A Conversation With Kathleen Goonan
An interview with Danielle Davis
On being led to write science fiction:
"I have to say it was probably my dad's influence -- he was an electrical engineer and an avid science fiction reader. Science fiction novels were around the house for most of the 50s and 60s. I grew up thinking it is the ultimate form of intellectual literature. When I began writing science fiction, I had to take a crash course in science, because I am not the least bit technical."

Apollo's Outcasts by Allen Steele
reviewed by Greg L. Johnson
On the day he should be celebrating his birthday, Jamey Barlowe and his sister Melissa are awakened in the middle of the night to find themselves whisked off to the one place where they might be safe. There's been a political coup in the United States, and their father is a public figure on the wrong side. With pursuit closing in, Jamey and Melissa are loaded on to a shuttle and launched.

Vote for SF Site's Readers' Choice Awards for 2012
Here we are again, offering you your annual chance to let the world know what you thought was the best of all the speculative reading material you encountered from the past year. If you've been a regular visitor to the SF Site for more than a couple of years, you are quite probably already familiar with this annual event. If you're new to us, all you need to know is that we want to hear what you believe was the very best of what you read from the past year. If you've forgotten what you chose in previous years, you can find them all linked at Best Read of the Year including Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller which was the top choice last year.

The Dark Knight Trilogy: The Complete Screenplays by Christopher Nolan
reviewed by Trent Walters
The status of Batman -- the superhero who doesn't shoot and kill enemies -- has grown for decades, stepping beyond comics to TV, film, books, games, and action figures. Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer released a trilogy of movies that tried to create a realistic hero, asking, "How did Batman become a legend?"

The Mountain of Long Eyes by Thomas Wm. Hamilton
reviewed by Sandra Scholes
If readers liked the stories of Damon Knight, then these will be similarly welcomed. This is a collection of mainly science fiction short stories with a few fantasy ones thrown in to balance them out. The first story in the book is one of the most deceptive as it leads you to believe they will all be the same, but when you bear in mind these were written for magazines, you see where the subtle humour comes from, and also the serious nature of some of them.

The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic by J.R.R. Tolkien
reviewed by Cyd Athens
The story, first published in 1937, remains the same: Bilbo Baggins joins Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves on a quest to recover stolen treasure from the evil dragon, Smaug. Any time good goes up against evil, there is going to be conflict. In this episodic quest, the challenges include trolls, goblins, giant spiders, and a Gollum who has an unhealthy obsession with a ring.

The Boolean Gate by Walter Jon Williams
reviewed by Rich Horton
Rich says this review is very late, for multiple reasons. One reason is that he finds himself at odds with the consensus, which makes him think he may have missed something. It's a new novella by an author Rich enjoys immensely, and it has gotten quite a bit of praise. So why, he wonders, was he left rather cold by it? He's forced to caution the reader that he may simply be wrong -- that he may have read the book in the wrong state of mind, or that he may simply not be the right reader for the book.

Domino Falls by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due
reviewed by Trent Walters
In this sequel to the post-apocalyptic zombie novel, The Devil's Wake, Domino Falls becomes the destination for a band of hardened, largely young adults aboard a bullet-riddled bus called the Blue Beauty. They seek civilization, sanctuary away from zombies (or freaks) and pirates. The characters: Native American "twin" cousins Dean and Darius, militaristic Ursalina, myopic Piranha and Kendra, the youngest at 16, who is in love with Terry, and Sonia.

Off On A Tangent: Novel Reviews
a column by Dave Truesdale
For fans of large-scale, interstellar SF chock full of advanced alien cultures, super-science technologies, the thrill of discovery linked with ever-present danger, and perhaps the greatest Mystery mankind has ever known -- all played out against the immense backdrop of the galaxy -- you are in for a treat with Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford & Larry Niven. As for reading The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi, it is like trying to play 3-dimensional chess -- blindfolded. Now pretend that your opponent -- in this scenario the author -- moves a piece (from any level) onto another 3-dimensional board floating in some invisible, virtual, quantum dimension.

Watching the Future
a column by Derek Johnson
One thinks that, as a critic, Derek might be somewhat immune to cinematic tulip crazes , especially with what seems to pass for film anhedonia in most. Yet even today, he can feel himself awaiting something that looks so awe-inspiring that he practically dances in his chair as he awaits its arrival, or wish he'd had a motion-sickness bag for what he is often certain will be a train wreck of epic proportions. This hit him full force with two previews that opened the press screening of Jack the Giant Slayer. The first was Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim. The second was Man of Steel.

New Arrivals
compiled by Neil Walsh
New this time, we have a look at the latest from Terry Brooks, Brandon Sanderson, Tim Lebbon, Adam Roberts, Laurence Yep, and others.

Babylon 5.1
TV reviews by Rick Norwood
Something has changed on television -- programs are being renewed with far fewer viewers than would have been possible even a few years ago. Supernatural has been renewed for a ninth season with about 2.1 million viewers. The Vampire Diaries has been renewed for a fifth season with about 2.9 million viewers. In contrast, Firefly was cancelled for low ratings with 4.5 million viewers. Rick also gives a list of what to watch in March.

Nexus Graphica
a column by Rick Klaw and Mark London Williams
As you may have read, this year's Academy Award-winning visual effects shop, Rhythm and Hues, which won the Oscar for their great work on Life of Pi is simultaneously going bankrupt. They are "restructuring," as the saying goes. How does Hollywood reward a company while watching it go out of business? There are lots of reasons, having to do with outsourcing of jobs, studios expecting "post" houses to absorb the additional costs when visuals are changed, tax subsidies in other countries where governments are willing to fund part of the cost to bring work to their shores. Mark London Williams looks at this situation.

How to Build an Android by David F. Dufty
reviewed by Seamus Sweeney
Just over seven years ago, the head of Philip K Dick went missing from an America West Airlines flight between Dallas and Las Vegas. A tired roboticist, transferring the talking robotic replication of Dick's head from one tech presentation to another, left it in an overhead baggage locker. An incident which has already inspired a radio play and received substantial media coverage at the time, it initially seemed to somewhat too slight to merit book-length treatment.

Beyond His Dark Materials by Susan Redington Bobby
reviewed by Nathan Brazil
This is a small book about a large subject; the fictional realms and diverse characters created by Philip Pullman during his more than 30-year career. These are worlds filled with tales of the human condition, filtered through a fantasy lens. The author presents her personal analysis of Pullman's themes, with particular reference to innocence and experience, the journeys that Pullman's characters take, and his quoted belief that wisdom only really comes to us when we lose.