenses to love the little girl he has been hired to guard. When she is kidnapped he returns to the violence that he knows best. Denzel Washington brings to the screen one more portrait of a bloodthirsty, unstoppable avenger with no bounds. And isn't that an accomplishment, says Mark!
 Final Cut: Mark's Take
01/05/2005. Final Cut is intelligent and literate as very few science fiction films are, says Mark. Five percent of the population have chips implanted in their bodies that record and play back everything that they see and hear. Robin Williams plays a "cutter." A cutter copies the life movies of the recently departed and edits them down to one or two hour home movies.
This Year's Nebula Award Nominees
01/05/2005. Some of this may be old new to most of our readers, but we have a lot of new readers who are not aware of the basic lore of science fiction, says Mark. The Science Fiction Writers Of America will award the Nebula Awards the last weekend of this month. Like the Hugos the Nebulas are awarded annually but unlike the Hugos, an item is eligible for two years, not one.
 The Ring Two: Frank's Take
01/05/2005. So this is the second helping where fright meets might in the existence of Seattle’s favorite terrorized mother-son combo, huh? In 2002’s The Ring, says Frank, audiences were treated to the chilling accounts of an ominous videotape that claims the lives of its unsuspecting viewers. Now three years later filmmakers want to recapture the nail-biting theatrics in The Ring Two, the lackluster follow-up to the original creepy suspense thriller.
Sin City: Frank's Take
01/05/2005. Frank Miller’s Sin City is a swaggering and ultra-violent flashy film noir with a sordid imagination to match its surreal imagery, says Frank. The film is based on a series of dark-oriented graphic comic novels.
 Sahara: Frank's Take
01/05/2005. There’s no doubt that the action-adventure Sahara will leave a parched sensation in one’s dry throat, says Frank. Director Breck Eisner (son of Disney head honcho Michael) helms a predictable and half-baked harried suspense thriller that settles for flashy B-movie mediocrity.
 Robots: Frank's Take
01/05/2005. Robots are a mechanical mishap, says Frank. Sure, it’s grounded in animated family fun and some tykes will take to it with a sugar-coated natural high. However, adults will be indifferent by its familiar recycled slapstick themes. Although cutesy in its clang-inducing content, Robots lumbers on unlike the well-oiled machine it thinks it is in concept.
 Kung Fu Hustle: Frank's Take
01/05/2005. Filmmaker Stephen Chow spared no creative expenses when overseeing his latest dizzying and dazzling musical action-comedy hit Kung Fu Hustle, says Frank. After exhilarating audiences with his international hit Shaolin Soccer, the Asian moviemaker bounces back with an inspired romp that ricochets more convincingly than an errant bullet piercing a nearby rocky surface.
 Interview with Simon Callow
01/05/2005. When the new series of Doctor Who needed an actor to play Charles Dickens alongside everyone's favourite Time Lord, there was only ever one man in the frame.
 Interview with Robert Shearman
01/05/2005. Beneath the Salt Plains of Utah, billionaire collector Henry Van Statten holds the last relic of an alien race. When the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) investigate, they discover that the Doctor's oldest and most deadly enemy is about to break free ... we sense dalek trouble ahead!
 Interview with Mark Gatiss
01/05/2005. The Doctor comes face-to-face with Charles Dickens in the new series as he battles against re-animated corpses and shimmering blue entities up to no good in Cardiff in 1869 - right up writer Mark Gatiss's street, in fact.
 Interview with Bruno Langley
01/05/2005. From Weatherfield to a secretive bunker in Utah where Doctor Who is just the latest alien to be captured as an exhibit is quite a journey, but for former Coronation Street star Bruno Langley it is all in a day's work.
 Interview with Nicholas Briggs
01/05/2005. How to help make the audience feel sorry for a Dalek - that was the challenge facing voice actor Nicholas Briggs, as the new series of Doctor Who revives the Doctor's most notorious enemy. Our Nick can croak EXTERMINATE with the best of them.
 In love with the Meq
01/04/2005. As editor-in-chief at Del Rey, Betsy Mitchell says she approaches submissions of first novels as the porcupine approaches its mate: gingerly, very gingerly.
