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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Apparently, I’m the last person on earth to catch up with the complete awesomness that is Firefly.  Well, except maybe one or two folks reading this, which is why I’m here sharing the love.  As my friend Gabriel says, “I was pissed off it was so good.”  After hearing people obsess on it, I figured it had to be over-rated, especially after seeing a little bit of Serenity and not quite getting it.  I was wrong.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen sci-fi television which such good chemistry or such a complete sense of humor while also being totally committed to a complex mythology.  Got time to kill over the holidays?  Rent or buy the box set.  My guess it you’ll turn into a Browncoat too.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve talked a lot about some of the other Harry Potter conferences coming up in 2008, but haven’t yet had an excuse to mention Terminus 2008, which will be taking place in Chicago in August.  I attended Narrate’s 2007 conference, Phoenix Rising, in New Orleans this past summer and had an absolute blast, and am already registered for Terminus (I hope to be presenting as well, but won’t know for some time).  This year’s event includes an all day Wizard Rock concert, a night devoted to fan art and writing, trivia challenges and lots of academic and creative programming.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Since we’re on the subject of erotic novels with sacriligous angel mythology (*waves to the AFA*), if you haven’t read The Vintner’s Luck, run, don’t walk to find yourself a copy of this unfortunately out of print novel.  I’ve probably never read more beautiful prose than Elizabeth Knox’s in this book which is by turns a murder mystery, a love story and a medtitation on mortality.  Rumors have circulated for the last year or so that it’s going to be made into a movie by the team that did Whale Rider, a notion which makes somewhat more sense if you know Knox is a New Zealander.  Speculation as to who will play Xas, the angel who is clearly male in form at the center of the novel, have included Gaspard Ulliel and Keisha Castle-Hughes (whose ability to play masculine androgyny I’m more than a little doubtful of.  Give me Tilda Swinton as the angel Gabriel in Constantine any day).

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Last night was the Winter soltice, which is the longest night of the year. Some of my friends do their holiday gift-giving then for various reasons, including a determination a few of us have to cycle through as many fictional winter gift-giving holidays as we can. Which brings us to Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart and its Longest Night. Kushiel’s Dart is one of those books I resisted reading for ages — it just looked so trashy and not in a particularly good way. Well, it’s entirely trashy, but it’s also surprisingly great, with a fabulous mythology, lots of war and politics, some creepy supernatural elements and several surprisingly well-drawn and complex characters (some of whom you may not want to get too attached to — there are a lot of deaths). If you haven’t read it yet, this may be the break from the holiday family madness you need. And FYI, Carey will be the Guest of Honor at Lunacon 2008.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

There has been some speculation about the Cloverfield Monster lately. This has lead to some pretty awful (and a few hilarious) youtube clips exposing the Cloverfield creature for what it truly is…

Watch in amazement as the Cloverfield Monster is revealed in this series of video clips:

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

A very interesting documentary about the little known disease “Metalosis Maligna”. There is currently no cure, but in this holiday season we at Illusion urge everyone to take some time out from holiday shopping and family get-togethers to ponder the plight of those less fortunate.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

The debate is still raging on about which caped crusader could pound the snot out of the other one. As of right this instant Batman has the upper-hand on Superman by about 21% of the vote. Check out the poll and jump in to the Superman / Batman debate while there’s still a little more time.

LINK 

Batman vs Superman

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Scifi.com reports that Catherine Tate who plays Doctor Who’s latest companion Donna, last seen in the last Christmas special episode has let slip that season four may be David Tennant’s last season. The BBC hasn’t commented on this yet. I’m not sure how much credence to give to this rumour right now. It’s already been well publicized that aside from a few movie length Doctor Who episodes, season 5 would be delayed anyway so that Tennant could do theatre. However, if it is true, it really would be a shame. As much as I loved Eccleston for the one season he did, I can’t believe how much energy Tennant has given the latest incarnation of the doctor.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Actually, make that anti-fanfiction bingo.  Thanks to the recent formation of the Organization for Transformative Works which is focused on the preservation and study of fan culture and works, a bunch of bloggers and authors are once again up in arms about whether fanfiction is a good thing or a bad thing.  As both a professional and fan writer, you can imagine where I stand.  Most amusing in the current debate?  The Anti-Fanfiction Bingo Card which lists some of the most commonly heard objections to fan writing, art and other work.  Currently, the OTW is soliciting responses to the first row of objections from folks in fandom.  Let them know what you think!

