Monthly Archives: February 2013

Baen Catalog Available on Apple iBookstore

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Baen Books are now available for purchase from Apple’s iBookstore.

Until recently, the publisher’s ebooks could be purchased only at Baenebooks.com. Then in December, Baen began offering ebooks through the Amazon Kindle store.

Whether purchased directly from Baen, or Amazon and Apple, the ebooks come DRM-free.

Baen’s best-known sf and fantasy lines include David Weber’s Honor Harrington series, Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire alternate histories, Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International urban fantasies, and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga.

“Now that we’ve made our books available on the iBookstore, it will be easier than ever for fans to read their favorite Weber, Ringo, or Correia book on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, says Toni Weisskopf, Publisher. “We see this as a promising expansion of our famous pioneering digital spirit and customer-first orientation.”

The full press release follows the jump.

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Stu Shiffman Update 2/12

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On Stu Shiffman’s birthday — February 12 — friends celebrated both the date and his continuing, gradual recovery from last June’s stroke. As Tom Whitmore told followers of Stu’s CaringBridge journal —

Stu is continuing to be off the ventilator for a part of each day — it varies a lot depending on how much therapy he’s had, and he’s the one who has to decide when he’s going to be on or off it. Which is pretty cool. He’s forming words well now with his mouth, and he’s starting to be able to write again — the words are sprawled and a bit difficult to recognize, but he’s using a normal pen and I could read a couple of the words Andi showed me from Sunday.

Don’t Forget To Hype

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tomorrowland boxKnowing the right tool for every project is the hallmark of a true professional. Disney’s marketing strategy for its several new Star Wars projects involves a hurricane of stories reassuring everyone the franchise is in good hands. In contrast, the studio’s plan for rousing interest in the movie Tomorrowland is to spoon-feed the social media stories that convince people Disney is making every effort to keep them from finding out anything about it.

Telling folks “Don’t look over here!” is a real art. In the case of Tomorrowland, things began January 23 when Pixar Animation Studios writer/director Brad Bird and screenwriter/producer David Lindelof posted photos of an old banker’s box labled “1952” on their personal Twitter accounts. There followed widespread speculation about the contents of the box – such as the coincidental report and in-depth analysis posted to Disney’s own D23 site:

From the age, type, and conditions of the items I can see, I feel that the materials in the box were gathered together for a project from the past. Perhaps as research for a science-fiction-themed film, television, or park attraction, or even a futurism project like Walt’s vision of EPCOT.

Then, a few days ago, Disney revealed that the movie — first referred to merely as 1952 — had a real title — Tomorrowland, a star – George Clooney, and a release date – December 19, 2014.

Deadline shuffled together the few scraps of info in its possession and dealt them this way:

George Clooney is starring in a story that supposedly is about a man who encounters alien life on Earth.

Filmmakers happily reeled in that rumor and tweeted a coy response:

We won’t tell you what it’s about (yet), but we will tell you what it’s NOT about. And that would be ALIENS. #Tomorrowland

Something more we do know about Tomorrowland is that the script has been written by Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird.

Lindelof’s resume includes Lost and another project set in the cryptic universe of the Aliens movies, Prometheus — he clearly knows how to build an audience by engaging them in an ever-evolving mystery, and Tomorrowland appears to be using the same playbook.

Disney Expands Star Wars Universe

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Disney’s PR department has barely had time to catch its breath. Immediately after announcing that J. J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII,  the first of a new series of Star Wars films from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, the outfit had to alert the universe that Disney isn’t waiting to cash in on its new franchise.

Bob Iger, Disney chairman and CEO, told investors that while the initial focus was on the anticipated sequel trilogy, the studio has already commissioned two spinoff films — a Young Han Solo adventure, depicting the smuggler’s origin story and taking place in between Episodes 3 and 4, and a Boba-Fett movie.

Few of you are old enough to be amused by the idea of reincarnating Kevin Corcoran (of the “Little Moochie” serials on Mickey Mouse Club) to play Young Han Solo, but that’s the kind of goshwow-gee-whiz sort of character the title brings to my mind. Which is probably wrong, because the full-grown Han Solo is a good-hearted outlaw. More likely they’ll turn Young Han Solo into Fonzie with a furry friend.

One of the spinoffs will be scripted by Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and co-writer of Return of the Jedi). The other will be written by Simon Kinberg (Sherlock Holmes, Mr. and Mrs. Smith). Who is assigned to each film has yet to be announced.

[Thanks to David Klaus for the story.]

Vote for Your Favorite Minion of Hades

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Mark Showalter, senior research scientist at the SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center, found two more moons of Pluto using the Hubble telescope — P4 in 2011 and P5 in 2012. Ordinarily his ideas for naming them would carry great weight with the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Instead, he’s decided to be a sport and open the selection to a popular vote on the internet.

But don’t get carried away. The names for the moons of Pluto must come from Greek or Roman mythology and be related to Pluto/Hades and the underworld. Although there’s a write-in option it will do you no good to fill that space with the name of a Kardashian sister or a disliked political commentator.

Showalter has posted recommended names at Pluto Rocks – Acheron, Alecto, Cerberus, Erebus, Eurydice, Hercules, Hypnos, Lethe, Obol, Orpheus, Persephone and Styx. He cautions —

We will take into consideration the results of the voting, but they are not binding. The discovery team, in consultation with the Nomenclature Working Groups of the International Astronomical Union, reserves the right to propose the names. Note that the International Astronomical Union has final authority over the naming of Pluto’s moons.

The voting tally is updated once an hour and at this writing Styx and Cerberus are way out in front.

People are asked not to vote more than once per day. Voting ends at 12 noon (EST) on Monday, February 25.

