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/rick270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Rick has some thoughts on Dr. Who, and the Dr. Who spinoffs, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. All three begin their run on American TV in April. He also has some notes on new shows by Ronald D. Moore and by Joss Whedon on Fox coming this Fall. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/sr270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT This anthology of original stories is an attempt to re-invent science fiction for the young readers of today. Its goal is to re-capture that sense of wonder and amazement that characterized the Golden Age and the books that so many of today's SF writers grew up on. In order to do so, the editor has assembled a cast of many of the biggest names in science fiction today. The stories they've written are not copies of the old space-faring adventures of the 30s and 40s, instead they reflect the concerns and dreams of young people today. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/na270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT This anthology reprints a score of works which were putative direct or indirect influences on the writings of C.S. Lewis, although the relevance of the material extends beyond merely the Chronicles of Narnia to such of Lewis' works as The Screwtape Letters and the Space Trilogy. Lewis was a voracious and lifelong reader, so lots of potential material exists for such an anthology, and the editor has distilled some of the best of these here. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/st270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT A slim booklet of only 90 pages, it assembles five pieces of fiction including the title story, a collaborative work by the two writers. It is the highlight of the book, providing an excellent mix of horror and fantasy where an old surgeon reminisces about his years as a medical student and the daring experiment attempting to bring back to life the corpse of a young woman. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Nexus Graphica is a column about graphic novels and comics that grew out of discussions between Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams. They will alternate columns. The nature and subject of each piece will vary from month to month, but it will always have something to do with graphic novels or comic books. For his first column, Mark is grappling with the idea of what comics are for. Are they just for fun? Or are comics -- when at their best -- simultaneously about individual lives (even spandex-encased ones) and everyone's lives, our lives, all at once? Social commentary, perhaps. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/gf270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT In Antoine Galland's Arabian Nights, there's a story called "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp." In the story, Aladdin orders his Djinn to build a palace for the Sultan. He specifies, however, that he wants there to be one flaw in the whole, one window-frame of gems that is incomplete, in order to allow the Sultan the honour of finishing it. The Djinn complies. Then, when the Sultan's being led through it, his eyes light on the incomplete window, and he's relieved to have found the flaw, the one tiny thing that can give his soul a break from the otherwise overwhelming awe. That's what reading this collection is like. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/ta270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Cryptopolis -- a writers' group based in Austin, Texas -- offers us an anthology of ten stories by its members, each introduced by another contributor. The book is elevated above the status of back-slapping exercise by actually being pretty good, yet at the same time, it's frustratingly not good enough to be much more than pretty good. It seems that three of the stories go the extra distance to become something quite special; the other seven are interesting, but stop a little short. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/pr270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT "I do remember that fairly early on someone pointed out that I used the word 'alloy' and 'counterpoint' in the same sentence. That person pointed out that some people wouldn't actually know what an alloy was. I made a conscious decision right then that my book was written for people who either knew what that word meant, or were willing to look it up." http://www.sfsite.com/04b/nw270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT At the center of the first book in The Kingkiller Chronicles stands Kvothe. At different times an orphan, a lutist, a student, a mage, and a dragon slayer, at the opening of his tale Kvothe is only Kote, a simple innkeeper who has renounced his adventurous ways and heroic persona. The author shows us, in a prologue that is about as perfectly polished as one page of prose can get, the layered silence that envelops him, "the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die." There are demons -- monsters equal parts spider, lobster, and Edward Scissorhands -- about and, unsurprisingly, it appears Kvothe's past is catching up with him. A scrivener tracks him down to take his life story. Kvothe demands three days -- one for each book. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/is270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT In the plus column, Inside Straight introduces three or four credible new characters, there's a smattering of informative continuity with the established Wild Cards canon, and new blood in the pool of writing talent. In the minus column, most older characters and their chronology appear to have been consigned to history, except for cheesy cameo roles. http://www.sfsite.com/04b/wa270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT This anthology collects 22 stories together, the majority from the 21st century, although some reach back to the mutually assured destruction of the 80s, and a couple even hail from the crazy 70s. Is this anthology a result of the new age of insecurity and Terror (with a capital "T") that we live in? It might be argued so, because nuclear armageddon seldom rears its ugly head here; instead the eponymous apocalypse is more likely to be biological, a post 9/11 war of attrition or even the Biblical Day of Judgment. http://www.sfsite.com/books/new270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT The newest batch of books to arrive on our doorstep include the latest from Stephen Baxter, Steven Erikson, John Kessel, John Meaney, Keri Arthur, Joe Abercrombie, Greg Keyes, Adam Stemple, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., as well as new anthologies from William Schaffer of Subterranean Press, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, and much more. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/audio270.htm Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT At times, it's more convenient (and enjoyable) to hear the latest in science fiction and fantasty. Recent audiobook releases include works by Jim Butcher, Orson Scott Card, Philip Pullman and Lois McMaster Bujold. