http://www.sfsite.com/ The new issue of the SF Site is now online. Copyright 1996-2010 SF Site en-us http://www.sfsite.com/images/sfspot1.gif http://www.sfsite.com/ http://www.sfsite.com/columns/over250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT In reading this column, you may have come to suspect that it's really just an excuse for Neil to clear some books off his reading shelf -- and in the process to share with you each month his opinions on a book that is generally deemed a classic, alongside one that has been more or less neglected. This time out he takes a look at Dhalgren (1975) by Samuel R. Delany and Minions of the Moon (1999) by Richard Bowes. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/df250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT It was a world where an alien virus had been deliberately released in Earth's atmosphere, with the intention of testing its ability to turn ordinary people into super-powered soldiers. It killed ninety percent of those it affected, usually in horrific ways. The unfortunates were said to have drawn the Black Queen. A further nine percent of victims found their bodies or minds cruelly twisted. The world called them Jokers. The remaining one percent gained special abilities, ranging as far and wide as anything ever imagineered in comic books. They were the Aces. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/3f250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT The three summer blockbuster threequels are not as bad as the reviewers would have you believe. They are, to praise them with faint damns, the best genre films so far in 2007. So, three stars each for Spider-man 3, Shrek the Third, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The bad news is that none of these is as good as the second film in the series, which in turn was not as good as the first. To find a film trilogy that actually improved in the third film, you need to go back to The Return of the King, and before that to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ff250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer is a fun film. It isn't a great film -- it doesn't pretend to be. Unlike some Summer films, it does not try too hard and wind up deeply flawed. Instead, it aims at the same brand of lighthearted entertainment found in the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee comic books, and hits the mark. http://www.sfsite.com/08a/bh229.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT In this sixth volume of Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, the events of the Malazan campaigns on Genabackis and Seven Cities, the Tiste Edur conquest of the Letherii Empire, the machinations of the Malazan Empress, her allies and enemies, assassins and wizards, soldiers and priests, gods and ascendants, foundlings, slaves, refugees -- almost everyone we've met so far and everything that has happened is pulled together in this book. You won't find answers to all your questions, but you will be left with a sense that all these events we've been treated to thus far are not going to pass by without an even more profound impact on the world than we had already anticipated. http://www.sfsite.com/08b/fv230.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT This is the second "please don't call us science fiction or fantasy" anthology of the summer. Unlike the "new wave fabulists" in Paraspheres, this collection is more firmly rooted in the genre; the editors are well-recognized SF&F authors in their own right, as are most of the anthologized writers. Moreover, the subtitle employs a term originated by Bruce Sterling back in 1989. This is "The Slipstream Anthology," though the stylistic variations among the selections don't help to clarify exactly what slipstream is. The editors themselves note that they weren't sure "there was such a thing as slipstream." http://www.sfsite.com/05b/oo224.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT More than ten years after his first collection, the critically acclaimed The Return of Count Electric, William Browning Spencer returns, much to his fans' delight, with a second volume of short fiction. This book assembles nine previously published stories, scattered so far among the pages of a number of genre magazines. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/jeff250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT In Smaragdine, it is summer and the weather is hot. Jeff and his buddies run afoul of the Smaragdine Navy. The result gives him time to reflect on Solaris, a new publisher and what they have coming for readers. George Mann, the Solaris Editor passes along a few teasers on what we can expect in the next year or so. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/ns250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT The science fiction of the book is also heavily blended with noir, a detective story of sorts in which the question isn't "whodunit" but rather "who does it to us." Right from the opening page, the name of the bar, Black Cat White Cat, connotes both the on/off state of Schrodinger's cat as well as the cinematic tones of classic noir film. Indeed, the theme here echoes The Maltese Falcon. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/gb250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Two years after the appearance of his last collection Ghost Dance, Tony Richards, an excellent, but hardly prolific author of dark fiction, provides yet another bunch of short stories, much to the satisfaction of his many admirers. It assembles fourteen tales varying in themes and atmospheres, but mostly revolving around the difficult but unavoidable relationship the human race has with time. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Rick has some news on the renewal of Jericho and the cast changes on Smallville. Flash Gordon will be returning to television in August and Rick has some thoughts on its history and whether it will succeed. http://www.sfsite.com/06b/al250.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... a simple farm boy helped destroy a space station, a scoundrel found fell in love with a Princess and a Sith Lord found redemption. The original Star Wars Trilogy reverberates through the hearts of all ages. As this year marks the 30th Anniversary of Episode IV: A New Hope, what better way to relive those nostalgic feelings than with a trip back to mere weeks after the destruction of the first Death Star. http://www.sfsite.com/05a/pj223.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Any 'best of' title is, by its nature, prone to individual interpretation, and putting together a cross section of work by an author as prolific as Philip Jose Farmer was never going to be easy. Some of his best includes entire series, which clearly could not form part of this single book collection, although the Riverworld is represented here. What the book does manage, is to provide an excellent primer for what made Farmer so popular for so long. Readers who have heard his name, and want to know what all the fuss is about without risking their cash on an entire series, should start here. