Writers, and the Script Not Taken
By James H. Burns: There’s a friend of mine who is convinced that I’m responsible for a sequence in a James Bond movie. In fact, he thinks something I wrote decades ago inspired two 007 scenarios.. Although, my pal doesn’t … Continue reading →
Cosmos Award For Neil deGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will accept The Planetary Society’s Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in Pasadena, California on October 24. Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura in the original Star Trek series, will present Tyson with the award during … Continue reading →
Bruce Hyde (1941-2015)
By James H. Burns: Bruce Hyde will always be part of a mystery. Hyde, who died October 13, was absolutely sensational during the first season of Star Trek, in two major guest starring turns as Lieutenant Kevin Riley in “The … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/17 The Fish Have Discovered Fire
(1) A Tokyo department store is offering a $91,000 solid gold figure of the alien Baltan, a villainous monster from Japan’s superhero Ultraman TV series. The perfect accessory to go with the 2007 Hugo base, except none of the winners … Continue reading →
Bradbury’s Halloween Tree Is Back
The Bradbury-inspired Halloween Tree is is again in season at Disneyland. The Disneyparks blog has posts and a gallery. If you are on your way to over to Haunted Mansion Holiday during Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort, take a … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/16 Callahan’s Scrolltime Saloon
(1) Anne and Jared at Pornokitsch advise air travelers about the 5 Best Airport Snacks. Anne trends toward the practical and healthy. Jared picks stuff I would eat…. Anne says: Edamame. Honestly, you’ll probably find somewhere that does sushi. Skip … Continue reading →
May the Force Be With Her
By John Hertz: [Reprinted by permission from Scientifiction, the First Fandom newsletter.] This year’s Worldcon was Sasquan (sasquatch + convention), the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention, August 19-23, 2015, Spokane, Washington. President Coker telephoned inquiring if I would attend. Yes, … Continue reading →
2015 Arthur C. Clarke Awards
The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation will present its annual awards at a ceremony on October 28 at the Lockheed Martin Global Vision Center in Alexandria, CA. The 2015 award winners are: Arthur C. Clarke Innovator Award Greg Wyler Founder of … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/15 Trial by Filers
(1) Martin Morse Wooster opened my eyes to a previously unrealized fact — Wil Wheaton is a celebrity homebrewer. On November 7, 2015, the American Homebrewers Association hosts Learn to Homebrew Day across the country. This year, celebrity homebrewers Wil Wheaton … Continue reading →
Online Gollancz Festival Begins Friday
The Gollancz Festival 2015 is a weekend of digital activities on nine social media platforms with the hashtag #GollanczFest15 that begins Friday, October 16 at 9 a.m. (I will assume London time, since none of their posts say otherwise). The events include: Google … Continue reading →
Apex’s Christmas Invasion
Apex Publications is now taking submissions to its annual flash fiction contest. The theme this year: Apex’s Christmas Invasion. That’s right. This year our flash fiction contest is all about Christmas invasions. Whether your invaders are robots, aliens, or sentient … Continue reading →
Back To The Future 4 Trailer
To help you celebrate, here is the trailer for Back To The Future 4 — which is a very well-made fake….… Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/14 The pixel will see you now…
(1) What could be more appropriate to continue a discussion launched in yesterday’s Scroll than Jurassic Park: High Heels Edition! Thanks to Cathy for dropping this into the comments. (2) “Emperor Palpatine and Sauron in the Afterlife” by Steve Ogden. … Continue reading →
My Supergirl Is…
CBS is promoting its new series with a do-it-yourself My Supergirl Is ____ graphic maker. Here’s my Supergirl — with her favorite Superdog.… Continue reading →
Loscon 42 Writing Contest Under Way
Loscon 42 co-chairs Robbie Bourget and Marcia Minsky have announced that the con is holding a Writing Contest for aspiring writers. Entries are being taken now. There are three categories: Youth (6-12) Young adult (13-20) Adult (21 plus) Prizes are still … Continue reading →
Harper Voyager Open Submissions Begin November 2
Harper Voyager will host an open call for submission from November 2 to November 6. Their submissions portal is: https://harpervoyagersubmissions.com/. Associate publicist Caroline Perny says — While we’re always on the lookout for full-length fantasy, science fiction, and horror, we’re … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/13 Another Fine Pixel You’ve Gotten Us Into
(1) Nicole Dieker at The Billfold says “Joss Whedon Made More Money With ‘Dr. Horrible’ Than ‘The Avengers,’ Unbelievably”. Okay. Let’s compare two scenarios. 1) You decide to write, direct, and produce a 45-minute web musical. You fund the musical’s … Continue reading →
Space.com Infographic: How Time Travel Works in Science Fiction
Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration. I thought this was a cool graphic — lots of nice touches, like the TARDIS icon for the time machine — and since they encouraged copying it to other … Continue reading →
A Martian Potato
Craig Miller’s postman just delivered his promotional tie-in potato from The Martian. To promote the movie “The Martian”, 20th-Century Fox made a deal with Mail a Spud (an actual company, surprisingly) to send out potatoes. With notes written on them … Continue reading →
Entries Accepted for The 2016 Roswell Award
Sci-Fest LA, The Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Play Festival, is accepting submissions for The Roswell Award through January 15, 2016. The Roswell Award was created to identify, encourage and promote up-and-coming science fiction writing talent, and is given to the … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/12 Paladin of Pixels
(1) If today is The Martian’s birthday remember that… …in nine days Marty McFly arrives from the past … (2) Can you pass HowStuffWorks’ “Real Tech or Star Trek?” quiz? Confession: I bombed. (3) Jeffro Johnson has completed his Appendix … Continue reading →
Smofcon Scholarships Awarded
CanSMOF has announced the recipients of three scholarships for use in attending SMOFcon 33. The first scholarship, open to a Canadian citizen or resident, went to Lisa Macklem of London Ontario. The second, open to a non-North American resident, was awarded … Continue reading →
Happy Birthday Mark Watney
Author Andy Weir told his Facebook followers — According to the crew stats that were in the Ares 3 Live video “The Right Stuff” Mark Watney’s birthday is October 12, 1994. That means today is Mark’s 21st birthday! So right … Continue reading →
Jukka Halme Wins GUFF
It should not come as a surprise that Jukka Halme from Finland, the only announced candidate for GUFF, has been officially confirmed as the winner, although one of the administrators makes it sound as if there was some suspense. Instead … Continue reading →
Pat Cadigan, Gym Hero
Pat Cadigan strengthens herself for the battle with cancer by hitting the gym four times a week – a courageous example that has led to her being named Our September Gym Hero by easyGym. Pat joined easyGym after finishing chemotherapy … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 10/11 Slaughterhouse Hive
(1) C. E. Murphy is “home from Octocon” with several good stories. I brought about eight pounds of fudge to the con, and passed it out to the attendees of the Golden Blasters film festival on Friday night. Probably the … Continue reading →