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/graphica269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Nexus Graphica is a column about graphic novels and comics that grew out of discussions between Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams. They will alternate columns. Like Rick Klaw's Geeks With Books, the nature and subject of each piece will vary from month to month, but it will always have something to do with graphic novels or comic books. For the first column, Rick describes how they met and how their friendship evolved. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/gn269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT The stories collected here, some of them written and published before Revelation Space, show us even more about the future the author has envisioned, and often give us details of characters lives and events that are alluded to in the novels. At the same time, they prove that his writing can be just as dark and intense at shorter lengths as it is in novels like Chasm City and Absolution Gap. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/vc269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT The bad news is that this book would be a tough place for new readers to begin, as it is the final installment of the chronicles of Vatta's War. Every major thread begins pretty much in medias res, pulling a long train of story investment along with it. The good news is that this is a smashing finish to an excellent series. http://www.sfsite.com/columns/over269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Neil has a secret: The Gormenghast Trilogy is the real reason he started this column in the first place. He had heard about the series for many, many years. So many authors have cited Mervyn Peake as a significant influence, that he knew he should really read him and find out what all the hype was about. But on the other hand, he had also heard disturbing reports from readers about how tedious and progressively unreadable the series ultimately becomes. He had heard rumours that Peake went insane while writing the series, and that the final book makes no sense at all. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/ws269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Ever since the publication of the equally celebrated and condemned Communion, the jury has been out on Whitley Strieber. To some he's a crafty chancer, cleverly weaving his fake Grey alien stories into a modern mythology, in tune with the American psyche. Others believe what he writes is at least prophetic fiction and perhaps thinly disguised fact. Wherever the truth may lie, this vein has been a rich source of inspiration and has enabled him to produce works that are entertaining and unsettling. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/ia269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Arguably the most paranoid novel ever published, Richard Matheson's powerful tale of isolation, I Am Legend, informed the works of Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, Joe R. Lansdale, and pretty much everyone else who has written horror since the story's 1954 publication. The book spawned two previous movie adaptations. The first, L' Ultimo Uomo Della Terra (The Last Man on Earth, 1964), starred Vincent Price in a dull yet faithful Italian production. 1971's The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston, used only the bare outline of the original story. In December 2007, director Francis Lawrence returned Matheson's classic to film, the first to sport the book title, I Am Legend. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/la269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT This final book in the First Law trilogy pushes forward like an avalanche through to the bitter end of the various events taking place from the wars in Angland and with the Gurkish to the internal secret wars of the ruling Closed Council. Like the avalanche, it is powerful, mesmerizing and unstoppable. However, also like an avalanche, the only way things can end is in a crush at the base of the mountain with luck being more likely than skills or bravery to save you. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/mf269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Jeremiah Rosemont is a former academic, apparently an expert on the history of the Tarot, who has abandoned his former life and is wandering through Nicaragua when he gets a curious summons to Rome where he finds strange things happening. He becomes embroiled in a struggle over an ancient Tarot deck that might give great power to some very ancient beings. At the same time, a homeless man, called simply Boy King, who makes his living by dumpster diving and occasional Tarot readings in the streets of Minnesota, becomes aware that someone is after him. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/id269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT It isn't quite a play, it isn't quite a poem. It showcases a cast of artificially intelligent robots of different shapes and sizes, created by humans and placed aboard a spaceship, called The TransAtlantic Tortoise, sent out to find new, habitable worlds. The ship is also intelligent but, at the play's opening, it has mysteriously stopped communicating with the crew. We follow Gael-all-of-metal, the dog-shaped captain, as he reflects on and tests the boundaries of his programming, encourages mutiny aboard his ship and discovers love with another crewmate. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/rw269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT We have been in a "post-cyberpunk" period for longer than cyberpunk lasted. At least, we have if you take a strictly chronological understanding of the term. But "post-cyberpunk" has only really been bandied about for the last year or so, and the closest we have to a definition of the term is this particular anthology. Looking at this, one might say that "post-cyberpunk" bears pretty much the same relationship to "cyberpunk" that "postmodernism" bears to "modernism." http://www.sfsite.com/columns/rick269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT Rick has some thoughts on the return of Battlestar Galactica for one final season and what sort of year Smallville is having. He also gives us a list of SF on TV in April. http://www.sfsite.com/04a/sp269.htm Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT It's becoming a rare achievement for a genre TV series to even complete a debut season these days, so the fact that Supernatural is now well into its third season radiates a silent message that the show has style, depth and most importantly, great ratings. A number of factors contribute to its success like the obvious chemistry between the two lead actors, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles along with the quality of the writing as the brothers hack their way through a huge range of strange monsters, knee-deep in spooky adversaries, while trying to deal with their own family neuroses at the same time. 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.