The 2009 World Horror Convention invites fans to “Hear the Wind Scream” in Winnipeg over the April 30-May, 3 weekend.
The full press release follows the jump.
Monthly Archives: April 2009
Anti-Surveillance 101
Locus Online reports that Charlie Stross and Cory Doctorow are giving a benefit talk entitled “Resisting the All-Seeing Eye” for the Open Rights Group on May 1, 2009, in London.
The entry price is either joining Open Rights Group – by handing door staff a completed form – or making a one-time £10 donation at the door.
I predict brisk at-the-door sales — in cash. At least, I doubt the first choice of people trying to fly under the radar will be to turn in a form with their personal info to a group in the public spotlight. The form even asks applicants to provide bank info so dues can be debited automatically. Are you kidding? Perhaps this is really a test of whether prospective members are too gullible to be trusted with anything important…
STEREO Seeks Solar System Prehistory
NASA hopes its STEREO mission to explore the gravitational “parking lots” at the L4 and L5 points will reveal secrets about the Moon’s origin. An April 9 article on the official site explains:
L4 and L5 are where an object’s motion can be balanced by the combined gravity of the sun and Earth. “These places may hold small asteroids, which could be leftovers from a Mars-sized planet that formed billions of years ago,” said Michael Kaiser, Project Scientist for STEREO at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “According to Edward Belbruno and Richard Gott at Princeton University, about 4.5 billion years ago when the planets were still growing, this hypothetical world, called Theia, may have been nudged out of L4 or L5 by the increasing gravity of the other developing planets like Venus and sent on a collision course with Earth. The resulting impact blasted the outer layers of Theia and Earth into orbit, which eventually coalesced under their own gravity to form the moon.”
[Via Toni Weisskopf.]
Eastercon’s Corflu-style Videostream
Says Peter Sullivan, alert the media! “Steve Green (‘for TAFF’) and I will be attempting to do the first(?) live video streaming from a British convention, following on from the successful video streams from Corflu this year and last. Because this is still an experiment, in both a technical and ‘nettiquette’ sense, we won’t be doing 24/7 video streaming, but will be covering a selection of panels and other events going on over the weekend. The video stream itself will be at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/LXtra and details of our (hopefully evolving) schedule will be at http://tuckerverse.livejournal.com/.”
Autobiography of a Great SF Bookseller
Sherry Gottlieb needed a job in 1972, so she opened Change of Hobbit Bookstore and hired herself. One of the first specialty science fiction bookstores this side of London occupied a tiny space over a laundromat in the Westwood section of Los Angeles and it was immediately adopted by the city’s science fiction writers. Now Sherry is writing the history of her store and the community that grew around it. The first installment has been posted online, with photos:
The store’s location on the mezzanine of a laundromat, with no sign on the outside of the building, was even more of a problem. People used to telephone me from the payphone in the laundromat downstairs and say, “I’m at 1101 Gayley. Where are you?” And I’d reply, “Look up.”
Change of Hobbit was often on the razor’s edge of survival in its early days. Most small businesses fail within five years. But most small businesses did not have Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon and a posse of science fiction writers working to keep them afloat. Sherry’s vivid account of the October 14, 1973 benefit at the studios of Pacifica radio station KPFK recalls one of the great days in local LA science fiction history.
[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the link.]
Battlestar Galactica, Caprica at PaleyFest09
PaleyFest09, the twenty-sixth festival of the best in television and new media, will start in Los Angeles on April 10 and run for two weeks. The features with the greatest sf fan appeal are four different Joss Whedon projects, including Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, a kind of Galactica origin story:
Now that Battlestar Galactica-itself a reimagined version of a 1970s TV space opera-has dry-docked, we turn our attention to Caprica, a BSG prequel scheduled to debut on DVD in April and on Sci Fi Channel in 2010. Set fifty years before the nuclear apocalypse that opened Galactica, Caprica follows two families-the Graystones and the Adamas (particularly Bill’s “old man” Joseph)-as they feud over the creation of cybernetic life forms, marrying artificial intelligence with mechanical bodies, aka, Cylons.
An April 20 event will bring together cast and creative team members from Galactica and Caprica and feature a premiere screening of Caprica. Appearing in person will be Ronald D. Moore, Executive Producer; David Eick, Executive Producer; Jane Espenson, Executive Producer; Paula Malcomson (Amanda Greystone, Caprica); Polly Walker (Sister Clarice Willow, Caprica); Eric Stoltz (Daniel Greystone, Caprica); Esai Morales (Joseph Adama, Caprica)’ Alessandra Torressani (Zoe Greystone, Caprica); Magda Apanowicz (Lacy Rand, Caprica); Tricia Helfer (Number Six, Battlestar Galactica); Grace Park (Sharon/Athena/Boomer, Battlestar Galactica); Special Guest; Moderator: Seth Green (Robot Chicken, Buffy The Vampire Slayer).
Info: Monday, April 20, 2009, 7:00 p.m. , at the Cinerama Dome at ArcLight Hollywood. Tickets are available online, the first four rows priced to the general public for $60, the remainder of the house, $45.
Full information about PaleyFest09 can be read in the press release.
[Thanks to David Klaus for the link]
An Ackerman Curio
Mythcon 40 Extends Papers Submission Deadline
Mythcon 40 chair Sarah Beach says the committee “has decided to give folks a chance to follow up on their last minute paper ideas, and has extended the proposal deadline to May 22.” These are the scholarly and fannish presentations that energize every Mythcon. Accepted proposals get assigned slots on the program.
Check the Society website for the contact information for submission.
With James Owen as Author Guest of Honor and Diana Pavlac Glyer as Scholar Guest of Honor, how could the conference be anything but stellar?
“We are really looking forward to a wonderful conference this year,” promises Sarah. “ If you have not registered yet, do so soon. Don’t be left out of this special anniversary celebration!”
Hugo Award Logo Contest
It’s time the Hugo Award had a signature bit of art to strengthen its identity in all media. That’s why the Hugo Awards Marketing Committee is offering $500 in cash and assorted other prizes to the person who submits the winning logo design between now and May 31.
The selection will be made by Chip Kidd (Graphic Designer/Writer/Editor), Irene Gallo (Art Director at Tor Books and Tor.com), Geri Sullivan (Fan & Graphic Design pro) and Neil Gaiman (Hugo Award winning writer).
The cash prize is being provided by SCIFI, the group which ran the 2006 Worldcon.
The committee hopes to announce the winner at Anticipation, the World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal, in August.
The full press release appears after the jump.
Bradbury’s Irish Serenade
Bernard Kordell has posted on YouTube a rough cut video of Ray Bradbury being serenaded by some of the cast of Falling Upward.
Falling Upward is based on the book Green Shadows, While Whale, a collection of stories inspired by the nine months he spent in Ireland with John Huston while writing the screenplay to Moby Dick, in 1953.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]