Pixel Scroll 12/12 Do Androids Look Up When They’re Dreaming Of Electronic Sheep?
Live, from way later than the bleeping middle of Saturday night! (1) VOTER DECEPTION? People are gathering signatures for a San Diego ballot initiative that allegedly will help keep Comic-Con in town, but the organizers of Comic-Con told Deadline.com they … Continue reading →
Bud Webster in Hospice Care
By Curt Phillips: One of our own — Virginia fan and SF writer Bud Webster — is in hospice care at a Richmond, VA hospital. He’s battled a long illness and endured multiple surgeries in recent months, and he has … Continue reading →
The Tribbles No Trouble
Seeing a photo of Ursula K. Le Guin holding a tribble at the Tiptree Symposium piqued my curiosity. David Gerrold was at the event. I sent him an email asking if he gave it to her, or if he knew the … Continue reading →
Chinese SF News Roundup
By Brian Z. SF author and historian Andrew Liptak’s informative review essay, “Narratives of Modernization: China’s History of Science Fiction” is up at Barnes & Noble. Liptak places Chinese SF in its historical context and showcases some important works available in English, including … Continue reading →
Boston Looks at 2021Worldcon Bid
Rick Kovalcik, President of Massachusetts Convention Fandom Inc., told attendees at last weekend’s Smofcon that the group is considering bidding for the right to host WorldCon 79 in Boston in 2021. If they bid, they will be competing with the … Continue reading →
Sci-Fest Radio Brings Frankenstein To Stage
Sci-Fest Radio Theatre will present the 1944 radio version of Frankenstein live on stage on January 11, 2016. Scheduled to join the cast are Philip Anthony-Rodriguez (Grimm), Linda Park (Star Trek: Enterprise), Gates McFadden (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Alfred … Continue reading →
Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund Voting Opens
Anna Raftery or Wolf von Witting – one will be voted the 2016 Trans-Atlanta Fan Fund delegate. Their prize — a trip across the Atlantic to MidAmeriCon II, and the opportunity to meet lots of fine fannish folk and strengthen the … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 12/11 Fresh Squeezed Pixel Juice
(1) COME OUT OF YOUR SHELL. The University of Maryland Libraries is hosting “Exam Wars: The Turtle Awakens” (U of M’s mascot is the terrapin.) The Exam Wars are coming. Sign up for updates https://t.co/gFTxJiv8KC pic.twitter.com/SOMJIp0tjW — UMD Libraries (@UMDLibraries) … Continue reading →
Read MidAmeriCon II Publications Free
MidAmeriCon II, the 2016 Worldcon, is posting its Progress Reports and other publications as free reads online. Currently available: The Possum Trot Le Zombie-Picayune, also known as Progress Report Zed, announcing the GoH’s and cost of membership (4 pages) The … Continue reading →
Fifth Volume of Free Stories Eligible for 1941 Retro Hugos
Short Fiction Eligible for the 1941 Retro-Hugos Vol. 5, a collection of 20 public domain short stories published in 1940 assembled by File 770 commenter von Dimpleheimer. (Earlier posts contain links to Volume One, Volume Two, Volume Three and Volume Four.) These books … Continue reading →
Syfy Airing Sci-Fi: Can You Believe It?
By Daniel Dern. Reminder, the Syfy Channel is taking a (partial) break from wrestling, ghosthunting, etc., and showing some new science fiction (and, arguably, fantasy) mini-series this month: The Expanse (based on J.A.Corey’s 5-and-counting book series) (I think the first … Continue reading →
X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer
X-Men: Apocalypse comes to theaters May 27, 2016. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and … Continue reading →
The Fred Patten Birthday Sale
Happy 75th birthday to Fred Patten, the pioneering anthropomorphic fiction scholar, critic, and anthologist! In honor of the occasion FurPlanet Productions in Dallas, Fred’s primary publisher, has all six of his FurPlanet titles on sale this weekend. From December 11-13, … Continue reading →
2015 ALAA Hall of Fame Inductees
By Fred Patten: The Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association announced the 2015 inductees to the ALAA Hall of Fame at Midwest FurFest 2015 in Chicago on December 4-6. They are — Alan Dean Foster (person) Hayao Miyazaki (person) Walt Kelly … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 12/10 Plan Whine from Outer Space
(1) SPOILERS SPOIL. You know this. “Spoiler alert: Story spoilers can hurt entertainment” at EurekAlert. While many rabid fans may have scratched their heads when a 2011 study showed that spoilers could improve story enjoyment, a recent experiment, conducted by … Continue reading →
Bandersnatch Launches
Bandersnatch, Diana Pavlac Glyer’s new Inklings study with illustrations by James Artimus Owen, has launched, and at this hour is atop of Amazon’s Hot New Releases in Science Fiction History & Criticism. The paperback is #1 — the Kindle edition is … Continue reading →
See Ghost Train At Covent Garden in March
The Ghost Train Doesn’t Stop Here Any More takes inspiration from the horror portmanteau movies of the past like Tales from the Crypt and Doctor Terror’s House of Horrors — Five passengers meet on a train and agree to tell … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 12/9 The Flounce On The Doorstep
(1) MST3K+PO. Patton Oswalt has agreed to join Mystery Science Theater 3000 as the Forrester’s newest Evil Henchman, TV’s Son of TV’s Frank. Joel Hodgson explains: I first became aware of Patton around fourteen years ago, when he was doing … Continue reading →
Puppygate on Tonight’s Jeopardy!