 James Luceno Interview: Navigating the Labyrinth of Evil
01/04/2005. Making the wait for Episode III's cinematic debut easier for Star Wars fans is Del Rey's release of Labyrinth of Evil, the new Star Wars novel that directly ties into the beginning of Episode III. Author James Luceno writes this new adventure, with access to detailed Episode III information from Lucasfilm, ensuring an authoritative prelude to the final Star Wars chapter.
 An interview with Stephen Baxter
01/04/2005. The co-author of Sunstorm, British science fiction author Stephen Baxter, talks about his latest collaboration with fellow writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
 Scott Westerfeld Interview
01/04/2005. Scott Westerfeld, whose debut novel 'The Risen Empire' is released this month by book publisher Orbit drops in for a chat. He found himself wanting to write an old-fashioned space opera with new-fashioned nanotech, programmable matter and information warfare.
 Interesting Thoughts
01/04/2005. The Internet is more like a brain, and the Web more like a mind, than anything so far implemented on a single computer, says Scots science fiction author Ken Macleod. This far-from-original idea suggests some interesting thoughts, about, well, interesting thoughts.
 Constantine: Frank's Take
01/04/2005. There are many considerations—both good and bad—that you can drum up when describing the captivating but convoluted supernatural comic book thriller Constantine. On one hand, music video-turned-motion picture director Francis Lawrence helms a stylish, overextended action-oriented sacred meditation of gothic imagery that stimulates the visual senses.
 The Jacket: Frank's Take
01/04/2005. The Jacket feels a little snug around the arms as a messy mind-bender. Although this murky psychological thriller has a challenging premise that’s undoubtedly riveting, British director John Maybury (1998’s Francis Bacon biopic Love is the Devil) never really finds the right niche to secure his hysterical head-spinning account of a lost man on the brink of a breakdown.
 Cursed: Frank's Take
01/04/2005. Well, this absurd horror movie’s title says it all, folks. Cursed is a rancid boofest that wouldn’t scare a claustrophobic out of a dark and dank cave. It’s hard to believe that veteran fear-monger Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street) and resourceful screenwriter Kevin Williamsom (Scream) couldn’t come up with an inspired creepy collaboration given their previous capable track records working together.
Robots: Mark's Take
01/04/2005. The same team that made ICE AGE tries again to succeed in the CGI-animation film. But ROBOTS lacks all the magic of ICE AGE. The film is entertaining but it is definitely second-rate as current animated features go. It has some good ideas, but overall it tanks.
 Steamboy: Mark's Take
01/04/2005. A total surprise, this refreshing and enjoyable alternate history anime film packs quite a lot of action and adventure in one film. Particularly for fans of Jules Verne this film is a solid pleasure.
 Trauma: Mark's Take
01/04/2005. A man awakes from a coma to find his world changed and things no longer making sense. A film this unpleasant should at least be absorbing. This one is a hard film to get into and it really does not reward that effort.
 2046: Sasha's Take
01/04/2005. He was a writer. He thought he was writing about the future, but he was actually writing about the past. In his new novel, every once in a while, a mysterious train leaves for 2046.
Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film - March 11th-26th 2005
01/04/2005. The nearly month-long festival is a mecca for fans of the dark, odd and unusual, and there’s a film line-up to suit every palate: sci-fi, anime, psychological thriller, campy horror, and films which can only be classified as indefinable.
Categorisation Kak
01/04/2005. or every science fiction and fantasy award category deserves an even playing field ... a discussion point by GF Willmetts.
Commander Eileen Collins Interview
01/04/2005. When the crew members of the Space Shuttle Discovery lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, they'll be supported by two years of hard work by tens of thousands of people determined to make the Space Shuttle safer. NASA has upgraded flight hardware, as well as visual tracking and inspection equipment, to ensure the Return to Flight mission is successful. Its flight commander Eileen Collins talks about this and more.
