Jericho Dead?

SCI FI Wire has a news story about the cancellation of the post-apocalyptic drama Jericho and how the producers are looking around for another network to pick it up.

Interestingly, there’s a note at the bottom of the story that says: "Fans wishing to write SCI FI Channel about picking Jericho up should … send snail mail here: SCI FI Channel, 21st Floor, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112."

So, like Jericho? Sending SCI FI a letter about it couldn’t hurt. Hey, it worked last year with the peanuts.

Read More

Doomsday: Don’t Go See It Even if It’s the Last Movie on Earth

As the editor of a post-apocalyptic anthology and someone who is generally considered to be something of an expert on the subject, I feel it is my duty to provide this public service announcement in regard to the recently released film Doomsday. It is, quite simply, one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.

Here’s a quick synopsis, in case you’re not familiar with it already: There’s a massive plague in England, which is contained by sealing off Scotland along Hadrian’s Wall. Thirty years later, the virus starts showing up in the rest of England, so a team is sent into the quarantine zone to search for a cure among the survivors.

Okay, but here’s the thing. Almost nothing that happens in the movie makes sense. None of the SF elements are thought out at all. There’s tons of cliches such as the idiotic post-apocalyptic biker punk society that arises inside the quarantine zone, who for some reason turn to cannibalism even though there are, inexplicably, so many cows wandering around that when the "outside" team enters the quarantine zone they run them over with their tanks. It’s like director Neil Marshall surveyed all of post-apocalyptic fiction and film, took all of the worst elements from each of them and threw them into this movie.

It’s just absolutely abysmal. You just might find yourself wishing the end of the world would come just so you wouldn’t have to sit through another second of this pathetic excuse for a movie.

Trust me: Don’t waste your money. Hell, don’t even go if you get in for free–life’s too short.

Read More

Native Environment

I finally found copies of Wastelands in its native environment: bookstores. That I said "finally" shouldn’t imply that it was hard to find; I simply hadn’t been in a bookstore since the book came out, being the sort of person who gets lots of free books and otherwise tends to shop online. I spied it at the Borders near Penn Station in Manhattan. However, it wasn’t in the SF section, where I expected to find it; instead, it was in the horror section. Which makes a sort of sense–I mean what’s more horrific than the end of the world?–though I would’ve never thought to look there (or to even look for a horror section–seems like most bookstores don’t have one and just shelve horror with mainstream fiction). But I ran across one of those look-it-up-your-damn-self terminals and discovered its likely location with its help. And lo and behold, there it was; or there they were, rather–three fine copies of Wastelands.

I’m torn on whether or not this is a good place for the book to be shelved. Do you think it’ll find its audience there, or would it sell better in the SF section? I’m inclined to think it’s not quite ideal and that SF would be a better place for it. And since the computer system said horror, I assume that all Borders stores are putting it there. Complaining probably wouldn’t do any good–from what I hear Borders has got much larger problems at the moment, like being broke.

Read More

Nathan Lilly Accepts My Challenge

The other day, I issued A Challenge to Con-Loving, Web-Savvy Fans for someone to create an SF con database searchable by zip code. Shortly thereafter, Nathan E. Lilly responded with Convention Finder.

Looks to be pretty cool. It’s still kind of in beta-mode; there’s only a few cons in the database so far. Spread the word and let’s see if we can’t fill that thing up. It’s really only useful if it’s got most of the conventions out there entered into it.

Read More

Books Received

Pump Six and Other Stories: Paolo Bacigalupi: Books

ISBN: 159780133X
ISBN-13: 9781597801331

Death’s Head Maximum Offense: David Gunn: Books

ISBN: 0345500016
ISBN-13: 9780345500014

The Digital Plague (Avery Cates): Jeff Somers: Books

ISBN: 0316022101
ISBN-13: 9780316022101

The Last Wish: Andrzej Sapkowski: Books

ISBN: 0316029181
ISBN-13: 9780316029186

 

Dark Wraith of Shannara: Terry Brooks: Books

ISBN: 0345494628
ISBN-13: 9780345494627

Truancy: Isamu Fukui: Books

ISBN: 0765317672
ISBN-13: 9780765317674

Steward of Song: Adam Stemple: Books

ISBN: 0765316307
ISBN-13: 9780765316301

Jhegaala (Vlad): Steven Brust: Books

ISBN: 0765301474
ISBN-13: 9780765301475

Steampunk: Ann VanderMeer,Jeff VanderMeer: Books

ISBN: 1892391759
ISBN-13: 9781892391759

Mad Kestrel: Misty Massey: Books

ISBN: 0765318024
ISBN-13: 9780765318022

Lonely Werewolf Girl: Martin Millar: Books

ISBN: 0979663660
ISBN-13: 9780979663666

Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2): Ilona Andrews: Books

ISBN: 0441015832
ISBN-13: 9780441015832

Read More

A Challenge to Con-Loving, Web-Savvy Fans

You know what some web-savvy fan should do? Gather up data on all of the science fiction conventions held every year (here’s a good place to start) and set up a database so that users can enter their zip code to discover which cons are closest to them. It would also be nice if you could search by date, so if you’re hankering for a con mid-April, you could, at a glance, see what’s happening.

Read More