1.
November 12, 2018
RIP Stan Lee
Monday certainly started out on a down note with the passing of Marvel’s Stan Lee. For an excellent article on Stan read this: Marvel Icon Stan Lee Leaves a Legacy as Complex as His Superheroes
2.
November 12, 2018
We lost a familiar voice on Sunday the 11th when Douglas Rain, the voice actor who voiced HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey,” died at the age of ninety. HAL = IBM H then I, A then B, L then M. I know this happened on the 11th, but I first noticed he passed on the 12th, and how can I not mention the voice actor for HAL passing.
3.
November 12, 2018
The Science Fiction Fantasy Writers of America approved the first Nebula Award for game writers. Woot! The requirement for eligibility: “an interactive or playable story-driven work which conveys narrative, character, or story background.” No word count was listed, and there must be at least one credited writer to be eligible. Here is SFWA’s announcement: Nebula Awards Rules Changes: Associate Members Granted Voting Privileges, Game Writing Award Added
4.
November 13, 2018
Locus announced a new books list on the 13th. The titles include: Not One of Us: “Stories of Aliens on Earth,” Neil Clarke editor; “A Winter’s Promise” by Christelle Dabos; “Vita Nostra” by Marina Dyachenko and Sergey Dyachenko; “Dark Mind Rising” by Julia Keller; “Terran Tomorrow” by Nancy Kress; “A Rising Moon” by Stephen Leigh; “None of This Is Normal: The Fiction of Jeff VanderMeer” by Benjamin Robertson; “The Winter Road” by Adrian Selby; “Bedfellow” by Jeremy C. Shipp; “The Sky-Blue Wolves” by S. M. Stirling; “Empire of Sand” by Tasha Suri; and finally, “Creatures of Want and Ruin” by Molly Tanzer.
For full details to include plot summaries, look here: LOCUS 13 New.
5.
November 13, 2018
HBO announced that Season 8 of Game of Thrones will premiere in April of 2019
6.
November 14, 2018
It looks as if Hulu is going to acquire the rights to the George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards sci-fi books. These books were written by a variety of authors but were organized by Mr. Martin and co-edited by Melinda M. Snodgrass.
More info here: George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards
7.
November 14, 2018
Rapper Common and Jonny Lee Miller set to headline an adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel “Nine Lives.” The tale takes place on a remote planet called Libra. The two main characters, Pugh and Martin, are miners. Libra is a desolate, barren place prone to earthquakes. The theme of the story is the concept of self which Le Guin explores through the use of clones. She also explores sociological and ethical issues by using technology to illustrate her points. The story was first published in Playboy magazine and gained national attention when President Lyndon B. Johnson read the story and endorsed it.
More info here: Nine Lives
8.
November 15, 2018
Authors Arthur C. Clarke, Michael Moorcock and Douglas Adams penned novels about a planet that orbits Barnard’s Star, a world approximately three times the size of our Earth. Barnard’s Star B is perhaps one of the closest suns to our solar system and is reachable by a probe using current tech in 30 years. Scientists are a persistent lot as they have been searching for this planet for over twenty-one years. This discovery is somewhat on the cool side–not because the planet’s surface temp is said to be around -150C–but because this is a planet we can actually get to out there in the big empty.
More info here: Barnard’s Star
9.
November 15, 2018
Are you a John W. Campbell fan? If so, here is a great LA Times article for you: John W. Campbell, a chief architect of science fiction’s Golden Age, was as brilliant as he was problematic
10.
November 15, 2018
Netflix has ordered an adaptation of “The One,” a novel about DNA and Dating by John Marrs. Season one will be ten episodes and handled by Howard Overman, the creator of “Misfits.”
More info here: The One
