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;

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.

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.

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.

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.

David Hughes is a master at describing the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” that is the Hollywood movie mill. It takes a certain amount of skill to discuss a blockbuster that might have been in a way that leaves you wanting to find a way to buy the rights, get funding and shoot the damned thing yourself. The reality is people with a lot more experience, money and even enthusiasm have tried… and, in some cases, are still trying. Hughes, who also wrote Tales From Development Hell: Movie Making The Hard Way, does a masterful job of getting you right in the middle of all the fuss in his recently updated and re-released book The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made from Titan Books.

What science fiction fan doesn’t know the name Arthur C. Clarke? If you count yourself among that group, then it’s time to bash your head in with a rock, because you don’t deserve to call yourself a sci-fi fan. Unfortunately there is bad news from the world of sci-fi books, as Arthur C. Clarke, author of many classics including “Childhood’s End” in 1953, “The City and The Stars” in 1956, “The Nine Billion Names of God” in 1967, “Rendezvous with Rama” in 1973, “Imperial Earth” in 1975, and “The Songs of Distant Earth” in 1986. His genius wasn’t just limited to books; he also co-wrote the 1968 screenplay for “2001: A Space Odyssey” with director with Stanley Kubrick.

I have a soft spot for Kenneth Johnson’s original “V” mini-series, aka “V: The Original Miniseries”. In fact, I have a soft spot for Ken himself. Once, a while back, after viewing the “V” DVD, I emailed Ken and, to my astonishment, actually got a response. Now, Ken returns with “V: The Second Generation”, a novel that picks up 20 years after the events of the first “V” mini-series, but not “V: The Final Battle” mini-series, which Ken was not involved in. And oh yeah, forget the crappy TV show; it has nothing to do with “Second Generation”, either.