 Billie Piper Interview
01/04/2005. When Billie landed the part of Rose Tyler, the latest in a long line of time-travelling companions for the Doctor, it meant more than anything in her career to date - including seeing her debut single top the charts.
 Christopher Eccleston Interview
01/04/2005. Just as the Doctor has done so many times down the years, Christopher Eccleston tells you how he embarked on a journey into the unknown when he heard a new series of Doctor Who adventures was being planned.
 Russell T Davies Interview
01/04/2005. Persistence paid off, Russell T Davies tells how when, after refusing to work on anything for the BBC unless it was the return of Doctor Who, his wish finally came true.
 What difference does make? [And no, that is not grammatically incorrect.]
01/04/2005. Of all the species on this planet, humans could probably be considered the most diverse within a single species without actually saying there are sub-species. A zebra is still a striped horse. All giraffes have similar patterns - even if it takes an expert to tell individuals apart. There's two main sub-species of elephants and rhinos but they follow the same identical pattern on each side of the divide. Then, amongst all these and more examples, we have humans.
 Doctor Who 2005: The art of special effects
01/04/2005. Doctor Who used to be known for wobbly spaceships on wires and rubber masked aliens ... but fans of the all new Who will be pleased to hear the SFX department has moved up a gear since the 'good old days'.
 Doctor Who 2005: The art of production design and miniature effects
01/04/2005. Edward Thomas has been a production designer on 32 films for cinema and TV but says he still felt a rush of excitement when he got a phone call to come and chat to Russell T Davies about working on the new Doctor Who.
 Doctor Who 2005: The art of prosthetics and special make-up
01/04/2005. Doctor Who fan Neill Gorton was thrilled to re-design one of the Doctor's old enemies, living shop dummies the Autons, for episode one. But even the experienced 'monster maker', who has worked on blockbuster movies including Gladiator and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, was surprised by the scale of the undertaking.
 A supervolcano erupts in the USA
01/03/2005. Supervolcano, a factual drama which transmits in March on BBC One, charts the possible consequences of one of nature's most cataclysmic events - a supervolcanic eruption in Yellowstone.
 How much does a science fiction or fantasy writer make?
01/03/2005. Several weeks ago I announced that I would be collecting data on genre advances to grab a snapshot of the field. I'd hoped we could get some better data for conversations. I posted a form online with a series of questions that I hoped would allow us to gather some basic data with which we could learn something together.
 Fiona McIntosh interview
01/03/2005. This March, we meet Fiona McIntosh, the fantasy author of The Quickening trilogy, which kicks off with Myrren's Gift, just published last month.
 The Rivers of War
01/03/2005. The Rivers of War is an alternate history novel of the American frontier, the first of two books in a duology. Set against the backdrop of the War of 1812, its cast includes Sam Houston and Andrew Jackson, but in many ways the central conflict (as explained in the Afterword for the book) focuses on the destiny of the Cherokee Indians.
 Todd McCaffrey interview
01/03/2005. Todd McCaffrey on why Pern wasn't part of his childhood because his mother didn't write her first story until well into his late childhood, why Dragonsblood started as a dream that woke him up in the middle of the night, and working on sequels to Dragon's Kin.
 Ong-Bak, The Thai Warrior: Frank's Take
01/03/2005. Lately, moviegoers have been treated to the extravagant chopsocky films that were armed with poetic elegance and sophistication. Profound glossy martial arts melodramas such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers were staples of exaggerated yet lyrical landscape pieces that dared to be meditative in its presentation of demonstrating a literate fist of fury fable.
 Boogeyman: Frank's Take
01/03/2005. What can you say about basing a psychological spookfest on the exploitation of childhood fears? Inherently, there’s solid potential for cultivating some serious goosebumps from this notion of facing your past torment as a disillusioned young adult. Well, director Stephen T. Kay (Get Carter) tries to push the ghoulish gumption of revisiting our creepy kiddie turmoil in the generic chiller Boogeyman.