Television’s Jeopardy! game show, in the episode aired December 9, rewarded a contestant with $800 for recognizing that “Puppygate was a 2015 scandal” that rocked the Hugo Awards. … Continue reading →
NYRSF Readings Annual Family Night Features Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, and a Menorah
By Mark L. Blackman: On the evening of Tuesday, December 8 the New York Review of Science Fiction Readings Series continued its tradition of celebrating the December Holidays Season with “Family Night,” featuring one of its favorite families, Ellen Kushner … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 12/8 When Blogs Collide
(1) ROBOTS FLASH. At the Barnes & Noble blog they’re “Introducing the 12 Days of Robot Christmas” — 12 Days of Flash Fiction from Angry Robot Authors (plus eBook discounts). Posted so far — Dec. 3: Patrick Tomlinson (The Ark): … Continue reading →
Last Call For 2016 TAFF Candidates
By Curt Phillips: The deadline for nominations for the 2016 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund race to bring a delegate from the UK or Europe to the United States to attend the 2016 World Science Fiction Convention at Kansas City, Missouri is … Continue reading →
Bradbury Museum a Possibility
His library was a fine dark place bricked with books, so anything could happen there and always did. All you had to do was pull a book from the shelf and open it and suddenly the darkness was not so … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 12/7 Mr. Mxyzpixelstalk
(1) ROCK’N ROLL. From the Guardian: “Stonehenge may have been first erected in Wales, evidence suggests”. It has long been known that the bluestones that form Stonehenge’s inner horseshoe came from the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire, around 140 miles from … Continue reading →
Leigh Brackett Centennial Today
Reblogged from Phil Nichols on the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies Facebook page. One hundred years ago today on December 7, 1915 the writer Leigh Brackett was born. One of the leading American science fiction and fantasy writers from the … Continue reading →
The Time Travellers
By James H. Burns: About thirteen years ago, at one of Michael Carbonaro’s Big Apple comic and fantasy conventions in Manhattan, I ran into Robin Faulkner, the bride of my old pal, Brendan Faulkner. You’ve met Brendan and Robin at hundreds … Continue reading →
Nicholas Smith (1934-2015)
Actor Nicholas Smith, the last surviving member of the cast of the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?, died December 7. He was 81. Before gaining fame in the long-running comedy about the employees of a fictitious department store, Smith … Continue reading →
Shedding Light on Dark Vador
by Will R. Bit of a follow-up to the Paris poster… Seeing him referred to as “Dark Vador” interested me, as I figured it must be a well-known thing in order to appear on a poster that way. Googling around … Continue reading →
Tiptree Symposium: A Report
By Jeffrey Smith: The University of Oregon held a “James Tiptree, Jr. Symposium” on December 4 and 5 to celebrate (a) the centenary of Alice Sheldon (born August 24, 1915) and (b) its acquisition of the Sheldon/Tiptree papers for the … Continue reading →
In Smofcons To Come
Smofcon 34 will be held in the Chicago area December 2-4, 2016 at a site yet to be selected. Helen Montgomery will chair the con. The Chicago bid ran unopposed and was voted the right to host the con this weekend by members … Continue reading →
Pixel Scroll 12/6 From the Mixed-Up Pixels of Mrs. Basil E. Frankscroller
(1) WITNESS FOR GOLLUM. Well-known Tolkien scholar Michael D.C. Drout is quoted in the New York Times’ “Is Gollum Good or Evil? Jail Term in Turkey Hinges on Answer”. Michael D. C. Drout, an English professor at Wheaton College who … Continue reading →
2015 Irish Comic News Awards
The winners of the 2015 Irish Comic News Awards were announced December 5. BEST ARTIST PUBLISHED IN IRELAND Paul Bolger BEST WRITER PUBLISHED IN IRELAND Paul Bolger & Barry Devlin BEST IRISH ARTIST PUBLISHED OUTSIDE IRELAND Declan Shalvey BEST IRISH … Continue reading →
Ex Machina Nets Four British Independent Film Awards
The sf film Ex Machina took home four Moët British Independent Film Awards from the ceremony in London on December 6. There were genre winners in eight categories altogether. Best Supporting Actress Olivia Colman for The Lobster Best Director Alex … Continue reading →
Running To Save The Rhino
By Jim Mowatt: “We’ve got a bloody fanzine to get out. Where’s your stuff?” Nic Farey has written a series of messages demanding, quite rightly that I get my finger out and send in my contributions for the fanzine, Beam. … Continue reading →
Fourth Volume of Free Stories Eligible for 1941 Retro Hugos
Short Fiction Eligible for the 1941 Retro-Hugos Vol. 4, a collection of 13 12 public domain novellas published in 1940, is the latest collection from File 770 commenter von Dimpleheimer. (Earlier posts contain links to Volume One, Volume Two, and Volume Three.) Volume … Continue reading →
