John Scalzi’s 2005 sci-fi/war novel “Old Man’s War” made news recently when it was optioned by Paramount Studios, with director Wolfgang Petersen (“The Perfect Storm”) attached to direct. While it has shades of Joe Haldeman’s “The Forever War”, Scalzi’s novel is, for the most part, a wholly original work that will both intrigue and entertainment with its fictional, but very well-realized future.
Archive for Sci-Fi Book News
Book Review: Old Man’s War
Giveaway: Star Wars Millennium Falcon 3D Book
Who doesn’t love Star Wars? Or 3D? (Okay, I can do without every single one of my movies being turned into 3D, but that’s another gripe.) Now, books in 3D — that’s kinda cool. Thanks to the good folks behind the “Star Wars Millennium Falcon 3D” book, we have three copies of the book to give away to three lucky winners. Head on below for details.
Book Review: Star Wars — Millennium Falcon 3D Owner’s Guide
Remember how cool it was to be a “Star Wars” fan in the late 90′s, that gloriously heady period between 1997 and 1999? Between the special editions raking in cash hand over fist in theaters and the flood of anticipation over the new film, fans who had over a decade of famine suddenly had more than they ever dreamed of. That all vanished like the morning dew at first light when “Episode 1″ unspooled, and fandom spent the remainder of the summer taking anti-depressant and making frequent calls to the local suicide hot line.
Book Review: All You Need is Kill
In a lot of ways, Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s “All You Need is Kill” reminded me of John Steakley’s “Armor”, one of the very first sci-fi novels I ever picked up (completely on a whim, natch), and ended up enjoying the hell out of. There is a lot of “Armor” in “Kill”, in that both books deal with futuristic warriors in, essentially, personal “mecha” suits (in “Kill” they are called “Jackets”, but they’re essentially the same things), and the enemy is, quite literally, an alien infestation that refuses to yield, negotiate, or indeed, communicate.
David Goyer’s Heaven’s Shadow Trilogy Lands at Warner Bros.
David Goyer knows a thing or two about genre writing, but he’s usually kept his talents to the big and little screens, doing everything from “Superman Returns” to the “Batman Begins” films with Christopher Nolan to producing the ill-fated “FlashForward”.
Book Giveaway: Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games
With Suzanne Collins’s “The Hunger Games” set to be released on paperback July 6th, and a movie version of the first book due out from Lionsgate sometime in 2011, we have five copies of the book in paperback and a $25 Visa Cash Card to give away to one Grand Prize Winner. Head on below for the details.
A Celebration of Fan Love — Firefly: Still Flying Book Review
I’m a fan of Joss Whedon’s sci-fi space western, “Firefly” and the follow up movie “Serenity,” but I am by no means a “Browncoat.” That is the preferred name for the uber fans of the franchise that, even after cancellation and a movie to tie things up, are still rabid for more.
Trailer For Stephen King’s Under The Dome
Stephen King isn’t a good Sci-Fi writer, he’s a great Sci-Fi writer. In what I’m hoping will be a fantastic return to his epic and massive early “The Stand” period, we will soon be enjoying “Under The Dome”, a story of a small Maine town that gets bubbled by forces unknown.
Book Review: Under the Dome by Stephen King
The town of Chester’s Mill, ME is changed forever on October 21st, when an invisible force field materializes to quarantine it from the rest of humanity. Not truly a dome as the title suggests, the mysterious barrier is more like a capsule that fits exactly over the town’s borders.
Stephen King’s Under The Dome Cover Art
If you are like me and dream of someday stalking Mr. King until, desperate to expunge his nightmares of my torment he is forced to write a book about me, then you too are eagerly awaiting his soon to be bitchin new novel “Under The Dome”.
Nerd Read: Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction
Hello nerds, geeks and poindexters of the world. Hold on to your pocket protector and thick rimmed glasses held together with tape because there is cause to rejoice.
In case you didn’t know already, Oxford University Press release the first ever science fiction dictionary entitled Brave New Words in April of this year. The first thing that hits you is the title and how it is in itself a clever play on words. Lovely. Here are some of the features;
Starlog the Magazine Shuts Down, Goes Exclusively Online
I was never one of those guys who devoured sci-fi magazines like a fat kid and cake, so I can’t really say I’m all that bothered by this news that sci-fi magazine Starlog has decided to cease publication of its print version and will instead go exclusively online. Hey, why not join the party, right? But I’m sure this will be a disappointing to those of you who have read the magazine through the years.
Stephen King’s Next Sci-Fi Epic “Under The Dome”
Let me preface this post with the following warning. I am a huge fan of Stephen King. I grew up with his books, reading many of them many times. I think I learned a great deal about how to be a better man from the voyages into the weird that I followed him on. Though the subject matter might have disturbed my grandmother, it was Mr. King’s descriptions of small town life and practical guy ethics that juiced the overhead light-bulb for me.
Your Post Apocalyptic Reading List
There’s nothing tastier for the hardened Sci-Fi lover than a bracing dose of Apocalyptic literature. For me and my inner nerd, these books occupy the dual roles of entertainment and potential skill training. Like nerds everywhere, I am always on the watch for the Not-Known.
Hugo And John W. Campbell Nominees Announced
Anticipation, or the 67th annual World Sci-Fi convention, has announced their noms for the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards. The winners will be unveiled on Sunday, August 9 at the Palais des congrès in Montreal, Canada.