 Son of the Mask: Frank's Take
01/03/2005. It had been well over a decade since 1994’s The Mask arrived on the scene in its merry and manic state. Of course this was one of the zany vehicles that propelled Jim Carrey into the comedy stratosphere. Enter director Larry Guterman’s sequel Son of the Mask, a messy and meandering frantic farce that dissolves quickly into its foolish-minded feyness.
 Zebraman: Mark's Take
01/03/2005. An elementary-school teacher sews for himself a suit of a 1960s superhero and through a weird chain of events accidentally elects himself to become that superhero. This is a dark and yet playful look at the superhero genre. Zebraman is a kick. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10.
 Those Eyes That Follow You Around
01/03/2005. I was reading an article recently and somebody talked about seeing a photograph of somebody who had died many years before. The author used a phrase that I often find applied to paintings and to photographs that always gets my goat a little. What the author said was that the woman in the photograph had an ethereal quality with a strange smile and eyes that looked at the viewer and mysteriously seemed to follow the viewer around the room. It is that last part that I want to comment on.
Putting the science into Science Fiction
26/02/2005. A couple editorials ago, I was discussing the use of allegory in Science Fiction. This time, we're going to look at the application of science in SF. In various forms, over the years, there has been varied discussions about the use of science in SF. Writers who are self-admittedly not scientists or with no inclination that way, have tended to veer towards the soft sciences or focused on characters or plot more than what makes the backdrop work.
Miss Oberon Regrets: Part 1 of 2
01/02/2005. a Psi-Kicks story by: GF Willmetts. The tiger-Fey Kataya Oberon is back! She's in Colombia & has to stay out of trouble long enough to take on a Yakuza enforcement arm & curtail a drug distribution ring. Hang on to your hats cos that's about the only disguise you've got.
 Will Eisner (1917-2005)
01/02/2005. On the 3rd January 2005, the world lost another comicbook creator in the form of the legendary Will Eisner. At the age of 87, he died following complications from quadruple bypass heart surgery.
 The Loss of a Great Artist: Frank Kelly Freas (1922-2005)
01/02/2005. Frank Kelly Freas passed away in his sleep at his home in California in the early hours of Sunday, 2nd January, at the age of 84.
Miss Oberon Regrets: Part 2 of 2
01/02/2005. a Psi-Kicks story by: GF Willmetts. The tiger-Fey Kataya Oberon is back! She's in Colombia & has to stay out of trouble long enough to take on a Yakuza enforcement arm & curtail a drug distribution ring. Hang on to your hats cos that's about the only disguise you've got.
Nature is Earth’s biggest terrorist after man - and only just! But we’re ready to show our worse.
01/02/2005. Disaster movies are part of Science Fiction fodder. We can show alternative endings for the fate of the other inhabitants of this planet Earth, confident that we can sleep happily at night that such disasters will never happen in our reality. Such films might even have a happy ending. After all, we welcome the stars’ survival even if the rest of the world didn’t make it. The events in Southern Asia on 26th December 2004 will testify that it doesn’t and is a strong reminder just how precious the planet we live on is and a wake-up call not just to help the survivors there but to work towards looking after our planet.
Catching Up
01/02/2005. Science fiction author Ken Macleod had recently finished his latest SF novel, provisionally titled Learning the World. Having recklessly agreed to write short stories for no less than four anthologies, three of them deadlined for next year, he now feels as if he is climbing the lower slopes of Mount Stross.
Kung Fu Hustle: Mark's Take
01/02/2005. From the director of SHAOLIN SOCCAR comes this satire on the Shaw Brothers martial arts films, which is live-action but takes on the style of a cartoon. It is a very funny film, even for people who are not kung fu enthusiasts.
Frank Kelly Freas (1922-2005): comments by Mark R. Leeper
01/02/2005. Those of us who got interested in science fiction in the 1950s and 1960s (or earlier) are finding us passing some unpleasant milestones. It seems that many of the people who created the science fiction we liked in those decades are getting old and dying.
 White Noise: Frank's Take
01/02/2005. There are a few things that are noticeably disjointed about the uneventful sci-fi thriller White Noise. And that's quite a shame because this movie's premise had potential in terms of exploring its ambitiously surreal premise. When the set-up involves the afterlife and its entanglement with modern technology as a means of communicating to the inquisitive world then you're obviously expecting something worthy of an intriguing experimentation.