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Peter Jackson has officially announced his involvement in making two films based on JRR Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.”  Officially, the Academy Award Winning team of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens will be executive producing the film, but no word yet on who will write or direct it.  Jackson’s manager, Ken Kamins, insists that there just isn’t enough time for him to write, direct, and produce the film, so it will probably be written and directed by someone else while being creatively managed by Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens.  The WGA strike will almost surely delay production of a script until the dispute is resolved.

I don’t see any reason why a lack of writers would delay this script.  I could make seven random phone calls to the Los Angeles greater metropolitan area and find at least two people who already have screenplays based on “The Hobbit” lying around.  I’m sure Jackson wrote one years ago in anticipation of getting to make it after “Lord of the Rings.”  He could probably just hand out copies of the novel and have people memorize dialogue and just shoot based on that.  I suppose it’s worth the wait, though.  It should be interesting to see who they find to direct the movie, though.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed they can stick to the high standard Jackson set with “Lord of the Rings.”

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Before going to see I Am Legend, I felt guilty about not having read the classic book by Richard Matheson first. After seeing I Am Legend, I felt the same exact way. No, I felt more so.

Why?

I genuinely liked the heart of the movie. Robert Neville (Will Smith), a soldier-doctor and former family man, has a day-to-day life that’s pretty darn fascinating: surviving in a post-apocalyptic world ridden with humans that have been infected with a virus making them rather vampire-like. An alpha male from this swarm of former humans ends up being royally ticked-off when Neville takes his alpha female. Action and heartbreak ensue. So, of course, issues about what humanity actually is surface in the film. How humane can you be if you’ve been alone for a considerable amount of time considering humans are intensely social creatures? Can you be more humane than not while being a scientist who repeatedly kills his kinda-human test subjects? And can you be humane if you’re not a veritable human? I liked these questions and I liked the ways the film was touching on them.

What I did not dig were all the popular audience concessions made in telling this thoughtful story. For instance, instead of letting Neville’s face show sorrow or past trauma, the filmmakers went right into hackneyed flash back after flashback. This technique, as well as some unsubtle dialogue lines, only served to grate on my nerves as it offended my intelligence. And funnily enough, these pop audience concessions had a negative effect on the audience members as they actually started sighing at the flashbacks and responding out loud to the blunt bits of dialogue.

In the end, there were people who booed loudly, but I felt I’d seen a rich, if flawed, movie. So yeah, I’m going to read the book as soon as I get the chance.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Fritz Lang’s Metropolis may be getting a remake soon.  Thanks to Coyotegoth for alerting me to this one.  It’s one of my most beloved films, having seen the Giorgio Moroder version with a group of friends for my twelfth birthday (I was weird).  On the one hand, I am absolutely horrified by the prospect.  On the other, it could potentially be very interesting, at least if it had any of the directors that my friends have mentioned as their choices for the project, including Peter Jackson, Baz Luhrmann and Mira Nair.