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/pu222.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT It opens with a curious prologue set 18,000 years in the future, describing an ambitious plan to celebrate the legendary Benefactor who started humanity on the road toward expansion into the Galaxy. Then we get a flashback to 2057, and the story of this Benefactor, a woman named Bella Lind. Bella is the captain of an ice mining spaceship, the Rockhopper. This ship is suddenly diverted to chase a moon of Saturn, Janus, which has suddenly accelerated and headed out of the Solar System: clearly, it's an alien artifact of some sort. Bella, however, must convince her crew to go along: it's a highly dangerous mission, and their corporate bosses do not inspire confidence. http://www.sfsite.com/07b/cs228.htm Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Jayme has seen the future of speculative fiction art, and its name is John Picacio. Except, if he's being honest with himself and readers, that's not true. You see, to be the future would imply that he has yet to come into his own. Anyone who even casually thumbs through this book knows full well that this young artist has arrived. The question isn't how good he is, it's how much better can he possibly get? http://www.sfsite.com/06a/cd249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT If you haven't been reading this series, Rich recommends going back and starting with book one. If you have been enjoying the Vatta's War series, you will enjoy this fourth novel. If you enjoy fast-moving space adventure, with involving characters and space war tactics and action and all... these books will work for you. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ff249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT The anthology opens with one of the outstanding contributions: a subtle, low-key near-future story by Robert Charles Wilson, about art and class differences in a society where advanced technology provides for a functioning, world-wide welfare system. A good part of the author's strength lies in his characters, and "YFL-500" reads almost like a fine piece of realist short fiction from the future in which it is set. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Our newest arrivals here at the SF Site office include new works from Steven Erikson, Alastair Reynolds, Robert Holdstock, Jane Lindskold, David Zindell, Dave Duncan, Brian Aldiss, and a new translation of Jules Verne, plus sneak previews of forthcoming books from Harry Turtledove, Scott Lynch, Jasper Fforde, and plenty more! http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Rick gives us some news about The Dresden Files (no, it has not been cancelled as yet), Jericho, Heroes, the two Stargate series and what he saw during his recent visit to China. He also gives us a list of what to watch on TV in June. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/bf249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Lea Tillim is either a runaway with a bad attitude who has gotten messed up with a young drug dealer, and who may have killed at least one man or a pretty young girl with a special ability who is helping a young Jewish man rescue the Chosen. She is definitely the heroine of this novel. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/we249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Avey, the robot narrator, is built in the Asimov mold, with an appearance more in keeping with gadget-looking R2-D2 than the anthropomorphic C-3PO, but updated to the eve of the Singularity, the event when machine intelligence exceeds human intelligence. To ensure their subservient status despite their superior intellect, robots are retrofitted with a "safety feature" that provides them, for the first time, with the sensation of pain. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/db249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Once the final battle has been won, and the villains have all been defeated, what is left for a super-hero to do? Time to confront all the neuroses, character flaws, and relationship problems covered up by a lifetime of chasing bad guys and saving the world. At least that's what Omnipotent Man, The Flying Squirrel, Iron Lass, X-Man, The Brotherfly and Power Grrrl discover as they gather for a group therapy session with Eva Brain-Silverman, better known to the world as Dr. Brain. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ac249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT This latest entry in the Science Fiction Book Club's original anthology series is a follow-up to Down These Dark Spaceways, a volume of hard-boiled SF detective stories. The highlight is Gregory Benford's "Dark Heaven", an elegant tribute to the Travis McGee mysteries, set in Benford's native Alabama. This atmospheric Gulf Coast pastoral features the obligatory world weary detective in a near future police procedural that takes a very odd turn. Alien amphibians from Centaurus have established a coastal enclave near Mobile. Detective Mckenna is investigating an odd series of drowning homicides... http://www.sfsite.com/06a/ax249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT It's a tale sprawling across several years, beginning with a catastrophic accident that tears a hole in time, throwing an international fleet from 2021 back to 1942. The uptimers emerge at night, slap bang in the middle of the US task force heading toward Midway Atoll. A major problem is a side effect of the unexpected time travel which causes most of the future crew to arrive unconscious, or barely functional. Sensing the danger, their computer controlled Combat Intelligence acts in defence when elements of the '42 fleet attack, quickly leading to all guns blazing on both sides. http://www.sfsite.com/06a/wg249.htm Fri, 1 Jun 2007 11:00:00 GMT Collected here are 31 speeches spanning the history of the World Science Fiction convention, delivered by such genre luminaries as Hugo Gernsback, John W. Campbell, Jr., Robert A. Heinlein and Kate Wilhelm. It's not a complete representation -- the editors are quite upfront in the introduction about their inability to secure permission to publish some of the speeches, and difficulty in even locating tapes or transcripts of others. http://www.sfsite.com/rssfeeds01.htm Sat, 1 Jan 2005 11:00:00 GMT After constructing our first RSS feed, it soon became apparent that the size of files could grow quickly. We decided to separate them into smaller ones, breaking them up by month. On this page you will find RSS feed files for all of our content beginning with January 2005.