 [Thanks to Janice Gelb for the story.]

Doctor to Visit in 3D

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The BBC will air a special 3D episode of Doctor Who later this year as part of the show’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Doctor Who turns 50 in November and Steven Moffat, lead writer and producer, says the latest 3D program will bring a “whole new dimension of adventure for the Doctor to explore.”

A previous 3D escapade marked Doctor Who’s 30th anniversary in 1993, Dimensions in Time, broadcast as part of Children In Need. It was shot on EastEnders’ Albert Square set, and featured cast members from the soap opera as well as Doctor Who stars past and present.

 [Via Colin Harris]

Garcia Crowdsources “5 Cons”

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Chris Garcia and Linda Wenzelburger are appealing to the internet to fund their new project, 5 Cons – A Fandom Documentary Series.

They hope to present the world of sf fandom through the lens of five conventions in the US and Great Britain — the Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition, ConQuest in Kansas City (where Chris will be a Guest of Honor), Westercon 66, LoneStarCon 3 (the Worldcon, in San Antonio) and the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.

How much lucre do they need?

We’re estimating that our costs will be somewhere between 5 and 7 grand, but we’ve got to have our own skin in the game, no? So we’re settin’ our goal at 3500 dollars to cover some travel, a couple of equipment upgrades, random things you never expect like shipping fees for photos, burgers for those nights you get yourself stuck on the road at 2am, and most importantly, gallons and gallons of Pibb Xtra for Chris while he’s editing.

Helmer Chris Garcia (I’ve always wanted to use that word) and producer Wenzelburger are taking pledges through Indiegogo. They promise to add especially generous donors to the credits as either an Associate Producer ($100), Assist. Producer ($500), or Exec. Producer ($1,000).

Amazing Will Host David Gerrold Comic

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The revived Amazing Stories has acquired its first new piece of fiction, a graphic story by David Gerrold.

Gerrold had announced on Facebook that a comic book script he’d written had become orphaned through no fault of its own. Steve Davidson asked to see a copy and found it to be, “Unbelievably hilarious. Totally nerdy.” Next thing you know, Steve arranged for Amazing Stories to post it and publish a paper edition in conjunction with David’s DG Publishing imprint.

Comic artist Troy Boyle will do the art for the book. His credits include The Return of Happy the Clown, written by Gary Francis (1995).

Amazing Stories will publish teaser excerpts from the script, as well as some of Troy’s preliminary artwork, over the next few weeks.

Little has been revealed about the content yet, though Star Trek, Doctor Who and Tribbles seem to be involved….

2013 FAAn Awards Voting Now Open

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Ballots will be accepted for the 2013 Fan Activity Achievement Awards (FAAns) through April 6. Anyone with an interest in science fiction fanzines is invited to vote.

FAAns will be presented in eight categories: Best Genzine, Best Personal Fanzine, Best Single Issue, Best Web­site, Best Fanzine Cover, Best Fan Artist, Best Fan Writer and the Harry Warner Jr. Memorial Award for Best Letterhack.

A Genzine (General Interest Fanzine) is any fanzine with a significant amount of material by authors other than the editor, or with a multiplicity of editors.

A Personal Fanzine is any fanzine in which the editor produces all or nearly all its content.

Fan Writing is presented in a fannish context, e.g. fanzines, apas, fannish blogs, fan websites and social media.

Fan Art is likewise presented in a fannish context, in fanzines and other forms of publication created by science fiction fans, in any media.

Voters will be invited to register their top three choices in each category. The first choice will receive five points, the sec­ond choice three points and the third choice will receive one point. After all ballots are counted, the highest point total in each category will determine the winner.

Click on the link for the 2013 FAAns ballot [PDF file].

Votes may be submitted via e-mail or in paper form – see instructions on the ballot.

CORFLU XXX will also give a Lifetime Achieve­ment Award. The winner will be selected by a jury composed of the 2013 and 2012 Corflu chairs and the past recipients of the award. Nominations and comments received by the administrator will be passed on to the jury. (Contact information is on the ballot.)

Award winners will be announced at the Corflu XXX banquet on May 5.

New Corflu Progress Report

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Fanzine fans will converge on Corflu XXX in Portland, Oregon over the May 3-5 weekend. In the latest progress report [PDF file], chairman Dan Steffan’s flair for storytelling makes even the details of reserving hotel rooms lively reading.

The PR is also graced with several mini-essays that make a Portland visit sound irresistible.

Andy Hooper channels Clifford D. Simak while extolling the beauty visible on the road through Oregon:

Running between the west bank of the Wil­lamette River and the Coast Range, OR47 winds through a tapestry of verdantly beautiful, thriving farm country, a landscape that easily rivals legend­ary agricultural regions across Europe and North America. The two of us have seen great orchards in New Mexico, Florida, Wisconsin, and the Yakima Valley here in Washington, but I’ve never seen anything as green and perfectly groomed as the hazelnut groves that we passed on Highway 47. The hazelnuts in particular seemed to evoke J. R. R. Tolkien for me; surely, Hobbits could not have tended a grove of trees any more delicately than these.

John D. Berry shares his strategies for shopping at Powell’s Bookstore. And Randy Byers, before reminding us that the town is a great place to hang out, explains how his perspective on the subject has matured by beginning, “When I was a kid growing up in Salem, Oregon, Portland was the unimaginable world that pro­duced such TV spectacles as Portland Wrestling (my grandfather’s favorite show) and the Portland Roller Derby…”

Oh, and about those mundane hotel details – at the Red Lion Hotel Portland Convention Center all rooms for Corflu are $99 a night.

Steffan urges everyone, “Tell a friend. Soylent Green may be people, but so is a successful Corflu. Thanks.”