 House of Flying Daggers: Frank's Take
01/02/2005. Adventurous filmmaker Zhang Yimou mesmerized movie audiences previously with his resonate action-oriented gem Hero. In House of Flying Daggers, he ups the ante and delivers a dynamically polished kinetic drama that enhances this movie genre with its sophisticated ode to romanticism and tradition.
A fire-side chat with Ken
01/02/2005. What a wonderful way to start the year! A cosy fire-side chat with Ken Macleod - SF maestro and all-round nice guy - whose new paperback, Newton's Wake, is currently Ottakar's SF Book Of The Month.
 Alexander: Mark's Take
01/01/2005. Alexander is a little long and at times slow, but not unrewarding as a movie for history buffs. Much of the film just does not work, but parts are very impressive. A good cinematic biography of this great conqueror is nearly impossible. I would rather be bored learning about the history of Alexander the Great than enthralled by the exploits of Spider Man. Your mileage may vary.
House Of Flying Daggers: Mark's Take
01/01/2005. Beautiful to look at, Zhang Yimou's most recent fantasy martial arts film from China has a cliched plot and a little too much overripe melodrama.
 Seed of Chucky: Frank's Take
01/01/2005. Do you know what the REAL frightening thought is behind the emergence of Seed of Chucky? Well, it’s certainly not the fact that a demonic doll gets its perverse kicks from the self-destructive tendencies it cherishes so gleefully.
 Saw: Frank's Take
01/01/2005. It’s routinely easy to conjure up sensationalized cinema that’s considered overwrought in its creepy conventions. But it’s certainly difficult to transcend that element of a frightfest and turn it into something that’s solidly bankable in its grisly greatness.
 The Incredibles: Frank's Take
01/01/2005. One might be wondering to themselves the following thought: just what would the handlers at Pixar do for a darn encore? Let’s face it folks, we have been so spoiled by the 3-D animated gems that insist on rolling out of the Pixar universe. It seems that year after year, the Disney/Pixar assembly line serves up the generated goodies.
 Eric Trautmann Interview
01/01/2005. Eric Nylund, author of the best-selling Halo novels, Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, (recently re-released, along with William C. Dietz’s Halo: The Flood, in a Del Rey boxed set) took some time to interview Eric S. Trautmann, author of The Art of Halo.
 To the Stars
01/01/2005. Science fiction author Gregory Benford remembers the novel To The Stars By L. Ron Hubbard. He read this remarkable novel when he was but a kid, somewhere in the early 1950s. As its last line proclaims, it is a tale of high drama about being "outward bound on a mission to the ageless stars."
 The David Hardy Interview
01/01/2005. What can I say about David Hardy? I’ve reviewed two of his books of space art on the website, had extensive chats with him discussing everything from art technique to astronomy and barely scratched the surface regarding his other interest ranging from his love of motor-bikes to guitar jamming to his occasional chairmanship over the years of Birmingham’s SF group.
 I Heart Huckabees: Mark's Take
01/01/2005. This weird comedic fantasy lampoons pop-philosophy and everything else within reach but wastes the talents of Dustin Hoffman.
 The Best Magician In The World
01/01/2005. Short fiction from the pen of Uncle Geoff. Hmmm. Magic.
 Like a Death; or, Altogether Elsewhere, Vast
01/01/2005. The Conservative and the Communist sometimes find they have more in common than either might have expected; at least that they understand each other, and agree on what is important; likewise the Freethinker and the Fundamentalist. In politics as in religion, both poles are perplexed by the Liberal; from opposite sides of the case they scratch their heads, like Victorian biologists looking at a platypus and wondering if they aren't being made a monkey of.
 High energy on the cheap: and a little shrimp shall lead them
01/01/2005. There is a growing excitement in parts of the physics community these days, says by Mark R. Leeper. And you may have read about it here first. Back on September of 2002, Mark published the following article on Snapping Shrimp in his zine the MT Void.
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