Posted by Scifi Fan on Mar 5, 2010 Posted in Blog || No Comments »
Ok so I am struggling to find what this has to do with books, science fiction or even fantasy really but this video is just too funny to miss:
Posted by Scifi Fan on Mar 3, 2010 Posted in Science Fact || No Comments »
With the recent release to the public of the MOD’s files on UFO encounters, it appears they have now decided that they are no longer going to keep files on Unidentified Flying Objects, destroying any reports after 30 days and insist that UFOs are not a military threat.
This announcement on the one hand could be seen as cutting costs to save on an over-stretched budget, (they have also turned off the number to call and report a sighting) but by many it will be seen as a misguided act.
The UFO sightings are not just going to go away, in fact they are increasing year on year not just in the UK but worldwide. Back in september 2009 the ministry of defense themselves admitted that reported sightings had tripled since 2008, making 2009 the busiest year on record.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Mar 2, 2010 Posted in Books || No Comments »
World book day is almost here, on the 4th April 2010 and there are many activities this year including 11 £1 book stories which will be read by the Authors or Actors online on the day while there is also a “Buy one Give one” promotion running now in conjunction with The Times, The Sun and News of the World.
Buy one Give One means you buy a paperback and get a second book free to donate to charity, vouchers are available in the participating newspapers and you then take the vouchers to a participating retailer (WH Smith, Waterstones or a participating Independant), buy 2 paperbacks for£9.99 or less and get the lower priced one free. Childrens books, reference, travel and academic books are excluded from the offer.
Vouchers will run from 4-7 March 2010 and can be redeemed up to and including 10 March 2010.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Feb 26, 2010 Posted in Books, Fantasy || No Comments »
In the run up to the launch of the next episode in the most excellent Nekropolis tale – Mean Streets (which is out next week) those ever so Angry Robots have allowed us mere mortals a free short story set in the same universe.
Titled “The Midnight Watch”, the short story is set after the events in Nekropolis and features the irrepressible undead detective Matt Richter along with his squeeze Devona.
You can read the whole story here: The Midnight Watch.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Feb 15, 2010 Posted in Science Fiction, Television || No Comments »
It has been revealed that the first episode in the new series of Doctor Who which features the 11th Doctor (played by Matt Smith) will be a full 60 minutes long and has been called “The Eleventh Hour”.
In news of the series, the Doctor and his new companion (Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan) will explore 16th century Venice, France around 1890 and best of all a far future UK, now floating in outer space. The Daleks are set to make a return and there is a “silent menace” that follows the Doctor and Amy everywhere they go (series long story arc maybe?).
The Weeping Angels are also returning, first seen in the rather excellent episode “blink” which has earned Steve Moffat the 2008 BAFTA craft and BAFTA Cymru awards for Best Writer and which itself won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and was nominated for a Nebula Award.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Feb 12, 2010 Posted in Fantasy, Films || No Comments »
A new Fan made Lord of the Rings film has been released on the internet and is already causing quite a stir among fans, with over 500 000 views on you tube. Created on a budget of just £25 000, Born of Hope is set long before the events in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and tells the story of Aragorns parents, Arathorn and Gilraen and the birth of Aragorn himself.
The brain child of Kate Madison, who even put her whole savings into the costs, Born of Hope is an incredible creation on a miniscule budget, with a large cast, intricate costumes and special effects and even a computer generated Hill Troll.
In another first the film even borrows some Orcs from the first Lord of the Rings Fan made film, the rather excellent Hunt for Gollum, which also shares some production members, see if you can pick them out.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Feb 8, 2010 Posted in Science Fact || No Comments »
The theory that we are all aliens from outer space has been once again thrust into the media spotlight by the british Scientist Prof Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University. He claims that the evidence that life started outside our solar system is quite “overwhelming”.
The first seeds of life are thought to have been deposited on earth 3800 million years ago from outer space by an asteroid or comet. These microbes were then thought to have “multiplied and seeded” to eventually form human life (and politicians).
Posted by Scifi Fan on Feb 4, 2010 Posted in Books, Fantasy, Science Fiction || No Comments »
Harper Collins Imprint Angry Robot Books have released a preview chapters of their next 6 books, 3 of which are released today!
The World House, Walking the Tree and Edge are all available to be purchased from today, while City of dreams and nightmare, King Maker and the sequel to the most excellent Nekropolis, Dead Streets are all released on the 4th March 2010 (in the UK).
Posted by Scifi Fan on Feb 4, 2010 Posted in Books, Fantasy || No Comments »
Harper Collins new Imprint Angry Robot Books is moving from strength to strength and really pushing the boundries with new ideas and intelligent fiction.
Not content with this, they have found a approach of telling a story that will allow adult and child to both enjoy the same novel. Kaaron Warren is the author of the soon to be released novel Walking the Tree, and she had an idea while writing that it would be great if her son and herself could enjoy the same book at the same time and so she wrote a 20000 word novella called Morace’s Story, a child’s point of view of Walking the Tree.
Posted by Scifi Fan on Feb 2, 2010 Posted in Books || 1 Comment »
Last week Amazon was forced to remove thousands of e-books from it’s US site after one of the 6 biggest book publishers in the world, Macmillan announced that they wanted the ebook prices to be significantly raised from the current standard of $9.99
This week Amazon has caved into the pressure from Macmillan and has now re-instated the ebooks at these inflated prices, between $12.99 and $14.99 for most hardback releases. According to this new agreement the publisher will be able to set the final retail price between the $12.99 and $14.99 figure. In addition the revenue share has been changed to a 70:30 share in favour of the publishers.