To me there are several key issues in a Metropolis remake including a committment to sparse dialogue; thorough comprehension of class issues and structure; a willingness to make Maria and False Maria powerful and unique while also hewing to the religious allegory inherent in their characters; and a respect for the occult and political tinges of the original.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

The New York Times has just published what is perhaps one of the wackiest and most amusing SF/F articles I’ve seen in a while.  A list of recommendations for the U.S. presidential contenders of SF/F books they should tell the media they’ve read (as opposed, it seems, to actually reading the things, which is certainly) a shame.  The article is clever both as regards its reflections on the candidates and its descriptions of largely classic SF/F. books.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

While I haven’t seen I Am Legend yet (perhaps I’m still smarting from my missed opportunity to play “the littlest zombie” which is probably a long story for another time), I was just alerted to the awesomeness of the movie’s ad compaign.  Because I live here in New York City, I assumed all the posters showed a desolate New York after it’s been ravaged by the zombie making disease.  Oh how wrong I was!  It seem like major cities worldwide, including Taipei, Seoul, Paris and London, have been depopulated for the local ad campaigns.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

I’m sitting here writing this when what I should be getting ready to go to my fencing salle’s holiday party.  I became interested in (and am now quite serious about) fencing, thanks to Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint and the other books and stories that make up her Riverside world (including Fall of the Kings with Delia Sherman, which one could argue is one of the best arguments for not going into academia ever written).  Surely, I’m not the only person who has picked up an unusual pursuit thanks to beloved things Sci-fi and Fantasy.

So this leads me to ask, what did science fiction make you do?

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Yes, I’m still on about the ending of The Golden Compass.   It seems as if at least part of the ending fans of the book know we should have had has made its appearance in, of all places, the Golden Compass video game (and that’s a whole ‘nother topic — when video games are more complete entertainment products than films).  You can see some of what happens when Lyra reaches Lord Asirel here.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Okay, I’m not usually up to posting fan videos, but I really got a kick from this.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

I waited a while so people could see this episode, but if you haven’t seen it yet, I strongly urge you to turn away, SPOILERS ahead. It wasn’t a bad episode but it wasn’t a great episode either. There just seemed to be something missing. The parts with Rhys and Gwen were fab, but I never necessarily felt like we had enough time to get invested in Rhys’ character over the season. As Captain Jack pointed out, Gwen cared so much for Rhys she spent half her time in Owen’s bed. But at least both Gwen and Owen had a reason to want to open the rift. The others on the other hand didn’t seem to make much sense. Perhaps if they’d given the episode enough time to build up, maybe see more of the horrors of having the rift open, but instead they all seemed to turn against Jack pretty quickly. Which was another thing; I kept having this sense of deja vu, until I realized that Spike did the same thing on BtVS, turning everyone against Buffy. The problem is, Buffy needs the Scoooby gang, as proved by the end of the episode when she combines her strength with Giles, Willow and Xander. The same can be said about X-Men and Fantastic Four- they’re only strong when they’re working as a unit. I just didn’t get the sense that Jack needs his team. In the end Jack went to face Abbadon alone, albeit with Gwen assisting him (why did he need assistance? We’ve seen Jack shot in the head and get up right away. Why did he take so long to recover after Owen shot him?). And of course, that feeling that Jack didn’t need his team was only more so emphasized by his quick exit at the sounds of the TARDIS. Sigh, it would’ve been nice to see the Doctor deal with Abbadon again.

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

K. Tempest Bradford is hosting a roundtable (part 1 of 3) at Fantasy Magazine about People of Color in Genre Fiction.  Meanwhile, there’s an interesting interview with Catherynne Valente about the way readers perceive (or don’t as the case may be) characters and race in her fiction.  They’re both notable dicussions especially when you consider the biases and bad habits peculiar to the fantasy genre (why, why doesso much of it take place in a lily-white pseudo-England?)

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Originally published at Better Living Through Science Fiction. Please leave any comments there.

Terry Pratchett author of the Discworld series has been diagnosed with a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s, but emphasizes that he is working on several projects currently and isn’t dead yet.

While writer’s can and do get sick like the rest of us, I suppose it is strangely jarring for fans who face the death not only of someone who produces creative work they enjoy but also the death of characters and worlds that have become like friends. Sure these fictions persist in works already created, or in some cases might continue to be written by someone else (whether this is good or bad is a matter for debate) professionally or in fanfiction, but for those of us who crave facts about our fictional worlds, that can never quite be the same.

Sigh.

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