Reading Michael D. Sellers’ fascinating book, John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, we learn all the reasons why John Carter, Disney’s film version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, failed at the box office. […]
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, while on holiday, visited Lord Byron’s Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva in 1816. Percy Shelley, her lover and future husband, and two close friends entertained Lord Byron, over several days, with […]
Hello there! I’m going to be doing weekly discussions of current sf anime episodes and previews of upcoming shows in this slot. Since we’re going to be dropping right into the middle of a few […]
Adam Gaffen for Amazing Stories: Welcome! It seems appropriate that there’s a science fiction author who is a rocket scientist; how did one lead to the other? Stephanie Osborne: Thank you! And thank you for […]
Previously, in parts 1 and 2, I talked about collectors whose ambition, in collecting, was to have every one in set (“completists”) and those who had to have every one they wanted, however much it […]
The spotlight last month fell on the special effects wizards who make SF monsters come to life. The crowning glory was the award of the Best Picture Oscar for Argo. This spy drama focuses on […]
In light of John Whalen’s review of Michael Seller’s John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, I thought it might be instructive to take a look at the different artistic depictions of the world’s first […]
Wherefore fandom? Fandom does not equal “the science fiction market.” To be a fan it’s not enough just to be a consumer of science fiction. To be part of fandom you have to participate in […]
Richard E. Geis, the “Alien Critic” died February 4th. Richard Geis’s fanzines – Science Fiction Review and The Alien Critic were among the first fanzines I subscribed to and avidly sought back issues to. In […]
Known more for his works of comic fantasy, Tom Holt serves up humorous science fiction in his latest novel, Doughnut. This move toward SF seems to be a growing trend for Holt, although, since the […]
Where to First?: How to choose short fiction markets Welcome back. This is the seventh in my weekly (more or less) series of posts on how to market and sell short fiction (I missed a […]
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Do you believe in time travel? Dr. Angela Noyce: Sure! As much as I believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. That is just to say that I love the idea […]
Here is another testament to the depth of genre fiction and the timelessness creative authors of Amazing Stories have provided us over the years.
Ever notice that fictional sorcerers always seem to have long, grizzled beards? Ever wondered why? Well, probably you haven’t, but you’re about to find out. The sorcerer “look” originally comes from a real-life sorcerer named […]
It’s been so long since I’ve heard a “new voice” in horror writing that I’d forgotten what it feels like. Felicity Savage’s “Black Wedding” in her collection Black Wedding and Five More Funerals gave the […]
I had given some thought to doing an Oscars recap this week, tallying the various gains and losses of the science fiction and fantasy fields within that most prestigious of movie awards ceremonies. But given […]
Robert E. Howard produced several series: Solomon Kane, Kull of Valusia, Bran Mak Morn, and finally Conan the Cimmerian, all existing more or less in the same world at different times. In “Kings of the […]
Pulp… no, wait… it should be written like this: PULP! What I am referring to is not what you find in your orange juice. It refers to a type of low grade paper that was […]
UPDATE: See below for a new release from Eric Brown Frank R Paul interior art for sale The Man of Bronze is Back Lightspeed’s latest issue The Serene Invasion Frank Wu sent along a note […]
If there’s a recently popularized term that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, it’s “webisodes.” This demeaning and fun-sized determination of quality stems from the misconception of tacked-on extra content pumped out in the […]
I’ve been fortunate to be able to travel a lot and do many things I’ve always wanted to do. Some of my opportunities have been work related (e.g. using the Hubble Space Telescope, and helping […]
Ah yes, me and my Sofa. I feel confident calling it my Sofa. With a capital S because the sofa I’m referring to, StarShipSofa, is a podcast magazine. And I can call it mine because […]
“Mortal, you have angered Shaka-sama and now Pigsy will eat your face.” This is one of the improbable lines that is never spoken in the foundational saga of Buddhist fiction. Many other improbable lines are. Further out on the improbability spectrum: Shingo Katori costumes up as a monkey.
When I was a little kid, three things terrified me. Bugs, Gargoyles, and Zombies. My fear of Gargoyles came from an early 70s movie of the same name. A scene where the people are driving […]
Kathleen Ann Goonan’s In War Times, originally published in 2007, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel and the ALA’s Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year. A complex exploration of the […]
Inspiration Mars, a two-person Mars flyby mission is being planned by the world’s first space tourist- Dennis Tito – was featured in the same issue of the Concord Monitor as their coverage of Amazing Stories. […]
Whenever I think of speculative fiction’s relationship to romance, I am always reminded of that scene in The Princess Bride where Fred Savage’s character interrupts his grandpa and – voice dripping with scorn – asks: […]
On Tuesday Steve Davidson, the publisher of Amazing Stories, was interviewed by Sarah Earle for a feature in the Concord Monitor, one of New Hampshire’s leading daily newspapers. Davidson and others involved with the project […]
This is not how the World ends. This oft-spoken mantra, among others, repeated throughout the narrative of the Marvel comic S.H.I.E.L.D. is a tried and true indicator of how much I adore this work. Created by heralded […]
The man behind hit TV shows and films such as Lost, Cloverfield and Armageddon (yes he was involved in the script writing for the latter) is bringing a new show to our screens – Revolution. […]
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